#probably not a hot take but it's my take

[egophiliac]

(looks at upcoming card releases)

I'm in danger :)

[chloesimaginationthings]

I'm going insane over the way you draw Sun-

I seriously love drawing sun (and moon!)

[twst-hottest-takes]

Tweel Anatomy discussion!

Part 1.

(Ask and ye shall recieve! This will be split up into a couple of parts because this could get long and it's easy enough to break up into pieces. [I definitely wasn't putting this off until the cards officially released.])

For starters I have to say again that I just love the twins and their merforms are so cool. I just want an excuse to gush about them. A lot of this discussiom will involve headcanons and hypotheticals and estimations, so there is your warning to not take anything in this post as law. This post, like pretty much all the others is very opinionated. Some of the fun bits about contemplating the anatomy of a fantasy creature involves drawing the imaginary lines between where the fish parts end and the human parts begin, and where the two become a blur and turn into something completely new. I like to think I strike a balance with my hypotheses, but perhaps others might not feel the same way. This is a post meant to start a discussion, not a fight. So let's see how far down the rabbit hole we can go . . .

Starting with a classic: How big are these guys?

Let's answer Ace's question. (While laughing like middle-schoolers about how that question was phrased.)

Now there is no canon answer to my knowledge so I can only give my best estimation. (Corrections welcome!) I firmly believe that they do not change "size" between their land and sea forms. For all intents and purposes, the twins are being treated as though their heads, arms, torsoes, and pelvic regions are the same size between human and merforms.

BECAUSE EVEN WITHOUT CHANGING SIZE THESE GUYS ARE ABSOLUTE MONSTERS IN THEIR MERFORMS.

I have no real proof of my theory. I simply compared the sprites and scaled the chibis until they had the same head size. Forgive me for not having a better method of measurement. I am not going to try and unravel the live 2D mermodels and I think trying to measure their shadows from their intro scene would be even less reliable. The length of the tail is approximately 75% the length of the rest of the body after where his feet theoretically end.

I didn't do the same with Floyd because I feel that it's safe to assume that he's probably a few cm longer (3-5 cm max) due to his 1 cm height difference when they are in human form. I hazard a guess that only the two of them actually care about that difference in length.

332 cm. (Or around 11 ft for those of us stateside.)

We know they're huge, but tying a number to the length REALLY puts things into perspective. Like it's actually a little scary.

Next: Gill placement.

I am a big fan of the gill slits being around the ribs! Not only do they look cool, but I like that it can be read as a combination of human and eel anatomy in their merforms.

Since they have a humanoid chest cavity, it makes sense that even though they don't have lungs, they may have a muscular structure similar to a diaphragm. By having a muscular system that works passively/sympathetically they could have a "breathing" motion similar to humans; but, instead of taking air in, it simply keeps water moving across the gills to maintain gas exchange.

Benefits of this system include: Being able to sleep (as I would assume merfolk do), and being able to stay in one place (most fish need to be moving constantly to keep their gills working). The ability to be stationary isn't necessary for fish, but for merfolk who have social conventions, even being able to sit still to have a conversation is a boon (unless the world of mermen is built around the idea that no one ever sits still, but I feel like the photograph from Book 3 proves otherwise).

Furthermore, having the gills on the ribs as opposed to somewhere farther up--for example, on the neck--the twins can reasonably stick their heads out of the water without fear of limiting their breathing ability. Though these new card illustrations show that they don't seem to have any problem with having their gills exposed to the air (at least as far as being photogenic is concerned), I can see it being convenient for merfolk to be able to poke their head and shoulders above the water and still be able to breath regularly (which definitely doesn't have anything to do with luring unwary travelers to their deaths. . .nope. . .not at all).

I have seen people say they don't like the choice and that the gills should be on their necks. If that's coming from a place of personal preference and is purely aesthetic I guess I can see it. But if anyone tries to tell me that it's not "eel-like" enough and they need to have the gills closer to the mouth, I will fight you. From a design and functionality standpoint the rib gills are fantastic!

For the last bit of this entry, let's talk about the elephant in the room: THE EEL ABS!

I'd say "don't get me started on this one" but I'm already here and we're already too deep in, so here we go.

Things are about to get spicy!

~They're fine.

Like, as a choice, the inclusion of these muscles is likely just for fanservice points, but it's not an anatomically strange thing.

Come here and I will explain to you a thing:

MERFOLK DO NOT SWIM WITH THE SAME MUSCLE GROUPS AS HUMANS DO!

Once upon a time, (this is going somewhere, just stick with me!) people complained that Ariel, the Little Mermaid herself, was too skinny and not built like a swimmer. People insisted that she not have such a tiny waist and her arms should be bigger. Now I, here and now, should not have to tell the reader why this is so ridiculous to say, but I'm going to anyway~ ARIEL DOES NOT USE HER ARMS TO SWIM! Those who have watched the movie may have observed that she swims like an aquatic mammal. All of her momentum comes from the verticle motion of her tail, and to some extent her abdomen, not her arms. When she turns human, Ariel does not even know how she can use her arms to help her swim upwards and out of the ocean. She struggled without her tail so much Sebastian and Flounder basically carried her to the surface.

In this way, merfolk do not need to have the same type of body as a human swimmer because they are functionally different and some people seem to get stuck on that.

Now returning to Jade and Floyd, again, their arms are not "built like a swimmer's." Once again THEY DON'T HAVE TO BE. There is nothing in all of Twisted Wonderland that suggests they swim with their arms at all. These boys have 5 foot long tails that are probably primarily muscle to propel themselves through the water. The arms are not for propulsion. The tails do the grand majority of the work, but this conversation was started about abdominal muscles so we'll circle back to that now. Unlike other merfolk (as exemplified by Ariel) who swim with verticle motions of their tails, eel-based mermen would swim by making horizontal motions, also primarily with their tails. I do say primarily because the idea occurs to me that there may be situations where the limits of their ability to move might be tested. If a merman built like this wanted to go significantly faster than whatever is "normal" for them, muscle groups higher in the body would get used. Essentially, given Jade and Floyd as characters, I don't find it hard to believe that, at the speeds they swim, they would be using their very human-shaped abdomens to increase their speed. That's a workout, especially for the obliques.

So, in conclusion, I don't think the abs are weird. Gratuitous? Absolutely. But they aren't the anatomical monstrosity some people seem to think they are.

Let me say once more, if you simply don't like how it looks, or the fish abs squick you out and you like to headcanon they don't exist--that's fine. But don't argue with me on the basis that it's not realistic. Mermaids are, after all, fictional creatures and depictions of them tend to be fanciful. The tough conversation comes about when we choose to draw the lines with how realistic we actually want them to be, HENCE THIS ENTIRE POST!

(Laughs like a maniac before signing off.)

Thank you for coming to the first part of my rambling. What should I talk about in the next part?

Other than the throat teeth. We've got a miniature essay about the throat teeth just about ready to go.

Also, apologies if there aren't enough visual guides. I really wanted to get this posted, so if anyone wants me to I can doodle up some more stuff to help with things like the image of the breathing aparatus and swimming motions. I have just not had much time this week.

(Going to fall asleep thinking about how sparkly these boys are.)

[thickness-protection-program]

I think we need to start being pickier about who we call allies. It takes more than just accepting my existence to be an ally. Like that's just being a bare minimum decent human being. The real question is if shit hit the fan would you root for me from the safe sidelines or would you be in the midst of the battle alongside me

[elizabethzoopzoop986]

They’re so silly

Platonic Akanene is so silly omg. Underrated duo istg. They’re besties your honor. Plus canonly they’ve know each other for like four years and are like in the same friend group cause Aoi.

[inkskinned]

happy pride to people still in the closet. happy pride to people who used to identify one way and are now identifying another. happy pride to every person who feels alienated and estranged from the community. happy pride to people who still feel shame and guilt about their sexuality. happy pride to every person that has felt like they don't fit the image - not thin, not white, not "classically pretty".

happy pride to every person who feels like they're not "gay enough." happy pride to people who "look" straight, or appear to be in heteronormative relationships. happy pride to every person that is "too" gay, the "flamboyant" ones that are even mocked within the community. happy pride to butch lesbians and twee bisexuals and people that don't medically transition and to every gender-neutral-nature-based name - happy pride to those of us who are usually the butt of the joke.

happy pride if you're still confused. if you used to identify as bisexual but now are going by lesbian, bitch me too. if you aren't sure if you're genderfluid or just having some Gender Feelings, that's cool too. if you feel like you know you're not straight, but you don't know what you are - you're safe.

happy pride to every person that has felt like they don't belong in this community. i promise you do belong. there is a place for you, and people that will love you. it's your celebration too.

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 144

Danny regrets nothing. He regrets absolutely nothing at all. Okay so maybe he regrets things a little bit, but it’s hard to concentrate. It’s hard to think, he…

He’s never died a second time before. 

It’s… weird. His head hurts, his body too-small, not in a younger sense, but almost in a… feeling sense. His skin feels colder, and his hair has- it has bits of white in it now? And he’d already been able to use his ghost abilities even in his human form but it feels… easier now. 

He’s not overshadowing his own corpse- he doesn’t think he is? His head hurts… his everything ached actually, like he’d gotten electrocuted again even if he’s certain that wasn’t how he died.

Did- did someone throw his body into the sewers? 

Seriously, what the heck? Who would do that?! Urgh, that made him so mad- who just throws a corpse around, nevermind his corpse! That’s so rude! 

… 

Hello crocodile-man staring at him in slight horror, please ignore the blood covering the back of his head, the wound has healed, he will be out of your way once he can talk again- Wait, there’s no need to call for someone-

[titsthedamnseason]

it’s finally time for paris n1 YIPEEEEEE!!! it’s our first eras tour date after a mini break AND since the release of the tortured poets department 😱 anything could happen…..so please leave your guesses for surprise songs in the tags / replies and i will be giving all of our winners a shoutout 😊 and psssssst as always if you have any guesses about things she might change up for this leg of tour those guesses are always welcome too

i’m going to guess that she adds a ttpd set to the setlist and that the surprise songs will be paris / so high school mashup and clara bow (??? feels like a mistake to not pull a guess from the anthology but this is what my gut is saying. or fresh out the slammer)

[whos-hotter-jjba]

Hottest Stand Battle - GRAND FINAL!

Stand abilities under the cut:

Star Platinum: Star Platinum is a close-range Stand with exceptional strength and speed, as well as gaining the ability to stop time during the fight against DIO.

Moody Blues: It possesses the ability to imitate the form of individuals and reenact past events with precision.

Sticky Fingers: It possesses a very versatile ability in the form of its zippers. The zippers have various applications, such as using them to travel through walls or floors, detaching and attaching limbs, and storing objects inside something. Bucciarati is also free to attach several things together with his zippers.

[harrisonsbabygirl]

Blackbird

[ghostinthegallery]

Y'know what? I'm feeling salty AND spicy today. You wanna know my 30k/40k hot take? The biggest missed opportunity IMHO?

TRAITOR VULKAN, LOYALIST CURZE!

How incredibly THEMATIC would it be for the guy whose single defining trait is care for human life (and maybe even other forms of life) to be so disgusted by the Imperium and its actions that he turns his back on it? Only to be branded a villain and a monster? What if Vulkan actually did something with his convictions? How much depth would it add to the Salamanders as a chapter to have them continue to try and protect the people who rejected them? Even as it becomes increasingly painful and impossible? Hell, they already have the element of people being scared of them because they...look different (actually that legit makes me uncomfortable, seriously GW what the fuck? But a lot to unpack) Anyway, that's some actually grimdark shit.

And speaking of grimdark, yeah those guys playing Marco Pollo in the orphan-blood pit? Those are the Imperium's guys! Imperium loves their wacky antics. It's not like Curze didn't get away with all that when he was on team Big E (Vulkan sure objected tho). Isn't that so much more in keeping with the Lawful Evil Meat Grinder Regime the Imperium is supposed to represent? Curze being a traitor is boring. It doesn't say anything! Loyalist Curze reaffirms so much of what the themes of 40k should be.

[charlieconwayy]

Movies That Made Me: Back to the Future (1985)

[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.

[mooneyedmoth]

8 hours of continuous work with me vaguely remembering to eat food at about hour 5.

[nyuheartbreak]

I DID IT PEOPLE OF TUMBLR *CHEER SFX* have isafrin (also gonna be rambling a bit in the tag)

[babygirltangerine]

i love how similar the fall guy and bullet train are because david leitch i'm perceiving you so hard. i'm seeing how you shape your ideal version of masculinity and present the emotional action hero as sexy and capable and not at all undermined by his depth of feeling but made stronger for it. it's beautiful and subversive and quite frankly it's gay as hell. genuinely i find it extremely interesting how he handles this balance so gracefully in a way that makes colt and ladybug funny, real, and desirable to both the men and the women in the audience