#hot-ish take

[sasssydaddy123]

This might be too "hot" of a take for Tumblr but I really wish ppl would stop treating influencers like politicians.

Fuckin Chris or Madison or whoever the fuck from tiktok does not have any obligation to write a statement about current affairs. Why the actual fuck are we looking to these bozos to give us a consice, well written, 100% factually correct, completely comprehensive statement about wars, the economy, racial injustice, queer issues or reproductive rights again? These people are not politicians and certainly do not have the capacity to be one.

Social media has devolved into a weird pseudo-political landscape that doesn't actually have any real impact on things. So when I see random influencers being inundated with harsh comments about not giving a statement on this or not putting up a go fund me for that or for not wording their statement correctly, I can literally feel my brain melting.

Social media politics gives people the false impression of "actually making a difference" when in reality it doesn't do much. You can write 15 part twitter posts or harass random people online all you want but what are you really doing? Nothing.

[potato-lord-but-not]

guys help I can’t stop drawing him

[somewhereincairparavel]

[TW: grooming] Gentle reminder that Luke castellan was a 19 year old adult going after a 14 year old Silena, emotionally manipulating her and basically grooming her into giving him information. (Luke was said to have recruited Silena sometime after he left chb, which is basically the ending of TLT and Silena was 14 in TLT while Luke was 19) and continued to do so for 4 YEARS (the time between TLT and TLO is 4 years, and Silena only stopped falling into the trap after Charlie died, which was in TLO)

I hope the pjo timeline is an eye opener for the naive as fuck fans defending and justifying Luke's behaviour and having the audacity to deny that Silena was indeed groomed.

There's a difference between appreciating well written complex characters vs actually glossing and meat riding their problematic and questionable behaviour. A huge fucking difference. I think Luke is a good written character, but seeing the amount of fans justifying him being a creep scares me.

"Grooming" (I took the definition straight out of the internet for the detectives that will probably scrutinize and chew on my post lmao) is when someone builds a relationship, trust and emotional connection with a child or young person so they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them.

Luke took advantage of Silena to BOTH manipulate AND exploit her for information.

Don't even get me started on the "he had a terrible home life, he was traumatized as a kid, what else can you expect?" yeah he was, but how was that Silena's fault? She shouldn't have to be taken advantage of , suffer without even realizing it, and pay the price to Luke's insanity, just because Luke had internalized issues like other demigods did?? How is that a fucking excuse??

Look me in the eye and tell me that Luke was "so hot because of how crazy, messed up and unhinged he is"

I dare you.

[faelapis]

i have so many thoughts on wicked the musical.

[total-drama-brainrot]

TD World Tour AU, where Noah doesn't tell Owen that Alejandro is an eel in London... In Area 51, Noah is accidentally splashed with an alien truth potion (which wears off after a few days) and he talks to Owen... Owen asks Noah what he truly thinks about Alejandro, and Truth-Potion Affected Noah says this: "I have mixed feelings for Alejandro. He's a brilliant, interesting guy and I like him, but I don't trust him. He's like a slippery eel dipped in grease, swimming in motor oil. Basically, Heather with social skills. Wait a minute, why am I telling you this?!"... What if Alejandro secretly heard Noah call him all those conflicting things + Alejandro also learns that Noah is affected with an alien truth potion? 👽

Alright, you got me. I'm an absolute sucker for truth potion plots, especially when the character(s) effected by them are usually either pathological liars or incredibly secretive- of which Noah absolutely falls into the second category, given he shares so little personal information.

I'll gloss over why Noah declined to shit-talk Alejandro in London (though there's so many ways this change in behaviour could be justified) since the focal point of this hypothetical centred around their time in Nevada, so let's start from the beginning of the Area 51 challenge.

Area 51:

Before we start, it'll have to be established that no one was eliminated in London. Let's say that the majority vote went towards Duncan (team CIRRRRH voted him out immediately because they found his re-admission to the competition unfair, I guess. I imagine he'd also vote himself, if not as a plan to escape the competition he'd been actively skiving from, then just as an act of spite) but Chris instead claimed it was a rewards challenge- much like he does in Greece- because he doesn't want to let Duncan slip away again so soon.

I see no reason to alter the first part of the challenge- the sneaking into Area 51 portion- since team CIRRRRH's course of entry is fairly straightforward. Noah's presence doesn't make much of a difference to how it would play out; the majority of them throw their rocks and run, Owen gets lasered over the fence and Owen-napped, ect ect.

When both teams have managed to make their way into the Black Box Warehouse, Noah immediately suggests they should prioritise rescuing Owen. Tyler's quick to agree, since he's a firm believer in the "no man left behind" mentality (and he probably makes a not-so-subtle jab towards Noah for his chance of tune compared to London, where both he and Owen did leave Tyler behind) leaving Duncan and Alejandro to split from the group- Duncan in search of Gwen, and Alejandro just takes the opportunity to finally be free from his 'incompetent teammates' and prioritises finding an artifact.

Noah and Tyler come across the contraption Owen's trapped in, Tyler punches it in a futile effort to break it open, and the face hugger cube drops into Noah's hands. This is where the point of divergence comes into play; Tyler has his E.T. moment with one of the face huggers, but Noah- who's a tad bit more observant than Alejandro, and used to dodging surprise attacks from his various older siblings (and Izzy)- anticipates his own face hugger attack and promptly starts a game of cat-and-mouse with a taser alien hot on his heels.

The commotion of which attracts the rest of his team. Alejandro and Duncan arrive on the scene to see Tyler being electrocuted by an alien and Noah running in circles evading another.

Duncan attempts to rip the face hugger from Tyler's face, finding success at the cost of sending Tyler trampling into Owen's captive contraption (essentially taking Alejandro's canonical place in this scene) and inadvertently freeing Owen.

Meanwhile, Alejandro swipes up the nearest box he can find and snags the alien chasing Noah, who's still very loudly panicking as he flees, and succeeds! The alien is swiftly captured into the box, netting team CIRRRRH their artifact, and Noah promptly goes careening into the nearest tower of junk in his face hugger-fuelled hysteria. This causes another box to topple from the peak of the tower, landing directly on Noah's head and spilling its contents onto the bookworm- glass vials filled with a mysterious, luminescent cobalt blue liquid shatter into pieces drenching Noah in whatever they contained. (i.e. truth potion.)

Owen has his false-amnesia moment, characterised by his Joker makeover, and Alejandro enacts his revenge post-hypnotic suggestion after being addressed as "Al" one too many times.

Noah, understandably, swiftly objects to Owen's treatment and demands that Alejandro snap him out of it. Alejandro concedes, and Owen's brought back to himself. At least, for a moment, before the fatigue of having his mind messed with sends Owen into near-catatonia (the same as canon), meaning he has to be ferried through the Warehouse and back to the Jet by Alejandro and Duncan.

Things carry on canonically from there; Noah's just sort of there for the most part, though there'd be a minor hint to his newfound proclivity for honesty. Something along the lines of him giving an uncharacteristically honest answer to Owen as to who he's voting- Tyler, of course, since he was the one who ultimately threw the challenge for them... and also because Tyler still holds some resentment towards Noah for what happened in London, and Noah feels guilty about it every time he looks at the jock. Wait, why did he say that?

Sometime between this and the elimination scene, Noah wipes the truth-goop off of himself, but not before the effects have already started.

Tyler's voted out, yada yada yada.

The Jet:

Thus begins the start of "Picnic at Hanging Dork". Team CIRRRRH, consisting of just Alejandro, Duncan, Owen and Noah, are slumming it up in the Economy Cabin. Alejandro tries to rally his team by asking how to break apart Courtney and Heather's tentative co-operation. Owen suggests having Alejandro seduce Heather, since it worked for both Bridgette and Leshawna. Duncan makes his "Babe Olympics" comment. Noah pipes up that playing with someone's feelings is pretty scummy, even for someone competing for a million dollars.

Alejandro takes Noah's reluctance towards his methodology poorly; he hadn't spoken up before, when Alejandro had utilized the same strategy against other girls- and even Owen noticed that, so surely Noah did too- so why was he to outwardly against him using the same tricks? Duncan agrees, and offers ''his'' idea of having Alejandro flirt with Courtney to throw both her and Heather off their games (since Heather has an obvious crush on Alejandro), and things follow canon.

Then, the scene between Alejandro and Courtney happens. Noah scoffs at the display from the side lines, prompting Owen to ask him why he's so against Alejandro's plan.

"I mean, you never said anything before, when he flirted with Bridgette and Leshawna." Owen comments, light-hearted in nature but with an underlying questioning tone.

Noah's eyes flicker with a cobalt glow, easily mistaken for a trick of the light, and he speaks without even thinking.

"Yeah, because I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. Bridgette was happenstance, and Leshawna's whole deal could've been a coincidence, or some massive misunderstanding. But this?" Noah extends an accusing hand out towards a smug looking Alejandro, then pans it over to a flattered Courtney, "He's outright toying with Courtney's feelings after she was cheated on in front of an international audience. It's scummy."

Owen nods in understanding, momentary contemplation evident in the pouted curve of his lips, and he chimes in.

"Does that mean you don't like Al?"

"I never said that."

"Well, how do you feel about him, then?"

Again, a flash of blue light against the hickory backdrop of Noah's eyes, and he responds thoughtlessly.

"I guess I have mixed feelings about him. On the one hand, he's slippery, like an eel dipped in grease, swimming in motor oil. He's like if you took all of the worst aspects of Heather, wrapped them up in a pretty package, and gave them social skills..." He holds his hands out before him in a scale-like manner, with the left tipped downwards and tie right raised by his chin. Then, the two hands swap positions.

"And on the other hand, he's brilliant. I've never met anyone as talented as Alejandro; he's smart, he's athletic, he's funny. It's almost unfair just how perfect everything about him is- even his face is perfect. It's ridiculous! Infuriating, even. It's so hard to dislike him, even when I know he's bad news, but that doesn't mean I trust him."

Owen stands slack jawed beside his best friend, both impressed and stunned at the raw honesty of Noah's tirade. Noah, now a little more aware of himself, realises that he's said more than he intended to- more than he thinks he's ever spoken in one go throughout the entirety of Total Drama. He's not usually one for speeches, after all, let alone honest ones.

He's always been the type to play his cards close to his chest, so why...?

"I, uh, didn't mean to go off like that."

And he also didn't mean to admit it, either. What was going on?

The look Owen gives him is, in a word, vivid. The blonde has a shit-eating grin stretching across his face, a sort of elated smugness practically glowing from his features.

"Sounds like someone has a cruuuush!~"

What? No? No! Not at all, where would Owen even get that idea?!

Noah splutters to correct Owen's assumption (to disastrous results, because he does sort-of has a crush on Alejandro, so the truth potion doesn't allow him to outright deny it), and in his preoccupied state he misses how a calculating pair of sage green eyes never seems to stray from him.

Alejandro has a lot to think about in regards to a certain cynic, it seems.

[blu-ish]

Back at it again with Sonic Unleashed-- *does a flip and dies*

[deus-ex-mona]

scrolled a little too far back on mogetwt and found pure gold:

[cinderella-ish]

today's fruits basket hot take: these three are a younger version of the original mabudachi trio

yuki = hatori

constantly beset by the other two

doesn't try to hide his annoyance

still loves them dearly

knows they'd do anything for him and are largely responsible for him surviving and healing from severe trauma

probably bi but in deep, deep denial

at least one of the other two was definitely in love with him at one point

booksmart

has a bit of a complex about an aspect of his appearance and everyone knows it

needs to learn how to relax

most likely to call member 3 of the trio an idiot

fell for a woman who's both hyper competent and a complete disaster

falling in love marked a huge step in their healing

responsible and dependable

extremely low opinion of self

reserved and mysterious but really kind of a mess

haru = ayame

white hair

unique personal style

breaks school uniform code and looks great doing it

frequently declares his love for Yuki, much to Yuki's chagrin

makes wearable things

openly bi, fuck the haters

shows his love in unique ways

says ridiculous things with no clear indication of whether he's being serious or not

sees the best in his loved ones

loves hard

fell for a cool woman who also has a unique personal style

the curse was a barrier to his relationship

people wrongly think he's an idiot

way more observant and thoughtful than he's given credit for

kakeru = shigure

seems carefree, is actually incredibly calculated

will needle people in pursuit of information/own goals

booksmart but doesn't mind if people think he's an idiot, possibly encourages that perception so people will underestimate him

openly bi but always in a joking way so there's ✨plausible deniability✨

casual, easygoing style also probably a calculated choice

knows how to have fun

handsome devil

actually hangs out with people who aren't the other two or his romantic partner

reveals very little of himself to all but a select few

rejected the life that was laid out for him in childhood & broke free of assigned role

was already in love before the series started

definitely gives their romantic partner multiple headaches a day

good at giving advice in metaphor form

sees the big picture

manipulative and single-minded in pursuit of his goal, but more empathetic and caring than he'd ever admit

actually does help the first member of his trio, wouldn't believe you if you told him that

[worlds-smallest-epsilon]

I’m seeing a lot of Will Wood stuff on my dash so I thought I’d air out my spiciest opinion, including zero nuance:

SELF-iSH is his weakest album

[ratatatastic]

thinking a lot about ekky organising a fishing trip (the sturgeon tagging trip if you will) for some of the boys back in like february-ish* and with the knowledge that ekky has taken forsy out deepsea fishing this season do you know what its like going oh so he took him lakefishing in BC...oh okay

and also we got this shot of ekky manning a rod while forsy stands behind him like thats not- okay

[alangdorf]

I got married this summer!! And I spent the year leading up to it designing & patterning & making my dresses! So here they are; unfortunately my photo selection is pretty limited cause our photographer got almost no fullbody pictures of me alone from the front, but w/e

My wedding dress/outfit/what have you consisted of an Edwardian-ish blouse and a skirt which I drafted off of an actual Victorian walking skirt pattern except since I didn’t wanna obtain/wear a corset & bustle I took out the hip shaping so it just turned out to be a partial circle skirt that’s a little longer and fuller in back. Oh, and the front panel was actually two overlapping panels which could be folded back and attached to the inside of the skirt. I wore it closed at the actual marriage part which I didn’t get good pics of, and open at the ring ceremony, which is where all the above pics were taken. The pants were resale, but I did make my veil and bouquet!

The second dress was very inspired by this set of classic lolita OP’s (particularly the one in the first two pics) which I first saw back in 2021 and I’d been itching to make something similar ever since, so I picked up the fabric for it when it was on sale back at my old job and then pencilled it in as my reception dress so I would actually get around to making it. (Although fun fact both of these outfits STILL need more sewing done before they’re completely ready for regular wear lol. Someday) I got the cameo for the brooch off Etsy (it has a butterfly on it) and my grandma bought me the shoes for Christmas last year, though I added the bows to them (they’re removable and I also made a pink set) and also made the earrings and hair bow.

Anyway we recently got done moving and stuff so hopefully I will be able to do more art soon! (Also they/them preferred as usual 💜)

[definitely-not-an-alb]

I am so happy people are finally seeing the light (hating the Baru Is Femme article that was clearly written by someone who hasn't read the book)

[dragondream-ing]

Love being told by people who’ve never been in spitting distance of Fire and Blood that the point of the story is “both sides equally bad” and “choose your fave war criminal” lmao the absolute audacity to be so vocally wrong.

[greyias]

So I’ve reached a point where I’m seriously considering going back to an earlier save file to revert a choice I made. Because the further I go on, the more I realize my previous decision is just not working for me. (It’s not the mushroom — the mushroom is just gone, there’s no going back. My stupid paladin ate it mid-battle and choices or misclicks in this case have consequences).

No. This is bigger than all of that. I’ve tried to move on, gone through several cutscenes and battles and can confidently say.

This adamantine armor.

is ugly af.

And I miss my girl having this somewhat iconic (in my mind) look that I’ve associated her with. Are the stats better on the adamantine armor? SURE. Does it make my AC higher? YEAH. Can no one score a critical on me while I’m wearing it. DOT DOT DOT YES.

But it’s also way too shiny and bright and reflective. It washes out her face in cutscenes. YOU CAN’T SEE HER FRECKLES. Those freckles are important! The neck on it is too tall. The silhouette is all wonky and square and bulky. It glows in weird spots. It dyes horribly and is just distractingly shiny in every cutscene. I even tried to give it a cape to make it look all fancy and it just didn’t matter.

And she just looks like some generic MMO character now.

Where is my crest of devotion? My lovely blue tabard? The loving and intiricate golden embroidery? Where is the fashion my dears? Is it smart to wear my starting armor to end or even mid game content? NO. Maybe I'll live through a fight but at what cost???? Look at that face! How can I make her wear something ugly?

She deserves the best.

So either I give it to another party member who could use a boost in AC and the ability to resist crits… or I roll back (thankfully not too far, just the Arcane Tower bits) and create an adamantine shield. Thankfully, I had enough foresight to create a save file called “second forge item”, so I don’t have to go through that boss fight again. But like… DECISIONS MAN.

[jimin-nothing-stronger]

I’ve long joked that Python is a slightly demonic programming language, but I just realized — Python, like the serpent of Eden! Python, like Crowley!

Anyway, my new headcanon is that Python is one of Crowley’s demonic innovations, designed to generate low-level discontent and petty bitterness among programmers and scientists around the globe. I cannot be convinced otherwise. (This is possibly the only way I can trick myself into actually appreciating its serpentine wiles.)

[tonyglowheart]

...huh. hUh. finished Chap 45, and. okay you know what it is?? Shen Qiao is NOT a fantasy/fairy tale heroine contrary to popular perception. Like, he is NOT a fairy tale princess, not even a Grimm one.

He's a gothic romance heroine.

Because. Okay with this end-of-chap-45 reveal.... in another genre, a genre with a more straightforward and uncomplicated morality system.. likethis WOULD be a personal betrayal on a quite high, if not the highest, level.

But there's something about it, for me, that is... just... not that. And I think this came about because my main thought at the end of this chap was like like, "huh. how... romantic, in a ...grotesquely violating sort of way. I am alone and we are so fundamentally unalike but I see something in you that inexorably calls to me, and so I reach inside you in a parody of intimacy and make you like me, so that despite our differences we are now in some way intrinsically alike."

So. Yeah. For all the framing this is NOT a story about "Good" vs "Evil" and "will the Good character fall / will the Evil character manage to tempt the Good character into evil ways. This isn't a superhero story, it's a gothic romance-type paradigm.