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vexwerewolf · 2 months

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Felicitations, comrade! We had our session 0 for the IGF campaign im running, and one of my players wants to be a moonlighter pirate "infiltrating" Hell's Gate militia. He was initially thinking of being affiliated with the Hell Hounds, which for obvious reasons would present some challenges. Do you have any advice for making this happen, what with the very first mission putting him up against his true boss? I dont know that he'd have enough time to have truly built up camraderie with the rest of the SRT to truly make his character have conflicted loyalties.

I mean, he'd have to have been with the militia a while to build up enough trust to be seriously considered for the SRT.

But moreover, let me tell you what being a Hell Hound is like.

CW: psychological and physical abuse

So one thing I want to make it clear that the Hell Hounds are basically an incel cult without the weird gender-sexual overtones. I imagine there ARE women and enbies who join it but in essence Andros Capella is a creepy weirdo who preys on disaffected, primarily male youth with no prospects and indoctrinates them into his worldview of nihilistic violence.

Andros doesn't really have a philosophy, or at least not one that he could describe in words (and even if he could, he wouldn't), but it could be summed up as "the weak exist solely to create things for the strong to take." You are worthy of having things if you are strong enough to take them, but only so long as you're strong enough to keep them.

The closest political ideology I could ascribe to him would be "stateless fascism." Andros is certainly sadistic, devoid of empathy and believes himself to be supreme, but he's too intellectually lazy to bother engaging in justifying why he's supreme. He makes the most basic of naturalistic arguments (i.e. "this is just the way the world works") but feels it's beneath him to actually justify or provide evidence for his claims.

He hates the minutiae of day-to-day life, and derives no joy from anything that doesn't involve someone else's discomfort or pain. He will steal your food for the sheer thrill of having taken something that you wanted to eat, but he won't enjoy eating it because he despises the physical sensations of chewing and swallowing.

And if you are a Hell Hound who, god forbid, enjoys something, he will bully the shit out of you. He will verbally and physically abuse you until you learn to hate the thing you liked just to make the pain stop.

Lemme tell you what the average night on Fort Cerberus looks like when you're not on a raid: you and a couple hundred other sick fucks lurk around the corridors drinking and gambling but you sure as hell better not actually look like you're having fun because you're all desperately trying to avoid becoming the bossman's next chew toy.

Some poor fuck catches Andros' eye. You're not sure what for, but from the sounds of things he might've been counting his poker winnings too loud. He gets a hand on his shoulder from the big man, who tells him that he's being too selfish - gotta learn to share a bit more, yeah? Now, way Andros sees it, guy's got ten fingernails that he's keeping all to himself, so here's a set of pliers - redistribute.

You jeer along with the rest of the room, loud enough to drown out his screams, because you're so very, very relieved that it isn't you. But you fuck up. You look a little bit too enthusiastic, perhaps, or maybe it's the opposite, maybe you weren't forcing it enough. Either way, the bossman's eyes land on you and your blood turns to ice in your veins.

"You," he says. "C'mere."

The room is dead silent all of a sudden, quiet enough that the pitiful whimpering of the first guy, (currently on his second thumbnail) is the only sound you can hear. You walk over, as a prisoner does to the place of execution.

He takes your hands, inspecting your fingernails, and then your hands, then your arms. "No ink yet? You not pulling your weight? Am I payin' to feed a fuckin' leech?"

You say you're not a leech.

"Those pricks over at the Gate are gettin' too clever. Learning too quick. Gettin' the jump on us too many times. I want someone over there learnin' what they know. You 'avin' no ink makes you a good choice. They'd sniff out any of these boys in a second, they would, but not you. You look soft. Don't he look soft, boys?"

The room jeers at you just as you jeered at the first guy (he's on his ninth nail, now, and his throat is so hoarse he can't make sounds anymore). You try your best to remain composed.

"Normally soft'd be fuckin' worthless. But soft'll let you blend right in with the Gaters."

So, to avoid whatever horrific torture he's currently ideating, you agree. The next time they go out on a raid, they pick a ship full of people who don't know each other and slip you in with the passengers when nobody's looking. You don't go to Hell's Gate directly - you do a couple of hops through the Thousand Habs, just to throw off suspicion.

You sue for residency on the station as a refugee from a failed habitat. They give you your own cabin, and they make sure you're fed and clothed. You smirk to yourself - they really are as soft as Andros said they'd be; they have food and water and clothes and they're just giving them away!

You don't have all that many marketable skills, so after a few rotations scrubbing air filters, you apply to take the militia aptitude test. You try to play it down so they don't get suspicious, but if nothing else you're a damn good pilot, so you get fast-tracked. These fucking idiots just give you a mech! God, it's gonna be so easy to tear them apart from the inside.

They put you in a team. You train together, building up hours in the simulators. Then something weird happens. They... trust you? They want to... spend time with you, outside the simulators. They want to drink with you, play games with you, hear about your life. Well, is it more suspicious if you say no? You have to maintain your cover.

You don't always fit in well. Sometimes you crack jokes that are... a little unpleasant, a little off, a little worrying, and you learn to bite those down because it's bad for your cover. You also have this odd air about you, like you're constantly on guard, like you're waiting for the other shoe to drop (like somebody's gonna make you rip your fingernails out if you're too happy). People figure you must've gone through some trauma and are kind stupid enough not to pry.

You feed information about the militia back to Andros - carefully, so as not to blow your cover. Some members of your team get hurt - nobody dies, but they get hurt. You feel... bad. Why do you feel bad? They're soft, they're weak, they don't mean anything. They're not your real friends. You don't have any friends.

Months pass. Jerry says he wants to tap your team for a long-standing project he's working on. This is your chance. Sabotaging this will prove to Andros that you're strong, that you're not weak, that you're not a leech, that you can pull your weight.

Sure, a bunch of your team will have to die. The only people who've ever put their trust in you, the only people who've ever believed in you. But that's fine, right? They don't mean anything, they're not real people, right? They're idiots for trusting you, right? They deserve it, right?

Right?

... right?

#lancer #lancer rpg #lancerrpg #lancer-rpg #in golden flame #cw: abuse #cw: injury #cw: indoctrination #cw: violence #cw: cults

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munson-blurbs · 8 months

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I’m torn between snickers and sour patch kids with butterfinger and Steve Harrington, so I’ll leave the first part up to you and your genius mind 🩵

I did a lil bit of both, bb. I hope you like it!

Forced proximity/Shy!Reader/Steve Harrington

Warnings: Steve is an ass (kind of enemies-to-lovers), semi-public making out, mention of a boner hehe

WC: 1k

Divider credit to @saradika

“Okay, so,” Steve starts, adjusting his company-required sailor hat, “there’s a whole method to getting the proper scoop. You can’t just go plunging in all willy-nilly.” He dunks the ice cream scooper into the vat of mint chocolate chip and creates a perfect sphere, plopping it into the empty cup with a triumphant smile. “Now, it’s your turn.”

You hesitantly take the scooper from his outstretched hand. “Yeah, okay.” This was supposed to be a fun summer job–a way to make some extra money before heading off to college in the fall. But you’ve only been here for two days, and Steve has been breathing down your neck the entire time.

You lean over to try and mimic his motions when he makes an obnoxious buzzer noise. “Nope, you gotta hold it in the middle, not the end.” He huffs out with an eye roll. “Here, I’ll show you. Again.”

That’s the final straw; the tears you’ve been holding back force their way forward. You dart into the walk-in freezer and let the heavy door slam behind you before breaking down into a sobbing fit.

“Hey! What the hell?” Steve drops the scooper, flips the “open” sign to “closed,” and follows after you. Light floods the freezer as he swings the door open, pulling it shut with a barely audible click. “What are you doing?”

You wipe your tear-stained cheeks, desperate not to let him see you cry. “I quit!” Your words are wobbly, and you push yourself up off of the ground as quickly as you can.

“You quit?!” He sputters, crossing his arms over his chest. “You haven’t even been here for two full shifts!”

“And you’ve made every last second of them miserable,” you mumble under your breath, reaching for the door handle. You pull it down, but the door doesn’t budge. Once more with some force leads to the same results.

You turn to Steve, who’s watching with a horrified look on his face. “Shit, shit, shit!” he mutters, yanking on the handle without success. “We’re, uh, locked in.”

Thanks, Einstein, you think wryly, but keep that retort to yourself. Instead, you slump back down and bury your head in your hands.

Steve sits next to you, knocking his knee into yours. “Robin’ll be here for her shift soon,” he says, “and then you can leave and never see me again.” When you don’t respond, he sighs and stands up, grabbing something from one of the shelves. You watch as he pulls out a whiteboard divided into two columns and uses the dry-erase marker to add a tally to the side labeled “YOU SUCK.”

“Wh-What’s that?” you ask before you can stop yourself.

“Oh, uh,” Steve shrugs, “just this stupid thing Robin made for whenever I inevitably screw up my chances with a pretty girl. Figured I’d beat her to the punch this time.”

You nod; he must’ve been flirting with a customer earlier today before you’d arrived. “Who was it?”

Steve cocks an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“Who was the pretty girl? Did she go to Hawkins High?”

He nearly chokes on his own saliva. “Are…you can’t be serious.” When you only offer him a confused look, he lets out a self-deprecating chuckle. “It’s you, all right? With your cute smile and the way you laugh…” He trails off, shaking his head.

It takes you several moments to process what he’s just said. “Me?!” you finally manage. There’s no way; there’s absolutely no way…

“You,” Steve confirms, nervously tucking a thumbnail between his teeth.

“If you…then why have you been…”

“An asshole?” he shoots you a guilty smile, raking his fingers through his hair. Even slightly mussed, it looks perfect. “That’s because in addition to being an asshole, I’m also an idiot. And I, uh, tried to convince myself that I hated you so that I wouldn’t get my hopes up.”

You nod slowly, processing what he’s just told you. “That is…” you suck your teeth, “the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

His laughter is genuine this time, and he shakes his head as he says, “Yeah…not my best idea.” He looks at you with wide eyes. “I do think you’re beautiful, though. And also really sweet and smart and, um, stuff.”

Despite the chill from literally being refrigerated, you feel heat creeping up your neck. “Steve, you don’t have to be nice to me now just because you feel bad,” you say softly, unable to meet his gaze.

“Hey.” Steve’s voice is barely audible over the whir of the freezers. He takes your hand in his. “I like you. A lot. And I’m sorry I was such a shit head the last few days. Can we have a do-over?”

You giggle, and when you duck to hide your face, he takes your chin between his thumb and forefinger, nudging it slightly upwards.

“I’m Steve,” he whispers, “and I’m going to kiss you now.” He ducks down and presses his lips to yours, gently parting them with his tongue. You accept his touch eagerly, melding your body with his.

Steve presses you up against the wall, his leg between yours. Hands glide up over your uniform, not daring to explore underneath quite yet. You cautiously tug on his little neckerchief, pulling him even closer.

You want more. You need more. You–

“Oh, my God! In the freezer? This is where we keep food!”

Steve jumps backwards, clearly embarrassed to be caught. “Jesus, Robin. A warning would’ve been nice.”

“I could say the same for you,” she bites back. “Go home, Steve. Your shift was over ten minutes ago.”

You shuffle out as quickly as possible, trying to hide your humiliation. Steve follows suit, but not before Robin mutters to him, “Nice boner, Casanova. Real subtle.”

“Shut up, Robs.” He adjusts himself over his pants, shifting his apron to better cover the evidence.

Robin rolls her eyes, catching sight of her infamous white board as she goes to shut the door. With a sigh, she begrudgingly adds the first-ever tally to the “YOU RULE” side.

#trope or treat #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington stranger things #steve harrington #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x reader #fanfic #stranger things fanfic #stranger things

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munsonsduchess · 1 year

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Wardrobe Malfunction

summary: you’ve worn the wrong clothes to school today, but Eddie is there to rescue you w/c: 695 warnings: swearing, use of pet names (sweetheart) a/n: I just needed this to exit my brain honestly. I saw this post and then @kokoshka67 said something about it and yeah

You were panicking. You hadn’t expected to have to be in the lab today, the teacher had told the entire class it would be further down the line and yet when you’d walked into class this morning Mrs Campbell had announced you’d all be working ahead of schedule.

Which is why you were currently in the faculty bathroom trying to reach your mom who wasn’t answering her cell. You just needed someone to bring you a pair of pants so you could actually participate in class and not just fail outright because today of all days you chose to wear a skirt.

“Fuck fuck fuck” you paced the bathroom and chewed on the nail of your thumb, “what am I gonna do?”

“Not to eavesdrop or anything but I might have a solution” a boys voice called from one of the stalls. You hadn’t even known anyone else was in the bathroom, Mrs Campbell had given you special permission to use the bathroom to try and call your mom.

As the door opened and Eddie Munson walked out you stopped chewing on your thumbnail for a moment to answer him,

“What do you mean?”

“Well. The way I see it you need pants, I happen to be wearing a pair today”

“I don’t get it. Are you telling me you’re gonna give me your pants?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Well more of a trade really”

“A trade?” you quirked an eyebrow at the strange look on Eddie’s face,

“Sure sweetheart. I’ll let you wear my pants for lab and you can give me your skirt for English and we’ll swap back after. If you want”

You could only imagine the look on your face to be some sort of comical shock by the way Eddie laughed,

“Why would you help me? You don’t even know me!”

“Call it my good deed for the month” Eddie laughed, “so what do you say? Wanna trade?”

“You’re crazy Munson” you laughed, Eddie already reaching for the zipper on his jeans, “alright, let’s trade”

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

What you hadn’t expected after your impromptu bathroom swap was Eddie Munson confidently strutting down the hallways of Hawkins High in your skirt drawing all the attention away from your ill fitting jeans.

If anyone was curious about where you’d squired the new bottom half of your clothing they didn’t say anything. Or rather Mrs Campbell didn’t give them time to.

After class it did occur to you that you didn’t know where Eddie’s English class was so you could swap back, you were grateful for the jeans but you did want your skirt back since it actually fit you properly.

You asked around and found Eddie outside the school on an old bench behind the football field,

“You know I think I might have to get a few of these” Eddie said instead of hello, “I feel so mobile” he demonstrated his new found mobility with an imitation of a cheerleading high kick which made you laugh loudly when he lost his balance and fell onto the grass below,

“Might be a little advanced for you” you said in between laughing, “maybe you should give me the skirt back”

“What if I wanna trade something again?” Eddie said with a smirk, “what then?”

“What else do you want to trade?” you asked, “notes in class?”

“How about a date?”

“A date?”

“Yeah. You can pick what you wanna trade it for”

You couldn’t help but laugh again. Eddie seemed so earnest,

“Alright, I'll trade for a date. How about my number?”

“Seems like a fair trade to me sweetheart”

“I still want my skirt back” you told him as you input your number into his phone,

“I don’t know. Seeing you in my clothes is really doing it for me” Eddie whispered in your ear making the hair on the back of your neck stand up, “but I’m a gentleman, gotta get that date first” he said stepping away and holding up his hands

“Dork” you laughed again. You hadn’t anticipated this is how your day would turn out but you were happier than ever you’d chosen to wear a skirt that morning.

Taglist: @pillow-titties @munsonology @thegirlblogstuff @boomhauer @prettyboyeddiemunson @hellfireeddie6 @that-lame-ghoul9000 @flashyourgreeneyesatme @anxiousstark @ruinedbythehobbit @winnifredburkleismyhero @manda-panda-monium @insertcoolnameherethanks @aftermidnightwriting @mcbeanzontoast @tiannamortis

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson fluff #stranger things #stranger things x reader #stranger things x fem!reader #stranger things fluff #modern au #no upside down au #duchess.txt #duchess writes

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flamboyant-king · 4 months

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okay, i LOVE your pencil sketches and want to know how you get such wonderful line depth and variation

Ah! Thank you so much! 🥺 I'm glad you brought this up cause I was looking at one of my first sketches uploaded to this blog (from freaking 9 years ago) and the line style is still the same. I've got the process down, baby.

I want you to know, I use only one (1) pencil when I do sketches. I don't do that 2B 2H 4K 60FPS 💯 stuff, that's too many pencils to lug around and I never understood the difference between them. So, I usually just carry a 0.5 mechanical pencil in my pocket.

But what you have to do is start light. Super light, I got in trouble in school for writing and drawing so light, but you gotta build up on it. (I just started writing in pen instead because sheesh) You gotta know exactly where you want things before you get darker, and the darker it is, the harder it will be to erase.

I made an example for this, so consider yourself blessed hehe

Very light, planning placement, go over or darken the areas you for sure want to be there. Like those uhh thumbnail sketches.

When I'm drawing poses/background's/props I'm not sure of, I leave a light, blocked off area for a vague idea of what I want going on and I'll look up a ref to fix it up later. But all placement first. So when I'm sure this is where I want the props or poses, I scribble scribble until I envision fully what will be there and start erasing until I get the shape I crave.

What I do next is I draw over and over the one area I want and erase the lighter parts I don't need, so it's not so scribbly and cluttery.

And then more emphasis on detailed or foreground stuff, and then light scribbles in other areas for texture or feigning a background. Adding more "details" makes it look cooler or it makes you look cooler. You want them to focus on certain parts and not on the scribbly fake details. It's all about the full picture not the spindly grass in the background. Shhh.

It's all building up, narrowing down, and then emphasis.

Another example, here's sketch #2 compared to the final.

I also use a phone adjustment to darken my lines. I take that "black point" to just darken my lines myself and take the "contrast" to further separate the paper from my pencil. (Or I just had better lighting, I don't remember what I did with this one 🤔)

Thank you for asking! I like sharing my processes, but I just think it would be too much spam on here to include the progress shots with my "finished" stuff.

#sketches #tutorial #process #wiwi

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askzloyxp · 1 year

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Would you maybe be able to bring other editors on board? Perhaps teach Lyarrah how you do your jazz so she can take over for a couple weeks. Unless I'm mistaken in assuming that her job is just copy pasting the script into the YouTube captions feature. I don't really know how captioning works

Okay, this is actually quite fun to talk about because YES! Youtube's caption system does have a feature where you can get auto-captions made if you just feed it the transcript of the video! HOWEVER, Lyarrah's job on the Recap is not to just do that.

First and foremost, Ly actually handles all of the metadata of the vids except thumbnails. Tags, description and even the titles are all things she has to fill in after I upload, because by that time I have absolutely 0 energy to do that. She also is the one moderating the comments. Even if I'm often the one to reply, she does a lot to filter out the bad stuff and add spam-filters.

Then she has to make the actual captions. Even with the script available, this is actually still a serious undertaking. Because that feature that you just feed the script and it puts the timings in automatically? It sucks ass. The timings are all over the place, it struggles with even the british accent and it couldn't add who is speaking or sound/tone descrptions even if you put them in. And with Recaps specifically, it couldn't put in the parts where the Hermits themselves are speaking, because THEIR LINES ARE NOT EVEN IN THE SCRIPT! What clips to use and to add to the video is mostly decided in the video-editing phase, long after the script is written. So that stuff needs to be added later. But because it's not in the script, the system gets confused about parts where the words that are not in the script are said, and just puts whatever lines in there. As a result, cleaning up after the algorithm takes longer than to just make whole new subtitles. WHICH IS WHAT LYARRAH ACTUALLY DOES.

More or less every video she makes captions for is re-transcribed by hand with the script only as a reference. This results in much better captions where she can even add her personal touch with the emojis to convey tone and all that!

I know there are automated systems in DaVinci Resolve and Adobe Premiere that could output pretty solid captions with working timings, and she's actually looking into that, and will be trying them out. But even then, it will be her responsibility and her choice to use these tools, because she's our captioning specialist. Whatever research she does will still be a load off my back.

But could she just edit the recaps for me? Funny you say that, because in theory? She probably could. Lyarrah and Pixlriffs are both adept video editors, each with their own youtube channels, and perfectly capable of producing videos no worse than what I make. Pix has already edited a couple recaps in the past, and every time he'd deliver on time and arguably a tighter product than what I make. HOWEVER, the trick here is that to get the HC Recap done every week, week after week, on time and with passable editing, when the source material is a dozen videos at least and the result needs to be well paced, illustrative and well, passable, is a whole other ordeal. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but here you gotta not know how to edit, but know how to edit like a motherfucker.

...that doesn't mean "good" or "fast",... just.. like a motherfucker.

And for one, I wouldn't want to put that much work onto anyone, while for two, I wouldn't trust to put that much work onto anyone. Maybe to a professional editor or like, a TV-editor this isn't much, but I don't think I have the funds to hire one, especially when at the end of the day, to me the whole process has long become routine, entertainment even. I love the edit. Which is also why I struggle with stress and burnout the way I do: it is incomprehensible to me that I can't just sit down and do this like always!

One must imagine Sisyphus happy.

#hermitcraft recap #pixlriffs #lyarrah #zloyxp

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livingdeadblondequeen · 1 year

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You, Me, & Him Pt 2

I know it has been awhile, but here is the next part. Thank you for your patience! With the holidays and work, it has been a busy time. Also, thank you all for the reaction I have received from this fic, it means a lot.

Part One

Once she had agreed to go with Daryl to his group, Y/N finished packing up as much stuff for Christopher as she could carry. Thinking about how she had seen Daryl with none of the supplies but what he could stuff in his pack, Y/N asked. “You’re not just going to leave all of this behind, are you?”

“Only takin’ what I can carry fer now,” Daryl answered. “Comin’ back with some others in a car and get the rest. It’s a couple hours' walk from here.”

“Why are you out so far by yourself without a ride?” Y/N asked, finding it odd. If he had access to a car and gas, why not use it? It seemed suspicious. Maybe she had been too quick to put the bit of trust she had in him.

Daryl could see the uneasy look in Y/N’s eyes and knew he needed to explain before she got spooked. “Wasn’t plannin’ on needin’ one. Came out to hunt, not go on a run. Not enough food around our place so had to go out aways to hunt bigger game, found this place, and figured it could still have somethin’ left.”

“Didn’t find anything?” Y/N asked, meaning the game, not the baby supplies.

“Tracked a deer for a bit before the trail faded, saw signs of some turkeys,” Daryl grumbled. “I told ya, ya and yer boy are safe, ain’t going to hurt ya.”

The uneasiness she had been feeling faded away when she looked Daryl in the eye and saw nothing but honesty. She nodded as she shifted Christopher around a little before motioning to Daryl; she was ready. He led them back towards the front, but they were halfway down the hall when they heard raindrops splattering against the roof and windows. The day had been a little overcast, but nothing that suggested rain. “Damn it, gotta love Georgia weather.”

Daryl just grunted, chewing on his thumbnail as he looked out at the rain coming down and thought about what they should do. The rain was going to make heading back to the prison a lot more difficult. “If it don’t stop, we’re campin’ here for the night, head out in the mornin’.”

“What? Why?” Y/N asked. Now that the possibility of a safe place with a place to sleep behind fences was real, she couldn’t get herself and Christopher there fast enough in her opinion.

“If it keeps going, there won’t be enough daylight left. Better to stay here where it’s dry and safe than wanderin’ around the woods soakin’ wet in the dark. Don’t want to risk him getting sick.” Daryl declared before shouldering off his pack and taking a position to keep watch, for danger or for a break in the weather.

Y/N blinked in surprise at the man who she barely knew, who she’d not only pointed her weapon at not long ago but also doubted his word, as he started keeping watch. She had figured he would want to get back to his camp as much if not more than she did, and while that might still be the case, he wasn’t willing to put her son’s health at risk to do so. Y/N felt a warmness spread through her chest at Daryl’s thoughtfulness.

Given that they didn’t look to be leaving soon, Y/N decided she should let Christopher out of his wrap and give him the opportunity to stretch his little body. He was used to being strapped to her for hours at a time, but as he got bigger and older, he wanted more time to move around on his own. While not ideal, the floor wasn’t too dirty and thankfully blood free.

Out of the corner of his eye, Daryl watched as Y/N unwound the material from around her body and he got the first full look at the child within. The bit of brown hair he had seen poking out of the cloth was only a small part of what covered the kid’s head. It stuck up in various directions around a chubby face, and he saw that he’d been right in his first guess that he was older than Judith. He looked like he might be a year or so old.

When his mother sat him down on the floor, the kid seemed happy about it at least from the way he waved his arms around, kicked out his legs, and let out a squeal. He imagined the kid liked being free versus being tied to his mother. Daryl watched as Y/N’s face lit up in a smile before she reached out with her finger to tickle his stomach like he had seen Carol do with Little Ass Kicker before. Feeling like he was intruding, Daryl turned his focus back out the window.

After a bit of tickling and playing, Christopher noticed they were in a new place, and quickly lost interest in playing with his mother. Y/N watched as he shuffled around on his butt so that he could move into a crawling position to explore around him. It was then that he noticed that it wasn’t just the two of them and headed over toward the silent man standing watch. Y/N tried to grab him but Christopher was faster and quickly reached his target. He quickly grabbed ahold of the ragged pant leg of the bowman and pulled on it.

Daryl looked down at the kid pulling on his paint leg and was met with a pair of bright blue eyes. They were wide and curious as he stared at him, his little lips opened in an O before the edges rose upwards to flash Daryl a semi-toothless smile. The redneck felt his own lips twitching to return the smile when his mother picked him up. “Sorry, it’s been a while since he saw another person. Well, an alive one anyway.”

“S’fine.” He mumbled with a shrug, not taking his eyes off the little boy who was still watching him, the smile still firmly in place as he squirmed in Y/N’s arms.

“Christopher, meet Daryl,” Y/N declared, chuckling when Christopher threw out his arm to reach for Daryl, trying to grab onto the man again and not happy when he couldn’t reach him. She quickly grabbed his little hand and pulled it back, kissing the little fist. “No sweetie, Daryl can’t take you.”

However, Christopher would not be deterred and fussed a little when she wouldn’t let him have what he wanted. Y/N bounced him up and down on her hip to settle him, but Christopher was not happy with her. “Sorry, he rarely cries much.”

“Used to it.”

“I guess you would be,” Y/N stated, remembering that there was a baby and kids with his group. “How old is the baby? With your group I mean.”

“Few months. Three, maybe four.”

“Wow, I can’t imagine giving birth with the way things are now. I was lucky to have him in a nice, clean hospital where they could give me drugs.” Y/N laughed. “The baby’s mom is way stronger than me that she was able to have the baby without them, I’ll make sure to tell her that too.”

Daryl lowered his eyes at that and chewed on his lip. “Her ma’s not around. She died giving birth.”

“Oh.” Y/N replied, feeling her throat constrict a little at the thought of the baby not having a mother and the mother who didn’t get to see their baby grow up. To have that bit of joy in a world gone to shit. “How long has your group been together? Did you know each other before? Or did you just come together from the start?”

Daryl shook his head. “Not all of us gained some, lost some.”

Y/N nodded in understanding. “Must be nice to have people around that you can trust.”

“Ya been alone since the start? What about his…” Daryl asked, his eyes directed at the little boy who was currently slapping his hand against a desk.

“Father? Pfft, he’s been gone since the test came out positive. I had Christopher on my own, was actually on baby leave from my job when everything started up. I went a bit overboard with the whole nesting thing and my kitchen was stocked so I wouldn’t have to go out with an infant. Plus, all the food friends brought over when we got home from the hospital.” Y/N explained trying not to think of the loss she felt of those friends. “Between my stockpile and what I could later scavenge from the other apartments, we were able to stay there for months. When it wasn’t safe anymore, we left. Not long after we met a small group that took us in. It was nice, being around people again, at least for a bit.”

“What happened to them? Herd?”

“No, another group,” Y/N answered. “They wanted what we had, didn’t care that we needed it too, and were willing to do whatever they could to get it.”

It wasn’t hard for Daryl to figure out that the people who attacked her group were probably the same ones she admitted to killing for threatening her son. He felt himself admiring her a bit for what she did, for doing what was necessary to protect Christopher. He himself had not had parents like that but had seen it with Rick, Carol, and Hershel.

Noticing that the rain had stopped, Daryl opened the door. “I’m goin’ take a look, see if it really stopped.”

Y/N nodded, before reaching for Christopher again. Moving quickly, she checked then changed his diaper, making sure he would be good to go for a bit. She had figured out how to feed him while walking but changing him was a whole other story. Hopefully he would wait until they reached the prison before he did anything that would require a stop. She has just gotten his clothes all readjusted when Daryl returned.

“Looks good, we leave now, we can make it back by nightfall.” Daryl informed her.

Y/N quickly stood up, swinging Christopher up with her to rewrap him around her. Something the squirming toddler did not make easy with the way he reached again for Daryl. He only calmed down once she adjusted things so that Christopher could see the man from his vantage point. Her son was really starved for human contact it seemed. “Ready.”

With that the three left the clinic and headed out with Daryl leading the way. They moved away from the road that Y/N had come up from and into the surrounding trees. Unlike in the clinic, Y/N didn’t feel the need to bombard him with questions so neither spoke as they walked, the silence surprisingly relaxed. Christopher babbled off and on as they moved, his blue eyes moving from his mother, to Daryl, to his own hands that he always found fascinating, before starting the cycle again.

The trio had been walking for what Y/N had guessed was an hour or so when Daryl held up his hand to stop, before pointing in front of them as he shouldered off his crossbow. Through the trees probably 200 feet away were three large wild turkeys, exactly the type of game that Daryl had said he’d been looking for.

Y/N stayed as quiet as possible, thankful that Christopher had fallen asleep while they had been traveling, while grabbing her own bow. She watched Daryl let a bolt fly, nailing one of the turkeys, before pulling back the string to try for one of the others that was now flapping about, making a lot of noise. Y/N knocked an arrow herself, aiming at one of squawking birds when movement right behind Daryl caught her attention and she let it fly.

Daryl yanked the string back hurriedly, keeping the birds in his sights as he did, and loaded up another bolt. He was about to fire when an arrow flew past his ear. Thinking that Y/N had just tried to kill him, he spun around to aim his bow at her when he heard a thump behind him. Looking towards the noise, he saw a walker spread out on the ground, an arrow sticking out of its eye. Looks like the bow she carried wasn’t just for show. He turned back to see Y/N with her bow at the ready again and nodded his thanks. He hadn’t even heard the thing come up. Seeing no other walkers, Daryl headed to retrieve his kill. Sadly the other two had been scared off but the one he had was good size. Between the bird, finding the clinic, and meeting Y/N and her son, it was a good run.

Not long after the run in the turkeys and Y/N killing the walker, they came across a road which they followed for a bit. Soon they passed a sign that, ‘Hitchhikers May Be Escaping Inmates’ Daryl motioned for them to move off the road and back into the woods. The sign though had caught her attention. Signs like that were usually put up around prisons. Prisons which had fences, fences like Daryl had mentioned. Y/N ran their conversation through her head again, he hadn’t mentioned a prison, he hadn’t said much besides that they had walls and fences. Both of those you would definitely find a prison. “The place you and your people have, it isn’t a prison, is it?”

Daryl just looked at her confused and nodded. Y/N couldn’t help but chuckle. “You might want to mention that to people when you offer them shelter.”

“Why? It’s got a roof, walls, and fence. No need to put on airs just because ain’t somethin’ fancy.”

“I agree, but still might shock the shit out of people when they come up on it.” Y/N explained with a grin. “People used to do anything not to go into a prison, little strange wanting to do whatever to get into one.”

Daryl seemed to consider what she said before nodding. They continued for several minutes through the woods until Y/N could see it opening up to a clearing and the prison towers appeared before them. Just as he had said, there were fences, fences that had the dead lining them. “How are we going to get through that?”

Instead of answering her, Daryl brought two fingers to his mouth and blew two short loud whistles. Y/N thought he was crazy, those whistles were going to bring the undead straight to them but before she could say anything, she saw a lot of movement behind the fences as some people appeared seemingly from nowhere, banging on pots and making a lot of noise. The undead followed the ruckus, slowly moving away from the gate as they did.

“We gotta move.”

Following Daryl’s lead, Y/N jogged behind him towards the now opening gates. There were a few undead stragglers coming towards them that they were able to dispatch easily before passing through the spear traps and through the gate.

Y/N breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the gate clank shut behind them, feeling safer than she had in a long time.

Part 3

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Thanks to @minervadashwood @bringinsexybackk69 @green-eyedladywrites @littlegodzilla for their help!

Tag List: @minervadashwood @bringinsexybackk69 @green-eyedladywrites @phoenixblack89 @littlegodzilla @azanoni @zarahbronstein @xojdmasf @c0ne-head @starfirette @be-the-spark-bitch

#Daryl x Reader #daryl dixon x reader #daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl dixon imagine #daryl dixon twd #the walking dead #twd fanfics #daryl dixon #daryl dixon drabbles #twd #twd drabbles

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trashworldblog · 1 year

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its lore time baby!!

just a quick one cus im still working on finals lol anyways

hmmmmm...

shout out to @starksnarks for this one! you've got a good eye!! (i believe youre the first to spot this, if anyone else wants to be credited feel free to let me know!)

the professors glowing eyes in the asmodeus episode thumbnail looks Very Similar to the glowing eyes at the end of 5x01

this ones kinda minor, but still worth mentioning. ryan doesnt exactly hear whispers, but (what i am assuming is the substitute) does walk around watcher hq scaring ryan into leaving after connie outbids him.

plus this triple head imagery (along with the 3 eyes) i covered this more in debth here.

somethings gotta be happening with asmodeus. its possible that the real professors name is concupiscence, but it would be cool if the hologram is asmodeus' demon buddy. its not like shane would notice the professors first name changing (he didnt even meet the real professor) and its not like ryan knows the professors first name anyways.

im not sure if we're gonna get any more clarification on what the hologram is and where he came from (who built him? why does he have the professors mind? why he so fucked up?) but if we do, im putting all my chips on asmodeus right now. i had a strong idea that the genie was responsible (i mean, he has the most motive out of all of them) but since the lamp is in play, it doesnt make sense for the genie to want the lamp. the devil is also kinda out becuase he was auditioning to be host, and seemed kinda sad he didnt get the part. so that leaves asmodeus or another demon associated with asmodeus.

honestly after ep 5 im just so excited to see where shane is gonna take us next with the lore. there were so many twists that i thought i was prepared for but i wasnt, and i got so excited when i saw some of the theories yall have been throwing out come true. im just excited for friday! really hoping i can get some time to scream and post along with you guys becuase ill be busy with holiday stuff most of the afternoon and night.

anyways! hope yall like the theory! lemme know ur thoughts and additions!!

#beth's lore dump #puppet history #watcher #shane madej #ryan bergara #watcher entertainment #we are watcher #the professor #asmodeus #puppet history lore

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magnorious · 5 months

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Review: ‘We Take a Zebra to Vegas’, Percy Jackson Episode 6

***Spoilers Ahead for all books and show. TL;DR at the bottom***

After episode 5 I was starting to wonder if episode 3 was a fluke. Here we have the potential for the only non-book reference I wanted in the entire show: Would Nico cameo in the Lotus Casino?

Small, I know, but book fans were robbed of ever seeing him on screen once already when Titan’s Curse was never adapted and with his massive popularity, I was almost certain he’d be here. The closer we got to the Lotus Casino, however, the more I wanted to be wrong. Almost none of the characters look like they’re supposed to, many of them with inconsistent personalities to match. I went from hoping for a blink-and-you’ll miss it reference with a little scruffy 10-year-old that book fans would be able to tell is Nico by his appearance alone to hoping they’d not touch the matter with a 10-foot pole.

After the absurdly dramatic and angsty episode 5 that was supposed to be semi-dangerous and funny, there was a chance to have both the whimsy and wonder of the Lotus Casino, and the rather chilling escape. Before that, the conversation about conservation in the back of the zoo trafficking truck. There was a lot of opportunity for more quiet character moments as well as the adventure and absolutely no need for more nonsense filler.

Onto the episode and given that Hermes is in the thumbnail, are we all in agreement that he only exists here because he’s played by Lin Manuel Miranda? That’s the reason, right? He barely exists in the first book otherwise.

We start right off the bat with more interesting changes. Instead of IM-ing Luke in some random car wash, they do so in the zoo truck. The scene in the book was funnier, because it existed in the place that it did to be funny and the pay-to-pump water gave a clear time limit. But more importantly – they decided to scapegoat Clarisse… for reasons.

Why? Just why? In the book they spend 99% of their quest accusing the wrong person, Hades, and don’t realize they’re wrong until it’s too late. Everyone in the book was like “it’s Hades, it’s gotta be, his kids were Nazis” (a detail I still can’t believe exists, wow). Chiron said it was Hades, everyone said it was Hades, based on ancient biases that Hades spends the entire series proving wrong. He is the best godly parent by a country mile by the end of Book 5 and all of that groundwork started here, when Hades was just as much a victim of the Master Bolt nonsense as everyone else.

Clarisse is neither here nor there, because the writers didn’t have the foresight to script or film any scenes at camp of this random arrest that’s supposed to be important now. The jump cut from ‘the animals have a plan’ to them stopping traffic on the Vegas strip was funny, but it robbed the scene of the seriousness it should have had. More powers Percy doesn’t get: His ability to talk to horses and horse-adjacent animals.

Once they make it to the Lotus Casino, the script does this incredibly irritating thing where it removes the tension of the unknown from every hurdle they meet. Percy’s trapped alone against a mysterious monster in the book and has no idea how to beat it? Nope, Annabeth exposits all over it. They enter a seemingly-abandoned, mortal waterpark and only get suspicious once it’s too late? Nope, Annabeth figures out immediately that it’s a godly amusement park and they must be careful. Two twelve year olds and a satyr are immediately charmed by the glitz and glam of the lotus casino and get trapped for almost the rest of their time limit for the quest? Nope, Grover exposits all over that, too, ruining the mystery and any danger or threat.

Why?

The show also does the irritating thing where it creates problems just to solve them later and before you go “that’s the point of conflict” I mean it creates meaningless problems through meaningless contrivances, like every horror movie cliche that forces its characters to make illogical choices so they don’t just run away from the horror.

And another irritating thing! Spoiling bigger mysteries before their time: We didn’t learn about May Castellan until book 5. Why is this here? What purpose does this serve? Percy realizing he didn’t even know Luke’s last name for five whole years meant something to him. Seeing Luke’s tragic, mortal mother, after hating him for five years *means something* to Percy and to the readers. The gods damned Lotus Casino was absolutely not the place to discover any of this. Why did they do this?

Also, who tf is Augustus? He’s fine. Grover’s random side quest is fine. Every consecutive episode leaves me more and more annoyed with him, but it’s *fine*.

They do actually forget their purpose in the casino, thank the gods. Or, Grover does. Annabeth continues to give away May Castellan exposition like Halloween candy, smack-talking Hermes in a way that she’d never dare at 12 years old. Hermes is still only here because he’s played by Mr. Miranda. He’s fine, he’s just not Hermes. His “woe is me, loving mortals is so damn hard” speech exists. The sentiment is four books early, but it exists.

I understand why it’s here. They’re trying desperately to capture Percy’s internal conflict over whether or not the gods and his dad care about him, if he should let himself be disappointed presuming that they don’t. Problem is– in the book, Poseidon didn’t send a naiad to give him false promises of a clandestine meeting. In the book, the naiad told Percy there’d be a vague “gift” in Santa Monica, and Percy was never naive enough to think that gift would be his dad.

The entire season so far has tried to give nuance to both sides of the “do the gods care and should they be expected to” argument and it’s just not a very well written attempt. Why? Because it had five entire books to give both sides, and they’re shoving as much of it as they can here like they’re afraid they won’t get renewed for season 2. In doing so, they’ve made a tonal mess.

Once Hermes is gone and done randomly and spitefully sabotaging their quest, Percy, unseen, figures out that they’ve lost time and lost Grover. Also, Annabeth pick-pocketed the God of Thieves? Funny, but no. The script has its weird Mitichlorian moment sciencing lore by adding in the detail that lotus nectar or whatever is pumped in through the air, a question no one had and a plot hole that didn’t exist.

They do manage to keep the fear and unsettling realization that they’ve lost time, but their amnesia is inconsistent and confusing, considering that they overexplained how the casino works. Then they’re gone using a God of Thieves’ Car gimmick.

No Nico, thank the gods, unless he was one of the VR kids in the background. It would have been wonderful to see him in a better script.

In the book, they get instantly dazzled by the food, the video games, the nice clothes, nice suite, all things Percy could never dream about growing up poor. There is no Hermes and he only figures out something’s wrong when he meets other kids displaced from time and has to shake Annabeth and Grover from the illusion. They use their casino cash cards with infinite money to hail a cab all the way to LA and it’s funny.

They create more problems that didn’t need to exist by forcing Percy to drive a taxi and okay, that was genuinely funny. I am shocked, though, that Annabeth’s pride let him drive.

The episode comes to an end with them supposedly by the Santa Monica Pier… in a thunderstorm. In southern California. Odd choice, but okay. I'd say the storm exists because Poseidon's pissed but I really think it's there beacuse "dark and stormy night" fit their new vibe better than bright sunlight.

Maybe in live action it was tricky trying to make him both dry underwater and still plausibly underwater and not just rotoscoped in with a hazy green filter. For all their love of exposition, they never actually told non-book watchers about that, or that he can breathe underwater and control some currents. It’s also supposed to be night time, and yet he’s lit as if it’s high noon far above on the surface – they could have just written the beach scene at noon.

Then the naiad he was supposed to talk to in St Louis drops the bomb that the Summer Solstice deadline already passed, Poseidon got too impatient to wait for Percy after the casino delay, and the gods are now at war.

What the fu…..?

Percy resolves to keep going despite armageddon already happening apparently. She gives him exactly the right amount of pearls that he needs, not three, which would force him to choose, and then cut to black.

—

How is the best part of this episode Annabeth’s completely deadpan and exasperated Dude when Percy asks her not to make fun of him? That, and Percy driving the taxi.

Once again, to all the set designers and VFX artists and costumes and makeup and foley and music and score and everyone in between – you’re amazing, keep up the great work. To the actors, you were given a bad script and bad direction and you did the best you could.

Having just come off watching Game of Thrones for the first time and seeing little Arya, Bran, and Rickon Stark’s actors doing donuts around these three just goes to show that it’s not that child actors’ lack of experience that’s the problem. Heck even Baby Percy is better than these three. It’s how much or how little help they get in conveying what they’re supposed to. These kids were thrown to the wolves.

I don’t watch the teasers and I stay away from all marketing for the show. I don’t know who’s been cast to play any characters we haven’t already seen so what Hades and Poseidon look like are a complete mystery that I do hope pays off.

With two episodes to go they have the following left from the book to adapt: Crusty’s water beds, the DOA studios, the entire trip to the underworld and Cerberus and Hades that took two hefty chapters, the Ares fight, Percy’s trip to Olympus, Luke's betrayal and reveal, and the return home to find Hades had paid his debt.

Suddenly the mini series with an episode to burn in St Louis has to sprint to the finish line.

Maybe if they hadn’t spent ten minutes expositing with Hermes they could have at least crammed in Crusty and the DOA, but it looks like armageddon is already upon us so who knows? They might’ve just tossed out the rest of the book to write their own ending.

TL;DR This show is a mess and this episode actually has me nostalgic for the brevity of the horrible movie because they didn’t even try and it’s fun to make fun of. This is just disappointment stretched out across seven hours instead of speedrun in 90 minutes. The skeleton of the book (mostly) remains intact and to all those who keep saying “at least it’s not the movie,” you’re right. Enjoy.

#pjo series #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson #review #pjo

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blackstarchanx3new · 7 months

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How do you draw up your comics so quickly? I've been wanting to get into making comics myself, but it seems so daunting lol

Was hoping to get some tips on how you draw them so well and so quickly /pos /nf

Omf that's a tough one. My honest first response is "All I do is draw all day" so please don't hold yourself to my standards I don't have anything better to be doing.

Basically it's a mix of stuff:

My art style is simple/character designs are simple. Backgrounds are simple, overall.

STUFF BE SIMPLE.

"Gets the point across" tends to be the idea.

Anatomy isn't perfect, gradients are used a lot, shading isn't always present, I try to limit my color pallets to be pretty small.

I have a bunch saved onto the side bar in Clip Studio. And I have presets like the borders of the panels as a pre-set so I don't gotta make a new one over and over again.

Short cuts are NOICE.

Art wise:

I start with a thumbnail. Just getting the idea/facial expressions of the character down.

Sketching is 2nd step but I have no examples because I delete those pretty quickly.

More similar to this so line art is WAY easier.

I change the sketch's opacity to like 20 ish and a light blue to see it better.

Then I do line art and add a neutral color under it to make coloring easy. I change this to black after ward to fill any gaps.

Add color and ba-bam

I use "Color burn" "linear burn" and Multiply in the layer settings for shading. Just depends on the circumstance.

I guess smth else I do is go by "Chapter" or scenes.

Smth that's helpful for some is writing a script and then drawing your stuff based on that.

Often what I end up doing is writing a script but using it as a guide rather than a beat by beat thing.

Referencing manga for inspiration is smth I do a lot.

Smth I'd recommend doing is making a one shot or a comic you purposely make to be short.

Longer comics are daunting but the best way to deal with that is to complete parts of em. XD It's like going through a video game. Beating each mini boss gets you closer to the final. Like instead of one big project, see it as a bunch of smaller ones.

Smth I do to let off steam from bigger projects is making stupid shit like this:

Like there's no point to it other than to be dumb and funny.

Keeping the story entertaining or fun even while doing a part you don't want too.

Sometimes you will just have to chug through a portion you dislike but is necessary. But staying strong really helps.

Pop on a freakin' YT video and zone the hell out is what I do.

Your art doesn't have to be perfect every single time, my comics at least, are free so anyone who complains is a little bitch.

Just do what makes you happy.

Huge thing to consider: Your art doesn't have to be held to any specific standard.

You don't even have to COLOR that shit if you don't want too lmao. There's no rules. You can color a sketch and post it. It literally doesn't matter.

A specific standard of what every webcomic should be held to is a lie. It doesn't exist. Go feral.

Draw backgrounds. Even if you suck at em. It helps give the world dimension hah.

That's what I've been trying to do.

Use your comics as a way to experiment.

Ghost Soulmate I wanted to try out this weird painter style for the shading/lighting.

In FSR it was trying out a more anime style

Falling Cards is weird character designs + A FAR too ambitious story hah.

Bunny and Kitty was to see if I could do a shorter form story.

Biggest advice would be: Just try smth. You got no obligation to finish smth either. Just try it and see how it goes.

I'd recommend having an idea where your story is going before you start, but just starting ANYWHERE helps.

I tend to doodle my characters before I jump into their comic. Doodle them doing fun stuff before I go into the meat and potatoes of what I want them to do. I often have an ending in mind too before I start. You can fill in the gaps later.

Anyways that's all I got Idk if this was useful or helpful. X'D

#art tips #art ramble #ask

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anxiety-banana · 8 months

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so i love star wars the old republic, right? so what that to most gamers it's mediocre at best, i'm a don't starve/minecraft/plants vs zombies girly i'm not that bothered

anyway here are my thoughts on this game after playing it for a few months

-the fact that my happy little droid friend who follows me around and heals me and fights better than i do sometimes is labeled <your companion> under his name. are you trying to make me attached. what if T7 dies?? what then?? will i just smash my desktop??? probably!

-the graphics aren't bad, they're actually pretty okay, but i really need to know why no one put more effort into making the details actually... detailed. like. everything is this weird, smoothed out, monochrome kinda color and it weirds me out for some reason it's like they designed armor thumbnails for the inventory and instead of redesigning them for on-character use they just sized up the image and stuck it on

-if you fight a combat training dummy (or sometimes if you exit a fight that you just won), you won't exit combat mode?? i hate this so much?? you can't do certain actions while you're in it and i kid you not i have jumped off platforms in the coruscant senate district to k!ll myself so i would exit combat mode

-BRO if you don't quick travel everywhere you have to run MILES every mission. jedi better have required and least two years of cross country in your padawan years because your glutes gotta be amazing to survive this

-this is actually my largest pet peeve of them all THERE ARE LIKE FIVE BODY TYPE OPTIONS FOR FEMANINE CHARACTER DESIGN AND THEY HAVE THE ABSOLUTE STUPIDEST GIANT BOOBS AND TINY WAIST I HAVE QUITE LITERALLY NEVER SEEN IT THIS BAD BEFORE

-also not to be a fashionista but all the armor options suck and i think they're pretty much all ugly THERE I SAID IT

-in the first storyline you're working with a twi-lek village and i'm not saying there's definitely a romance between you and the matriarch but there definitely is

-also the padawan you work with later on

-and that jedi master i can't remember her name you go to meet her before the council after your first mission and she just has this flirty way of talking to you it's so funny to me

-this game is tryna get my character laid with every person of power

-i know he isn't but orgus din just gives off sith vibes. he always has "other matters" to attend to. that man is either a sith or has a secret relationship despite explicitly talking about the dangers of attachment (*cough cough* anakin *cough cough*)

-i see people always walking by defeated characters you can loot and that is SUCH a mistake i racked up thousands of credits really fast by just stealing them off corpses' persons, not to mention all the random crap you can collect and sell to vendors i have yet to buy a single piece of armor i just keep upgrading from loot i collect

-i know i already said it but GUYS T7 is such a cute lil droid, when you make light side dialogue choices it says "T7 approves" and it fills me with delight

-it's so funny to me to just yeet yourself straight between two groups of hostiles perfectly centered so you never have to fight any of them

-oh and that time you rescue a flesh raider baby??? that thing's gonna grow up like "mom, am i adopted?" "yes, son, you are. you're a flesh eating beast." "ohhhh that's why i keep having the sudden urge to bite your face off i thought it was just puberty"

also just know that posts about this game will not cease. it amuses me and i love it

#star wars the old republic #star wars #the old republic #star wars games #it's free on steam!#come #join me on the dark side

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inimitablereel · 8 days

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For the Ask a Vidder meme, 5, 1, 16!

5. Hardest vid to edit?

Hm depends on how you define hardest...

I think the biggest technical challenge I've had, which was entirely self-inflicted, was trying to get rid of all the zillions of stupid hallmark channel logos on my hallmark hanukkah vid with absternr, which was very fussy and also unsuccessful and something I volunteered to do while absternr was away from a computer because I like fiddly technical things for the first hour of them... BeatriceEagle's cleancredits program was really great for getting rid of the simple hallmark logo! It was surprisingly easy to get rid of just a white circle with an H in the middle. But they also stuck this big countdown to Christmas thing on the bottom of some of the movies that had a mistletoe border and was kinda faded in and I tried a bunch of different mask options and all of them looked awful... Anyways this has been an unnecessary rant about something I did 100% for fun.

From more of an artistic perspective I think a little wicked was the hardest vid to edit, partially because looking back on it I have pretty mixed feelings about it. I had some pretty specific things I wanted to say about the character but also the way she was being treated in the shows at a meta level and I was trying to make one unified statement about who the character is like and how she's treated in these shows across 3 shows and a movie where she has different amounts of screentime and is treated differently by the narrative.Like I opened with a shot of a badass moment and a moment of her unnecessarily falling on her face from each show but in the one movie, she actually only loses when it's appropriate (e.g. fights with superpowered oponents) and I was sorta faking it with a shot of her falling down in a fight that she eventually won, and in one of the shows I had to work really hard to find those shots of her being badass. (Which is why I wanted to make the vid in the first place - if you have a female character who dresses cool and is verbally said to be badass and in charge but you only ever have her falling over and getting undermined on screen that says something!)

What program do you use?

Davinci resolve! I guess if we're being comprehensive I've also used avidemux a bit for clipping as well as as using ffmpeg/someone's python script to run ffmpeg for multiple clips from a spreadsheet. (Resolve freaked out on my old computer with more than a handful of whole episodes of a show and tomb shows are too many episodes not to clip regardless.)

16. Favorite thumbnail for one of your vids?

I've gotta admit I've always gone with one of the default youtube provided options (though I try to choose whatever one of those is not actively misleading?) Pulling them up, my vimeo thumbnails are way better because vimeo just lets you choose a shot from the video (which is to say they're still just whatever still looked good). I have not uploaded all that many of my vids on vimeo. But maybe I should! For example this is the youtube thumbnail for Emerald City

It looks okay! It's a shot of a car on the infinity train, which is the VAST majority of what's in this vid so you'd think that it'd be very easy to get, but going in to edit the video the other automated options for thumbnails are more focused on characters and it's hard to see what's going on with the train car, which was the focus of the vid. I get why youtube's algorithm thinks that people should be in a thumbnail, it's just wrong with this one.

In contrast this is the vimeo one which I'm pretty sure is just the beginning of the vid. It's still not great! I could have actually made a title screen! But it is a focus on scenery and I think it's fun to have the thumbnail for something titled "emerald city" as a shot of a green room.

Anyways this didn't really answer the question... This one from love is an open door is pretty good - the thumbnail is kind of the ship manifesto for this one (which is real character Wu Xie, who has in other shows in this universe been played by Zhu Yilong, serious actor/the random side characters made up for him to have someone to do exposition with in this 10 episode show) - look at them! they have weirdly a lot of chemistry for how little there is in the character of the guy on the right! (sometimes a "good thumbnail" can be me going I still think this ship and my vid is funny)

#asks answered

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acaplaya-musings · 3 months

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Voiceplay Visuals: Hide And Seek (Ding Dong!)

"Hang on, you're skipping In The Hall Of The Mountain King?" Truth be told, I've never even watched that one. I've seen the thumbnail of course, and well, my weirdness-tolerance in my brain only goes so far. Be glad you're getting a post about this video, because it took me a while to decide to watch it, and I've only seen it like 3 times max.

This was Voiceplay's Halloween video of 2022, released on the 8th of October, and features Lauren Paley, who I don't really know anything about, but apparently she's popular on Tiktok and is known as "the stairwell siren" due her typical choice of singing location. The song is originally a Vocaloid song, but Voiceplay gave it a little bit (understatement of the century) of Disney flair, or more specifically, Disneyland flair, as the video is filmed as if you were watching a performance inside the Haunted Mansion attraction at Disneyland, literally. This might not be one of my most-favourite videos to watch or VP songs to listen to, but I gotta admit that the visual stuff is freaking insane in this video, and I do have a fair few things to talk about with this one, so let's get into it!

(Warning: this post includes a fair bit of infodumping)

I'll get to each person individually in a minute, but first check out the set design! Like a lot of Voiceplay's videos nowadays. this was filmed at Pattycake Productions studios, and Tony Wakim was heavily involved with this one - credited with costuming, props, puppeteering, and direction, so shoutout to him! And shoutout also to Layne, the other half of Pattycake Productions, who arranged the cover and was in charge of the video concept.

I've never been to DisneyLand/World (I've never even been overseas, and there are no Disney parks in Australia), but when I was a little younger (like during mid high school?) I went through a bit of a phase of interest in Disney parks, wanting to learn stuff about them and watching shows from the parks on YouTube and stuff (if only I had been watching shows from Universal Studios in Orlando...), so I'm not entirely unfamiliar with the Haunted Mansion ride/attraction, and I currently have Disney Wiki on hand to help provide further elaboration and comparison pictures.

Alright, character time!

Let's start with Cesar in the middle, who is absolutely serving as Madame Leota, a disembodied head in a crystal ball who conducts "an otherworldly séance in an attempt to summon spirits and assist them in materializing." (And I'm not meant to be talking about the arrangement, but I would feel bad if I didn't mention that the "serpents and spiders" incantation that Cesar does before the beat kicks in is actually part of Madame Leota's incantation, not from the Hide And Seek song!) (Also fun fact: Madame Leota was originally voiced by Eleanor Audley, who also voiced both Lady Tremaine in Cinderella and Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty!)

Could you immediately tell based on just the thumbnail which one was Layne and which one was Geoff? I did actually get it right (could I really call myself a devoted Geoff stan if I didn't?), but honestly I did start to second-guess myself a little.

So in the left-hand column here, we have Layne, and my god Tony and Rick Underwood both really went off for this one. Layne is playing the Hatbox Ghost, who looks like this!

And if it weren't enough to be wondering how long Layne spent in the makeup chair for his extremely ghostly appearance (note that he's also completely clean-shaven, which is quite rare for him, but obviously necessary for the character look), then next we have Geoff, in the right-hand column, and do you see why I don't watch this video a lot? 😅 (I'm mostly joking, I'm not that shallow, but he's still practically unrecognisable!)

Geoff is playing The Caretaker (who apparently has the semi-official name of Silas Crump), who is the groundskeeper for the mansion and its adjacent cemetery, and he is terrified of the undead residents within the manor. He looks like this!

(Geoff, I know you love to call yourself "old [and boring]", but this is ridiculous 🤣)

(Not even 30 seconds into the video yet! Shoutout to anyone who actually reads this whole post!)

Next, we have Lauren, who is playing "The Bride". Apparently there were two iterations of this character in The Haunted Mansion, and I'm not sure which one Lauren is playing, or whether she's going for a mix of both, but here are pictures of the two versions:

The second iteration of The Bride (on the right) is known as Constance Hatchaway (not a typo!), and is one of the figures depicted in the Stretching Room's portraits. Apparently she had a habit of decapitating her husbands with a hatchet (hence the surname), and then stuffing their heads inside of hatboxes as trophies (lovely). According to lore, one of her husbands came into the possession of the manor now known as the Haunted Mansion, which she then inherited after her husband met the same grisly fate as all the previous ones did.

And finally we have Eli, perhaps the most recognisable member in this one, as Alexander Nitrokoff, another figure from the Stretching Portrait Gallery. He looks like this: (and yes, this portrait basically depicts his untimely end. Rip.)

(10/10 casting choice, I must say, and outfit on point as well 👌)

OKAY, we've finally got character lore and introductions out the way, now we can actually get on with the video!

This picture is very similar to the first picture in this post, but I have more things to say about this set up!

One, I love the ghostly visual effects on Lauren, with the glowy ethereal outline of her silhouette, and the slight translucence on her dress! No clue who was responsible for visual effects/editing on this one (it doesn't say in the description, but maybe Layne?)

And 2, correct me if I'm wrong but are Geoff, Layne, and Eli all lit in different ways? Eli has a warm-coloured spotlight on him, Geoff has more of a cool-coloured spotlight on him (I think?), possibly angled different to the light on Eli as well, and as for Layne I'm honestly not sure, but he stands out in a really interesting way. I have a feeling that the lighting on him is such that it makes him look like an actual Haunted Mansion/Disney Parks ride animatronic (especially when combined with deliberate movement/acting choices in the video). Nobody is credited with lighting for this one, but I'll still place a bet on who helped with a lot of it (at the least) anyway!

"Ding dong, you can't keep me WAITING!!!"

(Acting was on point across the board for this video, I must say)

"I can sense your horror!"

(JESUS-)

Absolutely loving Cesar's makeup in this one ngl (I wonder whether he coloured his face and/or hair blue for filming this or if that was just all done via editing?)

(Also great face Eli)

Honestly if not for his unmistakable vocal timbre, you could easily not realize this was Geoff at all. Rick did a ridiculously good job of making him (and Layne) look completely unrecognisable! Like is Geoff wearing facial prosthetics or something? His eyebrows look fake, the eyebags look like they were done with more than just regular makeup, and even his cheeks look thinner? Man I really wanna join VP's Patreon at the behind-the-scenes tier! But alas! Money!

Geoff: "Just wait, you can't hide from me"

Me while listening to the song on Spotify: 👉👈 👀

Me while watching the YouTube video: 😧😬

You can't have one of your members dress up as the Hatbox Ghost for a Haunted Mansion style video and not feature the character's main "gimmick" of his head moving from his neck to the box that he holds! And well, all things considered, Voiceplay did a pretty decent job of it! (And hey, even Disney themselves struggled with it - the character was removed from the attraction within only a few weeks of the ride's opening, and didn't actually return to the ride until 46 years later, in 2015, for the park's Diamond Anniversary Celebrations!)

"Knock, knock, I'm inside your room now" "Hello!"

Voiceplay are just showing off at this point honestly 😝 (I wonder how long this video was in production for? Seems like it would have been a big project taking at least a full month, if not longer)

Also haven't yet mentioned it but it's cool how the full group shots are shot in a way that makes it look like you're watching this from one of the ridecars (people-movers?) of the Haunted Mansion!

Oh dang I completely forgot about Cesar's/Madame Leota's crystal ball floating up in the air!

And there you have it folks! Maybe not one of my most picture-heavy posts, but quite possibly one of the most text-heavy! Now time for me to not watch this video again until October at the earliest!

(Also, since I'm skipping over the Christmas videos (for now at least), we're finally into the 2023 bunch of videos! (Though I'll be skipping over Nothing Else Matters and In My Room, sorry!))

#voiceplay #acapella #hide and seek ding dong #hide and seek vocaloid #geoff castellucci #eli jacobson #layne stein #cesar de la rosa #lauren paley #acaplaya analysis #voiceplay visuals

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demonsfate · 2 months

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Ikr?! I totally rolled my eyes when I found out it's another damn port. Honestly, ports should be FREE. Anything that is a port from a MUCH OLDER game should be ABSOLUTELY FREE. The STORE should be reserved for BRAND NEW ITEMS ONLY. At first I thought Kazuya's Tek6 outfit was a brand new remake and sb pointed out it's not, they just upscaled the textures - I wasn't certain. But now seeing this? I'm sure EVERYTHING in the store is recycled materials! That means this game is making ppl pay $5 for items that are from games that are 9 YEARS - 15 YEARS OLD!! Tekken 6 is from nearly two decade agos and they are literally taking clothes from it and RESELLING THEM?! It's absolute madness! All the outfits currently in the store cost $50 to get them all if my math is correct. (Maybe even more if they think they can charge more for the "cyber pack") Which may not be as pricey as Mortal Kombat 1's prices... but the thing is. I'm PRETTY SURE everything in MK1 is new content. Meanwhile, Tekken 8 is charging us these prices for ports! And most of the ports don't even look good at that! I'm sure if I could get a closer look of the "cyber" outfits from more than just a mere thumbnail, I could see the low quality TK7 textures on them!

No wonder why Bamco is taking down any MODS videos! Because modders show they can do what Bamco is selling! for free! That even a normal person who doesn't work for Bamco can just take an outfit from a game and port it to another!!!

Like the prob with the store is that... I wouldn't even complain about it as much if the items were cheaper ($0.99 to $1.99) and if they weren't ALL LITERALLY PORTS! It also really kills the excitement because fans probs wanna see the really old classic outfits (from Tek1-Tek5) remade into glorious high definition, but now we know we'll probably never get those. At least not for a long, long, long time. Tek6, Tag 2, and Tek7 has quite a bit they can port before we see new stuff coming around. Just. My gosh!

And even with the Battle ("Fight") pass, maybe I'd be less critical of it, too if there were just more exciting items available. If maybe in the free pass, the free players (technically not free players because EVERYONE paid for this game) could get at least one or two clothing options! But nope! Looks like free players can't even get ONE clothing option in the start! That's crazy!

Idc what anyone says; this isn't to maintain servers, this is just straight up Greed. Not only greed, but laziness too. You gotta pick your poison; Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat has crazy prices but original outfits. Tekken has lower prices, but they're all recycled from older games. Cannot believe this...

#mechahero #✏️ - ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴏsᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏsᴛ // (ooc)#wikia bitches #// NOT TO DUMP A BOOK BUT -#// my GOSH. I really thought Tek8 was gonna be better than the other fighting games #// and that's how they can advertise their game - by saying they're not doing any of those moneygrubbing practices #// but nope! sadly to my surprise - they DID stoop that low! 😢

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