#trying something out...should i go back to making gifsets?

[firelise]

[amuseoffyre]

I've been rolling around in Good Omens thoughts again and a gifset made something jump out at me.

This is where the Metatron is going to come undone. He's got the same binary thinking as Heaven. Good or bad. Heaven or hell. Coffee or death. So predictable.

It reminded me of the scene in S1 when Aziraphale is confronted by the angels and they tell him "it's time to choose a side" and this is where it gets chewy and delicious.

Aziraphale points out "there obviously has to be two sides. That's the whole point, so people can make choices. That's what being human means - choices, but that's for them. Our job as angels should be to keep all this working so they can make choices".

He's already arguing for humanity all the way through S1, which is a problem, but it's something he's done consistently. Not questioning. Very much, not questioning. Just... offering suggestions. So this isn't news. He's even made these kind of suggestions to the Metatron before, so not new.

At the end of S1, Crowley points out that he thinks the real 'big one' is coming "Heaven and Hell against humanity". Aziraphale has been sitting with that knowledge for years. He and Crowley have been dancing on the edge of disaster with Heaven and Hell turning up whenever they wanted, invading their space, demanding their time and compliance even though they are seen as rogue agents.

Everything in S2 is Aziraphale trying to maintain the veneer of everything is fine while still dealing with the terror of it all falling apart. The "or death" has been hanging over them the whole time. He saw the attempted execution. He's been told by Heaven that Crowley is under threat.

But the thing about Aziraphale is that he never ever does the predictable thing. Yes, he agreed to go back to Heaven. Yes, the Metatron leveraged Crowley's safety against him to guarantee it. The statement of "I don't want to go back to Heaven" turning around as soon as Crowley's safety is brought into it. Yes, he'll be the Archangel.

But this is the angel who gave away his flaming sword and lied to God's face. This is the angel who interfered in a bet between God and Satan to save the lives of three children. This is the angel who collaborated with a demon so they could have more down time. This is the angel who was swayed towards saving the world because he loves his life there and all his favourite foods and music and indulgences. This is the angel who flipped the bird and dive-bombed out of Heaven to possess a medium and fly a scooter to the end of the world.

Whatever the Metatron thinks he's done by separating Crowley and Aziraphale, he has no idea what he's unleashed. Crowley's bee metaphor comes to mind here. Angels are fiercely protective of Heaven but once you're inside? Well, that's another story. Aziraphale may look like a bee, but he hasn't been a bee for a long, long time. They knew it at his trial.

And Aziraphale can't say he didn't warn them:

"So you're probably thinking if he can do this, I wonder what else he can do and very, very soon, you're all going to get the chance to find out"

Heaven's got a big storm coming and they let it right in through the front door.

[anyataylorjoys]

Someone asked me how I created the fade transition in this gifset which I’ll try to explain in the most comprehensive way that I can. If you've never done something like this before, I suggest reading through the full tutorial before attempting it so you know what you'll need to plan for.

To follow, you should have:

basic knowledge of how to make gifs in photoshop

some familiarity with the concept of how keyframes work

patience

Difficulty level: Moderate/advanced

Prep + overview

First and foremost, make the two gifs you'll be using. Both will need to have about the same amount of frames.

For ref the gif in my example is 540x540.

I recommend around 60-70 frames max total for a big gif, which can be pushing it if both are in color, then I would aim for 50-60. My gif has a total of 74 frames which I finessed using lossy and this will be explained in Part 4.

⚠️ IMPORTANT: when overlaying two or more gifs and when using key frames, you MUST set your frame delay to 0.03 fps for each gif, which can be changed to 0.05 fps or anything else that you want after converting the combined canvas back into frames. But both gifs have to be set to 0.03 before you convert them to timeline to avoid duplicated frames that don't match up, resulting in an unpleasantly choppy finish.

Part 1: Getting Started

Drag one of your gifs onto the other so they're both on the same canvas.

The gif that your canvas is fading FROM (Gif 1) should be on top of the gif it is fading INTO (Gif 2).

And here's a visual of the order in which your layers should appear by the end of this tutorial, so you know what you're working toward achieving:

Part 2: Creating the grid

Go to: View > Guides > New guide layout

I chose 5 columns and 5 rows to get the result of 25 squares.

The more rows and columns you choose, the more work you'll have to do, and the faster your squares will have to fade out so keep that in mind. I wouldn't recommend any more than 25 squares for this type of transition.

To save time, duplicate the line you've created 3 more times, or as many times as needed (key shortcut: CMD +J) and move each one to align with the guides both horizontally and vertically. You won't need to recreate the lines on the edges of the canvas, only the ones that will show.

After you complete this step, you will no longer need the guides so you can go back in and clear them.

Follow the same duplicating process for the squares with the rectangle tool using the lines you've created.

Align the squares inside the grid lines. The squares should not overlap the lines but fit precisely inside them.

This might take a few tries for each because although to the eye, the squares look all exactly the same size, you'll notice that if you try to use the same duplicated square for every single one without alterations, many of them will be a few pixels off and you'll have to transform the paths to fit.

To do this go to edit > transform path and hold down the command key with the control key as you move one edge to fill the space.

Once you're done, put all the squares in their separate group, which needs to be sandwiched between Gif 1 and Gif 2.

Right click Gif 1 and choose "create clipping mask" from the drop down to mask it to the squares group. This step is super important.

After this point, I also took the opacity of the line groups down to about 40% so the lines wouldn't be so bold. Doing this revealed some squares that needed fixing so even if you aren't going dim the lines, I recommend clicking off the visibility of the lines for a moment to make sure everything is covered properly.

Part 3A: Prep For Key framing

I wanted my squares to fade out in a random-like fashion and if you want the same effect, you will have to decide which squares you want to fade out first, or reversely, which parts of Gif 2 you want to be revealed first.

In order to see what's going on underneath, I made Gif 1 invisible and turned down the opacity of the squares group.

If you want text underneath to be revealed when the squares fade away, I would add that now, and place the text group above Gif 2, but under the squares group.

Make a mental note that where your text is placed and the order in which it will be revealed is also something you will have to plan for.

With the move tool, click on the first square you want to fade out. Every time you click on a square, it will reveal itself in your layers.

I chose A3 to be the first square to fade and I'm gonna move this one to the very top of all the other square layers.

So if I click on D2 next, that layer would need to be moved under the A3 layer and so on. You'll go back and forth between doing this and adding key frames to each one. As you go along, it's crucial that you put them in order from top to bottom and highly suggested that you rename the layers (numerically for example) which will make it easier to see where you've left off as your dragging the layers into place.

Part 3B: Adding the Keyframes

This is where we enter the gates of hell things become tedious.

Open up the squares group in the timeline panel so you can see all the clips.

Here is my example of the general pattern that's followed and its corresponding layers of what you want to achieve when you're finished:

So let’s try it!

Expand the control time magnification all the way to the right so you can see every frame per second.

As shown in Part 3A, select your first chosen square.

Where you place the time-indicator on the panel will indicate the placement of the keyframe. Click on the clock next to opacity to place your first keyframe.

Move the time-indicator over 3 frames and place the next key frame.

Things to consider before moving forward:

Where you place your very first keyframe will be detrimental. If you're using a lot of squares like I did, you may have to start the transition sooner than preferred.

If you're doing 25 squares, the key frames will have to be more condensed which means more overlapping because more frames are required to finish the transition, verses if you're only using a 9-squared grid. See Part 4 for more detailed examples of this.

The opacity will remain at 100% for every initial key frame, and the second one will be at 0%.

Instead of creating two keyframes like this and changing the opacities for every single clip, you can copy the keyframes and paste them onto the other clips by click-dragging your mouse over both of them and they'll both turn yellow. Then right click one of the keyframes and hit copy.

Now drop down to your next clip, move your time-indicator if necessary to the spot where the first keyframe will start and click the clock to create one. Then right click it and hit "paste".

Tip: When you have both keyframes selected, you can also move them side to side by click-dragging one of them while both are highlighted.

Your full repetitive process in steps will go as follows:

click on square of choice on the canvas

drag that square layer to the top under the last renamed

in timeline panel: drop down to next clip, move time-indicator tick to your chosen spot for the next keyframe

create new keyframe

right click new keyframe & paste copied keyframes

repeat until you've done this with every square in the group

Now you can change the opacity of your squares layer group back to 100% and turn on the visibility of Gif 1. Then hit play to see the magic happen.

PART 4: Finished examples

Example 1

the transition starts too soon Cause: initial keyframe was placed at frame 0

the squares fade away too quickly Cause: overlapping keyframes, seen below. (this may be the ideal way to go with more squares, but for only 9, it's too fast)

Example 2

more frame time for first gif

transition wraps up at a good point Cause: in this instance, the first keyframe was placed 9 frames in, and the keyframes are not overlapping. The sequential pair starts where the last pair ended, creating a slower fade of each square.

Part 5: Final Tips and Saving

You can dl my save action here which will convert everything back into frames, change the frame rate to 0.05 and open the export window so you can see the size of the gif immediately.

If it's over 10gb, one way to finesse this is by use of lossy. By definition, lossy “compresses by removing background data” and therefore quality can be lost when pushed too far. But for most gifs, I have not noticed a deterioration in quality at all when saving with lossy until you start getting into 15-20 or higher, then it will start eating away at your gif so keep it minimal.

If you've done this and your gif is losing a noticeable amount of quality and you still haven’t gotten it below 10gb, you will have no choice but to start deleting frames.

When it comes to transitions like this one, sometimes you can't spare a single frame and if this is the case, you will have to return to the timeline state in your history and condense the key frames to fade out quicker so you can shorten the gif. You should always save a history point before converting so you have a bookmark to go back to in case this happens.

That's pretty much it, free to shoot me an ask on here or on @jugheadjones with any questions.

[wrathofrats]

I've been seeing the Swiss grabbing his crotch gifset going around again and the Swussy thoughts you posted and my brain can't help but try to combine those two ideas like I'm smashing two action figures together to make them kiss so here it is--

Swiss being in heat (or just being feral as usual) and unable to help himself and reaching down to press his fingers against his throbbing clit, feeling how wet he is. With how much he wiggles and moves during a Ritual his folds and puffy lips slip and slide together and he just can't help it after a while, just needs to touch and it's not like he forgets that he's literally in the middle of a Ritual, it's that he doesn't care.

And also because I can't help myself with Swissalps--Mountain seeing it and smelling him and it makes him break a pair of his sticks with how hard he grips them, especially when Swiss is all but humping the stage during Watcher in the Sky. He's gonna wreck that Swussy at the first opportunity he gets.

In hindsight Swiss should’ve known better.

The signs were there. Waking up in a cold sweat with his cheeks burning, a tugging feeling in his gut that could only be quelled by a hand roughly palming himself on top of his hotel comforter early in the morning. He chocked it up to the shitty hotel ac, barely blew into the room and during the dead of August the small breeze didn’t help much.

The main sign was when the feeling didn’t stop once he was packed up and back on the tour bus. Swiss sat in front of the vents with his face in the air, legs drawn up to his chest in a feeble attempt to stop the ache between his thighs. Too hot and too much. He elected to ignore it anyways.

Swiss should have thought ahead more when he had to change his underwear to put on his uniform. His own heady scent filling his nostrils as he pulled off his sweats, dragging the damp fabric down his legs. It should have been the main factor in trying to just breathe through the show, go through the motions without incident and once he was off the stage he could fall at mountain or rains feet and beg them for help, even if he was ignoring his own heat.

Heat clouded his mind, fingers slipping down and between his folds as he pulled off his underwear to change. In his brain the excuse was to clean up, to just see how wet he truly was, but the excuse falls apart as he brings his own fingers to his lips with a whimper.

Swiss was much too sensitive like this, just the act of sliding his fingers between himself with the intent of innocence had him bucking and his thighs shaking with want. He could feel his clit pulse as he reluctantly pulled his hand away from himself.

He just had to get through one show, and someone would help him.

The beginning of the show goes smoother than he thought, even if his head was clouded it served as a good distraction from how much he needed to be touched. Swiss went through the motions, some shimmies and shakes when he realized he had been lost in space for too long.

It only got worse the more he performed, the mic stand now being realized as an excellent form of friction along with his guitar. He could see a small darker outline on his stand as he pulled away from a particularly pointed thrust against it, his own slick seeping through his pants and leaving a damp spot on the metal.

He needs to touch, he needs something. He knows where he is, he knows he’s in the middle of a ritual but swiss can’t bring his foggy brain to care.

Mountain is the first to notice. Out of the corner of rain or dews eyes Swiss looked like he was acting normally, his usual antics that would get him a joke talking to by copia or another band member about being a whore. But this time? Mountain can see his mic stand shine in the light from behind him. Slick from where he grinded on it like he just couldn’t help himself.

He watches his hands move down his body, pretending like he’s performing even as the heel of his palm digs right into his cunt, no doubt adding pressure to his clit. It’s obscene, mountain has no clue how he gets away with it but god he’s glad he’s so far back behind his drums, any closer and the audience could probably hear him growling from underneath his mask.

The drumsticks in his hands crack, part of one going flying behind him as mountain continues to stare.

He’s going to ruin him.

[scoobydoodean]

BOBBY He's gonna find out, you know. One way or another, someone'll tell him, or he'll figure it out on his own. He's not dumb. He should it hear it from us. DEAN Can we just leave it alone for the moment, please? BOBBY Okay. But you better prep for the B side, 'cause when Sam realizes we're shining him, it ain't gonna be cute.

I must have seen this and the scene where Cas scolds Dean for putting Sam's soul back in giffed 10 times at least while looking for 6.12 gifsets in various archives and I think it's obvious why, given how rancid soulless Sam disk horse can get. It suits a narrative certain fans want to sell to take this out of context and make it look like Dean is being controlling—is babying Sam, trying to keep something from Sam that Sam deserves to know—and Sam is going to be rightfully mad at Dean treating him like a kid. That's such a narrow view that omits so much obvious context and Bobby ends up being completely wrong about Sam's reaction.

For one, Bobby says all this because he's struggling with being around Sam after soulless Sam tried to murder him the previous episode. Bobby's motivation for saying this is that he wishes he could clear the air. Unable to do so, he isn't sure how to explain why he doesn't really want to be in the same room with Sam (and boy is that a reversal from 6.06 where Bobby did not understand Dean's discomfort with soulless Sam and told him to stop being a baby).

For another, Dean's pleading "Can we just leave it alone for the moment, please?" really reveals his motivations for hiding the truth aren't about Sam as much as they're about DEAN needing space to process what soulless Sam did to him. What soulless Sam did to Dean and the way he behaved around him was fucking creepy. Telling Sam everything that happened while he was soulless won't just reveal information to Sam about himself—it requires Dean to reveal painful, personal details of some extremely uncomfortable experiences of his own that he doesn't really want to talk about. As a victim of that behavior, Dean deserves space to work through it. And the way he words it here, it's a request for TIME before they tell Sam the truth, so that Dean can BREATHE and PROCESS.

Bobby is right that Sam figures out he was soulless pretty quickly, but after figuring out Dean didn't tell him the truth, Sam isn't full of anger. He immediately understands Dean's hesitation to tell him the truth and understands it isn't about him.

It's about Dean not wanting to talk about the parts of Sam's soulless escapades where Dean was his victim.

SAM: Dean... DEAN: Yeah? SAM: I am so...so sorry. I can't even begin to say. DEAN: For what? SAM: You know what. DEAN: Did Bobby... SAM: Cas. DEAN: Cas. Friggin' child. SAM: You should have told me, Dean. DEAN: You weren't supposed to know. SAM: What I did? To Bobby? To you? Of course I should know.

Sam says "You should have told me," but notably, it isn't in an angry, accusatory tone. He's gentle. His focus is actually on DEAN and BOBBY and how Sam should know what he did so he can adjust his behavior accordingly for THEIR comfort.

Unlike the fans who love to harp on this moment as some proof of SAM being victimized by Dean (which bothers me for several reasons) Sam understands Dean's hesitancy wasn't just about keeping Sam safe, but was also about Dean being HURT by soulless Sam and deserving to have space to process that—the same way Bobby takes his space by deciding not to go on the hunt when Sam wants to join them.

Arguably, nobody should have been pushing for Dean to be the one to tell Sam everything to begin with. It's really for the best that Cas was able to share the details of what happened with Sam (however unwitting he was when doing so) because I don't know that Dean could have really talked about it. The moment in the car before Sam figures out how much time he's missing is bad enough:

SAM: So you never even tried, huh? DEAN: Tried? SAM: To go live a life...after. You do remember you promised that, right? DEAN: Yeah, I remember. SAM: So, why didn't you try? DEAN: What makes you think I didn't? SAM: 'Cause look at you. Look at this. You're exactly the same. DEAN: Yeah, you're probably right. A long pause. DEAN: I was with them for a year—Lisa and Ben. SAM: A year? DEAN nods. SAM: So then what? DEAN: Didn't work out. DEAN turns up the music.

Absolutely brutal. Sam's assumption that Dean didn't try stings all on its own, but it's especially hurtful (without Sam knowing that obviously) given soulless Sam was part of guilting Dean into leaving them in 6.02, and his actions with the vampire in 6.05 were what put such an upsetting end to Dean and Lisa's attempts at long distance. Regardless of whether you as a viewer thought Lisa and Dean could make things work in the absence of Sam's actions, that relationship ended in a particularly painful way riddled with fear and guilt because of Sam's actions in 6.05, instead of being allowed to end in a more amicable manner that could have provided more closure and mutual understanding. Dean can't say "Lisa and I had a terrible breakup because you let me get turned into a vampire on purpose and then I hurt Ben and I could have killed them and it was all because you didn't care about me or them and I was just a disposable piece of meat to you and now you're accusing me of not even trying to have a home like I wanted for so long because I'm a failure and that hurts like hell." All he can do is turn up the music.

[spicyvampire]

Okay so after the whole Sakuna/Wansarut and Phaya/Tharn "characters description" fighter (protector)/healer+protector(mediator) post, now imma talk about about our resident Snake (PhD), Doctor Chalothorn being a fighter and well how do you convince a fighter to not fight?

I've already made a whole gifset about this but I needed to put the stuff into words cuz u just can't say everything in a gifset so this post is gonna be about a few things, first of all, the way Charlothorn's goals shifted in the last 2 episodes, from wanting to kill Phaya so he can have Tharn, to wanting to save Tharn and Phaya's end not really mattering anymore, and second of all Tharn's role in this shift and where have we saw something similar to this shift before aka Wansarut and Sakuna and how Wansarut even did that

Same disclaimer as the last one applies : pulling this out of my ass from watching the show, these are raw out-of-order thoughts, ill try my best to separate but like the last post because I'm going to have to go back and forth between Wansarut (love of my life, talking about Wansarut has to be my favorite activity rn), Sakuna, Tharn (smooching him smooching him), Phaya and Chalothorn this might get hard to follow but hey that's what it's like inside my brain so welcome to the mess

Putting it under keep reading

So like I said in the last post, Chalothorn is a fighter, like you can't get more fighter than this, the man is literally the prince/ruler of Nagas and he is right in the middle of the battle field anytime there is a fight to be had, and like I said in Sakuna's part of the post he is a level that can probably can only be rivaled by Sakuna's brother, you can't be a higher level of Naga fighter from what I understand, so like how do you fight this man if you are Wansarut and Sakuna? (ep. 8)

Keep in mind that : the answer is that they never were supposed to fight Chalothorn

SCENARIO 1 : Chalothorn wins

This is what we've seen in the show, Sakuna/Wansarut/Phaya/Tharn would never win against him in a fight because they just aren't strong enough to began with, Sakuna and his Garuda were not Chalothorn's level when he was alive, Wansarut is a healer/protector not a fighter, Phaya can only do ✨Sparkles✨ of Garuda powers as of rn and while Tharn can do some powerful protecting he is of the gang the person who is the less in contact with his past and magical self (other than for protecting Phaya magic, we have not even seen his Naga in this lifetime) and also his past self wasn't even a fighter, so it makes sense that Chalothorn just keep killing them and every single one of their reincarnations, he kills them so much that it was destroying his own soul (ep. 8) because surprise he is getting affected by the little cyclic karma thingy they got going on too, this isn't just about Wansarut/Sakuna and PhayaTharn, Chalothorn is trapped in this shit too

Clearly fighting is not the answer, because even if you win, which Chalothorn has been doing a lot of, you still lose, Chalothorn is losing control of his Naga form, not only does it destroy his soul (ep. 8) but he might just not be able to turn into his human form anymore aka would be forced to be a Naga forever (ep. 9)

Another lost of this is that he keeps losing Wansarut and having to wait for the cycle to start again so he would get another chance, like the level of psychological damage getting done to him because he kills the one he loves and he is always left behind alone to wait is enough to drive anybody insane (ep. 11)

And I think that's one of the reasons why it took him so long to understand that he should let Wansarut/Tharn go, because when you do something so despicable and keep doing it over and over again you have to justifies your bad actions to yourself so you don't break and the more you justifies them the harder it becomes to see clearly through them, so you just keep doing it, like Chalothorn probably hates himself more than he even hates Phaya or love Tharn at this point because he keeps killing reincarnations of Wansarut, like this is his reaction to killing Wansarut the first time, falling to his knees screaming and everything (ep. 8), the cognitive dissonance in that man's brain must be insane

SCENARIO 2 : Phaya wins

Now let's imagine for a second there that they did win, Phaya succeeded in killing Charlothorn, and then what? Isn't Charlothorn just gonna reincarnate and come back for them again? Like yes it might take some times but it will happen, and then Phaya and Tharn would be the one destroying their souls and making their karma worst, that's just not a solution

Also we saw with Narong's case part of the show that "victim turned attacker" is not the answer (anyways that's what the show says), when Tharn and Phaya are talking to the abbot at the end of episode 5 the abbot keep repeating that over and over again killing is not the answer

When Phaya Says "Those victims are left with no choice but to fight back in order to survive. They have to kill." The abbot answers "The basic code of moral conducts for human beings like us is the 5 precepts. One should be abstained from killing other living beings. These precepts can bring peace and happiness to your family and the society. Undertaking the 5 precepts will benefit not only yourself but also the people around you." Basically straight up telling them that [not killing] is the only answer that will bring peace to everyone

Also so many parallels can be made between Narong and Chalothorn (which is probably why it was easy for Chalothorn to possess Narong to attack Phaya but let's not get into that), because like isn't this Chalothorn? (ep. 5)

His mind is so clouded by anger and wanting to kill Phaya and getting Tharn that he is obsessed with it, he literally do not see anything else, specially if Phaya is in the room and/or mentioned, like I said a bit higher in this post, he hates Phaya, but he probably hates himself too, and so much hate and anger just blinds people

Also sidenote that I'm not really gonna dive into : How do you think Tharn would feel about Phaya killing Chalothorn, knowing what u know about him? like Tharn loves Chalothorn as a friend, and that's even if Chalothorn is responsible for all the bad things in his life (ep. 12)

Tharn may be looking at Chalothorn saying this but he said "Please stop killing each other." he could not be more clearly talking to both of them, he doesn't want Chalothorn to kill Phaya but he also doesn't want Phaya to kill Chalothorn

SCENARIO 3 : Tharn Wins

Now lemme say this, you can literally never convince a fighter by fighting him, like if you've ever had a fight/argument with someone you know that you cannot reach a compromise in the heat of the fight when everyone is angry and losing the control of their emotions, it just doesn't work, but what does work in the context of the show?

Wansarut and Sakuna

And now I'm back to Wansarut (<3<3<3<3<3<3) and Sakuna because well Wansarut did change a fighter's mind before already, this is part of Wansarut's power that's why I also describe Wansarut as a mediator, and what did Wansarut do exactly?

Well Wansarut healed Sakuna, even if he is from the enemy side, and took care of him and acted in a way that was protective of him, even if again Sakuna is an enemy of Wansarut's people (literally brother of the Garuda king) because that Wansarut's character, Wansarut is a healer/a protect/a mediator that's how Wansarut fights (ep. 8)

Then Wansarut tough Sakuna about Naga culture (Naga offering and breathing fire to pay respect to Buddha, on the 15th nigh of the 11th waxing moon)

And while being in love with each other did facilitate this change of view in Sakuna (which would later turn him a bit into a protector of Wansarut), you really do not need to be for this to work, like the best way to change people views on some things truly is just to expose them to the thing from the POV of the people living it, when nobody is in any immediate danger

And that is exactly how Tharn succeeded in convincing Chalothorn that the love between Phaya and him is good, by being there for Chalothorn and taking care of him, and being patient, until Chalothorn was ready to let him go on his own, not in the heat of of fight when everyone is angry and putting the blame on each other, which was again so healer/ protector/mediator of him like I talked about in my other post

Tharn and Chalothorn : the final

So with Wansarut and Sakuna we saw how Tharn could change Chalothorn's mind and what really does work, now imma dive into the last 2 episodes of this show aka the shift in Chalothorn

So in episode 6, Chalothorn says this

And at that time I think those words were true cuz that's literally what he has been doing isn't it? Like everytime he lost, both Wansarut and Sakuna's reincarnations died, so he was "okay" with killing Wansarut, as long as it meant that Sakuna was also dead and they weren't together (crazy way to fight cognitive dissonance if you ask me) but then something changed around episode 11 because Chalothorn started saving Tharn even if Phaya was still alive? (Ep. 11) (ep.12)

The importance of Chalothorn saving Tharn those 2 times, is that 1) now Tharn knows what the fuck is going on and 2) (like I said in the other post) Tharn end up understanding that Chalothorn can be talked too and reasoned with (the abbot would call it enlightenment), because in that 2nd saving he told Chalothorn to not kill Montee, and Chalothorn listened

Sidenote : Wansarut also did tell Chalothorn to not kill Sakuna and Chalothorn did listen that time too, like Wansarut has a BIG influence on this man (wish we saw their relationship before the mess), the only reason why the fight did continue was because Sakuna did not let Wansarut go

Why did he listen then? because he loves Wansarut, it really is as simple as that, and that's why he also listened to Tharn with Montee, because our chronically involuntary celibate man is head over dick for Tharn (valid and relatable)

So remember when I was talking about cognitive dissonance and stuff, well by ep 12, Chalothorn cannot justifies killing Tharn anymore, he is tired, he is turning into a Naga, and he cannot stand seeing another reincarnation of Wansarut die again, but most importantly he cannot stand to see Tharn die by his own hands

It's easy to concentrate on Phaya's distress in this scene but Chalothorn is in as much distress as Phaya, you can hear Chalothorn's voice break when Tharn is dying in both Phaya and his arms after asking them to stop killing each other, they are both screaming Tharn's name, and this time Chalothorn just listen because this is too much, his hatred for Phaya is just not important anymore, killing Phaya is just not as important anymore because anyways Tharn did choose him didn't he? isn't that what he wanted? even if Tharn clearly is in love with Phaya, Tharn did choose to come with him, so in a way none of this shit even fucking matters anymore

So for the 3rd time, he saves Tharn, this time by literally giving Tharn his soul so he would live (wish we saw him breaking down over Tharn dying in his arms in the Naga caves until he ended up giving Tharn his soul tbh), Chalothorn chooses to save a life instead of ending one and thus ending the curse on his part

[stardustloki]

Get hugged, Echo!

No one had ever really hugged him before. The vode were affectionate, and he’d been on the receiving end of many an arm round his shoulder, slap on the back, or a playful punch to his arm. Roughhousing was pretty much routine. This… wasn’t…

Or: Echo gets used to Omega hugging him.

Tags: Echo & Omega, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, written for @summer-of-bad-batch

Inspired by @ffdemon's awesome gifsets of all the Echo and Omega hugs here. It has been living rent-free in my brain since I saw it! It makes my heart melt!

Read it under the cut, or on ao3 here.

It caught him by surprise, the first time she did it, and it took him a couple of seconds to realise that she’d launched herself at him, wrapping her arms tight around his neck, because she was trying to hug him, not attempting to inexpertly execute a grapple that she didn’t have the strength for.

Huh.

He crouched, frozen, as Omega tightened her grip, sniffling slightly into his neck, before abruptly realising that he should probably be hugging her too. He did so, hesitantly, unsure of how he was meant to be doing this, how tightly he should be holding her.

No one had ever really hugged him before. The vode were affectionate, and he’d been on the receiving end of many an arm round his shoulder, slap on the back, or a playful punch to his arm. Roughhousing was pretty much routine. This… wasn’t…

He wasn’t sure how he felt about it yet.

When she let him go, leaving him reeling for reasons that weren’t solely his decision to leave the Batch behind, he noticed tears gathering in her eyes and his heart clenched.

“Yes, sir,” she said, voice wobbling as she responded to his earlier order that she should keep up with her training. The order he'd given before suddenly finding Omega launching herself around his neck. She rubbed a hand across her eye.

But no, this wasn’t the time for doubts, there were a lot of his brothers out there who needed saving, just as the Batch and Rex had saved him, and he knew it. He also knew getting emotional about goodbyes never helped anyone. So, he made himself keep calm for Omega, shooting her a slight smile.

“Keep an eye on them,” he told her, satisfied when Omega gave a slight nod. Good, she’d handle this better if she felt useful.

It didn’t stop him feeling regret when he watched the ship take off, wondering if - despite what he’d reassured his sister - this might be the last time he saw this family - his family - ever again. Still, this wasn’t enough to make him rethink his decision. They had each other, who did the other clones have apart from Rex and the small team that Echo was going to be part of? No one. He couldn’t turn his back on the others. 

This was something he had to do.

—

It took him less time to adjust when Omega leapt onto him under the bright sunlight of Pabu. He still felt himself freeze, but less than a second passed before he’d wrapped his arms around her, holding her close and preventing her from falling to the ground.

“We’ve missed you!”

He could hear the warmth and emotion in her voice and it was like being hugged all over again. It felt good. No, more than that it felt incredible, and he found himself smiling like he hadn’t done in months as relief flowed through him.

It turned out he hadn’t lied when he’d told her they’d see each other again. And he hadn’t realised how uncertain of this he’d been until now.

“It hasn’t been that long,” he grinned, setting her down safely on the ground. With everything that had happened to him and his new team since he’d left, it felt as if he’d only been gone a day, though, staring down at Omega now, he wondered if there wasn’t a part of him to which it had felt like years.

He’d missed them, a lot more than he’d realised.

—

Echo didn’t want to say that he’d given up hope on finding Omega, because he hadn’t. He’d figured she’d still been alive, out there somewhere, but they’d searched and searched and searched and searched, and the Empire’s security had just been too good.

At some point, you had to get pragmatic about things.

So, that was what Echo had done, he’d fallen back on his training. Brothers died, all the time, that or they were captured, or suffered grievous injuries that made them unsuited for life on the front. Sometimes, they just got transferred somewhere different to you. The point was, never at any point in any of their lives had it been guaranteed that whoever mattered to you would be with you the next day. And you could grieve, you could rage about how unfair it was, but at the end of the day, you had to pick yourself up and keep going.

It had felt like a betrayal to Tech, a betrayal to Hunter and Wrecker, a betrayal to Omega, but as the weeks passed, it had been obvious that it would take a miracle to find her.

Echo couldn’t work miracles, but the more time he spent lamenting that, the less of his brothers he’d have been able to save with Rex. So, finally, he’d left, in order to do something that would actually help people.

And now, with the knowledge that Omega had been found, he was feeling like more than a bit of an idiot. Though, he supposed that, from what Hunter and Wrecker had told him, she and Crosshair had rescued themselves, so perhaps it didn’t matter that he’d all but given up on his and his brothers’ ability to locate her.

When Omega raced towards him, he was ready for her this time, holding out his arms so she could rush into them, and then hugging her tight.

She was here.

And she was alive.

[basilone]

I want to hear your thoughts on fandom and the recent influx of the term content creation!

Well, anon, you are in luck! (Or not, depending on your definition of luck. 😉) I just so happen to have many Thoughts & Opinions™ about this. I will get wordy, this will get lengthy, and I will be social and put most of my thoughts under a readmore cut.

I personally try to avoid the terms ‘content’ and ‘content creation’ when talking about fandom works and a fandom’s creative pursuits nowadays. Occasionally, sure, it happens that it slips out anyway – it’s a term we’re all really used to using! – but I want to be as mindful about its use as possible. This is a personal decision on my account and I won’t get uppity about other people’s use of these terms, though.

But, Killy, you might say... why would you avoid using these terms? For me, here’s why:

Content is not synonymous with art;

Content creation indicates something different than art creation;

Fandom should not be subject to consumerism;

Fandom is about connection.

If all a fandom puts out is classified as content, that fandom is going to die.

Yeah. I know. Melodramatic much? I’m on my fainting couch here, folks. 😂 But let’s dig in, shall we?

You know, maybe it’s just the archivist in me that balks at the term ‘content’. Content is a data entry field in the archival system we use at my real-life job: literally speaking, this data entry field is where we put a brief summary of the document attached to that specific archival file. It contains information that tells you the key takeaways of what the document is about, but it will not contain the full text of the document itself. Content is one of the points of access for our archival search: I know what I’m looking for, so I put a few keywords into our search and it pulls up the relevant file. But what do I need, really need, in my line of work? It’s the document itself, not the data entry field. The document tells me the whole story that I need to be able to truly do my job well. The content-field is a cliffnotes edition of that story.

It’s the same way with the art we create in fandom. I’m gonna take myself as an example here, because I create a fair bit! (Shocking, I know. Local Tumblr cryptid sighting, more at 11. 😎) I spend hours writing fic. I spend hours sorting through screencaps before screeching at Photoshop for a lengthy amount of time. I spend days pouring over quotes, books, documents, photographs, tutorials, and other things that will help me create something cool. I apply color theory, art framing/perspective, narrative focus, and many other theories and techniques to my writing and my giffing. If I were to put my finished work or any of my WIPs in that same archive system, it would be the document within the archival file. The tags I use on my posts? Those are markers similar to the content-field. They tell you who my gifset depicts and from which show it is. They tell you which OC of mine my fic is about. My work contains these things I tagged.

But my creative work is not content itself.

Content is marketable, easy access, blurb-y stuff. Content is something you absorb within one minute flat. Content is the highlight reel. It’s what fills a page, something you’ll scroll past in a heartbeat, something that barely stands out in a long long long list of stuff. Content is what you consume on a lazy Sunday afternoon without ever being forced to read lengthy pieces, take in the details of what you see, pause mid-scroll to ponder the meaning of life, whatever else have you. Create content and you create a flash in the pan, a quick laugh maybe, before it fizzles back out again. Create content and it’s here today and gone tomorrow without anyone mourning its absence for too long.

Art should last longer than that, don’t you think? 😉

So when I see people put a fic request in an askbox and it’s phrased like “Speirs x spy!reader fluff” and that very same request makes its way into about ten more askboxes before the fandom starts comparing asks? I might be inclined to classify us all as slot machines. Put an ask in and out rolls a fic. Who cares which slot machine it came from? As long as you’ve got your painstakingly crafted fics that you consume the same way you do actual content, right? We, its writers, are just lucky if we get a pat of acknowledgement on our little slot machine head for our troubles, aren’t we?

When I see an overly detailed summary of what sounds like a full-fledged fic in an askbox and the demand is “write this for me”, I recoil from the screen and go “child, who the hell birthed you, were you raised in a barn?” out loud. If you can tell a story in the space of an askbox, consider asking for help to let that story – a story you own, a story that is more yours that it could ever be mine – grow into what it has the potential to be.

When I see fics and gifsets and other creations get likes but not reblogs, I mutter something about the state of fandom economy these days. We exist in a little fandom bubble. Our bubble can’t expand or blow from place to place without a little help from our friends. And you’re my friends, right? I know the follow-button says follow, guys, believe me, I’m not that far gone, but for me ‘follow’ means ‘friend’. 💚 You’re my buddy now. Suck it up. We’ll share a can of peaches. 🍑

When I see fics and other creations get reblogged without tags or comments attached, I die a little on the inside. I feel like a little Victorian orphan child going “please, reblogger, a little penny of thought for its creator, if it pleases?”. I feel like commentless and/or tagless reblogging is giving me nothing, nothing at all, about who you are.

And I want to get to know you! I want to know who’s in my notes. I want to know who’s scrambling through my MotA gifsets like a fat little raccoon inhaling its third helping of a box of jelly-filled donuts. I want to know who is adopting which character and why. I want to know that it’s your birthday, or that you had a bad day and needed a pick-me-up, or that you are locked in an Ikea at three in the morning reading my blog by the bright lights of countless Solhetta bulbs. I want to know that you love my OC Darlene but that you ain’t sure what the hell my OC Lottie’s got to do with anything. I want to know what tickles you – a turn of phrase I used, a color in a gifset, a little detail I captured that made me go !!!!!! on the inside while I was creating too – and I want to know what moves you.

What reaches into the soil of your being and nourishes you enough to blossom into whichever lovely self you can grow to be? What is precious to you? What comforts you in the dark nights of your soul, when all light feels like it’s faded out? What do you love, truly love? What feeling and thought and idea and love love LOVE do you consume – truly consume, head to tail, no takebacks – and what are you consumed by in turn?

Let me connect with you. Let me know the little internet scraps of you that tell me you’re a DeMarco girlie, or that you’re here for Hoosier only, or that you’re as feral and batty about Speirs as I am, or that you actually really can’t stand the one dude everyone else raves about. Let me know that you like angsty quotes on gifsets – feel free to yell at me for making you schedule an impromptu therapy session – or let me know you saw what I did in my fic there and you’ll be demanding compensation from me while you lie down and wail about it. Let me know you’re very into those lovely blues on a gifset (I know, SO good, right??) or that you are side-eyeing me because that close-up of your fave turned you into a little puddle.

Let me know what moves you, because I created these things with love. I created them because they moved me, too. I created them because I have a story to tell, somehow. I created them because the whole world is a string of stories and I want to pass the heart of them on to you. I created them not because I want to jump on a hypetrain that races past all the episodes and all the alternate universes and all the stories without stopping, but because I want to soak up the sun and point at something and tell you “look, isn’t this beautiful?”. I created them not because I am looking for a quick fix or a distraction or an escape, but because I want to give you something that nourishes you as it has nourished me.

That’s so much more than that quick flash in the pan, yeah? That’s so much more than what content could ever hope to be. That’s something that lasts beyond the clicks and gives you an ever-expanding horizon that leaves you wondering just what in the world is next.

Let me repeat point five: if all a fandom puts out is classified as content, that fandom is going to die. Because content doesn’t sustain you. Connection does. And connection? That happens with meaningful interaction. That happens when you stop getting followers and start getting friends. That happens when you treat all forms of art as something unique that can be precious to someone, rather than something to like today and forget about tomorrow.

Can I do a lil mic drop? Yeah. I think I’m gonna. Just this once. 🎤

[thequeensjester]

The opening credits are so dynamic and summarizes the season.

I briefly wrote speculation on this new title card before but didn't really have a fleshed out idea. Now I have more concrete thoughts and so much of it has to do with the opening credits.

But first! Please see and support these two gifsets as their work helped it all click for me:

Opening Credits by fukutomichi & Red Costuming by leotanaka

So, this green title card so far only appears in ep1. Now in s1 ep1, the title card is covered in frost because that's where the present day story begins and iirc, the title card is gold for rest of the series.

Here, I think this green title card is foreshadowing. It's rust, specifically verdigris because we see traces of red alloy, which I think is copper. Verdigris is rust derived from copper and it's toxic.

That seems strange that veridigris is used here (and I'm definitely inspired by Elden Ring lore) because in ROP, that emerald green is linked with the Elves. I believe it's a flip on that and instead, it's showing Sauron infiltrating and poisoning different factions of Middle Earth. This is backed by costuming and cinematography.

The show isn't always trying to be subtle with its foreshadowing and that's okay. It should and needs to pay off. In ROP, Sauron is coded with red; we see that in his prologue look. Red can also double for bloodshed or danger like we see here in the S1 ep1 prologue and the Celebrimbor premonition.

So with all that said, let's break down the updated title sequence!

(caps are slightly adjusted for contrast and visibility. Apparently, the show is too dark on some screens?

I think this is obvious; starting with Sauron at his lowest. Then, the red grain worms its way into the gold patterns. In fact, it sort of resembles:

In the prologue, we see veins erupt on Sauron's face for a brief moment during his tantrum. I *think* we see something similar when Sauron gets rejected by Galadriel.

(Thanks Charlie Vickers and Jack Lowden for all the face! Love when actors aren't afraid to just go for it.)

With the Dwarves, it's fascinating because both father and son are already wearing red before meeting Annatar.

Danger comes to the Dwarves as a result of Mt. Doom erupting so this is something Annatar exploits. Durin IV was right to be suspicious and called Annatar's lies but the fear of doom and trying to be proactive to stop it is much louder. Reconciliation with his dad goes hand-in-hand with giving up their stubbornness to try and work together for their people.

However, this is exactly what makes the Dwarves vulnerable to Sauron. A tragedy.

I see a lot talk about the writers going in circles with Sauron leaving Eregion but only to come back. I think he fled because he's not sure how the elves will react when they find Galadriel in the pond so better leave for self-preservation. He goes to Mordor to scope out the place and manages to plant further doubt.

He asked Adar in s1 if he remembers him and Adar asked him who is he? Sauron already sank his claws in Adar long ago with red wine and his presence here triggers an old memory. Now he's nudging Adar to pursue his doubts and hoping Adar will make that mistake.

Celebrimbor's forge is already tainted by Sauron. His new forge (right) burns redder than the previous one. He may not have been involved in making the three rings for the Elves but his effect on Celebrimbor is there.

Aside from Celebrimbor reciting "not power of the flesh but over flesh," he's wearing red in that exact scene. I looked and tried to find if he's worn red at any other time in s1 but I think this is the only instance. He's usually dressed in blue and green. Celebrimbor's costume change is so subtle because together with the other elves, they are dressed in harmony: gold, blue, and green.

Even when he forged the Elven rings, he wore blue but when he made rings for the Dwarves, well... what a difference. He's also too happy to lie to Gil-Galad.

Red costuming goes into full force in Numenor.

I originally thought this orb was an eye and it still could be. Then thanks to leotanaka's gifset, I realize it could be the icon on Pharazon's chest and foreshadowing the Great Wave.

Galadriel's presence shook up Numenor. Sauron didn't need to do too much because Galadriel's relentless pursuit did the work for him. He saw the Numenoreans' disdain for elves and just needed to gently steer her in the right direction.

I definitely think Sauron takes a lot gambles but actually learned to read the room to NOT get crowned again. He can't know how Numenor will react to their losses in the Southlands. Instead, he just scams them by talking with enough ambiguity for people to fill in the blanks for him. This gives him enough resources to work with.

Now with the elves, here is where things diverge. So Sauron hasn't physically touched the rings but he did affect Celebrimbor and Galadriel, who were both directly involved in making the rings. The golden tree we see in the title sequences is still gold but it's hue is different, slightly warmer as an indirect result of Sauron.

Compare these two titles:

S1 (left) title card uses a bright, radiant yellow gold. S2 (right) uses a burnt gold. I do think current one refers to fire and a forge at work but it's also implying a decline due to Sauron's influence.

I'm curious if the title sequence will continue to evolve throughout the season but if not, I look forward to what the s3 title sequence transforms into.

[soobberries]

Bf!Jake // ᡕᠵ᠊ᡃ່࡚ࠢ࠘⸝່ࠡࠣ᠊߯᠆ࠣ࠘ᡁࠣ࠘᠊᠊ࠢ࠘𐡏 * .♡ *:･ﾟ✧

Some random headcanons I wrote in one sitting after seeing a cute Jake gifset and getting in my minor feels. He's not even my bias help me-

Nothing explicit, just some suggestive things here and there but it's like barely there so it's a pretty safe read!

Let me know if I should make a full blown Jake fic or just a full blown headcanon 🥺 ‎♡

Boyfriend Jake who you have giggle fits after just glancing at each other from across the room due to the same braincell activating, or giggle fits at 3am and both of you trying to shush the other saying you're too loud and proceeding to laugh harder.

Boyfriend Jake that bites his lip as he looks you up and down before going out to an event, absolute stars in his eyes. Stumbling as he utters out how amazing you look, his eyes showing how they're both wholesome and very much not wholesome thoughts going through his head right now, but instead of trying to speak he just picks your hand and maybe kisses it before intertwining your fingers, with a wide grin on his face knowing your his.

Boyfriend Jake that will go out of his way to bug you or mess with you because he thinks it's cute when you whine at him or get upset. Only if you seem like your on the edge will he chuckle and kiss your cheek saying woops, or otherwise hugging you tightly with a 'I'm sorry baby~^^'. He has a shit eating grin when he's messing with you too. And he will happily say 'alright I'll stop [blank] if you kiss me?'

Boyfriend Jake that sees you shaking your leg, biting at your nails or lip, picking skin, or literally any nervous type of tic you may have, and he gently places his hand wherever he sees fit (on your leg or in your hand or on your cheek) either leaving it at that to calm you down or he asks you if you're okay, or need anything.

Boyfriend Jake laughing when you don't know something but patiently going through the topic so you understand it and is so attentive to your questions and won't stop till you're certain you got it or are comfortable.

Boyfriend Jake who sets up the most Netflix romcoms esc dates. Having a date in the back of a truck or in the boot of the car where he hung up fairy lights and messily threw some blankets, saying he ordered some food but for now he brought snacks (chocolate strawberries or smth). Candle lit dinners or baths. Dancing in the living room after watching a silly movie. A beach date where he definitely accidently got sand in a sandwich. (no pun intended).

Boyfriend Jake who's laugh is so boyish it transports you back to the free feeling of being a kid and brings you the most bursting joy in your chest. Bring out the child in you because you're able to feel so safe around him.

Boyfriend Jake accidently forgetting an important date but has the most heartfelt ways of apologising or making up for it, not stopping until you're alright again. Proceeds to label ever date for the foreseeable future afterwards too.

Boyfriend Jake who stares at you intently at events or parties, blatantly undressing you and losing interest in the conversation he's currently in. Not bothering to excuse himself from the conversation with a friend (probably receiving an eye roll from the other person) only going straight to you and wrapping his arm around your waist and even in front of people would with no shame be 'hi (any pet name he feels like or nickname), did you know you look dazzling tonight?' or something cheesy like that and even if you're in a convo he either asks to steal you away or if you're very occupied he'll lean his head down into you while he waits, or he'll back hug you, nuzzling his head in your neck, sometimes discreetly placing kisses on skin he has access to, maybe even a bite if he wants.

Boyfriend Jake who always tries his best to accommodate your friends and give off a good impression to anyone you trust to introduce him to. He will be doing his absolute most to show how well he's taking care of you and how you're in capable safe hands and he'd also show how he mutually leans on you.

Boyfriend Jake that would try and get to you as soon as he can if you call him after a nightmare or during a breakdown, fighting for his damn life to see you and be there for you. Will lose sleep if necessary.

Boyfriend Jake who remembers you saying you like a certain snack and buying it for when he next sees you if he can.

Boyfriend Jake who sometimes writes things down about you so he never forgets.

Boyfriend Jake who gets you matching charms or bracelets or rings... Literally anything.

Boyfriend Jake who if he has a lot of free time with you, will spend his time hugging and cuddling with you from behind regardless of what you're doing. If you're playing games, studying, working, cooking, literally anything. He's being a koala bear and just shoving his face in your neck, maybe even falls asleep but is just happy to hold you.

Boyfriend Jake who has you laying on his lap, and when you smile up at him, arrows hit his heart and he has a grin that hurts his cheeks just at the sight of you.

He's such a hopeless romantic bye.

He is the second lead in dramas and movies and you always root for them or somehow wish they were endgame. HE'S THAT GUY. he's always second place but takes place in everyone else's hearts as first. He is textbook boy next door in the best way and he's just... Idk he's so lovely bye.

[crumb]

re this post

I would love to see a compilation of your "reject" gifs that don't make it into the set and then don't get posted ever. is it because they don't fit the theme or you have too many for the set?? how do you choose which ones make the cut?

It all really depends! Sometimes I'm just throwing together my favorite parts of a film/show or the most interesting visuals, which can make the process a bit more straightforward—but sometimes I have like a very specific narrative I want the gifset to portray. Like my last Passenger gifset, I was going for another parallel action kind of thing like I did with the one before that. But since there was dialogue involved with this one and 'beats' I wanted the gifs to hit, I ended up adding, replacing, removing, etc a handful of gifs in that set... many times... like it felt stupid after a while lol. Originally that gifset was going to be 9 gifs, then that expanded to 11, then that expanded to 16, and then i cut it back down to 11. I really try to not go over 10 gifs in a set because... idk it just seems like too much after that point lol. I say that but at the same time I don't notice it on other people's gifsets, I'm not counting how many gifs they use, I'm just enjoying their work! But when I'm making my own gifs I'm very self conscious of how many I'm putting in my set for some reason. I don't know why 😭 I know it's dumb So here are the 5 unused gifs from that set:

I ended up adding some of the removed dialogue as text under the gifset to flesh it out a bit for people who haven't seen the film and kept the gifs that retained the narrative/context enough on their own.

And an example of how sometimes I'll make several versions of a gif, here's what one of my gifset folders looks like 🫣:

You can see in this one I made at least 7 versions of a gif I ended up not even using in that set because I just wasn't able to get it how I liked while staying under the 10MB filesize limit. I'll probably end up revisiting that shot in another gifset in the future but yeah I just got so fed up I replaced it with a different shot lol. And that's not even the most versions I've done of a gif. there have been times (dark times) when I've done like 15+ versions of a single gif to test out coloring, sharpness, framerate, etc. It's all a ridiculous work in progress and a process of trial and error. And other times I'll get the gifs all uploaded in a draft and they all look great but I'll look it over and end up removing a gif or two simply because it doesn't flow with the others or it's not as visually strong so it feels out of place. Sometimes cutting the fat is simply motivated by vibes lmaooo.

To anyone who ended up reading all this: what do you think about gifsets that are long? would you have preferred it if I kept the 5 gifs in the original set and uploaded all 16 together? Do you prefer shorter gifsets? Like, obviously the main motivation is and should be what do I like but I also enjoy making these to share with others so getting other people's feedback is also something I care about.

[golden28s]

Totally optional, fun Gallavich questions ☀️🌙

thanks for tagging me to the coolest person @callivich 💖

What’s a fic you’ve read more than once? i havent read that many gallavich fanfics since i watched the show in like april BUT im loving Africa and ill probably read it once it's finished

What’s a gifset you always have to reblog? s7 gifsets are really person to me but also maybe s10 and s11 because they reached the peak of softness

What’s a headcanon you can’t stop thinking about? maybe that ian would tell mickey "i told you so" when they become parents and mickey turns out to be an absolute incredible dad that will play, sing, dance anything with his children.

What’s a fanart you love looking at? maybe @gallavichonly @heymrspatel and i accept recommendations btw id love to see more fanart

What’s an idea you’d love to create if you had the time/inspiration? id probably write like a series of one shots based on taylor swift songs

What’s something you’ve discovered since entering this fandom? A new trope you love? A different analysis of the show? Something else? i think that not judging characters, like always be aware of their circumstances and what made them do or say that and that might not justify them but it explains their thought process, it explains why and gives them some sort of humanity to their mistakes idk if this makes sense but yeah that, don't judge a character too soon, try to understand them.

What’s an underrated trope or concept you’d like to see more of? the secret dating, we know they secretly dated and stuff but i feel like it's actually a really fun concept to play with despite their circumstances in the show, it gives you so many possibilities.

What’s your favourite season? And has this changed after multiple rewatches of the show? the early seasons have special place in my heart, so s4-5 and i think gallavich totally saved s7, i love that part of the season

What’s a plot hole you wish had been answered or resolved? i would've loved to see ian healing from the grooming and realizing it was grooming, it would've been nice for the character to heal old wounds and start fresh a new life with mickey in a new neighborhood ready to create new memories

What scene or moment do you feel isn’t discussed enough? the just wondering if we're a couple or not scene, we definitely should discuss more the fact that mickey answered too quickly, he absolutely had been calling ian boyfriend in his head

What line/dialogue/description from something else (a poem, a book, a tv show, a movie, or something else) do you feel describes Ian and Mickey’s relationship? im gonna quote noel fisher and as he said: "Ian's been that kind of guiding angel for Mickey so he's going to have to turn into a pretty much kind of a protective angel for Ian"

What do you think is next for Ian and Mickey post-finale? i think they're gonna learn to communicate even more, they were in really good path already. i think the writers didn't have much faith in them in that aspect but the conversation they have in s11 about going back or not to the new neighborhood made evident that they can communicate, they listen to each other and understand the reasons, each other's feelings. so yeah, i think they're gonna get even better at that and also they're not gonna wait that much to become parents. i think they eventually will find new jobs, ian will have his tomatoes and mickey will adore looking at him doing his thing every sunday morning. i really really think they finally found their peace, their home and are gonna be very very happy and disgustingly in love forever because they're also hopeless romantic and want that so bad.

im gonna tag a few people and as always feel free to do it or not <3 @lupeloto @mikhailoisbaby @mickeysgaymom @redwiccanrobin @lyricailove @energievie @depressedstressedlemonzest @juliakayyy

[knotwerk]

holy shit i fucking love editing. (remind me i said that in two weeks.) 

i’m working on the proper hydration series finale aka PH6. i finished writing the first draft on 4/6/24, clocking in at 85k words. and then i sat on it for a few days before rereading it, did an extremely cursory once-over edit, and sent it off to my first reader & og beta @demolitionwoman-blog (CHEERS!!!). she started working on the beta, and by the time she hit chapter 3, she made the observation that the next step in the editing process for this might not be a typical beta read, but a structure/development read, and maybe a reverse outline would be a good next step. 

and i was like, i have never heard of a reverse outline. like, i have never heard of most things, really; i just started writing fiction in fucking august 2022 and am having a FUCKING BALL learning by doing. so i googled reverse outline, read the top three hits lol, and was like OH FUCK YES. 

because i do not Outline-outline when i write. all respect to those who do!!!!!, but i just Can Not. i have tried, and i get both daunted and bored, and that combo is like fucking kryptonite to my brain. for a longer piece (or a piece that doesn’t just burst out of my fingertips in response to a gifset or bts drop or tweet or gc comment 😅), i do make a sort of vibes outline. like, i open a fresh doc and splort down all the themey ideas i’m able to put words to at that point, and i make notes on whatever beats have already formed in my head, but it’s loose and sketchy at best. and then i write and see what happens as the story unfolds, and i go back to that notes doc to sort of talk to myself about it, to update the vibe outline as i get further in my draft, etc. 

but PH6 is the longest & most complex thing i’ve written yet, so by the time i got to the end of the first draft—by the time i’d put the whole story into words—i was like, oh my god, what is this. like, has this done the thing i wanted to do, per my vibe outline, and also, what did it actually do, and is it legible (whatever that means; like far be it from me to tell the reader what they should get out of something, but, generally speaking, is it cohesive.). now that i have told the story, like… what the fuck is the story about please, and does it "work." 

so i “finished” my reverse outline yesterday and omfg it’s helping so much and it’s SO EXCITING!!!! LIKE, THIS IS HELPING ME WRAP MY MIND AROUND THE THING I DID, SO I AM BETTER ABLE TO SEE WHAT I AM TRYING TO DO!!!! AND I CAN WORK WITH THAT!!!!!

it’s like i had a bunch of kittens scrambling around in my brain and while i was writing i was like 'oh i love these kittens so much, and i really hope this story herds these kittens effectively so they slow down just enough that people can really see their cute little faces (including me, i am people)' and then i finished the first draft and was like 'ahhh did the story herd the kittens??? i can't tell, they're still moving too fast in my brain' and then the reverse outline showed up and was like I COME BEARING TUNA AND FIFTEEN CARDBOARD BOXES and now i can see the kittens better. 

and then! i slept on it last night, and this morning my brain was like, “oh, here, why don’t i just efficiently articulate the vibes and arrange them in a tidy visual diagram that reveals how they all flow through the story for you?” WHEE!!

and then i got so excited that i had to put it down and write all this instead of working on it further 

(this, which could probably use its own reverse outline lmao)

like, i’m reading Mary Ruefle’s Madness, Rack, and Honey, which is a book of collected lectures that i cannot stop screaming about and that slaps so hard i keep having to throw it across the room, and just the other day i read, in the chapter “On Secrets,” 

I used to think I wrote because there was something I wanted to say. Then I thought, “I will continue to write because I have not yet said what I wanted to say”; but I know now I continue to write because I have not yet heard what I have been listening to.

and i think the reverse outline is helping me hear it a little better, and that is fucking exciting.

[inventedfangirling]

bad buddy fandom getting-to-know-you meme!

ah finally after a gazillion years i've been able to get around to doing this after being tagged by the ever sweet @fiercynn , so lemme straightaway get down to it.

note: i consider "fanworks" to pretty much everything people create related to a fandom, including but not limited to meta/analysis/discussion, gifs, fanvids/edits/fancams, filk, fanart, fanfic, fan food, fan crafts, etc.

name and whatever you want to share about yourself

hello there, i'm a 24 year old gray-ace panromantic desi on the romance positive end of the arospec (im still undergoing the wonderful but also often difficult and long journey of discovering myself so this is subject to change :3), i prefer going by my username so i'm not sharing my name.

when did you watch bad buddy/join the fandom?

i watched bad buddy exactly 3 months ago on the 15th of May, 2023. i watched all the episodes all on the same day and i know the date because after finishing the show i sent a 7 minute long audio note gushing about the show to my best friend. i ADORED it that much. and that's where all of this started. i loved the show so much and the lack of people i knew irl who were interested meant i had to find other people in the fandom to freak out with. i kept posting one after another favourite bad buddy edit of mine on my twitter page, gushing about it, but i got barely any response and that's when i reminded myself that tumblr exists and i should get back on here. and that's how i made this account 2 weeks after i watched the show and voila here i am surrounded by people who are as crazy about the show as i am and i couldn't be more delighted about it :')

favorite ship(s)

patpran and inkpa ofc

favorite character(s)

i love pat with all my heart, the man he ends up becoming along the course of the show is one of my most favorite portrayals of any man ever BUT pran is my actual favorite, he is my baby, (somehow both) my elder and younger brother and my best friend and he has my whole heart. his love, his hesitance, his anxiety, his bravery, his dimples, his FOREHEAD, his striped shirts, his precious heart i would DIE for him no questions asked.

favorite episode(s)

episode 11. each segment had something for the heart, i adored every single second of it...the sheer volume of beaut quotes from this episode is mind blowing! ("being with you already feels like freedom", "i can be anywhere as long as i have you", "we have been happier a lot too", "thankyou for trying to make a silly guy like me happy..." "i wrote this song for him", "one man can't change the world, but this world can't change me too"), and the soft loving looks of adoration making me clutch my chest, but also there was the quintessential patpran banter and bad buddy humour and wisdom i LOVE this episode with all my heart.

episode 5 is perfection. it comes second for me, but that kiss will always be number 1 <3

favorite scene(s)

rooftop kiss, balcony phone call, episode 7 ending when pat comes to save the day and the play, episode 11 red shirts commitment expression scene, and the final credits and post credits scene

one thing you would change about the show if you could

i wished the gangs didnt bully eo or anybody else even in the beginning, i get it shows growth but still i wished that was shown differently. also i wish we got a conversation where they talk about the guitar. and while we're here i wish it was somehow longer, i could have watched ohmnanon be patpran for HOOOURS.

what are your some of your favorite fanworks made by other people?

traffic was slow for the crash years by @fiercynn aka the creator of this meme. i absolutely adored every single second of the fic. despite it giving me a WORLD of pain. all the pain made it more beautiful and everything was worth it in the end. like i said before you took a great thing and made it even better <3

every piece of art that @hereforlou comes up with. you are a GEM!

all of nanons gorgeous gifsets!!

same page video edit that even p'aof tweeted about. SO good.

enchanted (aka patpran's official song) and other patpran edits by this same SO very talented editor

mudhal nee mudivum nee - another beautiful edit but desi so its even better <3

this super clever edit of patpran to message in a bottle. it's an instant serotonin booster for me.

(if you create fanworks) what are your favorite fanworks that you’ve made?

you can hear it in the silence - bad buddy bet era fic (the only one i've written till now)

my bad buddy textposts collection

my pran and pat's growth posts

this post that took me 20 mins to write but is one of my fav things ive written about the show

my long treatise of bet era patpran that took me a week!

list of accounts (hopefully i haven't forgotten any) whose meta and analysis and brainrot i absolutely adore- @miscellar , @telomeke-bbs , @grapejuicegay , @aroceu, @dudeyuri, @dribs-and-drabbles, @dimplesandfierceeyes, @sharingfandoms, @waitmyturtles, @ranchthoughts, @lurkingteapot, @lurkingshan, @thegayneurodivergentagenda, @kenmakaashi, @absolutebl, @charthanry, @bengiyo, @mahuhumaling, @panickedbisexualwatchesbl, @jemmo, @patspran, @fiercynn, @midnightfreeway, @fierceeyesanddimples and a couple more im sure ive missed. it was {and continues to be} a pleasure reading their thoughts about the show (or any other show that we've mutually watched).

a song that makes you think of bbs (the ones in the show don’t count lol)

message in a bottle because of this edit

daylight cos of this edit

enchanted, because of the infinite edits we've got from it and if im not wrong pat ohm has acknowledged it too

and basically all other romantic songs in the history of romance i guess :3

alrighty then i think i'm done with this tag. this was a LOT of fun to compile <3

[suzy-queued]

New Year's Ask Game for Fic Writers

To close out 2023…

1) What fic did you have the most fun writing this year and why? Or, if you can’t decide, what was most fun about writing this year for you?

It was a lot of fun writing the Masquerade story, because there was a lot to consider. Should I use my own voice or try to mimic someone else's? Should I write a story that I normally wouldn't take a chance on? Game-ifying fic writing makes it really exciting. And now it's fun to guess on everyone else's stories!

2) What’s a scene/story that you finished and felt “wow, I really accomplished that, that actually went so well”?

Chapter 13 of Out of Nowhere. I knew from the beginning that I'd have to write that angsty sex scene, and I felt like I was training for a marathon leading up to it. It had to balance anger and love, had to involve force but not be rapey. There were so many complex and competing forces in the scene, and I wasn't sure I could pull it off.

3) What helped provide the most inspiration for stories, if anything? Was it poetry? A song on repeat? A gorgeous gifset? A walk outside? A book you read that made you want to change everything? Whatever it was! Tell all.

Songs! Always songs. Murder ballads. Heavy metal opuses. Raw 2000s emo. Give me all of it.

4) What is something you want to share about what you’ve written this year? A particular line, a comment that made you feel really good, a scene that was difficult to write — you get to choose! What do you wish someone would ask you about when it comes to what you’ve written?

I tried to write novels back between 2012-2018. I wrote 2 YA fantasy novels and pieces of four others. But none of them ever felt complete. None of them gelled in my mind. I don't know why. I shelved them all. Then, I discovered the Gallavich fandom. I read the fics and a fire got lit inside me. And now I've written five novel-length stories. FIVE. And they all feel right! I can't thank this fandom enough for being supportive, inspiring, and transformative. I may not have a ton of fics, but completing a fifth multi-chap makes me feel like a superhero.

And to start off 2024…

1) Do you have any writing/creation goals for the year? What are they?

Finish Out of Nowhere, which will happen ... any day now!

2) Is there a fic or idea that you’re really excited to be able to continue to work on in the new year (shout out to my fellow fic writing folks who take forever to finish wips, sometimes it’s nice to be able to continue working on something even if you wish you’d gotten it done! Now you get even MORE time with it!)

I am exited to continue the @galladrabbles series No Sleep 'Til Nashville. It makes me giggle to put all the fandom tropes in there. It might go on for the entire year, who knows? There's a lot of story left to tell, and I have a lot of shenanigans planned.

3) What’s something new in your writing you want to try/are going to try? A different writing style? Different fandom? Darker works? Fluffier? Longer or shorter?

I might write more short stories this year. I might write a non-Gallavich original novel (if the idea strikes). All I know is that I'll always be writing something.

4) What’s something you love about your own writing that you will continue to appreciate in the new year?

I love creating suspense — in a scene, in a chapter, in an entire fic. I enjoy the challenge of making every scene sing, or at least having narrative tension. I don't see that going away. Here's hoping I can succeed!

Tagging, if you'd like to participate: @sweetperversiongirl @sweetbee78 @depressedstressedlemonzest @juliakayyy @notherenewjersey @metalheadmickey @creepkinginc @whatthebodygraspsnot @arrowflier @crossmydna

[emilykaldwen]

I'm not sad, I just feel empty. I have moments of the excitement that just fizzle away after 10 minutes when I've moved onto focus other things. I can be excited for other people's things, I think because it's easier to rally the enthusiasm and maintain it for that, but the inner enthusiasm is something I can't hold onto rn cause you know, depression.

So I hyperfocus on you know *holds up babies* because that's a solid dopamine hit (and also I'm just getting to the meat and excitement of the story things are moving and happening, etc). Which makes sense!

So the photographer and my realtor are at the condo today and the listing should go up today or tomorrow. My period is almost done so I can go ahead and sign up for planet fitness. I need to fix my masterclass login (I didn't mean to use google to sign in). I need to, you know, leave my house. I think being sick isn't helping and I just hit the burn out exhaustion phase at the end of december like a lot of us did. Not burn out from writing, but just from everything else. Like the last two weeks of december were exhausting and then I got sick and so of course I feel bad and icky and all that stuff.

It's weird to think that this is how I spent the majority of my life constantly feeling, which I suppose is how this largely snuck up on me in a way I didn't quite realize. Which says a lot for how far I've come and how well I've done, but also just... managing. And therefore underscoring that it was a good idea to move back in with my parents so I'm not alone in the house with my pets and no human interaction.

Good news is joey and I figured out the screencapping issue yesterday so now I just need to muster the motivation to work on that lil gifset I wanted to do. But they both have so little footage so I have to figure out what I'm trying to do.