#y'all better behave

[ericvelseb666]

I'll see y'all on Saturday, gotta hit the road early, y'all can still sends asks and I'll answer them when I get back, y'all better behave and see ya! 🚗🏕️

[layzeal]

[hightowered]

and you know i gotta say. the vast majority of the people losing their shit this weekend made it very clear that they do not understand the difference between "artists who want a measure of comfort in their lives" and "the billionaires actually being targeted by phrases like eat the rich." that is such a weird thing to be so proud to announce to the whole entire internet.

it's also extremely weird to behave as though any individual is entitled to an artist's work for free. or that the audience should be the final say in determining what an artist creates. there is a major difference between the betrayal of an artist who produces art and then banks on their social capital to engage in harmful, violent, bigoted behavior (like jk rowling) and the "betrayal" of an artist who decides that they should be or need to be compensated for their work. the latter isn't actually a betrayal at all. it's just a shift.

the thing is that the watcher boys didn't invent capitalism, they didn't invent the streaming model, they didn't invent youtube or patreon. they aren't getting 100% of the money from either. their merch doesn't magically appear as if made by elves while they sleep. their videos don't happen out of nowhere and without incurring bills. they have a business which employs people, and sure, you can say they employ too many people, but do they actually? a bunch of randos on the internet don't actually know that. they don't know these job titles, or how necessary it is to have everyone there. it's pure speculation. the entire company exists within a system they did not invent and are trying to stay afloat in said system while a bunch of assholes on the internet berate them for not acquiescing to their every whim at the expense of their artistic integrity, their ability to compensate their staff fairly, and their ability to keep making art.

and jumping from "i want to continue enjoying this artist's work for free" to "i think people should be fired and the remaining employees should be given greater responsibilities and more tasks to complete" is wild to me. there's nothing leftist in that and so trying to leverage leftist jargon to prove some sort of moral superiority is fucking wild, it's disingenuous, and it's sketchy as hell. you're allowed to be disappointed. you're not magically exempt from being told you're being an asshole if you decide your disappointment entitles you to take part in asshole behavior.

"but we don't want something heavily produced and we don't want these shows" then don't watch! that's it! don't watch! you are not being held hostage and forced to engage with this content. you have the choice not to. throwing a tantrum and launching racist vitriol at steven lim and demanding he step down as CEO shows a level of entitlement and childishness that, frankly, i wish they could have ignored, but they're both kinder & more patient than i am.

anyway congratulations to watcher on their new streaming service and their gorgeous new website, congratulations to the boys on a new step in their careers and on achieving something they've made clear they've wanted for ages, thank you to the boys for all their hard work and for sharing their creativity with us. thank you too for taking such a big and genuinely brave step to no longer be beholden to major corporations and advertisers so you can make the art you want to make. thank you to steven lim for taking so many steps back to keep the company running and for doing your best in a shit economy and while being targeted by this kind of nastiness online. and thank you to the entire team at @wearewatcher for continuing to do amazing work despite being treated like shit by the fan community at large on the internet while you're trying to make a living and create art. you all deserve better than you've been shown of late and i hate that such an exciting moment got overshadowed by so many temper tantrums.

because the whole fucking point, the dream, is getting to make the art that matters to them, without being held back. i'm sorry y'all don't want the heavily produced and high quality shit but your preferences as a member of an audience are not the law by which artists should abide. they are artists and they are free to, and deserve to, make the art they want to make.

[funnier-as-a-system]

sorry for the possibly dumb question

what the fuck is a system

Don't worry, anon, this isn't a dumb question at all! Systems aren't very well-known, so I'm happy to explain them to you. I'll start by explaining what a system is, then go more in-depth about systems in general.

So, you know how most people are one person? Or, rather, you know how when you meet someone, you assume they're the only person in their body? You don't really think "I wonder if this person shares their body and life with other beings." or "I wonder if this person I know is actually multiple people all sharing the same body.", but that's how it is for systems!

In simple terms, a system is any collective group of self-aware entities that share the same body (which is, I fully acknowledge, a complicated definition, but basically we have multiple selves whereas most people would have just one, and each self has their own identity). We may not specifically consider ourselves individual people (some systems see themselves as separated parts of one whole person, for instance), but it'll probably help you understand if you think of us as people that happen to share the same body. We each have our own sense of self, ideas, feelings, personalities, and on and on, just like anyone else.

Although this probably sounds very strange and surprising, it's likely that you've heard of systems before – just not with that language. Many people have heard of "multiple personalities" or "Multiple Personality Disorder", which is how systems used to be known. This sort of understanding of systems is especially common in horror movies, which tend to depict systems as serial killers or monsters. Of course, systems are no more likely to hurt others than anyone else is, but the stereotype and stigma persists, and can lead to harassment or even violence against systems.

However, you may have also come across more positive depictions. Body sharing is a common trope, for instance. People with Dissociative Identity Disorder, who often describe themselves as systems, are being more often portrayed as regular or kind people rather than serial killers, such as Uendo Toneido from Ace Attorney. I've often seen systems point to characters and series like Venom, Sense8, and Moon Knight – which depict systems or situations and characters that resonate with systems – to describe what their lives are like. We often find characters that are rather like systems that may not have been intended to be read as such and have a laugh about it; you might be able to spot the same, now that you know what you're looking for.

So, systems can be understood as when a single body is inhabited by more than one person, or being, or entity (whichever term you prefer). We may share the same body, but we each have our own selves, and often, our own names and identities, too.

That's the essence of it! I'll put more under the cut about systems in case you're curious.

For starters, if you're looking into systems, you'll probably run across the term "plurality", which is an overarching term that refers to all instances of someone sharing a body/brain; it is the state of being more-than-one, not just an individual collection of beings in a single body (the latter is what the word "system" specifically refers to). There's also the word "plural", which can be used either as a noun to mean the same thing as "system", or as an adjective to describe things that involve or exhibit plurality. For instance, I am plural. I very much enjoy talking about plurality and plural characters in fiction.

(As a comparison, you may think of video chats/group calls. Plurality, here, would be video chats in general. Meanwhile, a specific video chat – called a webinar – would be a system. And the people in a webinar would be the members of a system. Or, for another example, plurality would be education, a system would be a class, and the members of that system would be the students.)

Speaking of, beings who share a body – who are part of a system – are called many different terms. Two of the most common are "headmate" and "alter", although I also see "system member" a lot. I could say that my headmate was rather helpful today, or that my alter was fronting yesterday. Alter is more medical of a term, but it's more standard, especially in some other languages outside English.

But, wait, you might be wondering what fronting is! Well, since we all live in the same body, we've got to share control of it too, don't we? Fronting is what we call controlling the body, and switching is when we change who is in control. Some systems switch often, while others switch rarely, or only under certain circumstances, and some systems never switch at all. Switching may be involuntary, or it may be a voluntary skill a system has picked up. There's a lot of variety across systems.

Plurality is most often known in the context of DID, or Dissociative Identity Disorder, which often involves a lot of involuntary switches. P-DID, or Partial Dissociative Identity Disorder, meanwhile, involves very few switches, but these are likely to be involuntary, as well. There are other disorders that plurality may be a part or symptom of, but plurality can also exist as its own non-disordered state, so long as there's no attached or related issues causing problems for the system (ex. memory issues are another frequent problem in DID, and these memory issues come from the members of a system not remembering what the others did when those alters were fronting).

You may be wondering, how does this happen? How does someone become a system? There are many different ways. Sometimes, it's a part of someone's culture, religion, or spirituality. Sometimes, it's the brain's response to trauma, trying to protect itself. Sometimes, someone is simply born this way. Sometimes, someone may become a system out of the blue, or cause their own plurality somehow. Some systems have a multitude or mix of origins. Most studies on systems currently focus on systems that originate from trauma, as these systems most often have issues – including the trauma in question – that need to be looked into and addressed, but there are some budding studies into systems with other origins, such as the few current and ongoing studies on created systems (the aforementioned systems that cause their own plurality).

I'm simplifying some things here; identity such as this gets increasingly nuanced and personal as you learn more and more (for example, as said before, not all system members identify as individual persons, even if it can help understand them to think of them like individual persons that just happen to share a body). But I hope this helped you learn at least the basics about systems!

[amaranthsynthesis]

looking at timelines and thinking about the CONSTANT near misses where Durge and Karlach almost met while involved with/working for Gortash. the overlap is there!! but Karlach doesn't recognize Durge when they meet in game, so they must not have ever met

Karlach was Gortash's bodyguard, it would have made sense for him to bring her to meetings with a Bhaalspawn--when would he be in more danger than that? That he didn't means that either he trusted Durge not to kill him, or worried instead that Durge would kill Karlach if they met. Which, yeah, if her temperament pre-Avernus is anything like in-game then that meeting would have extraordinarily poorly! Faced with a very real threat she would have stood her ground to protect her boss and friend, still, and there is no way Durge could let that slide--there is no way she could have won that fight. Gortash liked her too much, or did not want to replace her yet, or had already put the wheels in motion on the infernal engines front and knew she would make an excellent candidate for a test, when the time came. Cuz he sold her anyway, didn't he?

so I'm emo about that but ALSO the slapstick hijink potential of Gortash running interference so that neither of them ever encounter one another is UNPARALLELED.

[difeisheng]

[lil-gingerbread-queen]

Why are people acting as if you have to be in the 1% to be considered rich??? That's not how it works. To be rich, you have to gain, per month, at least the double median net worth of households.

In France, if you make 3900€ per month, you are rich. That's not an opinion, it's what Insee (the French national institute of economic statistics studies) label as rich right now. Yes, the USA and France have a different cost of living, but I am pretty certain that the guys each makes more than the double median net worth of USAmerican households, I can say they make more than the equivalent of 4000€ per months.

Fellas, y'all just have a fucked view of what being rich is in the USA, y'all think one needs to make 2 millions per year to be rich (from this study). That's more than TWENTY times the median net worth of USAmerican households.

From the "eat the rich" country (and, actually, the people sang "kill the rich"), the guillotine country, I'm telling you, those guys are rich. And also, they weirdly proudly displaying the luxuries they can afford, the "eat the rich" they throw around is like a protection, it doesn’t sound genuine (see: Voidzilla's video where he cringes when Ryan says "Eat the rich" before showing off his brand new Nike proudly)

And let's not talk about y'all calling their videos, where they get drunk and read ghosts' stories from the internet, "art".

[slayerscake]

At least with the Beacon membership CR gets all the money

[romanticatheartt]

I can't believe there are people in this fandom who say Mor lied about what happened at Autumn Court and led Azriel on for centuries. We have people say Gwyn, an SA survivor, has manipulate everyone with her lightsinger power and she wasn't actually SA'ed and undermine her strength in Blood Rite. We have people say Feyre overreacted and minimise her trauma and depression to nothing after UTM and calling her ungrateful...

All of these over another man's action...

While Eris didn't try to help her, y'all make a hero out of him for not touching her. I know why he did it but the fact that you all try to find an excuse for his actions and go as far as calling Mor a liar. (don't forget he slut shamed her in front of all the high lords...)

While Azriel is the one who's been panting after Mor for centuries while Mor couldn't be more obvious about how she doesn't want to do anything with him and you didn't even consider how she might not trust him enough to tell him the truth but somehow... Mor is at fault. Somehow Azriel, not even trying to talk to her once and discuss their situation and create a safe space for her and try to be her real friend instead of trying to be in a relationship with her and waiting for a mate bond to snap, is the victim here... you all don't find his actions creepy at all because he's a "shadow daddy". While Azriel still couldn't say he's over Mor to Rhysand and at the same time tried to fck Elain without thinking anything more about her (no future whatsoever), but somehow... somehow is Gwyn's fault, who used her lightsinger power to prevent it to happen and manipulate Azriel all the same... all of this is being said because of Azriel's own actions and you don't want to blame him and hold him accountable for his doings, so you find (create) these disgusting excuses.

While Tamlin only sat there for 3 months and didn't even try to help Feyre and y'all excuse his lack of action for protecting, but he could get her alone right before the night of her last trial... While he sat there begged on his knees and didn't even try to stop Amarantha, and in the main time each bones in Feyre's body was breaking. And you still find an excuse for him locking Feyre and not listening to her about how she's suffering, how she's drowning, for him being "traumatised"... but Feyre died for him and saved his court and people and the whole Prythian and destroyed herself in the process but you all don't even see it... and go as far as calling Feyre a coward for hesitating to kill those faeries...

[dorkboy]

I'm gonna say one more thing about the Irish gentleman and his public statement and then I'm gonna leave it be.

I've seen a lot of people who were upset at his statement, saying that it was too soft and that his previous statements were much better. People saying that they'd prefer that he not say anything if he was going to fence sit. He's Irish for fucks' sake, and someone who grew up during The Troubles (albeit the end of them). People saying that it was him bowing to pressure so that he remain in consideration for a Grammy that he's up for. Et cetera.

I don't know if I agree with some of those statements, but I do agree that it could have been more strongly worded. More clear on his condemnation of the attrocities being carried out against the people of Gaza.

Some people have noted that it was likely also a matter of safety, given what happened to the Hadid family over their support (they've received death threats), that he has the safety of his band and his crew to keep in mind. That he's on tour in a country that is actively supporting the attrocity and his statement was worded so as to not be on the receiving end of hostilities by the government. I can honestly buy that one. I don't know if it's genuinely something he said, or if I'm misremembering, but I believe he mentioned that he didn't join BLM protests because he was afraid that he'd get deported and barred entry to the US if he had.

I'll say, like I did before, that I'm disappointed. I had hoped that he would come out with a stronger statement. One that lives up to the politics that he uplifts in his music.

Look, at the end of the day, none of us know this man. We may be fans of his music and support a lot of the statements he makes, but we don't know him. We like to think we know where he stands on certain things, but unless he comes out and publicly states them, we know nothing. I want to believe his heart is in the right place. I want to believe that his statement was flat because it had to be. But, at the end of the day, we as a society need to stop placing celebrities on such pedestals and raising them up to be these paragons of virtue. They're human.

That's all.

OH - and I think it goes without saying, but I'm gonna say it anyway, I support a free Palestine. Today, tomorrow, and always.

[bestygogirl]

BEST YGO GIRL: Round 2, Group D

Match 6

please use this as an opportunity to say why you like a character, not why you don't.

Propaganda under the cut!

Ema Bessho

An absolute queen who is a mercenary duelist/hacker for hire and makes lots of money off of it by digging up data and secret information in Vrains and making bargains/profits off of them, her archetype “Altergeist” is wicked cool and super strong! She owns a motorcycle. She’s playful, smart, and skilled. Helped the protagonists and the other main characters big time with her skills and tech providing them with the information needed to get them into areas they can’t reach or warning the protagonist of a card he needs to keep an eye out for that helped him with his duel against the antagonist. very hot hacker, also rides a motorcycle and flusters all genders

Droite

I just really like girls with even kinda insect themed decks okay

[transformersslutt]

Watching Transformers G1 Part 661

You ever see an image and know there has to be a fanfic out there about it somewhere?

[lostlegendaerie]

My Topaz & Numby cosplay from Katsucon 2024! Featuring @lightbenderlin as my delightful March 7th~

The trotter pattern was a collaboration with Hologramo on Instagram; I'll be working on posting the pattern and instructions for free this weekend!

[rrbobani]

Just some outfit planning for a later date.

Can you guess who it's for? UvU

[dirtytransmasc]

Do you think that alicent rhaenyra and haelena suffer from mental health?

Alicent is most certainly mentally ill from the moment she is married off to viserys, while I think Helaena is neurodivergent, not necessarily mentally ill until after Blood and Cheese. Rhaenyra is more complicated, I think there were times she was faced with mental illness, I think there also times she was not and that these times were greater. (this is all within the show, I'm not sure about the books)

Alicent was being raped and forced to bear children from a very young age, that is so much pain and suffering, so much trauma to go through. from a young age she is shown to have a lot of signs of ptsd, anxiety, ppd (postpartum depression) especially after Helaena is born, it seems, and depression. there are few moments she seems truly happy and at ease, constantly worn by stress. I don't think she ever recovered from those early years, and she remains mentally ill until the end, where it festers in the aftermath of the end of the war, and she dies of insanity.

Helaena definitely came off as autistic to me, even in her little screen time. I won't discredit the possible trauma of her father's neglect or being married off to Aegon (though there is no proof he is abusive or forceful upon her, she was married off to someone some could say she did not love and did not love her), she seems mostly unaffected by this. I think her mental illness will come into play after B&C and the loss of her children.

Rhaenyra is the most complicated to me. we don't really see the aftermath of her births, so I can't say if she experienced any ppd/ppp, she might have, she might not have. she lived a relatively easy life outside of her mother's death, which did seem to cause some depression while she was young, but she seemed to move on from that in time. she does seem to have some depression and anxiety during her time at the keep, the stress weighing on her, but it never seemed to be as constant or heavy as Alicents (not to downplay, just to give a comparison). after the loss of her daughter is would be beyond cruel to deny that she would sink into a depression. she miscarried horribly essentially alone to a deformed stillborn little girl. miscarrying on it own is horrific and traumatizing, but the circumstances make it even more horrific. so while there are instances she shows signs of mental health issues, I don't believe she was wholly afflicted until after she lost Visenya.

this just my opinion on the matter, and I will give Rhaenyra credit by saying she was definitely very good at keeping up her wits and appearances, so finding moments of "weakness" or mental illness are definitely harder to spot, especially when the show tends to shy away from showing her low points and panders to her moments of strength.

[rottmnt-background-screenshots]

Hey, OP! Just want to say something about the fic you boosted.

As an OSDD system who has read through the fanfic before, our perspective is:

While not the author intention, nor directly talking about it, it still unfortunately falls into hurtful/misinformed tropes relating to OSDD/DID/Systems in general. The concept of a "personality split" has connotations that are unavoidable, and can tread dangerously close towards misinformed and unfair rhetoric towards systems when not handled with proper research. With the whole story revolving around this concept, it more than just a one-off moment.

We are also not saying to harass the fic author. Nor are we saying anything about your morals for sharing it.

Just that these kinds of fics are uncomfortable for some of those who do actually deal with the "personality split" thing. Especially with how popular the concept is without many actually really having us in mind.

I appreciate the reminder! I'd like to be a safe blog for everyone here, including systems.

I'm not the one to say whether or not anyone should read it, these two anons have raised the relevant concerns better than I could.

However, anyone who does choose to read it anyone should do so while consciously acknowledging that the fic contains narratives that aren't accurate. Also, don't read something in a fic and assume it's true.