#ANYWAY does anyone have any comic recs for ME. i want more weird characters to get obsessed with

[augustheart]

i think comic books are the only fandom where people will actively brag about having not read the source material. i'm not talking about movie/tv show only people who watch those and base their understanding of character adaptations around those, that's fine, i mean people who are comic book fans who are extremely proud of having never read comics (not "read them once years ago" or "want to read more" but "have never and say that they will never"). and while i understand that this is a trivial issue in the grand scheme of things because ultimately it doesn't matter i do think it's sad because i want people to read comics so, so badly. more than anything i want you to read comics. please. stop looking at the shadows on the walls of the cave and start trawling through your local shops back issues or open a pirating site or buy the first issue of something because the cover looks cool. please i am begging you

[cuephrase]

Of the DC comics you've read so far, what would be your top recommendations for people to check out/what have you enjoyed the most?

when i tell you i have been thinking about this all day- i have been thinking about this. all. day.

so disclaimer, as of writing this, i have only read 31 runs from start to finish and 18 arcs/events outside of those runs. on top of, everything i've read so far has been strictly robin-centric, so dick, jason, tim, and damian. (i have read all of steph's robin appearances lol, but i haven't gotten to reading material for her, like say batgirl 2009, yet.) i've also decided not to rec from any run i'm currently reading, so for example, you won't see any batman: gotham knights recs here. because i'm most well-read on the robins, i'm only going to rec for them.

also, i'm going to operate under the following assumption: you've got a basic knowledge of the robins. none of these are where i would necessarily recommend anyone start reading about the boys, but i do think they'd be pretty interesting if you're already somewhat familiar with them and don't want to commit to reading whole character backlogs. does that make sense? i hope that makes sense.

alright, let's do this!

DICK GRAYSON

oh god. this one is actually so hard because he has so much great stuff, but then also i have like a love/frustrate relationship with so much of it. like for instance, i really enjoyed The New Teen Titans, but also lowkey can't stand space adventures so whenever that went down i was like 😀👍. but okay. hmmmm.

i have two preboot recs, with explanations + caveats.

devin grayson's mob!dick arc, so Nightwing 1996 #99-100, 107-117. caveats: it doesn't really get to finish playing out/wraps up weird because of editorial changes/infinite crisis. but!! it's a super interesting look at how dick handles...failure. how he values himself in light of that failure.

tomasi's run, but specifically #147-153. (listen, i love the dick and tim moments in 'freefall' but the whole eternally pregnant lady thing was too weird.) this is classic, hyper-competent dick, okay? he's such a bad-ass. and an idiot- bro literally flops his severely injured ass over the bars of his glider and rides it UNCONSCIOUS back to the batcave. i can't with him. poor alfred. anyways, he deals with two-face, always a good time. and then at the end, as a treat, he cries because bruce is dead. so fun!! what was my caveat here? oh yeah, he has a girlfriend. i don't remember her name, she serves like...very little purpose, the whole relationship is very minor/background okay, but like it was so unnecessary. he can be single, dc, it's okay.

for post re-boot, just read tom taylor's run!! it's the best thing ever!! zero complaints!!

HA. yeah, just kidding. that run is very like/frustrate for me lol. oh man i'm struggling here. it's not all bad okay, i'm just really picky, and i haven't re-read any nightwing n52 and onwards since my first foray into comics (8 months ago) so my memories of these are the foggiest and i'm not sure how i feel about all of it in light of what i've read now. yk what, i'm just going to...not rec anything. sorry!!

JASON TODD

his comics either go so hard or they're absolute ass, why is there no in between. istg, i can't figure out why writers struggle with him so much?? well. i mean, i do have theories. but you didn't ask for those!

pre-boot:

detective comics #569-574. robin!jason in the hands of writers who like him is so much fun. which, don't get me wrong, i don't flat-out hate how starlin writes him, but i think you get a more well-rounded view of jason as robin when you also see him in 'tec. jason and bruce tangle with the joker, scarecrow, + mad hatter, and all of those adventures are...idk if they were intentional foreshadowing okay, but reading those and knowing where the story goes? oof. especialllllly #574. caveat: #572 is pretty light on jason, but he is great when he's on panel!

reboot:

probably a very basic answer but rhato rebirth (2016) #1-13, annual #1. i abhorred n52 rhato so i almost skipped rhato rebirth since it was still written by lobdell, but i'm really glad i didn't. i really enjoy jason's relationship with bizarro + artemis, but especially with bizarro because i think jason struggles a lot with feeling like a doomed creation, so yk, parallels. i want to say more but i know i'll get too wrapped up in discussing jason so i'm just going to stop myself.

i actually really enjoyed task force z, too. i think about tfz #8 so much, jason is such a manipulative little shit and i love it. he's so- i can't. i can't get into this rn, it deserves its own post(s).

overall for jay, i need people to read something other than utrh/lost days/b:ul 1-6. i love those, i do, but they aren't the only good pieces of jason content!!

TIM DRAKE

MY BELOVED!!!!!!!!!! in my heart of hearts, i just want to rec his whole robin run lmao. dick was my intro, okay, he is why i decided to start reading comics, but tim, specifically his robin solo is why i'm still reading comics. hooked me fr. and young justice 1998, ugh love. but it has been a minute since i read these as well, so hmm. okay okay okay

pre-boot:

batman: prodigal. short version, tim is robin to dick's batman. super fun. there's a solid amount of dick and bruce angsting too, which, love. tim is honestly just thrilled that jpv is out of the batsuit and even happier to working with dick. very cute.

robin #46. listen. they're all superheroes okay, they all feel pressure to save people. but tim...losses get to him. the amount of times that he gets shoved to a breaking point and then...gets back up. keeps going. *screams*. anyways!! this is not tim getting back up, okay? this is him being shoved way, way down. it's so good.

teen titans 2003 #20. tim's dad has died. he shows up for his weekend at the tower anyways. he is not okay. that's it, that's the pitch. i did not like...mmm at least 80% of this run okay, but a few of the issues HIT and this was one imo.

reboot:

*deep sigh*. look. tim is not tim for like basically all of n52, although there are moments here and there were he feels like himself. i did not like his 2023 solo, the best parts of young justice 2019 imo are the character designs, (except for his drake costume, what was that omg), and i haven't read any rebirth batman/'tec yet. except for zdarsky's run. which. tim is good there! but yeah, not really a whole lot of material to work with + very limited reading experience atm.

DAMIAN WAYNE

god, i love this kid. nature vs. nurture fascinates me, and so much of his story digs into that on top of trying to figure out who he is apart from all of that. i will say, i'm not a huge talia fan and by that i mean, i have no idea who she is "supposed" to be, like i have no frame of reference for that atm, so if you are a huge talia fan these recs might not hit for you because from what i've observed from her fans she is not well portrayed a whole lot since becoming his mother? i think one of the things that is normal is dick absolutely disliking her though, which cracks me up. there's this older batman story (batman #322-335) where bruce works with talia and dick goes running to selina and i was so entertained. what were we talking about? oh! damian!

preboot:

batman and robin 2009 #10-12. damian is struggling, with a lot of things. the fact that bruce might be alive, what that means for him and dick, and his mother's puppeteering. there's this line that kills me: "can't you just love me for who i am? not what you want me to be?" and the thing that gets me, is the use of who vs. what. because he could have said, "not who you want me to be", but he doesn't

reboot:

batman: shadow war. this is post-alfred's death, and honestly, most damian stuff post city of bane is pretty juicy, but there's this specific moment in shadow war: alpha #1 that had me speechless. just like 😧 i love bruce, but that man has some of the most chronic foot-in-mouth disease. oh but fair warning, for whatever reason they don't draw dami's mask connecting?? it's so- it drives me nuts.

JUST FOR FUN

these are just two issues that i enjoy for the brother content!

nightwing 1996 #25. dick and tim's relationship makes me ILL. *ahem*. this issue is mostly just super cute and fun, (there's like 0.2 seconds of angst when tim asks dick if he ever thinks about jason 😭) and i adore it sm. fun fact, it's actually one of the first comics i ever bought!

batman 2016 #16. unfortunately, tim is not here for this, but duke is! jason and damian's interactions in the background of bruce's Very Serious Speech are excellent. bruce is so dramatic and his kids are so unserious.

what i've most enjoyed

i've enjoyed the majority of what i've read, even titles/events i wasn't particularly looking forward to but had on my tbr for whichever character. i'm going to break down most enjoyed into two catergories, arcs that i loved top to bottom and then the guilty pleasures. this is not an exhaustive list, just what immediately came to mind.

top to bottom

bruce wayne: murderer?/fugitive. shocker, ik. but it's just, it's just so frickin good. i've said before, and i'll say it again, gotham war could NEVER. this right here is peak batfamily drama. the tension? the mystery? the angst? i knew nothing going into this okay, and truth be told, when i started it i was like "oh joy. another event." because i was just trying to read the 1996 nightwing run, but i'd committed to reading in full all the events it crossed over with. but i was invested so quickly. and like, i loved how the narrative supported the possibility that bruce was the murderer, because like, you know there's no way, but the more that comes out the more damning it is, and so you're like really dying to know what actually happened and i feel like the reveal was satisfying.

batman: city of bane. i'm going to cautiously put this here, because there might have been something i didn't like but i cannot recall it for the life of me right now. something about me is i love when the heroes lose. infinity war, empire strikes back? love. and ik bruce takes back gotham, but they lose alfred, okay, they lost. i also didn't expect to like this arc, i decided to read it because i wanted to know how alfred died. and first of all, i was shocked, even though i knew it was coming because i expected it to like happen towards the end. but nope. just *snap*. and then later when bruce is back in the manor and is confronted with alfred's body and his good-bye message? oh. my. god. i was bawling. despite my penchant for sad narratives, i don't tend to cry that much, but this got to me so bad. like i had to pause because i couldn't see. amazing.

red robin. his cowl is so ugly, but i really do love the run. i see a lot of discourse about it and also a lot of...interesting fanfic takes, so i don't really talk about it a lot here because it feels like most people are kind of tired of hearing about this run, which fair. i really enjoyed it as a sequel to his solo robin run. tbh, i almost put this in the guilty pleasure catergory, because there are a couple things i don't totally love, but like if the others are 10/10, this is 9/10.

young justice 1998. i love this comic so, so much. i don't even know what to say, i get so overwhelmed with joy when i think about this comic. nothing has hit the same way with this group since either, which is a crime. i need a title with this team so badly.

guilty pleasures

these are all runs/events i know some/most? people cannot stand and i totally get why, and i have problems with them, so i'm probably never going to rec them in good conscience but also like i can't lie and say i don't like them. these are not recs, okay? okay.

robin war. is it a hot mess? yes. but there is not a whole lot of canon content out there with all the boys working together, okay? so much of that event had me banging my head into a wall, but for me, there were a handful of pearls in there. i mean honestly, if i listed out pros and cons the cons list would be way longer but those pros are very precious to me.

batman and robin: eternal. very similar reasoning overall to robin war. plus cass finally came back!! i missed her. i love robin!dick and batman content, and the kids working together. this is probably my least favorite guilty pleasure though, okay, it's on thin ice.

grayson. listen, i love janin's art sm. i'm pretty neutral about spy stuff, so like i don't engage with it a whole lot. meaning, although i've heard it's tropey af in regards to the genre, i'm not familiar enough with the genre to be like trying to dig my eyeballs out with blunt spoons at the cliche of it all. the constant sexualization of dick got old super fast, and her name may have been helena but she wasn't- my list of dislikes is lengthy. but idk, i had fun with it. and imo it does have some genuinely great moments, i love dick in the desert with the baby, the ache i felt when dick wanted to come home and couldn't get ahold of bruce, issue #12 stabs me in the heart- the dick and dami reunion? stoppppp. i feel like this run and the ric grayson era are dick's most out there lmao

so yeah!! thank you so much for this ask, i had sm fun answering it. if you have any recs for me, feel free to drop them :)

[wearetakingthehobbitstogallifrey]

Kdrama recs Part 1

Hullo and welcome to the kdrama life @camsthisky​! The following list is not in any particular order, other than the fact that I start with a more rom/com vibe and head toward more romantic/action or action. All the following kdramas are set in the modern day, and part 2 of my recs for you will be either darker kdramas set in present day or historical dramas.

Let the list begin!

1. Strong Woman Do Bong Soon: 

Do Bong Soon is a v smol woman who has super strength and who wants 1. To create her own video game 2. Get her police officer crush to return her affections. Which like, police officer is kinda cute but he ain’t that special. Bong Soon winds up becoming a bodyguard to Ahn Min Hyuk, the extremely rich, kinda spoiled, ridiculously extra CEO of a gaming company who does not like the police for secret reasons, and sadly does not have a good relationship with his family. (He a lonely boy underneath everything.) Min Hyuk finds out about Bong Soon’s powers, is in TOTAL awe of her, offers to train her in fighting, and literally falls head over heels for her.

The caveat with this show is there is a subplot or two that annoy me, BUT I just use the 10 second skip button and it is totally worth it because the romance is super cute—SUPER CUTE (also I have a list of favorite actors and Park Hyung Sik is def on it—one minute he is an adorkable, blushing bby the next he can be intense and sad)

He cute

2. Her Private Life: 

Hello fake-dating!! Ryan Gold (an adoptee who didn’t live in Korea for a while) is a former artist who stopped painting because he couldn’t deal with his Stendhol (?) syndrome (among other traumas). Deok Mi is the classy art curator of a famous museum who definitely does not have any secrets she wants to keep from the world—well, other than the fact that she is the number one fangirl of kpop idol, Cha Shi-an (who also appreciates art) and has a major crush on him. Ryan becomes director of the art museum and there is a whole thing with getting Shi-an involved in an art show.

Following this and a series of unfortunate events a false rumor starts that Deok Mi and and Shi-an ARE dating. It’s a little complicated to summarize, but basically what you need to know is that Ryan and Deok Mi become a fake couple so there won’t be a scandal for Shi-an or violence done to Deok Mi by rabid fangirls. I enjoy the fake-dating trope a lot, and how it becomes real for both of them! The leads are played by Kim Jae Wook and Park Min Young, who both have incredible range. Lots of soft moments in this one! Good kisses, a scene where the faves bake together, and also Ryan wears a lot of deep v-neck shirts and jackets which is an attack on me personally.

The show also contains a bit of angst, which I LOVE. Hand-holding becomes an important theme 😊

RYAN NO

3. Crash Landing on You: Rich South Korean heiress/fashion designer Se-ri accidentally winds up in a North Korean village, and really REALLY wants to go home. Mostly because there are no scented candles or spa-like bathtubs in the vicinity, but also because she could easily disappear into a NK jail and never return. A North Korean captain named Ri Jeong Hyeok finds her and decides not to turn her because, one, he’s a good guy who doesn’t want to turn an innocent person over to what might be her death, and two, turning her over might get his four underlings in trouble for reasons. Said underlings are his family, basically, and they are a deLIGHT. One is an argumentative proud sort who likes to drink and to feel important and who tries to provoke (and gets provoked by) Se-ri at every opportunity, one is a lover of banned South Korean dramas, one is a 17 year old bby who misses his mom, and one is the silent but most loyal follower of the captain. 

Besides all these people, there are two other characters (including a surprisingly wise conman) who become faves and major players in the plot.

There is a great mix of humor, romance, found family, and angst, and I love it very much. A few things don’t go the way I want them to near the end, but a bit of imagination and fanfic can fix anything 

ALSO I FORGOT THE CAPTAIN GETS SUPER SULKY FROM TIME TO TIME AND IT IS HILARIOUS

Show of hands, who thinks they will meet again

4. Are You Human Too: A FAVORITE SHOW OF ALL! TIME!

What do you do when your husband dies and your evil mega-rich father-in-law takes your son away from you and keeps you from seeing him ever? Well, if you are scientist with more genius than positive coping methods, you build yourself a robot son who looks exactly like your real son. Great solution, am I right?

Nam Shin III is the name of my favorite robot son, played by the inestimable Seo Kang Joon. He is the purest bby you will ever meet, being designed so that he never lies and so that he will immediately go to hug anyone who cries. He seems quite a contrast to the bitter human Nam Shin, who hates his gilded prison life, hates his Grandpa, and tries to sneak away from his right hand man, Secretary Ji Young Hoon, his only friend in the world. The girl in the show is Kang So Bong, an ex-UFC fighter who was so badly injured she had to quit. She is at first a bit jaded and mercenary because of her past, but she has a golden heart that just needs to be reminded of its existence.

Not going into details to avoid spoilers, but everything upends when the robot Nam Shin has to take the place of the human Nam Shin. The show is a soft, funny, angsty exploration of what it means to be human, with some good found family throughout. The character development is phenomenal, and the connection between So Bong and Nam Shin III is *chef’s kiss*. I just want to give a shout out to Seo Kang Joon who plays a duel role like you wouldn’t believe, to SKJ’s smile, to the soundtrack, and to the character of Young Hoon, a loyal, steady, and self-sacrificing secretary that we do not deserve  (gosh tho he looks good in blue!)

Look at my robot son getting a long-looked for affirmation! (his lil smile!!!

5. W: Two Worlds: 

This show unique because it  meta as HELL! Oh Yeon Joo is a junior doctor and the daughter of a webtoon artist whose big hit, W, is coming to a close. Much to her surprise, she gets pulled into the world of the comic where she encounters and saves the main character, Kang Chul, a former Olympic shooting champion who was blamed for the murder of his entire family, and whose sole desire is to find the real killer. It’s a good romance between them, and I also love Kang Chul’s relationship with his hyung, which, tho it is not always a main focus, is present and wonderful. Kang Chul himself is both intelligent and adorably bratty, charismatic and angsty, soft and fierce, and he is one of my favorite kdrama characters for sure.

As for the meta, the show does a fantastic job exploring the rules of the comic world, of how one can enter and leave, the importance and power of main characters and supporting characters, and the purpose of an author. There is always another twist coming, and it is just so much fun!

UM SIR PLS POINT THAT ELSEWHERE

6. Healer: 

I watched half this show and never realized that the female lead is played by Park Min Young, same actress as in Her Private Life. Someone had to tell me lol! She’s just so good at playing different people. In this show, she is Chae Young Shin, a reporter for a celebrity tabloid who has big dreams of becoming a famous reporter who investigates stories that actually mean something. She is a bit quirky, very cute, very brave, and probably one of my favorite female leads. She lives with her dad above his coffee/teashop bakery and is friends with all the ex-cons he has defended while doing his other job of lawyering.

Anyway this show is more of a romantic/action drama. To get an idea of the titular Healer, picture what you would get if you took some of Batman and Nightwing’s aesthetics (wearing black, hanging out on rooftops, punching people, flipping around, etc) and put them into a night courier who likes to watch National Geographic and dream about one day going off to an island where he can live all by himself for the rest of his days because oh yeah he is a loner whose only friend is an older woman who sets up his jobs and whom he has never actually met.

There is also an older reporter that Young Shin looks up to, the fun tabloid office where she works, a heck lot of mystery surrounding some tragedy involving a group of reporter best friends/found family back in the 80’s/90’s, and of course both members of the OTP have childhood trauma that has made them who they are today. One of my favorite things that happens in the show is that Healer has to go undercover for a while, Clark Kenting it up in Young Shin’s tabloid office, which overnight becomes a real news agency for reasons.

The action is LOTS of fun, and the romance is really soft and cute, and better still, when there is a misunderstanding or something that gets in their way, they almost immediately talk about it and resolve issues. They TRUST each other and give the benefit of the doubt where many tv couples would break up or get in big fights. I find it (plus the character development) very refreshing.

I couldn’t find a gif of my favorite fight sadly. This will have to do

7. Lawless Lawyer: This has Lee Joon Gi. Watch it.

Just kidding, there are many other reasons to watch the show, but it is true that Lee Joon Gi is one of my favorite actors. The man has phoenix eyes, a jawline that could cut silk, diamonds, you name it, and such a deep well of emotional acting that it literally kills me when his characters rage/weep/love/etc.

Anyway, in this legal thriller/romance/action drama, LJG’s character Bong Sang Pil is a beautiful, very extra ex-gangster/now lawyer who opens his own office, ready to fight villainy and avenge his mom with the law or with his fists, whichever is more useful at the time. He has a right hand man named Manager Tae and recruits a bunch of thugs as his minions, and they all become a weird sort of family as the show goes on.

Ha Jae Yi is a quiet badass lawyer who has no time for sexist idiots and gets her license suspended for smacking one of said fools. She gets recruited to assist Sang Pil, and they find their goals align as both their mothers were destroyed by the villains.

Speaking of the villains? EXCELLENT acting by them all, like they need to go down obviously, but you can’t help but be in awe of a few of them or even get attached to one or two in a weird way. Props to the show for having one of the best female villains I have ever seen

What an icon

Here you get two gifs of him

Sorry I needed to make it a magical three lol

~~

Tune in next time for historical dramas and modern dramas that are a bit darker!

[gffa]

Scattered Star Wars Thoughts: - I’m about two thirds of the way through Empire’s End and I’m once again sad that we haven’t gotten anything like this in awhile--stuff happens in these books, the huge, big, galactic-level stuff happens!  The Battle of Jakku!  Rae Sloane vs Gallius Rax!  The bombing of the New Republic ceremony!  Mon Mothma’s struggles to keep the New Republic afloat and her political enemies trying to take her down! Sure, I love the books for the ragtag team I came to know and love, it’s still one of the top tier groups of new characters, but it’s also that stuff happens in this book, I get a good, strong look at the events that shape the galaxy in this era.  I suspect (even though I have no proof) that SW deliberately moved away from this kind of thing, because they were filling up the space too quickly, there soon wasn’t going to be much room left for any kind of big events, between this and Bloodline, especially if they ever wanted to set a show or movie in that era. I sometimes half-wonder if we’re heading for another reboot after awhile, because they’ll want to free up some space or if we’re just going to get more “away from the main action” stories.  Which I wouldn’t mind, if they were more like Spark of the Resistance because that was one of my favorite books of recent times, where it didn’t have to have a big impact, it could be a cute space adventure, but it was about characters I desperately wanted to have more interaction with. I guess that’s what was missing from Alphabet Squadron for me, that the new character stuff was SO GOOD, but Hera’s role really could have been filled by anyone.  Empire’s End is giving us Han and Leia and Mon character moments, but a lot of them don’t have to be about the big galactic stuff, they can be little mini-adventures set between the bigger ones. On the other hand, the comics seem to be filling that niche more than the novels, and the comics are so good that I’m kind of fine with the priority seeming to be on them--even if I don’t think that’s intentional.  (Or maybe it’s just me vastly preferring the comics over the novels, it seems like that’s where the good stuff is happening, imo.) Anyway. Empire’s End.  I really do love this trilogy in a way that, looking back, is a lot sharper than a lot of what I’ve been feeling re: current SW.  I wish Wendig would get another crack at writing SW, whether for these characters or someone else.  And that the Bens would come back and write more, too.  I was skimming over their From a Certain Point of View story and thinking about Join the Resistance! and I MISS THOSE STORIES. - I am doing pretty good at keeping up with my rewatch getting finished before the new season of TCW happens, I’m down to 1.8 episodes per day to reach my goal!  :D Between that and the way I’ve been booking it through other stuff (it’s been so cold out lately that I don’t go out much, so I have more time to watch stuff) that I’m already a quarter of the way through my 2020 Resolutions list! - I just saw Ryan Bergara, Shane Madej, and Steven Lim launched Watcher and have a handful of videos up, so I’ll have those to watch, I also have a bunch of shows (Barry and Patriot mostly) waiting in the wings for when I finish with TCW, and of course more of The Untamed, and, well, THANK GOD SW IS QUIET RIGHT NOW, because it’s getting to be a bit Much.  In a good way, but still!  /wanted to grump - I finished the current season of Grace & Frankie and I really liked the first 3-4 episodes, I got a bunch of IRL LOLs out of them, but about halfway through the season it lost steam for me and the ending just felt weird, like, “Why are we going down this same path again?  What was the point of that sub-plot?” and it just felt unfocused to me. I feel like, by this point, we’re six seasons in, Grace and Frankie lying about stuff from each other feels very, very retread, especially when Grace and Nick have talked about this before, that sometimes she has to choose him, not just Frankie all the time, and this storyline sort of ended up in a place that seemed to contradict that, and it does help to view this through the lens of Grace still has decades of lying and secrets as routine to recover from, she’s going to backslide, and I’m down for that, but I feel like this just didn’t quite acknowledge that it was part of a pattern she’s still working on, rather than ignoring that it comes with context of stuff that’s already happened in the show. I’m also losing my patience with a lot of the romantic partners drama on the show, like, I think they’ve been on a slow drive towards Coyote/Mallory for awhile and I hate it, I really don’t get any kind of spark between Frankie and Jack, Joan-Margaret and the guy she picked to marry didn’t have enough of a spark to make that storyline all that fun, Principal Dan being weird by the end was just *SIGH* (all the more so because I want Mallory to be with someone who Is Not Coyote).  I do very much still love Barry/Brianna, I feel like the show does better at Brianna Is An Onion You Have To Peel Her Back In Layers, so going over similar ground makes sense.  And I actually enjoyed Coyote/Jessica, they’re adorable, but it’s hard to get invested when I don’t think it’ll last.  I actually really enjoy Bud/Allison and their mutual failboating conversation about their first times was delightful to watch.  But I also sort of feel like I’m getting exhausted on Robert/Sol, it didn’t feel like there was any idea what to do with them this season, so they just sort of threw a bunch of things at the wall to see what would stick.  Robert being like, “NO THIS IS A BAD IDEA” while Sol and Allison researched Bud’s family history was hilarious, MORE LIKE THAT, less of them keeping secrets from each other like that entire local theater storyline.  Or even Sol’s health thing, which brought out different approaches to quality vs length of life at their age, that was a much more interesting story. I guess I wouldn’t mind retreading the same ground quite so much, if it felt like they were aware of it being part of a bigger whole, rather than just doing the same thing again, or if it felt like it was going somewhere (I think this is why I liked the Brianna/Barry stuff, it feels like it’s going somewhere), but that doesn’t mean the cast isn’t still delightful and the show isn’t still an absolute delight.  It never feels flat or like they’re Flanderizing the characters, the human moments are still there and very genuine.  (Grace and the other young wives was one of my favorite moments of the season!  It was such a lovely, warm, human resolution.)  The cast still delivers everything beautifully and they’re retreading these stories for a reason--though, I can’t lie, I’m curious to see what the final season has, in the way of a shake-up of the usual dynamics, as well as some more permanent resolution, one assumes. It still remains one of my favorite shows whenever it comes back! Scattered Star Wars Thoughts/2020 Resolutions Update: - Star Wars: The Clone Wars s3e02-20 Current total:  41/260 Scattered Everything Else Thoughts/ 2020 Resolutions Update: - Watchmen s01e01-09 - Bob’s Burgers s10e11 - The Good Place s04e11 - Grace & Frankie s06e01-13 Current total:  86/260 Star Wars Fic Recs 2020 Resolutions Update Current total written:  81/520

[doritosandavocados]

Hidden Gem Movie Recs

Lately with all this self-isolation and lock-down talk I've been seeing a number of "Must Watch Movie" lists popping up to give people ideas of how to pass the time while they're home bound. And I love that, but the lists I've seen have included extremely mainstream movies that most people have probably already seen, which isn't terribly helpful- especially for movie buffs. So, I've put together my own list (in no particular order) of movies I've enjoyed that you maybe haven't heard of. Click any of the movie titles to go to the IMDb page for more information and trailers.

Wild Target

Released in 2010 and starring Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt, and Rupert Grint. Yes. Ron Weasley playing a muggle. The plot is simply about the complicated mess that occurs when a hit-man starts falling for his target. You may like this movie if: You like British humor and/or want a comedy to distract you from the real world. This movie is currently available for rent or purchase on various platforms (for a really great price) including YouTube, Amazon Prime, and iTunes.

A Simple Favor

Released in 2018, directed by Paul Feig, starring Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, and Henry Golding. Despite your initial assumptions based on the cast and director it is most certainly not a comedy. This movie is a wild ride filled with twists, turns, and the occasional loop-de-loop. If you like suspense or thrillers this movie is sure to keep your attention. Still on the fence? If you liked Gone Girl then this movie is a must watch for you. A Simple Favor is currently available for free if you have a Hulu subscription, or for rent or purchase on various platforms including Amazon Prime and YouTube.

Snowpiercer

Okay odds are you've heard of this one, but I know a lot of people who have heard of it and still not watched it. So, let me convince you to take the time if you haven't already. Released in 2013 this movie was directed by (now Oscar winner) Bong Joon Ho, also the director of Parasite. This movie has star power in the cast too including Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Octavia Spencer, and John Hurt. This movie is admittedly very dark and serious so keep that in mind before watching. But the cinematography is gorgeous, the acting is superb, and if you like the messaging from Parasite there's similar themes in this movie too. This movie is currently available for free with a Netflix subscription, and available for rent or purchase on various platforms including YouTube, Amazon Prime, and iTunes.

The Search for John Gissing

This movie, released in 2001, is the absolute epitome of British humor. Or should I say humour? Anyway, my biggest selling point that I can give you is that it has Alan Rickman. You can't say "no" to that. Honestly, yeah, that's all I have for you. This movie is funny and it has Alan Rickman. IMDb lists it as "not rated" so I'll just go ahead and tell you that for American standards it is most definitely a hard 'R' rating; so don't tell the kids you're going to watch Snape in a different movie. As far as getting your hands on this movie it appears to have been somewhat lost to the void since it's online ratings aren't terribly favorable... so unless you're a digital pirate (which let’s be real most of the people on this website are) this might not be an option for you. Although, if you're truly desperate to see Rickman in something you haven't seen him in before Amazon has some DVDs for sale that range anywhere from $16.84 to $141.23.

Mr. Right

I actually only discovered this movie a few weeks ago. Despite its lack luster name Mr. Right is a really fun movie. It's half rom-com and half action movie. It was released in 2015 and has a similar premise to Wild Target (but it's American instead of British)... I don't know what it says about me personally that I apparently adore movies where trained assassins fall in love with their targets, but I'll contemplate that later tonight while I'm trying to fall asleep. It stars Anna Kendrick and Sam Rockwell, so yeah it's weird. But it's weird in wonderful ways and if anyone else was cast in these roles the movie probably would have been painfully awful. This movie is currently available to watch for free with a Netflix subscription or for rent/purchase on various platforms including YouTube, Amazon Prime, and iTunes.

Peppermint

If you have ever have wondered what it'd be like if the Punisher was a woman instead of a man this movie is probably what you've been looking for. This movie, released in 2018, stars Jennifer Garner. And before you say, "Garner in an action role? That's weird," please let me point you in the direction of Alias, a spy show that was beloved and starred none other than Jennifer Garner. (Yes, this is a secret TV recommendation hidden among movie recs.) This movie is gritty and dark, but does have the occasional comic relief to keep you going. While writing this post I also learned that a sequel has been slated for 2024, so that's something to look forward to. This movie is available free to watch with a subscription to either Hulu or Sling TV. Or it can be rented/purchased on other platforms including YouTube and Amazon Prime.

The Importance of Being Earnest

A movie released in 2002 based on the play of the same name by Oscar Wilde. Now, I have to admit part of the reason I love this movie so much is that this is my favorite play. But, if watching an Oscar Wilde work sounds like something that isn't up your alley you can also just watch it for Colin Firth, Reese Witherspoon, and Judi Dench. This story is described as "A trivial comedy for serious people" by Wilde himself. It's funny, it has 1800s romance, and at times is a little pretentious- but it's on purpose. If you're the kind of person that likes Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, then this is the movie for you. This movie is available for rent or purchase on various platforms including YouTube, iTunes, and Amazon Prime.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

Okay I KNOW you've heard of this one, but just about everyone I've talked to has said they didn't watch it... with the only exception being the people I've forced to watch it with me. And I get not seeing it, but hear me out on this. For starters all four people I've made watch it (don't worry I've only see the movie... three times...) has absolutely loved it. Despite technically being a sequel to the 90s movie this one is PG-13 instead of PG. (That actually makes it the most family friendly recommendation on this list- and yes that's part of why I added it on here.) This movie is just downright fun. The first time I watched it I walked out of the theater feeling like I had been on an adventure, not just watched one on a screen. The movie is filled with clever jokes and Jack Black does such a good job with his acting that not for one single minute did I forget he was supposed to be a a teenage girl instead of a middle aged man. Honestly, if this movie had just changed the title from Jumanji to... literally anything else this movie probably would have been a massive stand-alone hit. So, if the idea of messing with the original Jumaji is what has kept you from checking this one out, go into it as if it were entirely unrelated to the original movie. Though it does pay a small and subtle homage to Robin Williams' character at one point. And bonus points: if you do end up enjoying this movie there's a sequel for you to give a try as well to help eat up this time in lock-down. This movie is available for free with a Disney+ subscription or for rent/purchase on Amazon Prime, but it's not to be found anywhere else.

[franeridart]

dude your recent demon & angel kiribaku art reminds me a little bit of aziraphale and crowley from good omens!! like aziraphale would be angrier as baku obvs but still i thought of it and it made me happy lol

A lot of people have mentioned that in the tags/under the post and that makes me!!! super happy!!!! Good Omens is one of my fav books and Crowley one of my fav characters, so the comment feels nice! I wasn’t specifically thinking about them when drawing it, but possibly a bit I was influenced anyway!! I wonder if what made everyone think about them was Kiri’s sunglasses? It’s not noticeable but I did give him glowing eyes too after all haha

Anon said:Have you ever thought about how op a TodoBakuDeku fusion would be? (if they could stay together that is lol!)

Never thought of it tbh, but at this point I’m pretty sure with a lot of work on Baku’s part they’d be able to stick together long enough! He wouldn’t find it comfortable but they’d def be one of the strongest three-people-fusions in the class - not the strongest, tho, since they all have the same sort of straightforward offensive power when it comes to their quirks, I think I could find three people who’d make a stronger fusion... Baku Kiri and Momo, for example, would be even more impressive imho! Since all their quirks cover a different field, and their minds/personalities mesh well enough to have the right amount of planning and instinctive reaction/self-preservation and safety of others/pride and self-doubt/lawfulness and chaotic acting and so on. Even just as a team, without counting them as a fusion, I think they’d make one of the most balanced ones! Compared to that putting Todo Deku and Baku in the same place is just a recipe for disaster more often than not haha

Anon said:no, i move slow, I wanna stop time, I'll sit here til I find the,, inspiration to draw,,,,,,

LMAO it’s a song about art block after all, I feel every word in it a whole damn lot hahaha

Anon said:Art block or no art block, I love everything you come up with 💜

AW HECK ANON you’re so sweet!!! Thank you so much!!!!! ;O;

Anon said:Mixing thei hero names? So uuuh King Riot?

We still don’t know Baku’s hero name, so anything might be, really! It’s why I didn’t outright have Kiri mention any idea, I got no clue myself where he was going with it haha it’d be cool if his hero name were Ground Zero, because it’d mix well with Red Riot imho (Red Zero or Ground Riot or Red Ground, they all sound nice!) but what if Baku’s hero name ends up just being Katsuki, after all? How do you mix that with Red Riot? (the answer is Red Victory, or Akatsu!! from akai (red) + katsu !! ngl I’ve thought about this a lot lmao) anyway so many possibilities so little known facts!

Anon said:I love the details on Kiri and Baku's skin. Great job!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

Anon said:!!!!!!!!!! fran oh my god your zine piece is so beautiful!!!!!!!

Sob thank youuu!!!! I’m glad you liked it!!!! ;O;

Anon said:i just got my zine and the art and writing was so lovely, i loved your comic at the end. an amazing way to end the zine♡

THANK YOU!!!! I’m jelly, I still haven’t gotten mine ;O; I hope the comic was easy to read even in printed form, I’ve been worried about that for months hahaha rip at least there’s the pdf

Anon said: i’m in love with your kiri bday art!!!! with the colorless art like that, are we allowed to color it? of course no posting it, but just for fun.

If you promise not to post it, I’m cool with it! Thank you for liking it enough to want to do that!!! Seriously tho don’t post it if you do

Anon said:Can you draw more kamisero? g u d q u a l i t y s h i p ma' dude.

Maybe? Currently it really isn’t between my top priorities but who knows

Anon said:FRANNNNN!!!! Your comic for the Take My Hand zine!!!! I'm gonna cry! It's so beautiful and the boys are so perfect! Your art is so amazing, I was so thrilled to see your piece. Not to mention the detail you put in. Their hands killed me! With Bakugou's palms and Kiri's arms! Ugh, I just can't, I love it so much.

I’M SO GLAD YOU LIKED THE HANDS it’s weird bc that one panel is probably my fav in the comic and I was so sure no one was gonna really notice it but!! So many people did!!!!! It makes me so happy oh man ;O;

Anon said:Hey coulda maybe make a traitor Kaminari comic?

Nope! No traitor arts here, sorry! SInce I don’t believe any of the theories to the point of finding them outright laughable, any art I could ever make about it would just come out looking either fake or ridiculous and no one wants to see that lmao

Anon said:your take my hand comic!!! it's so good!! thank you for doing the boys so well ;;;

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOUUUU!!!!!!!!

Anon said:I don't know if you remember, but a couple months ago I asked if it'd be okay for me to write something based on a few of your art pieces. Would that still be alright? Your art is gorgeous and makes my brain think and brings joy to me all the time ^^ would absolutely link to the art and credit you. that's not even a question :)

That still depends on which art you’re specifically talking about! And thank you so much for the compliment!!

Anon said:I don’t know if you read fan fiction, but I have one to suggest to you! It’s called, “It’s Obvious When You Lie”. Only three chapters are out so far, but it’s really good!

I’ll add it to my marked for later list then!! Thank you so much for the rec, I don’t easily try out ongoing fics so this was very nice of u!!!

Anon said:In the body switch AU Todoroki sees how fucked up Midoriya feels around Bakugou('s body?) and realizes wow fuck this guy has traumatized my bf. I wonder what I can do to fuck w/ him so the day before they switch back (So Bakugou can't do much in retaliation) he takes Bakugou's body and does the stupidest bullshit ever as revenge

HECK anon sorry but nothing like this would happen ever as long as I’m the one writing the AU! For three main reasons! One, I don’t think Deku is traumatized at all! His relationship with Baku at the moment is actually pretty damn neat and on equal footing, you go you two, growing so much!! Two, Baku and Todo are friends!!! And Todo would never be a dick to Baku instead of just talking to him, if he had a problem with him!! Three, even if one and two weren’t true, Deku has no need for knights in shining armor fighting his battles for him!! He’s a strong independent boy and if he hasn’t fought Baku over this it’s probs cause he doesn’t want anyone to fight him over it!!! Also in this specific AU Todo and Deku aren’t dating, so the scenario doesn’t work for me! Sorry!

Anon said:Have you ever thought about krbk wedding?

I have! And I’ve talked about it on here a few times too! Lately I’ve been thinking about it again tho, from a designs point of view, because!! There’s that very neat post going around tumblr about that wedding photos in which one of the two grooms has a white tux with a cape, and I’ve been thinking about a variation of it for Kirishima’s wedding suit :0 something red instead of white, but generally similar! It’s a lot of effort to draw it so I still haven’t, but yeh!!

Anon said:Hello! I read this fic about your cat comics and the author said to send you some love in their end notes so here is some well-deserved love: your art is beautiful! It's why I became interested in BakuShima and I would not have loved these characters as much if it weren't for you. You also seem to be a very nice person, your mind is beautiful and I am glad you exist

G O DS this is such a nice ask!!!! thank you so so much!!!! ;O;

Anon said:Non chiedo una risposta a questo messaggio, anzi. Volevo solo dirti che trovo la tua arte FANTASTICA, e non sai quanto i tuoi comic e tutto il tuo lavoro mi ha strappato più di un sorriso in brutti momenti. Sapere che sei italiana mi ha fatto totalmente impazzire. Continua così, hai del talento vero. E grazie!

NUHHHH GRAZIE A TE PER ESSERE COSI’ GENTILE OMFG !!!!!!!!!! ;A;

Anon said:Okay okay okay! I adore your art! Could you maybe... draw some KiriBaku fantasy? If it’s not too much to ask! It can be as simple as can be! Your art is just really cute!

Yes I can and yes I will!!! Definitely and in the near future, did you know one of the app games JUST revealed a fantasy wolf Baku as a special halloween chara?? It’s just fantasy Baku with wolf ears and tail, but he’s adorable and I’ve been wanting to draw him since I saw him this morning ;O; so cute!

Anon said:Pssst. Singer Baku, Guitarist Kami, and Drummer Kiri. A good hc if I do say so myself.

It IS a great thought!! Drummer Kiri and Singer Baku have always been a weakness of mine too, so heck!! What a good image! If we put Jirou on bass and vocals too and sero on keyboard and mina on guitar, you make my fav band right then and there hahaha

Anon said:I'm not in the BNHA fandom at the moment but your art still continues to give me the warm fuzzies

GODS ISN’T THIS A NICE ASK!! I’m happy I can make you enjoy even characters you’re not specifically into! Thank you so much for sticking around!!!! ;O;

Anon said:i just got into bnha and fell in love with your art, started going through your sketch tag, and then realize that youre the person who made a bunch of haikyuu comics i loved a while ago so im! very glad to rediscover your stuff!!

HOLY GODS THAT’S NEAT!!! Welcome back!!!! ;O;

Anon said:I love it when you draw kiri with his hair down 💕💕💕 so good, so pure 💕💕💕💕

Oh boy thank you!! ;O; he’s so much easier to draw with his hair spiked for me, knowing people like the way I draw his hair when down means a whole damn lot!! 

Anon said:Hello! First I love your account and artwork! Second will you ever be drawing Mako and Taiyou again? They are so adorable! Also Bakugou and Kirishima seems like amazing dad's!

Thank you!!! And yes I will! I have another ask around here asking about them, so maybe soon! Just gotta find the right idea to draw, I got a bunch but they’re all way too long for my curret attenton span level sadly hahaha rip

Anon said:lmaaaaooo my boi kaminari be having an emotional awakening

Kaminari is like, he’s always somewhere subconsciously known that Baku’s objectively pretty, but since he knows him so well and he’s always around him and most of the times they’re bickering and making fun of each other he’s never actually realized, so now he’s like oh, NOW I see it hahaha

Anon said:hi u probably get this enough but I wanted to give u all my appreciation for ur art thank u for sharing it with us I love everything u post ♡♡♡

THANK YOU!!!! It might be greedy of me but this sorta asks are never enough for me, so seriously thank you for taking your time to drop by and be so nice!!!

Anon said:Could you please draw more of the body swap au? Or what if a different pair of students were to switch?

I’m not gonna draw any other switch with other students, because before settling on Baku and Todo I went through a lot of possibilities and came to the conclusion that nothing would be as funny as Baku and Todo switched are (or at least nothing Horikoshi hasn’t already done himself lmao) so there’s that. I might draw more of them switched, but to be honest with you the only idea with that concept I have right now is Bakugou forgetting he’s suddenly taller and continuously walking into things around the dorms, so there’s that as well hahaha

[awed-frog]

tl;dr: nope

I got a couple of anon asks about this, and I’m also tagging @twist-shout-and-shells because they asked me to, but I have to say - I don’t know anything about comics, I don’t know Marvel at all, so this review is just a meaningless rant. Like, I know so little about this universe that the first superhero movie I ever saw in my life was Thor, and the only reason they got me was because my mythology-loving ass assumed this would be about the actual god, you know?, so that was a very confusing two hours. Anyway - after this, I’m done with them. The ridiculous hype campaign they created around Infinity War actually activated my crow brain, which means I rushed to the theater because I was sort of expecting this would be a shocking masterpiece and any spoiler would ruin it for me, and - yeah. Never doing that again. Because, whatever - they do manage to come up with some good writing from time to time, and Black Panther’s success had made me hope they’d finally recognize that a solid, coherent and meaningful story is really the first thing you need, but apparently not? 

Ugh.

Anyway, here are main reasons why I didn’t like Infinity War.

1) No, we don’t need a new plague

Problem number one with this movie is that it fails to take into account that our IQ as a people has dropped about twenty points over the last thirty years (and I’m not even joking) and that means even a guy nicknamed ‘Mad Titan’ is actually given the benefit of the doubt (I don’t remember anyone thinking Hela might have had a point, but then again, women are known to be emotionally compromised at all times, right, so all that rage was probably PMS and crazy bitches, amirite?, can’t live with them, can’t live without them). And here, predictably, is the result:

I even checked Breitbart so you wouldn’t have to and while they seem confused as to whether they should support this movie or not (don’t watch because Captain America is played by ‘Comrade Communism’, do watch because Chris Pratt is a Good Christian Man), it’s still clear to everybody over there that Thanos, “an environmentalist wacko obsessed with salvaging the natural resources of the universe” is “espousing liberal jibberish”.

So, I’m going to keep it short and mostly sourceless because I saw a lot of people discussing this, but just to be clear: yeah, it is worrying that human population has basically tripled in thirty years, but the correlation ‘more people = more damage & fewer resources’ isn’t as clear-cut as some like to think. Also, research shows that women being recognized as human beings - that’s the actual way to solve this problem (see also x, x), which means that if Thanos had meant business, he could have used those frwaking stones to build schools and family planning centres. 

2) Your plan against evil can’t be just saying no

This is probably what bugs me the most both in fiction and IRL: saying ‘Trump is a moron’, ‘capitalism is bad’ or ‘genocide is wrong’ is not a political program. It’s a moral stance, and kudos to you, but if you want to make the world a better place, you need a lot more than that. But, nope - IW fell into this trap with such relish I can actually believe no one saw this as a problem - at all. When Thanos pointed out, rather smugly, that decimating Gamora’s planet had led to a new era of happiness and prosperity, she didn’t react in any way. We never saw Tony or Shuri mentioning the outlandish, extravagant idea that better and greener technology could actually save us all. We never saw anyone point out that when the richest 1% own half the world’s wealth, wiping out half of a Nairobi slum isn’t likely to do much for the environment. I guess it wasn’t relevant to the plot?

3) Turning your audience against the good guys = dick move

That said, our planet is objectively in bad shape, and writers and artists who are (or like to think of themselves as) engagés are more than welcome to discuss this - for all her faults, JK Rowling did that to perfection in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, focusing on the importance of conservation and taking a clear stance against animal trafficking. Other movies, of course, went a lot farther than that: my movie rec of the day is Okja, a masterful and soulwrenching look at how capitalism manages food production. But IW, on top of everything else, manages to be an anti-green movement movie? As if that was needed in any way? Apparently comic!Thanos’ goal was to impress Lady Death or something, and maybe they should have gone with that, because to me, movie!Thanos’ plan sounds like an ill-conceived and unfortunate parody of the green movement. In fact, eminent biologist E. O. Wilson’s Half-Earth explores this exact possibility - which is not about killing off 50% of the population, thank you very much, but about improving agriculture and urban structures so we can leave 50% of the world to the rest of the ecosystem. And maybe it’s just me, but isn’t it a bit weird the book came out at about the same time when IW’s script was being written? I try not to be a paranoid nutcase, but come on. Because what the movie does is that it turns Thanos into a sort of green Hitler whose only focus is the environment (“But he was a vegetarian!”), cue the creepy final shot of him going all ‘Schwarzy in the forest’ surrounded by clean-water creeks and happy animals while we are left counting our dead. The metaphor couldn’t be more obvious, and to be honest it is most unwelcome. Time and place, guys? I really haven’t seen something so revolting since I got to the end of the Da Vinci Code and realized atheists were the true monsters all along.

4) Being a hero doesn’t mean saving your friends

So this is starting to become a trend, and seriously, enough. If you’re a hero, then you need to think of something greater than yourself, and this is why your life will suck and suck and suck until your untimely death. Deal with it? And I can understand Loki giving up the Tesseract for his brother, because he’s always been more of an anti-hero than a hero, and his morals are shot to hell in any case, and I’ll forgive Dr Strange because he clearly saw something we didn’t, but what the hell was Steve thinking? Seriously, I keep seeing posts about how Pure and Noble Steve is, and guys, did we even see the same movie? Bringing Vision to Wakanda meant endangering an entire nation, and thousands of people there paid for that choice with their lives. It’s because Steve insisted in not seeing the big picture - or accepting Vision’s own wishes - that Thanos even succeeded in the first place. If they’d destroyed the stone, Thanos would never have gotten his hands on it, and Wakanda would not have been attacked by a horde of alien demons. Sacrificing hundreds or thousands of nameless (black, African) warriors to keep one (white) man safe is not heroism - it’s cowardice. It’s assuming your own feelings and your friends’ lives count more than the lives of strangers, and this is the exact opposite of how a hero should think. Not that I’m surprised, since Steve already condoned the destruction of half of Bucharest to save Bucky, but whatever. Compare and contrast with Tony, by the way, who first tried to destroy the Time stone, then chose to sacrifice himself to save someone he didn’t even like? Yeah, that’s more like it. #TeamStark

5) Every single woman is defined by her relationship to a man

With the caveat that no emotion, connection or motivation is throroughly explored in IW because it’s an action-packed movie during which people never speak an honest word to each other (relying instead on posturing, movie quotes and sarcastic remarks), here is basically what happens: men have things, and women have men. Tony’s journey is mostly about saving Peter and also sacrificing himself for the world. Steve is all about his friends and various heroics. Dr Strange is a sort of ascetic monk playing the long game. Thanos wants to save the universe or something. And Vision is on a quest towards humanity? Maybe? But the women - Gamora is important because she’s Thanos’ daughter. Scarlet Witch is important because she loves Vision. Natasha (I think she’s in the movie? I don’t actually remember if we hear her speak) is on Cap’s side because Cap. Pepper only appears to remind us of what Tony has to lose. Exceptions to this rule include Shuri, whom IW didn’t quite manage to destroy; Loki, who was always female- and queer-coded, so I’m not surprised he ends up dying for the handsome and suitably Aryan hero; and arguably Starlord, who mostly fights for Gamora (what is a virtue in a woman, however, is a weakness in a man, because Starlord ends up fucking up the plan because of his love for her). And I know they probably tried to compensate for the complete lack of women in the movie by highlighting how powerful Scarlet Witch is and focusing so much on Gamora, but I’m an annoying person, so that didn’t work for me. Because, again, Scarlet Witch is a 2D character plucked directly from a Victorian dictionary’s definition of ‘woman’ (while the menfolk around her worry about the possible demise of the Entire Earth, there she is, channelling all her energy in being a good and loyal companion to her robot husband) and Gamora has no more control over her life in this movie than she had as a child? Her main narrative purpose in IW is to make us feel bad for her boyfriend and father, who’re both driven to kill her (for very different reasons) and suffer for her death (and don’t get me started on Thanos suddenly loving someone and what a stroke of luck, the one person in the universe he gives a damn about just happens to be standing next to him on top of a cliff when he needs to kill her). Seriously, why is it that female characters’ concerns still begin and end with romantic love? This trope that romance is the most important thing for every single woman needed to die, like, yesterday.

6) None of that actually means anything

Look, I’m a sucker of time-travel of any description, but I also think time-travel must be done honestly or not at all. Movies like Back to the Future or Arrival both use time bending to great effect, because the stakes are real and painful and there are all sort of complex decisions facing our heroes. But IW doesn’t care about any of that. The existence of the Time stone is not about ethical dilemmas or even turning up the drama to eleven - the one purpose of that thing is to make us hope that our personal fave is not dead after all, so we’ll keep watching this stupid franchise until the end of times. That finale could have been innovative and heartwrenching, and instead we already know it wasn’t. Samuel L. Jackson is apparently confirmed in Captain Marvel, which will be released next year, and we also know they’re working on Spider-Man 2, Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Black Panther 2 and Doctor Strange 2. Capitalism has very nearly killed the possibility of creating a well-written and gutting story, because the rule is, If it makes money, it goes the fuck on. Hence TV shows which no longer make any kind of sense but we all keep watching out of nostalgia, affection for the characters or dissatisfaction with our own lives, and also franchises which stretch the plot to new and boring limits (for instance, it beggars belief that Tony and Steve didn’t even meet in IW, and their fight never came up at all: I guess we’ll have to wait for IW 2, or Avengers 37: The One with The Talk). And here, again, studios are so greedy that they willingly disregard the fact audiences will reward ‘complete’ stories: for instance, Logan was critically acclaimed and made tons of money, but the risk of ‘permanently’ killing off a beloved character is still considered too high. And playing it safe actually works: IW costed $320 million, which is about 5% of the studio’s budget, and that investment has already been repaid in full (the movie made double that in the first two weeks).  

(Meanwhile, 21st Century Fox gained more than one billion dollars from Trump’s TAX REFORM THAT WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN - probably a disappointing amount of money for owner Richard Murdoch, who has a net worth of 15 billion and is known to use some of that hard-earned cash to support laudable & important causes such as the privatization of public education, but hey, we all need to make do and move on, right? Right.)

So this is mostly it. To be fair, IW was mildly entertaining, and I thought they sort of did a good job in juggling twenty leads - we got no character development at all and no meaningful dialogue, but we saw everybody at least once and their lines were funny? Some moments were genuinely good despite a couple of bizarre plot points (I’m still unclear on why Strange didn’t create a circle of fire around Thanos’ arm, and very tired of the overused ‘Yeah, let’s save the most powerful weapons for last’ trope), so I wouldn’t say this was the worst movie ever made, but as I said, I’m done. I’ve given more than enough money to this franchise, so when IW 2 comes out, I think I’ll be a boring adult and watch it on TV as I’m doing my ironing or something. Good times.

[allthereclists]

matt/foggy rec list

this polyphonic love by pepperfield 

--------

AU

Loving You's A Bloodsport by Waynesgrayson (1849 words)

In the history books, when people are afraid, they use fire. Foggy wishes that they figured out you can't burn that of which was born in flames.

A Wizard Did It by ctimene  (7884 words)

“You want to name yourself after weather?” “I have been a sentient statue on top of various churches for six centuries, I am all in for weather.”

put away your labor // and your leisure, too by themikeymonster (6098 words)

The thing says, "You're absolutely refusing to go quietly into the night, you know. Could make my job a little easier, here."  

Matt's ribs creak, crackle and splinter, and there is blood bubbling at the back of his throat and yet, dizzy, what comes out is half-groan, half huffing laugh. "Why should I?"

Bite Me by ChuckleVoodoos (13596 words)

“I am constantly amazed by how much you suck at being a vampire slayer.”

The Good Little Wolf by ChuckleVoodoos 13,801

Foggy's been training for this day his whole life. As long as he follows the Rules and finishes the Story, everything will be perfect.

Tempt Little Red Riding Hood. Eat Granny. Dress in Drag. Eat Little Red Riding Hood. Eat Little Red Riding Hood’s Basket of Goodies. Live Happily Ever After.

Stupid Cupid by ChuckleVoodoos 14,305

Foggy plays karma bingo and wins a cupid.

His cupid is possibly the worst matchmaker in the world.

Private Property by poisonivory (14382 words)

Technically speaking, Foggy doesn't own Matt; it's more like indentured servitude. Still, the rules of the Program mean that Foggy can have whatever he wants from Matt. So why isn't he taking it?

Dead Man Walking by ChuckleVoodoos 15,064

Matt Murdock is alone when he chokes on a peanut and dies.

Three minutes later, he wakes up.

Invisible Ink by ctimene (16315 words)

“Hello, welcome to Josie’s, I’m Foggy, what are you looking for?” “Uh, nothing,” the guy replies, and Foggy is nonplussed for the nanosecond it takes to put together glasses, cane, and the way Hottie McHotFace is gazing absently over his shoulder. “Oh, oh, you’re blind, dude, sorry. But, uh, this is a tattoo parlour?” “I know.” The guy sighs. “I lost a bet?” Or: The One Where Foggy Is A Tattoo Artist And Matt Is The Worst

Knock Three Times (On the Ceiling If You Want Me)  by poisonivory (16884 words)

Matt's downstairs neighbor sings showtunes (badly) at all hours, eats weird-smelling food, and never stops talking. Matt falls in love long before they actually meet.

Ramona's Records by goldstandard 18,070

Matt Murdock doesn't go on to law school. Instead, he opens up a record store.

We Just Lost the Beat  by knight_tracer (19334 words)

Matt hears a lot in the city at night, sirens and crime--and the late-night radio show Foggy With a Chance, which sometimes runs a Daredevil Watch if he's been particularly active, but which mostly plays music. He probably shouldn't call in and request a song, but he does it anyway.

Any Good That Could Come After This by lady_ragnell 20,104

When his ex-boyfriend is accused of murder, Foggy Nelson decides to take on his defense. He doesn't know that it will wrap him up in a city-wide corruption case or make him rethink how he feels about Matt Murdock.

Nobody Said It Was Easy  by Amaria_Anna_D  (22169 words)

Foggy Nelson isn't exactly thrilled when his mother volunteers him to watch Jack Murdock's son, Matt, but after meeting the kid, he knows that he's made a friend for life. As the boys grow up, feelings and bonds change. Foggy begins to wonder if maybe he has a chance for more. Based on Iraya's amazing comic Baby Crush.

Stay In My Arms (If You Dare) by poisonivory (33765 words)

The Defenders are the most elite bodyguard agency in the world. When Wilson Fisk's personal attorney Foggy Nelson walks in looking for protection from a mysterious man in black, Matt Murdock is more than happy to take Mr. Nelson's safety in hand. But Nelson's guilt is hard to prove, and Matt may have gotten himself in too deep - especially once someone besides the man in black starts gunning for his client.

I'll Most Likely Kill You in the Morning by inkfingers_mcgee (49459 words) 

Foggy and Matt never met at school. They cross paths for the first time while working opposite sides of a case, and Matt doesn't leave an impression beyond the superficial: a blind, pro-bono crusader who Foggy will feel really guilty about having to oppose in court one of these days. Seemed like a nice guy, but no one Foggy will worry about a week later. He has more important things on his mind, like the masked vigilante who keeps cornering him in dark alleys to threaten him for information.

CANON ERA

My Boyfriend's A Superhero And All I Got Was This Lousy ER Trip by paperclipbitch  (2013 words)

“I walked into a file cabinet,” Murdock says loudly, when Claire reaches for his face, tilts it toward the light so she can check that nasty-looking cut on his cheekbone a little better. “Oh my God,” Karen murmurs; in her peripheral vision, Claire sees her press her face into her hands. “I thought we were going to come up with a better-” Nelson begins, visibly stops himself, and continues: “-explanation of that thing that definitely happened.”

a house you grew up in by LadyMerlin (3839 words)

It starts when Foggy loses control of his life. It starts when Foggy wakes up in a hospital bed after the fourth kidnapping.

Rosemary and Mint by themikeymonster (5545 words)

Matt's going to Hell in a handbasket and he doesn't particularly need a checkered blanket, he's not going to have a picnic, Foggy, but thanks for the thought, anyway.

this polyphonic love by pepperfield chapter 5

CANON AU

Illumination by keilson (1715 words)

When Foggy meets his very adorable, geeky new roommate, nothing changes. That's not true. When Foggy meets Matt, everything changes. It just doesn't include an understanding of red, or blue, or yellow. He still can't see a rainbow, he can't paint by numbers, and he'll never appreciate the supposed almost-red of his hair. (a reflection on life without color, bringing a new meaning to the phrase love is blind.)

Gonna Make Love To The Dark by Waynesgrayson (2707 words)

He knows that if anyone found out about this, that they would punish him, but kill Foggy. Destroy the source of his disobedience.

Down to the Bone by SpiritsFlame (4572 words) 

Everyone always wants to know why his daemon isn't a bat. As though being blind is all that there is to him, the center point of his character.

Dream Catcher by ChuckleVoodoos 10,944

When Matt has nightmares, so does Foggy. Unfortunately, Matt has a lot of nightmares. Even when he's not asleep.

Or: Matt visits Foggy after the bombings, and it doesn't go well.

A Secret Chord by joidianne4eva (11467 words) 

Foggy could vaguely remember a time when he’d dreamed of the things any of their kind should. He dreamt of the trucks his dad would make for him, dragging their essence out of thin air only to laugh when Foggy gaped at him, like he always did. But that would only happen if Foggy didn’t steal cookies and get in trouble at school. Foggy dreamt of the melodies that wove their way through his very being. The soft, husky timbre of his mother’s voice coaxing his own into something that felt almost right even if it wasn’t as powerful as the tune that his mom carried with her. Then one day Foggy’s dreams caught fire and the world burned with it.

[aftgonice]

What I would like to know: are there any operas you could recommend? :)

*cracks fingers*

I’m SO glad you asked :D

Some boring disclaimers first:

Obviously not everything works for everybody and this is a list of personal favorites or operas that are usually recommended for getting started to the opera world.

Be aware that some of these might have trigger warnings but I haven’t been able to find a list and I don’t feel comfortable trying to label the warnings myself. They also depend a lot on the scenes and direction used in any particular production. So if you’re afraid of a particular trigger being present in one of the operas I list here, feel free to send me an ask and I’ll try to answer you.

I honestly can’t write much about every single rec I write here as far as plot and music goes. I’ll include YouTube links to the full opera if I can find it - some of them won’t have English subtitles but I tried my best. Google has all the translated librettos anyway so a quick search should do. Also, I haven’t seen some of versions I’m linking so I can’t always guarantee that they’re the best ones but often it’s just the best I could find. (Also let me know if the links don’t work because every country has different copyright laws)

And let me just say that regardless of what you want to see, the best thing for starting out would probably be find a theater next to you and go see something live.

Let’s start wit my personal Holy Trinity brought to you by the amazing duo Mozart - Da Ponte. Basically what you need to know about these three operas is that they’re the best in the whole world. They’re all in Italian and Da Ponte was the best librettista ever and a really interesting person, but I digress.

Le nozze di Figaro

From the French play La Folle Journée, ou Le Mariage de Figaro by Pierre Beaumarchais (I read it a bit in French and the opera’s libretto seems very similar). It’s clever and funny and the music is obviously glorious, but that goes for everything that comes out of Mozart (and Da Ponte). 

Don Giovanni

This is my most favorite opera and composition forever and ever. The protagonist is amazing and is one of the best and most iconic anti-heroes of the whole literature and everyone should watch it at least once in their life. The version I linked was the best one I could find in video even though I think some of the tempo is weird (too slow at times and too fast at other times :/), but here’s my favorite recording of it.

Così fan tutte

Contrary to the other two above, this is an original story by Da Ponte and it Does Not Disappoint. The plot is so modern and you wouldn’t think it was written in 1789.

Let’s move on to my second favorite opera composer: Gioachino Rossini. He’s done both opere buffe (funny) and dramatic ones. He’s done operas both in Italian and in French but the ones I’m linking are all in Italian. I’m more into his comedies than the tragic ones and I also think they’re a better rec for someone who’s just starting out, but anyway here’s a short list in popularity order:

Il barbiere di Siviglia

The plot is actually a prequel to Le Nozze di Figaro, so some of the characters are the same. There’s a couple popular pieces that everyone has heard at some point in their lives.

La Cenerentola

Literally “Cinderella”. There’s a few differences from the original story and the Disney one that everyone knows (even though this one by Rossini has been my “original” Cinderella since I never watched that cartoon as a kid lmao).

L’italiana in Algeri

This opera is so funny and so underrated but it has some of the best comical situations in the whole history of opera.

Il viaggio a Reims

This one is really funny too -it has a couple more serious parts but overall it’s just pure fun from start to finish. 

Let’s move on to my third fave, Gaetano Donizetti. He’s done so many but to start out I’m only going to rec two:

Lucia di Lammermoor

This is a dramatic one but it’s one the best and most popular ones from its time period. It has one of the most iconic examples of belcanto and even if you don’t want to see the whole opera you should just listen to this scene followed by this one because boy can the human voice do some amazing things!

L’Elisir d’amore

Probably his most famous opera buffa, it’s really popular and for a good reason. I personally love some parts but I’ve seen it too many times to really want to listen to it on my own again, but it’s a really good choice for starting out.

I noticed my favorites also follow a chronological order, so I’ll just continue following the same order with a couple more recs from popular composers:

Georges Bizet:

Carmen

The only French opera from this list lol, I love it so freaking much and it might not be the easiest opera to start with but there’s at least a couple of pieces that you should definitely listen to.

Giuseppe Verdi:

La Traviata

Probably one of the most popular dramatic operas out there. Not my favorite, but a really good start if you’re new to this world.

Macbeth

Yep, like the Shakespeare one. It’s actually my favorite opera by Verdi even though it’s not his most popular one. It’s dark and Lady Macbeth is a fucking badass.

Rigoletto

Inspired by Le Roi s'amuse by Hugo but eh, not really my favorite one either, but also a really popular and “easy one” to listen to. The female main character pisses me off but whatever.

Aida

This is one of my favorites by Verdi together with Macbeth. Not only is the music wonderful but the story has one of the best female characters imo (not the protagonist but her rival actually).

Moving on to Puccini:

La Bohème

Tosca

Turandot

Madama Butterfly 

They’re all sad and dramatic (only Turandot has a somewhat happy ending). The music is more modern (we’re in the late 1800s - early 1900s) and my personal favorite is la Bohéme because it portrays some realistic situations that were unseen until that point in an opera (like a group of friends living together and joking with each other, couples fighting, people just hanging out at a café and so on). Madama Butterfly is my second favorite and it always makes me cry so much.

I could mention many more but I’m just dropping a final one by Leonard Bernstein:

Candide

Obviously inspired by Voltaire’s Candide, ou l'Optimisme. It’s in English and it’s everything you might expect from something inspired by Voltaire’s work. Even if you don’t want to listen to the whole thing please listen to this aria called Glitter and be gay because it’s hilarious and just…yeah listen to it. (And here’s a shameless promotion of a fandom-related post that I did a while back and that nobody saw lmao)

Anyway, I could go on and on but if you or anyone has more questions I’m always happy to help if you DM me or send me an ask!

(I didn’t even begin to talk about all the possible AUs that one could make out of any of these operas because I want to keep this post relatively clean but I already have a couple in mind - one of which I already outlined actually - but again, if anyone’s interested feel free to send me an ask.)

[danvssomethingorother]

Fanfic Recs

In honor of fandom fic rec days, just want to take a few minutes to just recommend my favorite fanfics from around the web. Please head the warnings because I like angst so rape, torture, and just all sorts of unpleasant stuff does appear in some of these stories (which I say beside the fic). I also listed the pairing, if there are any as well. I have been in fandoms for a very long time and have quite the extensive amount of recs, so I will not list all of the stories I enjoy, just my favorite stories I have read and re read the most when I am at my lowest or am just bored. 

Please do not be upset if I don’t rec your story fellow fanfic writers! If I have read your stuff and commented on your work, I do love it but these stories are my favorites and stories I don’t only love and enjoy but stories I don’t think I would be capable of living in a world without and some are so old they helped shape my own writing style as you know it today.

Batman 

In Re Robin

Warnings: Some blood and child abuse

Summary: After the extent of Robin's injuries from Harvey Dent comes out, Child Protective Services decides to save Robin from a vigilante lifestyle. Follow up to Robin, Year One.

Why I love it so much: Its not uncommon to use the story line from my favorite comic, Robin Year One by Chuck Dixon, but this one does it in a way that is special and captures the feel of why I loved that comic to begin with and made Bruce and Dick’s relationship more realistic and fleshed out then most stories dealing with them being father/son. 

Broken Glass 

Warnings: Eating disorder

Summary: Dick Grayson has always been a perfectionist.  But what happens when perfectionism goes too far?

Why I love it: This fic has been in my life for a long time, while all my other angst fics either got deleted or I grew out of because I realized they were bad, this one has stayed with me because its extremely in character and despite its kinda weird premise for a super hero story, it freaking works. Its so good and I love it.

Daddy, Not Bats

Warnings: Some violence (its a super hero fic)

Summary: AU, continuation of 'A Father's Request'. Join one 'retired' Batman as he raises his kids all together while trying to still save the world with this version of the Justice League.  One Shots, mini-series, and headcanons, life for the Waynes is always interesting to watch, especially since they can't leave crime fighting behind them. T for paranoia

Why I love it: I had to choose one story out of all the fics where Bruce raises all the Robins at the same time and this one is my favorite and it actually remembered Bruce’s daughter Cass, which most of these AUs don’t. You don’t need me to keep telling you about, I don’t want to give much away, go read it!

Miss Congeniality and the Bad Ass Ninja

Warnings: some language

Summary: Dick pays a visit to the Wayne Manor gym, where he meets the /delightful/ new addition to the family. Brother bonding fic. K plus for Dick's potty mouth.

Why I love it: This is another case of I had to only choose one out of the hundreds of stories I like about Dick and Damian bonding and I think this one is my favorite. Its in character and feels like something they would talk about and I really love it.

Teen Titans 

With this fandom, I have a theme, so I am going to just dump it down now. If you want really well written Robin being Slade’s apprentice fics, these are my favorites:

Basic Skill

summary: Slade might have Robin blackmailed into working for him, but he can't get him to kill anyone. That's no good for an assassin's apprentice. NOT SLASH 

Northern Star  (https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6478556/1/Northern-Star)

Summary: Life as Slade's apprentice is hard for Robin, but even harder for those trying to save him. Murders, schemes and hatred flourishes as the Titans, Batman, and the JLA struggle to help him. Meanwhile, Slade has a nefarious plan in mind for the Batman... 

Since it is my favorite theme, I have more stories I like with this theme but they are too many to list and some of my favorites have been deleted over the years which is just disheartening. Also these two authors are great go read all their work.

But my favorite author in this fandom has to be melimash

All of their teen titans work is jaw dropping and wonderful, I love it all so damn much. I can’t even express how much I love every single one of their stories, I wish I had half the talent they do. They are amazing and I have been looking up to their skill for years now.

Harry Potter 

Casting Moonshadows

Summary: Lonely and outcast by his classmates, Remus wishes on a moonshadow for a friend who understands him. To his amazement his wish is answered not once, but three times, by his former enemies, the Marauders. SBRL and some JPLE as well, of course 

Warnings: Child abuse

Pairing: Wolfstar

Harry Potter and the Nightmares of Futures Past

Summary:   The war is over. Too bad no one is left to celebrate. Harry makes a desperate plan to go back in time, even though it means returning Voldemort to life. Now an 11 year old Harry with 30 year old memories is starting Hogwarts. Can he get it right?

Warning: Child abuse and PTSD symptoms, this story was also written Pre- The Deathly Hallows, so Snape is presented as evil. I don’t mind because I don’t like Snape but I can see how Snape fans would hate it.

Pairing: Harry/Ginny

Another Prisoner, Another Professor

Summary:  AU. In Harry's third year he must learn the many truths about the new DADA teacher, Professor Black, and an escaped convict, Remus Lupin. Eventual SBxRL.

Pairing: Wolfstar

Harry Potter and the Something Something

Summary: Hey, wouldn't it be cool if someone took as many fanfic cliches as possible and stuffed them all into one story?  No?  Well, I went ahead and did it anyway.  Multi-chapter Mockfic.  This summary is actually a lot better than I originally thought.

Pairing: None

Against the Moon

Summary: The odds were stacked against him: a child from a blended home with no friends, no social skills to speak of, and a terrible secret. Yet slowly Remus Lupin began to realize there was a place for him in the world, if he could find the courage to claim it. 

Warnings: Canon prejudices, blood, child abuse 

Pairing: I believe the author has said you can see it as wolfstar but it won’t be official in the story. 

HP is my biggest fandom and I have read hundreds of stories with these same ideas and themes over the years but these are my favorites because they are just that damn good.

Lord Of The Rings 

Devoted (http://mariole.livejournal.com/23137.html)

Warnings: RAPE, I mean graphic stuff, please do not read if you this subject upsets you or you are underage.

Summary (there isn’t one so this is from the author’s note of the first chapter): This is a disturbing fic. Frodo is raped in his home (post-Bilbo, pre-Quest), and has to deal with that. I don't know why this topic has been pulling at me, but it has and there you go. I know this fic will not be for everyone. Frodo is basically a het character, so there are some het references and scenes. There is also slash, both requited and un-, throughout the piece, as various characters explore their sexuality and feelings for each other. The main hobbits are Frodo, Sam, and Merry. Pippin pops up now and then, but he's only 13 when the main action starts, so we don't see as much of him (sorry, Pip lovers!).

Pairing: frodo / sam

Why I love it: I tried not to put too many questionable stories I have enjoyed onto this list but I can’t leave this one out. This is the best characterization I have ever seen for the hobbits. 

Treasures (https://www.fanfiction.net/s/854350/1/Treasures)

Warnings: lots of child abuse and its abandoned, never to be completed

Summary: AU - Gossip ran through the Shire that Bilbo Baggins possessed a great fortune in the depths of his home. Several ruffians attempt to seize that fortune by kidnapping his beloved nephew and holding him for ransom. 

Why I love it: Its just so good. I love Bilbo and Frodo’s relationship, I love all the angst, and I will always mourn we never get to see the conclusion of this fic. 

My favorite authors I can’t pick a favorite from: 

MBradford (Some warnings for this author they ship Frodo/Sam and made cute stuff with them and their main series involve attempted rape and kidnapping)

shirebound

Gravity Falls ( my current fandom) 

This one is a little harder for me to pick my favorites and keep the list somewhat small. Since most of you are following me for this fandom, I’m gonna break up this one into categories and list my favorites from those categories since I know most of you are GF fans following me and care more about these recs then the other fandoms.

Ciphford 

Cold 

Warnings: THIS IS MATURE. DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE UNDER AGE. It involves Non Con and psychological abuse. 

Why I love it so much: It is so chilling and breath taking how they set up and conclude this angst filled masterpiece. I feel like if any story inspired me to make ciphford abuse, its this one. 

Not One to Forget 

Warnings: Non con elements

Why I love it: Its just so good and full of emotion that always manages to hit me right in the feels, please consider reading!

Nonconsensual

Warnings: Non con (duh with a title like that)

Why I love it: Its just so sad and such a punch in the gut every time I read it. I love it so much...

Fiddauthor 

Fresh Start  (you should just read all of @memyselfandyoutube ‘s work but this is my favorite by far)

Warnings: Technical kidnapping, memory loss, mental health problems

Why I love it: I loved it so much I even wrote a companion piece to it but I feel like the original should get more attention then my work. The build up to the reveal, the tension, the characterization are all just so spot on and perfect. I love this little piece and implore everyone to read it.

You Have A Home 

Warnings: Child neglect

Why I love it: This story has just started but like everything @amydiddle-fanfiction writes its looking to be a great story, that I am excited to read. 

Gloves 

Warnings: None

Why I love it: Its one of the cutest fiddauthor fics I have ever read and I adore it. 

The Vandals 

Warnings: Bullying

Why I love it: Ford protecting Fidds is just so good, so very good.

Fiddlestan 

In Which Stan Occupies A Certain River In Egypt

Warnings: Mental illness, physical illness

Why I love it: I have a weakness for stories where my favorite is ill and needs to be taken care of and this is everything I could want and more. God, its just so good. I’m not even a huge fan of the AU this is set in (where Stan raises Mabel without Dipper) but oh my gosh, everything is just so perfect from the characterization, set up and build up of the relationship and so forth. I love this fic, I have read it a dozen times already will likely read it a few more times before I am finished. 

A Helping Hand 

Warnings: None

Why I love it: Its so unique to find a story that jams this much character into a story with out a single line of dialogue (as a writer I know how hard that is to do so this is a big deal for me) and this story just gives me goosebumps on every re read.

Brawl Brawlers

Warnings: Jimstan and some violence

Why I love it: I’m not a fan of jimstan, so the fact I’m recing anything that implies it should tell you why I love this. Its just cute and I can like when Fidds shows his more abrasive side. Logical book thief is a great writer and I highly recommend all her work but this is just the one I read most, I think. 

Fool's Paradise 

Warnings: this story is rated M and there are sexual themes and violence, so any one underage shouldn’t read

Why I love it: How could I not love it? It is packed with great characterization, fidds suffering, and an AU where the mystery trio all end up happy together. This is my favorite fiddlestan and I would be incomplete without it.

Good Days and Bad Days (http://nuttersincorporated.tumblr.com/post/120295190724/good-days-and-bad)

Warnings: Panic attack, self harm (harm pulling)

Why I love it: Its just so good, I love the hurt comfort, its so well written and good. Also worth checking out is this author’s longer story ( Memories ) but it is sadly incomplete and may be abandoned

Gen 

Fiddleford's Secrets (this one is part of a series that you can find the rest on the author’s page Topaz88)  

Warnings: None

Why I love it: Its an interesting take on Fidds origins I have never seen before and really enjoyed it, along with the rest in this series. Its a series about if the mystery trio and I recommend everyone read.

We're All Broken

Warnings: Mental illness, homelessness, its incomplete and I fear it might be abandoned

Why I love it: Its just so enjoyable and an interesting idea of Stan coming to town and helping out a broken and homeless fiddleford and his brother who is going down hill because of Bill. 

Wednesday, 12 Dec. 1979 

Warnings: Injuries, mental trauma

why I love it: Do you know how hard it is to find a good story that deals with Fiddleford’s canon trauma after the gremlobin? Because as a Fiddleford fan, I do and this story was absolute perfection and the author was a saint for creating it. 

We Made It Through The Night 

Warnings: None

Why I love it: Its a very beautiful story filled with wonderful characterization and so much emotion to punch you right in the feels. Mabel and Fidds bonding over trauma is an interesting idea and is executed masterfully by @forest-of-stories like all her work I highly recommend. 

http://biteinsane.tumblr.com/post/156126664230/i-have-always-wanted-to-read-something-with-tate

Warnings: None

Why I love it: Its very short but its so sweet. I never really read stuff involving Tate and Fidds and it was a joy to read.

Authors

Princessedelarue  (all fiddlestan)

 theblindtorpedo (all fiddlestan)

  Logias (Meggletron) (all Fiddlestan)

   CeslaToil (fiddauthor and gen but really just read her work, its all great and you won’t regret it)

tallykale (all fiddauthor but sadly not active anymore)

Hannahbette (an archive of Hannahbette’s old fanfic that have now been deleted from this site, all are fiddauthor and all are great)

And you know, you can always support me here, if ya want to of course. I’m egotistical enough to like my own work, so you might like it too.