#get a load of how weird and cringey kids are getting online these days.

[transbee]

having did and being online in any capacity is so fucking exhausting because you literally can't go anywhere without seeing the most heinous takes about your existence or validity it's like. can we be normal. can we please be normal and Chill for like two seconds.

[ceasarslegion]

Alright yall im gonna say it. send me hate and unfollow me and block me and shit if you want, but im gonna stand by it

the “cringe culture is dead” crowd is often hypocritical, and with awfully specific kinds of online communities. By that, I mean the very same communities the cringe culture crowd targets as well. Let’s take an example I have seen the most rampant hatred towards for no real reason other than the content itself is a little dorky.

If I said “Sanders Sides,” would it make you flinch? “But that’s different!” No it’s not. Remember when Thomas Sanders got a shit load of hate on this website for [checks notes] saying ace people were welcome in the LGBT community and ALSO admittedly making a dumb mistake that wasn’t rooted in any form of hatred but a legitimate slip-up, but he owned up to it and pledged to do better, which he actually did in the future by being more careful? I feel like that’s where all this bullshit all started. I remember before that when Thomas Sanders was just this quirky vine star who everyone was either fond of or indifferent towards. I was on the fond side, because he was this expressive theatre kid making fun vines with his friends and it got through the drag of waiting until 5pm every day in school for my dad to get off his teaching/admin work there and 2 hour bus commutes to work. He acted like my friends and I, and his sense of humour is very similar to my own. 

I mostly stopped watching him after I moved out, not because I don’t like him, I guess I just stopped. Don’t have to violently hate something to stop consuming it, guys. Hell, you can even still actively like it! That’s okay! I still LOVE doctor who, but I don’t really watch it anymore because I didn’t have the time, and now I’m so far behind that it kind of intimidated me out of catching up, and that’s OKAY!! 

Also, I don’t know anything about sanders sides, but I have noticed a few points yall like to bully people for: being “cringeworthy,” the fact that Thomas is now 30 and still making his content, and that the fandom behind it seems quite young/queer/many of them exhibit the behaviors of autistic/ADHD folks with a special interest/hyperfixation in his content. I’m not saying yall consciously bully them because of that, but the correlation in what you like to point out is quite stark. So let’s hit these points one at at a time, yeah?

-Yes, Thomas is 30. That’s how time works. If you trace it back and do the math, he would have been in his mid-20s when he started making his content on vine. That’s... still not that old. You can be creative and quirky at any age, you don’t magically lose your drive to create and become a desk jockey when you hit like... 25. You’re allowed to have a personality, and keep the traits you like from your younger years even if they might seem “childish.” Acting like he’s cringey because he’s 30 and still makes colourful OCs is harmful to everyone involved, because it perpetuates this idea that you have to throw away your personality and the things that make you happy, and foots the notion that life after youth is lesser and awful, yet anyone who doesn’t subscribe to that idea is a social deviant. I PROMISE that mindset will do nothing but hurt you in the long term. 

-”Cringeworthy” content is not fair game to bully people for. I thought we agreed that bullying kids that like Fortnite is a shitty thing to do, because even if we don’t understand the hype and find the game itself kinda weird, we knew what that felt like when adults did that to us with Minecraft. We liked Thomas Sanders vines, so why is it somehow different when kids like his new content? “hhh he made weird pose in purple eyeliner with emo haircut” so what?? and??? He’s playing a character, that’s what he does. We should know that about him after seeing his old content, and even if he wasn’t, are you seriously going to shit on someone for acting “weird” when this website’s demographic is overwhelmingly made up of the kind of people who get that same ostracizing behavior from greater society and come here for an escape?? 

-And this same point applies to his fanbase: I don’t give a shit if they act “weird” for that same reason. See above for what the demographic of it seems to be from what I’ve seen. “Don’t bully kids for liking ‘cringe’ things or acting in ways that might seem ‘strange’ but don’t actually hurt anyone because oftentimes what you’ve been taught is bully-worthy behavior is the symptoms of autism/ADHD/queer kids having fun exploring their identities!!” you FUCKING hypocrites. 

[tessatechaitea]

Wonder Twins #7

I didn't realize the Wonder Twins were Gen X.

Oh yeah! Zan had just saved the world by stopping a plot that was going to save the world.

I just realized I hadn't scanned the cover yet and as I did, I noticed the Wonder Twins fist/star emblem marks a striking resemblance to a goat.se riff. Zan and Jayna get taken off of monitor duty at the Hall of Justice now that they've stopped the League of Annoyance. You'd think that doing a good job would get you a promotion but those of use who have always done spectacularly good jobs know better. While everybody else works down to the lowest common denominator (because who wants to do more work than the next guy?! A fool, that's who!), good workers just put on blinders and do the job they were hired for until the time they're being paid for is up. Sure, that sounds like I'm describing a sucker who's been completely manipulated by the man! But I'm also describing a person who fulfills their end of whatever bargain they've agreed to! So when I say Zan and Jayna wind up giving tours at the Hall of Justice because they were too good at catching criminals, you'll understand why I went into the previous digression. Maybe? I don't know. Have you seen what state the U.S. is in?! Why are you picking apart my writing style?! Mark Russell takes a few pages to shit all over hockey fans and now I hate Mark Russell with a burning passion. Even though I'd hardly call myself a hockey fan. I mean, I loved NHL '93 (unless it was '92 (or maybe '94?)) and I loved going to San Jose Sharks games when I was still living in the Bay Area (plus my friend worked equipment for the Sharks and would get us free tickets). But it's not like I follow it much anymore. I just like the feeling of being angry at somebody for writing a satirical critique of sports fans rioting because they're so happy that their team won. Although why would I be angry when I've never done that nor think Russell's wrong in his pointed and humorous critique?! Oh, who cares why! Being angry is just more fun! Oh shit! I finally understand people's attraction to Fox News! I just watched a YouTube clip of somebody's Jeremy Roenick highlights from NHL '94 set to the song "More Than a Feeling" and it was pretty awesome. Also, that was definitely the one we played nonstop back in 1993 and 94 and maybe even into 95. Roenick unstoppable down with the puck while Sharks players lay splayed out on their back all across the ice. To stop the riot, Superman calls in Repulso! He's a guy whose super power is super stink and he's kept in a locked room with a bare table and a microwave and nobody wants to be his friend because he smells like a garbage dumb that vomited on top of the diarrhea it shit out while standing on its head so the stanky muck ran down his body absorbing all of his body odor and then somebody cut up a durian and tossed it in the mix.

Superman is a dick. Get this guy some friends with no sense of smell. Or at the very least, an Xbox Gold account.

After the hockey riots, some "the end of the world" riots take place because Zan and Jayna screw up something or other. Basically what that means is that Repulso gets to be let out of his airtight containment unit again! He's a pretty optimistic guy for being sealed away by Superman (which is just Superman's way! Is somebody a problem? No problem! Put them in the Phantom Zone!). He's so happy and not bitter about his living arrangements that I feel like Zan and Jayna had better figure out a way to give him a better life before this issue ends. Because if Mark Russell fails this character he created before this issue is over and I have to face reality after snot crying about a fictional person, I'm going to be pretty upset when I continue to buy Mark Russell comic books because what other choice do I have? Am I going to stop reading DC's best written comic books because Mark Russell betrayed poor Repulso? Of course not! What am I? A person with integrity?! Repulso winds up getting his ass beat by rioters as Repulso's handlers flee the chaotic "end of the world" downtown riot scene. Luckily the Wonder Twins are headed downtown to save his life and maybe become his friend or something? Please? After Zan and Jayna save Repulso, Jayna goes to Superman to tell him everything sucks. He gives her a big speech about how being a hero is lonely work because you don't always get to fuck the hot chick at your secret identity's workplace and also fuck an Amazon warrior while also getting to fuck anybody at all whose initials are "L.L." and also have a best friend who is the coolest guy in the world with a butler who makes the best pancakes. Sometimes you're a fat jerk who smells who even Superman won't fucking give the time of day because Superman has this speech about how being a hero is lonely and that's a good thing so you should embrace your loneliness because who wants to put up with your super stink, fatty?

Jayna is a way better hero than Superman. At least in this comic book that's all about her and not Superman so of course she's going to outshine him!

Oh yeah, the ant in the above picture is Jayna. It can't smell. Wonder Twins #7 Rating: A+. I should probably be less cynical when reading Mark Russell comic books because he's as earnest and serious as he can be while also providing lots of jokes. He takes writing seriously because what else is there? If your message isn't going to matter, why bother? (is his philosophy. I think. It's not my philosophy! I don't think? Maybe it is! I just write things that matter in a much different way than Mark Russell writes things that matter.) I should probably read Superman's speech and be inspired by the idea that you don't do good because you want adulation; you do good because it's the right thing to do, even if the entire world thinks you're an asshole for doing it. Even if all of the other superheroes think you're a stinky fuck and only keep you around to use as a tool to oppress and manipulate the masses without having to use logic and reason on them (because, let's face it, the people doing terrible things don't understand logic and reason. Or they're do but they're just selfish and greedy so nothing is going to reach them anyway (which maybe is part of Superman's message?)), you're still a hero at the end of the day. You can still be proud of your stinky self. And even if the life is lonely, you should remain positive and upbeat because Superman really doesn't want to be reminded that you exist every time you complain about the lack of reasonable living conditions. Being a hero is a state of mind, says the guy who also looks great and is invulnerable and has the best wife and a cool son and doesn't have to fear death! So inspiring!