#but I used a video downloader and got it through youtube because it's available for free through there

[lamarie-artsy]

I spent today looking for a media player that'll let me play from where I last left off (found one, it's called media player classic) and consolidating some more werewolf worldbuilding. I also turned a passage from a poem into a zine, but that didn't really take that long.

[0sbrain]

here's a list of mozilla add-ons for all of you tumblrinas out there to have a better internet experience

also, if you like my post, please reblog it. Tumblr hates links but i had to put them so you adhd bitches actually download them <3 i know because i am also adhd bitches

BASIC STUFF:

AdGuard AdBlocker / uBlock Origin : adguard is a basic adblock and with origin you can also block any other element you want. for example i got rid of the shop menu on tumblr

Privacy Badger : this add on will block trackers. if an element contains a tracker it will give you the option to use it or not

Shinigami Eyes: this will highlight transphobic and trans friendly users and sites using different colors by using a moderated database. perfect to avoid terfs on any social media. i will explain how to use this and other add-ons on android as well under the read more cut

THINGS YOU TUMBLINAS WANT:

Xkit: the best tumblr related add on. with many customizable options, xkit not only enhances your experience from a visual standpoint, but provides some much needed accessibility tools

bonus: if you are into tf2 and wanna be a cool cat, you can also get the old version to add cool reblog icons

AO3 enhancer: some basic enhancements including reading time and the ability to block authors and tags

YOUTUBE

Return of the YouTube Dislike : pretty self explanatory

Youtube non-stop: gets rid of the annoying "Video paused. Continue watching?" popup when you have a video in the background

SponsorBlock: gives you options to skip either automatically or manually sponsors, videoclip non music sectors and discloses other type of sponsorships/paid partnerships

Enhancer for YouTube: adds some useful options such as custom play speed, let's you play videos in a window and most important of all, it allows you to make the youtube interface as ugly as your heart desires. I can't show a full image of what it looks like because i've been told its eye strainy and i want this post to be accessible but look at this <3

PocketTube: allows you to organize your subscriptions into groups

YouTube Comment Search: what it says

FINDING STUFF

WayBack Machine: you probably know about this site and definitely should get the add on. this allows you to save pages and access older versions with the click of a button. while you can search wayback using web archives, please get this one as well as it allows you to easily save pages and contribute to the archive.

Web Archives: it allows you to search through multiple archives and search engines including WayBack Machine, Google, Yandex and more.

Search by Image: allows you to reverse image search using multiple search engines (in my experience yandex tends to yield the best results)

Image Search Options: similar to the last one

this next section is pretty niche but... STEAM AND STEAM TRADING

SteamDB: adds some interesting and useful statistics

Augmented Steam: useful info specially for browsing and buying games

TF2 Trade Helper: an absolute godsend, lets you add items in bundles, keeps track of your keys and metal and your recent trades, displays links to the backpack tf page next to users profiles and more. look it tells me how much moneys i have and adds metal to trades without clicking one by one oh may god

IN CONCLUSION: oooooh you want to change to firefox so badly, you want to delete chrome and all the chrome clones that are actually just spyware and use firefox

HOW TO USE MOZILLA ADD-ONS ON YOUR PHONE

if you already use firefox on android, you'll know there are certain add-ons compatible with the app, some of them even being made just for the mobile version such as Video Background Play FIx. while most of them are pretty useful, some more specific ones aren't available on this version of the browser, but there's a way of getting some of them to work

you need to download the firefox nightly app, which is basically the same as the regular firefox browser but with the ability of activating developer mode. you can find how to do that here. once you've enabled it, you need to create a collection with all the add ons you want. i wouldn't recommend adding extensions if the creators haven't talked about phone compatibility, but XKit and Shinigami Eyes should work

also, don't tell the government this secret skater move, but you can try using both the regular firefox browser and nightly so you can have youtube videos in a floating box while you browse social media.

see? i can block this terf while Rick Rolling the people following this tutorial. isn't that tubular?

[winter-seance]

GIF Tutorial

This is going to be a long post, so I'm going to place the majority of it under the cut.

Disclaimer - There are many ways to make gifs, and this is just one way to make them - it's the process that I have figured out works best for me. I am in no way claiming that this is the "definitive" or "best" way to make gifs. There are probably other, better ways to do things, but because people have asked how I do it, I am sharing my process.

Introduction I use a Mac. I am assuming most of this will also be applicable to those of you using Windows as well. This tutorial is divided into three parts. Here is a video of the following process as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBRbWC-iMOM

Actions I use three Actions, that you can download here through my Google drive, if you want. A tutorial for how to install Actions in Photoshop can be found here.

Photoshop Layout I use Photoshop CC, but I used Photoshop CS5 for years, got used to it, so when I upgraded to CC, I arranged it to resemble what I was used to.

I have the following windows open:

And they are arranged like this:

PART ONE - CLIPPING Part 1 consists of using a screen recorder (i.e., Quicktime) to make short clips of scenes or parts of a scene that you want to make gifs of. I have a Mac, so Quicktime is what I use. For Windows users, I’m sure there are equivalent alternatives that are just as good. Years ago, when I was first starting to make gifs, I frequently heard people refer to KMPlayer as what they used, so that might still be a good option for you if you are a Windows user. The most important part is that it takes high-quality recordings, with as little detail and quality loss as possible.

With this screen recording method, you can make screen recordings of video files that are stored locally on your computer (I use VLC to play videos), or streaming on sites like YouTube, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney+, HBO, etc. No downloading of the video is necessary. For some of those websites, if you have trouble with getting it to work, you may have to disable your browser’s hardware acceleration. This process is described here (https://www.theverge.com/23715928/netflix-amazon-prime-screenshot-mac-windows-how-to).

I record the clips with sound, to make it easier to transcribe/write out the dialogue in Photoshop later. When I have recorded all the clips I want, I put the clips into my folder where I store all my clips, and into another folder that is labelled with the episode number so I can remember where each clip came from in order to properly label them later when the time comes to upload them to Tumblr.

Example: A folder containing clips from Good Omens 2x01

PART TWO: EXTRACTING/MAKING GIFS FROM THE CLIPS

Open video file in Photoshop To do this, click on File > Import > Video Frames to Layers

Use the markers to select roughly where you want the gif to begin and end.

With videos that have been clipped with Quicktime (not sure about other programs), the vast majority of the time there are twice as many frames as needed – every other frame is a duplicate. For a smaller gif size and smoother playback, I delete every other frame in the timeline box at the bottom of the screen. I used to do this manually (very time consuming), but now do it with the use of an action that I created that will automatically select every other frame. Downloads and installation instructions for all the actions I use are available above.

To use an action, click on the title of the action, then click the play button at the bottom of the window.

I often get an error message that says “The command ‘Extend Frame Selection’ is not currently available”, but it still works. Just click “stop” and every other frame will be selected.

Click the trash can icon in the timeline window to delete the selected frames.

At this point, you will have half as many frames in your timeline as you did before. You will also likely have extra frames at both the beginning and end of the timeline that you don’t want to be part of the gif – from the previous shot, for example. You can delete those now.

This next step is optional: There will still be some duplicate frames in the timeline that were not deleted earlier. It is not strictly necessary to delete these, and I see many gifmakers who don’t get rid of them. It’s usually not all that noticeable. However, because I’m a bit of a perfectionist, I always go through the timeline frame-by-frame and delete each duplicate. This ultimately will reduce the gif’s file size and make the movement in the gif appear much smoother. I usually find that every fourth or fifth frame is a duplicate. Unfortunately, it’s not always consistent, so using an automated action would not work to make this process go faster.

Cropping Once this part is complete, I select the crop tool. I usually make my gifs 540px wide by 350px high. You can change the height to whatever you want, but Tumblr’s max width is 540px. I find the aspect ratio of 540x350px usually allows gifs to feel large, while at the same time not cutting off too much of the sides. Depending on the type of gif I’m making I may adjust this, but generally, if I’m giffing a scene from a TV show or movie, I stick with my standard 540x350px dimensions.

Adding Text Next, I add text. Select the text icon. In the layers window, make sure the top layer is selected, otherwise the text will not show up when you start typing.

The top layer is selected

These are the font settings I currently use:

If I am just making one gifset, or one or two gifs, I’ll go straight on to the next steps. However, if I’m making a large amount of gifs, I save the gif right now, close out of it, and repeat the steps in this section for the next gifs, so I eventually have an entire folder of “raw” unedited photoshop files that have been cropped and captioned, and just need to be colored, have text effects added, and be sharpened. For me personally, I find I make gifs more efficiently by doing it in this “batch” style process.

All cropped and unedited gifs (psd files)

PART 3: COLORING, EFFECTS, & SHARPENING

Coloring I do plan on making a separate tutorial on this at some point, but will include a brief summary here. When it comes to coloring, I generally tend to go by a “less is more” attitude. I am not by any means great at coloring, but nonetheless I’ll explain the types of adjustment layers I typically use.

Note: Before making any adjustments, make sure you have the layer directly underneath the text layer selected, as shown in the screencap below, otherwise it will also apply those adjustments to the text, which makes it look weird.

I start with a Curves layer to change the overall brightness/contrast, then a Levels layer to adjust the shadows and highlights, and then a Brightness/Contrast layer to do some final minor tweaks. The only time I ever reuse gif coloring is when they are from the same scene with the same colors, lighting, backgrounds, etc. Every other time, I tailor the adjustment layers to the specific gif.

You can add adjustment layers by clicking the half light/dark circle on the bottom of the Layers window.

How the gif looks with both a Curves layer and Levels layer

Before adding the adjustment layers

After adding the adjustment layers

A lot of the time, I'll just stick to adjusting the lighting. However, if the colors look gross, or if they are over/undersaturated, I’ll add a Color Balance layer and play around with the settings on that, or use a Hue/Saturation layer and increase/decrease the saturation of specific color channels. It really depends on what you’re going for, and what you think looks good. There is no one “right” way to color a gif.

Text Effects If you are using the Actions I included in the download, you can just run the "Text Effects" action with the text layer selected, and it will do the following automatically. If not, you can do it manually by doing the following.

Right click on the text layer in the Layers window and click on Blending Options.

I use a stroke and drop-shadow on my gifs. Here are the settings I use.

Drop Shadow settings

Stroke settings

Next, to center the text, click on the text layer. With the text layer selected on the Layers window, Select All by clicking ctrl+a (Windows) or command+a (Mac). Then click on the "Align horizontal centers" icon in the “Move tool” option menu.

Important – in the Layers menu, make sure the buttons “Unify layer position” and “unify layer effects” are clicked an enabled for the text layer.

Sharpening Select all the frames in the Timeline window. Then in the lower left-hand corner click “convert to video timeline.”

In the Layers window, select all of the frame layers (do not include the text layer or adjustment/coloring layers in the selection) and right click on it. Select “Convert to smart object.”

Select Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen. In the same way that coloring can differ depending on the gif, the ideal settings for sharpening can also differ from gif-to-gif. It can really depend on the quality of the source of the gif, like whether it’s HD or not. These are the settings I’m using for the current gif:

If you are using Actions, you can run the "Layers to Frames" Action. If not, do the following:

Click on the button circled in red

It will open up this menu. Click on "Flatten frames into clips"

Click the button circled in red, then click "Make frames from layers"

Delete the first couple of "junk" frames

Select all of the frames. Right click on the "0 sec." to change the frame rate. I usually use 0.05, but it might depend on the gif itself.

Exporting Click on File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy)

I cannot add another screencap because I've reached Tumblr's max for this post, but here are the settings I use: Selective Diffusion 256 Colors Dither 100%

You may find that when you try to export your gif, the file size is too big. Tumblr’s gif file size limit is 10mb – try to make it under that – even anywhere in the 9.9mb range. As long as it’s under 10mb, it should work.

To get gifs that are too large to fit under the limit, I usually end up deleting frames from the beginning or end of the gif. If you’re using the 540x350px dimensions, I typically find that the average number of frames I can fit into one gif is between 80-90. Depending on the colors in the gif, it’s sometimes more, sometimes less.

[valeriefauxnom]

Niche Dragalia Animation!

So, as we all know, Dragalia didn't exactly use many animations. Sure, they did a bit of it for promotional videos, and a bit more with playing around with models or artwork in story cutscenes, etc, but for the actual sort of 'TV animations' you'd see, it, was, uh, almost nonexistent.

Closest we got was having a few wyrmprints drawn by ufotable, the animation company, to give us a hint of what a Dragalia animation might look in their style. They drew Dragon Brethren, Worthy Rivals, To the Extreme!, and Levin's Champion.

But! Completely forgotten by me, I happened to find this little gem again, after catching snippets another was using that I had absolutely no idea where it came from! I was at my wits' end trying to figure out where it had originated from, since it certainly looked official instead of a fan project, even searching through the JP youtube channel for Dragalia, etc, to no avail. I was preparing a whole tumblr post that was essentially a call for help to see if anyone else had any earthly idea where this came from, it was that bad.

And then, in Notte's wise words, BOOM, there it was!

Turns out the video hints I saw someone else using were from the small movie they played at the very very end of chapter 6, after Euden's announcement of New Alberia, all that. Did you guys forget this as thoroughly as I had?

I'm guessing I totally forgot it because chapter 6 was the last chapter released with the game at launch, so I played it in the first few days/weeks, and never saw it again. And since they never used it in any other sort of promotional media, I completely blanked on it. Whatever the case, I hope someone else enjoys the glimpse of Dragalia, animated, as I did!

(Gotta say though, Phares, I know it's dark and shadows of candlelight and all that but you should go to bed before you trip over the umpteen candles in the room and start a fire, bud)

Also, I love how dragons in Dragalia were generally seemed to be a 'human and a half to 2x' sized, or even smaller for the really humanoid ones and the baby dragons, except when they inexplicably made them absolutely massive to look cool. Think Midgardsormr in the download movie and Mars in this animation!

...Honestly I wonder if this was ufotable that animated this? Who knows?

In any case, there's another episode of niche (or what I think might be) Dragalia art!

[walkawaytall]

i would love to hear more about your opinions on LM Montgomery's works 👀

Oh, hi! Thanks for dropping me a note. So, I really have only read her Anne books (and, oddly, have yet to read Rilla of Ingleside). I enjoyed them as a preteen, and Anne was one of several fictional redheads that made me want red hair so badly as a kid :D.

I really started to love the books a lot more as an adult. I was working a job that involved a lot of sort of mindless work, which allowed me to listen to audiobooks and podcasts. I got hooked on LibriVox, which is a site that offers free audiobooks of works in the public domain, read by volunteers. I specifically really liked dramatic readings, and thoroughly enjoyed the Anne books that were available via dramatic reading (as well as Little Women and Pride and Prejudice).

I really enjoyed all of the books, but Anne of the Island and Anne's House of Dreams were my favorite. All the girls at Patty's Place in Anne of the Island reminded me a bit of this house I lived in shortly after moving out of my parents' house for good. I lived there with some women I knew through school and church, and we were all varying levels of friends. It was a really sweet, fun time, and I love being reminded of those years.

But, I'm also all for emotional works, and I think that's why I love Anne's House of Dreams best. I really like Anne and Gilbert together, I like the domesticity of them building a life together after they get married in this new place, and I really like all of the new characters as well. Additionally, I like the way the book handled death and tragedy. Anne's proclamation after the loss of Joyce that, "The thought that it may stop hurting sometimes hurts me worse than all else[...]", is something I think anyone who has lost a loved one can relate to. Some of the plot points are a bit more fantastical than the other books, but I still really enjoy it. I like when things work out in the end, even if there is a great deal of heartbreak in the midst of a story, and I think Anne's House of Dreams does just that.

Oh, and since it's on topic, I thought I might share this YouTube channel that I really enjoyed back when they were actively posting videos. Green Gables Fables is a modern take on some of the Anne books, told via vlog, similar to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (though, GGF was done by a bunch of students -- it is admittedly much lower-budget and less-polished than LBD, but I still think it's great). I highly suggest watching using the playlists for Season One and Season Two, as these contain vlogs by characters other than Anne that help fill out the story and that are easy to miss if you're not aware of all the characters' account names. If you want to like...grow attached to Ruby Gillis, this may be the series for you!

If you're interested in the LibriVox dramatic readings I mentioned, they are here (I usually used the iTunes subscription option, I think, since I was always taught not to just download random files from websites. Haha...But I also have no idea if that still even works.):

Anne of Green Gables

Anne of Avonlea

Anne of the Island

Anne's House of Dreams

The quality of reading varies because these are volunteers, but I really like Arielle Lipshaw, who acts as both narrator and the voice of Anne, so I found them really fun and engaging.

[tinytowns]

hi cotton 🌸 would it be possible to know how you managed to make your header for the mobile version? it looks so good quality it's amazing!

A very messy guide for my mobile header, presented by yours truly. This tutorial has very few visual aids this time around, apart from one video reference. this is because i didn't want to show my computer during the vapoursynth process :((( for this tutorial, you will need to know how to work with blending modes, timeline, clipping masks, and smart objects in ps.

✩ ― programmes ⨾

4K Video Downloader   ( HERE )

Photoshop CS6 

Vapoursynth 64 PORTABLE 200722   ( HERE )

✩ ― setting up ⨾

First we’re going to load up our programmes.  For Vapoursynth I will usually open up two File Explorers,  one with my 4K Video Downloader folder and the other with my Vapoursynth folder. 

I’m unsure how well this tutorial will translate into Photopea. 

✩ ― downloading videos ⨾

Once we’ve got everything open we’re going to find the video we want to edit on Youtube and copy the link into the 4K Video Downloader.  In this tutorial we’ll be using Vernon’s Black Eye M/V.

Heads up,  for my Video Downloader I have smart mode enabled as it saves me an extra unnecessary step of choosing the settings.  You may want to enable this option,  too.   

Mine is set on Any Video & Best Quality. 

When the video has downloaded you’ll find it in File Explorer through videos  &  a folder named 4K Video Downloader.  

To ensure our gif comes out with the best quality possible please make sure you’re using a video from Youtube with at LEAST 1080p.  If 4K is available that’s great.  

✩ ― vapoursynth note ⨾

Now,  this is where Vapoursynth comes in.  It’s not technically necessary for this tutorial,  you could very much do it without Vapoursynth if you just cut your clips in like …. The editor that comes with Windows,  but this is just how I do it because I like the resizer as opposed to the resizer tool in Photoshop. 

Vapoursynth may look intimidating,  but it’s really not.  All you’re doing is copying your code in and letting it encode. 

Be cautious on lower-end computers,   though,  as the fan will make quite a bit of noise for a few seconds to a minute,  depending on how many frames you’re extracting. 

As this is hefty on your computer for a minute,  maybe don’t have a lot of tabs open.  

We’ll get to this step later on,  though.  

✩ ― vapoursynth ⨾

Right now we’re just going to open our two File Explorer folders  -  Vapoursynth  &  4K Video Downloader.  On the Vapoursynth folder scroll down to the very bottom. 

From 4K Video Downloader,  we’re going to locate the M/V we just downloaded and drag + drop it onto “Vapourscript (drop video file on me”. 

From there a small black box will appear.  This is where you will input the timing of whatever you want to clip. 

It’s best to have your M/V open so you can refer to the time - for me,  I wanted to gif the part where Vernon is rubbing his ear and yelling at the camera.

The timing for that was 2:29,  but in Vapoursynth we’re going to write it a little differently.  Please note that I ALWAYS add an extra second at the beginning and the end,  to capture all frames possible.  

so,  instead of my clip starting at 2:29 it’ll start at 2:28. 

Vapoursynth’s format follows an hours, minutes, seconds format. 

00:00:00. 

For a clip that begins at 2:28 on Youtube,  we’re going to type it in like this:

00:02:28

Hours,  minutes,  seconds.

When you’ve input the start time,  hit enter.  Another line will appear,  seemingly asking you to do the same thing - this time we’re going to input the duration of our clip.  How many seconds does the clip we want to gif last?  Again,  I always add an extra second at the end.  

Vernon stops yelling at the camera at 2:31 on Youtube.  This,  from 2:28,  is a difference of 3 seconds.  Add an extra second,  and that’s 4 seconds. 

We’re going to type in, 

00:00:04

And press enter. 

Allow the box to do its thing and soon a new tab should open up in your browser.   Along with it,  Vapoursynth will open up as a programme.  

✩ ― setting up vapoursynth + warning ⨾

If you’ve just downloaded Vapoursynth and yours is BLANK,  press File -> open script -> script.vpy  and that should be it all ready to go. 

If you have any issues then let me know through ask.  

The most important step is to REMOVE the “#” from line 9 beginning with “core.max_cache_size (etc.)”  because if you don’t then Vapoursynth will take a HORRENDOUS amount of time encoding.  You need to do this every time you open Vapoursynth.

It may also freeze your entire computer for several minutes for a few frames if you don't.  It doesn’t break your computer but boy is it a pain in the ass. 

Don’t ever forget to take that pesky “#” out in line 9. 

Back to the resizer. 

✩ ― vapoursynth resizer ⨾

On the left side you’ll see two boxes beside the word “Gif Size” - the sizing I used for my gif, and I believe is the general sizing for mobile headers, is 640x360.

You may notice that the canvas has been resized but your gif hasn’t moved - if you hover on the bottom right edge of your gif your cursor will change. Click on that edge. You can push, pull, drag your gif around.

By clicking it and dragging outward ever so slightly the gif will snap to the size of the canvas.

I usually just leave mine like that.

We’re going to turn our attention to “Preprocessor” and change it to qtgmc 30 fast. Once that’s done we copy the code on the right side.

With your code copied, open that Vapoursynth window sitting in your taskbar. On line 16, where it says, “Whatever you copied from the resizer goes here,” we’ll highlight it and paste our code from the resizer over it.

From there, Script -> Encode video -> change “Export to Gif” to “Export to MOV” and press start.

You might be wondering, we’ll … we’re making a gif so why are we exporting to mov? Answer is, I don’t know. My computer just refuses to export to gif for some odd reason. But I know that it works for some people, if Export to MOV doesn’t work.

When it’s done, keep Vapoursynth open and keep it on the backburner because we’ll need to redo this * vaguely gestures * entire process again from the two folders step for another clip later. Sounds like a pain in the ass, just two minutes in reality.

The entire process summed up is drag, drop, input time & duration, resize it, copy code, paste it into encoder, delete the “#” on line 9, and actually encode it. That’s it. It takes me two minutes.

✩ ― photoshop ⨾

In Photoshop, we’re now going to File -> Import -> Video frames to layers. Navigate through the Vapoursynth folder to Gifs & click on the mov file named “Output”.

Photoshop will open up a little window! It’s not really important what you do here, but you can select where your gif starts and ends. I prefer to do it in photoshop for a more accurate cut, but I do sometimes use it if there’s an annoying amount of frames before the clip i want to edit.

Then it’ll open in Photoshop. We’re going to convert the gif to timeline, select all of our layers with shift+click, right click and select “convert to smart object”.

✩ ― sharpening ⨾

Now, my sharpening settings are available in this post HERE in action form. This is what I used on my header and it’s what I’ll use now.

To use an Action, make sure it’s got a tick next to it on “Window -> Action”.

On the right side of your screen, maybe next to the color wheel / gradient, it’ll look like a play button.

Click on it, navigate to “SHARPEN - tinytowns”, open the little folder up and click on “sharpen your giffies :]” and press the play button which is at the bottom of that window, next to a folder and a circle.

If anything pops up just select Okay.

✩ ― re - do the process ⨾

Now,  our first part is done.  We’re going to re-do the Vapoursynth process for another clip that we’ll overlay.  For me I chose the timestamp 2:47.

Once you’ve imported that clip into Photoshop using the Vapoursynth process,  we’re again going to sharpen the new clip with the action.  

✩ ― blending ⨾

Now,  drag the smart object layer you want to overlay onto the clip we worked with first.  Move it around a little and find a place you think fits well.  Somewhere with empty space usually works best.  

We’re going to fiddle with the blending setting on the overlay layer.  It can be found in the layers tab and will at first be titled “Normal”,  but if we click on it we can scroll through a few different options.  I can’t remember what specifically I used,  but re-making it I’m noting that “Lighting” or “Screen” work best for me.  

Once you’ve settled on your blending,  we’re going to apply a mask to the overlay gif.  To do this look at the bottom of the layers window and you should see a rectangle with a circle in it - next to “fx” and a circle with half-color.  Click on the rectangle with the circle in it and a white box will appear next to your gif in the layers. 

Make sure you’re clicked on to the white rectangle.  If you’re not Photoshop may stop you with a pop-up asking if you want to rasterize the layer - don’t.  That will make your gif stop working.  Always work on the white rectangle. 

With a very soft eraser brush set on 0 hardness and maybe an opacity of 30%,  we’re going to begin gently rubbing at the sides of our gif to blend it in better with the base gif. 

Once you’re happy with the eraser blending we’ll color our gif.  

✩ ― coloring ⨾

For a more vibrant and consistent color I’m adding a Black & White layer on top of my overlay gif and right clicking on the B&W layer and selecting “create clipping mask”. 

Then,  I’m making a new layer and also making a clipping mask for it.  With my selected colour,  I’m literally just coloring in the new layer.  Then we’ll mess around with the blending again - for me,  this time “Overlay”,  “Soft Light,”  or “Color” work best.  Go with whatever pleases your eye more - for me,  I’m going with Soft Light. 

As for our base gif coloring,  I use a combination of curves,  levels,  and selective color to achieve something I’m happy with. I’d recommend putting those layers under your overlay layer so that they only apply to your base gif.  

I won’t get too much into coloring because I’m not actually very good at it.

✩ ― back to frames ⨾

But when you’re done,  make sure your blue tab in the timeline is dragged all the way to the beginning - not sure what it’s called. 

Then select all of your Layers with shift+click and select convert frames -> flatten frames into clips & reselect all of ur layers !! 

then convert frames -> make frames from clip -> convert into frame animation. 

You can actually see this exact process on another tutorial i did linked HERE  &  starting at 01:28

Set the speed of the frames to 0.5

Export that sucker as shown in the video linked above and apply it to your header. If you have any questions or concerns please send me an ask !

[userjohndeacon]

hi! i'm a huge fan of your gifs, especially the queen ones and i was wondering if there's any tips you use, any programs? i want to start giffing but have no idea where to start 😅

aw that's really lovely to hear 💚 i'm still a baby gifmaker really so there isn't a lot that i can provide in terms of advice that hasn't already been said but here's what i got:

the biggest thing to start out with is finding HQ videos, 4K if your computer can handle it but 1080p is still good (it's part of the reason i gif a lot of montreal and budapest because the video quality available is so good). i mostly get my videos from torrenting (like TV shows or movies) or downloading from youtube at the highest quality available (just search "download youtube videos" and use one of the sites)

i've been torrenting since i was like 15 so i've been doing it for awhile, but get yourself a client like bittorrent and a VPN and just dig through the internet. torrent host sites are always being taken down and being put back up so sometimes ya gotta just trial and error it to find the files you're looking for

for screencapping these days i use MPV and a .conf file. here is a good tutorial for that

for the actual editing i use photoshop which i also torrented but if you don't feel like dealing with that process or paying for it outright, there's photopea. my wonderful friend @miwtual started a photopea source blog for tutorials you can check out here

if you are using photoshop, there are like a bazillion tutorials out there on how to upload your screencaps, how to color, how to sharpen, etc etc and those are my lifelines. follow blogs like @pscentral @usergif @gifmakerresource etc and just like dig through all of their tutorials

my biggest advice is follow other creators and share their stuff. you can get lots of inspiration and support from other creators. plus other gifmakers leave the best tags on your edits, like it's pure serotonin

the number one thing to remember is your gifs might be ugly at first and that's so normal and okay. when i was moving blogs and reblogging my old edits over to this blog to have under my edit tag, i fully didn't include a lot of my older edits cuz they were just bad. you'll only get better with practice!!!!

i hope this helps! sometimes the best thing to do is google "gif tutorial tumblr" and just scroll through all the amazing tutorials folks have created over the years. i hope you have so much fun on your giffing journey!!!! 💖💖💖

[magicalgirlmascot]

So uh. I've been moving all my playlists off Spotify and onto YouTube (and downloading the songs ~totally legally~ to have on my computer as well), and largely they're private because they're all OC playlists. HOWEVER. I do have a playlist for KNPS which I felt like people might get a kick out of. So here it is. Several of these were added when I moved the playlist off Spotify since a lot of them aren't available on Spotify, particularly video game soundtracks.

Track list (and reasoning) below the cut.

Move Along by the All-American Rejects I don't think I need to explain this one, actually.

School by Toby Fox (from Deltarune) Also kind of self-explanatory. This is music that I associate with Gali and Lewa's class, specifically.

A New Hero by Nathan Furst (from Mask of Light) I love the MoL soundtrack best of all the Bionicle movie soundtracks, so I had to include some of the songs from it here.

Old Friends (Bookends Theme) by Simon and Garfunkel Technically a harp/violin cover but shhh. Old Friends is a Turaga Metru song if ever there was one. This version is just very pretty :3

Wonderland Round 3 by Griffin McElroy (from The Adventure Zone) I'm gonna be honest I don't have an excuse for this one it just slaps.

As Above, So Below by Essenger and Cryoshell A very recent addition to the playlist. I don't think I need to explain this one either, actually.

Birdhouse in Your Soul by They Might Be Giants Takua song. Could not explain why if I tried.

Dreamer by Supertramp Vakama song, also Takua song. It's about someone with their head in the clouds, which applies to both of them in different (and similar) ways.

Friday I'm in Love by The Cure Matau song. Less in that it represents who he is as a character and more in that he's a classic rock guy who loves wandering into the office singing and whistling incredibly on the nose rock tunes.

Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel Nokama song. Also a Gali song. I mean listen to it, come on.

Rivers in the Desert by Lyn (from Persona 5) Boss music baby!!

Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush Music that Gali listens to when she's sad.

Toa Reunited and Death of Jaller by Nathan Furst (from Mask of Light) This is on here because of the "Toa Reunited" part I swear. Anyway one of my favourite songs on the MoL OST.

Samurai Heart (Some Like it Hot!!) by SPYAIR (from Gintama) Full disclosure I've never watched Gintama. However. Kohatu song.

Starlight Brigade by TWRP I mean. It's a song about saving the world. "I'd gladly give my life for one night as a justice acolyte" is also a banger line ngl

Supernatural Superserious by R.E.M. I associate this with Kopaka for some reason. Couldn't tell you why.

The Prophet's Song by Queen The most Vakama song ever. Written specifically for him everyone say thank you Freddie <3

The Touch by Stan Bush LISTEN.

The Last Desperate Struggle by Masakazu Sugimori (from Ghost Trick) This is the song I had on repeat while writing the "Lewa gets possessed" chapter.

Running in the 90s by Max Coveri Pohatu unironically listens almost exclusively to this kind of music. The man loves him some Eurobeat.

Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce Whenuju song. Was their first dance at their wedding. The lyrics are literally perfect for them. "I've looked around enough to know/you're the one I want to go through time with" IT'S THEM.

Unite (Redux) by Ron Wasserman (from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers) YEAH A POWER RANGERS SONG WHAT ABOUT IT. First of all it's literally called Unite. Secondly Power Rangers and Bionicle are like brothers to me. Third and most important it fucks.

A Town Called Hometown by Toby Fox (from Deltarune) Sweet, quaint small town vibes (which is the point lmao). Fitting given that KNPS takes place in a sweet, quaint small town.

Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There by Lyn (from Persona 5) I associate this with school because it used to be on the playlist I used when I got ready for work in the mornings. It's also a sentiment I can see Gali and Pohatu getting behind.

Wonder by Naughty Boy ft. Emelie Sande I think I first found this song on a Wonder Woman playlist lmao. It's basically about like, personal strength and stuff. Good song.

Working for the Weekend by Loverboy Another song Matau likes to whistle on Fridays.

Beach Chant by Justin Luchter (from MNOLG) Iconic early Bionicle music. Had to include it.

Lost One's Weeping by Afterglow Yes this is a cover of a Vocaloid song and yes it's from a fucking. Band anime or whatever. I like it. Also it's the school trauma song so on the school playlist it goes.

Lucretia by Griffin McElroy (from The Adventure Zone) Look, Lucretia and Nokama are very different people, but there's enough overlap (older female characters who struggle with keeping heavy secrets from the protagonists) that I feel pretty good putting her theme on here. Also Nokama would be the world's biggest Lucretia defender, we all know this in our hearts

SAVE the World by Toby Fox (from Undertale) YES another Toby Fox song. Anyway boss fight music hell yeah

The End by Justin Luchter (from MNOLG) Again, iconic early Bionicle music, really captures the feeling that some great victory has been achieved, at least for now.

Everytime We Touch by Cascada Tahu/Gali song. LOOK. It's a Tahu/Gali song okay

Village Bridge (with buildup) by Junichi Masuda (from Pokemon Black and White) Hands down one of the best tracks from the best Pokemon game. Again very small town vibes.

May add more to it, who knows.

[alexiusgoesrogue]

Status Update: Day Ten

Today was not a very big day. But although it can’t be compared to the first days of this adventure, it was fun nonetheless.

First thing Bee and I went out for some drinks and snacks. They got themself some pineapple juice, and I got raspberry licorice. Never thought I’d ever like anything containing even the word licorice, but here we are.

With no actual plans on our agenda, we headed for a few last rounds of Taiko no Tatsujin at Timezone. It was once again really fun, but did quite a number on my right wrist (no idea why this one in particular and not both).

We took another break, which included food again, because of course it did. This was the first time of me trying anything from KFC ever. And while it was tasty, it was not really something I’d see myself craving someday in the future.

Our ideas on what to do for the day ran thin, so we decided to just head back to the hostel. The walk back was quite funny though, as it was really windy at times.

I used the time I had to already pack up some of my luggage to make it easier for tomorrow. I also finally finished my halo book (hooray me!), technically. I read all main chapters and the epilogue. The adjunct files were just a bit.. too boring. I’ll just get back to that some other time.

Additionally, I took some more time to get back into traditional drawing. The pictures will be posted someday (hopefully) to the respective blogs they belong on (90% are CJ and Darnell related, because what else would they be honestly).

Nothing much happened since then. I spent time in my room watching YouTube and downloaded more videos on Netflix for the long flights. I thought the night would end with a ‘short’ viewing of Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, but that didn’t end up happening due to technical difficulties.

My alarm is already set. My shower towels are dry and in the suitcase. All left unpacked are toiletries (because I was too tired to do it now), some valuables in the locker, and my bluey plushie of course.

Tomorrow will be quite a day, and I don’t know if I’ll like that. But just like the day when I began this journey, I’ll get through this.

Sponsorships of the day: KFC lunch, several rounds of Taiko

***

Note: I refuse to fight with the wifi again, so same as with my previous post, I will not share any pictures here and simply add them in a reblog at a later point in time, when better wifi is available to me.

[nerdgirlriot]

The plagiarism video and my brain

I need to gather up my thoughts because my brain has done some really heavy lifting with some of my past experiences and it's a wild ride. Not sure how coherent this is going to be, but! I'm going to try and unpack some of it.

Hbomberguy, a video essayist on Youtube, recently released a hefty video (it's, like, 4 hours long) about plagiarism on the platform, focusing on a few other content creators before getting to the bulk of the video, which is about James Somerton, a commentator who does videos about LGBTQ+ representation in media. hbomberguy has come with ALL the RECEIPTS proving without a shadow of a doubt that Somerton stole most of his content from other writers, reading their words and claiming them as his own. It's shitty, but unfortunately not inherently illegal, particularly since Somerton almost always backtracks when accused and then reups those videos with the barest of efforts to credit the original writers.

So, I have no idea who Somerton is. I sort of(?) recall some sort of controversy about a Youtuber who stole from The Celluloid Closet (a famous documentary about homosexuality and Hollywood) but I do remember that the person apologized and pointed out that there was very little research in the way of queer people in American media so of course he HAD to borrow heavily from Celluloid Closet. I sort of shrugged at the time and moved on, never thinking about it again until I watched the hbomberguy video

And hoo boy it's a lot to pack. Somerton apparently never had an original idea in his head. All the great points he's made in his videos were made by other people whom he stole words from, and when he DID have original content in his videos, it was largely misogynist and...rather racist too? Ouch.

So in the middle of the video, hbomberguy points out that Somerton did a video about the fascist themes in the anime Attack on Titan.  And I started to freak out. I, myself, wrote an op-ed for syfy.com about fascism and anime, and I mentioned Attack on Titan. it was originally posted in October of 2018, a full 4 years before Somerton did his video, so i was rather worried that he'd also plagiarised ME (this is how my brain works, and considering the full extent of obscure sources Somerton used for his videos, I don't think my fear was unfounded). The original article doesn't exist on syfy.com anymore, as they decided that Fangrrls as a vertical just wasn't working for their brand and they stripped years of work from female writers from their site. I have a backup of the article here for reference. 

As for whether Somerton plagiarised me, I feel icky but I ended up downloading the transcript for the video in question and perused through it. I don't THINK he stole any of my words, because the bulk of the video is about the anti-semitic elements in Attack on Titan's later seasons. When I wrote my piece, the fascist elements were still fairly subtle and the big reveal about the Eldians being treated as second class citizens, a once great power (given holy gifts by "God" no less) reduced to living in ghettos and wearing armbands and definitely being coded as Jewish people, hadn't come in yet. My op-ed was about fascism in anime in general, and I mentioned more than just Attack on Titan. I imagine that if my article were still widely available, Somerton might've taken from it. But is that my ego talking? It's probably my ego talking. But I know for SURE that this particular piece still sent a ripple through the larger anime community.

I know this because I am a woman who dared share an opinion on the internet and suddenly anime weebs were spreading the article through twitter and facebook and calling me out for writing a shitty take. 

Was my take shitty? IDK, I still got paid for it and I actually wish I'd written more about it but my editor said that it was fine and the article's like 5 years old at this point and waaaaaaay out of date now since AoT's fascist themes have grown so much more blatant. I only scratched the surface, while newer takes on AoT have the benefit of more story to make their arguments more sound. Some of THESE articles, the more recent ones, Somerton definitely stole from because hbomberguy proved it in his video. I'm just watching from the sidelines right now, very bemused and my brain is coming up with what-if's by the truckload.

I'm just unpacking this now because I don't think I ever fully faced the criticisms I received because of my initial op-ed. My editor warned me that my work could be inflammatory and that I should brace myself. I locked down my Twitter account (as my editor suggested) and ignored any messages from people I didn't recognize for about 2 weeks after the article was posted. Sure enough, the article was spread tens of thousands of times on FB and Twitter. Some of the comments I'd seen called me "misinformed" (fair), "ethnocentric" (I suppose), a "dumb bitch," (possibly?), a "woke SJW" (thanks!), and, most horribly, "white", which for some reason offended me more than the ones calling me a dumb bitch.

One big argument against my op-ed boiled down to the fact that I, as an American, am not aware of the subtleties in Japanese media and I didn't understand Japan's own relationship with its past and I put a Western viewpoint on it (ethnocentrism at its finest). Me...a Filipino-American. Me, a descendent of people (Filipinos) who were subjected to Japan's imperialist expansion in Asia. The Philippines became a battleground between Japanese and Allied forces in WWII. Bataan Death March? Hello? I know my history, but I didn't place this in the article. I thought my mentions of Japan's occupation of China and Korea were enough to show that Japan definitely had imperialist and fascist tendencies in its history and MAYBE that might provide a throughline to why Japanese media is still fascinated with this stuff but it wasn't enough, I guess. It is...a puzzle.

Oh and the original idea for "srsly what's up with Nazis and anime?" came from J, my significant other, who is Japanese-American.

Where's my brain going this? I don't know, but I think I'm happy I'm getting this off my chest now?

I'm sorry and if you read this all the way through, I'm grateful to ya'll.

EDIT: and America is as guilty of burying the sins of the past as much as any other country. Think about the historical revisionist movements which claim that African slaves liked working in plantations because we need to tell American kids these lies to feel better about themselves and not hate their own country. When my views were called "ethnocentric", what POV did my critics think I SHOULD have used? Or are we looking at a case of me "interrogating the narrative from the wrong perspective"?

[squid-ink-symphony]

(Almost) Every Single Idol Splatfest Performance

Here's the link with no backstory if you just wanna look at cute squids and not read my rambling

I still need help finding some splatfests from splat 1 + 2, and i could use higher quality versions some of the ones i do have. So if you want to check this out and help with the missing ones then i'd be eternally grateful!

(reblogs are also appreciated cuz 1. it shows it to other ppl so they could also potentially help and 2. i did minor amounts of work and want validation lol)

Ah, you hit read more. You've signed up for rambling now!

I started this because i wanted to see the idols performing with their different colors because i never played 1 + 2. (plus i figured having easily available resources of them in different colors would make my life easier over on my side blog. *cough* shameless plug @splatoon-edits *cough*)I figured it would all be very easy to find and there would probably be a playlist of all of them on youtube all nice and ready for me.

I was wrong. But the scale of my wrongness was unbeknownst to me at the time.

So I figured I would just have to find the videos and make the playlist myself, no big deal.

Wrong again.

And thus began the hunt through videos with sometimes as little as 5 views. And a lot of them weren't just short little videos of the dance. There would be like 20 extra minutes of gameplay mixed in that i had to cut out. And a lot of them were really bad quality or a recording of the screen with a phone. But worst of all, some of them i was just completely unable to locate at all.

So it took me about 2 days of working late at night after i had finished everything else for the day. I slogged through so many videos and after i was like 70% done downloading, editing, and compiling them i get hit with a new problem. My Google drive storage being full. -_- So I clear out a TON of stuff and make sure it's all fully deleted. ..... No change. I tried looking it up and got 0 answers that actually managed to fix it. But i'm invested and annoyed already and spite is the worlds best motivator. So trust me. This project WILL be finished.

[transflynnscifo]

Tales of Vesperia Blurays

hello to anyone who’s scrolling the vesperia tag! I have finally gone around to digitizing other vesperia materials I possess that aren’t.. really anywhere online. (i may have put this off for at least as early as when I scanned light novel stuff)

anyway. the drive folder im providing includes: the vesperia stage play!!, the 10th anniversary party!!, tales of homeroom: tov edition!!, first strike 2019 bluray version!!

just keep in mind the following: you’ll have to download the things to watch them. you’ll most likely need to watch them through VLC media too. and they’re all unsubbed because translation is really not my forte

if you’re seeing this post and havent in any form completed/seen the game then do beware spoilers being in there, proceed with your own discretion. other than that, have fun! if anyone wants to translate these (they are all RAWs after all) please feel free to :)

goes without saying that if there’s any errors (there’s only so much I can proof-watch at once), do let me know!

that all aside. here’s the Contents (details) :

-Tales of The Stage: Justice of Light and Shadow (2019). Includes disc 1 (the play itself), and disc 2 (bonus content included in the bluray itself. stuff with the actual stage actors and whatnot)

I have so many thoughts on the stage play and i consider it a worthwhile experience! its like a little treat (though the speedrun being done here to get as much main story content covered within 2.5 hours is a sight to behold LMAO) (and even then, the stage play diverts from the main story to a good degree :3c)

-Tales of Vesperia 10th Anniversary Party (2018), also known as the celebratory party that was done live with all the voice actors leading the show! it’s overall very sweet and charming. this includes 2 discs, each containing a recording of 2 different days when the party took place, if that makes sense. any other videos in the folder is the bonus segments included in the bluray too, in a similar fashion to the stage play

-Tales of Vesperia ~The First Strike~ 10th Anniversary Edition (2019), and Yes, we do have the movie available online, but i figured i could provide the bluray version that you would get if you got the definitive edition of the game in Japan. could make use for some HD screenshots perhaps.

the plus to the new bluray: it INCLUDES a 30 minute skit present on the disc as a bonus. im also providing the menu animation for the bluray since I somehow could rip that too and it looks pretty neat (:

-Tales of Homeroom, the two tales of vesperia episodes that you could only get through, again, the first strike bluray (2019). If you’ve seen some of the tales of HR videos uploaded on youtube, then you’ll know what this is about. if not, no fret! it’s just 2 tiny episodes centered around the vesperia cast on a vacation :)

Link to the Bluray Stuff

Link to the post where I scanned light novel illustrations and the danzaisha no keifu manga

eventually i should get to finding a way to put out the drama cds i own too. hopefully i don’t stall as long as i have with these

EDIT 30th September: new masterpost as I don’t want to use gdrive

[joyce-stick]

Audrey's Best Girls Winter 2023

Video of recommendations of girls (And media) which halfway through turned into a Bocchi the Rock video essay.

Transcript under the cut.

Previous video essay/transcript: Adachi and Shimamura's Second Season

If you're on desktop, you may find this more comfy to read directly on our Tumblr site.

If you enjoy this essay, please consider following us here or on any other platforms, and/or donating to support future works via our Patreon or Ko-fi.

Patreon • Ko-fi • YouTube • Twitter • Cohost • Tumblr • Mastodon

Hello everyone, it’s Audrey. So, it’s been some time, I was writing a script about problematic things, and then Joyce came along and started a separate script about things we had to recommend. I finished that script, and the end result of this process was a great incoherent mess, so I’m taking it from the top.

First thing we have to talk about today is Moonshine!~

Moonshine is a doujin visual novel produced by the now seemingly dissolved doujin circle Sakura Mint, whose origins I don’t have the resources nor Japanese language knowledge to trace any information about. It was released in 2007, and then translated to English in 2008, and, quite frankly, the fact that a freely available English translation exists for easy online downloading is a goddamn miracle. It’s really short, like, about an hour, or two if you’re slow like we are. Nonetheless, this VN made us cry like a little baby child. The reason for that being, it’s about a trans girl. And the other reason for that being, it’s about a trans girl falling in love with a gender ambiguous main protagonist who is, well, gosh, really.

This is a really raw and emotionally powerful little story with a really strong theme of how to move on with your life. From a life where you didn’t belong or weren’t loved, or from a life that you love but that can’t follow you, and how either can be equally painful, how change is always painful, even if it truly is for the better, and it’s just a whole lot of feelings. A story that made us cry this much needs to be read. The English version is available freely, it’s only a bit of time, and it’s very well worth it. You might need to fuck around with your graphics settings to get it to display in proper 4 by 3 if you want to play it in fullscreen without it stretching to 16 by 9, but still, very very worth it. Probably one of the best pieces of queer fiction that we’ve ever read, and the fact that it got translated the year after its release is incredible.

It also has a sequel, called Tsugi no Terasu, which is probably not called “Sunshine” in English because that’s not what the kanji means. This sequel never got any sort of digital release either officially or otherwise and it looks as if the doujin group that made it has long disbanded given that the web domain name they used to occupy is now populated by casino advertisements, sooo all their work is probably just kind of, gone, unfortunately. As is often the case when independently produced niche media exists and no one is doing any work to preserve it. These things just sort of go and vanish.

Unless it hasn’t vanished, and someone does care! Like, I dunno, the girl reading this. I dunno about y’all, but I’d prefer that this thirteen year old VN that’s a sequel to a sixteen year old VN about a trans girl gets to be read, by someone, and hopefully continue to exist, and not evaporate into the mists of time. Sure, we can’t read it, but, details details. We’ll learn! How to read. I hope.

So I found a copy of Tsugi no Terasu for sale on akibaoo. Presumably this copy’s used, and there’s no guarantee it’ll work with our computer, or that it won’t be scratched to hell, but hey, you have to take some chances sometime in life. So, I bought it, with a portion of our, uh, meager, monthly Patreon earnings, so that we can collect it and take some form of action to preserve it in some form. Because this is what we’re supposed to do. I know we don’t have that much money, I know we’re probably going to have to eat a lot of rice for another month, but, what the hell, are we doing this youtube shit for, if not this shit? And I for one, am tired of watching hazel do all the awesome Japanese media preservation actions. I would like to have some of that glory! Somehow.

And that’s the thing.

So if you’d like to support the thing, that is to say, acquiring and assessing niche subcultural Japanese media so that we can talk about it and maybe help make it accessible to other people, and making video essays about these exploits and our emotional discoveries from them, or whatever else we do, which all apparently comes ahead of eating a proper diet because we’re insane… then please, please, donate money to us via Ko-fi, Patreon, or whatever. You will be rewarded in some way, I assure you, unless you don’t feel rewarded, and then you won’t.

So here, I’m gonna tell y’all about other interesting content that we’ve had a look at.

2,

Witch from mercury!

Okay so I had a whole thing written about this show. And then I had a whole other thing. And then Joyce simplified that other thing to its base components. And I don’t feel like summarizing what she said about what I said. But really I just think you should look at the tweet I wrote. Which says,

“So basically this is the story of what'd happen if us talking to girls in our discord chats but we had mechas and were all caught in the middle of corporate/government space politics-wars-ing

“I’m sorry”

And also,

Suletta didn’t do anything wrong.

I’ve thought about this quite a long time, and others have kind of said it more succinctly, but I think that Suletta made, not the best decision, but a reasonable decision in this circumstance, to protect her fiancee from the guy pointing a gun at her.

I think the appropriate thing to do then would have been to emerge from Aerial apologizing profusely for the traumatic experience that Miorine just had of watching a dude get killed, instead of what she did do. That would have been the human thing to do. But Suletta didn’t act like a human in this situation because her mom told her that this behavior was a show of emotional strength. And that’s what’s happened here. And that’s interesting, because it plays really well into the story, I think, in showing that the shonen protagonist pluckiness that Suletta was trying to approach her circumstances with, doesn’t really work all of the time! Suletta, the main protagonist of this series, acted the most protagonist like that she’d ever acted in this scene, and it was the most out of character she’d ever acted, and like, gosh, I’m looking forward to seeing how they follow up on this. That’s really what I have to say about that.

Oh and also the show was good.

So yeah, that helped.

3,

How Do We Relationship?

Which I’m going to refer to as Tsukiage, a shortened form of its Japanese title, from here on out.

Tsukiage is a story about lesbians.

And yes, yes, I know, there’s many stories “about lesbians” that I’ve told you about before. No. This isn’t like those. Tsukiage is About Lesbians. Tsukiage is about the experience of being a lesbian in This World, with all its gross bigotry problems. Tsukiage is about the experience of being in a group of heterosexual women and being asked what guys you like, and being unable to answer. Tsukiage is about the experience of being someone you know your parents would hate. Tsukiage is about the experience of being a teenager with no adults to trust in your life, but also about being an adult uncertain if you can trust the other adults in your life, and about the ennui of living isolated in a place you’ll probably never find your way out of, and about,

Tsukiage is about two twenty something lesbians who date each other because they’re the only lesbians they know and they have no idea what else to do, and who are really good at having a lot of sex with each other but are also really bad at dating and even worse at dating on the days when they're really bad at having sex with each other. And they're also both young and both had traumatic high school romance failures because, being a high school student is plenty traumatic in its own ways, and those wounds are still fresh to both of them even if they want to pretend they aren't, and it's bound to follow them still in this town they've lived their whole life in, and it's just a lot of spicy drama about that! I’ve been only three volumes in so far, and Miwa and Saeko are the first main pairing of a yuri manga we've seen to whom I’ve kind of ended up saying “nope”. I don’t get the sense that these two are made for each other in the same sense we got reading Adashima or Yagakimi or Sasakoi. They argue, they bicker, they feel jealous about each other, and about, maybe, 2 thirds of the way through the second volume, I realized I was reading a breakup narrative.

I mean, look at the back covers of the first four volumes. They telegraph it visually!

But also that makes this manga even more compelling for what it’s going for, because, um, conflict is good! And two people not made for each other is damn well better! Just yes, please do try to eventually get these two back together and sell me on this horrible relationship sorting itself. Or don’t, that’s also fine! I’ve not actually got to the chapter where they broke up, because, gosh, and tough, but yeah. And also this is probably the first manga I’ve read that actually shows how school can be traumatic, when it presents a supporting character who was deemed “gifted” in high school but ultimately wasn’t as good as their sibling and then was extremely othered by her family, and just is, generally, awfully maladjusted to, reality, because of the sheltered and overstructured way in which they lived being forced to rank as high as possible on exams, and like, shit! Like, I know Japanese high school is brutal, and it’s a plot point in a lot of anime and all, but this is the one time I can recall offhand when it was actually something that impacted the story and characters outside of a relatively contained studying arc, and it’s probably some of the realest fucking shit I’ve ever read.

Oh, also, um, Tsukiage is really damn funny. Like, the early volumes had me laughing involuntarily so much that I was seriously concerned about attracting noise complaints from others in our living space, or, around, generally? It’s a really good story, the art and faces are really good, the humor is really good and that's pretty damn essential, I think, for a story that deals in such heavy topics. The whole thing is good, so, yeah, read it!

4,

Bad End Theater!

So yeah, I already used this game as b-roll in the Adashima video, so if you watched that, you probably already know that we liked this. And we do. It’s quite good. This game starts with, as Joyce said, *ruffles papers* “an unawakened lesbian is eaten by a demon… and in the next part of the game, the lesbian meets a demon lesbian who wants to eat her in the other way… and in the later part of the game, a reply guy apologizes for replying with violence… or actually replies with violence.”

So anyway this game took us a couple hours to 100% all its Steam achievements. Very short game, very good game, nice little queer vignette about the tragedy of people from different social backgrounds not understanding each other, and then understanding each other, one hopes. It’s not free, but it’s quite good, and easily recommendable! So yeah.

5, Spark the Electric Jester 3!

It’s a Sonic game. It’s basically a Sonic game. It’s much like the earlier game, Spark the Electric Jester 2, which is much like the earlier games Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow the Hedgehog, the video about which we were going to make is apparently not coming out until it does, because we keep getting distracted by pointless bullshit. The developer of this series is a former developer of Sonic fangames and started with the 2D Spark the Electric Jester 1, which we could not finish because we suck at 2D platformers.

One really interesting thing about this game is how it treats the lives system. Yes, it has one, but only for the final level. I find this super super interesting, because while we were playing the Sonic Adventure titles with a friend of ours, we kinda generally came into the agreement that the lives system of all these games was a mistake. And Sonic Team seems to have agreed, because they, uh, removed it, from Sonic Forces onwards. But Spark 3 puts it back deliberately, only for the final level, and the final level is basically designed to make you lose lives. Not through difficulty, exactly, because while it is difficult, it’s not insurmountable, once you know the lay of the land- but rather, through compounding difficulty by length. Utopia Shelter doesn’t feel exactly like a level, it feels like a whole city. It feels like, I suppose, if at the end of Sonic 06, the whole of Soleanna became a level from which Sonic had to escape- oh, well, I guess that sort of did happen, huh. Sorry, just um…

Sonic 06 is cool? I’m very sorry to say so. It’s a horrible mess, but it also is cool.

Anyway, Spark 3’s acknowledgement of lives as a part of the Sonic Adventure experience feels like, kind of great? Like it doesn’t just go, “oh this part annoyed people, let’s throw it away” it says, no, dying in Final Chase repeatedly and falling out to the main menu is part of this kind of game, let’s just, give the player a chance to experience that, at least once. Let's make this a part of the game, but make it better, by making the level earn it, both by being an awesome level whose difficulty feels contextually justified, and also by being in a game with phenomenal 3D controls and platforming and movement physics where the appeal of such a difficulty modifier isn't spoiled by deaths that don't feel like your fault  And it’s done in a way that feels accessible, with the option of going back and just, playing more of the game more, if you feel like you need more lives to endure the stage, but odds are if you’ve done all the optional stages you don’t need that many. I got to the end of Utopia Shelter on my second try, with lives to spare.

And yeah, so, anyway. Spark 3. It’s a really good game. It’s got pretty great level design and a great sense of visual style, really good music, good movement except for those damn cars that glitch and start going sideways all the time… I started just doing the car stages on foot because I couldn’t be bothered. But other than those, great game!

And finally;

Bocchi the Rock!

Okay, so I’m not sure what about Bocchi I can say that isn’t already said by other people but y’know what, fuck it, Molly’s convinced me, I’m gonna tell the weird age gap crush story.

So, when we were like, 16, 17, thereabouts, we were presumed a cis boy, and about six entire feet tall, and because of this, non-attentive viewers would often mistake us for a college-age dude. This factor, alongside the color of our skin and the general, uh, emotional neglect, of our parents, lent itself to our delinquencies, i.e., doing basically whatever the fuck we wanted at the expense of getting verbally and/or physically harassed by our parents who weren’t happy with us doing whatever the fuck we wanted but were slowly giving up after whatever point at which they stopped paying for the therapy that didn’t fix this brain immediately. So it was one night, while we were out of the house, as we usually were, talking to people at a charity event for the community org we volunteered for back then, that we saw her.

That woman who played guitar. Who was, back then, about the age we are right now. Maybe a little bit older.

Don’t think I need to describe her elsewise, really!

We had played guitar, too, once, for several years even. But I think we’d given up on music, like, the year before, after our mom harassing us to practice the “right” way made it not fun for us anymore. Seeing that beautiful, talented, very nice, woman almost made us want to try again. Although, we didn’t, because our mom didn’t want us to ever touch an instrument again unless we were truly serious about trying to make money with it, because those lessons are expensive, and I guess that’s one of the many ways we disappointed her, by ostensibly wasting her money.

But anyway, this woman. She was nice. That’s most of what we remember about her. She was a nice, cool, and to our eyes then, pretty, older woman who felt easy to talk to, and seemed to empathize with our anxieties, as, little of them as we felt comfortable telling, and, we were awkward around here and didn’t say much other than to compliment here and to talk about Edgar Wright’s movies, but like, y’know, she was good. She was good. Remembering how she smiled and how she looked at us like… well, probably the same as she smiled and looked at everyone, but still, it seemed like she liked us, or liked having us around. Although, now, being a performing person, we understand it’s kind of in your best interest to smile at everyone who comes to see a show. But. Yeah.

And we knew we never had a chance with this nice older woman, and that our crush on her was inappropriate, but, still… we still thought about this nice, talented, tall, pretty, interesting woman, and how much we wished we could be closer with her, but alas, and curses, age gaps, strike something again. Our heart, most likely, but maybe something else too.

And you know where this is going, don’t you.

Yeah.

[Kikuri Hiroi, a clip]

Kikuri is far, far more unhinged than that woman. The woman we knew was, uh, hinged, enough, to not drink around the absurdly tall and cute 17 year old that kept coming to her gigs for unknown reasons. Kikuri meanwhile is hardly ever seen without a can of sake nearby. And she’s also a bit more, y’know, open, with Hitori-chan, whose face around Kikuri is constantly a mixture of mild terror and grand astonishment. And, yes, Seika and Kikuri, is definitely, the more appropriate ship, and the one more likely to happen in the actual story, if any explicit lesbianism did happen, which I don't expect it to, but Hitori and Kikuri, in my opinion, is much more compelling, precisely because of how inappropriate it is. There’s just something particularly compelling to us, anyway, in the thought of our dead-in-the-water teenage crush, or something adjacent to it, actually going, someplace. It’s true that had we acted on it in real life, assuming we weren’t just rejected and told to abscond permanently, it’d almost certainly have gone extremely badly, for all the reasons it’d have done that, but, y’know, fiction is meant for exploring those culturally taboo fantasies of these sorts without necessarily needing to consider those unsafe and undesirable consequences. Although… you can, cause that’s conducive to drama.

So anyway, as far as, the actual show, goes, I dunno, I think it’s all pretty clear in this moment. This entire surreal bit with the psychedelic rock concert, where Hitori sees Kuroi reach out to her in this imagined intimate moment and whisk her away through this weird and new aspect of music and life experience that she’s not felt before, and it’s just like… Yeah! Yeah, that’s how it felt to us back then, watching that nice older girl on that stage. It was really kind of nostalgic actually. So, there’s one layer of the appeal of Kikuri’s inclusion in the show, Hitori’s feelings for Kikuri as someone who is a mentor figure and has things to teach her. You could say the thing Kikuri has to teach is music, or, something else, and though Hitori isn't eloquent or brave enough to articulate whatever her crazy teenage feelings are, it's clear she… has some! Which are ambiguous enough that they could be interpreted as just her wanting to be like Kikuri, which was also an aspect of our teenage emotions about our cool guitar woman, or that Kikuri playing in front of her triggered a spicy homosexual awakening! Not wrong either way. Though I think it's both.

And the other layer of the appeal is just… well, Kikuri herself. And our adoration of and relation to Kikuri as not just a stand-in for our teenage age gap crush, but also as a character in our age range who is relatable to us as a young adult who feels similarly to her about life!

I don’t think I need to explain that one, but I will anyway.

Kikuri is an alcoholic.

At some point after we turned 21, when it wasn’t us, but Joyce, Joyce discovered alcohol, during one of the low points in our life when we were unstably housed, and gradually started to rely on it a fair bit more than she should have. For a good year or two there, Joyce was drinking off our ass about once a month, sometimes twice, and y’know, just sort of thinking, who cares. If I die, if I lose, if I go out. Who cares. cause I’m not going to! We only really stopped drinking as much as we did because it started costing money and we started finding ostensibly better ways to hurt ourselves, like buying the disc of an ancient Japanese-only doujin game and telling ourselves it’s media preservation. I don’t think we were ever as much of an addict as Kikuri but, just, watching Kikuri, and watching her ruin her life in, basically the same sort of a way, is extremely relatable and gross and eugh

And the whole gosh contrast of THIS WOMAN being Hitori’s mentor figure who she takes her cues from and then embarrasses herself trying to do it

Is just incredible and perfect and gosh

Both these lovely women are both ruining themselves trying to be cool and likable and awesome, and… SUCCEEDING, because, the… the people LIKE the women, ruining themselves! and it’s beautiful.

I’m sorry, it’s beautiful.

Anyway Bocchi good. Bocchi good.

We've been reading the manga of Bocchi since writing that bit, and I think the Bocchi manga is just, for one thing, somewhat inherently let down by not being an anime and not having songs play in it, but, it's got more humor, at least one more crazy adult, and it's got more happening in it, as there is in every manga, and I really like it.

[I had to transcribe this part because I ad-libbed it. - Audrey]

I also like how it goes about, y’know, putting forth the, general, thesis or idea that, you know um, quote, “Rock Touches People’s hearts, because it’s coming from a loser, but you can’t call it rock if it’s from a successful person” Because that’s a- that’s a statement to make. That’s a statement that I’m kind of into. because we’re very not successful and uh. Seeing characters like Kikuri, and Bocchi, and y’know, and her, underground band, and uh, characters like Aiko, and her… Shady Underground Journalism, and the fact that the manga presents all of them, all of these very unsuccessful women, as cool, because they are cool, and that’s, real, rock!

*giggling lightly* uhhhh ahaha and you know but also *mutters sheepishly* please donate to our patreon- *laughs*

And one thing that I’m, one thing that I, one other thing that I really like about the manga is that it, it focuses so much, it’s like- it’s not so school-centric as a lot of other manga about y’know, music teenagers, tend to be, like- They’re not the light music club! They’re- they’re, a real underground band and you know that’s…

That’s freaking cool! *chuckles* That they are, they are, y’know, actually doing concerts for money, and that’s, y’know, it’s about doing the concerts, for money, and about working with adults who also have been doing concerts for money! and drugs *laughing quietly*

And also the fact that so little of it is set inside the school, like, y’know, th-the one moment where like, th-the online journalist writer who’s just like spotlighting, who’s y’know, writing about bands, and looking for Hitori. And then she goes to the school and she’s just like… Kicked out of the school! Because she’s not- she’s… she’s a creep! Who doesn’t belong! In the school! A-And *laughs* And then y’know, in like, another manga where it’s the light music club that that’d just kind of be where the plot… stops! Where that plot line… stops! But she- But then she finds out that y’know, they don’t perform at school, because they’re not a school band, and then, she… goes to the live house… and advances the plot. And is also a kind of… fucked up, self-interested woman, who tries to… sequester Hitori into… agskjhgdkfhkdhjfdddd because she’s afkhjdhkhf she’s interested in money, and promising more than she’s probably able… able to give, she is……

[trails off laughing]

This- this chapter…! This is- This is a scene where, *hiccup* This is a scene where this woman tries to buy Bocchi, buy Hitori, with the promise of exposure! *laughing* That- That is literally: That is the literal description!

[long pause while Audrey gets herself under control]

Okay, I’m done ad-libbing.

One thing I wanted out of the anime, watching the anime, was to see the group grow and expand to the point where they actually do become a famous and successful band. That's basically what I figured it'd head for since, Hitori is already a successful YouTuber, as YouTubers go, and since Nijika said that's where she wanted it to go, that she wants to grow the band and become popular and help everyone reach their dreams. We kind of do have the whole "high schoolers become music celebrities" thing in Love Live, but I'd love to see that sort of thing be done in a way that feels more grounded and believable in a world where people actually seem to worry about money, outside of the fantasy confines of a nationally famous school club, and have it done in a way that the story doesn't stop happening once they graduate! Given how much the story already focuses on adults who are implied to be varying levels of fucked up just as well and seriously as its lead teenage characters who are implied to be varying levels of fucked up, it feels like the sort of story that's kind of made to transition to follow these girls out of their school lives. And I hope it goes there, and I also hope that the anime eventually gets further seasons because the material of the later manga chapters has itself a fantastic foundation if the rest of it is adapted in the same way, so, yeah.

And that's just the feelings I have on that. If you're interested in more bocchi content then um, sakugablog has a couple writeups and translated interviews which talk about the production which is itself its own really interesting story! It also got us to read the manga, because the way that the anime's character designer expresses such passion for Hamaji's work is utterly palpable and gosh things. Also I think it's really funny that Kerorira decided to animate the Bocchi ice bath scene with her wearing a school swimsuit because that adds another deeper layer of hilarious cringe that isn't quite present in the manga version of the scene when you see that she's so mentally conflicted about the merits and demerits of this scheme that she can't bring herself to fully expose her own body to the ice water which would, uh, probably make the intended effect of catching a cold more likely and thus make the plan work better, and also the scene probably couldn't have become as much of a twitter meme if they'd decide to illustrate her without the school swimsuit like the manga does, since then instead everyone would be mentally and sometimes textually debating the merits and demerits of bath scenes in anime, again, except it'd be funnier than that because it'd be about *this* scene and that would be goshdarned hilarious.

I think that’s really kind of it for this one. We’re out of time. So we’ll see everyone next time. And thanks to our patrons.

Brea,

Dorian Newlin

hikari no yume

L Tantivy

pigeon

Sally

Scimitar

And Thijs

And everybody else.

oh wow that was, that was a, that was almost 48 minutes, okay um—

Thank you to our Patreon supporters:

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[ex-jock-enthusiast]

I have a new proper post about to go up soon (since this is like the third 'thinkpiece'esque thing I've cobbled together) but, as I was preparing to post, I realised something.

David Ortega Arenas' weight gain journey was (pretty much) my introduction to gaining: I saw it for the first time maybe 7 years ago now, and I've been here basically ever since.

The video in question, made by a youtube account called Rizzle, was first made roughly in 2017, freely and publically available to view.

Since then,

1. Rizzle deleted the video before reuploading it.

2. Rizzle unlisted the video as part of a complete channel purge.

3. The playlist I was using to access the video got deleted or shadowbanned.

4. YouTube purged all of its existing 'gainer' content or locked it behind age restrictions, and I refuse to give Google my credit card information, meaning the video became impossible to search.

5. Digital archives on Tumblr got randomnly purged and took the videos with them.

6. RTL2, the German broadcaster that produces Köln 50667 (where the original video took clips from) has updated its data protection policies to prevent non-German devices from accessing show clips, including with a VPN.

I also contributed to this when I panic purged my original blog, taking a solid 50% of my posts with it. (Btw if you see any ex-jock-enthusiast-deactivateds floating around in the aether please tag me so I can archive them)

Through some miracle I still have the video stored in my liked videos on youtube - if I can't find the original DOA post I'll upload it here - but make sure to download and archive stuff you like because the internet can be extremely unforgiving.

[thestarlightforge]

Edit: If you come from LinkTree, you can scroll to bottom for a recent update! :)

Culture Club!

As a part of my own cultural research for various writing projects (and because of my personal beliefs—the purpose of education being to become a more well-rounded and loving person), I’ve been doing a lot of research into Judaism lately. I’m still very much a beginner; very thankful to all the friends, online and otherwise, who have been willing to share their culture with me, a girl who started out as an undereducated, basic, White-trash, agnostic semi-Methodist from Tennessee.

Y’all, there is so much to learn! It is such a healing and loving process to better understand the culture and heritage of your friends and fellow human beings. You will feel better. They will feel better. And the Internet makes it so easy! Even if you aren’t a writer, I can’t recommend it enough. ☺️

I come from a background of largely inadequate K-12 public schooling, I think it’s fair to say, when it comes to learning about other cultures and marginalized communities, so I had to teach myself how to learn this kind of information once I got to college. But it is possible, through the power of the Internet, to learn earlier—with a little bit of guidance.

Doing this research, it occurred to me there are probably a lot of people who have had a similar experience: Young people (or old—it’s never too late to learn!) who feel overwhelmed by all they don’t know (as I did when I first left the South), like they don’t know where to start or who to ask, or are embarrassed by their own ignorance. It is overwhelming. It is scary, feeling like a you’ve been left behind and like you can never be the understanding, loving person you want to be for your friends and the people you love. It’s very scary to admit how little you know.

But we are not helpless! Especially not if we help each other. ☺️

In this series, I will take you along on a highlight tour of the cultural research I’m doing, for myself and my writing. You can feel free to read/watch/discuss along with me, or use the research tips I’ve stumbled across to research other topics of interest to you. Education is for everybody, and we can all be better if we put in the effort to become so together!

This Week: Starting on Judaism + Basic Research

Research Tips—Starting with Videos!

Especially when approaching learning about a new culture from a writerly perspective, immerse yourself as much as possible! Don’t be afraid to admit your ignorance to your search history; people IRL will thank you for it.

Long ago, I started out searching for “Judaism for dummies” on YouTube and found this video, and it taught me tons! And, importantly, it gave me a jumping off point to search for more specific information from places like my university’s library website, Google scholar, and etc.

Pro tip: If you don’t have access to a University or school library, try your local library! Many cities (such as the DC/Maryland/Virginia area, where I live) have libraries with free, fully-online sign-up programs and HUGE archives of eBooks, audiobooks, and other resources both digital and physical. Download the Libby app (iOS, Android) to easily connect multiple library cards with your phone, manage digital checkouts across libraries, and read e-books and audiobooks (aka LIFESAVERS imo) checked out from the library. (Some of us still have cards from back home in high school!) Also, the Internet Archive has tons of digital materials available to read in-browser for free.

Starting off with introductory videos is often a great idea in my experience, then from there, you can dig into scholarly articles and even books on various topics (e.g. The Everything Judaism Book: A complete primer to the Jewish faith— from holidays and rituals to tradition and culture by Richard Banks for this particular research project).

Also, social media can prove a great resource! The point of cultural research is to actually understand culture, both historically and in the present, and academia can be classist, sexist, racist, homophobic, ableist, etc. other terribleness—so listening to people speaking right now is a great way to learn about activism that is currently important, oral histories, and history that may have been suppressed due to intersectional oppression, settler colonialism, and White supremacy (e.g. queer histories of all SORTS of cultures; they often get squashed except by this popular, subversive discourse). Also, while fact-learning is important, history class in K-12 teaches a lot of people that’s the beginning and end of cultural education; You can break out of just memorizing facts by taking the time to see, listen to, and more deeply understand the day-to-day impacts culture has on people.

When using social media, tags are important. For this project, I’ve spent a lot of time on TikTok, particularly #jewtok. @spacevinci’s video’s are SO packed with info, hilarious, and Miriam is a non-binary (they/them pronouns) Jewish person. And that’s just one place to start!

Wrapping up

I hope this has been helpful! If anyone is interested in my continuing this series, I’d be glad to.  I’ll keep y’all posted on ongoing research projects, maybe 1-2 updates per week (though as a warning, my brain is all over the place and I am not good at pacing myself lol, so the topics will probably bounce around as well) and I will try to include a helpful research tip or resource each post. Great way to journal my own education and hopefully be a low-judgment resource for other people who are trying to do the same.

Write me in the comments/reblog! (That’s how Tumblr works, right? 😆 I’m an ex-Twitter person, lol; this is ✨a whole new thing✨ for me.) Let me know if this sounds interesting!

Love to all and happy learning! :)

[askaceattorney]

Dear Dornada,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: We do have a collection of different AA sprites both 2D and 3D. However, you can also find some clean sprites in the Sprite Gallery located in the Ace Attorney Wiki. You can also find others in court-records.net.

Considering most of the 3D sprites from DD and SOJ are from court-record.net links to sprite pages for each character made by Co-Mod and other past mods, I’m not going to go farther than that. Just know that us and other past mods have gained these sprites over the course of the years. Sometimes we download videos from YouTube and put the characters through a loop and other times we just find them in the Sprite Gallery when they’re available.

(Referenced Letter)

Dear Dawsongfg,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: Godot means what he says.

Oh Stewie,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: You’re missing something... two somethings in fact. A link and the name of the person you’re addressing this to. Since you’re barely a year old, I’ll let you out with a warning.

Dear Dawsongfg,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: Not really? This is a game where most of those that die are victims your clients have been accused of murdering. What isn’t expected is when the murdered victims first appeared in an earlier game, then died just one or two games later. Tobias Gregson anyone?

Dear Raeioun,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: Unfortunately, yes. Though, Mod Auditions are open for anyone interested in joining as a mod. 

Crossover games are different because they have their own game and are part of their own universe. You can purchase Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright without the need to purchase the Ace Attorney Trilogy or the likes. The same goes with Project X 2 and Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3. 

However, the same cannot be said for the Asinine Episodes. In order to play them, you have to purchase the games, those being Spirit of Justice or The Great Ace Attorney Adventures. However, it gets even more complicated. For Asinine episodes for The Great Ace Attorney, you have to literally purchase The Great Ace Attorney Adventures... wait for it... IN JAPANESE. You heard it right folks, there is no asinine episodes for The Great Ace Attorney in English, not even in the Pre Order for The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles. Cue... 

For Spirit of Justice, you can get the Asinine Episodes for Phoenix Wright and Apollo Justice in English. Unfortunately, it’s not available in the app you can purchase from the apple store. That tells me it’s only available on certain Spirit of Justice games. That’s the main issue with the Asinine DLC cases. Neither are canon, you have to purchase the games to achieve them and you have to purchase specific kind of games. It’s not like the crossover games where they are their own separate universes that are allowed to be separate from the games. Keep in mind that we don’t consider the bonus episodes won in Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright game canon to its own game. 

As for your suggestion, we may consider it but do keep in mind these things take time to process because it needs to be approved by all the mods. Like it took me months to get the updated and new rules approved or they’d have been done at the first of January.

Dear Kk-cats,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: Thank you very much. 

Dear Anonymous,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: I hope you have a nice day yourself.

(Referenced Letter)

Dear Anonymous,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: Just because I’m critical about Ace Attorney, that doesn’t mean I’m not a fan. In fact, the most genuine fans are often the most critical about things they love. In fact, the old mods Modot and Modthorne are much more critical about Ace Attorney than me, if you read some of Modot’s past essays or watch Modthorne’s livestreams. Most of my criticisms are in the form of tags, meaning they’re not as big as you seem to be making them out to be. 

Just look up my tag and look through my past essays on Manfred von Karma, Dick Gumshoe, Wrightworth, Kristoph Gavin and the 20th Anniversary Essay on how I got into Ace Attorney. If I was to describe why or how much I love Ace Attorney, it would be a whole novel long compared to a couple of tags with my criticism. 

Seriously, the only times I ever make any criticisms about Ace Attorney are in tags and maybe a paragraph letter. That’s nothing to cry home about really. Even the tags in the letter you referenced is something many AA fans agree with. 

Now, if you want to know what Ace Attorney... anything I hate or don’t like.... the anime. I didn’t like it at first, but it seems I am hating it more the deeper I get into Ace Attorney. At this point, I hate the anime Ace Attorney so much that it is on my blacklist of things I will never mention or talk about. So... now you know.

(Referenced Letter)

Dear Anon,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: 

Ah, I see. I was mostly confused why you made the assumption. Though, taking that Maya always wears that uniform in the game, I don’t entirely blame you. At the same time, the game always focuses on when Phoenix and Maya are at work, being why you see Phoenix in a suit and Maya in a kimono. That isn’t to say that’s what they wear outside of work. There are many Official Artworks where Maya is seen wearing different kimonos, a swimsuit, a school uniform and this.

These were early designs, but my point still stands. It’s likely she wears casual kimonos and yukatas in Kurain. Hey, I only asked why you thought she wore the same outfit. I didn’t say she wears shirts and pants outside of work. Kurain is a very Japanese religious village, so I’m sure everyone there wears kimonos and yukatas of different designs.

- The Mods