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

[ardethbayrulez]

Sleeper Cell - S1 E2- TARGET

Oded Fehr as Farik

[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 🤣

[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!

[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.

[runnning-outof-time]

Birmingham | Tommy Shelby x Reader (Part 20)

Previous Part

Pairing: Tommy Shelby x reader

Summary: Plans of taking over the tracks get thwarted quickly for the Shelbys as trouble makes its way into Birmingham. Tommy tells (Y/N) to stay away, but of course she can't for too long. Everything gets laid out on the table after a scary experience shakes the both of them.

Warnings: drinking, series typical violence, canon death, injury, blood

Word Count: 4426

A/N: here it is everyone…the final chapter of Birmimgham! Thank you so much to those of you who have stuck with this story…through the break and the drawn out postings. I finished it for you. I’d love to know what you think of how it ended (since I went with the winner of the poll; which was giving a ending that felt finished). Enjoy! :)

A/N 2: the italicized dialogue is taken from the show. I’d also like to give a special thanks to @alicent-targaryen for making the amazing gifsets that helped me write this chapter so quickly — they gave me so much inspiration! :) also if you’d ever like to know what the original ending for this was…feel free to reach out to me…if I get enough interest, I may just write it as a short.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

The story is finished! — I hope you enjoyed!

"Is Tommy here, or has he left already?" (Y/N) asked Polly after she entered the Watery Lane home. She found the older woman working on cleaning the mantle in the living room, and she couldn't stop herself from blurting the question out.

"He should still be upstairs," Polly answered, not even bothering to turn and properly greet (Y/N). It seemed as though she was deep into working on something.

"Can I go up?" (Y/N) asked hesitantly, not wanting to cross any lines.

Her question made Polly turn and look at her. The older woman quirked an eyebrow, probably wondering why the question was even being asked. "If you wish to. His door is at the end of the hall," she answered (Y/N)'s question. (Y/N) nodded, saying a quick thank you before she made her way to the stairs of the home.

She walked down the hall, stopping at the last door and taking a pause before she knocked on it. "Come," his voice came from inside the room, making her twist the knob and open the door. She saw him standing at the dresser, finishing up shaving.

"Hi, Tommy," she said softly, making him stop what he was doing and turn to face her.

"It's early, (Y/N)," he commented, surprised by her presence.

"I know, but I was unable to stay away...ever since you told me today would be the day; my mind won't stop," she explained her reason for being there. She'd been worried about everything that would happen today and couldn't stop herself from going to see Tommy before he left for the races.

Tommy finished up what he was doing, grabbing a rag so that he could wipe his face off before he then gave his attention to (Y/N). He could see the slight bit of worry behind her eyes, and he hated that it was there. For a moment he felt bad that he'd been the one to create it, but worry or not, he knew that she understood what had to be done.

"When will you go?" she asked him, breaking the silence that had fallen in the room.

"In a few hours," he gave a vague estimation, "I need to touch base with my brothers. There'll be a family meeting at half ten; there we'll discuss what will be done. I'd say that we'll be leaving shortly after that," he explained what had been on his list to accomplish. "You can come to the meeting, if you'd like," he then extended an invitation.

"I'll come," (Y/N) nodded, making her decision rather quickly. She figured that hearing his plan in full might serve to give her some solace.

"Good," Tommy nodded, a ghost of a smile teetering on his lips, "we'll be set after this, (Y/N)," he said to her then, his words riddled with confidence. (Y/N) smiled upon hearing it. She loved how self-assured he was; it was almost contagious.

"I'm worried," she said then, retreating back to her own way of thinking. She was itching to reach out and take hold of him from the second she'd walked in, but she didn't know if that would be received well or not. The last thing she wanted was him upset with her as he embarked on this big scheme.

"You shouldn't be," he assured her, "we've got the Lees on our side thanks to John and Esme, and Kimber will think that we're going to fight that family instead of taking to the pitches. He won't expect what'll actually happen," he gave her the rundown of his plan, still holding a great deal of confidence in it. Things were going to go his way today; he could already feel it.

"Ok," (Y/N) nodded along, trying to switch her thinking for his, "and I'll stay here...with Pol to make sure everything runs well on this end," she addressed her part in the plan.

"Good," Tommy nodded. He paused then, pulling his timepiece out so that he could check it. "Love, I should go now," he said as he slipped the watch back into its pocket.

"Ok," she repeated what she'd just said, "I just wanted to see you before you left."

"Come to the meeting," he said to her, a slight smile on his face.

"I will," she assured him, smiling also as she nodded her head.

"Come on," he said then, moving forward and placing his hand to the small of her back as he led her out of the bedroom and over to the stairs. She descended them first with him following behind. "I'll see you at half ten," he told her, walking to the door as she decided she'd stay back and see if Polly needed any help before then. It wouldn't be long until the time for the meeting came anyway; she might as well stick around.

Polly did in fact need help with minor things, and the women quickly got busy with them, passing the time between the meeting like (Y/N) hoped they would. It wasn't long until everyone was gathered in the empty betting shop; all eyes focused on Tommy as he explained the plan (Y/N) had got a preview of in full detail.

"Any other questions?" Tommy asked once he was finished explaining the plans. He looked around the room, waiting for anyone to speak up.

"Yes," it was Polly who answered as she made her way to the door that separated the betting floor from the home, "does anyone object if I bring a newcomer to the meeting?" she asked, looking around the room. Silence came in response, making her move over to the door so that she could open it slightly and whisper "come on," to whoever it was on the other side. She then opened the door wider to show Ada, who had Karl in her arms. "I'd like to introduce the newest member of the Shelby clan," she announced, a smile on her face.

(Y/N)'s cheeks were hurting from the wideness of her smile as her friend took a step further into the room. It was so good to see her back with her family again. Arthur was the one to start the clapping, and soon the room was filled with applause as Ada walked into the room. She stopped where (Y/N) was standing and gave her a smile, to which (Y/N) sent one of her own back.

"Welcome home, Ada," Tommy said to his sister, a smile forming on his lips. It warmed (Y/N)'s heart to see the progress being made.

She then explained the baby's name, earning some laughs from the group that was gathered around her. Arthur then went over to see the baby, taking him from Ada's arms and placing his peaked cap on top of his head. (Y/N) laughed along with the rest of the group as John poked fun at his older brother. Ada sent (Y/N) a smile before Tommy addressed her, asking if he was forgiven. (Y/N) stayed behind and watched Ada move over to him, telling him he was. She felt her heart swell as they shared a hug.

"It's so good to see you back with your family," (Y/N) said to Ada once she'd come back to her side. Tommy and the other men had gotten together to talk finer details of what would be going down. (Y/N) decided to stay with the women instead of learning more of the plan, feeling more comfortable watching Esme make exaggerated faces at the baby than hearing about how they were going to take over the races.

—

After things were finished at the shop, Tommy and the men decided to go to the Garrison to have a drink before they hit the road for the races. (Y/N) offered to join and help out, knowing that things would go smoother if there was another set of hands - hands that knew what they were doing - behind the bar pouring drinks.

Things were going well. (Y/N) was pouring with Tommy and the two had slipped into a comfortable routine. She wasn't going to lie, she quite enjoyed working in these close quarters with him. All was well...until it wasn't.

Arthur entered the Garrison with Jeremiah trailing close behind him. Both men were walking like they were on a mission. "Tommy," Arthur called for his brother, his gruff voice making just about all of the celebrations stop. "I need to talk to you," he said, his seriousness holding as he nodded his head to the stockroom that was behind the bar. Tommy glanced at (Y/N), who was becoming more confused by the second, before he followed his brother and friend into the room.

They were only gone for a matter of seconds before coming back out. "(Y/N)..." he started, coming right over to her, a sense of urgency in his movements and vocal tone. "(Y/N), I need you to leave now, ok?" he said to her, his eyes wide as he spoke; a tell-tale sign that he was now under pressure and needed things to be done timely and in a certain way.

"Wha...why?" she asked, her brows furrowed in confusion.

"Billy Kimber and his men are coming this way," he told her, "I need you to stay clear of here, you understand me?" he searched her eyes then, his hands blindly searching for hers. It didn't take much to find them, and when he did, he squeezed them for added effect, "stay away from here," he told her again.

"Ok. Ok, I will," she nodded her head, sensing his urgency and falling in line with it, "I'll go and be with Pol and Ada, and I'll wait there for you," she then told him where he could find her.

"Good," Tommy nodded lightly, feeling relieved that she wasn't going to be mixed up in the middle of this developing plan. He was going to need to fight Kimber on his own turf now. It was something he could do, but he wanted to make sure that the people he cared for the most were out of harm's way. "Go on," he said then, dropping her hands so that he could let her leave.

(Y/N)'s heart dropped slightly at the abrupt loss of warmth his hands were giving her, but she didn't have much time to dwell on it as she was following his orders, exiting the Garrison at a hasty speed so that she could get to Watery Lane before all hell broke loose.

Tommy watched her as she went, keeping his eyes on her until she was out of his sight before he focused on the men that had gathered in front of him, waiting for their leader to give them direction.

—

(Y/N) was out of breath when she finally got to Watery Lane. She entered the house promptly, hoping that either one, or both, of the women that she was looking for would be present. To her relief, they both were sitting in the living room.

"Where have you run from?" Polly questioned her, a look of confusion forming on her face.

"I...I just came...Tommy told me to..." she stammered out, resting her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath, hoping that doing so would allow her to get out a complete sentence.

"Come, sit down, love," Polly coaxed her over to the open chair and (Y/N) listened, moving over to sit and take a few more calming breaths. "Tell us when you're ready," she said to the younger woman, both her and Ada waiting intently for the news it seemed she had.

"I ran from the Garrison. The plans have changed...Billy Kimber's on his way here to make a stand. Tommy told me to stay away from the tavern. He thinks that it's going to happen there," (Y/N) explained once her breathing was normal again.

"Bloody hell," Polly hissed, exhaling a sigh as she heard the news, "they're going to get themselves killed."

"I don't know any of the finer details...I just know that they're going to fight them here now," (Y/N) stated, trying to push down the worry that was bubbling up inside of her.

"I've got to go," Ada finally spoke in the midst of her rushing to stand from the couch.

(Y/N)'s brows furrowed as she watched her friend move around the room, grabbing the carriage she'd brought with her so that she could transfer a sleeping Karl into it. "Ada, wait...what are you doing?" she asked, confusion present in her tone.

"I'm going to go make these bloody men see sense," Ada spoke through gritted teeth, making it apparent that anger and frustration were coursing through her. She moved over to the archway that led to the door before stopping and looking at the women, "because I know the finer details of the day, and I refuse to stand by and let this happen," she didn't wait for a response to her pointed statement after uttering it, instead turning and walking through the archway and out the door.

"What does she mean?" (Y/N) asked Polly as soon as the door shut. She was so confused right now. Polly just looked defeated.

"Freddie was to be broken out of his transport earlier today...he was going to come home and help with the effort at the races, and this was all to be done in accordance to Tommy's plan," Polly filled (Y/N) in on what Ada was getting at.

(Y/N) sighed as she heard what the older woman had to say. "She's going to go and confront them, isn't she?" she asked in a blank tone.

"She very well may," Polly didn't give a straightforward answer. Ada was a Shelby after all...Shelbys did what they wanted and rarely cared about the dangers that stood in their way.

(Y/N) knew this all too well. Ada was going to go and confront these two gangs of men. She stood from the chair with an exasperated sigh. Tommy's voice echoed in her mind as she stood; warning her not to go anywhere near the Garrison. She pushed it back, knowing that that was exactly where her friend was going. "I'm going to go and try to stop her, Pol," she informed the other woman as she walked towards the archway.

"Be careful, (Y/N)," Polly offered some words of advice, making (Y/N) nod before she walked through the archway and out of the Watery Lane home.

—

"I want you all to look at me!" (Y/N) heard Ada's voice echo through the empty streets as she ran as fast as she could to the Garrison. Upon turning the corner, she saw two lines of men, the groups facing each other. Ada was smack-dab in the middle, addressing both lines as they had their guns pointed at each other. She's going to get herself killed! (Y/N) thought to herself as she picked up her pace. "Who will be wearing black for you? Think about them. Think about them right now...and fight if you want to, but that baby ain't moving anywhere, and neither am I," she continued, her voice raw and full of emotion.

"Ada!" (Y/N) called to her friend as she made her way through the line of men whom she recognized to be the Peaky Blinders. "Ada, you can't be doing this!" she exclaimed, her eyes frantic as she rushed out into the middle of the standoff in hopes to get her friend to see some sense. "This isn't your war to get into the middle of. This isn't the place for you, or for your baby," she insisted, her eyes locked onto the other woman's as she tried to get her out of the middle of it all.

"I won't move, (Y/N)," Ada stayed persistent.

"If not for your own safety, do it for Karl," (Y/N) didn't back down, "this isn't your war to try to stop," she repeated her previous statement, trying to keep her voice steady as adrenaline started to fill her. She tried so hard not to think of what was standing on either side of her at the moment, putting her sole focus on her friend. "Come on...move for Karl," she said again, her voice softer now as she nodded to the carriage that was off to the side. They held each other's gaze before Ada just barely nodded her head. (Y/N) saw it though, and she moved Ada off to the side, hyper-aware of all of the eyes following her.

"She's right you know..." Billy Kimber was the first to speak up once the women were off to the side, "why should all you men die?" he asked the men surrounding him before looking forward, "it should just be them who've caused it," he accentuated his statement by brandishing his weapon and firing it twice.

(Y/N) squeezed her eyes shut and spun to shield both Ada and the carriage as best she could as pandemonium broke out in the street. Several men were screaming and Karl's cries had intensified before there was one more gunshot.

Tommy was the next person to speak. "Enough!" he yelled, causing everything to halt at once. (Y/N), even though her eyes were still closed, felt relieved that he was still speaking, because that meant he was still alive. "Kimber and me fought this battle one on one. It's over. Go home to your families!" he addressed the men standing across from him.

Nothing else was said as the sound of footsteps rang out, signaling to (Y/N) that people were walking away. She heard Tommy mumble something to someone, and more footsteps were heard then. She stayed by Ada and Karl, unable to really move as she took some steadying breaths.

"Ada..." a man's voice came from the women's left.

"Freddie," Ada breathed, moving from the carriage to go to the man who had approached them.

"Don't scare us like that," he said to her, allowing her to fall into his arms and cling to him. He closed his eyes and rested his chin on the top of her head as he held her tight against him.

(Y/N) smiled softly as she watched them reunite, feeling the emotion radiating off of them. She finally looked back at the street then, seeing that everyone else had cleared off of it. Worried about the rest of the men - especially one in particular - she left the couple's side and hurried to the doors of the Garrison.

She was met with agonizing screams as she opened the doors, and immediately realized that they were coming from Tommy. Hearing them made her heart drop to her stomach. Had he been shot? she wondered, worry immediately filling her body.

Arthur was the one to notice her presence amidst trying to help get the bullet out of his brother's shoulder, "go and wait in the stockroom, love, you don't want to be seein' this," he told her and she nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat and not asking any questions before she made a b-line to the stockroom behind the bar.

She waited there as time passed painstakingly slowly. Hearing Tommy scream out in pain was breaking her heart. She wished there was something, anything, she could do to help.

Then everything became quiet again. She heard some talking, but it was muffled by the door that she'd closed. She decided to stay in the room even though it seemed that the worst of it was over. A few more minutes passed before the door opened to reveal Tommy.

(Y/N) didn't wait for another second. She was walking over to him the second she saw him, her hands raising so that she could take his cheeks into them and bring his lips to hers. She kissed him passionately and with everything she had in her. Tommy's hands found the sides of her waist so that he could hold her against him, prolonging the kiss...as if she was going to pull away anyway.

"What was that for?" he breathed out once they'd pulled away.

"For scaring me," she answered him, an involuntary shudder coursing through her as she let her eyes drop to the bloody shirt that he was wearing. He's ok...he's standing in front of you, she told herself, her eyes finding his again.

Tommy chuckled at her statement, squeezing her waist slightly before he leaned in and kissed her again. (Y/N) happily accepted it, slipping her hands from his cheeks to the back of his neck as she reveled in the feeling of their lips moving together seamlessly. Nothing ever felt this good.

"And that was for?" she asked once she pulled away, breathless this time. She couldn't stop the smile from forming on her face as she looked at him again.

"An apology for scaring you," he told her, his words making her tip her head back slightly as she let out a laugh.

His eyes were still on her when she looked at him again. His gaze made butterflies dance around in her stomach, and she couldn't help but encircle her arms around his neck so that she could hug him; her head resting against the uninjured side of his chest as she did so. She brought one of her hands down from the back of his neck to gently lift his jacket where the blood was present on his shirt. She couldn't see much, but she still had to ask: "you're ok, are you?" Her voice was much softer now, worry creeping back after the excitement of the kisses faded.

"I'm fine, love," he answered her, his voice coming out in a similar tone. "Come on...have a drink with me," he said then, loosening his hold on her waist. She got the message, dropping her hands from his neck so that he could step away and lead her out of the stockroom and back into the bar area. "Under the bar should be a bottle of champagne..." he started off as he walked around to the opposite side of the bar so that he could stand across from her.

"Going for fancy today, are we?" (Y/N) couldn't help but grin as she grabbed the unopened bottle from one of the lower shelves.

"Figured we should...since we're celebrating," Tommy grinned right back at her, watching as she set the bottle on the bartop before going to grab two glasses. As she did that, he turned and rested his back against the bar, taking some of the weight off of his feet. He let out a sigh as he tipped his head back, reveling in a moment of peace after so much chaos.

"Is everything ok?" (Y/N) asked after she turned around and found him.

"Yeah," he breathed, pushing himself off of the bar and turning around to stand straight and face her again, nodding his head then for extra effect. (Y/N) nodded back at him before she uncorked the bottle and worked on pouring it into both of the cups. She tried her best not to mess up under his gaze. She smiled at him once she was finished, handing him a glass before she picked her own up and took a sip from it. "How is it?" he asked, his eyes not leaving hers.

"It's good," (Y/N) answered with a nod and a soft smile.

"You know..." he began then, pausing a moment before continuing, "someone I trust once told me, and I believe they told me here; in this very spot...that people fall for people that they know; people that they've been around and feel comfortable with..." he trailed off, and (Y/N) felt her throat go dry. Those words sounded all too familiar...like the words that she'd told him when he was grappling with Ada being with Freddie. He took a deep breath before continuing, "I want you to help me, (Y/N). With the business, the family, with the whole fucking thing. I want you, no, I need you in my life."

"Tommy this is, wow..." she couldn't finish her sentence, taken back by what he'd just proclaimed. All of the dancing around her feelings for him had led to this...the moment she'd been secretly hoping for for so long. But now that it was here, she was fumbling. "I'm not sure of what to say..." she blubbered out, her nervousness shining clear in her words. She'd never wanted something more in her life...why had she chosen this moment to be awkward?!

"Yes would be a good thing to say," he said, cracking a grin as he noticed her trying to fight back her nervousness, "it'd be a great thing to say, actually."

"Then yes," she breathed, a smile breaking onto her face.

"Then yes," he repeated what she'd said, smiling also as he leaned across the bar to kiss her. She caught his chin, holding him there and making the kiss longer than he intended...not that he was complaining.

"I think we'd ought to leave," (Y/N) said after they'd pulled away from each other, "we've had enough excitement for one day...you should get home," she suggested.

"And what will you do?" he asked her, wondering if they'd now be parting ways after all that just happened. He really didn't want that to be the case.

"I thought that maybe I'd come with you...someone's got to make sure that you keep clean bandages on your shoulder," she answered him, unable to stop the smile from creeping onto her lips.

Tommy caught that, knowing what else she could be thinking that would make such a smile form on her face. "I like the sound of that," he said to her, also grinning before she walked around the bar to come to his side.

The day had truly been won. Not only had Tommy defeated Billy Kimber, but he'd finally let (Y/N) know how he felt about her...and to his relief, she'd felt the same about him.

And for (Y/N)...she had a feeling that she wasn't leaving Birmingham any time soon. That was something she was perfectly ok with.

Tagged: @mgcldydrms @the-anxious-youth @cloudofdisney @look-at-the-soul @elenavampire21 @mrsalwayswrite @julkaamazing @evita-shelby @lilyrachelcassidy @notyour-valentine @shelbydelrey @december16-1991 @onlydeadcells @peakyswritings @just-a-blackhole @watercolorskyy @strayrockette @peakyduchesss @alexxavicry @captivatedbycillianmurphy @yummycastiel @dark-academia-slut @tommystargirl @stevie75 @lyarr24 @signorellisantichrist @zablife @anotherblinder @midnightmagpiemama @cillmequick @l1-l4 @chlorrox @lostgirl219 @woofgocows @bdudette @mrkdvidal1989 @stephhevring @fictional-hooman @httyd-marauders @nataliewalker93 @rangerelik @thecraziestcrayon @cilliansangel @shaddixlife @tracysnook

SERIES MASTERLIST

[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.

[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

[grahamcarmen]

Hi, I hope you're doing great, and I hope this isn't weird but you seem to really hate season 3's ending, and I was wondering why cause personally I've always liked it.

i'm doing well enough !!! XD thanks and i hope you are too!!

I'm sorry to report that it is almost entirely irrational.

when it comes to theming its a conclusion that underlines the necessity of VILE being uncovered for the villains they are to the world when they've been so successfully in the shadows so far and the imminent undeniability of Carmen's own goodness in the coming season going along with the mask themes of that seasons: RIP THE MASK OFF TO REVEAL WHATS INSIDE! [darkest part music plays]

timeline wise its the second proof needed for Chase to completely confirm what Carmen let him know, that she is on the side fighting against people like roundabout and thus someone he needs to help not chase*(ha) around and make her life harder

fun tidbits wise: one of the all time shadowsan moments where he just dwarves whatever ego roundabout has in his abilities with his own experience " i was yakuza", zack and ivy in mustaches, carmen going sorry mate when she steals from le chevre, and gray being the ending note <3333 [my squishy fave i love him made me so happy to get that crumb in the gray desert that was s3] AND CARMEN IN GREEN AND BLUE AND SUNGLASSES AND LOCKPICKING!

hero win wise it actually is a big deal that its not just hurting their wallets and neutralizing their malicious deeds that she accomplishes this time, its taking out their tool for allowing them to bounce right back into the real world like weeds

looks wise i think it might be in the upper half of the series for me

but...

very funny to note that you sent this when my queue had spit out my trap gifset! /because lowkey thats probably the cause of my irritation

there is a constant enough through-line in the show about traps and being captured that happens often enough in the series that it caught my attention.

usually the mention of a trap is more to emphasize carmen's own daring and altruism as it doesn't matter if its a trap because there's something more important at stake so i don't pay it more mind than that-> Carmen will go because its worth fighting against any odds to do whats right

and it isn't like carmen is infallible shown by how many times she has been in genuine danger by getting trapped by VILE because she's outnumbered, outmatched, or her own caring is her undoing, this actually just happens in normal missions more often [with the brunt trap being the bigger outlier in the moment with roudabout SUPPOSEDLY THE NEXT...the actual next time is during julia's rescue for a little]

so. Odds CAN be stacked against her and sometimes it might be too much for her [see even within this season where lupe helps her with brunt and sonia helps her escape spintrap]

so then roundabout's case come up with the mwahaha we shall bait her ! and its another trap that carmen puts herself into for the greater good of keeping VILE from getting more money while roudabout thinks of the pomp of what is being stolen but makes it out because of her team and...thats...hmmm idk how to explain it

the episode tees a little bit into "wow what IF this trap was too much for Carmen" in the beginning for me before revealing there isn't actually any stakes , its a run of the mill carmen always had control of the situation so roundabout wasn't even competent enough to give her little trouble.

the worst thing was just probably the shock from the cop for speaking out of turn and like that's more the cop than roundabout

it does a good season finale job of THE POLICE FORCE GETS INVOLVED! THE IMPOSSIBLE MISSION! THE HELICOPTERS SURROUND AND THE FIREWORKS HAIL ITS END!!!! aaaaaaand...i know. i know that man isn't just ineffective but nuclear ineffective.

...GAH the episode where she got electrocuted and nearly flown over to VILE by spintrap because a one shot villain got to her was in this very season...Brunt marching herself down to show how helpless carmen COULD be if she hadn't had help was in this season...

i didn't even really care about the trap thing never super bearing any fruit during the series usually [again its more to highlight her heroic nature than be a threat and im ok with our main character of course surviving to steal another day instead] BUT it is a finale so - and then

in the end i just find myself bored and irritated by roundabout being played for the cheap kazoo he is for a season finale to appreciate all the good the episode does for the overall narrative

like shadowsan may have rescued her in s1 but Brunt WAS too much for Carmen alone and the shock of the near death hug was effective for me as a finale for bringing a new challenge and then a new ally for Carmen while teein up the next season

gah...he's also the last candidate for the faculty promotion before they just vote in a brainwashed carmen...hhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

it has a lot of fun flash moments and carries the plot as admirably as the writing team has revealed themselves to be capable of doing, the animation remains beautiful and the theming is really fun to pick at and if i remember to start s4 before i quit for the day so i can keep following the unmasking true intentions theme i swallow it down better...

but 😫😫😫😫😫 sorry no matter how many times i give myself the "you're being unreasonable about this" speech i get angry during it BECAUSE its a finale and its the first time i'd felt asked to consider the word trap more seriously only to go nvm treat it like you always did ...and i was likeBOOOO I WOULDVE DONE THAT IF YOU JUST BOTHERED TO PUT THE CARMEN EXPLANATION WHERE IT WAS INSTEAD OF SMUGLY PULLING IT OUT LATER TO PUT ROUNDABOUT DOWN LIKE IDGAF ABOUT SHAKING HIS EGO DOWN I BARELY KNOW HIM

....

and the situation WAS going to be maybe too much for carmen if she hadn't worked with her team as effectively as she did

like a bait and switch [carmen overwhelmed alone recklessly trying to protect something from VILE bait switching to the solid power of having a cool team red who knew what they were doing]

i really wish i could appreciate more that zack, ivy, and shadowsan were all in on the plan vs s1 where he unceremoniously revealed himself and salvaged carmen's rescue plan [and save her] and s2 where carmen went recklessly to VILE isle while only letting zack and ivy in enough to know they needed to drive her to VILE isle

[and mind you i TRIED to appreciate that the dialogue isn't actually clunky and super playing to the audience to hide the reveal that "her being captured isn't a big deal" OK LIKE IT TECHNICALLY SHOULD GIVE ME ROOM TO PAY ATTENTION INSTEAD TO THE EVERYTHING ELSE, they didn't make a whole circus of deceiving the audience and yet even the mild song and dance they must do to deceive rounadbout!!! grr!!]

I REALLY WISH I DID APPRECIATE ALL THAT!!! but 😖😖😖😫im so mad i don't actually like that trope at all the structuring frustrates the hell out of me. watching carmen walk into the room and auto fail to be arrested has no bite for me since its just a little farce to keep him quiet and keeps me from eating the rest of the deliciousness the episode has to offer, i'm zoning out as shadowsan explains what they actually did this caper...

and as a finale the other half to the reoccuring pattern in cs structure is not there

....yet

but if i make sure to start s4 asap i can recognize it as as the trap ineffective but carmen isn't invulnerable theme halved because the s4 final batch of 3 episodes is the follow up where carmen just straight up gets kidnapped while she was chilling by the cleaners

->not untouchable

...im doing my best to clear the feeling , i just need like 7 more watches T.T and more chalking up the positives in my heart

like if i watch the gray selfie scene more there will only be love and peace on earth, if i take out my little cardboard sign to cheer for shadowsan to rarara home team maybe...

TLDR:

ITS SIMPLY IRRATIONAL DISTASTE IN MY HEART! SHADOWSAN UNVEILING THE REAAAAAL PLAN AT ROUNDABOUT BORES ME!!! THE ACTUAL CAPER PART OF THE CAPER IS NOT INTERESTING TO ME SO WELP!

i wish i had a better reason but i just do not have a good time with it <3

:D i'm glad you like it tho, whats most fun for you about it?

[lumiereandcogsworth]

Top 5 batb 2017 trivia 💛

this is exquisite. thank you <3

1. okay the first thing i NEED PEOPLE TO KNOW!!!!!!!!!!! is about adam’s mother. so in this flashback scene it shows her, presumably dead, in bed while adam sings sadly

you’ll notice she has dark hair. BUT LISTEN ! ! ! she actually is blonde and i can explain what happened. first of all, to prove she’s blonde, look! she’s blonde in the portrait!

the actress is in fact blonde as well. so why is her hair dark in that one shot you ask? well, when they did that scene, with her lying in bed and her blonde hair laying along her shoulder, apparently focus groups thought she looked like agathe, the enchantress, and questioned if agathe was in fact actually adam’s mother. so in a quick and desperate attempt to make sure no one thought the two women looked similar, they edited her hair to look dark. i understand the logic and timing-wise it was probably the best they could do, but it does annoy me because now people always think adam’s mother had dark hair🫠 so go spread the word!!!!! adam got his blonde hair and blue eyes from his MAMA!!!!!💛🩵

2. DAN STEVENS DID SOOOO MUCHHHH!!!!!!!!!! he BREATHED life into adam, and i ADORE him for it. my favorite tidbit about all the work he did, was that he did ALL the face acting Twice. he would act in the big suit on the ten-inch stilts on set, and then every few weeks he would go into a room and have his face sprayed with motion-capture dots and then he’d redo all the scenes with Just his face. here’s a good gifset that gives these behind the scenes visuals. it’s just so remarkable and i am so so thankful for all the work he put into it. there are so many (basically all??) scenes were i’m watching and i can just FEEL adam’s emotions, purely by his facial expressions and body language !! like it’s just phenomenal and i’m so eternally grateful to dan stevens for all that he did to bring that beloved boy to life.

3. according to an interview, apparently when they were done filming the final scene (the celebration ball), someone played happy by pharrell williams over the speakers and they all danced to it in their fancy 18th century costumes, in that lovely decadent ballroom. and it’s such a funny and super endearing sight to imagine, i ALWAYS think about it when that song comes on or is mentioned.

4. at the very first table read, when it came time for the THE DANCE, emma thompson just got up and went to a microphone and started singing “beauty and the beast.” no prep at all, and certainly no one expected her to sing on the first go-around, but she did! she sang along while two of the dancers did the dance. she’s such a legend :”)

5. dan stevens knows his name is prince adam and it fills me with immense amounts of joy :)

(around the 0:37 second mark)

he also talks a lot about how he made the scenes, like i mentioned earlier, in this (short) interview!!!!!!!

[papa-evershed]

Hellooooo! Here’s me crashing into your ask box to wish you a very happy, happy birthday!

I thought I’d ask you if you can remember some specific scenes/moments from a show and/or movie that triggered your “Oh, I need to gif this IMMEDIATELY!” desire.

And please do go ham on your reply, you know very well how much I enjoy them.

Have an amazing day! 🧡

Hey!!! I fucking love you! I don't know how the hell you manage to to do everything you do, but now you've gone and inspired me to start a fandom-friends birthday calendar. 😂😂 I legit admire how you always reach out to people and remember everyone!! But thank you so much for the birthday wishes, it's been a pretty good day so far so I can't complain! 🥰

As for moments I just had to gif?! There's been a fuck ton throughout the years and the men. 😅I'll answer under a cut for length and lets see what all my old lady brain can remember. 👵 I apologize in advance for how long this could potentially get and just how random the gifs probably are. I never feel inspired to gif cool scenes with witty dialogue, I just gif for thirst reasons because I'm a dumpster of a human. ETA: It got really long and didn't even scratch the surface tbh.

For Rob, I'll start with this one. I feel like I post it every time someone asks me about my favorite gifs or moments but listen, that man's god damn belly makes me feral. The context of the scene is also just peak Dad™ for me so it was 10000/10, absolutely had to gif this the second I watched:

This is an interview but you know when you first start checking out a new dude and you see gifs from interviews/shows where they look particularly tasty and you're immediately like I must find this and watch it or else I will perish. That was this interview for me. And how could it not be? Again...BELLY. Hairy belly. Just big, soft, delicious man meat. And thighs. As soon as I found it I had to gif it for myself so I could make it as obnoxiously big as humanly possible.

I watched this zoom live and the moment this motherfucker turned his head my brain said "gif it". Profile? Nose? Greys?

And this shot too. This man was fucking born to smile, he puts his whole ass into it.

This. His arms here. This scene was dark af but I knew I had to gif it anyway. I adore the shape of this man. It feels so fucking real to me. Soft belly, sizeable arms that still look natural. It's realistic, it's comfy, it's fucking sexy. He's just fucking man-shaped.

I don't even have to tell you why because I know you get it.

I'm an American what do you want from me? 🤡 I'm just kidding, it's not because of the gun. 😅IDK if you've watched Downton, but Thomas is just such a fucking capable man. There isn't a task they set him to that he doesn't excel at and I just felt like it was always overlooked and underappreciated by everyone around him. That shot and scene inspired an entire gifset I made about him being a man of many talents.🤓

I can't even explain it, I just knew I needed it. He just looks so man sized. And fuzzy. Just...go off daddy.

You and I both know I'd suck a dick for a good profile shot. The greys, the nose, the man...👀

I can't post all the gifs from this scene/episode so I'll settle for this one. But I knew immediately I'd be giffing it until my fingers hurt (that legit happens y'all, I'm old 👵) Not only did he spend some time in this episode being the soft, caring uncle but he did it in a cozy sweater and it was like they were sure to hit all my weaknesses at once. Soft cozy men? 👀Then they were kind enough to give us the most beautiful close-up shots of his face. And the boy just has a beautiful fucking face.

For old times' sake, I'm gonna include some Jon just for you but to be fair, I liked him for seven damn years so there were a lot. Too many to list or even remember. But here's a few that maybe aren't the obvious shots!

This one. I remember everyone losing their shit over his ass but I was losing my mind over that "soft flash of belly" (really, I was always fangirling the hardest over scenes where Jon looked softer than he really was so we shouldn't be shocked I eventually left for a man with a beer belly 😅)

Speaking of which, this scene too!

And of course, anytime he was covered in blood. I think I actually giffed this exact shot 5 or 6 different times.

And, the obligatory back of his head shot. There are so many here I could post because pretty much anytime I saw the back of Jon's head I immediately needed a gif of it but we'll go with this one, it was probably slept on a little bit.

Alright this is long enough! Bless anyone for reading this long. 😳 But legit, thanks for the fun ask and for the birthday wishes, Stef! 🥰🥰 Your kindness is one of the reasons I will always appreciate having been in Jon's fandom!

[raideo]

Issey drama anon here, please tell us about Romance Doll because I have not heard anything about it

also, have you heard of Quartet? I've seen like 50 gifsets from it and it seems legit funny as hell

UMMM WELL- I'll put my thoughts on Romance Doll under a break at the end because the movie is pretty nsfw and weird and yeah...

Quartet is on my list! I'm definitely going to watch it at some point, but I also really wanna watch Miracles! Honestly that one has been the most interesting to me from the beginning but my adhd is just causing me to watch whatever's convenient first, not the ONE IVE REALLY WANTED TO WATCH THIS WHOLE TIME. I still have to finish Koisenu Futari too... I stopped that one cuz I was watching it with someone and we had a long period of time where we couldn't watch it. And then also it's just VERY HEAVY as a person who happens to be demi who has gone through periods of feeling like I could be aroace in the past. It's so realistic and deals with the painful things as well as the funny things and I am scared to finish it bc I KNOW THERES MORE HEAVY SHIT TO COME but it's an amazing show AND I DO WANT TO FINISH THAT ONE TOO.

And on a completely polar opposite note: ROMANCE DOLL, LMAO

Ok so, this movie is very much one of those WEIRDLY REALISTIC stories where all the characters are so real and flawed and HUGE MISTAKES ARE MADE by characters and it's just such a wild ride. You probably haven't heard about it because its FUCKING WACK.

Without giving too much away in case you wanna watch it (netflix dropped it last monday, which is actually why I ended up watching it over the weekend at all, but it's still available to rent on amazon 🙄) Issey plays Tetsuo, an unemployed art college grad who is desperate for a job. His friend gave him a tip about this sketchy job opening but told him literally nothing else about it. He shows up and this old woman greets him and shows him around and he's a bit shocked to find out it's a shop that makes SILICONE SEX DOLLS. The woman is like "your friend didn't tell you that???" And Tetsuo was like "he literally just said there was a job here-" and she laughs and says "Some friend he is then!" Honestly I loved the old lady she's great, I wish I could remember her name I'm too lazy to go look it up rn.

Anyway so yeah, he takes the job even though the interview was super awkward and there's this gross pervy old guy who works there and he doesn't really care about the subject matter he just needs money (mood)

One thing and another happens (and a lot of me wanting to slap the old man into next tuesday, seriously he's the worst) and a little bit later Tetsuo meets the love of his life through some bullshit connection to his job, and they end up getting married some time after, but she doesn't know what he does for a living and ITS ALL VERY HARD TO EXPLAIN WHY HE KEEPS THAT FROM HER without spoiling things but just- the movie is wack, I really didn't like it in the beginning but it pulls a complete 180 and ends up being this weirdly emotional and AT TIMES, a holesome wholesome slice of life movie??

Don't get me wrong it doesn't sugarcoat things like objectification of women and there's some degree of realistic portrayal of that bc of the whole Tetsuo working at a sex doll shop thing, it is very true to life- how men can be gross even if they aren't going so far as assaulting anyone. It doesn't excuse it either it just presents it as it is, which is good I think. But then there are OTHER moments where the movie is very sex positive- so its a wild fucking trip tbh. Definitely don't watch it if you have sensitivities to the things I mentioned above bc bro omg the first half almost had me like "yeah I can't watch this" a couple times jfc.

BASICALLY by the end of the movie the message is that communication and being open with people you love (and not getting bogged down with anxiety and guilt) is important, because on top of not being fair to the people who are important to you, hiding things from them can eat you up inside and make you act irrationally and hurt them even more whether you realize it or not. And also, you never know how someone will feel about the things you don't want to tell them. Something that could be huge to you could be no big deal to another.

Its just a very interesting movie. I don't know if I'd recommend it, theres some NUCLEAR SECOND HAND EMBARRASSMENT CRINGE MOMENTS like oh my god i wanted to die- and like I said above, there's lots of intense subject matter and some not so pretty moments that a lot of people may want to avoid. Id for sure check one of those sites that gives content warnings before watching bc hoo boy...

But all that aside, once again Issey is an incredible actor and his range is apparent in this movie. I saw some like- borderline SLAPSTICK physical comedy moments that had me so surprised bc he did them so well but its so new and different from anything else ive watched him star in. Dude is just unstoppable tbh. He HAS 👏 THE 👏 RANGE!! 👏

Also you get to see him naked a lot. So there's that!

[willel]

Tbh S4 created more questions than answering them. They made it seem like the lab tried to create kids like Henry so many people think all kids powers are from him or something experiment based. But we know Kali was taken from the UK and her origin suggests that other kids probably got taken from other places, their races were also very diverse. Kali must have exhibited natural powers when she was a kid. Then how come the other kids are just experiment based? Because it is not like only Kali was natural. And if she is then it kinda creates a loop because we do not know. Heck we do not even know why she is the only one who exhibits illusion powers but not other kids. And she doesnt have telekinesis. And if the kids powers are connected to the UD, then how does Kali even have powers since she was a kid in the UK? Does the UD extend to other places on Earth or just Hawkins? I guess you can say they are not that connected to the UD but just have a supernatural relation by necessity? Because it is not like their powers only exist bc of the UD, they exist bc of experiments. Like idk what is going on but I think they screwed it up with Kali's plot and it screams like"we didnt know what to do with Kali". Because they just didnt think further.

I think people just misinterpret the "recreate me" line. We must remember how Henry was "created". (at least, to our knowledge).

He wasn't born in a lab and experimented all his life. He faced some kind of hardship, awoke to his powers, trained for a month using his own family as testing dummies, and then killed all but one.

To "recreate" Henry, all you have to do is scour the world for children with similar circumstances as him, see if they have potential, capture them, and then train them using the same methods Henry used to train himself.

I made a gifset of it before, but this moment is a great example of what I mean:

Henry trained using animals and whatnot, so of course Brenner would force his test subjects, especially El, to do the same. To his surprise I'm sure, El didn't need to do all that to get stronger. She skipped right to kill the assholes who tried to lock her into the cell.

As for Kali's powers, we can't say for sure if she has telekinesis, but telekinesis and "finding" people obviously wasn't her strong suit. She specialized in illusions. I remember it being explained outside the show that all the kids have similar powers, but some excel in some areas and are weak in others.

We can see this play out when Brenner forces them to fight telekinetically. We never see most of these kids perform any telekinesis, they got pushed away immediately. Telekinesis was probably 002's specialty, so you can imagine his anger when El upstaged him in his own specialty.

We also have a glimpse of 010. He's very good at finding people it seems. He's the only kid we witnessed doing this other than El and Henry.

So it's safe to say, all these kids were quite talented, including Kali, but none of them were a jack of all trades like Henry. Which is why Henry preferred El, because though she was lacking the illusion power, she is also a jack of all trades and even had a power he didn't. (not that he knew that until she blasted him to another dimension)

There is no indication their powers are from the Upside Down. I see people say that a lot, but I just don't see the connection there? Maybe people are pulling from some d&d lore that I'm unaware of where "magic" comes from a specific dimension?

I believe powers just exist in the world of Stranger Things. It's very rare and some people will never even realize they have powers and continue to live an average life. The experiments didn't create these powers, they just pushed them further along, like training for a sport. With these powers, you can access other dimensions parallel to ours, but it doesn't mean powers come from there.

Just my thoughts.

[daniclaytcn]

speaking of retcons, i saw in a gifset (so sorry i can't remember who made it!) but it was athena explaining why she became a police officer and then the closure of the s6 opening arc, but in her begins episode she was going to be a lawyer? so i'm not sure what happened there.

oh i'm gonna be honest it's been A While since i've seen athena begins, and i don't have the time rn to go back and check but i do remember that tanya was mentioned in her flashbacks (while she was still in law school), beatrice tells athena that tanya's parents have died and they discuss how they never got justice for her and that's what ultimately pushes athena to drop out of law school (i think. my memory is very fuzzy). so athena likely gave up on being a cop as a teen (since her mom was so against it) and went into law school, again, under pressure from her mom—but then after being reminded of tanya, she decided to drop out. like i said, i need to rewatch to be sure but i do vaguely remember this because i giffed it when 6x03 came out xD

[dearemma]

hi! do you have any tips on sharpening? my photoshop cs5 is messing with my old settings a bit and i'm looking for new ways of sharpening so it looks clean, and i loved your last snw gifset! thank u! <3

oh, hi!! thank you <3

oh god, the terror of sharpening. i recently had to create new sharpen settings cause i've started to use 2160 rips for my snw gifsets and it took me a while to find something that didn't make their faces look way too smooth, or, worse, overly sharpen it!!

i'm not the best at explaining things, so i wanted to see if i could find the tutorial i used to build my sharpen settings but i can't! i did however find this one here from @completeresources which seems similar and very easy to follow! i like to both sharpen and add a bit of blur to my gifs so they look crisp without looking grainy.

there are my current settings:

i recommend choosing a scene that you've colored before and isn't too hard so you can play around. i made various versions of the same gif as i was trying to find what i needed.

to give you a feel of what this does, i thought i'd remake one of the gifs of my last gifset as i still had the screencap folders on my desktop!

i choose the uhura scene cause i thought it was the gif which looked best.

here is the gif without any sharpen, only my coloring:

now let's look at the final result, using the action i screenshotted above:

look how better it looks! see how her eyes look very clear, and so does her skin. compare her lips, her cheeks, the gleam of her eyeshadow! look at her eyelashes!!

sharpen makes a huge difference!

but, take a look at the original gif! it already looks kind of good. why? cause i'm using 2160 and that's a game changer! that is what truly makes my gifs look so clear, not any special talent or trick!

cause i'm insane i also have the 1080 version saved, so i thought i'd take a look at the difference.

i ended up using the same sharpen settings as the one i posted above (i have a different action for 1080 gifs, but the 2160 action honestly looked better this time).

1080 rip using the same sharpen settings as above:

it looks pretty! i would post this without any problem and cry about how happy i am with the result because i am proud of it! but go back and look at the 2160 sharpened version, look how clearer the pixels look!

so yeah!! this my sharpening process, hope this helped you somewhat, i know i'm not the best at explaining things, so if you have any questions, please feel free to yell at me in the dms!!