#the spotlight variant *fucks*

[pegasister60]

Hey Peg! 👋

Hope you've been doing alright this month. Sooo, I got this sudden urge to doodle yesterday, and I wanted to try my hand at making an original shirt design for Chai in Hi-Fi Rush. And (predictably) the first prompt that came to mind was your AU, lol. So here's my take on an alternate shirt design for Security!Chai:

Titled: "Security's Super Star"

Base Design

"Spotlight" (variant)

I can't believe I made this on a whim, lol (do I actually have some semblance of skill after all?!). Some fun little notes:

Since he normally wears a lot of cool colors (with the exception of his shoes) as an inversion of his original design, I tried to stick to a palette that mainly consisted of varying shades of blue and purple (while trying not to blend in with his scarf much)

The stripe pattern in the lighting bolt is meant to be reminiscent of his electronic, battery themed shirt (which felt necessary, since that symbolism is technically part of his brand in-universe). Though I'm not sure if it gives off the same vibe, lol.

The Vandelay "V" acts as the center piece, and serves as the lightning's "impact" effect.

The star as a whole is meant to vaguely look like it's on some sort of stage (with "light" illuminating from behind, and the start of it's "shadow" being cast near the bottom).

I decided to fill out the remaining parts of the star with a circuit board pattern, just as another reference to his primary job. Honestly, I think the duality between being a security enforcer and a high profile stage performer is something that could spawn a really unique looking character design in general. Like just as an art prompt, it'd be an interesting challenge such radically different professions through a single outfit.

Anywho, I gotta get to sleep now, but I hope this was able to brighten your day somewhat 🙏

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

IM NEVER GOING TO SHUT UP ABOUT THIS ITS SO COOOOOOOLL

You’re so fucking good at art holy shit. I’m screaming I’m shouting I’m overjoyed!!! I’m so happy rn this has made my day. Joy!!

I also appreciate getting to see your thoughts bc they make me appreciate it more. This is so clever and visually appealing and it looks so nice. You did an amazing job!! Task fulfilled successfully!! I’m running out of words to use to express joy but I’m not just gonna scream on main.

Thank you for making all this cool stuff based on the words I put out. I care them lots and they make me happy and I hope you have a good day!! You’re very skilled and it shows holy shit—

[sugarywishes]

What is the favourite & least favourite animatronic or each of the Aftons & Emilys? Given what I now know about William, I'm especially curious to see if any managed to break their way past his dislike of making them.

This might actually be able to be my shortest ask! (Edit: okay, never mind 💀 prepare for a yap session, answers below as usual!) Also, sorry for the late response, I recently moved so it's been a little hectic!

William: Uh, he basically hates all of them 😭😭 there isn't one that particularly was his favorite in terms of creating them (he likes designing them though!) I guess the closest to a favorite animatronic is Springbonnie since he uses it a lot (it's literally designed to fit him) , but even then he doesn't really like it. Henry originally created the springlock suit ideas to save money, and look how that turned out for Will there! (Believe me if Will had fully kept his memory when awoke as Springtrap, he would have been PISSED, I mean he was still pissed when he became Springtrap but still !!)

Clara: She also wasn't too receptive to the way the animatronics look, but her 'favorite' was probably Freddy since he looked the least 'dead inside' as she said (...major foreshadowing there lmao) Her least favorite was probably the springlock animatronics like Fredbear and Springbonnie, they always kinda freaked her out as a concept (she'll also eventually hate the Funtime animatronics, since...yk 👀)

Michael: Foxy, he was the least dorky out of the main cast (and c'mon he owns a Foxy mask!) Anyways he also thinks the Glamrocks are sick as hell (and since there's no Foxy variant, and also because he thought it would be weird to possess a girl robot, he picked GlamFred, which like good choice) his least favorites are probably anyone else who isn't Foxy or the Glamrocks lmao

Elizabeth: She liked Chica when she was younger, because that was the only girl animatronic at the time, but that quickly changed when Circus Baby came into the spotlight! Her father made her just for her! (He actually only said that to get her to leave him alone, the 'similarity' is a coincidence) And funnily enough, Baby will also become her least favorite!

Evan: You think he likes *any* of these guys?? HELL NO !! (Actually, when he was about toddler age, he didn't have his extreme phobia of robots yet. His old favorite was Springbonnie because he knew it was always his dad under the suit!) Anyways a little while later he developed his intense fear of animatronics. He hates all of them !!

Henry: He is insanely proud of the fact he came up with the Springlock mechanism (and was in fact considering fixing the main gang to BECOME springlock suits too until William's accident where he almost fucking died lmao) so his original favorites were the springlock suits (and Freddy, mostly because Henry was meant to play Fredbear, and yk Freddy is a variant of Fredbear so...) But he will also hate every animatronic too. (Exception of the Puppet/Lefty cause yk that's his daughter, and Helpy !! Does he even count as an animatronic?)

Charlie: To be honest she wasn't really into the animatronic restaurant idea, so she's neutral on them. No favorite and no least favorite. She finds them all a little creepy!

[bethanythebogwitch]

Since my previous posts on fish Digimon and mermaid (and mermaid-adjacent) Digimon got lived, fuck it, all aquatic Digimon. This will be a series of posts because there are too many for one.

I'm going to start with Digimon with codified evolution lines. For non-fans, know that while Digimon evolve through different stages, its much less linear than in Pokemon. While Pokemon evolution usually goes a to b to c, Digimon evolution can go more like a to y to r back to g then merge with e to become q. That being said, there are some lines that are clearly intended to be the default, often because they featured in the animes where evolution is usually a lot more linear than in the games and virtual pets.

Literally the OG aquatic Digimon is Betamon. It debuted on the first virtual pet alongside series mascot Agumon and yet its never been in the spotlight. I say Betamon deserves to be a major partner Digimon in some anime or game by now. I love this little frog/lizard/ wamp monster/whatever it is. Betamon also has a recolored variant called ModokiBetamon. Using a recolor as a new Digimon was fairly common in the early franchise. I generally prefer variants to have more changed about them than just the color. I also generally don't like x-antibody Digimon. To make a long story short, x-antibody Digimon are variants of existing Digimon that I generally consider to be overdesigned and ugly. Betamon has an x-antibody variant that isn't too bad as far as x-antibodies go, but it's still adding unnecessary elements to a perfectly good design.

Betamon

Betamon X

Betamon's main evolution is Seadramon and it's a classic for a reason. This sea serpent is a beast and played a significant role in the first anime as a monster of the week. It can also breathe out a stream of supercold air that freezes its targets. When I think of aquatic Digimon, Seadramon is usually the first to come to mind. It's also notable for having an x-antibody variant that actually looks good.

Seadramon

Seadramon X

Seadramon evoles to MegaSeadramon, which is a great follow-up to Seadramon's design. The red body is nice and striking and that big metal horn can shoot electricity. Come to think of it, both Seadramon and MegaSeadramon were monsters of the week in episodes of Adventure where a partner Digimon unlocked an evolution. Maybe that's the line's specialty, they never take the spotlight but they play support to the heroes. MegaSeadramon has a recolor called WaruSeadramon which is just darker and evil. MegaSeadramon has an x-antibody variant that is so overdesigned I can't help but grudgingly respect it.

MegaSeadramon

MegaSeadramon X

The final evolution in the family is MetalSeadramon which is where the line stepped into the spotlight with MetalSeadramon being a major villain in Digimon Adventure. It was upgraded by the Crack Team (a hacker group that upgrades Digimon into cyborgs for their own nefarious goals) to become incredibly powerful and the fastest of all underwater Digimon. And according to the anime, it can fly. Unlike the others, MetalSeadramon doesn't have an x-antibody variant. Sort of. There is GigaSeadramon, which has the x-antibody and looks exactly like what you'd expect from MetalSeadramon X, but isn't. I dunno why.

MetalSeadramon

GigaSeadramon

The aquatic line most people will be familiar with is the Gomamon line doe to its role in Digimon Adventure. Gomamon is a cute little seal. Specifically, it is a spotted seal, or a gomafu-azarashi. I really like this guy doe to its role in the anime as a laid-back and goofy partner to a compulsive worrywart of a human. Gomamon has an x-antibody variant that's fine, but I still prefer the original.

Gomamon

Gomamon X

Gomamon evolves to Ikkakumon, a big, fluffy walrus with a unicorn horn. It looks like someone that would be great to hug if you can get past the fish breath. Also that horn can open up and shoot out\t a torpedo. Because Digimon.

The next stage is Zudomon, who is now a humanoid walrus who appers to be suffering from hair loss. It's now adept at moving on land and in water. It also uses tools, wearing a giant turtle shell as armor and wielding Thor's hammer (despite what the English dub will tell you)

The final stage is Vikemon, a badass viking walrus complete with the helmet. It leads an army of Zudomon and Ikkakumon and (in another viking reference) will go into a berserk rage in combat. It does lose a lot of the aquatic design elements, but I'd say it works out.

While Vikemon is now the default end of the Gomamon line, for a while in the early days it was Plesiomon instead. I can see why they changed it, as the viking walrus has a much better connection to the rest of the line than a plesiosaur. I honestly thin it works better as an ultimate/perfect or champion/adult level than a mega, but I'm not saying no to a Plesiosaur Digimon. Plesiomon has an x-antibody variant.

Plesiomon

Plesiomon X

What do you get when you combine a cyborg sea serpent and a plesiosaur? Turns out a mechanical submarine dragon. This is Aegisdramon, who was created by the afore-mentioned Crack Team using data from MealSeadramon and Plesiomon. While it was created by malicious hackers, it mostly handles data analysis and will allegedly purify evil. When it does fight, it's an absolute badass who is probably one of the Digital World's ocean's top dogs.

Syakomon was a fairly obscure Digimon until the game Digimon Survive made it a partner and gave it a defined evolution line. Syakomon answers the question of "how do you make a bivalve cute" by giving it a little puppy face. Weirdly enough, Syakomon originally debuted as a ultimate/perfect level before being retconned to be a rookie/child level, which makes more sense. It also has an x-antibody variant that is just atrocious. That's not fanart or concept art down there, that's the quality of the actual official art for it. Bandai paid for that quality.

Syakomon

Syakomon X

Syakomon evolves to Shellmon, which is definitely one of the weirder-looking Digimon; a weird, amorphous pink monster in a turban snail shell. Sound familiar? Yeah, it's pretty similar to Pokemon's Slowbro and Slowking. That's because they're based on the same thing: the sazae-oni, a legendary Japanese sea demon that wears a turban snail shell. Shellmon also has a green recolor called MoriShellmon.

Shellmon evolves to Mermaimon, which I covered in an earlier post. The mega/ultimate level is then MarineAngemon, one of the cutest and friendliest Digimon out there. While most mega/ultimate level Digimon are gigantic combat monsters, MarineAngemon is tiny and very peaceful. It spits heart-shaped bubbles that cause targets to calm down and lose their fighting spirit, meaning it disarms its foes with the power of love. It's based on a sea angel, a type of sea slug popular in Japan.

Another anime-canon line that leads to MarineAngemon comes in the supplemental material for Digimon Tamers. It starts win Penguinmon or Penmon. It's a Digimon penguin, nothing really standout about it, but a solid design. It also has a tropical themed red recolor called Muchomon.

The next stage is Dolphmon or Rukamon. Being a dolphin, it is very intelligent, but its thought processes are completely alien and nobody else really understands it. I think thats an interesting take on dolphin intelligence.

The next evolution is Whamon, a very cool whale digimon. This thing is one of the biggest Digimon out there and so large that only a few computers can fully render it. Absolute unit. and in most appearances, it's been a friendly ally to the heroes. Just an all-around excellent cetacean. In the Tamers universe, Whamon evolves to MarineAngemon, meaning one of the biggest Digimon evolves to one of the smallest. I dig it.

The final default line I'm going to talk about today is the Otamamon line. Otamamon is a half-metamorphosed tadpole that is also a singer. It crawls out onto rocks and practices its singing. While Otamamon prefers col water, it has a warm-water red recolor. It also has an x-antibody variant that is pretty ugly.

Otamamon

Otamamon X

Otamamon evolves to Gekomon, which has an amazing singing voice and a face only a mother could love. They're born from musical data and are some of the greatest musicians in the Digital World but man are they ugly. That tongue gives me the creeps.

Gekomon evolves to ShogunGekomon or TonosamaGekomon, which is where the line ends as they don't have a dedicated mega/ultimate level. It's still really gross to look at and still a great musician that leads choruses of Gekomon. I don't really have much else to say about it.

Now that the dedicated lines are done with (the Jellymon line is in the mermaid post), I'll do more freeform entries in a post coming soon to dashboards near you.

[quinloki]

God this kink game is both entertaining and educational! its so fun lol

can I request Katakuri, Heat, and Cavendish, the kinks being Food play, Feather play (I think thats what its called) and Shibari

Oh thank you \o/ I'm feeling pretty pumped, so I'm knocking a couple of these out tonight before I dive into other writing.

Feather Play would fall under Sensation Play - which is kind of a general term for things like temperature play (wax and ice cubes are the common ones), sensory deprivation/overload, etc.

As for Food Play - there's a few variants: Sitophilia - which is sexual interest in eating food off one's own body or another's (or using food for sexual gratification like what happens to quite a few well-shaped eggplants, I'm sure.)

There's also Sploshing - which is the use of food during play. Sometimes referred to as WAM (wet and messy) XD

I'm going to go with an assumption here and stick with the "basics" of whipped cream and chocolate syrup.

Also new guys! I think this is my first time getting Cavendish \o/ (and only my second time for Heat!)

Alright, we'll do this alphabetically ♥

Cavendish:

Feather Play - FUCK Yes - Despite his powerful need for attention, Cavendish can give it. Tickling your senses, or having his own tickled, with something as delicate and light as a feather is right up his alley. He is skilled, even if he has to be motivated to show it properly, and so you'll be amazed at what he can do with a feather or two.

More likely though, or at least on a 50/50 vibe, you'll be giving as much as receiving with Cavendish, and if you're more of a dom than a sub, he'll be happy to "bend" to your will. (Cavendish is 100% a bottom though. >.> )

Food play - No - I cannot see Cavendish enjoying anything that would cause a mess. No matter how careful you try to be food + kink = mess. He's practically a pillow princess, imo. (Nothing wrong with that, but he's not risking food in his hair.)

Shibari - receiving FUCK Yes / Giving - Sure - there's an elegance to Shibari, and since it's elegant it suits Cavendish just fine. He's not as good at tying someone else up as he is at being tied up, but he does find enjoyment in it in either situation. Not only is clean, and beautiful, but it's also very quiet. There's time to talk, to tease, to touch, to bond. Even with his impressive arrogance and desire to be in the spotlight, he does like having the chance to assure you you're appreciated.

Shibari is low key enough to provide the opportunity. (So is feather play, but there's usually a focus on gratification with that, that isn't something that happens quickly with Shibari (if at all). ).

Heat:

Feather Play - Yes - There's a softness in feather play - by it's very nature, and Heat enjoys that. There's also a special level in hell for people who purposefully tickle you every time you're nearly at the climax of your pleasure from a feather, and Heat is likely destined for that specific location. You're sure to be praising him and begging him during such a session, and that's only going to drive him to want to tease you and please you more.

Food play - FUCK Yes - Sex should be messy. A good meal should be messy. The Kid Pirates all kind of revel in the idea that fun entertains some level of mess. Sure, you can be gentle, and soft, and quiet, and those moments are important too, but a food fight could turn into a group orgy in the mess hall without a whole lot of effort, I'm just saying.

But yes, Heat can smother you in icing or whatever, and spend forever licking you clean. Probably even in places you didn't get any icing...

Shibari - Oh god you don't even know - Not only do you end up at his mercy by the end of it, but you'll look even more beautiful than usual when he's done. Heat's shibari skills are solid, he's not as good a rigger as Kid is, and he's not as meditative with it as Killer is, but he's by no means lacking in either department.

In a modern AU, you and Heat might make a pretty penny by posting/selling Shibari pinups. Maybe guest star on Kid's OF a time or two. >.>

Katakuri:

Feather Play - FUCK Yes - The feather is absolute assurance that Kata cannot accidentally harm you. He can give you pleasure without hardly a single concern, and the moans and soft giggles he pulls from you are music to his ears. The only downside might be how much you'd have to mewl and beg to get him to finally touch you directly, or give you release. He could easily spend hours just watching you twitch and gasp and moan for him.

Food play - Oh god you donut even know - ahem. Look I'm just saying, there's canonically something there already. I mean, I'd let that tongue lick me clean of frosting and sprinkles >.>

The more serious answer is, it's a testament to your relationship that he combines something he loves - but is hyper aware of - with someone he loves. It's honestly a huge showing of trust, and if you lay yourself out on one of those big donuts and embrace his desire to combine food and kink, he'll be deliriously thrilled.

Shibari - Yes - It's quiet, it takes focus and skill, and it's long moments spent together with you. There might be the occasional gasp (depending on how you feel about being tied up), and it's a little more hands on than feather play so Kata gets a little nervous, but that future sight helps put him at ease a lot.

He enjoys making decorative looping patterns, and tying things juuuust tight enough to leave little red lines on your skin afterward. He'll kiss those marks so tenderly that you certainly don't mind them at all.

[doubleddenden]

Fuck the Pokémon Company International.

They hired a third party company of lawyers that sent a DMCA to Relic Castle- for those not aware, Relic Castle was a friendly online forum dedicated to Pokémon fan games, rom hacks, and game jams- all of which were free and did not earn a single penny, and were just loving pieces of playable fan art. It would have been 10 this year.

Funny how they do this after their Twitter account kept retweeting fan art and talking about how much they love fan art the last few weeks. Hmm. Funny how that works.

I've heard people claim they legally "have" to do it, but look at Sonic the Hedgehog- not only do they encourage fan games, they actually poach talent- that's how Mania was made. Ideas, too- that's how Frontiers was made. "Legally" they could have just left it alone. "Legally" they could have just taken ideas from it like GF has been taking from fan games for the last 10 years (variants, the SwSh league, etc). "Legally" they could have just kept riding positive PR from Legends ZA and kept fucking quiet.

But no, they can't handle not being in the spotlight for any reason. They intentionally create negative press for themselves just to stay relevant. Fuck you, The Pokémon Company International. The only reason you have success is because of dedicated fans that you relentlessly punish for no reason except greed. I hope your filthy, greedy, money grubbing, selfish executives lose their jobs and are replaced by people that actually care some day.

And thank you, Relic Castle, for the fun times. I hope this doesn't deter any of the devs from there from creating, and I think that if you guys were to make Pokémon clones akin to Nexomon or Coromon, I'd gladly buy them. You don't deserve the treatment you've been given for making playable fan art.

Do better, Pokémon. Shame on you. You don't deserve the fans you have and you dishonor yourselves and your legacy when you do shit like this.

[lonelyroommp3]

opinions on every Marina album

the family jewels: near perfect album. sonically interesting, lyrically biting, thematically and emotionally hits like a truck, i will say hand on heart that i'm biased because it's a tracklist built from the ground up for the desperately ambitious and desperately sad girlies (and those whose taste in fictional characters aligns with that... the family jewels carries my all marina tbosas fanmix) but i don't care. my personal favourite marina album and imo her strongest in general

electra heart: completely understand why it had tumblr in a chokehold, brilliantly done as a concept album in terms of visual and sonic cohesion throughout. doesn't have the same emotional impact as tfj to me but that's largely because my problems are tfj problems and not electra heart problems. my biggest problem with it as a finished product is that so many of its best songs (how to be a heartbreaker. radioactive. buy the stars. sex yeah. EVOL...) are relegated to bonus tracks. if i was curating that tracklist i'd honestly ditch some of the tracks that get a little bit samey in the back half of the album (valley of the dolls... living dead....) and let the excellent bonus tracks get the spotlight instead. if this had been released in 2024 i'd call it a marketing tactic to get stans to collect all the variants and get electra heart to #1 but sadly it was 2012 so i just have to assume questionable album curation decisions

froot: drop "gold" and "can't pin me down" and it's an excellent album. not quite up there with her first two as an overall product but contains some of my all time favourite marina tracks (blue is an absolute ALL TIME great marina song for me. also gotta shout out my main man "forget" which got me THROUGH baby's first major mental health spiral back when it came out and i was a fresh faced 18 year old wrecking my friendships through rejection sensitive dysphoria). plus froot of the month is one of my favourite rollout tactics ever. only time i've not complained about excessive pre-album release singles

love + fear: if this was an album by any other pop girlie i'd be totally fine with it. the songs are not bad. but it just lacks everything that makes a marina album for me. just not weird enough! for example: i think "orange trees" is a cute summer bop, almost put it on my summer playlist for this year, but every time i remember it's a marina song i just feel almost disappointed like girl you're better than this. you're weirder than this. come on. whereas if this was - and i'm sorry in advance bc this sounds far more backhanded than it actually is - say, a bebe rexha track. a pre-hyperpop camila cabello track, perhaps. i'd think yeah this is a great pop song. it's just disappointing from an artist i associate with more left field choices and for that reason i just can't get behind it. the one exception is "baby" which is really more of a clean bandit song anyway, which i think is why i can forgive its lack of personality. specifically the luca schreiner remix is a longstanding member of my "feeling hot before a night out" playlist

ancient dreams in a modern land: in some songs she is literally right back to family jewels form. venus fly trap - up there with my all time favourite marina songs. fucking obsessed with it. i think the title track is great too, enjoy "goodbye" as a more froot-style track, "i love you but i love me more" as a kind of post-electra heart cut. i even enjoy a bit of man's world from time to time mainly for the strawberry soda lyric which immediately made me sit up and go "okay, gender" upon my first listen. however in other places... absolute fucking lyrical stinkers. i would love to call this a good album but i just cannot even begin to forgive the existence of purge the poison

[cleolinda]

Santal Blush (Tom Ford, 2011)

(tomford.com)

A textured fusion celebrating sandalwood, SANTAL BLUSH presents exotic spices enhanced with luxe ylang ylang, warm cinnamon, and sumptuous woods – seducing with a modern, second-skin warmth.

Notes: Sandalwood, cinnamon, cumin, fenugreek, carrot seed, jasmine, rose, ylang ylang, benzoin, agarwood, musk.

So I've told you some stories about wrangling really intense fragrances using my "Dab on three particles. No sudden movements. Do not look it in the eye" method. I did this with Chanel No. 5 and the aldehydes still gave me a panic attack; I did it with Not A Perfume and still got an instantaneous headache. I got some beautiful shape-shifting effects from Mitsouko and Coco Mademoiselle. Even at such low amounts, I am, in fact, getting what the perfume is meant to do.

Sometimes I don't. Santal Blush is the story of the time "just try one whole molecule" did not work.

Here's my clickbait read-more: The sixth time was the charm.

I do read reviews in advance to get an idea of how a perfume shows up on other users' skin—the notes, the olfactory textures, the opening and the eventual drydown. So I did know that Santal Blush is unusually subtle for a Tom Ford, a brand I associate with being expensive as fuck very strong. My only experience with the brand before this was trying Tobacco Vanille in a Sephora, which I loved so much that I kept the tester strip to scent my purse—my whole-ass purse, for a full week. It's not a timid brand.

So I try a dab of Santal Blush five times, and all I get is a witheringly dry Australian sandalwood with cinnamon. Like, I can feel this thing sucking the moisture out of the back of my throat, it's so dry. Within two or three hours, it was barely there—and reviews say it's supposed to really last on your skin. "It's creamy, it's floral, it's powdery." Fuck off, no it's not, I said, baffled. Where is the blush in this thing, conceptually? Why is it even called that?

Finally, I buckled down and slathered it on. And by "slather" I mean "a smear on the back of my hand the size of a quarter." A WHOOSH of floral came out, to my entire surprise—the classic [(rose-jasmine) + maybe (ylang-ylang and/or tuberose)] combination that you can see in the development of perfumes for a hundred years now. Just in the ones I've written about, you see it in the two Coco Mademoiselles, the No. 5 formulations, Mitsouko, the Samsaras, Hypnotic Poison, and even Tyrannosaurus Rex, somehow. And when I write about Jean Patou's Joy in the next few weeks, you're going to see it spotlighted there.

And this is a floral building block that's amazing with sandalwood; in Samsara last week, it merged with Mysore sandalwood in the old and Australian in the new. In Chanel No. 5 Eau Première (the variant I can stand), the ylang-sandalwood combination is gorgeous. And in Santal Blush, mingled with the heat of cinnamon, that floral compound is the blush. Imagine being shoved onstage, being mortified and unprepared and flushed—and then you discover that you actually like being there, you're maybe a born performer after all. Santal Blush isn't a loud or showy fragrance (on me, at least), but it's an interesting mix of vulnerable beauty turning into confidence.

So I tried it a seventh time, a big smear on my wrist. No floral. What.

An eighth time. Bigger smear. Wrist. No floral.

A NINTH time, the back of my hand. BOOOOOOSH. ~JASMINE

I cannot explain this. See, I often wear fragrance on the back of my hand because I type so much; if it's on my wrists, I'm just crushing perfume into my laptop. I know the back of the hand isn't a pulse point, but I get a nice waft of scent now and then while I'm working (alone, not bothering anyone). I would have thought that my wrists would have done more for the perfume, but no: Santal Blush only gets interesting on the back of my hand.

The sandalwood is still, however, dry as fuck. I even went and checked my sample of Nemat's Australian sandalwood oil—it has the same characteristic cedar-like pencil-shaving quality, but it also has a lovely citrus aspect, somehow, that keeps it from smelling actually scratchy. An even cheaper essential oil I had was lower quality, but still smoother than Santal Blush. What this tells me is that you don't end up a sandalwood fragrance THIS DRY unless you get up early in the morning and put some work into it.

I don't know why Tom Ford—or rather, perfumer Yann Vasnier—went this route, but Santal Blush is clearly leaning into the comparative dryness of Australian sandalwood, supporting it with the bark of a cinnamon stick, “sweaty” cumin, maple syrup-inflected fenugreek, and woody, earthy carrot seed. It even uses benzoin (a mild vanillic resin said have a touch of cinnamon) rather than a creamy or fruity vanilla. And this is the same variety of sandalwood (give or take some specific synthetics, probably) used in the new Samsara, mind you. That current formulation uses its floral building block—rose, jasmine, and its spicy, Juicy Fruit-y ylang-ylang—to offset the dryness of Santalum spicatum, and its green top notes give the perfume an airy, unexpected freshness. Back to Santal Blush—whatever components were actually used, Vasnier emphasizes (to my nose) jasmine and the spicy aspect of ylang rather than the creamy or fruity—no "bubblegum" note. As far as I can tell, everything in this fragrance has been engineered to be as arid as possible.

I'm not sure why, exactly. "Parched" is not really my association with blushing, unless the point is make the woody base so dry that the spicy floral really stands apart as a metaphorical rush of blood rising to the surface. If that's the case, then this perfume only works "correctly" on the back of my hand.

What do I get on my wrist, then?

The sandalwood

Not much

The cumin

When I was a teenager in the '90s and used a portable CD player with a headphone jack, I used to like to pull it halfway out; I'd have to turn the volume way up to hear it, but I'd get a somewhat muffled background layer of whichever song (mostly bass guitar, drums, and background vocals) that fascinated me. Putting this perfume on my wrist is like pulling the jack halfway out of Santal Blush. I don't get much cumin even considering that, but I can start to smell the idea of the human body beneath the blush.

Cumin is a real interesting note to throw in here, by the way. It's often used to give a note of "sweat" or "body musk," and I know this because people constantly complain about it on fragrance sites and forums. As Angela at Now Smell This writes,

Few notes in fragrance are as polarizing as cumin. Some people associate cumin with sweat or food, and even the tiniest hint of it will cause them to double-bag a perfume sample and take it to the garbage can in the backyard. Other people, including me, like the carnal edge cumin adds to a fragrance.

To elaborate a bit on the "carnal" idea, I've posted a story that I can't believe I just told about why you'd put a seemingly unpleasant "body musk" into a fragrance. Short version: it could simply remind you of being sweaty with someone—or it actually could prompt a physical sensation.

(Santal Blush is by no means the only fragrance to use cumin; "cooking spices" in perfume might be a post unto itself, if you want to get into the use of coriander, nutmeg, and caraway. The cumin-forward fragrances I see mentioned most often are Rochas Femme, Jean-Paul Gaultier's Le Mâle, and Alexander McQueen's Kingdom.)

I actually like cumin a lot as a cooking spice that I know mostly from Mexican food, although it's also used in curry, baharat, chili powder, other spice mixes across cuisines, and Traditional Chinese Medicine. But, to put it lightly, a lot of people do not care for it. Much as with oud (which is also in Santal Blush—"agarwood"), this might be a cultural—bias? Lack of appreciation? Or it might just be that it truly doesn't work with an individual's chemistry. (It seems to do fine with mine, albeit faintly here.) As the Fragrenza blog notes,

Cumin, however, is a unique spice due to its animal-like note, which imparts a sensual, strong, and persistent aroma to fragrance compositions. While the odor can sometimes resemble sweat, animal notes in perfumery are highly useful for their capacity to fix other components and enhance their scents. When used precisely and sparingly, cumin lends strength and character to fragrances.

At Côté Bougie, "5 unusual facts to know about the scent kamoun (cumin)":

The use of cumin goes back so far that it is even mentioned in the Old Testament and in various Greek writings. Its oldest trace of use has been dated to at least 5000 years ago and located in the Nile Valley region. It was present in the pharaonic tombs without doubt for its unique scent. In the Middle Ages, it was used as currency. And in ancient times, it was used as a pepper in cooking thanks to its very aromatic flavor. [...] Cumin has always been known for its powerful smell. It gives off a spicy, woody and aniseed scent. In the family of spicy fragrances, cumin brings a touch apart since it also diffuses an amber note.

Make new friends (I've got a licorice/anise post coming up soon) and keep the old (our pal amber), as they say. And benzoin would support the cumin to create an even more lasting, amber-y effect. The cultural history implied by cumin also underlines the (sigh) "exotic" quality. Fortunately, there's no orientalist storytelling around the name GUERLAIN; the "blush" is an olfactory effect, not a stereotype.

And the cumin, oud, and (unspecified) musk give that blush a human foundation, even though it comes out really lightly on me. It may be that Santal Blush has been recently reformulated for the cheaper, because older reviews speak of a much creamier, longer-lasting fragrance, and I can't get this to last more than 4-5 hours under the best conditions. I would like it to be less dry and more balanced, no matter how much a showcase it's meant to be for Australian sandalwood—like, "moist." I'm trying not to say "moist." Because I don't mean it that way, and now we're just all thinking about me saying it. Maybe I should be meaning it that way—Tom Ford, as a designer and a brand, is out here with fragrances called "Lost Cherry" and "Rose Prick." You wouldn't think I'd have to coax a Tom "Fucking Fabulous" Ford fragrance out onto the stage, but here we are. Maybe Tobacco Vanille will still have some razzle-dazzle by the time I get to it.

Perfume discussion masterpost

[lovecanbesostrange]

Okay, I will shut up, but about what I said in those last tags with Rogue vs Bastion, there is comic stuff involved:

I absolutely expected that Rogue would borrow a few powers before she began to pummel Bastion. For two reasons: 1) That would be something taken from the comics itself. Bastion and Rogue faced off during Second Coming. It was after Rogue regained control over her power and long, long, long after she lost Ms Marvel's power set.

2) Being a flying brick is sorta like inofficially Rogue's secondary mutation. They have had her permanently absorb other powerhouses (Ms Marvel, Sunfire, Wonder Man) for that and it became her trademark. Yeah. But her own power is still the absorption. And the very cool thing about it is that she can take on multiple powers at once. We have not seen an upper limit and there is an idiotic moment where she holds almost every available superpower on earth, ssshhh, don't ask. You want the team to work together? Well, Rogue is your gal.

I know some people hate when it happens, because yes, it is absolutely cheesy, it's cringey, when she takes on physical powers and takes on the effects, she becomes this Megazord. It is so ridiculous - I love it from the bottom of my heart!

See, THIS is what she had taken to deal with Bastion in the comics:

Wonderful visual queues: - Angel's wings (technically she touched Archangel, but she will get his feathered wings, not the Apocalypse variant) - Colossus' skin (thus once again she can punch real good) - Psylocke's butterfly (sadly not used much, must have worn off too fast) - Wolverine's claws (bones only, no adamantium and yes, those are breakable as she will once again find out) - and that little extra claw in her feet? X-23 (we should debate how many claws she might be able to grow by touching the whole Snikt-fam XD filed under: things I would have had going on in the Green Lagoon on Krakoa).

The boobs are her own. She gained control of her powers and suddenly it was very important that her costume came with cleavage. (Unlike the time she was in her emo phase and ran around in a cape with a huge hood like it was a safety blanket - see pfp.)

Back to the show though -- I guess I have to accept that this would have hindered the flow. I love how everybody got a shot at beating Bastion, for sure. So if Rogue used other powers it would have taken away from those glorious moments. I GET IT! But let me have a heavy sigh moment. (I also know I cannot complain at all, Rogue was so front and center, in complete contrast to her role in the comics for the past 10+ years... look, they fucking cut my girl out of her own mom's ressurrection and say "there was no space in the story", pffffff...)

Yes, it wouldn't make sense, it would steal the spotlight from others. I really do get it.

Anyway, gonna manifest I get to see that one day in the MCU should we get X-Men films before everything crumbles to dust. The things I need: - Rogue starts as a bad guy - Mystique is her mother and they both have complicated feelings about this (also Irene, we deserve Irene rolling her eyes so hard we can feel it under the mask) - Rogue needs to beat the shit out of a whole team of Avengers - and then, in her hero era give me a ridiculous stack of powers (I'm annoyed how the closest I got is in the Danger Room beginning of The Last Stand when Colossus shares his power, that good-hearted doofus, ugh.) Oh, yeah, and also they need to highlight the thing - ALL THE PERSONALITIES ARE TRAPPED IN ROGUE'S WEE LITTLE BRAIN!!!! [insert diabolical laughter]

[theliterarywolf]

1 Me watching the new Disney Peter Pan LA trailer: These bitches fucking forgot about fucking Iridesa, didn't they? Idk, but as someone who loved the Tinkerbelle movies, how the fuck did they just forget about Iridesa? Like, she was such a fucking cute and pretty fairy, and nope, instead of just bringing back some beloved fairy characters, we again just race-swap a white character, instead of giving established characters like Iridesa some spotlight. Don't give a shit it's Peter Pan, they could

2 could have fucking written the girls in, Silvermist, Fawn, etc included. Also, what the fuck is it with the movie looking so depressing and desaturated? I can't fucking see shit because it looks like someone decided to film in the dark, and dress everyone is fucking grey-colour variants of regular clothing. What the shit is this?

Welcome to Current Phase Disney! Whimsy is dead, we get to watch CEOs fellate a horse corpse, and shitty attempts at 'realism' reign supreme.

...Seriously, with the vast majority of Disney's productions being sequels or shitty live-action demakes, it's why I can't understand the hostility people online are showing towards Elemental.

'Ugh, hetero romcom bullshit' Okay, but it's the core original project in a sea of demakes and sequels, so ease the fuck up maybe?

...Or, you know, go watch Unicorn Wars tomorrow to support non-Disney animation.

[yellowraincoat]

As a casual enjoyer of Taylor swift die hard swifties are so annoying because like when midnights came out I gave it a listen and went: “basically every song on this album except you’re on your own kid is hot garbage”

And all the swifties went: “NUH-UHH hfjahh$/&;)1)$3!3 THIS IS HER BEST ALBUM YET HOW DARE YOU”

And then I’d go “I just don’t like her falsetto and it has very unremarkable production and all the songs are sonically very similar so they blur together to me. And I also don’t like how she is encouraging fans to buy multiple variants of the same album on vinyl only to release a bunch more songs on a deluxe version right after”

And they’d go “okay those are valid points but I still really like it.”

And I’d go “okay. To each their own”

And now tortured poets department is out and I’m like “okay this album is also hot garbage and has all the production problems of midnights + SHE AGAIN released a bunch of additional songs like literally 30 minutes after the first drop and had a bunch of varient vinyls to waste her fans money. And even the song I like (Clara Bow) has this weird undertone of jealousy toward new young female artists taking her spotlight + it’s fucked up that a large majority of the songs are about her situationship with a racist and that she released a song that is very lyrically similar to Olivia Rodrigo’s “Get him back” when she SUED Olivia over something that wasn’t even close to copying her song like 2 years ago. It’s just kind of fucked up”

And the swifties are like “noooo you just have to listen to it like 10 more times and you’ll love it. And Clara bow is about passing the torch to new artists not jealousy (right and wrong, I know how to analyze songs) and lol shes so silly for writing songs about that rat matty healy situationships are so dramatic lol”

[randomcartoonbro]

Okay, finally watched the Deadpool trailer and it having a somewhat direct tie-in with Loki is actually really really smart given that, the last time we saw Wade, he was fucking up/fixing timelines. The TVA coming after him makes a lot of sense. Though the TVA we see doesn't fully align with how we saw it at the end of Loki season 2, it makes sense that it wouldn't. Deadpool isn't just in a different timeline. He's in a different universe entirely, so that universe would have it's own TVA with different staff and all that. Sure, there might be some variants of characters we know, but this is genuinely a smart move seeing as this makes this somewhat self contained. Yes, it wouldn't hurt to go in with the knowledge of what the TVA is, but if you don't, it looks like they'll be re-explaining it anyways since Wade likely wouldn't know either based on his reaction to them in the trailer. Also, I love the detail of the 20th Century Fox spotlight logo being in the Void. Based on set photos that leaked, there's going to be other characters and concepts that were abandoned by Fox in the Void as a cheeky way of explaining the inconsistent timelines and retcons in the X-Men movies. It's so clever, actually. I'm here for it. Like, on set, we've also seen the version of Sabertooth from the first X-Men movie on a set that I'm now assuming is The Void. I love this. It's such a a smart concept and I can't wait to see the movie in July!

I also just finished watching New Rockstars' breakdown of The Wolverine (filmed before the trailer dropped) and I actually think I understand where the Logan that we're going to see in this movie came from! In a deleted scene from The Wolverine that would've been at the very end of the movie, Yukio gives Logan a comic accurate version of his costume and we never see it again. That Logan was ultimately pruned. He's been surviving in the Fox Void for a decade! That's why we see him for the first time in the trailer in the Void! That also implies that every deleted scene in all of Marvel that doesn't align with the current timeline, is a pruned branch. It MAKES SO MUCH SENSE!!! Oh my gods!

But, yeah! This is what they meant by "this movie won't have any affect on the movie Logan and won't harm that timeline at all". Because he's no longer in time!!

[kulvefaggoth]

Ok i'm complaining a lot but there's a few things i actually like about the writing of Bayonetta 3:

Viola. She's a darling and if anything i feel we didn't get enough of her in this game. I don't like what direction they want to go in the future and i think it's kind of stupid but Viola herself is far from the issue and i want nothing but good things for her.

So like the romance is 100% unnecessary and stupid and badly written but despite all that i feel Luka had some interesting development in this game? Like the Arch-Eve/Arch-Adam thing is dumb as all fuck and boring but actually giving Luka a powerup so he can join the fun is a great idea. Even better to give it a new source that goes away from the witches/sages dichotomy and helps make the world feels more magical and alive beyond that.

I'm just still in love with the Bayonetta variants. They were done so fucking dirty in this story but GOD do i love them deeply. ß3 Bayonetta/Jeane are everything to me and ß4 Bayo and Rosa as phantom thieves are so so so so so fun. Even ß1 that i feel is the most underdeveloped variant just looks and feels so cool i want to give her way more time in the spotlight. They had great material since our queen Mari Shimazake busted her ass out designing these alternate Bayos. It's just sad what they done with them.

The "deadly sin" summonings are all amazing. Baal Zebul is by far my favorite thing in the entire game. Great concept and i feel their sequences hard carry the few good plot moments this game has.

[possessionisamyth]

its still making me twitch that one of the many (unfair) critical points about RE3R was that Jill wasn't sexy enough in a tank and jeans (cowards she would rock a potato sack) then death island comes around and reading that interview of the licker scene two things in my head was 1) men *rolls eyes* and 2) they remembered the criticism and saw it as a challenge it feels like... I hate it

Carlos should have been there as i like him more than Leon, parallels between him and Dylan, i miss my boy, he and Jill have such a good dynamic (and that would be interesting to see how it will play with Chris because he cares about Jill but wouldn't know Carlos and finding out he was former ubcs would be interesting to see)

I enjoyed the film it could have been so much better

Look. I hated that bit too. I'm actually writing a Death Island but w/Carlos fic, however it's in it's super baby stages of a draft, and I'm pushing my Carleon agenda as a side dish to just buffing up Jill's everything. Giving her more dialogue, making Dylan as whiny as I viewed him, and ideally it'll be done someday before someone pumps out their 100k Death Island Rewrite but with Luis where they have him take all the women's spotlight.

I wouldn't want to draw the parallel between Dylan and Carlos as strongly as I plan on drawing the contrast between Jill and Dylan. I know some boring valenfield shippers have Chris being jealous of Carlos, but I feel like those people have a poor interpretation of Chris in the first place. I think Chris would be a little wary of Carlos' brief Umbrella employment until Carlos tells him the circumstances that landed him the job. (Being bought out of a life sentence in jail). I think Chris would respect and appreciate Carlos for helping Jill back in 1998 because he cares so much about Jill. I think they'd be good friends since Carlos is so likable and Chris is the type of guy that listens well. Taking directions on the field is another thing, but listening he is good at!

I'm glad you got some enjoyment out of the film! I didn't none of the times I watched it. The cheesiness got tossed for realism meaning the entertainment value went to zero. I love seeing new bioweapons and their variants, but it sucks knowing they'll likely never be used again. The one heroic woman character who I love unabashedly gets sidelined so Leon fans can have more wank content and call him "daddy" thus making me pray that he's murdered in RE9 so I can catch a fucking break and any of the women we've been following in this franchise can take his place. I'm sighing. At least we have that Jill shooting the zombie through the table scene at the start of the movie. We'll always have that.

[slickbackdani]

Top Ten Best Superhero movies? Top Ten Least Favorite Superhero movies? Why?

I’m gonna enjoy answering this one.

Sorry to disappoint, but I didn’t think ten movies would suffice for my best list, so here’s a top 15.

15 Favorite:

15: Batman Returns: Creepy and gothic, but darkly funny with a surprising amount of pathos and THREE great villains played by amazing actors.

14: X-Men: First Class: A showcase of the X-Men film series’ strengths while also shaking up the usual portrayals of its universe, as a fun and exciting origin story for Xavier and Magneto as they’re tasked with taking down the most depraved villain in the franchise

13: Spider-Man: No Way Home: The culmination of ALL of Spider-Man’s previous cinematic appearances, bringing everything great about each incarnation all together in one place

12: Deadpool: A hilarious and meta tribute to the superhero genre with the best portrayal of Deadpool in anything ever

11: Batman Begins: A unique reinvention of Batman’s mythos, infusing a grim-and-gritty tone typical of the 2000s with classic action and noir aesthetics

10: Thor: Ragnarok: A fun and zany 80s-style adventure that shows off Thor’s best strengths as a character in ways previous films couldn’t; beautiful visuals, great music, cool villains… what’s not to love?

09: SHAZAM: A quirky, funny flick with a relatable hero, a lot of heart, strong familial themes, and fun action scenes with an awesome villain

08: Iron Man: The movie that put Marvel on the map by reinventing a controversial hero and redefining what superhero movies could do, proving they could be taken seriously and STILL be fun and colorful

07: Wonder Woman: A deeply touching and emotional film with a sympathetic hero and a strong message about the nature of war and peace.

06: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: Many didn’t expect this film to be a success due to the tough act its predecessor’s deceased star set to follow, it proved to be an endearing, gripping, heartwarming flick with both a hero and villain who are both very sympathetic

05: Zack Snyder’s Justice League: The long-awaited realization of one man’s artistic vision: full to the brim with strong pathos, but not afraid to be lighthearted at times

04: The Suicide Squad: has all the heart, fun action, great music, and likable characters of a modern superhero movie with all the gore, vulgarity, and dark humor of a classic B-movie

03: Guardians of the Galaxy: A quirky, off-beat flick with a killer soundtrack and a surprisingly heartwarming family dynamic; is not afraid to be silly or weird, which only makes it stronger

02: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: a charming, fun movie that deeply examines the mythos of a beloved character while shining a spotlight on his many variants and successors

01: Avengers: Infinity War/Avengers Endgame: The culmination of ten years of buildup throughout the cinematic universe, this movie brings iconic heroes together and shows off the best in all of them with a gripping story packed with heartrending pathos

(Honorable Mentions: Spider-Man 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Aquaman, Blade, Hellboy, Darkman, Captain America: Civil War, Birds of Prey, The Batman 2022)

Also, I honestly couldn’t think of ten superhero movies bad enough to be considered “the worst”, so I’ll give you five.

05: Iron Man 2: Tonally confused with nonsensical character motivations and conspicuous studio interference changing things at the last minute

04: Thor: The Dark World: So fucking boring I forgot everything about it the second I left the theatre.

03: Man of Steel: An overly grim, depressing slog of a film with murky visuals, pointless changes to Superman’s mythos, and almost every character is a horrible asshole. In short, the worst way to start a cinematic universe

02: Fantastic Four 2015: Bad special effects, ugly visuals, bland and stupid characters, cheesy writing, and a weirdly dark tone that completely misses the point of what the Fantastic Four are supposed to be.

01: Wonder Woman 1984: A saccharine, sappy, schmaltzy mess of a film that’s far longer than it needs to be thanks to pointless filler, with a childishly simplistic plot, dodgy special effects, a horrifically racist depiction of Middle Easterners, and the hero literally becomes a rapist

[mischief-lies-and-stories]

Top 10 Covers of Single Issue Comics I Own (Ranked)

I am just focusing on Loki-centric or Loki-featured comics. I am ranking purely on cover aesthetics, not on content of the actual comic.

Loki: Agent of Asgard, issue 17 (illustrated by Lee Garbett)

I'm obsessed with Loki's post-ego death look. I love all of the other issue covers around him. I'm less fond of the reminder that this is one of the last issues of this run, since this is my favorite series.

2. Loki, issue 1 (variant) (illustrated by Stanley "Artgerm" Lau)

Gorgeous. I love her. My shitty photo does not do the lighting of this artwork justice.

3. Marvel Voices: Pride #1 (2022) (illustrated by Amy Reeder)

The more Lokis, the better. I love all of the variants, I love all of the flags, and how the Loki in the foreground (and Croki) is standing on the rainbow flag, bringing to mind the bifrost. The only way this could be better is if his actual gender flag was here and President Loki was not.

4. Loki, issue 1 (variant) (illustrated by Rod Reis)

I love this cover for similar reasons to the above entry: all of the different faces Loki has and iterations he's been. I also like that the back of his throne is reminiscent of his crown, and that he's clearly in Jotunheim.

5. Loki, issue 2 (variant) (illustrated by Matteo Lolli)

I'm obsessed with this imagery too. The flock of magpies and how Loki's appearing or disappearing out of the magpies is just ugh so poetic and perfect. It makes me think about the last line from Where Mischief Lies: "Be the witch, and know everything."

6. Defenders Beyond issue 1 (illustrated by Natacha Bustos)

Loki as the Mad Hatter. Need I say more? Okay I will. Loki without shoes on.

7. Loki issue 3 (variant) (illustrated by Mirka Andolfo)

I've already posted about this cover. Teddy is checking Loki('s coat) out. I love it and I think it's fucking hilarious.

8. What If...? Dark Loki (variant) (illustrated by Ema Lupacchino)

Listen, I don't like the way Loki gets ahold of Mjolnir in this, and I don't like what happens as a result. But I am such a fan of Loki holding Mjolnir that I ignore everything else going on.

9. Loki issue 1 (variant) (illustrated by Todd Nauck)

So one website was calling these window shades, and maybe Loki is that extra that he's got red velvet curtains, but I saw this and I was like oh my god he's on stage! And that's what I love about this. He seems like he's in a spotlight and everything.

10. Norse Mythology issue 4 (variant) (illustrated by David Mack)

So this isn't Marvel Loki, but I love Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. I haven't actually read the comic, but I've read the novel and listened to the audiobook (read by the author) many times. So naturally I needed to buy the comic adaptation with Loki on the cover. I love the watercolor look to it and the collage of all of his symbols surrounding him. I also love how he doesn't have one solid human shape; this idea that all of these forms are him is wonderful and also a theme in Agent of Asgard, so of course, I love the idea that Al Ewing drew on mythology for that idea.

[mjo240]

I'm curious y'all. What are some hot takes you have on the Undertale fandom and/or the AU's and characters? I'll go first:

1. Ink and Error are the most overrated characters. (I do NOT hate them. They are really fun and interesting characters, not to mention the fact that Error is one of my favorites to draw, but the way the fandom perceives them and get overshadowed so much just ruins it. I still love them though). There are other characters that I do think are severely overrated, like Last Breath Sans, Dusttrust Sans, Zero's Insanity Sans, etc.

2. We have enough skeletons, especially Sans's. Most of the Undertale fandom is FILLED to the brim with Sans's, Papyrus's and Gaster's (if he's considered a skeleton, which he usually is) and it's just ludicrous at this point. There are SO MANY fun characters, main or side, that make Undertale what it is. We need more original/variant characters of your own ideas, or just not give Sans the spotlight every single time. AU's and solo characters would be SO much better if they weren't a Sans.

3. I seriously don't get ships. Let me clarify. I don't get why people ship characters that either genuinely hate each other, are incapable of feeling love, do not want to date or love anyone, aren't the characters actual sexual orientation (depending on the ship), or just flat out don't make sense. I feel like most of the fandom (even fandoms outside of Undertale. I'm looking at you MHA) will see ANY two characters talk to each other and if they like each other as friends, they immediately get shipped. Now I will say, that if you do ship characters, then by all means, ship them. I'm not hating on any ships whatsoever, I simply just don't get them most of the time unless the ship actually makes sense. I will say though that it is rather annoying.

4. Stop overshadowing characters canon personality, looks, abilities, etc, with their fanon counterparts. Whenever I look up an AU or character, I almost immediately see their fanon counterparts rather than their canon. I get if you want to make a character "different" for whatever it is you want, I do it too. However, it has gotten so bad to the point where people genuinely believe that a characters fanon is their canon, despite them most likely not researching for the original source. I still see people who use Underverse as "canon" evidence to a character's personality, abilities and whatnot. If it takes place in Underverse, that's fine, but most of the time it's outside of Underverse. It sounds confusing, I know, so if you have questions, feel free to ask. I just find it fucking insane and ridiculous to how much fanon has overtaken canon. I do NOT mind or hate characters/stories that use fanon, but what I DO hate is how much it has overshadowed their canon counterparts.

5. Most power scaling is absolutely fucking bullshit. They're made by people who either have NEVER done research about the character and just use what they heard or watched from animations, use their fanon counterparts, or are just straight up biased. If you ARE gonna use the characters fanon counterparts in power scaling, at least specify that it's fanon and not canon. Most of the time, characters are either heavily overplayed or underplayed, with very few actually being accurate. It would be nice if people ACTUALLY put in their research to the original source, determine who would win a battle or just analyzing the characters powers and do it right cause most of the time it's fucking bullshit and irritating.

6. I just need to say this because why not, but 99% of Undertale games on Roblox are fucking BORING AS HELL. This only includes the games where you constantly grind nonstop for souls or LV to get more characters. It's not fun, like at all. Maybe for the first hour it is, but after that, it's boring and not fun to play. I don't get how people can just do the same exact thing over and over and over again for hours and days straight without losing even a slight interest or finding it stupid and unfun.

I have several more hot takes, but since I'm writing this at 2am for some reason, I can't think of them and I'm tired as hell lol. Anyways I know I'm probably gonna get a lot of shit for this, but this is just how I feel. Plus I'm really curious as to what other hot takes people have regarding the Undertale fandom and/or the AU's and characters. If you have any questions or concerns, please ask me and I'll gladly answer.