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stellahibernis · 4 years

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Lan Wangji: the Extra Shiny Edition

AKA Lan Wangji’s costumes in the Untamed, part 4/9

Now we have the Sunshot Campaign costume, and bad times were had by both Lan Wangji, for being in the middle of war and his soulmate possibly being on the path of completely losing it, and myself for having to watch the pain on his face at quarter speed while trying to capture the outfit while it’s in focus. On the other hand, the costume is gorgeous, and this particular title amuses me more than it probably should, so there’s that.

He wears this outfit in episodes 18 to 24, and as before, I’ll first talk about the costume and then the story context.

Look at him glow!

The Costume

This is his second of two fully white costumes, after the previous one, and as the title states, it’s shiny! The previous, though also fully white, reflected warmer colors, while this one reflects colder colors, making it look almost silvery at times. This is achieved by fabric choices (which are again gorgeous! I wonder if whatever fabric retailer they went to thought they were making some extravagant wedding gowns).

Let’s start with the silhouette, with yet another bonus Wei Wuxian because of reasons. Fun fact, I was about to despair getting a full body shot of him for this, because there isn’t anything that works until this one at the end of episode 23.

While his previous outfit had no cloud embroidery, this one has a very big and obvious one on the front panel (there’s some also on his shoulders, you’ll see it later when we get to details). This makes perfect sense from the story point of view, which I’ll talk about in the context section.

This outfit sees a lot of action, and the silhouette reflects that, immediately as we see it we can tell he’s ready to mess you up. What’s unusual is that the sash (again the criss-cross type we usually see on him) is on top of the robe that hangs open while usually the sash is under it. This is primarily the detail that makes it look so action-y. Also the top layer has no sleeves, which I think is a good choice, since the fabric is heavier, and the lightweight sleeves move particularly well while he’s fighting. Also you can kind of see here on his left sleeve (on the right above, and I have a better image later) that the second robe in fact has two layers of fabric, an opaque layer covered with a sheer one, they separate a bit near his elbow which is why you can see through. Another detail which doesn’t add that much on the screen, but must have been awesome when wearing it and knowing the care put in it by the costume department.

Seriously, just look how gorgeous that fabric of the top layer is, and the second robe is actually trimmed with it at the collar as well to tie the look together. I also really like the cloud embroidery there at the shoulders as a finishing touch.

Here at the sleeve end you can see the sheer layer sewn on top of the opaque layer. Which, btw, is tricky to cut and sew so that nothing is pulling or bunching, especially with the volume going on here, so kudos to whoever did it. The fact we can only tell by carefully paying attention means they did it perfectly. With a bonus Suibian for crying potential.

A couple of more, mostly because they amuse me:

He’s back in his boring boots again, which is why this outfit lost out on the Most Extra™ contest despite the shininess. Also not in focus, but he’s wielding a temporary sword since Bichen is still in Qishan and they get it back only in the next episode.

An accessory! I don’t know why he’s carrying his qin physically rather than in the dimensional hole he usually has it in, however that one works, but just look at the fabric of the cover, again super gorgeous. Also Yanli who is looking very fond and delights me.

The Context

This, we might say, is the ultimate form of Second Jade of Lan LWJ pre-timeskip, especially at the beginning, and the prominent embroidery of the Sect’s cloud pattern broadcasts it. As I’ve said earlier, white outfits are for when his duty calls, and right here it definitely is. If in the previous one he was angry and mourning, now his anger has turned into a cold fury to fuel his purpose, which at the beginning is to take his home back from the Wens. They succeed, but that’s not the end of the duty. They know that as long as Wen Ruohan has the Yin Iron, no one is safe, and the war must be fought to the end.

Soon enough, another cause comes calling for his heart, which is of course WWX, at first missing, and later changed and occasionally downright scary. I’d say, when he was still missing, it didn’t cause much of a conflict for LWJ, because finding him went neatly together with taking down the Wen Sect, and so he was still doing his part in the war while looking for WWX. It’s only after he comes back that LWJ is really starting to experience the conflict of his loyalties, for which the seeds were sown already earlier when he fell for WWX and acknowledged it to himself. Episode 21 is where we see him for the first time actually questioning his teachings, since he is facing a situation where the rules he’s been taught are the truth of the world do not feel right. I doubt that LXC’s answer gave him much comfort.

When they’re in the middle of the action after they’ve reconciled, it actually goes fairly well, they work together as seamlessly as we’ve seen them to be able to up until the zombies get too powerful and WWX brings out the Stygian Tiger Amulet, after which there is no peace of mind for LWJ.

LWJ is smart and perceptive, and he is aware of exactly how much WWX has changed. He understands how disturbing the revenge taken on Wen Chao and Wang Lingjiao as well as everyone else in their vicinity was, more than necessary, and he’s understandably worried about WWX’s state of mind. He also doesn’t really have tools to reach him, with WWX backing away every time he pushes. I also think LWJ is aware there’s something going on with why WWX is not wielding his sword, more than just arrogance and whimsy, but he doesn’t know how to ask about it. All throughout, he does prod at WWX, but ultimately backs away before there is another as serious conflict as the one that happened in Yunmeng.

(Let’s take a moment to be devastated about the fact the above conversation happened at the same spot from which WWX later fell.)

As I said, at the beginning while wearing this outfit, LWJ was the ultimate form of Second Jade of Lan, and so it is significant that the last we see of him is deliberately breaking rules. He has made a choice to try to help WWX with all the resources he has, and so the next time we see him, his costume also reflects this turn of the tide.

If screencapping this one was emotional, I expect the next two to be even worse, which is a cheerful thought. I’m starting to think that maybe this series was a mistake😅 Anyway, pushing onward.

(You can find the rest of this series via “lwj costume series” tag below, or through my blog contents page. I’d link, except we know how this site is…)

#the untamed #the untamed meta #cql #cql meta #lan wangji #costume design #lwj costume series #cql rambles

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obsessivedilettante · 5 years

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20 in 10: A Drama Retrospective

Since I’ve been all quiet on the drama front this year because of life reasons, I thought it would be fun to go back and pick out 20 of the most memorable dramas of the last decade. Maybe not necessarily the best dramas or even my favorites (although some are!), but two dramas each year that were somehow notable moments in my drama-watching timeline.

2009: Gateway Drugs

Boys over Flowers (KBS)

This is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a good drama. It is not one I think I can ever really rewatch (although I will happily revisit the 2005 Japanese version, and I had a hellava fun time watching the latest Chinese version). But! It was the first kdrama I remember watching, and the first step on the slippery slope of eventually becoming a Drama Addict. I mostly remember it being crazy popular on places like mysoju (RIP), and so I checked it out due to curiosity, and the rest, as they say, is history. Or, should I say, almost paaaaradise!

You’re Beautiful (SBS)

This one I also watched because it became crazy-popular online, and curiosity got the better of me. I really didn’t know much about k-pop prior to dramas, so I had no idea until after this drama that k-pop was more about pretty people in crazy fashion, dancing in syncopation in bizarrely lit rooms, rather than playing instruments. Because it was thanks to this drama that I got my crash-course on k-pop as a phenomenon -- both the fandom side, and the crazy things that artists have to go through to claw their way into the public’s view (nevar 4get the glorious ramen dance). Since Angel was a group that played instruments, and Hongki and Yonghwa were also from groups that played instruments, I assumed that all kpop were groups that played instruments. Oh, sweet summer child...

But it did get me started on my k-pop journey, first falling in love with FT Island and CNBLUE, before falling into the rabbit hole of the other prominent groups of the day. (SNSD! The Wonder Girls! Super Junior! DBSK! SS501! Kara! 2PM! 2AM! Shinee! BEG! Epik High! U-KISS! All the debut groups, like 2NE1, MBLAQ, B2ST, 4Minute, f(x), T-ara, After School... basically 2009 was a magical year in k-pop.)

If I had just watched Boys Over Flowers, I don’t know that I would have become a Drama Addict. But You’re Beautiful pushed me closer to the edge, with the zany humor of the Hong Sisters (and the desire for a pig-bunny of my own!). It would really be Coffee Prince that would push me over the edge, but that aired in 2007 so it doesn’t count for this list. But I had to mention it anyway, because, well, it’s Coffee Prince and where my love for Handsome Oppa began.

2010: More Than Candy

The Woman Who Wants To Marry (MBC)

A lot of the dramas I watched at first had that typical “Candy” character, the poor-but-scrappy girl who would somehow be saved by the guy and become the Cinderella she never knew she wanted to be. So it was a delight when I encountered women who were not only older than high-school-age or early twenties, but in their thirties, with rich full lives! Plus, this was one of my earliest introductions to the concept of the “noona romance” (a concept that I’ve since heartily embraced, of course). I started it primarily because Kim Bum was my favorite of the Flower Boys, but I stuck with it because I fell in love with the women (and I still have a girl-crush on Bu-ki).

Harvest Villa (tvn)

This show is insane. But in the good way, the way that the writer intended, and not in the “are a bunch of monkeys typing this script?” train-wreck way. There was basically no buzz about this show, and I feel like I somehow accidentally stumbled over it, but it was love at first sight. I’ve never forgotten the late hours binging it, being so sucked into the story that I absolutely had to finish it as soon as I could, disappointed that there wasn’t more of it to enjoy when I finally finished, bleary-eyed and sleep-deprived, but satisfied.

I then later gobbled down this writer’s next drama, and her next drama, and the next, until everyone else finally realized thanks to Signal that Kim Eun-hee was as amazing a writer as I kept insisting to anyone who would listen (aka no one).

2011: To Binge or Not To Binge?

White Christmas (KBS)

I did not watch White Christmas in 2011. I actually watched it in 2013. I was always a steadfast binger, preferring to wait until the buzz about a show would sway me into spending my precious free-time watching something that would be worth my while (not that my drama choices were always good, but at least I tried to avoid the duds). I still prefer to binge, since waiting weeks for new episodes is vaguely frustrating when I want to know what happens next, right now! Plus, I’m very good at forgetting that I’m watching a show in the week-long wait for new episodes, and then just... never picking it back up again.

Despite watching White Christmas a couple years after it aired, it remains one of my favorites, and one I love to rewatch, even though I’ve already experienced whodunnit cliff-hangers and psychological rollercoasters. It became a tradition of sorts here on tumblr for a bunch of us to rewatch it over the holiday season -- alas, I haven’t joined in that tradition for the past couple of years, but I hope that somewhere in this blue hell hole that there are a loyal few keeping the tradition alive.

At least we have this drama to thank for bringing us all the model-actors that were new and clueless in White Christmas, but would later go on to be leading men in their own right. Of course, some of them haven’t exactly made the best drama choices (*cough*SungJoon*cough*), but then there are others (*cough*SooHyuk*cough*) that I’m impatiently waiting for to pick up a new drama so I can see those post-army abs.

Tree With Deep Roots (SBS)

This is the first drama that I recall live-watching. I vaguely remember regretting it at the time, since it was agony waiting for new episodes, but it was also fun to have a week to speculate and ponder the show. And what a beautiful show to ponder! This was also one of the few sageuks I actually watched, being generally intimidated by anything longer than 16-20 episodes, and my historical knowledge was a little shaky (before embracing my inner nerd and diving into mundane historical stuff just so I could better understand whatever drama I was watching at the time).

I don’t think I intended to continue live-watching shows, preferring the ease of binging at my own pace and schedule. But that was when I was still a casual, innocent addict, and not someone who would eventually make dramas a huge part of her life.

2012: The Joy of Overthinking

Gaksital (KBS)

Having had a taste of live-watching, I started to live-watch enough dramas to the point where I began to make notes about the premiere weeks. It was only a couple at a time, and binging was still my preferred way to watch, but now I was delighting in being part of the fandom, sharing in speculation each week, posting my thoughts on dramas and analyzing them to my heart’s content -- even though I knew no one except me would read my ridiculous essays.

But I started to feel more comfortable sharing my opinion with the world, interacting with fandom and not merely content to be a consumer, but gradually becoming a producer as well.

Reply 1997 (tvN)

This is it. This is when I went full-on Drama Addict. This is the tipping point from casual fan who quietly kept to herself, to becoming someone who stood on the mountain top yelling about ALL THE DRAMAS ALL THE TIME. I began to interact with other fans! To swap theories and share squee-worthy moments! I even watched episodes RAW just because of how desperate I was to know what happened, and even though the Busan accent stumped me more than once, it made me realize that my casual study of Korean was something to take seriously since I understood more than I gave myself credit for.

It was also the first time any post I made got more than a handful of notes, since I’d mostly hovered in the “less than 10 notes per post” category at the time. I was so proud of myself back then!

(This drama also notably marks the start of my Hoya obsession, which continues to this day.)

2013: Tumblr Friends (and Foes)

Flower Boy Next Door (tvN)

Having made myself comfortable on tumblr as a Drama Addict, I then discovered some other dedicated fans -- many of which I still follow to this day and who are now just a permanent part of my dash, no matter what their current interests may be -- in the FBND squad.

But I also discovered Kim Seul-gi as the Webtoon Editor (who I still love and adore and continue to use as my avatar), and her adorable romance with Dong-hoon remains one of my forever OTPs. As much as I enjoyed the drama romances, I’d never fallen so deeply for one to be so obsessed by it as I was Webtoon Editor and Dong-hoon. And tbh I still am. They’re just so adorable and pragmatic and she buys him a bag. Ugh. I love her so much, you guys.

Heirs (SBS)

Ah, yes. This hot mess.

I don’t know what possessed me to live-blog each episode. But I did. With snarky commentary and terrible screencaps. And suddenly I went from maybe 200 followers to over a 1000. That was a total shock! I met a lot of people because of that (and made some friends, as well as a few enemies who didn’t appreciate my opinion of certain characters), and ensconced myself as part of the drama-blogging crew.

It was from this that someone suggested I apply to be a minion at Dramabeans. Back then, I had a lot more free time than I do now, and I was watching a lot of dramas that Dramabeans didn’t cover, and wished they did so I could read more opinions about those shows. So I thought, “Eh, why not? It can’t hurt to submit something because the worst that would happen is I’d waste their time making them read my take on episode 10 of Let’s Eat.”

I fully expected them to turn me down. No one was more surprised than I was when I found myself agreeing to dive into the world of recapping.

2014: It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times

Trot Lovers (KBS)

Recapping. It seems so easy when you’re reading the recaps. But actually creating them is a bitch. Hours out of my life were spent on this disaster of a trope-laden show with no plot. This was the third show I worked on for Dramabeans, and I hated it to the point where I seriously considered handing in my notice. (Immediately following up this show with the mediocre My Secret Hotel certainly didn’t help matters!)

However, it turns out that what I actually hated was being forced to watch a terrible rom-com and pretend to come up with insightful-or-at-least-neutral thoughts about it (since we were still new and couldn’t go full-on snark yet).

Misaeng (tvN)

This is what saved me. Being given the chance to immerse myself in such a unique, ponderous, thoughtful show restored my faith in dramas and the drama community. I loved spending hours on this show, soaking up all the little details, and then sharing that love with the world.

Misaeng made dramas magical again.

2015: Fight Me

Valid Love (tvN)

Realizing that I only seemed to enjoy rom-coms at arm-length, I discovered that my tastes often ran counter to the general drama-viewing public. Not all the drama-viewing public -- I’m not a “not like other fans” kind of fan -- but enough that I began to realize the whether a drama was popular or had good buzz was not necessarily the primary reason to watch it.

I began to have more faith in my own taste, based on past experiences with various writers and directors. Even if the premise (or first couple of episodes) seemed kind of weird and out-there, I at least wanted to give these artists the benefit of the doubt that I would enjoy their work, like I had previously.

So many people seemed to hate Valid Love, but I adored it. Still do (and still desperately wish Kim Do-woo would come out with a new drama -- it has been too long, writer-nim!). There were a lot of opinions about this show, even among people who seemed to enjoy it, but I vividly recall having to repeatedly insist that it wasn’t about the romance and argue that the knee-jerk infidelity-is-BAD opinions should make space for something more nuanced.

Ho-gu’s Love (tvN)

DramaFever was a pretty great site. It brought together so many drama fans and gave them a place where they could legally (and without fear of downloading random viruses) watch dramas to their heart’s content. Yes, there may have been some lingering resentment that they were the primary reason that so many amazing other sites were shut down (RIP mysoju and daebaeksubs), but dramas were more accessible than ever!

Eventually, DramaFever started to sub shows themselves and upload them weekly (instead of just using fansubs and uploading older dramas), and while they weren’t the best translations, they were at least better than machine translations from the Chinese subs. As I became more and more familiar with Korean, I found myself more likely to migrate to Viki since I liked the extra detailed translations. I could get the gist of a show without any help -- I wanted to instead delve into the nitty-gritty of the language.

But I never really hated DramaFever or felt they were particularly awful. Until they mistranslated something so terribly that it changed the entire meaning of a scene and ruined people’s perception of a drama, forcing me to continually defend the true translation.

That was the molehill I died on that day, and never again did I touch DramaFever. I feel bad that it eventually got unceremoniously shuttered. But I don’t think I’ll ever forgive them for the “condom” incident.

2016: Free Solo

Dear My Friends (tvN)

For two years I’d been happily working on one episode a week, sharing a show with someone else, until I was asked if I’d like to tackle a show by myself. I wasn’t sure how I could handle it, but I had the time in my schedule so I said, “Sure, why not?”

I was originally going to recap Another Oh Hae-young, but there was a last-minute switcheroo, and I’m so incredibly glad because this is perhaps my favorite recapping experience of all time, even more so than Misaeng. There was something so special about the luxury of having an entire show to myself, especially one with such a fantastic cast of characters and thoughtful themes. I didn’t have to try and figure out if I agreed with another person’s take -- it could all be my opinion.

Is that arrogant? Perhaps. But it was also therapeutic, as it reminded me once again how incredible and amazing dramas could be, and the privilege I had to share such an exquisite and thought-provoking drama with the rest of the world.

The Good Wife (tvN)

Surprisingly, this was what I had really wanted to recap that year, and the true reason I got Dear My Friends, since it aired just prior in the same time-slot as The Good Wife. I was desperate to have this show, willing to do anything to get it because I needed to see Jeon Do-yeon back on the small screen, to see Yoo Ji-tae smolder, to know how Korea would adapt such an ambitious show.

And I wasn’t disappointed! This is, perhaps, my favorite adaption of another work of art that I’ve seen in dramaland. It remained true to Korean sensibilities, but it also properly felt like The Good Wife. The cast was phenomenal. The costumes were exquisite. I wished I could spend more time in that world.

But I was also thankful, because without The Good Wife, I would have never have had Dear My Friends.

2017: Serial-Killers Are Cool

Voice (OCN)

I can’t remember how I got assigned to this. Maybe it was a scheduling thing. I do know that I really, really wanted it, since it would be Handsome Oppa’s first drama appearance in three years.

But it started me down a road of recapping a lot of serious and serial-killer-centric shows. Except for the times when I’d beg for a break and tackle something lighter, I was generally assigned the darker mystery shows with meaty plots, since apparently I had a knack for condensing complicated shows into something that made sense. (Also literally darker, and I eventually learned to automatically brighten every screencap I posted. You’re welcome.)

Not only did I love working on something with Handsome Oppa, I also had fun recapping the start of what would eventually become OCN’s stock-in-trade -- creepy serial killers. At the time, Voice shattered OCN’s viewer ratings (which would then be shattered again and again as more people would tune in to OCN shows). But Voice really helped put OCN on the viewership map -- as well as catapult Handsome Oppa into the public eye and lead him to a path of getting to choose whatever script he wanted to work on.

(Okay, maybe I made that last bit up, but he did begin to garner a larger following and remind everyone that just because he was gone from dramaland for so long, he hadn’t lost his acting chops -- or charisma -- or cheekbones.)

Black (OCN)

Oh, this show. It was basically my whole life while it was airing (well, the non-day-job part of my life). Each episode was over an hour long and jam-packed full of details that were pertinent to the story, and I had to somehow condense that all into 3000 words or less (I was not always, ah, successful...). It felt like I was back in recapping bootcamp, but the dial had been turned up to 11.

I’m weirdly proud of what I produced (although you’ll never get me to reread my old work). It was one of the most challenging shows to work on, but in the good way, not the Trot Lovers way.

Until the ending, that is. Sigh. That ending will live in infamy. I still, to this day, will get a few comments on the finale from people who watched it on Netflix, went searching online for an explanation of the end, and then discovered that they were not alone in being confused by the utter wtf-ery of the last twenty minutes.

2018: Fighting For My Love

Misty (JTBC)

So, Dramabeans kind of disappeared for a few months. Well, the site was still live. There were a handful of recaps. But... it basically just... stopped.

Those of us on the other side know about as you do as to why that happened. Minions are kept in the dark just as much as anybody, it seems. All we knew is that we weren’t being assigned anything and we seriously wondered if the site was going under, since adsense has become worthless these days.

But Mary and I kept talking about how much we adored Misty and were sad that we couldn’t talk about it with the world (and convince them to watch it with us), so we pleaded and begged and got the go-ahead to do a kind of chatty “open thread” which has apparently been a spring-board format for other shows. We didn’t get paid for this, and we were totally fine with that. We just wanted to provide some kind of content (while swooning over Kim Nam-joo’s pantsuits!).

Let’s Eat 3 (tvN)

This was my first real assignment after the dead period, and I once again got to do full recaps (with pay!). I started watching, thinking I’d merely tolerate the show (since I loved the first season vastly more than the second season), but it turned out to be my favorite of the three. Plus it felt fortuitous that the series I had submitted my application would be a series I’d work on four years later.

Sometimes it’s nice to spend time with a character you met years ago, to see them grow, to see how they became what they became. Drama trends (and love interests) will come and go, but Goo Dae-young’s love of food (and love of explaining the proper way to eat food) will never change. It was a really comforting drama for me to spend my summer on, and I’ll remember it fondly, even if I’m forever sad that it had to suddenly wrap-up two episodes early.

2019: Ten Years Later

Item (MBC)

This was the Trot Lovers of 2019. It was a nonsensical disaster.

I also had the added chaos of my real-life job -- one very different from the one I had when I was working on Trot Lovers -- as it began to increase exponentially in responsibilities and in stress. I reached a breaking point where I began to hate opening my computer where I’d have to spend hours attempting to explain a show that I wanted nothing to do with. I was miserable and depressed and couldn’t do it anymore. I never before asked to be taken off a show because I hated it so much, but there’s a first for everything.

Her Private Life (tvN)

I actually haven’t finished this show -- I’ve yet to watch the last two episodes. But I’m including it because, well, I didn’t finish any other show in 2019 except for Item.

As some of you may know, this has been a difficult year. It started with the unexpected stress of my job, when we suddenly lost one of our directors who passed away, and another director was let go (in a complicated situation that is ongoing, but the important thing is that it was during our busiest time when we really couldn’t afford to lose anyone), and another director left for a different job and I was basically the one to pick up all the pieces she left behind. It was exhausting and we were all past the breaking point but somehow miraculously holding it together.

I was looking forward to finally getting a much-needed vacation in September, and then, well, you all know how that went: the first night, on our layover in New Zealand before what was supposed to be three weeks in Australia, my father was taken to the hospital, and then, two days later, he passed away. Life has gotten even more chaotic and stressful and bizarre since then.

So no, I haven’t finished this drama, but it was one of the most wonderful moments of the year for me, watching this fizzy rom-com with my favorite actor, where he got to be charming and handsome and charismatic and finally kiss the girl he loves and have her love him back (and not die or be dumped, as he had been in so many dramas that had gone before). Lion Oppa was everything my heart could desire, and living in his world helped me endure the insanity that I wish I’d known would seem so much more tolerable than what would eventually befall.

Her Private Life reminded me of when I first fell in love with dramas ten years ago, when I would giggle and be delighted by the charming nonsense on screen -- of beautiful people falling in love and fighting against the obstacles between them (some more ridiculous than others, perhaps, but there are always obstacles), and ending up happily ever after. Pure escapism, of the frothiest kind.

A Drama-filled Decade

So, after ten years of dramas, what is the takeaway? What have I learned?

I suppose I’ve learned to trust my instincts and put more faith in writers and directors than actors. That analyzing dramas is fun, and it’s even more fun sharing it with others, and sometimes even more fun if you get paid to do it -- but everyone eventually reaches a breaking point. That I’m too earnest and optimistic to embrace a life of snark. That I want every drama to be good but most of them aren’t, except sometimes they are. That I’m not even sure which genres are my favorite; I just know what I don’t like.

That dramas are best as escapism, and not as work.

I don’t know how many dramas I’ll watch in 2020. I haven’t paid any attention to what’s airing, and I’m okay with that. Perhaps I’m entering a new phase in my life, or perhaps I just don’t have the capacity to escape right now.

But I am pleased to have had dramas in my life, and to have eventually made them my hobby. I’ve met a lot of amazing people and made some genuine friends through a shared love of dramas (or, at times, a shared hatred). I’m honored that all of you are still here and following me, even during this period of fandom silence.

May 2020 treat us all better, and may Kim Do-woo finally write another script.

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tammyhybrid21 · 4 years

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THybrid’s Mummy Rant(pt 1)

ALRIGHT!

Sooo…

I kind of said I would be organizing a big giant analysis and rant on this character-- Because I have many, many feelings. Buuut I think this is probably going to be something that just ends up diving into a lot more for the context I do have. Both in terms of the movie, and the research I've been rolling around in--

So-- before I put this under a cut/readmore, can I put some context into this?! And by context--

I mean in general I would not be here if Mummy hadn't been the one Netflix had for the Movie's preview. Mummy is why I'm here, just because whoop. That's a character design that CALLS ME! So yeahh-- that out of the way…

First Impressions:

Sooo… in the first movie Mummy is… only in the last third, roughly of the movie. Which is a crying shame in all honesty because for me he steals the show from that point. AND we get to see SO MANY Sides. Like, just… there's a bit to unpack here, and it also leads into more of my Autism squee talk--

But I don't think I could even really articulate everything in a straight cohesive manner so I'll sort of sum it with the most important screencaps.

Soooo, I have a lot to say… and a picture says a thousand words… but especially here and okay, so those screencaps are… not exactly all the story, but they say a lot for what they say. And then you can compound that specifically with the research that I have… again, been just rolling in. Because GIMME!

Sooo anyway, let me talk about these screencaps while my brain is turned on. Because I feel that all of these are important! Including that first glimpse! Because like-- what you need to understand is-- Do you know how hard catching something like that is?! And how did he notice it. Which like, that's probably a sensitivity thing, but specifically! That would whistle on the way down!

Then!

LET ME TALK ABOUT MASKING!

Like just-- all these next pictures and moments! They bring up Masking. Because look at him when he's first approaching, first seen in full. He's threatening, intimidating(up until Tadeo spots him and it's just scream for them both) BUT THEN IN PRIVATE! Clapping, flapping, and well, we can watch Movie 2 with a very specific lense based on a piece of WoG I found…

But even those next few screencap moments--

Like, Mummy is important, BUT there are rules of how you're supposed to present yourself. Like look at him! Look at him in front of the guards! How Paititi is revealed and even the lead up, like, he has a good shift from the slight goofball to commanding and then to intimidating and just…

Snap fingers and the guards respond(which then with movie two… boyyyyy I want to know what happened). And as much as we think that hug is intense…

And then look at the shy nervous child. WHICH I'm going to bring in a moment or two from the Series, Descubre con Tadeo(which is a fun watch even if I only get like, maybe a fifth of the content).

He's insecure and nervous… and we related it to being like… first day of school jitters. BUT THEN he-- also has a perfect shift here as well.

Put on your professional voice! And like, I suppose some things could be argued in terms of Mummy's antics in the second film. But I just… have too much more to say that the whole movie kind of feels like.

"FIRST TIME I AM FREE!" in terms of how Mummy is running around and just having fun! You ever just want to cut loose mate?! Scream, or go wild… but like… with the second movie I have other places to just go, WAIT?! What happened?! And also just analyze moments that are… well…

But like, number one is a background moment actually(and I hope so muuuuch that it means something in movie three please)

LOOK AT TADEO'S CONSPIRACY BOARD!

Like I'm just here like, Mummy?! What did you do?! On his trip over, which for all is kind of implied/feels like a B-Line, and I have… other thoughts and feelings on that. But like, the conspiracy board! Mummy! Also considering that the English Localization has Tadeo in Chicago(and I want to know if that's true for everywhere--) As an aside in this moment, can we just appreciate the jump of quality in the animation between the movies?! Like ahhhh the details! I just hng-- And some things in the whole animated series as well…

Edutainment.

WHICH features BOTH Mummy and Tadeo just special interest dumping. And it's A++

He also hums the theme song in his take over episode, and dances and is just ahahahahah

Which, this is one of the two Mummy just-- yanks the show for himself moments… The other has him playing with everyone else as dolls and I just--

Yes

Gender

Which look, I've been going off some level of fluidity for him! Since I watched the second movie and he just-- STOLE THE SHOW! And the credits sequence, I have… a lot to say about his around the world trip but most of that ultimately amounts to disorganized screaming about the fact that he starts the travel with only one dangling earring and ends it with two to speak to the guards--

And that then goes into--

ANYWAY--

Genderwise, I've been informed that there's a WoG confirmation of nb, which… Good Representation! Even if I have personal… bad, yucky, awkward feelings about the term, if that's the confirmed canon term. Well. My personal dysphoria with the term specific aside.(Non non, it always feels like--) NO WONDER I HELLA RELATE!

For those not caught up-- I myself identify as Agender. Which is a nb-spectrum gender, or as I refer to it as when trying to explain. "Gender, yes". I have a gender, and that gender is yes it's something and exists. But like, I'm not tied to the binary of Male-Female, not really. Sooooo--

If Mummy is confirmed nb, which, I will be source hunting for sure.

Well, his relatability to me just skyrocketed EVEN MORE!

Like I'm sorry, you don't understand! That's super important on MANY levels. Not just for the rare gender to be highlighted. BUT!

Mummy is very Autistic Coded. More on the female stereotyped Autism as well-- and then FOR THE BIG THING! He's Inca!

Like, do you people even have a scale for the important points that he's hitting here?! (And if we add apparently spoken about Asexuality?! Excuse me!)

Like I don't know how much I could say on how important this is representation and character wise…

Sooo

Moving on.

Inca

Sooooo… this is probably something dumb to tack onto the end but. I'll be the first to admit it. I'm… coming from a culturally blind/naïve perspective but-- it's something intrinsic and important to understanding Mummy as character. He's from a cultural background I honestly don't yet know enough about. (Can I ever know enough though?!)

He's an Inca. And more than that-- WoG seems to have implied, he's Royalty, whiiiiich puts into perspective some of those screencap moments and brings about a host of interesting research topics for me to just gleefully dive into and roll around in.

BUT

With that contextual framing.

This dork, and this moment-- and thinking about how he's got the pull in the first movie to boss the guards around. Just like-- Make decisions and call the shots… and more to me…

Who put the cufflink there?! SPECIFICALLY?!

Because like, all he said was "keep it safe"

I also really, really want to know if there's some cultural significance and nuance I'm missing here, because hooo boy. As far as I have, this is basically just subtle nods and confirmations that he's royal, possibly even the recognized Auqui of their set up here(which as of movie two, possibly no longer the case).

I also have a lot to say about THIS:

In terms of the half a dozen or so resources that have STUFF to say about Handshakes to the Inca(albeit there is more than just a handshake buuuut). But this is already 11 pages in word and honestly, I don't think I could explain things in a nice and tidy context for all my FEELINGS that I have.

Sources:

Screenshots taken by myself and a friend

Tadeo Jones & Tadeo Jones 2: El secreto del Rey Midas

https://www.telecinco.es/tadeojones/descubre-con-tadeo/16940/ For additional character screenshots, albeit had to find some of it on Youtube.

WoG on Mummy's implied Royalty: https://www.animum3d.com/blog/animacion-3d-tadeo-jones/ (And English translation C&P feat. Google Translate: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DPhIuurqtx7QJm1df31cviHsqDEgKH5t9MVstJZHpRw/edit) Point of NOTE

With the designs and the script in front, you start to shuffle ideas, by his golden dress, his hat and his cape you imagine that he is someone important within his clan, that should give a sublime aspect to his behavior, as if he belonged to royalty, someone with a refined attitude and manners, are ideas that do not have to be evident or definitive, but in some way help to set parameters when shaping your personality.

WoG on Gender & Sexuality: Still on the hunt, right now more fandom news(please gibe me the source!) FOUND: https://elcultural.com/Enrique-Gato-y-David-Alonso-El-reto-ya-no-es-sorprender-sino-crear-empatia-con-los-personajes & https://www.ecartelera.com/noticias/41656/pelicula-aventuras-definitiva-tadeo-jones-2-equipo/5/

My son asks me many times if Mummy is a boy or a girl and it's all at once. It's absolutely ambiguous and that also makes it a lot of fun.

“For us he is asexual and we really like playing with it.”

Conclusion:

WATCH THESE MOVIES PLEASE!

And get the culture being represented by one of the characters RIGHT!

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spdtactics-a · 5 years

Text

——— BASICS! ♡

NAME! ♡ chii! PRONOUNS! ♡ she/her!! ZODIAC SIGN! ♡ libra, babey! TAKEN OR SINGLE! ♡ single af!!

——— THREE FACTS! ♡

1! ♡ i try to use only official art for my icons. manga, sprites, official art, anime/game screencaps, trading cards... anything that could reasonably be posted on a wiki is fair game. every time i see people use fanart in their themes, graphics, and icons without permission i lose ten years off my life. no, seriously. stop doing that, it’s art theft! especially with pixiv artists over in japan; they can get in a LOT of trouble if their stuff is taken and edited without permission, since it goes against pixiv’s terms of service! okay, rant over. sorry.

2! ♡ my favourite artist for fe:h right now is tobi. every time i see tobi’s the artist for a new unit, i get super excited! sachiko wada, senri kita, daisuke izuka, hidari, and kotaro yamada are super up-there, too... but they’ve also done work for the series proper already. also, if fe6 or 7 get remakes, i really, really want hidari to do the art for it!

3! ♡ i’ve been listening to a lot of vinny’s music lately... i was already a red vox fan, but something about his work is really resonating with me lately. dunno why.

——— EXPERIENCE! ♡

PLATFORMS USED! ♡ let’s see... chatrooms, forums, msn groups ( ...anyone remember that? ), deviantart, actual msn messenger, skype, discord, tumblr... right now, i only use discord and tumblr.

——— MUSE PREFERENCE! ♡

GENDER! ♡ hmmm... i dunno? i guess it’s easier to write what you know, but i think how well a character resonates with me is more important than their gender. if they have a story i think i can tell, i want to try and write it no matter who they are. does that make sense?

LEAST FAVOURITE FACE(S)! ♡ uhhhhhh i never know how to answer this... i guess it bugs me to see real life fcs in “animated” settings? i don’t know why. it just... does. oh, wait. faces cropped from fanart without the original artists’ permission. those are definitely my least favourite faces. :^)

MULTI OR SINGLE! ♡ multis for sure! it’s a little harder to keep things organized, but it’s infinitely easier than blog hopping all over the place. some muses really do need their own space, though...

FLUFF / ANGST / SMUT! ♡

i’ll just preface this one with character development or plot advancement beats all else in my eyes. it’s one of the reasons i’m not a huge fan of crack. it can be fun in the moment, but the idea of crack is that it’s meant to be fun and silly and a one-off thing that’s not necessarily ic... which means you can’t really use that in serious threads, and sometimes continuity can be fun. or else you do use it and your continuity is based on crack, and... i dunno. not sure how i like that. maybe i just take myself too seriously? anyways...

FLUFF : i love it! please, let me write all the cute things...

ANGST : it... depends. i like angst. i really like angst. i mean, look at araceli. and i like being a fucking gremlin sometimes, but... i hate angst just for the sake of angst, i guess?? like... it gets old FAST. angst needs to go somewhere. it needs to contribute to character development or an overarching plot, or else it just reads as melodrama or whining.

SMUT : not unless you’re a very close friend that i trust enough. and certainly not on tumblr! i tried it once. got super uncomfortable.

PLOT / MEMES! ♡ memes are great to break the ice or get the ball rolling if you’re having trouble starting a thread-- which if you’re me, can be kinda often. but i do really love plotting with my friends...

tagged by: stole it from ali bc she told us to. tagging: have fun!

#♥┇it’s chii time. ( ooc )#♥┇shenanigans around camp. ( dash games )

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villainship · 6 years

Text

[Some of R’s tumblr “crushes”]

tumblr crushes challenge: where you post your own favorite blogs to spread positivity and get your amazing blogger-friends some more followers!

rules are simple – if you’re tagged, show off your tumblr crushes and tag your post #mytumblrcrushes and of course, you don’t have to, but why pass up an opportunity to make someone’s day with this? [SORRY THIS IS A REAL LONG POST. prepare urself.]

No one tagged me--I saw one of these posts today and wanted to go for it. 8′) Hello, everyone! I am Raikari, and these r some special & fav blogs I’m gonna talk about today:

@anpan-chan - shout-out to our first mutual! ✌️idk if you knew--you’re the first follower of this blog @shimmersing - who’s was among the first to reblog content of mine, because she’s always boosting people’s work and being super supportive. Also our good discord Mom in the partytimes server she had started. <3 If Shimmer is mom, I will be Aunt R. . these are my children -- @cipherr - eager & enthusiastic & so charming! She brings the smiles, and the glamor, and the gorgeous, artful screencaps of ladies and landscapes. @claudela - as nice of a person as you could hope to meet, she is so fun to get to hang out with. Also: works very hard making gr8 art that everyone should go view & appreciate. @deathyield - not actually a SWTOR blogger--but claudela likes him so we’ll keep him Lol. But let me tell you: I do appreciate someone who will straight-up say it like it is, but also actually makes the effort of listening. @darthdumbass - this human treasure is highly insightful & quietly brilliant, despite what her URL would try to fool you into thinking. She is truly Kind, creative -- and has all the best memes. Inspirational. @secretfeanorian - Generous, helpful, and easy-going -- tho I hear she is completely prepared to throw-down for a friend if it comes to it. >8) ! A+, good stuff. -- I am Very Proud of all of them ^ !!!!!

@shecamefromwildspace @riajade01 @numinousbones -- These three ^ are bloggers I don’t believe I’ve had the chance to have conversations with, but who seem very cool & friendly. Even when not posting SWTOR stuff, I often find myself appreciating their content anyway. (also: shout-out to a fellow Ontario resident dealing w/ our awful terrible no-good govt!)

@darkcouncilelite @ilum-dreams -- The above are two blogs with exceptional SWTOR screencaps to admire. I don’t know how darkcouncilelite gets the colors so nice and bright on her characters, but that’s always stood out to me because of this game where a lot of pics turn out so dark.

@hoiist @hoth-and-cold @viridanlegacy @trashmuh @spindlewit @aguydrawsgames @damarlegacy -- and lastly. . !!! ^ Some of the artist talents who share things I especially admire & enjoy. Thanks for the silliness, for the sweet & heartfelt character interactions, and for the DRAMA filled with FEELINGS. aaaaaa [I love emotive faces & so much skillful use of color. As someone who does Not color things very much, I would say I know just enough (about trying) that I understand the amount of work & knowledge to make things look that good.]

NOTE: I’Mm Sorry my list doesn’t represent fan ficcers!! Every once and a while I will see something & read it. . I know you’re out there, doing good work. :’) rock on.

#long post #memes #i'm so sorry if this gives ppl annoying notifications #welcome everyone to my massive tag list #raikari post

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quirkyresources · 7 years

Photo

- ̗̀ How to Make Gifs with Photoshop and KMPlayer (Very Detailed) by quirkyresources © ̖́-

♡ All my tutorials ♡

Hi! I'm no expert, but I've been making gifs for at least like four or five years, and over that time I've learned a lot, so I want to share that stuff :) Also, someone requested that I teach them how to gif. I hope this helps!

This tutorial will teach you how to create simple but quality gifs, like the ones in the gifset above! Those gifs are all from TV shows, but it should apply to giffing almost anything. I’ll be using KMPlayer and Photoshop.

This is the gif I’ll be showing how to create, as an example:

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to message me here :) And I’m somewhat new to writing tutorials, so if you notice that I got something wrong, please let me know. Thanks!

Please like/reblog if this is at all useful to you. Thank you so much if you do!

You need:

KMPlayer (link below)

Photoshop (I'm using CC 2017, but I think any version with the timeline should work)

A video to gif (recommended source below)

A sharpening action (recommendations below)

A PSD / or to know how to color gifs (recommendations & tips below)

I'll go over:

How to buy/download PS, download KMPlayer, and download a video!

Taking screencaps in KMPlayer

Importing the screencaps into Photoshop

Cropping and timing the gif, organizing layers, etc.

Adding a PSD or tips for coloring it yourself

Adding subtitles & learning font settings

Saving for web

Posting to Tumblr

Various tips along the way!

The tutorial is under the cut. Have fun and good luck! ♥

[Note: If a photo looks too small, right click it and choose "open in new tab"]

Step 1: getting Photoshop, KMPlayer, and quality videos

Get Photoshop: I was able to buy my Photoshop, so I don’t have any free downloads to recommend, I’m sorry! But there are plenty of other Photoshop blogs on tumblr that can help with this stuff :) And there are some deals from adobe that might help you afford it if you want to buy it instead. They had a great one for college students that totally helped me. Anyways, if you can get it somewhere/somehow, here are the next steps...

Download KMPlayer: Here's the link (it's free!): kmplayer.com You can use it to watch videos, but in this case we use it to take screencaps of them to use for gifs.

Get your video: If you’re going to download a movie or show, I recommend getting torrents from thepiratebay.org and using μTorrent to download them. (Here's a tutorial for how to download stuff with it.) Be careful with viruses and stuff, though! When you look for a video, try to get one that's as HD as you can find, meaning one that is 720p or 1080p! That tells you what the height of the frames will be, in pixels. They are usually big files, but should be much better quality than others. Also, try to find videos that do NOT have network logos or ads on them!! They can make gifs look pretty bad, and it takes some serious cropping to get rid of them, which then makes it look even less quality.

Step 2: taking your screencaps Open your video in KMPlayer. (Open KMPlayer and press CTRL O.) Get to the exact scene/clip you want to gif. (Tip: it's hard to find the exact place you're looking for, so I recommend using your right/left arrow keys to skip through a little at a time.)

Once you're at the part of the video you want to gif, press CTRL G. This brings up the "frame extraction" window. This is where, as you can probably guess, you extract the frames for your gifs! Here are the settings I use:

I use these exact settings almost every time, except for the image format section. I go between JPEG and PNG. I use JPEG if I'm making a smaller gif (like 268px width or less) and I use a PNG if I'm making a larger gif (like 540px width.) This is because (or at least I've heard) PNGs are the highest quality option, JPEGs are the middle, and bitmaps are the lowest (don't use them!!) The only downside is that the higher the quality, the higher the screencap's file size. So use PNGs sparingly if that matters to you.

You can also change the "prefix" of the screencap filenames.

After figuring out all of these settings, click "start"! Then press play on the video, play until the end of what you're giffing, and press "stop" and pause it.

Then, in the frame extraction window, click the "open" button that’s to the far right of the "extract to" bar. This will open up the folder location of your new screencaps.

Step 2.5: organizing your screencaps What you'll want to do now is organize the screencaps into separate folders for each individual gif. This is something that's good to do whether it's all from one scene or you're doing a compilation of different clips. This is because, when you upload the screencaps into PS, it's best to have them in their own little folders!

(Tip: Personally I use 75 frames or less in each gif. This is because that’s the limit on the sharpening action I use, but I also think it's a good amount to stop at.)

Step 3: importing your screencaps into Photoshop

Next, we're finally going to move the screencaps you took into Photoshop. Yay!

Open file > scripts > load files into stacks. (Tip: Sometimes this function doesn't work on certain Photoshop downloads. If this is the case for you, here's a tutorial on how to get around that!) This brings up this window:

Click "browse" and find the folder with the screencaps you want for your gif. Select all of them and click "open". Then click "ok" and wait for them to load. Each screencap will load as its own layer in the layers panel, which is what you want to start with.

Step 4: changing the screencaps from layers into frames in the timeline

Once they're all loaded as layers, go to window > timeline. This brings up the timeline!

At this point, things should look something like this:

Now we can start using the timeline! In this method we convert the layers into frames that live inside the timeline, which we’ll use to make the gif move.

First click on the button in the middle of the timeline panel that says "create frame animation" right here:

Then click on the little three bars icon on the top right corner of the timeline. Click "make frames from layers" on the thing that pops up .

It depends, but you might need to reverse the frames (if it imports them in backwards). So just click on that three bars icon again and click "reverse frames".

Step 5: cropping the gif

It's really important to know the Tumblr dimensions! If you have a gif that doesn't fit the dimensions most Tumblr users view it at it can get distorted.

So the width dimensions you should use are:

A row of just one: 540px wide

A row of two: 268px wide each

A row of three: 177px & 178px & 177px

A super helpful explanation of good dimensions to use is this one made by karazorel. It's very close to the way I do it.

So to crop it, go to the crop tool (duh, sorry) and enter in the dimensions you want into the area I highlighted here:

Here's what the gif looks like so far:

You'll probably notice it moves really fast and stops moving after playing once. That's because we haven't gotten to the step to fix that yet. But that's next!

Step 6: timing, looping, etc.

Timing: Select all of the frames. You can do this by selecting the first frame, holding shift, and clicking on the last frame. Now click the little arrow next to where it says "0 secs." under any of the frame previews right here:

Click on "Other..." and type "0.14" into the text field. That represents the number of seconds, or usually the fraction of a second, that each frame will play for. (It's "0.14" in this case because of the way we entered the settings in KMPlayer in the "Frames to Extract" section. The number depends on what you enter there.) Press enter/okay.

Looping: Next change the looping setting from "once" to "forever". Here's where I'm talking about:

Step 7: sharpening the gif frames

This step can either be done at this point (before coloring it) or later (right after coloring it.) I go back and forth on which is better, and different people say different things. So just play around with it!

I use this sharpening action. It can sharpen up to 75 frames, which is a really good amount in my opinion.

Once you have a sharpening action downloaded, go back to Photoshop and go to window > actions. Click this little menu button, then click "Load Actions...".

In the window that pops up, choose whatever sharpening action you downloaded and open it. This will load it into your actions panel!

Next, click the menu button on the upper right corner of the timeline panel and click "Flatten Frames Into Layers". Now there will be a new set of layers that are labeled Frame 1, Frame 2, Frame 3, etc. Keep those, and then you can delete the OLD set of layers. (That can significantly lower the file size, and it doesn’t mess anything up if you do it right!)

Now select the very first frame in the timeline, labeled "1", and select the corresponding layer, labeled "Frame 1".

Then open the sharpening action's folder within the actions panel and select the folder labeled with the number of frames you have in your gif. For example, I have 18 frames in my gif, so I selected the folder labeled "18 frames". Or at least that's the way they labeled things in the action I'm using. You may have to explore yours to figure it out.

Then click the play button on the actions panel:

Now that should have sharpened all of your frames/layers! Woohoo! Here's what the gif should look like by now, all cropped, timed, looped, and sharpened:

If this way of sharpening doesn't work for you, here are some other gif sharpening tutorials:

How to use sharpening actions in Photoshop CC by peacelovegifs

Gif sharpening tutorial by manofsteel.co.vu

Sharpening for Photoshop CC by completeresources

Sharpening all gif frames at once by thosetutorials

Sharpening masterpost by itsphotoshop

Gif sharpening action tutorial + download by themazerunnrs

Step 7.5: grouping your layers (a baby step!) A bonus step that I recommend you do is to put all your layers into a group to keep things neat. Just select all of them and press CTRL G.

Step 8: adding a PSD and/or coloring it yourself!!

Here's the fun part! Now you can let out your creativeness with the coloring. It takes a LOT of practice to get good at this, trust me. I've been doing this for YEARS and I still hate my results sometimes. But if that happens to you, too, don't let that stop you from trying again! (God, I sound like a motivational speaker or something, sorry!)

Here’s some background on PSDs for beginners, but you can totally skip this bit...

"PSD" stands for "Photoshop document", meaning a file you make or edit in Photoshop (sorry, kind of self explanatory). On Tumblr, when people talk about PSDs, they're usually referring to a document with layers that add effects (mostly adjustment layers) to a gif/photo/graphic, etc. Also referred to as a "coloring". They usually include things like brightness/contrast, vibrance, curves, selective color, etc. People post these so you can download them and use them for your own work! (Just don't repost and claim as your own. Not cool, man.)

All you have to do is download the file, open it in Photoshop, make sure you have the layers panel open (windows > layers), and drag the PSD file's window on top of your file's window, but keep them separate so you see both at once. Then drag the PSD file's group of layers (but not the background!) over to your file.

(Then you can close the PSD window.) Then on YOUR file, mess around with the adjustment layers and stuff to change it to whatever you want it to look like. I usually edit mine like crazy!

Anyways, here are what your options are.

Finding a PSD (and then I recommend editing it to however you like it)

Here are places to find some great PSDs on Tumblr! (FYI, some are tag pages with sections for PSDs, with different types to choose from. So look around.)

QuirkyResources (Navigation) (Yup, shameless self-promo!)

QuirkyResources (My PSDs)

CompleteResources

ItsPhotoshop

ChaoticResources

YeahPS

DrunkandColoring

AresColoring

That's just a few of my favorite sources, so message me if you want more recs! :)

Coloring it yourself

I'm not going to do a full-on coloring tutorial right now, but here is my tag for those made by other people!

Basically you should learn how to use the most important adjustment layers: curves, brightness/contrast, selective color, color balance, hue/saturation, vibrance, levels, exposure, and gradient maps. At least those are the ones that I use the most and find super useful. Many of the tutorials in that coloring tutorial tag I just linked go over how to use those. So check them out!

In this case, I used my current fave PSD by dracoharry. (I’ve noticed it works on most shows I gif, so it’s super useful! I actually used it for all of the gifs in the gifset I made for this post.)

Here are the layers I kept hidden/showing:

FYI, I changed the layers' settings and whatnot a bunch.

And here’s what my result was:

Step 9: adding text & learning font settings (optional)

This is usually when I add text to the gif, if relevant.

There are various fonts and settings you can use for this, but to make things easier, here's a font PSD by adorkablelena. It’s for subtitles/quotes. I recently started using it. It's really cute! If you're not into it though, here's my tag for other font PSDs you can check out.

When you find a font PSD you like, open it and drag it into your document the same way you would with a regular PSD.

Select the text tool and replace the text with your quote. (Tip: Try not to misquote or misspell things if you can help it! I've done it and it sucks when that happens. Ugh.)

As far as colors go... For the primary quote I make the text white, and the secondary quote I usually make it yellow (#ffde00). And if there is a third I'll use some shade of orange, and anything after that I just use whatever I can make look the best. The stroke color I use varies sometimes, but I usually use black (#000000).

Finally, select the move tool (V) and make sure "smart guides" are turned on. To check this, go to view > show > smart guides, and make sure it's checked. Now when you drag around the text (select its layer first), you can see little purple vertical/horizontal guides pop up when you drag the text to the center of either direction. For the subtitle we're making, we want it to be centered horizontally and close to the bottom of the gif, but not too close. Also, if you have more than one line of text, just press enter somewhere in the text that splits it into similar-sized lines. Here's an example of all of this stuff put together:

Step 10: saving for web

There are a lot of settings to remember and play around with when saving for web, and specifically for Tumblr.

First, go to file > export > save for web (legacy).

Here you'll see a lot of settings to choose from, but they're not as intimidating as they may look!

Here are my usual settings:

Red highlight: There are multiple options in the top drop down list in the area I highlighted that are good to use. I usually use “Adaptive”, but “Perceptual” and “Selective” are good options too. In my experience, the rest make your gif look pretty gross. For the drop down list under that I choose "Pattern". This arranges the pixels in a pattern, and I like the look of that more than the two other viable options, ”Diffusion” and “Noise”.

Orange highlight: This is where you choose the number of color shades that are in the gif. I use the top amount allowed, 256, because this achieves the highest quality possible! If you need to make the gif's file size smaller, you can lower this amount, but I don't recommend it. If it's a B&W gif you can sometimes get away with using less and have it still look just as quality.

Yellow highlight: Looping options: Forever. Very important! Like I showed earlier, you can also set this setting before you get to the "save for web" option. Either way, this makes it so the gif loops forever.

Green highlight: Gif size! As I mentioned earlier, there is a limit for Tumblr. This example is a pretty small gif (592.9K) and the current file size limit on Tumblr is 3MB. Tumblr seems to change this limit a lot though, so you may want to look that up once in awhile to stay up to date.

Turquoise highlight: Always check the box next to “Convert to sRGB”. I just learned that this setting is important. It basically keeps the vibrance intact when you take it from Photoshop to Tumblr. Read a much better explanation here! :)

Then just click "Save...", choose the file location, and press "Save" again.

Step 11: uploading/posting to Tumblr

Now, last but not least, it's time to upload it to Tumblr! I probably don’t need to explain this, but I’m going to anyways. It's super-duper easy. Just go to your dashboard and click on this button:

Then the post creation window pops up, and just go on from there. Upload your images/gifs, drag them around to arrange them however you like, and add a caption if you want.

(Tip: Don't forget to add tags! It's super important to add tags if you want people to actually find your post. Only the first 5 tags show up in the main Tumblr tag-search results (ugh wtf, right?) but sometimes the other ones you add will show up on the general search page. I don't really get how to explain it or how it works tbh, sorry! But I do know that many fandoms have developed their own tagging-language to find people's posts more easily (and avoid spam) which is very useful once you figure it out. For example, if I was posting a gifset of Cheryl Blossom from Riverdale, I'd tag it with things like "riverdaleedit" and "cherylblossomedit" and maybe "madelainepetschedit". So basically the name of the show/character/actor/ship plus "edit", no spaces. Or an abbreviation of any of those, like "spnedit" or "dwinchesteredit". I hope that at least makes a little sense? As far as the amount of tags that will show up on individual blogs, I'm not positive, but I believe you can use up to 30. After that the post won't appear on the tag's page. Grrr.)

Then, of course, just post it! I recommend saving it as a draft and then posting it at a time when a lot of people are likely to be on Tumblr. (There's research done on this timing!)

THE END! :D

I really hope that was at least somewhat helpful. Sorry if it was annoying that I went into sooo much detail, I just thought I should explain everything so it would make sense to most people, especially total beginners. Again, if anyone has any questions at all, you can absolutely ask me here! Or let me know if you think I got anything wrong, I would definitely want to fix it! Thanks for reading, and please like/reblog ♥ I’d really appretiate it!

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buffystylez-blog · 7 years

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I Robot... You Jane

Written by: Ashley Gable and Thomas A. Swyden

Directed by: Stephen Posey

Starring: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alyson Hannigan, Nicholas Brendon, Anthony Head, and Robia LaMorte.

Welcome to I Robot... You Jane, in which Willow gets Catfished by a demon who likes breaking people’s necks for some reason.

It’s another filler episode and it’s... fine. Willow scans a book into a computer and it turns out it’s not a book but the place a demon called Molloch the Corrupter was bound by some guys called Kayless or whatever. Molloch is unleashed on the internet, but it’s 1997 so I guess the only real damage he could do would be to mess with the Space Jam website. Just checked it - it’s still ok.

I mean, this was the latest technology:

And I was jealous because I didn't have it yet.

Outfit 1

It’s a Pollyanna-heavy episode. But Buffy switches it up a little bit with pigtails. This is a very cute shift dress. I like when Buffy does 60s. I was very keen on the 60s and 70s as a teen. It seemed fun.

Are you wondering if she’s wearing her trusty knee-high boots?

Are you new here? OF COURSE SHE IS.

Jenny Calendar is so cool. She is definitely a teacher I would suck up to and then worry I was creeping out. Like a lot of my lecturers at Uni.

Giles is so hot. I’d probably volunteer for this boring task just to hang out with him. Like a lot of my lecturers at Uni.

Outfit 2

Oh... No. No no. But the high ponytail is killer.

Willow is sporting a cute jacket and headband. The skirt is... also there.

I would have wanted the plastic rings and the shirt. I believe this was related to a thing I remember being obsessed with called French Kitty without knowing exactly what it was. It looks like it was a clothing brand. Maybe it was books. I don’t even know anymore.

I had a little toy thing that hung off my mobile phone that seems vaguely related to this print. I would have lost my shit for this.

The jacket is a slight improvement. Xander’s sweater also makes it seem slightly better. By comparison, that is.

Here they’re wondering if Willow is talking to a murderous circus freak on the internet. Internet Dating really was the Black Mirror of the 1990s.

Outfit 3

I can’t focus on anything other than the scrunchie on Buffy’s wrist. This is no small thing because those sweatpants are hideous. Back in the day I called them tracky-dacks. The day being yesterday. And today. And every day.

Where is she getting all of these t-shirts? The Gap? Australia didn’t have The Gap back then. We had Just Jeans, Jeanswest and Sportsgirl. Maybe Espirit. But those were places in which I couldn't really afford to shop. Well, maybe we just didn’t have The Gap where I grew up in Newcastle, NSW. At the time of writing they don’t even have a legit Topshop.

Outfit 4

The shoes remind me of a story I heard once from the set of The Deerhunter (1978). One day Christopher Walken was about to start filming, but the wardrobe department couldn’t find his shoes. They were starting to panic, Walken was getting agitated, the director was furious. Anyway, Walken’s costar Robert De Niro walks by, and when they look down and they see he’s wearing the missing shoes.

“Hey, De Niro!” the wardrobe person shouts, “these boots are made for Walken!”

Ahem.

That’s not a real story. It’s a joke I made up.

Buffy wears these boots most of the episode. It could have been due to filming constraints that week. They look marvellous.

There’s a print on the dress/shirt. I couldn’t tell what it was. It was probably very 90s.

I bloody love it when Buffy dresses like a detective from the 1970s. I also love that she thinks this makes her blend in.

HOW IS SHE PERFECTLY MATCHING SUNGLASSES TO HER JACKET AND HER MAKEUP.

Outfit 5

This Pollyanna. Is. AMAZING. Every time I try this I end up looking more like Tina from season 2 of Spaced. Which is fine, I guess.

Xander’s jacket is... actually not that bad. In fact, it might look really good... on Faith. But I’m getting way ahead of myself here.

This is sparkly and kind of lovely if not for the black trim and questionable bra underneath. I really liked it - I bought a very similar shirt from Just Jeans. I believe mine was Lurex. I never wore it. I recently saw something close in a Rose Gold at Sportsgirl. I did not buy it.

Buffy here is about to be stopped by Dave, who tells her Willow is waiting for her in the Girls Locker Room.

Buffy, no! It’s a trap!

Those pants will not age well.

Still better than Xander’s hair.

I feel like Molloch’s brainwashing has affected Willow’s style. Her ensembles have gone from super adorable to just adorable.

So cool.

So hot.

This pattern is nice.

Buffy’s animal print jackets give me life. If I’m honest I prefer the hooded one from Never Kill a Boy on the First Date. She looks a bit like a Mob Wife here. This is a compliment.

Buffy and Xander go to the creepy research lab place thing and save Willow. Sort of. Willow saves herself as best she can. And Jenny and Giles are doing internet spell things, too.

Molloch tells Willow that he lied about being Malcolm and being a demon but his feelings were real. That’s what they all say, Molloch. That’s what they all say.

Pretty sure I had Xander’s shoes in year 10.

The day is saved. Hooray!

So fucking cool.

So fucking hot.

Outfit 6

The Scooby Gang reflect on their love lives being shithouse: Xander was nearly killed by a Praying Mantis who preys on virgins, Willow’s aforementioned Catfishing, and Buffy being attracted to a vampire. At least they all look pretty great. Even Xander.

SHE’S MATCHING HER SUNNIES TO HER LIP COLOUR AND IT’S WONDERFUL HOW IS SHE DOING THIS HOW IS SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR SO CUTE.

Coming soon on the blog I’ll fill you in on the next audio commentary me and my buddy Luke are cooking up next. I promise there will be Spells, Man. Spellman. Sabrina Spellman. That’s... too much. I gave away too much.

Next up, something scarier than vampires: high school talent shows.

Until then, Slayerettes.

Screencaps via Screencapped.Net

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regenerativeresurrection · 8 years

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Rule Page for Mobile Users

It’s all Fun and Games until someone throws someone else out a window. (AKA, it’s long but super informative and doesn’t read like rules at all)

On the matter of portrayal. I view these two how I view them. My headcanons do not have to be your headcanons, and I won’t put up with anyone being rude to me because of how I have come to view this character across their lives. That said, I’m always open to people letting me in on their ideas and possibly integrating them if I like them.

On the matter of ships. I multiship. I multiship with really bizarre pairings. I have no issues with throwing down for an OC, other fandoms, alternate dimensions, or even different time points of this same character. We all know that the Master, be they Missy or Master, would probably think it was a grand lark to fuck with everyone by hooking up with another life of themselves.

That said, I will not draw lines and not ship with you because I have another ship. I will not compare your muse to another muse of the same name if I can avoid it. If I do, I apologize and tell me so I stop. I will never exclusively ship with one version of a character either. I like to play with all the people.

On the matter of Violence. Well, given the character I’m putting forth here it would be a bit ridiculous to think it’s never going to come up. That said, please be warned that this muse has a streak of casual cruelty and has a very strange relationship with pain, especially as the Master. You’ve been forewarned, though I will always discuss the situation if it turn to extreme violence or potential death.

You keep an open line with me, and I’ll do my best to do the same for you.

On the matter of sexytime. If they happen, I’ll be putting them under a cut, period. If you don’t put yours under one as well, I’ll very likely not feel comfortable continuing the thread here, just as a heads up. Nothing against you, but I prefer to not have porn all over my dash and like to extend that courtesy to those watching my blog in turn.

I tag things that aren’t cutworthy with nsfw anyway! I always tag even my non-sexual BDSM threads with nsfw as well, should those be a thing in the future.

On the matter of memes and asks. THESE ARE ALWAYS WELCOME. If I post it, assume you’re invited. I don’t care if you follow me or not, or if I follow you back. Mind, as this is a sideblog any follow back would be from @techmaestro not these guys regardless. I answer ANY asks I get. I won’t promise to be nice, as I almost exclusively answer such things in character, but I DO answer. If I post a meme, by the same token, it means you are cordially invited to harass me with it. I enjoy it, really.

Please assume I will not notice you replying to any asks you reblog! You’ll need to tell me and make a new post without the ask attached. I have absolutely nothing against the aesthetic of people reblogging asks, but I do not do this for multiple reasons. Please put them under my tag of regenerativeresurrection or @ping me in the new post. Both is best if you really want to make sure tumblr doesn’t eat it, but the @ping is more reliable.

On the matter of tags. I have a pretty straightforward system!

nsfw ->Not safe for work, all sexytimes and similar things go here

tw: trigger warning ->This is how I format all warnings! I have suicide, torture, surgery, rape, death, and blood in this list presently.

w: character name ->Given the prevalence of name changes and multiblogs in my other fandoms, this is a lifesaver for me.

i: character name and character name -> This is how I tag characters in arts and screencaps for pairing purposes in non-threads for blocking purposes. If you're unsure of what order the pairing you need to block from me goes in, feel free to ask.

u: Thread name ->This is so that people can click it and reread the whole thread, including myself.

v: verse name ->I put these on the first post of any AU thread so that I can easily find all threads for a given AU even when they’re not related to one another.

a: AU info ->my tag for lumping infoposts all in one AU for ease of refinding info if an AU is popular. We’ll see what turns up for that.

OOC tags are as thus! infopost, psa time. You can assume anything under these tags are just as ooc as anything with ooc on it. Infopost is things I feel are pertinent to share that I’ve learned and psa time is me sharing yet another random ass thought or graphic that doesn’t quite fit the muses but I still felt should go here. Assume anything tagged with these is permissible to reblog or answer.

and so true too, headcanons ->these are things that are either things the muses think about things, or headcanons.

aus ->My AU tag! Pretty self-explanatory.

On the matter of Me. I don’t have a lot of boundaries in play. If you have lines you want me to avoid crossing, tell me straight up and I’ll do my best to respect you, alright? You can contact me anytime, and if we’ve spoken before, I’ll even give you my skype when you ask me. Just let me know, and that’s all you need to do.

Oh, right. My name is Skeren, pleased to meet you. I’m pretty much the only Skeren Dreamera on the internet so if the name is familiar it’s because I’ve been around for AGES. I’m a she!

Also, for those who are worried, I’m over 30, so you never have to worry about me being too young for anything, alright? If any of you are under 18 though, please do me the courtesy of not throwing anything my way that would get anyone in trouble, please.

As mentioned earlier, this is a sideblog attached to my Tony Stark: @techmaestro

#psa time

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justanotherdumpingground · 6 years

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Chapter Reviews: March 19-23, 2019 + Thoughts on upcoming books

High School Story: Class Act Chapter 6:

Most of the trip to the aquarium is relaxing. There's no presidential election drama to worry about aside from Ajay learning that the twin's ahead in the polls. Definitely the break I needed from all that drama.

As much as I dislike Ajay, I feel bad for him that his parents are arguing to the point of getting a divorce. I just wish his story is executed properly and has a conclusion that makes sense. Same goes with Skye.

Across the Void Chapter 14:

Ah, back to Matara. Playing as my MC is fun in some ways, but these moments are few and far in between. And my happiness quickly vanished when I have to get back on the Atlas. Not to mention that having to pay diamonds to save a passenger's life is just stupid. On a morbid note, that's one less passenger to worry about.

Great, I have to play as Eos again. I still remember how petty and self-righteous he is, and I certainly am not pairing him with Lyra. She deserves someone better. At least there's no sign of Pax.

I didn't hesitate picking the option hoping that Barlow is a handsome fellow. That was actually pretty funny. With VEE and Sol on board, I hope most of the rest of the crew made it safe and sound. And since my MC's dating Sol, I hope they get to reconnect, and Sol gets to develop as a character. He has potential owing to his vast knowledge of the setting around him.

The Heist: Monaco Chapter 16:

Wow! This is a nice, sweet ending. Prove that a Choices story doesn't need romance as a main focus to be awesome. It was also nice and satisfying to take down Ansel and Carlise in order to prove who's boss. Reuniting with Sonia at Vegas was the cherry at the top. I owe her a premium scene once I can afford it.

As for the ending, I got an average one, but at least it's more satisfying to match the good endings of my recruits. I particularly enjoy those of Jones and Graves. Even the cameos from other books are fun to watch. Sure some of them are from books I'm not fond of, but at least they're done in a way that doesn't piss me off. It's fun to see Graves starring in a movie directed by Tommy Phelps. And yay for Alana! I miss her so much!

Overall, this story is great. I love the fact that I have to think in order to get favorable outcomes, allowing me to exercise my mind. The heist crew is also one of the strongest points, each of them having unique and distinct personalities, and their conversations together are fun to watch. I'm definitely replaying this with the crew members I didn't recruit in order to immerse myself again. I think this story works just as well with a second book, but with a new crew and a few recruits returning, kinda like America's Most Eligible has a new set contestants in All Stars. That would keep the story fresh and exciting while still preserve our choices on who we recruited.

Desire & Decorum Chapter 13:

I'm starting to miss Prince Hamid, whom my MC is engaged to. It doesn't help that the premium option to go with Ernest comes across as pointless, so I skipped that. Nevertheless, it always cheers me up to pick the snarky options with Duke Richards.

I picked the premium options to play as Briar and eavesdrop on the conspirators with Luke. Reaching the point where I have to pick Arthur Woods or Edmund Marlcaster got me thinking that it's. For the conspirators, I wish there's a way to play them against each other, and the pretending part to keep them unaware is a start. At least I got proof of how much of a hypocrite the duke is.

Bah, that snake Henrietta! Always looking after herself. I'm not super surprised she would get rid of MC. After all, it's a temporary "alliance" of convenience, and she practically does nothing to help with the investigation. This series's MC has suffered a lot, espececially because of Duke Richards, but I can't see her giving up because she strikes me as determined to be with who she loves no matter the situation in the end. In her case, I'd love to see people's reactions when she marries Prince Hamid. That's right, a prince.

Passport to Romance Chapters 1-2:

Eh, it's okay. I get that it's light-hearted, but there's not much to say because I don't get to see much of the love interests. At least they don't look super bad, though Elliot looks like he should lighten up. I also like that Marisa and Sumire are opposites in terms of personality, though it's a tad bit sterotypical. Still miffed that the male MC faces come from BSC. Why can't it be from VoS or AME?

I cringed at the thought of spending diamonds just to get extra views on the blog. Not to mention that I already have a bad feeling I have to pay diamonds just to add certain pictures of iconic landmarks to the vlog. Nevertheless, I'm more interested in the traveling for the vlog than the romance.

Anyway, let's see how this goes.

America's Most Eligible Chapter 10:

Ugh, Vince continues to get on my nerves for his unnecessarily rude behavior, and I'm glad Ivy's sick of him.

I'm curious of Ivy right now. I know she comes across as an underdeveloped villain back in Book 1, but I'm all down for understanding her character. Pity it costs diamonds, and after watching the scene on YouTube, I'm glad she reveals that she plans to run pageants if she won, and her desire to win no matter the cost makes more sense now. I think it's fun to see her choosing underhanded means to win and not letting her past bring her down.

As for All Stars' format, it's about time Jen and Omar are feeling the frustration with Carson's mishandling of things. I saw some screenshots, where Carson doesn't want to become like Piper, only to mess things up. If I were him, I'd take Jen and Omar's opinions into account and evaluate them. That would've allowed him to keep the show exciting for the audience and contestants. Either way, Jen and Omar should've been the showrunners instead of Carson.

The go-kart ride was a breeze for because I picked the premium option to pick the audience vote and train with Crash just because I wanted an advantage and continue roleplaying my MC as a flirt. Didn't expect things to go easily. Oh well.

Holy cow! That ending with Eden and Kiana was a curveball! I had a bad feeling they'll get eliminated soon, but having them in a go-kart accident that results in karts exploding? That was a drastic move! I just hope they'll be okay, but chances are that they won't, and I'm scared. The next chapter summary doesn't exactly relieve my worries either.

Open Heart Chapter 6:

Man, the beginning of this chapter was super tense. For a moment, I thought I might kill Shonda if I wasn't being careful. Fortunately, she survived and gave decent advice to MC. That should be useful later on.

My MC's number 19 on the list. Well, that means he has to work harder. Jackie's shock at Aurora being first and Aurora telling her to go on was priceless, though.

So, Sienna's boyfriend Wayne is a clone of some characters I've already seen. He even talks robotic that it's creepy instead of funny. There's no emotion when he talked about being a lead programmer at a software company. Seriously, Sienna should dump him and move on to Danny, just in case Wayne's company decides to go after Edenbrook Hospital.

Speaking of which, it's adorable to see Elijah feeling infatuated with Phoebe, even if Phoebe has Lucilla Nazario's model.

I'm curious about the C.T. scan from Ethan. My guess is that it's on Naveen Banerji, hence his retirement announcement. Either way, this story is getting more interesting.

Ride or Die Chapter 10:

After seeing the nitrous oxide tank, I just can't help but think of Crash Team Racing. It's a PS1 game I often played during my childhood, and its antagonist is named Nitrous Oxide. Anyway, I didn't use it because I'm saving diamonds.

The party's okay, though I'd rather not go to one in some decrepit area. Pity it costs diamonds to kiss Mona, but whatever.

I didn't pick the premium option to talk with Teppei Kaneko, but after seeing some screencaps on it online, I have conflicting opinions on him. I get that he ultimately cares for his son and encourages him to pursue a life outside of crime, but grooming Logan as his "successor" just so he'll have nothing to lose in case Logan gets in trouble is what caused Logan and Colt's rivalry in the first place. Colt needs a heart-to-heart talk with his father, especially since the MPC leadership is hereditary, and Kaneko seems adamant to encourage his son to abandon this kind of life, just like Colt's mother did.

So Logan knew the dad was investigating the MPC and was the one who called the cops because he wanted to MC to "owe" him? Well, MC never owed him anything. In fact, I never liked Logan to begin with, so am I supposed to feel angry and heartbroken that he tricked the MC? That's something he would do, honestly. I thought the rest of the MPC will get rid of her, but that didn't seem to happen. As for her oldest friend, I'm guessing it's her old friends Riya and Darius. I hope it's Darius because I like him for displaying common sense.

The Elementalists Chapter 2:

I like this book even more than I thought. The indication that some choices affect MC's karma meter looks like choices will affect the MC's personality and relationship with others. After the ability to impress Kane A.K.A. that funky fashion disaster of a villain, I'm guessing we can choose who we can trust.

Katrina Harrington is so pretty. And a cool teacher, not less. I love the way she teaches her students and look forward to know her better, preferrably directly from her.

I swear, Beckett should start behaving in front of his sister and friends. I get that he's distant to his friends besides the MC, but his rather disparaging descriptions of his friends isn't helping matters on his insecurities. I get that he doesn't want to be overshadowed by his sister and thinks she barges into his space, but that doesn't give him the license to abuse it by acting dismissive towards his "friends".

Thoughts on upcoming books:

I'm mildly excited for Nightbound, in part because it will feature gender options. Yet at the same time, I'm worried that Pixelberry will resort to the same clichés plaguing so many of its books, forced white male LI derailing the story being the biggest one. In the end, let's see how this goes.

I have mixed feelings for Wishful Thinking, especially after it's revealed that we can only play as a female. What's more important, however, is the quality of the story. If it ends up aimless like #LoveHacks, I don't want that.

I'm not excited for Sunkissed, which comes across as a cheesy romance story most likely to be female only. After all, Choices's low-effort books tend to lack gender options in order to make quick bucks. As for Platinum, I'm more excited because it's less like just romance and more like building up a music career. I fear that it will end up a fiasco like Red Carpet Diaries because of the protagonist being an up-and-coming music star. When Peyton said it will be gayer than TH:M, my guess is that its female love interests will be more prominent than the male ones. It could have gender options like TH:M, but it's also possible we won't.

Regarding the Royal Romance sequel series, I feel like a short epilogue would've been a bit better than an entire sequel series. Don't get me wrong. I love Olivia, Maxwell, the corgi, my MC, and her husband Liam, but I think it would've been better if the writers focused on treating their own characters well in Book 3 instead of focusing too much effort on Drake.

#choices stories you play #chapter reviews

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drink-n-watch · 6 years

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Hello everyone. Irina here!!! I am exhausted. Work has been insane and the lead up to Christmas is keeping me on my toes. Don’t get me wrong, these are nice problems to have, all things considered, but I got to this review real last minute. Thank you so much Matt for putting up with this unprofessionalism! Wouldn’t have it any other way!

self-explanatory!

I always have a big inner struggle on whether I should watch episode previews or not. There’s really no point to them and they can even spoil an episode if you’re not careful. I watch em if they are there (I.e attached to the episode) but I don’t actively seek them out.

For instance, I think this weeks Dakaichi was really hurt by the preview. They’ve already been foreshadowing the paparazzi angle very heavily for weeks now but with that break up line in last week’s preview, we all knew exactly how this episode was going to go. That’s a shame, because it ruined all the dramatic tension for me. I really think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I went in blind(er). How about you Matt? Well it would have been spoiled by the episode title too, but I get what you’re saying.

I forgot to mention this guy – I like him…

All in all the episode wasn’t bad, it’s just that the climax was ruined because we’ve all already seen it. Without that, it would have been pretty good. I think it still held up, I’m more of a “journey” guy than the “destination”—almost to an insane degree. Did you know (why would you I’ve never mentioned this fact before) that before watching every new episode of Game of Thrones I read a full spoiler-filled recap of the episode I was about to watch? Why? Actually I don’t know why, I never do that for any other show… maybe I am just crazy! Moving on…

I quite like how Not-Junta (I have to learn his name) has grown. For an almost rapist he’s become a very likable guy. He’s almost like a human being (a good one)!

what’s a little attempted rape between friends?

I still don’t get why the story thinks it’s sexy to make Takato feel bad or uncomfortable. The dressing room scene was pretty annoying and seemed like a step back in their relationship. I do love Takato with long hair though. Probably something to do with “ahegao”. Or not. I just felt like putting that word on your blog seeing as it probably has never appeared on your site. Or maybe it has… Anyway, what were we talking about? Oh right, yeah I don’t get it but I guess some people are into it otherwise it wouldn’t show up!

yeah…”up”…

Junta’s manager is awesome! I loved the little story about Junta getting discovered while delivering pizza. Sort of wished we had a bit more of that. I know right! A little bit of a cliche but still would have been fun to see in more detail! The more this show goes along the more I’m thinking this series is meant to be from Takato’s perspective.

It’s pretty brutal how a single picture can destroy a career. With the internet and smartphones all over the place, that hasn’t been an issue in america in a while. If we fired every actress caught sharing a kiss, we would have no actresses left. But it did use to be that way and might still be the case in Japan. Really puts the harsher requirements of the job into perspective. I’m guessing it’s less about actors and more about the idol-like actors who are meant to be these unattainable, virginal specimens. Like I doubt your run of the mill daytime TV actor in Japan is under such public scrutiny, or even like anime voice actors. But idol voice actors, idols themselves and idol adjacent actors probably need to keep their image super clean as to not alienate there more loyal fans. Since Takato and Junta are obviously idolized by a lot of women (to the point they’re voted “sexiest”) I can kind of see why such a fuss is made. I also think it’s ridiculous because who cares what an actor or idol or whoever does in their private life but such is the way of things.

you would think that would go without saying…

I do like that it doesn’t seem that the homosexuality is an issue in any way. Just impropriety whatever it is. The results would have been exactly the same if Takato had been photographed with a woman. At least that’s what I got.. There’s still time, as much as I’d like to think Japan is tolerant of this kind of thing and won’t have some ~questionable~ language throw around it could still come up.

It’s very bitter sweet. Just as Takato was finally losing up and Junta was getting a bit more secure, we have this huge wrench thrown in the works. Fact is, it was was always going to go that way, it just happened sooner rather than later. They couldn’t have lived their entire lives in hiding. Well they could have but that would be sad too. Classic “third act break up”! I knew it was going to happen even from early on in the series (as I’m sure you did) so I’m glad it’s not some lame “misunderstanding” that caused it like accusations of cheating or whatever.

what an odd thing to say

Despite everything, Takato was still the consummate professional when push comes to shove. I love that about the character and I was impressed at how well they managed to highlighted within this particular storyline.

I admit, I’m left a bit confused about the logistics here. Breaking up with Junta doesn’t actually solve anything. The photographer still has that picture. We don’t know what he asked of Takato in exchange. Granted, it may not be directly related. Like Takato can simply be considering both their careers and decided the relationship wasn’t worth the risk, which is fine but if the picture goes ut, it won’t matter if they broke up. Basically, we’re still in the middle of this particular arc. I think it’s just Takato trying to take back control of the whole situation. When he’s with Junta he’s sort of at his mercy (which he seems to enjoy sometimes) but it’s always a sort of “safe” mercy. With the introduction of the paparazzi the whole Junta thing threatens to destroy the one thing he has a total command and control over—his career. So while it’s not the most intelligent course of action (to me it’d make sense if Takato, you know, talked to Junta about the blackmailing photographer) I can still understand why he’s choosing to ‘cut and run’.

coming to a realization

The tension this week was decent. The episode is basically just a set up to the real action in the next one but like I already mentioned, it felt too obvious. Between previous and so much build up, it felt a lot like deja view. The tension was great and honestly I don’t have any real complaints beyond the lingering ones about the series in general. I am thoroughly entertained and that’s what matters most.

Are you looking forward to next week? More so than previous episodes in-fact, high stakes drama involving paparazzi and showbiz and careers and relationships, it could result in some very juicy content if it’s played well!

let’s find out together

It wasn’t on purpose but I seem to have ended up with almost exclusively Takato screencaps…I didn’t realize how closely the episode zeroed in on him!

DAKAICHI -I’m being harassed by the sexiest man of the year Ep 10 – 3rd Act Break (up) Hello everyone. Irina here!!! I am exhausted. Work has been insane and the lead up to Christmas is keeping me on my toes.

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