#had to screencap some of my favourite scenes!!

[skylessnights]

GONCHAROV (1973) dir. Martin Scorsese

“It funny because for many years people thought Goncharov was the main antagonist of the film, after all, he’s the one everyone’s out to get, right? But it seems people are starting to understand that in actual fact, it is time that is the main adversary in this story. There’s never enough of it and that torments a lot of characters, especially Goncharov, because he’s fighting so desperately to find his place in a world that is so keen on keeping him ostracized.”

[template by @bitchronan]

[raayllum]

hi i love your blog and the screenshots you post so much 💟 is it okay if you could post screenshots of rayla and callum together riding their mounts in the morning after staying at the inn?

same anon asking for screenshots of callum and rayla riding their mounts in the morning after staying at the inn is it okay if you post a screenshot of them riding their mounts together? like that one when it’s sort of a far away shot and the part when callum says “thanks for humoring me rayla” any screenshots of them together that whole scene thank you so much 💟

Of course!! That scene was so adorable and had some of my favourite looks and smiles - screencaps down below for people to use!

[thebroccolination]

Im the anon from yesterday who asked about your favourite win x team scene :)

Your favourite kiss scene?

Your favourite cuddly scene?

Your favourite romantic scene?

Your favourite “tease” scene?

I like to know peoples opinions so i hope this isn’t too hard for you to answer :)

Hello, Anon! Sorry for the delay! I wanted time to collect screencaps and the energy to write a lot of feelings. <3

This is a beautiful ask. A phenomenal ask. I applaud this ask.

LET'S BEGIN.

• FAVORITE KISS SCENE

I genuinely can't choose between two of them. From the same episode.

FIRST UP:

Team's heel is the star of this shot. Prem is a genius. Even if he didn't do it on purpose, his subconscious is a genius. I know some people didn't like this wide shot and wanted to stay rammed up on their faces, which I totally understand, but I love the wide shot because it introduced me to my good friend Team's Popped Heel.

ALSO.

FUCK?

The panting as they change angles? GEE. ZUSS.

Okay, fine, this one is my favorite. Like, holy shit, to bring this out in episode two was brilliant. There's no, like, "Team was so shaken by his first time, he doesn't know what he really wants." Nope. This is clear attraction.

(The BU specials honestly worried me when I first saw them in 2021 because of how hard they leaned into the weird heteronormative Nooooo I Don't Want to Have Sex with You for I Am and Have a Pure and Chaste Bottom angle, so watching this kiss at, like, 2am while I was in Japan for work reassured me that they weren't going to show Win as, like, some predatory bisexual and Team as stereotypically reluctant. Team's just as into Win.)

That kiss is legendary. They just look like they'll die if they don't make out next to the pool on camera. (Moment of silence for Dean.)

BUT I ALSO WANT TO TALK ABOUT THIS KISS:

Not just "the locker room scene kiss" because 1) they kiss a lot while they're back there, and 2) this one specifically. Look at Team! You can't see his lips (because Win is on them) but you can tell that he's smiling.

And whyyy?

'Cos Win's a menace. <3

I love this whole scene because it doesn't exist in the novel! After their one-night stand in the novel, WinTeam don't kiss again until much, much later. Including this scene really establishes the nature of their physical relationship that, for me, made the upcoming struggle between True Intimacy and Casual Sex all the more turbulent and realistic.

I mean, you've got Team biting his lip, the wrist-pinning, the panting. They're viscerally attracted to each other. This isn't just Win pursuing Team like he does in the last scene of episode one; this establishes interest from both of them. Team followed him in episode one, but he didn't give it much thought there. And he looks kind of like, "……Well, fuck it, I guess."

In episode two, he thinks about it much longer, and his expression is

much more determined. He wasn't caught off-guard this time. Win asked for consent, he got it, they kissed, and then Win gave him space to decide if he wanted more. Team could have easily left! He already had his backpack, and he had his own car to get home.

Win, my Green Flag Son. <3

I think this was one of the more challenging scenes for Prem based on comments he made early in filming, and I can honestly see why. Kisses are difficult to film. You have to think about technical aspects like what the camera can see while balancing the authenticity of what you're doing, and you're working with another person, so even if you're doing fine, your partner might not be. Like, I'm obviously biased toward WinTeam and BounPrem, but I genuinely think this episode has the most realistic kissing I've seen in any series. Because they both look starving for it. They don't just mash their mouths together and wait for the scene to cut. The heavy breathing, where they're looking, all the little details create a really nuanced atmosphere to the scene.

I don't know that I'd call New a great director from an audience's perspective (especially if he was the one in the editing room for this series), but he's undeniably fantastic with actors. Filming a scene with this much raw honesty and physical passion could have been wildly awkward, but Boun and Prem are both visibly comfortable and that allows them to show the best of their abilities. Award-winning kiss, mwah.

• FAVORITE CUDDLY SCENE

OKAY SO. There are so many? SO MANY OF THEM in Between Us. And I'm very grateful for that because cuddling is my favorite. So it might be surprising that in the vast array of options I picked something so quick, but it's this:

It's only seconds long, but there's something especially soft about WinTeam asleep together on Valentine's Day. Win's arm around Team all bundled up because Team runs cold, Team tucked into Win's side, the two of them all peaceful before Tul ruins their night. :'(

Also, like, poor View. Win probably called him like, "Go next door, our brother is unconscious," and View just like, "How…did you know? HIA, ARE YOU PSYCHIC."

Like, it's the implication that this is their new normal. They know what they are to each other now, and they're happy and safe with each other. I'm going to cry I love them so much.

• FAVORITE ROMANTIC SCENE

Maybe it's an odd choice for this category but honestly, this scene:

For multiple reasons!

Because I think it's the first time Win actually decides to rely on Team, which is something Team's made clear that he wants.

Because I think it's the first time they're acting as true equals on an emotional level. Team wants to know Win better than anyone, and this is Win letting him see what he hides from literally everyone else in his life.

And I think my definition of romantic has changed as I've gotten older, but to me there's nothing more romantic than trusting your moments of fragility and vulnerability to someone.

• FAVORITE "TEASE" SCENE

Hands down this one:

Because as much as I love cuddly, sweet WinTeam, at their core they're a feral pair of loud dumbasses. <3

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay Visuals: In The Air Tonight

Now this is a song that many people know, at least partially! Even if the name doesn't ring a bell for you, you almost definitely know the part that some people call "one of the most iconic drumlines in music", so really it's no surprise that this was an arrangement from The Human Drumkit himself, Mr Layne Stein! Voiceplay's cover of In The Air Tonight premiered on YouTube on the 17th of June, 2023, and features J None, back again! I will of course say more about the video when we actually get into it, so let's go!

Apparently the style/aesthetics of this video plays homage to a classic 80s cop show called Miami Vice, which used the song "In The Air Tonight" in its pilot episode, in a scene which (so I've heard) has been referred to by some as one of the most iconic in the history of television.

(Also the car belongs to Layne's dad, and likely would have been sitting in the garage since the early days of 4:2:Five, at least)

J looking very cool and fresh in that red blazer! (Reminds me of the Walk Like A Man section of the Boy Band Medley!)

Geoff is, once again, the only bare-shouldered/sleeveless one of the group! (A back-to-back occurrence if you don't count the Peaches video!) (Also peep the necklace!)

A cool audiovisual effect thing to transition into the "modern-day" filming style!

Cesar is vibing, and Eli is back at it again with the unworn-sunglasses-as-accessory!

Cool necklace! And he's got earrings, too!

I won't lie, this may be one of my favourite Geoff Looks of 2023. It's not even anything particular about the outfit, he just looks so pretty in this one! (And his hair is looking very nice here, too 👀😁)

"Well if you told me you were drowning, I would not lend a hand"

Of course I had to acknowledge Cesar's powerful side-eye here! Like seriously, if anyone ever asks you what a side-eye is, just show them this moment! 👌

Group shot!

I believe I read a comment somewhere saying this was filmed outside PattyCake Productions or something, like outdoors? And apparently it was a bit warm outside, especially with the lighting rigs, but if they were sweating/partially melting at all during this, you really can't tell! They did great!

(And shoutout to both Layne and Tony for set design and direction!)

Cesar never fails to put his whole self into his performances, and I love it every time

Voiceplay love adding brief little moments like this into their videos sometimes, just to keep things interesting and/or keep viewers on their toes 😄

Get it, Layne! Go off!

I wanna post screencaps from Geoff's little vocal solo and/or Layne's epic drumline-recreation immediately after, but still images don't do either justice! Go (re)watch it yourself!

"I been waiting for this moment, for ALL my liiife!"

The retro filming style/aesthetic is back! Happening so quickly and smoothly that you would be forgiven if you didn't immediately pick up on it! (*cough*)

Sure, why not?

"Well I been waiting for this moment, for all my life, oh loooooo o r r r d d"

(Pretty Boy!!!!!)

J None is freaking amazing, and I really hope he becomes a permanent Voiceplay member again someday; both he and Cesar are fantastice vocalists and performers, and they both have vocal ranges wide enough that they can both easily take the role of baritone and/or tenor!

In my opinion, the original song does not really start getting interesting until the "bass drop" drumline like 3 minutes into the song, but Voiceplay's cover is not even close to dull for a single moment! We get incredible vocals from everyone in this one (and I didn't talk about Eli much at all here, but vocally he was of course phenomenal), and the arrangement has a fair few complexities and interesting stuff to it, like the stomp-clap-click percussion moment which I still struggle to actually keep in time/on beat with! Definitely a very strong cover from Voiceplay, and frankly it's a crime that it "only" has 500k views on YouTube! It deserves a million! At least!

[pharawee]

I’ve yet to gif this ep’s spicy scene but maybe I shouldn’t do that when I’ve had 2 cups of glühwein and it’s already past midnight - the perfect conditions for another Big Dragon episode review.

To save me some time screencapping I just recorded the ep while I was watching it so excuse the subs. Or maybe they’ll even come in handy, we’ll see. I cropped them out for my gifs but I’m too lazy to do it here (I say but I’ve cropped out the gagaoolala logo 🤡).

This ep starts exactly where we left off last week (actually, there’s some overlap again - why are you doing this, Star Hunter? There’s only 8 eps of this show!) - only now we see some of Mangkorn’s perspective. It’s still pretty sketchy. I mean, you could have just... not let that girl half undress you while you told her you’re not interested.

But okay. You already said it, you and Yai are both womanizers and apparently old habits die hard.

But it’s Mangkorn’s face when Yai in his fit of jealousy hits far too close to home that really gets to me:

He’s looking almost pained. But of course, Mangkorn being Mangkorn, he’d just rather lash out instead. And Yai, being understandably hurt, doesn’t see it for what it is. He probably thinks Mangkorn is feeling guilty.

Which leads to Yai pushing and Mangkorn pushing back (it seems to be his favoured approach when it comes to Yai acting out).

And then, “If you want me to delete those videos, you have to come home with me.” Which at this point is a very convenient excuse, I guess, because Yai gets to ask himself the following:

And the answer, predictably, is:

Because, honestly, this is probably a lot easier to deal with for them than having to think about their relationship as a whole.

Coincidentally, Mos has said that for him the love scenes were easier to do than scenes in which he had to cry etc, since he could just get into the moment and “be” his character. He would be embarrassed before and after the take since there’s crew around but let go completely when the camera was rolling.

Plus, the camera work is gorgeous - all shaky and raw and in and out of focus, interspersed with light and shadow and spots of red.

I can see why this is Bank’s favourite scene.

I can hear LITA’s Rain screaming in the distance. Phayu would never!

It’s the next morning and the audience is literally wearing rose-tinted glasses. And so are Mangkorn and Yai. This has got to be their honeymoon phase (and look, the yin/yang carpet from the trailer makes its first appearance!).

I love how Mangkorn’s house - where he lives alone since his parents live out of town and don’t visit very often - is all cosy and warm. Compared to Yai’s condo it feels really inviting and personal, like he’s got it all figured out (spoiler: he hasn’t).

The product placement was of course kind of on the nose but unbearably cute. Plus, I’m addicted to Tao Kae Noi so I’m not even mad.

And I love the way Yai immediately gave in when Mangkorn mentioned his mother. I really appreciate how the dialogue in this show isn’t just surface-level. There’s so many things going on, especially since both Mangkorn and Yai are characters who say so many things with so few, conflicting, often hurtful words.

Which is why this honeymoon phase can’t last.

(Oh, and tbh I love how the blackmail video is more of a footnote in this ep. The less said, the better. But yay for showing us the cute MosBank sticker again 🥰 )

Mangkorn’s mum makes a really awkward 1-minute appearance just so she can embarrass her future son-in-law. And then, she just vanishes again because she’s a good mum and read the room (which will probably come up later, judging by next ep’s preview).

Next, Yai goes all overboard and decides to give the place a good dusting. Idk if it’s always this untidy or if he feels guilty for destroying at least two semesters worth of architecture homework. Park and Pong make a short appearance in all of their pink and blue glory but somehow it looks even more untidy when they leave.

But look at them in their little color-coded outfits. Cutest bodyguards ever!

And what is this?

Oh no, it’s the dreaded “maybe I’ll go abroad for a year” trope rearing its ugly head. Don’t do it, Star Hunter! There’s only 8 episodes!

I appreciate the continuous bj jokes, though (so this is what Mangkorn ordered for you?🥴).

No more rose-tinted glasses. Now there’s a heavy red plaid on the bed.

Negl I honestly half-expected Yai to find engagement announcements in the drawer but of course that would have taken away from their fight later.

I’ll get to Hong and Nadear in a bit, please bear with me. Let me just say they’re unbearably cute with their matching bracelets 🥰

Then there’s this - the complete opposite of their Tao Kae Noi-sponsored breakfast (more yin & yang, I guess). And while maybe Mangkorn is right to say that Yai doesn’t listen, it’s really unfair for him to expect Yai to read between the lines when - and Yai is right about that one, too! - Mangkorn is keeping a lot of secrets. He keeps all of his problems to himself and just kind of stoically accepts them. Which maybe works with his family, but it doesn’t work with Yai.

And tbh it really got to me when he accused Yai of being selfish when Yai has outright offered his help no less than three times (once in the last ep) because he sensed that there’s something that’s worrying Mangkorn. Is he maybe naive for offering that help? Sure. But at least he’s reaching out.

Mangkorn is throwing “selfish” around like it’s an insult, like it’s really supposed to hurt - when, yeah, someone like Yai probably needs to be a little bit selfish in order to figure out what he wants. That’s not a bad thing.

I really feel for both of them. I feel for Mangkorn because he’s so used to going it alone and keeping his problems to himself, and I feel for Yai because he won’t face his problems (case in point: he later runs off again rather than facing his dad and his dad’s new gf).

But I’m glad that this time the uno-reverse card backfired on Mangkorn big (lmao) time.

It’s really convenient that P’Nine has a rooftop bar.

And look, it’s Tung!! 🥰 And his character is having the worst day at the job ever, but somehow he knows the exact song that Yai is going to sing.

I don’t even mind the singing, though, because I was a fan of ISBANKY the singer before I was a fan of Bank the actor so this is like, a major stan moment for me.

If it isn’t the consequences of your own actions, Mangkorn...

And again he just rather keeps to himself instead of reaching out. Have you learned nothing (probably not, there’s still 3 eps to go)?

Oh, wait, is this supposed to be Yai, his sister and Nine in the photo?

It’s really tragic how Mangkorn triggered Yai’s bisexual awakening. He could have eloped with Nine years ago.

I would recognise this ikea blanket anywhere.

Okay, but I need a moment to just stare at Big Thanakorn because he’s literally perfect. We might not survive a show with him as the lead. He’s too powerful. 

I wanted to screencap Jet & Jame’s appearance but it’s too short and this review is already too long. Just know that I love them both very dearly.

Okay, parallel time!

In this ep we have three couples seated at a table, with Nine and Yai being almost an exact repeat of Hong & Nadear, at least in the beginning. Only, while Hong immediately understands and gives in to Nadear, Nine misunderstands and tries to fix it by being his charming self.

And while Nine and Yai seem more relaxed compared to Mangkorn and Yai, Yai’s conversation with Nine remains superficial (and a safe space) while his conversation(s) with Mangkorn are anything but.

That being said, Nine remains the MVP for treating this cute little caterpillar like the most precious thing it is. He even carries it outside 🥰

I need another moment. 🫠

Oh, how the turntables.

Nine & Yai look so good together.

So it turns out that Mangkorn was trying to fix things by bringing food. I guess acts of service are way easier than talking. Only, uhm, yeah...

I’m guessing Nine kissed Yai first and he just needed a moment to react. Because in the book Yai is quite clear about his feelings being platonic - even if he’s all kinds of dazzled by Nine (which is understandable. He’s perfect lmao).

[whumpster-dumpster]

Oh gosh, the whump awakenings discussion is bringing back memories for me. I would say mine was with the Nancy Drew novels; I’m not 100% sure which experience was the first, but it would probably be between the time she got chloroformed and hidden under a bed (don’t remember the volume) or the time she got kidnapped in The Ringmaster’s Secret. Hoooo boy, the whumpy daydreams I had about those scenes, my seven-year-old self lulling herself to sleep by imagining how those scenarios could have gone worse. I remember The Secret of the Old Clock was the first Nancy Drew book I read, but it wasn’t as whumpy; IIRC, however, Nancy is caught out in the rain at one point and people are all worried when she gets back, which may have turned me onto the path of willing and concerned Caretakers lol. Even after all that rambling though (sorry haha), I gotta say... There’s this four-year-old in my life, and I definitely see a future in the whump community for her. She gets obsessed with shows like PJ Masks and My Little Pony, fixates on one character, and then re-watches and re-watches and RE-WATCHES scenes where that character gets hurt. Her tablet is FULL of screencaps of her favourite characters getting Little Kid Show hurt. So seeing that, I can’t help but wonder if the seed was planted for me before I can even remember. 😂

Nice to see some whump awakenings from books too! It wasn’t all in the cartoons!

[mrcrowblargs]

The final battle... to confront the Netherbrain. Even though I had gotten more used to switching up the party during Act 3, I wanted to have my favourites along, though I ended up choosing Lae'zel over Karlach because one Lae'zel quest thing remained.

So it was Aldiirn, Astarion, Gale, and Lae'zel, all in for a big headache. End spoilers below!

big brain! big scary brain! Throwing the Netherstones was scream inducing. They gave a variety of options for each throw but it was always my weak stats grouped together lmao. Aldiirn passed the first INT check, then fucking whiffed the second CHA check because I just assumed I would pass and hit continue... but then I kinda got the sense passing or failing would not make much difference here and... yup.

Empy scoops us up into the Astral Prism and it's Orpheus time, babey. Freeing Orpheus was no question but I did question, "what if I became the mindflayer" which prompted Astarion to be like, "could we have an aside, privately? You're not really going to throw away that pretty face of yours?????" very cute.

Aldiirn knew Emperor was vehemently against freeing Orpheus, but hoped he could convince Emperor to see reason. Like they all got the same goals, they can all combine their power, we can talk Orpheus into cooling don his blood feud for the sake of a bigger bad. Aldiirn's a fucking bard with +15 Persuasion if anyone could do it, it would be him, but--- NO!!! EMPEROR HAD TO BE A GODDAMN BITCH AND SWITCHED SIDES LIKE. IMMEDIATELY. NO DISCUSSION. BRUH.

Also one thing I feel there was a missed opportunity on was confronting Emperor over, hey buddy weren't you the mindflayer that put tadpoles in our heads??? It's definitely Emperor in the opening scene. I really wanted to hear from it about what happened on the nautiloid but all we got were like, some records in Gortash's palace and it's ambiguous if Emperor was of itself at the time. alas.

Gave Lae'zel the honours to free Orpheus aaaand here's the mindflayer conversation all over again. And like, shit, after everything that was done to free the guy and drive the githyanki revolution, becoming the mindflayer felt most in character for Aldiirn. I'm pretty sure I sat over the decision for a solid ten minutes like WONT SOMEONE PERSUADE ME OUT OF THIS lmao. But Astarion kinda had with the aside before. I might make a comic to flesh out the moment like... I think it would be a good one of the party backing Aldiirn up to choose his own freedom after pushing for everyone else's.

Orpheus became the mindflayer, tragic but necessary. I felt so bad for Lae'zel. Uuggh the emotion in her face here.

and then the goofiest smile ever in High Hall haha. Everyone from Gather Your Allies being mushed in there felt a little contrived but, what the hell, SUMMON YOUR SOCIAL LINKS!!! I love a good friendship moment.

Hooboy the battles here really gave the D&D experience: waiting 40 minutes for your turn in initiative to show up. IDK why but at first I thought it would be a brilliant idea to surround the enemy but soon realised it turned the battle into an immediate slog. Reload, and instead fought starting from the wall on the west side. Got this nice little screencap of my mans fighting side by side even though neither should be anywhere near melee haha.

I have to say, I think I would have preferred that all the companions be allowed into the battle over the ally summons for the final battle. At least the origin ones. I want to replay it at some point with the party limit begone mod.

The tower was the hardest part, getting up past that stupid statue that COULDNT BE BROKEN DOWN... Aldiirn and Lae'zel could fly but Astarion and Gale couldn't even see where to teleport. It's SO annoying that Dimension Door has to be a point you can see now, its whole thing in 5e was that you didn't need to.

Whenever Gale brings up exploding himself I wanna do that Archer slap fest bit to him. Buddy, no, we are ALL getting out of this alive!

Up we go to the brain of the bad bitch herself and THE BIGGEST TRAITOR BITCH!!!!!! okay but bringing out the dream visitors to fight was cool. Seems Aldiirn's got reverted to the default drow dude (he should have had similar green skiin and short white hair) and I'm guessing the others are just kinda like, stock random ones. Looks like they are all human female. Would have been nice to see ones tailored for each companion you bring. Then they can all chide each other later like "so THAT'S what you find attractive?" hehe

Remember I stole that runepowder bomb from Wulbren? Yeah, I brought it with me as a parting gift for Emperor. Threw the bomb at its feet and then KA-BOOM!!!!! Wiped out Empy, all the Guardians, and fucked up everything else INCLUDING ALDIIRN. I have no idea WHAT happened -- maybe Emperor's shield of thralls??? -- because I'm certain he was behind Lae'zel when she threw & exploded the bomb and she was kind. Aldiirn just fucking dropped dead behind her. I just laughed and rolled with it, Astarion got Aldiirn back on his feet.

Fight was good, the most annoying bit were the Mindflayers and Dominating Aylin AGAIN. I swear to got that woman can never pass a WIS save.

And then when we got to the unshakeable will of the netherbrain???? Lae'zel fucking shredded it with 9 attacks. Astarion gets a crit with an Arrow of Aberration Slaying (but no sneak attack). It's hanging on by a thread.

Aldiirn enters.

"TWIT"

"TWAT"

"TWERP"

fucking. Vicious Mockeried the BBEG to death. The most legendary goddamn move a Bard can ever do. No other bard I play will ever top that.

Down she goooooes and oh fuck everyone's getting fucked from the tadpoles dying in their heads

And then... silence. it's over. Aldiirn has his cute face back I wanted to sob seeing it again. I really expected more consquences for taking the Astral tadpole but... still, I wanted him to survive and enjoy the rest of his life.

But of course there were still things to go wrong.

Lae'zel and Orpheus, I couldn't let Lae'zel devote her life to another cult and endless war when she could have her own freedom, forge her own destiny, so I persuaded her to stay on Faerun. Orpheus went and committed sudoku which, eh, tbh I feel like he was weak willed for that. It does feel a bit like everything done to free Orpheus was for naught but Lae'zel deserves a chance to live her own life.

Side note, I was amused that Aldiirn apparently still had his Illithid Expertise feature as that was his source of Persuasion Expertise at the end heh.

continuing the mood of "fuck doing anymore quests" I told Gale to leave the crown in the river... completely fucking forgetting that Mystra was gonna remove the orb in exchange for it afhdjkfsd. I like to think it keeps Aldiirn awake at night sometimes. "why did he listen to me. why hasn't he gone back for it. all our brains were fried right then why couldn't any of you make your own decisions." lmao.

and POOR ASTARION. Just fucking fried right there in the beautiful sun. Gale's like "well we'll never see him again" UH BRO WHAT??? PLEASE JUST HOLD THE OTHER END OF THIS FUCKING TARP SO WE CAN GET HIM INSIDE SOMEWHERE. Thooouuughhh I headcanon that Aldiirn cast Darkness on Astarion and tell him to hold on while another pressing matter ignites...

Karlach, baby, noooo!!! Promising to be with Karlach at the end is the only reason Aldiirn wouldn't immediately chase after Astarion and, yeah. Aaa my eyes were tearing so much. I thought back to her post-Gortash breakdown and was like, "karlach. you want to live. you SHOULD get to live. Go with Wyll to Avernus."

Kicking demon ass never looked so good. I figure, there's some hellish real estate opening, those two should look into it, and the REAL celebration party should be at the House of Hope so everyone can be there. :D

Aldiirn would have gone with Karlach and Wyll, but he's needed on this plane.

God, Astarion looks so hollow when he mentions losing his time in the sun. Aldiirn wants that back for him so badly, but also needs a fucking break from adventuring. I headcanon that reverting the partial illithid transforation was not a clean cut thing by any measure and Aldiirn has a longer road to recovery ahead of him. But he's not gonna sit idle. There's thousands of vampire spawn in is home, the Underdark, that need guidance, and just maybe a bardy bard is just the type needed to inspire them to band together. Aldiirn's gotta know of a large enough abandoned megadungeon that could house them all while they work to support themselves. And then, when he's in good enough shape, Aldiirn will find a way for Astarion to bask in the sun again.

[sirtadcooper]

12, 14, 16 ❤️

Hi there! Thank you for these questions - any excuse to ramble about editing.

12. What gifset made you feel the happiest to work on? (link)

There's perhaps some irony in this, but this edit of Crozier and Fitzjames. I was knee-deep in a Terror fixation at the time, and finally feeling inspired to make and edit after a few months of nothing. The idea I had for the edit is almost exactly what I ended up posting, which is unusual for me. I was able to locate good quality screencaps and cut out and colour what I needed to cut out and colour. I was happy because I was editing again, happy because the editing was going smoothly. The point of that edit is to make as many people cry as possible, but I had fun making it, and that's the main thing.

14. What gifset was the most difficult to make? (link)

This edit of Fourteen and Donna turned into a bit of a nightmare, actually, and not in a way that I expected. Two specials deep into the 60th Anniversary, I was very much in the mood to make a Doctor Who edit. I didn't really have an idea, but I coloured that promo photo of Donna and Fourteen and then fiddled around in Photoshop until I came up with the rotating galaxy idea. I did not know, however, that rotating a layer in Photoshop reduces its quality. I was animating the background by duplicating it and rotating the layer by one degree as I went along, leaving me with a stack of slightly different layers. By layer 40 the starry background was a blurry mess. I just didn't understand it. I had to delete all of my rotated layers, and I found another starry background, this time with light trails, but by layer 50 it was also a mess. I still don't know why that happened, but I realised that I could get away with rotating the light trailed stars by about 30 degrees and they looked like they were moving more than they actually are. The finished edit is only three frames or so.

16. Do you have a favourite gifset you made this year? (link)

I'm still very proud of this edit of Silver and Flint. The screencaps of the scene I wanted to use didn't lend themselves to being cut out and coloured very easily, so I decided to just use them as they were. I like the balance I managed to achieve between the two parts. I remember the struggle I had with the second half especially, trying to get that text to look right. When I finally came up with the idea of using the Gaussian blur and flickering animation on both Silver's "shadow" and the text I was over the moon. I think it looks great and also tells a story. I always try to shove as much symbolism into my edits as possible.

gifmakers (and editors) asks | send me an ask

[watchingblsnowandforever]

So that happened. By that i mean the first episode of our skyy 2.

Can't say I'm disappointed. Which is nice.

Sorry, I'm just still processing.

So, due to a mix of magic of the fortune teller and the sun bracelet they are currently in the past. Okay. So far so good.

And there is some role reversal here (master/bodyguard; lord/slave), and i saw that in some of the other our skyy too, so guess that's the theme?

To be very honest, i think it's a bit too fast-paced, but I'm happy with the plot so far.

I really like how they are both trying to help each other go through the conflicts and hardships in their love life. I don't usually like conflicts or angst (seriously, i had to skip a lot of the original NLMG) but here it is portrayed very nicely; it does not stand out and is well woven into the plot. And i already liked their (Pond and Phuwin) chemistry so win-win (or Pond-Win lol).

I also like that there's (at least) a second episode; the first Our Skyy was just one and done.

Also, if we go by the intro theme, the next series we're getting is Star in My Mind.

I'm really sorry i couldn't make clips today, my wifi is being a traitor (T~T), but here are my favourite scenes in order of appearance:

Palm's (as the lord) first interaction with Phum/Petch. You can't tell me that wasn't simply hilarious.

When Neung reveals that yes, he does remember; and that "accidental" kiss hehe ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)*

During the meal when Palm was insisting Neung eat with him**

Couldn't make clips but here, have some screencaps (also, I'm not Talay and thus know shit all about colours in a movie but i tried my best to bring out what i wanted to show)

2*

3**

[Click for better quality. You know the drill, do NOT repost]

When i saw this scene (the third one in my list), what ran through my head was: you are so dead Palm. So, so dead.

fun fact: i wrote this on my window sill swimming in my own sweat because the weather dial here has been permanently set to HIGH.

[kateandanthonyaremyparents]

To distract you from the insanity anons getting mad at you for setting up a Bridgerton sleepover (???), here are some very late submission sleepover asks lol: What are your top 3 favourite Kate outfits, and what are your top 3 favourite Marina outfits? :)

Ooohhh I had such fun thinking about this! But I'm sorry in advance; I suck with taking screencaps and I'm too tired so the pics are messy.

Let me start with Marina:

These are my faves:

I loved the yellow one the most, but I also have a soft spot for the white and pink one. In the second pic i think she's GORGEOUS. But I have to admit, looking this up made me so anxious because I'm so scared for her in s3/s4 😭.

Now for my mother aka Kate:

This wasn't easy, I had to skip 2 dresses (the one from the Harmony ball and the one from the "last dance" from e8)

I feel a bit guilty for leaving the Harmony dress out of this, because I loved how she looked and it is one of my favorite scenes.. but hey! You asked for three, I'll give you three 😁

Here we go:

The first because omg, that dance, I think this is the first time she actually FELT how beautiful she was too. (She knew, but imo in a way this is the first time she she feels how Anthony looked at her)

The second one for all it represents

And the last one because she's so absolutely stunning, I couldn't have chosen a different one!

Thank you so much for this ask, you've really distracted me, ♥️😊🤩

[not-xpr-art]

Progress shots of my ‘Portrait of a lady on fire’ piece!

I finally managed to remember to record my full process for this piece lol! Because of this, I’m gonna make this post a sort of follow on from this post about my creative process!

My inspiration and reference for this piece was a screenshot from the film, along with Caspar David Friedrich’s ‘Wanderer above the sea of fog’ (both can be seen below)

I tried to keep this piece as close to how I would do a traditional painting as possible to match the style of Friedrich’s piece (so, keeping all my painting on one layer, trying to work a section at a time, etc). 

I mostly used a fluffy textured brush for the painting (aside from the initial laying down of colours in the 2nd image, which I used a flat ‘watercolour’ brush). As I’ve talked about before, textured brushes are great for blending and for keeping things from being too harsh, which is perfect when you’re trying to go for a sort of oil painting-esque look!

I really liked the stark contrast of Friedrich’s figure and the sea in the background, so I tried to sort of emulate that in my own by painting the figures in slightly darker and more saturated tones than in the reference. (I think I also inadvertently made them slightly more ‘static’ looking, which I don’t hate since it fits quite well with the meaning behind the piece, which I’ll get into in a bit lol!) 

A lot about using references is deciding what elements you want to keep the same, and what you want to change in your own piece. In this work, since a part of my intention of it was doing a screencap study (since this pride month project is about celebrating my favourite queer films), the composition and colours are pretty similar to the reference. 

I hoped that my piece would have a similar feeling to it as the scene in the film, and I especially liked that shot because of the kind of voyeuristic vibes it gives. Another artist on instagram also commented that she thought it felt as if the viewer was standing with the two figures, looking across at the scenery with them, which was a concept I didn’t really consider when I was painting it, but absolutely love what it represents! The film had a feel of the viewer constantly imposing on a private and extremely intimate moment between the two women, almost like something so beautiful that we were never meant to see. 

I also think of the connection the film makes to the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, and how neither figure in my painting will never look back at the onlooker, forever caught in a moment where they’re so close, yet so distant. Makes you wonder whether it’s better to exist in a perpetual state of calm, or to look back and risk the pain and humiliation that might cause... Maybe I’m reading too much into it though lol

If you read this far then thank you lol!! 

Feel free to check out some of my other art advice posts and let me know if there’s anything in particular you want me to talk about in my next one! <3

[expensivemistake]

Emily !! so for the gifmaker ask, 48, 41, 32, 1, 36, 46 <3 ok love u lots !! hope your day is going well <33

(Giffing asks) <3

Oooh thank you so much!! My day's been going pretty good!! I sort of woke up early, then slept in late, but I'm staying at my Nan's, so it's very relaxed!! I hope yours is going great too!!! xx

1. What are your top 3 favorite sets you’ve made? Oooh, that's tough!! I think it could be recency bias, but I genuinely love the Umbrella Academy ones I've made lately. I feel like I'll say I Think We're Alone Now, Diego, and this Klaus one (s3 spoilers).

I Think We're Alone Now is just cool. I love how the text looks on it most of all, over the fun, glitchy tinted shots of the siblings dancing. Plus it's one of my favourite scenes, so I was singing the song all day. The Diego one is the first time I really worked hard to make a cool layout myself, and for some reason stumbled into this sort of... dice thing, which I loved. I am also obsessed with the green and the Matrix vibes of it (especially the middle gif). And that Klaus one, I'm just shocked by how much I love the purple-pink gradient. Unsure why I added the minecraft poem but it really made me LOVE the set even more.

32. What is your favorite tool/adjustment layer in Photoshop? Oooh, fun one!!! I'm going to say I love curves. I always start with curves, even if some things end up going underneath it, so it always feels like a lovely start to a recolour, just seeing the colours intensify instantly.

36. Do you gif with something specific in mind or do you just wing it? Lately I've been more specific, at least partially because I've been low on space and have to be economic with what I screencap and what videos go where. But usually I'm not super specific. It depends on the set. Sometims there's a shot I know I'm using and a parallel I want to make, but other times (Glee songs especially) I would just crap as many moments as I wanted, then chisel it down.

41. What is your least favorite part about your gif making process? Getting the videos together. It depends on what I'm making, but for my regulars, I normally have d.ire.ct d.own.loads on my phone, then have to cut whatever clips I want, then upload them to drive, then download them via Google drive on my computer. It's just a lot of fiddling before I get around to actually making the gifs.

46. Ever gotten a really sweet compliment over a set. All the time!!! Everyone in the glee-sphere was always so lovely, but aaah I can't find many of the specifics anymore. I've also had some LOVELY compliments from people within the glee-sphere on my new sets on here, even if they aren't in the TUA fandom. It's basically just been the sweetest group of people!!! xx

48. How would you describe your giffing style Oooh I don't know! Definitely there's been a lot of playing with colour lately. I quite like having deep blacks. And there's a chunkiness to them, I think. I don't know!!

Thank you so so much for these!!! A lot of fun questions here!!! xx

[raayllum]

So we've seen Rayla in S4 now, and she looks great! However, making her hairstyle look almost exactly like Sarai's seems VERY deliberate, do you think it will have some kind of purpose? Like symbolism? Cause I can already imagine scenes with Callum or even VIREN noticing the resemblance.

Honestly my reaction to seeing Rayla’s hairstyle in the trailer and just how similar it is to Sarai’s was

with a few more tears. I’ve written about Rayllum and Harrai’s parallels before (like ages ago because this meta was written a few months after S2 came out and months before S3 was released) and I’ve kinda been wanting to do a little update (and I feel like I’ll do another post-S4 since Harrai-Rayllum parallels truly are my favourite in the “Rayllum paralleling all the married couples” trend TDP delivers to us). I don’t think there will be anything overt pointed out appearance wise, but I do think the narrative is heading towards ramping those parallels up in interesting ways

Which is all a fancy way of saying that both Rayla and Callum have had strong parallels to Harrow and Sarai; for Callum, it’s Harrow’s search for fairness and for Rayla his belief in paying the price. For Callum, it’s his mother’s compassion and questioning what a monster is, and for Rayla, the willingness to stand with him even when she disagrees. There are more similarities (and differences) of course, but these are some of the main ones to me

Screencap compilation post relating to the similarities with updated S4 info / screencaps here, but I find it particularly interesting in regards to the pictures Callum has hung up in his study too

At first glance, the picture of Sarai from 1x07 and Rayla from 2x07 doesn’t seem that odd; of course he’d want to hold people he’s lost close to him. But uh: where’s Harrow, if that’s the case? Why just these two in particular, both drawings Callum did while reflecting on loss and fear?

C: When you were down there under the ice, I was so scared. I thought I was going to lose you the way we lost her. But somehow you made it, and I can’t help but feel that maybe she was watching over us.

//

He still couldn’t believe she had left. His palms were sweating and his chest felt tight. What if she didn’t come back? Could he and Ezran and Bait really manage to get Zym to Xadia? […] “Maybe there is something I can do,” Callum said. “Ezran, you stay here. Protect Bait and Zym. Don’t worry. I’ll be back soon—with Rayla.” (Book Two: Sky novelization)

One of the core things about Rayla and Callum is that they do their best to break the cycle of their parents’ heartbreak, but with varying degrees of success. But just as Rayla is repeating some of Runaan and Ethari’s more damaging cycles by leaving in TTM, I wouldn’t be surprised if Callum repeats some of Harrow’s regarding Sarai in S4. This is for a few different reasons.

1) Viren and Avizandum being paralleled in the S4 intro. While there’s one half of the symbolism of Viren fearing losing his child (Claudia) due to the folly of his own actions, that’s only one half of the symbolism available here. The other half of the symbolism is why Avizandum died in the first place: for revenge. We know that Harrow and Callum both hate Avizandum for Sarai’s death and that previously, Callum thought Viren was dead. However, if he hates the dragon king for “taking” his mother from him and now taking Rayla away from him twice (once due to her own paranoia, now being taken captive or perceived to be dead), that would absolutely be enough to send him off the edge and to possibly want revenge / do something shady, as we’ve already seen from parallels with 2x07-3x06. 

While it doesn’t show up subtitle wise in the show, you can faintly hear Sarai yelling “No!” as her spear is thrown into Avizandum’s chest in 3x06, which is a lovely little parallel to Ezran’s 

Only for the irony to be perhaps be that it isn’t Viren’s fault this time, but Aaravos / Claudia’s, not that that would matter to Callum by that point (or for the narrative symmetry of his goal, anyway)

2) Why Sarai died and how S4 could implement it. Sarai died for two main reasons: a decision Harrow made that she disapproved of but went along with in search of a powerful magic object, and because of her commitment to Viren (in saving his life). We have already seen some of this play out in contrast with Rayla. Rayla almost died getting a magical object for Callum against her better judgement in 1x04 (the Key). Rayla has likewise put herself in major danger due to her commitment to Viren, although instead of saving his life, she was/is determined to kill him once and for all

3) Mistakes, regret, and reconciliation. This is where the “went along with it anyway” could come from, perhaps. I’ve long posited that my “Callum exchanges the cube for Rayla’s life” theory has merit because of how well it would structurally parallel 1x04. We know that Rayla can’t be wholly right / rewarded for her behaviour even though she was right, in a way, that Viren was alive, so she has to have something go hella wrong (which would likely be Callum putting himself in danger on her behalf). However, if we layer the Harrai parallels on top of it, we get an even more complex narrative parallel. 

Just as Rayla was put in danger inadvertently for something she reluctantly agreed to in 1x04, and as the same happened and killed Sarai in the magma titan mission in 2x06, we could see that structure rear its head again in S4, with Rayla, guilty and trying to make up for it, being unwilling to let Callum take a risk on his own even if she disapproves (perhaps pursuing magic or answers about the cube beyond what’s wise). This could lead to her being in danger / taken, leading Callum to not only regret some of the anger he’s held towards her but that his own pursuits put her in danger, again, and swearing to do whatever it takes to get her back / avenge her in his own way

After all...

Tell me she wasn’t your world. 

(Misc thoughts: and if the fandom is right in speculating that 4x03  “Breathtaking” ends with Rayla showing up in Katolis as a cliffhanger, not only does that link back to 2x09 “Breathe” in which Rayla and Sarai are most overtly paralleled to one another, Sarai also had her last breath literally taken, and the whole thing would just be chef’s kiss, especially when Rayla and Sarai are arguably the two people we’ve seen disapprove of but ultimately forgive dark magic for the most)

[ciaossu-imagines]

Hope it’s alright that I’m responding to your admin chatter now with your inbox being open or the day. If it’s still too early, I’m really sorry. Damn. I hope you still got plenty of rest after pulling your all-nighter. And that’s very understandable. I’m also looking forward to finally talking about it since I didn’t say so much when you first mentioned the new chapter but would love to (or at least I hope to) say more about it. Super quickly even 😅 And I’m glad people are since you do deserve that. Yeah, it’s a romance anime and the summary (which I can DM you if you want) does sound quite nice. Do you not generally watch romance stuff? And thank you or saying that 😊 I’m currently rewatching Demon Slayer and I’m at the latest season, but I’m also rewatching Avatar: The Last Airbender so it will probably be when I’ve finished with those two series. I see and it makes sense that that kinda stuff would take up so much room. And what you’re saying about the screencaps is very true. And I hope so as well because it does deserve so much love 😊

Sure thing 💕 And I’ve finally caught up on all of the posts, which is nice. Oh that bit about your manga app really does sound handy and nice. It that website really is. And it’s also colour coded so that also makes it easy to quickly see which episodes are filler and it also even says if an episode is mixed filler. And I see, that makes sense. Sometimes filler episodes can be good but yeah, it is indeed handier going for the source material so you don’t have to worry about filler. It’s nice to hear that you had so much un reading the Iruma-kun! manga 😃 And I see. That’s nice to know and it’s great that there’s still great stuff to come. Did / Do you watch it in the sub or dub?

That’s interesting. Thank you so much for saying all of that. Yeah, not only that but since we last spoke it updated on my computer and now the section that shows all of your conversations has become ever so slightly longer and I just don’t understand why and I do hate the constant,  unnecessary updates on the PC. It’s like they just love changing the way it looks since apart from that, the updates don’t really do anything good (that I can see). I’ll give you a breakdown sine it’s easiest like that. Seasons 1 to 3 are amazing adaptations, just so beautifully done in all ways (so that’s till chapter 190). But then there are two important matches of a different school and instead of putting them into the next season or something, they just shoved them into two OVA’s (so one match per episode), which is so rushed. Still looks great, just probably missed out on some bits. I mean, it definitely did miss out on this manga bit that I saved which is so cute, but since it’s been a while that I’ve read it, I can’t say just how good or bad the adaptation was. Then we have the first part of the fourth season and I honestly don’t know how good or bad an adaptation it is beause I didn’t read the manga for that but it is really nice, and the second part has great music (including one of my favourite OSTs) and stuff but I think it’s not as great as the previous seasons. So yeah, everything until the end of season 3 and the first two OVAs are amazing, it’s just afterwards that the quality unfortunately drops. But yeah, I can’t really quantify it in how much you’ll be missing beause we do get important bits, it’s just not the same quality (when it comes down to the last season) as in the manga. So I’d recommend watching the first three seasons and hopefully it’s back on your manga app or somewhere for free. I almost forgot to say that there are movies which kind of summarise the main match of the first three seasons (so one movie per season) and not only that but they have added scenes from the manga that weren’t put in the actual season. The one for the second movie is really feelsy and there’s this added scene in the third movie that I really love beause of how funny it is. It’s between two of my faves and the way the owl baby just says something is just so funny and gods I love that scene so much. But yeah, since I’ve saved it, I can just as well send it to you if you don’t feel like watching the whole movie. There’s also an extra scene at the end of the movie, which they have on YouTube. Either way, you’ll have to go to the manga if you want to continue since there’s still so much after the latest season, not only the babies grown up but also a very important match that I know is best read because it’s been put into a movie of 1 hour 25 even (that came out last month) though it deserves to be an at least 8 episode long in my opinion season, so yeah, hopefully with all this info, you can make an informed decision. True. It’s very nice. I’m looking forward to hearing all your Haikyuu!! opinions and who of all of the guys ends up being your fave, whether you end up with multiple like me and just anything really. And that does sound like a good plan. And thank you for that 😭

I hope the spoilers were so out of context that it turns out better than you fear. And that’s very understandable. The characters remain their lovable selves after all so no matter what, you’ll always have their scenes to look forward to in the manga. Glad to hear that you’ve recovered from your cold 😄 Oh that sounds so horrible and disgusting. I’m so sorry to hear you had to deal with something like that. And it is good to hear that your workplace is stocked up on those kinds of things. True. And I’m a sucker for justified text so I’m glad that I can always do that to my stories. No problem 😄 Glad to have been of service.

C

That’s perfectly all right! Just as a heads up, by the way, when I shut down my ask box, I’m only closing it to actual new requests like ‘can I have a scenario for reader reacting to Gojo SPOILER ALERT’ (by the way guys, it’s really not nice to toss spoilers into the ask box – while I had guessed at that particular one happening, I hadn’t read it as of that moment)! It’s always open for general chattering and talking to me though, so feel free to send these in! And thank you for that! I slept and slept well for once, that was for sure. I’m always running on not enough sleep, to be honest, so I’m pretty used to being tired anyhow, haha. And please, always feel free to say more about it! It was a great chapter and makes me happy and I’m genuinely interested in your thoughts on it 😊 Okay, that makes sense with the title! I generally don’t watch or read anything that focuses exclusively on romance, nope. I don’t mind romance around other things in the story – for example, YYH definitely has some romance elements, but it’s not the entirety of the story, Ouran has very romantic moments but there’s also comedy and drama elements of it, etc. It’s just not my cup of tea, but I’m always happy when other people enjoy things like that! I hope both rewatches are going well! A:TLA is just one of the most beautifully done shows and stories, in my opinion, and I’m sorely overdue on a rewatch on it myself, honestly! How are you enjoying the rewatches of both?

Wow, you got caught up fast! Thank you for catching up then and I hope you enjoyed most of the posts! It is really handy and I definitely had to search up that website. If it’s the one I found, it has a crap-ton of shows done up too, and from what I can gather, it’s all fans writing these up which is amazing and really shows just how useful fandom can be 😊 There are some good filler episodes, I do agree with that…but some filler arcs really, really drag on or sometimes shows (like Bleach, which is an excellent example) just have wayyy too many filler episodes and it makes it hard to get into them for me. As for watching Iruma-kun! I watched it in the dub, just because I can speed through dubbed stuff compared to a sub. I can get maybe two or three episodes of a sub in a complete day off, but I can get double that for a dub, since it doesn’t hurt my eyes as much. The dub was well done, with some really good voices and the English music was still catchy, though I’ve looked up the songs for the sub and they are amazing as well.

Wow, that sounds like a pointless update! It doesn’t really sound incredibly well-executed, but maybe they wanted more room for people who have to use larger fonts? I can only guess because otherwise I see no point, haha. Thank you so, so much for the thorough and clear explanation! It’s good to know that seasons 1 through 3 are well done at least. I’ll have to google the chapters following that point though, the ones for the OVA’s to see if any important details were missed, just because I’m that sort of person. I like to know all the details and the little bits and pieces. Good music is enough to interest me in the fourth season though…or any seasons of anything. Music is definitely something that can sway me to looking favourably on something, haha! I’m sorry to hear the quality drops though. I’ll definitely keep checking my manga app for it after I finish the first 3 seasons and the movies (which thank you for letting me know about them!) I really do want to read the manga for both that and Demon Slayer, so I might have to use that app at some point, even if I hate the chapter limitation. If I could pay and not be limited on chapters, I would be more okay with that, honestly. I’m still on the first season (again, struggle with subs) but I haven’t really gotten any favourites yet, it’s more like I enjoy everyone for their own individual quirks. They’re all cute and charming in their own ways, even the ones with slightly more noticeable flaws.

Oh no, that spoiler I’m hoping is completely wrong was very specific in that certain beloved characters of mine turn out to be bad guys and it really, really upsets me. But you are right – the characters are their loveable selves in what I’ve read before and I’ll always have those chapters to go and read however many times I want. And thank you – people can be really gross when out in public, haha, especially sick people but at the same time, I try to keep a kind mind. I am with you – a good bit of justified text is always nice and again, thank you! I hope you’re doing well, my dear 😊

[onewomancitadel]

I don't want to go gather screencaps but I think it's really interesting how Jaune's reflection in the crossroads is of himself looking young and innocent. It's likely he can't ever get back to being both of those things at the same time (you could expand here on a type of mythical bargain but I'm not sure they'll go that far) but what I think is interesting is that it's not like he's been innocent and dumb for the whole show.

It's probably better that this is a more conversational post in that I had really wondered they were doing with him post-statue scene and through V7/V8 because he'd returned to a position of complacency. It makes sense in retrospect because he did what he did in the finale, and it was basically meant to upset that status quo.

Because before that (V4-V6) had been some of my favourite Jaune characterisation (he's soooo mean and mad hehehe but also he has a compassion superpower 🥰) and so I assumed they had just abandoned that and 'fixed' him so to speak. But the point I'm trying to make here is that innocent dumb totally not mean and angry Jaune is not like a totally true depiction of him, anyway, and in a way Penny is a challenge to this and so is this subsequent development.

It's interesting that the reflection of him is that way, I suppose I'm trying to say, because it's obviously some type of falsehood that had to be broken. On the other hand is the Jaune we know now (that's lived so long alone) the 'real' Jaune? I feel like the only answer here is some type of middle path (he will be spiritually/emotionally changed but physically transformed) mostly because I literally no joke was crying in bed last night because he's lost so much of his life and I love himmmm.

It's interesting from a meta-level perspective of course just because I think it's kind of funny how many people miss what essentially amounts to the majority of his development and how that does sort of play into the character perception in-universe (especially if you do pick up on the thread that the reason he cheated into Beacon was motivated by the idea of what he should be independent of what he materially was).

I still think it's too premature to say what their final position on it will be, but mostly I wanted to draw out some thoughts I had regarding the reflections (Ruby: Summer; Weiss: Atlas; Jaune: Penny and himself) of things that effectively can never come back, but will return in a different way. All of them in some way depicted some essence of falsehood as well. (Summer: is likely a Hound and 'lost' against Salem; Atlas: it was a bad place but still Weiss' home; Jaune: the ones you love are never really gone/the person he thought he was will never come back but he'll become something different).

What I think was most interesting about Jaune is that like... it wasn't even representative of his historic characterisation anyway lol, that he had effectively suppressed for two and then some volumes after burying the whole 'can't kill Salem' thing deep. This is true for the other reflections as well. There are buried truths.

I suppose there's a reassuring sense that I don't think they've necessarily fumbled his character yet.

[montygreen]

4, 5, 8, 12, 18, 20, 28, 32 (I know you've done this one - but link another you feel should have more? Your gifs are great), 33, 39 (especially!), 42: how do you sharpen? is there a faster way than frame by frame? Thank you! 😊

Thank you SO much, anon <3

4. What do you enjoy about making graphics / gifs? Typography can be a lot of fun!! Especially when you pair together fonts you wouldn't think would work well, but that end up looking super nice together. I also really enjoy blending!!

5. What do you dislike most about making graphics / gifs? Sometimes (not always) colouring can be a CHORE. TV seems to either be too dark or too red/yellow. I also really struggle with shapes, any set you see me make with shapes takes about 3x as long haha

8. Your favourite graphic and or gif created by yourself At the moment, that would be the set I have pinned!

12. Font(s) you like using Avenir is a nice font for something basic, Windsong is a beautiful cursive font, Al Nevrada is nice for bigger lettering, earwig factory is just kind of neat

18. What is your go to adjustment / PSD for colouring? I have a PSD I created when I first started giffing Never Have I Ever that I sometimes use as a baseline for colouring, it mostly uses curves to brighten up the scene then colour balance to get rid of the yellow/red tones

20. Your favourite fandom(s) to make graphics / gifs for Right now it would be OFMD because I have brainrot haha

28. Advice for any beginner graphic / gif makers? Users on this site provide the BEST tutorials!! I've learned some techniques I use pretty damn frequently from some blogs I follow here!!

32. The least notes a graphic / gif of yours has ever gotten that you feel deserves way more. (Link it!) I've made SO many gifsets over my time hear (I've been giffing for 6+ years!!) But this gifset I made of Devi Vishwakumar + Maisie Peter's You Signed Up For This DEFINITELY deserves more notes

33. Give us a quick explanation of how you make a graphic / gif? Haha okay let me try. So I open a file in VLC media player, use this to take screencaps and then import these as layers into photoshop. I I make this layers into frames, make sure that the speed is what I want (and that it's looping infinitely) and then I add various layers to colour. Finally, once I've coloured I add any text and other effects of my choosing. (So when I do stuff like blending or layer masking, I always colour first, flatten the frames into layers and then do that sort of manipulation)

39. What software do you use to make graphics / gifs? Photoshop CC!

42. Anything you’re curious about graphic/gif related! Confession: I don't sharpen. I just only use files that are 720-1080 px when I make my gifs. I had a friend share a sharpening action with me a few years ago, but I could never convince myself to try it out.

Ask a graphic / gif maker