#they would have just lost me as a viewer entirely lol

[loving-jack-kelly]

it is Extremely funny that the whole watcher thing just ended after one weekend of people being like hey this was poorly thought out and a terrible idea. lmao. cringe fail financial decision.

[duexnuts]

twitch streamer inumaki, viewer y/n

fanon inumaki, HE TALKS!

you had recently started watching twitch streams again. there was this one guy, you couldn't stop watching his streams-- maybe him being faceless subconsciously reminded you of the days you would watch CorpseHusband play among us– his name was sawcondeez– his entire stream was themed after mcdonald’s.

after a very invigorating valorant stream, you decided to join his discord server.

“welcome to our server, y/n! #36th member”

he had a small, but loyal community so they instantly noticed that a new faced had joined. people instantly started welcoming you, and you quickly felt how tight knit of a community they were.

y/n: hii ^_^ i just started watching these streams and thought it would be nice to join

sawcondeez: welcom

that’s the only message you got from the streamer for month the while you got to know the other people in the server. over time, you got to learn more about him indirectly. he didn’t talk a lot in his own server, but you do know how about how much he owns a lot of shirts with wolves on them..? and how he collects pokemon cards, but specifically only weezing cards. he has three binders full of them— he even paid $200 for a card once.

you really liked being apart of the server. you started donating to him sometimes, too, just a few dollars here and there to show your support. his reaction to your money was kind of cute, so there was more than one plus to donating.

“y/n has donated $5: can u play ow next :3”

“thanks for the $5 y/n! i really appreciate it,” he said, “i’ll play ow just for you, okay?”

it was nice getting to know him— yeah, you did feel a bit parasocial at times, but at the end of the day, you were close to him in some way.

then, he messaged you, privately. at first, you just stared at the message, thinking he got hacked. so you had to confirm, obviously.

sawcondeez: hi

y/n: oh my god sawcondeez

u got hacked someone stole ur account

wair only the hacker can read this

sawcondeez: no its me lol

do u wanna duo w me on val rq

and that’s how you ended up on a 2 hour call with him, playing valorant. you don’t even find valorant fun, but you made an exception for him. somehow, he made it fun, too. he didn’t really talk in the call— it was mostly you telling him about random interests that you had and him replying with one or two word responses, but it was sweet. you liked his listening skills.

this ended up becoming a daily habit— he would message you after his streams and you would tell him about your day as you two played a random game. your minecraft world got very complex at one point, until he died and lost all his stuff. the world was never touched again after that. eventually, he started talking more, too. you got to know the real him— inumaki toge— not sawcondeez.

“you have to promise not to tell anyone about my identity, y/n,” he told you, “i will literally quit twitch and delete all my sawcondeez accounts.”

so, you promised not to tell anyone. as his trust in you built up, you got the classic edater face reveal and moving off of discord onto imessage. it was silly, you felt like you got transported back into 2020 when you would mess around on discord servers to get nitro, but this time it wasn’t just playful flirting. it felt real.

“hey inumaki are we ever gonna meet up?” you asked.

he paused for a moment before answering, “we’re only like a 20 minute drive from each other, lol. i was waiting for you to ask.”

“wait so you’ve been making me feel like a stupid edater when we could’ve been seeing each other irl this entire time.”

“i had to build up the tension, y’know?”

he got a scolding that night. but you also made plans to meet up at a cafe nearby as well.

a/n: been thinking abt this for awhile… i think i just have smth for nerdy discord gamer guys woops…

[tabithatwo]

I miss your opinions on twitter! and i wanted to ask you something (no idea if you’ll ever see this 😭) but do you think that the condescending way jackie acted towards shauna was because shauna is an unreliable narrator and that didn’t happen at all? bc i genuinely think that shauna’s bitterness towards jackie was justified (until the moment she had sex with jeff), i always think about that post of yours saying that the audience sees jackie like shauna did helpless little lamb or heinous bitch…

So honestly I have watched s1 an ungodly amount of times and studied every jackieshauna scene and I don’t think that jackie did anything that isn’t the most boring basic unavoidable occasional snark within a best friendship. She’s not perfect by any means, people really simplify her character both positively and negatively, and I actually think people diminish how fucked up she could’ve become out there. But the thing that I think happens is people taking what shauna says during their fight at face value instead of really digging in to what’s toxic between them.

For example, Shauna says “You're so obsessed with yourself, I'm surprised you're aware other people even exist.” It makes sense that shauna would say that. She thinks that’s true. But if you take it at face value and think “ah yes jackie is self absorbed and ignores shauna” you’re ignoring the rest of the show.

Firstly, that’s projection. Shauna even writes in her journal in s2 “I used to think jackie MADE me feel this way, but…” SHAUNA is obsessed with jackie. Shauna can’t think about anything without jackie entering her thoughts and influencing her. She thinks that is something that jackie is DOING to her, when it’s really just the nature of their relationship. They built this codependent entanglement together, brick by brick baby!!

And secondly, we KNOW jackie isn’t obsessed with herself over shauna. She is CONSTANTLY thinking about shauna. She gives shauna her last bite of food, she pulls her off of the burning plane, etc etc. Jackie’s biggest creation of tension in their relationship is actually that she cannot stop clinging to shauna. Shauna is quite literally her will to live, once jackie feels she’s lost Shauna’s love she gives up on life entirely. Almost all of their little spats actually relate to jackie suffocating shauna with how MUCH she cares. But Shauna can’t see that, it’s hard to see when you’re in it and when you have your own equally codependent behavior going on.

This took a round about route, but basically I wouldn’t call it unreliable narration necessarily. I think SHAUNA is an unreliable narrator in her own mind, twisting things in amazing ways with not just jackie but everyone lol. But no, I don’t think the show is giving us unreliable narration in the sense that what we see on screen between them didn’t happen that way.

I think a lot of viewers have surface level analysis of the show that makes THEM view or remember things in a way that doesn’t really align with the story. Which is fine, that’s a thing, not everyone is studying the show, memory doesn’t serve us particularly well with things far more important than scenes from a television show lol. But when people do analysis in fandom that feels based on a surface level read of a watch that was perhaps a long time ago, it does lead to conclusions that a lot of people who have really dug in will roll their eyes at I think.

As far as whether it is justified goes, I don’t really have many opinions on justification of feelings or actions, it’s just not an area of interest for me. You could give me any event from this show and I could probably argue for and against it being justified, I just don’t care much about that aspect personally!

[octylish]

Out of curiosity, what’s your process for character design and implementing your inspirations?

ooh uhhhhhhhh honestly i'm not 100% sure how to answer that LOL i typically just go with the flow

though if you really want me to go into deeper depth i can try ??

basically when i want to make a design i already have a few ideas in my head like maybe character archetype or general theming. for instance my oc Buoy's entire deal was combining dogs and sailors together while also being really cute

i thought a more light-hearted approach would suit him since well . that's his entire deal . since the beach influence as beaches are often associated with the summer time and having fun :) and then an aquatic aesthetic would tie in everything together so it'll be cohesive

i also try to do a lot of wordplay? like how "sea dogs" is a slang term designating old sailors who have been at sea for a very long time.

you can see this in a few of my other designs such as my mafioso (forsaken), being a literal loan shark, and my hyperlaser having some elements alluding to lynxes because he is lynx-eyed

other things i consider is how the character would carry themselves. are they active? do they care about how they look? how clumsy are they? how intimidating are they? do they think of themselves seriously?

like for my banhammer design he is completely covered up in armour to protect themselves, treats themselves very seriously and is pretty damn scary, so their design features a lot of spikes and sharper shapes. scythe, on the other hand, is much more relaxed and confident in herself, but shows it off in a way different to banhammer. bh shows it via his bravado and demeanour, while i think scythe is much much more obvious about it and basically shows herself off (i.e. the open shirt, confident smirk)

same thing goes for what kind of vibe i think they should have. you can contradict this with their personality for fun too!! like for sword i think would give off very "heroic and brave" vibes, but that completely shatters the moment he starts talking because he is so naïve and earnest. rocket, in turn, comes off as much friendlier and more clumsy than sword, but in reality carries himself with more maturity (???? not sure how to convey this but yk what i mean)

now for implementing inspirations,

it mostly just boils down to what i think would look cool on them HAHAHA or what little things i can sneak in to wink at the person who notices.

like icedagger already has a whole "winter" aesthetic going on so i just implemented it to his jacket and made it look like a snow angel. subtle things like that are best i think. same goes for my chance design having a lot of gambling/card game/dice elements implemented because 1. its awesome and 2. i thought the original iteration was rather plain

you can convey this however you want, but i found that sneaking it in through the shape/silhouette via clothes or body is most efficient

i DO try to keep the inspirations to maybe 2-3, 4 MAX. too many little secrets and you get the viewer lost. character design is a form of STORYTELLING, and if you can't get your message across on the first or maybe even the second go, then i think it's best to cut out a few concepts. a first-time viewer of your work should be able to understand WHO and WHAT your character IS on a surface level when looking at the design. you can work on the little intricacies later, but first and foremost you need to understand just WHO this character is before designing them

anyways yap session over sorry i like character design a lot

[jadehaven]

A summary of the thoughts as I slowly realized that #Elrondriel would indeed become a thing in the show:

(for context, ROP was my first introduction to LOTR, so this was my perspective as a viewer with no concept of the lore)

Season 1:

Who is this guy? Is he her friend? More? Oh she touched his face, maybe it’s like, unrequited? Am confused.

Is this how elves flirt? What’s the history here? Oh well, she’s leaving anyway.

*Enter Halbrand* HOT DIGGITY DAWG now THATS what I call a love interest 😏😏😏

*Eating up all the enemies to lovers tropes and swooning over Halbrand*

*Elrond and Galadriel scenes* Me: Nah get this nice guy OUTTA HERE where is HOT HALBRAND? (future me is aghast that I would overlook the literal loml Elrond, Gal and I are the same ig)

Halbrand: *Is Sauron* Me: What!?? Nooo! No no no no no this can’t be happening oh noooo

*Elrond saves Galadriel*

Me: Wait

*Forehead touch, tears, deep breaths*

Me: Waaaiiittt

*Gasps* Omg. Of course, he loves her!! They’re going to fall in love! It’s perfect contrast to the enemies to lovers story— a *slow burn, best friends, it’s always been you* kind of love? Right? RIGHT!? That makes so much sense! I’m 1000% calling it for Season 2.

*Sometime between season 1 and season 2, discovers the heartbreaking truth* LOL what?? She’s his WHAT??! 😭😭😭

*Still holding out hope, clutching my suspicions like they’re my grandmas pearls*

Season 2:

Holy sheet he’s mad. Ofc he’s mad. But he’s her best friend :c?? Pls don’t make me sad like this, you’re supposed to love each other!

“You were my friend!!” Mhm yknow they tend to use this word a lot

That’s… that’s a lot of hand holding there…

omg she put her hand on his CHEST OMGSJHDHFBF

“It was entirely of your choosing, the lost king blah blah” Ok but this is literally him saying he knows her type?

Hollldd up, I see what’s happening. Tension. There’s negative tension. I’ll bet if they stick to the trope, there’ll be a *moment* between them at the end that breaks the tension. There has to be.

*Galadriel gets caught by the Barrow-Wights* Wait for it babe, Elronds going to rescue her oh— yep, there he is. Saving her again. Because he’s the love interest.

“Promise you will put defeating Sauron over saving my life” Pfft hahaha miss Galady, our boy has it bad, there’s no way he’ll stay true to that promise. (For real though this sentence just showed us what the most important thing in the world is to him, it’s her y’all)

*Galadriel gets captured and brought out to the battle field* Ooooh yup. Look at his FACE when he sees her, the slow mo and everything wow. That’s his whole life right there. He can’t sacrifice her, he can’t do it.

Dang he’s gonna do it???

“Let me bid her farewell” Omg please kiss her goodbye haha but no they wouldn—

0/////o!!???

O/////O!!!!!!!

I CALLED IT I FKING CALLED IT ARE YOU KIDDING ME I AM SCREAMING

THIS IS THE MOMENT THAT BROKE THE TENSION.

Everyone online: iT wASNt RoManTIC

😐

Sigh. Of course it “wasn’t romantic”. THATS THE WHOLE POINT. That’s how this whole “forced to kiss” trope works. They don’t have feelings for each other yet, that they’re aware of anyway. It’s supposed to be an awakening. This is only the beginning.

*Continues to get gaslit by everyone and their mother including the actors and writers themselves*

Ok ok fine. Maybe I’m delusional about the whole thing. But every scene so far has been classic romantic arc set up. If they have a scene next episode where Elrond saves Galadriel again and maybe like, puts the ring on her finger all proposal style, then I’ll know. That would seal it for me.

*Episode 8*

*Speechless*

LITERALLY SPEECHLESS.

That’s it yall. If you didn’t pick up on that, then I’ll see you next season for all the slow burn tropes. I can see them already. LFG. #Elrondriel for life.

[hqlmsbury]

A good girls guide to murder tv show review

Haven’t been on here in a hot sec but I just really feel like venting about this show. I LOVE the books they are incredible and pip and Ravi are SOSO special. The tv show had all the capabilities to be a great adaptation, I don’t mind minor changes that make it easier for first time viewers but a lot of it rubbed me the wrong way. Here are some of my thoughts so spoilers ahead!

• nats character. What in the actual world made them decide to merge Nat with (Chloe? I think was the name) Andies other best friend. It changed Nats ENTIRE character. It lost that interest factor which made it seem like Nat really could be the bad guy, it felt unnecessary and disappointing to her character

• my pipravi moments. Why was there not one single Pipravi moment that was the same in the books. Literally not one. Pip doesnt share her location so Ravi has to go to Cara at the end. Ravi doesn’t go into Becca’s house at first because he’s scared, rightfully so but Ravi would never have endangered Pip like that! Ravi wanting to move away immediately after they figured out sals innocence???? The moments they got lacked the essential chemistry that all those little moments had. There was no reason for Pip to go into Becca’s house alone Ravi easily could’ve went with her just like in the book and we could’ve gotten the “real men wear floral while trespassing” line. Those small but important moments that make the characters and the relationship.

• Pip was not as smart as in the books. I sort of understand why they made it seem that way as they had to progress the show quicker but I think certain things were handed to her. Finding Howie was one of those scenes why was it so quick, easy, and almost painless. And later on he’s barely mentioned at all. Where was the blackmailing?!?!

• going of the last point why did Naomi tell Pip about Maxs secret instagram, again it made it seem like pip could not figure it out herself, there was no sneaking around and logging into Naomi’s computer. It was all handed to her

• the girl in Mr. Wards attic. Why did she know who she was lol? I think it unfairly made it look like Mr. Ward was more evil than he really was. In the book he really did think it was Andie and that he was helping her. Keeping this girl “trapped” in his attic because he told her he killed Sal was also an unnecessary part of the story.

• having Victor Amobi be suspected?!?!? What in the world was that. It added drama that was completely unnecessary to the story, Victor is such a great character and he is so special to Pip in the books. I feel adding that was something they tried to do to “spice things up” when sticking to the original storyline would’ve been a much better path.

• Barney’s death. I can’t recall if it was ever mentioned Becca was the one who killed Barney but again where was that suspenseful feeling? And also this was a purposeful kill when in the books Becca actually did release Barney and he was killed on accident.

• a couple of little things. I felt like the actors they cast for Pips friend group looked way older, however Asha who plays Cara grew on me and I really enjoyed her as Cara.

If they make a second season I will watch it and hope for better and hopefully they get more funding and Holly is more involved with the script. These are only a few of the things I was disappointed about because overall I don’t think it did the books justice at all. I enjoyed pip as Emma and think Zain did a good job with Ravi considering the script they had.

[blorbocedes]

Hi, asking this question because you might be an unbiased viewer.

As much as people give shit to ferrari for strategy and dumb team orders, isn't it a bit weird that Charles just blindly follows it. Like one of the traits of the brocedes, Max and Seb in Rb (and even ferrari) was that they would go against orders if it costed them.

Also lecfosi's gave shit to Sainz for ignoring team orders but why would you want to cost yourself a win especially for a team or a teammate that dropped you behind your back without prior warning despite being the only other winner in 2023.

I most likely am biased because 2024 gave me an ick for Charles, mostly due to his fans.

Sorry, if it's a bit ranty. And Please correct me if i am wring

im not really unbiased lol

it's not really a driver's job to disobey team orders. obviously it's cool for us if they do and succeed.

but generally the driver's job is to drive and it's the team's job to strategize because the team has all the data points and tyre information of themselves and their competitors while the drivers only have their own to go off of. the driver is managing driving at 250km/h, they need to be able to rely on their team who have so much more information to make the calls that's best for the team. it's not reasonable to expect drivers to play race strategist as well because that's not their job. there's times teams will ask for a swap because one is faster, or is on a different strategy. redbull often defers to max's opinion on what tyre call to make during a wet race because that's when the driver can tell better how much grip he needs, at the same time if a driver makes the wrong call like lando in sochi when he stayed out for glory, you get why teams opt for the safer option. listening to your team isn't a bad thing, doesn't make you a cuck, the entire operation of f1 works because the car the driver and the race engineer and the mechanics and the strategists work in tandem

the drivers you named like lewis and seb and max were also in a position where they could disobey team orders, because they're fighting for wins/championships (which is different than fighting for p5) and they already are their team's champion so they are not replaceable. ferrari's ethos is very team over driver

carlos started making his own calls cause that's his personality and because that was his final year at ferrari so he had nothing to lose not listening to team orders because he was going to a different team the next year. charles relies on the calls the team gives him and he's still contracted with them. disobeying team orders for points signals to the team they can't rely on you to listen, and there's so many drivers waiting for a ferrari seat who WILL listen (which is kind of what they did to Carlos). last race charles repeatedly asked ferrari for softs for the final stint during the safety car, the team refused to pit him and after that last lap overtake from alex sealed his fate to p6. maybe softs could've landed him a podium, or maybe it would've taken too long to warm up after the safety car ended and the positions lost during the safety car pitstop couldn't be recovered. ultimately charles couldn't just go to the pitbox by himself and put softs on if the team hasn't greenlit it, so he has to listen

[sevensoulmates]

First off, i loved reading your analysis on the recent episodes of 9-1-1. If i may, how would you describe 7x04 and it being from bucks pov? I think he’s an unreliable narrator. I would love to hear your thoughts as i have many lol

A x account said this “ Okay but Buck never went to play basketball when Eddie invited him, he only went after he knew Tommy was going. Like? That really happened. Why do people continue to ignore what's right in front of their faces?

But like, he didn’t go BECAUSE Tommy went. He went because Tommy AND EDDIE were going. Again, we are told 7x04 is from bucks perspective. But yet, the only time we see him “getting his attention” is the air strip scene. That scene is weird because they could have easily shown us buck messaging him and their initial greetings. But no. We are given a few seconds before Eddies name is mentioned and when he comes in the frame. No where else do we see from “bucks pov” of him trying to get Tommy’s attention. What stopped buck from reaching out again to Tommy…. That’s the plot hole of the episode I’m still lost on. He was able to reach out once, why did he stop? The gym scene? You’re telling me, it was for Tommy? Because he wanted to see Tommy play basketball? If he wanted his attention, he would have hurt Tommy and not Eddie and the conversation with Maddie would be different. Did he have attraction towards Tommy? Sure. But we the viewers are never given any indications of him trying to get Tommy’s attention. To add, in 7x05, Tommy is confused after buck says he’s been trying to get his attention. Because, again, where was this.

Most of my thoughts on 7x04 are in my multiple-part meta here. Most of the stuff you're asking about, including the basketball scenes, the gym scenes, and more are all addressed there.

I agree with the people (and Tim) who said most of the episode is in Buck's POV. I've seen people saying that you can tell it's Buck's POV because of how light and beautiful and sunkissed Eddie appears, and I agree with that. I don't agree with the people who said Eddie appears more "straight" because Buck views him as straight. I just don't really agree with certain actions being "straight" vs. "non-straight". People can look and act super stereotypically masculine and "bro-ey" and still be queer. Just look at Tommy.

Absolutely Buck is an unreliable narrator, as is Eddie. I think this episode was pretty clear-cut about that given how confused Buck was the entire episode. All you have to do is watch any other episode to know that Eddie wasn't just ignoring Buck on purpose, but that Buck was being overly sensitive about it for a reason that still isn't clear to him.

Tim and Co. have said many times that there is no black-and-white answer to what Buck was feeling in that episode. He latched onto the first answer that made sense which was first "I'm best friend jealous" then "Oh I like Tommy bisexually" because it's easier to take the path of least resistance and just believe what's in front of you instead of soul-searching or looking deeper and possibly tapping into something you're not ready to address just yet.

In my opinion, Buck was confused, and continues to be confused, because despite his attraction to Tommy being real, underneath it all, most of the feelings he was experiencing were more so about Eddie, and he's not yet at the point where he can address that head-on. The episode is confusing to us viewers because Buck was confused, so in the sense, yes, the episode was very much Buck's POV.

[adragonthatwrites]

Time for a bookbinding update!

Alright strap in everyone I've got quite the tale to tell!

So! I haven't updated much regarding my next bookbinding project because I've been struggling with my Word documents.

So it goes like this; after I've finished formatting a fic into a printable form, I'll need to export it out into a pdf, which allows me to automatically organize the pages into signatures for printing (as opposed to slowly copy-pasting the pages into signatures for printing in Word, which takes an enormous amount of time and effort)

Anyway, I ran into some trouble when trying to export the Word doc into a pdf; that being, for some reason the pdf was sort of shrinking text down, pushing it up pages and overall compressing the fic slightly, which resulted in the formatting getting severely fucked up and occasionally entire pages being lost; which obviously causes huge problems.

Here's a quick example of what that looks like, with the Word doc seen in dark mode and pdf in regular (taken from Beast With Two Backs by VampireFuan, if anyone wants to check out the fic!)

As you can see, the text is up much father in the pdf than it is in Word; this can be a huge problem when it happens all throughout a large multi-chaptered fic binding and causes chapter titles to float in the middle of a page and shortens the page amount; which needs to stay consistent for organization into signatures.

I tried, I kid you not, for months to try and figure out what was causing this. I (and others from multiple Discord servers) tried so many things to fix this; changing text font size, line spacing, paragraph spacing, looking for hidden text or formatting, changing the margins, adjusting page size, uninstalling and reinstalling Adobe and then adding a different PDF reader to try viewing it, and about twenty other things I can't even remember over the months.

One temporary fix we found was putting in a bunch of page breaks wherever the problem occurred; though this is obviously unsustainable as the problem would just crop up again a few pages down from the page break, and I can't have like fifty different page breaks and sections in the Word Doc; that's not realistic, and is frankly likely to break in a whole new way.

It was only recently that I discovered what was apparently causing this problem; apparently, Word and the PDF viewers did not like that was using size 6 font for the page numbers up in the header of the pages. Upping the font size to 9 fixed the issue; this is the lowest it can go, size 8 and the problem starts up again.

Why does Word throw a fit when I use a smaller font size in the fic? Fuck if I know and at this point I'm too tired to try and figure it out (nor am I teck-savvy enough for this) so at this point I'm just going to shrug my shoulders, make the numbers size 9, and get on with my binding.

So yeah I'll be announcing my next binding project either later tonight or tomorrow, now that I can finally make pdfs for binding again lol!

[tethered-heartstrings]

Hi sorry if I'm bothering you, I just had a question? I noticed that in season three (the first part, with the Italian names) (Italian is my first language) the names are out of order. Like, S3E2 being called "Primavera" (Spring) aside, we have "Appetizers" "Second course" "Apéritif" "Side dish" "Sweets" and "Digestive". And that's not the usual order?

You usually have Apéritif late afternoon/early evening, then you sit at the dinner table and the courses are: Appetizers, Main Course (which is replaced by Spring, but I enjoy the allegory), Second Course with Sides, Sweets and lastly Digestive (or coffee lol).

So yeah I was wondering if you knew whether there was any reason for this change?

Again sorry to bother, also I love you blog. Thank you very much and have a nice day :)

V

omg you aren’t bothering me at all this is a great question!

Let me start off by saying I do not know Italian, but I have some ideas as to the naming schematic.

“Apéritif” is the first episode of season one, and from what I looked up, an apéritif is an alcoholic drink used to stimulate the appetite. As it is the first episode of the show, it is meant to entice an audience to watch the rest of the show, so it makes sense that this episode is enticing the appetite of the viewer. Also, the first glimpse we get of Hannibal in this episode is him eating a meal, and as the titular character who has a particular appetite, we are kind of appealing to his appetite as well. And the first meeting he has with Will also indirectly stimulates his appetite and interest in Will as a person and his involvement with the GJH case and his decisions to intervene. Hannibal wanting to “see what would happen” is his appetite being stimulated. “Apéritif” is also a French word derived from Latin “aperire” which means “to open” which makes a lot of sense as it is the opening of the entire show.

The first episode of season 3, “Antipasto” makes sense as it is the first course of a meal, and thus the first episode of the season. “Secondo” I take to mean a second course, so pretty straight forward.

I wonder if “Apertivo” (aka appetizer) is next because we kind of go back in time a bit to Will being in the hospital and truly seeing how thing occurred, and not his hallucination with Abigail being alive. Like going back “before” the meal. We also see Will back in Hannibal’s kitchen, going back to where everything went down, but there is a peace there as if it was before it all happened. And Abigail is there, too. Granted, Will “knows” she is dead now, but it still feels like before when she was alive. Like Will is trying to take little pieces of life before, little bites of something more savory than the reality he is in. It is also before Will really confronts Hannibal again, seeing and talking to him directly. So maybe the use of “appetizer” is more of this episode and events in it happening before other things. The events of this episode happening before the “meal” episodes as it goes back in time a little bit.

While “Dolce” and “Digestivo” are in the “correct” order, I still want to talk about them. “Dolce” meaning sweet is so perfect because of the Uffizi Gallery scene, because it is so tender and perfect. And “Digestivo” is also perfect, because digestives are supposed to aid in digestion, and Hannibal was planning to eat Will. And not only could it be interpreted as literally helping the meal digest, but also the aftermath of having killed and eaten Will, having to digest the reality that not only is Will dead, but that Hannibal killed him. And that Will’s flesh is finite, and eventually there will be nothing left of him, and soon even the taste of him, the feel of him between his teeth, will be lost to Hannibal, nothing more than a memory.

I also found that bitter digestifs contain carminative herbs intended to aid in digestion. There are a lot of herbs that fall into this category, but two of them being parsley and thyme, which are herbs in the soup Hannibal spoon fed to Will while he was drugged prior to his head being cut open. Hannibal even says the soup is “more for my sake than yours,” after Will comments on how it isn’t very good. And I know that it technically happens in “Dolce” but the end of “Dolce” and beginning of “Digestivo” overlap and blur together a bit like they do. And in “Digestivo”, Will even comments on how he doesn’t have Hannibal’s “appetite”, thus tying it all in together a bit.

As a side note, I also love “Primavera” meaning spring, because this episode is another stage of Will’s becoming and his growth, shedding an old skin. We see a new perspective of what happened in “Mizumono”, and I think “Spring” is a very fitting title for this episode!

thank you for this ask and hope you have a nice day as well!!

[anonymous-dentist]

i'm not sure if this is an unpopular opinion but omg i love that eggs die and feds don't keep them alive all the time, from meta standpoint. like yeah they're cute and everybody gets attached and they have cool personalities and canonically they could bring every one back but. it would get sooo insanely boring after a while. every time an egg gets killed i see viewers complaining about them being "forced" to stay in the fight (i've seen somebody on twt suggesting that empanada was forcefully teleported back to the fight by other admin or something?? what 😭) like it's fully against their will but come on. they're all admins, they play a character and they talk it out between themselves, if they really wanted to stay alive and safe these risks just wouldn't happen in the first place. they can't really kill off players in the same way so they need something else and eggs fill that niche perfectly. it adds tension, it motivates islanders so much, moves entire arcs forward, brings out the best roleplay. when something happens to kids you see their parents and other islanders still referring to it months later and it's shaping their lore so much. and islanders' reactions?? pure cinema, as a fanartist i cherish these moments, they live in my head rent free

Like it sucks every time- I had to get up from the dinner table when everybody had to say goodbye to Bobby (it was sooooo embarrassing for me lol)- but it serves a purpose

In every narrative, there has to be stakes. In the QSMP’s story, the players (usually) can’t die, and that’s important! With no actual threat to their lives, there has to be something else that can be used to pressure them. Enter, Eggs

A lot of people also just either weren’t there for or don’t remember the Code Attacks from April/May because those were BAD. Eggs couldn’t teleport, hence why NINHO had stasis pearls built in. Pomme somehow got like mind controlled to follow a butterfly right into the Code’s grasp during her Very Bad Day.

Yesterday was just like the day Tallulah lost a life to the Codes/Philza. Tbh we should just be happy Bagi didn’t end up accidentally killing her own kid like Phil did that day, that SUCKED

[tamelee]

hi tamelee!

I'm here to ask for a little bit of advice if that's okay (: about a month ago I bought a Wacom drawing pad so I could start experimenting with digital art. artists like you here on tumblr have really inspired me to start making art. but I feel kinda.. lost. I've been mostly drawing naruto manga caps and I'm getting better but I guess I don't know where to go from here. coloring and shading scares me lol. I'm using clip studio paint and it's just a little.. intimidating. I feel discouraged, like I won't be able to do it. how did you do it tamelee? did you watch a lot of tutorials, or did you experiment until you figured things out? any advice you'd have for a beginner artist I'd really appreciate.

thank you veryvery much for your time ^^

Hi Nonee! 🧡 Sure!

Oh I think that’s a very good place to start. As well as drawing subjects you like ^^! Hmm, tbh I’ve just experimented a lot, but I don’t think my way of having done things was the most efficient. You might want to follow tutorials step by step? You can try coloring only with flat colors until you feel a bit more confident with that as well as cell-shading (toon-shading/non-realistic, like in anime) instead of rendering further as that can all be confusing at first. I personally never truly understood shading until I studied cell-shading and made my art a lot more readable. A lot of Anime uses this; 

You see how there is a base color, a darker color for shadows and highlights? (Sometimes not even highlights.) 

When you start to study it from existing work you’ll start to notice things like color always being in the same area of saturation and when you suddenly have a color that is way more saturated than the other it can look off. (See example.) But this is a guideline, not a rule. In your own art you can especially use saturation and brightness to help aid you to direct a viewer's focus and even tell a story.

I LOVE ‘How to train you dragon’ and ‘Kung Fu Panda’ for this because their coloring is so inspiring and if you truly want to learn from professionals... well those are the type of media to look for of course! I have an entire folder to inspire me just based on those.

Do you see how calculated those color combo’s are?!?! Here you see both analogous and complementary schemes and it is actually through looking at the things I like that I learned it >< The orangey colors stand out and are bright which helps you to focus on that area whereas the complimentary scheme is used to bring characters together.

If drawing Manga-caps is something you love to do, then maybe for coloring you can study screen-caps from Anime or even other animated films. I’d recommend to take it step by step, though I haven’t really applied it myself, from the video’s I’ve seen and artists I’ve followed it is always advised to have an art-goal that you can work toward. Maybe you first want to focus on lineart and then laying down a base color where the colors are harmonious and next would be cell-shading maybe and then you can start adding another light-source etc- eventually you can decide to create more depth or practice with monochromatic coloring, maybe even greyscale to learn values. But right away that can all sound a bit intimidating doesn't it? Find things that you like and then maybe you can open them in your program and just study. Find a brush you like, put on some music or a show on the background and for a moment play around with it without needing to create a finished piece. This is also how I learned how things like adjustment layers work or what all the different kinds of tools do. I have to agree with you, CSP is intimidating for me as well >< so this is kinda how I approach it as there are so many add-ons and additions within it but I try to only learn what I need for that moment so I don't overwhelm myself.  I definitely try to find video’s that can help me with creating Manga though! ^^ There are plenty!  It'll get easier eventually, you'll learn the program and you start to recognize placements for shadows and you will get a feel for the coloring- no worries 💪 Learning something new will always stay intimidating, every time I open up a new document I feel it too. It's not easy at all, but you kinda have to allow yourself to experiment and even make mistakes because practice is never perfect. I have some beginner tips written here- I hope any of this is somewhat helpful 🌷🫶

[eldritchcreatureofwords]

So, your opinions on Arcane's finale?

Mixed. Strongly mixed. I adore a lot of what was given to us. I also feel like you could FEEL how much they had to cut out, leaving a ton of unsatisfactory plot lines and things that felt unresolved. Where the fuck did Jayce and Viktor go? Why was Ekko basically forgotten about except for his one little paper burning moment? They wrote Jinx going from 100 to 0 way too quickly imo, and the descent into suicidal depression just felt kind of out of left field.

Mel gave off huge creator's pet/sue vibes. Everything that happened to her happened in a bubble and then she just- pops back to reality, badass and super charged and she's a mage now??? But no one is even a LITTLE concerned about that??? There was zero (0) reason for Jinx to be written off/die. It felt like emotional manipulation of the viewer or that they thought if they didn't kill her off we wouldn't be satisfied. And yeah, I'm gonna say it- I don't think any of the LoL/LoR protagonists should have been killed off. It felt like it was purely for shock value. ZOMG, THEY KILLED WARWICK/JINX!!!!!! Hell, the entire kick-off of Viktor's villain arc felt forced and absurd; Jayce, without even trying anything else, just fucking kills Viktor? (Or tries to?) Sacrifices dozens of not hundreds of lives? Yes, I get he's kinda nuts at the moment but like- it felt very out of character.

I think my biggest complaint is that it feels like mid-way through they decided to give us a different show entirely then the one Season 1 set us up for. We went into a show about people, about their relationships with each other and mistakes, their losses and loves, and we ended on a show with a Gainex save-the-world ending where, honestly, very few of their actions or sacrifices mattered at all and everyone just kind of- lost the people they love for what felt like very preventable reasons. I'm also mad as hell that Vi's trauma was largely still unaddressed. They even had a Goddamn ptsd/bookends moment with her locked in fucking Stillwater and the most we got was a wall punch. ALL THAT SAID!!!!!! I did like and appreciate a lot of this season. Heimerdinger and Ekko and their little side-quest broke my heart. The 'Vi's death brings about a better world for everyone she loves' was just soul crushing, even moreso when you realize she would have happily accepted that if she knew. The shipper in me is THRILLED at all my 'yes's', even the ones that hurt, like Jayvik. The CaitVi payoff was fantastic. I loved watching Maddie get a fucking bullet to the dome. Served the bitch right. The fights, as ever, were fantastic. The music was fantastic. The animation was beautiful. There was a TON to love about this season, and overall BOTH seasons' strength far and away out stripped the flaws. If I went into everything I loved about the season, this would get even longer then it already is, so I'm gonna cut it here. But overall? 8.5/10 season, I'm not thrilled but it was good food overall.

[unofficial-cactus]

tbh i feel like youre right on the fanfic video & i am also a casual fan. he may not intended for the bullying but when he makes a video titled like “reading your DISGUSTING fics about me” you really cant help the bullying that’ll follow bc it IS public humiliation from an influencer. it just doesn’t feel ok for fanfic writers to be mocked in front of millions of people for their hard work– like you said, if it was a fan artist, then this situation would be entirely different.

i just feel like it’s unfair. these types of videos always made me uncomfortable bc the reason why they do it isn’t to appreciate the work fans put into them & their content and instead just make fun of them. i understand having fun with the content, but using it as a video tool just paints a target on the writer’s back and yeah

anyways sorry for the rant i just saw your post & had to agree lol hope you have a nice day

the rant is very justified.

the writer has now removed the fic and put up a response

all things considered, they've responded quite maturely considering how young they are

and something i missed that the writer pointed out - i only skimmed the video to see if the title would be misleading - and aside from his own 'joke' fic he wrote, tommy doesn't read any other fic - just this one author's and that amplifies the situation even more as this specific person has been singled out to make fun of. this isn't roasting viewers, this is bullying a single viewer.

something the writer also says which is very true - all the comments redirecting saying 'not all fic is like this' are missing the point that it's okay to make silly self-indulgent amateur fanfiction.

they don't have to be 100k works of art. your first clay bowl is a sloppy and lopsided and certainly no work of art, but it doesn't have to be. the joy in making it in the first place has value.

and then there's the whole conversation about fan Fantasy in fan spaces. capital F because in situations like this, fans are typically very aware of the fantastical nature of what they're writing, but stll enjoy it because celebrity fantasy is a normal thing and is very far from something new.

and something i feel is being lost in the current information age of no privacy share every aspect of yourself publically is the concept that people have conversations about other people, strangers even, when they're not there, and that's a totally normal thing to do.

it's the year 2007, you and your friend are walking along the boardwalk at the beach. you see someone very hot. once you're out of earshot you and your friend share your admiration for their appearance. perfectly harmless, perfectly normal.

and for a long time there fandom spaces were seen as those private spaces - those personal conversations out of earshot.

and the blurring of the boundaries of those private spaces is blurring - it's a two-way street at that - a lot more people are tweeting their private thoughts directly at cc's which is very not okay, and cc's are stepping into fan spaces and then throwing up a surprised pikachu face that fans are doing things in those spaces that are not meant for the cc to enjoy.

[coolerdracula]

my rambling thoughts about The Substance [inconclusive] [really long post] (spoilers; Symphony don't read etc)

sooo. hmm. I liked the blood and the gore and stuff. I like that this kind of thing is in theaters. I enjoy the color palette, and I think the opening shot was fantastic for conveying the major "weird thing" of the movie. the satirical tone came through very strongly, and there were a lot of really funny moments. trying to think of more things I liked... I did give it 4 stars on letterboxd, though I keep going between that and 3.5 . it's a fun spectacle.

I did have some gripes with the second and third acts, especially with the "fake-outs" they kept doing, but I'm also wondering if that was intentional, where they kept faking the viewer out in order to make you think that the final sequence isn't going to be real, either? but then it is, so you're like Ohhhh Fuck? idk. it did give me the feeling of "man, when is this movie going to end?" lol. and I get that it's a satire, but it was still pretty heavy handed with a lot of things. like, a lot of the flashbacks (either clips or voiceovers) that were meant to make you as a viewer go "oh, this part of the movie mirrors a prior scene!" made it feel like the movie didn't trust its audience to connect things and Get The Point. plus the scene where she sees the other substance user in the diner was very "hey! this is what you're supposed to understand about it!" irt them giving like 5 different clues that he was the 'same' guy as before. it's way too much handholding :|

in terms of themes ... it's mixed bc of how they approached her becoming "ugly." right. but more on that later. aside from the execution, and more just in terms of the concept, I think that it's saved by the last part (Elizasue confidently dolling herself up), but it's a tenuous save. bc, without that, it's "woman tries to become more beautiful in the eye of society; winds up liking herself less and is punished for this choice." and it comes very close. which ... like, yeah, it does happen to people. but using that dynamic as the focus of an exploitation film is weird to me? I could be wrong. bc it's not necessarily being endorsed by the movie, bc it's a parable, and movies are a social forum, not moral end-all-be-all's, but ... hmmmm idk. idk. it being made by a woman about her own experiences helps. ANYWAYS. the part that saves it from being entirely that dynamic -- the character arc of Elizabeth+ learning to like herself, no matter what she looks like.

I think that it's a good turnaround, conceptually. but the execution... hmm... muddled. bc, Elizasue is in a very unclear mental state, and it establishes that she's hallucinating, or imagining things, or etc. so she's not present in choosing to love herself, she's just lost in imagined grandeur where she is still "beautiful." the parts where Elizasue puts on makeup and earrings come across as more comedic than touching, which is....interesting....thought I might be misremembering, and would have to take another look at it to be sure. maybe it was serious, and people were just laughing because they didn't get that. idk. but then, the reason I believe in this arc even happening, is during the gratuitous bloodbath segment when her glued-on self-mask falls off (her finally dropping the notion that she must look a certain way?) she says "it's still me; I'm not a monster" or something to that affect. which brings it back some, since she's actively acknowledging that she's changed, but it's still her, and she is still good and lovable. idk. I'm mostly writing this in order to figure out my thoughts honestly. I did really like the final sequence where she turns into goop and oozes her way back to her star & becomes absorbed into it. it contextualizes the prior bloodbath sequence as the "moment of change" so we can then get the more straightforward "new normal" of the star scene. but I guess the moment of change was too drawn out and not serious enough to match what it transitioned into.....imo.....but I liked the blood.....hmm.... but I did like the symbolism of her becoming one with the object that represented the decline of her career. contentment & acceptance etc.

ok back to how they conveyed her becoming "ugly." I do think that ... the early stages (the first two, where it's first just her finger, then half her body) were more.. SHE thinks she looks 'ugly,' not the narrative itself. but even with that, it's still presenting her physical changes in a sensational way. so.. the viewer is supposed to be shocked and appalled. especially so once we get to the third stage where she's completely deformed. and I think that relying on that element of deformity of the human body as horror, it... feels icky......... even if what happens to her is not 1:1 with real-life conditions, it still is analogous to them. this is my core issue with the movie, in terms of critiques.

now for the plural aspect. I don't think it's much of a reach to interpret it with a plural lens, since she literally splits into two and then is continually told "you are one." so what does it say, plural-wise? I mean, it's like Fight Club, where this woman has a dissociated part of herself, which can affect change on the world (HER world) without her knowledge/consent, and is perfectly molded to fit society's standards of how her gender should be. they come into conflict when their shared life negatively impacts the protagonist, and then move into mutual destruction. this does imply some things. the core message is that functional multiplicity is not sustainable. we see this in Sue's refusal to respect Elizabeth's time/physical form, as well as Elizabeth's almost immediate resentment and hatred of Sue. if this were to be reframed as a real system situation, it would be a host that thinks they're more important than the rest of the system, and an alter that sees themself as too separate from the host to give a shit about them. this dynamic does happen IRL, but it's allllll we see in media that includes plurality, so I dislike seeing it. this wouldn't be as much of a problem to me if the narrative didn't affirm this dynamic as a universal truth, but it's mirrored in the affirmation of Elizabeth being "the matrix" that Sue cannot exist without, as well as it being the experience had by the only other substance-user in the movie (guy who hates his other self). there isn't room for implying that there's another possible outcome. there also isn't really room for questioning Elizabeth's importance as the Matrix (or the "Core self," a problematic theory irt DID), since that's established by the 'science' of the world (necessity of Sue's 'refills') as well as the film's 'word of god' (the guy on the phone). additionally, we really miss out on the premise of "you are one." how? when? when, except for the very short moment where Elizabeth regrets trying to terminate Sue bc she realizes that Sue is her source of self-worth? we barely see it even when she literally becomes "Elizasue." missed opportunity to explore that more imo.

okay I'm tired of typing lol. this is way too long bc I don't have the energy to distill the rambling into a coherent thought, but ... those are my thoughts. 👍

[antibrainrotcrusader]

Review of: Akudama Drive

Going into Akudama Drive, I did not know much about it other than: 1) It's set in a dystopian society 2) The art is killer 3) A lot of people I know love it So my expectations weren't very high. I went in for the pretty art and animation, and stayed for the pretty art and animation. And Swindler. And the creepy rabbit and shark TV brainwashing program. That's pretty much it.

First, I'll list everything I loved about the show. I found the animation to be super consistent. It never disappointed me, and that's why if I rated my anime based on the art purely, I'd be giving Akudama Drive a 10/10 without hesitation. I also loved the soundtrack, they certainly felt unique enough that I did not dare skip the opening song, and stayed until after the ending song multiple times. It's an interesting pairing with the anime itself. Had this been a slice-of-life, the pairing would make a lot more sense. I loved it this way though, it made it feel like the anime wanted it known that this story doesn't want to be "just action" or "just cool". The music gets a 7/10 from me.

I also loved how our main character is a girl in her 20's. She's an ordinary person, with no tragic past, and no specific character traits that would mark her for the danger she gets thrown into later on (other than her honesty and kindness). It was incredibly refreshing to see in anime. She was not sexualised, but she also wasn't bland in terms of her character design. I enjoyed the moments Swindler was on screen. It worked perfectly for (what I felt like) the anime was trying to tell it's viewers: anyone can fall into the "wrong" path easily. Allowing people to judge those that fall into darkness with such absolutism will probably ruin a society. Example from the show? The executioners.

Oh the executioners. The way I feel about them is very mixed. They were shown as typical "heroes" for the first few times they appeared on screen. And then that seemed to shift to them... being evil? I did not like it. It could've been done a LOT better. I think the producers themselves might have also had mixed feelings. There is a clear shift in tone where the show changes it's direction and goes off the rails. In the first half, the executioners were developed a bit more, and one of them (the young apprentice) seemed to have more growth waiting for her at the second half of the show. But, of course, there wasn't. And so we lost sense of who the executioners are and what they are. The anime just wanted them to be branded as the "bad people" and it was left at that.

The Kanto plot was also a bit of a disappointment for me. Surely the technologically advanced city of the future that literally does not care or need physical existence anymore can do better than... putting an entire virtual city inside the bodies of children....? Right? It felt extremely far-fetched. As Hacker said (SPOILER ALERT):

"What a crazy twist, right? A world inside a supercomputer... who would've thought Kanto would be some overused sci-fi trope?"

If only the show's awareness of it's own tropes went anywhere. Note to story writers: making a character break the fourth wall and voice the future criticisms of your viewers is NOT good writing and it is NOT going to make those criticisms disappear or be less relevant. Breaking fourth walls is in and of itself not always a great thing to do in a story so focused in it's own world and separated from the viewer.

But you know what? The ending makes everything worth it!! Not. There is a single scene that I LOVE, and it is Swindler's last confrontation with the executioners. They surround her and stuff happens and then she says "zamamiro", and I love it. I died fangirling, and then died trying not to be sad. Lol. It's stuck with me now, such an iconic scene. Other than that, the ending wasn't that great.

Overall, I enjoyed the show, but I wish I could've seen another Akudama Drive. The Akudama Drive the first half introduced seemed like it would be amazing, not only a must-watch for the season, but BEYOND that. The Akudama Drive I was left with made me feel glad that it ended so short and stopped wasting my time. 6.5/10 and not lower for Swindler <3