#granted i just wanted a 2-3 month break up with all the good tropes and angst | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

popculturebuffet · 4 years

Text

The Legend of the Three Caballeros: Dope-A-Cabana Review (Commissioned by WeirdKev27)

Salduos Amigos! Since i’m covering a full series, i’d like to welcome any newcomers to the first part of the epic final stretch of THE RIDE OF THE THREE CABLLEROS! For those of you just joining us, a few months back WeirdKev27, easily my biggest supporter as the only one who comissions any reviews from me, asked if I could do a big project for him: a comission of EVERY major american apperance of those three happy chappies in matching serapes. Give i’ve ALWAYS loved the boys ever since house of mouse and had been sitting on Legend of the Three Cablleros for far too long, more on that in a minute obviously, I happily agreed. Plus the rather nice influx of cash from the comissions was very welcome. If your intrested in comissioning your own, hit me up via my direct messages. It’s 5 dolalrs an episode, though I do do discounts on orders of 3 or more, and 10 for a movie, with again discounts for orders of more than one. And yes that plug was very shamless, but again I have no other job than this. Back to the point these reviews have taken me on a wonderful journey: I got to rewatch the movie and revel in the fun songs, acid trips and super horny Donald Duck, got to both revisit one of Don Rosa’s best story and read another all time classic from the man I hadn’t before, took a trip back to the house of mouse to hear some great songs and see some great cartoons.. and some not so great ones, took a small detour to Mickey and The Roadster Racers to be baffled and annoyed though I am proud to say it was my first review back after I came down with Cornovirus and lost a week of work time. And finally I covered the town where everyone was nice, and got to see the boys have a joyous reunion with Donald and be lushly animated while.. Dewey jackassed around in a B-Plot and Webby resisted the urge to throat chop him. It’s been a long ride and you can find all of it is so far RIGHT HERE IN THIS CONVIENT LINK ! CLICK IT NOW IF YOUR CURIOUS. Point is while this was well paid for.. it’s easily one of the projects i’ve been most proud of and while i’m sad to see it winding down, i’m proud of what i’ve done so far, and I just wanted to heartily thank Kevin for the ride and for being so generious as to fund the whole damn thing. Your a good dude man.

Which brings us here, to the grand finale. The Legend of the Three Caballeros! As the boys first starring roll as a group since the movie, there was really no other way this retrospective could end, and since I have a terrible problem with procastination and really hated this series version of daisy I just kept pushing back watching the series until now. I’m not proud of it but I am happy to correct it and hope you’ll all come along with me. Before we get started I could not find much background on the show. It was directred by Matt Danner who was the character designer for the utter classic Xiaoilin Showdown and currently works on the Muppet Babies reboot, so i’m happy he’s still getting work. Otherwise I couldn’t find much. The most I could was on tv tropes, claming the series was orignally meant for Netflix.. and while I have no proof and this could easily be conjecture.. i’m inclined to belivie it. The series was apparently done long before the Ducktales reboot, to the point Frank Angrones was only vaguely aware of it and it didn’t even remotely impact the series, with Panchito and Jose only debuting in Season 2 because the original idea for bringing them in was scrapped. So while I don’t have proof.. I’m inclined to belivie it since it makes sense: Disney DID have a healthy relationship with Netflix once, setting up the MCU shows and likely being happy there.. but eventually they wanted their own corner of the sky, and likely didn’t want one of their shows bolted to the network like all their marvel shows were. The problem this created though is Disney was CLEARLY left with a show they no longer had a place for. But even with that the show was still done, they COULD have put it on the Disney Now app or just aired it on the Disney Channel. See if there was any fan intrest in season 2 or throw one into production to at least beef up the episode count. I mean the Cabs have a built in fanbase, kids would likely love it... it’s the logical choice. But this is Disney. They’ve had to be drug kicking and screaming into representation, to the point they had to be fought for the gay romance subplot in owl house to happen, try to hide that the Sparkshort “Out” is about a gay man struggling with coming out despite having you know reams of content on the service with either gay subtext or out and out gay characters, and their attempts at doing representatoin to score points in other little ways.. have been pathetic, easily missable bits in movies that could , and have been, edited out in more homophobic countries. My point is yeah i’m still sore about how they and a LOT of the animation industry have to be dragged into doing the right thing over profit, and they often make very stupid decisions for seemingly no reason. They are a good company a good chunk of the time.. but Disney has done fucked up quite a bit. This is one of those times. Instead they dumped the show on the Disney Life app in the phillipines and slowly some other countries, basically the Disney Now equilvent over there, and then just sort of forgot about it until Disney Plus launched. And given how many shows they HAVEN’T put on the streamer for again, seemingly no reason, it is a nice suprise the show finally got a release on there in the US. But before that, and proving what a massive mistake just abandoing the show was, the show did gather a massive fanbase via people uploading the episodes online. So yeah the show was treated REALLY shittily for stupid reasons, but thankfully it still has a fanbase to this day and said shabby treatment, as it always does, just encouraged fans to support it harder. So naturally i’m more than happy to give the series some spotlight as fanbase or no, it badly needs it and Disney sure as hell dosen’t want to do it. So if somebody’s gotta do it, might as well be me. This is the Legend of the Three Cablleros. We open on some narration from Xandra, Goddess of Adventure. Granted she hasn’t been identified yet, and won’t be till next episode.. buuuut it’s easier on me to not have to dance around her name so your learning it now. But Xandra narrates that long ago there were epic battles against the good and the evil and all that by epic heroes, and it’s all cumilated in the Legend of the Three Cablleros. Post title drop we’re treated to the boys, in cool looking armor and with neat weapons, fighting a purple monster man as you do in an really beautiful and epic sequence As this scene illustrates the animation for this show is GORGEOUS, a lavish update of the standard disney style with nice use of shadows. It feels almost film quality in it’s work, and it’s an utter treat to watch and opening at the end was a good call: it both ratchets up excitement and allows the first ep to have some action since this one, as part of a two part premiere, is mostly setup. It’s eyecatching, exciting and makes you want to know what the hell is going on. And since Xandra realizes MAYBE starting the story at the climax was a bad idea, she takes us back a bit.

Okay maybe not that far. No we open properly at Donald’s house, where it’s his birthday! And like the movie, it’s Friday the 13th, an excellent call back. Donald’s making his breakfast, boliling some tea and.. talking with the weird foced warped refelection in the kettle who can apparently only say “right back at you handsome, wink”. Seriously I have so many questoins and all of them are about what this guy is, why is Donald so calm about all of this, and is he still alive after Donald destroys his tea kettle later. Donaldo gets a call from Daisy, whose visting to spend the day with him and is waiting patiently int he bad part of town. I didn’t know Duckburg had a bad part of town but given Glomgold has to get his sharks and bombs somewhere, i’m not surprised. Unless he special orders them, but even then what if he needs a shark or a bomb in a hurry? He’s gotta get them somewhere and now we know where. So there’s that. So all’s going well until Donald’s asshole boss calls and forces him to come in despite Donald having the fucking day off and it presumably being on the schedule. So Donald rushes to work, and we do get some great gags but as you’d expect for Donald it goes poorly and he botches a kid’s haircut despite the mother being very rude.. and also a female version of pete. LIke.. did he remarry after the divorce from peg or is that his sister? Does that mean PJ and PIstol have a cousin I never knew about? I want answers dammit.. and picutures of spider-man. Not for any slander job I just really like spider-man.

Eh it’ll do.As i’m doing a full series this time i’m stopping to talk about the main cast as we go soooo.... Tony Anselmo is naturally Donald, even pitching in to consult the crew on Donald’s characterization here, as really what better expert is there? He’s voiced Donald since the original Ducktales and has stuck with the roll since, only taking a break for Mickey and the Roadster racers and that’s likely because between finishing up this series and the Mickey Mouse shorts, and moving on to Ducktales 2017, he likely simply didn’t have the time for it. Granted given how little he was used in the first season of the show, he probably still could’ve done it but regardless, he’s a legend. Daisy is voiced by Tress Macneile, who not only has voiced the character since House of Mouse and is easily the best voice for her, but is also one of the most storied and legendary va’s in the buisness, having been at this since the 80′s with zero signs of stopping. Just to name a few of her more notable roles, in chronological order; Gadget Hackenwrench, Babs Bunny, Agnes Skinner, Charlotte Pickles, Dot Warner (Which as of last year she’s picked up again and will do the same for Babs, just in case you thought i was exagerating on the “zero signs of stopping” thing), Pookie from Hey Arnold, Mom, Hoodsey Bishop, and Queen Oona among MANY, MANY smaller rolls. I didn’t even realize Charlotte or Hodsey were here, she’s that talented and deserves all the praise.. and way better rolls as Daisy than this one but we’ll both get to that and thankfully much like with Tony, the reboot’s giving her character some depth to work with so she gets to reallys tretch her chops. The woman turns 70 here, will likely keep going until she dies, and is wonderful and deserves more respect.

So because this is Donald, life wont’ stop punching him in the face and it turns out his house burned down, the fire people are destroying everything because their assholes, seriously they destroy both a family heirloom and a picture of his parents despite not being on fire. I’d be genuinely suprised if their general strategy wasn’t scremaing “fire, fire fire” and then going “rock rock rock” while they throw rocks on it. Super brucey bonus prize for the first person who gets that refrence and comments on it. I’ll get back to this in a second but SOMEHOW, beisdes loosing his home, all his possesions and his job... it gets even WORSE and Daisy calls, refuses to listen to him despite him having VERY valid excuses and breaks up with him. Oh and then the fire fighters gladly talk about going home to their in tact houses and partners.

So yeah let’s talk about this. This first 6 or 7 minutes.. is why I didn’t return to the show for a while. My brain has a bad habit of glomming onto certain parts of things, so it remembered the rough to sit through and not very funny first act.. and not the rest of the episode which is very good and likely more indiciative about how good the series is. Thankfully it does get better but this first act .. frames things like it’s DONALD’S fault somehow. I mean yes he did burn his house down.. but even that really isn’t his fault. He was called away suddenly, wasn’t thinking and made a mistake. Hell he proabably woudl’ve had more left if the fire department hadn’t gone crazy with the axes. His being called into work? He took the day off, and his boss was just a dick. His screwing up at the job? he was genuinely trying his best and doing his best and the client was just wholly unresonable. Donald did nothing wrong but the episode WANTS to frame him like some sort of screwup.. which he is, it’s Donald.. but not in this case. It was just a string of uncomfortable to watch bad luck that cumilates in him having nothing left. It’s not funny, it’s jsust really sad and it’s REALLY hard to tell the tone their going for as they seem to awkwardly bounce from jokes to Donald being utterly devistated and alone.

And the worst of this.. is Daisy. Daisy is EASILY the most infamous part of the show, as their portryal.. is pretty bad and apparently gets worse. We’ll see as we go but yeah.. her screaming at and breaking up with her boyfriend without listneing to his side and giving the claim we only have HER word on that he’s always screwing up, ON HIS BIRTHDAY no less, when he’s done nothing wrong, does not make a good first impression nor the fact the show seems to AGREE WITH HER. And look Donald is a trainwreck, this is true.. but the show dosen’t remotely portray him as one until AFTER this scene. As I said nothing that happened was his fault. Donald isn’t irresponsible or a screwup or dating a high schooler or anything. He isn’t Scott Pilgrim. He just has really bad luck. Again, we do see some foibles in the scenes to come.. but we don’t see any that would justify her claims, especially since she seemed perfectly happy earlier with him. Now if she’d say brought up some screwups in the first scene, and gently at that, then this would’ve worked.. but as it stands she just comes off as MASSIVELY unsymapthetic.. especially since Donald later calls her nieces over for help, which is objectively weird not gonna lie.. so she now KNOWS he had to move to a new house and his likely burned down.. yet still apparently has nothing good to say about him.

It didn’t help this rubbed me the wrong way in a very special way. As i’ve made plain before I don’t like THIS version of Daisy, the nagging, selfish, vindictive asshole who will gladly try and cheat on donald, dump him at a moments notice and you know PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE. Which just in case you think i’m exagerating...

She fucking upercutted him..and like here for something that isn’t his fault. I mean this Daisy isn’t physically beating Donald.. but that’s a VERY low bar to clear. And emotional abuse is just as bad, so there. My point is too often in the comics when written poorly, Daisy is a pretty terrible person and I REALLY didn’t want a screen adaptation of this form of Daisy. It took a WHILE to recover from not liking daisy over this version, with help from remembering house of mouse, some good barks story with her and the AMAZING Ducktales version and the suprisingly good Quack Pack version.. I did. But yeah.. this is not a good sign of things to come for the character in this show.

So yeah Donald’s heart is in the basement and his week is at an all time low when a post man shows up and gives him a letter.. well puts it in the box for a good gag but semantics. But the letter turns around as his ancestor Clinton Coot left him an inhertance for his 3Xth birthday: a house of some kind in the swanky neighboring town of New Quackmore. And i’ll also say.. it’s REALLY nice that for once, we focus on the Duck side of Donald’s legacy, or rather the coot but semantics, instead of the McDuck part. Don’t get me wrong, I fucking love the clanmcduck, always will and I love Ducktales exploration of it.. but it’s still nice to acknowledge Donald comes from two sides and while one of those may be humble farmers, they still accomplished a lot, including founding Duckburg in most continuities including presumably this one. It’s also a good way to seperate thigns from other properties including the reboot: focusing on a part of Donald’s lineage that isn’t usually touched on and making THEM just as badass as the other side.

So we get a quick montage as Donald takes a cab there and takes in the rich and fancy sights. It’s also a brilliant way to set up New Quackmore and it’s attached instutite as a fancy, upperclass place.. and thus perfectly clash it with Donald. Donald ends up getting dropped off at a big mansion.. which is not his , but belongs to the insittutes head, Baron Von Sheldgoose, played by WAYNE KNIGHT.

Hell. Yes. I freaking love Wayne Knight. In case you don’t know who the man above is, or at least don’t recognize his face, Wayne Knight is a very funny and talented actor and voice actor with a lengthy career primarily in side rolls, with the rolls that he broke out with being loveable asshole and Jerry’s enternal nemisis Newman on Seinfeld and Dennis Nedry, aka “that guy who got sprayed acid in his face by those horrifying frilled dinosaurs that will never not haunt my nightmares”. Seriously that scene fucked me up as a kid and I could not watch that part of the movie. For the most part he’s been a side character man but he has done a LOT of voice work, most notable Zurg in Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Dojo for the aformentioned and excellent Xiaolin Showdown, and Mr. Blik for Catscratch and I wish he’d do more. He also recently voiced the penguin in Harley Quin so when I get to that you better belivie i’m looking forward to it. Point is while he may not always get the glory, and had to settle for starring in a mediocre tv land sitcom to get a steady paycheck once, the man is VERY talented, very funny and perfectly cast here.

So Donald makes himself home, finds out it’s not HIS home and gets thrown out by the snooty rich asshole’s bodyguards. As you’d expect. Donald does find HIS home, a run down cabana next door to the mansion with caution tape all over. Still Donald takes it best he can as it’s better than no home at all> What he doesn’t take well is finding out from the executor of the will that he’s not the only one inheriting the house... which is absolutley fair. The guy just had the worst day of his life, and this lady didn’t bother to put in the letter to any of them that they were sharing the house. The Sheldgoose thing was just an average Donald screw up. This is just this lady going...

youtube

But yes we meet our boys.. and the introductions are naturally given this series is about them the best we’ve gotten so far: Jose is thrown off a bus, having ran out of fair, and having wooed all the ladies on board, and quickly charms the executor and is perfectly cordial to Donald, while Panchito parachutes out of a plane and marvels at how he went from nothing to having two new best friends, a run down shack and a sleezy lawyer! In short the two make a great first impression, helped by wonderful casting. Jose is voiced by Eric Bauza, a talented voice actor whose had WAY too many roles to list here, but two of the most notable are being the current voice of Bugs and Daffy, and his most notable role outside that recently has been playing Splinter in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. But the guy is endlessly talented, seems really nice, and is easily one of my faviorite Jose’s so far after just one episode. He just.. gets the character perfectly and is thankfully NOT another white guy stepping into the role, so that’s nice. He easily oozes the charm and layabout nature Jose and was a natural in the role and i hope he gets to take it up again at some point. Speaking of naturals we have Jamie Camil as Panchito, who easily steps into the guys boundless energy and the sterotpical bits are swapped out for making him a cloud cuckoolander instead, which I genuinely love and fits the character perfectly. He’s best known for CW Soap Jane the Virgin, where his charcter Rodrigo just sounds like a delight, but has recently picked up a pretty good voice acting career, vocing Don Karnage in the Ducktales reboot, Globgor in Star vs the Forces of Evil and Todd’s Stepdad George in Bojack Horseman. I only hope he gets more voice work as he’s really damn great at it and it’s wonderful to get to see him in a role that’s not limited to a few episodes at best for a change.

So Donald’s less than happy about this, again it’s hard to really be that mad at him when he’s had a really, REALLY bad day and wasn’t told about this, but it’s kept to just the light level of grumpy as to not make him unlikeable. Granted after that intro it’d take a LOT to make him unsympathetic, but after their version of Daisy I really dont’ want to test this series. Our boys also find out they have a groundskeeper, ari, aka THE ARCUAN BIRD! He’s just a delight any time he pops up, doing his usual “ya ta ta ta” bit, and being adorable and hilarioius as always.. and also hilariously failing to fix the boys door. So Donald ends up just accepting he has roomates now, nothing he can do, and the three explore the house finding all sorts of cool old artifacts, feeling they’ve stumbled onto something specail. And you know what that means: YARD SALE! Seriously it feels like a bit out of Wet Hot American Summer or Stella, a series from the same creators you really should check out and that is high praise, trust me.

youtube

I wish this series was streaming somewhere.. I mean we finally got Clone HIgh streaming Viacom, get on that. Anyways, it’s just.. fucking hilarious, and a LOT of this episode is once we walk back from the writers kicking donald in the junk and acting like it was his fault. Once Donald gets his inhertiance, the episode picks up immensley and we see the shows real charm and hilarirty fly, with jokes coming at a rapid and wonderful pace. The show really did impress me with the second half and made me utterly excited for tommrow.. or I guess today’s, look at the follow up. But we’re still in this episode and being a rich asshole, Sheldgoose isn’t happy about a yard sale, though given this series standards, we not only get some great deliveres from Knight of an outraged “A YARD SALE?!”... but a wonderful gag where Sheldgoose out to white guy it up and yell at them over this..accidently takes a wrong turn in his massive house, and turns around, not loosing how upset he is once. Meanwhile, we meet.. April, May and June. Yeah apparnetly Della isn’t dead or lost in this continuity, so the boys are MIA, and are instead replaced by Daisy’s Nieces, who I hope show up in the reboot before it ends. Especially since the show makes them WAY more tolerable than classic huey dewey and louie and instead enjoyable like Ducktales HDL. While not as indvidual as those three, the three are still idendtical outside of outfits, their voice actress Jessica DiCicco uses her consderiable talents and experince to give each one a unique voice, so while they all share a voice actress, none of them sound alike. And to round out our main cast for now, as our last members will be joining us fully next time, let’s talke about Jessica DiCicco. Jessica is a very talented and increasingly prolific voice actor and if you haven’t heard of her, and you probably have, you’ve defintely heard her voice. Starting out with Disney, hence why the probably called on her for this, she did the voices of Maggie for the Buzz on Maggie and Melina for Emperor’s New School before breaking out as Flame Princess on Adventure Time, whose both one of my faviorite characters from the show and one we’ll be digging into starting next month. And not one to rest easily she picked up a second set of iconic rolls vocing Lynn and Lucy Loud on The Loud HOuse, and funnily enough using those voices for two of the girls here. And along with Loud House she’s also currently starring in it’s Pony and is int he main cast of Close Enough as Candace. My point is she’s exceedingly talented.. as is this whole cast, as it’s a DAMN excellent cast and just further sells that this series deserves better. We’ll get into the girls more next time as they don’t do much here other than get called in by Donald for help, with what I saw of episode 2 fleshing them out more. Point is Sheldgoose offers a million dollars for the cabana and all it’s stuff and the boys are glad to sell.. they just have to find something Sheldgoose desperately wants, a mysterious golden atlas encrusted with Jewels. Our heroes head in to find it with Panchito finding it, and being very specific about it. We also get a nice call back to Ari destroying the door as Jose cleverly calls on him to destroy the lock. So our heroes open the book... and a goddess pops out and threatens to kill them all.

Final Thoughts: Dope-A-Cabana is a decent intro the series, but as i’ve said it’s heavily hampered by a weak and mean spirited first act. But once it gets going it REALLY gets going and as part 1 one of a two part pilot, it does it’s job well once it does get going: introducing our three boys and one of our antagonists well and setting up the side cast and preparing for our last to major additions Next Time: The Boys go on their first adventure, Sheldgoose finds a boss and the girls find their voice. Thanks for Reading, Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye.

#the legend of the three caballeros #The Three Caballeros #donald duck #Jose Carioca #panchito romero miguel junipero francisco quintero gonzalez #panchito pistoles #xandra #april duck #may duck #june duck #baron von sheldgoose #daisy duck #pete pete #disney plus #disney channel #animation #disney

27 notes · View notes

thebooksaidthat · 4 years

Text

5 Contemporary Book Recommendations with WLW relationships!

As promised, this is my list of 5 book recs with FF centered relationships! They’re in no particular order and I hope it’ll motivate you to read some good queer works of art!

1. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid Link to book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32620332-the-seven-husbands-of-evelyn-hugo

Synopsis: Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. When she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one in the journalism community is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now? Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband, David, has left her, and her career has stagnated. Regardless of why Evelyn has chosen her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career. Summoned to Evelyn’s Upper East Side apartment, Monique listens as Evelyn unfurls her story: from making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the late 80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way. As Evelyn’s life unfolds—revealing a ruthless ambition, an unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love—Monique begins to feel a very a real connection to the actress. But as Evelyn’s story catches up with the present, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways. --> I read this a few months ago and I remembered myself just putting my Kindle down onto the bed and looked into my imaginary camera man’s face thinking about the ending. I loved everything about this book, the friendship, the romance and the style of writing tied them up nicely. Also, apparently there’s going to be a TV series coming soon in the future so yes I’m 110% confident I’ll be crying with a bag of chips at the end too ;’) Seriously though, do yourself a favor and read this! 2. The Falling in Love Montage by Ciara Smyth Link to book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53066661-the-falling-in-love-montage

Synopsis: Saoirse doesn’t believe in love at first sight or happy endings. If they were real, her mother would still be able to remember her name and not in a care home with early onset dementia. A condition that Saoirse may one day turn out to have inherited. So she’s not looking for a relationship. She doesn’t see the point in igniting any romantic sparks if she’s bound to burn out. But after a chance encounter at an end-of-term house party, Saoirse is about to break her own rules. For a girl with one blue freckle, an irresistible sense of mischief, and a passion for rom-coms. Unbothered by Saoirse’s no-relationships rulebook, Ruby proposes a loophole: They don’t need true love to have one summer of fun, complete with every cliché, rom-com montage-worthy date they can dream up—and a binding agreement to end their romance come fall. It would be the perfect plan, if they weren’t forgetting one thing about the Falling in Love Montage: when it’s over, the characters actually fall in love… for real. --> The Falling in Love Montage is one of favorite FF books because I couldn’t not relate myself with the main character, Saoirse. I loved her humor throughout the book. She came off a little strong at first and it did seem like she was annoying but there’s a reason why she’s so sarcastic and cynical and I loved that the book wasn’t all 100% about the romance (although that is one of the best parts of it). I binged this within two days and I was fairly satisfied at the end and I can’t not recommend this enough for those who want to read a happy queer romance book! ALSO I LOVE THE COVER SO MUCH 3. The Weight of the Stars by K. Ancrum Link to book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36952571-the-weight-of-the-stars

Synopsis: Ryann Bird dreams of traveling across the stars. But a career in space isn’t an option for a girl who lives in a trailer park on the wrong side of town. So Ryann becomes her circumstances and settles for acting out and skipping school to hang out with her delinquent friends. One day she meets Alexandria: a furious loner who spurns Ryann’s offer of friendship. After a horrific accident leaves Alexandria with a broken arm, the two misfits are brought together despite themselves—and Ryann learns her secret: Alexandria’s mother is an astronaut who volunteered for a one-way trip to the edge of the solar system. Every night without fail, Alexandria waits to catch radio signals from her mother. And its up to Ryann to lift her onto the roof day after day until the silence between them grows into friendship, and eventually something more . . . In K. Ancrum’s signature poetic style, this slow-burn romance will have you savoring every page. --> The Weight of The Stars is mostly a quiet read, and when they say slow-burn, they really mean it. I loved this one a lot even thought it’s mostly a character-driven type of book. This is sort of an enemies-to-lovers type of book, though it went fairly quickly from enemies to friends. This book feels like something you should read slowly, just to savor it all and process everything on the pages. 4. Her Name in The Sky by Kelly Quindlen Link to book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20886492-her-name-in-the-sky

Synopsis: Hannah wants to spend her senior year of high school going to football games and Mardi Gras parties with her tight-knit group of friends. The last thing she wants is to fall in love with a girl--especially when that girl is her best friend, Baker. Hannah knows she should like Wally, the kind, earnest boy who asks her to prom. She should cheer on her friend Clay when he asks Baker to be his girlfriend. She should follow the rules of her conservative Louisiana community--the rules that have been ingrained in her since she was a child. But Hannah longs to be with Baker, who cooks macaroni and cheese with Hannah late at night, who believes in the magic of books as much as Hannah does, and who challenges Hannah to be the best version of herself. And Baker might want to be with Hannah, too--if both girls can embrace that world-shaking, yet wondrous, possibility. --> Her Name in The Sky is a beautiful coming age story between two girls in a conservative town. I did find this one slightly harder to read because I usually stray away from books like these but I think it’s good to pick something up like this from time to time. Don’t be scared away though because this has a good and happy ending to it. 5. Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner Link to book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52915426-something-to-talk-about

Synopsis: A showrunner and her assistant give the world something to talk about when they accidentally fuel a ridiculous rumor in this debut romance. Hollywood powerhouse Jo is photographed making her assistant Emma laugh on the red carpet, and just like that, the tabloids declare them a couple. The so-called scandal couldn't come at a worse time--threatening Emma's promotion and Jo's new movie. As the gossip spreads, it starts to affect all areas of their lives. Paparazzi are following them outside the office, coworkers are treating them differently, and a "source" is feeding information to the media. But their only comment is "no comment". With the launch of Jo's film project fast approaching, the two women begin to spend even more time together, getting along famously. Emma seems to have a sixth sense for knowing what Jo needs. And Jo, known for being aloof and outwardly cold, opens up to Emma in a way neither of them expects. They begin to realize the rumor might not be so off base after all...but is acting on the spark between them worth fanning the gossip flames? --> Another queer rom-com heading your way with this final rec! This was a fun and cute read about the romance between Jo, who is a Chinese Hollywood star and her assistant, Emma. I read this in a book slump and I loved it, its sort of a fake-dating trope like book and I’ve never read something like this outside of fanfiction so it was an enjoyable experience all the way! Also, when the author described Jo at one of the red carpets with her dress with pockets, my mind automatically imagined Gemma Chan from Crazy Rich Asians as her.

78 notes · View notes

sargentr · 5 years

Text

my fave drarry fics of all time, part one

so, after discovering i’ve officially been reading drarry fanfic for 4 years now, i decided to show my (quite big) list of favorite drarry fics. there are 46 in total, but i’ve listed 10 down below. the first three are my absolute favorites but the rest are equally as good

most of my notes are fresh from when i wrote them post-reading. i’ve changed some, seeming less like a crazy unstable bitch, but fuck these were all emotional as fuck. enjoy

ps: i dont really know how to tag people i dont follow. i cant try and tag the authors later. soz!!

pps: most of these i read when i was really into a bottom!draco phase, so most of them contain that, some are switch tho (as it should be, yikes past me)

1. Everything That Happen is From Now On / ~43K

After surviving a brutal assault, Draco tries to navigate the tumultuous waters of his mind, and embrace a bit of love and trust in his life. After all, the smallest steps forward can begin to heal the most fractured of souls

okay so before i get in to how beautiful this story is, i wanna say that it does touch on rape quite explicitly. i cried like an idiot reading the entire thing, because draco’s pain is navigated in the most beautiful and realistic way. it touches on a subject very risky for me, very personal, and i still can’t think of a better drarry story. draco’s very draco about it all, and harry is very harry about it all. it’s just perfect, and messy, and tender, and sad. i’ve reread it more than any other fic, and it doesn’t disappoint.

2. Pocket Full of Starlight / ~46K

When Scorpius Malfoy and Jamie Potter meet at Quidditch camp, they take an instant dislike to each other. Then they discover their lives are more connected than they could possibly imagine.

ah yes. the magic of kid fics. the TASTE

parent trap au. i read this one recently, like 3 months back, and absolutely fell in love with everything about it, partially because the parent trap is legit one of my top 10 favorite movies of all time. its just. the essence, the IDEA, is soooo mf beautiful. i cant get enough of reading when harry or draco finally meet the other twin, or how they cant stop loving each other even after 11 years. my heart clenched throughout the whole thing.

3. Temptations on the Warfront / ~180K

Draco Malfoy is forced into hiding with the Golden Trio and dragged into their search for horcruxes. What ensues is a journey of redemption, unexpected friendships and an unwanted, turbulent romance with Harry Potter. Warnings for swearing, sexual content, and dark themes.

this was the first drarry fic ive ever read, and before this mf i HATEDDD this pairing. so you can imagine how much it took to convince me otherwise, bc i was 100% scorbus before this.

to be fair, horcrux hunting with draco involved is, possibly, my favorite trope ever. its unique. theres tension, both sexual and life threatening. in some ways it romanticizes the war, but fuck it it aint a real war.

slowest of burns. amazing. life changing. long as hell. nothing else to be said except read it right now i demand it.

4. Clouding the Senses / ~58K

As everyone returns to Hogwarts for a final eighth year, some people are coping better with the aftermath of the war than others. After encountering a very drunk Draco Malfoy one night, Harry realises that maybe those that lost loved ones aren’t the only ones trying to escape the war. Blaise Zabini seems to think Harry can help Malfoy, that the Slytherin might actually listen to him. Harry is not so sure. Dependence is a tricky thing, and one addiction can quickly shift to another.

everyone that reads drarry loves 8th year fics, but this ones just kinda different from all those normal (yet entertaining) ones. draco’s an alcoholic in this, and one night harry tries to help him and whoops, one thing leads to the other and they start having casual sex. its really, really amazing how both draco and harry navigate the addiction, i really cant say it has any flaws.

i know the author got a lot of hate on their fics and thats why they took them down, but they’re truly one of the best drarry authors out there. i’ve reread this a couple of times, and the tenderness, the love and confusion is all very on character. a+

5. Restraint / ~153K

Someone casts the Imperius curse on Draco Malfoy, and whatever the instructions may be, Harry finds himself an unwilling target. The encounter leaves him torn between pleasure and revulsion. As they fight in the aftermath, a tense game begins. Harry fights to convince Malfoy, and himself, that he was not affected by that initial encounter, or any of those following it.

Faced with a series of escalating encounters, Harry must come to terms with desiring things he never thought he could, things he wishes he didn’t respond to. They each use signs of arousal as weapons against each other in a mad struggle to finally shame the other into backing down for good.

But it’s only after the game is over that Harry starts to understand.

this is by the same author of clouding the senses, and i read this just this week. at first, it’s shocking, because it plays around with consent in a very unsettling way. when communication comes in, and its starts getting healthier, you can really understand where the author found the idea of playing with consent. it is, in my opinion, 100% characteristic of how they would behave post-war, with that grief and confusion. it’s also dom/sub in some parts, and that’s mf hot.

it also has my favorite tropes in it, but it’s a spoiler to say which one. i’ll probably mention the trope in the list along with a bunch others, but when u finish reading you’ll know which one ;)

6. Humbug / ~30K

Draco has been taking his casual relationship with Harry for granted. Visits from four key ghosts the night before Christmas just might shake up his priorities in life.

(felt like it was valid to just paste what i wrote in my notes app after reading this)

(FUCKKKKKK HOW TO EVEN START?!!!?? just a fucking bonus, draco is THE best bottom o ever exist i love my bottom son so much. this story isnt only amazing it’s excruciatingly painful to read, harry and draco have been sleeping together but harry is completely in love with him. draco doesnt see how much harry cares for him or how much hes hurting harry by treating their fling like its just that, a FLING. with that, draco is haunted by three ghosts. one of the past, the present and the future, AND THEY SET THAT IDIOT STRAIGHTTTT 1800000/10. the gays DO KEEP MF WINNING!!!

7. in your arms, rests my world / ~24K

Harry presses his mouth to Malfoy's forehead; he wants to tell him that he’ll never leave, that he wouldn’t dream of it.

“You make me feel safe, Potter” Malfoy whispers. “You keep me safe.”

the friends with benefits trope doesnt ever disappoint, top 5 tropes fr, especially if its also 8th year. harry and draco get into their little thing, but of course nothing ever is simple between them. by the preview, you can clearly see how much draco likes harry (also another 10/10 trope, the ‘i’ve been in love with harry potter since i was 11′ one). my only tiny issue with this is that harry fucks it up just a tad, but it of course adds up to the drama of it all, which i absolutely love.

noting it also touches on non-con/rape and, and all in all, is extremely angsty. one i was tense from beginning to end. but i am gonna say it ends amazingly and v happily.

8. Playing the Hero / ~29K

Nobody kissed me like Harry did. He kissed like he flew; he kissed like he duelled - with his whole being, not caring about anything else. I had never felt as vulnerable as I did when he kissed me, seizing all and any control I had over myself. But when Harry kissed me, I felt free...

so the thing about angst is that it ignites that mf feeling side u that even tho it hurts you cannot get enough of. this fic was EVERYTHINGGG. it made cry and laugh and smile. also another trope i absolutely adore is them breaking up and not being 100% ok with that, bc ding ding!! YALL STILL LOVE EACH OTHER!!

i cant describe how i felt, honestly. i would just paste my notes (i wont bc spoilers) but it looks like i went thru sum shit. deadass

9. fine i’ll hold my breath / till i forget it’s complicated / ~ 15K with the two parts

Harry and Draco become friends with benefits, and Harry thinks it's more complicated than it actually is.

u know, fluff is a drug. i dont know if its beucase 90% of drarry fics are about angsty get-togethers, but i had butterflies in my stomach when i read this. its adorable. draco is so clearly in love, he jusT SMILES A LOT I CANTTT.

its cute. i love it to death. have some fluff before starting your day.

10. Un Noël très parisien / ~14K

When Draco crossed paths with Auror Potter at a political function in Paris, he was not expecting their former animosity to change into something rather more intriguing. But he could be certain their casual flirtation would not last more than the night, couldn't he?

look. i know i named a lot of my favorite tropes here, but i cant end this without mentioning how much single dad draco affects me. i love scorpius and how much he changes draco in every fic he appears. i love parent draco and i shant be silent about it (especially when scorpius is legit just a year old in this. i died)

as it states, harry and draco have a one night stand but draco thinks thats it, that it was all he was ever gonna have. he’s wrong of course, and the path it takes, with both scorpius and harry there, just melted my mf heart.

well kids that’s all i have for now. imma work on a part two with 10 other fics i really love!1

#drarry #drarry fic #drarry fanfiction #draco malfoy #harry potter #gay #mlm #fanfiction #scorpius malfoy #albus potter #lgbtq fanfiction

72 notes · View notes

megamanxfanfics · 4 years

Text

Looking back at the 1st Nightmare Arc

Well folks, here we are. It’s the end of the year and I successfully completed Season VI’s first arc! Today, it’s all about celebrating with an honest take on how I feel it all went down. No backstories on what took so long this time. Just all Mega lore and analyzing whatever I’ve managed to create in the Fanon. So let’s dive into it. This was an interesting one:

tl;dr? - Ep. 1: Boring Beginning, Exciting Middle Ep. 2: Steady Solid Stage! Ep. 3: Long Stage, Big Payoff Ep. 4: Strong Start, Very Expository Ep. 5: Another Long Stage, but not Draining Ep. 6: Reverse Pacing Ep. 7: Epic. As. Fuck.

Ep. 1: I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but Boring Beginning. I wanted it to start just like the game with the exciting narrative intro, except.. written out, it’s not all that exciting, but instead - expected. The same goes for Gate’s immediate monologue when you press start. I took the safe, easy route and just added stage directions to his discovery of Zero’s “piece”. Regardless, this was “A Broken World”, and I loved that title for a new Season #1. Honestly, I feel like this one really picks up from the middle, onward. Once we get into X’s first mission, the addition of the new reploids from the X5 ending didn’t really help at all. I got rid of them almost as soon as I introduced them, but it was supposed to serve a purpose. It was supposed to show us just how dangerous it is out there for noobies - especially the ones who think they know it all, like Cody. Once X fights High Max though, we almost mirrored the X1 feeling, which is exactly what I wanted. From here on, it’s pretty exciting and interesting to me. Because now X is all intrigued and worried about these new “Investigators” that have sprouted up. Giving X someone to fear again with High Max made for a really refreshing touch, too. Once he gets home to learn about them from Alia, the episode heavily leans on flashbacks from Xtreme 2, but they serve as a nice re-introduction to our 8 Investigators. I also really liked their Re-activation scene. That mirrored the vibe from Mega Missions when Doppler revived his select batch of Mavericks. Once they pinpoint their locations and X finds out that 3 of the Investigators are in Brazil, he wants to go there first. I feel such a hyped jolt of excitement at that Cliffhanger.

Ep. 2: Steady Solid Stage! It took forever to write out, but upon reading it, the pacing is surprisingly smooth as X explores the Amazon Forest. Calling it “The Nightmare Is Real” based on a random Rescued Reploid’s words was a little weak at first, but it comes back around to get real meaning by the end. During the stage, X’s dialogue with Iso kept things interesting, while he pursued that near-impossible sub-tank. [I swear, you can only acquire this with a jump part equipped, or exposing AI with the fire blade or something...]. I really really didn’t want X to use his Ultimate Armor so soon, for nothing, because I’ve added stakes to such a game-breaking power up. If he uses it, he blows out all of his stamina and needs to rest. Period. Using this to rescue Iso was not only a waste, but things probably would’ve gone down very differently, later. Anyway, that fight with Commander Yammark was perfect. At first, I thought it was a little short, but looking back on it, I love how they both get solid blows in, but then come to a standstill when they realize they’re on the same side. Having Nightmare Zero intervene was absolutely the right choice!! It gave us a new hook for something to come back to, as yet again, X had someone new to fear, like in X1. Since it’s an evil Zero, I’ll even say like X2. This is where the title “The Nightmare is Real” works, because... the Zero Nightmare was absolutely a sentient problem. And it wasn’t going away any time soon. X had to retreat and get out of there. Thank God for Alia’s force-teleporting. Pushing Alia's Love Interest during the debrief was also a very exciting development. I knew I wanted to do this, but at first I wasn’t sure if it was too soon to happen right here. Now, I feel like it was just right.

Ep. 3: Long stage, big payoff. Starting with Isoc’s report to Gate was actually not as boring as the 1st episode canon scenes. I made more of an effort to wake the scene up with stage directions or dialogue that makes more sense... Them talking about the possibility of Zero still being alive also sets up mysterious intrigue. Is he still out there?? And if so, how??? Will we see him???? Naming the entire episode, “The Outlier”, however is misleading. I suppose that could connect to Ground Scaravich, who wasn’t one of Gate’s original creations (in my Fanon). Still, giving X & Alia that slice of life romantic wake up scene at the near-beginning was absolutely refreshing. Not only that, but I think it was very necessary. Things are all Doom and Gloom this Season, which is my forte, but this shows that at Home you can still find happiness in Loved ones. The actual stage itself was an absolute pain in the ass and I knew it was going to be. I'm just glad it didn't completely burn me out. His fight with Ground Scaravich was bad ass though. X had the rare upper hand from the get-go as the menacer that Scaravich was afraid of. So he came in with confident energy and tried to beat him down for information. Of course, Scaravich didn’t let up and only revealed worse information, that those Reploids were being used for DNA Data. But that cliffhanger I left at the end, with Zero Nightmare applauding X for his kill...! It definitely helped me pursue a much sooner Chapter 4.

Ep. 4: Strong Start with the Zero Nightmare fight. I had a big challenge here, because I didn’t want X to win yet. We needed to build this feud and drag it out as much as possible. Zero Nightmare was gaining new motivation. He apparently knows about Zero’s existence, but thinks of him as a Fake. And thus we have the title “Where Is The Fake?”. Having X get weakened and willingly teleport away was a really mature choice. I think it shows growth. He could’ve done that plenty of times in the past. But here we go, X is wounded again.. I didn't want this to become a trope or slow us down, but it brought upon some very necessary world building and character development for the new reploids. Very much, the expository episode, this was an important chapter, because it set up things for future episodes and kept me on track, months later when it was time to think about the bigger picture. Kassy & Hal went to the Magma Area while Tack checked out the Laser Institute. The Nightmare System was in full effect now, and the goal was to show how dangerous the Nightmare actually is to some red shirts, before X goes in there. How effective that actually was in my execution, remains to be seen. At this point the episode title remains prominent, because X expresses sincere interest in finding the Real Zero, but they have... zero leads. (Sorry, I had to.) The Villains even had an interesting follow-up about Scaravich’s death and there was an interaction, which vaguely eluded to something new happening, from Metal Shark. So that will be something fun to look forward to. Ending at the beginning of a new stage is always a cool cliffhanger. Believe it or not, I wanted this to go all the way through the Rainy Turtloid stage, which would have given the title prominence for a 3rd time. But that’s okay.

Ep. 5: Another Long Stage, but its not half as draining as the Central Museum. In fact, all of the Reploid Interactions kept it really lively. Especially by the end. The Inami Temple was the first stage that I could hint at our location with the episode title - “Nightmare Rain”. I wish I could’ve done that for the previous episodes, but it’s alright. I took some interesting risks, during this stage write-through. I almost forgot about that frickin Monbando Reploid unit. I took a real risk by giving him an AI, but he keeps things interesting, giving X someone to talk to, which actually added levity to the situation where appropriate. That Nightmare Zero encounter mid-stage was what it was all about for me, though. I'm really proud of that one, using the stage layout to my advantage in an innovative way. All of that Levy stuff with Rescue Reploid 6 was another interesting choice. I have more in store for her, but I'm really hoping there will be more of a payoff, than just an Easter Egg Cameo. We’ll see. I’m looking forward to seeing what else I can do with her in the next arc. Need I bring up X’s Reploid rescues in the Gaia Armor!?? That was a bright idea that I came up with after post-planning. The original plan was to have X revisit the stage later, but I thought about how this Acid Rain was killing them, so... time to settle the issue of an unused Armor. [X6 granting us the gift of using a modified Fifth Armor was nice, but it made me wonder, why can’t he access the Gaia anymore?]. The answer was just that he doesn’t really like it. But he used it to his advantage here, and now I had a new challenge ahead of me. I had to get rid of it. Another challenge was posed when X discovered a fucking portal in one of the tunnels. I wasn’t prepared for that! But thankfully, I was able to come up with a viable excuse rather than just X being scared of the portal. He ran out of teleporter rings!!!! This gave me new Fanon Mega-science to add to the stakes. Teleporter Rings now need a day to recharge, and it was clear that plenty more needed to be made. This gave Alia & Douglas something to do, so in the end, this was all good. But now it was time for X to face off against Rainy Turtloid. He’d have to come back for the others later. [Time will tell, how well or poorly that is handled, depending on how long it takes X to actually get back there.]

Ep. 6: This one basically had Reverse Pacing, but I liked it. It started with a Climactic, Rainy Turtloid fight. I mean, this was Epic and fucking Brutal. Thanks to my brilliant bring-back of the Gaia Armor, now Turtloid had to take it away and break the shit out of it. This is where “The Fight Becomes Dire” and I thought it was amazing. In my planning phase, that was never remotely on the table, but it worked out wonderfully. What was on the table was X possibly using his Ultimate Armor if the battle got too brutal, but I wanted to avoid that. [I had done practice playthroughs where I managed to get X to win in Normal Armor and definitely in Falcon Armor with some select weapon spamming and pattern memorizing. I was open to keeping it simple, I really was.]. But after X got smacked around like a bitch, it was time for payback. Especially considering Turtloid’s motivation to fight was “But I have to listen to Master...” Here we had the interesting case that both Men respected each other and didn’t want to fight, but they had to. {Even though X thought the Reploid Trapping and Nightmare acceptance was reprehensible}. X primarily focussed on that and tried to change Turtloid’s mind, but once his Gaia Armor was destroyed and X nearly died, it was time for some Ultimate payback. I’m really surprised by how epic and dark it got. I’m very proud of it. After the mission, due to some very necessary stakes and power limiters, X had to sit out for a day again, once again slowing our pacing down to a screeching halt. This one hurt me, I think. At least he wasn't injured this time... As I stated before, when I made the decision to include the Ultimate Armor into this Season, I did so knowing that there needed to be a price. It comes with him using up all his stamina. Therefore, he can't spam it with every mission or battle. The same rules applied to his shotokan moves in Season I & II, which have basically been replaced by the Ultimate Armor at this point. With more opportunity at exposition, however, I was able to follow up on the new reploids, who were now in trouble at their respective missions. [This is the stuff I needed to give X motivation for his mission choices during the planning phase, but it just wasn’t there]. And yet, one was debatably set up too soon. I had a new dilemma, where X was forced to sit out, while Kassy & Hal are stuck at the Magma Area, hurt. The choice to show X training the recruits in the meantime was a fun risk to take though. It showed productivity and progress in the downtime, hopefully eluding to the idea that these newbies can fend for themselves, while it inevitably takes X a while to save them in the future. I also got to develop Levy more and even create some juicy tension between her and Alia, which wasn’t originally planned. I had intended for a 2nd sex scene with Alia to happen at some point, but I didn't want it to be forced. Just more of an implied - ‘this is what’s happening while we wait’. But the addition of Levy’s flirting played into Alia’s insecurities, which gave it more of a purpose. And poor Douglas! Hahahaha. I was so tickled when I put that in out of nowhere. We got some much needed levity when he wanted to show X a new part, but instead he overheard them having sex and walked away with a “Nope!” lol!!! Its becoming very clear that I enjoy the in-between mission slice of life stuff Way more than the missions themselves. But then, when we get back to it... after X gave it a night, he and Signas found every excuse not to save Kassy & Hal yet, because my Stage Order plan still needed to be in play... At least Tack discovered that Portal at Sheldon’s stage. This saved my Stage Order Motivation, but it was still weak. If only Zero was around, then they could split the difference. But what I liked about this was that it showed just how bad of shape that X and co. were in. Yet again, the episode title remained prominent. “The Fight Becomes Dire”! The truth is, they were all over the place and X didn't know where to go first. For the first time in a while, our Hunters are overwhelmed and understaffed. And that was really noticeable here. I still think the ending is kinda weak though. There's no real cliffhanger other than knowing that X will pursue Shield Sheldon next. But overall, I liked the flow of this. There's a lot of forced slow downs in the momentum to have us sit with the characters and their decisions. It makes for a very different, sort of dismal pacing, which adds to the atmosphere of this looming Nightmare that won’t go away. One noticeable thing, however is that I failed to follow up on the Villains this time around. I had an ample opportunity to follow up on Gate’s thoughts for losing Turtloid again, who was debatably his favorite creation. I really botched that up, but I simply didn’t think of it at the time before posting. So who knows? That could be possible room for improvement in a future edit. Either way, the Villains are sure to be due for a check in soon.

Ep. 7: Epic. As. Fuck. But it took a minute to get there. Shield Sheldon's stage was more complicated to write through than I originally thought. Its the shortest stage in the game and yet all those damn lasers and their angles made for quite the challenge. This in itself, was a “Laser Light Phenomena”. Another immense challenge that I wasn't expecting was Sheldon's battle completely Flipping the Narrative on X. Admittedly, I really had a hard time finding motivation for those 2 to feud. Especially since he wasn't holding a grudge based on the past. I noticed a while ago, all of Gate's creations are so very willing to sacrifice themselves for Gate's cause. Like, to a nonsensical degree. Maybe that's their degree of Maverickism. They're just crazy... Anyway, this Deadlock Standstill might really play into my favor, since this recent Portal Experience is going to change X's motivations. I... don't want X to take a backseat, but... Rescuing the Reploids is going to be his 1st Priority from here on in. Especially since he wasn't able to save Tack and the bunch. Again, thats where stakes come into play. I didn't come into this episode knowing I was going to make that decision. But when I saw the layout of the "Pocket Dimension" as I'm calling it, and I factored in the time Tack spent in there, trying to rescue the Reploids by himself, there was no way I could have them all just hang out at a narrow ledge by the gate, or stuck in the gateway, scared. I wasn't gonna pull a lame idea that they managed to somehow unlock the gate, like I did with Data. (That can be the one trait that makes Data special and could play into his advantage in the future. But no one else's). Nightmare Zero wouldn't spare them either. He'd absolutely kill them in bloodlust. So... stakes were created. X took too long to catch up to him and thats what he gets. That last battle with ZN though... I'm really proud of where it went. I had some obvious limits this time compared to past Zero fights. That could be an analysis for another time.. But, I was happy to get pretty gorey by the end, there. And that pay off Cliff Hanger was so satisfying! It gives me all the feels.

The 2nd Arc is going to feel very different. But we ain't out of the woods yet. Rereading the 1st Arc served as a dual purpose. Not only could I gush about my favorite moments or be open about my choices and how things came out, but it is starting to reveal where else it's going. Kassy & Hal still need rescuing at the Magma Area. Cody & Data are at the North Pole! Tekk is at the Weapon Center. X still needs to save whoever is in the portal at Inami Temple! Let alone revisiting the Amazon and Central Museum again. Exposition is just waiting to happen, and now that Zero is back?? Things are going to get easier, but also a little bit harder for X. One thing I can definitely say is that seeing him will bring back some Unwanted Memories. And its gonna be very interesting to see how he deals with that. I'm definitely looking forward to writing the 2nd Arc out in the New Year.

Until then, folks. I hope you enjoyed reliving this with me. See you in 2021, which should hopefully prove to be a far more stable year than 2020. [God, I hope I didn’t just jinx everything...]

#Season VI Diaries #Looking back at the 1st Nightmare Arc #Ep. 1-7 #writing wins #writing woes #X #Alia #Investigators #New Reploids #Zero Nightmare #unexpected dilemmas #writing out of pitfalls #stakes #limits #forced slowdowns #dismal atmosphere #navigating dystopian writing

1 note · View note

bigskydreaming · 5 years

Text

It really, really, really can not be stressed enough, what a disservice fandom has done to the complexity of Dick and Slade’s canon comic book relationship, by simply reducing it to your fairly standard hero/villain trope. As well as making it just a master/apprentice dynamic like in Teen Titans. Their comic book dynamic is just not remotely interchangeable with that one. At all.

Among other things in the comics, in all of their encounters, Slade’s very presence is a constant living, breathing reminder of three of the outright worst moments in Dick’s life, and a walking embodiment of some of his biggest issues, all rolled up in one package.

1) Slade’s entrance to Dick’s life is the accompaniment to one of the greatest betrayals Dick has ever experienced. In order to get revenge for the death of his son, Grant, that he wrongly blamed the Titans for, Slade enlisted Tara Markov as his accomplice BEFORE any of the Titans ever met her. When her ultimate allegiances were revealed in the Judas Contract, and she singlehandedly took down and captured practically every Titan except for Dick, who escaped Slade when the latter saved him for himself....Dick, along with the other Titans, had to reconcile the fact that this woman they’d called their teammate, their friend, that they’d shared so much with, told so much to...had never been one of them.

Not really. She’d been plotting their betrayal and deaths from the literal first moment they ever met her. With Dick having to shoulder the additional burden that like...he was the team leader. He was the one who ultimately was responsible for approving her addition to the team, who made the decision, who vouched for her and said okay. I am giving you my trust, and by extension, telling everyone of my teammates who puts their trust in me to do right by them, that it is safe for them to trust you as well. Whether or not Dick needed to heft that much responsibility for Terra turning out to be a traitor is really not the point in this specific instance. All that matters is that he did.

Now, as an example....how many fics that touch on Slade and Dick’s relationship in comic book settings in any capacity....how many of them offhandedly reference the fact that Slade is unique among many villains or enemies of the Justice League, Titans and Batfamily, in that he knows Dick’s secret identity...and by extension, has long since figured out those of every other member of the Batfamily?

Now with that in mind.....how many of those fics ever do anything with the fact that....Slade only HAS this knowledge in the first place....because TERRA told him Dick’s secret identity way back when....after Dick trusted HER, his teammate and Slade’s secret plant from day one....with his identity and by extension, Bruce’s as well, and Jason’s, and every other member of their family who was later added in the future?

Like, it isn’t just something where Slade figured it out on his own, or Dick told him....this highly crucial, critical and rare information that Slade has when few others have it, even other heroes....Dick never voluntarily gave to him. Its stolen goods, effectively, with Slade only having gotten it by virtue of Dick’s mislaid trust in someone else entirely.

My point being.....we talk a lot in fandom about how Dick is so trusting, but the reality is....even while Dick does make a point to give people the benefit of the doubt and extend his trust at times to people with not so great reputations....this is a willful, deliberate choice on his part, a conscious effort, and not evidence of Dick having an easy time trusting people or being naive.

The reality is, Dick has massive trust issues, born in large part of the fact that his team once all almost died because he put his trust in the wrong person.....and SLADE IS QUITE LITERALLY THE FACE AT THE ROOT OF MOST OF DICK’S CANON TRUST ISSUES.

(It also needs to be acknowledged that this was while the team was very much the TEEN Titans, and Slade’s earliest appearances absolutely made not at all veiled inferences that Slade seduced Terra and used a sexual and/or romantic relationship to manipulate her and get her allegiance in the first place. When she was very much a teen herself. She was a victim as well, and Slade predatory in his interactions with her. It was statutory rape every bit as much as Liu with Dick. Like.....it is what it is guys, and you might not want to go with that take for him yourself, but no different from when people choose to focus on instances of Bruce’s abuse, you can’t get upset at people who DO want to acknowledge this aspect of things and be like....fuck any kind of Slade redemption or Slade positivity.)

2) Slade also happens to represent one of the single worst moments of Dick’s life, and what he’s often regarded as one of his greatest personal failures.....and that’s Joey’s death. Joey was possessed by the evil spirits left over from Raven’s home dimension after the team finally banished Trigon for good, with his own possession powers having made him particularly vulnerable to them possessing him en masse, and they over time took more and more control of him until he was effectively just a helpless passenger in his own body for a period of months, maybe even longer than a year.

While these spirits went about using his body to infiltrate and then hijack control of The Wildebeest Society, a group made up of former Titans foes for the express purpose of defeating the Titans.....and then as leader of the Wildebeest Society....having them systematically hunt down every Titan to ever exist, past or present, murdering many of them and capturing most of their superpowered members for the intended use of their bodies as hosts for the spirits sharing Joey’s body.

Now, not only is this a pretty direct parallel to Dick’s own experience being a brainwashed mole of the Church of Blood for over a year, secretly working to undermine his own teammates without any conscious control or even awareness of his own actions there, and with none of his teammates any the wiser, just as Dick himself hadn’t suspected anything wrong with Joey leading up to this reveal....

But after the Wildebeest Society had successfully either captured or killed every other Titan, Dick infiltrated their headquarters in disguise, in an attempt to free his teammates....only to be be caught and imprisoned by ‘Joey.’ With the latter then revealing the truth of why he was acting like this....and then continuing to keep Dick as his prisoner, chained up right by his side and tortured and helpless for over a week, as he and his minions continued with the rest of their work in preparing the carefully drugged/comatose Titans to be the spirits’ new hosts.

Let me reiterate....for over a week, Dick was the prisoner of evil spirits parading around in the body of one of his closest friends - the literal first person Dick chose to place his trust in again after it was first broken by Terra’s betrayal in the first place - while these spirits, did all of this in front of him with Joey’s face and body....gloating, taunting him, trying in every way imaginable to break him and his spirit. The whole time callously speaking of their intentions for the rest of Dick’s closest friends and their bodies, as they went about the final steps of their plan to basically use Dick and his team as the very tools they used to destroy everything they’d ever worked to protect and save.

Dick was only able to stop this and wake up the rest of his team...with Slade’s help, when the latter came in search of Joey himself. And at the end of it all, Joey was able to retake control of himself long enough to beg his father to kill him, before the spirits were able to overpower him again and use him to fulfill the rest of their plans.

Right in front of Dick.

Dick of course had spent the entire time he was a prisoner, trying his best to get through to Joey, believing with all his heart that Joey was in there still and could be saved, and of course, blaming himself for not seeing that something was wrong with Joey and stopping all of this sooner.

And then and there, Dick saw Joey resurface just as Slade did.....but while Dick saw this as proof that Joey was still there, could still be saved, they shouldn’t give up on him....Slade believed that doing the right thing then and there meant honoring Joey’s wishes for one of the first times ever in his life....even though that ultimately meant....also running Joey through with his sword. Again.....with Dick right there, still powerless to do anything to get up and help Joey, stop Slade, or propose another plan of action. He watched one of his best and dearest friends killed by his own father, because...in Dick’s own eyes....he’d failed to come up with an alternative in all the time he was prisoner....and failed to stop things from getting to that point in all the time before that, while Joey was possessed.

My point being....in the comic books, whether Dick and Slade are currently on good terms, bad terms, or neutral terms....they always exist for each other as a constant reminder of the death of one of the most important people in their lives. With that death being something they each blame themselves for and consider one of their greatest failures...as well as that death also being something they each at times have blamed each other for, for failing to come up with a way to save Joey, or protect him before he got to that point.

3) And finally, the third item of importance that I’m gonna gloss over for now as its more directly relevant to a post I wanna make about this later.....Slade’s direct involvement in the destruction of Bludhaven literally can’t be stressed enough. Whether you deem it in character or think he was written largely out of character at the time, with a case to be made for either stance, I think, the point remains that if you’re referencing Bludhaven having been destroyed at all, to any degree....Slade is once again at the heart of that matter, integral to every step of how that ultimately played out....with his position as the Society’s point man on that operation and his own personal grudge with Dick over various things, as well as Dick’s training of his daughter Rose - at Slade’s own insistence, but in ways Slade wasn’t pleased with, since Dick helped cultivate Rose’s actual heroic inclinations and instincts, which Slade did NOT sign off on - like, these things were directly step by step the path towards the Society ultimately following through and dropping Chemo on Bludhaven. With like, that being something that Slade absolutely could have stopped, thanks to his position, and even promised Dick as part of the agreement they made, that he WOULD keep from happening....only to renege on his word there.

In conclusion, Dick and Slade’s relationship and dynamic is SO SO SO SO SO MUCH MORE complex and varied than its basically ever made out to be in fanfics, and stems in large part from this one specific little tidbit that hardly ever seems to make it into fics’ final cuts.....

Slade respects Dick. Even when he doesn’t like him.

And I know, I know that fics pay a lot of lip service to this idea, but for the most part, its not substantiated. Or its clarified as though Slade respects Dick’s potential, or what he could be with Slade’s help or instruction....but that’s literally not the point of their canon.

The point is despite Dick being decades younger, Slade respects Dick as an opponent. As someone who has beaten him, bested him, in various ways and at various points. As well as respecting Dick as being a person who Slade’s son respected, and trusted, and valued a great deal. With a lot of Slade’s own memories of his son transferred onto Dick at times as a proxy, with Dick essentially acting as a stand-in for the son that Slade regrets never taking the time to get to know better...and here’s Dick, who knew and understood Joey better than just about anyone, certainly better than Slade. Which I personally believe Slade resents and even hates Dick for, for being someone that Joey both trusted and loved when Slade knows that likely wasn’t true of Joey’s view of him.....but I believe its also why Slade has never been able to bring himself to actually try and kill Dick and be rid of his threat to his plans for good....because doing so would be like killing the last real link Slade sees to the son he himself killed by his own hand.

Dick Grayson, for Slade....also happens to be the man who had every reason to not want anything to do with anyone associated with Slade, after Terra broke his trust, because of Slade’s own machinations.....while at the same time...Dick Grayson and his willingness to still extend that trust to Slade’s own son not long after that....are the very reasons that Joey ever had the opportunity to be the hero that Joey had always wanted to be....and that people ultimately remembered him as. There’s a reason Slade wanted Dick to be the one to train his daughter, after all - with the reason he was pissed at Dick for it ultimately being that Dick ended up being better at it than Slade had hoped, and Rose ultimately siding with Dick instead of Slade herself.

And even more importantly, IMO, Slade - even at times when he resents Dick for it at the exact same time - respects Dick for the choices Dick makes. For the precise fact that they aren’t the choices that Slade himself would make, that they’re choices Slade often thinks he couldn’t make.

He doesn’t disdain Dick for his choices or priorities or look down on him for them. Dismiss him because of them. They’re the heart and soul of WHY Slade respects Dick....and the fact that even with those extremely different priorities that Slade often doesn’t agree with...Dick STILL manages to come out the winner in a lot of encounters.

So this Slade Wilson who grudgingly admits that Dick Grayson has potential, but that its stunted and wasted without his own training, and because of the ‘weak, ill-advised’ choices that Dick makes and the things Dick prioritizes.....

Like, that has as little to do with actual canon pre-Flashpoint Slade, as the actual canon pre-Flashpoint Dick has to do with the depiction of him in many of these fics. Where Dick feels hopelessly outmatched and inadequate next to Slade or when facing him, like, he desperately starts praying the second Slade enters the fight cuz that’s the only way he’ll survive....or else he feels naive and dumb, or thinks how foolish he must look to Slade, or how raw or untrained or novice.....not to mention the times he’s focused on viewing Slade as a reflection of Bruce in various ways, or his dynamic with Slade as having anything to do with his dynamic with Bruce.

Again...umm, what? No. That’s not how Dick has ever been shown viewing their relationship either. The times he’s in conflict with Slade, he’s not questioning himself or second-guessing his abilities or praying he survives - he’s usually just PISSED, because of whatever thing has brought him into conflict with Slade this time. And not in that fanfic way where he’s unreasonable or irrational because of his anger and it clouds his judgment...in the way where he uses his anger to hone and focus his skills and just keep him going no matter how many hits he takes. Slade is an opponent whose skills Dick absolutely knows better than anyone else, and by extension respects those skills absolutely - but he is at the same time an opponent Dick has faced many times before, AND WALKED AWAY FROM EVERY TIME.

No, Dick doesn’t take his victory or even his survival against Slade for granted, but he’s not remotely fear-stricken or rendered inadequate by the possibility of failure....he knows that there are no guarantees of success, but by the same token, he’s equally aware that Slade’s reputation is no guarantee of his own failure....with his own track record with the man being proof of that.

And at the same time....when they’re not directly in conflict....Dick does not feel invalidated or naive or dumb when around Slade, because of their age difference. He isn’t suddenly rendered like he feels like he’s a little kid sitting with a grown up. He’s usually just tired. He has as little illusions about Slade as Slade has about him. Dick KNOWS better than ANYONE, just how much Slade doubts and second-guesses his OWN choices, regrets his OWN priorities and decisions at times. So by extension...Dick doesn’t take their encounters OR Slade’s opinion as reason to feel inadequate or second-guess himself? He knows damn well that Slade has a higher opinion of choices that Dick himself even regrets making, than Slade does some of his own decisions.

There’s not this.....gap between them experience wise, not in the sense that Dick can remotely compare to Slade’s much vaster library of life experiences, but rather in the sense that like.....Dick doesn’t care, you know? That’s not the point. Dick’s never comparing himself or his decisions to Slade’s with a measuring stick any time they encounter each other, because each encounter they have is so vastly more weighted by what they both represent to each other, their shared tragedies and personal failures and regrets, and their mutual awareness of these things and what they embody for each other. Dick - just like Slade himself is - is usually too preoccupied being focused on every thing that being around the other brings up for him....to have any mental energy left over for all this other stuff.

Comic book Dick and Slade, for each other, just carry too much knowledge of the life experiences they both have in common, because of their past interactions and shared connections.

Anyway, I will do another post soon about the comic book Renegade arc in particular, because its SO much more interesting than just the ‘Dick was Slade’s student or apprentice’ facsimile that I think people assume it to be. Like, Dick didn’t go to him as a supplicant, and Slade didn’t for a second think he was actually turning traitor. Slade asked him to train Rose in exchange for Slade’s help with his own plans, in part because Slade RESPECTS Dick’s skills as a trainer of heroes, not seeks him as a student for himself....but ALSO as a kind of manipulation - personally, I think he was hoping to use Dick’s inevitable concern and compassion for Rose as a buffer to keep Dick from betraying Slade or tripping him up when he tried.....and of course Dick actually ended up getting ROSE to turn on Slade instead?

But at the same time, its not one sided at all, because there was a particularly clever bit about how Dick faced off against Superman as Renegade, and tried to use his heartbeat to send Clark the message that he wasn’t actually betraying the heroes and not to listen to the words he was saying, but the fact that his heartbeat showed that he was lying....except Slade had ANTICIPATED this, and had rigged the glove of Dick’s Renegade costume ahead of time to be like, wirelessly linked to a remote he had as he watched Dick and Clark’s interactions through the video feed on Dick’s mask.....and Slade used this remote to send wireless signals through Dick’s glove that matched the sound of Dick’s heartbeat and in essence let Slade alter the rhythm of what Clark thought was Dick’s heartbeat....but was actually just Slade literally clicking buttons.

So Dick was getting more and more confused about why even though he was saying all this stuff about being too jaded by the League’s failures and done with heroism, like, why was Clark actually BELIEVING him instead of realizing he was clearly lying from the sound of his heart....and Clark was actively getting more and more upset as he talked and actually trying to FIGHT him and Dick eventually had to flee with Clark actually like.....furious with him, and Dick had no idea why. With this, I think, being one of the things Dick actually full on HATES Slade for the most (and I think what directly motivated Dick getting Rose to turn on her father) - like, Clark has been Dick’s number one support and fan from day one, even when Bruce wasn’t at times. He’s the one person who has pretty much ALWAYS believed in Dick no matter what.

And Slade managed to take that away. To get Clark to literally look at Dick as the enemy. To not believe him, believe in him. Like. That’s something I don’t think Dick has ever forgiven Slade for or ever will.

So yeah. There’s so much more to Dick and Slade’s dynamic than fics represent, and I wish people delved more into this other stuff, because its so much more INTERESTING in my opinion than just like, your usual ‘older supervillain toys with younger outmatched superhero’ or master and apprentice stuff, etc.

75 notes · View notes

mr-meekers · 5 years

Text

January Book Reviews

Hopefully, once a month, towards the end of the month, I’ll sit down to type out little reviews for all the books I’ve read this month. It’s my goal this year to read more, and, equally as important, finish more books (even if I don’t like them.)

So let’s get started!

1. Loveboat, Taipei by Wen

I initially started reading this book to participate in a book club coming up in February. I didn’t think I’d like it much as it lies pretty far out of my wheelhouse being not only contemporary fiction but also a teen romance. Now, I can definitely get into these things, but my problem with those genres is that they fall so so so easily into the usual tropes that are, honestly, just very annoying. Like, love triangles and love at first sight and “there was a misunderstanding that occurred that one small conversation could clear up but I’m gonna stew about it for the rest of the book” kinda tropes. I’m just tired of them and can’t stand them anymore and I know the genre can do better.

Loveboat does. It really does. I’m still surprised I liked it so much.

Basically, the story centers around Ever, who is the eldest daughter of Chinese immigrants. Typical story ensues- her parents want her to be a doctor, and basically guilt her into following their life plan for her while never really giving her a choice and making all her decisions for her. But Ever wants to dance and this is what sets up the main conflict in the story: what Ever wants vs. what her parents want for her, and all the hard choices and consequences that come from such a conflict. The majority of the story takes place at a summer school in Taipei where a bunch of fancy, high achieving Asian kids go to not only make connections, but make connections~~~ if you catch my drift. Ever is convinced she’ll hate it- her parents forced her to go, signed up for all her classes for her, and even snuck a bio textbook into her luggage with a not so subtle hint to study. So, our main conflict begins. Ever decided to break every ridiculous rule her parents ever set for her. And the plot unfold from there.

Yes, there are two love interests. I’ll hive ya that. But the relationships in this book aren’t based in convenience. They feel real and well thought out and genuine. A lot of great themes are explored, from the good ol’ “finding yourself” meme to the different kinds of burdens our families can put on us, and whether or not we decide to carry them forever. The characters felt deep and by the end, I was truly happy for them. Loveboat, Taipei gets a 4 out of 5 from. Definite recommendation.

2. The Guinevere Deception by White

A new take on the Arthurian legend has us following Guinevere instead of the Once and Future King. I’ m not a fan of Kiersten White’s other books and stopped reading them before I could finish them, I did thoroughly enjoy this one. I’m a sucker for a good fantasy with a strong female lead and this is just that. We all kinda know the legend of King Arthur already, and White does a good job of adding in elements from the original story but then twisting them to make them her own. Despite the lack of romance (something else I also thoroughly enjoy) for most of the book, I still found myself hooked on the plot and guessing and wondering what would happen next.

The plotline starts pretty simply, but with a major twist. We start with Guinevere being escorted to Camelot to wed Arthur. But, it is soon revealed that this is not the real Guinevere. The true princess is dead and buried (I forget the CoD) and this girl, the daughter of Merlin, has been disguised to take her place. No one can know who she is, for magic is banned in Camelot, and she is a witch herself. Merlin has sent her to Arthur’s side to protect him from a mysterious magical threat he sees coming. But that’s all he will tell her about it. Now, Guinevere must protect a king and his city and so much more. I can’t say much more without spoiling it, but even if it may seems a little bit dull at first, I did truly enjoy myself by the end. I’m excited for the second book.

Again, I give this a 4 out of 5. Certainly worth picking up.

3. The Rogue King by Owen

This is a fantasy romance I picked up for shits and giggles. I am of the opinion that most fantasy romances are cringey, tropey, and just downright awkward. I have a very, very difficult time finding ones with actual plots and characters that feel more like people that convenient transportable genitalia. But, I must say, Abigail Owen’s Rogue King was none of those things... for the most part.

The story centers around Kasia, a phoenix shape shifter, and Brand, a dragon shape shifter. Now, there’s a lot of shifter politics to unpack, but the basics are that dragons and phoenixes usually mate because they both revolve around fire. Phoenixes then bless their mate’s clan and make that dragon the king of all kings and clans. It’s, like, a big deal. So Brand is out for revenge against the reigning High King and if he delivers Kasia to the Blue Clan king, he can finally have his revenge. And we go from there.

The thing I liked about this book was that it did have an actual plot. There were things going on besides focusing on the two leads going at it and falling in love. I mean, they still do, but there’s stuff in between that matters this time. In fact, the love making was the thing I mostly had a problem with. Kasia and Brand’s relationship felt too forced. It’s played off as “they’re mates and it’s destiny” but it just feels rushed and awkward and at times, random.

The second book comes out later this year, but I’m not sure I’ll pick it up. Still, it gets a 3 from me. Not the worst thing I’ve ever read.

4. The Wallflower Wager by Dare

Too cute. It was too cute. Yes, it was your typical 1800s London high society “fall in love with this duke and pretend you know what the word “rake” means” kinda story but still! It was good!!

We follow Penny, a young woman who has taken to caring for stray animals that no one seems to want, including (but not limited to) a dog with no back legs, a goat that is definitely certainly entirely not pregnant she assures you, and a parrot from a whore house that says “Fancy a fuck, love?” all the time and is genuinely funny. Her new neighbor, the notorious Gabriel, is renovating his new house to sell for profit and having a menagerie next door is not helping his property value. The two must work together to find suitable homes for all of Penny’s beloved creatures before the month is up, or else she’ll be forced to move out.

Obviously, they fall madly in love in this month. And their romance does seem natural and heart warming and the sex is fantastic. The ending made me tear up it was too gosh darn sweet. I can’t spoil it for you, but know that it was wholesome AF. It gets a solid 4 from me. I desperately wish there was more.

5. The Merciful Crow by Owen

Just my cup of tea. A good fantasy story with a strong female lead and wonderful romantic interest. The not so subtle themes of classism, racism, and the way the privileged avoid holding themselves accountable are very topical for the day, but also timeless in their application. Other themes like the cost of selflessness, going after what you want, balancing your needs with those of others, and being the first to strike change are all heavily applied, as well, and beautiful done.

The story follows Fie, a Crow girl destined to be beaten down by her own countrymen for the simple act of existing. Crows are the only caste in the country of Sabor immune to the Sinner’s Plague and thus are the ones who deal with the bodies. For a price. When Fie and her clan collect two dead lordlings from the palace, she certainly didn’t expect them to still be alive. Turns out, the prince is on the run from a queen who wants him dead. If the Crows can deliver him to his allies, he swears a Covenant Oath to grant them protection from the Oldeanders, not-so-subtle references to the KKK in their white sheets and nightly raids on Crow camps, killing as many of them as they can before dawn. It’s a deal too good to pass up, so Fie’s Pa, their chief, agrees.

This story is just... so many things. Before I forget, though, I want to congratulate Margaret Owen for the fantastic LGBT representation. Within the first few chapters, we already have non-binary/gender non-conforming character in Madcap, who uses they/them pronouns. The prince is gay. Tavin, his bodyguard, is bisexual. The kingdom’s master general is not only pansexual but polygamous. Fie is the only character of importance who seems straight, but even then we don’t really know as there are no other women her age around (there are other women, but Crows mingle only with Crows, and their bands are small). The romance here, while some may say is too hasty, I say felt just right. It’d been building and building and building and then finally happened and it was like letting out a breath. But even more satisfying was Fie’s character arc, and the Prince’s too, maybe even more so. So much happens and there is so much growth that I really just need you all to read it for yourselves and see.

5 out of 5 for me.

Thanks for reading this far! Hopefully there will be more reviews up in another month!

#book reviews #ya fantasy #ya romance #romance #fantasy #loveboat taipei #the guinevere deception #the merciful crow #the rogue king #the wallflower wager #Tessa dare #Abigail owen #Margaret owen #books #teen books #meekers

5 notes · View notes

the-space-case · 7 years

Note

Hi! First of all I love your art and I love you

Hello and Thank You!!!! I’m not sure if you’re talking about a fan comic or an original, or long or short but I’ll give you some tips. GRANTED I am not a professional and you may find a different way that is easier for you.

1.) Think of a basic storyline or prompt. Like, “Man is dying and is going to a mountain to see it before he dies and meets his DESTINY???” it can be stupid. It can be silly or vague so long as you have something to start with.

2.) Think of the protagonist, as well as a bit of the timeframe or universe. Are they human? Alien? Medieval? Elf? For our example here lets say its a medieval man from a heavily forested area. He is a lumberjack who hates potatoes and his old man told him stories of the mountain in the west that holds a magic temple; only the pure of heart may enter. He is dying, and wants to see this mythical place before he passes. Draw a few examples. You’ll want some basic refs to look back on.

3.)Think of the antagonist. It can be nature, machine, man, elderich horrors, etc....(typical story tropes are something like man vs. machine or man vs. nature). For our case lets say its mainly man and nature. Bandits, bad weather, illness, etc...DRAW SOME OF THOSE REFS. These beginning ones don’t have to be in depth. just basic stuff.

4.)Hash out what you want to happen in the BEGINNING, MIDDLE and END. These are kind of the most important parts. Its definitely important to think of the end ahead of time instead of thinking about it when you’re halfway through; thats a quick way to never end it at all. Our lumberjack begins his journey selling all he owns and getting a horse to set out to the mountains with nothing but a bit of gold, an old axe and a sick ride. In the middle he encounters various trials that test his “pure of heart”-ness. Probably three, they can be as long as you want so long as they are generally even alongside each other. (3 or 7 are magic numbers WINK). In the end he reaches the temple and is welcomed inside due to his good deeds and it was allllll along a metaphor for the journey to the afterlife.

5.)get some good references. You have a time period set, a scene in mind, and some tools. Gathering from our example, we’re going to want; various forest scenes of pines, plains, dirt roads, medieval towns, mountains, temples, animals, people, cultures, etc. We need refs for our horse, axe, and gold. Remember those quick refs of characters you made in steps one and two? Now is the time to finalize those. They’ll have developed with the level of detail in your story. Add background nonsense no one else will notice but will enliven the story like how our axeman always ties his beard when mad or how he prefers apple cider over beer anyday. Give those fuckers some names. Bandit Bill challenges Axeman Abel for his horse and loses his head (literallly???)

--if you can go to like, museums or lectures or fairs about these things and take notes. USE YOUR RESOURCES!! ASK QUESTIONS!!! (For ilulatte I visited a couple of coffeeshops and roughed out some cafe drawings haha)

7.) Separate events into chapters. Generally theres a prologue, chapters 1-whatever, the end, and an epilogue. Our axeman has a prologue of starting out on the road, chapters 1-3 depicting pure-heart-trials, climax/end of reaching the temple, and an epilogue of someone else starting their journey to the temple based on his influence on the world because this shit is cyclical, baby.

6.) make a fuckton of thumbnail drafts. You know these characters now; you built em out of your own head. You know how they move and talk, so slap down their journey in tiny pages. add minor details to the sides. (Here’s a shitty example of mine from ilulatte!!!!!)

7.) finish allllll of them. or at least the first few chapters. Its good for you I promise. You’ll notice the pacing much better this way! You can add a bunch of extra details in the margins like extra panels and bg notes. Don’t be afraid to experiment with the direction of your story, but try to keep the overall plot the same! (sticky notes are great for this!)

8.) start roughing out the actual pages. You’ll change things from the thumbnails (like I always do haha); thats okay!!! They’re more of a helpful guide than solid stone rules. It’s like making the scaffolding to make the base for the rest of the building.

9.) do the lineart, bgs, text, etc. There’s tons of helpful art programs for this like CLIP studio paint or medibang if you’re doing it digitally. Remember those refs you collected for our horse, axe, and bgs? Now is the time to use em. BE VIGILANT. Keep copies of the originals. Go back frequently to look for mistakes or missing details. Keep a check list. Freckles? check. Scar on nose? check. shading???? UHHHHHH----SHIT.

10.)you should probably number the pages. keep em in a nice sized resolution if you want to print but lower it if you’re posting to the internet to dissuade reposters. keep em all in one organized folder if possible. Slap your signature on em for extra safety.

11.) ????? Sell it on gumroad idk.

GENERAL TIPS:

-start with short stories. Build your own stamina.

-have relatable characters with flaws. Tumblr seems to hate “problematic” characters but thats literally the point of character building and narratives. THEY’RE RELATABLE IF THEY’RE FLAWED. If a story doesn’t have characters that conflict with each other its a boring one. Axeman Abel wants to help everyone; Bandit Bill wants to help himself only. LET THEM HATE EACH OTHER.

-its also good to have characters that are friends but still conflict with each other. The Dragon Age series is phenomenal with this (their characters are good in general, take notes!!)

-theres a lot of shitty people out there. USE THEM. (seriously though examine other peoples interactions and you’ll make better characters. )

-bad things happen to good people. Bad things also happen to bad people. Bad things just sort of happen. Don’t shy away from unfortunate events; your story will fall flat without conflict both planned and random.

-Obviously you don’t have to share the same world views as your characters. (dont let the antis fool you.) Axeman Abel can hate broccoli but you can still enjoy it. Bandit Bill can be a racist piece of shit but that doesn’t mean you are.

-have characters of various personality, body type, race, height, etc….it really livens up the story.

-generally you don’t want the bg to overwhelm the characters, so most people do a sort of painterly bg against the solid outlines of the characters but thats all really up to you and how in-depth you want it to be.

-you should also make a regular schedule, if you can. Say, something like “twenty finished pages a month” or “four pages a week” depending on the level of detail. Simplistic style and palettes of course take less time to make than full color/heavily detailed pages, so plan accordingly to prevent burnout. If you post weekly, having a few pages done ahead of time will be good in case you need an emergency break.

-be open to critique but don’t be a doormat, either. ESPECIALLY if you’re doing it for free. People will try to take advantage of you; don’t let them. Block them and move on.

-above all; BE DEDICATED. Comics take a great deal of time by yourself, but doing them helps you develop important skills in the end like time management and general technical know-how like digital programs and writing. It’s not just art, though that’s a major part of it.

-probably should’ve said this earlier but make what you enjoy??? People can generally tell if you dont enjoy your own work. There’s less effort there.

THIS WAS REALLY LONG SO I HOPE IT WAS HELPFUL IN SOME WAY ILU HAVE FUN BE SAFE OUT THERE

#personal jazz #comic making #comics #tips and tricks #comic tutorial #comic ref #art ref #art help #IDK MAN I ENJOY THE PROCESS #enjoy the journey yo #Anonymous

341 notes · View notes

theurbanologist · 6 years

Text

When Summer Gets Windy

Good morning.

Out the window, grey abides. It’s pasty, punctuated by a green foliage that remind me of my childhood in Seattle. In November, the grey came to the Emerald City, opened up an ample steamer trunk and said “Thanks for having me. I'll be staying until May, maybe June, with a few side trips to Grays Harbor County”.

My mother grew up in Grays Harbor County on the Washington coast and she remembers it as an active, bustling place with the timber and fishing industries providing an abundance of employment to people in Hoquiam, Aberdeen, and other hamlets. I knew it a different way. That's another story. I don’t mind the grey, though growing up I found it grating by April. Even they I knew we had two months to go, and sometimes there would be guest appearances in July or August, as if somehow Seattleites might have forgotten this so-called “neutral” color. Maybe it is neutral amidst the color wheel. In my heart and head it is not an emotional Switzerland.

Summer in Chicago is a vastly different experience than a Seattle summer. A Venn diagram of the two would reveal shared contours, such as ice cream, the appeal of water (saltier out West), and more time outdoors, at least given the possibility of reasonable temperatures.

I will let you decide how to define reasonable temperatures.

With all of that in mind, I’ve asked some Chicago friends, writers, and other characters for their thoughts on what makes a Chicago summer compelling.

1. Happy Village. I try to make at least one annual summer pilgrimage to Happy Village, where I drink High Lifes in the twinkle-lit beer garden and relive my early 2's when I first moved to Chicago and lived in the Ukrainian Village. Of course, I go far earlier these days because I'm old. My companions and I take breaks from the stickiness by ducking inside for a quick round of Ping-Pong.

2. Water taxi to Chinatown. I haven't done this yet, which makes this second activity aspirationally fraudulent. But my goal this year is to grab an early Sunday AM water taxi from Michigan Ave. to Chinatown where I will promptly stuff my face with dim sum at Phoenix.

3. Cubs game/two Chicago doggies. Despite Wrigleyville's disconcerting transition into Rosemont, absolutely nothing beats a summer day at Wrigley Field. This is baseball for the baseball lover—minimal gimmicks and visual distractions—just timeless organ jams, manual scorekeeping on the ole' green board, snappy Chicago doggies and ice-cold Old Styles (now only securable at a few kiosks—our preferred being on the 500 level behind home plate). Not to mention a lot more hits by the Lovable ... Winners.

Maggie Hennessy writes about food and other matters for TimeOut Chicago and other outlets.

Be a salmon in any Chicago summer: that is, swim upstream against the current. Avoid the Lakefront and its crowds—bike the Boulevard system and check out the inland parks from Jackson Park all the way up to Logan Boulevard.

Before or after a Sox game (you can ALWAYS get a ticket, just go on spur of the moment) go to Palmisano Park (the former Stearns Quarry)on a field trip to Bridgeport, where you can also get the best hot dog or mother-in law sandwich at Johnny O’s at 35th and Morgan, before quenching your thirst at either Maria’s Community Bar or Bernice’s.

Go to Ping Tom Park and then get dim sum any Sunday morning in Chinatown—be sure to dig the Confucius statue on 22nd Place and the Chinese-American Veteran’s Memorial on the SW corner of the intersection of Archer, Cermak, and Princeton.

Go to Humboldt Park and experience our one inland beach, as well as the endless selection of comida boricua in Chicago’s Puerto Rican heartland. Don’t ride the Lakefront Path, go hit the path along the North Branch/canal, all the way to Wilmette from K-town.

Summer is made for biking, do it.

Bill Savage teaches at Northwestern University, among other pursuits.

Sipping a Negroni while thumbing through a book in the Chicago Athletic Hotel's Drawing Room Eating Quartino's pizza and discussing the hot Chicago topics of the day at Tweed Thorton's Four Star Lunch Moseying over to Old Fashioned Donuts with my mom in our neighborhood (Roseland on 112th/Michigan)

Any trip to my alma mater includes mandatory stops at Two Asian Brothers and Hot”G”Dog (vegetarian Chicago Style hot dogs) Grabbing a Chicago Mix at the Garrett Popcorn Shop in O'Hare for my co-workers in the HBS Initiatives.

Rayshauna Gray is a writer currently working on a book about her family’s history. She is an honorary Boscagoan.

I spend much of the summer looking up. Walking east along Lake Street in the morning, I like to look up and watch El trains chug east with the morning sun behind them. In the evenings, I'm on my back in Millennium Park listening to the Grant Park Orchestra. But in the middle of the day, I make time to look down. I sit on the steps along the Chicago River, just north of Michigan Avenue, and look down at the water at the boats, kayakers, ducks and critters that might float by. I bring my lunch, often with friends and can't believe this bit of nature is in the middle of the city.

Shia Kapos is a journalist based in Chicago who writes for a number of outlets.

Ride one of the CTA train lines all the way to the end and then see how far from there you can walk back toward where you started from.

That kind of drifting walk is magical, revelatory, entertaining and free.

Kathleen Rooney is a poet and writer.

Fellow flaneurs will enjoy her latest book immensely.

My favorite thing to do, hands down, is to be near or on the water. Whether it’s on one of my friend’s boats or in my kayak, being on the water is cathartic for me.

Being near the water does the same. Being active along the lakefront (although not on those god forsaken bike paths, more like beach volleyball) is key. But then again, so is just sitting on my ass at a lakefront of riverside bar throwing back a Chicago made pint of beer or a non Chicago made glass of rosé. Every year I very much look forward to neighborhood street fairs.

I grew up in old town so the Old Town art fair is near and dear to my heart. Nothing beats grilling out with friends on a blissful, firefly ridden summer night.

And last but not least, Cubs games. Duh. Although if I have to be 100% honest, I prefer watching those in October ;)

Liz Garibay is a Chicago historian, beer expert, and an honorary Boscagoan.

In early August, a few weeks before summer winds to a close, just when I’m starting to panic about Labor Day looming and school supplies lining the shelves at Target, my son’s flag football season begins.

The teams play on Friday nights at Sheridan Park in Little Italy, a stone’s throw from Mario’s Italian Lemonade. Siblings flood the playground to the south. Parents stake out spots with blankets and lawn chairs and coolers filled with beverages to share. (It’s where I first experienced wine in a can. You drink it with a straw.)

Dusk starts to set in around half-time. The park lights go on. The Willis Tower looms to the east, catching and reflecting the last glimmers of the August sun. It’s a lovely little square of chaos and joy and diversity --- kids come from Bridgeport and Logan Square and Bronzeville and the South Loop and Lincoln Park to play in the league.

After the games, we congratulate our kids on their successes (or dry the tears from their losses) and head to Taylor Street for Italian lemonade. Then we head home and start counting the hours until next Friday night.

Heidi Stevens writes the “Balancing Act” column for the Chicago Tribune.

There’s a pretty on-the-nose trope that we put up with the indignities of Chicago winter just to experience the few, fleeting months of summer. Chicago’s summertimes feel earned in the way a warm day in Los Angeles never could (it’s also why some of us scoff at snowbirds who decamp to Florida to wait out the winter).

Two of my favorite activities in the city that really only happen in the summer take place on or near the water. After early memories of enviously watching scullers on the river near Lincoln Park and downtown, I eventually picked up a practical and portable inflatable kayak. I sneak into undisclosed put-in points around the north branch of the river and slide into the water (usually with a buddy and a small cooler of drinks in tow).

There’s a fascinating river culture that, if you walked by the very same houses from the sidewalk, you’d miss entirely. The ecosystem feels richer, but you never forget you’re in a city. Hawks and night herons and turtles co-mingle with groaning steel bridges, train tracks and graffiti.

When I want less isolation, I ride the southern part of the Lakefront Trail and stop off at the 63rd St. Beach. There could be an impromptu gig, pre-planned live music on the lawn and a water playground that I can run through with my summer clothes on (I’ve never been a fan of the beach proper).

If I’m feeling especially motivated, I’ll keep going south until I hit Calumet Fisheries. My reward for a long ride with be a sack of smoked shrimp and salmon that I can eat in the grassy embankment outside that little shrimp and fish shack or on the rickety picnic table that overlooks the 95th St. bridge -- and the lazy barges that float by.

Kim Bellware is a Chicago journalist whose work has appeared most recently in Rolling Stone, Chicago Magazine, and Teen Vogue.

Though I ride my bike year-round, there is something particularly magical about riding my bike during summertime in Chicago. All the cold days fall away and you are left with sunshine and the warm breeze along the lakefront trail and city streets. It is a beautiful feeling that always makes me fall in love with Chicago again.

There are very few things comparable to the energy of summer street festivals in Chicago when all your friends come together to enjoy music, food, or a movie.

For that period of time, the streets become ours.

Lynda Lopez is a reporter for StreetsBlog Chicago and she recently appeared on TV to talk about dockless bicycle initiatives.

What's my favorite Chicago summer activity? This.

1 note · View note

runicmagitek · 6 years

Note

fic meme questions! 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 💕

Many thanks for the ask and hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long :)

Already did 2, but here are the rest!

3. Is there a trope you wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole?

Domestic AUs and by extension, anything involving kids or marriage. I'd rather gag myself with a spoon than read or write any of that. I don't understand the appeal of domestic AUs or curtainfics. Maybe if it involves food, because I do love cooking and baking, but like... a story revolved around doing each other's laundry? Going out shopping for a mattress? Buying a house together? Um... no? I don't understand why people like these types of fics, but it feels like they've never experienced doing any of those things first hands. Folding laundry is tedious and not romantic. Shopping for shit by myself is stressful, never mind shopping WITH someone else (thank god my boyfriend is extremely patient and we have the same taste, but I still dread it). And jumping off of that, I really don't give a shit about society's conventional views towards marriage, so I'm not interested in writing about it. And kids... just no. I stop reading fics if a pairing randomly has a kid together, never mind writing about it.

4. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Care to share one of them?

I mean... nurturing as in actively working on or like, "nurturing" as in I at least conceived it, but it may or may not be locked up and neglected in a closet somewhere? Actually, let's go with the first option, or else we'll be here all day. I'm actively "nurturing" six fic ideas (not including my drabbles): Darkness/Starlight, OT3 fic, Rinoa pre-canon fic, a Pyre oneshot, and two things for Camp NaNo this April. Darkness/Starlight is almost done, so just doing last rounds of edits before posting bits. The OT3 fic (Setzer/Darill/Maria) is still being read over by my lovely beta and I'll start working on posting that once she finishes and once Darkness/Starlight is over. I've finished editing my Rinoa pre-canon fic and waiting for my beta to finish the OT3 one before overwhelming her with another fic D: at least it's like 1/5 of the word count? I'm slowly writing up a Pyre fic I've had in my head in a while and wasn't sure how to go about it. It's really nice to write out my Reader and hopefully people will like them. For Camp NaNo (HAHAHA oh right, that’s a thing... which seems to always start right after AB, when I’m still in low-battery mode), it's kind of my "get your shit together" month. I started working on a Setzer fic several years ago, posted the first chapter and... never wrote anymore. Granted, my boyfriend and I were trying not to die when this happened, so no wonder I just outright forgot about it. It's only 3 more chapters, so that shouldn't be too hard (I say this and then it suddenly blows up into 20k words). And when that's done, I have a Transistor pre-canon fic that I also had in the works during that same time period. It was originally meant for Transistor week, but... yeah, my boyfriend literally went to the ER a couple weeks before that and my brain shut down. That one I have thoroughly planned out and know it will be 7 chapters... probably end up being anywhere between 14k and 28k. Depends on how much I decide to write per chapter.

7. Share a snippet from one of your favorite pieces of prose you've written and explain why you're proud of it.

This changes for me every year, which I guess is a good thing, because that means I'm improving. My current favorite section of prose is a big spoiler for Darkness/Starlight so I don't really want to post any of it out of context (and it's really hard to even pick just a single line that's not spoiler-y), but it's a scene that involves Shiva and Celes. You ever have one of those scenes and it plays out perfectly in your head, but you don't know how to describe it? That was that scene for me. I was happy to finally nail it down and am very pleased with how it came out. I wanted it to come across as both chaotic and surreal, yet cathartic.

8. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you've written and explain why you're proud of it.

Did you mean: EVERYTHING WITH EDGAR IN DARKNESS/STARLIGHT???Where do I even begin??? This is probably my favorite dialogue with him:

“So, before all of that happened, have you been enjoying yourself?”

Typical Edgar, always trying to lighten the mood. Celes appreciated that aspect of him for once. “As much as I can, yes. And yourself?”

“Are you kidding? I live for this sort of thing! It’s been far too long since we’ve hosted such an event here. It’s a wondrous time. All the music and the dancing and the food and the gossip.” The way he raised his eyebrows should have concerned Celes. “Word has it, apparently, that I’m the fashion mastermind of the evening. Dressed both Terra and you. Must have been some concoction I drank the other night, because I do not recall finding that—” And now he was goggling at her dress. It was only a matter of time. “—in the spare closets lurking around here. Usually when I get that drunk, I’m lucky if I wake up with three women in bed with—”

“Edgar!”

I don't know why Edgar came off as the comedic relief in Darkness/Starlight, but it kind of happened. Not only are his lines a much-needed break from the seriousness/drama of the story, but they were a blast to write. And I'm thrilled my readers are enjoying him. He's kind of stealing the show, so to speak. Then again, I have a soft spot for secondary characters. It all works out!

#my writing #meme thing #farfromdaylight

2 notes · View notes

thenatureofpages · 5 years

Text

5 Reasons You Should Consider Participating in NaNoWriMo

Leaves are changing colors, the air is crisp, and pumpkin spice lattes are available to the masses. Do you know what that means?

NaNoWriMo season is almost upon us!

That’s right – the nonprofit writer’s program National Novel Writing Month, commonly known as NaNoWriMo – is getting closer!

“Wait,” you might be saying, “What exactly does this mean?”

WELL! Allow me to tell you!

National Novel Writing Month is a writing challenge in November with a simple goal: write 50,000 words of a novel in 30 days.

NaNo is also far more than that – it’s a community, it’s a way of life, it’s – okay, I’m probably getting ahead of myself. I’m just really passionate about the program – in fact, I even wrote my college admissions essay on the life-changing power of NaNoWriMo!

1. Having a Deadline is Incredibly Motivating!

I don’t know if you’re anything like me, but if you are, then you struggle with procrastination. A lot. If procrastination were a major, I’d have a Ph.D. in the study. Yet every year when NaNoWriMo season rolls around, I find myself eager to write and hit my daily word count goal. I’ll wake up early, go to bed late, and even get my regular work done faster to have more time to write. The NaNoWriMo website also provides you with badges as you hit specific landmarks – your first 25k, writing for 10 days in a row, etc. – which I love to try and collect throughout the month.

2. A Sense of Community!

This is one of my absolute favorite parts on NaNoWriMo – the community! Currently, the site boasts over 370,000 participants between the Young Writer’s Program and the main NaNoWriMo program! Every November, Twitter, Bookstagram, and BookTube is flooded with posts and #WIP updates for WriMos to encourage, inspire, and support one another! The NaNoWriMo website also hosts forums for writers to flock together and form a community. I found some of my best friends through their website and am still heavily involved in local events too!

That’s right – not only is there an online community, but there are also offline ones as well! Most cities host NaNoWriMo events put together by your local Municipal Liaisons – MLs for short. Depending on your location, libraries, coffee shops, and bookstores have been known to hold NaNoWriMo meetings for writers to gather and participate in word wars and chat about your book. It’s a blast!

3. No Time for Doubt!

The basis of NaNoWriMo is writing 50k in 30 days – this means you’re writing 1,667 words every day. If you’re a fast writer, this might be easier for you, but it’s definitely not for me! This will be my fifth year participating in the annual event, yet the word count still catches me every time! When you’re writing so many words per day, you don’t have time to stop and edit what you’ve written! There’s no time for writer’s block! If you want to make it to the finish line and claim sweet, sweet victory, you have to trudge through it one foot – or word – in front of the other. Eventually, the writer’s block or problem-scene will end, and it’ll become smoother sailing once more.

For those of us who struggle with self-doubt or perfectionism, this is also super helpful. I tend to go back and fret over my writing style, “is this too trope-y?”, and all the lovely fears caused by our inner editors. During NaNoWriMo, I have an excuse to say, “Nope! I’ll deal with that in December! For now, just write!”

4. Author Pep Talks!

Look, if you haven’t read the NaNoWriMo author pep talks, you’re sorely missing out. My personal favorite is Lemony Snicket’s, written entirely in satire. I crack up and get inspired every time I read it! If irony isn’t really your cup of tea, they have tons of other pep talks cataloged in their archives, and new ones are sent out during NaNo season!

Here are several of my favorite pep talks given in the past few years:

Brandon Sanderson, Erin Morgenstern, Gail Carson Levine, Holly Black, James Patterson, Jenny Han, John Green, Kate DiCamillo, Maggie Stiefvater, Marie Lu, Marissa Meyer, Meg Cabot, Neil Gaiman, Rainbow Rowell, Scott Westerfeld, Stephanie Perkins, Veronica Roth, and Lindsey Grant.

5. YOU WRITE A FREAKING NOVEL!!

There is absolutely no better feeling in the world than this:

You’ve been writing nonstop for the last 29 days. The end of your novel is in sight – you’ve been through ups and downs with your characters, you’ve cried with them (or because they refuse to stick to your outline), you’ve plowed through writer’s blocks, and you stuck with it for an entire month.

And here it is.

Stare at those words for a moment.

The End.

You’ve written a novel. A NOVEL! It might be terrible – goodness knows some of my NaNoWriMo drafts are so awful that I have to laugh at myself – but you’ve done it. You wrote a novel. You’re a novelist. A writer. An author – published or not, it doesn’t matter. You’re an author to a first draft.

“But Ally…”

“But Ally…I just don’t have the time to write a novel.”

This is by far the most common reason I hear from people for not participating in NaNoWriMo – and who can blame them? Life gets in the way!

I totally understand – but it’s only for thirty days! After the month you can go back to the sanity of having free time – but for NaNo, we buckle down, we prioritize, and we drink our caffeine by the gallon.

The best advice I ever heard for this problem comes from Chris Baty, the founder and former executive director of the program. He’s written three books about NaNoWriMo and started off the whole event in 1999.

Write in the small moments.

Can you wake up twenty minutes earlier? Go to bed ten minutes later? Write during your lunch break? Jot down snippets on the ride home from work? It’s incredible how many small moments you can find when you prioritize your writing and how much they add up!

“But Ally…doesn’t quality matter more than quantity?”

This is definitely the second most common reason I’ve heard for being nervous about participating in NaNo. The naysayers insist that writing so many words in a month creates a chaotic mess of words with no real quality in writing (no, honestly, I’ve heard someone say this).

Yes, I’ll admit – my drafts are a chaotic mess of words. They’re messy, wonderful, sometimes rambly first drafts that absolutely suck – isn’t that beautiful? First drafts are allowed to be terrible. Usually, they aren’t all too bad – there’s enough to go off of for a second draft. Then maybe a third. Then a fourth, and soon enough, you’re well on your way to getting ready to query for an agent.

Don’t believe me? Check out some of these novels that started off as NaNoWriMo projects:

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Wool by Hugh Howey (soon to be a movie!)

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (already a movie starring Robert Patterson and Reese Witherspoon!)

The Beautiful Land by Alan Averill

Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress by Marissa Meyer (all three NaNoWriMo projects went on to become best-selling books!)

That’s a pretty dang successful list right there. I think it speaks for itself – NaNoWriMo clearly doesn’t skimp on quality for quantity.

I hope this blog post has been enough to convince you to start thinking about joining NaNoWriMo! I’ll let you in on a closing secret:

Even if you don’t make it to 50k, you still have more words than you started with!

If you only manage to write 200 words during the month of November – guess what? THat’s still 200 more words than you had before NaNoWriMo! At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter how fast you write or what your word count goals are – it’s that you’re writing. And having fun. And probably losing some of your sanity but that’s beside the point.

I really, really love NaNoWriMo and hope I’ll see you on the website! If you decide to join, feel free to add me as a writing buddy to get started! I’m kineticbugsy on NaNoWriMo’s website and @natureofpages on Twitter, where I screech about word wars and character aesthetics throughout the month.

Go forth and write!

Are you thinking about participating in NaNoWriMo? Are you a veteran NaNo back for another season or a newbie? Tell me about your upcoming project or feel free to drop any questions about the annual event in the comments!

TNOP out!

from WordPress https://ift.tt/2m3bl7s via IFTTT

#IFTTT #WordPress

0 notes

yoimeta · 8 years

Text

What are We?

This is the original link (this post has some changes though): http://miss-zarzamora.tumblr.com/post/155866918089/what-are-we-a-victuuri-theory

I was originally planning to pose this as an ask to @thatshamelessyaoishipper.

But the more I tried to fit this into an ask format the longer it ended up being, so I’m just going to post this as a separate post, while still working as a counter-reply/inquiry/ask to this post: x.

Without further ado:

Yuuri and Victor are in the “we love each other but we don’t say or decide anything concrete about it” trope.

That’s pretty much it. I think people were working under the assumption that there was a moment where they talked openly about the state of their relationship. And I think that while there was a lot of communication, whether emotional or mental, and I think the writers did a good job trying to make them meet at the same places in many instances, there was also moments where they didn’t work on the same wavelength, and I think all of those are deliberate, including this little theory of mine. Even with the new information out (courtesy of @toraonice) I would like to think the theory still stands (Although I would like for someone to correct me if I’m wrong)

So, almost everyone takes the state of their relationship for granted, which is what I question in this post. But I think that’s on purpose, like the other times where they didn’t meet eye to eye.

It’s the “there is something strong but neither of us say what” trope. And then the “something big happens but because we don’t say anything about us, we are forced to decide to drift away when we actually want to stay together so we go about it by using ‘another reason (aka excuse)’ to do so”, this reason being Victor’s coaching and then the gold medal, subtly but heavily implied in the “you need to win at least five years” or even the “I wish you would never retire” from Episode 9.

All of those, IMO, are indirect messages. This explains why some people were like “can’t believe they are conditioned by a gold medal” or even going as far as blaming Victor for doing this. They are not conditioned by this. They are using that as an excuse/venue because they never say anything. We all know that trope: There is strong attraction, flirting, sexual tension, direct not so direct words; there is the physical closeness, there could be sexual gratification (not talking about YOI for this one specifically) but no one ever comes out and says anything. Then there is the spin, a big decision to make, and it comes back to the ‘excuses’ “I thought you needed my help more” really meant “I thought you wanted to be with me”. Or that because the other person didn’t say anything then maybe they are not as attached and feel the need to let them go: “I can’t hold you down, you need to go back to skating” and then the slight dig for more information “but it was all your idea to end it at the Grand Prix Final”: “it was your idea to end it… Because maybe it wasn’t anything at all”.

When Victor shed tears, I don’t think it was because Yuuri was retiring only, but because their “arrangement” would end, and they would not see each other the way they did for those eight or so months.

They are indirectly talking about their feelings in that scene too. Victor shares more indirect information: “how could I go back to skating if you retire” meaning “I DO want to stay with you”.

For people that said they were not talking about ending their relationship, I think they were, because by not saying it, and even when doing so, a big decision CAN break a relationship, but even more so when there is uncertainty of their relationship status, when for such strong feelings there is not a conduct to openly speak about it (the conduct being them openly and actively deciding to be a couple and then subsequently openly talking about their relationship).

If they truly agreed on being boyfriends, the subject of retiring would have being far easier, because they are not anchoring themselves to their professional careers only, but to their well established relationship. Yuuri could well retire and go to Russia with Victor. This ambivalence/uncertainty is exactly why Yuuri not retiring and Victor wanting to come back was not a surprise for me at all.

This shines through by Kubo saying “they both decided that couldn’t stay away from each other”. Why wouldn’t have they decided something way before? Because they themselves were being knuckleheads about it and not talking about it; that’s how I placed the idea on “miscommunication” between them. It was not Yuuri not saying what he was going to do only, it was the uncertainty of their relationship, brought on by their silence about their status. The scene at the beach is the principal clue in this theory. Victor openly asks what he can be for Yuuri, and Yuuri just says “Just be you, Victor”.

That’s how I placed one of the staff saying “I think their coach-student relationship is only the outer layer”. Why would they say “think” if they had decided to make them a couple before, even if it was off-scene?

For all the people that thought it was queer-baiting, they just didn’t get the subtleties. They were slightly right in one thing, some of them at least, they could have made some things clearer, but they didn’t because IT WAS DELIBERATE. I don’t exactly think they had to “mark off a certain list of ‘this makes a couple canon’” either, but they COULD have been a tiny bit clearer on some matters, but I think they weren’t because it was on purpose; that “negligence” was another message in and on itself. And again, it was exactly because of this that I was already expecting the outcome of ep 12.

For the people that thought they were leaning on too much on their professional relationship to discredit the whole matter: it was more because they were subtly communicating through that venue, and mistakenly relying too much on that; mistakenly in real life because literary speaking many enjoy that trope: to see two klutz being obviously in love with each other but not saying anything, upping the anticipation for when they finally do.

More cues to lean on this theory:

1. Victor, aside from flirting with Yuuri in the first two episodes, did it so after (before their kiss in ep 7). I don’t think Yuuri would be dense to not see it. I think it wouldn’t be hard for Yuuri to feel immediate attraction to a gorgeous Russian skater either, but it was at the moment that he poked Victor’s head that Yuuri was attracted to Victor, the human, not Victor Nikiforov, the skating legend. I don’t think Victor wouldn’t make it clear what his intentions were either. He came on pretty strongly just right after meeting him, and still offered to be Yuuri’s boyfriend even when he understood that the banquet thing was not really the regular Yuuri of back then. Yuuri’s “I prefer you to be Victor” is not a refusal or ignorance about Victor’s intentions, but of his own restraint to know get to know Victor more, and yeah, maybe his anxiety.

2. When Victor said “should I just kiss you”, many people thought it sounded very… couple like, and I saw here at Tumblr that some people even thought that they had become a couple off-scene between the past episode and that one when it first aired. I think it was because they had already gone that far off-scene, but they never really said anything about being a couple.

3. The ring scene fits in perfectly too on the idea of “double entendre”. Victor saying it’s an engagement ring was his way of expressing that desire. Because truly… Yuuri never said anything directly before. I don’t think Victor would go out and proclaim that 100% seriously without consulting or talking to Yuuri about first. One does not singlehandedly, unilaterally proclaim marrying someone without their consent first. And I don’t think the staff wouldn’t include that if it were true. Again, I don’t think it was because “they don’t need to” but more because so it just didn’t happen, but on purpose.

Even couples (like openly established ones) can joke about it but still openly communicate before or after the joke. I think he meant it seriously not in the “this is indeed an ACTUAL engagement ring” but in the “I’m letting you and everyone know that’s what I want it to be”, which isn’t strange at all between people that love each other.

What I want to say is; that all their actions speak of romantic intimacy, but the one that tethers on uncertain grounds. The uncertain grounds of not addressing the elephant in the room:

What are we?

#yuri on ice #yuri!!! on ice #meta #yoimeta #yoi meta #viktuuri #victuuri #what are we?#controversial topics #controversy #submission #critique #relationships

138 notes · View notes

soggywarmbooks · 8 years

Photo

According to Goodreads, I read 106 books in 2016, which is a lot. Instead of having you scroll endlessly through my Goodreads to find my reviews, I thought I would make a nice little wrap-up post of my favorites and recommendations.

NOT PICTURED (because I only own in ebook format thus far): Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, and the Jem and the Holograms graphic novels by Kelly Thompson.

More on these titles and why I chose them below the cut!

An Ember in the Ashes and A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir:

The first two books in what will be a four book series written by former Washington Post author and editor (who is here on tumblr @sabaatahir!). These books are exceptionally good, featuring a diverse cast with a good amount of social commentary and good world building. The first book (Ember) focuses on Laia, a girl who goes undercover as a slave in a prestigious military academy as part of a deal to free her brother from prison. There she meets Elias, a specialized soldier known as a mask, who happens to be the son of the very woman Laia was sent to spy on, and who wants nothing more than to be out of the school and free of the Martial empire. I can’t say much more without giving anything away, but these books pulled me in and had me absolutely captivated from page one and I cannot wait for the rest of the series:

Some things to be aware of: Yes, slavery is a theme in this book, but it is never glorified or romanticized. Rape is mentioned and threatened, but never occurs or is used as a plot device, and is presented in only an absolutely negative light. There is a lot of violence in this series, and it gets a tad graphic at times, so be careful of that. This series falls victim to a few common YA tropes (the “chosen one” and a love triangle or two) but I personally found they didn’t detract from the story too much.

A Darker Shade of Magic and A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab:

Let me start by saying that this is hands-down the best series I have read in a long time and I cannot recommend it highly enough. The books follow Kell, a magician with the power to travel through worlds using his blood, who gets himself into a bit of a bind through his love of smuggling artifacts from other worlds into his own, and Delilah, a skilled thief who dresses as a man to avoid detection, and who happens to steal a dangerous artifact from Kell when she meets him in the street one night. nearly destroying his world and draining hers of the little power it has left. This series has the most interesting characters I have encountered in a long time, with amazing personalities, and great representation all across the board (disability, sexuality, and race all represented well and in a positive light). And with the release of A Conjuring of Light in February, the series is blissfully complete! No months of waiting for the next book, not that you’ll be in any hurry for the series to end. Author on Tumblr as @veschwab.

Things to be aware of: Seeing as the series deals with blood magic, there is a fair amount of violence and bloodshed.

Passenger by Alexandra Bracken:

I never thought I’d be into a book about time-travel, but this one proved me dead wrong. This book reads like historical fiction mixed with modern young adult romance. Henrietta Spencer is a talented violinist, who hopes to make her professional debut soon, but her plans get derailed when she is literally thrust into the past and soon finds herself in a race to find a valuable artifact hidden by her mother somewhere in the past before her mother is killed by the family seeking it. On her adventures she meets Nicholas, a freed slave turned privateer who has just narrowly escaped the clutches of the same family holding Etta’s mother hostage. He makes a deal with the family to accompany Etta and bring the artifact to them in exchange for a share of their fortune and the promise of his true freedom, but will he be able to keep his promise when he starts to fall for his travelling companion?

Things to be aware of: Slavery and racism are definitely themes in this one, but both are handled delicately and not glorified or celebrated. One of the few interracial pairings I’ve seen in YA and it was done amazingly well. Book 2, Wayfarer introduces some more characters with diverse backgrounds and sexualities, so this series gets good marks for diversity.

Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys:

Two excellent historical fiction books set during World War II. I listed them together because not only do they have overlapping timelines, but they also have related characters. Between Shades of Gray focuses on a young girl and her family who were rounded up and sent to various labor camps because of their anti-Stalin stance, while Salt to the Sea follows the journeys of four young men and women who ended up on the doomed Wilhelm Gustloff, a massive ship that went down in the Baltic Sea on January 30th 1945 while attempting to evacuate German citizens, refugees from other war-torn areas, Nazi officials, and military personnel.

Things to be aware of: There is an instance of rape in Salt to the Sea, and one of the characters in Salt to the Sea subscribes to Nazi rhetoric, however neither are romanticized and both are shown in an incredibly negative light.

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson:

A wonderful graphic novel which collects and updates the pages of the webcomic of the same name. The story here is complex, dark at times, funny at others, and utterly satisfying to read.

Illuminae and Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff:

Two extremely good young adult sci-fi novels, told in one of the most unique formats I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. Rather than being told in prose, the events of these novels unfold through a series of confiscated emails, chats, interview transcripts, and detailed descriptions of surveillance videos. The events of these books kick off when a major corporation launches an attack on a small planet which is home to an illegal mining operation by their rivals. Thousands are killed, but a few ships manage to escape with refugees, including Kady Grant and Ezra Mason, two teenagers who just happened to break up hours before the attack and now find themselves on the run from a destroyer intent on blowing up their escaping fleet to ensure that word of the attack never reaches the light of day. The first book, Illuminae, contains the only plot twist that has ever made me scream out loud, and Gemina continues the story by bringing in two new teenage characters to kick ass and take names.

Things to be aware of: One co-author; Jay Kristoff, has come under fire for serious butchering and appropriation of Japanese culture and language in another series he has written. While I myself did not notice anything of the sort in Illuminae or Gemina, as a white woman, I wholly admit that I am not the best judge of such things and can understand why some people may not wish to read anything he is involved with. As for warnings applying to these books specifically: there’s some violence and gore in both and some drug use and organized crime in Gemina that some may want to avoid.

Heartless by Marissa Meyer:

A wonderful fairytale spin-off that tells the tale of how the Queen of Hearts became the way she is, and how she got her instantly recognizable catchphrase. This was one of those rare books that I simply could not tear myself away from. I read the entire thing in just over 24 hours and have not stopped thinking about it since. If you like fairy tale retellings, give this one a read.

The Valor Anthology:

This collection of comics and short stories all feature fearless women stepping up and being their own knights in shining armor. Brought to life on Kickstarter and featuring numerous Tumblr artists and content creators, this book is a treasure trove of badass heroines, LGBT representation, and characters of diverse backgrounds and cultures. I love how many of the stories draw on folklore and mythology from around the world, and how many are completely original as well. The anthology can be purchased here. The ebook option is just $5!

Jem and The Holograms Comics/Graphic Novels:

If ever there was a perfect example of rebooting something and making it modern while still keeping the charm of the original, this is it. Kelly Thompson and Jen Bartel took our favorite pastel and punk ladies and brought them into today’s day and age with more diversity than you can shake a stick at. This comic series has so many different body types, cultures, and sexualities represented that I don’t even know where to begin. Just read it! Need more convincing? Digital editions are on sale up to half-off through Comixology until 3/20/2017!

#best books of 2016 #favorite books read in 2016 #book recommendations #book recs

11 notes · View notes

the-bitch-files · 3 years

Text

Spring Reading Wrap Up!

Hello! Instead of doing a monthly wrap up or individual reviews, I have decided to do a seasonal wrap of the books I have read. Here, I will list all the books I've read I've watched during the Spring months - March, April & May - and include some select reviews. This is because I only have so many thoughts about these things and there are some books where I want to write a review and have plenty of thoughts about it. Hopefully that makes sense. So, without further ado, let's get to it!

What I Read

MARCH

Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu (2017) - 5 ★ Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo (2019) - 5 ★ Revenge of the Sluts by Natalie Walton (2021) - 5 ★ Good & Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger by Rebecca Traister - 4 ★ Men Explain Things to Me And Other Essays by Rebecca Solnit (2014) - 5 ★ The Girls I've Been by Tess Sharpe (2021) - 5 ★ All Eyes on Her by L.E. Flynn (2020) - 3 1/2 ★ The Book of Gutsy Women: Favourite Stories of Courage and Resistance by Chelsea and Hillary Rodham Clinton (2020) The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes by Elissa R. Sloan (2020) - 5 ★

APRIL

These Vengeful Hearts by Katherine Laurin (2020) - 2 ★ Vagina Problems: Endometriosis, Painful Sex and Other Taboo Topics by Lara Parker (2020, memoir, non-fiction) Girl A by Abigail Dean (2021) - 5 ★ The Obsession by Jesse Q. Sutanto (2021) - 4.5 ★ The Girls Are All So Nice Here by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn (2021) - 5 ★ Hood Feminism: Notes From the Women White Feminists Forgot by Mikki Kendall (2020, feminist non-fiction) - 4 ★ Sisters by Daisy Johnson (2020) - 3 ★ Dear Ijeawele: A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2017, short feminist non-fiction)

MAY

Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney (2017) - 3.5 ★ Moranthology by Caitlin Moran (2012, collection of her newspaper columns) You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott (2016) - 4 ★ People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd (2021) - 1 ★ Pretty Bitches: On Being Called Crazy, Angry, Bossy, Frumpy, Feisty, and All the Other Words Used to Undermine Women ed. by Lizzie Skurnick (2020, anthology essay collection)

REVIEWS

These Vengeful Hearts by Katherine Laurin (2020) - 2 ★

This was my worst read of the season. This book was slow-paced, slightly predictable with a plot that felt like it had already been done and an ending that had little effect on the world in the book.

Following Ember Williams - which is short for September, named after her birth month - who sets out to take down the Red Court, a secret society within her high school which grants favours for others at a price, in revenge for an accident which left her elder sister April paralysed two years earlier. After joining the Red Court (RC) and playing a part in missions (including election rigging for Homecoming, breaking up couples and takedowns of other students), Ember faces a conflict of morality and struggles with the secrets she's keeping from her best friend, Gideon, and new love interest/crush, Chase - who happens to be one half of the couple she breaks up soon after joining the Red Court and the guy that she competes with academically. This leads to drama within her own life and Ember spirals into her obsession with the Red Court while trying to keep up with school and her relationships with friends, family and now Chase.

I didn't connect to Ember as a character as she seemed to be hellbent on revenge and while I do enjoy a good revenge tale, this was not that. It seemed like she changed her mind sometimes on her opinion on the RC, even going so far as to think herself as a potential new Queen of Hearts (the leader), remaking the RC with her own vision. It did not seem like a good idea and just selfish thinking that she is superior to these other girls and the RC itself. Ember says that she is doing this for her sister - and at one point it gets all 'this is bigger than you and me and I must do it for the greater good', which seems cliche - but it seemed like April wasn't convinced and didn't want Ember to do it.

Also, the 'romance' between Ember and Chase was pretty boring and quite forced. They just kept bumping into each other and Ember was like 'I can't be seen with this guy because of my place in the Red Court. but I'm really starting to like him. What do I do?' Chase seemed like a good enough guy but not developed enough as a character. The romance itself was just added drama for Ember to deal with on top of the RC shit.

This turned into a rant and I usually don't like to complain about books this much - sorry. TLDR: I thought it was going to be a good revenge tale; it wasn't. Waste of Queen of Hearts/Alice in Wonderland motif. Too slow paced as well.

The Girls I've Been by Tess Sharpe (2021) - 5 ★

This book was sooo good! I loved it - it was so thrilling, action-packed, heartbreaking, and brilliant. A few things that I loved in this:

bisexual protagonist with great rep (she has a good relationship with her male ex as they are now friends, and is a good relationship with her current girlfriend)

the protagonist, Nora, is a con artist who is v skilled but is dealing with what she's experienced and how she grew up with her con artist mother

the girlfriend, Iris, is amazing and well-written as a character and love interest. she loves vintage clothes, is resourceful and wants to investigate arson for a living which gives some skills that helps them out

the action is set in a bank robbery and this takes place over a matter of hours so it is quite action-packed for a short time frame. the characters have to think quickly on their feet in order to survive and it really questions what would you do to survive when placed in a life-or-death situation

as someone who deals with bad period pain/constant abdominal pain (potential endometriosis), I really liked the inclusion of a character with endometriosis in Iris. During the bank robbery it's revealed that Iris is on her period, so dealing with a heavy, painful period along with the stress of a hostage situation must be overwhelming. Iris is such a badass for this and we see her do some heroics near the end. I love Iris

the characters of Nora, Iris and Wes (their best friend and Nora's ex) are bonded by their friendship and have past trauma and asshole dads (or stepdad in Nora's case) in common. their friendship is awesome and they will do anything for each other. a great example of found family trope

The plotline of the bank robbery is written alongside flashbacks to Nora's past through the different aliases she has had - the eponymous 'girls I've been' - and we really get to see what Nora's learnt, and how her mom has manipulated her into living these lives and running these cons when Nora didn't ask to be a part of it. She was born into it really, since it started so young. It's all she's known but she wants more from her life. The men that her mom - Abby - chose to be the marks were always bad guys and they got worse as Nora got older, culminating in crime boss and Abby's love Raymond Keane. Nora's past and present collide during the bank robbery with secrets being revealed.

The whole novel was fantastic. Highly recommend.

Girl A by Abigail Dean (2021) - 5 ★

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and god, it was so good. 'Girl A' deserves all the praise it is getting - and some of it is included on the inside cover. As devastating as it is brilliant, this novel is a compelling read that looks at the lasting impact of trauma from the perspective of Lex Gracie, a survivor of child abuse and neglect that became a nation-wide headline-making case known as the 'House of Horrors'. She is Girl A, the girl who escaped, but there is so much more to it than that.

The narrative switches between the present day with Lex at age 30 and dealing with the aftermath of her mother's death in prison as she is the executor of her will and now owns the House of Horrors, and the past taking us through Lex's childhood and the abuse she and her six siblings faced. Since the timeline shifts quickly by paragraph, sometimes it can be quite jarring and confusing as you realise that she is talking about the past but I understood this mostly. You could say it speaks to how hard it is to shake off that kind of past.

Sometimes it can be hard to read simply because of how horrifying the abuse is and the conditions that the Gracie children had to live in. That just shows how strong Abigail Dean's writing is. This is a fantastic debut and one that I found absolutely excellent.

You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott (2016) - 3.5 ★

I continue to love Megan Abbott's writing style as she writes great prose about women, their bodies, the relationships between women and femininity. She writes about sports that considered typically feminine - cheerleading in 'Dare Me', gymnastics here and ballet in the upcoming 'The Turnout' - and it feels like a deep dive into the sport itself and the impact it has on the girls who take part and their bodies. Gymnastics was central to the plot as the protagonist's (Katie) daughter, Devon, is a star of the sport. Multiple times we are reminded how extraordinary Devon is due to her ability as a gymnast and commitment to the sport.

There is a mystery here with the death of a young man within this community being the catalyst for the events of the book, but it takes a backseat to the gymnastics. I do wish there was more to this mystery but it seems that it was not the focus here.

I did not like this as much as I did my other Megan Abbott reads - 'Dare Me' and 'Give Me Your Hand' - but it was still a great read.

The Girls Are All So Nice Here by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn (2021) - 5 ★

This was *chef's kiss* amazing.

The writing was brilliant, the twists were stunning (particularly in the last 10%) and the dynamic between Amb (Ambrosia Wellington) and Sully (Sloan Sullivan) was intense, toxic, co-dependent, and destructive, both internally and externally - as in, destructive towards themselves and other people. The title is a reference to the optimism of Amb's roommate Flora, when in actuality, the niceness was mostly fake, particularly from the perspective of cynical Amb. there were a few quotes here that I liked, including:

"I don't know if it's disgusting or impressive that girls can do that for each other. that we can achieve that level of deceit in the name of sisterhood."

"People thought girls' bodies were our deadlines weapons. they had no idea about the mountains our imaginations could move."

"the world loves a pretty dead girl."

"I discovered my own version of sisterhood. It doesn't have to be merciless, feeding on the chunks it tears from its own flesh. It can be softer, more forgiving. because there are girls like me, fighting to make the society we're fenced into a more hospitable place for all of us."

"I turned into a monster, but the world knows exactly how to make monsters out of girls who want what they can't have."

Definitely recommend! Especially if you're a fan of Megan Abbott (it's like 'Dare Me' and 'Give Me Your Hand'), toxic female friendships, and dark academia (I don't know if this could be considered dark academia, but ). 5 stars all the way.

So, what did you read in the spring months? have you read any of these books? if so, what did you think? let me know in the comments. thanks for reading! - Cat

#books #book reviews #reading wrap up #long post #girl a #the girls are all so nice here #you will know me #these vengeful hearts #the girls I've been

1 note · View note

megareviews · 5 years

Text

Summer 2019 First Impressions

Hoo boy, three in a row, I think that’s a new record. Let’s just get right into it then.

Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-dono yo. (Maidens of the Savage Season): A high school literature club that actually reads literature, that’s a twist. The one issue with this is that a lot of literature has sex, and not all the girls of the club are particularly comfortable with sex yet. Those readings then cause those girls to become hypersensitive to sex and innuendos in the world and it looks like the show will be dealing with how they all deal with this.

Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou (Arifureta: From Commonplace to the World’s Strongest): Watching the descent into madness of a character generally takes a while, but in this show the main character snapped minutes after the point in time the show starts at, excluding a few flashback ranging from 10 minutes to 10 days back. Part of this included him eating monsters in the dungeon he was trapped in, which luckily granted him a bunch of strength and abilities. There was a lot going on, but overall I am cautiously putting this in the “so dumb it’s funny” category.

Bem: After getting sent to the seedier half of a city due to not getting along with her superiors, the main character proceeds to keep annoying her superiors with her dedication to justice, just in a more corrupt place. While trying to do her job, a water monster that’d been killing people throughout the episode appears before her. In addition a man who had helped her previously also shows up, and it turns out he’s a monster too. This looks like it will be two forms of justice, neither fitting in with the world, working together to protect humanity.

Cop Craft: If you’re expecting a buddy cop style show just based off the name, you’d be about right. It’s in a fantasy setting, with aliens and fairies, but the main character loses his partner while they attempt to arrest fairy traffickers, and his replacement is an alien knight who has come to the city to save the fairy. Since the main character wants revenge on whoever took out his partner, their goals would seem to align, but a young girl who doesn’t know the world too well isn’t his ideal for a new partner in the job.

Dr. Stone: What starts out as a normal day of school ends with all of humanity petrified for millennia. After all the achievements of man crumble to the sands of time, two friends break out of their petrification and start working to rebuild all that had been lost. A lot of scientific processes are explained as the characters do them in the new world so there’s a decent amount of educational tidbits in addition to the plot.

Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru? (How Heavy are Your Dumbbells? / How Many Kilograms are the Dumbbells that You Lift?): Edutainment anime have hit many topics, but this time we’re learning about working out, mainly focused on weightlifting. The main character joins a gym due to putting on a bit of weight and is joined by a muscle obsessed classmate and they are taught various lifting techniques by one of the trainers of the gym, who has the face of a prince and a body of unparalleled strength. It looks even better than I expected, with a lot of detail put into the workouts.

Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka II (Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? / Is it Wrong That I Want to Meet You in a Dungeon 2?): Oh god the blue ribbon dress is gonna be all over the internet again.

Enen no Shouboutai (Fire Force): In a world where immolation has risen to the top cause of death, fire fighters play an even more important role in saving lives than usual. The only problem is that many of these deaths are caused by Spontaneous Human Combustion, which sends the afflicted into a berserk state while being on fire. That’s where the Fire Force comes into play, a specialized hybrid of fire fighters and the military, laying these afflicted souls to rest, often with unique fire abilities of their own. This first episode introduces the main character and the company he just joined with a trial by fire.

Ensemble Stars!: It’s an adaption of a male idol mobile game, so as expected the “main character” is supposed to be the player / viewer, which means she doesn’t get many opportunities to speak while all the other characters speak at her. The actual plot of the show looks to be an underdog uprising at a school with a fairly strict hierarchy system. As usual for mobile game adaptions, there’s a ton of characters, with a main unit of about 4 guys that the show will probably follow.

given: While trying to get to his favorite nap spot, the main character finds another guy with a broken guitar. After fixing it with the tools he had due to also being a guitarist, this other guy ends up following him around asking for guitar lessons, and while it never happened in the first episode, I’m willing to bet those lessons are coming soon. The background music is especially noticeable in this show, and it’s pretty good too, if not always fitting for the scene in my opinion.

Granbelm: When a high school girl gets sucked into another world for a monthly mecha fight for a yet explained title, she’s a little confused. She ends up teaming up with another girl in this world, since a lot of the other pilots tried to capture her since she got here. After an explanation and a quick mecha summoning scene, she’s ready to fight, and fight she does. The first episode eschewed a major exposition dump, instead showing off a decent amount of fighting, which looked pretty good overall, so I’m definitely checking into at least one more episode to figure out what’s going on.

Hakata Mentai! Pirikarako-chan (Hakata Pollock Roe! Pirikarako): It’s a short for young kids, and it’s about food fairies, which is about all I got from the 3 minutes of the first episode.

Isekai Cheat Majutsushi (Isekai Cheat Magician): The premise is pretty standard for the isekai genre but this time it’s two friends who are brought to another world together. This episode was just exposition and a quick look to the future, both explaining how overpowered the main characters’ magic abilities are (almost like they’re cheating, hahah). In addition it just looks pretty bad, the animation generally looks to be missing a few frames of animation and tries to not have multiple things moving at any given time.

Joshikousei no Mudazukai (Wasteful Days of High School Girls): It’s just a class of high school kids, at an all girls school, trying to live their lives. Most of the characters seemed pretty unique, only a couple that seemed to rely heavily on tropes so far, and the comedy hit hard a couple times. A solid start, and I’ll be testing at least another episode to see how well it keeps up.

Kanata no Astra (Astra Lost in Space): What starts out as a sci-fi high school field trip / challenge turns into a full fledged survival disaster when the group gets warped from a deserted planet near civilization to just offworld of another planet months away from where they should be. Survival in space isn’t as common as I’d like it to be, and this is giving off some Apollo 13 vibes, which I love, and I trust Studio Lerche to make it look good, as it has through this first double length episode.

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san 2 (Skilled Teaser Takagi-san 2): I wasn’t really a fan of the master of teasing in the first season, so that carries through to this season.

Katsute Kami Datta Kemono-tachi e (To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts): During a civil war, the losing side turns to human experimentation to create super soldiers, and is successful. These soldiers are turned into hybrids with supernatural strengths and abilities, and using these powers, force the civil war to an end. The downside of these powers unfortunately has been manifesting in the soldiers throughout the war, eroding the minds of the soldiers and causing them to lose control of their abilities. The anime and manga start off completely differently, with the former showing all of the above and the latter briefly describing it, which kinda changes the monster of the week format by introducing all the “monsters” as friends of one of the main characters before starting the main plot, as episode 2 looks like it will start where chapter 1 did.

Kawaiikereba Hentai demo Suki ni Natte Kuremasu ka? (Would You Love a Pervert as Long as She’s Cute?): First off, I have mixed feelings with the title, as it kind of spoils the main plot twist of the first episode. The main plot so far is that the main character has received an anonymous love letter from one of his clubmates, with a pair of panties attached, and is trying to figure out who sent it. The show already is hurtling towards a harem of girls with mid-level fetishes, with petplay already on the list. In general the lighting of a lot of the scenes also felt weird, a bit too bright a lot of the time, with some odd splotches of color.

Kochouki: Wakaki Nobunaga (Gorgeous Butterfly: Young Nobunaga): Nobunaga is a popular main character choice for anime, and not always for the historical setting. Though this show looks like it will be focusing on a younger Nobunaga, before many of his military accomplishments, starting during his childhood and getting to his 14th birthday, by the end of the episode. I want to say this is going to be historical fiction, but since they put a time skip right at the end of the episode, I can’t tell if this one was just for character introductions, or was also tone setting.

Lord El-Melloi II no Jikenbo: “Rail Zeppelin” Grace Note (Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files: “Rail Zeppelin” Grace Note): Another side story of the Fate/ series that follows one of the characters from Fate/Zero after the events of that series. There’s an episode 0 for this that I feel embodies more of what the show will be about than the episode 1, which gives the viewer context of how the main character got from the end of his role in Zero to the beginning of this series. The magic system of the series is pretty interesting, and exploring it in a more mystery fashion than action is promising. I think this will be a lot like other Fate/ spin-offs, where you can watch it without prior knowledge of the series, but it helps to know when certain events are referenced.

Machikado Mazoku (Demon Girl on the Street Corner): This is the opposite of a magical girl show, where we follow a girl who has just gained the powers of a demons, who needs to sacrifice a magical girl to become stronger. The main issue is that she is overwhelmingly unfit to do so, and the local magical girl has significantly more experience doing her job. The show is overloaded with sound effects and onomatopoeias on screen which can get a bit confusing depending on how it’s subtitled.

Maou-sama, Retry! (Demon Lord, Retry!): Pretty much the only creative thing I noticed while watching this was the protagonist’s facial structure, everything else feels like it could be traced to some other isekai show. Guy gets sent into game world that he made as his character, saves a girl from a demon, girl joins party, guy heads off to major city, episode ends. The OP and ED hint at modern technology involved with some shots of guns, but the bog standard plot so far and sub-par animation prevent me from spending any more time on this.

Naka no Hito Genome [Jikkyouchuu] (The Ones Within [Now Streaming]): A group of video game Let’s Players get kidnapped to an unknown location and are forced to participate in random events while being live streamed to somewhere. They’ve been told that they can’t leave until their game has gotten 100,000,000 views and have been indirectly threatened with death upon failure to do so, and as a possibility of the events. There’s some awkward visual and sound effects so far, but I’m intrigued enough by the premise to continue watching.

Odoru Mowai-kun (Dance, Mowai): A short about a Moai head that gains arms and starts dancing, which is difficult to find online.

Re:Stage! Dream Days♪: The show plowed through a significant a significant tropes so far, with a transfer student living in the shadow of her sister saving a dying school club by joining, and all of this as one character’s reason and conflicts for joining an idol club. On the other hand, the rock band showcased and non-CGI dance routine tell me that the team behind it are willing to put in effort towards making the show good.

SD Gundam World: Sangoku Souketsuden (Chibi Gundam World: Three Kingdoms Origins): It’s related to another SD Gundam series, and will be out soon. I’m not sure it’s worth updating this entry when it comes out, being a sequel.

Senki Zesshou Symphogear XV: I actually want to watch Symphogear but there’s just so many anime always.

Sounan Desu Ka? (Is that So? / Are You Lost?): 4 high school girls, stuck together on an island with only the shirts on their backs and various fields of knowledge and expertise. Fortunately one of them grew up with a survival nut father, so their chances of not dying is higher than your average group. It got a little lewd at points, but overall I liked the practical approach taken so far for surviving together.

Star Mu 3: Season 3? Of a boy band anime? HA.

Tejina-senpai (Upperclassman Magician / Magical Sempai): Due to his school requiring students to join at least one club, the point of view character finds himself checking out the magic club. The only member there is practicing, but as soon as she notices that she’s got a visitor, she goes through a short routine, flubbing every trick spectacularly. The anime seemed to downplay an important fact a bit in the first episode, which is that the upperclassman is actually great at magic tricks, as long as the audience isn’t larger than 0.

Toaru Kagaku no Accelerator (A Certain Scientific Accelerator): I have read some of the A Certain series, I have watched some of it, I know the main character of this series. I don’t think that’s enough to be able to watch this and understand what’s going on.

Tsujou Kougeki ga Zentai Kougeki de Ni-kai Kougeki no Okaa-san Desu ka? (Do you Like Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks?): The most inspired isekai of the season in my opinion, as it’s not the main character who’s overpowered, it’s his mom, who got brought into a video game world with him. There’s a decent amount of jokes about video games and the betas for them and going on an adventure with a parent is pretty rare. I’m just worried about how it’ll be handled, given that the OP and ED didn’t have any other guys besides the main character and that’s usually a red flag for harem business.

Try Knights: There’s still two more weeks until this starts, so this entry will be updated then.

Uchi no Ko no Tame Naraba, Ore wa Moshikashitara Maou mo Taoseru Kamo Shirenai (If it’s for My Daughter, I‘d Even Defeat a Demon Lord): While working on a quest in the forest, an adventurer happens upon a child all alone, and finds out that she’s a demon exile, thrown out with her dead father. Not wanting to leave a defenseless child to fend for herself in the forest, he brings her back to the tavern where he lives, and cares for her a bit, and they end up getting attached to each other. By the end of the episode, he decides to adopt her and raise her with the help of the tavern owners, leading the show to be a cute show about raising a child, probably.

Vinland Saga: The episode hooks you with a bit of action, and then transitions into daily viking life in Iceland. . It looks pretty slick overall, and from what I remember from the manga is that a lot of the future content will be leaning towards the action side of that.

Waresho! Warera! Shodobutsu AIgo Iinkai (I am! We are! Small Animal Protection Committee): Something about aliens traveling to Earth to save endangered animals. Unfortunately I can’t find any way to watch it, subbed or raw.

Yama Shibai 7 (Theater of Darkness 7): It’s still about Japanese ghost stories.

#Megareviews #first episodes #anime review #Summer 2019

0 notes