4am Rant On Why People Who Think “Aging Up” Characters In Fanfics And Fanart Is Gross Are Actually The Gross Ones
Okay first of all I’m not trying to get anyone to change their minds about ZADR or anything because ultimately you do you boo but “aging up” is such a bad term????
Hear me out. People hear it and be like ‘that’s gross you’re thinking of characters who are canonly 12 having sex. But it’s always been a fucking thing in media??? It’s not just aging up a character to make them be able to fuck it’s literally imagining them in the next stages of their lives and having a new way to connect with them. Plus sexy times. Not gonna deny that’s a reason, especially with my thirsty ass but it’s not the sole reason.
It’s super fucking normal to imagine characters you love as adults and thinking about what kind of jobs and lives they’d have as adults and it’s a natural progression to the story? It’s ALWAYS been a thing in shows. Naruto started with them 12, sequel series had them as 16, shitty spin off series has them as adults and all paired up with kids. People lost their fucking shit when InuYasha announced a sequel about them officially together with a kid.
And if you think it’s just anime it’s not? There’s almost always a what if episode in cartoons that show their future one way or another. The same goes for deaging them in some magic way and having an episode about them as babies or kids. Steven Universe aged him up in Future and developed his relationship with Connie. Avatar (By the way if you want to rag on a ship Aang is 12 and Katara is 14 and they are like a golden standard of ships, so hypocrites) ages them up in the comics and then in Korra and we get to see badass Toph living her best life in a swamp. Fucking Rugrats, a show about literally fucking BABIES got a sequel series where they became teenagers and literally paired them up and explored their maturing interests, hobbies and relationships because people shipped Kimmy and Tommy AS BABIES mind you.
Reimagining has ALWAYS been a thing in media, whether it’s the Powerpuff Girls from kindergarteners to teenagers or Tony Stark from a 40 year old man to a 16 year old high schooler. (Yes that’s a legit thing)
I don’t know, I’m thinking about it and it’s really not a fucking big deal????? I get that it can make people uncomfortable because they instantly think sex but that’s their problem???? There’s so much more creativity to it. I wasn’t even into ZADR in a sexual manner for ages when I got into it. Sure I totally acknowledged I would fall down that rabbit hole but I loved the headcanons of them growing up to join the resisty and take down the empire and it spiralled from there.
Idk if your first thought is that someone ages up characters solely to make them fuck that’s on you. You’re the gross one. Stop being an anti and focus on whatever the fuck you enjoy instead of bringing people down.
I’m fairly certain someone somewhere has already gotten the set to show you (or they may’ve shown up somewhere local for you), but all the same I hope this adds some happy things to your day either way!!
Right now, you have to be a team player. You cannot complain about AI being used to fuck over your industry and then turn around and use it on somebody else’s industry.
No AI book covers. No making funny little videos using deepfakes to make an actor say stuff they never did. No AI translation of your book. No AI audiobooks. No AI generated moodboards or fancasts or any of that shit. No feeding someone else’s unfinished work into Chat GPT “because you just want to know how it ends*” (what the fuck is wrong with you?). No playing around with AI generated 3D assets you can’t ascertain the origin of. None of it. And stop using AI filters on your selfies or ESPECIALLY using AI on somebody else’s photo or artwork.
We are at a crossroad and at a time of historically shitty conditions for working artists across ALL creative fields, and we gotta stick together. And you know what? Not only is standing up for other artists against exploitation and theft the morally correct thing to do, it’s also the professionally smartest thing to do, too. Because the corporations will fuck you over too, and then they do it’s your peers that will hold you up. And we have a long memory.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking “your peers” are only the people in your own industry. Writers can’t succeed without artists, editors, translators, etc making their books a reality. Illustrators depend on writers and editors for work. Video creators co-exist with voice actors and animators and people who do 3D rendering etc. If you piss off everyone else but the ones who do the exact same job you do, congratulations! You’ve just sunk your career.
Always remember: the artists who succeed in this career path, the ones who get hired or are sought after for commissions or collaboration, they aren’t the super talented “fuck you I got mine” types. They’re the one who show up to do the work and are easy to get along with.
And they especially are not scabs.
*that’s not even how it ends that’s a statistically likely and creatively boring way for it to end. Why would you even want to read that.
Or, consider this, learn an actual skill that is needed and valued in society and you’ll be paid muuuch more. If you work at Wendy’s and it only took you 3 days of training to learn your job, you should be living with roommates, cooking at home, not getting pregnant, routinely setting money aside/investing, and establishing the self discipline to not touch it (as I’ve done all throughout my 20s living in expensive ass Los Angeles). The only people who post regressive comics like this are people who refuse to better themselves and refuse to save their money. The fact that the artist drew grown ass adults with suits n ties, and not one single 20yr old with multiple nose & lip rings is beyond comical. You’re not going to be able to rent your own 1 bedroom apt as a Starbucks barista, and guillotine comics don’t put you on the “moral” side of the debate.
I’m an EMT. I’m in training to be a paramedic. I currently can’t afford to live by myself even if I wanted to in the locality I work in. Not much will change when I get my ACLS card. I can’t leave this city, all of my roots are here. I will stay and organize with my union for better conditions and compensation for my labor. All people deserve not just bread, but roses too. If you think otherwise, pick yourself up by your bootstraps since you consider yourself more worthy than the people who serve the public, and forgo any sanitation, dining, healthcare, and manufacturing services. Without the working class, you would not have any pearls to clutch, you sheltered ingrate. You’re not more equal than anyone else, swine.
To address this further:
-We need people to work in less desirable/unskilled jobs.
-We need people to have kids- ask Japan about how their rapidly ageing population is working out for them.
-There are an awful lot of adults in the UK(and I’m sure elsewhere) with what people would consider “proper” jobs, or indeed essential jobs, including but not limited to fire service/teachers/nurses/doctors etc, who are saying levels of pay are rapidly becoming too low to live on.
-Salaries that were viable or indeed good 10 years ago have not risen to match inflation. That’s why, btw, the comic shows office workers.
-But also, not everyone can work in a highly skilled niche field. They still deserve the chance to live a good, comfortable life.
-And again, we need people working in these jobs for society to function.
-No doubt you’ll say “if you don’t like it, leave to find somewhere with better working conditions” (I mean, withdrawing your labour permanently is actually a super leftist thing to do, but whatever) BUT here’s the thing, people are already doing that. People are leaving these jobs, and then staffing levels become low and the job becomes even harder and more stressful for the same money (or less in real terms).
-If we keep following this philosophy, I know in the UK we’ll end up with no teachers, no doctors, no nurses, no vets and so on…. I’m sure in other countries you will end up with no-one working in essential jobs too. So how will you cope then? At some point, your salary won’t stretch to paying everyone privately.
Honestly, I’m not that interested in someone’s idea of morality, these are just facts.
Not to mention that when you say “go and find a real job”. Who do you expect should work at the Wendy’s and Starbucks? Do you expect that only students should work there? Who do you think should operate them in weekday school hours? You NEED coffee shops, fast food restaurants, janitorial staff, and all those menial jobs that no one respects but we all need. And it’s honestly either ignorant or cruel to not expect that they can make a living off of it.
I also just want to add on but the “only people who have specific, high paying jobs should have children” is a pretty blatant form of eugenics, even ignoring all of the other issues.
Consider- lack of universal health care, affordable child care, and robust social supports for young families is turning *reproduction* into a *class gate* and that’s *deeply fucked up.*
Hi hello, I work a fairly prestigious office job making $50k a year, with PTO and health insurance. I currently live with FOUR roommates to make ends meet.
“Just save money losers” Fuck you, man. Nothing is that simple. Classist, ableist, privileged bullshit right there.
Let’s see…
I believe it was in 2018 that I was nearly the best in my niche field of study for my area, if not actually the best. I loved my job, it was incredibly easy for me (despite being a part of the medical field- no I wasn’t a nurse, I was specialized for one task, but I still had classes and courses to keep up on- especially hazmat), I had the highest success rate, AND worked in the most dangerous areas with high profile/unstable criminals without a single incident in two years. I was paid over $16 an hour, starting, while my coworker after 20 years was paid $19.
The job currently can start anywhere from $15 to $35 an hour depending on if you have or don’t have current certifications. If you don’t, you also only need a 50%-80% success/comprehension rate on courses. Mine was 100%. Always.
I currently work at a supercenter making $14 an hour in our “slow” season. Here in 2023. Why? Why don’t I go back to that job/why did I leave in the first place?
I am disabled. By no fault of my own. 40+ hours a week is not physically possible for me. And they took away the two part-time positions in my area in favor of trying to make more money by making us all full-time. Yes they literally said it’s because they wanted to prioritize their higher-paying clients at the time and could only do so (without also losing the smaller ones) by making every position full-time.
My skills are VERY needed and so sought after they’ll take people without certifications in my state if they’ll put up with the demands of the job. But the hours are actually more than full time, often with “reimbursed” travel (meaning you have to pay for it first, do everything right, and THEN you should probably get paid back for it. Probably.), High stress, no guaranteed (affordable) health coverage (especially because you’re traveling), random screenings, high risk environments, and most normal people find the work disturbing or disgusting.
When you’re in that much potential danger, stress, and risk… $16 an hour, or even $35 with how much the health insurance premiums and deductibles cost? Oh and they REQUIRE a percentage of your income to immediately go into a life insurance and/or disability policy from every paycheck because the risk is so high? Oh, and not every company is like the one I started with that will pay for your schooling to keep doing the job? It’s not worth it.
I was making more than both my other household members combined at the time, even working part time… And I still NEEDED to house with them because of the rate of rent and other expenses we had. I could afford rent on my own, sure, but not food. I WAS skilled and important and in an “impressive” and important job. And it’s not worth it nor is it enough to live on by yourself.
I should also mention I am INCREDIBLE with budgeting and money. I’m a math person , sure, but I’m also not bragging. It’s because I HAVE to be. Any wrong move and I could lose my job to my disabilities any day. I HAD to be when I was younger because every spare coin found would literally be going to whatever my parent wanted (usually marijuana when it was still illegal, and/or cigarettes, hobbies, and soda over food). I found ways of setting aside and hiding money that impresses people to this day who know I have a problem with lying.
It’s not a “you’re not trying hard enough” problem, or a “you won’t take the time to learn a better job” problem, or a “learn to budget!!!”… Or anything like that.
“Privilege isn’t the presence of perks and benefits. It’s the absence of obstacles and barriers.” Is a good quote… In my own words I prefer to also add: Privilege is also not always an absence of obstacles, but the ability to overcome them.
A03 is Back, and Please Do Not Blindly Spread The Claim That A Group Called “Anonymous Sudan” Is Behind This
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A03 is back online, and that’s great! However, there are posts going around right now blindly saying that a group called “Anonymous Sudan” is behind the attack and repeating the group’s stated goals. As A03 has already said, there is good reason to doubt that this group is being honest about it’s political motivations and affiliations. We don’t know the whole story yet, but it’s quite possible that the group is attempting to intentionally stoke islamophobia.
Please do not blindingly spread posts repeating the group’s motivation, and be extremely wary of islamophobic statements that might be coming across your dash. More information will come out in time as security experts are able to do their job and trace down the group in question.
I keep seeing posts about how Archive is (still) down… But the only time it was down for me was a little bit last night.
I was able to load the site around noon yesterday, and I can use it now at just past 11:30.
I’m confused.
And people could be all “yeah just the landing page!!”
No. The whole site was is working for me and has been whenever I have checked it, save last night. I am extremely confused. Especially when people are positing at the time about not being able to access Archive.
????
Is whatever server my interwebs is on okay??? Apparently???
Nothing like listening to someone else get breakfast in the house to have you realize the skill for which you developed being able to do the same tasks WAY quieter… Because of having to sneak around to get or do anything as a kid.
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