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mr-period · 9 months

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Remembering something forgotten ————Where is Jimmy boy?

I feel I may find some thing that be hidden in S2.New to tumblr,and English is not my first language,hope what I want to express can be understand correctly,and plz forgive me if there's errors of some religion words.

The famous magic theory has mentioned many things wrong in S2, and some plots are deliberately set to be unobtrusive, suspicious slides off them like water slides off ducks. But the drawback of magic theory is that it sets the whole script to nothingness. The key to solving puzzles is to have practical meaning. It is a fallacious to make the whole story illusory just for put all the contents into the theory.

For abstract :S2 contains a hidden story line of the resurrection of Jesus under the love story.Like mentioned in the bonus video,S2 contains not only large amounts of Easter eggs for the second coming in S3,but really a character might be Jesus under the noses of the audience.So for me the S2 is like Neil Gaiman rushing into Amazon Prime’s senior office,throwing the script on the desk and roaring:“GIVE ME SEASON 3 OR GIVE ME DEATH!!!”

Before we begin,I need to clarify some roles or directions.

First of all,according to some puzzle we have in S1&S2,like the body change at the end of S1,or the hidden goats in 202,the clues of mystery in the show always have an obvious answer, even it feels make no sense before realize the link between.All the information from the focusing places in the picture can be used.But like the shortage of the magic theory,it is unacceptable to distort the story itself just to fix a theory.Actually I still not figure out all the puzzles in S2,so in the second part of this post about my personal theory of who is telling the story and who is watching, I will point out that it's an assumption but not an inference.

Secondly,there are multiple story lines in S2,three love stories above,the hidden line about Jim/Resurrection of Jesus,the main line frame to explain the logic of the whole script,and the story of Metatron.What's more,the crew also prepared a large amount of Easter eggs.Some of them,such as the tardis bgm in the musical instrument store,can be seen as a simply fan joy.

But there are also some Easter eggs not only Easter eggs,but also related to the plot or hidden story.For example,I have write a article about the Blitz minisode is the thing actually in the box(didn't trans it in tumblr yet),because the prop books in he box displayed in 206 is two of the "Lost Quartos" of Shakespeare plays mentioned in the Good Omens Book.It could be an Easter egg,but when you notice that the plot of the prototype of these two plays are mentioned about the bullet(arrow) catch and the show girl,which can link to the Blitz minisode specifically,that makes this Easter egg a Clue.

So after accepting these premises,let's start the detective game.

First of all,we need to question ourselves:There is a character who has his own personal poster and promotional video, who is in the story from the beginning to the end,but no one say goodbye to him?Even Nina and Maggie have a "say goodbye forever",even Beelzebub said thank you to Aziraphale,but this absolute S2 main character had never be mention again in the end.

Where is Jim?

After Gabriel recovered his memory,the friendship established between he and Crowley and Aziraphale vanished immediately.This unbalanced weird feeling was washed away by the coming broken-up and makes the audience have no time to think about that. Actually,it's quite unnatural because the relationship between Jim and Aziracrow have a complete grown arc.We can see Crowley finally give Jim hot chocolate,Aziraphale say to Jim that he said he will protect,and he well,and at the beginning Jim said happily he have two friends.But when Gabriel recovered his memory,Aziraphale look like want to drown Gabriel into holey water and distory him as soon as possible.The relationship they built during six episodes simply disappeared like the undropped second shoe upstairs.The story about Jim is far from over.

That's my explanation about why Jim and Gabriel are two different characters,and also,the rationality of the existence of the hidden story.Then let's come to the key question:

Who is Jim?

In S1,the special effect design used a red fabric to show the blood of Jesus in the crucifixion

and in S2,they obviously find a cheaper way(considering the price of tomato maybe more expensive) to express blood.

Look at these tomatoes here.The released bonus video makes this clue more obvious.Because they deleted the plot about the reason why these tomatoes scattered,but keep this pic in the tight minutes limit.The reason is so obvious :It's a CLUE!

Jesus was stabbed in the ribs and bled,his hands were painful by nailed,and he was forced to drink myrrh.Our Jim is much luckier,his arms are no longer hurts and have sweet hot chocolate.

It is amazing to find so much connected information after realize the story line of Jim,which in turn proves Jim's story is not my delusion.

First thing is the costumes. Apart from the daily look in the bookshop, let's have a look at some other looks of Jim:

Pay attention to the posture of Jim preaching in Pic 3 and the cross formed by the whole shape. Let's take a look at the image of Christ in a religious painting:

Pay attention to clothing and posture. And the familiar posture of holding the cross in the lower right corner. Although most of the scriptures believe that another person helped Jesus carry the cross on the way of crucifixion, but some other view,for example, in<Gospel of John>,believed that Christ himself carried the cross. This familiar gesture corresponds to another neglected clue in 203, which is the purpose of the seemingly unsuccessful trip to Edinburgh: the mysterious statue of Gabriel.

In another word, we can say that it is not Gabriel's statue at all, but Jim's statue.

Far-fetched? In fact, S2 had already showed an image of Christ:

Look at this similar outfit, I think the correspondence to Jim's identity is clearly. By the way, cleansing of the temple occurs in the Holy Week, remember that cute feather duster?I like this joke. And Crowley do be kicked out of the house.

Actually, we have even more obvious hints,that is in the Jane Austen's ball. During the ball, everyone is dancing, but what was Jim doing?

He's giving away vol-au-vent. The hint to the Last Supper is so obvious here that it's my strongest evidence for Jim's story.

There are some other supporting details about Jim is Jesus:

The code of seven: the rhythm that Jim showed when he was playing with the lamp and his mouth: — — - - -

Two long and three short, which is the number 7 in Morse code. Remember how God loves 7? Jesus is the Son of God in religion,and in the <Gospel of John> Jesus was considered as an incarnation of the divine Word (Logos),who not only speaks God's word,but is God's word. I found this clue because I felt that the plot of Jim playing with his body at the ball was too long as a pornographic joke, and finally found that he played his body in a rhythm, which is as same as how he play the lamp.（And now Neil had answered that IS scripted!) Every scene in S2 makes sense.

Another allusion shows Jim's connection to God is the book he dropped:

<My best games of chess>is a Easter egg of <A Matter of Life and Death>.But also,as I will mention below about God play chess game in the ineffable bureaucracy,and the chess in Aziraphale's book shop which never be used.All these implies that the development of the world is under ineffable manipulation of God. And here, Jim drops the book, complaining that things didn't stay at where he put them. This is an God's perspective complaint. At the same time, it once again emphasizes the main purpose of Good Omens book.

Also as one comment in my original article, someone mention that Jim rearrange book in his own way is just what God do.

And Crowley told Jim jump out the window, which is one of the temptations Jesus hered from demon.

What's more, let's consider about Jim's prophecy:

First:"I remember when the morning star sang together,and all the Angels of God shouted of joy." which we know God said this in Job's minisode.

The third one:"If it happens again I can make it seem like it's an institutional problem" said by Metatron,who is the voice of God.

And the second one:"There will come a tempest,and darkness,and great storms.And the dead will leave their graves and walk the earth once more.And there will be great lamentations."The first hale comes from <Hebrews 12:18>,describing the ominous sign sent by God.The last half is from <Matthew 27:53> describes what happened after Jesus died.And this is the only one that Gabriel himself didn't hear—is evidence that Jim is not Gabriel but Christ.

It can be seen that most of these prophecies are related to God and Jesus. Although these prophecies correspond to the plots in the main storyline, they are all hints of the resurrection of Christ when they are connected together.

There's another clue here, and it's highlighted in the latest trivia message.S2 gives a unit of miraculou power to bring a person back from the dead: Lazarii.The prototype of the word said in trivia isLazarus,: Lazarus of Bethany, who was resurrected by Jesus four days after his death.This miracle is the last one before Jesus's crucifixion, and it is also the most important miracle, because it means that Jesus finally defeated his final enemy: death.

And in S2, the day Jim arrived is Sunday, because Nina mentioned that it all started with the blackout last week.And the ball is on Thursday night. So Gabriel died on Sunday and was resurrected four days later, corresponding to the resurrection of Lazarus.And the "tiny" miracle for hiding Jim's required the power to resurrect Lazarus 25 times, and it's hard to explain why this was so costly, except for Jesus himself.(I still not figure out what the number of 25 means.Once finished, I may add it here.) And the last day in S2 when Jim disappeared was Good Friday.

Some clues about coming:Jim keep saying that he came to find Aziraphale, but it was Beelzebub that Gabriel was looking for. And some other lines about coming:

The first shot of present time,there is a same screen in S1,that one is for God, but this one:

"Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of ..."<Matthew 24:30>

The Son of Man descended from the sky/clouds, and there are also some views believe that God will be accompanied by angels and trumpets. We heard the sound of trumpets when Michael and the others came in the 202. Let's take a look at some posters and screenshots.

The feather representing Jim falls from the sky, and Jim's cup not only has a heart for Gabriel's story, but also a smoke from the top.

And this pic of Jim walking down from the upstairs.And Jim's voluntary devotion when he wearing the feather coat, which is what Jesus did.

Clues about music:There's some hints in the story of the ineffable bureaucracy.Look at these two elder men playing card game and chess in the background.

These pics shows that the story of ineffable bureaucracy was under the ineffable control of God.And in the second pic when they fall in love, we can hear the BGM of Every Day, which we can say it is God playing this song about the doomsday.And Beelzebub said:

It seems means the Every Day segment in the ending theme may contain clues.But I lack of knowledge of music so this puzzle is not for me.While when Aziraphale asked him where is this mysterious song came from,Jim answered:

And one of the funniest hints: When Gabriel was lost, Metatron said there's no need for alarm so just find him, but the person who hidden Gabriel would be erased, and the miracle of hiding Gabriel would immediately raise the alarm. It can be seen that it is Jim but not Gabriel who is important.

This is the fun of decryption. You will find out more and more clues when you find the answer. There are so many informations in S2 just like cookie crumbs heading to the candy house.

At this point, Jim's story line has almost been clarified. The miracle done by Aziraphale and Crowley together works so well that even the audience doesn't notice Jim anymore. At the end of the story, they achieved their original purpose, and Jim disappeared in silence. No one in both heaven, hell, earth and the audience in front of the TV noticed this.

Some other questions:who wants to hide Jim? Why? And who set up these clues, hoping someone to find out?

Before answer these questions, the following discussion of will contain lots of delusion, because of the lack of conclusive evidence. Just put it here as my personal theory of what is the frame of S2.

First of all, according to the discussion above, we know that under the sweet love story in S2, like S1,our story is actually shrouded in the shadow of a coming doomsday. So, who is telling the story in S2, and who is listening to the story?

There is a humanoid creature who has a habit of talking nonsense when he wants to hide his ture thoughts. For example, when he was bullied by other angel colleagues, he uttered a lot of nonsense about choosing sides, or when he wants to misleading his husband to doing what he unwilling to do,he portrayed the threat from Metatron as a wonderful chance with a lot of subjective narrative and gags.

That's my piont, if there is a cheature who wants to hide the existence of Jim, and in the narration of the story of S2, cleverly misleading the audience to focus on the love story, there is no one other but the greatest magician Mr. Fell who fooled Nefertiti. Just like the coin magic he showed in the Blitz minisode, the farthing has vanished! Aziraphale's conjuring is so skillful that it had been highlighted again later in the replacing of the photo (evidence).

The book of Job is displayed by Aziraphale, and the minisode in Edinburgh is directly the diary of angel, and after the ball, Nina asked Aziraphale when it all started, he answered:

He aready figured it out! It's a pity that stuff happened one after another, he and Crowley never had a chance to communicate later, and they started the next journey in different directions in the end.

The entire S2 is like Aziraphale's adorable detective clippings, narrative by time-line with pasting a few clues he thinks are relevant.

And the blitz minisode is the clue he left to the audience after completing his wonderful magic show. This clue was placed in the box carried by Jim, and after showing the items in the box, the lens shows Aziraphale had a quick look at them. These items are the key to avoiding something treble. I won't go into details about the specific plot, but just want to mention that when Neil wrote the key plot of season 3, he must be so proud about it that he wrote this line in the magic shop: “I've find my showstopper.” And Considering that this magic was chosen by Aziraphale, it is also possible that the corresponding plot in the third season may came from Terry, and Neil wrote this sentence with infinite nostalgia and admiration to his old friend. The Blitz minisode embodies the importance of trust and cooperation, and repeatedly emphasizes Aziraphale's magic skill. What's more,the Professor's Nightmare which setting in the middle of this three acts play,Neil retweeted the actor playing this magic,it is definitely important!

The picture here almost deliberately captures Aziraphale in the mirror. This camera language means that the actual narrator here is Aziraphale himself in the mirror. He is proudly showing how he used Several story lines cleverly hide all the clues in S2, and imply the progress of the whole three seasons is showed in the Blitz minisode.

By the way, this does not mean that the entire Blitz minisode is fake,my opinion is that all the minisodes in S2 are real, but be added some clues base on the original story. Therefore, the interpretation for minisode should be to dig out the unnatural places as clues,but keep the whole story as real.

So, who is the expected audience of this complex structure story of S2, and who is the minisode hidden in the box written for?

Who else can Aziraphale write this for, who can Aziraphale hand over all the secrets, who can Aziraphale entrust his back and life, and who does Aziraphale need to trick God for sending this information to save the world from doomsday?

I don't know if anyone has noticed, but there is a very weird scene in the title sequence, which is the last theater. Although the magic theory directed everyone's attention to the book of life that the curtain might represent (this does make sense partly, which I'll mention later), but it's easy to be ignored that the theater of the blitz minisode has been shown before.

Where we can see the curtains is another theater, or we can say: a screening room.

And there is no screening room in the entire S2. A couple of scenes that don't contain in the show in the title sequence, one at the end is the holy mountain, which is an allusion to Jim's story line. The tunnel at the beginning is also closely related to what I will talk about later. And the rest is this screening room which never appeared.

Wait a minute, there's a screening room, isn't?

This is the only screening room in the Good Omens TV universe.This old Victoria Station cartoon theater was long since demolished in our word, but Neil has a romantic explanation for it: because Crowley mentioned he liked it, Aziraphale kept it around.And you can also see the popcorn Crowley ate in S1 in the title sequence:

The X-ray video also mentioned there's some Communion wafer in the popcorn box.

The bonus video also gives another supporting clue to this idea, that is, many of the characters on the side of this theater are from S1. This is an Easter egg, but may also imply that this scene should go back to the first season to find clues.

And we all know that Crowley came here to sit down and collect his thoughts as Neil mentioned in his Q&A,which was exactly happened after they broke up at the bandstand. That maybe the reason that everyone was killed by the ending of S2, but Neil just compared it as what happened in bandstand.

So here's my story time:

S2 was happened when Crowley hiding in the cartoon theater after leaving, looking back carefully about what's happening before all this chaos. I believe that like the audience can't believe Aziraphale will leave Crowley because of Heaven, just like Mr. Yang would never give up maintaining him car.Crowley will definitely feel that there is something wrong after the end of S2, then try to chewing the memory carefully, reading the funny detective hand book that his angel left him, and finally project this intertwined story of S2 with memory of two of them.

And the blitz minisode is the magic instruction booklet left by Aziraphale. It may seem obscure,but everything the assistant gentlemen needs to know had already written in it.Just like he left the clues to Crowley in the bar even after discorporating.Will Crowley come back? For audience it's sadlly that we can only know that until season three release.

Personally, I think the future story has already be told in the candlelight dinner in 1941.

In addition, there is another important clue in this theater, which is the Book of Life highlight in the magic theory.

I don't have a perfect explanation for this either, but I can at least piece together a vague picture from the clues available.

First of all, when the curtain was burned, there was an obvious sound of flipping book. The book of life and erasure seemed to correspond to these. But here's a clue, the image was burned. In fact, among the various ominous signs about the resurrection of Jesus/Jesus, black sky, storms, trumpets, etc. all appear, but there is one sign that is mentioned in S2, but never happened.

This prophecy also from the book of Job, and it describes Leviathan,the controlling meaning of it I had mentioned in the analysis of the story of ineffable bureaucracy. However, this prophecy is literally a description of flame. And this material object is a matchbox. It must be noted that there used to be matches in it.

Forget about the fireballs in 202, this is the only thing about fire in S2.

So where else have matches?

Exactly,there was only one audience in the theatre where the curtain was set on fire, so it is no surprise that Crowley burned them.

If we assume that Crowley is the one who burned the smoke ring on the Book of Life, where did he get the Book of Life?

The first mention of the Book of Life is in Michael's phone call. She said to the person opposite: "Book of Life?"

The reply is: " I'm on it." That may be the answer to stat hunting Gabriel, or it may be because the book of life is in the hands of the person beside the phone. Because the debate between heaven and hell in 206 had mentioned that the right of heaven to propose punishment, and then hell will execute it.

So who is the person on the other end of the phone? Shax threatens Aziraphale that Crowley risks destruction, but not erasure. And Beelzebub was the one who told Crowley that the extreme sanctions would be the Book of Life.

Another clue that has been forgotten is what appeared on the curtain of 205, and it is also a clue that I have not solved before. Only after I solved it, I have finish my own story.

On the curtain of 205 are the bull-headed demon and the white-haired demon. They even have character names in the cast list, but unfortunately the main storyline did not mention it at all. I haven't figured out what's the means of the bull-headed demon yet, but the plot of the white-haired demon is to hand Shax some letters to Crowley.

That's it, Shax handed Crowley letters twice in S2, and the second time was particularly abrupt on the night of ball. When she first sent him the letters, Shax mentioned that she took them to hell, but the finance department said they can't accept Shax's signature as replacement."Bills mostly." We can see Crowley throwing the bills into a trash bin.

It can be seen that being burned from the curtain is indeed an effective way of making people forget about it. I also completely ignored these letters until I noticed the white-haired demon. After throwing away the bill, what was left by Crowley?

After laying out the clues, here comes story time:

In my version of story, the book of life should be kept by hell, and heaven is responsible for authorizing rewriting. In order to keep their lover, Beelzebub sent the Book of Life to Crowley by letter. Crowley, on the other hand, carefully burns away what he thinks needs to be hidden in the theater.

He hided what's really inside the box in 201 . Looking closely at the pic of when the box outside the bookshop, it can be seen that the fly actually fly into the box. And in 206 Crowley emptied the storage of the box made it seem unimportant.

The Job's story in 202 and the statue in 203 are all related to Jim. After burning these, the clues about the prophecy are left behind. We can see Crowley firstly talking to Job, and it is Crowley who find the status. (Looking at a statue of the annoying boss in the extremely cold midnight,Crowley you are really a good at planning a date)

In 204, there are too many people on the curtain and the effect is not so well. Many people aware of the three zombies who inexplicably disappeared in the long river of time. These three zombies also died because of Crowley.

The white-haired demon in 205 has been mentioned above, but I haven't solved the bull-headed demon yet. They have only one thing in common, they all wear masks on earth. And masks are used to cover the facial features of inhuman demons, which they obviously don't need.And they only spoke to Crowley.

The clue for 206 is the halo, I think after watching the last 15 minutes, no one will keep entangled that the halo is actually a signal for starting the war. After the arrival of the heaven and hell, Crowley directly asserted that there would not have a war and fooled the matter.

Then what is his purpose of burning these pics?

01 02 03 even 04 are clues to the second coming. 05 is about the receiving the book of life. 06 is to suspend the war.

Now you can see why I think I'm telling a story with such an explosion of clues, because these clues are obviously not connected perfectly.Some kind of framework can be seen by them, but it seems like can be put together more neatly. I will edit it here if I solve more clues in the future.

So as telling a story, what Crowley did was hidding the information he had that might reveal the event of the coming of Jim, and also hide the fact that he had the Book of Life, and temporarily stabilized the situation.

According to my person theory, book of life is handled by hell, and the authority to modify it is in heaven.

And now,the book of life is in the hands of Crowley, and the right to modify it is in Aziraphale.

Does this means that the whole S2 we see, including the modified plot of Book of Life, is the result of the communication between Azirapahle and Crowley?What will happen in S3 if then can do this?

After all it's just a theory I built from limited evidence and added lots of my personal conjecture,so it's highly possible to be uncorrected.

Here is the end of this long article. Thank you for your time for reading.And can't wait for Season 3 :)

#gos2spoilers #good omens #good omens 2 spoilers #good omens s2 #ineffable bureaucracy #ineffable husbands #I love Jim #good omens s2 spoilers #go2 spoilers #good omens spoilers

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kalolasfantasyworld · 1 month

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Okay, ask game for you ☘️ Nozel x Vanessa, because I love them 💜 Nozel x Helena, because your OC ship is amazing ❤️ Nozel x Fuegoleon, because Nozel ship 😅 Yes, a bunch of Nozel ships 🥰🦅

Hi Vilandel!

Hah obviously I have some more specific thoughts for Nozel ships. I really hope I won't make anyone upset with these. They're just my opinions.

Nozel x Vanessa -> doesn’t make sense, compels me

Let’s start with saying this is my favourite canon x canon ship for Nozel. I’ve drawn them and read them, but let me explain why it doesn’t canonically make sense to me.

Before I set up tumblr I didn’t even think to ship them together, because they never really interacted (correct me if I’m wrong). I only got to like them once I saw them here and read a bit about them. However it’s hard for me to picture the start of their interaction without some outside force to literally make them. Also long term relationship… but let me get to that later.

Firstly their types based on the assorted questions brigade:

Nozel: “Someone with dignified strength who can give their all for the prosperity of the House of Silva”

I don’t think he’s saying this “just to be proper”. Nozel really cares about his house and I think that a quality of being able to take care of and represent it can make a person attractive in his eyes.

I’m not saying that Vanessa couldn’t just that it would not really be her style. She got out of her cage and pushing her onto Royal customs would be cruel in my opinion. She could definitely not walk around in her underwear, or casually get drunk. She likes this part of herself and is happy being a Black Bull.

Vanessa: “Wild men with muscles <3”

Yeah… That’s not Nozel (I admit I have drawn him with way more muscles than he has… It’s a hot art I’m not going to change it and yes a future Paper Hearts illustration, normally I draw him skinnier)

Why does it compel me? (Because it does a lot)

They are both one of my favourites BC characters.

Nozel is not a good boy (closeted perv let’s face it) and Vanessa is definitely up for some heated adventure. Both are very hot. She’s flirty, she’ll pull him out of his shell. They could support one another and emotionally I think they would work well. I enjoy them in fics and the stories are amazing. I love how she would flirt with him and he would get more and more bold as they grew closer. Also there is that spicy forbidden romance part.

There are actually quite a few similarities between Vanessa and Helena as they’re best friends and I enjoy how those qualities shine through her interactions with Nozel.

I see Nozessa so much in a heated, passionate romance. It’s just long term that doesn’t sit right with me… I feel like they would need to sacrifice a part of themselves to be with the other and I wouldn’t want that. She needs to be free and Nozel is a Royal who takes pride in it, it’s not just his burden.

Nozel x Helena -> makes sense, compels me (you said it yourself, how could own OC ship not)

Overall I talked a bit about them in my fic explanation post.

I created Helena to explore Nozel more. This is actually my first ever OC x canon ship that I've invested in, because I'm more of a canon x canon shipper. Just that I only knew of Dorothy x Nozel and Fuego x Nozel back then and they didn't really appeal to me as something to write for and have a fun story for.

Why do they make sense?

Despite them being so different there are actually quite a few parallels between them. For example both had a situation in their youth, which somehow set them on a path. They’re both the eldest siblings. And there are few more.

Similar backgrounds for sure. Both of them are Royals and take pride in their houses. Helena will be a great lady of the house. She was prepared for this and knows how to perfectly manoeuvre in high society. She can be a great support and simply a partner to him in his duties.

She’s his type from the assorted questions brigade. (yeah the pervy part as well xd)

Helena brings in the warmth and will provide a family atmosphere. Being the eldest of seven siblings taught her that. She “fits” in the Silva family with Noelle, Nebra and Solid. Over time she develops relationships with all of them, so it’s not just Nozel she makes sense with.

Why does it compel me?

Enemies to friends to lovers, Sunshine x grumpy, Blue x red relationship

They have so many imperfections and they mess up, but they get up and try to fix them. There's also quite a lot of plot ahead of us and I don't want to spoil anything, but what happens later is actually more determining in my opinion to how they are fit for and grow with one another.

There are also some parallels with how Nozel treated Noelle and how he treats Helena, so that’s interesting.

Helena is a virgin, but very much not opposed to sexuality, so they have some spicy, heated moments.

I feel like they can really connect on a deeper level and I like how their story begins right with the beginning of BC. We see the whole development of Nozel and how they interact through it. For example how their relationship changed after Fuego fell in a coma. So it's not just Nozel after he went through a change and apologised to Noelle.

They compliment each other. Helena “makes Nozel have fun” and he can tone her down (this is needed at times).

The birdies… I love my next gen trio so much. I like how they have traits inherited after both Nozel and Helena. I love picturing them as parents.

I feel like there’s more, but I’ve talked about them enough here.

Nozel x Fuegoleon -> makes sense, doesn’t greatly compel me

As you probably noticed I focus a lot on the “Royal aspects” in the makes sense part and Fuego fits this part. They are close, clearly trust each other and they have amazing dynamics. They’re childhood friends. I’ve seen some cute arts for them and I know they’re pretty popular.

However why it doesn’t greatly compel me? (Besides the fact that I ship both of them with some OCs)

I just think of them as good friends, more than lovers. And somehow I’m not the biggest fan of how Nozel is portrayed in this relationship. He somehow seems “weak” and “needs to be taken care off”. Maybe that’s just me, but it was the vibe I got from few works (not all of them, some were cute and amazing). Maybe I somehow don’t see him have “bottom” energy, but Fuego doesn’t have it either.

However they would support and care for one another. I also love the hot and cold dynamics and childhood friends romance.

So I like some aspects of this ship and some don’t.

I would still put it as my second canon x canon Nozel ship.

#Lots of thoughts here #Thanks for asking!#I really hope I haven't offended anyone #ship who you want to ship #nozel x helena #nozessa #nozel x vanessa #nozelena #nozel x fuegoleon #ask game #bs ships ask game #nozel ships #bc ships ask game

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vintagevixyxol · 6 months

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Another old language inscription from the “Dark rise” by C.S.Pacat

Just reflections of decoding

Disclaimer: this is not an analysis, but thinking of it. Although I have not found the key yet, I decide to share my reflections. And I am needed in someone`s fresh eye, because it seems as I just keep going over the same ground.

And remember: this is just a theory.

an origin inscription from paper books

The introduction

According to the latest information from Tumblr, the difference between inscriptions in different editions is just an error. My previous analysis might be based on a transliteration, and I`m really confused which version of book edition is the latest and the truest (ebook in English and paper books in my own language). Maybe this mess happens because my eBook copy is an early edition and paper books are the latest. In this post I`ll share some ideas of decoding remaining inscription, but without “result”.

Important notices: all translations in English from the book.

“I cannot return when I am called to fight So I will have a child” (chapter 2)

“Rassalon the First Lion” (chapter 10)

“He is coming.” (chapter 11)

“Enter only those who can” (chapter 15)

“The horn all seek and never find”. (chapter 15)

Ways of decoding

I made a scheme of my reflections and wrote every main steps, so let`s start from the left hand.

Level 1 — working with elements

First of all, I decided to select elements as I did it before. There are 38 ones in this inscription, if the method works right.

Then I started with a well-known algorithm: selecting same elements and finding new things. Nevertheless, the rules from previous work we can`t take in attention, because we have no enough information. Therefore, elements cannot be named as “letters”.

Selecting same elements:

Level 2

Step 1 — decoding with known letters from the last analysis

Now let`s try to decode using an alphabet, which I had already made.

As result, there is mess, because words from uncovered letters have no sense, and other letters are unknown. This chaos don`t match with phrases, which should be decoded. Therefore, this way is not as practical as I suggest. However, we found new elements! In this picture, they are with the alphabet from last post.

Step 2 — creating an alphabet/another thing from scratch, it`s possible

In this way, I do not compare English version with old languages patterns. Just thinking of how translations can fit in one puzzle.

How I noticed, there are 38 elements in this inscription, also it mentions every time, when characters read something in old language. The obvious way is just to try to compare them. For example, can the number of letters help?

I cannot return when I am called to fight So I will have a child — 50 letters

Rassalon the First Lion — 20 letters

He is coming — 10 letters

Enter only those who can — 20 letters

The horn all seek and never find — 26 letters

None of phrase fits in the inscription, and I put aside the simple transliteration for good.

The new idea came to me: what if does the illustration contain all sentences? So let`s count words. (please, correct, if I made mistakes!)

I cannot return when I am called to fight So I will have a child — 15

He is coming — 3

Rassalon the First Lion — 4

Enter only those who can — 5

The horn all seek and never find — 7

30 is the final sum — again the wrong way.

I found one curious thing, when I reviewed inscriptions in the text: all translations go hand in hand with the full inscription, excepting one case – “He is coming”. The cut beginning of the phrase is only there, so it might be the key.

Now I`m looking for the pattern and trying to develop this idea. At this moment, all ways, unfortunately, lead to a dead end. Nevertheless, I have some new thoughts:

Each element is a sentence or phase and in future we`ll see more.

Elements are as hieroglyphs or something like them.

There is another writing system.

Level 3 — right hand: something more linguistic

This field is the darkest than previous, but more interesting. If the old language is a language, the author might invent it, or it has roots from already existing languages. In my opinion, the second variant is the closer to the case, because books have historical context. But I don`t exclude the possibility that I`m wrong.

Why is historical context so important for decoding? Knowing the picture of the world (real or magical from book), we can guess where the origins come from, and it`ll be the first lead in the “investigation”. Later it can become an Ariadne`s clew. Also knowing details of old world culture, we can compare them with other real cultures and find new parts of puzzle.

I know that this is fantasy and lots of things are not connected with reality, but why are there several historical things? It`s unlikely to be accidentally added. As well, I have not strike into the subject as much as it should.

One interesting fact connects with history, but...

Janissaries

If I am not confusing anything, but “janissaries” is a special name, not just “adepts”, how they were adapted in my own language translation. Janissaries were regular infantry of the Ottoman Empire (1365 — 1826?). Perhaps, it doesn`t matter, but it haunts me. Some facts of them seem a bit familiar with janissaries from book, but I can`t say for sure that it`s true.

Is it just coincidence and am I digging in the wrong place?

Maybe some references were taken from other fantasy books. For example, old language reminds Elvish language from Lord of the Rings, how some people say.

BUT I`m not close with true linguistic, so I start to explore it. Hope, there will be answeres.

The conclusion

I`m really grateful to my sister again, she painted all illustrations for my articles.

This post is about everything and nothing at the same time. I need to systematize beginnings of ideas, hope, it`ll help to get the ball rolling. As well I`ll be grateful, if somebody take a fresh look on these thoughts, because, I think, there is obvious things, but I can`t find them. I`d like to discuss all of these topics and to find answers.

I`m thinking about this post for two weeks. I have doubts how useful is it… but a negative result is still a result, right? I`ll consider it as intermediate step, which will grow up with new flowers of the theory in future. And it shows that the work is going on.

Thanks for your attention!

I really appreciate your support for my last analysis! Thank you muchly!

See you soon.

P.S. If you decided to share my work, please, give credit to me.

#dark rise #c s pacat #books

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archduchessofnowhere · 2 years

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How do I make my family trees, part 1

Hello, today I bring you my very first attempt at a tutorial. Time ago I made a couple of family trees that showed how different royal couples were related. While I only posted two of these trees (on two different blogs) and then abandoned the project, I always wanted to go back to it, specially since there are a some that I did but never posted.

The trees in question.

The other day I was asked how did I make them, so I thought that this was a great chance to go back to this forgotten project. So more trees are coming. But first, a tutorial of how I made them!

First a disclaimer: while I enjoy making edits I'm not actually super skilled on the art and just managed with the bare minimum edit tools of Pixlr. So this is just how I do it, which is probably not the best way to make these trees. Also I'm not even sure if it is the easiest way lol, but I like making them like this because it gives me a lot of control on how the tree will look like, which genealogy websites do not. Because of Tumblr's image limit this tutorial will be done in two parts.

For this tutorial I'll use a simple first cousins marriage as an example, since this kind of trees only have eight people and therefore are easier to draw. So I'll work with Duke Karl Theodor in Bavaria and his first wife, Princess Sophie of Saxony, who were maternal first cousins.

Let's begin!

1. Do your reasearch.

An obvious first step, I know, but this is absolutely necessary. If you're doing a tree that shows intermarriages then you need to make sure that know exactly how many people will be in your tree, and how they are related to each other. It has happened me that I made the tree and then realized that I missed that two people that were on opposite extremes of the tree were second cousins once removed and now I have to start all over. Almost every royal on Wikipedia has an "Ancestry" section with a mini family tree that goes back like four or five generations, I normally base my trees on that info (because the genealogy enthusiast on the Internet will never let any mistake slide, unlike actual published books). Also a tip: the Spanish version of the Wikipedia articles tend to have bigger trees than the English version. Once you are done, we can move to the next step.

2. Draw your tree (on paper).

This step won't be necessary in our example since it's just an eight persons tree, but if you're doing a bigger one (like the H7 and EoY one) then this step is pretty important. Because trees with a lot of intermarriages are an absolute nightmare to put together if you don't want any lines crossing. So you need to figure out how it will look like before you start editing on Pixlr, otherwise you'll likely end up redoing it many times until you get it right.

Currently I'm working on a big tree that covers tons of marriage, and figuring out how to put it together was legit the hardest part of it. Here is a peak to the last of the many trees I drew, in which I finally managed to make sure no lines crossed (can you guess what is it about?)

As you can see this is just a rough sketch drawn with a pencil on a page of my French notebook. I don't even bother writing the names, this is just to figure out how I'm going to organize these people on the tree. Of course if you don't find this necessary you can skip this step and plan the tree however you like, this is just how I do it.

3. Get the pictures for your tree

I usually just download the person's default profile picture on their Wikipedia page and call it a day lol; but if I can choose I try to choose pictures that depict the people around the time they got married (that's why I chose Ludovika and Max's portraits from their twenties instead of photographs of them at an older age). If the spouses pictures face each other the better, but I don't bother too much if they don't.

My advice is that you download all the pictures you'll use before we can move to the final step of part 1 of this tutorial.

4. Crop the pictures and turn them into PNGs.

Finally, we can start working on Pixlr! Open pixlr.com, the website will give you three different options of editors. I use the simple version, Pixlr X, since these trees don't require many tools.

Now open one of the picture you chose. I chose this photography of Sophie of Saxony, which is both her default Wikipedia profile picture and my favorite picture of her. The first tool we'll need from the side bar is the "Crop & rotate"

Once in there, crop the photo to show only the person's head:

Now with the photo cropped, we can move unto the next tool we'll use: the "Cutout". What this tool basically do is cutting out the background of your picture and leaving only the shape you chose, I use the circle shape.

This is the end result! Now the picture has an oval shape with transparent background. I usually go back to the "crop & rotate" tool and crop the photo again, so it doesn't have that extra empty space.

Save it as a transparent png and it's done! Now you do that with all the pictures you'll use for your tree. I chose a circle shape, but you can use whatever of the other options you want.

Tomorrow, the second and final part of this tutorial in which I actually will show you the trickiest part of the tree making: drawing the tree on Pixlr!

#sorry that I do not actually tell you how I make the trees in this part of the tutorial #second part will be better #tutorial

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shimmering-stims-archive · 1 year

Note

Not a request, just a question - how do you make stimboards? /gq

Long answer warning

I start with getting the static/regular image if possible you want a png (even if it has a background) since they’re higher quality than jpegs.

Then I open up a notepad on my computer or phone to keep all the links in until I put them into Linkslist.

Then I look for gifs, I usually start on Tumblr then move to google if I can’t find the right stuff then if I still can find the right stuff and won’t comprise I’ll try to find a video to make a gif from

When saving gifs be mindful of the scum of the earth know as webp. Webp was supposed to be a universal file format but not many sites support it this is made worse by google converting literally everything to webp. This can be avoided on Tumblr by doing this on computer: click open image in new tab, scroll to the end of the url, it will say gifv, take of the v and then press enter, it will now save as a gif.

In an ideal world all the gifs you like would be a 1:1 ratio (square shaped) but alas that almost never happens. This is problem because of the way Tumblr formats images. Take this example: the pictures of both ENAs are the same file but since one was paired with a wide but short image it was zoomed in so it matches.

There is no way (as far as I know) to crop images within Tumblr so you’ll have to do it outside of here. Me and everyone else seems to use ezgif. Ezgif can convert webps to gifs, crop gifs, add effects to them and many other useful things.

Anyway now that I have some gifs I like I make a draft post and see how it looks. Then I rinse and repeat the gif finding process until I’m happy with the board.

Finally I put all my links into Linkslist (I do this because I’m lazy and don’t want to put 8ish links into a post one by one) then I add a caption to my board, put the sources link and done!

Also I believe it’s technically possible to make one large file in photoshop then post it to Tumblr as one image. I say technically possible because the size of a gif file that holds 8 moving parts and isn’t compressed beyond recognition would be too much for Tumblr to handle and would most likely exceed the size limit.

Also also Tumblr can only do 3 image for width. So if you wanted let’s say a 4x3 board you would have to merge gifs in photoshop or photopea put a white divider between them while also being mindful of how the image size stretching I mentioned before works. So that’s why no one does anything besides 2x3 and 3x3 stimboards.

This might sound like a lot of work but when you get in the groove it’s really fun. Especially when it’s a request so you’re extra excited to get it out so they can enjoy it.

Anyway I hope this wasn’t too bland a read and was maybe a bit insightful. Have a great day thanks for taking interest in the blog!

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mirukimary · 1 year

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My Art Summary for 2022!

(Under the cut I'll go into more details for each month, for memory's sake. Warning: It's LONG.)

Come one, come all for your opportunity to see all of the drawings I should have posted but never did! The ones that make me work harder every december to remember when tf i drew what! The ones that, in missing, make it seem like i only draw once a year--! (going through my twitter media tab is depressing LMAO)

JANUARY

[Pictured: Iola in Prenda clothing. There was a Twitter Post going around asking you to draw your WoL in your country's traditional clothes. Ofc I didn't skip the opportunity to do it! And drew my BF's WoL too for good measure. Still my fav drawing of the year!]

Also worked on a VTuber model for a friend (i drew it as a bust january last year; then this year was asked to expand it to full body). It was very challenging, but also fun!

For the rest, I designed some backstory NPCs for Asera (Daimyorus childhood friend, his goddess and a mage that helped us multiple times); and drew some twitch emotes for a client. Was a fresh, fun start. I remember having a lot of fun and finding that month quite relaxing.

(Goddess Rondra, Mage Rupin & elf-friend Pedro (RIP))

FEBRUARY

[Pictured: My friend's bunny boi~]

Further work was done on the VTuber model, a lot of parts that weren't quite working before were redrawn. He was taking form!! Now that most of the work was done, also did a ref sheet to go with it. I couldn't wait to see him moving!

That's when I started preparing to open commissions for realz, trying to think of prices and set up examples. I drew some BGs and the Complexity Guide, and set most of the boring things up. I plan to open comms either Jan 2023 or February 2023, so let's hope all the work paid off~

MARCH

[Pictured: 'Smile at the Blue Skies', or "Fuq i need a bust sketch ref for my commission examples page". Sounds a bit less dreamy now, huh? LMAO]

But yeah, most of the month was dedicated to the VTuber model, working to fix it as the rigger found issues. Ref Sheet was finished this month. I'll stop mentioning the model, but the back and forth lasted till june or so?? Had to fix all of his toggles; and redraw his entire hair to allow for a better 3D effect when moving (it went from 3~6 layers to over 20). This was my first time working on vtuber models, so there was A LOT to learn. It surprising how many pitfalls there is in vtuber making. I'm very proud of how it turned out, and eternally grateful to the rigger (and to my friend) for being so patient with me. I was sent a small demo of what he looks like, and seeing your drawing move so beautifully like that feels magical!! There's still much to design and draw before he can debut, but hope you can support him then!

Oh yeah, there was this attempt too:

APRIL

[Pictured: 'With Friends' the commission I worked on through March and April. Extra special because that's my friend & his pets there!]

Also sketched some ideas for illustrations of our RP characters (hi Irene), but never really completed them:

It feels so long since I made these... Double checked like 3 times to make sure it wasn't April 2021 LMAO

I REALLY want to revisit some of these now.

MAY

[Pictured: #XIVARTBASH drawing, featuring Nero.]

Also drew the catgirl from Love2DrawManga. Didn't do much this month (...or did but forgot). I believe I worked on some BGs I can't show, but these are still very much stuck at WIP :(

JUNE

[Pictured: Nia's WoL, Mat. Just a smol gift for someone that brings a lot of joy to FFXIV Twitter.]

So... I completelly forgot I was drawing my OCs outfits [facepalm]:

(Don't mind the two in the corner, I don't want my essay to get hit with Tumblr hammer LMAO They're nowhere near done). But yeah, these are my OCs from 'Elder''. I've had them since childhood, and still love them, even if I gave up on the book idea. Will make an actual post once all is done and I can go back to their character illusts uwu

JULY

[Pictured: Cade from 'Still Shining'. Working on this was an amazing experience~ Won't go on detail bc I already did, but still glad for the experience!]

Instead I'll talk about... Art Fight month!!!

SO.MUCH.FUN

I'm 100% going back next year! This event just proved how much I love drawing people's OCs. I really want to be a commission artist so I can do that for a living. Sadly I didn't get to draw everyone I wanted, plus I wasted a lot of time trying to look through OCs while the website was dying LMAO Next year I'll come prepared!

Also I drew that Spring picture to use as a reference in her profile there. I missed drawing her!

AUGUST

[Pictured: Commission for 'Under Maintenance'.]

Mostly worked on commemorative stuff. Anniversary chibi for Brie; that Under Maintenance pic; Thank You for DL message for 'Loving You Fully' and 'Still Shining'. Also designed some outfits (and painted some sprites) for Mythic Meetup: Midnight Mystery (not released yet!).

Started a bday gift for my boyfriend, but something kept looking 'off' about it so I didn't finish in time. Turns out it was overblended... And will require a redraw. Sorry boyfriend TT But my wife (tm) needs to look perfect!!

Also made the design for our new RP characters:

(mine is the not-cat girl, obviously)

...And I belive this is when I made that cursed Yshtola feeding Zero picture? Yeah.

SEPTEMBER

[Pictured: Witch Torunn]

Made the YCH bases, as well as 3 examples. I have no memories of this month, but Windows says this sketch is from september:

OCTOBER

[Pictured: Old OC redraw, for my Commission Guide. Decided to do it after a client asked for clarification if an old drawing was halfbody or fullbody (august last year, Torunn sitting down).]

They're really old OCs of mine. Ever RP-ed in Deviantart groups? I did!!

Cecilia (<-) is pretty much a Iola prototype: salve maker and potion seller who lives with her dad (who taught her the craft). One day he collapses during work, and Cecilia ends up overworking herself to afford his medicine and other living expenses. In desperation, she joins The Guild as a novice magician for money, and gets herself involved on a war she never intended to join.

Celticca (->) is a archer and aspiring musician who wants to make the most beautiful song (tm) for her family. She's very sweet, but naïve and scatterbrained. I didn't have much planned for her, but had a lot of fun seeing her constantly get involved with Evil/Neutral alligned characters w/o noticing LOL

....Now that I think about it, she's literally a FFXIV bard, before I knew anything about XIV.

The rest of October was focused on Magni's Birthday Project and my YCH Halloween Commissions.

...And THIS:

Halloween pictures of our current RP characters \O/ To go with our halloween session~ Also drew these two for our halloween one-shot:

Ellie (<-) and Hadrianus (->). Ellie is a yandere witch I made as a joke and fell in love with. Hadrianus is my BF's wizard. Yes, he looks like Dr. Strange. Yes, that's the joke. The 3rd character was Rosemary, but I didn't ask to draw her so she's missing :( I do want to draw all of them at some point. We accidentally made "Spy x Family, but it's horror and Loid wants to run away" LOOOL I love this trio!!

Made 2 adoptables, but since they went unsold I decided to remove them and redraw for next year:

(The neutral pose doesn't help them stand out ^^;; Sorry bbys)

Also sketched Julio from Atelier Sophie~

(Hoping to finish it early next year. He's not the only idea I had while playing, but other stuff took priority"")

October was so much fun!! Sadly it let me completely drained by the end of it. I got hit with such a HUGE art block it was like my hands just... Forgot how to draw. Everything came out weird. Sadly, that resulted on me having to drop a drawing I was making for Brie :/ Hoping I can pick it back up soon... (better late than never right?)

It's around that time I decided to work on an AI redraw. Used Crayon (old Dall-e Mini) to create some monstrosity for me and tried to turn it into an actual drawing.

The monstrosity:

The Work In Porgress:

This drawing is a bit painful to look at, because of all the self doubt and bad feelings attached to it. But I want to finish it someday. My prompt was something stupid like 'cute anime girl having fun'. I want to remain true to the prompt and make her meeting with lil ladybug feel warm and fun!

...Like of the feelings I was missing back then, and am just now starting to get back.

TL;DR: Take breaks or you'll break.

NOVEMBER

[Pictured: Chibi Adra for Kyou.]

Managing burnout through most of it. Eventually just decided to stop fighting and played games instead. Even with the frame drops, Atelier Ryza is pretty fun~ Hoping to go bk to it soon.

At some point my boyfriend said I should just draw things to have fun for a bit. I followed his advice...

DECEMBER

[Pictured: Art Party (DracoLunari's WoL)]

...By drawing Iola as a sheep herder. It was much more fun than it sounds. I didn't care for polish at all, just seeing Iola in a cute outfit LMAO It's... A mess of a drawing. But it's MY mess of a drawing. I feel this thought calmed my mind a lot.

Also went for my first ever Art Party. It was fun, tho brain did get in the way after a bit, as expected ^^;;; Still want to go to these more often!! It's fun to draw & chat with others.

For random drawings, all I have is a(n embarrassing) fanart of Elf from Isekai Ojisan. I'll post eventually..... (that anime is hilarious)

For now I have a commission and a collab to take care of, and a certain Moon Goddess to draw as soon as possible~ Will be doing my best these next few days, and hope Iola can be my sheperd and guide me to the path of 'having lots of fun drawing again'.

ONWARDS TO 2023...

May my year be filled with bad drawings that I love;

And good drawings I'm proud of.

May your year give you the same

And everything else you wish for!

Thanks @/Taxkha on twitter for the Template!

#maryart #art summary 2022 #it's a wall of text #but i feel i'd regret it it any other way #happy holidays all

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the-kestrels-feather · 3 months

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Get To Know Me Tag Game

I was tagged by the lovely @gyokujyn, thank you friendo!!

1. How did you get your nickname (or url)?

There's nothing especially deep to it tbh, my name is Kestrel and my go-to username is kestrelfeather (yes I know its a Warrior Cats name it haunts me every day) but it was taken already

2. What's the last thing that made you cry?

Not to trauma dump on this here Tumblr post but tbh I need to get better at actually feeling my feelings, because I don't remember the last time I cried, and it's not because I'm living my best life or anything it's because I bottle my feelings like a fine wine 😅🙃

3. What's your latest guilty pleasure?

I try not to feel guilty about things that being me joy but it is absolutely my shameless Self-insert OC created to date Bucky Barnes and is almost definitely the Nonbinary equivalent of a Mary Sue but they make me happy GOD DAMMIT Cringe culture is DEAD

4. What sports do you play/have you played?

So despite not being a sporty kid I've actually played a few! Itty bitty baby Kes played soccer, Tee Ball, and Softball at varying times, and did Ballet, jazz, and tap for like a year or two. But that all stopped when I turned 7 and FINALLY talked my parents into letting me take horseback riding lessons, and I did that for 11.5 years. I absolutely LOVED riding, and would ABSOLUTELY still be doing it, but unfortunately it's time and money I don't have so I just stare longingly.

5. What are your pet peeves?

People who don't chew with their mouth closed talk with their mouth full my mother even though she denies it, kids who come into the textbook distribution room I work in and go "I need a book" but when i ask them for a title, class, teacher, literally any information that woukd help me get them the correct book they just say "I don't know".

6. What is the first thing you notice about people?

Eyes. I suck at eye contact but if someone has pretty eyes I take notice

7. What is your eye color?

Great question tbh. Somewhere between blue and green, like a sort of teal-y color.

8. What super specific trope or genre is your kryptonite?

In non-fanciction settings: Gothic and Cosmic horror, action is fun, the fact that Librivox audiobooks of novels in the public domain are easy to find and extremely accessible, it's given me a strong love for classical literature, Picture of Dorian Gray is my favorite.

In Fanfiction settings: inject that Hurt/Comfort directly into my VEINS--. I'm also a big fan of any and all forms of Nonsexual intimacy.

9. What is your superpower?

As a Props Artisan I can make anything out of anything. I love making props from found objects, especially weapons. I was on a production of Romeo and Juliet and got to make all sorts of fun found object weapons because it was a post-apocalyptitc world

Some examples:

10. Which fictional world would you be happy to call home?

I know I would like. Instantly die. But I would love to live as a half-blood in the Percy Jackson world tbh.

11. What are your hobbies?

Listening to audiobooks and video essays, writing, learning to draw, video games, and crafting.

12. Do you have any pets?

I have one Dog, an 11 year old rat terrier mix named Peanut who owns my heart ❤️ I used to have pet land snails too, but unfortunately they have all passed on.

Bonus Peanut. Look at this little face how could you see this and NOT want to hand over all your worldly possessions to her:

13. What is your biggest toxic trait?

Oh jeez. I have a stubborn streak, but can also be really selfish.

14. Is there anything you're afraid you won't accomplish?

Oh BOY is there. My dream is to work Props for a Marvel movie and I worry I'll never get there. Also I'm just in general worried I'm never going to get a job in theatre/film which is my dream because it's the job I want, what I love, and what I went to school for and I'm scared I'll never get there.

15. What's number one on your bucket list?

The aforementioned dream of working on a Marvel movie!

Tags:

@bucky-bucky-bucky-bucky @navybrat817 @feraljazzpunk @buckybuckyboo and anyone else who wants to!

#thank you agaon for the tag!

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free-my-boy-grumbot · 1 year

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year in review woah

I posted 1,740 times in 2022

That's 1,333 more posts than 2021! remember when i would only post 3 times per day? yea that was pathetic

166 posts created (10%)

1,574 posts reblogged (90%)

Blogs I reblogged the most (i love how its only hermitcraft blogs)

@araccoonthatlikesmurder

@terrible-leviathan

@foryouthegays

@ghost-chi

@griancraft

Most used tags or smthn

#cameron monologues - 65 posts

#hhh - 55 posts

#hermitcraft - 49 posts

#[deadname] monologues - 48 posts

#mcyt - 33 posts

#grian - 22 posts

#dream smp - 21 posts

#relatable - 21 posts

#dsmp - 19 posts

#danganronpa - 19 posts

broo my mf tumblr tags deadnamed me

Longest Tag: 87 characters

#no wonder you don’t read that often mf you’ve never felt a single emotion while reading

that was me slandering ppl who dont read angst

My Top Posts in 2022:

MAGIC USERS AND THEIR DEFINITIONS (because i’m mentally unwell and needed something cool to research)

FOREWARNING: In this, I do say that “witch” and “wizard” are not gendered terms and witches are different from wizards. This is literally just my headcanon (for lack of a better word). Most fantasy media does say that they are the 2 magic genders, but it’s my post and i’m going with the definition that I like.

Abjurer: Specifically deals in protective spells and the suppression of others’ magic.

Alchemist: Focuses on potion making, chemistry and alchemy (I know, shocker).

Artificer: Magic craftsmen. They do not cast spells, and instead can infuse objects with magic (such as a sword or wand).

Bard: Casts divine magic using their music and charisma.

Cleric: Their magic is a favour from the Gods to them. They pray at the beginning of the day every day to get their powers.

Chiromancer: Specialises in palmistry or fortune telling.

Diviner: Uses magic to foresee or predict future events or to discover hidden knowledge.

Druid: Wields nature-themed magic. Like clerics, they get their magic from the gods.

Enchanter: A general name for someone who uses magic.

Hydromancer: Specifically focuses on controlling water or liquid.

Illusionist: Uses magic to create illusions. Also known as evokers or conjurers.

Mage: Similar to the sorcerer, but instead of relying on willpower and instinct, they are more uniform, while sorcerers are more on the creative side.

Necromancer: Specifically focuses on reanimation of the dead.

Oneiromancer: Specifically focuses on dreams and prediction of the future.

Pyromancer: Specifically focuses on controlling fire.

Sorcerer: Does not learn magic, and instead has it within them. This can be, for example, because it is in their bloodline.

Warlock: Gains magic from a divinity or higher power. The magic equivalent of fucking your teacher for grades.

Witch: Does magic that is particularly focused on plants, herbs, healing, and cooking. Witches mostly make potions and have familiars (most commonly cats, frogs/toads, rats or ravens)

Wizard: Learns magic from books and study. Many also have staffs, wands, or another means of casting spells.

Let me know if i missed anything!

585 notes - Posted August 24, 2022

ah, the magic gender discourse post

LIBERAL WILL WOOD

THE DIFFERENT ALBUM

LAPLACE’S DEVIL

LOVE ME GAYLY

I/Me/Myself

BISEXUAL BOX WARRIOR

TRANGENDER LAWYER

TOMCAT DIVERSITY

886 notes - Posted August 18, 2022

i could have just put all the actual song titles

every will wood song

[scatting] babygirl i am severely mentally ill

932 notes - Posted August 12, 2022

whys it always the will wood posts fr

wait so you guys know how the hermit species is canonically short? and how they all keep calling bdubs short? i like to think bdubs is only a tiny bit smaller than the rest of them. like, not enough for an average person to notice but enough for the hermits to notice. i’m just picturing like

Grian (literally tiny compared to Joel): lmao bdubs is so short am i right

Joel (an 11-foot-tall god that can’t see the difference between them): uh. yeah lmao imagine.

2,026 notes - Posted November 6, 2022

this one was unexpected fr

My #1 post of 2022

2,735 notes - Posted August 6, 2022

god every time i see this post i remember the person who said that scarian had more content than grumbo and i dont wanna engage in Shipping Discoure because im mature and have grown out of shipping wars but someone actually fucking hold me back. you come into MY house-

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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lazardotsocial · 2 years

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LAZAR DOT SOCIAL GEN 5: ROTATE

Pre-Launch Essay

It is my intention to start writing about each generation of lazar as I launch, in an attempt to communicate what I was thinking when I made them. In these essays I'll be going over some of the inspirations and intentions that lead me to make this terrible machine. Come along with me!

1. WELCOEM TO MY FUCK HOUSE

For a short period on January 29th 2015, tumblr was the best social media site in history. On that date it reached heights that have never since been approached, let alone surpassed. January 29th is day tumblr pushed an update containing a number of bugs that gave users the ability to style their posts in new ways. Far too many ways and far too powerful ways. Users could, for example, stick their posts to the browsers so they’d stay in place when you tried to scroll away. Or put their posts on top of other posts. Or insert text into the margins of the page. For the few hours before the change was rolled back, tumblr descended into total, beautiful chaos.

Now, the primary reason websites don’t let their users do this sort of thing is it’ll make your site completely unreadable (1). I do not respect this reason. Who said sites should be legible? The social is complete mess, so social media should be the same, so say I. I have been dreaming reenacting the glorious chaos of that winter night for a while and with generation 5 of Lazar, I am taking a stab at it.

2. The Feed

Gen 5 is also about the feed. In your standard feed, the kind you'd see on facebook or twitter, each post acts as an atomic unit. Posts are capable of being related but by default they are not. Each is it’s own universe, with no relationship to the posts above or below it. Or at least that’s the idea - I don’t think people are really capable of reading like that. We create connections between posts placed in proximity automatically, even if those connections aren’t intended or if they get us into trouble.

In Gen 5 posts are allowed to wander away from their proper chronological positioning, making their own decisions about placement in the feed. Posts can block or overlap other posts. The interactions between a post and it’s neighbors becomes very active and impossible to ignore. And why not? Those posts have a relationship and I've decided to make it an undeniable relationship.

Letting users freely pick their angle and offset is an intentionally over the top method of making that point. Every version of Lazar is ridiculous. I’m not interested in making a social media site that works. I’m interested in making a social media site that stimulates the imagination.

3. LA2AR

Gen 4 of Lazar ended in February, so it’s been slumbering for 5 months. During that time I threw away all the code I’ve been using for Lazar up until now and started over from scratch. The old lazar ran on Vue, google firebase, and google cloud functions (2). But I decided firebase has too many opinions about how it delivers data and so it had to go.

The new Lazar is a vanilla rails app. No front end javascript framework, just rails and erb. I want to keep this codebase simple and flexible. I want to be able to develop new and weird features quickly and with minimum fuss. Rails is a framework I already know, so hopefully the amount of time I have to spend learning. We’ll see how it pains out long term.

Making online art is often frustrating to me because of how much time I have to spend struggling with my tools. Every form of art involves some amount of technical skill and some about creative expression – you have to learn how to mix your pigments before you can paint a picture – but with tech art it feels like the technical requirements go on and on forever. At some point though you have to stop casting around for new tools and just make something. I want a set of skills and tools that let me quickly create and deploy new sites while still give me the flexibility to make whatever I want. I don’t I have that yet. But hopefully I'm working towards it.

4. Links

Here’s some stuff I was reading and thinking about while I made gen 6.

No More Pages and Reading Humanized, the blog posts that introduced the world to the idea of the infinite scroll. It's interesting to see what the idea was at the start and compare it how it turned out.

Twitter, The Intimacy Machine by C. Thi Nguyen. I’ve known about context collapse for a while but Nguyen’s insight about how Twitter’s limit character length leads to posts that require high levels of shared context is very interesting.

New_Public and Reboot – both organizations/newsletters focused on improving social media. They're also interested in social media but are doing something different what I'm doing.

Footnotes

1. The other reason websites don’t let their users just style their posts however they like is that some styling can break or attack other people’s computers. I grudgingly respect this reason and that’s why lazar isn’t quite as chaotic as tumblr was. I’d let you just write any CSS you want but I’m afraid you might do crimes with it :( It is possible to give the users styling power while stripping out the dangerous options (cohost is doing very exciting work in this space) but that’s a lot of work and I’m very lazy. Gen 5 represents one compromise between no options and all of them but I’ll likely return to this well with future generations.

2. Shout out again to Kate Compton’s excellent social media speedrun video which I used to build the foundation the first four generations used.

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tar-oh · 2 years

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PAC: Messages About This Year For You

So, disclaimer, I actually worked on this back in December but life has a way of getting in the way, or at least, pushing things back. I definitely always feel like that means that whatever messages I receive just aren't meant to be shared at that moment. While I had intended on this to be a very general outlook on the whole year, the piles did what they wanted to, and chose very specific messages. So, this is more about themes/lessons you may encounter throughout the year rather than a breakdown of the year itself. So, these are things that could pop up at any point during the year. If anything, they might just apply to what you're dealing with currently, or within the next few months. A few things to note: First off, I am open to private readings. Even when I'm not posting on here, I usually am. However, I'm thinking about raising my price by a couple dollars just because of how much time I spend on the personal readings. I'm not going to raise the prices just yet, mostly because I think that's something that should happen when I'm less focused on school so that I can focus more on the readings. So, when I do raise my prices, I will let all of you know (obviously). Also, here's my general disclaimer: This is a collective reading. You may find that parts resonate and other parts do not. So, if you feel like you're in need of more personal insight, I am here for personal readings. Otherwise, there are plenty of other readers out there, too! I am always open for tips but they're not necessary (just greatly appreciated):

cashapp: $sararms paypal: paypal.me/sararms

Here is a random set of pictures of random niche things that my brain decided it was a good idea to save onto my computer as the piles, but now they're in a poorly edited collage because tumblr only lets you upload 10 images per post: 1: Sunset CURVE!!!! (Julie and the Phantoms) 2: Rich Evans mispronouncing sasquatch as "sack squatch" (Red Letter Media Best of the Worst) 3: "Microwaving Uranium Ore" (Official Duck Studios) 4: Calum Hood looking confused

Pile 1:

Cards: Broom, Perseverance, Artemis (Focus), Asphodel, Feverfew, King Solomon (Legacy)

My first impression before diving into the cards any deeper is that I think there's a general fear within this group. I get more of an anxiety than a phobia or anything like that. But it's general, almost like a fear of change or something like that. I think 2022 is bringing you much-needed relief with this fear, whether it's gaining the courage to work through your fears, or even just taking them away completely (i.e. bad situations disappearing). Most of these cards show lone figures, so even if you do get outside help, I am more inclined to think that this is more of an internal process. I'm also seeing number progression, we have 28, 29, and 30, so to me that always means moving forward.

I'm going to start with this King Solomon card. Now, this card speaks of heightened psychic abilities, so I do think some of you are going to be finding that you're just going to be knowing. By that, I mean, maybe your dreams are going to feel significant this year. For example, they could be prophetic, or maybe just give you epiphanies about situations within your life. I also am seeing that this card, since it bears the word "legacy" as its little keyword, it means that 2022 may be important in terms of laying your foundations (or the foundations for what's next in your life). I could also see this card bringing big "main-character" energy, meaning if you feel like you've been living in the passenger seat of your life, I think this year is about you sliding over to the driver's side and taking back control. This, to me, goes hand in hand with the Broom card. This card speaks of clearing away what doesn't serve you, i.e. sweeping it out of your life. It can talk about both physical and metaphorical clearing. It could be as simple as getting rid of all the clothes you know you're never going to wear again, to being as hard as reassessing the things in your life that aren't serving you (such as habits, jobs, people, places). Please be mindful of which part of that message pertains to you.

I think if you've been finding things particularly hard lately, or within the last year, this pile is especially for you. The Perseverance card talks about taking adversity and learning through it. I always hate when this card comes up in readings because the simple message is that you're being tested and that this test is also teaching you important lessons. But, these lessons are also hard. To be honest, I think if we have the King Solomon card here, I'd say you're doing well with these lessons. This doesn't change how they affect you, though, and I think maybe that's why I got that overall fearful feeling in the beginning. But, the good news is that this just means that these hardships are lessening this year. I can't guarantee total tranquility, but I can at least hint at brighter times. Artemis calls for focus or less focus. It depends on who you are, I think. You either are focusing too much on the outcome of a situation, or you're not focused enough. I think this relates directly to the broom and perseverance cards. Either way, there's something about setting your focus on a mark and working towards it. It just changes how you get there depending on your situation and the degree to which you're focused. Some of you are in need of letting go and allowing it all to flow, others are in need of a more laser-beam focus. I got a really bad headache here, and I think most of you are focusing too hard. I think there's a degree of self-care needed here, and the next two cards from the Seed and Sickle deck should give us some guidance on this. It's funny because while these readings are really general, I feel like I don't usually have to have two differentiating sides, but for this pile, it really feels like there are two groups here. So, I am thinking I have to say that maybe if you felt called to another pile, check it out because there may be a more detailed/focused (ha) message for you.

The feverfew card can have two different meanings. I only recently got this deck, so bear with me with it, but after reading both of the meanings, I actually am thinking it's one of them. The first was that something unpleasant is coming your way. While I am thinking this has some significance to this pile (I'm thinking about perseverance), I am more inclined to think that this card is actually the other meaning. This speaks of you getting through the hardships and then helping others. But, because this is a general reading, I know each of you is at different parts of this journey and that how things progress this year will differ, so I think both messages apply for this group. I do think that once these obstacles are overcome, you're going to feel a sense of renewal, maybe not as strong as a Death card rebirth or something like that, but I think it will make you want to share this energy with others, and the feverfew card asks you to do just that. This especially applies if you have a particular person that helped you through these tough times. It's like, pay-back energy. The Asphodel card I think plays into what the King Solomon card entailed about psychic abilities being enhanced. I think you're going to be called to use your intuition soon, and I think this means that your intuition is spot on, but only if you learn to listen to it. I'm not getting anything about your intuition being blocked or off, but I am thinking this is a message about strengthening it. Another idea behind this card is reaching back into the past. I'm going to be honest, while this card suggests reaching out to a friend or a place you feel nostalgic about, I don't get that, as much as I get maybe a need to revisit something you used to enjoy. I.e. a hobby or a movie or something from your childhood? Granted, I do think there are a few of you who will be called to reach out to an old friend, but because I got a more internal feeling from this pile overall, this feels more like revisiting something...inside. I think this year is going to bring back old memories to the surface, and maybe you're going to have difficulty shaking them. Maybe you're going to find them helpful in some way, but whatever the case may be, it feels as though there's a feeling of nostalgia tied to this.

There's background energy here, that yet again highlights this perseverance that card was talking about. We see it within the Ivy card from the bottom of the Seed and Sickle deck. But we also see it in Demeter too. Her card's keyword is "nurturer". She speaks about nurturing yourself when your cup is empty, so I think whatever obstacles you're experiencing will lead to an empty cup on your part and a need to recharge. But, after that, there's that giving energy again. A need to share your bounty, almost. I think there's a lesson you'll be dealing with soon (or are already in) that is teaching you about boundaries and when to give and when not to give. These messages are yet again repeated in the St. Josephine Bakhita card, which is also (like the Broom card, which speaks of release) a number 8 card. Her keyword is "release". She not only talks about releasing what's not serving you but also forgiving yourself and others. I think she ties in with Demeter because there is a certain amount of nurturing that goes into the process of releasing, right? It's like, a purge that happens, but it has to go at the pace that's right for you. She also speaks about working through tough times, and that word perseverance is found yet again within that. I think with nurturing within the purging, there's also a need for more joy and the Merriment card speaks of that. This card just asks you what does your soul yearn for? There's something about tomorrow here, and I'm thinking about the song Tomorrow Never Dies by 5 seconds of summer? I question this because even though I know a lot of their music by heart, this is one I don't pay much attention to, and yet here it is popping up. The gist of it is that there's always tomorrow, and this card, too, reminds me of that. If today was a bad day, then there's always tomorrow to start again. And, I think maybe there's a need to have this mentality going into your future. Maybe that's what's changing, maybe you're going to get into this mentality? The Nature Spirits card also talks about this but also being mindful of the little things, too. The mundane things you're not always mindful of. So, maybe this is about that barista you always see Monday morning at your local cafe? Or, maybe it's simply the neighborhood cat that you see running across the street? Because this is general, it could mean many things, but these are the little details that you either take for granted or have come so accustomed to, you don't notice anymore. This relates back to the idea of giving back, and maybe in this case it's just simply acknowledging these things?

Pile 2:

Cards: Ritual, Falling in Love, Light, Rose, Daisy, Morrighan (Death and Magic) St. Teresa (Divine Ecstasy)

Okay, right off the bat, I'm seeing some interesting things here. First off, there are a lot of double numbers here. We have 11, 33 (twice), and 22. I'm not sure if these bear any meaning to you, but I think there's a lot of symmetry within this pile. But along with that, are opposites. I see a lot of imagery that's like, light and dark, stark contrasts, you know? You also got the Rose card, and within the St. Teresa card are more roses. Lights and crowns and halos...A lot of crowns actually. I kind of take this to mean coming into your power or maybe figuring out where your power lies and sticking to it. We'll see what else comes up. I just know that this imagery is really powerful to me. The last pile seemed heavy, but not from the imagery but rather with an overall feeling. This feels less heavy, and more just powerful.

I want to start with the Rose and Daisy cards. Also, the Dandelion is on the bottom of the deck. The first thing I want to mention is the rosary on the rose card. It was the first thing I was drawn to, and it's interesting that it's kind of lighting up. I think, paired with that Divine Ecstasy, I could see this group figuring out what they believe this year. I'm not saying you don't already have beliefs set in stone, but I think there's going to be something that occurs that either gives you faith or takes your faith from something and places it on something else. The rose card can talk about a miracle happening, and I'm inclined to go towards this meaning. However, it also speaks about confiding in someone. I get confessional vibes, so I'm not sure if this is just a pile full of a lot of catholic people, but that's what I'm seeing. It doesn't even have to be religious, it could simply be your trust in someone. There could be something you've been afraid to share, and you find someone you can confide in. Daisy lends towards this idea of finding faith in something. It speaks of a renewed spark, so for some, I see this as faith-based/belief-based. For others, I think this is someone in your life. It could also be that maybe prior to this year, you had no one to confide in, but with these two cards, I could see that this is signaling someone who will prove to be a worthy confidant for you - and I'm also inclined to say, even if this is just...yourself? The dandelion at the bottom of the deck, to me, signals movement. I think with the Rose and Daisy cards, you're given the power or motivation to move on or move forward. I'm not sure if you're just stuck in a liminal state and if maybe this is my "cocoon" pile, but I see movement in 2022. I want you to know that I don't necessarily mean in the physical sense for everyone. It probably is physical for most, but I also see beliefs growing or changing. I get a lot of faith-based thoughts from this pile, again and again. I think that's for a few of you, but it's a really specific message about maybe wanting to change your ideas of spirituality and not wanting to...rock the boat? But these cards, to me, really tell me that there's something within your faith/belief system that is going to change. I think this pile may want to look into St. Teresa because the book mentions Roses as being a signal of her, and me going on about Roses earlier was interesting. But, either way, her card is basically everything I detailed earlier. I don't think I can add anymore because a lot of what I said was what her card speaks of. One thing I didn't mention was that I think this could be a spiritual awakening. I basically said that without using those specific words, and I had been thinking it, but the guidebook for that card makes note of that and I really think it should be said because I think some of you could be feeling confused during this. The bottom for that deck was St. Joan of Arc, and her word is Conviction, which is something I've been thinking about throughout this paragraph. I think she's here to instill confidence in you through this awakening.

The Ritual card being reversed brings me back to the idea of your beliefs will be changing in 2022. When this card is in reverse, it says that you may be doing things out of obligation. But, it's asking you to really be mindful of what you're doing. It speaks of performing rituals because you feel you have to, but I have to stop and say that rituals aren't always just magic. I think ritualistic behavior is inherently human. It can range from things that are kind of rite-of-passage (think getting your driver's license or graduating school), to even tiny things, like getting up and reading the local newspaper every morning. But when things are done out of obligation, sometimes they become mindless and almost...meaningless. I think this card is here to make you stop for a second and think about everything you do that seems to be only because you think others want you to do it, and if it actually helps you as a person. I'm not saying quit your job (and seriously, never let a tarot reader tell you that lol this is something YOU decide, not some lady reading cardstock). No, I think instead this card is here to remind you to be your own person, and I think the last few cards were there to remind you of this as well. To stick to your convictions. The bottom of the deck was Spider, which to me always speaks of manifestations coming in, but not having a death-grip on how they show up. I think this plays into the idea of doing "Mindless" tasks, in that I think Spider is here to tell you not to focus on the outcome and keep yourself busy, but not in a way that doesn't promote growth. I think this pile is my existential pile, and I think that you're going to be spending a lot of your time in 2022 thinking about why you're here and what you want out of this human experience. I'm thinking that while you're wondering that kind of stuff, you're going to find that your manifestations are trickling in. I don't use that word, like ever, so I think this is how it's going to feel, like one after another, in a slow, rhythmic pace like a creek or a brook or something of that nature.

I think Falling in Love and Light are both here to show that in 2022, one thing that is changing is how you're viewing your life. Falling in Love can be about falling in love with someone else, but it really highlights the idea of falling in love with your life. The light card talks about seeing the light in things, but also about abundance and having good fortune come your way. I think this goes with that Spider card, in that you're going to be distracted (by good things), and then the good things will keep flowing in. For some, you could be going through a difficult situation that has been carried over into this year, and maybe this Light card is here for you to let you know better times are on their way. Either way, I think these are really two good cards to receive because I don't really see 2022 being heavy or hard. This, however, is only a general outlook on what's going to change for you, so this varies for everyone. The bottom of the deck was Mistletoe, which speaks about taking small steps. I think all the other cards kind of hint at moving forward, and I think this is just a reminder to pace yourself. I don't see anyone getting burnt out, but I think it's a reminder for those that feel stagnant, that all steps, whether small or big, are moving forward. I really think that's an important message for someone out there.

Lastly, we have Morrighan here. I think she's here because she's bringing us back to the idea of changing your beliefs. She asks you to let go of what doesn't serve you, and not be afraid to let those beliefs die within you. There's also a note about allowing yourself to be empty for a little bit so that you can be filled with magic. I don't mean literally, I mean, maybe kind of letting yourself become a blank slate for a time being. I think because this is the group that's going to be questioning what they do and don't believe in next year, you're also going to be looking at how these things show up in your life and your actions. This relates directly to all the other cards, in that you're going to be finding the things you love and the things you keep or do out of obligation. Those things that feel like they're meant to be there are going to stay. And those that feel like they're only there because you think that's what you're meant to be doing or believing, are going to fall away. The bottom of that deck was Gaia, and she's just there to remind you to stay grounded. I think when you're open to a lot of possibilities, there's a potential to be scattered and a bit everywhere, so this is just a small reminder to try to remain down to earth. I'm kind of getting this feeling of someone with their head in the clouds, and while I think these cards encourage this because it will bring about thoughts and ideas, I think there's also a warning not to allow this to become your norm.

Pile 3:

Cards: Intuition, Florence Scovel Shinn (Intuition), Mama Killa (the Moon), Turning Inward, Buttercup, Mistletoe

One thing I'm getting from the imagery, first off, is a coldness. There are a lot of darker colors, like grays, and also some blue. I'm getting the sound of a snowstorm, too. Just that whistling of the wind. I think this could mean that winter (no matter which part of the world you are in, just think of when you experience your winter season), is important for you. It could also be talking about the "winter" of your life, like when things are dormant. There's also a lot of arms-crossed imagery. I think of being deep in thought with that, or maybe being closed off?

The first card I want to talk about is the Intuition card. This card asks you to work on your intuition, but it also asks you to learn how to take advantage of your ego and use it in tandem with your intuition. I wonder if maybe there are some of you who are using your ego too much. Maybe some of you aren't trusting your own intuition. Either way, you're asked to work on your intuition, while also working on recognizing your ego and when it can come in handy. On the bottom of the deck, you got Grief. I think this is just a message that is asking you to keep moving forward (I hear Wilbur Robinson from Meet the Robinson's saying "Keep moving forward!") It's kind of here to remind you that while it's okay to mourn the things you had and then lost, or even the things you wanted and never got, it's not okay to stay in that place forever. I don't think this is telling you to move on right now or tomorrow, but I think it's saying that a theme that's kind of hidden within what's going on in this year for you is how you make use of your grief. It shows up differently for everyone, and how you get through it personally isn't going to be linear or identical to everyone else's journey, or even past versions of grief you held. It's funny, because even though this is a card on the bottom of the deck, I just feel that this is something we need to talk about here. The Florence Scovel Shinn card is here to help with this grief, too. This card talks about processing heartache, and I think this ties directly with that grief card and why I felt the need to highlight it. She also has the keyword Intuition, so I think there's a tie to both the other two cards within this. I think the intuition here is key to moving through this grief (however it shows up for you). I think you're going to know how to move through it intuitively like it's going to show up and however way feels right to you. Socrates is also an interesting card to receive here, even if he appeared on the bottom of the deck. One thing really interesting to me is that he was sentenced to death by taking hemlock, which is poisonous. Two of the cards you received were mistletoe and on the bottom, belladonna. Both are also poisonous. So I think there's a message here about what you're taking in? Both physically and mentally. Though, mistletoe I guess isn't known to kill humans, but I think there's still something within the idea of it being toxic. I also looked up to see if Buttercups were poisonous too, and that is as well. So, there's definitely something here about...being mindful of what you ingest. I think, because Socrates was all about his mind and discussing philosophy and stuff of that nature, I think there's a highlight on what you're absorbing from what you're being told in person and maybe what you're seeing on the internet. It's kind of like how you know that with the internet, anyone can say anything, even if it's wrong, and people will believe them? I think you're meant to use your intuition with that, knowing what's right and what's wrong, but also using deduction skills and doing your own research. So, there could very well be a lot of research on something this year, or even just an exchange of opinions. Maybe you join a book club? That feels specific lol Socrates does talk about connections between friends and neighbors, so I think there's a social element here that works with the intuition and maybe how you process the grief you could feel.

I think I have to go into the Buttercup, Mistletoe and Belladonna cards now. The buttercup card encourages you to keep moving forward (there's Wilbur again!), but it also asks you to be aware of what is and isn't working. If things are going smoothly, then great! Keep going! But if you seem to be meeting walls instead of doors, there's a need to take a step back and assess why that keeps happening. I think this could tie into what you're ingesting mentally, like maybe you're hearing things that don't align with what you know will help you or maybe vice-versa. Maybe you're getting bits of information that seem to serve as hints for how to climb the walls you're facing. This card has a diamond shape in the middle, and for some reason I heard "4 corners", so I'm thinking about a compass and the 4 directions. I think maybe there's something within sensing the direction you need to go, like maybe 2022 holds your north star or something like that. The Mistletoe card has two swords, and I'm reminded of a song I heard called Our Swords by Band of Horses. There's a line, "Count on us to fall on our swords tonight", and I take it to mean "we're going to make a mistake" or even, "We'll be our own downfall". I don't think this means you're going to make a mistake or cause your downfall, but I kind of get like this "double-edged sword" meaning from whatever this mistletoe card is pointing towards. It's funny because one meaning of this card is to take a step back and look at a problem from a different perspective. It talks about giving space to a problem, like time to breathe. I definitely could see someone falling on their own sword if they act before putting thought into an action. I think those intuition cards come into play again, and so does that sense of direction. I'm more drawn to the feeling this card gives me, of a cold winter night right after it's finished snowing. It's usually dead-quiet on those nights. There's a difference in a quiet winter night than there is in a quiet summer night, and I think it's the stillness. I think this card hints that in 2022 there may be a situation or many situations, that are going to call for stillness before action. There is a small note here about asking for help when its needed with the mistletoe card, but also with the belladonna card. They ask you to not take friendships/relationships for granted, too. But, Belladonna is also a card that tells you to be mindful of where your threads lie and if they're entangled in places they shouldn't be, so again that feeling of being mindful of what you're taking in, but also maybe partaking in.

The turning inward card kind of reminds me of that spirit from a Christmas Carol, the one from the past (I think?) that just doesn't speak. There's a sense of turning back to the past here, but maybe just observing it and how it got you to where you are. This card, ultimately, is asking you to stay true to yourself and know who you are. It talks about getting rid of outdated beliefs (That belladonna card hints at that, too), while also being sure of yourself. I kind of get the feeling that this group has changed a lot over the years, and their still kind of shaping who they are and who they want to be. This card is just here to be a reminder to stay focused on that journey of self-discovery by turning inward, but I think there's still that message of moving forward. Like, with the grief, don't get so stuck inside that you're unable to progress forward. Ah! The bottom of the deck was Star, and that talks about your north star/inner knowing! I forgot this card was on the bottom of the deck, so it's funny I brought that up with Buttercup. The guidebook actually says something really good about this that I want to quote: "Believe in your ability to understand what is right, even when you're unsure of your destination." I kind of feel like this is something I've been trying to say all throughout your reading, but couldn't find the right words until here lol

The last two cards were the Goddess Power oracle cards. The first was Mama Killa, who's keyword is the Moon. This is a card that talks about figuring out what does and doesn't work for you, which is another thing I was talking about earlier. I think this year is going to have you identifying the cycles you're in and how to best move through them. I do think this group could benefit with research on the cycles of the moon, maybe even paying attention to how you feel during certain cycles. The bottom card for the goddess deck was Mnemosyne, whose keyword is the Past. I think this does go back to how I was talking about figuring out what works and what doesn't work, and maybe revisiting the past and past situations/beliefs to reevaluate them. She shows up to tell you that if you're reminded of something from the past suddenly, to honor that and see if there are any lessons within that past situation that you can use in your present (or future). There's also a message about uncovering unconscious biases you may hold. It can be messy to revisit the past, but I think it's essential within the self-discovery journey this pile seems to be taking.

Pile 4:

Cards: Ornaments, Apples, Mischief, Confucius (wisdom), Parvati (devotion), Lily of the Valley

I see a lot of hands within these cards, so I get a sense of reaching for something here. There are also two number 25's, and a 16 to a 17. I think, there's something about the number 25, like maybe the 25th day of something, but also maybe 16 and 17 bear meaning as well.

I think this Apples card is a warning. For most, it's about being overly trusting. For others, its about immediately distrusting someone. While I think for most it's about being too trusting, there's a need to observe your patterns with how open you are to people. Are there boundaries that don't need to be there? Or are there not enough boundaries? Parvati is also here to make you question when you are blindly devoted to others. She asks you to make sure that the devotion is something deserved by the others, so I do think that the apples card is leaning more towards being wary of someone and ensuring that there are boundaries in place. The Mischief card calls for cleverness for something. I think in this case it's involving other people, maybe with how you deal with them. There's a call for less seriousness, and there's also the need to stay on your toes. I don't get a bad feeling though, if anything I just get that there's a lot of quick banter between you and someone. Though, I still would take the warning of the apples card to heart. Bottom of the deck is Elements, which talks about harmony. I really think there's a need to feel in harmony with yourself, because it asks you to feel what you're feeling and not ignore those feelings. So, if you're sad, you're asked to feel it rather than distract yourself. There's also the idea of allowing the seasons of your life to play out as they do. So, maybe you're feeling stagnant, like a dormant winter. Maybe you're feeling too busy, like a energetic summer? Either way, it's asking you to honor what season you're in. The ornaments card kind of talks about this, while also adding the need to see your successes. That, and your failures too. A need to take a step back and look at your progress: where are you and where are you trying to get to? Is there a need to change up plans to get there? Or are things going smoothly? Ornaments asks us not to ignore these things. Merriment also asks you to take stock of your life and what brings you joy. It asks you not to take those things for granted. But, it also asks you to figure out what makes your soul sing. Are you allowing it to sing? The bottom of the Goddess Power oracle was Nike, whose keyword is ambition. It relates to the ornament card and the merriment card by having you take stock of what you're grateful for in your life. There is a warning about striving for success only for the sake of success. Nike is here to ask you if you truly feel the success is something that will help you become your best self?

Confucius talks about gaining wisdom, but there's also a sense of stillness to his card too. It kind of goes back to feeling your feelings when they arrive, which is like the act of meditating where you allow the thoughts to arrive and know that they're there, but not go any further than that. I do think you're meant to dive into the feelings you experience, but I think that Confucius is here to make you stay objective about them (to a degree), and maybe find a way to make sense of them. At the bottom of the deck is the St. Joseph card, who talks about solutions to situations. I think this is about thinking outside of the box (I have a song stuck in my head from a tv show from a long time ago on disney called "Out of the Box", and the theme song had that phrase repeated so idk, but maybe that's for someone lol). What I take from his card is the imagery, really. He's holding a baby on the card (tell me why I heard Mario's voice saying "itsa me, Jesus!" lol), but to me, I'm not really seeing this baby as Jesus, or even a baby really. I see him as a metaphorical baby, kind of going back to taking stock of your accomplishments. I think you're meant to see your accomplishments as your babies and I think you're meant to nurture them, even when the going gets tough. I think Parvati comes back here, to show us how to devote time and energy to the things that matter, rather then investing in the things that we shouldn't (i.e. the bad apples, or the goals we make just for the sake of winning).

The last two cards here are Lily of the Valley and Bluebell. One thing I'm getting is this idea of milking a resource for all the knowledge it can give you. I don't know why the word "milking" is what I used here, I could have said extracting, but it felt right. Maybe it's because of the white petals. I'm not sure, but it makes me think of Confucius, to be honest. Like, the idea of gaining as much wisdom as possible. Lily of the Valley is apparently poisonous, and this card has the message that basically is saying "Not all that glitters is gold", and I relate that again to that Apples card. There's some very strong message here about you meeting a wolf in sheep's clothing or something along those lines, about needing to stay on your toes about this person, being clever and quick, seeing past their deception. But, bottom of the deck is Bluebell, and I'm seeing the book with the arrows on it, and I kind of hear something about knowing too much can be deadly. Maybe there are things you're not meant to know yet, or even not meant to look into. I don't think it really is deadly, but I could see you maybe finding something out and not wanting to know it once you do. Maybe that's the deception of this person? The bluebell card speaks about making sure the foundations you lay are firm, but also making note of when you may need help laying those foundations. There's an idea behind this card of you trying your hardest to be independent and seem independent, but that could hinder you when you really do need help. It's interesting, because you're being asked to be wary of someone, but then to ask help from someone else. I wonder if this is a case of being taught to use your intuition about people, knowing who to trust and who not. Being on the lookout for the red flags, and what-not? Either way, there's something here about placing boundaries but making sure they're boundaries for the right people.

#pick a card #pick a pile

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lesyasun · 3 years

Photo

A while ago I received an interesting question about game aesthetics. The person in that ask really struggles with downloading stuff and finding their own style. They asked me how I came up with what you see on my screenshots. Have you ever thought that you can recognize whose screenshot this is by just a quick glance? Is editing important in photoshop? How to take beautiful screenshots? Today let’s talk about how different one single game could be for each of us and what really makes this mysterious “sims aesthetics”.

EDIT: Sorry, it turned out to be huge with lots of random thoughts :D I hope at least one percent of these is useful!

NOTE: English is not my native language, I apologize for possible grammar or spelling mistakes. I tried my best in writing this!

Ok, let’s imagine that you’re a person who just obtained the sims game or just want a nice fresh start and demolished your download folder. (We all need fresh starts sometimes, right?) The struggle is that you have no idea which style you like the best. There are so many sims blogs. Everyone seems to enjoy what they post but you’re a little bit lost in that jungle. Don’t worry! I’ll try to guide you and share my thoughts.

STEP 1 Choose your general style

I roughly divide all sims blogs that I see on my dashboard into a couple of so-called styles. I’ve been doing it in my mind for ages. I like following different people and seeing diferent editing. None of them are better than others. I hope you understand that it’s just a matter of liking. Ok, here we go. Let me put this sorting hat on you :D

1. Realistic

Screenshot by @luchiatores

Perhaps, it’s the most important thing that you should decide for yourself. Wether you should use realistic textures in your game or you’d prefer to stick to more cartoonish maxis match ones. Why is it so important, to my mind? I like things that match. Just imagine game Witcher 3 where characters and surroundings are realistic. And now imagine Minecraft where things are pixelated. Both games are great, both games have certain beautiful styles. And now imagine Geralt hunting for monsters in a pixelated Minecraft swamp. A bit strange, isn’t it? :D The same applies to Sims. If you put a super realistic skintone on your sim and put a Maxis ponytail, that would probably look strange too. If you choose this style, just try to dig for a good quality content, start following simblrs in this style. Unfortunately, I’m not an expert when it comes to realistic content. So, try to drop an ask to someone whose realistic game you like. There are so many helpful people around in the sims community no matter what style they have :)

2. Trully Maxis Match

screenshot by @whattheskell

This is a complete opposite of a realistic style. I’ve always called people who use a lot of original maxis textures “trully maxis” :D If you can decorate a house without any custom content, if you like the way original hairstyles look, if you like Maxis clothes, you should go this way. From what I’ve spot after being so many years in the sims community, “trully” maxis simblr are so creative when it comes to storytelling. The stories that they write about either their sims/or maxis premades are so breathtaking. So much drama, so much fun. The only thing that I write about my screenshots is “Ok, this is my cat! Look, it can eat flowers and puke afterwardst! Yay! Cute”. If you choose this way, I can recommend you to check out @holleyberry, @didilysims or @moocha-muses. Obviously there are a lot more blogs that I follow. These people are just so sweet and helpful and they’re first who came to my mind.

3. Bright Maxis Matchery

screenshot by @muupi

This is where I refer myself to. This style is still Maxis but what stands out is the use of bright colours and saturated photoshopped pictures. Ah, my love for overedited pictures is endless <3 This is what I’m going to talk a lot below since it’s my cup of tea. It’s all about colours and pallete addiction. If you love looking at super bright/silly/cheery screenshots and they boost up your mood, than join the squad!

Basically, Maxis match (I’ll just shorten for MM from now on) players avoid super shiny skins or hair textures and prefer to have content with Simlish letters instead of English ones. This is a very important factor for me when I choose paintings or prints for T-shirts. I don’t know, I feel like it’s so cute that sims can’t understand our languages, talk this funny gibberish simlish language. It’s cute! There are so so many people that I can recommend. @lina-cherie @keoni-chan @kahlenas They are first who came to my mind <3

4. Grungy/cosmic

screenshot by @lilithpleasant

I don’t know if these are suitable words :D But this is how I describe people’s game who like aliens/supernatural sims/grungy textures with or without bright colours as well. Just think would you prefer a bit of a grungy stuff or less-textured but cleaner MM? You always need to think about textures while you download stuff. I can recommend to check out @pooklet or @furbyq-sims

5. Semi

screenshot by @whysim

You might ask me “Why am I not allowed to put a realistic skintone on a maxis sim? What the hell?” Of course, you are! Do it please, if you want. There are no rules, no restrictions. You CAN go semi-realistic, you CAN mix patterns, you CAN mix colours. There’s only one rule: please, enjoy what you do. Don’t be afraid to share your pictures on the Internet. There will always be people who can judje your style and say: “meh, it’s too dull, meh, it’s too bright, meh, too shiny, meh, too plain meh, meh, meh”. Just don’t pay attention and enjoy your game. As for semi-realistic I can recommend such wonderful people as @marvelann @lilith-sims @falkii @knowledgeaspiration

A bit about my style: I’ve always loved cartoonish/bright style. I’ve never ever played with shiny textures. Before Tumblr era I just played either without CC or with a bunch of maxis recolours. How I came up with the idea of cartoonishness? Pretty simple. It’s a part of my personality, I think :) I’ve always loved Disney/Pixar movies. Cartoons just make life a lot funnier! They make me happy. I’m a pre-school teacher after all :D. You can’t imagine how many cartoons I’ve watched throughout my life. I can quote Peppa Pig and will never be tired of that :D Before Tumblr I just played some funny legacies (I’ve never finished any though :D) When I found out about Tumblr, and such great content that can make my game even more Disney looking, it just blew my mind! Every time when I download stuff, I imagine that I’m watching a Disney/Pixar or whatever studio cartoon. When I create sims, I feel like I’m a cartoon designer. Pretty silly, right? :D

Let’s take a look at my screenshots from the past. I tried to find similar ones with a lot of greenery.

2014

2021

I stil like a lot of greenery. Editing has changed, photo angles have changed. But bright colours and Maxis stuff are forever in my heart <3

Risa (2014)

Gage (2021)

As I’m a big cartoon addict, I love recreating game/anime/cartoon characters. No matter, if they’re my favourite or requested ones. I love when my sims have different traits. I love when they’re funny looking/clumsy/absent-minded or when they’re evil/supernatural. When they are pirates/detectives/vampires or witches. This is my way of playing Sims. I love this game as it gives us possibilities to show your creativity, a chance to recreate our favourite characters. A chance to be a writer of storylines or if you’re bad at telling stories, just being “a cartoon designer” like me :)

STEP 2 Colour palettes

If you’ve chosen the path of “bright maxis matchery” than colour palettes are super important! Oh, you can’t imagine how addicted I am to certain colours. I can download GBs because of it.

Here are some of my favourite colour palettes:

1. Anna’s colours

My absolutely favourite palette. I would download absolutely anything in these pretty colours. Just looking at them makes me so cozy *0* There’s a photoshop action for those who want to recolour CC in this palette.

2. Poppet’s colours

I especially like the latest one. So pretty! @poppet-sims is the queen of lovely recolours. She has some more palettes. But “Back to Basics is my favourite”

3. Eversims colours

@eversims has got a lot of pretty colour palettes. But the most iconic one is Ever So Lovely

So, these are the basic colours that I like downloading furniture/clothes with.

There are a couple more pretty palettes that I like:

Huning’s Pony Colours

Back in the days it was my ultimate favourite one. But these days I edit my pictures in Photoshop excessively and prefer calmer colours and add bright layers in photoshop instead.

Nyren’s Kosmic Colours

If you’re more into pastels, than try to download some stuff in this pretty palette.

You might wonder if I use all of these colours. Of course not! I have a selection of colours that I use: apple green, sky blue, yellow, red, pink, orange, purple, teal, mint. I absolutely love combining 2 or 3 of these in my interior shots. I also love choosing my sims’ favourite colours and dressing them/decorating their bedroom in this certain colour(s).

For example, my sim Mia likes apple green/purple and mint.

I think @deedee-sims can relate. While I prefer choosing a favourite colour per sim, she chooses favourite colour for the whole family!

This is a great idea, I think! :)

STEP 4 Bodyshop stuff

Ok, I hope it’s clear that I’m colour palettes addicted, now let’s move onto actual custom content and what I prefer adding to my game. I decided to divide CC by sections. Let’s start with Bodyshop.

4.1 Skintones

Another important thing that you need to choose for yourself. There are tones ofoptions. I’m going to recommend only MM skins as obviously I have no idea which realistic or semi-realistic ones are high quality.

screenshot by @deedee-sims

If you prefer trully maxis skintones, I recommend you to try Leh’s skintones. It’s super close to original ones in terms of shades. Also look at those button noses! These cute noses is the reason why I started using this skin back in 2014. But later I switched to Lilith’s feather as I wanted more variety and those noses there got a lovely shine.

It was my default skin for a lot of years. These days I own every possible skintone by Lilith and various blends by other people.

Lilith’s Alien Flavor

Lilith’s Android Skin Edit

Lilith’s Apple Pie Skinblend v.2

Lilith’s Apple Pie Skinblend

Lilith’s Apple Pie by Kahlena

Lilith’s Feather Skinblend

Lilith’s Feather Skins

Lilith’s Feather by Sim-Strangers

Lilith’s Feathers Colourful by Berrynooboos

Lilith’s Honey Supernatural Custom

Lilith’s Honey with freckles

Lilith’s Honey with no freckles

Lilith’s Honey Unnatural by Berrynooboos

Pixel-danger-sims pastel skins

Here’s a very handy set-up by Vimpse with Lilith’s skins being townified.

Try to choose one set of skins or download all of them by one certain creator. I need a lot of skins because I love creating tones of sims and I want to make them various looking.

4.2 Eyes

♦ Polaroid ♦ - my favourite

♦ Transcendental ♦

♦ Sleeping Lion ♦

♦ Sharp Eyes ♦

♦ Shallowed in the Sea ♦

♦ Hand Outs and Punch Ups ♦

These are just some of my eyes. There are some more by Poppet, by Kahlena. And I have various addons to these sets that I grabbed over and here. I remember having struggles of choosing only one set. But than I thought: why do I have to choose if I like all of them and want my sims to look as different as possible? I just love when they are cartoonish but high-quality with nice white clean sclera. Just look at Disney Rapunzel. You’ll see what I mean ^_^

There’s one little trick that most mm players do for making sims’ eyes bigger and rounder - adding a whiteline eyeliner by jesstheex. I personaly do it for every single sim of mine.

4.3 Makeup

I use tooooons of blushes, lipsticks and eyeshadows. I have everything by Lilith and Jesstheex. And lots of bits and bobs by various creators. I love using both matte or shiny textures. I sometimes add nose shine or use special nosemasks. There are various lovely things in my collection. What I can recommend you is to download a sim that you like by another creator with the help of Sims Clean Installer and just steal makeup from the sim to add to your collection *evil laughter* I recommend to do it because sometimes there are some mouth corners or various eyebags and etc which are difficult to find. It’s easier to grab them together with sims.

For example, I grabbed the shiny nosemasks from one of Lilith’s sims.

Sometimes I like adding a bit of shine on Sims’ noses. Some sims of mine don’t have shine. It really depends on a sim. But what I definitely like is cute button noses! I like using nosemasks to achieve that. I have all the masks by Lilith and these ones by kahlena.

4.4 Hair textures

Another important decision for you is the hair textures. I recommend you to choose one certain retexture. Back in the days, I used to have Remi’s textures

screenshot by @selenaq13

I liked Remi’s ones because they were non-shiny. They had maxis colours and a really cool yellowish blonde!

Receintly I switched to Simgarooped as I’ve always loved that there are 6 naturals. The yellowish blonde is still there! Plus my favourite Deedee-sims keeps updating every week with the retextures of new meshes <3

There are lots of various textures blends. Just search, download, play test. Think, if you’re ready to look at such type of hair hours of simming.

Also try to decide if you’d like to have more natural looking sims or go crazy and have supernatural/aliens. I used to have really bright sims with colourful skins and hairs.

Even my toddlers had unnatural hairs. It’s a lot of fun! But right now I prefer to create more natural looking sims though I like vampires/witches/aliens anyways!

screenshot by @honeylungsims

If you would like to have colourful supernatural sims, check out Honeylung! She has the brightest and most unusual supernatural sims <3

You’ll need a lot of face masks/bright lips/shadows. Check out @berrynooboos for the cutest alien CC.

4.5 Facial hair and Brows

I don’t think they should really match as long as they look great.

For example, I use eyebrows by @suratan-zir which are super cute and high quality but use Poppet’s textures instead of Simgarooped.

As for facial hair, I use some Poppet’s as well.

by Skoogy

by Poppet #1

by Poppet #2

by Simgaroop

4.6 Clothes

As I already mentioned, I love clothes in my favourite palettes. I love Simlish prints. There are so so many creators who share wonderful clothes.

I love @deedee-sims for age conversions, shoeswaps, morphs. I love @mdpthatsme for really cool 4t2 conversions. I love @moocha-muses for colourful T-shirts <3 Don’t be shy to send me a WCIF about a certain item of clothing.

STEP 5 Buy and Build

Tooons of bright recolours, IKEA items, Maxis add-ons, 3t2 and 4t2 conversions - all these things make my heart beat :D

These days I play in a rural-type world. I download a lot of craftsman-style build things, a lot of plants and garden deco.

I love bright wallpapers and greenhouses, I love clutter and kids CC for nurseries. Patterns with polka dots and plumbobs. Sunflowers and tulips. This is what I usually drop into my download folder :)

STEP 6 Taking screenshots

No matter which recolours and textures you prefer, I think high-quality pictures are important. The first thing that you need to playtest for yourself is a camera mod. It’s upo for you, but I can’t live without Gunmod’s Camera Mod. There are some more available, just check out.

Also lighting is important since Maxis original is terrible. I use Dreadpirate’s mod.

I recommend to take screenshots in a camera man mode. Click Tab to enter it. Use W, A,S,D,E buttons to move right/left/up/down etc. And what’s important, use X and Z for zooming in and out. I always use Z for example, when I take close ups of my cats.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with angles. Try some artistic ones.

You can move your camera down and take a screen from below.

Or vice versa from above.

Sometimes I’ll just take a screen of my sims’ hands or feet. It really depends. I love spending hours on just “walking” in a camera mod around my sims houses.

Another useful feature of this mod is to use Ctrl +4,5,6,7,8,9 buttons.

These can fix the angles for you. And after fixing them, when you click on 4,5,6,7,8,9 you camera will go back to those positions. It’s very handy when you want to screen 2 sims who are talking and there’s no need to constatntly move camera from sidde to side. Just fix it and wait for them to perform cute emotions!

As a bonus, you can fic positions in the life mode too. For example, I always choose a proper angle from above where the wgole house can be seen. And wait for something cute/funny/to happen.

Also there’s such a thing as The Rule of Thirds. It’s the rule of photography composition. I always try to follow it :)

STEP 7 Photoshop Editing

I love oversaturated colours. It can be too much for someone’s eyes, but I like the brightness :) I’ll share some good Photoshop resources. Probably, one thing that I can recommend to absolutely everyone no matter how bright you want your screens to be is sharpening! Seems that Tumblr eats our picture quality for breakfast. Sims screenshots seem so blurry to me. I love sharpening them first.

I use sharpening from Kalekaloo’s action.

After sharpening I run the base from Eversims Action and then add some colour layers from Simburgerr’s one (I like gradients and fluffy lights layers especially). It makes the reds colours a little bit too saturated but I think it’s cute!

There are a some more cute actions and PSD files out there:

OhMySims - Action 1

OhMySims - Action 2

Sterina’s Action

Photoshop PSDs by Pleyita

Snapdragoned PSD

Mandragore PSD by Kiinuu

JellyBeanery’s Action

Roguebotanist

Nnilou - 12:51

A generic PSD by Knowledgeaspiration

Colorize IT by Bonnypixels

Colour Crush by Bonnypixels

Just Like Heaven by Pixeldemographics

For more tips/palettes/cute fonts I recommend you to check out @bepixeled

That’s all that came to my mind. I hope at least something was useful!

#ts2 #sims 2 #the sims 2 #sims 2 tutorial #sims tutorial #sims guide #sims 2 guide

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yamagucji · 3 years

Text

some tips for writing blogs, especially those who are just starting out. these are some things that works for me and may or may not work for others.

how to add a read more link on mobile

type :readmore: on a free space, then hit the enter or return button

personally i think they’re very helpful because it lessens the space you take up in your dash, and might encourage more people to rb

+ you can also add this on a spot where it gives a sort of cliffhanger, essentially making people want to ‘read more’

headers, banners, and dividers

though not necessary, it’s good to have a title for your work. make sure it’s bold and doesn’t blend in with your notes (aka pairing, warnings, etc.). this also helps when someone wants to look up one of your works in your search bar

i don’t really make banners or covers for my works. but some good apps that i know of would be picsart and canva. if you’re looking for ideas, i definitely recommend going into canva

wondering how to make those really small, thin dividers? you can make them using picsart! to make a divider hit tools > free crop > brush > size (adjust it to your preference > then draw a line along the edge of your photo > save

using the divider you just saved, go back to picsart and edit it again > draw option > hit rainbow square at the bottom left corner > hit suction/droplet symbol right below the check mark > color in the white spots bc for some reason picsart glitches and makes dividers look white-ish

new blog? just opened an account?

this is gonna sound really frustrating. but... tumblr needs to check if you’re a bot or not. what does this mean? it’s likely that your first few posts won’t show up on the search bar. you may not even get to edit your header/pfp yet ://

this happened to me and there was no visibility on my account at ALL. what helped me get ‘verified’ is that i followed a LOT of accounts, liked a bunch of posts, made some posts here and there. now that lets tumblr know you’re not a bot

visibility

the tumblr tagging system usually only allows the first 5 tags in your post to show up. so, what can do you about this? only use FIVE or less tags in your post. wait about 15 minutes or more until you can add some more tags in your post, and they usually all show up like that

another important thing about using tags is not to generalize! especially if you’re using a popular tag. but also don’t specify it too much where barely anyone looks it up. for example, if you’re writing a gn piece about oikawa, i recommend you use the tags such as: oikawa x reader, haikyuu x reader, oikawa x gn!reader, haikyuu headcanons, etc

a good rule of thumb is to use character x reader tags first, then leave the full name or fandom tag last

FOR NSFW: tumblr doesn’t let any tags with nsfw show up. so, give your nsfw works another tag. maybe #namegetspicy idk, you figure it out

FOR WARNINGS: especially if you’re a dark content creator, i highly encourage you to add tw:xyz tags. if you already have a warning note at the top then that’s great. but even better for readers who prefer to actually block these tags that way they never get to see it

another important thing to note is that people have different timezones. it helps if you rb your work at a different time of the day, in case people missed it! (icymi) i’ve noticed that reblogging helps to make your post show up in the tags

interaction + feedback

first and foremost, you are not obligated to write for your followers, and neither are your followers obligated to interact with you. remember that everyone has their own individual lives, and they have their own things to do— so do you, too.

make friends! become mutuals with other writers, visit their ask box. i know it can be daunting having to initiate these things, but you might just turn out to have fun! you can’t expect people to interact with you if you’re not interacting (back). it’s... kind of a two way thing yk? no need to be afraid to interact with other writers. oh, and rb other writers works!

pspsps join tag games or do ask games. it’s fun and very interactive

it never hurts to ask for feedback. i usually do this in a more subtle way because i don’t really expect a full on analysis on my works. maybe a little, is this okay? or feedback appreciated. sometimes it takes a little bit of coaxing for the silent readers

formatting your posts and blog

i generally put in the title at the top in big, bold letters

then comes the header/divider. helps to make the post more... visually appealing ig?

it’s important to add warnings (if any) and the pairing. the audience is not all female, and it might be a little frustrating for male readers having to find out its an x fem reader piece like halfway through your fic

if you have multiple works posted, it’s really really helpful to have a navigation page!

you can organize the posts you make with tags! for example, if you’re shitposting, you can use a specific tag for that. if you have a nsfw related post (ESPECIALLY when your blog is open to the general audience) please make a tag for it

themes + colors

if you have a color in mind but don’t know which direction to go from there, i recommend looking up color + aesthetic

looking to use the same color? download a name color app that’ll give you a hex code for any color you want to use. then, you can type in that hex code for when you’re choosing a color for your tumblr bio

wondering how to make your header image small like mine? just choose a photo for your header and turn off the stretch image option

want to use a different text color that tumblr doesn’t offer? it’s not as complicated as you think. you’ll have to go on a desktop to do this and do some html (but trust me, it’s not very difficult). look up “HTML noob but trying my best - how to use colored text on desktop”

^^ i don’t have the link for the color text tutorial so you can try looking it up

how to make an aesthetic navi and masterlist

step 1: decide a theme! if you’re stuck, think about a character + color/season/mood or look up “[insert] aesthetic” to find some inspiration. or you can try looking at other blogs too

step 2: find a color scheme! it’s easier if you choose fewer colors. if you want to use the same color for both divider and text, download a color name app in order to get the hex code of that color.

step 3: add categories to your navi! most navigation pages include a link to masterlist, about/byi, and rules. your navi should have a title that indicates that it’s... a navigation page. you can add thin colored dividers with the same color to make it easier for followers to navigate

step 4: you can choose to create a ‘cover’ or a picture for your navigation and masterlist! again, i recommend you use the canva app as a starting point

extra: search up emoticon symbols to spice up your titles!

reminder for you as a writer

you’re not obligated to do any of these things. i’ve noticed that we tend to build pressure on ourselves when it comes to content and interaction. remember, this !! is !! for !! fun !! when you realize that it’s no longer fun, then know that it’s time to take a break. and there’s nothing wrong with a bit of self care.

^^ c/p from this post lol

at the end of the day, follower count and interaction doesn’t define you. again for the love of beings, you’re here on your own accord.

will be adding more if needed/asked.

#cupid; talks!#cueuepid

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wenellyb · 3 years

Text

I have a general comment to make about the whole Sebastian thing, not on the Instagram picture, because it is not my place to comment, but a general comment about dealing with racism in the fandom, and some of the behavior I have seen on Tumblr.

I have a story to share first and it's not really related to fandoms, or shipping Sambucky or even Sebastian Stan directly but it's about how White people see racism, so I hope some people will read this and think about it.

I just want to say one thing... if you want to comment this, please read until the end before you do.

And please bear in mind that I'm not talking for anybody else but only my own experience and my opinion.

I see a lot of people get defensive when racism is called out in the fandom,whether it is them or a celebrity they love, and a lot of them try to deny it, or try to find excuses.

I understand why they do it, but it's really not the right way. The correct way is to sit down, listen, think about it and THEN only then can you deny or accept the accusations.

Here’s the story:

I was once with my group of friends and I don't know what prompted the question but they asked me if I thought all White people were racist. And you can guess it, I'm the only Black woman in my group of friends. We're all French and 5 of my friends have Asian orgins (Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos) and 3 of my Friends are White. Just planting the decor, lol.

I don't know why they asked, but we're always having debates like these on different topics so i just answered...

I told them that yes, that I thought all White people are racists, and that racism is not just hating all Black people, or all non-White people, but also includes a multitude of other aspects that enables racism to prosper.

It can be some unconscious feeling that you or White people in general are a tiny/ a lot better than Black people, it can be making or laughing at racists jokes, it can be denying racism even exists anymore: " But it's 2021, those kind of things don't exist anymore" this is also harmful, because then when your friends come talking to you complain about an encounter that was racist.... you will minimize it because "racism doesn't exist anymore so it can't be racist" so even though your intentions may not be bad... You are protecting the racists, intentionally or not etc...

There are so many more aspects to racism than just being a far right extemist who hates all foreigners. Racists don't only look like that.

I won't expand on this, but there are many more aspects, I mean I could expand, but it's not the point of my posts, the point of my post is that they asked me and I made a mini essay to explain that the way I see it, there are "levels" of racism (for lack of a better word), and that in that aspect, all White people were racist. People think that you need to be a far right white supremacist, to be racist, you really don’t.

And I told my White female friend, let's call her Alice, that she was the only White person I knew who wasn't racist (implying that my other two friends were racist).

To be honest, I don't think that all White people are racist, my uncle is White and he's the furthest from racist you'll ever find, but I said it anyway because otherwise some people would never question themselves. If I say this people will either get defensive and deny it, or reflect on it and try to assess if they have some internalized stuff they didn't explore and didn't know. But if I say that not all White people are racists, my friends would have directly thought they were off the hook.

What I do believe is that a lot of people are racist and just don’t realize it because they only think about the "extreme" cases of racism.

So I said to my friends that I thought all white poeple were racist and two things happened, and I wasn't expecting any of it:

- My White male friend, let's call him Pierre, listened carefully, and said that in what I had described, he admitted that he was indeed racist, he acknowledged that he did have some prejudice if he was being honest, and also that he had made some racists jokes so that even though he never considered himself racist, hearing what I was saying he said that on some levels, he was indeed racist.

Bear in mind that this is the friend whose favorite character in Black Panther was Martin Freeman, and had already argued in other conversations that positive discrimination made it difficult for White straight Men to find a job (When by the way he has never struggled to find a job a day in his life so go figure, besides there is no postive discrimination policies in France or anything, so I don't even know why he said that).

So knowing my friend, I knew he had some kind of prejudice, obviously, I just didn't think he would really think about what I was saying and admit it.

This was kind of a big deal, and I would never have thought that he would have admitted it, I thought he was the one I would have to argue with, but nope, he listened.

- Then my friend Alice, the one I had told was the only White Person I knew who wasn't racist, got mad and got defensive, even though she was the only one I hadn't called racist to her face. I said specifically she was the one White person I knew who wasn't racist because from previous discussions she was the most open when it came to discuss issues on racism.

However, she's the one who wouldn't really listen and said that I should not generalize about all White poeple, all that kind of stuff, so eventually I had to apologize to her and told her "It's not because all White People I know are racist that all White people are". I had to rephrase this way.

A few months later, I received a message from my friend Pierre, he's Alice's boyfriend by the way. He texted me that they were having Sunday lunch with her family, and someone asked Alice about a Black woman she knew, and Alice answered " She's pretty for a Black girl"...

So many things to unpack, the violence of those words thrown around so casually, those words being said by someone who doesn't consider herself racist, and also, the fact that I would have never known this if her own boyfriend hadn't texted me this.

"She is pretty for a Black girl" is one of the most disgusting and White Supremacist thing she could have said: All Black people/women are ugly by default but that girl is a little bit over that standard?" I don't know any context where that sentence isn't awful.

And also, I'm her friend, am I supposed to be relieved that maybe I'm in the basket of the "pretty ones" or should I consider myself as a member of the other crowd?

There's no way around it, what she said was so f*cked up.

This is why your " I can't be racist I have a Black friend" doesn't mean anything by the way. It doesn't mean anything. She's one of my closest friends.. we had a group trip together for my birthday. So she's not a casual friend, she was in my close group of friends.

The only silver lining is that by doing this, she exactly proved my point.

So according to you, who's the "ally"?

A White guy who recognizes he has prejudice and works on his racism and will call it out when he sees it, even if it's coming from his own girlfriend?

Or a White woman who considers herself an "ally" and doesn't think she is racist, but in the safety of her home doesn't hesitate to say racist stuff when she is surrounded by her White relatives?

It's no use being an "ally" if you're going to be defensive and deny everything or forget you're an ally the minute it is your favorite celebrity being called out.

Getting defensive whenever people start talking about racism is suspicious. If you feel called out, think about it, work on yourself and find out if what you’re being called out for is legitimate or not. And you know what maybe it isn’t? Maybe you Tumblr user X are not racist or you don't have prejudice, but you will never know if you don’t ask yourself and shut down the discussion from the beginning.

Just after the picture was posted a lot of people had already chosen their camp.

Even if you first reaction is defensiveness and wanting to deny it all, the first step should always be to sit back and think about it, and it's not only about racism, you listen first, think about it, and THEN and only then do you deny it or confirm it. Nobody is perfect, but the people who choose to stay obtuse in certain situations are really not helping and are by far the worst.

Stop finding excuses for Sebastian, of course don't go on his Instagram, don't harrass him, don't insult him... But also stop finding him excuses before you have taken the step to listen to the people who have something to say about it. Listen first, you’ll find the excuses later.

Also, most probably the people who are calling him out here on Tumblr are not the ones going on his Instagram to harass him (well at least I hope not) so why can't we have the conversation here?

We can have the conversations here on Tumblr, and discuss it... But the discussions will go nowhere if everybody just gets defensive.

Same thing when we call out racism in the fandom... Your first reaction shouldn't be to get defensive but to listen, I’m taking the example of the MCU but if we say there was racism in the Stucky fandom, don’t try to make it seem like there’s a Sambucky VS Stucky “ship war”, listen to why people are saying this, and then you can draw you own conclusions.

Here, for the Sebastian story, let's listen to what Buddhist people have to say, first. Maybe they will say the post was problematic maybe not... And we'll learn something.

My first thought is also to get defensive when I read a post and feel called out, but that's not the correct way, you may have some prejudice and not even realize it, or realize it and be in denial...

This might be contreversial but it is my opinion that most people are not hardcore racists. But their unwillingness to acknowledge their racist tendencies, working on it... or even staying silent when blatant racism is on display is what enables racism to live long and prosper.

On Twitter or other Social Media people will be openly racist without a problem, but Tumblr prides itself in being open and tolerant, but when it comes to really calling out racism, then it’s crickets-

If you don't want to do anything about racism... It's ok, I really mean it... It is ok.

If it doesn't disturb you when the non-White characters are treated differently in your fandoms it is ok, I'm serious... If you want to enjoy your Tumblr life without thinking about racism it is more than fine, you really have no obligation... It’s ok to stay away from some conversations.

But please... please, please don't stand in the way of people who are trying to do something about it.

And most importantly don't say you want to fight racism or that you are an "ally" but when you are called out or someone else is called out, you try to minimize everythin with "Not everything had to be about race"

Yes, not everything has to do with racism but you'll never know if you don't sit down and think about it first. Maybe Seb’s post wasn’t offensive, I don’t know. But how will we know if it was or not if we don’t listen to the people who are affected by that post?

This isn't even really about Seb himself but about the way some people in the fandom behave... How people just go to extremes without even trying to discuss first.

I love Seb as an actor, but I don’t know him and I’ll probably never meet him, I won’t spend the next days trying to defend him or accuse him, he and I live different lives that will never intersect, and it's fine like that, but I will listen to people who have been affected by his post and have something to say about it.

Seb will be fine, his career will be fine, he probably even has someone handling his social media... But the people on Tumblr who have to accept racism in silence and have had to do it for years will not be fine, if the coversations keep getting shut down before they even start.

Everyone skipped the listening part and jumped to the defending or condemning part. And also a lot of things from the past re-surfaced (take a knee post, some instagram likes I guees) which makes it even more difficult if people skip the listening part.

To me, there are 2 groups of people, people who have prejudice and want to do something about it and people who have prejudice but don't want to do anýthing about it...

I don't know in which group Seb is and I don't know him so I won't be spending days trying to figure it out...

But from what I've seen, at least in the MCU and Star Wars fandoms, I know in which group a lot of people in Tumblr users are and if some of them want to switch groups, it’s never too late.

#fandom racism #sebasian stan #long post #I didn’t insist on harrassement and all but of course never harrass anybody on the Internet celebrity or not.#I tried to put too many things in there.. I hope #it's still understandable #MCU fandom #tfatws #I know this is long #And I know that I have repeated some stuff... But some stuff needed to be repeated #Sometime we need to sit down and think about why people do the things that they do...#bucky barnes

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