I’d argue art is a communication medium. You can communicate minimally, or you can communicate with vast detail, both require skill.

Art museums are full of work that says nothing, but passed a few gatekeepers with clout keys or shock value.

Skilled rendering with nothing to say is as unimpressive as deep ideas communicated by random spatter. The viewer isn’t getting anything from it, no matter how trendy their turtleneck is.

I take a bit of issue with this idea that “the amount of skill involved doesn’t matter”, because that’s the exact logic used to say artists shouldn’t be able to afford a living, or could be replaced by algorithms.

(And yet we easily spot and mock visually exciting Ai renderings for how soulless and empty they are.)

Yes, we’ve seen impressive high-skill ultra-real pencil renderings that, in the end could sadly be replaced by a photograph, because there was no interpretation involved.

And we’ve seen awards presented for sticking bananas on walls as a “critique of modern society.”

Art is a skill. It’s a hard skill, because it’s not a solitary pursuit solely anchored in visual perfection. If nobody can understand or appreciate your point, it falls apart.

“This is how the world ends: Not with a bang, but with frivelously cast ironic votes because lols.”

How I bet that call went:

“Agent Krasnov speaking, may I take your order?”

I almost wonder if they intentionally screw that sort of thing up so they’re not “ripping off” real soldiers’ customs.

… But I’m being way too optimistic I think LOL.

There’s so much like this in media where I’m like “You could have just asked? Like so many people could have happily walked you through making this authentic!!”

Not gonna lie I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s an Eastern European knockoff version where that’s the exact plot. Lol

THIS. And the trope is always about some ultra popular game that the entire world is obsessed with, too.

I mean yeah it might even be like that if knowing the game was the only method of discovery but, pah! Hardcore fans? They do RAM dumps and decompiles and all kinds of wacky analysis to find obscure stuff, and then they post it in the “trivia” section on a wiki and the thing hasn’t even been out a year! Lol

No paper jams ever unless it is funny or plot relevant.

“PC load letter!? Agh!”

“Damn it feels good to be a gangsta…”

I swear this show invented a lot of what we now think of as “analog / internet / creepypasta vibe/aesthetic horror”

It was so unsettling. The farmhouse was unsettling, the relatively few glimpses we got of the outside world in town was unsettling.

And yet it was also hilarious. It was so satisfying when Courage would figure out the monster’s weakness or lore, and go kick the crap out of it, or Muriel would ignorantly just whack it with a rolling pin and call it a day LOL.

Something only brilliant cartooning could achieve.

That show was SO GOOD.

I also remember the intro is absolutely awesome, and only recently learned it was a Beethoven composition. There was a neat Microsoft ad that used it too, and I was like “THAT’S THE STARSHIP TROOPERS INTRO!” lol

I noticed watching the DVDs that it felt oddly toned down in some places and not others, even when the plot would get serious.

Often their rifles sound really silly-space-lasery and they’re aiming weirdly upwards instead of at their targets, for example.

I loved those early CG shows like this though. Heavy Gear, Voltron (before the excellent Netflix one), Beast Wars…I wonder if Max Steele was any good because I never watched that one for some reason…

FL*CL

That was a bizarre one. My friend was obsessed with it and I was so freaking confused…

The airsoft episode was a really fun time though hahaha.

…oh geeze didn’t his grandpa dress as a nazi for that one or something? Man this is going back like 15+ years I just remember guitars getting pulled out of foreheads and flying irons and a weird live-action moped PoV outro…

I always thought it would be so damn fun getting an entire neighborhood in on an airsoft game though.

But I only watched it when that friend was over, because I always had at least one parent home and didn’t feel like trying to answer “what the heck are you watching?” LOL

I most vividly remember the villains, of course.

• The big purple foot fungus mobsters. “eyyeah, see?”
• The evil barber “Nauuughtyyyyy”
• And of course, Rameses. “Returrrrn the slaaab”
• Special mention: Eustice. “Stupid dog!”

Such a good show though. The things he did for love.

I loved that show’s premise and core message about confronting fear. He was always terrified and saved the day anyway.

I just wanted him to finally get a happy little dog existence lol…

What in the world LMAO.

I was like “Alright. It’s about an inanimate (magical?) object to obviously sell a toy…WHY’S IT SPROUTING LIMBS AND A HEAD?!”

EDIT: THERE’S A PLAYLIST WITH FULL EPISODES

Why?! How?! LMAO

Great point. I’m a Savage Worlds fanguy myself, and gotta admit it handles these situations quite smoothly, albeit more generally so you add some specific flavor yourself. It has guidelines for how long things take to heal, or if they’re permanent, all that good stuff, without pages and pages of specifics.

Running a random silly off-the-cuff game to share the system involved an angry monkey bartender who rolled ridiculously high on throwing a poo at one of my players causing a ruckus.

(A “ha-poo-ken!” , if you will…)

This caused a roll on the injury table. Oh did we have a laugh when the “injury location” conferred with the dice and came up “Unmentionables.”

I do like reading through write-ups like these though, because it gives less experienced GMs like me a quick understanding model for gauging levels of severity in specific circumstances, even if I wouldn’t be flipping through something like this during a game.

Lol yeah, there’s no way!

…They already know Agent Krasnov throws a huge fit if he’s told he has to share.

EDIT: argh, I know I didn’t crop it. I gotta put all these on my computer so I can bulk-snip that exact number of pixels from each image lol…

Haha I have folks there! Lived there for a bit too! Between Okie and Cali, I think now I subconsciously adjust my twang to adapt to my surroundings. 😂

Isn’t it insufferable? Agh!

I hope my version was at least sorta funny while making the point and highlighting a lot of those stupid tricks they use.

As evidenced by his preposterously plagiarized company naming schemes that obnoxiously demonstrate to the world how profoundly he missed the point of Lord of the Rings, by going team Mordor and thinking he’s the hero. . .

When above all else, he desires power.

The only reason employers still do shit like this is because individuals either don’t realize that they can sue for it, or don’t realize that lawyers will take their case.

Is this one of those instances where the corporation can/will do stuff like deploy their lawyer army to tie up the victim and wait them out with expensive and time-wasting legal process…before offering them a $50 gift card to shut up and hold the company eternally blameless forevermore?

Yo. That’s pretty extreme!

That’s another human being just like yourself, posting their likely well-intentioned observations on a situation to a public discussion forum. They’re not being actively hostile to anybody. Please try to have a little grace.

If the idea presented is wrong, attack the idea, not the individual.

The internet is savage enough as it is and we can make it better.

I sincerely hope you have a good day. <3