Adding more to 2 previous points I've made:

(On that one about Tumblr and Deviantart and sincerity).

I think people treat sincerity as an "aesthetic" rather than a state of being.

Because humans are all different from each other, so sincerity means different things to people.

But the kind of people that say "it's ok to be cringe" might associate sincerity with "cringy things".

This allows someone to still be insincere but simply add basic elements associated with cringe, to give the idea they're being sincere instead of exploiting basic notions people have.

Because it's like: When George Carlin does angry rants where he goes "YOU KNOW WHAT, MOTHER FUCKER?", is he being insincere because he's not coming off as polite and very innocent?

It's also like saying David Lynch's works aren't sincere because he didn't add very colorfull furry characters or poorly drawn anime girls in Twin Peaks or something.

It's similar to game journos thinking any game that isn't a cinematic moviegame with Troy Baker voicing a hairy white guy isn't good enough.

It's also why I don't really like that Sonic "I WANT SHORTER GAMES" image: It's an opinion someone believes it but portrayed through ironic meme culture.

With art and paintings in general, some people associate the "post modern" art playing with shapes and all with "fake bullshit, probably a scam" compared to more detailed and creative paintings.

(On that about rightwingers being proud edgelords vs leftingers being more likely to be "bleeding hearts" (Am I misusing this term?)).

I notice some rightwingers are more likely to come off as racist, which may be a sign of the fact that Trump won and they're going on a "we won too hard lol" way to the point they can't do the "look at the basic black guy that pisses off the left, who's the real racist?" thing anymore.

Meanwhile, leftwingers adopt political correctness when at some point, even Marxists thought political correctness wasn't really a good thing (And even a movement like the Nazis were labelled that).

Heads up: On July 1st, I'll be on a trip and be off-line for a while.

May come back on the 2nd or next day.

Meanwhile, I've been updating an art gallery about my characters to include texts about them.

Consider it as a "wiki" sort of.

I spent a while updating it because I wanted to make sure nothing was lost.

It ranges from explaining inspirations/influences to references for styles I'd like to achieve in the future, if I can afford it.

(And in general, stuff I like and think is cool).

Chances are I could update it a bit still.

Something specific from 4chan I think sucks, specially with /a/, is the idea of “hiding your power level” when it comes to tastes.

On one hand, it comes off as punishing yourself for being weird, for liking something specific.

On another, it comes off as “don’t let the filthy normies know or else they’ll ruing the thing you like” even though in reality, other weird nerds are more likely to be lame about things.

It does feel good to know something less popular and even getting people to appreciate it.

I even feel like saying: Maybe people have “bad takes” on stuff for the same reason why they talk about popular lame shit to begin with.

2

A specific take I see on 4chan at times is the idea that Zoomers are p0rn addicts.

Maybe addicted to complaing about it because I can’t imagine that many of them being h0rny.

On one hand, you have those influenced by Tumblr refugees in 2018 on Twitter but on another, you have the /pol/ variants with Wojak obsession.

Maybe the reason for this claim is so a guy on 4chan pretends he doesn’t give a shit about these topics, specially when there’s threads with Twitter screenshots.

But it’s still not an actual picture of reality.

Similarly, I see them go “I thought wokies loved Isreal”: Dude, everyone left leaning I see are against Israel and worry about Palestine.

I even see rightwingers going “based Israel” to “trigger the wokes”.

3

Probably late on this one but I guess my take on that Deltarune thing with Noelle is: On one hand, there's the typical case of an artist restricting themselves/their vision over what people would think of them or their fanbase. Or maybe in his situation, he hasn't seen any reaction yet and then felt like changing it just in case. But another is probably because of Deltarune and Undertale in general: In your opinion, what is the age demographic of these games? Because they're not explicit but I also never really view them as kid games either. In an even if not noticeable way, they come off as a very weird middleground, which could also reflect on Toby Fox's interests. In a way, it's a similar case with shows like Steven Universe where they come off as "kid shows but for adults".

Something I remember is Pokemon leaks from a year or two ago where GameFreak employees wrote stuff about humans and pokemons in romantic relationships. One group goes "BRUH DIDDY AHH BLUD", the other compares it to some Greek mythos but the one thing to think first is that Pokemon is the biggest property marketed towards children. Even something like Digimon can be less "pure" since it leans more towards a teen demographic.

Another example is stuff that is violent but also cartoony and never serious. A good example is classic retro FPS games. Because I recall a Wolfenstein themed mod for Doom (Wolfendoom Blade of Agony) having a chapter with a lot of explicit WW2 references and some people didn't like it. But besides the shock and anger, I wonder how many people thought first "wait, these are cartoon games that nobody took seriously" and whether or not it comes off as "edgy fanfic" like how Brutal Doom was seen as.

I also recall how FNF has puritan Zoomers in its fanbase and how some reacted to ninjamuffin990's art favs on his NG account. But there's also the fact that some of these gamedevs are big enough that there's no point in apoligizing. Omocat and Vivziepop apologized at times and it didn't really make things better for them, when the outrage mob operates in an "never forgive, never forget" way. They're still making stuff but one could always avoid a pointless/awkward moment by being apologetic or even acknowledging the angry people at all.

Also in this topic, I thought about Ruza. A game I heard about at some point and recently, had news of the dev changing it entirely and insulting his fans over it. Seems he had a brain injury that put him in an hospital for some time and I wonder if that changed him. Honestly, this is why I keep going back to writing ideas and organizing files and shit: If something happens to make, I want to make sure some of my plans and ideas are safe, if there ever is someone loyal enough to keep my dream alive.

Both sides have their share of puritans but if there’s a different between the left and right:

Rightwingers are more straightforward because all they have is thinking that Jesus would cry if they touch themselves and that Satan created gay people.

Leftwingers feel like they jump through hoops about why “X is good but Y is bad”, come up with specific terms like “male gaze”, try using academic terms and maybe even add in layers of irony or mental gymnastics about how their tastes are better or whatever.

This also means they get upset if something they like is banned, without realizing it can be traced to the standards they tried implementing.

Rightoids just go “I must be pure or else I’ll burn in Hell I don’t wanna be a degenerate”.

2

I guess in terms of “media literacy”, the right favors “lore and worldbuilding” while the left favors “themes and messages”.

So that’s why one side “seems smarter” than the other… even though they still gets shit wrong and sometimes in bad favor.

3

Between Tumblr and DeviantArt, I think DA deserves the actual title of “ernest/sincere cringe” because Tumblr clearly shows sings of over self-awareness, irony and self-deprecating.

Could be because of the occasional/“secret” ties with SomethingAwful, but DA in comparison feels rather “straightforward” with how it can be.

Because people associate DA with “lol Sonic recolor OC’s on diapers with huge feet” but DA has things that aren’t even like that and still seem weird.

An example is unusual crossovers and when they either have a basic childish art style or just use actual images of the source material.

I rememeber someone doing a crossover of Judge Dredd and Power Rangers, where it’s just them stating “which Power Ranger would this Judge be”.

The kind of stuff that isn’t even too weird or gross, just makes you a bit confused and it’s simply because you personally, don’t think the way the artist does.

Meanwhile, Tumblr’s idea of cringe is more typical: “I draw gay fat furries lol I’m kind of a freak” that is still basic compared to what DA has.

I think another factor is that Tumblr gets political at times and we’ve all seen how Tumblr stuff overlaps with politics, to the point certain concepts nowadays could be traced to Tumblr.

(I also see it as people going “I’m an adult I talk about big topics like politics, see”?).

A specific example I think of is when people treat furries as inherently LGBT: I sometimes feel like they do this because it’s the one way they don’t call furries “cringe, lame” and if they still wanted to mock furries but in a different context: It’d be “racist furries would rather fuck animals than admit someone with a different skin color can be pretty”.

Maybe another factor is the age range because DA probably has a lot of kids which is why the stuff in general is weird.

While Tumblr is mostly older Millenials.

“Why do conservatives like George Carlin when he clearly hates them?” probably because a schtick he has is “most people are fucking stupid” and that more likely occurs from internet rightwingers than leftwingers.

Think, 4chan is the home of guys going “fuck normies” and honest assholes.

Even when rightwingers obsess with religion and are anti-abortion, they still think you deserve to die or see you as a “degenerate”.

Internet leftists have the irony people who love phrases like “having a normal one?” and then there’s how they’ll tell you “woke means being nice” and I guess corporations appropriating woke culture.

In general, a good portion of “the internet left” is a result of SomethingAwful goons with troll’s remorse.

Deep down, they want approval.

You’ll barely hear someone leftwing ever say “sheeple” as a term but internet rightwingers may use “NPC” and post that one NPC wojak meme.

Then again, Carlin also used to shit on political correctness, so who knows if he’d have a place in modern political discourse.

2

If you say “Modern things don’t suck, you just got older” you’re admitting to not analyze differences in time eras and trends, and rely only on vague proverbs about “the more things change, the more stay the same etc”.

Because different time periods have different trends, events, changes in technology, culture, economics etc that do impact how people feel and think, which also affects art and entertainment.

It also reaches to realizations that some modern things can be good and some older things can be bad, so it’s not a clear “OLD GOOD NEW BAD” logic that you think others rely on.

The 2000’s are an interesting decade because of this: A lot of good stuff came out so the point people view it as “the last great era” but there’s also the seeds of what got worse in the 2010’s, that already came before.

Some even pin point a specific year like 2007 as “when it all went downhill”.

And now you have stuff like AI art where people go “suddenly, art died” as if humans weren’t already making “slop” beforehand.

It also goes back to a point I made before which was “why be anti-AI but pro remake, when the 2 paths will merge at some point?” and why it’s important to discover and preserve older works.

Games with online only methods, bigger price tags, bigger filesizes, the same bloated AAA graphics that aren’t impressive anymore, game design not being well thought out, MTX, annoying quirkly “Millenial” writing, movies with the same writing style, overused of uncanny CGI etc.

I honestly think people refuse to acknowledge certain things (Or sometimes do) based entirely on shortcut associations (If you like X, you’re of that political party etc).

(Also, “if you complain about modern games, you’re a whiny 4chan /v/ guy” etc even if you don’t make racist remarks towards characters in a Ubisoft game).

You also don’t need to be born or present in a specific time period to be able to see changes in how people act and behave.

It’s worth having these observations and aware of stuff like this, since you may also discover things to like you wouldn’t otherwise.

Otherwise, you’ll find yourself with a generic vague position until time changes to prove your point wrong: When in theory, there’s points that are less likely to have this effect.

And going back to AI: A lot of anti-AI people to a terrible job at fighting AI because it’s as if, deep down, they’re the wrong people doing it.

Like if things were differently, they’d be in favor for it since their tastes and attitudes kinda correlate with it in the first place.

Because one thing is “let people enjoy things” but I do think “good taste” as a concept is more relevant than ever, now that people want to be “SAVE THE ARTS” because if AI.

3

When it comes to diversity in media, it’s important to have a genuine point of view and interest in different cultures, specially because you don’t need “assistences” or whatever to help you with it.

But I also think that sometimes, diversity in media can depend on personal life experiences.

Meaning if a group isn’t represented, it’s not because the author hates said group.

Because depending on how someone reacts, it’d be like a tech guy getting upset if a website still doesn’t use webp files or something.

I think another issue is if people tie all of this with a specific era.

In the same way putting pop culture references and internet memes can age your game, the way you portray certain groups can also age your game.

Basically, if the culture wars do end and people treat politics like an actual proper subject again: There could be a point where people look at certain characters in a game in the same way they look at whenever a game has a “Cake is a lie” joke.

Speaking of memes, a lot of people in general seem more “meme bound” than usual.

This is the Nortubel trailer used for v3expo and the last one.

Announcing the game finally being made and a bit of a heads up about the Hirdrih game.

1

Honestly, most Youtubers deserve to be labelled grifters.

Always with clickbait thumbnails and titles made to get your attention for long videos with lies and errors, for people to put up as background noise while they do something else and then occasional sponsors for Raid Shadow Legends or whatever.

The game was rigged for years but the meta keeps changing.

For example, we used to have “Top 10 X of all time” but now we have videos called “Every BANNED Book Ever In 15 Minutes” where they only talk about some, obviously not all books (And sometimes, they make follow up videos with the exact same title but instead it’s 16 minutes, so they don’t even call it “part 2”).

I also heard about a video called “I watched every anime ever for 9 years” and it’s untrustworthy for obvious reasons.

Some few people already sacrificed their time to watch it and already pointed out errors, lies and ignorant opinions.

Because there’s always going to be others that uses these Youtubers as authorities instead of watching things on their own.

Actually, now I recall the “Anime Encyclopedia” book that also had ton of errors.

2

Something to think about is the differences between “otaku” and “weeb”

One is Japanese and is mostly about heavy passion and sometimes obsession.

The other is of American origin and comes from a made up word in a webcomic, that people used to mock anime fans before it was shortened to “weeb” and “reclaimed”.

Because a term you sometimes see is “ironic weeb” and you wonder: Isn’t the word “weeb” technically rooted in irony or self-loathing considering its origins?

(Even a weird like “waifu” is somewhat based on making fun of a Japanese accent and pronouncing the word “wife”).

Because you can’t say “ironic otaku” given the context behind it.

Like, anime/manga fan culture has this specific history/side of self-deprecating and irony, which mostly comes from the Western side.

And it’s mainly because USA is like the “main” country of the world, the one that decides where things go and is why we all speak their version of English.

So even if anime and manga is bigger to some people that Western animation/comics, certain Western mindsets still get in the way.

3

On the subject of comparing anime/manga and Western cartoons/comic, I was wondering about a Western equivalent of Evangelion, at least with its actual message and themes.

Since there’s the history of Evangelion being seen as “anti-anime” or against its own medium (Even though Anno is a huge otaku himself) when the message was more about making sure you have real connections with people.

(ME!ME!ME! was a similar case too in terms of “media literacy” discussions and its themes).

But back on the “Western Evangelion” talk:

On one hand: Imagine a show that is what people think Evangelion is, with messages about “ESCAPISM BAD, FANSERVICE BAD, NERD SHIT BAD” or something.

Then I recall Rooster Teeth making their own mech show and I think there was an episode where they said “other mech shows are propaganda” or something really dumb.

Like an actual show that shits on the genre it’s influenced by.

On another: Imagine a show with messages about how you need real connections but people twist it as “FANDOM BAD, ENJOYING MEDIA BAD” and start harrassing the creators.

Like someone makes an interesting show with a well meaning message in hopes people relate to it but instead, they get attacked on social media and even death threats.

I recall an indie game in like 2017 or something with a cyberpunk setting and a message about people being too deep in media and some people were actually mad at the game.

(I guess there’s some irony of people being protective enough of fandom culture to be mad at anything that slightly challenges the idea yet still participate in ironic memes and occasional self-depcrecation/self-consciousness over their fandom interests).

A reminder that Nortubel and other /agdg/ or /v/ related games will be on /v/3.

6pm EST today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8Od_6KnaVM

Spread the news.

Something about "troll's remorse"

2007 was when the internet was starting to get more popular among the masses, due to FaceBook (2004) and Twitter (2006) being novel.

Also the same year where FYAD was already having weird leftists, meaning SomethingAwful was planting the seeds for modern culture wars.

Maybe this is what people mean when they say “4chan was always lefty”: Anons being overself conscious because of normies were already a thing then.

At the same time, I think it’s funny to go “4chan was lefty until 2016 election tourists” because in a way, the negative reception the website had for years does come from somewhere.

So if a normie learns about An Hero or Zippocat: They don’t care what the politics of 4chan where nor if you “became a better person” by quitting in like 2016.

Because there were, in fact, a lot of horrible, even illegal things in that site, that some guys saying slurs don’t compare.

Shit, Normies might as well assume you shared the site with the worst people ever.

It’s the thing with these Troll’s Remorse types: Their “growth” stories have holes that only make normies more confused, they might as well say “I never used the website EVER!”.

Unless they want to pretend the politics they adopted in 2014 were always the standard in the 2000’s, which is also why Gen Z/Alpha get fed a revisionist idea of 2000’s internet and even anime fandom.

Same thing with people blaming Elon for making Twitter worse when they were already complaining about the site years before he got near it (Remember when ISIS of all things were allowed there?).

Also going back to the anime fandom part: There’s a chance that plenty of weebs, specially 2000’s ones, didn’t mind a certain kind of art related to anime culture.

So if you’re going to tell me that the Ken Amada social link in P3P for example is wrong: Should’ve said it in 2009, not wait years for the internet to become this oversocialized, corporate panopticon to do that now.

In that period when anime fans didn’t complain about that art, the kind of people that did were already anime haters that did “2 nukes weren’t enough” jokes.

Because depending on what standards you’re setting up and your position: You might still shoot yourself in the foot.

By equating certain art with a real dark subject matter, you’re coming off as not taking said matter seriously to begin with.

You make Zoomers go “Diddy ahh blud” and suddenly they’ll turn against you.

White people ruining the word "woke"

Honestly, if black people are going to attack white people over the misuse of “woke”: Do it to both sides.

Not just the rightwingers that post tradcath Wojak memes and complain about woke food brands, but to those that draw Hatsune Miku with their projected beliefs onto her and edit Bernie Sanders to look like Venom Snake.

Whites of both sides took the word “woke” and made it as a wrapper around “SJW” so normies don’t think much of the source of these culture war shenanigans.

Before that, people saw it as a “lol Tumblr nonsense” but the plague has been spread.

At the same time, if you want to reclaim the word “woke” back, maybe stop adopting the modern politics from these same white people.

After all, “hood weebs” complaing about “diddy ahh gooners” over anime have to come from somewhere.

On suicide

On that Twitter user that commited suicide: Some people are pointing out shit like “they supported white genocide” and “the same people crying for them were cheering for someone else’s suicide (Was it Shondo or her mom? I Forgot while writing this)”.

I still think there’s a bit of a questionable moral discussion if you mock this person over their suicide while also believing that a certain dev pushed that NITW dev to suicide over false rape accusations.

Because there’s also a clear political context in this and even guys going to the location posting Wojak memes; Whereas with “An Hero”, you had a new meme being made out of it and a specific context about someone freaking out over a lost iPhone.

Yes, that is also another fucked up context but like I said: There were no politics behind it.

(Also, An Hero happened in the 2000’s AKA the time people will tell you “when 4chan was always lefty and /pol/ didn’t ruin it”).

Because the thing with these Wojak obsessed types and Kiwi etc is the bounce between “being edgy for the lulz” and the occasional “I’m doing it for a good cause” mindset that they have.

At least with LowTax, he was so awful of a person, even his suicide was done to avoid paying his ex-wife: His own death was an act in bad faith.

Also, if you believe this Twitter user was a “victim of grooming”, only more reason to look off when you mock them.

Same shit with “those filthy muslims are ruining Europe” and then making jokes about 9/11 or the 2015 Paris terrorist attack.

Getting some facts wrong probably but I heard David Hayter never met Kojima personally, nor was he his choice for Snake.

And I think he even retweeted Blaustein once: That one MGS localizer that Kojima hated and is why Twin Snakes exists.

So it’s funny if MGS fans use him as an authority over what MGS is as if he still doesn’t hold a grudge on Kojima because of MGSV.

An interesting phenomenom is when adaptations/remakes/etc make a story change that makes the story worse.

A basic example is I think Games of Throne not letting a female character be evil, so when she does something bad in the show, it doesn’t make sense.

Maybe I forgot what that was because I never read/watched GOT but there’s other examples like this.

Also, was it Kevin Smith or Seth Rogan that wanted to make a reboot of Darkwing Duck where he’s a loser and one character turned out to be fake?

This, along with the Velma show and the Golden Axe comedy cartoon represent the worst of Millenial nerd culture: Abusing different properties into shit that has none of the appeal and feels like outright parodies.

Same thing with what Adi Shankar did to Rayman in that show.