#tumblr may have messed up the formating

[dragons-and-yellow-roses]

Take a shot for every time I use an unnecessary comma. I don't recommend this, as you are sure to die of alcohol poisoning before you finish the first paragraph.

[multifandomgirl08]

A Year in Moments [Mini Verstappen Series]

Dad!Max Verstappen x Mother!Reader (Established Relationship)

Photo Credit: Pinterest/Tumblr

Format: Social Media

Summary: 2026 in little moments

Previous Part → Next Part Mini Verstappen Masterlist

danielricciardo

Liked by ynverstappen and 386,457 others

tagged: maxverstappen1 & ynverstappen

danielricciardo Apparently I crashed date night. Sorry for being the third wheel guys.

ynverstappen Third wheel? What are you talking about?

maxverstappen1 danielricciardo You were flirting with my wife just as much as I was. ynverstappen He was flirting with me only when he wasn't flirting with you. danielricciardo Have you seem Max?? Why wouldn’t I flirt with him? ynverstappen True, he's something that needs to be cherished. danielricciardo I love that we're fighting over Max. How you feel about that mate? maxverstappen1 Pretty good! Please do continue... or you know save it for when you are next at the house.

View all 574 comments

fan85 Wait, does this mean that Y/N knows about Maxiel? The Verstappens and Daniel?!

fan61 I thought we all made a gentlemen’s (fangirl’s) agreement not to bring up Maxiel on IG.

fan23 Does Daniel get invited out to dinner with Max and Y/N often?

fan38 There has to be more to this story!

February 10, 2026

ynverstappen

Liked by georgerussell63, lilymhe and 348,926 others

tagged: lilymhe, carmenmmundt,...

ynverstappen Things can get crazy when it's just us

sebastianvettel Please bring back my wife in one piece.

alex_albon Should I be concerned that my flat is going to be a mess when I get home?

View all 745 comments

fan18 When all the F1 WAGs have dinner together!

fan67 How do you get an invite to this dinner? Asking for a friend.

fan39 Become a WAG. How else?

fan49 Is no one going to talk about the fact that all of the WAGs are having dinner together just after Mother’s Day??

May 28, 2026

ynverstappen 📍Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

Liked by danielricciardo and 234,845 others

ynverstappen Our weekend in Spa

View all 842 comments

fan95 Nico looks just like Max

fan76 Has anyone ever met Y/N at a race?

fan45 I met her last year at Silverstone. She was super nice, even offered to take my picture with Lando who was walking with her and Nico.

fan63 I feel like Nico is just the sweetest kid.

fan56 Can confirm. Aside from Y/N, Nico just wanted to spend the day with his dad and his little brother when I saw them earlier today.

fan44 Wondering why Y/N hasn't posted any pictures of Nikita given that he was at Spa?

fan60 I don't think it's strange for Y/N not to post any pictures of Nikita given that he's only 9 months old. Y/N wasn't even sitting in the garage like she normally does on race day. It's probably too loud for his little ears.

August 2, 2026

ynverstappen

Liked by yourbestfriend and 451,045 others

tagged: maxverstappen1

ynverstappen Best view in The Maldives

danielricciardo I taught this man how to thirst trap!

ynverstappen You did, I've never been more grateful!

View all 456 comments

fan23 I love that they've become the couple that just drops thirst traps of one another

fan74 Y/N is feeding us all of the good content

fan86 Is that baby Nikita with Max in the last photo?

August 27, 2026

ynverstappen

Liked by maxverstappen1, victoriaverstappen and 238,475 others

tagged: victoriaverstappen

ynverstappen Happy Birthday to my awesome sister-in-law. Between the lunch dates, retail therapy, and picking on the man that I love. I wouldn't be able to survive family vacations without you.

📸: sophiekumpen

lilymhe The perfect sister-in-law duo

ynverstappen You know it babe

fan67 Lily is in Y/N's comments! OMG

fan23 When Y/N's photos are giving off S and B vibes

October 21, 2026

maxverstappen1 and ynverstappen

Liked by martingarrix, and 734,724 others

maxverstappen1 I would die for her. I would kill for her. Either way, what bliss.

📸 : lilymhe

georgerussell63 The actual physical embodiment of these characters

danielricciardo You've never looked better mate

landonorris Did you dye your hair? Brave man

maxverstappen1 Not hair dye, it's like spray I think?

View all 392 comments

fan73 They already give off this energy 😍😍

fan59 Mom and Dad

fan84 She really is everything, and he worships her.

October 31, 2026

----

Mini Verstappen taglist: @karmabyfernando, @barcagirly, @sachaa-ff, @iamahallucinationnn, @musingsbyshreya, @glow-ish, @nonsensical-nonsence, @fanboyluvr, @champomiel, @gothicwidowsworld, @lighttsoutlewis, @itsalwaysgay, @minkyungseokie, @mynameisangeloflife, @ursforever129, @aundercover, @bborra, @mindless-rock, @cixrosie, @barcelonaloverf1life, @taylorslovesswifties13, @konsti081, @mellowarcadefun, @smnthnclj, @brekkers-whore, @lpab, @thedecalcomania-blog, @xoscar03

[catskets]

A more in-depth guide for creating visual novels, especially in the horror, horror-romance, etc circles

Some of you have seen my previous, smaller post on crafting visual novels, especially in this little space of Tumblr that a lot of us have found themselves in. Since that post took off, I've wanted to create a longer guide to help touch on some points I've thought about for the past few months.

In case you've never heard of me, I'm Kat, also known as catsket. I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Game Design. I've been making games for nearly 5 years, and I've been doing visual novels more "professionally" for 2. You may know me for Art Without Blood, 10:16, God is in the Radio, or Fatal Focus. I'm here to help you make your first visual novel.

Please note that my advice does not fit everyone, and you may disagree with what I say. That's okay! It doesn't work for all. That's why there's thousands of resources out there.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NEVER MADE A GAME

So, you have an idea for a huge visual novel. Horror, a shady and obsessive love interest, a little bit of woo-hooing. 100k words. Maybe a million. What is this, the 07th Expansion?

I notice a lot of people getting into visual novels are artists first. That's okay! I wanted to do art for games before I realized how much I enjoyed writing. And even less of you have probably touched Visual Studio. Again, perfectly okay. We all start somewhere.

My number one piece of advice? Make shitty games.

What does that mean?! My recommendation to those who have never done games is to make a bunch of shitty ones. Think of a theme, or hell, even join a game jam, where you make a game that fits a theme in a short amount of time. Spend about a week on your game. Focus on making something polished. Polish your mechanics. Polish your output.

I recommend, if you can, to make at least 4-6, if not more, kind of shitty games before hopping into longer projects. Making a game is a skill, just like art, just like writing. And game development is combining ALL of these together into one big soup being stirred by a skeleton hand puppet. You'll get into the rhythm and see what works for you.

It also helps you learn, perhaps, the second most important thing here: do you even like making games? There are cases out there where people have created video games (not saying visual novels) just for clout. That's no fun for you, that's no fun for your players. And you might go through this process and find that you don't like making games. That's completely okay! It's not for everyone.

Also, you can use these shittier games to gather an audience. I've built my audience because, for the past few years, I've been releasing games that slowly give me growing fields of eyes every day. A success story overnight is a rare one. It takes time. It's like building a brand, but you aren't a brand, you're an artist.

REV UP YOUR ENGINES!

Ren'py is the number one engine you will be recommended. It is very beginner-friendly, with lots of tutorials, assets on itch.io to use and download, and support. The engine comes with a few tutorials in the form of games, whose code you can freely browse. This is the engine I use most often. Most visual novels you see are made in this engine.

Twine is a text-based engine that most people use for interactive fiction. You can add images and audio, though, if you don't mind messing with HTML. I use Twine for text games and for outlining for my larger games. Ever played Degrees of Lewdity? Yeah, I know you have. Don't ask why. That game was made in Twine.

RPG Maker has multiple versions and has been used for exclusively VNs if you don't mind fucking around with plugins. It can definitely give your game a super unique feel. I recommend RPG Maker MV, since it has the most resources. This line of engines usually costs money, but it often goes on sale for under $5-$15.

People will recommend TyranoBuilder, but as a user and player, the lack of options and the format the games often come in is just...not fun to navigate. It advertises itself as little to no code, but it's often evident in the final results. Some good games have been made in it, though, so if you want to use it for prototyping/practice, you can. I'm not a fan, but that doesn't mean that fans don't exist! This engine costs money.

Not an engine, but check out Ink! Super useful scripting language that's used for more professional projects.

DEMOS, DEMOS, DEMOS

You've got an idea for a long-term project, and now you want to show it to the world! But wait, wait, don't do that yet!

When should I start advertising my game? This is a personal opinion, but I say that you should not start advertising your game until 50-60% of your demo is complete. Why? As I've discussed with some fans of indie VNs, they can name quite a few projects that have been in the "working on the demo" age for 1-2+ years. I've been in the Kickstarter MMO circles. If you, making a single-player experience with little mechanics to balance and polish (aka a visual novel), are taking that long on a demo, I am going to assume the game is not coming out. There are some games I have seen out here that have been in "working on the demo" phase where I haven't seen a single ounce of what the project will look like.

What should I put in my demo? The purpose of a demo is to showcase the mechanics and the vibes and the mechanics of your game. It's a demonstration. In my last post, I pointed to the Dead Space 2 demo that was showcased at E3 (RIP), that takes place about 2 hours into the story and shows how enemies are defeated, some animations, bits of the story, etc. Usually, because it's less about mechanics and more about vibes, visual novel demos showcase a certain percentage of the full thing (5-10%.) Can you showcase the vibe of the game here and what players should expect? If not, show off another portion.

How long should I work on my demo? Before, I said 3-4 months. That can be true, that can also not be true. Think about how long the demo takes you in proportion to how long the actual game should take you. Don't put too much effort. The demo is to showcase the vibe. It's to see how much the public and fans may enjoy the game.

My game is 18+, what should I do? Make a splash screen when the game is downloaded to let players know your game is 18+. If it's going to contain sexual content, you can hide it with itch.io's adult content filter. Write it on the page itself that your game is for adults only. Don't put your demo behind a paywall. This is genuinely ridiculous. The purpose of a demo is to showcase what a game is like before a player purchases it. That defeats the point of a demo. I've seen this happen, and it discourages players from approaching, especially because most demos never make it past the demo phase. So...I'm paying you $10 for 2-3k words of a game that may never come out?

Should I make a social media for my game? YES! Go for it. These anchors are how people will find your game. Make a Tumblr and open that ask box. Make a Twitter. Go to BluSky. Advertising is not bad. Some YouTubers even take e-mail suggestions from developers. Feel free to shoot your shot. The worst they can do is not respond.

HOW TO SET UP YOUR ITCH.IO PAGE:

Getting your itch.io to a presentable state can be very challenging! There's many ways to do it. I highly recommend using this page image guide for learning how to size your images to make your page pop!

Itch.io themselves has suggested to not publish a page until the game or demo is released. You can make the page and keep it as a draft, but do not publish it until you're ready!

Your cover image is the image that will appear in the search of the website, on any front pages, in collections, and on your profile. What have I seen that works? Key art of one of the characters up close and the title of the game! If you can make it a .GIF, do it! Bitches love .GIFs!

Itch.io recommends 3-5 screenshots on your page. I recommend 1 of these 5 be a .GIF that shows how gameplay feels. This is effective, even for visual novels!

Write a 3-5 sentence summary about your game for the description. What is your story about? What is the draw?

DO NOT BE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO IS GOING TO SAY "This is not like other visual novels. It doesn't have that cheesy this or that or-" No one cares. Genuinely. You're putting down other games in your genre and elevating yourself to the pompous level.

TAG YOUR GAME! itch.io gives you a list of tags to choose from when you go to tag. DON'T USE THIS! Try to go for more specific tags. Arimia has a very good guide on how to use itch.io's tagging system to your advantage.

GENERAL GAME MAKING ADVICE

SCOPE KNIFE IS SUPER USEFUL! Everyone makes games that are way over their workload. It's okay to cut out features and add them later. Prioritize making a finished game before hitting those stretch goals.

PLAN, PLAN, PLAN! Writing outlines is super helpful. I use Twine for my outlines, because you can connect your passages together and make really well-thought webs.

IT'S OKAY TO ASK FOR HELP! Whether it's from friends, professionals, or anything in-between. They can help with assets, editing, etc.

HONE YOUR SKILLS OUTSIDE OF GAMES! Write some poetry. Do some sketches everyday. Improve on your craft to improve your games

MUSIC IS HARD. THERE ARE RESOURCES. Most of us aren't musicians. That's okay. Make sure the music you get for your game is allowed to be used. You can use anything non-commercial if your game will not cost money or donations. I try to do songs in the public domain or free to use overall with credit if I don't have a musician. Consult the Creative Commons website if you're unsure how you're supposed to use a certain piece of music. If you don't use the right stuff, not only can it put you in legal trouble, but it can put streamers in hot water if they play your game and they can't upload the video because music is copyrighted.

PLEASE, DO SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR UI. Wanna know an easy way to get your game to look more professional? Edit the damn UI for your game. Make a new textbox, even if it's just a black box. Change the font. Eventually, players recognize the defaults and patterns of games made in certain engines and may attribute a lack of UI changes to a developer being lazy. It doesn't take very long to change the colors around and move text! Please do it to add a little pop to your game.

DEADLINES ARE AWESOME. Not everyone works well under pressure, but if you give yourself an infinite amount of time to make something, it'll never get done. Set goals for yourself for how much you can work on something.

IF YOU HAVE TO GIVE UP, GIVE UP. Making things is hard, especially long-term. Emergencies happen, jobs happen, life happens. Let your fans know that a project isn't happening anymore. Don't leave them in the dark. You don't need to tell strangers your medical history or anything, but transparency + honesty are really hot traits. You should use those in your creative work. This is one reason why I advocate for not publishing or advertising things until you know it's stable.

SHOWCASING YOUR CONTENT

People love to see WIPs for games! This is what the devlog is good for! A devlog is a post where a developer talks about and showcases some things happening in the game? What can you add to your dev log?

PERCENTAGES! How much of the artwork is done? How much of this character's route is done?

SNEAK PEEKS AT ARTWORK AND SPRITES!

GIFS! GIRLS LOVE GIFS!

Anything else to showcase your game's content! Posting consistent updates retains and even gains a fan's attention for your work.

RUNNING YOUR TUMBLR

You've joined us, and you've made a Tumblr for your blog! Link it on the itch.io page, so people can come find you after playing your awesome demo!

Do I have to respond to every ask? No. It's your blog. Delete whatever asks you want.

I got a hate comment! What do I do? Delete it and move on. I have a more detailed section on hate below.

I want to interact with [blog]! How do I do that? Reach out to the devs for silly little collabs. If you come onto a developer slightly headstrong, they might feel you are being abrasive or using them for content.

If people make fan content, interact with it! Encourage it! Reblog it. Show your love.

OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS

PROFESSIONALISM IS KEY. These may be pet projects, but you want to appear some level of professional on your actual itch.io page.

Being dismissive of player and fan complaints or criticisms will make you appear childish.

If your game is broken, fix it. I have been told by some amateur developers to ignore game-breaking bugs. It does not make me, a player, want to engage with your content. It seems messy and unfinished.

With the above point, it's 100% okay to have bugs and errors upon release. Every developer and their brood mother has. To decrease these issues, get playtesters. Friends can play your games, spot any errors, and help you point out things that can be improved upon. I recommend having playtesters at every stage of development.

Make sure your game runs before you publish it. Please.

You can still be silly and giddy! There's no reason to not be, especially when you get positive comments! The point of this is to not be outright rude to potential players and fans.

IGNORE HATE COMMENTS. In this case, a hate comment is a statement that contains no constructive criticism and are only here to be insulting or malicious. People are going to leave you with actual piles of dog shit in your ask box. They are trying to provoke you. Giving hate comments any attention, even if you're there to "clap back" proves that they got to you, even if you don't take the hate to heart. They will continue to pester you. Delete any hate comments and ignore them completely. Laugh about them with friends in a private setting, sure.

THINK BEFORE YOU REFERENCE! I know one big thing in this community is adding references to other games in yours, such as plushies of other characters or putting them on posters. The best thing you can do it ask the developer before adding this. How would you feel if some random person you've never met put your character in a video game? Most of us would feel weird and potentially violated. Open communication with devs is awesome. I am usually okay with it as long as someone asks for permission.

As a complete aside, I prefer more tasteful references to other games as opposed to 523482346 plushies and posters. These have been slightly overdone. Why not theme a candy after another game's character? Maybe your characters know each other.

OTHER RESOURCES I RECOMMEND

Devtalk is a server dedicated to independent visual novel creators. You can find jobs, resources, advice, talks, and, like, everything there! Devtalk is super useful. Everyone in there is so cool. They have a really great and comprehensive list of resources that I could not even begin to cover.

Visual Novel Design is a great YouTuber. No other words, check the guy out!

Ren'py and whatever other engine you're using has documentation that's super useful to follow.

Arimia not only has amazing VN resources, especially for marketing, but she also just has? Amazing games that you should check out?

And for a shameless self plug, I'm the lead of Sacred Veins, a collective of devs creating narrative games, whether it be horror, humor, romance, or everything in-between. Come hang out with us!

[sh1-n0bu]

♡︎ 𝙘𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙤𝙥𝙨𝙞𝙘𝙡𝙚 ♡︎

anon asked: may i request sub xiao with small dick but you keep teasing him?

characters: sub!xiao x nb!dom!reader

warnings: overstimulation, a mix of praises and degrading, dacryphillia, dumbification, feminization

notes: yes yeeess YEEEEESSSS!! finally someone gets it!!! xiao has a small dick and you can’t change my mind!!! also i went with head cannons format for this one, i hope it’s okay anon😚♥️

third repost bc tumblr can’t stop me

first of yes yes yes xiao has a small dick and it’s fucking cute

at first he would be incredibly worried because what if you don’t like his small cock? what if he can’t meet your expectations??

but you reassured him that it was okay and you just love him regardless of it

it’s so small and cute you don’t even have to move your hands

just wrapping your big, warm, calloused hand around his little cocklet would have him throwing his head back, mewling and blubbering about some drunken shit♡︎

“unngyaa~! b-big! big big! y-your handd~ too big! gYAANN!”

like i said before he would get overstimulated very very easily very quick without you even trying

his cock is so cute and small, it would barely hit the back of your throat

so completely swallow his cock and just lazily twirl your tongue over the tip, it would have him thrashing around, hands scrambling to grab anything anything! to at least get his mind back together

“HAAAH! h-hottt~ [name]! your mo-ownng! mouth shoo hot! annh~ hwaAA! C-CUM! CUMING! CUMINGCUMINGCUMING-!!”

easily becomes a pleasure-drunk, blabbering, sobbing mess

he’s just so kfjwkjdjdnd

saying his sweet little popsicle can’t fill you up, how it’s so adorable when it twitches, how you could just suck on them all day like it’s an actual sweet will have him sobbing either from his fucked up brain too slow to comprehend anything or how he just feels so good he doesn’t know if he should thank you or say how mean you are

today was your birthday, as mortals calls it, but it seemed like you yourself forgot about it. so it means the responsibility to gift you a happy birthday gift you would surely enjoy was up to your sweet loving boyfriend! hut the problem was, xiao sucks at choosing gifts. so he asked around from the people closest to him.

zhongli suggested that mortals seemed to enjoy home-made food from their loved ones is greatly cherished, sadly the yaksha cant cook for the life of him.

ganyu recommended a flower bouquet of all the local specialties of liyue but he always brings you a flower back from his nightly duties.

the traveler and paimon said a birthday cake and a song is a traditional gift and a common practiced ritual but where would the adepti buy the cake? it also was another minus point that he can’t socialize.

verr however said something he knows you’ll absolutely enjoy would be the best gift. something that makes you perk up with sparkles in your eyes. and the very first thing that popped into xiao’s mind was an interesting idea.

stepping into the small nest/room that belongs to you and your lovely yaksha, this was definitely not what you were expecting but still a welcome gift.

sitting on your shared pile of fluffy pillows and blankets was the ethereal adepti, with only a cute lingerie. a soft blush pink bra that only seemed to highlight his pink nipples more, a lace see through tiny panties that barely covered his cocklet and a cute cat ears.

“uhmm h-happy birthday, love” shyly spreading his legs apart for you to admire him in all his glory, xiao looked away with his face blooming in colors.

“well, thank you for the food and the gift” diving in to capture his lips in a hungry kiss, this was definitely the best gift you ever had.

sucking dark hickies on his chest, setting him on your lap and making him move back and forth, kissing him until he can’t even breath - all of this has been going on for a long enough time yet you still haven’t touched him!

“nngh [name] please? p-pleaseee touch my-my cok too!” xiao was on the verge of crying. whenever you two would make love, you always satisfy him but you weren’t budging to any of his pleas tonight.

“hmm? but i’m the birthday boss right? so i can do whatever i want right, xiao?” tapping his angry red tip you feigned innocence. it wasn’t fair! he just wanted to feel good!

“p-please? pretty please? touch m-my cock too?” guiding your fingers to run up and down on his cocklet, the pretty yaksha started whining helplessly.

chuckling at his desperation you guessed you could be a bit nicer. by nicer you meant only kissing his pathetic dick through the panties until it got completely wet and ruined.

“noooo! no no no no! [name]~ please? pretty p-please? i’ll be-i’ll be good. please… sniff” now he was crying. well you supposed you were cruel to him far too long. taking his whole length into your mouth, you lazily started to suck on the yakshas cock. he was so cute, trashing his legs all around the place, clawing at the sheets, a jumbled mess of “thank you”-s and “s-shoo good! sho good! sogoodsogood♡︎♡︎”-s tumbling out of his mouth. soon enough he came with a loud squeal but you only continued to suck on his precious tiny cock.

“nyaah! nooo~ i-i came! i awll-HYAAAGK~ [name]~! c-cum! cum! gUUHH~!” slurring on his words, it seems like your sweet xiao was fucked stupid.

[brotherconstant]

GIFMAKING TUTORIAL: PHOTOPEA (for Windows)

Screencapping

Gif Width/Size Limit/Ezgif

Loading Frames

Cropping and Resizing

Rasterize/Make Frames

Sharpening

Coloring (not detailed. Links to other tutorials included)

Exporting

Obligatory Mentions: @photopeablr ; @miwtual ; @benoitblanc ; @ashleysolsen Definitely check out these blogs for tips, tutorials and resources, they're a gold mine. Finally I recommend browsing the PHOTOPEA TUTORIAL / PHOTOPEA TUTORIAL GIF tags. DISCLAIMER: English is not my first language and I'm not an expert on what I'm going to discuss, so if anything's unclear feel free to drop another ask.

1. SCREENCAPPING -> PotPlayer (the one I use) or MVP or KMPlayer

INSTALL PotPlayer (tutorial)

Play your movie/episode and press Ctrl + G. The Consecutive Image Capturer window will pop up. Click Start to capture consecutive frames, Stop when you got what you needed.

Where it says "Image Type -> Format" I recommend picking PNG, for higher quality screencaps.

To access the folder where the screencaps are stored, type %appdata% in windows search, open the PotPlayerMini64 folder (or 32, depending on your system) and then the Capture folder. That's where you'll find your screencaps.

Admittedly MVP is a lot faster but I prefer Potplayer because it generates (at least in my case) higher quality screencaps. MVP kind of alters the hue and it made it harder for me to color my gifs. Still, if you're interested in how to use it, I recommend this tutorial.

As for KMPlayer, every tutorial out there is outdated and I couldn't figure out the new version of the software.

2. GIF WIDTH/HEIGHT, SIZE LIMIT, EZGIF OPTMIZER

At this point you should already know how big your gifs are going to be. Remember the ideal gif width(s) on tumblr are 540 px / 268 px / 177 px. These specific numbers take into account the 4 px space between the gifs. No restrictions on height. Here are some examples:

You can play around with the height (177x400, 177x540, 268x200, 268x268, 268x350, 268x400, 540x440, 540x500, 540x540 etc) but if you go over the 10 MB limit you'll either have to make your gifs smaller/delete some frames.

OR you can go on ezgif and optimize your gif, which is usually what I do. The quality might suffer a little, but I'm not really (that) obsessed with how crispy my gifs look, or I'd download photoshop.

Depending on the gif size, you can decrease the compression level. I've never had to go over 35. It's better to start at 5 (minimum) and then go from there until you reach your desired ( <10mb) gif size. Now that I think about it I should have included this passage at the end of the tutorial, I guess I'll just mention it again.

3. LOAD YOUR FRAMES

File -> Open... -> Pick one of your screencaps. The first one, the last one, a random one. Doesn't matter. That's your Background.

File -> Open & Place -> Select all the frames (including the one you already loaded in the previous passage) you need for your gif and load them.

(I recommend creating a specific folder for the screencaps of each gif you're going to make.)

WARNING: When you Place your screencaps make sure the Crop tool is NOT selected, especially if you've already used it and the width/height values have been entered. It will mess things up - I don't know why, could be a bug.

You can either select them all with Ctrl+A or with the method I explained in the ask: "when you want to select more than one frame or all frames at once select the first one, then scroll to the bottom and, while pressing Shift, select the last one. this way ALL your frames will be selected".

WARNING: Depending on how fast your computer is / on your RAM, this process may take a while. My old computer was old and slow af, while my new one can load even a 100 frames relatively fast, all things considered. Even so, I recommend ALWAYS saving your work before loading new frames for a new gif, because photopea might crash unexpectedly. Just save your work as often as you can, even while coloring or before exporting. Trust me, I speak from experience.

Now you can go ahead and delete the Background at the bottom, you won't need it anymore.

4. CROPPING AND RESIZING

Right now your screencaps are still smart objects. Before rasterizing and converting to frames, you need to crop your gif.

Technically you can rasterize/convert to frames and then crop, BUT if you do it in that order photopea will automatically delete the cropped pixels, even if you don't select the "Delete Cropped Pixels" Option. Might be another bug, unclear. Basically, if you crop your gif and then realize you cropped a little too much to the left or the right, you can go ahead, select the Move Tool (shortcut: V) and, after selecting ALL YOUR FRAMES, move them around on your canvas until you are satisfied. You won't be able to do this if you rasterize first and then crop, the excess pixels will be deleted. I don't know why, I found out by accident lol.

CROPPING

(Cropped pixels: the gray/opaque area outside of the selected area. That area disappears once you press enter and crop, but the pixels are retained, so you can move the frames around and reposition them as you like. In this case I could move the frames to the left and include Silver's figure [curly guy in the foreground] in the crop)

After deleting the Background, you will need to select all your frames (using the Shift key), use the C shortcut on your keyboard to choose the Crop tool. Or you can click on it, whatever's more convenient. Once you do that, a dropdown menu is going to appear. You need to select the "FIXED SIZE" option, as shown in the following screencap.

Once you do that, you can type in your desired width and height. Do not immediately press enter.

Your work area should now look like this. Now you can click on one of the white squares and enlarge the selected area until the edges are lined up. You can then move it around until it covers the area you wish to gif.

WARNING: to move the big rectangle around, you're gonna have to click on a random point of the work area, PREFERABLY not to close to the rectangle itself, or you might accidentally rotate it.

See? When your cursor is close to the selected area it turns into this rotating tool. Move it away until it reverts to your usual cursor, then you can start moving the rectangle. Press Enter when you're satisfied with the area you selected.

RESIZE

This isn't always necessary (pretty much never in my case) - and it's a passage I often forget myself - but it's mentioned in most of the tutorials I came across over the years, so I'd be remiss if I didn't include it in mine. After cropping, you'll want to resize your image.

IMAGE -> Image Size...

This window will pop up. Now, should the values in the Width and Height space be anything other than 540 and 400 (or the values you entered yourself, whatever they might be) you need to correct that. They've always been correct in my case, but again. Had to mention it.

5. RASTERIZE & MAKE FRAMES

Now that your screencaps are cropped, you can go ahead and convert them.

LAYER -> Rasterize (if you skip this passage you won't be able to Sharpen (or use any filter) on your frames at once. You'll have to Sharpen your frames one by one.

Photopea doesn't feature a timeline and it's not a video editor, which makes this passage crucial. When you select all your smart objects and try to apply a filter, the filter will only by applied to ONE frame. Once you rasterize your smart objects and make them into frames, you can select them all and sharpen them at once. Unfortunately this also means that you won't be able to - I don't know how to explain this properly so bear with me - use all smart filters/use them in the same way a photoshop user can. For example, you can sharpen / remove noise / add noise / unsharp mask... but you can't act on those filters in the same way a photoshop user can. When you work on smart objects you can change the blend mode - which is critical if you decide to use a filter like High Pass. If you simply apply a high pass filter on photopea you won't be able to change the blend mode and your gif will look like this (following screencaps). Or rather, you will be able to change the blend mode by clicking on the little wheel next to "High pass" (circled in green in the 2nd screencap), but you'll have to apply the filter to each frame manually, one by one.

Then you can rasterize/make into frames, but it's extremely time consuming. I did it once or twice when I first started making gifs and it got old pretty soon haha.

Layer -> Animation -> Make frames. This passage will add "_a_" at the beginning of all your frames and it's what allows you to make a (moving) gif. As I said in the ask, if you skip this passage your gif will not move.

6. SHARPENING

Some people prefer to color first and sharpen later, but I found that sharpening filters (more or less) dramatically alter the aspect of your gif and already brighten it a bit (depending on your settings) and you may end up with an excessively bright gif.

Now, sharpening settings are not necessarily set in stone. The most popular ones are 500/0.4 + 10/10, which I use sometimes. But you may also need to take into account the quality of the files you're working with + the specific tv show you're giffing. I've been using different settings for pretty much every tv show I gif, especially in the last couple months. Some examples:

followed by

OR

AMOUNT: 500% RADIUS 0.3px followed by AMOUNT: 20% (or 10%) RADIUS 10px

You'll just need to experiment and see what works best for your gifs.

Some gifmakers use the UNSHARP MASK filter as well (I think it's pretty popular among photopea users?) but it makes my gifs look extra grainy, makes the borders look super bright and it clashes with my coloring method(s), so I use it rarely and with very moderate settings. Something like this:

Again, depends on the gif and on what you like. I've seen it used with great results by other gifmakers!

REDUCE NOISE

Sometimes - and this is especially the case for dark scenes - your gif may look excessively grainy, depending on how bright you want to make it. Reducing noise can help. Keep it mind, it can also make it worse and mess up the quality. BUT it also reduces the size of your gif. Obviously, the higher the settings, the more quality will suffer.

These are my standard settings (either 2/70% or 2/80%). It's almost imperceptible, but it helps with some of the trickier scenes.

ADDING NOISE

Adding noise (1% or 2% max) can sometimes help with quality (or make it worse, just like reduce noise) but it will make your gif so so so much bigger, and occasionally damage the frames, which means you won't be able to load your gif on tumblr, so I rarely use it.

You'll also want to create ACTIONS which will allow you to sharpen your gifs much faster.

HOW TO CREATE AN ACTION ON PHOTOPEA

The Action Button (shaped like a Play button as you can see in the following screencaps) may not be there if you're using photopea for the first time. If that's the case click on the magnifiying glass next to "Account" (in red) and type "actions". Press Enter and the button should immediately show up.

Once you do that, click on the Folder (circled in yellow)

and rename it however you like.

now click on New Action (circled in red). now you can press the Recording button (circled in green)

Now

FILTERS -> Smart Sharpen

and you can enter your values. Then you repeat this passage (WITHOUT pressing rec, WITHOUT pressing new action or anything else, you just open the smart shapen window again) and, if you want, you can sharpen your gif some more (10%, 10px, or anything you want.)

Maybe, before creating an action, experiment with the settings first and see what works best.

When you're satisfied, you can PRESS STOP (it's the rec button, which is now a square) and you can DOWNLOAD your action (downwards facing arrow, the last button next to the bin. Sorry, forgot to circle it) .

You need to download your action and then upload it on your photopea. When you do, a window will pop up and photopea will ask you whether you wish to load the action every time you open the program. You choose "Okay" and the action will be loaded in the storage.

When you want to sharpen your gif, you select all your frames, then you click on the Play button, and select the Action, NOT the folder, or it won't work.

Actions can also be created to more rapidly crop and convert your frames, but it doesn't always work on photopea (for me at least). The process is exactly the same, except once you start recording you 1) crop your gif as explained in step 4, 2) convert into frames. Then you stop the recording and download the action and upload it. This won't work for the Rasterize step by the way. Just the Animation -> Make Frame step.

7. COLORING

Now you can color your gif. I won't include a coloring tutorial simply because I use a different method for every tv show I gif for. You normally want to begin with a brightness or a curve layer, but sometimes I start with a Channel Mixer layer to immediately get rid of yellow/green filters (there's a tutorial for this particular tool which you will find in the list I mention in the link below)

[Plus I'm not really an authority on this matter as my method is generally... fuck around and find out. Two years of coloring and I still have no idea what I'm doing. 70% of the time.]

Simple Gif Coloring for Beginners -> very detailed + it includes a pretty handy list of tutorials at the bottom.

8. EXPORTING

Now you can export your gif. Some gifmakers export their (sharpened) gifs BEFORE coloring and then load the gifs on photopea to color them. I'm not sure it makes any difference.

FILE -> EXPORT AS -> GIF

(not colored, just sharpened)

As you can see, unlike photoshop the exporting settings are pretty thread bare. The only option available is dither - it sometimes help with color banding - which, and I'm quoting from google for maximum clarity:

"refers to the method of simulating colors not available in the color display system of your computer. A higher dithering percentage creates the appearance of more colors and more detail in an image, but can also increase the file size."

SPEED

When you export your gif, it will play at a very decreased speed (100%). I usually set it at 180/190%, but as for every other tool, you might want to play around a little bit.

GIF SIZE/EZGIF OPTIMIZER (See Step 2)

And that's it.

P.S.: worth repeating

Save your work as often as you can, even while coloring or before exporting.

[airbendertendou]

May I please get a scenario or hc (whatever is easier for you!) of Rindo’s s/o dying their hair to match his hair color? Like they do it while he’s at work and he has no idea until he comes home. Thank you! I hope you have a good day/night!

synopsis : reader changes their hair to match their boyfie <3 characters included : mikey, ran, draken, koko & bonten!rindou

if you have a blank blog [no bio, no user, no header or profile pic, nothing reblogged, etc] do not interact with my content. you will be blocked.

— MANJIRO! ♥︎ you copy his classic, half-up hairstyle ♥︎ doesn't even notice you've changed your hair ♥︎ draken says something snarky abt it like "oh, you're matching, cute." ♥︎ nd mikey goes ??? w his cheeks puffed out from a taiyaki ♥︎ but when he turns to see you ♥︎ it's like the sun shines down onto you carefully ; like angels are singing ; like he's falling in love all over again ♥︎ his head flops onto your shoulder, arms shakily bringing you closer to his hold ♥︎ mumbles something about turning you into a sano /:

— DRAKEN! ♥︎ you go for jus a simple braid, a little piece of hair tugged out ♥︎ he snorts when he sees you, rolling his eyes nd everything ♥︎ but his ears are so so red ♥︎ and hes thought abt how to tell you how pretty you look ; how you need a dragon tattoo now, too ♥︎ shoves you under his arm when you tease him abt his blush, digging his chin into the top of your head annoyingly ♥︎ tugs on that little strand a lot!! jus to get your attention, he swears ♥︎ but has this sort of pride in his eyes when you show your hair off at the toman meeting

— RAN! ♥︎ your hair is styled into two braided pigtails ♥︎ oh hes so smug ♥︎ but also keeps an eye narrowed and focused on anyone mking inappropriate comments ♥︎ we live in a society where pigtails are sexualized ♥︎ twirls your braids the way he twirls his!! ♥︎ will also purposely mess his hair up so you have to fix it for him ): ♥︎ grins at any and all matching hair accessories he see ♥︎ talk him out of getting the giant, obvious bows please

— KOKONOI! ♥︎ can b his bonten hair or his current one! ♥︎ either way, you twist or braid a few pieces of hair to mimic his style ♥︎ hates it at first ♥︎ bc how dare you make his signature style look better than he does ):< ♥︎ ends up liking it bc now he has easy access to kiss your ear nd neck ♥︎ he goes through all the other styles you'd look nice in ; all the colors you could pull off ♥︎ something about your hair matching his... ♥︎ makes you feel more official, somehow

— RINDOU! ♥︎ bonten era ; you get the jellyfish cut! or maybe copy his colors- ♥︎ he knew abt your hair appointment but didnt think it was anything out of the ordinary ♥︎ little did he know.... ♥︎ he just stares ♥︎ like wide-eyed, heartstopping, can barely breathe stares ♥︎ stands to his full height and cups your chin, turning your head gently to get a full view ♥︎ grins w pink cheeks ): kisses the tip of your nose and just continues to stare ♥︎ "all mine......" its whispered before he takes your breath in a kiss ♥︎ He's Obsessed.

——♥︎—— im so sorry for the lack of content lately ); hope this was okay / the format was alright. if youd like to b tagged / untagged in any tokyo revengers content, let me know! ♥︎

🍓FOREVER TAGS : @star2fishmeg ♥︎

🍓 TOKYOREV TAGLIST : @thatpoindexterpixy @night-shadowblood-writes2 @muichirouswifeandhusband @chrofeisnightmaregf

airbendertendou © do not copy, plagiarize, repost, or translate my content on any platform. if you see my content under any other name than my own, let me know. i only have this tumblr and an ao3 account under the same name.

[mitigatedchaos]

Kontextmaschine is Dead

(~1,000 words, 5m)

Noted blogger @kontextmaschine is presumed dead, following the discovery that the sole resident at his most likely residence was found deceased during a wellness check initiated by concerned Redditors.

Prior to his last post on Aug 22, which indicated a serious health problem, he reported taking over twice the dose of creatine he had been taking at the beginning of his lengthy post-COVID health saga, in which he also reported becoming bisexual, having "zero" anxiety, gaining 3D vision after years of not having it, becoming incredibly convincing, and having to learn to walk and use his muscles properly again. At the time, he felt he was becoming trimmer and physically stronger, and reported engaging in a long project of yard work, although photos from the inside of his house generally looked somewhat messy.

A Tumblr user who met him briefly in person after the beginning of the health saga but before these most recent events reported that he was friendly, charismatic, hospitable, and clean, but "physically, a mess," with motor control issues on one side of his body.

Topics of discussion were similar to the content of kontextmaschine's blog, such as differences in east and west coast government in America, said to be "totally on brand," but it was said that the prolific poster seemed "less self-grandiose" in person.

Redditors theorize that the decline of kontextmaschine's health following his first self-report of COVID-19 infection may have been due to undiagnosed brain cancer, which could be more consistent with observed changes in behavior than the after-effects of a viral infection, given that most reports of "long covid" are about effects like fatigue, and not total loss of anxiety or alteration of sexual orientation.

Despite multiple suggestions, from both anonymous and pseudonymous users, kontextmaschine refused to seek professional medical care for his condition.

Regarding the mourning of public figures, in 2018, a period of increased Progressive sensitivity during the Trump Administration, kontextmaschine wrote,

through the years realized that through whatever blind groping the ‘90s-ass “edgelords” were desperately trying to save us from this, through proper gatekeeping and filtering at first I’d thought it was gratuitous and supported it being relaxed, maybe not shaming everyone who publicly mourned a suicide, mea culpa, mea culpa, I have debts to pay

In 2019, he added:

That was how we kept the internet culture from growing mawkish and cry-bullyish: basically, if you were so weak as to get weepy over corpsemeat you got cancelled, the shame would follow you forever and you’d never be allowed to forget it.

Given his writing, it is likely that kontextmaschine would not have supported excessive public mourning over his death, though in 2017, following the theft of his motorcycle, when the popular blogger @argumate jokingly criticized him by writing, "no references to pinball, no insight into historical Americana, this isn’t the kontext I signed up for," kontextmaschine wrote,

“when bad shit happens people mock me accurately” is the community I’ve been looking for my whole life so

Like argumate, perhaps the most famous of the rationalist-adjacent bloggers on Tumblr, screenshots of kontextmaschine's Tumblr posts would end up on outside websites.

Kontextmaschine was generally considered an interesting, if controversial writer. One Tumblr user characterized him as a member of the "obnoxious Tumblr right," though another user asked, "wait, how is kontextmaschine is right wing?" After another user claimed that the nuclear bombing of Oregon would be a net improvement in the world due to kontextmaschine's residence in Portland, tumblr user @random-thought-depository wrote a 2,400 word theory post arguing that kontextmaschine's philosophy was a means to coordinate to join a future political coalition favoring the formation of a more brutal and oppressive hierarchy in pursuit of his own advantage.

Though kontextmaschine's ideology advocates that humanity should adopt "r-selection," meaning more offspring with less investment in each (or youth, sex, and death), this blog dissented against the coalition theory, arguing that motorcycles, kung fu, women, Hollywood, and not having to report to HR are all traditionally cool, and the causality of the kontextmaschine ideology could easily run the other way.

Though he had a period of identifying as female in his youth, appropriately LGBTQ for a Tumblr user, his 2011 statement of principles, including "the lesser yields to the greater" and "suffering is the mark of a wrong person," and general body of work, could be described as a strain of right-wing thought, though not of the traditionalist Christian or rational technocratic varieties.

Prior to the post-covid health saga, kontextmaschine's health posting was primarily about his bipolar disorder, with both manic and depressive phases.

Kontextmaschine maintained generally friendly relations with other bloggers in his sphere of discourse, sometimes debating but rarely aggressive, except in response to anonymous hatemail. In response to one particular piece of hatemail, kontextmaschine stated that as a writer, of course his primary form of influence would be his posts.

In a post chain reblogged by dozens of Tumblr users, multiple Tumblr users wrote that they enjoyed his writing and are disappointed by his death, describing him as a unique thinker that will not be easily replaced. Several felt that there was not much they could have done, as after returning from his covid infection, he was not taking medical advice.

One Tumblr user wrote, "rip. Inspirational manic poster," while long-time and prolific poster argumate described him as, "one of the bloggers of all time."

Internet users speculate that Kontextmaschine is survived by his outdoor cat, Badger, about whom he posted frequently. He may also be survived by other members of his family, with whom he apparently did not live, and rarely spoke about.

It is recommended that enthusiasts of kontextmaschine's blog make backups of his writing for archival purposes.

[rpschtuff]

What is going on with cutting posts?

You may have seen some posts floating around lately about the beta editor and trimming reblogs, and possibly found yourself extremely confused trying to figure out what this tangled web of editors, extensions, and add-ons even means. I’ve been on this site for years, and I still find the whole thing terribly confusing.

So this post is my effort to explain everything -- legacy vs beta, New XKit vs XKit Rewritten, editable reblogs vs trim reblogs -- everything. This also doubles as a tutorial for the various methods of cutting posts.

TL;DR

Tumblr is in the process of switching to a new post editor that some old users have opted into, while new users have been forced into it.

The old Editable Reblogs extension does not work with this new editor, requiring people to use a new extension called Trim Reblogs.

Trim Reblogs and Editable Reblogs are not compatible. If your partner uses Editable Reblogs, you cannot cut their posts properly using Trim Reblogs (unless you’re willing to do some tedious and frankly unreasonable workarounds).

The only way for everyone in the RPC to cut their posts properly and efficiently is if everyone moves to the new system and uses Trim Reblogs. Clinging to the old system with Editable Reblogs is actively creating issues for the people using the new system -- some of whom do not have a choice.

Cutting Posts

Cutting posts is the act of removing older replies on a thread when reblogging it. This goes by several other terms, including trimming replies/reblogs or any variation of that wording, but I will be referring to it as cutting posts to avoid confusion with the Trim Reblogs extension, which will be coming up a lot.

Typically, when cutting a post, you only keep your latest reply and the reply from your partner that immediately precedes it. This means that instead of a thread looking like this...

It would like this:

Or like this, depending on the method used:

In either case, the first post is gone while the second and third post remain.

Cutting posts is done so that threads aren’t all extremely long on the dashboard. When there’s three short replies like this sample, it’s not that bad. But imagine a thread with twenty replies where each is several paragraphs long. That would require people to scroll and scroll and scroll to get past it. And since the same thread would be reblogged multiple times, your dash might become the same posts, over and over and over again, with only one new addition at the end each time.

Cutting posts is extremely common Tumblr RP etiquette. Many people won’t follow you if you don’t regularly cut replies, due to how irritating the alternative is.

Copy and Paste (Outdated)

Once upon a time, you used to be able to cut replies without any kind of extensions. Unfortunately, those days are gone.

That method worked as follows. You would go to reblog as usual...

Copy and paste the last reply, putting it in a blockquote (or using any other formatting you like, really), then add your own reply underneath.

Then you can simply hover over the older replies and click the red X in order to remove them.

And this used to work. But now, the very first post in a thread cannot be deleted -- only later reblogs can. This means that the first post will always stay above the others, no matter how far along in the thread you are.

So since cutting posts can’t be done normally, we have to rely on browser extensions. This is where things get complicated. And also where I need to explain the different editors.

Legacy vs Beta Editor

Every time you make or reblog a post, you are using Tumblr’s post editor to do so. This is the area where you type up your post, add images, etc. Tumblr has been using the same editor for several years now, and it’s called the legacy editor.

However, Tumblr has been slowly rolling out a new text editor, called the beta editor. You may remember the beta editor when it was first rolled out a couple years ago as a buggy, unstable mess -- that’s not the case anymore, and it’s no more buggy than the current editor. For text posts, it’s functionally pretty similar, and even has a few features that some of you might want, such as easy colored text and the ability to make posts non-rebloggable. (Photo and other posts are fairly different, and I know gif makers have some pretty understandable reservations and complaints about it, but I won’t be covering that here.)

Older users have the option to toggle between the legacy and beta editors at will, while new users (starting around November/December 2022) are locked into the beta editor and cannot switch back to legacy.

To check which editor you have, go to make a new text post and look in the top right corner.

If you see either of these:

You are using the legacy editor, with the option to switch between the two.

If you see this:

You are using the beta editor, with the option to switch between the two.

If you don’t see anything at all, you are using the beta editor, and cannot switch.

While the text interface of the two editors isn’t terribly different for roleplay purposes, the methods by which you need to trim reblogs are entirely different. Each requires a different extension -- specifically, a different version of XKit.

XKit

XKit is a browser extension designed to add features and functionality to Tumblr. It includes many quality of life features such as a mutual checker, better tag tracking, queue improvements, ad blocking, more detailed timestamps, and so much more. (It was preceded by a similar extension called Missing E, if you’ve been here long enough to remember that.) And among all of these many features is the ability to cut replies.

The original XKit is no longer in use, having stopped updates in 2015 and being entirely unusable now. However, a few new versions of XKit have popped up throughout the years.

New XKit & Editable Reblogs

A different team created New XKit as a successor to the original, a similar extension designed to restore many of the same features.

New XKit’s feature to cut posts is called Editable Reblogs. It works by adding a pencil button to the left of the post when you reblog.

Clicking that button will break the post’s formatting -- actually changing it to how Tumblr posts used to be formatted -- but allow it to be edited however you wish.

So in this instance, I could simply select the first reply and delete it before adding my new reply underneath.

Editable Reblogs is only available if you use the legacy editor. It does not work with the beta editor and does not even appear as an option.

XKit Rewritten & Trim Reblogs

In 2020, Tumblr began to roll out its updated dashboard, which is now permanently in effect for all users. While the new interface looks very similar, the code was actually entirely redone, and behind the scenes functions very differently from the older dashboard. As a result, some of New XKit’s features no longer work as intended -- though a few still do, such as Editable Reblogs.

In response, the New XKit team decided to similarly start from scratch and created XKit Rewritten, another iteration of the add-on with similar features once more. However, not all New XKit features are available on XKit Rewritten, and vice versa. Many people are running both extensions simultaneously to take advantage of features on both.

XKit Rewritten’s feature to cut posts is called Trim Reblogs, and it works completely differently than Editable Reblogs. With this, you first need to save the thread to your drafts with your reply already written.

You’ll see a scissors icon appear along the bottom of the post. Clicking that will open the trimming options, letting you select which previous reblogs to delete.

Clicking Trim will remove the selected reblogs.

You can then click post. You’ll note that this method preserves Tumblr’s formatting, as opposed to Editable Reblogs, which breaks it.

EDITED TO ADD: Apparently you don’t need to already have your reply written in your drafts anymore. You can save the post to your drafts without adding anything, use trim reblogs, then edit the post to add your reply. Either works fine.

This method does have two major issues, though. First, if the first post of a thread was created in the legacy editor, then the system gets really buggy and just doesn’t work.

This is what happened when I tried it out. Initially, it seemed to work as expected.

However, when I posted the reply, or simply refreshed my drafts, this happened.

Attempting to trim again simply caused this to repeat. There is no fix for this. This means that for this method to work, both you and your partners need to be using the beta editor.

EDITED TO ADD: You can fix this double posting by either using trim reblogs before adding your reply, or by adding your reply, using trim reblogs as intended, refreshing your drafts, editing the post, and clicking the red X to remove the first of the double postings. I have a better guide here.

The only other alternative is to move the thread to a fresh post when you reply, so that the new first post was made with the beta editor. Then you can cut future reblogs of the post using Trim Reblogs as normal.

However, the other major issue is that if your partner uses Editable Reblogs, you cannot use Trim Reblogs as intended. Let me show you why.

Say I want to reply to this post.

I’ll add my reply and save it to my drafts, as before.

You may have spotted the issue already. The first and second replies are now “combined” so that Tumblr sees them as a single post. We want the post to be interpreted like this, so that I can remove the oldest reply while still keeping the one immediately prior to mine.

But Trim Reblogs can only see it like this.

When I go to trim reblogs, I can only remove the previous replies as an entire unit. I can’t remove just the oldest reply and keep the one immediately prior -- either it all stays or it all goes.

This is admittedly better than nothing. However, most people do want to keep their partner’s previous reply for reference, and just to have on their blog. This means a lot of people using Trim Reblogs simply don’t cut their partner’s posts at all.

You might be able to get around this issue by combining it with the outdated cut and paste method I described above. When saving to your drafts, paste your partner’s last reply above your own, using a blockquote or whatever formatting you like to separate the two.

You can then use Trim Reblogs to remove the first post, leaving only your copy pasted reply. The formatting is broken, but it’s at least workable.

However, this will only work if the very first post of the thread was made with the beta editor -- since people using Editable Reblogs have to be using the legacy editor, you’re likely to still run into issues on a lot of posts. Which can again be solved by moving the thread to a fresh post made with the beta editor, but at this point we’re stacking so many issues on top of each other that I really can’t blame you if you just don’t want to bother with any of them.

All of this brings me to...

It’s time for the RPC to collectively switch to the new system

I’ve stuck to the legacy editor myself due to the issues described above -- using Trim Reblogs when everyone else still uses Editable Reblogs is an enormous pain that I don’t want to deal with. Even as I make this post advocating for people to switch, I’m dreading actually doing it, because I know that most of my partners still use the old system and I will have nothing but headaches.

But the thing is, everyone refusing to switch is what’s creating the headaches in the first place. If we all moved to the new system together, these issues would simply disappear, and we would all be able to effortlessly cut our posts using Trim Reblogs without ever having to worry about it again.

The RPC needs to collectively make the switch, for two reasons.

First, Tumblr is going to switch everyone to beta eventually. Refusing to switch now is really just delaying the inevitable -- it’s not a question of if you’re going to be forced into the new system, but when. By switching now, you can go ahead and get used to it and start giving feedback to both Tumblr and the XKit Rewritten team if you find anything buggy or broken.

Second, as I said above, new users are locked into beta, with no option to switch back to legacy. Trim Reblogs is their only option for cutting posts -- and as long as most of their partners are using Editable Reblogs instead, they cannot cut their posts properly. Their only option is to use a series of increasingly ridiculous workarounds that most people won’t understand. The fact that it took me 1500 words just to explain everything should tell you how confusing the whole thing is -- you can’t be that surprised when a lot of people, upon realizing that they can’t cut posts without a whole lot of tedium, decide to just not bother cutting them at all. The best way for everyone to be able to cut their posts properly and efficiently is for everyone to be on the same system.

Yes, the beta editor is different. It has some weird quirks. It will be a bit of a learning curve to get used to a new system of replying to threads. But this is a change that’s going to happen eventually, and is a change that needs to happen for a lot of people to able to cut their posts properly.

(It’s also worth noting that -- assuming you still have the option to switch -- you may be able to toggle between the two systems during the adjustment period. I haven’t been able to test this yet, but I see no reason it wouldn’t work. Use Trim Reblogs whenever possible, and especially for the partners that have already made the switch. But when you get to a reply that it just won’t work for, toggle back to the legacy editor and use Editable Reblogs just for that thread. It’s a bit annoying, but it could be the middle ground needed to help people start making the switch. And once the majority of the RPC is on the new system, then this won’t be an issue anymore.)

[yanderes-galore]

Underfell AU Sans romantic concept please?

Sure! I tried to keep him as close to canon as possible while also putting in some of my HCs. He's actually really fun to write :) I hope you like my take... sorry if you don't. There's a gap in the middle due to Tumblr's formatting.

Yandere! Underfell! Sans Concept

Pairing: Romantic/Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Violence, Overprotective behavior, Violence, Anxiety, I wanted to make him more possessive (I might in the future but I never thought of it until now), Denial, Kidnapping, Mentioned possible mind break/Murder, Isolation, Stalking, Some jealousy mentioned near the end, Some manipulation, Forced companion/relationship.

I feel Fell! Sans has the possibility of being a terrifying yandere.

He's one of the strongest monsters in the AU and his powers tend to fluctuate due to his emotions.

He's also incredibly stressed all the time from what I've read.

Fell! Sans cares for his brother, they both care for each other actually.

They both want to portray themselves as cool to one another and others.

Fell! Sans is still lazy but also sarcastic.

I know Fell! Papyrus doesn't enjoy killing humans but does it for "sport" to help the guilt, he also does it due to being part of the Royal Guard to protect Sans from Asgore.

However I'm unsure how Sans feels about killing humans according to canon.

I'd assume he'd be indifferent but supports it as it's the law of the land and the job Papyrus is given.

Sans’ obsession was meant to be kept vague however I feel with a human it feels more natural to me?

Maybe you take the role of Frisk or simply aid them.

Either way I'm defaulting Darling to human.

Of course, naturally as the world goes, you end up having to defend yourself against Sans and Papyrus.

Primarily against Papyrus as Sans probably doesn't bother fighting.

Although… you can tell there's some strength there.

Due to what I've read, he radiates power due to his stress.

It's supposedly seen in his jacket at times.

So you have an idea that Sans could easily kill, but are thankful he just chooses not to.

Fell! Sans certainly has an obvious edge in appearance and personality. 

He's very sarcastic with you but in a way you can tell he means well when you befriend him and his brother.

In fact when he forms an attachment he may even show some anxiety about you meeting the other monsters.

You are aware of how easily you could just… die, right?

Even with a flower to guide you, he hopes you can defend yourself and not just talk things out.

Although he is thankful you managed to appeal to his brother enough to spare him.

He definitely tries to act calm in general, especially around you, although there's times he slips.

I imagine Fell! Sans fidgets due to… well… the sheer amount of stress he's under.

Really, who isn't in the Underground?

With Asgore in charge there's strict rules.

Rules that could easily end you as a human.

Sans tries to tell himself to not get attached to you.

He'd be in denial about his obsession.

It's all because he's scared to lose you.

Part of him wants to protect you, yet the other part suggests just letting you go.

The ideas he has tears him apart internally, which Papyrus can definitely tell.

Sans keeps fidgeting and his powers keep fluctuating when he thinks about how he can lose you.

Fanon tends to depict Sans as overly sadistic, while I agree he has aggressive tendencies like everyone in this AU, I don't think he's over the top.

I feel Fell! Sans is more like an anxious and stressed mess more than anything.

Which for him can make him volatile as his powers can be controlled, but are emotion based.

His pent up emotions no doubt drives his obsession.

While Papyrus protects Sans from Asgore, Sans feels like he has to protect you from not only Asgore… but everyone not him or his brother.

While you continue your journey, Sans isn't far behind.

He still has similar powers to his classic counterpart, which means teleportation.

Every area you enter, he's somewhere there.

I never mentioned this in the original draft but I do feel Sans would get possessive/jealous.

It's just not mentioned much in this concept since he's more consumed by anxiety than anything.

But in a way he does feel you two belong together, one way or another.

He would definitely murder, but he has to hold himself back due to his powers.

Which, yes, I assume would mean if he's jealous or enraged enough with you talking to others... his powers may flare.

Papyrus is against this but this human clearly means a lot to Sans.

Admittedly… Papyrus would miss you if you died too.

So he understands where Sans is coming from, it mirrors the care Papyrus has for Sans.

But Sans seems more… intense?

Sans could just feel something akin to close friendship or something more.

Honestly, if a monster nearly killed you, he'd probably snap and use his powers.

Which is why he prefers to just… stick around you everywhere.

Admittedly Sans likes it when you laugh.

He tries not to show it but you mean a lot to him.

The reason he tries to hide it as it shows vulnerability.

But you seem to enjoy his Knock Knock jokes and his company….

You like it because he's more “friendly” than the others.

Honestly, that gives him a bit of pride while also striking vulnerability in him.

Sans really keeps trying to tell himself his obsession is a vulnerability.

He shouldn't be this attached to you.

Yet now he really can't just let you go.

As a result I imagine he'd prevent you from meeting Asgore.

Sure, okay, you may have befriended most of the monsters here…

But not him…

Please not him…

He'll kill you and Sans will snap.

Scared of this he gets more fidgety.

You can probably tell even though he acts collected, he has an aura that scares you.

Sans doesn't know how to explain to you he cares about you.

He just doesn't want to lose you.

So Sans may try to manipulate you into staying with him more to avoid Asgore.

Isn't staying in Snowdin better?

Well… Papyrus may want to see you again!

Y'know… it's futile to go against Asgore, right?

Just… stay with him.

If he has to, he'll use some of his power to lock you away in his home/room.

Look, you don't get it.

Asgore nearly killed Sans before… he could and will do the same to you!

It's behind closed doors that Sans’ facade breaks.

He pulls you closer and mumbles about his fears.

He plans to keep you right here… if you try to leave, he'll know.

At this point he'll kill any monster who tries to hurt you or even goes near you.

Sans curses himself for getting so attached to a human.

However, he's given in now.

He'll keep you away from all the danger.

He'll keep you to himself.

Even if it requires others, including him, to get hurt due to his powers and rage.

[summers-art]

Down The Line

From Kaleidoscopic Absolution (@silverfanzine)

▼▼ Formatted the chatlog fic for tumblr down below ▼▼

Silver:

Sep 14 1:53 AM 

> where are you guys?? > i heard that Sages robots was coming your way so watch out! Not delivered  Sep 14 1:55 AM > shit > ofc she blocked us > i really hope that you and the rest of chaotix found the others > im on my own but ill find my way back to you guys Not delivered  Sep 14 2:12 PM  > this is bad > the armies just keep regrowing and now more and more roads are getting blocked off with all these walls popping up its likea maze!  > i dont think i can fly without being spotted… ill have to get back to the old HQ on foot Not delivered 

Sep 15 8:06 AM  > DONT GO BALC TO THE OLD HQ > HSE HAS TKAEN IT TOO Not delivered  Sep 16 12:01 AM  > WHERE ARE YOU GUYS > i hope you got out of there safe  > if not i > ill keep looking!! Not delivered  Sep 18 11:04 PM > WHY > UUGHHH > JUST > PLEASE be safe Not delivered  Sep 21 3:00 AM > i dont know if we can keep up like this > not that i dont believe in you guys!! > but maybe the only thing i can do right now is try to go back and fix this thing > somehow  Not delivered  Sep 21 4:47 AM > im so sorry > ill try to not mess it up this time  Not delivered   Sep 21 5:28 AM > ill be back Not delivered i promise Delivered

Espio:

Sep 13 10:09 PM > Silver, we have secured the rendezvous point. Team Chaotix and a few other members of the resistance are here. Not delivered Sep 13 10:20 PM > Hm. That's not good. Not delivered Sep 14 2:37 AM > Our position has been compromised.   > I don’t know if she has completely cut the signal or if she can view our messages, any information could be at the risk of getting leaked. Much is uncertain. But safe to say is that we have to move.  > Silver, even if you can't read this right now I'll keep you updated once I know more about our current situation. Stay safe out there, we'll meet up again soon. Not delivered Sep 14 7:58 PM > Silver, we have found a new location. I can’t yet disclose it out of safety.  > There are a few injured but so far our group is stabled. I hope the same can be said for you. Not delivered Sep 15 2:16 PM > Vector is attempting to hack into the old radio tower to see if we can get a new signal started. Here's to hoping.  > Silver, are you there? Not delivered Sep 15 3:24 PM > Nothing…  > If we can find Tails then maybe we have a better chance to get around Sage's hold of the signals.  Not delivered Sep 20 9:01 PM > We may have to move again soon. It's getting harder and harder to keep down the fort. I'll try to buy us some more time but I can't promise it will be for long. > Silver, I hope you are doing okay out there.  > Please, get back safely. Not delivered

Silver:

Sep 21 5:28 AM i promise Delivered

The icons I made for the chat:

[yanderemommabean]

Yandere Job Letter

To whom it may concern,

On behalf of our wonderful CEO, founder, and employer, we are pleased to announce that you have been chosen! For what, you may be asking? Our benevolent, hard working, completely loving boss has asked us to reach out to you in hopes of making you their newest spouse!

You may have concerns about early relationship statuses and learning who our wonderful boss even is, but we assure you, this choice is fast, easy, simple, and will please him greatly! You will be granted an option to either dress formally or casually for your initial meeting, where we will discuss exactly what it is our boss has decided to do with you.

He wants some of the details to be saved for the meeting, which the time and date will be stated by the end of this letter. However, he has graced us with the privilege to tell you a few points of interest, to excite you even more for this lovely “agreement”

-While you will be terminated from your previous profession and status, he will provide all financial needs for you into the foreseeable future

-No other employees will be able to bother you or harass you anymore, and given permission, we happy workers will be thrilled to take care of unfavorable employees

-Romantic gestures full of what (from what our employer believes) you find desirable (whether or not you accept is optional) including meals, kissing, pet names, gift giving, and marking of your skin (be that with teeth, kisses, or etc.)

While we’d love to state you are joining this relationship “at will” let it be known, if you try to leave this partnership at any time, you will be subjected to any, and all precautions necessary to keep you and our boss happy. That may include, but is not limited to-

-Taking away electronic privileges

-Lying to your loved ones about your location and condition

-Binding and restraining you by the hands, neck, feet, or more

-Using pharmaceuticals to subdue you

-Taking away your right to speak with a gag, or even shutting out all methods of communication (aside from with our wonderful employer!) off

NOTE: These methods vary, some are more intense while others are just a simple reprimand! There is no limit to what we will do for him and this wonderful company.

We encourage you to think over this opportunity and prepare for a wonderful new life! We expect you to show up on Wednesday, 11:15 AM in whichever attire you decided to choose listed above.

This offer will never expire, however, we do expect a positive response, otherwise we might try more invasive and dare we say, troubling methods. All questions will be answered at the given meeting above, and any ones not addressed we can happily reply to once our boss gives us permission to.

We look forward to having you as a part of our team, and keeping our boss in love and beyond happy.

See you soon,

Lovely Smiles Corp.

( I hope tumblr doesn't mess up the formatting lol. I didn't have a specific character in mind, and more or less went with a brainwashed or cult like job facility, and I've never written a job letter before so I hope it isn't too bad! If you enjoyed, let me know! I could make more in the future!

-Mommabean)

[lilac-hecox]

What I Read: Week of May 20th

Okay! So, I haven't done one in a while but I've really been trying to take a lot of joy in what others creator in our fandom so I have a supersized one of sorts for y'all!

Hypothetically Yes (Theoretically Forever) by @xxmoonch1ldxx - Ian/Anthony - Ianthony

Very cute and set around Shayne and Courtney's wedding but with Ian and Anthony talking about whether or not they would individually get married some day and how it sparks up some feelings. Short and sweet!

Fight like cats and dogs by ObsessedSM - Damien/Angel - Damangela

An interesting concept where Angela slowly realizes that she is crushing on Damien and vice versa. Some nice hurt/comfort and a cute support system. (Is in progress last time I checked)

Migraine by HGTV_Rerun -Shayne/Spencer - Shayncer

Short and sweet little hurt/comfort where Spencer has a migraine and Shayne cares for him at the office!

never really said that i loved you too by Anonymous - Angela/Amanda - Amangela

Little bit of miscommunication and hurt/comfort with some fluff and a happy ending! Amanda texts Angela. Angela believes it to be a drunk text.

Lorsque Nos Deux Âmes Se Mêlent by @xxmoonch1ldxx - Ian/Anthony - Ianthony

Spicy fic! Super hot PWP but totally worth a read!! A bottom!Anthony as well!

off to the races (got my love jumpstarted) by Anonymous - Amanda/Angela - Amangela

Crack fic where Amanda and Angela are horses. It is still SO good and Ian and Anthony are farmers??? It's cute! We love a good crack fic!

in another life, you and me were seals by Anonymous - Amanda/Angela - Amangela

Fluffy and sweet little Amangela that is soft and makes you feel good!

always together by @ancientvamp - Shayne/Chanse - Shaynse

A sweet little domestic fic about Shayne and Chanse discussing marriage, kids, all the cute domestic stuff!

outsiders inside the home that we built by smoshbrainrotanon (I believe this author is on tumblr but I can't recall their url off the top of my head so let me know if you know!) -Ian/Anthony - Ianthony

A song!fic but also deals with the emotions of Ian and Anthony during the split and regarding Defy.

Meetings on Memory Lane by TheLoreOfItAll - Ian/Anthony - Ianthony (Again I am pretty sure this author is on tumblr so if you know let me know!)

A fic that is sort of like a retrospective on Ian and Anthony and their memories. It is being updated! Well written and I love Ian's POV especially as a kid.

my only angel by spourtastic - Amanda/Ian - Amandian

It is in progress but a really interesting idea and I am an absolute sucker for anything Amanda and Ian!

A beautiful mess by @japhan2024 - Damien/Anthony - Antmien

Anthony is a vampire and he and Damien have a toxic relationship including the fact that Anthony is hung up on Ian. I love the trope of Anthony being hung up on Ian and the resulting angst of it all!! I also love blood drinking scenes.

A classic mistake by @japhan2024 - Shayne/Spencer -Shayncer

Centered around rehearsals for the Smosh the Sitcom it involves Shayne and Spencer practicing their kissing scene. I love the fact that it is based on the live show!

You Stay On My Mind (Can't Help But Keep You Close) by @xxmoonch1ldxx - Ian/Anthony - Ianthony

Spicy but based on a prompt of "I want to see all of you." and bottom!Ian and it is so sensual and hot at the same time!!!

Driven Batty by @chu-tea - Ian/Anthony -Ianthony

VAMPIRE ANTHONY! Written based on a discussion had in the quad squad server and Chu has a beautiful and familar way of writing that is a joy to read. A slow burn and stretches through the journey of Ian and Anthony's time together. In progress but so, so worth it!

Smosh in the Hunger Games by d_s_t_e - Gen Fic

A take on the Smosh Hunger Games episode but with more humor and written in an interesting script like format. In progress!

Fungi by Wydrochka - Ian/Anthony -Ianthony

The idea of Ian doing magic mushrooms for the first time with Anthony and Anthony caring for him through the trip. I've been craving this idea for so long so I'm glad to have read it!

so no one told you life was gonna be this way by spacetimeinspector - Krungle/Kevin (Ian/Amanda)

Based on the Smosh the Sitcom focusing on the scene where Krungle and Kevin almost kiss. This captures the vibe perfectly and is a really interesting concept!

be with me, alone with me by eunaseo - Amanda/Angela - Amangela

Angst and cheating but I love some good angst where it hurts in the best way possible. Amanda and Angela are in love but because Amanda is married they can't really be together.

you like that? by @bowcrary - Chanse/Tommy - Chommy - Bowcrary

Based around the Smosh the Sitcom. Insanely hot and sensual af like wow! Bottom!Chanse and a bit of a dommy top!Tommy. UGH. So good!!

Flirting With Disaster (Throwing Kisses After) by @xxmoonch1ldxx - Ian/Anthony - Ianthony

A fluff of sorts where Ian and Anthony realize they like each other and there is some mutual jealousy and want on both their sides.

The Beast Inside Of Me, He Knows How To Train A Bad Dog by @xxmoonch1ldxx - Ian/Anthony - Ianthony

Spicy and based on the idea of puppy play with Bottom!Puppy Anthony and a very toppy!Ian. HOT AS ALL HELL.

Previous Weeks!

[literallyjustchi]

Akademiya Chronicles

Chapter 1

Hi! My name is Chi, and I am a seasoned writer. :3 I've written a full novel, 20 chapters, and 44k+ words. I'm here to give you quality writing (fanfics and not) that you don't often see here on Tumblr... without all the grammatical errors and simple typos. I hope you enjoy my first chapter ever posted *here!*

tumblr keeps messing up my formatting and IDK WHY, SEND HELP!!!!!

(MC is female, and characters may or may not be OOC. I tried to keep them as in character as I could.)

______________________________________________________________

Kaveh burst through the Akademiya’s library doors dramatically and collapsed at the nearest table, which coincidentally happened to be mine. My fellow classmates gave him a dirty look but went along with their work, most likely used to–or tired of–Kaveh’s antics.

As for me, I was too busy studying for one of the many upcoming exams. It annoyed me how Alhaitham was at the top of the class without studying or trying, and I wanted to be better than him. I knew I was smarter… I just had to put in the work. Ultimately, it would all pay off, and I would get bragging rights.

Kaveh groaned. “I should just drop out. This whole Kshahrewar thing is hard.”

I rolled my eyes, flipping a page in my book. “Keep going. You’ve already spent so much money getting where you are.”

“Easy for you to say, miss perfect grades. At least you aren’t as dreadful as Alhaitham.”

“Please stop enunciating your words. It’s very annoying.”

He sighed. “I mean, how can someone be as ignorant and… dumb as him? I never knew someone could be as dense and arrogant as him until I met him!”

“Keep your voice down. We’re in a library.” Alhaitham was anything but dumb, but I didn’t feel like arguing.

Kaveh moped. “Nobody understands my woes.”

“I understand, Kaveh.” I just don’t care. Ouch. Is that a little harsh? I closed my book with a defeated sigh. “You wanna go get something to eat for lunch?”

“Together?” He gasped, earning another sharp glare from the others. “Of course! You’re paying, though. Right?”

I put my book into my tote bag and stood up. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

______________________________________________________________

To my luck, Cyno and Tighnari were both at Puspa Café, with Cyno animatedly over-explaining the inner workings of Genius Invokation TCG even though Tighnari already knew all the nitty-gritty details.

Kaveh beamed. “Look, Cy and Ti are here! Let’s go talk to them.”

“I think I’ll pass.” If Alhaitham had one thing right, it would be that socializing was draining. I already finished my quota with the few words I exchanged with Kaveh.

Kaveh linked his arm with mine and dragged me to their table in the far corner next to a window, the sunlight filtering through. “Too bad. You need to get out more–have fun, y’know? Don’t want you to end up like Alhaitham, all moody and gloomy.”

Tighnari set down one of his cards and waved to us. “Look who decided to show up. My second favorite pair.”

“Who’s your first?” Kaveh asked.

Tighnari lowered his voice, “Cyno and Sethos, but you can’t tell them,” he said teasingly.

Cyno grimaced. “Gross. Sethos.”

I stifled a laugh. Cyno, though he’d never admit it, even if you put a musket to his head, had a soft spot for Sethos. It was mildly adorable.

Kaveh plopped on the bench, sitting next to Cyno. I, more gracefully and less rambunctiously, sat next to Tignhari with a small nod of acknowledgment.

Cyno shoved a stack of cards at Kaveh. “You’re playing. Here’s your deck. You know how to play?”

Kaveh took the deck and examined it. “Uh, sorta.”

“Good. Tighnari isn’t that good, so I hope you’re better.”

Tighnari rolled his eyes and slid an iced coffee my way. “I had a feeling you were coming.”

I took the coffee into my hands. I almost always came to the café to de-stress or as a break from my never-ending studies, so it was nice that Tighnari remembered, even though he didn’t often come to this side of Sumeru. Maybe it wasn’t a bad idea to agree to come with Kaveh.

The boys played a few rounds of TCG, with Kaveh losing to both of them. Tighnari had no idea what he was doing, but he was doing it better than Kaveh. It was funny to watch Cyno oneshot all of Kaveh’s active characters in one fell swoop, and Tighnari accidentally wiping out Kaveh’s supports and draining him of dice.

Tighnari leaned over to me and whispered while the others were too focused on their game to pay attention, “Don’t make this obvious, but Alhaitham just walked in.”

I nonchalantly looked toward the direction of the entrance. There he was, in all his glory. And sweat? Archons, save me.

It got much, much worse because Sethos was with him. Of course, Sethos was with him. He just had to be. This day couldn’t possibly get any better.

I winced, whispering back, “You didn’t tell him you and Cyno were here?”

“I didn’t know Kaveh was coming. Just you,” he replied.

“Well, what do we do?” “Reap what we sow, I guess. What is there to even do?”

“Prepare your shield of indifference and act like you saw or heard nothing.”

“Acting oblivious has never worked…”

“Today it will. Hopefully. Just act normal.”

Sethos was the first to spot us, his gigantic, shining smile vanishing like a smoldered flame once he saw Cyno. I averted my gaze and pretended I saw nothing.

My plan didn’t work because he and Alhaitham immediately made his way towards our table. Cyno and Sethos’s eyes locked in a fierce gaze, and I could’ve sworn that the pair wouldn’t pounce at each other like rishboland tigers if it weren’t for the fact that they had a crowd. I didn’t dare to look at Alhaitham, but I could see Kaveh scowl from the corner of my eye as I looked down at my lap.

After a long, awkward pause of silence, Tighnari spoke, “Hey, guys. Would you like to join us?” Kaveh and Cyno both muttered a “no,” while Alhaitham and Sethos said “sure.” It was almost comedic.

Sadly, Alhaitham was a freaking sadist because he sat next to me, leaving the only spot left for Sethos with Cyno and Kaveh. There was not a single doubt in my mind that he did that on purpose. The benches were supposed to only seat two people, but they could take three. It was a little cramped as Alhaitham’s thigh brushed against mine, and his hand would’ve done the same if it wasn’t wrapped around my coffee cup.

Definitely on purpose. And I hated that he pretended like nothing was happening.

Cyno pushed a deck into Sethos’s hands. “Join us.”

Sethos took the deck, looking at it like a challenge. Because it was.

Then, Cyno gave another to Alhaitham. “You can join, too, if you want. I think you’re a good player.”

Yeah, he was a good player.

Alhaitham took the deck. “Thanks. I’ll play.”

Cyno looked at me. I shook my head, and he shrugged. “You play really well, too. You could probably beat Al if you tried.”

I narrowed my eyes. He was definitely trying to egg me on, and I wasn’t going to take the bait. It was obvious bait–only an idiot would fall for it.

Alhaitham scoffed. “She couldn’t beat me if she tried.”

I snatched the spare deck from Cyno’s hands. “I’m in.”

Tighnari shook his head. “Here we go again…”

[nayeonline]

Ari's K-Pop Roundup: July 2024 (aespa, KATSEYE, KISS OF LIFE, STAYC, tripleS, + MORE)

last months installment ✦ full masterlist welcome back to episode SIX (!!!) of this review series I started back in february - I've tried a lot of review formats in my time on kpop tumblr, but this one feels the most fun to do, and is by far the most well received. thanks so much to everyone who likes, reblogs, or even just reads these rambles, I appreciate it so much <333 This month was pretty fun from the get go so lets go get into it ~ ari

Hot Mess - aespa

A month and a half after their first korean full album, aespa have dropped their first proper foray into Japanese releases with 'Hot Mess'.

This is a classic aespa style track, like something off the 'Savage' or 'Girls' mini albums. Powered by a distorted trumpet base melody and filled with vocals delivered with a hyperconfident attitude, 'Hot Mess' is very Bratz doll, very Y2K. The chorus is reasonably catchy, but the verses fall somewhat short in my opinion, and the post chorus feels slightly out of place? The bones for a great song exist within 'Hot Mess', but for me the song peaks at 'good'. Is it anywhere near on the level of 'Supernova' or 'Amargeddon'? No, but it is cute and shows off the aespa members' skills well, as a debut song should do.

Giselle, as the member who speaks the most Japanese, is the BEST on this song, she sounds the most comfortable in her delivery and the tone of the song suits her style perfectly. Ningning is also a huge highlight of this track.

'Sun and Moon' is a classic SM style b-side, half way to a dance track, half way to a ballad. Where 'Hot Mess' highlighted vocal tone, 'Sun and Moon' emphasizes vocal range and the runs the members can pull off - in that sense it is the perfect b-side for a song like 'Hot Mess'. It's an easy hit, I like it a lot.

'ZOOM ZOOM' has actually already been released, so I won't delve into that one today, but the tl/dr is that it's a 10/10 aespa dance track that is forgotten about FAR TOO OFTEN.

Overall, this was fun. 'Hot Mess' didn't quite do it for me as much as I would have liked, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The b-sides are great, and as a debut, it works well. With their influence on the Y3K aesthetic in japan, success over there is inevitable and I'm wishing the best for them as always.

Touch - KATSEYE

If nothing else can be said about 'Touch', at least it was a decent song this time around.

Let's not lie, you can hear the PinkPantheress print on this song as well as I can, and while that results in an enjoyable song, it does not bode well for the future of KATSEYE. The derivative nature of 'Touch' isn't inherently bad - PinkPantheress coded songs have been popping up in kpop frequently over the past year or so (though granted never quite as obviously referential as this), but contextually the song is a bizarre choice. Even though their 'Debut' was released last month, KATSEYE is still extremely fresh on the scene, and every choice they make right now in musical, conceptual and creative direction will impact how they are perceived by global audiences.

Making music that sounds like a another artist will almost always tarnish your reputation and brand as a soloist/group UNLESS the artist you are emulating caters to an entirely different market. For example, ILLIT got backlash from kpop fans both inside and outside of Korea for emulating the sound of NewJeans, but the discussion of Tinashe's undeniable influence on kpop is limited to select groups of international fans. KATSEYE are trying to appeal to the western market presumably, so while 'Touch' imitating PinkPantheress may result in a few million streams and TikTok song of the hour status, it does nothing to build a brand, create a signature sound, and make a name for KATSEYE outside of kpop. Not to mention, it sounds unconnected from 'Debut' sonically, tonally, and conceptually, further meddling with any chance they have of building an iconic (in the original sense) discography.

However, this concept did seem to suit some of the girls better, Yoonchae especially seemed comfortable taking the centre this time, she was the star of the song for sure.

I would be remiss if i didn't bring up the song length after bitching about it so heavily last time, so here we go for round two. From 'Debut' clocking in at an appalling 2 minutes and three seconds, the HYBE overlords have blessed us with SIX MORE SECONDS on 'Touch'!!! At least this song calls for a bridge slightly less than 'Debut' did, but regardless this is absurd. I may be glad that the recession has triggered a resurgence in upbeat pop music from the west with BRAT summer and all that, but if it means song length shrinking by minute every year, I'm not sure if it's worth it.

Sticky - KISS OF LIFE

Kiss Of Life are just KILLING it, every release has been fucking incredible and 'Sticky' is no exception. Built on a foundation of afrobeats and powered by spirited vocal runs from all the members, 'Sticky' is the perfect song for the summer. It doesn't over-complicate itself, this is a song all about wearing short-shorts in the blaring July heat and having a blast with your friends. the melodies aren't especially new but they are classic and highly enjoyable. Hanuel is the beating heart of this song. Her vocal tone is on the more nasal side which usually means she's delegated to the verses or adlibs while Natty takes the frontline, but in 'Sticky' she is centre stage and I couldn't be happier about it. Natty and Belle take the post chorus sounding incredible as always, and Julie punches up the verses and post chorus ad-libs with her citrus-esque vocal tones. All the girls come together on the chorus in a chant thats been stuck in my head since I heard it. This and Chuu's 'Strawberry Rush' are my songs of the summer.

If 'Sticky' is a midday bike ride along the beach, 'Te Quiero' is a midnight beach party lit by campfires and neon swimsuits. Its the perfect b-side for 'Sticky', equally as addictive but slightly more unique in its construction. The strings on this track are to die for, and the lyrics are surprisingly enjoyable too.

A great single album for the summer months, Kiof have done it again - are we surprised?

Cheeky Icy Thang - STAYC

STAYC's last couple of releases, 'Bubble' and 'Teddy Bear' have been highly divisive, and while they didn't perform poorly by any means domestically, they were pretty unpopular among international kpop listeners. It seems HighUp recognized this lack of interest, and when the head prophet said the omens were right for STAYC to have a full album, they dropped the more childish concept and circled right back to 'RUN2U' - and now we have 'Cheeky Icy Thang'.

To be honest, the first couple of times i heard this song I didn't get it. My main impression was that it was messy - there were too many elements fighting for dominance, too many hooks, too many words in one line. And while I do still stand by some of those elements (you cannot convince me Sieun says 'rock' in the line 'on-the-rock whiskey ring-a-ring ding-dong'), but now I see the song as more maximalist than messy. I consider 'RUN2U' to be one of the most polished and well executed kpop songs of all time, and 'Cheeky Icy Thang' is not that at all - but it's charm comes in how rough and chaotic it is. While yes, the lyrics did need a second draft in some cases, notable exceptions being Sieun's '미녀와 야수면 내가 Beast' in the intro (excellent, no notes), the song's structure is genuinely a masterpiece - J's subversive pre-chorus having that tinny answerphone layer was amazing, easily the best part of the song. The production is top tier throughout, but that is to be expected from Black Eyed Pilseung.

It's difficult to pinpoint what exactly is so charming and subversive about 'Cheeky Icy Thang', because on paper it is neither something new for STAYC, nor something new for the industry at large in terms of concept or sonic style. However, what this song does that is so odd for kpop is that it does not put all of its eggs in one basket at all. Kpop songs, especially kpop songs post the TikTok era (thanks SO MUCH for that Zico), tend to be top heavy, and concentrate all the fun and creativity and catchiness into the chorus. 'Cheeky icy Thang' does not do that - the verses are a treat, the pre-chorus is a stunner, the breakdowns are groovy, and the chorus leaves us just satiated enough to keep listening. Crucially, 'Cheeky Icy Thang' cannot be compressed, and while they undoubtedly will make a dance challenge out of it, you cannot get the full experience of this song from a 20 second soundbite, as you can with so many other songs coming out right now.

### - tripleS

Lack of music video aside, '###' is the perfect tripleS japanese debut. A lovechild of anime intros and tripleS's iconic maximalist sound with a tS trademark 'lalala' post chorus, EVERYTHING about '###' is deliciously addictive. It's hyper-cute to the point of psychosis, and the members vocal delivery is perfectly imperfect.

Like a year ago I started yapping about what I called 'love island pop', and with this review I would like to introduce another micro-genre my prefrontal cortex cooked up 'Rhythm Heaven Fever pop'. Basically, music that sounds like it wouldn't be out of place in a Wii U rhythm game from 2011. '###' fits this perfectly, other notable examples being 'Dumb Dumb', 'Rookie' and '#Cookie Jar' - Red Velvet, and 'BBoom BBoom' - Momoland. This is the kind of music that keeps kpop going in my opinion, it's been a steady undercurrent of the trending sounds over the last 3 generations, and I am more than glad to see tripleS stoking the embers.

Such an unabashedly FUN song, it never takes itself seriously and that works FULLY in it's favour. Definitely a must-listen track from the July roster.

MINI REVIEWS:

[ALBUM] MINISERIES 2 - SUMIN & Slom: Wasn't sure if I should include this since it's not really kpop, but what the fuck SUMIN IS BACK BABY and yeah its another FUCKING BANGER of an album. Just go listen to it. I might do a separate review of it because it's just that good, so expect that in the next 2-5 business years. Just go stream it.

Klaxon - (G)-IDLE: For all I don't really like (G)-IDLE's music, I can usually admit that it is at least catchy. And yet, somehow Klaxon is not that catchy? The first line of the hook feels like a bizarre Frank Sinatra interpolation, and that post chorus does most of the heavy lifting for this track. Overall, this felt pretty derivative, but hey, sometimes a throwback isn't the worst.

FOREVER - BABYMONSTER: Babymonster are leaps and bounds away from my stan list, and even though this is vaguely something different from them (not really, it's just that there isn't an empty chorus), it's once again not for me. The vocal mixing on this song is very odd and as a result any emotion or power the girls used in their vocals is totally lost and tonally the song falls flat. The key change in the final chorus is a nice touch, and Pharita and Haram especially shine on this track. The fact that this was somewhat 'something new' gives me hope though - perhaps all is not lost over at YG. Perhaps.

Something Ain't Right - XG: XG are so consistent in the quality of their releases it's actually insane - from the production to the hooks to the vocal direction this is such a fun song. I don't know if I love it as much as TGIF or New Dance from X-GENE, but it's a very solid release. XG are well and truly the ones to watch, and the dichotomy between this and 'Woke Up' proves that perfectly.

Let It Burn - H1-KEY: You know, this was so close to being one of several contenders to be included on my mini reviews segment that just get cut, but this release really shocked me. I went in with almost no knowledge of H1-KEY, I had heard of them, but I had no idea what the concept was, who the girls were or even how many of them there were. 'Let it Burn' is a fucking delight from start to finish. A lot of these kpop takes on punk rock anthems fall flat for me, but this one keeps it honest and heartfelt throughout. The lyrics are honestly a delight, the chorus is fun, but the verses are the real star of the show, snappy and well delivered, and backed by a clean, classic hip-hop beat. You probably missed this track this month, and I would definitely recommend a listen.

JUSTICE - Dreamcatcher: Trust me, I am SO CLOSE to getting dreamcatcher to click for me, and 'Justice' proves that. It's lowkey fucking amazing, SO well executed. I truly think I am one discography deep dive away from falling in love with DC, this song is SUCH A BANGER. I really appreciate how DC never sacrifices their unique sound for whats trending, no one else is doing what they are doing, and holy hell are they doing it well.

Don't - LEE CHAE YEON: It's cute? I guess? Not overly spectacular, but not spectacularly awful either. I still don't know who the fuck Charlie is.

[harmlessghosty]

Hello 👋

I love video game theories and was interested on your views of the Touchstarved demo and what theories you might have on it :)

Oh my gosh, hi! ❤️

I am but a ditzy romance writer, not a lore keeper, but I have thoughts?? Apologies for how much is wrong or ridiculous because I don’t know all the current lore, and the wiki is so bare that I can hardly find anything confirmed by the devs. This is kind of just stream-of-consciousness!

Excuse my format because I don’t know how tumblr works lol

— Leander is a reference to oleander, which is a flower found basically everywhere and a fairly common, beautiful plant despite widely being considered poisonous. It gives me the idea that Leander is NOT someone to mess with and has lots of surface-level escapades (which is implied in canon) with people who find him physically beautiful but not necessarily beautiful on the inside. He also uses many underhanded, mysterious tactics to kill Soulless/Monsters/criminals, you name it. He’s everywhere, everyone knows him, everyone loves him, but he’s very dangerous under that beautiful exterior. Maybe he even kills some innocent people for the right price of big secrets. I bet he knows a LOT about Eridia’s people, so he’s viewed as trustworthy because what else can you do when he knows everything about everyone?

— Interestingly though! Leander’s main flower is the lily?? Lily is super poisonous to cats, which makes me think maybe there will be some sort of connection between Mhin’s stray cats and Leander being a danger to them (or possibly to Mhin themself).

— I feel like Leander gave himself that big scar. Maybe something went horribly wrong when he became a powerful mage. Maybe he went to Ais and the Seaspring even. It’s possible this is why their relationship is strained and they’re always trying to kill each other.

— Ais’ gang didn’t just go for a walk. They died or got turned into Soulless. Maybe after drinking from the Seaspring, after some amount of time, people turn into Soulless. It could be revealed that all the murdering of Soulless ends up being murdering of your fellow humans?? One really big secret.

— Mhin is a stereotypical “broken bird” trope. Super cynical and sarcastic. Went through major trauma and now they’re a hunter with a heart of gold. Not to mention their bird motif that a lot of people say is obvious?? I think that’s an interesting way to look at them.

— Also! “The vultures can smell death.” It gives Mhin the connection to the birds, that they’re turning into a vulture maybe?? Maybe they hate it as well because they’re drawn to stray cats as friends, and vultures go after smaller critters. They’re scared of hurting the only friends they have (including Kuras, who practically took them under his wing). Not to mention it’s a reference to them being able to smell death on the MC.

— Vere and Kuras were both in Eridia since the days it began, and they’ve butted heads for many, many years. Maybe Vere was cursed by Kuras into his current Monster form for having connections to the Senobium. Kuras thought it was funny to give Vere traits of a sneaky fox, maybe not even knowing that they would last forever OR because Vere did something awful to him. That may be the reason Kuras is repenting so much.

— This also can give credence to the idea of Vere saying (paraphrasing), “You’re not a human but not a Monster, like me,” to the MC. He was turned into a Monster rather than born one.

— The “Lloventian knot” Vere mentions, when you look it up, leads you to the “true lover’s knot,” which involves two overhand knots and some parallel ropes. Makes me think he’s got some big secret of a lover he’s lost, or maybe he was just teasing the MC with something that sounded sexual, but it seems odd to have a specific mention of something that may (or may not even??) exist.

— “Danger is drawn to you like a moth to flame,” from Vere. He absolutely can sense something “special” about the MC that, no matter what MC does, they’re in grave danger. Hence why the game description says that the ending can either be lovey-dovey or blood-icingly awful. I don’t know about having theories for this quote, but it feels so very important.

— There’s got to be a riff between Kuras and Mhin at some point for their opinions on the Senobium. I just feel it in my bones.

— Ais was the first to drink from the Seaspring, which is why he’s not technically one of the Groupminds. It also explains why he’s the leader of the gang, since he’s the most sound of mind, but I’m betting he’s scared of Ocudeus. He speaks in such short sentences most of the time because his brain is so muddled. I also find it interesting how the MC has only heard of the Groupminds but never seen one, given their assumed upbringing in a rougher environment. But that’s just kind of my opinion with no real basis in the demo.

— Sparrows symbolize a lot of things, like hope, bravery and friendship. I like to think that Ais picked the nickname for people who come to the Seaspring, because they’re all full of innocent hope that they can be cured. They also symbolize community, so anyone who drinks from the Seaspring is part of one big happy family!

Again, a lot of these could be counteracted by canon content from the devs, but I still think there are lots of fun things to explore about this game, even if I’m not right about a chunk of things. Just think of everything I said as an AU!

[voidandradiance]

where the hell is the karma / no country could be sweeter masterpost

the extensive guide to the fic that ate my brain

basics:

both karma and no country take place in the same timeline. where the heart is acts as the end of karma, and the beginning of no country.

there are prequel/midquel fics that take place during the five-year timespan covered by where the heart is. these are in the subseries somewhere up the road.

timeline:

karma is largely canon-complicit through the main series: there is one major shift that directly alters canon, but the rest does not contradict it. no country is the post-canon continuation, and plays faster and looser with isles.

karma is a finished series - its story is complete, and it is unlikely that i will update it further.

far side of the universe, the core subseries within no country, is a finished subseries - that portion of the story is complete, and it is unlikely that i will alter it.

somewhere up the road, the midquel/prequel subseries of no country, is ongoing: i may or may not update it.

heartache, the sequel subseries of no country, is ongoing and will occassionaly be updated.

this is the best format i have to try and explain this mess.

adjacent fics:

not everything that i write is in the same universe. there are, however, other fics of mine that are adjacent to karma/no country and can be taken as happening in the same framework. these fics are not inherently canon to karma/no country, but they could be. the tone of these works is sometimes darker, so mind the tags.

*** = almost made part of the series, ** = very similar, * = could be but not intended

a few things, maybe several things***

in a blanket of smoke (this got out of hand)***

too many war wounds (not enough wars)**

and the punchline to the joke (is asking)*

folded neat and tidy (so that you know i'm out of hiding)*

these additions produce a timeline that looks like this:

tumblr tags:

no country tag

where the heart is

patron saint

somebody sometime