#fischotterkunst

[veesjan]

I’m so curious too, have you done a vibe check on the Nemesis villains and if so what are your thoughts?

I was keeping up with the previews as they were releasing aaaand... I think they're kinda boring for the most part, but I'm still interested in seeing what's done with them. I think about four of them have distinct abilities with N009's gravity control, N006's electromagnetism, and N002's ice (it translates it as "freezing ability" so I'm guessing it's ice manifestation, but I guess he could also just make things really cold), and whatever this means for N003

(it was suggested in a conversation I was having about these guys that it might be instant/remote hacking, which would genuinely make him a good counter to 003, but I also think the raw translation is funny)

Otherwise, they're just straight mirrors of the 00 team's powers, which is a little bit of a letdown. It'd be fun to see how an anti-team might be posited as having powers that are beneficial but then later turn out to be designed to specifically counter the team.

Designwise, they kinda feel like... you know what their personality's going to be like just by looking at them. N009's gonna be serious, N008 also serious but girl, N007 seductive/cruel, N006 cold, N005 Strong, and so on. I don't really have strong thoughts on any of their designs both because they're not tied to characters with long design histories, so I'm mainly curious if my first impressions are gonna be right. The only things I think are worth commenting on on them individually are... I actually think it's fun to have N002 as a former cop because it gives a potentially fun antagonistic dynamic between him and Jet, and we'll have to see if they play into it at all. N001... her name is Mew, she has psychic powers, and her hair is pink, so, like. the pokemon? Why? It's a very weird reference to make.

There are also some worrying bits. The only one who has a significantly different skintone is N005 which dips into the darker skin = strong/violent trope a bit. There's also very little variation in body type from what I can tell, which only sticks out more when compared with the team- it feels very strongly of... if the 00 team were designed today, starting from their base character concepts but having no design history to go off of, you likely would not see a character with Pyunma's skintone or someone fat like Chang. And certainly nothing like the weird directions the later 00 cyborgs went, like Giant Enemy Spider or... house.

Nationality-wise we did get two new continents represented with Australia and Brazil (N003 and N001) but other than that they're from the same places as the team or from Europe, which is less of a strong gripe as I highly doubt it'll be relevant but at the same time feels like a missed opportunity. Cyborg 009's always been a globetrotting series and there are plenty of places to come from, why have that much overlap with the team?

I do like that it's a majority-female team. I wish they'd gone full inverse and had 8 girls and one token guy, but I can't be too unhappy that it's basically an even split. I also like that the uniforms have a specific color for each character- the neutral-toned base outfits still help them feel united, but the pop of color helps each member feel a bit more distinct, while also not aping the design style for the 00 team too much.

Cyborg 009 already has had the problem of having a massive cast for basically as long as it's existed, and straight up jumping from 9 to 18 (not even counting Gilmore, whoever the Nemesis cyborgs work for, and literally any side characters introduced) is fucking insane to me. They've done a "dark team" idea before with the high-teen cyborgs from Vs Devilman, and half of them barely mattered. Granted, Vs. Devilman is 3 episodes, so this series absolutely needs more runtime if it's going to make the new team feel worth it.

In conclusion they haven't really impressed me but I don't hate them. I don't think they'll become standout characters but I'm curious to see what they do with them in the actual show. If you made me pick a favorite it's probably N004.

Yeah she falls into being from the same country and having the same power as her mirror, but I like her design (particularly the dark-sclera eyes) and I'm hoping they do cool stuff with her being made out of weapons.

[rebeccathenaturalist]

hey there! fellow naturalist (albeit less experienced!) here! in regards to the AI-generated ID guides, do you have any advice for helping the general public learn to recognize them? are there any giveaways other than incorrect information a layperson might not pick up on that we can tell people to watch out for?

Hi, @fischotterkunst! It's a messy topic, to be sure, but here's what I've been seeing of these AI-generated texts, at least on Amazon:

--If you sort your search for "foraging book" or "mushroom hunting" or whatever search string you use by "Newest Arrivals", you'll notice that there is a glut of books that have come out in the past few weeks. Yes, there are always new books, but this is at a higher than normal rate, which suggests AI is behind at least some of them. There ARE occasionally real authors' books that just happened to come out recently, so don't dismiss every single book that is a fresh release. Use the other criteria below.

--They will invariably be self-published or from some publisher with zero online presence. Not a problem by itself; my own chapbooks are self-published on Amazon KDP. But they come out every three months, not every three days, because I am researching, writing, and editing them all myself, rather than churning out content with AI.

--The titles and subtitles are often very long and stuffed with keywords. They are obviously optimized for search engines rather than being descriptive of the book and they have a rather clunky fashion.

--Look for obvious typos and other errors; for example, in the image above we have "WILD MUSHROOM COOKBOOK FOR BEGINNER: The complete guide on mushroom foraging and cooking with delicious recipes to enjoy your favorite". It should be "for beginners", and the subtitle just...ends prematurely. Favorite what? Favorite mushrooms? Favorite cartoon characters? Favorite color? Also, while there are lot of variations on name spellings, "Magaret" instead of "Margaret" stands out as a possible fake in combination with other clues. (All her other books also have this spelling, though.)

--This is a BIG one: Who's the author? Check their bio. In the above image you'll see that "Jason Cones", the author of "The Wild Edible Plants Forager's Handbook: A Beginner's Guide to Safe Foraging, Including How to Identify Edible Plants, Learn About Their Medicinal Properties, and Prepare Them for Cooking", has a very generic picture and bio that has pretty obviously been generated by AI. If you search for him online, the only page for an author named Jason Cones is the Amazon author page--no website, no social media, no interviews, nada. Even a brand new author will at least have something other than their Amazon page, and they'll mention experience, credentials, other biographical info.

--Look at the author's other books. Magaret seems to focus on cookbooks of very specific sorts, but again they've all come out in a very short time. They also tend to often be on really super-specific niche subjects--this, again, is not a red flag in and of itself, but it's a common pattern with AI "authors". Jason Cones, on the other hand, has written over two dozen books not just about foraging but anger management techniques, acupressure, and weed gummies, and all of his titles have come out since last December.

--If all the books have the same cover but slight differences in title, it's also a big red flag. There are reputable publishers of regional foraging guides like Timber Press, but their books are written by multiple authors and have come out over a long stretch of years (plus they're a well-known publisher with a solid track record, online presence, etc.) Also notice the typos in the title and subtitle; everyone says "Mushroom Foraging", not "Mushrooms Foraging", and "Keep Track Your Mushroom Sightings" is missing "of".

--Compare the descriptions of multiples of these new books and you start seeing patterns. If you look at the images above, you'll notice that both Lorna K. Thompson's "Foraging Recipe Cookbook" and Kevin Page's "The Ultimate Foraging Guide for Seniors" have a very similar formulaic description. They start with a brief story about a person in a town or village who discovers some foraging secrets and then transforms his life, and then a list of things you're supposedly going to find in this seemingly miraculous book. This basically reads like "Hey, ChatGPT, tell me a story of a person who improved their life with foraging in two hundred words or less!" Also, the ends got cut off of my screen shot, but they both end with "GET YOUR COPY TODAY!"

I have not purchased any of these books to verify how awful the content is, but what little content I can see in the previews is uniformly formulaic and, again, reads like someone asked an AI to write content on a topic with some specific keywords thrown in. Needless to say, I do NOT recommend any of these books.

Also, I feel really bad for any actual authors who released their books in the past few months. They're likely getting drowned out by this AI junk, though hopefully they're getting enough attention for their work through their publishers, social media, etc. to get some sales. Support your real-life authors, and boycott AI!

Finally, PLEASE reblog this! It's really, really important that people know what to look for, and the more posts we have floating around with this info, the less likely it is someone's going to get poisoned by following what these books have to say.

[nightwonder7]

Willow Don't Starve 🤝 Florian Identity V (this isn't a request i'm just saying i think they would be pyro bros)

MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY!!

Orphans ✅

Set fire to their orphanages ✅

Raging arsonists ✅

Together they would be a force to reckon with, that's for sure. Crazy how I ended up in both these fandoms.

[dorkshadows]

hey there! i hope you don't mind but since i consider you the resident Journey to the West expert i figured you were the best person to ask! my brother is totally unfamiliar with the story and wants to watch a movie adaptation - which version do you most recommend i share with him?

Hello! Thanks for stopping by (and for your faith in me haha)! If nothing else, I do have a passion for sitting through every jttw adaptation known to man LOL

There are a lot of fun adaptations that don't necessarily require you to know the story beforehand. But I also think the fun comes from being able to tell the differences between the adaptation and the source material (in this case, the 1592 novel).

I'd recommend your brother start with Havoc in Heaven (1964), sometimes translated as Uproar in Heaven. It's an animated film that details Sun Wukong's rise to power quite nicely. More or less accurately too! I think it's the most interesting and best intro. to the story for someone who might not want to start with a TV show yet.

It also has two sequels that get into memorable stories from the book: Ren Shen Guo (1981) and The Monkey King Conquers the Demon (1985). All animated in the same style!

[rotten-dan-art]

idk if anyone has said this yet but how cool would it be if Wes had powers like Mr. Mime that allowed him to create invisible /actual/ barriers?

I’ve had that thought for a loooooooooooooong while nowIts like a “if they ever refresh him into a normal character, he could do that”maybe craft invisible armor at the cost of sanity like his balloons and other things i guess. good armor, gets lost easy and if not that? at least like, make fences with that hhdsfsd, 

[fieldcore]

💐🏰!

💐 - I'm sending you a bouquet! What flowers and plants would you like to see in it?

oh god uhh! i like small flowers a lot. daises, forget me nots.. any bouquet with baby’s breath and like those tiny roses is the best thing

🏰 - You get a choice between three castles; one perched on a beachside cliff, one nestled in the dark greenery of a forest, and one on the steep ridge of a mountain. Which do you choose?

uhhhhhhh forest! i really love being in the woods

[editoress]

Hello, Erik! What was going through your head when you first met Elizabeth? When was the moment when you realized 'oh no I'm in love'?

Okay so I know I asked for this, but then I got really shy!!  What the heck!!  I can safely tell you that what he was thinking when he first met me was, “Who is this idiot?”  But.  You get this, in any case.

I touched her---I shouldn’t have, I know!---just there, at the back of the arm. And she cried out, ‘Your hands are cold!’ as if it were the worst thing that could be said of my hands. And it isn’t, I assure you.... All the same, I took it poorly. ‘Isn’t it fitting that the hands of a corpse are cold, my dear?’ I asked. But she ignored me, as she sometimes does, and took my hand in both of hers. It took both, you see, to cover mine; she has very small hands; there is no hope at all of her being a professional pianist. All evening she acted as though I had offered her the worst affront by having cold hands, and berated me as thoroughly as the daroga has ever done---about what, I couldn’t say. I admit I was not listening. She was so marvelously fearless, to take my hand in hers---on purpose! It was all I could think of. Even frantically composing after she had left did nothing to organize my thoughts. In fact, I had no idea what I was feeling until I received her gift later: a pair of gloves, black, and thickly lined against the chill.

I never wear them. It infuriates her. Despite that---or perhaps because of it---they are very dear to me, those gloves.

[foxships]

🥺🥺🥺 (WHAT a Wholesome meme how excellent)

so........... CATHY IN THE MANGA............. 

hello yes i am a Huge Fucking Lesbian

look how cute she is??!!! she’s so happy watching zack get electrocuted!!!

she makes such GOOD EXPRESSIONS in the manga like holy shit. i’m just. a massive lesbian. she’s so hot.