#also episode 8 is absolute peak fiction definitely on my top 5

[radioactivemelody]

gotta love homura's pipeline on episode 8

girl just went from committing attempted murder at sayaka to having an emotional breakdown in front of madoka

[sheikah]

Thank you for being a ray of sunshine in this fandom, all the amazing people that create things here and on ao3, and twitter etc are the reason I'm still hanging on because I am NOT looking forward to what they're going to do to Aleksander ( any form of nuance Ben put into the character and his motivations trying to protect the grisha and how ultimately this is a race that's being persecuted and that's the actual problem of this fictional world will with absolute certainty be a far away dream) and darklina ( I trust them even less with them) in s2, it is gonna be brutal for us . S1 was our peak and it's gonna go so downhill from here we'll go underneath the bottom of the hill and dig deeper until we're six feet under 🤣. It honestly breaks my heart because they have the kind of potential that's so rare and the kind of chemistry that happens even more rarely and the loss of that breaks my heart and my only solace is and will be fandom and especially fanfic, also I love that you love modern au darklina because same , something about imagining them loving all these lives in alternate universes where they can be happy together just sends me... Anyway you're such a lovely person and I'm sorry for the ugly hate you've gotten ❤️

Thanks so much for the sweet message, anon! I really appreciate all the kind words. Tbh the hate has been pretty minimal and tolerable and it is far outweighed by positivity and good relationships with people I've met in this fandom so, no worries!

As for your season 2 concerns, I definitely share them. There are lots of moments when I find myself in the same boat with the same fears you have. BUT here are a couple things that give me hope.

Ben is in all 8 episodes. Based on how much the Darkling actually featured in Siege and Storm, I consider this an encouraging sign that they changed things in our favor.

Season 1 had extra Darklina content that we didn't get in the books, like the fountain/forest/horseback date scene, Alina comforting him and banishing his darkness in the war room, Alina dressing him in his kefta. Plus the scenes that we did get from the books were softer and more romantic, like the Winter Fete kiss and even the "Fine, make me your villain scene." All of those were conscious choices to endear Darklina to the viewers. 

And lastly, that bit about endearing them to the viewers worked, and worked really well. Episode 5 is the most highly-rated episode of the season. That photo of Ben and Jessie from yesterday? Got almost as many likes as the season 2 announcement on Insta AND on Twitter. No other post has even come close haha. Posts featuring them always do numbers on social media and ScreenRant rated them the top ship in the series. And then there was that hilarious crack video posted by the official Netflix accounts. It's part of the "Its a Ship Show" series, and the Darklina video got more than twice as many views and likes as any of the other ships featured in the series. What I'm getting at is that Darklina is extremely popular and well-loved by fans. The Grishaverse fandom here and on Twitter doesn't seem to be representative of the general audience. All the outrage and pearl-clutching about Darklina is a tiny blip compared to the overall fandom of people that love them. And Netflix knows this. Take hope from that!

[mia-cooper]

2019 fanfiction in review

I usually put more effort into pimping my favourite fics of the year, boosting a few new writers in my fandoms, etc. This year, however, I have not, for reasons both within and beyond my control. Which is pretty much my excuse for not Doing Better with writing for the past month or so, but hey. At least there’s this.

.......................................................

1. Best fic(s) you read all year, and why?

How can I even begin to list all the beautiful, shocking, feel-good, feel-terrible-but-in-a-good-way, envy-inducing, page-turning, soul-destroying, fluffy, hilarious, infuriating and horny fics I’ve read this year? I can’t. So I will instead list three that come immediately to mind.

@curator-on-ao3 – The Dismissed Protocol (rated T, VOY, TNG, Janeway & Crusher)

This fic made me angry. So angry that I left a ranty and incoherent comment, slammed down the lid on my laptop and stormed around the house for a bit. Why was I so pissed, you ask? Because this fic hit a good few of my personal triggers around bodily autonomy and the right to make informed choices, and because although the fic ends triumphantly, it’s somewhat of a pyrrhic victory and it left a really bad taste in my mouth. Which, considering this is fiction, is the mark of some really good writing. When it comes to tackling difficult topics with a fresh and thought-provoking perspective, and without opting for the easy answers, Curator never disappoints. This story is just one of many examples of that in her work.

@love-in-the-time-of-kolinahr​ – it will take place without witnesses (rated E, DSC, Pike/Number One)

Okay so let me start by saying it was the author’s fucking EXCELLENT pun of a pseudonym that made me read this in the first place. Then it was the poem they quoted (Discovery by Wislawa Szymborska, which is like a portentous rocket in the guts). Then it was Una’s scales-off-the-eyes, we-are-true-equals, don’t-bullshit-me-lover candidness in the way she sees, talks to, knows Chris Pike. I adore Pike in his laconic-space-cowboy-with-a-heart Disco incarnation, I like him a lot as the CoolDad in AOS, but this fic? This fic gives me smart, forthright, deeply tender Number One, and Pike as the fractured and very human hero I hope like hell we’ll see more of because they are definitely making a Pike series RIGHT? It is written. Anyway… this fic is beautiful and harsh and deft and real and sexy and poetic and at its core it’s about love, and who doesn’t love love?

@captacorn​ – Stars in a Ruined Sky (rated M, VOY, Paris/Torres)

It took me a while to read this one because CaptAcorn was posting it at the same time I was writing my epic, and I had no brain space to maintain a hold on someone else’s dark and compelling plot. But when I picked this one up, I couldn’t put it down. It is AMAZING. A Timeless AU, set in a universe where Voyager crashed and most of the crew survived, this goes where no other 100k+ epic I’ve read before has dared to tread, and it does so without flinching. The details are what make this unforgettable – there’s no magic reset button, so when something bad happens to the crew, there are actual lasting consequences – but it’s the humanity of the characters (if I can use that word to describe a crew that includes aliens) that makes it unputdownable (fuck off, my nana said that’s a word). This is not an AU I want to think happened, but CaptAcorn makes it one that rings true. And I’ll definitely read this again when I have the emotional fortitude for it.

Wow, there’s no Janeway/Chakotay in my top three. What? So here’s a bonus:

Northernexposure’s trilogy – Soft Light, Aftershocks and Resolution (rated E, VOY, Janeway/Chakotay) – three for the price of one! I mean, when northernexposure posts a new fic I race to read it no matter what, but smut! Beautifully written, true to character, sexy sexy smut from one of my all time favourite authors! How could I turn that down?

2. Best fic(s) you published all year, and why?

Mmmyeah to be honest I kinda feel as though my writing peaked in 2017, but here we go.

Desperate Measures (rated E, VOY, Janeway/Chakotay and other pairings) – because there’s angst and smut and the plot is twisty as fuck and I feel like there’s a pretty satisfying payoff. And it’s really long and relies on the reader engaging with my OCs which people seem to have done, which makes me think that if I ever do want to go write another original novel, maybe I won’t want to burn it as soon as I’m done.

This Is The Moment (rated M, DSC, Pike/Tyler) – because these two have exhausting chemistry and I couldn’t not write this but it was hard to make it come out of my brain the way I wanted it. But I’m really happy with it.

And I have a soft spot for First Officer’s Log (rated T, VOY, Chakotay & Tuvok, implied Janeway/Paris), because I just really love Threshold, okay? And while the episode is wack on so many levels there are really dark and heavy themes to explore there which I feel have gone very unexplored and I hope my fic struck that same balance between moral philosophy and holywhatthefuckery.

3. Favourite opening line(s) in a fic you published in 2019:

From Bad Maquis (rated M, VOY, Janeway/Chakotay):

The only thing more restrictive – and bosomy – than this outfit, Kathryn mused as she stared at her reflection, was her holodeck governess costume.



Still, at least she didn’t have to leave her quarters wearing this getup, and thank goodness for small mercies. Because she was on the verge of backing down from this challenge as it was, and Kathryn Janeway did not chicken out. Ever.

I mean, it sets the scene, doesn’t it? Who doesn’t love Janeway in leather.

4. Favourite closing line(s):

This is maybe cheating a little bit because this fic isn’t finished, but this first chapter can stand alone and I won’t be continuing it for some time (first, I have to finish the two prequels, haha). Anyway, these are the closing lines from Inertia (rated T so far, VOY, Janeway/Paris and others):

When the daze clears and Tom looks up to discover that his hovercar is parked in front of an address he’s never visited but has nonetheless memorised, maybe he should feel a little bit surprised.



He doesn’t. No matter how far he tries to go or how long he stays away from her, turning up at Kathryn Janeway’s door is inevitable.

Why do I like it? Well, I have an everlasting appreciation for Janeway/Paris, for one thing. For another, if you read the rest of the story and understand what Tom has just learned, you’ll want to know what happens next. I hope. I sure want to know.

5. The fic that was best received, and your favourite comment(s) on it:

That would be Desperate Measures again. It’s my longest fic by far and I was absolutely bowled over by the response to it, but one of my favourite comments on it is this one:

It actually looks like Janeway is saying gimme and it cracks me up.

Honestly though… the depth and kindness of comments on that fic in particular, the time and thought and effort that people have put into their reviews … it made up for every moment I wanted to chuck it in and never look at that fic again, or any other.

6. The fic you wish had gotten more love:

Honestly, I was surprised there was so little response to my @voyagermirrormarch​ fic trilogy, Heaven in the Shape of Hell. I really thought they’d be crowd pleasers, but it shows what I know, lol. I haven’t even finished the third one because the lack of interest made me wonder if they were just really shite, but I’m not so butthurt about it anymore and I will come back to it someday.

7. How many fandoms you wrote for in 2019, and which inspired you most:

Does Star Trek in all its incarnations count as one fandom? If so, I wrote for two (Trek and Marvel). If all the different versions of Trek count separately, I wrote for seven (MCU, AOS (that’s Trek Alternate Original Series, not Agents of SHIELD), Disco, Mirror, Enterprise, DS9 and Voyager).

Anyway, I guess I’ll never stop being inspired by Voyager, so even if Disco season 3 and the Picard show do nothing for me, I’ll always have that.

8. Your favourite pairing(s) to write for:

I mean, Janeway x Chakotay, for sure. But I’m deeply, deeply invested in Janeway x Paris at the moment.

9. What you’re writing now/next:

I’m struggling through the second part of what was supposed to be my contribution to @25daysofvoyager​. I’m actually going to post the first part once I’m done with this quiz in the hope it’ll kick my ass into gear. I’m also on semi-hiatus from Kinetic Friction, but I’ll be going back to it as soon as I’m done with my 25 Days fic. At some point after Kinetic there’ll be the sequel, and then the rest of Inertia. I’m also contemplating something for Threshold Day, possibly throwing something into @voytalentchallenge​ (don’t count on that one), and I have an idea for a pre-Enterprise D, pre-Voyager meeting between Picard and Janeway (with smut, obvs), plus all the other fics I’m definitely going to write …

And of course there’s my meat raffle. Time to pimp that one again. Donate to AO3 and if I draw your name out of the hat of randomness I’ll write you a fic to your specifications (roughly).

10. Writing goals for 2020 (word count? new fandoms/pairings? anything?):

Look, I’d just really like to actually write to some of the prompts I’ve had sitting in my ridiculously complex filing system without getting sidetracked by the newest shiny thing to catch my eye. In terms of fandoms, I hope I’ll write more for Discovery, I’m looking forward to Picard, and I would like to branch out from Trek a bit. More MCU, definitely, and maybe others if I get inspired. The main thing I want out of writing fanfiction at the moment is for it to continue making me happy, though, so I just hope I keep having fun with it.

[glamatcha]

Top of the Bops: the 18 Best Anime Opening Songs of 2018

At the end of every year, I like to do some sort of retrospective list about the media I've been enjoying over the past year, and since most of the media I've consumed this year happens to be Japanese anime, I decided to focus on something near and dear to me: sweet, slappin anime opening themes. I've compiled 18 of the best opening theme songs from 2018 into a list of Japan's best TV bangers this year.

NOTE: While I did give extra points to some songs for fitting the tone of their show or for enhancing the show experience, this list is not really focused on the quality of the shows these songs are from but rather on whether the song is great to listen to. Also, I am by no means an expert on the genre, just a lady who watches too much anime.

Listen to the full playlist 

18 - "Kiss of Death" from Darling in the Franxx This song always stood out to me as a terrific moodsetter and got me more excited than the plot did during those first few eps of Darling in the Franxx. Sexy, melodic and upbeat, with those moody moody vocals, "Kiss of Death" did its job as a worthy hype man for this mecha anime.

17 - "Heading to Over" from Free! Dive to the Future Free! has always, always, ALWAYS had these wonderful, insanely aggressive, and super catchy power rock songs as their openings...despite the fact that the show's plot is constantly running on the lowest stakes. The opening songs always feel like some terrible lie about what you're going to watch, in my opinion. That it even made my list despite my dislike of Free! is a testament how good this opening song really is.

16 - "Power to the Dream" from Fairy Tail This is not the best Fairy Tail opening. It's probably not even top three, but that's because Fairy Tail has an absolute embarrassment of riches when it comes to catchy openings. The long-running series’s final season starts off with another good one.

15 - "Adabana Necromancy" from Zombie Land Saga This opening has been cited by many as one of the best of the year. It's a madcap zany opening credits sequence that's as wild and entertaining as the show itself. "Adabana Necromancy" is catchy but maybe not as much of an ear worm as some of the other songs on the list (or other songs within Zombie Land Saga). However, it's sung by Franchouchou, the fictional zombie girl band at the center of the show, and I'm a sucker for songs by fake bands.

14 - "Dark Sun..." from Persona 5 the Animation The one constant between all the Persona games and series is incredible genre stylization. While the first opening "Break In to Break Out" was a nod to the mood and style of Persona 5, I think the second opening embraces this more fully and is the superior song because of that. It is a cool, cool bop.

13 - "Spatto! Spy & Spyce" from Release the Spyce I have yet to start Release the Spyce, but this opening is so terrific. It's catchy and cute as shit. This type of girly pop tune definitely doesn't dominate my Best of 2018 list, but that genre of opening has its place in anime. I had the option to include the Magical Girl Ore opening, for example, but I kept that off the list because it's funny and cute but not 100% easy on the ears. This hits every note of being cheeky and charming and catchy AF.

12 - "Deadly Drive" from Bungou Stray Dogs DEAD APPLE Yes, this is technically a movie opening, and yes, maybe that's cheating. But! DEAD APPLE really functions like a long episode of BSD, complete with integrated opening credits. This song rocks so hard and fits well in the canon of Bungou Stray Dogs openings by being a little bit grim, a little bit rough and very, very catchy.

11 - "Fighting Gold" from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind This is the James Bond opening of anime theme songs. It is Dramatic with a capital D, and I love it.

10 - "Howling" from Seven Deadly Sins This marked the second collaboration between shonen music all-stars FLOW and GRANRODEO, following their successful team up on the Seven Deadly Sins season one closing song. And just like that song "Howling" does not disappoint. A song to get you real hype about full-blooded adventure. Hey! Get low! Hey! Howling!

9 - "Lonely Go!" from Boruto: Naruto Next Generation I am really mad that this opening is so catchy and the animation is so wonderful because I don't want to give this show the free press, but here we are. This is a fucking good opening. *grumble*

8 - "katharsis" from Tokyo Ghoul:re Tokyo Ghoul has struggled in the past to capture the perfect tonal match that their first opening found in "Unravel," so the clear solution was to get another song out of the same artist. While I am also a big fan of the first :re opening, this one is just flat out better.

7 - "Guess Who is Back" from Black Clover BRB, starting a petition to have Koda Kumi sing every anime opening forever. I was a huge fan of the water temple arc and its funky little banger of an opening theme.

6 - "Freedom" from Banana Fish I had a really hard time choosing between Banana Fish's two rock influenced angst anthems, but at the end of the day, only one of them regularly makes me scream sing along to the chorus.

5 - "Clear" from Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Peak sweet shoujo tunes. Maaya Sakamoto at her very best. I swear this isn't my CLAMP bias showing--I think Clear Card arc was more than a little boring in execution, but this song is great.

4 - "Winding Road" from Golden Kamuy I have yet to watch Golden Kamuy, but I have heard a lot of good things. When researching options of this list, I was pleasantly surprised to hear this song since it has everything I want in an adventure show opening. With a driving drum line and catchy melody you can really wail along to, the music perfectly compliments the stunning opening visuals. The credits have me convinced that this is one I need to get on my watchlist immediately. (And I've already listened to it a lot of times on loop :X)

3 - "ODD FUTURE" from My Hero Academia I KEEP MY IDEALS BLAAAALAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

2 - "Man Human" from Devilman Crybaby If anything had a chance of slapping as hard as the number one song...point deduction for having only two lyrics. But I refused to let my friends skip it when we watched through.

1 - "Flashback" from Kokkoku It's been a long time since an anime opening slapped this hard. Even if that anime was a weird-but-interesting one off with a lackluster ending.

[beckettsthoughts]

Rules: Answer the questions then come up with one of your own and tag as many people as there questions.

I was tagged by @baz-pitch-is-alive, thank you so much :) 

1. Coke or Pepsi: I don’t actually like fizzy drinks- is apple juice an answer I can give?

2. Disney or Dreamworks: Disney. I love Disney movies.

3. Coffee or tea: You’re going to hate me for this, but I don’t like hot drinks either. Is apple juice an answer I can give?

4. Books or movies: Books, by a long way. I do like movies every now and then, but they often can’t quite hold my attention unless I am actually in the cinema.

5. Window or Mac: Mac, for me. I used Windows up until a couple of years ago but it crashed super often and the settings were really difficult to navigate. It fucked up once when it updated and I could never let it update after that, plus it couldn’t run games without crashing everything, I never tried it but there’s no way it could have run Photoshop. I also like Garageband.

6. DC or Marvel: Marvel, if we’re talking movies. I haven’t read as many Marvel comics as I have DC, though, and while I’ve only read a few DC comics they’ve all been awesome: Black Canary, Gotham Academy, and my absolute favourite The Sandman. I prefer other comics in most cases, though, my favourite being The Wicked + The Divine. 

7. Xbox or PlayStation: PlayStation. I don’t have an Xbox, I do have a PlayStation. I admit, I may be biased. 

8. Dragon Age or Mass Effect: I haven’t played either, but Dragon Age is way more my thing than Mass Effect.

9. Night owl or early riser: Haha, haha, haha; I don’t sleep much. When I do, it’s in the mornings. I am most definitely a night owl, so much so that people may mistake me for an actual nocturnal being. 

10. Cards or chess: Card games, no question. My friends and I used to play card games every lunchtime at school and we still know several, our favourites being Cheat (also known as Bullshit when we’re not at school), Spoons, Shithead (oft-shortened to Shed when teachers were nearby), Irish Snap and a game called Hi-Jack. I’m also a big fan of Sevens and Solitaire. 

11. Chocolate or vanilla: Chocolate. I like vanilla but, alas, I like chocolate more.

12. Vans or converse: Man, in general I prefer Converses but I have this pair of awesome leather-and-corduroy high-top Vans and those are probably the best shoes I own. I’m not really a shoe person. I’d still probably say Converses, overall. I have a couple pairs of low-tops, grey and navy blue.

13. Star Wars or Star Trek: To be honest, I don’t know enough about either to judge. I like what I’ve seen of both, but from what I can predict I’d probably prefer Star Trek overall. I know, I know; I’m a bad nerd.

14. One episode per week or binge watching: I don’t watch much TV, I guess. I’m happy to watch once-a-week if it’s on the actual TV, but if I’m watching things on my laptop I usually binge-watch in a fit of hyperfocus. I can only binge-watch stuff like cartoons that have short episodes, though, or I can’t concentrate.

15. Heroes or villains: Um, I’m a big villains fan. They’re just, like, cooler, I guess. Also they’re way more likely to be supernatural and stuff, and they usually look more goth or have British accents, and they often have deeper backstories. What I really love is like, anti-heroes and anti-villains, though.

16. John Williams or Hans Zimmer: Don’t make me choose, bro.

17. Disneyland/Disney World or Six Flags: I don’t know like, anything about Six Flags, but I can say honestly that what I love about Disney is the atmosphere. From the little I’ve seen of Six Flags it seems pretty cool if you’re into roller coasters and water parks, but I’m not really about that. What I love about Disney is that you can be somewhere completely different, be it foregin or fictional. The California Adventure park is by far my favourite of the Disney parks I’ve been to, for example, because wandering round it felt like Yosemite, it felt like Route 66, it felt like Santa Monica. Walking down Main Street at Disneyland is just amazing, man, I don’t know how to really describe it.

18. Forest or sea: I love forests, but I was born by the sea and I think the coast will always have my heart. The feeling of standing on the sea wall in the dark, watching the ink-black sea churning and roaring and leaping up against the rocks; it’s some strange sort of magic, it’s mesmerising.

19. Flying or reading minds: Both sound awesome, but I think flying. It just looks really fun, whereas I feel reading minds would be really stressful. Like, the pressure of knowing what people are thinking and feeling seems kind of intrusive and I would feel awkward in judging how to react and talk to people. I can’t handle my own mind half of the time, I don’t want to be dealing with others. 

20. Twin Peaks or Northern Exposure: Not seen either, but I’ve heard of Twin Peaks and it looks cool. I’ve literally never even heard of Northern Exposure.

21. Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings: Harry Potter. Again, I don’t know enough about LOTR, I haven’t had the chance to read the books yet because they’re like, intimidatingly long. I shelled out $30 for a replica of Hermione’s wand at Warner Bros Studios, though, and I think that speaks for itself. 

22. Cake or pie: Definitely cake. Preferably chocolate. Preferably M&S star-themed tray-bake.

23. Beyoncé or Lady Gaga: I like both, but I don’t know either very well. I don’t feel like I have enough knowledge to make a fair decision. Beyoncé is like, divinely beautiful though.

24. Rain or sunshine: Rain, rain, rain. I like sunshine and it makes for the best kind of lazy, summer afternoons, but heat is uncomfortable and I like the sound of rain on the roof at night.

25. Steven Universe or Gravity Falls: I haven’t seen Gravity Falls, but I do like Steven Universe. I’m really liking Star Vs The Forces of Evil recently, though.

26. Blue or green: Dammit, I can’t decide. Ultramarine or malachite green, I love both.

27. Vanilla or cinnamon: Vanilla. I barely ever have anything with cinnamon on it, but it’s good on pie?

28. Foreign films, subbed or dubbed: Dubbed is best for me because I like to do other things like draw or write while I watch so being able to listen is super useful, but for TV shows I’ll likely be watching on my laptop and therefore subbed is fine because I can’t write on my laptop and watch on my laptop at the same time.

29. Rain coats or umbrellas: Umbrellas are cool and I have this massive rainbow umbrella that I got given for free at Pride, but I don’t use them very often, if at all. I do, however, have a fair collection of long, flowy coats. They’re not raincoats as such, and in fact none of them have hoods, but I’ve had raincoats in the past and I like them more.

30. Christmas or birthdays: Birthdays! Don’t get me wrong, I really really love Christmas but it can be really stressful, whereas birthdays I’m hanging with my friends and eating cake and it’s really fun. Christmas beats birthdays where dinner is concerned though, because you really can’t beat a British Christmas dinner.

Now for my contribution, it took a minute to think of but my question for all of you is:

Art, literature, or music?

And, though I don’t think I can tag 30 people, I’m going to tag @littleduckalex @toadstoolfuel, @finnisnowdeadrip, @windsweptarmadillo, @luuxraay, @mcnamak, @homjom and @shark-myths as well as anyone who sees this and thinks it looks like fun!