#and also i cant live without the transform tool or whatever

[upathosarts]

[tfw-no-tennis]

mtmte liveblog - 2012 annual

iirc the annual takes place between 7 and 8, or something. whatever, im gonna go for it

shifts in art style always throw me off phewwww

i cant remember what theyre doing but i find it really funny that first aid is there squaring the fuck up to punch shit

ah yes of course how could i forget the time they shrunk down to fight tiny robots in ultra magnus’s head. a comic classic 

poor magnus lmao

HBJSDKFBSHJFDHJSD HIS TERRIFYING SMILE HAUNTS MY NIGHTMARES. LOVE IT

love the continuation of magnus’s law-vision

the fact that everyone is dunking on magnus for smiling ONCE hvbhjdksbfjks

rewind and chromedome ough

i feel like cyclonus spends 90% of his early mtmte screentime staring broodingly out of windows lmao 

tg so precious

lmaooo i love the flashes of rodimus saying ‘til all are one’ All The Time

rodimus just wants to be like his dad ok

rodimus telling drift to go meditate or something vbhjfdbhdsjkf

i love rodimus calling magnus out on referring to himself in the third person lmaoooo but also I'm like Oh I See That [eyes emoji]

wish i had emojis on the computer sigh

lmao so the circle of light is a bunch of pacifists With Big Ass Swords

them betting on how long it'll take rodimus to say ‘til all are one’ vbkjsdhbfjhkhsdf

damn so ambulon rlly did switch sides late in the game 

cyclonus is here!! being an emotionally closed-off fool as usual 

nooo rodimus let tailgate speak

cant believe rodimus graffiti’d tailgate

drift, immediately: rodimus is FUCKING POSSSESSED 

ratchet: ok, no, 

godddd everything abt the galactic counsel here is so funny. ‘its big - its grey - its taxpayer funded’ hvbkjshdbfjkdf and the fact that their ship is called ‘the benign intervention’ lmaooo

also DAMN that is a BIG ASS SHIP 

‘a fleshling in a stupid hat’ i love rodimus and his irrational hatred of hats

magnus comin in CLUTCH with the dry-ass clauses shit 

rewind vhjbdskfbaksdfn ‘the sub-section 7 defense - sneaky’ ily

tailgate hvbhjadkfbjskdf its ok that you don't know what's going on

also tailgate serves a vital role in the story as the audience insert character (or w/e its called), bc he’s often confused which allows for handy exposition that we the audience also need lmao 

i find it so interesting to see how the cybertronians are viewed by the rest of the galaxy - we don't see a lot of aliens but its always fascinating when we do, because of COURSE they’re mostly gonna think of the cybertronians as destructive and war-like when that’s what they’ve been up to for 4 million years 

ooof swerve :( swerve is one of those characters who you’re like ‘haha he’s funny’ most of the time but pretty often he’ll have startling moments of like, deep pain about life or w/e, and you’re like Oh Shit and then you kinda move on, until finally the swearth arc hits and it all comes together. what I'm saying is that this is some nice building towards that 

HGDSBJFKJSJBDF THERE IT IS THERE IT ISSSSSSSSSS

THE PANEL WHERE REWIND IN ALT MODE CAN FLY FOR SOME REASONNNNNN

i fucking love that shot so much. does everyone see this. rewind is a GIANT FUCKIN FLASHDRIVE and he’s hovering ominously thru the air. like, what happened to all the biz from issue 1 or w/e where his husband was roasting him for having a non-mobile altmode? if he can fucking HOVER than Actually rewind is the fucking coolest, no contest 

or like, is the implication that they all teleported there (having switched to alt mode along the way i guess?) and rewind is just like, suspended in midair? bc that's what the speed bubble text implies, but it also totally looks like they're just travelling across the area and rewind can levitate

anyways. that panel has always cracked me up lmaoooo

rodimus calling the council ‘fascists’ hvbhduifbjsdjfajskf sir i love you 

GODDD and there's the joke payoff from a few issues ago - rewind, facing front, hearing drift transform behind him and not only being able to tell its drift without looking, but also being able to tell that drift is upset, JUST like chromedome said he could....fucking PEAK i love that type of payoff humor

ooof and more swerve introspection. i mentioned earlier but i fucking LOVE how this series showcases the extremely wide range of reactions/coping mechanisms that everyone has towards the endless war finally being over - and swerve really nails it here: confusing peace with happiness, and assuming that everything would automatically be better after the war is over, when in reality you still have to work just as hard to build shit rather than break it

also i adore the horror of a guy who is half-embedded in the wall, his face stuck in a rictus of terror & death, waxing philosophical about how peace is about the freedom of choice, and how they should all just feel lucky to have survived...oof, that's very specifically ironic coming from you, dude 

but i do love the little characterization we get here for ore, a character who is literally already dead and has so far been used as a plot device pretty exclusively, but we still get to know little things about him here, and how HE feels about the war and the current peace, etcetc. it really makes the story and characters seem believable, like every character has a story even if we don't take the time to see it 

love cyclonus posing coolly 

kinda love how clear it is that drifts whole hippy schtick is just a front to cover his anger, and a tool to make him seem like an approachable, upstanding autobot

drift dramatically monologuing while pointing his sword at the sky is extra funny with everyone else just staring at him doing this

cyclonus why are you grabbing at the edge of the hole you're falling into, you can LITERALLY FLY, 

magnus finally getting some appreciation for being The most law abiding guy like, ever 

genuinely forgot abt the whole metrotitan plot that happens here 

GOD when rodimus is like BRAIN QUEST TIME and then we smash cut to them at the brain ‘six minutes later’ vhbhkudfjbjksf i live for that shit 

also that would be even funnier animated which further proves that we need an mtmte/ll animated series, please, somebody, 

HBDSJKFSHDJF REWIND IS SO FUCKING FUNNYYYYYY you cant even tell if he GENUINELY didn't think cyclonus could talk or if hes just being a dick but either way? comedy gold 

oh i adore the flashbacks being in a different artstyle, especially one that's so retro 

i love rewind being a history geek, and cyclonus passionately explaining cybertronian creation theory

HHHH i fucking LOVE the myth/lore stuff like....a lot of franchises tend not to dwell in this type of mythology, you tend to get The True Version Of Events, but this kind of explanation rocks bc it totally sounds like the kind of religious mythology that naturally develops based on a species’ progression

and drift and ratchet’s very opposing and polarizing views certainty do make for interesting perspectives, tho i feel like the story sometimes leans too much towards ratchet being ‘more correct’ bc, logic! or something idk i feel like i used to have a couple mild opinions on this but i don't remember

and its funny bc i am, irl, an atheistic medical professional who believes in science above all else - essentially just like ratchet. but i feel like the narrative portrayal skews a little more in his favor than i’d like, despite that 

skids just out here being a bummer, completely unprompted. cant even blame you tho dude 

hhhhhh chromedome talking abt rewind ;_; 

and when he says ‘maybe there’s someone out there who can save your life, too’ and cyclonus is there....hhhh

god i fucking LOVE drift and rodimus’s entire relationship. the layers...the LAYERS!!!

OH HEY ITS THOSE ROBOTS SKIDS FOUGHT 

ah, inconvenient laser time!

ok i fuckgin love how cybertronian’s brains look just like the planet cybertron. that's so fucking great 

of COURSE brainstorm brought his shrink ray 

truly i love the convo between ore and swerve, especially overlaid onto everyone fighting 

oof, the themes and plot threads of this annual are all so nicely tied up (which is something i love abt mtmte, especially early on when the story is smaller), with swerve now choosing to disobey an order from rodimus

oh yeah, the circle of light! that's who you've been looking for this whole time basically! 

and then the ending, hearing that magnus smiled (willingly!) :) i love it

rodimus’s profile says ‘finds it difficult to sit still’ bc rodimus is an adhd icon

lmao i feel like over half of my sentences in this recap - and in most of my recaps - contain ‘i love it’ or ‘i love how-’ or some variation upon that theme. I'm predictable 

anyways - the annual! i love this issue. its really long which is cool and i feel like it does a lot to flesh out the setting and lore, and even the characters as well. also, as i said above, it does an excellent job telling an exciting and well-contained story, with solid story beats throughout and plot threads that emerge and get resolved all within this issue, even while leaving plenty of stuff up for future resolution. that's the Early MTMTE Special, and i adore it. tho i will say I'm glad we’ll be getting back to the regularly scheduled art style, bc this one didn't really do it for me 

[viralhottopics]

Apple Clips is the powerful tool you need to transform your social media game

Fun with photos and videos

Image: Lance Ulanoff/mashable

Creativity is a shared urge. We all have it, but many stumble on the execution. Its why were not all pro photographers, musicians and movie makers.

If you simplify the tools and put them within easy reach of enough people, that starts to change. Weve seen it with the proliferation of stories across a wide-range of broadly available social media platforms.

SEE ALSO: Here’s how to check which of your apps Apple’s about to brick

But apps like Instagram and Snapchat have their limits, especially when it comes to permanence. Even the most beautiful snap will be gone in a day.

Tools, like Apples iMovie (the free version that runs on iOS) that offer richer tools and more permeance are inscrutable and lack the sense of fun promised by Instagram and Facebook Stories. Whatever you create might look good but will lack that sense of fun and shareability.

Apples new video-creation and sharing platform, Clips, is the near-perfect middle ground.

Its not a social platform or a full-scale video editing platform, though it shares some of the best attributes of both.

Clips which is free, only on iOS, and available now in the AppStore lets you create square videos of almost any length using new and existing clips and videos. It offers impressive power but in a simple, drag-and-drop package.

Its fun and addictive, and I have yet to share a single Clips video Ive made (and Ive made a bunch and am sharing for the first time here and on social media).

Clips: Step 1

Clips interface looks a lot like a social sharing app. Theres a square screen that launches in video capture mode, with video filter and special effects options above (Live Titles or captions, Filters, Overlays and Emoji, Posters or titles and Music). Below the capture screen are options for capturing Photo, Video, or importing from your own library of content. Below that is a large record button. On one side is the microphone option and the other lets you swap between the front and back cameras. At the very bottom is your film strip with each captured video represented as a thumbnail. You can play all the clips in order or select any one you want to play and/or edit or drag and drop to reorder.

Clips lets you shoot photos or videos and add from your library. You can edit whatever you add and throw in filters during or after you shoot.

Image: APPLE/LANCE ULANOFF/COMPOSITE

To capture video, you hold down the red button. For hands-free operation, you just hold and slide the red button to the left. Another tap stops recording.

You can capture the video clean. A double tap zooms the video 2x. The app does not use the iPhone 7 Plus optical zoom lens, so a zoom in Clips is always a digital one. Its a disappointment, and I hope Apple changes this in future versions.

I tested Apple Clips and I kinda loved it. http://bit.ly/2o6D1Fg #appleclips #clips http://pic.twitter.com/hRM3Oy9hok

Lance Ulanoff (@LanceUlanoff) April 6, 2017

The seven filters can be applied while you shoot or after. Two of my favorites are Comic Book and Ink.

There are also 18 different editable, animated stickers that you can add to your clips. To edit any clip youve shot, you just tap the thumbnail below. Text stickers let you retype the text and they are all resizable and can be placed anywhere on the video. Same with 30 emoji you have to choose from. Too bad you cant set exactly at what moment in the clip they will appear.

Not only can you add labels and emoji, but all are moveable and resizable. Notice how I added a cake slice emoji and then a text bubble.

Image: Apple/lance ulanoff/Composite

The way around that limitation is to edit your clip length. When you tap on a clip, you have the option of turning off sound, deleting the clip or trimming it. Trimming only requires dragging in or out the start or end of the video. Any clip you shortened can always be returned to its original length.

There are no editable transitions between clips, but its doubtful the Clips target audience will miss them.

Text like the pros

The Live Titles or captioning feature, which lets you add synced text to any clip, is powerful, but a bit buggy. To use Live Titles, you select it and then speak, clearly, while recording video. Each word you say will appear on the video at the exact time you said it. Its great for explaining what people are seeing, adding rich detail that might otherwise be missed in the video or telling a story with words and visuals, but no audio. Its kind of silly to have the words appear at the same time as your voice, so Clips lets you mute the audio on these videos without losing the text that sound helped create.

Live Titles has potential, but it had a hard time capturing everything I said.

Image: Apple/Lance ulanoff/composite

The words do not always appear on screen as you are recording them but are usually there when you play back the clip.

My biggest problem with Live Titles, though, is that no matter how clearly I spoke, it often misheard my words or only captured a portion of them. Apples Siri does a better job of understanding me than iOS’ built-in dictation, which is what Apple chose to use for the Clips app.

Live Titles is not a bad feature, but it will take some patience to get the most out of it.

Edit it up

Max clip length is 30 minutes and your entire video can be a full hour. But the more you work with Clips, the more you may start to think of relatively short video packages discrete stories you can easily share on social media. Attention spans on any of these social media platforms can be measured in minutes, not hours.

I had fun shooting each clip with and without filters and then adding overlays and emoji to enhance my story. The editable posters are essentially title cards that you can add to the beginning and end (or any place in between) of your videos. For me, they made each finished clip look like a little movie.

Clips has a wide range of soundtrack choices. You do have to download each one to use it.

Image: Apple/Composite

But nothing brings together a video like music, and Apple has done an excellent job of providing almost 50 pre-built music clips, which automatically rearrange themselves to perfectly fit the length of your clip. You also have the option of bringing in your own music (though I dont know if you can share those videos as freely, because of copyright constraints).

Clips lets you store and save an unlimited number of projects, and each of them remains editable unless you delete them.

Titles add a nice professional polish to your videos.

Image: Apple/Lance Ulanoff/Composite

You can also scroll through and play back clips in the library screen, which is also where you share the videos. Clips will let you share to virtually any platform. I wish I could tell you how well this works, but Apple wouldnt let us share any of our Clips prior to the embargo lift.

It is worth noting though that Clips is designed for life on social media. Thats why it only records square video perfect for Instagram, which also means that its not built for full-screen stories on Snapchat, Instagram or Facebook Stories (if you could import these videos into them).

Clips is almost the anti-stories. It encourages, thought, consideration and composition, as well as, perhaps, richer creativity than you can apply in an of-the-moment Snap. Yet its just as easy as creating anything in Stories.

But, of course, unlike stories, these beautifully crafted video clips could last a lifetime.

Apple Clips

The Good

Easy Smart Fun Free

The Bad

Live Titles didn’t always get the transcription right Video thumbnails that start with posters don’t show anything except the poster color

The Bottom Line

Apple Clips brings powerful video creation concepts to everyone in a dead simple package.

WATCH: Apple’s new ‘Apple Park’ spaceship campus will open in April

Read more: http://on.mash.to/2o6LCI9

from Apple Clips is the powerful tool you need to transform your social media game