So I didn't know it was cool slash fiction. I didn't know that was a thing. Okay. However, it turns out I've been doing it on quite a grand scale in the background. Really? Okay. Yeah. Basically, when Donald Trump was Very well known. Was elected first time Yeah. I was like, well, that sucks. So Okay. Which any rational human being should feel that way about it. Yeah. Okay. Sorry to everybody who doesn't feel that way, but, anyway, never mind. Right? So no, I'm not sorry. Anyway, basically, I felt like it was a bad day for humanity, but Okay. And that we seem to have forgotten what heroes are. Right. Yeah. And I think it's a very fundamental thing. And the thing is is storytelling itself has become this enormous and morphous blob. Yeah. Streaming has kind of turned storytelling into a commodity as opposed to where it's like your algorithm saying well they've watched this so let's watch this. Yeah. That's not how storytelling works. Yeah. You're supposed to identify you're supposed to identify how what they've heard and what they might might like to watch next, not they've seen this so we're gonna do it again. Okay. So streaming itself I'm sure it's more complicated than that, but it's not beneficial to storytelling. Yeah. And heroes come from storytelling. Moral lessons Yeah. Come from storytelling. Right. And we are currently in a a real kind of cultural, dark of, of basic basic ethics. Right. It's like people don't people aren't voting for their hit heroes anymore. Yeah. They're actively voting for people who are provably villains. That's interesting. So, basically, what I did was is I started drawing a hero Mhmm. Every day. Right. Okay. An existing hero every single day. An existing hero? And then I got a bit carried away with it. And I am currently at somewhere in the region of about 3,000 heroes. Right. Okay. I've drawn all of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Right. All of the transformers. Okay. All of GI Joe. All of Pokemon. All of Streetfighter. I mean, all the Pokemon and I mean all the Pokemon. That's cool. They all exist and they all exist as individual figures. Uh-huh. And then I am putting them in teams. Uh-huh. So and I haven't done this publicly. I've kept it quiet because I didn't know slash thingy was a thing. So I I didn't do it. So I've literally been I've literally been creating so I draw 7 or I put 7 together, randomly pick 7 out. I've got a spreadsheet. Yeah. Do a random number Uh-huh. Pick out the 7. Yeah. If I haven't drawn them already, I draw them Okay. And then I put them together in a team of heroes. Uh-huh. I think, such week is actually, like, you put, like, 2 heroes per se together and you form, like, a homosexual relationship. Oh, wait. Wait. So it's actually a combination of the 2? Actually So you you sort of merge them? No. You you they they have, like, a relationship together. A love relationship. Oh, so it's like a romantic thing? Yes. Kind of like that. I mean, I think it's that. Yeah. Okay. That's an interesting that's an interesting reaction. I would never even thought about that. I mean, I know obviously that's a major major major thing. Yeah. I've gone completely off on a tangent and misunderstood what it was. No. It's okay. Is it? I know it's such a huge it's become such a huge thing, isn't it? The sort of like so that's what it's called. It's called slash Slash fan fiction, basically. Slash fan fiction. Is it always Yeah. Is it always right. So how could, like, they aren't doing the questioning. So How? Because obviously, the bit you hear about is the bit where everyone's like, well, I've seen this drawing of, you know, so and so. And this I've read the story Yeah. About, you know Yeah. These two characters Okay. Doing it, basically. Yeah. It's more involved than that. Right? A lot of, great majority of the fan fiction is is is, like, them romantically, right, as opposed to, like, just them Yeah. A lot of fan fiction involves porn, basically. Yeah. And, there's been a lot of backstash about that, and my project is basically about how to, make people, like, be aware of, like, there there are backstash of that and and how that is wrong, basically. And that was Yeah. So it's a fancy it's essentially romantic fantasies that people have regarding their favorite heroes, really. Yeah. Not just that. 1 or 2 Then sex sex ones. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then it almost certainly always gets to sex. Kinda. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it was interesting. Well, like, I because one of the things I actually found when I did the hero project because I decided I was gonna do a story of Yeah. Yeah. Them all finding themselves in a world without to fight all the villains. Yeah. But literally during a comic of all the heroes versus all the villains. Alright. Which is generally hard to do. I was gonna learn some form of it. Uh-huh. And, what I actually found the most fascinating part Right. Was the camp Uh-huh. Where all these heroes find themselves in a camp together. Right. And what I actually found most interesting Uh-huh. Was the how they would interact with it. You just uh-huh. Carry on. So I I hadn't stretched it to a romantic thing or even a sexual thing Okay. But the whole I mean, so I'm a very tepid person with it. Okay. But really, the the the thing I found most fascinating by far Yeah. Was the idea of heroes that we all know and are familiar with meeting with each other. In the real world? No. No. No. It's so I kinda create, like, this battle realm kind of thing where they Oh, right. Okay. They all kinda find themselves so you've got one side is basically all the heroes find themselves in one area and all the villains on the other. Yeah. And it was basically gonna be like a study of how heroes behave when they're all put together and how villains all behave when they're all put together. Okay. And the villains start to climb over each other anyway. End up in conflict anyhow. And I found it was more fascinating I found it was more fascinating to look at how, like, heroes just get on, how they would just they cooperate with each other and they would just thrive. And the I the intention was it for just being straight up fight. Uh-huh. But, I ended up realizing that the bad guys would probably all kill kill each other. Yeah. And the good guys would never even Well, you said reminds me of Marvel in a way. Yeah. Yeah. Because it's basically a very simple principle, which is the good guys are capable of looking after, like, looking after each other. Ah. And the villains are assholes. Right. Okay. No. I mean so it sort of moved into something else. But Mhmm. Yeah. That's not exactly what you were looking for. Right? Not exactly. But, you could say, like, you've got, like, negative, a negative way of, of, like, how fan fiction turns to sex or something like that. Like yeah. That's what I encourage you. I just feel like because it's just the the the thing is is because the job is such a highly sexual Yeah. Which I understand exactly because it's it starts with a fancy Okay. Yeah. Yeah of of the characters in situations they're not seeing. But I feel like there's something being lost a little bit in that actually, I think it would be nice to see slash if copyright wasn't a problem Yeah. Yeah. It would be lovely. There would be an incredible industry built on being able to tell stories about these heroes Yeah. And villains. Yeah. But just interacting, just simply existing in similar world. Uh-huh. And I think that would be much more well, not much more inspirational. But, yeah, well, no. It would be I think that would be good for everyone. Yeah. And the only way the only way that's unfortunately that we ever get to see these kind of connections between people Yeah. These characters that we love Yeah. It has it's ended up being sexual because the copyright people won't touch it because it's too awkward. Yeah. It's always because sex marriage because it's the only bit where no one is actually taking you to court for it. Yeah. Yeah. Because they were like, oh, I don't even want them. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. So that's the only that for us, it's a real massive shame because I feel like for everyone obviously who enjoys that aspect of it. Yeah. I feel they I feel like everyone would also love to just see these characters just just being amongst each other. Yeah. I can agree with you. Interacting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because that's really where sex is the ultimate expression of, like, intimacy and and and obviously connection. Right. But it's it's the end result. You're basically doing it's it's almost like the whole culture at the moment. It jumps straight to the end result. I mean, Actually the most the most fascinating aspect of human relationships is the bit that gets you in and if he tells you it doesn't. Yeah. Yeah. And actually there's I mean so much more has been written about that than there is about them just, you know, a sexual fantasy regarding and these characters are complicated and emotional feelings. That's why they've connected. They might have these amazing superpowers and they might be super hot. All those things. But the reason that people have connected with them isn't because you don't you don't connect with Loki because because he's just a good looking guy. You connect with Loki because of how Tom Hiddleston carries himself. Yeah. Like yeah. That's true. I think that's the right Tom. Yeah. That's the right one. Yeah. Okay. It's about how the actors Uh-huh. Portraying him. It's the you're it's not it's all been built on how much you like that person Right. As as an emotional intelligent being. So So you have to connect Your opinion is that Sashfiq only portrays, like, this, like, a very small part of what the character could be Exactly. In a way. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And I feel like but actually, I I think the only reason that has happened Yeah. Is because I like, I, for instance, I can't write Uh-huh. Like, something in which 2 characters from 2 massive franchises meet and then put it out on this table. I can't sell it. That's true. So that's why it doesn't exist in huge scale because the large companies block it. Okay. But the only reason that slash fit Uh-huh. That's And and Fantex. Yeah. The only reason that it thrives with the other it maybe is floundering Yeah. Is because it's allowed to. It's always a language that's allowed to happen whereas everybody knows if you put out something that is literally just Yeah. Captain America talking to something that is literally just Yeah. Captain America talking to, I don't know. Well, I I can't think of a single character on it. Iron Man. Iron Man. Oh, no. But he he would be. No. What I mean is it's across if you cross franchises. Oh, cross the road. If you if you had if alright. Iron Man Iron Man, like training Pikachu. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You'd be sued in minutes. Inside Hogwarts. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. You've you've been so much to you've been so much trouble so fast. Yeah. That's true. But if I feel for some obscure reason Yeah. And this is awful. Mhmm. If I was to do Tony Stark in a romantic relationship with a with a a humanoid, Pikachu Uh-huh. I wouldn't be touched. I'd be allowed to do it. That's because, she wouldn't think she's gonna be touched. I I I have I have absolutely no idea that will happen, actually. No. No. No. But you see what I mean? No. 1 is one one one I would not get into trouble for. Yeah. And one is actually more I'm gonna do that for any time. One is almost more practical than the other. Like, one of them is quite extreme and the other one is actually really quite it's just the stories we tell each other. Interesting. We're not allowed to tell each other those symptoms, whatever. Yeah. We're only allowed to talk about we're allowed to sweat. Mhmm. Sorry? We're allowed to sweat. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. Okay. We're only allowed to talk about, like, characters. We we are legally, we're only allowed to talk about characters fucking each other. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Well, I feel that's something really being lost between there's a huge gap in the in there that is being blocked by corporations. That's true. Whereas if we told real stories about those characters, like real genuine character, we'd be accused of, you know, copyright infringement. Okay. That's very interesting because, I'm from, like, an academic institute that studies fan fiction and how it's graded and basically yeah. But it's being forced into that. It's being forced into that position. Right. So I can't create fan fiction because I'm a commercial artist. But I Right. And and yet I spend all of my I've spent all of this time literally thinking about what would happen if 1,000 of heroes that we all know Uh-huh. Were all suddenly thrown into a into a captivity. We're not allowed to do it. If I did that and I sold it, I would be absolutely I'd be destroyed. I would be taken to court immediately. In the best case scenario, like, utopia style, if there is a platform for you to potentially sell it Yeah. Yeah. Would you think, like, that that's a good idea or would you think that's a cheap idea? I I I wish I could and it's what the thing is is is the way that the companies deal with you Yeah. Is this it's the assumption that you are just honing in on their stuff. Mhmm. Right? But almost all of this Yeah. If I was selling it, it would just be to justify my time. Yeah. But the reason I would be doing it as opposed to anything else. Yeah. Would be because I genuinely wanna see it in the world. Uh-huh. It's a story I want to tell. I'm inspired by those characters. Yeah. I believe that heroes are extremely important to our our culture Uh-huh. And villains, of course. You need to study both. Definitely. And I feel like it is it's it's it's something that copyright stops us from doing. Uh-huh. I think it would be an incredibly right now I feel like it would be an incredibly helpful thing to people to read because it would just show what a hero is on a very simple level. Yeah. Definitely. To it like here are your favorite heroes. Uh-huh. This is how they would deal with each other. You know what I mean? And they the idea was is I realized very quickly because initially it was just them literally villains, army of villains, army heroes. Yeah. Everyone would wanna see that and very very quickly it changed because I was like, hold on here. This is way more interesting if you're just creating 2 camps and the heroes the hero camp would turn into a city over like almost immediately because they would just say right well how do we work together? What do we need to do? What do we need to combine? And the other side will turn into a living nightmare Yeah. And they'd be crawling out all over each other over each other's dead bodies and murdering each other Right. Within very short periods of time. Uh-huh. That's true. So and I think I think the difference right now Mhmm. Is extremely important. We're we're currently facing an American election. Yeah. Where In the middle of the choice. Yeah. That is literally have someone who has feasibly on film Yeah. Commit crimes. We have a criminal, an actual criminal that people have seen him commit crimes Right. And cite violence. Uh-huh. He said racist things. He said awful stuff about women. He's done this and the other. Yeah. And somehow a section of our societies is like, yeah, no. He's our man. How has that happened? That's why heroes exist in our in our stories. Yeah. That's true. That's what they're for. The hero story is there. Yeah. It's the same thing with the bible and the Quran. You take it all back. It's hero stories. It's it's parables. It's all a parable. Marvel is a parable. It's about this is how you're a hero. The difference between a hero and a villain in Marvel Yeah. Is how they behave. It's not that they've got powers. They've all got powers. Yeah. That's true. The the focus is you're a hero because you are How they react to it. How you react to things. Yeah. And that's where it is and I feel I feel like we've been here before. Like Victorian times there was a thing where villains became so it's like a it's not a stagnation of culture. It's like so what happens is is you have bad and good like Star Wars is very clearly bad and good. Yeah. As you as something expands outwards Yeah. The writing becomes more sophisticated. Mhmm. So characters become more complicated Yeah. And You know it. Yeah. You start to have sympathetic plot lines for the villains Uh-huh. And you start to show the heroes as flawed. Yeah. That's that's a natural progression for any story. It has to become more in-depth. Right? Okay. Now the problem with that is Uh-huh. Star Wars was a was a hero paragon. It's it was bad versus good. It was dark side versus force. Yeah. And then every time we introduce a new element to it, you're losing that you're you're you're diluting that point. Uh-huh. It's great for everybody, but what has happened is is now everyone is absorbing franchises Yeah. That no longer define good and evil. Interesting. They literally say you can be a bad guy, but it's okay. And they're saying you can be a hero, but you can be an asshole. Right. Do you see what I mean? The moral lessons are beginning to get lost because they parables have to be simple. I actually felt the same that what is wrong with that actually. No. No. No. It no. In terms of culture, it's very good because what you're doing is it's about not demonizing Yeah. People. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Which obviously, you know how that turns. That turns into that guy over there is bad and that guy over there. But there are bad people. Yeah. That's true. Trump's rise, for instance and other people who are visibly evil. Uh-huh. Right? Nazis walking the streets of America. Right? Okay? The reason why that has happened is is because our ability to tell ourselves that these people are just bad. Okay. They may have redeeming features but the overwhelming thing is you stop them and you stop them you stop them as quickly as you can. And the problem is is our stories are our conversation to ourselves. Okay. Yeah. So it it's fine. Yeah. If you've gotten if you've got still got good and bad existing in Yeah. Popular franchises. Yeah. For for 20 years Yeah. Star Wars was just good guys, bad guys. Uh-huh. As long as you've got that good buy good good buy bad guy thing in in sight somewhere Yeah. Then you're fine as long as that message is still getting through. We're currently living in a we're currently living in a culture that has multiple franchises Yeah. Overwhelming it, None of which are now new and simple. They're all complicated. They're all complex. Yeah. That's true. So we're only hearing a very complex description of human nature Uh-huh. When actually, we have to remind everyone once in a while sometimes people are just shitties. Like someone sometimes you just have to stop them. Hitler was not an okay guy. Yeah. He was a vegetarian Okay. But he murdered millions of people. That's true. There isn't a Darth Vader was is not a redeemable Darth Vader had to die at the end of Star Wars. Yeah. Right that's like yeah. But then now we see and then we introduce Anakin Skywalker and now he's no longer a figure. He's got an icon for evil. Uh-huh. He's flawed Uh-huh. And he was a hero. That's important because it's like corruption. Yeah. Even that message has been lost. And now people are like, yay Darth Vader, which was never the point. It might cut, cut in to, to what you're saying. What do you think transaction or such vision can, contribute to what you're saying? What can change? Or Well, it's difficult because, basically, what it has to do is because it's it's answering one of like so I'm talking about good and evil which is a very interesting way of viewing these things. Okay. But also we're talking about slash fiction which is romantic sexual and romantic. Yeah. And and Which is again yet another like Like There's so much more nuance between the 2. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's true. Really, what slash fiction is going to do? What's the other other, like, side of, the the nuance? Like the other one? Yeah. Okay. And you got your and you got your standard copyrighted stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then the other end's got the sexual spectrum. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then where's the bit in the middle? Yeah. Okay. Like but that's where the story is. That's where the that's where the where the that's where the truth is. Because that one ends people fucking. Yeah. The other one is about selling characters to make money. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Where's the bit in the middle? There needs to be mythology. There needs to be where's the mythology? Where's the so I would say if it's gonna change at all Uh-huh. There has to be an element of it challenging itself to soften Interesting. And start to really start pushing actual stories about these characters that don't just automatically end up with them having sex at the end or maybe having sex at the end of it, but why? And do you know what I mean? Yeah. So why the stories about these characters? It's not just I I imagine having sex. You know what? I've been a fan of the career for about 2 or 3 years. The only thing I read is the the part in the middle that you said. Yeah. Yeah. Anyone does. Yeah. Really? Right now, all with all you and I are focusing on in this conversation Yeah. Okay. Is one end of the spectrum and the other. Okay. You see what I mean? Yeah. We need to do you mean? Yeah. I got some replay. Ownership of these characters has to be slightly returned to people. Like, it and that it can't just be because they're having sex with each other. It has to be like, storytelling, the way it work the way I the way I see it is is that storytelling doesn't work. Copyright is actually the antithesis of storytelling. Storytelling started by someone telling a story That's true. And someone hearing it Mhmm. And then being allowed to tell it their own way. What do you say the word mythology? What what is it like a metaphor or is it the actual thing? Sorry? Why do you say the word mythology, like, in in what you said? Every character every character of any scale Yeah. If it connects with anyone, even one person has a mythology. It has to be a Makes sense. Yeah. Like it's if they represent something larger than they are Uh-huh. See what I mean. That's why we connect with his character. Right. Our character Moon for instance, but is a is a 80s character to trapdoor. Uh-huh. He he's just a silly ball of whatever. He's gay. He has a mythology because he's namely cheerful Uh-huh. In spite of the fact that he Uh-huh. Works in a dungeon. Right? His mythology is that he's Uh-huh. He's a cheerful guy. He's like Right. Do you know what I mean? And he has survived 40 years of Interesting. Of existing. Right? The ones that exist are the ones with the mythology. Right. Okay. All characters all characters have to have a mythology. Otherwise, why are they just a they're just a 2 dimensional personal approach? It has to be something. We all have a myth we all hope to leave a legacy. A legacy is another word for our mythology, basically. If we reexists in abstract after we've died. Right. If we've left Alexei, we've left a mythology about ourselves. That's true. It's something that adds to culture beyond your existence. So, back to what we were saying before. Sorry. I'm alright. This is going all over. No. It's okay. It's okay. So what we were seeing before, that's been, like, a really intriguing talk, by the way. I I mean, I'm sorry. I mean, you started talking to me about I I yeah. I mean, we've been off. Yeah. Yeah. I I I can tell you, you're very passionate about what you do and yeah. I I I think storytelling is is something that has to Yeah. It has it has it's almost it is culture. Uh-huh. Yeah. An advert an advertisement on a Yeah. Streaming site is a is a it's it's a story. You're trying to introduce ideas and trying to tell a story and narrative as quickly as you possibly can in order to arrive at a product that you want someone to buy. And the people aren't gonna buy it unless there's a story. That's interesting. Storytelling is humans to the point where they've basically proven I mean, this is okay. We're gonna go. Okay. Bear with me a second. So are you aware of the the whole thing where, the universe the nature of the universe changes on a No. Quantum quantum level if it's observed? So there's still an object? Yes. Yes. Our our how to do that? So anything with an I Yeah. Okay. I know that. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's changing the universe Well, they're just yes. It's quite a different way because I'm from the east, but yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So Go for it. No. I mean, they've proven it scientifically. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So if that's true Yeah. We are born Uh-huh. The universe basically Yeah. Not in a conscious way Yeah. Is us looking it's the universe looking at itself. That's what we are. Yeah. And the stories we tell Okay. Are our reflections of the universe talking to itself, recognizing itself. It's not just it's not pulling oil out of the ground. That's not, it's not making dinner that night. Right? It is literally that important. Our storytelling, our ability to extrapolate ideas into the future, into a story about the future like Star Trek, things like that, and our ability to try to understand the past, to, you know, fun stuff with, like, Game of Thrones and this and the other. Mhmm. That's our understanding of where we are in time, where we are in space Interesting. The reality that we've been presented with. Yeah. It's our way of of literally reconstructing the reality that's being presented to us. It lets us actually move out of the limiting, organs we've been given. We can only understand the universe based on the the machine it's been built through. So we've given a brain to be able to extrapolate beyond what physically we can see. We've come up like, science is an act of storytelling because it starts with Yeah. It starts with an idea. You can't you haven't proven something yet. You have to think it first. So someone is like hold on a minute. I think there might be multiple dimensions. Hold on a minute. I think this a theory theory is of a theory is an it's an imagined idea. Yeah. It's exactly I mean, it's it's basically the the brother of a in the story. You're telling yourself to start, oh, no. I think this. Then they go and prove it. Yeah. But the the starting point Yeah. Is inspiration. Storytellers and scientists start from the same place. So we're starting getting a little bit off track. Let's go back to, like Massive. No. It's okay. I will do that every time. Thanks for bringing me back. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, like, back to what you said. If there, like, is a platform that is, like, legit, something like archive of our own, but, for the stars in the middle, as you said? Telegant. Of course. So, if there is, like, a legit platform platform, like archive of our own, that, that allows people to upload the stories that are in the middle of the spectrum that you said? Yeah. Yeah. That would that that would, like, be be better to everyone, basically. I think that would be absolutely enormous. I mean, the YouTube is sort of occupying that space because Yeah. That's true. It's not copyrighted very heavily. Okay. Yeah. Really I mean, you've got SMG 4 and things like that that plainly used Mario. So that's the gray out here? Yeah. Yeah. So YouTube is automatically doing it really. We're already there. So you have that plan. That's cool. Because they can't they like, it's just the Wild West, basically. They have copywriters on on on there. Yeah. Yeah. And you've seen exactly automatically the moment you've given someone the space to do it Yeah. I mean, YouTube is by far and away the biggest content creator in the on the planet. That's true. Because people are allowed to do it. Yeah. And the first thing they do is they tell wacky, crazy, wild stories Uh-huh. About the characters they know. Yeah. That's true. That's what YouTube is. Yeah. That's exactly what he is. So it exists. Uh-huh. But it exists, it it it exists at the sufferings of companies. So I mean, at some point, they'll crack down on it, but yeah. It still exists. It just shows automatically that's exactly what it want. It's exactly what people want. More people are going to YouTube every day than, reading, slash Slash fix? Slash slash YouTube. That's, that's true. I think it's interesting because it's what you see. It's what you see. YouTube can or what you could YouTube can do. It's also, like, a variety of, like, a a lot of other things. Oh, yeah. No. No. Of course. But, like So it doesn't really But we're not we're talking about this specifically. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it doesn't really do, like, a good branding to, like, people who doesn't know what what this is and and and what and the fact that this the stars in the middle of the spectrum, there's, is, like, getting stuck and not, being allowed to, live in the world, basically. Yeah. Yeah. So YouTube YouTube can't really do that because it it doesn't really have a brand. No. Don't know that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I mean yeah. Yeah. So you sort of yeah. Totally. That's, like, really intriguing. Oh, I have to ask your name. Oh, I'm Steve. Yeah. Henfolds. Sorry. Steve Henfolds. You're a comic artist? I am a comic artist. That is amazing. Yeah. And a and a and a and a and a storyteller. I'll try anyway. The lights. I can say I can say we're absolutely sorry about that. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So people run us a reprint Listen. Can I, follow your website more like Instagram? I'm sorry. Yeah.