Plagued Consoomers / Consoomer Culture - Because if it has a recogniseable brand on it, I’d buy it!

[The Backwards Man]

Man, if only there was a handy guide telling you what to do and what not to do when registering your account so shit like this doesn't happen again. Josh sure is one fat greaseball shitalian pizza-loving amerimutt for not putting that literally in the second line of the registration screen.

In the words of Joe Biden, c'mon man!

 

[Cuntspiracy Man]

Laziness is a sin as old as time. People don't see that distinction, nor that you can have a GOOD job, one that serves a important purpose while not shafting its workers. You could make all that plastic junk in the US, with vacation and benefits. But that would require the paypigs to actually give a shit where their funkos come from, to make enough of a fuss to have it happen

if funkiepoppers knew where their funkos are coming from, at most, itd make them feel even better about, and more eager to, consume them. there are many, many issues with these things, the fact that theyre chinese mass produced plastic crap is only one part of the problem, even if they werent chinese, theyre still mass produced plastic crap
if this shit was made locally and ethically, it would hardly exist, because the prospect of making samey consumerist plastic crap is in and of itself unethical, personally i dont want my town to be known for producing the world's ugliest, most poluting and least valuable landfill fodder

i think if someone was a huge fan of some cartoon or comic book series and they said "boy it would sure be neat to own a little figurine of marvel woman or something to put on my shelf"
and they went out and commissioned an artist to make them a unique, custom and one-of-a-kind clay piece.... i would respect that man so much i would overlook the fact that hes a capeshitter in a heartbeat

Even if they knew where the funkos are coming from, it still might not matter because most consoomers purchase them solely to signal their worth as a consoomer. It's all about identity and connection with a wider base of people who are buying the same or similar products. That's what Cavanaugh means by "detachment." People are thoroughly taught not to think about where stuff comes from, so people seem to imagine shelves just magically restock themselves with new stuff over and over.

Again, we are taught regularly not to think about production, producers, or the products themselves. We're just supposed to buy things. As far as these corporations are concerned, that is our lot in life: our sole purpose on this earth is to consume, consume, consume. It's like whenever Coca-Cola releases something new, your friends and co-workers need to go try it. They cannot help themselves. That is learned behavior. They truly believe it gives them a purpose in life to do this.

you got that right ol rusty my good cringelord
people feel this need to be involved in everything, to try everything, to not miss out and be a part of the trend

it reminds me of that classic screenshot, where the guy says hes so stressed from all the TV he has to catch up on
surely if you liked a show, itd be a JOY to watch it whenever you have the chance to sit down and enjoy some TV, but if youre not having fun, why do it? becaue you have to be 'up to date'
and the longer we live and the faster the trade of information occurs, the most shortlived trends are and being up to date went from knowing about that new silk trade that happened in your country 2 years ago, to watching that radical new movie that came out a couple months ago, to just NEEDING to get in on this morning's current meme before it gets old by this afternoon

 

[LinkinParkxNaruto[AMV]]

surely if you liked a show, itd be a JOY to watch it whenever you have the chance to sit down and enjoy some TV, but if youre not having fun, why do it?

FOMO is a bitch.

No one wants to feel left out but the cicle of relevancy for things thanks to social media has become so short its impossible to keep up unless you literally do nothing else but consume all day and only consume new media that its trending because investing time in something older or niche you actually want to watch will set you back. If you blink too long you'll be out of the loop again, oops,you didn't got the meme from a show that aired yesterday. you are a pariah now. Its a game you can't win and is not worth playing.

 

[WelperHelper99]

funkiepoppers knew where their funkos are coming from, at most, itd make them feel even better about, and more eager to, consume them. there are many, many issues with these things, the fact that theyre chinese mass produced plastic crap is only one part of the problem, even if they werent chinese, theyre still mass produced plastic crap
if this shit was made locally and ethically, it would hardly exist, because the prospect of making samey consumerist plastic crap is in and of itself unethical, personally i dont want my town to be known for producing the world's ugliest, most poluting and least valuable landfill fodder

i think if someone was a huge fan of some cartoon or comic book series and they said "boy it would sure be neat to own a little figurine of marvel woman or something to put on my shelf"
and they went out and commissioned an artist to make them a unique, custom and one-of-a-kind clay piece.... i would respect that man so much i would overlook the fact that hes a capeshitter in a heartbeat

I mean, you do have the statue market with limited runs. But that's expensive says the Consoomer, and they don't want a model kit either that takes time and effort to build, so they buy a Funko.

I do agree, it would be cringe to have a funko factory in your town, but it doesn't nessicarily have to be that. They could make high quality pieces targeting the collectors market, offsetting the cost of being made in the USA. Manufacturing wise, once you have the plastic injection molding machines, you can haul ass in production. As long as they wernt pumping out plastic shit like funkos, and actual good pieces/ model kits, it might incentivise them to spend less since it costs more.

 

[Spunt]

The worst thing about the Funko Pops I think is their sheer cynicism and lack of merit as objects of art. I mean a Gundam or Transformer is also a useless piece of Chinese plastic with no practical purpose, but at least some effort went into making each one look unique and interesting. A Gundam figure is at least worth looking at even if you don't know what a Gundam is because it's a cool-looking robot with an intricate design. A Funko Pop, by contrast, is just a plastic cube with a few bits tacked on to it, just enough to indicate that it's supposed to be [thing] from [thing]. The same soul-less, dead-eyed vinyl abomination, but with literally the least amount of superficial signifiers of what it's supposed to be that someone familiar with that thing might recognise it (though often it's incomprehensible, and I think that's why most are displayed in the box; without the label you might not even figure out it's supposed to be Indiana Jones or Katniss or whatever). The very essence of symbolism, the absolute bare minimum. It's not intended to be a recognisable depiction of the thing or to even resemble the thing in any real way, or carry any inherent value as a piece of art, it just carries signifiers to indicate that it's owner has heard of the thing and is a fan of the thing. It conveys so little artistic value or reference to the original that you could achieve exactly the same thing by just writing "Davros out of Dr Who" on the wall in permanent marker.

It's almost cargo-culty. A Funko Pop represents what it is based on by imitating a handful of visual features, but nothing that made the original thing worth liking. A Funko Pop of C3-PO contains nothing of the character, the costume, the actor who portrayed it, the role it had in the story, or any of the other things that made C3-PO a character that people liked. Instead it just says "I think the essence of C3-PO is that he is gold and has some robot bits." Just the most basic visual signifiers, demonstrating no understanding of the context or function of the original, like a walkie-talkie made out of coconut straw. Or it's like those fucking horrible Friedberg/Selzer "parody" films, whose idea of parodying a character was just to put it on the screen, point at it, and (quite literally in many cases) say "Hey, it's Britney Spears", without actually making any kind of joke. Look, it's a thing on the screen that looks a bit like another thing that people like! That's a reference!

 

[Cuntspiracy Man]

you could achieve exactly the same thing by just writing "Davros out of Dr Who" on the wall in permanent marker.

the visual of a person drawing 1:1 depictions of every single funko pop box, in a grid, on their bedroom wall, popped into my mind and i have to know if someone ever did it

i imagine a new one gets released and they go "oh boy, another one for my collection!" but they dont buy it just draw another box

Spoiler: sperghetti

is what you described the cause, or the effect, of how much modern media loves references for the sake of references?
not references that make a connection between your story and the thing youre referencing, but ones that are shallow and purely make you go "hey, thats a thing i know of!"
because ive noticed recently, modern shows, cartoons and movies do references in a way that feels less like they love and remember the thing theyre calling back to, or feel like the knowladge of it can further add dimension to a scene or joke, and more like the replacement for entertainment, jangling keys in front of a kid till theyre happy

 

[Spunt]

the visual of a person drawing 1:1 depictions of every single funko pop box, in a grid, on their bedroom wall, popped into my mind and i have to know if someone ever did it

i imagine a new one gets released and they go "oh boy, another one for my collection!" but they dont buy it just draw another box

I'd respect someone doing that a lot more. Even more so if it was some kind of art protest against Funko Pops. Now that's parody.

is what you described the cause, or the effect, of how much modern media loves references for the sake of references?
not references that make a connection between your story and the thing youre referencing, but ones that are shallow and purely make you go "hey, thats a thing i know of!"
because ive noticed recently, modern shows, cartoons and movies do references in a way that feels less like they love and remember the thing theyre calling back to, or feel like the knowladge of it can further add dimension to a scene or joke, and more like the replacement for entertainment, jangling keys in front of a kid till theyre happy.

I think you are correct that it's part of a broader trend of media appropriating the most superficial symbols of something that is well-liked and thinking that people will continue to like it even if they change everything else about it so long as it vaguely resembles the other thing. "Look! It's Luke Skywalker! It's Mark Hammill with a laser sword! That's what Luke Skywalker is, right?". I don't know if the soulless automatons making these things genuinely don't understand that what people liked about Luke Skywalker wasn't that it was Mark Hammill with a laser sword but who he was, what he did and what he stood for, or if they do understand these things but don't care. Because for a lot of soy-enjoying people, that is all Luke Skywalker ever was, and the genuine incomprehension from those people when people didn't like Luke as a miserable, murderous coward suggests that for many, including maybe the writers, that's all he ever was, Mark Hammill with a laser sword. Say what you will about George Lucas, but even he understood that the characters he created stood for ideas, archetypes and character attributes, and that's why so many people loved the original films in the first place. That's why so many other films tried to imitate Star Wars but failed to capture the magic, no matter how many laser swords they threw at the screen.

That's a really long-winded way of saying "I dunno", sorry.

 

[Cheeseknife]

Its a game you can't win and is not worth playing.

The older I get, I feel this becomes more and more true. It's probably healthier too. Plus your wallet will thank you.

 

[Kela de Thaym]

FOMO is a bitch.

No one wants to feel left out but the cicle of relevancy for things thanks to social media has become so short its impossible to keep up unless you literally do nothing else but consume all day and only consume new media that its trending because investing time in something older or niche you actually want to watch will set you back. If you blink too long you'll be out of the loop again, oops,you didn't got the meme from a show that aired yesterday. you are a pariah now. Its a game you can't win and is not worth playing.

It feels so liberating to not give a shit about what Current Popular Thing is. Does a world of good for ones mental well being and it's a great opportunity to revisit older material you may have missed at your own pace, rather than feeling pressured to keep up with Current Popular Things, be it movies, video games, TV shows, or collectibles.

 

[Monolith]

FOMO is a bitch.

No one wants to feel left out but the cicle of relevancy for things thanks to social media has become so short its impossible to keep up unless you literally do nothing else but consume all day and only consume new media that its trending because investing time in something older or niche you actually want to watch will set you back. If you blink too long you'll be out of the loop again, oops,you didn't got the meme from a show that aired yesterday. you are a pariah now. Its a game you can't win and is not worth playing.

I will consider you a pariah if you don't watch Barbenheimer.

 

[Cheeseknife]

It feels so liberating to not give a shit about what Current Popular Thing is. Does a world of good for ones mental well being and it's a great opportunity to revisit older material you may have missed at your own pace, rather than feeling pressured to keep up with Current Popular Things, be it movies, video games, TV shows, or collectibles.

Older movies and shows often had a purpose outside simply being a product to consume. Sometimes you hear the sentiment, "They need to make money." True enough, but one also gets the sense that artists and craftsman wanted their products to have a lasting value rather than simply be discarded when something new arrives.

 

[Cuntspiracy Man]

Older movies and shows often had a purpose outside simply being a product to consume. Sometimes you hear the sentiment, "They're need to make money." True enough, but one also gets the sense that artists and craftsman wanted their products to have a lasting value rather than simply be discarded when something new arrives.

movies were often a tug of war between the business folk and the artists
nowadays, they just dont hire artists anymore, they hire people who can draw/animate/write/make music or do any other skillset, at least to a decent level and insofar as they have a diploma, but theyre not the crazy and difficult to work with autists of yesteryear you made mad shit just because they have to drive to create

making art is now a popular thing that everyone wants to do, gone are the days of mocking the guy with the guitar who wants to make music, or the cartoonist whos job isnt "a real job". now its desirable, every ol schmuck wants to do it for the fame and money and theres no inherent gatekeeping in place to filter them and make sure only the passionate can get it, so the big suits can just pick up any ol bastard and tell em to make a movie and theyll do it nice n sloppy

this is the same reason everyone working in media is so sensitive nowadays, how theyll cry online about bullying or harassment because someone didnt love their work
previously artists used to be people who were either already familiar with the entertainment industry and thus knew what kind shit to expect, or weirdos who were bullied enough in their life to learn to laugh at it
it only recently became an influx of popular normies who just got out of art or film school on mommy's dime and are shocked to find out that the world isnt as nice to them as their life was up until now

 

[Cheeseknife]

movies were often a tug of war between the business folk and the artists
nowadays, they just dont hire artists anymore, they hire people who can draw/animate/write/make music or do any other skillset, at least to a decent level and insofar as they have a diploma, but theyre not the crazy and difficult to work with autists of yesteryear you made mad shit just because they have to drive to create

making art is now a popular thing that everyone wants to do, gone are the days of mocking the guy with the guitar who wants to make music, or the cartoonist whos job isnt "a real job". now its desirable, every ol schmuck wants to do it for the fame and money and theres no inherent gatekeeping in place to filter them and make sure only the passionate can get it, so the big suits can just pick up any ol bastard and tell em to make a movie and theyll do it nice n sloppy

this is the same reason everyone working in media is so sensitive nowadays, how theyll cry online about bullying or harassment because someone didnt love their work
previously artists used to be people who were either already familiar with the entertainment industry and thus knew what kind shit to expect, or weirdos who were bullied enough in their life to learn to laugh at it
it only recently became an influx of popular normies who just got out of art or film school on mommy's dime and are shocked to find out that the world isnt as nice to them as their life was up until now

Artists used to suffer for their art. Now it's the art that suffers for artists who are far too comfortable.

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

Over the last couple of days, I was reminded of a new thing called SHEIN, which after musing over, I thought it was a new age version of Temu.

Because of @NoReturn I have been watching videos regarding sites like these being questioned on whether or not they are scams to people doing collections/pick ups of items that they have received from said sites.

I don’t know if this was posted on here, but this video helps explain the new obsession with SHEIN:

 

[Kela de Thaym]

Shein is super cheap -both price and quality- fast fashion made with sweatshop labor, of course it’s popular with influencer-based consoomer culture.

 

[Vingle]

Shein did invite some niggers and obese influencer on a tour. Most likely hypothesis, this is the nicer fabric they don't really use aside from PR uses. Since its mostly white and well. It looks too clean.

 

[Cheeseknife]

Over the last couple of days, I was reminded of a new thing called SHEIN, which after musing over, I thought it was a new age version of Temu.

Because of @NoReturn I have been watching videos regarding sites like these being questioned on whether or not they are scams to people doing collections/pick ups of items that they have received from said sites.

I don’t know if this was posted on here, but this video helps explain the new obsession with SHEIN:

Talk of insane working conditions reminds me of this story.

Seems like very little has changed over the past decade. We shop. They drop.

 

[glass_houses]

Talk of insane working conditions reminds me of this story.

Seems like very little has changed over the past decade. We shop. They drop.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in NYC, 1911 killed 146 people, some of them children. So long as there's a way to make money, monsters will exploit the vulnerable in order to do so. We like to think that Westerners are civilised and above things like working desperately poor people to death for a pittance, but in reality, we still do exactly that, we've just moved the slave factories to places where we won't have to look at them.

 

[Cuntspiracy Man]

theyre doing tours for influencers? i gotta admit, its certainly more effort that what the usual chink-trick would put in, this is not your regular ol run of the mill sweatshop and plastic resell website, this is advanced
this worries me that Shein will successfully kick off the much deserved association it has with websites similar to it and garner a legitimate brand reputation

at the same time, it makes you wonder
if they can pump out mountains of cheap trash every day and sell it for pennies, yet they have actual designers and posses the skills and ability to construct one or two of these actual, legitimate factories and create several high quality pieces just to lure influencers in... why not become a luxury brand? why not focus SOLELY on making these few, high quality pieces by the same honest means they tout, and are clearly aware are respectable and desirable, and sell them for the expected high price of luxury clothing?

 

[Cheeseknife]

at the same time, it makes you wonder
if they can pump out mountains of cheap trash every day and sell it for pennies, yet they have actual designers and posses the skills and ability to construct one or two of these actual, legitimate factories and create several high quality pieces just to lure influencers in... why not become a luxury brand? why not focus SOLELY on making these few, high quality pieces by the same honest means they tout, and are clearly aware are respectable and desirable, and sell them for the expected high price of luxury clothing?

Because, at that point, you would be satisfied. If you were satisfied with the product, you theoretically wouldn't have any reason to continue shopping, right?

That gets to the heart of what consoomerism is all about. What you're describing is a healthy attachment to things, but most of us have been reared into unhealthy attachments to things from a young age. Even if you're not on the internet being assaulted by ads all the time, if you walk out your front door, go for a walk or for a drive, you're going to see something enticing you to spend your money on products that you don't really need. It never seems to be enough to have something before we're enticed to buy something else--something new. Therefore everything must necessarily be low quality because our current market has discovered the best return on investment is keep everyone this state of dissatisfaction. If we weren't constantly dissatisfied, we wouldn't have the incentive to continue buying something new after discarding the current thing.

One way I've been seeing this done in recent years is how many AAA video games are released early in a state of unplayability. Almost immediately the online anger machine whirs to life and everyone complains about how unprofessional video game developers are...

...but they still buy the games. They still buy the consoles. Gamers constantly whine and complain about the quality of their products, but they still buy the products. To an extent, this would lead one to believe that some developers are purposely releasing their products in a broken state in order to maintain a sense of dissatisfaction, but with promises that, "We'll fix it." Such promises ensure the people buying said products will continue to spend their money on the belief that "It'll be fixed...someday."

You could extend this to the healthcare industries as well. How often are people being prescribed drugs but experience zero improvement to their health? How often are people told to make regular visits to their doctor even though nothing is wrong with them? "So, we had you on Oleptro and that didn't work; so we're going to start you on Zoloft..." Healthcare companies stand to profit more by keeping you sick and unhealthy for a longer period of time.