#remaking this whole thing because i feel like it

[smile-files]

hey bud! welcome to my blog :)

(art request status: CLOSED)

my name is mr. nice guy, but you could also call me ellie, butterfly, smiley, melon, or any of my kin names!

i primarily use they/them pronouns, but i'm fine with she/her and would be happy to try out he/him. currently figuring out my gender - at least for now, please use gender-neutral terms for me!

i love smiley faces, melons, and butterflies/moths, and some of my other interests include object shows (especially bfdi, ii, and one), welcome home, stranger things, deltarune/undertale, pokemon, kirby, animal crossing, and my little pony!

i am a white autistic jew, and also a minor. please keep these in mind while interacting with me! in addition, while i don't hate being messaged directly, it tends to make me nervous - so feel free to make the most of my ask box!

also - please do not interact if you're racist, ableist, homophobic, or transphobic. thank you.

and some fun facts! my birthday is june 15th, my favorite color is yellow, my favorite food is cookies and milk, and i own over a hundred plushies!

below are links to some of my sideblogs and my kinlist! i hope you enjoy your time on my blog :)

some of my sideblogs:

@bfb-teardrop my teardrop kin sideblog :]

@fluffyboys my ralsei reblog sideblog :D

@eevee-evening my eevee reblog sideblog :}

@zombie-boys my stranger things sideblog :0

@geometropolis my original object show/comic/story sideblog :)

@ii3clover my clover kin/reblog sideblog :O

i have other sideblogs as well! they're just a lot less active, so i'm not sharing any of them here.

my extended kinlist:

(wip - trying to get this to a concise, readable format :D)

my kinlist is long enough as it is, but chances are that there are more characters i associate myself with that i forgot to include :') be aware that i might update this from time to time.

in addition, i might periodically change which characters i have a star (☆ or ☆☆) on - those are characters whom i most strongly associate with at the moment.

and doubles are more than okay! if you kin the same character as me, we probably have something in common...

thank you so much for reading through! i hope you have the loveliest of lovely days!

goodbye :)

#melonposting #pinned post #kinlist #remaking this whole thing because i feel like it #the old one was just a bunch of links to outdated carrds and listographys and pronounys #which individually are so tedious to update #so this one has no links to anything (besides my sideblogs). all of it is right here #so yeah :) like i said i'll update this from time to time to match the current state of things #that way you'll stay up-to-date on which pathetic nerdy wizard boys i've based my identity on #have fun judging me for my kin choices... feel free to reblog with your scathing remarks #on these. pathetic nerdy wizard boys #see you all around!! #color text #colored text #eyestrain tw #tw eyestrain

[sortanonymous]

Imagine if Kirby: Triple Deluxe got the Deluxe remake treatment like RtDL, but instead of the outlines and stuff, we got a paintery, storybook-looking remake to let its settings flourish, like if it were something lineless by someone like Suyasuyabi427 (not on Tumblr), @arcaidee, or @desultory-novice. And (assuming an Amazing Mirror sequel including this next part would be too much to ask for, even though that would be one of the greatest games ever) also Taranza's closure arc for the Epilogue mode like he's deserved for the past decade. Someone once said we should have the five stages be the stages of grief, and I agree with that.

That's it. There's my pitch. Hire me, HAL (maybe)

#kirby #kirby triple deluxe #taranza #mic drop #uh oh. sorta's getting sorta cocky again. #for real though a painting-looking triple deluxe remake would look amazing #again thank suyasuyabi and arcaidee and dess for the inspiration #those kinds of painting-like artworks are pure beauty incarnate #it'd probably be a pain to animate like that assuming it's any different from what tons of current animated movies do (like spider-verse) #but i could see it looking beautiful in motion #and triple deluxe deserves a beautiful remake #and no it's not just because secty's whole thing is being a maniac over beauty #i feel like if tony stark were 3000 times dorkier #i love taranza 3000

[marchlione]

> be me > click on a cute little commentary video about the hunger games and ballad of songbirds and snakes > immediately get hit by anti-union, anti-strike rhetoric because movies are expensive and these ungrateful actors, some of whom haven't been paid in years, are extorting these poor big companies by asking for livable wages > followed by rant about how rachel zegler is the scum of the earth for doing exactly what multiple male actors have done and been loved for over the years

#hunger games #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #rachel zegler #why does it feel like misogyny is becoming MORE prevalent? #like i don't think she quite understands the source material #but the whole girlboss slay queen disney princess remakes are a thing outside of snow white and zegler is catching a disproportionate amoun #of flack for it #and honestly she's probably describing it the way it was pitched to her #and current culture has fed us via media that this girlboss narrative is aspirational #and you're mad that she was influenced???? #unprompted rachel zegler hate because she didn't care for the source material of a different movie???? #AND you think that all actors are mega rich and greedy but companies like disney who are far larger richer and more predatory are victims?? #where's that post that goes #you'll say eat the rich and then eat athletes actors and doctors while the real scum at the top aka ceos get off scott free

[wellhalesbells]

LIAR YOU TOTALLY WATCHED ONE SEQUEL!!! 😉💜

https://www.tumblr.com/wellhalesbells/736050291745652736/friendraichu-jackironsides

HAHAHAHA, I should clarify that I just mean for super hero-y ones. I mostly watch the first one and rarely watch the second (or anything after...... or remakes, lol), I think the only Marvel one I've seen in recent history is Thor: Ragnarok. Actually, the Spider-man franchise pretty much encapsulates how I interact with Marvel properties: I saw the first trilogy because it was new and exciting at the time, then they remade it too fast and I refused to pay for something I just saw, that was so recent in my memory from the release date I could still remember exact scenes from it (THERE WERE ONLY FIVE YEARS BETWEEN SPIDER-MAN 3 AND THE REBOOT - THAT IS NOT ENOUGH TIME FOR ME TO GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THAT AGAIN. HOW IS THAT ENOUGH TIME FOR ANYONE TO GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THAT AGAIN???), then I watched the first Tom Holland one (fourteen years I can vibe with) and nothing that followed because that's generally when the gimmicks and cameos start in lieu of good story-telling, or they make it dark and gritty because that's the only way to ground this superhuman, right (I assume a random white guy: "Should we fridge a lady? Yeah, we should probably fridge a lady"). The first one generally at least tries to have a soul because they have to introduce the character and make you care about them but many of the ones that follow (the few I've seen from when the MCU was just starting out and I had hope *coughs*Iron Man 2, Thor 2, etc.*coughs*) are just cash grabs that don't try because you already love this character and there they are, right there, so money please!

Meg 2 however..... EPIC, NO NOTES. It knows if I was a shark girl, I was probably a dinosaur girl and it gambled correctly. That's what you're watching this for? Have three sharks and an unnecessary (probably stupid expensive) dinosaur intro that is nearly completely irrelevant to the story but that you will also not want to live without and for an extra special bonus: oblivious husbands and their brilliant daughter. Like. You got me nailed, my dude. Will watch every subsequent sequel, no questions asked.

#i do understand that spider-man is a bullshit studio thing #and that it's a marvel property that belongs to sony and i implied everything is under the mcu umbrella #(and i honestly don't fault them for remaking it. instead i just don't understand how there was an audience for it???) #but they're all guilty of the same shit for different but also EXACTLY THE SAME reasons #they want to fleece money from me. because that's how it feels: like i'm being swindled #they're not earning my money through good content but instead through brand recognition and shared cultural touchstones #YOU CAN'T HAVE MY MONEY MOUSE #sony you can when it's miles (that is a sequel i DID watch and that DID have a soul imo) :)))) #something similar (cash grabs) are pretty much the exact reason i stopped reading marvel comics too #capitalism ruins everything #for a moral everyone knows *snorts* #also generally the sequels have bigger budgets and just to quote freckle...... sometimes things that are expensive are worse #great things sometimes come from people having to work within constraints and when you aren't given any....... terrible things can happen #like bbc sherlock lolol. AHEM #basically if i watch a sequel now it has to be a character i am VERY invested in so i'm willing to be burned - deadpool or miles #or it has to break containment from people who will go see anything with a marvel sticker on it to people who..... won't #and still recommend it - like ragnarok #(i wonder if NOT going the dark gritty route and instead having a fun story with a conflict that wasn't dependent on outdoing every #other conflict that came before it in this whole universe had aNYTHING to do with its success. hrm. it's a mystery!) #normally i would answer this privately but i had to explain about the sony thing so you would know i KNEW about the sony thing and then.... #tag explosion and now it has to be public and i'm sorry i went on a mouse rant. I HATE THE MONOPOLY MOUSE I JUST DO. #IT'S BAD AND IT MAKES BAD LAZY THINGS THAT KILL CREATIVITY (AND NOW ALSO FUNDS GENOCIDE SO) #!ask

[god-u]

random but this showed up in my activity again cause someone liked a comment i made when i first saw it on tiktok and it made me think of when ppl were discussing how jordan and marie were casted

derek/london are both biracial and jaz is as well, but their parents are fully asian and hers fully Black

even though this is about a play, there’s no way so much of the casting in hollywood just happens that way. sometimes it’s just blatant racism and it makes me sad (and mad actually) for all of my friends fighting to get significant roles in the industry

#you rarely get proper representation when you’re a brown or dark skinned Black woman because hollywood doesn’t want us on tv #i can’t speak on the wasian thing but a lot of biracial Black women get cast as fully Black ppl #and it’s usually half white BW like i don’t think the ones who are half another race of color tend to get big roles either #which really tells you all you need to know about how deep white privilege goes #cause being mixed with white will definitely get you a role before another mixed person which is kind of insane when you think about it #x #just sharing cause it’s been on my mind #one of my friends is going into acting and i’m just sad she has to deal with so much bullshit #i gave up all my dreams of singing or entertainment as a whole because i realized i didn’t fit the look they wanted #i’m also not a nepo baby and don’t really have connections though i know ppl who know ppl if that makes sense #also having support is important as well and i didn’t & don’t have that #anyway yea then you have ppl tokenizing the biracial women and casting them to play roles that they wouldn’t even fit in remakes or biopics #i also feel like ayo has become one of the tokens and i need ppl to realize when they make lists she’s the only brown/dark skinned one #it’s kind of embarrassing that they don’t even see it themselves #that’s my wife but like you clearly don’t know any other dark skinned or brown skinned women you give a damn about #it’s like when ppl make horror final girls lists and lupita is the only woc or Black woman at all ☠️

[zincbot]

ugh the transphobia in one piece is such a fucking frustrating ruinous thing

#one piece #first of all i'm trans so i have an unholy amount of trans rage #but second of all it's fucking unbelievable how stupid oda is #i'm mad but also i think a Lot about trans narratives. i see them everywhere because i'm. y'know. trans but also TRANS NARRATIVES #okay i would rewrite one piece and the rewrite exclusively focuses on making sanji trans in a good way. #yeah i'm talking abt transfem sanji now #look if transfem sanji was a thing in the show it would not be a good thing. a lot of harmful stereotypes. #but i think there's such a golden opportunity that has been wasted by transphobia #because look #a character who in early childhood was only treated well by women and poorly by men #growing up surrounded by men #starts building up a fancy masculine facade with wearing suits all the time #and it's a fucking devastating blow to their whole ideals of character but they're stronger for it #once they build themself up brand new. trans trans transgender trans #look ok i know this isn't the place to get it and i know that the transphobia in the world would probably make this shit #but i want a story where. a longtime character slowly realizes they are trans. it's like with marco from star vs again i wanted it so bad #i just feel like every time i see a trans character it's post coming-out. which i also love. but the realization of true self #and the slow process of REMAKING YOURSELF. IN YOUR OWN IMAGE. I LOVE TRANS PEOPLE #transness is akin to godliness #i kinda lost the plot in these tags but that's ok #being trans is so important and trans narratives are so important. and I love one piece! i really do! that's why it bothers me so much when #this series does stuff like this #if it was a media i didn't care abt i would just drop it and move on and i definitely think that's a smart decision for when you don't #wanna let something get to you but i've been invested for years so i guess i'll stay #STILL GONNA BE FRUSTRATED THOUGH #anyway. trans one piece fans out there...!! stay strong!! you're the best ones among us!! #on my way to my notesapp to do some writing. lmao bye #also sorry for all the one piece posting i unfortunately fell down here again please help me

[many-gay-magpies]

the thing that always messes with me about villains whose entire motivation is "i wanna rule the universe and become a god" is that im just left wondering why? like if a character becomes a villain because theyve been hurt and want revenge or something i can get that but why would you even want to rule the world. whats the motivation behind that. it seems like it would be really stressful

#magpie thoughts #this is partially something im realizing about morando in 3below #most of the toa villains before him had been really 3D and interesting; like gunmar was pretty single-minded but #i always took that as him being the LITERAL PERSONIFICATION OF THE CORRUPTION THAT THE SURFACE WARS WROUGHT #and then bular just wants to be with his dad and angor has been manipulated for literal centuries #even colonel kubritz is kind of understandable with her whole wanting to protect earth from invaders shtick even if its like. aggressively #-prejudice and xenophobic. but then again thats like half of actual earth officials so thats not to unrealistic #BUT THEN you have morando. i feel like he wouldve been more interesting if his motives had more to do with him feeling injustice because of #-fialkov and coranda's shit ruling. and at first it kinda seems like thats the case! but no hes just a power hungry dick taking advantage of #the royals' shit ruling to get allies because he wants to rule the universe. like WHY #and then i kinda feel like the toa villains from there on out just get kinda. worse? #mainly the arcane order honestly #because their entire thing is hating humanity and wanting to remake the world or whatever #which is cool in THEORY but it never goes any deeper than that. WHY do you hate humanity what did they do to you. idk man #ANYWAYS #concluding my rant lol #toa #tales of arcadia

[keepingprovisions]

.

#in keeping with my chronically late to every piece of media syndrome i watched the entirety of hannibal in like a week and half #and i enjoyed it to a point but looking back it mostly just frustrated me #like it showed-not-told but in a way that rarely delivered anything substantial #like evocative imagery + lofty genuinely interesting ideas about loneliness and consumption and passion #but it was just Ideas and hints at the thing but never actually the thing #and vaugeness/open endedness obviously isn’t an issue and it’s preferable to being beaten over the head with what something is Supposed #to mean #but when the narrative is obfuscated to the point of nonsense it loses it’s thematic power #like the whole abigail/hann/will thing had so much potential but i left it feeling like ??? what are you trying to say brian #and brian fuller has talked about not making anything to ‘obvious’ but in that has made kind of a mess of a show #that had so much potential #to b fair i only just watched it and maybe it makes me frustrated because it just went over my head instead of being bad #but that’s my two cents #rolin jones for hann remake ‘23

[magentagalaxies]

idk why my brain decided folding laundry while listening to rollercoaster by bleachers at 11:26pm was the perfect conditions to finally process the fact that other girls is going to be finished in less than three weeks but im genuinely gonna lay motionless on the floor letting all these feelings wash over me rn????

#i'm just. no one will ever be able to comprehend how much this show truly means to me #even *i* can barely comprehend how much this show means to me #i keep trying to put it into words. the show itself is me trying to put that feeling into words #but it always sounds like hyperbole when i say other girls is the most important thing i have ever done and may ever do #most of my audience is only seeing the final 1% of what this project has been for me #and that's the part people should see bc it's the finished product #but also like. this is the same show i thought was going to genuinely kill me when i was eighteen #i worked on this for three years because every time i got close to completing it something took it away #and i realized it's more empowering to remake it on my own terms than give up on it even when it hurts #this show has seen me through my school almost being shut down. my first major depressive episode (and my whole recovery process!) #and that's not even to mention having to cut off multiple toxic friendships with the very first cast i had in 2020 #when i got into my dream school senior year all i felt was anxious because i thought other girls was never going to happen #and i thought that meant i would never make it as a comedian (don't ask me how that works depression makes you believe weird things) #and in the years since i've found my way at this school and realized my worth as a human being doesn't depend on other girls #and that other girls belongs to me and not the other way around #and i was able to take this source of shame. this perceived failure #and turn it into a production far bigger than i could've imagined back in 2019 #it gave me a chance to connect with a cast and crew full of some of the most incredible people i've ever met #and most importantly i'm able to make the show i wish i could've seen when i was young and alone #other girls is just a love letter to my younger self. like even though i know you can't hear me i just want to tell you you'll be okay #anyway side note i'm gonna get to talk to paul bellini again tomorrow #SPECIFICALLY because he said he wanted to talk to me before other girls is out bc he thinks it's really cool and wants to hear more #and he asked me to send him the video as soon as it's up #so year other girls is honestly the wildest ride i've ever been on. going from crying in my room at 3 a.m. over hating the ending #to chatting about the production in less than 3 weeks with one of my comedy heroes #nothing is ever going to top this

[vimbry]

can't wait to see james stick his hand down the toilet in ultra hd

#finally watched the trailer it's #eeeeeeeehh #I hate to end up criticising remakes because it always feels like ''new bad'' especially before you've even seen much of them #but I dunno. I think the style & limited graphic capabilities (compared to now) of the ps2 really aid horror games in particular #and the cheesy voice acting honestly helps it too. those moments add a silly and surreal charm to the whole thing #makes the atmosphere uneasy. also memorable #like is ''how can you sit there and eat pizza'' gonna be as good if delivered with some gravitas #also sometimes it's genuinely good like with mary's letter

[swordmaid]

honestly my backstory for yves deviates so much from the snippets of backstory u get for durge that she should just be another tav but with like, serial killer urges lmfao

#like first of all her first kill is NOT her adopted family but in fact one of her close friends. she was not adopted either #nor was she raised by the butler - she had a whole life before she became durge and the only reason why she became durge #was that she was just killed by bhaalists bc she was looking into their murders (since she was a mortarch of kelemvor like. her job was to #prepare the dead for burial and i think she got spooked/curious) and bc bhaal is petty and he got kinda shafted in the death domain #he just decides to steal her away so her soul doesn't get claimed by kelemvor - like stealing one of his children/chosen that kind of deal #and to desecrate it even more he remakes her using his own flesh -> now she's a bhaalspawn -> decides to make her his bride too and when th #time comes she'll be used to make more bhaalspawn. like the whole thing is sooo twisted i think and the fact that all of that ^ stems from #a god's petty whims .. like it's not really about yves personally she was just unfortunately caught up on it. #but one thing ive been deciding tho is either yves was actually 'revived' or that og yves IS dead but bhaal just took her likeliness and #also some of her flesh and melded it with his to make durge yves. like i kinda like the horror aspect of her being this new person #and she's just wearing a dead girl's face and she stole that girl's entire life #like that is sooo mmm delicious to ME...!!!!! but i also like her getting revived because kelemvor is pretty anti undead #so with her getting revived it's like. it would feel wrong to HER like she shouldn't be here her whole body is a prison now and it goes #against her entire beliefs .. but im leaning more into the wearing a dead girl's face honestly i just like the concept better lol #bg3 spoilers

[dangoulains-devotion]

every time I have to wade through inane ship wars where people are willfully ignorant to the depth and facets of cloud strife's character, circumstance, and story just so I can find some cool screenshots or fanart my 'cloud is ace' agenda simply grows more potent out of spite

#rebirth literally said in bold letters he has multiple feelings. like humans do #and yet in the year 2024 i am still forced to see 'this ship was canon since 1997 unlike the other one' #do you have a brain that you use #are you capable of actually delving into the details of a character #without reducing them to barbie dolls that get smacked off one another #i just want to look at cool fanart man #dont even get me STARTED on how zack slots into all this #my boy has not haunted the narrative for you to go and ignore character developments like this #this is all coming out more blunt than i would normally try to write things #but brother i am so tired #i could write a whole post on how it is very real and normal for humans to feel affection for more than 1 person #and how it manifests in cloud and the whys #if the game itself is somehow not clear enough to you then you are simply choosing to close your eyes at that point #trying to act superior and objective about your ship while ignoring the material you claim to have gotten your Objective Facts™ from... #good gravy. #shipping is supposed to be a fun thing secondary to enjoying the content #not a primary objective to use it to argue with people #i would say peace and love on planet gaia but im sure some people would read it as peace and you can only love one person at a time forever #on planet gaia. haha. #anyway...... now that that's out my system i can be at peace again #shout out 2 my fellow multishippers who take this bountiful wealth of content and have fun with it #i think im gonna replay rebirth's story soon #want to see how much more i can pick out about new/updated approaches to characterization #rocket town will be very interesting in part 3 i think #yuffie too with wutai supposedly becoming a much more fleshed out thing #if this post somehow breaches containment: #if your first thought is to um actually me and whip out 'evidence'. i am not going to give you rhe time of day #because my rambling clearly went over your head and im not interested in 1sided discussion where i am being talked at rather than to #anyway have fun stop wasting time arguing and pls look forward to remake part 3 where i lose my mind over vincents waist. again #look what you did you raised my blood pressure enough to hit the tag limit. anyway peace and love on planet g-

[strawberry-miiiiiiiiiiiilk]

sitting in my room for a half hour thinking about how if we lived in a better world Ada Wong would be the Ilsa Faust of Resident Evil (primarily in how she's introduced in Rogue Nation), with a dynamic to leon not unlike Fujiko Mine's and Lupin's in which they are both extremely competent and in situations in which they may have to work against and occasionally with each other on a mission, but ultimately are forced to stay apart and while they may be apart and even have different love interests from each other, ultimately still care deeply for one another. They are compelled to go after each other in part because it's so difficult and they are so often in circumstances in which they can't be with each other. The thrill of the chase and all that.

Ada being only tangentially related to the other character's stories because the world is simply larger than them and she has her own concerns and problems to deal with, and to have that be given any care or weight in a story, let alone focus. That she can be cunning and even manipulative but because she needs to and will still choose not to when the chips are down because she is genuinely caring--which I know none of that is new ground for her but I wish it was done in a more interesting way and *without leon at all*. She chooses to show mercy in a key point not because she's in love with that other character.

And also that she has more personality. I dig the subdued nature of her in 4r and her subtle sarcasm but it's just crumbs. I want her to be silly on occasion and say dumb jokes because she's alone like in 2r. I want her to shed a bit of that seriousness when she's on the clock because she's confident in herself as a professional and again has no one to put up a façade to.

It's honestly kinda embarrassing reading this back as I realize most of what I'm writing is not only already present in the games but incredibly tropey in and of itself, and wouldn't improve the character much. Dear god I think too much of my view of the character has been marred by shallow fanworks depicting her. I think if anything it's a sign that:

I'm a shit writer and need to do way more than watch movies and gesture vaguely at them to come up w a decent story or character (that being said as much as I prefer Fallout as a film, I stand by my earlier statement of Ilsa Faust being the ideal spy woman as she's depicted in Rogue Nation as she has a distinct set of goals and needs that are complex and developed largely tangentially to the protagonist's, at least initially).

It's going to take a completely new approach to her character to get something remotely interesting and that takes advantage of her potential.

For as mired in tropes as she and every other character and story in Resident Evil is, Ada could be far more memorable and enjoyable if only there was more care and effort to giver at least some interests and goals (perhaps even...characterization) on her own other than being a sexy love interest and potentially traitorous (as so many femme fatales already are).

#I mean she basically already is Fujiko I just wish it was more fun and gave her shit to do that didn't exclusively revolve around leon #I have a lot of thoughts about leon as a character and as much as I enjoy their over-the-top mr & mrs smith romance also fuck leon #Sighs....I know I'm asking too much from a franchise that has famously bad writing and largely archetypal characters but it's maddening #Mostly to me personally because I love spy shit and femme fatales for how messy and misogynistic the archetype is it's my favorite #So it kills me that a cool femme fatale like Ada who has so much potential as a character is relentlessly squandered #And it's the most annoying thing in the world to me to complain about fandoms/fans but I'll be a hypocrite and vent that it bugs me #How much fan media revolves around a*on and coming up with idealized domestic fantasies for them which can be chopped up to misogyny #And how tropey fan shit is but still it's so dull and often bends Ada into an ideal wife/gf for leon but not explore Anything Else At All #Not every romance has to end in marriage and kids like what about the inherent drama of them being forced apart isn't #Compelling to fans? What I'm trying to say is I want them to have a painfully messy divorce and a game or movie exclusively about Ada #*and I mean like they never marry just break up but emotionally it's a messy divorce that's ultimately for the best given their jobs #Also I am far too out of my depth to go into it but many have pointed out how her characterization often falls into pretty #nasty tropes that Asian women often fall into in Hollywood films which considering how much US blockbusters influence re it's not surprisin #But it's unfortunate and I'd be remised to at least mention that it feels at best dicey to have the only recurring Asian woman be mostly #reduced to a love interest of the white protagonist and sexualized with little else to go off of as a character #Yes she's competent and a super spy and saves his life constantly but I Want More And She Deserves Better #And yes everyone is super tropey and flat and the women in general often take a back seat to male charas but like I said #this whole franchise is badly written and honestly it kills me how women are written in general in re but I was thinking too hard about Ada #And maybe a sign that this series needs an even bigger overhaul than the remakes are doing character writing-wise #Or just don't and jettison the bloated lore once and for all and be episodic and silly b-horror idk if I can care about established charas #Coming back if they're in such dull forms. Maybe the mercy kill option is ideal and have re9 and all new installments be different #Ugh why can't I care about something useful like computers or cooking or job applications

[ms-demeanor]

Why reblog machine-generated art?

When I was ten years old I took a photography class where we developed black and white photos by projecting light on papers bathed in chemicals. If we wanted to change something in the image, we had to go through a gradual, arduous process called dodging and burning.

When I was fifteen years old I used photoshop for the first time, and I remember clicking on the clone tool or the blur tool and feeling like I was cheating.

When I was twenty eight I got my first smartphone. The phone could edit photos. A few taps with my thumb were enough to apply filters and change contrast and even spot correct. I was holding in my hand something more powerful than the huge light machines I'd first used to edit images.

When I was thirty six, just a few weeks ago, I took a photo class that used Lightroom Classic and again, it felt like cheating. It made me really understand how much the color profiles of popular web images I'd been seeing for years had been pumped and tweaked and layered with local edits to make something that, to my eyes, didn't much resemble photography. To me, photography is light on paper. It's what you capture in the lens. It's not automatic skin smoothing and a local filter to boost the sky. This reminded me a lot more of the photomanipulations my friend used to make on deviantart; layered things with unnatural colors that put wings on buildings or turned an eye into a swimming pool. It didn't remake the images to that extent, obviously, but it tipped into the uncanny valley. More real than real, more saturated more sharp and more present than the actual world my lens saw. And that was before I found the AI assisted filters and the tool that would identify the whole sky for you, picking pieces of it out from between leaves.

You know, it's funny, when people talk about artists who might lose their jobs to AI they don't talk about the people who have already had to move on from their photo editing work because of technology. You used to be able to get paid for basic photo manipulation, you know? If you were quick with a lasso or skilled with masks you could get a pretty decent chunk of change by pulling subjects out of backgrounds for family holiday cards or isolating the pies on the menu for a mom and pop. Not a lot, but enough to help. But, of course, you can just do that on your phone now. There's no need to pay a human for it, even if they might do a better job or be more considerate toward the aesthetic of an image.

And they certainly don't talk about all the development labs that went away, or the way that you could have trained to be a studio photographer if you wanted to take good photos of your family to hang on the walls and that digital photography allowed in a parade of amateurs who can make dozens of iterations of the same bad photo until they hit on a good one by sheer volume and luck; if you want to be a good photographer everyone can do that why didn't you train for it and spend a long time taking photos on film and being okay with bad photography don't you know that digital photography drove thousands of people out of their jobs.

My dad told me that he plays with AI the other day. He hosts a movie podcast and he puts up thumbnails for the downloads. In the past, he'd just take a screengrab from the film. Now he tells the Bing AI to make him little vignettes. A cowboy running away from a rhino, a dragon arm-wrestling a teddy bear. That kind of thing. Usually based on a joke that was made on the show, or about the subject of the film and an interest of the guest.

People talk about "well AI art doesn't allow people to create things, people were already able to create things, if they wanted to create things they should learn to create things." Not everyone wants to make good art that's creative. Even fewer people want to put the effort into making bad art for something that they aren't passionate about. Some people want filler to go on the cover of their youtube video. My dad isn't going to learn to draw, and as the person who he used to ask to photoshop him as Ant-Man because he certainly couldn't pay anyone for that kind of thing, I think this is a great use case for AI art. This senior citizen isn't going to start cartooning and at two recordings a week with a one-day editing turnaround he doesn't even really have the time for something like a Fiverr commission. This is a great use of AI art, actually.

I also know an artist who is going Hog Fucking Wild creating AI art of their blorbos. They're genuinely an incredibly talented artist who happens to want to see their niche interest represented visually without having to draw it all themself. They're posting the funny and good results to a small circle of mutuals on socials with clear information about the source of the images; they aren't trying to sell any of the images, they're basically using them as inserts for custom memes. Who is harmed by this person saying "i would like to see my blorbo lasciviously eating an ice cream cone in the is this a pigeon meme"?

The way I use machine-generated art, as an artist, is to proof things. Can I get an explosion to look like this. What would a wall of dead computer monitors look like. Would a ballerina leaping over the grand canyon look cool? Sometimes I use AI art to generate copyright free objects that I can snip for a collage. A lot of the time I use it to generate ideas. I start naming random things and seeing what it shows me and I start getting inspired. I can ask CrAIon for pose reference, I can ask it to show me the interior of spaces from a specific angle.

I profoundly dislike the antipathy that tumblr has for AI art. I understand if people don't want their art used in training pools. I understand if people don't want AI trained on their art to mimic their style. You should absolutely use those tools that poison datasets if you don't want your art included in AI training. I think that's an incredibly appropriate action to take as an artist who doesn't want AI learning from your work.

However I'm pretty fucking aggressively opposed to copyright and most of the "solid" arguments against AI art come down to "the AIs viewed and learned from people's copyrighted artwork and therefore AI is theft rather than fair use" and that's a losing argument for me. In. Like. A lot of ways. Primarily because it is saying that not only is copying someone's art theft, it is saying that looking at and learning from someone's art can be defined as theft rather than fair use.

Also because it's just patently untrue.

But that doesn't really answer your question. Why reblog machine-generated art? Because I liked that piece of art.

It was made by a machine that had looked at billions of images - some copyrighted, some not, some new, some old, some interesting, many boring - and guided by a human and I liked it. It was pretty. It communicated something to me. I looked at an image a machine made - an artificial picture, a total construct, something with no intrinsic meaning - and I felt a sense of quiet and loss and nostalgia. I looked at a collection of automatically arranged pixels and tasted salt and smelled the humidity in the air.

I liked it.

I don't think that all AI art is ugly. I don't think that AI art is all soulless (i actually think that 'having soul' is a bizarre descriptor for art and that lacking soul is an equally bizarre criticism). I don't think that AI art is bad for artists. I think the problem that people have with AI art is capitalism and I don't think that's a problem that can really be laid at the feet of people curating an aesthetic AI art blog on tumblr.

Machine learning isn't the fucking problem the problem is massive corporations have been trying hard not to pay artists for as long as massive corporations have existed (isn't that a b-plot in the shape of water? the neighbor who draws ads gets pushed out of his job by product photography? did you know that as recently as ten years ago NewEgg had in-house photographers who would take pictures of the products so users wouldn't have to rely on the manufacturer photos? I want you to guess what killed that job and I'll give you a hint: it wasn't AI)

Am I putting a human out of a job because I reblogged an AI-generated "photo" of curtains waving in the pale green waters of an imaginary beach? Who would have taken this photo of a place that doesn't exist? Who would have painted this hypersurrealistic image? What meaning would it have had if they had painted it or would it have just been for the aesthetic? Would someone have paid for it or would it be like so many of the things that artists on this site have spent dozens of hours on only to get no attention or value for their work?

My worst ratio of hours to notes is an 8-page hand-drawn detailed ink comic about getting assaulted at a concert and the complicated feelings that evoked that took me weeks of daily drawing after work with something like 54 notes after 8 years; should I be offended if something generated from a prompt has more notes than me? What does that actually get the blogger? Clout? I believe someone said that popularity on tumblr gets you one thing and that is yelled at.

What do you get out of this? Are you helping artists right now? You're helping me, and I'm an artist. I've wanted to unload this opinion for a while because I'm sick of the argument that all Real Artists think AI is bullshit. I'm a Real Artist. I've been paid for Real Art. I've been commissioned as an artist.

And I find a hell of a lot of AI art a lot more interesting than I find human-generated corporate art or Thomas Kincaid (but then, I repeat myself).

There are plenty of people who don't like AI art and don't want to interact with it. I am not one of those people. I thought the gay sex cats were funny and looked good and that shitposting is the ideal use of a machine image generation: to make uncopyrightable images to laugh at.

I think that tumblr has decided to take a principled stand against something that most people making the argument don't understand. I think tumblr's loathing for AI has, generally speaking, thrown weight behind a bunch of ideas that I think are going to be incredibly harmful *to artists specifically* in the long run.

Anyway. If you hate AI art and you don't want to interact with people who interact with it, block me.

[prince-geo]

literally pleased with almost all of the new atla trailer except as per usual, Zuko's scar, idk why studios are so scared to commit to the intensity of the thing, its supposed to be shocking and obvious and textured and the first thing you see... that's the point, Zuko is supposed to struggle with feeling like it defines and brands him before finally coming to the point in his journey where he defines it.

Hollywood/big studios are known to hesitate or straight up avoid properly and honestly and unapologetically showing people with disfigurements/disabilities/facial differences etc. with the realism they deserve. Which is a shame in general for representation and humanization but ESPECIALLY in this case as its minimization actively harms it's narrative purpose as well

I promise making the scar more intense (shrivel up the ear a bit, make it intrude in his hairline, make his eye in a permanent squint due to nerve damage, for god sake REMOVE THE EYEBROW IT WAS BURNED OFF) will not make Zuko "ugly", (the actor is incapable of looking ugly and also the implication that scars make people too unappealing? yikes) but will actually do the character and his journey justice, not to mention really show Ozai's brutality, another essential narrative tool. Especially when he's bald like hello??? It should be even more stark and intense when he doesn't have hair to distract from it and cover his ear!!!

When transitioning from 2D to live action, of course some visuals are up for interpretation but that usually involved ADDING detail because the constraints of having to stay on modeling frame to frame is gone, not minimizing, removing or airbrushing. Doing Zuko's scar right to me is absolutely essential and I'm disappointed they seem just as as scared to go there as I thought they might. It doesn't have to be gory, if you've ever seen burn victims in real life or in pictures or even cosplayers/artists who are skilled in realistic burn makeup you'd know its possible to balance realism with humanity. It's possible especially with their resources to avoid the "scary Halloween makeup" route while not holding back on the brutality of the original injury.

Budget is definitely not an issue, or "scaring the kids" considering this remake is likely aiming to go a lil darker in tone than the cartoon (which was already super dark with its target audience of nickelodeon 7 year olds so no excuses) Audiences SHOULD be unsettled and upset when they see him but not because he's hard/disturbing to look at but because we are human and do not want to imagine someone doing that to a child.

It's a deliberate choice out of the all too common fear/hesitation to allow someone who is destined to eventually become a protagonist and is meant to be sympathized with to be "too ugly" while this hesitation is very rarely applied to straight up villains (again we come back to media's historic villainization of facial deformity). It's a trend that's always ticked me off in fanart too. The boy's face was melted, for gods sake. Zuko was always portrayed as an attractive boy in the cartoon (fire nation girls fawn over him) even with the intensity of his scar which is something I've always admired! People exist with scars similar to Zuko's in real life, and should not only be permitted to be represented as good guys and/or as attractive when their scars are toned down to be "palatable"

Like I said there's more that I loved than didn't love about the trailer, that can be a whole essay on it's own but I needed to get this very specific vent off my chest because it missed the mark so hard and stands out like a sore thumb in comparison to all the other visuals that hit the nail on the head to me

#atla #zuko #avatar the last airbender #atla live action #ozai #dallas liu #my posts #atla wank #rant #atla critical #prince zuko #netflix #netflix atla

[k8lynjoy]

I'm so tired of people telling those of us who are upset about the LA atla remake that we are "being too dramatic" or are just "finding things to be upset about". We are allowed to be upset that something that we love so dearly has been butchered, AGAIN. If you liked it, then that's your personal opinion, but don't sit here and tell those of us who didn't that we're the problem.

I personally think the CGI, costumes, and sets all look terrible. None of it is immersive. Sure, it LOOKS like atla, but it doesn't FEEL like atla. The heart of the og is gone, and people are allowed to be upset about this. They've altered characters to the point that they aren't the character anymore (looking at you Aang and Katara), which is a huge upset for me personally because Katara is one of my favorite characters ever. So watching her be turned into someone meek and docile is more than a slap to the face. Not to mention them removing her as the narrator as if Bryke themselves didn't state that Katara is the person the story is being told through. And before you start telling me that Aang is the same. No, he isn't. Major parts of his development through season 1 (him coming to terms with the fact that he's the avatar and embracing that role, and him also accepting the fact that he RAN AWAY and how he is never going to do that again, which is also pivotal to his character later on) are completely removed. And don't even get me started on what they did to Kataang. Regardless of whether you ship them or not, those 2 are deeply connected to one another from the start, and their relationship is a big part of the show, so to see that butchered is heartbreaking for me.

This isn't just about them "making some changes" or it not being a 1:1 adaptation. I'm fine with adaptations that aren't 1:1. What I'm upset about is that the changes they are making are VITAL changes to characters and dynamics between characters. They're rushing through the plot and condensing the story (and I will scream if I hear one more person say that it's because they couldn't fit it all in with their runtime. The runtime is an HOUR LONGER than the og, so yes, they did have the time). The changes they are making make it evident that they do not understand the og show, and if you don't feel like that, fine, once again, that's YOUR opinion, just as this is MY opinion. So stop telling us we have no right to be upset and that we just want to hate everything. That's not true. What is true is that we are expressing valid complaints about another bad adaptation of something dear to us.

Edit: If you also come at people who are upset bc they were expecting a faithful adaptation and didn't get it bc "its not supposed to be the cartoon," you're missing the whole point. An adaptation is ADAPTING SOMETHING from one medium to the other, not rewriting it. "Yall expected it to be just like the cartoon." No, I expected a FAITHFUL ADAPTATION and was met with poorly written fanfiction.

#atla #avatar the last airbender #natla #netflix avatar #katara #aang #kataang #never made a post before but it had to be said bc it was starting to make me mad #atla is my favorite show of all time #stop trying to dictate how i feel about the remake #there is no live action in ba sing se #anti natla #anti LA atla