#i am clearly not a gifmaker. so

[cleradinthealps]

but you want what i can’t give to you - bite the hand, boygenius

[dennisboobs]

Hi Ada, how do you make your gifs? I have only recently got into using ezgif but I don't know any better way of doing it. I've noticed also that in your gifsets, you get all the sizes of each gif very nicely.

i have all of the episodes downloaded, so i just trim down, edit + colour correct in my video editing software, then throw the vid into ezgif. depends on the set, usually, i kind of just go with my gut and try to keep them under 10mb. the crop presets on ezgif generally work pretty well if i don't crop before exporting the clip, and you can always resize until you match the dimensions of other gifs.

[bellamyblakru]

Well...one gif that is wildly different in color and quality, especially in a post eith other random differently sized still photos like you reblogged, is very clearly a repost and a "gifer" like you should absolutely been able to tell that OP didnt create it. I feel like I should also point out that in all my time following you I have not even once considered you a gifmaker, more a reblog and shitpost type person.

thats so fun please unfollow me LMFAOO i looked at it for five seconds what the fuck am i? an omnipotent detective?? you genuinely couldve just said “hey i think that set is a from someone who steals gifs” and i wouldve been like “!! omg so true lemme delete and block” but instead you chose to be an asshole. get off my blog thanks

[godmerlin]

Goodness, aren't we touchy! I have never seen you before, I was sent your gifset by a friend. And no, I didn't stick around on your blog for very long because nothing caught my interest. I meant only to offer support and advice as someone who loves gifmakers on the site. Your attitude has proven you won't accept any kind of criticism, not even the constructive kind. I hope you find it in yourself to relax and be more kind in the future. I'm deeply disappointed in your rude response, as Merlin fans have always been kind. Making gifs since 2011 has clearly not helped you grow as a gifmaker or as a person.

🙄 your original message was not supportive or kind. It was rude. If you don't like my gifs, just ignore them. That's literally it. I don't see much difference in mine and some other people's. I'm not making fancy ones or anything. I am aware of that. I'm nice to people who are nice to me. You were NOT nice. I don't owe niceness to people who aren't nice to me. My gifs are massively better than they were when I first started, so yes, I have grown as a gifmaker. I am also nearly 35, I was a literal teenager when I first became a fan of Merlin and started on tumblr. Early 20s when I first started making my own shit. Like ??? Do you even make gifs??? Or anything??? You're hiding behind an anonymous message! If you think you're so much better than me...come off anon and message me. Seriously. I bet you won't. Nothing caught your interest? Yet. Here you are. A second time in the span of 24 hours...and I bet you're lying anyway. You're probably the same anon I got last month.

[buttercuparry]

I think people are truly misunderstanding op's "tumblr is dying thing". And then being petty because they feel that they are being personally attacked. This cannot be denied that the fandoms are getting less and less engagement. The only time a particular fandom is at its peak, is when it is the newest flavour of the season. And it is only particular blogs (bnfs) who seem to draw the host of notes. Or if a blog clicks for a particular fandom then those as well. But tbh I don't think fandom creators are talking about or even OP is talking about a creator not getting 25k+ notes. It's about creators now barely getting 100+ notes ( especially new artists who aren't well known in a fandom) and most of those being likes. Like no of course not- you don't absolutely have to reblog but damn it seems like gif makers ( even long time ones), meta writers ( even those who make general observations relating to the book or show in total), artists are getting less and less engagement. If a gifmaker says that they don't feel any motivation to create when their 15 hours of work barely got to 23 notes, then that's a problem ( and you clearly see that it is a good gifset, great even!).

I think there's something to say about shows dropping one after the other and therefore nothing sticking to our minds (?)...like idk if this is a thing. I mean okay so when a show drops, it has its casual viewers right? Like if I watch 5 shows back to back it can happen that I just casually watched all 5. Or one or more out of the five might stick to my interests which then would have me examine all it has to offer more closely. But I feel like there's less time for us to sit with something now. Like Last of Us didn't even end before the Mandalorian came in with their new episodes. Within a few days Succession dropped and now Yellowjackets is here too. Maybe this was always how media worked. Surely a show network won't wait for another show network's series to end before dropping in theirs lol. But I feel like it is more clustered now and we don't really get to sit with something unless we want to ( again completely my own conjecture with literally no proof to back it up). I think sitting with something is more likely to help along the casual viewer to be a more contributing member of the fandom.

The other thing people in the replies are being like really petty because of op guilt tripping them. Like yeah maybe this shouldn't have been done but this poll did bring me a couple of takes where people refuse to believe tumblr is dying because this poll has decent amount of notes. They are sarcastically going "yeah sure just because I do not reblog things from the fandom I am in, I am killing tumblr lol", not realizing that they aren't the only ones with this attitude. That there are thousands of others. But while one reblog won't change anything it may bring the post among other bloggers from amongst whom another one would reblog the post taking it to the dashboard of another host of bloggers- thus creating a chain. And if there are some common mutuals in a fandom, and if a post circulates enough on a dashboard we might even deem to give it another look which we might have dismissed previously. That's the importance of reblogs. If y'all are being personally offended by the poll and not even trying to look into the point of the poll...that truly helps no one. Someone even boasted that they cackle evilly when they go past posts without reblogging anything and periodically lose followers because of how unactive their page is. Why are you here then? Like this isn't the place for you. If you think that you are doing something with this, that you are helping cut down your followers' obsessive need to refresh social media...then honestly it can go either way. Maybe you are helping or your followers are just getting their fix elsewhere. What you are definitely doing is being another twig in the rapidly stagnating website.

[asleepinawell]

me, looking at someone else's gif set: wow the coloring the shot choice this is a flawless masterpiece that transcends time

me, looking at my own set: these three pixels in frame two are a pestilence upon the land what was I thinking hell is empty and all the devils are in my adjustment layers

[rainbowserenity]

Jabberwocky - performed by Erutan

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!” He chortled in his joy.”

[thebookluvrr1816]

You always make such beautiful gifs!! I've been trying my hand at gifmaking recently and am running into one big problem: all my gifs turn blurry on tumblr mobile even though they look fine on desktop and (I think) adhere to the 540px width dimension guidelines. If you have any advice on how to create gifs that don't turn into a potato on mobile, I'd appreciate it massively!!

First of all, thank you!!! 🥺 Sweet appreciative messages like this always makes me smile :)

I tried to put together some tips that might be useful when it comes to making clearer gifs :D 

1) Footage If you want your gifs to look really good, try to use 1080p videos for giffing! (or atleast 720p) (DM me and I’ll drop you a link for a collection of 1080p bbc merlin videos if you want :D) Afterwards, you can either use screencapping or you can extract the scene you want as a clip. This tutorial explains the basics of gifmaking (and the process of screencapping) very clearly so do check it out :D (click here)

2) Tumblr Dimensions Dimensions! are! so! important! The width of your gif matters. The height? not so much. I made a gifset for the appropriate sizes below. Always make sure your gifs are sized accordingly. Or tumblr resizes your gifs to fit its dimensions, and that makes them go all wonky and grainy :’)

3) sharpening This is probably the most important step in the gifmaking process. I use a gaussian blur to soften the gif, but sharpen settings mostly depends on the gifmaker!!!

1) Convert your layers into a smart object. (filter > convert for smart filters)

2) Duplicate the smart object. (now you have 2 layers)

3) Apply smart sharpen to the layer below. [ filter > sharpen > smart sharpen and 500% radius 0.3px (or 0.4px sometimes) I change my sharpen settings according to the scene I’m working on tbh ]

4) Apply a gaussian blur filter to the layer on top. (filter > blur > gaussian blur and 1px. Try playing around with the settings and see what fits your gif best!!) and then you can change the opacity of the blur layer as you wish. (from the slider)

Try not to oversharpen because that might cause gifs to look grainy too :(  (it’s especially tricky when working with season 1/2/3 of merlin because the footage is old and the quality is kinda worse than s4/5.)

Play around with the sharpening settings until you find a satisfactory result. Save a gif you experimented on as a draft and view it from your mobile, and check whether you like how it looks! If not, keep playing with your settings and proceed when you feel like you found the best option!! :D

4) Colouring

When colouring your gif, don’t overdo the colour balance layer. Go  wild with selective colour,(I love using selective colour) but use  colour balance wisely. Overdoing it might cause your gif to be grainy :) 

Using a lot of layers (colouring layers etc.) on your gif might affect its sharpness and quality. It has never been an issue for me, but I’ve seen some gifmakers having problems with it.

5) Save settings Save settings play an important role on the final outcome of your gif. So make sure you choose the best one! These are my save settings :

You can use “selective” instead of “adaptive” and “diffusion” instead of “pattern” :) Choose the option that looks best on your gif :) and the looping option should be set to “forever” (I have mistakenly set it to “once” in my screenshot) As for the “quality” option below “Bicubic” works just as well as “bicubic sharper.”

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I think this covers the major points of sharpening :) I hope you find this useful anon 🥺  and please don’t hesitate to drop me an ask if you need any further help!!! <3 *hugs*

[thepunkpanther]

I have a few things to say, and then I wish to move on. I have lost followers (fine), and been vagueposted about (fine). I respect opinions other than my own, but I will not hesitate to block people who are rude and mean-spirited. I have my mental health and peace to protect.

You do not have to reblog anything. I ask that you do, and that you consider doing so, but I cannot make and do not wish to police and enforce anyone. It is your blog after all, not mine, and if you choose to leave it blank, that’s your prerogative– but if everyone did that this website would not exist and there would be no purpose for it.

In my original post I said Tumblr essentially has no algorithm. There are two avenues, two ways in which Tumblr technically has some type of algorithm. There is the “for you” panel, and there is the “based on your likes” option. I don’t know how the “for you” panel gets their data (whether from likes, reblogs, followed tags), but “based on your likes” is self explanatory. However, with the amount of concerns creators have about the engagement on their posts says these features clearly don’t live up to their full potential. Which is no users fault, but I propose that where a platform may fail, we can help each other with reblogs– so creator’s and poster’s work can reach more people and stay relevant for longer.

You can make the argument that my statement “some of the users on this website are going to run it into the ground” is not true. Perhaps, you are right. But Tumblr will in no way look the same if the reblog/like ratio stays the same. Fandom culture on tumblr as a whole will look completely different and it will no longer be what makes tumblr interesting and appealing to me, personally. I am just one of many gifmakers who are discouraged and tired of putting energy into sets, to have them go to the limbo of likeland to die. Many gifmakers are currently on semi or indefinite hiatus. Sure, this is probably not the sole reason for all of them, but you can be assured that many have quit entirely due to low engagement. And it’s not just gifmakers. Artists, fic writers, and other content creators feel alike.

I did not understand this myself, before I started putting in hours of time to make content for this site. I have been called entitled, told I need to grow up, and I can’t say I didn’t once feel the same way about people who posted about this before I became one of them. I didn’t have empathy, until I had sympathy, because I was finally experiencing the same discouragement that creators have been feeling for years now.

My original post was not meant to be mean-spirited, to make you feel bad. I never attacked anyone’s morality. If it did make you feel guilty and upset there may be some exploration to do there. My original post was a bit of a rant. A bit of a question. A bit of a beg. Will you support creators while we’re still here creating?

And yes we are still having this conversation in 2024. It’s more relevant now than ever.

Anyways, shoutout to my fic writers, artists, and gifmakers who had my back about this post. It means the world to not have to do discourse alone. And if you disagree with my opinions, my posts- that’s okay. Unfollow, block, do what you gotta do. But I do ask you consider what the creators–the people who make the bulk of the website’s content are saying, and why they might be saying it.

hey I just want to reiterate that likes are useless unless they are accompanied with a reblog. some of the users on this website are going to run it into the ground, and not because they don’t know how it works, but because they frankly don’t care. creators have said it time and time again that this platform has essentially no algorithm. that when you like a post without resharing it, you’re sentencing it to an early retirement. this is tumblr! have fun! share and reblog the shit that you like!! make a digital poster board of all the things you love.

[jameszmaguire]

4, 23, 40

CJ coming through to feed my sudden appetite to be chatty about gifmaking, I appreciate you so, thank you for indulging me <33

4. A set that flopped but deserved better

It's interesting, because I just went through my gifmaking tag and just. Seeing my own interests of the past five years reflected back at me through time lovingly spent on making gifsets of them. I feel warmth for myself here tonight. And there's a lot of sets that would be nice to have more notes, but a lot of them I make knowing there's not much of a target audience on here anyway, and thus am not expecting them to crack 500 or even 100. However. I maintain that my gifset of Mako and Raleigh from Pacific Rim just looking at each other while trying to kick each others ass deserves better. Fun fact: this was actually made literal years before it was posted, waaaaaay back when I had just learned to gif, and the fact I still deemed it postable is a minor miracle tbh.

23. What is the thing you gif when you don’t have anything else you want to gif?

Usually Umbrella Academy and just specifically any Five acting moments I enjoy, mostly because I have the caps for the show ready and stored away. Getting the frames and chossing moments and getting them to fit into a specific frame count is always my least favourite part of gifmaking, so the fact that TUA has a lot less of that hurdle makes it very compelling to be as a destressing gifmaking go-to. Also Derry Girls, but the Discourse that happened around S3 as well as just a more hit or miss quality of episodes than I was used to, plus just the steadily declining engagement us gifmakers get really makes me focus on what I want to gif in any given moment, giffing for me rather than anyone else.

40. Why do you make gifs?

This is a good one, I love you for sending me this. I just love how gifmaking makes me engage with a piece of media. It leads to me looking at it more clearly, more precisely. I start to pick up patterns in the filmmaking, I can appreciate the acting better, and I get to keep a bit of it moving on my blog, so I don't have to go back to it every time I want to see a specific moment. It relaxes me and is the perfect activity to do when watching a video essay or something similar in the background. To me, it really is a way to appreciate and interact with a piece of media that I love on a different level where I get to pull it apart a little bit and try to figure out how it works, how it stands in relation to itself, to other media. Sometimes, I get to gif things for other people and try to make them smile, so it's a very beloved activity for me.

Gifmaking asks?

[bubblesthemonsterartist]

2021 Creator Self-Love Extravaganza!

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 favorite works (fics, art, edits, etc.) you’ve created this year and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you’ve brought into the world in 2021. If you don’t have five published works, that’s fine! Include ideas/drafts/whatever you like that you’ve worked on/thought about, and talk a little about them instead! Remember, this is all about self-love and positive enthusiasm, so fuck the rules if you need to. Have fun, and tag as many fellow creators as you like so they can share the love! <3

This year I experimented with gifmaking for the first time, so on top of a word count, I have a media!

Years total: 91014 words, 10 fics, and literally hundreds of gifs

1. "At some point in your childhood, you and your friends went outside to play together for the last time, and nobody knew it" - Hakuouki, ensemble, rating: G - It's not every day that I get to bring my own brand of emotional terrorism to a new fandom, but when I do, I make sure to attack the entire fandom as a whole. Bonus points for using a brand-new-to-me medium to do it! :D [gifset]

2. Initiate - Gokushufudou, Tatsu/Friendship, rating: G - My first foray into writing for a fandom outside of AnS! And of course what would inspire me was a brief excursion into the AO3 tag only to discover the tragedy of a mere 9 fics for that wonderful series 😢 There's more now, but this was me pushing the tag into the double digits and I had a lot of fun writing early Tatsu adjusting to his new role as a homemaker (and the friends he made along the way)! [4818 words]

3. A Place at the Table - Akagami no Shirayukihime, Happy Family, rating: G - This is a fic that I drafted back in 2016 when I first joined the fandom and quickly became overwhelmed since I hadn't the practice nor the skill at the time to execute what I wanted. Five years later, I tried again and not only got to write food feels, but also a snap shot of the early Happy Family formation between Ryuu, Shirayuki and Obi! [12231 words]

4. the abyss gazes unto thee - Hakuouki, No Pairing, rating: M for body horror and raising the dead - I raged - RAGED - at Yamazaki's death scene during Sannan's route and clearly there was nothing to be done but right a terrible, terrible wrong. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to write Sannan's voice, too. He is precisely the degree of morally gray that I'm down for apparently. [2198 words]

5. Seraglio, Chapter 3 - Akagami no Shirayukihime, Obiyuki, rating: M - Everything about this AU is like pulling teeth to write because Shirayuki has undergone such a fundamental change to her canon story. Whenever I sit down to type out a new chapter for it, it undergoes multiple fully rewritten drafts and also has to be discussed in depth with @sabraeal on each draft because this is a joint venture and we need to be on the same page when the other half is writing a new chapter. For as much as I complain about, though, I really love the final product. There's something about these two upping their messiness to previously unknown levels that just appeals, ya know? [7702 words]

I'm going to add a new component to this, too, people can choose to skip this part if they want. Future plans! In 2022, I plan on wrapping up Seven Nights (Yamachi) and I Should've Met You Yesterday (Obiyuki); if I am successful there, then I want to get to work posting the tumblr-only follow up. I also want to write a "short" PWP for Spy x Family (Loid/Yor). But my BIG project, I think, is going to be centered on My Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead To Doom! (Maria/Catarina). Of course this is an ambitious line up, but I am excited about each of these pieces and I'm really hoping to share what's in my head with you all! :D

Alright! I'm tagging... @sabraeal, @claudeng80, @onedivinemisfit, @ruleofexception, @infinitelystrangemachinex and anybody else who wants to join in on the fun!

[hickeys-dickey]

Pls share your thoughts about the gays in THAT scene… I would love to read them!

Ahh you are too kind, I am but a little swiss cheese brain but I'll try my best to sum up my thoughts, I have too many! I wanted a chance to grab some screenshots too! I'm going to put a read more because this is a long one buckle up lads.

So obviously the whole punishment for Hickey is designed to humiliate him (I would imagine this is one of the reasons his punishment isn't explained to him, because if Hickey truly was a naval petty officer he would know, and I think it's another way for Crozier to essentially say "I see you" and not in a good way). The fact we're not shown the other whippings shows the importance lies in the scene with Hickey.

I've seen a bit of discussion about his charge of "dirtiness", which isn't listed initially when we see him being questioned by the Captains, and whether or not it alludes to homosexuality but on a quick cursory search it does seem to have been used as a euphemism where an outright accusation of sodomy would mean a death sentence. The way Crozier throws it out there, no doubt to heap the humiliation onto Hickey and add crimes to the list to cover the fact he added lashes on to the punishment essentially for a bruised ego (but that's another matter), suggests a whole lot of venom to the accusation. Hickey's pointed look at Irving and Irving's quick shift of his gaze down suggests they both know exactly why Crozier has listed this among Hickey's list of crimes, and Hickey looks furious for it.

But I think this is also ultimately where the panic begins to set in. Again, there are far greater minds than me who have made excellent posts about queer coded characters in the terror, and I think it's no surprise that most of them are the faces that are focused on in this scence. It is clear long before this moment that Crozier's leadership is lacking, and people have already begun to voice concerns fairly loudly. Tozer for one is livid in the wake of Heather being injured, and the marines have clearly started distancing themselves from both the officers and the men. I feel like this scene, for a lot of characters is a point of major shift in either allegiences or character.

Tozer and the Captains are the first faces that are panned to in this scene and I think the expressions speak for themselves.

Tozer is visibly upset/concerned after the first lash. I do think guilt probably has a part to play, in that is was him whole told Hickey where Silna was, and presumably approved enough of the plan to not rat him out to anyone. Again, very probably part of Tozer's anger at Heather being injured due to what he sees is Crozier's poor management. Fitzjames is stoney faced, but is also the only one looking. As a man who many have noted pushes himself to pick emotional scabs, I think it would make sense for someone who is also notably queer coded and stuggles with trauma to make himself look directly at someone being whipped for a crime he himself might commit. Crozier isn't even looking, whether out of suddenly doubting his harshness or simply triggering something in his own memory it's not clear. I think the end of this shot also speaks for itself.

(Fig 1. Three Concerned (very likely not straight) men contemplate)

The lads at the back behind Mr. Johnson are all looking Directly At the whipping as it is taking place. Interestingly none of the men at the front near the table are looking. This is the stewards, officers, and marines. Whether out of respect or also Concern at their own skins (I think every one of these characters has been addressed as being queer coded at some point, minus the marines who are all, except Tozer, fairly nameless characters).

I'm not a gifmaker which is unfortunate for this section, though this is what is gifed in the beautiful gifset by sashneeka I reblogged (x). Tommy is also visibly upset, whether because he knows Tozer was involved in the plot to kidnap Silna and is concerned for him and any of the rest of the crew who had assisted in someway or voiced support. Billy interestingly does look briefly, and sets his jaw after in a way that suggests he's trying to fight the guilt of being the one to tell Irving about the whole affair with Hickey to paint himself in a better light. It could just as easily be Billy there on that table being lashed, but he somehow rationalises it in his head (probably because Hickey is a little bastard) that he was right in what he did. He does look down fairly guiltily after this, so maybe he hasn't quite settled on an opinion. Jopson also looks incredibly concerned/unsettled, and interestingly looks at Hickey right up until the whip hits where he flinches, and not for the only time in this scene. From what we know about Jopson's past, though not at this point, it may well be he is remembering similar punishment/mistreatment and like Fitzjames looks enough to pick the scab open and flinch from his own trauma.

The closeup of Hickey shows the full extent of his rage and humiliation building, and as I think Adam himself said, they whipped something out of Hickey that day and let him reach this potential that lay inside him (to become an even bigger bastard). He's fully severed all ties and feelings of loyalty after this and it becomes full on train to manipulation station from this point. I have a lot of Thoughts about Hickey also (which I am sure you are all aware of) but I think there was some semblance of Hickey attempting to start afresh on this journey, or at the very least keep his head down and go unnoticed. The trouble is, he notices Crozier as a flawed man, and one not from the upper classes like himself, and his ego can't help but think we're not so different, that could be me with the right connections. Well surprise lads, its murder time now and he's gonna make this old man pay for not recognising initiative but punishing it. I do wonder if Crozier wasn't booze sick and rattled from losing even more men under his command, would he not have come down so harshly for someone clearly defying the Articles to do what he thinks is right and save the men (a la Crozier and his fuck you I'm directly contradicting an order and leading this rescue party myself).

Tozer gets another wee closeup here and again looks like he has resolved something in his head too. Most likely that he thinks Crozier an unfit leader, and admiring Hickey for having the balls to do what he did (Hickey also never reveals anyone else who came with him, and when he talks about Hartnell and Mason's part in taking Silna it highlights their skill and bravery and (he thinks) commends them to the Captain. It's probably the only time we see him building up and applauding others). He looks dead ahead here and seems to have a very steely gaze, like yep fuck it looks like I'm going it alone now. It is interesting that Tozer goes from this to notably disliking Hickey (both at the start and when they are packing up - "you've just given me an excuse to give a big shove". This might be anger at Hickey having caused all the issues with Silna after the fact when Heather gets killed at Carnivale), but still follows him in the end. Hickey has the ability to kill, manipulate, steal, basically do whatever needed for their group to get ahead, which means Tozer can be part of the group and not have to dirty his own hands. I think Tozer probably has a complicated relationship with Hickey, but he does fall for the charm hook, line, and sinker, and the fact he seems concerned for him here suggests how easily he is sympathetic to those he sees as being wronged.

Gibby getting Hickey's blood on his hand (ayy) seems to visibly make him blanch, and I do find it interesting that the shot then pans to Tommy as though they are looking at each other when they are stood side by side. The similarities between them maybe? (I've seen and reblogged a lot of discourse about Tommy loving Tozer, maybe another nod to no one being so different to the man on the table?) Irving doesn't get much of a close up in the rest of this scene but bless him he looks equal parts terrified and guilty (another man who has been noted as having a list of many things to distract from the Gay Thoughts like why do you need to distract from Gay Thoughts Irving?). He also has the Far Off Look of trauma about him, probably because he too could just as easily be on that table.

I have many many thoughts about the way Hickey turns to look (and fucking smile???) at Crozier next, which is when Crozier is looking directly at him and Fitzjames looks at him. Like if I were Crozier I think my fucking blood would chill, look at this man. Being humiliated and lashed still hasn't broken him, if anything he has just become fully unhinged and looks at Crozier as though to say "did you really think this would work?". I would also say, this man has fairly quite for someone who is at this stage something like 22 lashes in? Like what the actual fuck Hickey?? I fully belive Hickey to be a psycopath, and most of what he does in the beginning of the series is an attempt to stay hidden until they get to Hawaii and he can ditch the crew, but I think it is fairly safe to say he isn't hiding it any more.

And he knows this is going to make the men doubt Crozier - I can't do a proper search because I am using my work laptop atm, but I seem to remember reading that a punishment greater than 12 lashes required a court martial (probably why Little steps in to say so when Crozier orders his punishment as well as them technically being lost at sea), which would be another strike against him as a Captain. Not only that, but Crozier does seem to grant him some mercy in letting him only be lashed I think 23 or so times? Probably because the tension is fucking palpable in this whole scene and Crozier can either choose to claw back some sense of control on the matter, or deal with the consequences of many people admiring Hickey for what he has done for the crew and start a mutiny. I think this is the first time Fitzjames sees the damage Crozier is doing to himself with his choices as Captain, and is probably just as concerned at the look Hickey is giving him. He knows this has unleashed something in this tiny rat bastard too, and that he will become the physical manifestation of Crozier's self-destructive tendancies. Crozier perpetually comes to everything just a fraction too late to change anything - he never saves any of the men, only comforts them as they die, and a lot of this has to do with his own ego and bad decision making, and I think this is the first example here of the fact his actions are having an effect on others to the point it will be his downfall.

Anyway, to round it off, I think this scene really epitomises the notion that Hickey is a mirror to the rest of the men, and they see their flaws in him. Those who have questioned Crozier's captaincy look concernced knowing they too could be being lashed. They too would have tried to get Silna to stop the Tuunbaq hunting them. Those who are queer or queer coded know they too could be being lashed for it. Crozier himself sees his unwillingness to follow the Articles in him, sees his own insubordination, and feels what Sir John meant when he said his position afforded him deference. Hickey may as well be a metaphor for all the men being lashed, theres not one among them who haven't voiced wanting to do what he has done. Let them without sin and all that. This is make or break for who holds loyalty to the Captain, and the turning point for who is going where. I think everyone except Jopson, Irving and Fitzjames ends up in the mutineers camp, and Irving ends up killed and mutilated by Hickey and Fitzjames is scavanged by them. Theres not one of them that isn't haunted by what happened in this scene, and Hickey would end up being the death of every single one of them. The only one who remains loyal after this is Jopson, who thinks his care and duty to the Captain can outweigh his other sins. Fitzjames and Crozier have a stronger relationship once he recovers from his withdrawal, yes, but Fitzjames also keeps him in check now (I'm thinking of Edward Little being threatened with flogging again because of course I am), and it is another step too late for Crozier's self-destruction. I've seen a Hickey/Fitzjames Christ analogy on here before too, so I hope you'll forgive me in comparing them, but Hickey in this scene really does get punished for everyone else's crimes in this scene, and becomes a sort of Christ-like figure, reborn as a complete version of the worst of himself from the pain of being lashed. They whipped something out of him!! Anyway, that about sums it up!

[normal-thoughts-official]

Its the way so many people still think that clace was the 'main' couple on the show and they were what kept people coming back🤡

And btw...I LOVE YOU😖

awww ur so sweet udbdidndudn i love u too ❤️

u know, salt and shade aside, i was actually thinking about this the other day, like... malec genuinely was not only what made shadowhunters but what i think will leave its mark on pop culture? at the very least i think it'll shape fandom culture in some way

like, don't get me wrong, i don't think sh was an artistic masterpiece or anything, everyone who follows me knows i have sooooo much criticism for this show rudndidn but bbc sherlock and supernatural were way worse and still shaped fandom culture, you know? pop culture isn't necessarily shaped and influenced by high quality stuff, just impactful stuff, and i think malec definitely applies

idk if it will have an impact on pop culture in general but if it does i think it will be the malec first kiss scene. like, i find it pretty impressive that 5 years afterwards we still remember and celebrate the anniversary of that episode on a considerable scale. ive never seen that before. im not completely sure it will have a lasting impact outside of the fandom a la "luke i am your father" or other iconic scenes lmao but i think it's somewhat possible

and at this point i think it's undeniable that malec/sh will have some kind of impact on fandom culture. it's still in the top 10 most written ships on ao3 two years after the show was cancelled. the fandom is not only still active, but still growing. i get new followers and asks every day; i see new blogs popping up frequently, including blogs dedicated exclusively to sh even though, again, the show has been over for two years. there are new content creators (gifmakers in particular) joining all the time. it's a big fandom and it has influence and i think it will be lasting. and that's all very clearly due to malec

this is not an in depth analysis or anything, i know very little about trend setting and the like, so i might be wrong, but i do have the impression sh has left/is leaving its mark on pop/fandom culture, and it's definitely thanks to malec. idk, i just find it interesting

[anders-hawke]

Hey! What I mean is that when compared to the majority of other people’s gifs, yours are dark, blurry, fast and discolored. The issues you mentioned must be things that the thousands of successful giffers on this website just don’t run into! They clearly don’t end up with low quality, because they have the materials and skills they need. Which you don’t have, because you use the wrong software and apparently have no idea what sharpening is or how to do it. But you keep making gifs anyway, for some reason, instead of comparing what you do with what everyone else does. So I thought you might want some help, so they look up to par with everything else out there.

I was and am fully aware of what you mean, but that doesn’t change the fact that you insulted my fucking hobby. I don’t care if I can’t make gifs like everyone else’s, I make them for me to the best of my ability and it says a lot about you that you feel that it’s justified and okay to come into my inbox and criticize me. You have no fucking idea what my gifmaking process is.

I do sharpen and I do lighten and I do increase saturation, but even if the only thing I did was cut up the recordings and save them as gifs, it still wouldn’t make you justified. Using premiere pro is a choice that, having used both that and photoshop, I made knowing that I’m more comfortable with one than the other.

I have no obligation to make my gifs the way everyone else does. I have no obligation to measure my fucking gifs against other people’s. I have no obligation to make my gifs “up to par” because guess fucking what? THERE’S NO BAR! THERE’S NO FUCKING MEASUREMENT OF “OH YOUR GIFS DON’T MEET THIS STANDARD SO YOU CAN’T POST THEM” BECAUSE THAT’S NOT HOW THE GODDAMN INTERNET WORKS!

[legolaslovely]

Walking on Snow

A/N: THIS IS MUSHY AND I DON’T CAREEEEEE I love this elf so much!!!!! I hope you guys enjoy this one!

Pairing: Legolas x Human!Reader

Word Count: 1,093

Warnings: literally none

Summary: (Y/N) and Legolas met during the Quest of the Ring, never quite voicing their feelings for each other amid the world ending chaos. Now, in times of peace, Legolas and snow have come to pay (Y/N) a visit. Feelings are CLEAR, but will they talk about it? (Spoiler alert: NO!!!!!)

And now my favorite gif because it’s my favorite thank you to the gifmaker

Legolas was stirred by the sound of a small gasp followed by speeding footsteps outside. He sat up next to the hearth that was still warm from long conversations the night before, and looked to the not quite closed door of the small home. Next to it hung a warm coat, completely forgotten. He smiled and took it on his way out.

It was easy to follow the messy trail of boot marks that were dug deep in the many inches of snow. Over the yard, through the gate, around the back of the barn and into the meadow, watching his own feet lay atop the snow instead of sinking in the cold, white fluff. Then the tracks stopped.

He looked up and held a hand in front of his face, catching the snowball that was hurdling toward him. His gentle fingers allowed the compact snow to remain in a perfect sphere. He tossed it and let it fall, it too sinking below his feet. “Nice try, mellon nîn.”

(Y/N) descended, climbing down the branches and landing gracefully on her feet before him. Her smile was bright despite her failed attempt. “You knew it was going to snow,” she said. “That’s why you came visiting.”

Legolas dusted wet flakes from her hair. “I came visiting because I wanted to see you.”

She circled him, fingers weaved together behind her back, boots crunching. “But you picked this day...” her toes lifted her to his ear. “Because you knew it was going to snow!”

He turned. “Yes, I knew.” He spoke over her protests. “And I didn’t tell you because I wanted you to be surprised. I’ve never seen you happier than when you wake up to a fresh blanket of snow.”

“I am happier than even that when you visit.” 

He hummed, lifting her face and running his thumb over her chin.

“How long will you stay?” she asked.

His kissed her forehead, warm lips over cold skin. She knew he was stalling. “I must leave for the forest in the morning.”

She looked out over the smooth, creamy meadow that was just starting to reflect the dawn’s light. The sun was rising, a menacing reminder that time moves on and steals away perfect moments. “The snow will have melted by then.”

“Let’s enjoy it while we can,” he said, taking her hand and leading her along the treeline and further into the silent field. The branches above twinkled with rays of light, leaving (Y/N)’s treat to drip and disappear. She leaned into his side as they slowly walked along, his feet floating on top of the snow while hers were quickly buried.

“It rarely snows in Gondor, especially this time of year. What are the trees saying about it?” 

He smirked. This was her usual question for him to distract from the problems of home. It was her way to bringing him to the things he loved, including her. “They are telling you to put on your coat.” He held it out for her to slide her arms into. She laughed and did so.

“The trees are quite nosy today,” she said. 

He turned her around, taking his time with the buttons. Then he pulled a pair of green gloves out of the pocket. “These too.”

“What are these?” she asked.

“A gift. For the one whose hands are always cold.”

The green fabric shimmered in the light, showing off perfect stitching and the embroidery down the wrists. Clearly warm, but not over sized or bulky, made my the most talented elves in Legolas’ land. (Y/N)’s own hands were already red and shriveling, even after the short time they’d spent unprotected from the cold. “They’re gorgeous, Legolas. Thank you. But I don’t want to wear them just now.”

He allowed her fingers to run through his hair, slide down his cheek, over his lips, to land on his chest. “Greed now will cause you pain later,” he said, lifting her pink hands and kissing them.

“It’ll be worth it.”

He hummed, trying not to smile, which would encourage her. He failed.

“Now, teach me to walk on the snow!” she said. She laughed at his expression and took his hands. “Come now, I’m a rather graceful human and I’ve spent enough time with you to know your ways-”

“And defy them.”

Her lips pressed into a thin, curved line and she looked up at him from under heavy brows. “Teach me.”

His fingers slid from her hands to her forearms, gripping them firmly. He took a deep breath. “This is not something we learn, mellon nîn.” 

“Just try.” 

He led her, one step and she fell into the snow, giggling. “Keep your feet flat.”

“They are!”

“Your boots are too heavy.”

Step, sink. Step sink. Then, she stepped up on the untouched snow. The stiff film over the fluff supported her. Another tentative step. The snow didn’t cave in under her weight. Legolas looked up from her boots to see her mouth wide open in a surprised, joyous grin. 

Then they both heard a crack from beneath. “No, no!” she cried, but Legolas caught her before she could sink down to the dead grass. 

With an arm tight around her waist, Legolas walked her through the meadow like a pair of buoys floating in the sea. He risked a glance and found her watching him with a fond smile- something he’d never seen from any other human. Small and shy, yet heedless of any rules or judgement. Something inherently (Y/N). The reason he’d fallen in love with her.

While he was distracted, her boot seemed to catch and down she went, flailing, stuck in Legolas’ arms. But the elf was quicker and he caught his human, landing in the snow first as her warm cushion. 

The snow tickled his ears and ran wet against his back. It would have been an incredibly uncomfortable feeling if she wasn’t lying on him. “You planned this,” he said over her mad giggles. 

“Maybe.”

He grabbed her pink cheeks and kissed her. Everything about her was cold. He  should have given her the coat sooner, forced the gloves on her hands, brought her inside for tea. But in this moment, all he could think about was her weight on him, the closeness they now shared, and her soft lips that he didn’t want to give back.

“Come home with me.”

Her brows flew up. “A human in Mirkwood?”

“Exactly,” he said.

That fond smile appeared before she kissed him once more.

@emrfangirl​ @misslongcep​ @raindancer2004​ @ladybugg1235​ @xxbyimm​ @burningcoffeetimetravel​ @fizzyxcustard​ @fire-flv​ @nerdbirdsworld​ @dashesofink​ @teagarages​ @dark-angel-be-thirsty-af​ @zulfiya-the-warrior-princess​ @winchesterandpie

[zhoufeis]

Do you have any favourite gifmakers in the Julie and the Phantoms fandom?

Indeed I do. Lemme point out though that we have tons of nice gifmakers in this fandom. No one is perfect and there is no such a thing as a perfect gif. Most gifmakers have a certain style they stick with and develop and improve. I try to gif various styles since I usually get inspired by others and then wanna see if I can do something similar to what they have done so nicely. So the following list is of people who have come across my dash various times and I would go “wooowwww, I wanna be able to do this”. Their styles are rather different from each other but I enjoy all of them and how these certain people work with these styles. What’s not in here are people who oversaturate, oversharpen, overdo gradient colorings, or have too much movement because each gif consists of 5 different gifs. I do love colorful gifs, I do love blending, I also love dark-ish gifs and I appreciate natural colorings so much. But I want it to be aesthetically pleasing. And these people I mention, they’re inspirations to me.

@lettersdeeplyworn If you ask which gifsets most likely appear on my dash and I get JEALOUS of how cleanly and perfectly and artistically the gifs are edited and I literally don’t even know how some of the things are done on Photoshop, very high chance the gifset is Gabi’s. Never talked to her, I believe. But I admire her from afar.

@gillespiecharlie Cece. Never talked to her either. I think I may have tagged her in a bunch of my ugly edits, which I’m very sorry for. Her gifs are clean, lit, and yet, she’s got a way with colors. I really adore this style. Because it’s so clean, I also suppose it has to do with the sharpening, I don’t know, but she still somehow manages to intentionally apply colors and... it still looks clean??? Like how even??? The more color goes into my gifsets, the less clean my gifs get. So, once again, I’m so freaking jealous of this style.

@stydixa Talking about clean gifs, Adeline is the queen of those. I admire her style because she can lit make EVERY scene look natural and clean. It doesn’t matter how badly the source material was oversaturated or undersaturated or too bright or too dark or anything. You give her a scene, she can gif it naturally. As if it was supposed to be exactly like that.

@charligillespie (@lucifersmorningstars) Another very talented person in this fandom is Engy. I think she hasn’t reblogged me once but no hard feelings, I just lowkey need attention. But she’s very talented. Her range of giffing is somewhere between the two people mentioned before. I don’t know, seeing her gifs on my dash always makes me smile because you can just tell that she knows what she’s doing.

@sunsetscurve Once again, this leads me to Haia who is yet another talented person who is able to gif scenes incredibly natural, clean and without the lack of contrasts. Very jealous of her giffing style as well. Every 540px gif she makes just slays.

@beccs and @danisclayton are cross-fandom blogs for me whom I have reblogged/queued for other fandoms as well. Clean and nice, every fandom’s heroes for making edits that look natural and perfect.

@kennyortegas is the most colorful gifmaker on this list. Lee enjoys colors, clearly, and also uses gradients sometimes but she never exaggerates. I really enjoy her gifs because the style she’s using is usually not my favorite, but she does her gifs in a way that I admire her style anyway, very much, actually. So <3

@carolineeforbes I don’t know her. She’s useless. Most useless person on earth. The reason why I don’t reblog her is because I’m a lazy btch and she has accepted that. As I said, I don’t know her. Haven’t known her for some years. She steals my giffing styles. No, she doesn’t. She improves them, actually, which is very bothersome and makes me very jealous and competitive. Anyway, like me, she doesn’t really have one certain giffing style. She’s my artsy soulmate, so we try to create unique and special colorings, while getting inspired by people as the ones above. Anny’s an artistically free spirit in giffing therefore and I love all of her things. Too bad she hasn’t made more gifs of JatP yet.

P.S.: If you’re not on the list, it either means I haven’t come across your gifsets (solution: tag me in your edits) or I just know your gifs are amazing and I admire you for improving your Photoshop skills constantly. This here is just a personal preference of gifmakers that I simply admire a looooot. All of you gifmakers out there are amazing and who am I to judge anyway?