#I am now science side of tumblr

[crow-aka-gayass]

I think I figured out why the world is going to shit

Okay I have to preface this by saying, I figured this out a few weeks ago when I was running on less that 20 hours of sleep that week and it was a Saturday, this was figured out at 4am

>They decatogorised Pluto as a planet

>Pluto is named after Hades

>What did this start with, the beginning of a Pandemic

>Where are we now

>Mass inflation and the collapse of capitalism

>Hades is the god of Death and Riches

How do we solve the many criseas the world is in?

Recatagorise Pluto as a planet

IM NOT CRAZY

[skz-miroh]

can someone please explain to me why its so attractive when someone plays the piano ??

[deep-space-lines]

me and my girlfriend as nameless mass effect background characters. i am cringe and i am free 💕 (photo taken 5 minutes before we get killed by geth)

[fortes-fortuna-iogurtum]

..

[maniculum]

Had a baffling interaction a couple hours ago, and I think Tumblr is probably the best place to find an explanation.

I’ve mentioned on here that I have a side job at a bookstore. Today, I heard a customer make the assertion to her companion that the novel Frankenstein is “basically fanfiction”. (I don’t think this was meant as negative, but couldn’t say for sure.)

I asked her about it when she came to check out, because I had to know what that was about, right? She recounted the origin of the book — the Shelleys, Byron, & Polidori challenging each other to write horror stories, etc. I assured her I was familiar with the history, but just wanted to know why that made it fanfiction.

She said, “well, it came from a horror writing competition.”

At this point, I felt I had pushed about as much as I could in this scenario — as anyone who’s worked a customer-service job knows, when customers say nonsense at you, responding in a way that doesn’t upset them is difficult, and you kind of have to be ready to just nod and smile. So I said something along the lines of, “I don’t understand the connection, but as long as it makes sense to you.”

She chose not to elaborate further and left with her purchases.

So now I’m asking Tumblr because I figure this is the best place to find people who are familiar with unorthodox understandings of fanfiction.

Is it because it came from a competition? (This is the most sensible explanation I can think of, but that’s not saying much, because I see no link between these two concepts.)

Is it because it’s horror? (I know people get weird about genre fiction sometimes — last year someone told me they thought “Fantasy / Science Fiction” and “Young Adult” were different terms for the same genre.)

Is it because it was written for fun? (I know that the vast majority of fiction is — to a greater or lesser degree — written because the author enjoys writing, but maybe the customer doesn’t know that?)

Is it because it was written, for lack of a better word, socially? (By which I mean, is the story of its writing significant in that the initial intention was for Shelley to show it to her friends? But of course this is a group of published authors, and authors hang out to talk about & show each other their work all the time… maybe the customer wasn’t aware of that?)

These are the only options I can think of, and none of them have any link to what makes something “fanfiction” in my understanding. I’m just extrapolating from the fact that apparently the relevant distinction has something to do with it being a horror writing competition. Am I missing something? Tumblr, please, help me with this.

[scrunkalicious]

More general Arcane thoughtz bc I NEED to get these out and also I want more Arcane mootz,,,

This post has NO LEAKZ!!!! I HATE THE LEAKZ. all stuff either from s1 or official s2 teaserz 😇😇😇

The one that made me want to make this post in the first place!!! ARE. ARE WE JUST GONNA IGNORE THE FACT THAT JAYCE OWNZ AN INSTRUMENT AND CAN PROLLY PLAY IT????

It lookz similar to maybe what a guitar would be in this world perhapz......

I guess he picked it up on the side of science, it lookz like one of the only non-science thingz in his room, so itz probably some sort of side hobby

I think he still knowz how to play it and hasn't brushed the skill off to the side, judging by how the instrument is very visible and right next to his bed

Maybe Viktor or Mel knowz he can play it?

Jayce Talis should drop a CRAYZEE album plz 🥶🥶🥶

OOOHHH WAIT MAYBE THATZ WHY HE ACTUALLY SEEMED INVESTED IN THE PERFORMANCE IN EPISODE 5..... BC HE PLAYZ AN INSTRUMENT

Speaking of music!!!!!! Absolutely love Ray Chen and his work in Arcane, he came to my state a while back but I sadly missed the concert ☹️☹️

RAY CHEN CAMEO HUZZAH!!!!

Asian ppl exist in the Arcane world no wauy.......

I love how instrumentz look in Arcane!!! So exquisite,,

Hez definitely playing a violin, perhapz the giant horn looking thing attached is to help resonate the sound and make it louder, kind of in place for a small microphone

I wonder if Piltover has like, a city orchestra, judging by how art is so important in the place they probably love their music as well

I alwayz wonder how Sky also got into Piltover bc shez from the Undercity like Viktor!

I don't think therez and actual rule at the Piltover Academy saying you can go if you're from the Undercity. I guess it's just whoever can afford (or sneak in) is in, or perhapz therez sponsorz and scholarshipz.

Either she followed Viktor in sneaking in, her parentz sent her there, or Viktor reached out to her and asked her to be his assistant and she never actually went thru the Academy (or she did the Academy and then he asked her).

I'm heavily betting on the fact that Viktor asked her to be his assistant himself bc it seemz too coincidental to have the scientist from Zaun have his assistant also be from there

In the S2 teaser trailer thing, Caitlyn sayz "I will lead a strike team into Zaun..."

When will Piltover decide that the Undercity is now separate from them? I'm guessing maybe Ambessa had to do with making the decision.

Maybe pretty soon after the bomb??

HEY GIRL. WHATZ YO MAKEUP ROUTINE....

The lil gold spotz on her skin are 100% makeup, seeing as her flashback version doesn't have them

I don't think the gold thing on her back is makeup, so what is it fam...

MEL MEDARDA ALIVE IN S2 PLEAAASSEEE IM A MEL TRUTHER <33333

How was the Academy (?) building just NOT affected by the bomb 😭😭

I am CONSTANTLY wondering if the Academy building is part of the government council building, or if I'm tweaking and they're separate.

In the Ekko & Heimer clip Ekko tellz him "Don't you essentially own this place?" and I thought he was talking abt the Academy bc Heimer is the Dean of the Academy.

SOMEONE HELP...........HELP ME FIGURE THIS SHI OUT......

okay yeah im a big sky x elora shipper now i think they should kiss

yeah i already made a post abt them but. more arcane yuri is needed......

i think itd be like sky seez her and sayz "i dont think our bossez like each other very much" and elora is like "damn" and then they stare at each other n then itz like that one tumblr meme pic of two ppl making out yk

this image is fire!!!!! gonna be focusing on ambessa and a lil bit of cait. where is my one mutal that likez ambessa.......

What is the thing on Cait'z back?? I literlly have no other wordz what is that thing

HEEEYY AMBESSA

HER NEW HAIR HELLO??? GOURGOYS.....

Is it just me or does her new hairstyle kinda look like the sun? Or a sun symbol?

chat is this bc the Medarda symbol is the sun (if i remeber correctly) or bc Ambessa will be leading Piltover thru the war and sun symbol bc shez helping them see another day if that makez sense

sorry everyone he was gonna be here either way

I love seeing ppl hc him either as just "Eastern European" (which ig isn't hc harry lloyd said his accent was that but whatever) or go all out I loooveee seeing ppl say hez Russian or Czech (my personal hc) or Polish or whatever I think I even saw Croation once!! even tho hez not German i love using the "nooo little german boy" meme w him bc like nooooo little german boy dont confuse everyone w ur ethnicity!!!

my boyfirned......ouuugggghhhouugghghkhjgkhjgsdkhjsdbfygfvynvfgfvyu

hey fortiche. could ya do me a favor and like. show every single place where viktor has a mole thatd be rlly cool.....

[dsm--v]

ok this post probably won’t make sense to a lot of you but.

pinterest culture…?

i’m not talking about the, like, recipes side of pinterest, or the aesthetic photos side of pinterest. i’m talking about the pretty specific subsection of like, tumblr screenshots and badly edited facebook memes, and mentally ill gay teenagers. i myself, am on this side of pinterest, i’ll admit.

there’s some, like, niche pinterest micro celebrities, for example, pickle man, erm what the frick, johnny the mommy, etc etc. whenever they’re seen in a comment section, there’s at least one person saying “omg you’re everywhere!1!!11”

another example, pinterest commenters are special. there’s like…inside jokes, just like on tumblr, but..idk

here’s an example:

(some kind of weird/oddly horny post)

person a: let’s remember our digital footprint guys !

(replying) person b: foot 🤤

(replying to b) person c: i have feelings for you

—

you can probably find that exact thread if you just look through the comments a bit. now, this type of thing is fine, of course, we all love inside jokes.

but, starting off as a pinterest kid, that became like, ingrained in my brain, so whenever im on tumblr my immediate reaction is to say shit like, “i want you” “i have a crush on you” instead of just “what”.

another thing, pinterest fucking sucks. and everyone on there (the gay side of pinterest, i mean) knows it. the ui sucks, especially on the browser version, the dms hardly work, and pins just disappear sometimes. lots of brands (i guess?) will take like ‘memes’ and upload it to pinterest, to get people to click, and take them to some shitty article. this leads to, fuckin idk, a picture of some tumblr post with the ifunny logo, and the title of the pin is like Top Ten Ways Wives Aren’t Satisfying Their Husbands.

pinterest hate culture, is also very interesting. for example, if you mention, say, ed sheeran, or look for ed sheeran pins, it’s so. much. hate. and then there’s troll/bait accounts, that exclusively make posts going against the grain so they’ll get attention. because there’s another thing, pinterest users fucking suck at ignoring bait. the boyfriends comic (? i think it’s called that) has so much hate on there. i’ve never even read it but i know so much from people talking about how shit it is. those pinterest kids are crazy, they talk to the obvious bait accs and tell them to “sayori challenge” (video game character that took her own life). i could go into the mogai/xenogender discourse but that’s a whole other post.

so. pinterest. it’s crazy.

why’d i write all this but i can’t write one fucking science paper oh my god.

[screamingmandrakes]

Just started writing my first Billford fic and I am so nervous wisjekdledlek

"Sixer."

The name is spoken clear as night, deceptively sweet in a way Ford knows all too well. He ignores it, a scowl forming as Bill zips around his head, moving so quickly that he’s little more than a blur. Ford’s focus remains on his work — what little he can manage under Bill’s watchful eye. His monster tells him he’s at the tip of the pyramid, a luxury at the end of the world. While everything Ford cherishes falls victim to violence beyond the penthouse walls, he remains trapped among grotesque mockeries of humanity: sentient couches made from living human skin, clocks that scream bloody murder at midnight. Sometimes, Ford swears the walls are breathing.

The good news is that he’s nearly indestructible here — except at the hands of Bill. The bad news is that escape seems very unlikely.

"Still plotting your escape, huh?" Bill asks cheerily as he settles on Ford’s shoulder. Ford grunts dismissively, mumbling under his breath about his hatred for geometry and some vague threat of revenge. It doesn’t matter much; his desire to destroy Bill is no secret, and shouting threats has accomplished nothing so far. Ford allows his eyes to flutter shut for a second, feeling the strain of exhaustion lay heavily on his body. He doesn’t know how long he’s been here or if he’s even where he was told he is, but he understands something he has known for a long time: sleep is weakness. He cannot afford to be weak, not now.

He inhales deeply. The room smells overly of vanilla, like a cheap candle never having been snuffed out.

He may be a God, but I am a scientist.

Right. He’s a scientist, and a damn good one at that. There has to be something, a variable he isn’t seeing about the situation — a loophole! Magic doesn’t abide by the laws of science, but the very fabric of earth does, and that’s what he has on his side.

Bill watches as the quill scratches sharply across the parchment, summoning his cane with a snap of his fingers. “Oh-ho! Impressive! Look who's been burning the midnight oil, IQ. But tell me, what’s the plan this time, genius?"

(My Billford Tumblr is @onesixerplease !! I posted this on the wrong account LOL. Excuse any typos/misspellings, this hasn’t been checked)

[slaymitchabernathy]

The Type of Fiancé

Coriolanus Snow is the type of fiancé to insist that they call each other ‘fiancés’ at every given moment. No more, ‘Oh, my girlfriend used to shop there,’ or ‘My boyfriend knows his father.’ Absolutely not, he loves calling her his fiancé and loves when she does the same with him.

Coriolanus Snow is the type of fiancé to meticulously plan out his proposal. He’s for this down to a science, no room for errors. He’d insist that she have a full day of being pampered, a spa day if you will. He’d take her to get her nails done, then a fresh blowout, then a couples massage because obviously he also needs to be pampered.

Then he’d take her out to dinner at the finest restaurant in the Capitol. Rooftop view of course.

Although he’d never admit it, he’d be so, so nervous. What if he messed up? What if she said no? What if he dropped the ring?

But there would be no second guessing once he brought her up to the penthouse rooftop where the famous Snow roses are grown.

He would decorate the space with candles and lights, wanting the moment to be beautiful yet intimate.

It would be perfect.

Coriolanus Snow is the type of fiancé to include Petunia in the proposal despite how much they despise one another. He knows how much Soarynn adores the little beast, so for the sake of her happiness, he allows Petunia to be their sole witness.

She of course, would have a big white bow around her neck and most likely try to eat bugs while her owners passionately embrace each other once it’s all said and done.

She’d be in the wedding too, no question there.

Coriolanus Snow is the type of fiancé to tear up during the proposal. He would be ashamed to show such weakness in front of anybody else, but not her. Not the love of his life, the soul that is so deeply tethered within his own soul. The girl who has stood by his side through thick and thin, triumph and failure. This was the woman who he wanted to bear his last name, to tie himself to for eternity.

There would only be a few tears, Soarynn has always been the more emotional one between the two, wearing her heart on her sleeve. But he’d allow her to carve out his heart if it meant she could home his hand while doing it.

“You’re my past, present and future my darling,” he’d whisper, “without you, I am lost, with you, I am found. You are my eternity.”

Coriolanus Snow is the type of fiancé to propose with his own mother’s wedding ring, one of the few possessions of hers that he still has and yet he would so blindly trust Soarynn with it.

Coriolanus Snow is the type of fiancé to of course, want to end the night with sex. But not rough, hard, and fast sex. No. Tonight is a special occasion.

He would make love to her, kiss every single inch of her body. He’d whisper how beautiful she is, how kind and thoughtful she’s always been towards him.

He hasn’t always been gentle, but she’s made him gentler, softened up his sharp edges while getting cut in the process.

“I love you,” he’d murmur while slowly thrusting inside of her, his lips on top of hers, “I love you like it’s my religion.”

Coriolanus Snow is the type of fiancé to know that deep down, he’s a horrible, terrible monster. A man capable of hurting her beyond belief. A man who now is binded to her by the ring on her finger, meaning that he’s one step closer to having her forever.

For Coriolanus Snow could never truly be capable of love.

| tumblr oneshot/drabble |

[susiephone]

Or, a crash course in checking your sources. Because we've all seen some absolutely bullshit stuff spread around the internet, and Tumblr definitely isn't immune to it.

It can be hard to sort out the fact from the rumor from the propaganda when a story is actively developing, especially one that is fast-moving and has a lot of voices coming in from all sides, but it is vitally important that you check your sources before spreading a claim.

It's easier to verify or disprove a claim about something that's purported to have happened in the past, so, admittedly, checking stuff that's purported to be happening now is a messy, confusing process. All the more reason to err on the side of caution.

I am not a journalist or professional researcher or historian or anything like that, so this is all coming from a layman who does their best to be informed. If I get anything wrong, or anyone more qualified has something they want to add, please let me know in the notes.

Why should I check my sources?

Because you should care whether you're spreading propaganda or not.

Because sometimes in the heat of the moment, when emotions are running high, it's easy to be misled.

Because every time you spread misinformation to help your own cause, even - or especially! - if that cause is righteous, it becomes a ding on your credibility, and the credibility of your cause.

Because when you don't, a journalist loses their wings. Probably. Fact-check me on that.

How do I know when to check my sources?

If you don't recognize the source, check it.

If you hear a claim and think, "Wow, that is so cartoonishly evil," or, "That's so absurd I'd think it was far fetched if it was in a movie," or, "It's weird no mainstream outlets are reporting on this," check it.

Now, a claim sounding too bizarre or evil to be real doesn't always mean it isn't--I mean, half of what I hear about George Santos sounds like an SNL sketch and it always ends up true. But check it.

If the claim sounds like something a Nazi would want you to believe, check it.

If a claim is only being spread by one or two small sources, check it.

How do I check my sources?

The following sites are great resources for fact-checking.

PolitiFact. Ranks claims on a truth-o-meter and provides context for what's true, mostly true, kinda true, and made-up.

Media Bias/Fact Check: Publishes lists of fact checks from other credible sources, and ranks media outlets on their bias and trustworthiness.

Climate Feedback: Verifies claims about science, especially climate change.

Lead Stories: Verifies claims as they develop, especially stuff spreading on social media.

Here is a list of sources Media Bias/Fact Check considers to be the least biased.

What are some red flags to search for? / What are some questions I should ask myself?

Does the claim only come from a handful of small sources?

Do all those sources only cite each other?

It bears repeating: does this claim sound especially sensational or over-the-top? I know it sounds basic, but when you're furious at somebody (be it a person or a government or a system), it can be easy to believe every horrible thing you hear about them. But just because someone is awful doesn't mean every rumor about them doing awful things is true, and you still have a responsibility to keep your criticism accurate.

Who provides funding to the source? Do they work off of grants, reader donations and subscriptions, government backing, private donors? Do they not disclose their funding at all?

Has the source been caught spreading false info before? How long ago was this? Did they issue a correction in a timely manner? Was the journalist who spread the false claim fired or otherwise reprimanded? Does it seem like it was a mistake, or was there an agenda at play? Has the source taken steps to reestablish credibility?

Who benefits from me believing this?

Okay, I did all my fact-checking, and I'm really not sure if this claim is true or not.

Then don't share it.

If more information comes out and it turns out to be true, then go ahead.

But if there's doubt, don't share it.

Okay, sure, but the claim sounds like it could be true, and-

"Could be true" and "is true" are not the same.

Fine, but the person or government it's talking about has already done so many awful things, even if this specific rumor isn't true-

DON'T. SHARE. IT.

I am going to come to your house and bite you.

Further information.

How to fact-check like a pro.

The Psychology of Fact-Checking.

What is fact-checking?

Misinformation (YouTube video)

And there we go! If anyone has anything to add, go ahead, but I will be monitoring the comments and will be blocking any nonsense.

There's enough misinformation spread by bad actors in our current media landscape. Please don't make their job any easier.

[nailamoonsi]

Writeblr intro (open to mutuals)

Hello again @ writeblr...! I'm Naila--Bangladeshi-Am (South Asian), sapphic, neurodivergent, they/them, incredibly nerdy about certain media like Revolutionary Girl Utena, and someone who has been very, very focused on their LGBT epic science fantasy for several years.

Fun fact is that for 5 years as a child I lived in Japan and only spoke Bangla and Japanese. I forgot both by the time I was 6 to 11, though I can understand spoken Bangla (and am fluent in English). 💦💦

I'm pretty much in love with my LGBT epic and multimedia science fantasy verse, once called Another Sky WIP and now called Blue Horizon! It's about three generations of alchemy-oriented mages upon a faraway planet obsessed with ancient Earth (our era) and their troubles across thousands of years!

I'm planning on releasing the first epic science fantasy novel (and side light novel/novella) at some point in the next months!

I'm both an artist and a writer, so you'll get art and writing topics from me! A lot of it is in my Blue Horizon tag.

Despite that, I feel like I haven't gone all-out to make mutuals here on Tumblr. I'd love to make more mutuals who are 20 and older and interested in fantasy fiction (especially featuring BIPOC and LGBT characters)! 18 and older is fine too, but I won't mutual people who are younger than 18. (I'm 32.)

My main warning is that my novels are aimed for adult demographic and even my art can contain blood TW and cursing. Sometimes older Blue Horizon characters will have sultry/sexual implications, too, and not just romantic! (However, despite the main novel being an epic science fantasy and very romance-oriented--as far as I understand, it doesn't perfectly fit people's idea of Romantasy due to particularly intense and serious topics at times. I think of it as a epic science fantasy with a lot of gay, sapphic and LGBT romances and implied romances.)

I'm open to tag games. ^^ If people are open to being tagged, feel free to mention it in this post, my pinned, or message/ask box me!

Hope to connect with more people here! 💗

[jacksgreysays]

Extremely late, completely unnecessary opinion of the Watcher situation, (2024-04-24)

So this is a relatively belated post — several days after the initial “Goodbye Youtube” and one day after the “An Update” videos — and surely by this point there are more interesting/insightful op-eds (both in written form and video form, especially penguinz0’s fairly objective POV as, essentially, a YouTube expert) but there is something about the Watcher situation that made my brain itch. Thus, I wanted to write about it in order to make sense of it all as well as get into a philosophy that seems to be haunting me in recent years and which I think applies greatly here.

This may seem completely out of left field considering 1) definitely not fanfiction and 2) about Watcher Entertainment, a YouTube channel which—as far as this tumblr is concerned—I’ve not engaged with whatsoever, but I don’t know where else I would put this, and weirdly enough I think the general tumblr response to this whole predicament is maybe the… if not objective… then at least, most thoughtful?—or, perhaps, least immediately reactive?—amongst the various social media platforms, that I think some people might appreciate this anyway.

In terms of my relevant background: I majored in Management Science (which is just a fancy way of saying Economics + Business + Accounting because they are, weirdly enough, separate things) and minored in Film Studies in school, I am currently working in the stage tech industry (which, I know, is obviously different from film/video industry), and I like to think I am a fan/consumer of a wide variety of independent creators, some of whom I am lucky enough to be able to afford being a patron/subscriber. I won’t go into all of them—because it is a lot—but there are four in particular whose business models I want to analyze in comparison to Watcher’s admitted blunder:

A) RocketJump (known for Video Game High School and Anime Crimes Division; the core group which turned into the podcast Story Break, then became Dungeons and Daddies) B) Dropout (formerly College Humor, we’ll get into their discography later) C) Drawfee (previously an offshoot of College Humor, now fully independent) D) Corridor Digital (used to be mostly behind the scenes of how VFX studios work, have since become a mostly original content creator)

I will say, right off the bat, I am a patron of Drawfee as well as Dungeons and Daddies, and I am a subscriber to Dropout. I am not subscribed to Corridor Digital’s streamer, which I will get into why later. I understand that being able to sustain those two patronages and one subscription is a luxury that not everyone can afford and so my point of view is already skewed by being such a person who could theoretically afford another streaming service if I so chose. I also acknowledge that many fans of Watcher are not in similarly financially secure places as I am and that regardless of the business model, any monetization that comes from fans would have been a rough ask. However, I wanted to go into this essay in a way that accepts Watcher’s statement—that they needed more funding—in relatively good faith rather than assuming the worst (although that is another point I’ll get into later, largely related to the philosophy I brought up earlier.)

All four of the above listed content creators started or, at least, hit their stride on YouTube:

RocketJump and College Humor were, if not household names, then the digital equivalent of it in the “early days of YouTube.” They were part of the wave of content creators that made YouTube seem less like a bunch of eccentrics with cameras making videos on the side and more like a viable way to support yourself/your team with the art you create.

RocketJump’s Video Game High School went from short (less than 10 minutes) minimal location episodes in season one, to 30 minute plus episodes with full on fight scenes and car explosions by season three thanks to a Monster Energy brand deal. They also had two seasons of Anime Crimes Division, a literal TV quality show, thanks to a Crunchy Roll sponsorship. Unfortunately, RocketJump shut down not long after (their videos are still up on YouTube but they obviously don’t add anything new) but the core creative team behind that have been involved in several projects outside of YouTube (Dimension 404 on Hulu being one of the biggest ones so far) including the podcast Story Break (part of the Maximum Fun network) and now the independent podcast Dungeons and Daddies, the episodes of the main campaigns which are free with ads or, for patrons, ad-less along with additional mini-campaigns and other benefits.

I will say, during RocketJump’s decline, they did try their best to keep going. The partnerships with Monster Energy and Crunchy Roll were the big swings to get the funding to make those TV quality shows they wanted. I believe they lucked out with those brands in particular, or, at least, those brands didn’t seem to inhibit the creative process or ask too much of them that it felt like “selling out” but I also don’t have insight into why they didn’t pursue this model of, essentially, very weird but interesting season long commercials. Maybe they just couldn't find the right brands or maybe they did feel like it was too stifling. Regardless, before they shut down completely, they did also downsize—moving out of the actual city of Los Angeles over to Buena Park. Which is in Los Angeles county, and basically counts as LA still, but is way cheaper than literal Hollywood real estate. (I should have added to my relevant background that I’m born and raised LA county, and have relatives and friends in the film/movie industry, so trust me when I say literal Hollywood/city of Los Angeles is so overrated and unnecessarily expensive. There is a reason why LA traffic is the worst and it’s because everyone is commuting INTO the city. Respectfully and with affection, no one should live there. No one’s start up should be located there.) Obviously the downsizing didn’t necessarily work for RocketJump, but they also didn’t have multiple successful revenue streams the way that Watcher currently does.

In contrast, College Humor was acquired by InterActiveCorp and was turned into CH Media which was three pronged: College Humor, Drawfee, and Dorkly. In 2018 they made Dropout, which had exclusive content separate from their YouTube videos which involved all three prongs. Then some financial shenanigans happened early 2020—IAC withdrew their funding—and there were a bunch of layoffs right before the pandemic which extremely sucked. It has been stated by multiple people involved that it was basically a miracle that Dropout survived through all of that, but there were definitely some sacrifices along the way to make that happen. Currently, Dropout seems to be thriving with mostly exclusive content with the occasional “first episode of a season” posted to YouTube, OR if Dimension 20 is doing a “sequel season” in an already established campaign they will put the entirety of the previous season on YouTube.

IAC withdrawing their funding did put CH Media in a bind. They had to layoff a lot of people right before pandemic and, understandably, a lot of trauma was had. There were also weird issues with who controlled certain IPs/brands/digital assets (I mostly come at this from a Drawfee POV, it took several years for them to own the Drawga series and be allowed to host all of the episodes on their YouTube, and there was also something about the sound file for their opening animation?) but mainly the difference is what kind of content they generate. Originally Dropout had multiple scripted shows with high budgets and pretty cool effects/animations/stunts (Troopers, Kingpin Katie, Gods of Food, Ultramechatron Team Go!, Cartoon Hell, and WTF 101) whereas now almost all of their shows are variations of improv comedians being put into different scenarios or given different prompts. I’m not just talking about Game Changer and Make Some Noise, because Dimension 20 and Um, Actually also technically fall under that description as well. Which is not to say that these shows are worse than the scripted shows—I subscribe to Dropout, so clearly I’m a fan of their current shows—and the budgets for them have since increased to resemble, if not match, those early shows, but it is a noticeable shift in their content creation strategy as a response to the lack of IAC funding. And I will say: Dropout releases at least three videos a week if not more and at least two of those are long form at 30 minutes plus (Dimension 20 being the longest, of course.)

So, these first two business models are not really the most applicable to Watcher Entertainment considering their origin was to get away from Buzzfeed—they’re probably not keen to be partnered with or purchased by a larger company—but there are some aspects to both that I believe are valuable in at least showing the strategy in how these former YouTube creators could successfully extract themselves from YouTube or how they still utilize YouTube even if it is not their main hosting platform or revenue stream.

Then there is Drawfee and Corridor Digital, both of whom are currently—if not primarily—on YouTube, whose situations are more comparable to what I believe are Watcher’s goals.

Drawfee had to rebuild themselves like a phoenix from the ashes of the CH Media layoff during the beginning/worst of the pandemic. Side note: I’m happy that Nathan (one of the four main artists of the current Drawfee team) at least has forgiven(? or let bygones be bygones) Dropout enough to be on an episode of Game Changer (although I will say that this happened after Drawga was “returned” to Drawfee, and after Dropout officially split from College Humor as a brand.) All that being said, Drawfee was a team of four artists plus their editor who wanted to stick together but basically had all of their support system taken away from them. They took a bit of a break to assess their goals and options, announced a patreon with several tiers with great perks, and stuck to their upload schedule. In addition to two videos a week, they also stream on Twitch weekly, have a patron only stream once a month, and a draw class (for one of the higher tiers) once month. After asking their patrons on the relevant tiers if they were okay with it, they began releasing the patron only stream and the draw class to the general public for free after a month. The patreon perks also include things like merch discount codes, high quality PNGs of the final rendered art, access to the draw class with live interaction/critique, and a commission from the artist of your choice. The only “ads” they run are for their own patreon and merch store and, even then, they’re usually at the end of the videos with a credit scroll of the patron names during their exit banter.

Admittedly, they only have MAYBE eight employees—that’s including their video editor(s?) and their discord mod(s?)—with the main four artists doubling/tripling up duties as additional video editors, CFO, and marketing/merch leads. It’s a very streamlined crew and their production costs are not very high since it’s mostly screen recording of their drawings with their audio recording overlayed onto that footage. Although the video editors do sometimes have clever cuts to relevant images depending on their vamping. Sometimes they will have a guest artist but, again, since it’s screen and audio recordings, there’s no travel/housing costs. So, very minimal expenses due to low production costs and small crew but, again, their only revenue source is the patreon/merch, they don’t do outside ads and they very rarely do live shows.

Corridor Digital is, I think, the most applicable to what Watcher would ideally do, which I suppose is somewhat ironic for this essay in particular considering they’re the only one of the four that I don’t financially support. They have two YouTube channels: their main one being where they show the “final product” videos, but I believe their Corridor Crew channel which started primarily as behind the scenes type of videos is where most of their views come from. Especially their React series (VFX artists, Stuntmen, and Animators React etc.) On Corridor Crew they usually upload two videos a week — one which is a React and the other which goes into fun projects/challenges (involving VFX or not) or using VFX to explain scientific concepts — as well as the first episodes of their exclusive content on their streamer. Also behind that paywall are longer and ad-less versions of the videos on YouTube. They also have merch. All of them have merch, I don’t know why I’m stating that. They don’t have a patreon as far as I know, but I also don’t know if their subscription to their website comes with similar perks like discounted merch or something similar.

Anyway, their studio seems to be about 15 to 20 people — not all of them are VFX artists, of course. I believe they have higher equipment costs than Watcher since, understandably, Corridor has to be on the cutting edge of video editing technology. They do occasionally travel for shoots, but it doesn’t require big teams, and that’s only when the local locations available to them don’t match the requirements for the “final product” videos. Otherwise most of their videos are set in the studio or in the alleyway outside their studio in Los Angeles (the city itself, not just the greater county, though they are in a rougher and thus probably cheaper part of Los Angeles). I personally don’t subscribe to their website primarily because their exclusive shows don’t appeal to me—either they’re too technical or a little too dry; to be fair, most of them are VFX artists first before they are performers—and I don’t particularly feel the need to see the extended cuts of the videos uploaded on YouTube. Also I sometimes get a little bummed out by their lack of diversity.

All of this to say, from these four different business models, a bespoke Frankenstein business model for Watcher could be cobbled together. But also, even with that bespoke Frankenstein, there are some changes that Watcher would have to make: primarily their upload schedule. As of right now, I think they do MAYBE one video a week if not, perhaps, one video every TWO weeks. If they want a monthly subscription model, their rate of content generation would ideally be higher to double/quadruple their current upload rate. Obviously they want to create videos with higher production value, but at that rate of generation, something’s got to give: supplement their TV quality shows with either a behind the scenes type series or an increase of “we get four episodes out of Shane and Ryan get increasingly drunk in someone’s backyard” or something similar. Leaning into shows like Worth A Shot (the first season in which Ricky Wang makes cocktails based on a random ingredient, the second season threw in some competitive aspects which I didn’t really find necessary) or the Beatdown which has relatively low production costs (no travel, one location, maybe two cameras at most therefore smaller crew requirements) but a higher polished look. Otherwise, for a separate streaming subscription service, 2-4 videos a month is not going to cut it.

As of right now they probably can’t back out of the separate streaming subscription service because those set ups usually require some level of contract/paying for servers for the website and whatever is hosting their videos for a set amount of time. However, what really strikes me is that I literally didn’t know they had a patreon until I scrolled through the comments of the first Goodbye Youtube video. Maybe it’s been linked "tactfully" in the descriptions of videos, but considering they claim to be lacking in funds, the fact that they weren’t plugging their patreon at the end of every video is not just strange, but also irresponsible considering they do have 25 employees that they don’t want to layoff.

Additionally, I understand artists needing to be in a space that promotes creativity, but there are cheaper places that must be comparable that aren’t in literal Hollywood. It’s an unnecessary expense. On top of that, other people have already brought up that it was fairly crass to introduce this paywall, attributing it to the increased production costs, when the next planned “new series” is a reboot of an old Buzzfeed series in which people travel and eat expensive food. I’m not even talking about the personal expenses of Steven, Shane, and Ryan; what kind of car they drive or the cost of their wedding venue doesn’t matter on a business model basis.

But getting back to the patreon: again, I literally didn’t know they had one. I’m looking over their tiers— they have $5, $10, $25, and $100 — and for the most part they seem okay, although I think they have more to offer that wouldn’t necessarily cost them more. Ie, something that has baffled me for a while: the fact they don’t sell the mp3s of the Puppet History songs; they already exist and it doesn’t cost them anything additional because they don’t need to put it on physical media. Or maybe they do and they’re not marketing it similarly to how they weren’t overtly marketing their patreon?

And, okay, maybe they didn’t want to seem desperate — in the early days of Dropout and independent Drawfee, they both were very blatant in getting people to subscribe/join their patreon. As they should be. Desperation maybe doesn’t look cool and sexy, but it is earnest in a way that conveys equal effort that fans who can afford it would want to see. The fact that we weren’t getting rotating ten second clips of Steven, Shane, and Ryan asking people to join the patreon at the end of every video — even if its the same clip every three videos — is wild. And yes, the $25 tier includes a shoutout every 3 months on Watcher Weekly+ (which I don't quite understand what that is,) but the fact that they weren’t doing a quick post movie credits scroll of all the patreon names is, again, wild. Once you have that initial list, it’s not too difficult to add any new names that join and put that title overlay on top of, again, those nonexistent ten second clips of the three.

As others have already stated, it seems like an extreme mismanagement of their existing successful revenue streams, if they are actually struggling to pay all of their employees. Which goes into the philosophy part of this essay: don’t assume malice when it might just be incompetence. It’s something that I have to remind myself of often because I do get paranoid about people’s intentions sometimes and I have to check myself. Am I being overly suspicious of what might be just an honest mistake? Am I assigning ill will to an action just because it inconvenienced me?

Yes, of course, a lot of this situation could be misconstrued as straight up greed. But, also, Watcher is a relatively young company, helmed by three people who certainly don’t have experience running their own company:

They like to travel. They like to bring a full crew around with them. They’re renting out a shiny office in the heart of Hollywood where everyone knows is where real show biz happens. They’re adding more employees to the team because surely more people means better. And they want better productions values because the prettier the videos the more people will like them right?

It’s naive. It’s a level of inexperience combined with giving responsibility to officers whose main priority is to entertain. And if that means entertaining themselves and their staff, then they might not know the difference. It’s the kind of mistake that first time managers make—trying to prioritize fun over getting the job done. Prioritizing making friends with their employees rather than making sure the work the employees put in is equal to (or greater than) what you spend on them whether that is in paycheck or bringing them to cool locations for fun shoots. It’s a mistake anyone can make, it's just unfortunate that they made this mistake in front of millions of people. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s solely a greed induced cash grab.

But then comes the catch-22 of the philosophy—is it worse to assume incompetence than it is to assume malice? Or, in this case, greed. Especially for the heads of a company that holds the livelihoods of 25 employees in their hands. At what point does it not matter if it’s incompetence or greed if the end result is the same?

Is it better to think that Watcher knew about the various other business models of independent creators and just ignored the efforts put into achieving those successes or is it better to think that they didn’t know and just stumbled into one of the worst moves they could have done. Again, other people have mentioned that Great Mythical Morning—which Watcher has had multiple collaborations with—has managed to make the YouTube subscription/tier system work to the point that they can sustain themselves as well as spinoff channels. Is it incompetence or greed that led to Watcher thinking they could bypass that completely in less time and with less content?

I’ve been at this mess of an essay for several hours when I should have been asleep. Ultimately I want to say, regardless of incompetence or greed… yes, Steven is CEO and yes he is ultimately the one who makes the final call but it is disheartening to see the pointed vitriol at Steven specifically and the infantilizing of Shane and Ryan in comparison. Either they’re all silly uwu boys who are messing around not knowing how to run a company, or they’re all complicit in a crass cash grab in an extremely busted economy.

I think what’s most frustrating to me in all this is that there were so many other channels and creators who have literally walked this path before them and, again, whether through incompetence or greed or arrogance, for them to just ignore it… It’s not betrayal because I don’t know them and so there’s no relationship to betray, it’s just so inefficient and convoluted that I don’t understand. Or, no, even if it was greed, it’s an incompetent greed because at least pure greed would have been pushing that patreon every second they could. Their ratio of YouTube subscribers to patreon members is less than 1% and I bet that’s because a lot of their audience, like me, literally didn’t know they had a patreon. I probably would have become a patreon member of theirs had I known earlier, ESPECIALLY if it included access to those Puppet History songs. Drawfee has half as many YouTube subscribers and nearly double the patreon members as Watcher. I’m just baffled, is all, and maybe by this point sleep deprived.

Anyway. That’s my extremely late, completely unnecessary opinion of this situation.

Edit (several hours later after some sleep): I forgot to mention, because they did walk this back almost immediately, even before their "An Update" video, but I believe the original plan was to put EVERYTHING behind that paywall and pull their content from YouTube entirely. Which is, again, extremely baffling, because if ALL of their content is behind a paywall, how would they possibly gain new fans? Even if all of their current fans were able and willing to pay for their separate subscription streaming service, how would a brand new person even stumble on their content enough to want to subscribe if there wasn't a significant amount of "proof of value" free content on YouTube? Again, extremely baffling, and a level of incompetence that overshadows a "cunning" greed. But, like I said earlier, they did walk this decision back almost immediately. If I've misunderstood this and that was never their plan, please let me know, I don't want to be spreading misinformation in a situation that is already so convoluted.

[masterdisastre]

Hey science side of Tumblr and autistic side of Tumblr!

I have a question.

I've recently started taking some vitamin B supplements, under suggestion of my pharmacist, because I was feeling mentally exhausted to the point that it was slightly impacting my work.

Now, I am in fact able to focus better and I complete my work tasks flawlessly. My colleagues say that I look way better too.

The thing is, almost at the same time my autistic issues (over sensibility and understanding social cues and such) have worsened a lot.

I've read everywhere that vitamin B helps children with autism with their symptoms, but since the world is dominated by neurotypical people, my question is: does it just make us better at masking or does it really help and this is only coincidental? Am I worsening my condition by helping my focus capacity?

Tagging @autistic-af in case you can help me spread the question.

Thank you all in advance ❤️

[mcskullmun]

What's red valley about

*takes you gently by the shoulder and looks deep into your eyes somewhere vaguely near your face*

Buddy I am so glad you asked.

In the hopes of this essay answer convincing you to listen to Red valley it will be relatively spoiler free and ambiguous. Full disclosure I am incredibly bias towards this show because it currently has a death-grip on my brain, mind and soul.

Broadly, Red Valley is a fiction podcast, similar to tma, spanning two and a third seasons plus three fun little mini series. I say "a third" because season three is split into three parts, and we currently only have the first. The second is due to be released later this year I believe.

The premise behind Red Valley, in a sentence is, "In all the sci-fi shows you see, where people can go into pods and wake up 10,000 years later just fine, how did we get there?" It's about the messy stage of theoretical science being applied in unethical ways, in the hopes of changing the world. Its about the early development (and testing) of cryonic preservation tech.

It follows two main protagonists, Warren Godby and Gordon Porlock (who are widely shipped throughout the fandom, though nothing is canon yet) as they investigate, and eventually endure the Red Valley seed vault. Although, as it becomes rapidly apparent, "There aren't a lot of seeds in the Red Valley Seed Vault". The show deals with themes of isolation, memory loss, distrust and mental deterioration. But also friendship, endurance, and uh... weird cruises.

It's characters include:

Karen Godby. Ngl I hate this bitch. She is Warren's controlling, abusive wife and she deserves everything that's coming to her. She uses concern as a way to guilt Warren, and seems generally dismissive of his concerns and feelings.

Aubrey Wood. Initially presented solely through tapes, she fits the "mad scientist" archetype. After something goes horribly wrong with her work, we get to see more sides of her. By the end of season three part one, she is an incredibly well fleshed out character with uh... quite the name for herself. She's also in a canon lesbian relationship, which admittedly does not get enough love here on tumblr.

Bryony Halbech. Cunt/aff. She is the mad scientist. She is the driving force behind the Red Valley project and truly the antagonist of the podcast. In so far as this podcast has one, at least. One brilliant thing about her, is that while she presents as your typical, "heartless, mind over emotions, complete control villain" this is a front that she wears, to hide how excited she is about what she does. How much she cares about her work. She is a "truly evil" villain who still maintains layers and depth.

Clive Schill. Now, if your asking me about Red Valley it's more than likely because you've seen the truly embarrassing affect Mr. Schill has had on me. If you want an in depth character analysis feel free to scroll back on my blog or look for asks I have sent to other fans, there's a LOT. In short, he is an irritating embodiment of capitalism with a flair for creative insults. He's like if Elias Bouchard was a fortnight adult/pos. But his character has so much more to it than that! He loves his family, he is deathly afraid of being forgotten, ect. ect. I'll spare you the essay. He's a morally fucked, incredibly likeable man. He's also responsible for the piece of official Redval merch named "Piss Mug" and Red Valley's sugar daddy.

And for the main events,

Warren Godby: He's just a Guy. Real wet cat of a man. Bitter about his place in the world with no idea how he got there. Of course that's not uh entirely true but just... just listen to the podcast.

Gordon Porlock: Fucking insane/pos. I mean not insane insane, but he is a conspiracy theory, nerdy redditor who canonically has no friends. He's also gay for Warren. He is a very interesting character in that he is Obsessed with cryonic preservation, and seems entirely unfazed by the more gory aspects. He is on the "good team", but isn't vastly different to the Redval scientists.

The podcast itself mostly takes place within Red Valley, a remote and seemingly abandoned research facility in The Middle Of Nowhere, Scotland. This is where some of season 1 and almost all of season 2 takes place, and where isolation is a heavy theme. I personally love it, its got great Vibes and possesses the perfect spooky atmosphere.

Season three is all over the place and follows (Soft, slightly irritated sigh) Clive Schill. It's a wonderful dive into his character, and the attitudes of the common man and the rich towards cryonic preservation. 10/10, no notes. The frogs are great.

Overall the voice acting and writing is amazing. At no point did I feel it dragged, and while I was initially confused when Warren and Gordon were talking (similar accents) they got easier to distinguish real fast. It's funny and sad, perfect combo. There's also some... gnarly sound affects.

Pay Attention To The Content Warnings. For The Love Of Schill Pay Attention To The Content Warnings. Please. There are some pretty heavy moments that took me completely off guard, big mistake.

Final notes, you will see me shipping Clive Schill and Warren Godby a lot. THIS WILL NOT MAKE SENSE WHEN (if) YOU LISTEN TO RED VALLEY. They are, at first glance, the two least shippable characters. I don't mean like Lonelyeyes crackship where it kinda makes sense, I mean AWFUL. TRULY DISGUSTING. My fic, "And I think we're all glad it wasn't me" explains everything, but contains just so many major spoilers for season 1. Just trust me, I'm not mad. The fic explains everything. I promise.

Anyway uh feel free to ask more or talk about it if you decide to listen. I uh. am normal about this podcast. As you can probably tell.

~ Peter

[studentbyday]

day 05 // 100dop++

when i feel like i'm floating away and i've taken deep breaths so i know it's not anxiety, what grounds me is science and making things for myself/others like food, music, and crochet.

meditate ✅

physio ✅

exercise ✅

try to understand section 2 of the leukemia article ✅ (well...i can't say i didn't try...it was a small section, so i did read all of it but got lost, even in the googling of jargon...may just take a break from this article and focus on R for mass spectrometry for now as the rest of the article does not get any more comprehensible)

understand ch 2/7 of R for mass spectrometry (i tried but am lost with the mass spectrometry, so i'm watching a video that hopefully explains a good chunk of this chapter and i might even just take a step back from this book and find more approachable resources that explain the foundations in more depth/in a more beginner-friendly way. this is taking longer than i thought. tbh kinda discouraging but i gotta remind myself it's a marathon, not a sprint, and it's okay if i don't know everything i need to know going into the lab, i have a good head on my shoulders, i will understand what i need to know with time.)

work on unit 3/18 of integrated math 1 ✅ (all that's left is the unit test 🙌🏻)

academics of tumblr- do you have a favorite journal article website? mine's nature 😅 i love their minimalist, undistracting aesthetic; typography; contrast between foreground and background; but most of all, how, when full screen, the corresponding figures and references show on the side of the screen when you click on the in-text links, instead of scrolling you away from where you were reading. on pretty much any other site i've used so far, i have to skim and scroll all the way back to find my place over. and over. and over again.

[tippenfunkaport]

Momaport and I watched more She-Ra. We have now watched up through Princess Prom.

Some highlights and lowlights (because she didn't like these episodes as much as the last ones we watched)...

"Catra puts on a cocky attitude but she's just a scared kid." So true.

"Why does Castaspella have Goofy ears?" Truly a thing I ask myself constantly.

She has become a walking cliche because she can never remember Glimmer's name and calls her something different every time. She spent her entire discussion of Princess Prom calling her "Crystal" which pains me deeply.

She also keeps forgetting Mermista and calls her "fish one" which is just really funny.

Because of her complete inability to remember anyone's name ever, the whole Light Spinner is Shadow Weaver reveal was a legitimate plot twist to her which amused me.

She is a Glimbow truther, was on ship team day one even without my influence despite not liking Glimmer and not knowing what "shipping" meant, mostly because she loves Bow. I was given a passionate speech about how obvious it was that Glimmer and Bow love each other and only you, Tumblr, can appreciate the irony of someone else giving ME that speech and not the other way around. I mentioned that a lot of people claim they "came out of nowhere" and she was absolutely indignant and refused to believe that was a thing.

Relatedly, she doesn't believe Bow had a crush on Sea Hawk, she said he was "just fangirling." (She knows he's bi, that's just her read on that episode.)

Long impassioned speech about what a horrific childhood Catra and Adora had and how it's no wonder Adora is a stressed disaster.

She started talking about Princess Prom totally on Bow's side and mad at Glimmer and by the end of her speech somehow talked herself onto Glimmer's (oh, excuse me "Crystal's") side and was annoyed at Bow which was just funny to witness happen in real time.

"Entrapta reminds me of that one character... you know? The science lady? With the glasses?" I never found out what she meant by this. For all I know it means Entrapta reminds my mom of Entrapta.

"I don't understand why people these days are so obsessed with shipping, Why can't you just watch the show and enjoy the nice friendships?" (Mom is judging us)

She likes Catra and Adora a lot individually, but there is some naysaying about them becoming a couple, we'll see if she comes around. (She has never watched before, but knows most of the endgame ships just bc of hearing the kids and I talk about it.)

She's mad at me for showing it to her grandkids, because it's too violent and she doesn't approve. (I've been cancelled.)

*me explaining that Entrapta is autistic and people read Adora as ADHD* "Does everyone have to be something these days?" (alas, mom is still a cranky old person who wants us to get off her lawn but honestly she's far less cantankerous than I thought she might be about this show so I'll let it slide)

After Princess Prom, she said, "It's cute but I don't understand why you're all so obsessed with it. To me it's exactly like every other cartoon I've ever watched." which is an ARROW directly to my HEART but we'll see if she comes around once the plot really gets going. She generally doesn't like animation and is a straight boomer lady so I figured we'd have an uphill climb but STILL. Pain. We're going to keep watching it either way though because she said she likes hanging out with me and we're having fun. (I am a delight)