#i was an annoying 15? year old in 2020

[killer-wizard]

grabs the hlvrai/bbvrai/rtvs fanbase. do not discourse. do not. im begging you. ignore discoursers. do not give in. block and move on

[wszczebrzyszynie]

In your older art (when he was a rabbit breeder named Nikita I think) Mikita seems much more… smiley than he is now. The first time I saw him (I think 2022) I remember him being gay + aro instead of aroace. I adore this character and I would love to know how he changed/developed over the years!

Oh gladly. I adore this topic. Mikita is my oldest one (8 years old now!) and i have quite a lot to say and show about him, so ill put it under the read more. For some reason the picture formatting is completly broken when i do it. Thank you for the kind words

Mikita went through quite a lot name changes now that i think about it, at least compared to my other ocs; it went hand in hand with his ethnicity mostly, as he was i believe polish first, then polish/lithuanian and only since... 2020? belarusian (which i agree is definitely... a pipeline, but theres no deeper meaning behind it; for the 70% of his life the world he lived in was 100% fictional, and at the beginning even fantasy-like). His first actual name (not "rabbit breeder", which was the title used for him in the original story instead of a name. Names were a modern au thing) if im not mistaken was Fryderyk, then Nikita, and then Mikita. That name change did probably happen around 2022 because a Belarusian belarusianized his name for me and I liked it so i changed it. Very nice of them it makes much more sense in the current story

Years 2016-2020-ish he was gay (but not aromantic) and also dating Mikołaj; frankly i do not remember when exactly that changed, but he and Mikołaj are some of my oldest still in use ocs and they were always a package deal of sorts. Last time i drew shipart of them was in 2021. I think it might have stopped around the time i realized i am aromantic? It was a very important moment to me and the second it clicked i realized most of my ocs were secretly aromantic all along too. It was pretty funny now that i think about it

Personality wise he was a bit insufferable. Well he used to age with me (like most of my ocs) so he was very much a 15 year old. Very bratty and unempathetic to others, actively manipulative and overly ambitious. He used to smile a lot yes it was very in character then and i think it makes him look more annoying so it stays. Well either way i made so much art of him in that time i actually canonized it as his younger self in canon, now that hes older. I think thats a fun choice and i still like his old design, so its good to reuse it. Art from 2020, 2021 and 2023. I think current Mika would hate his old self a lot

Frankly when it comes to my ocs the big shift from that more dystopian completly fictional setting to more historically grounded one happened at some point and i dont remember when that was. 2020-2021 ish possibly. Its hard to remember because it did not happen from day to day; i think i abandoned these ocs original story for months before i made that choice? and even then i dont remember how current DNS or such a clear idea for it came to be, especially considering that it changed basically every single character drastically. Its weird to me but i suppose that knowledge is lost. That being said i think it does coincide with the creation of Przemek, who quickly became one of my favourites, so maybe theres that. I dont know. Well either way its a very good thing that it happened

[sizzlingpatrolfox]

it's hard to imagine that if they actually dated she would be posting bts content from 2020 to prove it. like she would have to have something she took herself. she has been stoking these rumors for years and she has yet to show something that proves they have ever even met irl. i hope the rumor that he moved out before enlisting is true because this is getting old.

"she has been stoking these rumors for years and she has yet to show something that proves they have ever even met irl." Exactly, yeah.

There was someone yesterday or the day before who sent an ask arguing in favor of every story she posted the other day and how she couldn't have possibly gotten those from anywhere else when she very much could've. All I'm gonna say is people have literally worn Jimin's fake love outfits because somehow fans got a hold of it, and someone was able to get his mail from BTS own home. Also, when that guy posted the heart jikook photo and some other Jimin photo from Japan in like 2018/2019, everyone immediately and unanimously agreed that he couldn't possibly be their friend anymore because if he was he wouldn't have posted those photos. And I agreed with that because I've also seen how Jimin seems to handle his personal relationships and to keep their exposure to a minimum. We don't even see social media posts with sungwoon or saeon who are also somewhat public figures.

But I really don't care about "debunking" any of it, I think the back and forth between "this is legit proof" and "that isn't legit proof" is stupid and annoying.

I've been told before stuff like why do you get so defensive about it but it's not defensiveness. It's annoyance because I really seriously geniunely don't care if it's real or not, and it's annoying that people want me so bad to care. Like why does it matter??? I don't have that parasocial of a relationship with Jimin, but have those anons stopped to think they might have a parasocial relationship with ME? Because I really can't understand why they want me to care so bad.

Last December, I was on holidays right, and I sleep with my phone next to my bed and the phone vibrated like three or four times in a row and it woke me up (I have really light sleep). I checked it and it was just before 7am and the phone had been vibrating because of tumblr notifications. I opened them and it was I SWEAR like 3 or 4 messages recounting every single instagram story the actress had ever posted or some shit. I blocked that anon immediately. Nothing had even happened!!!! That person just felt like obsessing over this woman's instagram and that was it. So they had to come and give me all their "proof" and accusing me for not believing in it.

I've also realized how much ammo she gets by doing these slight, sneaky """reveals""" because it's actually what gets people talking more than they would if she just posted a photo of Jimin sitting on the toilet. People post her stories, then go check them, then check her comments, a couple of hours later they check to see if she's deleted them, etc etc. All while others on twitter were sharing the stories left and right and comparing it with the bangtan bomb and trying to decipher if it was really Jimin behind that flower emoji.

So, yeah that's really it. Also not directed to you, but to some other people. Don't ask me or expect me to care... I might've cared years ago when I still believed Jimin and Jungkook were a thing but I've been saying more like two years already that they're not fucking each other, so there's literally no reason at all for Jimin dating to ever affect me. And even when I did believe they were fooling around, I never ever said "they're totally in a committed exclusive real relationship and have been married since 2015" because I've never believed that.

I've been a fan of Harry Styles since I was 15 years old and it has never bothered me to see him making out in public with the whole lineup of Victoria Secret's models because I've just never been that person. So even if it wasn't the reaction people expected me to have, you're just gonna have to believe me when I say Jimin dating rumours do not bother me.

Lastly and I really doubt I'll be addressing this topic again unless something really significant happens, there really isn't necessary "proof" for me to take this seriously. I just don't have enough information to believe in this rumour and that's just it. I'm not going to be thinking harder and trying to connect barely-there dots for someone else. If there is something there, or there was at some point in the past, I'm gonna need taennie level of proof.

[sebsdaniel]

12 Questions about F1 through the years

I was tagged by @twinkodium Thank you sm girl! This one's my fave so far <3

I tag whoever wants to do this in F1blr <3

1. Who or what got you into F1?

My dad. He grew up in a racing/car family and automatically transfered that love to me when I was just five days old and he held me up in the hospital to show me the German GP of 1999 on TV. We always joke I've watched F1 since I was born, which is no lie. Since then, we've seen almost every race together. We've also gone to 15 F1 GPs together.

2. Who was the very first F1 driver you supported? Do you support them now? Have your opinions on them differed or stayed the same since then?

Michael Schumacher. My dad is a Jenson Button fan and he's convinced I started supporting Schumi just to annoy him. I don't fully remember why I chose Michael, but my best guess is I fell in love with the red car that kept winning. I love him still and still hope he gets better someday.

3. Who’s your current favourite F1 driver?

After 16 years of supporting Sebastian Vettel, I ended up supporting Max Verstappen in 2023. My dad's been supporting him ever since his debut, and made him his main since Jenson retired. However, I didn't get there that quickly. I adored Max when he began F1. Got annoyed with him a lot in 2018 and 2019 when he kept having run ins with Seb (fave bias I guess), but once 2020 I grew to adore him and in 2021 I fell in love. He'll never reach the same level for me as Seb did in my heart (he's my hero after all, since I was 6), but I love him sm already.

4. Is there a driver pairing or pairings you support? What made you attracted to that pairing in the first place?

I love so many F1 duo's, but my two faves are Sebastidan and Lestappen.

Sebastidan got me out of my high school depression phase in 2017. I remember feeling extra down when Seb lost his chance at the title that year in Japan. I was so frustrated and watched video's of them as teammates the whole day. I've adored them since and while they aren't a fanfavorite, I can't help but enjoy the bits and pieces we still get from them.

Lestappen. I got into them last year during their - sadly short - title fight. The history they have, the connection, is something so unique. They also seem to become better friends with each passing month. I'd love to see them as teammates someday.

5. Do your parents, siblings or relatives have a favourite team and/or favourite driver(s)?

Dad's a Max and RB fan. He hates Mercedes and especially Toto. His past faves are Senna, Hill and Jenson. Mom has watched F1 since she's been with dad (1985), but never got into it. She always liked Nico Rosberg though!

6. Do you have any favourite races? Are there any that stand out to you the most?

Belgium 2014 as it was my first live GP. Belgium 2018 as it was the first time I saw Seb win live. Abu Dhabi 2012, which was epic Abu Dhabi 2021, I'll never forget that day Brazil 2008, it was mind blowing.

And probably many more!

7. Do you have a favourite circuit? Can be from the past or from the current calendar.

Spa. It's my home track which I've been visiting since I was a toddler. And Zolder, for the same reasons.

I also adore the Red Bull Ring, Yas Marina circuit and Monza.

8. Have you ever been to an F1 race in real life? Feel free to tell us your experience going to one if you like.

15 in total! 14 times the Belgian GP (would've been 15 if it weren't for 2020) and 1 time the Austrain GP. It's always amazing! The organisation of Spa has changed for the better as well!

9. Have you ever met an F1 driver in real life?

Several times the whole grid before 2020, because it wasn't as difficult to get close to them. In Spa they organized hours long signing sessions at la Source for everyone with a weekend ticket. Since then I've seen them mostly from a distance. The closest I've come to talking a while to someone was Charles in 2018, Seb several times and Daniel also a few times. I still get butterflies thinking about it <3

10. Do you have a favourite F1 car? If so, what is it?

RB19 (2023), it's such a precious car <3 Seb's 2010 RB. The Ferrari from 2004. Brawn GP car from 2009.

11. Do you have a favourite one win wonder?

Not really. Unless, you count Oscar's sprint win from last year.

12. Do you have any favourite quotes from the F1 world? This can either be inspirational or hilarious.

‘If you no longer go for a gap which exists you are no longer a racing driver’ - Aryton Senna -

'Enjoy these moments. We know they won't last forever.' - Sebastian Vettel -

'Enjoy the butterflies' - Daniel Ricciardo -

'If I get a few more, I think I'll headbut someone' - Max Verstappen -

'God might be with him, but he's no God' - Max Verstappen -

Thank you so much for this tag, hun <3

[softtcurse]

Through the years

what Jack’s relationship with you looked like through the years

•.•.•.•.•

September 2019

liked by jackharlow, privategardenco, urbanwyatt, and 2,271 others

yourinstagram watching my baby get to the top, and taking me with him. What more can I ask for? ☺️💓 you guys ready for confetti?

view all 179 comments

yourinstagram love u :)

yourinstagram love u :)

urbanwyatt CONFETTI!!

neyomiamorr new gf?!

gigifab they’ve been dating since the beginning of the year

lynwuinn she’s so prettyyy

marcooo harlow pulled that!?

jackharlow sure did, I’m on that ass every night

jesscalire I’m not ready for midnight 😭😭 he’s gonna kill it!!

yourinstagram plenty of sleepless nights in the studio, it’s gonna be worth it I promise <3

November 2020

liked by yourinstagram, urbanwyatt, druski2funny, claybornharlow, privategardenco, and 179,018 others

jackharlow bluegrass girl but she got big dreams, thank you for all the love this year. Many blessings.

comments on this post have been limited

yourinstagram 💞

jacksssylvia HOLD UP IS THAT A WEDDING RING??? 😭

urbansgramm IT LOOKS LIKE IT!?

urbanwyatt It’s like Im watching my children grow up

yourinstagram LMAOO

druski2funny Mf beat me to it

jackharlow The delusion

champagnepapi got the new album coming soon too 🙏🏽 it’s only up from here

jackharlow thank you brother, I’m very grateful 🙏🏻🙏🏻

claybornharlow ♥️ family

yourinstagram 😭💞 ty my baby

August 2021

liked by jackharlow, kaliuchis, druski2funny, urbanwyatt, privategardenco, claybornharlow, and 327,012 others

yourinstagram baby mila harlow

view all 10,729 comments

jackharlow Before y’all start!! I had been up for 15 hours

yourinstagram baby I promise no one’s gonna say anything 😭

jackharlow mhmmm we’ll see baby girl, if not I’m on that ass for sure tonight

yourinstagram you will do no such thing! Your wife needs to heal, some lay with me and our child 🙄

jackharlow 🏃🏻🏃🏻🏃🏻

claybornharlow Im an uncle!!

druski2funny We’re an uncle

privategardenco we’re the godfathers

urbanwyatt I think we ALL new who the true godfather is

jackharlowupdates congratulations 🎊🥹🥹

jackharlowsssss OMG!! THATS WHY SHES BEEN MISSING?

champagnepapi welcome to fatherhood @/jackharlow you ready?

kaliuchis not him making you his baby mama before ME 🙄 @/yourinstagram you lied to me!!

yourinstagram UMMM…NO BABY LET ME EXPLAIN

October 2022

35,719 likes

hollywoodunlocked sources close to Jack Harlow have confirmed that him and his wife of two years have split up! These rumors came around mid May of 2022 right after Harlow’s album ‘Come Home The Kids Miss You” studio album dropped. They were seen today seemingly separated as Jack headed into a club for an appearance and YN was seen early today looking down and grabbing a coffee with a friend. The two share a one year old daughter together since August of last year. We wish them nothing but the best in moving forward! Let us know what you think in the comments!

view all 3,123 comments

yoursistersinstagram Mind your business, y’all are so fucking annoying

here4jackman :/ this confirms it basically

ynscloset agreed, yn’s sister isn’t on social media that much so for her to comment on this really seems to me like the are getting a divorce

kathycam why are they divorcing? 😢

naimiii They’ve never spoken publicly about it but it seems like the tour really started to take a toll on them more than ever, there were already divorce rumors since May of this year but I think that mostly had to do with him focusing so hard on his album, didn’t think it would come down to this to be honest

ynismother NOOOO YN :(( I feel so bad for her

jacksgeorgiapeach why? She’ll still be swimming in his money

ynismother that’s so insensitive to say, you don’t know how hard it must be for her to have to go through the emotional distress of a divorce and still raise her child, weird bitch

kurmoialek so he can go out and party but she’s staying home with their daughter!?!

neocbbb I don’t think we should be commenting on anything they do, considering the fact that we don’t even know if this is true or just Hollywood gossip.

you via Instagram stories

anitta via instagram stories

[respectthepetty]

Impressive, with only 21 years Marc Pahun Jiyacharoen has been working non-stop since 2018.

Anon, so we are doing a Marc Pahun appreciation post today?!

Bet.

The 21-year old started out in 2018 playing a main character's brother in Friend Zone. He was on screen for maybe two minutes in the third episode. Baby.

Then, he acted in Blacklist and WOLF in 2019. But in 2020, he earned a lead role in the messy My Gear and Your Gown.

Let's pause here because THIS is the moment we have to start to appreciate Marc (and Pawin). Marc gets handed mess. This is a fact that we'll see play out in his latest series, yet Marc ALWAYS delivers. You won't catch Marc slipping. No matter who he is paired with and no matter how his character's arc develops, Marc earns his paycheck! Even when he is asleep (tents are for the gays!).

After his lead role, he played the unproblematic one in Bad Baddy.

Then collected coins in 55:15 Never too Late and 10 Years Ticket, but

I'm claiming 2023 as his year.

He played in the messy Past-Senger and Chains of Heart, but as I already stated - HE DELIVERED. He already has four shows under his belt this year, yet we are only half way done, and Marc has proven where he shines is when his character is angry. Some people overact anger, or let the anger fall, but Marc is consistent.

He'll fuck his husband, but he'll still be angry knowing he lied to him.

And it's believable!

You're not thinking "did he just forgive him because they are kissing?" Nope, because you can still feel the tension from him!

He'll wheel his time-traveling boyfriend onto the roof to see the city, but he might also push him off the roof because he is irked he lied to him.

And he'll still save his boyfriend's life, but he'll be annoyed he even has to save his life.

So if we want someone to play mad really well, Marc is our man, which is why I'm thrilled he is in Dangerous Romance, mostly paired back with Pawin.

When Perth's character hit Pawin's character in that trailer, and Marc grabbed Pawin, everyone should know from that moment alone that Marc is going to slash Perth's tires and his throat because the only thing worse than a Marc character being upset at his man is a Marc character being upset because you hurt his man.

Because only one person can want to kill his man, and that's him.

Marc and Pawin 2023!

[biocrafthero]

how about 25?

Every time i see anyone say their fandom is the “worst fandom ever”, it makes me a little bit annoyed.

Nothing could be as terrible as Undertale in 2016/17 (something I was there to witness). I’ve seen Voltron: Legendary Defender, I’ve seen FNAF for its entire life span, I’ve seen fuckin RWBY. Creepypasta fandom in 2014. Ever been to the website Quotev? I was into BNHA for two or three years (2018 - early 2020).

This isn’t even touching on fandoms I haven’t been in. I can only imagine shit like Sherlock or Hannibal or god forbid Steven Universe. Another day of thanking god for me not being old enough to be online when I was watching Supernatural. I was very close to being a DSMP fan if Wilbur Soot had continued playing on the server, and god knows what would’ve happened to me if I had been into that series a bit too much for my own good.

I have brushed with death, boy. I have heard of actual blood being spilled over relatively morally questionable fictional pairings. I was in the trenches. I was 13 years old seeing Hell with my own eyes. And then I was 14, and then 15, and at 16 I was called back to the front lines when COVID hit. I have been through my fair share of trials, and witnessed several more than you could imagine. Do you know what Reddit/Discord communities are like? Do you want to know? You don’t.

The lesson is that every fandom has its bad actors, its bound to happen when you have concentrated groups of people who are into the same thing. It’s like, genuinely inevitable. I’d say when people are actually trying to make other people dead you can actually call yourself one of the “worst fandoms.”

[echodrops]

The Promises I’m Making (2024)

Sheesh, this year it was even harder than last year to make promises. In particular, I really wanted to focus on promises that wouldn't cost as much money as in prior years, so I tried to steer clear of too many promises that would cost above the basic spending amounts... But it turns out it is really hard to make resolutions if you're broke. 😂

So here's what I'm going with:

2024 Promises

1) Step down from my administrative position and return to being a full-time faculty member. I literally cannot take the clown show that is admin at my work anymore. It is actually killing me.

2) Related to this, redecorate my new office as soon as they decide where they are going to move me.

3) Apply for new jobs!! APPLY FOR NEW JOBS!!!

4) Train my replacement in the chair position well so they are super prepared to take over in fall.

5) Put a new sink/vanity in the downstairs bathroom of the Utah house.

6) Get both bedroom floors sanded in the Utah house upstairs.

7) Finally get rid of the dirt pile in front of the Utah house.

8) Take down the remains of the wooden fence posts at the Utah house.

9) Fully clean out and prepare the Utah house to be rented out to new renters. Hopefully the next people won’t sneak in a parrot that poops all over the floor… RIP…

10) Clean off my back patio/car port area so I can park my car there again.

11) Call the plumber and replace the faucets. Even if I end up having to do it myself.

12) Get the dead tree removed from the Texas house yard and call the internet company to see about the cable around the tree root.

13) Plant roses where the old ones died in front of the Texas house. 

14) Replace my CPU fan; the bearings are going out and it’s making an annoying noise.

15) Organize my documents (especially student papers)—my desktop and documents folders give me nightmares just looking at them. 

16) Related to that, lose at least 20 pounds. 2020-2023 was not kind to me and the stress eating was real.

17) Do at least one artwork to actually use that paint program I bought. 

18) Pay my credit debt down by at least $2000. I’m still paying off the hell year, but I hope I can make progress on this.

19) Buy all the Noragami volumes I am missing and do a complete re-read of Noragami now that the series is finishing up.

20) This is super nerdy, but my bro got me the FFXIV cookbook and made me promise to actually use it, so I guess I’d better at least try to make something from it.

21) Finish at least five books this year.

22) Update HaaH at least once. Please, Echo???

23) Reach the new level cap with all jobs in FFXIV!

24) Go to the graduation ceremony for my family friend.

25) Catch up with hanging up all the charms/pins I’ve gotten recently on my corkboards; these are just sitting in boxes/bags around the house. D;

26) Fully deep clean and vacuum/detail my own car at home. No more of the “It doesn’t make sense to clean it out now; the dog is just going to go back in it.” The dog is always going to go back in it. Clean it, Echo.

27) Help my parents tear out the carpet in my old childhood bedroom.

28) See at least three new species of birds. Doesn’t matter where, just three new ones!

29) Reach 3500 followers. Can I do it? You should follow me if you’re not already; I’m pretty cool. Just sayin’!

30) Cancel all the subscriptions I don’t need. There’s literally no reason to sit around letting companies passively profit off me when I don’t even really use the services/the services keep getting worse while the costs keep going up.

31) Go out on at least a day trip to take pictures with my friend. We haven’t done this in quite some time. I need to touch grass.

32) Repair the lovely one-of-kind ceramic plate that my dog broke with kintsugi. I want to try it at least once!

33) Really look hard for my passport in my house. It’s been missing for like a year and a half now, and I don’t want to have to pay for a new one.

34) Put all the small prints, postcards, and stickers I have collected in my new mini-print books. I can even use up washi tape to decorate too. (Finally, a purpose for the washi tape…)

35) Shred the million pieces of old mail I have lying around the house. I finally got the shredder so it just makes sense to use it.

36) Have more follow-through with chores. It’s not enough to wash the clothes or do the dishes if I then procrastinate on folding the clean laundry and putting the dried dishes back in the cabinets…

37) Put reminders for birthdays and major events in my phone as well as set a monthly reminder to check these promises. Maybe I’ll be able to keep more promises if I look at the list more often throughout the year!

38) Since I can’t afford to go to the salon, spa, etc. too much this year, I should at least do some self-care days at home. Will this be the year I finally manage to use all the fancy scrubs and face masks and bath salts I keep getting from people?

39) Use up one whole notebook. It doesn’t matter what goes in the notebook, but I gotta use the whole thing from cover to cover. I have so many pretty notebooks that never get used just because they’re pretty.

40) Change the burned-out lightbulbs in the recessed lighting in the Texas house ceiling. It’s like twelve feet high and the lightbulb charger stick I bought didn’t work, so I’m going to have to find someone with a ladder. Save me, handyman. Save me.

41) Build the pretty koi paper lantern my brother got me, or the Korean temple model my coworker gave me after his trip to Korea.

42) Actually use the yoga mat I bought forever ago. At least a few times, please???

43) Finish watching the Fruits Basket remake with Kacchan. I think we stopped in the second season, RIP.

44) Spend more time with coworkers—go out to lunch more often.

45) See about removing the PMI from at least one of my house loans to try to save money. I’ve been paying on these loans long enough I shouldn’t need PMI anymore.

46) Practice my German skills (or I guess other language skills?) by translating something at least once a month.

47) Get a new bookshelf. The current ones in both my office and foyer are already overflowing. @_@

48) Make more time to call people and talk on the phone. Texting is not the same. D;

49) Get the new COVID vaccine to stay healthy.

50) I will keep my promises! 

Good luck, 2024’s me!

[ididgettomeetyou]

Are you more zutara or kataang or 50/50.

probably kataang i did make a whole blog for em and it was to prove a point that its not onesided . making this blog i focused more on their moments and thought they were cute.

.. in 2008 i wasn't just a zutara shipper i was a big self insert zuko shipper so that probably is why im not as ...passionate as others about zutara being robbed which i find to be ridiculous anyway when they had 15 minutes maybe of screentime in 63 episodes

. I rewatched atla around 2016 and again in the 2020s after entrenching in a lot of posts about how zutara had some forbidden love triangle/wasp lanned all along takes.. and acutally.. rewatching the show i could see kataang coming a mile away. on both ends.. though id say its def the zutara fandom that turned me to the kataang side of things even if i think this side gets too hostile to zuko its still not as bad as the aang bashing. kataangs don't consider me a fake fan anyway or a puritan for saying maybe dont be creepy about kia a 17 year old girl. there something very eh about the zutara side of things.. as most say its not the ship thats the problem its the fandom.

kataang fandom doe annoy me too though sometimes cause zuko/katara are friends and i dont agree that they fight/argue all the time and it would be awful as some kataangs do i think that read is a 100 percent wrong.. and just due to the backlash against kataang ..i mean zuko did save katara life so.. i dont think they hate eachother

its sad how shipping wars have decided katara hates aang or zuko at the end of the show whenthey're all friends.. i think zuko gets way to scrutinized sometimes by aang fans id rather encourage men can change for the better than label every bad thing they did over the sun. he's a teenager and i dont think people think about that too much.. theres way to much viewing these kids through adult lenses that should know better for my iiking

[the-hipster-nugget]

why are you posting frukus didn't you harass usuk shippers back in 2020 lol /gen question

HUUH???? WHO TF IS THISSSS HOW DO YOU EVEN REMEMBER THAT

My frukus art was entirely platonic though I just use it as their group name cuz I mean it’s easy and catchy, i didn’t use it as a ship name. I was super annoying about it in 2020 but I still do not support usuk, but I have not bullied anyone about it for 4 years so I am not like that anymore just to make it clear. I was an annoying 15 year old during the pandemic but I’m an adult now so I’ve matured i assure you

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I was listening to some real people comedians (as in, local comedians whom I have met in real life, and can therefore not be considered to have in any way “made it” in comedy, because if they had then they would not be hanging out around me) talk the other day, and they were discussing the concept of “laughs per minute”, and whether it’s a bullshit way to judge comedy. Which I think it usually is, depending on the context. In a really short club set, it probably does matter a lot because you don’t have time to do more than that. In a Stewart Lee Edinburgh hour, he can go 35 minutes setting something up and everyone will just trust that the punchline at the end will be worth it.

Anyway, it got me thinking about the concept, and how I judge comedy in lots of different ways, and what has made me laugh the most – both in terms of most laughs per minute and hardest laughs overall – is not exactly the same as my favourite comedy shows ever. But anything that manages any kind of notable laughs per minute rating is impressive, because lots of shows I really like never clear that bar. If we define a “laugh” as something outwardly expressed and audible, more than just a smile and a nose exhale, then it doesn’t actually happen all that often. I’ll consider a show very successful if it gets me to do that just a few times across an hour.

So I’ve tried to think of what comedy shows have successfully gotten more than that, have made me properly laugh out loud really consistently for their entire runtime (whether that’s an hour or 15 minutes, though obviously it’s more impressive if they can sustain it for longer). If I’m thinking about this across my whole life, I have to take into account the fact that everything’s funnier when you’re a kid, you haven’t already seen every obvious joke so nothing is hack or overdone. I remember the shows I was into as a kid (ages 7 to 14 or so, I think) as the funniest things in the entire world, I used to watch every episode over and over and over. The main ones on rotation being Flying Circus, Blackadder, Fawlty Towers, Mr. Bean, Ripping Yarns, Yes Minister, M*A*S*H, and Cheers.

Now, at 33, I can understand why it’s annoying to have the parrot sketch memorized – because it’s been quoted so often than at this point repeating it is almost like, for example, trying to sell someone something that's long dead and nailed to a perch. At nine, I could recite every word in it, over and over for hours, and it never stopped being funny. As an adult, I’m still pretty sure Blackadder was a work of genius, but I don’t think I’ll ever again find anything as funny as I found Hugh Laurie’s acting power stance when I was eleven years old. I used to wake up at 5:30 AM to watch a few episodes of whatever show I was re-watching at the moment (my list of shows on rotation was heavily determined by what was in my parents’ DVD boxset collection), until I could mouth along to all the lines but they never got less funny.

I did re-watch every episode of all those British shows in 2020 (so everything but M*A*S*H and Cheers, though I’ve rewatched a few episodes of both those recently as well) to see how they held up, and while they didn’t make me cry with laughter the way I did as a kid, I still thought almost all of them were very good. And by “almost all of them”, I mean… look, I think Mr. Bean is just meant to be a kids’ show. I loved it when I first watched it, because that shit’s hilarious when you’re a kid. As an adult, it looked like a kid’s show with a few genuinely funny moments. The turkey on the head is still funny. Playing with the toy Daleks in the Christmas store is still funny. My family still watches the Christmas special every year on that holiday. The rest of it we can probably leave behind.

Anyway, the point is that you can’t count that because I was a kid. Then I think of my favourite comedy shows that I got into as a teenager. Major ones to come to mind are The Thick of It, 30 Rock, Parks and Rec, Community, Arrested Development, Flight of the Conchords, Freaks and Geeks. My favourite comedy shows of my twenties: Bojack Horseman, Veep, Archer, Brooklyn Nine Nine, The Good Place, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Portlandia, Broad City, Party Down, Bob’s Burgers. I supposed I should add a mention of my mixed and up-and-down longterm relationship with South Park.

I remember a lot of things I’ve loved about those shows besides pure laughs per minute – the characters, the ideas, the atmosphere. I’d go back to certain shows over and over just because I liked the way it made me feel to spend time in the world they created. But for pure, really hard, out-loud laughs? Looking at that list, I think the ones to get the most of those out of me were The Thick of It, Veep, 30 Rock, Arrested Development, and maybe when they were at their best, Portlandia, Archer, and Community could do it. But not all the time. There isn’t really that long a list of comedies that have consistently made me laugh really hard once I wasn’t a kid anymore.

Anyway, that isn’t actually what I was thinking about that made me decide to write this post. The conversation I heard from local comedians, about laughs per minute, made me think of what has done that to me in my thirties, the few years since COVID occurred and I decided to not do anything except British comedy. I have seen and heard and read so much comedy in the last few years, and I have really really loved quite a lot of it. So I was surprised when I realized that I think, if you judge it entirely by out-loud laughs per minute, there aren’t a huge number that come to mind as consistently providing a high rate of those.

In terms of full-length stand-up hours, I think there might still be no one who’s gotten more proper laughs per minute out of me than Rhod Gilbert. All four of his DVD shows are incredible – I think I’d say the first one (The Award Winning Mince Pie) is my favourite, though I might just have a soft spot for the first one I saw, when I first had my eyes opened to that captivating style.

I hesitate a little to comment on his health from the perspective of how much I love his comedy specials, because I don’t want to make something as serious as a person’s life or death about whether I’ll get to hear more comedy specials (I feel the same way about Mark Steel’s current situation – I did make a post a while ago in which I said he has to recover for the sake of Radio Four, but obviously, he has to recover for the sake of himself and his family, even his annoying son, I wish them all the best and it’s not about the comedy fans). But for everyone’s sake, mainly his, God am I ever glad he’s back and by all accounts okay. He’s said he was diagnosed with cancer the day after he recorded his latest special, and you can really tell in that video that he was being slowed down and struggled to match his usual frantic energy levels, but it was still brilliant.

Anyway, I think Rhod Gilbert still wins at laughs per minute from me in stand-up. Proper laughter. Laughing so hard I can’t breathe and have to pause the video so I don’t miss the next bit and end up with tears in my eyes and my throat and stomach hurt. I think Rhod Gilbert has done that to me the most. I’ve tried to think of whose stand-up material might do that to me the second most, and I’m slightly annoyed that I think the main two names that come to mind are Sam Campbell and Nish Kumar. Slightly annoyed because when I look at those two names alongside Rhod Gilbert… okay, is it possible that I might just like being shouted at?

I’m now trying to think of a non-shouty comic who’s done that to me. Kitson, obviously. I think my favourite stand-up hour ever is Daniel Kitson’s Where Once Was Wonder, which is fucking incredible for its ability to get every single aspect right. Brilliant on an emotional level, hitting multiple themes and topics that all have deep emotional resonance and saying original and significant things about them. Brilliant on an intellectual level – every time I listen to it I marvel at the number of layers in its structure, how its conceit of being full of contradictions is embedded in almost every line, how I catch more each time and he points lots of them out but throws even more away. And crucially, brilliant on a humour level. It is consistently, all the way through, hilarious. He probably never goes ten minutes without at least one bit that makes my whole body seize up from laughter until I can’t breathe right.

But honestly, most of the Kitson things that have gotten the highest laugh per minute out of me were not the intricately written shows. I wince at how much he would hate this, but probably, at laughs per minute from me, some of his 2007-2008 Graveyard Triple R radio shows beat some of his best proper stand-up shows. Same with some of his WIP/pre-WIP just messing around shows. There’s some audio footage of a 2007 Late ‘n’ Live night where Daniel Kitson and Andy Zaltzman do an incredibly stupid sketch that has put tears of laughter in my eyes. If you want to know what level of humour we're talking about, that sketch contains the line "That was three ladies booing my dick because it chose the wrong member of We Are Klang to fuck" (which it did, by the way, by which I mean Andy Zaltzman chose wrong while portraying the role of Daniel Kitson's penis, but not for the reasons that this Greg Davies-fancying website would expect, if you'd heard the Triple R shows with Steve Hall you'd understand. He then went on to choose the wrong member of Pappy's Fun Club, what does Andy Zaltzman know about the most attractive members of the most successful British fringe comedy sketch groups of 2007?). It's definitely not better than properly written Kitson shows, or Zaltzman shows, for that matter. But it might have made me laugh out loud more times.

I think It’s the Fireworks Talking is one of the best pieces of performance ever written, but recordings I’ve heard of that have probably made me laugh fewer times than a recording I’ve heard from the Melbourne Festival of when he finished performing It’s the Fireworks Talking and then went into a radio studio to talk shit with David and Claudia O’Doherty all night. Or than the Zaltzman/Kitson penis sketch, put together with everything else from that Late 'n' Live recording.

I know I’m not saying anything new here; I’m hardly the first person to point out that Daniel Kitson is absolutely fucking hilarious when he’s messing around with no script. Lots of people have pointed it out before me, and he has clearly heard those people point it out, as he’s often mentioned that it annoys him, and understandably so. What’s the point of working so hard on proper shows if people just like your unplanned stuff better?

But I don’t think I actually like that stuff better. I don’t think his radio shows are better than It’s the Fireworks Talking (I sort of don’t think penicillin is better than It’s the Fireworks Talking). And this is where I come back to the fact that laughs per minute are not the best way to judge a show (I’d like to clarify at this point that It’s the Fireworks Talking did have quite a high laughs per minute rate out of me, just not as high as Kitson and some O’Doherties getting weirdly competitive about indie music at 3 AM).

Anyway. I think Sam Campbell recently became the first person to make me laugh so hard that I had tears in my eyes, from hearing something that was performed in 2023. He did that with some of his recent stand-up. On Taskmaster he has, more than once, made me laugh loud enough to cause a cat to run across the room (I’m currently catsitting and one of the cats gets easily spooked by sudden noise, so whether I make her jump is a good gauge of whether something’s made me laugh out loud). But only his stand-up has actually made me cry.

I’ve been lucky enough to get to hear quite a bit of recent stand-up in the last couple of months. I’ve really liked a lot of it, but I’m now trying to think of how much of it has actually made me consistently laugh out loud, which is several steps beyond just being funny. I think the only people who’ve done that are Sam Campbell, Olga Koch, Nish Kumar, Greg Larsen, Sarah Keyworth, and Fern Brady. Which actually isn’t that short a list, but it’s a shorter list than the list of comedians I’ve enjoyed at all in the last couple of months.

Anyway, I didn’t start writing this post because of stand-up. I started writing this post because of a conversation I heard some comedians have the other day, but I started thinking of that conversation, and decided I wanted to write a post about that conversation, because I was re-watching some No More Jockeys today. And fucking hell, I have to say, this is supporting the theory that laughs per minute can come so much from unscripted shows that it could justifiably make comedians despair as they wonder what the point is of honing their craft. I’ve listened to a bunch of Tim Key’s properly written stuff in the last few days (went on a bit of a binge of his radio show and some of his old stand-up), absolutely loved it, it’s intelligent and funny and very well written stuff, but it still didn’t make me laugh out loud quite as hard as No More Jockeys does. Almost nothing makes me laugh out loud quite as hard as No More Jockeys does.

I tried to think of some non-stand-up thing that makes me laugh as hard/loud/often as No More Jockeys. The Bugle has managed it, at its best. I've only heard a few episodes of Pappy's Fun Club, but that's done it at times. Catsdown at its best has accomplished it.

The main thing I can think of that's done it really consistently is Taskmaster, but even that probably loses to NMJ at laughs per minute. It’s up there, though. Beats a lot of scripted sitcoms at it, including some really good scripted sitcoms. So from Taskmaster and No More Jockeys, you get the laughs, and the fun of getting emotionally invested in following a competitive game. Why are people still bothering to craft well written sitcom worlds?

This post has been massively disjointed, I think I've hit about six different topics since I've started, somehow including who's the most attractive member of Pappy's Fun Club. I finally have a weekend to myself and have decided I feel like writing things again, and it's started with this. I don't think there was any point to it. All I was really trying to say is I can't believe how fucking funny No More Jockeys is.

Mark Watson desperately, pleadingly trying to argue with Alex Horne about whether Donald Duck has been to prison – I'm sorry but I don't think Rowan Atkinson has done anything funnier than that in his entire life. He's done lots of things that are better than that. But not that can make me laugh harder than that while I'm over the age of 30.

[emo-metalhead-punki]

Rant About SolarDiscomfort

⚠ TW // Gr00ming ⚠

(idk I do wanna draw this so yea....this isn't a gift)

So SolarDiscomfort or Brooke which is her real name

She is a deviantart artist that I meet in 2018 when I was 13 yrs old (I was okay, kinda, mental health issues)

So I remember Brooke followed me and requested me to draw her OC and so I did, and she thanked me so yea

Then I followed her back, her art is...alright ig lol, but I think is cool but need some progress, and we send each other gift and all that, so it's before all the gr00m3R thing happened, so let's talk about that if I can remember

So on somewhere on 2020, Brooke has proposed her best friend named Kate who is 17 at the time, they been best friends for 4 years but later becomes a couple which I was "nice, congratulations you two" but it's not...so, I use the wayback machine and I do remember reading this but I didn't understand

Ngl this give me a huge "WFT" moment like, what kind of state that you live in and how this is okay?... And get this, she doesn't support mapp even tho she DATED A 17 YEAR OLD WHILE BEEN A 20 YEAR OLD LIKE YOU CAN'T DO THAT BITCH

And then one year later, they fuxking broke up which is a good thing and I remember Brooke telling me to stop supporting Kate cuz she's.... too be honest, idk

All I remember that Kate is a tracer cuz she use a base without giving the artist credit but then her mutual tell her and then there the credit and more drama of Brooke did

Like, she would rant that one artist named serpy and I try to understand what's going on after reading the posts of Brooke but I feel like Brooke is taking her anger out on serpy, but I did stay away from the drama cuz is was too much and she keeps typing "crazy laughs" like...uhm...okay then...no one cares what you did man....I do really remember the drama but her account is deactivated....like every Deviantart artist do....

But if you know her, here a drawing of it, in case you recognized the art style

The left one is Brooke and the left one is kate

And I do wanna talk about Kate, like she may be kinda of annoying (cuz she kept requesting me a lot like everyday ) but all in seriously, I do remember her dating that one Mexican dude named Max (not his real name lol but I'm gonna called him)

That I don't trust like I hate him, I don't trust him and I seeing his irl photo of him and I still don't trust him...and I do remember seeing the message from him like I got highly uncomfortable by him

(I'm a Mexican, if someone didn't know lol)

Oh btw he also made NSFW as well, while being a minor ofc, classic teenagers in 2017 are started drawing NSFW cuz that's fine...right?...

Nope...it's not...you gotta wait dude...

But I did check his bio for his age but he didn't put his age...but then I saw a post of it, it turns out his 18 (on 2020) so I assume that he was 15 or 16 while Kate was like either 12 or 13 (i can't do math right, if I'm wrong then yea...) but I do believe that Kate was also groomed by him and till this day, she didnt talk about this like she was like too busy being happy instead of talking about this like why, how you deal such a traumatic thing and then later forget it, i mean, good for her but I will like be traumatized for life and not feeling happy

But for Brooke, yea...so if she like made an account on Tumblr and then see saw this post I be like...yea man...you got exposed as a P3d0 and a groomer man like...you should have say any of these things and your so toxic to serpy that she didn't do anything to you

So your career is over lol but I'm glad you didn't groomed me and talk shit about me cuz I didn't even like you like your so toxic towards any artist like why man...you didn't do anything to you like "oh she suck ass" and "she ugly asf" and "she's dumb as hell*

I mean...I dont like serpy ship cuz it's a zoophilia ship like...she basically ship Anne from frozen with mr. Peabody (the dog) from I forgot the name like it's highly uncomfortable to look and which I should have say no to her when she requested me that shit...so yea...she still ship it till this day...and her ships are mostly crossover so...yea...(That one shipper that ships spinel with a fucking car from cars movie)

So yea...Brooke...if you reading this...

Keep your nasty behavior to yourself instead of spreading it like a disease, I use to think your cool but now, your just a toxic woman, a p3do and a groomer

Peeps, watch out for SolarDiscomfort in case she made a Tumblr account

[shrimpbytes]

Fallout 76 SEASONS 4 years later

I spent a long time wondering if I should make this a video. Because I kinda don't want to put another 76 one on my channel, but my autism and desire to say "I told you so" is quite strong.

Then I remembered I have a blog I never use, so that.

Not to mention, I feel like I am less likely to accidentally get picked up by the worst defenders of capital here than reddit or youtube

Fallout 76 seasons is currently wrapping its 16th season. After somehow 4 years of this, I thought it would be ''''fun''''' to take a look back at how we got here and how depressing it all is.

SEASON 0

This journey actually starts before the scoreboard was made, what I will refer to here as Season 0. You see, for 76, the scoreboard wasn’t a brand new reward system from the ether, it replaced an already existing daily and weekly challenge system.

In the old days we were given challenges to earn atoms directly. No pussyfooting through ranks of nonsense. Just cold hard cash. Were the rates lower than the scoreboard? Not really. The weekly atoms one could expect 150-160 atoms free per week. When you consider dedicated players tend to finish the scoreboard in 8 or so weeks, that alone is pretty congruent with the atoms earned by the scoreboard…however. With daily challenges you can get 50-70 per week. Even if you only rolled 50 atoms per day, you could more than TRIPLE the weekly amount. 50*7+150 = 500 atoms per week 5 weekly challenges and 5 daily challenges. Let’s keep that 500 per week metric in mind. This is a small low-ball since some days would offer you more, but the challenges themselves were less engaging than the scoreboard, so 500 it is.

SEASON 1

May 2020. Everyone is happy and optimistic about Fallout 76 for the first time. Sure Fallout 1st came, but we also got Wastelanders. A story expansion with real NPCs, and a dialogue/skill system with varied ways to approach all kinds of checks that was arguably more in depth than previous Fallouts. And then Season 1 is announced and it’s not looking good as Bethesda gives us a set of numbers that don’t add up. You see obtaining the first rank would be 1000 score with each subsequent rank adding 25 score above the previous. So to get all 100 ranks you would need 220,275. You can otherwise get 7500 score from weeklies and 2000 from dailies for a total of 21500 score per week. Which given 10 weeks leaves you at 5000 short of completing the scoreboard. When this was pointed out Bethesda announced the repeatable score challenge for 10000 xp giving 100 score and that there would be double score events. So, not impossible but still a bit funky that they let us see numbers indicating they designed a system intending for us to fail.

Okay, shoddy math aside, what was Season 1 actually like? Well July 2020 rolls around and we finally get to see. I’ll lead in with the positives. Many of the annoying challenges go away. No more taking pictures of players or wearing specific cosmetic items to get your reward, but challenges otherwise stay the same. The format is more appealing as there is a fun little board game to help coax you through the grind.

What of the rewards then?

3 player icons 150

A bunch of junk

The single worst ui I have seen in a non-David Cage Game [Ammo converter]=500 atoms??

8 armor reskins 600-1200 each or 2000 for a bundle

6 weapon skins 500 each

1 pip-boy skin 500 ($5 for a pip-boy re-texture? Half the price of Nuka-World/Automaton/The Pitt/Broken Steel)

7 power armor reskins 600 each, 1200 for bundle

A brand new power armor skin and a reskin for it 1500? 3000?

1 chicken coop=500 atoms

9 camp decorations 300 each, 2000 for a bundle

1 deployable skin

2 backpack skins 1000

2 photo frames 150 each

2 poses 250 EACH

3,6,15, scrap kits 900?

3, 6, 15 repair kits 250+500+3*50? 900?

1 facial cosmetic item 300

2 jetpack skins500, 1000(bundled with their respective for 1800)

3 variations of the same outfit 1000? 3000???

39 lunchboxes: 1 = 50, 6 = 250, 15 =500, 40 =1000

1500 atoms

So if we take this favorably, we’re looking at 33.65k. Certainly nothing to sneeze at, right? Well..

Not at all

The above is a very generous way to look at it. One way that even Bethesda themselves wouldn’t.

After a season ends they try to recirculate the parts through either the bullion shops or the atom store. In particular, all of season 1’s tomfoolery can be acquired through bullion, or these two bundles: The captain cosmos bundle is 1800 atoms for just the jetpack and suit. In fact, less than half of what is in the Cosmos and Jangles bundle is even part of season 1. But let’s count the whole price anyways, why not? 1800+1800 is 3600, add in the atoms and now we’re at 5100  in ten weeks pretty on par with the old model, and I am just starting. 

What of weapons? Well, what of weapons? Who is the person that uses specifically a bow, a hunting rifle, a super sledge, a combat rifle, a handmade, and a gatling gun? and uses them enough that they’d want a skin on each of them. But not a unique skin either, they’re really set on keeping them all the same theme? Yeah, pretty much noone. That’s probably why Bethesda sells so many bundles. They know you only want one or a few things so they trick you into paying MORE because it looks like a deal. If you get six skins for the price of two, you might think that’s really good even though you’ll only use one, so really you paid the price of two, for one. Like going back to the cosmos jangles bundle. The Default cosmos outfit alone is 1000 atoms. Over HALF the price of the bundle individually. The bundling scheme gets even more transparent when looking at armors.

Sure, you may use more than one type of weapon, but you will barely ever use more than one type of armor. Many armors are just de facto upgrades over the lower tier ones. Once you have Secret Service or T65 armor, there is barely a reason to ever drop down to a weaker set, save for like the excavator armor’s enhanced carry capacity. Furthermore, most people will either play with either power or unpowered armor, not often both. In fact, the jet pack skin unlocked in the same season itself invalidates the lower tier non-powered armors. it LITERALLY can not be used with any of those armors so including them together on the pricing sheet is pretty damn silly. 

Believe it or not, the bundling scheme has yet to hit its stride, because if we could just take a moment to look at the consumable section. I have lunchboxes listed at barely more expensive than the scrap kits and repair kits, which well, they aren’t. They are exactly the same price in the shop. You get nearly double the amount of lunch boxes yet I rounded them to around the same price. Because lunchboxes get you one less than 40, so I rounded up to the 40 bundle for 1000 atoms, but the other consumables come out to 24, a weird number, that if I break apart using largest sums(ie the biggest discounts) ends up with 900 atoms. They are nearly the same price for nearly half the items. Because that’s how dramatic the bundle pricing is. Bethesda wants you to go for the big bundle every time, because it looks like you're getting more value, despite it not actually costing Bethesda a damn thing. Which raises the question, does that mean every consumable I unlock for free, the average price goes down? If I get two seasons worth of lunch boxes, totaling 78, is that like 1500 atoms instead of 2000? Well, something that might help this conundrum is to learn that scrap kits and repair kits are just useless. I have never once purposefully used a scrap kit in all my hours and boss fights just give you better versions of repair kits as well as many other goodies. They are ostensibly just bundled into the season to make it look more valuable than it really is.

The entire season pass is just one, big, bundle. If you actually sit down and look at what you want, you’ll likely find that even by the massively inflated 76 prices you probably would have gotten more under the old system. I wanted the marshmallow armor, something to put on my secret service armor. So for me personally, I would have to grind for 82 ranks to get something I actually wanted. Roughly 8 weeks or 4000 atoms in the old system to get a single skin that would usually be priced around 500 atoms, and I’d only have 1200 atoms thus far to show for it. The value being well under half of the old system.

I promise I won’t do this deep of a dive for every season, I just really wanted to hammer home that while the scoreboard system was more fun than the previous one, it has always been aimed at taking away our purchasing power. [foreshadowing]

CLOSING OUT 2020

Season 2 is not very noteworthy, although I do want to bring up again how artificial these prices are, with the Armor Ace bundle being 1400 atoms for some reason. The atoms earned was also bumped to 1850, which is nice, however 500, over ¼ are locked behind the final final rank. Once again hammering home the bundle method of putting what you really want at the end, so you’ll invest your way through everything else. All and all, a slightly better version of season 1 in my personal opinion. Which is probably why it’s the only one I actually finished. Oh. and it was 13 weeks, not 10. So in the old model that is now competing against an extra 1500 atoms when determining its market value. Oof.

Season 3 coincides with the Steel Dawn update. And as keen viewers guessed by the fact it is brotherhood themed, Bethesda’s worst traits begin rearing their ugly heads again. This is the first season to add 1st exclusive rewards. Meaning some content is just locked away from you unless you pay Bethesda $100 a year to artificially lock content from other players. This season drops the armor bundle entirely, so if you don’t use power armor, I hope you use one of the 5 weapons. What’d they make it up with? Uhh, just some camp amenities, most of which are just cosmetics…and two human beings. So is this season actually worth less than the previous ones, well as a power armorless hippy, I’d say yes, but it is hard to put value on a human life..

Okay okay. I know this really isn’t the point of the video, but I need to address this: You know how I mentioned some rewards can be bought with gold bullion? Well that means they’re purchased at one of the Wastelanders settlements. and idk, I just find it darkly funny that you can buy people from the settlers, who are the “good” side. What did Bethesda mean by this? Oh, and it’s 19 weeks long. So even if it had the exact same value as the two previous seasons, it would still really only be worth half as much, especially when you consider the classic system.

THE TEST

In my opinion, this is where the game begins its true death spiraling. Prior to now, 76 was known for two things besides its launch. Fallout 1st, Bethesda doubling down on their worst behaviors, and Wastelanders, Bethesda flaunting their best abilities. In hindsight, it’s hard not to notice that this one update both included another selling point for 1st, and a scaled down version of Wastelanders. Now would be a good time for Bethesda to see which avenue is more rewarding, and to be frank, Fallout 76 has a prosperity cult problem. That is to say, the most loyal fans believe the more money they throw at the multi-billion dollar company, the more rewards they’ll receive. So obviously, if Bethesda were to look at that data around this time, they’d see it makes more sense to milk 1st subscriptions than create quests that require significant resources.

And hoo boy, the milk is a flowing. TEST FAILED

You'll see after this time 76 starts getting given away, they no longer care about sales, only micro-transactions.

2021

Jan 2021, everyone celebrates as Nuclear Winter challenges are removed from seasons, and then they are quickly added back in

Season 4: Cold Steel. Not too much to say here, no more armor paints, but there are more outfits and some are early on for us normal armor peeps. To be honest, I greatly prefer outfits, because they can each be used no matter the tier of armor you wear underneath, so each one you get stands a chance of being used unlike wood paint. The 1st rewards are getting better though. Season 3 had a power armor paint job, but season 4 gets a brand new model and everything. That I guess uses some copy-pasted text. Because the description does not mention it can be used on either of the newer power armors. But hey, at least freebies still get 2ish new power armors right?

Season 5: Oh, never mind. Just one new power armor and it’s at the absolute max rank. great. The outfits in this pack are all Fallout 3 nostalgia…except the rank 98 uhh EVE Divine Cybermancy suit?

But that doesn’t matter, the notable part of season 5 is that it was released with Steel Reign and Finally implemented ranks beyond 100. Which I am going to use in defense of my season 3 'TEST' theory. Season 3 asked “More 1st bullshit, less story content?” and Season 5 said “More 1st bull shit, less story content.” Thanks 1sters! Oh, and it was 9 weeks long. The first season where you could technically keep earning atoms for additional play time like in the old days, is tied for the shortest season. The repeatable ranks are not worth too much. You can no longer grind repeatable challenges and you only get 100 atoms instead of 150 and nothing unique. So 100 atoms per 30000 or so score means 200 atoms per 3 weeks. Less than 1/7th of the olden days. Honestly, just take the time off and go hug your kids.

Season 6: The average length of seasons goes up from here, just under half exceeding 100 days, and all but one above ten weeks. Allows each season to take up less man hours and each player to get less stuff over time. Other than the aforementioned time skimping, I think the board itself is better than season 5’s, but I am also a capeshit enjoyer. (I also think it’s hilarious the power armor is based on the stealthy femme fatale hero)

2022-ish

Season 7: Generally average, but I can’t help but notice the clean blue suit which is quite literally the type of thing they give away in the atom store. Of note this time, you can no longer pay for ranks after rank 100. Not sure why you could ever do that, but props for taking it out…I think?

Season 8: A pretty bad season all things considered. Which much like the Brotherhood one, should have been obvious because they’re relying on vault tec again. Seriously, someone needs to confiscate Bethesda's nostalgia card.

The power armor paint is just yellow. It’s just yellow. There isn’t even one for T65 armor, the objectively strongest and thereby most used set for two years by this point. They brought back the useless low tier armor upgrades and 1sters now get a reward every 5 rounds instead of 10 including this Billy Bass mailbox.

This is it. This is what I will never forgive Bethesda for. Give me the bass Bethesda.

There is no unique power armor at the end and the rank 98 outfit? It’s a vault suit. With leather armor…really? And for some reason you get firehouse materials at the end in lieu of anything else. I guess Bethesda does care about the build community after all. In full honesty, a very obvious shift towards 1sters. Quite literally doubling what they were getting before (a reward every 5 ranks instead of every 10) and dropping a steamy one down our chimney. The fattest L yet, and what a way to end year 2. I look forward to many more years of quality seasons.

Season 9: Better than 8, but still clearly on the downward slope. Still shilling out useless armor skins and now having 1st rewards at yet again doubled rate(a reward every 5 ranks instead of every 10) , including locking this beaut away.

It’s no billy bass mailbox, but the Dullahan is nearly as fuckable and also this good boy.

Guess what? If you don’t pay for 1st(and grind to rank 100) you are spitting on Seymour’s grave.

SEASON 10

It got its own header, must be scary: This is the season that made me start working on this essay, because genuinely, fuck it. You see, Season 10 locks the Auto-Axe, a returning Fallout 3 weapon, and one of the best weapons in 76 behind rank 15.. As well as the union power armor, which for SOME REASON is split up like the pieces of Exodia

Forcing you to reach rank 75 before you are even allowed to finish the full set. Not to mention the plasma caster skin, a weapon I actually use is locked behind rank 92. Not that it matters since all of the skins in this season are just…brown. Well, you’ll probably be able to get them with bullion afterwards right? Nope, 76 instead adds another currency in the same update, stamps.

As before, it is really hard to explain why something is bad in 76 without explaining every other system in the game, but in short you need stamps to get these after the event and stamps were very hard to get. You could potentially get 20 stamps if you absolutely nailed one of two just two 10 minute long quests. It's been over a year and they added just two quests. You could only get the full 20 if you were the expedition leader, which you could only do once per day. Otherwise you can only get 10 per run. With each Power Armor piece being 800 stamps, that would mean 40 runs per part and I can not stress this enough: there were only two quests. Minimum runs: 200 in 200 days or Minimum Days: 1 in runs. Bethesda really hates Pittsburgh huh?

2023

Season 11: Same idea as the last few, the unique weapon is now locked to rank 85, a full ten ranks higher than exodia himself. But the paints are more interesting than rust

Feb 2023, Season 12 Rip Daring and The Cryptid Hunt adds rerolls. You get one per day and it allows you to change 1 challenge you got for a better one. Fo1st holders get a second one per day, the scoreboard drops some and you can buy them for 50 atoms. Okay, 50 atoms isn’t much and you get some for free, what’s the big deal. Well, remember those annoying challenges from Season 0? You know, say wear a specific armor while doing a specific tedious objective?

Yeah? Well, what if, we brought those back, but made you do them with ludicrously expensive or season pass related armor? Because that’s what happened. Some challenges were only completable with the Union Power Armor.

So now we’re setting up a precedent where lapsing on one season can cause you to struggle harder through the next, maybe even encouraging you to buy our brand new microtransaction. Fantastic. Also, when it first launched sometimes the rerolls would send you to do a seasonal event that wasn’t in season. This is more than 4 years into 76’s lifespan and what a way to cap off year 3 of season passes.

Season 13: This season we see that the 1sters are getting a lot less useless crap than they used to. Repair kits being swapped out for cute lil’ plushies. But do not fret freebie, there is a mothman plushie…locked all the way down at rank 97. The season locked weapon is thankfully only rank 5, but you also get a pipboy skin at rank 66? Ooh boy, don’t miss the rank 66 pipboy skin. It is also the only other 9 week season. They know the effect mothman has on people and rushed him to the atom store.

Season 14: Rank 5 gave us the second light machine gun skin ever. The first one coming out a full 4 years after the game’s launch. No I am not salty. Sidenote: giving an infamous nazi gun the “fight for freedom” paint job. What did Bethesda mean by this?(The only other skin is enclave..) There is not a single outfit skin, but at least we got winterized metal armor…That’s the worst chafe of your life. 1sters get an exclusive item that prevents spoilage entirely. Marvelous.

Season 15: I actually quite like the styling of this one, but it still curries the same bad habits. No real improvements to speak of save for style. I really wish I had more to say, with this being the last scoreboard, but it honestly just leaves on a brutal whimper

SEASON 16

Finally we arrive at the current season. Maybe this is the one where it will finally turn around. And I regret to inform you that

THERE IS AN ASSAULTRON IN FISHNETS!! 76 is back baby. 76 is ba-!

Oh

Oh no

In the interest of full disclosure, I was planning a 4 year retrospective well before season 16 was actually announced since I had more than enough solid evidence in my case(looking at you season 10), and let me tell you if that announcement wasn't just the most damn monkey paw curling moment of my life. All of these years one of my biggest problems with the system is that most of its “value” comes from things I never wanted nor used. So to see them say “we’ve changed it. Now You get to pick what you get. Just like the old days! ain’t that grand?” should be what I wanted right?

…If I may bring out the math once more, my point with the “you get to choose” of it all was that in the old system, it was much faster to save up for the handful of things you wanted rather than be forced through all these ranks., but you have to get to rank 100 anyways to have access to all the stuff, so the grind isn’t actually lessened.

You need 3,735 tickets to complete the whole thing, at 25 tickets per rank that means you have to reach rank 149 to get everything. There aren't even more rewards. There are a total of 140 rewards with 45 being locked behind Fallout 1st. That means only 95 items for people without 1st. Previous seasons had more than 100, with one reward at each rank and then a bundle at rank 100. So you're doing well over 50% MORE grinding for LESS reward

That said, the tickets you save not buying T45 might allow you to buy all the rank 100 rewards when you actually reach them. So, if you actively save up money, you can finish the scoreboard AT rank 100. I repeat, you have to intentionally manage your resources to “complete” the scoreboard with the same amount of grind. They also went back to their old strategy of not having armor skins, but they still have low rank power armor skins? I guess for collectors...except both the X01 and T51 skins are locked behind Fallout 1st. These are two of the most iconic nostalgia armors representing Fallout 2 and Fallout 1 respectively. They are even locked behind a higher rank than T65(a much stronger armor), proving that they are just doing it for aesthetic reasons, ie to bait collectors. Yet again, another clear instance of Bethesda strong-arming people into buying Fallout 1st/participating in SEASONS via nostalgia bait.

You know what else? It's not even possible to get all of the rewards just doing weeklies and dailies as a free player.

The tickets necessary to get all non 1st items is 3010 tickets I believe. So reach rank 121. Each rank after 100 takes 3,500 score. So with weekly score of 31k(300/day, 100/week) this would take you until the tenth week. This season was 11 weeks long, so it's possible until you remember that there are technically rewards at rank 150. Seeing as you can barely make it to 121...you simply can't get that far. There are ways to increase score gain, but players who have maximized that still find themselves coming up short. One reddit user only reaching rank 145 after playing as optimized as they could without outright grinding the early levels with just xp.

To place the final cherry upon this The Help Pie: atoms are just plainly and objectively less available in this season. For one they're not available as a repeatable after rank 100(and you have to reach 150 to get repeatables anyhow). There are 2200 available for 1st players and only 1200 for f2p. That's right, a full 300 down from season 1 4 YEARS AGO, 650 lower than most seasons and 800 less than the previous ones, but hey at least Fallout 1st subscribers get 200 more. So a 40% decrease in income for us peons and a 10% raise for the bourgeois...except no. Because if we consider the loss of repeatable atoms, even many 1st users have experienced a cut.

Wrapping up, and a Hopeful Future?

So yeah. Fallout 76, despite public opinion, has been gradually getting less worth money and time as the years go on. We get new content less often than we did back in 2020, and our time keeps being worth less in-game currency.

But I do have a slight ray of hope.

As I mentioned before, I have a hypothesis that the reason we stopped getting story content for nearly 3 years after season 5 was because of the 'TEST'. To explain it more thoroughly: The last big story content was 5 main quests way back in July 2021 and it coincided with adding 1st only rewards to the scoreboard. By adding both at the same time they could see if the sales of new quests could rival an influx of Fallout 1st subscriptions. That seems to have failed since it would take nearly 3 years for us to get another story update in March 2024, all the while season passes became more and more geared towards selling Fallout 1st.

But this new story content is important, because it released in conjunction with Season 16, the worst season so far with the greatest disparity between 1st and f2p atoms. More importantly, however, it released in conjunction with the show.

The Fallout TV Show brought a massive influx of new eyes to the series, and of course, its latest game. I find it hard to believe that such a radical change to the Season system and the first story expansion and three years were just a coincidence, this feels like another marketing test.

You see, Season 17 has been announced, following the same model as season 16, and along with brings the FIRST EVER IN 6 YEARS map expansion to 76. So they have a new mass of players, who may not be aware of the severe decline in season quality that, if steam numbers are to be believed, outnumber the existing population(who were there before 16) by a factor of around 4.

Maybe if the map expansion proves as a viable way to keep this huge population going, we could see many more similar updates in the future. However, if the new season pushes significant 1st sales, then it's likely we'll just see the same decline we have been for years.

Unfortunately, I am expecting the latter since we have seen a large portion of the new population already fall off. The thing is, at its core, 76 is still not a very good game. It's easy to forget that when old players all have builds that circumvent most of the problems, but to a new player, the issues will be glaring.

That said, I still believe in the potential. The team has some very clear talent even if it's so often hidden from us.

Some Sources:

Proof you can not reach rank 150: https://www.reddit.com/r/fo76/s/4wcIpN7aJz

Some Math:

Season 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/fo76/comments/gjom2q/score_rank_math_hours_played_and_cost/

Season 16: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF0po3MfJ2w

Some Lies:

https://segmentnext.com/fallout-76-will-not-have-a-season-pass-or-paid-dlc-pete-hines-confirms-again/

[emasdf]

sims tag

Thanks for the tag @cantseemtohide 🤗 My queue ran out so this is a perfect time to answer some sims questions!

1. What’s your favourite sims death? Old age 💔

2. Alpha CC or Maxis Match? Maxis Match

3. Do you cheat when your sims gain weight? Not really. I have used the insta-lean potion once, that’s kind of cheating? But it made that sim way too thin!

4. Do you use move objects? I don’t do anything too crazy with it but I have it on by default with betterbuildbuy

5. Favorite mod? I don’t like to play without sim spawn overhaul or selective auto chat

6. First expansion/game/stuff pack you got? Livin’ it up 👵 I have always bought all expansions so I believe for TS4 it was Get to Work

7. Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing? aLIVE

8. Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made? I think Poppy is my favorite. She is super cute and I’m playing autonomy off now so she is not annoying

9. Have you made a simself? I’ve tried...!

10. What sim traits do you give yourself? Vegetarian, childish and loner

11. Which is your favorite EA hair color? Cheese 🧀

12. Favorite EA hair? The short one from my first pet

13. Favorite life stage? Teen

14. Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay? When I get bored or annoyed with the gameplay I switch to build mode. I love to build community lots but I’m not very good at building houses

15. Are you a CC creator? No... I wish I knew how to update some broken abandoned mods but I have zero patience for failure

16. Do you have any simblr friends/a sim squad? I’m so antisocial I don’t really know anyone. I try to show my support by liking and reblogging and if I feel really social I may leave a comment haha

17. What’s your favorite game? (1, 2, 3, or 4) 2 was so special to me but as I don’t have it anymore I have to say 4

18. Do you have any sims merch? No

19. Do you have a YouTube for sims? No

20. How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing? I don’t know, I guess my style changes all the time...? I get bored quite easily

21. What’s your Origin ID? emasdf

22. Who’s your favorite CC creator? @/wildlyminiaturesandwich

23. How long have you had a simblr? I had one in 2020 that I deleted. This one I’ve had a year or so

24. How do you edit your pictures? I use reshade to adjust brightness and colors and then gimp or canva to crop and add stuff

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next? More hobbies! I couldn’t care less about cars but if we ever get them I hope it will be some kind of garage pack so you could also build and upgrade cars and start a garage band and decorate a man cave with a pool table

26. What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far? I have nothing bad to say about nifty knitting 🧶

I’ll tag @crazydictator, @jasesims, @sims4-premades and @mdianasims. Feel free to ignore if you already did this or just don’t want to 🙂

[leiathewarrior]

20 Questions for Writers

tagged by @theglasscat. I decided I don't really mind if anyone who knows me in real life sees this, so, here we go. Thanks!

1. How many works do you have on A03?

I have 22!

2. What is your A03 word count?

It's 66,612 but that's not super accurate because it includes a fic that I'm listed as a co-author on but didn't do most of the writing for. So the actual number is something like 25,000 lol

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Lots of various versions of Sherlock Holmes (the Paternoster Gang, Geordi and Data from Star Trek, etc.) I have a few older fics from the Carmilla days, and some newer ones from Psychonauts and Professor Layton.

4. What are your top 5 fics by Kudos?

The Perceivers - Data/Geordi, Star Trek TNG [2014]

and all your streetfighting years won't help you anymore - Jenny/Vastra, Doctor Who [2017]

Adoration - Jenny/Vastra, Doctor Who [2020]

Cold - Jenny/Vastra, Doctor Who [2014]

but got it just don't get it - Jenny/Vastra, Doctor Who [2018]

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes! It might take me a while, but I'll literally put "respond to A03 comments" on my to-do list if I get the email notification.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

what makes love the exception? - Jenny Flint/Madame Vastra, Doctor Who [2018]

I was clearly going through something with this one but I have no idea what it was. There was supposed to be another story that would resolve the angst but I never got around to it. So now they're stuck like that forever! Oh well.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

i'll drive us into outer space / where we can't hear what people say - Bob Zanotto/Helmut Fullbear, Psychonauts 2 [2021]

I'm a sucker for gay old men with angsty time gaps / fake deaths. I was glad to write something happy for these two beyond what was explored in the game.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nah but I'm sure it's just because I've never been big enough.

9. Do you write smut? If so which kind?

Not really sure what "which kind" is getting at here. But yeah absolutely. Write the fic you want to see in the world. I started writing fic because I never could find the specific scenarios I wanted. And if that gives me a reputation in certain circles for being horny, so be it 😅 (also, my top fic by hits is "Jenny's on her period when Vastra eats her out" that I wrote at nineteen years old, so, y'know. it brings the hits.)

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest crossover you've ever written?

Generally no, but 60 for 60, where I put the Paternoster Gang in the Sherlock Holmes canon, is technically a crossover.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge. I have had a Steam guide stolen. The instant I posted it, it was immediately farmed by a bunch of AI gamer guide sites, which was annoying and apparently impossible to prevent.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, I had a fic translated into Russian once! Unfortunately I found out while writing this post that it looks like it's been taken down.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, sort of. I've discussed prompts and ideas with friends and heavily encouraged them to write.

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

Jenny Flint and Madame Vastra from Doctor Who

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Oof. I usually won't post a fic unless it's complete. When I started 60 for 60 (a Sherlock Holmes fandom tradition) I thought it would be a fun writing exercise to try to say something interesting in only 60 words. But I also wanted to fully reread each story in order to write about it, and that's been a process. I'll get around to it eventually.

16. What are your writing strengths?

My fics are usually on the shorter side because I enjoy concise characterization and dialogue snippets. Also, I love pulling together lots of different metaphors, connections, and references to other media.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Any sort of plot whatsoever. I don't know that I've ever come up with an original character, either.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

If I'm reading it, much like with song lyrics, my eyes will just skim right over it. I don't mind. I don't think I've tried it myself though.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I think this is technically Sherlock Holmes, although I used to write wizard rock (Harry Potter fan music) back in the good old days of like. 2011 and that probably also counts

20. Favorite fic you've written?

I think favorite fic to read and favorite fic to write are two different things; I'm going to interpret this as the one with the best writing process:

Sontar the Brave! A challenge to myself to beat the horny allegations and also write Strax-centric fic, because I completely ignored him everywhere else and felt bad. It's not the fic that I think has my strongest writing, but it was a lot of fun to do and came together very quickly compared to my other works.

I'm not going to tag anyone else here because I don't know anyone that'd be interested who wasn't tagged already, but thanks again @theglasscat! Always nice to revisit my stuff.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)

No adult who didn’t grow up watching the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series has any business watching the 1990 live-action film. While the animatronics and costumes bringing the reptilian heroes to life are impressive, the humor is juvenile, characters thin and the dialogue bad. These facts didn’t matter to the film’s intended audience. The beloved pizza-eating shadow warriors appearing on the big screen was enough and everyone knew it. The poster’s tagline of “Hey dudes this is NO cartoon” made it abundantly clear. It’ll continue to engage young viewers even today but children of the ‘80s who revisit it will be disappointed unless they're wearing thick rose-tinted glasses.

Mutated by radioactive ooze, raised in the sewers of New York by a rat who knows Kung Fu and obsessed with pizza, Michelangelo (Robbie Rist), Raphael (Josh Pais), Donatello (Corey Feldman) and Leonardo (Brian Tochi) are unlikely heroes. When the Foot Clan, a criminal organization of ninjas led by the mysterious “Shredder” (James Saito), begins recruiting the youth of NYC, the turtles team up with news reporter April O’Neal (Judith Hoag) and vigilante Cassie Jones (Elias Koteas) to take them down.

You’d never guess Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was made for a mere $13.5 million. Even when you consider the inflation, this is a good-looking movie. Our crazy-looking heroes interact with each other and with people, speak, eat, fight, ride skateboards, and so on. The lip-synch may be slightly off here and there but the illusion is convincing.

I can also praise the film for staying true to itself. The source material is a tough pill to swallow but the screenplay by Todd W. Langen and Bobby Herbeck doesn’t try to make the concept more digestible by making the turtles aliens or making their sensei/father into a man that was transformed into a rat-like creature. They’re 15-year-old shell warriors who love pizza and speak like surfer dudes. If you don’t buy that, the movie doesn’t want anything to do with you. It’s going to keep moving along those lines and doesn’t want to waste time dealing with semantics.

I suppose I can give a thumbs up to some of the film’s humorours sequences. They are genuinely funny about half the time and even when the gags are bad, they never go for fart jokes or other low-hanging fruit. Beyond this, I wish I had more nice things to say. This movie tries to do too much. It’s introducing the four protagonists, plus April, Cassie Jones, Shredder, Splinter, April’s boss and his troubled son, all on top of the characters’ origin and the actual plot. As a result, we hardly get to know the mutant heroes. They're virtually indistinguishable from each other except maybe Raphael, who has anger issues. Shredder is just as bad. We know nothing about him except that he’s evil and needs to be defeated.

Unless you already love the turtles and are overjoyed seeing them beat up an endless number of incompetent foot soldiers, the plot doesn’t offer much at all. It might be more “grown up” by daring to have a few of its characters curse (that surely rattled some cages back in the day) but the story has no depth. The dialogue is filled with groan-worthy one-liners, which to me makes the warriors believable as cartoon versions of teenagers. As a kid, I might’ve idolized these “grown up” turtles. Today, I find them mostly annoying. That goes double for the rap that introduces the end credits.

I choose to call Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles a good movie because it accomplishes its objectives. This is an unpretentious action comedy that wants nothing to do with the non-fans of the turtles. Everyone was into this franchise at the time and it continues to draw an audience. Kids will laugh at the turtles’ antics, be shocked when they get hurt, and cheer when the bad guys get what’s coming to them. It’s not for me and probably not for anyone reading this but I can see the appeal. (November 6, 2020)