#these products work very well and it’s in that light that i recommend them

[floatingbook]

Those I have been asked about pretty often, so if it serves: I’ve been using a MoonCup for 9 years and will continue to do so; I swear by Avène’s Cicalfate whenever I get dry skin; I’m using sunscreen from Laboratoires de Biarritz; I cook my soups in an old Le Creuset cast-iron pot; I’ve walked across pebble beaches, muddy fields, and climbed hills and cliffs in Birkenstock, with or without socks; my flashlight is a Kraftwerk rechargeable, foldable hand lamp; if I had to keep one kitchen utensil it would be this red knife.

[mylonelylittlestar]

My little star

Characters: Xavier Summary: random relationship headcanons with Xavier Warnings: None A/N: I've completely fallen in love with Love and Deepspace, especially with Xavier. It's truly hopeless

the type of boyfriend to get you matching pyjamas

he gets you so many that they slowly start to replace all of your own

likes to match with you even if you don't live together, so sometimes he just texts you to ask which pyjamas you're wearing so he can change into the matching one after he showered

if you ever gift him slippers, blankets, or pillows, he will keep them forever (even if it's something goofy like those big fluffy bunny slippers)

the best person to ask for good midnight snacks. He can recommend fantastic instant noodles, chips, crackers, or other snacks that are light and won't give you stomach aches late at night or negatively impact your sleep in any other way

very interested in your skincare routine (if you have one) and will try out any mask or cream that you give him

if you come up with a routine for him (a simple one, maybe, like the basic cleanser > toner > moisturizer), he will follow it diligently, dragging himself out of bed before he sleeps every day to do it because you were the one to pick those products for him and he doesn't want to waste that

he feels like it connects you to him, even if your routine is completely different and a bit more complicated

never cries during movies, no matter how sad they might be, but he does (on very rare occasions) get a bit teary-eyed

he will hold you if you cry during a movie, and he would never even think about making fun of you for it

he does secretly think that it's cute that you get so worked up about a movie

can sleep through anything. a bomb could go off in his house and he wouldn't know that it happened until he woke up

has seen every single episode of any shitty sitcom you can think of at least three times because he occasionally watches them while he sleeps

sometimes he quotes them but because he knows each of these shows so well now he always quotes the lesser known scenes and no one gets what he's talking about

you start to understand his references after a while, so sometimes he will quote some obscure scene from a super unpopular sitcom that got cancelled after one season and you're the only one laughing

secretly sneaks to the arcade sometimes to practice the claw machine game because he wants to get you the plushies you don't have yet (and to impress you)

he ends up getting dozens of repeats of plushies that you already own. he collects in a small storage room in his apartment that used to be empty

he ends up giving them away when the collection gets out of control, donating them to a children's hospital nearby

gets all shy when you find out about it, blushing bright red like a tomato (or a wasabi octopus)

knows about every single 24 hour store in the city because of his odd sleeping habits and always knows what to do no matter what time it is

you can't sleep and want to go on a date at 3:27 am? he knows a place

if someone is mean to you he will try his hardest to deescalate the situation, but he's also fully willing to fight the person if that doesn't work

I mean have you read his Anecdotes 2? He doesn't give a fuck. He'd prefer not to fight, sure, but if it's unavoidable? What is he gonna do? Not fight and defend you? Ridiculous.

The fandom has already started turning him into this soft uwu stereotype, but the thing is that that's... just not him? He's sweet and kind, yes, but that's not all he is. He's complicated! He has layers!

if he ever falls asleep during a date he would feel awful about it for days, even if you reassure him that it's fine and that you're glad that he feels safe enough around you to fall asleep

he tries to make it up to you with a different date and he falls asleep again, which starts a vicious, endless cycle

when he finally does get over his guilt it's only because you fall asleep during a date after you had a long day at work

knows when you cheat in kitty cards, but sometimes he just lets you get away with it, especially if he knows you had a stressful day at work. He hopes that the win will cheer you up

his good night kisses are forehead kisses while his good morning kisses are on top of your head if you didn't sleep over or on the cheek if you did

[sirfrogsworth]

When I got to this photo in Katrina's collection of vintage family imagery, I was pretty stumped as to how to approach it.

There is a major problem when you zoom in to 100%.

The paper it was developed on has little micro bumps. When it was scanned, the light from the scanner caused a highlight on one side of the bump and a shadow on the other. This causes a pattern which is nearly impossible to eliminate using traditional techniques.

The easiest way to fix this is actually quite clever. You scan it once, then turn it upside down and scan it again. The second pass reverses the side the highlight and shadow appear on, so you can combine the images in Photoshop and blend them together, essentially canceling out the bumps. It's weirdly analogous to noise canceling headphones.

But I don't have access to the physical copy of this image.

So... now what?

Enter Fast Fourier Transform or FFT.

This is a filter that uses extra fancy math to recognize patterns in the image and eliminate them. There is a pretty good filter for Photoshop, but it does not work easily with newer Macs with Apple Silicon. I really did not want to figure that out, and I also was too tired to go downstairs to my PC. However, I learned that a Photoshop competitor, Affinity Photo, has this filter built in. So, I downloaded a trial copy and started the process of trying to figure out how to fix this image.

It was amazingly simple. It brings up these star patterns and you just paint black circles over every one but the center. It literally felt like magic. (Full screen with sound recommended)

So once I did this process I ended up with this...

The paper still had a rough texture but it was much easier to work with using traditional techniques. I started with a black and white conversion and meticulously went through the photo zapping scratches and flaws and balancing tones and sharpening facial features. All of my photo restoration tricks were needed.

I eventually landed here...

I then thought maybe I should match the sepia tone of the original print, so I got to here...

I think the black and white looks nicer in this instance, but I always like having options and this is the most faithful representation of how the photo originally looked.

But there is something else I have been playing around with lately. Photoshop has these experimental neural filters that use cloud processing to do various tricky enhancements. Most of them are in beta and they can be very quirky. But they have a colorizer that tries to detect people and things and adds color to them. Not every black and white photo is a good candidate. I have found these professional portrait photos work decently, but the filter is very hit-and-miss. And there are tools within the filter to help you make a miss more of a hit, but often I have to accept the photo isn't going to work.

But I decided to give it a shot with this one and surprisingly, the colorizer got me most of the way there.

I can work with that.

The one thing it does well is skin. Manually painting color onto skin is tricky and requires more skill and knowledge of traditional painting techniques than I have. But if a filter can do that part for me, I can do the rest.

So after my touchups, I got the image to here.

All I have left to do is my standard color enhancements to make them a little less ghostly and a little more human.

And I present to you where I started and the finished product. I encourage you to flip back and forth.

I'm not sure how, but I was able to go from an image I thought was impossible to edit to a beautiful colorized memory for my best friend's mom. I cannot wait to show her.

[fandoms-x-reader]

Personal Challenge

Word Count: 1,509

Asmodeus x Female! Reader

“Asmo?” you asked. No answer. “Are you okay?” you questioned, not moving from your spot. He let out a slow breath, keeping his eyes trained on your back as his breath tickled your neck, his lips inches away from your ear. “Every time I touch you, it feels like a personal challenge to stop again,” he muttered, his voice smooth and even.

_______________

The Avatar of Lust was known for many things. First, was the most obvious. He was the most beautiful creature in all three realms. It didn’t matter what you were - human, demon, angel, or any other creature - when it came to beauty, his was unrivaled.

He was also known for his ability to charm people. It didn’t matter who you were. The second he began talking, his words dripped from his mouth like honey, drawing you in; and, if you were foolish enough to look into eyes…well, you were a goner. He could have you under his spell in minutes, doing with you whatever he pleases whenever he pleases.

The love people had for him was unmatched. People adored him everywhere he looked - their affection making him feel loved and wanted. He truly believed that he would never have to yearn for anything again in life…then, you came along. 

A simple human. One no one expected great things from. You were to come to the Devildom, finish the year of school at RAD, and then go back home. That was it. Yet, somehow you ended up becoming a much bigger part of their lives.

The first thing Asmo quickly realized was your beauty. Not only on the outside, but on the inside too. Asmo could easily point out someone’s flaws and tell them how to fix it; but, with you, he couldn’t find a single one. He was out of his element. The only thing he could find himself doing was recommending products he used to see if they could somehow brighten your already shining aura.

At first, Asmo felt threatened by your beauty, though he would never admit it. What if others loved you more than him? Then, he had devised a plan. It was simple really. He would make you his. You would boost each other’s appearances up so high that you would be completely untouchable. A power couple in every sense of the word. Never having to worry about love and affection because you would have each other, and together you would have the world.

So, he got to work on his plan and pulled out all of the stops. A quiet evening in with him, dim lights, gentle music playing, sensual smells filling the air. He even brought out the candles and roses. It was the perfect intimate evening - enough to make anyone swoon. Anyone but you, apparently.

The first time he attempted to charm you, you simply smiled at him, brushing it off and continuing your conversation. Asmo was surprised, but focused on trying once again. The second time, he tried it, he put every ounce of power into it, his eyes glowing while his voice begged you to look into them.

“Asmo, what are you doing?” you asked him, raising an eyebrow. Shock. Complete and utter shock. “What?” he asked. “With your eyes, what are you doing?” you clarified. “You mean, it didn’t work?” Asmo questioned, looking away from you as he began to feel like he was having an existential crisis. How could it not work?! It always works!!

“Wait, were you trying to-,” you began but Asmo cut you off. “No! Here, drink this, I’ll be right back,” Asmo continued, handing you your drink before scurrying off into the bathroom. He needed to recompose himself. If his power wouldn’t win you over, then he would have to do it the old fashion way.

But, as it turned out, the old-fashioned way took some time. He would give you gifts and the smile he got in response would always brighten his day - making his heart flutter. He would offer to go shopping with you and his skin would ignite on fire as you would intertwine your fingers with his, dragging him to the different shops around town. 

Then, one day, Asmo had decided to surprise you with a very expensive dress he had seen you eyeing. He came to your room, box in hand as he wore a proud smile. 

“Y/N,” Asmo said in a sing-song voice, his knuckles gently knocking against your door. You opened it with a large smile as you invited him in. “I have a gift for you,” he told you, presenting the box. You gasped as you carefully took it from him, moving to your bed.

“What’s the occasion?” you asked him, looking up at him with bright eyes. “Everyone deserves to be spoiled every now and then,” Asmo replied, his graceful smile never leaving his lips. A small blush rose to your cheeks as you gently lifted the top of the box off. 

You felt your heart stop as you recognized the fabric of the dress. “Asmo,” you muttered, smoothing your fingers over it. “Do you like it?” he asked boastfully. Your heart melted at the gesture as you quickly moved to press a chaste kiss to his cheek. “I love it,” you replied, returning your attention back to the dress. 

While you were busy admiring the gift from Asmo, he was busy melting on the inside. His skin felt like it was on fire where your lips grazed him. His eyes began filling with lust as every inch of his body craved more of your touch. Calm down.

“I’m going to go try it on,” you told him, knowing that he would want you to. He loved it when you tried on different outfits for him. You quickly disappeared into the bathroom allowing him a moment to regain his composure. 

You had managed to slip the dress on, but there was one problem - you couldn’t quite manage to reach the zipper. You let out a small sigh before opening the door and exiting the bathroom. “Hey, Asmo?” you asked and his attention immediately snapped to you. 

“Do you think you could help me?” you asked, but the question didn’t quite reach his ears. He was far too distracted by how you looked. Even without the dress being zipped, it was hugging you in all the right places, and the color brought out your skin tone perfectly. And just like that, his sin began building up inside of him all over again.

“Asmo?” you questioned and his eyes finally met yours. “Hmm?” he asked, suddenly realizing you had been talking to him. “Can you help me zip it up?” you asked, turning your back to him. Asmo inhaled deeply as the unzipped portion of the dress revealed your uncovered back. His eyes trailed from the top, trailing them over the back of your bra that was exposed down to where the zipper ended. If it ended an inch lower - Asmo would be in EXTREME trouble. 

He took a few steps forward until he was right behind you, and gently took the zipper in between his fingers. He promised himself he wouldn’t “accidentally” let his hand slip lower than you had asked. But, standing this close to you, it was so hard to resist the temptation.

He closed his eyes for a moment, refocusing, before continuing to zip. He watched his hand as if he was in a trance, watching as each of the teeth of the zipper pulled closed. He was nearly done when his hand brushed over your back, making you shiver slightly. 

Asmo stopped in his tracks as he watched goosebumps form on your skin where he had touched you. Suddenly, his thoughts were no longer under his control as his mind started running rampant with the way your skin felt on his hand. It was so soft, as if it was completely untouched. He subconsciously leaned in a bit, the smell of your skin intoxicating him. His hand trembled slightly as he did everything he could to keep his sin at bay. 

“Asmo?” you asked. No answer. “Are you okay?” you questioned, not moving from your spot. He let out a slow breath, keeping his eyes trained on your back as his breath tickled your neck, his lips inches away from your ear. “Everytime I touch you, it feels like a personal challenge to stop again,” he muttered, his voice smooth and even.

Your breath hitched as your heart rate sped up. You were so glad your back was turned to him so he couldn’t see the blush that had risen to your cheeks. You weren’t sure what came over you, but in that moment, there was only one thing you wanted. Gathering up what courage you had to proposition lust himself, you replied, “Then don’t stop.” 

The Avatar of Lust was known for many things. But, holding back was not one of them. And those words were all he needed to spend the rest of the night making you his. 

[dodorimo]

WIP Wednesday

Theater director!Raphael x Tav

He's supposed to be kinda creepy here, so yeah, this is a warning.

· · ──────  ❊  ────── · ·

It is a disaster, a travesty.

He wonders. When Tacitus beheld the charred remains of his beloved Rome, did he feel a similar way?

Chorus girls look to each other for guidance while lead actors traipse over the stage, painfully off-key. He has seen high school productions with more verve than this one.

That he has to share a room with such insipid talent. It is truly heartbreaking.

With a weary sigh, his eyes survey the stage for the weak link, and that’s where he finds her. A girl in the back row, looking a little lost and scared out of her mind.

“Dear God, who does casting these days?” he laments to no one in particular, crossing his legs on the leather seat.

“You do, sir.”

Raphael turns to look at the man beside him, taking in his ill-fitting suit and old-fashioned glasses. Poor fellow. He has neither the knack nor the grip for the job. And the syndicate thought sending this boy would keep him on his toes?

“Oh, I didn’t audition this one or I’d remember her.” There’s a pause while he mulls over his thoughts. “Tell me, Jameson,” he says and ignores when the other man voices a correction. “Why is she here?”

“The girl has promise,” comes the curt response. “She was highly recommended.”

The vague answer does nothing to placate his quickly dampening mood. “Recommended by who? Her parents? Her elementary teacher, perhaps?”

A few cleaning women choose this moment to walk past their seats, prompting the man to lower his voice. “The Royal, sir.”

Raphael reclines back in his seat. There we have it.

What these newcomers fail to understand is that admission to a fancy college isn’t nearly enough accolades for his standards. He didn’t build his reputation by bowing down to paper-pushers and sycophants. In this theater, he dictates the rules. In this theater, he is king.

With a wave of his hand and a few scathing words, he orders the session to be dismissed, much to the relief of those present.

“May I suggest a break instead?”

“You did well today, Johnson. You may take the rest of the day off,” he replies, his tone final.

The man opens his mouth to protest, but turns to leave the room instead. The buzz of conversation slowly dwindles as cast and crew head backstage. They turn off the lights on their way out, leaving the theater in semi-penumbra.

Despite his predisposition for pomp and extravagance, Raphael always thought he worked better on a smaller stage.

“Not you.” He points to the girl tailgating the group. “I’d like to have a word.”

The girl stops in her tracks, a thousand emotions flashing across her face, before settling on fear.

While he waits for her to come around, he pulls two chairs and rearranges them facing each other in the middle of the stage, right below where the headlights shine brightest. The girl moves to sit on one of the chairs, shaking like a foal standing on its hind legs for the first time.

“Fear not. This will only take a moment,” he says, his smile deceptively warm—a skill honed after many years in the business.

She is a pretty little thing, this new choir girl. But then, again, most choir girls are. If her theater career falls to pieces, he can imagine a profession or two where she would excel at. 

“What do you say we start from the beginning of act two?” he suggests, tone amicable as to not alarm her further.

The girl scrambles to flip through the pages of the script, her eyes skimming over the words in rapid succession.

This won’t do. An easier question, then.

“What is your name, dear?”

“River, sir. My name is River.”

“My man told me you came from the capital. Do you like it there?”

“I like it very much, yes.” The small talk seems to calm her enough to allow her to find the right page. What she finds there, however, does not please her in the slightest.

“Sir, this is a scene for two…” she trails off, eyes fearful.

“Make the best of it. Improvise. I can play the part of your would-be lover if you wish.” The abrasive approach isn’t to his liking. Unfortunately for this girl, he is short on patience.

If he had any hope that under the veneer of the ingénue might hide a true thespian spirit, it vanishes the moment she utters the first line.

He stands up and paces aimlessly around the stage. The girl stares at him, dumbfounded.

“You have been on the run. This man, this stranger, offers you solace and a roof above your head. He is charming and not too hard on the eyes. You feel indebted to him. You’re young, naive and you’ve never been properly courted.”

The deviation from the script wouldn’t pose an issue. He is the author, after all, and the play, a successful piece from his earlier career. “Updated” for modern audiences. The word alone is enough to make him grit his teeth. None of his plays needed “updating”. Younger audiences can take their grievances back to their food-stained couches. They had no respect for the classics.

His little summary provokes the intended reaction. He sees the pieces falling into place in her mind.

“Harlequin…” she tries again, this time with more passion. And is that the hint of tears he sees in her eyes? “I've never met anyone like you. If only I could repay you in kind.”

“Good, good… much better.” He returns to his seat.

“Say the word and my body will be yours.” She leans forward, exposing just enough of her cleavage for his eager eyes. It’s a bold move, but not unwelcome. His fingers twitch on his lap. This little dove may surprise him still.

Raphael recites the words that have become second nature to him. “Columbina. I’d rather you not return to your old ways. If you choose to lie with me, it must be of your own free will.” If his voice sounded more condescending than the play requires, it’s just an act of improvisation on his part.

He points to the script in her hand. It’s the cue for her musical number.

If the girl clearly struggled with the finer nuances of the text before, here she needs no assistance. Hers is a voice of singular beauty, the likes of which emerge once in a generation. He suddenly understood why James was so hellbent on bringing her here. It wasn’t just the charming Harlequin who was finding himself enthralled.

When it’s done, he takes off his glasses without saying a word and puts them carefully in his pocket.

“Oh dear, this is…” Beautiful, stupendous, awe-inspiring, his mind supplies. “A little crude, if you don’t mind my directness.”

The girl looks positively devastated, her lips quivering as if about to cry.

“But even the roughest of rocks can be polished into a beautiful piece of jewelry. Isn’t this what they say? Meet me at my office after tomorrow’s rehearsal. I expect you to be well acquainted with the text by then.”

“Thank you, sir. I won’t disappoint you.”

“Call me Raphael.”

“Raphael…” Her voice rings like angelic bells to his ears. “Until tomorrow.”

[jeleynai]

Hey there, I adore your art, thank you for sharing it and joining us on tumblr. Your Ghoap art makes me feel so soft.

I am curious about your rendering process. I like how your pieces are textured and coloured and the 3 dimensionality of it, is there a chance you'd be open to sharing some of the steps you take to get from sketch to the finished product? For example what methods (if greyscale, selection tool, etc.) and brushes you use? How you pick your colours?

No pressure in answering this of course, I am just glad to see what you'll be up to in the future.

Hellooooo thank you so much for your kind words!! I've actually been getting so many nice notes from people, I'm so sorry that I haven't responded to them much, I promise I read every single one and shed a little tear of joy at how nice you all are!

Now to the question!!

I made a little step by step image of one of the portraits I posted here for you with a bit of commentary underneath! I'm sorry if it's the ramblings of a mad-woman I'm a bit all over the place sometimes haha (I'm so sorry if there's typos, please ignore them)

I'll also answer the direct questions here since I don't think I addressed them TOO directly in the image.

Methods: I work with soft brushes and the lasso tool for 90% of my process! I introduce textures as well obviously but I try to let my soft brushes do most of the work. A lot of that 'soft' look people tell me my art has just comes from subtle colour shifts and general softness achieved that way over working with harsher textures. I generally like to limit my layers somewhat, especially with simple pieces like the one above. That image is actually just a single layer after step 2! It helps me not get too stuck on one area but I also just... draw on the wrong layer very frequently even if I name them so I don't use them unless I'm working on pieces with different layers of depth (fore-/mid-/background etc.) I do check my values *constantly* (I use the colour-proof setup in photoshop) but I don't work directly from greyscale. I go straight into colours from the sketch.

How I pick colours: I do try to keep my colour palette cohesive and a bit more neutral to start with. I try to avoid extremes at the start so I'm not locked into that too early since it makes that 'subtlety' harder to achieve otherwise. For those colour shifts I talk about I just pick whatever base colour I put down and then shift the colours accordingly! Brush modes/layer modes can also help but I definitely recommend looking a bit into colour theory before relying on them TOO much! Otherwise using them will also end in strange results. There's no direct 'formula' I use when choosing colours since every light scenario is unique and will affect colours differently. I would definitely recommend James Gurney's book on Colour and Light!

Last but not least! If you're more of a visual learner and my rambling is a bit much in written form (I'm so sorry, I'm very chatty I know) I also have a few painting processes up on YouTube c: So if you want me to shut up and just watch me struggle instead then here's a link to the painting that started it all, the OG ghost soap piece I did over a year and a half ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D76X0MT4W5U

I hope that all makes sense!! I'm still super new to Tumblr but I'm always happy to ramble on about art so! Thanks for reading my rant haha

[lurkingshan]

hi! i hope you don't mind me bothering you but coukd you perhaps rec me some good japanese bls? possibly something less known and not from this year? no pressure ofc!! love your blog <3

Hi anon! I love to rec Japanese bls and am happy to oblige. First, a few rec posts I have already made:

Japanese BL Starter Pack

Additional Japanese BL Gems

Japanese BLs with Good Romance + Physical Intimacy

You can start with those if you don't already have them covered. But you asked for lesser known and older works, as well, and I definitely have some to recommend. Keep in mind that some of these are going to look older or lower budget and may not be up to the production standards of more recent and better funded shows, but they all have great stories with reasonably good execution. You will have to watch some grey (I'll note where available on GagaOOLala or where I have links). Running down the list in alpha order:

Ai no kotodama (2007, YouTube) A short and sweet little college-age friends to lovers movie. It's not complex but it's very cute.

Ameiro Paradox (2022, Gaga) A gossip reporter and photographer who don't get along are put on a stakeout team together. Kind of an enemies to lovers deal, but the initial grudge is not that serious.

Can I Buy Your Love From A Vending Machine? (2023, fansub) This is a very sweet romcom about an office worker with a massive crush on the vending machine loader who services his office.

Dangerous Drugs of Sex (2020, Gaga) I don't know your tastes or comfort level with dark and explicit works, so let me say upfront that this movie is not for everyone. It's an exploration of grief and depression through a very extreme psychosexual lens. If you're into that kind of thing, go for it, but mind the content warnings 'cause they are no joke.

Grand Guignol (2022, Gaga) Another one that is not for everyone, this is straight up horror and it's quite violent as well as sexually explicit. I had a whale of a time watching this with @bengiyo and seeing a bunch of our favorite BL boys getting into Spooky and Sexy Situations, but I know los espookys are not for everyone.

I Became the Main Role of a BL Drama (2023, Gaga). And for something completely different, this is a comedy that will have you laughing out loud. It pulls off the neat trick of being both a hilarious and incisive commentary on bl and a sweet romance.

I Want to See Only You (2022) Another short and very sweet friends to lovers drama, this one set in high school.

Let's Eat Together, Aki and Haru (2023, Gaga) An adorable food bl movie, very much in the light and sweet and chaste lane.

No Touching At All (2014, YouTube) A workplace romance that is surprisingly great and has a really solid romance arc. I loved it so much I watched it twice in a row.

I hope you enjoy some of these!

[athena-gunpla]

HGUC 1/144 E.F.S.F Mass-Production Locality Specialization Type Mobile Suit RGM-79D "GM Cold Districts Type"

More GMs!!! I had a lot of fun with the old 2001 GM, the new 2023 'The Origin' GM Missile Pod, and the GM Sniper II, so of course I had to continue the collection.

The GM Cold Districts Type is a suit that briefly appears in the opening scene of the OVA "0080: War in the Pocket". It's a pretty basic redesign of the classic GM, with the large star removed from the shield, and extra vents added to the face (resembling the GM Sniper II from the same series) and shoulders, and an antenna added to the back of the head.

This kit in particular is from 2003 and reuses a lot of the moulds from the 2001 GM kit. However, this kit seems to have a lot of drawbacks as well. While the shoulders have been competent redesigned in a manner that resembles more contemporary kits (and makes them much more secure), the actual shoulder joint is a peg directly moulded into the torso rather than being a ball joint or hinged peg like most other kits. This gives the shoulders very limited range of movement.

The kit also has the disappointing old solid plastic beam saber, with the hand itself moulded into the saber hilt as well! This is a really bizzare choice even for 2003, so I discarded the beam sabers that came with the kit and re-used a spare from my Origin RX-78-2 alongside a beam effect, which looks a lot better.

I spent a lot of time detailing this kit. I used the old waterslide decal sheet for the 2001 GM rather than the limited foil stickers that came with the kit. I also tried a weathering method @radiofreemagica told me about where i sponged on black onto the sharp angles and high points, then drybrushed over the top with gunmetal. I also sponged on Vallejo pale brown and light rust in key areas to accentuate the weathered effect.

This was my second time using the Tamiya weathering set D on gunpla as well. I used the orange and blue on the gun to give a heat blueing effect, and the "oil stain" pigment worked great over rust areas to even out the light grey plastic.

I think the overall effect worked especially nicely on the darker torso and shield. I also had to paint the face vents, rear camera, back of the shield, and shoulder vents, as well as the yellow waist V logo and the grey border on the bottom two chest vents, so be aware if you're not a fan of colour correcting kits. Also, as always for UC kits, I did the inside of the booster jets in red.

This kit comes with limited hand options, with a single left open hand, left open fist, and right pistol grip, which was a little disappointing as I'm used to at least one open fist for each hand.

It also comes with a really neat machine gun with a large side magazine, triangular stock, and open bolt detail like a Sten MK II, but with an additional underslung grenade launcher.

Unfortunately the stock placement and large square forearms make posing the gun rather difficult, and there's only really one pose that works.

Overall I had a lot of fun building and weathering this kit, and I think I've really improved in making it look less plasticky. I think it's a great kit to round out anyone's collection, although I can't recommend it to gunpla beginners.

Thanks again to @radiofreemagica for the weathering tips!

[hunieday]

Re:vale - B’s-LOG October 2018 interview

Please note that I am not a professional translator and I'm only doing this to share the side materials to those who cannot access them, if you notice any mistakes please let me know nicely. Enjoy!

This is an interview from 2018, which means it's been released before part 4!

Interviewer: Thank you so much for your hard work with the shooting and outfit change! Pleased to work with you for this interview.

Re:vale: Thank you very much.

Interviewer: Without further ado, you announced that your new album will be released soon. Congratulations!

Momo: Thank you very much!

Yuki: Thank you.

Momo: I'm so happy to share these super happy news with everyone! How about you, Yuki?

Yuki: Yeah. I’m happy to see Momo smile right now.

Momo: Why is it suddenly about me!? I'm happy! But what about the album!?

Yuki: Just seeing Momo's happy face makes releasing the album worth it.

Momo: Is that so!?

Yuki: How about you, Momo?

Momo: I’m gonna make this clear this time...

Yuki: Don’t change your mind now.

Momo: The album is amazing since it got Yuki praising me like that! Yay!

Yuki: That's good. A mutual benefit.

Momo: More like, there are only benefits and zero downsides! I'm super happy! I hope this happiness reaches all our fans along with the album!

Yuki: That’s right.

Interviewer: Although the title of the album hasn't been revealed yet, what kind of album should we expect?

Momo: It will include six previously released songs from "SILVER SKY" to "Kiseki" and two new unreleased songs! I'm sorry, but we can't reveal the title right now…!

Yuki: While we can't reveal the title yet, I hope you'll look forward to it as a culmination of our recent activities.

Momo: It's like our magnum opus!? Is that going too far!?

Yuki: Who knows, you’ll just have to listen to it and see for yourself.

Momo: Yeah! I hope you're excited and waiting for it!

Interviewer: What vibes do the new songs have?

Momo: I really want to tell you... But it's top secret and we've sworn to secrecy...! Argh, I want to tell you...!

Yuki: Can't we tell them a little something?

Momo: It might land us in trouble! Please contact the agency!

*Ringing*

Yuki: Hello, Okarin? I want to tell them about the new songs.

Momo: Whoa, Yuki went out of his well to call directly! Even though Okarin is right behind us!

Yuki: Fufu. He answered the phone too.

Momo: What's he saying?

Yuki: He's whispering, "No way!" Fufu...

Momo: Ahaha! It's cracking Yuki up!

Momo: Okarin said no, so we can't give more details for now unfortunately, sorry! Yuki, stop shaking and comment already~!

Yuki: Haha… Well, I just wanna say we'll deliver something that won't disappoint you.

Momo: As expected of you, Yuki, so handsome~!

Yuki: Thank you.

Momo: And so, please stay tuned to the new songs still in production!

Yuki: Yeah...

Momo: Oh, don't be so gloomy, Yuki! We said it's still in production, right!? Everyone's waiting excitedly! Ah, but I don’t wanna pressure everyone, so just wait patiently like good kids!

Yuki: Fufu, I know. Please wait patiently, everyone.

Interviewer: Yes! We're eagerly waiting for the release!

Interviewer: Can you tell us more about your previously released songs and what you want to highlight for us?

Momo: I recommend all the songs, but since it’s gonna be released in December, our Christmas song "TO MY DEAREST" might be perfect for the season! I personally recommend it because you can enjoy Yuki's sweet voice!

Yuki: You can even sing the "You" in the lyrics with the name of someone close to you.

Momo: That's right! We do that too! I recommend it as the official Re:vale way to enjoy it!

Yuki: Maybe you can use it to confess your feelings?

Momo: Isn't confessing too high of a bar to cross!?

Yuki: Let's give it a try.

Interviewer: Now!?

Yuki: I’m more dazzled by Momo than the multicolored lights covering the city~♪

Momo: "I love you" just isn't enough~♪

Momo: This works!

Yuki: Fufu. See?

Momo: I'm getting more and more excited for the album now!

Yuki: I know.

Interviewer: I wasn’t expecting to hear an impromptu acapella duet from you two! Thank you so much! I'm sure fans are even more excited now.

Interviewer: You called this the culmination of Re:vale’s journey earlier. Can you reflect on said journey so far?

Interviewer: As top artists, there must have been both joy and pain right?

Momo: We’re asked this question often, but whenever I look back I'm reminded of so many happy memories, rather than painful or regrettable ones!

Momo: Because the path we've walked as Re:vale is filled with happiness that we wouldn't have encountered if we weren’t Re:vale! How about you, Yuki?

Yuki: I feel the same as you.

Momo: Yuki~!

Yuki: Besides, being called top artists was never our goal, but if our songs have touched the hearts of many people then I'm happy.

Momo: That’s right! Sometimes I look back and remember the old days. Like the time we had the chance to be featured in a 10-seconds segment on an news program! It was so nerve-wracking!

Yuki: You mean the Ri:varu thing?

Momo: Yeah it is! The reporter mispronounced our group’s name and I was freaking out right before we went live!

Interviewer: That must have been stressful...

Momo: It was! Yuki wasn't fazed at all, but the atmosphere the live broadcast brought was really exciting~

Yuki: Fufu.

Momo: Ah, I digress, but some cute juniors are challenging us lately, so we have to work even harder as seniors!

Yuki: Momo is very good at taking care of others.

Momo: No wayyy~ Are you jealous!?

Yuki: I want you to take care of me too.

Momo: Oh, a straightforward request! What do you mean by that!?

Yuki: If our opinions differ, prioritize mine.

Momo: Hahaha! Isn't that different from taking care of you!? Besides, I always prioritize you, Yuki!

Yuki: Basically, yeah.

Interviewer: Thank you for showing us your couple comedy! Finally, please send a message to your fans.

Momo: I'm just happy to be able to sing next to Yuki, and I'll do my best to deliver the best album together with him as Re:vale!

Yuki: I want it to convey Re:vale’s history up until now and show the future possibilities ahead of us.

Yuki: I hope our music reaches many people through this album and adds a little color to their everyday lives.

The End.

[major-comet]

The Best Red vs Blue Watch Order Guide Ever. Of All Time.

So. You want to watch Red vs Blue, huh? Maybe you read my long post about how it's so weirdly incredible yet impossible to recommend and now you want to give it a shot. Or maybe you have seen the show before, but it's been a long time and/or you didn't watch any of the mini-series or anything and want to give it another go. Either way, looking at a show with a 21 year history is kind of daunting, and you have no idea where to start.

Well luckily for you, I've done the work for you.

This watch guide will cover all 19 seasons of the main show, most of the mini-series, and some of the PSA's and other such bonus content. There will be links provided for where you can watch everything I talk about. This Google Drive (from reddit u/Exitity, unsure if they also have a tumblr) has all of the individual episode uploads, and most of the stuff I'm going to be talking about, although I'm trying to use YouTube links wherever I can. Any links will be colored in light blue for additional visibility.

Couple of quick things before we begin.

When possible, watch the individual episode uploads rather than the "complete" editions. The "Completes", while they may provide a more streamlined viewing experience by cutting out all of the bumpers and outros and such, accomplish this by cutting out a lot of jokes. RvB has a lot of jokes that happen during the fade to black at the end of an episode, and a lot of those get lost in the edits. There's also some things that just straight up get cut for seemingly no reason. Side note, the DvD/Blu-Ray versions seem perfectly fine, and honestly are even better to watch than the individual episodes if you have them. They're like a best of both worlds - adding some extra music and such (ESPECIALLY in the first 5 seasons) that really helps make a nice presentation of the show. If that's an option available to you, I recommend it. Otherwise, stick with the individual episodes.

At the end of each entry in the list, I may present a Side Quest section. This will include anything I feel you should watch that isn't necessarily canon, but helps add some extra life to the series. This may include some behind the scenes stuff or a selection of the PSA's and the non-canon mini-series. This stuff can be really great for building out the characters in a way that doesn't necessarily affect the greater story, and can especially be good for interactions between characters that maybe don't interact much in the main show. Anything I put in a Side Quest is strictly optional, but will add to your viewing experience. Obviously, there's a lot more bonus material than what I'm putting here. I'm just putting down some of the highlights. And if you end up liking the PSAs and such then just know: there's so much more for you to explore.

Early RvB is very much a product of it's time, and sometimes you'll get hit with a line that stops you dead in your tracks. Adult-oriented comedies can always be a minefield, and RVB's roots as a show made for Halo fans in 2003 definitely don't help. However, while this is the most common in the first five seasons, it never really stops being an issue. The purpose of this guide is simply for watch order, but if you have any specific trigger-related questions about any season of rvb please feel free to shoot me an ask or even a DM - i'm more than happy to help.

Okay, let's begin, breaking it down by arc.

The Blood Gulch Chronicles

You may hear people telling you to skip the first five seasons of the show and just pick up with Season 6. Those people are lying to you and do not have your best interests at heart. The first five seasons are pretty much strictly comedy, and from Season 6 onward the show starts to explore deeper themes and stories while still falling back on that comedic foundation. Skipping straight to the deeper stuff doesn't work very well IMO, because those five seasons are spent getting to know the characters we're going to be following for the rest of the show. The stuff that happens in Blood Gulch never stops being important - whether it's side characters showing back up again later on, or laying the foundation for a lot of the moments and story lines that make some of the later seasons so special.

Anyways, the watch order.

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Out of Mind - Mini-series

Season 5

Blood Gulch Side Quests

Tattoo Point/Counterpoint - Season 1 PSA

A Message to the Science Community - Season 2 PSA

Real Life VS. The Internet - Season 2 PSA

All of the deleted scenes, honestly, but This One in particular because asphodel and I quote it all the time.

The Outtakes/Bloopers - I'm not gonna put the link for these and the deleted scenes for every arc, but just know that you should watch them after every season/arc. There's some great stuff in there.

The Season 5 Alternate Endings

Either watch it Now, or after you watch the finale, but I highly recommend the 2003 Season 1 DVD Commentary. It's just Burnie (Church/Lopez/Vic) and Geoff (Grif), and it's really nice.

If you've ever watched any behind the scenes stuff for RvB or even rooster teeth as a whole, you have almost certainly seen This Clip, which is a behind the scenes of the voice recording for Grif and Simmons' lines in episode 1.

The Recollection

Recovery One - Mini-series

Season 6 - Reconstruction

Relocated - Mini-series

Season 7 - Recreation

Season 8 - Revelation

Recollection Side Quests

First! - Season 6 PSA

Small Rewards - Season 6 PSA

Rock the Vote and Rock the Veto - PSAs made to encourage RvB viewers to register to vote. Which at the time you could do on your xbox 360. These are here mostly as a "wtf" historical piece.

Halo-Ween - Season 7 PSA

Valentine's Day - Season 7 PSA

Fire Safety: Where There's Smoke... - Season 7 PSA. genuinely one of the best.

Holiday Plans - Mini-series

The Reach PSA series - Three parts total, only part one is linked.

Project Freelancer Saga

Season 9

Technically there's two mini-series that take place during Season 9 - being M.I.A. and Where There's a Will, There's a Wall. I really love them, and would recommend watching them after S9, but if you really want to roll into S10 you won't miss much. Weirdly there's a place later on that would be a great spot to circle back to these, but I'll save that for later.

Season 10

Project Freelancer Side Quests

This is a great spot to circle back to older side quests you may have skipped, btw.

The Season 10 Table Read BTS - Season 10 was the first time they ever did a full cast table read for the show, and it's cool to see a few snippets from it and hear the crew talk about it.

Matt Hullum Talks to Himself - watch this after M.I.A. it's a live table read of part of the script, with a focus on a conversation between Sarge and Doc (who have the same voice actor)

This 10 Year Retrospective that was put out around Season 10. Watching it now, knowing that they were about halfway through the lifespan of the show / company gives it a whole new perspective.

RT Oz - PSA

Remember Not to Forget and Voting Fever - PSAs made to promote the launch of Halo 4. Voting Fever is one of the Best Ever (and listen to the full version of That's How Voting Works afterwards!)

This Interview between Burnie and Trocadero talking about the music the band has done for the show. This playlist also has a bunch of other behind the scenes and other such bonus stuff from the DVDs and Blu-Rays, it's great to keep around.

The Chorus Trilogy

Season 11

The Chorus Journal Entries - Only three have fully machinimated versions, the last one is just the log entry. Bridges the gap between 11 and 12

Season 12

Season 13

Chorus Trilogy Side Quests

#1 Movie in the Galaxy - PSA

Getting Away From it All - PSA

#1 Movie in the Galaxy: 2 - PSA

Uh. I think the RvB Holiday Special goes here

Matt Hullum (Sarge) reading an excerpt from 50 Shades of Gray at a book signing.

Season 14 - Anthology

I get it: not everyone loves the Anthology format. I truly do recommend watching all of it at least once - or if you haven't in a long time. My only Side Quests are to say that this is the perfect time to go back to M.I.A. and WTAWTAW if you skipped them after season 9, and that if you skipped the #1 Movie In the Galaxy PSAs during Chorus, watch them now before the third one, which is in this season.

The Shisno Trilogy (seasons 15, 16, and 17)

Season 15

Season 16 - The Shisno Paradox

Season 17 - Singularity

Shisno Side Quests (this is taken from our survey data because it's been so long since I've watched much of any shisno-related stuff)

Hard Truths - PSA

Diversity - PSA

Cultural Appreciation - PSA

Lopez's Technical Guide to Empathy - PSA

Unreal Estate - PSA

Caboose's Guide to Finding Your Home - sequel to the Guide to Making Friends from season 14

RvB: Zero + Family Shatters

okay so here's the deal. If by this point, you're really just interested in the characters you've been watching for the past 17 seasons and not so much the story or anything - you may not get much from watching Zero. I do think it's interesting to watch, if only because I think it's got a lot of missed potential. Zero is not served well by being a season of RvB, I think I would have liked it a lot more if it were stand-alone, though that doesn't fix all of my issues with it. If you wanna jump straight to the series finale, you absolutely can. It's a pretty short watch, though, and I've heard that Family Shatters was better. I'll watch that one at some point.

Zero

Family Shatters - spinoff

Restoration

This is it! The series finale.

I'm not doing this with an other season (though I do recommend going back and watching all the teasers and trailers at some point), but before you watch the finale you should watch The First Trailer For It. I think it sets up the season really well, and helps make some of the rushed set-up exposition in Restoration make a little bit more sense. honestly this should just be considered the first scene of the finale. Then watch the finale, and then you are done with all of the main show of Red VS Blue. Go forth, and be free.

Final Side Quest

I'm putting anything that came out in the nebulous time between Zero and the finale in here. I'll come back and edit this once we find out what on earth is going to be on the Blu-Ray.

Offensive Driving

First Person Tutor

Moving Out

The Video RT Made to Announce Master Chief and Blood Gulch Were Coming To Fortnite. This played at the game awards and my soul almost left my body

This is also where I'll put QvsA, which is the Grimmons mini-series, though I haven't actually watched it myself yet. They're all on youtube.

My all-time favorite RvB fan edit - doesn't actually have any clips post-anthology, but I think the end is a great time to watch it.

If none of this makes sense, or you just have any questions at all - I am More than happy to help answer your queries. I hope this helps :) Also if any of the links are broken please let me know.

[littlesliceofimmortality]

got some goodies from a new manufacturing company ive been wanting to try - melodycharms! :-] VERY happy with how they look

longer review & closeups under cut

OKAY so. ive been an avid vograce customer and supporter for the past few years, always recommending it to friends when asked, & have made consistent sales when working with them to make stuff for my shop

the only reason why i wanted to try another company was that their minimum order number is 3 for most products - which is a bit inconvenient when you just wanna get something for yourself

& melodycharms has the option to get only one! i got:

a double sided holographic keychain

a series connection keychain

a rainbow acrylic keychain, &

a "gold edge" keychain

it had a quick turnaround of only about a month, which is impressive considering it shipped from china to america

FIRST IMPRESSIONS : the box was securely packaged & easy to open! the thank you note is super cute ALBIET a bit too large, crinkling the edges. came with a melody sticker as well!

each keychain had a film, was then wrapped in a bag individually, and then they were all put in ANOTHER crinkly bag. lots of trash (fun to open, not as fun for the environment)

DOUBLE SIDED HOLOGRAPHIC KEYCHAIN

i got the broken glass variety only on the front (callums) side, which gives a SUPER cool effect when looking at it from the back. only negative effect is that the colors on the front are a bit duller in comparison, since the acrylic is thicker

SERIES CONNECTION KEYCHAIN

i dont know if i accidentally ordered two or they accidentally gave me two, BUT excellent surprise nonetheless! they look how i imagined, no complaints :-)

RAINBOW ACRYLIC KEYCHAIN

oooh yeah baby. SUPER happy with how this came out. i left the tv screen transparent on the image it sent, and it translated PERFECTLY to the semi transparent background. photos dont do it enough justice 10/10

GOLD EDGE KEYCHAIN

aah this one was less exciting to receive.. on the website, it looks like a raised, metallic edge on the keychain. in real life, its more like a flat outline. it reflects light like the rest of the keychain - but doesnt have the metallic golden look, instead just seeming yellow

additionally, it came without the accessory keychain so i cant hang it on my bag yet :-( i reached out to melody via their live chat, & got a reply within the 24 hours saying theyd send a replacement though

OVERALL : id rate melodycharms a 3.5/5! they get knocked for a mistake, no company is except from a whoopsie daisy - they were very kind and apologetic when i responded which matters more & i appreciate alot

[just-emerald-star]

My Thoughts on James Somerton [RANT]

Before I begin this post, I highly recommend watching Hbomberguy's new video about Plagiarism. It's the main reason I'm discussing James right now & it provides a more detailed breakdown of what he did.

So for those of you unaware, Queer YouTuber James Somerton has recently been revealed to be a full on plagiarist, having done so for SEVERAL of his videos and isn't exactly the nicest to other queer creatives in the same video essay field as him. Got it? Good. Again, watch the vid.

Upon watching the video and learning about what James did, I was in such shock. My eyes widened. I had begun to see other essayists I follow "feel vindicated" about him being called out. Unbeknownst to me, it's the second part of the video where he's called out.

Having finished the video, I'm not angry. No, I'm PISSED. When one of my best/trusted friends recommended James' videos to me back in 2021, I was immediately hooked. I was inspired by him to further my own craft as a queer video essayist at the time.

To now learn that James is nothing more than a plagiarist who steals other people's content and doesn't even have an original thought to begin with? I'm hurt by this. In my rant video about queer rep, I referenced & linked one of his videos.

I can't even look at this video anymore. I don't even make essays anymore but I can't even look at one of my favorite essays in good faith anymore cuz the man I referenced may have plagiarized in said video I referenced. Do you have any idea how angry I am about this??

In a time where it's getting harder to be openly queer and to not feel scared by literally everything around me, James was that light in darkness that gave me hope. A queer creator who seem to be well-spoken and knew his shit. Come to find out that was never the case. I feel betrayed. He was the sole reason I kept making video essays in 2022. I almost stopped after The Glass Scientist vid but kept going cuz his vids inspired me to keep pushing to be a better creator. I donated money to his fucking production company. I was even one of his patrons for a short period of time. I left the patreon after he got into two different conflicts that pushed me away for the second half of 2022. He made some...not so great comments about Beyonce and her place as a queer icon.

And then he made a whole stink about not being a creator on Nebula. These two reasons, among other minor things, are what pushed me away from James for a good 6-8 months. I only returned to his content literally last month. Last. Fucking. Month. I thought maybe, just maybe, I could give him one more chance. His video on Red, White & Royal Blue was great...and then we get to Hbomber's vid...where apparently he plagiarized in that one too. I was suffering from second-hand embarrassment as Hbomber clocked everything James plagiarized and all of them happen to be videos I watched or took a look at. I felt cheated, betrayed and hurt. Cuz I thought James, at the very least, came up with his own shit. And as someone who works very fucking hard to write/rewrite their own works to near perfection & and takes writing very seriously, I was pissed off. I'm still pissed off now. I got sleep but struggled to stay awake cuz this was weighing on my brain. To now know that James is nothing more than thief who can't write his own shit, I'm disappointed. I pointed to him as one of my inspirations to push for more queer rep. No, he's not the reason I made Roomies...thank fuck for that. He didn't taint my one good thing. On the topic of Roomies, which has a lot of queer POC, I now question if he actually gave a fuck about other queer poc that didn't benefit him for a video. Cuz if we're gonna keep it a buck, most of his queer analysis has been mostly about yt folks. And let's not forget how this man regularly shat on women, both queer & straight. I know there's a discussion to be had about gay men being fetishized, but looking at it now, his views on women in general seem to be very...narrow-minded.

To wrap this up, I no longer support nor stand by James Somerton. Easy thing to do since I barely got back into his shit last month. To say I'm disappointed in you is a fucking understatement. No amount of apologizing is gonna fix this shit.

Good riddance.

[staybabblingbaby]

Chan x Youtuber (Discover Part) a1 d1

[Caution: These are not full fics, or even full parts of fics for some, these are part of my writing progress archive!]

Concept: Reader is an anonymous Youtuber who does English covers of various k-pop songs, including Stray Kids. Bangchan comes across one of these one night and falls in love with Reader's voice. They develop an online friendship, and Bangchan might be in love with more than just the voice.

Word Count: 962

Notes: I had a lot of fun narrating the video. I've seen it a lot in Idol novels that I read online, and it really is a fun and new perspective to use. The username may stay, it may change, i might get rid of it entirely idk. Kind of also contemplating using 'You' instead of 'person'. Idk we'll see how it goes as i work on it. Feedback would be much appreciated for this one. No editing notes rn, I'm not rlly feelin' it.

Warnings: None that I know of? It's just silly fluff idk what u want from me.

Masterlist link :D| Prev Part

It was 2am on a random Tuesday in Seoul. Bangchan lay staring at his ceiling for the nth time that month, silently cursing at his insomnia. He rolls over for the thousandth time to stare at his wall instead. His eyes drift his phone on the nightstand, and he idly wonders if he should spend some time teasing STAY on Bubble.

It’d definitely relieve the soul-crushing boredom of being unable to sleep, but he doesn’t really feel like receiving their well-intentioned scolding over his sleep schedule right now. He rolls back onto his back and heaves a tired sigh.

With resignation, he sits up and grabs his phone. He’d like to avoid being scolded, but receiving STAY’s love is always comforting. Vlogs and edits it is, then.

He hops onto YouTube with deft fingers and begins his latest STAY-binge. The thought of STAY’s reactions when he reminds them that he watches their stuff brings a smile to his face. They always freak out so cutely.

Soon enough, he’s zoned out and mindlessly scrolling through, giggling along to memes and watching vlogs with all the affection in his heart.

He runs out of content from the accounts he regularly watches pretty quickly. He’s only killed about 30 minutes, and even though his mood has improved significantly, he doesn’t quite feel up to going back to staring at his ceiling yet.

With a light heart, he descends into the familiar uncharted territory of his recommended feed. He manages to kill another hour or so before a particular video catches his eye.

[Learn Music Production With Me! | Cover Me by Stray Kids (English Cover) | EP.4]

The thumbnail features someone with brightly colored hair slumped over a desk, their face smooshed against the wood and their arms dangling limply beside them. Their features are obscured by a fabric mask, but bright blue tear-tracks are drawn on over top.

Bangchan can’t help but be amused by the image. He could definitely relate to the frustrations of learning music production. He actually felt a bit flattered and flustered that this person was using his music to learn from.

Officially intrigued, Chan clicks on the video.

It opens with a shot of the person from the thumbnail from the back. They’re sat at the same desk, which Chan can now see hosts a towering hutch with full shelves decked out in flower-shaped fairy lights. He spots a large section of SKZ albums tucked between other albums and books on the hutch’s shelves.

There’s a microphone on the desk, the boom arm pushed to the side, and a bulky set of headphone’s on the figure’s head. Despite the microphone’s distance from the person at the desk Chan can hear the furious clicking of a mouse as clear as day.

This scene plays out for a moment before the clicking suddenly stops and the person freezes. They slowly remove their headphones and sigh loudly. A very crisp [“Fuck!”] Takes him by surprise and he can’t help a soft laugh as the video pauses and begins to rewind.

[“So turns out I’m a big ol’ dumb-dumb and I’ve been doing this wrong this entire time.”] A voiceover begins to explain. The rewind quickly covers what Bagchan assumes is hours of work, and the voice over continues, [“Well, not wrong, per say, but I was definitely doing it the hard way. Wrong Equation right answer sort of situation. I.”] The voice chuckles ashamedly, [“I could have done this whole thing in a third of the time. I’m so embarrassed. Let me show you.”]

The rewind stops and the video switches to a different angle. The camera is obviously sitting on the desk this time, looking at the person from the side. The angle is much closer. The person waves awkwardly at the camera with both hands and rotates their chair to face it properly.

[“Hi all, I’m Grimm’sTeddy and this is episode 4 of me failing to learn how to produce music. We’re onto week 6 now, because I was quite seriously fighting with this program the entire time.”] A caption appears on the screen, [Shoulda watched more tutorials, buddy].

The video continues along the same vein for a while, a mix of Grimm talking and explaining their process while being unknowingly roasted by the occasional caption when they do something wrong. The video mostly shows the screen they’re working from, only switching back to the vlog-style camera when Grimm is being particularly dramatic about their struggles.

Around the 10 minute mark, Grimm discovers the feature of the program that triggered the reaction from the first clip. There’s a bit of grumbling and self-deprecating jokes, and then the video’s pace speeds up by quite a lot. Apparently the process is a lot less entertaining when it’s going smoothly.

Finally, 12 minutes in, the full cover is revealed.

Bangchan is, quite honestly, entranced.

There’s something almost desperate in the tone Grimm sings with, something raw and hurting. The cover is incredibly faithful to the original. They’d changed some words to preserve the melody across languages but were clever enough with it to preserve the meaning.

Bangchan finds himself impressed. Sure there are mistakes, and a lot of polish is missing, but the voice sticks in his head like glue. He goes to the channel’s page to find the first video in the series almost without thinking about it.

It turns out the video he’d watched was from several months ago, just after they’d released the song initially. There were only 2 videos after it, the series seemingly ending at episode 6.

Chan ends up watching the other 5 videos that night. He falls asleep with his phone on his chest at 5am, after making sure to leave a comment on each video.

[franzis-frantic-thoughts]

Who’s Afraid of Alex J. Newall? by Newt Schottelkotte is definitely worth a read to everyone who’s a fan of Rusty Quill Productions.

I count myself amongst those. Which is why I want to add to something mentioned in the article that I, alongside @nossorgs​ have special insight into:

The Transcripts.

In light of everything that has happened this year, the way people inside of RQ have been mistreated, abused, and exploited, the transcripts appear to be a minor issue. But as Newt has pointed out beautifully: They’re a symptom of something much bigger, namely disregard, miscommunication, incompetence, reliance on free fan labour and pretending to be something they’re not. In this case the producer of inclusive and accessible content.

The official RQ transcripts were launched early this year and it was immediately clear how terrible they are. Countless fans have surely reached out to RQ to let them know. After all, there’s a handy feedback form. A feedback form which, incidentally, is neither up-to-task, nor easily accessible as it isn’t linked anywhere near the transcripts, but only in the 26 January 2022 “news” update.

However, Nossorgs and I, as professionals in the language service industry, had concerns that couldn’t be addressed in the feedback form. So we sat down together and wrote a very long email, which we sent to RQ on 22 February 2022. We have received no reply.

I’m now, after checking with Nossorgs, publishing the email here, because I don’t want anyone to say “well maybe they didn’t know”. They knew. They just didn’t care.

They didn’t even care enough to fix these issues by today.

Here’s the email and all the exemplary screenshots are below a cut.

Dear Rusty Quill Team,

congratulations on launching your new website and releasing the transcripts for the RQ original shows.

Upon review of several transcripts (in particular the ones created for Rusty Quill Gaming), we wanted to voice some concerns with the company or software used to generate the transcripts, since there appears to have been a grievous lack of quality control and a large number of errors have made it to the released transcripts. Screenshots are attached and a list of general concerns can be found below.

As professional linguists, who variously have been or are currently employed as editors, translators, transcribers, or project managers in the language service sector (each with QA responsibilities), with over a decade of experience, we would highly recommend requesting a partial or total refund from the companies involved in generating these transcripts. As provided, the transcripts lack any form of serious quality control and may even indicate that the supplier(s) you have partnered with are fraudulent.

With the professional experience we have, we understand the difficulties that come with transcribing audio of this type. One speaker having multiple voices, crosstalk, and "unusual" turns of phrase (i.e. Pathfinder mechanics and terminology) being used pose great difficulties. However, the concerns we would like to voice are unrelated to the content of RQG, but basic issues that any professional linguist should have been able to avoid.

Many of the concerns we have can be traced to a lack of consistency, which could have been avoided by the simple creation and adherence to a style guide. Did your transcription supplier provide or request one? With a project as big as this, it would have been standard practice.

Please find a list of general concerns below, the file names of relevant screenshots have been added in brackets:

Many spelling and grammar errors, which indicate a lack of language skill (Spelling001 to 005). Professional linguists should only ever work in their native language to avoid such issues. There are official ISO guidelines regarding linguistic qualifications, which any agency of worth is aware of and regularly audited on.

Misspelling of player and character names and misattribution of lines (Spelling001 to 005). We do not know whether RQ provided a list of cast and character names to the transcription provider, but they should have realised that many unusual names are included and references are needed. They should have reached out and requested a list if it hadn't been provided. If it was provided, it was clearly not consulted.

Lack of organisation: The very first episode is mislabelled as episode 25 in the transcript (Episode1_mislabeled). Episode 25, in turn, only seems to be available in a word format, not as a pdf (this also seems to apply to other episodes, such as 203). The transcripts are not labelled in a consistent pattern, meaning that they are not sorted consecutively by episode number in the RQ Sharepoint, making browsing difficult (Filing001).

Lack of consistent speaker tagging: In most transcripts, the players are not distinguished from the characters they are playing, and the formatting is inconsistent in the episodes that do note in-character speech (Characters001 to 003). This is probably due to your transcription provider splitting the work over multiple people. This is a common and reasonable approach to spread the workload. However, the linguists should have agreed on a common system, or the central project manager should have dictated one. Lack of cast/character distinction renders the transcripts as good as unreadable.

Lack of basic QA regarding completion: Episode 183 includes internal formatting remarks of the supplier, which should have been deleted by them prior to delivery (CW001).

Content warnings: Listing of content warnings is inconsistent, if present at all, with one remark noting that content warnings were unavailable because they were not listed in the (fan-made) wiki (CW002). It is concerning that the transcription provider would refer to a fan-made, unofficial source, when RQ provides content warnings with all episodes in the episode notes. Surely, these are also available at RQ internally in a centralised document which could have been requested by the supplier.

We understand you are probably very busy creating and promoting your new shows and troubleshooting your new website, but transcripts of this quality actively harm your reputation as an accessible and inclusive company. The mantra "better than nothing" only applies to a certain extent here. Low-quality transcripts, such as these, are of no help to those who rely on them. Clear labelling of actors vs characters is needed in order to follow the podcast, and content warnings should have been included whether they are available on the fan wiki or not. Even if these transcripts are intended as first drafts, to be revised and polished at a later stage, they are at best unuseable and at worst dismissive towards those members of the fan community who are hard of hearing or have auditory processing issues.

Professionally, we recommend that you reach out to your supplier with the list of concerns and screenshots we have collected and request corrections. Whether or not you also request a (partial) refund is up to you, but we also recommend you do. If you do not trust your original supplier to take care of the required corrections accurately, it would be standard practice to request a quotation from another supplier and contact the original transcription provider with this quotation in order to bill them for the additional financial burden. Before choosing a (second) supplier and contracting them for all 200+ reworks, it would be advisable to do a small batch of transcripts first, in order for you to get a feeling for their quality, as well as allow them to make an accurate estimate of the effort involved and ask any questions that may already have come up.

In the language service industry, it is not uncommon to have to rework one's deliveries. Language is subjective and linguists are people. Mistakes happen. We understand this better than most fans. However, no professional, qualified linguist would have signed off on these transcripts with the feeling of a job well done. There are human errors, and there is a gross lack of basic quality assurance. Unfortunately, the RQG transcripts, as they are, fall into the latter category.

If you would like to get in touch, we would be more than happy to share our professional knowledge and experience regarding linguistic projects such as these, in order to help you avoid such problems in the future, for instance if and when you decide to add transcripts for side quests, specials, and bloopers. We are aware that you don’t usually work with fans and understand and respect the reasoning behind the decision, however, many linguists in the fan community are prepared to offer their own services as transcribers. You have a wide range of professionals in your fan community, and all of them come with the additional benefit of being familiar with the source material and understanding what format these transcripts should take in order to be of use.

With kind regards,

Spelling001

Spelling002

Spelling003

Spelling004

Spelling 005

Episode1_mislabelled

Filing001

Characters001

Characters002

Characters 003

CW001

CW002

[i-heart-hxh]

Does Gon have green hair or black hair? What colour are Killua's eyes? Which version of the anime do you like better?

Hi, thanks for the fun questions!

I like to go off the manga as the actual canon because that's the most direct way of seeing Togashi's intentions, rather than decisions made by an anime production crew. Togashi tends to color Gon's hair as either black or green or both. (Just some examples, there are many, many more out there of course!)

Because of the frequency with which he uses green, I think it's fair to see Gon's hair as either a very dark green verging on black, or black at the roots and then green towards the tips. Of course not a "natural" hair color in our world, but neither is Killua's or that of multiple other characters, so I'm sure there's a wider variation of natural hair colors in the HxH world. (Obviously, this is a very common thing in anime and manga, haha.)

Togashi occasionally colors Killua's eyes brown for whatever reason, but he uses blue considerably more (and so does the colored version of the manga/both anime adaptations) so I definitely think blue is his intended choice for Killua's eyes.

As for which anime version I prefer--ultimately I prefer 2011 because it follows the manga much more closely and I absolutely love how it adapted Greed Island through Election Arc especially. It really hit its stride through those arcs. I've also written about issues I have with the characterization of Gon and Killua in the 1999 anime. That said, I think both series have pros and cons, and I do enjoy both and also have issues with both to some degree as well.

Some of 2011's pros and cons in my view:

Pros:

Follows more of the manga

Follows the manga much more closely than 1999

Amazing voice acting--particularly from Megumi Han and Mariya Ise (Gon and Killua), but there are tons of other phenomenal performances as well!

Really impressive animation in many scenes

Amazing production consistency for a series with as long of a run as it had, gets even better as it goes!

A nice soundtrack and OP/EDs

Overall polished and satisfying series and overall well-adapted from the source material

Even increases the emotional impact of some of the scenes

Added cute Gon and Killua content that I personally enjoy (Huncyclopedia, trailers, some added scenes, etc.)

Cons:

Doesn't leave out a lot, but what it does leave out is strange and frustrating (Kite stuff, Kon, Leorio scenes, etc.)

The aesthetic could be better IMHO. The character designs are fine, but I would have preferred them be just a bit more grounded in some cases (think like 1999). The color palette is very bright and cheery and looks somewhat fake or artificial in a way.

Feels overly light at the beginning when compared to the manga, oddly tonally dissonant with the later parts of the series and makes the series hard to recommend to some people IMHO

Some strange uses of the soundtrack, early in the series in particular

1999's pros and cons:

Pros:

Really gorgeous aesthetic and use of cel animation

Often amazing visual direction

I love the character designs overall, particularly as drawn by some of the specific animation directors who worked on it

Darker, immersive atmosphere

Some of the soundtrack is beautiful!

Some of the added content is neat and/or funny

LeoPika city

Nice OPs/EDs

Fun and sometimes goofy additional content like the musical, radio shows, etc.

Cons:

Adds a LOT of original content and changes things from the manga, definitely not all of which I like or agree with. Some of the additions/changes are frustrating to me.

Gon and Killua's characters and dynamic in particular are changed a fair bit in ways I don't always enjoy

Slooooowwww pacing

Too visually dark at times and can be hard to discern what's happening

Weird fight choreography at times

Even with how much I love that era of anime, it sometimes feels really dated--even older than it actually is, IMHO

These are overly simplified and I'm certain I'm leaving out a lot, but hopefully that gives you an idea of how I feel about each!

I sometimes wish we could have an anime that mixes together the pros from both and erases some of the cons. I feel like a theoretical blend of both versions would potentially be amazing, but at the same time I know we're very lucky as a fandom to have two anime adaptations with their own unique strengths and weaknesses, and I'm grateful for that!

[absolutebl]

any other high quality bls like itsay?🥲

Okay, to start, none of the below posts have been updated in a while so I would add these 2022-2023 offerings:

Eternal Yesterday *

The Eighth Sense

180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us*

Moonlight Chicken

Sing My Crush*

Tokyo in April is

I Feel You Linger in the Air

ALSO, currently airing Unknown and Gray Shelter.

With regards to ITSAY I am not your huckleberry but here's what I got for ya...

And pulling from the "moody arthouse smackdoodle" list in this post about BL's dark side:

Your Name Engraved Herein (Taiwan 2020 Netflix) - this movie is fantastic but it is also seriously depressing, it’s a self acceptance journey, but if you wanna wallow in high quality acting and serious gay drama, this’ll do it. 

Goodbye Mother AKA Thua Me Con D (Vietnam 2019 Netflix) - like YNEH this is a great movie but it deals openly with homophobia, bashing, family trauma and social acceptance. 

For Love, We Can (Hong Kong 2014) - an indie movie about parental homophobia, light/dark pairing, and (of course) HIV. 

The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese AKA Kyuso wa Chizu no Yume wo Miru (Japan 2020) - obsession, cheating, breakup, reunion, then break up again, explicit. 

Pornographer movie series - AKA The Novelist, Mood Indigo, Pornographer Playback (Japan 2018-2020) emotional manipulation, cheating, obsession, seduction, May/December (age gap AKA younger/older), kink, touch of necrophilia, explicit.   

Method (Korea 2017) - May/December, actor idol pairing, that should have been everything I wanted in life but it’s more about the actor cheating on his wife and their weird “artsy” relationship and frankly, I hated this. And I don’t say that lightly. 

Itsuka no Kimi e (Japan 2007 YouTube) - okay this is basically about a college student who saves this boy from drowning and then gets embroiled in his, and his identical twin’s messed up lives. It goes very weird.

His the series AKA I Didn’t Think I Would Fall In Love (Japan 2019) - boy goes to visit his absent father ends up kinda homeless on the beach gets adopted by local family falls in love with the boy working and living with them. Lots of long drawn out glances. 

Innocent (Taiwan 2021 GaGa) - mental health, childhood trauma, actually kinda sweet. 

More on ISTAY et al here.

* are ones that I don't recommend if you have the same taste as me, but I DNF'd ITSAY so, you calearly don't have the same taste