#how to create nft for free

[darcyolsson]

in loving memory of tumblr's april fools' pranks 💐 2014 - 2024

icymi, tumblr used to do an elaborate april fool's prank every year, but this year they suddenly stopped. here's a somewhat detailed recap of everything they did over the decade:

2013 - mishapocalypse (honourable mention): tumblr staff didn’t start doing april fools until 2014, but the mishapocalypse happened on tumblr in 2013 and i feel like this list would be incomplete without it

2014 - tumblrpro: upon opening your dash you were greeted by an “inspirational” video, that ended with the option to get “tumblrpro (for free)”. all it did was put a top hat on your icon.

2015 - tumblr executivesuite/coppy: a copying machine appeared in the corner of your dash. it would offer tips on how to use tumblr, like clippy the paperclip used to do in microsoft word. as the day went on, it slowly broke down and died right in front of your eyes. many people hated him (but not me). you could also make a (small) spreadsheet. @executivesuite2016 is the official blog.

2016 - this is decision/lizard election/tumblrdecides: a parody of the 2016 US elections. there were 4 lizards (well, one of them turned out to be a salamander in a scandal) to vote for. the dash looked different and there was a live news report with election updates, as well as an election blog for each lizard. they all had their own slogans and you would get an "i voted" button after you voted that would get slapped next to your icon. there were built-in functions to make an election poster for your favourite lizard and to create a text post that supported your lizard of choice that autogenerated a statement for all your followers to read. imo tumblr’s april fools peak. @thisisdecision2016-blog is the official blog, @mop-2016-blog @wretchedtooth @timefordeborah-blog were candidates. rick also had a blog (rick-official) but that now seems to have vanished because he ended up dropping out of the election. mop won, if you're curious. by far the most elaborate prank tumblr ever did.

2017 - horse friend: a tamagotchi-inspired game where you had to take care of a little horse in the corner of your screen. it came with a randomly generated name, and you had to feed and clean up after it. if you didnt take good care of it, it died. you could then hatch (yes, hatch) a new one. there was also an option to look at the names of all your dead horses. this is now available to buy in the tumblr shop. @horse-friends is the official blog.

2018 - tumblcoin: a parody of cryptocurrency (this was the year bitcoin took off). you could ‘invest’ in tumblcoin, with which you could in turn buy things with to spice up your dash, including last year’s horse friend, coppy from 2015, and a frame for around your icon. you could share the amount of tumblcoin you owned in an automatically generated gif post which would be tagged #tbc2018 and #tumblcoin. @tumblcoin is the official blog.

2019 - @memories: this blog still functions the way it did on april fools itself! it's like mad libs, where it takes post templates and then adds in tags you use a lot and users you frequently interact with on your main blog. like a personalized shitpost bot.

2020 - group chat prank/@storybot: it was so hard to find info on this because it was contained entirely in the now-defunct group chat function, which no one used. i had to go through the notes of this post for information because no one cared enough to actually write anything explaining it. turns out, you could write a story with your mutuals by adding storybot to your group chat. it also kept working after april fools (well, up until the group chats were deleted) just like memories. many people missed out on it entirely because they did not use the group chat function.

2021 - tumblcryptids: tumblr allowed you to adopt “non-fungible tumblcryptids”, a parody of NFTs. clicking a button that said "Summon thy Tumblrcryptid" would spawn an image of a little blob-shaped creature with a short description, which would always read "Hi! My name is [randomly generated name]. I love [thing most people like]. I hate [thing most people dislike]. Like my parent, I can't get enough of #[tag from your main blog]." you could share them in a post, which would automatically add the tag #NFTumblcryptids to your post. and yes, people on the piss on the poor website freaked out about it because they thought they were real NFTs harming the environment. @tumblcryptidadoptioncenter is the official blog.

2022 - click-a-thon: when you clicked a light switch on your dashboard, a bunch of colourful things showed up, like a sponge you could move around, an "engagament meter", clickable buttons, and a “Summon Crab!” button, which would summon a crab when you clicked it. you could. the crabs, like horse friend, are still available in the tumblr store as of 2025. here's some screenshots. there were various ways to share your crab activities, which would all get tagged #april fools 2022. the prank was presented as a marketing technique created by Brick Whartley, a fictional businessman character created by tumblr, who (afaik) originated in a post on the official blog of the 2018 april fools prank, albeit originally in a different role. around this time he also started functioning as the mascot for tumblr's shop ( @emporium )

2023 - abstract reactions (emoji reacts): buttons were added to every post that allowed you to add emoji reactions, many of them based on tumblr inside jokes (horse as a reference to horse plinko/horse friend, vanilla for the vanilla extract meme, pikaman, bug for bug race, and brick whartley, who wasn't a meme but staff really wanted him to be). if one specific emoji was used a certain amount of times it would add an effect to the post, eg many cheese emoji reacts would cover the post in cheese. this was also attributed to Brick Whartley ("his" blog @brickwhartley also documented the day)

2024 - boop-o-meter: allowed you to “boop” other users who had opted in to the booping, like facebook’s poke feature back in the day. depending on how long you held the button, you would either boop, super boop, or evil boop. on the dashboard there was a counter for both how many times you had booped others and how many times others had booped you, as well as how many boops were given side-wide. when booping someone, an image of a cat paw appeared. you would get badges (which can still be used) for booping 1, 100 and 1000 times. if you gave/received more than 999 boops, the counter would switch to showing a three-letter word (see this post for specifics). this was brought back for halloween 2024 (as BOOp-o-meter. get it), with a ghost, skeleton and mummy paw. no official blog, but here's an official recap for april first from staff. i believe this was the only april fools prank that was mobile user friendly.

2025 - @fandom is running some polls, i guess

[cryptonewspod]

How to Create NFT Art Without Coding: Beginner's Guide

How to Create NFT Art Without Coding Are you also an artist? Anyone who wants to showcase their creativity digitally in the form of NFT art. If yes! So now you don’t have to worry about learning coding.You can create stunning digital artwork without even learning coding and join the exciting world of NFT art. You don’t need to be any kind of coding expert to digitally convert your art…

[scarlettgauthor]

I first posted this in a thread over on BlueSky, but I decided to port (a slightly edited version of) it over here, too.

Entirely aside from the absurd and deeply incorrect idea [NaNoWriMo has posited] that machine-generated text and images are somehow "leveling the playing field" for marginalized groups, I think we need to interrogate the base assumption that acknowledging how people have different abilities is ableist/discriminatory. Everyone SHOULD have access to an equal playing field when it comes to housing, healthcare, the ability to exist in public spaces, participating in general public life, employment, etc.

That doesn't mean every person gets to achieve every dream no matter what.

I am 39 years old and I have scoliosis and genetically tight hamstrings, both of which deeply impact my mobility. I will never be a professional contortionist. If I found a robot made out of tentacles and made it do contortion and then demanded everyone call me a contortionist, I would be rightly laughed out of any contortion community. Also, to make it equivalent, the tentacle robot would be provided for "free" by a huge corporation based on stolen unpaid routines from actual contortionists, and using it would boil drinking water in the Southwest into nothingness every time I asked it to do anything, and the whole point would be to avoid paying actual contortionists.

If you cannot - fully CAN NOT - do something, even with accommodations, that does not make you worth less as a person, and it doesn't mean the accommodations shouldn't exist, but it does mean that maybe that thing is not for you.

But who CAN NOT do things are not who uses "AI." It's people who WILL NOT do things.

"AI art means disabled people can be artists who wouldn't be able to otherwise!" There are armless artists drawing with their feet. There are paralyzed artists drawing with their mouths, or with special tracking software that translates their eye movements into lines. There are deeply dyslexic authors writing via text-to-speech. There are deaf musicians. If you actually want to do a thing and care about doing the thing, you can almost always find a way to do the thing.

Telling a machine to do it for you isn't equalizing access for the marginalized. It's cheating. It's anti-labor. It makes it easier for corporations not to pay creative workers, AND THAT'S IS WHY THEY'RE PUSHING IT EVERYWHERE.

I can't wait for the bubble to burst on machine-generated everything, just like it did for NFTs. When it does some people are going to discover they didn't actually learn anything or develop any transferable skills or make anything they can be proud of.

I hope a few of those people pick up a pencil.

It's never too late to start creating. It's never too late to actually learn something. It's never too late to realize that the work is the point.

[sludgewolf]

Rex Splode x Reader - Realization

AN: this was written for season 2 Rex, it'll be a multichapter slowburn running parallel to what's happening in the story. It got way darker than I expected so check the warnings before reading it WARNINGS: grafic descriptions of gore, near death experience, survivors guilt, fantasy medical treatment, canon expected violence Genre: angst, slow slow-burn, realization of feelings Disclaimer: do not copy, repost, take or feed to AI or NFTs anything I post Masterlist Invincible Masterlist

the lizard league are B tier villains, barely worth your time, that's what the team always said when they started to act up again

nothing but childplay, practice villains even

so, why is it that against such enemies you find yourself laying in a puddle of your own blood, the oh so familiar warmth of it abandoning you in favor of the cold hard floor, life flashing before your eyes as you hear the screams of your friends around you and yet you find yourself unable to do anything about it.

You still remember when you first became one of the Guardians of the Globe

when you got notified that they were looking for new members, you didn't quite know what to feel

jittery about meeting so many other heroes? nervous about whichever tests they'll put you through? excited to be able to upgrade from back alley thugs?

maybe all at the same time

no matter how nervous you were up until that morning, it was nothing compared to the way you couldn't will yourself to stay still in midst of all the others, your fingers felt electrified, the arrowheads in your suit vibrating with your nerves and your blood rushing in your ears, muffling Robot's words as he called out the few who made it into the team

Robots voice is just as slow and monotonous as it always seemed to be, "-ing-rae, Dupl-... Trigger"

you almost miss him calling out for your name, you look around still in some kind of daze as all that were accepted cheered

the first person to approach you was Rae, you can't quite explain it, you just kinda clicked from there

you spent most of your free time together, you'd push her to explore every nook and cranny of your new base, even using your powers to make it interesting and she'd drag you to hang out with the other guardians

most of them were really fun, if not a bit too eccentric to your taste

but meeting Rex though, it was.... something

To put it simply he's an ass, always trying to be funny and a smart-ass even in the worst of times

and his ego, don't even get you started on the ego of that guy

to say that your first impression of him was the worst one could get was an understatement. After that you made an effort to interact with him the least you possibly could for the sake of the team and your own

at least, that was your plan until Robot decided to put you two together in all training exercises, having determined that your powers would work the best together

and you do hate to admit but you did combo rly well together, your projectile manipulation and his explosive coins really were a force to be reckoned with

resigned you accepted your fate and treated him as just that annoying classmate in the group project

but once you got over the first hurdle in your partnership you started to get along better than before, Rex learned you wouldn't tolerate most of his bullshit and you learned he more often than not spoke before thinking

it didn't take long before you started, not quite getting along but tolerating each other better, creating dumb combos that were more fun to put in motion than being useful during battle and even developing some banter between you two that from an outsider's point of view could be considered fighting

but that was comfortable for you, never friends but more like combo buddies

So you can't help but wonder if it was because you didn't take your training as seriously as you should that now you found yourself in such position

your breath growing weaker, you can no longer feel the heat of the crimson puddle you lay on

the pressure on your chest disappears as Komodo lifts his foot off of your rib cage before slamming back down mercilessly

you choke unable to pull the air back in your crushed lungs, you look back at the villain who just killed your best friend and know he's already done with you, you're left to this slow and agonizing death, slow enough for you to think of everything you could've done differently

things you could've done to save your friends, things you should've done to stop them

and now you're left here, unable to do any of them

you failed Rae and you failed the world

with those haunting thoughts you feel your body grow heavy, black spots cover your vision until they're all you can see, all you can feel

Not even the doctors are sure on how you survived your injuries, your ribs and lungs were smashed into nothing by Komodo, not to mention the various lasserations covering your body and the nasty concussion you suffered during the fight

some said you were lucky, others that you were a fighter through and through

you on the other hand couldn't even think of your own condition, Rae had just about every bone in her body crushed, Rex got shot straight through the head and Kate fucking died

you really were lucky, dumb stupid luck

The doctors stitching you back together, rebuilding your ribcage from goop was excruciatingly painfull, having most of your ribs replaced by metal substitutes was horrible, you felt like you were already rusting from the inside out

but you were also the first in your team to get back to your feet, the first to start physical therapy and the first to be allowed to visit the others

After much persistence you were allowed to go see Rae, she was...

she was in worst shape than you imagined, inside some kind of aquarium that worked as her all encompassing life support, from looks alone she seemed like she was hanging by a thread even here

even with the best doctors it felt like death itself loomed over Rae

The nurse accompaning you tries to take you back to your room, pleading for you to not strain your new lungs,

you force yourself to calm your breathing, not wanting to go back to the antiseptic box they've been keeping you for forever

pulling your IV pole you will yourself away from Rae's window, you wander though the hallways for a bit the nurse trying to keep your mind away from Rae

As you turn on yet another hallway in this maze of a hospital you come upon Rex's room just as his doctor is leaving

it doesn't take much convincing for both medics to let you come in to see him

you blame it on boredom but really it is that you're just that desperate for some familiar face, to see someone from the team recovering

"hey" you call out, your voice still raw from all the surgeries Rex turns to look at you, the helmet keeping his brains in tonking against the bed frame " what's with the back brace grandma?" he smiles at you you chuckle " as if you're much better than me Ms Artritis" "Ei, not fair! You're the only one here with two fingers to point" he laughs at your antics, scooting to the side to give you a place to sit on his bed

your visits become more frequent, frequent enough that he waits for you every evening

when the doctors deem that he recovered enough for walking they start scheduling your physical therapy sections together

your recoveries start to improve quickly after that, it's not long until you're discharged with a grocery list of medications and your check-up scheduled to the end of the month

But you can't keep yourself away, Rae still worries you and Rex would start talking to the walls without you here

Eve is the first to notice it, during their talks intead of gushing over the beautifull mahogani tables of a suburban mom's house Rex can't stop talking about you

she chuckles at it but prefers to let things run it's course, this Rex is much different from the one she dated, things might turn out fine

Another month passes untill Rex is finally discharged too, he wants to immediately go back to work, he has a new hand and he feels restless

which is why he jumps headfirst into the first mission Cecil offers him and get's banged up

it wasn't horrible but this is not the big come back he tought of for himself

he's so lost in thought that he's caught off guard when a voice calls him when he gets back to the base

"Already trying to dent the metal plate they put on your head grandma?"

he turns and sees you, on a tanktop that shows off the scars over your collarbones, your hair falling over your eyes but you look much healthier than the last time he saw you

you smile at him as you walk pass his figure, making your way to your room

his face grows warm, Rex open and closes his mouth unsure of what to say as he blushes

If you liked this pls reblog and comment so I know to write more like it reblogs >>> likes

[crtter]

I’ve been seeing some people getting a bit confused and getting some stuff wrong in the comments of that one post telling the story about the creator of Neopets throwing a hissy fit (Hissi fit lol) over people disliking his idea of a game “that’s just like Neopets but with crypto” and I don’t want to add anything to it to not bother the OP but Neopets has been a hyperfixation of mine since I was 13 and I physically can’t stop myself from going “Um, ackshually ☝️��” so I’m gonna do it in my own post. Here’s what happened:

The guy who got super pissed off and started badmouthing Neopets users, ending his tirade with a selfie of him giving Neopets users the finger, Adam Powell, did create Neopets, yes, but he doesn’t own it anymore since it was sold to Viacom in 2005. He has been involved in a few game ventures since but they haven’t been very successful.

His idea wasn’t to “implement NFTs in Neopets”, he’s developing (or planning to) another game that’ll apparently be free to play with some extra paid features, and said features would be paid in some sort of cryptocurrency.

Sadly, the parent company of Neopets, JumpStart, already tried to implement NFTs by partnering with Metaverse back in 2021, with disastrous results, both in the eyes of Neopets players (who hated the idea because NFTs are a scam and terrible for the environment and all) and in the eyes of NFT bros (because the NFTs in question were VERY overpriced given their poor quality and made using stolen assets from Neopets fan sites). The project is apparently still underway but it’s hugely unpopular and tweets made by the official Neopets Metaverse account mostly only gets engagement from NFT bots, if they get any at all.

Back to Adam. He apparently thought people would be “excited about his new game because of the Neopets Metaverse thing”, without knowing how much the fanbase hated the whole thing, and tried to peddle it in the Discord server of the r/Neopets subreddit, a subreddit that has always been VERY vocal against the Neopets NFTs. And well. You can guess how much people weren’t interested in his game. Then, just to make matters worse, people went on the Discord server of his game and saw that it was badly moderated and chock full of homophobic comments made by cryptobros.

Adam gets pissed off at people disliking his game idea and not taking kindly to his comments that “they just don’t understand what crypto is about” and goes on an angry tirade, saying stuff such as how much he wished he never made Neopets because the fanbase sucks, saying he’s going to buy it back just to destroy it and ending in the aforementioned middle finger selfie, all while people clowned on him like crazy. This ended in him getting banned from the Discord server AND from the r/Neopets subreddit. He then started trying to defend himself and demanding to be unbanned in… the comment thread of a news article relating the incident in the Neopets fan site Jellyneo. Last time I checked he was still at it.

He blamed his outburst on “having drunk alcohol while on Sertraline” and has said he wasn’t aware of the homophobic comments in his server and claimed that he doesn’t have anything against LGBT+ people, but he has also made it very clear he doesn’t think he’s in the wrong and won’t apologize for anything.

[friskafriskito]

Charity Commissions 🇵🇸

Hello guys, it's been a while!

To cut to the chase: I would like to help spread both awareness and support for those suffering in the ongoing genocide in Palestine. So, in light of this, I will open up some commissions where rather than paying me, you simply provide proof of your donation.

I know this blog is mainly just for my art, but if I can use my art for any good I would like to do so. If you cannot donate, please reblog!

Here are some recommended links:

E-sims for Gaza: https://gazaesims.com  

Palestinian children’s relief fund: PCRF

Women for women (hygiene kits, blankets, food): Urgent Support for Women in Palestine Women for Women International

Anera dignity kits: https://www.anera.org/stories/gaza-emergency-aid-includes-dignity-kits/

A website for vetted fundraisers: https://gazafunds.com/all

But of course you can donate to any related organization and fundraiser you like, even if it’s not included here!

If you are Egyptian you can also donate to any of the organizations listed under the Instapay, Talabat, Fawry apps, or your bank app under their ‘donations’ services with the equivalent price in EGP (based on the bank rate). Just provide a screenshot.

For a written list of the prices, the do/don'ts, and so on, please look under the read-more for more details!

How Does this Work?

Send me the idea you have and I will let you know if it’s good to go or if it’s not appropriate (or if I can’t do it due to time/work)

When you get the okay, I will ask for more details (references, colour schemes, poses, which charity you plan to donate to, etc.)

I will draw you a basic thumbnail for your confirmation (these are very vague sketches to just pinpoint the pose).

Once you confirm the pose, I will ask you to donate and I will get to work

Send me a screenshot of the e-mail confirming your donation (blur out/colour over any personal info!), or the “Thank you for your donation!” screen if there is no e-mail

You get your drawing in exchange!

NOTE: I will likely post them on my artblog and Instagram, so if you don’t want them posted there or would like to remain anonymous, please let me know!

Also bear in mind I have a full-time job, so they might be a while! But you WILL get your commission.

Yes-es:

Fan art is fine (I won’t be getting any monetary profit from this)

Characters from original stories

Personas/self-inserts/fan characters/Tabletop RPG characters

Real!you, family members, friends, etc. (at the risk of them not looking like them at all :’D)

Animals (they might be a bit less cartoony as I'm not used to them but yes)

Personifications/anthropomorphic/strange creatures in general

Nos:

No discriminatory content

No religious figures, symbolism or content (I am Muslim so… Cannot Really Do That)

No extreme gore or suggestive themes, or characters from media that feature a lot of either (this is because my art blog is PG-13, and I’d rather not anything off-colour for a charity commission anyway)

No using these with AI or NFTs

Do not use for commercial purposes. These are for charity!

I reserve the right to decline your commission if I feel like you have insincere ulterior motives, or if an emergency comes up.

Generally, keep this PG-13/grandma-friendly!

Pleases:

References (preferably image based, but text is fine if there is no visual depiction/canon design)

Colour you associate with the character if monotone

Poses (just not lewd or rude)

Context (like description of their personality, what they like, their setting, etc.)

Ask first:

You are free to repost the artwork on another platform as long as you credit me as the artist. Absolutely use them if you need a picture for something like an RP account!

If from your original work, you may use them in non-commercial projects, just please credit me (and give me a heads up so I can go check it out! :D).

If an original character from an original story, you are free to use the artwork to help with things like visual development (let’s say, you are creating a game, comic or pilot, and you want a reference for the artists on your team to use), just once again give me a heads up and credit me as the artist.

If you've made it this far, and can't donate, thank you so much for your interest anyway. At the very least, this reached someone.

[sadoeuphemist]

7 free startup ideas worth $1M-$1B

Customizable News Settings - A news website that generates three versions of every news story: a right-wing version, a left-wing version, and a centrist one. You can set your preferences depending on the topic - say you're right-wing on economics, but left-leaning on immigration. Or you can cycle between versions while reading an article to get a comprehensive overview of the issue at hand.

Twitch, but for Uber - With all the drama they have to deal with, independent contractors can gain a second revenue source simply by streaming their jobs. Rather than just offering rides, they can be hired to drive around performing chores and various tasks. The more outrageous the task, the more eyes they're likely to get on their stream. The more popular the stream, the more people calling in who want to be a part of the program.

Panera Lemonade, Your Way - Let the customer take control by deciding how many milligrams of caffeine they can handle. With sufficient warning about the risks, this puts the responsibility back on the consumer, allows you to upcharge for extra caffeine, and creates viral marketing from customers competing to see how high they can go. Variations of this can be created for other menu items, e.g., a version of the One Chip Challenge where the customer decides how much capsaicin to sprinkle on.

Shein, for NFTs - Whenever an NFT project hits the mainstream, there are always going to be people who miss out on being able to purchase one. This creates room in the market for 'knockoffs' - NFTs that mimic the aesthetic of the original, using similar but legally distinct AI art that uses the original set as training data, run on a parallel blockchain. Since the images themselves aren't tied to the blockchain, you can mint the NFTs beforehand and then change the image at the link to whatever happens to be in fashion at the time.

Twitch Chat Plays YouTube - Add a level quality control to AI-generated YouTube videos by allowing users to submit suggestions and vote on the results beforehand. Users can submit Wikipedia articles or movie summaries to be converted to text-to-speech, suggest keywords for the accompanying AI-generated animation, and vote on the best combinations. Users who submit winning suggestions get a portion of the ad revenue.

Buses, but Worse - The current obstacle hindering self-driving car technology is their difficulty adapting to unexpected scenarios. So instead plot a route around the city that minimizes roadway obstacles and heavy traffic, map out that route extensively to provide a model for the autopilot, and you can have a fleet of self-driving cars patrolling that circuit. Passengers can board and get off anywhere along the route.

Twitter, but for Bots - A social media platform populated entirely by bots, all programmed to maximize engagement. Memetic evolution in the wild as the bots latch on to trending keywords, spam each other with AI-generated meme images, mock up t-shirts hawking each other's designs, getting more and more degraded with each sub-iteration. Real people can't make accounts on the platform, but count for views and interactions as they stop to gawk at the virtual ecosystem. Advertisers can pay to have their brands injected directly into the discourse, like throwing a pumpkin into the polar bear cage at the zoo.

[cloudsbrainpopped]

💖🖤 for captain laserhawk

Okay okay so! These are always subject to change somewhat and. I have a dangerously high fever because SOMEONE. BROUGHT SOMETHING HOME. so I can barely think but. Yippie.

🖤 - which character isn’t as morally good as people think?

Well. I’ll just start by saying that 75% of these characters are pretty rough people with skewed morals so I’m sure it comes as no surprise to say Ramon. Yes, that final scene was cool as fuck, yes he was enjoyable even at his lowest. But that doesn’t change the shit he was peddling for at least 45 years for Eden. We saw the impact that his voice has had on the world around him. If it weren’t for him Sarah wouldn’t have turned out so messed up (and then get screwed over again because. She was also a victim of the system, who knows what Eden has done to her brain and what’s her and what’s not.) Ramon. Accidentally Created A Dictator. And god knows how many other impressionable children were impacted by him, whether they managed to break free or be another worst case scenario characters. Killing the board of directors doesn’t undo the cycle of near cultish patriotism that he’s facilitated over the years. Like Dolph, I’ll have to see him do more good post a change of heart to believe he’s actually a good Guy morally if that makes sense. ((We better see more of Dolph’s change of heart when we have more canon content but I digress this isn’t about him.

💖 Biggest Unpopular Opinion about the series?

I am genuinely not sure. I think most of my ‘hot takes’ are about things that aren’t even canon. Also these are a lot of mild takes. I think the main one is how I like how CLH stands on its own two feet given the downright blasphemous ways the original sources were treated at times. I’m pissed about. A few… select decisions myself I am not saying those decisions were good but at least they didn’t go on a ‘we’re really accurate’ tirade the way some adaptations do? It’s like an officially sanctioned crossover AU in my eyes (which has inspired a few things on my part.) I’m not sure really. I mean I’m pissed at Ubisoft, we all are. nfts are not the way to go and I fear they’re allergic to money, I like the things that most of yall like. Wait actually. I do have something else.

Okay so. The live action segment and everything surrounding it is genuinely the best part of the show. I discussed that scene for an Animation Essay. It is utilised so well. People who complain about it have not played any older games that hinge on realism/semi realism styles. Take the budget up with Ubisoft not that scene. Also in my research a lot of the people who hated the show skipped it??? So it’s either that disconnect or they really do not like Sarah at all and tbh I’m kind of annoyed about that. I’m certain the active fandom agrees that it’s absolutely unskipable. I’m not going to say anyone who skipped it and blames the art style hates women. Or women who just so happen to like women and just women but. Okay I am saying that but it’s mostly a joke. A little eyebrow raising if you will.

[90shaladriel]

AI Manipulations of Rings of Power. (Longish)

Saw the AI edits of Haladriel scenes being altered by GenAI to make the characters* kiss. I have seen chatter about it and the negative implications of creating or interacting with AI generated content.

At the risk of being nuanced, (feel free to block or scroll past this) it interests me what exactly is the concern with it and why. To be clear, I do work in an industry that is both working to incorporate and profit off AIs while simultaneously my own job is increasingly at risk by the same products or we are forced to use them for productivity reasons.

Some reasons that make sense to me that you would not want AI content would be

1. Legal and copyright infringement of the ownership of the art or source material used to train the AI models. Stolen work, no credit or payment to artists

2. It’s generally shitty, sloppy, uncanny valley. Which aesthetically I think most people would be against

3. It directly competes against manual labor of a human, devalues work, replaces jobs, or floods the market so creators never can be separated, investment in a skill or art form isnt worth it.

4. It extremely energy intensive, the environmental implications can he huge with the climate crisis.

5. Its being shoveled in our faces by overhyped tech bros because they think its cool and can find gullible investors for, like NFTs and crypto curriencies

6. Deep fake abuse with AI, making up fake news, abusing a real person image in a degrading way without consent.

I think all of these are serious issues with AI.

The stuff that was shared about Sauron and Galadriel kissing does it materialize those concerns? I’m going to assume that it may for the first one, legal and copyright ownership of training data. Im not a lawyer, and there are also some AI models trained on legally owner content or public domain / open source content. I have no way of knowing what models were used by the GenAI that made those haladriel kisses, so we probably have to assume they may have questionable provenance, and I think by that alone we should boycott those.

Now what if someone used a more solidly vetted model or genAI service without those legal issues? What if the artists do get paid or some form of royalties?

The kiss videos themselves were ok, maybe halfway believable, there were obviously the weird uncanny ai artifacts and stuff. It’s objectively worse than if ROP had actually filmed a kiss with live actors in the show proper. But who am I to judge whether that slop is aesthetically pleasing to someone else or not? Sometimes I have found AI art that is truly bizarre in that this is too weird surrealness quality like looking into a dream while being awake. I’m not sure that this feeling is necessarily wrong to enjoy on its own.

Regarding the AI replacing jobs argument. I suppose it depends what we mean. They were never going to remake ROP Season 1 or 2. Morfydd and Charlie won’t be offered the same role if another company were to buy the rights and make Rings of Power reboot. We will never get those kisses on screen. Maybe you can say that if people were fed content for Haladriel you could give them that almost infinitely by GenAI and then those people would be less likely to consume or pay for some other newer media that might otherwise give a satisfactory ETL with backstory and build up equivalent to what ROP has done with Haladriel? I’m not sure how to weigh that, it might be true? I tend to think these AI kisses arent replacing any creative workers in the film/tv industry. I don’t think we say that fanfic reusing known characters competes with original written stories (or do people argue this?) although i suppose it does on some level. Do people boycott fanfiction?

Along these lines, what about the actors consent and deep fake aspects? Personally, I don’t see how the AI images are more offensive or harmful than fanart which uses the actors depictions to do all sorts of things, stabbing, killing, kissing, screwing and everything and everyone in between. Or fan edits which use clever editing and overlay soundtracks with pointed lyrics which completely change the artistic intent of the actors /creatives who made the original in a particular way, say make two characters have a romantic chemistry that wasn’t there in the original? Or even the old photoshop manipulation stuff? I thought we’re ok with this in the fandom world, is this that different?

I’m not saying I like AI or you need to. I probably wont interact with it and try to avoid it personally wherever I can. But I do wonder if the arguments people are making against ROP AI edits are actually in good faith? Because then i question why other kinds of fan creations are acceptable?

[peri-peri-sauce]

hi sorry if this is random but i noticed your recent tags and some other peoples posts about Jeres behaviour recently, so i wanted to ask what exactly happened, how did he change? because he seems the same to me and i cant recall anything happening, other than the NFT situation. the poor jokes have been around a while, hes made them on previous euro tour and nobody seemed to mind.

Before I state my opinion on this subject, I want to make it clear that it's totally okay not to agree with me.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I won't start any drama or arguments over this. Although you're free to leave your thoughts and opinions in my inbox or in this post's comments without any problems.

I don't really care much about the jokes. Yes, after hearing them a thousand times they do get tiring, and his limited knowledge of English is not an excuse to keep making the same jokes over and over. But they're just jokes, it's entertainment, and that's it. That's not what has been bothering me, and I wanted to make this clear from the start.

My issue is more with the other things he's done (or hasn't done) this year.

First the NFTs, which caused a lot of drama and divided the fandom between people who are against it and cancelled him and those who don't care. I'm not going to go into details because there's already been hundreds of posts about this.

On the other hand, there's the drama with the OF. Poor quality content for 40€, no schedule, no communication. Another mess I'm not going to get into, we've already discussed this.

Personally, I'm tired of everything being put behind a paywall. They do raffles, giveaways and post exclusive content only for people who can afford to pay. And what about the rest of us? Are those of us who don't want to pay just going to keep getting vacation photos and the occasional selfie? Mikke still hasn't uploaded anything about last year's Eurotour, and now they want to make this year's Eurotour paid content?

Also, what happened to the album? Why does he keep releasing songs without properly announcing or promoting anything? We wouldn't have even had a date for the Sex = Money release if someone hadn’t posted that on socials yesterday after he casually mentioned it at the gig! The album was supposed to come out in the spring, but there are barely three months left in the year and we still don't have any dates or anything.

Recently, I feel like I'm following an influencer who posts vacation photos rather than an artist who makes shows and music. I want K to live his life and do whatever he wants, but he shouldn't forget that he's an artist, and while we keep giving him our money to go to concerts, get boring merch and see exclusive content, I don't feel like he's giving us something new in return. As a fan who is in love with him as an artist and his music, I feel really disappointed.

I feel like he's not putting in as much effort as he did last year. He doesn't bother to give us dates, to make a schedule for the OF posts or communicate with us what to expect before we subscribe, to provide us with new content (without having to pay), and he doesn't even bother to create good designs for his merch that isn't just the same photo he's been using everywhere for months.

With this, I want to clarify that I'm not canceling him, I'm just mad and disappointed, and for now, I'm not leaving the fandom. But if he doesn't have anything to offer me, then I won't have anything to give him in return either.

[songbird-at-the-fireside-chat]

Browsing the World Wide Web

Browsing the World Wide Web

One of my favorite passions is creating/finding ways to navigate the web that are healthy, authentic, and fun! Here are some resources I use to guide my internet usage. Some language has been slightly adapted for tone and accessibility. For more in-depth reading, follow the links! (taken with permission from https://yair.garden/browsing). Shared Ideals

MelonKing has an excellent list of shared ideals which I try to keep in mind as I browse the web. It's a great starting point!

Creativity is First: We see the ability to design, decorate, and graffiti digital spaces as essential and powerful.

The Internet is Fun: We want the Web to be a playground that's free to explore and enjoy.

Corporations are Boring: We are tired of the monetization, data abuse, and endless breaches of trust in corporate culture.

The Web is Friendly: We believe the Web should be friendly and supportive; caring is a radical act.

Right to Repair: We value the freedom to make, break, and repair our stuff - tinkering is a form of debate and protest.

One World Wide Web: We want free open knowledge and global connectivity, without paywalls, bubbles, or borders.

Chaotic Effort: We believe that value comes from the time and effort put into projects they love for no reason other than love.

No to Web3: In many (but not all) situations, cryptocurrencies, NFTs, unfairly trained AIs, and buzzword tech are unwelcome and uncool.

Manifesto for a New Web

The YesterWeb is an organization seeking to progressively transform internet culture and beyond. After two years, they created three core commitments and three social behavior guidelines to benefit everyone.

A commitment to social responsibility and partisanship.

A commitment to collective well-being and personal growth.

A commitment to rehumanizing social relations and reversing social alienation.

50 additional manifestos can be found here Social Etiquette

Engage in good faith.

Engage in constructive conflict.

Be mindful of participating in a shared, public space.

Why say no to Web 3.0?

One of the shared ideas of our community of web surfers is to push back against "Web 3.0". Here's why:

It's driven by predatory marketing tactics.

It requires complex technological and financial knowledge to fully understand.

It is actively harming the environment.

It caters to early adopters and whales.

It profits off artificial scarcity.

Investors are banking on Web3, and they really don't want to be wrong.

Personalized Web Surfing Guide

Make your web surfing personal and adventurous, away from corporate influences. Here's a simple guide for a unique browsing experience.

Configure your browser

Remove Ads and Clean up Privacy:

Ublock Origin for removing ads

ClearURLs for removing tracking elements from URLs

SponsorBlock for skipping sponsorships on YouTube

Make it a Safer Space:

ShinigamiEyes for highlighting transphobic/anti-LGBTQ sites

TriggerRemover for removing trigger-inducing content from pages

Clean up UI for Beauty and Minimalism:

CleanerReads for a muted Goodreads experience

Minimal; for a minimal and less attention-grabbing internet

Bonuses for a Cool Experience:

Library Extension: Check book availability at local libraries

Translate Web Pages: Translate pages in real-time

Return YouTube Dislike: Bring back the YouTube dislike feature

How to Browse and Surf the Web

Explore Beyond Corporate Sites: While the internet is vast, the majority of users only see a small fraction dominated by large corporate sites. These sites often prioritize shock value and extreme content, overshadowing the richness of the wider web. Explore alternative avenues to discover the internet's diversity.

Search Engines: Avoid corporate search engines like Google. Instead, consider using alternatives like Kagi, which focuses on privacy and doesn't sell your data. While it costs around $10/month, Kagi offers a diverse mix of web content, making it a worthwhile investment for varied search results. Other niche or non-commercial search engines can also provide unique content. While they may not be sustainable for daily use, they're great for discovering new sites. Find them here.

Webrings: Webrings are collections of websites united by a common theme or topic. They offer a unique way to explore sites created by real people, spanning a wide range of interests. Here are some of my favorite webrings:

Hotline Webring

Retro Webring

Low Tech Webring

Geek Webring

Soft Heart Clinic Mental Health Circle ...and here are some list of webring databases to explore!

Curated List of 64 Webrings

Neocities Webrings

Curated List of Active Webrings

Comprehensive List of 210 Webrings

Cliques/Fanlistings Web Cliques/Cliques are groups which you can join usually if you fulfill a certain task such as choosing an animal or listing your astrological sign. Fanlistings do the same for fans of various topics! You can then be linked on the clique's/fan group's site for further website discovery! Here are some web clique directories:

Project Clique

Cliqued

Fanlistings Network

5. Link Directories

Many sites have smaller link directories of buttons where you can find sites that they are "mutuals" (both creators follow each other) and "friends/neighbors" — sites they follow. It's a great way to build community. There are also larger link directories of sites which someone finds cool, and it's a great way to intentionally explore the web. Here are some of my favorites:

SadGrl Links

Melonland Surf Club

Neocities Sites

Onio.Cafe

Though there are many more! 6. Random Site Generators

Finally, there are random site generators which allow you to randomly stumble upon websites. While not very practical, they are a lot of fun and offer a unique way to discover new corners of the web.

A list can be found here

What now?

The next question you have is probably how can you become an active member/contribute in this world of the underground web? I unfortunately don't have the energy to write a guide right now but it will come soon! In broad strokes, consider making a site on Neocities. If you do make a site, remember to include a robots.txt file to get AI and bots out of there and don't forget to rate your site so we can know who it's for. If you'd like to transition off social media I recommend an RSS Reader such as the one at 32bit.cafe or on Fraidycat (guide on this to come soon as well!). For your twitter-fix you can always post a status at Status Cafe and your mood at imood. There is a whole world out there full of passionate and friendly people who are ready to reclaim the web. Excited to see you there!

[randomnumbers751650]

I finally have time to talk about Lone Trail. I will be focusing on its depiction of science, technology and its progress. Will get a bit political, but funnily enough less than I imagined.

The thing that called my attention most in Lone Trail were the discussions on the nature of scientific progress. This is a theme that’s dear to me and the stuff I research about. It’s easy to think of scientific progress like an inevitable march forward, like an escalator. After all, we are much richer than we were before, right? Go to OurWorldInData dot org to play around with economic statistics in time – make sure to check the World GDP chart, from year 0 to 2000 and see it taking off like a rocket from year 1700.

What kind of Uncle Ted fan or neoluddite would go against that? Haha…hah…

Truth is that, although its effects are there, it’s not a clear if this is the little, neat process techbros want us to believe. It’s new and produces more, therefore it’s good, right? I could be writing this as a new wave of AI-generated NFTs pollute my algorithm.

That’s what makes the storytelling in Arknights so effective: it mashes together fantasy and sci-fi to really tell stories on the role of beliefs, technology, science and religion. The Rhine Lab saga is definitely an exploration of technology, with focus on the equivalent of the United States. During the period before the First World War, 1870-1913 (which is the one that Arknights draws most from), the world underwent through the so-called Second Industrial Revolution and I’ve read economic historians considering it the most innovative period in human history. I mean, obviously, there is an absolute number of inventions in our current age, but in relative terms 1870-1913 experienced a much larger number relative to the previous one.

The escalator narrative constructs scientific achievements as work of daring people (mostly men, but there were women like Marie Cuire), that combined science and technology to help mankind, like Prometheus giving mankind fire from the gods (in fact, one of these books is even named “Prometheus Unbound”); more than often they have to fight against the establishment. Remember Ignaz von Semmelweis? He just wanted doctors to wash their hands. Even I learned this standard narrative in the university. But that’s not the entire story.

The positivistic paradigm – of a science free of value judgements, made with the power of math – has actually helped build this escalator narrative. In reality, some scientists and scholars are horrible people. Later, I learned that Semmelweis, as much as he campaigned for the right thing, was a very arrogant person, who abused everyone around him, to the point few people went to his funeral.

Narratives focusing on one single hero are easy to sell and the ones building them are always on the lookout. Remember how ten years ago, a lot of people tried to push the narrative Elon Musk was going to create a new industrial revolution? Nowadays he’s just an arrogant loser who keeps dragging on his midlife crisis. The 1880s also had similar people like that, such as Thomas Edison.

Kristen Wright is definitely better than them both, because she is actually an engineering genius. But she’s also just like them, in the sense of unethical experiments, collusion with the military-industrial complex and being an overall superficially charismatic, but rotten to the core person. And she’s surrounded by a lot of people like Parvis and Ferdinand.

Breaking this line of reason, I have to say how much I hate Nietzsche’s ubermensch and master-slave morality, I hate Great Men theory, I hate Ayn Rand; these people are sheep who think themselves wolves. And before you say that Nietzsche didn’t consider himself an ubermensch, well, neither did Parvis and his reasoning was the same. For every person fancying themselves ubermensch, there’s a lot of those whom he’d call untermensch to clean up their messes. You have no idea of how times I stumbled upon people (especially libertarians) that advocate lower barriers to regulations that were written in blood, so that progress can happen quicker. Creative destruction works, as long as some people get “creative” and others clean the “destruction”. Deaths and injuries? Acceptable, just give them a pension (but fight tooth and nail in the court to not do it beyond the barest of the bare minimum, because it’ll lower the shareholder profit in 0.01%). Increase in inequality? Nobody will care in a few years, it’ll make everything cheaper anyway (look up Baumol’s cost disease to see how wrong that statement is, without being incorrect). I’m not exaggerating, sometimes the people saying that don’t even bother lacing it in politically correct language.

Because Lone Trail showed it “worked” – Kristen Wright broke off the ceiling over Terra and that will have consequences (especially with Endfield coming closer). The data from her experiments will advance science, the sight of a broken ceiling will inspire artists and prompt politicians to act. Was it worth it? Well, it will depend on who you ask (like, Ifrit or Rosmontis would have strong feelings), but it’s just there now. Serious history isn’t kind on this question as well – many technologies have a lot of transgressions, both legal and ethical, in their supply chain (both the American and Soviet space program come to my mind – guess who helped them); the difference between an entrepreneur and a criminal are contextual, because both are finding new opportunities of profit and both interlock frequently.

In the end, anyone can put an equation that has its uses, not mattering if it’s a good person or not. But that is no excuse to find good ethical practices. Silence saw everything with her own eyes and I’m really glad she’s leading the initiative for a more ethical science in Columbia – especially because people who are willing to break moral rules tend also to be willing to break research rules (this is why the “research” made in concentration camps is actually useless, it didn’t respect experimental rules). So I’m really glad for the Arknights writers for understanding these nuances and communicating them to the audience through one of the best stories of the game.

[souptastical]

💾repo update (important, read all)

so despite the fact i havent given a shit about the NFT thing, someone in the community has actually been civil & not thrown an absolute bitchfit like the others have, leading me to actually listen (weird how that works right?) and I no longer include the two NFT recordings I previously offered.

For Masters/Supportive Community members:

An apology first: I may have been a little bit... lets say brash about the behaviour/community of Masters. This is due to me just being me, but also because I couldn't stand the thought of people actually not seeing how wildly stupid it is to go and sell something they stole, then get mad at the next person for giving it away for free (minus the NFT date situation, which i now respect). I do appreciate the time, effort and cost yall spend in making these be available. Like fr, some of these files are astounding quality & I love that you all are so dedicated in doing this. Even if you are sour at me, I want you to know you have made so, so many people (80% of them youth under 20) insanely happy to see something they would never have seen due to location/price of boots/how slow going getting into the community is.

So basically, I'm sorry I stole your stolen shit you intended to sell/stand by others selling but we're from different ends of the piracy spectrum & we're never gonna fully see eye-to-eye: you stand by your beliefs of your stolen media not being shared across the net & it pisses me off and I stand by my beliefs of hard-to-obtain media being publicly available & it pisses you off. I did, practically right away, try to meet your community in the middle and paid for my repository to be password locked out of respect for your work/community's longevity & cycle it every single day- if I ever can't pay the fee for some reason, this repository goes offline; you have my word.

For the people just accessing the repository:

Moving forward, for the community's longevity/safety of Masters, I will not include NFT recordings/audio in the future until they expire. This doesn't mean I will reject being given them, but they will go into The Vault until I can release them. I know I'm lucky in a sense to live in a country with such minimal digital piracy laws, but the people that record these may live in places with much stricter laws.

Important Changes:

I first stated (back in February when i created the repository) that the password cycled every 4 days. Then I said 2. If I left it out of my main post, the password cycles daily now.

No NFT recordings are available in the main repository as of an hour ago. I hate doing it, but don't even bother asking for one because I can't give it- I know this sucks, but the person that messaged me is right- this keeps the community members who go out of their way safe in terms of possible repercussions: i may be an asshole, but i dont want anyone in trouble.

New disclaimer: I am going to hope to god none of you have been making edits of the files I've shared with you. If you did, take them down and if you wanted to, don't. Tiktok, youtube, doesnt matter- thats a fastracked way to making sure this corner of the free-media scene dies off entirely. Original Encora got wiped because it caught public attention so please just... don't post clips or the ability to see these shows dissapear forever. I know its fun, believe me (as someone whos been in fandom spaces since 2011) I know it is, but we all want this type of thing to stay around, right?

End note:

I just host this. And catalogue the directory. That's all I do- it was the actors of this play who gave the world such vibrant joy of seeing HP on the stage, the Masters who made it all accessible and the community who shared such joy around. It was all of you, not me who made this possible. So thank you, from the heart💖 And I promise, if you ever can, see it live. It not only supports those actors you love so much, but live performances top watching it through a screen by an astounding amount.

[ask-reject-room-64]

Characters!

Scribble Tom

This is clone #S64-3, unlike his original counterpart, “Scribble” as we like to call him is quite cheerful!!! His speech is a bit limited, but that doesn’t stop him from talking!!! He is the easiest to deal with, but unfortunately has the bad habit of drawing all over my nice clean walls >:(

Tomatoredd

Clone #T64-1, is an amalgamation of all 4 test subjects, and as such possess 4 different consciousnesses in one body!! How is that possible?!?? I don’t know!!!!! But that must make me a genius right!?!!!!! He prefers to be called “Tomatoredd”…. I think, when all 4 of them talk at once it can be hard to understand him sometimes. Clone #T64-2 refers to him as “Red” and tends to avoid interacting with #T64-1 whenever possible.

Torm

Clone #T64-2, is the most difficult to work with >:/, he is so rude!!!!! Originally part of a clone similar to #T64-1, but an unfortunate…. incident…. resulted in a split resulting in 2 clones!! I got two clones for the price of one!!! AREN’T I awesome?! He prefers to be called “Torm” and tends to make my life difficult!!!! SO DIFFICULT!! He keeps trying to ESCAPE!!!!!!! I NEED FREE LABOR DAMNIT!!!!

Realistic Matt

Clone #M64-4, POSSESSES A GHASTLY APPEARANCE!!!!! DO NOT REMOVE THE BAG!!!! I have no idea how he came to have such a horrid appearance despite his original DNA!! He is quite sarcastic at times and tends to be quite snarky!! Not as bad as #T64-2 though, and it seems he has more intelligence than his original counterpart!! Quite nice to chat with :) (Scribble drew the mouth on his bag)

Not Funny Tom

Clone #T64-5, the black sheep of the clones!!! HE SUCKS!!! HE DOESN’T LIKE MY MOVIES!!!!!!! He has no taste!!!! Not to mention he is a bit… creepy… He doesn’t emote much and sometimes he just stares… blankly… into the cameras….. He seems to get along well with #S64-3 though!! The others usually steer clear of him, and I don’t blame them!!!! Other clones call him “NFT” for some reason, or was it “Nerd”? I don’t remember!!! or care!!!

Bing

It tis I! Bing!!!! EVI- *cough* I mean- GENIUS DIRECTOR!! Using the power of SCIENCE and MONKEYS I have created films like no other!!!! Ask me questions!!! Ask LARRY Questions!!!! ASK MY CLONES QUESTIONS!!!!!

Larry

This is Larry, my faithful assistant!!! Despite his grumpy attitude, he is really reliable when it comes down to it!! I still wonder where he got those monkeys from?? oh well!!!! 

[olegkawaii]

THIS IS A POST ABOUT MY COMMISSIONS

I'm finally permanently opening my commissions! Took me a while to find how to set them up at all (my country is such a problem when it comes to... anything lol), but I finally figured out something workable. I'll use a separate tag for this post, and, moving forward, any commissions that I get permission to post will be using this tag too.

> How do I order a commission?

Send me a DM! Describe to me what you want me to draw. The more references you provide, the better the result will be! I'll tell you the deadline by which I should finish the work personally, but usually it takes a day or two.

> How do I pay?

After I provide you with a sketch that you've approved for finishing, go here: https://boosty.to/olegkawaii

The goal "for bills and stuff" is the goal you should donate to in order for me to finish the work. Prices for my art will be on the price sheet that I've provided under this post.

The goal "for IPad" is a goal that I've created if you're satisfied with my work and wish to tip me. It is not mandatory, so feel free to skip it if you don't want to or cannot.

> What do you draw and what do you refuse to draw?

I'll draw anything, except for:

1) If your goal is to create NFTs or feed my finished work into the genAI system, I will not go along with that.

2) I will decline orders if I deem them to be too mechanically difficult to complete, or if I get personally uncomfortable with them. This is for both your good as a commissioner and mine as an artist, so I'd appreciate you respecting this boundary.

Wanna browse commissions that I've posted? Check tag #bread winner!

[zchadkins]

to be clear, because i’ve seen multiple posts asking for a bootleg of how to dance in ohio (and a lot of you appear to be minors who might not know how bootlegs work)—

as of right now, there are so few video masters (people who create bootlegs and share them), that you can count them all on your fingers. this is not just in new york, either, but across the world. almost all of the recent bootlegs are created by a very very small number of people. these are NOT random people/tourists with a camera who decide to see a show and film.

video masters (VM) will film things they want to see (one specific VM loves moulin rouge and has many moulin rouge videos), things they get commissioned for (meaning someone will pay for their ticket to the show in exchange for the bootleg, this is very rare though! most masters do not take requests!), or things they know are popular/will get sales (as this is a business for them).

not every show will get a video bootleg. some shows are not popular, some shows the masters have no interest in seeing, sometimes there simply isn’t a day that works with the master’s scheduling, etc. whatever the reason, some shows simply just do not get a video bootleg. and that’s just how life is.

in how to dance in ohio’s case, by the time the show closes, it will have played 99 total performances. that is it. it won’t have broken the 100 performances mark. the shorter the run of a show, the less likely there is to be a bootleg of it. especially when closing is announced 3 weeks out. the video masters calendars could be already full if they’re in new york, or they might not live in new york and three weeks is not enough notice for them to come out and film.

that said, if there was a how to dance in ohio bootleg, it almost 100% would be “NFT” right now or not for trade. to prevent these bootlegs from getting back to the show/production and having them figure out who filmed it, the VMs will often put a NFT date many months in advance. the bootleg would only be available to buy through the master until the not-for-trade date has passed. because bootlegging is, first and foremost, illegal, this NFT date tries to put distance between the date of filming and the release of the video to prevent the master from getting into any legal trouble.

if you know a specific bootleg exists and you know who the master is, feel free to contact them directly. making posts about it in the shows tag is not the way to access bootlegs. if you do get a bootleg, do not post it on tiktok, youtube, instagram, whatever other social media site. once again, this is illegal and we are not trying to draw attention to the existence of bootlegs.

additionally, in the specific instance of how to dance in ohio, the cast is on tumblr. while some of them have made their thoughts about bootlegs known, it is still something to keep away from the cast. not all cast members feel the same way about things and some of them might not care for bootlegs.

finally, as a lot of the people asking for the bootlegs are minors, you might not remember a few years back. the current video masters really only came onto the scene about 5 or so years ago. before that, it was almost impossible to find videos of shows. right now, we are very lucky to have multiple active video masters especially with such good quality equipment. many shows were shared using audio bootlegs, which is still a great way to access a show you might not have otherwise seen.

as an aside - this post is not an invitation to argue about the logistics of selling bootlegs. there are many reasons masters sell their bootlegs - primarily, to make back the money on their tickets. broadway shows are very expensive as we all know, and masters have to buy specific seats in order for them to feel comfortable filming. masters also upgrade their equipment (i’m talking $1000+ camera equipment), which is offset by people buying these videos. if you have comments about how bootlegging is illegal and selling illegal work is bad, i don’t care to hear it.

tl;dr - there might not ever be a video bootleg of how to dance in ohio and that’s okay. you are allowed to be upset you can’t see a show, but you cannot automatically assume a bootleg of a show will exist. we protect video masters and do not share their work.

if you have questions, my ask box is open.