#do I need to explain why I made this gifset ;) :)

[jonny-be-gewd]

@darklings-girlboss-era I can't speak for everyone but every gifset I post is captioned with the movie or show name, which episode, episode name. If I gif a YouTube video or another online video I always link to that video. So, I'm still crediting where the media comes from. That link I provide also gives the YouTube videos more views every time someone clicks it. And I'm not asking for credit for the original media, I'm asking for credit for my gifs.

There's a lot that goes into GOOD gifmaking. We aren't just cutting a portion of film and slapping it online. We have to make caps, pull those caps into photoshop. Then spend however long it takes us perfecting the color and sharpness and really dark gifs have to be lightened while not blowing the color out.

Not to mention the time it takes me to hunt and DL all the HD movies and shows. Many of which I get only because I pay for subscriptions to the streaming services they're on. Because no, I don't torrent all of mine. We also pay for a subscription to photoshop. So, we not only invest our time and talent into gifs, but our money as well.

And the really good gifs you see on Tumblr, they take lots and lots of practice to get that good at it. We don't make them with a phone app in two seconds and just flop 'em online. You honestly wouldn't believe how much time it takes to get really good at it. I've been doing it for YEARS and I'm still not the best, so what does that tell you? I consider myself fairly good but not REALLY good.

Below you will see two gifs. The top one is a gif made straight from the original media with no editing other than cropping and slowing it down. The bottom one is after I color edited it and sharpened it.

The reason I show these is because a lot of people don't realize how much we change the image from the original unless they see a side by side comparison. I see gifs other people make and don't even realize how much they edited it from the show or movie I saw because our brains just don't pull it up from memory that way. I made that shit pop. I made it look not washed out. I brought it to life. And don't get me started on the REALLY dark shows and movies that gifmakers bring to life and make it so you can actually see details. I've spent hours on one gifset before, like the dark ones. Trying to get the colors right, trying to lighten it and maintain it's definition. Saving several different versions until I'm semi-satisfied with the results.

As far as show and filmmakers, I've never once heard one of them complain about gifs. Why would they? Because usually people see gifs of a scene of something they haven't watched yet and go, "Oh damn, I need to watch this now." So if anything, our gifs bring them more viewers. I know for a fact I've seen gifs of things that made me go watch it. And I know I've made gifs of things and the reblogs say "I need to watch this now." I can't say for sure if they really mind or not, but again, I've never heard them complain.

Now, I'm not saying any of this angrily. I saw your question and felt it was an important one to answer because I know a lot of people think the way you think. So I wanted to explain why I think we deserve credit.

Knowing everything I just said, and seeing a side by side comparison of what I did to that gif, do you still think I don't deserve credit for what I put into it? I mean, especially since I'm not asking for credit for making the movie or the show or filming the interview. I'm just asking for credit for my gifs.

Saying we don't deserve credit for our gifs because we didn't create the movies and shows is similar to saying fan fic writers don't deserve credit for their writing because they didn't create the world and the characters. When you know that work still has talent that is exclusive to that person and no one else.

Or think about the people who work on shows and movies in the editing department, doing a different version of what gifmakers do. They didn't film the media, they don't own it, but they're still credited for what they brought to it. I took a washed out looking video and made it pop with life and color, and I don't deserve credit for that?

I would like to add that I personally would never post a gifset without writing or linking who the original media belongs to unless I just don't know. In which case, if someone does know they're free to tell me and I'll add to the set. I don't like it when people post gifs with no indication at all of where it comes from. Cuz damn, what if I wanna watch it?

GUIDE TO SPOTTING STOLEN GIFS

gifmakers on tumblr put a lot of effort into their gifs, and understandably get quite annoyed when someone steals them and reposts them without credit. it's especially frustrating when the stolen gifs get a ton of notes. we look at it and we go wtf how did this get so many notes when it's all stolen????

then i realised the average tumblr user, especially if they're new, or they've never created gifs or posted anything, or they don't understand how tumblr even works... well how are they gonna know?

this post will cover some of the most obvious signs that a gifset is stolen, including:

gif sizing + placement

gifset colouring, sharpening and style

the tags of the poster

if this post is helpful to you, please reblog to spread awareness!

1. gifset sizing

when a gifmaker is making a gifset, they Generally will make all of the gifs the same size. by "size" i mean dimensions in pixels. all the gifs will generally be uniform in size, and laid out intentionally to fit tumblr's recommended dimensions.

here is an example of one of my gifsets with uniform dimensions:

all of the gifs are the same size, laid out correctly for the recommended dimensions, and are fully visible with no cut-offs, blurriness, etc.

many times when a gifset is stolen, it'll be made up of a random assortment of gifs, stolen from multiple gifsets. the gifs might be all different sizes, and not laid out correctly, with parts cut off at the top or bottom. they might be blurry, compressed or just not "look" right.

here is an example of a gifset with inconsistent dimensions:

now, i used inspect element to see the dimensions, but how can you spot a incorrectly sized gif or inconsistently sized gifset at a glance if you're on mobile?

well, see that gif of sam? see how it's cut off mid-forehead, and just under his collar?

well, when you click on the gif and view it in its entirety, you can see that parts of the gif were cut off by the incorrect placement of a 540px gif in a 268px layout:

generally speaking, a gifmaker is not going to make a 540px gif and then put it side by side with another gif. gifset placement is not accidental. gifmakers know and use the recommended dimensions to ensure their gifsets are high quality and viewed on the dashboard the way they intended.

this is sign #1 that these gifs were not made by the person who posted them.

2. colouring and subtitles

gifmakers will generally try to make all of their gifs similar in colouring, sharpening and style. gifs will be (to the best of our abilities) similar in brightness, vibrance, tone and sharpness. basically, they will be visually consistent.

a stolen gifset will not. for example:

aside from the inconsistent sizing, these gifs are all sharpened and coloured in vastly different ways. this is admittedly something a gifmaker is more likely to notice, given our experience, but anyone can take a second to just look and see if the gifs look like they were all made by the same person. if they don't, it's likely a stolen gifset.

sidenote: subtitles are also another tell. i generally use the same font, font size, boldness, subtitle colour etc across all of my individual gifs and in all of my gifsets. if one gif has yellow subtitles in arial font, and the other has white subtitles in times new roman, chances are those are stolen gifs.

3. the tags of the poster

this is probably the FASTEST and EASIEST way to tell if a gifset is stolen, and requires some understanding of what tags are and why we use them on tumblr. here is a brief guide for tagging if you need one!

what you need to know is this:

gifmakers often use [media]edit tags to make it easier for people to find their gifsets in a sea of xreader fanfic and text posts, as well as user[tags] to increase reach

gifmakers will usually have a tag specifically for their gifsets (mine is #originals, some people use a #*, some people use their name like #[name]gifs or #mygifs). the purpose of that tag is to make it easy to find the gifsets we've made on our blogs

here is an example of a genuine gifmaker's tags:

people who steal gifs generally aren't aware of the tagging conventions gifmakers use to catalogue their gifs & increase reach, so they won't include them. they might even say outright that the gifs are stolen.

some examples of stolen gifset tags:

this one isn't an exact science. a lot of newer gifmakers aren't aware of the [media]edit tags, or other well-established tagging conventions, and sometimes gifmakers don't have a unique gifmaker tag. HOWEVER, most do and, when paired with looking at the sizing, colouring, sharpening and overall consistency of the gifs, this is usually a good way to sus out if a gifset you aren't sure about is stolen/reposted.

that's it! i hope this was helpful, and that you are better equipped now to figure out if a gifset was actually made by the person posting it!

if this was helpful to you in any way PLEASE reblog, so more people can learn how to pick a genuine gifset from a stolen one. plus i spent a lot of time on this and i would appreciate it okay thanks byeeee

[jakeyp]

GRID + TORN PAPER + RAINBOW LAYOUT TUTORIAL (yeah, i'm sorry, but that is the title i came up with)

Hi everyone! This tutorial was requested by an anon, and we're going to make a gifset like this. You need, as usual, basic gifmaking skills and basic photoshop knowledge, but i'll try to explain this as easily as possible!

You'll also need a torn paper brush, which you can download here.

And here are the links to download the fonts used in my gifset: x, x

Okay let's start!

→ First you're going to create a new canvas, and it will be 540x540 px. Make sure to click on create video timeline (if you dont have a timeline, go to window > timeline. We'll leave this canvas there waiting for us :)

Then, onto our first gif. We're going to make the small square gifs first. All i do is resize the image and make it 120 px high, and you'll see why in a moment.

Make sure to remember the number of frames of this gif!! All the gifs we're going to put in the same canvas should have the same amount of frames.

Okay, so we have our first small gif:

As you can see it's a smart object, and I added some brightness, but so far that's all. You can sharpen it, but i like to sharpen until i've colored it. Now onto the important part:

Most of the gifs i worked with were mostly blue (aside from the skin color), which is recommendable, because you can create lots of colors starting from blue, using the hue/saturation adjustment, or camera raw filter. I also recommend you to use a gif that doesn't move a lot, so it'll be easier to color the background:

For the tutorial, we have our predominantly blue gif, but we are going to make it yellow, which is the opposite color, so it's the hardest to get. I hope you can see how i manipulate colors, and do it yourself :)

Here, you can use camera raw filter (filter > camera raw filter) to turn the blues and purples greener, like this:

And click ok to exit the camera raw filter. Then, we're going to use hue/saturation (image > adjustments > hue/saturation) to turn it yellow:

Since it was cyan, i changed the cyans, but if you got a much greener result you'll have to use green (duh, right? i dont know i just dont want anyone to get confused akjsdhs)

And you can also add a selective color adjustment to make those yellows more yellow:

The reason i don't directly use hue/saturation is cause it might look ugly and lose quality, or it wont pick up all the colors i want it to but they're also very small gifs so if you wanna do that, do it :)

I sharpen it until this point, but if you already have that's okay.

Now we're going to color the background! For that, you just add a new layer, and set the blending mode to color.

Then you'll use your brush, set it to 20px and 0% hardness, and pick the color you're using for this gif, you can use the eyedropper tool. This is why it's important that the gif doesn't move a lot, so you can color the bg like this:

I colored carefully around the edges, and that's the result. In some gifs from my gif set I colored Jake's jacket too because i was too lazy, but this looks cleaner :)

You might want to select the color layer and the gif layer to convert them both to a smart object, just to make everything easier. So, be careful, because after that you won't be able to change anything!

But let's say you have a scene that you want to include, and it moves too much and has no blue and it's going to be a nightmare to color it.

Well, don't worry, you can! Simply, instead of manually coloring everything, you can just choose to add a gradient map to it (image > adjustments > gradient map), like this:

And this is the result:

Just remember, it has to be the same amount of frames as the other ones!

You repeat the process, until you have 10 small gifs. I made around 5 manually colored gifs, and 5 gifs with gradient for each gif. That's a confusing sentence but i hope you get it.

We are going to start pasting the small gifs on our first canvas.

(You can paste them one by one but i did this so you can see my 10 gifs)

You're going to create a square that has to be 108x108 px, using the rectangle tool. You can remove the default white background.

And you may be wondering, why did we not just crop the small gifs into those dimensions? Well, you can do that, but to me it's much easier this way, because sometimes cropping isn't accurate, or it's tedious.

Place the small square on top the gif you're going to crop, right where the face of the character is (or whatever objects you're giffing), and while holding ctrl, click on the square. It will select it:

You're going to create a layer mask:

And then drag that layer mask to the gif:

And voila! It's now the same size as the small square. Once that's done, right click on the layer and convert it to a smart object, because we have to remove that mask. Make the square layer invisible, and start placing your gifs where you want them:

You're going to repeat that process with the rest of the gifs, and then place them all together. Don't forget that if you're making the first gif, they will all be at the bottom of the canvas, if it's one of the middle gifs, one row should be at the top and the other one at the bottom, and when you're making the last gif, they should all be at the top. Here we're making the first one, so they will all be at the bottom:

If you forgot to check that all the gifs had the same amount of frames, you can fix it here, just make sure no gif is past this little guy:

Okay! Now, to create the gutter, we're going to add a layer mask to each small gif, so that we can cut some of it.

The gutter has to be 4 pixels, (i recommend you to REALLY zoom in). What i do is make sure the width of the gutter takes 2 pixels from the edges of the gifs, since they are all together. As you can see in the image above, there's no a single empty pixel between the gifs.

This is a close-up of what i'm talking about. I select two pixels from each gif, and go all the way down to create the gutter:

(I hope I'm not over or underexplaining)

I usually use this tool when i have to make so many selections:

But that was just an example :)

(Another way you can do this, is by changing the size of the small square from the beginning and make it be 104x104 px, but i don't know why that seems more complicated to me ajsdks)

Anyway, this is what we have so far:

Now we're going to create the big gif. Its normal dimensions are usually around 1920x1080, unless you have different dimensions and have to crop it, but whatever it is, we're going to resize it and crop it to be around 550 px wide, and 400 px high:

We'll do the same thing of adding an adjustment of gradient to it to make it the color we're using. For this, i usually add a brightness layer before, because sometimes the gradient is a bit dark.

And using a 600px brush with 0% hardness, you can add some "light" on a new layer, like this:

Selecting all the layers, right-click on them and convert them to a smart object. Again, be careful, because once its a smart object, you wont be able to change any of it!

Then we paste our big gif on the canvas with small gifs, and add a layer mask to it. Using the torn paper brush at 600px, remove some of the gif to shape it like the torn paper. Make sure you're using black, otherwise it won't work correctly:

To make the effect better, add a layer UNDER the big gif, and using the torn paper brush, with the same size, you can paint under it:

Yeah, I covered some of jake's face, but that's how it supposed to look so the effect works!

And finally for the text! I used Granesta, at 150 px, and at -10.00º to make it a bit askew.

We're going to double click on it and give it a color overlay, set to normal, and give it a solid shadow if you want, then place it right here on the corner:

But as you can see, it's too big for the gif. So we're going to add a layer mask to it, and again, shape it the same way that we did with the gif. Make sure they're exactly the same shape, like this:

And that's it! This is our final result:

As always I'm sure there are easier ways to do many of these things, this is just how i do it but if you know an easier way to do it, go ahead. I hope this was at least understandable enough so you can apply the logic of it any way you want :)

If you have any questions you can send me an ask and i'll clarify!

If you found this helpful i'd really appreciate it if you left a tip on my ko-fi!

Happy giffing!

[dengswei]

your gifsets are perfect, I'm always in awe of what you can do and you're creativity!!! Could you please explain how you made the broken glass gif with different gif in it on photopea? https://www.tumblr.com/dengswei/754916132337729536/userdramas-creator-bingo-green-asiandramanet?source=share and would it be possible to do something similar with other shapes? Thank you for your lovely creations <33

heyy thanks so much!! and of course! i have to admit the way i do it might be a little bit tedious compared to like everyone else (though i don't know how photoshop users or other photopea users might do it 🤣) okay this is gonna end up being so long because of the way i do it so i'm sorry about that and i hope it makes sense 😭

okay i have to admit i couldn't find the texture i've seen people use for the shattered glass effect so i actually used a photopea default brush from this pack

to download the brush set go to window -> plugins -> brush and then search for wall cracks brush (it's literally the only wall related brush set in photopea so it'll show up the moment you download it)

so for the gif i did above i did my giffing the usual way of creating & colouring for different gifs seperatly and then adding them all to one project (it doesn't have to be 4 gifs i just chose 4 because that's what i wanted to show in this gif)

i've done this twice once for this set and another time for this the blood of youth set and i have to say the most important part of this is keep multiple versions of the brush in the position you want as you can so once you've used it to test it out and you like that version keep it because unless you can manage to position the brush in the exact same place every time you're gonna need to reference those (or even use the magic wand tool for it later) and also you need to keep at least a white on black background version for the outline

in the brush pack the one i used was this one: (3564, crack b 9)

for this part i just say play around with both positioning and sizing of the brush, it automatically opens with the size 3000+ which is fine i think with the tushan jing one (the green gif above) i stuck with that size and just kept clicking around until i got the positioning i wanted (this is another reason why i said what i said in the paragraph above because if the brush size is bigger than 1000 it's doesn't come out in the exact positioning as you expect it too

i decide the positioning of the gifs on the way i like the brick brush looking rather than the other way around, this is the positioning i went with if you're curious & would like to use it if that's easier 🤣

you'll need to keep this as a seperate layer at the top, i had it set to screen and then added a colour fill layer clipped on later so that i had the outline for when i was masking

so to start off i have the base gif which i do nothing to, that stays as it is, with the brush layer above set to screen

next is where you want to position your other gifs it may benefit to figure this out all at first before doing any of the masking so you know which parts you want to erase and which parts you want to keep

so this is what i decided with my positioning looking at where each of the cracks are

now comes the tedious part, in some ways the way i do this is a lot similar to how i do grid but it's not as easy (for grid photopea automatically locks onto the squares making it easier to mask, here you have to do it all manually)

first put a raster mask on all of the other gifs except for the base gif & use the magic wand tool on the brush layer so you get the outline of the brush and you mask that away from your gif (so if you turned off the brush layer it should look a little something like this: (it's not perfect but it won't matter that much because you should have the original turned on at the end anyway) (you don't have to do this step tbh i just did it because i thought it looked better)

so with the brush layer turned on you can use that as a template to which parts of the cracks you want to erase, you can either use the magic wand or the paint brush tool it really depends on how much of a perfectionist you are and whether or not the sharp edges bother you (plus some of the cracks have small openings so it might erase another part you don't want if you use the magic wand tool so it really is another instance of playing around and seeing what you like, and it might also change once you add the other gifs too)

so this is how it looks after i've done that (notice in the middle you can still see the edge of the gif? that won't matter because one of the other 2 gifs i still have yet to mask will cover that) & just repeat the same thing for the other gifs you want to add

this is how my masking folders look if you're curious

& last but not least i added a green colour fill layer clipped to the brush layer and set that to darken to get the green effect (make sure that the brush layer is still set to screen)

& once you've merged all of the gifs together you should get your desired outcome like the gif above (make sure that all the gifs have the same amount of frames too)

when it comes to other shapes i'm sure you can! like i did a tutorial with the grid version here, i guess it'll just be a lot of trial and error & finding a texture or brush with different shapes to try it out with kinda like how i did with both versions of this (i definitely did it a lot better this time around compared to the first version i did of this)

hopefully this wasn't too long or too confusing, if anything is please feel free to ask me again and i'll try and explain it a little better 🤣

[bizarrelittlemew]

Hello - just for the record, I do not know the person you’ve tagged in your post. I’ve not seen their blog. I found the gif on an image search. It’s also incredibly easy to create a gif from a video clip. So I don’t know how you expected me to know that one individual owned this particular gif. It would have been so much more helpful if you’d have just told me about it directly and given me their name instead of creating this passive aggressive, condescending post at my expense. A total stranger whose experiences and motivations you do not know. I only finished the show two days ago, and wanted to share my thoughts about it. That was all.

if it’s so easy, you should’ve made your own 🙃

OR if you absolutely needed a gif to "share your thoughts," you could’ve used tumblr’s Add GIF function. it’s right there.

listen, i was actually trying to be nice because i could see you were new, so i wanted to inform about fandom etiquette. i also gave you a link to a post explaining very gently why and how to credit gifmakers. but if you’re going to be rude and disrespectful in my inbox about it, i won't sugarcoat it anymore.

i did a reverse image source and found the post where the gif was from very quickly. i even linked it to you and you still put “google image” as a source?! (i see now that you've changed it to actually say their username but it was not like that this morning). you need to understand that the fact that you "do not know them" or "haven't seen their posts" (i linked the post to you in my reblog btw) does not change the fact that you posted something they made and the appropriate thing is to give them credit. i literally did the work of finding the source for you. proper credit is a username and/or a link to the original post, not where you "found it." the fact that a gif shows up in a google image search doesn’t erase the actual source or make it less shitty to reupload without credit.

i don’t tell people to credit gifmakers as a judgement of their character, so i don’t give one single fuck about motivations or excuses. i ASSUME people don’t know how much work goes into editing the kind of gif you stole because there is this culture of treating gifs like they just appear out of thin air instead of being created by A PERSON, usually a fellow fan. all i’m looking for is “thanks, i’ve added the credit!” and not this kind of bullshit because your feelings were hurt by being gently called out. i went into this thinking “oh they probably just don’t know how much work goes into it” but when you double down instead of accepting the help, you lose the benefit of the doubt.

you are also talking to a stranger btw, one who has put time and effort (for YEARS) into creating gifs. the type of gifs you see here in gifsets on tumblr are fanworks. there is a difference between plopping a video clip into an online gif converter and spending hours in photoshop making pretty gifsets to share with other fans. shitting on the people who make them is gonna make them stop sharing and creating, and make fandom worse for everyone. no one likes seeing their fanworks stolen, no matter if it’s fanart, fanfic, video edits, or yes, gifs. but if you’d actually read the post i linked you, you’d already know the feelings a lot of tumblr gifmakers share around this and wouldn’t have sent me this ask

i have several reasons for adding the source in a reblog to the post instead of writing privately. first, it attaches the actual source to the post, which is the main point for me. second, private messages can easily be ignored. third, i have had people ask me about fandom etiquette before and thus take this kind of thing as an opportunity to bring attention to the importance of giving proper credit (and i got a very lovely ask thanking me for it too, so this does help). although MOST often, i just let it go because it’s not worth the energy when people react like you do

i’d advice you to open your mind a little and listen when people tell you that you could do a small thing to make fandom less shitty instead of immediately taking it as a personal attack, because i genuinely wrote it assuming you just didn’t know and i wanted to inform you before you stepped on someone’s toes. but now you’ve stomped all over mine so here you go, we’re skipping straight past passive aggression to just aggression ✌️

[princeescaluswords]

Found Family?

In the last few days, I came across a really nice gifset celebrating Isaac, Erica and Boyd, but at the same time I was informed about someone arguing that Derek was a better alpha than Scott. I know that everyone loves to reconfigure the so-called Beta Trio into some sort of "found family" archetype and by doing so pretend that Derek Hale made these teenagers' lives better because they listened to him, but I feel it's important to remember that is not what happened.

First of all, the Beta Trio was not a Beta Trio; it was a Beta Quartet. Derek Hale bit four teenagers and when one turned out to be defective, he abandoned Jackson like a cruel dog owner dropping a sick puppy on the side of the highway so he didn't have to take care of him. "You've always been a snake, Jackson, just not the one we're looking for." Yeah, top-grade found-family parenting right there.

Second of all, they were soldiers, not family members. Members of the fandom may dislike -- and they do! -- when Scott yells at the New Hale Pack that Derek's just made them into a bunch of guard dogs, but they forget that that is functionally what they become. The first thing that Derek had them do was beat the crap out of Scott. Derek used Erica for espionage ("I have someone else in mind for you"). Then they kidnapped Stiles. Then they kidnapped Jackson. Then they tried to murder Lydia. Then they tried to murder Jackson.

There is exactly one scene where Boyd, Erica, or Isaac do something for themselves, and that's in Abomination (2x04) where Boyd and Erica attend the lacrosse game. "Derek isn't going to like this!" Erica warns.

Third and most importantly, Derek built a pack for his sake, not for theirs. Even if he did it because he was lonely, he still did it for himself. He watches Gerard declare war, he yells at Scott that this is what the Argents do, but he still goes ahead and recruits Isaac, Erica and Boyd. He also has no idea how to beat Gerard, which he literally says out loud after Peter explains that Gerard is winning. "Tell me something I don't know." He also knows the Alpha Pack is coming. Since the fandom likes to tell so much from glances, examine the look on his face when Boyd and Erica tell him they found another wolf pack in the forest. That's not surprise; that's fear. He wasn't prepared for the Alpha Pack yet, but he doesn't say anything but "You're not leaving; you're running." Once Boyd and Erica die, and once he can dump Isaac off on Scott, Derek never mentions any of them again.

This analysis is pretty harsh on Derek, but as I've always said, there's no need for a redemption arc if the character never does anything wrong. And as for why Scott is a better alpha, that's easy, too:

Scott didn't recruit. Of the thirteen Betas that Scott could be said to have over the course of the series and movie (Stiles, Derek, Allison, Isaac, Lydia, Kira, Malia, Liam, Mason, Hayden. Corey, Alec, and Eli), three of them were friends first (Stiles, Allison, and Kira), five of them joined out of admiration or were invested in what the pack was trying to do (Isaac, Lydia, Derek, Mason and Corey), and five of them were members rescued from peril (Malia, Liam, Hayden, Alec, and Eli). He didn't go looking for new members -- he found them, which actually makes it a found family.

Fandom should also compare how Scott treated Liam, the beta he didn't want to bite suffering from a mental disorder, with how Derek treated Jackson. The only time that Scott even hesitated to act as Liam's alpha was after Liam had beaten Scott to the point of death.

They were Scott's pack; they were his friends. Members of the fandom complain that Scott didn't train his pack or put the pack as a unit first. Absolutely. He didn't see them as soldiers. In Battlefield (2x11), when Stiles says he can't do anymore, Scott doesn't press him even though he needs all the help he can get. Scott doesn't want to bring Isaac with him to meet with Deucalion in Frayed (3x05). Liam doesn't have to be with them if he doesn't want to be in A Promise to the Dead (4x11). They hang out, they go to parties, they study like high schoolers are supposed to do. "While we're trying not to die, we still need to live."

Compare how Derek treated Erica and Boyd when they want to leave in Battlefield to how Scott treats Malia in Damnatio Memoriae (5x12). There is a vast difference between Derek insisting that they need him "Yeah, but I told you how to survive. You do it as a pack. And you're not a pack without an Alpha." and Scott explaining that he needs her. "What if I told you that you were the only one I have left?"

Scott built a pack to help others, not himself. Some critical thinker on X announced that "they all left him" about Scott's pack, which somehow proves Derek was better. They did leave (though most of them came back when he needed them), because he's their Alpha, not their owner. They have lives. Isaac couldn't take Beacon Hills anymore and left. Liam moved to somewhere in Asia. Stiles joined the FBI. Lydia founded a company. When he led them into battle -- and Scott did -- he did it because someone innocent was going to die if someone didn't do something -- whether it was the victims of Gerard and the Kanima, or the Darach and the Alpha Pack, of the Dead Pool, of the Dread Doctors, of the Wild Hunt. The pack came together under his leadership to protect innocents.

I don't understand how parts of the fandom can watch the show and argue that Derek's betas were better off as his betas or that Derek was a better alpha than Scott. Even if you edit out all of Scott's positive traits, as parts of the fandom tend to do, even if you erase Scott entirely, as parts of the fandom want to do, Derek's methods were less than constructive, Derek's motives were selfish, and Derek's end results were less than optimal.

[firstelevens]

Bucky + Realization of feelings at the Worst Possible Moment for the Situation(TM) prompts if you like! 🤗

45. realization of feelings at the worst possible moment

every in-canon version of this that I attempted to write made me So Sad so instead here's an extreme canon divergence that answers a question that I asked in the tags of a gifset back in November of 2021: MR AND MR SMITH AU WHEN?

Bucky is choosing to blame Steve for this.

There are probably others who are more directly at fault. Natasha feels pretty high up on that list, as does Bucky himself. But Nat is too smug to argue with, and Bucky’s blame roster is already pretty full, so he’s decided that this one can be Steve’s fault.

It’s not even that much of a stretch, really: it’s Steve who stumbled onto him while raiding what the Avengers hadn’t realized was a secret HYDRA facility, and it’s Steve who decided to defrost Bucky instead of leaving well enough alone. Steve’s the reason why Bucky ended up where he is, leading a team of technically-reformed criminals on off-the-books missions that Nick Fury deems too high profile for the Avengers, which means that Steve is the reason why, four years ago, Nick Fury sat Bucky down and told him that his lack of a social life and generally menacing demeanor were going to blow his cover any day now.

At the time, Bucky had offered to go fully off the grid, all the better to prep for missions, but Fury had just frowned at him and flatly said, “Or you could just get yourself a goddamn date.”

Part of Bucky had been convinced that it was a joke or some kind of test, but then it had been made clear to him that he would be on desk duty until he did something to shore up his cover identity. It had seemed like pure serendipity when Natasha had wandered in from a mission the next day and had a solution ready as soon as Bucky had bitched about Fury’s ultimatum over a sparring session.

“I know a guy,” she’d said to him. “Ex-military but now he’s an analyst with one of the alphabet agencies.”

“I’ll pass,” Bucky had replied, just barely dodging the roundhouse she’d aimed at his head. “I do enough espionage at work; I don’t need to go home and lie to a civilian about who I am, too.”

“That’s the best part,” Nat had said then, a gleam in her eye. “You wouldn’t have to lie.”

She’d explained, then, that this friend of hers kind of needed a cover story, too. Something about a three year waitlist for an exclusive apartment building, and fine print on the contract heavily implying that unmarried applicants would be rejected. Pretending to marry a stranger had seemed like a bit much just to secure an apartment, but then Nat had pulled up the building’s website on her phone, and Bucky knew just enough about what real estate was like these days to understand why someone might be driven to desperation for a place like that.

Bucky could claim not to know what drove him to say yes, but he’s sure it’s written as plainly on his face now as it had been back then. Sam Wilson had walked through the door, smiled exactly once, and pulled Bucky into his orbit without even trying.

It had been an astonishingly good four years. He and Sam had gone from polite roommates doing each other a favor—Bucky’s cover story had been tailored to the background check he ran on Sam, something about unexpectedly needing a new place to live and the specific requirements of being a veteran—to genuinely being friends. Aside from the one lie of omission, where Bucky had strategically avoided bringing up that he was a formerly brainwashed, hundred year old super soldier who now led an elite spy team, he got to be himself around Sam. Months into their arrangement, it became clear that Sam got to be himself around Bucky, too.

There was room in their apartment for his persistent low-grade grouchiness, and for Sam’s shocking-even-to-Bucky’s-40s-sensibilities collection of vinyl records, and even for the tiny white cat who they’d found shivering in a cardboard box one winter by the grocery store and immediately brought home. He never could have even considered a pet before, but Alpine had been the undisputed queen of their place for two years now, and when missions took Bucky away from home, Sam was there to keep her company. 

He’d even be willing to bet that she likes Sam better by now, but if that’s true, it’s hard to blame her. Bucky has spent the past year increasingly unable to ignore the warmth that settles in his chest when he unlocks the apartment to find Sam curled up on the couch, frowning at his tablet like it personally wronged him. It always takes Sam an extra half-second to realize that Bucky is in the room, and then he smiles just like he did that very first day, and Bucky is a goner for it every time.

It took a particularly harrowing mission to nudge Bucky out of being a coward. He’d been trapped under a collapsed building somewhere outside Prague, smoke filling the air with no sign of help on its way, and when Bucky had closed his eyes in defeat, all he’d been able to think of was Sam and Alpine on that couch, waiting for him to come home.

He’d flown back stateside, taken an extra couple of days to heal up from his injuries, and made his plans to tell Sam everything tonight. 

Bucky has already picked up dessert from the tiny French spot in Dupont Circle that Sam pretends not to love, and there’s an absurdly big flower arrangement that will be ready for Bucky to pick up just as soon as he gets out of whatever meeting was so urgent and secret that it had to be held after all personnel had left the building for the night.

In the elevator on the way up, Yelena mentions a team from a different agency, something about a joint operation to protect a recently turned asset, even though reformed agents are very clearly Bucky’s team’s jurisdiction.

“Don’t worry about it,” says Bucky, as they step out of the elevator. “If they wanted us to play nice, they should have thought about that before elbowing their way onto our turf.”

Yelena makes a noise of acknowledgment and opens the door to the conference room. As soon as she does, Bucky is instantly aware of two things.

One: there is a very small baby in the room, swaddled in a green blanket and fast asleep.

Two: Bucky’s husband is in the room, cradling the baby in his arms and gently swaying. It is the first time ever that it hasn’t taken him an extra half-second to notice Bucky walking through the door.

Bucky feels all the air leave his lungs and can’t remember how to get it back. He’s certain that he looks as shocked as he feels.

He can’t help but notice that Sam, on the other hand, doesn’t.

“Agent Barnes, Agent Belova,” says Fury. “I’d introduce you to Agent Wilson, but I think it might be a little late for that.”

[burntheedges]

I know this feels like the weirdest time to be doing this but I'm wondering if u have any advice for getting off anon and starting to interact w ppl u follow? I feel like lately the one-sided anon relationship is making me sad, and so many cool ppl have been leaving and I'm bummed I never got the chance to talk to them. But also I'm scared lol. Do I slide into ppls dm's? I'm realizing I'm just asking you how to make friends but dammit maybe that's what I need!

Hi anon! I don’t think this is a weird time, I think it’s always a good time to try and reach out or try something new! I love that you want to, this is lovely 🧡🧡🧡

I was a wallflower in various fandoms for a looooong time so I hear you. It is more fun (I think) to interact, though. And I get that it’s scary! New things always are. I think one thing to remember is it’s like anything else - when you’re learning a new thing you don’t hit a 100% success rate. You try stuff, see how it goes, see how it feels for you. I thought up some tips on the train today:

Try a couple different things — I think one nice thing about tumblr’s current silly UI is you do have multiple ways to interact. I feel like commenting under a post is pretty chill and low pressure, but maybe you don’t. So I’d say try a few things and see — comment under a post, reblog with your comments in the tags, reblog with actual comments in the post. I can honestly tell you that I ALWAYS read the comments people leave in tags and I love them so, so much. And yes, try sending DMs or non-anon asks! But check their profile first, they might have a note about DMs or asks there.

But what to say? I hear you. It doesn’t have to be long or intense. Try commenting on a fic or art or moodboard with something simple like LOVED IT or “this was great!” Same thing with the tags and reblog comments. You could send an ask that says the same thing or play along when someone is doing ask games. Even just leaving an emoji as a comment is great (I am an overuser of the eyes 👀 on wip Wednesday posts but I am LOOKING). I often stream of consciousness my fic replies and that works well for me, lol. Oh or just copy and paste a line you loved and then like emojis after or a scream, lol. Or a gif comment! On anything!

Don’t worry about over commenting on fic or art - I’ve seen this worry around tumblr, that people think they’re leaving spam comments? I don’t even know what that would mean, lol. I don’t care if 3 people in a row leave me a keyboard smash comment, I treasure every single one.

Interacting beyond fic and art comments - this is probably the next thing, right? It sounds like you want to have conversations with people! I think just sharing your thoughts is a great way to start. Like if someone shared a wip post, tell them how excited you are and what it makes you think about. Or if someone shares a new gifset or art tell them why you love it. Or for a poll, explain your vote! And for an ask game, ask about an answer or share when you would pick the same thing.

Don’t get discouraged if you don’t get a response every time — this is a hard one, I know. But people aren’t on tumblr all the time, and plenty of other reasons! That’s why I’m suggesting trying more than one thing, and also keep it up! It gets easier with practice and once you start you’ll find new ways to interact, too. But not everyone clicks and that’s just the truth. There are oodles of people in this fandom though, you know?

I totally get that interacting is daunting. But you don’t have to do everything at once. Just try things out and give yourself permission to have feelings about it. Remember you can choose how you respond, too! And putting a bit of info in your own blog header can make it easier to connect, for the people who want to reply to you. (what you’d like to be called, etc.)

I definitely made friends here by just becoming one of their steady commenters, or people who commented a lot on my posts. You get to know each other! Which is very fun.

I hope this gives you some courage! Be kind to yourself! And please feel free to send me more messages, any time. 🧡

Anyone else have any tips? 👀

[lesmisshippingshowdown]

Introducing: POLL STEALING

Woah! The Les Mis Shipping Showdown, introducing a whole new gameplay mechanic when the tournament's already started? Say it ain't so!

Well. It's so.

Inspired by @hbowartournament (idk if they originated this idea, but it's certainly where I saw it), starting with the Round of 16 you will have the opportunity to earn back percentage points on any given poll by creating fanworks - fic, art, gifsets, fanvids, etc - for your ship of choice and letting us know about it. A full breakdown of how this works is under the Read More at the bottom of this post, and we'll also make a separate explainer post to link in each new poll.

To give you all a head start on your creations, we will be slightly delaying the Round of 16 poll drop to the evening (GMT/UTC) of Monday 10th March. Be there or be square!

This does, of course, also mean that we will be completely ignoring the entirely democratic results of our earlier poll and keeping each poll's running time at a week to give you the most time possible to get your fanworks finished and submitted.

Q: Why? Simple! I realised while searching for visual aids for the ships in the Round of 32 that this bracket contains a lot of surprisingly niche pairs for whom there's not actually a whole lot of content. 47% of the pairings that made the bracket have fewer than 150 works on AO3! So actually, this tournament could be a great opportunity to highlight & spur on a new outpouring of love for some of those rarer pairings, some of which haven't really been in their heyday since like, 2014. I kind of was operating along these lines already when begging you guys for fanart submissions every other day, but then I figured adding the competition element makes it more fun and gives you guys more of an incentive to participate!

Q: But my ship's just been eliminated from the round of 32 :( Now I don't get to play :( Fear not. Because I have a solution.

Q: Can I submit a fanwork I've already created? Ideally, new fanwork is the dream here, but we get everyone has time constraints and we're announcing this all pretty last minute. If you want to subtly rework the WIP you've had lurking in your Google Docs for the past 6 years, or tweak an artwork you already posted on here in 2013, we'll turn a blind eye. However, in the interest of both fun and fairness, we ask that you prioritise new, or at least newly updated, work (new chapters of existing multichapter fics count!) and do not just spam the tag with your entire back catalogue of 172,000 words of [insert ship here] fanfic. You can still post your back catalogue as propaganda, but it won't count towards the steal.

(PS. We're aware that some sections of this fandom have just had big creative output fests e.g. Valvert Week, and may therefore be all out of fresh ideas for this tournament. In the interest of not overworking you guys, if you'd like to repurpose any work - for any ship - published since February 1st, 2025 as a Steal Work, you are absolutely welcome to do so. Just be sure to send us a link and let us know that this is your intention.)

Q: Is there anything I can't submit?

Once again, we politely request no AI generated art or fiction.

NSFW is absolutely fine, but please ensure it is suitably tagged so anybody who wants/needs to avoid it is able to do so.

We know that with the presence of certain ships in this bracket (*cough* turnchetta) it's completely impossible to avoid parody/troll/shitpost content, and banning it would be antithetical to the point of some of these noble ships. Plus, some of the greatest creative works in Les Mis fandom history (*cough* the Enjonine rap) have been works in this vein. So you're welcome to goof around, but please be aware that at the mods' discretion we may discount anything we deem to be especially low effort or in particularly poor taste.

Q: You said the new round of polls doesn't start until March 10th - can I start posting Steal Works before then? Be our guest! If you've got things ready to go then you can post them as soon as they're done. Just make sure they're tagged appropriately (see under the cut) so that we know they're meant for this purpose.

Q: So how does all this work? I'm glad you asked! Please see below the cut:

(once again, all scoring & rules lifted absolutely wholesale from the hbowartournament. they changed the game with this and i'm not even kidding)

Writers:

Post a fic (or new chapter) of at least 100 words to AO3. The pairing of your choice must be the primary relationship tag (and remember this poll is for romantic relationships only)

Link your fic here, tag it #lmss steal, and send us a link to the post via asks/submissions. If your piece is part of a larger, previously established fic, please include in your message the word count of the new chapter.

Earn 0.1% for every 100 words, rounded to the nearest hundred

Artists:

Post your fanart to tumblr, tag it #lmss steal, and send us a link via asks/submissions.

Earn 0.1% for a sketch, 0.3% for linework, and 0.5% for a full colour piece.

Fanvid Editors:

Post your video to tumblr, tag it #lmss steal, and send us a link via asks/submissions.

Earn 0.3% per 10 seconds for an AMV/fanvid using existing footage, and 0.5% per 10 seconds for an animatic.

Photo/Gifset Editors:

Post your photoset/gifset to tumblr, tag it #lmss steal, and send us a link via asks/submissions.

Earn 0.1% per edited photo and 0.5% per gif/collage.

Playlist Curators:

Post your fanmix - consisting of at least 8 tracks (iykyk) - to Spotify (or create a YouTube playlist if you do not have a Spotify account).

Link your playlist here, tag it #lmss steal, and send us a link via asks/submissions.

Earn 0.1% per 8 songs on the playlist, rounded to the nearest 8

Earn 0.1% per 200 words of liner notes expanding on the selected songs

If you're struck by creative urges not listed above, just drop us an ask and we can figure out what category it falls into and/or approximate percentage conversion rates if it's something totally new.

No matter what you're posting though, the same applies - make sure to tag it #lmss steal so that we know it's part of this tournament, and send us a link to your post so that we don't miss it!

[uyallstars]

｡ﾟGif tutorial

How to remove the shakiness of old animation and reduce gif size.

I use Photopea.

It wont work on every gif because what we’re doing is making the not moving parts of the gif a static image.

• Find the right scene to gif. The moving part of the gif must be easily removed from the static part.

• Make your gif.

I picked a scene from Little Pollon (Ochamegami Monogatari Korokoro Poron) 1977-1979.

• Duplicate one of the layers and put it on top of the others. Below the adjustment layers.

• Rename the duplicated layer. It’s not part of the gif anymore but an element on top. You have to remove the _a_. That´s what turns the layers into frames.

• Add a raster mask to delete parts of the duplicated layer.* You can make one by selecting the layer and clicking either the rectangle at the bottom (pic below) or clicking on layer at the top then rester mask and add (revel all).

Click on the white square next to the duplicated layer. With a black brush paint over the parts of the gif you want to see moving.

In my case I will paint over the mouth and the wings. The first visible layer is the duplicated one with his mouth closed when I start brushing over his mouth it will reveal the second (from the top) visible layer, the one with his mouth open. To be sure I deleted everything needed the second layer will be the one with his mouth at its largest. For the wings I picked a softer brush and I just make sure not to touch the hands that are more clear than the wings.

*You can directly use the eraser on the layer but with a raster mask is easier to correct mistakes.

• Save as .webp. Or .gif. The gifs at the top are both .webp.

✨ We’re done! you can stop reading but if you’re interested next I’ll explain why I prefer .webp and I’ll post .gif for comparison. And the last gif I made with this method (a slower and bigger gif from a 720p quality anime).

I think .webp looks better than a .gif when there’s a still image on top. With .gif, the image part will have those dots with dither, without dither there will be bending. This is not the best gif to use to show the difference because I made it particularly pastel and bright. Zoom in on his clothes and the background on the left in the 2nd and on the sky in the 1st. They’re more visible in the preview before saving. First gif is .gif without dither, second one .gif with dither, third one a simple gif without dither and fourth one is a .webp.

(Of course if you’re putting a pattern on top or some grain the discussion about bending and dithering will be moot since it wont be noticeable as much.)

(And if it’s not very noticeable does it matter?)

Take in mind .webp is way heavier and it doesn’t look right sometimes.

Regular gif (the 3rd one of the group of 4 above): 1.1 mb

First .webp at the top of this post: 3.5 mb

As a rule of thumb I’d say .webp is at least x3 heavier than .gif. At least at 100% quality. For old stuff is not a problem since we’re working with 30-something layers most of the times but if you prefer the look of .webp this method will help you reduce the size.

For a gif like this you probably could cut down to a quarter of the layers and if you really care about the size that’s faster than brushing over the gif. Anyway I left the number of layers as it was (36) and for comparison:

First .webp at the top: 3.5 mb

Second .webp at the top: 281 kb

The bigger the moving part the bigger the gif size.

This gif is from a gifset I made using the same method (it’s a .webp):

If you notice around the trail the background changes. This gif was more time consuming than the gif in this tutorial because it was moving a lot. The deleted part had to be as little as possible to be less noticeable. I was following that water drop basically layer by layer.

If you have any question feel free to ask 😊

[benoitblanc]

hellooo! top 5 fave txf gifsets of yours? top 5 headcanons or fan theories? 🛸

top 5 txf gifsets i've made:

i genuinely think the magnum opus of my entire gifmaking career is scully + down bad. i will never be able to blend like that again

msr + this prayer poem which unfortunately i cannot find the author of and the gifset i've linked as my inspo has been taken down. it's such a beautiful piece and so evocative of the two of them

this green and black txf set was so fun to make... i miss when vibrant gifsets like this were more in vogue

this txf + buffy set. god they went through SO much

these scully and mulder playlists should've gotten more notes, i'll say it

top 5 headcanons or fan theories (this one was actually quite hard for me!):

i went on a ramble and a half about the keychain in tempus fugit and max recently that i'm just going to link here

the betting pool in the hoover building. guys that's canon atp. fucking FREAKS in the basement over here

i genuinely believe that if xmas carol/emily hadn't happened, msr would have gotten together after kitsunegari. based on their behavior towards each other in the reduxes, detour, and pmp, they were very clearly heading in that direction. i've picked kitsunegari specifically because i think the final confrontation with linda bowman may have given them the final push (no pun intended) to confront their feelings, which had already started peeking through in the cancer arc and the previous two episodes, and it's close enough to the cancer arc for those feelings to still be on the surface but far enough away for mulder not to panic like he does in detour. but emily is literally the worst thing that could have EVER happened to scully. where the FUCK do you go from there? if you've found out your partner has been lying to you about your own body and your daughter is dead? if the love of your life has lost her child- the child that would have been yours too if you had been given more time? what are you meant to do?

this is a horribly sad and very flimsy patch for a massive plothole, and i don't think it's something cc ever thought deeply enough about for it to be what was actually happening, but i wonder if the reason skinner doesn't just whip out the paper clip tape when scully gets sick- you know, the one with all the incriminating evidence against the syndicate that he was meant to send to the press if they ever got so much as a cold- is because she went to him and begged him to save it for if he ever needed to save mulder. she didn't think there was any way she could be saved beyond conventional medicine and she loves mulder more than anything; more importantly, she believes mulder is much more important to the work than she is. and skinner going over to the smoking man to save her was in part him trying to honor her wishes and save their ace for mulder. i don't know

not something i'm wedded to, but i do have a fic going where the reason we never see charlie scully at all is because he's undercover with the cia and lying to the entire rest of the family about it. i don't REALLY think that's what was meant to be happening in canon- i know a popular headcanon is that he became estranged from the bills after coming out and maggie never really did anything to stop it, and i think that's very possible. but it could technically explain why he was never around and why he drifted away from the rest of them, either for their own safety or because maggie and bill found out the truth and were furious, and it provides some great opportunities in fic for him to run into scully and mulder in the field, so i'm having fun with it

ask my top 5/10 anything!!!

[packloafer]

I have said and keep reminding you all, especially to a fool like you, Marv White, this: I am not and have never been a Nazi. If the circumstances of when I was born, who I was born to, and what my nationality is already dictated my fate, then I was already fucked in the first place, right? I already bear the sins of my ancestors before I am barely out of the womb. So all that I've done for the days that you've been personally counting and still calling me pathetic? That's all done as a FUCK YOU to you all. You didn't bother to get to know me. You didn't bother to understand me. And you didn't bother to actually care or see me as human, much less someone to be a friend with. Everything that I've done, even prior to meeting you all, that is for me to decide on what to do to be a better person. Everything that you've done, Marv White, on the other hand, it showed how you really treat people who you regard as 'outsiders' in reality. All those words and all those choices that you made, reflects what you really are. You are a bully who doesn't regret your actions, and will never bother to think about anyone other than yourself. So fuck you. You made your bed, and I'm still tucking you into it.

good morning, Rena.

you seem to be confused. there is no “you all.” I am one person and you are on my blog. I do not believe all people of German descent are Nazis. I have simply stated over and over again that you, specifically, are perpetuating the myth of the clean Wehrmacht, which is a well-known form of Holocaust denial that claims the German army were not part of committing the Holocaust. Every single day, you make the choice to defend the actions of war criminals. that has nothing to do with the circumstances of your birth. there are plenty of German people who do not spend their time trying to convince people that the German Army in WWII were separate from the Holocaust. I myself am American; I feel no qualms about saying the American military represents oppression and death instead of the liberation our government claims for millions of people around the world. I do not need to defend the actions and choices of my ancestors and family members that may have made the world a worse, more hateful place. there is always a choice to be made, and I strongly disagree with your choices.

which is also what I meant about boundaries. I don’t need to be friends with grown adults who pretend not to know that what they are doing is a form of Holocaust denial. I don’t need to “get to know” someone who makes gifsets of literal Nazi propaganda films so she can post about how cute the Nazi soldiers were. your behavior was and continues to be repulsive and unacceptable.

You are correct that I don’t regret writing a tumblr post about the specific ways in which you were publicly denying the extent of the Holocaust. why should I? it is not bullying to explain how Holocaust denial works. it is very strange and unhealthy to brag about harassing strangers who disagree with you because you believe everyone who disagrees with you must know each other. you don’t have to keep doing this. you don’t have to do any of this.

[anjelicawrites]

I bring a potentially angsty question based on that drunk Billy gifset you just reblogged:

How does Billy react if/when reader and Michael ask about his family?

💜

Mel, you can come with all the angsty questions whenever you want!!! I love them!!!

Short answer? He doesn't have two significant others, he has two guard dogs now. Longer one? Let's dive under the cut!

Warning for reference to medications and nightmares. They/them used for reader where needed.

I think he would dodge the questions and be vague about it. Yes, he has an older sister in the police force, yes, his mum and dad still live in London and call him randomly. And that's it because, if he starts opening up about his family, he'll have to explain everything that happened to him. His face was on the papers, after he was extracted from the bombed car but neither you, nor Michael, made the connection and know the actual reason why he moved to Oxford, since the photos were old and in terrible quality, plus his story was sidelined by the bigger sensation that was the whole alt right movement fallout, and the murders connected to it.

As long as the relationship was simply based on sex, it was easier for him to give you both the least information possible, most of the time you two didn't stay over and didn't see his medications, the times he would wake up screaming from his nightmares or realize that Billy never goes back to London, not for love or money, or that his family doesn't come to visit him from time to time.

Things changed tho, like they always do.

You saw his medications by mistake, Michael almost got an heart attack when Billy fell asleep on the couch, only to wake up screaming. You didn't want to press him for information, you wanted to give him time to open up, Michael, and his big mouth, couldn't help but firing questions, Billy, obviously, clammed up and refused to say anything. If the relationship had made a step forward, thanks to Michael, it went back ten steps because Billy wasn't ready to show you two nerds who he had been and what he had done, being so ashamed of it himself.

The three of you didn't meet for weeks, Billy avoiding you on purpose, until you cornered him and made sure he told all that happened.

Talking about his family happens organically at this point.

Michael has to bite his tongue when Billy tells you the ways his family tried to tough him up, comparing him constantly to his sister who, seemingly, was amazing in every aspect of her life. He was embarrassed to admit how this constant reminder of his failures had taken a toll on his mental health, catapulting him into the waiting arms of the alt right group that used him. When Michael, finally, explodes, saying that they're all cunts, you are ready for the fallout.

"They tried their best. They failed, but tried the only way they know." Billy says, his head hanging a bit. "And that's why I can't meet them, because they'll never admit they were in the wrong." "Still cunts." "A bit, yes."

It shines in the way Billy talks about Lana, that he loves her and that love wasn't enough to salvage their relationship: she saved him but was the reason Billy kept falling and falling into the depths of depression; it wasn't her fault, she was the unwilling catalyst though, and you can't forget it. You hug Billy tight and he makes himself as small as possible to fit your frame and feel your hands in his hair, while Michael is grumbling about the whole situation in the background: he's not one for forgiveness. Not that you don't agree: Billy can do whatever he wants with his relationship with his family, you're never going to forgive and forget, even if Billy does. Someone needs to look into these people's eyes and remind them of what they did to him, the harm they caused to Billy, and still to this day.

That his parents and, to an extent, his sister did it believing they were doing right by Billy doesn't truly matter on the long run, not when Billy is still suffering and believes himself to be less than what he is, simply because he doesn't meet their expectations for him.

You don't have the luxury to express your rage as outwardly as Michael is doing right now, someone needs to anchor Billy, and that's your job, but by God you're fuming as you keep him in your arms and are already planning how you're going to show him how great he is, how important he is for you: that's your goal, Michael's? He will never let his family off the hook, it's a promise; if you know someone who never forgets a slight, who is capable of holding a grudge to his grave, that's you math genius boyfriend.

You two will need to coordinate your efforts and you two will succeed in helping Billy truly flourish, and if his family tries to have say in it? They will never know what will hit them, and that's your silent promise to Billy.

Cringefail throuple taglist: @fan-goddess @moris-auri @lexwolfhale

Ewanverse taglist: @vhagar-balerion-meraxes @zaldritzosrose

[spicyvampire]

Hi! So sorry to bug you, but I see you post about "4Minutes", so thought I'd ask. In one, the phrase "Great's Dying Brain v. Reality" appears, and (only if you have a spare moment) wondered what that meant? Some friends and I have watched the whole series (some twice) and still don't fully understand it. If not, no worries! Have a great day!

Hey, that is no problem at all, the fun of this show lies in the understanding and what you as a viewer make of it

I'm gonna give you the very surface level of explanation that helps understand the premise of the show but also the parallel gifsets I've made with captions like "Dying Brain vs Reality" or "Great's vs Tyme 4MP"

So what you need to understand for starters is that, in the premise of the show, when someone goes into cardiac arrest they see in their dying brain a life they could have had if they took different decisions for 4 minutes before the lack of oxygen kills their brain and they die forever, it's kinda their own little world/timeline where they can be happy, I call it (and doctor Den in the show call it) the 4 Minutes Phenomenom (4MP), and a good part of the show is those 4MP timelines created by Great and Tyme while they are dying, their heart stopped at the same time at 11:00 while Great was in the hospital and Tyme was dying outside in the rain, thus there is 3 timelines -> Great's 4MP, reality (real timeline) and Tyme's 4MP

Great's 4MP basically most of what you see from ep 1 to 5 : this is the longest one because Great's 4MP was used to establish the lore of the show, also Great could time travel inside his 4MP to actually change what happened in reality, Great's 4MP follows almost the same patterns as the real timeline but he changed a lot of things to be a better person (because when he got shot in reality he was starting a process to be a better person than he actually was)

Reality aka real timeline is most of what happened in ep 6 to 8 : it's the gruesome sad true of what actually happened to everyone story wise, this is why my gifsets of Dying Brain vs Reality are so sad, because what Great or Tyme created in their 4MPs is usually much sweeter than what happened in reality;;; also there are bits and pieces of reality in ep 1 to 5, especially the things Tonkla and his boytoys related

Tyme's 4MP end of ep 7 from when he got shot and start of ep 8 : this one is pretty much fabricated almost completely even if the characters keep their essences (but it is logical because Tyme lost a lot before he got shot, and he was feeling a lot of guilts and regrets)

All the changes in the 4MP timelines are direct results of the emotions and situations they lived during the real timeline, and they come out of that experience changed people, the 4MP was there as a vehicle for character development that you see at the end of ep 8

Disclaimer : personally, I do not think all of this is as cut and dry as I'm explaining it, I think there are signs of Great and Tyme's consciousness intertwining in ep 1 to 5 and in ep 8 while they are dying even if the 4MP timeline was led by only one of them specifically narratively speaking but that's the beauty of this show! While everything was pretty much explained in my opinions, you can always continue theorizing and it still would work, because there are things in there that can be interpreted in many other ways! It's why it's the show of the year for me

If you want/need more explanation, here is a link to a post on MDL that explain like absolutely everything step by step, including the whole deal with Korn/Tonkla/Win and Title & Dome

Hope this helps and don't hesitate to come back and discuss more, this show is fascinating and I'm always happy to talk about it

[daughter-of-sapph0]

watched the first episode of the acolyte, and god it's stupid.

my thoughts below. spoilers or whatever...

okay so positives first:

>live action high republic is cool as hell. finally, something that isn't original trilogy or post empire, the most oversaturated and overrespresented eras of star wars. I'm not the biggest high republic fan, I've only read light of the jedi. but I think the setting has potential for some amazing stories.

>the character designs are also amazing. everyone looks super cool. also nice to see people of color given representation in star wars. it's so cool to finally have a black woman as the main character.

>...

>that's it

.

okay now for negatives:

>it looks fuzzy. idk how to describe it, but it looks like there's a layer of static over everything. this is really obvious with solid flat colors, especially in background shots. it just looks blurry. I've seen supernatural gifsets from 2012 with less grain than this high budget star wars show.

>the plot is incredibly stupid. Osha (yes, her name is osha, like the occupational safety and health administration) is framed for the murder of a jedi, but she says she didn't do it. it turns out that it was her twin sister Mae who everyone thought was dead but is secretly still alive. evil twin is literally the oldest most cliche trope ever. and of course they made a point of giving mae and easily identifiable mark on her forehead so you can tell her apart from Osha

>the dialog is so unnatural. "okay, so we need the audience to know more about Osha so they sympathize with her. how can we do that? let's have Yord explain oshas backstory... to Osha!" okay? Why The FUCK Are You Explain Oshas Own Backstory To Her?! "your family died in a fire, and the jedi order took you in when you were 8 years old" She Literally Knows That Already Because It HAPPENED TO HER!!!! In What Universe Would Any Person Speaking In A Natural Way Talk Like This?!??!?! you know that meme of the guy screaming about megamind 2 for megamind to use the dehydration gun? that's me right now about this fucking scene

>everyone is so bland. you can tell their personalities immediately. Osha is kind and helpful. Sol is loving and a father figure and has attachments to Osha. Yord is a himbo. Jecki is as close to a "mean girl" as a jedi can be. and Mae is just pure evil.

>like, incredibly evil. holy shit. Osha has a dream sequence / force vision and sees a young Mae and Mae is singing a creepy rhyme about how they're twins and inseparable and shit and when Osha asks if she killed the jedi Mae goes "yes! I'll kill them all" and her eyes turn fully black and I'm not even making that up!!! I actually laughed out loud at how stupid it was. I know star wars is goofy, but holy shit

>Yord is naked for a short scene for no reason other than comic relief. Jecki makes a marvel quip about it.

.

I want to like this show, mainly because I know the fandom menace hates it. like, having representation of people of color, and having a black woman as the main character is great! but it literally feels like some corporate executives are trying to check all the diversity boxes, and then forgot to write an interesting show.

and I know that if I give any valid criticism about the show, stupid idiots on twitter will go "yeah! and also it's too woke!" and think I agree with their horse shit opinions.

but like legit, I was sorta excited for this show, and now I'm just too tired to even care. it's not often that a show loses my interest completely after the first episode. and I'm pissed, because high republic star wars has so much potential to be cool.

.

tldr, star wars would be so good if it was good.

[dutyworn]

@bloodsalted said: What would prevent you from following someone? Are aesthetics important to you? If they are, why? What current rp trend do you hate? How do you explain rp to someone in the real world?

the be honest meme    /    ACCEPTING ↷

What would prevent you from following someone? :: Among other things, having individual names/urls on a DNI list. I really don't care if someone is genuinely trying to warn others about someone else in the rpc and has no malicious intentions at all; I don't fuck with that. I consider it inherently a form of harrassment and it honestly reminds me of middle school bullying culture. If someone disagrees they are free to disagree, I don't really care, it's a personal opinion/boundary that I am very strict on; I've cut ties with rp partners I was friendly if not friends with, over them adding that sort of a DNI list, like people I was talking casually about non-rp related things on discord with, so it's not something I am willing to let slide even if we had rapport. I don't feel safe with that type of behaviour even if the DNI was "warranted".

Are aesthetics important to you? If they are, why? :: Other people's? Not at all - I don't care if you use icons, if you format your text at all, what your blog theme looks like, etc. It doesn't affect my enjoyment of our writing together.

My own? Yes, very important. Icons and formatting for my own replies are a need, not a want - I have a lot of executive dysfunction. Creative writing is not easy. My formatting system gives me a canvas; I've made the analogy before, of how writing without formatting feels like I'm trying to paint on tissue paper, whereas writing with formatting feels like painting on a proper canvas. One would be easier than the other, yes? It's the same feeling of how I have a fun, easy time writing a drabble to be precisely 100 words long, but a difficult and not enjoyable time trying to write a drabble to be somewhat around 100 words long. There's a set canvas on the former; there's the technical work (adding formatting, trimming to 100 words, you name it) that's easy to make the creative work that's not easy, more manageable.

I don't care about my aesthetics in the sense that I don't give a fuck if other people think my blog looks pretty or "professional" or whatever, though. I care that I enjoy my own blog. And I enjoy it more with my aesthetics.

What current rp trend do you hate? :: Hate is too strong of a word for anything like this (mostly I'm like "eh I don't vibe with that"), and I don't know if it counts as trends, but I don't like... sideblogs for different things for the same character? Like, having a sideblog for mature content, or for aesthetics posting. I understand why people do both, like when people feel self-conscious putting smut on their main blog, or if they feel like they are reblogging too many gifsets or whatnot and are insecure about it. So it's not that I dislike people doing it, I just hope it doesn't become something that's expected in the rpc.

I don't know what the etiquette is with sideblogs for mature content. Am I supposed to follow if I'm open to writing sex scenes with your muse or only follow if we start writing them? I feel like I'm being a creep if I just follow those sideblogs without already shipping our muses sexually, but then I have no idea if me not following them makes it look like I wouldn't?

I support people running their blogs the way they enjoy. But I am never going to do that with my blogs; I feel like there's enough internalised shame about writing sex scenes and "spamming the dash" as it is, so I'm just going to sit here and write freaky kink on my main blogs and reblog all the gifsets I want and actively reject any feelings of shame I might have about it because fuuuuuck that. I don't think people having sideblogs means they are shaming others at all, but if it became expected it certainly would contribute to people feeling more ashamed and less liberated in how to run their own blogs.

How do you explain rp to someone in the real world? :: Internet is the real world as much as other aspects of the world are but like. How I explain roleplay to someone who doesn't roleplay? Oh boy. I talk about collaborative creative writing and talk about how you write from your character's point of view and the person you write with from theirs. If people are familiar with TTRPGs I can compare to that as well.

I did talk about roleplay to my psychiatric nurse last year and enjoyed shocking her by telling her one of the characters I wrote as was Hannibal Lecter, because, you know, sometimes it's fun to dishevel your psychiatric care professionals a little bit.

[onaslansside]

We finally watched Alice (2009) after seeing the mutuals yell about it for years and. oh. such a good decision. Thank you to @as-dreamers-do, @taleweaver-ramblings and everyone else who insisted on yelling repeatedly about how much they loved this movie. I have a stash of DVDs for movie nights that no one has ever heard of but everyone winds up loving, and this movie is about to go in that stash. After watching, we both dived for our phones to see what all the other liveblog reviews said, so assume we yelled about all the normal things, and please enjoy this list of a few more unique/underappreciated reactions.

Alice is an A+ street smart heroine, love her. Every time we'd yell at the screen, "BAD VIBES, NO" she was also aware of the red flag and doing something about it. I feel as delighted about this as Hoid was about Tress requesting parental assistance/advice.

"Oh this is very Between." "Yeah."

Why does she run like that. I get that the blue dress, half updo, and mincing steps into the unknown are a homage, but SHE IS A BLACK BELT, WHY DOES SHE RUN SO BADLY.

I can't tell what's up with Hatter, every single description everyone has given of his possible motivations doesn't quite match. Like, he does think Alice is pretty, and he does want to help the resistance, and he does want to make money while doing so, but it feels like there's another more consistent reason lurking in his eyes and I have NO IDEA what it is, not even after watching Gen and Athelas for years.

"The decor of this casino is excellently stupid, this place would have Thumb Thumbs- *spots the Ten of Clubs* THERE'S ONE!"

LOVE a fight scene that understands that a gun within lunging range is no longer a particular advantage!!! Was NOT expecting Hatter to step between Alice and the threat with that little hesitation, that brings him up several points in my estimation.

That Jabberwock is so stupid. I love it. The design reminds me of the two-headed dragon in HTTYD.

I'm no film nerd, but the camera work is so good even I keep noticing it. The Scooby Doo chase with the Jabberwock, the focus shifting between Charlie and Hatter, the sliver of light when Alice opens the study door... *chefkiss*

I have known this knight for five seconds and I love him.

I need to rewatch this entire thing already, because the body language of EVERYONE is so good and so detailed that you can't get it all, especially when paying attention to the lines being spoken.

Every single shot of Hatter's reactions to Charlie are so funny.

Love both Hatter and Ten of Clubs doing beautiful sliding halts on the casino floors.

Wait, did the King just rescue not one but two of the clubs from the consequences of the Queen's temper tantrum?? I think he did. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Is he figuring out he's not okay with this situation? Is he secretly undermining her?

Somewhere in the middle of Jack explaining that Alice's father was being brought to the city, I suddenly began to wonder if he might be the Carpenter, because he'd been shown onscreen an awful lot so far...

"Hatter's going to follow her, isn't he. ISN'T HE? ... oh look, so is Charlie, that's great."

We made identical little sad sympathetic sounds when the explosion knocked Charlie over, but we were both very unconcerned for his safety.

I said, "That can be arranged," at the same moment as Alice and I'm very smug about it.

"YOU BETTER NOT GIVE ME THAT 'IT WAS ALL JUST A DREAM' NONSENSE!! >:(" Melwa smirked very loudly because A) that's canon for the original Alice, and B) she'd already seen spoiler gifsets of the end.

And T_T she flings herself at him before we can see if its like in Wizard of Oz and he just was glimpsed and got into her dreams vs he's real, and then we turn around and he DOES know her T_T, and THE POOR MOM who is cropped out of all the gifsets ajghksjfbfbk