#I MISS THE SQUID GAME ERA

[bucketsquid]

Religion in the World of Splatoon - An Analysis

A thought struck me when I was thinking about the Horrorboros and how it’s pretty strongly intended to be an Eastern dragon-- “there really isn’t much discussion on the topic of religion and spirituality in the Splatoon world, even though it’s quite There”. I think that’s really interesting, because while it’s not a detail that’s front-and-center, it’s still pretty present in aspects of the world.

So, I offer you: a quick look and breakdown of religious + spiritual aspects in the funny little squid game. It’s not catch-all, I may miss fine details or this or that, but there’s some stuff that people often miss or are surprised to hear when I bring it up.

The tl;dr is that “yeah, it’s there. Squid Shinto is alive and well and we have, at least, canonization that the Squids (and Octopuses) acknowledge Christianity existing”.

But that’s not nearly enough for me, so read on if you want to see the details!

With the whole game taking place in mollusc-era Japan, there’s a good deal of “leftover” spiritual and religious aspects that remain or have otherwise been adopted by its cephalopod residents. I have a pretty strong case to say that Shinto still very much exists, and is a part of life, for Inklings and Octolings. Shinto at its core isn’t something that people with only a Western experience with religion and spirituality might easily pick out, simply because it’s treated and integrated into society somewhat differently. It’s something you have to approach after discarding your expectations, experiences and baggage involving what you know of religion. But it’s there, and really smoothly woven into Inkopolis.

(Pic from Splatoonwiki, higher res here.)

Skipper Pavilion is pretty intensely and obviously a center of traditional Japanese celebration and Shinto spirituality. It’s a theater first and foremost, not necessarily a shrine, but it has Shinto aspects present. Its two mudskipper statues are direct parallels to komainu statues, which you’ll often find guarding a shrine; they even have the “one with closed mouth, one with an open mouth” detail found in paired komainu statues. Clever attention to detail!

(Pic from Splatoonwiki, higher res here.)

Note these little areas with the blue curtains, too. The boxes of objects being sold remind me quite strongly of windows at shrines where you obtain omamori! Shinto shrines regularly offer these to people who give a donation, and they provide the shrine’s blessing to those who carry them on their person. (We never say that you buy or sell omamori.)

Finally, while I can’t find visuals of them, Splatoonwiki also says that there’s collections of ema plaques on the Skipper Pavilion stage as well. These are small wooden plaques that one typically writes wishes or desires on, before hanging them up with other ema. Like with the omamori, you can regularly find these at Shinto shrines, both in terms of ones you can obtain, and in space for you to hang them up. (If someone can find a screencap of the ema in this stage, I’d really appreciate it!)

...

Moving on from the Pavilion, there’s some other small details and indications of Shinto or a derived form of it in Inkopolis culture. One familiar sight is the Splatfest fax machine.

It’s the super-special fax machine that delivers our Splatfest themes! And it’s also implied to have a divine nature: the NA localization names it The Voice on High according to Splatoonwiki, while in Japanese it’s Kami-sama. That’s a very esteemed title for a fax machine: this implies that it’s seen as a divine being, and quite respectfully too.

While kami is often a catchall word for “god”, “deity”, and so on in Japanese, it also refers to the inherently Shinto concept of kami: a spiritual being that may be anything as great as a deity of heavenly power, or something as modest as the soul of an ancient tree. It’s a kind of difficult concept to fully explain in a brief thing like this... but it’s a huge deal. Given the attention to detail with Shinto aspects in Inkopolis, I think it’s no coincidence that the fax machine is called this. And I think that’s incredibly charming that Inklings saw this still-functioning relic from the human age and attributed divinity to it and its abilities.

(More obvious, but note the ofuda (paper charms) attached to it in the photo; ofuda have a ton of different meanings and uses, but we can pretty safely assume it’s of a protective or otherwise spiritually-significant nature here.)

I’ll also go ahead and mention the message that comes with this Sunken Scroll: "Why are we here? For what purpose do we exist? We must not dwell on these questions. We can merely trust in the will of the universe and spend our days and nights in harmony with the world, celebrating this festival called Life."

Yeah, that feels very “practical Shinto thought” to me, speaking as a Shinto practitioner. While “contemplation of existence and purpose” are still perfectly good subjects, there’s also, often, an emphasis on living practically, focusing on the present day and your community, and being in harmony with the world. This fits in perfectly with that philosophy.

One more detail is that, originally, the Squid Sisters were meant to be shrine maidens of a sort. They were meant to pass on the messages of fax machine Kami-sama to everyone else... or in other words, announcing Splatfest themes. While you can’t see this shrine maiden DNA in their designs anymore, they kept the Splatfest announcement detail through development. In a sense, I guess all of the news announcers and Splatfest hosts have a relationship with the divine.

...

“Alright, that’s all super cool, Marine, but what about the other stuff? They have Squidmas and there’s those Sunken Scrolls too!”

Yup, they sure do. But from what we see in canon and from observations of the cephalopod world, these details feel like a case of “things that Inklings borrowed from humans and played with because they thought they were cool”, rather than “things Inklings kept and adopted because they were a part of the human culture in this region”. There doesn’t seem to be much of a presence of Squid Christianity much at all, at least in Inkopolis: Squidmas exists, but when discussed there’s absolutely no talk or evidence of any religious aspects that may have been lifted from humans. As far as we know, it’s “winter holiday that has some Christmas stage dressing”, which is a very Inkling thing to do with how much they like to borrow from humans. They love to do it so much.

Secondly, yeah, these two Sunken Scrolls do very much point at evidence of “the cephalopods found some traces of Christianity and made content based on it, or inspired by it”. The Book of Madai scroll is particularly pointed in its name, writing and artwork styles. But while this proves that this exists in some form, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s particularly established in Inkopolis. We don’t have nearly as much evidence for Squid Christianity as we do for Squid Shinto, and it’s pretty safe to say that Squid Shinto is much more of a thing in Inkadia.

So what are we taking away from this? Mostly “yeah, religion and spirituality are very much a thing in the Mollusc Era, and it’s very elegantly woven into the setting”. Pretty cool if you ask me, it makes me really happy to find these thoughtfully-placed details where I then go “oh, I know what that is!”. It really adds to the hopeful post-human setting, that even after humans have long since gone extinct, their legacy still remains, and is celebrated and cared deeply for by the Earth’s new peoples.

I’ll probably add a small reblog to this later with my thoughts on the Inkantation and Salmonids, but this is definitely enough for one post.

[inkedmyths]

Okay so I just spent like half an hour screwing around with the new Jukebox. Here is the summary.

What we've got

All Splatoon 3 battle songs

All Splat3 Splatfest songs (with proper names for Deep Cut's solos, Anarchy Poisons Bird, Snake, and Boar versions)

All Splat3 Lobby music, now named! (Each track appears to be by a different, new unheard of group, like a collab album)

All Splat3 storymode songs!

Tableturf tracks

All normal battle songs from the previous two games

The Squid Sisters original tracklist, Splat 1 era

What we don't have

Turquoise October (aside from the Crater missions track, Crater Eighters routine, and of course, Octoling Rendezvous) (the other storymode level tracks are by a different group, Octoplush. Although, it might just be renamed and mammal-ified Turquoise... who knows)

Dedf1sh

Octavio's tracks (aside from his Splat 3 battle of course)

Splat 2's Squid Sisters tracks

Off the Hook's original tracklist

"Unimportant" tracks like the old demos, victory jingles, whatever the heck is playing outside some of the buildings in the alleyways

So essentially we are missing Off The Hook and Storymode soundtracks. Off The Hook doesn't surprise me, I assume we'll get those when Side Order drops. The old Hero Mode tracks being missing are a little surprising. Fingers crossed we get those later, though, especially Tidal Rush and I Am Octavio.

[lightlykos]

A list of LGBTQA+ vtubers and will not play the wizard game

@sennarivt

A dragon vtuber who likes streaming jrpgs she's really down to earth and sweet they often stream with there best friend nikkimo and are the best comedy duo of this decade honestly

2. KippuChase

A kappa boy with a really nice voice chase's streams have the vibes of a slice of life anime that quickly turns into the wildest story of your life

3.@follyknight

not only a really cute 3d vtuber but also a really talented 3d artist! i just started following them recently and they just have very warm vibes i would ba college roommates with them

4.Redclaw

some of the best vtubers to me just have a really out there theme Redclaw is a T-Rex vtuber how cool is that?

5.@demilypyro

if your a tumblrina then you're probably already familiar with miss demily but if your not(what are you doing?)! she is the og ! I always admire their straightforward attitude

6. @moss-mel (their twitter )

the funniest fckin person in the world they change their layout to match the game they play and I'm always really blown away by their art

7.@mrsmothmom

recently has been playing yugioh and its been very fun to watch , if your a fan of tarot cards then you'll be right at home with her streams!

8. S3APARTY @s3aparty

a really talented artist they played sonic adventure once and im hooked for life

9. WaifuWaluigi

okay she isn't a vtuber but I like she her streams a lot they make me feel like im at one big sleep over and got me past my pink hating era she is the most girl ever

10. thegeeksquid

what can be better then a squid? a squid that can play hitman! they're energy is infectious and has a very chaotic aura

[weizhentian]

I was playing Shantae and the Pirate's Curse.

Mostly I enjoyed it.

1) The first "escape sequence" with Rottytops is infuriating.

2) The stealth section in the palace has even less checkpoints and is even more infuriating.

3) The character designs feel like they're appealing to horny moé fans.

4) They really put 4 of the female characters in Slave Leia outfits. I read on a Metroid server that Wayforward caters to horny people, and I can see why.

5) The knockback from getting hit is infuriating, especially when there's multiple enemies on-screen and you can't dodge all their hits :/

6) The game could benefit from an autosave system because I died after defeating the squid boss on Tan Line Island trying to collect items.

7) I got stuck in a purple block pit on Tan Line Island trying to get the heart squid at the bottom. It's bullshit there's no auto escape feature from dungeons.

8) A lot of newer pixel art games miss the mark on what made the SNES and GBA era pixel art so great. This game is an example of good pixel art.

[clockforaheart]

Spider-Verse Spider-Sona

Wanted to hop on the Spidersona train thanks to my little brother. This Earth is based on a Victorian-era style, with many villains having literary references. Eleanor Parker comes from a well-off family, but much to her mother’s dismay, she wants to follow in her father’s footsteps into science. She was working on a cure for scarlet fever when a spider got into some of her chemicals. The spider survived, and Eleanor kept it around as a pet to see how it developed. Eleanor contracts Scarlet Fever and, in desperation, drinks one of her antidotes. It doesn’t work until the spider takes pity on her. It bites her with the venom interacting with the formula curing her and giving her spider powers. She dresses in a more masculine costume as she would not be taken seriously as a female hero. She uses a fencing sword as she grew up listening to the story of the Three Musketeers. (I haven’t decided if I’ll keep that or not). Art by my very talented little brother, who wanted to help make mine after making one of his own. Think I’m making Norman Osborn/Green Goblin Dr. Jeykle/Mr. Hyde! Introducing the villains, at least what we have so far! See if you can spot their inspirations! Not every villain has a back story yet, but here we go! Ideas are always welcome. Adrian Toomes: Known as the Vulture, as his actual name is currently known to the public. Toomes was a cruel man who was always jealous of his younger and more successful counterparts. One day a particularly boastful man with an eye for getting the best contracts came in raving about his success. Toomes snaps, killing the younger man. Toomes then gets the idea to hide the body under his floorboard. While he got away with death, he is driven mad when he believes he can still hear the heartbeat. So he disposes of the heart in the only way his broken mind can think and consumes it. Now he prowls the streets killing those he sees as youthful and successful, with the only thing missing from the bodies being the hearts.

Hydro-Man: Morris Bench was nothing more than a lowly assistant to a French marine biologist who wanted to study the monstrous creatures of the ocean. One day their ship is captured by a mysterious submersible whose captain takes them as prisoners on his wild travels, his latest claiming to be on a mission to be the first to the Arctic, claiming he can do so as his machine is powered but a mysterious power source. Unfortunately, their trip is doomed as the submersible is attacked by a giant squid that crushes them. The Bench is the only one to escape as he takes the only dive suit k! killing anyone who tries to take it from him. He gets away into the ocean only for the submersible to explode, and Bench is caught in the crossfire. A small amount of ocean water had started to leak into the suit, and the unknown power source turned Bench into water. Bench uses the dive suit to keep his form.

Mystery Man: The great Quintin Beck was once a successful stage magician who used science to create his performances. Unfortunately, his act had gone stale, and no one would attend his shows. He had the idea to create a chemical compound to make himself invisible. It worked…too well.

Electro: Maxwell Dillion was not a good man, so he was sent to the gallows. At the same time, a scientist named Galvini was studying the effects of electricity, especially when it came to living animals. He had shown in previous experiments how he could cause deceased animals to temporarily move again using electricity. But what if the same could happen to humans. He obtained the body of Dillion, to which he hooked up a larger version of his machine to the body and sent the electricity into the body. The body was almost completely destroyed, but Maxwell Dillion did return with electrifying results.

Finally, Kraven the Wolf Hunter: Alexei Kravinoff was the best big game hunter. He called himself the wolf because of the way he would tear into his prey. But he was also very prideful and always wanted bigger and better kills. On his latest trip to Africa, he came upon a Panther. Now the locals had warned Kravinoff that out of all the animals in this area, the Panther was the only creature he was to leave alone as it was sacred to this tribe. Unfortunately, the ever-prideful Kravinoff took it as a challenge and slew one of the great panthers. Enraged, the people demanded why Kravinoff had gone against their request. Kravinoff merely shrugged, claiming he was like the wolves and not bound to respect any sacred animal. The people were enraged and, much to Kravinoff’s horror, well-known for mystical arts. They cursed Kravinoff to turn into the beast he claimed he was. Now he would know the fear of being hunted.

[thezanyarthropleura]

March 20 (1 of 2: 1968)

(This post covers Gamera vs. Viras, look out for a separate Gamera: Super Monster post later today)

Happy 55 years to Gamera vs. Viras, the fourth film in the Showa era, and happy 43 years to Gamera: Super Monster, the eighth and final film in the Showa era. Two movies that use extensive stock footage, but that use it to very different effect. Also two films that feature alien spaceships, and scenes where Gamera is mind-controlled by said alien spaceships.

There are actually quite a few women in Gamera vs. Viras’s adult cast, it’s just that we don’t actually see much of the adult cast. This film begins the tradition of featuring two child protagonists, one Japanese and one American, something that would apply to all of the final four mainline Showa films. As would the fact that the film pretty much centers around them and them alone. We do get a sort-of notable amount of screentime and relevance for Masao’s older sister Mariko, who wears a neat-looking compass/tracking device/communicator wristwatch her brother invented so they both can wear one and keep track of each other, and that’s about as much character depth as you’re going to get out of this movie.

The film does give a somewhat clever justification for the two children of different nationalities to feature in the plot. It takes place around what is apparently the Boy Scouts equivalent of joint US-Japan navy games, from which the two kids go missing and through some Chekhov’s shenanigans end up having a cute underwater adventure in a submarine where Gamera swims alongside. Then the aliens show up, stick Gamera under a big dome, search through his memories because they can do that, and decide to exploit his kindness toward children, using a teleporter to abduct the two kids from the Boy Scouts camp. Because apparently the Virasians have no concept of professional courtesy.

Since this film was made in 1968, this is seen as a distinctly worse situation than the one the kids were already in, and everyone immediately panics. Mariko seeks comfort from who I can only assume are the other members of her lesbian polycule, and Gamera goes off to destroy a bunch of buildings he’s already destroyed (because the aliens put a mind control device on his neck, not because he’s being driven mad at having to choose between leaving the kids with the aliens and returning them to the Boy Scouts, although I have to imagine that is also happening).

Gamera vs. Viras, as previously mentioned, is the sole mainline Showa film that hasn’t been tackled by Mystery Science Theater 3000, having shared that distinction with Gamera vs. Jiger until that film was included in season 13 of the show just last year. And while I’d like to see that status change just as much as any fan of both franchises, it’s easy to see why this film would be challenging to riff on, at least in its complete form. Unlike Gamera: Super Monster’s cut-down, fast-paced fights, the stock footage in this film is presented pretty much as-is, with entire sections of combat and destruction scenes from previous films taking up a significant chunk of the screentime. There are really only so many stock footage jokes one can make when you’re being subjected to ten or twenty full minutes of it depending on the version, with only a brief narration when it changes from the slow, drawn-out Barugon fight to the slow, drawn-out Gyaos fight.

That said, the special effects for Viras are remarkably good, seeming to foreshadow the incredible work done in bringing Legion to life almost three decades later. While at some points in the film, particularly the scene where the leader Viras is absorbing the others, it’s obvious the supposedly squidlike creature has two human legs poorly disguised among its tentacles, the fight scene itself does a lot to hide this and make Viras look truly like the space squid he’s meant to be. This is interspersed with scenes that use full-tentacled props to represent the alien, with very little to take one out of the illusion once the combat truly gets going. Additionally, Gamera’s fight with a Virasian spaceship in the opening moments of the film is both creative and fun, somewhat making up for there only being one proper monster battle this time around.

I kinda like this movie. It takes the formula in new and interesting directions, and while long stretches of the film will bore most viewers (and bash you over the head with so many Chekhov’s guns, skills, and pranks you’ll be wishing for a deus ex machina just for variety’s sake), it’s really only the few obvious issues I’ve mentioned that bring it down. The majority of the film is no less an earnest, fun and wacky adventure than any of the others that try to be, and practically every moment of new Gamera footage is a moment well worth looking forward to. That said, it’s probably either my least favorite Gamera film, or very close to the bottom of the list. I guess I do ship Mariko with the other two women she shares almost every scene with, but as you might already know, today’s other film does the exact same thing, but better.

Enjoy this movie with pull-n-peel twizzlers, cut into 2-3-inch pieces and started from both ends. And if you can, slice up some apples and make one of those crustless space octagon sandwiches, they look delicious (even if they, apparently, were not).

[superspy2222]

💋POP CULTURE:

(tener en cuenta esto para armar outfits para podcast o photoshoots)

EJERCITO

I learnt how to be a lady

COLEGIO DE MONJAS

carmencita

nuestra señora del carmen

MUÑECA DE PORCELANA

INSATIABLE

miss magic jesus

ALICE IN WONDERLAND

PROM / QUINCEAÑERO

MILITAR

cantos militares

terrorismo 90s

PERÚ CORE

narcotrafico

prostitucion

chullachaqui

PATACLAUN

JAIME BAYLI

UN MISTERIO UNA PASION

PIETRO SIBILLE

CASI ANGELES

baila baila princesita

BELINDA

lolita

LA SOLEDAD DE LOS NUMEROS PRIMOS

alice

el tatuaje de la rosa azul en la barriga

ARCTIC MONKEYS

piledriver waltz

JAWBREAKER

bromas que matan

I made you and I can destroy you just as easy

violet, new name

CIELO LATINI

me como a mi

abzurdah

alejo

tratame suavemente

hogwig

tatuado alejo en la planta del pie

CLOSER

alice, a stripper

PERÚ CORE

PATACLAUN

JAIME BAYLI

UN MISTERIO UNA PASION

PIETRO SIBILLE

MICAELA VILLEGAS

FLORICIENTA

vestido azul

flores amarillas

GLEE

ANNA DELVEY

BOY'S CULTURE

dance with me the gallowdance

the toxicity of our city

how do you own disorder?

you could have anyone you want, why would you want to be with me?

a little peace of heaven

MELANIE MARTINEZ

THE LOVER

zapatos rojos

CIELO LATINI

me como a mi

abzurdah

alejo

tratame suavemente

hogwig

tatuado alejo en la planta del pie

GIRL INTERRUPTED

LEONES

FRIDA KAHLO

QUINCEAÑERAS

RUBI

TERESA

PATITO FEO

PASION DE GAVILANES

quie

LAS MUÑECAS DE LA MAFIA

SUSY DIAZ

SIN TETAS NO HAY PARAISO

daniela suicidandose dsps de perder el pageont

💗LANA DEL REY

Lizzy grant

“Everybody knows that I'm a good girl, officer”

“Prison isn't going to keep me from you”

💗THE LOVER

zapatos dorados, sombrero rosado, labios rojos

limusina negra

💗SQUID GAME

sangwoo

seul national university

💗CASI ANGELES

melody

💗 avenged sevenfold

a little piece of heaven

cause a really always knew that my little crime would be cold thats what a get a heater for your thighs

💗GOSSIP GIRL

jenny humphrey

lonely boy

lipstick longs longer but gloss is more fun

💗BELANOVA

fantasia pop

💗RBD

mia colucci

elite way school

NAN GOLDIN

the ballad of the sexual dependency

GIA

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL

THE WEEKND

heartless

DELLAFUENTE

por la musica olvide que yo era la unica

[voiceofvetri]

Day 18

Finally starting to feel a little better today ; Days like DAY 18 always render the much needed positive reassurance to keep going .

The last couple days weren't so great despite the studious attempts to snap out of the negative narrations that've been controlling my trail of thoughts and actions . But today was a little different . Getting up from the bed in the morning wasn't so bad ; Going out of my natural habitat didn't give me the jitters ; Getting back to missed calls didn't feel like I am in " The Squid Game " . Basically , happiness didn't feel like the polar antonym to my own aura anymore . So that's a good sign , I think !

Went for a walk with a friend today in the evening ; I tried to eat healthy foods the entire day fighting myself every second from thulping and gulping junk . Being a solitary glutton and a couch potato is the easiest way to get through days that are just too much to handle but I realised the hard way that it's not ideal . And if I had learnt something from the recent pandemic and quarantine era , choosing the right option however hard it may be is always better than settling for the easiest way out . Easy or ideal , only time makes the day better . So why not choose the right thing to do in the meanwhile ?! Anyways , I am just grateful that I feel a tad better every next day .

[georgelore]

"How many times have you watched corpse's squid game video?"

yes

[gimletagain]

netflix

Get ready for a long one @the-empress-7

The news yesterday cemented my opinion that they will never get another deal, and while they did get a king’s ransom (see what I did there?) from Netflix, their careers in producing for “streamers” is effectively over. The era of handing out massive amounts of money to unproven content makers is over. To put it simply, 

- Despite what we’d like to think, Netflix did pay a decent amount of money to them for their overall deal.  Likely not the full whatever ridiculous 100m number they cited, but they weren’t cheap. We know that they did get an “overall deal” rather than “first look” because it was reported as such in NYT and Hollywood Reporter. An overall deal is a “golden handcuff” deal: as a creator, you get a fat amount of cash up front, and usually some type of negotiated cap on future royalties for your content - but like the record deals of yore, the studio owns your proverbial *ss. Your content cannot be shopped around anywhere, even if you develop an entire show with the company that they decide to never show because they don’t want it. You get no royalties past what’s negotiated up front - even if it becomes a Friends level hit that is syndicated on every single network around the world. To preserve upside, a lot of the best content creators will get both - some type of first look deal AND an overall deal. The truly valued creators can flex like this - Issa Rae did.

- Netflix gave them this deal because tech content platforms are judged on user growth as their core metric, with mega deals justified as a way to bring in new subscribers. This is why they have the frustrating habit of killing off highly ranked and loved shows after a few seasons. They’re not in the business of growing loyalty, just subscribers - which is a vicious cycle because it grows a very fickle high churn user base that comes on to watch something and then leaves. Big name exclusives are also good for them because they choke off other platforms from benefitting from being the ‘exclusive’ - getting Obama isn’t about just getting Obama, but making sure that Apple can’t get the users who would sign up for Obama content.

- Netflix reported subscriber decline yesterday when it issued guidance for growth in the last earnings call. This is very bad - basically one of the worst things a company can do in an earnings call is to miss to that extent. Last time they reported subscriber loss in 2011, it triggered a takeover attempt by an activist investor.

- Netflix’s entire business “thesis” is now under pressure - which is acquire at all costs, actual output be damned, because content acquisition = user acquisition = company growth. Many industry people have questioned this before - which is, do big names = big subscriber growth? And is this even sustainable when companies with extensive catalogs, like HBO-Time Warner, or Disney, enter the mix? Or companies with much bigger cash reserves to burn on acquisition, like Amazon or Apple, start playing? How about apps like TikTok taking up screen time for the teens and 20 year olds? They’re notoriously secretive, so we don’t know for sure, but there have been rumblings about the utility of these megadeals for a long time and it’s proving out to be a “no.” Some of their hits come from very unexpected places - like Squid Games, and some crazy deals have fallen completely flat relative to their cost, like Ryan Murphy’s. Still, they’ve managed to justify it by continuing to grow until yesterday.

- Netflix is now being held as the cautionary tale for the industry -that they’re not the game-changer everyone thought they were. The rules were in fact not rewritten by them - and that they’ve hit their limit when it comes to how much new content can truly be the magic bullet to create a perpetual media growth machine.  Now, what does this mean for H&M?

- Overall deals from unproven creators will likely take a backseat from now on, even if they’re super famous. Instead, I see those deals being limited to very seasoned creators who bring in the numbers, like Shonda. We’ll see more “first look” deals with the general celebs. Serena Wiliams just got a first-look deal with Amazon, meaning that they can both do as they wish with whatever she comes up with. (And she’s infinitely more marketable than her friends.)

- Bc they have an overall deal with Netflix right now, they are stuck. Their shows are quite literally set up to fail when they do launch. The narrative will be, “Oh god. Netflix really did lose their way as a company. Look how much they paid for H&M to put out stuff like this cheesy stuff that no one watched.” I wouldn’t be surprised if Netflix goes into extreme defense mode if the content they put out is so bad that they just brush the whole thing under the rug and pretend this never happened, and we never see their shows. Realistically, they will probably try to fluff one thing out as much as possible (like the Invictus doc), be inevitably disappointed, and quickly move on. The problem with them is that they’re incredibly over saturated and a one trick pony - even if you like them. A doc about Invictus isn’t going to do it and set twitter or Instagram aflame with memes like Bridgerton and drive people to subscribe. They already did that with Oprah. Unless there’s footage of Kate pulling out her hair or William giving him a Chris Rock slap in front of the Queen it’s not happening.

- Fairly or not, bc of the timing of this, the entire industry will see them as a cautionary tale in media deal-making for a while.

[enby-enderdragon]

Cringe is dead give headcanons (please)

Anon friend. Whoever you are behind those glasses, I would die for you.

Hduehsifjzjjwjd anyway, okay- So I had said Ye Old MCYT of the Team Crafted era, so I guess I’ll just give Team Crafted? My inbox is always open if anyone wants to know any headcanons I might have for others!!! Asks are appreciated!

Sky prefers to be called Sky because “Adam” always felt too formal and stiff, but “Sky” felt freer and chiller. Even as the commander of an army, he never wanted to be a person that people feared or were overly formal around. He just wants to help people.

Speaking of Sky being the commander of an army, the Sky Army is less of a militant force and more of a… Adventurer’s Guild sort of thing. The recruits take bounties and commissions and other little odd tasks here and there. It’s a real community and the “military base” that was given to Sky for his army looks more like a little village. There are kids running around and people just chatting with friends and all that kinda stuff. It’s super chill unless there’s a squid attack or anything.

The reason Sky likes gold so much is because he’s a piglin hybrid, but he’s more humanoid than some other types of non-humans, like Jerome or Deadlox for example. Sky’s only giveaway that he’s non-human is his eyes which are white pupils with black sclera like a piglin’s eyes.

Deadlox is a descendant of the Ender Dragon, so he has, y’know, the wings and horns and tail, but unlike how most people perceive dragon hybrids, he’s not really as badass as you’d think. His wings are too small to lift him off the ground to fly, the tail is a nuisance because, as a bipedal, he doesn’t need the balance help and he ends up tripping over his tail a lot and the horns cause a LOT of headaches during shedding season. He got dope fire magick though, that’s kinda badass.

As a Dragon hybrid, Deadlox has a hoard, of course. His thing that he keeps around and protects is different headsets. Like his green headphones, he’s got a bunch more that he keeps in his home in the village. The majority of the headsets that he has were gifts from his friends and you can always tell which pairs were given by who. Do NOT EVER touch Deadlox’s hoard unless you, uh, feel like losing anywhere from a finger to your entire arm jdhdhufhsudjchs

When Mitch and Jerome were first climbing their way to being the Hunger Games Champions, they were actually rivals at first. Almost every game that they ended up in together, the two would almost always end up facing each other in Deathmatch and they were pretty evenly matched hit for hit. One day, there was a tournament for a cash prize that Sky hosted (lore reasons >:3) where all the greatest fighters in all of Minecraftia were invited to fight to see who was the best of the best and Mitch and Jerome got paired together. After that game, the two were inseparable and were the closest of teams rather than rivals.

Seto was raised by witches and Illagers in a Woodland Mansion not too far from the Sky Army village (or, rather, where it would be built eventually, but you get what I’m saying-) and so, when he started to show a proficiency for magick, the witches and evokers leapt at the chance to teach him their crafts. Seto is now a masterful potions brewer, making potions that can last for HOURS, and he can create little vex-like fairy creatures to help him with anything he needs. He can also make Totems of Undying, but as a drawback, they make him physically ill for weeks after making them so it’s something he does very VERY sparingly.

Husky is kinda like a seelie? Idk how to spell the creature’s name, but it’s that mythological creature that usually looks like a seal, but they can shed that skin at will and underneath, they look like a person. Basically, Husky is like that. His animal skin is a Mudkip because he came from a Pixelmon server, but ended up getting trapped in a main hub when his server got shut down. Sky found a little lost and hurt Mudkip and brought it home to his server and, after being nursed back to health, the Mudkip reveals itself as Husky and Husky kinda feels indebted to Sky for the help and Husky decides to work to help Sky with the army when he needs help to repay him.

Technically, not completely Team Crafted, but Bodil? Bodil has a natural proficiency for coding even though he was never the proper Admin of a server, but anyone who has been in his friend groups always goes to him for help and device because he’s so good at finding bugs in coding or figuring out better ways to make something work and things like that. Shame that he wastes all his coding talent on his Epic Jump Maps or other troll things /j /j /j

Uhhhhhhh, okay, I know I’m missing people from the list, but I can’t think of any for Ian or Jason because I never properly watched them growing up to be completely and totally honest.

[cryptidfumikage]

hello 👋 it’s been a while 🤡 school is fucking me up but it’s my last semester so I’m hype!!!

anyway I’m thinking of expanding this blog to talk about more of my interests and characters I love, feel free to interact w/ this post if you’re into any of these:

helluva boss (faves: everyone 💀 especially striker)

squid game (faves: …. front man 🏃🏻‍♀️💨 also 67 but she’s everybody’s fave lmao)

music (I keep it general bc my tastes change a lot lmao, and I’d love to talk about a bunch of different genres!)

ghost (band) (haven’t been active in the fandom since papa 3 era but i’m looking to get back into it!!)

avenged sevenfold (this is the only other band fandom I’m into right now, haven’t actually been active in years but i miss them 🥺)

castlevania (netflix series) (faves: literally every character, but especially dracula... if u couldn’t already tell, i have a type 🙃 all them mysterious dilfs ahdkskwk)

beastars (anime only for now 😭 gotta catch up w the manga. my fave is panda man 🐼 gouhin supremacy)

animal crossing (have not played in months but w/ the latest updates i’m planning on getting back into it!)

I’m willing to post headcanons, theories, or whatever other ramblings I wanna spew into the void 🤓 feel free to send your own, or prompts! note: idk how nsfw I’ll be so minors please be aware before interacting!

i think I’ve overshared enough, if you made it this far ily 🤟

[violetsystems]

I like squid game. There’s a lot of scenery I recognize. I never lived in Korea but I spent months at a time there alone. I think my old passport has about fifteen entry stamps. I renewed it back in August so it’s completely blank now. I quit drinking half way through those trips because it was so peaceful. A lot of people I met there were kind of the same mentality as Chicago for me. They felt trapped. Not exactly like friends in China. Maybe more like Hong Kong. My cousin lives there. Yeah, yeah I know same country. Is that joke ok, David Chapelle? The debt theme is all too real. The acting is really good. The blood soup joke is horrifying but so is congealed oxblood soup. Don’t watch the fucking dub, please. I paid off my own squid game with interest from all those trips. My Survival Korean is just as shitty as my mandarin. I miss that time nostalgically. Which is why I hate when all the white people in the states want to bring a twenty years back instead of five. Mostly so they can badmouth and talk shit. My time in Asia or volunteering doesn’t even register to them. They’d rather focus on when I was a alcoholic jungle DJ named Kid Entropy who nobody would give a break. Pun intended. Everybody has so much dirt on people out here. Nobody in Korea or China know who that person I was. Lot of debt in that era. Lot of music I didn’t get paid for. Nothing changes really except now that I’m debt free people would rather have me worthless again. No games to play for cash out here. Just attempts to intimidate, incriminate, humiliate and demoralize. You’d swear it was the US army. More likely Navy brats. They expect you to submit to daily pranks in the street for pennies on the dollar. That is if you can spot a coin on the street before it hits the gutter. Police can’t even be bothered to jump through hoops to get vaccinated. I prefer verbal communication over underworld grunts and flashing lights. I speak Korean better than Chinese. Chinese better than Spanish. And French. Well. Studied it in High School. I can ask you where the beach is. I’m not going to make a trip to Jeju alone. If I do get trapped on an island. I’m pretty good with games. Right now I’m trapped in my apartment. Mostly to stay away from this city and it’s constant fuck shit. At least I’m not losing my kidney. 🎲

[brideofcthulhu10]

More headcanons to help me work through the dreaded writer's block! Hope you guys don't mind it's a bit slow right now, I plan on posting another tonight and hopefully I'll be able to get to some asks once my brain is no longer fried

Dwayne Headcanons

When he was responsible for Laddie, Dwayne would often take him out to the boardwalk whenever Star was busy. Sometimes he’d even choose to take him along even if they were with Star just to hang with the munchkin

If anyone told him he was too short Dwayne would hypnotize them into letting him one. He wasn't exactly worried about the kid being flung from the roller coaster, he could easily catch him if it happened. It felt awesome impressing him at the strength test, just watching him jump up and down as the attendant handed him a giant blue monkey which of course he'd give to Laddie. The boy was such a hyper, sunny child it was hard not to laugh when this spritely eight year old would play a water gun game and yell “this is a load of bullshit” when he lost. Well, he did grow up around four teenage guys, two having the worst language you could imagine. David used the word "fuck" like it was going out of style. At one point some lady in her thirties tried to lecture Laddie about watching his language, to which Dwayne had immediately stepped in after he said “piss off lady”. Again he had to choke back a laugh, pushing the kid behind him before this lady throttled him. To save face Dwayne feigned some half assed “shame on you” to Laddie just so she would piss off, and then ushered him away- for an ice cream sundae. Granted while he couldn’t condone a kid cussing up a storm, he did find it utterly hilarious watching this uppity chick squawk like a hen in outrage.

“Seriously though I don’t know where the hell you learned all that from-”

“Paul taught me.”

“Yeah, well, Paul probably isn’t the best guy to copy, kiddo. "

Chinese food isn’t his favorite, but he knows it’s Markos so he doesn’t complain when they have it at least once a week. Actually, his favorite is probably Hispanic. Many forget much of California was once Mexico, and as such the culture still thrived even into the early 1900s. Santa Carla flourished, and between pick pocketing gigs and heavy labor on the docks, Dwayne could always count on there being fresh tortillas for a few dollars after a long day. Elotes with extra chili powder, huarache, freshly brewed horchata on ice? Utterly delicious! Nothing can compare to freshly made tamales by a sweet abuela in a tiny food truck cooing to you in Spanish. Even he can blush when they pinch his cheeks gushing about what a skinny man he is. Paul and Marko love it as well and will often tag along when Dwayne goes to Mama Rosa’s, although he often has to elbow Paul in the gut because he’ll flirt with the cooks in the back into getting a free taco.

“Ay, Paul, mi angelito querido cielito, you’re skin and bones!”

“Well, I always skip a meal before coming here, abuela. Your cooking is too epic to have anything else in my stomach!”

“Dude, will you stop flirting with that poor woman before you give her a heart attack, you ass?”

Dwayne had a brother many years ago who was lost after being caught in direct sunlight during the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Since then on April 18th he holds a small memorial for his brother Jasper, who died pulling the curtains shut to shield them from the sun. Some years David, Paul and Marko will join him, silently drinking to their fallen friend. It's a rare moment of seriousness for these wild boys, sitting beside an altar crudely constructed atop a wooden crate, draped over with the jacket once worn by Jasper that survived the flames. Decorated in worn candles melted by decades of use, a bottle of rum from over eighty years ago still untouched with an empty shot glass beside it caked in dust and cobwebs, worn flowers shriveled into darkened husks, a glass of blood they keep freshly filled with each visit, feathers of birds to help carry him to the sky. Every time he adds something new, a gift from every era. Recently he brought Jasper a Def Leppard vinyl record, propped against a sketch of his brother drawn before his passing by an admirer who had died long ago. Paul left a little toy motorcycle for him, Marko brought an old pocket watch he found at an antique store that bore a striking resemblance to one he had admired long ago, and David brought him a hunting knife

“You would’ve loved hair bands, Jas. Everything’s changed now, its crazy. It sucks you never got a bike of your own,” Dwayne would say, sitting in the dark with only the tender flicker of candles brushing away the dark. Never again would he let the sun take him. It was the darkest, deepest cave in the hotel. And there, Dwayne spoke more than he ever does outside “Horses were cool, but it’s better to have something that doesn’t stop every time it takes a shit, you know?”

Unfortunately Dwayne sucks at video games. It’s not that he doesn’t get it, but he has the worst gamer rage. Now, Dwayne doesn’t often get legitimately mad, but when he’s been playing the same god damn stupid water level for the past hour and a half just to be killed by a squid-! Well, lets just say Paul practically dove to catch the controller before it was chucked at the tv, and cue a dirty look towards Dwayne for nearly smashing his “baby”. He wasn’t about to have him break ANOTHER controller. Yeah that wasn’t the first. At this point he’s content just watching from afar and sometimes back seat gaming when Marko is going the wrong way. He’s not nearly as bad as David who will openly call someone stupid after dying. 

Dwayne is definitely the type to nap after a long night. Truthfully he misses when he could just lay out in the sun like a lizard on a hot rock after a long day, it’d feel incredible. Instead he’s resorted to a hot water bottle or a heating pad. Yeah, he loves hot weather. Summertime is his favorite time, just savoring the toasted air blowing in his face on rides over the beaches. Sometimes he’ll try to wake up early to watch the sunset from within the cave, although it’s burnt him on more than one occasion he will still try to get a glimpse. Winter is the worst for him, he hates, absolutely despises the cold. Even though he doesn't technically get cold anymore, everything seems to die away in the winter leaving only twisted branches and grey skies. David may enjoy all that gloomy melancholy but not him.

One wouldn’t assume Dwayne to have much of a sweet tooth. That’s because they’re wrong. While he isn’t into the marshmallow caramel double candy bars deep fried and dipped in chocolate like Marko or Laddie, he has a serious weakness for chocolate. Like, a major weakness. Paul is still searching for his stash, tucked away somewhere secret in the hotel. Any time he thinks he’s close to finding it, Dwayne moves it again.

“Dude, sharing is fucking caring you greedy bastard”

“Get your own candy asshole, why do you think I keep my stash hidden from you guys?”

Now the whole hoity toity fancy chocolate isn’t what appeals to him. He can certainly appreciate a well made chunk of dark chocolate sprinkled with chili powder, but he’ll settle for a cheap bar snatched from a gas station. Most sweets weigh heavy on him, but chocolate is such a unique medium that can be changed into almost anything, appealing to every taste imaginable. Sweet, savory, spicy, bitter, semi-sweet, rich, dense, light. Chocolate cake, chocolate doughnut, hot chocolate, fudge, and of course the traditional candy bar. You make him a mug of Mexican hot chocolate and he is putty in your hands. You couldn’t necessarily bribe him with food. But you could certainly butter him up to suggestions when he’s crunching down on a candy bar. Paul knows this, and at this point Dwayne knows this guy has royally fucked up if he comes up to him with a stack of chocolate bars.

“Heeeeey, Dwayne, buddy, old pal, chum, lookie what I found, all for you man how cool is that?”

“....,” Dwayne glances up from his book at the handful of chocolate and slowly lowers it with a firm sigh. “What the hell did you do now?”

“Wha-Whaaa-? Oh! Okay, wow. Woooow. Offend much? I go out of my way- I mean, can’t a guy just, you know, do something nice for his best friend-?”

“Paul. What. did. you. do?”  

“Okay okay, well you see David made me go fill up his stupid bike, and there was this hot chick at the gas station, I mean perfect fuckin ten man, she had the biggest frickin tits- okay anyway! Well, next thing I know the keys are gone, the chick's gone, the fuckin bike- You gotta help me man he’s gonna fucking kill me and dance on my grave!”

Of course Dwayne will help… in exchange for twice the chocolate. Like I said, it won’t always work as a bribe, but it’ll certainly help your cause if you go in with some incentive.

[spongebob-connoisseur]

Also, can you tell me the episodes where Squidward gets hurt/punished the worst so I can avoid them? I don’t know him very well yet but I love him and can’t stand to see him in pain. To quote the sponge himself, I feel like we’re [siblings], only closer. 🥺

I went through the entire SB episode list today to write it down. It made me feel surprised how many squidward torture episodes there are. Or even episodes where squidward just suffers. Even in the classic seasons. And even this isn't an entire list since there's a handful of episodes I don't remember that well ans have to double check to make sure squidward gets tortured. I barely rewatched seasons 6-8 so uhh yeah. But usually if it's from that era then that's where squidward gets tortured the most.

Some of these are classic episodes and are generally good but if you don't like squidward being miserable or upset or hurt or even just inconvenienced then uhh avoid them.

Jellyfishing

Naughty nautical neighbors

Opposite day

Culture shock

Squidward the unfriendly ghost

I was a teenage gary

Squid's day off

Artist unknown

Ink lemonade

Club spongebob

Snowball effect

Clams

The camping episode

The lost mattress

Good neighbors

Funny pants

Squidbob tentaclepants

Wishing you well

Squidtastic voyage

The thing

Squidwood

Boat smarts

Good ol whatshisnamr

Breath of fresh squidward

Are you happy now?

I heart dancing

House fancy

Slide whistle stooges

Boating buddies

Giant squidward

Choir boys

Cepholopod lodge

Squid's visit

Professor squidward

PINEAPPLE RV

Jelly lodgers

Snooze you lose

A friendly game

Squidwards school for adults

There's probably more since I skimmed through the episode list and there's a handful missing but uhh here ya go

[serialreblogger]

Tagging Game

thank you for the tag @theproblemwithstardust!

rules: tag 10 people you think would like to be tagged, and copy/paste the asks into a new post. Answer all/as many of them as you want!

1. do you prefer writing with a black pen or a blue pen? bold of you provide such a boring binary. i prefer green

2. would you prefer to live in the country or in the city? again: no. give me Forest or give me death

3. if you could learn a new skill, what would it be? FLIGHT

4. do you drink your tea/coffee with sugar? so MUCH. i have to add half of it at the hot water station at work and half at my desk so my coworkers don’t catch on that i’m a hummingbird in human form

5. what was your favorite book as a child? one??? well i loved The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester. When i was little i read pretty much whatever i could get my hands on tho, most of which were really old and British for some reason? which is why i now talk like a horrific combination of “abominable tumblrite” and “Victorian aristocrat”

6. do you prefer baths or showers? BATHS but only if i can play music to drown out the sound of my ears ringing

7. if you could be a mythical creature, which one would you be? i WOULD be a dryad, but if i could choose i’d be a shapeshifter (capable of transforming into anything and everything)

8. paper or electronic books? i hoard books like a dragon hoards gold, but like. electronic books are also valid (no no look i’m not elitist, some of my best friends are fanfics)

9. what is your favorite item of clothing? i have a sky blue dress shirt that is the perfect fabric and colour and shape and i love it so much

10. do you like your name? would you like to change it? my Name is Linden, and i love it. my legal name is distressingly ugly and i hate it

11. who is a mentor to you? dang, friend, i don’t think i trust any adults enough for them to count

12. would you like to be famous? if so, what for? i would like to be famous for writing excellent, world-changing fantasy fiction. it will have actual representation and will be so popular that no one will remember the name of that other british writer, she who must not be named

13. are you a restless sleeper? ehh i don’t have insomnia but like. i don’t -enjoy- sleeping

14. do you consider yourself to be a romantic person? nah fam i’m MUCH to screwed up for that. i like romance well enough but i’m awkward as heck, doubly so with romance. sorry Cris, i love you

15. which element best represents you? aether! i am Edgy

16. who do you want to be closer to? some of my irl friends, i guess, bc i’m real bad at relationship maintenance sometimes

17. do you miss someone at the moment? i miss my girlfriend!

18. tell us about an early childhood memory. my childhood had happy parts but i mostly remember all that trauma, so imma give y’all a pass on that one

19. what is the strangest thing you have eaten? honestly, probably calamari. i’m not an adventurous eater. but i do like me some nice rubbery squid

20. what are you most thankful for? i just got a job, which means i can (hopefully) move out in the next little bit!

21. do you like spicy food? NO i do NOT enjoy the feeling of flame inside my mouth, i am TOO WHITE for that

22. have you ever met someone famous? Ryan Reynold’s brother’s cousin or something works at our local Costco, does that count?

23. do you keep a diary or journal? it’s called a “tumblr blog”

24. do you prefer to use pen or pencil? pencil!

25. what is your star sign? i like 🌠

26. do you like your cereal crunchy or soggy? unpopular opinion but soggy cereal is better

27. what would you want your legacy to be? i want something i do to have a real, significant, important impact on the justice of this awful world. i want my life to make it easier for the kids who come after me to live theirs

28. do you like reading? What was the last book you read? i LOVE reading but these days it’s only fanfiction. Do you accept The Reverb in These Holy Halls by @wolftraps? I hope so because it well surpasses most fiction for thematic complexity and superb characterization, do recommend

29. what are you afraid of? literally everything

30. what is your favorite scent? i don’t really like scents, but i love the smell of my girlfriend’s house

31. do you address older people by their name or surname? i prefer to simply Not address them (because i want to call them by their surname but at this point i’m also an adult and that’s apparently weird)

32. if money was not a factor, how would you live your life? i would MOVE OUT. then take a part-time desk job and spend the rest of my time growing succulents and writing stories

33. do you prefer swimming in pools or the ocean? mmm also no

34. what would you do if you found $50 in the ground? honestly i’d probably ask the nearest person if it was theirs, and they would say yes even though it wasn’t and i wouldn’t clue in until i was halfway down the block

35. if you were to get a tattoo, what would it be and where would you get it? i GENUINELY don’t trust myself enough to get a tattoo. i’m not permanent enough for that. but if i had to i’d probably pick a little, colourful, very pretty tree design and put it on my ankle or the inside of my wrist

36. what can you hear now? Welcome To The Black Parade by MCR

37. where do you feel the safest? lol imagine feeling safe

38. if you could travel back to any era, what would it be? look if i existed at any point prior to today i would, 100% without doubt, be dead by now. that said the 1920s had some sweet hair jewelry

39. what is your most used emoji? 😊

40. describe yourself using one word. contradictory

41. what do you regret the most? who i used to think i was. the person i tried to be

42. last movie you saw? The Meg (hey, it has a surprisingly good romance subplot. i was actually mildly invested, A+ for a canon m/f ship in a dumb action movie. Also it has Attractive Bruce Willis in it, so bonus points)

43. last tv show you watched? i think it was Community

44. invent a word and its meaning: Hieuule is from my current wip. It means “treasure/wealth of spirit”

ok imma tag @onionwithanxiety, @existentialcrisisetcetera, @hitsuaya, @imthesheikofaraby, @elmofongo, @oliver-in-retrograde, @thenorsiest, @lunarmultishine, @marshmallow-fluffy and @affzinho! I’d love to see y’all’s responses (but please don’t feel pressured, of course) and anyone else who wants to do this, consider yourselves tagged by yours truly!!