So Okay Here's the Thing

@sookayheresthe

(he/him) If you recognise me it's probably from my shorts about D&D

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So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· 9d

a classic react image I made for my discord a while back:

Text: > POV you just posted AI in the chat
Image: A group of people standing around looking at the camera, variously looking angry, sad, uncomfortable, and unimpressed
Watermark in the corner reads youtube.com/SoOkayHeresTheThing

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· 9d

for anyone who actually wants to see what he said and doesn't just want to make up a guy to get mad at:

Reddit comment from /u/ecogeek (Hank Green), 3 days ago:

Three things to start:

1. I'm mortified that I have let so many people down and I think I understand how that happened.
2. I'm going to change things about how i make stuff.
3. Complexly's AI policy is public and well-considered and adhered to by the whole team, I think it's worth reading! (Complexly is the non-profit that makes Crash Course and SciShow and a bunch of other shows that I do not write for.)

The thing that everything we do is based on is that you know that what I'm saying are my thoughts coming from my brain in the way I decide. I have made that harder and I'm sorry. I have been relying too heavily on AI as a research aid. It can be very useful for this task, giving me access to a lot of papers I didn't know existed really fast, but I think that has been to the detriment of my work because it has not given me the freedom to find all of my own ways into and around a topic.

But, for clarity, the origin of claims in my videos are not "ChatGPT's said this." I have been using AI to locate papers and other resources for learning about topics. You are still getting my takes based on what I read, know, and learn.

I think what people have said in this thread about me diluting myself is spot on. Ultimately, what I am most scared of is ruining myself for people, but I have not been managing my impulses well. You need to know that my words are mine. I don't think that this hasn't been true, but I've been moving so fast that my own process isn't actually clear to me and I want to have it be a guarantee moving forward.

(continued in next image)

(continued from previous image)

What I can't guarantee, though, is that we will agree about this technology or what to do with it. I think that's good. We need a lot of kinds of folks critiquing this technology.

I'm not a pure AI-hater, which people in the AI industry know, so when I say that the way these models were trained deeply disturbs me, that lands differently.

When I say that I think that the speed at which these companies are trying to consolidate economic power should freak out everyone in the world, that's coming from someone who has "nuanced takes."

When I say I worry about the climate impacts of this rollout, that is not me saying, "I don't think this tech should ever exist" it's me saying, "for god's sake please don't make our biggest problem worse."

It is very likely that you (the reader) and I disagree on how or even whether AI should be used. I think it makes sense for that disagreement to exist. But I have also always believed that my audience is more likely to be right than I am. You know what this feels like in a way I can't. And I am so sorry for diluting myself in this way and harming the thing that we have all built together.

As for the "why don't you just make less! No one is making you do this!" I'm not sure that's how I work. I've been feeling the pressure of "Oh, I have this little video idea, I need to get it out real fast so I can get to the more important stuff" and I create when I feel that pressure.

But making more things does not make me make better things. It does not make the big thing that we've been doing for 20 years better. I know that I can manage myself more effectively.

(continued in next image)

(continued from previous image)

I want to make videos like the one I made yesterday on hankschannel where the writing was the whole thing and I felt it all the way down and have been so enriched by people's responses to it. And sure, I'm probably going to make dumb unscripted straight to camera thoughts videos sometimes. And then I'll play connections.

But mostly I need to come to terms with the fact that the level of dopamine I've been getting from interacting with LLMs...with doing more and more and more and more...is not healthy for me or good for the world. It is careless, and has disconnected me from where people are on this.

I was talking about this with Katherine last night and she did not pull any punches. Frankly, neither did John. Neither of them think I've been being healthy. I need to readjust.

SO - what changes.

1. Expect less hankschannel. It may need to pause for a while.

It may be that Hankschannel comes back with writing and research support. It may be that it comes back with just way fewer videos. I am going to spend this time finishing a video I've been working on for ages that I think really really matters.

2. SMUSH and 4x3 are getting paused as well. If there are bugs, there are bugs. I have backlog of 4x3 boards right now and, frankly, writing them is usually a solace to me, but if we run out, I am not going to worry about that...so if it just reverts to a static board one day...that'll be that.

I do deeply want to support good store and complexly in whatever way I can, so there may be some stuff on that front. But the reliance on me has always been risky, so we need to build for that as well.

I'm very sorry for harming the thing this is all based on.

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· 19d

side note, HARD agree with this comment on the latest Best Batman Ever video

YouTube comment from @Zortron42, 1 month ago:

The world would be a better place if more creators made video essays about stuff they love rather than hate

(141 likes)

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· Jun 26

maybe it's shaped like this?

haphazardly-drawn MS paint image of a metal disc with a cutout in the middle that's shaped like a slot intersecting a circle

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· Jun 24

have you seen long-tailed giant ichneumonid wasps? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megarhy...

two wasps sitting on a tree. they're both goddamn enormous and have legs and antennae and ovipositors and wings sticking out every which way. they have cool patterns and stripes like a coral snake

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· Jun 8

i call this comic "context"

Two guys talking, a blonde guy and a redhead guy.

Blonde guy: "Transgender people are just delusional, and so easily conned. Like, you’re saying that just because I say I’m an attack helicopter, that makes me an attack helicopter?"

Redhead guy: "I mean, given the context, I’d say it mostly just makes you an asshole."

Watermark in the corner reads: youtube.com/SoOkayHeresTheThing

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· Jun 5

biggest reveal in the TADC finale was when they revealed all of Kinger and Queenie's secret children

Queenie and Kinger from The Amazing Digital Circus, accompanied by badly-photoshopped-in images of a yellow bishop (a small black bird with yellow markings), Brent Rooker (a major-league baseball player), Pawno (a character from Banjo-Tooie) and Keira Knightley (an actress)

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· May 27

bonus: this is space-911

big space laser smashes a streak of devastation through what is very clearly just low-res satellite imagery of Earth

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· May 27

bad news: I have discovered trek.epicrandomness.com

Fake Star Trek: The Next Generation episode title card reading "Holy Shit, This One Is Actually Pretty Good"

Fake Star Trek: Voyager episode title card reading "People are gonna be annoying about this one for no reason too, don't worry"

Fake Star Trek: Enterprise episode title card reading "I Know This Is Season 3, But I Swear We Wrote This One Before We Did Space-9/11 So It Might Actually Be Good"

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· May 26

lol. lmao

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu premiered on May 14, 2026, at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, and was released in the United States on May 22. The Mandalorian and Grogu had a reported cost of $300 million for marketing and the budget.[5] It has grossed $165 million worldwide and received mixed reviews, with critics praising the score and Pascal's performance, while criticizing the plot, visuals, and action sequences.

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· May 22

I know you probably get this ALL the time, but you look like the pokemon evolution of the Houbeau Nouveau from Door Monster

a man wearing several layers of jackets and button-down shirts, a grey top hat, and a very obviously fake beard. he looks a little bit like Ryan Jampole, and is striking a theatrical pose

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· May 19

sookayheresthething.com/faq/#ib-toc-...

Screenshot of the FAQ:

"Please don’t do genAI stuff about my characters."

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· May 19

huh, I must not've gotten the notification when you posted this, for some reason. anyway, go ahead! you don't need my permission: sookayheresthething.com/faq/#ib-toc-...

from the FAQ page:

Q: Can I do fanart of your stuff?

A: PLEASE do fanart of my stuff. I’m 100% in favour of (and enthusiastically supporting of) all kinds of fan creations, whether it’s fanart, fanfic, cosplay, whatever you wanna do. Go ahead! Please!

Q: What kind of fanart am I allowed to do?

A: Anything you want. No, I’m not exaggerating. The only things I object to are:

- I don’t want people drawing my characters doing or saying bigoted or hateful things. Someone who draws fanart of June in a Klan hood or Dakota being transphobic isn’t a real fan of mine, and I don’t want them in my community.
- Please don’t do genAI stuff about my characters.

Other than that, go nuts!

Q: But if you just say “you can draw whatever”, then what if people draw… y’know… weird stuff?

A: What are you, a cop?

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· May 7

diagram of the timeline vs timeframe thing.

two parallel lines: two different timelines

one line with two sections highlighted on it: two different timeframes on the same timeline

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· May 5

so this is what shows up in youtube studio if you don't have any comments being held for moderation. I see this basically every day. today is the first time I actually looked at the image. what is going on here. why are you squishing them!!!!

dark grey background. in the middle is the caption "No comments found. Try searching for something else or removing filters." accompanying the caption is an image of some kind of smiling, four-eyed, purple cartoon character standing with one foot squishing a small white cartoon creature. the squished creature is largely indistinct, and all that can be clearly seen of it is two enormous and adorable eyes, like the :pleading_face: emoji or the tbh autism creature.

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· May 1

okay so here's my take

The fact that THIS: [uninspired, kinda boring birdhouse] is preferable to THIS: [birdhouse-building supplies laying around unused] is inarguably true.

But whether THIS: [unmedicated ADHD guy going and having fun playing with butterflies] is preferable to THIS: [uninspired, kinda boring birdhouse] is up for debate

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· Apr 29

if you see this post a goth girl

Three female cartoon characters standing in a room. The one on the far left is a blonde woman wearing a lesbian flag 666 hairpin, ripped jeans, a studded belt, a ripped-up pentagram t-shirt, and an inverted cross on her forehead. She's holding a mirror and a red makeup pencil and appears to have either blood or blood-like makeup splattered on her face

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· Apr 24

Post from @switchelsweets on tumblr:

I want to share some wisdom from my high school art teacher.

In my AP Art class, there was a girl who was just starting to experiment with mixed media. At this point she was still playing around, trying to decide what direction she wanted to go with her portfolio. So one critique day, she brought in an abstract canvas with some rhinestone highlights and painted and real peacock feathers. She loved sparkles and peacock feathers so she thought she’d try introducing them a *little*. And after everyone had given some input, the teacher gave her his advice, VERY roughly paraphrased here:

“So here’s the thing… I do not like this style. These are just elements that do not speak to me personally, but I see that you like them, and you’re doing interesting things with them.

“My biggest critique is, I only merely *dislike* this piece. I want you to make me HATE it. Go crazy with the things that you like. Don’t hold back trying to make it palatable to people like me. Because I am NEVER going to like it. And if the audience does not like it, it should drive them crazy seeing how much YOU love it.”

Her portfolio was chock full of neon colors and glitter and rhinestones and splashes of peacock feathers and it was a delight. Our teacher despised every piece lol, but she got great marks and I think even won some awards. And more importantly, she was happy and proud of the results. Because she didn’t limit herself by trying to appeal to people who were never going to enjoy what she enjoyed.

Takeaway here: be as cringe as you want. Don’t limit yourself based on other ppl’s tastes. They’re not you, and you are incredible 💕

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· Apr 23

I don't know anything about vtubers or, like, what vgen is, but for reference, here are some examples of characters from my youtube channel wearing what this chart classifies as "revealing clothes". do we think that maybe this is stupid

two cartoon characters, a white person and a black person. the white person is wearing slightly low-rise pants, and thus thus violating the "100% of hip" requirement from the chart. the black person is wearing a normal tank top, and thus violating the "90% of cleavage" requirement from the chart. neither character is dressed in a revealing or provocative manner

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· Apr 23

me when I make the Use Tons Of Energy machine and sell it to ten thousand people by saying they should make it a crucial cornerstone of every industry and then see my energy bills spike: "whuh oh! didn't see that one coming!!"

“Our subscriptions weren’t built for the usage patterns of these third-party tools,” wrote Boris Cherny, head of Claude Code, on X. “We want

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· Apr 23

WITHOUT THE RACIST BULLSHIT

a screenshot from a cartoon. a yellow, porous, rectangular fellow is standing in the shadow of a falling object of some kind, reaching his arms out with a desperate expression that communicates "HOLD ON! WAIT! OH NO!", as if to say "let me quickly explain myself so you don't jump to any bad conclusions"

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· Apr 14

chess opponent: and I heard you got cast in the new Addams Family movie? me:

the same screenshot, blacked-out text to make it say "yeah, I'm thing"

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· Apr 10

from what I can find, the earliest design of what would eventually become MMS (circa 2015ish?) (identifying features and other characters removed) -> the current MMS rig (taken from yesterday's video file, 2026). Quote with the oldest and newest art of your character!

an extremely low-quality digital drawing of a fat man with orange hair, holding a bright yellow crown

the same character as the previous image, but with white skin and a different outfit, with a much smoother and slicker art style

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· Apr 8

okay, unrelated side note, but I went to check I had the right name and like. bro I love fan wikis, you don't get this anywhere else

Screenshot from a wiki infobox. Text:

GOAL:
Shoot himself (formerly)
Become happy (succeeded)

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· Apr 1

but also

The Governor of St Helena, Nigel Phillips, has confirmed Jonathan Tortoise is alive and well - he has just checked on him.

This post [the post saying Jonathan is dead] is false and the real Joe Hollins does not have an X account.

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· Mar 30

this is what he actually said (and idk about Wrath of Khan because to be completely honest I just straight-up do not care about basically any of the trek movies, I forget they even exist half the time):

“I dislike social commentary. Like… I really hate it. When I’m reading a book, I just want to be entertained, not preached at by the author. Plus, it ruins the wonder of the story if I know the author has a political or social axe to grind. I no longer speculate about all possible outcomes of the story because I know for a fact that the universe of that book will conspire to ensure that the author’s political agenda is validated. I hate that,” Weir said. “I put no politics or social commentary into my stories at all. Anyone who thinks they see something like that is reading it in on their own. I have no point to make, and I’m not trying to affect the reader’s opinion on anything. My sole job is to entertain, and I stick to that.”

“For instance, as a lifelong Star Trek fan, it’s always bothered me that there is a presumed ‘responsibility’ within Star Trek shows to talk about social issues,” the writer added. “I just want to watch Romulans and the Federation shoot at each other.”

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· Mar 26

extremely low-quality and difficult-to-read jpeg of Sonic the Hedgehog saying "My fucking god! These bitches gay! Good for them! Good for them."

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· Mar 17

sorry

The Heathcliff comic above but with the vending machine photoshopped to have Sam Reich on it.

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· Mar 12

a post of mine from January 2026. text:

fake star trek fans: modern star trek is too WOKE

Gene L. Coon writing TOS in 1969: so then this guys walks onscreen, kicks a puppy square in the nuts so hard that it screams in the exact voice of an orphan, stares directly into the camera, and says "I'm a racist and that's bad" 47 times in a row

So Okay Here's the Thing@sookayheresthe· Feb 25

got it boss message received