#I get that the most obvious shocking thing you could do with a children's character that could never be done under copyright

[arbitrarystrawberry]

so I just found out Steamboat Willie is public domain this year

[catgirlforeskin]

The new CoD campaign might be the most racist game I’ve ever seen. While Modern Warfare (2019) often felt like a barrage of cynical attempts at generating controversy through shock value moments to the point where the entire experience was numb, Modern Warfare 2 (2022) feels like it was spawned directly from the collective unconscious of every uncle you avoid at thanksgiving because he watches 7 hours of Fox News a day and can’t shut up about it, and it genuinely worries me the effect it’s gonna have

Some highlights include

The game opening with you doing a missile strike on an Iranian general who’s an obvious stand-in for Soleimani. The game portrays this unlawful assassination as an unambiguous good, and the only characters who talk about it as an international crime for which the US military needs to be held accountable are “terrorists” we’re supposed to dismiss

The main plot following this is that, in revenge for that assassination, some other Iranian general is going to get smuggled over the Mexico-US border by some cartel with a missile of his own to strike at the suburbs or whatever.

To give the game the tiniest amount of credit, a character does say that this idea is stupid and that terrorists don’t cross over the Mexico-US border, but that’s why the antagonist is doing it, because it’s unexpected or whatever. The whole thing is really fucking stupid

In one mission you play as two Mexican special forces dudes who try to stop the guy from crossing into the US. The mission opens with border patrol harassing migrants that the antagonist used as a “decoy” so he could cross somewhere else.

You then chase him into the US and go through a town harassing civilians in their homes and asking them where the guy went. You’re prompted to “right click to de-escalate!” which makes you point your gun and threaten them. Most of these people are Mexican immigrants.

Towards the end of the mission you get stopped by American local cops who are threatening you and being racist, but then they get blown up by a rocket launcher right after and it never gets addressed again.

Later you get sent into Mexico with an American private military contractor because they have “less red tape” with unlawful killings, this is shown to be a good thing though.

The game treats Mexico as a Mad Max wasteland where cartels control everything. It handwrings about how awful it is that the military and police are corrupt there and that the cartels target children with their propaganda and let them have guns, and the game of course has zero sense of self-awareness about this.

The two “good guy” Mexican special forces you work with are part of a squad called “The Vaqueros” which feels on par with Overwatch having every Japanese character be a ninja.

You kill hundreds of soldiers in the Mexican Army, just like the normal one, but the game says it’s ok because they were probably all secretly part of the cartels. You then use the pmc gunship to kill hundreds more while destroying towns and farms in the process. It’s never remarked on besides “wow cool explosions, team!”

You finally capture the other Iranian general but have to let him go because of international laws, which are shown to be bad and just slow the good guys down

The quotes that play when you die aren’t anti-war now, they’re either explicitly nationalist crap, are quotes FROM CALL OF DUTY, or are generally inspirational quotes.

And I’m only HALFWAY through the game, and I didn’t even mention everything!

The game isn’t co-op but I’ve been playing through it with my wife in call (she’s generally the one more into CoD), and the one positive thing she had to say is that the Spanish is generally good and sounds like they actually got people who regularly speak Spanish to write and voice act, like they use slang that her dad and her family in Mexico uses and whatnot.

[bestworstcase]

penny was the winter maiden for two days.

ozma has been reincarnating for centuries, if not thousands of years.

assuming that the maiden cycle depends on the exact same metaphysical process (which is in itself textually uncertain, given that the maidens are non-conscious entities said to separate from the host’s aura at death and cleave to another whereas ozma’s reincarnation works by combination of his aura with another—as described, these are explicitly different mechanisms, and because the different outcome of the two cycles (one overwrites the host, one doesn’t) are explained by this difference in mechanism, i see no real reason to question the overtly-stated differences in what is happening when a maiden finds a new host vs when ozma is bound to one), the notion that penny could have—in two days—achieved some mastery over the reincarnation process that has eluded ozma for, again, thousands of years, is… nonsense?

it’s the most grasping-at-straws out of a lot of very straw-grasping penny 3.0 theories and the premise is, more or less, “ozma has been needlessly murdering his hosts for thousands of years because he’s too stupid to realize that he doesn’t have to do that.”

when like. ok. listen to me.

in the lost fable, ozma takes control within seconds of landing in the new guy’s head. he’s not able to answer the question “what’s your name,” because he doesn’t know. jinn talks about ozma traveling for years before seeking out salem. he’s with her for years; they found a kingdom and have children. through all of this time, there is nothing to suggest that ozma has another presence in his head—until his reflection speaks to him, and he physically recoils in pure shock.

i think, when this began, there was no “merge.” ozma just landed in someone’s head and erased them, almost completely, right away.

in v8, oscar says he doesn’t like using magic because it makes the “merge” happen faster, and oz answers “i don’t blame you.”

many lifetimes ago, ozma either divided his magic or carved the divine blessings out of his soul and gave them to four young women who had helped him. the maidens persist as non-conscious entities who confer magical powers upon their host without, in any way, corrupting or taking over the host consciousness. meanwhile oscar is still holding on—by his fingernails, perhaps, but he’s still alive and himself—and he feels that using magic erodes him faster.

do the math.

at some point, ozma worked out that the divine magic he carried was killing his hosts, leaving behind just a reflection that monitored him to keep him in line. so he tried to get rid of it, by giving portions of that magic away, and it worked, even if not to the extent he might have hoped. the maidens are ozma’s best effort at sparing the lives of his hosts.

(reading between the lines of how oz phrases it to the kids—“i reincarnate, but my memories stay with me”—in combination with his obvious projection of his own suicidality onto salem? i’d bet that ozma was hoping to destroy his own consciousness when he did this, too, so that his future hosts would receive his remaining powers and inherit the task but not him.)

it’s a mistake to look at the resigned acceptance ozpin has now and assume that it’s representative of how ozma has always felt about his curse; the whole point of him as a character is that he’s been ground down and slowly corrupted in the gristmill of this curse over thousands of years.

and it’s also, frankly, a mistake to take penny clocking blake as a faunus because she saw blake’s ears through the bow in infrared or penny figuring out that ruby can carry people with her semblance after 1. ruby flew with penny in volume two and 2. several months of ruby demonstrating abilities in training that she’s been doing since v4 without consciously registering that she’s doing them, like splitting to go around obstacles, to mean that penny is uniquely insightful or good at “figuring things out” in general. she has superhuman sensory capabilities (infrared vision, aura-scanning) that give her an advantage in perception of certain situations, and she’s fairly book-smart.

that doesn’t make her capable of solving ozma’s Divine Curse after sitting with the maiden powers for Two Days in a war zone. lmfao

[iamafictionfreak]

TIS THE SEASON TO BE MERTHUR!

Just... Look at them!

I miss everything about this show. Even the very bad CGI and the weak-ass plot points/armour/conveniences/contrivances.

One Christmas Eve, almost 11 years ago, the entire Merlin fandom was butchered into tiny little distraught pieces. It didn’t matter if your favourite character was Merlin or Morgana, Gaius or Gwen. The showrunners held no qualms in destroying your dreams for Gwaine or Perce. The writers did not hold back in their aim to crucify the smile on your face, to forever turn it upside down. No ship was spared. All hopes for the show to finally commit to their original intent, to bring peace between peoples, to save Albion, to allow Merlin his freedom and Arthur the truth, was brought to a bitter, fatalistic end.

Not that I need to repeat this to you, you know what happened, but it’s worth reiterating that this travesty occurred… on Christmas Eve.

CHRISTMAS. EVE.

Christmas Eve.

The night before Christmas, the night before the day where all rules are broken and we can frolic like children around a decorated tree filled with twinkling lights, our collective hearts were shredded.

This event (once we recovered a tiny bit from the shock) gave birth to a plethora of astonishingly well written, poignant, devastating, hilarious fanfictions that had helped nurse our wounds, for nothing could TRULY heal (except a follow-up season with the original characters, come ON BBC) us.

After nearly 11 years of watching these brilliant entries grow, I never thought I’d jump on this bandwagon and write my own fic.

But I've had a few very shit years, as have many people around the world, and I started to wonder as we do when we want to prove magic can still happen.

My brain decided that it wanted my hands to write the most indulgent, likely over done fic in existence for the fandom. This thought stuck with me throughout the year – I was being STALKED by myself – and wouldn’t leave me the hell alone. This hasn’t happened in a long while.

Still… you’ll eyeroll at the idea. It's so OBVIOUS, I'm embarrassed by myself.

What if Arthur discovered Merlin’s magic from the get-go, from episode 1?

WAIT. Hear me out…

So, Merlin saves Arthur for the first time and Arthur SEES. He sees his eyes glow.

He knows he should tell his father, but his instincts are screaming at him. Honour is at stake. This stranger saved his life. How could he reward it with an execution? So, a chance needs to be given, doesn’t it? A chance for Merlin to give up magic forever and live a life of goodness, to turn away from evil and serve Arthur…

Except Arthur can’t help but wonder. About Magic, about Merlin and magic, about the law and all the whys attached and his place within this chain.

But he also can’t trust this peasant who cavorts with the devil, practices wickedness but smiles like a child and offers compassion to everyone. Someone so duplicitous must be dangerous… except Merlin’s an actual idiot! And it’s getting really difficult to keep his guard up.

But isn’t that how sorcerers work? They twist the mind with pleasing ideas, they tempt and coerce, they manipulate.

And slowly, Arthur finds himself being manipulated too. For how could he ever want to trust this man- but he does. He does.

And we’ve never been allowed to see Merlin deal with a S1 Arthur who’s in the ‘know’. Who’s forcing him to keep it secret, who’s threatening him with trial by fire, a young Arthur who’s ignorant, arrogant and so desperate to understand what he cannot trust.

Then there's the layers, royalty versus peasantry, friendship versus alliances, goals versus ideals.

I want to write a fic where this trust is built from the ground up. One of the things about the show that made it impossible for me to let it go is that the ‘relationship’ between Arthur and Merlin fits exactly zero categories, yet all of them.

Master and servant.

Friends

Family

Allies

Enemies

Romantic ideals

Platonic soulmates

Absolute Soulmates

I could go on. And it's one of those rare shows where the writing would be given more oomph if the males leads had dared cross a line or two.

Realistically, they weren't even friends. They were master and servant who'd become a little co-dependant. Arthur could never admit to anything more because of his station, but would he have been able to being completely himself around Merlin if he'd known the truth? We never see Arthur truly be himself. He wasn't allowed to be, not even with his wife. There was always a wall - it was how he was raised and any attempt to develop was killed by plot.

We never saw Merlin completely free, not with a single person. He started happy and healthy and innocent. A liar. He ended up bitter and terrified and angry and alone. Still a liar.

What would he have become if there'd been one person he could truly trust- not Gaius. Not a man already broken and brainwashed by his own self. A victim of the system just as much as he perpetuated the hate and completely unaware of the trap he lived in.

Many of the characters in the show have the versatility and potential to be written a trillion different ways, is it any wonder that fics continue to be written?

Well, I wanted to explore a slow burn development of trust, with Arthur learning how wrong he was, how much he’s trampled on, and all about the seemingly normal peasant boy who meant more to the world than Arthur could possibly understand. What would they have become if they’d been given the time, hm?

When they were young - yes, I'm going there - wild and free.

What of Morgana, what if she could have trusted? What if she could have understood? Would it have turned out differently? Would she have still become the other side of Uther's coin?

Would Merlin still have ended up alone?

There’s lots more I wanted to touch upon, it’s a big what if, but that’ll have to wait for another post.

I’m writing a 5 part prologue that occurs between episode 1 and 2. I’m hoping to release it for Christmas and then take the time to write the rest of the season.

Unless… you guys think it’s a waste of time? Let me know.

In the meantime, I’m STILL SUFFERING (fucking show) and it's making me write, write, write!

(gifs not mine)

[chaifootsteps]

I wanna start this out by saying I’ve known about vivzie for at least maybe 5 years or more now, and have never been interested in her shows until my YouTube recommended was bombarded with videos covering Hazbin which forced me (sarcasm) to watch both series overnight.

I started with ep 4 first because it was the most controversial and I wanted to actively torture myself, half of the interest in ep 4 for me was the fact that I generally have a strong stomach when it comes to certain shit, including what I’ll call trauma porn, which is basically just a constant flow of traumatic horrible shit happening to a character or characters on screen for sympathy or to poorly simulate a provocative, deep story through a constant bombarding of terrible things. I like horror and I was groomed using some fucked up shit so emotionally I’m not easily fazed by a lot of things outside of extreme sexual violence. I also have a noncon kink as a victim of sa. I’ll say that I wasn’t as disturbed as I’d initially thought I’d be, but like. Very confused and bewildered by everything that was happening, it’s difficult to describe, but at some point I stopped trying to be immersed and kept thinking about how this got published as is. The moment that it all turned into what I could best describe as a music video I almost wanted to laugh at the absurdity and how bad this all was. Like. They thought this was what? Thought provoking? Not clearly just a fetish put on screen for the shock value of it all?

It’s not one of the most tasteless depictions of sexual assault I’ve seen, but that’s mainly because it’s so juvenile, it’s akin to how children write things like this in their fanfics and oc stories. I definitely understand why people were caught off guard by it — especially younger viewers because this is tasteless as all fuck. I get having certain fucked up kinks, but like. Inserting certain things into your works meant to be seen by a larger audience is so fucking stupid.

But like, I’d argue it’s all over the place as someone who’s seen media like this. Like in helluva boss, I’d argue the stolas kidnapping episode was full of it. In a lot of yaoi stuff that I was groomed on violence is a sort of “foreplay” in the story, it preludes the noncon bits, plays into greater themes of humiliation and domination. Moxie also has a bunch of weird shit done to him that fits a lot of the shit I’ve seen including that whole episode where they meet his dad. Admittedly, I liked fizz and asmodeus because the next time we see them they’re being domestic and shit and it was a good break for my brain because I couldn’t stand the plot and a good chunk of our cast, but yeah they also fall into yaoi tropes though it’s not the most egregious. Stolitz is just your general yaoi trope, questionable consent paired with a will they won’t they with the objectifying party realizing they’re actually in love with the person they’re constantly objectifying who is made out as the bad guy for not reciprocating their feelings for obvious reasons. Also the royalty x poor person plot line where the poor person is bought at some point for the royal, the only thing inherently different than most stories I’ve seen as that stolas is the bottom and blitz is the top. Half of the reason I can’t stand any of this shit is that most of the masculine characters will definitely have a male love interest or character that they use to write in more yaoi storylines and. Yaoi storylines suck ass. It’s a shame that this is counted as queer fiction at all because it is just plain yaoi shit, and as a gay guy I hate that.

Anyways fuck this show actually coming out and fucking with the YouTube algorithm enough to get my attention, I wish I could take those hours of my life back, but I will definitely rant about this again.

Please come by again to share if you do! Lord knows there's so much to be ranted about.

[mischieffoal]

Kugrash; Rat Jesus; Bruce Kugrich; you know him, you love him - is a repressed, closeted, gay man. In this essay I will… tell you why I think that, I actually wrote the essay. (It’s not an essay it’s a long text post, it doesn’t have an introduction or a conclusion or citations don’t come for me)

Anyway, I’ve just finished The Unsleeping City chapters 1 and 2 and Kugrash has infested my brain and wormed his slimy way around my heart. I don’t need to proselytise him, if you’re reading this post you already understand the appeal of a crusty, washed-up rat bastard of a terrible father who’s trying to make up for everything he’s ever done. What I particularly loved about him was that he is gay-coded in such a specific way that it makes the poor little meow meow of it all even worse. Was it on purpose? I doubt it. But it certainly is there. 

(I doubt it was on purpose because the joy of D20 is that all the characters are kind of just pan unless specified otherwise and homophobia is only a thing that villains do in the first five minutes of a character’s introduction. So it’s like, I doubt Murph did this on purpose because he’s probably just being very queer friendly and it comes across this way because of the Kugrash of it all)

Evidence that I remembered to write down is as follows: 

Perry the Pigeon

Kug doesn’t actually want to date Perry, but he doesn't object to going to the wedding with him/sort of leads him on/definitely flirts with him/tries to let him down nicely. 

Murph did just choose the name Perry at random. Could have been a girl pigeon, but no. 

Perry is serious about Kugrash. Like, “still mourning him” serious. 

Perry isn’t only into Kug, he is an established gay pigeon who later marries another man (/rabbit)

2. The Kugriches

When the other PCs tell Wally there’s a pigeon with a crush on his dad, Wally immediately asks “What’s his name?”

Wally and David’s mum is out of the picture. David said that Bruce abandoned them when Wally really needed him, which I think implies she’s been gone since before Kugrash was cursed. Why? Who knows, Bruce was a bastard in many ways - but if his sexuality was so obvious that their son can only imagine his dad dating a male pigeon, it was probably obvious to Bruce’s ex. 

3. Lowell Masters

Kingston: finds out Lowell can Identify things by sticking them up his ass Kingston, two seconds later, pointing at his good friend Kugrash: “This man, what is this man?" Lowell: gives Kugrash an ass jacket Kugrash: “Yeah, yeah, sure thanks, appreciate it.”  Kugrash: “I smell like lube now instead of trash.” Kugrash: “We’ll link up at some point”

4. The totems

All men. When the Intrepid Heroes came up with what their totem animals would be in an Adventuring Party, they weren’t particularly gendered, but weren’t sentient either, so who knows what that’s worth

Perry (see Point 1)

The campest unicorn you’ve ever seen or heard in your life

5. Best friends with a hairdresser

6. “You goddamn beautiful boy, you fucker, you absolute arsehole.” I get it, Kug. Ricky does it to us all. 

To me, all of this implies Kugrash is gay, but quietly. He’s certainly not out-and-proud like Pete is, but his children know. Did he tell them or was it obvious? I don’t think Kugrash knows. I think he’s closeted to no-one but himself. A business man in the 1980s isn’t the most likely guy to have searched his soul for any sexual deviancy, and since then he’s been very busy being depressed/ashamed/a literal rat in the sewers. Misty and Kingston do a lot of work to pull him out of the underground and actually talk to human beings again. They know he’s gay, from the things they say about him (see in particular Point 3: Lowell Masters). I don’t think Kugrash would have ever had a “gay awakening” or a “gay panic” if he’d stayed on the mortal plane, I doubt his sexuality would be that shocking or confusing - I just don’t think he’s noticed. 

Being cursed into a ratman gives you the space to learn all sorts of things about yourself, and if that doesn’t quite work, you can always eat an everything bagel and become omniscient, when you can finally realise that Bruce Kugrich was in fact gay the whole time.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk. 

[koraesrambles]

Reasons I'm enjoying gotham war: a thought exercise.

I wanted to do a deeper analysis but am sitting in a restaurant waiting for my family to get here so might as well dive into it and I can do a more scholarly deep dive later.

I want to talk about Gotham Wars, why I'm liking it, what I think about it, and what I think they're doing well. I'm new to comics (tell me, at what point does your brain start to explode when you try to read the entire DC batfam canon in 2 months. Asking for a friend) but I'm not new to storytelling, so here we go!

K, so im a huge angst fan. It's a disease, not everyone is here for the angst but I most certainly am. The batfamily is so incredibly messed up, which is just right up my alley. I love WFA but let's be real, if they're not crying I'm not as invested. So this run where they are absolutely beating the shit out of my favorite character (Jason Todd)? Mwah. Beautiful. 10/10 will read 100 times.

I read stories for the connections between the characters, not so much the plot. Which is a personal preference thing. So the obvious plot holes and issues with the various characters points of view just don't really bother me. I can suspend my disbelief to think that heroes are running around in spandex beating people up, I can suspend it to think catwoman training an army of thieves to eat (I mean steal from) the rich is a viable idea. I don't care about the logistics, I care about how those things effect the characters.

And MAN do they effect the characters. Honestly I've loved Selina throughout this run. She could get a post all on her own. I love that she's refused to slander Bruce, I love how protective she is over her kids (step kids? Exs kids?) And I love every single interaction she's had with Jason. Honestly the moment that hit me hardest with her was when she's looking for Jason and thinks that if she loses him Bruce will never forgive her.

Obviously, Jason is a worthwhile human that has value outside of Bruce, but I think it really gives us a glimpse into Selina's mind right now. She loves Jason, she's grateful for his support and cares for him, but at the end of the day, he's the love of her life's baby boy, and it is that identifier that will pop up during times of stress.

I LOVE everything about Jason's involvement with this. I like that the tie ins are showing how he disagrees and the main storyline has him already convinced. I love that it explores both sides of his character, I love how it shows how important he is. And he is SO. IMPORTANT.

Bruce has obviously lost his ever loving mind (rip) and vacillates wildly between thinking his children were a mistake and wanting to protect them from everything. Up to this point, though plenty of the bat kids are sympathetic toward Selina, they aren't actively helping her, except of course for our boy Jason Todd.

Jason is actively working against Bruce (shocking right?) And I LOVE that Jason even tells Bruce that it's not just to spite him (though I'm sure that's a plus) it's because he believes in what Selina is doing. And Bruce cannot handle it.

Like I said before, Jason is Bruce's baby boy. The one he can't lose again. The one he needs to protect. But also he has to stop him from murdering people. And above ALL ELSE he cannot stand to see Jason in cahoots with someone else. Bruce doesn't share well under normal circumstances, let alone when he has totally lost his mind.

This vacillation has a lot of people irritated because they think that Bruce is being written inconsistently. I disagree, I think my man has lost his ever loving mind and he wants to both protect his children and STOP them. Him telling Jason he loves him not once, but TWICE within the span of a few panels while simultaneously ruining his life and leaving him completely defenseless is just... dude. My man. My psycho baby. Stop that.

Jason has always been fiercely independent and now that independence has been stripped from him. He literally can't protect himself. He's going to need to rely on other people to help him and heaven knows he doesn't have a good track record of people helping him out when he needs them.

Luckily, Dick knows about the drugging now and is super pissed off (GOOD!) Cannot wait to see where that goes next.

So tldr: why am I enjoying gotham wars? Mostly because so far everyone is obsessed with Jason Todd, which is highly relatable. Also because these relationships are being torn to shreds and looked at from a very interesting lens. Bruce is gone gone gone. Cannot wait to see his horror when he realizes what he's done.

[vixen525noms]

Defying Certain Death Part 15

Copied from my DeviantArt account, a non-sexual G/T vore story featuring adults along the lines of the lion and the thorn fable. There will be tons of hurt/comfort aspects, lots of safe vore. That is the primary focus in this.

Barrett is an adult giant standing 85ft tall and Hope is an adult human at 5ft 6. Barrett does not eat children at any point.

Warnings: Unwilling Prey; Characters in Distress

While this part is relatively tame, previous and future parts include fatal vore and violence. Barrett, the giant, is not a good guy, so will be doing some occasional bad things.

Editor: @vore-scientist

Picture | First | Previous | Next

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Barrett felt he was being watched. People, and, now that he was aware, their humans, definitely noticed he was holding something close to his chest. The mages with the stand near the edge of town watched him closely. He didn’t blame them. Some of what they sold was quite valuable, and his kind were known for liking things of value. Not that his kind were inclined to steal, but most of the mages were humans and so they knew he could be a threat to them. But he wasn’t interested in them today. He had one place he would go today in this Syorian town. The clothing store. He knew he and his fellow Syor were required to be on what Syorian called “good behavior”when coming to town. There were humans, but they belonged to the Syorian, and thus were under Syorian protection.

He felt Hope moving under his hand a bit. She seemed nervous about how he was holding her so securely against himself. She definitely seemed nervous when he growled at anyone who came too close. It was no doubt obvious to everyone that he was holding something precious and valuable to him. Everyone knew how to recognize possessive behavior. He didn’t care what they thought. They could have all sorts of guesses about what he valued so much. Although if they used their extra eyelid, they could see her life in his hand. He kept focused on his goal. He passed the fruit stand, the bakery, and various other shops. He paused at the bathhouse, thinking briefly. Getting cleaned up would be nice... But he shook his head and continued, finally reaching the clothing store.

Barrett sighed and pushed open the door to the clothing shop, and stepped inside. His eyes traced the familiar and tantalizing movement of the human workers scurrying to the back to hide. They always did when a Syor came in. He smirked, enjoying the fear he inspired in those humans. He looked at the Syorian tailor, and smiled, “Today I am not shopping for myself. Today I want to buy something nice for her.” He pulled his hand away from his chest, showing the human girl he held in his hand. The look of shock on the Syorian’s face was expected. Syor didn’t keep humans alive, unless to use as bait, and definitely didn’t buy nice things for them. Hell, they almost never bought nice things for each other unless it was their offspring. “Focus. Get some nice human clothes out for her to try on.” 

The Syorian recovered enough from the brief shock to go get some human outfits. Barrett walked over to the human platform, mirrors, and dressing room and lowered his hand by it. He watched Hope get off his hand and look around and he smiled at her, “There you go. Told you I’d bring you to shop. We’ll get you something pretty.” Barrett could see Hope was still nervous, but he knew shopping made him happy, so he assumed she would calm once they got started.

After a moment the Syorian asked if Barrett would leave their tailors alone so they could work with Hope and he immediately nodded. “I won’t mess with your little treats while they pamper my Hope. As much as they smell delicious, taking care of her is more important so they are safe... only so long as they are beneficial to my Hope.” At first there was no sign of the human tailors. Barrett chuckled, and repeated that he wouldn’t hurt them. Not today. He glanced down, noticing he was still pretty dirty from the rockslide despite using the lake to wash up. He probably looked like a real monster, like he’d been in a fight or something. He usually went to the bathhouse before the clothing store, but he really wanted to get something for Hope. He noticed one tailor peek out, then walk over to Hope.

Eventually, the other two humans working the clothing shop came out of their hiding places to start working on helping find what clothing suited Hope... well, more like what Barrett thought would suit her. Hope spoke softly to them occasionally, but Barrett was eagerly pointing out the fanciest and most expensive outfits that might fit Hope, then praising how they looked on her when she tried them on. The tailors were extremely uneasy when he leaned close to look at Hope in the various outfits.

The other humans very quickly figured out Hope didn’t exactly enjoy this much and definitely wasn’t used to such fancy outfits. They looked at each other when she commented about how awkward it would be to try to plant things in one of the fitted dresses. This was a very unique circumstance, and assuming she survived her time with the Syor, they may have to make custom outfits that were some combination of the fancy the Syor wanted and the practical the girl was more used to. She was disappointed in a lack of pockets to hold garden tools and seeds with the next outfit, but Barrett  clearly adored how she looked, and to the human tailors, keeping the man-eating monster happy was more important. 

They start talking to each other a bit about how the Syor seems to treat Hope more like a fancy doll to dress up rather than a person with her own wants... but that was a far cry better than how most Syor just treat humans as food. After a couple hours of going through outfits, they seemed to find one that Hope seemed to dislike the least. At least she could move around in it fairly well, and if her belt with pouches was adjusted slightly, she could still carry her seeds and plant samples with it. Barrett wasn’t quite as satisfied with it as others, but perked up immediately when he heard Hope speak her first compliment about an outfit. He was super excited, grinning broadly as he exclaimed, “I knew we’d find something fabulous for you! I’ll have them pack it up and we can go to the bathhouse next! I’ll just take you in with me so you can get washed up nicely. We’ll get a private one so nobody eyes you.” He definitely had some understanding that she hadn’t been enjoying the outing like he planned, but her accepting even a single outfit was enough that Barrett felt at least slightly successful.

As the humans bagged up the outfit for Hope and Barrett paid the Syorian, he spoke to her, holding her in one hand, “I don’t know why you didn’t cheer up with this; I always love finding the newest, fanciest outfits. But at least we found one you enjoy... The pouch belt you wear kind of clashes with it a bit, but you really seem to want to wear it so maybe now that the tailors have met you, they’ll be able to design some custom outfits that it won’t clash with. I’m sure you’ll have better times shopping in the future. You just aren’t used to how big it is here yet!” Hope was quiet, not wanting to argue or correct his assumptions. At least the tailors seemed to recognize she was a farmer and gardener, not the sort of person to wear such things, but they also seemed to be scared enough of Barrett to lean more towards what he wants to do.

Barrett approached the giants’ bathhouse, paying for a private wash room and entering. After going in he closed the door and paused, thinking. “Wait... It’s wrong for people to see each other naked most of the time, and... hmm...” He seemed deep in thought, then perked up, “I can put you in my mouth while I wash, and I can turn my back while you wash!” Before Hope could protest, she found herself on his tongue, and his mouth snapped shut. She shuttered and curled up in a ball, “No no no.... don’t eat me....” He tried to speak around her, struggled to make his words clear, then plucked her out again, “Not gonna eat ya. This is just so I can wash up without you scampering off. Okay? I don’t want to lose track of you because then I can’t protect you. I wouldn’t have bought you that pretty outfit if I was just going to eat you..”

  Hope soon realized she couldn’t talk him out of this, “So... I get to get washed up too?” He nodded with a grin, and popped her back in his mouth before she could ask anything else, stripping down and enjoying the hot water. Once he was fully clean, he focused on the flavor in his mouth. Humans have such a delightful flavor... But he promised he wouldn’t eat her, and he supposed that extended to swallowing her with the temporary protection. Not to mention there was limited time in the private washroom, and he didn't feel like paying for additional time. His tongue trailed over her and he purred, savoring her taste, starting to move her around so her flavor would cover his tongue. No nipping, he didn’t want to accidentally break skin or, gods forbid, bones like he did with humans that were food, but she was just so tasty. Remembering he was supposed to be giving her a happier day, he froze. Tasting her wasn’t going to make her happy. He frowned, and focused on letting her have a turn. He turned the water down, dried and redressed. He pulled Hope from his mouth and set her on the soap shelf where the water still dribbled down while barely on. He turned his back, knowing it was too high for her to get down or go anywhere. “Wash up. I made sure the water is still warm, even if there is much less of it.”

He listened as she used the water to clean up, waiting... She took an awfully long time... He was beginning to think he needed to check on her when she spoke up that she was done and dressed. He turned back, smiling at the sight of her in the new outfit he bought. He scooped her up with a grin, “You look good all cleaned up in that dress. Let’s go back to where we camp. You still have food from that cart, right? I’ll go hunting while you rest there.” He looked closer and frowned. She had bruises... was that from his tasting her? Not good. Apparently he was too rough. He sighed, “I didn’t mean to bruise you. But at least it’s minor. Let’s head back.” He then left the bathhouse and headed down the road.

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[goldrushenthusiast]

Have you read the hunger games prequel, the ballad of songbirds and snakes?

What's your opinion about it?

What's the most shocking revelation from the novel related to the original trilogy?

What's your favorite character from it?

Do you plan to see the tbosas movie in theaters?

Thank you

@curiousnonny

Definitely read it!! And loved it.

Honestly, it’s my favorite book in the series. It’s fascinating to read and everytime I do I just fall more in love with it. I used to have the entire first 3 pages memorized and could finish random sentences in my head and would quote it often (mostly to myself lol). I still do the former two but the first has gone down to just the first page lol because I had a three week reading break.

The best…connection, or revelation to the OG trio would have to be the hanging tree song. It’s perfect, and really shows us just how fearful that song makes Snow. It also gives us a look into the possibilities of a relationship between Katniss and Lucy Gray, due to the fact Lucy Gray wasn’t allowed to play it in public so only her kids would’ve known it.

My favorite character is hard. I don’t want to seem like I’m trying too hard to be different, or quirky or whatever, but genuinely it’s Ma Plinth or Tigris. Maude Ivory & Lucy Gray are also up there for sure.

Ma Plinth because she’s so real. As I feel like we all know, THG is definitely some sort of commentary on America/The modern age (reaping day July 4th, babies protected more than children, etc) and I feel like specifically her, and by extension Sejanus, really represent the immigrant struggle.

Two of my aunts (different sides of my family) were immigrants. One from Mexico, one from Canada, so definitely different experiences. While Ma Plinth is for sure more privileged than most immigrants, there’s still a lot of aspects I recognize in her I see in my aunts as well, such as only bringing small treasures, not always being able to pick up on the new places culture, always feeling like it’s obvious they’re not “really” from there, etc.

Sejanus I feel like represents the children of immigrant parents who try to reject their culture (hating his father’s use of money, constantly defying them, doing things to go against them, etc). I don’t like his character too much, but he’s definitely an interesting one.

Tigris is my favorite as an older sister. Coriolanus can barely begin to grasp what Tigris had to go through for him, what she goes through, and everything she does for him. She works her ass off every day to provide and I love her for it. It’s clear she actually cares about him, even if he can’t tell the full extent of it.

Maude Ivory just because she’s adorable and a total vibe and reminds me of my younger sister, who’s always singing lol. Like she’s just so cute and I feel like an amazing addition to the story and I just have to acknowledge that and her.

Lucy Gray…well that’s Lucy Gray. She’s badass, again the older sister struggle, and I love her! Like how could you not?? I love how she played Coriolanus so well and it just makes me happy to know she’s there and hopefully thriving.

Me & My Dad are going the very first night to see the movie! While I don’t like Coriolanus or Sejanus’ casting, there isn’t much to do about it, and the cinematography looks so impressive I couldn’t not see it in theaters or not see it all just because of that. I’m very excited for it.

Thank you for the question @curiousnonny !! I feel like I hardly get to talk about my personal relations to TBOSAS so I love getting questions like this. Sorry it took forever to answer lol.

As always, feel free to debate but not argue in the comments!

[phoenixcatch7]

Just finished playing sb ruin!

STEEL WOOL YOU HAD ONE JOB how did you make the plot holes worse.

Three characters have just EVAPORATED two were just environmental hazards at BEST and only two got any sort of character development!!!!

Literally the only new characters were a) the protagonist (expected, wanted) and b) the antagonist (CONTEXT??? LORE?? HELLO?!). 'Oh it's been down there for a really long time' HAS IT NOW?? HAS IT?? BECAUSE IT SURE WASN'T THERE BEFORE. WE WENT THERE AND IT WASN'T THERE.

The voice acting was great, I will say that. Every actor gave 110% and it really brought the whole thing to life. The set building too. And the glitchy effects!

Unfortunately the story completely fell through again.

At the start, it felt pretty clear where it was going to go. 'Gregory' was directing us down to the old afton fight area, there was rabbit/vanny graffiti everywhere, there was a strange rabbit mask that turned the world purple and glitchy and let you walk through solid objects occasionally, instructed by a gaslighting little AI that knew more than it was letting on.

Given the way it lined up with the gargantuan plot holes in security breach, and it was free dlc for the game marketed as fixing those holes, it was fairly obvious it'd be a story with vanny as the final boss, having not given up on her goal and possibly still kidnapping children. Cassie would potentially face mind control or sensory brainwashing from the mask, we'd get attacked by the broken animatronics, maybe put them to rest or cure them enough to escape the pizza plex, and at the end we'd find out how Gregory was being impersonated, a boss fight almost certainly in vr against whatever weird blue robo bunny kept staring at us (it doesn't even do anything???) and vanny irl, Cassie would stop their plans and/or burn the pizza plex down the rest of the way. Meet up with Gregory again at the end, possibly with a freddy head, I wasn't picky.

You know, closure.

Instead, the plot was... Essentially nonexistent, just as much a run quest cycle as sb despite the linear progression and lack of teleporting animatronics, somehow. The boss 'fight' was completely divorced from the rest of the game, all but roxy and the da were entirely absent of any character development, both of which were relevant for about three seconds.

The lift ending was a cheap shock value ending which only left more questions than answers. The other two, which we googled, were equally free of things like 'explanations' and 'filled plot holes' and 'context' and 'closure', and all of which were dependant purely on random actions in the final scene we were given no hints to knowing about, unlike sb. By the end we were left in shock, fury, confusion and betrayal, which isn't a great note to end your game on.

All in all, while eclipse was a pleasant surprise and roxys five new lines of dialogue were sweet and a bit sad, ruin managed to be like security breach in all the worst ways, and didn't even have any funny glitches to laugh at. Loading screens were insanely long, enough we once ate a full meal during three back to back ones and went on our phones instead of waiting patiently, AND regular. All deaths were to the slippery catwalk in gator golf or frustration making us reckless, and we had to get out the walk throughs just to navigate certain areas. Though we were told we were invisible to most animatronics in the mask no one had told any of them. Bar the endos every single one could spot and chase us in the mask. We got softlocked several times and had to restart. The weird robot rabbit never got any context or explanation and didn't even do anything to our knowledge?? Summoned the animatronics maybe but even if you didn't take the mask off and walked through him he wouldn't do anything. Got jumpscared ONCE and then we continued on our merry way.

Also the game crashed twice.

[a-student-out-of-time]

Is there even a way to have a serial killer in your game WITHOUT being all edgy and glorifying?

//There is, actually!

//If you want an example of this character done well, with it feeling more tragically dark than edgy, a character I actually do feel sympathy for, I recommend checking out Danganronpa Antebellum.

//Honestly, I recommend Antebellum as a whole, given how good and underrated it is : P

//But if you want a summary (SPOILERS):

//The first killer of the game is Ultimate Voice Actress Maiko Yuzuki. She's voiced the in-universe anime character Melody Pretty- a crime-fighting magical girl- ever since she was a child, and it became a major part of her identity. She found comfort in her role, especially to get her through her rough home life.

//Maiko's mother was a self-absorbed stage mom who pushed her into the role, fed off of her success and kept getting involved with men who were only interested in their money, even to the point of robbing them and engaging in actual crime on the side. Maiko couldn't do anything to stop them.

//After 20 years of doing this, the fame got into her head, and Maiko convinced herself that she is Melody Pretty. She even introduces herself as Melody Pretty and always asks people to call her that.

//She believed that nobody would like the real her anyway, who's a lot more awkward and irritable. As Melody Pretty, she could be all her best qualities and people would love her.

//Unfortunately, as her mother continuously got involved with bad men, Maiko wanted to take a stand against crime. Melody Pretty fights crime, so that meant that she should fight crime in the real world too. The trouble is that her idea of "crime" is incredibly broad.

//She's killed and maimed people for serious crimes, but also for things as small as petty crimes, being suspected of wrongdoing and even people who publicly insulted her. The reason she kills first in the game? She overheard her victim had a history of shoplifting.

//Maiko believes she's doing good and fighting for justice, but most everyone sees her as a serial killer. It's why she wound up in the game, after all.

//Even so, I still can't help but have some sympathy for her, especially after being exposed to so many unrepentant assholes in other fangans. Maiko is very clearly unbalanced and delusional, though that doesn't excuse her actions, yet she's also not a complete monster.

//The tragedy of her character is that she never had a support network outside of being a child actress. She could never open up to anyone, never found any comfort outside of her role and had a lot of pent-up anger at seeing injustice. And as cruel as she can be to people she deems criminals, her side video shows she cares about children too, for pretty obvious reasons.

//She's really the only serial killer character I've seen so far who I actually have sympathy for, because the emphasis isn't on shock value here. It's on someone who never got any help and never let anyone in.

//And unlike LINUJ's continuous emphasis on bad deeds, Rippile has said that Maiko could've been friends with people like Eiichi. Which honestly makes the whole thing even more tragic in its own right.

//I admit I was conflicted about her when first starting Antebellum, but over time, she's grown on me as easily the best example of a sympathetic serial killer character. Nothing about her feels like it exists for shock value or the edge factor.

//And this is why I like Antebellum more than SDRA2 : P

[moon-spirit-yue]

Because I’ve been loving making ratld characters bitter, I want to do a lil post with Benja. I find it super unrealistic in fics when he was always so calm and forgiving towards everything and everyone. Like his daughter who he clearly loves more than life itself has been on her own for years and he’s just okay with it? All that missed time? Nah, that’s his dewdrop. He may still believe in Kumandra but he won’t forget his daughters suffering at the drop of a hat. But again way too lazy to make the actual fic so we get this:

Virana, walking up to Benja: might I have a word with you, Chief Benja?

Benja, internally cringing: of course

Virana, once they’re alone: I wanted to say my most sincere apologies for how everything ended up six years ago

Benja, trying really hard not to say anything rude: eheheh. Right

Virana, pursing her lips: it was never my intention for you to have gotten shot or for Raya to-

Benja, shaking his head: I’m sorry, I thought I get through this speech of yours without feeling the urge to vomit, but I can’t. I’ll be frank, I have no interest in hearing whatever half assed apology you cooked up for me

Virana, frowning: oh, so now that you’ve actually faced some hardship you no longer have any interest in communicating with other people? Now you know how the rest of the world feels

Benja, in shock: wow, that’s crazy! But hey, look at us! We’re talking about our feelings instead of resorting to theft and attacking kids! How cool is that?!

Virana, scowling: don’t act like a child! You know things were never that simple six years ago!

Benja, throwing his hands up in exasperation: but they could have been! All of this could have been avoided, all I wanted was to talk! That’s it! Instead, I was shot in the leg and had to throw my own child out to sea!

Virana: as if you have no blame in what happened!

Benja, rolling his eyes: alright, sure, I’m not too proud to admit that I never really paid much thought to the rest of the lands until Raya was born. My reasons for wanting to reunite Kumandra were rather selfish because I was only thinking of my own daughter. I should have cared about the other four lands years before Raya came into the picture. My ancestors should have cared

Virana, huffing: wonderful, you can point out the obvious

Benja, glaring: but I can’t help with problems I know nothing about! If any of the other lands, including Fang, had reached out and asked for help, at no point in my reign as Chief would I have denied that

Virana, shaking her head: Fang people are much too prideful. Asking for help is a sign of weakness and with our vulnerability we could not afford to appear soft in the slightest. We were in what felt like a constant famine, we didn’t have the strength to defend ourselves

Benja, frowning: your pride ruined you. It made you use your own child as a pawn to get to the gem! I mean a child?! She was twelve!

Virana, pissed: and I hated every minute of it! I found no joy in putting Namaari in that position, but it was for our people!

Benja, enraged: I can’t stand this conversation anymore, I’m heading back out. But before I do that, since we’re on the subject of Namaari, keep her away from Raya

Virana, laughing sarcastically: I can’t believe you just said that. You want me to make sure my daughter stays away from yours? You’re insane! We have no control over who our children choose to spend their time with. But if it’s any consolation, I doubt I’ll need to do much since Raya looks like she wants to murder Namaari every time she walks in a room!

Benja, eye twitching: I think I understand you here. So Namaari can raise a crossbow to Raya’s chest under your orders, but it kinda freaks you out when Raya is displeased to be near Namaari? Got it. Well, sorry for wanting the girl that terrorized my child for months to be at a distance. Guess I’ve really lost my mind!

Virana, rubbing her forehead: that is not what I-

Benja, stomping off: look, I’m going to go back out there and pretend nothing’s wrong and I suggest you do the same. I will always be here to discuss matters of strengthening Fang and Heart’s relations, but other than that, stay away from my family. We would like some peace in our lives from now on *leaves*

Virana: maybe the gift basket was a better idea-

(Obviously I believe in Virana and Benja bestie rights but they had some ways to go before they could reach their true potential. Also keep in mind Benja isn’t really that mad at Namaari because he knew she was just a child trying to get the approval of her mother. But he still feels some resentment towards her for what she did to Raya. Mkay the bitterness ends for now)

[endoftheworldhere]

Thank you for inviting me to your tumblr :) As you know, I'm desperately trying to avoid the actual books, both for "spoilers" (since I'm basically reading your story like one would any novel) and because it's one thing to start a story then a character you like dies. It's another to go into it knowing your favourite character will die - and I'm not sure I can do that lol. I suppose it also depends how much Jordie is actually in the book(s). Given y'all have a whole tag about him living, I'm leaning towards he's in there enough to be loved. But, hey, like I said, there's a whole character in one of my fandoms who is beloved and has the equivalent of a "Jordie lives" tag and he's based off 1 line, soo….. But I'm still tempted because I like your story so much (and I kinda maybe have a fic idea… <.< >.>) Although, I will read the wiki if I end up getting hopelessly confused.

I do have 1 question: I've assumed my guess on Kaz's identity is correct, bc it just makes too much sense not to be. Does he have a redemption arc in the books? Or is he just bad/morally grey? Or is my question itself wrong because I'm missing too much context? I don't know if I could do both "my favourite character is going to die and I know this before ever interacting with the source material" AND "my other favourite character went 'evil'/cruel/maybe a bit psychopath not really sure and stays that way" - especially not if they're introduced as young children (which I'm assuming they are lol, lot of assumptions here).

Buuut, I also recently found out that the Six of Crows books aren't the first ones? So maybe I could read the Shadow and Bones trilogy and not have to deal with those things? Just to get a flavour of the canon world. And then I also saw that there's some companion books, like the one on the saints - which sounds interesting, but I would probably find infuriating, given what you've written of the Church in your story ROFL - and the one with in-world fairy tales - THAT sounds really good. I might do that one even if I don't ever give the actual canon stuff a try.

You're welcome! I love reading your comments and answering your questions.

Jordie has a decent presence in the books for what his role is--we have a couple of flashback chapters that were the basis for the first two chapters of a guest and Kaz continues to remember him/imagine his presence. Enough to get a decent sense of who he was, I think (though of course fandom loves to run wild with the scraps of characterization we get as a general rule)

As for Kaz--you're right about his identity (probably pretty obvious from the tags in retrospect, since his name on Ao3 is Kaz Brekker) and in the books he is a main character/narrator. You have to remember that the information you got last chapter wasn't really coming from the most reliable sources-a lot of it was rumor and gossip and trying to shock/scare Jordie--Kaz is complicated, but not a villain, and better than he likes to think he is.

You can certainly read Shadow and Bone if you want and it'll help you understand the world but it's...it's got a lot of cool concepts and interesting side characters and the Netflix adaptation is fantastic but the books themselves were some of Bardugo's first published work and it kind of shows. They're very much of the early-mid 2010s YA (I think I read them in 2015?). If your taste goes that way, I say go for it, but otherwise I would just recommend watching the Netflix series to get a primer on the world/characters. I haven't read the tie-in stuff myself but if it's recent it's probably pretty good.

If you do have a fic idea though I'd love to hear about it because this fandom has consumed my life for like the past several years and is one of the few things keeping me sane through law school lol :D

[wondereads]

Personal Review (07/10/22)

Skandar and the Unicorn Thief by A. F. Steadman

Why am I reviewing this book?

This book really piqued my interest. I've always loved children's books, but this one is a little special. Why? This author got a seven-figure deal for this one and was signed for a movie deal before it was released. I really wanted to see if it was that good. Also, the B&N exclusive had sprayed edges, so you know I snatched that up.

Plot 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

A little over a decade ago, an island between Wales and Ireland made itself known to the world. On that island, unicorns exist, but they aren't the cute characters we're familiar with. They're violent and bloodthirsty and can only be controlled by their destined riders or else they go wild. The Island needs more riders, so every year children from the Mainland take an exam to see if they could be a unicorn rider, and this year, it's finally Skandar's turn.

Was the plot fun and engaging? Yes. Was it original? Not really. I would never say I was bored during this book, but it was fairly predictable in almost everything. Each of the unicorns and their riders gets a special element, but Skandar has the ~special, secret fifth element~ that everyone thinks is evil. The emphasis on certain people and their history makes it pretty obvious who the Weaver truly is. Also, I know, I know this is a children's book, but it's hard to suspend my disbelief to the point that I could buy four thirteen-year-olds breaking into a high-security prison. There were a lot of things about the plot and the character's decisions that seemed way too convenient.

The worldbuilding itself was pretty interesting. I liked that, despite the target audience, the unicorns were pretty horrific. However, I do have one nitpicky complaint. They are not unicorns! They are alicorns! They have wings! Know your mythology! Anyways. The spirit element was intriguing, but I hope the later books introduce some limitations to it because right now it seems way too powerful.

The plot wasn't necessarily bad, but it reads very much like a typical, chosen-one, magical school story with really nothing new.

Characters 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

To be honest, the characters in this book were ridiculously flat. The lack of character development is shocking. However, on the other hand, the relationships were very strong, especially between Skandar and Scoundrel's Luck and Skandar and his sister, Kenna.

Let's start with Skandar. He's...nice, but he fits very neatly into the in-over-his-head, perpetually confused protagonist. There wasn't really anything new about him, and he felt more like someone for the audience to watch through rather than a character of his own. I did like his friend group, especially Mitchell. I always tend to enjoy a friendship between people who were originally antagonistic towards each other. However, the friend group's beginning made no sense. Within maybe an hour max of meeting each other, Bobby, Flo, and Mitchell (sort-of) decide to break the law and help Skandar sneak into the training program. Like, I get not wanting to be responsible for the potential imprisonment/death of another kid, but it's really convenient that Skandar just happened to encounter the three kids that will keep his secret.

I did really enjoy the relationship between Skandar and Scoundrel, his unicorn, because it felt like they were genuinely close. Honestly, Scoundrel was the most interesting character for me which certainly says something. I also think the dynamic between Skandar and Kenna as close siblings where one achieves the other's dream, is very interesting with a lot of potential. However, not much was done with it this book.

As for the villain, the Weaver, the motivations were very weird. On one hand, the revenge plot was good and I liked it, but then it somehow turned into world domination which just felt over-dramatic and overplayed.

Writing Style 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

The writing was pretty average. There were good descriptions of the characters and setting. For example, I had a clear idea of what every character looked like within a chapter or two of their introduction. The way the Island and its various locations were described definitely made me want to see it in person. However, there wasn't really anything that particularly stood out to me. This is probably a result of being a college student and reading a middle-grade book, but it did feel a little simplistic at times.

Overall 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

I think this book will do very well. However, I do not think it lives up to the hype. For a book being promoted as the next Harry Potter/Percy Jackson, I was expecting something pretty groundbreaking, but it feels just like any other middle-grade book. There are just a lot of very typical tropes crammed into this book like the author hoped they could use those to substitute a complex plot. Not that these tropes can't be done well (go read Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger), but it just doesn't do anything new and make the story fall flat in this case. I did enjoy reading this book, and it was definitely a fun, fantasy romp, but it just doesn't live up to the hype whatsoever.

The Author

A. F. Steadman: British, previously worked in law, Skandar and the Unicorn Thief is her debut novel

The Reviewer

My name is Wonderose; I try to post a review every week, and I do themed recommendations every once in a while. I take suggestions! Check out my about me post for more!

[surrealsunday]

Crazy theory anon here, coming back to scream at you about Manner of Death like I threatened promised👋🏻

Okay, I actually really enjoyed it even though I’ll admit it took me a few episodes before I got into it but once I did, maaaaaan it got good. So I’ll share some thoughts below.

1. Why do so many people in this place live in these mansions all by themselves? I think Bun and Nam were the only two that lived in normal people dwellings but the rest of the town seemed to be making a career out of haunting their houses.

2. After you said there were some twists and turns that you didn’t see coming, I was excited to be surprised. Majority of media I watch/read that are mysteries or “who done it” type stories, I figure them out very early on. It’s one of the downsides to having good pattern recognition but unfortunately the same thing happened here. It’s ok though because I’m still able to enjoy it and instead find the beauty in the intricacies of good storytelling.

3. *sigh* Let’s talk about Rung. The moment Rung showed up to Janes house the morning after her death I knew she was involved and honestly suspected she had done it. I know that sounds crazy but I thought it was odd. Tan was there that morning to pick Jane up for work and Rung would have known that her sister was teaching and wouldn’t have been home at that time. So why did she show up when her sister wasn’t supposed to have been home? Then her whole reaction felt… performative. Maybe so nobody would question her and maybe even a way to get any info she could about where the investigation would go but she really played the perfect grieving sister. The more that was revealed as the story progressed just kept reinforcing my suspicions. She showed up at the most opportune times to help Bun and Tan but each time I could see how it would actually benefit her and whoever else was involved if you looked at it from a different perspective. Human trafficking? Rung owns a “spa”? The “rescued” girls are staying there? Interesting. When Sorawit got shot outside the secret house in the woods, he fell in front of a car that looked just like hers. The hell would she be doing out there? Definitely involved. At the end of the day she wanted power and money and had no qualms about torturing her sister to get it all because she was jealous and vindictive over Pued. Did you see the light in her eyes when she saw that the Judge was lusting after her baby sister? The opportunity she saw there? Disgusting. Maybe she was used in the past as well like she hinted, and I would have some sympathy for the person she was then but I’m not sure I believe her. If it is true that actually makes it doubly worse bc how could you then turn around and willingly do that to those children while profiting? That woman was a heartless monster, I never had any sympathy for her crocodile tears and I’m glad she ended up the way she did. A murder staged to look like a suicide. Beautiful. Poetic. Deserved. 👏🏻

4. I really wanted to be shocked about the Judge! That looked like such a breathtaking reveal if you didn’t see it coming. He also seemed rather obvious from the start. Too helpful and too calm about everything. Then they showed that flashback to Jane threatening to expose them at the party before she died. I knew I was right the moment I saw the judge sitting at that table with the rest of them. When I saw that I was like damn, yeah, he’s definitely involved. Only later to find out he was the most violent and depraved of all the men there.

5. On a positive note I will say that I’m happy Inspector M turned out to be a good guy and a great cop. He seemed like he’d be a character with strong morals in the beginning but, I did start to wonder if he’d been bought off when he started his shit about the autopsy report, trying to go against Buns findings in order for Janes death to be ruled a suicide, and the tug of war with the laptop. They almost had me questioning him but I never lost hope that he’d make the right decision and I’m so glad that it didn’t go another way. He ended up being such a key part of what made the plan work and I don’t think it would’ve gone their way had he not helped Bun and Tan. I’d also really love to live in TV world where people get beat to shit and shot multiple times only to be kicking ass a day or two later with nothing more than a minor limp. Man has healing powers to rival Kinns lol! Also the actor was super attractive. Just saying.

6. Nam! Omg this girl wasn’t phased by anything! After all the horrors she was put through, after all the failed escape attempts and failed rescues, she never backed down and was able to stay strong. The experience will definitely leave some permanent scars but she seems like the type of person that could deal with it head on and push through. She also had the balls to I.D. the Judge right in front of his face. Like yes you go girl! I just respected her so much for her strength.

7. That and Sorawit were adorable. I didn’t expect That to be a character I’d like as much as I did. When he beat up Sorawit in the beginning and then was threatening Bun I was wary of where they’d take it with him but he ended up being a brave kid with a good heart just like Sorawit. I’m also a little bummed that their relationship didn’t progress much on the show. They obviously had feelings for each other but that was never really fleshed out so I’m not sure why they hinted at it so much in the first place. Either way I enjoyed their schemes and interactions.

8. I’m not going to say much about Pued bc I’m still not sure how I feel about him. I’m disgusted that he was willing to do what he did to Jane (and possibly at one time to Rung seeing as his Playboy status was mostly him “recruiting” girls for the business) and I do feel like he loved Jane at least in some way but to sell your girlfriend out like that? For a better position? At least in the end he regretted his part in all of it and especially what it had done to Jane. So I don’t like him but I do respect that he was going to do the right thing in the end. I’ll give him that much. I also very much liked his relationship with Tan. They had such a messed up family dynamic so it was nice to see that Pued loved him as a brother, a whole brother, and was willing to stand up to Por when he was being unfair and cruel. That’s the beauty of flawed characters I guess. I also wish they had revealed more about the brothers and their past with their father.

9. I didn’t expect to like Por. I really didn’t but I liked him in the way I like any morally ambiguous character. He wasn’t law abiding nor “good” by any means but he had his own fucked up moral compass that sometimes just made sense and he really would do anything to protect the ones he loves. Even Tan once he got past the grudge he held against him for so long. That man had a life mission to avenge his brother and I was rooting him on the whole time. Honestly I just think he’s neat 🤷🏻‍♀️

10. Also a big shoutout to Pat. I need to apologize for calling him a heartless asshole in the beginning because they wouldn’t have had any info without that man and he didn’t deserve to meet such a horrible end. He gave his life to tell the truth and almost didn’t get the chance.

11. Okay okay okay. Onto Bun and Tan finally. I’ll admit that I wasn’t into their dynamic in the beginning but I think that mostly had to do with me not understanding what exactly Tans relationship was with Jane. I was hoping they wouldn’t hook him up with Bun immediately after his supposed gf was murdered but then when it was revealed that they were just friends, it made more sense. As for their chemistry? Listen, you know as well as I do that it’s hard having KP and MA as your intro to BL couples because their chemistry is just off the damn charts. Everyone else has paled in comparison so far. Now, Bun and Tan did have good chemistry and it was very apparent during a couple of their more intimate scenes but I do feel that their relationship progress was somewhat hindered due to the enormous plot of the story. The mystery was great and executed well but I feel the main characters relationship suffered because of it. It would’ve been nice if they’d spent a little more time developing them. For example: why make it a big deal that they met 8 years ago at school only for them to pretty much do nothing with that later on? It’s not even just about them as a couple. I kind of walked away feeling like I learned so much more about the side characters than I did about the two leads. I’m also not a fan of how a lot of BL’s like to make one character very affectionate but the other half is always reluctant/defensive with it and they did some of that with these two. I did enjoy at the very end to see Bun finally being cheesy and romantic with Tan in their final scene together. And the marriage proposal? I mean I would’ve still said yes but Tan would’ve received a crisp slap for that set-up. Not funny Tan. Not funny. The box was cute tho.

12. Can we talk about Jane? Just poor Jane. Everyone she trusted just used her up and then gaslit her when she begged for help. That’s why imo out of all of the people who were a part of this disgusting organization, Rung was the worst. Watching Jane in those last couple episodes almost broke me and I couldn’t imagine my older sister doing those things to me and not having the slightest ounce of compassion watching me breakdown because of it. Jane was unfortunately naive and her sister knew she could use that to her advantage and for too long it worked. Then that moment when Jane sees Natty at the Orgy and realizes how bad it truly is? The realization that this is happening to children and one she actually knows? Yeah I fully understand why she risked it all. It’s so heartbreaking that a good, trusting person was used and abused like that but her perseverance and determination to tell the truth, no matter the risk to her, is what made me love her and I’m so happy that Bun fought tooth and nail to make sure her voice was heard and that she didn’t die for nothing.

13. Inspector Tong was so pathetic he barely deserves mentioning and I’ll forever be livid that the Congressman escaped. Although I do find it a bit funny that he had to escape the same way they transported those poor girls. I hope it was a nightmare.

14. Also another big shoutout to the computer geek superhero who’s name I never learned. They would’ve been nowhere without him and he was also a much needed comedic relief on more than one occasion. That cute lil hug with Tan and Bun at the end made me giggle.

15. That town had one braincell and unfortunately Bun and Tan were the two who used it the least. I was yelling at them when they saw Junes email and password in that book. CLUES YOU IDIOTS THERE COULD BE CLUES! Glad Bun remembered at the very last second.

I want to add that I appreciate the content warning you gave. I’m someone who’s a big believer that we are responsible for our own triggers out in the world and I think it’s actually important to face those things when we encounter them. That being said, the subject matter was dark and some things affected me in a way that I didn’t expect and without going in prepared, I think I would have had a different experience. So again, thanks for the heads up. I really enjoyed this though and I’m kinda sad it’s over tbh so I’m excited to start “Not Me” in the next few days and see where it leaves me. Again, thanks for the recs Jaime! Sorry this got so long.

Omg yessssssssss

Ok I'll put my response under a jump so this isn't too long...

So I agree, it took me a couple eps to get into it too but thankfully I was in the mood to endure and I was intrigued enough by the premise.

1. True! There were some wild homes actually. In fact, a lot of the scenery in general was pretty gorgeous. But Tan's home was crazzzzzy.

2. I remember being a little sus on the sister initially but I fully did not see the story of her literally selling her sister coming. When you lay out your own suspicions though it totally makes sense you figured it out. Tbh, I just didn't pay that close of attention. Rung really was the most despicable human and I think the depths of her depravity and how viscious she was to her sister was what shocked me the most. Especially when her sister loved her so much. That was heartbreaking. I completely agree that I loved how she met her end. Very deserved.

4. I also had figured the judge was involved. He just seemed like a well placed character for it an a 'surprising' choice. I found the details tended to throw me the most. As you say, he was absolutely depraved. I was so not used to BLs diving into such dark themes and the way this story committed... damn. Like, the story required it, but holy shit. It was a dark story.

5. One thing I loved was how Bun was constantly calling out the police force on being corrupt and inept. So I was pretty damn critical of Inspector M initially, but I liked how that developed too and that he actually was a good guy. I lol’ed at your comment about healing powers. The power of the BL world truly lolol. 

6. Nam was such a badass. I was so disturbed by that moment Jane sees her in the... I don’t even know what to call it? But you’ll know the moment I’m referring too. Like, I could just feel Jane’s total horror in that moment. I’m so glad things turned out the way they did for Nam. 

7. The That and Sorawit story was quite adorable and unexpected. I think it was supposed to be a cute little ‘Tan and Bun if they had met in the past’ sort of thing. Nothing too serious and a way to help humanize and soften That. 

8. I agree that Pued was a hugely flawed character. I actually liked how dark the truth was - with him basically handing her over. It was terrible but I liked that he had serious reasons to feel an incredible amount of guilt. I didn’t like him either but I did appreciate a lot of his scenes, especially that love but conflict situation he had with Tan. And it did break my heart when Tan started crying when Pued collapsed. Because as much as the brothers fought, Pued was one of the only family members that truly loved Tan. 

9. “Honestly I just think he’s neat”  😂 😂 😂

10. I felt so bad when Pat died even though it was pretty obviously coming. I liked the reveal of Jane slipping him the USB drive. It really was nice to realize there was more going on there than him just being a dick reporter. 

11. Omg the thing about not understanding Tan’s relationship to Jane. SAME! Like, obviously that was intentional on the shows part but I saw this post that basically said, ‘To think how easily Tan could have cleared so much up by just simply saying ‘I wasn’t dating her’ but he refused to do so’ and it’s so true 😂. What a chaos gremlin. So I admit I felt very conflicted and weird about Tan and Bun initially too. I kept waiting for the reveal about Tan and Jane not being together but it was unclear for a while. I do agree that the relationship progress was hindered by the plot. This show felt much more plot-driven with a sprinkling of ‘romance’. And there were moments I was confused by them not taking more advantage of the situation. Like Bun and Tan sharing a bed for so long? And we basically just... never saw it? All I could think was that the show was trying to very actively avoid common tropes (i.e. sharing a bed trope). I get what you mean about not being a fan of that whole thing with Bun being so much more timid and resistant (on the surface). It’s not my fave thing either. And I’m actually not sure what that whole ‘they met 8 years ago’ thing was about. I was thinking maybe it had more impact in the book? And that was just lost in the show. I enjoyed them but I do think the show was massively helped in that department by the actors’ chemistry. I did love the domesticity aspect of their relationship and how they so easily and comfortably sunk into life lived together. It made them getting married at the end not seem out of the blue. Tho... SAME. I would have punched Tan for that proposal stunt... my god. For Bun to still find that moment romantic... truly they must be made for one another lol. 

12. God, poor Jane!!! Ah yes you mention the moment when she sees her student here. She really was just used and abused by everyone she trusted the most. That’s why I was so glad that it was made clear throughout the show that Bun truly cared for her and wanted justice for her (and Tan too - though that was unclear for much longer as his motives were so mysterious in the beginning). Her story was just so gut-wrenching. But I am glad the show didn’t pull punches. You know how in some shows it’ll be the surprise reveal of ‘oh look, they’re not dead!’ so that the story isn’t so dark? I always feel like it completely takes away from the impact of the original story they were telling. And this story was too damn dark to pull punches in any way. So as horrific as the details were, I was glad they didn’t flinch from them. 

13. Ohhhh I forgot the Congressman escaped! It made sense to me in the storytelling because... well, that’s reality. It’s exactly what I would expect to happen. But god that made me mad too. 

14. Bless the computer geek! 

15. OMG the password moment 😂😂😂. Yes, same! Thank god they didn’t draw that out. 

I’m glad I did warn in that case and you were at least a little more prepared. It’s definitely a way different take on a show from what is normally seen in the world of BLs. That’s I think why I appreciated it the most. I’m so used to the more teeny-bopper takes on these stories, that I truly welcome more adult approaches (hello Kinnporsche). It was so interesting to read your review! I loved hearing all of your thoughts. 

I will be so curious to hear what you think of Not Me. I just had a friend watch it over the past couple of days too so I’ve been reliving it. I think you’ll enjoy. Something to know about it is that it was shot on an extremely small budget and in some cases they were literally shooting scenes the week before they aired, with the director editing up until the night before the ep aired. So that’s not to warn you the quality will be bad, because it’s not, but just to give you context on how incredible what they achieved was. They used real footage from protests as well as actual protestors and protest leaders in scenes. And some of the events that take place are based on real events. So it’s a fascinating story. Also the director is a transwoman and I think that pov really adds an important dimension to some of the issues tackled. It has some definite flaws (you’ll likely notice this more in the last couple of eps as the story wraps up) but overall it’s a far different level of quality from other BLs. And it’s absolutely the best acting I’ve seen in BLs outside of Kinnporsche. I think you’ll be entertained! 

[venomsreviews]

I decided to make a gif set solely focused on the movie that got me into the Venom Mob and martial arts films in general! Lo Mang and Chiang Sheng will be in the next set! I genuinely cannot express my love for this film enough. While I loved how it was filmed and all of the beautiful scenery throughout the movie, it was truly the actors that really captivated me, along with the unique plot.

I was drawn to how each actor portrayed the character and their development throughout the movie. It was my first time seeing Lu Feng, but I found that he played Dao Chang with a colder, more menacing demeanor, which fit well after everything he went through at the beginning of the movie. However, there was something about his performance that made me think about the character himself. It is just my personal opinion, but I genuinely think a lot of his temper and violent nature were partially due to his father. I felt that perhaps there was something deeper to Dao Chang, like he was actually a pained, traumatized character underneath his demeanor, since it seemed he was raised with the purpose of harming the Tian Nan Tigers’ children. This is not me saying that I approve or condone any of his actions, since I don’t. It just made me think about some of the depth of the character, even though it isn’t explicitly stated. I found it intriguing and those thoughts really traveled with me even after the movie was over, since there were moments where you could see him just watching his father or listening closely. His fights were so precise with little details that made them even more exciting. I remember how thrilled I was during his fight with Chiang Sheng. It had me on the edge of my seat!

At first, I wasn’t sure what to think of Sun Chien’s character, but I did enjoy how expressive he was when you first saw Hu Ah-Kue. He seemed to have a good grasp on how to portray anger without it becoming physical. I was saddened when (spoilers ahead) he lost both of his legs because the pain did come across quite well. It especially broke my heart when some other characters were purposely mean to them because Sun Chien looked hurt/scared. I even noticed that he gripped onto Kuo Chui’s arm while they were being attacked. Hu Ah-Kue really started to grow on me when I noticed how he began to change as time went on, since he was much more concerned and caring after his anger at the beginning dwindled. I liked how determined and heroic he happened to be as he kept trying his hardest to learn how to walk again. The happiness and strength he displayed had me rooting for them all to succeed. He had such great chemistry with the other actors. Sun Chien truly has gorgeous kicks. My jaw almost dropped because I had never seen anyone kick like that or even jump so high. I had never really seen anyone practice taekwondo, but Sun Chien's form and obvious skills drew me in. Truthfully, he still does since it never gets tiring seeing him perform.

Kuo Chui had me in awe. Chen Shuen is probably my favorite character in the film. I was shocked that Kuo Chui did such a great job when it came to not looking directly at any of the actors or things around him (except for maybe one occasion), because his character was blind. I remember being so curious how he could do his acrobatics or even practice with the rings without focusing directly on them for the most part. I could never do anything like that! I probably would have flinched or had to keep looking if I were doing such incredible fight scenes. Chen Shuen was such a lovely character as well, because he always tried so hard to communicate with Wei Jia-Jie (Lo Mang). Their relationship and chemistry had me smiling the entire time because they were so cute when they interacted. My heart was also warmed when he held Hu Ah-Kue protectively when Ah-Kue grabbed onto his arm since they both seemed shaken up by what had happened to them. Kuo Chui had such a great way of displaying how Chen Shuen interacted with each character in a different manner, as he found a way to work with them in a way that was fitting towards their personality. It didn’t matter what Kuo Chui was doing honestly. I eagerly followed each graceful movement as he demonstrated his opera training or acting abilities.

Honestly, there is probably not enough room in one post for me to pour out all my thoughts, but I tried to get my point across. I will never forget my first time watching Crippled Avengers and how magical it was. I adore the Venom Mob with all my heart and I’m really passionate about them, so you will have to excuse my rambling. I just wanted to talk more about them as I feel I don’t do it enough.