#yeah i might be crazy

[starscream-is-my-wife]

Sometimes a day makes you want a Starscream to bite and squeeze

[yuwuta]

olympics coming up…… athlete aus on the mind….. satoru as a swimmer….. unreasonably large wingspan…. huge hands..... thinks “official” competitions and tournaments are boring because he can’t use the goofy purple googly eyes goggles he likes to practice in…… practices at ungodly hours solely because he likes when the pool is empty because that means you’ll dip your feet in at the edge and be there to greet him with a kiss when he’s finished his laps….. they bring up the stats board and it’s just his name ten times before the next fastest person and he could still lap them, and even tho he’ll always put so much pressure on himself to be the best, it’s worth it to have you hold his face and tell him you’re proud of him... he’s gotten so much merch from events and sponsorships and he used to think they just created clutter but that all changes when you start to wear his clothes (esp the ones with his name on it… he’s not proud to admit that does Something to him)…. always looks up to the stands when he finishes a race and if he knows you’re not there, he looks right at the camera, draws an infinity sign with his fingers, and blows a kiss (which, some commentators routinely call “unsportsmanlike conduct” but he doesn’t care, and always, publicly says he’ll pay the fees if it means blowing a kiss to his girl at home)

[chirpsythismorning]

Thank you for sharing this!!!

Something I also want to bring up in regards to this whole thing, is that TV static was used a decent amount in s4 promo.

I do think there are several reasons for this.

First, it's the 80s and VHS tapes were extremely popular. The setting in the literal show, Family Video, gives them the excuse to use a line like please be kind rewind, which is an obvious message from the Duffers telling us to rewatch the show if we want to be ready for what's to come (also a nod to them going back in time potentially).

Secondly, TV static on its own is a fairly common editing effect in general, with it being included on even the most basic editing apps. Though I do think what's unique in this case is that they made a major point to use it in s4 more than previous seasons.

We see it literally with the Nina plot-line, and the tapes being used to help El remember the massacre. We even got a promo, titled HNL Control Room.

In this promo, there are 7 TVs, all airing static, though slowly, one by one, they each take turns shifting into a visible frame from the massacre. Only one TV projects at a time, and eventually after all TV's have shown a total of 9 images (besides the middle/right TV, it got left out), the video ends.

This is just the start of their little tour in using a basic editing technique, but in a way that also fits into the narrative that is happening, making it feel more intentional than not.

The static kiss itself comes (allegedly) from the livestream countdown for the season 4 trailer. This countdown lasted 24 hours, leading up to the official release of the trailer on YouTube. Though soon after this livestream finished airing, Stranger Things made the livestream private.

There are only a few sources left for this stream, and I'll link them here, here. If you want to go hunting to try to find a way to piece together the validity of the static kiss, based on the static provided from these few sources, be my guest!

The first one I linked is from the 7 hour remaining mark. What we also have is the primary color theory doing its thing at the top of each hour, with the light on the clock going from yellow, to blue to red. (According to IMDb the Duffers wrote this promo, not sure how true that is, but these tiny details make it very likely they played at least a small role in guidance for how they wanted the promo to fit with their vision, also simply foreshadowing what is still to come.)

The second one I linked is from the moment before the livestream ends and the trailer is being shown. Oddly, they don't go straight to the trailer like any normal instance where they would, instead they continue to have the static accompany the early part of the trailer. It's a stylistic choice, but a weird one...

From what people who watched the live stream have said, it sounds like there was mostly just a live stream of the creel clock with scientists standing around it, interspersed with static at each hour, then transitioning into clips from past scenes, as well as b-roll footage made specifically for this promo.

These (here, here) are the few posts I could find of fans talking about the stream itself. It's interesting, so I would definitely check it out if you're curious about the clips from the show that were shown during the livestream (might be interesting for theory sake).

Another usage of tv static, ironically enough, relates to byler. It's actually known as one of the most ballsy examples of byler promo to date, and it's from one of the Stranger Things Experience locations, pre Vol 2.

Back then a lot of bylers saw this and got excited bc it looked like they were holding hands and that maybe this could mean they would be canon by the end of season 4 (naive children, that's not how slow-burn works). Though we know now this promo was probably meant to allude to Will and Mike sticking together by the end of Vol 2 and how that is predicted to continue into s5 (endgame). Regardless, a very interesting time to use a TV static effect considering...

And yet, the byler tv static effect saga doesn't stop there, according to this post:

This one in particular is so fucking odd to me. Because it almost looks too choppy, like borderline unprofessional? Why are they being so dramatic with the static here, when they could have just went with a simple fade to black to a s4 poster like a normal screening with intermissions in between? Why did they feel the need to haphazardly transition byler shots with choppy TV static? Why?

I do think that if the static kiss is real (i'm like 50/50 rn...), then it would make sense to do this weird shit they're doing with the tv static effect and having it pop up in other random pieces of content they're rolling out to promote the show. The Stranger Things Experience has a lot of really limited stuff, with even the cast themselves being contracted to take the time to act out scenarios as content for it, along with the screenings being something the Duffers really fought for. If byler is endgame and they have the proof of it hidden (static kiss), then these little references to it, poking fun at it basically, would be pretty hilarious.

I also think what makes the static kiss so fascinating, is that it opens up the possibility of unused footage which has already been speculated a lot about, especially in relation to rink o mania. And with what little we get of the lighting from the static kiss, it looks like its dark and almost blue in the setting it's taken in, quite similar to rink o mania. Which is interesting...

With them filming s4 when they had all of it written, means that they also knew while filming they wouldn't be returning to set for another 2 or so years... meaning that they could very well have had the time to look at their s5 outline, and come up with a s5 opening so that they could deal with their characters not looking the exact same as when we last saw them once they returned to film all of s5.

For example, just thinking about the ending scene of s4, if they're going to have us go right back to that scene or shortly after that moment, it might feel too obvious to the audience that these characters have aged, if they plan to have them return right back to that hill 2 years later in our time.

Usually we get time jumps between seasons, so we don't have to deal with this, but in this case we are presumably jumping right back where we left off within the timeline of the show...

And so it would make sense for them to have filmed the iconic opening to the final season, in advance, avoiding dealing with their characters aging, even potentially having this opening scene initiate the time jump, in turn accommodating the aged up cast who is able to film the rest of the season without it being distracting for the audience.

ALSO if a rink o mania-esque vision is in the cards for the opening of s5, it would make sense to have these easter eggs during s4 promo. This is because more often than not, the opening to new seasons is what gets revealed in advance. We saw that with s1, where the first 8 minutes were released before the premiere. And we saw that with s4 where the first 10 minutes were shown before the premiere. They film that opening knowing it's going to make everyone pumped up, and it's also going to be used for a decent amount of trailer footage so they don't have to waste too many later spoilers.

Same with the whole Will harness debacle (Noah debunked it saying he needed a harness for van scenes but i digress). Same with the Lonnie actor being at the s4 table reading. Same with Noah being at the rink-o-mania location in his yellow plaid instead of the blue one he wore for those episodes. Same with birthdaygate being alluded to all season cryptically, but not outright addressed, bc it's going to be addressed right at the start of s5...

Also feel free to call me crazy. All it takes is season 5 coming out to prove me wrong/right. Until then I am speculating and questioning anything and everything.

So like, if you take a video of something, a timeline is created where you can see each individual frame. Same thing for animation, but you’re the one that’s drawing the frames- like I attempted to draw three frames here

And each one of those frames is it’s own picture and set up like a classic film reel (but not sideways) even when done digitally. So what if we’re not looking at static (in the static picture source video/s4 promotion video) but a bunch of frames that are smushed together in a line and degraded just enough that people won’t be able to recognize them?

Like, okay, I zoomed in on one of the strips in the image above and then zeroed in on a random section of it- and it almost looks like there’s breaks in the image that create a pattern similar to that of a timeline (film reel).

What are the chances of all of this just being individual frames, which pieces that made up the static kiss were taken from and smushed into a single image? Which would make sense as to why I was able to pull information of out it (with my brain) and create an animation based off of it. @chirpsythismorning

[otome-dissection]

Idk man I just think that mizu/ena5 and its progression was really beautiful actually. I just think that the release of the ena5 song was also really beautiful and kind of the nail in the coffin for me and I haven't been able to get the event(s) out of my head all week and that I kind of want to talk about it, actually.

It's about being hurt so deeply and continuously that any kindness that could be offered to you manages to feel like a sin, that it makes you crumble and shatter but for all the wrong reasons, not because of the newfound safety, not out of relief, but something worse and more deeply ingrained in you than kindness ever was. It's about carefully measuring the distance at which you keep others away from yourself, to ensure that it never happens again ("To save yourself the trouble", if that makes it easier).

It's about realizing that the people you've been spending all this time with are drifting closer, that they just might bump up against the unsightly parts of yourself that you've tried to keep locked away, it's about turning around and sprinting at full speed and slamming the door shut and holding onto the handle behind you to stop it from turning, because you're as frightened of the possibility of another wound being inflicted on you as you are of the possibility that kinder, gentler hands will reach out and smooth over the exposed scar. It's about hating eyes that judge and silently condemn you as much as you hate eyes that simply see you and take all of you in without scrutiny, because no matter what they're looking and they're looking at you and they know that your hand's on that door handle and they know that you're hiding something because, as much as you try to keep it shut, they've seen through the crack that you foolishly left open.

(The prominence of eyes in Bake no Hana, specifically eyes looking and searching, and finally landing on you, the viewer, Mizuki, is so fucking. Visceral in my opinion. Every character in the MV stares at the viewer in a deadpan, almost judging way. Even though Mizuki knows deep down that niigo won't really hate them, won't judge them, she just can't stand their kindness either; any gaze directed at her is a loss, another prick in their skin. It screams "don't look at me" while making sure that you know, with horrific certainty, that they're looking for you, that you're being watched. You can't go outside, can't leave your room, because they're searching for you, and while that should be reassuring, to you it's anything but).

It's about not wanting to be dissected, whether it's with hands that want to pull your organs apart or stitch them back together because no matter what they're there, and they're getting frighteningly close to your heart. It's about blinding yourself and covering your eyes to it all because seeing means exposure and exposure means they're taking something from you and you can't do anything about it, much less take it all back, much less have a say in the matter. Everyone's just taking and taking and taking and you wish you could just be alone. You wish everyone would just disappear and you could live in a world all to yourself, for only yourself (but is that really what you want?).

It's about the way that, near the beginning of the Yoka ni Mitoreta MV, Mizuki and her loneliness is represented as a dark, splotchy stain in the shadows. No colors, no patterns, no way to clean it or wash it all away, just raw ugliness marring a blank canvas. It's about the way that Ena reaches out to it anyway, the way she startles when the glass shatters just when she finally starts reaching forward, the way that the rest of the MV/song represents her searching for and reaching only further out to Mizuki, even if the broken shards of glass will only cut her fingers, potentially leaving scars.

It's about how, in every way, subtly, directly, consciously, and subconsciously, Ena shows that she fucking cares.

It's about the way that Ena lets Mizuki have autonomy, despite the situation being so horribly out of their control. And it's such a delicate thing: If she really wants to, Mizuki can take the opportunity to just run away, keep running forever, repeat the cycle over and over, and maybe she'll just destroy herself with it again, but it can't be denied that it's something important to them, something she can't quite live without just yet, their means of survival. Mizuki's autonomy is their identity, it's her tailoring her own clothes and choosing her own ribbons and styling her own hair the way she does. Ena letting them have that is as much about trust as it is about understanding that Mizuki of all people should have this right, when control was something stripped from her throughout so much of her life. She couldn't control how she was born, how people look at her or why, can't control what they think of her; lacking control has only left Mizuki vulnerable to the cruelties of others, has only caused them to suffer, which is why it's so important that it's given to them now.

She had the control to make the choice to see niigo's welcoming love and run away instead of staying, and she has the control to make the choice now whether she wants to keep things the way they are or take a step forward to be at their side again. She has every right to have it, and I think the fact that Ena realizes and respects that, even if it's subconsciously, is really beautiful (there is an entire fucking Verse about this in the new song and just. God Look at this. It's so caring, unconditional, and for fucking What. I think there is something to be said about how much Ena is willing to put aside for Mizuki, and maybe deep down it isn't healthy, but for now I'm just kind of in awe)

It's about how insanely patient Ena has been this whole time. Mizuki says that she basically lied to Ena's face about telling her their secret, even after Ena said with such conviction that she would wait for Mizuki as long as it takes, and Ena is just kept waiting and waiting and worrying like this seemingly indefinitely. It's about how Mizuki danced around it, avoided it, kept the distance, straight up ran when she was finally pushed, but Ena still chased anyway when she saw that she couldn't wait anymore, kept chasing just enough to intervene and get a straight answer out of Mizuki when she really needed to, but still leaving her enough space to leave if that was truly what she wanted. It's about how relieved Ena is the moment that Mizuki finally says outright how much they want to be with her and niigo, how much she wants to try, how much more light Ena's voice sounds when she grabs her hand, relieved, the way that the relief she feels can be felt through the music, throughout the entirety of Yoka ni Mitoreta, the way that warm colors always follow her when she chases after Mizuki, just to hold onto her and stop her from running away completely.

It's about how that careful combination of Ena's directness, Ena's persistence, Ena's warmth, her patience, her bluntness about her feelings, the way she chases and holds on but not too tight and her regard for how unsafe and exposed Mizuki feels actually works and breaks it all down. It's about how she really did reach through to Mizuki, despite the thorns and broken glass shards and nearly-unfulfilled promises, the way that Mizuki did finally let her turn the door handle and step through to see what she'd been hiding all this time, the way that Mizuki's hand, limp, when Ena first grabs onto it, shifts to hold hers back as they cry in the face of Ena's gentleness.

Despite how harsh Mizu/Ena5, and even Ena herself as a character can be (or at least was in the very beginning of pjsk), everything is somehow gentle and warm in the end, blindingly so. And you know what, I think that's beautiful. And what's even more beautiful than that is how Mizuki allows themself to crumble and shatter under that kindness, that warm light, but this time, finally, out of relief.

On a final note, I just want to say that I also appreciate how all that didn't have to solve everything. The scars haven't disappeared, haven't gone away, and Mizuki knows that their desire to run hasn't gone away forever, and maybe it never truly will. But for now they've calmed it, at least a little. She's learning to allow herself to be seen, learning that when someone's fingertips brush over their scars the way Ena's did that it's only out of care, and that maybe taking in that care and allowing herself to feel kindness and safety is okay. They're safe, for now, somehow. They're learning. They're trying. And I think that's cool :)

[keferon]

Isn’t Vortex a fucking torture freak tho? 👀👀👀

Yep. He is. He is a lot of things actually. The more you learn about him the more fucked up it gets

[unspecifiedfigure]

those shorts aren’t regulation length soap…..

[introspectivememories]

too many of you guys think nico is the loser and not lewis for letting the divorce go on for so long. like they're both losers about each other. emotionally constipated idiots who can't talk about their toxic homoerotic friendship that imploded on itself like 8 years ago and are now making it everyone else's problem. yeah nico's on television or in beer gardens talking about lewis all the time but like every other month some reporter is like "lewis, what's your favorite moment in your career?" and lewis no hesitation is like "oh man, karting, y'know? everything was simpler then" and then spends another six months skirting around nico's name. like this whole thing they're doing in the media isn't some kinda extended foreplay for them. they're both still pressing on the bruise to make sure it's still there!!! every few months, they're literally just asking on public television, does it still hurt for you like it does for me? and like clockwork, someone will release new information about them or one of them will say something about each other (in my heart, he's still my best friend/yes... and teammate) and the answer will remain the same, yes, of course, always.

[shuploc]

Ai art?

Are you fucking joking?

Sorry, no, it is not and I find it so disrespectful you would even think to ask that. I have not and will NEVER touch anything AI related ever in my life, I think it's so utterly pointless and destructive and it frankly makes me wanna kill myself.

So no, it is not and never will be, and you can safely hold that to me for the rest of my existence. I really hope this is the last time someone asks me this.

[a-lonely-dunedain]

this is so sad her head is a metal potato...........

[sallymew4]

EVERYONE STOP WHAT YOURE DOING RIGHT FUCKING NOW

EVERYBODY SHUT UP IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kacievvbbbb]

You ever think about how Mihawk definitely does not hear his name alot?

Like there are probably only 2 people in the entire world that consistently refer to him by name. To the rest of the world he’s just an epithet. He might as well have no real name for as little as he hears it.

He’ll hear it at introductions always preface by his epithet, he’ll see it in the bounty posters and notice it in the history books. But barely anyone will ever calm him that. Just a pink headed ghost girl and the red headed half of the most complicated situationship panning 20 years.

You ever think about how Shanks probably has a thousand and one nicknames for Mihawk he cycles through at a whim but maybe Mihawk’s favorite will always be the soft way in which Shanks calls out his given name like that’s all there is too it like there’s a Mihawk that exists all on its own. No matter the situation Shanks calls him Mihawk and he has his full attention

[ricky-mortis]

Curtwen Week Day 6: Happy Ending

[wraithlafitte]

misha’s good idea show literally had me crying by the end 🥹 like i thought i was gonna be ok to meet him tmrw bc i haven’t gotten starstruck at all yet and i’ve met a few of the actors in the vendors room?? but now i’m thinking about how his mental health journey parallels mine and how his dedication to finding beauty in everything has made ME do that which has subsequently made me far far happier….

one of the last things he talked about was standing in his driveway and looking out on the valley on a beautiful summer day and thinking, “what a lucky life.” and brother i SOBBED

[delzinrowe]

What do you make of having a vampire in our camp?

[hajihiko]

Depressionmetaphor.png

[palossssssand]

After several weeks of painstaking work, my weevil costume is done!!! I made it for a parade where our uni’s entomology club participated in, which was a lot of fun! The colors are based on Eupholus magnificus.

The build is made put of cardboard and masking tape. I covered the top stripe, eyes, and underside of the head with mesh, so visibility and breathability is pretty fantastic. The antennae are adjustable too! The head is attached to the thorax with a velcro strip.

The extra arms are attached with fishing line and velcro to the top gloves. Definitely a challenge to figure out, one of the arms unfortunately snapped off during parading :(

Overall, I’m incredibly pleased with how the costume turned out, it’s been a while since having a cool project to work on!