#how do you make rig animation so live like

[oobbbear]

I barely animate myself but oh how I want to dissect others animation frame by frame I can talk for hours if you don’t watch animation frame by frame you’re missing out big time

[lwh-writing]

Skulker's Boring Hunt

“And now that we have located the proper biome, we are able to safely release the beast back into the wild.”

Skulker opens the cage door and turns the camera so that the virtual audience can watch as the peryton returns to the wilderness of the Ghost Zone, all the while silently bemoaning how he got here.

Ever since the existence of ghosts had become public knowledge, the Whelp had been determined to improve relations with humans. Part of that outreach effort included a handful of ghosts selected to begin ‘virtual relations’ through a process called ���streaming’ and ‘vlogging’ so that they could ‘show the world that they weren't that different from everybody else.’

Skulker, honestly, couldn't give less of a damn about humans and what they thought of his kind. The only reason (and he very much means only reason) he had put his name on the volunteer list was for the easy access to the Living Realm and the new variety of hunts.

The Whelp, though, had put stipulations on Skulker’s ticket out of the Ghost Zone. Firstly, if he ever hunted in the Infinite Realms, he had to document and explain the animals he hunted so as to provide ‘educational value to his viewers’ or other such nonsense. Secondly, if any dangerous (non-sapient) ecto-animal was loose in the Living Realm, Skulker had to drop everything and stop its rampage. And last, and certainly least, Skulker couldn't kill anything.

Skulker had tried to reason his way out of that one, claiming that it contradicted his Obsession. The Whelp had tried to reason right back, claiming that he could still feed his Thrill of the Hunt without slaughtering something on live air. They had settled on a compromise: Skulker would run a poll with his viewers, and they would decide whether he gained a new pelt or not.

The fickle humans had, to date, always voted for catch and release.

“As this week's hunt has now concluded, it is time to decide what or who I will be hunting next week. The polls are now open.”

Skulker scrolled through his Fenton-Foley-Phone as he let his puny audience make their decisions. Ember had posted a recent picture of a restaurant in Barcelona, the latest city on her grand tour. Skulker gave it a like and looked back at the now concluding poll, a little surprised at the results.

Of the ten options given by his chat and selected by his moderators, there were a few picks that were always nominated but never won. It seemed his viewers desperately wanted to see him take on a dragon, a gorgon, a vampire, and some human named Lex Luthor. This week was no different, as all four of those options were just barely beaten by a new entry to the lineup.

“It appears that next week I will be hunting the Joker.”

Immediately, the chat exploded into chaos.

wonder_womanSIMP: pog

StardustSinger: skulker vigilante arc?? 👀

Penglow: RIP watch out for the Batman!

rock-mayo: RIGGED

golfAceVendetta: pog

OpperantParrot: LETS FUCKING GO!!!!

the_general_plum: :D

carbon-ham: D:

LizardSquid: E

egg_composition: gotham is going to chew you up and spit you out lmao

OtterCat: D:

“And once again, it’s time to decide my prey’s fate. Type one to vote kill, type two to vote spare. Voting is now open.”

That prompted another flood of responses, and Skulker returned to his phone, scowling a bit at his girlfriend’s posts. He was happy for Ember, of course he was. She was fulfilling her dream and chasing her Obsession, how could he be anything but ecstatic and proud of her success? He just missed her, though he would never admit it aloud.

Hm. Perhaps he could do a little solo hunting and send her a new pelt. Something to remind her of the Ghost Zone while she was away.

The timer went off, and Skulker dejectedly checked the results of the poll, only to do a quick double-take before smiling sharply at the results.

“Results are in. It seems this week I will be hunting, and killing, the Joker.”

The chat exploded with excitement right before Skulker started saying his outro and mentally mapping out his hunt in the coming week, unaware that at that very moment, a complication had arisen in his plan.

TheBloodSon: It appears that this may be a problem.

[the-fandom-crossroads]

Alright I caved and I'm actually going to talk about the live action HTTYD trailer.

I'm annoyed at all the things others have already mentioned but there is one thing that makes me angry while also making me laugh at the same time. In a "how is this a struggle they are still dealing with 15 years later" sort of way.

This attempt to get Toothless to "sit".

I know most of you didn't grow up a httyd nerd watching the director commentaries of the original movie. But I did and I can tell you they called this one of the hardest bits of animation they pulled off with the models in this film.

Rigging models in animation are intentionally well rigid. Animators intentionally code in limits so limbs aren't doing unnatural movements everytime something glitches out. Watch the Shrek bloopers for nightmare fuel examples of why animators started rigging in limits to limbs and even face muscles.

So these limits exist and in httyd's time you couldn't just turn off those rules for the model when ever you wanted. So they had to fight the limits they put in place while trying to keep the movement looking natural.

You obviously can't see it from this angle. But they removed his right wing from the model. Once it drops behind his head it is gone. Because it was just another thing to keep track of that wasn't needed in the shot.

I laugh at the live action because they are clearly running into the same Rigging limitations that come with using a CGI model. But unlike the animated movie they aren't pushing the limits of the rigging to have Toothless sit upright.

No to keep it more "natural" they have it be an awkward shuffle back. They decided not letting his tail bend like that was more important than the whole point of the scene. Which is that he is mimicking Hiccup's body language.

This and the Eye pupil shot tell me all I need to know about this remake.

That they are willing to get rid of key details that helped us feel the connection between Toothless and Hiccup if it means a more "realistic" feel for the movie. Which is going to lead to us feeling more distant from these characters compared to their animated counter parts.

So yeah that "cold soulless" feeling isn't just nostalgia. It's an intentional part of their attempt to make a httyd "in the real world". And tells me I'm just going to be disappointed by this remake. So join me June 2025 as I pop in my 15 year old httyd dvd for a rewatch.

Because no matter what this remake does the original will always bring me joy.

[rockatanskette]

So, I've written before about how our relationship with predators would probably intimidate aliens, but I just pictured another way we interact with predators that is honestly just as scary from an outside perspective: we pretend to be predators and even make up new ones, all just for fun.

Now, we also adopt predator patterns for utility: wearing striped makeup for camouflage, imitating roars and bird calls, etc. But I'm specifically talking about the video I just saw from Creature Bionics of creature rigs designed for a human actor to better do motion capture. I'm talking about voice actors and sound designers creating new and terrifying clicks and roars and growls because lions' roars just aren't scary enough. I'm talking about adults dressing up as plush monstrosities to entertain sports fans and children. Gritty is terrifying, objectively.

One day at an early meal, human Janet seems confused when her alien crewmates start asking about a shape-shifting monster that they keep seeing in human culture. They ask her what it's like to live on a world with "dogjons;" animals that can shift from a fan-headed creature with eye-covered wings to an amphibious eel-like figure, humanoid but not human, to a death-pale monstrosity that chases anyone who dares get near its food. Human Janet is confused until they say that the pale figure has eyes in its hands; bloodshot, and glassy.

"Oh, Doug Jones! No, he's not a monster, he's just a really good actor. Too good—the Shape of Water awakened something in me, specifically."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, let's just say the lady 'mating' with him isn't a horror story, it's a fantasy." Human Janet says, like it's nothing. Then something seems to occur to her, and her eyes brighten with what the aliens are quickly learning is mischief. "Oh my god. Am I the one who gets to explain monster fucking?"

Elsewhere, an alien accompanies xis human friend on a day out with their young. There's some kind of show being put on for human youth and Xlibthar is excited for this insight into how humans get Like That. Imagine xis surprise when the lights go up on the entertainment platform and a horde of creatures rushes up. They are large and bright yellow, with big black eyes as dark as singularities, with bright red spots on their heads that clearly indicate venom. Xlibthar shrieks and shields xisself behind Akio and Hinata, sure that something has gone terribly wrong.

"What are those?!" Xlibthar demands, quaking in xis shoes.

"Those? Oh, they're just Pikachus." Akio does not seem even the slightest bit distressed, and five-year-old Hinata is absolutely losing her mind with excitement at the sight of these garish monstrosities.

"What. On Earth." Because this could only happen on Earth. "Is a Pikachu?"

"It's a Pocket Monster. It's a series about monsters that battle with each-other. Pikachu is a mouse that can shoot electricity out of its body."

Xlibthar stares at Akio, wondering if this is an example of what humans call "gaslighting," because keeping monsters in your pockets sounds too insane even for humans. And, "you bring these things around your CHILDREN??"

"I mean, they're not real." Akio puts his hands over Hinata's ears. "They're just people in costumes. Though Nintendo would never let you see one with its head off."

Xlibthar has many questions: why? What? How? What? But one question has been answered: if this is what entertains human youth, it is exactly why Humans are Like That.

[centrally-unplanned]

Got linked to these very good videos recently on all the fake branding around "No CGI" and "Practical effects" in big budget movies today - as is no shock to anyone virtually every single claim of "no CGI" in a movie today is just a complete lie (Oppenheimer is the only debatable exception). Jonas is a very good presenter, he respects your intelligence and has a breadth of cinema knowledge that makes this series more than its headline.

Something that I thought was interesting that he alluded to was a cool industry shift that has occurred around the ease of special effects meaning that people involved don't even know they are happening. If you were an actor in a movie in ~2010, and a shot was a "VFX" shot, you would see greenscreens/bluescreens, you would see rigging equipment, you would maybe wear a mocap suit or tracers or something. You yourself had VFX skills, you were part of the project. And audiences learned that too, they learned to expect to see bluescreens or behind-the-scenes footage of those things.

But that is increasingly outdated now - still used for ease or specific shots, sure, but its not necessary. You can completely redo the backgrounds, build rig models for actors, clone objects from the frame, and so on just from the native footage, the tech is that good. So you will sometimes shoot a scene and it will look normal to you, and then be changed in post, you don't even know. At one point he tangents to discuss how marketers will lie about the actors "doing their own stunts", which seems credible to audiences because they know that for stunts you do things like hiding the actor's face or having specific cuts to mask the actor switch. But they don't have to do that anymore! You can just composite the actor's face onto the body of the stunt double, and you don't notice. That old "trick" you had to tell isn't functional, and being used *against* you.

It really reminds me of Dan Olsen's idea of "Bakshi's Vision", where the distinction between an animated film and a live action film becomes too blurry even bother with. Obviously that won't become literally true, but you can see the shape of it more and more.

[shepherds-of-haven]

you went hard with this year's halloween costumes .... pls riel as chatgpt made me laugh so much 😭 BUT !!! i screamed BC I KNEW I WASN'T THE ONLY ONE who had to think of nasubi when talking about halek .... now that we're talking about it though, how do you think all of the characters would react if they were put into a situation like that? personally, i think halek and chase would perform best — halek bc duh, chase bc i think he'd find some kind of loophole and rig the whole thing

Oooh good question! So to recap for everyone, "Nasubi" was a young man who was challenged to stay alone in a tiny, windowless apartment, naked, to see how long he could survive on sweepstakes winnings (aka writing in to magazine contests and sweepstakes and living off of the prizes they sent him in the event that he won). He wasn't allowed to leave the apartment until he accrued 1,000,000 yen's worth of prizes, a task which ultimately took him about 355 days to do. (He was also being filmed the whole time, but thought it was a recording for an eventual TV show and was unaware he was being live-streamed 24/7 to 30 million people... but we'll leave that part of this scenario for now.)

Blade: he would never have agreed to do this in the first place, but if he were forced to... he would have escaped and probably slaughtered some producers on his way out within the first hour

Trouble: he could do it!!! he'd probably cook up ingenious ways to game the system and find the most efficient way of getting prizes quickly. He'd probably just do it to see if he could do it.

Tallys: no. nothing is worth her dignity. but if she were forced to, she'd probably be able to play the long waiting game and could spend an indefinite amount of time in there in solitude. She'd probably find it relaxing! Like a meditation retreat!

Shery: she could do all of this except the nudity part. The nudity would make her exceptionally uncomfortable and she'd either beg to leave immediately or would never agree to the challenge to begin with. If forced, she'd probably spend a lot of time fashioning makeshift clothes for herself and might accidentally starve first lol

Riel: no. no. no. no. no. he would never agree to this, and if he were forced, he'd spend exactly one hour scheming the worst kind of revenge before immediately escaping and setting about making every person who was involved in this project suffer horrendously

Chase: he would agree to this for a lark, but would probably get bored and insanely starved of human contact (and distraction) by like the 5th day in. I can't predict him making it longer than a week before all of his pent-up energy popped like a firecracker and he burst out of the room (but like in a cool, unbothered way...) like a rabid animal

Red: he could do it! I think he'd handle it a lot like Nasubi lol but he'd be able to get through the whole trial with most of his sanity and dignity intact! He'd immediately turn his formidable mind to maximizing the efficiency of winning the prizes... and he'd probably spend a little time writing like a dissertation or something on the side LOL, like an academic retreat!

Ayla: she'd basically be like Chase, she'd say she could do it and would agree to the challenge just to prove she could do it, but she would get so bored and cranky that it would quickly lose its appeal and she would quit within ten days! Maybe fourteen days if the prize was really interesting!

Briony: she'd agree to it out of curiosity and trying to have a new experience, and I'd give it a 50/50 chance she'd be able to make it to like 4-6 months or quit immediately lol, like within a week!

Lavinet: no. no. no. no. she'd never agree to this, and if forced to, she'd either try to escape immediately or go on a hunger strike until they let her out or she died 😅

Halek: yes, he would be the best at this! this would be a very chill day job for him. there's a part of the documentary that they left out about how Nasubi is technically the first person to ever be live-streamed playing video games because at one point he did win a Playstation and a copy of like a train simulator called "Let's Ride a Train!" or something like that. And he had to forcefully stop himself from playing the game because if he played it too long, he'd run too low on food lol. That would be Halek too

[maddy-k-reads-all-day]

Drawing the Line - Amanda the Adventurer fantape

Edit: The title sounded a bit to serious for this silly little fic

Previous Tape

Riley takes the next tape and puts it into the VCR. The tape glitches a bit before it starts to play. The episode begins with Amanda holding a bunch of coloring supplies before noticing Riley. 

“Hi Riley,” Amanda whispers, “Wanna color with me?” 

“Amanda? Where did you go? I think the episode is about to start!” Wooly calls out. Amanda makes a shushing motion with her finger and hides behind the couch. “Oh… hi Riley. Have you seen Amanda?” 

“Nope. Why don’t I wait here and you go find her for me.” 

“Huh? Well… okay…” Wooly says with uncertainty. He walks away. Amanda switches the tape to her bedroom. Her dresser is now against her door. 

“What’s going on?” Riley asks. 

“Nothing!” Amanda laughs nervously in an extremely quiet voice, “I just… you’re leaving after this tape right? Wooly told me. So… I wanted to spend some time with you… like… just you…”

“Okay? And?”

“I don’t want Wooly to feel bad.”

“So you’re barricading your door and hiding from him?” 

“Okay I see how that’s not the best plan…” Amanda sighs. 

“Did you get in a fight or something?” 

“No… it’s just… we hang out like… almost all the time… and like… I wanted a little me time you know? I mean he got an episode almost all to himself, why can’t I have mine?” 

“And he doesn’t want that?” 

“I don’t know… Wooly is… sensitive. He seems to take the littlest things the wrong way. When I tried to tell him I wanted some alone-time he got really upset… and we had so much fun yesterday… I don’t want to ruin it.” 

“I think if anything is going to ruin it, it’s deliberately avoiding him and never telling him why.” 

“Yeah… you’re probably right.” Amanda sighs. She teleports Wooly into the room. 

“Wha? Why am- Oh! Amanda there you are!” 

“Hi Wooly…” 

“What’s wrong?” Wooly asks. 

“Um… Wooly?” Amanda pauses, she looks at Riley nervously.

“Go on.” Riley says. 

“Okay… Wooly… remember how I talked about wanting some me-time?” 

“Yeah…?” 

“Well… I think I wanna just have an adventure drawing with Riley today.”

“What? Why? Did I do something wrong?” 

“No Wooly you didn’t do something wrong stop asking me that.” 

“Okay…” 

“Look, you don’t like drawing and you don’t like hanging out with Riley. Right?” Amanda asks.

“I guess so…” Don’t just admit that! Riley thinks. 

“I want some me-time and you get a day off. Win-win right?” Amanda explains. Wooly looks kind of sad, “C’mon Wooly please?” 

“I guess…” 

“Great!” Amanda beams, gently pushing him out of the room, “Have fun!” 

“Amanda…” 

“Shush. Today, we’re drawing some pictures!” Amanda announces, dropping to the floor and opening her sketchbook and crayons. “C’mon you too!” Riley turns around and sees their sketchbook and colored pencils on the table. 

“Alright.” Riley smiles. This could be fun. 

“You know I really like to draw, do you like to draw?” Amanda asks. Riley types in yes.

“Oh please, you don’t have to use that. Just talk to me, please?” 

“Yeah, I love to draw. Kind of what I do for a living actually.” Riley answers. Amanda’s eyes widen and her whole face lights up with curiosity. 

“Really?”

“Yeah I design and rig v-tuber models for people.” they explain. Amanda looks… completely confused. Oh yeah… v-tubers weren’t really a thing back then huh? “I um… design characters for people and make animated models they can use to make videos with?” That is the worst explanation ever…

“Wow that sounds neat! I wonder if I could’ve done that…”

“I’m sure you could with time and practice. Once you get out I could teach you-” 

“If I get out…” 

“Ah-” 

“Nevermind… forget I said anything.” 

“Okay.” 

“Let’s draw! I’m thinking of making… an apple pie! What colors should I use?” Riley clicks on the silver and tannish color. The colors of the apple pie they made together. Amanda smiles and starts to color.

“You draw something too!” 

“Like…” 

“Anything you want.” 

“Alright…” Riley starts to draw Amanda being free in the real world. They look up at Amanda’s drawing, now she’s drawing Kate. 

“Kate was really nice… I used to talk to her all the time… I really liked her…”

“Yeah…” 

“I miss her…” 

“Me too…” Riley sighs. They start sketching Kate into the picture… without even realizing it. 

“Her hair was blond right?” 

“Yeah…”

“What color is your hair Riley?” 

“Blond… like hers.” 

“Mmm…” Amanda starts sketching the lonely kitten in a train, “I’d draw you too, but I can’t really see what you look like. It’s… blurry…?”

“I see…”

“And I can’t.” Amanda jokes. Riley doesn’t get it. 

“Amandaaaaa! Want some snacks?” Wooly barges in. Amanda looks… annoyed. 

“Wooly… I told you to leave me alone!” 

“I know I just… thought you’d be hungry?” 

“I’m fine.”

“Oh… okay… Whatcha drawing?” 

“I’ll show you I’m done.” Amanda says, covering her sketchbook. 

“Okay…” Wooly walks away, leaving the door open. Amanda reaches over and swats it shut with the tip of her hand. 

“That was close, he almost saw my warm up sketches.” Amanda chuckles bashfully, opening a new page. 

“I know your pain.” Riley whimpers. Amanda starts a new drawing. “Remember that anime I showed you from my phone?” 

“Madoka Magica? Yeah I loved it!” Amanda laughs, “But Wooly was so mortified, we thought we killed him!”  

“Yeah like, what is he a hamster? Wait- So… Could you even see it?” 

“Yeah because it was really close to the screen…” Amanda says.

“So if I…” Amanda looks up and sees Riley’s face EXTREMELY close to the screen. She jumps back in surprise. 

“Don’t scare me like that!” she gasps. 

“Well, can you see what I look like now?” 

“I can see your ginormous face!” Amanda shouts. 

“Yeah?” 

“Back away Riley you’re freaking me out.” 

“Aww… I thought you could draw me too.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll draw you… as… best I can.” Amanda says, catching her breath. 

“Okay…” 

“Hey Riley look! It’s me back when I was still Rebecca!” Amanda beams, showing the rough sketch. In the picture Riley sees Rebecca, getting a big hug from Sam and Kate. On the side of Kate, a somewhat off version of Riley and Sophie are holding hands. On the side of Sam is Wooly.

“Wooly looks a bit lonely huh?” 

“What do you mean, he’s got all of us!” 

“And… he’s still a sheep.” 

“Well… I don’t really know or remember what Wooly looked like when he was human so…” Amanda shrugs. 

“He just looks… left out.” 

“No no you don’t get it at all. See, Sam and Kate are my family, and Wooly is like… my brother… I guess…? And you guys are all my friends! I care about you a WHOLE lot. But like… not as much as my family you know.” 

“Well, me and Sophie are holding hands.” 

“Oh I’m sorry, did you want me to draw you kissing?” 

“Amanda… no… that’s not what I mean…” 

“Hmm… oooooh! I get it! What if I draw his sister?” Amanda suggests, “Remember, we saw her when Wooly’s memories were showing through the tapes that one time?” 

“But she’s… dead…” 

“So is Kate… and I still drew her here!” 

“I guess that’s true.” 

“She’s here in my heart! This picture will never come true anyway!” 

“What do you me-”

“Did you need any watercolors by chance?” Wooly asks. 

“Wooly…” 

“I found them in the living room and-” he sees Amanda glaring at him. “Sorry I’ll go.” Amanda waits till Wooly leaves and closes the door again. 

“It’s a picture… of when we escape…” Amanda sighs. “Well… my ideal of it anyway… you know… that I would be able to live with my dad… and talk to Kate… and hang out with you guys and Wooly… I bet in Wooly’s ideal world… his little sister would still be…” 

“Amanda…” 

“Just… let me have this little dream, okay?” Amanda asks, sounding like she’s going to cry. 

“Of course… but um… hey… Sophie and I were talking and… we were thinking… if we get you and Wooly out of here… we’d adopt you… and you can live with us…” Riley says. Amanda looks at them sadly in silence for bit before saying:

“Riley… if it turns out-” she stops. “Don’t ever mention this to Wooly okay?” 

“Okay…?” 

“Can you promise me something?” 

“Depends…” 

“Can you get me out of here… no matter what it takes?”

“Of course!” 

“Even if it means… will we disappear?” 

“What?”

“If it turns out that we can’t get out of here… back in the real world… if we can’t escape without disappearing… you would still let us out of here right?” 

“Amanda…” 

“You would still set us free, right?” 

“If that’s what you want…” Riley sighs, “if that would put your heart at peace…” Amanda smiles tearfully.

“Thank you Riley… 

“But… What about Wooly?” Riley wonders. Amanda freezes. 

“Would it… be bad if I said… that’s his decision?” Amanda questions, “Like… I don’t want to be here anymore… and while I’d hate to leave him here… I guess I’d get it if he wants to stay… I really am a bad friend huh? Here he is all worried that I’m gonna leave him behind and… if I really had the chance… a real chance to get out of this h--- I’d take it without a second thought.” 

“I mean… it’s complicated…” Riley hears a soft thud outside the door. 

“He’s got every right to be mad at me.” 

“I’m sure he’s not mad at you-”

“He is though… I overheard him talking to Sophie about it. When they had milk and cookies without me.” 

“They did what?” 

“I’m not mad… Wooly clearly just needed some time to himself too… which is why I don’t get why he’s so bent out of shape about me wanting some.” 

“That’s Wooly for you.” Riley sighs, unsure what else to say. 

“And I’ve been so patient with him lately. I know he’s been going through a hard time with his memories and all that. I know he’s not okay but like… I’m not either… and sometimes that’s frustrating because… I want someone to lean on too… It's like he relies on me too much. Like I have to be the strong one all the time.” 

“Am-”

“It’s the worst because he’s the older one! I… I need someone to talk to too… that’s why I like it when you’re around… or when it’s just us… those couple tapes we had… just us… that was great. Not that I don’t like having Wooly around… but every once and a while… I’d like to spend some time without him, you know?” 

“That’s fair…” Riley says.

“Then why does he make me feel like the bad guy?” Amanda wonders. 

“I do not!” Wooly protests on the other side of the door. Amanda walks over to the door and opens it. Wooly falls over on his back. “Oh… whoops. Hi Amanda…” he chuckles nervously. 

“Wooly!” Riley gasps, “You’re still here?” Riley suddenly panics, noticing Amanda looking angry. Really angry. 

“ONE TAPE! ONE FLIPPING TAPE WOOLY! THAT’S ALL I ASKED OF YOU!” Amanda screams, “YOU ACT LIKE THIS EVERY SINGLE TIME! Whenever you want some time to yourself it’s fiiiiine, you can just sneak off without me- but for the love of apples when I wanna have some me-time it’s the end of the world!” Wooly just stands there, kind of stunned. He doesn’t look like he knows what to say, he just looks… kind of angry. 

“Let’s talk about boundaries!” Riley interjects trying to stop another potential feud between them. They are just like siblings I swear. Amanda catches on, she takes a deep breath. 

“It is very important to respect people’s boundaries!” Amanda instructs. “You see, boundaries are rules we set with our friends and family to let them know how we like to be treated!” Amanda starts poking Wooly’s arm. 

“Amanda… Amanda what are you- stop that!” Wooly snaps. Amanda stops poking him.

“See, Wooly told me to stop. He’s setting a boundary.” Amanda explains, “And now I am respecting that boundary. When our boundaries don’t get respected, it can make us very upset. It’s important to explain our boundaries so we don’t get in fights.” Amanda turns to Wooly. “Wooly, I asked you if I could have some alone-time with Riley today. I really wanted to just be left alone. I was setting my boundaries. When you kept coming in and interrupting us, it made me very mad. Can you not do that please?” 

“Ok-okay…” Wooly mumbles awkwardly, rubbing his arm. “I’m sorry…”

“Why did you keep coming in, Wooly?” Riley asks. Wooly seems a bit embarrassed by this question. 

“I just felt… kind of left out and… I’m not really used to having time to myself… I just got… kind of bored… and restless…” 

“You could clean the house.” Amanda suggested. “Plenty of people clean when they’re bored.” 

“But… nothing’s messy.” 

“Then make things messy.” 

“That sounds… wrong.” 

“Look Wooly, I don’t know what to tell you. All I know is that I really want to be left alone right now. Could you please respect that?” Amanda pleads. Wooly nods and leaves the room sadly. Amanda closes the door behind him. 

“You know you could’ve just invited him to draw with us.” 

“No. I’m putting my foot down. I’m setting a boundary.” 

“Good for you Amanda.” Riley says in a congratulatory way. She smiles and returns to coloring in her picture. 

“I didn’t ask you many questions this episode huh?”

“That’s fine.” Riley shrugs. Amanda quietly sits there coloring and Riley resumes their coloring. It’s a peaceful quiet shared between two friends enjoying an activity together. Amanda seems to enjoy this quite a lot, as she is smiling the entire time. Eventually, both their pictures were done. 

“Well you already knew what I drew! It’s all of us! When we escape! Far away from anywhere where Hameln could ever hurt us…” 

“I guess we had the same idea…” Riley smirks, showing their picture close to the screen. “It’s me and Sophie giving you and Wooly a big hug when we get you out of there.” 

“Aww Riley…” Riley couldn’t see her face, but they could hear the happiness in her voice. “I like spending time with you… if… so… when you go promise me you’ll stay safe okay?”

“I promise.”

“Good… and if we can’t escape. Could you just… keep watching the tapes? Keep spending time with us forever… I know it’s a lot to ask.” Riley pulls the picture away and sees Amanda crying a bit. 

“Of course I will. I’d love to.”

“Let’s hang these up.” She smiles tearfully. Before they leave the room Amanda wipes her tears and shouts: “Wooly! I’m done drawing, do you wanna see?” 

“Uuuuh… I’m having a bubble bath right now, maybe later.” 

“You better not use all my bubble bath.” Amanda responds. An awkward silence is heard. 

“Um… enjoy your time with Riley Amanda… I uh… got an errand to run…” 

“One of these days I’m going to drown that sheep.” Amanda grumbles to Riley. The tape changes to the kitchen, where Amanda takes out the drawings from her sketchbook and hangs them up. There are more drawings than what she showed to Riley. There’s one of Amanda and Wooly holding hands in front of a big open door. She doesn’t explain that one. “Thanks for hanging out with me today Riley. Come back soon.” 

“I will.” Riley says. Amanda smiles at them and the tape ends, falling out of the VCR. The title has changed to “Let’s Talk About Boundaries.” Riley turns around and finds two pictures on the table. The one they drew… and Amanda’s picture that says: To Riley and Sophie. Love, Amanda. Under it is the next tape Stargazing. Riley heads upstairs and hangs the picture on Sophie’s fridge. 

“So… how did it go?” 

“We had to teach Wooly a lesson about boundaries before Amanda tried to kill him again.”

“Oh so you can be a responsible adult sometimes then.” 

“Shut up.” Riley laughs. 

“What cute pictures. Amanda drew this one?” 

“Yeah… I don’t know how she managed to give it to me though. I just turned around and it was there… She also changed the episode title.”

“Interesting… I’ll have to write that down in my notebook.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Riley? Do you have to go?” Sophie asks, hugging Riley from behind. 

“This lead… could change everything. It’s… remember when Amanda said that Kate almost found a way for them to leave?” 

“Didn’t we confirm that it won’t work?” 

“Yeah but it was close right? If we find out exactly what that is… we might be able to find a better solution ourselves…” 

“And what’s the end goal here?” 

“Get them out of there…”  

“And defeat Hameln?” 

“I’m going to be honest… I don’t think we can.” 

“Riley…” 

“I mean… Kate and her friend’s couldn’t beat them. Sam couldn’t. The police… the media… Sophie… this cult has existed since the middle ages… thousands of people probably tried to stop them… if they couldn’t… I doubt we could. I just want us to be safe.” 

“So… what’s the plan?”

“Get Amanda and Wooly out of the tapes… even if it means that the most we can do is just free their souls… and the souls of the other kids if we can. Best case scenario we find a way so that Hameln can never do this to anyone again… but defeat Hameln… no… I think it’s best to be as realistic about this as possible.” 

“I guess you’re right.” 

“I think this is the best we can do…” Riley sighs, Sophie looks at them with worry. “We can stop if you want.” 

“What?!” 

“Do you want to give up?” Riley asks, “I don’t want to force you… force us… into danger if you don’t want it.” 

“Riley… but what about Amanda…?” Sophie questions. Riley looks at her sadly. 

“I… I don’t know… I don’t know what to do… I want to help her but…” they glance at Amanda’s picture and the tears start running down. “I don’t know if I can…” Sophie bites her lip. 

“Hey… it’s okay. We will find a way…” Sophie says softly, “And I’ll be right here with you… through it all…” she glances at the calendar. “Actually, why don’t you stay here? I have no work this weekend. You finish the tapes… I’ll go look into that lead for you.” 

“But Sophie-”

“These people all knew me through my mom… but Hameln doesn’t. I won’t be in any danger… and I won’t have to worry about you.”

“It’s just a day Sophie-” 

“Exactly… look at you… look how tired you are.” Sophie claps Riley’s face in her hands, “Let me be a part of this.”  

“Sophie…” 

“Besides… I’m waaaay better at research than you.” She grins, dangling her notebook in Riley’s face. “I’ll be back tomorrow night. Promise. You get some rest… play with Amanda some more. She needs you.” 

“I need you.” Riley responds. Sophie just smiles and gives Riley a kiss on the forehead. 

“This too shall pass. Now let’s watch those secret tapes and see what we can find.” 

Authors Note: Riley is still the main character after all. Guess what? I made an apple pie today :3

Next Tape:

[unkat]

chilaios medical au idea i have been bouncing in my head (will not be written until after my current one is done)

i am thinking of a like firefighter/paramedic story for these guys. where laios is a new shift commander/chief at a small middle of nowhere station and chilchuck is a medic from a big city who keeps getting reassigned because he is trying to recruit for a union and the company is trying to make his job unworkable/find a reason to let him go.

laios was promoted because of his work ethic and ability to teach other people about the ins and outs of emergency medicine, not because he wanted to be in charge. he is too new and disinterested in the company politics to throw him under the bus for other people, and by the time someone explicitly says he needs to fire him, he has gotten attached.

"he's reliable, does good work, and catches things nobody else here would have. i know he cussed out the family trying to get into the rig, but he had already told them no and they should be grateful he saved their daughter instead of filing a complaint! even if i were to discipline, he deserves a verbal warning and not dismissal. You were not there, and i am his direct superior."

(wins the argument and walks away trying not to hyperventilate)

also falin is a surgeon and marcille is a research fellow who abandoned her big-city super-focused projects to come out into the country and work with subpar equipment and an incompetent assistant. im not thinking like full rural hospital here, but closeish to it. could be an academic satellite hospital and she switched from like gene therapy trials to studying exposures/population/histology stuff.

shifting the touden hyperfixation from monsters->medical fascination i think would still get across the same vibes. falin is very nice and pleasant but she treats everyone nicely and pleasantly without actually empathizing with them. shes one of those surgeons who went to shadow a heart transplant in college and cried because it was so beautiful and then got a bunch of scholarships plus student loans for med school.

laios hunts and has a big appreciation for the lives of things he kills and butchering/using everything he can. then it translates to him being fascinated by the human body as an object more than as a being that is different and special from other animals that he is a part of. he is a fantastic emergency responder because of this- people are a pile of flesh that is broken somewhere, and he wants to figure out why. (this is something that I'm like. not sure if it is okay for me to include because it can be squicky/triggering. but i feel like when I'm unsure if I'm going too far that is when i am reaching the line i want to?)

the touden siblings still go hiking and mudding and spend their time off in the woods (marcille wears white shorts and sandels on a hike leaving laios to be very explicit and offering clothes to chilchuck when he offers him to join. chilchuck borrows his shirt and it is way too big, but he keeps it for a while.)

chilchuck is extra divorced. he facetimes with the girls a couple of times a week and gets them on rotating holidays. sometimes ex-mrs. tims invites him over for dinner because she feels sorry for him and her new boyfriend is also there. it's awkward but they both know he's harmless, just annoying and closed off. he smokes but has tried to quit 7-8 times. started when he was an emt and couldn't shake it because it helped him destress. he only knows how to drive well enough to pass his vehicle license renewals and still doesn't know what the buttons in his car do. the ac has been "broken" for a week before a station mechanic pushes the button to turn it back on (they should put a subway around here, stupid cars).

laios respects his experience and history of being at a constantly busy station that saw a variety of crazy shit. chilchuck initially resents him for being so out of touch, but grows to respect his leadership abilities. laios also always follows up on cases at the hospital to figure out the outcome and reflect on best practices.

he is the first person to get chilchuck to actually debrief after a shitty call and chil cries and never wants to talk about it again. but its like a seal in a dam has been breached, and opens up when they are cuddling on the couch. they spend more time off shift with each other. chilchuck crashes on laios' couch and initially feels like he needs excuses to do it until laios says he really likes talking with him and having him there. he tells him about the company's EAP coverage and that he encourages everyone to take advantage of it.

in the end, they hit that threshold of basically living together, and one of them would need to change their station (superior/employee romance) after they go from making out off shift in secret to seriously considering having laios meet his daughters in person. (they already think they're married because laios is always there when they call now)

[glorious-spoon]

Thinking about the prompt "no, you’ll get an infection." since I just saw a gifset of our beloved firemen ripping open packages with their teeth. 😄

thank you! have a bit of established-relationship dorks on a very serious rescue mission.

-

"Buck," Eddie says, in the deeply patient tone that means he's refraining from adding, what the fuck is wrong with you. Buck's found that most people have a version of that tone, at least around him. Eddie doesn't employ his all that often; most of the time, Eddie is on board with pretty much anything Buck suggests. Digging around in storm drains for a missing stuffed animal is the limit, apparently.

"I've almost got it," Buck says, twisting slightly to wedge his shoulder against the grate. His fingers just brush the soggy synthetic fur of the small purple stuffed rabbit a few feet down.

"Isn't this how that kid lost his arm in that movie?"

He twists back to stare up at Eddie, who is backlit by the midday sun with the carnival spread out behind him. His hands are on his hips and his expression is half-amused, half-exasperated. "What?"

"Pennywise? Evil clown monster that lives in the sewers and eats children? It's based on a Stephen King novel."

"I repeat," Buck says. "What?"

"Right, I forgot that you don't watch anything other than nature documentaries and whatever Christopher adds to your Netflix queue."

"Bold words for a guy who's memorized every single telenovela from the past twenty years."

Eddie scoffs. "Come on. Who knows what's down there, you're not even wearing gloves, you're going to slice your hand open on some grimy piece of metal and get an infection."

"I'm being careful." Buck turns his head to squint down into the storm drain. It's too dark to see much of anything other than the faintly oily glimmer of water. There are cigarette butts and greasy fast food wrappers floating in it, and it doesn't smell great, but he's definitely dealt with grosser over the course of his career. Besides. He's so close. If he just stretches—

His fingers brush the rabbit's ear again. It topples over into the grimy water with a splash, and Buck swears under his breath. The toy is now half-submerged and several inches out of reach no matter how much he stretches.

"Buck," Eddie says again, softer. "Come on. It's just a stuffed animal."

"That Christopher won."

A sigh. "He's thirteen. I don't think this is going to break his heart, sweetheart."

Buck knows that this is probably objectively true. Chris was gleefully triumphant about winning at balloon darts even after Eddie grumbled about rigged games, but the stuffed rabbit itself seemed like an afterthought. He shoved it into Buck's hands with a quick grin before going off with his friends twenty minutes ago, and Buck is—stupid, probably, for the fact that this is sort of breaking his heart.

He hasn't thought about that giant stuffed bear that they won at the pier, the one that must have washed out to sea along with half of the Los Angeles coastline, in years. He doesn't even know if Christopher remembers it. He was little. And it wasn't exactly the most memorable part of the day. The little stuffed rabbit, which fits in the palm of Buck's hand—and incidentally, between the holes of a storm drain grate—makes a much more convenient souvenir. And it felt kind of—nice, having a sort of redo on that, even if Chris doesn't remember.

But Eddie's right. Short of trying to pry up the grate cover—which he could absolutely do, if he had a halligan handy—there's no way he's going to reach it. He sighs, resting his forehead on the metal frame, then wriggles his arm out of the grate and sits back on his heels, defeated. "Okay, fine. You win."

There's no response. When he turns around, Eddie is nowhere to be seen. Feeling more than a little put-out, Buck straightens up and looks around. It's not that crowded here, but there are enough passers-by that Buck's been getting a few strange looks, which he's been ignoring. The two streets to his left are closed-off for the carnival; to his right is a black-and-white parked across the median with a bored-looking beat cop directing traffic, and a couple of sanitation workers in hi-vis vests. Eddie is talking to one of them, but he glances back like he can tell Buck is watching him.

Buck spreads his hands in question, and Eddie holds up a finger, turning back toward the guy he was just talking to. Buck slumps, then sits down on the curb, staring forlornly at the storm drain.

A moment later, footsteps approach.

"Come on, stop pouting, scoot over," Eddie says as his shadow falls across Buck.

"I'm not pouting," Buck grumbles, but he scoots over.

"Sure you're not," Eddie says agreeably, sitting down next to him. "Here. You think this'll work?"

Buck blinks at him, then looks down at the trash picker Eddie is holding out to him, which has LA - DPW scrawled down one side in Sharpie. "Did you…"

"I mean, I had to give them a whole sob story, so you might as well try it," Eddie says, wrapping his hand around Buck's knee and jostling him gently. Buck takes the picker, then laughs, dropping his forehead to Eddie's shoulder.

"Sob story, huh?"

"Just saying. Probably more sanitary than trying to stick your bare hand down a storm drain."

"I love you," Buck tells him, and he feels Eddie's shoulder shake slightly with laughter before he straightens up.

"Love you too," he says. "Now come on, let's get started on this rescue operation. Though I think our patient is gonna need a thorough hose-down before we can transport him."

Buck snickers into Eddie's shirt. His eyes aren't wet, because that would be dumb. He rubs his cheek against the warm cotton anyway before lifting his head. "You're such a dork."

Eddie grins at him, ruffled and lovely in the afternoon sunlight. "Just trying to follow proper triage protocol here."

"Dork," Buck repeats, but he leans in to steal a brief kiss before they get the rescue operation underway.

[daysofbeingnothing]

this is going to be a rant post mainly for me myself and i… but let’s go. i just watched the last episode of jack and joker yesterday and after i finished it i got on twitter to see everyone hating on jack (and basically everywhere else but mainly twitter and tiktok) which was definitely not what i was feeling and expecting. so it made me question, did we really watch the same thing ?

so why is everyone acting like joke was the only one suffering while jack was having the time of his life this episode ? as if jack had lots of other options to choose from but turned them all down for some reason because he enjoys working for the boss and to suffer. jack is not even a high school graduate. and with the only other jobs he could do, it would take him forever to save up the money needed for his grandma’s treatment but he needs the money as fast as possible. so to his own dismay and despair he agrees to do what boss asks him to do. i don’t know if you’ve noticed but like that whole speech about poor people being unable to dream, not having the privilege to have and make choices and being in complete hopelessness because they are only barely able to survive in the realities that they have to live in and cannot break free from all that simply, also included jack too ? like the guy literally was thriving and beaming the last episode and was the happiest he has ever been during the entire show because he thought he was finally free from his debt to boss and thus could go ahead and do what he really wanted to and achieve his dream. all for everything to come crashing down on him even harder than before and for reality to show him the middle finger. last episode he was full of life again and in this episode he couldn’t even picture a future for himself. that thing he said to joke about at least one of them making it out was basically him having already given up on himself and his own salvation. he no longer sees a way out for himself. the drawing he did was not him and grandma, it was definitely joke and grandma. because now his only dream is for the people he loves to be happy. and he has to basically succumb to boss’s every wish, hang around with this rich girl who has been obsessed with him for the past five years and perceives poor people like him as some sort of exotic animal species, has to push the person that he likes away so that he is not in danger and cannot even visit the grandmother that he is trying to keep alive because of how busy he is trying to juggle all these at once. he literally got abused by being choked, witnessed this extremely discomforting game of the underground criminal elite, was so distraught by what he experienced that he was giving bodily reactions, had to go around from place to place tagging along rose like some life size doll, became a shell of a person who is absolutely empty miserable and all alone, and all you are upset about are the words jack used to remove rose’s suspicions so that she doesn’t see joker as a potential rival and the ones he used to 'purposefully’ hurt joke to push him away so that the boss doesn’t harm him ? i mean rose literally got suspicious about jack and joker’s relationship based on a three second interaction like she is kinda obsessed. and boss directly threatened jack and demanded him to break his relationship off with joke. jack is acting in desperation because he is desperate. he is certainly not having a good time. and his situation is a direct showcase of just how difficult it is to escape the vicious cycle that the extremely unjust, unfair and rigged system holds poor and powerless people captives in. every time jack tries to break himself out and like he said, dares to have hope for himself, he just gets pulled back down even deeper. 

and i know that these types of episodes are a nightmare for shippers as when you expect and want your ship to get closer they instead go back to being even further apart and make you feel frustrated. and while i also understand some of the criticism about this episode, i seriously cannot understand the jack hate train at all. like my man has not had a good day since he was probably like ten, give him a break. and what upsets me the most is how this episode literally had one of the best speeches ever written about the struggles of lower class people and it got overshadowed and ignored completely. 

[multi-kpop-fanfics]

tw: hybrid!AU, roommates!AU, wolf hybrid!Seungcheol, bunny hybrid!reader (fem bodied), dom/sub dynamics, power play (, breeding, mounting, knotting, mentions of heat and medication, manhandling, degradation, use of petnames

happy birthday @lipglossjun!

tagging @horanghoe ty for the inspo love <3

Living as a hybrid can cause a lot of difficulties on your daily life - especially when it comes to sharing an apartment with someone.

Specifically as a bunny hybrid like yourself.

As nature intended, bunnies are regarded as prey, whereas bigger, more feral animals are regarded as predators. Such as wolves.

So, imagine how terrified you were when you found out that your roommate is a wolf hybrid.

Although this fear was quickly dissipated because Seungcheol has proven to be a very cooperative and sweet person, despite his very much scary exterior.

Maybe it was because he's really bulky and strong, or maybe because he has the scent of an alpha wolf.

Oh, about that - there's another problem that comes with the hybrid starter kit - ultra sensitive senses and the occasional heats.

The second one can be bearable with the right suppressants, but smelling your roommate's scent on a daily basis? That's fucking torture.

Seungcheol's natural musk, combined with the cologne he uses is enough to send your mind spiraling down the nine circles of Dante's inferno and backwards and your insides burning like a furnace and your panties soaked beyond salvation.

You wonder if he's experiencing the same struggle you do, or maybe he has nerves of steel and patience of a saint, because quite frankly, Seungcheol seems utterly unbothered.

That is, until your heat comes the same time his heat does.

And it's the worst case scenario - late Saturday evening, no pharmacies open and you've ran out of heat suppressants.

Your legs feel like jelly, your entire body is on fire and you're beyond embarrassed to go ask Seungcheol for some pills because your heat is actually bad this time.

You're softly knocking on the door of his bedroom, suppressing your whimpers as much as possible, his scent immediately invading your nostrils.

"Y/N, please don't come in" you hear Seungcheol from the other end, strain evident in his voice.

"Cheol, please, I need some of your suppressants, I ran out of mine, please!" you beg with a whiny voice.

The door flies open and you flinch, your eyes meeting Seungcheol's dilated pupils. He's only wearing his boxers, sweat dripping down his body, his musk now ten times stronger than before.

"My suppressants didn't fucking work" he groans, "And your heat doesn't help at all, bunny"

"You're not better than me!" you whine in defeat, knees growing weaker by the second.

"If you don't leave now, I don't think I'll be able to restrain myself, Y/N. And trust me, you don't want to mess with a wolf's primal instincts" he warns you, but your own primal instincts have already taken over you.

Which is exactly the reason you're currently naked on his bed, your hole stuffed with his cock.

"Cheollie, your c-cock!" you whine, your fluffy little tail trembling every time Seungcheol rams his cock in your cunt, his hands keeping you locked in your place.

"God, look at you, letting a big, bad wolf like me mount you and fuck your tight little bunny hole" he growls on top of you, "Is that what you wanted, angel? To be fucked like a whore in your heat?"

"W-want you to fuck like that all the t-time" you whimper, "Your scent d-drives me nuts, can't stop thinking about having your cock in me"

"Fuck, bunny, you're gonna make me drool, the room is full of your scent" Seungcheol lets out an obscene growl. He plants his knees on the mattress, bending his head down to lick a long stripe on your back, making you shiver, your tail wagging excitedly.

"What is it, bunny? Wagging your lil fluffy tail? You enjoy being preyed upon by an alpha wolf?"

"Y-Yes, I'm an alpha's p-prey, y-your prey" you stutter, pussy clenching around his cock, your slick dripping down your thighs.

"Fucking right, bunny baby - my precious prey, shit - Gonna take my knot like the good little bitch you are, take my cum and keep it all in" Seungcheol moans in your ear, his wolf instincts fully integrated into his brain.

You scream his name when you cum, feeling his knot expand in your hole, his cum flooding your pussy but not a single drop escapes, the knot successfully keeping you still.

Seungcheol collapses on top of you, his knot still firm inside you, trying to catch his breath. You're still panting like crazy, a small whimper leaving your mouth when he gently holds your hand, lacing his fingers with yours.

"I'm sorry" he mutters.

"Cheol, why are you apologizing?"

"I was too rough on you-"

"You know that's not true"

"But-"

"No, I wanted this and I can handle this" you insist, trying to move, but you fail miserably, legs twitching from hypersensitivity.

"Y/N, wait, fuck, the knot-"

"H-How the fuck is it still so hard-"

"I'm on my heat, remember?" Seungcheol lets out a breathy chuckle, pressing a kiss on your shoulder.

"Good thing I'm on my heat too then" you grin like an imp, "Because bunnies are known for their stamina".

Seungcheol growls at your response, planting his palms on the mattress on each side of your head, bucking his hips in you, jutting his thick knot deeper inside you.

"Don't make the big, bad wolf angry, little bunny, or else he'll bite you."

[finchwingart]

Hi finch! I hope holidays are treating you well :))

As someone who’s already stressed in the whole rushing portfolios for unis, having found an account that posts people venting about jobs in the animation industry it has made me feel pretty discouraged.

If it's not too much of a personal question, are you able to live comfortably with your job? And do you know any insight on how the general conditions of the field are?

hh this is a very hard question to answer tbh ToT it depends on a lot of things and what you prioritise. Remember those accounts that share people venting about work ARE for venting yknow, there are imperfections with every job, though it has been a particularly bad year with cancellations, layoffs, ai etc.

I think most of the time it doesn't pay a ton, but it doesn't pay minimum either. I'm on a fairly comfy wage at the mo, maybe a bit above average for the UK but maybe a bit below average for London, though animation is contract based so it can fluctuate depending on who you work for n what their budget is. LA people seem to get paid loads to me, but the US has a biiig wage gap from the UK so it's hard for me to compare.

If you get into a role that's got less competition and really desirable, like 3D rigging or pipeline developer or something, you'll find it easier to get work and will be able to negotiate more for better pay etc.

There's not a ton of 2D animating left in the US but it exists a lot elsewhere in the world (bc the US has high wages, studios tend to outsource most of the heavy labour like animation) but there's still other roles in 2D such as BG paint, storyboard, design etc.

It's contract based, so very rare that you'll be working in one place for more than 1-2 years. Sometimes contracts are a few months, sometimes longer. Sometimes they're PAYE (they give you payslips and do your taxes for you, paid holidays and sick days) or freelance (you have to invoice for your pay and manage your own taxes, pay-per-day kinda), and the pay can fluctuate depending on those things (like I had a very short contract last year but it paid really decent to compensate for that). This makes things tricky as your earnings can be different month to year, and you may have to move a lot in the beginning to chase work

You have to be good at communicating and work with lots of people a lot of the time, which can be a great thing! You meet so many people n it really feels like a community sometimes. Going to festivals like Annecy really helps

I think lots of other animators have shared their opinions online on youtube and stuff so it's worth having a poke around! I think Toniko Pantoja made a video too, I'd like to make one eventually. I made a 1yr in animation video n would like to make an updated one now that I've been in it 5yrs.

In the end, if you reaaally really love it, love working with other people, and can't think of doing anything else, then you'll be fine!

[treason-and-plot]

I can't remember if you have posts about your picture taking process but I'm really curious how did you get a lot like Prosper Room so crowded and look so lively. Do you pose everyone or do you just get them there and leave them be?

I would love it, if you have time and motivation of course, if you showed us your process for setting a scene and taking pics. I never did those in any sims game tbh and I always love seeing behind the scenes things.

Love you and your work to bits!! ❤️ ❤️

I don't think I have made any posts about my picture-making process because prior to today I don't think anybody has ever asked! But I really appreciate you sending me this ask and your lovely comments. Thank you so much!

For these particular scenes I have 16 Sims in the active family. (I did originally have 20 as stated here but my game kept freezing.) For anyone reading who may be unfamiliar with this process, I add the Sims to the household by clicking on my active Sim and then selecting NRaas>Master controller>Household> Add Sim. I then filter by age and gender so I have a decent cross section of Sims, and enable testing cheats so I can teleport each Sim to the active lot, in this case the Prosper Room. I have a decent gaming rig and can usually add 20 Sims to a lot before my game starts to protest, but as mentioned in an earlier post I had to reduce the number of household Sims in this case to 16, I suspect because the Prosper Room already contains a number of service Sims.

Once all the Sims have been teleported to the lot, I then set about dressing them. This can be a laborious process but I usually have a couple of Sims in the household who have a dozen outfits in their inventories for this very purpose. It is then a simple process using Nraas to transfer one of those outfits to another Sim in the household. I click on my active Sim and then choose NRaas>Master controller>Intermediate>Transfer clothing. A box will then appear as shown below asking for details of the 'Destination Sim' and I then choose 'current lot.'

A list of Sims will then appear of the same age and gender and I just choose the one I want to transfer the outfit to. You can also choose them all if you want!

Now, for my current Prosper Room scenes, I placed meals on all the tables using Nraas Debug enabler: Nraas> Debug enabler>Options sim> make food. (Again, quite a laborious process, because I like there to be a good variety of dishes!) I then instructed the majority of my Sims to sit at the tables and start eating the meals placed in front of them, as seen in the below pic.

Once they have finished eating, I can make them stay in their seats by having them converse with each other (which is probably the best way of making the scene 'lively') or by using Nraas animator: Nraas>Animator> Animation by category> Play Specific Idle>Seated Idles>a_chairdining_idle sigh_x. The wonderful thing about using Animator is that you can direct Sims where to look, too. (I know you can do that using pose player add-ons if you choose to pose your Sims instead, but if you use Animator the Sims continue looking until you cancel the animation).

I tried to illustrate my answer by using more screenshots but I kept getting warnings that I'd exceeded my character limit, so if anyone reading this needs more clarification of my process please don't hesitate to ask! Thanks again for the wonderful question @oasislandingresident!

[mychlapci]

Episode 6 - Masters & Students

Looking at TFP Starscream is so funny to me because he’s got those big fuck off eyebrows that look literally glued onto his face. I like to think they’re attached via magnetics because that’s the only explanation I have for how silly they look. 

OH BOY I SURE DO LOVE THE FACT THAT THE VEHICONS ARE SHOWN TO BE CAPABLE OF TALKING, ASKING QUESTIONS, AND GENERALLY SHOWING SIGNS OF SENTIENCE. IT SURE DOES FEEL GREAT KNOWING THAT THE AUTOBOTS ARE GOING TO BE KILLING AND RIPPING THEM TO PIECES ON THE REGULAR WHILE SPOUTING OFF ABOUT HOW THEY’RE THE GOOD GUYS. [Obviously these are implications drawn from the fact that the show runners probably weren’t thinking about the vehicons as anything more than canon fodder. But ough, I do not like those implications.]

Also it’s really funny that the show wants me to believe that Starscream is a worse leader when he successfully lead the Decepticons for three years without the Autobots realising that he had several mining operations on Earth. Starscream should’ve been leader for the rest of the series, send tweet. 

That being said, I would like to shove him into a trash compactor. 

God I want to kiss however the hell rigged Starscream’s face, he’s so damn expressive. 

Ratchet is like ‘Babe 🥺aren’t you happy that your former friend is finally dead’ while Optimus is fucking sulking. 

Wwwhuat. I hope Ratchet’s voice actor got paid well. 

“You’re a human Jack, can you build me a small intestine.” Arcee is allowed to be funny, as a treat. 

I love how you can see Bulkhead raising his finger to argue with Ratchet before he puts his hand down and shakes his head in defeat. 

GOD SOUNDWAVE LOOKS SO FUCKING SILLY WITH THAT LITTLE ANTENNAE THING STICKING OUT OF HIS BACK. 

Okay I’m back on my tfp Soundwave hating arc. This time I think I’ve pinpointed why I don’t really enjoy him [design not withstanding] it’s because he has no body language to even remotely influence his personality. He is literally standing there in 99% of his scenes. There’s no movement from him, no indication of what he’s thinking, feeling, or wanting to do. Starscream literally says “What do you mean you can’t pinpoint his signal?!” Which implies that Soundwave is actively communicating with him. But if you look at his model he’s just standing there. There’s no movement of his tentacles, hell his screen doesn’t even flash red to indicate that he hasn’t found Skyquake’s signal. I think with a few bits of body language acting, Soundwave could’ve been a really interesting character. I don’t need him to talk verbally, fuck I don’t even want him to have a noise indicating he’s talking like Bumblebee, I just want him to express literally anything. 

Fuck Optimus is so goddamn big. 

“Unfortunately Megatron’s legacy will live on as others rise to take his place.” You can just say it’s Starscream Optimus, there’s literally nobody else. We see nobody else trying to be leader, it’s just Starscream. [Actually that would’ve been an interesting plot point or story.]

RHRUGH Grandpa Ratchet wants nothing to do with the battlefield, he’s helping them with their science homework. 

AAAAH I DON’T LIKE SOUNDWAVE’S SPINDLY FUCKING FINGERS. PUT THOSE THANGS AWAY MAN

Lord Skyquake is a crusty old man. Yeah I see why Maggot likes him so much. His colour palette is actually really nice, besides Knockout, we don’t see many Decepticons with colours ranging outside of blue, purple, or grey. It’s a good decision to make him so differently coloured from the rest of the cons. Also I think it’s interesting that Optimus says that he hasn’t obtained an altmode yet but we clearly see him with cockpit and wing kibble. Obviously the logical explanation is that the animators really didn’t need an entirely separate model with just the cockpit and wings removed but it is very funny to think about. Also lord he is large. 

Starscream’s inability to gauge which people he should order around continues to astound me. I love him for that. Get fucked you stupid pigeon. 

LMFAO THE WAY HE JUST RUNS ARMS OUTSTRETCHED TOWARDS OPTIMUS. IS HE STUPID?!

I said it in DMS, but I’ll say it here. The real tragedy of knowing that Skyquake is going to get canned is the fact that he has a really interesting and unique colour palette and weapon [machine gun] that distinguishes him from the other cons and they just kill him. What a waste. 

God they have to let Ratchet be in charge, he’s been so cooped up. 

“Soundwave, why aren’t you tracking them?” Maybe he is, though I can’t blame him for not knowing considering Soundwave is just standing there, a-posing. 

Starscream is so dramatic. 

SEE THIS IS WHAT I’M FUCKING TALKING ABOUT. Soundwave repeats Starscream’s voiceline and then releases Laserbeak, that’s a genuine little bit of character driven story telling that Soundwave doesn’t actually trust Starscream. :[ Why couldn’t we get more of that.

They should let Optimus run more people over in his altmode. It’s funny. 

OLD MAN DOWN

The laser eye beams is so funny. Like obviously they have to make sure you know he’s scanning an altmode but it’s so fucking funny. 

Starscream should’ve taken Megatron’s body and then- [The rest of this post has been removed for violating Tumblr’s terms and conditions.]

RIP Skyquake, your colour palette and cool gun were of too much interest for TFP, you had to die. 

Episode 7 - Scrapheap

Slight nitpick that doesn’t matter but oh that opening dialogue from Ratchet is so expositiony. Like yes Bulkhead, who has been alive for several million years, you do not know that exposure to lower temperatures can fuck up your systems. This literally doesn’t matter but I think it’s funny. Obviously it sounds good because it’s Ratchet saying it. 

Ah the bugs. Scraplets are a fun concept I think. Tiny metal eating critters that can terrify even the biggest Cybertronians. 

Ratchet is the biggest hater and I love him for that. He continues to be the best. 

Awwww Optimus saying he’ll bring Raf back a snowball is very cute. 

As someone who lives in the ye old midwest where we regularly get temperatures in the freezing during half of the year, the kids being really excited about the snow always seemed silly to me. Like, it’s just snow lmfao. But I do get it. Though the idea that Raf just spacebridging himself to the arctic circle for a few minutes is something I’ve thought about. Honestly I think we should’ve got more things involving the ability to transport oneself to anywhere in the world. Like Miko going home for a few days. 

The scraplets are just little guys. Small fucking beast. 

Bulkhead’s actor is so fucking good in this episode. 

Also the heat maps that the scraplets see in confuse me sooo much. You’ve got most of the cybertronians heat being centred around their shoulders, legs, and feet. Ratchet’s chassis is almost entirely blue while his upper thigh is red which makes no sense because his engine should be putting out some kind of heat right? Bulkhead’s chin is green while the top of his helm is red and the inside of Bumblebee’s thigh is blue while the top is red. What the fuck is going on with them?

Bulkhead’s war trauma of watching a scraplet eat someone he knows should’ve been touched upon more. 

“Typically I find your fleshiness to be your least engaging quality.” This just in, Ratchet does not find flesh attractive, robofuckers move on, grandpa does not want you. 

Once again Bulkhead’s VA does a fantastic job!

They’re eating him alive. Tragic and terrible day for Grandpa. 

It’s still so fucking funny that they picked the b-plot to be Optimus and Arcee freezing to death. Like it provides for some really sweet moments, particularly when Optimus goes to hold Arcee’s hand but it’s still really funny. Like yeah Ratchet, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead are all getting eaten alive and meanwhile Optimus fucking Prime is freezing his tits off. 

OUGH SORRY TO EVERYONE WHO WAS EXPECTING THESE!!! my cat died and i had so much school work and my life has been a mess. but yeahg, have some tfp reviews :] also maggot you are following my main if you ever wanna yap about skyquake to me! if you say yes i'll come off anon and dm you via tumblr.

-burnt ice anon

oh god, sorry for your cat, and good luck with school! it's okay, now we're here and it's time to talk about tfp.

to be honest, you're the first and only tfp Soundwave hated i've ever met (or seen) and even though i have no beef with tfp Soundwave you have actually have a very refreshing point of view. i mean, i always thought that him just standing there is just what he does but now that i think about it i'm like YEAH he should've been a bit more expressive. like, when he uses snippets of Starscream's voice, or that scene where they want to pull the plug on Megs and he just bluntly points to the screen tracing his brain waves, i think since he's a silent character, more stiff and creepy movements would have done him some justice.

once again, happy that Skyquake has been received in a positive way. The way he runs out at Optimus with his arms out flailing is so funny. No thought, he's just fucking mad. And you know, I never realized, but it's kind of odd they don't have any alt-modes until they scan an earth vehicle. like, why wouldn't they? maybe they had to deactivate their tcog for the stasis? i guess that's some scifi bullshit that could explain it.

Also if you wish to discuss Starscream doing anything at all to Megatron's corpse, anything at all, i have some thoughts. i've got thoughts. and a fanfic link i discovered recently.

anyways, the heat maps in the scraplet episode are So funny to me now that you pointed it out. they make no sense at all. it's a really funny episode overall. despite the fact that it's about bots getting eaten alive.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for defending my friend lying about his dog dying?

Cw for animal abuse and Is ableist language (using sociopath as synonym for bad person)

I was in a friend group of three. Me (24f) my best friend since age 7 (24m) and we have a mutual friend he met in college when he moved away and has known for a little over a year (23f). Callin' them Liam and Rory for ease. Liam had an Esa (not a service dog, an esa). His whole life has revolved around this dog since we were 16 and he moved away. He keeps a very strict schedule with this dog. We are all aware of it because he will leave group chats mid conversation to make sure "Buddy" gets walked or fed or whatever time it is. He takes really good care of this dog and hand-makes its meals and takes it to the vet every 2 months.

Few weeks ago he was acting weird but trying to cover it up. I had been meaning to ask what was going on more privately but I kinda dropped the ball because my aunt died suddenly.

Flash to a week ago Rory sent a huge wall of text to our group chat calling Liam a barrage of names like "sociopath". It turns out that his dog died but he'd been acting like everything was the same which is why he seemed off. She found out when she came onto his property to check on him and he had to "confess."

Shes upset at him for lying but I knew there was more going on. So I talked to him about it privately over the phone and he just shattered. He had no idea what to do or say because he thinks his dad killed Buddy but he doesn't have direct proof. I had never heard him cry before this, because he was raised to really keep that stuff close to his chest. He's tried to open up to me over the years but it's visibly difficult for him especially with how his father still treats him. I believe him because if he truly wanted to manipulate me I still do not think he would have let me see that. He kept apologizing and sounding really lost and ashamed so I really don't think it was an act, you can't fake that kind of helpless abused kid feeling.

I forgave him for keeping it from me because it was obvious he was going to tell us once he processed the situation because that's a lot to say the least. I explained what happened to Rory and said sure maybe it wasn't 100% in the right but he was obviously expiercing trauma and him acting like everything was fine wasn't about hurting us, and we knew something was wrong but didn't ask, she thinks he's trolling for sympathy and that if I forgive him it tells her everything she needs to know about what kind of person I am. And says if he really thinks he dad killed his dog he would have called the police.

There are several reasons he shouldn't call the police one being that his dad has always treated Laim really badly but we never thought he would kill a dog and my friend has to live with him because he's a broke college student. She said he should have figured that out on his own but instead he manipulated us and is now trying to make us feel bad that he got caught.

I also feel like he was in danger from his dad and if he told us Buddy was gone he'd have to say why and then he'd be lying to us anyway until he figured out what the hell happened or if it was safe to tell us. We don't have enough information so I just don't think it's fair to totally write him off as a bad person over what is obviously and extremely traumatic situation? Without even talking to him? She found out Buddy was dead, left and refused to speak to him before announcing her departure from the group and blocked him on everything and basically made me choose between her or him.

I told her that was a really heartless take and that she's over reacting and she told me if I wanted to be best friends with a sociopath that was none of her buisness but she wanted nothing to do with either us because I'm just as bad as him if I don't agree with her so she doesnt loose anything by cutting me off.

She really made me feel like I was helping Liam hide a body. So I'm wondering if she's right. I don't think I'll change my mind, I won't abandon him but I am willing to admit I was wrong if I am.

Am I the assshole for sticking by him?

What are these acronyms?

[bisnes-socks]

okay welcome to my second šbj ted talk 😌 today we are discussing (i am rambling on about) composition bc wow!!!!!!! the boys done outdid themselves.

i will be making references to my post about jure and the drums, so if you want to read that first it's here.

because like. isn't it funny how in that drum ted talk, which i wrote and posted hours before the animated video came, i talked about how the beginning of the song, the main riff part with its unexpected drum beat and patterns, feels like it's stomping, and then the video came out and the character stomps away (okay walks with attitude) that whole section? ANYWAY

compositionally speaking i think this one is one of the most interesting JO songs bc it has multiple type of beats, vibes and sections, that go together very well, and they've not only composed the changes between these variations in a clever way, they've also written a song that really allows each member to shine. it's a true band song to me and i loooove that.

note: though nothing i say here is like unique to this song, these aren't like rare or unusual tools they use here. i just think that this song highlights many of them really well.

the first details i want to talk about are certain melodies/chromatic ascensions or decensions. i am unfortunately not physically in a place where i could check exact notes, pitches, keys or anything, so i'm going by ear and i do not have perfect pitch sooo let me live.

but have you noticed that the riff section ends in the guitar doing pretty much the exact opposite as the vocal descension? not after every round of the riff, but before bojan starts singing again. the guitar ascends, chromatically, it goes up note at a time. i don't know if it's the exact same notes in reverse, but the effect is the same but in reverse. now, that ascension does not end on a note that would be as satisfying to end on, no. it creates a sort of tension: we have to go somewhere after this note, we can't stay suspended here. 

but you know how the line "šta bih ja u ovoj crnoj noći bez tebe radio?" goes down at the end? the singing melody descends, chromatically, and it's very satisfying for their listener bc it follows the scale that we're used to in most western music. it ends on a note where it feels good to either keep going, to a new section, as the song does at first, or end it there, as the song also does in the end.

and i'd argue that in the beginning, that bit, the melodic descension down to where the whole band kicks in and starts stomping away, highlights the mood of that section and the purpose it serves in the song. like i keep saying, that part sort of stomps, and it's like.. the part of the song that chugs forward. it has this feeling of going up and down (a good vibe to jump or nod your head to, or walk or stomp to, no?) but it also has this feeling of going forward. the descending melody kind of sends it on its way and we're all going with it.

and that tension carries the verse, which does not have the same forward drive as the riff part. but we have been, melodically, brought to a place, with that guitar ascending, where we want to hear more. so we stay there, with the verse. and where does the verse ultimately take us? back to the stomping riff, to chug forward again. without the riff bits the verses would feel like they're left suspended in tension.

and does it feel like the line "šta bih ja u ovoj crnoj noći bez tebe radio?" is either longer or shorter than you expected, or it has an unexpected rhythm to it, especially for it's place in the song? 

because these little moments that are rhytmically unexpected, like the "šta bih ja..." line, and the drum syncopation, where a hi-hat crash comes a beat later than you expect in the riff section, they create moments that pique your interest as a listener. 

well, it does have an unexpected rhythm and an unexpected time signature. Two bars of 4 and one bar of 2, with the vocal line overlapping with the 1 of the next bar, if i counted right. (disclaimer: if i got it wrong i learned to count as a dancer, not as a musician lmao). and i think that all of that also plays super well into everything i talked about before, and also everything i talked about regarding the drums in the riff section. 

and they're small enough decorations that we're not venturing off into like prog or jazz territory, the song remains in a poprock world compositionally speaking, and the tempo doesn't change until the faster section in the end, which makes it all easy and pleasant to listen, but they change things up just enough to keep the listener super hooked. and then of course the tempo change at the end, at least, will challenge anyone just absentmindedly tapping their foot along like it's backround music, to really pay attention. and i just think it's very clever.

and then the "a ja samo čekam.." part is also an interesting part, bc as i said in my first ted talk, it switches between a more aggressive straight forward beat and a more groovy beat, and that's super clever, bc like. if it was just the aggression through the entire part, it would most likely get a bit exhausting and a bit too much for the composition. so by alternating between the aggression and the downright dance-vibe of the groovy beat, the composition creates progression. so that even the most aggressive bit of the song isn't just... screaming into a pillow, it's going somewhere. shoutout (shautaut) to the bassline in these bits as well!! the bass actually provides a lot of melodic components in that section, bc the vocal line is super one note. it's smart to elevate the bass like that.

and THEN!! the faster bit at the end!! suddenly we're going all arctic monkeys aren't we, and i love it, give me all the straightforward 2010's brit rock vibes and i will eat it up. and this part is like.. releasing everything. all of the tension that has built up, we've kind of reached where we've been stomping off to, and it's time to let loose. and so they do. and then collect it all together with a final "šta bih ja u ovoj crnoj noći bez tebe radio?" and this time we end on that satisfying final note and we're here, we're a little out of breath, but we've arrived and we've got all the jitters out and we're done. excellent way to end the song.

and this is getting extremely long now so i think we have also reached the end of the ted talk thank you goodbye.