#i hope someone posts a whole video of this panel

[bloodydeanwinchester]

incheresting......

[thetangibleghost]

I've always wanted to wake up from a dream laughing and I just did but I realized after I woke up that I have missed a million social cues :((((((((((((((((( it wasn't even funny idk why I couldn't stop giggling. I dont even giggle irl.

[jakowskis]

torchwood resources

just some stuff i've accumulated during this fixation :) hope it proves handy :D

ianto's-desktop (livejournal) - archived most of the things found on the torchwood website during season 1 and season 2; the only thing missing is the videos. / note: click the headers of the posts to see the full thing, or some stuff with appear incomplete. took me a sec to figure out, lol

speaking of the website...

season 1 website (archive.org)

season 2 website (archive.org) - unlike the s1 website, the bulk of the s2 site's content is pretty inaccessible through the wayback machine (at least for me; maybe i'm doing something wrong), so thank g-d for ianto's desktop

there's also a good amount of rebloggable site content in this person's tumblr tag.

season 1 declassified (youtube)

season 2 declassified (youtube)

season 1 commentaries (mega.nz)

torchwood books (google drive) - gonna be honest, i haven't tried to download any of these myself

border princes audiobook (read by eve) + all of the radio plays (archive.org)

torchwood magazines (beta.reddit) - download links for all of them! p fuckin kewl

torchwood official yearbook (archive.org)

herecomesthedrums (youtube) - account that started posting before the show came out and is chock full of promos, trailers, interviews... some real fun goodies in there

torchwood: up close (youtube) - handful of bts videos with the cast + crew

season 1 unreleased tracks (soundcloud) - the end of days ones hrhghgh

out of time unreleased tracks (soundcloud) - i absolutely adore the music in this ep so i was so happy when i found these

the torchwood fanpop - this has sooooooo much content like i scrolled for a loooooong time and never reached the bottom. lotta stuff i hadn't seen before, too. there's fun hd promo pics, pics of the cast, and a lot of extremely early 2010s edits, graphics, and fanvids. / note: i also had this page bookmarked + it's got different content than the main page so i'll link it

aaand under the cut i'm gonna dump some silly stuff i've collected of the cast. but yeah, there ya go :-)

gally 2015: zip files of someone's pictures of eve, naoko, and burn (livejournal)

gally 2015: someone's account of the torchwood panels + meeting the cast (everyone was there but gareth!) - naoko & burn's solo panels / autograph table chats + barrowman photo-op + the naoko&burn&eve group panel / barrowman solo panel + burn&eve joint panel

dragon con 2013 (flickr) - i found two albums: this one, and this one, which has torchwood cast images on the first and second pages.

burn at chicago tardis 2012 (flickr) - ehehe 2012-2013 burn gorman w his classy little outfits my beloved. this is just hq pictures of that event. burn's in a bunch at the top and some at the end of the second page

the hub 2009 (flickr) - some kind of torchwood event. gareth, burn, eve, kai, and tom are all there. i dunno

hvff 2018: 'insights from the whole cast'

hvff 2018: video of everybody goofing off (twitter)

gareth endorsing owandy teehee (twitter) - this is getting dumped here bc im gay

sigh. (blogspot) - pics from that one fuckin 08 panel where gareth & john made out like 5 times + gareth took his jeans off for some reason. i don't even go here but i feel like this is unfortunately historically relevant. also the fujoshis in the comments are really funny

incomplete but sizable lists of cons gareth's been to and john's been to, in case anyone wants to dig around for photos/footage of any of these. the other cast members (excluding burn, for some reason) all have pages on this site as well, but theirs are super incomplete so i won't bother linking

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay Visuals - Mission: Jingle Bells

(This post almost definitely won't be super long, but there was no way I was not gonna make a post for this video!)

Mission Jingle Bells was released on the 22nd of December, 2018, and as you all obviously know, it's a fusion between the Mission Impossible theme music and the song Jingle Bells, and it was legit sponsored by Paramount Pictures! Good for you, VoicePlay! The music was arranged by Layne, but we're not here to talk about that, we're here for the video! (Which was done by both Layne and Eli). So let's get into this!

'Hey you know how we got kidnapped for the Panic Medley videos? What if we got kidnapped again?' 😂

(Seriously, the Panic Medley videos were released just 5 months earlier, in July, and the Queen medley video, where Earl had to take on deities of death to get the chance to live again, was in November! 2018 was A Year)

Also I like that the camera feed says that the date and time is two minutes to midnight on Christmas eve, it's a nice touch.

Get that sponsorship money! Get that exposure! (Also it's kinda funny how VoicePlay has had ties with Disney, Paramount, and Universal! Getting a whole variety of connections there!)

Obligatory "man he looks so good here" 💜

Fun fact: The voice of "Creepy Evil Santa" was actually done by Eli! As for who actually physically portrayed him, I'm not entirely sure. I think I've seen people saying it was Kathy? But I can't remember if they were joking or not

A small thing, but I like how before Villain Santa tells you that the collar things actually control the guys' voices/vocalisations, the video actually kinda shows you! Villain Santa's presses a button on his device panel thing (see previous image), and then Geoff suddenly "kicks into gear", like starts doing exactly what is requested, no hesitation, as if he really is being controlled! It's neat!

(Follow me for more overexplanation of miniscule details /j)

And yes of course I am going to mention the bow in Earl's beard. It's hilarious and adorable, 10/10, no notes

And yes, their hands/wrists are all bound to the chairs with wrapping paper, with bows on top!

(Also I thought Geoff was the only one not wearing a tie but Eli isn't either!)

I am kinda interested to know what the collars were made from actually (there isn't any BTS stuff for this video sadly - I checked)

"What fun it is to ride and sing a-"

"-sleighing song toniiight"

*grabby hands* Gimme the controls, GIVE ME THE CONTROLS! 😂

(Seriously Evil Santa dude, you could've done so much more!!!)

J killed it with the rap part of course! (Who wrote that bit? Was it the same dude who wrote bits for VoicePlay's covers of Superstition and Valhalla Calling?)

Kinda looks like J is giving Layne hope/encouragement/reassurance here and it's kinda sweet!

Geoff! You're not supposed to be enjoying this! 🤣

(But also his head bobbing is kinda fun/amusing - I guess when he can't sing with his hands like he usually does, moving his head will just have to do!)

Now there's a freeze-frame bonus for sure! 😍

Also just noticed Geoff is moving his fingers a little bit in this part! He cannot be fully stopped! XD

(Also hey are Eli's shoes the same ones that he wore in Creep and In The Air Tonight and maybe one or two other videos? He seems to like black sneakers with thick white soles on them)

When the video started, the time on the camera feed was two minutes before midnight, and two minutes later... it's still two minutes before midnight! What kinda Polar Express time nonsense is this? 😂

"I'm so pleased, you may leave now! Merry Christmas, VoicePlay!"

"Thank you, mister evil... supervillain guy... but can you untie us now? ...Someone's coming to untie us right?"

(Lol rip)

I remember this was one of the videos I watched not too long after I first discovered VoicePlay in 2019, and I'm pretty sure that I wasn't entirely certain who was speaking at the end, but of course now I know it's Geoff! (Though his typical speaking voice nowadays is an octave or so lower, lol)

Okay so not too short of a post after all (3 more images than my post for Baby Its Cold Outside, actually!), and definitely well worth it! But the next post I have in store? Well, there might be a solid chance of me hitting the image limit on that one, lol. See you again soon!

[iamaburnedgiftedartkid]

Not Even a Little Bit

Chapter 1

Hello! This is my second fic and I'm not too sure about the directions or tags yet. I hope you enjoy none the less.

Warnings - Mentions of Mild Physical Violence and Sexual Harassment

Warnings - Mentions of Mild Physical Violence and Sexual Harassment 

Another day at Stark Adult Entertainment Industry where you are a social media manager. Doing anything from posting goofy outtakes from shoots to redesigning the main website to be less ‘70’s porn site’. 

You are in one of your favorite skirts, a black high waisted, mini, skater style skirt with built in shorts. Along with a black and dark green button down with a sheer panel in the back with black stockings and black ankle strap platform heels. 

Going door to door dropping off promotional rough drafts and possible dates that are available for promotional shoots. You also require that all social media content that you create be approved by the people who are in them. So you email them the video and require written approval. Even if everyone says it's fine because it’s normally just something breaking on set or a laughing fit during a scene. You still do just to make sure everyone is comfortable. 

About halfway through dropping off paperwork you hear someone approach you, “Hey sexy”. You are absolutely. Undoubtedly. Uninterested., “No” is all you say, not even bothering to look at the egotistical douche that is John Walker. He takes a step closer to you, creep, “Oh come on. You know you wanna do a private shoot with me.” He runs his fingers up your back where the sheer panel is, gross. You turn to face him and take a step back, so he stops touching you. “Not even a little bit dude.” The look on his face is priceless, he looks like he’s never had a girl call him dude when he’s  trying to hit on them. It takes all your willpower not to break out laughing. 

You make your way to the next door and begin pulling papers and putting them into the mail slot when John finally recovers. He approaches you again, getting even closer. “You’ve seen my videos, you know what I can do for you.” He says sliding his hand down to the top of your skirt, causing an uncomfortable shiver. You steady yourself, turn to him still trying to be mildly polite, “Nope I’ve never seen any of your work or anyone else’s here.” You sound as bored as this whole conversation is making you. 

He looks genuinely confused, “But you do all the media work?” He says while tilting his head at you, “Yes I do but I only look at the outtakes. I don’t watch the whole film.” You couldn’t hide the small smile that tugged at your lips at the thought of some of those outtakes, Steve accidentally missing the bed when tossing Bucky resulting in him just dropping to the ground, or the time Nat’s heel broke and she went from badass dominatix to a newborn giraffe.

When you come back from memory lane you see John’s face completely blank so you turn to go back to work when he grabs your arm. “Stop playing hard to get, your tell me you’re walking around in this,” he reaches for the edge of your skirt with his other hand, “and don’t wanna get fucked across a desk?” You held your rage back even if it was warranted. Honestly who the hell does this asshole think he is. You leaned in venom dripping from your words, “I said ‘No’ and seeing as we work in an industry where consent is a founding principal maybe you should go educate yourself on the fact that someone not saying yes means no, someone saying no means no, and someone giving you every chance to fuck off as politely as possible is also a N.O.” 

John grabs your arm tighter and you wince, fucking prick, “That’s fine you don’t wanna fuck I’ll just get you fired.” He finishes with a smile a fucking smile. You look him right in his face and smile, “Then do it.” The shock at your words ripples across his face, “Your mistake was assuming I need this job. Unfortunately for you I don't. So do it.” You finished laughing in his face. 

He yanks you toward him, “Listen here you little bit-“, “Walker! What the hell are you doing!?” John looked like he had just seen a ghost at the sound of Steve’s voice. Steve approaches quickly and you pull your arm out of John’s grasp. Steve immediately gets in between the two of you forcing John to move back. “What the hell just happened?” Steve growls at John, who’s still pale. “Nothing” you interject. Steve’s head whips around so fast you're surprised it didn’t snap, “I left some consent for content in your mail slot as well as some promotional rough drafts for you to look over, just bring them to me when you’ve had a chance to look at them.” You give him a smile. “Ye-yeah I’ll do that is that all?” He looks at you with confusion. You could handle this, you're sure John learned his lesson, hopefully this will put an end to anymore harassment. “Yes that’s all. On that note I’ll be off. See you later Mr.Rogers,” you roll your eyes to John, “Walker.” Turning on your heels and going back to work. 

Steve watches you walk away like nothing happened. He saw that John was holding you and he heard the end of that conversation. Steve turns back to John who has gained some of his composure back, “What the hell was that?” Steve asks John, blocking you from view. “You heard her, nothing.” John says with this cocky look on his face, Steve took a step toward John glaring at him causing John’s exterior to crack, “I don’t give a damn what she said I saw and heard you, I’m giving you a warning. Leave her alone.” John just rolls his eyes causing Steve to step right up too John leaning down to be directly in his face, “I know for a fact you have fucked around with other girls that work here. This is the only warning you're getting. Understood?” Steve didn’t let up his glare. John couldn’t meet his gaze, just white knuckle clenched his fists and nodded. “Good” Steve said, turning around walking back the way you headed and turned the hall. John stayed standing there until Steve was out of sight then swung and hit the wall, walking off muttering under his breath.

[songstep4002]

All right listen up therians, specifically dragonkin and those with similar tails- I'm showing you mine, and how to make one like it.

So this is an articulated tail, it moves on its own but still holds its structure and doesn't sag and get tangled in my legs despite its length. It makes noise when it moves, but there's probably ways to fix that.

So to start, draw the silhouette of your tail in its resting position on a piece of stiff fabric, then cut it out. The color does not matter as you'll be covering this piece up entirely. The important thing is that this fabric is not elastic at all, otherwise your tail will be very saggy.

Next, mark lines where you want the joints to be. I tried to keep mine mostly vertical so the tail didn't hang in unexpected ways and drag on the floor, but you can do whatever fits your tail motion the best. Then, use some stiff and bulky material to cut out the individual panels that you've drawn twice. I used cardboard, but you can probably use foam blocks if you want more volume. It helps to trace the shape from step one onto your material, then cut the resulting shape into panels to get the final pieces. Make sure you keep track of which pieces are which.

Next, use some kind of glue or adhesive to attach the panels to your base fabric. Depending on how thick your panels are, you may need to remove some of the material around the joints to allow them to move freely. This is the basic structure of your tail.

Once you have your structure, cut out fabric pieces to create your scales. You'll want to cut out individual pieces for each panel, otherwise you might restrict the tail's movement. I cut my pieces on a fold and folded them over the top of the tail to make the top smooth, since it's the bit most people are going to see. Also, it's a good idea to make each cover piece slightly longer than its corresponding panel so that you can overlap the pieces to hide the joints. You can attach these pieces with adhesive or sewing, whatever works best for you.

To make the base of the tail, just cut out a cardboard piece that can fit your whole tail base on it, and cut slits in it for a belt as seen above. Before covering up the top section of your tail, use glue to attach the edge of your tail to the base plate. Depending on what kind of cardboard you're using, you may want to scratch up the surface a bit first. Then (preferably before the glue dries) use masking or duct tape to strengthen this connection. This part should be completely stable rather than flexible, though a little bit of give is okay. Once you're satisfied with the connection, cover up the base section and base plate with your decorating fabric.

Sorry about the vagueness around materials, techniques, and such. It's kinda reflective of the way I approach crafting as a whole, and I literally used the stuff I had on hand at the time (hot glue, cardboard, leftover fabric scraps from my wings) to make this tail.

The design was inspired by this YouTube video btw:

Anyway, hope this helps someone! I know, right, an actual post instead of incoherent ramblings about the inside of my brain, but sometimes my impulsive posting gives me the impulse to do something actually useful for once.

[mayasdeluca]

Really hope they were asked some good questions at this con. It must be exhausting for them to do this and then to get asked just dumb repetitive things. I saw that X post where someone posted a few things that were discussed. Is there anyway to get more information on that what was asked and answered?

I have no idea, I don't know if we're going to end up getting to see any of the video from these panels because they did that whole thing that you can pay to buy access to them that they are going to release after they edit them...but they make it seem like if people share screenshots or video from that they're going to get in trouble. And then people weren't allowed to take videos from the panel in real time either (though I guess the person taking the video of them singing to Stefania was being sneaky lol) so it kinda sucks. At least when Dream It puts the videos on sale as a DVD or whatever they still upload parts of the panels that same weekend...this con seems very restricted for some reason.

[bvannn]

Weekly update June 14 2024

I was extremely busy this week and I’m extremely tired tonight. I got a bunch of life things tidied up but didn’t do as much as I would’ve liked but still got some stuff done.

Artfight prep is the main thing, Josh’s thumbnail is done and his refsheet is also almost done, Romeo’s thumbnail is also almost done. I was going to finish it tonight but I’m very tired. Maybe after I eat and shower I might get a burst of energy and finish it up but seems unlikely. Now that I’ve figured out the trick to overcoming adobe’s shitty drawing tools I’m making good stride on animation stuff, and while the OEB video is not a high priority at all right now, I’m looking forward to how it’ll look. Fwiw the puppet I’m building for that is going pretty well as a low priority task, and building it was much faster than what it used to be so I’m pretty sure the animation itself will also go a lot quicker. Again no progress made on that this week, though.

Music: I’m learning a bunch of new mixing and sound balancing strategies and I’m hoping tomorrow I’ll have the energy to unleash them all. I’m going to re-mix OEB for sure, already redid instruments and set up instrument channels. Also hoping tomorrow will put me in enough of a music kick to finish up the other projects I’ve been sitting on. Everything I’m sitting on could use the new plugin chain, plus BMBO has lyrics done and needs a VPR, WOTW could use some VPR tweaking, RR also has finished lyrics now so I can get going on it’s instruments and VPR (and also pick out what voice to use), plus the ambient quickie could needs a melody recorded plus mixing, the pop quickie needs that too and lyrics, BATB lyrics are close to done but I keep procrastinating, the SOS medley needs some more instrument selections plus mixing, and a couple other miscellaneous songs, there’s a lot. I’m hoping I can get to bed early today and just unload on a bunch of those tomorrow, so I think I’ll try.

Other news: that AC game I’ve been on and off writing: finally sat down and started like, actual coherent notes. This is a good step because I do want to turn it into a prewritten module for other people to run. Main thing I did this week in the way of that was a proper description of the setting, to help character creation. Any of these other times I’m too tired to do anything I’ll try to pour into that, which should in turn motivate me to get visual stuff for that done too. I have done a few character tokens that haven’t been posted because again, I’d like the module to be free and any extras to be paid, rather than the whole thing being paid.

Comic: it’s going, albeit slowly. This whole week at work I tried to sketch out stuff while I was working, but for whatever reason the comic wasn’t cooperating. Probably because the poses and layouts are more dynamic than my splash art, so drawing them with a pen doesn’t really work out well. Once I import and fix the panels I did sketch, the comic will be around 24% done. I will attempt to smuggle in pencils next week, in order to get more done. Like all things considered being able to sketch while at work is definitely a help for my confidence in my projects, and I hope to continue it wherever I can.

Plan for next week is: tonight I go to bed early, tomorrow I go buckwild on music and get a bunch of stuff finished up, maybe finish up Romeo’s AF thumbnail or get the assets for someone else’s done. Sunday, I’ll try to finish up Josh’s AF ref and redo Romeo’s, and get as many assets for the other AF thumbnails done as I can. Monday at work I’ll try to sneak in a pencil, and I’ll get more comic sketching or OEB storyboards done, then Monday night I’ll continue making and/or animating those AF thumbnails. I’ll continue sketches at work where I can and animations during lunch as best I can, Tuesday night I’m introducing another friend to epithet erased, so good chance I’ll get writing for TTRPG done that night too, Wednesday night have a pathfinder game so I should be able to get some digital art done during that, more AF thumbnail assets or maybe comic work, and the rest of the week I should be able to continue sketches at work, and digital stuff in the evening. I might swap out some of that digital drawing with more music if I have the energy but at the moment seems unlikely. I’m getting stuff done, but tonight I’m taking a rest. I’ll try to post something tomorrow, worst case it’ll be a WIP, but really hoping I’ll have something good! Thanks again to everyone for being patient with me!

[l-crimson-l]

And gunpla questions you receive! (Honestly, thank you so much for answering them, you're of a great help to a newbie that's me.)

So, I plan to finally get to partially painting my first gunpla tomorrow, and I also thought of doing a little weathering, but it's just a random thought for now — and so I got curious of what weathering techniques you prefer and for what reason.

Ok so I had to take some time to look up a couple popular ways to do this bc I’ve only weather one kit only half way and it was, of course, the lazy way.

So first I’ll tell you how I did it. It was one of the 86 kits (please reprint those Bandai) and I only weathered the off white parts. But what I ended up doing was using the black, grey and brown gundam pens (typically used for panel lining) and my thumb to first add color the edges and panel lines, then used my thumb to smooth out the color. Using the brown gave it a nice rain rusted look and the black and grey added a nice worn look. The kit is packed away at the moment but I posted pictures of it somewhere on my blog. Probably under 86 lol

Ok so now the more official Modeler Approved options.

First would be using the Tamiya Weathering set. There’s a couple different panels to choose from so definitely pick the ones that have the colors you need. 

Basically it goes like this: use the brush (either the one included or maybe better, a foam type brush) and dash along the edges. Build up as much or as little as you want (for example maybe you wanna lay it on thick if you’re doing like a mud drenched type look) and then topcoat! If you add too much you can always wipe some away with a little bit of water. IMPORTANT NOTE: this is powdered so WEAR A MASK or at the very least use this in a Well Ventilated Area. There’s a couple brushes sold online for these

But you can honestly use either a sponge or an old makeup brush.

(Pic at the bottom bc tunglr mobile sucks)

The second method is called Chipping. This is where you use paint and a Very Thin Fine Tip Brush to brush on small chip like strokes on the edges of the piece. Using a couple colors here adds depth and helps it look more realistic. Here’s one example I found online

Now something to note about this method is that it is certainly time consuming. From what I listened to, this particular method can certainly take a couple days to detail the whole kit depending on how much you do and how big the kit is.

IMPORTANT: if you choose this method be aware of the chemistry of your paint. If you have an enamel or acrylic paint base then don’t go and use lacquer paint for your detail work. It’ll eat those other paints.

I think you could always top coat your paint job before doing this to help preserve your paint? Maybe someone more experience can confirm that.

Third: Washes

This is pretty straight forward. Take your paint, thin it down and then wash it over the part with a brush. Depending on your paint you can use a qtip to help dab away any excess. This typically really works well on things like planes and ships but can be used for gunpla as well. You can use this for any kind of paint just once again Be Mindful About Your Paint Layers. You don’t want a top layer of paint eating through your base paint job.

Here’s a couple links to videos covering each one in more detail:

Tamiya Weathering Set

Chipping

Wash

I hope this helps! Again it’s not something I’ve dipped my toes into to any real depth but I’ll tell ya this: even my lazy arse way added WAY more character and weight to my kit

[nbmsports]

Hong Kongers urged to stare at smokers in a disapproving way to help create a tobacco-free city | World News

People in Hong Kong should stare at smokers disapprovingly as part of efforts to create a tobacco-free city, the territory's health minister has said.Professor Lo Chung-mau said people who have lit up in areas where it is prohibited are unlikely to "hit back" if everyone stares at them, local media has reported. "Cigarettes can harm the health of all of us," Professor Lo told a meeting of the Legislative Council's health service panel on Friday."When the members of the public see people smoking in non-smoking areas, even if no law enforcement officers can show up immediately, we can stare at the smokers."When someone takes out a cigarette at a restaurant, everyone on the premises can stare at that person. I do not believe that person would dare to hit back at everyone at the restaurant as they are simply staring." Professor Lo said the behaviour would help to create a "non-smoking culture" in the city.He continued: "Take queuing at a bus stop as an example. No one will say it requires the law to compel people to queue. "Our society is able to create a culture where people will comply with this rule of queuing when waiting for buses."I hope the whole of society can build a non-smoking culture." Read more world news Europe braced for higher temperatures during heatwave Ukraine conducts 'special military operation' using speed boats Three 'mummified' bodies found in Rocky Mountains Professor Lo also warned authorities will use surveillance footage or video clips provided by members of the public as evidence to crack down on smokers lighting up in restricted areas, the South China Morning Post reports.Statutory no-smoking areas in Hong Kong include parts of restaurants, workplaces, indoor public places and some outdoor public places, with penalties of HK$1,500 (£147) for breaches.On Wednesday, health authorities in Hong Kong launched a public consultation paper for new strategies to tackle smoking.Ideas included banning people born after a certain date from buying cigarettes and whether to increase the tax on tobacco to 75% of the package price in a rapid or gradual way. Source link Read the full article

[analogskullerosis]

If you're watching the Internet Historian video on DashCon, that video is most likely plagiarized and also just has a lot of obvious factual errors in it. Sarah Z's video on the topic is the one you should be watching if it's not that one).

I only joined Tumblr less than a year (October 2013) before DashCon happened, but I can tell you that in my little part of the world, it was an idea that myself, my sister, and some of my close friends viciously mocked. It looked incredibly disorganized right from the start and I remember a lot of people questioning the logistics of how a convention dedicated to a site with many many different interests and communities would even work. Something like VidCon works because most people there are Youtubers and the thing that unites them is that they all make videos for one platform and it's easy to categorize what people do (comedy, commentary, music, make-up, etc.) How the hell anybody from Tumblr was going to do that was anybody's guess.

To answer your specific questions. Did I want to go? No. I had no money for a convention at that time and I had no interest in the event. I thought it was a shady event, but I also know NOTHING about running a convention, so I was like, "I'm probably being cynical. Maybe it'll be good! Hope tumblrinas have fun!"

What was experiencing the fallout like? Cathartic. That weekend when DashCon happened was the funniest fucking thing in the world at the time. I remember it was me, my sister, and a few of our friends constantly checking and seeing the shitshow unfold live on Tumblr and Twitter (this was back when I was still on that stupid app). When we saw posts and pictures about that ball pit, it was game over. We photoshopped that ball pit into pictures, we made constant jokes about it. The image of that sad little ball pit is etched into the stone that is my memory forever. We also made fun of the panel presentation ideas because they were all kinda ridiculous (especially from an outside looking in viewpoint). We were all Night Vale fans at the time too so when we heard they ditched the Con, we didn't know exactly why at the time. We assumed it was just because they saw it was a shitshow and decided to back out last second. It wasn't revealed until a little later that it was because they weren't paid. We knew it was a shitshow from inception and we were laughing about it the entire time (though I should make it clear that we did feel bad for the people who got screwed over royally. We also had sympathy for the people who genuinely believed in an event like DashCon and wanted to go to it). I can tell you that it definitely stopped being funny when the scam was discovered and people figured out the whole story.

The thing about DashCon is that it was not unique. It was not the first attempt of someone trying to organize a "tumblr meetup." "Tumblr University" and "Tumblr Prom" were (mostly) joke ideas that were floating around on the site in the early 2010s (this post talks about that in more detail) so it wasn't like this was an idea that came out of nowhere, it was the just the first time somebody expressed being dead serious about it.

After DashCon, nobody ever tried seriously suggesting a mass meetup from this site ever again. DashCon was the final nail in that coffin. That ancient joke of using the "I like your shoelaces / Thanks I got them from the president" line to identify tumblr users IRL still lives on, but that's about it. Have I met people from Tumblr in real life? Absolutely! It's a lovely thing! But that's one individual meeting another individual. Anything bigger than a group of, like, four friends saying "Hey we should all meet somewhere someday" is a bit risky.

I remember knowing a couple assholes who laughed and said that the people that went deserved what happened to them and made jokes like "Yeah... that's about what I expected from a tumblr convention." As long as I've been here (roughly 11 years) Tumblr has never been a "respected" platform. But I love her, warts and all.

The solution to DashCon has always been to just find a different convention that is dedicated to interests that you and a few tumblr friends have and then organize a way to meet up there together. There's nothing wrong with making friends on here and wanting to meet them in real life someday. Some of the nicest and most wonderful people I've ever known have been people I met through here.

DashCon was always going to fail, but there have been worse conventions (that NFT even that literally BLINDED people) and even bigger scams (TanaCon from years ago comes to mind immediately). It's the kind of thing where it happened and there were lessons learned from it. Hope this (very long-winded) input helps.

Yo I'm watching this YouTube video rn on the history of Dashcon (which happened a decade ago as of this year...), and I wanna know if any Elders in the prog community remembered when that happened. What was experiencing the fallout like? Did anyone actually go/want to go?

[aro-comics]

Growth (Part 2)

Growth, Part 2/3 – ITS REALLY NOT THAT HARD!! 😭😭 Lol sorry but the last panel is absolutely me when I think about amatonormativity as a whole, it’s really silly the more you think about it and I can’t believe that it’s so deeply engrained in most of the world. 

I think I should mention I don’t have any specific narratives to reference for the tropes described in this comic, as much as I would like to, as I started panelling this a year ago and past me GOOFED and didn’t leave many notes on what examples she was specifically think of. Again, feel free to let me know any examples you can think of in the comments or via DM! I’ll pin them if they’re in the comments and I might make a follow up Tumblr post listing examples 😊

Also, while I was researching this general topic I did go through TV Tropes “The Singles” (as a character type? Category) page, and I found something very interesting. There’s a literally a section describing the tropes that “explain” why a character was not in a romantic relationship … and literally they have ever “Excuse” for why a character might be single except for. Maybe literally they’re aromantic 😭 The closest is “Allergic to Love” (which like, relatable. But also not inherently an orientation).

Just like …. OH MY GOD. People sometimes try to act like we’re being dramatic about leting people know being Aromantic is possible but STRAIGHT UP. IN POPULAR CULTURE (and often OUR WHOLE LIVES BEFORE WE DISCOVER THE TERM, AND ACCEPT OUR IDENTITES) THE IDEA OF BEING AROMANTIC IS JUST NON-EXISTENT, WRITTEN AROUND WITH EVERY OTHER POSSIBLE “EXCUSE” OR “EXPLANATION” Because apparently the idea that someone could just not feel romantic attraction is too much for this world 😫

I don’t have too much else to say, other than I hope you’re all holding up okay and taking care of yourselves.

Image Description:

Slide 1: Celia holds her hand up to her chin, contemplating. “The whole idea of growth being tied to romance is reflected in other tropes too –”

Slide 2: A split panel is illustrated. A south asian girl is shown crying as she types on her phone. She mutters to herself “Ugh, I’m SO done with dating. I’m putting myself first for once.”

On the other side of the panel, she is shown to have gone through a *transformation* (a la early 2000s makeover), and bumping into her destined love interest.      

“The character’s efforts to “work on themselves” and “get away from romance”, are ironically what lead them to finding their “happy ending”.

Slide 3: Alternatively, a character finally accepting that they are happy single is seen as a “stepping stone” to being “ready” for a relationship.

In this scene, a brunette wearing a yellow shirt and dark skirt proclaims “I can be happy as a single woman”. In the background a spotlight flicks on as her “right” love interest appears. “Achievement unlocked: True Love interest” is overlaid in a font reminiscent of classic video games.

Slide 4: Celia speaks to the viewer. “Again, there’s nothing inherently wrong about either of these stories. It’s amazing if someone who gave up on love due to frustration, not a lack of desire, finds it again through pure fate and luck.”

Slide 5: Celia gestures now as she tries to explain, “But the problem is that these moments are framed as more of a “gotcha”, where this idea of pursuing growth purely for oneself, or holding any disdain of a romantic relationship in this process, is inherently wrong. In the end, even growing for yourself is really about growing for a romantic relationship.”

Slide 6: Celia rubs her hands through her hair in frustration. “Like … not everything is about being in a relationship! It’s not that hard.”

[itsallyscorner]

Can you write a little mix member x avengers cast?? Maybe?

Hello love! Thank you for the request, I apologize for taking so long to work on it! I’ve written this as a headcanon, since I haven’t done any of those in a while. I hope you like it❤️

💌.

The Marvel Cast Finds Out You’re In Little Mix

Why is this lowkey a crack fic/headcanon😭💀

Alrighty so, I feel like they probably wouldn’t know you’re part of a band or who Little Mix is.

Since SADLY, the girls aren’t as big in the States as we’d like them to be:(

The people who definitely might know you are ✨The Brits✨ and Scarlett because she has a young daughter who probably listened to Wings or something—kids find everything on the internet these days.

Working with Marvel was your first acting gig; so none of them knew anything about you or if you’ve been in other films, etc.

Except for Tom Holland, who was lowkey fangirling at the fact he gets to work with one of the Little Mix members.

Side note: he’ll be deeply offended when he figures out the others don’t know about Little Mix or that you can sing.

The rest of the cast (RDJ, Chris Evans, Anthony Mackie, Seb, Lizzie, etc.) had a hunch that you were some kind of writer.

You were always humming to yourself and writing in your notebook or typing down notes in your phone when something came to mind.

Though they didn’t pry at your business because—well, it wasn’t their business.

They could find out about your other job through many ways. Maybe you guys are doing promo and some interviewers mention the band and things about a new album, to which most of them were confused about.

“So (Y/n), I know this is your first time acting. How different was it from performing on stage and acting on camera?”

Everyone’s attention would be on you (this is a panel btw) Mackie’s looking at the back of your head in confusion, Robert fully turns in his seat to look at you, Lizzie is also curious, Evans is looking between you and the reporter—everyone is just confused.

“Performing on stage? Did you do Broadway (y/n/n)?” Evans asked. Tom (Holland) scoffed shaking his head, disgusted to be part of this group of uncultured swines.

You chuckled and shook your head, “No, I’m a singer. I’m part of a girlband.”

The whole cast gasped in shock. Mackie let out a loud “WHAT?!”. Robert leaned even closer to you trying to see if you were lying. Others whispered amongst themselves asking each other if they knew.

Tom (Holland) just sat back watching everyone’s reactions along with you. Amused at the amount of questions that were suddenly being thrown your way.

He’d also be quick to add, “NOT just ANY girlband, but the biggest girlband on the planet.”

For clarification, Tom’s a very proud Mixer.

Scarlett finally recognized you, knowing that she’s seen you somewhere before, but could never put her finger onto it. “Wait you’re from Little Mix!”

“THANK YOU! FINALLY SOMEONE WITH SOME TASTE!” Tom yelled, dramatically turning to Scarlett.

After the initial shock, everyone was very curious. They wanted to hear your music, wanted to know the other members, when your next tour was—they were very ecstatic.

When you guys finally reached London for the press tour, there was a lot of hype for Little Mix because you guys were going to finally reunite after months of being apart.

The girls were allowed to visit set, but since you guys were working on your new album, they were stuck in London. You were relocated to Atlanta, filming an Avengers movie and working on the album via FaceTime/Zoom.

You and the girls reunite the same night you land in London! As tired as you were, the five of you hung out in your hotel room.

You were all excited for the days to come. Not only were you doing promo for the movie but you and the girls were going to be performing again on night time talk shows and were having a Live Lounge session with BBC Radio 1.

The panel of the cast discovering you were part of a band went viral. Many of the fans couldn’t believe they didn’t know about your other job.

There were even edits going around social media of the cast looking clueless and or reacting to your ‘secret’.

Then there were ones like “Tom Holland being a Mixer for 10 minutes and 57 seconds straight”.

Your favorite one was where they zoomed in on everyone’s confused expression while that one Nicki Minaj song played in the background.

It was mentioned in almost every interview after it went viral.

“So none of you had a clue that (y/n) was also a singer? Like at all?”

“I didn’t even know homegirl could sing, matter of fact I never imagined her to be in a girlband.” — Anthony Mackie

“I had a hunch that she was a musician or artist, but no one ever listens to me.” — Chris Evans

“(Y/n)’s in a girlband? Since when?” — Paul Rudd

“After we found out, I listened to all six of their albums on the flight here.” — Elizabeth Olsen

“Of course I knew, my music taste is immaculate compared to the others.” — Tom Holland

“Shut the fuck up, Tom.” — Anthony Mackie

“I really enjoy Black Magic, it reminds me of Wanda.” — Paul Bettany

The cast was so eager to hear you sing and watch you perform with the girls.

They finally got to do that when you invited them to the Live Lounge session. They also got to meet the girls.

You were very happy at that moment; seeing the two groups of people you love meeting each other and getting along meant a lot to you. It gave you a lil warm tingle in your heart.

Since there were no fans in the studio, it was only you and the girls, the band, and a bunch of the Avengers.

While the cameras rolled and you guys were performing, they were crowded together behind the scenes. Some of them were sitting on the carpeted floors or standing against the walls.

They were absolutely stunned when they heard you sing. You had a powerful voice that ranged from high to low, something they never expected of you.

When they heard you and the girls sing or harmonize with each other, it was like they were all in heaven.

“They sound like angels.”

“My ears are tingling, but like in a good way.”

“Seriously, how did we not know she can sing like this?”

“Hear me out—this is a perfect reason as to why we should have an Avengers musical.”

“Chris if we hear you bring up a damn musical one more time I swear.”

“Their voices go so well together, how do they even do that?”

Scarlett would secretly film videos to show her daughter. I have a feeling that Evans, Tom, RDJ, Sebby, and Mark would record some parts as well and would post it onto their Insta stories.

When fans found out they were at the Live Lounge they freaked out.

Ever since they found out you were in a band, they’ve been the biggest fans and supporters of the group.

They’re always promoting your albums on their social media accounts without you even asking.

Privately and publicly praising you guys for performances or achievements.

Your two main groups clashed and now everyone was friends. It was definitely the most weirdest collision— Little Mix and the cast of the Avengers. But it worked out perfectly.

Everyone got along with each other and the girls would always visit you on set.

They’re always playing the band’s song in the background on set.

Most of them won’t admit, but they definitely memorized the lyrics to almost every song.

*cough cough* Mackie and Hemsworth

I feel like Samuel L. Jackson would join in on the action too, one way or another. Somehow he got looped in.

ANOTHER THING OMG, they would definitely stand up for you and the girls whenever Piers Morgan or some asshole hates on you guys or pulls a jab on you all.

Best beileve Evans will be calling him out publicly on Twitter.

“Why are you so worried about a bunch of talented women who are doing their job and bringing happiness to others? They’ve done nothing to you, you’re always the one making jabs at them. Leave them alone you fucking British meatball.”

I feel like Robert helped you and the girls find a better management company after learning about the unfair treatment you all faced under Simon’s care.

In conclusion: The Marvel cast would be ecstatic to learn about you being a singer and they’d become your biggest fans. They truly adore you and the girls for your amazing talent :’)

[trilies]

copying a reply i've given before: As someone who was there from ground zero: It literally all started because some rando thought it was cringe. Literally that. They picked a single dumb comic panel, whined about it on twitter, and it picked up speed from there. But it’s not enough to just…. not like a thing. There’s no *clout* in that. So you had a whole bunch of people starting to spew homophobic bullshit, but hiding it underneath fake ass concern trolling. Because wish fulfillment from a queer artist living in a queerphobic country is, uh. “bad representation”. That a lot of the “ironic” homophobia looked a whole lot like the genuine article was something a lot of people tried really hard not to think about. Also added into the mix were a LOT OF TRANSPHOBES who were really psyched to spread their bullshit rhetoric. Lots of “real men don’t like stuff like this” (very “no fats no femmes” on grindr of them) and “this is fujoshi bait” or OUTRIGHT calling the creator a woman As a note, the creator is a trans man. Even now, a lot of the arguments against it are literally just “he’s fetishizing queer men”, which is an interesting thing to say about a trans man. Of course, when you ask them just what that means, they go weirdly quiet. No one wants to admit that they sucked shit straight from terf ass. And that’s not all. Because cringe and accusations of bad representation are still not enough for the clout hungry. so some dedicated haters dug NEARLY A DECADE BACK just so that they could find some shit. Ironically, the shit they found, they only found because the creator had already apologized for it before the shitstorm was even a bubble. You’ll find that the detractors often like to frame it as much more recent matters than they are, because, again, this all happened near decades ago There’s two main things 1. He said a racial slur For context, he was quoting that one Free! meme video series on youtube, and was a non-english speaking teenager. Like, this is context (just like how long ago this happened, and his apology) that detractors like to mysteriously leave absent in their explanations. (Fun fact, when this was all first blowing up, I kept hearing vaguely about the slur usage and was like “Wow that seems way more important than the stupid cringe shit”. And when I finally tracked down someone with a screencap using it as proof of what a horrible person he was….. It was literally the screencap including the creator apologizing. So it was never about genuinely caring about racism.) 2. He drew RPF of BTS members once. ….While being younger than them. …Which he also apologized for when he grew up and felt he’d overstepped boundaries. He went on to delete his posting of the comic, although it continues to live on in part because the haters saved it and keep spreading it around. All of that are the excuses people like to use as they literally tell him they hope his plane crashes tldr People hate it because they can’t just Not Like A Thing, they have to make it a moral panic, no matter what lies they have to make in the process, and now they’re puppets for bigots.

Why do people hate the boyfriends webcomic and the creator so much? I know people say the creator's fetishizing queer relationships but like, I remember he's gay and trans so I'm pretty sure that's not the case, I also checked his carrd and there's nothing about him being a proshipper like someone said. And I thought it was obvious that the characters were supposed to be stereotypes, so it's not like the creator was hiding it from people.

[opbackgrounds]

Idrk what “buffer is suffering” is but i hope ur okay and well always!!! Ty for this blog i read it like a mornings newspaper everyday its so fun lol. Bc i feel like it would be more fun to analyze the media i consume I wanted to ask how you analyze things in stories, do some things just naturally peak ur interest so you try and pick at them? Or do you actively try and find quirks about certain characters and worlds ? Ty again i really do appreciate ur blog

I usually have a queue that’s 1-3 chapters ahead of what you see. Right now I have 3 posts left, hence the suffering buffer.

As for the analysis, I guess it’s something I have life long practice with. My mom was a teacher who paid a penny a page for reading books, and then would always ask me what I thought the author was trying to tell me with their story. Imagine a middle schooler trying to put into words why I thought the last Lemony Snicket book was the both the most profound and frustrating thing I’d ever read.

So I guess that’s always my starting question: What is the author trying to communicate? What is Oda trying to say when he has panels of Usopp and Luffy facing opposite directions? Why did he put that panel of the Straw Hat’s flag there? What does all these masks have to do with the story being told? What was Oda trying to say? Was he successful, and if so, why? If not, why?

(Incidentally, I’m not a big fan of Death of the Author. I think there are reader interpretations that are objectively, factually, wrong.)

Fast forward a couple years and I stumbled across a wonderful little Twilight hate blog @reasoningwithvampires that sadly never made it completely through the series but nevertheless absolutely dismantled the first 2 1/2 books almost sentence by sentence. It cannot be overstated how much that blog helped me as someone who was just starting to write fanfic, both on a grammatical and story level.

Seriously, I never took any English classes in college, but my exit score for English were 15 points higher than my entrance score because of this blog. If you want to know how commas work, go check it out.

It also taught me the real value of that sort of comprehensive analysis of a work, even the reason that analysis existed was hate. Around that time I started writing up my own, more topical, meta posts, and it was when doing research for one of those posts I really noticed for the first time all the cool details Oda put into Dr. Kureha’s castle in Drum. That sparked the question: What other cool details had Oda put into the series?

And thus, opbackgrounds was born.

I maintain that anyone can do this kind of analysis, but it does take time and practice. Then again, I’m also the kind of person who likes listening to 12 hour YouTube videos analyzing a video game Ive never played, so maybe I’m just wired that way.

In any case, I’m familiar enough with One Piece that I already know a lot of the important themes and moments ahead of time. Once you know the big picture, it frees you up to look for the paint strokes that make up that picture. It’s seeing the whole, and then dismantling it to its individual parts.

You read a thing once to enjoy it, and twice to understand it. This blog is me trying to understand One Piece

[kate-komics]

Hey Kate! I was wondering if you could share your process in how you go about drawing backgrounds in your comics? Yours always look on point, Especially when it comes to the interiors of space ships which I find impossible haha. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Okay, first off... sorry this took 5ever for me to answer 😅

So, I suppose the short answer would be a basic understanding of perspective and A LOT of references. I seriously have folders upon folders full of collected photo references and a billion 3D model references from sketchfab and various other parts of the internet. They save my ass whenever I'm having a tough time figuring out a shot.

For understanding drawing perspective as a whole (and so you don't feel lost with all these references and models) I highly recommend the book 'Framed Perspective' by Marcos Mateu- Mestre. I have a copy that sits next to my desk at all times 😊 absolutely amazing. Makes it all seem so easy.

As for my process it's actually very similar to this post I saw not too long ago! Check it out down here ⬇️

https://art-tnt.tumblr.com/post/612413698481537024/indoril-niehaus-bludragongal-askoursquad

But yeah, my process for backgrounds is often pretty similar to what’s above. Find a reference, lay down a guide and then add or take away for whatever you need to. Like this panel and this reference model. I checked some angles I liked to help me figure out my grid then I changed a few things in the room, laid down my lines and added some ships and people. Very common for a lot of artists apparently.

Though I don’t always use model help. If it’s a background I’m familiar with/ have already drawn a million times I can usually do an easy perspective grid myself. Like these ⬇️

I also eyeball quiet a lot of things because I’m lazy😅 as you can tell!

A thing I also do sometimes I’d make a perspective grid around a pose. I get pretty attached to poses. So for his panel panel I took a reference photo of myself from above and built a scene around it. I don’t recommend this for beginners but… yeah it’s a thing I do still. (Sorry, I don’t have the original reference picture anymore) but I think it definitely helps anyone understand how certain angles work.

As for interiors of space ships, I honestly just see it as a lot of repeated or dynamic shapes. You don’t need to do much to make some alright sci-fi scenes. If you look through any space or Star Wars comics a lot of the time the backgrounds it’s just like “oh, they just split this wall into asymmetrical panels and added a pipe or two and some lights.” As you can see, I do exactly that ‘cause again… I’m lazy 😂

If it’s a repeated shape I just make a flat version of the pattern then transform it into my grid. Like these fucking floor oval things at are everywhere in the star wars universe.

Work smart and use all the tools at your disposal to work faster 👍🏻 if you want to see someone go more in depth with a lot of these techniques I highly recommend checking out some of Ethan Becker’s videos on YouTube. He’s a brutally honest animator and he gives what I think are some very helpful tips to people who are intimidated by the industry or furthering their artistic practice.

But yeah... practice perspective and use reference to help you understand! And also random shapes. And also don’t be afraid to fuck up! Try things! You can’t learn if you don’t fail!

Hope this helped! I’m bad at explaining these kind of things 😅