it/its | 19 | Latest Obsession: 🥊🏞️ | Art Suggestions: Open | DA: ChosenCatGuns | I don't kin Sniper TF2 YOU do
696 posts
Matt-theater - I Eat Fears - Tumblr Blog
🌟🥊The Punchtober list of 2024 !!!🥊🌟
You came up with prompts, you voted, and here are the results !!! Additionally, this time around, we're giving the SPO and Arm Wrestling crew some love !! Of course, you're still allowed to draw punch out characters outside of those games as well !
As always, combine prompts or skip prompts and do this challenge whenever you want !! Draw, write, craft, edit, just have fun and don't overexert yourself !! The challenge starts on October 1st, but you're allowed to think of what to create ahead of time. Remember to tag with #punchtober 2024 !
Note: palette can be intepreted as either palette swap, using only the colors on a character's sprite to make their art, or however else you want ! Be creative :]
if the idea of 'fat people are hot' makes you so agonizingly uncomfortable that you have to pop up with 'fetishization' or 'glorifying' or 'not everyone--' please consider that your discomfort with my fat body being hot is a You Problem and i am not interested
Made my girlfriend a cake to celebrate her getting on T the other day.
It was a success
You'll never know how strong you are until strength is your only option."
From the heart of Gaza, these words become more true than ever. I am Bilal Abed Rabou, and I stand before you as a survivor of five wars, an academic student at Al-Azhar University and a software developer from the besieged Gaza Strip. I witnessed the devastating effects of these conditions firsthand
.
We were a family, living in peace, love and warmth. But everything changed when conflict and despair swept through our lives. Living in Gaza means confronting ongoing conflict, struggling against poverty and the lack of basic necessities to live. Life is very difficult, and even the simplest tasks seem impossible. Yet, despite all the chaos and pain, we remained grounded by the warmth of our love and the strength of our spirits.
Even six months ago, everything changed. Our once home turned into a mess and everything we cherished. Since then, we have been lost, clinging to a world of uncertainty and despair. We left our badly damaged home with only a few things. Since then, our lives have been threatened
with every passing minute.
But now, there is no longer a reason to stay in this place full of suffering, where we are deprived of even the most basic and important rights, education, security and peace.
Our hearts hurt because of all this injustice. We were willing to endure anything to keep our family together and provide comfort and care for our father in his time of need.
With each passing day, our despair grows and our burdens grow heavier. We need your help to break the cycle of suffering, rebuild our shattered dreams, pave the way to a better future, and reunite with our family. Your support is not just a lifeline; Rather, it is a beacon of hope in our darkest moments.
Here you will find our whole story
And here is the direct donation's link
Emergency: Help Evacuate My Family From GAZA WAR
Dear Humanity,
I'm Haya from Gaza , from a family of 8 people: my parents, two sons, and four daughters (two of them suffer from allergies).
I've witnessed the evidence of the tragedy that has struck our lives in Gaza, where my family and I have survived amidst numerous previous wars. But today, we face the most dangerous and fierce battle in the current war. The urgent need intensifies for us, as we have nothing left and are unable to secure our basic needs such as food, water, and safe shelter.
Here is our story - On October 7th, our lives changed forever, my family and I evacuated from northern Gaza to southern Gaza, hoping to return soon, but it wasn't meant to be. Our home was surrounded, burned, and then completely destroyed, Our home, once a fortress of hope, now lay in ruins, a stark reminder of our shattered dreams.
The night before we left from the north to the south was terrifying. Shelling sounds were everywhere, making a loud noise that felt like it went through our souls. Every explosions shook the ground like earthquakes, sending shockwaves of fear through our trembling bodies. filling us with fear. The air smelled of destruction and blood, making it hard to breathe. When dawn came, we saw the devastation around us, realizing our home was now a symbol of loss and despair.
We ran into the streets and with each step we took into the unknown streets, we felt as if we were plunging deeper into the abyss of our shattered existence, leaving behind everything we own in our home: Clothes, important official documents, the car, and literally it's almost everything - the enormity of our loss weighed heavily upon us.
Our home it was where we found hope, safety, and made precious memories. Losing it felt like losing years of our lives, leaving us adrift amidst the wreckage of our shattered existence.
A brief video depicting the devastation that struck our home and our entire neighborhood in Gaza.
Desperate Plea: Escaping Gaza's Allergy Nightmare
I, Haya, suffer from severe allergy to penicillin-derived medications, and my sister, Amal, also suffers from severe allergies to medications from my family such as Paracetamol and Ibuprofen.
These allergies create a deep sense of fear and anxiety for us, as we live in a constant state of tension and fear of anything that may require a visit to the hospital. We fear being given inappropriate medications due to the unavailability of suitable treatments in Gaza because of war or lack of awareness and not informing the doctor of our allergies, which could lead to serious consequences threatening our lives.
MY Father Income
Our dreams are heading towards oblivion in the labyrinth of an uncertain future
My story, along with my siblings, represents a united team of four individuals, three of whom are skilled programmers and one graphic designer. We work as freelancers in the world of freelancing.
As for my younger sister, she is a student studying at the College of Architecture. She has always carried a big dream in her heart, a dream of being part of changing Gaza, of making it more beautiful and better. She looked forward to the day when she would receive her degree and start building this dream. But the beginning of the war changed everything. The destruction of infrastructure and universities cast shadows of despair over her dreams.
When I think of my brother in Belgium, I can't help but feel deep sadness. He has been suffering from unbearable anxiety and insomnia since the outbreak of the war. Sleep eludes him at night, and his physical and mental health collapses under the weight of these heavy burdens, negatively affecting his performance at work. Problems and challenges pile up in front of him without the slightest opportunity for rest.
We all feel psychological pressure and extreme anxiety. The war hasn't been limited to external attacks but has deeply infiltrated our daily lives. We search among the rubble for a little safety and the basic resources for survival. Every day comes with a new challenge that we must overcome.
As we sway amidst the rubble of shattered dreams, our souls wrestle and our hearts beat strongly challenging the ravages of war.
Our parents earnestly seek a way to rescue us from this hell, feeling the heavy responsibility for every moment we spend under the shadows of fear and destruction. They dream of a safe place where they can build for us a better future, filled with security and hope, for we deserve life in all its meanings of comfort and peace.
Perhaps this fundraising campaign represents a light in the midst of darkness, it is indeed the only hope we cling to firmly.
I appeal to the world as a whole to hear my cry and the mournful cry of my family in Gaza. We need the helping hand that reaches out to wipe our tears and build a bridge to safety.
Your donation is not just a donation; it's an opportunity to rebuild life and brighten a better tomorrow. Be part of our hopeful story, for we need your hand to start anew.
The purpose of the fundraising campaign
The goal of this fundraising campaign is to rescue my family - my parents, my siblings, and me - through the Rafah Crossing to Egypt, which currently requires $5000 per person. This campaign is our only chance to stay alive, and I humbly request your assistance at this critical time. I will provide you with a comprehensive breakdown of the expenses, committing to transparency and clarity.
All of our important links are here https://linktr.ee/hayanahed
Verified by :
⭐️ operation olive branch, number 26 on their spreadsheet. (On Master list)
⭐️ Project watermelon,line 249 on their spreadsheet. Or you could see it as number 212 here is the photo for more clear proof
Thank you for your kindness and support.
.جزاكم الله خيراً
yours sincerely;
Haya Alshawish.
Plush toy collection: Yay or Nay
I have a ton of plushies/ stuffed animals😁
Hey-o my name is Matt [it/its] and welcome to my personal/art blog! Nothin' special here just doots n such :P Hope you enjoy your stay non the less!
![Hey-o My Name Is Matt [it/its] And Welcome To My Personal/art Blog! Nothin' Special Here Just Doots N](https://64.media.tumblr.com/4a38ff5b16338a98404e6f346f9594e5/f66604d1617eb61e-3b/s500x750/907d1708a9ea99b15edea123cd2d4bea9696d6fe.png)
Side Blogs
@matt-the-second-coming | reblog spam/fandom archive (?)
@matts-self-soda-ships | self shipping
@matt-imagines-popcorn | writing blog
![Hey-o My Name Is Matt [it/its] And Welcome To My Personal/art Blog! Nothin' Special Here Just Doots N](https://64.media.tumblr.com/f52234d5d4800ede117c5ce3dd3bcc47/f66604d1617eb61e-ce/s500x750/373d140655a9571ca5d8241d5989b4c9b88e96fa.png)
![Hey-o My Name Is Matt [it/its] And Welcome To My Personal/art Blog! Nothin' Special Here Just Doots N](https://64.media.tumblr.com/e3313ce72d1d0070b78fcaed00d8748b/f66604d1617eb61e-c7/s250x400/26cee3387fe2b00d2216a7d995b5542285f4e336.jpg)
ATTENTION TF2 FANS.. COMIC 7 IS REAL AND THEY’RE ACTUALLY WORKING ON IT !!! WE ARE SO BACK.
Original post from Twitter here
i like my art style. no i dont. yes i do. im lineless. im great at lineart. im bad at lineart. my hands are shaky. i cant do anatomy. i can do anatomy. i draw cartoons. i draw realism. im a painter. im an illustrator. i blend out colors. i use cell shading. i use the stabilizer. i dont use the stabilizer. i know my art style. i havent found my art style. how to find your art style. my hands are stable. im deficient in vitamins. ive been drawing for years. im a beginner. im intermediate. im a professional. i use layer blending. no i dont. i use 8 sketch layers. everything is on one layer. i like my art st
Piracy 101 for beginners
Hello friends, it is I, your favourite anti-capitalist. After a lot of interest from people looking to get into piracy, I have compiled a guide for anyone who wants to become a pirate but doesn't know where to start. This is a long post, so I'm gonna put a cut here, but if you want to find out, keep reading!
This information is all up to date as of September 2023.
OBLIGATORY DISCLAIMER: all of this stuff is from my personal experience with torrenting, but please use your own common sense - piracy is a crime in many parts of the world, please stay safe and be careful.
Always remember that PIRACY IS AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Okay, boring stuff over - let's get started! I'm going to try and be as comprehensive as I can and there is an FAQ section at the end, but do feel free to send me an ask if you want something clarified!
Before you begin
Before stepping foot on your pirate ship, there are a few safety things you need to know about. These are essential because they'll keep you and your computer safe when pirating.
VPN. This is the single most important thing that you need. Basically, when you connect to the internet, your device is given a fancy little number by your WiFi network that basically shows your location - this is called an IP address. Now, if you're doing something a Little Bit Dodgy, you don't want people to know where you are and which network you're connected to. This is where a VPN comes in. VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, and what it does is basically makes a private little bubble by encrypting your connection and routing it through a different server in a different country, hiding your IP address and keeping you safe (overly simplified but that's more or less it). Basically, your IP address will say you're in Japan when you're actually in England. Deception! There are a lot of VPNs on the market, and a lot of them are paid, but if you're broke like me, Proton VPN is completely free, has really fast servers, and it's super secure!
A good adblocker. A lot of sites are full of pop-ups, trackers and spammy viruses, so an adblocker is a must. If you're on Firefox or Chrome, uBlock Origin is an amazing free extension that does the job. For Safari, I recommend AdGuard (or, y'know, switching to Firefox).
Okay, so you're all VPN'd up, connected and adblocked. What next?
From my personal experiences, there are two main types of piracy: online piracy and torrenting. Also, please note that usually, I pirate films, so I'm not the most knowleadgable about software/music piracy, but I'll try to be all-encompassing.
Online Piracy
Online piracy is kind of like Piracy Lite. I'm calling it online piracy because it's using the regular internet (clearnet) to access sites which provide films/books/files over the Internet. This kind of piracy is usually more accessible, and there's a strong chance you've already partaken in it!
Online piracy for films
You're probably familiar with sites like hdtoday.tv for watching free movies - they're something of an open secret. The way sites like this work is that the actual video files are stored on external servers - that is, they're not on your computer, they're on some server somewhere else. The website is basically just a viewer that allows the video files to be relayed over the internet to be watched on your laptop. Online piracy is more about access than owning.
Pros
Really accessible. You don't need any other applications or anything fancy - just open the site and watch!
Online piracy streaming sites are not actually illegal. Yep, you heard that right. There's a lovely loophole in the law that defines piracy as the downloading and distributing of copyrighted content. Because on piracy streaming sites, you are simply viewing the media, and not downloading it or sharing it, and also because the sites are readily accessible, you have plausible deniability and are not breaking any laws!
Instant relay. Instead of waiting for a download, online piracy allows you to start watching immediately.
Relatively high quality files. Usually, the videos are pretty good quality (expect about 720p) and there aren't any weird unremovable Mongolian pop-ups.
Subtitles. Online streaming sites are usually really good with a large selection of subtitles in different languages.
What you see is what you get. You don't have to wait for a download only to find it was corrupted - usually, defective files are spotted and replaced pretty quickly and if they're not, they usually have multiple servers that you can switch to.
Lightweight. These sites don't usually use too much bandwidth, and as long as you have a decent internet connection, you should be good.
Cons
Buffering. This is probably the single most annoying thing about these sites - if your internet connection dips, the video will buffer. You don't need to worry about this if you have fiber-optic super-speed connection of whatever, but it makes watching things pretty infuriating sometimes.
Loading issues. See above - it's prettty annoying to try to skip to a certain point in a film or scrub back, because the file sometimes just won't load.
Pop-ups. Usually, an adblocker will take care of these, but these sites can be buggy and full of re-directs/ads/hot singles in your area.
Quality. 720p files are fine if you're watching a film on a laptop, but if you want to have a movie night on a big screen or a projector, it's going to be a little underwhelming.
Annoying mirror sites. Because of the dubious legality of the sites, oftentimes the same site will have lots of mirrors (remember, the site itself is only a skeleton viewer to play the files, so the sites don't vary much one to another). Oftentimes, certain mirrors wil be added and deleted meaning you might have to hop around different sites, which is annoying.
Torrenting
Torrenting is probably what you think of when you think of piracy - file-sharing and strange documents and downloading things. I know this all sounds scary, but it really isn't! Torrenting is simply another way of file sharing - instead of downloading from a single source, torrenting is using an internet protocol called BitTorrent that basically allows multiple users to share little pieces of a file with each other, which allows really large files such as film files to be transferred efficiently.
Torrenting is a bit more complicated, so here's your crash course if you want to get into it.
VERY IMPORTANT: Turn on your VPN. This keeps your identity private because torrenting, unlike online streaming, is very much Frowned Upon. Most VPNs have a kill switch, which means that if the VPN connection dips, you'll be disconnected from the Internet temporarily so your address isn't leaked - I'd recommend turning this on.
To use the BitTorret protocol, you need to get an application that can run it - this is called a torrent client. I'd recommend Vuze, but there are lots to choose from and they all do essentially the same thing - plus, they're all free!
Then, you're going to want to find a torrent site. The most popular one is obviously the Pirate Bay. Look for whatever file you want.
You'll often be met with lots of different copies of the file you want, which can be confusing, so here's how you choose the right one.
Let's say I want to watch The Empire Strikes Back.
Wow, that's a lot of files. How do I choose? Well, if you look at the right of the table, you'll see a column that says SE. This stands for seeds - this refers to the number of computers ready to upload pieces of the file to you. A high number of seeds means that there are more people to give bits of the file to you, so it'll download faster. So if it's May the 4th and you're determined to watch Empire, you should go with the top file with 216 seeds. High-quality files are labelled as such, so just find the type you need and pick the one with the most seeds.
Once you click on the file, you'll be redirected to a magnet link. This is basically just a link that tells your torrent client to start getting the file, and the link should open the application automatically.
That's it! Your file should start loading in the torrent client. Once it's done, most torrent clients will create a folder in your hard drive where you can find your downloaded files and some even let you watch within the application. Congratulations - you've earned your pirate hat.
Pros
That file is yours forever. That's right - once it's on your hardrive, no-one can take it from you, ever.
No buffering! Because the file is downloaded locally, there's no lagging, pausing, buffering, skipping or glitching - just press play!
High-quality files. You can pirate in 720p, 1080p, even 4k, meaning that if you have a 4k projector or home cinema, you don't need to sacrifice quality.
Not reliant on internet - you can download movies for planes, take them to the top of Mount Everest, whatever.
Easy viewing experience. No ads, no pop-ups, no browsers, sites, glitches, lags, anything. All you need is some kind of media player and you're set.
Cons
Downloads could take time. If your WiFi is slow, then torrents can take a really long time to download, which is annoying. If you have good WiFi and a lot of seeds, it shouldn't be bad, but it's nowhere near instant.
Corrupted/broken files. There is a chance you will download a file and it'll have yellow ads for an Indian scooter company all over it.
Can't view the file in advance - see the above, you don't know if it's the right one or not until you have it.
Higher risk of something going wrong. Given the higher number of moving parts in torrenting, there are far more things that can go wrong, like broken magnet links or corrupted files.
Frequently asked questions
I'm worried about viruses/malware/etc.
This is probably the number one thing that's asked when it comes to piracy (particularly torrenting). To answer this, it's worth noting how viruses and spyware works. A virus is an executable file - i.e. it's a bit of code - that, once downloaded, messes up your computer in various ways. Basically, it's a file that makes your computer do something. Video files like mp4s are... well, very much not that. Video files are just files containing information that your computer displays, and no programs or files to run. That means that if you download an mp4 file, you cannot get a virus from it because it's just technically not possible. However, it's worth noting that if you're ever expecting a video file from a torrent and get something ending in .exe or similar instead, then don't open it - always make sure you know what you're expecting so you know if there's a possibility of a virus. On the other hand, this is very much a higher risk when pirating things like software or video games, that do contain executable files, so be careful. I'm not the most experienced in that arena, but if you're just sticking to films, you don't have anything to worry about.
Oh no, my VPN disconnected whilst I was torrenting! Are people going to come to my house and arrest me?
If your IP address is accidentally revealed for two or three seconds whilst you're connecting to the internet, don't panic, because nothing will happen to you. As long as your IP address is hidden most of the time, a two-second blip isn't going to matter. This isn't to say don't use a VPN - please, always use a VPN whilst torrenting - but no one's going to come to your house if you accidentally turn your VPN off for a moment. Put it this way - the Internet is really big, and the anti-piracy people don't have the time or the need to monitor every single person, so as long as you don't do anything attention-arising, just re-connect as quickly as you can and keep going about your day. That said - the longer you stay disconnected, the higher you are at risk, so just be careful.
Where should I store my downloaded files? They're really big and taking up space.
A 1080p movie file can easily be up to 5GB, and 4K movies can up to 100GB. These can fill up space real quick, so I would suggest investing in a solid state external hard drive. They've become very inexpensive and you can get a very large amount of storage in a small, portable drive that you can keep safe and full of your files. I have a 2TB drive that I use for my film work that does just fine with storing my torrented files.
What happens if I get caught?
The big, scary question, and I'm not gonna lie, I don't have a definitive answer. The first thing is that this will obviously vary depending on where you live, but still, I think that piracy often has a lot of over-blown paranoia about it. Copyright infringement lawsuits and the like are often reserved for really major offendors - think large-scale businesses and corporations. I highly doubt that you, as an individual consumer, would be a high priority on the prosecution list. I'm going to say that probably the worst thing that you'll get hit with is some sort of fine, but you won't be sent to jail or anything unless you decide to hack the CIA or something. This is why VPNs are so important - they'll ensure that you won't have to worry about this.
Concluding notes & more resources
Thank you for making it this far! I hope you found this guide helpful and that you have fun sailing the high seas. Once again, if you have any questions, my askbox is always open. Piracy and torrenting is, at its core, about community and sharing, and there's a great group of people online to connect with. The Reddit r/piracy subreddit also has a really good megathread of more resources, and the best way to learn more is honestly learn from others.
Happy pirating!
Weirdly Specific Artist Ask Game
Didn't see a lot of artist ask games, wanted to make a silly one.
(I wrote this while sick out of my mind last year and it's been collecting dust in my drafts, I might as well let it run free) 1. Art programs you have but don't use
2. Is it easier to draw someone facing left or right (or forward even)
3. What ideas come from when you were little
4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw
5. Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself
6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn't supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it)
7. A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate
8. What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in
9. What are your file name conventions
10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw
11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what
12. Easiest part of body to draw
13. A creator who you admire but whose work isn't your thing
14. Any favorite motifs
15. *Where* do you draw (don't drop your ip address this just means do you doodle at a park or smth)
16. Something you are good at but don't really have fun doing
17. Do you eat/drink when drawing? if so, what
18. An estimate of how much art supplies you've broken
19. Favorite inanimate objects to draw (food, nature, etc.)
20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy
21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways
22. What physical exercises do you do before drawing, if any
23. Do you use different layer modes
24. Do your references include stock images
25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by
26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended
27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with
28. Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines)
29. Media you love, but doesn't inspire you artistically
30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated
hey guys, maybe before you pirate LEARN SOME ETIQUETTE
why are these important? well, if you openly share the sites, they wil get shut down. corporations are willing to copyright strike anything. you are only going to make accessing these resources harder.
remember: LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS
if you want to share resources, don't post them on public forums like tumblr, twitter,instagram or any popular site. remember how zlibrary shut down? yall want that to happen to more sites? do you?
also like if they get shut down, people who can't access these otherwise because they don't have the means for it or its banned in their country are losing access.
Don't post links online. Only share in private conversations.
try and avoid linking the sites directly. a workaround is sharing the downloaded files via other file hosting sites similar to google drive and drop box
DON'T SHARE ON PUBLIC FORUMS. EVER. PLEASE
Use a VPN. i personally like proton vpn, it is a freemium model but the free version works fine.
These are just the basics, there are others but please keep these in mind.
so my life is once again in danger
I'm a venezuelan refugee in Spain since 2019. My focus was entirely on escaping and staying in a safe country. When I got here, I got the help of an accountant/manager to start working legally.
He committed fraud in my name without telling me and refused to take responsibility. I was penalized to pay €8600 for his mistake.
I'll add the whole explanation after the read more because you need context to understand what he did.
And now if I can't pay this thing, my residence will be taken away. I will be deported.
I've tried so hard to raise this money. More work, more marketing, preorders, asking for a loan, but nothing has worked.
I have until next month to pay it so I can renew my residence.
All I wanted was to do things right. I thought seeking a professional to handle the legal aspects of my business was the right thing to do. I thought I could finally breathe after being treated like a criminal for years in Venezuela, when all I want is to make my silly little figurines in peace.
I need to take care of my babies (cats) and my parents who are still stuck in Venezuela. I only make enough to live + take care of them, and it's become clear that I can't raise this money by work alone.
So please, any help is appreciated. Reblogs, orders, commissions. I'm so incredibly embarrassed to make this post, but I'm desperate. I don't want to be deported. I don't want to be an illegal alien. I don't want to live in constant fear again.
Here's my Ko-fi link, thank you for reading
https://ko-fi.com/marlikesunicorns/goal?g=0
and this is my shop
There's some context needed to understand what happened, so here it goes.
In Spain, you need to pay a monthly fee of €300 in order to run a business. This goes to the Social Security.
The fee is mandatory, but the government realized it was unfair to charge it from the beginning to a business that's only starting. So they established a reduction of €240 for new entrepreneurs, for 1 year. After that, they'd slowly raise it.
They also gave benefits to people living in certain areas, especially small towns. The fee reduction extended for 6 extra months with this, but only applied as long as you continued to live there for 4 years.
I lived in a small town for 1 year. Then I moved to the closest small city.
But this accountant guy asked for this 6 month extension in my name without my consent.
So then the government demanded I pay the whole €240 for each month ever since I started my business. I went through all the legal processes to ask them to review this thing but it was impossible. They ignored everything. It didn't matter that I only received the benefit for the 1 year that I would've been given anyway for being a new entrepreneur. It didn't matter that I would never be able to afford to pay this in the 15 days they gave me.
If that wasn't enough, I got sick with covid twice, and missed 4 months of work in total, months I got 0 income because they also won't ensure me until I pay the thing. So those fees were also added to the debt + late fees that continue to grow.
Summary: Basically he promised the government I'd live in a small town for 4 years, and when I moved before then (because I had no idea he had done this) they demanded I pay back ALL the benefits they had granted me in the past year.
Alternatives to Squishmallow
So as many of you have probably already heard, Jazwares, the company that produces Squishmallows, is donating to charities that support Israeli soldiers and the IDF. They’re also supporting Canary Mission, which has been doxxing people who speak out against Israel. BDS hasn’t called for a boycott against them, but I can’t in good faith spend my money on their products, and I would strongly encourage everyone who enjoys plushies to really think long and hard about if you want to give your money to a company that’s helping support genocide!
But the holidays are coming up, and lots of us enjoy plushies and were fans of Squishmallow, and were planning to give Squishmallows to friends and family this year.
Fortunately, there are a number of great plushie companies out there, and I want to promote some of my favorites in the hopes that folks will get their plushie fix from a source that doesn’t side with Israel. So without further ado:
Fluffnest
Fluffnest got their start on Kickstarter a few years ago, and I adore the round shapes of their PuffPal plushies! My favorite is Pete the Possum, which is probably the best possum plush I’ve ever seen. I’ve also got a beautiful moth from their Kickstarter and I’ve been wanting their bats for ages. They also recently had a Kickstarter for an Animal Crossing-esque video game featuring their plushie characters and it looks fantastic.
Squishables
I can’t get over the plague doctor plushies. They’re so perfect and cute, and they’ve released other variations of them called Alter Egos, like a ghostly version, an alien, or a really sweet cottagecore one! They’ve got a ton of variety, but what I like the most are the fantasy plushies. There’s a lich! There are dragons and demons! Cryptids! Biblically accurate angels! A lot of really fun stuff!
Also they do a lot of great charity work! Right now they’re doing an auction for the Food Bank of New York City.
AfternoonFika
AfternoonFika is a very small business of only three people, but their plushies are extremely cute. They tend to sell out fast, so I recommend following them on social media to stay on top of any restocks! They recently released a line of dinosaurs that are precious, and of course I love their iconic cactus cat and cinnamon bun bunny.
Jellycat
Jellycat has been around since 1999, so they’re the oldest of these companies. They’ve got great designs, a ton of variety, and a lot of their plushies are made to be cuddled on and not just displayed. All three of my tiny nephews sleep with a different stuffed dog from Jellycat. My mom has a sun and several succulents that she uses as decorations. There’s a little something for everyone who enjoys plushies!
If you have any other favorite companies I haven’t mentioned, feel free to add on! I’ve enjoyed Squishmallows for a while now and I’m sad to see their leadership coming out on the side that’s committing war crimes on a daily basis, but this is a good time to discover new favorite plushie companies! And remember, money speaks loudly. Even if BDS hasn’t called for a boycott of Jazwares, it sends a message when sales start dropping for companies that support genocide. It’s a small thing, but the little things we do can add up!
I gotta stop getting my hopes up every time something like this pops up man.
Within the same hour I discovered that Small Soldiers was possibly getting a “sequel” and had a cool ass proof of concept
… I dug deeper and find out the producers behind it are known crypto bro scammerslike dudes we live in the worst timeline 😭
