#has in fact made it so much more difficult to find stuff in chronological order

[melonpond]

I've gone down a rabbithole of batman and robin comic books and I will make that everyone else's problem

[just-like-playing-tag]

A totally self indulgent compilation of my favorite works on this blog of the year June 13, 2020 - June 13, 2021

2019-2020

The following lists are all in chronological order according to the date each post was first published.

Top 10 panel edits:

#1: It's our first morning

Date: Aug 20th, 2020 Time: ~ 2:18 h I really like how this one turned out!!! The 2020 Emma b-day edit has a lot of major panel redraws, but this is probably my favorite. I I really enjoy how I made the shadows work!! And the ear banfage looks pretty neat. Nice!!! Immagine

#2: Norman birthday edit 2021

Date: Mar 20th, 2021 Time: ~ 2:21 h Awww, soft Norman :') There was a bit to redraw, but I think everything turned out pretty neat!!! I believe everything works out fine. Though looking back at it, the part of the ID I added is definitely top small :')

#3: Manga dub: Yuugo gets knocked out

Date: Mar 27th, 2021 Time: ~ 5:05 h Here start the Manga Dub redraws to which I gave my everything ahah. This one turned out nice! I think the shoes turned out particularly good eheh. I like how Yuugo's clothing lineart- for the texture, I wanted to go for something heterogeneous, but I'm not fully confident in the final result. Gilda looks very rushed but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#4: Manga dub: Yuugo makes his dramatic entrance

Date: Apr 5th, 2021 Time: ~ 4:02 h This is pretty cool!!!! The coat took ages to redraw, but sis it turned out perfect!!! I'm very proud of this.

#5: Manga dub: RayGildEmma hug!!!

Date: Apr 9th, 2021 Time: ~ 1:31 h Awww, a beautiful panel I was really happy to have the chance to redraw. Taking into account what there was to redraw, I'm actually surprised with how little this took! Ray's backpack was a pain to make, but I think it turned out fine. I'm very happy with Emma and Ray's heads!!

#6: Manga dub: Formalities

Date: Apr 12th, 2021 Time: ~ 5:31 h It is not always easy to give sense to Demizu's perspective, but I do my best!!! In this I am *so* happy with how Don and Ray turned out, they look neat! The background on the other hand... It took hours to make ahah. I'm not fully confident in the perspective, but I'm happy with the details I've added- I really did my best to make it look like athe other manga panels and I think it paid off!!!

#7: Manga dub: We may be weaklings, but we're still alive

Date: Apr 30th, 2021 Time: ~ 1:37 h This little Emma is so cute!!!!!! I think the redraw turned out pretty perfect. I'm really satisfied with how this one turned out, and it's such a cute little Emma!!!! She's so brave and optimistic, I love her. It's a shame this panel didn't make it to the episode :')

#8: Manga dub: Goldy Pond Gang

Date: May 7th, 2021 Time: ~ 8:44 h lmao This is probably the panel redraw I'm the most proud of ever :') Just think everyone turned out very nice!! The ceiling is not exactly perfect, but it still works somehow. I'm very happy with how Gillian's back turned out!! I don't really like the fading effect on the right, but 8h in I got pretty tired of working on this ahah

#9: Manga dub: This is Goldy Pond

Date: May 21st, 2021 Time: ~ 1:29 h I'm very glad for how the Manga dub has been challenging me to learn to redraw backgrounds, something I had quite literally never tried before. It can be a little frustrating, but it's so satisfying to see the final cleaned piece!! With this panel, I also learnt to use copy and paste, which is something I had never done before beyond texture

#10: Manga dub: Good morning doctor

Date: May 21st, 2021 Time: ~ 3:42 h This is another background that turned out pretty good!! That one Norman is one I knew I would have had to fully redraw sooner or lager- the background was a bonus ahah. I'm very happy with the final result!!

Top 5 edits as whole:

#1: The Promised Neverland manga ending edit

Date: Jun 14th 2020 Time: ~ 12h 41min (5h 45min of cleaning panels in the edit + 5h 37min of cleaning panels that didn't make it to the edit + 1h 19min of resizing) + time spent cleaning panels I've deleted the file of so I can't see lmao This is overall very nice!!! The concept of an Emma evolution through her back is cool, and I think overall the edit turned out very aesthetically pleasing. The concept idea came to me while I was working on the 2019 Emma's birthday edit, a long time before the manga ending announcement- back then I wouldn't have imagined using it in occasion of the manga ending, but I think it ended up making a nice tribute. The colors add a nice touch, since so far my edits had always been black and white- it makes a sweet closure. To make that edit I selected 76 panels of Emma framed from her back; I plan to make other versions of that edit using the discarded panels eventually!

#2: Emma - Chapter 181: Beyond Destiny

Date: Jul 12th 2020 Time: 2h 57min My last edit for the manga 🥺🥺 I think this one is my very "manga ending edit" because to me it really signed the ending of weekly chapters and their weekly chapter edits. It makes me a little sad to look at it, but it's also, I don't know, kinda sweet to see how I grew both in my panel cleaning and as a person since I first started my blog. I'm glad I got into TPN!

#3: Emma birthday edit 2020

Date: Aug 22nd 2020 Time: 8h 54min This one turned out so well!!! Though I used the same concept for all the trio edits, I think this one is the best one. The two panels on the left / two panels on the right alternation combo never fails ahah. The colors are nice (shout-out to my sister for making me a palette), despite the fact that it was hard for the lighter ones to make them work with the images without having those disappear. I'm very satisfied with the panels I chose for this, I think they work really good together! Also, it got me very happy to read everyone's comments saying they liked the fading effect in the last panel :)

#4: Emma + Eyes Close Ups [1/?]

Date: Jan 24th 2021 Time: 5h 55min This one was really nice!! Another idea I got when working on the 2019 Emma birthday edit I was glad to finally execute. Started the edit in September, finished it in December. I'm overall very happy with how it turned out... I hope I will be able to make more in the future!

#5: The Promised Neverland Parallels → (9/?) » 114 // 122

Date: Feb 23th 2021 Time: 5h 7min (panel cleaning only) Aaaaahh I really like this one!!!! A parallel I love very much, and I'm really happy with how the edit turned out. All the hair redrawing looks neat!!!! The gif is maybe a little excessive, but I think overall it's a nice edit. I like it!!! Fun fact, I completed it on August 26th 2020, but I couldn't find the right moment to post it ahah.

Honorable mention: The Promised Neverland Parallels → (5/?) » 08 // 16

Date: Aug 30th 2020 Time: 2h 52min (Second picture cleaning only; I deleted the first picture art file so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ) I don't have much to say about this one except!! It turned out very nice!!!!! Love the pen lmao.

Top 10 analysis:

Too many analysis,,

#1: Post chapter 181 Emma analysis

Date: Jul 9th 2020 Mmmh a nice analysis. I think it was important for me to put down in words what I think of Emma's characterization and the manga ending, so I'm happy I did it!

#2: A long Oliver analysis because I love him very much

Date: Dec 6th 2020 What can I say I just love Oliver tons 😔😔💕💕 This was very fun to make!!!

#3: TPN s2 previsions

Date: Jan 14th 2021 Really love the effort that went into this + me proving that 11 episodes GP could have possibly worked + it's just a lot of fun to read again after s2 ended pffft

#4: More s2 delusional previsions lmao

Date: Jan 27th 2021 I think the points and previsions I made where pretty neat!! In my defense, it was pretty impossible to predict the anime would have ended with this season. I always feel honoured when friends and Anon ask for my opinion, I'm like "you wanna know what I think? Wow. I'm flattered (◍•ᴗ•◍) " Thank you to anyone who ever sent me an ask!!

#5: Why Emma not wearing pants is 𝕨𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕘

Date: Jan 29th 2021 Really proud of this!!! Pants Emma is important!!!!!

#6: Post episode 5 manga Emma analysis

Date: Feb 4th 2021 A depressed analysis, but a necessary one 😔

#7: Norman analysis

Date: Feb 12th 2021 I love him!!!! And I'm happy I eventually got to put down in words what I love about his character. The day I posted this ww3.readneverland was in maintenance so I couldn't use the volume scans for it- the thought of that post having fan edited and fan translated scans still haunts me

#8: RayDon rambles

Date: May 12th 2021 I had a blast writing this and like. It's likely the post of mine I reread more often of them all. I love this ship tons!!!!! I'm satisfied with how I put down in words what I like about them. I LOVE THIS SHIP

#9: Chapter 58 analysis

Date: May 23th 2021 I've wanted to express this concept since like the first time reading the manga- I'm so happy I finally did!!!! This concept is one of my absolute favorite things about tpn- the feelings that people are good. The concept that kids who got to live in an healthy and supportive environment will always be inclined to kindness and altruism, because humans are just inherently good. From the Three Character Classic: “people at birth are inherently good”. I want to have faith and courage to hold on the goodness in myself, and to hold on the goodness in the world, no matter how difficult it to do that (Chloé Zhao).

#10: Norman and Lambda squad relationship analysis

Date: May 24th 2021 I think this was a pretty sharp analysis and I like what I did with it!!

Other stuff:

#1: Krone birthday edit

Date: Jul 15th 2020 This edit is so good ;; Like not perfect since it was my first attempt at coloring gifs but still I believe it turned out so good ;;;;;; The time and effort that went unto this is crazy, but... Maybe I'm happy to have dedicated time to something I like for a satisfying result.

#2: Get to know my ship- Wolfpack Trio

Date: Aug 24th 2020 Uuuh a good post. A good ship.

#3: Gilda + blank glasses

Date: Aug 27th 2020 This is such a cute nice compilation!!! I love looking at it. A few panels are missing but still :')

#4: Apollo Ray AU

Date: Sep 7th 2020 (Though it was written Sep 2nd 2019 lmao) I'm so happy I finally gathered the courage to post this 😭😭 I really enjoy what I did with this AU, so this one and its other installments are all posts I have a lot of fun rereading. More than everything, I was astounded and overjoyed by the positive response it got: that gave me tons of confidence to put my ideas out there, no matter how unique they sound!!! Here's to hoping I will be able to post my RayEmma Hadestown AU, by other big AU from late summer 2019 :')

#5: TPN timeline project

Date: Dec 2nd 2020 This is like. I don't know it's a lot ahah. Arguably the project I'm the most proud of ever making. I'm just so happy of all the months long hard work and of the final result!! The post didn't receive much response (though the ones I got were extremely kind and sweethearted so that totally makes up for it), but in the end I don't really mind? I'm just so proud I accomplished that idea :')

#6: TPN calendar

Date: Jan 4th 2021 A nice sum of the tpn timeline + everyone's birth dates!!! I really like how it turned out visually. It's a cute little tpn calendar!!!

#7: Ray smiles compilation

Date: Jan 17th 2021 Ray's smile. That's it that's the post :')

#8: Trans Oliver headcanons

Date: Jan 24th 2021 MMMH really like this headcanon I think about it a lot

#9: Thoma and Lani theory

Date: Jan 28th 2021 I really don't want to brag but this is the best joke I've ever made :')

#10: My TPN AUs

Date: May 10th 2021 Ok you gotta admit those are very good AUs, I'm glad to have made a list out of them!!!

#11: Ranking Emma promotional art outfits

Date: May 16th 2021 This is one people seem to have liked a lot which makes me happy ahah. I'm glad to know we can all agree Emma deserves more pants outfits!! Please stop it with the gendered clothing :') This is the post I want to be remembered for

#12: TPN musicals AU part 2

Date: May 20th 2021 A GREAT POST I can't stretch enough how happy I am with those character-song associations. I hope I have time to make a part 3 in the future!!

#13: TPN Drive folder

Date: May 30th 2021 This was born as a way for me to have all the tpn extra contents easily accessible, but I'm happy to have shared it with people- I hope it will turn out to be useful to others too!

#14: TPN s2 recolorings

Date: Jun 12th 2021 A more diverse children cast is good for the soul :')

That's it, this year was really fun!! Thank you to everyone who supported me through it, I can't express how grateful I am for all the kindness and validation I received. Here's to many more months in the fandom!!! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧

[laufire]

And you know I am always here for any crumbs of the Belaatiel AU or Ruby's Terror Twins xDD

Belastiel AU

I'm trying to find stuff that I haven't told you about already xD, and that isn't too spoilery lol. Hmm. Okay. I can't resist the idea of still keeping the canon s5 Megstiel moment, since there's no reason not to. Since the fic is solely from Bela's POV I'll get creative on how she witness it/finds out about it, because a little petty jealousy is fun to write xD

I'm taking Bela along for the Endverse to meet her future self, as you know (she's going to be more openly questioning on whether it's a real future or a simulation than Dean was, but it's not going to be confirmed either way because I love the doubt. Although in fics I tend to operate on the premise that it's a genuine possible future For Reasons). The first thing she's going to ask to endverse!Bela when they're alone is if she's told her Castiel about her past, which tells you a lot of where she stands with him in the present time, that she can imagine telling him.

I'm also bringing her into the past to meet young Mary and John Winchester, because apparently I have a huge witness for Bela meeting and being affected by mothers who actually care and show devotion to their children (but then trying to dissuade them from dying for them lmao). I've written a little of this part and there's probably going to be some unintentional comedy there.

-*Anna plans to kill John and Mary to prevent the apocalypse* / Bela: hmm, the world would keep spinning so it's not a bad plan. But oh well, Sam and I are sort of friends, Castiel would be sad, and most importantly I'd still be stuck in Hell. Let's not rock the boat.

-*Sam and Dean try to convince Mary to leave John and save herself and the world* / Mary: but I'm already pregnant with Dean! / Bela: girl, that has a very easy solution.

BTW, thinking about she meeting them made me start headcanoning that she did meet future John once. He never wrote it in his little hunter journal because she conned him in a most humiliating way. She took care of keeping tabs on him so they wouldn't cross paths again because she has survival instincts (and anticipating the moment she could raid his hidden storages for occult objects lol).

The first time she wants to kiss Castiel is when he comes to let her know Alastair, the demon in charge of torture in Hell, is dead. It's not necessarily the first time she acknowledges (to herself, vaguely) that there are some pesky feelings there, but it's the first time they express themselves in such an ~earthly way lol (Castiel and earthly are two concepts she'd struggle to mix at first, probably).

Ruby's Terror Twins

For those not In The Know lol, this story was inspired by a ridiculous dream I had where Ruby yelled "I'm pregnant!" before Dean stabbed her, startling so she could grab her knife and get away. She returned later with a toddler alternately called Lucille or Angelica. I couldn't decide which name I liked better, so I made them twins. This WIP will consist of series of one-shots without following a strict chronological order, all of them cracky mixed with horrifying concepts (because kids lol).

Other than the very beginning, more focuses on Ruby and on Sam, I look forward to writing them a little more grown up, with more developed personalities. I'm even on the verge of making them grow a little faster than humans, thought not by much, so I can get there more quickly. Physically they're both brunette; Lucille has Sam's hazel eyes and Angelica Ruby's brown ones, and they'll both grow to be enormously tall.

Lucille is the """nice""" twin (kind of hate describing them like this given all the things I've seen in the Legacies fandom lol -a show that definitely influences how I think of this series a little-, but still). It's in large part a reaction to others' perception of her and her demonic nature, striving to be as gentle as possible, to make Sam proud instead of wary, to connect with people etc. She has psychic powers like Sam, and a temper she struggles to control.

Angelica is more abrasive and difficult. She went the opposite direction: if they're going to hate me for being part demon, fuck them, I'll give them demon XD. She's far less in touch with her powers, practicing magic to compensate (Rowena finds teaching her a delight lol. Ruby is a far more impatient teacher). She's very jealous of Jack and Jack-Sam (frankly, Lucille is too, but she deals with it by welcoming him with open arms. Angelica found him easier to stomach when Dean hated him and she could find some sisterly ~solidarity with Jack there). The first time Sam went to hold her she showed her demon eyes and he almost drops her xD

Family wise, they're fiercely devoted to each other, even if they often fight for their very different approaches to... anything lol. They have a complicated relationship with Ruby, who lbr would be a terrible mother xD, yet they're both huge mommy's girls at the end of the day. Huge daddy's girls too, but mommy comes first xD. They're both a bit afraid of Dean. I haven't thought that much about them meeting Mary, but I could imagine it going in different ways. OTOH grandchildren?? And half demons at that. OTOH they're kids, which might be easier for Mary to deal with than meeting their sons as older than her.

Lucille's first proto-crush was Bela (who never died in this AU cause I said so). Angelica's was Meg. They both think Castiel is incredibly cool, to almost everyone's bafflement lol. Crowley sometimes jokes about making them heirs to his throne just to piss off Sam. Their favourite family, however, is Jody, who never treated them as anything other than two kids deserving of kindness.

Send me a potential AU and I’ll tell you five fun facts that would happen in a story.

[insfiringyou]

BTS - Over Paradise (V x Cassandra)

Contains: Slight angst. Fluff. Important moments.

Set 2 months following the events of ‘Past Lives’ and during Taehyung’s military enlistment.

You can find out more about our headcanon universe and ongoing storyline here and more about our headcanon girlfriends here.

To read each member & their girlfriend’s headcanon universe fics in order, follow the links here: RM   /   Jin /   Suga /   J-Hope   /   Jimin  /   V   /   Jungkook & our full masterlist of fics and art can be found here

If you wish to follow all member’s storylines in chronological order from the beginning, you can find them listed here.

Content below the cut

Although the nurse was trying to be quiet, the sound of the door opening woke her up and she glanced groggily into the corner of the room. A moment of understanding passed between them and Cassandra nodded slowly, watching as the older woman stepped aside; holding the door open for the visitor. Taehyung looked anxious as he came into view, brown eyes darting into the far corner where the newborn slept, before fixing on the woman in the bed. He thanked the nurse quietly as she closed the door behind them, giving them their privacy, and stood at the foot of the bed; jaw clenched firmly. 

“I received a phone call saying you’d gone into labour…and I came as soon as I heard.” His gaze flickered once more to the crib but he quickly looked away, a troubled frown playing on his features. “But I guess I was too late…”

She wasn’t quite sure how long she had been asleep; the blinds were closed, blocking out the third floor view. “It was over so quick…” She murmured in a croaky voice, before letting out a small, wheezy laugh. “I was just as surprised...I suppose I should be thankful it didn’t go on for longer.”

He looked awkward and uncomfortable standing there in the middle of the room and Cassandra gestured for him to come closer. There was a second of hesitation before he strolled over to the single chair beside her, pulling it closer to the bed and sitting down. She held out her bruised hand and he took it softly in his, careful to avoid the drip plastered against her knuckles. 

“Anyway…” She continued, voice stronger having loosened her vocal chords. “You wouldn’t have wanted to see me like that…” She trailed off, wondering how bad she looked. There were no mirrors in the room, but her hair clung damply to her forehead and she hadn’t managed to shower. There was the briefest memory of the aftermath; of her vomiting on the floor and watching, blurry-eyed, as the mess was cleaned up. She had apologised profusely but the moment was quickly forgotten once the soft form was bundled into her arms. She recalled running her fingers delicately along his head; wondering how it was possible a newborn could already have so much dark, fluffy hair. Eventually, after an unknown amount of time, he had been taken from her and she fell into a doze until the low sound of cries from the crib woke her and the midwife passed him back to her to begin his first feed. Her breasts felt so sore afterwards she had almost cried, but he had managed to latch on fine and she was reassured she had done well. 

Taehyung shook his head in disagreement, dark eyes glossy and shimmering in the clinical glow of the overhead strip light. “Did you have anyone with you?” He asked, voice little more than a whisper. 

“The midwife.” She answered. 

His features seemed to crumple. “Cass…”

“I’m a big girl Tae…” She gave a weak smile, though could tell he saw through it. “It was fine…”

He fell silent but was unable to hide the stark look of sympathy on his face. She found it unbearable and, desperately shifting the attention away from herself, glanced at the crib.

“You should go and see him…” 

He immediately looked over to the crib before turning back, giving her one last glance. He seemed hesitant and nervous, but she nodded slowly, letting him know it was what she wanted. Letting go of her hand, he slowly got to his feet and walked a little unsteadily over to the corner of the room. She was thankful for a moment of privacy and shifted further into the mattress. The pain relief had started to wear off and her mouth opened in a silent groan. Taehyung didn’t notice; having caught glimpse of the tiny figure bundled in the transparent cot, he was unable to look away and Cassandra watched closely; a slight flutter growing in her chest as he peered in. He was quiet for a long time and she broke the silence.

“He looks like you…” She murmured softly, though he didn’t seem to hear. His bottom lip trembled uncontrollably as he let out a low sob, his entire face twisting, clutching his hand desperately to his lips.

“He’s so beautiful Cass…” He dropped heavily to his knees. “I can’t believe it…” He wept unapologetically, chest heaving with deep, gaspy exhalations as he watched the sleeping baby. “So beautiful…” He repeated, struggling to catch his breath. 

She was too dehydrated, despite the drip, to show much emotion but she watched sleepily as he pressed his hand flat against the clear cot. 

“I know…” She agreed softly, smiling in response. He turned to look at her with wet eyes; his cheeks red and sodden. “He’s perfect...” She continued, features softening. “How did we do it Tae?” 

He held her gaze a moment longer, a shared thought passing between them before he turned back to his son with shaking shoulders. “He looks like you too…” He commented, belatedly responding to her previous observation. “God…” He whimpered, clumsily wiping his face with the back of his hand, knuckles digging deeply into his cheekbones as he gathered himself. “He’s gorgeous…”

“I was thinking of naming him Gabriel…”

His eyes shimmered as he looked at her.

“Like the archangel…” She explained.

His lips parted and he repeated the name slowly under his breath, wrapping his tongue around the syllables. 

“If you like it…” She added.

He nodded in confirmation, repeating it again as his hand moved once more to the plastic, desperately pressing against the barrier which held them apart. 

“It might be difficult to register it in Hangul…” She continued. “But I thought you might want to decide on the characters…”

Taehyung looked at her lovingly. “Thank you…” He nodded appreciatively. 

Cassandra let out a long, sleepy yawn, suddenly aware of her own, pungent scent and the fact she desperately needed the bathroom. The thought of trying filled her with dread, yet she knew she would have to.

“He’s so small...” Taehyung mused, fingertips light against the pane. 

“The midwife said we can go home tomorrow after the checks…” She paused as a thought entered her mind. “Will you be around?”

He hesitated, before nodding. “Back to your apartment?”

“At least for now.” She confirmed. 

He was silent for a while. “Last month…” He began apprehensively. “I don’t know if you want to...there was an apartment on the market in Gangnam...two bedrooms.” He looked up. “I thought it might do you both…”

She pondered this for a moment. “You bought it?”

“Your apartment’s too cold in the winter.” He confirmed. “And it has a lot of stairs.” He added. 

She sighed softly. “I’ll think about it.”

He nodded in relief and she looked past him, towards the black tuft of hair just visible above the thick blanket.

“You can hold him if you like, when he wakes up.” She murmured softly. 

He opened his mouth to reply, but the sound of the door opening stole his attention and he scrambled to his feet as the elderly midwife poked her head around the door. 

“Is everything okay?” She looked from Taehyung to Cassandra and he breathed in deeply, wiping the wet streaks from his face. 

Cassandra nodded, quietly thankful for the interruption. The fulness of her bladder was starting to become painful and the thought of breaking such a tender moment herself seemed almost blasphemous. 

Permission silently granted, the older woman walked into the room, casting a glance towards Taehyung and taking in his red, flushed face. “This must be dad…” She smiled, acknowledging him briefly before bending to look in the crib. Taehyung opened his mouth, an unexpected emotion washing over him at the name. It didn’t feel real, and the loud wail which echoed around the room a moment later made him jump as the baby awoke. 

“He must be hungry…” The woman commented cheerfully and Taehyung stepped back to give her room; her welcoming arms reaching deep into the crib. He watched in amazement; the ease in which she handled him taking him aback; he seemed so delicate in her warm grasp. She turned to Cassandra. “Do you feel up for another feed? And then we’ll get you cleaned up.”

The younger woman seemed apprehensive but, meeting Taehyung’s gaze from over the midwife’s shoulder, gave a small nod, holding out her hands and tucking the child carefully against her breast.

***

Gabriel, one of the holy angels, who is over Paradise and the serpents and the Cherubim (1 Enoch 20:7).

***

Thank you for reading. To read each member & their girlfriend’s headcanon universe fics in order, follow the links here: RM   /   Jin /   Suga  /   J-Hope   /   Jimin   /   V   /   Jungkook

& Our full masterlist of fics and original art can be found here

& Our masterlist of preferences/most likely to/quizzes and fun stuff is here

You can support us by buying admins a coffee here (if you wish). :)

[wrathion]

I’m pretty new to wow. My friend convinced me to try it and I’m a bit hooked. Where would you recommend I start if I want to learn the lore?

welcome to the wow community, anon! 

there’s a lot of entry-points for lore, so i’ll split this post into different sections so you can pick what you think works best for you. if you want access to (most) of the books and whatnot, i made a post a while ago with links to all of them. i’ll get to updating it...one day.

1. wow chronicles

the easiest and most reliable way to catch up on all the lore and important universal concepts you need to know is the world of warcraft chronicles series. it has three volumes detailing everything from the universes’ creation all the way to cataclysm.

you should start this way if you:

like looking at gorgeous art

want something somewhat concise and to the point

just want a general overview of what’s going on

you should NOT start this way if you:

find it difficult to focus on reading

especially don’t like textbook-style reading

want to get into one, specific part of lore

2. the novels

this was one of the ways i originally got into the lore! the novels, while they have their faults, are generally very fun reads. there’s a lot of them but i highly recommend war crimes (christie golden) for a general recap of important novels and events pre-warlords of draenor. and if you want to get into one specific thing there’s tons of focused novels (such as arthas, rise of the lich king for arthas/lich king + scourge lore).

if you know of one character in specific you want to follow, check out this page, it shows every character as well as every possible bit of prose you can find them in.

you should start this way if you: 

enjoy reading fiction

would rather get to know the characters instead of just the history

want a versatile starting point, where you can focus on smaller events or bigger overviews

you should NOT start this way if you:

don’t have a lot of time to spare

find it difficult to focus on reading

just want to know the basics quickly

3. fandom wikipedias

if you want everything in its most up-to-date form, as well as little community fun facts and speculation, i highly recommend checking out wowpedia! the timeline is a good general starting point, but there’s other good starting points listed here.

wowwiki is also a good fandom wiki, but it’s a bit out of date in areas. wowpedia overall is more consistently managed.

you should start this way if you:

specifically enjoy going down wiki rabbitholes

love learning weird and obscure bits of lore

want to learn all the most up to date information

want a very versatile starting point, whether it be a general overview or specific details about characters or events

you should NOT start this way if you:

hate reading big blocks of text

don’t want 20 multiplying tabs open at once

get overwhelmed by information easily

want an official source

4. lore videos

i feel like this is how most of us get into the lore, it’s easy, straight to the point, and perfect to play in the background while you’re doing other things. nobbel87 is by far the best source of these. if you want absolutely everything, check out his lore of warcraft in chronological order series (parts one, two, three and four). for a more quick start, absolutely check out this video. otherwise, you can search practically any character, expansion, event, etc. on his channel and there will be a video describing it in detail.

i’ve also heard good things about the lost codex, though i haven’t personally delved into their stuff too much.

you should start this way if you: 

don’t like/want to read

want the information in an organized and concise form

want something to just play in the background (though there’s videos if you feel like watching too!)

you should NOT start this way if you

don’t have a lot of time to spare

want to get the info quickly

want an official source

5. playing/watching a play-through of warcraft 3

i admit, i did not get into the lore this way, but i know plenty of people who have! warcraft 3 introduces all the core concepts you need to know about azeroth’s life and history. it has two installments, reign of chaos and the frozen throne, as well as nine campaigns combined in both. the storyline follows the orcs, humans, undead and night elves. 

you should start this way if you:

want an interactive way of getting into the lore

would like to get to know both the characters and relevant events

have a lot of time to spare

you should NOT start this way if you:

don’t want to buy/watch a play-through of a game

specifically hate RTS games

do not have much time to spare

6. conclusion

wow lore is pretty complicated, but it’s honestly so worth it to get invested. i really hope you enjoy your time here in the fandom though :D!! 

i would like to specifically note that reading quest text while leveling is not a good idea for starting out, at least not until shadowlands comes out. the zones all take place at different points and time through the game’s history that it all muddles together. 

don’t worry about the three separate war chiefs in orgrimmar, or how the human starting narration mentions the “missing king varian” when varian’s most definitely dead and not missing. it all makes sense most of the time i swear

finally though, if you have absolutely any specific lore questions feel free to shoot me an ask! whether it be about a specific book or comic, or a complicated character timeline, i’m more than happy to help out.

[ciarawritesmarvel]

first impressions - steve rogers x reader

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader

Word Count: 2.2k

Warnings: The reader in this universe just does swear a lot and she doesn't apologise for it (but I do a little bit), some arguing but it only serves the sexual tension ;)

A/N: Yes, this is another oneshot belonging to the Number Five Universe, which now has its own post with all the oneshots I’ve planned in chronological order. That does not mean that is the order I’ll post them. You can VERY EASILY read this on its own. but this is the meeting of the Y/N and Steve we know and love. I love you all, and thank you for all the participation in my 3.5k celebration - more to come on that in 12 followers time! :)

masterlist is in my bio, tags are in a reblog... please drop an ask to be tagged in steve/number five/all works! <3

---

“Adjustment Officer? Really Fury? You even have a name for it?” you said exasperatedly as you spun in his chair. Every time he thought you had stopped, you pushed off with your toes against his desk again, spinning more furiously than before and eventually he grabbed the armrest and stopped you dead in your tracks with a sigh.

“Could I have my chair back please, Agent?”

“You can have your chair back if I can have my real job back,” you retorted and when there was no answer you carefully kicked his hand away from the chair and resumed your spinning.

“Stop being a damn child, Y/N,” he said, leaning against his own desk and folding his arms across his chest, “I need somebody that I trust to do this. You know that list isn’t very long.”

“What about Maria?”

“She’s busy.”

“So am I, Nick!” you threw your arms up in the air, still spinning but with most of your momentum lost, “I’m fucking busy too! I do not have the time - or the patience - to babysit your latest pet project.”

You finally stood from his chair and crossed the floor to stand beside the floor to ceiling windows that lined one of the walls. You looked out across the city. Steven Grant Rogers, Captain America himself, born in 1918, was out there somewhere, defrosting as you spoke and you were supposed to be looking after him? Showing him the ropes of the 21st century? Teaching him how to use a computer mouse and taking him for ice cream on a Friday evening for being such a good boy. Not happening.

“I’m not asking you, Agent. You know that.”

And yet apparently, it was happening.

All too soon, you found yourself walking into a room with a certain supersoldier - not that you’d ever be caught calling him that - opposite you and sat at a table that he seemed to be handcuffed to.

“Who did that?” you nodded to his trapped hands and he looked up at you warily, regarding you with an apprehension which could only have come from so many SHIELD agents sedating you and taking you to a strange room that you weren’t allowed to leave in a time seventy years after your own. It was a strain to remember this man had lived through WWII.

“They did,” he eventually answered, glancing to the two guards posted at the doorway, guns in hand, eyes staring straight ahead without a falter. You rolled your eyes.

You took a pin from your hair and straightened it with your teeth, smiling apologetically at him as you picked the lock of his handcuffs and let them clatter down onto the tabletop.

“Ma’am? We’re under orders-”

“New orders,” you interrupted, turning to them with hands firmly planted on your hips, “Go to Starbucks and get yourselves something fancy. I’ve got this.”

“Ma’am-”

“I’ve got this,” you assured them, a twinkle in your eye that went hand in hand with the steely glare and was just enough to get them to nod at your demand and make their way out of the room, leaving just you and the Captain in the empty room.

“Was that a tactic to get me on side?” he asked when you’d sat down opposite him and leaned over the table, elbows resting on either side of you, face studying him lightly. Taking him in.

“No,” you shrugged, leaning back and placing your feet on the table, one after another, ankles crossed and posture completely relaxed, “I just find them annoying. And I’m almost positive I don’t need protection from Captain America.”

“Almost?”

“Well, we don’t know what seventy years under ice has done to you yet, do we?” you joked but his face fell and you inwardly cursed yourself. Bad timing.

“It’s Steve,” he said suddenly, tone harsh and you looked at him quizzically, “Not Captain America. Just Steve.”

“Okay ‘Just Steve’,” you addressed him, finally seeing just the hint of a smile twitching at the right corner of his mouth, “You understand what’s happened now? I believe somebody came and filled you in?”

“Vaguely.”

“Okay. Well, I’ve been assigned as your-” you shuddered, “-Adjustment Officer. My sole job is to help you in your transition, answer any and all questions you might have and to eventually ensure that you become one of our best assets.”

“What did you do wrong to get this job?” Steve asked, a dark and hollow chuckle escaping him and you frowned.

“More like what did I do right. This is an important job, Cap- Steve. Our director needed somebody he could trust.”

“Great. That’s just great,” Steve retorted, his eyes flashing with an anger that you’d never seen on the numerous posters of him you’d seen, “I’ve been assigned a glorified babysitter but at least it’s someone trustworthy according to the guy with the eyepatch.”

You took a deep breath.

“I know this must be a difficult adjustment for you. That’s why I’m-”

“No, Agent, the reason you’re here is because you have to be. You don’t want to be, or you wouldn’t have physically shuddered when you talked about it just now. You’d rather be in the field, with a reason to use that gun you’ve got hidden in your boot, but instead you’ve been stuck with the old man and his retirement plan,” his voice was getting louder and louder until eventually he was leaning over the table, palms pressed into the metal as he dropped his voice low and hissed, “Well sorry sweetheart, but I don’t want a babysitter and I certainly don’t want you.”

You stayed in your position. Unfazed. Steve wasn’t a threat to you. But your jaw was clenched and your body rigid. Because it was now clear that he was going to be annoying as all hell.

“You listen here, sweetheart,” you spat out the word as if it tasted bad on your tongue as you stood from your chair to gain the height advantage, “You’re damn right. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to have to look after you. You’re a burden. You’re too emotional. You’re a liability. But I’ve been given an assignment. So we are stuck with each other and unless you get your head out of your ass and decide to play along, being stuck with me will be worse than being frozen in time. Do we understand each other, ‘Just Steve’?”

He gaped up at you, jaw slackened and eyes slightly wider. Then he shifted uncomfortably in his seat and dropped his eye contact.

“We do,” he muttered and then, with a renewed fire, “Just don’t expect me to like it.”

You scoffed.

“You and me both, old man.”

---

You were sat on a park bench. Steve Rogers was sat beside you.

Well beside you wasn’t quite the right term. He was actually sat well away from you, in a position that could only be described as hunched. It was quiet. Peaceful, even. Until-

“So these phones…” Steve was glancing from person to person around them, watching them tapping away at tiny screens, “They’re all connected.”

“In a way,” you replied, “They’re all on a network which connects them which is how they communicate with each other. Electromagnetic waves and stuff such as that.”

Steve nodded. Took it in. In all fairness, he was a very quick learner.

A lot of that came from the fact that he actually listened to you.

“Thank you.”

He always said it. Meant it. You could tell. You knew liars, hundreds upon thousands of liars. Rogers wasn’t one. He told the truth, even if sometimes you wished he didn’t.

Three weeks into this arrangement and you felt like sharing some truth of your own.

“Hey Steve,” you said calmly and he turned to face you, “I never said - I really admire you. Everything you did. It was a big inspiration, you know, when I was training.”

He looked utterly taken aback. As if that was the absolute last thing he expected to come out of your mouth at that moment. You tried not to be too offended at the fact that he thought you incapable of giving him a compliment.

“Thank you, Y/N,” he smiled, his small little genuine smile you’d only seem twice so far. You resolved to see it more often, “I appreciate that. You have a lot of…”

He paused. You got antsy.

“A lot of…?”

“Definitely not patience,” he joked and you huffed and turned away from him, prompting him to answer seriously, “A lot of heart. You’re impatient and you swear too much and you’re generally quite insufferable. But you have a lot of heart.”

When you glanced back at him in surprise, he was back at his people watching, refusing to meet your eye. Despite everything, you felt your heart grow a tinge warmer along with the back of your neck.

“Yeah well you’re stubborn and far too serious and generally intolerable but you have a lot of heart too, Spangles.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” you affirmed softly and then, as an afterthought, “But in case it wasn’t clear enough -  you’re still an ass.”

He laughed, shaking his head and stuffing his hands in his pockets to keep out the chill in the air. You folded yours into your armpits. Tapped your toes against the grass.

“And you’re still a glorified babysitter so who’s the real loser here?” he asked smugly, sitting back into the bench in a rare moment of comfort. You leaned back too and enjoyed the brief relaxation.

“The grown man who needs the babysitter - duh.”

He grumbled a little at that and the sound made you smile despite yourself. That, and the fact you had a lot of heart was still replaying in your quickly fraying mind.

“Anyway, nanny, I believe I was promised ice cream?”

“It’s freezing,” you deadpanned, blinking at him but he simply pulled himself from his seat and looked at you expectantly.

“And?”

You muttered expletives to yourself as you swatted the hand he’d held out to help you up away and pulled yourself up on your own instead.

“Come on then, you child.”

Steve followed behind you with little complaint.

---

Six weeks into the arrangement. Things were not smooth sailing, but there were never going to be. There was still this same understanding though, one that just managed to keep things at a simmering tension, just stopped things from boiling over.

Most of the time.

“Honestly, if you don’t get out of my apartment right now I swear I will call Fury and tell him to find me a new babysitter,” you gaped at Steve as he spoke, eyes wide but he merely shrugged, “I’m not kidding.”

“Steve, I am not having chinese again. That is final.”

“And that is why I’m telling you to get out.”

Admittedly, things ‘boiling over’ no longer meant biting matches where you’d try your best to truly cut into each other and instead had changed into what could only be described as ‘comfortable bickering’. Your life had been many things, but you couldn’t remember for the life of you a time when any aspect of it could be called comfortable.

“Fine, we can have chinese. But four times in one week isn’t healthy, Spangles.”

“I’m a super soldier, I eat what I want to.”

“And what about me?” you ask and when he shrugs in response you mumble, “Fuckin’ bastard.”

“That’s 36 minutes. A new record.”

“What?”

“36 minutes without swearing. That’s the longest ever!” Steve says, sarcastically proud of you in just the worst way and you sink into the couch cushions in response, folding your arms.

“Why do you always have to be so fu-“

Your phone rang and interrupted you. You answer. Maria is on the other end, tone clinical, explaining a situation that was all too familiar. A threatened terrorist attack, many people in danger. You were needed. You gave her a rough ETA and hung up.

“I’m coming,” Steve was already up off the sofa and you knew he’d heard your phone call. You sighed as you stood too, brushing down your jeans and pocketing your phone.

“We’ve been over this Steve, you’ve not been cleared for-“

“I’m coming.”

He was persistent. You took the silent opportunity to glance at him and saw the man that you’d always seen on the posters. The determination. The steel. The...concern? Well that was new.

“I can handle myself, Steve.”

“Oh I’m well aware,” he said, with just the slightest shiver as he remembered the time you’d punched him in the gut for one of his comments in the first week, “But I’m coming. You and I? We protect people. Let me do what I do best.”

There was an unspoken extra word, please, that you didn’t even need to hear to have your pulse pick up by four beats per minute. But only four, which wasn’t too bad, you reasoned. And in your mind, there wasn’t a choice.

Because you did protect people. And so did he. So who were you to stop him?

“Okay.”

You readied yourselves and stepped out of the door, taking the stairs down two at a time and you hopped into the driver’s seat without a second thought. He didn’t question it.

You seemed to understand yours and Steve’s understanding more and more every day.  

[legionofpotatoes]

Okay then, since both of y’all are just delving in I’ll try to keep things (relatively) spoiler-free and stick to story sense and semiotics! Few caveats:

Have not had prior experience with Kojima’s body of work and if that’s a prerequisite in how I “should feel” about it then yike on a bike (just getting this out of the way based on what I’ve had talked at me)

My read excludes the entire context of moment-to-moment gameplay; I basically watched chronological story cutscenes stitched together with NPC interaction vignettes sprinkled in-between. 9 or so hours in total. 

I did this because the gameplay does not interest me at all - and not in protest of chill social games (I adore both No Man’s Sky and thatgamecompany stuff, for example, and try to champion anything without Gun in it), but because the setting and length did not align with my expectations for something to invest so much time into. Still, I was super intrigued by the story, and, to a lesser extent, the plot.

also I have a hard time writing in condensed English, so this may run quite long. I’ll put the rest under a break. Second language, sorry!

I’m trying to think of a good way to start this. Like I said, the story, or what the thing was ABOUT, was infinitely more interesting to me than whatever wacko packaging Kojima thought up for the narrative. Which was a complicated, thought-out piece of fiction shattered into many disparate pieces and fed to us in a mystery-box-filmmaker kind of way, making us reverse-engineer what essentially was a rather simple interpersonal uhh. family tragedy, I guess. 

But to its credit the lore is visibly built solely to support whatever thematic messaging Kojima would want to weave in there - something I can respect. Meaning it gets as wacky and as nonsensical as it needs to be in order to reflect the high-concept allegories at play, aaand then it does so to a fault. I adore works of fiction that don’t give a shit about “tone” - I hate that word more than anything in modern media - but effective symbolism in storytelling, IN MY OPINION, requires a deft hand, nuance, strong authorial position, and a good grasp of social context. 

I want to like, go through these four points individually and nitpick my problems with the game in their lens, because I think they cover pretty much everything I feel like saying:

1. A deft hand - to me means to selectively dramatize correct themes and plot points as you go so that shit makes sense in the end. I felt this was incredibly lacking here. It was like a symphony going for hours without a crescendo. The absolute wrong bits of soulless exposition would be reiterated THRICE within a single cutscene while necessary context of, hell, character motives or even plot geography would be left vague. Intentionally vague, some would argue, but their later function would never arrive. Other times, what would visibly be conceived as wink-and-you’ll-miss-it foreshadowing could overstay its welcome to the point of inadvertently spoiling a later plot point. My girlfriend sniped the (arguably) most important reveal of the game, which is left for the tail end of the final epilogue (!), in the first hours of watching. The symbolics and allusions were just too plentiful where they should have been more subdued. I am DYING to provide examples here but I’m keeping it spoiler-free. Again, if this is a Kojima-ism, too bad; but it’s not a catastrophic failure of storytelling by any means. There are very few masters of this thing working today. But what can be easier to navigate, I think, is...

2. Nuance - this kinda goes hand-in-hand with the upper point but is a bit more important to me and applies to what SPECIFICALLY you decide to heighten in order to slap us across the face with your deeper meanings. Certain characters - not all of them - feel like caricatures. The silly names and overt metaphors (wearing a mask means hiding something! connected cities all have ‘knot’ in their name!) are honestly, genuinely FINE as long as their function isn’t betrayed, but the lean into metaphor worship can sometimes wade into SERIOUSLY shitty territory as contemporary implications are ignored altogether, and that ties into my fourth point, which I’ll address before looping back to the third; needless to say, approaching sensitive subjects with broad strokes is not exactly the way to go. But broad strokes is almost exclusively what this game does, forgetting to incorporate...

3. Social context - and I feel like avoiding examples here will be difficult lest I end up sounding like a dogmatic asshole; but there is a right thing and a wrong thing to do when co-opting IRL concepts to fit fictional messaging/storytelling. I feel that a character “curing” themselves of a phobia by experiencing emotional growth that vaguely corresponds to what the disorder could have symbolized is a wrong thing. And I don’t even want to get into all the wacky revisionism the lore ended up twisting into, which was mostly honestly entertaining (the ammonite will be a good hint to those who’ve played it), until it decided to, again, lean a bit too hard into painting today’s reality as a crisis of human connection and imply some questionable things about why, uh, asexual people exist, for example. Yes it makes some sense within the context of the lore and what’s happening in the plot, but it’s completely lacking in social know-how of the here and now. In other words: a Bad Look. To me, this type of wayward ignorance is a much more serious issue that can historically snowball any piece of writing into a witless disaster. I don’t know if it quite does it here, but it’s not really my place to say. Still, you can have wacky worldbuilding that has no sense of dramatic tension, nuance, or awareness towards the audience, and yet containing one last vital glue holding it all together, and that would be...

4. Strong authorial position - or intent I guess, to speak in literary terms - and I still have trouble pinpointing how and where this exists in this game. A bullshit stance you say, and I hear ya; cause this here is a video game very pronounced in its pro-human-connection messaging, painting the opposite outcome as an apocalyptic end to our species. And as I understand the gameplay is all about connections too - leaning into that theme so hard it even renders itself unapproachable to most capital-g Gamers. I honestly respect the balls of that. But really, as an author who headlined the creation of this thing, what was it really about? What were you trying to say?

And beyond “human connection is real important to beat apathy” I got nothing, and I think that’s because of points 1 and 2 failing in succession, and then point 3 souring the taste. It just had to be apparent the moment the curtain fell, is what I find. You just have to “get” it immediately, get what it was trying to say, but that will happen only if it’s been articulated incredibly well up to that point. Maybe the entire punch of that message REALLY depends on you spending dozens of hours ruminating on the crushing cost of loneliness as you haul cargo across countries on foot and connect people to your weird not-internet? If so, I’ve missed a vital piece of context, and with this being a videogame and all, it’s honestly a fair assumption. But otherwise.. it felt like a hell of a lot of twisting and turning and plot affectations that only led to more plot affectations and sometimes character growth (which had its own bag of issues from point 3) and not a hell of a lot to say about human connection beyond the fact that it is. good and useful. It felt like a repeated statement instead of being an argument. Does that make sense? I understand the story optics here are zoomed waay out and set on targeting the human condition as a whole, but like.. if you’re committing to a message, you have to stand by it.

Why is connection good? it’s a dumb question without a DOUBT but since the game has set out to answer it then it.. should? Did I miss the answer? I may have, I honestly can’t exclude the possibility. My lens was warped and my framework of consuming storytelling is a bit rigid in its requirements (the four points I mentioned), so maybe I’m just too grouchy and old to understand. 

I just think Pacific Rim did it better and took about 7 hours less to do it! And yet, it, too, involved Guillermo Del Toro. Curious.

If you made it this far and are interested in my thoughts on the technical execution of it all as well, uhm, it’s pretty much spotless? Decima is utilized beautifully, the Hideo vanity squad of celebrities all do their very best with the often clunky dialogue, the music is great, the aesthetic and visual design is immediately arresting, and it certainly does an all-around great job at standing out from the rest of the flock. I fell in love with the BB a little bit. It is also a game that is incredibly horny for Mads Mikkelsen, which almost fully supplants the expected real estate for run-of-the-mill male gaze bullshit. It is. A change.

That’s all I got folks

[so-shiny-so-chrome]

Witness: Weirdness_Unlimited

Creator name (AO3): Weirdness_Unlimited

Creator name (Tumblr): Burn-your-face-upon-the-chrome

Link to creator works: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weirdness_Unlimited/works

Q: Why the Mad Max Fandom?

A: In the Mad Max universe, anything that is completely absurd and outrageous is represented as the norm. Leather fetish gear? Oh, that's just the security guard uniform at Bartertown. Those guys over there are wearing black and white face paint? No, you're not at an ICP concert, those are War Boys, also run. Whoa, there are acrobats being flung through the air on poles attached to moving vehicles! No worries, that's just any Tuesday in Gas Town. I love this fandom because pretty much any nonsense my skull meat can come up with, as long as the mechanics of it work, I can throw it into my fics and not a single person will bat an eye. As a matter of fact, the weirder, the better. 

Q: What do you think are some defining aspects of your work? Do you have a style? Recurrent themes?

A: Life is gross, humans do gross things, and the environment around you could not care less about any of your moral dilemmas. I suppose you can say my style is a lack of it. I like things straight forward and I know this characteristic often weakens any aesthetic appeal to my writing. “To Love Reptiles” reads from Slit's perspective the same way a radio manual does but with a lot more cursing. I try not to make it too complicated to digest. I'd like for people to be able to fill in any blanks with their own interpretation of the situation and then move on to the next. 

Themes though, I go heavy on themes. The main theme is interpersonal relationships, coping with failure within them, and personal growth. Other themes include coping with mental illness, codependency, hunger, greed, warfare, trauma, etc.  

Q: Which of your works was the most fun to create? The most difficult? Which is your most popular? Most successful? Your favourite overall?

A: The most fun work of my own, by far, has been “To Love Reptiles.” It has also been the most popular, most successful, and my most favourite. The most difficult has been an original work with no working title. I can't give away much about this original piece but it has to do with local myths and survival in the wilderness. I quit working on the rough manuscript when my grandmother passed away several years ago. I'll be picking it up again soon. It may turn up on AO3 in the next three or four years.

Q: How do you like your wasteland? Gritty? Hopeful? Campy? Soft? Why?/

A: Gritty but hopeful, I think. The wasteland is nasty but humans need hope, right?

Q: Walk us through your creative process from idea to finished product. What's your prefered environment for creating? How do you get through rough patches?

A: Alright, so that's an interesting question with a pretty messy answer but I'll try to make it brisk.   Step 1: I start with a summary of the story as a whole with a point A (the beginning) and a point B (the end). Step 2: I break that summary down and and fill it out with events that can ferry the characters from the start of the story to the finish on a drawn timeline to keep things in chronological order. I also have note cards. I break this down further into named chapters. This can take a while. Step 3: I summarize each of those chapters to figure out if this story needs more than one installment. It depends out how the series of events land and how many minor arcs are included with the main arc/objective. Sprinkle some drama in there, scrap some unnecessary things, narrow an installment down to thirty (30) chapters at maximum. Step 4: I summarize individual scenes within the chapters and hack out important dialog. This takes weeks. There's typically between four and ten scenes per chapter. Also more note cards. Step 5: I try to flesh out one scene per day. (key word: Try) 

 I get the most writing done in the morning over coffee and before work. I usually sit at the breakfast table with my phone and spit out about 500-ish words before my husband wakes up. I'll write intermittently throughout the day. Lately I haven't been writing much because of holiday junk and winter being kind of a bummer. 

 If I'm in a rough patch, I can break though it by sitting in a room with no internet access and forcing myself to scratch out a scene or two in a notepad. Usually these notepad scribbles are so awful that they get torn out and chucked in the waste bin but the next day I'm keen to do the job right. 

Q: What (if any) music do you listen to for help getting those creative juices flowing?

A: Ambient sound, white noise, or nothing. I do listen to music and there's a lot of songs I associate with stories, fics, characters. Tove Lo is a big one for Dune. Most of the time I find that music with lyrics or a high tempo is distracting if I'm in the act of writing something but it can be a source of inspiration separately. 

Q: How do you keep track of all the details as you're writing? How do you keep details consistent in your works? How do you fact-check your writing?

A: I have a little memo pad with numbered facts that do not change at any point through the story. These are kinda the cardinal rules. I can't tell you the rules because they contain spoilers. After the “RULES” there are miscellaneous details that I'd like to remember in case they come up later. Things like birthmarks, scar placement, mannerisms, things I've hinted at without exposition that will need to be revealed later.

I fact check by googling stuff and falling down research holes for several hours until I forget what I was doing. EVENTUALLY I'll come back to writing and realize that's why there are things in my search history that probably have me on some kind of government watch list.

Q: What motivates your writing?

A: My motivation. Real talk? For AAL it's to get to a particular scene in the planned third installment. Scene thirteen in chapter seven. I know that answers exactly nothing and is weirdly specific but... yes. Other works of mine, I'm motivated by the idea that some of my ideas might entertain someone out there, even if it's just one someone then I've succeeded.

Q: What is your biggest challenge as a creator?

A: Time management. I have a lot of hobbies and finding time for individual projects is... Hard. I made a boredom jar that lets me pick an unfinished task/project/piece at random to do whenever I'm bored so that I can stop myself from starting anything new when my apartment is already full of unfinished junk.

Q: How have you grown as a creator through your participation in the Mad Max Fandom? How has your work changed? Have you learned anything about yourself?

A: Yes. My organizational skills have improved by miles and my attention span is better focused. Grammatically my work has undergone general improvement.  

Learned anything about myself? Hmm, I learned that my opinion of what is canon and what makes good fan fiction are two completely different things. If you ask me anything specific about the Mad Max franchise you will probably get both opinions. As an example: Does Maxosa make for good fan fiction? Heck Yeah! Will canon Max Rockatansky or Furiosa ever be mentally and emotionally healed enough to actually be in a relationship? Probably not and that's okay. I can happily read Max and Furi getting cuddly and domestic and enjoy the heck out of another writer's interpretation of these two overcoming the hurdles of their respective traumas. I can do this knowing full well that Max and Furiosa probably never canonically saw each other again after the closing scene of Fury Road. I'm okay with this because that's the magic of fandom and why I love it.

Q: Which character do you relate to the most, and how does that affect your approach to that character? Is someone else your favourite to portray? How has your understanding of these characters grown through portraying them?

A: I relate to Max the most, and I think the reason I haven't yet published anything written from his perspective is because he'd be the most difficult to write without touching on my own fears and inadequacies too much. Max is not interested in being involved with the dramas of anyone else's life. He's already seen too much turmoil and had a hand in it too many times to actively seek people and their inherent problems, however, when presented with zero alternative he'll do what needs to be done and suffer though forming new attachments to very mortal people who may drop dead at any minute. He isn't comfortable with the process of forming attachments and he'd rather avoid it. He doesn't want another ghost. At least that's my interpretation of him. 

 Slit, remarkably, is my favorite to write for in spite of the fact that I don't relate to him in any way and my interpretation of his portrayal in the film is, simply put, a blunt edged euphemism for abusive relationships. He's just... a guilty pleasure to examine and write. I blame my fondness on the stunning character design and Josh Helman's energy on screen. The character says and does ridiculous things and it's just hilarious to watch Slit dig his own grave and humiliate himself. Case and point: I've got his boot! My understanding of Slit has grown through writing about him. He's probably (canonically) deeply insecure and his way of thinking very toxic and self focused. There's gotta be trauma there (I took massive creative license in that area) and a whole host of personal issues that explain his behavior, but will never excuse it. Does that make good fan fiction??? Parts of it do, the rest has to be that very human ability to grow and improve, although I don't think he'd have that opportunity in canon or accept any form of assistance... If he'd lived. 

Q: Do you ever self-insert, even accidentally?

A: I think you kind of have to self-insert to a point. Writing tends to involve exaggerating your own experiences and the imagined interactions in your own head in order to make the experiences of the characters relatable. I'd rather not examine every individual facet of the issue but yes, I think Dune is an unintentional self-insert to cope with health problems before I was consciously aware of what I was coping with and since that realization, lately, she's a lot harder to write. 

Q: Do you have any favourite relationships to portray? What interests you about them?Honestly? Close platonic friendship. Emotional intimacy is interesting. I draw a lot of inspiration for friendship in fiction from Mulder and Scully in early seasons of The X-files.

Q: How does your work for the fandom change how you look at the source material?

A: I see more minor details and the context of silent interactions. Some of these details are unsettling, some of them are so subtle and subliminal that they're easily missed when you watch the films, especially Fury Road. Oddly enough, I'm a lot more- Ah whats the word? Not quite critical of but unnerved by my own observations of Capable's relationship with Nux. I'm not sure why. It could be that I'm misinterpreting the actress's tone or George Miller vision/direction, but I watch the movie now and find that the way Capable looks at and talks about Nux so intensely makes me uneasy. The previous is just an example among many that I've spat out so far, it's not important.

Q: Do you prefer to create in one defined chronology or do your works stand alone? Why or why not?

A: Everything I write within the Mad Max fandom with the exception of collaborative works will probably be linked together and consistent with one another because that means less to remember and fewer mix-ups.

Q: To break or not to break canon? Why?

A: If you have to, break it. I'll read it. I like my fandom unlimited, baby. In my own works I try to keep with canon somewhat but I resurrect a lot of characters who almost certainly died because if I didn't, it would really only leave seven (I think) named characters with dialog who did not die in Fury Road. (The surviving women of the Many Mothers weren't named.)

Q: Share some headcanons:

A: 1) Max has intestinal parasites. He ate a live (two headed) lizard in the first thirty seconds of Fury Road. You really really really should not do that. 

 2) Furiosa didn't want to kill Ace. She could have just blown his head off instead of punching him in the face with a pistol. She didn't shoot him. 

 3) Ace did not go under the wheels. Foxy Grandpa lives. 

 4) Miss Giddy is also alive somewhere 

 5) Actually, most people in the wasteland probably have intestinal parasites. 

Q: If you work with OCs walk us through your process for creating them. Who are some of your favourites?

A: My original characters tend to create themselves. I don't know how they do it, they kinda just decide for themselves for better or worse what they'll look like and how they'll behave. Dune was an accident and the “About a Lizard” series wasn't supposed to happen at all. It was supposed to be a one-shot word dump of what Slit's final moments might have looked like. Slit was supposed to die in a fleeting but intense two seconds of delusions about Valkyries and Valhalla... And then be eaten by a scavenger cannibal. The whole thing kind of just happened on the fly. Ardith, Phil/Crank, Featherknife, Bones, and the kids were also accidental. I had no idea where I was going with the encounter with Crow Fishermen. They just popped into existence of their own will and the rest is history. The only original characters that have been planned and designed well beforehand have been villains. This probably says something about me as a writer though I'm not sure what. 

Q: When creating a new character for the AAL series, how do you approach their first interactions with your main characters?

A: The first thing I ask is “What does this scene need” and sometimes it needs a new character for villainy or friendly acquaintance reasons or for a skill-set the main characters do not posses. New characters have a habit of changing a chapter or making it much longer than intended. First interactions with Slit probably won't surprise anyone. He phases through distrust to dislike to begrudged cooperation and from there he's either on his way back to dislike or entering the tolerance phase. Beyond the tolerance phase is... The Complicated Zone. The Complicated Zone is where Nux and Dune are situated. Dune has two basic instincts with people: Should I shoot you? Or should I befriend you? Bizarrely, being friendly is the weirder option in the wastes. Shooting is almost always a consideration if she's taken by surprise.

Q: If you create original works, how do those compare to your fan works?

A: My original works are probably darker and deal more with modern problems. I turn to fan fiction for fun and to indirectly work through things.

Q: Who are some works by other creators inside and outside of the fandom that have influenced your work?

A: A lot of the fandom, too many names to name but one stands out and I can't remember their name or the title of their work. It was about Ace growing up and there was a dingo and a young Miss Giddy. If anyone knows what I'm talking about, please help. I've been looking for this fic for ages.

Q: Is there a specific author(s) that inspired your work when you began writing TLR?

A: I don't think any specific author inspired me while I began TLR but The Dark Half by Stephen King is one of my favorites and I recall re-reading it shortly before getting deep into fan writing. I may even have unconsciously plagiarized a few lines off that book. In my latest attempt to re-read that novel I'm feeling like there's a lot of Thad Beaumont in my portrayal of Slit.

Q: What advice can you give someone who is struggling to make their own works more interesting, compelling, cohesive, etc.? 

A: Don't be afraid to write things that are too soft or too dark or too this or too that. Sometimes readers crave that stuff that makes us feel warm and safe and sometimes we're also here for things that make us wonder how the @!#$% the characters will ever recover or IF they will ever recover. The real world is full of all sorts of feelings, situations, serendipitous coincidences. Take us down whatever funky road you got! You're the driver, you decide. Your fic is your world. Write WILD things sometimes because it's fun. 

Q: Have you visited or do you plan to visit Australia, Wasteland Weekend, or other Mad Max place?

A: I would love to take a trip to Australia one day to paint scenery in oils but that predates my time in MM fandom. I really want to go to Wasteland Weekend in the next two years but finances, necessities, costumes, etc need to be sorted out first.

Q: Tell us about a current WIP or planned project.

A: Well, I'm buying up model car kits to make little Mad Max cars for nerd purposes.

Thank you @burn-your-face-upon-the-chrome

[sarazanmai]

Stuff I loved in 2018.

Its that time again. The end of a year and a look back on all the stuff I enjoyed. Honestly I almost wasn’t going to write this because I feel these posts are a lot of effort with very little reward, but there was a lot I experienced this year that I think was interesting and worth sharing. So let’s go.

Roger Ebert once said “artistry can redeem any subject matter”. While I’m not sure any subject matter can be salvaged through an artistic eye, it can certainly help. If someone approaches a certain material with a clear vision and purpose to what they do they can create something truly fascinating. The Monogatari series is a very strange one. Its told in a non chronological order, there’s characters who say they’re one thing and reveal themselves to be something else, there’s a lot of references to other anime, the visual style changes sometimes radically, its incredibly meta, some moments of fanservice have a deeper meaning to them while others not so much. Me personally I think the series goes through periods of being brilliant as well as periods where it just is not up to the same standard as before. That said I kind of like that, I like that you go through so many different moods and style shifts. Not everyone will like that, some will get frustrated with the weaker seasons, but for me I think it all comes together and really made for something I won’t forget. I watched the entire series within a week and then later in the year I rewatched it all barring “Koyomimonogatari” which is one of those weaker seasons in my opinion. Despite its bulk, despite its tendencies, the Monogatari series just kept me hooked.

There comes a time where we all must accept certain truths. One of them is a lot of you don’t really understand mecha. I still see all of these reviews and comments claiming that mecha before “Evangelion” were all just light fluffy Saturday morning cartoon fare with little substance. This could not be further from the truth. The Gundam franchise from the very beginning was serving what I am going to refer to as a human element. It was not this soulless creation who’s only goal was to sell model kits. Whether it was Amuro’s PTSD from piloting the Gundam or Kamille and his tragic romance with Four or Char’s true motives during the original series there was always more going on than just giant robots shooting things. This isn’t even taking into consideration other installments like “War in the Pocket” where its a story of war from the point of view of a child and soldier. I have not watched every Gundam anime, I am sure there are some that were just there to exist as another installment in the franchise and didn’t necessarily push the franchise or genre into new areas. But what I have seen in “Mobile Suit Gundam”, “Zeta Gundam” “War in the Pocket”, “Unicorn”, “Iron Blooded Orphans”, and even the polarizing “ZZ Gundam” which I admittedly dropped were all very interesting and very unique experiences. Tomino really hit on something when he created the series and now we’ve come so far that we have a franchise so massive and large it needs an entire wikipedia article devoted to its cultural impact.

Once again, mecha that came before “Evangelion” were still displaying that human element many critics are convinced wasn’t there. In “Macross” its very prominent to the point where it feels like a driving force to the entire show as well as its film “Do You Remember Love”. We spend as much time with the characters and their developing relationships as we do with the mecha battles. The emphasis on music and culture as something that can create a change in the world is one of the themes synonymous with the franchise. While there certainly were times in the show where it leaned a bit into a comical area, I didn’t mind this. It was a show aimed at a younger audience and was trying to communicate these themes on their level so at times things can be a bit silly, but I appreciate what is being said so much that it does not feel like an issue. The heart is still there, the human element is still there. And more complex and serious sub plots are there too. Regardless when it comes to the film “Do You Remember Love” and the OVA “Macross Plus” things were certainly approached with a more mature voice, bringing the franchise to new places. I watched this prior to any Gundam anime in an attempt to get a better feel for the mecha genre. I wanted to expand my tastes and I’m very happy I did because not only did I love this I also want to really explore the genre now more than ever.

With the release of “Lupin III Part 5″ this year I was really turned onto that franchise. I ended up getting this massive itch to explore it when that anime wrapped and while not everything I found was a masterpiece it was a worthwhile endeavor. There’s something to Lupin the character and the series at large that manages to be both fun while also evoking a sense of coolness in spite of his goofiness. It was interesting to go through the various TV series and the movies and some specials and get a sense for how its evolved through time. Rewatching “The Castle of Cagliostro” I really enjoyed it a lot and other installments like “The Fuma Conspiracy” and “The Hemingway Paper Mystery” were hugely entertaining. I really liked “Lupin III part 4″ and “The Woman Called Fujiko Mine” too and the original “Lupin III” anime. I can still hear that voice singing “Lupin...he’s a nice man...but he’s cool...”. And objectively speaking green jacket is best jacket. I feel like this is a series that has undergone so much evolution through the various people that came in to work on it that there’s bound to be something that appeals to somebody. You just have to find it.

I spent a lot of time ignoring “Gintama” and its a bit of a shame that I did because this is a really fun series. Despite how long it is I really didn’t feel like it took me a terribly long time to finish it. And even though its goal is more on the comedic side of things, the series surprised me with how strong of an emotional punch it can provide. The cast of characters is one of the most likeable and fun that I’ve seen in a while and the seiyuu cast was very impressive. Everyone plays their character well and I get the sense they really enjoy working on it. Akira Ishida in particular seemed to really get a kick out of playing someone as ridiculous as Katsura when so many of his other roles lean more serious. And of coarse everyone loves Tomokazu Sugita as Gin. His voice just feels so right for a character like this and it was great having him for something this big when in other anime I’ve seen him in he’s only around for so long. I’ve also got to give the series credit for its female characters. There’s a really sturdy amount and they’re all occupying their own place in this world with distinct identities. This is something that makes this world feel more alive and expansive. Kagura is a character I need to applaud for the fact that she wasn’t there for some sort of lolicon fanservice or to have a really awkward crush on Gin or Shinpachi. No she just cares about food and her dog. What a queen. Speaking of Shinpachi he was the MVP of this series, good boy. And there’s our Shinsengumi boys and of coarse Gin himself, so many great characters. I am sure a lot of people look at how much there is to “Gintama” and get nervous at the size of it, but there’s really no need to. When it clicks with you then there’s no putting it down.

“Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju” might be one of the greatest anime in recent years. It takes you through so many periods in this man’s life and the people around him and manages to hold you the entire way. Once again Akira Ishida is someone I need to give major credit to. He’s a very talented seiyuu and in this anime his performance was so impressive I was almost beside myself. Given the performance style the series is built around the cast all needed to be really great at reciting these stories and articulating them. And for the scenes where the characters are not on stage, when the interpersonal drama comes out, everything just hits in such a powerful way. I can’t remember how often I cried during this anime, but it never felt like I was being manipulated. It all felt as if it came through organically and easily. Even more subtle scenes like a character finding out he’s having a child hit on just the right emotions. If you are in the mood for a fantastic character driven drama this is absolutely one I’d recommend.

Speaking of character driven drama “Sangatsu no Lion” is another one to tune into. It initially presents itself as a very intense and dark story, but as the viewer stays involved you find that this is not about wallowing in self loathing but healing. The family that has taken this very troubled young man in and helped him navigate through his mental illness is so likeable and endearing. You find yourself wanting to see him get better and hope that these girls, as well as the other shogi players, find happiness for themselves too. Its not always simple though. There are ups and downs to the characters and their arcs, but it never feels bitter or angry. It feels like reality. Over the coarse of its two seasons it manages to do what so many other shows about a character with depression fail to do. It never feels exploitative or like it has no sense of how to handle such a topic nor does it feel hopeless. As difficult as things in Rei’s life can become you know deep down this isn’t the end of the line, things can get better. It also does a very good job at holding your attention whether you understand the intricacies of shogi or not. You’re told what feels like the essential basic rules to the game and you aren’t thrown into a state of culture shock if you’ve never looked into the game before. I feel like what we have here is a modern masterpiece and more people have been watching it and celebrating it as a great achievement and that makes me so happy.

“Galaxy Express 999″, pronounced “three nine” because why not, is quite the space opera. I watched every episode of the original TV series as well as the two films directed by Rintaro and while they have some flaws or areas that did not age well, they’ve remained famous for a reason. The TV series did a really great job at pulling at your emotions and showing you different worlds. Some felt similar to others, but then there’s so much creativity in other areas. The concept of a space train was inspired by the popular Japanese children’s book “Night on the Galactic Railroad”, which would receive its own anime adaptation, and what Leiji Matsumoto did with this inspiration ended up taking on an identity all its own. You really feel for this bond between Tetsuro and Maetel. You spend so much time wondering just who Maetel is and what her goal in all of this could be. She’s kept just vague enough where I feel we were told all that we needed to. Tetsuro is someone I’ve seen reviewers describe as a little frustrating due to his naivete, but he’s a child. It makes complete sense for him to place his trust in the wrong person or make a mistake like he does. Masako Nozawa, the future voice of Goku and all his male relatives barring Raditz, voiced Tetsuro and I think she really brought a strong likeability to the character. We feel for him and also have a lot of fun seeing him travel through space. Its hard to say what version is stronger, I’d argue the show but know its not easy to recommend something that hefty. Whether someone watches the films or the show or both I think they’re still getting something great out of it.

And they say you can’t sum up a show in one image. So “Madoka Magica” what are we to do about you? Its kind of hard to explain, but I rather purposefully chose not to watch it for this long. Mostly because I was tired of the hype and the fandom basically pulling an “Evangelion” and acting like no magical girl anime or manga prior to this served emotions. But its presence never really died, this anime is almost a decade old now and people still care. And while I don’t regret not tuning in while it was running, I am very happy to have experienced it on my own terms. It gave me one of my new favorite characters with Homura, its visually stunning and marvelously directed. the music is so enchanting, and the story really is good. I think the show from start to end was a great watch and really kept me going and the bittersweet nature of it did work for me. As far as the movies go I did watch “Rebellion” and while I think its good it does complicate what the message to the series is in my opinion. Either way its just the same as “End of Evangelion” where I don’t see it as canon. I think the big question a lot of people have is if this lives up to the hype and I’m not totally sure how to answer that, but it is an anime worth your time all the same.

This will be easy. I have a review already written out for “Slam Dunk” so if you want my more expanded thoughts there you go. This really is a fantastic anime.

Last year I watched the movie “A Silent Voice”, but failed to put it in my year end review out of pure laziness. I am not making that same mistake again. “In This Corner of the World” is a film I am very grateful to have seen. Its a very interesting take on a WWII story. Not that we haven’t had movies about the war from the perspective of a civilian before, but there is something to the way its approached through our protagonist that feels especially powerful. She experiences so much during those years and tries her best to keep living with keeping her family alive as her main motivation and eventually is met with tragedy. Its produced by a studio called Mappa who’ve gained a lot of attention for “Yuri on Ice” and this year’s “Banana Fish. I did not like those anime very much, but I really loved this film and have to applaud them for trying different types of stories. I hope the projects they have lined up for 2019 are as enjoyable as this. I’ve heard the director has an interest in releasing an extended cut and if that happens I’ll be very interesting in seeing what it offers.

Again I will not make the same mistake twice. “A Silent Voice” was directed by a woman named Naoko Yamada. She also directed “K-On” and “Tamako Market”, two series that made it on my post for last year. She has an incredible talent and in my opinion is the director in anime to watch. After the success of “A Silent Voice” a lot of people wanted to see where she would go and what she gave us is nothing short of amazing. “Liz and the Blue Bird” is a film more people need to pay attention to. Those who’ve seen it adore it, fans have given it very high scores and glowing reviews. But I think this movie needs even more attention beyond that because compared to movies like “Doukyuusei” this feels like it made a smaller splash in the community. Yamada’s approach to love and drama is so effective without being forceful, you really feel for these girls and the longing between them. Yamada is a director who cares deeply for respecting the emotions of her characters which is why she has successfully created so many famous emotional scenes without them feeling melodramatic or feeling staged. This is especially clear with this film where she manages to communicate everything we need to know, but in very few spoken words. And the animation as one expects from a Kyoani project is just lovely. It also manages to work very strongly with its blue toned color palette. So many people make these blue toned movies look dreary, but not here. Things still have a brightness to them and even a warmth. I feel very lucky I was able to see this movie this year when so many anime films take so long to be made available elsewhere. When it reaches the US on bluray I am definitely buying it.

When it comes to the seasonal TV anime for the year, this was my favorite.”Sora yori mo Tooi Basho“ or “A Place Further than the Universe” is a very interesting installment in the “cute girls do blank” genre of anime. Here its cute girls go to the arctic. It sounds like a weird premise to a show, but when you see it put into practice its impressive how much you feel invested in these girls and what they’re doing. Its directed by a woman named Atsuko Ishizuka who was once identified as one of the great talents at the famed studio Madhouse. I think, like Yamada, she manages to work within these character heavy stories while avoiding any unnecessary melodrama. A lesser director would have made some scenes so cheesy or so over the top sad and that can take you right out of the experience. At first I was unsure of how big of a hit this anime would be given how many huge shows came out this year, but its managed to top the bluray sales in Japan for quite a while now. I feel really happy it became such a success. People say the cute girl sub genre is played out and that if you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all, that is not true. Sometimes you need a talented director, an off the cuff premise, and you can get something fresh out of a genre that sometimes over saturates the market.

“Pop Team Epic” is an anime the like of which we’ve never seen before. And we will never get it again. A lot of people have said that in order to understand or get the jokes you have to know what it is they’re parodying and that really is not true. This isn’t referential humor like in “Gintama” where the impact of the joke relies on you knowing that material. If you don’t know "Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure” you won’t get it when Gin references Joseph and Caesar’s training with Lisa Lisa. Here the approach to the comedy is so surreal that if you don’t know the reference it just registers as a bizarre thing they did. Sure I know they referenced things like “Hikaru no Go”, but someone who doesn’t would just think its “Pop Team Epic” being weird again. And if you do know what they’re referencing then you know the layers to the joke. The anime is also in a lot of ways very visually strong to the point of being almost avant-garde. It was expensive and time consuming to make even if people don’t realize it. All of these different animation styles, the mixed media approach to certain scenes. They even brought in Miyo Sato, the woman who does the paint on glass animation for “Mob Psycho 100″, to work on the show for a few segments. To a lot of people this show was a meme, but in a lot of ways I think it was doing more than that. We’re not going to get another season or anything out of it, but I’m happy something this strange was able to exist and grab hold of such a large scale audience.

I have an in depth analytical review out for "Berserk”, if you would like to read such a thing there it is. However it does contain spoilers. My unspoiled and condensed opinions are that its fantastic, with gorgeous art, well developed and amazing characters, and tons of soul. Its very intense and not exactly for everyone, but its definitely a masterpiece. Unfortunately it also has a very foul fandom which turned me off reading it for years. I genuinely expected my review to garner a lot of negative feedback given how this fandom is, to my surprise this never happened though. If you can remove the toxic fandom from the equation, which is surprisingly easy to do, then you’re golden. Also this is a romantic manga and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise because they’re cowards.

“Golden Kamuy” is fantastic as a manga. I watched the anime too, but I feel like that works best treated like a companion piece to the manga. I’ve best described the plot as “One Piece” meets “Silence of the Lambs”. This is also something that probably comes closest to evoking the same kind of strangeness that “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure” has. The best way I can put it is that characters will say things that are weird, but nobody acts like they’re weird. There is also a lot of information fed to the reader about aspects of the Ainu culture and hunting and weaponry. At first it feels as if you’re being given a lot of information on topics that aren’t going to be important, but they end up having more significance than you realize. The same applies to the characters. I was surprised at how many characters I expected to be left behind were made relevant later on. And they’re memorable. Sugimoto, Asirpa, Shiraishi, Ogata, Tsurumi, Tanigaki, even that little girl Osoma was memorable. One thing the story really excels at is how you have a large amount of characters chasing the same prize, but with their own reasons. Nobody loses sight of their own motivation, some we still haven’t learned their true gain in all of this, and we see how this effects the flow of the plot. For such a large cast this would under a different writer feel very cluttered, but not here. And visually the manga looks amazing. Noda’s art is a little odd at first, but when you really look at it he’s got a lot of talent. Everyone looks distinct, the backgrounds look great, the animals look good (we’re not gonna discuss the anime’s CGI). If I had to recommend just one I’d say the manga as the anime does skip material, some due to networks being incapable of showing such things others honestly feel skipped because they wanted to streamline the plot at the expense of characterization and world building. I do still recommend taking in both as this sort of bundle deal though because the anime really is entertaining and has such a strong seiyuu cast it would be a shame to pass it by completely.

Takehiko Inoue is an absolute master at this stage in his career. In an interview with Akira Toriyama he was called someone with a real sense for manga and its amazing to see how he went from “Slam Dunk,” where he had not yet drawn a bare foot, to something like “Vagabond”. The art in this manga is deserving of all the praise it gets, its so detailed that it just leaves you stunned. The story also shows just how on point he is as a writer. I’m sure through the many movies and shows about Musashi Miyamoto a lot of Japanese audiences have a certain way they tend to view him and then here comes Inoue offering a different approach to the man. One where he is still working towards an enlightened state and trying to reign in an animalistic rage. Working in themes of being the strongest under the sun, what it means to live for the sword, how these choices effect the people left behind, its really fascinating stuff. There’s even an entire long stretch of chapters where we break away entirely from Musashi to focus on a young Kojiro and his adoptive father, its a very sudden break away yet it doesn’t feel random or jarring. I think because Inoue knows how to craft compelling characters so effortlessly it made that shift in focus work as well as it did. Its one of the most successful manga in terms of sales and with good reason, its a masterpiece. This is one of those manga that currently is on an indefinite hiatus and I can only hope Inoue is able to finish it. And if for whatever reason he can’t then at least we can say we got what we got.

Behold your new shonen king! Not Izuku, not Hinata. Open your arms for the next great shonen! “Dr. Stone” is a manga that at the moment doesn’t have the largest of audiences, but everyone I know who’s read it absolutely loves it. And with the anime being released next year I can only hope that will be the push that people need to experience it. The story is focused very heavily on innovation and discovery which feels so fresh compared to a lot of things Weekly Shonen Jump has been producing as of late. And the level to which things have been thought out really impresses me. In recent chapters it was revealed that in that period of time humanity was petrified the terrain has changed drastically and the maps from the past are now worthless. So that means finding a way to survey the land and get a better sense of the world. Its so exciting to read this sort of thing. And the characters are so fun. Senku is a very interesting character to place at the center of this story. He’s a genius and approaches things as logically as possible, sometimes he can be a jerk and self serving, but he’s always going to do what he can to further civilization because he just loves science that much. Chrome is a really funny character to bounce off of him. We recently were introduced to a new member of the cast that has great potential. I like Asagiri. Its written by the same mangaka behind “Eyeshield 21″ and while I have not read that I can say through this manga that he’s really got a great sense of story telling. I also really like Boichi’s art, he pulls out some hilarious extreme faces and also some really dynamic scenes. Next summer can’t come fast enough because I am so hyped and ready for this anime to start.

“Kimetsu no Yaiba” is another manga that will be getting an anime next year and I am extremely excited. If I had to compare it to anything I would honestly say its like if “Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood” and “Hunter x Hunter” got crossbred. Its mangaka Koyoharu Gotouge really feels very influenced by Yoshihiro Togashi in both her writing as well as some of her character designs. Togashi actually said this manga along with “Dr. Stone” is one of the ones in recent years to read which I’m sure made her thrilled to hear. I feel like this is something that does a lot of the things people generally want to see in anime and manga. You have a strong sibling dynamic at the center of the story (and it isn’t one of those relationships), there’s female characters that are involved with the action and its treated like a real fight, there’s themes of family that are always really endearing, aesthetically its very beautiful while still being able to pull off a more intense body horror style moment, fanservice aside from a couple moments is at a minimum, and it is also very funny. There’s a lot of personality to our main characters as well as the Pillars that we have gotten to know and it doesn’t feel crowded. She knows when to use a character and when to keep them out of a certain arc. She also has a lot of respect towards Nezuko who I feel another writer would have shoved aside in favor of her brother. But Nezuko is shown to still retain her autonomy in spite of her predicament, she fights and is sometimes vital to defeating a demon, and the more recent events in the story show a lot of potential for furthering her as a character. The anime is to be released for the spring and its made by Ufotable, based on the PV we have at the moment this show will definitely be gorgeous. I am very excited for what they’ve done with this material and I can only hope other people will be watching too because I do not want this to be a series people sleep on.

“Revolutionary Girl Utena” is a masterpiece. I have frankly a really complicated opinion of Kunihiko Ikuhara. A lot of people think he can do no wrong, I am not one of them. There’s things that happened with “Sailor Moon” that I know weren’t his fault, but there’s also things that happened during S where he had the most control over the project that still bother me. I can never know for sure if these were his ideas or things Toei forced onto him as he did leave the show because of a lack of freedom to do what he wanted, but that said when he really commits to a project he can produce something amazing. He has said many things over the years regarding Utena and a big takeaway from them is that he does not want to tell us what to feel, he wants us to decide for ourselves. I think what Utena fundamentally is about is deconstructing romantic tropes, analyzing chivalry, and the lies men tell women. The series gets more complex and symbolic as it progresses until we get to the movie “Adolescence of Utena” where its refusing to hold your hand any step of the way. Unlike with “End of Evangelion” or “Madoka Rebellion” the “Adolescence” movie is not an attempt at a different ending, but more of an alternative retelling of the story. Its a pure visual masterpiece and a movie that I honestly think deserves to be seen with or without the TV show. That said I would strongly recommend both of them as not only is it one of the greatest shojo ever, it is also Ikuhara at his finest. Moo.

[clarkesablake]

As Promised...

I rewatched the episode this evening and quickly typed out my rereactions in chronological order. Please like this post if you’d want to see it again next week. It’s probably slightly messy, because I’ve never done something like this, but it was fun, and it’s a good insight into my inner monologue. I’ll also get better as the season goes on. Ik I love reading stuff like this on other people’s blogs. 

Overall, I liked the episode. It was slightly underwhelming, because we already knew most of what happened, but it was cute, and I’m excited for the story this season. (and, as someone who has never actually said or believed this before: It really is Our year Blarkes!)

·       Clarke looking at maps, nice callback to s1, #1 earth skills student

·       “at least I don’t have to swim” I didn’t think about the fact that she was at Becca’s house, the ocean dried up, makes sense

·       She’s so freaking pretty I’m sorry wow

·       I always assumed she wouldn’t even try to dig up the bunker until after 5 years, I didn’t realize she’d try to join them at all

·       I’m wishing we saw some of her first moments/days after praimfiya

·       Is it a coincidence that the rubble collapsed after she looked at Lex.a’s throne? I think not lol.

·       “how the hell am I gonna make it 5 years?” they did a good job conveying how hopeless her situation seems, and how long that time really is when you’re alone

·       MAYA AND JASPER ghfbgrkeu I’m so sadd, I’m sooo glad she’s getting to mourn

·       I hope Monty gets to read his letter

·       “realll cheerful clarke, ignore me” loll this cracks me up, so relatable, coping humor

·       “I’m proud of you” *insert sobbing* she thinks she’s gonna die, she Loves him

·       These landscapes are really cool!

·       Her eyes are so blue

·       Idk who she’s thanking for the rain, but I love seeing her smiling at the little things abt earth such as rain, it’s a lot like s1 really when they breathed real air for the first time and the delinquents celebrated the first rain

·       The radiation storms remind me of acid fog in s1 too, I wonder if they’ll continue to be a thing, probably not after 6 years I guess

·       SO the solar panels are destroyed, why does the rover work later in the episode? I’m kinda confused about that

·       Sidenote: the wandering through the desert reminds me of Holes

·       It’s really difficult to watch Clarke breaking down like this, but how much she’s fought thus far shows us that she really does want to survive deep down, it’s just hard

·       Is it weird that I smiled when she killed the bird? I strangely enjoy going back to the basics of survival, finding resources, again, like s1. I had missed that aspect of earth being just earth, nature in its purest form, beautiful and terrifying

·       She’s being reborn in the water <33

·       I love Madi’s little village, I hope they use a lot of that set

·       “God this would be so much easier if I knew you were alive, If I knew I was gonna see you again” GAHHHHH

·       “Positive thoughts Clarke,” gfeuwcvke I love it

·       I even missed Trigedasleng what even

·       Baby Madi is adorable and terrifying

·       It’s an interesting thought that Madi was trained to avoid the flamekeepers and that’s why she was never found, I love little details like this!

·       I would love hearing her talk more about her childhood and parents

·       Okay It’s great that Clarke’s using medical skills again, but she didn’t clean the wound, and she most def should have lost her leg from infection without sterile equipment

·       Madi in the window like a horror movie actually made me jump

·       How many times will they use the same tree shot from the pilot lmao

·       Clarke is lucky Madi didn’t stab her w/ that spear tbh

·       “child from hell” lollllllllllll

·       Clarke’s not the only one good w/ kids, I love how she left the drawing without saying Anything

·       She’s also hella good at manipulating people (in this case it’s in a good way)

·       Little Madi’s smile awwwww

·       Clarke looks so Good in her tank top and w/ the fish Madi taught her how to catch, she’s gonna have so many more Grounder skills now!

·       Still wondering how they fixed the rover

·       Also confused as to why Clarke wants Madi to speak only English (other than for the purposes of the show)

·       “Do you think they’ll come back too?” Because priorities <3

·       Triple G: Green’s green goop <3 + Make algae not war, Te Amo Monty

·       Emori being happy and joking w/ the others and being excited about spacewalks and defending her new friend Raven this is Everything

·       I’m also glad they made a system to avoid talking about the time, and considerate because of how hard this is on Raven

·       I was so surprised by the whole Murphy being separate from the group thing! But it makes sense. I still love him SO much. And despite him struggling a little bit rn he’s still a smiling adorable idiot

·       “you’re not worthless Murphy” SAY IT LOUDER FOR EVERYONE IN THE BACK

·       “We make decisions as a team here” Emori has grown so much I can’t

·       Dropship Parallelsssss

·       “All of them” Clarke’s first instinct = ALL the guns, Bellamy would be so proud

·       Madi hiding in the whole is a Clear Octavia parallel this is gonna be so Interesting

·       “Only choice” ((((ALSO AN OXYMORON BY THE WAY))))

·       Zeke is beautifuul and smart, ((((((((((JUST LIKE RAVEN REYES AHHHHHHHH))))))))))))

·       I wonder if we’ll learn more about the two other non-violent offenders

·       “for starters cause she’s a kid” GOOD REASON thx reasonable man, it’s unfortunate you died

·       “There are no good guys” a dangerous rhetoric to teach a kid Clarke, there might be consequences for that in more ways than one

·       Just let Monty be HAppY, he just wants to be safe and w/ the people he loves

·       I don’t really get Marper but I’m so glad she’s there for him

·       I love Raven and Emori friendship!

·       Murphy knows he done fed up something good he’s just too proud to deal w/ it rn

·       Murven <333 I’ll take them how I can get them, and I love that she doesn’t put up with his bs

·       Ik I’m supposed to be mad at bech.o but I love seeing Bellamy happy and hopeful and smiling and having someone there to support him (plus do yourself the favor of appreciating his kissing skills and imagining Clarke there)

·       Octavia looks terrifyingly beautiful oh my lands

[malachitelibrary]

Magical Research Tips

This is a post to help streamline the search for decent info during your metaphysical studies. Note that this post is a collection of tips and for the most part is not in any chronological order. 

What type of resource should I go for?

I. If you’re looking for: How to do it, Reading about someone’s own personal magic experience, A perspective from the magical side, go for magical books written by magical people

II. If you’re looking for: possible evidence of how it works in the physical world, analyzing a practice from a non-magical standpoint: non-magical sources written by non-magical people

What sources/subjects for what? (For point II above)  

Anthropology sources/databases will serve you better than magic books, when researching for traditions/culture-specific paths. They're less likely to bastardize/butcher things past a certain time period.

Theological books will serve you better than some traditional religion/practice books.

Scientific, Medical,  and Psychological sources/databases will serve you better than healing books.

Why not magic books for proof, analyzation, or history?

Magic books WILL cherry pick evidence and case studies/experiments. And often, these experiments will be severely outdated (from the 1900’s), and they will have a meager amount of them; maybe 5 experiments throughout the entire book, while compared to the at least 10-20 of a typical scientific journal. And of course, these 5 experiments will be used as the Ultimate Proof, instead of treated like the coincidental evidence they are.

Their explanations of how the magic/practice works in this physical realm will be “because it’s magic!!”, instead of in science/medical journals where you will get actual possible scientific/notable psychological bases behind it such as neuroplasticity, the applied placebo effect, the impact of human willpower, etc.

As for analyzation....lmao literally what magic books written by a magical person have good analysis. Sarcastic tone aside, I mean this in a legitimate matter; most magical books focus on the practice itself rather than an analyzation of that practice.

As for anthropological books versus magic books, this is because most magic books will not get the history and other anthropological information correct. They do not provide a good scope of the whole of the culture or the history, and there may be a bit of bastardization as well.

When looking for case studies/experiments, these phrases are your friends:

Randomized controlled trial

Double blind

Also check how many times the experiment was cited in others’ experiments/research. Being cited more times, and even continuing to be cited several years into the future shows an excellent experiment with results that are trusted. 

For further research into who exactly conducted the experiment, pay attention to the order of the names. Usually the ones listed first will be those who did the most work on the research. 

Doing the Research:

When searching, databases with full text will be your friend. Full-text is when a database has the entire copy of a source or portion of a source, rather than only a summary or the abstract. There will often be a checkmark box in the advanced search to show only full-text options.

Reference books/encyclopedias for the most part actually suck ass (sorry britannica); information is usually shallow and not well-researched. At best it could be used to find other sources of information to look at, as they will list the citations.

!!PLEASE DO NOT REUPLOAD THE FULL TEXT TO PUBLIC WEBSITES!! This is why most databases aren’t free; to protect against people pirating.

If you want FREE:

PUBLIC LIBRARIES: Public libraries are your FRIEND. They are public for a reason! Most public libraries in the US will let you get a library card at no cost at all. Borrowing books costs nothing as long as you return them on time. Also, public libraries often have access to databases that do expect you to pay, and provide that database info for free! And to top it off with a touch of morality brownie points, libraries help to support many rising authors as they are often how many previously obscure books break the ice.

University/Academic Libraries: Many universities provide their library services to the public. Like public libraries, they will often have access to the paid databases provided for free! It is usually based on the university’s wi-fi so you shouldn’t need to create an account. Academic libraries also often have a large reference staff on hand; the job of reference staff is to provide research assistance to people and be specialized in a certain subject of information. Meaning, you can totally hit them up for an interview to ask questions about the subject, and/or for research help!

Make friends with students (especially graduate students), professors, or researchers of the subject you want to look into: That’s what friends are for! There’s a good chance they may have had to write a paper (or MANY) on the subject you’re looking into. Even if not, they could point you towards better sources. 

Not all sources are made equal:

Some sources fucking suck; they’re inaccurate, don’t have the best wording, aren’t too well researched, or they’re just plain wrong. It’s going to be hard to judge sources when you’re just getting started in your research, but the more you know, the quicker you’ll be able to spot bullshit. Note that you’re going to waste a lot of time initially reading something you later found out was bullshit; that’s okay! Finding out something previous that you read was bullshit shows that you are learning. Plus, as you get a better grasp of what sources are shit and what’s not, you’ll be able to decrease that “wasted time” by a lot- so, it pays to be selective. Of course you should take everything in metaphysical stuff with a grain of salt, but if you’re taking everything as grains of salt, then how do you know which sources are better? The answer is experience and continued research.

Some sources can also be good for certain things, and terrible for others- even though they are both written about in equal measures. Take that into consideration when analyzing a source- perhaps their information on working with fae and other nature spirits is absolutely solid! However, perhaps their information/views on harm by large spirits such as deities, etc, or their views on mundane magic (such as employment spells) is rather...absolutely terrible.

Also. Sometimes you’ll think someone’s the absolute best when you start out in your craft. Hell, they may even be someone who inspired your practice at the beginning. But maybe you’ll come back a few years later, with experience under your belt and realize...they were actually shit the entire time. Hey, it happens. But remember that it shows you’re growing.

Signs of a shit source:

Few/no citations for something that is obviously not their personal practice or something they are the creator of

Author is extremely opinionated but tries to pass their opinions as fact with no sources or poor arguments

For healing magic books, trying to tell you that it’s totally okay to not go to the doctor/therapist, and/or that magic can absolutely replace legit medical assistance or therapy. Or, the author makes outlandish claims such as “I was able to cure someone’s celiac disease (a chronic disease) through my healing touch practice.”

Words that say nothing (and it’s not because of scholarly grammar); signs of this: you read a paragraph like 3 times and nothing sticks, or it doesn’t make sense.

Any form of “you shouldn’t have to X for Y result because I don’t have to X” that is written in a factual/”all people should” tone instead of in a tone reflective of or an article specifically about personal experience

At first something sounds nice, but then think on what the author said, and you go “???” or “sure jan.” Example of this plus the above bullet: “With money spells, everyone puts too much focus on sending out job applications. I don’t think that’s necessary, I’m such a good and wanted employee that employers are literally calling me to ask if I want to work for them!”

Tone matters. While not always, tone can be indicative as quality in certain ways.

Arrogant with no backing tone; the author keeps jacking off to themself- they keep building up how “complex” and “difficult” their Uneeq practice is and then it ends up being something low-level like sending energy

It’s a baby-ish tone that focuses on hurt feelings. Example: I saw some post saying how “we shouldn't use the term UPG because it leads to hurt feelings.” Uh, no. It’s the inability to handle the disagreement often associated with the term UPG that leads to hurt feelings, not the term UPG itself like lmao grow up, with people like that it doesn’t matter what term you use, disagreement will hurt their feelings anyways  

Complains about “over-intellectualizing” in certain ways; tone of this type often disagree about UPG for stupid (not automatically mutually exclusive) reasons. I will write a post about Stupid Reasons UPG Conflicts in the future, but I’ll provide you with a short example for now: Person A: Ummm Spirit Species X looks blue to my. Person B: Uh no they look red!! That means you can’t be working with the same spirit species! (They continue to argue). Actual reason behind it: Spirit Species X has multiple races/ethnicities and countries of origin on their plane, and both individuals jumped to hasty conclusions about the entire race based on the One (1) individual they worked with.

Some examples of shit magic books (with explanations as to why, of course):

The Chaos Protocols by Gordon White - A long, long explanation that I could still add on even more here. Fits the first two bullets under “signs of a shit source”.

DJ Conway’s books:

Explanation 1

Explanation 2

Saving Time: You don’t have to read a book/article cover to cover.

You don’t have to. You don’t. Unless the information is extremely cumulative (such as in storybooks), you will almost never have to read the entire book/article. Nonfiction books are generally well-sorted into sections by topic, so as long as you know the general information of the topic you can absolutely skip around and get only what you need.

About Topics

Topics that have little to no historical resources/traditions (if any at all):

Energy work of anything besides humans

Energy work in general that goes beyond “meditate!! Energy balls!”

Energy systems of spirits

Energy Signatures

Energy parasites (as in spiritual energy parasites)

Classifications of energy elements that go beyond the main four (5 if you include “spirit)

Discernment of types of spirits from one another (Note: you’ll likely just find a LOT of ableism and misogyny, especially in texts concerning differentiating angelic possessions versus “demonic”)

Discernment/vetting of spirits in general

Any spirits that aren’t already established in lore

Astral travel (the non golden standard that most people use today)

Actual anthropology of spirits (what their culture is like, what languages they speak, how their children are raised, etc); at best you will find only their mythologies, which represent only a minor portion of the spirit’s population or a single individual that is commonly mistaken for a whole species (The One(1) Minotaur  in Greek myth)  

Differentiating between varying levels of astral planes

Differentiating between energy system layers (and how they may relate to astral planes)

How humans can be shards/facets of large spirits such as deities, archangels, etc

Ways to repel/defend against Large Spirits that are harming you where the human(s) actually win (so NOT giving them offerings so they leave you alone, which was a trend for more merciless deities)

Biases/Perceptual filters, Discernment/Judgement in general

Energetic/Psychic Vampires (as in humans who are dependent on outside magical energy intake; NOT the spiritual species)

Eldritch spirits (actual working Info about the spirits besides lore)

Energetic Source wells (as in,those “ultimate”, apparently endless sources of energy)

So for these topics, you will likely be doing most of the writing/discovering yourself; these topics have little to no, if any at all, historical books for them.

Topics that have history but are rarely spoken in-depth (specifics given), or much in-depth knowledge has been lost:

Correspondences (such as herbs, crystals, etc)

Sex magic

Topics that are commonly spoken about but have much contradicting information:

Human energy systems (tip: ime people can have diff energy systems)

Topics that you’ll need to sift through fluffy, incorrect, shallow information, or extremist views for:

Anything involving angels

Chakras

Reiki

Any sort of “healing touch” practice

Empath/Empathic Abilities; also little to no info for how it works energy work wise 

How crystals work energy-work wise

Any sort of demonic spirit work (most demon workers vary from extremely fearful/hating of them or revering them as wholly benevolent)

Ars Goetia/Lesser Key of Solomon (in addition to above point, there are some views claiming Every Single One Is Actually Secretly A Deity which...I have opinions on in here)

Topics that are generally oral-tradition, secretive, closed in some form, or people are just overall not willing to disclose:

Soul retrieval

Energy work for the soul

Most forms of shamanism

Most indigenous traditions

Traditional witchcraft (though note some sects are more open than others)

Spiritual Conjuration (as in calling for a specific spirit with a billion protections/filters to make sure you get the right one)

Hereditary Witchcraft

Hedge Witchcraft

Feri traditional witchcraft

Clan of Tubal Cain aka Cochrane tradition of witchcraft

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Current Post Version: 21 December 2017

As with all of my posts, please check the permalink for the most updated version as I do regularly come back and make additions/edits.

[aion-rsa]

The Biggest Geek Culture Moments of 2020

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains a spoiler for The Mandalorian Season 2

2020 has been a wild and unpredictable year for most of us, but it also brought with it a ton of key cultural incidents and shifts that kept online news and trade outlets pretty busy at their keyboards. As we finally grind toward the end of a very weird 12 months, we’ve been looking back at some of the more stand-out moments in geek culture, which we’ll recap with you here.

You may find that these cultural markers aren’t listed in chronological order. That’s because in 2020, time ceased to exist in its previously understood form. Wednesday rarely meant anything, Monday was still technically the worst but couldn’t be trusted either way, Saturdays were no longer reserved for the notion of relaxation, and any given Tuesday might as well have taken place in a different universe, such was the obliqueness of its concept. Is it December right now, or July? No one really knows anymore.

But things still happened in 2020! Things and stuff definitely happened, we’re almost sure of it. Here are some of the things and stuff that probably happened, several of which you’d struggle to explain to a past version of yourself without the board from Chernobyl and scheduled breaks…

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson Get COVID-19

Shit got real on March 11 when beloved Forrest Gump actor Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson both tested positive for COVID-19 while filming on location in Australia. 63-year-old Hanks, who has Type 2 Diabetes and a stent in his heart, was fairly sure he was in a high-risk group, but at the time we still knew very little about the virus.

Hanks’ updates on he and Wilson’s recovery were little lights in the darkness over the next few weeks, and when the pair appeared to have made it through the worst, there was a sense of relief that 2020 would – at the very least – not steal him, but Hanks said he was way more relaxed than us about the whole thing. “I’m not one who wakes up in the morning wondering if I’m going to see the end of the day or not,” he told The Guardian. “I’m pretty calm about that.” He’s since become a strong advocate for social distancing measures. – KH

Tiger King of the World

Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness debuted on Netflix globally on March 20, becoming the first quarantine binge of the pandemic. A problematic series from the get-go, there was comfort to be found in its existence, as it became apparent that even if things were really quite shit at home, at least you hadn’t been fed to a tiger yet. Or sent to jail for arranging a hit on your nemesis. Or had accidentally shot yourself in the head. Or, etc and so on. – KH

The Snyder Cut Rises

They said it would never happen. And by “they” I have to confess, I mean “we.” But it’s true, Warner Bros. actually is spending tens of millions of dollars to let Zack Snyder finish his Justice League movie as he originally intended it. And the fans who have kept hope alive since the disappointing Joss Whedon-helmed theatrical cut of the movie are getting even more than they bargained for, since the no-longer-mythical “Snyder Cut” isn’t just a movie, it’s a four hour long miniseries event headed to HBO Max.

The early 2021 release of the Director’s Cut of Justice League (which now appears to be its official title) will mark the culmination of five years of fan demands, and will finally put a bow on Snyder’s original vision of the DCEU, completing the trilogy he began with 2016’s Man of Steel. Hopefully it lives up to everyone’s expectations. – MC

Next-Gen Gaming Breaks the Internet…Literally

2020 turned out to be a very important year for gaming. Not only did it see the release of many highly-anticipated titles, such as The Last of Us Part II, Cyberpunk 2077, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Ghost of Tsushima, but it also ushered in a new generation of gaming with the arrival of the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 as well as new PC graphics cards from NVIDIA and AMD.

Unfortunately, when it comes to next-gen gaming in 2020, all other topics of discussion are eclipsed by just how difficult it’s been to actually buy any of these new consoles or GPUs. From the moment pre-orders opened, getting one of these next-gen products has been a nightmare. Retail sites like Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop went down almost immediately on day 1 of pre-orders for both consoles, and have remained generally low in stock ever since, servers shaky at best. And the scalpers who used bots to buy up consoles and graphics cards to flip for exorbitant prices certainly haven’t helped.

If you got that next-gen gaming experience you wanted for Christmas this year, count yourself lucky! – JS

Trolls World Tour Starts a War

Universal’s Trolls World Tour was the first major movie to properly break and go straight to go streaming in 2020. Whether this was a movie you’d have personally sought out or not, it would have made a ton of money in a non-pandemic year. After that, eyes turned to the big studios, as we waited to see whether the likes of Black Widow, Bill & Ted Face the Music, or Mulan would follow suit.

Warner Bros., who had strenuously backed Christopher Nolan’s Tenet for a theatrical release, did a handbrake turn late in 2020 when it announced – to much industry outrage – that its full schedule of big budget movies, including Dune and The Matrix 4, would see a “day and date” streaming release on HBO Max in 2021 after Wonder Woman 1984 would do the same on Christmas Day. Disney has so far refused to match this gambit, but there are big changes and repercussions afoot for the theatrical release model, even when this is all over. – KH

Disney Doesn’t Throw Away Its Shot

While the first couple of movies to crack the theatrical window such as Trolls: World Tour and Onward were treated as relatively low stakes and aimed at a younger demographic, no early release came earlier, or made as much noise, as Hamilton going to Disney+ over Independence Day Weekend. The filmed version of the original cast performance dropped on the streamer a full 15 months ahead of its planned theatrical release, and it was by any measure a roaring success, finally enabling millions of people who had long been enamored with the soundtrack but been shut out of ticket lotteries and prohibitive Broadway pricing to experience Lin-Manuel Miranda’s history lesson in the comfort of their own home.

Early data suggests that his was the biggest direct-to-streaming release of the year, which should surprise exactly nobody. – MC

Of course, the success of Hamilton emboldened…

Borat 2 Sex Lawyer

Donald Trump’s most visible lawyer Rudy Giuliani already had a bad rep, but in late October he was literally caught with his hands down his pants in a New York City hotel room after being tricked into comedian Sasha Baron Cohen’s Borat sequel, Subsequent Moviefilm. During one particular scene, Borat and his ‘daughter’ Tutar (Maria Bakalova) tried to seduce Giuliani.

“Rudolph was Donald’s best buddy in the whole world,” Borat narrated. “And also very dignified statesman of the highest order. This would not be easy.”

If you’re really serious about legally challenging the vote you don’t send your two worst kids and the Borat sex lawyer.

— Ned Hartley (@NedHartley) November 6, 2020

It was in fact very easy, and he reportedly thought she was only 15. Still struggling with the knowledge that Giuliani got away with it? You and everyone else, pal. Still, at least he might go down in history as “the Borat sex lawyer.” – KH

Timthetatman’s Fall Guys Twitch Gauntlet

Timthetatman’s August quest to win a crown on Mediatonic’s smash hit battle royale knockout game Fall Guys was a supremely satisfying highlight of the year. Streamer Timothy Betar, who can typically be found playing slightly more ‘grown up’ games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare on Twitch, simply got a bee in his bonnet about not being able to win at Fall Guys. Betar spent nearly two weeks playing the game for long stretches of time as his audience grew exponentially, almost always failing at the very last moment, while a huge chunk of the gaming community trolled and encouraged him in equal measure – including the official Fall Guys Twitter account.

In the end, almost 340,000 viewers were watching Tim live on Twitch as he finally snatched a single Fall Guys crown, giving those of us trapped at home a chance to experience a single vicarious moment of pure exhilaration. Truly wonderful. – KH

“Crisp Rat”

It was a big year for Chris Pratt on social media, despite the fact that he didn’t really do much of note except have a baby and finish filming Jurassic World: Dominion. The fallout from 2019’s accusations that the actor attends an anti-LGBT church was the blood that pumped through the veins of Twitter’s 24/7 cancellation machine, refueled by Pratt’s non-appearance at Joe Biden’s virtual fundraiser alongside other MCU castmates.

Some saw this as “evidence” that the actor was deserving of a cancelation, and he was dubbed “the worst Chris” in Hollywood. Robert Downey Jr. and other Marvel stars jumped to his defence, declaring Pratt “a real #Christian who lives by #principle” and who has “never demonstrated anything but #positivity and #gratitude”, but Twitter had made up its mind, and it was soon recasting Jack Black in every role Pratt had filled to date. – KH

His Name …Is Grogu

It’s rather surreal to think that The Mandalorian’s powerful pop culture impact was mostly attributed to a character who had no proper name, only officially referred to as “The Child,” and colloquially—for lack of a better term—dubbed “Baby Yoda.” However, this year’s Chapter 13 would see Rosario Dawson’s debuting live-action version of animated favorite Ahsoka Tano use the Force to child-whisper the name of “Grogu.” In doing so, fans, Star Wars-driven SEO, and the Disney merchandising apparatus received an early Christmas present. However, even with the emotionally evocative Season 2 finale in the rear-view mirror, breaking the habit of calling him Baby Yoda is going to be a process as tough as worrying about his safety, especially given his new destination, and with whom it will likely have him come into contact. – JB

Tenet-cious C

Christopher Nolan was the butt who wouldn’t quit in 2020 as he sought to Save Cinema with his highly anticipated blockbuster about time travel, heists and many guns going pow-pow-pow. Whether it was his intention or not, he seemingly encouraged punters to ignore escalating scientific evidence to avoid indoor public spaces and trot along to their local theatre to watch the film. Nolan’s heart was probably in the right place, but it was a bad look for the director overall, compounded by Tenet’s eventual release on streaming, when the majority of keen audiences finally got a chance to clap their eyes on what turned out to be …well, let’s just say “not exactly a masterpiece.” – KH

Actual footage of people responding to Nolan’s pleas.

DC FanDome

Fandom has collectively been at a loss as far as how to replace the convention experience during the pandemic. And so far, attempts by heavy hitters like San Diego Comic-Con and New York Comic Con to replicate the buzz of a weekend packed with fan experiences and big news drops were tremendous disappointments. Pre-recorded Zoom panels don’t excite when all we do all day as a society is stare at that cursed app, buggy launches make it worse, and the fact that studios/networks/publishers didn’t really help put their best foot forward didn’t help.

But then along came DC FanDome.

What many (including this writer) expected to be a weekend-long infomercial about DC Universe intellectual property and how wonderful new corporate overlords AT&T would be for all these juicy brands was instead the slickest, most exciting, and yes…even newsworthy virtual event of the year. Rapid fire announcements from the big screen debut of the Justice Society in Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam movie to concept art from the long-awaited Flashpoint film were only the appetizer, with Warner Bros. unveiling a stunningly cool trailer for The Batman, and delivering the equivalent of a Saturday night in Hall H to fans who have been mostly confined to their homes since the spring. – MC

Meet Elliot Page

In a year when so much of the news was bad, joyous announcements felt that much more sweet. This was the case for Elliot Page’s sharing that he is trans, and uses “he” and “they” pronouns.

“I feel lucky to be writing this. To be here. To have arrived at this place in my life,” the 33-year-old Canadian actor, who is perhaps best known for their work in Juno, the X-Men prequel films, and Netflix’s Umbrella Academy, wrote on Instagram in early December. “I feel overwhelming gratitude for the incredible people who have supported me along this journey. I can’t begin to express how remarkable it feels to finally love who I am enough to pursue my authentic self.”

While it was a moment of celebration and affirmation, Page also used the opportunity to educate the public on the ongoing epidemic of violence against Black and brown trans women in particular, at least 40 of whom have been killed in the U.S. this year. Page wrote: “To all trans people who deal with harassment, self-loathing, abuse and the thread of violence every day: I see you, I love you and I will do everything I can to change this world for the better.” -KB

The Diamond Monopoly Breaks

Diamond Comics Distributors has for years been a uniter in the comics industry for years. It didn’t matter how much DC or Marvel heads would be at each other’s throats – when a damaged box with only 70% of the comics your shop ordered rolled in a day late, everyone agreed that Diamond was terrible. 

Until April, when, in the middle of the pandemic, DC backed two new distributors. Then, a contingent of fans couldn’t rush to Diamond’s defense fast enough. 

Lunar Distribution and UCS Comics Distribution were new comics distributors created by DCBS and Midtown Comics, respectively, and stood up by DC to create competition against Diamond’s not-technically-but-really monopoly. This was an enormous shift decades in the making, and coupled with DC’s move to a Tuesday NCBD, represented the biggest change in the comics industry this century. – JD

Dr DisRespect Gets Kicked off Twitch

The live streaming community was rife with controversies this year, especially when it came to Twitch: misconduct allegations lodged at many of its most high-profile streamers, a reportedly toxic and abusive work environment within the company, and a DMCA fiasco that saw streamers’ content disappear over night. And then there was Dr DisRespect’s exit from the platform.

Booted from Twitch at the end of June despite a hefty multi-year, multi-million dollar contract, the streamer, whose real name is Guy Beahm, suddenly found himself completely erased from existence, his channel and content deleted from the service. But why? At first, many in the industry assumed the worst, especially since it came just as Twitch was beginning to address misconduct in its community.

But despite the high-profile break up between Twitch and one of its key stars, we still don’t actually know why Beahm was kicked off the platform all of these months later. All Twitch has said on the matter is that Beahm “acted in violation of our Community Guidelines or Terms of Service,” while the streamer himself has remained largely silent on the matter. For now, Beahm’s exit from Twitch remains one of the streaming community’s biggest mysteries. – JS

The Depp-osition

In the #MeToo era, it is still incredibly rare for powerful men to be held accountable for the abuse of their power, but there are signs that this is beginning to change. The November announcement that Johnny Depp had been asked to resign from the Fantastic Beasts series was one of those signs. The announcement, via Depp’s Instagram, came only days after a U.K. court ruled that British tabloid The Sun was not committing libel when they described Depp as “a wife-beater” in 2018.

While the decision by Warner Bros. to fire Depp is an important step forward, it could still be described as a baby one. Depp will still be getting his full $16 million salary for his Fantastic Beasts 3 role, even though Mads Mikkelsen has been recast in the role of Grindelwald, because there was no morality clause in his contract. (It should be noted that Depp’s contract for the third film was finalized well after allegations against Depp first came to light.) Following the announcement, Amber Heard, Depp’s ex-wife and the survivor in this “wife-beater” scenario, has had to face a wave of online harassment that includes a petition to have her fired from her role as Mera in the DCEU.

The whole thing demonstrates just how ill-equipped Hollywood is as an industry and we as a culture still are when it comes to dealing with abuse. Let’s hope, in 2021, we do better when it comes to holding alleged abusers accountable and supporting survivors. – KB

The Last of Us Part II Leaks

Arguably the most highly anticipated game of 2020 (and our Game of the Year), The Last of Us Part II faced a mountain of seemingly insurmountable expectations. Could Naughty Dog not only follow up one of the greatest games ever made but top itself? Many fans learned the answer much sooner than expected when the game leaked weeks before its release in June.

Despite rumors that the leak was the work of a disgruntled employee, the security breach actually turned out to be courtesy of a hacker, who published most of the game’s cinematics and story beats on the internet for all to find. All of its big twists, reveals, and emotional moments lay bare before we were really ready for them. – JS

Marie Javins Becomes Editor in Chief of DC Comics

After a year of massive changes at DC Comics – which saw long-tenured co-publisher Dan Didio fired, a new new comic book day established through new distributors, and a merger with AT&T bear bitter fruit – DC’s year started to turn itself around when they pulled off the only successful online convention with FanDome.

And hot on FanDome’s heels was the historic announcement of their new EIC: Marie Javins, a longtime comics pro who worked her way up from colorist to become the first woman to serve as DC’s Editor-in-Chief since Jenette Kahn. Javins’ keen eye for talent and long history in the industry inspired a good deal of confidence in DC’s future, and the new talent lined up for DC’s Future State initiative and beyond have only reinforced that. – JD

George R.R. Martin Jailed in Theory

George R.R. Martin’s self-imposed deadline for finishing The Winds of Winter passed in July, and with it came the knowledge that he could now be jailed for his lackadaisical approach to completing the long-in-gestation addition to the A Song of Ice and Fire series. See, ol’ George had previously told Game of Thrones fans that they had “formal written permission” to imprison him “in a small cabin on White Island, overlooking that lake of sulfuric acid” until he was done writing, should he not produce his manuscript by July 29. A little bit of fun was had online that day, as people threatened to frogmarch Martin straight to jail. We were pretty desperate for something to do at that point, tbf. – KH

Cyberpunk 2077 Is a Disaster

CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 went from one of the year’s most anticipated games to a title that had fans genuinely begging for refunds when it was finally released in December, after they discovered it was virtually unplayable on PS4 and Xbox One, riddled with occasionally hilarious bugs, missing big features, and packed with potentially offensive characterizations and broken AI, leading to an online meltdown from gamers that didn’t even really compare to the similar release troubles of titles like Anthem and No Man’s Sky. What a mess.

Whole game is going to be a meme.

— Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) July 2, 2018

They really called it. – KH

Chris Evans Posts His Dick

If you’ve ever accidentally posted something online that you definitely didn’t mean to post online, you’ll know the pure, heart stopping panic that Chris Evans must have felt in September when he shared a screen-recorded video to Instagram that he’d forgotten to crop, revealing his personal camera roll. Yes, the Avengers: Endgame actor had indeed just shown a rabid fan base his (surprisingly thick) cock, and there was no going back, because so many people took a screenshot at once that the collective noise probably triggered a spike in seismic activity visible on the Richter scale.

Evans removed the video and likely cringed so hard that he collapsed in on himself like a dying star forming a black hole, but took it on the chin and used his eventual response to encourage people to vote in November’s election. – KH

Now that I have your attention 🤦🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️…. VOTE Nov 3rd!!!

— Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) September 15, 2020

Rick Moranis Attacked

Ghostbusters and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids star Rick Moranis – by all accounts a total sweetheart – was randomly attacked near Central Park at the start of October. The formerly-retired actor was punched in the head and knocked to the ground by a man wearing an “I Love NY” hoodie who was later apprehended and charged. Violence on the streets of New York isn’t exactly unheard of, but when the geek community heard of the attack on Moranis, it went full on Taken in under a minute. “I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.” How DARE. – KH

John Boyega’s Black Lives Matter Speech

On May 25th, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black father, grandfather, son, and brother—a human—was killed by Derek Chauvin, a white member of the Minneapolis Police Department, as three other policemen stood by. Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck for 9.5 minutes as Floyd begged, “I can’t breathe.” The video of the killing launched a wave of Black Lives Matters protests across the United States and world, aimed at eradicating white supremacy in all of its forms.

George Floyd was neither the first nor the last Black person who died at the hands of a police officer in 2020. (Say Their Names is an ongoing, work-in-progress list of all the Black men, women, and children killed in the U.S. by police and civilians.) And there is not just one moment or human that has defined the ongoing Black Lives Matters movement in 2020, which is made up of many people, including the many activists who organize within the decentralized movement. One of many moments, however, came when John Boyega took up the megaphone to give an impromptu and emotional speech during a Hyde Park demonstration about the death of George Floyd in early June.

“Black lives have always mattered. We have always been important. We have always meant something. We have always succeeded regardless. And now is the time. I ain’t waiting,” said the British-Nigerian actor and producer, who was visibly holding back tears, to the other protestors gathered.

Boyega has continued to use his celebrity to speak out against racism in the industry and beyond, all while knowing that it could affect his career. In September, Boyega did an interview with GQ in which he spoke about the unequal narrative treatment he and other actors of color got in the Star Wars franchise compared to the white actors in the film.

“You get yourself involved in projects and you’re not necessarily going to like everything,” Boyega said. “[But] what I would say to Disney is do not bring out a Black character, market them to be much more important in the franchise than they are, and then have them pushed to the side. It’s not good. I’ll say it straight up … You knew what to do with these other people, but when it came to Kelly Marie Tran, when it came to John Boyega, you know fuck all.” – KB

Quibi? I Hardly Knew Ye

“Is it better to burn out than fade away?” could have been a question knocking about in the heads of Quibi’s founders during 2020. The newbie streaming service, which developed content as “quick bites” consumable in 7-10 minute increments, ended up being a flash in the pan as it struggled to rustle up subscribers in a year very much not suited to the concept of “I don’t have time to watch anything”.

Quibi had initially raised $1.75 billion in pre-launch funding and had more than 175 shows and movies lined up for viewers, but none of it was enough to counter the madness playing out behind the scenes of the hopeful, and ultimately hopeless, platform. RIP to a real one. – KH

Whedon Under Fire

It’s safe to say that the one-time King of the Nerds has not had a pleasant last few years, and that’s even before COVID-19 struck. But much of Joss Whedon’s troubles seem increasingly to be of his own making. As if the disapproving response to his version of Justice League wasn’t enough, Whedon was accused by actor Ray Fisher (Cyborg) of fomenting racism and toxicity on the set – a claim indirectly backed up by co-stars Jason Momoa and Gal Gadot.

The fallout, true or not, seems to have landed close enough for Whedon to depart his upcoming HBO fantasy series The Nevers, a project he created but won’t see through to its launch after three years of work. The Whedon-produced Pippa Smith: Grown-Up Detective was also quietly scrapped at Freeform. – DK

pic.twitter.com/e3N00xCr5i

— Patty Jenkins (@PattyJenks) December 10, 2020

Patty’s Squad

At the moment, the future of Star Wars would seem to be on television. The success of The Mandalorian and the galaxy of spinoffs (more on those in a moment) announced by Disney and Lucasfilm would seem to indicate that. But Star Wars is far from finished on the big screen, and when it returns in 2023, it’s going to make history, with Patty Jenkins finally shattering the glass ceiling of Star Wars directors with her take on the fan favorite Rogue Squadron concept.

Jenkins is, of course, no stranger to big franchise projects, having helmed both Wonder Woman movies for Warner Bros. The announcement of a coveted director taking on a big franchise competitor coming in the wake of WB’s troubled relationship with talent after sending their entire theatrical slate to HBO Max for 2021 sure feels like a victory for Disney, even as Jenkins is still confirmed to direct a third Wonder Woman film for WB. Regardless of studio politics, Jenkins promising to deliver “the greatest fighter pilot movie of all time,” albeit one set in the Star Wars galaxy is a wonderful promise, and we’re looking forward to seeing how she keeps it. – MC

Disney Goes Even More Franchise Crazy

Disney’s December investors call didn’t produce the kind of announcements expected – there were rumors that a global 18+ streaming element was in the wind and that Black Widow would go straight to Disney+ – but the Mouse House tried to make up for it by revealing a fistful of new projects that included ten (10!) new Star Wars series, a bunch of new Marvel series and movies, a Toy Story spinoff film called Lightyear and a sequel to Enchanted. That’s not even the half of it, though, as the reveals just kept on coming, to the point where even a dedicated Disney fan felt downright exhausted, and prompting many a “how much is too much?” think piece. – KH

This is by no means an exhaustive list! Feel free to share your own big geek moments in the comments.

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[pinksweatergettingbetter]

// The Rotten Royals - A look at how fucked up the ‘good’ Royal Family of Spirit of Justice really is.

So having finished SOJ and having had a little time to mull it over, I gotta say that I still find a lot of the antics of the supposed “good” royal family pretty fucking fishy. 

We’ve got an emotionally insensitive king-consort, a skeevy prince and a woefully useless queen, all of whom are fiercely protected by the writers’ mouthpieces in the game.

The title is a little misleading as only one of the people mentioned actually has any royal duties, but the point here is to point out how the writers accidentally made their supposed ‘complicated heroes’ into straight up assholes. 

Each section will be prefaced by a name in case you’d rather just read one section rather than all of them (cause there’s a lot to write)

So, as promised, here’s my little analysis of the Royal Family of Spirit of Justice.

DHURKE

So let’s start off with Dhurke, shall we? Because Dhurke sucks.

Now I’m going to be as fair as I can while still maintaining my grievances. As I’ve mentioned before, I can see where they were going with Dhurke. They wanted him to be the awesome rebel leader who laughs in the face of death and danger, and who roguishly rescues the poor endangered hostages. etc.

And I can accept him as that. I can accept him as a rebel leader. What I can’t accept him as is a reliable, caring or competent father figure.

Since the points are numerous, I’ll put them in bullet form and then expound. Oh look! One bullet per shot in Dhurke’s chest. Nice!

•Dhurke provided no emotional security for either of his sons, sometimes even the exact opposite 

Early on, Apollo recounts a particular story that happened in his childhood; when he was small, he and his foster brother Nahyuta were playing by a river when the two of them fell in. Dhurke quickly rushed to their rescue and scooped them out of the water, insisting that any time they need him, they should call, and he’ll come running (a little hard to pull off for a kid with a lung full of water, but i digress). However, he also proceeds to essentially tell his two toddler aged sons to “suck it up; boys don’t cry” about nearly dying. This kind of ‘manly man’ behaviour persists for the length of his character, despite the fact that he lived in a Matriarchal society that most likely wouldn’t have those kind of roles enforced on their boys.

Later on in the case, Apollo nearly drowns again, and while Dhurke saves him a second time, the moment Apollo comes to, Dhurke proceeds to make light of the situation. One could say he was trying to lighten the mood and comfort Apollo, but the fact that he allows Datz to howl with laughter at Apollo’s expense (not to mention Trucy if I remember correctly,) proves that he doesn't see the situation as very upsetting because Apollo survived, despite what Apollo might feel on the subject. 

Dhurke also appears to Apollo right the fuck out of nowhere, without a single word of warning, after FIFTEEN years of complete radio silence. Apollo is understandably pissed off, but Dhurke makes no attempt to talk Apollo’s feelings through with him OR apologize– he simply does everything he can to play off this awful behaviour as no big deal, and even asks Apollo for a favour. When Trucy gives Dhurke the benefit of the doubt, not knowing their shared history very well (and having Daddy issues of her own), Dhurke immediately suggests Apollo marry her, apropos of nothing– implying he wants nothing more than Apollo to immediately accept him, rather than confronting the emotional issues he started in the first place. 

Apollo isn’t the only victim of this either; when Dhurke interacts with Nahyuta, both his tone of voice and sprites indicate a bewildered sort of patronizing air. He asks why Nahyuta has betrayed his cause, but doesn’t seem to show much actual betrayal or hurt on the subject. The way he treats Nahyuta while talking about his motivations and morality makes it seem like he doesn’t actually care about how Nahyuta feels or thinks– he sees him as more of a piece in his game rather than a beloved member of his family. 

This seems even harsher when we take into account the fact that Nahyuta is doing all of this against his own will– so not only does Dhurke seem completely indifferent to him, but he admonishes him like a child when Nahyuta himself is going through an incredibly difficult time. 

Dhurke doesn’t even trust his own son, not for a second wondering if perhaps there are extenuating circumstances behind his supposed betrayal, despite knowing what kind of a woman Ga’ran is. 

•Dhurke often undermined Apollo’s skills, and kept glaring secrets from him

One of Dhurke’s first orders of business on arrival to America is to give Apollo a plate of sushi and say something to the affect of “wow! you’re doing WAY better than i imagined you would be, son!” which, to someone like Apollo, must sting a lot. Dhurke does say that he believes in Apollo later on, during the trial, but considering the other evidence, it seems disingenuous, and more like he was just trying to pep him up so that he could achieve his desired result. 

Continuing a point from the previous bullet, Dhurke pops right the hell out of nowhere to visit Apollo after years of neglect. Sure, he may not have been able to leave the country, but considering the stuff he did manage to do, there was nothing stopping him from secreting letters to his son. Either way, his motivation to finally visit his son was the fact that he’d run out of time to do just that. He was DEAD, and he knew he had to see his son one last time before he went. Seems kinda sweet.... until you remember that he also went to secure Apollo’s services to help him in the final trial against Ga’ran. 

And thats what brings us to his ridiculous secret keeping– the fact that he kept his death a secret made a load of the final trial an absolute chore to get through. If he’d simply explained to Apollo that he was already dead, a lot of the contradictions in the trial would have been removed, thus making it easier to come to the truth. He actively sabotaged his son’s chances of winning to keep up a useless charade. Because whether he told him then or after, Apollo would have to live with the fact that Dhurke got himself killed before he ever managed to see Apollo again. Sure, letting Apollo believe he was alive at first might have spared him a large amount of initial angst– but in the long run it was an absolutely idiotic move. It put Apollo in deep emotional turmoil while in the middle of a very sensitive case, and directly decreased his chances at surviving the ordeal. 

One could say that Dhurke simply kept the secret so that Apollo would cooperate with him more willingly, thus giving the trial (and therefor the revolution) a better chance at succeeding... but that would simply support my point by showing that Dhurke’s a cold, calculating bastard who used Apollo as an unwitting pawn. 

Either way, his decision to keep his death a secret was deeply disrespectful to Apollo’s feelings, and his refusal to grant important information nearly killed his entire family. 

•Dhurke often put people in needless danger for absolutely no reason at all and performs insanely boneheaded moves for the supposed head of a revolution. 

Let’s start chronologically with a problem that’s been glaring at me from day one. 

Upon becoming a fugitive, Dhurke sent Apollo to America to keep him safe from the dangers in his country. This, at first, seems like a kindly move on his part. But it falls apart when you consider the fact that he kept Nahyuta with him, and the consequences it had.

His decision doesn’t work emotionally or practically, because.... 

-On the practical side, he sent Apollo away to keep him safe, but keeping Nahyuta meant putting Nahyuta through the very danger he wanted to protect Apollo from. Not only did Nahyuta risk imprisonment or death by his association with Dhurke, but he was also canonically ostracized by all members of his society and affectively made a pariah until he became Ga’ran’s right hand man. This makes Dhurke look like he considers Nahyuta his property (being his biological son) rather than a loved member of his family. Sure, sending Nahyuta away to America would leave him childless, but it would assure Nahyuta’s safety, and being with Apollo would mean he wouldn’t be alone. Practically, this would also mean Dhurke wouldn’t have to actively worry about his children’s safety while rescuing Amara and getting the revolution underway.  

-On the emotional side, he sent Apollo (his adopted son, therefor not his flesh and blood) away to a place the child knew nothing of, to grow up an orphan abandoned by his birth and adoptive parents. It’s notable that during flashbacks, Nahyuta calls Dhurke ‘father’, while Apollo simply calls him ‘Dhurke’. These two together make Dhurke look like a callous man who didn’t consider Apollo his real son, or a valid member of his society, and simply sent him away to prevent him from becoming a hindrance. 

Neither option paints him in a kind light, and it makes you wonder what was going through his head at the time. To be a little more meta on the subject; the decision makes sense to the writers, who have to shoehorn this backstory into Apollo’s established past, but they failed to realize how awful it made Dhurke look as a human being.

Now onto the next point. During the trial, Dhurke keeps numerous important secrets, mouths off at the queen and generally behaves very difficultly the whole time. This would be nothing more than an annoyance during a normal trial... except this is a trial where the DC act is in place. And Dhurke knows that.

Dhurke knows full well that if they lose, Apollo, Phoenix, and his entire rebel group (if captured) will be put to death. Yet he continues to act like a roguish piece of shit the entire time.

This makes Dhurke look almost sociopathic– he cares more about being rebellious than the safety of his own son and numerous other people. Because he’s already dead, his line of reasoning appears to be “well, i’m dead! who cares if they kill me?” which once again means that he’s completely disregarding the other lives he has on the line by putting them in this predicament in the first place. 

As mentioned above, not telling Apollo about his death put major obstacles in Apollo’s way to winning the trial, thus putting him in grave danger. If we assume that Dhurke was trying to spare Apollo’s feelings for as long as possible, you just want to shout “Apollo’s life might be a little more important than his emotions right now, Dhurke!”

This leads me to my second... third? Point.

Correct me if I’m wrong, because I’m still totally mystified on this…

Why did Dhurke take Maya back to the hostage situation? 

Dhurke rescued Maya from Inga and got himself killed (in the most idiotic and short-sighted way possible– good job o glorious rebel leader) and then asked Maya to channel him so that he could visit Apollo for the last time.

Ok, that seems all very well and good. Except... why would he take Maya back to the hostage situation he rescued her from?!

This was days after he’d saved her life, and even more importantly, he knew that he had done so. It wasn’t like with Dahlia, where she didn’t realize Maya was the one channeling her– Dhurke knew full well why he was still on earth, and who he was cruising around inside (which also makes his actions in the cave a little nasty too– being pretty careless with MAYA’s body, aren’t you, Dhurke?).

Returning Maya to the hostage situation not only put her in danger, but it also allowed Ga’ran to put forth her evil plan in the first place. It’s not clear if Dhurke knew about the plan from the beginning, but if he didn’t, there’s literally NO reason for him to make the “exchange” for a girl who isn’t there. In fact, why did Inga even think he still had a hostage? Dhurke rescued Maya days ago.  What the hell was anyone thinking?!

Let’s say this does make sense; let’s say that both sides “collaborated” for different reasons to bring this sham together so that we could have the trial of our final case (Ga’ran wanting to crush the rebels, and Dhurke wanting to crush Ga’ran).

- If Ga’ran knew Maya was already rescued, what reason would she have to assume that Dhurke would return with her, rather than taking her to safety?

-If Dhurke knew about Ga’ran’s plan, why wouldn’t he try to sabotage it and expose Ga’ran right then and there?

The entire ending of the game, including Ga’ran’s plot, seems to hinge on completely backwards actions. I really cannot fathom why Dhurke would bring Maya back to a hostage situation he’d already rescued her from. 

Granted, for this point I will say that the plot is so convoluted that I may be missing something that makes sense of it... But considering the quality of the writing, I doubt it.

The final point I will save for Amara’s section, as it concerns her. But rest assured, it is an ENORMOUS plot hole.

NAHYUTA 

Nahyuta Sahdmadhi. Sad-mad indeed. Not only is Nahyuta a complete ripoff of Simon Blackquill (who in turn is a ripoff of Miles Edgeworth and Jowd) but he’s an even more unlikeable ripoff of said character.  

Right from the beginning, Nahyuta is presented as a smug, holier-than-thou douchebag who uses the excuse of “it’s my religion!” to treat people abominably. 

His accusations are shaky at best, and his reasoning seems to be less fuelled by logic and more by malice. During the two turnabouts he faces in America, Nahyuta claims the defendant would kill over incredibly trivial or easily manageable matters, and claims that he's completely right because... karma..? Yeah– his Prosecutor Power isn’t even ever explained, and rarely brought up. We know Simon is a manipulative bastard, but Nahyuta’s “karma” powers are never satisfactorily explained in any way, shape or form. 

His odious nature is amazingly difficult to deal with, and the poor attempts of Lol Foreign Guy humour they throw in barely makes up for it. Godot was an asshole, but he was charmingly eccentric and charismatic. Edgeworth was an asshole, but he showed proper logical thought in his deductions. Franziska was an asshole, but she and Edgeworth share the Von Karma excuse, as well as also being quite clever in her rebuttals. Simon was an asshole, but he had a generally good reason to keep up his nasty behaviour. 

Nahyuta? Well, he shares the same excuse– he’s trying to protect someone by acting the part of the evil prosecutor. Except... he only really has to do that while he’s under Ga’ran’s eyes, e.g., in Khura’in.

While in America, Nahyuta has NO excuse to act like such an insufferable prick. Not only does he force his religion’s dogma down others’ throats (which would be equally obnoxious if it were any other religion, say, Christianity) but he’s actively malicious for no good reason. As I’ve mentioned before, but must mention again– He directly tries to use Athena’s PTSD against her to make her unfit to act as Defence.

When we get to the reveal, Nahyuta claims he’s being blackmailed with his sister’s safety into submission by Ga’ran. However, this doesn’t explain WHY he has to act like such a terrible person. He could very well have simply acted as a devout, if civil prosecutor, doing what Ga’ran asked of him without any further malice. But let’s say he put on a horrible facade to further placate Ga’ran.

Then why does he keep up the charade while out of her line of sight? If he truly hates his situation, as he says, one would think he’d find foreign trials to be a welcome respite from his terrible, exhausting act of villainy. 

But no– he gleefully flings self-righteous abuse at foreign lawyers, while in THEIR COUNTRY, serving under THEIR LAWS. And this, combined with the fact that he only puts up a resistance to Ga’ran when Apollo already has her on the ropes makes him look like a bully who actively enjoys his power, and quickly defects to align himself with whoever is suddenly on the winning side. 

AMARA 

And at last we come to Amara, who is the least malicious and most mysterious of the three. 

Amara is held up by the people of Kura’in as a just, benevolent queen who brought them prosperity and peace. Her death is greatly mourned by her people, and much rejoicing is had when she returns to them.

But is Amara really that great? Well, considering the circumstances, no.

Amara’s excuse for siding with her villainous sister is the same as her sons; she’s scared of what will happen to Rayfa if she disobeys. 

Now, while it’s never directly stated, this is supposedly what prevented Amara from simply revealing herself to be still alive, thus dethroning her horrible sister. 

But there’s a window of time that doesn’t match up with this excuse– and that’s during her pregnancy. 

Here’s the excuse the game gives us: 

- Amara claims that she didn't trust Dhurke when he rescued her, which is why she returned to her sister’s service.

This is most likely a lie, because she says so while still under Ga’ran’s power. But if it IS a lie, it makes no sense why she wouldn’t out her sister at the nearest available moment. 

If she trusted Dhurke, it would be easy to deduce that Ga’ran was behind the initial arson. After all, the chain of events went thusly:

Amara’s house nearly burns down, but she miraculously survives. Her sister claims that Dhurke caused the blaze, and encourages Amara to fake her own death to ward of any further assassinations, meanwhile giving Ga’ran the crown. Ga’ran keeps Amara under house arrest and has her make it look like Ga’ran can channel spirits. Ga’ran puts a law in place that outlaws defence attorneys, and makes defence of criminals punishable by death.

When Dhurke convinces Amara that he didn’t set the blaze, then the only logical (or at least, deeply suspicious) culprit is Ga’ran. 

If neither Amara nor Dhurke realized this, when putting their respective stories together, they’re colossal idiots. If Amara DID realize this, then her inaction is inexplicable. And finally, if Amara really didn’t trust Dhurke... then the writers of Spirit of Justice are implying that Rayfa is a child of rape. Because I highly doubt a woman would willingly consent to sex with a man she believed tried to kill her. 

Later on, there’s a second excuse for why Amara didn’t try to challenge her sister.

- Amara was a kind soul who loved her sister, and didn’t want to hurt or mistrust her.

Well this is absolutely ridiculous. If Amara simply didn’t out her sister because she loved her, then she’s an absolute shit queen. This means that she cared more for her sister’s peace of mind than the wellbeing and safety of her own people. She was foolish enough to believe that the woman who framed her husband for murder and usurped her crown would be a fair and just ruler. And letting– LETTING her sister impose the DC act meant that she was indirectly responsible for the oppression and death of many of her people. 

Her inaction during her time on the run with Dhurke cost her country hundreds if not thousands of lives, culminating with that of her own son.

One might say that Amara might not have been safe enough from Ga’ran’s forces to reveal herself– yet, she was protected by Dhurke’s rebels, and the royal guards would most likely have still been loyal to her at that point, especially if she revealed that her sister couldn’t channel (which appears to be the only reason they follow her. what a delightful system they have in place)

Even during the time when Rayfa’s reputation (and possibly life?) is at stake, Amara makes no attempt to even try to oppose her sister. She simply sits idly by while her people suffer and die under her sister’s iron-fisted regime. Sure, it would probably be dangerous to attempt, and it would be a tragedy if Rayfa’s life was taken in the process... but compared to the hundreds of other families destroyed by the DC act and Ga’ran’s corruption, it seems like a smaller price to pay. Sometimes leaders have to make difficult decisions for the good of their people –something that is deeply impressed upon poor little Rayfa throughout the game– and Amara fails to rise to the challenge. 

So in the end, Amara’s portrayal makes her look naive and childish at best, and callous, apathetic and neglectful at worse. She is, at least, certainly not the excellent queen everyone makes her out to be.

In general, the Sahdmadhis are all kind of assholes. And what’s most depressing is that if the writers had put just a little more effort into writing them (instead of having other characters mindlessly extol their virtues), they wouldn't have been. With a few simple dialogue/story tweaks, Dhurke could have been a complicated, but ultimately sympathetic and loving father. Nahyuta could have been a deeply conflicted but ultimately virtuous person in a desperate situation. Amara could have been an intensely tragic character who tried to protect those she loved, but was ultimately rendered powerless by forces beyond her control. 

But strangely enough, it seems that all the failings the writers accidentally heaped onto these three are completely absent, or explored in depth in...

RAYFA

Little Rayfa, only fourteen years old, who has been spoiled and abused all her life, somehow manages to be a better person than all her family combined.

Once Rayfa is exposed to a different way of thinking by Phoenix as early as the third case, she begins thinking critically about her situation and actions. Despite being a child, and being raised to think a certain way and never question it on pain of... well, something horrible, Rayfa not only shows a surprising amount of compassion for her stunted moral growth, but actively defies her “mother” several times. She puts herself in a surprising amount of danger to help two people considered criminals in her country– simply because, despite her conditioning, she sees something wrong with the situation, and wishes to fix it. 

Rayfa stands tall where Nahyuta cowers, she reaches out where Dhurke pulls back, and she looks deeper where Amara looks away. 

If this were intentional on the part of the writers, it would be a deep and interesting moral. But considering the context, Rayfa is just accidentally far more heroic and sympathetic in comparison with her family.

As I said during my play-by-plays, I don’t loathe Spirit of Justice, and I think the game introduced some interesting concepts and ideas. It simply failed to play them out with any sort of competence. I don’t judge anybody for liking Dhurke, Nahyuta or Amara, but I can’t sit idly by without pointing out the piss-poor writing job the characters had. 

You can’t just write a character who makes terrible decisions, and then make them “good” just because everybody else says so. A complicated character needs effort put into their portrayal, and this effort is simply something that the SOJ writing team didn’t bother with. 

But that doesn’t necessarily mean the characters are out of luck. We’re role-players– writers! We have the power to fill in the gaps the original authors neglected or forgot. There’s hope for the royal family yet– it’s just not in the hands of Capcom.

[mermaidsirennikita]

September 2017 Book Roundup

Undoubtedly, I read two standout books this September: Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust, a sometimes-macabre retelling of Snow White (with a feminist spin) and Mari Lu’s Warcross, the story of a girl, a tech mogul, and a virtual reality game that can make or break your future.  On to October--I’m going to try to read as much spooky stuff as possible.

This Is Not The End by Chandler Baker.  3/5.  In the near future, a substance called “lifeblood” has made it possible for people to be resurrected even years after death, revitalized and fully healed.  Laws restrict how many “resurrections” people are allowed and when they can resurrect someone--you can only resurrect one person, and you can only perform the resurrection on your eighteenth birthday.  Following a terrible car accident, Lake has lost her best friend Penny and her beloved boyfriend Will.  Not only is she--mere weeks from her eighteenth birthday--torn between which to resurrect; she also has already promised her resurrection to another person.  This was a very quick read for me, and I found it compelling and at times moving.  So many different issues are tackled--are resurrections ethical?  Should people be held to promises they made--and in Lake’s case were pressured into--years ago?  Hell, Baker even goes after the ethical arguments surrounding assisted suicide and the disabled.  The problem is that while I understood the logic of why only one resurrection is allowed per person (population control) I couldn’t understand why someone could only have a resurrection done on their eighteenth birthday.  Sure, I see why only legal adults can request resurrections, but why is the request time such a short window?  More concerning was the fact that there is a romance in this.  Yes, a romance between Lake--a girl who just lost the boyfriend who’d been her best friend before they dated, a guy she fantasized about marrying someday--and some other guy... weeks after said boyfriend died.  I can understand having sex with someone while grieving, but this felt more like we were supposed to see Lake beginning to fall for someone else.  I’m not saying that can’t happen, but it distracted from Lake’s story and the themes surrounding it.

Dress Codes for Small Towns by Courtney C. Stevens.  2/5.  Billie is a preacher’s daughter in a small Kentucky town.  She and her best friends--collectively known as the Hexagon--have been tightly-knit for years.  But everything changes when Billie finds that Janie Lee and Woods, two of those friends, have feelings for each other.  And Billie might just have feelings for both of them.  “Dress Codes” is about figuring out gender and sexuality in a John Hughes sort of lens.  Stevens does have a really distinct voice, and some turns of phrase were beautiful--while others were, in my opinion, a bit overwrought.  A bit too forced.  Billie and her friends just didn’t think or speak in a way that seemed recognizable to me as teenager-y.  And while I was touched by the story, in a sense--it was also quite boring.  I wish I’d loved this, but I just didn’t.  I think many people would, it’s just not my cup of tea.

Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust.  5/5.  This retelling of Snow White takes on the dual perspectives of Nina, the “wicked stepmother” and Lynet, the cossetted princess.  Nina’s side of the story takes place from past to present, telling the story of a girl with a heart of glass--assured by her father, the alchemist that replaced Nina’s rotting heart to save her life, that she is incapable of love and being loved.  Lynet is her stepdaughter, the spitting image of her mother, protected by her father, and made of literal snow.  Fate has pitted these two women against one another, despite their love for each other.  Time will tell if they will fulfill their destinies.  Pitched as a feminist fairy tale retelling, this book will disappoint you if you’re looking for knife-wielding assassins and monologues about how women are meant to rule.  I love that it didn’t have any of that.  This story is made of subtler stuff, its beautiful, sad prose focusing on the relationship between Nina and Lynet, and how they’ve not only been forced into roles they don’t want to play by men--they’ve been turned into the antagonists in each other’s stories... by men.  Poetic and beautiful and not without a dash of romance--one of them featuring wlw at that--this is a must-read if you love gently dark fairy tales that will hurt your heart.  (Even if it’s made of glass.)

Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart.  2/5.  I’ll be honest, I skimmed this for the most part.  As someone who hasn’t seen or read The Talented Mr. Ripley, I’m told that this is basically a gender-flipped version of that, following teen criminal Jule... or is she???  The thing is that this is a story told in reverse-chronological order, and even though I figured out the twist very early on, how we got there was so confusing that I didn’t even want to figure it out.

Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh.  4/5.  In the near future, beautiful women who’ve died young are cryogenically frozen and temporarily “awoken” for five minute sessions for men who want to talk to them--typically, men who can afford the $9,000/5 minutes fee that comes with these “dates”.  If chosen to be the brides of these men, these “bridecicles” are revived permanently--making them desperate to do whatever they can to be chosen.  This story focuses on three people: Mira, a bridecicle who’s been frozen for decades and longs for her lover, Jeanette; Rob, a young man who falls in love with bridecicle Winter after accidentally killing her; and Veronika, a dating coach who can’t seem to find love in this connected world.  This is a sad, occasionally funny story about the perils of a world in which we’re so connected through technology that actual human technology is difficult to find.  It’s not super unique in that respect, but the bridecicle concept is both fascinating and grotesque.  I couldn’t put it down.  With that being said, the romances in the book were a bit lackluster for me, and I at times wasn’t sure about how Veronika’s perspective connected into things.  Still a really good, thought-provoking read.

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera.  2/5.  Thanks to a service called Death-Cast, everyone is given 24 hours (or so) notice on the day of their death.  Teenagers Mateo and Rufus have just found out that they are going to die, and though strangers, meet up through and app called Last Friend and decide to live out their last day together.  Just... I don’t think Adam Silvera and I are going to be friends, y’all.  First off, this world is pretty much ours aside from the weird death service, and there was really no explanation as to why everyone just took this service at face value.  Sorry, I really feel like we’d fight that.  Also, Rufus’s dialogue in particular was cringe as fuck.  It was so uneven--he’d use slang and I got the impression that Silvera was going for “impoverished gang kid talk” with him but then he’d have a whole paragraph of dialogue in a manner totally inconsistent with “I’m in mad love with this dude” or whatever.  And there were so many other points of view when Rufus and Mateo’s were the only ones that really mattered.  Like, points for diversity, but nah on everything else.

Warcross by Marie Lu.  5/5.  Hacker and bounty hunter Emika Chen is, like everyone else on Earth, a fan of the virtual reality game Warcross.  As poor as she is, she hacks into the game--and in a desperate moment, steals an item that would fetch the money she needs on resale, using a glitch to do so.  This catches the attention of Hideo Tanaka, Warcross’s billionaire creator, who flies her to Tokyo and offers her a job (that pays 10 mill, by the way): she needs to enter the Warcross Tournament--a major event--as a player and secretly act as his bounty hunter, searching for the unknown--and dangerous--Zero, a mystery to even Hideo.  So this is hard to describe but damn is it good.  Emi is a character who has an unlikely resume but it actually seems plausible in the context of her life and her world.  Same goes for Hideo, who is probably one of my favorite characters to come out of YA this year.  The stakes build as the novel does--and as Emi grows close to Hideo, which, like, obviously she was but fuckyeahI’mintoit.  It’s super fast-paced, entertaining YA and I honestly enjoyed it more than Lu’s Young Elites series, which I loved in the beginning but was ultimately disappointed in.  So.  Hoping the rest of the series lives up to this book!

One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake.  4/5.  The second in what is now a four-book series, One Dark Throne continues the story of triplet queens Mirabella, Katharine, and Arsinoe.  Where Mirabella was once the clear frontrunner to be the next crowned queen, recent events have revealed that it could be anyone’s game--though the fact remains that the winner must kill her sisters.  Arsinoe hides her true gift from almost everyone, pretending to be a naturalist still; Mirabella deals with having her world rocked, and questions her relationships with her sisters; and Katharine, called the “Undead Queen” grows increasingly unstable--and powerful--after her near-death experience.  I can’t say that One Dark Throne was quite as compelling as Three Dark Crowns, as it was a very talky book.  Furthermore, Mirabella, one of my favorites of the first book, was a shadow of her former self.  Arsinoe is clearly poised as the protagonist of the sisters, but... I don’t dislike her, but I don’t find her compelling either, and I don’t care much for her friends Jules and Joseph either.  They’re so typically good.  Katharine is worth reading the whole book for--you never know if she’s mad or aware of some truth nobody else has caught onto.  Furthermore, she has the best romance in the book--taking the form of her fraught relationship with Pietyr, a boy she loves and hates.  While I still love the concept and the world and Katharine and all the poisoners really, and this was a good book, I think everyone else needs to get on my girl’s level.

There Is Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins.  3/5.  New to the tiny town of Osborne, Nebraska--and hiding from a dark past--Makani lives with her grandmother, is trying to ingratiate herself her new friends, and pines for school outsider Ollie.  Then kids start getting murdered, in shocking ways.  As Makani struggles to avoid being next, she grows increasingly afraid of her secret being revealed.  This book has been compared to Scream, and while there’s sex and blood, Scream it is not.  I mean, it’s basically one of Perkins’s romance with some murder thrown in, and it disappointed me because I wanted so badly to be impressed with the genre shift.  It was fun, don’t get me wrong, but like... just that.  It wasn’t the genre.  Shit--I thought that at least the mystery of the killer would be good, but it wasn’t.  It kind of shocked me to read the author’s note about Perkins spending six years researching this and workshopping the book, and--not to be mean, but while it was entertaining, that effort did not show.

The Merciless by Danielle Vega.  1/5.  Girl goes to new school.  Girl makes new friends.  New friends suggest performing an exorcism on another friend.  And so on.  I thought this would be fun gore, and while it was gory, it was... not good.  So bad, really.  The book was incredibly basic and boring, and took the least interesting turn regarding the exorcism possible.  I hated it.

[pass-the-bechdel]

Leverage full series review

How many episodes pass the Bechdel test?

75.32% (fifty-eight of seventy-seven).

What is the average percentage of female characters with names and lines for the full series?

34.48%

How many episodes have a cast that is at least 40% female?

Twenty-six.

How many episodes have a cast that is at least 50% female?

Four.

How many episodes have a cast that is less than 20% female?

Four.

Positive Content Status:

Rarely of much note, but in overall context it is more of a positive experience than not (average rating of 3.02).

Which season had the best representation statistics overall?

Seasons four and five come in about even. Despite doing worse on the Bechdel than any of the first three seasons, they win the day on the strength of their content ratings and the percentage of female characters who exist. Worthy.

Which season had the worst representation statistics overall?

Season three drops the ball the most by turning in the lowest percentage of female characters; it is a close race though, and none of the five seasons are especially far ahead or behind the rest.

Overall Series Quality:

Wild - one of the weaker beginnings that I’ve seen, and one of the stronger endings. They take longer to learn from their mistakes than most shows do, but it’s an incredibly charming product once they finally find their way, and not awful before that, either. I’m glad I stuck with it.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) under the cut:

Truth: I put off writing this final piece for Leverage for a looong time, still kinda struggling for what to say even after deferring commentary somewhat excessively toward the end there. It really, truly shocked me, how well this show came together by the end compared to the laborious troubles of its beginning. It’s doubly shocking because the list of things which changed significantly over the course of the show is so short: Nate stopped dominating the story as much, and mellowed concurrently. And the writers finally figured out how to fully embrace the found-family team dynamic, most critically allowing it to form the backbone of the show and be the underpinning thread from one episode to the next, rather than just trimming. At the end of the day, that’s really all it took. Stop trying so damn hard to make your shitty leading man the centre of attention, and start showcasing the vital trust and companionship which springs from a well-functioning working unit. I mean, put that way, it’s really only one thing that changed. But damn, it’s a whopper.

As much fun as it is to watch evil corporations and such topple, and as fulfilling as a good con story can be, at the end of the day the thing that your audience keeps coming back for is character engagement, and the same as one bad apple can spoil the bunch, it’s hard to nourish the attentions of your audience if they don’t feel the sense of continuity which accompanies developing character relationship dynamics. You can’t background that stuff - it’s what gives your story a sense of chronology even without constant references to past events to keep things in order. This effect can be noted in the first season, which evidently was aired all sorts of out-of-order and which I watched and reviewed that way unknowingly: looking at the intended episode order instead of the broadcast, I honestly don’t think it would have helped much, if any, in improving the viewing experience. After all, there was never a moment when I suspected the order of my viewing was incorrect, and that was because - as I loudly complained at the time - I had almost no sense of who these characters actually were outside of the immediate present of a given episode, and even when an episode offered backstory I didn’t feel like they were really revealing much about how it impacted the character as a person. Moments such as Hardison consoling Parker about her difficult foster-care upbringing were shining lights in the dark, because it wasn’t just the show telling us something outright about a character - the sharing of the moment between the two was what gave it emotional resonance by using it as a relationship-building opportunity. Continuity of character experience reinforced via developing dynamics. Can’t do without it.

One could try to argue that of course the show got better at this as it went on; the characters have more history to build on, the more time they spend together. But good development doesn’t just come from time spent; as a storyteller you have to be aware that relationships begin at first contact. There’s no minimum period of time people have to spend together in order to start developing a dynamic, it’s automatic. Exchanged pleasantries with your waiter? Dynamic begun. Pizza delivery person is the same as several months ago, and you both recognise that, thereby recollecting the previous meeting and building upon it with this second encounter, even if all it is is a comment? Dynamic development. In a tv show where characters are interacting meaningfully and extensively episode after episode, the dynamics should be stark and rapidly changing right there in those first several episodes as the characters get to know one another. They have opinions, personality conflicts, they’re establishing trust (or distrust), they’re overcoming negative first impressions or being disappointed when their positive first impressions fall through, or maybe their first impressions prove correct and so they spend those early episodes having their feelings vindicated. Whatever the case, they’re processing the change to their life which is this new person, and there is no such thing as not creating a relationship. Keep everyone at arm’s length, be icy and difficult to connect with, make no friends? That’s a dynamic, yo. And in Leverage’s case, it seemed to take the writers an awful long time to realise that presenting the characters and saying ‘they’re like this’ and then doing nothing to explore the changes inherent in entering a new context with a team of new people is not really good enough. The team dynamics were there, the actors knew it, but it took the showrunners the better part of half the series to start actively working with it. 

Which, y’know, all of the above is still fucking baffling to me. How do you forget to write team dynamics? How does that happen? Then again, they also forgot to give Sophie her own personal story arc to play out onscreen until she started theatre-directing on the side in season five, so. Credit where it’s due, and I’m placing all of it squarely on the shoulders of the actors because I’m still not convinced the showrunners knew what they were doing at all and if I heard that the actors had to really push for their personal stories and relationship building, I would not be even a little surprised. Nate may become more bearable as the show stops focusing on him so intensely, but he doesn’t actually become a good or intriguing character, and Sophie’s theatre is honest-to-goodness the most compelling thing about her as a character for the simple fact that it’s something of her, her as a person, not as the grifter skillset that wins her a place on the show, and not as Nate’s emotional crutch or the ‘team mom’. Something just for Sophie, a passion just for her that isn’t about how she relates to any of the other major players. I like Sophie, but especially when viewed through the lens of this blog, she’s not a strong effort and I am entirely unsurprised by the fact that my encounters with the Leverage fandom prior to watching the show did not feature her (or Nate) at all. 

It seems to be a truth universally acknowledged that Leverage’s superpower was always the OT3 of Parker, Hardison, and Eliot, even in the early days when they were only intermittently given something to do. Parker was achieving interest factor from the get-go, though it took a while for her to overcome the writers’ insistence on framing her personality like a gimmick instead of, y’know, a personality. Christian Kane has got a charm to which I am deathly susceptible, and he made Eliot fun to watch even when he was given next to nothing to work with, and Aldis Hodge is the real MVP in my eyes for instilling such an unwavering personality in Hardison that no amount of poor writing could whittle him away. The three of them together had a delightful chemistry that shone instantly whenever they were allowed to work together (and again, I wonder at why the fuck it took the Powers That Be half a series to figure that out), and they squeezed every last drop they could out of that chemistry in order to craft a team dynamic despite the apparent indifference of the writing staff. Cons are fun. Taking down evil bigwigs is satisfying. But you don’t watch five season of a show for that; you do it because you love watching the team work. The teamwork. Not just the people, not just the job; the dynamic of functional interplay between the two. In this regard the show ends in exactly the right place, because Nate and Sophie - though no doubt loved in their own spheres of fandom - were not the primary team drawcard. The OT3 was where the party was at, and they’re the only reason I’d recommend the show to others, or rewatch it myself. From the perspective of representation, I can’t pretend that this is a show that is likely to be fulfilling - just not grossly offensive - but I can say that, despite my griping, from an entertainment perspective Leverage is worthy of your time. Or at least 3/5ths of it is.

[sambart93]

Messiah: Polar Night [Review]

I got to see this movie two times in two days! Monday and Tuesday -- I shouldn’t say ‘got to’ because I didn’t enjoy it! Messiah, in true Messiah style, hurt all the feels we fangirls have once again. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Official Site here Official Twitter here Trailer here and here

NON-SPOILER REVIEW Overall: Messiah, in true Messiah style, did what it does best: Hurting our feelings and the characters feelings. This was a very interesting movie, and having Amane and Misu as the center story was amazing! It’s a prequel to Akatsuki so gives us more introduction to the three new cadets. While it does rip your heart out in the end, there are quite a lot of funny moment which I thoroughly enjoyed. I am, though, not happy with how they treated and extended Mamiya’s story line. I just feel like they’re making him out to be more evil than originally perceived but that’s me being Mamiya bias. Thanks for breaking my heart once again Messiah! Why do I continue to stay with this abusive boyfriend?! Rating: 7/10

---

Now for the spoilers!! MWAHAHAHAHA So be warned; I’m going all out!

*Disclaimer: I do find Messiah difficult to understand at times, so if I get anything wrong, let me know, and don’t take my story 100% as the truth xD

I’ll try and keep in order of how the scenes happened and try to keep chronological.

The opening has this water effect that’s super, super pretty!! But OMG the foreshadowing even in the opening! I didn’t realise until the second time around just how much the opening credits like foreshadows the shit that goes down towards the end. And attention to detail in the opening too is amazing! 

I love how it starts with Misu waking up from a nightmare (pretty close up shot) and then we immediately see that Amane is in his bed! Of course my Bl-poisoned brain was like ‘that bed is big enough for both of them! Let them sleep together!’ But of course, Misu is just being a gentleman and logical and a nice friend so let Amane have the whole bed.

The opening credits is so sad because Amane up and LEAVES Misu! And he just leaves a note ‘三栖さん、今までありがとうございます 周’ so I was straight away up and crying! Amane!!! Don’t LEAVE Misu!

The next scene I also really love. It shows Misu working out and being all sweaty and doing these awesome movies. I love Misu okay -- BIG massive warning: I love Misu! Okay! So I am going to flail about him a lot. Good? Good!

We see Misu joining a new police force under the command of Shikura and when I noticed that the second in command is freaking NAKAMURA SEIJIROU!!!!! I FREAKED OUT!! TWO TOKIENTA* BOYS ARE IN THIS!!! I fangirled so hard! I really liked Nakamura’s character in this. But with this film being a prequel, I was immediately wondering ‘well why wasn’t he in the stage Akatsuki?’ but by the end of the film they explained why he wasn’t in the stage.

In this new group there’s obviously Amane Gwen (Guen) Shougo and I giggled so hard at Misu's reaction when Amane is introduced himself. Misu’s reaction was EXACTLY the same as my reaction when he was introduced in Akatsuki. me and Misu are clearly soulmates. 

Of course, Amane knows Misu is an (ex?)terrorist so doesn’t trust him at all, so Nakamura is like ‘well lets do some training and fight it out’. OF COURSE Misu kicks everyone’s butts! Seeing Amane all bloody after fighting Misu was actually pretty sexy. The moves they did too were impressive. And then we got Misu and Nakamura fight which was even more badass -- but there is a dodgy ‘trying to be slow-mo but very obviously not slow-mo’ shot.

And then we finally get to Sakura and we have the introduction of the new guys: Miike, Kugure and Yuuki. Miike being a fucking brat straight away, ugh but he’s an intelligent one -_- and they’ve been given a mission by Ichijima to find out why there’s been so many bombs around Tokyo recently, who it is and to decide and find out where the next one(s) will be. Naturally Yuuki and Kugure do and they’re told but Miike gets bored easily and is like ‘lets have some tea time!’ and also leaves the room very quickly -- he’s taken away by the sound of a violin.

While the new cadets are doing this, Shirasaki is in his room, sitting in silence, absolutely torn. His phone rings and he dreads picking it up and keeps getting on Ichijima’s case ‘do you have any news on Kaito?’, to which Ichijima always says ‘あなたが知るはず淮斗くんの情報がない / There’s no news on Kaito that you need to know’ (I wish I could remember the exact quote, it was a good line)’ which pisses off Shirazaki and ultimately he makes the decision to run away from Sakura and find him himself. But in reality, Ichijima knows jack shit about both Kaitou’s disappearance AND about what happened to Mamiya because the high-ups are refusing to trust and tell Sakura anything, and are in fact, deciding to give all the information to the organisation Misu is now a part off. So naturally Ichijima is pissed he’s not being told stuff, but keeps calm around the cadets.

I still don’t like Ichijima and I’m annoyed he’s back (give me back Goumoto Naoya and Kamikita NOW!) but I get why he does what he does and he’s good at what he does. But I’ve just never trusted him -- ESPECIALLY in Akatsuki when he was the main suspect for everything bad that happened in that storyline. I don’t trust him; never have, never will. I think his ‘leg click and fight’ fighting is badass though and I do like the actor just... thanks but no thanks Ichijima. ANYWAY! Back to the movie!

Eventually the two allumni of Sakura track down and find Amane, three times today, and tell him that he should join Sakura and that it’s his fate to join them. Every time he replies ‘I’m never going to join because those outfits are awfuk’. But eventually, in order to help Misu out and in order to stop the next bombing, he decides to go to Church and help them out. Once he’s there Ichijima says the cadets are free to attempt to beat Amane in a fight but naturally he woops all the new cadets’ asses, commenting that ‘I remember old Sakura being much better’. He ends up trying to attack Ichijima but in true Sakura style, Ichijima stops him.

Before he gets taken to Church though, he goes to the allumnis onsen/public bathhouse -- yes they’ve upgraded from a barbers to a public bathhouse -- and he has a public bath with Yuuki and Kugure -- it’s fucking hilarious! He’s like  ‘ -____- Why do I have to take a bath? Just take me to Church already!’ xD

With Shirasaki gone; Eiri and Haku join in on finding the pattern between the bombs, predicting when the next one is, figuring out what the hell the Mamiya report is, and finding and stopping Shirasaki.

Thanks to the cadets scouring the security cameras around Tokyo, they find Shirasaki with Misu. Misu gives him the directions to Hopporengo while Shirasaki hands over the Mamiya Report which is a music sheet with a hidden code in it.

Shirasaki, obviously, gets found by Sakura, and has a knife pinned against his throat from Kuroko who doesn’t want to kill him but threatens to.

There’s a super funny scene when Amane comes in to help Eiri and Haku and immediately Haku sits down (his computer desk filled with wrappers and candy) and offers some to Eiri, who immediately replies ‘ / I don’t need any’ and then he offer Amane who replies exactly the same. ALSO! Freaking Haku’s keyboard is BENT which I found hilarious!

Also the password to cracking the Mamiya code was ‘Messiah without G String’ which made me laugh SO hard but also the grammar-nazi in my was like ‘THE!!!!’ This is where Ichijima literally explains Mamiya’s entire life story and I can’t quite decide which way the story went: *UPDATED

A. Mamiya was brought up to be able to pass messages onto the rest of his terrorist group via the melody he played on his violen.

OR

B. He was trained to give messages via his violin and he didn’t realise he had been under Tstutsumi’s command and didn’t realise the manipulation until Hagane and Eiri/Haku’s mission that he’d been manipulated and by that time he’d already gotten in too deep.

Especially because they found the Mamiya report information in a capsule in his stomach during the autopsy and it had been swallowed 4 hours before he was killed. Also, Ariga mentions that Mamiya’d been playing the violin more frequently towards the end of Haku/Eiri’s mission -- I guess this was when he figured he’d been manipulated to send messages this way.

Swear to god if it’s route A then I’m going to be pissed. he is NOT the bad guy here!

Anyway...

So they finally find where the next omb has been placed and obviously Hopporengo are guarding it so Amane, Amane, Misu, Yuuki, Suwabe go in; either to the control center, or to kill the terrorists, or (for Misu and Suwabe) to get to the bomb and get rid of it. Of course it doesn’t go according to plan because...

And the biggest rage of this entire movie: They fucking KILLED Misu!! They KILLED HIM! THEY DROWNED HIM! His nae is MISU! Don’t take it or make it so meta oh my god! I cannot believe they killed him. before he went out on the mission, he spoke to Amane and was like ‘lets go eat after this. Make sure you make a reservation.’ and as SOON as he said that I started crying because I fucking knew they were going to kill him off and they did! I cried the entire way home (which is two trains and about 30minutes). WHY DID YOU KILL ANOTHER OF MY FAVOURITE CHARACTERS?! You’ve killed TWO out of my THREE favourite characters now! Fuck you Messiah... Fuck you. But jesus christ, Tamaki’s acting as he’s screaming for Messiah, the police and for anyone to just stop the water from going into the tunnel where Misu was, was so heart breaking and real and raw to watch. It’s so heartbreaking! And Misu dies starring the water right in the face and giving it the middle finger and just... I’m going to cry now...

...

..

.

Towards the end, Miike leaves a note for Ariga and he goes down the where the violin and some plant is, and soon Mamiya reveals himself to Ariga. It’s this moment that Ariga says ‘You’ll always be my Messiah, but I have Itsuki now’ and Mamiya goes to speak, he starts with ‘from here on out-’ but fucking Itsuki freaking interrupts with his yelling from the top of the stairs and when Ariga turns back around, Mamiya is gone -__- but I do love Ariga’s last line where he yells “KAGAMI!!! .... Urusai / You’re fucking loud / You’re annoying’. It’s such a predictable moment but also a very good moment but god dammit! Give me that message Mamiya wanted to say!! RAGE!!

And then we’re back in the onsen. It goes (left to right) Ichijima, Yuuki, Kuruge, and Itsuki. Miike is, for some reason there, but outisde the bath fully clothed and just hanging there. Itsuki is sulking ‘Ariga told me ‘nothing’s wrong’ tut. But clearly something is wrong!’ xD

Ichijima yelling about Kaito being dead in front of Kuroko and Kuroko being dead scared of him. Ichijima was pissed at Kamikita the entire movie for some reason...

I absolutely love the ending! And by ending I mean POST CREDIT SCENE! We follow and suited figure walked down the aisle and then going into an office which has Amane’s letter and Misu’s picture and teddy bear and then the camera pans around to reveal Amane. He looked very sexy in that suit and glasses. He stars right at the camera and says ‘Okay Misu-san... 俺たちの革命の始まりだ / This is were our revolution starts’ and he smiles and BAM ending!

---

Some scenes I don’t remember what order they were in but I liked:

There’s a scene where Misu and Amane are in the car (a flashback) and I did not pay attention to conversation because the BL-idiot in me was like ‘are they gunna kiss?! Just kiss!’ xD I thought they were gunna kiss xD damn my brain!

James in a suit!!! He looked so good and he spoke Russia for most of his screen time which was interesting! But unfortunately I don’t know ho accurate it is xD

Also, upon the first watch, it looked like Amane Shougo had let James in and acknowledged his presences when he first walked into the cop institution.

After seeing this movie, some questions, theories and comments I want to make are:

What the fuck is up Miike? He’s able to hear Mamiya’s violin and sees him and obviously talks to him a few times. And Ichijima clearly understands what’s going on with Miike because he lets him relax rather than participate in the mission! Some ghost whisperer or what?! 

Is Shikura Misu's dad?!?! At the end Misu is like, ‘it was you who sent to teddy bear wasn’t it?’ and Shikura is like ‘yeah’ so he’s known Misu since he was  tiny boy! He’s gotta be the dad!

Also, I am convinced Kugure and Ichijima are related. They have the same speech pattern and speed, their way of thinking is the same, Kugure is always standing RIGHT next to Ichijima and sometimes a little too close. And they look similar and wear glasses.

Why, why, why, why did they kill Misu?!???! 

And what's Amane gunna do after this?!?? He’s on his own now! I thought both TamaChan and Nakamura were leaving Messiah for good but with THIS ending then... Amane’s gunna be getting some shit blown up right?! He’s clearly still going to be involved... but why did you have to kill Misu?!

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PHEW! I’m done... goddammit Messiah! Why you gotta break hearts?! Can we not have a happy story for once?!

*TokiEnta = Toki Entertainment Company which Tamaki and Nakamura, (other like Baba Ryoma, Tomita Sho, Takasaki Shouta, Aramaki Yoshihiko) are part of.