#toto rambles

[ectophasm]

after a long ordeal i have produced a worm dog. that being said, i wouldn't call this a worm...

i introduce to you all: slab.

slab is oddly mobile.

[maddsxfall]

not sky sports lagging mid toto rambles 🙄.

also, it should be impossible for toto to have piss me off as much as he has, and we're only 8 races into the season 💀.

[chamberkat]

guys calm down Toto and Max are just meeting because Max wants to do a surprise proposal for George and needs Totos help

[gastrophobia]

So, I redesigned Toto.

Pictured in the brown box are my original boston terrier design, an unspecified mutt, and a fully black classic cairn terrier look. Ultimately, I picked the 2nd design.

If you visit the website and go back to all the flashbacks where he's appeared (and the cast page), you'll see the art's been retconned to the new design. I did it all a week ago without telling y'all!

I liked the Boston Terrier = Boston Marriage gag, but something about the design I made just never clicked for me and felt like Toto.

My new Toto design is a mutt. I think he's a boston terrier toy poodle mix. (A bossi-poo?) I had a black toy poodle when I was a kid, so Toto having some toy poodle in him appeals to me.

[totoochristianwolff]

ABU DHABI GP 2024 [source]

[ectophasm]

was also in the middle of d&d. at the start of the session our dm was like "my mood is going to go up significantly like midway through the session" because he was gonna get food and it went up so hard we had to end early in the middle of a fight. we COULD NOT focus

i want us to preserve this moment, right now. where we are. what we are doing. i want you to know the answer to the question 'what were you doing when you found out henry kissinger died?'

[ectophasm]

so i saw of the Devil on bluesky and, as a self-proclaimed Detective VN Enthusiast, had to play the demo.

and it is FANTASTIC so far. so fantastic in fact that i am typing this up on tumblr for the higher character limit

first off, the game has INSANE style points.

morgan has a huge theme of poker/gambling, and that's reflected in the game's UI in an absolutely beautiful way. the UI also brings in the cyberpunk aspect, so just looking at the UI can tell you what kind of world morgan's in and how she thinks about her job. and also it looks awesome combined with the comic book motifs of the artstyle. my only complaint on this front is that london and reyes aren't very expressive in their sprites, but it at least makes a little sense considering they're detectives. and also i've been playing ai: the somnium files, which goes above and beyond on the expression front, so my perception may be skewed here. some extra poses in the sprites overall would be nice for the full game but they are absolutely great as is and do not need it to hold up

also i LOVE that you're rewarded for interacting with the game world and understanding it. reading comprehension game my beloved <3 being rewarded for investigating every object in the room my beloved <3

some extra notes under the readmore. don't click unless you've finished ep 0

also a spoiler for zero escape: zero time dilemma but i try to be as vague as possible abt it

God forbid women do anything.

i LOVE morgan already. i didn't see the twist coming at all, but the foreshadowing was extremely solid. it could have easily felt as bullshit as the villian's reveal in ZTD, but it didn't feel like that at all - it made a lot of her past lines make a lot more sense, and it being revealed this early in the game makes me excited about how the game is going to handle it. also you texted a heart emoticon to the fucking DEPARTMENT OF STATE ? absolute fucking menace

i was playing aitsf before i picked up otdevil. i will be drawing date and reyes together with their yellow prosthetic detective-assistant eyes as soon as i finish aitsf

also the interviews in extra content are a fucking fantastic idea and every VN should do them. i've only viewed reyes's so far (i need to be up in 6 hours </3) but it was AMAZING. tell me your character has autism in one easy step (and possibly a tgirl depending on what that third thing is)

that being said, i do have a few nitpicks.

- it's obvious from the moment the photo is shown that carlos isn't the killer. iirc we already determined that carlos didn't have a right arm at the time, and whether you account for the mirror or not, the suspect in the photo has both arms. this tripped me up for the rest of the mirror segment and i think it could be fixed (relatively) easily by altering the pose of the figure such that the arm not holding the gun is more behind the figure or perhaps less distinctly an arm

- some of the solutions are a little unintuitive. to me anyway. and sometimes i am a little stupid. the one that comes to mind is the smell of the jacket -- admittedly i'm not very knowledgeable on guns, but i don't think i'd have thought of the smell of the gunpowder not being on it. that being said, gambling's kinda the point, so maybe i'm bound to have to make a few guesses

- it's not very easy to jump back to a particular segment of the episode. i unlocked everyone's interviews but morgan's on my first run, but if i wasn't such a religious multi-slot saver i might've had to do the whole episode over to get morgan's unless there's a replay option i'm missing.

i'll prolly have more and better thoughts when i'm more awake but damn that demo was good and i'm so excited for ep 1

[diqldrunks]

stfu toto shaking his head is how i feel rn bc this is actually the most painful race i’ve watched

[ectophasm]

oh shit, i meant to join earlier today but wanted to wait for the member count to go up

did you have 2fa on? and did you accept anything for any apps/bots the server has? i've heard things about people getting hacked by them taking their auth tokens/login info/what have you (but couldn't remember if that was fearmongering). hope you can get your acc back and nothing shitty's been done with it

DO NOT JOIN THE SPORE DISCORD SERVER. Got abruptly logged out, may have been hacked. Working it out. Mutuals I haven’t reached out to dm me.

[77tahlias-obsessions14]

It seems I have a type in men. Tall, handsome, older, boss type thing going on. Looks good in a suit and regular clothes. Like please sir just once

[itsblasttothepast]

In what rabbit hole did I fall into, that everything is upside down now?

Helmut Marko defending Checo AGAIN! I mean... what? Twice already? And now Horner being the one speaking shit every day about Checo's performance, demanding results and saying that maybe his seat will be available for Yuki or Daniel?

I think Marko is playing a game where he does the opposite of Horner, and since now Horner seems to be enemy #1 to Checo, Marko is all... meh (can't say supportive or caring, because let's not exaggerate, but at least he's not attacking Checo and he's saying he'll bounce back from this losing streak).

So I see different outcomes from this (explained, just for fun, with memes) (and also, these are my deluded theories, not to be taken TOO seriously):

Outcome 1: Checo's car will miraculously work again and Checo will at least be in the top 5 the next race, and perhaps p3 or p2 the other one before summer break. This will be accompanied by the generic RBR speech of 'we knew he would do it' and 'we support him' while they kept playing mind games with Checo, his fans and his haters.

Outcome 2: Red Bull fires Checo with their bullshit clause or whatever, and decide to bring Sainz to the team; or Horner finally wins and let Ricciardo take that seat, or Yuki, or Liam, or Bird, or on a very incredibly plot twist, Horner himself takes the damn seat. This leaves with Checo looking for other teams and little window of opportunity to actually get any real options (now, let's remember that Ford's CEO loves Checo and wants him badly, so this outcome will be bloody).

Outcome 3: Checo actually ends his contract, tired of all this bullshit, and says:

Then, in another incredible plot twist, Toto Wolff actually hires Checo to spite Horner, because he keeps throwing to his face that the car is fucked, so he will get his revenge getting Checo to be Russell's minister of defense (maybe hubby Hamilton will also give the boss a good reference for Checo). And let's remember that Toto and Horner have this weird sexual tension, so when he gets Checo for 2025 (only that year, he will get Antonelli with more experience for 2026) he will be like this:

And if Toto doesn't fit into my theory because he's too stubborn, then maybe Audi will give Checo a seat, until Ford decides to buy his own team and hire Checo.

Outcome 4: Aaaaaan my last one... in a crafty game of chairs, Charles says 'screw this' and leaves Ferrari, goes to Red Bull with frenemy Max, and Checo goes to Ferrari to be hubby's teammate, Carlos goes to Mercedes, Daniel gets crushed by Yuki, Logan finally wins a Grand Prix (eagle sounds in the background), Pierre and Esteban get married and Valteri Bottas releases a new, nude, spicy calendar for 2025.

All right, here's my hot take from the rabbit hole, my homies, please let me know how crazy I am and if you have another outcome, my inbox and comments are your canvas.

[ectophasm]

the pet wrecking ball is one of my favorite items of all time

the wrecking ball has physics

what the fuck is up with the pet saddle items in ajpw, why is ur pet Gaming on your back while you walk around. operating a mini Wrecking Ball Machine while you walk down the Animal Jam Street. on Lifeguard Duty on Your Back.

[livefastdriveyoung]

This is Madness

Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari is huge. Few things;

First, poor Carlos, having to announce his own departure is brutal.

Second, if Toto really only did find out yesterday, why? Was Lewis afraid he would change his mind? Guilt? Is the W15 a disaster?

Third, Ferrari was the only other option. There was very little chance he would wind up at Redbull. Max is first driver, Christian Horner has admitted to not seeing a future with him.

Fourth, BONO?! He signed an extension contract. So the question is does he have an out clause as well? Will Lewis buy him out? Can he? Will Bono even choose Lewis?

Fifth, Team Loyalty is a big deal in modern F1, but that's the key, it's modern. F1 drivers used to change teams more frequently. We've seen it even now. Alonso has been on six teams total, with separate stints at different times for Renault and McLaren. Kimi drove for five teams. Seb drove for five teams. Checo, five, and so on. Hamilton's stint with Mercedes is unprecedented. 17 years total. Not something to scoff at, but unprecedented. It shouldn't be treated as some ultimate betrayal. He was the exception to the rule.

Sixth, I think Lewis implicitly trusts Fred Vasseur. Do I? No. Do I think that the rumors going around about poaching Red Bull staff and the fact that we don't know about Bono or Andrew could mean that Lewis's side of the garage is stacked exactly how he wants it.

Seventh, Charles is not going to be second driver, not really. Yes, you don't bring a driver like Lewis in to make him second fiddle, but I think that the hope is that Charles will learn what he's been missing, and I love Charles but there are definitely moments that demonstrated room for growth. Lewis has always talked about how much the sport has changed, and even though it is his complaints that make headlines, his positive enforcement of some of these changes is a good attitude to bring. Charles is the 'Il Predestinato' they just want to make sure that he's the best version of it they can get.

Eighth, The Mercedes garage is going to spin this season. Their PR team is going to work like never before. They're going to spin the narrative to George, they're going to isolate Lewis. He can't be in the future development meetings anymore, he's the competition. His colleagues of a decade can no longer trust him and that is sure to be lonely. They're not going to let that be the story. I think we might even be seeing some of it already. The question as to whether or not Toto knew in advance, coming out against the fact that allegedly Sainz and LeClerc have known for at least a couple weeks, is interesting and I'm intrigued at the level of truth.

Ninth, Whether you like Lewis or not, there were moments last season that the team shafted him. Prioritizing his teammate when he was in a better position, abandoning him on podium, etc. Lewis was so supportive of Susie and Toto, George didn't even bother to do anything other than repost the official statement. Lewis was Jack's hero, now all of a sudden, George is the one on vacations, and teaching him carting. The relationship has been slowly fracturing since Abu Dhabi 2021. Whether or not Lewis leaves on a good note at the end of the season will depend on if Mercedes will even give him the time of day. This could very well be Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren.

Finally, I don't think Lewis Hamilton has ever been the type to pull the rug out from someone without cause. He's always been a huge target in the F1 community and I think he's been ready for a change for a while. It's hard to make a change, especially when you're leaving something that once treated you so well. If it is true that he gave Mercedes no proper warning then hopefully he apologizes and explains. We're not entitled to know, but they are.

[im-probably-crying-rn-ngl]

born to say 'he fucked that old man' (rpf) but then people accuse 'he fucked that old man!' (derogatory, defamatory, delusional?) therefore forced to say 'he did not fuck that old man, wtf guys?'

always ruining so many things for me. i hope their pillows are always warm, their socks are always wet and their favourite classic tracks get removed for street ones.

[bronanlynch]

finally getting around to making the posts that have been half-finished in my drafts since my zz rewatch. anyway. thinking abt haman & glemy again

thinking abt how they're both vying for leadership of axis/neo zeon by leveraging their connections to the zabis (haman as mineva's regent and glemy through his. nonspecific familial connection*) but approaching it in very different ways, where haman is using zabi revivalist sentiment as a tool for her own gain and glemy seems to actually be bought in on all that bc they are each slightly different flavors of fascist (her "my personal strength gives me the right to do whatever I want" vs his "the strength of my bloodline gives me the right to do whatever I want," hers comes across as more individualistic where his comes across as more blatantly eugenicist but they are both ultimately making their claims to power based on seeing themselves as innately ~superior to everyone around them) (which also ties in to each of their understandings of newtypes as a concept, haman understands that people could become newtypes but due to what she's seen of how deeply entrenched the federation's power structures are, she thinks that they won't ("not all of humanity can become newtypes, as you've shown me. they'll devour the earth long before that") versus glemy, who says shit like "I'll rebuild a kingdom of zeon blood" and has ple 2 talking abt newtypes as entirely distinct from "ordinary people"

and they both have such a strong sense of entitlement, but haman's is from both her belief in her own skill and her feelings of having been wronged (her sister dying in service to the zabis, her resentment over being exiled to axis & the federation's corruption), and glemy's is bc he's a nepo baby who thinks his ~bloodline makes him special and gives him the right to be in charge of everything and use as many cloned child soldiers as he wants in order to make that happen (bc he thinks he should be the one to tell everyone, especially women & girls (leina, roux, the ples), what to do and how to behave) (and haman obviously also uses people as tools, that's kind of the main thing abt how she interacts with and relates to other people, but she cares primarily abt utility rather than having the focus on propriety that he does)

also I think it's fun that neither glemy nor haman use military titles the way the zeon remnants on earth do, their people call them glemy-sama and haman-sama and the people working under them aren't referred to by military ranks either, which to me seems to emphasize the way they're hearkening back to the more monarchist aspects of zabi rule bc those are the aspects most conducive to one person gaining the kind of power they each want, rather than the focus being on, like, zeon as a whole. or maybe it's just bc neither of them vibe with the military titles aesthetically, or some secret third reason, but regardless I think it's an interesting detail that does set them apart from most of the rest of the post-oyw zeon movements. and sure, part of that is bc lots of post-oyw zeon stuff is written by uh. military otakus (stardust memory, etc) so they lean into the military scifi stuff for that reason, but it's not like tomino's not also out here writing neo zeon factions who still use military ranks (the remnants they encounter in zz, char's neo zeon to an extent)

*tbh the vagueness with which he talks abt that makes him even funnier to me. like we get a few references to him being "related to the zabis" and he clearly has plenty of thoughts abt how his ~superior bloodline makes him Better but he never explains what his actual connection to the zabis is. and I know fandom consensus seems to be that he's gihren's son/clone but 1) afaict the source for that is production notes, plenty of things in production notes blatantly contradict the actual shows (there are production notes for 0079 that say that garma has a younger sister called miharu which. obviously he does not lol) (and also it's referenced in a video game. and video games are not exactly a credible source for the text of the show either Imo, lots of things get said in lots of different gundam video games, and some of those things can be interesting but where it contradicts the show I'm gonna believe the show version, y'know?)

2) in glemy's first proper appearance he says "papa, mama, at last I'll be in a real mobile suit battle. please, watch me," and then a few episodes later "my mama always said you have to make up for your mistakes" which are the kind of things you say when you had parents that you knew who have died, not when you're someone's clone/science experiment. I guess you could argue that maybe he doesn't know the truth but that's boring to me, sorry, I don't think it would be interesting for him to have just been a clone the whole time and it was never mentioned and neither he nor anyone else knew

and 3) being the child of a previous leader legitimizes your claim far more than being vaguely related, so I think he probably would have played that card if he had it to play, which makes me think that it's far more likely that he was like. a cousin or something (probably on his mother's side considering his name tbh like. you can maybe argue that at first he was trying to hide his true identity so that haman would see him as less of a threat but by the end when he's openly declaring himself against her using his family ties as justification, if he thought he had a right to the name he would be using it) and his parents raised him to think that he was special bc of it but didn't actually train him to rule (which is why he doesn't really have the skills haman does, as someone who was handed conditional power at a young age and therefore had to learn very quickly how to effectively wield it), because that wasn't something that was really on the table for him until the post-oyw power vacuum

[ectophasm]

it's real

shop sign i made because i want too many corn patches