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THIS SHIT IS NOT SAFE!

Based on what little I know, all the newest movies and TV shows are now being released as streaming only or digital only. A year ago, I saw a trailer for the streaming release of the live-action How to Train Your Dragon movie. The trailer said nothing about releasing it on DVD or blu-ray, it just said the film is now available to stream exclusively on Peacock. Months before that, I saw a trailer for the streaming release of Inside Out 2 and it said it would be streamed exclusively on Disney+ and no mention of releasing it physically.

This sort of thing isn’t just applying for movies. I’ve learned that Sony and PlayStation are in a few years no longer going to be making physical discs for their games, meaning that sooner or later all PlayStation games may become digital only. Not gonna lie, since the PS4 era, all PlayStation games I’ve had are all digital because I figured that retail stores wouldn’t have the game I’m looking for. Not to mention that these days it feels like getting a modern game on retail doesn’t matter because you can’t just put the disc in the console and play the game, you have to download it too. The only reason I’d want a game on retail is to save space, but if going digital is where it’s at now… Well, someone I know had a very paranoid opinion that if all video games are going digital only, it’d mean that sooner or later those digital stores would shut down in the future meaning more lost games, not to mention that stores that sell used games would go out of business meaning more unemployment. I can’t blame them.

Well this blog isn’t about PlayStation or the future of video games. I can probably tolerate video games being digital only now, but I still believe in video game preservation.

What I probably can’t tolerate more is movies and shows being digital only. I can’t say goodbye to DVDs.

The problem with streaming services like Netflix and Hulu is that some of the stuff they have for streaming is usually for a limited time, and when that time is up, they’ll stop streaming whatever that media is. There’s also the fact that these services have a subscription if you want to watch these things commercial free. I can’t afford that kind of thing. Thankfully, my parents are paying for all these things, but for how long?

That’s why I believe that having a physical copy of your favorite movies and shows should be the way to go.

You won’t have to deal with commercials or monthly subscriptions and you don’t even need internet access to watch these.

I have with me on DVD the complete CatDog series, the complete Courage the Cowardly Dog series, the first 3 seasons of Rugrats and the first 4 seasons of SpongeBob. Best of all, I don’t need to bother going to some bootleg streaming site to watch a low quality recording of these shows. That’s not how I roll.

Many of these shows here are among my favorite childhood cartoons. I bought these at a movie store at a mall I go to, not online. But there are plenty of shows that I miss watching since I was a kid that I wish had DVD releases. Some of those shows do, some of them don’t, and even the ones that do are pretty pricey.

The DVDs I bought here weren’t that expensive. That same store I bought them at was also selling the complete Hey Arnold series, but it was being sold for at least $80. Why is it so expensive? Well, the complete Hey Arnold series would include all 5 seasons, the Hey Arnold movie, and the series finale special. As much as I would love to own it, the price wasn’t worth it.

As for shows that don’t have DVD releases, some of them only have their first seasons on DVD. Shout Factory got the distribution rights to release the complete CatDog series. They also got the rights to release only the first season of The Wild Thornberries on DVD. That’s the only season of that show that is on DVD, to my knowledge at least. And this is a show that I would die for just to watch all seasons. This is a show I really miss watching and haven’t seen in 20 years. The problem in my case is that I never saw how it ended, I never saw the final episodes. The closest thing to the finale was the crossover movie with the Rugrats, unless you’re the type who thinks that crossover specials are non-canon. Even if the finale wasn’t anything big, I’d give anything to watch it in high quality, with end credits, without having to go to some cheap streaming site to watch a low quality recording of when it first aired on Nickelodeon.

But The Wild Thornberries is just one example of that. To my knowledge, Courage the Cowardly Dog is the only classic Cartoon Network show where CN themselves were able to release the complete series. On the other hand, CN was only able to release the first season of Johnny Bravo on DVD, but not the rest of the series. I’m not even sure if CN released any of their other classic shows on DVD.

Remember how I mentioned where I bought those DVDs? They were sold in the section that sells kids & family movies. As I was browsing, I couldn’t find anything related to any of Cartoon Network’s old shows. I’d give anything to watch the complete Ed, Edd ‘n’ Eddy series on DVD if something like that existed. But the odds of me obtaining something like that are low. I’m well aware that you can stream Cartoon Network’s old shows on HBO Max, but in my case, I don’t even know if I’m still subscribed to that. My parents use YouTube TV which has HBO, which means they probably aren’t using the HBO Max app on our Rokus. But many of Cartoon Network’s old shows aren’t even available on YouTube TV. Heck, you can probably stream Nickelodeon’s old shows on Paramount+, but I don't even know if we're subscribed to that too.

The only streaming services I’m limited to using are Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, Peacock, Amazon, and I think Apple TV. Disney+ is probably the best because it’s commercial free and the way things are spread out feels well organized. For some reason, I was having a hard time logging into Netflix with my dad’s account and was forced to start my own account. But I don’t even like the recommendations Netflix has for me. I had to tell my parents that the live-action How to Train Your Dragon movie was exclusive to Peacock just so we could get Peacock. It is very likely that Peacock is also gonna exclusively stream the Super Mario Galaxy Movie and not release it on DVD or blu-ray. I really love that movie, and not having a physical copy of it means that I have to make sure my family keeps using Peacock.

Ironically, my mother doesn’t use any of those services. She just buys and rents movies on Amazon. She told me that if streaming services don’t have what you’re looking for, it’s better to just buy these movies digitally. That probably upsets my father who’s in charge of our bills, because if my mother is always using Amazon, no one in my family is using those services meaning more of our money is being spent. Me? I’m too busy playing long adventure games to have the time to use those sites and they never have what I’m looking for.

It’s not just childhood cartoons I miss watching. There are plenty of anime out there that I never took the time to watch. I don’t have Crunchyroll and I’m too scared to even get it, but that could be because I have a particular taste in anime. Netflix and Hulu have anime but that’s extremely limited. Those sites never have the anime I’m looking for. I seriously doubt that buying them digitally on Amazon is gonna make me feel better, because most anime distributors don’t actually release any of their anime on DVD or blu-ray.

Even if there is an underrated anime that has a DVD release, it’s very likely bootleg.

I hope I don’t go to jail for sharing this information. Last year, I bought a bootleg DVD of the Danganronpa anime. It looked legit at first, but once I played the disc in my blu-ray player, that’s when I realized how cheap it looked. It was low quality looking, and when I tried to use the settings to switch between English and Japanese dubs, it didn’t work, it just stuck with the Japanese dub with no English subtitles. If that wasn’t enough, the menu setup featured character sprites from Danganronpa V3 but NONE OF THOSE CHARACTERS ARE IN THIS ANIME! Furthermore, the DVD wasn’t very specific about which anime it was, to be clear, there are 3 different Danganronpa anime, the Danganronpa 1 anime, the Despair Arc and Future Arc. This DVD was just two discs with disc 1 featuring all episodes of the Danganronpa 1 anime and the first half of the Future Arc. Disc 2 featured the 2nd half of the Future Arc, all episodes of the Despair Arc as well as the Japan-only OVA Super Danganronpa 2.5 which has no English dub. No wonder the menu setup wouldn’t let me play this in English.

By comparison, I have official blu-ray releases of the Senran Kagura anime and the Neptunia anime. One detail I will note is that these blu-rays include the Funimation logo as Funimation at the time distributed these blu-rays. The bootleg Danganronpa DVD doesn’t have the Funimation logo, that’s something you should look out for before you suddenly buy a bootleg DVD of your favorite anime.

This video by a Malaysian YouTuber has better information about bootleg anime DVDs.

If you like that one, this other YouTuber has a video about bootleg DVDs in general (and the potential dangers of owning one).

This same YouTuber also has a video about the decline of DVDs and blu-rays.

In conclusion

I don't know how to best end this but I'll try my best. Because DVDs are facing decline, it means that bootleggers are gonna take over that business. It would be dangerous to search online if the complete series of your favorite anime or childhood cartoon was on DVD because the seller is bound to be a pirate, even if they were selling these things as legit. If I can't get my favorite movies or shows on DVD and at the same time chose not to give in to streaming services, then I can't watch what I want to watch.

(Sorry to use Project Hail Mary as my soap box, but I couldn't get this scene out of my head all day and we're running out of time.)

The KIDS Act will kill the internet as we know it.

Contact your senators. Tell them not to let it pass the Senate.

The act claims that it will not require sites to use age-verification in order to access them, but these sites will most likely have no choice but to do so in order to avoid legal action from the government should a child be exposed to something "harmful" on their platform.

If that doesn't convince you, then the fact that this bill is being lobbied for by Roblox and Discord should. Roblox, the same company that silenced THOUSANDS of CSA victims and prevented them from getting their day in court. The same company that failed to protect the children on their platforms. The same company that failed to bring predators to justice and allowed, and even ENCOURAGED, them to run rampant on their platform. And Discord is complicit in all of it too.

Should this act get passed, freedom of speech will be forever restricted online and children across the nation will SUFFER.

Tell your senators to vote NO.

You can use this site to find your senators and get more information on the act itself. It even includes a script you can use when calling: https://protectkidsnotplatforms.org

Kids shouldn't be on the Internet, nor should the government be in charge of their safety. It should be the parents who are making sure their kid isn't on the Internet, and if are, are not exposed to violent or gruesome shit. Parents make it a problem that their kid was exposed to something not appropriate for them on the Internet. But it should be the parents fault, not the internet's fault. The Internet is not in charge of your children's safety. You should be in charge of it.

The Internet has been KNOWN to have violent, disturbing, and inappropriate themes for children, and it's not a suitable thing for children. They should never be exposed to it, rather than be dependent on the Internet. Kids SHOULD be outside or drawing and getting hobbies. Not consuming the same AI video depicting sexual themes and abuse. For those AI videos, or any adjacent like those videos back in 2010-2015 on YouTube, they are semi at fault for looking suitable for children. Bit it's as well the parents fault for not monitoring what their children watches.

By now, parents should be fully aware of the consequences of the Internet and what the Internet has.

Children should start being exposed to the Internet around preteen, once being FULLY informed on the dangerous and signs to look out for. Because kids are dumbasses, I was a dumbass kid.

This whole KOSA bill is such bullshit. The government shouldn't be in charge of the children's safety on the INTERNET, a place notorious for making things inappropriate not matter how innocent an app may seem. The government shouldn't be in charge of what your children consumes, YOU SHOULD BE. And if what I am saying isn't clear ask questions.

Besides, the KOSA bill, is just for monitoring and putting you in a box. It was NEVER about child safety to even begin with, mind you.

As I'm sure you know, the KIDS Act, which includes KOSA and other age-verification bills, passed the House and now moves onto the Senate. 267 representatives voted yes, 117 voted no, and 47 did not vote, with a decent number of Democrats voting no.

While this is bad news, the good news is that we pushed thousands of calls in opposition and there are still opportunities to stop these bills. Richard Blumenthal and some key sponsors of KOSA in the Senate DO NOT like the House versions of KOSA/the KIDS Act because they want the bill to include a duty-of-care provision. This duty of care provision has been widely contested, as the House of Representatives opposes it, while those in the Senate support it. While many are saying it's DOA (dead on arrival) in the Senate because of this, we must still call our Senators now to take advantage of this friction and ensure NO VERSION of these bills passes this year.

The Senate is currently out until July 15th, so please use the resources below to get ahead of these bills.

The bills passing the House are not the end, so continue to spread the word and call to oppose the KIDS Act/H.R. 7757!

If you can, PLEASE call your senators to reject the KOSA bill and the KIDS act

They both claim to "aim to protect kids" when in reality its just a sham to ensure everyone is under surveillance with mass ID verification checks which have a 50/50 chance of being being leaked to the masses

Update: The Republican-introduced Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act now incorporates KOSA.

Remember KOSA, the dangerous internet censorship bill that claims to protect children? Its proponents are trying once again to push this bill through.

The newest proponents are none other than Elon Musk and Linda Yaccarino of X (formerly Twitter). You should be wary of any social media regulation bill they support. With their encouragement, Senators Blumenthal (D-CT) and Blackburn (R-TN), the bill’s sponsors, are making one last push to shove this bill down our throats. There’s some concern that they may try to attach the bill as a rider to any mandatory funding bills, though House Speaker Johnson has qualms about pushing a bill with such dire free-speech implications this hastily.

And make no mistake, the bill is still terrible for free speech. Despite its proponents’ claims that it’s now “content neutral”, it still restricts functionality related to multiple issues, so it remains dangerous to LGBTQ+, minorities, and anyone expressing dissent. Effectively the bill requires websites to identify people whom the service “knows is a minor” and restrict features that make certain content available to them. This can result in an age-gate (which might require proving your age and identity), but may also result in wholesale censorship of any content deemed too risky to host.

According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the harms include:

LGBTQ+ youth will be at risk of having content, educational material, and their own online identities erased.

Young people searching for information about their sexual health and reproductive rights will find their search results stymied.

Teens and children in historically oppressed and marginalized groups will be unable to locate online information about their history and shared experiences.

Activist youth on either side of the aisle, such as those fighting for changes to climate laws, gun laws, or religious rights, will be siloed, and unable to advocate and connect online.

Young people seeking mental health help and information will be blocked from finding it, because even discussions of suicide, depression, anxiety, and eating disorders will be hidden from them.

Teens hoping to combat the problem of addiction—either their own, or that of their friends, families, and neighbors—will not have the resources they need to do so.

Any young person seeking truthful news or information that could be considered depressing will find it harder to educate themselves and engage in current events and honest discussion.

Adults who are unwilling to share their identities will find themselves shunted onto a second-class internet alongside the young people who have been denied access to the full online public sphere.

The EFF has built a resource hub to educate and fight back against these intrusive surveillance measures. With the recent passage of the 18-bill online surveillance package out of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, it is more important than ever that we let our representatives know that this legislation is unacceptable.

As there have been significant changes made in the legislation, if it passes the House, it will have to be approved by the Senate again. So now is the time to also let our senators know that we oppose this legislation, which is bad for everyone.

We continue to oppose KIDS/KOSA and ask you to do the same.

Call your Senators and tell them: We still want you to vote NO on KIDS/KOSA!

this is mother who agreed for the KOSA act bc her kid also committed $uicide. and she blamed tech for it...

STOP THE KIDS ACT/KOSA. EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT IN THE USA YOU CAN DO SOMETING CALL OR EMAIL YOUR SENATORS OR SIGN THE PETITION.