#still the best hdm episode

[kirjavas]

that one magisterium actor who walked out on the airship and said "bears spotted" deserves a fucking raise

#still the best hdm episode #hdm rewatch #his dark materials #hdm #bbc his dark materials #hdm spoilers #s1e8 #s1

[tenrose]

On the bright side, the selfish gremlin I am, is happy to have a good TV show adaptation not being trendy and having to enjoy it without all the annoying mainstream drama. I don't like to share my things with a big audience.

There, I said it.

#his dark materials #i know i know it's selfish #but the way every popular series are treated nowadays #i absolutely don't want that for hdm #and that's why i don't really want adaptations of any Sanderson books #i mean bookwise it's a pretty big fandom but these are books so it's contained if you know what i mean #but yeah.... #we only need the lotr movies as high fantasy adaptations anywah #the rest is just too good in our brain to be touched #and readers have the best imagination #plus it's so cool to see fanarts having totally different takes on characters #only downside is no pretty gifsets TT #but hdm is kinda blessed to have such a good adaptation overall (not everything is perfect but still) #with pretty much the smae small fandom than before #i just want Dafne and Amir to succeed #i mean Dafne already did before #still they shouldn't have fucked up the schedule and let us enjoy the beautiful emotions created by having one episode a week #anyway #nothing but selfish love for my stuff 💜 #and this is why i never really engaged with a lot of fandoms #im at peace in my own #just social anxiety stuff lmao #i should add that you have the misfortune to be my friend and having or not but especially not seen a piece of media i have been into #then you're gonna have the rant i restrain myself from posting online #and they are... long

[army-of-bee-assassins]

i feel like this season of h/dm has gotten considerably worse but also i'm not 100% sure i'm remembering the previous seasons correctly. i remember mostly liking them and just finding some things weird. but maybe it was just as bad as this season and the amount of time that's passed since i watched them has simply made me forget how much stuff i didn't like

#i think i'm pretty fucking easy to please with tv shows too like i don't have a very critical eye for this kinda stuff #but maybe it's because it's a book adaptation and as always we gotta feel strongly about those #i just feel like the dialogue is absolute shit like who is even writing this - did it change? maybe it was always shit idk #and just random plot changes that i hate #some big some small but like #why was lyra the only fucking one experiencing pain on the boat!!!! that's straight up not canon and literally makes no sense w/in canon #and we got our first glimpse of atal and there was zero indication that she uses a wheel #it didn't even look like she could i mean she had four normal hooves #the seeds are so important to the story what are they doing with this!!!! #maybe we'll see them using wheels next episode but idk how #idk the acting is still mostly good imo #i feel like the actors are doing their best with very fucking stupid scenes #anyway all of this is just sorta making me feel like maybe this just isn't an adaptable book series #at least not as a tv show where you have to stretch things out so much so they're just inventing bullshit to fill the gaps #hdm lb #i hadn't really wanted to make a tag for this but #there have already been so many things i've wanted to complain about here and i'm sure it will only continue #so ya know blacklist as needed (esp if you're enjoying the show - i'm so sorry i don't want to ruin ur experience) #edit: OH i forgot to complain about costuming/makeup too!!! #shouldn't be a big issue but god it's also (imo) just hot fucking garbage in this season #did they get the non-unionized people??? overworked and underpaid?? #did they have zero budget for this fucking hbo show??? #i feel like they didn't even fucking try #those ugly orange jumpsuits and the horrible makeup for the angels #okay sorry i will stop complaining now (until there's more episodes next week lmao)

[casualavocados]

i was tagged by @iressails months ago to do "a year in gifs" game, and instead of doing it for the half year i decided to leave it in my drafts 'til december so here it is!! thank you very much for thinking of me 🧡

rules: link my favorite and/or most popular creations from each month of 2023.

January most popular: this set of father gomez and balthamos and the crowd cheered (we are all the crowd) personal fave: broke my own heart with this quote i chose for gun (msp). im still really proud of how that set came out, it was my second time blending. & special mention to this panjava web weave

February most popular & personal fave: tell them stories <3

March most popular: tinngun compilation set personal fave: also that compilation set!!! but bonus my boy li ming and chinzhilla

April most popular & personal fave: my school president fashion yeah this just deserves both of those <3

May most popular: tinngun dance at the pool personal fave: lyra and will being vulnerable for the first time in s2

June most popular: the little mermaid 2023 kiss the girl sequence personal fave: lyra in the first half of season 1 (thats my DAUGHTER); fourth acting appreciation

July most popular: my last msp gifset personal fave: panjava "look at me, will" hrhrdfhhrbdfhsdkfj chewing on this still. i love this set so much, im also still in love with the coloring

August (everything i giffed this month was andor) most popular & personal fave: thats what a reckoning sounds like

September most popular: pjo teaser trailer gifset personal fave: these two hdm season 2 rewatch sets because im in love with how the colors turned out, especially that second one; you would not believe how difficult balancing the cyans was

October most popular: mat cauthon getting his shining moment personal fave: will parry, character of all time - i didnt make the rules, philip pullman did.

November most popular: pjo official trailer set personal fave: the best gifset ive ever made for my favorite episode of hdm season 2, and this set of lyra emotions

December most popular: the rituals are intricate in last twilight personal fave: sally and percy hug; and panjava skipping rocks (sobbing into my hands about it)

tagging: @daymork, @bo-kryzze, @coredrill, @grapejuicegay and @cal-kestis if you guys want to and have time to! 💗 here's to another year of creating!

#tagged #*mypost #long post

[thefaketattoo]

I just watched the HDM finale and, as expected, I am... shattered.

I've got a lot of thoughts. On what I like, on what I don't like. There's many of the second (mainly in relation to timing/pacing and the directing of acting), but overall, I get the feeling this was a show done with care, by people who loved the story and tried their best to convey the things that most spoke to them. I think it did quite well as an adaptation.

Whilst I didn't like episode 7, episode 8 had me entranced. It was beautiful. And so I thought I needed to jot somethings down before they slipped my heart and mind. Because in truth, in the end, this is such a heartbreaking tale. When I read these as a kid, I think I had the feeling that Will and Lyra's separation was something that I would only understand as an adult. That it belonged to the adult universe, so to speak, to the beings of rational thought and settled deamons. And though it broke me apart, it consoled me to think there was some poetry in it.

Well, maybe I was a wiser 10 year-old than now, at 28. Because each time I face the story (I've read it several times), I just feel the weight and injustice of it. I don't understand it more. It's weird, coz Pullman's connotation of the Fall is very Christian -- the whole idea of temptation and whatnot -- but if we stretch it a bit, maybe he meant (or maybe we can interpret) that the Fall also means to actually fall: to fall in love and then break, to suffer, to have to deal with loss. That maturity, and so... But honestly, I don't know if I am that mature. I suffer heaps when I have my heart broken, and I find Lyra and Will's tale increasingly sad. I still wish for a romantic ending for the both of them. Even what the other characters say to them before they separate, however filled with good intentions (like "it will hurt less in time), just sounds almost insensitive to my ears. Is it not downplaying something, making it a first love kind of yhing, a childlike infatuation that will pass... and the theme of martyrdom progresses! They've already lost so much. Must they sacrifice it all?

Ahhh, fuck this shit. Why can't people just get happy endings once in a while?

Anyways. Will post furyher rants in the future, maybe. I accept recommendations of good, well-written fics to soothe my soul.

#his dark materials #lyra silvertongue #will parry #hdm

[strangesmallbard]

okay here are my thoughts on hdm s3 eps 3-4:

asriel is SOOO. thinking about the tears in his eyes when he grabs marisa’s throat. this loser has put an entire multiverse between himself and his daughter (and the murder of her best friend) and surrounded himself with people who think he’s the hero of this story—it’s almost enough to convince himself that he is righteous, and good. but marisa LANCES through him with one glance. and he can’t fuckin handle the pressure. exquisite.

also hilarious that asriel is against oppression ostensibly and yet can’t understand why marisa felt ashamed of giving birth to an illegitimate child. sir i know you have access to simone de bouvier now

pacing of ep 3 was a little wonky bc, again, they’re trying to cram the asriel stuff that was supposed from last season into s3 + show us what mary is up to. so we’re getting a couple extra moments with the Asriel Squad that feel laborious at this endgame stage in a tv adaptation. (a book always has more room for multiple plot/character threads than one-hour episodes.) i wish we had more time with ogunwe, ruta skadi. and the gallevespians however.

ruth wilson is just. KILLING IT. her ~redeemed version of marisa is even more unhinged, but simultaneously more grounded. quietly self aware, instead of screaming internally forever. i still have some issue with the framing of motherly love as a redemptive force, but i think it works more in this story than others—especially after including the scene where marisa’s mom sends her the clothes. anyway. marisa is still committing heinous deeds!! just for different reasons. i also like how she and the monkey are repairing their relationship.

i don’t understand the choice to remove the alethiometer explicitly telling lyra to rescue roger. my guess is that jack thorne & co wanted to create more internal conflict for will and lyra, but it reduces the significance of the choice in the overall story. in the book, will & lyra are a united front against the adults who say they know better. it’s a moment that shows they’re both growing up—doing the right thing when it’s hard and developing the free will the magisterium seeks to deny everyone.

roger is absolutely the emotional force of the plot, but i don’t think show-only fans will get why it’s so important that lyra needs to find him, beyond her guilt over his death. i have a feeling they want to hide that element, but i still don’t love the choice. that being said, dafne’s acting for older!lyra is phenomenal and the separation scene w/ pan is even more painful than it was in the book.

lyra saying she doesn’t want to be extraordinary, like her parents 😭😭 she just wants to be good, and help people. baby daughter you’re doing so well.

i still crave a final scene between lyra and marisa bc we never got the pathos of their last scene in the books. i have a feeling it’ll be similar to the s1 change from lyra and pan’s near-separation showing the trauma of severing to roger and sal. we’ll see tonight!

#his dark materials #hdm #yell.txt

[acaciapines]

I will ask you about your toh daemon au: Staying in line with your current thoughts with Luz and Hunter being siblings, how do you imagine that their daemons get along and expand on the sibling dynamic here?

okay one thank you so much for asking in. i want to answer this so BAD but literally all the fun answer are spoilers </3 which is why they're so fun to write! the entire driving idea behind this fic is to examine what it means to settle, and to like...explore the idea we are given of daemons in the hdm books (ex: daemons only ever talking to other daemons and even then thats rare). and luz and hunter literally are built SPECIFICALLY to answer these questions most out of the entire cast, 'cause eda and king deal with different questions, and the other kids touch on them some, but not to the extent that luz and hunter do.

BUT what i can tell you is this:

mari (luz's daemon) doesnt actually like hunter at first dfngfg shes a LOT more unforgiving of him when he betrays them in hunting palismen and holds a grudge and is sort of pissed at luz for feeling sorry for this guy. like luz, he literally [redacted, this au's version of stealing palismen for belos to chomp, in which he succeeds]. he made our life worse. why are you still thinking about him?

fidelity (hunter's palisman, w/ palisman being to witches what daemons are to humans) is the exact opposite of mari! the two of them (luzmari and hunter-fidelity) are sort of like...theyre split across the same halves, if that makes sense? luz and fidelity both want to believe the best in each other, want to reach out and be friends and have this mean something, because they're more similar than they arent, but mari and hunter are like nope, nope, we have problems (hunter dealing w/ belos; mari trying to rebuild the portal to the human world) and 100% are not about to befriend the person on the opposite side. nope. nope. not at all.

unfortunately for the two of them luz and fidelity are very good at being persuasive.

they are like....somewhat unhealthily codependent on each other, in the beginning. in this au theres about a 90% chance hunter's staying at the owl house after hollow mind, unless i veer WILDLY off my outline, and because of that they are very much sticking together as much as they can. hunter struggles a lot with touch because his entire life belos has sort of manhandled him without hunter's consent and luz is the only person he willingly seeks out affection from, because she's luz, and she doesnt really expect anything of him. he tries to kidnap her! shes seen his worst moments! and him trying to do better is enough for her, even if he thinks hes doing a shitty job at it.

fidelity Refuses to leave luz's side after hollow mind. flat out will not go far from her which works because hunter doesnt talk to her for a WHILE after the events of that episode. shes like...really overprotective and get into arguments with the owl beast over this.

mari acts fed up with this all but there is this part of her that appreciates it, because for so long she's had to be the one doing the protecting: she had to feel everything hard, because otherwise luz would feel it, and if luz isn't happy mari can't be that for them. so having fidelity around to be the protector means mari can actually for once in her life Deal With Her Emotions.

post kings tide in the human realm hunter is the only person luz will really tell her problems to, because he understands in a way the other kids just dont. because theyve been through so much together and he wont judge her for wanting to run away, for wanting to be selfish, when all her other friends are missing their families back on the boiling isles and what right does luz have to want to run away? when she has her mom right here?

i thought this is what i wanted, mari says, and its the first time shes ever let herself think this, this is how it was supposed to end. us going home. but now...

well, says hunter, as luz buries her face in fidelity's fur, i'll be here. so you'll always have that.

#toh #i write #ask #i love how im like 'so many spoilers i cant say much :(' #and then proceed to give details up until kings tide #look there is so much i am not saying ok. like w fidelity and hunter and luz and mari and THERE IS EVEN MORE HERE OK #but that is for me to know and put into the fic #and you to read about in like a year maybe and go 'woah i get it now' #and a grove of palistrom to you

[lordeasriel]

MAKE ME CHOOSE: one episode of His Dark Materials requested by @cozcat

Episode 3, “The Spies” dir. Dawn Shadforth

#his dark materials #hdmedit #hdmsource #hdm #bbc his dark materials #edit #my*gif #this is my favourite episode #and imo it's the best episode of the season #my only complaint is: no asriel in it lmao #i'm really proud of this colouring #i wanted to do something different from my usual super saturated stuff #still vibrant but more... elaborate i suppose #yes half of this gifset is marisa sue me #make me choose challenge

[mrscoultxr]

also, one more gripe, but it’s starting to irk me how much of Lyra’s character they’ve seemed to strip away. She feels like a very passive protagonist, being led along by all the forces in her life. Which is hugely different from the hot-headed, stubborn as a bull spit fire that she is in the books. They’ve really toned down how much she lies and how courageous and how much bravado she puts forth in this. And that’s sad. That’s really sad.

#[outofcorruption] #tbd #hdm #hdm bbc #fuck it I'm tagging it #because it's an issue that keeps getting bigger #=/ =/ =/ #not the best episode so far #Ruth was still a superstar #loved all of that #and John Faa's speech was kick ass #and I love Farder Coram #but eeeeuuuuurrggghhh

[whoaiminactivenowwepa]

His Dark Materials - Æsahættr - Messy thoughts

[MASSIVE HDM SPOILERS (DUUUH)]

- Oh sht I forgot that the cliff ghasts can communicate

- Pantalaimon low key flirting with Will tho

- "Sez you, rabbit" Dear god I live for every little interaction Lee and Hester have left together

- Mary is supposed to be playing the serpent in the genesis story, but the beautiful irony is how she's easily the kindest and warmest female parental figure here. Honestly, at least one healthy parental figure doesn't have to die in this series 😒

- Paula clearly wants a goodbye hug pleeeaaase

- Literally any time someone mentions Roger in this show, me or my sis or both of us go "ROGEEEERRR"

- Geezus, what right do these witches have to be so beautiful

- Hol up, did Marisa purposefully use the spectres to scare her monkey?? Geez look, I know the golden monkey is a bitch but I really can't help but pity him.

- "All I've learned is that we make mistakes. I don't want to make a mistake with either of these people."

I really wonder how Lyra will react to Lee's death in a 3rd season. One thing I like that the show has done is remind us how Will and Lyra are still only children that have no idea what they're doing, much less what they're getting themselves into. I can imagine her blaming herself or the alethiometer again for being unable to help him, just as she did for Roger before.

- I can't believe this show just did the damn "Run." *beat drops* meme on this scene, I stg

- Had an interesting conversation with my lil sister about that scene with Marisa and the monkey and we came to the conclusion that she just kicked her own ass.

- I also couldn't help but imagine Ruth acting with Bryan for when she goes down on all fours to touch the monkey and it's a beautiful image

- LEE'S HAT :'((((((((

- I don't remember Lee and Hester's interactions leading up to his death being this heartbreaking. Hester being overwhelmed at Lee's head getting grazed and blaming herself baby noooo (〒_〒 )

- LEE'S THEME PLAYING AS HE CALLS FOR SERAFINA JWIDHAJDHH STOOOOOP

- THE CONCERN IN LYRA'S FACE WHEN SHE TELLS SERAFINA TO GO TO LEE,,,,, BABY GIRL I'M SO SORRY FOR YOUR COWBOY BALLOON PAPA. HE TRULY DESERVED SO MUCH BETTER LQKDNS

- Hold up tho, there's no way Marisa managed to travel all the way to where Lyra was that quickly. Don't tell me she rode on the spectres or some sht

- "And then we go home?"

"...And then we go home."

I've fuggin had it with this episode man

- Okay so I was wrong about the possibility of Jopari surviving the season, but at least it was easily a major improvement from how he dies in the books. Bye-bye, Juta Kamainen. I won't miss you 👋

- I FORGOT HOW MANY PEOPLE DIE AT THE END OF THE BOOK DEAR GOD

- SHE PUT HER IN A SUITCASE??? MARISA FUGGIN SMUGGLED LYRA IN A SUITCASE?????

- Serafina Pekkala must be having such a bad day. She couldn't save Lee in time and has to be the one to bear the bad news to his best friend. And then she's probably going to come back to the base to find two dead bodies and a missing Lyra

- Why do we get no gay angels this season and have to watch the Wholesome Papa Duo™ die, but Lord Asriel gets to fuggin live wtf

- Stelmaria is really pretty tho and I missed her

- I love how Dafne is referred to as "Ms Keen" here in the end credits too, that's so cute

- ROGEEEERRR AFTER THE END CREDITS BEBEYYYY

- WE'RE NOT GETTING A SEASON 3 FOR AT LEAST ANOTHER 2 YEARS FUUUU >:((((

#his dark materials #spoilers #his dark materials spoilers #lyra silvertongue #lee scoresby #will parry #john parry #marisa coulter #serafina pekkala #messy thoughts

[kirjavas]

Is your favourite episode of hdm still betrayal? If so, what's your favourite episode from s2? If it changed from betrayal, why?

ooh thank you for asking!

betrayal is definitely still my fave, and i do also think it is the best episode of the show so far. tower of the angels is probably my favourite from season 2 :)

#asks #the s1 finale was just so well executed #if you’ll excuse the pun #the visuals and acting and music and set design and everything was off the scale #i am gone from the moment asriel opens that portal and the music quietens to the final shot of the city in the sky

[selenityshiroi]

HDM S2 Ep 6 spoilers

So, I guess they’re saving the juicy stuff for next week to see out the season in style.

I kind of hope we get a glimpse of a Mulefa so we don’t have to wait another year (or longer, depending on when they can resume filming). Mary just casually strolling around the City of Magpies and Death and hugging children (who are actually taller than her omg she’s so little) with angels literally watching over her was so soft. I can’t wait to see her doing her thing next season.

Although, real talk for a second, I do not believe they can fit all of The Amber Spyglass into 8 episodes. The entire Mulefa plotline, the Angels plotline, the Gallivespians, the Magesterium plotline, the World of the Dead, the (mostly offscreen) War (which I’m not sure they’ll keep mostly offscreen because that seems like TV bait) and the rebirth of Dust...there is just SO MUCH. Either they need a longer season or they need two seasons. Even if they move some of the Asriel plot setup to a special episode out of the season (since it was supposed to be in this season and is partially filmed) or add that one to the episode count, it’s still gonna be pretty tight. And they already moved a little fast on Northern Lights (so much Lyra development lost). They are getting away with the shorter season on The Subtle Knife because they introduced Will last season and it’s a shorter book. Establishing him and his character is a good part of the book, so they’ve actually been left with room to explore Mrs Coulter more. But they don’t have that freedom next season because all the players have been introduced in The Amber Spyglass. The whole book is ‘in media res’ and goes full steam. And is TWICE AS BIG.

Except that one page. Which I really hope they portray right (I can picture Lyra talking to Roger in a black dreamscape and it cutting to her throughout the episode whilst everything is going on between and then at one point he asks The Question and it cuts back to Will being Will and doing everything he can and the rest of the episode subplots and you kind of forget Lyra dreaming of Roger and then the very last part of the episode is just Lyra, in the vast blackness of her dream, saying so softly ‘Because he’s Will’ and the episode ends)

Anyway...I think they either need to split the book into two seasons or make it 10-12 episodes at least (not including the Asriel episode).

Will and Lyra continue their journey into being the best people they’ve ever met (which, to be fair, isn’t that hard for either of them) and I love them so much. Lyra and Pan just wanting him to be okay and Will letting himself be vulnerable to her just *my heart*.

And, yeah, the witches continue to serve looks and damnnnnnnnnnn I love the aesthetic they came up with for the witches. They look amazing and, seriously, the cloud pines under the skin was a stroke of genius.

Mrs Coulter just straight up murdered a man and toasted to his death and I’m all for it because that man most certainly was not her equal. I’m not a Coulter stan in the slightest (she is very much ‘cool motive, still murder’ for me) but killing creepy misogynists who are fucking over three different societies for his own personal gain isn’t a great loss (except his actor is phenomenal, let’s be real).

I find it difficult to get invested in Lee and Jopari because I know where that story is going, but I do find Jopari’s portrayal interesting. He’s less gruff than I imagined from the books and I do think Andrew Scott is a little too young (since the character is supposed to be prematurely aging, and in fact it would have helped hide the very, very obvious hints to his identity if he’d been older than we’d expected for who he actually is) but the portrayal works. They are probably gonna get some amazing scenes next week before they return for their final blaze of glory later on.

Anyway, I’m not ready for the season to end already and I hope we get news about what they have planned for season 3 soon.

#hdm #hdm spoilers #his dark materials #book spoilers #i've tried not to give details but definite book spoilers #although you'll probably be somewhat lost if you haven't read the books

[kaydeefalls]

I can never remember the name, but it’s the one *massive* crossover with a million one-shots that somehow combines the West Wing and the X-Files and I think maybe Firefly? And a LOT of other things.

Oh, heyyyyy, you are referring to Respite and I freaking love that anyone remembers that fic series!

It's eight vaguely-connected Firefly fics, set post-Serenity, and each crossing over one character from Firefly: Jayne with Supernatural, Zoe with QAF UK, Kaylee with Iron Man, Simon with House MD, River with Doctor Who, Inara with West Wing, Mal with X-Files, and Wash with Battlestar Galactica. They can be read as standalone ficlets or one big weird mashup. I was honestly just fucking around with different crossover ideas when I wrote it; I think maybe the River/Doctor Who was the first one I came up with. The rest are just a variety of fandoms I happened to be into at the time. I'd only ever written one crossover before (a HDM/Narnia fic that remains by FAR the most popular thing I've ever written for Yuletide), so this was my experimental second foray into that particular fic trope.

So the "secret" about the story is that the last (and shortest) ficlet in the series was at one point going to be it's own big long fic. That was the BSG crossover (when the show was still in full swing); my idea was a full proper crossover fic between the two fandoms, where Wash turns out to be the 12th Cylon. I had a few snippets written and a rough plot outline and a title and everything. And then it just...never happened. I came a little too late to the BSG fandom, and by the time I was ready to write the fic the show was into its final season and...well, I was pretty disappointed by the way that show ended and how it chose to tie up most of its threads, so I just plain lost interest in writing for it. Still a little sad I didn't write that fic, but I also wasn't quite ready for it yet. At that point (2008ish?) I'd never written a fic longer than around 12k before, and hadn't quite gotten the hang of crossovers, so I really wasn't ready for the specific fic I wanted to write.

I'm glad I wrote that weird little series, though! It was a fun experiment, and I got to play with a lot of different styles (and a few fandoms I didn't really write in, as well). Also features my first and last ever Supernatural fic. I am NOT in that fandom and have only seen a handful of early episodes of the show, but it was definitely the best place to dump Jayne Cobb.

#ask me anything

[iressails]

Masterpost of all my HDM s2 summary gifsets (or whatever they are actually called) and some gifmaker thoughts that no one needs but I think I need to preserve because I’ll forget.

1. The city of magpies

No edit as it hadn’t occurred to me that this was a thing. I saw some gorgeous ones for this episode and was inspired. It made me look at the episode in more of a painterly way. I sort of decided to experiment with what would work over the season. Most people seemed to do buckets of colour, ‘popular’ scenes, and wide 540px gifs. I loved it all.

2. The cave

I tried tankers of colour based on my normal psd but every dial pushed one way or the other to sort of do what I’d seen the week before. I managed to get some scenes that others did, which I was happy about, so I knew I was on the right track scanning the episode. Did big wide gifs. Looked okay in mostly orange and aqua lol. Tried to have some linking consistency with the colours of each gif. (Me thing not a summary gif thing. I swear I spend 30 secs making a gif, 2 mins colouring [and uncolouring lmao] and 5 hours deciding how to lay out the gifs in the post).

3. Theft

Went mad on the colours but in a different way, again with the wide gifs. I properly changed colours and added colour here instead of pushing what already exists or adding vibrancy or the usual things. Looked iffy, but posted anyway. It looks violent on screen, and makes me a little ill. I might do it again for something else because the think the principle was okay, the execution not great or suitable for purpose. The gifs mostly work together in an extra nauseating way. First time I tried for a story (doorways).

4. Tower of the angels

Decided the wide gifs weren’t doing it for me and went totally the opposite way, 3x3 layout. Everything technical that could go wrong went wrong giffing this episode. I made this gifset at least 3 or 4 times. I’m not keen on the colouring but I liked the layout and the mirroring, there was a story told in this gifset compared to just pretty with the attempts before. Same shapes, same colours, same story to really get to what was a summary of the episide. First attempt I actually liked even though the actual gifs are ugly as hell.

5. The scholar

Just realised I didn’t make one for this episode. Oops. I think I was traumatised by the previous week’s systems failure. I think I made this instead a couple of days later about characters crossing to other worlds. Which in itself was an interesting experiment and the first time I used screening in this particular way.

6. Malice

I laid this out 2x8, and I think this is my favourite layout and what I’ll continue to do with summary gifsets from now on. Like crop stuff out and focus on one thing and sort of tell the story from there. I like this one best and for once the no. of notes agree. I didn’t do anything fancy just pushed colours in my normal HDM psd, added a bunch more vibrance? and fiddled with the linking colours using colour balance like the blue, orange and aqua. I turned John Parry aqua and wet too but whatever. It looked fine.

7. Æsahættr

Still have no idea what the title means, no one tell me now because I prefer to know as little as possible for a show I have giffed madly for two and a half months. Gifset laid out similarly to previous episode but went for a paler palette because I chose lighter scenes. This took literally half an hour. Quickest one of the lot due to life(TM) and also I’d sort of figured out what I’d liked by then. Went for magenta, aqua, red and green and added a lot of black and sharpened it lots. Lots of comments on how pretty it is and I agree but no substance. I went looking for pretty because I was on a deadline and it shows. 

#his dark materials #summary gifsets #or whatever they are cal #led #giffing #ref

[alethiometry]

paper! also your fave studio ghibli movie answer was so *heart eyes*

aaaaaaaa thank you! i really truly and honestly intended for it to be a brief answer, but the more i talk about it the more i want to keep talking about it. everyone should watch princess mononoke. i made my brother watch it with me when he was like 5 and arguably maybe a little young to see animated violence, but he’s living his best life so whatever. you’re welcome.

anyway

paper - favorite children’s book?

ok this is a book series rather than an individual book, but: HIS DARK MATERIALS!!! i love it so much that i got my url from it and i haven’t changed it since 2011. i first read the trilogy when i was around the same age as lyra in the first book, so 10 or 11, and it was so fun to see this weird, magical, and extremely dangerous world through the eyes of someone like me. lyra was someone i always looked up to and wanted to be like growing up, and of course i have spent hours upon hours wondering and debating with myself what final form my daemon would take if i had a corporeal one. the level of world(s)building in those books is something that still blows me away.

i should also probably say that the amber spyglass was probably what kickstarted my Edgy Atheist phase because 11-year-old me didn’t fully grasp the nuance that pullman was trying to convey with the more religion-focused storylines within the series. but as an adult i can appreciate more the message he was relaying: that organized religion is easily corruptible and you have to take responsibility for instilling good values of religion into your own life. i don’t necessarily agree that religion is strictly a personal/individual journey, and (admittedly as an outsider/atheist/agnostic) i do like to think there can be good in finding a community that shares your values, religious or otherwise, but i still respect the message and the story.

on the other hand, i have very little interest in reading the new book of dust trilogy that he is writing, or in watching more of the bbc adaptation than the 4-5 episodes i slogged through before giving up on it. i prefer the version of hdm that lives in my mind and in those books that i’ve been reading over and over again for the last 20ish years.

(but the movie adaptation DOES have a special place in my heart for just being so charming and heartwarming in a way that i think the show completely and utterly failed at, which is why—SCALDING take—i think that the shitty 2007 movie is a better adaptation than the bbc show. also the movie has sam elliott as lee scoresby, so. checkmate.)

soft asks!

#ask games #thank you anon!! #anonymous #asked

[grump-the-deer]

stuff about HDM ep 4

don’t know about GREAT THINGS but there are some for sure

let’s break it down binch

- first off, IOREK FUCKIN SLAPS. he’s BIG. he’s GNARLY. he’s BIG BEEF MAN with BEAR-MADE ARMOR that has segments that MOVE WITH HIS BODY. it’s PERFECT.

- buuuuuut his voice kinda sucks. too emotional, too high-pitched, too fast, not growly or deep enough at ALL. Ian McKellan was perfect for it but I would’ve taken someone like.......Iofur’s actor. he was stellar. why not him for Iorek??? switch their actors, Iofur is tryin to be a human anyway he can have the weird emotional tones

- similarly, his eyes are very expressive. probably a boon for visual storytelling, but I really think playing up the theme about bears being inhuman is important. Iorek’s eyes are described as beady and black and unfeeling. they’re almost human in this show, as is his voice, and I don’t like it.

- Lee Scoresby...............................................oh man. I have a lot of feelings about him. I’m gonna leave it to the end cause it’s long.

- Trollesund is really awesome - feels very realistic, very grimy, like an oil town would be. the Sysselman as a character is phenomenal. and IOREK STOMPING ON HIM - LEE LIKE “oh hey sysselman what’s up” is GOLD and you can TAKE IT TO THE BANK BOYO

- Lyra and Farder Coram - Farder Coram talking about Serafina - Farder Coram talking about his SSON I LOVE FARDER CORAM he has done a 180 in two episodes and I adore him now. he’s a lot more robust than the original, subtler Coram, but I like him anyway. he’s close enough but has his own thing going on, and it’s a good thing.

- Dr. Lanselius was a boss ass bitch I really liked him

- THEY KEPT THE CLOUD-PINE SCENE YESSSSSS

- but.....there was no pulling scene with Pan and Lyra facing Iorek. that was one of the best exposition and characterization scenes (and foreshadowing) in TGC and I was REALLY hoping for it. instead we’ve just got that half-assed exposition mention about dæmons being far away. fuck the exposition fairy.

- AND they didn’t let Iorek talk about his fucking motivations as a panserbjorn!!! what!!!!! they had Lee do it - WHY??? Iorek starts getting HEATED and DOES IT HIMSELF what the HELL that line about WAR is ICONIC how DARE THEY!!

- the cardinal is really fucking creepy........especially the way he hunches and slinks around...................A+ on that....

- more golden monkey denial, loving it. loving Mrs. Coulter clawing her way to power by any means necessary even though everyone can see she’s burning herself to the ground in the process

- I LOVE that they’re keeping to Iofur and his bears having weird overly-fancy filigree shiny armor. definitely not bear-made and very wrong.

- Fra Pavel has a great casting. and the little interaction with Boreal is very very ominous.

- Lyra. always Lyra. just, amazing. her humor and her spunk is outstanding. demolish Lee Scoresby, demolish Lord Faa, demolish Iorek, demolish Lee Scoresby’s bacon -

- I love this Hester I don’t even care if she’s not my Hester I love her anyway

- on that note, John Faa STILL doesn’t have a dæmon. ANd, I really don’t like his characterization. he’s so fucking stone cold and serious and hard-headed. he isn’t a man of the people like the original John Faa. he doesn’t have an ounce of warmth or passion. I like that he still respects Farder Coram enough to let him veto things but like........where is my father......this guy is a bonehead

- a few more background dæmons and diversity this time around, including Arctic fox Pan - who is ADORABLE and THEMATIC and PERFECT - so that was nice. still not enough but we’re getting there.

- I love love love Kaisa. I love love love his voice and his mannerisms. I hate hate hate that he’s a gyrfalcon now. his voice is not even CLOSE to being sharp enough to be a falcon. he’s a goddamn goose and I will die on this hill I promise you that. fuck your birds of prey spamming.

OKAY TIME TO SHOUT ABOUT LEE SCORESBY:

he’s good. he’s a good character, on his own. I love Lin, of course, I think he loves the role. good comedy with Hester, very passionate duo. funny, likable. a little morally gray. cute.

he’s not the original Lee Scoresby. and I miss that one. this one is a pickpocket, a loudmouth, and cares WAY too passionately about Iorek.

first of all, the original Lee might have been there to help Iorek, might not have. he was around, it was a stop in his search for work. he’s a bit guarded and he wouldn’t divulge that. this one is storming around demanding someone tell him about Iorek and that he’s gonna help him but uh......once he finds him he kind of gives up, like immediately. why is he so devoted to this bear? he saved his life once? seems a bit more than that. I just don’t get it. he’s a friend sure but Lee Scoresby wants RETIREMENT MONEY, first and foremost. not a bear. no jokes intended.

second of all, the Lee Scoresby I fell in love with would never pickpocket, it’s beneath his standards. he is considerably money-grubbing but not to that extent. it’s a cheap trick and can get you in loads of trouble if you’re caught. he’s an honest criminal, okay. he’ll do illegal shit if you hire him for it, but by god he’s going to get hired right and proper.

he’s not a super subtle guy but he’s laid back - he wouldn’t storm into a place and declare his reason for being there, he’d make careful conversation with a local and try to catch wind of what’s going on. if someone crossed a moral boundary THEN he would fight. he’s.......more mature, smarter. he’s always described perfectly as laconic. that’s his central trait. he’s an observant dude. he’ll stroll right into a situation and wisecrack and help the side he thinks is right, IF he thinks it’s worth the trouble. he doesn’t start fights if he can help it. he’s a hare, not a goddamn rhinoceros.

this Scoresby is most certainly not laconic. this is a different character, and while I like him well enough, and I really ADORE his interactions with Lyra for sure, I am sorely disappointed that I don’t get to see the Lee Scoresby I love on screen for this beautiful adaptation.

#hdm #his dark materials #hdm spoilers