onetruesporkbot - Tumblr blog

[onetruesporkbot]

Criticisms Are Not Attacks

Psst. Hey. Hey, you. Criticizing something isn't the same thing as attacking it. I know that's the title, but given recent weeks, it apparently bears repeating. Whether a movie "based on true events" or a country song, people are allowed to both critique it, and yes, even not like it. It doesn't mean they're horrible criminals or unpatriotic. And just because the liars you like in the fake-outrage-media passing as news, claims something's being "cancelled"/"attacked" by or is "enraging" those people you disagree with? Doesn't make it true. Valid criticisms are being distorted out of proportion so the phony-news idiots can do their advertising for them. You know how much it costs to advertise a movie? It can be MILLIONS, depending on the project. But pretend that someone not instantly liking it, pointing out a flaw or the like, is really THAT side "assaulting" this precious, glorious, innocent thing? Let that claim go viral, and boom, they've saved oodles of money...none of which goes to the real-life cause the movie is about, but to the people behind the film. But hey, you can watch an actor fake-shoot other actors, and feel good that you dislike this thing that you already disliked. And if you want to feel even better about yourself, but are also a sociopath, you can claim that anyone that points out reality to you, is actually part of that evil thing. Then you can avoid that pesky "critical thinking" that gets in way of all your happy-fun slandering of strangers. That Jim Caviezel movie about the guy who shoots human traffickers? Some of those criticizing it are anti-trafficking workers (many of them, EXPERTS), and say that not only does the movie give a less-than-realistic view of the trafficking underworld, but that Tim Ballard, the guy the movie's based on who says things that are not true, uses methods that can be counter-productive. They give you the chance to "buy someone else a ticket", but that just puts more money into the pocket of the people behind the movie. Not one cent has been shown to go to anti-trafficking causes. It doesn't actually "expose" anyone in real life of committing this crime. Vague references get made to "Hollywood" or "Washington D.C." by some wannabe victim, and they leave it to their audience to fill in the gaps with their biases, presumptions, and preconceived notions; that those famous people they happen to disagree with are exactly the complete monsters you already thought they were. Which is a tactic that's been used time and again by dishonest people afraid of integrity, morals, and actual work. Again, no critical thinking allowed. Jim apparently got struck by lightning filming Passion of the Christ, so maybe that'd explain his Q-related leanings. That "Try That In A" yadda-yadda country song? CMT made a business decision about the video. Big whoop. No one was stopped from listening to it. I never had an opinion about Jason Aldean one way or another, but he seems to be doing the same thing as the aforementioned movie...if not him, then the opportunists in the fake-outrage-media: Whining that one song...ONE SONG...faced some mild inconvenience, like it was the end of the damn world. I've literally seen more headlines and comments conflating this song with patriotism, than I have any "attacks" against it by "THEM". I haven't heard the song...maybe it's catchy, maybe it's okay but not my thing (and I still enjoy Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red White and Blue"), but honestly, the way people have just blindly believed the fabricated controversy, doesn't make me want to listen to it. You're being duped by cheap advertising. "I'll support anything that hypothetically destabilizes the mental health of someone I disagree with, whom I imagine in my head" is not a good substitute for a personality. Watching a movie isn't saving kids, a song isn't saving "small towns", and not everyone who disagrees with or lives differently than you is some unholy monster out to get you and your family. No, not even if they criticize something.

[onetruesporkbot]

Most social media sites: "You've got a notification! Click it, and it'll go away until you get a new notification! Tumblr: Hey, here's a notification you already clicked from over a month ago. Just wanted to remind you that someone looked at a thing you posted five weeks back. Y'know...just in case you forgot.

[onetruesporkbot]

[onetruesporkbot]

Harley blends in so seamlessly with the style of Blondie. Which actually makes sense, since given BTAS was so heavily influenced by older aesthetics.

(Also, "Leftfield"? PERFECT name for Joker to give a pet.)

"In hindsight, I might have gone a little dark on that last one."

[onetruesporkbot]

I think everyone dreams of making the people who hurt them suffer too, of getting revenge through violence, but revenge fantasies and personal pleasure CANNOT be a basis for justice. Something making you feel good does not mean that it's a just or right thing to do.

[onetruesporkbot]

Kevin Conroy on Inside of You podcast with Michael Rosenbaum [ x ]

[onetruesporkbot]

Hey, all. I have this friend, MachSabre, that is deleting the DeviantArt page he's had for a while. Has something to do with DA dealing with AI-generated art...I don't know the finer details, but he's getting rid of it Sunday, November 13th. Sorry this is so last-minute, but if you're interested in checking out his page and saving his stuff for posterity, CLICK HERE. He's got years of work there, so you can see the progression of his style. He's done Transformers, cartoons, original characters, Transformers, comics, stuff from HIS web comics, and...I think some Transformers stuff. Here's one of his pieces that I've always liked, "Chiropteras".

So if you want, check it out while you still can. If you catch this too late, sorry for not posting sooner.

[onetruesporkbot]

Surprise (in-game) Gifts

So, I've been playing DCUO lately...possibly more than I should, but that's neither here nor there...and a few days ago, one of my characters (the Blackbat-inspired one pictured above) gets a surprise email message with four different gear styles. From "Taylor Swift". Of course, I didn't thinking this was from the singer. Sure, it's KINDA possible...for all I know, she's avid player when she's not touring, recording, or writing about the last guy she dated. But, this was...suspicious to say the least. There are people in the chat constantly touting something for sale or something that's likely a scam, repeating their "offers" five to ten times while players ignore them. Yeah, all the message contained, last I checked, were the styles, so I doubt they could, like, hack my account. But I prefer to play things safe all the same.

So I decide to search for a "Taylor Swift" on DCUO, see if anyone's gotten surprise styles from some rando player, and if there were any negative results. This leads me to a guy named Jim that works for @IGN, who apparently named his character after the musician way back when. The search even included an old tweet of Jim's that he doesn't respond to in-game email messages because he's too busy playing the game. After I saw the message, I did send a response, asking if this is something "Taylor Swift" did often, to gauge their response, so I guess that was futile. I get it though, I'm usually too busy playing to see direct texts to me in the chat. Heck, I leave the volume off because I'm typically listening to something else while I'm playing.

"Long story short..." "TOO LATE."

So, Jim, if you did indeed send me that collection of gear styles, thanks for the spontaneous generosity. Though, not to offend, but that character already has these particular styles, but I can always see if one of my other characters could use them.

[onetruesporkbot]

Apparently, to some would-be gatekeeper, snarky criticism of bad writing, and snarky memes emphasizing those criticisms, are equal to death threats against creators.

I got notified by email that I was mentioned by someone I don't know, in this really long post about Tumblr users attacking creators, one of whom, allegedly, made threats against the lives. The post included some my past posts, some written, some photoshopped pictures I made, voicing my displeasure about James Tynion IV and his writing (specifically, how bad it is). The post was...not well structured (which may in part be because of Tumblr's format), and was not easy to read...or skim, for that matter. I don't think it's right to threaten a creator's life, so on that much we agree, but calling me out felt more like...

I don't advocate threatening writers or artists, no matter how much I dislike their work. If I find a severe lack of redeeming qualities about said work, I will point it out. If someone wants to disagree with me, that's fine. But to equate "here's why this comic/writer/retcon/story is total crap" with "GRRRR, ME WISH DEATH ON WRITER ME NO LIKE"...is intellectually dishonest on its face.

The post included "orders" for people to "leave the fandom" and "stop buying comics". Funny, since DC's been certainly inviting me to do so with so many terrible decisions for the past decade. Setting aside the erroneous attempt to command a complete stranger you took no time to genuinely engage with (regardless of what excuses were made), I have every right to share a viewpoint you don't have (or like), even if it's about a creator you enjoy. Plenty of people dislike things I like, I just don't make a crusade about it.

Don't lecture me about "thinking the characters were real" (but sure, if they were real, they'd TOTALLY think the way YOU think they would, and that's not a hypocritical fallacy at all). Someone did a bad job; his work made a poor-but-lasting impact on characters he never seemed to "get" as well as he claimed he did. He had absolutely nothing new to say or do with these characters, and warped them into something barely recognizable. They would be done more justice by abandoning the restrictions of pointless, reductive changes and hollow narrative ploys. One of my favorite characters was done horribly, and kept to a horrible standard, for inexplicable reasons. I've been told "everything's fine, they fixed things," only to find...that's not quite the case. I'm apparently supposed to be wildly impressed by minimal efforts in course correction, and just like something because it alleges to have a character I like, and if I don't like it, don't say anything. But I guess I'm crazy and evil for having a personal investment in a character and CARING ABOUT COHERENCY AND COHESIVENESS IN STORYTELLING AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.

If that's not important to you, random blogger-person, then I can't control that. No more than I can control how you seemed to ignore OTHER posts I made, where I was much more diplomatic. But if you're not going to actually attempt to form a remotely cogent argument, and instead make some "rallying cry" to "kick people out" and lump drastically different approaches together...because you think you make the rules?...then you've already lost whatever argument you started.

I will continue criticizing as much as I please, if the mood strikes me. I will not make or endorse death threats, because I don't approve of such actions. However, if my words get a little...harsh...coarse...vulgar, if you will...that is due to factors that are, frankly, none of your business. You come off as one who, like many I've encountered before, choose not to see beyond their own opinions, and instead pretend to understand the opposing side when they clearly don't. Maybe you wrote this in a particular frenzy of emotion and got carried away (it's happened to me, too). But to suggest some Simpsons images and rehashed memes are the same thing as threatening someone's life? That's when you've need to take a few steps back and reassess.

I don't like the crappy, crappy, terribly awful and crappy reinvention for Cassie Cain. I feel she could be written better without that crappy, crappy, terribly awful and crappy reinvention.

Boo.

Freaking.

Hoo.

James Tynion IV may be a super guy at parties, I don't know. But I find him a barely serviceable writer, most of the time, and pretty bad the rest of the time. That is not me wishing or threatening death on him, or anyone. If you like him, go ahead and like him. Me criticizing HIM is not me criticizing YOU. Anyone criticizing anything you like, is NOT an attack on you.

I challenge you to meditate on that fact.

P.S. I actually haven't used Tumblr much for over a year...haven't much felt like it...but someone went and gave me a reason.

[onetruesporkbot]

At first, the "medical staff goofing around" made me think of Scrubs. But nah, it's definitely more like M*A*S*H*. Lifeline is Hawkeye, Clampdown is Burns, Alita is...well, either Colonel Blake or Potter.

Transformers Zodiac: 01

Hey, long time, no see. Thought I’d post a Transformers fancomic series that i’ve been doing here for a bit. Transformers Zodiac, based primarily on the Diaclone characters. (With a few others thrown in for good measure.) It’s in it’s own universe that’s a mixture of various continuities. (Think like a mixture of the Prime Wars Trilogy and with a Post-G2 universe.) But for now, this is first story. I’m working on the follow up with Deep Cover & Clampdown now. I hope you like it.

And here’s two one-pagers I did just for fun.

  ________

(Apologizes for Lifeline’s buttshot… It was part of a commission that requested it.)

[onetruesporkbot]

Sporky's LPoH: Pinnitchyo

Apparently, I made this and just forgot about it, until browsing some other stuff.

"Oh, but there's a new Batgirls book and it's..." Gonna stop you right there. I don't care who's writing, I don't care if they're a "big fan", I don't care if other people at DC claim to be "excited", I don't care that they brought back the NML Batgirl suit. First off, this is an idea I've seen done before by artists on DeviantArt. Second, I have no reason to think this will be the return to form it needs to be for either character, or that anyone will do the concept justice. Third, I'm more inclined to think that they'll just end up writing a bunch of self-indulgent tripe that is less about "being true to the characters" and more about them twisting them into what THEY want the character to be. Like Tynion did. If they want to finally play it smart and fully abandon everything remotely from or based on Tynion's writing or influence, then great. Otherwise, they're just letting the mistakes continue and I'm not paying for that crap.

[onetruesporkbot]

Seen this one several times, only now do I notice the out-of-place bat in the background of the third panel.

By Dragonarte

Instagram | Facebook | Website

[onetruesporkbot]

[onetruesporkbot]

[onetruesporkbot]

Tired

I'm tired of it. I'm tired of everything.

"FaUCi LiEd tO Us! DuH e-MaiLs pRovE hE lied!" No, they don't. You only think that because the straightforward science and expertise he brought to table conflicted with fat-ass-45's egocentric, greedy, self-aggrandizing lies. "BuT dUh e-mAilS..." You didn't read the e-mails. They're 3,000 pages. You did't even read a full article about about which celebrity did what thing about the other thing that time. You didn't read 3,000 pages. You believe Fauci lied because you take, at face value, the word of lying scumbags like Hannity, Carlson, and most of FOX News, OAN, Newsmax, who never cared about honesty or truth, just ratings and money. You listen to people on YouTube with some beef against "the libs" because of some imagined slight or basic disagreement. "Hey, this Democrat-voting progressive said my favorite cartoon character should be a gay Hispanic! That must mean a seasoned physician that didn't bend the knee to Donny the Failed Business Boy must be a liar!" You don't do your own research, you don't think critically, so you don't know about Fauci, the e-mails, or anything. You (mis)placed your trust in people with no desire, obligation, or motivation to be truthful to you. The Backfire Effect is preventing you from admitting you were wrong to trust the untrustworthy.

"...bUt e-MaILs..." The only time Sean Hannity ever told the truth was when he admitted to not vetting the information he doles out on his shitshow hour. Even the crap he claimed to have vetted, wasn't corroborated by ACTUAL news sources, or even FOX News itself. He, like Tucker "has a horsefly hotel behind his teeth" Carlson, use incendiary talking points, paranoia, and partisan fear-mongering to convince people of things that aren't true. Why the-flaming-Hell else do you think Trump relied on them so much?

"...BuT... If you ACTAULLY listened to Fauci's words this past year and a half of Orange-Ape's COVID nonsense, the specific words he uses and the context therein, you'd realize he isn't some danger to the country. He hasn't doomed us all, he didn't foul up so bad that things were made worse. No, THAT shit was done by the idiot that can't lead, and stubborn Americans that don't care about their fellow citizens. They'd rather live in fun, exciting fantasies about politicians out to "get" them, and how an obese, barely-literate, probably rapist and failed businessman that's never known a hard day's work in his life, was somehow "saving the country", Rambo style, by profiting himself at the expense human life, morality, and decency.

And the big, ironic thing is, if Trump had pretended to be a Democrat, did the same things while wearing a thin blue veil instead of red, the very people that act like he's an innocent victim of a hate crime every time he gets any amount of rational criticism, would be perfectly okay with him literally being executed for what he's done.

"InVeStiGatE FaUcI!" No, investigate the idiots in politics and liars in "Conservative" media that keep saying crap with no foundation, as if it was fact. Why are they so angry at measures designed to contain a virus? Why are they so eager to spread unverified claims? Why do the continually side with a twice-impeached, criminally negligent, cowardly LOSER that keeps saying things that aren't true? Why do they claim there was "massive fraud" in an election where THEY gained or retained seats, and where what little fraud there was, not only didn't get counted, but was STATISTICALLY ZERO? Like, 0.0001%, give or take a point-zero.

...

The cancer of stupidity has spread too far, and it's the likes of Carlson, Hannity, Tayler-Greene, Hawley, Rand Paul, who's so damned insecure that he needs to discredit someone that's been working to actually help people, and dozens more that profit from the sickness. If I go to Hell, I hope I get a front row to seeing them all burn, because these idiots, most of whom claim to be Catholics/Christians, have traded in God and truth for temporal money and power, at the expense of human life and welfare. They've not only chosen to be beyond saving, but they want to take unwitting people with them using their lies.

Disgraceful. Disgusting. But apparently the path 45's Republicans want. But yeah, let's pretend some dumbass liberal saying some dumbass thing you disagree with is somehow equal or greater than the verifiable bullshit you just want to be true. Who needs a conscience when you've got false equivalence and catchy nicknames?

I'm fucking sick and tired of it. All of it. Everything.

[onetruesporkbot]

Sporky’s LPoH: Super Rebirth

A few weeks ago, I read that Superman wears a black suit in the Snyder Cut of Justice League because “black symbolizes rebirth.” Which...yeah, I’d never heard of that. It just feels like it’s Zacky-boy’s constant need to make things “darker” (”BeCauSe iT’s So GroWn uP, YoU gUyS!”), and just happens to double as a nod to the comics.

Curious, I just punched into google “what color symbolizes rebirth, and got...green. Because, y’know...green. So I found an outline of Supes from the 90′s animated series, and did this.

     “Great hearts, stars, and horseshoes, clovers, and blue moons of Krypton!”

So, yeah, it looks like his St. Patrick’s Day uniform, but is more “rebirth” than something you’d wear to a funeral.

Then I got to thinking that, as far as the movies are concerned, he’s technically being resurrected. So checked the color associated with THAT, and got white and gold, because Jesus Christ. True, Supes was actually made more like Moses in his creation, but Snyder loves to hammer in Christ symbolism...which I guess some people think is deep. So I did this.

Because Easter.

I kept the green, because of the aforementioned relation to rebirth. There’s also a variant on this.

Red instead of green, for...I don’t know “blood of Christ” or maybe just to reference the red on Kal’s suit.

I’m not watching the Snyder Cut. Let it, and the Snyderverse, disappear.

[onetruesporkbot]

Sporky’s LPoH: Gwen Doodled

Yeah, it’s been a while. Because, well...*gestures at everything*.

So, a little while back, I noticed that one of those “Doodley” ads on YouTube, where they talk about how “everyone loves doodle-videos...yeah, sure they do...

Anyway, one of the characters they drew looked a lot like the character Gwen from the Ben 10 series, after a time jump when they were older. I was never a big follower, but I figured, hey, could be something to kill some time.

So, yeah...a thing I did. I didn’t draw it, only colored it in. Credit where it’s due.