#i don't understand things because sometimes i'm too hot to have a certain problem

[carnelianscar]

what do people do when they're not hot like

[mandatory-blog-stop-asking]

I guess since I always write about X-Men when drunk, let me talk to you about Scott Summers.

Now look, Scott has a lot of haters, many of them my friends. I even agree with them. There's no easy way to take in Scott Summers. Because more than anything, Scott Summers is a question.

What do you do when they take it from you?

The answer can be many things. If you're Xavier, the answer is, you deny people their childhood. Scott, you're a child soldier by 13. You have just survived a traumatic plane crash in which your family seemingly all died. If you look at people, they die too, and it's your fault. You wear a literal filter to interact with everyone. Sometimes they tell you they're mad and you don't understand. The filter isn't thick enough. Xavier pats your head and tells you this is how it is. You have to be better. You have to be better than them. You have to be better than everybody.

If you're Magneto, the answer is your life. He had everything taken away from him so thoroughly, so long ago, that you, Scott, can't even fathom it. He's introduced to you while stealing nuclear warheads to threaten people who hate you. Every word Xavier has ever told you stings in your brain, like a worm. This is wrong. This is the enemy. He's doing it wrong. He's getting a bad grade at being a mutant. These feelings will poke at you for the rest of your life. You will come to disagree with them. By the time you're 40, you couldn't imagine a more steadfast ally than Magneto. He gets it, you see. No one else gets it like Max does.

If you're Jean Grey, the answer is fire. Create fire. Look for fire. Date a guy who can shoot fire from his eyes. Who can spit fire from his mouth and raise the dead with his words. Who can stand before the apocalypse and burn, burn as hard as fire can burn, as hot as a volcano, enough that the police are involved, that the Avengers are involved, that the gods are involved. Burn and burn and turn to ash and burn further until they stop telling you you're worthless. They never will. But Scott will never be one of them. He would rather burn everlasting than tell you you're less than what you think you are.

If you're Emma, it's kill them from the inside. Become part of the problem to make the problem go away. Meet the problem in their house. Fuck the problem. Buy the problem. Kill the problem by giving them a stroke. Emma thinks you, Scott, could be so much more. You could end the problem in a day, two days tops. You could rally them and radicalize them and make them see how insidious the problem is. But you never would. You tried, and it didn't agree to you. It got weird. You got weird.

If you're Logan, the answer is drinking. You drink and you try to forget, but you never do. You can't. You hang out with this guy, this beautiful, certain, consistent man, and you can't forget what you've lost, but you can make new memories. You can be someone else. You can put on a robe and lay down on a lazy chair and drink near Scott, overlooking the Earth, and you can think, I never want to forget this. I never want to not be here, with Scott, looking over everything. Feeling like I do, doing the things I do, having the relationship I do with him. But eventually it all goes away again, and you remember, right, I'm a violent person, I'm made for battle, I don't deserve love, I don't deserve Scott, I don't deserve anything. I deserve the woods. The wolves. The simplicity. The desire to forget, but never quite getting there. If you're Logan, you don't actually have an answer. Your whole life is a question without an answer.

And then you're Scott. You wonder what you should do when they take it from you. You're surrounded by people radicalized by their choices on how to react to that. You're radicalized by your mistakes. You're radicalized by the fights, the torture, the betrayal, the time in space, the time in hell, the time suffering. Every year of your life was the worst year of your life. Everything you've ever done is a thing to be mocked and used as a standard at the same time. No one knows who you are aside from the guy to listen to. You're 40. You're a father. You're tired. Your first instinct upon being given everything was gathering your family and moving; to the moon, even, where no one could hurt you. And then they took that away from you, too.

So, what do you do?

There's only really one answer.

You sigh, you put on the suit, you do some voice training, you call some friends. You do a speech. You suppress the feeling that it's futile, because that feeling is the oppressor, too. And you say it, like you've said it a thousand times, like you'll say it a thousand times more, like you were made to say, like you were taught to say, like your entire legacy will revolve around how you say this single phrase.

You will say this from your chest. You will say this when no one else is around and no one else is listening. You will say it because it's the right thing to say, and god damn it, at the end of the day, you will never acquiesce. You will never compromise. You will, in fact, always say it, for the rest of your life and beyond. When you're dead and buried and not coming back on the regular, people will still talk about how right you were when you said it, how righteous you sounded when you said it, and how certain you were when you said it.

You say it when they're attacking, you say it when you're attacking, you say it as a defense, you say it as a response, you say it as every figure of importance in your life has given way to compromise or disappointment; as everyone has left you, and has moved on, and has decided oppression doesn't equal a life poorly lived, and has asked you to lose their number because they can't do this anymore, it has taken too much from them and they don't want this to be their lives.

You say you understand, you lose their number, you stop relying on them, and you start saying it to others. Sometimes to people who are too young, but they get it. This is the only appropriate reaction, after all. You were Scott and you were 13 years old when you were a soldier. They can do that, too.

What do you do when they take everything away from you?

Scott Summers sighs and fills his chest with air.

When they take it all from you, Cyclops says "To me, my X-Men."

[writing1raflesia]

Gravity falls x stealth transmasc reader

Context: Reader is a transitioned trans man who is trying to hide the fact that he is trans, but he is not very good at it.

★★★★★★★★★★★★

Stanford

Honestly he would take a while to notice, if he notice at all. He is too focused on his researches, dealing with his past with bill, saving his family, is not like he pays much attention to you. Even in the few moments where he is forced by his great niece to have a life out of his lab and he's alert for everything that might be wrong he doesn't seem to notice. He is a reserved person and takes some of your attitudes as being reserved as well. If you don't take your shirt of in a hot summer day is probably because you're shy or something, not to hide a scar, the lack of pictures of your youth might just be for the same reason as him, he never cared for pictures, it never crossed his mind that you might be hiding something, but if it does, oh boy prepare yourself, now this man is certain that you're a spy, works for bill, is a threat, something is wrong and he can think of all the wrong options!

Stanley

He's also one that doesn't find out on his on, I mean, he is surrounded by weird people and he himself hide some secrets, it's not his business right? Of course he is curious and you might be a spy from the government hiding the equipment, maybe the lack of pictures and how you sometimes mention some weird situations for a man to go through on your past migh be you getting your false background wrong from time to time...hm ok he might be obsessed on figuring out what you're hiding!

Mabel

She straight up start stalking you when she notice something was wrong and when you accidentally mentioned the feminine nickname you had on your childhood she started connecting the points. Watching you from afar with her binocular she notice the scar on your chest and realizes everything. She has an evidence panel with red strings, determinated to find out the truth, but when she finally does she start feeling bad about it, maybe you don't trust her enough to tell her? What kind of experiences made you want to hide that? Maybe is just not important for you? Well... Maybe one day she'll ask you about it, but not today

Dipper

Dipper is paranoic, the first time he notices something was wrong was in a hot day at the pool when you decided to swim with a shirt despite the hot weather, at first he ask you about it, thinking you might have some kind of insecurity or skin problems and couldn't get direct sun, but when you're answer is not satisfactory and it seems like you're avoiding the subject he start getting cautious about you, reading his journal to look for clues on what you might be or what could be making you act like this, when he doesn't find anything he start asking Mabel about it but she refuses to say anything. He must do some investigations and when he does so everything turns into a clue, the lack of pictures of your childhood, the way you avoid some subject and just seems ...odd... When he finally figured it out he feels dumb for not thinking about it earlier, just like Mabel he tries to think why you would hide such thing, maybe you think people would see you as less of a man for that? Well he understands this feeling, he will just let you be and avoids the topic if anyone question him, talking about it is your decision to make

★★★★★★★★★★★★

Author: thanks for reading!! This one was a request and I'm sorry if is not that good, I was a bit low creativity with that one. Any comments and feedbacks are welcome. Let me know if you want more characters or a transfem/NB version

[crusherthedoctor]

My hot take: Eggman doesn't get enough appreciation and he doesn't need to be something else to be good

What did you expect | Strongly agree | Agree | Neutral | Disagree | Strongly disagree

Calling Eggman underappreciated might sound bizarre on the surface, because how could one say that, right? He has plenty of fans. He gets loads of fanart. He's widely recognized as an iconic video game villain. Why would anyone claim that?

But when you stop to pay close attention, it's true. It's no secret that Sonic fans who frequently toss him aside in favor of other, "cooler" villains are all too common, even nowadays. It's no secret that fans of other IPs tend to look down on him, believing that this chicken-legged individual doesn't deserve to be in the same pantheon as the likes of Bowser and Ganondorf. It's no secret that fans like to paint him as something he's not out of the belief that it's the only way to flesh him out, and that he's one-dimensional as he is, even though they're perfectly fine with the villains who take his spotlight being one-dimensional for real. It's no secret that even those officially involved with the franchise seem to disregard him, given how many times he was upstaged in increasingly humiliating ways, and the way it's been brought back with a vengeance thanks to IDW and Frontiers.

Yet, even among fans who seemingly accept him as his real unrepentant self, there's sometimes an air of... patronization surrounding his discussion. Maybe I'm looking too deeply into certain phrasing, but when he's referred to as just a cackling baddie, or saying stuff like "after so many serious stories with epic god monsters, it's back to the good old simple days where it's just silly Eggman and his dumb plans"... you get the impression that he's not genuinely respected or seen as a credible and formidable antagonist. And for what? Because he loses to the hero? So do most villains. Because he has a goofy side? Other villains across fiction have that as well, some of them being praised specifically for it, so I don't understand why it's a bad thing here. Because the Time Eater had a so-so boss fight? As if the other 3D Super Sonic fights were much better.

The strange thing about fandom hijinks are their tendency to create opposite problems at the same time. In this case, while a lot has rightly been said about layered characters being simplified one way or the other by fans who aren't willing to see the full picture, things tend to go very differently when the character doesn't behave in an "obviously" layered manner. For all the internet's obsession with analyzing every angle of a character down to the bone, they swiftly throw that out the window when it's a wholly villain or a wholly good guy. Suddenly, what's there is never enough, they have to insert their own narratives that make no sense for the character in question, and it's welcomed with open arms instead of discouraged for missing the officially established layers. So you have Eggman being secretly good deep down, and caring about Maria for some reason, while Sonic is IDW's questionable idea of flawed even though he already had flaws to work with. Meet characters halfway they say, except for these ones apparently, becuse what canonical depth could they have amirite.

But anyway, I would never seriously say that I'm the only person on the planet who understands the ins and outs with Eggman's character, as that would be a very egotistical and Ken Penders-sounding thing to say lol. I'm just a fan who wants to do him justice with my fics, nothing more. But it really does feel next to impossible to find fans who are on the same wavelength in regards to him, because the amount of times where he's been misused or reduced to Sonic's frenemy is truly exasperating. You could argue that for basically any Sonic character at this point, but this has been going on a lot longer with Eggman than it has for probably any other cast member, with the possible exception of Amy, and even then, the issue surrounding her these days is completely different.

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #308

Like most Tuesdays, I had entirely too many appointments today. One was for psychotherapy. Another one was for physical therapy. And the last one was the regular dentist.

Regular therapy was interesting today. I spoke for a full hour and a half about things I dare not speak of in this space (at least until you're safe). It was… cathartic to say the least. I spoke at length about the way I perceive the world; it's definitely not normal, so there's not a whole lot of folks I can talk about it with. My therapist understands it when I speak, and that's amazingly refreshing.

…Before you ask - no, I don't wander around having hallucinations or whatever. Due to my experiences growing up, some of my perfectly normal human senses are sharper than they ought to be, and sometimes that's a problem in certain contexts. I won't explain any more than that, at least not yet. Maybe in a few years, depending on how things go for you. We'll see.

That said, something tells me that maybe you already know what I'm talking about. Or maybe not. Who knows; it's not as though I'll ever be able to ask you and find out.

…

Physical therapy was after that. I got a new exercise that I think works the rhomboids…? Or something around there. It's very unpleasant; it hurts to move those muscles. But I gotta; if nothing else, the results of doing it will help K understand what's going on a little better, hopefully.

…And then the dentist. The outer surface of the molars on the upper right side of my face feel like they're being stabbed to death with white-hot needles anytime anything touches the white of the tooth near my gums. I guess my gums are a little bit receded there for some reason, and also those teeth are being moved around, and so parts of these teeth that aren't normally exposed are now exposed. Apparently the sensitivity will go away with time. I hope that's true. I was given a special toothpaste to help. I really hope it works.

At very least, though, the pain I'm experiencing isn't the result of something rotting - to make sure of that was the whole point of this appointment. It's annoying, but I can deal with the pain until it stops being a thing. Hopefully it'll stop being a thing relatively soon.

There was a great big gap of time between physical therapy and the dentist - like 2 hours. But both physical therapy and the dentist are in the same relatively faraway town. So rather than go to physical therapy, go home, only to go back, J and I just chilled out nearby. I found a nice park:

...I wonder... would you sit with me here?

...A swing is a lot of fun. I wonder if you've used one before. If you haven't, then I hope you get to try it; I think you'd like it a lot, actually.

J was still in the building working at his computer in the presence of the free Wi-Fi. I was by myself. So I sat on the swing and enjoyed swinging on it for a while, wishing you were here with me.

...I know it's impossible. I know. It's okay.

My hands started to get sore from the chains, though; it's been a long time since last I've used one of these on a regular basis. So from there, I wandered around, taking pictures for you:

...I found a hat, too!

...It was a very pretty hat. I'm sure someone must be looking for it, so I left it there; there doesn't seem to be a lost-and-found anywhere, and no more visible place to put it than this. I really hope that whoever lost it will remember where they left it and come back soon to retrieve it.

...I don't have a whole lot more to write about today. I had to be at a lot of places and do a lot of things, so I'm pretty tired now. I don't have any big or insightful thoughts to write to you; just lots of pretty pictures of autumn, and a brain that is not quite soupy, but is approaching that general direction, for sure.

...I hope you're okay where you are. I wish you could tell me that you're okay, or that you're gonna be okay. I get worried about you; I can't even begin to imagine the difficulties you're facing now. All I have is the wish that I could somehow help you through them; no one should have to go through difficult things alone.

Well. I guess I'll end this here for today before I start rambling or something.

I love you. Please stay safe out there, okay? I need you to come back to us safe and sound. Because lots of people need a friend like you. And even if that wasn't true... I would certainly enjoy a friend like you. Because then we could go and play video games and take neat pictures of things and eat tasty snacks and talk about all kinds of cool stuff.

I'll write to you tomorrow. So keep doing your best out there. I'll be cheering for you from here.

Your friend, Lumine

[anhed-nia]

I'm sorry about this post. It's really long and I don't know if I had a point to make! But I didn't realize I was maybe just torturing myself and others until I was neck deep in it, and now I feel obligated to post it due to sunk cost fallacy. Sorry again. I guess this is how you find out who your real friends are.

In the pursuit of my masochistic project of understanding the enduring Phantom of the Opera phenomenon, last night I spontaneously went to a rep screening of Joel Schumacher's Oscar-nominated 2004 adaptation. This was a singalong audience participation type of thing, which I would usually avoid at all costs especially for something I have no emotional investment in, but it was just too strange that it was randomly happening while I'm in the middle of this assignment, so I went! We all got fake roses and Phantom masks and rubber bracelets that say OPERA GHOST and little artificial candles to light up during the big chandelier scenes, and there was a singing contest before the movie started and I almost had a panic attack, but I managed to maintain my sense of humor. Apparently the climate control was totally broken and it was oppressively hot in the house, to the point that I wound up sitting there in a painted-on Uniqlo undershirt for most of the movie, and I couldn't bring myself to get dressed again for about half an hour after it was over. I walked down to the bar attached to the theater where the queen running their drag bingo night and the bartender were laughing about how they should leave the heat blasting because everyone was buying a lot more drinks. The bartender quizzed us drinkers about which theaters were we in and were they hot; I said "This is not an outdoor shirt!" and everyone laughed. I'm so glad I wasn't wearing a weird bra.

Anyway.

It would be too much to say I had high hopes for the Schumacher PHANTOM, but I had a certain amount of optimism about it; he seemed like a really good choice for this irredeemably kitschy product, but the truth is that the movie is completely neutered. It really needed some of that BATMAN FOREVER juice, but the whole thing just has no energy. Apparently Andrew Lloyd Webber had "complete creative control" and I think it really shows, it's very limp and undistinguished, and simultaneously pretentious and stupid. Sometimes things can be described as "lavish" because they are so exquisitely realized, and sometimes they are "lavish" on account of the fact that they are just extremely busy, even though no single detail rises to the surface as memorable or remarkable. Even the chandelier, which is as much a staple of this story as the mask, is just not that impressive. There it is, a big old chandelier, it's round and it's shiny and you know exactly what's going to happen to it.

Any comparison with the 1925 Lon Chaney version is inevitably unflattering; the costumes are bad, the staging is boring--I mean there is just no excuse for a big Hollywood production to NOT go ham on the masquerade ball, WTF?!--and of course, the Phantom himself is really uninspiring. The most important part of any Phantom iteration is the unmasking, and this movie has TWO (2) whole unmasking scenes and both of them suck! We all know that no Phantom design has been remotely as good as Chaney's nearly 100-year old version, but still, Joel Schumacher has worked on movies with some really freaky makeup effects, he should have given us something better than this. The whole thing just feels like they were trying as hard as possible not to surprise or offend anyone. I blame ALW.

I see this image and I hear wind whistling through their ears.

The problem with the unmasking sceneS here (besides the lack of visual impact) is that they both feel really unmotivated. Actually, this is almost ALWAYS a problem. It's the biggest moment in the story and you shouldn't be asking yourself WHY it is happening. Plus, the reason why it is happening lies with the heroine Christine, and if your main character's motivations for doing something so outrageous are unclear or uncompelling, then your whole story is in trouble. As a viewer you can tell yourself that she does it because she is overwhelmed by curiosity, or overpowered by a compassionate urge to see the Phantom as he is, or that she sees the unmasking as a way of defanging her captor...but you shouldn't have to tell yourself all that stuff. The movie should tell you. And who the fuck is Christine anyway, shouldn't we know? In other versions Christine is so devoted to her career that she readily sacrifices her love life and embraces the absurdity of a sort of spirit of opera communicating with her and guiding her path. Some versions dramatize the conflict between her monastic commitment to opera and her desire for real relationships. In the AWL version, Christine is chiefly devoted to getting attention. She falls in love, from minute to minute, with anyone who looks at her long enough. She's in love with her dead dad, so she's just frantically in search of a living boyfriend and she seems pretty indiscriminate about it. It's kind of gross and pathetic and it makes it really hard to care about her or the burning question of which boyfriend will she choose.

I've never said this before in my entire life, but Minnie Driver is the best thing in this movie--followed by the old queens who take over the theater, followed by all of the bit players, followed by, at the very bottom, the main cast. None of the leads are really inspired casting choices, but it's hard to blame them for their output because there is nothing they could possibly do with such empty roles. Who is Christine? The girl who has to pick a boyfriend. Who is Raoul? The guy who wants to be Christine's boyfriend. Who is the Phantom? The other guy who wants to be Christine's boyfriend. I mean there's this brief, grotesque excuse made for what the Phantom's problem is, but it comes far too late and explains too little. It just boils down to ye olde "not getting laid drives you nuts, so we should be afraid of ugly people." There are no personalities to be found here, and casting generically pretty actors of no distinction really hurt things in the characterization department.

Full disclosure though: I'm very faceblind. I have a lot of trouble identifying actors, and sometimes I can't even tell people apart within one movie. So, because I didn't look up very much about this production going in, I was sitting there for at least 90 solid minutes constantly thinking:

Is that Patrick Wilson? That's Patrick Wilson. It is, right? Patrick? Wilson? Yeah no it definitely is. Like for sure. Right? PaTRICK? WILson??? Pa.........Wi........

At a certain point after I finally accepted that it was probably him I just started laughing every time I saw him. But to be totally fair to ME, this presentation barely resembles a real live person:

And that hair is unacceptable. I'm sorry, Patrick Wilson. It's not your fault. I really liked the INSIDIOUS sequel you directed even though no one else did, so I'm sure we can be special friends.

The main effect of the Schumacher/ALW PHANTOM was...making me really aware of how much I like the Menahem Golan one with Robert Englund. Really! I thought I didn't like it. I know I saw it when I was young, when I had major league Freddy Kreuger fever (worse than now, somehow), so it would seem like if it didn't get its hooks in me then, it never would. But now that I have sat through...many Phantom iterations, I have become aware that it is genuinely one of the better attempts on the story. It has a lot of personality! It's trashy and juicy and a lot of fun. It even looks pretty good sometimes! I fondly remember specific costume details, which I cannot say about the big expensive ALW one. I'm not here to tell you that it's a great example of cinema or something, but it is vastly more entertaining than much of what's been done with this story by more reputable people. You'd think it would be hampered by the lack of a proper mask, but the gory unmasking scene is spectacular, AND it gets around the question of why Christine unmasks the Phantom which has not been answered satisfactorily by almost any movie. I was pining for the Englund edition for all 2.5 hours of this ALW debacle. I was even pining for Jill Schoelen as Christine! Not that I have a problem with Jill Schoelen, she's very charming. It's just that I hate POPCORN, which she stars in and which is itself a kind of Phantom adaptation. I'm not watching it again, though, no matter what. My agita.

[obscureashe]

Another Cupid's Game Match Up request for @toshir0!

Thank you so much for requesting! And no problem-o with the match up, I just hope you enjoyed the results ♡

For your platonic match up, I'm pairing you with. . .

Lady Tamayo » + Yushiro

it's a r e l i e f to have someone like you for a friend. to her, your knowledge and love for medicine is so admirable (she loves your passion)

she kind of gushes over it sometimes (and in the presence of Yushiro. . . it would definitely be an interesting interaction)

looks out for you as much as possible and is highly reliable

your wit and humor would be a much needed change for her, she enjoys your company

plus, she'd always have sweet tea on hand for whenever you visit! (she loves offering any food or drinks, since, you know, she can't really eat herself)

a gift giver, definitely (you're always going to be leaving with something)

she'd have plenty of advice/wisdom (including books she'd let you have)

doing a sketch swap with Yushiro for some inspiration

despite your close relationship with Tamayo, it's actually nice to finally have someone to paint with and bounce some of his ideas off

(if you were a slayer) she'd respect any decision you'd make, especially your trust in her (for that you can count on her for anything)

And for your romantic match up I'm pairing you with. . .

Giyuu Tomioka »

because of your quiet personality I think you'd really stand out to him (its easier to understand you than most), enough to get him interested and talking more

especially if you wanted to become a demon slayer

he doesn't think much of himself, even as a hashira he still admires your how hard working and intelligent you are

i think its literally incomprehensible to him just how amazing and adept you are at sciences and math

he daydreams a ton about you (like his secret want to lay his head in your lap and let you mess his hair around while you read)

of course you won't know it just by looking at him. . . he'll just blink out of it and pretend it didn't happen

he's a huge gift-giver

he doesn't really say how much he loves you, so he'll just have to show you (you will be flooded with gifts, books and flowers)

(its also probably how you find out he likes you)

would actually love you being an instigator

poking and teasing him wouldn't bother him in the slightest. . . he'd probably even smile a little at some of the good ones

your scar makes you beautiful to him, in fact he'll always greet you with a kiss to your forehead (holding your head gently against his lips) otherwise. . . his loves kissing your jaw and lips

your hugs would be h e a v e n to him

and come to think of it, he'll grab your hand or pull you by the waist whenever, no warnings, no hesitation

protective, and will drop almost anything if you needed him

he's dedicated, loyal and would try to provide everything for you

his responses are often dull if you don't really know him, and he doesn't like to talk much but. . . there are little moments when he just has to say things to you, like how much of his heart you really have and how incredible you are

long naps with giyuu: tons of thin blankets (so its not too hot) with you laying your on his chest.

he's actually a super soft person who gets cold easily, so he'd hold you close when he sleeps

kind of jealous, or at least wary when your around certain people he doesn't trust

hearing you play the piano would relax him beyond belief, and god, it would remind him all over again just how lucky he is

[leaawrites]

Gatekeeping in the modern age means hating everyone with the same or different taste than you.

Something I hate more than obnoxious fan girls (nothing against female fans as such, I'm one of them, but those who are really annoying and sometimes only like certain musicians because they're hot and only go to concerts to see them, when others who want to go to hear them, can't go. Or those who reduce artists solely down to their aesthetics and see nothing else) (don't know if that sounds pick me, it's not intented to be, but I've had many ridiculous encounters before so it's something I've noticed more than once) are the obnoxious gatekeepers. Like, I understand if you want to share every little detail and interest of yours, I really do. I feel the same sometimes. But telling someone they 'can't' listen to an artist because their aesthetic or other musical interests aren't the exact same as one certain artist is the dumbest thing ever.

I've picked this up especially around artists like Ethel Cain and Florence and The Machine, those who are striped down to aesthetics on tiktok a lot. 'Fans' call other fans out because Ethel "is so dark" and "you, as a normal listener, see nothing but Ethel and not Hayden", or "can't see her dark themes and relate to them because you listen to rap or pop as well", which is complete bullshit. The same goes for Florence. Since 'Florida' came out, I've seen quite a few people complain about Florence "reducing her talent" to not overshadow Taylor in that song, since she can't sing. And yes, I agree that Florence has a wider vocal range than Taylor, still that doesn't make Taylor a bad singer in any sense. 'Florida' is a song which doesn't need a lot of vocals or vocal range in order to work, in fact I believe if Florence would've done more on the song it wouldn't have sounded right and like too much.

Just because people discover certain artists because of a certain type of media and only get into their music later than you doesn't make them less of a fan. It doesn't make you a better person to hate people for wanting to broaden their music taste and experience with new genres.

If everyone would gatekeep every artists because not everyone can relate as deep as them, we would have a lot less people wanting to make music and experience with their musical style. The same goes for popularity. Just because something is popular, doesn't make it bad. It is mostly popular for a reason, especially when it's popular for a long time already. Not everyone is a junkie for music and only listens to underground and upcoming artists and that is more then fine.

Let people enjoy their music and - as long as they don't make a fool out of themselves by posting it on social media - I don't see the problem in being invested in more than one music genre.

[kaycode1999]

Can I maybe have an MHA matchup?

Demigirl, She/They, INFP, Libra.

Personality, I'm very anxious when first meeting people, however, once I get to know them I am really playful and sarcastic. I like to tease people I'm close to but still let them know I truly care for them. It's really hard for me to get close to people sometimes because of anxiety and past betrayals. I tend to be a bit hot-headed and have a hard time expressing emotions sometimes. I'm told to be emotionally intelligent with others though as well as "too nice" as described by my friends. I'm a college student planning to major in Psychology and major in Biology. I'm afraid of conflict with others and will try to avoid it. However, if I am truly mad about something then I will stand up for myself. I also tend to apologize A LOT. I don't want to bother others with my problems but let EVERYONE say their problems to me as I try to help.

I would also like to add that that I have some ADHD/ADD as well as some OCD about certain things.

The main love language I'd like to have is words of affirmation. However, I tend to give lots of gifts to my partner. I hope for a partner with similar interests and willing to take a break to hang out with me.

My aesthetic leans more on the casual/comfortable side. I like hoodies and oversized clothes. I enjoy a dark, kinda gothic style as well as pastel and cottagecore but I don't believe I can pull it off.

My appearance: I am 5'3, have brown hair with some dyed blonde streaks. I have blue eyes and a small scar on my right cheek.

My hobbies include writing, reading, playing video games, reading manga/watching anime, playing Tabletop games

I match you with

Mirio Togata

He’s very sweet and understanding about you needing to get to know him before you open up

If you tease him he doesn’t really mind. He thinks it’s funny and at least he knows you’re more comfortable with him now. He may even tease you back just a little bit

His best friend is Tamaki so he’s used to dealing with people that suffer from anxiety, as much as he hates that it happened to you he understands it’s difficult to trust after being betrayed

He does everything in his power to make sure you know you can trust him and how much you mean to him

I think he’s very in tune with you, he can tell if you’re getting worked up, and if you need to take a minute to breathe and calm down he’ll be right there with you *if you want him there that is… If you would rather be by yourself he understands that too*

I don’t know if “ Too nice” is a thing, but if it’s where you give to much of yourself and overwork yourself he’ll definitely help you with setting boundaries to protect your mental and physical health

I think he’d be fascinated by the things you learn about psychology and biology. Those are interesting topics after all and it may even help him with his hero work to some degree which he is thankful for

He will be very patient with you because he knows it isn’t easy to break habits but definitely wants to get you to where you don’t feel you have to apologize all the time

He wants you to be able to tell him your problems, even the therapist friend needs a little help now and then. Let him be that

He is the king of words of affirmation. He will always be telling you how great he thinks you are and how much he loves you

He’s so flustered if you ever give him a gift poor thing he doesn’t know how to deal with it😂 he will love anything you get him though. It’s now his most favorite possession

I hope you enjoy 😊

[moonstonehailstorm]

I recently discovered that I am autistic. I wish I could say I took it calmed and with positivity, but no: it was a mess.

A friend of mine shared a page called Embrace Autism, and I know a lot of people don't value the self diagnosis, but those tests are validated, updated and revised by several doctors and professionals.

When I did the first, my score was high but I laughed. Everybody is a bit autistic, right? This can't be right. Then I took another test, a longer one designed for adults who scape diagnosis due to masking and other conditions. I scored high again. I was not laughing anymore, it started to feel weird. Then I made another, and high again. This couldn't be real... I started to look for information focused on autism in adults and it slowly started to make sense. I couldn't believe it, I didn't want it to be real.

I surely started to cry, because the reality sunk in like million bricks. I've always related to Sheldon Cooper, but that was a joke, right? Well, maybe not so much... And all those times my mom would tell me to sit down correctly, to do or not do certain things, the way I don't understand sometimes social cues, how I learned to smile to people copying one of my cousins because I watched her do so, I never smiled as a kid and nowadays people think I'm too serious... Things like fidgeting, hyperfixate on stuff and having special interests, infodump my friends and be very conscious that I annoy them, categorize things, having misophonia and sometimes misokinesia, being absolutely unable to eat hot food or shower with hot water, and be extremely sensitive if someone pokes my arm... A lot of stuff that people considered exaggerations or calling me straight up crazy now have a name.

It was not easy... It still isn't and I'm still discovering stuff. And it hurts to think that I've changed things due to criticism, or just to fit in. And sometimes I catch myself remembering things and realizing it was my autism. For example, I once said in a job interview that I tend to focus on details a little bit too much as a weakness... It is not appreciated by neurotypicals for us to focus on the little bits instead of the big picture, and that's just wrong, that's rejecting myself and that's not who I am.

It's been a complicated process. And this takes me to another point: no therapist ever told me I may have autistic traits. And all of my problem regarding to selfharm was actually related to my autism. It was selfinjurious stiming. Needless to say I started to cry again when I read an article about it because every single piece that was missing finally found their place and the huge amount of relief that came after was incredible.

This is going to be a long process of self acceptance and discovering. I've spent almost all of my life wondering why anxiety didn't fit at all, or obsessive compulsive traits, things I thought I had and that have been suggested by professionals in therapy. None of them noticed I am neurodivergent. But now that I know, I can take the following steps that I actually need, and finally heal parts of me that were not broken, they were just misunderstood.

[pinene]

my problem with the "sexuality is fluid" crowd as a lesbian who's confident in their sexuality is that it's often weaponized against us in a way that isn't against gay men due to the added factor of misogyny, plus the fact that we're one of the smallest groups in the community. and to a lot of lesbians drawing a clear line is necessary for us to be happy under a patriarchy. it doesn't help that 90% of the time when people insist that sexuality is fluid they have some weird grudge against lesbians being proud in our lack of attraction to men and will use terfs as a "gotcha" against us

This is perhaps unnecessary, but I want to take a moment to thank you for being respectful and taking what I had to say in good faith, while still offering up your perspective. A lot of people have been very quick into making assumptions about what I'm getting at, and now I not only have to defend my initial point, but also deal with points I never made.

Anyway--Everything you said, I entirely agree with. I think I just made a big mistake with that post in not fully acknowledging the broader, heteronormative contexts which make people uncomfortable with things like "sexuality is fluid" "gender is fake"-- because I was writing that post with the mindset of like, I'm on tumblr surrounded by lgbt people and this analysis ONLY exists within that context. I also addressed too many things-- perhaps my indictment of the vagueness of the term "gay man" came across as me implying that nobody really is one, when all I meant was that, these words are just for convenience, and shouldn't be taken as law.

Like, I really hope y'all understand that I ALSO get hot when some guy tries to tell me he thinks everyone is a little bit bisexual, because in that moment, I now have to defend peoples' right to be entirely homosexual in a society that wants nobody to have gay attraction in the first place. This might seem at odds with my post, but in reality, my goal-- both here and there--is to illustrate that people come with all kinds of sexual identities and attractions and levels of fluidity or rigidity, and BASING pride and confidence in certainty--whether what you're certain about is "all people are 100% gay and men are real" or "everyone's a little bit bi and sexuality is inherently fluid"-- will cause you to feel insecure when you encounter someone who feels differently, or if you yourself start to feel differently. EDIT: But we also don't live in a perfect world! And like you said, sometimes you literally HAVE to base your pride in certainty, because uncertainty is weaponized against you. I should've acknowledged that more clearly.

THAT'S all I meant. I just should've chosen my words more carefully. I should've made the post more hypothetical rather than call to action, since we absolutely don't live in a world where we can be that free yet. And yes agreed, we absolutely need to deal with the misogyny before any of this shit. Thank you for your input.

[yesyourstalker]

Mahi: hey boss.....

Neta: hey Mahi. Today is going to be really busy. Summer just started and the ankle biters are out of school so-

Mahi: there's this guy

Neta:............. gooooo oooooon

Warabi: ohhhhhhh I need to hear this!

Mahi: so there's this guy and he's really nice. I mean he's not nice but he's not an asshole...... well he's not mean to me. That's all I'm going to say. I like him I think he likes me but I don't-

Warabi: here's what you need to do. You need to let them talk. Don't say anything just listen to what he likes. Their favorite color, what they like to eat celebrity crush. What's their favorite TV show. You can tell a lot about a person when they talk about their favorite wife on ' The real housewives of foam bay'. My favorite was Shelly because she always started shit with the wives. Cod she really stirred the pot!

Mahi: I don't think He watches that show

Warabi: Oh....he. sounds like trash you should dump him.

Neta: I agree with Warabi he doesn't sound like a good boyfriend. Who doesn't like that show?! Tho I prefer Reef she was headstrong and had a sharp tongue on her. I love that in a woman.

Mahi: I'm not even dating him yet!! That's why I came to you so I can! Can we stop talking about the show?!

Neta: ok ok.... Warabi was right about the listening part, but you actually need listen to their complaints. What do they hate? Who do they hate? Listen to their problems, what stresses them out, What makes them angry? While they're complaining Make sure you acknowledge them while they're complaining. You know throw a little 'ah uh' and 'okay' and make sure you throw in little 'oh that sucks' let them know that you're listening to them makes them feel heard. Also observe them pay attention to certain things their quirks there beige flags. Make sure they notice it too. You get what I'm saying. I see you, I hear you, I got you babe. I'm here for you. Even when you think I'm not. You understand you get it

Mahi: I think.......

Neta: okay so when ikkan use to come home from tours he would always come back stressed and agitated and over stimulated. He used to complain that he hated when people used to force conversation after shows. He'd just go to his trailer and listen to music on the shitty speaker that was always too loud and eat leftover ramen from the gas station and have a very lukewarm shower.

Warabi: He yelled at me on his way to the trailer once. He's so mean after shows.

Neta: shut up.....So when I pick him up at the train station I wouldn't even try to have a conversation. Just have a quiet peaceful trip home.. I put on his favorite record on low, ran a hot salt bath and ordered his favorite takeout.Let him take a nap and spend the rest of the night on the couch watching a movie...... tho. Sometimes we don't even watch the movies........heyeah......he fucking love mental intimacy and attentiveness...He was really into that

Warabi: mmmmmm....interesting

Mahi: uhhh ............ I don't think that's going to get me a boyfriend.

Neta: what the fuck will? Who is this guy? Let me see em............................ohshit........uhauhahahahhaha-....hahaha......*cough*...*cough*....... Wow! He's (wheeze).......I'm sorry allergies. Wow! he's interested in you? He's great. Very-uh talented guy he's- uhehehe.... Warabi Tell them!

Warabi:.let me see....... mahi we can't be friends.

Mahi: What what's wrong with him!? He's cute and he's......he likes me! What's wrong with him?!

Warabi: MIZOLE?!? Oh my Cod! He's such a-He's such a douchebag! I swear he thinks he revolutionized music and sees himself as some sort of innovator! He's just bargain bin ichiya!!

Mahi: That's not true!!

Warabi: Yes it is! He starts one-sided beef with other musicians for no fucking reason! He's UGH Cod.....fine ....whatever.......if it makes you happy....... If he cheats I'm breaking his legs!

Neta:hehehe *cough* uhhh... I mean he might be different around you. Maybe, I don't know. I haven't met him, I mean I did meet him once. He was........................ anyway! You might see a different side of him that we don't. This is good I'm happy for you Mahi. You said that he might like you back so just go for it. Be confident and be genuine. You're a great kid this will work out. Who knows maybe you might bring out a kinder and softer side of (wheeze) HAHAHAHAHAGSH I'm sorry! I tried to hold it in! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Mahi: you guys are dicks!....... HE'S CUTE....... and -and he's nice. He really is! Can you please just give him a chance?!.... .....fuck you guys!!! I don't even know why I even came to you! Warabi you haven't had a stable relationship in 4 years!!

Warabi: I haven't been in a monogamous relationship is 4 years

Mahi: being non-committal does not make you non-monogamous Warabi! Neta! You're still texting to taka!!! WHY??

Neta: whaaaat! He takes me to nice restaurants and buys me stuff ......... Is that so bad?

Mahi: YES!! that's worth the painful mediocrity?? Get some standards! fuck both of you! I'm gonna go text him.

Neta: Mahi come back! You're right, we're no better! We're sorry.........................................come back ..... he's gone...*sigh* Ohhhhhhh please doesn't break their heart. mizole......... he's such a piece of-

Warabi: Shit. Yeah. Yeah he is.

Neta: I was going to say a piece of work but sure

Warabi: Cod He's going to start visiting the apartment. fuck! He's going to start visiting the store now!!........... I really hope this won't end up like a spike situation. Maybe you're right. Maybe he's nicer around mahi...

Neta: let's hope so

Warabi: ...........soooo.......Tell me more about the semi toxic relationship we have with takaaaaa.

Neta: Go clean the bathroom.

Mahi belongs to @fish-at-fish-fish-resort

[chamerionwrites]

I don't want to overgeneralize, or sound like I'm doing that thing of extrapolating wildly from a very niche sample. (You know - the thing where extremely online people make hot takes such as "cishet dudes who wear makeup/nail polish/feminine clothing/etc are just performatively doing it for gender kudos." buddy you may see a lot of people praising this in your corner of the internet but I promise you this is not a good way to win kudos in the world at large lmao.)

Anyway I am absolutely not saying that the world at large rewards people for anything other than being meekly silent and stoic and accommodating of mistreatment. Like it's pretty self-evident that whatever lip service sympathy people pay to trauma survivors in the abstract, when they are actually faced with real ones most people have the Bootstraps and You Must Forgive To Heal rhetoric (subtext: please stop making any of this my problem or disrupting the comfortable status quo in any way) ready to go immediately.

ALL OF THAT SAID I do feel that in certain spaces and situations there's almost the opposite unspoken moral imperative of - you have to be angry about your mistreatment. If you're not angry then maybe you weren't mistreated at all. If you feel grief or reluctant sympathy or even the desire to understand somebody's self-justifications for treating people (you!) badly, then you are acting as an abuse apologist.

But the thing is. If we acknowledge that you can't just will yourself to experience an emotion because it's the Good and Correct and Normative Emotion that you're Supposed To Be feeling, then we have to acknowledge that this applies to anger too! There have been quite a few times in my life when I desperately wanted to feel angry with someone who treated me poorly - anger would have been energizing - but instead I was just crushingly sad. And it's really hard when you want to talk that out, but most places you turn you're either going to find misplaced praise for being so wise and enlightened and forgiving (subtext: a Good Victim, not one of those bitter angry people. fuck off with that shit), or misplaced indignation from people who are (understandably) sensitive and think you're patting yourself on the back for being so wise and enlightened and forgiving, or just people well-meaningly but kinda patronizingly informing you that it's okay to be angry.

I know it's okay to be angry. But sometimes I'm not. And sometimes I long to be seen and acknowledged in that headspace, without worrying that people are just going to turn around and use me as a cudgel against anybody else who is experiencing (perfectly understandable and justifiable!) anger about their own mistreatment.

[traumasurvivorshelpingsurvivors]

tw fatphobia ig?

looking for support/validation

i'm closer to fat than i am skinny, and i've managed to lose a lot of baggage over that over time, but i'm still iffy. but i'm a lot more accepting and generally fine with my body than i used to be.

i follow a lot of fat positivity blogs, but for some reason i still get embarrassed? triggered? by seeing content talking about attraction to fat people.

just now it was some cool fat positive artwork but the caption was like "if you're plus sized, know that i think you're attractive!", and sometimes it's when people write "character x plus sized! reader". i think it's more when it sounds like it's coming from a thin person being accepting. whether it's genuine or not, i think it makes me feel fetishised, like instead of someone looking at me and seeing ME, they're seeing the fat and being like "yeah i like the fat".

i guess it's still a feeling of being objectified but i feel like it's not valid bc it's positive, right? i'm kind of confused by this.

hey anon,

first of all, I hope you're really proud of yourself for how far you've come! It's hard to accept your body.

One aspect of fatphobia is the fetishization and objectification of fat bodies. These people's bodies are accepted in circumstances in which they're providing sexual pleasure, and not in other circumstances. There is a lot of discrimination that occurs against fat people and fatphobia can impact so many areas of a person's life, including their relationships/intimacy.

While it's disrespectful and dehumanizing to be into someone just because they are fat, it's not true that all expressions of attraction to fat people is dehumanizing. If a person is simply with a fat person because they're turned on by that aspect of them, that's not cool. That's fatphobia. But if a person is turned on by someone's body, but also understands them as a fully complex human being who is more than their body, I don't see a problem with that.

I've had my doubts, too. Is someone with me because my body is fetishized? If it was not, would they be unable to be attracted to me? Social ideas of bodies are incredibly impactful to people's perceptions of others, as well as our selves.

Some fat positive content might not be for you and might not help you at this time, or ever. That's okay. Maybe there are some tags or phrases you can blacklist.

I do believe that most fat positive/bopo blogs intend to be respectful and not objectify fat people. I suggest following more plus sized, fat pos blogs that are run by fat people. These people might feel more trustworthy for you right now and their posts might help. I also suggest talking to others about this and the line between fetishizing fat and being attracted to fat people while respecting their full personhood. I bet some fat pos blogs would have discussed this.

I understand that it can feel like singling out certain things, but since only certain bodies (thin, white, able-bodied, etc) are seen as normal and attractive and desirable to everyone, I think posi blogs for things seen as abnormal can help. There are people who need to hear, "I find fat people hot" because it really never occurred to them that their body could be seen as attractive. The end goal isn't to become attractive, but this can help people who are in that place in their recovery.

It's okay to feel that these things are objectifying and not feel good about that. Let yourself work through it, and don't judge yourself.

Sorry this got long! Wishing you luck.

Mod Misa

[timeoverload]

Today was really hard. I did my best to maintain a positive attitude. I was able to stay in a good mood even though bad stuff kept happening.

They were setting up for the first case and the techs noticed there were yellow stains all over the mats in the cataract pan that they opened so they couldn't use it. They weren't there yesterday and I don't know what happened. Most of the pans had stains on the mats and I'm not sure where it was coming from. I decided to replace the mats in all 15 trays and that was very tedious because I have to cut them to fit a certain way. The stains wouldn't come off the other ones. I looked at the load history from yesterday and the pans with the worst stains came out of the autoclave that just had a valve replaced. I think it could have been from the autoclave. I was tracking them all day so I could figure out what was going on. I didn't have any more problems after I switched the mats out so maybe they are just degraded from being sterilized so many times. I wish they would just buy me new ones. I have asked many times and they won't get them for me. They probably don't cost that much so I don't understand what the big deal is. I'm also frustrated because I have been asking for a light in decontam so I can see better and they won't get me one of those either. I think that would prevent me from missing little things because the lighting back there is horrible. My eyes aren't as good as they used to be.

I didn't get breakfast until 9 because there was so much to do. I took my time when I finally got to take a break. I am glad that there weren't any PPV's scheduled today because I wouldn't have been able to handle that on top of everything else. They added one on in the afternoon, but I didn't get upset about it. The doctor that was working in the morning started his cases at 7am and didn't get done until 2:30 so that was ridiculous. He was having a lot of issues so that didn't help. We were behind the rest of the day. I still had 11 cases left after he got done. The doctor working in the afternoon overbooked himself as usual. He didn't start his last specialty case until 5. I knew he was going to take forever to get that done. My boss asked someone to cover the last one for me so I could leave on time. I was so glad that I didn't have to wait around for him to finish.

I felt bad because I was feeling strained at the end of the day and I accidentally yelled at the new guy. He had stacked some of my pans on top of each other while they were still hot. It can cause condensation, but he wasn't aware that could happen because he wasn't taught about that. I thought it was someone else in the department that did it so I yelled and I was asking who did that in an angry tone. He admitted that he was the one who did it. I wasn't expecting that. I don't think I was thinking clearly. I felt terrible because he is already terrified of everything. He is very shy and timid. I apologized for snapping about it and I hope that I didn't scare him too much. He acts like he is afraid of me as it is. I don't get it. I don't understand why some people are intimidated by me. I guess I can be intense sometimes. I know I am a little strange. Maybe some people have bad anxiety too. I don't know. I don't think I am that scary. I have my moments, but I'm generally very nice.

I was so happy when it was time to leave because I couldn't handle being around people anymore. I was also glad that I didn't get stuck in traffic on my way home like I did yesterday. It's good to be home. I talked to my dad for a while when I got home and that was nice. He also made me pizza and I appreciated that. I haven't eaten it yet. I am planning on eating it later tonight. I'm not that hungry at the moment. I usually eat dinner late anyway.

I am trying to relax now. I don't want to move much. My right leg has been partially numb all day. My foot is tingly, but I can move my toes normally so that's good. Sometimes I can't move them at all. I am glad that my symptoms haven't been affecting my driving. I think I am just getting used to being crippled. I will be ok. I really want a back rub though. I haven't had one in years and they make me happy.

I don't know what I am going to do the rest of the night. I will probably do the same stuff I always do again. I don't feel like going to bed early, even though I should. I might change my mind later. I don't have much else to talk about. Hopefully I will enjoy my weekend.

I hope everyone else has a good weekend too. :) 💖💖💖

[titanicfreija]

What Not To Wear

ALANZA: Welcome to feed Alpha7 where we have another Hot or Not segment with your host Alanza-20 and our panel of Fashionistas here to break down and critique fashion arrangements of participating Guardians. Today, we have a special episode we're calling Just Not, and I'm going to let Guardian CyclonicTonic, our head judge, explain. Tonic?

TONIC: Hey.

ALANZA: So what's going on?

TONIC: I'm gonna get right to it-- You baby Shadowsneakers need to stop! You're clogging up a perfectly good list with your bullshhh! We said two shaders, we mean two shaders! I'll give this message two days to circulate-- As of 5-13, I'm making a list of you fuu-- excuse me. I'm making a list of everyone that submits a set in full Superblack! And every single name on it is gonna be Superblack-listed! The list is gonna be written on Superblack paper in Superblack ink and you're gonna need infrared scanners to see anything on it! You'll have gotten lots of practice from trying to find any of your armor in a pile of your other armor! I'm sick of it!

*murmurs of agreement*

ALANZA: I take it we've been seeing a lot of it lately?

MORGAN: We can't even tell if they're wheedling or genuinely think we'll change the rules for this shader or don't know the rules and only found out about us because of the talk surrounding the shader.

TONIC: Yeah.

ALANZA: Is that the Just Not?

TONIC: That's not all. I just really needed it off my chest.

ALANZA: So what will we be discussing for the rest of the segment?

MORGAN: How to get disqualified.

RISE: Yeah, we're done roasting the deliberate failure. Too hard to sort them from genuinely trying and bad, anymore, and they were starting to outnumber the serious submissions...

TONIC: Until the Superblack Tidal Wave.

MORGAN: So we figured we'd do one big, How to Get Disqualified bit.

ALANZA: For those listening, Tonic's Ghost is projecting an image of several arrangements overlapping. Not really seeing a pattern here, help our listeners out?

RISE: There's not a real pattern in the image, but we can break down the problems. They all break at least one of our three rules. First-- loads of these lack exotic pieces. No offense to the New Lights, but that's Rule One and Step One.

ALANZA: For the listeners, the selected arrangements do indeed lack exotic armor pieces.

MORGAN: Yeah. They look great, most of them follow the other two rules, but without it, there's no challenge. It took me a while to get used to that, Guardians are picky.

RISE: You'll never understand, and hopefully it'll never be relevant to you.

MORGAN: Not to me.

ALANZA: So there's breakers of rule one, I take it the next bunches are breakers of the other rules?

TONIC: You got it. Full sets meant to go together with an exotic slapped into place and shaded to match, sometimes the set will kinda match with the piece, but it's probably the most common. Weird enough, we don't get many of the single-shader variety.

MORGAN: My theory is that by the time you get to a certain point in the fashion realm, that's the easiest rule to break and not break, so the people who are breaking it are probably doing it on purpose and know better than to send it in, and the ones that don't know better are also using a single set or miss an exotic.

ALANZA: Easiest to break and not break?

RISE: We'll get into this for a How To Dress bit, if you like, but the short of it is that some outfits look good with a single shader across the thing, and some shaders only go with themselves.

TONIC: Which is why you never see Black Armory shaders on Hot or Not.

RISE: It took me a long time to stop with one outfit. Nothing goes with Rustberry like Rustberry.

MORGAN: But it really is that simple.

ALANZA: Was that all? Just telling people how to obey the rules?

MORGAN: And to warn them about our Superblacklist.

ALANZA: Short segment, today, I guess. Did we have any contestants for examples?

RISE: No more attention for the scrubs.

TONIC: In case anyone is wondering, we will still accept submissions that are intentionally bad as long as they follow our rules, but we aren't going to roast you like we used to. We will turn you into an example and tell everyone how you made it ugly instead. You have been warned.