- Thread Author
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Hi,
so I recently in a long time decided to join a couple of cheapie based servers again. because I was in one BEFORE but everything as per usual nothing interesting was in there except for drama and an discussion on donald edits as per usual. so I decided let me expand an join a couple of servers in regards of cheapies again to see what changed, and what I saw made me want to have this discussion. that being said, I wanted to throw a few things out there about where the cheapie scene is right now and see what everyone else thinks.
First off, we need to talk about the massive disconnect between us and the rest of the MUGEN/fighting game community. what is the absolute most annoying misconception you've heard casuals or 'normies' say about cheapies?
I mention this because, believe it or not this a real thing but It feels like every time someone outside our niche looks at a cheapie, they freak out about malware, code injection, or just write it off as lazy trashware, completely ignoring the actual sandbox nature of how modern engines handle them and the insane technical wizardry required to code a functioning defense against a null-tier attack.
And, a huge prime example of this is a situation that happened in the IKEMEN discord. in which, surprise surprise despite me never posting ikemen:void there (especially, since out of respect I never posted it there because I know how the balanced community is a thing in the ikemen side of things and how they despite cheapies but don't wanna admit it) someone posted it. and it led to...a mess. screenshots of the whole thing is below, so you guys can get an idea of what I mean.
Now, that you've viewed this screenshots. let's ask ourselves one thing, If you could force the rest of the community to accept one truth about cheapie culture that it's essentially an arms race and an engine stress test most of the time, not just a tool to be toxic what would it be? to me it would be realizing that not all cheapies are malware. it sucks that in 2026, we still have people in the community that believe the misconception that cheapies are niggas that RKO your pc it's also why I made this post here:
https://youtube.com/post/UgkxoU00hawGghOqfwbmG17E7soLXJpo9149?si=-w_0r8EEiEADIN8a
Talking about how optional cheapies are within the ikemen:void engine and how it's more than just "an engine that runs cheapies", because people in the ikemen community are so conflicted and so annoying about cheapies. btw, for context on the screenshot where I mentioned King saying I understood what he meant now, is that he made this video here, many months ago about how either these same people or really the people in the community has been giving him trouble. his video is here:
Now, that's been said....that brings me to the elephant in the room: our own creative stagnation. (yes you KNEW this was coming. I've been very vocal about this and I will CONTINUE to be vocal about it.)
clears throat SO,
believe it or not, in the cheapie community. we DO indeed have exponentially more knowledge, documentation, and tech at our fingertips now than back in the old days (am I right or am I wrong?) yet we are still sitting in this creative purgatory. Very unfortunate: new characters are not being made as much anymore just like, how wwe is failling to make new stars how tragic. therefore, leads to the main question.
Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy do we keep defaulting to the same tired loops? we've got massive access to tools, and yet half the scene still looks like an endless assembly line of derivative Ronald edits and low-effort asset swaps. WHAT ARE WE DOING?
But also, why do you think we're stuck in this cycle, and what would it actually take for creators to break out of it and push into genuinely original territory?" I did do my best on my end, by spreading more cheapie knowledge and even, made a whole recreational contest involving my own hard earned money and yet after that people went back to donald edits. I also made this gem but looks like not many people understood the message. OTHER THAN THAT....
Let's bring up the main question.
How does that combined approach feel, or would you rather tweak how the transition between the outside hate and internal stagnation is handled?
I am really interested to hear ALL of y'all thoughts. AND, if you aren't apart of the cheapie community but want to engage in this discussion anyways go ahead but, it is BEST to at least have SOME knowledge though because well that way you can understand some things to an extent yknow?
That is all, Happy Halloween!
(even tho ngl im christian I can't celebrate lol so I can only just like buy candy for myself and that's it)
so I recently in a long time decided to join a couple of cheapie based servers again. because I was in one BEFORE but everything as per usual nothing interesting was in there except for drama and an discussion on donald edits as per usual. so I decided let me expand an join a couple of servers in regards of cheapies again to see what changed, and what I saw made me want to have this discussion. that being said, I wanted to throw a few things out there about where the cheapie scene is right now and see what everyone else thinks.
First off, we need to talk about the massive disconnect between us and the rest of the MUGEN/fighting game community. what is the absolute most annoying misconception you've heard casuals or 'normies' say about cheapies?
I mention this because, believe it or not this a real thing but It feels like every time someone outside our niche looks at a cheapie, they freak out about malware, code injection, or just write it off as lazy trashware, completely ignoring the actual sandbox nature of how modern engines handle them and the insane technical wizardry required to code a functioning defense against a null-tier attack.
And, a huge prime example of this is a situation that happened in the IKEMEN discord. in which, surprise surprise despite me never posting ikemen:void there (especially, since out of respect I never posted it there because I know how the balanced community is a thing in the ikemen side of things and how they despite cheapies but don't wanna admit it) someone posted it. and it led to...a mess. screenshots of the whole thing is below, so you guys can get an idea of what I mean.
Now, that you've viewed this screenshots. let's ask ourselves one thing, If you could force the rest of the community to accept one truth about cheapie culture that it's essentially an arms race and an engine stress test most of the time, not just a tool to be toxic what would it be? to me it would be realizing that not all cheapies are malware. it sucks that in 2026, we still have people in the community that believe the misconception that cheapies are niggas that RKO your pc it's also why I made this post here:
https://youtube.com/post/UgkxoU00hawGghOqfwbmG17E7soLXJpo9149?si=-w_0r8EEiEADIN8aTalking about how optional cheapies are within the ikemen:void engine and how it's more than just "an engine that runs cheapies", because people in the ikemen community are so conflicted and so annoying about cheapies. btw, for context on the screenshot where I mentioned King saying I understood what he meant now, is that he made this video here, many months ago about how either these same people or really the people in the community has been giving him trouble. his video is here:
Now, that's been said....that brings me to the elephant in the room: our own creative stagnation. (yes you KNEW this was coming. I've been very vocal about this and I will CONTINUE to be vocal about it.)
clears throat SO,
believe it or not, in the cheapie community. we DO indeed have exponentially more knowledge, documentation, and tech at our fingertips now than back in the old days (am I right or am I wrong?) yet we are still sitting in this creative purgatory. Very unfortunate: new characters are not being made as much anymore just like, how wwe is failling to make new stars how tragic. therefore, leads to the main question.
Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy do we keep defaulting to the same tired loops? we've got massive access to tools, and yet half the scene still looks like an endless assembly line of derivative Ronald edits and low-effort asset swaps. WHAT ARE WE DOING?
But also, why do you think we're stuck in this cycle, and what would it actually take for creators to break out of it and push into genuinely original territory?" I did do my best on my end, by spreading more cheapie knowledge and even, made a whole recreational contest involving my own hard earned money and yet after that people went back to donald edits. I also made this gem but looks like not many people understood the message. OTHER THAN THAT....
Let's bring up the main question.
How does that combined approach feel, or would you rather tweak how the transition between the outside hate and internal stagnation is handled?
I am really interested to hear ALL of y'all thoughts. AND, if you aren't apart of the cheapie community but want to engage in this discussion anyways go ahead but, it is BEST to at least have SOME knowledge though because well that way you can understand some things to an extent yknow?
That is all, Happy Halloween!
(even tho ngl im christian I can't celebrate lol so I can only just like buy candy for myself and that's it)
