#tbf id react the same way

[man-me--a-sand]

it’s been like a month now since I finished reading new mutants but. I received vague interest so these r my sparknotes feelings. I had varying levels of familiarity with these characters previously bc I’ve read a lot of xmen. so I had some biases going in.

however the biggest thought I walked away with was. demon bear was disappointing. It was hyped up a whole bunch and like. the art was stunning!!but the actual story? I liked the scenes where you just see the team Caring Deeply for one another. but the actual fight scenes were. fine i guess. I expected more Dani focus but illyana managed to sneak in there. Sam wore a hat and I really liked that.

there’s the whole thing I’ve heard of like. oh demon bear is the darkest arc or is the first thing to start taking it down a different route. which I don’t really agree with bc there was messed up stuff happening the whole time and I think my biggest ‘holy shit they’re doing this that’s insane’ happened before demon bear?? idk id have to double check my live reacts

in terms of like. individual characters.

rahne. unfortunately my first memorable experience with her was xfi. so I was biased against her going in. I still find her annoying but I want to put her in a blanket and keep her safe. baby girl.

Dani is so cool. I have no real thoughts she’s just a Cool Girl. I liked her spear.

Roberto was less than I anticipated. I love him I’d kill for him but he didn’t really stand out super often. tbf he gets his moment in fallen angels. everyone was too mean to him though. everyone was so mean to him all the time and while he was insufferable at points. it was so uncalled for?? need a new trial of magneto where he gets in trouble for not being nice enough to Roberto.

Amara. im sorry I hate her she’s so annoying she has no redeeming qualities. i wish i could like her. I cannot bring myself to enjoy her I was glad when she left. also her with the hellions and empathwas the most interesting I found her.

Xuân. im shockingly neutral on. somehow I’ve never really read anything that’s *about* her. and this kinda felt the same way. she’s fun I guess. but im so neutral on her.

illyana is fun and I enjoy her. she suffers a little bit from Wolverine syndrome I think where im SO exposed to her all the time that I can’t love her the same. but I do like her. she took over stories but like she’s pretty op and has a fun background to work with so I get why it happens.

Doug I read a lot of him on krakoa so I think a lot of my caring about him sprouted from that. bc he’s cute but also really annoying at points. his death. surprised me in many ways because holy shit it was depressing and messed up the stuff that happened afterwards. but the death itself felt so. anticlimactic. I was thinking as I read it like ‘oh this one isn’t the permanent death right?? bc that was so.’ and then it was. he’s sweet.

sam. listen sam was the character I was most familiar w going in. and he’s the one who’s appearances post new mutants I’ve been following. I have talked about guthries. I like him :)

I think I liked Magneto as a teacher better than Charles. more freedom, more conflict. it was more interesting and I really enjoyed the specific relationships between magneto and the kids

I had not anticipated the amount of personality the hellions had. I didn’t know they showed up that much and were like. real people. but I really liked them. catseye especially :)

however. this was much more racist than I knew. it was not ever mentioned to me how much they’d say things. they just. kept saying things. they didn’t stop. and also. there were a lot of changing shots. why did we see them in their underwear so much even as they emphasized how young they were. that bothered me.

overall it was very good. technically speaking I stopped reading during inferno bc that was where I had already read it all recently. but I think personally the weakest point was pre-inferno. I didn’t like the gosamyr stuff. and maybe im biased bc i love xforce but getting some new characters in there was great for it. anyways i really liked new mutants and while. im sad it took me this long to read it. I don’t think I would’ve enjoyed it the same way a few years ago :)

[fanficapologist]

Oof, here we go!! Maera went there!! I couldn’t believe what I just read. I thought I was hallucinating the words.

Oooh the nerve of Aemond, I mean if I were Maera I’d ignore him too. He doesn’t get any sympathy from me. In this universe, even if he’d lain with Alys as a means to an end, and not because he felt something for her, well, we can’t deny the proof of it now can we.

I was also seething at how the people around her - Alicent and even her father fully expect her to turn a blind eye to Aemond’s indiscretion all while she is held up to an impossibly high standard of always doing her best and just accepting it, as if she should be grateful Aemond still returns to her. I know we’re supposed to be judging them based on the standards of that time but it just reminded me that even now, little has changed. Just this afternoon my parents asked when I planned on getting married as I am nearly thirty. And the worst part is how marriage is seen as the solution to everything - because as they put it, what else was I going to do with my life if I didn’t get married? It just drives me mad because it implies that all my accomplishments amount to nothing until I secure a husband, not even that, as if my entire being is worthless until I got married.

Anyway, back to the story, we finally have the confrontation scene!! I had to process my feelings on this because my knee jerk reaction is to feel insulted, how dare Alys act like that as if she was the wife? But then, when I calmed down, I realized, it could also be a projection of my possessiveness to Aemond and to an extent Ewan Mitchell. Fanfiction makes me lose myself in the character so it’s easy to feel as if I’ve been slighted, yes, I’m feeling quite meta today. But in reality, or in canon, Alys isn’t really portrayed heavily enough for us to really get a glimpse of what she was like so it’s easy to paint her as the villain, the seductress who tempted Aemond but let’s not forget- Aemond also chose to lie with Alys. I want to be better and not just lay down the blame on the other woman. For all we know, Alys is amused because she’s past all that and finds the entire thing silly because she doesn’t want to steal Aemond. She already knows his heart belongs to Maera. I feel like she’s like this -taunting because Maera is wary of her. I mean I do want to give her the benefit of the doubt. But I suppose the only way I’ll find out is if I read the next chapter.

When you said drama I didn’t expect it on a Monday hahahahaha but this powered me through the day so thank you so much!! Hope you’re doing well!

I always live for your analysis of the chapters each time I upload 🖤

Aemond is so god damn stupid but think we’ve all gotta remember this boy is about 18/19 in this fic. That is so young! And what man doesn’t make dumb decisions at that age? (I like to think most of the wars in the medieval times are due to young men spitting their dummies out and acting on impulse, only to regret it later)

With Alys, you’re right. In the canon we don’t know an awful lot about her. I’m hoping to give her a bit more depth as a character with more interactions between her and Maera. I’m not sure how some of the audience will react to that. We’re all Aemond girlies and I’m sure there will be plenty of comments like “why doesn’t Maera just stab her ffs.” (Tbf id react the same 🤣) but we can’t just go round stabbing people, can we?

Maera’s got to play the game, and what a long game it will be. She’s going to have to be sneaky, clever and downright badass if she wants to succeed in this world, especially with a war going on.

I have the bulk of the next chapter, just down to editing now. (Spoiler: there will be smut 👀)

[baiqi]

good save, gav. i’ll let you off the hook this time