Recession-core in figurine form

Your Labubu Might Be the Most Honest Indicator of a Global Recession
https://www.milleworld.com/labubu-economic-recession-indicator/

All of this points to the same underlying truth: people are adapting to scarcity by aestheticizing it. When people can’t afford abundance, they turn to objects that feel meaningful, compact, and emotionally loaded. That’s where Labubu enters the chat — not as a toy, but as a talisman.

For real though. I think it's telling that it's not actual teen girls who are into these toys, but grown Millennials who are pushing 40 and still can't afford to buy a house. So on one hand, these stupid little things aren't that deep; but also,

As philosopher Byung-Chul Han notes in The Burnout Society, modern individuals are no longer disciplined by external forces. Instead, they’re coerced internally by a need to perform, optimize, and consume under their own volition. In this framework, buying a Labubu isn’t a childish indulgence, but a full-on coping mechanism as a small act of self-soothing in a system that’s rigged for extraction.

Once again thinking about Tenna

This is my conclusion to an essay about "analog nostalgia" comics that I'm getting ready to pitch...

( Read more... )

...and I just think it's neat that everyone who played the recent chapters of Deltarune saw the old CRT television who's in danger of being thrown away and instantly developed an intense emotional attachment.

I've got an essay about this coming out on Sidequest btw! It's titled "Deltarune Remembers How to Have Fun" (ETA: it's here) and fuck yeah it does. I'm once again playing Chapter 3 and thinking, you know, this is what Zelda is supposed to be like. Just hanging out with (internet) friends and discovering weird secrets and finding doofy ways to break puzzles without worrying about discourse or whose post got how many notes or whatever. Good times.