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earthstellar · 3 years

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Rewatching Transformers G1 S2: Episode 1: Autobot Spike

Yes, this is where the Surprised Ratchet meme image comes from:

This episode has a lot going on including near-death of a human character on screen, body horror/a Frankenstein plot, and some genuinely unsettling scenes mostly made creepy due to the combination of some interesting dialogue/voice acting and typical G1 Quality.

And Spike shoots Starscream in the ass mid-flight, which is fantastic.

He also shoots his dad, which is less fantastic.

Being a horror nerd, I love this episode, so here we go!

Gonna put this below a cut because I’m taking a lot of screenshots here:

You can watch the whole episode on YouTube here in 4 parts, if you want to watch along!

Alright, so it opens with Sparkplug trying to create “Autobot X”, which is straight up just a Frankenstein’s Monster of autobot parts. It’s weirdly creepy, and vaguely reminiscent of the infamous Ratchet-Megatron fusion in the Marvel comics.

I want to point out that Sparkplug says “I wanna see what I can do with a lotta spare Autobot parts and some human ingenuity” before the reveal shot above, and that’s horrific if you think about it for more than like, three seconds.

It also may have been the origins of the MECH plot line in TFP, actually! Very similar body horror type thing going on. Anyway.

It works briefly, but it flips out and has to get shut down.

Ironhide fires a laser, problem solved, nobody’s worried. They put Autobot X in storage, because surely a rampantly aggressive seemingly sentient pastiche of random Autobot parts is nothing to worry about. It’s fine.

Wheeljack is like, hell yeah, I’ll help you work on it later. Which is when we get the Surprised Ratchet image, because yeah, I bet Ratchet’s freaked out a little since this thing is made of SPARE AUTOBOT PARTS.

Then we’re swept immediately into a fight with Megatron, as many Seekers as you can fit in frame at one time, and Soundwave.

For whatever reason, Bumblebee shows up driving through a bunch of partially blown up missile/rocket components, with Spike in the driver’s seat. Even Spike is like, dude, why are we here? And Bumblebee is just like, I mean, we couldn’t NOT show up. lmao

Unsurprisingly, Bumblebee gets shot-- In alt-mode, with Spike inside. Uh oh.

Megatron leaves, because Frank Welker can only voice so many characters at once, and our attention is turned to the carnage.

Ratchet is like, sure, I can fix Bumblebee right up! Meanwhile, Ironhide is like oh god, oh my god, is this how you hold a human??? Is it dead??? Optimus is gonna be pissed.

So Optimus rolls up like, listen, take him to the hospital, come on. Ratchet lets him in the back of his ambulance mode, and Prowl goes with him so that he can throw his emergency lights on to give the illusion of a police escort, ensuring the drive is even quicker.

(I miss the days when Prowl wasn’t a total asshole.)

It cuts pretty quickly to Spike in an operating theatre; Apparently getting shot by alien space lasers isn’t conducive to human health:

It cuts again to the attending physician standing at Spike’s beside, presumably in ICU although they appear to be in a private room, with Sparkplug on the other side of the bed.

The doctor says “Hmm, if only there were a way of separating Spike’s mind from his body while we work...” Which, uh, what? What surgeon says that? You can sort of already do that in actual human medicine, it’s called an induced coma.

But sure, we need exposition here, I get it. The screenplay here is tight. Sparkplug says he has an idea...

Back at the Autobot hangout, things seem fairly chill, considering.

Ratchet is welding Bumblebee’s ass in alt-mode, while Bumblebee complains about how long it’s taking. lol

Meanwhile, Wheeljack and Sparkplug somehow have Spike hooked up to a Ghostbusters colander helmet, which will hopefully transfer his mind into the malfunctioning/in stasis Autobot X frame. Yikes.

It works! Spike is now also Autobot X. We will call him Spike X for short.

And for some reason, Spike saying “D-Da-ad?” with this faceplate expression is incredibly funny to me, while also being really weird and creepy:

However, this is only cool for like two seconds, at which point Spike X truly starts to lose his shit.

It gets real creepy here, with Spike X saying in a very oddly flat inflection “Why? Why did you do this to me? Why?” and it’s pretty wild. There’s even a mild strobe effect for a few frames.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker try to help calm him down, but Spike X throws them both across the room.

Optimus is like, oh shit, we made a giant metal teenager. Stop him, but use low power, because if the Autobot X frame is damaged too much, then Spike’s consciousness may not be able to be returned to his actual human body.

Note that Optimus says this in a pretty relaxed way, then levels a shoulder mounted cannon straight at Spike X, which is incredibly funny.

It quickly gets deeply weird and creepy again when Spike X is temporarily able to talk with his dad, and states that “it’s hard to think, like something is telling me to do... bad.... things!” Yiiiiiikes.

He gets it under control again, apologises to his dad for the outburst (I think it’s OK, Spike), and Optimus says that he’s cool to stay at the base and he’ll be taken care of while his human body heals up.

However, oh shit, the Decepticons have found out that Spike now has an Autobot frame-- And they know he’s unstable.

Starscream tries to roast him, but Megatron’s like, shut up nerd, we’re gonna make Spike X turn against the Autobots! It’s a good plan, I’m serious!

Back at the Autobot base, Ratchet is still welding Bumblebee’s ass, and Bumblebee is still complaining. Wheeljack hooks up Spike X with some network television, and he’s watching... Frankenstein. Because the six year old kids who are the intended audience of G1 may not be familiar with the source material for this episode’s plot, I guess, which is fair. (Frank Welker nails it here as Dr. Frankenstein, but that’s unsurprising, because he always nails it. I think he’s also voicing Frankenstein’s Monster, but I haven’t checked the credits.)

Obviously, this isn’t a great thing for Spike X to be watching at this particular moment, so he freaks out again.

Wheeljack and Sparkplug come running, and somehow Sparkplug is covering ground faster than Wheeljack. It’s fine, don’t worry about it.

Ratchet’s progress on welding Bumblebee’s ass is interrupted by Spike X breaking through the wall and seemingly flying away. lmao

They just sort of stand there, like, well, we lost him, I guess.

Bumblebee is like, alright, gonna go get my boy.

So he drives out of this massive crater, and Ratchet is like, wait! Your radio transmitter still doesn’t work. (Apparently their radio transmitters are located in their asses. Fascinating.)

Spike X sits on a cliff and says “what a drag”, which, yeah. Being a Frankenstein space robot would be cool if not for the immense psychological damage this is absolutely causing.

However, he also calls himself a “walking garbage can” in a completely genuine put-out tone of voice, which absolutely sells that this is a teenager in a giant robot body and I laughed, I won’t lie.

Some of Megatron’s cronies locate him and hold his position.

At the same time, Bumblebee shows up and tries to talk Spike X down from a random destructive rampage.

He throws Bumblebee off the cliff! And Megatron’s squad is rolling up. (Well, flying up, anyway.) Uh oh!

Spike X is like, hell yeah, bring it. More ass to kick. And it turns out his arm mounted cannon works, because he shoots Starscream directly in the undercarriage and says “YEAH, MAN!” and it’s so genuine.

This is the perfect reaction to being a teenager in a giant robot body and just suddenly being able to shoot lasers and kick ass. Look at how happy he is, that he just shot Starscream in the butt mid-air. It’s awesome.

Unfortunately, the Seekers do actually beat him up, although Spike X puts up a good fight.

Megatron then takes advantage of his further weakened state, and swoops in to pitch a classic “Join Us” speech. Spike X calls him “Megacrumb”, which is probably acceptable because he’s absolutely concussed by this point.

Megatron is willing to overlook this for the sake of teaming up.

Bumblebee eavesdrops, and drives away-- But Spike X gives Megatron a handshake, and agrees to “make them pay”. Oh shit!

For some reason, Optimus and Ironhide are back at the rocket facility to watch a launch. Because I guess whatever, this whole situation is chill, let’s go watch rockets? IDK

But either way, Optimus roasts the inferior quality of human technology, while Bumblebee just drives up on site despite Military Police levelling sniper rifles at him in order to report that Megatron is taking advantage of Spike X’s inability to think clearly.

Optimus says “I feared something like this might happen”, which, if that were the case, why not take actions to prevent it, maybe? Not the strongest Optimus episode.

To be fair though, Ironhide transforms and is already driving off before Optimus even gives the order to roll out, so I guess Ironhide either really wants to kick some ass or cares slightly more about Spike X’s wellbeing. He has no dialogue here, so we can only guess.

They get there, with even more Autobots who showed up at some point in the rapid scene cuts here, and Spike X is super unhinged-- Charging his weapons, he starts speaking in a more strained and angry way, and engages the Autobots!

He hits Optimus with what appears to be a chest laser? It’s hard to see. But it’s super effective:

Optimus pleads with Spike X to calm down, but Spike X straight up pulls MEGATRON IN GUN MODE out of his sub-space and shoots Optimus directly in the faceplate. Damn!

The Seekers and Soundwave drop in, and start rapid firing on all the Autobots present.

We get some great shots of Megatron in his gun alt-mode as he tries to convince Spike X to keep attacking. Optimus and Bumblebee hide behind cover, attempting to bring Spike X to his senses long enough to disarm him.

Suddenly, Wheeljack and Sparkplug roll up; Sparkplug attempts to talk some sense into Spike, too.

Optimus and Bumblebee are at a loss; If they take out Spike X, the damage might take him out for good.

However, Sparkplug fails in his efforts to talk to Spike X; He SHOOTS HIS DAD AND KNOCKS HIM OFF THE CLIFF.

Can you imagine if they put an ad break here? lmao

Luckily, he has like, a claw machine arm, and he catches his dad before he becomes a human smoothie.

This shocks Spike X badly enough that while he still has Megatron in gun mode, he takes a few pot shots at the Seekers and the Decepticons decide it’s time to bounce, so Megatron bails too.

He apologises for almost killing his dad, his dad is like hey no beef man, and it cuts to them in the hospital:

Sparkplug takes his son’s body back to the Autobot base (that sounds worse than it is), and they prepare to transfer him back into his body.

What’s extra funny here is that he nervously laughs and says “Hope you fixed this thing up good, Ratchet!” And Ratchet says absolutely nothing. Not a word.

It’s a success! Dad and son hug, totally not even addressing anything that happened this whole episode, because that’s a job for a therapist.

Ratchet, who continues to not really care about any of this, tells Wheeljack “You know, I could probably repair that mess, but I think it’s best that I don’t.” (This is a play on what Wheeljack said earlier in the episode when he offered to help Sparkplug fix up Autobot X to begin with.)

I love how tired Wheeljack looks. LOL

Spike, now recovered, leaves us with a great question to close out the episode: “I wonder what it’d be like for a robot mind to be transferred... to a human!”

Depending on what kind of kid you were, his question was either imagination fuel for fun humanformer ideas, or was a blatantly bad question indicating he learned nothing and providing nightmare fuel trying to imagine one of the Autobots losing their shit in a human body the same way Spike lost his shit while inhabiting Autobot X.

Anyway, great episode! 10/10 Scary, funny, creepy, Starscream got shot in the ass by a teenager.

#g1 #transformers #maccadam #optimus prime #ratchet #wheeljack #bumblebee #transformers review #g1 review #autobot spike #spike witwicky #sparkplug witwicky #megatron #starscream

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hegodamask · 5 years

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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!

#Ask #unspeakablehorror #phew! this is a full on essay i'm sorry #gif making #Serif Photoplus #photoplus #long post

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camimoo · 5 years

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So, I watched the Heathers episode of Riverdale

K, so I’ve never watched Riverdale before (well like half an episode on tv once) but I heard there was a musical episode themed on Heathers.

So I watched it…and accidentally started writing a really long play-by-play analysis:

Oh we’re really just gonna turn on a boombox and go. Ok.

Is KJ’s voice that high all the time? is that just the line they gave him? It’s so babie

Tiny girl :((( so much autotune.

Oh gosh, that “whyyyyyyyyyyy” is too low for him. Otherwise the Kevin guy is probably their best guy singer.

Weird disorganized sometimes-choreography for background peeps. Like this row of desks will move, but the one next to it will be completely still

“Are all of you this miserable” lol

The hair wooshy noises…this is only for this episode right? That can’t be in the regular run of the show right? It’s so loud

Oh heck, no harmony on Candy Store :( also weird bad cuts

Is veronica’s house always lit with crappy eerie blue lights?

Is every character selling drugs? Like every single one?

Also is the plot that these kids have to stop their drug dealing moms?

“What are you gonna do?” “ I’m gonna take a bath.” *starts crying* lmao

Co director girl is so over acting. Is she a regular character on this show?

Aw man lowering the big fun notes :(

Also can the Ram Sweeney guy actually act? Cuz based on what I’m seeing, imma go with No.

So, frequently, a disembodied voice is just singing and matches nobody on screen, like they don’t seem to concerned with getting the right person on screen lip-syncing at the right moment.

Also one of the jock dudes is suuuuper tone deaf

Again terrible edit cuts in the song.

I do appreciate that they are all indeed doing jello shots.

So we have the 3 heathers, and then we have … 3 more dark evil heathers?

Also this sometimes using riverdale-veronica as heathers-veronica but also not is confusing

Doing some Grease hand jive dancing?

There are some ridiculously loud sound effects in this. Archie’s jacket for one

I thought the neon lighting was just for promotional photos of Riverdale. But no. literally every scene is lit in neon red and blue (and maybe some yellow)

Ooh I like the “anything to share veronica”, that matches the musical where she has to blurt something out at the assembly

“my family’s always been unconventional.” Lol yeah your family is unconventional, (from the 5 seconds I’ve seen of them) your mother whose face never changes and she just wafts around, and your gravel-voice dad

Off-brand hostess cupcakes!

“He’s a real class act, that Sweet Pea” how do y’all deliver any of this dialogue with a straight face when your characters have COMIC BOOK names??

“cuz your parents are splitsville” lol, way to be gentle

“I AM RED” and snaps and two replacement heathers come to back her up. How many heathers are there in this show? We’re up to like 8

“Faux pink lady”. So we are intentionally making these Grease references. Got it.

Lol she said Westerberg.

What’s the point of saying the one tiny girl is Veronica if Topaz(?) is gonna sing her songs

All hope is gone. Apparently these are the Highschool lyric changes. Hmmm

I feel like they are mix and matching characters together willy-nilly. I pick…you and …you! Yep threesome now.

Nuh uh. Her name is PEACHES?!

The loud sound effects are killing me. When you pat your thighs that doesn’t usually echo through a whole auditorium peeps.

Also why are we in the auditorium, you all clearly have neon lit mansions to go home to, why not use a more believable setting for seducing your friends?

So Tony/EvilHeather/Veronica is seeing visions of Cheryl/ActualHeather telling her she’s beautiful???

Oof that was a terrible record scratch noise. Also whiplash! “Let’s make this beautifuuuul-STOP.”

Lol Fang.

What is ThE GaRgOyLe ChaMbEr?

Finally some harmony, it’s altered but still decent. :) Our love is god.

Are they having a secret gay cult wedding in a dungeon church?

The weird kinda half choreo the background cast does every once in a while. Also specifically its only like the first row of extras in every case. The back or outer rows never move..?

Do boxers really punch the air for practice by themselves in empty boxing rings?

k. I kinda hate the tiny girl’s voice,

so everybody is Veronica. Huh. Just takin turns.

I guess that’s just what KJ’s singing voice is. Ok.

Also when making cuts, why still have her say “well whoa you can punch real good.” Just cut the “well whoa” and it will fit your scenario better.

Ok I actually super like the new harmony at the end of fight for me.

Principals are susceptible to cults. Got it.

Meet me at JUNKYARD STEVE’S??

Red scrunchie!

WAIT- did evil-heather and heather-heather used to be in love?

Wait they found the drug lab that quick? Is this like a once-an-episode kinda thing? just gotta shut down the daily drug lab and move on

“and serial killer fathers” said in a comforting tone.

What even were those terrible piano chords as an intro to Seventeen?

But actually this song seems like a good fit for these traumatized children. Help these babies :(

The voices of Cole and lilli (and most of them) sound like they were recorded so separately and in completely different ways, ones more breathy, others are echoey, some have autotune…hmm

Also someone pointed out that when you get to the “your eyes can’t we be seeeventeeeeeeen” line, Cole’s voice changes so drastically it has got to be somebody else. I totally agree.

Sometimes the background music (not heathers) sounds like a western movie. Like somebody just got challenged to a show down at high noon.

I want to crack an egg with a tiny egg hammer! And he didn’t even get to eat it.

Her dad sounds like a gravellier version of Misha Collins

She does really good at Lifeboat.

“I thought I was captain” diff lyrics. Ok.

“drugs…terrible…what a nightmare” delivered practically deadpan devoid of emotion. wow what quality dialogue.

“what is all over your faces?” oh that’s just the drugs soot. No worries. Trashing meth labs always leaves me covered in soot.

Oof. “Martha are you free tonight?” nobody answers. They all kinda glance around awkwardly. Really? Why leave the name in at all if you aren’t including Martha, just change it.

When you burn down a building, shouldn’t you flee the scene of the crime? No? does being in the snake gang make him immune?

Also the pan out to make sure we saw the gas can in the back seat, cuz yanno I couldn’t’ve pieced that bit together on my own.

Also I’m assuming they’re drinking big gulps right?

Weird music edits

HOLD UP, is Tony dressed as Martha??? Wut.

Also none of their vocal styles go together, the transition from the others to tony is jarring. Tony is all sexy breathy poppy.

Hmm, interesting minimal interpretive dancing choreo

Ack, please blend in the tiny girl’s vocals. Pls I beg you. At least I think its her.

Everyone else: *taking off clothes and jackets*

Jughead: *putting on his hat*

Hold up, I feel like from seeing the rest of the ep I can guess who most of the audience members are that are getting close ups/reaction shots, but I swear they added a new lady, heavily made up, and not Cole or Veronica’s mom...who…?

Oh and now we get creepy cult flash mob with hypnotizing claps. Ok.

Overall: pretty messy. No one really plays a specific character so it’s hard to gain any of the character growth that they get in the actual musical. No one’s vocal style matches like at all. The new lyrics and tons of edits were odd. The sound mixing was bad I think, like everything stuck out and didn’t match. This show is hilariously broody and they all have such funny names. Camilla whatshername is a good singer, actually the main 3 girls are p good, and the Kevin guy.

Huh.

#mine #heathers #riverdale #in depth analysis #except it's all nonsense #but boy that was fun #long list of things #musical

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setsuntamew · 5 years

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Kingdom Hearts 3 Liveblog: Part 1

As promised, all spoilers will be under a cut! My understanding of Japanese is very limited, but even with that in mind, there will be plenty of gameplay spoilers and some plot summaries. For now, all "screencaps" are taken with my phone, since I don't wanna spam my PSN friends with spoilers >< Sorry for the low quality shots!

So, for some context: I'm the one doing all the actual playing while Liz (dragonofeternal) and Pat (arahith) watch and provide commentary. I know very minimal Japanese, but the two of them know enough bits and pieces to translate the menus and get the gist of cut scenes. So while we're obv missing a lot of details, we've got a general idea of what's going on! However, this also means that I only have so many pics, because I was doing the gaming. Liz has a more detailed liveblogging experience going on over on their journal, and Pat is just dying of emotions (tho we're pretty much all doing that).

oh my god oh my god oh my god I honestly lost my mind just over the download. I didn't plan this is advance btw; I only realized I could buy digital games on the Japanese PSN a few hours after the game released in Japan, because I have no common sense I guess lmao.

IT'S REALLY HAPPENING!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!! The opening was super gorgeous which like, yeah, I knew it would be from trailers...but seeing it actually happening on my TV??? SO GOOD. It's an extended version of the trailer too; it's got more scenes in it!! Also the only thing (so far at least) that blocks sharing of screenshots/video. The stained glass beginning is done differently than previous games, with floating screens showing clips from past games as your way of choose what to value versus what to give up. It is SLICK as fuck!! And then the big fuckin shadow that you fight (because there's always one....allways) is mirrored and different and it's in a world of pure sky. It's beautiful. It's enough to make me wish I had a 4K TV and PS4 Pro, tbh.

.........uhhhh excuse me? Fuck you Nomura I wanna play the god damn fucking video game please just let me into the fun fucking part of the game!! XD Anyway, the first world was Olympus and I spent most of it figuring out the controls, aka fucking everything up because X and O are reversed in Japanese. I knew this even, from play Final Mixes 1 and 2 back in the day, and yet? Still fuckin it up hardcore XD It's so much fun to play though, which is something I'm probably gonna say a ton of times, but it's true. Since it's the first world, it is technically the "tutorial" world but it doesn't feel like one. Learning all the new play styles comes organically, and it's all very intuitive- especially considering I can only understand about 30% of the instructions they game is giving me. I love Hercules; it's my favorite Disney movie. I nearly burst into tears of joy when I got to explore Thebes because holy shit it felt like walking through my favorite Disney movie??? It felt like it was crafted with such love and care...There was a lot of thought put into KH3, and it shines for it. I wish it hadn't been such a long wait but also? It's done so well, it was worth it. Also, controlling a giant magical pirate ship is the dopest thing ever and I would like to kill basically all heartless with that now. The magical Disney rides as an attack system works even better than I had hoped :D It's my favorite new addition so far. Going to Mt. Olympus was fantastic as well!!!! The whole time, Liz, and I were making jokes about how Sora was gonna have to apologize to Hercules for breaking all of the stuff in his dad's house, and I think Pat almost had a hernia when I started breaking things in Hephaestus's forge.

Finishing up Olympus rewarded me with my boy Riku!!!! He's been my fave since KH1 and just...hello Riku :D I fucking hate demon towers but playing as Riku was slick. It definitely reminded me of Aqua in 0.2, and it reflects the growth he's had versus Sora having to start all over again.

......why are your pants so awkward lookin though??? Like that's an......interesting bulge :T Please...please wear your pants differently in the future...

Aaaaaand my other boy, Ienzo!!!! I just about screamed and jumped out of my seat in excitement; I somehow didn't expect to see him quite so early!! I'm a little disappointed that we haven't gone to Radiant Garden so far, but cell phone Ienzo is more than enough to keep me satisfied. I loved him asking Aeleus if he wanted to talk to Roxas, too, because fuck that's adorable?? Too cute. Too good. If anyone makes Ienzo cry I will fight them. FUCKING TWILIGHT TOWN IS GORGEOUS I DIED FIFTY TIMES FROM JOY (but not during the massively overpowered demon tower fight because I'm good at video games). It was so fucking good to get to go back and see it lovingly rendered in high def. I almost immediately went to find the crack in the wall, got upset that someone had apparently fixed the glaring hole in the wall, and found a back way to the forest through the sewers :D

Remy is adorable??? Like I didn't get good enough shots because I was just too into the cut scene, okay, it was cute. I was very sad that they left him behind (and pleased when apparently Scrooge decided to employ him later, because he knows what's up).

Hi sorry I have to go cry??? Forever????????? Because apparently I wasn't ready to see the Twilight Town mansion without being a big fucking baby! I just...it breaks my heart. These kids and their tragedies hurt me deeply and just. It hurts so good.

R O X A S!!!!!!!!!!!! sobs sobs please help him Sora ;w;

Pence has hacked into the mainframe :D

NOT.

Real talk though, getting to see Hayner, Pence, and Olette again was so fucking good, and watching Pence be a useful nerd was A+ for sure. And just basically everyone being like yeah Sora can't work technology please keep him away from it forever, thanks. It's good. It's good shit!!!!

Something about this shot feels very melancholy, and I while I don't think it was what the end of this cut scene was supposed to feel like, it feels a bit like foreshadowing.

Speaking of problems...I know they were talking about something serious in this scene, but Liz and I kept re-dubbing it with cracky bullshit and so now it makes me giggle. Oops!! Seriously though, it's like "Hey Ansem, maybe stop checking out teenagers? It's getting kinda creepy, even for us villains." "But they're so cute..."

I'm so sorry I'm like this.

Aaaaaaand I'm gonna cut it here, with this fantastic Xemnas face! See y'all next time with Toybox, Kingdom of Corona, and potentially Monstropolis, depending on how much time I have to write at work today :D

#kingdom hearts #kh3 #kh3 spoilers #kingdom hearts 3 #kingdom hearts 3 spoilers

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thedramafilesblog-blog · 7 years

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Appearing before the Dramacourt: The Universe’s Star EP 01

***If this is your first time browsing The Drama Files, please read The Rules section first for our reviewing and rating system***

Issues:

Whether this particular take on Reapers is hilarious.

Whether being asked to write love songs while not actually being allowed to experience love is realistic.

Whether the friendship between the Ghost and the Reaper is believable.

Whether it was right for Suho to seem like a secondary character when he’s actually the male lead.

Whether this drama caters to a real fan girl fantasy?

The Rule(s):

Absolutely. This drama does not fall short in its interpretation of a Reaper’s lifestyle.

Hell No! It makes absolutely no sense that these poor kids are being forced to write love songs when never actually having experienced it at all. In what universe (LOL!) is this realistic?

Totally. As people who are fangirls and have BFFs who are fangirls as well, we totally feel the ‘realness’ of these two girls’ friendship!

Not really. But then again, the female lead is really really good, so his whole ‘rich idol schtick’ tends to fly under the radar.

Totally. What fangirl doesn’t want to save their bias from impending death?

Analysis:

RedRosette J: Hey Peeps! We’re back with another new review! This time we decided to review this mini-drama within a mini-drama (?). Its part of the Three Colour Fantasy series that aired (some are still airing) somewhere between February and April this year (this drama is the colour White). Right off the bat, the first drama, The Universe’s Star, totally won us over. Probably because most of the dramas have been absolute crap recently *cough Hwarang cough* and we just didn’t want to waste time on the longer ones. But if you guys have been reading our reviews, you’ll know that its really hard to win our favour and this drama did! I binged this drama on a Sunday night and let me tell you, it has been awhile since a drama has given me that ‘I don’t know what to do with myself’ feeling once it ended, but this drama did. 90% of this drama was great and I loved almost everything about it.

Jubiemon J: I actually finished this drama earlier than RedRosete who insisted on waiting till the series was over until she’d watch it. I really enjoyed the drama series overall. The cinematography is amazing and the plot is intricate. The director/writer (she took the two roles) was amazing with her work! She has a very recognisable film style which is very beautiful and artsy. I loved it. Anyway, I’ll focus my comments on ep 1 later on.

RedRosette J: Perhaps the biggest thing was that it was written and directed by Kim Ji Hyun, the genius behind Splish Splash Love (such an amazing drama btw). The cinematography was beautiful; absolutely breathtaking shots with a very nostalgic vibe. The script was very well written. The lead actress Ji Woo was really amazing as a underdog, loser, nerdy girl type that everyone loves to root for. She was really good in bringing the cringe to awkward interactions with the male lead and sold us on her inferiority complex. The side characters were played by pretty seasoned actors so the quality shone through. They may have been on screen for a few minutes, but they were already very well developed and well portrayed.

My only criticism for this drama was the male lead, Suho. The character was a bit bland and the obvious ‘perfect goody goody idol who’s really a boy next door’ type and I felt like he really couldn’t or didn’t bring much else to the table. There were some comedic moments which he did very well (he should seriously consider slapstick roles), but I felt like overall, the bulk of the romance was carried by the female lead. It might have had to do with the fact that Suho was a newbie actor, I don’t know, but something was definitely lacking. But other than that, it was a really well done drama.

Jubiemon J: I actually think the director was really smart making sure that the writing and filming of this drama compensated Suho’s lack of experience in acting. From episode one, we understand Woojoo (Suho’s character) from the female protagonist’s POV. She is the one admiring him from afar and letting us understand him. In a way, we’re spoon fed Woojoo’s personality like how an author would descriptively write about a character in a novel. We don’t understand Woojoo initially from his actions or behaviour. We’re pretty much told what he’s like because of her. That storytelling technique works perfectly not only because this drama is about a fan loving an idol, but also because we won’t be able to see Suho potentially act in a cringy manner.

I don’t think Suho’s character was a huge negative to this drama and I don’t think the director cast the wrong actor. Suho does fit the clean, proper idol image very well; I think as an EXO member people do see him as the boy next door with great manners. I do get a sense that either Suho may not be very experienced in love in real life, he just is not a very expressive person in love, or he may not have loved someone very deeply on a romantic level. I say that because although he is great at showing his feelings of unrequited love or acting nervous/shy around his crush, he is not so believable when it comes to the lovey dovey moments he shares with Byul (I’ll probably talk about that later.)

She dead…

LMAO!

Snippets of truth

How gorgeous is that?!?

Stealing puppies and hearts like…

She’s a really good actress!

Issue 1: Whether this particular take on Reapers is hilarious

RedRosette J: Lately, the dramaverse has been giving out really awesome interpretations of Reapers (Lee Dong Wook in Goblin anyone?) and this drama certainly doesn’t fall short. I liked how they had to put on the fake makeup to look more “dead” and they wore the hanbok style outfit like a uniform. I loved how it was all super bureaucratic with a Manager and a Scorecard board. Hilarious. (Just like real life). I loved the sentiment that even in death, competition and targets are a real deal. It was also funny how the reapers were rewarded according to how many souls they reaped; which was why Byul was on the bicycle having very low stats and the hoobae guy drove a fancy black car. You could feel the pressure on the Reapers to work hard and the lack of cooperation of the dead people, just like a real life client relationship LOL! It was really well written for such a short drama.

Jubiemon J: I liked this fresh approach to grim reapers. I didn’t feel like I was watching a rehash of the reapers from Goblin, which was a plus. I did like how they made it seem like a company thing and the company culture was not as formal as the one in Goblin. I really enjoyed the bickering among the employees and the gossiping. That was hilarious!

#brokeassreaper

#worklunch

When your co-worker drops a bomb on you…

Job stability is an issue even in death *sigh*

Issue 2: Whether being asked to write love songs while not actually being allowed to experience love is realistic

RedRosette J: Finally! a drama is actually openly addressing this dilemma. For anyone familiar with Kpop, you know that the idol trainees usually aren’t allowed to date which is completely insane because then they are expected to sing and write songs about romance and love which they know nothing about. Especially because most become trainees when they are very very young! It is completely unrealistic and the stupidest rule ever. Kudos to this drama for bringing it up!

Jubiemon J: Yes it’s completely unrealistic for idols to sing or write about love songs and not even get a chance to experience love. How are we supposed to be convinced about what they’re singing or writing? That’s why I don’t think it’s bad at all for idols to date. They should! They’re normal human beings with other emotional needs.

RedRosette J Aside: This is just a bonus and totally unrelated to the drama but BTS actually roasted their boss on a Christmas parody song about this no dating rule! Skip to 1.08 for the lyrics! )

Issue 3: Whether the friendship between the Ghost and the Reaper is believable.

RedRosette J: Totally. I love these two! Death didn’t stop them from being fan girls! Honestly, as a fan girl myself, I totally understand the friendship with another fan girl; its a weird sort of understanding…it’s difficult to describe….But anyway, these two were a total hoot! Especially when they “stalked” him to “protect” him. Very well done!

Jubiemon J: They’re so cute together! I feel like Redrosette and I sometimes have very similar conversations as these two regarding our favourite idols! Hahaha! Of course we don’t stalk our idols though. These two . . . . Hahaha.

BFFs

When you tryna stop your BFF from doing stupid stuff

When you lying about being sick to get off work

#realtalk

Issue 4: Whether it was right for Suho to seem like a secondary character when he’s actually the male lead

RedRosette J: It’s odd but this drama really focuses on the female lead and even when we do see the male lead, its really with a preconception of what he is like because we’ve already been introduced to him through her eyes. He also didn’t say or do much and his acting range was quite minimal so its hard to judge exactly what was wrong with the character, but something was just off. I wish that they’d cast a more seasoned actor for the role because it would have brought the added connection to the romance. I wasn’t really sold on Suho selling us the romance. It really fell flat for me and I just couldn’t feel the sincerity from him so it really didn’t feel like he was the male lead if you will. Sorry. But hey, at least he’s so so so much better than Baekhyun so….there is that.

Jubiemon J: Ah, I talked about this earlier, so I’ll be brief. I think it was right for Suho to seem like a secondary character in the first episode. She’s a fan, so she has to love from afar. It’s not realistic for a fan to suddenly meet an idol and bam they’re in love. You can also feel the strength of her love for him as an idol through this way of storytelling. Plus, as I mentioned before, since Suho doesn’t have much experience in acting, this storytelling works in favour for him. There’s not really an opportunity for him to suck at acting because he is doing what he’d probably do every day as an idol.

*cue First Love – BTS (Suga)*

Bunnies and Suho. Yes Please.

Issue 5: Whether this drama caters to a real fan girl/fan boy fantasy

RedRosette J: Absolutely. I’m not gonna lie, I’ve had my fair share of fan girl fantasies so this drama is right up that alley. And she sold it very well. I mean coming back from death to save the pop star you had a crush on only to have him actually fall in love with you? Yeah. That’s where its at.

Jubiemon J: So true. I think any fan girl/fan boy would be able to understand how Byul feels!

When your crush sits next you O.O

hubba hubba

Conclusion: Appeal Allowed.

Rating: 4 = I’ll Give You A Cookie (It’s been awhile since anyone got cookies from us, but this episode totally deserves it! In fact, take 2 cookies!)

File No: The-Universe’s-Star-EP-01 Appearing before the Dramacourt: The Universe's Star EP 01 ***If this is your first time browsing The Drama Files, please read The Rules section first for our reviewing and rating system***

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