#they wouldn't be selling old ones

[skeletalheartattack]

i saw a Zarbon statue at GameStop today and thought of your blog

*spits out whatever i'm drinking* i think i hauve to go to gamestop

[littleapocalypsekitten]

*Rolls eyes.* Just holy freakin' poo! I just came across on my Facebook-roll an advertisement, using an image from the Fallout TV series - the characters standing together - advertising a service to filter out from Netflix shows all of the "profanity, nudity and objectionable content" for people who do not want it / to make things family friendly... Well, putting aside that Fallout isn't on Netflix, it's an Amazon show... I looked in on the comments to see if it was a joke and I saw people saying "I'm a Pastor and this is a godsend!" and "what a great service!" - Probably bots. But anyway... WHY Fallout used as an example for censorship? WHY. JUST WHY??? It's like, excuse me. That show starts off with a nuclear explosion and an entire children's birthday party getting thrown through plate-glass windows and then cuts to a young woman living in a Vault putting in her qualifications to be a breeder and talking to a friend about not wanting to do "cousin stuff" anymore!!! And there's a (clothed) but very rauncy sex-scene right on (you do see man-butt, but he didn't wait for his bride to get out of her dress). And shortly afterward, the bloody violence starts... And there's people losing limbs and heads and a man having every player's reaction to their first meeting with a Yao Guai (mutant bear for those non-Fallout heads reading this): "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!!!" "Family friendly Fallout" is NOT Fallout! They're games / a series designed for us to lore-dive into an objectively horrible world, to explore the limits of ethical-questions in such a world and for those of us who are sick of Humanity in the real world to harmlessly let off stress by blowing fictional NPCs apart with rocket launchers, k? And if there's anyone out there who's like "But my kid plays the games and wants to see the show!!!" Um... do you pay attention to what your kids play? Mature rated games are rated mature for a reason! Children and the easily-offended are NOT the audience for Fallout! This ad had to not be for real. Probably links to a damn virus or something. False advertising at the least. I mean. Nope. Just no.

[icewindandboringhorror]

If you became super rich and could design your own house, but could only add THREE unnecessary/random/expensive home additions (like how people will have bowling alleys, movie theatres, closets with museums of shoes, car display rooms, spa rooms, wine cellars, etc. in their mansions) - what three would you choose?

[nyxypoo]

PLEASE SOMEONE GET 1-3 AND EVERYTHING ELSE HERE PLEASE OMG

[tswwwit]

Has fam!Bill ever landed on a talk show or got interviewed, or has someone atleast made a movie/series/novel about him or his life with dipper?

I'd think that Dipper tries to keep Bill out of the spotlight. Partly so it doesn't feed his enormous ego any further - and partly so Bill doesn't try starting a cult. For like, the millionth time. He's a little too persuasive when he gets public attention.

There also exists a case - probably many decades along, once Dipper's out of his first life - where there is a movie/series/novel.... about Dipper.

Of course Bill's there. You can hardly have a story about Dipper Pines without at least vaguely addressing the demonic power subject - but in this one, Bill's cast as sort of a demonic sidekick. Unable to tempt the righteous Dipper Pines from his heroic cause. Bumbling, and awkward.

Used for comedic effect.

You bet your ass Bill's absolutely fuming about it.

[lumiidragon]

Thinking about possibly selling some of my old, unused HTTYD OCs.

[chayscribbles]

was digging through my old art and found these paintings of the crow girls circa... 2019? and tbh? i still like 'em

art tag | instagram

[therevengeoffrankenstein]

i love defending pete wentz against the mania haters who call him the music industry's mr krabs bc he sucks in other ways.

[astramachina]

every time Hotel California comes on i just get this deep-rooted desire that borders on longing to pick up a guitar again. owning a guitar would fix me, i think.

[drumlincountry]

As someone now teaching in two different secondary schools: teens really do just have trans classmates now.

[thottybrucewayne]

One thing about it. The lolita fashion girlies take that shit EXTREMELY serious. They play no games at all. They cussing people out over tailoring and altering dresses they bought with their money for themselves like whoa.

[jedi-bird]

Today I acquired several new Star Wars rpg books I've been looking for (and left a lot behind because I didn't have my master list updated), some shiny new dice, and a few new cheap collectables. I was also good and didn't spend fifty bucks on a plush gelatinous cube (even though I really wanted him). Did get some new miniatures that I'll eventually get around to painting once I get my work space finally set up. I have a very long list of things that need to get done before the summer heat and I'll probably only get a small bit completed; progress is progress though.

[im2tired4usernames]

In case anyone forgot what a loser I am I make myself merch of my looooooooooooooooooooooong dead DND games because frankly they are my blorbos and I need merch

[chaoticgoodthief]

I Did It

Ok, this is amazing I recently passed the Tumblr shoelace ritual. Long story short, I was at a market day in my school and saw some stickers. Gandalf's big naturals. Even as someone who doesn't really spend that much time in the LoTR/Hobbit area of Tumblr, I knew about That. I couldn't help myself, it was right There. Probably far to giddily holding that Gandalf sticker (with wasn't just a normal old big naturals, mind you. That wizard was in a laced bra, usually enough to turn me redder than a tomato)

"Which one of you designed this?" I asked on of the two people at the stall (ps everyone was selling their own sruff, so I wasn't afraid in the slightest that the creator of this wouldn't be there.)

"She did," the one I talked to responded. Oh my heart was pounding. All social awkwardness completely evaporated in the face of THE most Tumblr Thing I could do.

"I like your shoelaces." Gosh, I wish I could have talked to literally anyone with half the confidence that I had in that moment. I'm pretty sure I saw just a tiny bit of life drain from their eyes. I'm so sorry but c'mon. Gandalf Big Natruals stickers. Did you really think you could avoid this?

"Thanks. I stole them from the president." I WILL RIDE THAT HIGH FOR THE NEXT MONTH, AT LEAST.

ps. If anyone finds my new buddy (I know it's unlikely but gotta give it a shot.) Just want to let you know that their art is amazing and you should definately by something from them if they take commissions.

[esperderek]

I have to have a chuckle at the Screenrant article posted recently about the Galactic Starcruiser, which totally wasn't about Jenny Nicholson's video honest.

In part, because early in Nicholson's video, she talks about how unnatural it is to have your influencers speak in adcopy and copyright rather than the more colloquial nicknames, and how it makes the people speaking about the product seem very insincere and, well, paid off. Because normal humans don't speak that way, but advertising does.

What's the first two lines in this article?

"As a life-long fan of Star Wars, there was nothing quite as exciting as finding out that I would be working on the immersive Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser experience. Located at the Walt Disney World Resort, the Galactic Starcruiser opened on March 1, 2022, and welcomed passengers to board a two-day, two-night cruise through the stars, during which they could live out their own Star Wars adventure."

No one talks like this naturally. No one writes like this naturally.

This is supposed to be your passioned defense of the place you worked at, the people you worked with, and the memories you made along the way. C'mon! Why don't you open with a story, perhaps an anecdote about the best moment you had working there, or the devastation of the day you lost your dream job. We need to feel your humanity! But there's nothing of that here, to the point where you can just hear the TM behind Galactic Starcruiser.

The first half of this article continues in this vein, reading like a press release Disney marketing put out, just with past tense rather than present or future tense:

"Essentially, the Starcruiser experience was a 48-hour movie that passengers were actually a part of. It was all facilitated through the "datapad," which was accessed through the Play Disney Parks app."

"To facilitate the overarching immersive experience and storytelling, the Starcruiser built a jam-packed itinerary for each and every guest that would consist of a variety of important activities: the captain's toast at muster, a bridge training exercise, lightsaber training, and more. These types of events were essential to understanding what was happening, as they would give passengers the chance to interact with characters and build their story. This is why the Starcruiser could never be just a hotel; every part of it was designed for enthusiastic interaction."

Like, c'mon. I used to work in television. I've seen and used adcopy in my former job, and this is some serious adcopy. It honestly wouldn't shock me if the author dredged up some old adcopy they had lying around about the topic and just transferred it over, changing the tense. You're not here to sell us this product, because there is no product to sell. It's gone, it's been gone for a year, you don't have to sell us on IT. Speak about your experiences.

The next part is yet another topic that Jenny Nicholson pointed out, the bad faith excuses that influencers and advertisers made for the extreme price point:

"What many people don't know, however, is that the price included much more than just a room. The passengers' food, park tickets, recreation activities on board, non-alcoholic drinks, and more were all included - with merchandise being one of the few additional costs on board."

Which is absolute bad faith reasoning, especially when there are plenty of other vacation options that are ALSO all-inclusive, but are MUCH cheaper and offer MORE amenities than the Galactic Starcruiser did! Including Disney Cruises, owned by the same company! Seriously, you can go on a halfway decent sounding cruise or all-inclusive resort somewhere warm for, like, a week or two and spend far less than GSC cost.

Then the last part is essentially: "All the workers liked working there and the bad reviews afterwards make the workers who worked on it feel sad. :("

Which, like, companies have been hiding behind that reasoning for ages. Curiously, the author never offers....any reasons or stories. WHY did working on it impact you so much? What set it apart, what were the people like, what did you like about working there, why are you so passionate about it even a year later? There's nothing, just a generic sort of "We worked hard." and "We're sad it's gone." Why? How? What happened? The video you're obviously writing this in response to is filled with personal anecdotes and stories, it's the backbone of the video! Again, you need to give us something to show your humanity!

Especially when you consider that Nicholson repeatedly points out that the only highlight about her experience, the only thing that kept the damn thing going was the workers.

She had nothing but praise for them, and nothing but contempt for the higher ups who wasted and abused that enthusiasm, to the point where one of her last points was "Hey, Disney is basically exploiting labor."

Much like Jenny, I'm also not condemning anyone who had a good time working there. Good! If you were having a good time at work, that's great. If you have good memories about the people, awesome. But I'll note two things:

a) That doesn't meant you weren't being exploited, and

b) That doesn't mean you have to be a useful idiot for the corporation you worked for afterwards.

I'm not conspiracy brained enough to go "Oh, Disney TOTALLY forced this article into being.", because a cursory examination of the author's prior works and such suggests a lifelong passion for Star Wars, she did work at the hotel, and she's a Star Wars Editor (whatever THAT means in this day and age) for Screen Rant. Apparently one of the heads of Screen Rant says that Disney had no hand in it either.

Though, I can see why people would think that way. It READS like a press release, not something a normal human being would write about an experience they feel passionate about.

[capricorn-0mnikorn]

I have ~Thoughts~ on the Harry Potter Phenomenon that was

(Courtesy of memories prompted by this Tumblr Poll)

Back when I was a senior in college (back in the mid-to-late 1980s), I actually wrote a fantasy novel for kids aged ~8 - ~11 (in a self-designed course for a single credit, under the guidance of my Literature advisor), inspired by a series of dreams and recurring characters that showed up in them.

My advisor encouraged me to try and get it published. And so, I arranged with teachers from my old school to have a class of 30 or so 10 year-olds beta read it, and give me feedback for revisions. The kids also encouraged me to try and publish it.

So I did.

Now, back then, there was no "Self Publishing." The closest thing was "Vanity Publishing," where you would pay 100% of the publishing cost of your book, which would be printed in hard copy, for the benefit of having 500 -1,000 books shipped to your personal address, which you were then responsible for storing and selling out of the trunk of your car in a parking lot, somewhere. And if word got out that you were trying to claim credit for being a "published author" because of a Vanity Press book, actual publishers wouldn't touch you with a 40-foot pole.

If you wanted to get published, you had to buy that year's copy of Writer's Market: a listing of magazine and book publishers, and agents, with a brief description of what material they published, and what they wouldn't touch.

Guess what genre no agent or publisher was interested in handling?

That's right, Gentle Readers: Fantasy for children aged 8 - 11. I would have happily sent out a dozen queries for each story I wrote, if there were publishers and agents willing to look at them. But for three to four years of trying, in directories of two-columns of tiny print, and several [hundred]* pages long, I'd be lucky to find two or three outlets even willing to look at fantasy for kids.

The general consensus, across the publishing business, was that fantasy was a dead and obsolete genre. If it was for kids old enough to read chapter books and novels, it must also be firmly grounded in realism and actual history, because everyone knows the only people buying books for kids that age were teachers, who wanted stories with practical applications in the classroom.

***

After 3 - 4 years of trying, while I was in grad school, I finally got a rejection from the one agent who agreed to read my novel. A few days later, I received news that my mother had died from the breast cancer she'd been fighting, and my heart just went out of the project altogether.

A few years later, the first Harry Potter book was published. And it became a worldwide phenomenon. And it was the kids, themselves, who were driving the sales.

See, I think the real reason the books were such a success, even though they were never really very well written, was because they were in a genre the audience was hungry for -- a genre they'd been denied access to for all of their young lives.

Someone who is starving will think even moldy bread is delicious.

*Gosh, what a word to leave out via typo; the Writers Market rivaled the Manhattan Yellow Pages in length.