#didn't fit this in my last gifset

[mellxncollie]

Charles Rowland & Edwin Payne | Dead Boy Detectives 1.01

[callunavulgari]

Top 25 Fics of 2023

1. whatever you want by Wildehack (tyleet) | Wolf 359 | Kepler/Jacobi | 5k

Kepler doesn't fuck him that first day, when Daniel swallows his pride like it's a hot coal he can feel boiling down to the pit of his stomach and dials the number left on the card. Heather Says: Back in 2017, Wolf 359 changed my life. I relisten to it every year. I reread fic. I sometimes write it. And THIS year, I was blessed with one of my favorites writing my favorites from Wolf 359. It's honestly exactly what I wanted out of a Wolf 359 fix it/coda.

2. god was a dog-man by @andthepeople | Teen Wolf | Derek/Stiles | 13k

“Do you have a secret teenage son?” Stiles demands, as soon as Derek opens the door. Heather Says: I did NOT watch the Teen Wolf movie this year. I did, however, relentlessly stalk reaction posts and (very select) gifsets. I also read this fantastic fic, which is now the movie in my brain because since I didn't see it, I'll never know.

3. then out of nowhere, somebody comes and hits you with an ooh la la la, ooh la la la, ooh la la la, ooh by @calciseptine | Deadpool | Peter/Wade | 49k

A man with spider-themed superpowers accidentally breaks into Wade's apartment. Heather Says: Deadpool is one of those fandoms that I'm technically a part of because I like it and I think Spiderman and Deadpool is both hilarious and hot, but it's always just on the edge of my peripherals. But sometimes Steve's fic just kind of creeps on me and demands my attention. This was my feel good fic this spring.

4. By the Laws of Magic by Lenore | The Sandman | Dream/Hob | 32k

It’s 1959, and Hob Gadling is working at a London auction house, amazing his colleagues with his uncanny knowledge of art and artifacts from the 14th century on. When he gets the assignment to catalogue a family library at a place called Fawney Rig, he looks forward to a working vacation in the country. What he finds is a house with a preternatural chill where odd disturbances happen daily, an ornate carved door with a secret clearly hidden behind it, and visions of his mysterious stranger every time he turns around. Heather Says: I honestly love this ship. The fairy tale elements combined with the very compelling idea that in another universe much like this one, Hob Gadling ends up saving Dream from his glass prison made for some truly great fiction.

5. Dawnshot Through the Heart by @sirnotappearinginthisblog | Wax&Wayne series | Wax/Wayne | WIP | 80k

Ten years ago, Wayne fled instead of letting himself get arrested for murder. He’s been an outlaw ever since, keeping one step ahead of the lawkeepers who want him dead or alive—especially Dawnshot. But his luck was bound to run out eventually, and he knows how it always ends for the Bad Guys in stories. Heather Says: I think that this is the only WIP on here but I cannot rightfully leave it off because I LOVED this fic this year. I love the Mistborn series, but I've never really sought out fic for it before. This one though, this one found me. The writing is SUPERB and I wish it was a bigger fandom because it deserves so much love, you guys. It's so so so good. I love Wax and Wayne's dynamic in the series. They're great. But also- what if they had an enemies to lovers thing going on that turned poly? WHAT IF?!

6. One Size Fits All by @entanglednow | Stranger Things | Eddie/Steve | 65k

Steve just wanted to do something nice for a friend, he doesn't mean to get Eddie's ring stuck on his finger, and it's definitely not his fault that everyone he knows is jumping to conclusions. Heather Says: This is not the last time that you will see this author or this ship on this list. I really would have thought that Steddie would have crept out of my brain right now, but NOPE. And part of that is because every couple weeks entanglednow drops an absolute BANGER of a fic that obliterates my brain for anything else.

7. you are spring by @wildehacked | Supernatural | Castiel/Dean | 20k

God makes a wish. His parents work some things out. Heather Says: I got very close to leaving this one off the list, not because it wasn't good or that it wasn't one of my top 25 but purely because I've been out of the Supernatural fandom for so many years. I mean, c'mon. I didn't watch the last FIVE seasons. However, getting to follow along wildehacked's rewatch journey on twitter was a blast from the past and then THIS lovely shining fic that they churned out lured me back in for one last nibble at this ship that took over my life for the better part of a decade. It is so incredibly amazing and since I never finished the series, I will happily go on pretending that this is how it ended.

8. Interim by starkraving | BotW/TOtK | Ganondorf/Link/Zelda | 95k

She has no throne. Girls without thrones should not have knights, but hers won’t go. Princess Zelda – the girl who killed Calamity – would love to fade into legend, but Link’s bought a house, he’s fighting off monsters, and he’s selling giant horses to strangely familiar Gerudo men. She'll never have any peace now. Heather Says: This fic. THIS FIC. Is so richly built. Is so intoxicating. It leans into found family. You spend chapter after chapter watching Zelda and Link traverse Hyrule with the hot Gerudo that they met along the way after the events of the first game. And it is so fucking compelling. Honestly, while I'm happy that they smooched, I would have been completely fine reading another 100k of just these three wandering Hyrule together, being absolute goblins. 10 out 10, will read again.

9. one hundred years past by tciddaemina | BotW/TotK | Ganondorf/Link | 38k

Link wakes up a century early. It changes everything. Heather Says: Can you tell that playing Tears of the Kingdom left me desperately thirsty for any and all Ganondorf content this summer? I'm a sucker for all sides of the poly triforce but I'll admit that Ganondorf and Link scratches that enemies to lovers itch PERFECTLY if it's done well. And this one is done well.

10. Step Right Up by entanglednow | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 3k

Steve had mostly given up on trying to meet anyone new after everything, but it's been six months and his friends had started giving him pointed nudges to get out there again. Heather Says: Told you it wouldn't be the last you saw of entanglednow. I actually think that this might be my favorite fic that they've written? Which is saying a lot because I will scream it to the rafters that any Steddie fan should read their fic. But this is FUN HOUSE MIRROR MAZE and MISTAKEN IDENTITY KISSING. Guys, I have no chill about this fic. I have no chill about Steve's hands in Eddie's hair, or the sounds that he makes, or the smell of strawberry. It is just so so good.

11. the most remarkable thing about you standing in the doorway is that it’s you by @greatunironic | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 35k

Sixteen years after the world didn't end for the last time, Max Mayfield showed up on Steve’s doorstep and said, “You gonna walk me down the aisle in May or what?” Or, it’s 2002 and Steve Harrington attends a wedding, a funeral, and a birth. Heather Says: I genuinely do not think that I have words for this one. It is one of those all encompassing fics that sucks you in and just won't spit you out again. It hurts, an ache just under the breastbone. But god, it's so beautiful.

12. Fight Night by @rlnerdgirl | Teen Wolf | Derek/Stiles | 12k

Stiles starts fighting in college. He doesn't tell anyone. Heather Says: There are three...? Yeah, three Teen Wolf fics on this list. Three. Like it's 2015 again. Like my brain broke and time went ticking all the way back to when I was ridiculously invested in these characters. But honestly? All three Teen Wolf fics on this list are incredibly therapeutic. They get to be the ending for me instead of whatever clusterfuck good ole Jeff tried to pull. This one in particular is fantastic because it's canon-divergence after SEASON one. Yes, we have Erica and Boyd. Yes, Stiles is BAMF. It's a good read.

13. strange fear i ain’t felt for years by Sister | Batman | Tim/Jason | 31k

“Can’t believe a pretty thing like you has to come begging to the Red Hood,” he says against Tim’s neck. “Thought they’d be lining up down the block for you. Thought Daddy would need to get the shotgun.” Heather Says: Oh look, another ship and fandom that I was only peripherally aware of that had me in a chokehold for a good month and a half. I don't even like DC that much.

14. Silver-Tongue by starkraving | Baldur's Gate 3 | Astarion/Karlach | 9k

Astarion fast-talks an abnormal number of enemies into killing themselves in the shadow-cursed lands and the team makes idle (then less idle) conversation about it. Heather Says: Okay, so I STILL have not finished this game. I have however very carefully consumed as much content as I can get my hands on without being completely and totally spoiled. This was the first fic that I really loved in this fandom. It's no surprise that I ship Astarion happily with everyone, but damn is he good with Karlach in this one. Their characterization is perfect.

15. A Sign of The Morning by ToEdenandBackAgain | Stranger Things | Eddie/Steve | 86k

Vecna is dead. The Upside Down is cut off from Hawkins yet again. Steve is trying to go back to normal, whatever that is. He's also trying to figure out exactly how Eddie Munson has managed to fit so easily into his life. Heather Says: Honestly? What can I say about this one? It has 19,000 kudos despite being published last June. It's on a ridiculous number of collection/rec lists. The tension is exquisite. The found family? Even better.

16. Phantom of Truth by Haiju | Danny Phantom | Maddie Fenton & Danny Fenton | 58k

Locked away in a secret government lab with Phantom as her sole object of study, nothing stands between Maddie and the truth... except, perhaps, herself. Heather Says: Oh look, another fandom that I have never ever been a part of. I saw this REALLY NEAT and angsty tiktok (tw for ghosty gore) and basically immediately was sucked into a show that I've never even watched before. The comments lead me to this fic which is perfectly gen, angsty, and honestly absolutely perfect. I cannot get over how much I loved this.

17. Manacled by senlinyu | Harry Potter | Draco/Hermione | 370k

Harry Potter is dead. In the aftermath of the war, in order to strengthen the might of the magical world, Voldemort enacts a repopulation effort. Heather Says: I did the thing. I read the incredibly dark fic that I've been avoiding since 2018. I typically steer-clear of anything that is overly bleak and I do not tiptoe into non-con waters often. But one of our groomsmen who isn't even involved with fandom read this so that his girlfriend would watch Star Wars with him and then spent a good portion of a Halloween party talking it up. So I gave it a shot. Over all, it is too bleak for me. That said, I finished it in a weekend. I loved it. I hated it. I wish I'd broken it up over a longer period of time because the emotional bleed off of it was intense.

18. Ready for Love by @idiopathicsmile | Singin in the Rain | Cosmo/Kathy/Don | 12k

Don and Kathy would move in together. They would have a dog or two and then inevitably, a small parade of adorable little brats who would call him Uncle Cosmo, and they would spend less and less time with him, not on purpose but busy with the rest of their lives, and ultimately Cosmo would learn to make his peace with it because he’d have no other choice and he would have to try to move on and not live too much in his memories. He could picture it so clearly, he figured if the songwriting gig with Monumental didn’t pan out, he could always return to the backwater circuit with a new act: The Amazing Cosmo of the Cosmos—ladies and gentlemen, he sees the future, he reads the stars, he silently pines for his best married pal and all the while tap dancing! Don and Kathy inviting him along on their honeymoon, though—that part was a surprise. Heather Says: I LOVE this movie. It is one of my biggest comfort movies. I watch it to feel happy. I watch it when I'm sad. And I have always shipped these three but NEVER read fic for it. And honestly? I'm glad I waited for a good fic to find me because this one was perfect.

19. A Series of Forgettable Events by @trensu | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 27k

Steve wanted to be a dad more than anything. Unfortunately, he was a single dude in his thirties which meant no adoption agency in the world was willing to give him a chance. Or at least no human adoption agency. Heather Says: Honestly just a delightful little jaunt in a world where Steve wants to be a dad, Eddie is a very overprotective siren, and the kids are, well. Little horrors. I love it. There's a sequel now which I am very patiently waiting to read it until I am less busy in RL.

20. the dry sand of daylight by @andthepeople | Inception | Arthur/Eames | 15k

Arthur is married to Eames for the better part of a decade. Then he wakes up. Heather Says: This fic left me ACHING for the Inception fandom circa 2010-2012. When livejournal was still a thing and the fandom community was alive and thriving. It is so achingly tender and perfect. I had forgotten how much I loved them.

21. brutalist masterpieces by @greatunironic | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 12k

Ten years on, in a town in Nova Scotia, on the edge of the Atlantic, Eddie finds Steve again, and also maybe himself. Heather Says: Maybe that's my thing this year. Achingly sweet tender pieces that leave you reeling in the aftermath. This fic is SO incredibly beautiful.

22. What Made Milwaukee Famous by synthetica | Danny Phantom | Vlad/Danny | 30k

Ten years after establishing a tenuous truce, Danny crash-lands at Vlad's Milwaukee lakehouse with a particularly nasty wound, three days recovery time, and absolutely nothing to do but talk to his long-lost archnemesis. Heather Says: I'm told that this is something of a rarepair. However, from the limited information that I have from the series I can say with full certainty that two ghostly beings locked for years as enemies growing up and meeting in the middle? Fully my thing.

23. then now and always by @raisesomehale | Teen Wolf | Derek/Stiles | 13k

Stiles is stuck. Stiles is stuck in the fucking snow in the middle of bum-fuck-nowhere at night with a broken down car three days before Christmas, and the nearest tow truck company—over fifty miles away—doesn’t open until morning. Heather Says: And here we have the promised third Teen Wolf fic, the most cathartic of the bunch. I am so so sweet on future fic particularly in this fandom with missed chances. And this one is just so syrupy sweet. It's winter! There's horses! Derek's an alpha! They smooch. Anyway, this is how I cope with a series finale that didn't happen and a movie that doesn't exist.

24. Terminus by @rcmclachlan | Loki | Loki/Mobius | 4k

"Keep me here," he begs against Mobius's lips. "You must keep me here." Heather Says: What do you mean you didn't spend all three replays of the Loki series finale weeping into a pillow? What do you mean you didn't spend the next few days trying to find the perfect coda? What do you mean that you didn't find this fic and positively expire from the sheer fucking tenderness in Mobius' voice? What do you mean? What. do you. mean? Anyway, I know I'm not supposed to have number one favorites. This list exists because I cannot condense it further than 25. But guys, this was my favorite fic this year.

25. Eye Of The Beholder by @entanglednow | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 22k

Eddie works himself up to ask Steve if he can borrow his instant camera, because the type of pictures he wants to take are…not the kind he can get developed in town. Heather Says: And to round it out, another Steddie. This one with sexy photos. The tension is killer.

[beevean]

Multiple questions for you.

What were your thoughts on the Netflix castlevania show when you first discovered it?

How did you feel about the show when watching through each episode?

When did you realize the show was hopeless and would have zero redeeming qualities?

What are your overall thoughts on Netflix castlevania now?

1) I actually heard about it as it was airing - I vaguely remember posts related to Dracula and Lisa, or gifsets of the "I'm killing my boy" scene before I started playing the games. Needless to say, I heard nothing but good things, posts about how it was a great adaptation. I tried watching the first episode before getting into the games, but I got only confused and bored because of the CHURCH BAD scenes that had little to do with the plot lol. When I asked @spinningbuster98 (the friend who urged me to play the games) if it was worth watching it, his response was more or less "ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh", before sharing part of his grievances. At the time, I only vaguely understood the issues. After playing SoTN, CV3 and CoD, let's just say that everything became crystal clear.

The actual show turned out to be a much more unpleasant experience than simply "they fucked up the lore and the characters" could have prepared me for.

2) I actually have chronicled my first experience here :) as you can tell, while my criticism was not as well worded as I would phrase it today, it's proof that I only had a tolerable time in S1, and then things progressively got worse. Here's my second rewatch, if you're curious.

3) No doubt, S3 was my breaking point. S1 was mediocre but tolerable, S2 was boring and sluggish, but S3 was just a mean-spirited waste of time with a terrible, immature message and needlessly sadistic torture porn this side of an edgy fanfic. By the end I was so sick to my stomach, I really didn't want to watch S4, and to this day there are some episodes (mostly the ones focused on the Trepha plot) that I simply skipped because I just want it to be done.

4) That it's bad :P it's a bad adaptation, because it was obviously written by someone who only read the wiki and supervised by fans blinded by their own ego, people who didn't get the spirit of the original series and wrote a shallow Berserk ripoff with only the vague aesthetic of Castlevania: just the writing of the characters is appalling in how everyone was reversed for no reason, almost on purpose. And it's a bad story in itself, because it's rife with shocking writing mistakes, such as an over reliance on telling, glacial pacing, condescending hand holding to push you to think in a certain direction, long pretentious speeches to simulate depth, ridiculous amount of swearing (and even bland swearing) that doesn't fit the characters, dropped plot points, rushed plot lines, immense favoritism towards certain characters combined with the humiliation of others, a lack of focus in the last two seasons, and a general... mean mentality, that I can only describe as a combination of snobbish intellectualism, British imperialism, and victim blaming.

Aside from the cool fight scenes and the old-time fans who are so starved for CV content they'd eat dirt, I genuinely will never understand what people like about this show.

[puppy-phum]

Every month of 2023 ✨

Post your most popular and/or favorite edit/gifset for each month (it’s okay to skip months!)

thank you so much for tagging me zey [x] @smileytharn, mj [x] @forcebook, jessi [x] @daymork, and antania [x] @raypakorn ♥ it was so lovely to look through all of your creations! you've all worked hard during the past year and i hope i get to see more creations from all of you throughout this year ^^

-

i'm collecting my creations for each month under the cut but let's look at some fun statistics at first! (inspired by antania's post ♥)

i created 68 edits

additionally, there were 5 photo collabs (jimmysea photoshoots)

and 4 text post meme posts (for last twilight)

the most edits i made in may (due to our skyy 2 episodes)

most of my edits were related to vice versa (13 in total)

the second most popular ones were bad buddy (8 edits) and last twilight (10 edits)

most of my edits were either lovely/warm or angsty

i got deep into episode edits this year

and also took inspiration from other than poetry and lyrics

thank you so much for being part of all this!

January

my most popular edit was this vegaspete set i made for @spicyvampire ♥ i actually like it a ton! but my personal favorite from this month is my bad buddy characters + the real 5 love languages set. i like the meme a ton and i loved how the set turned out (+ for me, it's super funny).

February

my most popular edit this month was the toddblack differences edit i made for @i-got-the-feels ♥ it was a very different type of edit and i'm very happy ppl liked it this much. personal favorite is this jimmy(sea) set for the varitda mv he/they appeared in. i loved the aesthetic of the mv and i feel like i captured that very well.

March

the most popular edit in march was my akkayan + one direction piece dedicated to @fitfmybeloved ♥ i think i need to make something else with a similar style sometime. my favorites would be the puen & talay's top 10 outfits edits which technically happened in february and march. i had a ton of fun with them and i honestly adore looking at the results.

April

my birthday month! the most popular creation was my beyond evil edit which was interesting to make according to @nongnaos's request ♥ i had never edited this show (or any kdrama) before and i also struggled a bit with figuring out the layout. it's a very simple set but felt fitting. my favorite this month would be this puentalay set made for you antania ♥ it took a lot of time, especially all the coloring, but it was worth every second! (special mention for my sea bday set which i still cannot believe the bday boy actually saw and liked on twt ;; i love him so much!)

May

i think it's very deserved that my most popular edit in may was this puentalay one for my our skyy 2 episode edits series. it's for the first vice versa episode and tbh also my personal favorite out of all those episode edits i made ^^ the coloring just worked super well there. my true favorite of the month was the pran's life anthem edit i made for @pransobrave ♥

June

as is fitting for pride month, my most popular edit and also my personal favorite was my our skyy 2 couples edit where i tried to describe all of their different loves through the colors of a rainbow. it was a lot of fun to do!

July

the most popular edit this month was the pran set i made for @punpunsutatta ♥ i had a lot of fun with this one bc i got to try some new things with it. personal faves and my peak as an editor (in my own opinion) were the two puentalay edits i made this month. this sam smith song inspired one i made for you zey ♥ i adore the layout and the colors, it makes me think about vintage images and letters. and this other one was born bc the quote haunted me. i love the pink in it a lot, it's so soft.

August

for august, i felt like i was making a ton of things even if i didn't have the energy or the time. in reality, i didn't make that many but i made a couple of very big sets. one of them and the most popular one this month was my winteam set made for @jimmysea ♥ making it took some research and then i had to go through the episodes a little while i searched for the fitting scenes. personal favorite was this akktheo set bc it turned out looking very cute. i think it captures their feeling as a couple and their story well. special mention for my jimmy bday set bc i poured my heart into it ♥ i love this man so much (and i currently wish he is fine and gets well soon, he's apparently in the hospital ;;)

September

things got hectic in september as i started my internship and had to travel around a lot. i was too tired to do much else but work and study and watch dramas without any brain. that's why i only made two edits. my most popular set was my last request edit for my event. it was patpran with the lyrics from ford arun's song come closer and made for @celestial-sapphicss ♥ i love the colors in this so much. personal favorite, only barely, is still my puentalay + 8 types of love set. i had a blast making it as a kind of collab with @dimpledpran who made the patpran version!

October

made only two edits (or well, one cut into two parts) in october too due to being very busy and tired. they were quite big tho bc i used a long while gathering material for them. it was its own type of research project when i wrote down all the times puentalay told each other 'i love you' without saying those exact words to each other. i struggled with the layout too as mimi can probably remember :'D but i love these sets a lot so they're both my favorite and most popular ♥

November

finally in november last twilight came to save all of us and so it's no wonder i created a lot for that during this month :'D i honestly wished to make more but i was still mostly busy with my internship and with starting my thesis. my most popular one was this last twilight trailer edit. i think it was fun to kind of make it similar to my mock trailer edit all that time ago. my personal favorite is the mork + linkin park edit that probably caters to only myself lol. am honestly obsessed with each song mentioned in this bc i can see it with mork so well. it was a relief to get that one out.

December

haven't really had the time to dive as deep into last twilight and make as many edits for it as i'd wanted due to using most of december to catch up on sleep and all the studying i couldn't do during my internship, but hopefully now i'll have more time to devastate yall ♥ the most popular post was this last twilight + random tweets thing and my personal favorite is the only morkday quote edit i've managed so far. i love the colors and the whole concept to bits, and cannot wait to make more ^^

-

thank you if you read this far! i'm not sure who hasn't been tagged yet bc i'm a bit late with this one but if you have done this already, you can always send it my way! i almost demand you do. i love appreciating all your art ♥

tagging: @dimpledpran @jimmysea @moonkhao @chinzillas @khaotunqs @pranink @dengswei @taeminie @psychic-waffles (i'd love to see your art!) @yilinglaozu @eohachu @difanghua @mooninagust @namchyoon ♥

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

Sorry for just sliding into your asks like this, but ever since I saw you incorporating existing songs into your D&D:HAT fics, I have been haunted by the concept of Edgin composing "Poet, Soldier, King" for Xenk. Because I'm old enough to remember that fandom phenomena and Xenk definitely fits the Messianic Archetype.

Just. Bear with me. The first verse is open-and-shut, though I suppose you could replace "city" with something else if you want, like "despot" or "regime" or even a generic "evil". This is of course a reference to Szass Tam but could also be Ed's cynical take the possible consequences of Xenk's do-goodery.

The second verse was definitely meant to be sarcastic and mock Xenk's antiquated speech but you know how tsunderes in-denial work. Because Xenk's no-bullshit sincerity did cut Ed to the quick and the core both — and your writings show you also believe Xenk's words live rent free in Ed's mind.

The last verse doesn't really work in the context of Faerûn, and I also don't think Ed would play up Xenk as a conqueror too much, so here's my proposed alternative:

There will come a champion

Whose heart is blessed by Torm

He will succor one and all

(I would've put the Triad in there but it didn't fit the meter, boo!)

Because c'mon. What is more classic than an I-hate-him rant that just ends up more and more flattering until it's an unintentional love confession? Although by the time Ed finishes this verse he's probably reached the Actively Pining stage.

Anyways, now that I've put this idea into the world and foisted it upon you, I hope I may finally know peace. 🙏

I really love this idea, so I hope you don't mind me posting this ask publicly, because I think it would be done more justice in fanart or a gifset (the Xedgin fandom has some insanely good artists what the heck) than in a fanfic! I hope that my sharing this gives someone in the fandom some inspiration!

[thegeminisage]

IT'S TIME FOR. a star trek update. and BOY am i behind. wednesday we watched tng's "frame of mind," friday we watched ds9's "progress" and tng's "suspicions," and last night we watched ds9's "if wishes were horses." i am so thrilled to announce that despite the high amount of episodes including tng episodes i have almost NOTHING to complain about this update. like a little, but not much.

frame of mind (tng):

first of all we must acknowledge this gifset, which according to the timestamp i saw with my eyeballs near the end of january which (and i checked) was right after the episode where picard is like yeah worf should kill himself. IN the course of the episode worf asks riker to assist with his suicide which is both the most horrible and romantic thing that's ever happened with them. so i went into the ship tag. found it most bereft except for this gifset. i have been DYING to know for a MONTH AND A HALF what's going on in this ep. i finally cracked recently and read the summary which only made me more excited.

so. drumroll. DID THE EP DELIVER..............???

yes.

yes, with VERY minor caveats.

i think my only real complaint about this episode is that it was a me problem. like i was picturing some scene where worf tenderly (for him) talks riker down from a fit of madness and also he was the real worf. i built it up too much in my head. that's not what happened. in my mind palace it is. i'm a little tempted to do a rewrite of it to make it happen but i barely have time to breathe so that will remain a wistful thought for now. like, i knew the enterprise setting wasn't real, but regardless of the amount of worf/riker (e deanna) ship content it was just kind of disappointing to learn that the mental facility was ALSO not real because the worf and data that rescued riker were not real and the beverly that snuck in to see him was also not real and his experiences there also weren't "real" in the physical sense, even though he very much did still experience them. very "it was all a dream!" of them

OTHER THAN THAT. i was really into it. i loved everything about it. i loved riker's break from reality. i loved that crazy lady with the spoon. i loved how even data got weirded out at riker's antics. i love that the part of riker that is his feelings is represented by deanna and the part of him that is action is represented by worf WORF E RIKER E DEANNA REAL! i didn't like picard being his logic. spock should be everybody's logic. get that guy outta here

also, what a great touch to have very chill very normal very laid back riker be like yeah if i don't tear this set apart with my bare hands before i sleep i really WILL go crazy 🙃

side var didn't beverly say people were coming to clean it up in the morning...what happened to the ship cleaning itself smh. justice for the invisible janitors and housekeepers of starfleet

also, why did this episode make me slightly into riker and beverly as friends with benefits...the whole trill boyfriend situation adds so much fun complication to that as well depending on a multitude of varying and equally valid interpretations of that event. like, girl, forget picard's two-timing ass. what's he ever done for you except knock you up with an affair baby. join the worf e riker e deanna polycule. they could make better husbands. shit, i could make a better husband. forget him girl! you don't need him

progress (ds9):

holy fucking shit.

this episode BLEW me away. easily a must-see on my spreadsheet, when i (eventually?) catch up. every single thing they do with kira is AMAZING.

the old guy was so instantly likable. he was likable even when he was being sexist BECAUSE he was being sexist specifically to wind kira up because kira was playing bad guy. their chemistry was so good. i was just as worried about him as kira was the whole episode long

what a brilliant way to discuss war, not by showing the violence or the gore or the death but by simply showing us this guy who won't leave his farm and sleeptalks during his nightmares and these other two who can't speak but WILL kill you with pitchforks. like, you have "chain of command" with picard and the four lights and then you have this, and both of them are so important in our understanding of the cardassians and what they do.

sisko was so absolutely kind to kira. like, he outlined her struggle perfectly - she's no longer the underdog, and in some ways that sucks, because she now has no idea how to behave. her morals and her logic and her heart are all telling her different things.

AND LIKE. SISKO. KNEELING DOWN. TO BE EYE TO EYE WITH HER. i cannot possibly express how important that is. HE IS SO GOOD!!!

i'm actually really glad she got teary eyed but DIDN'T cry. we just watched her ugly cry in that episode with kai opaka and i think to do it twice together so soon would have been too much. but it DID need that emotional beat, and they struck the perfect balance.

the through-line of the fucking kiln. every time i saw them building it. wah.

the ending was so shocking and so horrible...actually, my one tiny nitpick with this ep is that there wasn't really the proper setup for it. the air will be poison if those guys tap the moon, but surely the ostensible utopian starfleet is not gonna tap it with even one holdout...? though i guess bajor isn't in starfleet proper? tng often has too MUCH technobabble and exposition but this didn't have quiiite enough - i feel like forcefields or masks or other scifi tech might have solved this problem and i didn't REALLY believe the only two solutions were to let this guy die on the moon or forcibly relocate him, especially when kira brought up a slower way to get the energy they needed - but maybe that's the point, that she ended the fight before it could become one, idk. i also wish he had said "as long as this house is still standing" a little earlier - having him say it right before the end sort of gave away what kira was gonna do before she did it, though i DIDN'T expect her to start with the kiln.

other than though it was so good. it says so much about the nature of the cardassians as a group, and bajorans as a group, and about kira herself.

also, sorry, jacket coming off hot.

suspicions (tng):

THERE WERE SO MANY WOMEN IN THIS EPISODE??? let's count

beverly, and it's a beverly-centric episode

hot klingon lady who threw beverly around like a sack of flour (again: beverly is bicurious)

VERY snooty vulcan lady with the human??? husband????? sorry but doesn't he have a refractory period how do they get BY during pon farr? ok. none of my business. moving on

nurse ogawa who helped commit women's wrongs

guinan, beverly's confidant and pretend tennis elbow haver...

deanna also had a few lines which i'm choosing to count in the spirit of things

also, that green alien guy? long feng from atla.

anyway, i was tickled with this episode. not only because they finally wrote a ferengi who isn't racist, showed another vulcan/human couple, included a bunch of women, AND gave beverly the main role, but also because the mystery was perfectly done. it gave us just enough information to stay interesting, and i figured out long feng faked his own death RIGHT before the reveal - not early enough to bore me but early enough to make me feel smart

i didn't really understand why beverly chose to end ferengi racism in a field that she wasn't even in but i support her so much. also, she got to do an illegal autopsy and steal a fucking shuttle. GOOD for her

again i want to state that this klingon lady TOSSED HER AROUND it was so fucking sexy. get it beverly. i so rarely have so much fun with a tng episode and we got two good ones in a row!!

if wishes were horses (ds9):

this is a sequel to an episode of tos i mostly don't like, "shore leave." tng also had a "shore leave episode" (the one where picard's mom showed up and i think some ensign got spliced into the floor) so we have done "our thoughts manifest as reality" twice now and i assume will continue to do it in every star trek series going forward. so far i have not liked any of these episodes because of the redundant and irrelevant nature of them (oh look! a random tiger!) but ds9's is probably my favorite out of the three

i just feel like you have the potential to get so real and do such character work when thoughts are manifested as reality and instead it's always this crazy shit. i think tng tried to do it with more gravitas, but it's tng and early tng at that, so i've yet to see star trek do one of these successfully and i doubt i ever will.

ANYWAY. number one complaint with this is of course the fake dax. i think it's really funny that she keeps gently but firmly shooting julian down, and while julian is a likable cringefail loser i NEVER saw him as a creep, not even with repeated attempts to ask her out...and then this happened, and it was very touch and go for a second there. i'm glad his instinct was to fight dax when she was compromised, really horrified when he "gave in," and then was extremely relieved when they were interrupted. he tried i guess. i'm gonna try not to hold it against him. if i can forgive geordi i can forgive julian.

we ALMOST got it working right. dax was like you know julian in a way i kind of feel like we invaded YOUR privacy it's not as though you can help having fantasies and they should have been safe in your head which was like. ok great take actually! we are being adults! but then the fake one showed back up and tried to pick a catfight with the real one and SSSSIGH

keiko and o'briens little daughter is SO cute. i mean she is SO fucking adorable. rumpelstiltskin was easily the dumbest part of this episode but that little baby is so adorable it was almost worth it to see her. i also didn't like that obrien didn't immediately say no as a kneejerk reaction to selling his daughter. girl what's wrong with you

i DON'T like that there's no baseball in the future. number one i refuse to believe americans could ever fall out of love with baseball even if it's only in a "let's bring back this vintage game" kind of way and number two it's one of the only sports i kind of like and understand. sisko being a nerd about an ancient dead sport is so funny though. good for him.

THAT SAID. i was kind of hoping sisko would see his dead wife. we got a great little moment where kira imagined an explosion and a guy on fire, which touched on something she probably actually has seen, and it was a fun way to give a stupid and silly concept some gravitas, but when everything got quiet there at the end i was expecting sisko's wife and no, it was just mr baseball again

shoutout also to odo running around with two real live birds on that set, quark fucking the birds after they turned into ladies, and then odo imagining quark in jail. truly a series of events, though given quark offering to make him a changeling lady friend in the holosuite (refreshing that at least in ds9 they acknowledge it as a sex toy), i kind of expected a serious moment with him too where he got his wish unwillingly.

and finally, i had SUCH a hard time following the plot of this episode.

the ending of this...eh. the power of positive thinking got rid of the rift = funny? the power of positive thinking is why a bunch of aliens showed up to wreak havoc = ehhhhh. the closest we came to having that serious moment i wanted was kira's .5 second scene and it JUST wasn't long enough. probably my least favorite ds9 episode yet, if we don't count the one with q, but still not as excruciating as some of tng's duds - it was entertaining enough not to make me hate existing for a single watch.

TONIGHT: tng's "rightful heir" (worf episode???👀) and ds9's "the forsaken" (deeply not looking forward to this...the summary says LWAXANA TROI is supposed to be mencing my best boy odo. please save him please get the tng out of my ds9 please please pleeease)

[freuleinanna]

trials (and errors) - masterpost

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | AO3

Exiled from the public's eye, young Marisa Coulter is preparing to go and stand trial for adultery. On the other side of Oxford, young lord Asriel Belacqua is preparing to go and stand trial for murder. A lot has been said about how 'as soon as they met, they fell in love'. That is exactly what made the rest of it so hard.

I've posted excerpts from it here, here, here, here and here.

gifs by the absolutely bonkers incredible @tragicotps because i am still in awe you would even do something like that! 💛 | the whole gifset here |

Behind-the-scene stuff includes:

I wanted a scene where, at trial, a question is raised about whether or not Marisa has ever furthered her crimes by trying to get rid of a child before it was born. I had a flashback scene in mind where Asriel offer to go north, for witches have many practices men consider heretic, while Marisa hesitates, but ultimately refuses. I thought it was neat that she had a chance, but didn't take it, because it's her and Asriel's baby that was in question. In the end, I cut it because yikes progressive much, also it just didn't fit in the general flow very well.

I LOVE Marisa and Thorold's interactions. One of the drafts for the last chapter was that they kept meeting by chance, with scarce chances to talk, but that Thorold was Marisa's last thread to Asriel and she kinda missed the old man himself. Thorold's affection for Marisa is !!!!! in my head. It didn't work out, but Thorold became that fateful person to bring Marisa Coulter to life - and to her path.

Another draft for the last chapter included Marisa returning to the Institute OR the Council meeting where she proposes the 'silver cages' and their bullshit benefits. It didn't work out because I never knew what gave her an idea in this case.

I desperately wanted to get Masriel one last meeting. It wasn't too realistic cause their feelings got really rough & hard over the years with blame and stuff, so a softer goodbye wasn't working out. If it was, it would be Marisa also returning to the Institute and taking Asriel's office while he's up north. She'd found the first of Lyra's photos. Asriel would have to come and take them upon his return, yada-yada, conversations, but it would be linked to the way she looked at Lyra's photos in Asriel's journal in the series. le sigh

I love the monkey? And the kind of relationship Marisa has with him? It's especially interesting in their youth because the rules haven't been formed yet. Anyways, it's way more fascinating in my head than in the writing but just know that it's good :D

[emilykaldwen]

I'm not sad, I just feel empty. I have moments of the excitement that just fizzle away after 10 minutes when I've moved onto focus other things. I can be excited for other people's things, I think because it's easier to rally the enthusiasm and maintain it for that, but the inner enthusiasm is something I can't hold onto rn cause you know, depression.

So I hyperfocus on you know *holds up babies* because that's a solid dopamine hit (and also I'm just getting to the meat and excitement of the story things are moving and happening, etc). Which makes sense!

So the photographer and my realtor are at the condo today and the listing should go up today or tomorrow. My period is almost done so I can go ahead and sign up for planet fitness. I need to fix my masterclass login (I didn't mean to use google to sign in). I need to, you know, leave my house. I think being sick isn't helping and I just hit the burn out exhaustion phase at the end of december like a lot of us did. Not burn out from writing, but just from everything else. Like the last two weeks of december were exhausting and then I got sick and so of course I feel bad and icky and all that stuff.

It's weird to think that this is how I spent the majority of my life constantly feeling, which I suppose is how this largely snuck up on me in a way I didn't quite realize. Which says a lot for how far I've come and how well I've done, but also just... managing. And therefore underscoring that it was a good idea to move back in with my parents so I'm not alone in the house with my pets and no human interaction.

Good news is joey and I figured out the screencapping issue yesterday so now I just need to muster the motivation to work on that lil gifset I wanted to do. But they both have so little footage so I have to figure out what I'm trying to do.

[laufire]

I was thinking about the last gifset and. first of all, please contrast it with marper's first meeting with echo earlier in the season asldkfasjf (they're all going to love each other SO MUCH). second of all, it's reminded me of the discussions about echo maybe being hostile in the ark towards emori, due to anti-freikdreina prejudices. now, I'm not saying echo wouldn't have those and thus wouldn't need to overcome them, but it always struck me as both ignorant of not just echo as a character, but of how bigotry works in general.

echo is not exactly the sharing OR the impulsive type. she's an strategist and someone who clearly analyses her environment and adapts to it (she's a spy), planning for any eventuality. this means she'd look around and see people who a) don't share that prejudice; and b) are more likely to trust and welcome emori (marper if just because they're likely to distrust echo, and ofc raven. bellamy knows echo better which is both positive and negative).

not to mention there's MURPHY. in this very episode he made it clear that he's willing to kill echo to save emori (that he's willing to kill and die for her). this means emori has someone on her corner unconditionally, without reserve, and in a high-stakes show like this, something like that is not to be scoffed at. I mean, I always mention how clarke didn't kill emori in part due to ambition, but I think witnessing and realising and feeling how much murphy meant this made clarke, at the very least, uneasy.

p.s. another detail with echo I liked in this episode but only distantly fits the theme of this post is when she tells clarke "I only wanted to save my people... is that so wrong?" and gives her this... shifty look lol. and clarke looks down, clearly thinking back on how she just tried to take the bunker for skaikru. she had access to the bunker while echo only had access to the arena; both were caught. but clarke has a guaranteed spot and echo, who would've been #1 in azgeda hiearchy at this point, lost hers. ironically, unlike her fans, clarke has always been self-aware of how she is, in no fucking way, a better person than echo lmao.

also, the whole thing reminds me of how emori maneuvers clarke in 4x07. echo is just bolder and clarke more coignasant of what the conversation is actually about. because they're weirdly ~simpatico lmao. in another timeline where clarke was better written (and maybe her fans less annoying), I would've been a clecho gal, methinks xDD

[jessmalia]

I saw that you have a otp tag for Rory and Logan, but don’t have one for literati. Did you want them to end up together? I’m just asking because you’re always making literati edits and I’ve never seen a rogan one from you, so I was a little surprised when I noticed that haha

Oh, yeah, I've gone into this before! I don't really consider myself a literati "shipper", mainly cause I don't really engage in the romantic aspect of their relationship like that, if that makes sense? But I love both Rory and Jess as characters so much and their relationship with each other is really important in examining who they are and how they evolve. So, I consider myself more of a literati studier lol. And, yes, I also do not want them to end up together. Because I don't think it's a fitting ending for either of them (notice how all of my literati gifsets are angsty ones about why they didn't work out). At the end of the day, to me, the truth is that Jess was always going to leave and Rory was never going to be able to look past that. This doesn't make their relationship less meaningful, though. I actually think that Jess, out of all of her boyfriends, had the biggest impact on Rory as a person. Sometimes things are meant to be, but not meant to last.

As for rogan, I do consider myself a shipper, though I don't want them to be endgame, either. My ideal ending is the exact one we got — Rory ending the show single — so I'm pretty happy lol. But if I had to choose one of Rory's boyfriends for her to end up with, I would definitely choose Logan.

I'd actually really like to gif rogan someday, I'm just not as familiar with that part of the show cause I've seen it less. And I also relate to Jess so much that inspiration for edits for him and literati comes quite naturally to me. When I get to season five in my rewatch, though, I'll sure be giffing tons of their moments and might then get some ideas for edits to a song or a quote as well!

[babycatlix]

hi friends 🩵

it is now day 4 of being sick and i feel much better. if you couldn't tell, i just posted 3 gifsets! even though i slept terribly last night, i was going hot and cold, i swear i had a fever, i kept getting up to pee, and had some coughing fits. BUT i woke up feeling better! my super sexy sick voice made me sound worse than i felt. but as we're approaching the end of this night, i'm mostly congested, coughing, AND i didn't take a nap today!

i'm hoping to get more sets done tomorrow and i'm hoping that i feel even better tomorrow when i get up.

i hope you have a merry christmas, if you celebrate. happy kwanzaa, again if you celebrate. please stay safe out there, make good choices, and stay hydrated my friends! 🩵

[werewolfnat]

3 7 10 14 22 34 50

3: Pick your 5 favourite creations and explain what you love the most about them!

🖤 ok I know I bring this one of Max and Steve to the table every time I'm asked about my fave gifsets but I still just look at it in awe sometimes I love how it came out so much.

💜 this one of Dustin featuring Eddie, when I first got this song on the Spotify requests I didn't know how I was going to make it fit but I think I pulled it off (even if it hurts lol), I loved the effects of the film strip overlay and also how the colours came out on it.

🖤 this one featuring Nancy because the minute I discovered this song I knew it fit her to a tee.

💜 this yellowjackets gifset the song fits perfectly for them, the blending possibly someone of my finest and I love how the black white and red colours compliment each other.

🖤 and finally this Steve set, because who doesn't love a bewildered babygirl?

7: What is something you want to develop in your future creations?

I'd always say colour because it never feels like I get it as good as others sometimes but also maybe transitions and layouts more too.

10: An old creation that will always have a special place in your heart

see that's a tough decision right there because I've got 11, actually wait I think maybe 12 years of gifmaking under my belt and I can barely remember the gifsets I made in the last week lol, erm let's see (*spends forever scrolling through phone because I'm not on my desktop*) ah here we go, the year was 2014 and this chick just discovered how to use the selective colour layer in Photoshop to make her GIFs bright and bold and she had just got into the walking dead, I've come a long way since this gifset lol

14: A fandom you want to create more content for!

At the minute yellowjackets seeing as I'm rewatching it, I feel like me giffing stranger things though always outweighs everything else I try to get into giffing (hence why the other day I asked for requests outside of it lol)

22: A creation that was difficult to make (but worthwhile!)

I'm gonna cheat a little here and say the entirety of my 4k celebration GIFs, because it took me roughly 6 months to complete it, some of them taking up to a week to individually make because Photoshop hated me making these lol

34: Favourite individual gif from a set you’ve created!

I've got 2 faves that currently come to mind both from yellowjackets;

The first is from one of my five faves above, I love how the water ripple effect came out, and second from my latest yellowjackets set I just really love how I managed to blend her face almost perfectly like that

50. Self-loving time: show us a creation you want your followers to see

if you haven't seen it already check out my latest gifset, a Steve parallel depicting just how smart our fave boy really is 😘

Ask me some creator questions 😉✨

[hooksmoak]

top 5 ouat characters?

Thanks for the question !

1. Emma Swan - Funny story I was a KJ stan first and foremost at the beginning. liked her just fine I just didn't really identify with her but becoming a CS fan, I started following blogs that were more centered around her + the fact that some people really didn't like for no reason she became my fave

2. Killian Jones - He's so my type as a male character it's not funny. Handsome asshole with a heart of gold who worships the ground of the women he fall in love with ??? HELL YEAH He's an asshole but respects women ???? HELL YEAH You can't give me a character who hides his pain under a cocky exterior and not expect me to fall in love with him

3. Rumplestiltskin - He is the best villain of the show (followed closely by Peter pan). I loved his sacrifice in season 3A it was so fitting (him ending the father-son cycle) and he should have stayed dead. That's the only redeeming storyline I liked for him. If they really wanted to keep him, and I understand Robert Carlyle is a great actor, they should have commited and made him iredeemable until the end.

Ok for the last two I'm going to be honest it has been tough to choose because it has been a long time since I've watched the show in it's entirety and not just snippet of scenes to make Emma Swan/Capain Swan gifsets so all the other characters are kind of a blur (except the ones I really don't like lol) so the next time I rewatch the show these 4 & 5 could change

4. Snow White I really loved her in season 1&2 but after that unfortunately I did not care for the storylines they gave her so it was hard to still care about her but I love the character development bewteen and Regina it was really cool to see these two get closer.

5. Ruby Lucas - I really liked the twist of her being the wolf and LOVED the S1 episode that was centered on her especially her storyline in Stoybrooke (her thinking she's too incompetent to help Emma is too real for me) They could have done so much more with her in later seasons, I wish they kept her as a main character. Also I still think she could have been the perfect beast for the beauty and the beast story, Meghan Ory and Emilie De Ravin had great chemistry.

[thebreakfastgenie]

This is a true fandom story and idk if it will make sense if you don't know the source material but it BAFFLES me but I Think also sheds a bit of light on the whole "fandom doesn't know what platonic means" thing.

I was discussing in a discord (a fandom discord, in fact, but for a media property than the one this story is about) a book that had recently been adapted to film. The central character of the book has a close male best friend whom he canonically routinely had sex with while intoxicated which they then do not acknowledge in the sober light of day. When they parted ways, thinking it was to be for the last time, one of them kisses the other goodbye, and the other has mixed feelings about this, wondering if this makes him "a queer" but also, a part of him wanting to say he loves him.

This person on the fandom discord was saying how the book was "a bit gay" but that the movie was "even gayer". What the movie did was strip most of that out. They impulsively kiss goodbye but there's absolutely none of this other context around it - certainly not the sex, but also none of the confusion, the mixed emotions, etc.

Suddenly in that moment I realised that this flattening of the idea of a storyline between two men being "a bit gay" kind of had the same root as attributing "gayness" to two men interacting casually/platonically. It isn't really about what is happening in the storyline for any of these men. It's about how easy it is to take screenshots and make gifsets that fit a preconceived idea. The actual content of the story could be different in either direction and for certain kinds of fan engagement that does not matter.

You explained this very well and I think you really got at something! I was just thinking about the abstract, vibes-based meaning of "gay" in fandom that may or may not have anything to do with two people of the same gender being in a sexual or romantic relationship. In my opinion, the recent popularity of "gay sex" as a phrase was a response to this, but it's undergoing the same abstraction process. The same thing shows up in "this too is yuri."

With m/m shipping in particular, it's often more about fitting stock gay narratives than interpretations that fit the story or anything to do with the specific characters. One of the best parts of Gonchrarov was watching the Goncharov/Andrey ship evolve around a set of very popular beats when the movie didn't even exist. You don't need the source material! Screenshots and gifsets tell the whole story!

I personally find this flattening in all its forms kind of devastating. It's the exact opposite of what I want out of gay content! I want all kinds of different, richly textured stories!

Also I'm obsessed with people declaring the adaptation where two men didn't have sex more gay. That's so incredibly online.

[adelle-ein]

hi! i cant believe i saw ur post about my tags! (no worries about @ing or not @ing me.) and ur SO RIGHT about the quality being too high for 2013… (id also love an aesthetic writeup)

it really was just a surprise because the number of gif creators has been drastically reduced since this post type has been dying out on all other platforms. for me it gave me the similar vibe of recent dvd movies being redesigned for vhs covers (tho not quite that old). it was super charming!

and i hope i didnt imply that your gif work was bad or outdated! i think the colors are quite fitting and the quality speaks for itself.

im quite new to the fe3h and ferdibert scene, so im having a great time trawling tumblr for all the great posts ive missed since 2019. i was quite happy to see this particular gif post because it felt like such a classic tumblr staple, like all ships need (at least) one dedicated set of gifs/edits, and this was the one i needed 🥰

thanks again, for both your original post AND reply!

Hi! I'm glad there's no worries there, I went back and forth for a bit and I didn't want it to feel like a callout post because. it was very much not! I just wanted to talk about gif stuff a little bit

and I definitely don't feel bad about your comments or anything! At first I was surprised but when I went and looked at the gifset I definitely agreed with you (despite nitpicks about the time period heh.) It did make me think about how, in general, I don't think tumblr gif-making trends have continued changing as much since the mid-2010s, and if they have I stopped really keeping up with them. I think some of that is probably just me, esp due to my never buying Photoshop CC (i remember looking at others' methods in maybe 2016ish and seeing that I just didn't have the tools others did anymore. my old CS6 is still chugging along…) but also due to the site becoming less popular over time and there being less interest and fewer people getting into gif-making. Like you said it's a bit of a dying medium, and it's never really been a popular post type on other platforms, so if not for tumblr who would people be making gifsets for?

Lol I definitely feel you about that style of post being an older ship staple though! It used to be such a common thing that every fandom had (albiet less for video games bc that's often harder - I do not honestly remember really making that series of 3h ship gifs but that was definitely dedication to the cause at the time, there was so little media to work with). Now a bit of a dying art alas (including from me since I don't really make many gifs at all anymore….learning to draw instead for a number of reasons)

Anyway yes that was a fun rabbit hole to go down! Genuinely I would love to read a Tumblr gif/graphic aesthetic writeup - putting framerates aside I don't think people really use textures that much anymore for example unless they need a background, and sharpening has definitely been toned down. And fewer song quotes. And filters still lean more pastel than the really saturated stuff in the early 2010s. But I don't really have the time atm to do some kind of deep dive myself…it would be really neat though!

(Also just in general as someone who never left, seeing the site come back to life a little bit as the twitter BS kicked off has been fun…idk if it will last but i'm enjoying it while it does!)

[glassrunner]

Top 5 gifsets you ever made

Ooh!!! :3

This Soma edit that I made for a gaming gif event for a favorite quote! I think this will always be my favorite because it's Soma, but I also feel like I let myself be creative with the typography and split gif effects and it turned out pretty well. :')

This edit for The Last of Us Part II, which also mixed in lyrics from "What Could Have Been" from Arcane. I think the song fits these two well, and I feel like I did a decent job with the coloring and text/scene splitting effects.

This Cyberpunk 2077 edit, using the Phantom Liberty credits. I LOVE screening effects in case that wasn't obvious, and I think I chose good scenes! (IMO this would've done numbers back in the day, but... Tumblr...)

This Mirror's Edge Catalyst color palette edit! Probably one of the better one's I've done because I didn't rely on using full layer masks and actually chose scenes that were close to the desired color already.

This (very recent) Mirror's Edge Catalyst edit where I showcased my top 5 locations. :) I did somewhat better with adhering to a color palette for each location, and had a lot of fun revisiting the game and writing something about each section.