u/tesseracts

In discussions on TV shows that started out boring and turned out incredible someone always brings up Adventure Time as an example and it drives me insane.

The Seinfeld Effect refers to people who were raised in a post-Seinfeld world thinking "Seinfeld is unfunny" because they don't have the cultural context to understand how influential Seinfeld was. I think the same thing happened to Adventure Time.

Adventure Time was not in any way a normal, boring, standard cartoon for its time. The pilot went viral on YouTube because it was unique and unlike anything seen before. Despite going viral Nickelodeon rejected it, perceiving it as too weird and a huge risk. Weird cartoons with serious themes were not seen as profitable.

Adventure Time was fun, unique and interesting right from the first episode. It's unlike any other fantasy series that happened before, and the creative chaotic atmosphere builds the foundation from which the later lore and character development could happen. The later series world building was possible because the world was already interesting due to years of creative freedom and weird ideas.

The creators who worked on Adventure Time went on to create a lot of other influential cartoons like Steven Universe, Over the Garden Wall, Clarence, and Regular Show. Other unaffiliated cartoons and comics also were strongly influenced by the style of Adventure Time. This has become normal now but it was not normal when it first premiered.

On the other hand Chainsaw Man was influenced by Adventure Time and look at how that turned out.

I think the lore and relationships have taken up too much focus in the Adventure Time franchise, particularly in spin off series like Fionna and Cake, and while I don't want to drop the drama entirely I think the franchise would be better off if it could recapture some of the insanity of the first season instead of 12 hours of Simon being depressed. So that's another reason it frustrates me to see people treating the early seasons like they are unwatchable.

Edward and Ling ate a shoe when trapped in Gluttony’s stomach. This is in spite of being in a sea of blood. Human blood contains 200 to 600 calories per pint. Leather shoes contain zero calories because the tanning process destroys the nutrients in the hide. Additionally they were in the stomach for less than 24 hours and should be able to deal with that without eating a shoe.

I don't know if this entirely fits this sub but I never see anyone talk about Botanist. Ever since I went to Japan this has become my favorite body wash. It's good for sensitive dry skin, it never dries me out but it's not too weak to actually cleanse the skin. Botanist body washes have nice scents which are subtle but not too subtle. Recently they released a new foaming hinoki and cedarwood variety and I am absolutely obsessed with it. It's rare to get woody scents in an Asian cosmetic product and it does it so well.

I have also used Botanist body milk and conditioner, which are pretty good but I think the body washes are the star product. If anyone knows of any products with woody scents let me know, I have also discovered Hetras Perfumed Mango Seed Butter Hand Cream in Namsan, which has a nice pine scent. I have been obsessed with hinoki, pine and cypress scents lately, and a lot of the Western products I've tried are just kind of.... I don't know, trying too hard to be unique instead of just being natural, but I also wish some Asian products were stronger or longer lasting in their scent.

This is from official testing not online testing. My verbal IQ is 1.5 SD and my writing score is 3 SD. It's the strongest part of my very uneven IQ. I don't have an internal verbal monologue by default. I mostly only think verbally when I am trying to rehearse something I will say out loud. Even when I write I don't really think verbally in the same sense as most people and I am kind of translating my thoughts into words. When I focus, I can write well but I often make odd mistakes most people wouldn’t, such as substituting a word for something which sounds similar but has a completely different meaning.

Just wondering if anyone else experiences this. I'm autistic and ADHD and I’m not always able to identify my own emotions.

1 SD = 115

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There’s a dumb subreddit where people discuss moral questions. Someone asked recently if there was a serial killer who killed 100 women but repented and started saving women from homelessness for the rest of his life if he should be punished. Most people gave the dumb utilitarian response: he is no longer a threat to society so everything is fine.

Meanwhile yesterday there was a post showing a video in which a teenager was doing bicycle wheelies on a crowded sidewalk. A middle aged man shoved him off the bicycle. Everyone in that discussion said the man was “moral” because the teenager was “endangering the public.” My opinion is if someone riding on one wheel of a bicycle at 4 miles per hour hits you, they will fall and get injured but you will be fine. That doesn’t mean it’s perfectly okay to be an obnoxious teenager who annoys the public with bicycle antics, but it also doesn’t mean violence is justified.

The bottom line is Redditors have more sympathy for a hypothetical man who murdered 100 women than for an obnoxious extroverted kid on a bicycle. This is probably because they find the serial killer more relatable, unless the serial killer was an extroverted teenager in which case he should get the death penalty.

The hatred Redditors and people online in general have for teens and kids is insane. I’m not saying kids shouldn’t be punished or held accountable but no you actually shouldn’t be punching kids. Kids will make mistakes and be annoying, it’s in their nature, just as it’s in the nature of a Redditor to say “your house, your rules.”

The other day on social media I saw a bunch of people complaining about how humiliating it is as a restaurant worker to sing happy birthday to child. Some said you should refuse to engage in this humiliation ritual. Sorry but literally nothing about this is humiliating. People not only can’t handle badly behaved kids but also can’t handle kids just existing and doing normal things.

I bought Mountain Meadow recently and even though it is zero grit, my skin feels too dry after using it. It feels like it has no friction because all the natural oils have been removed. It’s unfortunate because I like the smell a lot.

Dr Squatch has three Total Moisture bars, Green Tea, Mango Butter, and Shea Butter. None of these seem very exciting to me, I want a unique strong smell but also a relatively gentle soap and it seems difficult to find both. Am I wrong and these bars actually smell great?

What about the Deep Sea Goat’s milk, is that a good bar?

The first bar I got from them is Coconut Castaway. I don’t find it too drying and even though I’m not normally a coconut fan I like the smell a lot. I like the smell of Wood Barrel Bourbon more but it’s too drying.

Maybe it would also help if I applied the soap with a washcloth instead of directly on skin.

I recently got Man Made Wash Sweet Tobacco and I like the smell a lot, but the product does not feel like a real body wash. It's too thin and claims to be a "3 in 1" product that also conditions, which I don't think is a real thing. It made my skin too dry. I was wondering if there are any other brands you can think of which might smell similar.

It's a very strong, sweet smell, it smells like an expensive candy made out of rare honey, whisky, spices, vanilla and woody smells. According to Google it smells like Tom Ford's Tobacco Vanille.

I only got into soap recently and I have Wood Barrel Bourbon from Dr. Squatch, which smells great, but it does not smell as strongly sweet. I also like Neutrogena Rainbath Original and Baylis and Harding Oud Cedar and Amber.

I recently got Man Made Wash Sweet Tobacco and I like the smell a lot, but the product does not feel like a real body wash. It's too thin and claims to be a "3 in 1" product that also conditions, which I don't think is a real thing. It made my skin too dry. I was wondering if there are any Dr. Squatch products that smell similar, or any other brands you can think of.

It's a very strong, sweet smell, it smells like an expensive candy made out of rare honey, whisky, spices, vanilla and woody smells. According to Google it smells like Tom Ford's Tobacco Vanille.

The obvious answer here is Wood Barrel Bourbon, which I already have and it smells great, but it does not smell as strongly sweet.

I bought the shampoo and conditioner in Wood Barrel Bourbon. I liked this smell a lot in the bar and body wash, but in the shampoo and conditioner I could not stand the smell. It was also extremely difficult to squeeze the conditioner out of the bottle and I had to remove the cap to get a decent amount out.

I'm a woman and I have never bought men's shampoo before so maybe they all smell really strong, I don't know, but the smell was so strong it kind of made me sick. I actually went back in the shower to wash it out with another shampoo. I've never had this negative of a reaction to a hair product before. The smell wasn't just stronger, it was also different and the body wash smells better.

I like all the other Dr. Squatch products I've tried so I was surprised how intolerable this was to me. I've gotten obsessed with woody smells lately so if anyone has any brands of shampoo they would recommend with this smell let me know.

I'm currently staying near Universal and want to rent a car to go paddleboarding. I'm from the Northeast so I want to see landscapes that look different than what I'm used to. Wekiwa Springs and Rock Springs Run look nice. I didn't bring a board so I will have to rent one. Let me know if anyone has recommendations and what's the best place to rent good boards.

I don't know how studios don't understand this. A strong female character doesn't need to be a total badass with no flaws. She doesn't need to be a relatable girlfailure. She doesn't need to prove she's as good as a man or have the most witty dialogue or have the ideal appearance. She needs to have cool powers.

It's the same thing with male characters. They need to have cool powers, but if they are too powerful it's boring. They have to get close to losing and then find a way to win anyway.

I like characters with emotional depth, good character development, and interesting personalities, but I'm writing this post because in these discussions nobody ever seems to consider the merit of cool powers. It's very common for women characters to be granted these powers and then never getting a chance to actually use them. It's so common I think it should have a trope name but I don't think it does. So I don't think studios have gotten the memo that these characters should both have these powers and also fucking use them.

Steven Universe was one of the first cartoons to make studios realize boys will buy action figures of women characters. On the internet, Steven Universe usually comes up when Tumblr adults want to discuss the themes, but Steven Universe was also a very successful cartoon among children who want to see magical gem battles. The secret of their success among the boy demographic is pretty simple: the women were badass and had cool powers. They weren't sidekicks for male characters or the token pink female of the group, they were the ones running the show.

I have seen a meme going around claiming Maomao from The Apothecary Diaries or Frieren don't have to be a girlboss to be successful or something. However Maomao is a very successful detective and some kind of genius. Frieren has extremely powerful magic powers. I asked AI for examples of successful female characters who do not need cool powers to be successful and it gave terrible examples such as Black Widow, Raven, Katara, and Polaris.

I'm not saying no female character has ever been successful with lame powers, and for some genres powers and abilities are irrelevant. I'm just saying most of the time the character needs cool powers.

Chainsaw Man is known for having more interesting female characters than most shonen media. The characters have personalities and they also have some of the strongest powers in the series. However even in Chainsaw Man, many of the women never really get to use their powers. Many die a premature death. The worst example of this is Asa Mitaka, who was set up as duertagonist until she had a training arc off screen, started a world war off screen and her role was relegated to love interest only. Makima regarded as a great villain, nobody disputes this even Chainsaw Man haters. Makima is also one of the only characters who really got to use her powers to the fullest extent possible. Reze is another fan favorite character, and she has probably the best action scenes in the series. On the other hand, there are female characters such as Death and Famine, who should logically be very cool and powerful, but barely do anything so fans hate them.

In Rick and Morty, Morty's mother Beth to be cloned and go on adventures in outer space while her other self remains home as a mother. Earlier in the series Beth was just a mother and a horse surgeon, but the writers decided Beth was also a super genius and also a psychopath who committed acts of violence and abuse as a child. None of this was foreshadowed at all. I assume the writers decided the female characters need a personality but have zero idea how to give women a personality. So Space Beth goes on adventures but we never really see them and her most notable plot point is beginning an incestuous relationship with her clone, which makes her husband upset. This isn't the first time incest was featured on Rick and Morty, nor will it be the last. Is incest a cool power? No.

So this post is kind of all over the place and I'm sorry about that but the point is really simple, women need to have cool powers and also use them. In these discussions I feel like people often focus on the personality of the character, is she too much of a girlboss or not enough of a girlboss, whatever, but a lot of the characters success is going to be related to her powers or abilities and how she uses them.

Early in the Rick and Morty series, there was more mystery to Rick's character. Initially you were not sure if Rick even cared about Morty because his behavior was so sociopathic. In season 3 his dead wife Diane is introduced to the story and it's not until season 5 that we begin to learn more about her. It's not until season 7 that Rick took revenge against Diane's murderer, Rick Prime.

So with the Diane plot apparently finished, the series has begun to explore Rick's psychological issues that are not directly related to Diane, but I feel like we aren't getting as much insight as I would like. Rick and Morty is trying to be a dramedy, but the drama part of the dramedy could use some more work.

In "Ricks Days, Seven Nights" (Season 9, Episode 2) Rick goes on a vacation to a planet which is exactly like Earth except it's occupied by rural people with 90s level technology. Before going to this planet he temporarily erases his memories so he can trick himself into thinking he is just a regular dude with fishing buddies and a girlfriend who runs a bowling alley. Gradually, memory erased Rick discovers he is actually a genius and tries to disable getting his memories back because he does not want to return to his old life. However, even without his memories of his murdered wife or alcoholism or horrible space wars or whatever other traumas he has, Rick's awareness of his own intelligence makes him miserable. He stops caring about his buddies and feels disconnected from humanity as a whole. He gets his memories back and feels just as unhappy with his memories as he did without.

Yesterday, the final episode of this season was released, "Field of Dreams." In this episode, Morty gets his own portal gun and uses it to find a dimension with a family who initially seems more loving than his own, but his new Jerry turns out to be a nut and destroys his portal gun. In this dimension, Rick quit portal research after Diane was murdered and has a happy life as a college professor with a big house and loving girlfriend. Morty approaches Rick and convinces him to complete the portal gun. Rick becomes absolutely obsessed with the portal gun, and the research turns him into an alcoholic, makes him miserable and drives away his girlfriend.

So, it seems like there is a common theme here. The smarter Rick gets, or the more aware of his intelligence he gets, the more miserable he gets. This isn't an inherently bad plot, and based on my descriptions in this post, maybe it does not sound bad to you. However, I just feel like something is missing. What exactly is it about being intelligent that makes him so miserable? I actually think it could be really interesting to explore how being intelligent makes life difficult for Rick. Life can be isolating for intelligent people, and this is a problem which is often seen as humblebragging and not taken seriously. However in Rick and Morty it honestly just comes off as a little pretentious because it never goes any deeper. We don't get Rick's internal monologue or see much insight into his thought process, and I think we need more. It just comes off as whining that he's better than everyone. Rick is canonically the smartest guy in the universe and could definitely invent a cure for alcoholism, and he also has access to every Rick in the multiverse if he wants smart people to talk to. So what's his excuse exactly?

The basic ethos of Rick and Morty is, since there is a multiverse, nothing matters and life is meaningless. This was kind of funny and edgy when the series first began over 10 years ago, but after being repeated for years without any deeper insight it just seems childish. Nothing about the multiverse really inherently means life is meaningless. We have also established Rick is capable of being happy. He was happy as a college professor, he wasn't drinking, and he was capable of building a healthy romantic relationship. He even told his students the multiverse means nothing means anything or everything means everything, or something like that. I get that inventing a new technology is probably stressful, but being a college professor isn't necessarily easy either. Perhaps it is over-ambition that makes him unhappy, but when he was on the 90s planet, being smart alone was enough to make him miserable without any particular ambitions.

The much maligned Pickle Rick episode is actually the closest we get to actual psychological insight into Rick, because this is the episode which introduces the therapist Dr. Wong, who has some intelligent criticisms of Rick's behavior. Unfortunately the Dr. Wong plot doesn't really go anywhere, because any time Rick progresses he quickly regresses again.

We also don't get a lot of insight into what makes Evil Morty different. Evil Morty is probably the best character the series has right now, but all we know of his back story is he got sick of Rick's shit and also ended up a genius somehow. What makes him more sick of Rick's shit than the other Mortys? Who knows. We don't know how Rick Prime ended up such an asshole. Diane, the woman in refrigerator of the series has no personality beyond being "the wife."

The lesson of Rick and Morty is, if you're a scientist don't invent anything cool because you will definitely become an alcoholic for some reason.

I want to get one for camping, but also as a guest bed for my apartment in case friends come over. Based on reviews it seems like this is the most comfortable air mattress you can get. I already have a smaller size and it's quite comfortable but I want a larger one.

I was interested in getting the queen or LW but they are a bit too wide for the narrow portion of my van, and I want to sleep in the back of my van. My question is, would getting one too large for my van and squishing it into my van work? Or is that a dumb idea? The LW is the right size for the wide portion of the van but not the narrow portion. The Queen size would be ideal if my friend and his girlfriend visit but it's obviously going to be too big for the van.