#I still need icons wahoo

[lilyinwaiting]

Go slow Pandemos, fill of me I never meant to do harm to you, to love.

[dreammeiser]

You guys wanna see some crusty art of Earl and Fiona from 2009-2024? Earl was the main character for Dreamalong right up until last year when I thought perhaps a change would freshen up his story! He went through a lot of change but still somehow stayed himself :oD Also WAHOO I found his original design!! Only as an icon, but! That green haired eyestrainy Earl was the earliest Earl, from 2009! He has seen me through high school and remained silly... He has been through so much, poor Earl! It's okay now, he is soft and happy! Kinda! As for Fiona, she started out as a merfolk in 2016? Having hair that looked like ocean waves but then I later opted for a fish tail for her hair later :oD I also included some cute little doodles I made for a color theory assignment back in 2017, based off of her silly seafaring observations. And then of course, there's their current designs as an apology for the eyestrain art and for everything they've been through design-wise HAHA, they went through my peer-pressured-into-drawing-Final-Fantasy-influenced-art era and my eyestrain colors era, but I'm happy with where they arrived. This is all to show and say, Don't be afraid to take the journey you need to with your characters, and don't let others decide how you want to design them! Embrace what you need to feed yourself creatively :o) (Within reason... plagiarism is stinky)

[crusherthedoctor]

Hey all, hope everyone's doing good. Thought I should give an update on my current perspective on things around here, as it's shifted for reasons I'll get into.

In a nutshell, I'm feeling better than before... but I also think it's time for me to semi-check out of current Sonic discussion.

By now, you all know that with the exception of Superstars and Dream Team - and Jimbotnik, because of course - I've not been enthusiastic about much of the current stuff. Whether that be the likelihood that they'll continue with a Frontiers direction, the SA2 milking that has made me more sick to death of its influence than I thought was possible, the Year of Shadow in general not being all that enticing if your top ten does not include him, IDW still causing the same repetitive back-and-forths with its characteristically terrible decisions and disproportionate praise from fans who don't actually buy the comic, various other bits and pieces that plant further Eggdad seeds into people's heads, a bunch of other stuff that I'm just apathetic about while everyone else goes crazy over them... it's not been a great time for me. I'm the Garfield, and the current direction is the Monday.

That would all be one thing, but as you may expect, it's the fandom that really irks me. I don't like how it's considered necessary to make every post a bestseller in order for your opinion to be seen as valid and insightful. I don't like how you're expected to not criticise something just because it's popular or "iconic". I don't like how everyone dedicates themselves to the same old lengthy discourse that will continue to not change anyone's minds either way, since the only people listening are the ones who already agreed with them. I don't like how you have Flynn/Archie/IDW stans on one side, and an increasingly common "Japan only, no one else should ever touch the series, also the Japanese fandom is the only one with good people in it, I was born in the wrong country uwu" mentality on the other side.

And... I don't like that I've brought these concerns up so many times before when I know it'll always fall on deaf ears. Why do I do this? Why do I bother? For the fandom, I guess. But if the fandom doesn't even respect me, if my words are always doomed to ring in an empty hallway, why should I bother?

While all this has been going on, the Paper Mario Thousand-Year Door remake has been on my mind quite a bit, as it has been for a lot of folk. As someone who has always loved TTYD, as well as the original N64 Paper Mario, I'm happy to report that I absolutely adore the remake, and quickly considered it a gold standard as far as faithful remakes go. :) There's a lot of reasons for that, but that's best for another time. Anyway, after a certain point, it occurred to me... hasn't it been a while since I've been able to just relax and join in on the hype for something? Hasn't it been a while since my opinion lined up with that of the majority? Hasn't it been a while since, regardless of not actually posting, I felt like I belonged somewhere, and wasn't being made to constantly feel like I'm worthless because I'm not an artist, animator, etc?

I think this is something I've been needing for a long time now. The irony of it coming from the bing bing wahoo man is not lost on me.

After how the past few years in the Sonic fandom have felt like a classroom more than anything, watching everyone repeat the same Why ___ Is Secretly Good/Bad three hour manifestos over and over, and flogging themselves for being Not-Japanese, can you see why the simple pleasures of "hehe Vivian :3" would appeal to me? Can you see why I'd prefer to unwind? I made a valiant effort, but now, I can't force myself to keep up with shit that I'm not passionate about for the sake of a community that doesn't care about what I have to say anyway. I need to find myself a place on here that I can be at ease with.

So what does this mean for my blog? Well, nothing too jarring, just that my focus may shift a little for the time being. Despite what all of the above may imply, I'm not turning in my Sonic badge. I still love the franchise, even if I'm not so fond of its overall current direction. And obviously, I still love Eggman, that'll never change. I'll still answer asks about the series, talk about things I like, reblog stuff I like, work on Stellar, spread Egg Propaganda, and so on. But unless I'm asked about them in certain contexts (ie: "how would you improve this character"?), I refuse to talk about IDW, Frontiers, or anything else whose contents and fandom circles cause me migraines.

Not because toxic positivity, but because after the joy of gushing over Vivian TTYD, and remembering the feeling of belonging, I can't do this again. I can't change Tails calling himself Wildly Inconsistent. I can't change The End being a nothingburger. I can't change Lanolin being an arsehole. I can't change Surge's shilling. I can't change how unprofessional the IDW crew is. I can't change what they're doing with Eggman, and various other characters. I can't change any of these things, no matter how much I or anyone else rants about them, and half the time, no one is seriously listening anyway. So many words for so little results. So I need to move on, stop wasting my time, and turn my attention on things that actually make me happy instead of just... deflated. Maybe if I do that, I can belong again. Maybe when the direction inevitably changes again in the future, it'll feel like it came faster.

So yeah. That's where I'm at now. I hope you guys can understand.

[gaytventhusiast]

(!Warning!- Slight hints at domestic abuse. Nothing that isn't in canon)

(Do not read if you do not want to see a critical analysis of Jmart. Some people don't want to see their comfort ship criticised and I respect that.)

Me on my first listen of magnus (aged 15): Omg omg there are gay people this is amazing. Wahoo Jmart!

Me on my second listen of magnus: Wow Martin is lowkey a bit of a secret gaslight gatekeep girloss. ICONIC. He and Jon are murder bfs :D

Me on my third listen of magnus: Hah. Martin really is kind of a bitch sometimes.

Me on my forth listen of magnus: God Martin can be so condescending wtf. I dont really ship Jmart anymore. And did he just hit Jon wtf ?!?!

Me after my 5th listen to now (Aged 18): Yikes. Martin has so many red flags oh god.

(Disclaimer: I do think these characters and their relationship are still well written and I do not dislike anyone for shipping them. However, I do think the fanon interpretation of their relationship removes how flawed Martin actually is and people don't hold him accountable nearly enough)

(Additionally this is all not to say that Jon is exempt from poor behaviour toward Martin. The way he treats Martin in s1 was dickish to say the least. However, unlike Martin this behaviour isn't perpetuated throughout the entirety of the podcast/ relationship, with Jon quickly coming to respect Martin at a similar level to himself.)

Martin Blackwood is not a kind person.

He never holds himself accountable for anything or so few times I literally don't remember them. In MAG 194- Parting, it is Jon that makes the decision to apologise to Martin. Additionally after Martin hits Jon earlier on he is never seen apologising for it, even after Jon's honestly heartbreaking line of "Thank you for not hitting me this time".

Martin also tends to get pissy at Jon for something he cannot help. Jon cannot help 'giving statements' in season 5 and yet everytime he does, Martin acts like it's some sort of attack on him. He is perfectly allowed to have the boundary of 'Don't do that around me'. However in instances where Jon accidentally does it around Martin, Martin responds with aggression, either lashing out and shouting at Jon or as previously mentioned, hitting him. These can be explained as maybe reasonable responses to high stress situations however Martin never apologises for them as discussed previously.

This also comes in the form of Martin antagonising Jon's well meaning suggestions. In S4, during the 'Gauge your eyes out' scene, Martin immediately shoots back, making it about him rather than the desperate attempts at salvation from a man who's been broken down to all hell.

There's a clear bitterness from Martin throughout. He clearly feels inferior to Jon and is trying to gain as much control over the situation as he can which often means doing all he can to control Jon.

And Martin is right at the end of S5 when he says it took 4 years of the shit they've been through to be compatible. However, what I think is more accurate is that it took 4 years of Jon being broken down and into a state of perpetual emotional vulnerability and loss of autonomy for him to be so alone that he reached out to Martin. And vice versa, Martin (being affected by the lonely and always having had an attraction to Jon) reaches out in return later in s5. Aside from that, they've not got much in common and although I do think that they at least get along as friends and colleagues, I can't really see them consistently bonding outside of the world of the fears.

Now I'd like to clarify that this isn't all to say that the way Martin acts isn't understandable, it is. Having to care for his mother for years has lead to him mothering Jon at times as well as his constant need to prioritise himself and defend himself in response to her abuse. He probably also has some left over resentment (understandably) from the way Jon used to treat him in s1. Along with a bunch of other stuff that explains his behaviour. But that doesn't mean that the way he acts sometimes isn't harmful.

Their relationship is more nuanced than I'm able to fit into a tumblr post. I might write an essay about it at some point. If there is anything i didn't mention it's either because it's been a while and I forgot, or I did not have space to fit it!

Anyways, what do you guys think about all this? TMA is one of those shows I've been a bit apprehensive to critically analyse due to the fandom but I found that Jmart is a lot more interesting than I initially thought.

(SUMMARY: Jmart is not as healthy of a relationship as the Fanon tends to show it. Martin has a lot of red flags and the two aren't all that compatible aside from their trauma)

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

HI MAGGOTS! THIS IS ABOUT NEW EMOTES FOR OUR SERVER, BY THE WONDERFUL VALERIE.

(OR AS I LIKE TO CALL HER, WHALERIE, @good-usernames-were-taken)

So Valerie needs to buy a laptop for her studies, and she's the Holy Creator of the maggots emojis, as well as the Discord server icon and she's also one of my three amazing mods. And she's the one who worked on the song Polaris with me and wrote the instrumentals and edited and she is generally just fucking amazing. She works really really hard for the server and for all of us, so I thought we could all help her fund the laptop. And get new emotes in the bargain!

THESE ARE THE ONES SHE'S ALREADY MADE AND THAT WE USE:

AS WELL AS DISAPPOINTMENT THE SERVER ICON. The maggot heart, the sleepy maggot (because none of us go the fuck to sleep) and the hydrated maggot (as @styx142 told us, hydrate or die straight) because @achilles-in-a-blanket-burrito needed to drink water and so do all of us.

AREN'T THEY FUCKING ADORABLE and we all use them all the time.

I FIGURED YOU COULD ALL SEND IN SUGGESTIONS FOR EMOTE IDEAS THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE, AND THEN WE CAN DO A POLL AND DECIDE ON ONES THAT VALERIE WILL MAKE. AND WE CAN ALL PITCH IN FOR HER LAPTOP.

I TRIED TO TELL HER THAT SHE'S ALREADY DONE THE WORK FOR THE MONEY, WITH BALANCING ALL HER STUDIES WITH MODDING AND SETTING UP THE SERVER WITH THE STUNNING @falling-raine AND @orpiknight. VALERIE'S CONSTANTLY CHECKING IN ON CHANNELS, MODERATING, GIVING PEOPLE FUN EXTRAS LIKE COLOUR ROLES AND SILLY ROLES THAT WE REQUEST. SHE STILL WOULD LOVE TO DO THE EMOTES, THOUGH, SO HERE WE ARE!

SHE WANTS TO LET YOU KNOW THAT THERE'S NO PRESSURE AT ALL ABOUT THE FUNDING! I THINK IT WOULD BE GREAT IF EVERYONE WHO CAN PITCH IN EVEN A LITTLE BIT DOES, AND OF COURSE SHARING THE POLL/LINK ONCE WE MAKE IT WOULD BE REALLY HELPFUL TOO.

WAHOO ANYWAY IF YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR EMOTES THAT I CAN ADD TO THE POLL, THAT WOULD BE AMAZING! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH.

[jesncin]

I remember reading one of your asks on how you would like to do Batman and Wonder Woman's rouges right if you DID re-imagine them, so here are some recommendations.

For the Batman stuff, your best shots are looking at B:TAS/TNBA (A lot of the rouges were done wonderful there), The Arkham Games (Riddler, Bane, Catwoman, Scarecrow, and Penguin, but Joker is there too), and The Batman 2022 (Once again Catwoman, Riddler, Penguin, and if we want to get into it Gotham's corruption). The Non-B:TAS pieces of media are dark, but they're not edgy dark thankfully so you can pull some pieces from there for Inso.

Now for getting Wonder Woman's rouges right, the best recommendations I have is just reading up on greek mythology and picking up some of the old school, pre-52 Wonder Woman comics to see what elements of from those characters you can pick apart and remix into something faithful yet modern. I mean its what the B:TAS crew did, and one of the reasons why the show is still iconic.

You don't have to follow this advice, but just be aware that you have years of media to help you.

Oh thank you for the recommendations! :D

I've watched all of those Bat media already! I'm a big DCAU fan (finally finished re-watching Justice League Unlimited wahoo), I followed the Arkham games closely in college (where I really became a Bat-fan), and I re-watched The Batman 2022 recently! It's a delight. I tee-hee-d the whole time, what a treat. These adaptations just do such a good job that I don't know what else to add! Like what's there for me to change up? At most Scarecrow is definitely underdone in BTAS and the Arkham Games, so there's creatively wiggle room to reimagine him. But the others? Dunno yet until I look into them more.

Yeah that's honestly exactly my struggle with Wonder Woman, haha. You basically need a lot of homework before tackling adapting her (at least the way I do it)- not only does she have a ton of comics and re-imaginings, but Greek mythology on top of that? Woof I have not attended Wonder Woman university yet where I'd have to major in mythology and history, and minor in "what did this male writer do wrong this time" haha.

I'm so intimately familiar with Martian Manhunter's stories at this point (even without having read all of them, pre-Crisis and many Justice League comics are holes in my knowledge, still-) that I can spot character arc pitfalls and the weaknesses of an adaptation immediately. I know all the plots writers re-cycle with him at this point- so I know where to innovate and where I can pull a through line from. I don't know Diana well enough to do that yet.

[cilant-lis]

rhian's time in dao pt.2

i can't stop myself from imagining just how gorgeous denerim would look if origins ever got remastered....

wahoo, romance with leli unlocked! i love her so much. kissing her in camp, kissing her in denerim, kissing her on a random battlefield, kissing her in front of the corpse of brother genitivi's assistant

perfect timing for the ghoul tamlen encounter :') on the way to the temple of sacred ashes and right after locking in leliana's romance, just as rhian got a tiny sliver of happiness, wham, gutpunch! (oh how i wish there was more companion reactivity, maybe even a cutscene of tamlen's funeral? i have to do everything myself smh)

respeccing rhian as dex dual wielding warrior because of story reasons (definitely not because i hate playing warriors)

i forgot how creepyy haven is. and how the inquisition decided to settle on top of the said freaky place.

more delicious angst for rhian with the guardian's test, but also some closure at last with the spirit-tamlen somewhat alleviating their survivor's guilt

at the urn of sacred ashes: leliana having a deep religious experience while morrigan, zevran and rhian are like 'wow, a vase....'

ugh eamon. hate that guy

off we go to orzammar and deep roads! first time going there with rhian. they're going to hate all the politics stuff sooo much

choosing the 'give me my troops' option every single conversation. i think rhian would support bhelen not because they care about his politics, but because they found bhelen less annoying than harrowmont

i think the most world-changing decision in the entire game is giving leliana a nug. in this essay i will-

bless the faster moving speed mod, breezed through the deep roads while still getting the lovely, creeping dread atmosphere <3

speaking of creepy, somehow i remember the boobmother broodmother fight being much harder. it took less than five minutes now, even though i'm playing on hard. honestly the stupid road to the anvil of the void took more time

cairdin :( i regret not bringing shale to the quest i gotta look up its dialogue during the quest

wahoo, congrats on the coronation bhelen. NOW GIVE ME MY TROOPS

back to denerim we go, and wouldn't you know it, another crash...

two elves and a mage walk into arl of denerim's estate, somehow no one bats an eye, until the arl is killed and all his prisoners are freed (except for vaughan, rest in piss)

captured! my favourite quest! this time i had rhian break out on their own and it was sooo funny. didn't expect being able to seduce the guard with my 'male' warden, but we honestly the unnamed guard is a bicon

doing the alienage quest and i'm wondering, how long ago did the riots take place? and was it during this uprising that the orphanage was wiped out? idk if i'm conflating the two but it really doesn't add up? the corpses are all bones inside, and the beggar outside of the orphanage is an adult? i guess i need to replay the tabris origin for a refresher

love how blase eamon is about what happened in the alienage. shame we can't kill the guy

i'm a queen anora truther, and nothing will ever change that. i'm tempted to play a cousland just so i can marry her <3

landsmeet cutscene is so great for screenshots, i can't concentrate on what is actually being said lmao. i briefly thought of conscripting loghain, but taking roleplaying into account, i don't think rhian would forgive him for what he did in the alienage. (and by now they no longer see being a warden as a punishment)

rhian entering their absent parent era... such an icon (WHY can't we discuss this with our love interest??? blease let me tell leliana and alistair at least) and in the wonderful version of dragon age that exists in my head, morrigan and rhian perform a blood magic ritual instead of boning

the final goodbyes with the companions ;_;

gods, i hate the final battle drag. just teleport me to the archdemon

rhian is my special little guy and they got the final blow animation on the archdemon AND the cutscene (even though in my worldstate they're not even the one to kill it but oh well)

wish the boon the warden chooses had some sort of an impact in the later games... the dalish getting a chunk of land in ferelden is kind of significant, isn't it

after the game, rhian visits their clan (the half of it which remained in ferelden) with leliana, and finally has a brief moment of respite, even if it's only a week. after that, they travel to weisshaupt to get officially recognised as the warden-commander (and in my canon worldstate report on alvea's 'death') and eventually return to ferelden

[trashyswitch]

Day 16: Unusual Spot

Mario and Peach are trying to get to know each other, as well as their vastly different worlds. But Peach's curiosity kills Mario as she finds out he's ticklish in a somewhat unusual spot...

More Mario Bros fanfics! Wahoo! Shoutout to the one, the only, Charles Martinet. Cause I've been thinking about him as of late, and how he may be spending his retirement. It's hard to make Mario Bros games without the iconic man behind the voice. So...I salute Mr. Martinet for giving my biggest childhood heros a voice and a personality.🫡

Peach and Mario were hanging out on one of the many cliff faces that filled the hilly Mushroom kingdom. Peach was sitting beside him on the cliff face, just chatting with him for a while.

“So…What kind of creatures are in your world?” Peach asked. 

“Well…” Mario didn’t really know where to start. “The mushrooms are more brown or white…there’s only one type of mushroom that’s white with red polka dots.” Mario admitted. 

“Huh…Alright.” Peach replied. “So the mushrooms you have in ‘brooklyn’ are more like goombas than toads.” Peach replied. 

Mario nodded. “Yeah, actually. They are.” Mario replied. “And the mushrooms aren’t called toads. ‘Toads’ are actually a type of frog in our world.” Mario admitted. 

Peach tilted her head. “A frog?” She asked. 

“Yeah. Little green creatures that hop around and have warts on their back.” Mario explained. 

Peach giggled and shook her head. “I know what frogs are, Mario. We have frogs here.” She told him. 

Mario bit his lip and looked down. “Right…” He mumbled. 

Peach nudged his side. “No need to worry. We don’t have black and white-striped horses.” Peach teased. 

Mario rolled his eyes. “They’re called ‘Zebras’.” Mario told her. 

Peach laughed. “What’s the difference between a horse and a zebra?” Peach asked. 

“Well…” Mario thought for a moment. “They-...They…” Mario’s demeanor changed. “Uhhh…I actually don’t know.” 

Peach laughed and clapped her hands, shaking her head. “Mahahario! You clearly don’t know your animals.” Peach admitted. 

“Alright. What about you?” He pointed to her. “What do you know about zebras?” Mario asked. 

“They have long faces like horses do. But, they’re wider than horses, longer than horses, and they’re slightly slower.” Peach told him. “But they’re still super fast.” She added. 

Mario tilted his head. “Is that true?” He asked. 

“I think so.” Peach replied. “Though, I’ve never come across any in the Mushroom Kingdom. Maybe you have?” Peach asked. 

Mario looked at Peach and scratched the back of his head. “I haven’t, actually. They live far away from me.” Mario admitted. 

“Do you have a map of Brooklyn?” Peach asked. 

Mario nodded and pulled out a paper map of the world. He opened up the map of the world, and pointed out the United States. “Brooklyn is a city in New York, which is located…” Mario pointed to the middle, bottom right of the map, below the QC on the map. “That is New York. One of the states of America.” Mario told her. 

Peach tilted her head and pointed to the same area. “Right here?” She asked. “That small area is where you live?” She asked. 

“Yup.” Mario replied. 

“Why didn’t you take any of this land right here?” Peach asked. 

Mario chuckled. “It was already taken by someone else.” Mario admitted. 

“Oh. Who's the king of the America’s?” Peach asked. 

Mario blinked and thought for a moment. “Uuuuuh…” He bit his lip. “Well, there is no ‘king’ per say…but we do have a leader.” Mario explained. Peach smiled as she listened to him explain the system. “...They replace the leader every 4 years, or 8 years, depending on if they get elected for a second term or not.” Mario explained. 

“Term?” Peach asked. 

“Another round of 4 years.” Mario explained. “Ah, okay.” She replied. “You know…I never really got a chance to fully look at you.” She admitted. “Not even to get to know you.” She added. “We didn’t really get much of a chance because…well…” 

Mario looked at her and nodded. “Uhhh…I guess that’s true. I’ve learned so much about the Mushroom Kingdom, I didn’t think to bring it up.” Mario smiled awkwardly. “So…what…do you wanna know?” Mario asked. 

“Hmm…” Peach chuckled awkwardly. “Well now I gotta come up with something on the spot!” Peach reacted, making Mario laugh in the process. “I need a little more than a few seconds to think of what to ask first.” Peach admitted. 

Mario calmed down a bit, and shrugged his shoulders. “Take your time.” Mario went back to looking at the map, and smiled a bit. “There’s America, or the United States, and there’s Canada above it.” Mario said, looking at Peach while pointing to the land above the United States. Down here is Mexico, and a few other countries over here…” Mario pointed to the little tail connected to Mexico where Guatemala and Panama were, and also pointed down at Cuba, The Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. “There’s South America and Argentina down here, and down here…is Antarctica-”

Mario jumped and yelped when he felt something poke his side. He backed up a bit, hugging his sides a small bit as he gained back his position. “Whaha- What-” 

Mario looked over at Peach, which had a bright smile on her face. “So you aaaare~…” she said somewhat slyly. 

Mario widened his eyes as he felt his heart leap into his throat. “Uh oh…” he mumbled to himself. Right as Peach’s fingers reached out again, Mario tried to block her with his arms. When the left arm came over, Mario lifted his arm and pushed the arm away from him. When the right arm came up, he grabbed the wrist with his right hand and held it up. “Aha!” He declared, holding onto it in a way so she couldn’t really get him back. 

But Peach contorted her body under the arm ‘guard’ and went for his left side, landing a few tickles there. “Gotcha!” 

“AHAHaha!” Mario covered his side as best he could, before letting go and tried going for her sides. He tickled and skittered, feeling a sense of excitement that he landed a spot. But…he couldn’t hear any laughing. 

Mario’s excitement dwindled in seconds as he looked up, confused. But Peach was just staring at him. This told him everything. “Sorry, Mario.” Peach picked up Mario and skittered her narrow fingers all over his sides and belly. “But not this time.” 

Mario threw his head back and wheezed, wiggling around and kicking his feet as his laughter fully shined through. “NAHAHAHAhahaha! W-Wahahait Ihihi’m sohohorryhyhyhy!” Mario yelled. 

“Sorry?” Peach stopped tickling for a moment and looked at him from the side. “There’s no need to be sorry. I was gonna tickle you regardless of if you got me first.” Peach told him. 

Mario dropped his jaw in shock. “Seriously?! I wasn’t getting out of this?” He asked. 

“Oh come on, Mario...Don’t be like that.” She started poking his ab muscles. 

“NonO-!” Mario yelled, growing nervous as he felt where she was poking next. “Don’t you dare!” He warned. 

Peach giggled. “‘Don’t you dare’ what? ‘Don’t you dare touch my precious little ticklish abs?’ And by abs, do you mean the ones right here?” She added as she playfully poked them again. 

Mario squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to hold his breath. He didn’t want to give her the satisfaction. Not today. No way, no how. “Noho! Nohot-nothappening!” Mario yelled. 

“Are you really holding out on me?” Peach asked, acting all surprised. 

“Y-yeheah! Letmego!” Mario ordered. 

She poked a couple more times, noticing his resistance. “You’re a tough cookie…gotta give you that.”She admitted. 

Mario was taken aback slightly. Was she…complimenting him?! 

“P-Please…if you let me go, I’ll never try tickling you again.” Mario attempted to talk his way out of the situation. 

“Are you worried about not getting out of this alive?” She asked with a smirk. 

“Kinda, yeah.” Mario admitted with an awkward laugh. 

Peach giggled. “Oh, you’ll get out of this alive...I’m gonna make sure of that…” She reassured him, worsening her tweaks and pokes.

Mario squeaked and wheezed, kicking his feet as he struggled to get out of her grip. “eeEEK! B-BUT-!” 

“…You just weren’t going to get out of this without being tickled to bits first.” Peach explained before drilling her index finger into the left bottom ab box for a short little finale. 

Mario wheezed and hung his head, cackling and laughing. He had already grown weak and tired from fighting her attacks, and the tickling was making him progressively tired too. He just couldn’t take it all at once anymore. “OHOHOKAHAY- OKAHAHAHAYYYHYHY! PEHEHEACH PLEASETHAT’S ENOHOHOUGH!” Mario begged and pleaded. 

“Awww…already?” She asked, leaning in to further tease him. “But I was just getting started!” She admitted. 

“YOHOHOU NEHEHEED MEHE TO BREHEHEHEATHE, DOHON’TYOU?” Mario asked. 

“Well, yeah…I do…” she admitted, her face starting to soften. 

“THEHEHE TIHICKLES ARE MAHAHAKING ITHARDTO BREHEHEHEATHE! PLEHEHEHEASE!” Mario begged. 

Peach sighed and pretended to be disappointed. “Fiiiine. I guess I’ll stop…” Peach decided, moving her hand away. But she jumpscared Mario yet again when she grabbed under his armpits. “But this doesn’t mean it’s over.” Peach told him. 

Mario’s laughter lessened somewhat slowly. His cackled lessened to laughter and giddy giggles, which quickly lessened to more breathless giggles. “Heeeeh…Hehehe…heeeh…Yohou…are a force to…be wreckened w-with…” Mario told her. 

“And you…” She put him down. “Seem like the perfect person to be president of America.” Peach admitted. 

Mario dusted himself off and blinked when he heard her words. Oh…another compliment? Mario didn’t know what to say. In Brooklyn, being the president of the United States is considered a very prestigious profession which can either make, or break your fame and future as a politician. So…all he could come up with for an answer…was a short and simple “Thank you.”. 

Peach took his gesture and bapped his hat as a way to say ‘Apology accepted’. 

Mario chuckled and readjusted his hat again. “So…did you come up with a good question to ask?” He asked. 

Peach giggled. “Well, yeah. Are you ticklish?” She asked casually, acting like she hadn’t just left him breathless seconds earlier. 

Mario wheezed and doubled over. “Ohoho my god…Peach! You came up with nothing?!” He reacted with shock. 

“Nohot really…” She admitted, giggling. But she snapped her fingers when a thought came to her head. “Oh! What’s your family like back home?” 

And with that, Mario began to tell Peach a little more about himself. Peach would occasionally bring in her own little stories and moments, making Mario laugh with each one. Despite Peach being raised by mushroom people instead of humans, they would quickly discover that they had both experienced similar childhoods. 

[actually-autisticc]

My thoughts on the Super Mario Movie

My autistic ass needs someone to talk to about this film and I have nobody. I know I don’t post as often anymore on here but I need to let this energy out. Here’s what did work and didn’t work

What did work:

the animation: DAMN. It looked amazing. I loved how smooth they looked on screen and the details of the character models, the background, etc. You can tell they put a lot of love into it. It felt so nice to see our favorite video game characters on screen like this. All of the references were such a joy to find and recognize. It’s also crazy that Mario came from being an 8bit model to this glorious, detailed, 3D model. And some scenes “camera” moved in a way that would be in a game. When Mario and Luigi were on their way to their first plumbing job, the “camera” moved sideways as the first Mario games were side-scrolling. When Toad and Mario were heading to the castle and poor Mario was being thrown around, the “camera” moved around like I guess the newer games? I mean it looked like Super Mario Odyssey but there could be other games, I haven’t played every single one (now I want to). Really cool attention to detail. My autistic ass loves attention to detail. The models looked good as well like Bowser’s scales and the brothers’ clothing. Funny how 3D animation wasn’t as detailed before like with Veggietales and Toy Story 1 but now we have HAIR. You get it.

The music: Some parts hit, some didn’t. I loved the orchestral remixes of our beloved songs. When the kart scene came on, I immediately recognized the music and felt PUMPED, especially when they were making the karts and I heard the Mario Kart 8 theme. I wanted to jump out of my seat but couldn’t cause I didn’t wanna be weird. Hearing the theme songs as well felt satisfying. It scratched that itch I didn’t know I needed to be scratched. I found myself listening to the soundtrack right after. I’m glad they chose 80’s songs rather than fucking Doja Cat or whatever but it still threw me off hearing Take On Me, Holding Out for a Hero, and Mr. Blue Sky. (Cmon Shrek did Holding Out better. No topping it) As much as I love those songs, I remembered that this is an Illumination movie so of course they’d have popular songs. If they left the pop songs in the human world and kept the Mario songs in the Mushroom kingdom, etc, it would’ve made a little more sense. No Sleep til Brooklyn was good tho, made sense cause they live in Brooklyn and they were in the human world.

Chris Pratt: Yes, I know everyone was skeptical of Chris Pratt playing Mario. I love Chris in Guardians of the Galaxy as Peter Quill so I didn’t have much doubt but since he is a celebrity and you know how movies these days (mainly Illumination) love to get big names in their films. I wasn’t disappointed. He was good, not bad. As much as I love Martinet’s iconic Mario, I don’t think I’d be able to handle hearing it the whole time. It’s iconic but let’s be real hearing “let’s-a-go!” the whole time is a bit jarring. Mario’s from Brooklyn so that’s what Chris tried. And his Wahoo! was good! You knew he didn’t want to ruin this character because of how much it holds. He TRIED. And Martinet as Giuseppe saying “it’s a perfect!” Felt like he was sharing the torch with Chris. He squished all the critics doubts by saying “he’s Mario too, it’s fine. Deal with it.” Hearing the voice made me smile so wide, it was like hearing an old friend. I think he even said that doing Mario’s voice too much hurt so we don’t want him to feel any pain for our sake! We all owe Chris an apology. You did great bro

Seth Rogan: I love DK. He’s big, loud, goofy, and strong. Seth did that right and honestly idk who else would play him. Hearing Seth’s iconic laugh made me laugh, idk who can hate it. It fit DK as it kind of…sounded ape-like? The whole fight between Mario and DK was straight out of a game. I loved the interaction between DK and Mario. They’re enemies at first but soon, they respect each other as in the games. I wish that wasn’t the whole character development between two characters in the movie, I wish it was Mario & Luigi, Mario and toad, or Mario and Peach. Hell, even Mario and Bowser. But this is only the first movie so we’ll see more

Anna-Taylor Joy: not much to say about her. I think Peach was fun and I’m glad they didn’t go the “damsel in distress” or “girl boss” route. We get it, we’re becoming SOMEWHAT better in terms of shit like that but god we don’t need it every time. Peach was a badass, she cared for her kingdom and subjects, and she was sweet. That’s Peach! It wasn’t the “I don’t need no man” or forced relationship with Mario and that was good. I loved Peach’s racing outfit too and all the power ups. Peach was awesome, I’m glad they didn’t ruin her

Charlie Day: I haven’t seen much of him but wow I loved his Luigi! I always loved Luigi, he was always the b guy and he deserves a lot of love. He’s adorable. I wish Luigi had more of an interaction with Bowser. We could’ve gotten a lot of funny scenes with them together (of course it’d be fuel to the shipping fire) and it was cut too short. I mean, bowser didn’t need MUCH from Luigi, he just needed information so it wouldn’t make sense why he’d keep him around when he could throw him in the dungeon with Luma, the penguins, etc. And the whole thing with Mario and Luigi “sticking together” was nice but…they weren’t together AS much? Yes, Bowser kidnapped him but idk it didn’t really feel so emotional. Their team up at the end was amazing of course, had the biggest smile with the star music on. Luigi must be protected

Keegan-Michael Key: His Toad was good! Kind of wished we saw more of Toad and Mario together but he was the comic relief. Sucked he wasn’t in it as much but maybe next movie.

Jack Black: MY MAN. GOD HE KILLED IT. Was that any surprise? No, everyone knew Jack was gonna bring his a-game and he did. Bowser’s singing was amazing, I was cracking up during that scene. PEACHES PEACHES PEACHES aah it’s good. I loved how Bowser went from his usual scary self to a big sweetheart who just wants to love someone. Yea, he did threaten to kill Peach’s kingdom if she didn’t marry him but hey he said he wouldn’t if she agreed! You can absolutely tell Jack loved his role and that’s so important in movies for it to turn out well. Honestly, I’d say Bowser was my favorite in the whole movie! (Ngl, Bowser kinda..) Bowser was intimidating at parts, especially with Luigi. He was a lot scarier than I remembered and damn he is a power house. Im surprised that I didn’t see him utilize his shell and spin with it but whatever.

The story: yes there wasn’t much of a big plot. Do I care? Not really. It’s Mario! You don’t really need a plot per se because you already know the characters, you know the concept of Super Mario. To me, it was as if I was playing a really well animated game. It was fast, fun, and left me with a warm fuzzy feeling. The plot WAS Bowser coming, Mario and Luigi starting a company and not feeling like they’re on top. You don’t need a different story with Mario. Yes, this movie wasn’t on the level of Into the Spider-Verse or Puss in Boots like we were expecting but it didn’t need to be. I had a great time with a story or not

The sound effects: god, the little kid in me wanted to SCREAM. It felt so satisfying to hear all the sounds we hear in the games from hitting a shell, hitting the mystery box, or landing on the flag pole at the end of a level. They really hit the nail with them. And Luigi’s ringtone was GameCube!!

Oh yeah I loved Kamek’s voice. He sounded exactly how I pictured it. He was great. Loved the scene of him dressing up as Peach and getting ANGRY that he didn’t kiss Bowser

What didn’t work:

The slow motion moments: this was when I remembered “oh yea, illumination made this.” Some of the moments were fine with Mario giving Peach a side eye (with rizz). That was funny. But all the other times, it felt like the screaming goats in Thor Love and Thunder. In other words, it was used too much. To me, the slow-motion parts are just “haha, their voice is deep and slow. They move slowly. Haha funny joke.”

The songs: I did say the songs worked but they didn’t at the same time. I LOVED hearing all the familiar songs and sounds from the games. I liked the 80’s songs as Mario was made in the 80’s but it didn’t fit movie. As I said, it would’ve been better if they kept the 80’s songs in the human world and the Mario-esque songs in the Mushroom Kingdom, etc. But Illumination has gotta…illuminate I guess

The pacing: I felt like it was TOO quick. They go from Mario ending up in the Mushroom Kingdom and he finds Toad with barely an introduction and they rush to the castle. Then Mario finds Peach who just so happens to be going to the same place at the right time. There wasn’t enough time to breathe and there could���ve been so many good character interactions and development if they made it longer. We could have had more of Bowser and Luigi, Mario and Toad and Peach. I mean there are lots of characters and they have yet to introduce Yoshi, the Koopalings, and Daisy so hopefully it will be better in the second.

Illumination: I’m not too crazy with this studio. I love Despicable Me 1&2 but the rest are just meh. There were moments in the movie that were just so like this studio that it somewhat felt weird. The plumbing scene was funny but I think that is a good example. The whole thing with the dog being malicious was an Illumination thing. So were some of the models of the humans. The songs. Idk. If this movie was made by another studio like Dreamworks or Sony, maybe it would’ve been better??

Overall, I’d give this movie a 7.5/10. It had great moments and a lot going for it but there is still room for improvement. And that’s completely okay because we still have another movie. We only saw these characters on screen for ONE movie so there’s still more to be seen. I say fuck the critics, they don’t know what they’re talking about. This movie didn’t need to be woke or whatever. It almost didn’t need a plot. This movie was such a beautiful love letter to all of the Nintendo fans and I was smiling the entire time. They knew not to make it flop because of how iconic and beloved Mario is. I felt like a little kid again as I watched my favorite video game characters on screen and now I feel the need to play my Wii or switch. I look forward to seeing what they do in the next film.

TLDR: go see it. It’s a lot of fun

Also LET ME VOICE YOSHI I CAN DO HIS VOICE. IM GOING TO BE ON A TEACHER’S SALARY IM GONNA BE BROKE

[technicianuprisingau]

Drawing the Rest of the Copy Ability Stars... Round 2!!

Me: Okay I think I should draw Round 2 first before I go and reboot the Technician Modes Me, realizing that I was so invested in Round 1, that I draw nearly all of them but 3 (minus the Contact Abilities): Me: ...YOU'RE TELLING ME HAD I DIDN'T STOP I WOULD'VE FINISHED THIS IN ONE ROUND?!

*SIGH* Let's get this over with. Here's Part 1 if you're confused.

Burning - This ability is kinda useless but uh, again, I guess Fire is offense and Burning is speed, so they can co-exist! Had to steal all the icons from Nightmare in Dreamland, Canvas Curse, and 64 just to make this. I hope it's sufficient and it's not just FIRE 2!!!

Ranger - I mean, I certainly didn't expect this ability to appear. But okay, sure! Kirby with a gun supremacy. It looks fun to play in Forgotten Land. I just decided to look at its illustration and have it the icon of the gun shooting a star... I might redo this in the future, it looks... Eh...

Drill - Ah yes, the ability that ruined Technician Uprising's canon standing. Before this ability was revealed, I deadset that Kirby's Technician ability would be Pure, which means he has capabilities unique to him only, in this case copying (and of course Robobot Armor shares that too with him due to partnership clause). Sure, the drill itself (which IS his weapon) was already in 64 but as a power combo which, as you may know, I made that state in 64 as a puberty state, which means that's not legit! So hell yeah, Kirby gets to use a drill. Bring on the Gurren Lagann references, people, he can thrive in it. BUT THEN FORGOTTEN LAND CAME. THEN THE DRILL ABILITY CAME. And so everything is ruined, the drill symbolism is no longer unique to poor Kirby. Thanks, HAL! Now I have to grasp at straws! I tried making the best of it though, all bias aside. It gave me a lesson to be more careful with making Technician Modes in the future though, as if the weapon matches the newest ability, I would be effectively screwed. WAHOO! Anyways stealing the ability hat for this one isn't it obvious.

Technician - My beloved. This design has not changed too much, even in its old days. Nothing much to say here.

Hypernova - Okay hear me out it technically has an icon but... The main reason I wanted to change it is because the Miracle Fruit is so mesmerizing. So I decided, screw canon, canon can eat my ass. In fact, I could've made it colorful too, but I restricted myself to three colors because Contact Abilities aren't supposed to exist! So it makes sense for it to break the rules! Yet I still want some boundaries.

Kabuki - Oh god I do not want to remember what the anime did to this ability. I have ranted about this ability before. So now, it's my responsibility to make it real. But the thing is, before I finalized what it would look like, I needed something to represent their magic, and no I do not want it to be Baton 2.0, so uh. Will-o-wisps! The supernatural Japanese thingies! I love will-o-wisps. So uh... yay.

Well, that means everything is settled... though I will have to do some minor edits to the spreadsheet, because GUESS WHAT?! I checked every file and realized that since I stacked each star one above the other, a small part of the other stars got into the imported picture. Now I have to redo everything AGAIN!!!!!

That being said. Please do enjoy.

[amantebravo]

‘ admit it. i was right. ’

pick-a-fight meme

“No! Absolutely not never no way. Fuck you.” He crosses his arms, looks away, and makes the grumpiest face of all time.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Steph it's time for your christmasy icon again! wahoo!

I'm.gonna be real honest w you rn, I haven't been into Sherlock in over two years now, and I've unfollowrd a lot of people I used to follow from that fandom. but not you Steph, even if I have, admittedly, not read a Sherlock fic in two years and I've been mostly scrolling past your fic rec posts without reading them. but! I still follow you! and every time I see a post of yours in my dash I still smile, and every time I'm looking for fic rec blogs in new fandoms I compare them to yours a bit bc you're still the best and most organized fic reccer blog I've ever seen in my +6 years in fandom

I guess the point is that even tho I've mostly moved on I still appreciate you Steph, and all the work you put into it and all the literally thousands of fics I've read bc you've recced them.

I heard you were having a bit of a rough year a few months ago, and I hope things are better, and I hope they keep improving. happy holidays Steph, and I send you lots of love and the very best wishes.

love, J. 💖

Hey Lovely!

Oh my, what a kind and lovely thing to say!! I'd argue that there are far better reccers than me out there because I was inspired by them, I just have a weird organization quirk and honestly thought my way was a jumbled mess, hahahahh! Plus my weird thing where I only personally rec things I've read, I thought that annoyed people, but I guess not.

I am humbled to read that I am your "standard" to what rec blogs in other fandoms should be compared to... I genuinely don't think I should be up that high, but thank you <3

I'm happy you've found happiness in other fandoms, but I am honoured that I am still being followed even after you left fandom. I will take no offense if you need to unfollow me, truly!

Thank you so much, J, for your kind words and well wishes. Yes, this past year has been a bloody rollercoaster, so I'm just glad it's over, to be honest. <3 Please take care, and happy holidays to you and yours <3

[reading-marshmelloww]

2021 in books

i've read 29 books (12 on russian and 17 in english) in 2021 and spent 135 hours reading.

i use readmore app for tracking my reading and you can see screenshots from it above. i had a resolution of reading 50 books and during summer i was going through my 'read later' lists of fanfiction so i tracked them in the app as well that's why it says i've read 42 books not 29. but i separate books and fanfiction (135 hours opposed to 223+ hours spent on reading).

below i'm gonna list all the books and one line for each with my thoughts on it or some funny fact, hope it's enjoyable!

Управление проектом в сфере графического дизайна. Розета Мус, Ойана Эррера - очень красивая книга и при этом информативная и грамотно составленная, мне как человеку не занятому дизайном всё было понятно, советую к прочтению , хотелось бы прочесть в бумажном варианте но и в электронном она изумительна

Мифы о хорошей девочке. Махо Молфино - отличный выбор если вы как и я только вникаете в тему феминизма, автор дизайнер и её манера изложения и структура книги меня покорили, тк всё разложено по полочкам и доступно.

Демиан. Герман Гессе - первая и последняя книга моей провалившейся попытки создать книжный клуб, прочла за вечер и чуток разочаровалась, вайбы дарк академии и мистицизма, но развязка антиклиматичная на мой взгляд.

Heartstopper vol.4 . Alice Oseman - my beloved graphic novel, the netflix adaptation is out on april 22! i love oseman's style and recommend her writing to everyone, go read it folks!

You will get through this night. Daniel Howell - dan did not disappoint with his book indeed, it's nicely structured, has helpful advice and dan's writing keeps you entertained and invested and is encouraging, i'd love to have a physical copy to keep around and have a look whenever needed as that's what this book is for.

The one . John Marrs - my friends were talking about it but then i ended up the only one who read it after all, it was an interesting read with twists and turns.

Introducing Feminism. Cathia Jenainati, Judy Groves - another try to understand feminism more and learn its history, i don't remember much from it anymore but it was educational i'd say.

Spring awakening. Steven Sater, Duncan Sheik - it's a musical script/libretto, and what can i say, i love this one, may 3rd on hbo premieres a documentary about 15 years anniversary of it and i'm excited to watch it wahoo.

Манифест. От женщины к женщине. Чимаманда Адичи - я продолжала вникать в феминизм и очень рада что открыла для себя эту писательницу, её тексты легко читать и при этом они полны смысла и дышат жизнью.

The true lives of my chemical romance. Tom Bryant - reading this book felt like falling down the pensive and going through it all with the band, i learned a lot of new things from it and enjoyed reading a lot.

Spring awakening. Frank Wedekind - now this is the original play/story (i don't really remember) that the musical is based on and i was surprised a little bit when i learned when it was written, pretty progressive for that time imho.

Suicide notes. Michael Thomas Ford - i saw the title and decided to read it and was surprised to learn while reading that it's queer, i loved the book and i remember getting emotional when i finished it.

Тело, еда , секс и тревога. Юлия Лапина - рекомендация моего любимого блогера кристины, познавательная книга дающая пищу для размышлений, при прочтении у меня скрипели шестерёнки в голове))

Blue is the warmest colour. Julia Maroh - the iconic graphic novel, i loved it and was upset when reading the finale, as a whole i loved it as it evokes emotions in a reader and the graphics are stunning, i saved quite a few as references and it increased my dream of making a comic book.

The highly sensitive person's survival guide. Ted Zeff - a very practical book, i'd recommend reading the og hsp book first i started it after this one and am still reading it eh it's elaine aron's book i made a lot of notes while reading and started using and am still using a lot of tips from it so it's helpful!!

We were liars. E. Lockhart - i devoured this book in one evening as it's written in a way to keep you reading and learning more about characters and the mystery gradually was lovely, i liked the pace and the ending was satisfying as well, it was a little bit heavier then i expected though.

Дом в котором горит свет. Эльчин Сафарли - воздушное произведение, дизайн книги это прекрасно отразил так что читать её было одно удовольствие , впервые познакомилась с этим автором, теперь хочу продолжить:) размеренный ход повествования, в виде писем, атмосфера моря, сознательной жизни, дружбы и любви, советую к прочтению, но предупреждаю вам захочется попробовать джемы что там упоминаются;)

Fifty shades of earl gray.Fanny Merkin, Andrew Shaffer - i found this on the internet in the middle of the night and read it, at night it seemed pretty hilarious.

Almost adulting. Arden Rose - one of the youtubers' books that's actually good, it was a delight to read and very relatable, recommend it for young adults.

Выбери себе смерть. Чингиз Абдуллаев - в предвестии выставки где была возможность увидеть этого писателя и на которую мы собирались пойти мы с друзьями договорились прочесть хоть один его детектив, в итоге я прочла два и даже не сфотографировалась с ним и не стала слушать его выступление. не помню уже о чем книга, но если вы любите старые детективы с привязкой к политике то пожалуйста.

Золотая гора. Александр Беляев - рассказ любимого мною в детстве писателя, его произведения светлые и гротескные одновременно, задают вопросы о человечности, при этом это всё научная фантастика, книги беляева сыграли большую роль в становлении моего мировоззрения.

We should all be feminists. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - as i said above i love her wtiting style, easy to understand and deep at the same time.

Ангел боли три четверти его души. Чингиз Абдуллаев - детектив, что ещё сказать

Отель. Артур Хейли - эту книгу мне давала прочесть подруга и с тех пор мы не ездим на лифтах с трещинами на полу)) отличный выбор куда сбежать из реальности тк книга погружает читателя в отель и жизнь его постояльцев и сотрудников, ты вместе с персонажами переживаешь за судьбу отеля и при этом линии повествования переплетаются и идут размеренно через всю книгу и одну неделю в рамках которой происходят все события.

You are the only one i've told. Meera Shah - another book that was recommended on ig i think, very insightful and educational, especially for me as a future doctor, as it depicts patients' side of stories, but the paragraph that sticked to me was about the doctor who stayed "As a gay, brown-skinned immigrant, I know what it is like to live in this country as a second-class citizen. Now, I feel a responsibility to use my privilege as a man and as a physician, to help others and speak up when I see injustice. This is what keeps me going and continuing to provide abortion care in Texas where I grew up. I know the people here. I know the highways and the towns, the history, and the Texas pride. Folks who cannot be pregnant deserve empathy, access to quality abortion care, and dignity. Doing what I can to make sure people have all of this is my life’s purpose,” he explained."

Ненасильственное общение. Маршалл Розенберг - я всё ещё пишу конспект по этой книге, это клад!! клад!! а нашла я её удивительным образом благодаря посту в инсте, где её советовали в комментариях

Социальная тревога и фобия. Ольга Размахова - иллюстрации к книге сделаны никой nixelpixel так я и узнала о данной книге, структура хорошая, много познавательного, в начале мне было тяжело читать её и я забросила, через пару месяцев я дозрела))

The help. Kathryn Stockett - i loved the book while reading it, but when i learned that it's written by a white woman hmmm, and then i read feedback on the movie which i haven't watched myself and i ended up confused, do i like it? idk

Sadie. Courtney Summers - well this one, i started it expecting a quick read, just a detective, but little did i know how depressing it was, pretty dark and heavy, i'd recommend looking up tws before deciding whether to read it or not, it left me in a weird state , especially the ending.

so here it is! it was fun to remember all these books and look back, i'm definitely reading more of some of the authors and going through the pages of some of the above books,

[nobody-knose--archive]

so guess who bought complete demos today on a whim

yeah i wasn’t expecting this one to be over as quickly as it was either. have your liveblog

-complete demos. i bought it today & already forgot the tracklist. listening to it on the mp3 player i got for hmcrmshcidshdamsth because why not. makes pausing/typing easier that's why

-who the heck just coughed

-good lord the mixing is. and boy that's steve drumming isn't it. wow

-i mean we've got the stereo panning just like ever but this is incredibly rough. they are true babies aren't they

-oh those flutes are amazing what the hell. can people stop yelling in my individual ears

-and there's the rough megaphone. it's so incredibly clear that these aren't studio recordings but like. still tally hall!

-i think i'm finding many of these a little too funny but gotdam you're pitchbending your own voice do you really expect that to not sound so goofy at such a high pitch

-oh we're not slowing down at all, this is the same tempo as before for sure

-the flipping around audio channels is very not good at all when it comes to disguising the cuts between takes

-a sculptor you say? (is that one in the later versions? i don't remember it at all)

-nothing but rob's voices in the background and maybe 1 or two from red. no ross bits whatsoever. that's wild

-quick move into the greener intro and even quicker movement into greener itself

-well those are extra harmonies. interesting that they removed them for later versions because they're not bad, maybe a little out of place though

-honestly the biggest difference in steve vs ross drumming seems to be more a difference in the quality of the drums themselves. or the recording software but that applies to everything in this album

-it's painfully obvious that everything was recorded in really different circumstances & not mixed professionally and yep. complete demos alright. not inaccurately named in the slightest

-reminds me of the beta versions of g&e songs we heard live before they appeared on the album, makes me wonder if we could've gotten an admittedly complete demos for g&e somehow

-anyway these little different synths-

-hello there rob. alternate bridge. i have remembered this is a thing. something about tissues? a shoulder to cry on? cool

-yeah the little different synths do capture my attention from time to time

-and a basic piano for the outro? huh. sure gives it a different tone alright

-hm? who's that right at the end there- ooh! wtth time! and this still has steve in it doesn't it?

-generally more enthusiasm when it comes to that T, wonder what lost him attention in later years

-boy is that beatboxing weirdly mixed.

-lawn

-well this chorus is actually rather snazzy. the vocals seem better mixed than anything else i've heard in this album

-"who's to blame?" that's like the 4th time now i've heard someone's random voice that i can't recognize. ...it couldn't be steve, could it? i am now aware i have absolutely no clue what his voice sounds like but that seems like it could fit. hm

-zubin sounds really unenthusiastic here. just faintly unenthusiastic all over the place. still sounds more like "badiggle" than anything else

-oh shit they're falling down a well

-red's bit is hella unchanged other than the direct invasion of my individual ears & extra megaphone useage (i really wish the megaphone became more of a tally icon than it did but that's neither here nor there)

-it's rather more barebones though. less andrew keys in general. the calliope-reminiscent synth he uses is different i suppose.

-they did more stuff with funny crowd voices i think i've noticed. playing around with falsetto, as a college band dude might do

-ok yeah steve is a worse drummer. don't ask me what made me change my mind but i did

-wow a crowd that can consistently clap on the 1-2-3-4? how utterly unrealistic

-no wonky wild & weird intro to taken for a ride because i don't think it's on this album. understandable, i can't imagine what sort of wild hell the vocoder would be if it was attempted this early in its lifespan

-1st 2 piano chords of just apathy has me thinking of i know your name (deporitaz ver.) which is certainly as good a start to a song as any

-extended piano intro has me thinking of the ending of mold en mono but nope here's rob's voice to completely knock that impression out of the water

-ohoho? rob cantor swearing momence? i hadn't realized there'd be this many lyric changes

-interestingly enough this track doesn't seem horrendously mixed so far- nevermind that guitar/piano together is way too loud

-the guitar itself does have a pretty cool unique sound. obviously they hadn't had any access to string instruments at this point so given that those're the main thing separating this song from your average sade rock ballad there aren't a whole lot of notable differences here other than said guitar

-very different tone to this lil bridge. faintly reminiscent of weezer but it's not like i know anything about weezer

-sounds like the same synth from wtth being used in the bg there. what, did they have just that limited a selection so as to need repetition that frequently, or did they really like how it sounds? hard to tell with 200 (uhhhh) 4 college band dudes

-and right into two wuv. yes i had heard there's no haiku in this one but i forget what else will be missing. not sure if anything else will other than hidden in the sand. they would have ruler of everything, right? and a track that appears here but not any other albums? something like that i think

-more of that piano in the bg and more of mildly unenthusiastic zubin singing. different melody for said singing but it's not much of a secret that these guys were more untrained vocalists at this time

- .subsides?

-this chorus sounds significantly more laid-back than the later version

-the extra piano part sure moves this piece way further away from "rock love song" & way closer to "andrew horowitz song", especially that lil flourish where a bee buzzing might otherwise be

-ooh! andrew! he speaks! so does zubin! this song's two olsen boys coming in for a weird bridge bit! hell yeah oh this is adorable

-"because there's 2 of them :}"

-hm. are they actually just removing various parts because they don't have the technological capabilities to do a straight fadeout here? got dam

-i suppose letting zubin do a final solo-ish cadence works too

-uh- say it ain't so‽ w. no this is stationary love, the song that appeared here & nowhere else. cool, cool. strange but cool i guess

-i guess that can explain the multitude of weezer comparisons made for these lads. it's certainly there. honestly andrew was the only thing keeping them from being true weezer successors

-pure acoustic guitar thus far. this is my first time hearing this song of course & it seems like a pretty typical rob "homophonic heterophobic" cantor song

-nothing but acoustic guitar. nothing but rob vocals. nothing but alloromanticism. guess what! it's not my cup of tea! however i can't help but think if this song was worked on more, fixed up a la either mmmm release, with some more andrew/red touches, i could enjoy it some more

-not even any drumming. the simplicity could easily explain why it wasn't played live very often at all

-so the next thing i expect is some very funky & very weird spring and a storm which should highlight steve's (worse) drumming more than anything else i'm sure

-nevermind banana man's just getting slapped directly in here out of order compared to the later mmmm releases. this version i have indeed heard before because it's the version used in the music video

-therefore i have very little to say about it i haven't said on any of the other banana men. or other tracks on this album. the intrusions of vocal harmonies seem jarring because they're not mixed professionally, an effect that's only enhanced by the stereo panning & intense reverb

-this song really didn't change all that much over its lifespan, did it? vocal flairs were redone, but relatively few harmonies were added/removed, i don't think things like the bridge(s) were modified severely. not as noticeably as any of the other songs, at the very least

-i'm pretty sure i can hear andrew's voice in there but beyond that this is severely unsettling

-back to the chorus wahoo. relievingly  familiar territory

-get out of my left ear hawaiian guitar- wait a minute are my earbuds on wrong

-no i'm good

-oh holy shit i forgot this had to be somewhere didn't it‽ i know it's just the same! ok ok

-i've heard this one but only because i had no idea it was from complete demos, it's like rather polished too so i had never considered it would be on an unpolished album like this. i also had no idea that was goddam steve drumming in there too hot damn

-and this is the only recording of it‽ that's wild i always thought it was redone at some point & just kinda. manifested in one of the vague ways miscellaneous high quality tally hall songs do

-it's another romance one but the guitar arpeggios and extra layers give it a pass in my book. man i should watch the music video for it shouldn't i

-i still think it's utterly wild how tally hall played this at an actual high school's homecoming once. wouldn't that just blow your mind

-there's not a major difference between how it's performed here & what i've heard of it in from the occasional live performance, which is making me realize i should watch more live performances of this song

-angstier prequel to hidden in the sand

-or sidequel maybe. depends really. we can tell whatever stories we like

-did my hidden in the sand sotry come out of the queue yet? i feel like i queued it a while ago but also like y'all would've said something if you'd seen it

-bit slow paced innit. much like everything else in this album, it would have gained much from a professional studio treatment, but its mixing & general quality is still surely the best out of everything i've heard so far

-working your falsetto there aren't you my dude? ooh boy

-ruler of everything.... so no spring & a storm? >{

-yeah. ok. weird glockenspiel. almost sounds like a music box

-no vocoding either! i just realized that's a thing here! curious. and... those are some heavily wonky sfx in the background

-who's singing those aaaaas anyway? it's not a chorus which i thought could surely be handled and there's really minimal reverb too; strange considering not only is reverb a jh trademark but easily doable here

-the piano synth used is mostly identical to the 05 mmmm- oh holy shit there's different lyrics & they're being beamed directly into my skull

-even more nonsensical & it's because you can hear them hella easily too. that backwards segment did not need to go on as long as it did. also

-so no zubin vocals? >{

-slapping 5 billion vocal effects on doesn't make up for a lack of the best singer in this damn band

-especially because he sounds reminiscent of goddam fred. being fred before fred was even a thing. oh how accursed

-quiet down your guitars when you're singing shouting through a megaphone if you please

-and there's the earstrain-ass reverb + vocoding on the flibbity jibber jabber reprise. i feared as much would happen. doesn't sound horrible i just need to turn down the volume on my mp3 player

-honestly thing whole thing isn't bad at all in the sense that it's mostly just strongly different from the later versions & lacks zubin

-lease stop yelling though my dude schwiggling your voice like that isn't always a good thing at high volumes

-is that the end? are we.... at the end? i heard that's the name of some song from like sketches or something

-no. how silly of me to assume as much. anyway my dude needs to fix up his ukulele this one sounds like shit

-no vocal effects makes me realize how few times we got this one live-

-now what would you call a wonky little transition like that? puts a smile on my face, even if it does take me by surprise at the same time

-but at least one of the times this was done live featured casey shea

-now for the love of god i already hate the ending of something glowing (view-monster) for its weird-ass asmr finale don't reverse someone's cough & twiddle your ukulele strings directly into my right ear to end an otherwise really nice version of hidden in the sand if you please. oh mama mia. good night

[ifishouldvanish]

Editing tips, I guess?

Hey uhhhhh, so I've gotten lots of new followers over the past few weeks and wanted to do some kind of thank you?? Also, I have seen a fair share of "omg HOW" in the tags on my edits (which??? always make my day?? my week??? my life????)

Anyway, I thought I'd share some of my ~techniques with y'all? So here goes:

(lmao this got really fuckin long so cuuuuuut)

1. Make EVERYTHING a Smart Object

Okay, maybe not EVERYTHING, but seriously. Do it. It will save ur editing life. You ever shrink something down and then an hour later change your mind and decide you want it bigger? If you're not using a smart object, it’ll get blurry when you scale it back up and you’ll be fuCKED!

To make a layer/group a smart object, just right click on it in the layers panel and select "convert to smart object". This makes Photoshop store the layer's original data in a separate space for safe keeping (an embedded .psb file, to be exact) -- so you can shrink it and enlarge it as many times as you want without any lossiness.

As soon as I paste/place a screencap, texture, or whatever into my document, the first thing I always, ALWAYS do is convert it to a smart object!!

Why, you might ask?? Continue to item No.2 :)))

2. Harness the POWER of Smart Objects!!

The reason I am obsessed with Smart Objects is because I am obsessed with making any edits as non-destructive as possible. If you use “Image > Adjustments > Levels/Selective Color/etc” on a regular layer, that’s a destructive edit. Same goes for any Filters (such as blur/sharpen) and transforms (Warp, distort, perspective). You lose the original data that was there and the only way it can be undone is with ctrl+z. Might not seem like a huge deal at first, but if you keep chugging along for an hour and decide, “hmm, maybe i went too hard on that levels adjustment after all...” your only options are deleting the layer and starting over, or uh... hoping it’s still in your history panel.

However, it's really easy to avoid destructive edits when you use smart objects!! Because all those adjustments, filters, and transforms become “Smart Filters”. Smart Filters have all the non-destructive advantages of performing these adjustments via adjustment layers, but have the added bonus of ONLY effecting the layer they’ve been applied to, instead of cascading down and effecting all the layers beneath. (Which can be a good thing sometimes, but that’s a whole other topic)

Smart filters are attached to their ‘parent layers’, and can be hidden, deleted, or modified (by double-clicking their names) at any time:

Can I hear a wahoo???

Other cool things about Smart Objects:

You can copy a Smart Filter with all its settings to another layer by alt+click+dragging it over

You can change the order in which Smart Filters are applied by clicking and dragging them around

You can edit a smart object independently/in a sort of 'isolated' mode by double-clicking on its thumbnail!! I like to use this for edits that are specific to a given screencap-- like cutting out the background and any initial adjustments, like levels and selective coloring. Once you’re done editing the contents of the smart object, hit ctrl+s and it will automatically update in the main document!

But really, the biggest thing for me here is psychological. I know I’m much more willing to try things and experiment when I know that I can easily go back and tweaks things at any time. Otherwise, I’d stick with adjustments I don’t really like all that much simply because it would take too much time/effort to redo them.

3. Don't even THINK ABOUT using the eraser tool or I will STOMP YOU to death with my hooves!!

Use a layer mask instead. Please I am begging you. It all comes back to making your edits as non-destructive as possible. If you erase something, it's gone forever. When you mask something, you can make changes to which parts are visible/not visible as often as you want.

For the newbies or the otherwise unacquainted, a mask is a greyscale ‘map’ attached to a layer (or layer group) that controls its opacity. Black areas give the layer 0% opacity, white areas will give it 100% opacity, and you can use shades of grey to achieve partial transparency. You ‘draw’ on these layers with the your trusty brush and paint bucket tools.

You can create a mask by selecting a layer and then clicking the little mask icon at the bottom of the layers panel (it’s the one with the little circle inside the box). Draw black on the parts you want to hide, and if you erase too much on accident? Just paint back over it with white!

I love masks, and sometimes i will throw an already masked layer inside a layer group and apply a second mask to said group. This way I have two masks that can be edited independently from each other. Like layer mask-ception.

So anyway, yes. Eraser tool? Don’t know her.

4. Try using channels to create masks!

This is a technique that works REALLY well for cutting out complex shapes, such as wispy hair (or feathers!) -- provided there's strong contrast between the subject and the background, and the background isn't too busy.

This is also a fantastic method for capturing alpha transparency. For example: If you have a neato paint stroke/splatter/watercolor texture you want to use as a mask, but has a solid background that’s getting in the way of things. This method will capture all the semi-opaque areas flawlessly!!

While editing your image (which you had better have made into a Smart Object!!!) do the following:

Switch from the "layers" panel to the "Channels" panel.

Toggle through the R, G, and B channels, and decide which one has the most contrast for the areas you are trying to mask.

Ctrl+Click that channel's thumbnail. This will create a selection marquee.

Switch back to the layers panel

Click on the target layer/group (the one you are trying to mask)

Click the mask icon at the bottom of the panel (the one with the circle inside a box)

Release the selection and invert the mask if necessary

If you're using this method to cut out a subject from its background, you probably won't want alpha transparency. In this case, select the mask thumbnail and use a levels adjustment on the mask itself to bump the contrast until you have more of a cutout effect!

It sounds like a lot of steps, but it’s really simple! So I made this handy GIF: (click to view from beginning)

Sometimes you won’t want to use this method for the entire image, but just a specific part. For example, if you’ve cut out a character with some other method (magic wand, manual brushwork), but are having a hard time with their hair in particular. Use this method to create the selection, but instead of converting the whole selection into a mask, use the brush tool to apply the mask only where you need it! You can invert the selection itself with shift+ctrl+i.

5. Outlining text

The font I used here is Salomé, which is actually a solid typeface with no outlined version. But you can make virtually any font into an outlined version if you so desire!

There's two possible methods here, actually:

The Easy Way:

Add a stroke layer effect to the text layer (by selecting the layer, clicking the little “fx” button at the bottom of the layers panel, and choosing “Stroke...”)

As far as settings go, aligning the stroke to the inside usually yields the best result/maintains the integrity of the letterforms.

Make the color of the text itself match the background.

If necessary, use the lighten/darken blend modes to create the illusion of transparency.

If you need true transparency (which I didn't until I decided I wanted to apply a gradient over the text), you'll have to try something else-- The Also Easy But Less Than Ideal Way:

Right click the text layer in the layers panel and select "convert to shape".

Now you can edit the fill/stroke the same way you would any other vector shape.

Again, you’ll want to set the stroke alignment to ‘inside’. For vector shapes, those settings are a little hidden. You’ll wanna open up that little dropdown in the toolbar with the line in it, and click “More Options”.

This is semi-destructive, so if you're working with a lot of text you might have to edit later, consider duplicating and hiding those text layers first so you'll have a 'backup' of it.

And while I’m on the topic of text...

6. Try breaking up your text layers!

I know a lot of people like to draw a neat little text box to put their text in, and then they center it all nice and neat and probably use a small font size to make it subtle and stuff... and that’s cool. Everyone’s got their different styles and things they like to emphasize in their edits and there’s absolutely merit to that sort of thing (case and point: the bulk of my dear @herzdieb’s work), but. Listen.

I love typography. I love a good typeface. The stroke widths, the letterforms, the ligatures, the serifs... I get like, horny on main for a good typeface. I like to make the text on my edits BIG, so that those details can shine. I also like doing interesting things with the text. Jumbling words/letters around, distorting them, deconstructing them and just...  letting the text really ~interact with the rest of the composition instead of just kinda politely floating on top of it.

I’m not saying you have to do that kinda stuff. Or that I think neat little floaty text boxes are boring, or lazy, or whatever. It’s just... personally, I get really inspired by type. Fun type treatments are one of those things I LIVE FOR, something of a ~signature of mine, and I encourage everyone to just... try it? To use text as more of an integral Design Element and less of a... idk. A caption?

So if you have a quote, or even just a word... put each word (or letter) on its own text layer. And then: make ‘em different sizes. Make the words so big they don’t fit on the canvas. Rotate each one at a fun angle. Scatter them around. Go nuts. Use masks to chop parts of the letterforms off. Make ‘em overlap. Just have at it. Or, as the kids these days are saying: go absolutely fuckin feral.

If that really just isn’t your style, or doesn’t work/make sense for the edit you’re doing, fine. Delete all the layers and just do a text box or whatever. But. I’m tellin u.

Give it a try.

At least once.

Just... a lil taste.

7. Understand the difference between lighten/darken vs screen/multiply

For a while in my photoshoppin' youth, my understanding of these blend modes basically amounted to "darken makes things darker, and multiply makes things really darker", and vice versa for lighten/screen. But there's an important difference between how these blend modes work, and if you understand them, you can use them more... strategically? I guess?

Darken and Lighten are kinda misnomers tbh, because they technically don't really darken or lighten anything. What they actually do is make it so that only the areas of the layer that are darker or lighter than the content of the layers beneath them are visible. This produces some pretty nifty layering effects that you can't achieve with screen and multiply.

Here’s an example: (if you’re reading this on a phone with the brightness dimmed down you probably won’t be able to see the differences)

Without any the texture applied, you can really see the noise/graininess of Crowley’s jacket in the screencap. You can also see the ‘seam’ where Crowley fades into the background-- the jacket is a green-ish black, while the background it’s fading into is more of a purple-black.

With the texture set to ‘Screen’, the whole image becomes lighter across the board. Crowley’s jacket gets lighter, and so does Aziraphale’s jacket and the pink cloud thing. This does little to nothing to obscure the poor image quality and disguise that ‘seam’.

But with the ‘Lighten’ blend mode, ONLY the dark parts of the image appear lightened, and not only do they appear lightened, but they get kinda equalized. Notice how the patchy jpeg artifacts on Crowley’s jacket disappear, how that color seam smooths out, and how the brightness of Aziraphale’s jacket and the pink cloud doesn’t change at all.

This isn’t to say that lighten/darken are better and that you shouldn’t use screen/multiply. They each have their uses. But most often, I find myself using lighten/darken because the way they work is honestly really helpful? And just cool af?

8. Masking individual frames on gifs

If you ever feel like torturing yourself by making a gif that has frame-by-frame masking, my advice is don't try to mask each frame from scratch. You'll get patchy/wobbly results from the masks being slightly different on each frame.

Instead, mask the first frame, then alt+click and drag that mask onto the next frame. Make any minor adjustments to the new mask as needed, and repeat for each frame. This saves time and more importantly, keeps the masking consistent on areas with little to no movement, which makes a HUGE difference in how smooth the final product will be.

If you look at the edges of the animation, they’re nice and steady and consistent. It’s only the parts that have a lot of movement (like the back of his neck) where you can see any ‘ghosting’/wobbly-ness happening.

Sometimes the mask will move when I copy it to the next frame. Like, for the whole document. It gets nudged 20 pixels down or to the left or s/t every time. I have yet to figure out why, but I’m betting it has something to do with shooting myself in the foot with the frame 1 propagation settings at some point during editing?? ANYWAY, when this happens, just unlock the mask from its layer (click the little chain icon between their thumbnails) and move it back into place.

In these cases, I also like to pick a spot with a hard edge (such as the shoulder in the above gif) as a reference point of where it needs to be moved to. It kinda sucks having to do this for every frame, but you already signed up for some suckage when u decided to mask every frame of a gif, so I mean... 👀

9. Don't be afraid/too intimidated to do manips as needed!

Manips can be tricky if you're really striving for realism. There's light sources and color grading and perspectives to reconcile!! But when you're doing an artsy Edit with a capital E, odds are those kinds of discrepancies will be thoroughly camouflaged by all the levels, black and white, etc adjustments you're doing!

Something I run into often is, "I like this screencap, but the top of their head/hair is chopped off :(" But if I go back through all the screencaps from the scene, there's usually another frame where the camera is planned/zoomed out enough that I can steal the rest of their head/limb from it! And since it's from the same scene/shot, the lighting and color grading should already be a perfect match!

A super simple example:

So I wanted to use this picture of David and Michael for this edit, but 1) They’re standing on the wrong sides for their characters, and 2) part of David’s arm is covered up by Michael’s.

Of course, the easiest course of action would be to just mirror the photo so they’re on the correct sides, but 1) mirroring faces tends to yield wonky results, and 2) that still wouldn’t give me a perfect, free-standing cutout of Crowley to place wherever I want in my composition (as opposed to being forced to awkwardly position him off the edge of the canvas to hide the fact that the other arm is missing)

Fortunately, it only took all of like, two (2) minutes to draw a crude selection around his good arm, copy and paste it into a new layer, flip it around, and add any necessary masking to get the shape right.

My point here isn’t to teach y’all how to do manips, or to pass this off as an impressive example of one. Because it’s really, REALLY not. My point here is to demonstrate that even something as tiny and simple as this can really open up your options for what you can actually do with an edit/composition.

So next time you’re feeling limited/inconvenienced by the crop of a screencap, just... you know. Consider whether or not it’s worth attempting a quick and dirty manip to fix it.

Another Example:

Sometimes you’re torn between two screencaps. You like one element from Screencap A but also want some other element from Screencap B. What to do? Just frankenstein ‘em together. Layer one on top of the other, get them lined up, and mask out the necessary parts.

It’s easy to get hung up on stuff like “Uh... should Crowley’s shoulder be doing that?” but let me assure you that like... the people looking at the final product are none the wiser to your butcherwork and will not notice. Especially if you’re going to add a bunch of contrast and color adjustments later on. (in fact, sometimes I’ll apply those adjustments first so I’m not distracted by any discrepancies that are going to come out in the wash anyway)

“I dunno... 🤔🤔 doesn’t seem anatomically correct... 🤔🤔🤔🤔” thought no one.

Point is... point is... dolphins you can get away with a LOT more than you think you can. Don’t let the desire to make these kinds of manips perfect get in the way of just... making them good enough. The bar isn’t that high, I promise.

10. Know what inspires you

What types of edits get you EXCITED? What kind of work do you see on your dash and go, "oh, I'm reblobbin' THAT!!1!"

I know for herzdieb, she's all about emotional pieces. She likes matching words/lyrics/poetry to on-screen moments and punching you in the feels with both. She hears a song, or reads a poem, and the lightbulbs go off for her, and she does her thing.

As for myself, I just live for the aesthetics of an edit. The colors, the fonts, the composition. I almost never know what text/screencaps I'm going to use when I start an edit. I just see a font I like, or a color palette, or a texture, and think, "I wanna use that!"

And once you know what inspires you, collect that inspo! I hoard textures and fonts. I have them organized into neat lil folders. When I wanna make an edit, that’s where I start. I just browse through them all until one or two start calling my name. Herzdieb collects songs and quotes and poems. Maybe your thing is color palettes, or aesthetic-y photos. Or whatever.

The point here is make the kinda stuff you like/want to see. Not the kinda stuff everyone else is making or the kinda stuff you notice gets the most notes.

11. Be able to let go of things that aren't working

I often begin an edit with a rough idea of the style, colors, or layout I'm going for. And I almost always end up doing... something totally different.

So don't get too fixated on what your initial ideas are. Be open to experimenting and just let the edit be what it wants to be. If something looks nice, do it. If it doesn't, don't try to force it just because, "well, I was inspired by this piece that did xyz and I wanna try it too".

When you see a certain effect that inspires you, just keep it in mind as a possible solution for the next time you make something-- don't make it into a benchmark, or some imaginary 'goal' you have to meet for This Edit You Are Working On Right This Moment. In fact, sometimes the elements I end up ditching are the very ones I started with, that initially sparked my inspiration. And that's okay. Inspiration can be a moving target, and if your vision for something changes, let it.

You wanna know what inspo reference I was looking at when I started that “Temptation Accomplished” edit?

Fucking this: https://search.muz.li/YTdiNjkwN2Rh

You might be thinking, “how the fUCK was that the inspiration??!! Your edit looks nothing like that at all!” ...and you would be 100% correct, and that is 100% my point. I spent a good hour or two trying to incorporate that cutout text layering effect before finally accepting the fact that it just wasn’t working for the edit I was making. And it wasn’t until then that it actually started to come together.

12. Be patient, and take the time to explore all your options!

I’m not gonna lie, y’all. I spend hours on my edits. I usually complete them over the course of 2-3 days/sittings. I rarely have a plan. 99% of the time I'm just throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks. When I get stuck (when, not if), it helps to step away from it and come back later with a fresh perspective/set of eyes.

Every single edit I've posted, I have at some point felt like giving up on because I thought it looked like garbage (and not just because I was being self-deprecating/doubting myself, but because at those points, they simply weren't finished/something about the composition just wasn't working for me)

Work through those moments, and if necessary, take a break/sleep on it. It's always after I've exhausted my early ideas that the really good ones start to come to mind!

Here’s how the character poster edits I did progressed:

In Classic Me™ Fashion, I literally started off with just... textures I liked, and a font that I liked. Now, there were obviously a lot more ‘steps’ involved in both designs, but hopefully at the very least this gives a sense of how things get from point A to point B.

So uh... thanks 4 comin 2 my TED talk. I hope u learned at least one (1) cool new thing or maybe just feel vaguely inspired by this rambling mess?

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

alright well i work best under pressure so given that i now have an hour and 20 minutes before i start a voice call with someone i think it’s the perfect time to do that one video analysis so i can actually start finishing up that maya post... man i really should’ve pumped that shit out earlier, but i kept procrastinating until we got new info. then more new info. and i mean we DO have lots of new updated info, bc i have a whole thing in there about Punk girl i gotta edit out now lmao

anyway

Zane Flynt? this trailer killed me, it’s the only thing i’ve watched all day. like. on repeat.

ive said it before and ill say it again, 3 months ago i call zane attractive on reddit and get ridiculed but then we find out he’s an irish bastard and everyone jumps on the fuck train

anyway

elpis is looking good and not explody/teleporty, so that’s always a good sign

so the locale plus the twang immediately had me thinking of lynchwood but that’s not right

the bar itself looks a lot like that mine area we see, so i’d be willing to guess it’s nearby, you know, if it’s an area in the game at all lmao

like the windows are similar plus the wood

the bar itself is giving me some mixed signals here, but im gonna bet it was taken over by the CoV from the crimson raiders (recruitment banner, but then the CoV logo is on the wall/screen over there)

That, plus the rose on the counter next to Zane seems sus

another mine looking building in the back

also lmao

it’s time to enter the BONEEEE ZONNEEE

no more DAHL dumpsters? F

okay this area looks super familiar

that plus the varkids, this is 100% the same place as this

which is interesting

looks like Zane’s been hanging out on Pandora for a while... kinda upset we didn’t hear about his brothers at all in this trailer, but it was still fuckin hilarious and well worth the wait

those canisters? vats? look like the ones near the burger launcher vid hang on

also some in the back here

so yeah more than likely the same area

also

`lines up the perfect shot`

`completely missed both shots`

lovey, bravo, champagne, sloooow clap

anyway i’d wager this is an old dahl mining camp? probably mining for iridium

you can see the 

conveyor belt thingie here

and also all the minecarts and rails are very reminiscent of the caustic caverns

which probably would have dropped iridium into the vat below it, if said vat wasn’t tipped over onto its side

more shots of the building he’s in

closeup of the rails. which, weird as it sounds, is really great to see because sometimes in bl2 and even tps when you got super close up to a texture, it wouldn’t look too hot, even on the best settings. the textures in 3 are so CRISP i love them

varkid 🤮 i hate bugs. model looks fantastic tho! i just... hate bugs

see the camera is flipped upside down, so miles this cultist is not falling, he’s rising- he’s being lifted up

how nice

im getting percy jackson flashbacks here. this is 100% how clarisse shoved percy into the toilet, right?

with the way the cultist isn’t even trying to get out im afraid zane just shoved a corpse into the dook hut. i mean all the power to ya, man

he’s stuck

also

this building in the back is new

i won’t say it

you know what im thinking

i won’t say it

i promise

~smile~

there’s also what i think is a smiley face sticker on the wall to his right

water physics lookin fine 👌

also the way zane jumps back. bonelesspotter i know you read these, are you picking up what i’m putting down?

MAGIC CUP MAGIC CUP ALL HAIL

see the lack of drink is supposed to parallel hi s lack of companio- im sorry hahahaaha i can’t do this

rose. it’s a SIGN

there’s so much going on in the background here lemme just

im sitting here like >:( because i know i’ve seen that type of wall before and for the life of me can’t remember where

my brain is screaming sanctuary

the actual middle piece looks super familiar

is that what they attach the out of bounds turrets to? possibly.

this bit

also it looks like there’s a dam or something in the back back?

tbh im a lot more interested in the skyway all the way at the top, it reminds me a lot of bloodshot ramparts

cuz it also used to be a skyway

also zane is doing his pose for the main menu screen of the game

and i would say it’s possible this could’ve been the main menu, but the cliff is different, and there’s supposed to be a boxcar/shipping crate on the right (as when u go to options it moves over to it)

more vats! what is the deal with this mine? why is it featured so heavily in this video gearbox tell me your s e c r e t s

you’d think, with zane being the one who’s been around the proverbial block over his years, he’d be on multiple planets throughout his entire trailer. but like 80% of it is pandora. maybe the other VHs are getting featured on other planets? at least he has a reason to be on pandora outside of the main story (maybe looking for his brothers, maybe trying to piss on their graves, who knows)

i don’t know what he’s reaching for but uh

perhapeth the blades are activated by swinging his arm out? could be a hold over from when they were like... actual metal blades and needed to be knocked out into position

i love that he returns the wave after shoving this guy off the cliff

it’s not like he can see you man

go off i guess though

some bar on eden-6 (finally! a new planet!) also i like that the theme here is zane getting into fights in bars. good shit boys

get wrecked kid

i really like the design of this building. i love the windows. maybe part of jakobs manor? looks like maybe it’s a greenhouse or smth given it’s in this garden/courtyard area

which should look somewhat familiar

looks very similar to this area, but it doesn’t look like there’s a building on the left in this shot. maybe they added it in for the trailer 🤷‍♂️

the trees behind the big one (and next to the iron wrought fence) match up perfectly tho

i just really like this shot ngl

i love these fuckign expressions i cant

Friend

okay im sorry here’s a smiley boy

the facial animations are so fucking good this time around

that is all i am doing.

just appreciating the new animations.

SOMEONE HELP THIS TINY MAN HE’S TRAPPED IN A SQUARE

fuck dude we didn’t deserve this man

MAGIC CUP MAGIC CUP ALL HAIL

seriously tho, the glass is gone. idk where it went. im just gonna pretend he was practicing that one iconic Kingsman scene while talking to himself and providing us with flashbacks

manners.

maketh.

man.

also this is my new favorite reaction image

it’s ‘perfect in every way’

you want more booze?

what are your thoughts on the new guns?

where’d you hide the body?

(it’s in the dumpster)

also unlike the magic cup

the rose is still here

Cultist coming to see why the windows of their bar are glowing neon yellow and blue im sure

>shit

it’s cool to know the clone can actually emote

given in the So Happy Together it was basically an expressionless blue demon

still no cup. all hail

some more CoV graffiti!

boops

i am sad we didn’t get to see zoomer in this video at all

zoomer is cute

i like zoomer

anyway

that’s all for the trailer folks

i love the implication that he’s just sitting in this empty CoV bar, talking to himself, waiting for someone to notice and come confront him so he can kick their asses.

anyway this post 100% wasn’t an excuse to rewatch the entire trailer frame by frame or anything

maya post coming soon! wahoo

also i have 10 minutes left lmao nice