#Note the commentary on cancel culture is not to say people who are dangerous shouldn’t have their platforms taken from them

[floofyboi57]

Ok I’m currently on a MLP Gen 5 hyperfixation rn so all of you have to deal with me talking about pastel horses-

And with this comes something I think would make for interesting commentary in the eventual series- so spoiler territory

Alright, so the concept of influencers definitely has new meaning. With many influencers now having the habit of putting their view count before the sake of others. Their dangerous antics or attitudes being encouraged by viewers who don’t know better and add revenue

And don’t even get me started on cancel culture, and how if influencers or streamers aren’t 100% perfect they could risk their entire career and future careers.

Now I know this is wishful thinking, but I feel like there could be some AMAZING commentary on this and with Pipp’s character. Again this is just wishful thinking, and I doubt the people writing the show will consider this but imagine this-

Pipp does something her viewers don’t like. It can be as simple as not understanding an earth pony or unicorn culture originating word or something she said in an interview/video being taken out of context. Her viewership drops almost immediately. Ponies are making accusations against her and not accepting any apology she tries to make.

She gets so concerned with her viewership and her reputation that she does very dangerous things, and her friends help at first but slowly wonder if this is even worth it, because they’re getting hurt and Pipp is clearly stressed about this whole thing. Pipp doesn’t listen to their advice, claiming that they’re against her too (like everyone else is) and ends up ditching them.

Pipp advertises this BIG stunt, something that can harm both her and a ton of others so her friends rush to stop this. They stop the stunt but Pipp still gets hurt and while the others are consoling Pipp, Sunny or Zipp (or both idk-) ask all of the viewers and people recording if Pipp deserved to be hurt for what she did. They acknowledge that what she did was wrong, and her actions dealing with it were out of proportion, but risking someone’s career and reputation over something like this is insane.

Don’t get me wrong, I do believe there are people out there who don’t deserve a platform. There are people who use it to do bad things and hurt people while getting away with it. There are people who do bad things and won’t change. But cancel culture has devolved into risking people’s careers, not believing that people can change, and risking good hearted creators careers.

I know this talked a lot more about cancel culture than influencers who are genuinely bad people, but know that throughout this make-believe episode Pipp is doing things that involve endangering herself and her friends, without better judgement yes, but she is still in the wrong throughout it. Her actions can be justified by the situation she was in, but that doesn’t mean they can be excused.

Anyway yeah- again this is all wishful thinking. I don’t trust execs who probably don’t know the first thing about influencers and online fame to make good commentary on this subject that’s just become more prominent. I just feel like it would be a good opportunity for her character, even though she was probably just added for the “Gen Z Demographic”.

#my little pony #my little pony: a new generation #mlp pipp #a pointless post talking about how a pastel horse show could tackle cancel culture and influencers #Feel free to add your own input on this subject I’d love to hear it #Note the commentary on cancel culture is not to say people who are dangerous shouldn’t have their platforms taken from them #People who are legitimately dangerous shouldn’t have platforms and a way to harm people or continue to be assholes

[blapisblogs]

Oh god... Yeah, right after the in-video ad break, we’re hit with this: Doug Walker dressed like a Nazi with a smudged dotted line around his face and the words “person you hate” written on his forehead in sharpie. Dude, if this moment didn’t make you stop and wonder what the fuck happened with your life to bring you to this moment, then it damn well should’ve been.

Before you ask if this was based on something from the film or album, yes, but as usual there’s context for it. It’s difficult for me to explain, but in short the idea is that Pink’s attempt to build a metaphorical wall between himself and everyone else is making him more and more mentally unsound, right up to the point where after he’s forced to be drugged up for one of his shows he hallucinates himself as a fascist (the very thing his father died fighting against), the fans his zealous followers, and his concerts rallies where he encourages violence against marginalized groups. This goes on for a few songs with the violence and threats escalating in each one, and by the end of the last one he’s ranting and raving incoherently on a megaphone until the hallucination ends as he shouts for it all to stop, finally realizing how dangerous the things he’s been doing to himself are. It’s disturbing, and intentionally so. That’s what I got out of both the album and the film anyway. I have no clue what Doug Walker got out of this part of the film, though, because these next two parody songs have almost nothing to do with it. The first one mentions it so people will know that it’s a parody of something from the film, but that’s about it, and the second one doesn’t mention anything about the film or album at all.

The next two parodies are of “In the Flesh” (the reprise), and “Waiting for the Worms”, neither of which I will post links to based on what I explained earlier, but if you want to look them up yourself I will warn you that there are things said there that are identical to things the Nazis have said and done, and use words like “queers” and others that I dare not say nor want to. (Also, yeah, they didn’t include “Run Like Hell”, presumably because Doug couldn’t think of another full parody’s worth of “fuck you, haters” for it.) In the parody of the former, Doug addresses his crowd of followers, which are the same five people copy-pasted onto the screens of multiple devices (I can’t tell if that’s supposed to be intentional commentary or Doug didn’t have enough people willing to work with him to pull off what he wanted for this), in a place called the “Echo Chamber”.

Yes, really.

It’s supposed to be commentary on how bad callout/outrage/cancel/purity/whatever-we’re-calling-it-this-month culture can be, but considering who this is coming from, what his own fans are like, and the rest of the presentation in this “review” it comes off more like “technology bad” and “social media bad”. Worse than that, the latter parody song is still about callout/outrage/cancel/etc. culture, only now it’s even more apparent that this is his way of commenting on the Change the Channel movement. This isn’t just me saying this either, other people have taken note on it as well, including people who didn’t even completely hate Doug Walker after the Change the Channel thing happened. I’ve seen one person try to (rather weakly) argue that it wasn’t trying to mock the Change the Channel movement, but even if one were to give them the benefit of the doubt and they weren’t making fun of that, then 1: they still should’ve known that doing something like this was going to get people to draw comparisons to said movement whether it was intended or not, and 2: it’s still absurdly over-the-top and out of touch with why “outrage/cancel/callout/whatever culture” has become a thing. It’s about as subtle as, well, a hammer to the face. (Speaking of which, the hammers for this parody are used to make hashtags instead of an ‘x’ and instead of chanting “Pink Floyd” or “Hammers” the fans chant “hashtag”. I’ve been sitting here for five minutes trying to think of how to comment on this, but all I can do is put a hand up to my face like Captain Picard in those memes, I think that says it all.)

This message of “technology and social media bad” is so ridiculously passé at this point that it’s laughable, and yet it seems like Doug Walker is under the impression that he’s saying something new and brilliant. This is also a truly bizarre message to be hearing from a guy who had so much success with his internet career that he quit his previous job to pursue it full-time. You know, that career that’s dependent on technology. (Also, Doug, social media itself didn’t cause those problems with said internet career: that was all you.)

The sad part is that for this sequence we get some brief scenes with actually good CGI of things like marching smartphones (identical to the original’s marching hammers) and a decently-animated 2-D(-ish?) sequence of a six-fingered hand coming up from the ground and forming into a hammer much like something that happened during part of the film (not this part specifically, but a part). It’s weird in context, but these animated parts look far better than any of the other effects that were used earlier. I’m guessing the guest person who made the effects I’ll talk about later also animated this (at least the CGI bits; as I said earlier, the 2-D-ish parts look so suspiciously close to the original that I have to wonder if they were traced over for this). While it is good, that just makes me wonder that if they were hired to make the animation in this part then why didn’t Doug let them animate the black eagle scene for the “Goodbye Blue Sky” parody section too? He clearly had the time and budget to get a talented animator to do this stuff for him, so why not fully use them?

Also, I swear one of the visuals looks more like a mashup between something from the opening of Phantom of the Paradise and The Wall than anything actually from The Wall alone. Maybe Doug and/or the person animating this got their rock operas momentarily mixed. Maybe they did this on purpose to mess with people. Maybe my brain’s making up this shit because a Phantom of the Paradise/The Wall double feature sounds infinitely better than this “review”. Maybe the headache I’ve gotten while watching this dumpster fire is fucking with me. I don’t know.

[Lyrics (and snark) below the cut]

Oh yeah, I’m the P-Person you all think you know That sucks up all your angst and confusion I’m that nameless foe, huh!

[Oh, so you are trying to do an impression of Bob Geldof. ...It shouldn’t take me over half-way into the “review” to figure out for sure that’s what you’re doing. Or did you choose to only actually do an impression of him for just this one part? I can’t even fathom almost any of Doug’s thought process for this “review” anymore.]

I’ve got some weird news for ya, sunshine, This was dissin’ Thatcher’s administration

[So I have seen Wikipedia mention that at least some people have either interpreted or used this part as commentary on Margaret Thatcher, and I don’t know enough about UK politics to dispute whether it was intentional or not. What bothers me is that if this was intentional, then how did Doug pick up on this? That would mean that he either caught this but somehow didn’t pick up on any of the other, more obvious things in this film that doesn’t have “the slightest bit of subtlety”, or he researched this and only this. Or it was a random guess he made that happens to coincide with what some others have interpreted from this part. Who knows.]

But it’s vague enough to put anyone you fear - Politician, showman - just put their face here!

[Uh... Are you talking about how someone edited this part of The Wall so that it was Drumpf in there because of how much he talks about his stupid wall? ...You are aware that the entire point of the film and album is that those kind of walls aren’t good and should be broken down, right? You know that Roger Waters himself openly despises Drumpf, right? ...Right?]

Are there any authority figures in the crowd tonight? Well put them in The Wall! (Get. Them. All.) That one’s looking stressed, he wants to feel oppressed Put him in The Wall! (Post. His. Balls!)

[Oh yes, The Wall - a film about the cycle of abuse and the effects it has on people and how taking self-isolation to its most extreme is unhealthy for the health of one’s self as well as those around them, among many other things - is something that adults don’t take seriously, not like this web video that has lines talking about people posting some dude’s balls on social media for shits and giggles. (In case you couldn’t tell that was sarcasm.)]

And that one looks sheltered, like she never leaves her room I’ll be that friend that you can blame for all your gloom That one looks like he really wants to be outraged! Now with social media, you have the stage!

[...You know, as awful as the previous songs in this “review” were, at least they were about the film and album. This, however... What even is this?]

(This is the part where the five-person audience starts chanting “hashtag” which goes on until Doug and his two goons run outside, run back inside due to it being too bright out, and then start the next parody. There’s not much to comment on for that, it’s just stupid.)

[End “In the Flesh” parody, begin “Waiting for the Worms” parody]

(One, two, three, post it!) Ooh, you can’t convince me now Ooh, I’m too far on my side Goodbye, nuance I never will abide

[You are not one to talk about nuance, not regarding this film or album, and certainly not about the Change the Channel movement, which this parody is pretty transparently about as we’ll see soon enough.]

It’s us vs. them, I don’t even know who us or them are

[“Us and them, and after all we're only ordinary men.” Come on, man, I know it’s not from The Wall, but the opportunity was right there. Actually, since Rob Walker is there as the Charts Guy (a recurring character in Doug’s reviews), you could’ve even thrown in a “Have a Cigar” reference if you wanted (also not from The Wall, but still). I know at this point I’m nitpicking, but I’m forcing myself to watch a “review” where a guy dressed himself like a Nazi to make a blatant “take that” statement against his “haters” without understanding and/or caring why the Nazi comparisons were there in the original; if Doug Walker doesn’t give a shit about those kind of details, then why should I.]

I just wanna be angry so I can be (Tweeting) About those who hate me (Tweeting) I need their attention (Tweeting) Love me or hate me, just look at me more

[Sadly one can’t say that this train wreck of a “review” didn’t make at least some people look at Doug Walker again even after they didn’t want to.]

(Tweeting) Whatever side you choose, just don’t ever wane (Tweeting) Waiting for the point

[I’d joke about how that’s how most people felt about the video at this point, but everyone has made that joke already. Everyone.]

Don’t fear that you’re wrong Just fight until the end, my friend

[At this point I could just say “Okay, Boomer” at every line in these two parody songs and it’d be about as meaningful as all of Doug’s comments about the actual film. Remember, the film he’s parodying here and supposed to be reviewing (allegedly)? The film he’s not mentioned once in this particular parody?]

All you need to do is fight off something Don’t worry! As long as you don’t see me as human, You can hate me all you want! Because remember, this can never happen to you! I’m bad! You’re good! The more extreme you can get the more happy you’ll become! They’ll put that person whose face you hate here, and tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet!

[...Doug, please tell me you didn’t have these parody songs in mind first as a sort of rebuttal against your detractors and then used it as an excuse to make a “review” for the actual film in this style as well as a whole parody album of it...

Also, this may be another nitpick, but towards the end the guys aren’t even “marching” in time to the music. Because of course they’re not.]

#Blapis tears down NC's The Wall #Nazi mention // #long post #bold text warning #eye strain //

[windauraocs-blog]

OC Backstory: Halsien

「 The following story is based on the MapleStory 2 universe, if some names sound confusing to you, don’t worry; they’re mostly NPCs or place names. That said, if you have any questions feel free to ask! <3  It’s also a long read (─‿‿─)♡ And there’s a bit of casual commentary added every now and then so it won’t be too boring(?) Thank you for your interest as always!  」

MEETING HORUS

Halsien grew up in the seaside port village of Lith Harbor, but his mother soon enrolled him into the Ellinel Magic Academy located in the fairy-dwelling town of Ellinia.  Magic was very fascinating to Halsien, so he was of course curious about all the spells and how it all worked — except for the fact that he kind of gets carried away reading books during class. ( these books being either the fish encyclopedia his dad in Lith Harbor lent him for 'reading material' , or mostly books telling of the legends and myths surrounding Maple World. With pictures, of course! ) One day his class is assigned the task to embark a field excursion of a designated region; the students would then have to make a project based on their findings and research, like what they saw, and what they found interesting. Halsien is assigned the region of Perion, so he sets off. Perion is renowned for its rich, cultural traditions and ancient inscriptions, so there was definitely enough things to talk about if he were to make a project out of this. Soon he finds himself climbing up a few rocky crevices and up a few ladders— before a strong gust suddenly breaks out and a tall, feathered creature adorned in glimmering gold appears before him. Now, the kid is absolutely floored at the sight of this creature because if he was not mistaken it's the exact same legend that had been talked about in one of the books he read. It was Horus. He actually even takes out the book gesturing to the picture excitedly in front of them lmao 

Horus senses magic and is naturally very cautious. On the very sight of the wand in the boy's pocket it rears up onto its haunches in warning-- but Halsien hastily assures that they aren't here to cause it harm. Horus is still of course, skeptical of this. Previous attempts from adventurers alike had only led to griffin eggs being poached.

Now how do you convince a majestic yet potentially-dangerous griffin that you, a human, aren't here to hurt it?

You chuck your staff off the side of the cliff

YUP.  

Even Horus is shocked by this foolish act but Halsien does it as a sign of trust; without his staff he's unable to do any kind of offensive magic and so attempts to prove that he really isn't here to hurt them by rendering himself unarmed, so to speak.

It turns out reading about legends came in handy here. Halsien has read about how Horus often attacks villagers to fend them away from their nest and therefore there's a conflict between the Perion dwellers and themselves.

So he asks them if there's anyway to help with that and of course Horus is like ?????? why is this kid trying to help me what are they plotting-

Trusting (for now) that they have no ill-intent, Horus eventually states that they can help by gathering materials to rebuild their nest, so Horus flies off elsewhere for a bit and returns to

— a brand new nest. 

Not only were materials gathered but the boy had actually constructed a new nest in the time that Horus was out. 

 This surprises even the griffin himself, and is noticeably taken aback when he responds that it's so that they and their future chicks can live happily.

comic leak ohohoho

So Horus is slightly touched by this act because for one- the very same species that threatened it and its family had now just shown a caring gesture. Maybe now, they can feel that not all adventurers are bad people. If you think about it, monsters are just trying to live the way they know how; they're not always the one at fault here. (this is actually Halsien's firm belief-- and the reason he's trying to understand them better even at present time!)

Halsien realises that it's been quite a while since he left Ellinia to come out to Perion, and that he might be running late for class if he stays any longer, so he tries to take his leave but Horus flies directly in front of him, blocking the path.

Horus has made up his mind about something and lowers his head, and therefore crest; instructing the young mage to place his hand on it.

Confused, but not necessarily reluctant, he does before they are temporarily engulfed in bright light as Horus outstretches their wings. In the moments afterwards, nothing else seemed to be different. Horus describes it as a 'gift' from him, and that he shouldn't be surprised to see some 'changes' happen soon.

At the end of this, they bid each other farewell and note each other's names. Now what was that change, exactly? 

 the soon sprouting of tiny feathered wings.  

and later, (still working on this to make it make sense because so far things are still uncertain LOL; I imagine... some special ability to establish a gradual connection with a monster's inner 'wavelength' to try and pacify them. The closest thing I can relate this to is shadow pokemon purification; except with the added risk of absorbing their darkness into your own so it's .... risky. There are definitely risks.)

ELLINEL MAGICAL ACADEMY

The students would now have everything they need to do their special ‘show-and-tell’, and surely an encounter with the griffin king himself would be truly something to talk about, right?

 Halsien's pretty excited to tell his classmates back at the academy about what happened—— but on the contrary, they don't believe him in the slightest and think he's just making things up, and this kind of escalates when a girl called Merevylnn catches word of this. 

Merevylnn is what you could say... a part of the 'popular' group in the class, and it's something she's proud of, she tries to make sure everyone knows this. 

But deep down, she's someone who was held back a year due to failing a few classes in the previous, and this is extremely humiliating to her.  She doesn't know how to feel about being a year or two older than everyone else, and having been kept back. She feels like anyone who tries to show off is intentionally trying to tease her.

In fact, due to this, she feels an incredible amount of shame, so she redirects her bitterness onto others. So when she witnesses someone like Halsien returning back to the academy with a ridiculous story and "new wings" (that aren't accessories, they're real) she views him as nothing but a showoff, and spreads this misinformation across the class as well.

This misinformation that Merevylnn overtime leads Halsien to become treated as an outcast, because the rest of the classmates naturally gravitate towards her view. He's bullied by the rest—tugged harshly by the wings and shunned by his cohort, all because of a major misunderstanding that truly wasn't his fault to begin with.

It's undoubtedly painful, but eventually, over time he realises he needs to finds a way to adapt. 

If his classmates aren't willing to have anything to do with him, why not just retreat into your

— books? 

Right, just focus on the class material studies, and indulge in your favourite pasttime of reading. You don't have to have anything to do with everyone else either.

All goes... relatively smoothly after that, it felt like a comfortable enough routine given the situation. However,

Just before the final practical exam that the mages take before advancing, Merevylnn takes this grudge a step further and sneakily discovers a forbidden magic spell that temporarily disables magic in a certain area, by casting something known as magic cancellation.

Wanting to give them a taste of their own medicine, she ends up casting such a spell on him just before the exam.

Just imagine taking your final or something really important — only to not be able to do anything at all, and you kind of just... panic.

Regardless of how much you practiced or put your heart into it, suddenly

you can’t do any of that.

--

What happens after? It’s not entirely set in stone yet, but... I believe he seeks out his professor to try and explain his lack of performance, and it probably takes some time before they realise that a cancelling skill was indeed released at the time: because you know how tutors are about students; they could just be making excuses for all they knew. So this kind of explains why Halsien’s kept to himself, or prefers to, since then: it's not that he doesn't enjoy the company of others, he's just uncertain whether it's okay or safe to be, and is cautious for his own sake; he's taught himself over the years to keep composed— because as we all know, bullies love getting a reaction out of people. 

「 This is as much as I have so far! Thank you very much for reading! I hope things weren’t too confusing, haha~ 」

#halsien #oc #oc blog #oc backstory #artistdaura writes