#i'll try to find screenshots if you want! i think i have the scene saved in my files because i love it. a lot.

[plulp]

@definegood in remys farm during one of the experiments harper gives you a pink liquid to drink and you can hold it in your mouth and spit it back into his when he goes for a kiss i think? i can't remember it entirely but i think that's the gist of it!

[bbcphile]

Thoughts on character and costume?

I really love how the respective characters have different colour palettes, silhouettes but in particular material/textures to their costuming. Fang Duobing is a little princess so he gets pale pastels, fancy ornamentation and transparent gauzy fabrics which I find so cute, he’s not just rich he’s *expensive* and *pretty* it’s pretty funny that he matches the actual princess in the red leaves mountain case

DFS gets your wide shoulder bad guy rich deep colours with thick layers and lots of metal detailing but it veers towards grand instead of pretty. Hot topic young DFS is leather and studs lmao. Brocade and fur & shit.

LLH is a linen boi and he almost never has any metal on him, we all know his natural material hair ornament meta etc. Interestingly, he does share some colour palette and fabric overlap with FDB, we se him with his tits out transparent outer layer sometimes. No structure all flowy silhouette

someone on here made a post abt their differing sleeve styles but I can’t find it!

I wanted to gush but also do u have any extra costume thoughts + how they relate to one another? You have a great knack for finding good photos of the show too 😅

Thanks for the ask, @lei-llustrations , and I love your analysis of the outfits! I'm so sorry it took me forever to respond! I had grand plans for a full essay analyzing DFS's costumes, and then I ran out of spoons for doing that. (The short version of the point I was going to prove is that his a-Fei outfits have elements of what seem to be his favorite details from his fancier alliance leader outfits, so it seemed like evidence of LLH trying to make up for making him be in disguise and without his power. I'm thinking of the maroon-red one with studs in the sleeves in particular, but there are echoes of his preferences in the other ones, too.)

Since I'll never actually respond if I wait to put that meta together, here's a shorter one, with my thoughts on DFS's official Alliance Leader robes (screenshot taken from ep 40, when delivering the wangchuan flower).

LLH and FDB both call him Di mengzhu in the wangchuan flower scene, because he's clearly dressed in a way that makes this an Official Visit. I find it fascinating that he wears his alliance leader outfit instead of his grey, maroon, and gold outfit that he wears for non-alliance matters (aka. the wedding room outfit, which he also wears for such Xiangyi-related purposes as the reunion duel that doesn't happen and grieving for him in the middle of the night). After all, he's giving LLH a gift to save his life and issuing him a friendly anniversary honeymoon challenge, so you'd think that would call for his dating outfit, not his official garb.

BUT! What if he's using his official Alliance Leader regalia as a way of saying that not only a-Fei/Lao Di, but also Di Mengzhu and the Jinyuan Alliance want him to live? It's more than just essentially creating Peace Treaty version 2.0, and trying to get life back to what could have been if SGD and JLQ hadn't ruined everything: their people at peace, and the two of them meeting for friendly duels rather than death matches. Yes, only LLH and FDB are there to witness it, but by showing up in his Official Capacity, he's also correcting all the narratives about the enmity between himself and Li Xiangyi, and in giving him the flower, he's officially declaring that Di Mengzhu wants Li Lianhua to heal and have his strength and power back more than he wants to gain martial arts power himself.

This is a HUGE deal. DFS formed the Jinyuan Alliance as a way of climbing the ranks of the jianghu, because his goal was to gain strength so he'd never be helpless or forced to do someone's bidding again. And yet, he wears the outfit that symbolizes that striving and his place at the top of it to GIVE AWAY THE FLOWER THAT WOULD CEMENT HIS PLACE AT THE TOP OF THE JIANGHU. He wants Li Lianhua to not just live but also to regain the strength SGD and JLQ stole from him, which would mean that Li Xiangyi would quite possibly defeat him, and he would welcome that, because it's not about self-protection anymore: now, what he wants more than anything else, is for Li Xiangyi/Lianhua to live.

If that's not enough of an emotional gut punch, try this: Di Feisheng told Li Xiangyi at the start of the show that swordsmen shouldn't have weaknesses. Di Feisheng has only really had two "weaknesses" (vulnerabilities might be more accurate): his desiring the wangchuan flower (which led to SGD and JLQ incapacitating him) and Li Lianhua. It feels like a monumental shift to me that, at the end of the show, Di Feisheng hands one weakness to the man who is the other: essentially, he is announcing to the world that nothing is more important to him than Li Lianhua's recovery, and he doesn't care who knows it.

It also feels very pertinent that his official outfit is wedding red, and he's essentially showing up in his fanciest remaining outfit to offer Li Lianhua his heart on a platter priceless magical flower in a box the way someone might show up at the house of their beloved with boxes and boxes of betrothal gifts. Not that DFS explained that or LLH picked up on it, because that would involve better communication skills than either of them had.

[roxtron]

I've gotten an absolute spike of motivation lately so I've been drawing a ton lol. I figured it might be nice to draw fanart based on the more recent events since they're pretty fresh in my mind, and others. This post might have a bit more words than I try to put on my art posts so I'll just start it off by showing the panel of @somerandomdudelmao 's comic I redrew.

Ok so the main thing I wanted to talk about more in this post is- I'm not great with backgrounds and stuff, working off the gray is hard for me, which is why the last fanart I posted didn't have a background lol. I thought about making the lighting more inspired by one of the screenshots of the Hidden City. (Since I assume that's where this scene takes place. Funny enough I tried to find screenshots of any trees for the leaves blowing but I could only find glowing mushrooms haha.) At the end of the day while I was getting ready to start working on the redraw, I clicked the link for the post that helped inspire the next update, too. And oh boy I was absolutely inspired as well. https://www.tumblr.com/tapakah0/722593112900403200/somerandomdudelmao-cass-sensei-this-is-the @tapakah0 Mayybe this type of ramble is better saved for a reblog but I absolutely fell in love with the environment she created in this scene, and that's why I chose to go with that color palette for the environment. Considering my initial plan was the bright yellows, oranges and greens typically used for the hidden city- I gotta say I don't think it would've come across with the same vibe it intended to. With the post I was heavily inspired by, it's just such amazing art, really. I struggle to put it into words but the bright blues really just help give it the calming atmosphere while also keeping the uplifted/hopeful nature of the environment I feel in the recent updates. If you can't tell from some of my votes I really like to work with glows and dramatic lighting lol, and the lighting in this was just amazing, I feel like it worked so well. Wished I could've worded my praise better but unfortunately I am not the best at describing things, especially when they get technical.. If you haven't already I highly encourage checking out Cass' AU and Tapakah's post I linked to especially. I plan to check out her AU too but I haven't gotten around to it yet, but the work I have seen from her is amazing as well. Sorry for getting really rambly on this one. I had a lot to say I guess lol.

[hannahssimblr]

How did you improve so much in a year at building and taking screenshots?! Forever in awe

hahah thank you so much! I'm so happy with my improvement - the answer is ~magic~

nah, really, it's just that when I started Lucky Girl back at the end of 2022, I knew absolutely none of the screenshot tricks - I only ever got ts4 as a way to tell the story, and hadn't played it at all in the years prior. I ended up trying to take screenshots in a game where I didn't even know how to work the teleport function - and you can tell, I fear.

I was also using another platform to share my story at the time, and a lot of the content there kinda looked the same - vanilla, screenshots taken with plumbobs on and the walls down etc. I wasn't using Tumblr so I didn't have any inspiration. Coming here really pushed me to be better and taught me a lot of tricks and new things to add to my game to make it look better - the short of it, is that I just really didn't know better, and I just wanted to write the story. The screenshots felt secondary. I look back and cringe tbh, but I distinctly remember not really bothering that much with them, and thinking that 'just okay' was good enough.

Since then I've learned so much!

The first was how to teleport, and use MCCC to get sims to do couple poses off the lot

I got TOOL and figured all of that stuff out - including to create the illusion of varying heights etc.

I added in more details to the sims, changed any hair and skin issues, and added in skin details galore

I use WW for posing whenever I need something a bit more complex

I got over my fear of having too much CC in my game and just got so much build/buy cc - this made it possible to create the kinds of houses and rooms I imagined in my head - also, experience building helped a lot. In the beginning I was so intimidated, and frankly, unable to make things looked good that I relied on builds from the gallery 90% of the time.

Weirdly, even though I studied film in college, I never applied my knowledge of composition to the screenshots - I just started doing that, and generally trying to think more cinematically.

I got more use to using photoshop to fix screenshots, mix them together and crop them to be more compositionally pleasing. I also did that tutorial about changing the BG of a scene - I do that as a last resort, but it really works.

RESHADE - this was the biggest one. That DOF really changed my screenshot game - there's a point in lucky girl where I started using it, and you can see the instant difference.

Lighting mods - I use sunblind, and I also use the ghibli replacement clouds. I have a few others also to fix the shadows and lighting in general

Being more intentional with poses. I got a bunch of new ones with more subtle expressions that I felt suited the tone of my story better. I think the exaggerated ones are super cute, but they always seemed too much for my story. I also got animations for even more natural movement in scenes. Sometimes I'll make my own, too, if I can't find exactly what I am looking for

The eye trick was a huge gamechanger - I use it almost every single shot, and truly couldn't live without it.

Relight is a recent addition to my game - I only figured out how to use it around the end of part 2 of Lucky Boy. I don't use it a lot, but it was great more some of the dramatically lit festival scenes, and whenever I want some lamplight on a character (Or to just balance out a dark part of the shot)

camera mods have helped me gain more control of my scenes, along with the CTRL 5/6/7/8/9 camera saving trick. I use this a lot too, especially when I need to characters to look at each other with the eye trick and they won't do it at the same time (recent example below)

All of that is basically how I did it! It was a whole process but I'm so pleased because I look at the old screenshots and just think, damn, I've come so far!

More examples of the same scenes redone, because it's fun

[lunarleonardo]

hihi!!! :D fanfic author to another fanfic author hehe

i’ve read all of your drv3 fanfics and they are very intriguing, in canon characterizations, plot driven stories that make me very happy to read and look forward for more! (abso love trans shuichi hc too aaa)

i was wondering if you make pre-planned outlines for your fanfics or do you go straight into writing and planning it as you go? i’m struggling in finding a fitting method myself to write my fanfics because i often jump straight into writing, but that got me stumped in my writings at times. asking for advice because i really love your compelling writing style but you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to :D!

First of all... Hi! :D Thank you so much!! I do my best <3 💕

Second... Oh boy, I sure do have a process xD (this might be a long post but I like yapping and overexplaining so bear with me qwq)

if you don't want to read it all though, the shorter answer is: Kind of? I don't fully plan it out, but I don't always totally wing it. I take notes and I build off of important scenes, and then I jump in and hope for the best lol

When I first decide I want to write something with intent to post it, I create a document soley for *notes*. Theres a few things I note before and when writing.

1. I replay/rewatch the canon game and take notes on everything I possibly can. For example! I'm replaying DRV3 chapter 5 (cus i, unfortunately, had an idea q_q). I note down what I see as important or what really stands out to me :) Hell, sometimes I'll even "transcript" down canon dialogue! For example, this is what some of my notes look like (ss1 is taken from my drv3 c5 notes, ss2 is taken from my blue eyes notes):

2. Little things matter. When starting my notes, I often write down the date I started and the basic synopsis of what the story will be about. I try to think of a name for the fic later because my #1 weakness is naming things >.> ... But also! Writing down the important details of your story is suuuper helpful, because you don't want to lose track of stuff like that!! It can prevent accidental retconning, unnecessary repetitions, and stuff like that 'cause i ran out of examples... Oh well. Here's a screenshot of the start of my notes for Motive 5 (⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠)

3. Believe it or not... i don't always plan ahead. I write a lot of my fics with one or more certain scenes in mind, and then I blink and there's suddenly a 7k word document in front of me and Oh Fuck I accidentally made a whole fanfic on that one idea. It happens more than you'd think. Using Motive 5 as an example again, there were a few scenes I had in mind when I was first writing! I don't remember what order they came to me in, but a few significant ones I fell asleep to was Shuichi losing his hand, Hajime and Maki facing off, Nagito and Shuichi meeting after the Coffin Puzzle, and the aftermath of Shuichi's "punishment" (PS. did you know he was originally gonna be tortured with sound? then i wanted to hang him from the ceiling periodically, but i gave that up for the "detention" theme.) this one is getting long but when it comes to planning, I always build off of important scenes in my mind. "How can I make this happen?" "What do I do to make this/these character(s) react like this?" or, my favorite... "What can I do to totally fuck up these sad gay losers?"

You mentioned you get stumped writing sometimes, and THAT'S OKAY. i do too. Chapter 8 of Fever Frost was a whole ordeal because I realized "wait. Kokichi would never confess his feelings first in this situation??!!!" While planning ahead may certainly help save you from some of those moments, they won't stop it entirely. It does feel really refreshing when you manage to skirt your way around the issue, so really what can you do ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

So yeah, I do kind of plan ahead. I plan MOST of the plot (I didn't even know I was gonna kill someone in Fever Frost at first >.>) and then as you write, stuff tends to tie together and build from there. In my experience, 70% of writing is just "shit kinda happens" xD

This is just how I do it, and it's okay if it doesn't work for you. I'm just the kind of person that will replay an entire game to write a fanfiction (⁠─⁠.⁠─⁠|⁠|⁠）I hope this could help a little, though! Good luck on your fics! :3💕

[myrefugeblog]

Legends of Tomorrow S01E05 - Fail-Safe

Here you can find the rest of the episodes.

Let's finish this ark!

Still laughing every time this scene shows up.

I finally remembered what this scene reminds me. I have a false image of the Master's trial from "Doctor Who The Movie".

What! No what did you do to Cisco? Monsters! No his tone is completely off. It’s creeping me.

Interesting. I thought it was just a dream/delirium.

Savage looks a bit ragged. Is it a bad air day? Stein is more put together than him.

Poor Jax, no it is NOT your fault. Stein made his own choices.

Random screenshot, just because she's amazing.

Hey, look like Len doesn’t know what to do whit himself. His partner is missing and he knows he’s the only one caring.

Just putting this one here.

Every time I see Rip I want to punch him, jerk.

OMG LEN!

One day I'll come back just to gif every time he twists his hands. I hate I couldn't make the lighting better...

Get punched liar.

It’s time for the mandatory Sara’s fight scene.

Hummm. I would like more if they smashed his face more.

At least Ray has Mick, I hate to think what could happen to Ray alone. I don’t know if Ray has 0 self preservation skills, or if he’s just playing. Smiling and trying to make small talk?

Rip, are you saying you’re sending only 2 people to break in the prison? The same prison no one have ever broke in before… Are you serious? I just…

And gets worse and worse. Like I know that Len’s die at the end of this season, but I’ll be surprised if no one else dies too. Rip just doesn’t care.

Hey, Len is right here. Sara you can rationalize the better you can, but it’s fucked up. Rip’s first and only alternative is kill him. Like… Just kill him.

So… Atomwave? I'm in. Like, I’m enjoying their dynamic here. Poor Ray just can’t control himself and poor Mick is just pondering if he saves or lets the boy get himself killed.

Yeah… Not playing dumb, he just don’t have self preservation skills.

Mick? Mick? Hey… Ray’s being beaten. Mick! (Laughing hard here.)

WTF. No, no pointy thing touching skin. Nononnononono

Stop right there! I don’t want to see it! Hate seeing any kind of cutting flesh scene. Sorry, let’s jump to the next scene please.

Poor Ray. (Should be Rip) Did they just left him there?

As I said before: Mick doesn’t care YET.

Is now when they bond, isn’t?

TBC

[lampmanliveblogs]

Alright, alright, I was being a bit facetious in my previous post. I don’t think Boscha and Amity were ever an item, at least not until stated so. Then again, things like ”canon” has never stopped shippers before. have it? And I can imagine that there emerged quite a few fanfics based solely on this scene. The language used is very reminiscent of your ex showing up, drunk on appleblood, asking you to please take them back, they’ll be better this time.

All these words I say Don't mean anything I realize Can I make you stay? I'll be better this time I'll be better this time To you

But yeah, like I talked about before, Boscha went from being just a high school bully, to being a high school bully with trauma and a seriously shoddy support network in the form of Kikimora. With her friends and family gone, Boscha sees reuniting with Amity as a way to regain some semblance of normality in the crazy world she finds herself in. The world may have gone insane, but at least there is something for her to hold on to, quite literally by the way she tackles Amity in the next shot. 

I believe that Boscha feels hopeless; after facing down The Collector’s spies and watching her teammates and friends, as well as all the adults get taken, she believes there is nothing they can do but to hide away in Hexside and continue to live there. And together they can rule Hexisde, just like before. No, even better!

I gotta say, for a character that’s been pretty one-note, they’ve done a great job of giving her some depth while still feeling natural.

(unrelated, but I kinda dig Boscha’s new look. the sportswear as armor works. plus, her grudgby make-up kinda resembles tears, or running mascara from crying. symbolism!)

((not 100% sure, but I think that was the right use of the word facetious?))

Boscha: ”I won’t let you leave again!” Amity: ”Boscha, you’re hurting me!”

Jeez Luise, all the, erm… Boschity? Amischa? What would you even call that ship… um, I’ll bet all the Amity/Boscha shippers (all three of you) still around in the post Lumity era went absolutely feral when this episode aired. The potential for angst just skyrocketed.

Now, that is the crux, isn’t it? Boscha desperately needs Amity, but Amity doesn’t need, not particularly want Boscha around in her life anymore. And in her attempts to hold on, Boscha inevitably only ends up hurting Amity.

Okay, I had to rewind the scene a few times, but I did catch it on the third time (and then I had to do it two three four more times to get the screenshot). Right after Mattholomule summons this smokescreen, he and Amity run away… except they appear to have switched places.

Then, while they’re running away, Boscha kicks the head of the statue Mattholomule made towards him, only for him to catch it… with a pair of gauntlets, similar to what Amity uses, even summoning a purple spell circle to summon them. When Boscha shoves Mattholomule aside to get to Amity, Mattholomule drops the illusion, revealing it was actually him playing the role of the Blight.

Gus and Luz pulled a similar trick in Clouds on the Horizon. And just like in that episode, the trick was really obvious in hindsight, yet I still didn’t call it. Though this one at least went by a bit faster.

Also, Matty calls Gus Augustus; returning the favor for Gus calling him Mattholomule this whole time.

"We can still save your teammates. Will you let us try?”

Like I said before, after witnessing her teammates and the adults be defeated so easily and taken away to who knows where, Boscha lost hope. Right now, she’s not fighting to save the world, or even to save one or a few people. She’s fighting to keep some small sliver of her old life.

Amity is the last of Boscha’s friends who haven’t been taken, so Boscha is going to fight to keep her from disappearing again. But… I think she might be starting to realize that it’s a losing battle too. Thus she finds herself stuck between a rock and a hard place (i love that expression). She either risks it all trying to get her teammates back, which will probably end up with her and the few people still left being turned into puppets. Or she tries to keep the few people left contained and somewhat safe within the school, regardless of their wishes.

And I'm just saying Boscha, a fellow triclops, Tien Shinhan was hopelessly outclassed by Cell, yet his defiant stand against the Semi-Perfect lifeform remains one of the most badass displays in all of Dragonball.

Well, I can’t say I ever expected them to kill Gus off screen, but oh well. This is what happens when you cut an entire season down to three specials the length of six full episodes. Rest in peace, Augustus. You will be missed.

Nah, it looks like they’re down in the detention pits as well, Kiki and Boscha must’ve gotten to them as well after they ambushed Willow.

[noelle666]

Halsin x Tav scene - Removal of "Regret" from the glaive 'Sorrow"

So, as I said earlier I have some thoughts about the "Regret" effect on Halsin's glaive. Long story short: I think it would be very interesting to see a scene with this effect being removed because of several reasons:

Death of Isobel Thorm was not Halsin's fault and Isobel forgives him (prior to the scene);

Halsin finds strenght to accept and forgive himself (he is, I think, very stubborn and kind of got used to carry a load of guilt on his shoulders. He might be scared of changes because they may hurt people around, especially people he cares for, so the druid needs a little help);

Halsin can gain an ability to use glaives;

This scene can be a nice base for the start of Halsin x Tav romance.

So, all what you will read below is a FANFICTION scenario, born by my mind. I will use my Tav as base (her name is Noelle, she is Ilmater cleric, neutral good) but I'll use Tav name anyway, only her abilities will be used (because it is obvios to do such things with character you are familiar with). I'll try to add some notes about how I see some dialogues with different classes though but maybe later. Ok, let's go. Again, there might be some mistakes because I am not a native English speaker, so forgive me. And also, since in is a fanfic/scenario-ish thing there might be some OOC.

I also put a screenshot just for the mood. Yes, it is the scene from Act 3, but ah, never mind, let it be here.

The scene takes place right after the victory on Ketheric Thorm (the end of Act 2). The land and Thaniel are saved. Halsin had a conversation with Isobel, she forgives him for her unintentional death and reasures him she never blamed the druid. Halsin feels relieved, but something still bothers him.

Night time, Halsin sits on a broken tree trunk at some distance from camp. Tav is looking for him and finally sees the druid with his eyes closed - the glaive "Sorrow" is lying on his lap, he is holding it with both hands. He hears Tav closing in, opens his eyes and looks at her.

Tav: I didn't want to intrude. I started to worry when I saw you are not at the camp.

Halsin: Do not worry. I needed to think, to process all what had happened in these several days. So many lives, so many things were involved. Just like in that day.

Halsin welcomes Tav to sit next to him, Tav sits, looks at Halsin and then at the glaive.

Halsin: For all these years I never believed in luck and destiny. I knew "I" had to do what's needed, I knew "I" need to grab every possibility which could help me erase Shadow Curse when I am ready with my preparations. It was my duty, my responsibility, my mistake and only "I" need to set everything right and undone what is wrong. This was the goal of my life. And now, at last, after all these years, my duty is done. What is it if not luck? Or maybe Oak Father brought you to me because he knew you would help me? What is it if not destiny? *Halsin chuckles*

Tav: I was happy to help you. But I feel something still bothering you. Aren't you happy? Thaniel is saved, Isobel is alive and Ketheric got his punishment.

Halsin *looks at his glaive, sighs*: I guess I got used to be guilty. The load was on my shoulders for a century, I knew it was there but after some time I started to realize that maybe I'll have to carry it until my final days and accepted it. I knew even after dealing with the Shadow Curse I will not bring back the dead girl to live, I may only erase part of my guilt. But... she is alive, and she forgave me even though she had all right to not do so. But she said it was not my fault. I thought these words will bring peace to my soul yet I still cannot... cannot forgive myself.

Tav: We cannot change our past, but some things can be seen differently when you learn about different perspective. And that can help in building future.

Halsin *smiles*: Words of wisdom indeed.

Tav *smiles*: I think I can help you a little more. May I? *points at the glaive*

Halsin *looks at the glaive, than at Tav surprisingly, gives her the weapon*

Tav [Cleric of Ilmater] *prays inwardly to Ilmater to help, asks him to help with Halsin's forgiveness, asks him to erase 'Regret" effect. "Regret" is erased* There, take it. *gives the glaive back*

Halsin *takes the glaive, his eyes are filled with even more surprise*: it's... gone. *stands up and swings the weapon several times as if fighting unseen enemy* It is gone! *yells* Ha! The glaive feels much lighter than before! *looks at Tav* How? Why? You...

Tav: You needed this. I just pushed you to the right direction, all of the rest was done by you.

Halsin *puts the glaive on the trunk of broken tree*: But still you helped me again althought you had all rights to not do it. I want to thank you but I am not sure if I could thank you enought.

Tav *stands up*: You don't have to, honestly. But I guess you will not alow me to just leave now. *chuckles* Then... How would you thank a friend?

Halsin *comes close to Tav, embraces her, then gently and closely looks at her while still holding Tav. His eyes meet her eyes, then he looks at her lips, his fingers touch her cheeck*

Tav *allows him to kiss her*

Halsin and Tav *kiss for couple of moments*

Halsin *stops kissing Tav, he looks a bit confused or unsure whether or not his action was appropriate even though Tav was open to kiss him*: I... We need to go back to camp, or others may start looking for us. You go first, do not worry about me.

Tav *nodes understandingly, smiles*: It is alright, I understand. See you tomorrow. *leaves*

Halsin *looks at Tav's silhouette dissapearing behind trees, still in a little shock. He grabs his glaive and comes back to the camp*

Halsin gains an ability to wield glaives.

[halleyuhm]

Trick or treat!!!!!!! - @maddstermind

You've got a treat!

Here's a chat scene from Route LXVI. I had to ultimately put it aside because it was not progressing the plot in an already slow chapter, but it was fun to write, and it worked as a great character study. Plus, it marks the beginning of Liv's worst lie~~

The layout is a bit weird because I normally write my chats adjusted to the left or right according to who is talking. Here in Tumblr it's a bit different. Bear with me. There it goes:

You:

Hey remember this convo from the neolitic era

Image

Image

Image

Highzs🎱:

LMAOOO where did you find this?

You:

Image

Image

Got them by digging in ancient discord convos

Highzs🎱:

Damn I didn't know grammar

That youre is killing me

You:

Aw I think you were trying to spell cool

like pot8os

Highzs🎱:

pot8os I'm deceased

You:

When you used to write everything wrong on purpose

Highzs🎱:

to mess up with you

so you wouldn't know when I actually spelt something incorrectly due to me being an idiot

You:

being dyslexic is not cinamons with being and idiot

Highzs🎱:

Synonyms*

You:

I did it on purpose!

Highzs 🎱

You are missing an n too

You:

I don't rely on the autoccorrect

Highzs 🎱

Such a helpful tool, though

Could have saved me some misunderstandings

You:

HAHAHAH

LOWZS I JUST REMEMBERD

That one time you told us that you were sick

Highzs 🎱

HAHAHAH NOOOO

You:

YOU TOLD US YOU HAD ANIME

And I spent the whole afternoon searching "anime illness" on Google

and getting top tens instead of answers

Highzs 🎱

HAHSHHSHS SORRY

But that's the reason you finally watched Your lie in April, so worth it

👉👉

You:

👉👉

Probably my fave dyslexia moment

Highzs 🎱

And meanwhile Soda like

Sucks dude, wanna play some Smash until you get better or

You:

HAHAHAHAH

I distinctly remember the moment you said you just needed iron and he went like what

Highz 🎱

He still teases me about it

Did you know that

In those screenshots you sent

In that conversation

I was kinda

Hinting

Towards him

You:

WHAT

I JUST CHIKES WHAT

Highzs🎱:

WHAT??

You:

CHOKED

I'm rearesding everything

Highzs🎱:

Hahaha really???

Ok you are

Hey runt come back down

You:

I'm back

Dammit Lou

I'm going to be so honest

During that whole conversation

I thought you were talking about me

Highzs🎱:

HAHAHAHA I KNEW IT RUNT

The moment you said

"You know you could tell me anything right?"

You:

I was so abviously trying to ease you idiot

I wanted to be a good friend regardless of the feeling situation

I was so off though, damn

Highzs🎱:

Awwww that's so sweet

I actually did like you for a while though

I was pretty confused

You:

Haha no bet

I'm glad you told me <3

Even though I already knew it lmao

Highzs🎱:

Me too

Now

*uno reverse card*

Tell me who you were referring to

You:

NO SHOT

Highzs🎱:

As that written statement proves

We made a promise for a 50/50

Anytime one of us confesses, the other has to do so

You:

Yeah ._. but I wanted to talk about the present, not the past

Highzs🎱:

The present? Weren't you with Percy?

You:

Uhm I could be poly

Highzs🎱:

Alright, intriguing

But first things first

Years later I'll know who you were referring to in that convo

You:

Man, you already know

Highzs🎱:

Say it

Saaaayyyy it

I'm waiting

You:

Man we were rivals and didn't even know it

Highzs🎱:

Nameeeee

You:

Good grief

It was Soda

Highzs🎱:

WHAT

You:

Don't act surprised you knew it

Highzs🎱:

Okay runt

Why did you never tell me

You:

You've activated my trap card!

Same question back to you

Highzs🎱:

Sexuality struggles plus one of the pivotal points was you

You:

I didn't expect a sound answer

Highzs🎱:

You?

You:

Struggles

Highzs🎱:

Fair enough

You:

I'm returning now to compensate though

I didn't send the screenshots for nothing

If you will also tell me your name, of course

Highzs🎱:

That's the promise we made so

You:

100%?

Highzs🎱:

Cross my heart and hope to die

On three?

You:

Uhh nice

On three

1

Highzs🎱:

1

You:

2!

Highzs🎱:

3!

I like Maeve

You:

I think I like Gray

HWAT

Highzs🎱:

What?????

[midoropalace]

Yakuza: Like a Dragon -10-

You can't put a premium on this adventure.

With the completion of the main story, I have now unlocked two options: New Game + and Premium Adventure. New Game + allows me to start the adventure over while keeping my progress for most combat-related achievements, like levels. I can also start a new game or new game + on a higher difficulty, which apparently greatly boosts my battle rewards. I've never been a huge fan of New Game + in a video game... IDK why. It's not something that's ever appealed to me, and I'm especially not sure why I'd want to do it for a game that doesn't offer me much choice to begin with. But perhaps I'll regret my decision when it comes time to do the grind.

Premium Adventure, on the other hand, is essentially an "endless play" mode. The game dumps me back into the game world in the exact state I was right before the credits started rolling, and I can do pretty much anything I want. Upon loading my Premium Adventure save, I get notified that I have unlocked the "Final Millennium Tower", which is apparently a post-game dungeon of sorts. The trophy list indicates that there is also a "True Millennium Tower", whatever that is.

Speaking of trophies, this is essentially what I am going to use Premium Adventure for: trophy hunting! I feel pretty confident that I can get the Platinum Trophy in this game, so I decide to start hunting ASAP. The first thing I do is get a trophy that I could have easily gotten earlier in the game: a trophy for changing Kasuga into eight different jobs. Oops.

The next trophy I go for is the Sheep Sheep Slapper trophy. This requires that I complete all of the Seagull Cinema movies without falling asleep. Going to the movies with a party member gives you and them bond points, so I take this opportunity to grind out Joon-gi and Zhao. The actual minigame itself isn't too hard -- the only movie I "failed" was the very last one, but I was able to get through it on my second try. With an S rank! (it wasn't displayed on the trophy screenshot, but trust me -- I got it)

With Joon-gi now at max bond level, I decide to view his final Drink Link. I go to Survive only to find that he's not here... The bartender informs Ichi that Joon-gi got a phone call and hustled out of the bar. Suspicious! Ichi assumes Joon-gi must have gotten a call from the Jingweon mafia and rushes after him.

Of course, Joon-gi knows Ichiban is following him -- and he's glad, because he actually would like for Ichiban to give him some back up. The two head to a strip club on the other side of town, where the Jingweon mafia appear. Being the haters they are, they spew haterade at Joon-gi for impersonating their late boss. Angered, they decide to give Joon-gi a piece of their mind.

But given that Joon-gi is about 40 levels ahead of the Jingweon, I'd say they picked the wrong person to mess with.

After whooping their asses, Joon-gi explains to the Jingweon why he continues to serve as the boss' body double: he wants what remains of the Jingweon to come to Ijincho so they fight the person impersonating their leader. Then, the Geomijul can take this opportunity to provide them shelter and acceptance into their family. Touched by altruism, the Jingweon mafia members shake hands, and Joon-gi's Drink Link ends.

Meanwhile, my husband is having a dilemma: Mabuchi is back in Ijincho, and Seong-hui is surely going to kill him if she finds him. Zhao relays to Ichiban that he wants to help Mabuchi escape from Ijincho and away from the Geomijul. Mabuchi might be a dick, but he's still like a brother to Zhao.

While speaking to the others in the bar, I got the offer to grab drinks with Saeko. Thinking nothing of it, I accepted, which led to a very interesting scene.

While talking over drinks, Saeko discusses Ichiban's love life. She questions if he's ever though about finding a girlfriend, to which he replies that it would be nice, though he's unsure if he'd ever find a girl that could love an ex-felon. Saeko forgoes all pretenses and makes it very clear that she really, really wants to fuck Ichiban. And Ichiban, as dense as ever, questions why Saeko doesn't have a boyfriend yet.

Ichiban heads upstairs to take a nap. While sleeping, he is visited by Saeko, who dotes over him then proceeds to give him a big kiss -- which wakes Ichiban up. Saeko expresses confusion when Ichiban asks about the kiss, leading him to think it was all just a dream. The lipstick mark on his cheek says otherwise. Very... interesting.

In any case, the other big task is to play a few rounds of Dragon Kart. This is a minigame I neglected pretty early on, so hopefully I can pick it back up pretty quickly.

Now that we're sitting on a cool 12.7m yen, I decide to just go balls out with the upgrades and get all 3 cars up to max. Cause why not?

For the most part, the tournaments aren't too difficult. In each cup, you are effectively racing against one of the three rivals introduced earlier in the story who I completely forgot about until now. But it never feels like you're truly competing against them. With my maxed out carts, I pretty consistently was getting 4-5 second leads over them and never dipped below 1st place once. The real issue I had was the controls. Maybe Mario Kart spoiled me (okay, it definitely spoiled me...) but I found the controls extremely stiff and unresponsive. But once I got used to them, the minigame became pretty easy.

The real challenge comes after completing 3 of the 4 tournaments. To unlock the final Dragon Cup, we need to defeat all of the rivals in head-to-head races. Each race takes place on a different track, with the added gimmick of there being a heavy fog effect on every track. This was really more of a test of how well I memorized each track, and I think I memorized them pretty well. I defeated each rival on my first try. Defeating the rivals unlocks new vehicles, which you have to purchase and upgrade. In total, I spent millions of yen purchasing and upgrading the vehicles. Ouch.

Defeating the Data Drifter leads to a very funny interaction between him and Akira, where the latter calls the former a virgin. The Data Drifter then complains to the Dragon Kart organizer about being a virgin... Bro, wtf is this interaction lmao.

This interaction does unlock the next rival race, however -- against Akira. The race against Akira is definitely a little more tense. It's still a fog-covered course, but Akira actually kept pace with my fully-upgraded vehicle for most of the race. He never overtook me, but it was still too close for my comfort.

Completing Akira's rival race seemingly unlocks another rival race, however. Just how many more rivals are there? This guy's manner of speaking makes me think he'll be the final one before we unlock the Dragon Cup, so that's what we'll have to do, I guess...

[iwasbored777]

Sorry I accidentally deleted the ask, but luckily I took the screenshot. Here's the link to that post if anyone wants to see it.

It's ok that you're asking, you just want to hear more opinions on that. I did see takes like this. What people ship is their thing, I can't change it, but I personally disagree with most of those because:

Firstly, Chat Blanc and Ephemeral worked perfectly until Gabriel ruined everything. It would literally have no negative effects to the current timeline what so ever if there wasn't for him. Even that scene when Adrien jumped to save Marinette from akuma and revealed his identity to Nathalie wouldn't have happened if Gabriel didn't tell Marinette that she is not good enough for his family just to make her feel negative emotions. And Ephemeral would've worked again if Gabriel didn't ruin it. It was his fault, I think that the fandom needs to understand this once and for all. He is the only one to blame and the first one who f*cked it up.

Oblivio also had nothing to do with them being together. They lost their memories and fell in love without any secret, barrier or anything between them (you know, the "you can't know each other's identities" rule that Master Fu put there for a reason), it was just them and they fell in love which didn't depend on the rest of the world, in the end everything was back the way it was and they forgot. They had to defeat the akuma. It doesn't mean that this is the way it should be, they were not happier this way, but this is the way it ended. I don't understand the criticism with this one. This episode not only ended the true selves discourse but also proved that Adrien and Marinette already unconsciously love each other. THEY FEEL IN LOVE IN TWO MINUTES, PEOPLE!

Desperada was about how they couldn't work together ONLY because Adrien couldn't stop flirting and they were distracted. I mean, is there ANYONE who can do the job successfully if they flirt all the time and let their mind run wild? Ladybug and Chat Noir love flirting during their mission but it's more playful and they are still professional. And Oblivio is the best example of them doing their job without flirting and focusing on the mission and they won. They were in love in Oblivio but they still got the job done. So it is possible. How else were they defeating Hawk Moth in Chat Blanc and Ephemeral timelines?

Kuro Neko... Wow! I have a feeling that 12 people actually understood the meaning of that episode. Actually 12 people understand this show in general. This fandom can be exhausting. I even wanted to write and analysis on Marinette/Ladybug's relationship with Chat Noir this season but I'll try to make it shorter now, I'll write it one day tho. If I remember correctly, Kuro Neko was opposite of Desperada. Marinette wasn't the one who chose Adrien for her partner, she didn't even consider Adrien in the first place, before remembering that she can't know Chat's identity. Again, the episode wasn't about them not being able to work together, but because they need to focus on work, not flirting. When Ladybug stopped thinking about Cat Walker she did the job with him perfectly. And it was about her proving her loyalty to Chat Noir and how much she missed him and Adrien going through identity crisis. Kuro Neko was the character development (more like awareness) for Marinette to realize why she works with Chat Noir better than with anyone else.

Strike Back mistake wouldn't have happened at all if there wasn't for Félix. Marinette wouldn't have been able to give the miraculous to Adrien because he was already Chat Noir. She would've had to find someone else, or maybe use the dog herself. Once again it's Adrien's family. It's not about Love Square at all. And if Adrien wasn't Chat Noir and she gave the miraculous to him, this mess would've been avoided, exactly because Félix wouldn't have been in the episode. And in the episode Ladybug DID want both Adrien and Chat Noir, which is her accepting "both sides" of him. Just like Kuro Neko was about Marinette understanding the importance of her partnership with Chat Noir, she embraced both him and Adrien now. So it's not a mistake because she wanted to give the miraculous to Adrien, it was just Félix, the same way Gabriel messed up Chat Blanc and Ephemeral.

And those comments about how Adrien will not be ok with dating a girl who arrested his father or Marinette not being ok with dating a son of a terrorist is funny because not only that Adrien would do the right thing as always, he knows his father ain't sh*t, the only reason he was conflicted was because of a chance to save his mom plus he saw his mom's corpse (!!!!) of course the kid was messed up! Of course he will rather put his father, who abused him, behind the bars and try to leave that part of his life behind him, than betray "the person he loves the most" and "the best part of his life". Gabriel is literally a man who abused Adrien his entire childhood... To have a problem dating a girl who saved the world? Lol. Plus she won't be so happy about Gabriel going to prison either exactly because of Adrien losing his father. And Marinette to have a problem dating Adrien? Lol! Adrien is literally NOTHING like his father, plus she out of all people would love to give anyone a second chance (even to Hawk Moth when she offered him a second chance in Heroes Day part two), and here she doesn't even have to give Adrien a second chance because it's not him who messed up, she's not going to go "eeewww it's my arch nemesis' son, gross", she's going to help Adrien move on. He literally has nothing to do with his father's crimes, plus Marinette knows Adrien will definitely not be happy with all that. Of course she'll hate Gabriel but there is no reason for her to dislike Adrien or feel uncomfortable being with him. Plus his family caused Marinette a lot of suffering too, so why would he hate her for imprisoning them? After all this time, Adrien's love for Ladybug is only growing stronger and Adrien's hatred for his family is also getting stronger so of course he will want her to be safe and people who hurt/abused both of them as far as possible. It's so out if character for them not to be in love anymore because of that.

People understand the episodes they way they want to, that's the thing with our fandom. It doesn't help that Thomas doesn't know how to explain them properly when someone asked him. We are really controversial when it comes to pretty much everything. Miraculous Ladybug is either horribly written or written so subtly that people write analyses on how well hidden every detail is. It's not the best, it has some flaws, but the fact that people can't understand a show so plain is unbelievable. But you can't change people's opinions. Everyone understands the episodes the way they want to. This is my understanding.

I hope my points helped you/make sense and I hope I didn't forget anything.

[monochromemedic]

Your Spamton shirt comic has awakened something in me. I need to get this off my chest since I'm transfixed by his.

Because let's be honest, the tits play a big role – pun intended. But, maybe it's also the way his face seems to light up when he greets you, or how you barely pay attention to his face once he reaches for the neck of his shirt. The scene's so intimate...and he's so eager to show you, too, but he's still a little silly (affectionate) about it, as he should be.

...well, that's just my interpretation. You may have noticed I'm avoiding technical terms right now. This isn't just because I'm light on art theory but maybe to help you see what I'm trying to get at.

You see, I'm one year older than you and have plenty of free time. Yet I don't draw as quickly or often as you, and what seems to you like a trivial doodle is, to me, a happy moment I couldn't have crafted myself even if I wanted to. This isn't just about this piece, you can confidently apply it to your entire body of work and for many other people. No one looks at your work as closely as yourself, picking apart its every flaw for hours at a time. Artists tends to view their own art poorly, even– ESPECIALLY those you look up to. But when you're a viewer, *technique* can quickly turn into *technicality*. So what you draw slowly, who are you racing? It made me feel something! Isn't that what art is about?

We don't know each other at all, but chances are you started drawing because you enjoy(ed) it, whether it's something about your medium of choice, the subject matter, the act of creating itself and what have you. No amount of critique I think can motivate you if you're not having fun. I hope you can give yourself room to make mistakes, and then forgive yourself. Take care.

I know this was sent yesterday but this comment really did mean alot to me. I honestly read it over a few times, had a good cry, hell i even screenshot it and saved it on my computer. I don't know why, maybe cause it was a little funny, maybe because it was deep at least to me but it made me feel something and kinda kicked my ass back into gear. The feedback, the critique, the nice words the spot on feeling of why I started to draw as I kid. It just resonated with me. It was very touching. I don't know how you got that from my silly comic. I feel like that's such a deep dive when I felt like I was just drawing but if I can somehow maybe unknowingly give those feelings into my drawings, if I can give those happy moments. Maybe I can continue on and find a bit of joy on the way. I hope I can forgive myself as well, and I sure as hell know I'll be making a hell of a lot of mistakes that I can hopefully learn from. Thank you

[dreamofasupernaturalchamber]

Dabb's Dream of a Red Chamber: Death's Library (Bo Ming Si) and Dean as Qin Keqing

I've seen a lot of SPN meta on this website, and in typical fashion, I'm YEARS late to the game. But I think there are some things that can only be understood in retrospect, and SPN's structure is one of them. What I'm trying to say is this: when Dabb took over, he turned Supernatural, a Western show about saving people and hunting things, into Dream of a Red Mansion, a Chinese literary classic about inter and intra family conflicts, class conflicts, political conflicts, and above all-- women.

Yes, I know how absurd this sounds. Why on earth would Dabb do that? My guess: because there is no surpassing Dream of a Red Chamber when it comes to metafiction-- the answer to the question "why metafiction?" will probably devolve into speculation about the network, so I won't get into it now.

What really tipped me off was that scene in 13x05, where Dean tries to commit suicide, but ends up Death's library instead. Some necessary background info: there is a scene in the first few chapters of Dream of the Red Chambers where Baoyu takes a nap in Qin Keqing's room (which is scandalous in its own right) and is transported to Taixu Huanjing, a dream world of goddesses in another dimension. The English translation? Taixu = The Void (note how this corresponds to the Empty, which makes its first appearance in 13x04), Huanjing = Dream World. Baoyu comes upon Jinghuan Xianzi, the goddess in charge of this world, who then takes him into a library called Bo Ming Si-- the Office of Unlucky Women-- and shows him books containing the fates of all the women in his family.

Does this sound familiar? Because it should. Here's a screenshot of Bo Ming Si from the 2010 adaptation:

A screenshot of Jinghuan Xianzi leading Baoyu through Bo Ming SI:

A screenshot of how the books are kept:

Now let's take a look at Death's library (pics from Superwiki):

Look at how the books are stacked in both shows. The reason they're stacked horizontally in Dream of a Red Chamber is that Chinese books tend to be very soft. The reason they're stacked horizontally in SPN is???

But that's just a coincidence, you might say. But Dabb doesn't just stop there. He borrows symbols, motifs, character relationships, family conflicts, and more from Dream of a Red Chamber-- he even borrows the structure. I'll talk about the structure and the motifs in another post-- today I'm here to talk about Dean.

Readers familiar with Dream of a Red Chamber might ask at this point-- is Dean Baoyu? No. (I'll talk about Cas, Jack, and Baoyu in a separate post.) So who is Dean?

Billie tells Dean that "every notebook on this particular shelf tells a version of how [he] die[s]." Let's see what Jinghuan Xianzi tells Baoyu-- he's shown three volumes titled "The Twelve Beauties of Jinling." The main volume records the ladies of his household, the second volume records the concubines, and the last volume records the maids.

Dean gets multiple notebooks because he's a combination of multiple characters from the first volume-- he starts off as Qin Keqing, who has multiple identities in the book, despite dying within the first thirteen chapters. Who is Qin Keqing? She is:

- the younger sister of Jinghuan Xianzi.

- the one who teaches Baoyu the matters of love in the dream world. She is his sexual awakening, and even though she doesn't do anything more scandalous than let Baoyu sleep on her bed in the human world, her brother is Baoyu's introduction to gay sex.

- the wife of the first and only son of the legal wife of the older branch of the Jia family. In other words, she's the wife of the future head of the household.

- there are theories that she may be the daughter of a prince who lost power, but I doubt those count for much here.

- she "dies from illness" but according to the "The Twelve Beauties of Jinling," she hangs herself after everyone learns that her father-in-law raped her.

- her death signals the beginning of the end of the four major families; her funeral is far too lavish, as is her coffin (it's made from wood that was originally reserved for a prince's funeral), and it's hinted that this is the beginning of the end of the Jia family, because they've reached above their station.

Now let's see how this matches up with Dean. We know that he:

- has played the reaper and has a special connection with Death.

- teaches Jack about romantic love in 14x06.

- is the head of the household.

- is possessed by Michael at the end of S13, an experience that's coded as rape, and is suicidal for most of S14 as a result. He then brings back a special coffin, which later causes Jack to lose control, which marks the beginning of the end for the Winchesters. Of course, the coffin scene references other media too. Angel comes to mind.

Now let's talk about Qin Keqing's best friend, Wang Xifeng. I'm not implying that Dean is anything like Wang Xifeng (although a case can be made that her panci might have influenced Dean and Cas's storyline, but that's a separate post). I bring up Wang Xifeng purely because I want to compare Dean to Lady Wang, Wang Xifeng's aunt and Baoyu's mother. If you're a Dean stan who's read Dream of the Red Chambers, you're probably livid right now. But think of it this way-- Lady Wang is a victim of patriarchal feudalism, and while Dean isn't a woman living under this sort of oppression, Dabb alludes to a similar power structure, and there's a reason why there are so many posts comparing Dean to the Eldest Daughter.

Late season SPN is where Dabb explores female-centric themes in a male centric show. Yes, I find this absurd too, but that's the choice he made. It's why Amara exists. It's why he brought back Mary. It's why S12-15 is extremely domestic. And it's why he covers a range of female experiences through Dean.

Let me go back to Qin Keqing. If she hadn't died, she would have been in charge of running the household, and she would have done an excellent job. But would she have been happy?

No.

The only other woman who matches Qin Keqing's talents is Wang Xifeng, and she dies relatively young. If she'd lived-- would she have turned into her aunt? Lady Wang is described as "wooden," but we know from Grandma Liu that before she married into the Jia family, she had a fiery personality, just like Wang Xifeng. Marriage turned her bitter. Indeed, Baoyu remarked that marriage turned women from pearls into dead fish eyes. And even though Dean isn't married, the role he plays in his family and his conflicts with Cas (and his resulting dislike of Jack) are very similar to the problems the legal wife of a wealthy man in ancient China would face. Or rather-- they're very similar to the problems the wife of a wealthy man/noblesman in a patriarchal feudalistic society would face. He probably would have identified with Catelyn Stark in GOT.

I'll probably write another post exploring how Red Chamber influenced the intra family conflicts in SPN, but before I do that, I want to talk about one more thing: Qin Keqing's nickname is Jian Mei, which means Both Beauties; she's considered to share both Daiyu and Baochai's beauty. Am I saying that there are shades of both Daiyu and Baochai in Dean's late season characterization? Yes. Dabb leans toward Daiyu = Dean and Baochai = Sam, although he plays with Baochai = Eileen too. Let me give you the shorthand for what these women stand for.

Daiyu = rebellious, bucks societal conventions, dies from a broken heart when Baoyu is tricked into marrying Baochai.

Baochai = obedient, adheres to societal conventions and thus the patriarchy, marries Baoyu but is then cast away because Baoyu decides to become a monk.

Tomorrow, I'll go into greater detail on how Baoyu, Daiyu, and Baochai appear through Cas, Dean, Sam, Jack, and Eileen, and how these choices tie into the finale.

[inessencedevided]

The Untamed, episode 41 - watching notes

Only 10 episodes left 😭😭😭

And we're now entering Nie Mingjue's memories. I have a feeling there's going to be some serious "oh shit!" and "wtf is happening???" going on

Jgy's backstory still moves me, no matter what he did later

I feel like both his and wwx stories are cautionary tales of what happens when you combine a rigid class-system with a mob mentality and top it all of with a healthy amount of "manners over morals"

I feel like JGY main strategy is "hold your tongue and bite your time". I completely fell for his sweet facade in the first few episodes of the flashback

Jo, did NMJ just ram his saber into a stone wall? 😱

NMJ may have anger issues, but he's a good dude

I think he took the "the more perfectly you should be, to leave them with nothing to say" to heart. Like, he never outwardly complains.

Another perfectly timed screenshot I thought I should share :D

Oh, we've seen that before!

How can this be the same person that I thought would be the designated fandom cinnamon role in ep 2/3?? 🥺

I know I'm praising actors left and right during this commentary,but ALL TGE AWARDS for how smoothly JGY changes his demeanor from humble and sweet quasi-servant to "you're not worthy of breathing the same aor as me"

This

And this

Might as well be two different characters

I wonder if, when the NMJ send him away, he realised and regretted, that he had just lost one of the only people who were truly on his side and if he thought it was worth it

One thing I find very interesting in the scene in the Scorching Sun palace is that, jgy is still wearing his hair in the braided style that is customary for the Nie clan. I think I'll try to spot when he changes it

Okay, scratch my earlier musings about if JGY feels genuine regret over how he had to leave NMJ. He clearly doesn't 😐

Gotta give it to him though, he puts gollum to shame with how he switches his personality

Only it's deliberate

And he's not insane

... don't know where I was going with this

So we're at the point where Nie Mingjue wakes in Lan Xichen's arms. Seen that before

Which leaves me asking: WHAT PART OF THIS IS THE ACT??

I wonder though, how they could convince NMJ to become sworn brothers with him after that while story

He does not seem like a man who forgets a grudge easily ^^

That scene of the three of them meditating and playing the Quin is weirdly domestic :D maybe it's just because, so far, we've only seen wwx and lwj in a similar situation together 😅

Why do I still ship Lan Xichen and JGY after all that happened? Because of scenes like these!!!!

JGY *plays Quin ominously*

Didn't know that was possible :D

The fuck???

Why is he coughing blood?

Lwj is playing "Clarity" in the present time to calm him down! Ten points for parallels!

Poor Lan Xichen. Why do I have a feeling that he's the designated buffer between them? 🙈

Sorry for the lack of intelligent commentary, but I'm trying to wrap my head around how much of a puppeteer JGY is ...

I've already mentioned this, but I appreciate the parallels between jgy and wwx and how they differ. Both operate very much outside the orthodoxy, in large part due to them not being born into it. The crucial difference is their goals. One seeks to gain power to not only find his place within the system, but rise above all those who ever looked down on him, too. The other wants to change the system for all those others who are also hurt by it.

Two characters with very similar backgrounds diverging on very different paths

And I appreciate it that it's spelled out in his rant to NMJ here

This is SO telling. I adore this scene! Before I would have calked him simply selfish (and he is, don't get be wrong). But he also probably grew up in a world where he could never be truly save and never feel equal to anyone. Everything be has, he had to fight for.

I just wrote that he and wwx had the same background? I retract that because there is one huge difference. Wwx was loved. From what I've heard, his parents loved him. Then, of course, he has to endure live as a homeless kid, but he was adopted by a foster-father who loved him and had siblings he shared everything with. Of course, he still never felt as if he quite belonged or was enough (Madam Yu saw to that) and that left it's own scars, culminating in all gbe times he rather took on all burdens himself rather than ask for goddam help once. But he was loved. Loved and appreciated and cared for. It seems, that jgy never knew that, probably until NMJ took him as his Vice General. So he learned to survive in the shadows and bite his time until the opportunity arose, never fully trusting anyone.

Does that excuse anything or rid him of responsibility? Nope. But it makes for a damn interesting character

I AM SHOOK!

That exchange between Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao was such a brilliantly crafted piece of dialogue!!! 😱😱😱

Because, if, and I think by now that that's likely, jgy turns out to be the main villain of this arc, then he is one o can at least partially understand. He's right in saying that NMJ has no right to claim that his actions are all just. He's gained his position by virtue of his birth and he's working within a system that justifies itself through mixture of imagined moral high ground and the virtue of blood heritage. No action to uphold that can be truly just.

At the same time, I believe, jgy turned those believes into a self-fulfilling prophecy. He himself schemes and uses other people's worst impulses and the faults in the cultivation world to his advantage. Proofing to himself, again and again, that he is right about them and thus justified in his actions. Enter wwx who tries, who really tries to shove the error of their ways in their faces. (I think I just answered my question from a few episodes back about why jgy seems to be working specifically against wwx 🤔)

Sorry for going on such a tengant

NMJ, did you have to call him a son of a whore? 🙄

The hell is happening to NMJ?

Oh shit, what did he do with the song of clarity? How could you even use that to harm someone??

So he tweaked it?

Oh no 😥😥😥

Let me get this straight. JGY intentionally brought NMJ to the point of qui deviation? 😳

Oh no Huaisang!! 😭😭😭

Xue Yang??? He worked with JGY? 😱😱😱

So he didn't doe of Qui deviation!!!

Fuck, JGY spotted paperman-wwx 😳

Honestly wwx, maybe it's not the best idea ever to put your conscious into something that can be crushed by accidentally stepping on it 😬

That's his sword!!!

Didn't wwx just reveal who he is???

Maybe don't do that?!?!

HE CAN WIELD HIS SWORD AGAIN!!! 😭😭😭

but jgy definitely figured out who he is ... 😐

Still, I'm weirdly proud of him :')

But wait! Why does jgy have his sword to begin with???

Aww, little exhausted paperman-wwx flopping down into lwj's hand 🖤

This episode liveblog has been far too serious so far. Here, have my favourite lan Wangji mood:

I really appreciate how seamlessly this show moves between serious scenes and comedy

Jin Ling going "what do you want?" followed by 5 beats of silence and then

had me wheezing 😂

Oh no, he's hidden everything already, hasn't he?

Wow, even Xichen is defiant now. I sense drama!!!

@sweetlittlevampire @fandom-glazed @elenirlachlagos @allhailthedramallama @luckymoony @kyrrahbird @i-love-him-on-purpose (this episode was enlightening, but still raised more questions. Feels like we're honestly entering the final arc of this show 😔)

[hegodamask]

I think you've already talked about this before but I couldn't find the post on your Tumblr, so I was just wondering what your process was for making animated gifs. Like what methods you use to make them, what software you use, etc? Also, what parts do you find most fun or difficult or challenging? I've started making some animated gis, and while I don't know if I'll ever be nearly as prolific as you are, I was interested in learning more about them.

Oh hey! Thank you!! I don’t think I’ve ever gone through the process of how I make gifs in detail before, mainly because I don’t use Photoshop so I just assume my advice won’t be helpful to anybody. I don’t know how helpful this will be to you, but I’ve done a little step by step walkthrough of how I make a gif with a few general pointers thrown in. I was gonna try and keep it brief but it turned out much longer…..sorry.

I’ve put what I find most difficult and fun at the end, so you can just skip to that if you want.

As for the rest, here goes….

So, background: I taught myself how to make gifs using Serif Photoplus X2 because we used their products in highschool. Then a few years later, I updated to Photoplus X7 (made hardly any difference though). Serif doesn’t even make the Photoplus range anymore (they still sell X8 but it’s rubbish and crashes a lot, and their new product Affinity doesn’t even let you make gifs!). I’ve tried to use Photoshop in the past and everyone says it’s better, but I’m stuck in my ways like the stubborn old woman I am.

Anyways, when I want to make a gif I start off by capturing screenshots for the frames. I’ve always used GOM Player and their “Burst Capture” option to do this. GOM Player lets you choose the format your images are saved as and where you want the frames saved to. I have a special “captures” folder for temporarily storing the files in. So for example, these are my frames:

A good general tip for making gifs with any software is to use the best quality video you can find. Most of the stuff I make is with 1080p or 720p quality. I find it helps when it comes to colouring and making the gif look clearer.

Once I have my captures, I copy them into my animation “canvas” (or SPP file) which has a base colouring I’ve already made on it. It’s kind of like a PSD on Photoshop. I select my captures and drag them onto the canvas which looks like this:

The canvas is 1080p, the same as the captures but everything will be resized later. I originally captured 100 screenshots here, but I’ve decided to use only 40 in the end because I want to make a 540px width gif. If I used all 100 frames for a 540px gif it would end up being way over the 3mb limit and it wouldn’t work on Tumblr.

Now this is where the time consuming work comes in for me. Once my captures have been copied into the SPP file, they actually become layers which I have to turn into gif frames (if that makes sense). So at the moment they look like this

But I don’t have any actual frames yet at the bottom of the screen. So what I do next is go to the layers tab at the top of the screen and click “hide layers”, making them all invisible

Then basically what I do next is create a frame at the bottom and assign an individual capture to it by clicking the little grey square (making it visible again). So as you can see, my first frame is for my first capture/layer. The next frame will be the capture/layer on top of that.

So yeah, that means I create each frame individually. It’s veeery time consuming but you get quicker at it the more you do it (it’s also faster to do on a laptop touch pad rather than a mouse.). 

Once I’ve created all my frames, I reselect the colouring layers at the top so they’re visible on every frame. It should look like this

Next, you need to crop your gif and resize it. I want my gif to be 540px by 270px so I put 54.00 and 27.00 into the crop feature to get it accurate. This allows me to crop the canvas into the right dimensions.

Once I’ve cropped the canvas, I then go to the Image tab at the top and click “Image Size…” and set the image size to 540px by 270px. I usually ignore the Print Size bit.

540px is the best size for a full width Tumblr gif, anything bigger or smaller will make your gif look blurry. This gifset is a good guide for making sure Tumblr doesn’t blur or crop your gifs.

My gif is almost ready to be exported. But I want it to look clearer, so I sharpen all the layer/captures (yes, individually again). I have no settings for sharpening, but I find using the standard “Sharpen” effect under the “Effects” tab is enough. 

Once I’ve sharpened everything, I get to the colouring and exporting which is the biggest challenge for me. Photoplus’ options for exporting gifs are limited, so the only decent export options are these

“Web-safe” and “Ordered” makes the gif look like this

“Optimized” and “None” makes it look like this. Okay, but the background looks low quality and patchy

“Optimized” and “Error Diffusion” is the only one that to me, looks the best quality. That’s probably why it produces the bigger file size too (the gif below is 2.78mb)

But there’s other downsides to Error Diffusion which I’m still trying to figure out to this day.  Like how it makes parts of the gif “glitch” (that’s the only way I can describe it) or look extra fuzzy. The only way you can fix it is by playing around with the colouring. And by “playing” I mean adjusting and previewing until you want gouge ur eyes out :)

I think that’s why I like giffing The Terror so much, because the film they used has a grainy texture to it, making it easier to hide all my Error Diffusion sins. Though there’s been many times I’ve posted something and hoped no one’s noticed all the mistakes. 

Some general tips for colouring

Unless you’re going for a certain effect, emphasise on the colours that are already in the shot. In my gif  above for example, I turned up the blues and cyans.

Use Levels or Curves instead of Brightness and Contrast.

Zoom in on your gif to spot any Error Diffusion glitches.

Be mindful about whitewashing POC, especially if you’re following the pastel gif trend.

Look at how other people colour their gifs and use PSDs for reference but don’t rely on them too much.

Colouring can increase or decrease the gif file size. If you need to get below 3mb, try toning down super vibrant colours. If the shot you’re giffing is dark, make it a bit darker. If it’s light, make it a bit lighter. 

If all else fails, just make the gif black and white.

Reading all this back makes how I make gifs look like a nightmare lmao. But I’ve been doing it this way since like, 2012 and i love it. I started out making very bad Star Wars and Lady Gaga gifs but as time has gone on and I’ve gotten better, I’ve found I enjoy making things for smaller fandoms much more. I like that if I want a certain set or edit on my blog, I can just go and make it (with varying degrees of success) instead of waiting for someone else to do it.

You appreciate the work that goes into making a movie or show when you make gifs too. Like, you notice subtle little things in the actors performances or something the cinematography is trying to convey. You get to revisit a scene in detail and then share it with everybody else and if you’re lucky, watch them scream in the tags get some nice comments.

There’s lots of other stuff I like about making gifs but I’ve rambled on far too much so I’m just gonna shut up for now. But I think I’ve covered all the important stuff. I don’t know how much of a help I’ve been (there’s still stuff I don’t understand myself) but if there’s anything else you want to know just drop me a message. Good luck with your own gifs!! I’m sure you can do  a much better job than me!

[deantrblandbananauyu]

I had a dream: Deantrbl grew a beard!

Soooo I just had a dream last night and I'm glad I still remember some part of it which were probably the most epic parts of it and I would like to post it here and share with you guys because I want to remember this dream till the day I die hahaha jk (or maybe not lol)

Note: this will be like a fanfic or scenario kind of things and most of it don't make sense because again it is a dream and dreams don't usually make sense.

WARNING! I never write anything like this so if my story telling is confusing the excuse me lol. I'm not used to doing this kind of stuff I just want to share what I had in my dream last night (jan. 6, 2019) also I haven't had sleep so please try to understand if I have typos lol

Characters/real & unreal? people involved:

Dean( Deantrbl/deanfluenza/Kwon Hyuk)

Zico(Block B, Woo Jiho)

An old funky,adorable,kinda mischievous type of Granny (yep that's right there's an old lady involved)

Me(the dream is in my P.O.V.)

G.soul(in his red hair era) kinda the antagonist but not really

SimonD(but I'm not sure if it really is him or some other rapper..idk) kinda the antagonist's side kick lol

Ok so here it is...

****

I went in a room that seems like a basement mancave kinda dark and with neon lights around the room. As I walk in towards the couch I saw Dean sitting in a very comfortable way like he's chillin with his arms spread across the backrest of the couch and on the other couch beside it was Zico who was also chillin. But what shookt me the most was Dean, Kwon freakin Hyuk had a freakin BEARD!!! And it looked so good on him. (He actually looked soooooo hot and he was wearing a loose green t-shirt that exposes half of his arms and his neck and also his hair...omg his hair...he still had it in a man bun but the curls were much better. He had a cute twirt on the sides of his face like how he likes to have it haha and he bleached his hair again close to the roots and it was a bit lighter so he looked really cool and hot ajdjhadfgjdz.) And then suddenly I turned into a youtube viewer wherein I was watching that actually scene I saw few moments ago...and I was practically trying to screenshot every single angle dean has because that bearded Dean is a rare jewel (idk if he's ever gonna think of growing a beard lol) so I'm saving all that screenshots for my life. (Also I was low key waiting for my phone notifs of dean's fan accounts to pop up and see if they saw dean's new look but there weren't any) so I kinda felt a bit excited knowing I was one of the first to see him like that HAHAHA...

Then I got back to the actual scene (no longer a youtube viewer) and so I walked closer towards them then suddenly a pizza appeared on both of them and they were eating it exaggeratedly as if they're filming a pizza commercial (their expressions after eating the pizza are oscar worthy hahaha). And I was like whuuuuuut?! And I was just like watching them dunno if I'm suppose to praise them or laugh at them but they seem to be really proud of what their doing and wanted to hear some praises like lil dorky kids haha

Also the lil granny appeared out of nowhere sitting next to Dean and dean was now laying on the other couch (him amd zico kinda switch places) then the granny tried to lay beside dean as if wanting for a cuddle hahaha ( ok this might seem weird and all but in my dream it was kinda cute scene cause the granny had a cute innocemt vibe to her and everybody loves her but she kinda has a funny/naughty side to her but not in a cougar/slutty kinda way lol if u know what I'm sayin)

And so dean hugged her cutely from behind and I was supposed to feel jealous (as if I am dean's gf Ha! I wish it was real lol) but I was not jealous at all instead I kinda jokingly said it's ok granny I'll let you borrow deam for.a while hahaha

Then the action kicks in!

Suddenly a guy break in the room through the window and was holding a gun pointing at our direction like those police trying to arrest people...and it was G.soul in his bright red hair then came in after him was I think SimonD or someone else and he was kinda out of the place and clueless but just follow what g.soul does haha

Then I looked at the couch and saw zico holding armalites (like long guns..idk what it's called) and he was suddenly like in rambo mode with lots of gun hanging on to him then he handed out one to Dean and their like ready to fight but the it didn't feel dangerous or hostile and I was still like..whuuuuuuuuuut?! (Whut is happening?what are u guys doing? Is this for real? Should I fight too?) Then I shift my sight to Dean and he put the gun on the other side and grab something....He picked a granade and tried to take the pin out with his teeth but then he realized something. . .It wasn't an actual granade but a soft squishy one and he was like "whuuuuut the?" ~

then he found out it was the granny's squishy toy that she use as a stress ball kinda and he handed it over to her while giggling then the granny was amused saying "my squishy! u found my squishy~" then she squeezed it on her cheeks while smiling and I was like...aweeee

Somewhere in the background the I can sense or hear the 3 guys intensely fighting (but don't worry I think nobody got injured or died and there were no gorey/bloody scenes)

And then my dream was cut cause I woke up

The End

Here's Dean with beard. I tried to mimic the actual look he has in my dream but can't find a nice angle I've seen a few pics of him showing that kind of vibe but his angles on the pic were not good to put a beard on (cuz I only used a beard app haha)

He kinda look like a homeless guy here but trust me he looks so hot in my dream and it actually suits him haha

Here's another one much cleaner looking lol