#zoom in and look at my dots they are great I love them

[the-coffee-fandom]

Pretty Green Gaze

A fanart for @tree-reads fic Pretty Green Paper

[cocogum]

The Great Wave - Chapter 2 Review

‼️ SPOILERS FOR THE CHAPTER ‼️

I have good news and bad news.

The bad news is, no smexy time here.

The good news is, we get some Yugo and Adamaï moments, AND the SADIDAS are FUMING 😍🥰

But before we see the sadidas, we can’t start this off without addressing Yugo and Adamaï’s interaction at the beginning of the chapter.

Cuz man, I liked it but when @vinillain addressed it and even ANALYZED IT I fell in love with this scene even more 💖💖

Without their perspective on the matter, I would have missed so many details. Here’s the post if you are interested.

So yeah I’m glad I found their analysis on it and I hope you like it just as much as I did ✨

Now let’s start.

I found babes lol (the dot is so tiny!!)

Look at his emo ass just looking gloomy after having a wet dream. My guy is such a drama queen that he decided to sit at the top of the kingdom just to make himself feel better.

(Get down from there you little shit-)

Adamaï swoops in and actually helps? Omg slay? Like you’re doing something helpful while scolding Yugo that’s actually good. Cuz ngl I’ve been getting kinda annoyed that Yugo had just left Amalia to deal with the sadidas’ problems all alone.

If Yugo didn't have nightmares like these from time to time, I could have overlooked his decision to leave her to deal with it on her own. But now that we know he does get them, it’s a pretty big deal.

He confirms it to Adamaï when he tells him that his condition has been worsening meaning that he’s already used to it and yet decides to not say anything to Amalia AND KEEPS LEAVING HER DEAL WITH THE PEOPLE ON HER OWN. Now he obviously doesn’t leave her like that during the whole day. It’s just that there’s a good chance he’s not there with her during the mornings. Like, imagine fucking a dude who keeps having PTSD nightmares every two nights. Now we know why she got pissed in Chapter 1 when he left her on the ground naked like that. Girl just wants to have fun and lead her people let her have her moment-

Also, we all saw this coming folks.

The blue cows are back.

Bro is trying so hard to be Eva. Look at him trying to visualize and zoom in on the wastes of spaces coming to the kingdom.

Also, I remember how some of us used to think that Aurora was pregnant which is why she might’ve had the balls to come back to the kingdom and try to regain her throne, you know, the very same kingdom THAT SHE FUCKING FLED FROM DURING A WAR THAT COULD’VE WIPED THE WHOLE RACE. The pregnancy theory was a common one to be shared around because the trailer for the manga did not show her stomach. Some of them also theorized that theory because it made the most sense as to why she’d want to come back willingly whether her father wanted her to or not.

Of course, no shade to anyone who thought about this theory before but I love how they tried to justify her stupidity for returning by making up this theory.

Cuz it turns out that bitch wasn’t pregnant after all.

Her stomach is flatter than a washboard and her return happened AFTER FOUR MONTHS (or around that number at least) so her stomach would have at least had a bump but she got none of that.

Judging by Yugo’s expression when he realizes them, he doesn’t look like he’s surprised to see that they’re coming back. He looks like he’s pissed off, annoyed at the fact that they’re coming.

I initially believed that the reason why Yugo looked angry, instead of confused or shocked at seeing them come back, was because the royal Osamodas family might have been trying to return during those few months after season 4. But it turns out that this wasn’t the case because when Aurora manages to re-enter the kingdom, Amalia tells her she didn’t expect her to come back ever again. This means that the royal osamodas family only came back once. So Yugo’s only reason for being angry at seeing them must’ve been because he heard everything the family did through Amalia (including all the times the blue cow tried to marry Amalia off to one of her brothers AND THEN her cousin) which is pretty understandable to be pissed off about.

Finally, after a full week of waiting, the Sadida people make their presence known in this chapter AND IT’S EVERYTHING I’VE EVER WANTED.

We learn that the sadidas are annoyed that the elite eliatropes have not only stayed but that they also shared some of their lands.

I genuinely feel bad for this eliatrope getting criticism from this old sadida. True, they did come here and stayed but they’re not even a lot to begin with. We’re not talking about thousands of children eliatropes here. We’re talking about 30 to 40 eliatropes since these were the bravest to have joined their mother and ALSO completed a lot of missions (that they knew of through the eliaculus) that involved putting their life on the line. So to hear these sadidas claim that they don’t feel at home must say A LOT if 30-40ish eliatropes were able to make such a change. The old sadida man even said that they do not understand sacrifice as the sadidas do.

And that’s something that’s been bothering me since I learned that the sadidas weren’t aware of the eliatropes’ past.

Didn’t Amalia tell Yugo to explain to the sadidas their background?? It sure sounds like he didn’t do anything about presenting his people to Amalia’s. If you’re going to share a land with people you’ve never seen before, you might as well present yourself, no? Because if you don’t, tension and possible harassment are exactly what would happen to the eliatropes if they don’t do anything about that topic.

I also wanted to point out how the people have been behaving towards Amalia in Seasons 1 to the Ovas. This is important to notice because these guys clearly love her and always think of her as a good future queen. We even get a confirmation in Season 4 that a lot of sadidas would rather have her as their leader rather than Armand.

So the fact that a lot of them are now feeling like they’re not at home anymore because Amalia let the elite eliatropes stay makes them think as if they’ve somewhat been betrayed by her.

Translation for 1st panel: “Your father and brother would have never accepted this!”

Translation for 2nd panel: “He’s right! We aren’t at home here!”

Translation for 3rd panel: “These eliatropes are not like us! Your father and brother would have never shared our lands!”

This is a very big shift from what we know. For once, Amalia doesn’t receive smiles or praises.

A lot of them are now siding with Armand and her father, claiming that they wouldn’t have let the eliatropes stay. We know Armand wouldn’t have done that because he confirmed it to Amalia in Season 4 right after the meeting with the Eliatrope goddess ended. But Amalia’s father? No. King Oakheart would’ve welcomed them with open arms. He told Yugo that he had no problem welcoming his people (he said this in Season 2).

The sadidas were right about one of her family members not accepting the eliatropes and I believe it reflects how hurt they all feel about this decision. Because they have no one else to blame this decision on, they are trying to think that only Amalia in the royal family would’ve done that so they immediately point fingers at her.

And then, as if things couldn’t get any worse, the blue cows are officially back. And yes, I’m going to call them blue cows from now on, just like how I addressed them in the beginning too.

Yugo: “Sorry, I didn’t have the time to warn you.”

Also Yugo: has the ability to create portals.

The Osamodas family is even more brain-dead than I thought.

Blue fat cow over here is saying “here’s your legitimate ruler” while pointing at another cow but she ain’t even a Sadida. And then you’ve got Amalia over here who’s obviously royal Sadida blood so idk why tf the blue cow king would think he did something there. The sadidas just said that they don’t feel at home cuz of the eliatropes so what makes him think the people are gonna accept a useless blue cow who’s only not a Sadida but did nothing during the war? The sadidas are already pissed at not feeling like they’re at home, don’t throw more gasoline into the fire by claiming an OSAMODAS is fit for the SADIDA THRONE.

Yugo’s wave where you at?

The Osamodas King lost so many neurones when he stayed in that cave, he should just go back in there with his ugly crusty ass bats.

But it’s alright, I’m not even mad (i’m fuming) because no matter how stupid and dumb the king sounded, if you look at chapter 3’s cover, the king doesn’t look confident and cocky anymore.

Clearly, something must’ve happened in the throne room when he was spewing all this shit about Aurora being the “legitimate heir” because AGAIN, that’s clearly Amalia’s role so I genuinely hope that the sadidas were the ones who made the king frown like that. Because there’s a gigantic possibility that they must have flat-out told the king to sit his ass down and remind him that he and his worthless daughter didn’t do shit when the war happened and now he suddenly wants to rule them?? Of course they’d get pissed by what he said!

The majority of them obviously looked bothered by what he had just announced as well. Everyone in the throne room looked like they were just shocked to hear him talk. EVERYONE.

So yeah, I hope I see this fatass get humiliated. Even the eliatropes are like ‘sir what the fuck are you doing’ type of shit.

[wotunciba]

Millennium Visions - Gshade Presets

Introducing my y2k vibe presets! I've been trying to capture that nostalgic feel of 2000s photos, though I gotta admit, the results aren't exactly what I expected. Still, I managed to whip up 4 versions.🎉

❗Important things:

🩵 Gshade version: 5.0.2

🩵 Made for CAS (v3 and v4 also work great for in-game photography).

🩵 I use this in-game lighting mod and this CAS background, so they might look different in your game.

🩵 I can't guarantee that my presets will work with other versions of Gshade or Reshade, but feel free to tweak them to suit your own style and get the perfect look.

➡️ I really love the noise effect in these presets. If you zoom in on the uploaded screenshots, you'll notice these tiny dots (or whatever you wanna call them) that add some extra detail and texture to your pics.

➡️ The list of shaders:

➡️ Please do not claim my presets as your own. ➡️ Please do not put my presets behind paywalls.

ᗦ↞✧ Free Download:

Patreon / Sim File Share / Ko-fiฅ

--⭒˚‧ ⭒ ཐིཋྀ ⭒ ‧˚⭒⭒˚‧ ⭒ ཐིཋྀ ⭒ ‧˚⭒⭒˚‧ ⭒ ཐིཋྀ ⭒ ‧˚⭒--

[mrghostrat]

I remember you posting a blurred gif of the outline of atws, so if you don't mind me asking, how do you do that? Like, get the outline onto paper and not just scenes in your head. That's something I've always struggled with, because it's hard to write without an outline, but hard to do the outline when I don't have a first draft? I'm not sure how to explain it so I hope this makes any sense at all lmao

ahh so fair! some people just don't operate that way and you gotta do what's best for your brain. no point exhausting all your energy trying to squeeze into a "standard writing process" that'll make writing even more difficult for yourself.

under the cut, i'm going to explain my writing process every step of the way, using scenes of ATWS. i hope it helps in some way? i don't think it's anything special, but this is just how i write to appease my adhd.

first, this might help: i once used storyplanner.com when i didn't know how to even start a story and i loved it. it's a great tool that can hold your hand every step of the way, or just prompt you to think on your own. there's over 20 planners that ask different questions like "what's your character's major flaw?" "what's the inciting incident?" "what outside elements hinder the character?" etc that will present you with a complete story structure when you're done with it.

ok, now, how i write:

as for the post in reference, that's the 2nd stage of my writing process. i get carried away with tangents and hone in on details, so i plan in dot points to try and force myself to keep it simple and stay zoomed out.

i just write what happens in chronological order, and if i have an idea for a later scene (or something that i just want to happen, but don't know when/where/how), i note that in a separate document that i can refer to while i plan. this also allows me to gloss over vague sections to keep my writing flow going.

stage 1:

i've started using Notion's "toggle list" feature to minimise the less important parts of a scene and keep myself focused on the overarching plot during this stage. this is what the first point looks like:

i go beat by beat, essentially amounting to an elevator pitch for each stage of my story. "crowley and aziraphale are streamer roommates" + "people start to notice they each live with someone and the speculation starts" + "crowley and aziraphale interact on twitch" + "they attend the edinburgh meetup" etc.

i finish a story before i move on from this stage. i won't start writing something in earnest until i know how it ends.

stage 2:

this is what you saw in my gif, and why that page was so long. that's every scene i'm going to write in the story.

sometimes i jump straight from stage 1 to writing, but ATWS required a lot more figuring out before i started any kind of prose. here i'm basically noting down the details of what each scene is, the brunt of what's happening. this is when i have to figure out those "vague sections" i glossed over earlier.

it's still just intended to be a rough outline so i know where the characters are and what's moving their relationship along. most of these dot points are short because i've already thought about them a thousand times, and may have more details noted down in a different document.

meanwhile some of them i'm planning out the scene as i'm dotting it, making not of dialogue that i want to include.

stage 3: my bracket method

i only use this stage when i'm struggling to write and need to baby step into it. this is my "bracket method" in which i write the scene without, like... caring? some people may consider this "double handling" which may drive you mad, but it's the most helpful thing i've ever done for my process.

i switch tenses, i write how i chat (no capitals etc) and just word vomit the scene without focusing on prose. ATWS came quite easily at first, and i didn't need to use stage 3 until i got to chapter 4 and hadn't written in a few days.

stage 4:

this is writing the actual prose, but i wanted to include it so you can see the differences, to help better understand my notes/planning/outlining stages:

and this is what a scene looks like with stage three bridging the gap:

[l-in-the-light]

(Mis)adventures of Law with the Strawhats [fanfiction snippet, part 1]

"Torao!!" he cries out way too loudly. "Let's play that game again!!"

Law turns towards him, but doesn't answer immediately and it's not even because his mouth is full at the moment, he doesn't care about that.

"Again…?" he finally voices out, looking at no one in particular.

"What game?" asks Chopper. Usopp also curiously looks between Law and Luffy.

"We played that funny thing yesterday when you zoom up and down and throw a stone with dots on it!" Luffy exclaims.

"Is that why you missed breakfast today?" Usopp asks and Luffy nods fervently.

"I wish I didn't. Sanji, can you make me a breakfast now??"

"Breakfast after lunch, huh?" Sanji muses from behind the counter. "Sure"

"Thanks, you're the best!!"

Law frowns. "Just play it by yourself this time" he grumbles between bites.

"No way! You said it can't be played alone! Also I already forgot the rules…"

"There's no way you already forgot them!" Law protests, takes a look at Luffy, then his eyes dart to completely opposite direction. "Fine, but gather more people. It's boring with just two. Get four more"

"I didn't think it was boring with just the two of us" Luffy beams at him, takes bigger bite and shouts "So who wants to play with us??"

"You didn't exactly tell us what type of game it is" Usopp frowns, while Chopper is already shouting back "Me, I want!!"

"It's just a regular snake and ladders board game" Law answers despite the question not being directed at him.

"It's yours?" Robin asks. "Didn't take you for the type to keep board games around"

"My crew often dragged me to play with them"

"But isn't Snake and Ladders a game for kids?" Franky butts in. "It takes me back… Tom bought it for us once, but Iceburg was a party pooper and said he's not a kid anymore and in the end I had to teach Yokozuna to play with me instead"

Law has no idea who all those people he mentioned were, so he just ignores that part.

"It is. It's not like he would be able to understand any more complicated game" he says while gesturing towards Luffy, who just laughs in answer and says with his mouth still full: "That's right. Can't wait to play!"

"You still miss three more people" Law reminds him.

"Oh, right. Guys, who wants to play? It's gonna be fun!!"

"I guess I could make you the honour of God Usopp joining in, just so you have enough people. Know my mercy!" says Usopp while his nose extends all the way up to the ceilling.

"ME!" repeated Chopper.

"I already counted you in" says Law which made Chopper exclaim some loud, possibly not malignant noises.

"I would love to try!" Yamato exclaimes after swallowing a whole plate of food at once.

"Great! Then we have everyone!"

"You're one person short" points out Law and smirks when Luffy grumbles at that.

"Come on guys, Robin, join us! Nami? Zoro??"

"I want to relax reading a book" Robin replies, smiling.

"I have plans already. I need to catch up on my map drawing" Nami exclaims as she gets up from the table, already having finished her meal.

"I'm gonna train" answers Zoro shortly.

Luffy frowns, looking around the table again. "Franky? Brook? Sanji? Jimbei?"

"I'm too old for that" Jimbei answers. "I will leave you youngsters to that"

"Same here" Franky adds.

"I will be busy making desserts for the ladies" Sanji chimes in.

Brook looks around the Sunny's kitchen back and forth, till finally answering as well. "I will gladly join"

"GREAT! Now we have everyone, you can't say no anymore!!" Luffy turns to Law and extends his hands high up, like in a victory pose. Law eyes dart to him for a second, but he doesn't say anything, just gets up and walks towards the door.

"Torao?" Luffy asks after him.

"Gonna go fetch the game"

-----------------------

"So, how do we play it exactly?" Usopp asks. "Not that I don't know already, mind you, I'm just asking because there's no way Luffy remembers the rules!"

"It's true, I don't" Luffy says.

"We all start from this place" says Law, pointing his finger to the starting position on the board. "We take turns rolling the die till we reach the goal, which is here" his finger moves all the way up on the board. "Whenever you land on a field with a ladder, you go up, till you reach the top of it. When you land on snake, you slide down instead. That's all there is to it"

"What's a die?" asked Chopper. Law looks at him, then looks at all of them looking back at him, he pauses and closes his eyes for a moment, and then takes a square-like object in his fingers.

"This is a die. You roll it like that" he says and flips it in his fingers and lets it fall to the board, the die making a short wooden noise when it meets the surface. Everyone stares at it before the object finally stops, showing five dots on top.

"So that's the legendary die… Of course I already knew that. I had a dozen, no, two dozens of them back in the village. It's the first time I see one made out of wood" Usopp blabbles.

"So what do we do? Do we just add all the dots on each side of it?" asks Chopper, inspecting the square and poking it with his hoof. "It's kinda hard to see all the sides though"

"No, wait, Chopper, that wouldn't make any sense" said Usopp, putting on his serious face and poking his own nose. "It wouldn't matter then to roll the die, because the sides never change, so the result would be always the same"

"Oh" Chopper comments.

"I think I get it. It must be the result on the top that counts. So, five dots!" Usopp concludes his deduction.

"Ooooh, you're so smart, Usopp!!" Chopper cries out.

"Of course" Usopp exclaims, smashing his hand to his chest. "After all I played many games before and flipped dozen of dies"

"Dice" Law corrects him.

"Right, this one is actually special, because it's wooden and called a dice. I knew that" Usopp says, raising his voice just a bit. He looks at Law, moves his eyes from left to right, and finally makes some random gesture of flipping his fingers. Law turns to Luffy instead. "Choose the order"

"Order?"

"Of who goes first, second, and so on, all the way to the last person for the round"

"OH. Easy, I'm going first, because I'm gonna be the King of the Pirates and I'm the captain!"

"Unfair!" Usopp protests immediately. "Let's decide by luck, we can draw lots"

Luffy makes a face, but before he can say anything, Yamato already extends scraps of paper in their direction. "Let's do it! That's how you do it, right??" he asks.

"When did you manage to get that?" Luffy exclaims. "You're so fast!"

Yamato snickers at him, quickly scribbles something on the papers, and holds the pieces in her fist, so that whatever is written can't be seen, only the tops of paper. "Choose one!"

Everyone but Law extends their hands to draw one. Yamato looks at him expectantly.

"You draw first. Whatever will be left is mine" he explains.

"I can?? Really??" Yamato chirps, eyes sparkling. "Thanks!!" pulls one lot out. "Oh, I have number 2" and looks apologetically at Law. "Yours is six" and shows him his number. "I can trade with you if you want!"

"I can trade with you too, Torao!! Though I think I got the worst number…"

"It's fine, I don't really care"

"You're so kind!" Yamato cries out over everyone shouting their own numbers over each other.

Law just quickly proceeds to put down pawns on the starting point.

"So, who is the first?" he asks no one in particular.

"God Usopp!" says the man, flashing his teeth and showing off his scrap of paper with number 1 on it.

"Good. You will be yellow then"

"Wait, I don't get to decide?!"

"Nope"

"Why?! Who gave you the right?! This is important, the most important decision to make, the colors will change everything about the gameplay!"

"I'm the last one to go, the rules say I get to decide the pawns for everyone"

Usopp looks at him and narrows his eyes. Finally he says, while pointing his finger at him. "I will still sue you if I lose because of that"

"I will sue you too!!" Luffy exclaims, pointing his finger at Law as well.

"You? What for?"

"I don't know!" Luffy frowns. "Why should I sue Torao?"

"I dunno-" starts Usopp.

"For not trading with you" Brook says instead, trying to be helpful.

"Thanks Brook! I will sue Torao for not trading lots with me!"

"Do you even know what that word means?" Usopp asks, just in case.

"Nope! Shishishi!"

"I also don't know!" Chopper says, raising his hoof high in the air.

"Then you won't know" Law butts in which earns him another loud cry from Chopper.

"It means to force a person that has treated you unfairly or hurt you in some way to give you something or to do something for you to make up for it" Brook explains, which earns him a sideway look from Law.

"Eh, then I don't want to sue Torao" Luffy says. "It doesn't sound fun. Forcing people isn't fun" and Chopper shouts "I also don't want to!", just a heartbeat too late to be in unison with Luffy.

"Said someone who forced me to play" Law counters, leaving Luffy speechless for once and immediately looking away.

"It's all Usopp's fault anyway!" the captain finally says, showing a tongue in sniper's direction.

"How is it my fault?! Keep me out of it! I know nothing of it!!"

"Are we playing guys??" Yamato butts in, quickly moving his arms up and down and looking from the board to everyone.

"YES" Luffy, Usopp and Law answer a bit too loudly in unison, and Chopper just a moment too late, while Brook just laughs.

tbc.

(I guess? Should I?)

[ozonecologne]

like HOW did you do the shading on that lnx piece!! the velvet?

🥰 I will happily walk you through my layer process for this piece!

First, I do a sketch of my subject from reference to get the general shape of things. Once I'm happy with it, I line everything in solid black with a default hard round brush.

You can see the outline of the durag above the forehead here, and my navigation panel to the right that shows where in the piece this is overall. This canvas was 8.5x11 inches at 720dpi, so I think the size of this outline brush was 15px? I think the smaller lines were a 5px, used with a really low pressure.

Once everything is outlined, I add a base color layer underneath the outline layer. I try to match this color to the reference as best as I can just using my eyes, but sometimes I help myself out by color picking the middle tone. I'm still learning about color so this step is hard for me. Cheat when you can!!!!

Once the main color is under there, I look really carefully at my reference and block in the shadows and variations in the colors that I can see, checking myself with the color picker as I go. I'm sure someday I will get faster at this, but color theory is hard 😮‍💨

I noticed a gray reflective purple-y shadow at the front, but also that the velour/velvet is not uniform. I use a soft round brush at different levels of opacity to make little dots that really tell you what texture this is, and then make the brush bigger and softer to unify them with some longer strokes. There's no rhyme or reason to this part, I just flip really fast between my canvas and the reference image to try and paint what I see.

Once all these colors are more are less where they're supposed to be, I adjust the line art color with clipping masks to make the shape a bit more organic. I just match the surrounding colors I've blocked in so we have a smooth blend, also paying attention to edge highlights.

Time for the bigger and brighter highlights to make everything pop! I lay down some bigger shapes first, like these long strokes of white that I soften at the edges with a low opacity soft round eraser.

You can see on the navigation bar to the right what the zoomed-out piece looks like at this stage. It's getting there, but there's a lot more texture and brighter highlights on this area! To really make it look like velour, I zoomed in on the reference image and noticed that a lot of the highlights at the front here are actually more of those dot shapes. That's what makes it look soft to the touch. I use a really small soft round brush at full opacity to pop those in:

YEAHHHHH now we're talking.

I've spent a lot of time on this area, so I'm ready to move on! Once the whole piece is finished, I use a trick that I learned from Elicia by duplicating everything I've drawn, merging it into one layer, blurring it, and lowering the opacity.

It might not be that noticeable here, but zoomed out it gives the whole piece a bit of a glow and softens up the lines. It makes the painting a little less crisp, a little more dreamy. I love learning tips like this from other artists I admire -- it doesn't always work out when you try to map someone else's style onto your own, but sometimes you find something that really sticks!

Finally, I put on some adjustment layers. I especially like to play with saturation since my color theory is still not that good, and I always worry about my contrast so I usually do a curves layer as well (lighten up the lights, darken up the darks). I'm also a fan of a nice pink overlay, but I didn't do that here. I don't think it needed it!

So now I'm done! And here's the finished piece:

Looks great :) Hope this is cool to you!!!

[thenwethrowitonthefire]

hello. I don't have any much of ask this time, mainly wanting to know which spark song you've been hyper in it(if you comfortable to say of course) and rant

I haven't listened to any songs lately since depression has tighten it grips on me causing me get overwhelmed/over-sensitive to voices but there is this verse keep repeating in my head from change by sparks for unknown reasons (consider I'm not good at memorizing lyrics so I only know this part of song)

Change; every dog is gonna have his day // Change; every loser's gonna have his way// Change; I don't care what other people say

i think you had said one or two things about this song to me before but I never opened the discussion cause I feel we will talk ENDLESSLY about it. each sentence in this song carries lot meanings, the full song has it deep heavy meaning while it looks clear as well -very spark type of thing- (like ocean I suppose? at least to me. with clear surface but deepness) and the feelings that arise when I focus on each lines, it goes into my heart before sinks in my soul (I also want to cry with - could be because I'm depressed)

I think is one of those songs I love from sparks that get me go numb on the kitchen floor like the angst on my pants if I let it posses me.

the previous answer still has me! still thinking about and trying to gather my thoughts over it, your overlook on full album by pointing the main concept of each song had me to listen to full album with closer look this time (+ the additional reblog from that account made some good points too (thank you! if you reading this :))

Hello again! ^^ So nice to see you in my ask box once more :)

I'm sorry to hear depression is being really tough on you at the moment, I hope things will be a bit better again soon ⁠♡ Change is a good song to hold your hand through dark days, the part of the lyrics you've highlighted in your message say it all. I really like what you said about the song and so I'll just give you a knowing smile because I think we understand each other perfectly well :)

I'm glad you enjoyed the previous answer and that you're still thinking about it, I love them so much for having made an album like that in these times :) (Hey @parts-of-me-unravelling thanks again for your addition about crying in one's latte ☺️)

I'm always comfortable talking about any song that I've been fixated on but I've honestly not listened to a lot of music recently (I've also been down in the dumps a bit and crave silence a lot). Sparks is always there though in other ways even when I'm not listening to music: I recently got a poster that I feared I'd missed out on. It made me so happy! It's good memories and a truly great photo. I also bring Sparks up in random conversations a lot, yesterday a friend was talking to me about pandemic isolation times and how people would only dress up the upper half of their bodies for zoom calls. ...so I was thinking of when Sparks made a video in which Russell stood up to show off his polka dot shorts, to which Ron said he wasn't going to stand up because he wasn't wearing shorts and it was supposed to be a pg rated video 😂 (I appreciate these guys so much.) It's in one of their 2020 videos on Instagram, all of which are very worth watching btw. (During self-isolation Russell treated us to singing lessons and workout sessions, Ron showed off his hand sanitizer collection and "The Ronald D. Mael Museum of stones and shells" (if I remember the name correctly), we got A Day In The Life Of Russell, Russell showing off his fridge magnet collection, and weekly lyric reads from Ron, as well as a couple of live recordings of songs from home. Honestly they were sweet as hell for doing all of that, I treasure all of these videos immensely. ... They might be good to watch actually if you need a mood boost :))

But here's something I've been hoping to tell you as there's something exciting coming up for the Sparks fandom: Sparkstember. It's a full month of celebrating Sparks and all their different albums and projects, and it takes place in September. The prompts list hasn't been posted yet but I'm going to assume it's not too dissimilar from last year. People can engage with the prompt/album of the day in any way they like so it's not only about art, though a lot of people make art for every single day of the month, and it's just really fun :) (Also a bit insanity inducing haha, I've now made art for every single day of it for the last 2 years while also trying to keep up with everything my friends have made. I very much intend to do it again this year.) People partake on any social media platform they like, though I personally especially enjoy it on Instagram. Sparks see and share a lot of the stuff that we put out there, so it's a really nice way of letting them know what they mean to us :) There's always too much about them that I can't put into words, also there's just too much to say, so having a whole month and going album by album is really good for that. (I mean, you've seen how I can write a whole essay about just one song. And they've got so many songs, albums, tours, photos, interviews, music videos, etc etc.) So I've been preparing for that these last weeks, and I'll keep the details about it to myself because my answer is getting so long already 😅 (Plus, I'll be going on about every album for the whole of next month anyway.) What I will share though is this tumblr post I made about these lyrics from the song Let's Make Love. You may have already seen that post float by, but it says everything about my motivation for Sparkstember and how much I love Sparks. (Gratuitous tag rant included on the post 🙃)

...sorry to go all "I love Sparks" on you today, without really talking about a song (I truly could write a whole book about them and their work though, plus there isn't really a separation between them as people and their art, it all exists as one massive universe but it's also all one and the same thing). Though the Sparks fan experience is basically Sparks fans constantly telling each other how much they love Sparks anyway so, well, there you go. The Sparks fan experience 👍🏻

The world could use more joy at the moment, or at least I know I could use it and could use things to make me want to keep going, so have this fun homemade music video from 2020 as my parting gift. Just because both the song and the video never fail to make me smile :)

[mandareeboo]

Have you seen the season finale of Moon Girl?

Watching it now! Bullet point liveblog activated!

These bitches really heard "get Moon Girl" and decided it was just whoever had the name, not the one who self-destructed the thinga-ma-jig

Oh SHIELD shows up NOW, where were you when the Beyonder almost wasted humanity

I do NOT know enough about marvel for this shit, every new name that pops up I'm frantically googling

Do love how Ms. Hill does her best to be welcoming to the obvious thirteen year old and her giant dino, like she coulda been standoffish but she making bee puns and such

MIMI WAS FUCKING WHOMST

Listen I know the original Moon Girl was black but I did NOT click those dots, I just assumed it was another marvel character I didn't know about

Okay but the Enclave working for the military?? When SHIELD didn't know??? That's some corruption bullshit right there

SIX PEOPLE FUCKING DIED?????????? On-screen?????????????? I don't care if Mimi was like 'they could be anywhere' NO we saw a fucking monster take them. They went into something's belly.

Imagine how terrified Mimi musta been when she realized that her portal was down there and it brought a giant dino to her home

Lunella really BUSTED OPEN A TRUCK DOOR like damn girl you stronk from all that evildoer busting

The Beyonder is so fucking funny to me like he just shows up to give us the deets because he LOVES the gossip

CASEY HAD MS. HILL'S NUMBER FOR LIKE A DAY AND THE GIRL FUCKING GOT BLOCKED

"Zoom in on the islands" -gently shoves head closer-

Casey just made a fucking invisible suit I love this girl so fucking much

I was fully unaware that there's just. Uninhabited islands in New York. That's creepy af.

Morlak is such a great parallel to Aftershock with the "I know where they live" threat. Obviously he's WAY more dangerous but still

Casey looked up self-defense after that attempt at being Moon Girl I LOVE IT

MIMI'S BEEN CLEANING UP LUNELLA'S LAIR THAT'S SO PURE

THE CODING WITH THE MUSIC AND THE COMPOSER THAT'S JUST -CHEF'S KISS-

LUNELLA WENT INTO THE PORTAL HOLY FUCK

Listen. I know we'll get her back. Probably in the s2 opener. But still JESUS

Thank god she got her invisi-suit she'll need it to hide from monsters

Devil looking for his mama like THANKS I DIDN'T NEED MY HEART TODAY

[plaguefields-rp]

Behold Them...

this is PATCHES. she looks exactly like when bugs bunny dresses up like marilyn monroe with the dramatic eyeliner and beauty mark. she stands on her hind feet and walks like vince mcmahon. i won't lie; it's intimidating.

this is CARMEN. you know, like the woman who ditched the protagonist of The Band's "The Wait" and left him to hang out with the devil. my partner says her face looks like a butt and i'm not going to say he's wrong, but it's a really really cute butt. crazy thing is that she's full-grown at 3lbs.

HAZEL is your standard black and white dutch rabbit. her markings make her appear to be wearing pants and a black luchador mask. you might be wondering what's up with all the orange stuff on her face. well, i left a bowl of spaghettios unattended for just a little too long.

DAVID JOHANSEN JR ("Davie") is just an all-around weird organism, much like the guy I named her after. she has glowing red eyes and a tail that doesn't look like a standard cotton-puff bunny tail so much as an overlong prehensile butt-tentacle.

OLIVE doesn't care what you're eating, but she wants it. she has a white dot on her nose and i think she has a crush on my therapist because she likes to do wacky shit in the background during my zoom appointments. earlier today she farted and it made my bedroom smell like scallions for like four whole minutes.

this is BLUTESSA and she is 24lbs of womanly menace. she's named after the canonical sister of Bluto from Popeye. she really likes a game called "Froot Loop," which is pretty much fetch but with froot loops and she doesn't bring them back. i've already made a callout post about how she doesn't wipe her ass very well. none of the others have this issue, so this is definitely a Her-problem.

LUCKY (temporary name) has a sad-as-fuck origin story. the guy at the pet store told me she was "unsellable" because she has a deformed leg. he made a point of showing me how affectionate and cuddly she was before casually telling me nobody would want her and he was gonna feed her to a snake. you know what likes deformed snuggly rabbits even more than a hungry python? ME. i do. she's actually doing great and has a real thing for honey mustard.

this has been "My Rabbits." thanks for tuning in.

BONUS IMAGES:

blutessa compared to her average-sized housemates

is a musclebound headlock truly so different from a loving embrace?

[forecast0ctopus]

hi there, I love your art! if you have time to answer, I was wondering if you have any tips or recommendations for drawing in a more expressive or cartoony style? I've been drawing for years but I always get caught up in the weeds and end up adding way too many details that don't necessarily look bad, but are too stiff and over-detailed. I really admire the way you capture so much in such clean lines, if you have any thoughts or advice I would love to hear them - thanks for sharing your art, have a great day!

ah thanks so much, i really appreciate it!! i totally get where youre coming from tho, i really tend to get caught up in the small things too (the amount of sketch layers i have on finished things is stupid lmao). anyways yes theres a few things i do to help myself out of that pattern!! im not all that great at putting things into words but hopefully the pictures help haha putting it under the cut because it'll probably end up long sorry

i cant speak for everybody but this is what i do! heres how i tend to approach my initial sketches:

i like to keep it minimal here so i can focus on the pose over everything else, i try to do it in one pass and not worry about the anatomy. usually i do a few of these kind of sketches before i figure out something i like. also something ive found recently is that, for me, zooming in and doing these sketches really tiny helps because i dont have the space to add in detail. i do this a lot when i thumbnail a sequence to storyboard (usually on paper tho) and it helps me focus on the idea over the drawing

after that i like to focus on shapes!

if theyre a character with loose fitting clothes i usually won't sketch out much anatomy and just get into the shapes of the clothes bc then i dont get too particular with proportions and all. im gonna state here that this is not an excuse to not study anatomy tho and the reason that this works out for me is because i have studied it haha

getting into details of things, i kind of try to walk the line between too little and too much? like with clothes the details i like to get are wrinkles at bent joints and obvious seams. with wrinkles i try to only do one, maybe two, because it can get excessive fast.

seams are really good for establishing the direction things are facing, like to read volume in 3D space. the ones ill pretty much always include (unless theyre not present in the clothing worn) are shoulder seams and pants seams. in my experience shoulder seams are great at telling the fit of a shirt without a ton of detail!

lmao heres a collage of expressions for an example. as far as faces go i like to exaggerate mouths and eyebrows a lot lmao its kind of hard for me to put into words my process here. i really like dot eyes bc i feel like i can do a lot with em in combination with lines. tho i dont usually use em on finished artwork. eyebrows and mouth are primarily what i use to establish a facial expression, though sometimes ill throw in a scrunched nose if the expression calls for it.

the whole "clean lines" bit really does help with making sure things dont look too cluttered, and the way to approach that for me is doing your line in just one stroke (maybe two if u want it darker but thats besides the point lmao) but yeah drawing from your shoulder, not having a hairy line, etc really helps not clutter your drawing anyways i think thats about it for expressiveness and clean lines idk if youve got anything more to ask ill answer to the best of my ability

TL;DR i try to focus on shapes and pose, and putting in just enough details to make action/expression read well

[asexualsoup]

So I don't really write fan fiction and I never planned to but here we are I guess lol 😅

**Cannot emphasize enough that this is a WIP. It's not finished lol. But if you yell at me enough I probably will finish it.**

----------------------------------------------------------

Remember That I Love You

Juno Steel/Peter Nureyev

Post Season 4

So far, everything had gone exactly to plan. Rita had hacked the pharmacorps’ computers and, from the safety of the Ruby 7’s driver’s seat, had set enough fires across the compound to draw most of the guards exactly where she wanted them. No matter how many times Juno watched her do this, he always found himself in awe of how easy it all was for her. Like a kid with a magnet drawing little shapes in metal sand.

Once the guards had been dispersed, it was just a matter of using their stolen map and the Ruby’s own scans to figure out exactly where they needed to go. That’s where Juno came in.

“There,” he said, pointing to a cluster of moving dots on the Ruby's screen. Taking the hint, the Ruby 7 zoomed its three-dimensional map onto a hallway at the bottom of the complex. “That’s where we’ll find him.”

“You sure, Mista Steel?” Rita asked, unconvinced. “How can you be so sure? We only get one shot at this, so you gotta be exactly right—”

“I know, Rita. You don’t need to remind me. When the fires went off, the executives left their meeting and ran down to this hallway. The Ruby’s showing them all leaving the hallway, but they’re just phasing through a wall. There are no rooms marked there on the map. The Ruby’s scan isn’t faulty, so that means—”

“A safe room!” Rita finished. Her eyes were wide behind her glasses. “That’s so cool! And there’s a buncha them, too, from the look of it. A whole row of safe rooms! How can we be sure which one is his?”

“Ruby?” Juno said with a smile. “You know what to do.”

It was over in seconds. The Ruby had scanned their target so many times, it could recognize him instantly, even from this distance. Juno didn’t fully understand it either, but he knew he could trust the Ruby to be accurate. It had helped him find Rita on that asteroid, after all.

As soon as it found him, it sang a triumphant little tune.

“Good job, Ruby,” Juno said. “Send that scan to my comms. I’m heading in. Let’s go get Nureyev out once and for all.”

* * *

Juno moved quickly through the compound, listening and reacting to Rita’s directions in his ear every step of the way. With her help, he avoided all the patrolling guards long enough to sneak into one of the server rooms she hadn’t set ablaze.

Keeping his voice low just in case, he asked her, “You sure the code you’ve put on this chip will eliminate his debt?”

"And all his accounts and bio-records, yeah, yeah," her voice chirped in his earpiece. He chuckled, imagining the way she was rolling her eyes at him. "You’ve asked me that about a hundred times, Mista Steel. It’ll work. Trust me."

“Like you said, we’ve only got one shot at this. It’s gotta be flawless.”

"We’re Aurinkos, boss. It don’t gotta be flawless to be successful."

“Yeah, well,” Juno said, feeling that old reliable flicker of nerves and self-doubt in his gut. “I’d rather have both, if I’m honest.”

With Rita’s assistance, he inserted the chip. The computers beeped and popped for a bit until Rita finally squeaked again.

"That's done it, boss. You can take the chip out now."

Juno did as she said, slipping it back into his pants pocket. "Great," he said. "Now it's just the hard part. Getting to him, taking out the guards, and then the escape." He sighed, suddenly feeling his age. "No biggie."

"It'll be fine, Mista Steel," Rita said. "Once you find him, you won't be alone in there anymore. You'll have him to help you with those last two steps. And Mista Nureyev has always been good at fighting guards and sneakin' outta places. It’ll be fine!"

"Still weird hearing you call him that. Even on private comms. But you make a good point. Once I find him…."

Juno trailed off, his mouth feeling suddenly very dry. He hadn't been this close to Nureyev in months, not since he'd smelled his cologne at Aurinko Permanent Corrections. The realization sent a torrent of butterflies through his stomach: fear, panic, and a good amount of excitement too.

Nureyev was in the building. And within minutes, he'd be in Juno's arms. Safe and sound at last and with his whole life ahead of him. The future at his nimble fingertips.

It was the same gift he'd promised to Slip Jackson all those years ago. And while Nureyev couldn't give that future to Slip in the end, Juno could make sure Nureyev got it now.

So, with a deep breath to swallow his panic down, Juno pressed on to the next phase of the plan.

* * *

Juno had taken out so many guards over the course of his career that a few localized in one closed off room should be no problem at all. And with all the tricks he’d picked up from Nureyev during their year of crime together, they wouldn’t know what hit them.

He crawled on his belly through the vents, Rita and the Ruby still guiding him around every corner, until finally he peered through a grate into the room in question.

As soon as he saw Nureyev, he felt his heart fly into his throat. He was sitting in a chair against the wall, looking like a prisoner in that tiny room with four armed guards around him.

But that wasn't what made Juno so upset. Nureyev… didn't look like himself. He was thinner than the last time they'd seen each other. Paler, too, like he hadn't seen the sun in weeks. He was still dressed to the nines and covered in makeup, but none of that could hide the new slump in his posture and the deadened look behind his eyes.

As wonderful as it was to see him again, it was frightening to see how only half a year away had changed him.

That ended here and now.

In one hand, Juno held his blaster. And in the other, he held a small pebble-like ball. Another trick he'd picked up from Nureyev.

Slipping the ball through the grate, he watched as it hit the floor and exploded into vapor, instantly surrounding the guards in a thick curtain of smoke. As the guards coughed and sputtered and shouted to each other, he kicked open the grate and dropped himself into the room.

Darting out of the range of the smoke, he planted his feet firmly in front of Nureyev.

“Juno?” came that beautiful voice from behind him, the one that made his heart flutter.

“Yeah, yeah, you can swoon into my arms later,” he said. And even though he was joking, he wanted nothing more. “Whatever you’ve got to use against these guys, now’s the time to use it.”

“But, Juno, I—”

Whatever Nureyev was about to say would have to wait. The guards had finally collected themselves and were starting to stumble out of the smoke, blasters raised and searching for a target.

Ducking beneath the nearby table, Juno sent a pair of stun blasts out between its legs, completely incapacitating the first two guards he saw.

“I see you haven’t lost your touch, dear detective,” Nureyev said, sliding in beside Juno. “Shall we take this to the next level?”

“Thought you’d never ask.”

It was a maneuver they’d learned together during their time on the Carte Blanche. That time felt like so long ago now, and yet Nureyev fell into position as smoothly and easily as if they’d practiced it only yesterday. Juno would have to thank Buddy for those lessons later, among a million other things.

Grabbing opposite ends of the table, they swung its legs out from under it and in one fluid motion, launched it flat-side first into the smoke. Both of the remaining guards grunted in pain as they were struck, and somewhere within the haze, they both collapsed under the weight of the table.

“You truly are a sharpshooter, aren’t you?” Nureyev said as he leaped to his feet again and reached out a hand to help Juno. “You hit them both even through all that fog.”

“Hey, it was a big table,” Juno said, taking that proffered hand. “And anyway, you’re just as likely to—”

But his words were cut off. As soon as he’d gotten to his feet, Nureyev’s mouth had found his. The kiss was hard, desperate, pressing his lips almost painfully against his teeth. But it was exactly what they both needed after all that time apart. Juno couldn’t help the moan that escaped his throat, and his hands found Nureyev’s collar, pulling him in even closer.

Once they’d separated, Nureyev narrowed his eyes. “I told you not to come after me.”

“You can’t tell me what to do,” Juno said, hopping up to swiftly kiss Nureyev’s lips again.

“I suppose not. Though we’ll definitely have words about this later. A lot of words.”

Nureyev released him and without another word, flew gracefully into the depths of the smoke. Still a little awestruck, Juno found his feet again and moved to follow him.

Squinting through the fog, he peered around quietly for any sign of the two guards they’d knocked down. The table was easy enough to find, its legs splayed like a dead spider on its back. But the two guards that it had hit? Those were a lot harder to spot. And so was Nureyev.

Juno slunk low to the floor, crouched near the table’s legs and stared into the surrounding fog for any sign of movement. It only took a minute for him to spot something. A glint of metal in the fog. He stared in its direction, trying to find it again, but couldn't.

Instead, when a guard finally did appear in the smoke, it was to his far left. They stumbled near him, their shirt pulled high over their mouth and nose. They made eye contact with Juno, who already had his blaster raised, but before either of them could make a move, a dark heel swung out from the fog and hit the guard right in the back of the head, knocking them out cold. With another glint of metal, Nureyev emerged from the smoke and crouched at Juno’s side once again.

“That was brutal,” Juno whispered. “I always forget you can kick that high.”

“So did they, apparently.”

“You might want to take off your jewelry before we handle that other guard, Nureyev. I can see it shining through the fog.”

For the first time since their reunion, something made Nureyev pause. “Juno… there’s something that you should—”

“Let’s deal with the other guard first, Nureyev. Do you have any idea where they are?”

“Juno, I—”

But whatever Nureyev was going to say, it was cut off by the cracking sound of a blaster shot. Nureyev gasped and flew backward, hitting the ground hard.

“Nureyev!” Juno shouted before he could stop himself.

Flying onto his feet, he whipped around and pointed his blaster in the direction the shot had come from. The fourth and final guard stood there, grinning through the smoke. Her blaster was pointed right at Juno’s head.

“Really?” Juno gasped, trying desperately to think straight through the panic now flooding his brain. “You sneak up behind me and decide to shoot your own guy instead?”

“I was following my orders, lady,” she said darkly, her hand flexing against the trigger. Ready to send another laser directly through Juno’s brain.

He wasn’t going to give her the chance. With one hand, he grabbed her wrist and twisted, sending her laser up to the ceiling. Bringing around his own blaster, he struck her hard across the face, sending her sprawling to the floor where his own shot struck her right in the chest a second later. Her eyes went hazy as the stun wave overtook her body, and then she closed her eyes, unconscious.

Breathing heavily, Juno dropped his gun and rushed to Nureyev’s side. Nureyev was panting hard, one hand over his face. His hands were shaking.

“Goddammit, Nureyev. No,” Juno wept, searching Nureyev’s body with his hands. “No no no. Where did they hit you? Oh, goddammit.”

But no matter where he looked, he didn’t find any blood. All he could find was a small laser burn on the front of Nureyev’s shirt.

“It was just a stun blast,” he said, relief flooding him once more. “You’re fine. You’re gonna be fine.”

But as Nureyev gave another groan of pain, Juno felt his relief crack once more.

“N… Nureyev? Come on. Snap out of it.”

Nureyev groaned again, his mouth twisting in pain and all four of his limbs starting to tremble. The fingers by his forehead curled, as if trying to grasp at something, and between them, Juno could see that glint of metal again. It was only then that Juno realized Nureyev wasn’t wearing any jewelry. No rings, no earrings.

Nothing but whatever was shining on his temple.

Grabbing Nureyev’s hand, he slowly pulled it away.

His stomach dropped. “Nureyev… no… please, no… Is that a…?”

Nureyev groaned again and Juno swore he could hear the pops of electricity coming from it.

Because right there, stuck on Nureyev’s temple, was a little gray chip. Smaller than the Theia Soul had been, but otherwise the same.

“Goddammit. Nureyev, what do I do?” Juno asked desperately.

In response, Nureyev cried out as the chip zapped him again, and this time, Juno actually saw the skin beginning to sizzle around it.

He fumbled for his comms, knowing somewhere in the back of his panicked mind that if anyone could fix this, it would be Rita. But a second later, as Nureyev’s body went slack, Juno’s heart stopped.

Nureyev’s eyes peered up to meet his, bleary and unfocused. Lines of blood began to form around the edges of the chip.

“Nureyev?” Juno asked breathlessly.

“Ju…no…” was all the man managed to say before his eyes closed and unconsciousness claimed him too.

(to be continued?)

[cf56]

My thoughts on episode 10

SPOILERS for season 3, episode 10 of the Animaniacs reboot

So that's great. I took two hours to write this entire review, and then with one press of control + Z, it was completely gone. Great site Tumblr. Really works as intended.

I was in a better mood, but having to rewrite this ENTIRE thing sucks so badly. I try to give my genuine thoughts as I go, and it's impossible to replicate that on the second try. I want to scream. Why can't this week just go right?

So now you're getting a negative opening for what was a super positive review. I seriously want to punch a wall. A website meant for long posts doesn't have an editor designed for them. That's just great.

I can't rewrite that whole thing. Just have a collection of screenshots and some jumbled thoughts.

I'm sorry for Pinky and the Brain fans that their final showing was so short. I didn't like Brain talking about the "endlessly repetitive formulaic rebooted franchise that relies on just a handful of tired characters." You can say it's the writers taking a shot at themselves, but it really isn't. It's not their show. They didn't create the characters. Combined with the ending, it just feels a little disrespectful to the people who put their heart and soul into creating this show in the first place, and to the fans who genuinely love these characters.

Look at them being silly!

I can't gush enough about the song. Such cute animation, such powerful music!

I teared up while listening to it this time. I'll probably do the same on every future watch.

I liked that Wakko was right about everything and had the idea that saved the day. The Warners literally saved the world and they'll still be treated like garbage by everyone around them.

The Joe segment was funny, especially the zoom out at the end. I liked hearing "Waltzing Matilda" in the background.

Dot was so cute wanting to go on the teacups, just being infatuated with the idea of spinning around in a little teacup!

This segment is the epitome of "this is my life now."

Poor Wakko has the worst luck. The SAME CLOWN just happened to be at this carnival? At least we know he got down from Mars.

I thought it was weird to have two cataclysmic endings for the reboot six minutes apart from each other. Although they say this sketch was written for season 1, I find it really hard to believe that this wasn't originally meant to end the season/reboot, especially with Dot's quip at the end. I'm not sure I would want this to be the ending, though. It would have sucked if the Warners were the ones who explicitly ended their universe and killed everyone inside. That would have proven everyone right about their destructive nature all along.

I thought this was a refreshing segment. Slappy sounded and looked great. Like I expected, it was short and there was no Skippy, but I'm happy it exists. I was surprised and happy to see that they got Sherri Stoner to return for work on the reboot.

I liked how Everyday Safety was just a never-ending cascade of total nonsense.

The Council is not pleased.

I thought Wakko's bottle song was catchy. I liked that it actually sounded like Wakko blowing. I wonder if they got Jess to do that for real in the studio?

And the ending. I wrote four paragraphs about it, and it sucks so bad because I thought I made my points quite well. Let me try again.

I understand the metaphor with the abrupt and sudden ending. I know the asteroid is meant to represent Hulu. I just don't think they should have pushed their bitter disappointment with the show ending directly onto us. They should have thought it through a lot better.

If they were going to go doom and gloom, which they shouldn't have, they should've at least given the ending some emotional weight. How am I supposed to feel anything when the characters themselves don't show any reaction to their unexpected, oncoming violent deaths? I'm not saying it should have been super depressing with crying and begging. They just should have given a genuine reaction instead of doing business as usual. The closest set of siblings in the world is about to go out in a fiery blaze, and they're not even touching each other. They're just standing near each other awkwardly. Have them embrace and accept their death with a positive remark about how it was all worth it. That would at least give some closure.

What they should have done, if I could rewrite it from scratch, is give us a satisfying, happy ending. Show the Warners finally earning their freedom from the tower after 90 years. Maybe have them gaze at the sunset together, mirroring how the sun rose at the very beginning of the reboot. Even if they didn't have time to animate new scenery for something like that, anything would have been better for this. This ending just feels empty. It lacks any emotion besides pure shock and it feels like an F you to everyone who cares about the show. The creators might have intended that F you to feel like it was coming from Hulu, but Hulu didn't write this scene. The reboot writers did, and they had the power to leave us with something better. This could be the last Animaniacs we ever see.

I'm at least happy they attempted an ending. The original didn't have one at all. It just sucks that Animaniacs had to end unexpectedly and unsatisfyingly both times it's been suddenly cancelled. The reboot was supposed to fix that.

This was perhaps the most entertaining episode of the season for me. It has one of the greatest Animaniacs songs ever, maybe the best song of the season, I'm still not sure. I still love The Island of Dr. Warneau a lot, so I'm giving this episode a solid second place in my final ranking for the season.

Episode 6

Episode 10

Episode 3

Episode 9

Episode 7

Episode 4

Episode 2

Episode 1

Episode 5

Episode 8

That means that the majority of episodes this season are episodes I would consider really good. The top 4 are all episodes I would consider really great. I'll give my thoughts on the season as a whole in my collective season 3 review, but I'll need a few more days before I start writing that. I need some time to collect myself and reflect.

I'm sorry for how this review turned out. The first version felt a lot more positive, because in this attempt I just wanted to express my more well-developed thoughts, which happened to be criticisms. I liked this episode a lot. I just so desperately wish I hadn't lost that first version. It only adds to the most heavily conflicting mix of emotions I've ever felt in one week. I was feeling good, and now I'm knocked down again. I'm sorry to be the one putting so much negativity into the fandom. I want this to be a positive place for all. If I wasn't able to express my emotions here, though, I wouldn't be able to deal with them at all. So thanks to those that have been listening.

I encourage you to add to the discussion of this episode if you want. If you're from the future, please don't say anything about any of the episodes that come after this ;)

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[ciaossu-imagines]

C's Nanbaka Platonic Match-Up

I wasn’t kidding when I said I was so in the mood for writing some match-up’s and you indulged me so well! I really appreciate it and hope you’ll enjoy!

In my opinion, your ideal Nanbaka best friend is MITSURU! I actually had a little bit of a debate in my mind over who to go with, as there were a few options that really made sense to me, with the other options being listed at the end of the post, but in the end, I had to go with Mitsuru. To me, it just fit almost beautifully, with only one thing you mentioned in your description going against the friendship working out perfectly. That thing, of course, being that you mentioned not being too great with loud sounds and the fact is that Mitsuru…Mitsuru equals loud. He’s called Nanba’s noise problem for a reason and there might be times when he does get a little too loud for your liking, times where you either need to take a break from him or ask him to lower the volume a little bit but other than that, I do feel the two of you go together like peanut butter and jelly.

You mention really being open to meeting new people and experiencing new things, but only if it’s done in a way that still allows you to feel safe. And Mitsuru would definitely give you that ‘safe framework’, once you get to really know him and settle into the friendship. Even at the beginning of the friendship, there is just something about Mitsuru that does put people at ease and that does make them feel comfortable and safe with him. And that is only something that grows as the friendship grows more solid and I think it really gets to a point where you trust Mitsuru pretty completely to keep you safe, comfortable, and to never put you in harm’s way. And that’s useful because Mitsuru loves new and exciting and he always wants to drag you along. Literally sometimes. I wouldn’t put it past him to get the Science Division to modify his Segueway thing to have a trailer added to the back since, with your dystonia, he worries about making you walk too much so he’ll just pick you up, toss you gently in the trailer and zoom the two of you off to new adventures. He loves introducing you to all his ‘friends’ at Nanba, getting you out experiencing new people and new things. There’s definitely no possibility of boredom with Mitsuru around, which is kind of nice for you, where you do get bored easily.

Another thing I can see the two of you doing a lot together, because you both share creative natures, is crafting. He’ll occasionally join you for diamond dots or latch-hooking, something you get him a little addicted to, and he loves teaching you to show so that you can help him make plushies and odd little things. While you wouldn’t guess it by looking at him, Mitsuru is honestly really into crafting and things like that. He also really loves taking photographs and he’s definitely going to be the one to suggest making a scrapbook together of your adventures in Nanba Prison.

Now, Mitsuru might come across as a little goofy and sometimes a little dumb, but that cheerful, crazy façade hides the fact that this man is incredibly observant. He’s quick to learn you, to be able to tell your moods and your reactions. It comes in really handy when you find yourself becoming overwhelmed or worse, when you find yourself uncomfortable and upset. Since he figures out quickly that you have a hard time dealing with situations that make you uncomfortable, that you have issues sticking up for yourself or others because you don’t want to make others more upset, he’s usually pretty able to rescue you from those situations. For one, Mitsuru is definitely someone who has no problems with opening his mouth and giving his opinion and if he thinks someone is making you uncomfortable or upset, he’ll run his mouth and end up getting the situation back to a point where you feel comfortable, or he’ll run his mouth while finding a way to just get the two of you away from the situation entirely.

Another area where you and Mitsuru really click is that Mitsuru loves talking about his obsession of the moment. He’s a man with many interests and constantly changing hobbies and he loves to share his interests and thoughts about things with you. A big video gamer, he’ll want to play them with you, to connect over storylines or characters. He’ll want to involve you in any of his hobbies du jour. But he’s not selfish – he also loves hearing about your interests and he’s going to do everything he can to give your interests an honest shot to see if they’re things he ends up enjoying too. One interest the two of you for sure share is your interest in personality tests and things of that nature. Mitsuru loves them and finds it hilarious and fun to do alongside you for every one of your friends and acquaintances and he’ll dig up some interesting, weird little quizzes that he’ll want to take for you, while you take them for him, just to see what the results are and if they fit.

Now, it might seem like Mitsuru is always saving you or doing for you in this friendship, but it’s not all just a one-way street. Honestly, your more level-headed nature helps Mitsuru out a lot. You keep him from going overboard, something he’s easily tempted to do, and you pull him back from some of his crazier antics or escapades and let him know when enough is enough. And since he sometimes forgets to really take care of himself, your helpful and caring nature towards your friends really means a lot to him as you do little, quiet things that always make his day easier and better.

RUNNERS UP: Nico, Seitarou, Kiji, and Tsukumo

[joemuggs]

Albums of 2023 part 2

And so, on from part 1, we continue. This is more dreamy synth-dub that sits perfectly next to the Harrow album: Richard Norris is another artist with an extraordinarily long and illustrious career but who also has never lost the exploratory urge and total delight in sonic finesse.

Honestly Uruguayan-in-Ireland Lila Tirando a Violeta is right up there with the very best of the "deconstructed club" generation - dark, gothic, complex, VERY WEIRD - and this collab with Berliner Sin Maldita is up there with her best. It's really, REALLY intense!

Just impossibly beautiful elegies from ambient harpist Mary Lattimore which builds towards the final track collaboration with Slowdive's Rachel Goswell that is so lovely it will single handedly bring back swooning as a popular pastime.

Officially an EP but there's enough here to cement Nia Archives's place as a heavyweight - add "Off Wiv Ya Headz" and that Jorja Smith remix, and she's had a humdinger of a 2023....

Saw some discourse suggesting that Burna Boy is resting on his laurels here, but I don't hear it. Maybe it's the fact that the cover looks dashed-off? But musically, this bangs: it expertly joins so many dots but keeps his voice and personality right at the heart of it.

I mean come on there was no way a collab between Earl Sweatshirt and The Alchemist was going to be anything but good, right? Just purest essence of deep and dreamy stoner hip hop. Yet another small (27min) but beautifully formed album - definitely a trend there.

Feels kind of (literally) sacrilegious to say I prefer Cleo Sol's more personal, less scriptural records (e.g. Rose in the Dark) - and this is, top to bottom, a gospel album - but the conviction to her performance and the whole realisation of it here is still really magical.

From Coventry via Skopje, man like NOT_MDK's first album in 23 years, and he's zooming into the deep flows that join grime and dubstep into the longer, deeper electronic funk continuum... These tracks are so crisp and crunchy!

She's from Turkey but Ahu's been plugged into the London Plastic People / NTS / etc scene for years - file this with Yazmin Lacey and similar LDN soul-jazz, also it's very Boho and vibesy and incensey, definitely one to light your best candles for.

Can't remember who put me on to this, possibly Radio 3? Anyway if cold wet misty Scottish hillsides are your jam Claire M Singer has you covered - these slower-than-slowly unfolding organ-led pieces practically smell of wet moss, and are extremely beautiful.

He's lent vocals to a who's who of electronic music, but it turns out Paul St Hilaire's own studio craft is the equal of just about any of them - this is just a stunning, ocean-deep album of dub abstraction and subtly potent lyricism.

Icelander Eva Jóhannsdóttir aka EVA808 has already made a name in the dubstep/grime world but this is her really spreading her creative wings. Mad psychedelia, elemental abstraction, movie-theme composition - there's not much she can't do. Big things beckon!

There's still SO much to say about amapiano, and so much incredible UK, SA and wider world stuff last year (this isn't even the only great DJ Maphorisa album - he had THREE out in 2023, including a mini album with Shino Kikai and a 25-track one with fellow originator Kabza De Small!!). Suffice to say this has gorgeous songs, primal grooves, endlessly sophisticated mixdowns and bass that'll take your breath away.

Just gonna link to my review for this one (it's got the music embedded) - but TL;DR Darren J Cunningham aka Actress is the holy prophet of the era of enshittification, yet for all that his music is constantly "off" and made for a world that is "off", he alchemises it into real gold.

Yeah I'm going to be THAT space-jazz hipster and say this is the record I wish Andre3000 (who is on it, and Carlos Niño co-produced his album) had made. It's just a more lavish, free, FUN way to cavort with the five-dimensional fractal machine elves.

Zoning in on the platonic breakbeat mathematics that underly Jersey / B'more club Chicago hip house, UK rave, trip hop etc, Bored Lord could seem arch or retro if her beats weren't so gloriously functional and bumping.

Fed up of generic records? You will never EVER find another one that sounds like IFS MA. Polish abstract slightly Autechre-y footwork / drum'n'bass with Japanese rapper MA sounding like a cyborg beat poet Taliban Trim and I.... 🤯

Every man jack and their dog are doing high bpm retro rave lately but you can trust Meemo Comma to put a fresh and uneasy twist on it. These tracks will get you proper buzzing up loud! I got to DJ for her live performance of this at Spiritland earlier in the year, hearing them on that system was a real treat.

You get a twofer with this one. Phil Kieran's ode to Belfast is gorgeous in studio form here, but he also recorded and released a version with the Ulster Orchestra that single handedly revivifies the idea of electronic music done classical style!

Two true underground troupers teaming up here - Jordan GCZ from Juju & Jordash and David "Move D" Moufang with some otherworldly good-dream ambient, deep house and space-soul jams heavy on the Fender Rhodes, fuzzy reverberation and sensually sweeping portamento.

My musical safe place for so much of this year. Brooklyn "electronic jam band" Purelink somehow burrowed into electronic music history and found the softest, happiest, warmest fur lined chamber and then invited us in. I cannot emphasise enough how LOVELY this record is.

More modular synth grooves from E Ruscha aka Secret Circuits, but no over-indulgence here and the grooves REALLY DO GROOVE. Trippy as a weasel circus and twice as funky.

Talking of trippy, here's Optimo Music's second acid-drenched entry, from the man formerly known as TB Arthur and the mighty Magda trading as Blotter Trax, it's a kind of parallel universe early 80s alt disco where everything gurgles and melts.

More from South Africa - King Mzaiza Sound via the reliably tough Parisian PSSNGR label - not 100% sure what you'd call this though it definitely has some gqom sonics, some trap drums, and some strident rap vocals... It's HARD AS NAILS is what it is.

EVEN HARDER - Nyege Nyege brought us a sampler of this (and I don't use mental health language lightly) FUCKING MENTAL shrieking, raging, solvent-huffing sound from São Paulo stewarded by the young DJ K, and it's extremely funky and scarily thrilling.

OK there we go, part three is here.....

[mnmovdoom]

Breaking the Tumblr inactivity to zoom over here and ask for prompts 7 and 38! (I didn’t think through the characters so genuinely pick whichever ones you want to write for X) )

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE ASKS!!!

Since you let me on the loose, I did 7 for my OCs Magda and Wolfram and 38 for Rex and Ahsoka!

7- “I’ve been in love with you for years. I just never had the guts to say it.”

She felt his eyes on her, with the attention of a bird of prey and the gentleness of a dove. That was how he usually looked at her, but only when he thought she couldn’t see him. Foolish man if he thought she wouldn’t know. 

She had, for years now. But she had never done anything about it, not until she was certain it was what she wanted - the nearly full year her knight went missing, roaming the wilderness as a wolf, was a better teacher than all the scholars that provided Madga with education. 

And even so she had waited, wanting to be absolutely certain that she was not deceiving herself with something she had never fancied in the first place; she wanted to be completely sure that it was not only her favour that Wolfram wore around his mail-clad arm on tournaments, but her heart too. 

Now she was certain. It was in the way her heart picked up pace with the way Wolfram’s eyes never once left her, even though the view ahead of them was, in her opinion, much more beautiful. Riding out in the Spring was one of Magda’s favourite distractions: as her palfrey cantered through the green fields dotted with blossoming flowers, birds and butterflies would rise from below and envelop her and her horse in a swirl of colour that she thought was the closest there was to magic; the sky above her was endless and so bright and blue that she pitied God for living up there and being unable to see the sky from below. 

There was the field and the sky, and yet Wolfram, cantering next to her on his charger, had eyes only for her. 

With a gentle whistle, Magda pulled her shoulders back and tightened her fingers around the reins. Her palfrey fell into a collected trot, until she let the reins slip through her fingers and Erec slowed to a quick step, raising his head and looking around with his ears pointing forward. Next to her, Wolfram copied her every move, and for a while longer, they let their horses take them where they pleased.

They reached the bank of a narrow, shallow river that ran in a bed of pebbles and sparkled under the sun. Easily, Magda climbed down the saddle, arranged her dress, and made a beeline to the edge of the bank, so that she could see herself reflected on the water, her long long red braid whipping happily as she walked. 

It didn’t take long for Wolfram to join her, Great Helm under his arm, mail coif pulled back and the padded coif he wore underneath it clutched in a hand. She didn’t look at him, but through their reflection, she noticed with fondness that his unruly black hair was sticking out in every direction, like not even the weight of his headgear and sweat could keep those hackles down. 

“Spit it out, Wolfram,” Magda commanded, turning away from the water and looking at him. He did the same, fixing her with those brown eyes of his. Physically, he was everything and nothing; he was as sturdy as the walls around her keep, but his face lacked the clever engineering of the walls. His unruly black hair constantly reminded Magda of the fur of a wolf; his face was heavily scarred and even the tip of an ear was missing; his teeth were yellowed and crooked with sharp canines; his smile was a wolfish snarl. And yet, there was nothing of the beast in him, except for the rampant one painted on his shield. 

“Countess?” he asked, brows shooting up. He wasn’t particularly bright, but he was humble and knew his place. Magda pinched her nose bridge:

“Say it, Wolfram. The way you look at me, put it into words,” she commanded, arms falling to the side and one hand brushing over the hilt of the dagger she was carrying at her waist. Her eyes never left Wolfram’s face, which grew considerably paler at her command. She watched him work his jaw, shift uncomfortably, until he finally looked away:

“How did you-” he begun, prompting Magda to roll her eyes:

“You’re not very subtle, sir knight.”

“I think I’m decently subtle, countess…” With a wry smile, Wolfram’s eyes were on her again, resignation splayed across his face. “I’ve been in love with you for years. I just never had the guts to say it,” A pause. Magda suspected what Wolfram would say next, and the way he turned his face away again and gripped nervously at the pommel of his sword was enough confirmation. “And I’m just a knight, Magda. I’m your property.”

“And what kept your mouth shut all this time: being my property or fearing I’d reject you?” She crouched down, grabbed a pebble from the edge of the bank, and tossed it in the water for the simple pleasure of watching the impact ripple through the water. Not even a second later, a larger stone was hitting the water with a big splosh, close to where Magda’s pebble had hit. 

“You know I fear you,” Wolfram said quietly. “You can be so heartless and cold at times, Magda…” 

She knew. She had doubted her own ability to love, sometimes. She had doubted she would ever feel anything besides the friendship running between her and Wolfram.

And yet she took his hand, large and calloused and with a missing phalanx from an axe blow, years ago in a skirmish in the marks, and entwined their fingers. 

38 - “Just do it! HIT ME ALREADY!”

Rex had seen enough cadets and shinies to know the signs that something was off. Maybe low self-esteem, maybe too much frustration. In Ahsoka’s case, maybe it was a mix of both. She was good with her lightsabers, but she wasn’t that good when it came to hand-to-hand combat. It seemed like useless knowledge for a Jedi, but Rex agreed with General Skywalker that anyone should have that knowledge - especially during a war.

So Rex had taken it upon himself to train Ahsoka. Rex himself wasn’t an instructor, not like Alpha - he was a captain, meant to lead trained men into action. But Alpha’s training had stuck with him, and Rex was avoiding everything he thought was unnecessary for Ahsoka.

Like going as hard on her as Alpha had gone on him. He could phase things, start slow and easy, then move on to more complex blows and faster strikes once Ahsoka had a good grasp on the basics. 

There was no need for Rex to brutalise her and accidentally injure her. 

As Ahsoka dodged a blow, Rex watched realisation dawn on her face as she noticed that she had just given her back to Rex - the logical outcome was a rear-naked choke, and though she still tried to get away, it was too late: Rex kicked the back of one of her knees to knock her out of balance and as she went down, he caught her, arms locking around her neck and head and pulling her against himself. 

“Again…” Ahsoka huffed in frustration, wriggling herself free from Rex’s loosening grip and immediately jumping to her feet, adopting a low attacking stance. She was getting fed up with training and it showed in how hasty and careless she was getting - for example, her guard was more like an open gate than anything, and to point that out, Rex threatened to knock her out with a hook.

But his fist never collided with her face; instead, it stopped just a hair’s breadth away from her cheekbone. She had tensed up and frozen in place when Rex had feigned his attack, and right now, Ahsoka stood shock still, her head tilted just slightly so that she could see Rex’s fist out of the corner of her eye.

Rex thought she’d deflate and confess she was no longer in the right mindset to learn anything. That was fine, they had time and Rex wanted sparring to be fun for her too.

For a long second, Ahsoka had no reaction… until her eyes widened and she clenched her fists, where they still hovered loosely in a sloppy guard:

“Just do it! HIT ME ALREADY!” she all but yelled the last part, her eyes widening and lips peeling back in a snarl. The air around them prickled with electricity, heavy and dense and filled with something that hadn’t been there a second ago. 

For a battle-hardened clone, Rex startled like a cadet and pulled away abruptly, eyes wide and eyebrows shooting up to his hairline. He had seen Ahsoka angry before… he just hadn’t been on the receiving end of it. But he recomposed himself quickly, meeting Ahsoka’s snarl with sternness:

“We’re done for today, Commander Tano,” His tone was clipped, the same he used to reprimand his men. Just like that, the air cleared and Ahsoka’s anger morphed into regret. Her eyes went wide in shocked realisation, tension and aggressiveness left her as if blown by a gust of wind, and now she was simply a scared kid looking up at Rex.

And while Rex could hold his own against his men… he was weak to those big blue eyes staring at him pleadingly. Sighing, Rex deflated and simply shook his head disapprovingly.

“Rex, I’m so sorry, I-”

“We’re done for today,” Rex interrupted, kinder now. “General Skywalker and I disagree on this, but I think that you won’t learn anything if I keep insisting with you…”

“I’m sorry…” she repeated, sheepish, averting her gaze to her boots. Her shoulders were slouched, her stance defeated. Immediately, guilt washed over Rex for having been harsh with her. He was just a clone and Ahsoka was a padawan, already with the weight of the galaxy on her small shoulders. He didn’t have half of the pressure and concerns she had. Rex’s life was simple: fight, follow orders, live to fight another day or die for the Republic; on the contrary, Ahsoka had to study the Force, and progress in her instruction, and learn how to use her powers, and learn how to be a commanding officer. It was a lot and she was just a kid. 

Gently, Rex placed a hand on her shoulder:

“Talk to me like that again and who knows, I might have to put you in your place, soldier…” he said, lips quirking up in a small smile. It took Ahsoka a second to catch up to Rex’s humour, until she finally smiled, relaxing under Rex’s hand, and chuckled:

“Gotcha, Captain.”

[sothischickshe]

Thouhgts on England v. France match? Predictions???? I'm so nervous....

Hey anon! 👋😊

I'm simultaneously feeling: excited, like I wanna peel my own face off & a bit like im playing both sides so I always come out on top dot gif!

I've been wanting a France england game for bloody ages cos I just thought it would be fun, and now it's here in a wc quarter final I don't remember why I thought that 😅😂

I haven't had the opportunity to watch that much of France in this wc, but I did watch several of their matches in the nations league, and much of their euro 2020 performances. & it seems like they're really gelling now huh??

Mostly I'm thinking (hoping?) it's going to be an engaging and exciting game, and I do want to see those generally!! Obviously I'd prefer the team im supporting to win the whole thing but like all the quarter finalists are strong and I'd imagine most of these matches could go either way?

Given France are my sweepstake team💰 & since 98 often my back up supporting team (still emotionally scarred & cannot talk about it; highly rec supporting who you think is gonna win, it works out great 😂) & just fun to watch atm, I could think of worse things than a France win!

In terms of predictions hmm... Obvi everyone's making a fuss about mbappé and maybe a couple of other French players, but like the england attack is nothing to sneer at! 🤯 the England defence has been statistically better than France's too (3 clean sheets vs 0; 2 conceded goals, both in that first match, one a pen vs 4 conceded ie 1 in every game). one can argue that England hasn't been as seriously tested, espec given that senegal wouldve been a different proposition had sadio mané been able to participate in this wc, but still I think the England defence is probs in a stronger position & the confidence of keeping clean sheets going into it should help?

The England defence certainly isn't magically flawless, and I'm hoping they're a lil more cagey than in prev games, but the team does defend well together; Kyle walker loves to zoom zoom zoom zoom; we've seen from the last game that they're happy to go long sometimes, not just fuck about around their own box. (also did you know that pickford is tied with Alisson & ederson for gks with the most assists in the pl this season so far? I mean they each have 1, but that's 1 more than the other gks, including Hugo lloris! Pickford underrated assist threat iyam 🤷🏼‍♀️)

It's hard to predict the score or outcome of football matches, espec with well matched teams, cos random ref decisions can have suuuuch a large impact, and the confidence of a team can really ebb & flow throughout.

I'm intrigued that the entire england squad has at this point zero yellow (and red lol) cards, so either they're realllly hot on toeing the line suddenly (after all those nations league cardings...? 👀), Gareth's raving about the poss targeting of the team worked wonderfully (#advanced gamesmanship), or they've intentionally engineered it so everyone's available/to get their first yellow in this game (those are wiped again after the quarters so no one would miss the next one) 😂 looks like france only has 2 yellows thus far, which isn't much more obvi, but #fine margins

If pushed, I think I'd predict a narrow england victory (though it could go either way) bc: building on that euro final run + I've watched them (& the manager!) figure out how to solve problems in-game & apply that recently (including coming back in that Germany match in the nations league), a more confident defence, squad depth generally, but particularly in terms of the attacking players. On that last point, I would probs feel more confident about a potential england win if I knew raz was gonna be there I think 😢, but still (EDIT: yay he is! 😊🎉) -- england has 8 different goal scorers so far vs France's 3. All of France's goals minus one by rabiot have been scored by either giroud or mbappé. I think it's fair to assume they're going to start the game! Whereas for England, we can assume barring anything unforeseen that Harry kane will start, but we're not sure who will be up there with him. The ability to change things up with the goal scoring assist providing excellently playing forward line is a definite asset -- both in terms of making it difficult for the opposition to entirely predict what they'll be up against initially, but also to be able to bring other players on later in the game. France don't have that versatility atm (though ofc they could discover it.)

Other predictions:

Jordan pickford screams himself entirely hoarse

Kyle walker goal line clearance

Unbelievably marginal offside decision

England abandon g*d save the m*narch & instead decide to sing all you need is love; French team lose their mind @ the intro, assuming their anthem's being jacked (OK that might be more of a demand than a prediction lol)

10 min Aaron ramsdale William saliba vs Harry kane Hugo lloris hug off

Bukayo & kylian fawning over each other post game

Kieran trippier subbed on

English commentators mispronounce tchouaméni so hard one of my eyeballs pops out my head

(just remembered the game is on itv so it's gonna be Sam matterwhatever & lee Dixon huh 😬 so:) me complaining about the commentators a lot 🙄

Both goalkeepers getting bored and literally trying to boot the ball into the opposition net from within their little boxes

If Harry kane scores, Jordan Henderson genuinely mounting him

If the game is won in normal time, the winner of this smashes the semi final

Minimum 4 yellow cards

At least one player smuggles some jewellery onto the pitch