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stelladess · 2 months

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So instead of doing something fun I wake up to finding out more bs from Yostar Korea, I will explain below but first, reminder, please write in about this to Yostar and Hypergryph (again, unlikely HG had anything to do with this but their silence on this matter is still extremely disappointing) [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

They did not take down an artist´s work this time for extremely flimsy reasons and call not hating women a divisive position that divides people and then go on about how Arknights strives to be apolitical. Or have the social media manager liking on the official AK Korea twitter account art of Jessica being tortured. This time it was a bit less severe, they censored Jessica the Liberated in game artwork.

For those unaware there is a conspiracy theory in South Korea about there being a wide spread thing of femenists in video games hiding hand signs that imply small dicks in gacha games specificallly to harass men. Because of this many gacha games will censor any hand gesture that can even remotely resemble such when publishing in Korea, this is very common and done by many gacha games. Which like, is part of the problem. They are catering to sexist pigs which then helps cultivate an audience of said sexist pigs who they need to keep placating. And quite frankly, the people who make these games, artists, writers, etc. Deserve to be treated better then to have their work censored or removed to appease sexists. Because I love Arknights and it means a lot to me it really hurts seeing the people making it have their work be disrespected like this by the publisher, and it hurts seeing the studio being silent about this. I strongly suggest completely boycotting originite packs and similar things, make clear on any survey for the game that actions such as this make you NOT want to spend money on the game, WRITE to both Yostar and Hypergryph and explain you do NOT want to support a game that bends over to the whims of sexist pigs. I want to be able to say that I did *something* about this. Arknights is the gacha game I have spent the most money in, but I have a hard time justifying doing so anymore if this situation continues, which I am going to tell Yostar and Hypergryph, and I think anyone reading this should do so as well, also I think you should tell other people to tell them that as well. Yostar needs to issue a full apology and put back all the artworks they took down or censored to the way they were, and unless that or HG cutting off their partnership with Yostar happens, or at the very least strongly condemns these actions, I am gonna stop buying any more packs for the game. I do however suggest you go support artists harmed by such practices, im sure other people know of more but the only one I know of from the top of my head is here: https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/16826909 For Arknights ones, for other games i also know at least of Vellmori for Limbus Company who was also targetted by incels. EDIT: had written poll instead of survey by accident

EDIT: Previously suggested boycotting Jessica banner, this was a pretty silly suggestion made in anger when not thinking clearly. The important thing is to refuse to give any MONEY. Pull all you want. Just dont spend ANY money.

#arknights #jessica the liberated #yostar #yostar korea #incel nonsense #arknights jessica #jessica arknights

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fortyfive-forty · 2 months

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I was reading what u commented on the break point cancellation post and I found so interesting what u were saying in regards to Drive to Survive, but u stopped because it was long (which never bothers me with tags btw) so I wanted to ask u, if u can, to expand on why u think Break Point failed, I think we might agree but I wanted to know where u stand 🥰

lmfaoo yeah i went over the tag limit 😭

what i was saying was essentially that break point is just not a good representation of the sport.

i mentioned this before but genuinely the match recaps that natasha does in the kasatkina zabiiako vlogs (now what the vlog but it's still kasatkina zabiiako in my mind) are better than the shit they did in break point. it seems like they were edited by someone who's never watched tennis before in their life, there's no sense of rhythm or momentum...which like, i understand it's hard to condense usually 2+ hours of tennis into just a few moments, but what they were rolling out was just not at all representative of what watching tennis is like. it's not even just that watching live is more enjoyable, it's that the break point recaps were actively unhelpful in the context of their episodes. it was more informative for me to listen to the players/coaches/commentators etc. talk about the match than watching those highlights bc of how bad they are.

on top of this, there isn't a lot of like...tennis specific conversation? i'll admit i didn't watch all of break point, maybe 5 or 6 episodes across the two seasons (i think only one of those was from season two bc. gross), so maybe i just missed all of it, but most of the time when they talked about the actual tennis, it was super basic stuff that even someone with very little technical knowledge (i.e. me) already knew. which like, if i'm watching a docuseries ABOUT TENNIS, i'd love to, you know, hear a bit...about tennis? there were some bits that they did include, mostly about tennis mentality (the curse episode) but the rest of anything they mentioned was very player specific, which is not really helpful if you're an inexperienced fan and want to know more about the sport as a whole.

(compare this to drive to survive, which can be dramatic and gimmicky, but actually helped me TONS to understand some of the basics of how the sport works, so i wasn't just thrown in for the first race not knowing what a soft tire vs a hard tire is.)

another thing i think i mentioned drive to survive has going for it (which i think i did mention in the tags) is that aside from all of the drama and seriousness, there's also a lot of fun silly bts bits they include, so even if you're not into the format, there is still a motivation for fans to tune in to see their favorite drivers messing around. break point had...some of that...but not enough imo to make it worth gritting through, and again, it's tough because there are just so many players to cover that the likelihood or your favorite player being included is just not that high.

basically, break point doesn't appeal to any audience. i'm not even sure what it's target audience is. experienced tennis fans (or even tennis fans such as myself who aren't experienced but have at least WATCHED live tennis) find it poorly produced and uninteresting. unexperienced tennis fans have little or nothing to gain from watching it. there just seems to be zero purpose for it to actually exist besides a sort of faux-behind-the-scenes docuseries for the sake of saying they have one about tennis.

but the thing that frustrates me is i think there could be an audience for it! like, i love docuseries formats, especially in sports! but break point just seemed to be so poorly thought out. and look, if you can't appeal to all audiences, that's fine! but chose a target audience and actually try to cater to them. and i think that's where netflix notoriously goes wrong time and time again, is they're just very out of touch with what their audiences want, and then proceed to whine that no one is interested and cancel everything when their shitty poorly thought out products do poorly (or even when good products do well). but like i said, i think if more care was put into the product, if they paid more attention, asked more questions, they could actually develop a show that more people would want to watch. but i think the way break point was set up, it was just never going to succeed like that.

TL;DR: drive to survive appeals to multiple audiences, with difference experience levels, with a little bit of something for everybody depending on a fan's watching preference. break point appeals to..........................?

and netflix doesn't seem to realize that sports fans generally want. uh. sports. to be shown accurately in a docuseries about. uh. sports.

#long post #i am so sorry 😭#i hope this makes sense? i tried to keep it concise #yes this is concise #i could ramble on for much much longer about this because i have so many thoughts about the mismanagement of tennis's publicity #but this was the gist of what i was saying in the tags before tumblr killed them #though i definitely expanded more here i'll admit #to make myself more clear

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herbgerblin · 1 year

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Hi Herb!! I was wondering if you had any advice on opening commissions? I enjoy your art immensely and you were one of the first people I thought of to ask since I know you do commissions on occasion

Sorry if this is totally weird, I am just at a complete loss! Thanks for taking the time to read this!

These are things I wish I had figured out when I started selling art commissions. Also, feel free to use my current commission form to pattern your own. (also if anyone >.> wants to commission me, I am open <.<)

Step 1: Write a Terms of Service

Good terms of service will manage the expectations of your clients, establish a level of professionalism, and protect you if someone tries to argue something already made clear in writing. You can keep your ToS really simple, but it's good practice to include the following:

What kind of art you will/won't do (I don't do nfts)

Estimated duration of the project (2-4 weeks is my M.O.)

Number of revisions (more than 3, I add a fee)

When and how often you will update the client

Rights that you retain as an artist/permit to the client

Note: This mainly applies to personal/non-commercial work. If you are approached to make art for a game/magazine/website, do a ton more research. You will need to write out a contract that makes things Boringly Clear, and you will want to retain all of your rights as an artist.

Step 2: PRICES (scream)

Everyone starts out underselling. I'm underselling (I'm trying to get better.) Just go at your own pace. Look at what other artists are offering, but don't just look at the quality of their work. Think about your turnaround time, your style, and your target audience. If you are a fast worker or very detailed, that's worth a pay bump. Niche communities will pay solid money for artists to cater to them. So for example, if you draw fetish art, you have more room to charge higher.

ALWAYS GET PAYMENT UP FRONT. You can offer half upfront and half upon completion. If it's a big or long-term project, it's okay to go 30/70. BUT NEVER START WORK WITHOUT SOME SORT OF COMPENSATION. I just had a client that has not paid me the 2nd half and they are blacklisted. This rarely happens but it does happen.

Once you think you've got a price chart you feel comfortable with, add $20. Do it, even if it feels wrong. You may have to pay transaction fees, or the work (often) takes longer than expected. It'll be a small mercy to yourself to account for these things. Raise your prices a little bit each year because you are growing in experience and inflation (scream) is a thing that affects the arts too.

Step 3: INTEGRATE AND AUTOMATE

I wish I had done this step years ago, but I slacked off, and therefore staying organized was a nightmare. The less "business" stuff you have to do manually, the more time you can focus on "creative" stuff.

Make a google form. Make it as easy for the client to input information as possible. In the settings, set it so that responses will go to an excel file. The questions you ask will be the titles of the fields, so keep them short and easy to read. Reference image attachments will save to google drive.

You can set it up so that you will get an email whenever you get a new response (you might want to make a separate email account specifically for commissions.) Prewrite confirmation responses and save them as templates so that you're not writing the same email to clients over and over again.

Set reminders for responding to clients, requesting payment, and finishing work. This can be through google calender or some other app. You are responsible for facilitating communication. Even if the email is just, "Hey, just letting you know the work is still in progress, I will send you a wip in 1-2 days." Client assurance is high priority.

I use paypal invoice for payments. It means I have to pay a transaction fee, but I factor that into my prices. It also ensures that I have clear documentation for orders, I can send reminders easily if I haven't been paid, and it just looks more professional overall. You can use whatever service feels most comfortable, just make sure you practice good bookkeeping (*stares at my taxes in horror*)

Step 4: Mockups and Descriptions

Provide examples of the work that you are going to. Make a mockup of busts/half body/full body, etc. Don't include anything you don't intend to actually produce.

Make sure that your form includes room to answer EVERY question about the commission that you might have. This will reduce the amount of back and forth you need to have with your client. You want to be able to get that request, confirm it, send that invoice, and jump on it ASAP.

Step 5: Start small, be honest, be firm

If you haven't done commissions before, have a limited number of slots available. Take break time after you've finished a certain amount. Don't languish over an art piece. At some point, it will be as done as it can be. Send it to the client, and keep rolling.

If you feel like you are getting overwhelmed, tell your client. It's bad practice to go on hiatus and not notify them while they're waiting on an update. If you genuinely forget to touch base with them, do so as soon as possible. Apologize, then finish the work as soon as you can. Refund if you think that's the most polite route, but completing the task is usually more appreciated.

Be cordial, but firm. People will try to bully you over little things, but don't give in. Ignore folks who say your prices are too high. Make it clear that if they ask for more than what is agreed, you will charge a fee. If you feel like a request is sketchy, get a second opinion.

obligatory paypal link: help me pay kravitz jr's vet bills

#Okay I'm sleepy i'm going to bed #i hope this was helpful #i wrote this at midnight whoops #tips #advice #art commission advice #art advice #art business

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reflections-in-a-critical-eye · 9 months

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Do you have any opinions on how many people are lauding Barbie as THE feminist movie instead of a movie which kind of touches upon certain aspects of feminism without really dealing with any of the actual undertones of it? Like I know a fun summer movie (or any movie tbh) doesn't NEED to address all nitty gritties of a socio-cultural phenomenon but at the same time I personally feel that the exaggerated depiction of how patriarchy works (which is definitely a stylistic choice) brushes aside too many real world impacts for it to be considered as some kind of cultural icon for feminism. None of the above takes away from its entertainment factor for me.

Yes, I do have some thoughts about that. I am following a lot of Barbie coverage, from reviews to tumblr posting, twitter and tiktok. It's everywhere. But it doesn't mean that my exposure fully encapsulates the entire discourse(s) surrounding the film. So my perspective is strictly my own and in no way representative of how the film is or should be perceived/criticized/lauded.

I personally didn't think of it as the quintessential feminist movie. That's too broad a label that does more harm than good. It is but a version of feminism, mostly your basis 101 white feminism a la Greta Gerwig and one that it's easy to digest, to reach a big audience and one that doesn't interfere too much with the corporation. It reminded me of how I used to see the word in my first year of college when I started getting into contact with feminism and my eyes suddenly opened.

It's not interesectional feminism, it does gloss over some issues and I'm not trying to justify it too much because there are enough people pointing that out rightfully so and are more in the right to talk about it than I am.

Am I part of the target audience for Barbie? Yes and no. Mostly yes, but there are experiences in the film that do no speak to me. What does that mean? I think it reflects my life and how I adhere to this mainstream feminism knowing that it's not really entirely for me.

What I can say, and I know this will sound exactly like white feminism, is that some aspects tackled in the film are universal. What I mean by that is questioning our purpose and how we perform gender. I've been struggling with that. I too look at other women thinking they have it all figured it out and they know how to be women (based on some idea in my head), while I don't, which makes me question how I don't do a good job at being a woman. Is seeing Margot Robbie as stereotypical Barbie questioning her purpose the same? No. Because I do not look like Margot Robbie (and the film smartly pointed out the absurdity). And then there was Gloria's speech which is again about this general idea of never feeling that you are enough and no matter what you do, there is always more to improve and balance and how shitty it is when it fact we should just be allowed to exist. All of us, regardless of any aspect of our identities. All of this spoke to me, but it doesn't mean the film didn't cater more to a specific experience of being a girl/woman in patriarchal structures through the lens of a straight, white perspective. It's not innovative because it's definitely not the first film to even address it like that. What is noteworthy though is how successful it is. That usually doesn't happen with films predominantly made by women and for women (and men too in the case of Barbie, too bad some of them refuse to aknowledge it). It's a blockbuster hit with a direct feminist message. I think that's important to note, as long as we take into consideration the nuances when we talk about Barbie.

#m thoughts #barbie #barbie discourse

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wannaeatramyeon · 10 months

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hihi!! i thought this was funny and wanted to tell you😭

i was telling my friend about Goo and how i would absolutely marry him and they said that he needs their blessing. i asked what he can do to get their blessing and they said he needed to write them an essay about how much he loves me so, to entertain them, i wrote them an essay from Goo's perspective about why he wants to marry me with a 20 minute timer. it was 584 words in the end and I worked a miracle.

Moral of the story: Goo got the blessing😭so uhhh you can always write your way into someones life??

This tickled me, just imagining the unhinged ramblings from Goo POV mixed with your own. Drop it please.

Inbox clearing time! Non fic requests answered: 6. (Check it - plus my fave Lookism arcs!)

To the non-anon anon that I have not included and I don't know what to do with your message - No, I won't hold your hand while you poop. Good luck with that.

Really?? I feel so... unhinged and nonsensical (even more so than usual) when I rant. Seriously thank you for reading!?!!?

PTJ did somewhat write women with more of a personality in his Life As A Loser Series so it seems more of a shame that he's lost his touch and catering much more towards teenage boys with his current series.

Which. Fine. Action manhwa - great. BUT if your target audience are teenage boys then yknow, wouldn't it be even BETTER to write some strong badass women so these impressionable youngsters realise that not all girls need saving, and oh look. Girls are human too. With their own ambitions and flaws and imperfections, just like everyone else.

If you must make them simp, form a harem. Also. FINE. At least give them something beyond that.

Hey Black Anon! Sorry again for how long it took me to respond to your ask before, and hope it's going much better for yourself since your last request.

I'm muuuuch more responsive with DMs so if you ever wanna come out of anon - come shout at me in my DMs!!

HTF s2 is really... something. Completely lost the meaning of HTF and Viral Hit. Don't blame you for dropping it. Alas, the Taehoon grip on me is still going STRONG.

LOL. Me in a similar position, wondering if I should get into JJK.

Can I... recommend some of my fave arcs if you ever do decide to read Lookism? The ones I like are generally more story driven.

Vasco's backstory (prepare the tissues) - 52 - 57

Johan + Zack + Mira backstory (cult warning, another sad arc) - 132 - 138

Goddog (another pretty sad arc with Johan) - 199 - 213

Jacedichi Files (silly crime solving with Burn Knuckles) - 215 - 218

One Night (Johan + Jace!! Fun action) - 258 - 262

Jake Kim (PLEASE READ THIS IF NOTHING ELSE) - 302 - 318

Workers (2A) (Rescuing Sinu. Honestly, I cry almost every time. Read Jake Kim's arc to appreciate this!) - 372 - 392

Let me know if you ever get into it!!!

Me??? Mine????? I cannot write that guy so thank you - that means A LOT to me! I will try harder to write a decent Eli (that doesn't devolve into ranting about his current direction).

Thank you for reading and being so friggin CUTE!! 💖

I feel a vaguely threatening tone from this.

Like something Goo would recite before walking into a darkened warehouse with a crowbar 🤔

Baby there's nothing noble about this, but it is actually more satisfying than my normal job lol (lolling through tears).

Thank you so much for reading!! My single braincell has been firing quite well with these ideas.

Anon. Honestly this is adorable, I've screenshat this for a pick me up ahhhhhhh 🥹

My dear 🕊️ anon, thank you for reading my DG fic! I also feel very little for DG but I will admit I am coming around to him.

YES!!! I LOVE the idea of someone getting close to James Lee in his younger years, and him being soft for the reader.

And then I also like angst so let's bring those 2 things together. Heh.

Eeeee I also added that Remember fic to my list of faves that I have written.

Please. I also have a list of fictional men I am unwell over. Let's start a support group! 🫠

#🕊️ anon #🖤 anon #ramen asks

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dailybill-cipher · 9 months

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Not a doodle request, but I'm a young artist trying to get started with commissions for the first time and I wondered if you had any tips or anything I might not have thought of?

I have all the basics like example pieces, i have my terms and conditions all written out, I'm currently looking into different social media platforms and im discussing payment with my mum (i cant take payments myself yet).

Thank you!

Hello, anon! I'm not the best at giving tips and stuff, so I'll just share some common knowledge with you that helped me :)!

- Try not to underprice your work! The reason why my commissions are a bit low is because it's a sketch and I don't really spend too much time on it. But, if you are planning on doing fully rendered pieces, remember to price your artwork that's worth the effort and time!

- Be friendly to your clients! I always try my best to stay friendly and approachable to the clients so they won't be intimidated in messaging me! If you successfully do that, people might come back to commission you again someday!

- Make sure you know your target audience! If you cater to a certain audience and catch their attention, people will definitely commission you! That's the reason I started with Daily Bill commissions instead of regular commissions.

- Last tip: Your commission sheet should be eye-catching to your audience! It should also match the style you're going with so your clients will have an idea on what they'll be getting!

That's all I can type, I can't think more from the top of my head so I suggest you also do some research and try searching for tips!

#dailybillramblings

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barmans-fault · 9 months

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You made a good point of how this staged photoshoot will lead to increased exposure and ticket sales esp ahead of the US tour, because correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think all their US dates are sold out? They’re not as popular in the states and it’s been a couple months since I checked but I only saw a handful of shows that showed sold out. All this just reminds us of a curated version we have of him. Someone who likes privacy and wants to be lowkey doesn’t date attention seekers consistently and calls the paps on themselves. He just lost all credibility he had

Words of wisdom here from a lovely anon and thank you for sharing these thoughts, i agree with every word 💘

I think people generally get very caught up in the whole "alex is a romantic little prince too busy with his mind on clever lines he's innocent and private and not like other celebs and his privacy has been violated" narrative and tend to forget how much of a business this whole thing is.

The primary purpose of any business, be that show business or not, is to make money. The band is an asset that needs to generate revenue. American market has huge potential for that, alas, as the anon above correctly pointed out, very few of the US shows are sold out at this point, just a month ahead of the tour and the sales need to be boosted. The best strategy would definitely be to hype it up a little. American audience seems to be really into the whole straight dominant greaser bad boy persona (where do you think all those endless alex/your name fics with that shitty 50 shades of grey vibes come from?) and the target audience must be catered for. Both parties benefit: Alex gets the publicity of a cool rockstar kind of tired of his fame with a beautiful gf by his side on an expensive posh Italian resort. The pictures will now be all over insta/twitter/tiktok igniting interest in new fans and rekindling the old ones. The girls will fantasise about taking Louise's place in his arms (oh to be a girlfriend of this rich handsome millionaire musician who is also intelligent and talented and famous and who will fuck you like a whore then treat you like a princess!) and the boys will be jealous of him and his beautiful French girlfriend, wanting to be like him (oh to be this rich handsome millionaire and get all the girls!). Some more tickets will be sold, some more records, some more merch, and a couple of tens (or hundreds) of thousands of dollars will be made. Louise on the other hand, will get more followers and will have more ads, which will also lead to more revenue for her and hence whoever is managing her. Not bad, no?

Alex is usually perceived as a poet with his head in the clouds, an ethereal creature, a poetic and storytelling genius, vulnerable, autistic woodland creature, too exquisite for earthly problems, fragile and defenseless. He is, however, in no way disconnected from reality or too naive not to know how the business works - after all, he's been in it for almost twenty years. And I am supposed to believe his privacy has been violated when it has hardly been violated for the 5 years he was hiding from everyone and no paparazzi whatsoever gave a fuck about him? Oh give me a break. His net worth is estimated to be millions of dollars, same as the band. He is one of the richest rock stars of the generation. I am not saying it is a bad thing - well deserved, he is a genius after all, - but money, even for geniuses, has to be earned. Their music is a product that needs to be sold, and their public image is one of the means to increase those sales.

I do not think that Alex or Louise called the paps themselves last minute - I am pretty sure the whole thing has been set up by the management in advance, with Alex's explicit consent. Again, it is just a marketing strategy which the sales and marketing department decided to go with in order to maximise the revenue. Why would Alex refuse? And please spare me the argument of 'he doesn't need any more money'. Maybe he doesn't (although i am not sure), but the band and the whole machine working for them definitely does as it employs hundreds of people who need to get their paychecks from this whole thing. Mr. Schwarz is staying strong for them, remember?

Once this is all over, the tour is over, the contracts are done and he disappears without a trace, we'll remember this and count how many times paps will ever try to take pictures of him or his gf (zero, mark my words).

Thank you for coming to my ted talk (or thesis defence, more like)♥️

#alexander i am really disappointed with you #you really did lose all your credibility #i am pretty sure your team could have done better than this #such a lazy and half arsed approach #but whatever works for you and your bank account mate

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boycrazybimbo · 10 months

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Hi again! I was the OG anon XD. Anyways, I hope ur doing well and all. Drink a cup of water and rest some- I know this may not apply to you, but still. :) Anyways, I came to rant again and get your honest opinion on WHB. Like, I don’t understand the part of being inclusive with male players. Don’t get me wrong, like, I’m fine with the game allowing male players, but that’s not exactly an Otome game, isn’t it? Like, its not actually targeted towards women, and it’s irritating that many fans make MC to be genderless… Like, it is an Otome game- Not a game “for everyone”. This isn’t offensive, but this will offend others. Like, come on. If prettybusy wanted a game for women, it should be for women- Sorry if I offend you, I just can’t shake this feeling off rn.

I agree with you. Here are things to consider:

The adult industry(pornography(hentai, games, etc.) is mostly male dominated. There’s a 2% chance that anything even remotely explicit will pertain to the female audience. Go check yourself. Visit your favorite site to watch adult content and you’ll only ever find things for males. Femboys for males, Lesbians for males, despite being lesbians, men fetishize them. Also, thus, there’s more gay porn for men than there is straight porn for women. It’s rare you’ll ever find porn female-centered.

Hentai games like What in “hell” is bad? always include male players. If it’s explicit, expect it to be for males, because apparently “more men watch porn”.

Hentai games, which are usually for males and are as proven many times, never include female players. You’re always playing this man who may or may not be an average joe, have a beer belly, may have dark skin or a blank face, or even a normal creep. Despite this, he manages to snag his harem of women by doing minimal tasks. Like… Umm… Hello? That’s not how women actually are- I would know as I am one myself and so are you.

So why are female-oriented games inclusive but male-oriented games aren’t?: There’s no explanation for that. Apparently making something for half the population, women, is seen as so inclusive that men can also be included. That’s not true, nor should it be. That’s basically a way of looking over women and catering to gay men. I find it odd how there’s more inclusion for gay men than women. Like, there’s definitely more women on this earth. That being said, that doesn’t help women at all. Like, if you cared so much about making things female-orientated, there shouldn’t be a male option to choose between. I don’t understand why prettybusy decided that to be best especially when their games “are for women”. Like, not really.

Making the MC neutral doesn’t contribute anything to female players, because if it actually were an otome game, and, as prettybusy said something along the lines of “We make MC’s face blank so others can relate more”, then making the MC female would definitely do the trick. If they clearly wanted female players to “relate to the MC”, then being genderless is not apart of that.

Other issues include:

The point of otome games are to raise and boost women’s confidence and self-worth. And creating an explicit otome games creates a bigger message: “A game for women that they can safely, unforgivably indulge in their desires and fantasies without being silenced”. This problem is still at large. Looking at pornography, women don’t receive foreplay, reassurance, or even viewed as humans sometimes. “Big butt latina”, “Petite asian chick”, “Hot ebony does […]”, “Sexy MILF”, “Curvy white chick”, “BBW does […]”… There’s a problem with all of these. They all either are (racist) stereotypes or unrealistic expectations.

“Petite asian”, “Big butt Latina” are either unrealistic or contributes to a beauty standard placed on women. Yes, it’s true many Asian women tend to be short and petite, but constantly putting labels like “petite” on them makes other women in comparison, usually blacks, appear more “masculine” or “unattractive”. “Big butt latinas” is a VERY high expectation of latin women. This doesn’t care about the well-being of the woman, but rather that assets she may or may not have. Women are more than butts.

Ebonies and BBWs: Ebonies isn’t a name I, as a black woman, would be comfortable of being called. The word ebony means black, which is a pretty stupid label to put on black women. Not all black women are dark-skinned and some aren’t even near the complexion of black. Secondly, saying Ebony meaning “black” emphasizes the skin tone of the individual. That’s fetishizing. Black women aren’t ebonies, they’re black women. People don’t call whites or Asians “ivory”, just mostly pale or fair. BBWs are beautiful, but mostly in porn they’re fetishized. Many people often associated BBWs as “curvy” or “voluptuous”. Not to say they aren’t, but that label doesn’t fit them since being “curvy” is defined as having either an hourglass figure, sometimes pear. Which means, that “curvy” women waists are supposedly small. Let’s just stick with what plus-size women since curvy only ever fetishizes them more.

MILFs: We all know the “step-son” in the porn isn’t a step-son. He’s just an actor in porn that he wants to live out his “taboo” fantasies. This is fairly the worst in my opinion. This is the most unrealistic, but not the worst one of expectations from women since, not every woman you see will be your step-mother-

In conclusion: Women don’t have much for them and are often shamed for their desires or fetishized. Female-oriented games should be for females.

#Otome what in”hell” is bad?#Otome #Otome games #Female-oriented #Female-orientated games #WHB?#What in “hell” is bad?#WHB opinions

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dreamofmetoday · 1 year

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What exactly makes you think that le sserafims target audience are otaku-coded men and what is the „wholesome porn“ category?

just to clarify, a target market is defined as a group of people that have been identified as the most likely potential customers for something due to shared characteristics such as age, income, gender, attitudes, interests, values and lifestyle. you cannot run a business or effectively promote a product without a target market.

it’s not a secret that young to middle aged men make up a huge chunk of consumers of kpop girl groups in general, and given that kpop is predominantly indulging in visible content (concerts, music videos, stages etc). i think it’s just common sense and experience of how the industry has worked that makes it obvious who le sserafim is targeted towards - since we can see it with our own eyes. they have racier and more “grown up” outfits than other groups, their choreos are more sexual, the way their videos are filmed have more suspicious angles etc.

le sserafim including two minors in their debut just makes this worse but the group was already not for me or not something i was comfortable with anyway. if i were to compare it to newjeans, which is also a girl group under hybe that debuted minors, the actual target market is already extremely different - newjeans seems to be the girl group hybe has chosen for the next biggest market, young girls who will be dedicated fans for years (they’re the “unnie” group for school aged girls and young teens). they’re given extra long safety shorts, childish and usually colourful styling, sillier choreo that’s easy to follow etc.

though to make it clear again, i don’t support the debut of young minors in the industry, but that’s why i implied le sserafim is the “worst” of the two to me.

tw for p*dophilia below:

the wholesome porn aspect of kpop is one of those secrets that isn’t really a secret. the industry has p*dpohilic, overly sexual undertones which has existed for years (and only calmed down more within the last 5 years or so despite still being present). that’s why there was an abundance of groups catered towards men (sexy concepts and sweet “i am ur gf” concepts) and even partly why they are literally called idols as opposed to singers, with an image that is supposed to be virginal. more specific examples include how tzuyu was mistreated as a minor, wonyoung dancing to side to side on a survival show, and seungri’s v.v.i.p music video in which it implies he literally sleeps with a little girl.

this is what someone who worked on produce 101, the survival show, had to say:

The PD answered, “If a program is solid and organized well, people regardless of gender watch. The issue is with quality. The reason why we did the female version first is, I don’t know how to express it. It was from the thought that we needed to create wholesome pornography for males. (laughs) If you look at the contestants, they look like your younger sister or niece but aren’t they cute? I wanted to make that style of pornography.

end of tw.

this is why i don’t “support” le sserafim or want to do readings on how the group itself is operating because we already know the answer: hybe is going to give these men want they want because it’s literally why this group was created.

i hope this makes sense to you and other people who may read this answer. it’s not an attack on the girls themselves or more normal fans of the group 💗

#answered #long answer #kpop tarot #kpop #melody tarot #tarot #celebrity tarot #newjeans #le sserafim #personal #feminism

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desertfangs · 3 months

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🍰📚

🍰 Name one of your fave comfort fics (doesn’t have to be your all time fave).

This is so hard because there are so many good ones and nothing immediately pops to mind. Any fic where Armand and Daniel end up okay in the end is like.... yes good. I love them sorting out their problems and cuddling. Especially post-canon or post-Daniel's madness. I just want to see them happy together again!! I'm such a sap.

I've definitely read Vivaldi: Winter many times over ("You just missed my tongue" gets me every time! 😂), but there are a lot of great fics that deal with them reuniting and working out their stuff and I appreciate all of them. They give me the warm fuzzies.

📚 Do you read your own fic?

I do!! I am absolutely my own target audience. Also I have a shit memory and if I wrote something like 12 months ago, I'm not going to remember it super well, so reading stuff I wrote a while back is like "Wow this author really caters to my interests.. oh right." 😅

Thank you so much for the ask!

#sunshinerambling #fanfic ask game #answers in the desert

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see-arcane · 2 years

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“The Invitation,” or, “Please, God, Stop Letting Writer/Directors Slap Public Domain Names on Their Fanfiction”

Spoilers for The Invitation below.

Get a drink, grab some snacks. We’re going to be here awhile.

I am now and always a sucker (bad dum tshh) for new Dracula media.

Past experience has only given a decent payoff 1 out of 5 times, but hey, I like to gamble. And even with my misgivings about the trailer, even with the immediate sour gut punch of Rotten Tomatoes’ poor reviews from critics and audiences on opening night, I was ready to gamble again. The Invitation was written and directed by a woman, Jessica M. Thompson, and it’s playing to an obvious gothic vampire-romance angle, which meant it was already a prime target for snide review bombing. Hell, I was already half-grinding my teeth over the implications of Ken Doll Dracula at his Most Suavely von Handsome and the less than flattering depiction of the Harkers in the trailer.

But there was a chance it was misdirection! Trailers always hide their best twists!

Plus, it was technically doing what Last Voyage of the Demeter and the (obviously parodic) Renfield mean to do when they hit the theaters—it’s exploring the underutilized characters and lore potential that Stoker left laying around the narrative. In this case, the story of the Brides as seen through the lens of Evie, a young woman tricked into joining that same harem. That’s interesting! And, joy of joys, this Dracula is not pulling a Coppola.

No reincarnated wives, no starry-eyed romance with the victim. He’s just being a manipulative hot chick collector. If you squint, you can allllllmost see a loving nod to the (likewise less than faithful, but hey, it's not Gary Oldman going all Romeo with Winona Ryder 2.0) Hammer horror history, with various Draculas preying upon various maidens like, you know, a predator. Which he is.

But that steered me to the last thread of hesitation, which was the rating: PG-13. The only time a PG-13 movie has ever scared me was the American remake of The Ring—a freak miracle that I still believe outshines the original Japanese Ringu in atmosphere, acting, and scares. It was a one-off. Never been pulled off before or since in my opinion.

In the context of Dracula media, the only time this bastard should rate less than an R is when he’s there for a parody’s sake.

But still, I crossed my fingers. Got my ticket. Sat through the whole thing.

Let’s save a little time and get the Pros out of the way.

PROS:

-Evie and her best friend Grace are the best part of the cast, if only when they get to bounce off each other.

-‘Lucy’ is not really Lucy Westenra, though her demeanor is sweet enough to play to her original book inspiration. This is Lucy ‘Billington.’

-The Billingtons, along with two other ‘old money’ families featured in the big evil vampire wedding are all human, and all responsible for offering ‘Walter DeVille’ a viable pretty daughter as a tithe-Bride in exchange for their own prosperity. It’s an interesting take and it helps mesh with one of the film’s overarching themes that vampires and the rich are predators of the same ilk, abusing and feeding on the lower classes. Evie herself is a freelancer/caterer used to serving up canapes to the wealthy and her ongoing camaraderie with the hired help is nice to see.

-The subtlest good point the movie offers is the fate of the maids/catering girls who are brought in for the duration of the wedding celebration. They are, quite literally, the catering itself, being fed on and picked off one by one. It’s a metaphor given full bloody demonstration without needing it hammered in.

-Beautiful backdrop with the manor. Lots of gothic love in the design.

-At best, the movie might serve as a stepping stone for folks just weaning themselves out of softer vampire media and into meatier horror fare. Or it could just be for the cheesecake factor of the pretty actors and fangs. Everyone has a turn to get their titties out; Ken Doll Drac gets the obligatory shirtless scene, the Brides have gowns in the climax that seem one sneeze away from indecent exposure. If you’re here for some hot bloodsucker objectifying, a grrrrl power ending, and the kind of flick you can have playing in the background without wanting to crane your head around to catch every scene while you do something else, go for it.

CONS:

-…Give me a minute.

-………….Give me another minute.

- Okay. Let’s start small.

- Just from a technical angle, the acting is not stellar. Nor is the editing. Frankly, there is not a single good scare orchestrated throughout the whole film. And there are opportunities for it everywhere! They just are never, ever taken. Even when the poor maids are getting murdered there’s no menace. It’s like watching sheep marched into a slaughter, but with even less impact.

- Even the potential of having a good surprise monster design is left out. There are no creature effects beyond pointy nails and sharp teeth. Really, if it weren’t for those teeny little traits, everyone involved could just be a bunch of rich weirdoes with a blood fetish. (Which could have been its own flick! Go full Bathory! But no.)

- My absolute tiniest nitpick? Bats and wolves are mentioned as being around, bats and wolves never make an appearance. For shame.

- Grrrrrl power is in full effect. The climax is the main offender here, from the acting, to the editing, to the strangely Matrixy effects in the final battle. It might have worked if it was kept more low-key—Evie’s only real allies are the all-female catering staff/fodder, her best friend back overseas, and, towards the end, the head maid Mrs. Swift and a repentant Lucy who both sacrifice their lives to help her. Even the fact that, if you look, most of the rich human families involved have a heavy skew towards male members versus female. The latter are there, but not as many. The reason Evie gets roped into the scheme is that she’s the last female of the Alexander family they can offer to renew DeVille/Dracula’s fealty. There is not one single male in the cast who has anything but ulterior motives.

-…Including, yes, Jonathan fucking Harker. Alongside Mina fucking Harker. Who, while not in-house servants, are loyal to fucking Dracula. Not even vampires! Just regular evil old folks! Here, they’re an elderly couple running what looks like an antique shop near the manor, and they immediately concuss and sellout Evie when she comes to them for help.

- The brunette Bride, Viktoria, is the bi-coded, Catty Jealous Wife © ™ and the Evil Awful No-Good Mean Girl of the cast. She might have been fun if she wasn’t written to be a cardboard cutout of a character.

- Walter DeVille (those who’ve read the book, you know that last name is taken from canon as one of Dracula’s aliases, because the Count thinks he’s so damn funny) alias ‘Walt’ alias Actual Fucking Dracula. Where do I begin with you, sir?

This man is a marvel of hybridizing the worst parts of charismatic vampiric bad boy narratives and the Little Red Riding Hood Syndrome that involves deforming a villain so far away from his original threat and character into bodice ripper makeover land that he’s utterly unrecognizable.

Coppola-spawned wet dreams, lukewarm Fifty Shades of Grey rough drafts, and every unused extra from every Sexypire TV series ever made have their stamp here. True Blood, Vampire Diaries, that pile of ‘Erik was a Vampire All Along !!1!’ Phantom of the Opera fanfic you bookmarked in middle school. It’s all here. It all went into this one character.

With all my apologies to you, Drac actor Thomas Doherty, you are not scary. You’re not even mildly ominous. The old man playing the butler had more grisly gravitas than you. Which isn’t your fault! You’re following directions! You’re being Count Fuckula, a guy whose only want and purpose is to Gain New Hot Wife, Give Mysterious Unexplained Prosperity/Blood Magic/??? to Family of New Hot Wife, and Be Mr. Sexington Q. Charmley. Your jawline, pectorals, and all 4.5 scenes of chemistry you’re cattle-prodded into with Evie before the ~dramatic reveal~ of vampire cult goings-on were no doubt you following your cues to the letter.

It's not your fault any more than it was Gary Oldman’s fault. You have a script, a role, a certain vibe the director wants from you. But in Gary Oldman’s case, at least he acted like he had whole centuries’ worth of power, intellect, and massacre behind him, rather than an all-night reading session studying YA supernatural series for dialogue tips, done in-between gym sessions and cologne commercials.

You are not Dracula. You were never going to be Dracula. No matter what ‘See! See! I used names and places from the book!’ unearned titles are thrown around, nothing of you or this movie has anything to do with Dracula.

And here we have the biggest, least surprising sin of the film. The longstanding tradition of Dracula adaptations and spinoffs, now at its final form.

-Just because you put a famous name on something does not mean it is that thing. Naming a Chihuahua after Cerberus does not make your half-pound purse dog the three-headed monster mongrel of Hades. By the same token, vomiting public domain names all over the place—

Whitby! Carfax Abbey! Jonathan and Mina Harker! DeVille! Brides! Lucy! Dracula!

—does not mean shit if the things wearing those names are not those things. I know, I know, it’s tempting to hide behind the clout of well-known titles to lend extra punch to your work. It draws people in (hi), and gets them interested because, “Ooh, I recognize that name! I know and love that story!”

It takes some of the hard work out of it. It saves you from having to do what, in hindsight, you should have done all along—Coppola, Moffat, so many more, and now Thompson—and be original. Give these people new names, because they are clearly not the characters they’re named after and/or referencing. Then you can do whatever the hell you want without staying in the confines of the canon you’re borrowing from and trying to expand on; which, you know, didn’t stop you anyway.

You want some Dracula in there? Make Walter one of those snob bloodsuckers who reference Dracula. Maybe have him look down his nose at Stoker’s silly misguided notions about the nature of vampires, but give him credit for hitting close with the bit about the Brides, ha ha.

Or, even better, have him actually be young compared to most vampires. Give Evie something to chew his ass out on—point out that even for an immortal self-made ‘god,’ as he calls himself, he’s still scrambling for respect by naming himself and his surroundings after Stoker’s work. ‘The Harkers’ are only called that because their master wants it that way. The estate was renamed to Carfax. DeVille isn’t even his real last name. He’s just a wealthy, powerful fanboy who happens to have real fangs and a hankering for fresh bedmates. He doesn’t even seek the latter out himself. He needs his Brides delivered to him, like some shitty undead Uber Eats service. Pathetic.

Or or, have a really, properly nasty knife twist for the horror aspect. Make him a descendant of, say, Jonathan and Mina Harker. Spoilers for those who haven’t read the book, only minor spoilers for those familiar with the Coppola film, but Dracula does get a bit nippy with them as the book goes on. There have been theories (and spinoffs) focusing on what might happen if the Count’s influence was still in those heroic veins.

And what might happen if it passed on down the bloodline.

It’d make a lovely bit of salt and lemon to that legacy’s wound if Walter was an apple who fell perilously far from the tree…

…Only for Evie to provide a counterbalance. Yes, half her bloodline is of the Alexanders, which is what matters to the villains. But they only research that half. Wouldn’t it have been a laugh if they overlooked the other side of her tree, which is descended from the Van Helsing bloodline? Whoops.

Among dozens of other ways the story could have gone.

-In short, I was ready to leave The Invitation either mildly surprised or expectedly disappointed. Instead, I just left sad.

It wasn’t just an underwhelming film. It was a confirmation of my concerns for where future Dracula media might be headed. Even in things like Castlevania and Hellsing, stories that feature some of my favorite (and utterly absurd) takes on the Count, the former being full of occult power, wrath, and cunning, the other just having a riotously violent good time tearing his way through enemies like they’re screaming tissue paper, both of them have a romantic undercurrent to them, with Lisa of Lupu and Integra Hellsing respectively. They are anti-villain and anti-hero, not villains outright.

The one thing Invitation-Dracula has going for him is that he has the tiniest hint of Bluebeardish manipulator and illicit motives to his character. He is two-faced, he is a schemer. But, I feel this deserves repeating, the butler is more intimidating than him. Yes, even after the evil reveal.

That’s not a Dracula, guys. That’s not even a Lestat. Even an Edward would laugh at this mess.

It’s the final end product of generations of sandblasting and sexifying Dracula until he’s just one of a hundred interchangeable Sultry Nosferatu Dolls that writers and directors use to add legitimacy they haven’t earned to personal fantasies that have to hollow out the source material before their own idea can fit inside the airbrushed husk and wear it around like a costume.

-In shorter short, I am tired. I am spiteful. If this movie and those like it are good for nothing else, it lends me confidence in my own skill, and has inspired me to be infinitely, viciously more fucked up in what I make out of the toolbox Stoker left behind.

#going to take a nap #have a slice of my Harker anniversary cake #drag out all my best vampire flicks for a marathon #and dig into some spite-writing #The Invitation #The Invitation (2022)#dracula #spoilers #ranting and raging

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alarrytale · 7 months

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“When half of your fans are into you because of your appearance and your fanbase is younger than you, it becomes an issue of not losing fans.”

Oh that is actually interesting point which got me to opinion that maybe Louis doesn’t dye his hair because his target isn’t teenage girls (altho his fans are teens). This theme has been discussed plenty of times but let’s bring it back again - H’s success mostly stands on teenage girls and it’s a matter of time when someone younger will overshadow his success and takes his fanbase (those who made him this popular) while H will be over 30 which equals too old for teens. And so maybe he wouldn’t mind having grey hair but he just needs to look as young as possible for the time his fame is on peak. And he also gets botox to his forehead so it all just makes sense. I just hope he won’t go for hair transplant to cover his temples because it really makes him human who isn’t perfect.

Hi, anon!

I've thought about that too, regarding louis, but it makes no sense to me. Everything else he does is something you do when you target is teenage girls. For example album signing/meet and greets, album listening parties, meeting fans outside the venue after the show to take selfies, sign autographs and draw tattoos. Not to mention lthq asking for fans to film themselves singing waoyf and then making a music video out of it. That's something only teenagers would want to contribute to. So teenagers are still a big target group who they cater to. So the grey hair doesn’t make sense if you try to match your look to your biggest target group. It makes no sense to me at all.

I think harry and columbia knows that sex sells and he needs to look attractive. He's even more projected on than louis and even more dependent on his good looks. I don't think anyone (label or fans) would be happy if Harry went naturally grey now and he'd refuse to dye it. I don't think he'd want that either. I don't think i actually know of any major pop artist or celebrity in their early thirties choosing to go naturally grey. Why would they, when you look beyond your age and your target audience likes you for your looks?

#harry image #louis image #grey hair

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ufonaut · 1 year

Text

JSA 2022 #1 THOUGHTS

KYLE KNIGHT. K Y L E KNIGHT. KYLE KNIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!

i literally can’t even tell you how much i love the villain legacies i love all out violence and i love the youngsters (sorry craddock) carrying on the original jsa’s legacy of being trained conflict escalators with each other

i adore selina being her usual complete hypocrite self and claiming that bruce giving her a second chance is completely different from helena giving this generation’s jsa members a second chance. something i’ve actually really enjoyed about modern portrayals of helena wayne (in batman/catwoman 2020 too) is that it seems to be sort of universally understood that helena is her father’s daughter more than anything else and she’ll always be at odds with selina, it’s interesting given that in the original incarnation of helena it’s precisely her mother’s death that gets her to put on the cape & cowl in the first place whereas modern takes always have bruce dying first. i’m all for it, it’s compelling and geoff blends nicely the asc 1976 canon (regarding the why & how of bruce’s death) with what little of helena wayne we know in the present day!

alan featuring in the flashbacks more than any other jsa member is, of course, catering to me specifically thank you geoff thank you for calling alan the main character of the universe in one of your recent interviews

per degaton is expected but used in new and exciting ways, he’s really shaping up to be the jsa’s best longtime adversary and i spy a lot of roy thomas era all-star squadron inspo going into his portrayal

alan looking younger than everybody else in the 18 years from now panel. younger than even dick grayson. is literally killing me i’m in genuine hysterics. the starheart working overtime

VLADIMIR & RUBY SOKOV FOR MOST CHARACTERS OF ALL TIME JUST GENERALLY IMMEDIATELY ON SIGHT NON NEGOTIABLE

vlad taught his daughter love and violence and nothing else. more than alan ever did. i look forward to the vlad/alan content me and the boys on /co/ have been predicting

mikel janin’s art is wonderful and wonderfully expressive, jerry ordway as a guest artist means the world to me (i’d argue his is the definitive jsa). we’ve got it all

THE FLASHPOINT BEYOND/WATCHMEN SNOWGLOBE AS THE CATALYST FOR HELENA’S TIME TRAVEL ADVENTURE SCREAMING AND CHEERING

JOHNNY THUNDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i’m buying three different variants of this issue and they’re all worth it because i’ve never read anything so beautiful in my entire life and the next issue taking place in the 1940s is once again meant for a target audience of me. god bless

wait i’m still going insane over KYLE THEO TEDDY KNIGHT. the fact that he inherits everything from his mother’s side is making me insane in the brain i can’t even imagine what jack must be feeling good god this is the book. THE book.

i fully believe that by the end of the series/first arc this new gen of jsaers will be saved

it does everything, and i mean everything, a first issue is supposed to do. i’m not even kidding this is flawless impeccable writing to me

IN CONCLUSION: EATING IT WITH A FORK AND KNIFE

#PERSONAL #AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

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