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dsknsk · 1 year ago

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Limbus Company and its visual portrayal of female characters, an essay

Limbus Company, and by extent, Project Moon has been a great example of how female characters are visually portrayed. In this article, I’ll try to dissect why and how, focusing on Limbus Company as it has by far the largest amount of images I can talk about. Let’s dive in.

Disclaimer: I'm by no means a professional so please, PLEASE don't clown on this i.e mention the summer controversy. I have a personal trauma on that and do not wish to revisit it. I know it's practically impossible to ask from tumblr, but still.

Visually portraying a subject

Where to start? At the very beginning, of course. Portraying a subject visually (not talking about female characters in specific yet) has a number of things attached to it. Perhaps the first question one can ask themselves is this:

Where do I want the focus to be?

Now, you can be short and say ‘the subject, of course’, but even then, that won’t often be precise enough. Let’s say you have a butterfly as your subject. Do you want the focus to be on its beautiful wings? Or its curious multi-faceted eyes, or its roll-up tongue? What do you want the viewer to notice immediately?

Arguably, even photos of landscapes have at least one point of focus. The pretty waterfall, the vast mountains, the green pastures or the starry sky. Some have the focus split up in two, where both the lake and the mountains are to be spotted immediately.

How focus can be created

There are multiple ways focus can be drawn to a specific part or to a specific subject.

One way is to simply make everything but your point of focus uninteresting. A common effect used is the Bokeh, which blurs out the background so that it will automatically appear as less interesting and more as a faded bunch of colors that contrasts with the point of focus which is sharply shot in HD. You can also make the background to be a flat color, like black or white. Some pieces of art additionally add colored shapes or lines behind the subject as to accentuate it further.

(an example of Bokeh. In addition, the direction in which another character looks shows what our main subject is, who is actually positioned off-center.)

You can also just…fill the space with the subject, as in a close-up of the thing in question. Following the previous butterfly example, it’s like only showing a small part of its wings, enlarged to comparatively huge proportions. This is also seen in portraits and to a lesser extent, similar art like waist-ups.

The eye is immediately drawn to what we should look at, which is the character who’s front and center in the image. Secondarily the blood. Her hair also uses the next point below: color.

If you’re working with color, then color is an excellent way to bring the focus to a subject. Bright colors and contrasts can be used, like what’s done here:

The bright red forms a direct contrast to the green that dominates the color pallette. It thus leads the eye to the red areas - aka the blood the character is spilling as well as her face, which is technically a tint of red. The red returning in her eyes which have a small trail, and on her bloodied face, as well as the yellow of her tie, further help to bring focus to her face and her expression. (Other than that, this image also has classic cartoon speed lines, which are minor but do help).

Light is also something I should mention. Using the image from above, the character is actually rushing towards the darker areas of the image. The light is coming from where she seemed to come from, judging by the speed lines and the trail of red we just saw in all its glory. The light forms a line around the subject which keeps said subject’s green uniform from blending into the darkness and the green of the image.

There is a specific technique called chiaroscuro (lit. ‘light-dark’) which is totally a real thing that even old masters like Rembrandt have used to bring focus. The gist of it is that the painting has very bright areas which is the subject, surrounded by dark areas, with not much in between. This technique is often used to make scenes more dramatic, and to immediately show us what the artist wants us to see, without any possible doubt. It’s like putting a spotlight on your head in a dark room. Chiaroscuro is also seen in Limbus:

You can’t actually see much of the room our subject is in. The only light is coming from the candles, illuminating the top part of our subject. The other, darker half is much harder to see the details of. This makes it so that the eye is led from either the character towards the source of the light (the candles) or in reverse, both of which are possible and valid because in both cases, we ignore the pitch black part of the artwork.

How to create focus with characters (in specific)

Now, humans and humanoids are fascinating subjects to focus on, because there are so many situations a person can be in, and so much stuff a person can be. Are they the commander of a spaceship? A medieval ruler? An overworked office clerk? There are specific things that more or less pertain to humanoid characters more. I’m going into two aspects, clothing and posing - I’m aware there’s more, but for the sake of making this not longer than it is I’m going into only those two.

1. Clothing

What someone wears makes up a considerable part of how they’re seen and what they are presumed to be. This is also a large part of stereotyping. If you're wearing a t-shirt with pants, sunglasses, and have a camera around your neck, chances are people think you’re a tourist. To them, it likely won’t matter if you are, they will perceive you as one anyway. This is also important here: you might want to pretend you don’t know anything about the portrayed character or show their image to an unknowing friend and see what they think that the character is.

And that brings me to this point that I have seen so many times with female characters: their description/role not directly matching with how they are supposed to look if that were true. I’m talking about the battle-hardened veteran without muscles or scars of both kinds (even if adequate healing/scar removal is available in the setting). I’m talking about the scientist with a leotard under their lab coat. However, I��m not saying they should look a certain way or be the same - that’d be boring - I’m saying that…hey, it might make the viewer not take the character as serious as you want them to be.

The way clothing is built up can also serve as a way to bring focus to a specific aspect. Which will most often be either the boobs or the butt (or both) in the case of female characters. Look at this (non-Project Moon) example.

The woman in the front (obviously the focus due to the place she is standing in being squarely in the middle, and her red hair standing out) is the leader of that squad…as well as the strongest in battle. Without any protection of vital organs. With a shape under her boobs that would stab her fatally in the liver if she does as little as bend over.

The way her clothing is built up also brings the focus to her boobs - not only with how they’re prominently on display, but also with the shape the top and the fabric covering her shoulders makes. In a similar vein, her ‘pants’ and the belt all lead the eye downwards to her crotch as well. Furthermore, her thigh highs look skin-tight, bringing secondary focus to her legs, of course.

And last but not least. The guys behind her are actually properly armored from the neck down, making them somewhat more of a homogenous whole… in theory. The different body types, hair, and colors of the armor of the right and left dude make them stand out slightly more, which in turn only accentuates this ridiculous difference.

I don’t really have many Project Moon-originating images on hand that are similar to this. Every time we’ve had an ID with a female character being the leader of their group (of which we’ve had surprisingly many, actually - Don has two Section Director IDs to boot) they have usually been posing alone, or well, posing…their full uptie art normally shows a moment when they’re beating their enemy into a pulp instead of posing for the camera like in the above image. This is really consistent with the other half of the playable characters, who are male.

I want to give a special mention to two characters despite that. Faust and Rodion are both known as the more well-endowed characters, but from their IDs and E.G.O it is treated as something that’s there rather than something to be exploited.

The blue glint is the highlight here, illuminating her blood-stained clothing but also finding its equal in her small, blue eyes. I have found eyes like this and expressions like this to be quite rare on female characters. Just look at her and her face. She’s completely lost it, wrapped in twisted and warped euphoria of the moment of ‘purging’ another ‘heretic’ - and from the looks of it, the last one on the scene. She’s not even trying to clean her own clothing or face, or expose her boobs. That’s not what matters to her image, showing any kind of skin doesn’t add to her character. She’s caught in this violent moment, having her victim completely in her literal grip - not even her eyes are looking at the camera. This image showcases the violent and sadistic nature of the character.

I find this art to be a curious thing. The background is actually rather bright, making the inverse true: the character is dressed in dark clothing, so that’s what the focus is on instead. Her coat flared out in such a way it can almost be mistaken for the underside of her long hair, making her seem even larger (something certain animals use when threatened to scare others into leaving). Her actual figure is thus more obscured, it only being a few tones darker. The thing that keeps her from being a dark blob in the foreground is her sword, large enough to be an odachi. Because she’s unsheathing it, the glint that comes from the blade immediately draws attention - arguably away from her partially unbuttoned top. The animation of this in the game supports this: no boob jiggle, just her standing calmly in the moment she’s just about to unsheathe her sword.

Because I’m going to use this example further in this thing, keep this one on hand.

An image that’s again in the middle of the action. Rosespanner Workshop Director Rodion is right now turning an enemy into an unrecognizable stain on the pavement with her huge weapon. The highlight is her weapon again, but this time it actually serves as a secondary source of light, illuminating her face. The yellow coloration of this secondary light source also makes the whole thing more interesting than if it just had the background light that serves a similar purpose as it did in the first image of this post. Even though the image has a heavy pinkish tint, the red that splatters all over the scene is still very much present and they draw the eye back to the yellow light. While her pose is ambiguous, it keeps things vague by not putting any sort of focus on her lower body. In any other piece of media this pose would be viewed from another angle, as to profit from as much of her body’s curves. Not here. Her killing an enemy with visible ease is important. Not her pose. This sounds logical, doesn’t it?

2. Posing

Which brings me to this. The way a character is posed also plays a part in their portrayal. It is possible to accentuate certain body parts with this - like when a character brings their hand to their chin, or the way their legs are posed. No matter the actual scene that’s meant, the way the character is posed is a factor that decides how it’s viewed and where the focus lies. Most often I’ve found this to be when a character is shown wielding a weapon, but their ‘battle pose’ being rather something that accentuates their bare skin, or their little clothing that does the same thing.

Is your character actually showing that they’re dangerous through being shown fighting…or are they just sexily posing with a weapon in their hands to add a sense of ‘danger’? Some can be highly difficult to distinguish. Some CGs can show the middle of the action yet the way the character is posed still brings the focus away from the violence or brings a secondary focus to it. Unfortunately I don’t have examples of those on hand but I know they exist.

A character just posing with a weapon isn’t wrong - I draw that all the time - but when the focus is brought to a character’s boobs and/or butt with the pose the character is in, it will be kind of obvious (even if it isn’t true) that sexualizing those features of the character what the artist is really intending to do instead of showing how dangerous she is with the weapon.

I’m going to use this image from Echocalypse as an example. I regularly take poses like this as a reference point and then attempt to make them more realistic, or, funnily, point out their weirdness by putting a male character in it. Often I do this by using them for a different, more appropriately clothed character. This goes to show that clothing can already decide a lot in posing itself.

This character is posing with a weapon, a…particularly huge odachi in this case (I thought it was a staff at first until I saw the hilt). Which is exactly the same what Rodion is doing up there in the image we already handled. Yet, there are subtle differences between that image and this one, and it’s actually more minor than you think it is (disregarding the thematics of the pieces). Both characters…

are posing with an odachi of similar size (assuming that both characters are of similar height for ease of comparison) as opposed to being locked in battle; theoretically making the focus more on how pretty they look

have long hair (that, minus the bun and the bangs, have a similar cut) that makes their silhouette appear larger than it is

do have a relatively bright and sort-of detailed background going on

have large boobs

are unsheathing their weapon just slightly

However, to get to our first difference, we need to get back to point 1: clothing. Using the same two images, the largest difference is clothing. Kurokumo Rodion is wearing all-black clothing that covers her from the head down except for the unbuttoned top. If I had to describe what the other girl is wearing, I’d say she’s wearing a piece of armor on one of her arms, a flowered collar, thigh highs but no footwear otherwise, and something…obviously lingerie/bikini derived. I’m actually not sure if that’s a tail or part of the clothing.

But to return to our point: posing. The pose of Kurokumo Rodion is actually fairly neutral. She’s just standing there, menacingly! (I should note that their normal character talksprites are also just standing there neutrally) No, literally. Anyone with working legs and arms, can reproduce that. Just give them a sword prop and you’re done. Coat cape optional. The way she is standing does convey some sort of subtle confidence, however, just like the way she is actually looking down (at the viewer). It’s likely you’ll see the sword first for the reasons I mentioned when first discussing the piece above and then look at her from top to bottom as usual.

The way our other girl is posed…is a little harder to replicate in real life to say the least. Not only is this a floating pose (i.e you’d need support), the way her body is bent sharply brings the focus upon her boobs and butt. The human body is actually rather flexible, depending on how you’re built of course, but even so I do doubt whether anyone can do this pose even if they could somehow float in mid-air. Or do this lying down. I (someone with joints that are a little too flexible for my own good) haven’t tried and highkey don’t want to. The thigh and upper leg that is prominently on display, along with the way her body curves leads the eye to her butt or downwards towards her legs and feet.

Her facial expression is neutral, but I get some sort of… ‘dreamy’ vibe from it from the traditional anime-like proportions (huge eyes, tiny nose and mouth). Almost as if she’s doing puppy-eyes to beg for candy or something. It’s, well, what most people call to be a ‘babyface’. Kurokumo Rodion is also in ‘anime-style’ and her facial proportions are still a little bit unrealistic, but I do dare to say they’re more realistic than those of the other girl.

Also, small sidepath. What do you think the second girl is based off? One would judge from her tail that it must be some sort of water creature but whether she’s a shark or any other kind of sea creature isn’t really obvious. Would it surprise you if I told you she’s based on a bake-kujira, a SKELETON-whale (which sounds cool as all hell)? Without any kind of skeleton-parts worked into her design? To be fair, I wouldn’t have guessed it either if it were not for her canonical description.

Also, one last note about that latter image. I think that an odachi of that format would be extremely tricky to unsheathe in such a pose, because of the distance between your arms. Her arm that actually unsheathes the thing is also obviously reaching out, so she’d need more strength to do that than what the look of her arms suggest.

Speaking about arms…

On paper, our Limbus girls would have all the reason to have twig arms. After all, the City allows one to get stronger without visually changing their physique much. One can carry around huge weapons like chainsaws, lances and zweihanders without visible muscles. And yet. And yet.

One of the few times bare arms are seen (most art prefers to cover them up - for Limbus standards, this would be the ultimate fanservice thing), it becomes very clear that they at least have a basic tone. Like, the basicest of basic efforts is done to make them not look malnourished. Even if this girl above is not like, the strongest of the world (for as far as we know...) the muscles she does have are very lovingly shaded and detailed.

To end this, I’ll showcase something one last time with a funny in-game example: Roseate Desire. Roseate Desire is an E.G.O which wraps the wearer in pink ribbons and is highly implied to especially speak to the sin of Lust (which is the affinity of the attack). In the game, this E.G.O is given to two characters, a girl and a guy. In any other gacha game, it would only be given to girls.

While bent over and with a happy expression, she’s still coming to get you. How can you tell? For one, the huge anchor she has with her is within her hand (i.e opposed to it being tied up next to her or something like that), and the shield that’s tied to her arm. Despite being wrapped up, she does still look as if a portion of her is still in control, and her attack suggests the same.

Hong Lu wearing it always makes me grin. He does wear clawed gloves and his fingers are arched, that’s true, but the way he’s strung up like a puppet makes it so that he can’t even get you with those. The manner in which he is posed and his head is tilted is highly reminiscent of how one would pose a marionette. And ingame properly he doesn’t even use these claws in close combat! He wraps up the enemy in the pink ribbons with doll-like movement. Even the way he’s covered evokes a sense of powerlessness, like he’s led on by the ribbons instead of controlling them.

I think this example, along with the others, is implicative of how Project Moon’s visual portrayal of female characters is done so well. They’re equally portrayed as the male characters, if not arguably more powerful, and there’s an equal roster of 6 to 6. They’re not overtly sexualized by bare skin or impossible poses while the men are covered up in a sensible pose. These are characters designed for their personality and role first, not with fanservice or money in mind first. Even the female NPCs fit within this rule, even though they have less art to go from. When you have a game which had 97% completion on the story and a mere 64% on the systems (i.e monetization) it would kind of figure that character designs fall in line with the role the character fulfills, is it not?

#limbus company #project moon

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yoshifan456 · 5 days ago

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MI8 Teaser Trailer Breakdown pt.5

Last part, some random shots that I have something to say about, but can’t really join in the bigger picture yet.

It is definetely a bomb, with the timer on I think 2:42. I think it’s the bigger variant of the Benji bomb in the airport in DR

You can’t really read this file on this picture, but in the HD-Ytvideo you can. I found a few fun things that I personally didn’t know about, but I think are already clear (born in Wisconsin, parents Nathan and Margaret, served in the Army, attended university of Pennsylvania for a double major in Engineering and International Relations). Most shocking tho:

-Briggs is the one that enlisted Ethan to the IMF! Or a ‘Colonel Briggs’ at least, who, according to the original series has worked in the Army like Ethan. Which might be our Briggs’s father, because I don’t think Brigss is that much older than Ethan that he could have enlisted him himself. This explains how Briggs didn’t know Ethan, but that it was personal. It can’t really be a simple reference to the TV-show of which a colonel Briggs was the team leader in the first season, aired in 1966, because the seasons after that the team leader always was Jim Phelps, who we know from the first Mission Impossible movie.

-Ethan is two years younger than Tom Cruise (August 18 1964 vs July 3 1962), which I find funny.

-His eye color is officially green which is fun because TC’s eyes are blue with an orange corona which makes them look brown depending on the light:

(When you look at the TG-frame with better quality or in a cinema you can see the pretty corona around his pupil really well. Also compare with Goose’s definitely brown eyes).

-Ethan’s height is 5 foot 8 inches (172 cm), which is only three cm larger than me personally and is I think only a little bit exaggerated in contrast to TC’s real height.

-He only speaks English, French and German, which is false, because he understands Russian in GP. So the CIA’s information is incomplete, which is something to keep in mind.

-Expertise in Marksmanship and Martial Arts, which tracks.

-Marital Status is single, which tracks too.

-His FAnumber starts with IMF, which honestly isn’t really a great plan if you want to keep the IMF a secret…

-His status is ‘active’, not ‘disavowed’… Could be supporting my theory that Ethan works with/for Sloane in this one actually.

-Nothing about a kid, which a friend of mine suggested could be Grace. Not that the CIA would know about that, but still. Nothing about Marie either.

So that was the breakdown of his file, now for more really small notes:

Who is the other one in the diving suit?

Ethan moves his hand to his mask. Is he fixing his oxygen or is something wrong with the suit that requires him to put it off (and go on in his underwear?)

What or who are they looking at?

Same question here?

Has it something to do with the flares/bombs/things that fall down on the submarine in this shot?

This is very likely Paris on the left and I think Ethan and Degas on the right because both seem to be having black short hair (although this is read off literal pixels, I feel like the guy in Blow Up):

Although Benji’s hair is also kinda dark in this movie, so it could be that this is Benji and Paris and Degas (also because the middle person on is bigger than Paris and Degas and I don’t think Ethan is)? Maybe this is after these three split up with Ethan and Grace in the caves? But if it is Benji that is slumping, than it must have been after Ethan’s yelling moment if that is the moment Benji gets injured?

I think these people are the ones that found the key in the first place and that this is a flashback of sorts, maybe even the first few scene of the movie.

But, this is a woman right, and the two guys in the opening of DR with the key were men… Or it is this guy from the DR opening?

I think the most probably thing anyway is that these scenes with the key and the random people that find them are a prologue. Or, if everything fails and everyone dies, a gruesome epilogue, which I don’t think will happen because this is Hollywood after all.

Who are these people? The one on the left is Ethan I think, because of the brown jacket, but the person on the right? My theory is Degas and this is a sort of ‘Benji roped you into this, huh? Welcome to the club, we’re gonna work together now’ handshake.

This is a new outfit that Ethan never wears in the rest of the movie/trailer I think. It looks the same as the one in the protest, but the fabric looks thicker. Is this scene with Luther in a totally different timespan from the rest of the movie? Or an epilogue or something?

This was it, thank you so much for reading if you’ve come this far. I have worked on this for three and a half hours and should really have done something more productive, but I loved it so who cares.

#benthan #mission impossible #mission impossible final reckoning #tom cruise #ethan hunt #trailer breakdown

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accio-victuuri · 1 year ago

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there are a lot bits and pieces still going around and being discussed about the hengdian clownery. personally, the most interesting is the fact that where wyb is supposed to be is 15 minutes away to where xz is staying in hengdian — and the timeline we are now piecing together. 🧩

where wyb was supposed to be is not actually inside “hengdian world studios” but as good as. to those who are confused because what people are posting is that douyin has him located in “dongyang” last 2/18 and allegedly last 2/2. well, this information below may explain why:

XZ is staying at Radisson Hotel which is where WYB also stayed when he did LOF and Luoyang. XZ used it too when he was filming YGY and this filming time was when an AUX appliance ( endorsed by WYB ) was found sent to the hotel. So you can say that they are familiar with this place so if there is somewhere to meet then this is their best bet. I’m pretty sure this place is discreet and employees may be given NDAs by companies that have their talents staying there. In this case, a VIP client like Xiao Zhan will not be there and continue to do so without specific arrangements done for him.

there is also a comment from someone who is familiar with Hengdian, that this hotel is close to the expressway, like 3-5 mins away. so it is convenient if you need to move around. we don’t really know anything about WYB’s movie or whatever project he is doing, but seeing this, it’s most likely in Zhejiang. this makes sense cause when the news about the location was out, others tested it and wyb was no longer 7km away but 30km. meaning he has left the hotel and posted on douyin on his way back to work. this is a classic meeting up on their part when their locations are close.

2/2 - WYB’s douyin IP is turned off. This only means his IP will not be visible in his profile, but his location can still be tracked when he posts something ( allegedly ). So it could be because he went to HD or they have plans of meeting up so it’s best to be safe.

2/5 - XZ went to Hangzhou to film his performance for BRTV spring festival gala. XZS shared a behind the scenes of that and one thing cpfs noticed was a particular suitcase. the comment was hilarious actually cause the fan was asking why the suitcase was so old and beat up 😂😂😂

turns out, this looks really similar to a suitcase wyb used back in 2016. it makes sense that it’s beat up and covered in different things now. i know that wyb is not the only person who can have this suitcase but this is just how cpns go. 🤷🏻‍♀️

my clown mind also likes the idea of wyb being there. it’s not as notorious as hengdian world studios with all the paparazzi. the place xz shot this at is pretty lowkey, so wyb can blend in if he visits.

2/9 - GG posted a selfie which has it’s variety of cpn speculations on it’s own. however, looking at it with what we have now — this makes more sense now:

the second photo shared by xz is really a clue. the ybo art was also so focused on how the ornament was placed. maybe yibo was the one who placed that? and it’s why xz was so fixated. ☺️

and so they were both quiet for the duration of the holidays. xz breaking that with the 5th day for the god of wealth — which is a stock video. i don’t fault him for that tho, he is free to relax.

2/13 - WYB has added some love songs to his qq playlist and the subjects of it : “accompanying is the longest love confession” and being happy despite of a cloudy day? It could be he is missing XZ, especially that Valentines Day is the next day. Maybe he traveled to closer to XZ on 2/14. Take note that XZ is continuously working on the drama, he only had a few days completely off.

2/17 - XZS posted a series of photos that some of his solo fans said is different from what was shared last year. It can be they couldn’t do any new materials because XZ was busy with work + WYB is there. Who knows when they will be able to spend this time together again. I like the idea of their staff respecting their time alone together. They both deserve it 🤎

WHICH LEADS US TO 2/18 when the whole wyb in hengdian issue came up. ⭕️

This may be expanded once we get more clues but this is what we have so far.

-END.

#yizhan #bjyx #there is no science here i’m just clowning like i always do

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milesgmoralles · 2 years ago

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Hi! Do you mind sharing your coloring tutorial or tips? especially for the animation ones, they're so good! your gifs are crisp and HD

hi, anon. tysm! 🫶 i don't mind at all since i’ve gotten more than a few requests from before, ig it's time to give it a go. (more) details are under the cut. 😁

before we start, i want you to take note of the following things that will be helpful in the process of making/coloring gifs.

if you want to get the know-how on making gifs, @redbelles did us a solid and gave us this comprehensive guide that will save me the time for explaining lmao. 😅✌️

make gifsets without skipping frames. keep frame delay 0.05 and 0.06 for less than 25 frames. anything more or less is too fast or too slow. additionally, it's also important to note that if you're dealing w videos that are faster than 30fps you change the frame delay to 0.04.

gif using the the new dimensions (in this tutorial i used the dimensions of 540px x 510px since it's all about big gifs now 🙄).

use the standard sharpening settings (smart sharpen, amount 500%, radius 0.3px, remove gaussian blur and tick more accurate) also note the sharpening settings for 2d as you've specifically requested.

you can use action that will convert your gif back to frames and set your timing to 0.05 with a single click. basically photoshop will follow out all of these time-consuming steps for you! just download the action and double click it. it should now be added to your list of actions. to see your actions, go to window > actions. find the folder that says "GIF ACTION" and select the lines that says "CLICK HERE" and voila! ps will do all the hard work for you.

the coloring on your gifs will look good if you have a good base so try not to skip on video qualities. use high quality copies like 1080p or 2160p (4k ones are good) the higher the gb the better. it makes coloring so much easier and reduces grains.

*cracks knuckles* let's start!

for 2d animation's sharpening settings, it usually varies so i just move the amount around and see what looks or works better for a specific gif. i used amount: 189 and radius: 0.2 for this ponyo gif. anything can work between 189 to 350 for me but i maintain the radius at 0.2. again, you can just play the amount around until you find the one that looks good for your gif.

when i’m making gifs. i look for that notorious contrast between the light and dark parts. i think it gives life to the gif- so exposure, levels and curves are best to achieve that. for curves, just go to layer > new adjustment layer > curves. this layer is going to help brighten up the gif in certain areas, and darken others. select the white eyedropper. click the lighter part of the gif like the white/light part of the ship.

next, select the black eyedropper and click on a black/dark area of the gif (refer to the arrow bc i don't know which part of the ship is that called lmao).

you can skip the black eyedropper if you're already satisfied w the result of the white one.

color balance and selective color are your two best buddies. they’re great when you’re trying to change some tones or specific colors of the gif, like the skin tone which is very tricky.

using selective color is pretty simple, here’s a really useful guide:

if you pull any of the tabs to the right, it increases the amount of color (cyan, magenta, yellow and black), and reduces the amount of opposite color (red, green, blue and white).

i also use the blacks and whites in selective color especially if the gif is saturated w colors to tone down some parts and make shadows more visible (idk if this is still making sense 😅).

in working with color balance, i use midtones and highlights sparingly. it's really helpful in removing or balancing out a certain tone.

here's my save setting ⬆️

idk why but ps puts the default frame delay to 0.07/0.03 so open your gif in ps again and don't forget to change the delay to 0.05.

and we're done!

i sometimes go back and forth and do some tweaking until i’m satisfied with the result. this is how i color and i know it’s not perfect but i learn by constant practice. there’s really no standard in coloring so you can make yours the way you like it. just enjoy- until you get the hang of it and it becomes less daunting (or something like that). i hope this helps. if you have more questions, my askbox is always open 😊.

#completeresources #usergif #userpayton #usersugar #rresources #yeahps #itsphotoshop #userbells #dailyanimatedgifs #usercharl #usersavana #Chaoticresources #hisources #ps help #tutorials #ask replies #anon

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bts-trans · 1 year ago

Text

230707 Big Hit's Tweet

[네이버 포스트] 띵동! 슈가 & Agust D & 윤기의 모습을 가득 담은 종합 선물 세트가 도착했습니다🎁 (@ https://m.post.naver.com/viewer/postView.naver?volumeNo=36214098&memberNo=51325039) #BTS #방탄소년단 #슈가 #SUGA #AgustD #D_DAY

[Naver Post] Ding dong! Your SUGA & Agust D & Yoongi gift set has arrived🎁 (@ https://m.post.naver.com/viewer/postView.naver?volumeNo=36214098&memberNo=51325039)

#BTS #SUGA #AgustD #D_DAY

Naver Post Translation

Keep reading for a plain text version of the blog post! Since Tumblr unfortunately has a picture limit for posts, please check out our twitter post or the HD version on our website for a version with all photos included!

[BTS] SUGA | Agust D 'D-DAY' 활동기 비하인드 대공개!

[BTS] SUGA | Agust D ‘D-DAY’ Activity Period Behind-the-Scenes Release!

아-하!

Hi-A!

(T/N: Stands for ‘Hi ARMY’, which is how Bangbell always starts these posts.)

꒰⸝⸝•ᴗ•⸝⸝꒱੭⁾⁾

방림이가 너무 오랜만에 왔죠? (;´・`)> 오랜만에 온 만큼 어마 무시한 포스트 주인공을 데리고 왔는데요?! 오늘의 주인공은 바로바로바로바로~~~ (모두 다 알고 있지만) SUGA | Agust D의 솔로 앨범 활동기 비하인드!

It’s been a while since Bangbell was here, right? (;´・`)>

But since it’s been a while, I’ve brought an incredible star for this post?! And today’s star is is is is is~~~ (You all already know but) The behind-the-scenes for SUGA | Agust D ’s solo album activity period!

포스트를 시작하기에 앞서 퀴즈 나갑니다 민슈가의 매력 포인트는 무엇일까요? 1. 귀여움 2. 멋있음 3. 섹시함 4. 잘생김 5. 말랑함 정답은요?

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 아무래도 당모. 당연히 모두 다. 슈가의 귀여움, 멋있음, 섹시함, 잘생김, 말랑함을 다 모아 포스트에 가-득 담아왔으니 바로 시작하시죠!

Before we start this post, there’s a quiz

What’s Min Suga’s most charming feature?

His cuteness

His coolness

His sexiness

His handsomeness

His squishiness

The answer?

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 No matter what you pick AOTA. All Of The Above.

I’ve gathered together all of Suga’s cuteness, coolness, sexiness, handsomeness, and squishiness and have put it aaall in this post so let’s begin!

말랑 포근 남친 + 예민 존잘 수트 남신 두 가지 콘셉트를 전부 볼 수 있었던 ‘사람 Pt.2 (feat. 아이유)’ MV 비하인드로 가볍게 시작해 볼까요?

A soft and cozy boyfriend + A sharp, handsome, suit-wearing god Shall we start with the behind-the-scenes for the ‘People Pt.2 (feat. IU)’ MV where you can see both of these concepts?

*Ꙩꙻ₀Ꙩꙻ)！ 조그만 곳에 들어가는 걸 좋아하고 신 걸 못 먹는 걸 보니 민윤기는 고양이가 확실합니다(?) MV에서는 그렇게 날티나던 OPPA였는데 현장에선 이렇게 귀여운 게 말이 돼?! ㄴ외않되

*Ꙩꙻ₀Ꙩꙻ)！ He likes going into small places and he can’t eat sour things so I’m positive that Min Yoongi is a cat(?)

In the MV he appeared like such a playboy OPPA* But on set he’s so cute. Does that even make sense?! ㄴWhy not?

(T/N: ‘Oppa’ is the Korean word women use to refer to a man who is older than them. Female fans also use this term affectionately for male celebrities.)

5252~ 귀여운 ‘해금’ MV 속 애옹이를 보느라 처연미 넘치는 ‘AMYGDALA’ MV 비하인드도 잊으면 안된다구 항상 미남이지만 본인피셜 “이때 예뻤네~!” 말이 나오게 만드는 ‘AMYGDALA’ MV 속에서는 더더욱 어머 미남.. ⸝⸝• ̫•⸝⸝

Hey hey*~ Just because you saw a cute kitty in the ‘Haegeum’ MV doesn’t mean you can forget about the ‘AMYGDALA’ MV that’s full of tragic beauty

(T/N: The number 5252 is pronounced “oh ee oh ee / 오이오이” in Korean, which sounds a lot like the greeting “Hey / eo ee, 어이” that you would shout at someone.)

He’s always been a handsome man but in the ‘AMYGDALA’ MV even he ended up saying “Wow, I looked so pretty then~!” Oh my what a handsome man.. ⸝⸝• ̫•⸝⸝

깜짝 사연 모집과 함께 오랜만에 돌아와서 아미들을 놀라게 했는데 보이는 라디오를 통해 더 물오른 미모로 더더더 놀라게 했던 꿀에펨부터 슙디… 금방 돌아온다고 했으니까 기다릴게… 기다린다! 우리… 한 발자국도 안 움직인다! 슙디 돌아올 때까지 숨참기 시작

Starting with Kkul FM which came back after a long time along with a surprise story submission form and really caught ARMYs off guard and surprised them even more with his beautiful looks through a video radio show

DJ Syub*… you said you’ll be back soon so we’ll wait… we’ll wait! We… won’t even move a single step! Starting now we’re holding our breath until DJ Syub returns

(T/N: The alias Suga uses when he hosts his radio show Kkul FM.)

있지도 않은 남사친 기억 조작하게 만들면서 많은 아미들 심장 떨리게 만들었던 팔레트

Palette, which made everyone think of a guy friend that they don’t even have and made so many ARMYs’ hearts flutter

미니미즈가 함께 출연한 핑계고에서 본 뜻밖의 귤디 (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤

갑작스런 퀴즈. 슈가는 핑계고에서 귤을 몇 개를 먹었을까요? 정답은 아미가 알려줄 거야…

Tangerine D was unexpectedly seen on Just an Excuse which the Minimis* appeared on together (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤

(T/N: A nickname for Suga and Jimin.)

Pop quiz. How many tangerines did Suga eat on Just an Excuse? ARMYs will let you know the answer…

주인장 아니고 게스트로 나와서 으른 섹시 + 잔망 귀여움 다 보여줬던 슈취타 아니고 알취타도 있구요!

He appeared as a guest instead of the host and showed off menacing sexiness + adorableness And it wasn’t Suchwita, it was Rchwita*!

(T/N: The name of Suga’s talk show ‘Suchwita’ changed to ‘Rchwita’ when RM hosted for one episode.)

of the 아미 for the 아미 by the 아미 오로지 아미만을 생각하면서 준비한 로드 투 아미 솔직히 정식으로 귀미챌 한 번 더 해줘야 된다고 생각합니다. (진지)

of the ARMY for the ARMY by the ARMY He prepared Road to ARMY while only thinking of ARMY

If I’m being honest, I think he needs to do the SICC* again. (I’m serious)

(T/N: Stands for “Sorry I’m Cute Challenge,” which was a trend many idols did during fanmeets.)

해외에 나가서도 아미들이랑 이야기 나누고 싶다고 현지 시간으로 이른 아침 일찍부터 찾아와 조곤조곤 많은 이야기 나누고 간 발매 라이브에

Even when he went overseas he said he wanted to talk to ARMYs So he got up in the early hours local time And, very quietly, talked a lot during his album release live

빽빽한 미국 스케줄 사이에 깜짝 무대 선물해 준 팰런쇼

In between his packed schedule in the U.S. He gifted us with a surprise performance on the Fallon Show

두 가지 매력의 데이트룩도 차려입고 아미들과 영화관 데이트했던 무비 나잇까지..!

He donned two date outfits with two different charms and went on a movie date with ARMYs for Movie Night..!

끝인 줄 알았지?! 최고의 선물 ‘해금’ 안무 영상은 또 얼마나 열심히 준비했게요

You thought this was the end right?!

How hard must he have prepared for the ‘Haegeum’ dance practice video, which was the best gift ever

해금 추는 민윤기… 다시 볼 수 있기 기원 정권 찌르기 1일차… 콘서트 준비에 바빴을 텐데 아미들 심심하지 말라고 언제 다 준비해놓고 짜잔- 한 상 차려놓은 민윤기 안 사랑하는 법 나는 몰라 진짜 몰라 ( ˃̣̣̥ω˂̣̣̥ )

Min Yoongi dancing to Haegeum… This is day 1 of pestering the higher ups to let me see that again…

He must have been so busy preparing for his concerts But just so ARMYs wouldn’t be bored Min Yoongi prepared everything at some point and ta da- He prepared an entire feast Seriously I don’t even know how I’m not supposed to love him ( ˃̣̣̥ω˂̣̣̥ )

여기에 콘서트는 또 얼마나 기깔나게 준비했다구욧!? 콘서트 준비 과정도 함께 만나볼까요? ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Just how much did he say he prepared here for the concert!? Shall we go check out the concert preparation process? ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

고양이도 콘서트 포스터 촬영을 할 수 있는 건가요? 슈가는 없고 앙큼 고영 밖에 없는데요?

Can cats also take photos for concert posters? There’s no Suga here just a devious kitty?

비상비상!!! 1 아미 1 애옹이 보급 시급 이과 아미들 뭐 하는데!! 민윤기 복제 안 하고 뭐 하는데!! (땡깡)

Emergency emergency!!! 1 ARMY 1 kitty are urgently needed ARMYs who studied science, what are you doing!! Why haven’t you cloned Min Yoongi yet!! (Throwing a tantrum)

✧/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ| 이 이모티콘 그 잡채…

✧/ᐠ-ꞈ-ᐟ| He’s the epitome of this emoticon…

의미 있는 자신감으로 Full 라이브 밴드 콘서트를 준비한 슈가… 아미들 마음을 조사버릴 민윤기 책임져.. 난 365일 중에 613일 정도는 민윤기 생각만 한다고 그리고 대망의 콘.서.트. 두둥!

Full of meaningful confidence Suga prepared a full live-band concert…

Min Yoongi, who’s destroying ARMYs’ hearts Take responsibility.. I think of only Min Yoongi 613 days out of 365 days

And now the long-awaited con.cert.

Drum roll!

크으으으으으으 My rap star… My rockstar… My king… 슈가는 왕이에요…

Woooooooooow My rap star… My rockstar… My king… Suga is the king…

이렇게 길고 알찼던 활동만큼 길고도 알찼던 활동기 포스트가 끝이 났습니다! 뭐 잊은 거 없냐구요? 乁(ᴗ ͜ʖ ᴗ)ㄏ 글~쎄요?? 넝담이고~

For as long and packed as this activity period was this long and packed acitivity period post is coming to an end!

You’re saying I forgot something?

乁(ᴗ ͜ʖ ᴗ)ㄏ I~don’t know??

Just a joke~

이 포스트를 빌려 아미에게 방림이 전할게 음음음음 다행히도 보여줄 사진은 여태 많이 남았네

Bangbell will take this post as a chance to tell ARMY Mm mm mm mm Thankfully there are still many pictures I have yet to show you*

(T/N: A reference to Suga’s verse in ‘Life Goes On.’)

포스트에 빠질 수 없는 셀카! 이쁜 셀카 이렇게 잔뜩 모아왔다구요! <(=^･^=)> 다양한 콘텐츠와 공연으로 아미들을 즐겁게 해준 슈가 & Agust D & 윤기에게 많은 박수 부탁드립니다~!!! (와아아아~~)

The selfies that we can’t leave out of this post! I’ve gathered all of these pretty selfies! <(=^･^=)>

Please give a big round of applause for Suga & Agust D & Yoongi for preparing all kinds of content and performances for ARMYs to enjoy~!!! (Yaaaaay~~)

어라랏..? 이쯤하면 아뿅이 나올 때가 됐는데..?

Umm..? Doesn’t ‘A-Poof’ usually appear right about now..?

따란~

Ta da~

여러분들이 그렇게 찾던 고양이 셀카를 두고 올 방림이가 아니죠 ~(˘▾˘)~

Bangbell has brought the cat selfie that you all were looking for ~(˘▾˘)~

요즘 날씨가 많이 더운데 방림이가 더위를 물리치는 특별 방법을 알려드릴게요! 1. 슈가 사진 보기 2. Agust D 노래 듣기 3. 민윤기 사랑해 외치기

It’s been so hot recently so Bangbell will let you know a special method to beat the heat!

Look at photos of Suga

Listen to Agust D songs

Shout that you love Min Yoongi

그럼 다들 더위 조심하시고~ 다음에 또 다른 선물 같은 콘텐츠로 돌아오겠습니다!

So be careful of the heat~ I’ll come back next time with more gift-life contents!

아-뿅!

A-Poof!

(T/N: Short for “Bye ARMY! Poof!”, which is how Bangbell always ends these posts.)

. ̫ .

[Note]

본 포스트는 BIGHIT MUSIC에서 직접 운영하는 포스트입니다.

This Naver Post account is personally managed by BIGHIT MUSIC.

[End Note]

Trans cr; Ali & Annie Typeset cr; Chika @ bts-trans © TAKE OUT WITH FULL CREDITS

#230707 #suga #yoongi #agust d #big hit #official #twitter #naver #bangbell #blogpost #bts #bangtan #photos #d-day #promotion period #haegeum #very many nice pictures #the gratitude runs deep #tangerines and kitties

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belchka · 15 days ago

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• Rating RE characters’ designs •

Rebecca Chambers

Desclaimer: these are my personal opinions based on how much I like the face model/outfit

——————————————————————————

Resident Evil 1996

6/10 I love the anime style of the first RE but Rebecca’s first design is lacking compared to others. Not a fan of her shoes, it’s giving Ronald McDonald- and why are her gloves green?

Resident Evil Remastered (2002)

9/10 Super cute! Really solid design overall. Her uniform looks much better than in the og.

Resident Evil 0 (2002)

8/10 While her outfit is the exact same, they changed her face, and I don’t get why. She doesn’t look bad, but there’s just something off about her. Her hair looks weird too.

Resident Evil 0 HD Wesker mode (2015)

8 maybe 8.5/10 This mode is so random but I’m vibing. Love the red eyes, but not so much the bangs. It’s not as good as Jill’s battlesuit design but the thigh-high latex socks are a nice touch. I don’t really understand how her P30 device is over her clothes, seems impractical, and possibly painful.

RE 0 Alternative costumes: Classic, STARS 1997, Sportswear, Cheerleader, Western

Classic 6/10 Once again, not a big fan.

STARS 1997 6/10 I don’t really get it. The layered shorts are more Claire’s thing imo.

Sportswear 7.5/10 The infamous basketball outfit that tainted Wesker’s reputation (jk). It’s very simple, there’s not much going for it, but I think it suits her character a lot and she looks good in it.

Cheerleader 7+/10 It’s just your standard cheerleader crop top and miniskirt combo. She’s cute though.

Western 8.5/10 Surely one of her best costumes. I really like the shorts, she looks good!

RE 0 Alternative costumes: Leather, Nurse, STARS Prototype

Leather 10/10 She’s serving cunt. Everything about this is great, I love it so much. Low waisted leather pants with the layered belts? Hell yeah. It’s not something you’d expect for Rebecca but it works so well.

Nurse 7/10 This is nice, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t know how I feel about it.

STARS Prototype 8.5 maybe 9/10 I love the white beret and the shoulder pads.

Resident Evil Vendetta (2017)

7.5/10 Can we please give Rebecca ankle length pants for once? It’s not even that bad, but it’s just so lazy. Really like the face model though, perhaps her best.

10/10 Now this is a whole different story. Amazing. I love the lace, the long sleeves- such a beautiful dress, and she wears it very nicely too.

Resident Evil Death Island (2023)

6+/10 Don’t get me wrong, she’s pretty, but her hair is so big it makes her look disproportionate. At least for once they put her in a black vest instead of a white one. Not a fan of this shade of green either. Overall, it’s okay, but there’re better versions.

#rebecca chambers #resident evil #ratings #mine #resident evil 1 #resident evil 0 #resident evil death island #resident evil vendetta

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sevi007 · 8 months ago

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Tales of the Abyss playthrough, the partest of the 26th or something

Look I gotta make this a little engaging somehow when I push everything under the cut

What a way to wake up! Well I guess Luke was not really asleep per se, he was piggy-backing in Asch's body, so like. He is still right there in the adrenaline-rush

*whisper* Omg give me a HD anime version of this to put as a wallpaper this is pretty

Argh. I know Luke is as pushy as always, but she got a point, I was in there right along with him about to go "hurry hurry!" - but I guess we need a plan first XD

Where's the next elevator to the Outer Lands for example?

Mep. Let me hug the boy please. Guy is coming for you Luke! And - now that I think about it, Tear stayed here!

(She still got a point, sadly. He does not really think on his own. Can't blame him, but it's true.)

Oh wait luke is having an epiphany I will shut up

THE WAY I GASPED - okay deep breath, deep breath. Did you know, I didn't have any idea why there were pictures of long-haired AND short-haired Luke on the internet? Even in the opening? I assumed he would get a makeover, maybe to separate himself from Asch yea, but didn't know when or why.

This is SUCH a great reason!

Wait let me - I'm gonna nerd out here for a bit, and I don't know how right I am with this, but I think in more modern Japanese culture, hair cutting is a symbol of turning over a new leaf, leaving the past being or something like that. And even if I remember that wrong, it still shows that Luke wants to step out of the shadow of what he was meant to be a - a mere replica of Luke / Asch fon fabre - and his own person. Such a great way to show that!

As for the conversation. It might seem like Tear is being harsh here, and I did say "OUCH" a few times over the dialogue because it just - is a big ouchy - but she is doing the right thing here. She is facing Luke in a way he has to get used to a bit, because people won't instantly trust him anymore, they will question him, he has to stand firm and resolute and use his head from now on! She is pointing out very important things he sooner or later will have to work through and work with, and it is a good thing she is there to teach him this. Also, she does recognize that he is trying and taking important steps - look at the face she makes after the haircut - and she does not want him to suffer, that's why she is rather cold when she points out that he talks about dying too easily, because she does not want him to!

HAH my boy is growing so quickly now. I'm a proud mom now.

Also we really need to clean that hair length up, it looks a bit silly right now XD

Gonna cut this short before tumblr can go harping on me about the maximal number of pictures per post -

@magicmetslogic

@ahsokaisawesome

#sevi plays tales of the abyss #tales of the abyss #tales of the abyss playthrough

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thebramblewood · 1 month ago

Note

Hi Shannon! I've been playing The Sims 3 again recently and I've not quite got the hang of taking good screenshots yet. I don't plan to post about it much but they are nice to have.

This is something you are quite good at in your Plavi Raj series and Bridgeport series. I wish I had a more specific question but I was wondering how you've managed it? Have you done anything to get the game to look better? I turned my graphics settings way up and it's still pretty rough looking.

Hi! First of all, this reminds me I haven't played TS3 in months, and now I miss it. 😭 There are a few things I've done to help improve visuals, but keep in mind I do play on a gaming laptop (not a very high-end one, but still), so you may want to be careful if you're running it on anything weaker than that.

I believe I followed most of the steps in this guide, though there were a couple I skipped because I wasn't sure my computer could handle it.

TS3 is known to be darker (and thus produce darker screenshots) in full screen mode, so I play in borderless windowed mode. There's a step in this guide that tells you how to do that, but I'd also recommend following the entire thing if you haven't already! My game has given me very few problems after setting it up according to these instructions.

Default replacements can help improve the appearance of Sims themselves. There are a lot of options these days, but to start with I use these skinblends and eyes. I also use default replacements for almost all the hairs by carversims!

I also use some environmental replacements: stars, snow, moon, clouds, clearer and brighter weather, HD terrain textures. I thought I had a lighting mod, but if I do I can't find it. There are tons of options for that, though!

Camera mod to help with movement/drifting (there's a link in the comments with an additional edited mod, and I use both). Overall, angling the camera in TS3 has definitely been much trickier for me to get the hang of. I still struggle with it sometimes.

Honestly, I think the biggest boost is Reshade. Do I think it's a necessity? No. Does it make things look prettier? Undeniably. I haven't really liked most of the Sims 3-specific presets I've tried, so I've been using a couple of my favorite Sims 4 presets instead, namely Tawhay and Raices. I know some people play with Reshade on, but I don't. It's only for screenshots for me.

No matter what you do, you're still going to be dealing with pixelation. I use the oil paint filter in Adobe Photoshop to help smooth things out. There's also this Photoshop action, which does essentially the same thing in one click if you don't want to mess with the settings yourself!

This is everything I can think of for now, but I hope it helps! I know there are people out there who make it look even more beautiful than me, so I'm sure there are lots of tricks I'm missing out on.

#asks

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deadbeandrop · 2 months ago

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camp lazlo and "The Machine"

i forgot i had written about this on the screenshot blogs' FAQ, so i think i'll make it a post with my updated conclusions as well... so, have you ever wondered what's up with the colors in the HD version of the show?

y'know...

...this?

the first time i had watched the show, it was in pretty bad quality, and i had chalked any color differences up to that. even when i did have access to a few HD episodes, i never really noticed it outside of slinkman being a bit... lighter, mostly due to the fact that everything else was so submerged in Gunk in the first place. as you can see, the "issue" affects almost exclusively the yellows, most notably seen in the sky, or in characters like slinkman or clam, or even in lumpus’s glasses, and characters' eyes in general losing their off-white tint due to this. a quick look at any streaming service that has the show will tell you that almost all "official" distributions have this issue, and often (in)consistently so, at that. it may very well be the only version these services have access to (considering how they often the resources they have access to aren't always the best, which leads to things like episodes out of order or incorrect subtitles). to say the least, it bothers me a lot, especially for someone like me who's very particular about this sort of thing...! (it's sort of the reason i put the screenshot blogs on hold for a while, aside from the fact that it's a bit of a time sink — the issue just stressed me out too much!)

so, what's going on, then? my friends and i had ended up speculating about it for a while, and we had a lot of theories — was it the result of an upscaling process done for streaming services? was it something technical, like issues with the video encoding? did someone in charge of the process simply fuck up? all of the above?! and... most of all, why???

now, i know very little about all the technical stuff, but i've come to believe the most likely explanation is also the most simple one, with a little bit of obscure knowledge on the side... in that, i think it makes the most sense if the colors are fucked up due to The Machine at cartoon network. see, this isn't just an issue with camp lazlo, and there are other CN shows that have been a victim of this too, such as billy and mandy.

and here's what mr. atoms has to say on the topic:

the shows had also both aired their "later" seasons around the same time, circa ~2007-2008, and it explains away a lot of those inconsistencies, too — "It’s also the reason that Mandy’s hair changes from pure yellow to light yellow and back again all the time." in most other shows, the effect this would have is likely a lot more negligible. as one of the main characters, mandy is pointed out a lot as it'd be something you'd notice the most. camp lazlo, on the other hand... is a show where the whole sky is colored a bright yellow.

...definitely one of the worst shows that could've been hit with it.

even so, "The Machine" application is not actually the only state these episodes are stuck in... or rather, i don't think so, at least...?

so as far as i know... (which certainly isn't everything,)

- in order to to accommodate for the transition period from box TVs to flat screen TVs, i believe that camp lazlo, was, in fact, a show that was produced in a widescreen format, so it could be aired in full on new TVs and crop to fit the 4:3 aspect ratio of older ones.

- i am not sure if this inherently means it was also produced in Full HD (1080p).

- as can be confirmed by old recordings (one of the only additional benefits of sites like WCO keeping the old versions around is stuff like this, as annoying as it is trying to find anything else...), both color corrected and un-corrected versions of at least part of the show have aired at some point.

- as far as i'm aware, there is NO version of this show in Full HD with un-corrected colors.

- however, what i do know is that there is a widescreen, non-HD (480p or 720p, i can't remember off the top of my head) version of the show with the un-corrected colors. if you have a bit of a keen eye, you might have noticed it used on foreign variations of the official cartoon network youtube channel for clips. (it had fooled me at first into thinking it was a secret, all correct colors, and Full HD version of the show, but unfortunately this isn't the case.) see, my friends and i went on a little hunt for it for a while, with that detail as our basis, and it is out there... just not on the standard american versions of those services. instead, we had to look at a whole variation of HBO's streaming service itself, HBO GO, of which's entire existence is still currently on the line due to the HBO rebrand. (we have rescued it from there, in case of it becoming lost media of sorts, but due to technical limitations were only able to get it by recording, and thus also still has the HBO logo.) the mere existance of this version is very interesting to me and raises a lot of questions that may also contradict some of my earlier statements.

- and finally, i haven't looked at every set of files there is (as from all the different streaming services) so i actually am not 100% certain if there's actually variation between THOSE as well, and if there is... the situation is even more confusing to me.

i don't know if there will ever be justice for this, or if any victims of The Machine have ever recovered from its Wrath. it's a topic i've gone over dozens of times trying to sort it out, because, i'll be honest... it sort of haunts me.

but there's your little information dump and speculation for the day

#camp lazlo #🫘#talk #i have no idea if this is interesting to anyone but me (guy who loves any kind of production information these days)#you know what i'm grateful for though?#my favorite lumpus and slinkman episodes managed to get off completely free with the machine and have normal colors ❤️#production info #yesterday i was looking at the copies of the specials i have #and for where's lazlo the file was combined into one long video #but since its still comprised of two individual episodes; i really couldn't believe it but both episodes got hit differently???#so it starts up the second half and suddenly all the yellows are fucked up #and i also feel like before then i'd been watching a more desaturated version the first half too #it's so... Weird #again i really haven't sorted this information so well over time so i may be wrong on some of the details here

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r-ottweiler · 19 days ago

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what are some of your headcanons for the heathers characters? or do you just stick to canon?

I have plenty of my own headcanons

This gives me an excuse to write them all down actually, lmao

Sometimes i stick to the canon, Othertimes i use my own versions of them. I think all the heathers art i have posted so far has been a mix.

Anywho, Long list of my headcanons underneath. (I am learning to use tumblr features this is cool)

I project alot onto these characters, So these may not be very canon. As implied by them being headcanons.

Heather Chander : (Mentions of CSA, labelled with "ONE" beginning. Skip if needed)

She's a silly little narc and i love her for it. Me for real

Absolutely privelleged. Her family is rich, white, she's heterosexual/romantic (Presenting at least. She's a little bicurious, Sure.) ...

I tend to see alot of "This heather is her favourite" Headcanons, But i typically dont agree. Her "favourite" changes based on how useful they are being to her at the moment. But even then I just dont think she has favourites. She both hates and loves them all equally. (hates a little more than loves lmao)

She is an only child, Which led to her being way too independent for her skills, Which leads her to never ask for help since she "Didnt need it as a child, So why would she need it now?".

!!!!ONE!!!!! Her parents didnt really pay attention to her as a child, So she found it from other people. Particularly a certian family friend. She didnt tell her parents about what was happening untill said family friend made a joke about him and heather when she was ~7, Which led to family friend being cut off. Her parents didnt deem it important enough to get her therapy, or any form of help, She had minimal support.

Her act of love language is physical touch(Giving) and gift giving(Receiving)

She is 5'8

If you want a condescending petname she is your go-to. Each heather has their own little nickname that she uses. Occasionally endearingly. Most of the time, mocking and/or condescending.

Very silly girl indeed.

Heather Duke : (SH mentioned beginning with "ONE", skip if needed)

Evil BPD haver . Evil evil evil evi

This isnt a headcanon of mine but i like the poc representation with her. I dont like how the musical did it but the fan content is nice to see

She's queer, but (if she ever were to be open about it) she just labels herself as "Whatever is most convenient at the time".

!!ONE She does cut occasionally, Sometimes because she thinks the scars are pretty and for pity points from dumb people to get what she wants ++but she also does it sometimes because of disordered stuff (linked with BPD headcanon) and other things

personal beef with drama kids. thats all. She thinks theyre annoying as fuck and will take any chance she gets to piss one of them off

Pretty privellege. She just has to pout and any desperate guy will give her what she wants

Heather Mcnamara : (SH mentioned beginning with "ONE", skip if needed)

She is not nice. That's it. Thats the headcanon.

Very passive aggressive when she wants to be. Less with her ''friends'' but she's still kind of an ass.

BPD+NPD . Little loser

She smokes weed . She thinks that perfume hides the scent but she just walks around smelling like weed and lemons. Makes her very recognisable, Though

She's probably kissed heather duke more than twice. Who knows?

Also pretty privellege.

!!ONE She also cuts, but much more than HD does, and mainly only because of disorder linked issues.

her fp is heather duke!

She cannot swim. Only heather chandler knows this, And she wants to murder her everytime its brought up.

cannot spell restaurant. do better. (she spells it as resturant, will not correct herself as 'thats how it sounds')

she CAN however, Skateboard. She only learnt when she was ~13, she has never attempted it after 15, Because she thinks its weird, and looks dumb.

Veronica :

my silly npd autist weirdo. i hate her

If she doesnt see her drink being made every step of the way or make it herself, She will not drink it. She doesnt even know why. She has paranoia around it.

Has punched holes in her walls. Albeit mostly accidentally.

She has anger issues. Alot of things annoy and agitate her.

Shorter than heather chandler by 1 inch and she never hears the end of it. She's slapped HC over it before. Also never hears the end of that.

She's intersex!

She can play the guitar, But she doesnt do it much. She's only really played it for heather mcnamara once or twice, Otherwise she just does it to de-stress and calm down on her own.

These are only the girls, and only afew of my favourite headcanons, But i have plenty of my own little headcanons for other characters.

#heathers headcanons #not art #heather chandler #heather duke #heather mcnamara #veronica sawyer

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danielsarmand · 3 months ago

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Heyy, do you have a tutorial on how you make your gifs? They’re so crisp and beautiful, I wanna start making gifs but idk where to begin

hello!! first of all, thank you kindly!!!! i'm always stunned when someone genuinely appreciates my gifs 😭

second of all, please do!! gifmaking is such a fun hobby, i wish it were a tad more rewarding but truly it's a great creative outlet for hyperfixations.

now, i personally don't have a tutorial but that's only because i myself have learned from a bunch of other ones during my years of trial and error and my technique has nothing that's original to it. i can, however, tell you which tutorials i turn to whenever i need a refresh + some tips i have started implementing on my own!!! i'll put everything below the cut.

the tutorials are this one and this one; the first one is a more general step-by-step one and the second one is for adding noise to gifs when they don't have it naturally, which imo greatly helps with making gifs look more hd.

as for the tips:

whenever possible, and if your pc can handle processing them, try and find files that are at least 1080p. 2160p isn't really necessary unless you're making close-up gifs (though i almost always use it if i can find it), but a 1080p file is only legitimate if the size of it is 1.5gb+. anything below that is not actually hd, no matter the claims.

with videogame footage, i generally record my own gameplay and take screencaps from there. when i want to gif youtube videos or anything i can't download by my usual means, i use 4k video downloader.

i used to take my screencaps with kmplayer, but i've been using mpv over the past few months and i find it works more smoothly. kmplayer did serve me well for years though, and the installation isn't as gimmicky, so go with that if you find it easier!

when it comes to resizing the gif (image > image size), i always leave the mode on bicubic automatic; for a time i used to pick bilinear, but i later learned it was the reason why my gifs didn't look how i wanted them to look.

i generally sharpen my gifs with the same action pack mentioned in the first tutorial i linked, but i do also add an unsharp mask layer to make it extra crisp and detailed. these are my settings for it:

whenever i'm giffing something that is not available in Real HD (like youtube videos), i add a step to my usual sharpening by using a set of plugins from topaz labs; now, i have absolutely no idea how i installed them when i did years ago, and i have no clue how to find them anymore, but i'm sure tumblr has answers somewhere. specifically i use topaz clean. i'm pretty sure you could achieve a similar enough result by adding a gaussian blur level to the sharpening, though; either way, my settings for topaz clean are:

when it comes to coloring, i never use .psds, i make the coloring from scratch for each scene, and most times i use multiple colorings per scene. it will take a little while to find your footing with color correction perhaps, but then again, each gifmaker has their own style and that's what's fun!!! one thing i've taken to doing most times, however, is adding an exposure layer towards the end of my coloring layers and upping both exposure and gamma correction based on how much or how little the gif can tolerate; i find it helps a ton with making gifs look hd on mobile, which is notoriously hard to achieve because mobile hates gifs. also, i have a pretty heavy hand when it comes to contrast and to darkening blacks, because in my experience that also helps with resolution.

when i go to save for web once i've finished making my gif, i tend to pick the combo adaptive+diffusion. very rarely i switch from adaptive to selective, but only if adaptive makes the gif look weird, which is usually not the case.

this should be all, i really always follow the same process and it's pretty automatic by now lmao. forgive me for yapping at length, but i hope this can be helpful to you or anyone who might want to try their hand at gifmaking! i'll update the post with my settings asap. thanks again for the love 💕

#gifmaking #gif tutorial #photoshop help #asks #anon

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popculturebuffet · 2 months ago

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Sam and Max: The Devil's Playhouse Retrospective: Beyond the Alley of the Dolls: See Sam's Crotch Bulge in HD! (Patreon Review for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy people and welcome to the penultimate chapter of Sam and Max: The Devil's Playhouse. It's been a long road filled with delays and demonic toys, as this one got pushed back.. and as a result you lucky people are getting BOTH final chapters this week with some muppets in the middle to make one heck of a sandwich. While I waxed a bit about how close the end felt last time, it's hitting me harder and harder as we approach the finale. For those who just joined for this part of the retrospective, i've spent two years of my life covering these games: all of last year covering them each month, most of this year hovering around Skunkape's Twitter to see when the remaster was coming eager to start but patient to let them cook, and this year finally reviewing it. This has been a massive project and so before we hang a closed sign on the abandoned freelance police office, i'd like to thank all of you past , present and probably future for reading this. Thank you. This has been a quiet hit for me and I appricate it. I'd like to thank Kevin for sponsoring this: buying me all three games in the trilogy, getting me to do this and letting me experince one of the most wonderful game trilogys ever. This pudgy question loving dog and rabid lagomorph are part of me now. I should probably get that checked but I won't. I've had a wonderful time.

But I can save some more mushyness for next time. For now let's talk about Beyond the Alley of the Dolls. Beyond the Alley of the Dolls is my faviorite sam and max chapter thus far. It's funny, has great atmosphere, killer reveals to the building plot and is genuinely unesettling in places. This chapter is a pure horror comedy and while being sam and max it's mostly comedy, there's some damn good horror in here, a heartbreaking ending, and a truly unsettling and entertaning hidden villian behind it all. The Puzzles are pretty great with only a few spots of frustration, and usually you can figure it out through inuition and your massive toy chest. This game gives you access to a full wheel of toys of power and it feels every bit as fun and glorious as that sounds. The game's done a good job slowly building up your toys of power, letting you get used to having each one so by this point it's easy to use. And when it wasn't, eh that was what guides were for. I'd like to point out this paticular guide from the gamer for anyone looking to the play the games

It's a nice step by step guide and it's been great for this game, much more neatly organized than the older ones I used for the previous two games.

Beyond is back to basics which makes sense: we just had two format benders in a row and given the harrowing ending, I won't be suprised if The City That Dares Not Sleep also breaks formula a bit. It's easily the biggest expression of the standard sam and max formula, and the only real changeup is you don't go back to your street, instead teleporting between locations and using tunnels. It's a nice return to form that still feels fresh with all the toys you can play with and the settings shaken up by the army of golden spedoed samulcra roaming the streets. It has a real sense of urgency, each chapter having escalated and given what's in store for the finale I keep ominously hinting at, that dosen't seem to ease up. This game has great momentum, each chapter flowing into the next and the story hooking you along. Were I not contracually obligated to play this month by month (And if I didn't have the memory of a well.. max), i'd of sped through this thing as it's good fun and the story, despite knowing a twist or two ahead of time thanks to reading spoilers over a decade ago, is really engaging and funny, a perfect sam and max spin on a cosmic horror story. So let's stop jaw jacking and get to what could be Sam and Max's finest hour and go BEYOND THE ALLEY OF THE DOLLS!

For a change of pace we DON'T start right where we left off, with a ton of sam clones in tight leather speedo's swarming our heroes. Some men dream of being swarmed by furries but not like this. NOT LIKE THIS.

Anyways we open instead on the stinkie's whose fued has gotten to the ineveitble plate throwing phase as Girl Stinky is piiiiisssseeed Grandpa Stinky fired sal. Before they can get into the fight to the death whoever looses we win, Sam, Max and Skunkape run up.

Our heroes run inside and the Stinky's can only impotently tell them "We're closed" before seeing WHY. The Army of Samulcra or as Max calls them dogglegangers. Which is hilarious but Samulcra seems to have stuck so we're going with that.

So our first puzzle is escaping Stinky's as it's now surrounded by spedoed sams, complete with noticable crotch bulges something that was in the original release but like everything has been enhanced so fans all over can really see sam's dong.

I appricate the detail and the upgrade given to the speedos. Originaly they looked like this

Still sparkly but a bit flatter in the texture, more like togas than proper speedos. It's something I have noticed on a model or two for this game: When they CAN jazz up the art to look better they do and boy do they here

Not only is there the little outline, just a scoch to show you yes sam has dick, but the belly button is even redrawn to fit purcell's style better. They didn't have to do that but bless em for it. I also like how the speedos here, as i've joked about , are similar to Rocky Horrors

Sam's has a tad more glitter but it fits him better. He's also packing less but hey these clones were built to find eldritch toys not performance.

In Stinky's Grandpa and Max are eagerly killing tons of Sam. For Max it saves them a ton in couple's therapy, for Grandpa ... eh he's kinda earned it. I feel no guilt for the horrors' we've inflicted on him, but we have done more than enough for him to enjoy the mass sam slaughter. Still there's too many of em so we need to escape. Girl Stinky as usual is no help, and her old tunnel is backed up.

Of all people it's Skunkape whose helpful.. eventually. At first he's near catatonic as it turns out loosing to sam broke him and being surrounded by sams dosen't help. And given he has well established psychic powers himeslf, it makes sense why he didn't forget the other timeline like everyone else. Which.. good as Grandpa might turn his gun on our heroes if he did. Lot easier to ruin lives when reality reset all consequences of our actions you know.

Thankfully a radio message wakes Skunkape up.. and he shows his hand: his last toy of power, the mind reading playing cards. He's quickly taken by the Dogglegangers. So that's one problem down and about two thousand in speedos to go.

Thankfully we can now read minds and it's easy enough to play stinky. Read it once, confront her on the tunnel, then read it twice to find out how to open it.. in this case under the jukebox using the toaster. To get to the toaster we have to distract a sam hand popping out. Thankfully they share all his weaknesses... and while we don't have a spare rabbit we do have a case of fudgie pops, something i'm glad we can finally use after being hinted at last time.

I do love the problem here too: Sam cannot stop eating them, can relate. So instead we have to use stinky's peanutbutter balls to jam sam's mouth closed so he won't stick fudge in there

We give the fudge stick to the doggleganger and he loves it and we can get the hell out of there while the Stinky's bicker.

What we find.. genuinely suprised me. I've been upfront about how I knew some spoilers this time, read some on tv tropes over a decade ago back when playing this was a pipe dream. So while I knew the ultimate mastermind behind the clones, I had ZERO idea Stinky had a massive cloning lair underneath the restraunt, with thousands upon thousands of cells. We can't get near the machine as an eldtrich tentacle sprouts up.. which apparently also sprouted up if you approached Paperwhite's office from the outside last time, but I didn't done do that as I didn't know you even could.

There's two tunnels before you and I take the left one, leading us to Boscotech Labs. And we get to see superball again! And also Harry Moleman, whose pissed at us for trying to kill him, which was months ago for me but is the same night for everyone else. In my defense harry..... you suck.

Case in point our hero and guest are trying to do a seance, but Harry is doubtful and obnoxious. It's on us to do it which we will do later... for now let's look at that other tunnel, which leads to paperwhite's office. He isn't willing to let us in because Dr Norrington and him are having a private meeting about the shit going down, so we'll have to break in later using his key pad. For now we dig through the trash, least of our crimes and find Sal's resignation letter. He's gone and we can follow him.

And using the phone we do. Honestly this power to follow anyone by phone number would be terrifying now a days, especailly since it's in the wrong hands. Thank god more than one Cell Phone would break game flow. We see Sal but he's surrounded by sams who chase us what good if we do anything as they have pulled the power to track toys out of their tightly bound asses. So to beat them.. we're gonna need more toys.. and oh look just outside their field of vision is good old Charlie Ho-Tep.

Shockingly Max is the one with forsight.. not that one of the toys is out in the open and strangely none of the dogglegangers noticed, but that Charlie looks creepy and he dosen't want to touch him. Sam forces him to put his hand inside the puppet head and we can use him to easily distract the dogglegangers to talk to Sal. There's one other guest on the docks, but we'll talk to him later.

Turns out Sal left his cushy job due to too many ape beatings and the docks WERE safer... till you know the clone swarm.

Sal comes in handy soon as he has knowledge of cakes, and we're gonna need one. To explain why we head back to stinky's where it turns out Grandpa hired Flint to investigate Girl Stinky. Flint is about to get the axe though... thankfully not literally this time, as Old Stinky's at his wit's end after the whole "you didn't find either of her hidden passages" snafu.

So we need to go back into noir mode pressing Stinky on why the fuck she lying, why's she lying, oh my god stop fucking lying, but she dosen't stop fucking lying and instead spins a tale about the mysterous S she's talking to being sam and it being a suprise birthday party for stinky.

....

I miss the mariachis.

So to prove it we have to bake a cake, and the way looks Hazy. Thankfully Sal can help us, and our cards allow us to find out what kind Grandpa Likes. Unfortunately said kind takes a day and given the swarm outside, we don't have that time. We do still have the rhinoplasty putty and Sal can draw what pretty. And everything I learn about sal makes me love him more: his kind nature, his thorugh knowedge of food, and his impressive artistic skills.

What follows is ... it's.... Grandpa Stinky eats part of max, he just dives right in there and buys the cake and eats a bunch> He also grabs a knife from said cake to go murder some more dogglegangers. No one knows how to take it and somehow it's topped only moments later when Stinky to maintain the lie forcably kisses poor Sam. Everyone's been violated today!

And that includes you audience as now Stinky's free we can tail her.. and what we find will haunt you for years to come... so Stinky meets S.. and i'ts Sal! Sal noooooo, noooo, sal noooo. You can do so much bette rnow. And then they make out and I just.. i'll spare you the actual image but the mental image will haunt you all as it haunts me. Just thinking about it

I'll try to move on. So our heroes confront them, and it's clear they don't... actually know anything about the cloning. They were just using the lair to.. make out...

And plot Grandpa Stinky's death. A noble and worhty cause. They quickly go all blank eyed though as it's clear someone else is doing the actual heavy lifting and using them for cheap labor.

So to find out who we need to get Mama Bosco back, so it's seance time and thankfully we have all the tools we need to bs our way through one. The mind reading cards make Harry an open book, so we get a fun sequence as we grift him, making him think his uncle is back. Ther'es some real standout gags... Max needling harry in rhyme for being dateless, and when Harry is curious why his uncle sounds weird, Max says he has a cold and when questioned why there ar ecolds in heaven "What makes you think i'm in heaven?"

Max uses Charlie to get Harry to go to the statue of liberty to find hidden money... which given the climax hopefully means he dead.

This brings back mama bosco and with Superball leaving to report to his superiors who are just pleased as punch

We can't do much here for now, but we can go get some more info. So it's back to the office, where we pick Paperwhite's brain and get the code. We enter and while he tries to hide... we finally see his dark master... behold dr norrington!

Now norrington being Yog Sogoth I was spoiled on and even if I hadn't.. it's pretty obvious. There's a whole temple, no idea how exactly paperwhite escaped the box when Soggoth was apparently inside, and norrington is apparently powerful enough to contact max AND not be affected by the new reality.

To the game's credit I DIDN'T see the fact he's doing a total recall on Paperwhite coming. I just assumed he gave Paperwhite an immortality donut or something. But nope he's alive.. and deeply charming. Norrington, as he prefers to be called, is a totally nice guy. He's stuck in paperwhite and their shenanigans last episode wasn't conquering earth but getting Yog Sogoth home. He actually wants the toys destroyed and warns whoever is doing this could destroy reality: turns out not only are their 1600 toys of power but almost all of them being gathered was simply a prelude. The mysterious mastermind gathering them all could destroy all of reality.

He does have a plan though and also helpfully gives us the origin of the toys. Honestly this whole convo is a LOT of dialouge options leading to exposition but a nice smattering of jokes, Norrington's smooth personality and the sheer number of questions answered really helps this one. So long ago on a young earth the elder gods roamed free and did bad stuff. Eating people making them scream etc. Luckily a hybrid between them and humanity rose: the mole people who back then were way more powerful before genetics kicked them in the shin, and one banished them using the chtonic destroyer, a powerful device that banishes anything from the dark dimension back where it came.

As for who the toys owner was that would be Junior... and max spends the entire conversation reacting in disbelief that the archeticht of these whole games, the most dangerous being in existnace... is named Junior. It sounds better in their original tounge. The toys were made to keep Junior busy and not destroy earth, and were left behind when he was sent back... and if reality shifts.. Junior could come back destroying it all.

So to prevent that we need the greatest of the toys, the chthonic destroyer, a cool toy robot that was stranded in a horrifyign dimension. luckily we just so happen to have a friend who has a dimensional phase distorter.

This puzzle is... eh. You have to turn knobs till youf ind the right one, to match how the mole person got it in the sacred scroll our cool new friend coming out of someone's stomach tells us. The good news is the game tells you when you find one and not to touch it, it's just an annoying bit of trial and error with not enoguh gags to really justify it. It feels tedious and i'm glad when it's over.

With the destroyer we can now access the cloning machine but don't have any dna to give it. I honestly didn't know what to do with the clone cooker till looking at the guide. We see that it's made by bosco tech and a mind read confirms mama bosco made it... and she regrets it. She gave the tech to a mystery person who agreed to give her millions of dollars to do whatever. She offers to help and CAN shut the thing off.. but she needs a body. She does have some of her dna ready to go but needs it to be at 100% instead of 99. We CAN paper over it with a realitve.. but with Bosco missing we seemingly have no way to get his dna.

Thankfully we have that guest I mentioned. ladies, gentlemen, nbs and everything else, BUSTER BLASTER IS FUCKING BACK

Yes after a tragic absence he's back. And Kev actually gave me some insight into WHY he was gone: the voice was a lot on his voice actor. That simple, but I understand it and i'm greatful he gave us one last performance as the character. I do hope he comes back, but woudlnt' mind if someone else did the voice or they found a way around destroying a man's vocal cords. Maybe a voice modulator or something.

Still he's back and hilarious as ever, shouting a fantastic "THAT WAS REAL?!" when asked about the dogglegangers. He's back because he and Bosco bottomed out: turns out counting cards dosen't work when one of you screams everything so Buster is just hanging out and shouting a lot. He gives you a letter for bosco telling his mama he's fine but needs money and totally isn't, as buster puts it "A MALE STRIPPER" and wishes you well, having no desire to rejoin the COPS. This is apparently the last we'll see of him unless he returns in future media. You did god's work buster, we'll miss you.

The letter gives us the last pint of dna we need and with that MAMA BOSCO is back.. and despite some tense lead up.. .she's fine. Her only change is she's

Which looks good on her. With that we can enter the first part of the finale. And that requires using the gun for once. It's why I had to look it up: you use Sam's gun so rarely i'm geninely shocked any time we actually need it. We shoot things to get Stinky and Sal to repair them, then teleport up with mama basco. The cloner is deactivated... but the clones are still a comin. Thankfully throwing your voice still works and we go to confront them

It's then we get a really well done twist that again, I was spoilered on.. but man it works. There's a lot of good foreshadowing for this one: how Charlie tended to be uneffected by other toy events but still counted, how he just happened to show up where needed, how the voice that's been controlling the clones and his minons has the same color as charlie.... Charlie Hotep was behind it all, creepily turning his head around. And while Max foolishly assumes an evil doll can't move on it' sown charlie disproves that

So we cut to the actual climax and this... is my faviorite ending to any chapter and will probably be my faviorite overall. I heard this one was good from tv tropes and I was not disapointed. This is a big , cinematic, suprisingly creepy climax that gives the actual finale to this game some big shoes to fill.

So max wakes up at the statue of liberty which Charlie has stolen, along with the rest of the toys. So Max is left with no toys, sam stuck as Charlie's meat puppet and Dr Norrington trapped in a cage. And paperwhite's there too I guess.

Thankfully we're not harmless as Max is still free.. and Sam is kinda, as he still has SOME free will. he can't talk but he can muble. Either the anti mind control hat is working or he just has strong will power. I"d say

Either way he gets Charlie talking and his motive is as engaging as it is deranged: he misses Junior and wants to be played with again so he's summoning him to this reality. So to recap we have a deranged evil puppet playing the piano to summon an elder god, another elder god jammed in someone's mid section locked in a cage, and max on the ground surrounded by an army of sams.

What also helps is that the atmosphere is geninely creepy: the sams all say whatever charlie wants which is unsettling enough but charlie nicely straddles the perfect killer doll line ala chucky or megan: entertaining as hell but still deeply creepy when he wants to be. He's a great antagonist and really steals the show

Thankfully he's thin skinned so Norrington just has to keep pissing him off with the one big button the doll has: that juinor didn't actually love him or even like him. This pisses him off to start waving the destroyer around and allows sam to change the music, slowly warping the statue of liberty.. and allowing max to scale it, usign the dogglegangers to launch himself up, and getting to the top. Tired of Noringtons shit, Charlie finishes him.

He gets in one last act though... he unlocks Max's full power.. turns out the toys were simply a conduit. The power was inside him all along. And thus Max becomes an outer god... which would normally be terrifying but we're in a bad spot.

So the finale of the chapter comes down to an all out brawl between two users of the toys of power and it's awesome to see. Samun Mak simply took them last time but this time Max has full access as does charlie. The toys dont' affect charlie but we can use the environment around him, creating a mental image of charlie, because we can do that now with the full power of the cards inside us, and then copying it

Charlie becomes the chythonic destroyer to counter.. and this is his last mistake as in a perfect fit of irony sam uses the throwing your voice ability on the devil's toybox... and casues charlie to destroy it in a rage. In one awesome move that shows how far he's come.. max wins. Reality is saved, Max fakes sam out with his death because he's a little scamp and the day is saved> it came at too high a cost.. but at least everything's fine.. why do I smell burning?

It's.. max. Max's head is on fire as foreshadowed back in episode 1... and it's not going out. Max speaks gibberish.. and he transforms... max.. is seemingly gone. And him being an outer god sure is scary NOW.

And in a cruel symbol of what's been lost a doggleganger who picked up a toy rabbit is crushed and our sam can only look on as his little buddy rampages off into the distance. A chilling end from such a goofy series.. and one that made me determined more than ever to get to the last chapter

So later this week join me as we finish what we started. and from what I do know.. this one's going to hurt. Thanks for reading, i'm pulling for ya, we're all in this together.

#sam and max #the devil's playhouse #telltale games #skunkape games #sam #max #sam x max #flint paper #grandpa stinky #girl stinky #general skunkape #sal #mama bosco #buster blaster #video games #nintendo switch

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