ProPranksterPropaganda

@whocaresifwearecrazy @makaversecolon3 Jussst on the off chance that this revives COTDP (which it may; but Pack 11 sure didn’t so who knows?).

(Apologies for the terrible Notes app drawing)

Mentos: Ok, so Jack’s new ideas were greeting cards, warping selfies, sorting trivia—

Ester: Jerri WILL like that one.

Mentos: Word matching craziness, and Talking Points again.

Weird Orange Guy: But, uh, no slideshows this time. I’ve been told there were slideshows in the 7th pack.

Mentos: …(taps her spinal cord to her “face”) Do you have a name?

Weird Orange Guy: It was either Todd or Jim. That vortex did a NUMBER.

Ester: Toddjim?

Toddjim: That works. Who’s Jerri?

Mentos: Time traveler.

Toddjim: What do they look like?

Mentos: (doesn’t look up from her notes) Normal.

It’s “Professor Samuel O. Strogenoff”

Proof from a Jackbox Games TikTok:

“This book should be taken off of shelves for featuring–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative

“Schools shouldn’t teach this book in class because–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative

“Nobody actually likes or wants to read classics because they’re–” you are an anti-intellectual and an idiot

Literally right after I saw this post, I saw another post in a discord chat for BOOK EDITORS in which an outspokenly liberal editor talked about how Nabokov should have never been published because he wrote about p*dophiles and described women's bodies in ways that made her uncomfortable. She described his writing as "objectively terrible" and said she wanted to burn his books. And other editors were bringing up classics they didn't like and talking about how they wanted to throw them in the trash. This wasn't like a light "unpopular opinion!" conversation. This was actual book editors talking about how books should be destroyed and censored.

There is something so scary and toxic in global culture right now. The revival of fascism is influencing everyone's mindset and approach to art, regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum.

I see far more books being censored today than when I was a kid. Librarians handed me The Catcher in the Rye, The Sexual Politics of Meat, and Animal Farm when I was literally 8-11. My mom would never have taken a book away from me. I read everything from the Tao Te Ching to the Qur'an to atheist texts under my desk at school. Teachers thought nothing of it or encouraged it. Books seemed universally acknowledged as sacrosanct to me.

Now I can't find any adults who don't hesitate or want to make exceptions when it comes to censorship. Even the most liberal social activist librarians I know go, "well except for book X..."

Actually, I did reports on book banning three separate times with three separate teachers, with three separate sets of parameters so I was able to write about the same topic in different ways, but this is specifically about the report I did in university. The actual specs for the report included that we were supposed to complete some kind of study or poll (this was not a science class). I put the questions out on a couple of forums I belonged to at the time and asked a few IRL friends as well. A lot of the questions were standard for this sort of thing, I think - were you ever assigned to read a banned book, did you ever read banned books on your own, did you read/were you assigned them BECAUSE they were banned or did you find out about them being banned later, what's your opinion on banning books, etc.

But there was one question I asked that ended up reshaping the entire thrust of my presentation: "Are there any books that you think SHOULD be banned, and if so, why?"

Here's the thing. Most of the forums I was posting on were fan spaces for a book series that, at the time, was one of the most banned/challenged books out there. It's a fandom that I have since entirely distanced myself from, that I one hundred percent do not recommend to anyone, that I will actively attempt to dissuade people from reading or talking about, and that I would like to not be popular anymore. I'm sure most of you reading this can guess which one I'm talking about (I won't name it or go into specifics because I don't want to trip any filters unnecessarily). But it was KNOWN that these books were banned in a lot of places. A lot of people wore the "I read banned books" badge with pride. I fully expected that the answer to that question would be a resounding "no" from the forums, and that I'd maybe get a few affirmative answers from one of the other spaces.

I was shocked. Not only did a lot of people come back with either "not exactly but I think we should keep [author] or [book] out of the hands of children" or "yes, [book]/anything by [author] should be banned because XYZPDQ", but not a single person who responded gave me the same answer. The only one I remember - keep in mind it's been almost twenty years - was that one person specifically said The Bone Collector, and for the "why do you think it should be banned" question, they only said, "No. I'm not explaining it. It's too horrible to even think about. Just believe me when I say nobody should ever be allowed to read this book."

I highlighted that last comment in my presentation, along with several other of my "favorite" official reasons for banning books - the Alabama school board that banned The Diary of Anne Frank in 1984 because it was "a real downer", the district that removed A Raisin in the Sun because it was "pornographic", the library that took Charlie and the Chocolate Factory out of circulation because it "might be hurtful to children without parents", and things of that nature - and pointed out that all of these were the same thing. This was somebody saying "I don't like this, therefore nobody should read it, and I shouldn't have to explain why." I also pointed out that if you can't give a good reason, the whole thing falls apart, and then I quoted "Smut" by Tom Lehrer:

All books can be indecent books, Though recent books are bolder, For filth, I'm glad to say, Is in the mind of the beholder. When correctly viewed, Everything is lewd. I can tell you things about Peter Pan And the Wizard of Oz - THERE'S a dirty old man...

Go back to that paragraph I mentioned earlier, about those books that I no longer recommend to anyone. Notice how I phrased that. I don't recommend them. I will tell you all the reasons why I don't think you should buy them. I will tell you all the problems with the author, with the franchise, with the writing. I wish they were out of print, I wish they were deeply unpopular, I wish nobody would ever read them again.

But I still won't advocate for banning them.

It's so easy to twist a justification. Look at what I quoted up there! A Raisin in the Sun was banned for being "pornographic". One of the websites I used as a source responded to that accusation with "Did they read the same play I did?" At the time, I thought the comment was funny. Now, twenty years later, I realize: It was a buzzword. It was a convenient label. At the time of the challenge, just saying "it's pornographic" was enough. Obviously you're not some kind of sicko who wants to hear about all the pornographic details, are you? Freak! That's pornography! And they're teaching it in schools! We should get rid of it!

A Raisin in the Sun, for anyone who didn't study it at any point or read it (or watch the movie, which was very good), is a play/movie about a black family in Chicago in the 1960s. The family matriarch has been in domestic service for years, but she's just received a very large insurance payment from her husband's death and is retiring. Wanting to give her family, especially her young grandson, a better life, she goes out and buys a house...in an otherwise exclusively white neighborhood. The head of the homeowner's association (essentially) comes to visit them and offers to pay them a substantial amount of money to not move into the neighborhood, because segregation isn't officially a thing and they can't legally stop them from moving in, but they don't want them there. There's a lot more that goes on in the play, and I highly recommend you go and read it, but the point is that there is nothing sexual or titillating in the entire thing. The closest we get is a scene where the daughter (Beneatha, a college student) is gifted a traditional African dress from her boyfriend, who's Nigerian, and he shows her how to put it on over the clothes she's already wearing, and maybe the scene where the daughter-in-law (Ruth, a laundress) accidentally reveals that, having found out she's pregnant, she's planning to have an abortion rather than bring another child into the world/have another mouth to feed.

It's not pornographic. But someone didn't want it taught in schools, so they called it that to get it banned.

It's so easy to twist labels. If you, a liberal, agree that books with X trait are okay to ban, the people who don't want books to exist will find a way to say they have X trait, and then what are you going to do, admit that you like that sort of thing? Sicko! Freak! Pervert!

IDK I’m just sick of hearing how Business Bros talk and how many people are suckers for it. I want blunt people standing there going “hey, that guy didn’t actually SAY anything, he just strung together a bunch of nonsense corporate words to make you think ‘ooo profit’ but there’s nothing substantial here”

Auditor is basically the most hardcore, rule compliant, and honest form of accountant.

Everyone in the notes saying that this sounds so fun and you would do it for free… no really this is a legit profession that people will pay you very real actual money to do.

If you like putting things in neat organized categories and having columns of numbers that always add up correctly then accountant may be a good career for you.

what song(s) fit any of your ocs?

For Flame, it would definitely have to be Impostor Syndrome by Sidney Gish. Yes I’m in the osc.

Soline!!! Brandi Burkhardt (exclusively in the mezzo-alto range not when she goes soprano lol) is also a voice claim of Soline so it double fits!!! ^^

A short comic in honor of the upcoming episodes. I was hoping we'd get a scene like this, but since we probably won't, I drew it myself :)

(this will happen on Monday, June 29th, 2026 aka today for many)

They're once more trying to pass KOSA again so if you don't know what the KOSA Bill Is here you

KOSA is the “Kids Online Safety Act.” It is NOT as good as you think. it's SUPPOSED to keep children safe online but it'll most likley do the opposite . This bill will take away online spaces from teenagers and kids The Internet to me and others is a safe space and a comfort item.

More:

get rid privacy for ANYONE under the age of 17 or 16 (I might be good but other people...)

No ANY talk of ICE.

Take away Hotlines like domestic, home, physical, mental, suicide hotlines, and other important and safe hotlines (WTF)

No talk of LGBTIA++ topics for minors.

Takes away sex ed, gender affirming care, and other things about the human body

It will very most likely drive up the rates so $uicide

Take away safe spaces

Plus more

How to stop this and help try to click on this link (hopefully) it works children and teens deserve a safe space online. even if this goes every year and even get's denied we should still fight for it!!

LINK

Moots we need help:

Why did I do tags first? Well... This is QUITE the ramble

So... I have a little rant I need to blurt out. Especially during Stardust's part

Back at the beginning of high school, I didn't even THINK about beginning to write for myself. Not after the two shitty stories I made back in middle school (one that was generic extended retelling of fantasy short story and another that was a Wings of Fire ripoff (yes, I was into that))

Now, after a few months... It's not just a half-assed love letter to those times. It's become more.

As a bit of an analytical person, it's fun to find out why a character would act a certain way (or basically ask "why would that happen and is it logical?"). for example: a narcissistic character is planned to manipulate another not only so the former could feel powerful and 'on the top', but so the latter could stay in line and side with them. Is it logical for them to behave like that? From what I've seen (and knowing why the character would go down that path); yeah, it is.

As a not-quite-a-storyteller though? Well, there's the bug. However, I've overcome this by the power of script writing; basically, you only indicate the major parts without going too into details most of the time (examples; setting & what it looks like, the time itself, who is there, and so forth) & let the dialogue move the plot forward. You can still make your characters move, but the inerractions are the main focus at hand. It's made it easier for me so I don't just go "he said she said they said blah blah blah" all the time (which was a personal struggle for me, so it's nice to have a structure that doesn't require that). It's pretty neat and I'd recommend it to you if you want to give it a shot!

But of course, I can't talk about my personal project without talking about the characters themselves.

Back in middle school, I was dreaming up an object show I wanted to make. What would it be? Contest? Non-contest? What would it be about? Would it BE about anything?

Eventually, I settled upon a pretty solid premise; fictional alien version of me tries to navigate normal object life and finding out stuff that would change everything about themself (while also having the plot point of 'defeating a villain'). While it looks like it didn't change much over time on paper, a LOT did.

Characters were cut and put in, art style was improved, lore was changed DRASTICALLY, and I eventually started the project after AT LEAST ONE YEAR of the ideas existing. Let me tell you; you did NOT want a story where the main character shared a soul with the "alternate version sister" and had to defeat LITERALLY THE FUCKING GOVERNMENT of all things and also had super sayan versions at one point– DO YOU SEE WHY THE CHANGES HAD TO BE MADE YET!?

So yeah; cast may have changed, story may have become different, but I said I was going to talk about the CHARACTERS, so... How are they?

Well, we've obviously got the protagonist; me but even more annoying! While it's always been a thing for them to figure out something about themself they didn't know before, what it is has... Changed, to say the least. Spacedust was obviously an alien from the start; I mean, they crash landed from SPACE for crying out loud! However, while it is the thing they discover, the contents of it went from "shared soul with counterpart" to "partially the same alien species as the one the ANTAGONIST is".

Sure, their relationship with Stardust is DEFINITELY a slippery slope, but to learn you're the same thing as who you realized is the bad guy? After they gave you what you wanted; RECOGNITION? Now THAT'S the more unsettling lore drop! And who doesn't love an emotional cast of characters?

The one deuteragonist who stuck by since the start was... Boring. But for some reason... I just couldn't get rid of Victor. But how? They were just the quiet one of the group who stuck around JUST TO EXIST? Well, truth be told... He's part of one of the ships I still like. YEP. But obviously, what is a character if they are just there for the ship? Why not make him the moral support then! But obviously, he'd break gender rules for not acting "masculine". What would I do with that? He doesn't seem to be trans in the slightest!–...

Oh. So I can make his arc dealing with being intersex and not fitting in to expectations. Okay, now THAT'S an arc! And why not throw in burnout for being the "healer" of them all? Yeah! And when they finally talk things out with Stardust IN CANON? Now THAT is how you write a character!

Jazzmine was PROBABLY one of the last additions to the main cast before the story was starting to set in. Unfortunately, she ended up filling the role of "Paintbrush Knockoff ™" for the character before her. She gets agitated easily, she prefers to be alone, and has to deal with an OH SO ANNOYING SOMEONE before they have a change of heart due to said person. Yeah, not a good start obviously. How would I make that work without it being blatant plagiarism?

Well... She's an older sister, right? Why not use that younger one of hers to show "she can handle ONE of these, but NOT another!" It's perfect! Not only would she actually have a reason to be angry all the time, but it can be boosted by the forced perfectionism that she would develop! And when she FINALLY apologizes to Spacedust (even though it's only half-assed because "perhaps I treated them too harshly"), she herself gets set free also due to the latter showing her that "it's okay to have a freak flag!" because at the end of the day? NOBODY needs to fit someone's expectations perfectly; not Spacedust, not Kiwi; not even JAZZMINE HERSELF! And you know what? It's okay to be gay also :3 🏳️‍🌈

Kiwi... Is something? Technically, she existed since the beginning of the entire thing, but... That's a different character. And even then, I'm still SORT OF figuring her out beyond "7 year old who happens to befriend Spacedust easily due to shared immaturity", but... Maybe that's okay. She pretty much filled her role already by being a major part of Jazzmine's arc, so... What else is there for her to do? To me, for now, this is as much of a role as she needs to play. Nothing too major, but major nonetheless.

And finally, the "anti-Spacedust" who went from lesbian villain to bi disaster; Stardust. She was... The other "Paintbrush Knockoff ™" that still exists. But that anger now sterms from trauma. HARD trauma.

She's basically the one that crash-landed to where the Albiens (what Algabralians are called in canon) were (before being changed to them finding her in space). She was only raised by one person; a captured object before that was changed also to Zash; the present-canon head pilot of THE WHOLE ALBIEN SPACESHIP. things were great... Until they weren't.

After a mishap with her powers, she was caught and almost killed by Haus (before being saved by the unknown entity behind the White Abyss). After that, everything became even MORE strict with Albien culture and Stardust slowly became insane (due to the White Abyss not taking proper care of her).

While the not-so-basic backstory remained almost the same, her outcome has... Very much altered. At first, while she was painted the villain due to not having that established backstory, she was supposed to be killed by Spacedust after they struggled a bit. Then she was spared due to having emotions. And then she fully got that backstory and integrated herself as the outside member of the main cast. Now, she's more snappy than Jazzmine, less trustworthy than Victor, has VERY less trust in others than Spacedust, And while I might not obsess over her as much now (other than THIS ENTIRE SECTION APPARENTLY), she still deserves to be treated as part of the main group (even if she has a more different role than the others).

So... That was a lot, huh? I talked about who I am a little, blabbed about how I'm approaching my story, and rambled WAY too much about my precious and NOT so precious specimens... So what? Why did I do this?

Well... Truth be told, I never expected to work on the project for so long. Back then, I'd probably had given up after maybe a week... But holy shit.

THAT long? Damn. I'm impressed with myself.

So, at the end of the day... I guess this is a love letter to my love letter. The thank you to my Magnum Opus. Because even if I never finish this...