#both had a hell of a game

[snowyroads]

cutest shit ever!!🥰🥰

[spenglerpedia]

Tickets please~

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2025: OVERGROWTH by Mira Grant.

Plant-astically delighted to report that I received an ARC via Tor (Nightfire) and Goodreads! I love Seanan McGuire's writing, and my first foray into her work as Mira Grant was INTO THE DROWNING DEEP, which was phenomenal (think all the best parts of Michael Crichton--the Science, the Speculation, the Consequences--but women and queer people are Entire Characters)(we love a good sci-fi horror paced like a thriller in this house).

The premise of OVERGROWTH is basically "the pod people are coming, they've been warning you about it for decades, and no one has been listening." Stasia, our main character and (first person, past tense) narrator, has spent her whole life telling people that she's "the vanguard of an invading species of intelligent alien plants," which is confirmed via a broadcast from space.

And the chapters are time-stamped "X days pre-invasion."

Yeah.

This book was an absolute delight and all around a lot of fun--the tone was the perfect balance of funny and heartfelt and relatable and dread-inducing, and it very much read like a love letter to the genre with lots of cross-pollinated references (Seymour? Little Shop of Horrors? War of the Worlds? Jurassic Park? Hello????).

It was also very much a book about the distinction between being human and being a person, and about alienation and belief and trust and friendship, and about queerness and neurodivergence and belonging. And, y'know, mimetic plant aliens, in myriad shades of green.

I was initially surprised by the choice to tell this story in past tense and first person (because DROWNING DEEP was patently not that, and most of what I've read of McGuire hasn't been either), but it turns out that was The Only Correct Way To Do It: For most of the book, Stasia didn't have the full picture of what was going on, but her partial understanding + our readerly perspective from inside her head carried both the relatability and the horror. It was a really interesting and cool way to do an alien invasion book (from the perspective of the invader's plant)(ahaha, botanical pun). Also, the narrative frame made me pterodactyl Hunter shriek my way through the last two pages, which. OOF. WHAT A RIDE!!! I'll be rotisserie-ing over the late-game twist (page 396/465 in my copy) and the ending for a long time.

I loved that the aliens felt alien and all too much like people; I loved Toni and Hunter; I loved the biology and worldbuilding; I loved the botanical quips ("salad bar" is, in fact, the best possible term of address to an alien invader, no notes); I loved the shady government agencies and unethical experimentation; I loved the "we are the monsters you have made". I stayed up way past my bedtime several times for this, and it was worth every second. Do recommend, check this out in May!!

Half-assed spoilery content warnings under the cut (I'm not good at these because I have a weird concept of what necessitates a warning, so please do NOT consider these complete in any way shape or form):

on-page toddler death (graphic, in prologue, signposted with "look away"); transphobia (toward beloved trans character); spider (alien); bug-adjacent (alien); vampirism/blood drinking; other usual horror/alien invasion type tropes etc. (body horror? do people tag body horror?? i was an animorphs kid i'm sorry i don't know what a normal amount of body horror is but i love it all)

[genesisforreal]

Made my friend play Dandys World with me and this was how it went

[wyrmwizzard]

i didn't realize kims sleeves only went to his elbows until after I was done inking.... i'm such a fake fan 😔✊️

anyways, considering the fact i draw nothing but lizards and snakes, i think i did them both justice.

[gghoulish]

the implications of mr compress drive me insane because i can easily read it as in some way or another, he probably felt he failed his bloodline, or that he couldn't shoulder that responsibility--- but instead, he chose to believe in someone who COULD, aka tomura. he saw revolution in a person and it was him. he could've tried to be the star of that show, but he instead raised up someone he saw great potential in, only showing the hand he was dealt when it was the end for him. i have seen a few things that imply he chose to work with tomura because of afo, but i don't think that's true, i think if anything someone of his lineage would be hesitant to do that--- afo and harima don't exactly have matching ideals, they may be radical to a degree but there's a difference between genocide and justice, and the league tomura creates has an entirely different energy to the way afo himself runs things. also if it's any level of literal that atsuhiro is inherently drawn to justice and what is right, then that implies he instinctually knew tomura had the potential to take on the legacy he felt he failed to uphold, enough so that he'd risk his life for him numerous times--- first costing him an arm, and then costing him his freedom.

judging by his words on people choosing their own fates, be they heroes or villains, as well as speaking of people's agency/personhood, it makes you wonder if he felt trapped in his own destiny too. he seems like he probably rebelled a bit when he was younger given his failed days as a magician, which doesn't feel all that prestigious for someone with his history. i can imagine he also sees himself in tomura, since they are both the heirs to some of the most prolific villains of all time--- if anyone understands the pressure he is under, it's atsuhiro. not to mention, mha has an obsession with using hands as a metaphor for things (particularly, oppression or freedom/affection), and though it's only in the anime, one of the few shots we get of kid atsuhiro is with his father's hands on his shoulders, guiding him to fulfill his legacy as harima's descendant, a thing he doesn't necessarily have a say in. it feels like it mirrors similar shots with afo and tomura, granted i'm not saying atsuhiro's father was some kind of tyrant, just that the insinuation of that pressure is there. while other villains were made by their circumstances or decisions, it was in atsuhiro's blood to rebel against the suffocating system they were born into.

him and tomura both having hand quirks also makes me think of another way they're similar. compression is a quirk that can be as dangerous as it is useful. we see that it can effortlessly maim others, which begs the question, what was it like learning that quirk? surely not easy or without consequence. that takes a lot of skill and precision. i think because of that, atsuhiro also makes for someone who probably wouldn't be afraid of or disgusted by tomura's quirk, which adds a further level of intimacy to them. he doesn't just see someone who destroys everything around him--- he sees new beginnings, and has the knowledge that from death, comes life itself. considering, despite his obvious skills in such, he isn't very keen on being a thief or violent for that matter, i feel like he's one of the few people to see and understand that tomura is not just the aggression and expectations that were made by afo--- he is his own person.

it also strikes me as suspicious that even though they needed as many allies as possible, he was never broken out of prison while other much more difficult people were pursued--- in the past he spoke out against the mistreatment of tomura and i feel like afo likely knew he was a risk to keep around, in the event he could not fully control tomura. so for as useful as he was, and could be, he was a liability, a part of tomura's humanity that couldn't be risked, especially when spinner was still around.

to close out, i don't think this was a last ditch effort, i think this is what he always knew to be his final act, he knew the curtain would fall with tomura, not him. tragically, he also probably knew none of them would realistically survive, but i think it was that fire that he saw in tomura--- a fire that could rival his great-great-grandfather--- that made him want to believe in him and drove him to do as much as he could. for all his theatrics and at times ridiculousness, his final act makes him feel like such a classically romantic character, someone willing to give everything up for the person he trusts and respects the most. i'll just never get over how utterly heart-wrenching it is to see atsuhiro's final panel be that wistful smile, still stuck in the same society that worships heroes.

[mayor-david-prentiss]

honestly it's so cute how quickly and fully sam and henry accept each other as brothers, it warms my heart

[pwurrz]

who’s everyone getting from the 3rd anniversary ssr selector, i’m going with my beloved, my first love cocoa liqueur yakumo. obviously. like there was any other option to choose

look at him. look at his pretty braid styled with pretty bows and tassels. look at his pretty eyeliner. look at his fancy-shmancy outfit. look at the little bracelet he has that’s a snake eating a piece of chocolate. look at his little tongue!!! he bleps!!!!!

[smile-files]

ernest is a bit of a freak. even if he's shy about it

[xxplastic-cubexx]

friend notoriously bad at videogames said shed play marvel rivals with me tomorrow chat if i never post after tomorrow night its because a blood vessel bursted

[starrstruckcanuck]

Been thinking of making a tierlist of my thoughts on all the teams for a while so here it is!! As you can see, I am indifferent to or hate most of the league... 😶‍🌫️🫣 which is why I generally say I'm more of a Canucks fan than a hockey fan lol

[odyooles]

Hi! I'm wondering, in your winter hare au, which characters are animals and which are human? Besides the ones we've already seen. Also do you like Marguerite that doesn't have anything to do with the other question I just like her so I wanted to ask

hello! :D

okay, so i've mainly thought about re7, but!

animals:

mia (rabbit)

chris (bear)

clancy (squirrel)

the other two sewer gators are rats maybe

rosemary (hare)

mostly, it's all the protagonists are animals because, like my other tag for it suggests it's vaguely peter rabbit inspired - so the basic concept i started with was just "hare ethan + the bakers as the farmers is a really fun idea" and then went from there!!

i'm still unsure about some animal assignments (leon, claire (bc even if she & chris are siblings i don't think a bear suits her vibes), etc). evie is a chinchilla because 1. i like chinchillas LOL and 2. i thought it would be neat :] she is still very moldy though!!

(sidenote: fun fact about this au i find interesting is that the bakers aren't cannibalistic; they just kinda decimated the local wildlife/animal population)

also yes i do!! marguerite's one of my favorites of the baker family and i treasure the nice moment we got to see of her and jack in the daughters dlc very much. i'm sad she didn't get to be more relevant tbh, she seems so sweet unmolded. i like the concept that she liked bugs even before getting infected, it's an endearing character trait to me hehe

i'm actually currently working on an (unrelated to this au) fic, a 5+1 of a basically happier timeline where evie actually gets adopted by the baker family and marguerite's part is the first section of it :)

tysm for the ask!! i love talking about my aus very much

[yeonban]

What color character are you?

MUSE   VS   MUN.

MUSE, K. Shuusei: orange.

you are bright, cheerful, and have a deep love for helping others. you beam with confidence and are a true free spirit. you feel best when in a tight-knit community. you are a strong, compassionate person. just don't forget that there are some people and places that you just don't need to waste your energy on, take care of yourself. examples of orange characters are eric (sex education), anne (anne of green gables), moana (moana), and ginny weasley (harry potter)

MUN, Chris: blue.

you're pragmatic and love to learn, and have a taste for the intellectually minded few. you have a good heart and moral compass, and an eternal curiosity that guides you in all of your endeavors. remember to take care of yourself, the world can be a difficult place and you deserve to rest every once in awhile. examples of blue characters are chidi anagonye (the good place), beth harmon (the queens gambit), t'challa (black panther), and alice cullen (twilight)

TAGGED BY: @lustraveil xoxoxo <3 TAGGING (the rest of the pp rpc!): @h4wlin, @effigist (kamui), @furiaei / @luminaei, @minban (707), @valkyrrhic, @cauterisen, @lunaetis (akane) & everyone else who wants to do this!

[what-is-it-to-be-pk-esque]

My partner finally finished BG3 but has no idea that his ending was actually bad cause he was a pro-Vlaakith githyanki who rode off with Lae'zel but got NO EPILOGUE where Withers points out y'all died im 😭😭😭

they have no idea what happened with Gale or anyone else (who was still alive) after flying away 🙃🙃🙃

[reallyghostlypost]

Poker night with the farmer and the adventurers

Who would be good at poker?

I think Lance and Camilla would be the best since they would both keep a vague smiling face and it would be impossible to guess what they are thinking.

The farmer is also be surprisingly good at it since they will have a wide variety of expression that don't necessarily match with whatever cards they have.

Marlon and Gill are old adventurers who are very familiar with game nights among their peers and know their fair share of tricks (and cheats).

Isaac would suck at it since he's too easy to annoy.

Alesia and Jolyne are good at the game but prefer to watch others play.

Magnus is a joy killer who finds these types of game a waste of time.

Jadu probably prefers more complex and engaging table top games but gets outvoted every time and has to play card games with the rest of the players.

[akpaleyreblogs]

I love having roleplayed my way into putting a stupid fucked up love triangle into a game that didn't have one