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ponderingmoonlight · 8 months

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Lies in the dark

Pairing: boyfriend!Gojo x reader

Word Count: 3,8k

Synopsis: You received pictures of Satoru cheating on you, his longtime girlfriend, with other women. Completely heartbroken you leave him without hearing his side of the story. After weeks of drowning yourself in alcohol, the two of you meet again at Jujutsu High.

Warnings: cheating, language, use of alcohol/drugs, hurt

Your foot tabs against the floor while you wait for his puny figure to arrive in the doorframe. By now it’s far after midnight, actually you are dead tired from all the crying and thinking. But this can’t wait.

“Oh, what a pleasant surprise! I didn’t expect you to be awake this late!”

There he stands, casually taking off his blindfold while blessing you with his best cheeky grin. Satoru’s sight alone makes your gut twist in anger and disgust. He really has some nerves to welcome you like that after all he has done.

“You’re pretty late.”

Your voice sounds so cold that Gojo’s blood freezes in his veins. His smile is washed away in an instant, he has never seen you like this. Has something happened? Are you upset for some reason?

“Why do you look like someone died? I’m home, sweet thing!”

Your emotionless eyes glare at him through the darkness of the apartment. Damn, how could you fall for him and his stupid little game? Did you really believe him when he told you that you are the only one, the one and only woman in his life? Fuck, you were so dumb. Too stupid to realize that it isn’t work that makes him come home this late at night. Your mind is numb to the feeling of being betrayed, it isn’t the first time that you get screwed. But you thought that Satoru is somehow different, that he values your feeling more. Well, so much for that.

“Maybe you’re so late because you were with her, huh?”

He glances at you like he has to think about your words, eyebrows narrowed.

“Who do you mean exactly? Mei is out of town. Oh, I visited Shoko because she patched a student back together, but that was in the afternoon. Or was it? I don’t remember exactly…“

Enough of that bullshit. You don’t offer him any more words, instead you just throw your phone at him. The phone that reveals countless messages about meetings, fucking and mocking with other women, pictures of him caressing their basic faces in the way you knew all too well, giving them the affection late at night that you craved so much. And then the words of the woman that called you earlier…

“When he called me sweet thing I thought I was the only one for him until I saw you two on the streets the other day. He never mentioned he had a girlfriend!”

“I began investigating and as it seems, he had a thing with many other women as well. I’ll send you screenshots of every conversation we’ve had the last couple months.”

Sweet thing. The thought of him using your nickname for other woman makes you want to break down and cry. But even though your heart is shattered into a million little pieces, you refuse to gift him a single tear. No, he doesn’t deserve your agony. He doesn’t deserve to see the feelings you have for him. Instead, you just stare at him with blank eyes while sitting in your chair and watching his blue orbs widen in shock.

“(y/n)”, he breathes out, gaze wandering from the screen to you.

“Let me explain-“

“No need to explain anything. I don’t care about how much I liked you and wished this wasn’t true. I told you I’ll leave you alone if you make me feel this way. And I’m fucking leaving, Gojo. Don’t you dare follow me. Y’know, I’m not your backup plan, good luck with whatever you got going on.”

With a swift motion, you lift yourself off the chair and grab your already packed suitcase.

“You can’t leave without hearing my side! I never cheated on yo-“

“Might be true that there’s always two sides to a story. Fuck your weak ass side tho. I’m done here.”

Heels clicking against the hard floor underneath your feet, you confidently cross the room and expand yourself in front of him. Satoru’s huge frame blocks the door, you can’t just get past him. But you need to get out of this apartment filled with dreadful memories and your shattered hopes as soon as possible before you have a complete breakdown.

“I’m serious Gojo.”

“It’s baby for you.”

“Bet she calls you that too. Get away from the door, we are done.”

“(y/n), hear me out”, his form moves towards you, like a predator approaching its prey.

No, you can’t. You don’t want him to get that close to you. You can’t stand him near you.

“Stay away from me”, you choke out, arms wrapped around yourself in a desperate attempt to console your own aching heart.

“I loved you for 8 years, 8 fucking years Satoru! I gave you everything I had and you trampled on that by fucking another woman so basic that I want to throw up. I have nothing more to say to you, it’s enough that I have to endure the sight of you at every damn meeting of jujutsu sorcerers. Now get.out.of.the.way.”

Your cruel words make even Satoru’s heart jump in agony, his shaky breath fills the air. Do you really want to break up with him without giving him the chance to explain himself? He has so much to say, so much to clarify. Fuck, he could end all this madness and your suffering. But it doesn’t matter. He has no choice but to let you go for the moment. Satoru knows you well enough to be aware of the fact that you won’t listen to him in your wrath, always suborn and confident. Apart from that, he himself has no idea who sent these messages to you and where these pictures come from. He has to investigate the matter first before he can face you again. As much as his whole body struggles against it, he takes a step to the side in order to let you go for the moment.

“I love you with all my heart and I’ll do anything to prove that you are the only one for me.”

Boom.

You close the door behind you noisily. Enough of that lying. You stumble into the fresh air of the night, tears pooling your eyes and taking away your sight. Get a hotel, take a hot shower, turn off your phone. Get over the fact that your boyfriend of 8 fucking years cheated on you, get over the fact that your relationship ended in the foulest way. God, it hurts so bad that you want to break down in the middle of the street, your numb limbs still in shock. But you need to get going. After all, you are a grade 1 sorcerer, everyone counts on your abilities. And a man who doesn’t value you shouldn’t be the reason you forget yourself and your aspiration. _________________________________________________________

Hey girl, need a ride to Jujutsu High? Meeting up in 15 min

You sign at the message of Mei on your phone. It’s been three weeks. Three weeks without seeing Satoru’s cheating face, three weeks in which he called you at least 10 times a day, three weeks of constant crying in the pillows of random hotels and filling yourself up with alcohol at clubs around the town. You feel like crap and look even worse from time to time. But today, you have to get yourself together. For the sake of your job, for the other people you care about like Mei and Nanami. Do all of them know what happened? Probably not, you only told Mei about it and Satoru would hardly admit that he cheated on you multiple times.

Do I really have to?

Your white uniform lies untouched in your suitcase, memories of last mission flood your mind. You were with him, laughing, playing, clapping the asses of multiple curses all at once. Everything was fine, everything was great. Life can change so quickly.

Of course you have to, dumbass.

But you have no other choice. With trembling fingers, you put on the white dress with long sleeves and cut outs that emphasize your curves so well and caught the attention of Satoru first. It fits a little looser than usual. Well, given the fact that you mostly live on drinks that’s no surprise. You put on your round sunglasses to hide the dark circles under your eyes which can be no longer covered by makeup and brush through your hair a few times. Admittedly, you look better than the last few weeks, but definitely worse than usual.

Your cream colored heels click against the marble floor of the hotel lobby as you walk outside, Mei’s car already waiting for you.

“You look better than I thought”, she comments when you sit beside her.

“Thanks I guess, gold digger.”

She gives you a small smile before her eyes get serious again.

“I’m here for you today, ‘kay? Might hire someone who kills him though…”

“You would spend money for me? Damn, you must really like me Mei”, you remark sarcastically.

“I’d do anything for you girl. Let’s get this over with, huh?”

The journey goes by far too quickly for your taste, fingertips already shaking at the thought of seeing his stupid pretty face again. What was he doing all this time? Your gut twists in agony. Probably went out with his other women, what else? Do you seriously think he missed you? That breakup doubtless hurt you ten times more than him. His face will wear the same stupid grin as always, his words will sound just as irresponsible as usual. Everything stays the same. Except for the fact that you aren’t by his side anymore.

“God, since when is this ass so punctual”, Mei hisses.

And there he stand, wearing his sunglasses and uniform, leaned against the doorframe while he probably drives Utahime mad with his mocking. Suddenly you are out of breath, lungs refusing their service as your eyes fill with salty tears again. No, you can’t cry now. You were so cool when you left him. He doesn’t deserve your tears or to see your pain. His cheating ass isn’t worth your throbbing.

“Keep it cool”, Mei speaks out with low voice.

Yes, you need to keep it cool. Straighten your back, swing your hips, show him that you don’t care about him at all.

“What’s up everyone”, you snort out, hand resting against your hips while eyeing everyone except Satoru.

“Wow, you’re early. Since when do you come on time?”, Nanami dryly responses.

“Why so rude, Kento? I thought you’d be happy to see me again, we are best friends since school after all!”

“You are a pain in the ass, (y/n).”

Fuck, you can feel his eyes almost eating you up. Your cheeks begin to burn just by the thought of it.

“Are you alright, (y/n)? You look a little thinner than last time”, Utahime comments, turning away from Satoru.

You swallow hard, panic rises inside your chest. For the first time, you don’t want everyone’s attention on you. Come on, just that meeting. An hour and you’re rid of him, an hour and you’re holed up in a random club again.

“You’d lose some weight too if you were me, Utahime. Now stop looking at my perfect ass and get going.”

Your remark catches everyone off guard, especially Satoru and his guilty conscience. For your standards, you look absolutely horrible and your answers have lost their bite. You are just the shell of yourself that slightly smells like alcohol.

“Hey, if there’s something going on…You know we can talk, right?”, Nanami discretely murmurs into your ear, worry lines draw his face.

“Thanks man, I don’t need anybody but myself though.”

And with that, you turn on your heels and walk through the door. Away from his hungry sight, away from their annoying questions. One damn meeting to get over with. One.damn.meeting.

“You look like shit”, Masamichi notes dryly while watching you sit down.

“Stop being so fucking annoying or I’ll quit”, you bark back, glaring at him through the shade of your glasses.

“What’s up your ass, (y/n)? You’re annoying as hell, but in another way. Are you alright?”

You can’t take it anymore. All the questions and fucking looks. As if the slight change of your appearance is the only thing that’s interesting at the moment. Yeah, you are as fine as you can be, on the brick of tears, mind racing just by the thought of Satoru looking your direction, let alone talk to you. But that’s none of anyone’s business. If you have to repeat one more time what happened a few weeks ago you’ll probably break down.

“Stop asking questions and get this meeting over with, I’m not payed enough to be here”, Mei interrupts and positions herself beside you.

It’s all a blur. The words that come out of his mouth seem to fade away before hitting your ear. All you can think about is Satoru who sits towards you, eyes darted on your figure. You don’t have to look at him to be aware of the fact that he is eyeing you up and down, waiting for a chance to talk to you.

Over the last couple of weeks, he tried to call you multiple times, not scared by the fact that you blocked him on every possible communication way the slightest. Why does he have to keep rubbing salt in the wound? The moment your phone rings and his name appears on the screen, you relive the fateful moment of realization over and over again, imagining him fucking another woman mercilessly while you sit at home and wait for him to come back. You know that you are too good for that, that the best thing you could do was leaving his cheating ass as soon as possible. But in your lonely nights when returning from a random club after talking to random strangers you find yourself lying in bed and cry your heart out over the relationship you thought was the best thing that could have happened to you.

“(y/n)?”

“Ayo, you there?”, Mei murmurs into your ear and punches your arms slightly.

You have to blink the pain away, still consumed by Gojo’s presence. Your heart skips a beat. Was someone talking to you?

“I just wish I was somewhere else”, you mutter, eyes directed to the ground.

Fuck, you feel like crying all over again. Why does it have to hurt this bad? Why does he have to be here, eying you up and down as if you were his prey? Why did he have to cheat on you and destroy the live you built together? All of that isn’t fair. You shouldn’t be sitting here, running on drinks with a few hours of sleep a week and a bleeding heart while he seems to be just fine. Your conscience shouldn’t weigh on you when you’re talking to a guy while Satoru is fucking his way through the world.

“(y/n)?”

Your name out of his sinful mouth makes your gut turn in disgust, you feel like throwing up.

“Get my name out of your dirty mouth”, you jeer at him, eyes yanking up to notice that he’s already staring at you with his face all serious.

You can’t take it anymore. With shaky legs you lift yourself up, leaving the room with fast steps. The tears in your eyes start to burn their way through your face and take your sight completely. After all, maybe you aren’t strong enough to simply get over his betrayal. God, you loved Satoru with all your heart. In all these years there was never another guy you even found attractive. You were so loyal, in love and fucking dumb. Too dumb to realize that he in fact does seem to think that you are replaceable.

“Get your ass back in, Gojo. I dare you!”, Mei’s voice threatens from afar.

“(y/n), please hear me out. Give me a chance to explain!”

No, no, no. You can’t bare him near you, let alone hearing your name out of his mouth. You need to leave and never return.

“(y/n)!”

You feel his grip around your left wrist, his touch burning like acid on your highly sensitive skin. God, how often you longed for his touch, to feel his tender fingertips one last time. But this is not right. The thought of his hands caressing you after fondling with other woman makes you want to vomit and burn alive.

“Get your dirty hands off me!”, you cry out, other hand slapping against his cheek at high tempo.

His infinity doesn’t stop your fist from hitting his face with full force. You stare at his motionless figure, breath hanging heavy between the both of you.

“Please, give me a minute to explain. The last few weeks were absolute hell for me and I’ve been dying to see you today.”

Hot tears swell up your eyes once more while agony seems to consume you all over again. Hell for him? What about you? The constant feeling of not being enough, the questions lingering your mind how long this has been going on behind your back, the endless waterfall of tears, not being able to drink enough to forget him.

“You have to be kidding. Tell me you’re not serious about that bullshit. Hell for you? You fucking ripped be apart, Satoru! You throw our life away for sex with a few young chicks! You have no right to be sad about anything!”, you scream on top of your lungs, fighting desperately to escape his scorching touch around your wrist.

“I didn’t cheat on you, (y/n)! I-“

“So I’ve been imagining these pictures of you on top of that slut and the countless messages? Stop this shit right now! You’ve done enough. You-“

“Listen to me, damn it!”, he yells, ruffling his messy hair.

Why? Why does he have to keep rubbing salt in your already throbbing wound? Everything was just fine, you two were inseparable. What about growing old together? What about building a live together? All that, gone in the wind. Just because he decided to fuck someone else.

“The man you see on these pictures isn’t me, I don’t know these women, (y/n). I began to investigate. The man you see is a cursed spirit, a damn strong one that is able to take on the appearance of other living being, including my handsome self. I wish I could tell you why, I wish I could tell you who the hell that woman is. We assume that someone wants to set you off against me so that we both get vulnerable.”

He tears the blindfold from his face, revealing tears that glister in his glossy eyes. Your heart sinks, all you can do is stare at him in a desperate attempt to understand what he’s saying. Can it…be true?

“We?”

“Nanami helped me out. He knows this technical stuff better than I do. (y/n), I would never hurt you like that, not in a million years. You mean everything to me, it kills me to see you hurt like that, even though I absolutely understand why you believed in all of this and didn’t wanna talk with me. Just please, I’m begging on my knees if I have to, give me a chance to find out more about this madness and trust me with this one.”

You don’t know what is happening to you, it feels like you’re going to puke. Is this really true? Did he in fact not cheat on you with these women? His explanation sounds plausible and the shimmer in his eyes tells you that he’s not lying. Satoru was always bad at not telling the truth, his pupils always widen. Not right now though.

You want to collapse on the floor, your head seems to weight a ton from all these emotions, thoughts and possibilities.

“Why didn’t you tell me right from the start?”, you blurt out, voice coated in anger.

“Would you have really listened to me if I had no evidence? I took photos with that thing and couldn’t hold myself back from killing that fucker. Nanami was with me. Please, (y/n). Please believe me.”

You take in the pictures, how there seems to be two Gojo’s in each one. Fuck, fuck, fuck. This is all too much. You don’t know what to think or feel. Is this true? Is there really something like a spark of hope left for your relationship?

“No”, you confirm.

You close your eyes for a moment to organize your thoughts and calm your breathing. All this time, Satoru never showed any interest in other woman, he doesn’t even stay in contact with Mei or Shoko regularly. He has no problem with you using your phone to write messages to Nanami or Yuji when he’s busy with something else. No, since you’ve known him, there was never a cause for concern. Satoru tells you over and over again how much he loves you, sometimes you even thought that he might be obsessed with you.

Maybe he didn’t cheat, maybe he did. But doesn’t your longtime boyfriend deserve a trust bonus, a chance to show you that nothing ever happened between him and these women?

When you open your eyes again, they are pooled by tears. Since that dreadful evening, you never allowed yourself to miss, let alone think about him. You tried to drown your feelings in alcohol and drugs. But now he’s standing in front of you, everything could be fine, all of this could be nothing but a failed attempt to separate the two of you. Deep within, you always hoped for it to be a nightmare, a stupid misunderstanding. Is that all it is?

“I-I thought I’ve l-lost you forever”, you stutter.

He doesn’t hesitate. In an instant he pulls you into his arms, presses your body against his beating heart and trembling frame. God, how much you missed getting lost in his warm embrace, to feel his breath brush against your ears. Just now you realize how much it killed you to be away from him.

“Can’t imagine how much I missed you. The thought of losing you…”, his voice breaks and so does your heart.

“I love you Satoru. I love you more than anything else.”

You get lost against his lips, put all the grief of the last weeks into this one kiss.

“Let’s get home, shall we?”, he whispers against your lips.

“Home. Yeah, that sounds pretty good…”

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onewingedsparrow · 6 months

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I gotta talk about one of my favorite details in RiD 🔥It's a moment that puts the story in storyboarding! While this is only one of many such moments throughout the show, this one is definitely more, ahem, in your face :) than some other, more subtle parallels. This moment is split between two scenes; the first in S2E2, "Overloaded, Part 1"; the second is the bookend partner to that, coming in S2E2, "Overloaded, Part 2." (Spoilers for S1 and S2 below, obviously) Also, I suppose I should warn that this is a long post, because I have many words about this :)

By the end of the first season, Bumblebee has proved himself the worthy leader Optimus always knew he could be. 'Bee has overcome Megatronus, saved the Allspark from merging with the Antispark (and thus, spared both Earth and Cybertron from imploding), and even found a catchphrase that fits his leading style! Yay! What a great way to end a season. After such a high point in his life, however, the writers know that to start the next season off, they need Bumblebee to face a particularly rough challenge. If he's going to keep growing as a character, as a leader, he can't always be riding the high of victory. He needs a new catalyst. Therefore, Season 2 starts off by throwing him a curveball: a Decepticon from his past, that once injured him severely in the war, infiltrates the scrapyard pretty much immediately after Optimus, Bumblebee's greatest support, has vanished through the ground bridge.

When this Decepticon, Overload, arrives, Bumblebee recognizes him instantly. His entire demeanor darkens with rage so suddenly that Grimlock and Strongarm can't help but notice.

The Bee Team will learn later on that Bumblebee has a personal score to settle with Overload, but for now, they can only watch as their normally levelheaded leader throws himself at Overload, fists flying. While hand to hand combat isn't unusual for Bumblebee, in this moment, it feels wrong for him to launch into that—given all the times prior where we've seen him first, coolly and calmly, take a step back to handle an active Decepticon threat. Not to mention, Bumblebee makes no move to brandish either his gun or his Decepticon Hunter; he just wants to punch this 'Con's lights out. Overload beat him up in the past, and he wants to return the favor. The first occasion where Bumblebee punches Overload, the perspective feels extremely familiar. The camera doesn't need to show off this particular view to show Bumblebee's anger, per se, but the makers of the show choose to position the camera like so. Clearly, the storyboard wishes for us to recall a scene we've seen before. It didn't take me long to think of it: the first time we see Bumblebee fighting in TFP! This screenshot on the right is from the very first episode, "Darkness Rising, Part 1." When Arcee needed backup against Eradicons, Bumblebee came and decked Steve right in the face. Bam. Look at those sparks flying! (I'll get to that later.)

What is most interesting to me about this moment in RiD as compared to the moment in TFP is: in RiD, Bumblebee should be exemplifying how he's gained valuable combat experience since his younger days. However, in TFP, when Bumblebee punched Steve, his motion was very precise, very direct. in RiD, when Bumblebee tries to punch Overload, his arms swing far looser, far wider than that.

It's a bit easier to see in motion, so if you're curious, I highly recommend watching the episodes yourself.

Notice how TFP Bumblebee, Scout Bumblebee, uses his left arm to map out his bullseye, preparing his right arm to swing in for a tightly controlled punch. He's aiming before he launches, whereas RiD Bumblebee, Warrior Bumblebee, mind you, isn't taking time to aim. He's just firing punches willy-nilly, because he's fragging mad. He doesn't care about accuracy; he cares about hitting Overload as hard as he can, as fast as he can. It's such a wonderful way to convey just how upset Bumblebee is regarding Overload; his battle style is reverting back to his rookie days. He's subconsciously slipping into bad habits because his hurt has taken the psychological wheel, and his emotions can't throttle back so long as that's driving him. Even if you're unfamiliar with the parallel scene from TFP, the animation of RiD makes it clear to the viewer's eye that something about Bumblebee's fighting style is off. And, if the big, sweeping motions perhaps aren't obvious enough to the viewer, Overload easily dodges or deflects most of Bumblebee's wild attacks, making it strikingly clear. In watching the RiD scene and the TFP scene side by side, you may also have noticed that the TFP punch is far more satisfying, because we get to hear the big metal KAPOW as Bumblebee clocks Steve's face. This sound effect, combined with the shower of slow motion sparks, invigorates the viewer because look at how cool Bumblebee is! Wow! What a spectacle! Epic!

With Overload, however, we receive no such hype. No sparks go flying, even when Bumblebee manages to land a hit, because we're not supposed to feel that this battle is going well. We're supposed to feel a little uncomfortable, like we can sense something is missing, something is wrong, because Bumblebee isn't at the top of his game, and he won't be, so long as he remains lost in his anger. Ah, but fortunately for our favorite Prime in Disguise, this isn't the end! Compare that first attack on Overload in the first episode to his final attack on Overload in the second episode!

By this point, Bumblebee has realized the folly of his mindless rage. He had to get a little beat up again to reach this realization, but he has come to accept that he doesn't need the payback of revenge to be satisfied with his victory over Overload. He knows he needs to move on from the hurt of the past, and simply do what he was called to Earth to do: capture rogue Decepticons. He just needs to get the job done. So he does! In the screenshot above, notice how his form is much more controlled this time around. No more wild, swinging, rookie punches. This punch is focused, tight, and aimed. This punch channels the Warrior experience he's gained over years of fighting. This punch is heading home. And it hits hard.

So hard, in fact, that sparks go flying. Slow motion sparks that feel quite familiar, almost as if they were meant to remind us of another equally satisfying visual moment. Hmm, I wonder what moment it could be? ;) All in all, I think these moments are beautifully set up and executed. The parallel to TFP isn't frame for frame in either RiD scene, but it doesn't need to be; both scenes are reminiscent enough that they trigger the audience's memory, strongly. As a final note, I would also like to point out that this episode ends on another glorious parallel between Bumblebee and Optimus ✨ When Optimus punches Polarclaw, the similarity is unmistakable.

To grow beyond his rookie mistakes and lingering bad habits, Bumblebee has to learn let go of the hurt of the past. Only then can he become an even better leader than he is already, further reflecting Optimus Prime as he always has. The Prime in Disguise still has a bit farther to grow as Season 2 takes off, but he's on the right track; and after this encounter with Overload, 'Bee is even more ready to rev up and roll out.

#sparrow nerds about transformers #rid appreciation post #prime in disguise bumblebee #rid #rid15 #robots in disguise #bumblebee #optimus prime #maccadam #long post #rid 'bee my beloved #parallels #storyboard study #i wonder how long i spent writing this lol but it was worth it. so worth it

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hollowtones · 9 months

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final thoughts on zapper?

1st world isn't as bad as I remember, 2nd world is rough, 3rd world feels actively mean, 4th world is mostly kind of boring. If child-me had played past world 2 I think I would actively hate video games today.

Sound design is consistently real weird and unpleasant but sometimes that wraps around to being funny

Level design doesn't usually feel very interesting & if you're trying to get all collectibles it sometimes feels tedious. The best bits are the little self-contained bonus rooms & the levels where things are more puzzle-focused. I don't think it really needed a boss fight at the end but I'm glad there was only one, rather than one for each world / each level.

Individual art assets are okay, but sometimes levels are a little hard to parse visually & paths you are allowed to take aren't very clear. Issues with depth perception. Fixed perspective makes it hard to see details on the models I thought were cute. (At least we have Dolphin free camera...)

Visual theming of levels feels really, really incongruent, outside of the first world. I still don't know if I like this or don't. But it sure is noticeable!

The jump button snaps you in weird directions sometimes & every time it makes me scared for my life. It straight up killed me in some of the moving platform segments. Sometimes the jump lets you get to very high platforms and sometimes it makes you jump over them and go into a pit.

Camera's weird. Zoomed in too close, very easy for things to just get you from off-screen. When you have to deal with moving platforms it feels straight up nauseating (& I basically never get motion sick!! This game got me!!)

Music is good.

This Did Not Need A Lives Mechanic. Getting knocked back to a checkpoint feels fine. Having to redo entire levels from the start because of bullshit getting me made me feel like a ghoul.

A lot of hazards have weird hitboxes. Spikes can kill you after retracting. An object can be fully moved past your location but if you move parallel to its trajectory it'll sometimes kill you anyway. Slow-moving enemies in front of you need the world's widest berth. Moving platforms in combination with hazards is a special hell. A couple times I was killed by a seeming act of god.

Mercifully short.

Zapper as a character is like if someone went "what if Gex didn't talk" and that's real funny to me. Also very funny that they gave a cricket lightning powers instead of, like... sonic / music powers. I guess "a wall of noise so loud it kills slugs and explodes bricks" wasn't cool enough for a radical, sardonic wise-guy.(??)

lol the bird has tits

This is just a Frogger game. It's kind of blatant. You can very clearly see the bones of "Frogger 2: Swampy's Revenge" in all of it. (The four screenshots I have seen of that game make it seem like its level design was much more easily readable at a glance, though. Four screenshots do not paint the picture of an entire game, but...) Honestly, I can respect the "we have Frogger at home" angle to it. They clearly wanted to make a game like this again, and good(?) on 'em for doing it, I think.

Didn't like it very much. Had a laugh, at least.

It's no "Claymates". (Future scholars will debate what she meant by this for decades.)

#I feel like I'm forgetting something here but this is basically all my thoughtz.

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boysplanetrecaps · 3 months

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Build Up Episode 0: Getting to Know the Boys Part 1: Team AllRound

Hey, friends! I’m struggling with writing the recap for episode one of Build Up on MNET because I want to stop and give you the background on everyone, which makes the recap really hard to follow. So I figure I’ll spend some time giving you their backgrounds in four separate posts, to help you get to know the guys. I mention things like where else you may have seen them, if they're in an idol group, who knows who, etc, as well as my opinion of their voice based on their teaser performance. I think it’ll make the recaps easier, both to read and to write. In this first post of four, I’ll be talking about the twelve contestants who chose to join the “Allround” category, as opposed to “Soul”, “Power”, or “Unique.” Let’s go!

Before we go on, I just want to let you know that I’ll sharing my informed opinion on their singing voices. I am going to be a little bit harder on them than I am on singers on Boys Planet, with the understanding that these are all great vocalists. We’re looking for the S+ tier guys amongst a group that is A tier at worst. So if I say anything a bit negative about a fave of yours, understand that I’m not saying that he’s a bad singer! Every guy here is an excellent singer. Cool? Cool!

I also have to apologize, but most of my screenshots are going to be pretty awkward. The video I'm watching makes it really hard to use because every time you pause it, it opens all sorts of porny popups. When it's paused, it has a huge pause symbol in the middle of the picture. So I have to try to take screen shots while it's in motion. It's not easy! Hope you understand.

Also, I have even less time than usual to proofread these posts, so please forgive me for my inevitable typos. <3 Thank you!

Choi Suhwan

Suhwan is currently a soloist. He’s released a few digital singles, none of which have really taken off, unfortunately. You might remember him from ProduceX 101, where he made it to episode 11, so the final cut before the finale, finishing in 28th place. Pretty good!

He was V17, doing a cover of Energetic by Wanna One. I wasn’t blown away by that performance -- it sounded a little processed, and I wasn’t completely sure it was live -- so I sought out another one. Here’s a live performance of his song Losing Sleep. Unfortunately, in this performance, I found his voice a little too nasal and affected to be to my taste, and he had serious issues with his upper mix. He’s not a terrible singer, but there are a lot of stronger singers on this show. Or maybe I’m wrong and he’ll do better next time. Fighting!

Bitsaeon

Bitsaeon is 28, and is the main vocalist from M.O.N.T. He seems to have a predilection for soft fuzzy sweaters. He was V36, singing Rose Blossom by H1-Key, and all I wrote down in my notes was “this is just a really nice voice.” I just really liked it. Clean, smooth, easy to listen to.

I think this performance of Creep by Radiohead shows both what I like and what I don’t like as much about his performances. He does a lot of this soft whisper singing in his covers, which seems like a waste of what he can do. I love his full belts -- they’re so good. I want to hear him sing full-on more often in songs, like he did with Rose Blossom.

M.O.N.T. has a whole complicated dealie that I just don’t have the energy to figure out -- the wikipedia page explains some of it. They’re mainly a three member group, with a leader, a rapper, and a main vocal. They haven’t put out any singles in a while, so I’m not sure what’s going on with them.

Incidentally, Bitsaeon almost certain knows Jay reasonably well. Jay was involved in this thing called MONT Arena that was supposed to collect more members for MONT, so along the way I’m sure they met. In fact, Jay is still signed to the same agency as them (along with a few other agencies).

Seunghun

Seunghun is 24 and a member of CIX. His teaser song was V01, Rain by Paul Kim, and his performance was kind of… not my favorite. He sounded at times almost like he had a cold, and at other times I’m pretty sure he went off key -- I don’t know the song so I can’t be sure but it sounded off. He showed a lack of agility on one of his vocal runs, which means that as he tried to sing a lot of different notes all in a row, he had trouble transitioning from note to note quickly and hitting them all neatly. He had to switch awkwardly to falsetto to hit a single high note in the middle of a line, which is kind of not the goal. I think he may just have been nervous or having an off day.

Seunghun also competed on YG Treasure Box, which I didn’t watch, but maybe you did.

Let’s talk about CIX, baby! (Ok, that joke relies on you pronouncing it “six” but it’s really pronounced “see-eye-ex,” if you read the hangul).

CIX is a five-member group under C9 entertainment, which is also the home to Cignature and Epex. CIX features Wanna One’s Bae Jinyoung, who is the center and face of the group. As sometimes happens in cases like this, the member who was in the big Produce group is famous and attracts stans, while sometimes the rest of the group just doesn’t get as much love, and the group as a whole suffers. See also: Gugudan, Weki Meki. However, CIX does ok. Per genius.com, “The group has released several Top 10 albums in South Korea, including Hello Chapter Ø: Hello, Strange Dream which gave them their first chart-topper in the country. The group’s singles have also consistently landed in the Circle Music chart.” So CIX is a little bit closer to say, IVE than it is to, say, Weki Meki.

Personally, I like CIX -- I think the members are talented -- but I don’t love all their songs. However, their song Cinema is so smooth and lovely, it’s like a glass of orange-peach juice for your soul, and that’s in great measure because of their smooth vocals. (Seunghun is the one with the blue hair in that clip, if you want to watch it.) In fact, this is the song I wanted to listen to in the car on the way to the hospital to have surgery a year or two ago when I was feeling pretty scared. My fella said, “This is nice. I like this.” So if you never heard it, give it a chance. I’m looking forward to getting to know Seunghun a bit better and seeing him on a better day.

Yeo One

Yeo One is 28, and is a lead vocalist for Pentagon. I don’t have to tell you about Pentagon, right? Another excellent group who lost a member and whose popularity has ebbed and flowed. If you watched Boys Planet, you know about Hui, and you know that I like Pentagon a lot!

Yeo One left Cube Entertainment just a few months ago, in October of 2023, along with several other members of Pentagon, so though Pentagon hasn’t disbanded, their further activities will be a bit tricky. He had a sold-out solo concert recently, and was profiled in Rolling Stone Korea, so he’s doing ok for a recently solo artist. Yeo One is a lead vocalist of Pentagon, not one of their two main vocalist, and on kprofiles, he actually ranks in last place in the popularity poll. He often would be given pretty brief lines in most Pentagon songs. But we will get to know him and get to love him on this show, right, team?

He performed a ballad for his teaser (V40) and all I wrote in my note to myself is “I hate songs like this so much I almost can’t think straight.” So, instead, I found this little song that apparently he wrote and performed himself -- it’s light and charming. It sounds like a guy sitting by the fire making up a song on guitar and singing it to himself. He’s not a super skilled vocalist from what I’ve heard thus far, not a powerhouse like Hui, but he has a charming vocal color and is just sort of a generally a lovable dude.

Hwang Inhyuk

Inhyeock / Inhyuk (I’ve seen it transliterated both ways -- both would be 인혁 in Hangul) is 26 and is apparently both a soloist and a member of a vocal group called Unison. Unfortunately, I can’t find anything about them since there’s also a Japanese group called “Unison Square Garden” and when you search “Korean vocal group unison” all you get is information about K-pop songs sung in unison, so…. Yeah. Inhyuk is also a composer and lyricist, and has competed on I Can See Your Voice (I’m not sure which season) and Sing for Gold.

He was V29 and performed a song called The First Day. Again, my perspective is skewed because it’s another feckin’ ballad and no thank you. The opening section when he’s singing in a soft, almost gruff voice is really charming, though. It’s so different from what you’d expect from his appearance and general demeanor. He has a really distinct vocal color, and I think he should have chosen “unique” rather than “allround.” Once he heads into the chorus, which requires belting some higher notes, his voice falters a bit. I just get that feeling that maybe he can do better than what he showed in this teaser. Maybe he wasn’t warmed up properly, or maybe he had a bit of a cold, something like that. The potential is there and I sense training was involved. I’m going to keep an open mind about him.

Geonu

Geonu is from Just B and is 22. In addition to going on I-land, he also went on a show called Dancing High, which also featured Seo Won who you may remember from Boys Planet. God, there are so many of these shows. I kind of remember Geonu from I-land, where he did pretty well, making it close to the end. It’s kind of a shame that he didn’t make it into Enhypen since Enhypen is definitely short on vocalists.

If you want to check out one of Geonu’s previous performances, here he is doing a duet performance of BTS’s Butterfly on I-land with Heesung (who did go on to debut in Enhypen).

Geonu has gotten a bit better since then; here is his audition for this show, where he was V10.

His upper mixed register has gotten stronger and a lot less breathy compared to when he was on I-land, but he seems to have developed an unpleasant nasality. Maybe being on this show will spur him to adjust his methodology. He has a really pleasant vocal color and a lot of potential.

(I discuss Just B in Bain’s write up.)

Jang Intae

Per my online sleuthing, Intae, age 27, is a singer-songwriter and is one half of the duo 415. (Their group is named for the fact that both members were born on April 15th, 1997.) 415 has put out seven digital singles and performed a few OSTs, but their MVs generally get fewer than 10,000 views. I think his general style and vibe isn’t what I personally look for in a musician -- it’s a bit too “acoustic lite” -- but I bet a lot of people would like what he and his duo partner do, if people gave them a chance.

His teaser performance, V37, was Missing You by BTOB (a song performed on Girls Planet 999, if it sounds familiar to you -- a member of BTOB is on this show's judging panel). It started off really nasal, but got a bit better as it went along. He strained a bit on the high notes, unfortunately. It wasn’t the best performance, but I’m not going to condemn him for 90 seconds of imperfect singing. I hope that as I see more from him, he gets to show more of what he can do.

Jeong Yoonseo

Jeong Yoonseo is a trainee, and little info is available about him. He’s V32, performing Starlight by Taeil. There are a lot of background vocals -- I think there’s a guide track behind him the whole time! -- so it’s hard to pick out his pure voice. It sounds nice from what I can hear. That’s kind of all I got! (Side note -- I’ve seen his name listed as Jang, not Jeong, but if you read the hangul, it’s Jeong, so IDK.)

Hong Seongjun

Seongjun is 24 and is (was?) a member of a group called BDC, a three member group under Brandnew Music that debuted in the latter end of the pandemic, in September 2020. All three members had been on ProduceX 101. Seongun himself was eliminated in 51st place. They put out several comebacks but never really caught on.

On their kprofiles page, it says “On August 18, 2023, BRANDNEW MUSIC officially announced that BDC will end all official promotions as artists under the company on August 26, 2023, after they mutually decided to end their contracts. Thereafter, the group have been active in Japan and have a fan meeting planned in Korea on December 3, 2023.” I’m not sure what to make of that, but it doesn’t sound great obviously.

I went to check out their M/Vs and remembered that I had actually listened to Moon Rider for a few months there at some point. Pretty decent song, but it got only 3.6 million views. I think it’s just kind of tough for three member groups.

He was V27 and sang a chipper acoustic little song by 10cm. For me, him having such heavy backup vocals for so much of the song kind of makes me wonder, why would you do that? It’s the same thing as the situation with Yoonseo. Isn’t the point to show their vocals? That said, this was a pleasant enough performance -- clean and sweet, with decent agility in some of the runs -- but not something I’m dying to listen to over and over. I think he didn’t really understand the assignment and chose something that would be nice to perform with people watching you, instead of something to sing in the dark.

Jeong Inseong

Inseong is 29 and is main vocal of a group called KNK.

He was V06, performing a song called Letting Go by Day6. I looked it up and this song came out on March 28, 2016 -- just a few weeks after Lim Junhyeok had to leave that group. It being called “Letting Go” is a bit… pointed. Kind of like when f(x) did a song called Four Walls as their first comeback (and last) as a four-member group. Anyway… I really liked this. I just wrote in my notes, “ooh, likey.” This is just so good, I don’t even know how to pick it apart. It’s just a combination of stellar technique and smooth natural vocal color. He does have to go into falsetto to hit a super high note, but he transitions almost instantly. This is good stuff.

KNK debuted in 2016 as a 5 member group. They left their first agency in 2018 but continued as a group at a new agency, losing one member and gaining a new one. Over the last few years, two more members have quit and one more joined, leaving four in the group as of now.

Their most recent single, Ride, came out in September 2020 and currently has about 1.7 million views on Youtube. It’s so easy to tell when Inseong is singing -- it’s like when Kihyun sings in MonstaX and you’re just like YES, come THROUGH. I threw Ride on my playlist just so I can hear more Inseong.

Inseong has been in a bunch of music shows, and also participated in Mixnine, so he may know the other Mixnine contestants, Ma Jaekhyung from Romeo and Donghun from A.C.E. However, he had to withdraw early from the show, so maybe not.

If you want more Inseong, here’s a fun duet he does with the “Korean Madonna,” Kim Wanseon.

Taehwan

Taehwan, 30, is the leader and main vocalist of Vanner, and was V13, singing Goodbye by Park Hyo Shin. You probably know by now that I’m not much of a ballad girl, but at least this is sung simply, with a really warm, textured voice. He does sound really pinched on the higher notes, like his throat is closing, and he gets a bit nasal at times, as well. In my opinion, he lacks technique, but has a lot of natural talent. He also has a great smile.

Vanner is a five member group that debuted in 2019. They had a lot of support as they debuted, and even got significant crowdfunding. They went on Peaktime, as did many other lesser known groups -- and they won! Good for Vanner. Their most recent EP charted very well overseas. Their song Performer, released five months ago, has 8.7 million views on Youtube, and their song Jackpot, released on Jan 30, 2024, already had almost 4 million views at the time of writing, an incredible performance for less than a week. So it looks like Vanner is really starting to take off.

Taehwan may have met Ma Jaekyung, Bitsaeon, and Hong Seongjun when they competed on Peak Time.

Ji Yeonwoo

Yeonwoo is another trainee I just don’t know much about. Apparently he went on a show called Wild Idol, which I haven’t seen. But I do know that his teaser song, V24, Suffer by Charlie Puth, was great. A great combination of a song I actually liked and a voice I really liked. He has great agility, leaping up into falsetto and back down again. He does get a bit pinched sometimes on higher notes, but for whatever reason, it doesn’t bother me. Maybe it’s just I’m so glad it’s not a ballad!

Ok, that’s enough for now. I’ll see you in the next one, when I tackle Team Soul, featuring everyone’s favorite. You know who I mean.

#bpr recaps build up #build up #mnet build up #jang intae #jeong yoonseo #vanner #m.o.n.t.#a.c.e.#cix #hong seongjun #BDC #jeong inseong #KNK #taehwan #ji yeonwoo #bitsaeon #suhwan #pentagon #yeo one

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aemiron-main · 2 years

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OH STUFF IS REALLY WONKED UP IN REGARDS TO TIME IN THE HALLOWEEN EP OH MY GOD. there’s the post i made about how the scene with mike is 11 minutes ahead in the footage joyce watches (the footage will records is at 8:04 when we see it during trick or treating vs the footage that joyce watches shows the same footage but timestamped with 8:15 instead) but it doesnt end there. remember the scene earlier in the halloween ep with bob showing jonathan how to use the camera? and he says “T to zoom in”?? During that scene at the time, the timestamp was 5:43 pm. but when joyce watches that scene later, it’s timestamped with 6:11 pm. So not only is that a TOTALLY different time than 5:43, just like how the mike recording has a different time, but it’s also a different time gap between the two timestamps compared to the gap between the mike scene timestamps (which is 11 minutes). The timestamp gap between the bob scenes is 28 minutes.

what the fresh fuck is going on with time. i’d dismiss it as a continuity error if a.) this wasn’t stranger things and b.) if they didn’t take the time to specifically show us the timestamps of these scenes initally vs the timestamps AFTER, when joyce watches the recording. they didn’t have to show us that. the scene of bob teaching jonathan to zoom in seemingly serves no purpose. unless it’s tied to some sort of time fuckery. but wait. it gets even fucking WEIRDER. because when joyce is watching the footage, we get the front view of it from her pov, right? and it says OCT 31 84 6:11 PM

but when we see it from a side view, it’s hard to see in this screenshot but much easier to see when you’re watching the show in motion, the EXACT same clip swaps to saying “OCT 30 84 6:11 PM”

BUT IT GETS EVEN EVEN FUCKING WEIRDER- because then, the footage in the same shot, goes from bob to the party’s trick or treating night, and it’s a scene from right before they go up to the door and get called exterminators. but this also CLEARLY says oct 30, i know it’s hard to see in that screenshot, but if you watch the footage in motion, it’s absolutely a 0 and not a 1.

THIS is what a 1 or a 31 looks like from this side view- it’s very clearly a 31, unlike the other shots which show 30, so it’s NOT just the perspective warping it, because we DO see a 31 from that angle too. again, it’s a lot clearer watching the show in motion.

And we also see another discrepancy! This is the footage that will filmed when getting called exterminators, and the date is OCT 31 84 at 7:22 pm

But then when joyce watches, it’s still OCT 31 84, but it’s 7:45 instead- a 23 minute difference.

And the closer we get to will going to the upside-down on halloween, the shorter the differences in time between the that was filmed vs the footage joyce watches become. The oct 30th vs oct 31st fuckery aside because thats a whole other can of worms, the bob scenes, which happen the earliest out of all the scenes i’ve mentioned here, happen at 5:43 when jonathan is filming vs at 6:11 when joyce rewatches, which is a 28 minute time difference. The next scene that happens (not the order that joyce watches them in, but rather, the order that they happened in chronologically during the halloween episode) is the trick or treat exterminator scene, which has a 23 minute difference. And then there’s the mike recording scene, which has an 11 minute difference. what the FUCK is going on here. and i’m only BARELY scraping the surface of a BUNCH of time references i’ve noticed in s2, all of which i’m compiling rn

#stranger things #byler #dustin henderson #time theory #will byers

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ramenwithbroccoli · 8 months

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the little birdie lore. hand it over. (plz and thank u and here is the creetur that comes w the ask 🐦)

I'M GLAD YOU ASKED (and here, have some snacks for the bird 🌾)

Little Birdie in a silly little hat

To start our analysis, we have to do what one's doing when listening to Little Birdie - imagine birds in hats. So here are some of them:

Prety fabulous, right? These birds sure do look good in their hats. What's stopping them from wearing them all the time?

The answer is: physics.

When we put a bird who flies in a fancy hat with the rim, it's deemed to lose it - it only takes one blow of the wind or wing motions to send it out into the sky never to be seen again. And when it comes to rimless (it's that even a real word?) hats like beanies, it would be hard to keep them from simply sliding off, due to birds being so aerodynamic.

Losing a hat would not only be sad, it would also be difficult to retrieve it. Even if it's possible, there's one pretty big problem: birds don't have hands. So they can't really do this.

I know, disappointing. But what does that mean to us?

Little Birdie is working with someone

There is someone - probably a human - working with Little Birdie to keep his hat in place. While this could take a form of putting it back on his head whenever he flies back teary eyed, holding it in his beak, I'm pretty sure we all figured a way better solution.

A ribbon (or maybe a thread or a cord of some sorts)

Simply tie it around your bird's neck and boom! Peace and love on planet earth. However, as mentioned above, birds don't have hands so they can't really tie it themselves. Even with a ribbon being quite stable, somone still would have to check up on it, periodically, to see if everything is still alright. Seems like much of a hassle, right? So why would anybody do that?

I'm pretty sure most of us have seen this post somewhere (wanted to link it but it turns out op deactivated so here's a screenshot)

While it may not be true for every bird - various posts point out that only ceratin species of birds feel butterflies in their stomachs when their mate can wear some colorful accesories - it's still an interesting fact that might help with our investigation.

But why would someone do this for Little Birdie?

Sure, we love birds, but why give this particular bird an unfair advantage? The answer is simple: the hat is a payment for service. At first i thought that Little Birdie works by gathering and selling information - after all we all heard someone say "a little birdie told me"- but that wouldn't make sense, as the hat is easily noticable so it would be quite a disadvantage when you have to sneak around and eavesdrop.

Then it hit me - the hat isn't only a reward, it's also a storage space. Little Birdie might just work in transport, right? Nothing malicious. However...

Little Birdie as a dealer

There isn't much space under the hat of a bird. Even if your thing is small, it also can't be heavy as to not cause too much discomfort, so you can't really get your tungsten cube delivered that way. That's leaving us with transporting light, small things. Someone would put them in a hat, secure it on Birdie, and then the person who the thing was delivered to would take it out and also adjust the hat again.

But why would they use a hat instead of a bag with bigger carrying capacities? Not only would it be more comfortable, it's also profitable because you could carry more stuff in there. That might be because a hat raises less suspicion. When you see a bird with a bag, or perhaps a pouch, you'd know that something is carried there. But a hat? Maybe a bird is just a little silly. Maybe its head feel cold when he flies so high in the sky (Why does he fly so high? To avoid someone detecting him?). You don't think about it too much, you just leave it be.

Another point is, Little Birdie can't really take the package out of his hat himself, which would be easier with a bag. When it comes to valuable transport - let's say, rare seeds from some rare fruit from another part of the world - he can't just reach in there and sneakily eat one without anyone noticing. He could take his hat off to do so, but he couldn't put it back on, meaning he would be just an ordinary hatless bird again.

But why would Birdie do that? Is it all a job? An unresolved part of shady past? Does he even know what he's doing? That questions might never be answered. I just hope that one day, Little Birdie might be carefree once again - with or without his silly, little hat.

#i spent way too long on this #don't worry it's just a joke theory (or is it?)#so yeah be wary of little birdies.#spg #steam powered giraffe #little birdie #analysis #long post

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walks-the-ages · 1 year

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"Favorite Doctor Survey" Update February 11th, 2023, ~9pm Eastern Standard Time:

[ID: a screenshot of a pie chart which has a multitude of colors in sections, the largest being labeled with percentages of 23.3%, 16.3%, 11.6%, and two are labled 7% while the rest are not labeled. there is a list of Doctor Who incarnations off to the side with color coding which trails off. end ID]

So far, we have 43 votes, and right now, the 8th Doctor is in the lead with 10 votes, aka 23.3%!

I am extremely delighted with this fact, we need more people to appreciate the Eighth Doctor ~! For anyone who is unaware of it, the Eighth Doctor is not limited to just the 1997 TV movie and a few minutes in Power of the Doctor--

--oh no, this Bestest Boy Ever has not only over a hundred audio dramas (and counting!!) on Big Finish, but also at least 74 Novels to his interation! If you do not know the Eighth Doctor yet, now is your excuse to go watch his movie on the web archive and then dive into the world of Big Finish to experience his adventures with Charley! :D

*Ahem* So, onto the next "Favorite Doctor!"

To no-ones surprise, the Twelfth Doctor, played by Peter Capaldi is holding steady in second place, with 9 votes!

There's a slight error in the graph because I realized I'd forgotten to add his actor and year to the 12th doctor listing and the answers already submitted didn't get edited, so Peter Capaldi's 12th Doctor is not just the dark teal 16.3% you see above, but also the dark blue right underneath it which is the first 2 original votes before the updated info.

In 3rd place, appropriately enough, we have the Third Doctor, played by Jon Pertwee! He currently has 5 votes, aka 11.6%!

Everyone seems to love his dynamics with UNIT, being earthbound, and his fatherly/grandfatherly relationships with his companions-- not to mention his chemistry with The Master!

Tied for 4th place, we have the Sixth and Second Doctors, each with 3 votes, aka 7% !

One, Five, Nine, and Ten each have 2 votes,

Four, The Valyard, The Shalka!Doctor, Eleven, and Thirteen all have 1 vote each,

and so far we have two write-in answers: one vote for "The Lethian Campaign Assassin" (an extremely intriguing wiki article) and one vote for the Master!Doctor from Power of the Doctor :D

Let's keep those votes rolling in! I pretty much have no time limit on this poll lol, i'll just post periodically when there's a significant number of new votes or if someone else takes the lead!

In the meanwhile if you haven't taken the survey yet, here is the link to cast your vote:

And if you'd like to see what all the hype is about for the Eighth Doctor, here is a link to a gorgeous fan-made upscaling of the movie, which was posted to the archive by the uploader-- you can stream it from the archive (make sure you set it to 1080p and give it plenty of time to buffer!)

Or, even better, download the mkv video, and use VLC media player or a similar open source program so you can adjust the playback speed to around 96% for the proper pitch and speed!

When they were doing US to UK conversion they uh. lol they fucked up the framerate so to fix it the movie was sped up on release, so watching it without adjusting the playback speed will make everyone sound like chipmunks comparison to their normal voices, but can also cause some motion sickness from the weird, fast framerate

! So I highly reccomend downloading it so you can adjust the playback speed a custom amount! Oh, and don't forget to favorite to show the upscaler some love for their hard work, they made it into a beautiful masterpiece! [ it literally looks better than my physical dvd i bought years ago lol]

If you'd like to dip your toes into some other, slightly more obscure Doctors featured on this survey, I also have a link to the 4k Upscaling of "the Scream of the Shalka", an animated Doctor Who episode from 2003, which was never continued (on screen at least; it has one short story sequel written available online, "The Feast of the Stone"!

Scream of the Shalka, in 4k HD, again, thanks to fans taking the time to upscale things!

Scream of the Shalka short story sequel:

(please note for fellow Shinigami-Eyes users, there is no transphobia in the short story, the entire BBC website is now universally marked red in shinigami eyes)

#long post #very long post #bold text #Doctor Who #described images #dw #Favorite Doctor Survey #Classic Who #Scream of the Shalka #8th doctor #Eighth Doctor #Twelfth Doctor #12th Doctor #eighth doctor audios #Shalka!Doctor

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lucientelrunya · 8 months

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The first scene from my yet untitled merperson!Ba Ye AU for @spinecorset :)

Zhang Rishan wakes cold and clammy, wet clothes sticking to him like a second skin. The water has dried on his uncovered skin, leaving a sticky, salty crust behind, clinging to his lashes as he opens his eyes. There is a blur of motion above him and then a splash right beside him before he even manages to wipe his wet hair out of his eyes and sit up. He is on a little secluded strip of beach littered with smaller and bigger natural stone pools and lying right beside one, half of his legs still floating in the water.

The water is still in motion where his savior must have dove down and it does look like there is a hole in the floor of the bigger pool, leading down into some caves – the locals had said something about the sea witch residing in a cave, too – but it’s too dark to see anything below the hole. The rest of the water is moving with the waves, crashing against the side of the pool softly.

Either his savior is gone or hiding somewhere down there, hidden so well that even Zhang Rishan’s sharp and trained eyes can't spot him.

Sighing he reaches for his phone that is still hanging from the lanyard and still recording. He stops the recording and waits for it to be ready, so he can watch from the beginning.

It's a blur of splashing water and bubbles and then the dark bluegreen of the sea as he had sunken deeper. The phone wasn’t made to record in these conditions, but it's good enough to see movement in the dark, blurry depths of the sea. Something like a face peeking out, framed by dark floating hair, watching for a moment before the merperson darts out of his hiding spot, just a blur of movement in the recording. And then he's close enough that Zhang Rishan only gets flashes of something that almost looks like fabric, like a sleeve as a hand reaches past the scope of the camera.

More blurry movement follows, when the merperson must have grabbed Zhang Rishan, because the phone gets tossed around so much that it's hard to watch without feeling sick.

But then it stabilizes as Zhang Rishan is dragged out of the water, the phone coming to rest on his stomach. He can see more glimpses as the merperson drags him up the side of the pool and then, finally, he can actually see his face when the merperson stops, resting beside him for a moment, half bent over him. Probably making sure Zhang Rishan is still breathing, because he can hear himself coughing, sputtering out water. The person moves again, obviously catching sight of the phone and his own face mirrored back at him because for a wonderful moment he is mostly still and just looks at the phone curiously and then makes a move as if to reach for it. But then Zhang Rishan makes a sound and the merperson freezes and darts away in a blur of sea green.

Zhang Rishan rewinds the recording and stops it to take a screenshot of that wonderful, still moment the merperson had just looked at the phone. He can see his face almost perfectly, just a little residual wetness and salt on the camera smudging the picture in some places.

It's him. It’s really him.

For a moment Zhang Rishan looks up from his phone again, letting his gaze wander over the pool and then the shoreline behind it. There is still no trace of the merperson, but he had come to save Zhang Rishan. Again.

He smiles to himself. So he is still here, still saving drowning people.

That means Zhang Rishan can start step two of his plan.

#dmbj #zhang rishan #qi tiezui #fuba

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orcelito · 6 months

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Ok on why ITNL 15 was so technically difficult.

Under a cut for ppl who haven't read it & wanna keep it a surprise

So writing traditional action ends up feeling like choreography. I plan out the steps following the motion that feels the most natural. It can be tricky sometimes, but mostly in figuring out how to describe an action I see in my mind. Overall, I end up writing traditional action really quickly actually bc it's Fun and Exciting and it Flows

What went down in ITNL 15 was not traditional action. Really, it was an unconventional torture scene.

So the trickiness came from multiple things. First & honestly one of the hardest things was getting into the head of a madman. Someone who will gleefully kill a lot of people just to hurt someone psychologically. Someone spiteful, sadistic, and just having so much fun with it (but also not Actually having that much fun, bc he was also just Really Angry)

First time writing him, too. So I had to find a new character's voice On Top of exploring the whims he would follow when literally torturing someone.

And then we get to the actual actions of it. There was no choreography because there was no dance to it. No flow of motion. There was a Burst at the start of the interaction, but then it all just Stops. Vash is forced to take it at Legato's pace as he toys with him.

That was a huge part of how tricky it was. Following the thread of where Legato was taking it & being unable to push things along with Vash. Vash was just along for the ride, existing just to be toyed with. Falling right into Legato's expectations with his reactions...

Except for two parts. And these were some of the trickiest.

When he managed to break out of the control Just A Little Bit. And then when he's on his knees, emotionally stripped bare, and decides to go for the one jab that he knows will Hurt Him just as a stubborn "fuck you", since he didn't have any other way to take autonomy in that scene.

He pays for it. The paragraph where Legato broke Vash's nose was the one that took me 50 fucking minutes to write. Which, on that note, I can show a screenshot of my working through it!

Final paragraph: Legato's face twisted in instant fury. His hand tightened harshly in Vash's hair, using it as a grip to bash his nose into his knee with a sickening crunch.

And the progress pic ^ lmao. Something I do while trying to puzzle out wording is push the old version down & start working on a new version, but not deleting the old yet in case I wanna switch back or otherwise re-use any of the wording.

There ended up being about 15 of these discarded lines. 111 words of discarded text. Until I finally settled on the version in the thing.

Another thing I focus on a lot while writing is the motion of the words, and that was so much of the struggle here. Such a simple moment, you would think. He's just breaking his nose. But describing it in a way that is Concise while also communicating the gravity of it AND the motion of the words themselves. It's a lot to consider. And it's such a miserable moment for Vash, it was so hard to get it to a point I was satisfied with.

I'm pretty proud of how the scene turned out, in the end. Maybe not 100% perfect. There are definitely a few points that feel held together with duct tape and tooth picks. Then other parts where I'm just like "holy fucking shit, I wrote this???" An interesting combination, but I feel like that's writing in general.

And! It seems like my work paid off! People seem to have enjoyed the chapter, which makes all the work feel a lot more worth it. It's a nice feeling to know all that time is appreciated.

Yeah . A Lot went into this scene. Definitely out of the bounds of anything else ive written before. But I think I can confidently call this a success 😌

#speculation nation #itnl shit #wow this ended up being a lot more words than i expected #talked a good amount about my writing process in general too #but yea. if ur curious about That Scene of ITNL 15 at all. this post is for You

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silver-wield · 1 month

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Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Review Chapter 8

Okay, this collection of posts will be filled with spoilers, including clips and screenshots, so if you don't wanna see things, then don't look. Some of the things I'm gonna highlight will include references to Remake and other sources to link with the overarching plot. This is a straight path playthrough with no sidequests or extra content.

Time to hit the Saucer!

The second we arrive, the girls are pulled into a short dance sequence against Andrea. After that we're introduced to Dio.

As usual, Cloud's pretty face gets him unwanted attention. Dio wants to duel. It's not a hard match, and yet I hate it so much. Cloud's proud of himself for kicking some virtual ass, and specifically looks for Tifa as he celebrates to see if she's watching. She is. He's happy.

After that the group splits after a diplomatic vote with the girls and Red going to have fun. Cloud would've gone with but when Tifa asked he had a vision of Sephiroth and she suggested he get some rest instead. He and Barret head to the ghost hotel.

We get our introduction to Cait Sith and his predictions, which kind freak Cloud out. Makes me wonder if he's superstitious.

Cloud has a nap and we get another interlude with Zack. At one point he strokes Aerith's hair and then goes downstairs to talk to Elmyra and Marlene. He then goes looking for Biggs to cheer up Marlene.

Back with the main crew and you get to take a wander around the park with whoever you have the highest affinity with. Obviously I went with Tifa and it was cute watching her and Cloud hold hands 😍

Cait Sith interrupts to let them know about a shooting. Cloud and Tifa defend Barret and state he couldn't be responsible. They volunteer to find the real culprit and Dio slaps a cuff on Cloud to stop them running away. This accessory becomes important later.

Cloud's blindsided by goons and everyone wakes up the following morning. Gus, the leader of the dust bowl, is willing to hand over the gunman if Cloud wins a chocobo race. It takes some sidequests to get Piko racing fit, but then it's off with Esther to the races!

Meanwhile, we see Elena in the desert complaining and reminding us she's only 18 🤣

Cloud wins his race. It really wasn't hard, and I say that as someone who hates chocobo racing. The others are let out of their prison cell to watch Cloud win and celebrate 🥳

After that it's an annoying trek through the desert following a frigging condor until we find Barret. Shocker, he's not the gunman who killed the people at the arena.

I'm not gonna spoil this part, but it's amazing and emotional and made me cry 😭

The combat with Barret was pretty fun and the transitions between stages were awesome!

Elena has her not vanilla ice cream, and we have to deal with a whiny Palmer in a massive mech. And this comes right off the back of a highly emotional scene. I needed a minute to get myself together 😭

After the battles are over, Dio appears and that bracelet becomes relevant. We get the buggy, Dio gives us a distraction and Barret takes charge clearing the road.

I sucked at this. I tried. I really did. This goes towards Barret's affinity for his date too, so do your best!

After we escape, it's a fast paced drive across the desert until Yuffie's motion sickness forces us to stop and get our bearings.

We have a quick stop in to find Reeve all cheerful as he doctors the wanted poster for the golden trio. Why would this make him happy? Why would he be happy in general? Well, he's teamed up with Cloud and co and finally feels like he's doing something instead of banging his head against his desk every time he tries to make Shinra do some good.

We also stop in at Rufus office for another meeting between him and Glenn, who we can see now is some apparition of Sephiroth's that'll trying to start a war. Why? Because war means death and those souls who died angry can be corrupted and used to fight the white whispers in the lifestream.

And it's back to Zack, so I'm assuming Cloud took another nap since we return to the crew the next day. He's off looking for Biggs like he promised Marlene, and we see them find each other. The interesting convo between them will be next interlude.

Barret's arc remains one of my favourites. It's everything I wanted from Rebirth and it's at this point I started getting excited to play the game. Before that I was kinda meh about it, but this chapter onwards everything is fantastic until we hit that long ass boring cut scene at the start of chapter 14.

#FF7Rebirth spoilers

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wiihtigo · 2 months

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you might have answered this already but how often do you use pose references while youre drawing? your art is always so dynamic and full of motion/tactility (cant think of better phrasing)

Thank you so much! TRUTHFULLY… NOT SUPER OFTEN…. I usually just wing it when I do posing 😭 I def think I should though I’d probably make less mistakes that way. I’ve considered learning how to use those 3d models in clip studio but ahhhhgh… I get stressed out at the smallest things…

I def do use refs though, usually I’ll just find what I can on google images but a lot of the times what I need is weirdly specific or hard to find by googling so I use the 97 year old old fashioned way of propping up my phone against something and taking a photo of myself doing it

I have a lot of weird pictures of myself because of that (i take a lot of hand reference pics but sometimes I need to do some balancing act bs and stick my phone at weird angles to get what I want)

Also I don’t just use references of real people! Sometimes I’m watching some animated show and I think the way they drew the character standing or jumping or whatever looks awesome so I hold that image in my mind and try to copy it. It’s fun! (I intentionally try to go off memory and not pausing and taking a screenshot to look at because I feel it forces me to draw it based on the bare essentials of what I saw.. or maybe……. I’m just crazy) (it can also be helpful to go back and look at the moment you drew and be like “fuuuck I missed THAT part” .. idk how to describe it. It feels like I’m exercising something. Like a memory game)

I’m super flattered you think my posings are so dynamic… usually I’m listening to music which fills my head with amvs and visions.. thank you again!

#asks #if you remember that pathetic little drawing I drew of Casey with her head in her knees crying sobbing that’s something I took a pic of #myself for

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goddessmyisha · 2 months

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Meet With Mommy

“Sent, Mistress,” you sent the message with a screenshot of your payment confirmation. You had sent more than triple what you usually do for simple sessions and games I wanted to play with you so you knew I would respond eventually. You were overcome with nervousness as you awaited my response, knowing your request was going to be a big step in our relationship. You sat with your feet tucked under you, in the submissive pose you were instructed to sit in every time you wanted something from me.

“Yes, pup, what do you want today?”

“Mistress, I was hoping you would fulfill a fantasy of mine,” you swallowed hard as you hit send, praying in my name that you hadn’t pissed me off in any way. As much as you know I hated being told what to do, you still just had to ask, to see if I would be a benevolent Goddess or make you suffer for your indiscretions.

“And what would that be?”

“A session, Mistress, a cashmeet so I may hand you my offerings in person,” you weren’t sure when you’d started to sweat but you wiped your brow as you stared down your phone. It was already a known fact that you lived in the same state as me when you’d applied to serve me long term. Since that day, you’d dreamed of staring at my toes, head bowed out of respect as I sat in front of you, using your phone to empty your account and taking the cash from your wallet. The thought had you salivating already, yearning to hear my giggles as I ruin you more.

I didn’t message back for a long time, making you fight away a nervous sorrow that tried to creep its way into your heart, hoping your wish would be granted. After about 15 minutes, you saw the little bubble appear, holding my answer, “How much do you really want to spend time with me?”

“I would give anything, Mistress, anything and everything I have to give,” you knew it was a desperate message but you couldn’t fight the need you had when it came to me. You needed me more than your next breath after all.

“Good boy, here’s what we’re gonna do…”

A week had gone since our conversation and you were sitting in your car in front of the shopping mall I had directed you to. There were no words to describe how you were feeling as you watched different cars pass by you, wondering which one I would be in. Soon, I pulled in next to you, lips painted blood red as I opened my car door. You rushed to my side and dropped to your knees, using a separate car for cover as people walked by. I simply turned and placed my feet in front of you, my galaxy printed Vans sending your mind into a frenzy.

“Wallet, pup,” my voice entranced you almost immediately. You bowed your head and offered up your wallet, hearing me chuckle darkly as I open it and start counting my money. I point my foot slightly and you cover every inch of my foot with kisses until I snatched my foot back, grabbed my purse and got out of the car, “Now, for the fun part.”

We walked in, you walking four steps behind me and one to the left. From there, you followed me into every store that caught my eye and watched me try on outfit after outfit for hours. When it came time to pay, I would wave you closer and you would swipe your card. We went on like this for hours, until I had gotten something from what seemed like every store in the mall. Your pencil dick had been leaking since you’d gotten to kiss my feet and now it was almost unbearable.

When we made it back to the car, the sun was setting, casting the sky in beautiful pinks and purples that seemed to frame my body perfectly as I opened my trunk, letting you put all my new gifts inside. I sat back in my car and motioned for you to get back on your knees. Again, I allowed you to kiss my feet in gratitude.

“You’ve been such a good pup, we should do this again sometime,” I spoke. You looked up at me and the smile on my face made your heart stop. That was all you’d wanted, to serve your Mistress and be rewarded with my joy.

#ebony findom #findom brat #findom drain #findom goddess #findom worship #financial drain #findomm #findomslave #finslave #financial dominance #findomfetish

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fourseasonsfigs · 11 months

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Fierce Husbands

Yesterday's sad Rainy Night Wen was having a tough time of it. But today we're jumping ahead to Episode 16, where we have our two favorites reuniting (again).

I absolutely love this scene. It's incredible.

I remember watching this for the first time and being utterly blown away by how Lao Wen just swoops down and it's like the previous scenes never happened, he's so intent on ensuring A-Xu is alright. And the look on Zhou Zishu's face. That breath Zhang Zhehan takes in is just incredible. They're both so badass and the scene is just tender and gorgeously romantic at the same time.

So of course these two figs are a must have.

That being said, they were definitely not something I could have, at least when they were first produced. The fig maker restricted the sales of this set and two other sets in the same series with some pretty onerous restrictions. In order to purchase these, you had to show proof of endorsement purchases / charitable donations for both actors, provide screenshots of your social media accounts to prove you were a CP fan, and had to have bought at least 6 previous figures from their shop before. I could have done the first two, but the last I had not. At the time these were launched, I had not had the opportunity at that point to buy directly from their shop for more than just a few figs.

So, I resigned myself to tracking these down on the secondary resale market once they were produced and shipped. I figured they'd cost a pretty premium when marked up for their rarity and popularity, but I searched and searched (and searched some more), and luckily didn't end up paying all that much more over original price.

These two arrived in their protective polystyrene cases, but somewhere in the travels home to me, they met with misfortune.

Ahh! Horrible. The stuff of figthusiast nightmares. I yelped when his little head rolled right out of the box.

Luckily, the break was pretty clean. Sometimes, like in this case, the break is the least of all possible problems. What's much worse is chipped paint and / or collateral damage that is caused when the broken pieces bang and scrape against each other. Some super gentle buffing with a Magic Eraser can sometimes help with discolorations. Chipped paint, though, is a whole other story. Speaking of which...

Lao Wen did not escape unscathed either. His poor hairpin! If you read yesterday's post, you saw where the fig maker sent his hairpin separately. It's to prevent exactly this. Now I've had lots of figs with pre-attached hairpins make it to me OK, but certainly not all of them.

If you look closely, you can see where the paint has broken off. There's no mending this one perfectly with this much damage, unfortunately.

Here's Baiyi, and you can see his hand where he can hold the hilt. Thankfully, the sword fit perfectly into his hand. You can also see here that A-Xu's beautiful neck is as good as new, more or less.

You can see here how well A-Xu holds his sword - really nice modeling on the hand. It's snug enough of a fit it won't fall out, but not too tight that I worry about damaging his little fingers.

What a cute angle for these two! I love the flowy motion of their robes as they both head towards each other.

Ah the epic image. I know A-Xu looks a bit taller here, but his high ponytail and weimao are adding some extra volume to his head!

Sadly, this is a good angle to see the damage in the mended hairpin. After the success I had with painting over the damage to Lao Wen's xiao in yesterday's fig, I'm going to mix up some paint and try to do the same for this hairpin.

Oof, this is an even better angle to see the damage in the poor hairpin. I had a hard time getting it to even stick together, as you can see. In happier news, their robes look fantastic here, and Baiyi also looks great. It's well sized for the fig and adds interest while not distracting from the overall scene.

I really love the movement in their robes and their hair.

The modeling on these figs is very true to the show, I've been watching my little clip on a loop and I'm impressed with the fig maker's level of detail.

The little one-sided wrinkle by Lao Wen's left eye just delights me!

And we're back around. Look at how each of them has a foot stepping out front as they walk to each other. I just love them.

Despite the dynamic poses, these figs stand quite well. Normally robe layers like this help to balance the figs, but these figs are a little unusual in that so much of their robes are flowing off the ground.

This show made me fall in love with the weimao. It's such a great look.

I'll come back and post a pic of the painted hairpin when I attempt it. Hopefully this weekend!

These figs came in a plain white box, so no box art, but the box card art is lovely!

The other two sets are just getting stocked in at my warehouse, so it'll probably be a month before they arrive at home. They'll skip to the front of the posting line when they do, though!

Material: Resin

Fig Count: 389

Scene Count: 26

Rating: Fierce and loyal!

[link back to Master Fig Index for more posts]

#wenzhou #word of honor #word of honor merch #episode 16 #gong jun #zhang zhehan #junzhe #figthusiast #a-xu #lao wen

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your-rdo-gf · 6 months

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Part 1/2 Long text ahead and a mixture of cringe RP stuff and "two stoned friends with way too much time on their hands" stuff. Be warned lol. I had kind of an internal monologue while doing this trail ride. Probably because I was inebriated, but regardless I took some mental notes and wanted to put it in writing before heading to bed. Everything is perfectly optional to read, of course, since I'm mostly writing this all for myself, but more power to you if you're interested! This post is kinda randomly peppered with screenshots I thought were pretty, and then some that are actually written about. I did my best to place them accordingly! The devs of the mod menu I use, Fortitude, recently added a slow motion feature which I've been having an absolute blast with! So tonight, accompanied by a lovely friend (whom I'm just going to refer to as Charles for simplicity's sake), I went on a nice long digital trail ride with Charles and took some screenshots. This was a whole ordeal lol. Started out rather normal, no issues whatsoever as we were in a private server and had all the time in the world to just take our time and take pics. We listened to music, smoked a bowl, just got comfy and prepared for a LONG journey because I wanted this whole thing to be in slowmo. Charles hasn't really played RDR2/RDO before, much less with mods, so I had to teach him a bit. But I digress! Early into the ride I started playing Angels and Airwaves, a band that I grew up with and love dearly. Turns out… Charles hates them lol. But he DID agree that they fit the Charles and Blair aesthetic really well with both sound and lyrics, plus helped me pick out the best song to put some clips to, so there's that. Then we ran into the red coyote. I tried my hardest to ignore it, truly. But my ADHD got the best of me. I think we spent the better part of 30 minutes in a constant back and forth of "Where is it?!" "THERE!!" "WHERE?!" "RIGHT THERE!" "I CAN'T SEE WHERE YOU'RE POINTING, YOU'RE IN A DIFFERENT ROOM!" Let me tell you, chasing a coyote with cinematic mode on and in slow motion is HARD. I wish I had gotten some better pictures. Oh well though, the experience was worth it. And then I killed the poor thing. I didn't mean to, but I ran it over a couple of times and that did it in. I was actually gonna let it go after taking pics, and just let it despawn, but I guess little coyotes are no match for two stomps of an Arabian's hooves. So after selling the little cutie to Gus and getting my garment (that's my fave legendary and I somehow hadn't gotten it yet; I only let myself get legendaries when I see them in game and won't spawn them for myself), we continued south. More screenies, ofc, and I wanted to hurry through Armadillo (that town gives me the creeps. Also, I waved to a cop once and immediately became wanted) but Charles insisted we stop so he can buy some food (I told him how to fill his cores but he was immersed at this point lol, brave soul had been riding almost entirely in first person). So while he went to the general store, I chilled out with Johnny and Taima (Johnny is my horse, the brindle Arabian) and took some more pics. I caught a glimpse of Charles sprinting his big ass out of the shop when I said I was doing so, he immediately came running and said "Wait! I wanna see what [Charles] looks like on Johnny!" As if I was about to let that photography opportunity slip by lmao. Seeing Charles sprint is HILARIOUS btw. He's got kind of a naturally bow legged stride, and he honestly kinda runs like it's heavy. Iykyk. I gotta break the post off here bc Tumblr isn't cooperating, but I'll post part two in just a second. ♥

#red dead redemption 2 #rdr2 #red dead online #rdo #red dead 2 #red dead oc #charles smith #oc x cc #the bison and the bear

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dsumpsbluey · 11 months

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My review of Bluey Seasons 1 & 2 DVD (A side post of sorts)

This post is my personal review of the Bluey Season 1 & 2 DVD set released in the USA around 2022. The preparation for this post ended up putting me on a DVD rabbit hole I didn’t think was possible before, so with that out of the way, let’s get to it.

The DVD Set itself: 4 discs containing all 104 episodes of Bluey Seasons 1 & 2, including a collection of shorts and Australian cuts of episodes that were altered/censored in the USA. My copy of the DVD came preowned from ZIA Records for a whopping $12, about half the regular MSRP ($25). I bought this as a means of preserving copies of each episode from the collection for my personal offline enjoyment. Currently, I’ve been using them to supply the screenshots for the Unofficial Bluey Timeline.

Quality: Well, I expected the episodes to be of lower quality due to them being on DVD’s, an obsolete format for quality when compared to their “blu”-counterparts. But while first checking each DVD to see if they worked, I’ve noticed that the quality on the season 1 episodes in particular really sucked. Each episode AFAIK was interlaced, which makes it a pain to view the episodes in any resolution bigger than its intended resolution. The interlacing affects pretty much anytime there is rapid movement, either from the characters or the camera; the times where the show looks normal is during still images, unless said stills are in the middle of a movement. Because of this, the look of the episode feels off while watching on a high-quality monitor, which in my case is my laptop display, and sometimes my phone. You probably need to play these on a CRT to not notice, but I don’t got one lol. I especially noticed this while making some content for part 2 of the UBT (coming soon).

I assumed that all the episodes in the collection would look like this until I inserted the season 2 DVD's, and found no interlacing?! Like, aside from the low quality, these episodes for season 2 look pretty good. Not only that, but even the season 1 episodes included in the “Australian originals” extras are noticeably better than their season 1 counterparts. To demonstrate, I made a video that displays the intro from both season DVD's to show the noticeable quality difference of each. Take note of the motion on Bandit and occasionally pause on some frames to find signs of the interlacing I'm talking about. Obviously, since both videos are low quality and squished down, the differences are hard to spot, but trust me that these are more noticeable in a fuller screen.

When paused, while the S2 video shows a freeze frame, the S1 video often suffers from some graphical like blurs, after images, and that pesky interlacing.

While researching, I found an archived reddit post from a year ago that also made observations of both season's DVD's I didn't notice, and found out that all of season 2, intro and episodes, were slowed down slightly, due to them being "Disney releases". After making some personal observations, I can safely say that Disney did indeed slow down all their episode releases. Now I can never look at Bluey the same way again; once again curse those darn Disney overlords for tarnishing our show. I found while making these comparison videos, that I had to make the season 2 footage faster by 104.25% speed (in adobe) to match.

Also, during research, I found out the season 1 & 2 disc set has a different set of discs, perhaps from when it was a Target exclusive. This video from Bentendo I watched before purchasing my copy had disc art that looks different from my copy.

Bentendo's copies from their video, notice how both season 1 & 2 share the same decal art

By comparison, these are my personal copies of the season set

I had to make sure my copies were legit (doesn't hurt to try). Sure enough, I found some Mercari listings of the set that had the new decals, though not plenty since most were still sealed copies. What I could only assume is that the set I got is an updated version that still came around 2022, as both disc copyrights share the same year. If I remember correctly, season 2 of Bluey wasn't previously out as a separate DVD release before the season 1 & 2 disc set here in the US. Perhaps my copy makes usage of the season 2 discs made for that separate release, but that doesn't answer why the season 1 discs are different. AFAIK, these decals weren't used in any prior release of season 1, so perhaps they're also new versions? If that's the case, why are they so crappy? With that knowledge, I'm not sure if any versions of these discs are any different quality-wise, as Bentendo's video only took recordings straight from their tv, and I ain't buying every episode again for the sake of finding out.

Other than that this DVD set is well worth it for those who don't pay for/want to watch Disney+. I sure hope in the future that the season 1 discs get the season 2 treatment it needs by the time season 3 does come out. I wanted to make this post since the DVD media hasn't been documented as much as I thought, so good to have it out here. Shout out to those I researched, their sources are embedded to the post. If anyone's got some knowledge about the DVD's in particular, leave a reply; I'd love to learn more about this. Anyways, got to get back on the UBT grind.

#bluey #dvd #bluey dvd #i didnt know it would become so complicated #i was up for hours man i wanna sleep #shout out to bentendo if they have a tumblr #this episode of bluey is called “dvd”

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