#to see how the viewer moves through the piece and how it gets better the longer you look!!!!!!!!

[peachsukii]

₊✩‧₊ ⇢ gamer boyfriend!kirishima

『 ♡ 』 kirishima & mild KiriBaku x fem!reader (18+ under the cut!) -`✧ eijiro kirishima masterlist

✩ kirishima loves gaming with his buddies every friday night to blow off steam and hang out with his bro squad. they start bullshitting the idea of starting a streaming group and decide to give it a shot.

✩ the bits and pieces for streaming come in the mail - boxes at a time. while he’s at work one day, you spend the entire afternoon building his desk, moving his PC and setting up all the streaming equipment in the office.

✩ bakugo, kaminari, sero and kirishima decide to call themselves “the riot squad.”

✩ you’re the group’s first viewer on their debut stream. kirishima excitedly interacts with you through the chat as he games for hours, the others interchangeably commenting on your messages playfully.

✩ one viral gaming clip later, the boys have gained over 5,000 followers in a month’s time. you’ve helped kirishima build an entire discord server for the community they’ve built and moderate their streams alongside a few other friends.

✩ plenty of fans clamor over bakugo with his naturally flawless features and brash personality, but you love watching kirishima get flustered over his own fan girls. it’s one of your favorite things to tease him about.

✩ you may or may not secretly let seductive messages slide through his discord DMs from horny fangirls. seeing his face redden when you dare him to respond, or that they have excellent taste being thirsty for him.

✩ sometimes when kirishima gets frustrated over losing matches, you crawl under his desk quietly while he’s distracted. it’s almost comical how his legs instinctually part when you run your fingers up his thighs before palming his already half-hard cock through his shorts.

✩ he lets you shift his clothes around to wrap your soft fingers around his shaft, trying to mask what’s going on behind the scenes as he continues playing.

✩ when you start stroking him lazily, he surprisingly plays better! you can hear the boys cheering him on through his headset as his legs quiver at your touch.

✩ by the time your mouth engulfs his cock, he’s sweating while keeping his best poker face on for the stream. you can hear him panting silently between matches. he mutes his mic to let out a moan or a whine every now and again.

✩ before he cums, he announces to the boys that it’s time to wrap up the stream, saying their goodbyes and switching off the stream. he practically throws his headset off his head and scoops you off the floor and into his lap. he never lets himself finish before you do.

✩ what he doesn’t expect is that you’d been playing with yourself and have soaked through your panties, begging him to fuck you. and he obliges every time - in the gaming chair, sprinting to his bedroom, or up against the wall of the office.

✩ he once forgot to turn off his webcam with the boys as you crawled into his lap, misclicking on the screen and leaving it on. the only person on the call was bakugo, who tried to motion for him to turn it off, but ended up becoming enamored in his best friend fucking his girlfriend. kirishima would shoot a confident grin over your shoulder and into the camera at bakugo as he watched the two of you.

✩ kirishima never expected to establish the tradition of fucking you post-stream and letting bakugo watch you two every once in awhile. he loved showing off how sexy your body was and how pretty your moans sounded, especially to his best friend. it was their best kept secret.

✩ reading bakugo’s filthy messages to your joint discord chat with kirishima is one of the best things to come out of this streaming idea. “how’d you bag a girl with such a perfect ass?” “the way her cunt sucks up your thick cock is fuckin’ hot, ei” “who knew you could fuck like that?” “can’t believe she likes showing off for you like a good little slut” “fuck, you two are better than any nasty ass porn”

✩ both kirishima and bakugo played exponentially better any night you three had a private stream - you became their lucky charm as their internet infamy climbed higher and higher.

⋆ ˚ʚɞ — kirishima showing you off to his friends? hot as fuck. 🥵✨ gamer kiri lives in my head rent free. he’s so goddamn cute and i’d love to spoil him while he plays in any way he’d let me. shoutout to @pastelbakugou for fueling my kiri thirst! 🤭

[melobin]

behind the screen 𐙚 sungchan smau #25

✧ camgirl reader x roommate sungchan

✧ synopsis. in which sungchan discovers his favorite camgirl also happens to be his roommate

✧ wc. 2.7k

✧ warnings. smut, dom!sungchan, fingering, live streaming sex, voyeurism.

behind the screen masterlist

✧.

“your room looks-“

“exactly the same?” you laughed as sungchan walked into your bedroom.

“why do you change the sheets?”

“just makes it look prettier, i already have them made up in a duvet in my wardrobe so i don’t have to mess about too much post stream” sungchan nodded as he sat on your bed and looked at you, watching as you stripped off the oversized shirt you were wearing to reveal the underwear you’d worn underneath. it felt more like lingerie to the boy before you, he felt his mouth water as his fingers trailed over the bare skin of your hips. he gripped you, pulling you forward so he could press an open mouthed kiss against your skin just below your bra, you laced your fingers through his hair and sighed.

“you’re so pretty”

“you’re horny”

“you can’t blame me” he groaned, fingers trailing from your hips to your ass. he pushed them under the thin fabric of your underwear, letting his nails dig directly into your skin “you’re just so perfect” you hummed as he continued to kiss your skin, eventually pulling his head away from you and looking down at him. the smile on his face seemed dazed, he was drunk on whatever feeling your body was feeding him.

“focus, i have to start the stream soon” you pulled away from him to move in front of the laptop you had set up on your bed “are you okay with what we’re doing”

“very” he nodded and sat beside you, it felt risky opting to not use masks but you had the camera set up perfectly, barely reaching above your breast. you knew you weren’t going to fuck sungchan on stream, you also knew your viewers would go insane just at watching the two of you get eachother off so that’s what you would do. in a way it was like testing the waters, seeing if your stream did do better having sungchan there. he trailed his fingers over your bare thighs, watching you carefully. what you had noticed over the passing days was that sungchan was clingy, and you didn’t mean that in just a touchy way. sungchan’s gaze was on you, constantly, no matter what you were doing around your apartment, he was watching. he treated you as if you were a piece of art, his eyes always admiring you no matter what.

you’d gotten used to sungchan’s eyes on you, he was bad at hiding his feelings when it came to his expressions and there was always a tinge of excitement laced within his pretty eyes. the two of you hadn’t had sex since your night in the hotel so you weren’t sure what was triggering it, you were just content to see him happy.

“go sit there” you pointed to the opposite end of the bed, his lips grazed over your neck before he complied with your orders, sitting facing you. this was a dream come true for sungchan, he was about to watch, and participate in, his favourite cam girls stream, it almost excited him about how jealous all of your viewers would be.

sungchan never took his eyes off of you as you started your stream, he watched you as you spoke to the webcam, fingers trailing along your body as you giggled at the flowing comments. he was glad he couldn’t see what they were saying.

“do i have a surprise for you? hmm well..” you trailed off eyes flicking over to sungchan before returning to the screen with a smile on your face “well i have something, i did ask how you all felt about having someone join me on stream and because you all seemed so into it, i invited a special friend to join me” your eyes scanned the comments before you beckoned sungchan over to join you, shifting over a little so he’d be in the frame.”no need to get jealous” you laughed, feeling sungchan’s fingers creep along your thigh before he squeezed it.

“let them be” sungchan breathed against your ear, lips pressing against your skin as you giggled. sungchan found streaming to be more fun than he had originally expected, the influx of comments about his appearance in the stream was entertaining to him. technically you weren’t his, but he was excited to claim you in front of the countless people that were watching.

“wanna play?” you turned your head so you could look at sungchan, parting your thighs a little more as his fingers trailed higher up.

“more than anything” he breathed against your lips, groaning as you placed your hand over his boxers, fingers curling over the bulge that was forming. your squeezed his clothed cock in your hand, feeling precum leak onto your hand through the material, you could feel his excitement and it made it feel even better for you “take them off” he pulled at the waist band of your panties, letting go of them and making them snap against your skin, you jumped at the contact before pushing them off and dropping them off the side of the bed.

sungchan held your jaw in his hand, turning your head so you would be looking at the laptop. you felt a sense of euphoria whilst reading the comments, everyone seemed so excited watching sungchan touch you. all you could hear was the rattling sound of donations being sent as sungchan pushed his fingers into your slit, your slick coating his fingers immediately as he dragged them through it. your eyes shut as he pressed the tips of his fingers as your clit, slow circles being draw out against it as he breathed against your cheek. you felt him smile against your skin when you whimpered and squeezed your hand tighter around his clothed cock, he let out a deep breath when your hand pushed into his briefs to pull his cock out of them. the two of you were in your own world, oblivious to everything around you, almost forgetting about the stream you had going on in front of you.

sungchan’s fingers left your clit and crept up your body, curling around your bra so he could pull it down and close his hand about your breast. he squeezed his hand around it as you stroked his cock, his fingers pinched your nipple as you ran your thumb over the wet tip of his cock. his other hand was flat against your back before his fingers began messing with the clasp of your bra, undoing it and letting it fall onto your lap before pushing it to the floor. sungchan leaned back, letting his eyes trail over your body before he groaned, cock throbbing in your hand.

“you’re so beautiful, merci” you whimpered at the name, turning your head to look at him again. you let him kiss you momentarily, lips soft against yours before you broke the kiss. sungchan wanted to devour you, he wanted to kiss every inch of you and ruin you for everyone to see. only he could do that to you and he would make sure everyone watching knew that.

“i want you to fuck me” you whimpered as you looked at him, his fingers returning to their place being pressed against your clit.

“right here?”

“right here” you nodded and whimpered, hips bucking against his fingers as he dragged them down your slit and pressed them against your entrance.

“on stream, baby?”

“on stream” he pushed his middle finger inside of you, letting your wetness coat his skin as he pressed it deeper “theres condoms in my bedside table” he nodded and pushed another finger inside of you, letting you wrap your hand around his wrist as he curled his fingers inside of you, starting to speed up his thrusts once you moaned out loud. your eyes were barely open as you looked at the stream, the comments were a blur as they rushed over the screen, going too fast for you to be able to keep up and your mind too distracted to take in anything they were saying.

you moaned again as he curled his fingers inside of you, pressing the tips of them against the sponge spot inside of you that was just calling out for him.

“they love you baby” he fucked his fingers into you faster, reading the comments that were scrolling rapidly over the chat, all the comments about how jealous they were of the mysterious man, how bad they wanted to replace him and how pretty you looked while you were falling apart. sungchan laughed quietly as he took in the praise and felt you clench around his fingers.

your thighs shook as he withdrew them from you, you turned your head to look up at him as he left you empty. he simply looked at you with a smile, fingers lifting before trailing along your bottom lip.

“open” you opened them, obeying his orders and letting him place his fingers against your tongue whilst you closed your lips around them and let your own slick fill your mouth. sungchan groaned as he watched you, your eyes wide as you sucked on his fingers. he felt his cock throb in your stilled grip, he wasn’t mad that you’d stopped jerking him off, in fact he loved it. he loved the fact you were too caught up in your own pleasure because of him and he loved the fact other people were seeing it too.

you were shaky when sungchan pulled his fingers out of your mouth and stood up off of the bed, you brought your focus to the laptop in front of you.

“you all seem so excited” you breathed out, laughing lightly as the words fell from your lips.

@heeheesung: i feel insane

@honghan: i might kill myself

@soleehee: @honghan it’s never that deep

@honghan: @soleehee it is for me 💔

@wonnie: i think i just became bisexual

@yourahri: his body is so sexy 🤤

@wonnie: @yourahri back off he’s mine

@yourahri: @wonnie hey, i’m just glad it’s not my jakey

you trailed your fingers over your skin as you heard sungchan shuffling around beside the bed, removing the condom from the draws next to your bed and riding himself of his briefs whilst you giggled at the influx of comments that were practically begging for you to let him fuck you on stream. you hadn’t planned for it originally, but after feeling his hands on you and hearing his soft, sweet voice in your ear, it’s all you wanted. you craved to fill him filling you up once again, even in front of the thousands of people who were watching the two of you live.

“kneel up” sungchan sat behind you, his back leaning against the headboard as he helped you straddle his waist, knees digging into the bed either side of his hips. he had a tight grip on your skin as he bent his knees and planted his feet flat against the bed, pulling you back so his chest was pressed against your back. your shivered as you felt his breath fan over your skin. he let go of your body so he could hand you the condom that was left on the bed beside you. you opened it, letting the wrapper fall onto the sheets before wrapping your hand around sungchan’s cock and rolling on the condom with the other.

“ready?” you nodded as sungchan breathed against your skin, his hands holding your waist as yours went to his knees so you could steady yourself as he helped you sink down on his cock.

you were weak as you felt sungchan’s cock fill you up, his girth stretched you out as you took as much of him as you could. your thighs shook whilst your nails dug into his knees, shaky whimpers falling from your lips as you sat still on top of him, all of his cock seated inside of you. there was an ache in your clit as you clenched around him, you needed something more, needed to feel him loving inside of you.

“please” you whimpered out,

“need something, baby?”

“fuck me. please”

he dug his fingers deeper into the skin of you waist as he lifted you and brought you back down on his cock, repeating the motion over again as you let the pleasure take over you. you were glad that sungchan had accepted the submissive role you’d taken over that night, the way he touched you and moved you on his cock made you feel weak and you knew you wouldn’t be able to move by yourself. you needed help and sungchan seemed more than happy to help you.

“god you’re so wet” sungchan groaned as you clenched around his cock, his speed increasing as he began to buck his hips up against yours, his cock somehow slipping deeper as he done so. sungchan himself felt as if he was in heaven, even through the thin material of the condom that was wrapped around his cock all he could feel was you, every inch of his cock was coated by you, he felt as if he drowning in the pleasure that your cunt was bringing him.

you bit your tongue as you felt his name almost slip from your lips, the pleasure sungchan was giving you was making you feel dizzy but you tried your hardest to keep yourself sane enough to not accidentally slip up and moan his name on stream, not matter how bad you wanted to moan it out. each thrust up made him feel deeper inside of you, his speed only increasing as he continued to fuck up into you. you struggled to control yourself as you felt your body growing weaker, your moans getting higher in pitch as they filled the room.

sungchan lifted himself so his slick chest was pressed against your back once again, he looked down at the stream as he wrapped an arm around your waist and dropped his other hand to your clit, fingers pressing directly against the bud. he began to draw circles with the tips of his fingers as he continued the fuck you, his lips teeth nipped at your ear as he groaned into it.

“they all think you’re so pretty baby” he motioned to the comments that were flying by on the stream, the live mirrored video of you being fucked almost completely distracting him from being able to read them “the prettiest girl being fucked the way she deserves” you moaned again, letting yourself fall limp against him as he continued to fuck you, fingers driving you to the brink of insanity as he found yourself getting closer to the edge,

“i’m so close fuck i’m so fucking close” you whined out, finding yourself babbling away mindlessly as your orgasm began to take over your body.

“let it out” he groaned, feeling the ache in his cock begin to take over his other sense, wanting nothing more than to spill into the condom with you wrapped tightly around his cock. your body was limp against his as he slowed down his thrusts, your legs shaking as he let you calm down against him. you whimpered when you heard him moan out, his body tensing as he spilled his cum into the condom. it took you a few moments to calm down, only remembering the stream once you heard the steady sounds of donations being sent to you.

sungchan lifted you and moved away from the bed, letting you sit in a daze as you began to bid goodbye to your viewers.

“as always thank you for watching” you gulped as your hands shook, a pleasant reminder of the orgasm your roommate had just given you “if you want me to do something like this again in the future be sure to let me know” you ended the stream with a wave and closed the application, your laptop shutting down only moments after. sunchan watched you carefully before he done anything, almost admiring you before making his move. he placed a knee on the bed, leaning forward to catch your lips in a kiss. your fingers curled around his shoulders as he kissed you, the action was softer than you had anticipated it to be, he broke the kiss only to place his lips against yours right again, breaking that one only seconds after.

“you’re so cute” you narrowed your eyes at him as he pulled away, his phone ringing out with a message tone as he did.

“i didn’t do anything” sungchan opened his mouth to reply before stopping, eyes narrowing at the notification on his screen “what’s wrong?”

“jake just followed me on twitter”.

.

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[lemotmo]

Can we take a minute to talk about how today’s bts clip is the perfect example of how much…for lack of a better word, damage, Lou’s cameos really caused?

Because the show, the writers, the directors, Oliver, the promo teams etc have all been showing and telling us a very specific story. With very specific moments. And very specific scenes with specific beats hit or missed. And it paints us the picture of what the storyline is about. Buck. Buck figuring out this new piece of information about himself. Buck figuring this new piece about himself out and finding his footing with it. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Then we have Lou and the small section of his following who are very loud. They showing a very different story. Lou has used cameo to spread head canon after head canon after head canon about his character, his relationship with Buck, his relationship with other characters. And it’s warped the actual story to the point where it very much goes against what the actual canon events are showing and telling the viewers. The loud BT fans truly believe Buck and Tommy are this match made in heaven, stars aligned, madly in love about to move in together and start planning a wedding, couple. And the loud BT fans think that because the head canons they were told in these cameos, and because they paid for them, they think they hold more meaning than the free episodes that are aired.

But then as we see by the clip released today, and despite all the other issues people have with the scene and how we can interpret the actions not matching what we’ve seen especially compared to how their first date played out, the actual words they have Tommy telling hen and Karen and by extension the audience is “we’re taking it very slow. Bucks setting the pace”

That doesn’t sound like a deeply in love about to move in and get married couple being portrayed in cameo videos to me. It’s the actual canon reality of the show and the BT relationship though. Snail paced speed. Not that deeply developed or defined. Entry level to allow Buck to get his footing in this new reality he’s discovered.

It also gave yet another moment of is this man actual that serious about Buck? Because instead of taking the opportunity presented to him to reassure Hen and Karen, two important members of Bucks family, Tommy once again instead deflected and made jokes at an inappropriate moment that again didn’t land well, based on Henrens faces. Which again, doesn’t sound like the “everyone loves and respects Tommy and is to thrilled he’s dating Buck, he’s got all these connections with the 118” narrative that has been given through cameo videos.

We will probably never know the actual full reason why Lou suddenly cut his cameos off. But I do think this released bts video is a perfect example of at least one of the reasons he did. Because the content and context of them was getting so far off base from the actual canon of the show and story.

YES! All of this Nonny!

Lou's cameos were such a bad idea. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he was told to stop making them either.

He filled these fans' heads with headcanons and wild fairytales about Tommy's completely made up childhood and how he feels about Buck. All while the writers were clearly telling us a very different story. His narrative about Tommy doesn't match the show's narrative. But for some reason a lot of the BT fans don't want to see the canon evidence that BT is not that big love story they want it to be.

On the contrary, the show has been pretty consistent in telling us Buck and Eddie's story and their connection. THAT is canon. All the rest that Lou made up? Definitely fanon!

[mewguca]

I was thinking about how people should talk more about the parallels between hunter and moon

This is a rather self-indulgent piece...I find it very comforting to be able to express my emotions through a media I love like this...that's probably my favorite thing about art. Being able to express something...being able to connect emotionally with the viewer...is really nice

textless versions and a long rambling under the cut

Hunter is often viewed as a very strong and agile slugcat...they are the "hard mode" after all. Hunter probably has a lot of physical prowess. But, with the rot...they become weaker. At its worst, they struggle to do basic movements...until they eventually die. Of course, in my version of events...Hunter's rot is cured, but it still leaves lasting side-effects. Their scars go beyond simple battle wounds...there's a sort of pervasive sickliness throughout their whole body. Treatment helps, of course...but

You know how that is, right...? You have to keep getting treatments. You have to work for your recovery. And you have to work to prevent your body from getting weaker again...Or y'know, that's how it is if you've ever had any reoccurring or chronic health issues. It's...a struggle I feel like doesn't get expressed very often...so I wanted to express it through my version of Hunter.

Even though Moon isn't anywhere near as organic, I feel like she can relate to similar struggles. She used to be like a god...a powerful supercomputer who could do just about anything! But...she couldn't bring herself to do the one thing that'd preserve her own wellbeing. She delays and delays on forcing Pebbles to stop with her administrative powers until it is far too late...

Maybe she thought she could handle it. That everything would be fine if she just waited for Pebbles to understand...or waited for him to stop. If she just kept sending messages, eventually he would listen.

But he didn't. Things didn't get better. And by the time she finally took action against it, it was too late...her forced communications did nothing but make her brother furious with her...because she "ruined everything." She could only accept her imminent collapse...

When she woke up again, she had only a few neurons left to run on. Her umbilical was broken, her overseers were out of her control, and even the roof over her head was incomplete.

She couldn't do most of the things she used to. She could hardly move. She could hardly even think. She could barely remember who or what she used to be...and she didn't have great ability to remember the present, either.

It must have been really painful...but she keeps doing what she can anyways. She reads the pearls you bring her. She tells you about the items you bring. She gives you information as best as she can. She is kind and hospitable. She encourages you. She could be so bitter and depressed...so resentful and cruel...but she isn't. I'm sure she has plenty of bitterness and resentment, plenty of hopelessness and great sadness, plenty of suffering...

But when she sees the little slugcat, she's still kind to it. She is grateful for what she has. She is happy to see you. And she keeps on living.

She's so strong...she is a huge inspiration for me.

So, I think if anyone could relate to Hunter's struggle...Moon is probably the closest. I think people should talk about their relationship more...after all, Hunter is her "little savior." I think they would be wonderfully close. They could support each other in their struggles to keep living, even if their bodies fight against them. I also think their friendship is just cute! Great potential for angst, for fluff, for comfort...idk. everything, really. It would be wonderful for them to reunite when they're both in better shape...as creatives, we can make a versions of events where that happens. It's really wonderful to me...for a work of art to inspire others to create art because of it.

This game means a lot to me...and it means a lot to me that it resonates so much with other people as well. So, thank you...

[yaekiss]

i loved that aether fic! can you pls make him a yandere for us?

꩜ Room Content: Dom! GN! Top! Reader x Sub! Yan! Bottom! Camboy! Aether, reader's dick can be read as strap, he steals your clothes, possessiveness from Aether, lmk if I missed out anything ! ꩜ A/N: Thank you for enjoying the camboy!Aether work!! It was really interesting to brainstorm about how he would behave as a yan!camboy so I got a little carried away again hehe, hope you like the ramble ! ♡

Yandere!Camboy!Aether who’s not only a slut but a slut for you ♡ His affection for you stems from how you always secretly check in on him during your streams together. Your voice is low as you ask him if the pace is alright, if you can start moving, if the position is comfortable for him. And don’t even get him started on the aftercare. The amount of care you show him contrasted with how harshly you slam into him has his mind spinning, creating some twisted contorted lust-filled version of love that he just wants to shower you with.

It’s no doubt that he’s super sweet towards you off cam but I feel like he’d also be a bit of a pervert in this AU. Once, after a collab stream together, when you left the room to grab a drink, he leaps up at the opportunity to steal a piece of your undergarments before you return. He stashes it in a Ziploc bag he brought along specifically for this and immediately chucks it into his luggage, stored underneath some bulkier lighting or filming equipment so that you wouldn’t find it. The second he gets home, he's pressing it up to his face and inhaling your scent as he strokes himself. Aether’s probably also a yandere who would commission a dildo that matches your size so that he can fuck himself at home while crying out your name as he watches your streams. Tears well up in his eyes as he can’t seem to cum, the artificial blue light from his laptop unable to replicate the sheer warmth in your gaze every time you take him, your voice through his speakers is too crackly and nothing at all like how you would whisper and coo slyly into his ear. Poor baby :((

During collabs, Aether constantly battles with the dilemma of whether: 

1. On one hand, he wants the whole audience to see that only you could pound his brains out like this until he’s blubbering and whining out things that make no sense. No one else can make you feel as good as him, right? (In actual fact, you do stream with others apart from Aether, it’s just that he vehemently chooses not to watch them, scowling at the notification that pops up whenever you go live with someone other than him.) Every time you suck a hickey onto his skin, pure dopamine floods his mind. You’re leaving a mark on him-! Wahhh means you really do like him right? Right? Rightright? 🥹

2. He wants you to only focus on him, so no more of your pesky audience! Aether hates hates hates it when you look away from him to address your viewers. Whenever he watches you turn from him to face the camera, there’s a small ugly part of Aether that bristles as you address them so endearingly. Mind muddled with jealousy and lust and desire, he wants to scream, “Why do you need to ask them if they’re enjoying the view? Just look at me, am I not enough for you?” But he knows better than that, the both of you are streamers after all and he wouldn’t know what he’d do if you ever got mad at him for ruining a stream. What if you never want to stream with him ever again? What if you cut off all means of contact with him!? The risks are too high for Aether’s poor heart to bear so no matter how his hand itches to turn off the stupid blinking red webcam, he holds himself back and just pouts at you.

All in all, Yan!Camboy!Aether is a pathetic perv teehee :3c

Thanks for reading! Consider supporting me on kofi if you enjoyed this or check out my other works hehe ♡

[pippin-katz]

Okay I noticed something during the Red Room scene after watching RWRB for the "who knows how many"-th time.

When they hit the wall, Alex puts his right hand on it:

But then they cut and it’s not there anymore:

Now, I’m not pointing this out as an "oh look an editing error" or anything because that’s something that happens in pretty much every movie ever made. Somebody’s hand or leg is in one position, they cut to another angle, and it’s in a slightly different position. It’s what happens when you’re editing together several different takes of the same scene.

Hell, quick and fun tangent, feel free to skip ahead to where the text changes back to the normal color, but there’s a sequence in Clue, the movie, where Wadsworth, the butler, is retelling the events of the evening in very specific detail and reenacting it. This is a fantastic example of a moment where a very attentive viewer can see into the behind the scenes, and remember that when filming movies, they always do multiple takes of a scene, even if nothing went wrong; there’s only very unique circumstances where they film a scene and the entirety of the very first take is used.

Earlier, Mrs. Peacock freaks out because they think there might have been poison in the drink, and Mr. Green slaps her in the throat to stop her from screaming:

GIF from here.

After he hits her, he says this:

GIF from here.

When Wadsworth reenacts it later, he says the same line:

GIF from here.

Notice that he’s accurately in character as Mr. Green, but he makes the gesture to push his “glasses” back up, which Mr. Green didn’t do. Tim Curry went through great lengths for this very long sequence to get all the little details right. The only reason he would do that would be if he did push his glasses up, but it was in a different take. That take wasn’t used in the final cut of film, but they had to have filmed a version of the scene where Mr. Green pushed his glasses back up, and Tim Curry copied it because he wouldn’t have been able to predict which version of the scene they would use, and that’s a specific detail he wouldn’t want to miss if they used that take.

In the easiest and perfect scenario, they pick the best take of each shot and splice them together, but sometimes they use multiple takes of one of the shots and use different pieces of them. Maybe the delivery of one line was better in one take, but another line was better in the other. If there's going to be a cut between those lines, they can cut out the line delivery they liked the best and splice into whatever take they're using the most of.

This is common knowledge, but I'm covering it just in case someone is completely unfamiliar with how films are made.

When the camera angle changes during a sequence, it doesn’t mean that they filmed up until that point, stopped and repositioned the cameras and the actors, and then continued. They set up a camera for one of the shots, they run through the scene start-to-finish, and once they have several good takes to choose from, they move the camera position to the next angle, and shoot the scene start-to-finish again. Sometimes they can knock out more than one angle at once if the cameras won’t get each other in the shot.

For example, scenes like Alex and Henry talking on the couch, in the cafe, on the phone on the bed, basically almost any scene where they’re looking directly at each other, has to be shot from at least two angles separately, at least if they want to show us both of their faces throughout the scene. If they filmed both of them at once, you would see the other camera in the background behind the actors.

In the case of the kissing in the Red Room, there's three cuts, until the end when Amy walks in. I'm talking specifically about from Alex grabbing him up to the shot right before Amy walks in.

So starting there, we have the first shot:

Then the first cut:

Then the second cut:

Then the third cut:

Then Amy walks in:

Now, cameras do move and/or zoom during most shots, even if it's a barely noticeable. For example, there is no cut while Alex crosses the room; the camera moves with him. It also rotates/pans a bit once they start backing towards the wall to keep that shot connected up until the first cut.

Based on the angle, the framing, and their positions, I'm pretty sure these two are from the same shot/camera position, possibly the same take, with the close-up spliced in:

Even if they aren't from the same take, I'm fairly sure, like I said before, that they ran through the scene start-to-finish with this camera blocking, and that these are both from that blocking, even if the second one seems slightly different. It's really hard to be 100% sure, but when I watch them side-by-side, their positions seem to line up. If you map out their starting point and ending point, and the gap of time where the close-up is, it feels like enough time and movement for them to get from A to B in one shot had the camera not cut.

But the camera does cut, which leads me back to here:

The camera angle alone is a big indicator that they cut together multiple takes. I can't be positive, but I'm pretty sure that they couldn't have filmed this angle at the same time as the main shot.

I think about these sorts of things while watching movies; it's something I can't turn off in my brain. I'm hyperaware of the cinematography. I notice it, and thoughts/questions just bounce around in the back of my head.

Like if I was watching this for the first time, excluding all the internal screaming that would've been occurring, I would have probably thought: "Oh hey, that was a big camera change! They probably filmed this separately!"

But it's so brief and subconscious that I would've had the thought without those words actually forming in my head, does that make sense? It's like there's a little version of me chilling in my brain with a clipboard that writes interesting things down while the rest of me is screaming. He's just chilling, taking notes, and I can feel when he writes something down, even if I can't process it in the moment. Does that make any sense?? Whatever, it doesn't actually matter lmfao

What I'm saying is, while the camera change suggests the use of multiple takes being edited together, Alex's hand on the wall 100% confirms it, since it's not in the same position when they cut between the angles.

Which FINALLY brings me to my POINT!

Everything I went over essentially just proves that this shot:

-is from it's own, separate take than the other shots.

And as I explained, they typically run a scene start-to-finish several times from each angle, which is why there's this variation. With choreography like this that's meant to be spontaneous and aggressive is impossible to perfectly recreate each time. It happens too fast, and their characters are so wrapped up in the moment that they're just grabbing and touching each other however they can, so there is going to be variation between the takes in what they do with their hands or exactly how they kiss.

WHICH MEANS

It is very possible that there's a version/take of this sequence of events from the other angle where Alex's hand is on the wall, and he is half pinning Henry against the wall for this interaction.

His hand is in the classic "hands on either side of their partner's head while kissing against a wall" position that basically traps them against the wall and the person they're with.

So there's possibly a version of this shot:

-with Alex's hand pinning Henry against the fucking wall, before he lifts him onto the table.

And I want to fucking see it.

Update: If you enjoyed this essay & would like to support me, you can give me a tip on my Ko-Fi! ☺️

[friendly-neighborhood-furry]

GOOD AFTERNOON FELLOW ROB ENJOYERS!!

DO YOU WANNA DRAW YOUR FAVORITE GUY? ARE YOU TIRED OF USING THE SAME THREE STOCK IMAGES FOR THAT PESKY STATIC BODY? WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN HOW TO ACHIEVE THE SAME EFFECT USING ONLY YOUR PEN AND LAYER EFFECTS?

WELL THEN BOY DO I HAVE A TUTORIAL FOR YOU!!!

IF YOU FOLLOW THE SIMPLE STEPS LAID OUT DOWN BELOW, YOU TOO CAN BECOME CLINICALLY INSANE LEVEL UP YOUR ART SKILLS BY LEARNING HOW TO MAKE REALISTIC STATIC IN THE DIGITAL MEDIUM!!

okay i'll stop yelling at you now. on with the tutorial!

Step One: Blocking!

this is usually part of the coloring process for me, so you'll need a mostly complete drawing to start out with.

now, draw out where you want the static to be with white. the average hard round brush will be good for this step, but you can use whatever you like! i for example prefer to use the polygon lasso tool to get more crisp edges (however this effect can also be achieved with the eraser tool).

for his arms and legs, just outline them in white and color them in.

depending on the pose/perspective you might have to separate certain pieces into different layers. for example, here his left arm and lower torso are clipping through the line art

so we move them to be below the line art layer and boom! problem solved.

important note: you can not use another color for the blocking. the white base color is critical in achieving the most convincing static look!

Step Two: Brushes and Blues

now for this step, we will be using these four shades of blue-grey, as well as plain black and white. for your convenience, the hex codes are also included!

HEX: 1d2427 HEX: 4d5c65 HEX: 899eac HEX: cce6f6

now go to the different brush presets for whatever program you're using. chances are, they'll have some variety of a paint-splatter brush (and if they don't, there's probably a way for you to download one or make your own).

the best kind to use is one where all of the particles are fully solid and not varying too much in opacity.

Step Three: Jackson Pollock That Shit!

now's the fun part! make a new layer and start layering the blues with your splatter brush in any order you like. just color vomit all over your canvas and don't worry about getting any of the particles outside of the base!

go back and re-layer any particular color as many times as you like until you're satisfied.

sometimes, all of this layering can result in loss of the original base color, like you can see here.

but don't worry! this can be fixed by tossing some white back into the mix.

once you're happy with that, go through and lightly sprinkle in some black. remember: a little is a lot! keep it subtle.

Step Four: Layer Effects!

this is where the magic happens! turn your blue splatter layer(s) into a clipping mask!

ka-boom! looks great, right? well, its about to get even better! go into your layer effects panel and select "Hard Light"

Step Five: Motion Blur

now, this step is optional depending on whether or not your program has more than one kind of blurring effect, but for the sake of the tutorial we'll pretend that it does.

find the motion blur panel and open it. set the angle to zero.

(ignore that i had my distance set to 2 here i just needed to have an example screenshot lol)

now crank that shit up!!

if your static layers had to be separated like in our example, make sure to do the same amount of blurring there as well. depending on your preferences, you can change the level of distance to highlight some kind of feeling. having it at 2 allows the viewer's eyes to rest on the darker colors, but having it at 7 brings out the brighter colors, calling attention to how annoyed he is with me right now.

depending on how you mix the different colors and level of blurring, you can get a lot of different variations in the static's look. feel free to experiment with it!

Step Six: Glow (optional)

unless you're drawing a dark/low-light setting, you can skip this part entirely. again, for the sake of the tutorial, lets pretend its dark!

now, since its supposed to be super dark here, i've selected the base layer for the static and deleted the black from it.

now for the fun part! make a new layer above the one we just made, then take the lightest blue color and cover the static with it! in the next step, this will become your glow!

i like to use a typical hard round brush and then apply a gaussian blur until i think it looks appropriately blurry, but you can also use your average pressure-opacity airbrush! both have their strengths, which you'll see in the next step!

for this step it helps to already have some knowledge of how light interacts with objects, but its not required! if you don't have a lot of prior experience, take this as an opportunity to practice! take it from me, making fan art of specific things is a great way to get good at drawing in general.

once we have an appropriate amount of glow and blur, we set the layer mode to Linear Light! your program might not have this layer mode, so try to find a mode that does something similar or is close enough

here you can see the strengths i mentioned before!

in the areas where i used the solid round brush + gaussian blur, i had a bit more control over how concentrated the light was at the center and how far it could spread, making it look more artificial/computerized.

meanwhile in the airbrushed areas, there's a very different vibe! on the right side where i applied the airbrush harshly in one stroke, it has a sort of cloudy look, but on the left where i applied it in multiple strokes, the varying opacities create a more painted aesthetic, which adds a lot of visual interest!

now we have arrived at the final step of this process! go to the current layer's opacity box and lower that sucker!

you should raise/lower this meter depending on how dark it is. Keep messing with it until it feels right. for our specific example(and more specifically the gaussian blur areas), a good opacity level is 73% !

and with that, we're done!

thank you for reading this! i had a fun time putting it together :)

before you go, please know that you don't have to follow every step of this to the letter!! feel free to break away from my methods and do your own experiments! mess with the hue of the static colors, use different brushes for the glow lighting, add variation in your particle sizes - go crazy with it!! half of art is experimentation and i wouldn't even have this process without it! :3

if you end up using this tutorial for Rob art on tumblr, please tag me in it!!! i would be absolutely overjoyed to see whatever you make :D (not a requirement though! either way, i'm very proud to have put this out into the world)

if you need help with any of these steps or the process in general, feel free to reach out in the replies of this post or in my ask box! i'd be happy to help out with whatever you need :3 thank you for reading this and i hope you have a wonderful day!

[seventeendeer]

just started book 3 of my ATLA rewatch and, all goofs aside, I do think it's a massive shame how many genuinely interesting ideas are in here which never get to shine because the headwriters are fundamentally uncomfortable with the themes they inserted into their own story.

they want to write a story introducing kids to the concept of war, but all of their main characters are inexplicably insanely competent and powerful, so we only get a handful of scenes depicting the war with any amount of realism. these scenes usually involve very minor one-off characters, and while evocative to adult viewers to an extent, they are likely to go over kids' heads because they're not grounded in the central narrative.

the writers are eager to borrow concepts from various asian mythologies and schools of thought, but they cherry-pick the parts they think are "cool" or "deep", while ignoring or shouting down ideas that don't neatly line up with what they themselves are already able to relate to (see the whole "opening the chakras"/"letting go of katara" plotline).

they want to portray strong, independent female characters standing up to sexism, but every female character must still on some level aspire to be someone's wife (and the dark-skinned girls are depicted as already fitting the mold perfectly; it seems to be the price they pay to be allowed in the story at all. the writers attempted to branch out a little in the sequel series with korra, but immediately felt so uncomfortable they felt the need to put the character through an insanely traumatic plotline as punishment for creative choices they made!).

there are many more of these, but you get the pattern. it's what happens when creatives like the idea of doing something meaningful, but ultimately can't bring themselves to leave their own comfort zones.

I'd honestly be interested in reading fanfiction of ATLA by writers who have a better understanding of the themes it's trying to depict, because there are a lot of interesting pieces on the board and I would love to see them moved around by players who aren't fucking stupid and actually know what the hell they're talking about

[coffeeandstrawberries]

A Part of You is good.

It's emotional, it's impactful, it's realistic. It has a story to tell, and it tells it in an honest way, mostly avoiding melodrama. It has its flaws but they are easy to ignore once you start caring about the characters.

I really appreciated APOY for showing a family struggling with a loved one's depression. Their inability to communicate with each other and support each other felt too true at some points — I paused the film multiple times because it was that difficult to watch. It was different from the way too many media deal with subjects like addiction and mental health. In real life, those things aren't small obstacles on the path to happiness, they are life-long struggles. APOY felt true in this regard. Through a better part of the film Agnes is completely isolated in her grief, so is her mom. They cannot support one another even in the moment when they learn about Julia's death.

Felicia Maxime's character is the main focus of APOY, we see the story through Agnes' eyes. Felicia is good and completely believable in this role. There were a few moments when her acting seemed a bit melodramatic but they could have been the director's choices.

Edvin has a smaller role than the promo campaign had suggested so I get YR fans' disappointment. Even so, he is brilliant in every scene. I was pleasantly shocked by his ability to bring to life such different characters as Noel and Wilhelm. Not that we needed it after three seasons of Young Royals, but APOY is another confirmation that Edvin is an exceptionally talented actor who will make the absolute best out of any material he is given.

Someone who knows about filmmaking more than I do could write about APOY's visual language. I know nothing. I only can say that the film is really effective at making the viewer feeling the characters' emotions.

The one thing I have issue with APOY is its message. I am not a five-year-old, therefore I don't need a piece of media to be a How It Should Be Done manual. A Part of You is a film about recovering from grief but it sacrifices something to be it. Julia isn't given enough space to become a character the viewer could care about. Bluntly speaking, she is there to die so the other characters could complete their arcs. We only see Julia as her depression — she is a burden to her loved ones, her mom doesn't know how to deal with her, her boyfriend is exhausted and overwhelmed by his duties of a babysitter. Her friends are saddened by Julia's death but we don't know the reason for that, it can be a typical young people's reaction to a death of someone their age. Julia could have been a good person outside of depression she didn't know how to handle. APOY only allows her to be a plot device for other characters' growth.

It brings us to the message. The film leads us to believe that nothing could be done. Julia is dead, her loved ones have to understand her death wasn't their fault and move on. I don't disagree with that. What rubs me the wrong way is carelessness with which the film handles the subject of depression. Depression is difficult for anyone, but it's especially difficult for teenagers. They brains haven't finished developing, they biologically incapable of understanding how long life is. To them, any struggle seems like the end of the world.

I am not suggesting that APOY — a piece of media inspired by a real-life tragedy — should have had a different plot, the one that would teach the audience that depression is manageable and suicides are preventable. I think that any character with mental health struggles deserves to be portrayed as a multidimentional person and their death can't be reduced to a reason behind someone else's journey of self-discovery.

[communistkenobi]

just to make this long ask less scary ill let u know out the gate that im not really disagreeing with you on anything im kind of just thinking out loud

i think the definition of art is an interesting question to ask but its also just the wrong question to be asking when talking about the politics around ai art. like i dont think it actually matters at all what the definition of art is, even if a Real And True Definition of Art is given to us from the heavens and declared as Real And True, ai art will still be the same and corporations will still be evil about it. its just a dumb hill to die on imo.

i also think something you havent touched on is that art is frequently FUN to create. a common quality people take note of in art is that you can tell the artist had fun making it, and it makes it better, like the viewer can feel the artists delight through the work, and thats largely why people feel that ai art is so soulless. art CAN be a struggle but it also SHOULDNT be. art is something people make because they want to make it, and the entire appeal of ai art is that you dont have to make it.

but also that entire paragraph up there ^ literally has zero relevance to how ai art is indeed very bad in terms of the causes and effects it has within a capitalist society

ai art is fun! I generated image prompts with my friends the other night because one of them was really depressed and we had a great time riffing with each other and experimenting with different prompts. Art can also be made under conditions that are not fun (is professional graphic design fun? Is making art for advertisements fun?) and still be art. A piece of art that genuinely moves me to tears whenever I see it is Feel it Motherfuckers (you can google more about it if you want to read more on it). Not only is this a great example for defending an expansive definition of art, what I get from that piece is not fun but grief, rage, loss, and resistance - there is joy in these things too, but it is not what I take away from it.

like I’m actually just not that interested in this debate beyond the fact that people are being insane reactionaries when trying to define what art is, which is why I’m focusing on it because there are reams of people using “hard work” as the sole criterion by which to judge art. just assume I agree with all the other criticisms of AI art in its current form when talking about this, because my primary issue is that people are using a lack of effort/fun/whatever you want to swap in to say AI art is not “real” art. non-AI art can also be soulless and it’s no less art! This is not a defence of the current industry, this is not a pro-worker exploitation argument (just as defending photography as a medium is not a defence of putting realist painters out of work with “lazy automated images”), I genuinely do not care to defend it or debate that side of it.

[howlingday]

Hey, this is about a prompt from a while ago, where Jaune went in the past with his ship. What about one with Cinder or Bleiss?

I think I've done Knightfall, so let's gets some Blackguard in on this!

Please note that, as this is Bleiss, viewer discretion is advised, though rarely followed.

---------------------------------------------------

Bleiss: FUCK! SHIT! COCK! ASS! SLUT! PISS! DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN!

Cardin: Dude! You knocked over the punch bowl!

Bleiss: Oh, cry me a fucking river, Cu- Winchester? What the f- What the fuck are you doing here?!

Cardin: I was trying to get punch, but then you knocked it over.

Bleiss: Oh, go cry to your dong-polishers, Cuck-chester! I need to find my darling.

Cardin: Wait a minute, where's your dress?

Bleiss: I'm wearing it, Cuckin!

Cardin: No, your other one. The one you had on earlier.

Bleiss: What the fuck are you talking about? This is the same dress I've been wearing for the last six months! Which you wouldn't know because I haven't seen you since Beacon!

Cardin: But... We're at Beacon.

Bleiss: ...

Bleiss: ...

Bleiss: Oh, fuck me, it is...

Cardin: ...So, about my pu- OOF!

Bleiss: There. I got you your punch. Happy? Now, where do I start? Bitchy twin sister... Evil one-eyed jagoff queen... Darling in a dress... Pedo-Bait... Kitty-Bi-

Bleiss: DARLING IN HIS DRESS?! Excuse me! Out of the way! Hot soup! Fucking move, dickhead! Darling~!

Jaune: B-Bleiss?! But how-?!

Bleiss: Through the power of love... and time-travel, if I had to guess. Now, let me take a look at you.

Bleiss: Um, excuse the fuck out of me! Who the fuck are you?!

Bleiss: I'm Bleiss Schnee, sweetheart. Now buzz off so I can enjoy this art piece~.

Jaune: Um...

Bleiss: Don't fucking "sweetheart" me, double-douche! I wanna know who the fuck put you up to this!

Bleiss: Nobody, now fuck off.

Bleiss: No! Not until I-

Bleiss: Get your hands off me, cunt breath!

Bleiss: Fucking make me!

Jaune: I'm so confused.

Jaune: Yeah, I'm kind of confused myself.

Jaune: So what happened?

Jaune: Uh, time-travel, apparently.

Jaune: Did you know she would be here, too?

Jaune: No, but I'm kind of relieved to see she's alive. I thought she- Well, uh, I guess telling you might cause trouble.

Jaune: Yeah, we'll want to avoid that.

Bleiss: Stop pulling my hair!

Bleiss: Stop stealing my look!

Jaune: ...Should we, uh...?

Jaune: I got it. Bleiss?

Bleiss: DARLING~! Get out of my way! (Leaps into him)

Jaune: (Holds her) Ah, I'm so glad to see you. Are you okay?

Bleiss: I'm better now that you're here, Darling~!

Bleiss: Holy shit, you got huge! Mm, I wonder if...

Bleiss: Hey! You already have your own, fucking Doppel-dipshit!

Bleiss: ...One night trade?

Bleiss: ...

Jaune: Bleiss?

Bleiss: I'm thinking.

[myrmica]

do you have any tips for getting better at drawing anatomy? your poses are always so fluid and realistic

first of all THANK YOU!!! that makes me happy to hear!

under the cut because i got long winded... i hope something in here is useful! some of it may stray from the point, and i have no idea what stuff you already know.

in my experience a lot of it is about paying attention to form/volume. at one point or another i realized i vastly prefer art that emphasizes this, as opposed to flatter more stylized anatomy, as far as things i want to emulate in my own work go (flat styles can be cool when other people do it; this is a huge thing with art i think, developing a sense of discernment when it comes to the art you Want To Make versus the art you like but wouldn't want to mimic...)

so i add contour lines to everything i draw as i sketch because it helps me figure out where the object is in space, in relation to the viewer. doing this immediately establishes where the subject is in relation to the "camera" because lines curving one way mean you're looking up at something, and vice versa. if you've ever seen the coil method of foreshortening before, it's the same principle.

while construction lines won't always be there in a finished piece, you can communicate form in the curves of your lines. the round end of a sleeve is a countour line, so are fabric folds (although they have their own volume too), etc.

the feeling of looking up at someone, or their arm moving towards you, or their back turned away from you, that's where a lot of tension and dynamism comes from--some of the "fluidity."

another thing is to focus on weight, and how things interact when they touch... if you grip someone's arm, how does the skin fold/warp under pressure? can you actually draw it doing that, instead of leaving the arm being grabbed unaffected? stuff like that. a huge inspiration for this (and i think it shows in some of the artistic choices i've been making lately) is margot maison's work. like, check out this panel from bora the brain:

or this one of mine, where i just grabbed my own arm like that to see how it felt and what the skin did...

these are both examples of smaller details but the same principle applies any time you're drawing two people touching, or even a bent leg where the thigh and calf meet. i'm more interested in how skin/fat moves around than i am in getting the nitty gritty details of muscle groups and bones right. knowing the muscles and bones certainly HELPS; my personal favorite bones are the radius and ulna in the forearm, and keeping the way they move in mind Is useful because it reminds you that the arm isn't a uniform tube shape, it's a flat rectangle type thing, and it'll look wider or narrower depending on the angle... etc. see pronation/supination gif below:

they get recomended all the time but the morpho books are my favorite reference for doing actual intentional anatomy practice & in redrawing stuff from them a ton of tricks for constructing bodies have stuck in my head. like, here i was focusing on how they simplify the shoulder/armpit in relation to the ribcage:

(you can download most of 'em for free off of libgen btw.)

you can also get something kinda special drawing bodies from life. if you don't have other people to draw, your own hands/legs work too, and it's good for foreshortening and perspective because you're always seeing them in relation to your own viewpoint:

granted both this and the morpho studies are things i find fun to do. on the off chance that you're someone who finds studies tedious or boring, rather than pushing through it you might want to paint a character you like onto the pose you're practicing or something like that to keep yourself invested?

i also use references gratuitously. usually many pictures at once, where i'm combining them to get the pose i want. either just referencing different photos as i draw different things or literally editing them together depending on what it is. over time, i've gotten better at coming up with dynamic and interesting poses without a ref, because using them has built up my understanding of the body (it's actually way easier IMO to draw a dynamic pose without a ref than it is to draw a dude just standing there without one ?!)

there's sort of a push and pull for me between accuracy/realism ("can the arm Actually bend that way???") and exageration/stylistic liscense ("if it doesn't, does it look cooler like that?") where it helps to KNOW if you're drawing something that isn't technically "anatomically correct."

there's also a lot to be said for tracing over photos for practice!

thank you for the question, i love to talk about these things ^_^

[animehouse-moe]

Link Click Season 2 Episode 4: Let It Unfold

As we enter into the heart of this season in terms of story, the opening of this episode does struggle a little bit with some all-too-convenient exposition about Qian Jin, which thankfully the latter half makes you forget all about. Potentially a bit of rough writing to give viewers information, as we slip into the past we shed those struggles and present a more expected but refreshingly different plot line. Certainly still a good episode, and certainly still a good bit to talk about.

So like I said, the episode itself doesn't start off incredibly strong by any means. It details all the information leading up to the current events: the phone missing, the picture Lu Guang has, Qian Jin's past, and so on and so forth. I don't think it's explicitly bad, but it feels like rushed writing for the story. A big old exposition dump from multiple parties, it feels like. Personally, I definitely believe they could have done a better job with conveying the information, but I also think it would take considerably more screen time to do so which is where this tradeoff stems from in the first place most likely.

Anyways, I'll just quickly expand on a few of those key details here.

Qian Jin's contact with Xixi. They're obviously aware of one another, but apparently were not working together explicitly at this moment. Qian Jin's surprised to hear that his lackey doesn't have Liu Min's phone, but isn't unaware of who's calling or shocked at the phone call when (presumably) Xixi makes contact.

Qian Jin's past. A by the books cop that gets turned sour after the death of a loved one. It's not a novel story by any means, but is clearly the foundation for some sort of interaction with Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi. It does make me wonder though if Xiao Li will play a role in talking down Qian Jin, or if Cheng Xiaoshi will take over Xiao Li himself, since he's the one who oversaw the murder case.

And the last piece: the weight of Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang's powers. Not quite exposition, but definitely the most important piece of dialogue through this front half. It continues to establish the regret and grief the pair feel over their previous forays into the past, and their hesitation and wariness of continuing with it once more. It's the natural conclusion from the first season, so I'm glad to see it referenced so heavily whenever the past arises between these characters.

Anyways, into the past we go with Cheng Xiaoshi as Xixi. I think similar to the first half there's not a world of stuff to talk about, but overall it's the much stronger and more put together sequence in the episode. The struggle of a single mother with a mute daughter is felt rather quickly through the story, and Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang are firing off piece after piece of information for the viewer to soak up.

Overall, it's a really solid sequence that teleports viewers back into the season 1 mindset as we explore experiences of the past and their regrets, challenges, and fears. Considering how well fitted it is to the overall idea of this season, I'm really curious to see how they move forward and how often we find ourselves diving back in time.

Regardless of my thoughts though, as I just said there's quite a bit of info here and there to take in, so let me highlight it really quickly.

We'll start off with this interesting notion. By pulse alone, the doctor could tell something was different with Xixi. This itself means that when Cheng Xiaoshi takes over the body of a person, they exert physical changes to some degree. Arguably only temporary changes, but a stronger pulse and physical capabilities were shown here specifically.

It's also just funny because Cheng Xiaoshi was worried about this specifically.

Next up is the eyes of the mother. This one makes things more complicated, as she shares the same eye color (but not pupil shape) with Lu Guang. Equally as interesting is the fact that Xixi's original eye color (that reddish-pink) does not come from her mother, but presumably her father? Considering that, is it possible that Xixi's father is the source of Lu Guang's abilities, and that the father (who has Xixi's eye color) is the one chasing Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang? That presents the question though of why a father would attempt to kill his own son, which is the right kind of dramatic for Link Click, if not a bit of a stretch.

Next up is our first callback to the opening, our stuffed animal. I know it doesn't look exactly alike the 3D one because of the style, but if you pay attention the design on the ears is the same. A rounded triangle on one, and a star on the other.

This indicates to viewers both the number of pasts we visit in this season, and also the order of them. We've started with the stuffed animal, will move onto the gun, and finish with the diary. Now, I'm unsure of who the diary may belong to, but I'm somewhat confident that the gun story will be related to Qian Jin who's past we learnt of today.

The next piece is this curious question: the deceased owner of a phone that was texted information about Qiao Ling. The name is Liu Lan, which has the same surname is Liu Min. Are they actually related? Is Liu Min the real brother of Xixi? It raises an incredible interesting question of just how things came to be, and if it actually is Liu Min that's Xixi's brother, or if there's any relation to Lu Guang. Incredibly curious detail to reveal, that I'm very interested to learn more about.

And last but not least, Cheng Xiaoshi's realization. Is it Liu Min's father that touches Xixi's mother on the shoulder? Or is it someone else that Cheng Xiaoshi would recognize? Whoever it is, their expression relays the notion to the viewer that Cheng Xiaoshi knows the person that's in front of them at this moment.

From here, we end the episode with (presumably) Xixi waiting for Cheng Xiaoshi to discuss things with him. Are they planning on airing out all of the pasts to provide a reversal of events? Knowing the past they now aim for the future? It's an interesting question to pose, but without knowing what it is that (presumably) Xixi wants to tell Cheng Xiaoshi, it's hard to say for sure what direction we'll be moving in with the next episode.

Building a mystery atop several smaller mysteries, all the while taking into account timelines and order of events can be challenging. So far though, Link Click S2 seems to have a pretty confident read on how it wants things to go down. At times it might be a little too literal with how it hands out information, but at its core it still aims for the heart like season 1 did, which leaves me very hopeful for how things go as we continue on here. Very much looking forward to the next episode.

[otterloreart]

Blender: Which Buttons Do I press? (Part 1)

There are a lot of tutorials where you already need to know how to "do the basics" like "maneuver the camera." So this tutorial is focusing on the Buttons- not on the sculpt or the object, just on the buttons and shortcuts that I personally use in Blender.

Note: You will need a mouse with 3 buttons / scroll wheel for this.

Before we start, I'm going to explain which shortcuts I use in this, but, not to make myself redundant, there's a shortcut for seeing shortcuts: Press Spacebar + Shift to see all available shortcuts in each mode.

I'm using Blender 3.6 for this tutorial. I recommend you use the same. It's completely free and has a lot of great features! For this tutorial though, 3.4 will likely work as well.

Click "General" under New File.

Your screen should look like this. There are 3 default objects in the file: Camera, Cube, and Light source.

3. This bar indicates that you are in Object mode. This menu will allow you to go into other modes depending on the object you have selected.

4. Lets talk about shortcuts. You can zoom, rotate, and move the screen using buttons at the top right, but I haven't marked those because I will teach you a better way. Feel free to click them all and see what they do, but I assume you're here because you don't want to explore every button in this godforsaken program the hard way.

Below, the Left and Right buttons are marked as a reminder as well as the Middle button which is also the scroll wheel (press down to click it)

Left click: Select an Object Left click and drag: Selects multiple objects Scroll Wheel: Zoom in and out Middle Click and drag: Rotate your view Shift + Middle Click and drag: Move your view Right click: Brings up a menu that won't be relevant here. Shift + Right Click: Moves the 3D cursor. Not important for this tutorial, but I do it on accident a lot. Hit Shift + C to reset the cursor and also to reset the viewer position to see all objects at once.

Move the viewer around as practice! You're gonna need to do it a lot while modeling. If you have a keyboard with a Numpad (the calculator-looking thing on the right side, says Num at the top) you can use Numpad 1-9 to automatically adjust the view to front, left, right, backwards, and different angles. If not, test out the rotate tool at the top right which does something similar.

There's a helpful menu I use to switch between Modes (if you hit the dropdown menu where it says "Object Mode" you can do this without the shortcut); click Preferences to enable it.

Hop over to the Keymap section and check "Tab for Pie Menu"

And then close the window. No "Save" button is needed.

Now that you have the shortcut enabled, select your box with Left Click, hit Tab and Left click "Edit Mode"

And yes, this is just like the Animal Crossing tool ring:

Now that you're in Edit Mode (You can swap back anytime by hitting Tab -> Object Mode), click arrow at the top right to open a menu where you can check the "X-ray" box. You'll be able to see through your cube. As a reminder, Spacebar + Shift will show you the available shortcuts in this mode, but I'll go over the important once momentarily.

What is a 3D object made out of?

This box is made out of vertices, and each face of the cube has four vertices at each corner- a triangle with three vertices also works, but we'll stick with squares for this tutorial. Moving the vertices will change the shape of the box, like a piece of stretchy fabric over a wire frame.

From now on, I'll be calling the vertices dots, because I hate reading and typing the word vertices over and over again.

5. By all means you can fiddle with the buttons over here but I'm gonna show you the shortcuts I use and the buttons you'll actually need. Don't get intimidated by the amount of buttons. Also press the T key and the toolbar will go away!

(Seriously, though, feel free to play around in this section as much as you want to, but we'll go over the shortcuts a few at a time with examples. at the end of this section will be a summarized list.)

6. Left Click one of the dots and press the G key. You'll see below a whole bunch of additional shortcuts show up at the button. Here are the ones I use:

G key: Grab and move around the dots

R key: Rotate two or more dots*

S key: Size two or more dots*; if two dots are selected, the distance between the dots will change but the angle between them will stay the same.

*Left Click and drag to select multiple dots!

CTRL + Z to Undo edits.

When you move a dot with the G key, imagine that the dot is against a piece of glass at a fixed point ahead of your viewer. The dot will not move farther or nearer to you, but will instead move parallel to your view.

As an example, if you press Numpad 1 and view the object from the front (The -Y green circle will be at front and center in the rotate tool), the dot will only move left and right (X axis) and up and down (Z axis). It will not move farther or nearer on the Y axis by default.

Play around with the G, R, and S tools before moving on.

This little X button at the top right will turn on symmetry. You don't need to use this, but it can be useful.

Left Click and drag so that an entire face (flat square) is highlighted and then press the E key to extrude. Extruding will add another set of dots that are automatically connected to the first set.

Ctrl + R adds a loop cut. This will divide the existing faces into two and add more dots. You can also drag loops to slide them to different positions.

The 3 key (not on the Numpad) will switch your Select Mode to Face Select. This is useful for extruding. Essentially it is simply selecting all the dots at the corners of the squares.

The 1 key will switch back to Vertex Select (or Dot Select) mode and the 2 key will switch to Edge Select (the least useful of the three, to me)

Before we go wild, there are a couple of additional things to know. For the tutorial, focus on working with faces, not vertices. If you accidentally pull a single vertex, select it and press the X key to delete it.

If you want to add shapes, I recommend sticking to cubes for now. Ctrl + A will open the Add Mesh menu and you can add a cube. Feel free to have complete cubes overlap for this tutorial.

Double Left Click will select a series of dots connected in a loop, and can be helpful for selecting areas all at once.

Ctrl + B is the bevel tool, and when a loop is selected it can turn it into two.

Here is a summary of all of the Edit Mode shortcuts:

G key: Grab and move around the dots R key: Rotate two or more dots* S key: Size two or more dots* *Left Click and drag to select multiple dots Double Left Click will select a series of dots CTRL + Z to Undo E key to extrude faces Ctrl + R adds a loop of dots Ctrl + B splits one loop into two X key -> Vertices to delete dots (vertices) 1, 2, 3 keys to switch Select mode Numpad 1-9 to move viewer automatically Ctrl + A to add a shape

Go play with them. See you back here in a while.

7. I used a single cube to make this figure. It's still very blocky, but that's fine. Loop cuts created additional faces which were extruded to create arms, legs, and a neck. Definition to the face was added by selecting individual dots. Remember, Ctrl + Z (undo) is your friend!

Once satisfied with the shape you made - a boxy figure or object is fine- continue on.

8. Press Tab -> Object Mode. Turn your attention to the right hand bar and make sure the Wrench button is selected. Note the Add Modifier Button.

There are a heck of a lot of buttons here that you don't have to worry about- just select Remesh.

Change the number under Voxel Size to .05m by Left Clicking and typing it (there is a slider, but I find this causes lag). Then, apply the remesh by clicking the down arrow and selecting Apply.

Your figure should be shaped similar to before, but have a slight "graininess". If you have added multiple cubes, it will seamlessly merge them into one. The smaller the Voxel Size you put, the more dots will make up your object. However, I suggest starting with something in the .03-.06 range. We will refine this later.

Press Tab and select Sculpt Mode.

This is a mode where I actually use the tool bar for modifying my sculpt, as there are a lot of brushes . The icons show roughly what the brushes do using small icons (note on adjusting this below)

9. Observe the Radius and Strength bars, which will adjust the... well, the size and radius. Note that although the "brush" looks like a flat circle, the affected area is actually a sphere. Select a brush with Left Click and Left Click and drag on the sculpture.

10. This is the smooth tool. I have smoothed out the right side of this figure. Note that I turned off symmetry to do this, but i usually have X-axis symmetry selected.

Although I am used to the small buttons, there is a way to change them. Hover near the toolbar to Left Click + Drag so you can see the names. Hold Ctrl + Middle Mouse button and drag to resize. You will be able to make the size of the menu much larger. This goes for many of the menus in Blender.

The above arrows point to the symmetry button (Top right) and Grab brush (bottom left). The Grab brush uses the shortcut G Key.

The lines point to which tools were used for each part of the sculpt. The Draw Sharp tool was used to mark out eyes. Clay strips made the hair texture. Round cheeks were added using the Inflate tool and a nose (and buns) were added using the Blob tool. The aforementioned Smooth and Flatten tools were used judiciously to remove sharp edges.

I don't have a shortcut list for you here, but here are all the tools I use the most:

You can hold the Ctrl key while using the brush to reverse its effects. For example, if you hold the Ctrl key while using the Inflate brush, it will deflate the shape instead, creating a concave shape.

As you can see, my figure is getting a little grainy. So, we're going to remesh this model again and add more dots and therefore detail.

This time, we're putting the Voxel Size to .01m. Apply the remesh as before. Now we have more dots to work with and we're just repeating the process, smoothing, and sharpening the lines.

I was going to add a bit about how to take a photo of your sculpt, but I ran out of photo space. I will add a reblog with this information.

I came up with this little lamb character on the spot because the clay strips created a nice texture. She's by no means perfect, but she did turn out pretty cute so i might make a cleaner version later on.

[ask-team-misfit]

[ previous ]

And take a better look Livingston proceeded to do–at his request, the four of them moved their talk to just outside of town.

Having brought out a book with a mess of notes sticking out from its pages and leafing through it to a presumably blank page, he looked up at Pikavee to say:

Livingston: “Please, tell me more about your Sciliva.”

Before beginning to pace about and circle around her, with the giant in question currently sitting before him.

As Pikavee started to explain some of the things she was familiar with, Livingston whipped out a pen to begin scribbling on the page. Sometimes he leafed back some pages, and sometimes he paused his skim reading to look at her before writing some more.

He was eyeing her sweater closely, focusing on it more and more over what else Pikavee may have said–enough to get close enough to touch it.

Livingston: “I see.”

Pikavee: “Wh-what are you doing?”

Lief and Fenninkou would have since gotten down from Pikavee’s head. The former eyed Livingston impatiently as he fluttered down to land behind him.

At the sound of Lief’s voice, Livingston paused and turned to face him.

Lief: “Ok, seriously. She’s not some science project. Are you going to actually tell us anything or what?”

Livingston: “No, no, of course she isn’t. I didn’t mean to imply…”

He trailed off. He looked and sounded a bit guilty, as if he really did become lost in the novelty of it all. He meekly tucked away his supplies into the satchel.

Livingston: “I-I just wanted to confirm something.”

He was slowly twiddling his claws. He wanted to be careful with his words, and wondered how to explain it to them; her most of all.

He cleared his throat.

[ ID: A grayscale bust drawing of Livingston directly facing the viewer. His eyes are downcast, and he looks generally uneasy. At the left are a couple of floating sweat drops. Livingston’s appearance is as described here. End ID ]

Livingston: “T-to answer your earlier question, Lief. No. Least, I hope it’s not serious. It’s just unheard of. Assuming it’s exactly as I think.”

Beside the three, Pikavee slowly lowered onto her belly with a downtrodden expression.

Pikavee: “I-I know. Humans are supposed to be all gone… so a Pokemon living with a human would be impossible.”

Livingston: “Well, yes. The evidence we have suggests they’ve been gone for decades, maybe longer. But what’s unheard of to me at the moment isn’t the possibility of such a thing. It’s you.”

For the second time, Pikavee perked up with surprise. She wasn’t alone–Fenninkou also stared at Livingston with confusion. Lief kept up his initial skeptical expression.

Pikavee: “What?”

Livingston: “Aside from your accounts, there’s also your clothes. They match the torn pieces found in the ruins. I suppose they could be replicas, but… it just seems like too much of a coincidence.”

He briefly considered if it was just a coincidence. That this giant hybrid turned up in town asking for help in finding a city, wearing foreign clothes that resemble all too closely what he observed people of back then to have likely worn, and describing details beyond what he had known about, or could guess.

This aside the conviction she held of truly being from such a place; enough to burst into tears and break down when told or suggested otherwise.

Livingston: “Everything about you is as if you came right from that era.”

A stunned silence followed. Both of Lief’s eyebrows raised.

Lief: “Funny. But what does that mean? That you think it’s time travel?”

Livingston: “Well…”

Lief chortled in response as he saw how seriously Livingston considered that.

Lief: “Seriously, Livingston? That’s your big bombshell?”

Fenninkou: “Mr. Livingston, are you sure?”

Livingston: “I’m really not sure. It’s unheard of. But with all due respect, it’s unlikely that the humans are anywhere on the Isle, if not impossible.”

[ ID: A grayscale drawing of Livingston similar to the previous image. He seems somewhat serious, frowning a bit with an otherwise neutral expression. End ID ]

Livingston: “As we all know, no one has ever found a human–only what they left behind. If they were hidden anywhere, we’d have found some sort of sign by now.”

Fenninkou: “But that’s within the kingdom, right? What about outside it?”

Livingston: “I suppose we don’t know enough to say for sure, in that case…”

He then made a face like he realized what he was inadvertently suggesting.

Livingston: “B-but that’s dangerous! Territories outside the Faer Kingdom include places like the Ruby Nation. If anyone were caught trespassing on those grounds…”

Livingston shuddered.

Lief: “Besides, Missy didn’t even know what the Ruby Nation was. I doubt it would be anywhere near that awful place. Or up north, by the valley…”

Lief also shuddered a bit.

Livingston: “That leaves the Lost Sea, and the world beyond. The world is bigger than the Isle, and we know even less about that.”

Fenninkou: “But the Lost Sea is super dangerous, isn’t it? It got its name because no one could go there without getting lost.”

Livingston: “That’s right. It also has that name because what lies beyond may very well be a lost cause–no one gets past the Lost Sea. Except, that is…”

It was only then that he thought to ask and make sure.

Livingston: “Y-you didn’t arrive here by sea, right, large miss?”

Pikavee: “No.”

Lief: “Oh, that part’s even weirder. She fell from the sky.”

[ ID: A grayscale bust drawing of Lief slightly angled away from the viewer towards the left. He's smiling cheekily, resembling the ":3" emoticon, and otherwise looks relaxed. In addition, his mouth is open. Lief's appearance is as described here. End ID ]

Lief: “Still, glad to see you don’t entirely have a lust for death, kiddo.”

Livingston: “Right… But I at least figured you couldn’t have come from beyond there. Even the gods, the most powerful Pokemon to exist, couldn’t make it here from out there completely unscathed.”

Fenninkou: “That’s it, then! They lived long enough to know where the humans are, right? Maybe we can go and ask them–!”

Livingston: “No!”

Livingston’s shout made Fenninkou stop short. She appeared pretty startled, and even her fur was somewhat sticking up.

After a pause to exhale, Livingston continued with a look of regret–he hated raising his voice.

Livingston: “Please, no. They are incredibly dangerous to approach. The deeper in the ruins you go is the more dangerous it gets, and they dwell in the deepest possible area of those ruins. Junior Treasure Hunters have no business being there, let alone in the ruins at all.”

Lief: “Told you so.”

[ ID: A grayscale bust drawing of Fenninkou oriented similarly to the previous image. She’s visibly sulking, her eyes closed shut and her mouth in a pout that puffs her left cheek. Fenninkou's appearance is as described here. End ID ]

Fenninkou: “Aww, really?”

Livingston continued, stammering a bit nervously.

Livingston: “I-it’s just safer, and more logical, to conclude that they’re nowhere to be found. It seems the most likely based on what we know, and what we see.”

Pikavee: “So if they’re really all gone… what happened to them?”

The others present glanced at Pikavee, who was no longer looking at them.

Livingston hesitantly answered.

Livingston: “We don’t know. Not yet. We’re still learning about the ruins, and what can be found in them. Whatever happened to the humans could be connected to what our ancestors were sheltering from, if one thing is certain.”

Seeing Pikavee grow so quiet made Livingston more hesitant to speak on this further.

Livingston: “B-but the real question is, what happened to you. There has to be more to this…”

He made some attempt to smile at her, though it didn’t feel genuine.

[ ID: A grayscale bust drawing of Livingston directly facing the viewer. He has an open mouth smile with his eyes closed. End ID ]

Livingston: “I wish I can offer you a place to stay. But with the disasters and then what happened to you… i-it’s probably best to just lie low.”

With Pikavee still not responding, he started to move away from the group with the intent to part ways. He glanced at Lief and Fenninkou.

Livingston: “I’ll look into it for you in my spare time. Just please, any of you, don’t be careless. Promise me.”

Lief: “I don’t make promises. I just hate the idea of dying.”

Fenninkou sighed, reluctantly agreeing.

Fenninkou: “Ok…”

Livingston: “Thank you. Good luck.”

With that, he took off with a flap of his wings, flying back towards town.

Lief and Fenninkou watched him leave for a moment before facing each other, the latter groaning.

Fenninkou: “Even Mr. Livingston?”

Lief: “Interesting that he seems concerned about the same thing I am.”

[ ID: A grayscale bust drawing of Lief slightly angled away from the viewer towards the left. He looks particularly carefree or playful, winking with his right eye. He's blushing slightly, with the blush shown in color. End ID ]

Lief: “Gee, almost as if I had a point or something~.”

Fenninkou: “D-don’t rub it in!”

Pikavee: “So… w-we’re back where we started…?”

Lief: “Aside anything that would kill us? Yeah, pretty much.”

Fenninkou: “Hmph. I could handle it…”

She was grumbling, at first. Then she took a breath, facing the town.

Fenninkou: “But I better get to bed. I have more work to do tomorrow.”

Lief: “Yeah, good luck with that.”

Fenninkou turned to blow a raspberry at Lief, even somewhat arching her back and her fur lightly bristling, before promptly running off towards the village.

With the teen having departed, Lief moved closer to Pikavee, towards the front of her face.

Lief: “How are you holding up?”

Pikavee’s eyes shift to look at Lief. She appeared lost in thought–less sad than before, but certainly not comfortable.

Pikavee: “Is the Isle really that dangerous?”

Lief: “According to Mr. Pokenerd, the Lost Sea is the worst of it. But that one’s easy. Just don’t go there. Same for the valley, and the Ruby Nation.”

Pikavee: “How do they get by? How do you get by?”

Lief: “Obviously I can’t speak for the townies, but it helps that the Fae Wood is under protection of a Dungeon Master. If anything, and I mean anything serious happens, she’ll step in and handle it.”

[missielynne]

Hi sweet mutual! A fun challenge if you feel like answering - in what ways do you prefer the British version of Ghosts to the US one, and in which ways do you think the US version is better than the UK one? I love both :)

Well hello hello! I love both too and I spend a lot of time thinking about this because honestly, I do need both. Each one does things that the concept of a ghost show needs to be successful that the other doesn't do, so just one show would feel incomplete to me.

Like for instance: the UK show is really good about saying "We're a ghost show. Let's have scenes that make the viewer uneasy and a little creeped out." Like whenever we see ghosts outside Button House, or even inside if their method of death necessitates it, they aren't afraid to show them graphically injured and creepy looking (like the butler in the party hat that got shot through the head, for instance, or even just Jemima for crying out loud. I mean would you want her standing over your bed singing at night?)

Same for what is probably my favorite moment in the whole show with the hitchhiker ghost in bump in the night: the build up to that is so good! And yes we get a little jump scare a la the sixth sense when you realize that she is in fact a ghost and we see her wound. But it has a creepier overall narrative purpose as well: Do not hitchhike Alison Cooper, or you will die like her. It just hits me how amazing it is every single time. (And this particular thing gets the BBC version A LOT of points in its favor.)

That's what I would like to see from the US version even a little bit. Make me uneasy. Make a chill go down my spine with scenes sometimes and actually play them as creepy. Elias and his corpse in the vault could have been an excellent example but it's always played more for laughs, which is a shame.

Now what I like most about the US version is that, of course since they have more time, they can play with the lore more. They can say "We are a ghost show, so we're gonna treat our ghosts like actual ghosts and have them possess people and explore their powers," whereas in the BBC version, they're treated more like people who have just died and are existing in the house, since the idea of them "moving on" as an endgame is not particularly important.

To me though, that leaves the BBC version to be a little more aimless than I prefer. It makes me feel more like I'm just waiting for stuff to actually happen since I don't know what the endgame for these souls actually is (whereas with the US version, it's much more clear.)

On the whole, I like the parts of BBC (like the individual episodes that can get from point a to point b e.g. Robbers invade Button house while Alison is gone, and they're caught by the end) rather than the series as a whole where I'm left to figure things out for myself because it's open ended when I would much prefer to know whether I'm right or wrong IN canon, (which is probably an American thing). Whereas with CBS Ghosts which is written to my American tastes, I can love it all because it's got better pacing and doesn't just dwell on certain things forever when there's still more story still to be told (like I don't know if it was cause of Covid restrictions or whatever but I'm a little frustrated that they spent a whole season going on and on about Alison's fake sister when they hadn't told the stories of Kitty's and Cap's deaths yet so we had to wait for them, for instance). Although there are certain parts of CBS (like Jessica and her whole car ghost lore) that I wish could have gotten more because it was so fascinating. Both are amazing in their own ways and I love them to pieces and I'm glad I don't have to choose one or the other.

So anyway, there you go! Thanks for the ask! :)