#worst platform to exist for artists

[farmhandler]

Well Twitter appears to be burning to the ground slowly. I keep seeing these weird fearmonger posts about new users as if fandom toxicity wasn't invented on Tumblr lol

#also some people claiming Twitter is great for artists like are you insane #worst platform to exist for artists #zero tagging #media tab is shit #visibility on art after 5 minutes is awful #quality bad #i would use pf but more people just need to get on it #farmhandler rambles

[genericpuff]

on the closure of MochaJump, and why we're our own worst enemies in this industry.

"MochaJump? What was that?" is probably your first question, and I'm gonna simply respond with, "Exactly."

MochaJump was a small startup platform made by /u/nunojay2 and a second site engineer (whose name I am not informed of) on reddit. It wasn't anything extraordinary, just a startup site that aimed to offer a more viable alternative to Webtoons and Tapas, with a focus on offering equal visibility to creators, focused recommendation algorithms, loosened restrictions on NSFW content, and bigger cuts for creators on their generated revenue.

Of course, such promises are a tall order, but the creator did their best to host regular discussions with creators in art and webtoon communities to get feedback on what creators really wanted out of their platforms, and they researched what they would need to make in order to keep the site afloat (it came out pretty low at $2 per user per month). Hopes were high and the site launched with a small but eager userbase.

It stayed small. The site shut down in November 2022, just 6 months after launching in May 2022.

Now, I'm not gonna sit here on some soapbox and blame anyone for the site closing down. I unfortunately didn't get much chance to use the site myself so there's surely more I could have done on my own part to help it gain traction. But this is a regular occurrence for start-ups like this, especially in an industry that's as notoriously unprofitable as webcomics. We've seen titans such as SmackJeeves and Inkblazers fall, and MochaJump was merely an infant by comparison.

But it makes me think of how we view and treat these startups as a whole. How we as readers and creators alike have become so trained to exclusively use corporate platforms like Webtoons and Tapas on the promise of "bigger gains". Unlike these bigger companies, platforms like MochaJump depend on building a strong userbase as quickly as possible, and need to find ways to generate revenue to keep things running, otherwise it's only a matter of time before they close down. They don't have a massive conglomerate like Naver or Kakao to pad their pockets through their failures. They don't have the money or reach to inject themselves into society through bus terminal ads and convention sponsorships. They don't have the investors to sink money into their platform until it becomes profitable in return.

So we don't use them. Readers don't use them because we don't see the point in using a platform that has no content... and thus creators don't use them because we don't see the point in publishing our content on a platform with no userbase. Creators seek a place that's "tight knit" and "easy to get seen", but will only post to places that come pre-loaded with massive audiences; because it's not enough anymore to have a couple hundred followers, we're in 2023 now, in the year of consumer bloat, where we expect to now pull in thousands if not millions to be considered a "success". And readers seek a place that offers high-quality high-amount content at the tip of their fingertips, but don't want to pay for the access to these works, and in the case of apps like WT, have given up in trying to support these creators through the platforms themselves because they know that those artists they want to support will likely never see a dime.

The fact of this problem is simple, yet many people seem to ignore it - we cannot expect to have a platform that is tight knit, profitable, and sustainable. These places do not exist, not so long as we continue to raise the bar on what makes a "successful" subscriber count, not so long as we continue to patronize platforms that exploit their artists and writers, and not so long as we keep chasing the dragon of "what these websites used to be". These platforms never used to 'be' anything, they merely existed in one point of time that is now long gone, when owning a smartphone was a luxury and not a need, when online video content wasn't being tethered together by ads, and when the Internet wasn't owned and entirely managed by the same three corporations, the likes of which we haven't seen since cable TV.

Platforms like Tapas and Webtoons are - besides unsustainable - unable to exist and profit in the way they do without undercutting someone along the way. Whether it's underpaying their creators, undercutting their communities, or underexposing the works that have been buried, someone will get the shit hand in the deal and that someone is usually ALWAYS someone who will rarely ever stand to gain anything in the long run from using these platforms despite their issues. The 1% got theirs, and the 10% are barely getting by, while the remaining 89% are pushing onwards, because they have faith in the systemic online enshittification that demands conformity to a single formula for "success".

We are our own worst enemies in this industry. Webcomics are one of the few online mediums that still truly belong to the people - anyone can make them, anyone can find joy in them, but we're letting platforms like Webtoons and Tapas and all the other massive corporate apps rob us of that joy and accessibility in the pursuit of "success" and profiting. Webtoons was never the sole way to profit off this medium and yet I still see people every day who underestimate the existence of legitimate publishing houses and self-publishing, who think that publishing on Webtoons and landing an Originals deal is the only way to find success in this industry. This is meant to be the era of creators, of self-starting and self-actualization, and yet we're still handing all of that control over to corporations that only seek to exploit our art, bodies, and labor, while convincing ourselves that this will somehow all be worth it. We stick with Webtoons, despite the numerous controversies it's been involved in and the lack of support it's given even its own hired creators. We stick with Tapas, despite the undercutting of its most core components such as its community and the outlier genres it used to be known for hosting. We find new ways to justify using platforms that are steadily going downhill - Patreon, Twitter/X, Youtube, Instagram, Facebook - because we've been convinced that these are the routes to success, so if we acknowledge their failures, then "success" can no longer exist.

Because we need to pay rent. Because we need to eat. Because we need to survive. Because it's a lot more complicated than just "stepping away". Because the startups just don't have any of the surface level potential for us to immediately identify and get on board with, so we don't give them a chance.

I realize this post got very existential and depressing. I've been creating comics for well over a decade now, largely unnoticed, and I've fallen victim to these same limiting mindsets that we have to stick to one way, one "formula" for success - a formula that changes with the wind and only works for those who get in on the ground floor. It's been slowly killing me from the very beginning, robbing me of my joy to create, of my reason to even do this in the first place - to tell and share stories with others, to express myself creatively, to live my life surrounded by art and stories and creations made by and for others. It's made me tired and miserable, and I can tell it's done the same to those who have shared that boat with me.

But there's one silver lining I can always be sure of, and it's one I was reminded of after realizing I was still in the MochaJump Discord, with one announcement post that I hadn't yet read.

Webcomics are one of the few online mediums that still truly belong to the people. Corporations are trying their hardest to take that power away. Let's not continue to let them.

If you want to help sustain, patronize, and contribute to the growth of sites that are still being operated by small teams (or even one man armies), please, consider checking out the following websites, some of which serve as platforms or publishers, others which operate as link directories for independent sites run by creators.

ComicFury GlobalComix TopWebcomics The Webcomic List The Webcomic Library Hiveworks SpiderForest SmackJeeves Archive Inkblot.art And whoever wants to use the GitHub source code used for MochaJump (RIP)

Let's do our part to decentralize webcomics again. We may not be able to leave the platforms that weakly sustain us, but we can still support those that strengthen and support us.

#also bonus: if you're willing to pay like $10/year for the domain name you can get free hosting on comicfury #essay post #decentralize the internet #decentralize webcomics #fuck webtoons #support small platforms #don't be a coward #use the sites that only net you 20 readers #it costs you literally nothing but a little extra time #i guarantee most of these sites come with more features and more supportive userbases than webtoons #webtoons doesn't even have a fucking TAGGING SYSTEM #why did we allow ourselves to be convinced that webtoons is setting some industry standard ?? they're PISS #WT is literally persephone #riding off daddy warbucks' money while being a big stinking failure of an entity who no one likes but still calls a hero #no wonder WT loves LO so much it's literally an autobiography at this point

[gemini-forest]

What happened to your twitter? I went to follow but it wasn't there? Did something happen to it? Like did Elon take it down??

What? No Elon didn't take my twitter down.

I did. I have been meaning to take it down for a while actually. The environment Rise Twitter made it really hostile for me to really wanna post or do anything. That and it genuinely was messing with my mental health. So I took it down.

More of an extensive reason and tangent under cut if you wanna read

I don't necessarily hide that I draw NSFW. I never post it on a public platform because well, it's smut, and I am aware I have those udnerage following me and when my following here got bigger I stopped hinting to it or promoting mainly for THEIR saftey.

Everyone I draw are of age, very clearly of age, and I'm personally not ashamed of it. I'm an adult and on my own private platforms I can post it. Whatever.

But Rise Twitter made it a much and I do mean MUCH bigger deal than it needs to be. Attacking artists who draw F!Leo (who is a 38-41 year old MAN) smut or suggestive for example and got mad and they start that shit like every week.

I've seen Don get canceled with the same misinformation multiple times with no evidence, I've seen Pine get attacked for drawing an adult man. I got attacked and blocked out by half the community because I defended those who draw adult FICTIONAL MEN.

I get if you're not wanting to see that stuff or it's not your thing, or even it makes you uncomfortable. Like for me my Patreon is ABSOLUTELY optional. You're of age and wanna see that? Cool. I draw a lot of Jayden n Leo there, even some Eliot sprinkled in.

But don't attack us accusing us artists of the WORST TITLES EVER. I've seen an artist get called a fucking pedophile. Or a zoophile. It's honestly just disgusting. People's mental healths have been effected so negatively and not wanting to draw turtles IN GENERAL.

Again you're more than entitled to not like that kind of stuff. That's absolutely okay and you're valid. I fully and 100% understand, you're seen and you're heard.

But don't go at adult artists drawing ADULT CHARACTERS because you don't want to see it, especially if you're underage. We're in our own spaces. We don't want those who are uncomfortable with that to see that our stuff.

In the end it's just feels hyper hypocritical that we're treated like predators for staying in OUR OWN lane when those same people who call us the worst things possible, also draw underage characters getting mauled, eaten, excessive gore, experiencing extremely traumatic events, oh and drawing a 16 year old shoving his tongue down another minor's throat on a public platform.

This isn't me bashing those who draw that stuff, it's okay to tackle that kind of topics. But I find it hypocritical of people who is willing to villainize NSFW artists posting privately and respecting public platforms, who then draw the most horrendous and gruesome shit I've seen with minors.

If one isn't allowed to exist the other shouldn't either.

#ask gem #a huge tangent

[russenoire]

art youtube is overwhelming AF.

sifting through all the art advice available on youtube (and other sources!) can be overwhelming AF. an ocean of voices screaming DO THIS! DON'T DO THAT! YOU MUST DO THIS!

i feel like no one ever really talks about that.

also: some ways i cut through some of this noise to find signal, below the cut.

i mean, some of these videos are legitimately helpful! and many are drama about the latest outrageous, racist thing some artist *cough cough* kooleen *ahem* did or said in a 'how to draw X' tutorial just noise. still more of them contain outright bad advice, or advice that can't easily be personalized. (i can tell you right now that 'you must draw everyday!!!' is terrible fucking advice. not everyone can set aside time to do that, and guilt is the world's worst motivator for enjoyment. ever. just stop)

and almost all of it hides behind titles designed to raise your anxiety levels and get you to click. sadly, this is the nature of the platform. emotional engagement drives traffic, and every YT creator is trying to maximize that as best as they can. i don't fault anyone for that; people's livelihoods depend on these streams.

i have advised novice artists to try to narrow things down as much as possible, to 'get granular' about what they want to learn: painting skin. drawing hands, or noses, or faces, or feet, or poses. drawing more expressive lines. workflow, for traditional art or the raster graphics editor of their choice. it doesn't always help: for every subject i've listed, there exists a veritable firehose of videos about it.

so might i suggest a ruthless pruning here?

just go with whatever thumbnail looks interesting and is the least shouty/dogmatic about what it promises to teach you. you will probably miss out on some good advice, but the effect of all the preaching is cumulative. and your sanity is worth it. i promise.

if you don't have the time or patience for hour-long videos, either watch at 1.5-2x speed or skip ahead for the content you want.

look for specific solutions for your specific frustrations. and emphasize the process. how does this artist accomplish what you want to do? how do they lay out lineart, begin the rendering process, and why? can they explain that in a way that makes sense for you (if this is something you need)? if not, don't waste your time watching. i remember breathing the world's biggest sigh of relief on hearing a professional animator confess that shadows don't always have to make sense for a piece of work to look right.

look for ideas on how to break what you see into scaffolding. by this i mean 3D approximations on a 2D surface, on which you can draw guidelines for proportions. ultimately, this is the key to 'drawing from imagination' and even to successfully working with reference photos. videos on how an artist draws eyes from one specific angle will not necessarily help you draw eyes from other angles. not unless they also touch on eyeball shape and position on the head. and how perspective changes the shapes you see. and...

lastly, how do you feel about the video you're watching? if the creator's voice or sense of humor annoys you, or you don't love the stereotypical way they draw female bodies, or they're actually kinda racist/ableist, or whatever–you're allowed to nope out and look for another source of info. there is a lot to be said for the skill of picking diamonds out of manure... but you can find diamonds of similar quality that aren't coated in shit, too.

#drawing #art advice #artists on tumblr #vent #solutions #intermediate visual artist #professional graphic designer #the best resource is one you'll actually use

[the9mm]

This current environment is the worst environment for artists I've ever seen.

Redbubble has just announced that, like Society6, they are going to be implementing new fee structures onto accounts.

If you didn't already know:

Effective May 4, 2023 when you make a sale through Society6.com, or one of our third-party affiliates, a shipping fee ranging from $0.30 - $8USD will be deducted from your earnings. Shipping fees vary based on the product sold and the full list of fees can be found below. Your artist earnings will be calculated using the following formula: Artist Earnings = ((Base Price - Discount) x Markup) - Shipping Fee The implementation of these new fees was carefully considered by our team. Shipping costs have recently risen significantly and both Society6 and our customers have absorbed those increases. As customers become more price sensitive, this is a necessary step to ensure the viability of the platform. We remain dedicated to providing a platform that allows our artists to profit off of their creativity.

Source: Society6 Help Articles

And now, Redbubble will be charging people who make too few sales (but not if you don't make any sales or make just the right amount of sales!) fees:

On May 1st, Redbubble will be introducing a new tier structure for artist accounts, and an account fee for some accounts. We understand that this is a big change for the artist community, so we want to be transparent and clear about what’s happening. We are introducing an account fee for Redbubble Standard accounts. The account fee applies when an artist makes sales in a given payment period, and is a flat fee based on your earnings in that period. If you make no sales during the payment period, you will not be charged a fee, so artists are never out of pocket. The fee will be automatically deducted from your payments. The introduction of an account fee will enable us to invest in the service, support, platform features, and tools we provide for different artist tiers, plus improved support for your customers, and more marketing opportunities. As recognition for positive engagement with and investment in the Redbubble marketplace, Premium and Pro accounts will be exempt from the fee...

Source: RedBubble blog

RedBubble gives examples for the fees as follows:

Say you sold products worth a retail price of $300 in total, and made $75 (avg. 25% margin) during a payment period. Your account fee is based on the total earnings of $75 and is a flat rate of $28 (see the fee table below). This is deducted from your total earnings before your monthly payment is processed, so your payment amount is $47.

Source: RedBubble blog

I understand it. Users who upload content to the service and never sell anything are just hogging resources on a server and taking up space, but that's the tradeoff when your platform is not moderated in any way, and you need designs to fill your platform.

But it's a really bad time to do this to artists.

We've just started to get over having major sales events like conventions gutting our incomes due to pandemic shutdowns. We're entering into a recession and people are holding tight onto their money -- they don't want to buy original art.

We've just had "AI" steal all of our artwork and used everything it wants without any due credit or monetary offering in the way of royalties or otherwise for sampling our hard earned work. Any person can go type in a text prompt, spit out an image, and have it printed.

You can't mention your shop, your links, your products, or post any external links on social media without being downgraded in their algorithms. Playing "the game" on social is exhausting and you spin spin spin on a hamster's wheel trying to keep your existing followers without gaining any new ones.

Now, Reddit and Facebook groups are tightening their rules. Ask any artist, they'll tell you how toxic all of this is. Communities welcome your creations, but don't you dare mention that you made it, that it's for sale, or that people could follow you for more. Don't ever give yourself credit, because promotion is not allowed! I am watching a friend who can't even post her artwork with a watermark on it without Facebook group moderators declining it as self promotion. She can't even protect her artwork or claim it as her own in any way without it being deemed "self-promo" and getting rejected or deleted.

So what do you do as an artist trying to make money with your art when you can't afford to dump money into advertising, can't afford the fees to set up an ecommerce shop, can't afford to pre-print all of your work to sell, can't afford a major convention table, filling it with merch, and attending, can't get your art into anyone else's hands, and can't mention anything anywhere to try to make a buck or two or gather new admirers of your work?

You give up.

#art #artist #artists need to know this #pass it on #pass it along #this is important

[jaeharu26]

Ai companies are streaming in the Art catagory on twitch now. Truly I'm living in the worst timeline. There isn't a single place y'all can fuck off from? You literally have to use EVERY art space available artists have to try to get seen through your endless stream of spam-like content now? I thought I hit feeling a new special kind of low trying to look up my own art and having ai results come up next to it, or refs for stuff I wanted to paint and just seeing hoards of ai generated stuff instead, now I can't even watch an art stream without seeing ai shit everywhere clogging up the art stream tags? I really wish they'd get their own thing. Use CGG or MGG for computer-generated graphics or machine-generated graphics or something and stop clogging up the digital art tag and art tag spaces everywhere. Or platforms would start adding spaces like this for them to use instead. Ugh. There's no co-existing when you're just stealing visibility using the same tags and places and shit at this point. You're just burying us artists everywhere now. Man, so annoying. Honestly, it'd be greatly less annoying if it wasn't all so spammy and constant.

[kharmii]

all this hatred towards the jews nowadays honestly would make a certain Austrian artist really happy...

If only they knew how they went from the "oh so tolerant left" to the thing they claim they hate the most.

Honestly this is a prime example why I consider myself political homeless. There are several political parties where I live and there is something in each of them I stand for. But in recent years I've realized how much these radical people have made me overthink a lot of my left leaning views.

No political extreme is good and healthy for a country and it's the balance what makes things work. It's being open to discuss topics and hear out a side even if you don't disagree. It's being open to criticism and not get a temper tantrum just because things don't go your way or biological facts are brought up the table.

It is refreshing to see white people who are tired of being told how bad evil and horrible they are starting to fight back

It's refreshing to see women get up and fight against "trans" people and predators invading women only spaces with little to no conequences.

It's refreshing to see leftist media fail on all levels and how the racism and hatred is slowly but surely exposed.

Unlike almost 100 years ago there isn't just one source of media. Even if the official media is biased and controlled. There are enough individual people still able to expose the truth. And love him or hate him but thanks to the new owner of X the left no longer is able to drown out opposing voices on this platform. People are waking up and this to me feels like the first steps of this madness to end are being made.

honestly I really would love to like all posts of your views 100 times but I am too scared of the crazy people. But I do love what you do and I'll support you!

Thanks for these posts, anon!

We only have the two political parties here, and they seem to work together for the same bad ends on the federal level. On the local level, I support the more conservative one because they work to make life easier for normal working-class people, whereas the 'Party of the Little Guy' works for everybody but..

It's nice to have free X (Twitter) just so I can go on a post where a white person is getting their head stomped in by you know who and vent about the genocidal language of Critical Race Theory in our schools riling non-white races up. If a person goes on a news story on Yahoo or MSN, he/she will have their comment rejected automatically, as if they flag for 'CRT'. I'm surprised the many comments talking about racial issues get through.

Whenever there is a story about anything to do with trans on the mainstream internet, the comments will be turned off every time, and down votes are never shown. They have to know the majority of people think trans issues have gone too far, but they are still pushing this facade that the majority of people are okay with dudes in the ladies' rooms or men taking trophies and opportunities away from biological women in women's sports.

Radical leftists always like to make you think they are the majority, and that anybody who disagrees with them is some sort of weirdo. It's always the opposite. I stopped falling for peer pressure when I was harassed by the worst people who exist irl. We're talking about people who have openly wished for my death, and who have made jokes about how 'you can't make comedy like this up' when I was harassed by a committed stalker in front of them (many of them who encouraged him to stalk me in the first place). Peer pressure doesn't work because I don't consider dirty rotten low life scumbags my 'peers'.

Side note: Why do trans people write fan fiction about trans characters? -Like if a woman wants to be a man, then why not write yaoi about men? If being a man is the ideal, then why not write about an actual biological dude? Why write about a woman with mutilated genitals? It's like they know that a woman can never be a man and vice versa.

#3 time losers #leftist culture #transgender #the usual bullshit #critical race theory

[deadlypastelcutieart]

I started drawing this yesturday. I apoligize if they look a bit weird. This is my first time drawing these characters and I was going to add more but, I drew this in a small sketchbook. ^ ^’

So if you guys don’t know what’s been going on lately, for the past two weeks Warner Bros Discovery has been announcing a couple of things to HBO Max since Discovery is now merged with WarnerMedia. They are planning to reboot the streaming service since now with discovery putting their content into the service. However, the news and plans they’ve announced has been controversial, especially with the cancelations of certain big upcoming films. But last week, things gotten worst for the company when they announced a list of shows and movies that are removed from HBO Max. And unfortunitly, many of the shows on the list that they have offically removed are animated shows. From Cartoon network to HBO Max originals. One of the shows that where removed was the highly beloved animated sci-fi series, Infinity Train. There’s also, Summer Camp Island, Mao Mao: Heroes of pure heart, Tig and Seek, The Fungies!, Elliot from Earth, OK KO Let’s Be Heroes, and many more. Heck even HBO Max’s adult animated series, Close Enough was one of the animated series removed from the streaming service! Cartoonito wasn’t safe either from this animation purge with a few of their shows removed. If you guys want to know what shows are affected by these removals, link to the varity page is here: https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/hbo-max-originals-removed-1235344286/

When I first discovered this news, I was shocked and upset like many who enjoyed watching these shows. And the recent developments to why all these animated shows as well as other where removed from the platform, Is to cut cost and to remove residuals to the animation unions to support animators, which I find disgusting and disrespectful! And it is breaking news that many animation fans and aspiring animators like myself felt really scared and upset about these removals. Heck im even seeing people saying in fear that this might be the end of Cartoon Network and thinns will get wirst from here. Unfortunutly after this news came out one of Cartoon Network’s upcoming original projects, Driftwood was cancelled. So yeah… This was something many where fearing of.

But you know what? As much as I am sad and mad at discovery for doing these upsetting moves, I don’t want to get too too mad about discovery and David Zaslov’s decision in removing all these animated shows from existance like many. Funny enough, I was going to draw something angry about discovery and the whole news of this like many others. But instead, I wanna take the time to make something that’s more, supportive!

I love animation! I love the art medium and I care for it and the industry! And as someone who is currently taking college to become an animator, I think it’s best during these horrid situations that we all come and support the many hardworking people who spend day and night working on these shows, and of course the creators who given us something that we enjoy watching! These people of animators are amazing people and they deserve so much better than this! And I will support these animators working at Warner bros animation, Cartoon Network, warner animation guild, and adult swim who don’t derserve to have their creations erased from history! And I know there are still fans who will still watch and support these shows even if they got kicked off of HBO Max.

So for this drawing, I drawn a few characters from these removed animated shows under an expanded umbrella that my sona enlarged and of course since this is about cartoons, I decide to draw my oc Lottie holding the umbrella under these characters to protect them from getting wet from the rain. Intrestinngly enough this drawing was based off of this sad but wonderful art made by a twitter artist named Clemont Diolot. (Go check out and support this artist by the way! Great artist!) https://twitter.com/clement_diolot/status/1560330012523470849?s=20&t=_c8D6UX53A_Z2Bfua31_9Q

I hate to belive this is the end of Cartoon Network or animation at Warner bros! I just hope David Zaslov can see how much damage he put to the animation division and maybe put more care for the animators. But Im glad at least Cartoon Network and the creators of these shows are doing somethimg about this!

If you guys want to support these creators and animators that where affected by these removals, spread the word! Spread the word about this situation! And let people be aware of this misactions of Discovery! And if you guys want to continue watching these shows without using HBO Max there are alternatives! :)

If you have Hulu, some of these cartoon network shows are available there! I know OK KO is there on Hulu, but im not sure about any other shows? Some of these shows also are on dvd such as Infinity Train (both one and two) and i think Victor and Valentino is also on dvd too. Or if your someone who like purchusing shows digitaly, some of these shows are available on Itunes! Actully, most of cartoon network’s new and even old content are avalible there, which is really great! Or… Do what I do and watch these shows on pirating sites like watchcartoons! Heheh, I know that’s not the best place to watch cartoons, but hey! It’s all there! And at least I get to check out other old shows I used to love watching and even watch shows that I never heard of or even watch new stuff! :)

I hate to see this all happen but we must support these shows and their creators during this time! I don’t think this is the end of cartoon network and warner animation in gerneral but I have hope for the animators. For now, I think I’ll continue watching Sunmer Camp Island and Infinity Train! And maybe try some of these other shows out! And just like what I wrote below this drawing “Don’t worry, We’ll support you all. Always.” Because that’s what animation fans do!

#my art #warner discovery #cartoon network #summer camp island #mao mao heroes of pure heart #infinity train #tig n' seek #the fungies! #mighty magiswords #close enough #elliot from earth #ok ko let's be heroes #original characters #lottie inksnuggles

[animusiem]

Billboard USA Exclusion Zone Episode 21 (01/13/2024)

Now that all the Christmas stuff is gone, what do we have to replace all of the Christmas songs? Well seems like we are still stuck with what 2023 had to offered. Regional Mexican, J-Pop, old songs that went viral on TikTok, and some legacy songs just debuted. And yet looking at the chart reset I think showed a bigger picture that I will get to on my blog, stay tuned. Enough stalling let's get into these meaty lists of new arrival

--------------------------------------------------------

49. "Goat" by Number_I

You know the year hasn't even started yet and we might have a contender for the worst song of the year. Like imagine if Fleeting Lullaby by Ado was remixed by a B-tier boyband and the productions sounded like the backwash of Gen 3 boyband group sound...you get this.

51. "Rompe La Dompe" by Peso Pluma, Junior H, Oscar Maydon

This is probably the most well produced Peso Pluma song in corridos scene. I love how chill the song is. Definitely needed after...that car crash the size of opening lap of Belgian GP in 1998 proportion.

64. "Wherever u r" by UMI ft. V from BTS

Seems like V beside making solid RnB album, also want to platform small RnB artist as well. And it's a great song to boot as well. I'm instantly hooked by UMI's voice with the melodic guitar, spacious production, and just immaculate atmosphere which is perfect for the sort of cut about long distance longing. I do think the percussion is a bit loud. But hey it's still a high recommendation

114. "Poco A Poco" by Xavi ft. Los Dareyes de La Sierra

Seems like the train of regional Mexican sound is still rolling because we have a newcomer by the name of Xavi. He's not Spanish by the way he's from Arizona. But, he has been going up on the chart with La Diabla which is a good song. And this one might be better due to the fact that there's a slap bass in it.

132. "Maria Mariah" by Silva MC, DJ F7, C NO BEAT & MC Meno Dani

10/10 would Brazilian funk again.

154. "Modo DND" by Xavi & Tony Aguirre

I feel like the reason why I've been positive with Xavi because in terms of corridos tumbados, his sounds are very full and competently produced for once. I love the horn lines here the most because it's kinda like all over the place.

161. "Murder On The Dancefloor" by Sophie Ellis-Bextor

TikTok strikes again and this time it might be their best find yet. Coming from the Saltburn ending where Barry Keoghan "dancing" to this song, we have quite possible the reason why Future Nostalgia existed in the first place. I'm glad that Americans are listening to this two decades later. The lush nu-disco production that didn't aged a day with the liquid guitar, tight bass, and the strings. Every seconds of this song is just tight and controlled which could be attributed to Gregg Alexander aka the bald guy with the bucket hat from New Radicals. The guitar solo is just an icing on the cake on otherwise fantastic tune.

162. "Husn" by Anuv Jain

Never thought I would hear a song from India like this to be honest. But hey it's a nice surprised to hear this type of sounds in other languages that I am not familiar with.

170. "Overdrive" by Ofenbach ft. Norma Jean Martine

It's kinda cool how dance genre has probably its stronger year in 2023. This is the first one I'm listening to this year and yeah the streak keep on going here. Never have I heard more beautiful piano house since...shit probably Hold My Hand.

172. "Alucin" by Eugenio Esquivel X Grupo Marca Registrada X Sebastian Esquivel

This is probably the best "Edm mixed with regional mexican" song I've heard. Though when your competition is a song by Fuerza Regida featuring Marshmello...yeah

186. "Let Me Love You" by DJ Snake ft. Justin Bieber

Not gonna lie, the sound of DJ Snake just didn't hold up so well with time. This song in 2024 sounds so empty and devoid of anything interesting.

190. "Have You Ever Seen The Rain" by Creedence Clearwater Revival

Meanwhile this song is timeless and could be played at any time where you are feeling down or just sick of the bullshit get thrown at you.

191. "Livin On A Prayer" by Bon Jovi

Just listening to this one song and you will get why hair metal was at one point the biggest genre in the world in the mid 80s.

193. "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga

Meanwhile just listened to this song and you'll get why Lady Gaga is an icon and deserved her acolades.

197. "Be A Flower" by Ryokuoushoku Shakai

Wait so this is the song that became an opening for an anime about ancient China? Why does this bang so hard????

199. "One Dance" by Drake ft. Wizkid & Nyla

One Dance is a good song but this song marked the exact point where Drake stopped trying most of the times because his status as #1 hit makers has been sealed.

200. "Lean On" by Major Lazer ft. DJ Snake & MO

It's a good even great EDM song but it's pale in comparison to its competition at that time.

I highly recommend everyone listening to these songs

#billboard #billboard charts #music review #pop music #review #anime #corridos tumbados #peso pluma #jpop #saltburn #edm #drake #lady gaga #brazilian funk #the apothecary diaries #sophie ellis bextor #xavi

[nyoggets]

Some thoughts on fandom, burnout, process of creation and never feeling good enough.

(it is now 4am and I've given up on sleep)

So I've avoided ever talking about this on twt because? The platform is such a mess, people use it to liveblog their feelings but it's also got that usual socmed feel to it - only show the good, funny, relatable or glamorous stuff.

I like art, obviously. Love it even, it's been the one constant in a life of switching hobbies and obsessions on the weekly. But it's also been so, SO difficult at times. I draw, so gotta share it on social media, right? The first time I shared my art online was when I was 9, on a ratty, now defunct forum.

I don't recall many responses aside from "I don't think she's ever been to the hair dresser". Instagram was released in 2010, and I made the switch, continued to post my drawings in earnest, participating in art contests that were super popular at the time. Obviously I never won any, I was just learning, starting out. Winning wasn't my goal, my goal was to get a spot in the honourable mentions or likes and attention from the bigger artists hosting these. When that didn't work I tried to game the algorithm before I even know what an algorithm was. I also made some friends this way, most of which had a higher follower count despite our (in my mind) fairly evenly matched skill. I entered more contests, I begged friends for collars, I drew things I dislikes because I saw them being popular. Nothing worked, I became obsessed over numbers, a drawing was only worth something if it got enough likes, which it never did. I tried for a while longer, then didn't pick up a pen for almost 2 years.

Eventually, because I just couldn't leave art behind I started again, focusing on original works and punching myself for losing 2 years of practice time. Things were fine, I stayed away from social media aside from Tumblr but never really posted anymore, stayed quiet. Of course, I still resented those artist friends a bit for their ever growing following, but what right had I? I'd given up and spent 2 years moping.

Eventually I got really into Love Live and with it finally a new ship I could sink my teeth into and draw - ChikaRiko. Inevitably, I wanted to feel part of communities again, I didn't have anyone in real life to share my obsessions with. I was very much the weird quiet kid, and as much as I craved being around people, being deaf with my hearing steadily dying away even further without anyone noticing, talking to people was just Hard, so so very hard. But online, where I could read, didn't need to be able to listen? It was easy, besides, my only friends so far had all been online. What's the harm in dipping my toes back into fandom?

So, I created a twitter account, discord, found people to chat and share my art, pretty much exclusively ChikaRiko, with. And things were fine again! People were reacting to what I posted, engaging, asking questions, providing advice. Then... I opened twitter back up, looked at numbers, compared them, and became angry at myself again. Comparison is the thief of joy indeed. Several years ahead, fire emblem three houses comes out and with it dimilix hits me like a sack of bricks (affectionately). Another new ship! And the fandom was active, I could fit in here, maybe! And I'd like to believe I did, if only because the fandom is just so truly relaxed, given my unfortunate decline of my mental health it was probably the only sort of fandom environment I could exist in. Still, I kept comparing myself, kept being dissatisfied with the direction my art was taking. I had all these symbolic ideas, things I wanted to try, wanted to be more like the artists I looked up. Wanted to do my own stuff, original art, instead of confining myself. But any time I did do so the reception was lukewarm at best, nonexistent at worst, so I stuck to fanart that became increasingly removed from the canon. Which, still super fun and honestly we were all just screaming into the void of time between the two years until three hopes came out, delusional fanon felt very much encouraged. Again, loved and still love the general vibe of the dmlx community (stares lovingly at DTF and For Years). But still, I wasn't satisfied with what I was doing, and my motivation to draw at all regularly died off for months at a time, which really isn't ideal when you're trying to feed the all-devouring behemoth that is the algorithm.

This October I tried something I hadn't done since 2018 - inktober. Back when I did it it was just 31 days of increasingly delusional ChikaRiko (are we seeing a pattern here), this time around I wanted to be "self indulgent" and draw only original art, loosely oriented on two lists of prompts. Of course, I didn't finish, still haven't, but I'm only missing a few prompts now. But!!! I've drawn!!! More in these 3 months than I have in recent years, and my ideas aren't slowing down yet, I keep coming up with new ones on the daily. It just feels so, so Good to find joy in art again. Best of all, I felt no need at all to share this stuff anywhere but the small discord server I've been nodding for years, with friends who at this point weren't really expecting art from me that matched their interests. I was finally drawing for me and me alone, so the response was of no importance to me, and the moment I dropped a finished piece I started the line art of the next one. Of course, I'm slowly unleashing everything into the void that is Tumblr and while any notes delight me, the number really doesn't concern me much anymore.

Not that all my fanart didn't spark joy to me! I just have too many things I wanna get out of my head that aren't very fanart compatible at all.

Fandom is weird and wonderful and I don't really remember a time in my life where I wasn't in any fandom at all, but frankly, my mental health and self image is a mess, and most social media actively does more harm than good to me, despite the friends I made.

Either way, I'm finally, finally for the first time in years excited to see what the future brings for me and art, how I'll improve, what I'll draw over the next year.

#4am thoughts #but like nice warm thoughts #anyways dmlx fandom is still the best <3

[fallout-lou-begas]

has anyone else noticed tumblr crashing intermittently throughout the day? the twitter influx seems real, more real than i think anyone expected despite the rumors and jokes. i imagine tumblr hasn't had this much traffic in years.

but admittedly i'm kind of worried that it's going to come with skyrocketing server/upkeep costs for the website but no correlating increase in advertisers or other revenue, unless venture capitalists or other investors view tumblr as the right candidate to fill the social media power vacuum and just throw money at it, kicking the can of needing to actually make money sufficiently down the road

and like, yeah, fuck advertisers, and it admittedly is kind of funny that the tumblr userbase has been especially and notoriously hostile to any and all attempts to make money off them since the website’s inception, etc. etc. etc., but without money then tumblr's not even going to turn shitty, it's just going to go into that long dark night, and honestly before elon musk started taking over twitter i assumed this site wouldn’t live to see 2025 before the bottom gave out and the plug got pulled

and i would say that losing this hellsite (affectionate, derogatory, and everything in between) "isn't the end of the world," but i’m basically just a hobbyist. however i know an uncountable number of artists who depend on their reach on either twitter or tumblr for getting commissions or otherwise selling their art, and that's the income that they literally live on. if that income disappears they are fucked. the entire publishing industry has put all of its eggs in the twitter basket for scoping new talent as well, so independent writers looking for an actual book deal get fucked too.

what’s the alternative? artists and writers bow before the altar of fucking tiktok?? a video-only platform that prioritizes being immediately and aesthetically digestible and pretty above all else?? maybe if you have a perfectly put-together watercolor studio or a tropey fanfic novel with the names ctrl-f-replaced. i’m not saying it will become impossible to find but it will become much harder to find actually good, substantial, original, meaningful, complicated art on the internet if both twitter and tumblr go south due to mismanagement and/or no money, not only because there will be no central place to find that art but because the artists capable of producing that work probably won’t be able to make it at all if their ability to find a paying audience on a single, well-populated, and convenient website is obliterated. this is also why “just go to pillowfort” or “just go to co-host” is not a solution, because artists need money now and can’t afford to just wait for other sites to get big.

the worst aspect is that, despite everything, you can still post porn and exist as a sex worker on twitter. if musk’s twitter either finally bans it or just collapses before it even gets the chance, i feel certain that there will never be a site of as much significance that allows porn ever again. small scale like pillowfort is good for some but if you’re a sex worker who needs people to pay your for sex or sexual content for necessary income then it’s like the rust belt factory got shut down. i don’t think there’s any solution besides either a massive and complete restructuring of the internet and the content allowed on it or a massive and complete revolution of society that makes things so that people don’t need income, from selling art or sex on the internet or otherwise, to live.

#my real dark road that i cannot allow myself to go down is wondering what climate change will do to the infrastructure of specific websites #and the internet as a whole. truly absolutely nothing can or should be taken for granted! #louposting #(cow staring at the beach image) man.

[bedtimestoriesforbrokengirls]

This... Is BGNN

Things you might want to know, for Mar 23, 2023:

‘Choke Me Daddy:’ The Dangerous Truth About Breath Play Memes — If this were a “how to do breath play safely” piece —or even a “can breath play be done safely?” piece— it would be unremarkable. But it’s really just a carefully phrased clutching or pearls, with its journalistic sensibility established in its opening anecdote about how people don’t always mean the things they say online. That’s some keen insight, folks.

Low-rise denim shorts a poor choice for early spring wear — Depends on who’s wearing them.

Ai Weiwei’s Lego Version of Monet’s Water Lilies

Sex Worker-Led Payment Platform Shuts Down After Being Cut Off by Processor — If cryptocurrency can’t work for sex workers and erotica creators, then it’s utterly pointless.

Sex on the beach: pressures of extreme polygamy may be driving southern elephant seals to early death — It’s tough out there for an elephant seal pimp.

David Lynch knew how to make moments go viral before ‘going viral’ was a thing — He’s always known that art makes the biggest impact when it has a life outside the frame… when it infects the viewer and turns them into a semi-conscious collaborator. So… yeah.

Feral Hogs Are the Worst Invasive Species You've Never Thought About — You don’t have to convince me, buddy.

You’re Thinking About ‘Life’ All Wrong

Are Roblox’s new AI coding and art tools the future of game development? — This is genius on the part of the Roblox people. They’ve already made great strides toward turning game development into a casual activity, and generative AI will smooth the process even more.

Adobe made an AI image generator — and says it didn’t steal artists’ work to do it — The good: Adobe has trained their model using rights-cleared sources, so you can’t be sued for using their generated images. The less-good: I feel like the results should be viewed more like customizable clip art than some kind of human/machine collaborative painting… ultimately, Adobe owns the copyright to anything the model spits out. Even if they choose not to assert those rights… they have them.

Nick Lachey Ordered to Attend Alcoholics Anonymous, Anger Management After Altercation — Love is blind, like Nick’s rage.

How the Cinematography in ‘It Follows’ Trains You To Be Paranoid — We need to watch this on the stream… it’s a remarkable film.

Giant whale sinks 44-foot boat, sailors rescued — Whales are assholes.

'Pretty Baby' docuseries looks at Brooke Shields' controversial young fame — My older cousin somehow managed to get me into Blue Lagoon with her when I was a pre-teen… no telling how much flirting she had to do with the ticket-taker to pull that off.

ChatGPT comes for radio — Radio’s been dead for a long, long time, and ChatGPT is made up of the lifeless, stitched-together scraps of human existence. So it’s Frankenstein’s monster coming for a zombie.

Butters from South Park is getting the hero edit on TikTok — Let’s get this straight, motherfuckers: Butters is a hero everywhere, not just on TikTok.

★ It’s Game Over on Vocal Deepfakes — Yeah, as of now, audio recordings are no more reliable than signatures on a piece of paper or a pinky-promise.

Dancers Sue 7M Films Claiming Owner Runs a ‘Cult’ — I’ve gotta tell you, this feels like the least-fun sort of cult I can imagine. And I can imagine a lot of things about cults.

Amazon layoffs will shut down camera review site DPReview.com after 25 years — Amazon is demonstrating a shocking disregard here for an irreplaceable source of information.

#news

[faisdm]

The one downside to Tumblr, compared to say, Twitter, is that Tumblr just doesn’t care about your original works. It is painfully difficult to get people on Tumblr to give even a single shit about an original comic, story or game. It’s not a new thing, of course, it’s been like that for over a decade... but it’s always disappointing, and if you’re new here and thinking “maybe someday if I get really good and get published, or get really popular in a fandom, they’ll care!” No... sorry, they won’t, and you need to know that, or you’ll keep trying to please them and slowly get worn down by it as nothing you do seems to get you anywhere, even if you’re giving them everything they loudly proclaim they want.

It’s bizarre; people on Tumblr would rather invent an entire non-existent movie by rich cishet people and pretend it has gay subtext- subtext! Not even text!- than read original queer works by queer creators and discuss and celebrate them! Like, FFS, Tumblr, LOVE YOURSELVES. The best you can imagine for yourselves is hypothetically being queerbaited!?

And don’t get me wrong, I love the shared creativity of all the posters and things and the in-joke of the made up gangster movie, but coming back to Tumblr after a while on Twitter, hoping for a “better place” I’m inevitably reminded of why I always end up drifting off it. I want people to read my work; I put a lot of effort into it, and spending time on a platform that aggressively doesn’t give a shit while proclaiming “boy, I wish there were more things like [describes exactly my work]... but there aren’t, so we’ll just have to pretend the characters from this straight series by straight people might have maybe not been straight!” is just....EUGH. It’s tiresome! People on twitter will take a chance on it! People on Tiktok will give it a go, and even Facebook! It has thousands of subscribers, it’s on a Tapas program, it ran a pretty successful Kickstarter, and I’ve been published multiple times, so it’s clearly not a bad comic... and it has everything Tumblr claims to like in it! Sword lesbians, political metaphors, meme jokes, autistic and nonbinary representation, positive bisexual rep... AND it’s made by a long-time Tumblr person from the fucking Homestuck fandom! (over ten years as admin and VA on one of the biggest Homestuck projects that exists, an artist on not just fan albums, but two of the official albums!) What more can I give you to convince you this comic is for you, Tumblr!? I made it for you!

The problem with Tumblr is that everyone talks like they’re super open-minded and totally interested in supporting marginalised people... but they’re really not? They’re actually interested in curating an image, and if “supporting marginalised people” is part of that image, somebody will reblog content about the concept of supporting marginalised people. But you’re marginalised in publishing and hoping Tumblr will actually support your work focused on themes and groups underrepresented in media? Tumblr won’t help you, because people on Tumblr people only care about a thing if you can make it fit within the narrow band of “on brand” things that they’re already into. So you actually have to have a massive fandom already before Tumblr will feel like your fandom’s content has an audience and so is safe to share as part of the brand you’ve curated.

...and sadly, that’s why for original creators, Tumblr can never replace Twitter, even though Twitter is the worst; because we need to find people who will actually try new things, and Tumblr people don’t. They’ll just sit there, reblogging the same stuff about “what if these two canonically straight white men in suits cuddled a little bit?” And then make the tired excuse that “Well, I HAVE to do this because nobody provides the real queer content I would totally consume if it was real!” and waving that very real queer content in their faces will just result in them pretending not to see it.

[culturenosh]

Are the VMAs irrelevant?

For many years, The Grammys were built around the "Grammy Moment" - a cross-generational, cross-genre ideal that was meant to celebrate recorded music as an art form in all of its permutations. They were intended to illustrate the broad appeal of the American music industry's products, and to point out the connections between, for instance, Macklemore and Madonna. These performances were artificial and self-congratulatory, but the logic isn't terrible: take two seemingly contrasting musicians, build a bridge between their styles and themes, earn buzz and profit for advertisers.

We can say something similar about the VMAs, except the prototypical "VMAs Moment" isn't about music at all. The artists featured at the VMAs might have important and resonant things to say in their work (I will always go to bat for Britney Spears' artistic bona fides, for instance), but that's not the show's value proposition. It's about the art form of celebrity - or the promise of such. We're promised a platform to watch famous people be famous, to demonstrate the value of fame to society. When celebrities who practice the art of fame differently collide in MTV's pop-culture coliseum, the narrative result can echo for decades.

And yet every year the VMAs seem to be fighting for their existence. The original VMAs ceremony in 1984 was slated as empty, meaningless, and invalid; since at least the mid-2000s, the show has battled accusations that it's old-fashioned and irrelevant. In any given year, the VMAs are the worst that they've ever been, a sure sign that the show can't go on. And then, a few years pass, and what was once the nadir of pop culture becomes nostalgia-bait, held up as an example of when celebrities mattered.

In the moment, I think, we're always hyper-aware that celebrity is a function of marketing, and that MTV itself is a compromised platform to sell "youth culture" back to us. During the ceremony, we see all the interstitial moments that remind us that our favorite celebrities are essentially just theatre kids who go lucky, that pop culture's gatekeepers are corny and desperate. Then, as time passes and the music industry creeps closer to total collapse, we forget all that. What we remember is that the show went on, and that for a few minutes, we were entertained.

[thefloofartist]

So I was curious as to your opinions on Lilith Fairen aka Team HLRT?

TL;DR: Fairen is not a good person. Block on sight, do NOT engage. I'll be honest, I don't know much about Fairen herself outside of how I've seen her treat other people and myself. From my own experience and the posts she's made, Fairen loves getting attention and does so by any means necessary. This usually means levying the worst type of internet accusations at other people she doesn't like, because on the internet, inflammatory language and causing problems will garner attention and views. The only reason I know Fairen existed to begin with was because when Celtic's Fixing RWBY Volume 5 was airing, she made several posts about it. Every one of them was a lie designed to get RWBY fans riled up and shit on the project. I was initially going to write the details for each of Fairen's lies on this post, but many of them involve other people and artists I respect, so I don't want to speak on their behalf. I will say however that Fairen's posts can be easily debunked just by watching the episodes. Fairen is not a source of trustworthy information. This is a reminder for people not to trust everything you read on the internet. Look up other sources, or better yet, look for the direct source before retweeting or reblogging a post that could contain false or harmful information. If you have questions, just ask the source or people who are informed about it instead of people with no relation to the source who gain attention from spreading misinformation. When skimming posts about or by Fairen, much of what I've seen Fairen do is call someone or something racist, sexist, misogynistic, and homophobic with little to no evidence for it. In the event she has "evidence", it's usually so misconstrued and warped by her response to make her argument that context is completely lost. More often than not, her source for her arguments are practically something she made up herself to have an artificial argument over. Fairen will also mock anyone who responds in kind to her inflammatory posts, taking their comments which she then finds a way to weaponize against them even more. From my viewpoint, Fairen doesn't appear to know how to speak normally with other people outside of insulting them. Much like CanonSeeker, Fairen also employs the use of sockpuppet accounts to bypass bans and blocks. She's been blacklisted from just about every Magical Girl fandom spaces and banned from Sufficient Velocity for where she, again, just accused people she didn't like of being horrible sexist bigots before the mods over there had enough and nuked her account. If you block her, she will stalk you across social media platforms, almost but not quite to the same degree as CanonSeeker. Fairen's already demonstrated this behavior with myself and the few posts/comments I barely make on r/RWBYcritics, even one instance of Fairen responding to my comments on Reddit on her Tumblr in realtime in the moment of me making them on Reddit. My thoughts on Team HLRT? It's nothing more than Fairen's harassment blog. Fairen is so proud about her behavior that she documented it for her audience... at least before it got nuked. The way the blog was run was reminiscent of a high school clique. The entire blog was nothing more than unacceptable behavior. There's no reason for her to treat or talk to people the way she does.

What I find most depressing about this whole thing is that Fairen doesn't appear to ever truly talk about why she likes these shows she's so keen on defending and being insanely aggressive about. From my viewpoint, she's only interested in using these pieces of media as a crutch to justify bullying people. There's nothing productive about wallowing in negativity all the time, and believe me, it took myself a long time to get out of that hole I dug myself in. It's a lesson that takes time to learn. I'll be direct: Fairen needs to get a grip and learn that this behavior is unhealthy, horrible, and much like CanonSeeker, I would recommend that Fairen take a lengthy 2 month break from social media. She should try finding something like a hobby that she truly enjoys doing, especially if it's away from any kind of digital screen. I can't stress how important it is for people to take a break from social media because of how it can impact people and their behavior. I do know that Fairen has been pulling this behavior for over half a decade now, so I don't believe she'll change, but we'll see.

#does this count as rwde? #canonseeker #answerseeker #rwde #anti rwde #lilith fairen

[angels-heap]

2! 9! 12! 19! 21! 22! that's a bunch sorry

Never apologize for giving me a platform to bitch share my nuanced thoughts and criticisms of my favorite piece of media and its fandom!

2. a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom

*screaming through a megaphone* "Top" and "bottom" are not personality types!! A person or character's sexual preferences can be fluid, and they can't be reliably inferred through observation of their behavior outside of the bedroom! Which character is getting fucked and which one is doing the fucking is completely up to the author/artist's preference and there's no point in "arguing" about it!

(Personally, I feel very strongly that Alyx pegs Gordon, but I'm not going to write an essay about it. If you get it, you get it. If you don't, that's fine.)

9. worst part of canon

On a Rail, Xen, and the strider battle in Episode 2.

Okay but seriously, gameplay gripes aside, Valve fumbled Dr. Mossman's character so badly. Her scenes take me out of the game because I can't make sense of her motivations, and I tend to quietly write her out of my fics because I just can't piece together a coherent enough picture to do anything meaningful with her character, which really sucks. Sorry Judith. You deserved better.

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

Answered here, but also, honorable mention to Griggs and Sheckley. They're just delightful.

19. you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

I was going to make a joke here about my newly complicated relationship with freehoun fanon and fanworks, but honestly, I don't really have an answer to this one, for two reasons: 1) You have to try pretty hard to find or create a "problematic" HL character or ship, by any reasonable person's standards, given that everyone's an adult and almost everyone is cool, and 2) Even if I was interested in a less mainstream character or ship, I don't think I'd feel mad or ashamed or horrified because those are really intense and potentially unhealthy emotions to have about your private interest in a work of fiction.

21. part of canon you think is overhyped

Also answered here. Bonus answer: Barney's line about owing Gordon a beer. Again, there's no subtext! It's not that deep! That's just a thing dudes (especially dude NPCs) say to each other!

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

Oh god, so many. Alyx and Gordon are vort married! Barney did some seriously fucked up shit to keep his cover in Civil Protection! Dr. Kleiner has known Gordon since he was an undergrad! Eli Vance... exists/ed! Barney (maybe) had a girlfriend, depending on how canon you think Blue Shift is! (Yes, I know that last one is a stretch, but Lauren is canon in my heart.)

#asks #anon #this was fun #please don't take my soapbox rants about questions 2 and 9 too personally #I just don't get top/bottom discourse or the idea of shaming people for their fandom stuff #and the sex educator in me can't stand the conflation of top/bottom dom/sub etc. #everyone is a switch in my heart