#wow this post was getting LAGGY!!!!!

[br1ghtestlight]

OKAY airy is a character who is interpreted depending on the bias someone already has abt the character based on their own personal experiences etc like this is true for every fictional character but its just the only way to view airy tbh like thats just him. airy is either a misunderstood person who died young and has no idea the damage he has caused bcuz of mental illness from decades of isolation and the trauma of dying or he is a sociopathic monster who is masterminding the entire thing and knows how horrible and evil he is. both narratives are valid although i would argue he canonically leans closer to the first interpretation due to his protrayal in episode 17 and 18 but whatever. like ppl do unironically think that airy is this supervillian and his whole weird autistic freak (affectionate) thing or whatever he has going on is just an act, partly due to their own experiences with people and other fictional characters. in my opinion airy is just someone who was a random guy and he found himself in a situation where he could become god and he did, and he uhh he is obviously not okay and he does not seem to understand morality or the harm he is causing other people AT ALL that doesnt make his actions okay but he might just actually be that stupid. like he does not seem to get it and he almost acts like that to a point where u have to wonder if thats on purpose?? if he's acting like this bcuz he doesnt want to face the consequences of his actions, which i would argue is also true. he is shown feeling guilt when talking abt the season one contestants he killed but outside of that he does not seem to care about any harm or destruction he's caused to these peoples lives, i would argue bcuz he is so disconnected that he physically can not empathize with them or understand what they are experiencing. he is for the most part only concerned with his own desires and wants, he wants to make his gameshow and that is what he's going to do regardless of who he hurts (aka literally everyone) he is disconnected from reality but he also obviously cares, he is not a violent person although he is strong and able to defend himself. he actually HATES hurting people and feels a lot of guilt relating to that and cares so much abt liam he wants him to be happy and feel better. but primarly he focuses on himslf bcuz he has to, he has been isolated for DECADES with his cassette player as his only compainionship and he puts that and his gameshow above everything else. he can obviously lie to get what he wants as shown in episode 17 (although not very well) anyway i would say that he knows he is hurting people and destroying lives deep down inside himself but he has to ignore that for his own sanity and the guilt is too much to bare. its also true that if these are all real actual people then that means that he did actually kidnap all the original contestants and then commit mass murder and they all had lives and families of their own, and that is literally not something he can cope with as seen in episode 17 in this way he almost parellels charlotte who also pushes her guilt deep down inside in order to get what she wants

[dravidious]

You're awesome

I'm getting back into Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate and I made an armor set using Gore Magala armor with the Zinogre helm and gloves. It gives me extra evasion and boosts my stats. I call it the Dark Lightning Armor

[faejilly]

@here-there-were-dragons replied to your post “so i stopped playing the dragon game a few years...”:

the achievement tokens are used to buy items (genes, apparel, familiar, vistas, scenes atm) in the acclaimed achievements association at the grand exchange, my advice is just hang on to them until you see something there you like since neither the tokens nor offerings at the shop are currently going anywhere. personally, i bought one copy of every vista and scene they sell and i'm holding on to the rest of my tokens for if i need anything specific from there.

​oh, yeah, I got that, I just. Have no idea what if anything I might end up wanting? I sort of had a theme going several years ago, but I'll probably change it if I stick around this time, so now idk

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@servantofclio replied to your post “so i stopped playing the dragon game a few years...”:

oh gosh, I'd kind of forgotten about Flight Rising!

​SAME (if you've been gone awhile, they do at least pop your dragons all up to full health when you get back, otherwise I'm sure I wouldn't bother, I'd run out of food before I could figure out how to do anything again)

But Dragons?

@fourthage replied to your post “so i stopped playing the dragon game a few years...”:

I popped up in a few months ago and wow, was it laggy.

​ugh. mine's working just fine on the computer, but I have to admit I would probably be more consistent about it if it worked on my phone so I could take, yk, five minutes here and there while waiting for stuff to feed or gather or whatever

@syzara replied to your post “so i stopped playing the dragon game a few years...”:

"The brew you recently concocted is now ready!" and that was 4 years ago...

​I think mine was three years old? 😅😅😅

@syzara replied to your post “so i stopped playing the dragon game a few years...”:

also the account is over 10 years old. ! !!!!

​SAME! WTF! Time is a lie, and always has been

or something

[atmymercy]

Hi Hi again, I'm so excited to be here, may I ask What love language does my future spouse want get from me? Thank you, hope I got there in time. I was click ask box and accidentally pressing your follow button made me unfollow, My phone is laggy, omg and i had to hit it again sorry it was my fault. 🥲

hello juwaegi! i'm so excited you're here too! i'll admit i was a little hurt when i thought you had unfollowed but i'm glad to hear that that's not the case! yay! funny how we both went through a little moment! lol we are vibing! lol

for you, i got the 6 of swords, knight of cups & queen of swords.

so your future spouse's main love language is going to be words of affirmation. they want to hear you say all those lovely and brilliant things that you think about when you think of them. your words literally have the ability to help break free them from their mental prison they can sometimes get stuck in. you know the one! the one we all can't sometimes get booby-trapped into! ps, they want to add now that you have a nice chest... and that's as far as what i'm going to repeat because we keep it clean, yall! lolol anyways, because they also think of you as this amazing queen with a strong mind so what you say to them matters! you need to remember this as well when you are fighting. you can't always take back certain words that are said so watch out the lash of your tongue with your spouse because it could really break them down since it is also their main love language. wow! your spirit guides are so wise. i see where you get your brilliant mind from, honey!

hope you enjoyed it! please give feedback or buy me a coffee when you can! if you want to explore this further, please consider a private read as well. also thank you for sharing with me!♡

love & light!

-tea

as always, my rules & info are in my pinned post if you're interested in a reading of your own!

[leatherbookmark]

i haven't seen the little "you made a post! wow!" pop-up in a while, and now i'm seeing it again, idk if it's something about the unfucker (i updated it only recently orz;;) or tumblr itself, but what's irritating me is that the rainbow bar that got smaller and smaller until the pop-up vanished used to get smaller smoothly, and now it's all choppy. i thought it's my computer being laggy, but no. :/

[tinasleep]

wow ok this blew up. thanks????

i think now is a better time than any to post the link for the pdf, in case anybody wants to craft this box themselves: https://files.catbox.moe/m9gc9m.pdf (please dont attempt to sell these boxes or i will legiterally kill you)

the entire box's design (most importantly the logo + screenshots on the back) is based on "yume nikki gb" by laggy on itch.io which IS an actual gameboy color demake of yume nikki. please support this developer, even if this is their only published game (maybe thatll push him to make more, who knows)

since the game was made on gb studio, it should run well on real hardware, so you could insert it into a flashcart or even flash it into a dedicated cartridge (which is what im doing!), and if you do the latter then the custom box should come in handy if you wanna be able to put it on your shelf alongside your other games!

i wont tell you to stay tuned for more, because i never actually do these unless i really really wanna make a box for a custom cart i bought, which is also a rare occurrence. if it happens ill post it but nonetheless please lower your expectatives. i mostly reblog art of crona from soul eater being gay as shit

just one more thing tho: heres the label im using for the cartidge once i actually get around doing it. the art and logo were also made by laggy, so please DOUBLE check their work because it honestly slaps

yummy nickel for da jameboy,,,,,,

[hotdadlicense]

Gif asks 💜 2,4, 5, 9, 16, 27, 32, 34, 41, 47, 49 (i, too, am nosey <3)

hello laura i Love you.

2. what is your least favourite set you’ve made?

well. there is various answers to this one. but overall it's pretty much just most of my early stuff like on my old @ianchaloner blog becos i was a photoshop Baby that did NOT have a clue what they were doing. but like even some of my earlier billy sets and daryl sets are like...........girl that colourings Messy. this billy sets in my activity every now and again and every time i'm like. i need to fix you so bad.

4. a set that flopped but deserved better?

never really got why part 2 of this set got like 500notes but part 1 only got like 50notes?

5. what is your favourite movie/TV show to gif?

i rly liked giffing julie and the phantoms cos the lighting on that show was incredible so the colouring was like. i'm not gonna say easy but also it wasn't a constant battle to get rid of yellows or blues or greens y'know? like if i was writing a report card i'd be like. julie and the phantoms, you were a joy to colour in class <3. tragically netflix axed it after one season so guess i'm never getting that joy again.

9. what/who inspired you to start making gifs?

i don't think it was any one person, i think - like you - i was in a lesser known small fandom and there wasn't a heap of content so i was like. guess i'll try figure this shit out. thanku to all my nick friends for indulging me when my attempts weren't actually that good ily 🥺

16. how long have you been making gifs?

since 2012/2013 i think? wow 10+ years omg

27. have you ever made a set, decided you hated it and deleted it? what was it?

omg probably although i can't remember off the top of my head? i know i've posted a few only to spot the spelling mistake the second i've hit post and had to quickly delete and fix lmao

32. what is your favourite tool/adjustment layer in photoshop?

selective colour, my beloved. blacks and neutrals, my deeper beloved. also i love curves, she's my best friend.

34. a set that took you a long time/was really hard but you’re really proud of how it came out?

this lyric set was my first attempt at the glitch transition and it kicked my ass a bit but i do like how it turned out! also this set was my first attempt at getting the lines around the words(?) effect but the original tutorial i had up was like......not great. so it took hours of trying and retrying and it still wouldn't work so i eventually searched for a new tutorial after like hour 5 and it suddenly worked within line 20 minutes 🙃 ALSO this set from the walking dead took so much configuring to get all the scenes onto one set etc like every afternoon after work i'd get back into it trying to get it all in and i eventually got something that i was okay with posting? it was like the fourth attempt after scrapping the first three attempts and i think all up i made like over 60 gifs 🙃🙃🙃

41. what is your least favourite part about your gif making process?

before u came along and changed my life with avidemux, it was the way that every time i imported video frames to layers, there would ALWAYS be duplicates, so every time i had to go through every frame and layer manually and delete all the double ups, otherwise the gifs would be laggy. but then you DID introduce me to avidemux and now i don't have that problem. i owe u my life and my sanity. now i think the most annoying part is clipping up the parts for the gifs? like i have a billy set in mind for billy week but it requires multiple gifs, and i have started clipping up most scenes and saving them, but i've only really got season two, and the scenes i need are season three. and i'm definitely procrastinating by replying to this instead of doing that cos its like. i just hate clipping up vids and waiting for them to save.

47. any advice for novice gif makers/people who want to start making gifs?

literally just read and try various tutorials and see what feels best! my way of giffing is literally just a mix-matched version of like 10 different tutorials that i've read over the years and sometimes i'm like well obviously i'm doing this wrong since i don't do it the exact way This Tumblr User said to but every time i try and change it always looks worse? also it's not a job and the second it goes from being fun to feeling like a chore??? take a break!!!!!!! literally at the end of the day it's not that important!!! also make sure ur making it for urself and maybe a select few friends!!! cos tumblr interaction these days is very low so like, if ur not making it cos for yourself specifically? u will probably get really discouraged really quickly. literally every set i make these days is just so i can cry in the tags instead of crying in the tags of someone else's post dkljfak

49. how much would you say you’ve improved since you first started giffing?

feel like i've got a much better grasp on colouring also feeling slightly more confident with blending! not a pro by any means but i do put effort in!!!

[creationofacentury]

Tiny problem - P2

Summary: The hermits has an emergency meeting while Scar and Grian trying to calm the crying Scar-ling. (Wow would you look at that, it’s only p2 and we are having a filler chapter. Daily dose of mini hermits, Self-indulgent af, be careful.)

Relationship: Friendship! 

Character: BDoubleO100, Docm77, FalseSymmetry, GeminiTay, Grian, ImpulseSV, Keralis, MumboJumbo, PearlescentMoom, Renthedog, GoodTimeWithScar, Xisumavoid, Zedaph, ZomebieCleo

Notes: This is strictly about their MC personas, DO NOT take this seriously, DO NOT harass them with these works. Don’t re-post. (Reblog are welcome!)

P1 (Recommend reading part one first.)

-

“So what you are saying is that if we die, we have a child.” Doc says with one eyebrow raised, “How does that work? And why?”

“You skipped a lot of details, but yeah. Couldn’t sum it up better myself.” Xisuma tap on something in front of him and gestures the spawn area around them, “As you guys can see, the server is very laggy lately. I think the amount of information it processed broke something, but I can’t pinpoint what exactly went wrong.” Xisuma stops at that. Everyone is quietly waiting for him to go on, except for Mumbo, shuffling his feet on the ground and holding the egg like it’s a bomb. “I may need some time, so before I figure out what’s wrong, I need you guys to stay safe and don’t die.”

“Do we wrap Scar in bubble wraps?” Bdubs asks.

“But for how long? That’s a bit inhumane.” Ren says hesitantly.

“No, Ren,” False state, “I don’t think Bdubs actually meant it.”

“Ooo I mean it! With my whole heart!”

“Peeps, live as normal as possible is the goal, and wrapping Scar up isn’t really a realistic thing to do.” Xisuma reasons. He is still searching franticly in his communicator.

“I don’t understand, where does the child come from?”

“Zedaph, you see, when two people are in love-”

“NO REN, I swear to- you are doing this on purpose!” False yells.

Xisuma is very used to this, so he just continues: “When we die, normally there’s a head drop, right? But I...” Xisuma saw something in his communicator and frowns, “The egg Mumbo is holding right now was with his inventory drops when he went to get them. And the same thing happened to Scar, and that one has hatched already. Now you have one too, Zedaph.”

Zedaph observe the egg in his hands, “Instead of head drop, now we get eggs? And they hatch?” Xisuma nods. “Fascinating. So cool...”

“This the opposite of cool,” Cleo mumbles, “No one here knows a thing about taking care of a child, how is this cool? It’s a disaster, I tell you.”

A shriek comes out from Mumbo. Everyone turns to look at him. The egg in his hand glows so bright it’s hard to see what happens. A loud sound of something cracking-

“Oh my word.” Mumbo utters.

“Oh my word.” The little boy in Mumbo’s hand mimics, staring Mumbo with wide eyes. He’s in a suit (of course he is in a suit), and it looks ridiculous. 

“That’s so weird...” Keralis is in awe, walking towards Mumbo to get a good look.

“I think we should plan for a supporting system.” Gem suggest. “A nursery, maybe?”

“Yeah, even if we are careful, there will still be accidents. Prepare ahead is a good idea, I am on board!” Ren pipes up.

“Then we take turns talking care of the nursery?” Pearl asks.

“Yeah! That’s a good idea!” Gem bumps Pearls shoulder and turn towards Xisuma. “X, should we vote?”

And everyone agrees. Gem is the one responsible for the construction of the build, since this is her idea.

“Brilliant. I will try my best to fix it as quick as possible.” Xisuma close his communicator. “For now, please stay safe, guys.” And the meeting ends.

-

GoodTimeWithScar had never been this afraid in his life. Welp, he’s- nervous, probably, so it’s not afraid. But the bubbly feeling in his chest does feel like afraid to him. He need his baby Yoda, which- he left the baby Yoda at season 7. His Baby Yoda was so small and cute and such an adorable gremlin-

The little Scar-ling- that’s what Scar decide to call him- haven’t stop crying and whatever Scar does the tears just keeps rolling. Scar just realizes, maybe not- not baby Yoda, perhaps. Because baby Yoda is also a child. He really can’t deal with another child-egg-thing (that could actually hatch-) right now.

“Are you doing okay, Scar? X told me I should help you.” Grian walks though the door and greets Scar.

“Grian! Oh my gosh, yes, the kid haven't stop crying! What do I do?”

Grian looks like he doesn’t know, either. “I think you, er...” He reaches his hands out to adjust Scar’s posture. “Does this feel right? I think you were holding him wrong, you should make sure your one hand is under him-” The Scar-ling suddenly cries harder. Grian looks like he is totally freaking out now. “I- I don't know! Scar, what do we do?!”

“Uh, hush little baby, don’t-” Scar tries to sing a lullaby. Doesn’t work. The Scar-ling now looks like he’s hyperventilating. “Ahh!”  Scar panics and shoves the child into Grian’s arms.

“Scar! What-”

“He- I panicked!”

Grian gives him a frantic look, and start to rock the child, “Rain, rain, go away, come again another day,” Grian sings gently and let the Scar-ling’s head rest on his shoulder. “Little Jonny wants to play...” He pat the child’s back with carefulness, and keep singing in a silent voice. 

Scar is...strangely mesmerized, watching intently as the child gradually calms down, and he smiles. He tries to catch Grian’s eyes. Grian raise his gaze and gives Scar a questioning look, but his singing continues.

After a while, “Scar, is he asleep?”

Scar checks Scar-ling’s face. “Yeah.”

“Good, my arms are sore.” He passes back the child to Scar very carefully.

Xisuma peeks in, “Hi, Grian, Scar, the meeting’s over. Is everything alright? Sorry I had to exclude you guys, but I was worried little Scar would be overwhelmed by the people there. ”

“It’s fine. The little guy is asleep.” Grian straighten his back and massage his upper arm, “How did the meeting go?”

“We decided to build a nursery, Gem is in charge of it.”

“Oh, okay.”

“And Mumbo’s egg hatched, by the way.”

“It hatched?”

“Yeah, I think I am a father, now, Grian.” Mumbo walks in with the little Mumbo sitting on his shoulder. “This is so surreal. Ah- My hair!”

“Hey, how come your youngling are so quiet? Mine was crying the whole time until-”

“Scar, lower your voice, you are going to wake him up!”

“Well look at you two, fight like a married couple.” Mumbo quips. Grian is having none of it, “Mumbo Jumbo, you better watch out for your copper. Or the door of your vault, ‘cuz something will happen to them, I promise.” Mumbo looks alert, trying to come up with a response.

“I am really sorry, I will fix this as quick as possible.” Xisuma says dejectedly.

Scar was going to comfort Xisuma when the little Mumbo on Mumbo’s shoulder jump down onto Xisuma’s helmet, slides down and block Xisuma’s face. “Ah-!” Mumbo yelps, trying to grab the child. Xisuma gets very still.

“Don’t be sad.” It sounds small and high-pitched. The little Mumbo hugs Xisuma’s helmet.

“Aww, he is comforting you!” Scar melts.

“...Thank you, little one.” Xisuma gently grabs the child and put him on the ground. He gives the little Mumbo a pat on the head. “You guys take care okay? I should start fixing this right away, I will see you guys later.” Xisuma walks out of the door at that before Scar can say a word.

-

There’s a silence after Xisuma walks out. Then Scar remembers: “Wait- What? Mumbo, your youngling can talk?!”

“Youngling? Oh, um, yeah, yours can’t?”

The Scar-ling wakes up to the shouting. He look at Scar for one second and starts to cry, reaching for Grian.

“Scar! What did I tell you?!” Grian chastises Scar and takes the child with a almost practiced manner. rocking the child with quiet murmur. The Scarling’s cry turns into sniffling in mere seconds.

“How- Grian, how are you so good at this?! You have only hold him once!” 

“Shh, Scar, you are scaring him!” Mumbo whispers. Oh he is doing this to irritate him.

Scar thinks to himself, this is nonsense, I am so offended. But the smile still creep up on his face anyway.

-

Previous - P2 - Next

what is this 

While writing this, I did some research, and I got inspired so much by @theminecraftbee. Poor Jevin, I can’t help but laugh and feel bad for him at the same time. (Also if you see this, thank you so much! High chance that I saw Jevin’s egg disaster and got inspired and started the story without realizing it was you! Wait- is this allowed? Tell me if not!)

Anyway, I grind out part two! To be honest, not really satisfied with this, but I can’t think of anything better for this scene at the moment. I may revisit this and make some changes in the future, but for now, this works.

Did I mention that in the previous part, hermits couldn’t stop calling Scarling ‘it’? I personally find it very funny, because they are just so unfamiliar with children they call a child ‘it’ thought it’s weird since it was written by me who finds their own joke funny it’s cringe. I also hesitated over whether or not to post this for a while. Welp. Imma just roll with it like a irresponsible failure that I am and how is my note longer than my fic

But seriously, thank you guys so much for the likes and reblog! I read every tags and comments in the previous part, and I am overwhelmed with the responds it got. 200 notes! That’s so surreal to me. Thank you!!! Feel free to point out spelling mistakes and weird phrases and whatever, I really need it ;-;

(Also there are some people that mentioned Zedaph’s ‘too lat’, glad you guys like it!)

edit 5/18: omg how could I forget the bubble wrap idea came from @pixie-mage’s comment on the last part! Thank you sm my friend!!

[starlight-ascension]

My Friend Watches Suite: Part 3

this actually happened weeks ago but i keep forgetting i haven’t already posted these. will be somewhat half-assed since i scrolled for AGES to get the reactions and it’s rather laggy as a result. 

she keeps calling Bassdrum “Buttbeard”. Sounds like the world’s worst pirate. 

she sent XD emojis at the villains watching a recording of the girls’ henshin sequence and the reason i am bringing this up is that this is more evidence that anyone who thinks magical girl transformations are actually instantaneous is an idiot and i am putting this out there. 

“Okay, HECK YOU Buttbeard, you actually made me smile when you blew a bubble 'cause I love bubbles but then it had to be to trap Hummy, you used BUBBLES for evil, if anything's unforgiveable it's THAT >:-( >:-( >:-(” 

'You TRAP Hummy? You trap her body like the bug? Oh! Oh! Jail for Bassdrum! Jail for Bassdrum for One Thousand Years!'

She FREAKED OUT and capslocked when Siren disguised as Hummy, with things like “PLEASE RECOGNIZE THE SILVER CHARM AROUND HER NECK, I THINK HIBIKI CAUGHT ONTO THAT LAST TIME” and “THAT EXPRESSION DOES N O T LOOK RIGHT ON HUMMY'S FACE”

“Yo imagine if somecreature walked into the gym right now and saw these three Gandalfs with colored hair harmonizing and this weird skeleton-closet thing and this cat speaking and monologuing at another cat trapped in a floating bubble XD XD XD XD XD”

Every time Muse does the rainbow keyboard she keysmashes. I get it. 

"You're awesome, Mephisto!" “Greater lies have never been spoken.”

and i’ve got 66 unreads and no patience so i’m just going to skip to the episode with Beat’s first transformation and 

[initiate direct copy-paste]

And it looks like we're getting right to it, no replaying the final scenes from last episode or anything

So they're getting a stage ready for her instead of doing this right now. Cool. That buys some time for the good guys

HE CAN JUST?????? MAKE MINIONS????? FROM THE HAIRS OF HIS BEARD???????? KLFDHSGKJSHAGKJSHFGKJLFHLXDXDXDXDXDXD JKWEOSOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNGGGGG

GIANT DEMONIC MUSHROOMS

A) Yeah, the old dude I keep forgetting the name of is definitely from the world Hummy's from B) What the heck is Mephisto doing with his hand sjdglksfg

I'm skipping the intro.

"I believe in Siren, so everything will be fine!" ...Hummy, even I think that's going a bit too far

"I understand. Please tell Siren your feelings." ...wELP, okay then klsdjglkds

Do I see Hibiki and Kanade both blushing a little there? Oh yeah, these girls definitely gay kdlsjgslkg

"She did something that horrible, and yet we still must believe in her?" Yes.

"If one of you turn to evil, will you stop believing in each other?" *CLAPS*

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

"I wonder what Hummy's doing right now." Eating cupcakes and thinking of happy times with you to keep her hopes up?

"She's probably so depressed!" ......She's actually not.

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

"You actually love her, Siren!" "Nope. No use in trying to convince me. Sorry to disappoint all of you, but I hate Hummy. I don't have any feelings for her." *sings* Who'd you think you're kidding? She's the earth and heaven to ya! Try to keep it hidden - Hoooney we can see right through ya!

hmm. Buttbeard and Mephisto still up on some junk. Also, those hate-brainwashy things, I'm seeing some in Mephisto's ears too? djkfowmoh dang

The old dude just said "It's off" and had no other reaction to this??????HUMMY?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! D~= D~= D~= D~= D~= D~= D~=

JFDBNDFSLIGUNFGIUFASNGIULAFSNGLFASUILGBFUISLGABRLOGARINLGBSDGOISDABGLNGBAFILGNEAHTEA

FRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK

*sings, looking shell-shocked* dO-do-do-do-do... CommerciAL breAk...

*SCREAMS*

HERGJHSFGSFJDKL HUMMY WAS TOTALLY UNAFFECTED BY THOSE THINGS KLSDHFSDKLADKL?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FJSKGLSDHGIUASR XD XD XD XD XD I THOUGHT FOR A SECOND THAT SHE WAS JUST THAT STRONG BUT TURNS OUT SHE WAS JUST ASLEEP WHILE THE SOUND OF THOSE THINGS WAS PLAYING IN HER EARS XD XD XD XD XD

"I'm not stopping you." ?????

"I'm your friend, so I'm not going to get in your way." jfdiogjsfoiglJFKLOfjlksopqHSDJKGH????!!!!!! HUH?!?!?! WHAT WAS THAT--IS HUMMY BREAKING THROUGH TO HER??????

"I'm about to sing the Melody of Sorrow. The world will fall into sadness. Is that fine with you?" "Yes!" JKSDLKGJWljisow?????!!!!!!!!!!

"Even if this world falls into sadness, everything will be fine!"

JKFSGORSLHGUIOE ='~O ='~O ='~O ='~O ='~O ='~O !!!!!!!!!! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

"Because when that happens, you'll be crying with me."

JFIGHSFNLUGHSJGHSFLIGBFIGBSAUBIIHRAIUSHGDFSGBLIUSFAHGBIURSOTWYWONRIUBEFL

H-- HUMMY???

TOT TOT TOT TOT TOT <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HUMMY'S SINGING NOW OKAY FJKBNSFOR

(*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (TOT) (TOT) (TOT) (TOT)T (TOT) (TOT) <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3(TOT) (TOT) (TOT) (TOT) (TOT) (TOT) (TOT) (TOT) (TOT) (TOT) (TOT) (TOT) (TOT) (TOT) (TOT) (TOT) (TOT) (TOT) <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

IT WORKED IT WORKED I THINK IT WORKED KLSDJGKSDHGLJKSDHGIURWHGUILSBHO

"Believe in them. A miracle will definitely occur."  ldfjsighsauihuibsdufggbaiurshfuwi4agbJNKSDGNWIR

(;O;) (;O;) (;O;) (;O;) (;O;) (;O;) (;O;) (;O;) (;O;) (;O;) (;O;) (;O;) (;O;) (;O;) (;O;) (;O;) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (TOT) (TOT) (TOT) (TOT) (TOT) (TOT) (TOT) (TOT) <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh frick

OH FRICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DHSGJSDHBGLJKFSBNGLUSFHGLESIURGSFGHRSDIUHGESROIHGERHSFIOHGSFAPIGHARSIPGHSRDFJPISFHGSAFIPHASFIPGJSFAIGARHASFIGHSFAPIGJRSAGJDFIKGSAFOIGSAIGJSARIGJRAJSFIKGHSFPIGJARSGPIWRASJGSFAGHSAFOIGBRSAPUGWNRAGUWRAHGPIWRSHFPUSDANGPISAGRASHFIPSADHGSDPIAHGSADFWHASDIOGHBSADPIGFSHDANHPIGSDAHGWASDFHSDAIGHSDAPUGIDSHFSDAHGSDIGHSPDUIAFHNESAGRHSAIGPSDHAFPISAJGWAHGSIRAHWHJDSKFHADJKFGSDHKJFGDSBAJIFGBSDUILBUDBSH

OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD

KDSLJGODSHG OH GOOD THE THINGS CAME OUT OF HER EARS LKSHGLDSKGIR

HUMMY'S OKAY BUT ALSO FRICK FRICK FRICK FRICK GIANT MONSTER MADE OF ALL THE NOTES OH GOD

DJSLKGSADHGLJKSDAHG

TRANSFORMATION TIME!!!!!!!!!!

(*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*)

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH KICK THOSE ARROWS YEAH!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

FRICK

MUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH NO OH NO OH NO IH NO OH NO

SAVE HUMMY SIREN

FRICK FRICK FRICK FRICK

FRICK FRICK FRICK FRICK

"Stop it!!!!!!!! Stop making Hummy sad!!!!!!"  DFJGIULESRHBNHGLIUSDBGLJDSABGHGRISUAGJIOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GASP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =~O =~O =~O =~O =~O =~O =~O =~O =~O =~O =~O =~O =~O =~O =~O =~O =~O =~O !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HSDJKFGSDALKJFHSDAIUFADSBGIUFBSDAIUFABDSIGUAESBFULAEISBFWIUAESLHGAWLIUEGWDHIUSGLSHDAIULGSBDALIUFBSDAUVIGASBIUFSAHBHFLUIWDSAHGILUSDABGSDIUABSDAIUBSADIUGHSDNAIUFSDAHIGUASBGIUARSBIUSABWASIUGHASGRHGIAS

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE SIREN'S A NEW CURE SIREN'S A NEW CURE SIREN'S A NEW CURE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAJFDSOKGLSHDLJKGFSHGJKLSDHGLASBGSAGOARULBGRALIBGARSIHGNARSIULGJWARSG I KNEW THIS WAS GONNA HAPPEN IT SOME POINT BUT STILL AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASDFGHJKLQWERTYUIOPZXCVBNMEFVBSIUBGURBGSRAIULGBSRLIUGBSDIUGSHNRDKGUBSDREIF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NJXNVCPFFFT she dropped Hummy sdjhvsdlkjikeXD

jklJFLKDSOH! CURE MUSE GONNA CONVINCE HER TO STAY AND FIGHT???

DKJGLKFSJGHOISF

"I don't care what happens to Hummy..." Uhhh, literally everything that just happened says otherwise.

Muse speaks the truth

HECK YEAAAHHHH GO MELODY AND RHYTHM JKSDHGJKDSHGADU

"The Precure don't run from their feelings, no matter how hard it gets." YEAH. SLKDHJGLKSDGOFDHGFJDSFGRDFJTSGFDHHFDJ

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HECK YEAAAAAHHHH WE GOT ALLLLLLLLLL OF THOS ENOTES NOW WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Awwww, is Mephisto gonna throw a tantrum? >:-)

"But I have the legendary score right here!" Oh, they'll get that back sooner or later.

"I'll defeat you later and take back those notes!" HA! Just you TRY

Where you gonna go now Siren?

*dances in my seat to the end theme*

NEXT EPISODE

Ha. Alexa play 22 by Taylor Swift. klsfjlgkfs

Okay, Hibiki's probably right in saying it won't be that easy, Siren still needs a bit of time to come to terms with this and all before she fully becomes their ally, but as to Kanade's "This may all be part of her plans again"....excuse me, I HIGHLY doubt turning into Precure is something that can be faked. Like, at all, remotely, EVER. And as good of an actress as Siren is, I don't think she could've faked that breakdown she had right before it either.

Wow, even Aphrodite doesn't know how that happened...

*doesn't skip the opening theme, but doesn't jump up and dance either*

*does tap my foot and hand though*

Oh hey, the kids found her

Oh dang, it's like Setsuna in that one episode, with that kid whose dog she turned into a monster I think--Oh friiiiiiiiiiiick

Wait, she's not an animagus anymore? =~O

And she can't shapeshift into other people anymore either klsdjglksdhgsljdghjriso =~O

Ohhhh is that necklace what let her do that????

Holy FRICK

I don't know what that title was, but I'm gonna call it Siren's Big Identity Crisis

"Appear before me, Siren!" Ha. You can't control her anymore, turdface.

I'm seeing those things in Mephisto's ears again... klsdhglksdg

Bassdrum: "We're letting Siren go, right?" Mephisto: "No! She's the only one who can sing the Melody of Sorrow!" Ohhhhhhh :-o :-o :-o :-o

"I have a good plan." I doubt it.

"My head doesn't hurt anymore..." hfisugfsdyygbafsyludhbaufukshdahnuisdhgai

;o;;o;;o;;o;;o;

"What a pretty sound. I thought I hated it, but why?" She was brainwashed into villainy from the start, wasn't she? And this was part of it...

"You don't need to have rights to enjoy music." Yeah! :-) :-) :-)

"No, I used music to do bad things!" ...And you feel bad about that now and aren't going to do it again, right? So it's fine.

;o; ;o; ;o; ;o; ToT ToT ToT ToT <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

....Cure name foreshadowing?

XD XD XD XD FACE TACKLE<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

ToT ToT ToT ToT ToT <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

TOT TOT TOT TOT <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

*sings like Gumball and Darwin through my tears* Do do do do do...! Commercial break...! *grabs a tissue and blows my nose*

Ayyyyy, Siren joining in the singing! 😄😄😄💗💗💗

oh? Note!

Does Hummy know how to be mad?

Doesn't seem so. XD

Oop, there they are

"Don't call me by that name anymore." Oh. I did wonder if she was gonna get a new name. I wonder what it'll be.

Oh! Ellen! She used that in one of her disguises, right?

Oh, get outta here Gandalfs. >:-(

Oh HECK, on top of everything else Bassdrum has to have complete disrespect for the environment too??? He can go step on a lego right now please.

TRANSFORMATION TIME!

Also it occurs to me now that they've said "Unforgiveable!" to all these villain attacks including all the ones Siren's been at the head of, and Ellen's like...seriously taken that to heart thinking she can never be forgiven for them........T-T ToT ToT ToT T^T <3 <3 </3 <3 </3 <3

(*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*)

FRICK

"If you want us to free her, then come with us to Minor Land and sing the Melody of Sorrow!" ...Or, she could just come over there and kick you in the groin and take Hummy back herself.

You didn't think thsi through at all, did you

Oh hey there Muse!

KICK HIM JUST KICK HIM

"No, I won't sing it." HECK YES

"It's because I don't want to make her sad! If I sing the Melody, then Hummy will drown in sorrow. I want her to sing happily, always." LET'S GOOOOO *APPLAUDS*

HECK YEAH!!!!!!!!!!

TRANSFORMATION TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And her henshin item was inside her alll along :-) :-) :-)

HECK YEAH, TRANSFORMATION TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HECK YEAH, EAT THAT, MEPHISTO

HECK YEAH, SHE HIT HIM AND GOT HUMMY

HECK YEAAAAAAAH GO BEAT GO

WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!1 YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OHHHHHH YEEEEEEEEEESSSS PURIFICATION ATTACK TIME AIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

HECK YEAH ROCKIN' GUITAR!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

*grooves in my seat to the end theme somewhat*

So it looks like this is continuing still into the next episode. Which I will be watching now too. hjdsfgjsfkhsd

*dances in my seat to the opening theme*

New base?

Why are they hiding from this kid's dad... this looks like the start of something cute and wholesome dksjhg

"Ellen is confused right now. It's hard turning into a Precure all of a sudden." Yeah. Especially right after having been on the villain's side for some time.

<3 <3 <3 <3

Well, they showed up with cupcakes at just the right time

Yeah, why take the dad's work stuff

Okay then

Sooooo did he take his dad's work and run away because the dad was busy with work not paying attention to his kid or something?

OH..... ;O; well dang... ;o; ;o; ;o; <3 <3 <3

"When I was little, I got separated from my other too." Oh yeah! Hibiki really is the best person to talk to him about this then, she's had to deal with the same thing--Ellen???? 

Not the time, Ellen, not the time--D-:<

Freakin' heck, Ellen needs the same talk from these two that this kid does...

"The connection we have may disappear in an instant. So it's better not to have bonded in the first place." WRONG. If you just avoid any experiences that'll make you happy just so you won't have to deal with any pain that can also come of them, where does that leave you? Just not feeling anything for all your life? That would SUCK, dude.

ToT ToT ToT

oh hey Hummy

the faceless background characters be a little creepy if you focus on them too much

Oh? Stuffed cat?

"Why does Papa have this?" Maybe he was planning to give it to you.

OHHHH DID HE HANDMAKE IT TOO <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 !!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Heck yeah, you tell her!

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 !!!!!!!!!!!'

*sings like Gumball and Darwin* Do do do do do! Commercial break!

TvT TvT TvT TvT TvT <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 !!!!!!!!

uh oh

DON'T YOU DARE NEGATONE THAT SWEET LITTLE STUFFED CAT

OH HECK YOU

TOT TOT TOT <3 <3 <3

TRANSFORMATION TIME

(*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*)

WOOP WOOOOOP!!!!!!!!!!!!

YEAH GO RHYTHM

GO MELODY

POOP

WOOOOOOOOO<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

She didn't realize exactly the harm she was doing until now huh.... ;-;

"I don't have the right to be a Precure." Yes you do! For heck's sake, just 'cause you did things that were wrong doesn't mean you can't recognize that and make up for them now, dummy! skfjdgls

"Siren. Forget about the Precure or what you have done. Siren. What do you want to do now?" *CLAPS*

"You gotta let go of that stuff from the past 'cause it just doesn't matter. The only thing that matters... is what you choose to be now." - Po, Kung Fu Panda 2

HECK YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LET'S FREAKING GOOOOOOOOOOO

TRANSFORMATION TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*) (*O*)

HA HAAAA I REMEMBER THAT MOMENT OF HER MAKING A GUITAR CHORD WITH HER HAIR HA HA HAAAA XD XD XD !!!!!!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOLY POOP I DIDN'T KNOW THOSE THREE COULD DO THAT KLSDGLKS

HECK YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PURIFYING TIME

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bye bye Mamoru's dad! <3

Oh hey Otokichi. Which is your name they're saying now which I'm trying to get properly stuck in my memory.

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Wise words from this guy. One of the best arguments I've seen against that stupid "Every one of us is all alone" sentiment.

Oooooooh backstory reveal??????

hjklshdgdslkjfhdgslaru ;o; ;o; ;o; ;o; ToT ToT ToT ToT ToT ToT ToT <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TOT TOT TOT TOT TOT TOT TOT TOT TOT <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*dances in my seat to the end theme while crying rainbows*

I think that's a good place to end for the day

*collapses backward across the couch* Woooooooooo!!!!!!! 😂😂😂😂💗💗💗💗💗💗💖💖💖💖💕💕💕💕💕💕😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂💖💖💕💕💗💗💗😊😊😊😊😊💕💗💖💖💖

[glassprism]

Hello! Firstly, thank you for this blog - I've recently re fallen down the POTO rabbit hole after a long period off and your blog has enabled this massively by providing insight and detail I didnt think I would ever have access to (that's good, I think? 🤣). My ask is what would be your recs for non replica (inc vegas) clips to get a flavour of how different these shows are? Either 'Wow!' or 'What?' moments. The pics I have seen have me very intrigued.

Thanks, glad you enjoy! As for your question, for some of these non-replicas, it isn’t about videos that make me go “Wow!” or “WTF?”, it’s about getting videos at all. Most of the time, I think a full video is best to experience a non-replica, simply because so many things can be changed and one clip of a scene is really not enough to get a sense of the differences, so where available, I’ll post that, but with so many of these, only clips or trailers are available, so clips and trailers it is. Here we go:

Hungarian non-replica production: This video is a fairly decent record of the production. It and similar videos from this year were apparently all dress rehearsals, so the actors are kind of low energy compared to later performances, but it is complete.

Polish non-replica production: There’s actually a couple of fairly long highlights videos of this production, but none are on YouTube (or got taken down). So you can watch, I dunno, this trailer, and this trailer, and this trailer, and this clip.

Las Vegas shortened production: There’s several Las Vegas videos, but this one, from August 8, 2008 with Anthony Crivello, Kristi Holden, and Andrew Ragone, is probably the clearest and best filmed one. It is still worth looking at the others for a slightly farther view.

25th anniversary concert: Yes, I am counting this one. Go watch the DVD, or maybe a livestream.

Restaged UK Tour production: Yes, I am counting this as different from the US version of this production. There are two very nice videos of this production, but since neither of them are probably on YouTube, you can watch this, this, this, and this.

Restaged US Tour production: There’s several full videos, all great, and lots of clips of various casts scattered around. You can watch this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and this.

Czech non-replica production: As with many non-replicas, there are various clips scattered everywhere, but so far the videos on this channel are the best I’ve seen.

Estonian non-replica production: Pretty much the only clips I’ve seen from this show are from its official channel. You can watch this clip and this clip, and then check out various snippets of material from this, this, this, this, this, this, and this.

Finland/Gothenburg non-replica production: Most complete video is this Act One only bootleg. Otherwise, you can watch this trailer (Finland) and this trailer (Gothenburg) plus this clip.

Romanian non-replica production: After you’re done with this weird concept trailer, the only other material is from this interview video and this set of promo clips, and also this recently released video of the Romanian cast singing the title song, as well as ‘Music of the Night’ and ‘All I Ask of You’.

Serbian non-replica production: There’s not a lot of videos of this production. Here's a news clip and trailer.

Norwegian/Greek non-replica production: For Norway, watch this trailer and this clip, this clip, and this clip. For Greece, this trailer and every Phantom video on this channel.

Bulgarian non-replica production: There’s some scenes here and some highlights here and here.

World Tour modified production: Honestly, if you can get your hands on it, just watch the May 23, 2019 bootleg. Full show, nice detail (if laggy), great cast, really just the best way to note the (pretty minute) differences in the production.

UK Tour modified production: Given how quickly it closed, there is almost nothing of this production other than some short bootleg clips. But what can you do.

[starstress]

MCC Aqua Axolotls Live Commentary!

Hello, as said, I will attempt to write down my thoughts and reactions during the MCC. 

Stream links!!

False: https://www.twitch.tv/falsesymmetry

Ren: https://www.twitch.tv/rendogtv

Grian (yes, he’s streaming): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjkgnEi4t9g

Pearl: https://www.twitch.tv/pearlescentmoon

Updates will come as edits, so be sure to check this again every once in a while if you’re interested or just curious! 

To all fans, please be kind to everyone, no matter the team or who you wish would win. You will only embarrass yourself if you harass others or act immaturely and will gain no brownie points with those you follow and watch.

For now, may the games begin and the best team win!

-

Edit 1: Peeps are running a bit late, apparently, Ren is the only one on the team with no aqua colour XD Grian recoloured the headband that Smajor had made for him last stream XD

Andddd, we’re kicking off!!

-

Edit 2: The gong makes an appearance!! Also, the story of the gong!! Grian had bought it as a gag for whenever he and Mumbo record! The team loves it!

Countdown has finally started!

-

Edit 3: The first game is Skyblockle(?)!! Team ain’t feeling too confident about it, but we’ll see! I think they’ll be okay at this. Gri is reading the instructions and getting nervous XD

From now, everything will be under the cut. Warning, it’s really long.

Oof, wood fell in the lava. They still have more :)) They’re sharing tasks pretty nicely, I have to say, but they keep changing plans. Things will heat up quickly, tho, and I’m glad this game is gonna be out of the way soon.

First death in Skyblockle for the Aqua Axolotls: False! Second: Grian!

Doom is on the horizon XD

Rip, Ren has died too, and Pearl has gotten a couple of kills!! 

And the Axolotls are out!

First gong after a game. Rn we’re all watching the other teams. Dream team is holding up well. Techno’s team is out too. Last bid!

Endgame: Pearl has won the most coins, team is a bit disappointing by last place.

-

Edit 4: They have the Uno Reserve card as they were the worst team. 

Game: Bingo but Fast!

Gri is reading the instructions again. Someone in Pearl’s stream is watching 25 streams holy dandelions.

The team is again sharing tasks. This is pretty speedy!

Hearing Gri lament how speedy it all is is so funny. Also, they’re all like headless chickens and a lot more disorganized now. Poor team.

Endgame: Ren’s sweating in unspeakable places lol, but they’re not last anymore!

Pearl’s game just crashed, oh goodness.She’s back in, wooo!

-

Edit 5: Game: Battle box!

Gri is going for the middle. Pearl got so many kills!

First round won!!

Second round lost!

Third round won!!

Ren’s having a hard time breathing, and I gotta say same! 4th place rn.

Game was paused to stop the animations of the NPCs and we got another gong! we chilling for a few mins lol.

WE’RE ON AGAINST THE DREAM TEAM. Aww, the game needs to be reset or smt. 

Oh wow, draw for every team. Fourth round was skipped.

Fifth round - uh SERVER CRASHED

Wowie, the map looks really strange without the resource pack.

First hiccup in 7 event, dang. 

Starting again. Resource pack might no re-appear again. And now I’m laggy, lol

Round 1: lost!

Round 2: won! Gri with the tnt :D

Round 3: lost! tnt did not work this time

Round 4: unknown due to lag, oof.

Round 5: lost

Round 6: unknown 

Round 7: unknown

Round 8: unknown

Round 9: unknown (prob lost)

Place: Last.

Everyone’s laggy, including me lol.

The viewers are being encouraging, which is really great and wholesome!

-

Edit 6: Game: Big Sales at Build Market!

Team is confident about this one, wooo!!

Grian ended up in plants lol. Ughhh, diorate. Communication is key, and it’s very well done!!

They’re building fast and getting resources pretty fast, that’s good.

Grian listing what they need is *chef kiss* False being alert is *hearteyes* and the chats are the real mvps 

Endgame: Place 7. It was pretty intense indeed.

Break time!

-

Edit 7: Audience takeover!! Pearl wants Rocket Spleef, so does Techno. Dream wants Hole in the Wall.

Game: Rocket Spleef!!

Grian’s reading instructions :))) 

This will be intense as all heck. Countdown has stopped, huh.

Oof, apparently it was supposed to be Hole in the Wall, but can’t change. Gri’s prob not gonna have as great of a time as I’d hopped :P

Round 1: Rainbow map, False is out! :o The very first time! Team’s out right before tnt time! Place 6, nice.

Round 2: Uhh, Atoms map?? Grian and Pearl are struggling. Pearl’s out! Gri’s out! Ren’s out! False’s still going.

Round 3: Grian’s finally got the rocket jump. Jump and then launch :D Or maybe not XD Tnt time! Pearl is waiting down at the bottom. She fell, oof. Grian’s having cramps in his hand and, in his words, he’s ‘a goner.’

Endgame: False’s the master of Rocket Spleef! And place 6! Team really enjoyed it, I’m so glad :D

-

Edit 8: Team’s hoping for Ace Race, and it looks like it might be!

Game: Ace Race!

Grian is narrating for all of us, nice! “This is totally Sonic!” he says!

“’Your first time will probably suck’. Yeah, that’s been happening about the entire time!” lmao

Omg, the map is so cool!! Def a fan favourite!! The entire team is having so much fun yesss

All of them are really doing good, Grian and False are placing good.

“Techno, get outta my way!!” -  Gri, and I have to say, mood.

Grian got place 15! Right behind Techno, nice!!

Pearl is 32!

Ren is 35?

False is somewhere behind Gri, but way before Pearl.

Endgame: Everyone had one heck of a time and now they’re trying to find out how to make it in Vanilla Minecraft XD

Place: 9 

-

Edit 9: They dunked the Lime Llamas XDD

Game: Sands of Time

Oof, this one’s gonna be a maker or a breaker.

Oh goodness, they have no one watching the time D:

They’re banking coins, thankfully. 

Oh no, Pearl!! Sand is needed. Grian to the rescue!

Phew, three sand left, thank you Pearl for topping up!!

Intense, gosh, i’m really nervous about the sand!!

Oof, Pearl’s stream froze. It ended, oh no. Actually, it might just be me that has enormous lag (not smt new lol). 

There we go, slow but it’s something.

The sand!! Aww man, right as Pearl got the sand!! They’re out! At least they banked a lot of their coins.

Endgame: We got a nice gong. Place: 5! Overall place: 9!

-

Edit 10: My wi-fi is beating me up with a stick, and it’s unrelenting. Lag is my life now.

Last game: Hole in the Wall

Ren’s gonna have a bad time XD

Round 1: Pearl’s fallen, from what my laggy video will show me. Gri as well. They’re out!

Round 2: Pearl’s still alive, woo!! Glitched right through one, so cool XD

Round 3: lag.

Endgame: Ren’s raging, Grian is really amused by that XD Nice game!! 

-

Edit 11:

Overall place: 9

Time for the final battle!! Gong! Ren wants the gong as stream sound effect :D

Green Guardians vs Orange Ocelots! 

Grian supports Techno bc Techno said he liked him lmao!! The others are Green. 

Also fun fact: Grian could coach a match of dodge ball!

Round 1: Green wins!

Round 2: Orange wins!! Techno’s taking them out!

Round 3: Orange wins!

Round 4: Orange wins!

Grian: “It’s like one of those anime moments!”

Round 5: Green wins!

(Gri went off holy heck)

Congrats to the Green Guardians!!  

- 

Last edit of the night!

That was extremely fun to watch!! The lag and my own wi-fi made it a bit irritating at times, esp since I had to split my focus, but it was pretty good nonetheless.

It’s really sad that the Championship itself lagged so much, I have a feeling it left both a lot of viewers and players feeling frustrated as well. 

However, the new mini game was lots of fun and I have a feeling we’ll be seeing it a lot in the future. I really hope we will.

The team was really good, they managed to coordinate very well, but like many groups who’ve just started working together for the first time, there were times where they could’ve slowed down a bit and reconsidered their plans. Still, the important bit was that they all had a great time together.

Overall, I really hope Grian and Pearl will participate again, even if not on the same teams. I also hope that there will be more Hermitcraft members joining in, even if only for one Championship. I had tons of fun writing this as well, but I think I’ll switch back to occasional posts about amusing things that happen during the games, as it really took a lot of my attention from the mcc itself.

Hope whoever kept up with me or reads this later enjoyed/enjoys this. I’m off to bed now, I’m sleepy and I’ll prob wake up, read through this, and find 10 million little mistakes that I’ll die over. Future me, I deeply apologize, but, uhhhh, no regrets!!

Starstress out!

[thisnerdsadventures]

research updates!

This post has been difficult to write, so I've been putting it off for a while, not gonna lie. The reason I put it off is because I'm not quite sure how yet to reflect on my MEng experience so far. I didn't have a great experience last semester because of social isolation, neverending confusion, lack of guidance, imposter syndrome, zoom fatigue, etc., so I was really hoping IAP would be better so that I didn't just write a really depressing half-assed post about "how my MEng is going/not going" here.

Well, IAP did go better! I finally figured out a path forward and have been able to make progress on my project on my own. This has led to a generally improved sense of purpose in life, which was VERY missing last semester. I think what was missing was my usual shenanigans that I randomly find myself in with my friends, whether it's hackathons or spontaneous trips or literally forming startups. But in my own way, I've done a couple things of interest in the past few months in addition to my research, just to keep this blog fun haha, no other reason

My Actual Research

So last semester was rough because I was ramping up to a somewhat new project, a new direct supervisor, and a new degree program/way of life..... all remotely. I thought it would be fine, and yet it wasn't? I talked to some of my friends who started a full time job, and nearly all of them agreed, that ramping up to a new job in zoom land was extremely difficult. One of them said they hadn't even finished ramping up yet (T.T) I reflected a lot on why it was hard, and I determined it was because I only had one or two hours of scheduled face to face with my direct supervisor per week, and little to no other guidance outside of that. I was trying to learn as much as I could about existing research, which was not only in compilers (which, to be honest, I didn't know a lot about), but also in computer architecture (which I also did not know much about at all) and trying to understand things from discussions where I barely had a foundational knowledge to begin with. I struggled to even find the questions to ask that would help me out.

At this point, my supervisor was also really busy with his own deadlines, and I don't think he had much management experience of his own, so it was also probably hard for him. If we were in person, he'd be able to sense the confusion in my face and I'd be able to pop by his office whenever I needed, even if that was every day. But zoom calls are laggy and poor resolution and emails asking for help are often left unread. For the first two months of my MEng, it was mostly like this, just kind of feeling I was bumbling along, not really sure what I should be doing.

Wow, my imposter syndrome was off the charts. I began to panic about whether I’d be able to finish my degree on time, even though I was like literally like. two (2) months into this endeavor. At some point in November (I think literally right around the election), I felt really, really worthless, as a researcher, as a contributing member of society, and I felt really, really lonely and constantly anxious because I didn’t have like //my job// to ground me to reality. The Thursday after this, I sat on the Esplanade with my friend, our feet hanging over the water and we watched the sun go down. As we talked, I felt myself grounded again, and my overthinking brain calmed down for the time being.

When I went home, I decided I was going to find outside things to occupy me if my research was going to. I signed up to be a tech lead for my school’s Google Developer’s Student Club (yes, I really cannot leave Google), and I signed up to interview for MIT. I decided to #manage #up and make things better re:research by asserting my confusion??? if that makes sense lol

By Thanksgiving, I was home in California, and I felt like I had a way better plan moving forward for my research and was busy planning a few things here and there for my various obligations. I was also taking microeconomics for fun, which was actually.... really fun (as it turns out).

IAP

This IAP was pretty much just an extension of the semester, I mean like I guess that is just how MEng goes lol, but I actually did a good amount of /stuff/ this IAP. I would usually work on my research for the morning and some of the afternoon, and in the afternoon I would bake or go on walks with my mom and workout, and in the evenings, I would work on my other obligations, or read, or other random side projects. Such side projects include: investing in penny stocks, writing music, creating tiktoks

I have very little to report on IAP, i really haven’t done much anything noteworthy in the past couple months tbh lol. My research has been going a lot better, I have more of an idea of how I can troubleshoot/explore different avenues on my own, and I can get a lot done before asking for help. The 8am meetings are killing me though. I have one tomorrow and I will complain about it surely. Not sure if anything is going to change for the upcoming semester, though I decided to just become a straight up econ major for my last semester for no apparent reason, so that’ll be fun1!11!! (i registered for three econ classes lol) MIT told us they were vaccinating us when the time comes, so that’s good too !!! 

[comicteaparty]

June 10th-June 16th, 2020 Reader Favorites Archive

The archive for the Reader Favorites chat that occurred from June 10th, 2020 to June 16th, 2020.  The chat focused on the following  question:

How does poor web design affect if and/or how you read a particular webcomic?

carcarchu

it's a huge factor. if a comic is amazing in every way but the website or app makes it difficult for me to read i'm simply NOT going to read it. there are a lot of great series that i've put on the back burner just because the website is so annoying to navigate

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

i've honestly never run into a website so bad it stopped me from reading a comic i was interested in

carcarchu

FYI the worst comic app i've ever experienced is Aqua Kiss which I downloaded to read a single series. it's the most barebones app imaginable with no search bar. if you want to read something you actually have to manually load each calendar week to find it and some stuff are buried dozens of pages back. and to make matters worse it doesn't have a "history" or "bookmarks" feature either

Deo101 [Millennium]

The worst things with sites that I see often are 1: huge headers, and 2: laggy sites (not really site design, but its adjacent I think) Another is if the pages are too big on the screen, so you can't, for instance, see some panels all at once. Those kinds of things can really ruin a reading experience for me

carcarchu

One example of a website that is hostile to the reading experience is ZMYK which for some reason hosts vertical scroll comics but cuts them up into little pieces as if they were comic format so you can't actually scroll through the entire chapter as it was intended to

That kind of thing grinds my gears so much how can something you have to pay for be that incredibly bad

Deo101 [Millennium]

I've also seen some sites that have graphic design issues, where elements are illegible due to their color, and some have very busy and distracting backgrounds. Those kinds of things won't necessarily ruin it, but they're distracting

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

forward comic's website was doing this weird thing where the further I read the longer pages took to load. Near the end it seemed they were taking 10 full seconds. Still read the whole thing though. Reading manga on shady sites with terrible internet connection as a kid has desensitized me

Oh one comic I was interested in but didn't read because of the site: I was kidnapped by lesbian pirates from outer space. It doesn't have a website. To read it you have to pirate (hehe) copies of the archive.

It's a pretty sad story- the author was young and tricked into giving up the rights to her series

She ended up taking the site down to prevent the company from getting any more money off of it

https://rosalarian.tumblr.com/post/65353128180/its-with-extreme-sadness-that-i-announce-that-my

Here's her post about it

I think it can be a good warning message to us

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

For me, the biggest thing that deters me from reading a comic is if the website isn't well optimized for mobile (as someone who reads a lot on the go). This includes the images loading bigger than the page, or navigation being hidden on mobile, or glitchy scrolling, or any number of ungodly things. Also, too many ads. That'll turn me away in a heartbeat.

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah ads are definitely a huge turnoff for me too

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

FYI the worst comic app i've ever experienced is Aqua Kiss which I downloaded to read a single series. it's the most barebones app imaginable with no search bar. if you want to read something you actually have to manually load each calendar week to find it and some stuff are buried dozens of pages back. and to make matters worse it doesn't have a "history" or "bookmarks" feature either

@carcarchu okay i just digested this comment and wtf

no search bar is laughably bad omg

how did you even find out about it

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah that's ridiculous hahahaha

carcarchu

it's a shame because there are genuinely good comics on there you can't read anywhere else?? and i found it because an artist i adore did a series for it but it got AXED after only 2 chapters and after that was pretty much scrubbed from the internet. i think it's a shame because it really had so much potential and it ended before the story was really able to start

it's a screenshot from the app. you can see that it is categorized reverse chronologically by week

the point of aqua kiss is to emulate monthly/weekly style manga magazines but in app form. however i think the execution of this idea was horrendous

SteffieMusings

Oh no! It must make reading there so challenging. As for me, if the navigation is so hard to understand/pages don't load properly when you click a link or when the website's colours hurt my eyes so much I can't stay there for too long.

Shizamura 🌟 O Sarilho

Honestly nowadays most of the CMS's out there share the same basic functionality and adaptability, so it's getting harder to screw up on that. Most sites are OK, if only a bit laggy. If the site takes less than 2 seconds to load and it's not so crowded that I have to look for the comic, I'm generally good.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

How much bad/inaccessible web design I'll tolerate is directly proportional to how much I care about the comic.

I've dropped a couple series in the middle of the archive just because they changed the site design to screw up the tracking of bookmarking sites, so I would've had to figure out an alternate way to keep track of it, and it didn't seem worth the effort

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Oh yeah, I've totally had that happen too where I was deep into an archive, had taken a reading break for a month or two, and came back to find the urls had been updated and my spot was lost it isn't so bad if a comic also has an archive page, but ive stopped reading a few stories that it would have been too hard to track down where I was.

DaeofthePast

I haven’t had to experience weird websites in a while, but I do sometimes go to an unknown website to read the comic/manga I’m looking for. Mostly what I’ve had trouble with is unnumbered chapters, of that it’s unclear where/how to start reading in general.(edited)

Like, I get to the page for that specific comic and then there’s no easy “start reading here” button anywhere

And when I do find the chapters list, I don’t know which end of the list is the beginning bc it’s unnumbered

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Is a "First page" button enough or are you looking for a "new readers start here" button? (<- is redisigning her page)

DaeofthePast

Is there a difference? :0

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

hm, sometimes yes.

Some old running comics have different jump-on points (schlock mercenary for example).

DaeofthePast

Ooh I see

Well when I first go on the site, I just want to start reading so idk

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

So, I always try to read every comic that's featured in the book club all the way through. Like even if I don't particularly like the opening, or if the comic is thousands of pages long, or I don't have time to meaningfully discuss the comic, I do try to at least give the comic a fair shake by reading through the entire archive. There have been four exceptions. One was because of content (it was a gag a day comic, and the content was SO horrible for SO long that I just couldn't stand it anymore. real "punching down" type of humor). Another was because the comic was literally deleted before I could get to it. The remaining two were because the site design/organization were so awful that the comics were unreadable. One of the two comics had a custom built, hand-coded site (I assume), and it just... didn't work properly. Like the "previous" button seemingly took you to a random page, the "next" button and the "latest" button led to the same place, etc. I'm not sure the creator ever bothered to test the site. The other one used some pre-built stuff, so it was ok... but you had to scroll to the top of the page to go to the next page. Not only that, but the author was posting all their comics to the same archive - which means one page would be the comic that was actually meant to be read for the book club and the next few pages were a completely different comic entirely. And this wasn't a gag-a-day either - it was a story based comic, so the three action minimum to get to the next page made things absolute hell to keep track of.(edited)

DaeofthePast

Wow

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Uff, yeah, that sounds horrible.

Nyx+Nyssa's page is currently a barebone mess, but I made at least sure the navigation works. :/

DaeofthePast

Having the comic be deleted while you’re reading it sounds like such a weird experience lmao

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

i mean, it wasn't thanos snap style lol

DaeofthePast

Was the website gone too or?

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

it was in between days

nah the website was still there, it's just that the author had decided to reboot their comic and forgot that they had submitted it to the book club

DaeofthePast

Oh okay I imagined Thanos snap style

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Not really a design but a site thing: I can't do comics without an archive of some sort. On platforms like Tapas or WT, the episode list serves that purpose perfectly fine. I personally need to be able to see how many pages there are, and I need a way to go to specific pages easily. It might sound like a small complaint, but it's a big thing for me! There have been comics that piqued my interest, but once I saw that there was no archive of any form, I left forever. Sure, I might be missing out, but there are also lots of good comics out there that have accessible archives. My life isn't long enough to read them all, so I'm letting myself be very picky.

copperine

I can manage a very basic site just fine. But if a site is hard to navigate, or just makes reading the page/getting to the next page difficult - I'd be likely to give up eventually. Doesn't matter about the quality of the comic, but if it's a chore to just read it, it's going to put me off after a while

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

I will note - if you want me to actually discuss your comic in the book club, please do have an archive link, and probably a cast page too. Like the lack of one doesn't stop me from reading entirely, but I can't discuss anything without being able to look back at specific moments. (and one of those archives that just has dates doesn't count - lemme know what the chapter is!)

copperine

For example - when I read webcomics on dA, I was absolutely fine with either the author having a dedicated folder with the pages in order. Another option was to link next and prev pages in the description. But if I had to go find each next page, I just wouldn't.

DaeofthePast

By an archive do you mean kinda like a chapters list?

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

A list of all the pages, ideally

That also list the chapters somehow

copperine

Short version: if I feel like I'm spending half as much time navigating the site as I am actually reading, it's gonna get old real quick

DaeofthePast

And same copperine. As long as it’s organized well, I will probably read it

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Like maybe you click on a chapter link to get to a list of the pages, or maybe it's just a list of the pages with the chapter names as headers

some sort of organization

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah! (I admit my own comic's archive page isn't the prettiest, but it's 100% functional.)

DaeofthePast

I only have a chapter list so far ^^; idk how to go about getting an archive

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Chapter list is totally fine if your chapters tend to be on the shorter side

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

I like having chapter lists around, although coding them can be a handful Not sure if to go for an archive with thumbnails or just with page numbers though.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's also workable if you also have like... a dropdown menu for individual pages on the actual pages? So it only takes 2 clicks to go to a specific page (first click to go to the chapter, second click to go to the page)

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

OH yeah, there was also a dA comic in the book club once that didn't have any next/previous buttons. However, it was a short comic - the bare minimum for getting into the book club - so I still read it all the way through. But it was pretty annoying to do so. (it was also pretty obviously a fetish comic, but that's not really relevant to the discussion XD)

DaeofthePast

I want to post by scene so I’ll be dividing chapters like “chapter 3 part 1” to hopefully that will be better

copperine

I'll always take functional over pretty

DaeofthePast

Haha I’m not sure if I want to know the comic for that one

Also what is “punching down” humor?

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Like, the author was a straight man, and nearly every joke was making fun of people who weren't those things.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

it's like making fun of people but

copperine

Yikes

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

you're intentially trying to put them down

that's punching down in my imo rip

DaeofthePast

Oh

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

yeah....

DaeofthePast

Well at least I know what to call it when I see it in the future ._.

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Like, occasionally I see a shitty joke in a comic and I keep reading because maybe the author improved (we do sometimes get comics with archives that date back decades in here) But this comic was just so consistently awful for so long that I couldn't stand it

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

oof that aint good

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Though that's kinda off topic lol

DaeofthePast

Oh yeah

So bad site design...

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Anyway, I don't really wanna post the examples of the comics I talked about in here cuz I don't wanna call anyone out

Actually, hold on, lemme check something

DaeofthePast

I feel I haven’t had too much experience with bad site designs, but I might have just forgotten(edited)

K

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

ok yeah

so, the comic where you had to scroll up to the top of each page to click to the next one, and the site was multiple comics alternating pages that made the story rough to follow

copperine

Oof yeah having to scroll up to click next won't stop me but it is a bother

DaeofthePast

I like having the next button both on top and the bottom, even if they update page by page(edited)

It just feels convinient

copperine

Yeah same

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Re: punching up/down, here's an overly simplistic set of examples: billionaires making fun of poor people is punching down. Poor people making fun of billionaires is punching up.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

's good webdesign pattern for everything with continous content - e.g. blogs, web-novels, webcomics.

Ideally you have one on top, between content and comments and under comments

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

the comic that alternated storylines & required scrolling back up to go to the next page was Antibunny: http://vinnied.comicgenesis.com/d/20061002.html if you see that page I linked and click next a few times, there's no obvious distinction between the main story and the spinoff story (no, like, header change between the two, and the art style looks similar), so you can see how it'd be confusing to follow and the scrolling is just icing on the cake (it used to be even worse) the only reason I feel comfortable sharing that is because the author uploaded the comics to new sites, and fixed all those issues in the process: http://antibunny.net/

DaeofthePast

Oh nice. So they realized the problem

copperine

Aren't they in this server? Or am I thinking of another one

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Yeah, the author is in this server

copperine

I thought so

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Hence why he realized, because we told him that there was a problem during the book club

copperine

I'm not gonna take anything said here as a comment on anyway btw

DaeofthePast

It’s cool that submitting their comic to the tea party resulted in some good feedback :3

copperine

You love to see it!

It always makes me happy when webcomic community stuff helps people out, that seems like the ideal outcome

DaeofthePast

Yess

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

i agree on that yeee

DaeofthePast

It’s like having a friend point out a spelling mistake. Embarrassing but you can live with the knowledge that your work is now a little bit better(edited)

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Yeah kinda off-topic, but I love it when the author of the comic for the book club joins the server. Like not only does it mean that the author could join in on others' discussions in the future (pay it forward 'n stuff), but... it's just really sad when I see a comic pop up in the book club and the author seemingly forgot they submitted it.

DaeofthePast

How long does it usually take to get to a comic? :0 that they would forget they submitted it?

copperine

I always hope I can help others out or support them, and I hope they feel the same

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

The book club had a very very long wait list in the past. These days, not so long.

DaeofthePast

And I guess if you submit a comic with a website, the people here can be your beta testers

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

what's odd is that five months ago, the wait list was six months but now, the wait list is two months y'all need to submit/resubmit your comics

DaeofthePast

I tried going to submit mine yesterday and the site doesn’t let me v.v says you’re booked for July

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

oh yeah, so it is

DaeofthePast

Maybe later :3

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

i guess Rebel doesn't want the queue to get too long

copperine

I would submit mine but I'm only at 10 pages and I believe you need to have 20 to submit

DaeofthePast

Ooh they have a minimum?

Gotta count my pages now

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I mean it makes sense. Hard to discuss a comic that only has the cover for chapter 1

DaeofthePast

XD

Tru

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

"Let us dissect this cover image for an entire week"

DaeofthePast

It would be a hilarious April fools challenge

copperine

Idk I think it was 20 minimum?

DaeofthePast

shrug

copperine

@snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights) can you shed any light on this

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

The sign up form is where you would normally find that information.

copperine

... very good point

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

But the form is currently unavailable, and it's possible that Rebel might change the requirement when it becomes available again

copperine

Ah

Thank you for the heads up

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

FYI, https://comicteaparty.com/ is where the form will be available eventually

Shizamura 🌟 O Sarilho

They accept resubmissions now?

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

I def like arrows on the top and bottom of pages for sites to be more of a thing, as well as clicking the image for the next page too! Honestly there hasn't been a make or break, mainly preferences, and the most complaints i have are with the mobile formatting. I think most comics have been pretty solid in functionality that i've read, and it's clear that having their own website is becoming mainstream enough for there to be help, tips, and tricks to making it work!

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I definitely prefer if I can just click on the comic image to go to the next page especially for mobile.

copperine

Agreed!

Idk about resubmissions tho

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

... Wow. I absolutely HATE clickable images on mobile, because they usually mess with the pinch-zoom.

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

i've had sites that didnt have image click throughs and the arrow..... was like SO TINY XD

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Didn't think anyone would actually like it, so... huh.

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

i kept going back and forth

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

yeah, navigation needs to be bigger on mobile for safe tapping.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Oh, re:resubmissions, I'm pretty sure you can if it's been long enough? I think @snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights) mentioned it recently as an option. But maybe a tangent for #general

boogeymadam

i dont mind the pinch zoom being a little more difficult from time to time cause usually the clickable image is worth it to me

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Same

boogeymadam

am also fond of sites that allow left/right arrows to let you move forward and back on desktop

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Mainly it's just for like Krispy said, reading on mobile and tiny next/previous buttons.

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

ye my dummy thicc fingers prefer the click through image for sure

ohh yes Boogey that too

boogeymadam

it took me hours of googling to find the very simple comicpress option to just turn that on on my site

copperine

Mmm I do like sites that allow pinch zoom though

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I also prefer clicking on the image to go to the next page

mariah (rainy day dreams)

My fingers small, but still dummy T-T

copperine

It makes it easier to get a better look at the page

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

iweudhweiu Mariah XD

copperine

Especially if it's got smaller font

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

nyxandnyssa has a seperate navigation for mobile that's much bigger and skipping scene select to make tapping easier.

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

I've had the hover text def bum me out for some comics, where you click the image and it just displays the text, then you gotta click the tiny next bar def killed me there

copperine

I've never had issues with pinch zoom affecting clickable images but I can imagine it would be annoying

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

but! never breaks me out of a comic for me to stop reading-! i persevere in the face of adversity XD

boogeymadam

i've never encountered a site so bad i couldnt continue reading. maybe stuff where i'd stop reading until i was less frustrated but i'd come back later.

DaeofthePast

That’s something I’ll have to consider for my site then

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I feel like Smackjeeves had a really obnoxious auto pitch & zoom before they updated most recently. I like when I can turn it off on my phone. I'd rather do it myself most of the time and let my phone try to auto it X')

DaeofthePast

I usually read on desktop more often than on mobile so it’s good to hear from other’s experiences

copperine

Idk I've never used a custom site yet

boogeymadam

same dae, except on tapas and webtoons!(edited)

comics with their own website i'll boot up my computer for a single update of

DaeofthePast

Even on webtoons I read on desktop

boogeymadam

omg your power, webtoons feels so choppy on desktop to me

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

im definitely lucky that our site got a mobile friendly version i remember the 'ol pinchy zoomz was tiresome on our site for sure

DaeofthePast

I get headaches from reading on my phone unfortunately :/

Idk what the difference is between reading mobile and on a desktop but my brain doesn’t like it

Like, I can text fine???? But reading a comic for some reason is like “no”

So yeah, comics on desktop for me

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

ohh!! it could be the close proximity!

DaeofthePast

Ooh :0 maybe?

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

i know i get motion sickness depending on how close/ far i am from screens

DaeofthePast

Maybe it’s something like that... :O

boogeymadam

whatever the reason sorry you get headaches and motion sickness from comics :'0

DaeofthePast

Every once in a while I’ll try again to read on mobile I never learn

boogeymadam

the only reason i dont like mobile is sometimes comics text is a combination of too small there and the font is hard on my dyslexia

DaeofthePast

Rip

boogeymadam

so i see if zooming in on my computer helps

DaeofthePast

The lesson here is that it’s good to have both mobile and desktop options

boogeymadam

yep :'D

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

ohhh yea def agree. I know that feeling and i sometimes ... have a Time reading my own work XD (i admit it lol!!)

boogeymadam

sometimes my own comic is hard on my dyslexia for The Effect so i never have hard feelings with other comics

copperine

(brb)

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

ewiudhiwue the things we do AT WHAT COST XD

DaeofthePast

Asdfghjkl

Meanwhile I use the same font for everything

boogeymadam

wait im gonna generalize this more so it can be a party

DaeofthePast

Please post that on pillowfort so I can reblog it

boogeymadam

you can post it for yourself if you want dae!

i'm having a hard time logging on asdfgjh

DaeofthePast

Rip sure

copperine

Ah see I have both

Because hand lettering

It's great for feeling right for a comic but also eternally wondering if it's readable

DaeofthePast

Ooh yeah I guess that would count as both

What’s your comic btw :0

Wait, we’re supposed to be talking about website design right

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yep! If it gets too off topic, you can always continue in another channel that's more fitting.

copperine

Ah sorry! Sure thing

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

Mobile is too small for me

DaeofthePast

Yeah

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

(oHHMYYGOSH BOOGEY XD)

boogeymadam

mm archives were mentioned already, and how it can really turn readers away to simply not have one at all? my favorite archive is https://www.vaingloriouscomic.com/comic/archive 's but i've seen some where they attempted an all picture archive and it backfired by just being a page of all empty boxes. this didn't deter me from reading it and it got fixed pretty quick tho~ mine is one of these and its a very chonky slowmoving page cause i uploaded the first 90ish as fullsized pictures. nobody's ever complained so idk if it's ever deterred anyone from reading but i know i gotta fix it someday.(edited)

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I really dont mind any kind of web design in particular though tbh. I prefer desktop sites but it’s fine if the design isnt great

DaeofthePast

Have you guys ever gone to a comic website (for a single comic) and the colors used in the background were so bright that it felt like they were blinding you to the point it was hard to read the actual pages?

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

My archive is down right now becayse it broke and I dont know how to fix it lol

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

i def want a fully view-able archive but we're gonna be hitting 800 pages and i dont know how well that will work XD

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

But I have a navigation bar now

boogeymadam

u could have multiple pages of archive, krispy!

i'm starting a new page for chapter 2

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

Or dropdown menus

boogeymadam

but its probably important to have a dropdown if u have more than 1 page, yeah

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I want to switch to picture archives, but I haven't found a good plug in/way to get my word press to do it :( if anyone has recommendations...

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I wish I knew how to make dropdown menus

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

i'll have to bring that up ! we dont do the tech work for our site ( thank gosh seriously) but i love archives that show full pages

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

If I could make dropdown menus I would be unstoppable

copperine

I miss the drop-downs on SJ

boogeymadam

i feel like dropdowns are smth i pretty much only exclusively see on hiveworks comics

i wonder what their secret is,,,

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I’ve inspected the elements on so many hiveworks sites lol

I want to know

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

they use word press I think

for their comic sites

just have to do some digging with the site html and csss

copperine

Right click and inspect maybe...

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

Php stands for my Personal hell pit

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

if i could go undercover for yall i would XD

boogeymadam

also!! @mariah (rainy day dreams) i use elementor for mine

its not perfect and breaks like every time i update it but it works asdfg

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

... I'm currently writing a sparkling fresh wp-plugin for my page (comic easel wasn't doing what I wanted), but I am also a software dev who enjoys coding.

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

My template I use functions in mostly php and xml and its gibberish to me but functions so well I dont know how to improve it to have specific things I want

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

my knowledge with site design is basic at best lmao

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

wordpress is a bit special in that it does most things more complicated than strictly necessary.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

but I do like fiddling with stuff

^that too lmao

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

I know Shiza of osarilho is really good at web designing? she's made some beautiful work with her site!

boogeymadam

i want to ask shiza for more help but not before i have some money to pay her :')

she's helped me a lot already

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I can do html and css at the babiest level

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I'll check that out Boogey, thanks! Even if it does break X') And I guess I'll just make a note to start stashing money to hire shiza XD im definitely at the point where my site needs a general face lift, but I don't have the spoons for it.

boogeymadam

imo i've made some really pretty pges with it. it's a drag and drop that's excellent at galleries, but it doesn't like when you don't have even rows for some reason

the wordpress plugin, Elementor, i mean.

copperine

I've been wanting to try comicpress for ages

I just don't know where to start

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I'm gonna move over to #shop_talk for my response

copperine

I had someone who was gonna help me out but we lost contact so it's on the back burner

boogeymadam

OOPS yeah

copperine

But for websites in general I prefer to have one that feels very basic than one that feels too busy or crowded

I'm not a graphic designer at all lol

If I do try an independent site I'm planning to pay a coding friend to help me

DaeofthePast

yeah i have no idea what I'm doing when working on my site, it's kinda basic, but at least it looks nice

copperine

I just use a premade theme on my ComicFury site

It works and that's good enough for me so far

Oh I guess the other thing that would put me off reading a comic is if the site isn't formatted for mobile, and/or particularly if the site doesn't have adaptive formatting

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

same, but editted it hard core so it looks like it's own thing lmao

copperine

I usually read on my phone because my computer is where I work so I like to get off it for hobbies

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

but for me uh i guess mobile i try to read it either on tapas, webtoon or its own site

I find just clicking the page to the next one helps me a lot lol I don't do a lot of zooming

copperine

Mmm

copperine

It's personal preference a lot tbh!

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I like my comuter because its big

copperine

Valid

Mine is not

Shizamura 🌟 O Sarilho

did anyone talk about paying me please you don't have to do that

copperine

Idk but you can pay me

Idk what for but

I'll take money

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I absolutely would have to if you made my site awesome X') work is work, and you should be paid for it

Shizamura 🌟 O Sarilho

fair enough

Just send me a DM whenever you're up for that and lemme take a look at what you already have

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I would hire someone to do web design for me but I dont have the funds & I dont wnat to make someone do work for me for free

sierrabravo (Hans Vogel is Dead)

I've been meaning to set up my own website for a while now, since the collective i was originally hosting my webcomic with kinda fell apart, but it's so much work and i'm hella intimidated :'''D

copperine

@sierrabravo (Hans Vogel is Dead) there's been some related discussion in #shop_talk and I believe @boogeymadam might be able to advise (I'm sure others can too but I'm going off the convo from earlier)

Shizamura 🌟 O Sarilho

@sierrabravo (Hans Vogel is Dead) depending on how much it is I can help you out

RebelVampire

Admin Reminder Remember this channel is for experiences as a reader first and foremost, so #shop_talk and #general are better if you want to discuss your own stuff.

DaeofthePast

thank you for the reminder :3

RebelVampire

I would say poor web design is something I have a complicated relationship regarding webcomics. On the one hand, outside of a site being 100% completely broken, I'm willing to sit through a lot to read. So in terms of affecting whether I read a comic the first time or not, there isn't much to say there. But it does affect how engaged I am with the comic. Cause if I can't easily go back to re-read a page, easily find things like character names, have to deal with extreme lag cause the host is garbage, have to deal with eye bleeding color schemes, etc. you can bet your bottom dollar 1 time is all that comic is going to get in terms of reading it. I can only subject myself to so much, and if I don't feel like reading a comic again because of the site itself, I'm going to quickly forget it in favor of comics whose sites don't make me cry. I do give more leeway to sites created by creators in many respects. But professional bigtime hosts like Tapas or Webtoons literally have no excuse for some of their garbage design choices. And some of their design choices are super duper garbage.

DaeofthePast

that's true yeah, there's a big distinction of the quality expectations between sites by small creators and those of big companies like Webtoons

RebelVampire

At the same time, though, I know from first hand experience that poor design choices are literally influenced by user data for bigger companies. So for every decision I consider stupid- at the same time they probably did the AB tests that showed crappy design A had better results for their conversion rates than user friendly design B.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Which boggles my mind

I wonder if there's some kinda causation-correlation thing going on that the A/B tests could not detect accurately

boogeymadam

Rebel mentioned sites that have eyebleedy color schemes and I'm in the same boat; will read the comic, just will be turning down the screen brightness a looot. Sites that have a huge space of extremely neon background that distracts from the comic make me reluctant to read on the site, and I'll look for a mirror before trying. That white background of the 2 big comic hosting sites can at least be affected and turned dark by nightmode when needed, while nightmode doesn't work on half the bright comic sites I've tried it on. u-u

[swiftasacoursing]

ive encountered this bug before but forgot to post abt it

wow that tube looks huge. must be a big room, yeah?

nah

you can make your frame stupid small if your game is laggy enough. its easier to do if you have more than one person bc of the inherent lag, but if you crank your settings to maximum and you have a potato pc then its plenty laggy. what u do is choose titania as your frame > exit the arsenal > open the arsenal again > choose different frame > mash 4 as soon as it closes.

with some luck, your frame will be teeny tiny. this applies to just about every channeled ability too. you can see the nyx bubble there but i dont actually have it active. its stuck there and i dont remember how to get rid of it. this is what it looks like if you use the bubble again btw

sorry for the crunchie photos i was just trying to get it back down from framerate hell

i dont have a lot of time rn but ill look for the screens of the last time i had this happen

[honeylungsims]

1, 9, 18

From the “send me a number”-meme:

1. Tell me the story of how you started playing

Back in grade school a classmate of mine had TS1, and I instantly fell in love with the game. I would often visit her just to get the chance to play it, or at least watch her play :D I think TS2 was already out at that point, but they just happened to have TS1 instead.

Later I stumbled upon some TS2 legacy blogs on the internet, and they were just.. Wow. The game looked amazing. Even better than TS1, which had already impressed me so thorougly. Every day I spent hours browsing through these blogs, and I was green with jealousy because I couldn’t join in on the fun. Our family’s PC couldn’t handle any games, and we were not gonna upgrade to something better just so I could play some silly sim games..

However, maybe a couple of years later my sister’s then-boyfriend gave me a bunch of Playstation 2 games that he didn’t like anymore. In that pile was a copy of The Sims for PS2. I was over the moon! Of course it was far from PC TS2 because the game imitated TS1 - and also, there was no CC, you could only build one-story houses, etc.. But I was still happy to play it.

Eventually I was able to get my hands on other PS2 sims games as well: Bustin’ Out (the best one!!!), The Urbz (what was this game????), all the variations of PS2 TS2 (which were very disappointing)..

When I turned 18 (…almost ten years ago! Help!), my parents bought me a laptop as a gift. And then maybe a month later, my sister’s friend installed TS2 on it (along with nightlife and university EPs)!! The game didn’t work very smoothly on it, it was VERY laggy, but I didn’t let it bother me :D The entirety of my first completed legacy, The Kalinkas, was played on that laptop!

So that’s where my TS2 simming began. I got started later than most people, I think…? But late is of course better than never :)

9. Play style?

I’ve got some kind of a rotational system going on - The challenge households are played one after the other, and then I play household by household, one area at the time.

So basically it usually goes a little like this:1. Challenge households2. Little Willowwood households3. Fernbrook households4. Gembridge households5. Hollowfield households6. Mallowshore households (only if/when there’s legacy kids here)

…And then I start from 1. again. How long I play with a household per session depends on my mood at the time.. Sometimes I might ignore a household altogether if I feel like it

Other play style related things.. Well, cheats are banned in challenge households.. But otherwise I might use cheats here and there to make things easier or to make sims fit a certain narrative (such as making a sim rich if I want them to be rich :D).

I often like to observe sims forming relationships on their own, and if drama happens, I’ll let it happen. :D And free will is on at all times!

18. Post the earliest screenshot you have on your computer

I dug this from an ancient Photobucket account.. I’m not sure if this is THE oldest screenshot I have, but it’s old enough for sure

These were some of my first sims with CC on them.. :D Hahah..  On the right we have Ulrika and then there’s her husband, whose name was.. Henri, I think??

I think I tried to start a legacy with them, but I lost interest at some point :D

Thanks for asking! ❤

[stainedglassgardens]

Favourite woman-directed films I saw in 2018

It’s funny because when the year started I thought I could never watch 52 films by women, considering that I usually barely watch fifty films a year, total. Then I watched 306 new-to-me films, out of which 105 were directed by women.

I saw so many good woman-directed films that I thought it would be hard to choose ten to make this list, but then I realised that I only had to include those films that absolutely blew my mind, and bam! Ten already.

Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik, 2010)

On Body and Soul (Testről és lélekről, Ildikó Enyedi, 2017)

We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay, 2011)

River of Grass (Kelly Reichardt, 1994)

The Midnight Swim (Sarah Adina Smith, 2014)

Raw (Grave, Julia Ducournau, 2016)

M.F.A. (Natalia Leite, 2017)

Daisies (Sedmikrásky, Věra Chytilová, 1966)

Always Shine (Sophia Takal, 2016)

Revenge (Coralie Fargeat, 2017)

Very broadly speaking, these ten can be divided into three categories. There’s gorey, imaginative, feminist genre -- Revenge, M.F.A., Raw; there’s visually and/or narratively boundary-expanding cinema -- Daisies, Always Shine, The Midnight Swim, We Need to Talk About Kevin, On Body and Soul; and then there are the indie stories about marginalised people, which might be my favourites of all -- here, River of Grass and Winter’s Bone.

When 2018 started I had only seen one film by Kelly Reichardt, and none by Debra Granik. Now they’re both among my favourite filmmakers. When I saw my first Kelly Reichardt film, years ago, I thought Wow, some people do make films about actual people. I’ve seen all of them now, and I liked all of them, but it wasn’t that hard picking River of Grass for this list -- there’s something so Carson McCullers, so Flannery O’Connor about the story, and visually it is so dreamlike.

I put Debra Granik together with Kelly Reichardt because their stories feel similar in many ways (and both feel similar to Agnès Varda’s), and seeing Winter’s Bone I was just completely blown away. It’s one of those films I would unreservedly call a masterpiece, and recommend to absolutely everyone. What places it above Leave No Trace (which I put as my number one new release of 2018) is the plot, and the ending especially, both completely surreal and mundane, like a cherry on top of spectacular acting and visuals worthy of Dorothea Lange .

Another slap in the face was We Need to Talk About Kevin. Together with a few other films in this list, it made me ponder what film can really do in terms of creating intricate, media-specific experiences that ultimately serve to provide a more rounded understanding of reality and what it means to be a person. We Need to Talk About Kevin was the first of these and probably had the biggest impact on me. Lynne Ramsay really is one of the few people with a completely unique vision.

I put Daisies, Always Shine, The Midnight Swim and On Body and Soul in the same category, although they don’t have a lot in common with each other, because they all have this aspect of visual and/or narrative boundary-pushing. It is so incredible that Daisies still feels like that to a first-time viewer today, even though it came out more than fifty years ago.

I saw Always Shine and The Midnight Swim around the same time and keep associating them in my mind for the nods to David Lynch, indie feel, and non-linear storytelling. Probably The Midnight Swim impressed me more, because it was the first time (and only, so far) that I saw a first-person narrative that looked quite like that.

On Body and Soul belongs in the same area of this mental map mainly because of the dream sequences. Before I saw it I probably would have found it impossible to talk about dreams in a way that didn’t feel recycled, but this managed just that. The juxtaposition of the wild forest animals at night with the cattle in the slaughterhouse during the day walks such a fine line between surrealism and social commentary, and the slaughterhouse sequences are all filmed with such incredible tact -- which only serves to make them more shocking.

Then there are the great genre films. Raw was fantastic, in part because it is so rare for a French person such as myself to find a French film to her liking, but also because everything about it felt so different -- it is firmly set in the horror genre, but it also draws from such a wide range of influences. M.F.A. and Revenge mirror each other in many ways, because they’re both rape-revenge films, a sub-genre I am incredibly glad and grateful that women are tackling in such interesting and challenging ways. I liked M.F.A. better, maybe, because it felt more real, and the ending better-thought-out, but if anything, I’d recommend a double-feature night to watch both.

Great films that didn’t quite make the cut, in no particular order:

Addicted to Fresno (Jamie Babbit, 2015): best sex comedy about actual grown-ups

I Think We’re Alone Now (Reed Morano, 2018): best post-apocalyptic “everyone is gone from the surface of the Earth but us” film

Ginger & Rosa (Sally Potter, 2012): best Cold-War England drama

Meek’s Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt, 2010) : best contemplative Western

Into the Forest (Patricia Rozema, 2015): best post-apocalyptic survivalist feminist film

Vagabond (Sans toit ni loi, Agnès Varda, 1984) : best film shot in my area of France

Khadak (Peter Brosens and Jessica Hope Woodworth, 2006): best science fiction film that takes place in Mongolia

Over time, I’m finding it easier and easier to watch more woman-directed films, both because I know where to look and because I’ll find it easier to relax and get into any genre at all when I know there’ll be infinitely less chance of rampant misogyny ruining an otherwise perfectly good film. It seems barely believable, now, to think that five years ago I didn’t know one single woman director, when clearly the quality and the variety are there, the work is there, and it stands so tall on its own.

Full 105-film list under the cut!

The Bad Batch (Ana Lily Amirpour, 2016)

Gas Food Lodging (Allison Anders, 1992)

Red Road (Andrea Arnold, 2006)

American Honey (Andrea Arnold, 2016)

A United Kingdom (Amma Asante, 2016)

Addicted to Fresno (Jamie Babbit, 2015)

The Selfish Giant (Clio Barnard, 2013)

Novitiate (Maggie Betts, 2017)

Bird Box (Susanne Bier, 2018)

Blue My Mind (Lisa Brühlmann, 2017)

Daisies (Sedmikrásky, Věra Chytilová, 1966)

The Kindergarten Teacher (Sara Colangelo, 2018)

Valley Girl (Martha Coolidge, 1983)

Palo Alto (Gia Coppola, 2013)

Lick the Star (Sofia Coppola, 1998)

The Beguiled (Sofia Coppola, 2017)

17 GIrls (17 Filles, Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin, 2011)

The Edge of Seventeen (Kelly Fremon Craig, 2016)

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (Alexandra Dean, 2017)

Madeline’s Madeline (Josephine Decker, 2018)

Desert Hearts (Donna Deitch, 1985)

Raw (Grave, Julia Ducournau, 2016)

On Body and Soul (Testről és lélekről, Ildikó Enyedi, 2017)

Mustang (Deniz Gamze Ergüven, 2015)

Revenge (Coralie Fargeat, 2017)

The Spy Who Dumped Me (Susanna Fogel, 2018)

Deidra and Laney Rob a Train (Sydney Freeland, 2017)

Twinsters (Samantha Futerman and Ryan Miyamoto, 2015)

The Trader (Sovdagari, Tamta Gabrichidze, 2018)

The Lifeguard (Liz W. Garcia, 2013)

Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig, 2017)

They (Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, 2017)

Tig (Kristina Goolsby and Ashley York, 2015)

The Deuce of Spades (Faith Granger, 2011)

Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik, 2010)

Leave No Trace (Debra Granik, 2018)

Casting JonBenet (Kitty Green, 2017)

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Amy Heckerling, 1982)

Axolotl Overkill (Helene Hegemann, 2017)

The Firefly (La Luciérnaga, Ana Maria Hermida, 2015)

Beach Rats (Eliza Hittman, 2017)

The Fits (Anna Rose Holmer, 2015)

The Land of Steady Habits (Nicole Holofcener, 2018)

Slums of Beverly Hills (Tamara Jenkins, 1998)

Private Life (Tamara Jenkins, 2018)

The Quiet Hour (Stéphanie Joalland, 2014)

Cameraperson (Kirsten Johnson, 2016)

By the Sea (Angelina Jolie, 2015)

Sweet Bean (あん, An, Naomi Kawase, 2015)

Lovesong (So Yong Kim, 2016)

I Feel Pretty (Abby Kohn, 2018)

Radius (Caroline Labrèche and Steeve Léonard, 2017)

Irreplaceable You (Stephanie Laing, 2018)

The Feels (Jenée LaMarque, 2017)

Breathe (Respire, Mélanie Laurent, 2014)

Galveston (Mélanie Laurent, 2018)

Octavio is Dead! (Sook-Yin Lee, 2018)

M.F.A. (Natalia Leite, 2017)

Aloft (Claudia Llosa, 2014)

The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond (Jodie Markell, 2008)

A New Leaf (Elaine May, 1971)

Dude (Olivia Milch, 2018)

The Dressmaker (Jocelyn Moorhouse, 2015)

I Think We’re Alone Now (Reed Morano, 2018)

Woodshock (Kate and Laura Mulleavy, 2017)

Girl Asleep (Rosemary Myers, 2015)

Tout ce qui brille (Géraldine Nakache and Hervé Mimran, 2010)

I Am Not a Witch (Rungano Nyoni, 2017)

Ginger & Rosa (Sally Potter, 2012)

Beneath the Harvest Sky (Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly, 2013)

Angels Wear White (嘉年华, Vivian Qu, 2017)

Cargo (Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke, 2017)

We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay, 2011)

You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay, 2017)

River of Grass (Kelly Reichardt, 1994)

Old Joy (Kelly Reichardt, 2006)

Meek’s Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt, 2010)

Night Moves (Kelly Reichardt, 2013)

Certain Women (Kelly Reichardt, 2016)

Into the Forest (Patricia Rozema, 2015)

Before I Fall (Ry Russo-Young, 2017)

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (Lorene Scafaria, 2012)

The Riot Club (Lone Scherfig, 2014)

Cracks (Jordan Scott, 2009)

Everything Beautiful is Far Away (Pete Ohs and Andrea Sisson, 2017)

Waitress (Adrienne Shelly, 2007)

Laggies (Lynn Shelton, 2014)

Outside In (Lynn Shelton, 2017)

Berlin Syndrome (Cate Shortland, 2017)

Lipstick Under My Burkha (Alankrita Shrivastava, 2016)

The Midnight Swim (Sarah Adina Smith, 2014)

Buster’s Mal Heart (Sarah Adina Smith, 2016)

The Lure (Córki dancingu, Agnieszka Smoczyńska, 2015)

Always Shine (Sophia Takal, 2016)

Shirkers (Sandi Tan, 2018)

Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong (Emily Ting, 2015)

Kedi (Ceyda Torun, 2016)

Cléo from 5 to 7 (Cléo de 5 à 7, Agnès Varda, 1962)

Vagabond (Sans toit ni loi, Agnès Varda, 1984)

Love, Cecil (Lisa Immordino Vreeland, 2018)

Jupiter Ascending (The Wachowskis, 2015)

Mr. Roosevelt (Noël Wells, 2017)

Woman Walks Ahead (Susanna White, 2017)

Khadak (Peter Brosens and Jessica Hope Woodworth, 2006)

Salesman (Albert Maysles, David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin, 1969)