#These weren't really surprising

[egophiliac]

A-anime?

you know, sometimes I forget that Twst is actually an isekai that starts with the protagonist getting run over by an inexplicable horse-drawn carriage. and every time I'm reminded is a delight because that's AMAZING.

also. look. okay. there's a lot of very fun stuff in the trailer but I am obsessed with that Crowley surprised pikachu face. me when I spend all my keys and gems literally hours before they announce overblot SSRs and drop the anime trailer:

[starcurtain]

A Closer Look at the Phaidei Memory

I've seen so many people talking about this scene with Phainon and Mydei and making fun of how blatantly obvious Phainon is about his... respect for Mydei's... conspicuous body, but one thing I feel like a lot of people missed (or at least I haven't seen anyone discussing) is that this memory seems to come from very early on in their acquaintance.

Looking at it closely, it's clear that the two aren't particularly familiar with each other yet in this memory sequence. For one, Phainon questions things that he should easily know if he was well-acquainted with Mydei already.

First, very comically: "Do you even bathe, bro?"

And second, Phainon questions why Mydei isn't immune to the black tide:

This suggests that, up to the point of this memory, Phainon had not been in enough battles with Mydei (or at least close enough to Mydei) to see him be affected by the black tide. Apparently, this memory-Phainon-and-Mydei don't have years of rushing into battle side-by-side to defend Okhema yet.

It's also hilariously clear that the Phainon in this memory has absolutely no idea how to talk to Mydei.

Breaking this scene down, it's literally Phainon just trying really hard to strike up conversation, doing his best to try to crack the tough exterior and get Mydei to actually interact with him. He jumps around through topics rapidly--the baths, the black tide, their personal sparring--looking for anything that will catch Mydei's attention.

Meanwhile, we can tell that Mydei is not particularly familiar or comfortable with Phainon yet because his dialogue is so different from any of his other scenes in the game. Although Mydei is obviously not the game's biggest yapper, he does always have full sentences to contribute to other conversations and banters readily with Phainon whenever he's baited into it.

In this memory, he instead starts off polite but also completely aloof:

This is the exact sort of response you'd have to a vague acquaintance coming up and trying to talk to you like you're best friends. Phainon skipped at least four steps of familiarity here, and Mydei is obviously at a loss for why the conversation is even happening.

He responds by blatantly stonewalling, answering Phainon's (slightly pathetic) attempts to start an actual conversation in nothing but single word answers:

You can even see Phainon recognize how bad he's failing half way through the conversation, which prompts him to vocally declare that he's going to make a complete topic switch:

And this time, it works!

When Phainon brings up their personal duel or spar, whichever it was, finally, finally Mydei caves and engages in the conversation with him:

Which prompts Phainon to laugh (in relief? lol) and flat out crow about how he's finally cracked the code and figured out how to get Mydei to notice him:

Poor Mydei, however, did not seem to realize his slight display of interest was going to lead him into a full conversation, and he responds to Phainon's blatant invitation to keep talking with a confused:

Witness Mydei accidentally turning down Phainon's request for a date in real time.

The only thing that complicates the situation is what Phainon says late in the memory: that they've battled "all this time." However, looking at his earlier comments, this last statement may just be in a general sense, as in "two Chrysos Heirs who have been fighting the titans for years," especially as the rest of the line "How do you train? Would you consider teaching me?" once again indicates a lack of close familiarity.

(It's also possible this line is just poorly translated in English, and was actually meant to refer to their legendary ten-day-long duel: "We battled all that time, yet I never saw you fatigued." Given the rest of the lines in the memory, I think "dodgy translation" honestly makes the most sense here, and would also just have really funny implications: Phainon and Mydei didn't fall in love at first sight; they fell in comically-long-duel at first sight. Okay, maybe for Phainon it was both.)

Phainon's earlier statements in the memory make it clear that he isn't very experienced with fighting Mydei specifically, with the overall implication of the dialogue being that they've just had their first duel against each other recently:

So anyway, where I am going with all this?

I know a lot of people got distracted by Phainon's (accidental?) pass at Mydei in the first line, but I think taking a step back and looking at the scene as a whole, in context, makes it even more hilarious and off-the-cuff:

Phainon and Mydei aren't well-acquainted in this scene.

Phainon literally walked up on a guy he barely knows and the first words that fell out of his mouth were "Dan Nicky your bobbies." "I would know that body anywhere."

Even Mydei was weirded out at first!

Like, Phainon has absolute foot-in-mouth syndrome around his new "friend." He spends the whole conversation narrating his own attempts to communicate ("Ah, I see I am unwanted. Instead of leaving, I shall try another tactic. Is it working yet?" and "Yes, yes, yes, it worked!") like this is a remotely normal thing to do around a person you're not even close with yet.

You can see his puppy tail wagging. He wants to be friends with Mydei so bad.

He is actively making up excuses to try to get Mydei to spend time with him here--first the comment about "Yay, you're here!" at the baths like he expects them to bathe together, then the whole "Why don't we go somewhere and have a long conversation about the insights we gained from rolling around in the dirt together?" to finally just flat out asking Mydei to train with him.

It's so charmingly earnest, straightforward, and even a bit awkward that I think this scene is really under-rated by the fans. It's not just another example of Phainon commenting on Mydei's muscles--it's a glimpse into what they were like before they were close and just how much Phainon wanted to connect to Mydei, how willing he was to explore to discover exactly what Mydei would be interested in so that he could seize that common ground between them.

Really a masterclass in showing us fans characterization right on the cusp of changing, and for showcasing both Phainon's charming audacity and Mydei's surprisingly-reserved-around-strangers behavior.

And, since we know the future that memory-Phainon-and-Mydei are headed toward... we also know it worked! Mydei is smiling by the end of the conversation! He and Phainon are going to become vitriolic best buds--er, rivals--and Phainon is going to get all the spars he wants.

Persistence pays off!

[mc-cookies]

Cannot get the transfemininity of Deltarune out of my head today, specifically Dess Holiday as a kinda tragic and beautifully transgressive perspective on womanhood. This was gonna be a tag rant on another post but I got sick of trying to cut it down short enough to fit in relatively few tags so I guess I'm just gonna throw it out there as an original post? This might get a bit long and tangent-heavy but god I need to get it out of my system at least a bit.

Okay so. Dess is so so so resonant to my experience with (trans)femininity, especially given her thematic connections to the Knight. Like. What if you were constantly told that, if you’re gonna be a woman, there’s only one way you’re allowed to do it. What if you were constantly compared to your sister and your mother and expected to end up becoming them rather than being your own person. What if you had to hide and downplay your interests because if you made them too apparent people would ignore your identity and write you off as a problem child and a bad influence. What if people criticized your clothes and your music taste as offensive and inappropriate. What if, when you changed too much of yourself in response to both self discovery and trauma, you ended up being removed from the narrative, from the only community you’ve ever known. What if your name became scandalous and everyone tried so so hard to forget you. What if they left you for dead, but never put up a gravestone under your name. What if you became something new, something mysterious that pokes holes in the logic of the world and challenges the basic social fiber. What if people used that as an excuse to frame you as a legendary villain, the monstrous beast, the antagonist in the story that they have told for time immemorial. What if you decided that maybe the world as we know it does need to end, to be replaced with something that can accommodate a boisterous and weird and confident and self-assured woman like you. ghhhhh i’m biting and tearing this is literally what it’s like to be a trans woman!!!!!

[airenyah]

JD: Baby Tee Lore

(^in reply to this post)

hoooooo boy okay buckle up... @watchingblsnowandforever @cornflowershade

let me preface this by saying that i do not have tik tok so i have absolutely zero clue what is going on over there. everything i know i have picked up through osmosis on other plattforms.

sooooo: seems like there was/is a tiktok challenge going around based on "baby tee" by galchanie where people dance to it sexily, showing off their waist?? as i said, i don't have tiktok so this is my assumption here. btw, here's a screenshot from the original mv, to provide some extra context. note the crop tops:

now that we have all this out of the way, let's get to the actual lore...

(also idk if this is the complete story, but these are the parts of the lore i am aware of/that i remember. there's a chance i missed something)

on march 18th, 2025 dunk posts this video on tiktok:

it's a fake-out. dunk does not show off his waist. joong comments:

(note: as of me making this post on may 17th, 2025 the comment seems to have disappeared from dunk's video as far as i can see)

translation:

joong: i wasn't expecting anything, but I'm disappointed dunk: huh?

a fan posts a screenshot of this on twitter and comments:

(source)

translation:

fan: what was p'joong hoping for? 👀 [screenshot]

joong sees this tweet and following thread ensues:

(1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6)

translation:

fan 1: what was p'joong hoping for? 👀 [screenshot] joong: a hot dance in a crop top fan 2: but joong, you'll be possessive of dunk again 😔🤟🏻 joong: i'm not posessive! he can dance! go on hahahaha fan 3: not possessive because you wanna see it too, huh? 👀 joong: yes

dunk sees (some of) the tweets and also has something to say on that:

(1 / 2 / 3)

translation:

fan 1: what was p'joong hoping for? 👀 [screenshot] joong: a hot dance in a crop top dunk: show me, prof

joong then replies with a few videos of his own:

(1 / 2)

translation:

dunk: show me, prof joong: here na krub, student

unfortunately tumblr won't let me add more than one video per post, but you can find them in his tweet if you wanna watch them

joong also replies to another fan's comment on the situation:

(1 / 2)

translation:

fan: why does it seem like everyone (joong) is hoping that my child will dance to baby tee while also wearing an outfit that shows off his waist? i'm possessive, i don't want my child to dance, but if it's baby shark, it's fine joong: ohhhh sathu i hope dunk won't dance

the next day, on march 19th, joong posts his own baby tee challenge on tiktok and cross-posts it on twitter too:

(find the video on youtube here too)

again, terribly sorry, but tumblr won't let me add any more video, so you'll have to deal with more links. if you have trouble viewing any of the videos let me know and i'll cross-post them on tumblr

on march 30th, 2025 dunk has an event in which he is is taught to dance the baby tee dance and is made to dance it:

(fancam here)

note: he has his shirt tucked in and doesn't pull it out. once again we do not see dunk revealing his waist for baby tee

the next day, on march 31th, joong and dunk are on their book fair fansign. at one point joong says he heard that dunk danced baby tee the day before. dunk confirms. joong asks "how do you dance it?" dunk says "i forgot" and joong proceeds to teach it to dunk

(unfortunately i can't understand the comment that dunk makes afterwards, but i think i hear the word "shirt")

find the moment on youtube here (from 5:12 onwards if it doesn't open on the time stamp automatically) or on twitter here and here

(source screenshot)

note: once again dunk has his shirt tucked in, giving him a perfect excuse to not show off his waist yet again. joong still hasn't gotten to see dunk dance baby tee properly and sexily in a crop top

on april 5th joong does a twitter space in which a fan asks if there'll be a chance for "dunk baby tee". joong comments: "what's that? what's 'dunk baby t'? ohhh! dunk baby tee. the dance? has he danced it already? dunk might have danced it already"

(time stamp 22:15)

all of this leading us to today, D1 of lol fan fest 2025 on may 17th, 2025, where they surprise us by doing the full song on stage:

(video here)

joong and the fans finally got to see dunk dance baby tee properly and in a crop top even. everyone and their mother and especially joong can finally rest

and there you have it. the lore behind baby tee. and the reason why this performance is a Big Deal and very iconic™ in its own way, even if (to outsiders) it may not seem as such

also: minus points to dunk for straightifying the song by changing the lyrics from "boy you're my baby tee-ee-ee" to "girl you're my baby tee-ee-ee" and many plus points to joong for actually keeping the "boy" in "boy you fit in me"

[the-not-so-silent-back-up]

Thank you for the Tag ...and sorry it took me soo long

1. The Hunger games - Peeta Mellark

2. MCU - Peter Parker

3. The witcher - Jaskier

4. Stranger Things - Dustin Henderson

5. Avatar the last airbender - Aang

6. Uncharted - Nathan Drake

7. New Girl - Nick Miller

8. Overwatch - Junkrat (i am not really in the fandom, but he is my fav)

9. Frozen -Anna

10. The witcher 3 (game) - Game!Geralt

Tagging: @dudevonflauschig @dwintu @witcherbeech @noobtiedoo @creepkinginc @mournmourn

10 Fandoms / 10 Characters / 10 Tags

Thank youuuuuuuu for the tag lovely @jozstankovich

You don't have to hand write it guys i was just borreedddddd. Also i lost the plot a bit around #9 but i think i pulled it together at the end there.

Obligatory no pressure tags!! @friendly-jester @frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe @sidekick-hero @the-not-so-silent-back-up @vampeddie @thefreakandthehair @firefly-party @gayspacesprinkles @solvecrimeandjuicelimes @legitcookie

[ivorysoda]

Unless proven otherwise, my belief shall be that Ikaruga is a dwarf (or part dwarf) and not an elf (or part elf). Even the known half elves of the series have way longer ears, and also Rune Factory has two other pairs of "the blacksmithing dwarf" + "the childhood trauma dwarf." (Funny to me) I know RF has had an elf in every game but his ears would be way more noticeable if he was, I think... Plus he's got thin pupils, which some of the dwarves have but none the elves.

[gaypiratesandangels]

I just forced my filmbro friends to watch a destiel compilation

[helifreds]

I just had a mind blowing realization

Ok no, it didn't happen right now but yesterday evening but this isn't the point

I was watching 'Timber' (thank you whoever randomly decided to trasmit the A-team during week) and when the famous "gay couple at morning" scene camed I realized that what I thought for one whole year was completely wrong

I was convinced that in their bedroom there were two beds, the one where Face is sleeping (or trying so) and another one on the opposite side

Turned out there's just one - pretty little - bed that they shared (the pillows' position prove it) and Murdock's imaginary bed space is occupied by a closet lol :')

[windor-truffle]

Dolphinnnnnn i finished L&L and you’re one of the two people who’s used the Asbel/Lambda tag so pls yell with me about them 🥺

OKAY WELL REMEMBER YOU ASKED FOR IT 😂 Time to raise the age rating of my blog!

I mean for me it's largely the tsundere-isms. Pav can testify that when I streamed Lineage and Legacies for her i was cackling throughout most of Lambda and Asbel's conversations, they always go the EXACT same way and it's so stupidly funny: Lambda shows up to insult/threaten Asbel, Asbel decides to view it in the rosiest tinted glasses in the fucking world and ends up either thanking or complimenting Lambda, and Lambda always IMMEDIATELY leaves with some insightful like commentary "This is foolishness," or "Hmph." That is peak comedy to me, watching a dude set a trap then fall for it himself 😂 "Haha I'm going to ruin this guy's life for fun and oh no, what are these, feelings?? Abort!!"

I know I'm always poor little meow-meowing Lambda a bit, but it's clear the loosely defined "guy" has been loved by exactly 1 (One) person and then that guy was fucking murdered which made Lambda think that love, or anything good really, would never find him again. So for Asbel to show up with unconditional positive regard despite barely knowing him, and forgiveness despite everything Lambda had done... yeah I'd fall for someone like that too 😅 He's such a kind man, it's the trait we love most about him 💜

Personally I'm fine to see Lambda and Asbel written platonically, like in the fic I wrote (which I'm assuming you're referencing in your ask thank you for the kudos 💜) where it's more ambiguous and a little one sided. But ALSO personally I think Asbel should have a harem, EVERYONE'S a little in love with the guy (but that's probably my oh so obvious bias talking 😅) (bonus points if Asbel's contentedly aromantically oblivious to his polycule). Asbel's always radiating beams of friendship, and he believes in people so much it makes them want to believe in themselves. And for characters who feel/have been told they are unlovable and shouldn't exist? Yeah that's how you get partners who are utterly obsessed 😅

But that's the more wholesome take on shipping them... there's also the appeal of more toxic and/or erotic dynamics. I'm not 100 percent sure this is what you're asking for so if the idea makes you (or anyone reading this) feel uncomfy, this is the paragraph to stop reading at.

So the fun thing about characters undergoing potential redemption arcs is that their journey can be nonlinear, or completely unsuccessful. I have no qualms about keeping Lambda in an antagonistic role regardless of Asbel's support. In some ways it makes sense for him to doubt or dislike Asbel's love; after all, it's unfamiliar and uncomfortable. If Asbel is right in his assertion that humans have potential, it means that Lambda was wrong to hurt and attempt to exterminate them, and that's not easy to admit. So it's fun to imagine Lambda doing everything in his power to make Asbel hate him so he can "win" this argument of whether he's redeemable or not. Things like bullying and intimidation like in canon, or more serious stuff like trying to kill Asbel's friends with his own hands :)

But that's barely toxic, in fact that could have a very wholesome ending if so desired. There's also some "fun" dynamics to be had with jealousy and abuse; it stands to reason the being possessing a guy would be, well, possessive 😅 If Lambda latches onto for Asbel for his kindness without actually internalizing it himself, we get into some pretty toxic stuff :) My long fic, though not shippy, does this, blurring the lines of Lambda's possessiveness from "you're mine" into "you're ME, you're an extension of myself and thus have no agency beyond what I permit." He's mistaken Asbel's friendship for unwavering approval and agreement with his worldview and actions, he blatantly violates his boundaries, and he dismisses his protests as "foolishness" or "not understanding reality." In the long fic, this comes to a confrontational breaking point (murder-suicide attempt), but knowing canon Asbel's endless belief in others even to his/their own detriment (like failing to call out Richard sooner during the main arc), I could see Asbel letting himself be abused for far too long under the misguided notion he can still "save" Lambda (good luck convincing someone who's actively benefitting from their actions to stop them buddy 😔).

As for the erotic, there's the sormik of it all... You know, the whole *leans into my imaginary microphone* fellas is it gay to live inside another man? 😅 It's probably not very hard to get someone off if you have direct control of their body huh. In fact, getting back to the jealousy thing and the fact that I'm still a hardcore Richass shipper, I like to think Lambda could get a little jealous of Asbel's arousal at Richard's hands and is like "oh that? I can do that here watch" and picking the absolute WORST moment to demonstrate. So Asbel has to clean himself up and awkwardly explain the reason why he and Richard keep that in the bedroom, beyond just for comfort's sake 😅

In conclusion, I like them :) They can be the most wholesome redemption-through-love pairing, or the most toxic fucked up kinky thing imaginable. Or both! They're fun 💜

[maya-chirps]

There's gotta be some piece about how the fandomization of the conclave has affected the initial response the public had about the cardinals and the new pope or something like how people did treat the conclave was strange and like I get it was spillover from the conclave 2024 fandom, it's still odd to me in hindsight and heck even right now

[justalittlebluetiefling]

Sometimes I try to write down thoughts about this campaign but I admittedly have not been paying enough attention to feel confident in my character analysis so I write an incoherent text post and then delete it because I don't know if I'm actually making the correct judgments.

[patovpran]

In summary of Eurovision:

The last 10 minutes took 10 years off my life

[kaythefloppa]

I think this is the first time where I'm almost hoping we have a moderately long hiatus after the season ends simply to give me a shit-ton of time to ramble, analyze, and brainstorm about the show in ways that I couldn't during the previous mid-season hiatus.

[greennoobartist]

PERFECT XDDD

[confetti-critter]

I found a dead swallowtail butterfly on my walk, I might have to try pinning it

[pop-punklouis]

i’m sorry but the people who were in blue state echo chambers being so throttled and surprised by trump having so many votes makes me feel like i’m living in a simulation where the fuck were you guys the past four years?? he’s only gotten stronger and his followers have only gotten more spiteful. insane takes to be like “idk how he won when kamala had every advantage.�� I DO? because the democratic party does nothing but underestimate republicans and yell at each other in an echo chamber.

i mean, yeah. put simply….. yeah.

those who are not anywhere near red states or red areas that hold his supporters and never had to face them on a daily basis and see their ideologies in real life and experience how fanatic and driven they are of course were surprised. i think there is so much to be said about echo-chamber territories and mindsets within the democratic party and its voters because it’s quite clear to me that the third party votes, this time, did not hinder the election. even republicans didn’t hinder it. which is shocking i know. they came out in the same goddamn numbers they always come out in. it was the democratic vote that just. collapsed. point blank. undecided voters just stayed home or voted against kamala. a portion of our own democratic voters became silence voters and lied in polls while voting for trump. and the party just. failed. having an impeccable grassroots movement means nothing when it comes to this kind of election. putting out a near perfect campaign the last three months means nothing when it comes to this kind of election.

the democratic party failed to utilize funds and resources here in a way that republicans always do. we didn’t do! shit!!! we didn’t target the right audiences. that was apparent with how the stats showed kamala having the highest blue favors in the wealthy and educated markets while failing spectacularly when it comes to lower-middle class and poor communities. we didn’t ride hard enough on certain policies that could’ve swayed our voters instead of wasting time on this delusional “conservative republican woman” demographic we funneled billions of dollars into only for them to not give a single fuck and vote for trump like they always do. we didn’t bring any dimension outside of biden for her campaign so a lot of people just completely attached her to biden and his presidency. we didn’t prime her for this because we allowed biden to stay in for as long as he did which only hurt her chances more. we completely ignored regular states and focused solely on battle ground states which fucked us on both fronts with voter turnout. we did not lock-in with smaller, liberal media outlets and keep a constant message going through them as the year wore on.

we didn’t do a lot of things, and the lack of even a close tie (let alone a fucking blowout like some people thought) should make every person in the democratic party take a very long pause and try to understand why this happened and why it happened so jarringly. democrats have relied on the same old mantra for three election cycles now, and “not being bad like that other guy” isn’t cutting it anymore. it isn’t swaying votes. celebrity endorsements only further create the narrative that democrats are for the wealthy elite. the unwillingness to step on anyone’s toes and vocalize real ideas for change that affect these lower demographics and how that will occur only breeds less voters and less voting confidence. the democratic party just needs a hard reset. that’s the biggest thing i’ve learned the past 24 hours. the democratic party needs to build up from the ground because what we’re doing is not working. it’s not connecting. and for biden to have done better than kamala in a lot of key voting demographics, that should tell you something about the state of our party and the country right now (besides america hating women and hating black women etc.). it’s just unfortunate and sad and bleak, but like you…. it doesn’t surprise me. it horrifies me but it doesn’t surprise me that trump pulled out a win here. republicans did everything in their power to win this election, and they did. the democratic party did not do that. we have got to become more likable and accessible and approachable. or nothing will ever change for this party. and that’s sad, because we have so many amazing people in this county who want to do good and spend their lives trying to fight to make america a better place to live- including those in the democratic party. we're just not resonating anymore and people are tired.

but i mean clouds are white. the sky is blue. it's not anything others haven't said before.