#i figured out my drop shadow settings here! i like my subtitles better now

[sollucets]

liar, liar

THE EIGHTH SENSE | EPISODE 10

[thoughtsofanexcitedspacechild]

25 more things I learned during a global pandemic from your Local Teenage Train wreck :) (Pt. 2)

1. Gaining weight is okay. Losing weight is okay. Bodies fluctuate and are inconsistent. Just make sure that you’re trying your best to be healthy, whatever that means for you. 

2. School is hard, especially during a global. freaking. pandemic. Don’t beat yourself up if it’s harder to get up in the morning or your grades aren’t as high as they usually are. It’s hard right now. 

3. You’re mental health comes above all. School, responsibilities, and personal projects are not worth your time if it’s affecting your mental health. If your gut is telling you to take a break, take a break!

4. If you feel lonely, get a plant to keep in your room. Do some research as to that plants do best with the type of lighting in your room, and figure out some basic care instructions. Have someone to take care of besides yourself. Name your plants, and take care of them. 

5. Even if you’re not good at writing, I suggest you keep a journal during this time. It kept me sane over the summer, and even though I eventually stopped because of limited time with school starting back up, it helped to keep me sane in the worst of the pandemic. 

6. If you’re spiritual (or even if you’re not) learn how to do shadow work. This isn’t anything that has to be spiritual or done in just one religion. It’s basically giving yourself a chance and a space to be open and honest with yourself and to learn what you might need to work on through writing. If you google it, you can find a more in depth explanation, and prompts to start doing it. You basically give yourself a prompt. They can be questions like “What’s the biggest lie you’ve told someone else or yourself?” or they can be a little less heavy like “What are five non physical things that you genuinely like about yourself?”. This can be pretty heavy, and can dig up some unwanted emotions, but that’s the whole point; to deal with the emotions you may have been repressing and letting fester inside of you. 

7. On days when you’re not feeling well mentally, take a break. It’s okay to drop everything and get an extra hour of sleep, read, or do something else to make yourself feel better.

8. After hard days, I know the last thing you want to do is get up and continue on, but here are some ways to do it:

- lay out an outfit that’s put together, but not as over the top. No sweat pants or crappy clothes, but it doesn’t have to be your usual put together outfits with a full face of makeup. A nice crewneck and a nice pair of black athletic leggings can go a long way. 

-wear your comfort jewelry. I wear my beaded necklace that I bought for myself,  the silver ring my grandma gave me and the gold cross ring that my mom gave to me when I got confirmed. 

-eat breakfast. A handful of cereal will do. Anything. But eat something. I like to make oatmeal. It sounds boring but if you make it right, it tastes just perfect for mornings when you don’t feel hungry but know inside that you are. Recipe is next on the list :)

-go to school. I know you want to lay in bed. I know the last place you want to be is a crowded building full of pubescent teens that aren’t nice, but go. Go to learn. Go to absorb knowledge like a sponge, and don’t worry if you fail and lose some of the water, because you can always soak it up later. 

-if you have practice, rehearsal, a game, whatever, be gentle on yourself. Today might not be your best day physically, because the brain controls everything. Forgive yourself if you can’t land that double pirouette, get to the high note, or make that assist. You’re abilities are stagnant, and they’re going to change depending on how you feel

-When you get home, turn off your phone. Friends, social media, etc. can wait. Set a timer for one hour. Do work for just that hour. When the timer rings, finish what you were doing and then stop. Now have a 20 minute break and do something that’s not screen related. Read a book, draw something; heck, stare at the wall for 20 minutes and space out. When the timer rings, do another hour and repeat the same process until it’s all done. 

-have a playlist you listen to to heal you. Sad boi hours are ok, just make sure to have a playlist of songs that get you moving again. 

-Sleep. Even if that means putting off work for tomorrow. It’s ok. You really need it. 

9. Oatmeal seems gross until you know how to prepare it. When you do, it’s revolutionary. It’s a high volume, low calorie food, so you’ll stay full for a while without overeating, all while consuming less calories than you would with a traditional breakfast cereal. 

The right way to make it: 

-measure out half a cup of old fashioned oats. Not steel cut. Those aren’t as good. 

-MOST IMPORTANT STEP: add half a cup of water and half a cup of milk of your choice. I personally like almond milk because it’s kind of sweet already even when it’s unsweetened. 

-SECOND MOST IMPORTANT STEP: add a pinch of salt, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and allspice, and a teaspoon or two of maple syrup. This is what makes it taste palatable. It’s less sugar than store-bought, and tastes amazing. 

-Microwave that shit for one minute and stir. It should look kind of lumpy, but not a ton. Then, put another minute on. Stir at every half increment. (After 30 seconds, every 15 seconds, and then every 7) This is so it doesn’t boil over. Then, take it out, stir it one last time, and let it sit for a second. 

-Wash up some berries to put in it. I love blueberries and or blackberries. 

perfect oatmeal every. single. time. Feel free to add more toppings like nuts or if you wanna treat yourself chocolate or substitute the spices, but this is honestly one of my favorite breakfasts that keeps me full throughout the day. 

10. Learn a new language. Yes, Duolingo is annoying, but do it. Find one that you’ll like to learn and that’s easy for you. Try them on like old clothes and find one that fits just right. For me, it’s French. Expose yourself to that language. Listen to music, read books (or try to) and watch movies with subtitles. Soon enough, you’ll be eager to learn more. 

11. Learn how to use notion.com. It’s super amazing. You can literally keep track of your entire life there. It’s pretty fun to use as well. I made schedules for each day after school, a reading log, a want to read list, a personal habit tracker, etc, and they’re all extremely helpful. 

12. Make a list of things you weren’t allowed to do as a kid and do one every day. Heal your inner child by finally itching the spot that may not have been scratched for years. 

13. Learn how to make origami stars. They’re really easy, and I can’t recommend Maqaroon’s (Joanna’s) video on how to make them enough. Once you’ve got it down, get yourself a nice big jar and write down things you’re grateful for on the slips of paper you’re going to fold. Fill up your gratitude jar and make a wish once it’s full. It will come true. 

14. Have 30 minutes a day to put your phone down and read. Yes. You will have to sacrifice something to do this, but it’s so important and good for not only information retention and learning, but for mental health as well. Even if you have to get up half an hour earlier to do it, it’s worth it. 

15. It’s okay to be alone, but learn to recognize the difference between alone and lonely. If you’re lonely, here are some things to do:

-write a letter to a friend. It’s something nice you can do for yourself and others, and it’s not feeding into the toxic instant reply culture that we live in

-read a book or watch a show that gets you to connect with the characters, even if that means (I've said it before and I’ll say it again) rereading a favorite ya series or binging atla for the fiftieth time. It’s good for the soul.

-take a walk and smile at the people you see coming past. Again, it’s good for the soul. 

-go to the coffee shop and ask the barista to make you a drink that tastes like “_____” (insert whatever you want there. It could be a color, song, feeling, etc.) It’s weird and uncomfortable, but it gives you a conversation starter and 9.9 times out of 10 a really good drink. (Also helpful for when you think the barrista’s cute)

-Reading in general. It opens up so many new worlds with the turn of a page. 

16. Monitor your food intake. No, don’t restrict your food intake, monitor it. This means first seeing exactly what your putting in your body and altering it to gradually improve to a clean diet. Humans weren’t built to process all the preservatives, additives and sugars found in most processed food (cereals, chips, anything in a foil bag that’s either really sweet or really salty) and it’s important to cut down and if possible eliminate as much as you can of it out of your diet. Food is fuel, and you truly are what you eat. You’ll notice that by increasing your vegetable intake, reducing white processed sugars and carbs*, and cutting out sodas/extra sugars, that you’ll feel better. This isn’t a weight loss thing, but you may start to trim down a little bit once you go more intense with it. You don’t have to eliminate anything fully, and please enjoy your favorite “bad” foods! Everything in moderation is perfect! Just make sure that you’re getting the good stuff in there too! *Side note, do NOT cut out carbs! See my post on how I’m losing weight to get more into depth on this. 

17. Buy fresh flowers for yourself. Who says that you have to wait for someone else? That’s completely false, and you should totally treat yourself to a nice bouquet on occasion, especially in the dead of winter. 

18. The whole idea of self love is flawed. Loving yourself has nothing to do with the way you look. Loving yourself comes with genuinely loving your life. If you don't love the way you’re living, change it. Make and set goals. Fail at achieving those goals. Get back up and try again until you finally get it, but make sure that whatever you’re doing, you’re doing to love the life you live. Life doesn’t live you. You live life.

19. Have candles and incense. (Or a diffuser if you’re not allowed to burn stuff) Making your environment smell good makes a huge difference

20. Once you turn 18, get a tattoo. It doesn’t have to mean anything. Pick something small and get it behind your ear, on your ankle, wrist, fingers, whatever. You’ll love having the memory when your old. 

21. Realize your worth. We often put ourselves down because we think that valuing ourselves is equivalent to selfishness. It’s not. At all. You are just as important as everyone else. Your voice matters too. 

22. Go to art museums

23. Go to free concerts in the park

24. Expose yourself to new art, ideas, and literature

25. Life is gonna suck sometimes. It’s just how it is. That doesn’t mean a bad day’s gonna last forever. As cheesy as it is, keep your head up :)

[bananagreste]

tutorial: how to make gifs (part 2)

Before proceeding, please check out the first part here. In this part, I’ll explain how to do gif colouring, how to add subtitles and how to save gifs.

PART A: GIF COLOURING

Gif colouring is done using the adjustment layers. If you haven’t enabled this option, you can do so by selecting Window > Adjustments. A panel of sixteen (16) adjustment layers will appear, as shown below:

The adjustment layers, from left to right, top to bottom, are:

Now, there’s no hard and fast rules when it comes to colouring. My best advice is to experiment until you find your own colouring style. When I make gifs, the way I make gifs don’t change but the way I colour gifs will periodically change.

This is one of my earliest gifsets, made in 2015.

This is my latest gifset, made in 2019.

As you can see, I didn’t start off knowing how to colour gifs. Back then, I wasn’t concerned in making my gifs look nice, I wanted to make gifs because people don’t make the gifs that I want to see.

Despite my constant complaints of the reds, the blues and the yellows of the show, I don’t hate the colours themselves, I just hate the fact the colours don’t pop. Take a look at the scene below:

It looks fine after sharpening and blurring filters, but personally, the original colours look dull. 🤷‍♀

Step 1: Curves

I create two markers, then pull one downwards and one upwards, careful not to stray too far from the original line. If the scene is dark and you want to make it brighter, pull the marker that’s usually going downwards, upwards, but again, don’t stray too far from the original line.

Besides ‘Curves’, you can also use ‘Brightness/Contrast’ and ‘Levels’.

Step 2: Selective Color

The bulk of your colouring takes place here. There are nine (9) colours: Reds, Yellows, Greens, Cyans, Blues, Magentas, Whites, Neutrals and Blacks. For this scene, I adjusted seven colours, minus Neutrals and Blacks.

(I don’t recommend messing around with Neutrals and Blacks since they usually affect the entire scene instead of specific areas. If you are like me who want the black to be true black, you are better off adding another ‘Curves’ layer.)

I don’t have any specific method besides -- adjust the sliders until you see the colours that you want. In fact, if the scene is stubborn, you may use multiple adjustment layers. Below is how I remove the blues from Marinette’s hair:

Step 3: Gradient Map

I wish I know how to explain why I use Gradient Map besides it being part of my finishing touches. For this adjustment layer, it is set to Soft Light at 75% opacity. For the scene above, I used this gradient:

#000000 | #ffffff

My usual choice is this one:

#9e868e | #a88589

My second usual choice is this one:

#383332 | #6f5b55

Do you have to make your own gradients? No. For my usual gradients, it’s actually from the gradient pack here. I encourage you to explore resources websites because they are helpful, besides, they are mostly free!

Q1: Do you need more adjustment layers?

For daytime scenes like the above, I usually maintain three adjustment layers. However, you may encounter scenes where one colour dominates the entire scene or the colours look out of place or the lighting is completely wack.

In order to fix the colours, I use either Hue/Saturation or Color Balance or Photo Filter, usually before, but may also be after, the three layers. It may or may not work successfully but at least it reduces your frustration at fixing the colours.

I will have mini tutorials covering how to colour these specific scenes later.

Q2: Do you have to use the same adjustment layers as mine?

Again, no.

As I said before, you need to experiment until you find your own colouring style. I may use 3 layers, you may use 6 layers, someone else may use 9 layers. In fact, I may use 6 layers for a specific colouring and then 9 layers for another.

It’s best to study the scenes and figure out what colours you want to bring out, what colours you want to eliminate, and what colour theme you want to present.

Q3: Can I use others’ colouring psd instead?

You can, but consider if it’s better if you learn how to colour from scratch, especially if the series in question has inconsistent colours, such as ML.

However, that doesn’t mean you aren’t allowed to use colouring psds. If you are making multiple gifs and they have the same theme (e.g. outdoor, daytime, blue skies), it’s easier to just use the same colouring for consistency.

Eventually, once you are used to colouring the series, you may find it easier and faster to colour manually because the results are more or less the same.

PART B: SUBTITLES

Subtitles are great for providing context, but it can be time consuming. I advise starting off with small scenes, then work your way up until you are comfortable with the entire scene.

Step 1: Choose your font

The most important aspect of your font choice is readability, even in small sizes. Common examples of fonts used for gif subtitles are Arial, Calibri and Myriad Pro. All are set to 'bold italic’.

Step 2: Add the text

Drag your cursor to the right to create a text box, then type out the text. For 268px gifs, the font size is 14 pt. For 540px gifs, the font size is 18 pt. The font colour by default is black, so change it to white.

As you can see, the text is unclear. Before we solve that problem, we need to make the text box centered. Select the ‘Move Tool’ and choose the icon below:

The text box will be centered, but the text is too far from the bottom. Using your keyboard, press the down arrow key until you reach the bottom, but leave some space between the text and the bottom.

Or, you can position the text box close to the bottom then make it centered. Either way, it should look like the above.

Step 3: Blending options

Right-click on your text layer and select ‘Blending Options’.

Select ‘Stroke’ and copy the settings.

Select ‘Drop Shadow’ and copy the settings.

Press OK.

Your text should look like the above. Your text layers should look like below:

Step 4: Timeline

If you have multiple scenes in the gif but only one scene has subtitles, you need to adjust the timing so the subtitles don’t appear in the other scene. Use the slider to find the scene, then drag the text layer so it aligns with the scene.

Let’s say the scene is short and you want to find the exact frame but the timeline is short, use the icons below to shrink or expand the timeline:

The left is to make the timeline shorter, the right is to make the timeline longer.

PART C: SAVING GIFS

You’re almost done!

Use the markers to determine the scene you want to save, then select File > Save for Web (or Alt+Shift+Ctrl+S) and these are my gif save settings:

Voila, this is how a gif with subtitles look like!

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to send me an ask or a DM. Thank you so much for checking out the tutorial and I hope it has been useful. I look forward to see gifs from you!

[star-going-supernova]

Transcription

As a fic writer for BatIM, I constantly found myself digging through playthroughs to find lines of dialogue or the writing on the walls. I’ve transcribed some stuff from the previous chapters, but this is the first time I’ve transcribed everything (i think. probably. hopefully) from a chapter. 

I figured I’d share it in case anyone else suffers like me and wishes they didn’t have to click through an hour long video to find two lines of dialogue. Or maybe that’s just me, who knows. 

Anyway, spoilers beneath the cut. Feel free to let me know if I left something out or messed something up, or add your own!

Wall Writing: 

(in the opening room)  

[note: asterisks indicate writing seen through the viewing tool]

Hope

*She will leave you for dead. 

*It’s inside the vault! 

*Let me out of here!

*So many questions. 

*Spoon

*Don’t go through the door!

* ^What door?!

*(coffin outline on Henry’s cot)

*There’s always hope.

*Take the spoon. 

*Look inside. You’ll need this. 

*You draw beautifully. 

(in the little village) 

Down here we’re all sinners.

Not Monsters // *Once people, now fallen into despair.

He will set us free.  

The Creator lied to us.

It’s time to believe.

What am I?

(on the way to ‘Bendy’s lair) 

Death —>

(on the way to ‘Bendy’s lair) 

I still remember my name (accompanied by smeared handprints) 

[note: I know there’s stuff written on the floor of the giant grid room, but the playthroughs I’ve seen so far didn’t show them enough for me to read what they said. There are arrows, however.]

(in the room with the ink tubes) 

Who’s laughing now?

(on the picture after the first credits sequence) 

Congratulations on your success! Your Best Pal, Henry Stein 

Dialogue: 

[note: I refer to Alice as Allison] 

Allison and Henry’s Opening Conversations: 

Allison: *singing/humming*

Henry: I know that song.

Allison: Everyone knows that song. Who are you? Why are you here? 

Henry: I was invited by an old friend… and now I can’t leave. 

Allison: Then you know more than we do. One minute we don’t even exist… just… thoughts. And the next minute… this place. 

Henry: Are you gonna let me out of here?

Allison: Down here, strangers aren’t good things. How can we trust you? We don’t even know what you are.

Henry: My name is Henry… I used to work here. 

Allison: I… I honestly don’t know my name… so, they call me Alice. But I’m no angel. You go back and rest. We’ll talk again later. 

Allison to Tom: It’s only for a few hours. No need to worry. I won’t go far… Only up to Level Six. Just stay here. Keep an eye on Henry, okay? I’ll be back as soon as I can. I promise.

Allison: Henry? Here, you must be hungry. Sorry… it’s all we have. 

Allison: I know you’re watching me… it’s just… a little creepy. 

Henry: You’re the one that writes on the walls. 

Allison: We all do. For some poor souls down here, it’s the only way they can be heard. But you don’t want to touch the ink for too long! It can claim you… pull you back. That’s how I met Tom. I was messing with things I shouldn’t have been and he… he was there. 

Henry: Why do you call him “Tom”?

Allison: He just seems to respond to it. 

Henry: Well, I don’t think he’s very fond of me. 

Allison: Let me show you something… Awhile back, I was mapping out one of the upper levels… when I noticed something reflecting off a piece of glass. I held up the glass, looked through, and on the wall behind me was a hidden message! Right there in plain sight! So, I kept looking… and found more and more messages everywhere in the studio! But you can’t see them with your eyes. Only through this! Take a look! I don’t know who’s leaving them, but I think they know how to get out of here. 

Henry: Where does it all lead to? 

Allison: Nowhere. I followed them for a long time… just leads me in circles. I don’t think I’m meant to leave this place, Henry. But maybe… you are. 

Henry: Alice… please let me out of here. 

Allison: Tom thinks you’re dangerous.

Henry: And what do you think?

Allison: I… I think… you’re the hope I’ve been waiting for. Go to sleep. Maybe tomorrow will be better. 

Allison to Tom: That was really stupid, Tom. You shouldn’t have gone out there! Now that he’s seen you… it’s only a matter of time… before he finds us here. (waves at Henry) 

Allison to Tom: We can’t just leave him! Not with the Ink Demon right outside our door! 

Henry: What’s going on?

Allison: He’s coming… we have to move on. 

Allison to Tom: Tom! We have to let him out! 

Allison to Henry: …I’m sorry.

Sammy’s Lines: 

(bursts through some boards)

Betrayed! Abandoned! I trusted you! I gave you everything… and you left me to rot! ...Why? WHY?! 

(during fight)

My lord, why have you forsaken me?  

[there was another, but I wasn’t able to hear it over the other sounds]

(mask is knocked off) 

No! Don’t look at me! Stay away! 

(trying to kill Henry)

Ah! You lied to me! You said I’d be free! Well, I’m going to free you now! Free your head right off your shoulders! Sheep, sheep, sheep… it’s time for… sleep. UGH!!!

Allison Angel’s Lines: 

(after Tom kills Sammy) 

That was close! You’re lucky we were in the neighborhood. 

Henry: Was that “him”?

I don’t think so… the Searchers and the Lost Ones built this place… Sammy must’ve been keeping them at bay. Now that he’s gone—looks like we’re in for a fight. Get ready! Watch out! Here they come! 

(during the fight)

Go back to your puddles! 

I’ve never seen this many before. 

Get away from me! 

We can do this. Keep fighting! 

(after the fight)

I think that’s all of them… but you never know where they’re going to crawl out of next. Probably best if we stay together from now on. Henry? Think you can lead the way? 

(Henry falls) 

HENRY!!!

(in the vault) 

Looks like whatever was here was taken long ago… 

Henry: How did you get down here?

It pays to carry a rope… you should try it. 

Henry: Look, I know where we have to go… and it’s not going to be pleasant. The Ink Demon has something that we need… I’m going after him. 

You want to go to his lair? Are you crazy? That’s death! 

Henry: That’s where the trail seems to lead. 

Well, it’s probably close by… probably through that door. But it won’t be easy to open. I’ll need three gears, a crowbar… hmm, some kind of counterbalance… (Tom punches the door open) Huh. Well, that works too… I guess. 

(‘Bendy’s wall shadows appear) 

Quiet. Don’t make any noise… 

(seeing the entrance to ‘Bendy’s lair) 

Wow! I’ve never seen this before! I don’t see any way around… nothing to build a raft with. 

Henry: We’ll have to wade across. 

We can’t… we’re not like you, Henry. If we go in there, well… a drop of water in the ocean is rarely seen again. 

Henry: Then I guess it’s all up to me… and I don’t even know what I’m doing here. I don’t even know why this is all happening to me. 

You’re here for a reason, Henry. There’s always a reason! Even when you can’t understand it. It’s time… set us free! 

Henry’s Lines: 

(entering the film vault room)

Now that’s interesting.

(seeing Charley/Piper for the first time) 

Not these guys again. I better stay out of sight.  [note: the subtitles leave out “I”]

(approaching desk) Hey, here’s my old desk. I’ve wasted so much time in this chair. 

(approaching ‘Bendy’s lair) 

They could have at least given me a weapon. 

(said simultaneously with Joey) 

The end. 

(reentering the studio) 

All right, Joey. I’m here. Let’s see if we can find what you wanted me to see.

 Joey’s Speech in the Throne Room: 

It’s simply awe-inspiring what one can accomplish with their own hands. A lump of clay can turn to meaning… if you strangle it with enough enthusiasm. Look what we built! We created life itself, Henry! Not just on the silver screen, but in the hearts of those we entertained with our fancy moving pictures. But… when the tickets stopped selling… when the next big thing came along… only the monsters remained… shadows of the past. But you can save them, Henry! You can peel it all away! You see, there’s only one thing Bendy has never known: He was there for his beginning… but he’s never seen: the end.

Joey’s Speech in his Kitchen: 

Henry? So soon? I didn’t expect you for another hour yet. Now you’re just trying to impress me. But I know… I know… you have questions. You always do! The only important question is this: Who are we, Henry? I thought I knew who I was… but… the success starved me. Nothing left but lines on a page. In the end, we followed two different roads of our own making. You, a lovely family… me… a crooked empire. And my road burned. I let our creations become my life. The truth is, you were always so good at pushing, old friend… pushing me to do the right thing. You should have pushed a little harder. Henry. Come visit the old workshop… there’s something I need to show you. [note: the subtitle says “want” instead of “need”] 

Unknown Child after First End Credits: 

Tell me another one, Uncle Joey. 

[noddytheornithopod]

Okay, here’s my full thoughts on the Phineas and Ferb effect, SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT:

My feelings are growing increasingly mixed. I want to make it clear that I DID enjoy the episode despite the language barrier, and it’s likely many issues I have could be fixed when we get English subtitles, but given how a lot of stuff was handled, I’m not sure how much is gonna be fixed. I mean, many people who watched the Russian dub of AYA didn’t change opinions at all when the English version finally came out. Time for specifics:

- Okay I know what you’re all wondering: how did I feel about Isabella’s appearance? My feelings are like the episode overall, mixed. When I saw her and the Fireside Girls show up to rescue the others I was pretty happy, and seeing her turned into a Pistachion now turned against Phineas and Ferb was quite terrifying. But then... I started to think. I don’t really have an issue with the fact her role was absurdly small (apparently Bradley has more lines lol), I mean based on the promos I was expecting it to be so. My issue was more how poorly integrated into the story she was.

Like, I can see an early version of the episode with her being with Buford and Baljeet (you know, what I thought was the most logical way to go :V), but then they wrote themselves into a corner with Phineas, Ferb, Milo and co being captured and someone needed to get them out. Ergo, Isabella was then written to go guerilla with the Fireside Girls (which does make sense at least) and then show up to untie them and drop off the Milo mech.

Like I said, in-universe this is all perfectly logical. My issue is how Isabella was basically just there to be a plot device, not only that but what is basically a deus ex machina to free the others. She did her plot things, and then all she was there for was to be transformed and brainwashed into a pistachion minion. And then after she becomes herself again, she doesn’t show up with the other friends at the end, which I find pretty weird. Like, okay, Isabella didn’t get to meet the MML characters properly so I can see the reasoning I guess, but it still felt odd that now things were normal she wasn’t hanging out with them? I guess Fireside Girl duties call for a report on the nut people invasion or something lol. Or the rift between her and Phineas is already beginning, cue Act Your Age music.

- SPEAKING OF DEUS EX MACHINAS... I don’t know if they set this up in any dialogue, but I kinda doubt it. But anyway... Professor Time. Besides some things I’ll get to in a bit, the way he resolved everything was my least favourite thing about the ep. Like, he literally just shows up at the end, picks up Orton and takes him back to 1965 to kill Derek. And like... if he was going to do that anyway, does this mean if nobody did anything and Orton just needed to be sent back to his time, everything was basically pointless? Like, I REALLY hope there’s dialogue clarifying this, because if Professor Time just shows up and goes and kills Derek with Orton anyway, it basically renders the episode pointless, which is pretty unfortunate.

This isn’t something I thought about at first, but it’s also pretty weird that we have such major information about Doofenshmirtz being dropped here after his show? Others have better articulated thoughts on this than I do, but it’s pretty odd. I think it was described to me like it was instead about this persona Doofenshmirtz has invented for himself instead of Doof himself.

- Probably the main thing I was initially disappointed with at first was Candace. At first everything seemed fine. I’ve seen some concern over whether she was in character, but so far everything seemed fine to me. Well, until she was captured. Then she was suddenly gone in the final act, only there to be tied up and turned into a pistachion. Like, the scenes with Candace and Milo seem great already, but then suddenly she’s not important. She’s basically THE main character of PnF, and she’s a complete non-presence in the final act. I forget if she even had any lines there. And like Isabella, she doesn’t show up with the others at the end, except with her it makes sense for her to since she got to know the others.

Seriously, she appears and is in the plot, but then suddenly she doesn’t even matter. It’s so messily written. I’ve been discussing her with other people too and they also find it odd that she didn’t really have much agency in the plot, which is probably because we’re used to her being a protagonist, she’s always there with her own strong plot or character arc for the episode while here she’s merely a supporting character. This isn’t her story, sure, but she doesn’t exactly get to do much here in terms of actual plot contribution even if she did suggest weaponsing Murphy’s Law. I also looked at reactions where she didn’t feel too in-character, and while I disagree with the idea overall, I do see that because she’s now a supporting character her defining traits aren’t really there? As a result, the lack of character focus means we don’t get to explore much of how she feels about this, which I guess people find off because she’s such a strong character who always has some major reactions to things. I felt like her pessimism towards Milo made sense, and I mean overall I didn’t think Candace was OOC, but I think it’s more that she was just given such a minor role compared to what she’s used to that she didn’t get much time to shine beyond the Milo interactions.

Also... her introduction was eh. I did like the shadow gag and I get she was focused on her phone and stuff, but it felt pretty random for her to just show up unassuming of anything going on (I mean, everything is fucking decaying around her lol). Also... Ducky Momo Go. It was such a serious “HOW DO YOU DO FELLOW KIDS?” moment.

- Say, speaking of “HOW DO YOU DO FELLOW KIDS?”... Baljeet dabbing. I have no words. BALJEET FUCKING DABBING. WHAT EVEN WAS THAT?

- Baljeet and Buford are... interesting. Baljeet was probably one of the better handled character in my eyes actually. Like, he wasn’t too big, but it made sense for a character like him. He had memorable moments interacting with Zack and Melissa (and... THAT), and he actually contributed to the plot by helping figure out how to do the whole Milo mech thing. I definitely want to hear his dialogue for sure. Buford on the other hand was completely pointless narrative wise. He was just there because we gotta have all the main Phineas and Ferb characters so we can have our big reunion and then make him an evil brainwashed nut dude in the climax.

- Alongside Candace the other PnF character I feel really got screwed over was Perry. Again, he shows up and is great (even if I was surprised how short his time with Milo was) and is there doing stuff, but then suddenly he’s sideline to the point of basically not even existing. When they go to the island, I forget if he’s even there. Doof could’ve used his company I feel. :V And again in the final act, he’s only there briefly and then is irrelevant once Phineas sees him. Like, he just shows up, beat up some pistachions, Phineas sees him and then he and Diogee disappear from the episode. We really could’ve used your help against Derek and his machine, Perry. :V And yeah, Diogee is similar. He just is there for a bit and disappears from the episode.

- The Island of Lost Dakotas reveal is something I’m going to have to wait on. The stuff we saw seemed good enough, but I’m definitely going to need the English dialogue to make a true judgement. I’ll say this though: I’m not sure if this was the right place to have this reveal. We didn’t get much time exploring Cavendish’s reaction before they got the Dakotas as their army to fight the pistachions, I feel like Cavendish discovering the island is something that deserves its own episode focused on it. In general Cavendish and Dakota were good though.

- Phineas and Ferb were mostly fine I feel. I did see some saying Ferb’s role felt minor, but I felt like he was at least there enough (and to be fair being the quiet one he’s also had this situation before, like in AT2D). That English clip where he says “nutjobbers” just feels off to me though. Like, besides Baljeet, they were actually there doing stuff and had a presence in the story. Milo worked as well I think overall, given he’s the protagonist and such. I did like what we saw of their interactions, and of course the idea of using positive PnF energy to weaponise Milo’s negative energy was really cool.

- Zack and Melissa are kind of a Buford and Baljeet situation. Melissa was there enough to warrant her presence and she was doing stuff, but Zack didn’t really have much of a presence. It wasn’t as bad as Buford, but he didn’t really have anything to do. Where Melissa and of course Zack fail though is the final act - they’re the other main characters alongside Milo in Milo Murphy’s Law, and like Candace their presence was barely there. They didn’t really do anything relevant in the final act after being freed except joining the brainwashed nut people horde. They at least were there at the end, but still I’m not exactly satisfied with their roles in the episode.

- All of the other characters were fine even if they were minor I guess. Minor characters are gonna be minor, lol.

- Most of the gags I caught despite the language barrier were funny. As said, I still enjoyed the episode even if I found its handling of the characters quite botched.

- The music department was good, I can’t wait to hear both Baljeet’s version of Chop Away at my Heart and the Orton and Doof duet. I liked the scoring too, some themes I did recognise from earlier PnF and MML material but some stuff seemed new, I’m not sure if I heard the rock score during the pistachion battle before (around when pnf and milo get the mech and derek is turning their friends into pistachions).

- Animation was fine, I guess? Some stuff looked a bit off but it might have just been lighting or a low budget. I think some of the closer details may be off but I’m not here to nitpick, I didn’t find anything super distracting.

- I think the issues with the characters and plotting are down to one big factor: it’s a crossover trying to cram too much into 44 minutes, that and also meant to resolve story arcs from Season 1 of Milo Murphy’s Law. They wanted to do this big special where all of the PnF and MML characters get to play off each other, but we unfortunately didn’t seem to get much of that (though maybe English dialogue will remedy that). Instead of actually getting to compare and contrast the characters and themes of the show, they had to focus on the plot to resolve the pistachion storyline (a plot solved by a deus ex machina no less). As a result, we get something that’s more plot driven than character driven, which is not what a crossover should be.

Also, this only really confirms my fears about Milo Murphy’s Law being stuck in Phineas and Ferb’s shadow. After seeing something that was this messily written despite being enjoyable, I definitely think Milo Murphy’s Law crossed over with Phineas and Ferb too soon. I don’t feel like they absolutely needed Phineas and Ferb in this storyline, not when they didn’t really get to explore the themes and characters of the respective shows. It’s like they were pushed to have the crossover too early despite always intending to have both shows in the same universe, and thus we get something where the PnF characters are here simply because they have to be instead of it feeling more natural.

Simple things that I think would’ve made it work better? If they had to do the pistachion storyline, give us less characters. It feels so all over the place and imbalanced. I would’ve been fine with just Phineas, Ferb and Candace in the A-plot to be honest. Less awkward spreading out thinly and more time devoted to the central characters of each show. But to be honest... I feel like a crossover shouldn’t have been plot driven like this. The characters here had to resolve a complex plot instead of getting most of their time to be themselves. They could still have some event to generate conflict of course, but it should be something where the characters interacting gets focus and they drive the story instead of it being something where they have to serve a plot first and all of that comes second.

Also I think it should be acknowledged: like Act Your Age (which I feel has shockingly similar parallels to this situation), I think hype backlash is certainly a possibility in how I feel. Like I’m not gonna lie, I am disappointed. Still though, even if it’s a factor, the fact that I’m able to pinpoint the issues I have so easily instead of it just being a vague emotional reaction is a shame.