#i couldn't stick to one gifset

[mysecretwindowuniverse]

1x7 | Penguin's Umbrella ☔

How could I not dedicate an entire oversized gifset to the incredible Falcone revelation?

[trueloveistreacherous]

Hello, everyone!

So I decided to do another celebration, because I had so much with my previous one (and because I couldn't do another classic follow forever anymore because of that stupid character limit, couldn't tag all the blogs I love). I still can't believe I have been here for 12 years now lmao and a lot of people are still following me, so I wanted to show my appreciation once again to all of my followers! I am so grateful for all the love you’ve been sending me (whether through your tags on my gifsets, people tagging me in their gifsets or your sweet messages) for all these years I’ve been in this site. Thank you so much for following me and sticking with me and my multifandom mess of a blog.

For this celebration, here are the rules:

you must be following me

reblogging this post is not required but is appreciated

Then you can send me the following:

📺 + a tv show episode for a timestamp roulette gifset

✨ + two characters/ships/dynamics/shows for a make me choose gifset

📝 + a show/ship/character and a song lyric/quote/poem of your choice and I’ll make a gifset of it. here are some examples: x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x and x or i can make something like this: x and x. (I’d like for your requests in this to be specific as possible!)

💜 + list a few of your favorite things/interests (regardless if I know them or not) for a special gifset from me! (mutuals only)

TV shows I can gif: brooklyn nine nine, parks and recreation, the good place, abbott elementary, only murders in the building, ted lasso, barry, russian doll, the bear, the get down, ER, severance, leverage, leverage: redemption, the nanny, the office, icarly (2021), a league of their own, girls5eva, freaks and geeks, the afterparty, poker face, mythic quest, shrinking, bad sisters, hacks, atypical, shadowhunters, euphoria

All the posts I’ll be making for this celebration will be on the #marellas12thyearceleb tag! You can also check all the stuff I made in my previous celebration here!

Tagging some mutuals below the cut:

@montygreen, @nessa007, @jakeyp, @benjiwyatt, @forbescaroline, @royalarmyofoz, @narliee, @userlarri, @dani-clayton, @siobhans-roy, @rosamundpkes, @scratchybeardsweetmouth, @janinegregory, @crowley-anthony, @nick-nellson, @amy-santiagos, @maisieepeters, @katecastle, @chandler-monica, @mcbride, @b99peraltiago, @gilliandersons, @sophiedevreaux, @levy-tran, @veryfrstnight, @prideandprejudice, @softdavidrose, @useyourtelescope, @shivgirly, @petersthree, @laurabenanti, @singularities, @rebecca-weltons, @morgana-pendragon, @jakeperalta, @bellamysgriffin, @sharpesjoy, @saw-x, @matlillard, @fawad-khan, @damn-salvatore, @tylrgalpins, @stydixa, @gamoraswonder, @kitsebastianconnor, @miriammaisel, @hauntedlilies, @rachelsennot, @riley-keoughs, @kitconnor

[figuringitoutasigoalong]

Could you tell us your favorite iteration of raph and why

Oh that's an easy one! That would have to be 2003 Raph!

I mean, look at this boy! Do you see him? Do you see this boy? Do you?

I mean, yes, all of the other versions of Raph are nice too, don't get me wrong. 87 Raph is a funny little dude, who can have a short temper here and there, but is mostly there for the sarcasm and I love it. 12 Raph does have some anger issues, but he also can be very caring and to me is just trying to find a way to balance all the parts of himself out. Rise Raph is a sweetheart and a teddy bear and took on so much. 90s Movie Raph loved life and just wanted his brothers safe and alright and wanted more for all of them. 07 Raph still wanted to do good, and was able to realize and learn from mistakes. Bayverse Raph would die for his family, and was upset when he was left for dead, because he felt like he'd failed them. Even Next Mutation Raph, as goofy as that show was, was still good, sticking up for Venus a couple of times, if I remember correctly. And Mutant Mayhem Raph is passionate and clearly cares about his brothers, he just covers how much with some tough-guy attitude.

But 2003 Raph? Oh, he's top tier to me! I mean, look at this guy!

He's protective.

Like, how many times have we seen him jump in the way to protect a brother, or be outraged on a brother's behalf? There are so many gifsets of him being protective to Don, and that's just one brother. There's so many other instances of him being protective towards Mikey and Leo too! Like when Mikey runs into that other prisoner when they're in the Triceriton prison, and Raph gets in front of Mikey--of all of them--and is ready to fight the dude.

He's got his brother's backs.

I mean, this ties in with being caring, but the dude is constantly backing up his family, and getting upset when things aren't fair or right for them. Look at how upset he got in season four, when Mikey had to face Kluh down again, and the magic was messed with. Yeah, he was ready for Mikey to get taken down a peg or two, because of Mikey's bragging, but the minute it was clear something was wrong, that Mikey was getting hurt, Raph's first words were "That's not right!" And in the City at War arc, even when he didn't agree with Leo's decision to involve them, he still ended up getting Splinter and going back to fight alongside his family.

He obviously loves his family.

Have you seen the affection this boy pours out? Worrying about Don when he's overworking in Return to the Underground. Clearly worried out of his mind when he thought Mikey was seriously injured in The Shredder Strikes. Helping Leo reforge his swords after the Shredder broke them. How upset he was that they couldn't find Splinter after they took out Foot HQ. And there's no way we can forget Tales of Leo. And that's not counting all the little physical things, like touches, helping brothers with things, and just so many small ways.

He's respectful.

Just go watch Touch and Go. Like seriously. Random old lady mistakes him for someone else, and he's all just like "yes ma'am" and "sorry ma'am" and helps her move boxes. Like, he is just the most respectful and I am so, so, so here for it. And it's not just with her. He's respectful with April, with Splinter, with anyone, unless he thinks they don't deserve it, and even then, he'll not go out of his way to be intentionally rude to him, although he's definitely not one to let opportunities slide.

He's caring.

Again, this ties in heavily with most of the above, but he genuinely cares about others. Helping Mrs. Morrison, trying to get Tyler to safety and then helping him get his mom back, being kind to the cat, Lucy, looking after April and Casey, trying to protect Cody, and, again, all of the moments with his brothers.

And yet he's still a goofy teenage boy.

I mean, looking all of this. Noogies, silly faces, pranking Casey with his brothers--he's just having fun! He's still a teenager, still just a kid, but he's got such a complex character and is just so, so, so good!

And we can't forget the SAINW hug. Like, that's a must.

Like this boy is just so well written--I think all of the characters in 2003 are, tbh--and I just absolutely love how complex and deep they make them. This Raph, to me, has layers that the other Raphs either don't have, or were executed not as well. Even with 2003 Raph's hot-headedness, we can clearly see how it effects him, and how he eventually learns to use it, even if it still does get him in trouble sometimes.

Like, 2003 Raph is my favorite Raph, and so far no other Raph has come close, and if I wasn't about to run off to church I'm sure I could articulate why better. But hopefully this'll be enough!

[nobrakes]

looking back at that mary oliver gifset you made head in my hands because you couldn’t have picked a more perfect Daniel poem at a more perfect time. reading the full one heart aching in the best way knowing this year he’s “practicing” :(((( <3

I love this poem in terms of Daniel scholarship sooo much!!! (and also Mary Oliver....is just MWAH).

The way that the line: "I went closer and I did not die" makes me think of the brutal "decline" he went through during these last two years. How every weekend we thought it couldn't get worse and then somehow it did, because the reiterated pain just kept making it feel as if it was worse. The highs were high, the lows were...well...really low.

Then obviously the line I chose to add to the gifs was the middle of the poem "Then said my friend Daniel, (brave even among lions), It's not the weight you carry but how you carry it - books, bricks, grief - it's all in the way you embrace it, balance it, carry it when you cannot, and would not, put it down"

To me this hits pretty hard because despite seeing how anyone would be absolutely miserable and hopeless in that situation, he still showed up every weekend trying to keep a positive attitude, he refused to shit talk [redacted] and continued taking responsibility even when we KNOW that it's not everyone who would have handled the kind of pressure he was under without lashing out. We KNOW that there are drivers that get way less shit and lose their minds to the media, on the radio, etc. And he never did that.

But obviously, the final part of the poem is INTEGRAL in terms of the significance of his choices. The idea of leaving, of being practically kicked out by a team he dreamed of being a part of, a team to which he deliver a win after 12 years, could, for anyone, cause significant resentment, but to him, they don't. He chooses to keep laughing, to not let that ruin his moments on the sport. He makes difficult decisions, and sticks to them because of that thing of when you feel, in your soul, that you need this, "admiring the things in this world that are kind and maybe also troubled". Maybe this was all for a reason. Being with his family, admiring other things in life, living beyond his love for the sport, which has its own very complicated relationship of love and hate and pain and glee. "A love to which there is no reply?"

[disastardly]

5, 9, 22 for salty asks!

Oooh thank you for the asks! I spent way too much time thinking about these, haha.

5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?*

"Ruined" might be a strong word - I was never much of a Harringrove shipper (though I def saw the chemistry/sexual tension) but god that is just such a toxic barrel of snitty arguing and shit-flinging that I avoid almost all Harringrove content on sight. (Even stuff by authors I typically like.)

I like Lawrusso from their interactions on the show, but jesus so much of the fanfic is saccharine sweet and wildly OOC, I just couldn't engage with that side of the fandom. Johnny's a writhing ball of toxic masculinity and insecurity. Daniel's a pretentious weeaboo with a stick up his ass. They're both hung up on the past. Gimme more of that. That's why I love them.

Other than that, I feel like being in the fandom has changed my mind on certain pairings, especially canon or seemingly endgame ones. I'm generally a multi-shipper, as long as it makes sense, but Mileven and Stancy are much bigger mehs for me since I got more into the ST fandom scene. Modern PRMF fanfic turned me from Chip/Vida to Chip/Vida/Xander. I was always on-board for Shassie, but fandom has made it hard to watch the heavier-handed Shules episodes, which makes it harder to watch later Psych content in general.

A kind of niche one (maybe not on this hellsite) but Juliette and Cal on First Kill were a huge letdown after all the thought pieces and gifsets I saw here. They were okay, but the chemistry was mid and the writing was so inconsistent, I had a hard time connecting with them after the expectations set by the fandom.

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

Oh this is a tough one. Like of course I dislike Billy Hargrove, he's made to be a piece of shit with dubiously redemptive potential. Same for guys like Jason Carver - if I dislike them, the writers did their jobs right.

Every time Mineta appears on MHA, I groan internally and externally. I know anime is probably cheating but god that little shit gets on my nerves. Honestly, any anime character that exists purely to be pervy comic relief immediately activates my fight or flight response.

22. Popular character you hate?

I don't hate Tommy Oliver, per se, but he's so fucking over-saturated in modern PR media, I just want more from other legacy Rangers and seasons.

Kusaka from KR Faiz - another character I'm meant to dislike but god he's so popular in certain circles and I know it's because the actor is likable but Kusaka himself is so punchable and the cause of so many problems throughout the season, including keeping one of my favorite pairings (Takumi/Yuuji) on opposite sides.

Is Tori from Cobra Kai popular? I like the idea of her but god the writing is so inconsistent, it's like the writers wanted a female Robby but couldn't figure out her redemption arc the way they did his. (Not that his was great but hers is just a scattershot of redemptive tropes and the writers going 'eh? eh?')

[saltpepperbeard]

“For the first time, I look at him and realize that ablaze with the fake flames, he is dazzling. And I must be too.”

[mapofstars-archived]

as of november, i officially joined tumblr one year ago! 

the past year has been one of the most difficult of my life, but joining this community has allowed me a safe space to be myself and find others that share my interests. i am so grateful to have found the people and learned the things that i have, so to show that, i want to hold a little celebration for everyone!

firstly, from now on i will be tracking the tag #userkenna!

below are more interactive celebrations for anyone to get in on the fun.

REQUESTS PAGE

REQUEST A GIFSET DEDICATED TO YOU — leave your name or url & a request and i will be sure to dedicate the set to you!

REQUEST ANY SHOW, FILM, PERSON, OR CHARACTER — furthermore, you can request anything for a gifset, even if i have never heard of it. be sure to be specific (specify show, person, episode, etc.).

MAKE ME CHOOSE — leave two shows, people, characters, etc. for me to choose from and i will make a gifset of it! if you’re unsure whether i know of one or both of the options, check my blog or send an ask (anon or not) & i will be happy to let you know.

lastly, i would like to especially thank my three best friends.

@nairobis – the one who taught me how to start making gifs in the first place. of course, you're so much more than that to me, but i wanted everyone to know that you got me here! you taught me the thing that provides me so much joy right now and im so grateful for your patience in that. you're one of the funniest and most supportive and wonderful people i know. you're always behind me 100% even when im being stupid or you have no idea what im rambling on about. knowing you is a gift, so thank you for allowing me to.

@lesbianmailee – it's crazy to think i haven't known you all my life. you feel like someone who has been there for every milestone; like family. you're so kind and patient with me. you hype me up like no one else. your passion for things is inspiring and so joyful. you don't always see how absolutely special you are but i will never let you forget. you're my sibling, my family, my best friend. thank you.

@regentofkatolis – there's always so much and not enough to say to you. you've taught me so many things over the years; patience, communication, acceptance. you've shown me parts of myself i couldn't accept before and taught me how to love them. you stick by me even when i feel so alone. you talk with me forever about our favorite things. you banter with me and don't hate me when i don't realize ive gone too far. thank you for being my friend and my family. thank you for introducing me to this place and my best friends. thank you for you.

tagging some of my lovely mutuals as well as some of my favorite blogs! don’t feel pressured to boost or get involved, but it would be so appreciated!

@quietmisery @twerkforambrose @god-forbid-fate-should-step-in @dilfcolbert @zukkorrasami @starrylang @choledecker @sourpeter @sammy-babes @meganskane @jhiddles03 @lowensashleigh @ilaheys @watercoloredlie @livirigo @lefaysmorgana @wonderlandhatter @thekidsarentalright @lordeaesthetic @paintedvanilla @lvndrmenace @ellesgreenaway @cherrybracelets @natalliaromanov @buffy-summrs @natasharomanovf @okoyes @tina-snow @userachilles @agentholland @shurii @dizzees @sucessions @juliastiles @buckysbarnes @bayekofsiwas @sharpay @mikaelsongifs @rockyblue @melodramas @lizzie-saltzman @userhades @dani-clayton @buckybarness @volcra @buffysummers @xuwenwu

[braceletofteeth]

Hey,I just finished watching Strangers from hell and I have SO MANY questions. Also I strongly believes Moonjo didn't die for so many reasons. I also this theory that maybe the entire thing was Jongwoo's novel?Will there be any other season with all the explanations?I really loved this series, so much to the point that I'm sending asks based on it on tumblr lol :P I never did that. Another thing is which episode did Kihyuk talked about Jongwoo to Moonjo? I saw your post on that but can't linkit

Hello~ I hope you're doing well!

First, let me welcome you! It's always nice to meet someone who liked the drama so much that after watching it they still have questions and are creating theories of their own (this is how they get you, and make you stay in this fandom forever XD). I would love to hear your theories about how/why Moonjo survived, by the way, if you ever feel like sharing them (I'm with you in this one! Moonjo is definitely still alive, and the proof is in the drama, for all that look for it to find).

About the idea of the entire thing being Jongwoo's novel, I think it's plausible to imagine that, since Jongwoo could have written it at any point after Eden (a lot of people believe that it's the story he's writing in his laptop at the end of episode 10). Jongwoo could be manipulating the narrative and, naturally, the audience, since he's unreliable (*cough* a liar *cough*).

I don't know about explanations, but, the channel that produced the drama, OCN, announced that there was another season (a prequel) and a movie in their plans (**however, it has been almost a year without any news from them, so we're starting to think of it as a dream/collective hallucination we had once).

To be frank, the sole reason my blog was created in the first place was because I had many thoughts about Strangers From Hell, that I just couldn't keep to myself anymore, so I understand on a personal level what is coming here to do things you never did before watching this drama (actually, the first time I ever received an ask was because of it! I didn't even know I needed to enable the option to receive them in the blogs I had in the past 😅 I learned and did a lot by being part of this fandom. The people here are really nice and have many interesting ideas; I'm certain you'll have a good time if you stick around!).

About Kihyuk talking to Moonjo about Jongwoo... That never happened. I was actually not sure about what you could be referring to, until I remembered the AU I made—not part of canon, just me playing with what ifs and alternative realities. I signalled it in the caption of the gifset, but I understand it could have caused a misunderstanding. I'm sorry that it happened (it would be cool if it was true, though, wouldn't it? ☺).

Well, now... If you have any more questions, wants to ramble about something, or need anything, anything at all, you know where to find me! Know that I'm thrilled to receive you in the family and will fully support you <3

See ya! o/

[rinkrats]

I love how in a gifset full of Sid’s pretty face... you have a a gif of just his gunky hat in all its disgusting glory 😂 God, he’s so gross and yet I love him WHY IS HE THIS WAY 👏🏽

IT IS THE GROTTIEST 😭 here are a few cap-related stories in its honour:

1. Sidney Crosby is an extremely superstitious player. Every little detail, every element that could make a difference in the outcome of a match, you can be sure he saw it.

“His superstitions could be exhausting,” said Oceanic coach Doris Labonte. “The place where we went to eat the last time we visited a certain city, the chair I was sitting on, the tie I was wearing. I don’t think he really believed it, but it was his way of having fun, of relaxing. The worst was his famous Nordiques cap. It was dirty, wrecked, but he kept putting it on and we kept winning. At one point, we hid it. We haven’t done that often. When he’s angry, he’s angry!”

-Superstitious and generous, Dec 2006

2. A couple of things are settled for Crosby for next season.

He plans to live with the family of team co-owner and retired Hall of Fame player Mario Lemieux for a third season.

“You won't have to ask me next year," Crosby said. "I'll commit now and say I'll be back at Mario's.”

Crosby also will have a new Penguins cap, replacing the sweat-stained black one he kept at his locker stall all season out of superstition and that yesterday had this message taped to it:

“Please wash me. I can't stand this anymore. -Hat”

-Crosby played on broken foot, April 22 2007

3. It’s a regular Penguins hat… The difference, though, is this particular model has "BRYCE" stitched on one side, and "MAKE-A-WISH" on the other. The hat looked to be black at one point, but through constant wear, it's faded and now features blondish-brown sweat stains.

The hat was a present from 10-year-old Bryce Cunningham. Cunningham was supposed to bowl with Crosby at a team-sponsored charity bowling event... but Crosby had to skip the event due to a case of strep throat.

Bryce was doubly disappointed because he also had a present for Crosby. It's a fan's right to criticize a player for how he performs on the ice, but that's not what bothered Bryce.

Don Cunningham told NHL.com his son's interests were a bit more esoteric: “We happened to notice on some of the interviews that Sid was doing after the games, and my son said, ‘Look at that hat, it's terrible; a guy with all his money, why wouldn't he get a new hat?’ I said I don't know.”

Don said the decision was made to get Crosby a new hat. When Crosby couldn't attend the event, Don said he approached Dan Potash, a reporter for FSN Pittsburgh, and asked if he would give the hat to Crosby the next night in Toronto.

“Usually I just have a hat a year kind of thing and stick with it,” Crosby told NHL.com. “I had been wearing one a lot until two months before the season ended, then he gave me this one and said the other one was a little too dirty, so I switched it up. We started to win some games and it worked out pretty good.”

-Crosby offers a lift of the lid to Cunningham, April 27 2009

[chuuyagum]

♡ Winter 2021 Anime I Dropped ♡

as of now this is the anime i've already dropped for the season! i have a 3-episode rule where, if after 3 episodes, the anime hasn't caught my attention i'll drop it to save myself time. i'd rather not force myself to watch something i know i won't enjoy! sometimes i do drop them sooner if it's that bad

---♡---

Vlad Love

honestly.......i don't have much to say here. while i initially found the premis interesting, the speed at which the main characters are suddenly girlfriends was uh? quick that's for sure! and while i understand it's meant to be humorous, i didn't really find anything funny about the school nurse constantly stripping for no reason in the middle of school hours and constantly hitting the main character. blood fetish was the main point of humor in this story, and i can tolerate a bit of ecchi in anime, but this really hit all the wrong notes for me. instead of laughing i just sat there wondering why i still had the tab open

Project Scard: Scar on the Praeter

i wanted so desperately to like this one! i've enjoyed anime by GoHands before, but like i mentioned in a post before, this was overkill. its like they didn't know when to stop. usually we complain about under done animation and can nitpick where improvement could have happened. here its the opposite, there's too much going on. there's so many textures, reflections, and moving pieces with very little contrast between the foreground and background, making it almost impossible to focus on what's happening. in gifsets this anime will look wonderful, but when you watch a full scene you realize there's no anchor points for your eye to settle on. this is what overachieving and still failing looks like

Ex-Arm

i genuinely don't even know what this is about, i couldn't get past 5min because for some reason only the protag looks 3D when no one else does and it's not even good 3D. as of writing this the anime literally has a 2.24/10 on My Anime List and only 3 episodes have aired so far. did they even have a budget when they made this?

Hortensia Saga

i don't really have anything negative to say about this one, its a pretty standard medieval fantasy anime, but thats what put me off wanting to continue it. there's a lack of originality, there's nothing in the first few episodes that makes me want to root for or support a specific character. plus the action sequences were kinda lackluster. basically it's boring; unless this is your favorite type of story and you're interested in something that sticks to tropes pretty closely, or you're a fan of the game it's based on, you're going to be snoring really quickly

Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun / Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki

12min in and i was rolling my eyes so hard it started to hurt. what seems like a story about a gamer who makes friends and gains a girlfriend really just boils down to, well. pretentious gamer boy meets a pretentious gamer girl and she.....teaches him how to be a normie and blend in with the rest of society by dressing nicer? i guess? this could have been decent if it was played off in a comedic way, but instead it's handled really seriously and as a result i couldn't take it seriously at all. the more the characters monologued about how unfair and difficult life is because they look slightly different or had different interests than most people, the further they dug a sad and pathetic pitty hole to lie in. this feels like a horrible message to send to people who feel somewhat isolated from their peers and decide to blame it on these small incongruities instead of practicing some interspection, or seeking professional help if their problems are that severe

---♡---

[suwuminshan]

#ShowYourProcess

From planning to posting, share your process for making creative content! To continue supporting content makers, this tag game is meant to show the entire process of making creative content: this can be for any creation. RULES — When your work is tagged, show the process of its creation from planning to posting, then tag 5 people with a specific link to one of their creative works you’d like to see the process of. Use the tag #showyourprocess so we can find yours!

I was tagged by@melodious-tear for this gifset thank youu!!~

Planning: what would make people care about Su She when his existence barely gets acknowledged at all apart from memetic hate? apparently the answer, as shown here and here, is FaceApp. I decided on the SuYao Jinlintai meeting because his face journey here is the best thing, from timid to No Thoughts Head Empty Only Lianfang-Zun in like 0.3 seconds. you can see his universe rearrange itself in real time. I need others to appreciate that as well ;w;

Programs/Apps/Tools: FaceApp, Clip Studio Paint Pro, this site to combine GIFs

Preparing: so, FaceApp. it does not have a function to do edits in bulk, or for videos, at least not where I could find it. okay, no problem, I said like a fool, I'll just put every frame through it individually. 105 frames in total, let's go. FaceApp also does not save edits in order, and there isn't a good way to see which images I did already, so I had to sort the correct sequence by hand after and sift out accidental duplicates, which. hm. hnnnnn-

Editing: FaceApp free version saves images in low quality with a watermark. okay, no problem, I said like a goddamn fool, I only need the face and hair so after removing noise and sharpening everything I'll just mask it and put the non-FaceApp frames below. That worked out fine for the first GIF; the head movements are minimal enough for me to get away with one mask for the whole animation folder. Laziness wins!

For the second GIF I had to mask each frame individually, roughly, with my mouse because my surface tablet couldn't handle the file for some reason.

rip my wrist.

worth it? who's to say :/

I wanted to keep this one close to the original in colour, just enhance it a bit. the layers I used are: - (correction layer) normal, Brightness/Contrast: 5/10, 100% opacity - overlay, solid colour #974B33, 15% opacity - (correction layer) normal Brightness/Contrast: 0/20, 100% opacity

Posting: the next day, to wait if I catch any errors after resting my eyes. I actually did make a biiig mistake, but since it would've been v tedious to fix.. *chucks this out there anyways*

Conclusion: I'm still fairly happy with how it turned out, and especially with the reactions and nice tags!!! :3 but also, wow this was. an embarrassing amount of effort and I'm sure there would've been an easier way to do it. if I ever get it in my head to do something like this again, please, someone, beat me with a stick.

ah, idk who to tag :x

[agentmarymargaretskitz]

Upon thinking about it more, I do want to say that I was absolutely NOT disappointed with Buck Begins. It was really good! Oliver Stark and Jennifer Love Hewitt and the actors who played the younger versions of them were all amazing!

I also 100% read Buck as being bisexual in the episode. He was absolutely flirting with the guy at the bar! And a bi person is still bi even when they're with someone of a different gender, I would never claim otherwise! I'm bisexual myself, I get it. I was just hoping for it to be explicitly stated in canon is all. Or even if they didn't use the word (like most network shows don't), they they would show him having a fling with a guy or something! I just want Buck to be canonically bisexual so bad, and it felt like a huge missed opportunity.

I just... felt more emotionally from the prior episode. The "Love me anyway" line from 4x04 absolutely broke me. I wish I had felt more from Buck's emotional state in the factory fire. Like I said, I think the lack of reaction from the other characters when the explosion happened. I felt robbed of Bobby and Chimney and Eddie's reactions. If you look closely you can see the fear in their eyes, but... I was hoping for a little more.

(I was also not expecting any sort of a big reaction from Eddie like lots of fans were, because that's just not who he is. There was just almost nothing shown, which was disappointing.)

Thr firefam having his back was peak poetic cinema and I will forever be grateful for that moment.

And I *know* things were different because of Covid. I just... even trying to de-hype it in my mind going in, I ended up feeling a bit disappointed.

Maybe it's just because Chimney Begins was so amazing and I can't help but compare the Begins episodes? Even though I'm trying not to... god I wish I could love it the way so many other fans did!

Also, Nurse Omar is my new favorite side character. I loved how invested he got with Buck's life! And he seemed like the only person who Maddie could actually call a friend at the time. And how he desperately tried to get her to leave Doug, but he couldn't force her to, so he just supported her however he could. He was great and I was glad we got to see him.

I guess I'm just sick of the reminders of Doug. He existed, of course he would be mentioned in the flashbacks, but I didn't want to keep seeing the reminders of what he did to Maddie. Hopefully he can stay in the past now.

So over all, I did like the episode. It just felt a little lackluster compared to some of the others, but none of that is on the actors. They were all incredible. It's more on the writers and the editors.

Maybe it will be more impactful upon rewatch once the season is over. Maybe they'll come back to some of these plot threads and keep addressing Buck's emotional state.

I'm still holding out for a Buddie "we need to talk" cliffhanger at some point. Is there a patron saint or god for bisexuals? Because we need a serious prayer circle 🤡🤡🤡

-Quarantine Anon

Those two knocked it out of the park. I watched the episode over my lunch break and was screaming into my hands for so much of the time.

I did not mean to go off in an angry bisexual rant (the LoT fandom has left some marks on me) and I’m sorry about that. Maybe there was some stuff that gave more hints that got left on the cutting room floor? (Whoever is doing editing, we need to talk about those cut tiny scenes!) And it may be a network thing too. IDK.

“Love me anyway” was absolutely heartbreaking and it’s hard to top. Massively hard. There might have been some self projection going on with me watching the factory fire, I dunno. And if we weren’t in a pandemic, maybe we would have seen more reaction without the masks. Plus, yes- good point on Eddie.

That moment- showing what family is- that is gonna stick with the fandom for so long. I expect to see it in the next 118 firefam gifsets.

Chimney Begins was a goddamn masterpiece of hope and pain and I still remember how it tore me apart. Maybe Buck Begins will be better with age? Who knows?

Omar was awesome and I fell in love with him. I’m kinda sticking with an idea that he was so happy when Maddie didn’t come into work after she ran away because she’d finally ditched Doug.

Doug is a tough subject. He’s a part of history, but one people want to forget. It’s hard to watch that shit. 

Maybe we should fight the editors for the cuts?

YES A BUDDIE ‘WE NEED TO TALK’ MOMENT!!! Does Apollo or Dionysus count for the bisexual protection? Lady Gaga? IDK. But imagine that happening before hiatus and then something again that’s definitely A THING by the end of the season.

[grahamcarmen]

Here’s a playlist for you… Red crackle: request by grahamcarmen

@multifandomsaremylife requested a playist inspired by "Just the thing" by meredith O'Connor! (And maybe include some more by her)

😅I did it in the order I wanted it to be listened (more or less)to even tho I know free users have to shuffle but ill explain here the why

Just the thing by meredith O'Connor! It lowkey fed my black sheep had a tiny crush on graham but didn't know how to deal with it headcanon. So we starting from her pov as black sheep.

I just wanted you by openside! Electric puns aaaaand "I just wanted you to stick around " and the verses in general gimme 👀red crackle vibes from carmen's pov for how as carmen she's kinda upset that she lost her dynamic(s) with gray.

Fog by the regrettes! Name game song because its an interesting one cs is playing and I think this is a good one for the game carmen had to play with "names gra-ahm" amnesiac

I love you by Avril lavigne! Sappy 2000's songs will just never be deleted from my playlist I refuse carmen finding a delight in the new dynamic presented with graham especially since the opera caper shot down any "practical" way to have him re-enter her life. But chilling? Merely because they want to beeee together....😏hey...

Distraction by meredith O'Connor! Graham is such a huge distraction for carmen its amazing how reckless she is for him

Holy ground by Taylor swift! Hi carmen really loved being with him a lot.

Ashes and wine by a fine frenzy! Anyone mind if I only care about the way she sings the chorus and how it so very much is carmen's hopeful look and how it was crushed at the end of the caper.

Dandelions by Ruth B.! I ...pine for their pining mates. Their pining looks feed me.

Stronger by meredith O'Connor !a supportive song for how happy she was that the kiwi caper was so fluid and supportive and them working together was actually amazing

Another room in your mind from Alice by heart! HEY YALL REMEMBER THAT ONE GIFSET I MADE

Sycamore tree by Ruth B.!👉👈 what if we chilled and told each other more than small talk " are you a spy" over coffee ☕

Want what it wants by Andrew Belle! Pining songs continue and reconnecting really be after these 2

I love you will still sound the same by oh honey! A promise to stay together for as long as possible i can dream ok

Dream boy by beach bunny! This was a band suggested me by the discord and they have a wonderful vintage sound and this particular song gave me some carmen going" 🗣date me graham cracker "vibes

Make you mine by Us the duo! Absolutely sweet song that ends the playlist with graham loving knowing and being in love with one carmen sandiego vibes

Bands that make uplifting stuff

Sadly I was right and as a song hopper I couldn't really come up with anything similar to meredith o connor. At least not whole bands since I snatch a couple of songs from artists discographies and yeeeeet a lot.my music library is pretty...fluff or angst oriented. And my few big uplifting artists are kinda...? Genre different for sure. Icon for hire and sleeping at last

But I think even though the arent primarly that type of music i think (+those 2) the following are worth a looksee

Oh honey

Oh Wonder

Us the duo

Mindy Gledhill

Ruth B.

Mree

Sorry for taking so long and Thanks for requesting !

[theintentioncraft]

To continue supporting content makers, this tag game is meant to show the entire process of making creative content: this can be for any creation.

RULES - When your work is tagged, show the process of its creation from planning to posting, then tag up to 5 people with a specific link to one of their creative works you’d like to see the process of. Use the tag #showyourprocess so we can find yours.

I've been tagged by @lordbelacqua (thank you Dea! <3) to talk about Backlead aka: that one Masriel fic I wrote where I got massively carried away...

Rambling/essay under the cut - fair warning, it's a long one!

Okay so first of all just a little disclaimer that Backlead did not follow my usual writing process - the idea was 110% borne out of self-indulgence and it was also both my first foray into HDM fanfic and my return to fanfic as a whole after a long hiatus from writing, so for me this was really a chance to just get back into the swing of things. Everything from Heavenly Guard through to Swansong and all of my current WIPs follow a more structured process and I'm happy to discuss any of them in a separate post!

PLANNING: I tend to find with my fics that I either have a nice little timeline of events planned out pre-writing or I have a very specific event in my head and I just take that and see how things unravel from there and Backlead was 100% the latter.

All I had in my head initially was the ballroom dance scene and so a lot of my admittedly-minimal planning was around the technicalities of that particular section, as well as some of the more general details e.g Marisa's outfit, the setting of the ball, etc. Planning the dance was the most fun part because it was a chance for me to put a lot of my dance knowledge to good use and think up something that fits the back-and-forth way in which Marisa and Asriel frequently navigate their encounters. In a way though I'm actually very glad that a lot of this fic Just Happened instead of being planned out, sometimes it's nice to just run away with an idea!

MUSIC: This gets its own section because this is one of the most important things in my process. Every single fic I write is written to various pieces of music that just help me to put myself in the right headspace for whatever I'm writing at the time - sometimes its just a single piece of music (I wrote Swansong in one hour with just one track from the Unforgotten - a TV show in the UK for those of you not familiar with it - soundtrack on repeat) and sometimes its entire playlists. I do love geeking out about my music choices for fic writing so happy to talk more in a separate post about music for some of my other fics if anyone's curious!

For Backlead I found a couple of playlist-vids from the lovely raviolae on youtube that really worked wonders for my writing. This comes with a disclaimer that I did not necessarily attribute any of these specific songs to either dance scene and I wanted to leave that open for people's imagination - but it's still brilliant vibes for thinking about two once-lovers-now-enemies trying to one-up each other whilst ignoring how much they still find each other attractive.

The two playlist-vids in question are here: you're stuck on the dance floor with your rival and find out they're an annoyingly good dancer and you're dancing with your rival and both of you want to lead

WRITING: First step every time is to figure out who's POV I'm going to cover because that makes a major difference in the way I'm going to write. Characterisation is the big thing for me and there's nothing I love more than to really get inside a character's head and basically think like them, and figure out what makes them tick and how they'll react to the story I'm putting them in. With my initial idea for Backlead being basically about the subtle power dynamics of a ballroom dance, Marisa felt like the natural go-to for this one and I found it much easier in this instance to write in her headspace than in Asriel's.

I wrote this fic in a very out-of-order fashion. The first dance (the slower, waltz-style dance) was the first part I finished, then I did as hinted at above get very carried away and move onto the section in the hallway, then I went right to the start and covered the entire section leading up to that first dance. Then I revisited the hallway scene because I wanted to rework it (the initial version was planned to be more explicit and involved less dialogue - but I wasn't comfortable with writing out the former at that time and the latter got changed by way of me having a sudden burst of dialogue-themed inspiration). The second, more set piece style dance came last in terms of the 'major events' that I wrote purely because I spent a lot of time racking with my dance knowledge to try and make it work in a way that didn't feel forced.

My final major writing stage is to write the 'transitions' between each major part - small pieces where nothing particularly noteworthy happens but it helps the fic to flow from one conversation/event to the next and also sometimes allows me to sneak in a bit of characterisation that I couldn't fit in elsewhere.

Along the way I often leave sentences half-finished with a bracket indicator so I know to go back to it later or I make little notes if I've added something in that needs explaining earlier in the fic, and I make sure to sort those parts out before I jump to the self review/beta reader stage. A couple of examples are below:

Although sometimes this method does also annoy future me too 😂:

SELF REVIEW/BETA REVIEW: Whenever I finish a fic, it gets put away for a day or two and I stop thinking about it completely - if I'm using a beta reader (usually @thatlavanderbard but I sometimes enlist help from friends on discord), I'll send them a copy of my draft at this point so they can start going through and leaving comments for me to work on, but the idea is that when I go back to my work a few days later I'm looking at it with semi-fresh eyes and can properly sift through each sentence to make sure things make sense.

When I'm self-reviewing I generally tend to follow this order of operations: spelling/grammar check (via docs') -> flow check (making sure any deliberate time skips/POV changes/etc in my fic flow smoothly from one part to the next) -> address beta reader comments (because they almost always pick up on things I myself would've picked up on anyway) -> general detailed final read through to make sure I'm happy with every single line and it all makes sense.

Backlead didn't get a full beta read because I had hit a point with it where I just wanted it up ASAP and my impatience got the better of me, but the rest of the above self-review stages still happened and I still spent a fair few evenings going through it properly and also running the occasional sentence or two by some helpful discord friends if I didn't like the way it flowed but couldn't quite figure out how to remedy it!

POSTING: First step was to reset my AO3 password because I forgot it yet again whoops

On a more serious note this part is pretty straightforward - once I'm ready to post a new fic I generally just go on autopilot for this part of the process (other than when I get to 'additional tags' and immediately get brain freeze...). As soon as it's up on AO3 I swing by here to make a post about it, then swing by discord to drop the link to friends who may be interested in reading it and then I normally nervously scuttle away from my notifications for a while out of fear that people hate it lmao.

That last part was especially true for Backlead because of it being my first trip into HDM fanfic and I always get extra nervous when posting my first fanfic for a new show/game/etc. Thankfully I got quite a few nice comments both on here and on discord that provided good motivation to stick around and post a few more things!

I always panic when asked to tag people lmao but I'll tag @fortheloveofwii for any part of the Onward, Onward series, @lyracordelia for any chapter in Hiraeth or the fic as a whole, and @glassrunner for this absolutely gorgeous gifset of beautiful game soundtracks. Please don't feel like you have to do this if you don't want to though!

[maybege]

Maymaymay listen I know you're on hiatus and everything and you should definitely rest your hands so like don't even bother replying to this but like, Bernthal has apparently chosen violence and like, Tumblr won't send me links and it'll be such a hassle to copy paste and then edit the links so just go look at all the stuff I reblogged at sugar666sugar(.)Tumblr(.)com I literally had to make a sideblog to reblog that stuff because I couldn't in good conscience reblog it on main where minors may follow me anyway I love you so much and hope you're feeling better and if not I hope the gifsets help 💗💗💗

Listen Jon Bernthal in Sharp Stick has awakened things in me and I don’t even watch the movie but all I want to do all day is just stare at pictures and gifs of that man like a lovesick teenager because how dare one man be this beautiful???