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physalian · 1 month

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What No One Tells You About Writing #4 (100 Follower Special!)

Have you got any that deserve to be on these lists? Don’t be shy! Send ‘em over.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

*This list contains mentions of assault, #4

1. Zero cursing is better than censored cursing

I made the mistake in the early days of writing a self-censoring character, and every “curse” she said just took the teeth out of the rest of the statement. I’m talking gosh, darn, dang, etc, not world-specific idioms a la “scruffy nerf herder” or “dunderhead” instead of “dumbass”.

Look to any American TV show that so, so badly wants to use f*ck or sh*t but has to appease the sensitive conservatives who still somehow believe strong language is worse than graphic violence and horrifying psychological damage. For shame! Your characters can be angry without expletives, so rework your sentences to include equally damning insults that don’t resort to potty mouths if you’re concerned about ratings.

Or go full-throttle into the idioms of the world or the time period like Pirates of the Caribbean. Or just… don’t. There’s zero modern cursing in the Lord of the Rings adaptation and not a single sentence that censors itself. The dialogue is above vulgarity and feels more *fantastical* that way anyway.

2. “Yeah, you aren’t the target audience.”

It’s kind of hilarious seeing the range of reader reactions to two characters I intend to have a romantic relationship. Some will go “I ship it!” after the first page of them together… and another will go “wait, I thought they were just friends” up until they kiss. Sometimes you might be too subtle, other times it might be better to just accept that you can’t rewrite your entire book to please one naysayer.

When I’m pitched a fantasy adventure book that turns out to be a by-the-numbers romance where no one is allowed to be a peasant and every important character is royalty in some way, with a way cooler fantasy backdrop, I get severely disappointed. That doesn’t mean the book is bad, it just means I’m not the target audience.

3. There is no greater character sin than making them boring

Unless you live in the wacky world we find ourselves in where any flaws whatsoever are apparently harmful depictions of so-and-so and not at all written with things like ~nuance~. I will gush over your heinous villain committing atrocities because he’s *interesting*. I will not remember Bland Love Interest who’s a generic everyman with zero compelling or intriguing traits or flaws.

There’s another tumblr post out there that I cannot find that says something like this, and I believe the post goes “his crimes are fiction, my annoyance is real”. Swap annoyance for boredom and you get what I mean. So, I don’t care what your character does so long as they’re memorable. I will either root for their victory or their doom, but I do need *something* to root for.

4. The line between “gratuitous” and “respectful” is actually very thick

Less what no one tells *you* about writing and more what no one tells screenwriters. Y’all do realize you can write a character who experiences assault without actually writing the assault, right? Fade to black, have them mention it in their backstory, or have the horrific aftermath as they come to terms with it. An abrupt cut to this devastated character when it’s all over and they’re alone with themselves can be incredibly poignant and powerful. This goes with anything sensitive, especially if it’s not coming from experience.

If you want to write it or film it respectfully, romanticizing assault, for instance, is when it’s framed as if either character has earned or “deserves” it. If the narrative in any way argues that it's justified. The victim might have "earned" it for any of the BS reasons we use in the real world, or the perpetrator might've "earned" it because of temptation, desire, pressure to assert dominance, etc. Representation is important, but are you “representing” to shed light on a misunderstood and maligned topic, or are you doing it to satisfy a fetish or bias in yourself?

5. Don’t let your eyes get bigger than your stomach

Fantasy has no limitations, which means you can dig way deeper into the well of your worldbuilding than you realize, until you look up and realize you’re stuck down there. I have never seen a more obvious inevitable disaster looming than the pilot of GoT season 5. Why? Nobody has any plans. They’re all just led around by whatever side quest the writers throw them on, twiddling their thumbs until the writers deign to pull the trigger on the White Walkers.

To the point that what should be a major character can skip an entire season because his arc is meaningless. Everything in the last half of that show was one big “eventually” while the story toiled around in an ever-expanding cast of characters and set pieces (seriously, it’s hilarious how jarring the extended version of the theme music became compared to the pilot episode to fit all these locations).

When you have too many directionless characters, too many plot elements, too many ideas you want to fully mature and get their due spotlight and then somehow combine them all together for a common foe in the end, writing can get tedious and frustrating very quickly. Why, I imagine, the book series remains unfinished. Fantasy is great for being able to create such complex worlds, but don’t be the snake that eats its own tail trying too hard.

6. No one cares about your agenda if you insult them to push it

This deserves its own post but here we go. Peddling an agenda is a paradox: those who agree with you won’t need to be preached to, and those who you want to persuade will instead reject you further because they feel belittle and disrespected. This is why so many recent “strong female characters” fail on both sides of the aisle. Feminists see an annoying caricature of the movement they’re passionate about. Antifeminists see an insufferable, shallow, liberal mouthpiece when they just want to be entertained. You have failed both sides, congrats.

The answer? Write a strong, nuanced, well-developed character. Then make them a woman. I know this has been said before but this BS keeps happening so clearly the screenwriters aren’t listening. Entertain me first. Entertain me so well I don’t even realize I’m learning.

7. Today’s audiences won’t react the same way as tomorrow’s

Sometimes genres or tropes get oversaturated and need a few years to cool off before audiences are receptive to them again—teen dystopia, anyone?—that doesn’t mean your story is inherently bad because it’s unpopular (nor does it mean it’s amazing because it is popular).

You should always write the book you want to read, not the book that chases trends. I can pick up a well-written teen dystopia I’ve never read before and enjoy it. I can continue to ignore Divergent because it has nothing to say. Write the book you want to read, but then accept that you might make no money because no one else wants to read it, not because they think it’s bad. And, who knows? You might get a boom of chatter months or years down the line when readers stumble upon an uncut gem.

8. Your characters don’t age with you

Depending on how long you’ve been working on your world and what age you were when you started, the characters, concepts, morals, and story you set out to tell might no longer reflect who you want to be as an author when all is said and done. Writing can take years, some of which can be incredibly turbulent and life changing. I wrote the first draft of my first original novel in my freshman year of college. Those characters and that draft are now unrecognizable and has left a world I’ve poured my heart and soul into in limbo.

I’ve slowly creeped up my characters’ ages. My writing has matured dramatically. The themes I wanted to explore in the height of the 2016 election are just demoralizing now. That book was my therapeutic outlet and, as consequence, my characters sometimes reflect some awful moods and mindsets that I was in when writing them. But nothing in that world grows without me tending to it. It’s not alive. Despite all the work I’ve done, there’s still more to be done, maybe even restarting the plot from the ground up. When I think of what no one told me about writing, staring at characters designed by someone I’m not anymore is the hardest reality to accept.

—

If you think I missed something, check out parts 1-3 or toss your own hat into the ring. Give me romance tropes. Mystery, thriller, historical fiction, bildungsromans, memoires, children’s books, whatever you want! Give me stuff you wish you’d known before editing, publishing, marketing, and more.

Also, don’t forget to vote in the dialogue poll!

#writing advice #writing resources #writing tips #writing tools #writing a book #writing #writeblr #fantasy #sci fi #character design #what no one tells you about writing

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thornhawthorne · 3 months

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The thing about writing trans characters is that it is 100% guaranteed that at least a few trans people are going to be unhappy with whatever you write — not necessarily through any fault of your own, though that is certainly a possibility, but because there is such a dearth of trans representation in general.

Trans people are hungry and we’ve mostly been getting by on crumbs. I’m not saying that there are NO media with trans characters, but you have to admit that there are not a lot of really good things to read/watch/consume that have trans characters (and this is without getting into the question of whether or not those characters or the media they’re presented in cater to your particular tastes!)

^ This is usually the real problem. Certain genres and mediums have it worse, too! Think about how expensive it is to make movies or TV shows and how many people you have to get approval from and how many people need to be hired and paid to make one that makes it to cable, streaming services, or theaters, as an example.

Books and comics give us more to choose from in part because the barrier to pushing one out into the world is lower, though still not as much as I would like.

Personally, I want to make a TV show, but I can’t. So, I’m making the story into a comic that could maybe get adapted someday. This brings us close to my point:

Two of the protagonists (and many more of the side characters) in my current project are canonically trans. To some people, these two will be refreshing / the representation that they have been waiting to see for AGES. Those people will feel like they are being presented with a feast. To others, it will feel like being handed an empty plate and told to eat up. Those people are not wrong and I will not take it personally. The way that my writing makes them feel will be extremely real and undeniably valid.

What I want fellow writers to understand is that these feelings are not always going to be the fault of the individual author of the individual project that inspired these feelings (with the caveat that it does kind of suck when a new fictional trans person turns out to be exactly like all the other crumbs we’ve been forced to call a feast.) The people you make angry by breaking away from the norm could simply be mad because they’re used to feeling seen rather than because you've done something terrible.

People will be angry if a trans character is conventionally attractive or if they aren’t. They’ll be angry if you make the character pre-everything, non-op, HRT only, 10 years into a “do everything” transition, fat, thin, tall, short, etc. They’ll be angry if you make the character gay, straight, bi, pan, aro, ace -- I could keep going, but I won’t.

My point is that while you should definitely take the reasoning behind the anger your work may inspire into consideration and you should ABSOLUTELY remain critical of your own work if you want it to be the best it could possibly be...

You also have to be aware that you CANNOT please everyone, especially not with a single trans character in isolation, and you should not work yourself half to death trying to meet some imaginary guidelines of what “good” representation is, because it doesn’t exist.

"Good representation" means something different to everyone.

Also, someone already made basically what I was trying to express in this post but better and also in a single image:

#thorn Hawthorne #the comic #blog posts #transgender #oh boo hoo my transgender protagonist might have committted a murder guess you just need to read the whole comic to find out if she did

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marlinspirkhall · 9 months

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I watched the unaired Selection pilots so you don't have to

But, if you want to, you can do so here, and here (password: “selection”), credit to Media Garage on YouTube

Edit: links no longer active

The Selection (2012)

Strong Hunger Games vibes throughout, the plain-text opening screen isn't helping

Stock-footage of rolling hills gets replayed way too much

ETHAN PECK?

Unlike in the books, America only finds out she's been entered into The Selection after she gets selected, so the plot point about the photoshoot & her radiant smile being the thing which gets her selected no longer applies, I guess

Everyone in the YouTube comments was saying that Aspen and Maxon were miscast & the actors' roles should have been swapped (... No comment. I believe in you, Mr Peck)

This castle is looks too small to fit 24 TV show contestants in it

Fiona, unprompted: “Can you keep a secret, America?”

America: “I have been known to”

Fiona: “I play the violin”

Okay? (This is actually a very sweet moment and, again, Fiona may be the best actress in this)

This episode covered a significant portion of the first book, out of order, which makes me wonder if the intention was to cover all 3 books in one series.

This almost feels like half of a film, making me wonder if someone adapted a film spec script into a tv show spec script

Apparently, Fiona has a secret child and Celeste knows about it, causing Fiona to drop out on day one and tearfully warn America to “trust no one, there's no such thing as friends here”- which is a fucking wild thing to say when she's probably the only contestant who's been nice to America so far & Celeste didn't even need to get to know her to know her secrets because she has spies anyway 😭

It's worth reminding you that they have been at the palace for one entire day total

You think Queen Amberly is being fleshed out in this version but... Hmm

Amberly appears to be the one pulling the strings from behind the scenes (she confronts Celeste about extorting Fiona, tells her "she would have gone home in due time" and to "leave America to me. Anything we do to try and separate them [her and Maxom] will only make him want her more")

Again: IT HAS BEEN A DAY

America sees her servant gathering all her dresses (none of which she has used yet, bar the yellow and green ones) including the iconic blue one from the book cover. America asks what's happening and the servant replies: “Prince Maxom's orders”

Cut to America's family. They open a box with a glittering pair of high heels inside. I guess this is supposed to mirror the part of the book where Maxom cuts off the stipend for 2's and 3's who are in the selection?

If you think this version feels unfaithful to the book, just wait until you see The CW's pilot

IT HAS BEEN ONE DAY

Runtime: one day 45 minutes

Final rating: 5/10, kinda long and stiff in places and the set design was all over the place. Felt like a Hallmark movie (the set design didn't help). Probably would watch another episode of this if it was a full series or a limited series of 3-6 episodes. A little script-doctoring and a better set would work wonders.

The Selection (2013)

I cannot stress enough: this version begins with a sex scene between Maxom and a servant

Okay, I got ahead of myself; it actually begins with another hunger-games-esque black screen with text on it, text which reads “Someday, in the future”, which is read aloud by a woman's voice.

We zoom in on a much roomier-looking castle on a hill, as a random whip sound effect plays (leading into the sex scene, in which no whips are present)

All the female servants in the palace are dressed in sexy maid costumes and I wish I was kidding

The world map explaining the history of Illea is CONFUSING AS HELL, but maybe they hadn't nailed down all the details yet. I'm genuinely not sure

ANTONY HEAD?

Aspen is introduced tied to a St Andrew's cross and being watched over by a guard. America asks the guard to free him, he chases her through the streets, she circles back and cuts Aspen down

America's selection is similar to the 2012 pilot, except Aspen is present. America asks her mom why she'd enter her into the selection when “You know I'm with Aspen”, so uh, I guess they're not keeping it a secret here.

There's also no mention of Aspen being of a lower caste than her, nor of America having a job other than the vague title of "laboring class" which hangs over them all, vaguely

This is a masterclass in editing and pacing. The dialogue is okay, but the added geopolitics make no sense. Any issues with this are smoothed over by the fact that the plot keeps moving forwards at a breakneck pace to keep you distracted.

The lack of breathing room would probably be too confusing for an audience who wasn't already familiar with The Selection

The set here is absolutely beautiful but unfortunately it gives me Merlin vibes, and casting Antony Head as the king does not help with this.

Maxon attempts to pull a Mr Darcy. He then tells America that if she runs away with Aspen, the guards will beat him to a pulp and they'll both spend the rest of their lives in prison. America suggests that she make the monarchy look good so the working class don't side with the rebels. Looks like we're going full Hunger Games.

Celeste's handmaiden seems way too devoted to her; they turn out to be lovers

Just when you think Maxon might start redeeming himself, we see the palace guards swarm Aspen and kicking him. Maxom stands nearby on his horse overseeing this so there's no question of whether he did it or not

Final rating: 6/10, I would absolutely watch another episode of this. It was an absolute mess, but I've seen teen wolf, so I'm not gonna pretend I'm above it.

This feels like the kind of pilot which would get greenlit just to attract hateviewers.

Summary:

Neither protagonist had red hair and neither adaptation was trying particularly hard to give it to her (2012: dark red box dye. 2013: blonde!)

These actors are doing their best and some of them even seem to be having fun (good for them)

In the 2013 pilot, the writers lampshade America running around “like an action hero”, but she promptly forgets how to do that by the midpoint of the episode, so w/e

It feels like the 2013 pilot was a reworking of the 2012 pilot, because there were too many similarities carried over from one script to another which weren't present in the original book, like Fiona having a secret relationship.

I forgot to mention that Aspen has a brother in the 2013 pilot. He seems to be adapted from the palace guard who has a relationship with one of the contestants in a later book.

I can't get over how fucking weird of a decision it is to make the kind and likeable love interest into a power-corrupt despot, but it does feel more true to an actual monarchy. I assume they were trying to give Maxon a bad-boy vibe, which doesn't make much sense because that's supposed to be Aspen's whole deal.

There was a whole subplot in both pilots where an advisor character is revealed to be working with the rebels at the end of the episode

Extremely funny to me that the 2012 pilot makes a point of mentioning that sex before marriage is illegal and the 2013 pilot opens with premarital sex with the prince regent

#The Selection series #The Selection #Kiera Cass #Anthony Head #Ethan Peck #dystopian fiction #YA fiction #undescribed #America Singer #Prince Maxon #long post

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mrcowboytoyou · 10 months

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Star Trek: The Fotonovel

So TOS fotonovels are a thing that exists. If you've never heard of them- they're comics composed of stills of the show episodes. A couple of the first six movies were also made into fotonovels BUT they're both a little different than the ones based on TOS episodes and I will get to them in due time.

Right off the bat there are a couple of things that need to be said. For one, why do these exist? Well I imagine they made for a good way to consume your fave episode without having to wait for it to come on TV again. With that in mind, these fotonovels work perfectly. They're very true to the episodes with some exceptions. These differences come from the fact that these aren't comics drawn based on an episode, they just take stills directly from the show and the show was not intended to be read/viewed in this way.

Some things cannot avoid being abridged or compressed in favor of this new format but for the most part this is never really distracting and nor does it take away from the reading experience. After all, it's supposed to be a very detailed reminder of the episode you already know, so you can just relive it with the pictures.

Additionally, sometimes the fotonovels have extra lines and these are mostly found in the way of thought bubbles the characters have. Overall they're very charming but don't have a lot of utility now a days. I own some because I have problems.... They make up almost a fourth of my ST TOS book collection.

If you are interested in them my general thoughts are that the ones made from the episodes are really well done for what they are. They're also basically just some of the most popular episodes from the show using only episodes from the first two seasons. They're delivered in their own order adhering to neither the release of the show nor its intended release.

TITLES (ones i own)

The City on the Edge of Forever

Where No Man Has Gone Before

The Trouble With Tribbles

A Taste of Armageddon

Metamorphosis

All Our Yesterdays

The Galileo Seven

A piece of the Action

The Devil in the Dark

Day of the Dove

The Deadly Years

Amok Time

Star Trek: The Motion Picture Photostory

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Photostory

Now, you'll notice I said that the ones made for the episodes are good, and so far I have been sure to separate the ones done for the movies. This is because there's a bit of a quality drop.

For starters, they kept them the same length as the fotonovels of the episodes. Right away that presents a pretty big quandary because the movies are over twice as long. So if you're looking for something that adds to the experience of seeing the movies, these last two fotonovels will not do that- rather they will take away. A lot of scenes just don't make it into them and neither of them are adding from the novelizations either.

And then we have their page quality. All but one of these have shiny, coloured pages. Wrath of Khan is unfortunately in black and white and not even composed like a comic but is rather movie stills with accompanying dialogue. That's sort of like a massive let down given how big of a deal that movie is.

I intend to really get into the nitty gritty with each of these- especially the movie adaptions.

And, if you're worried about the loss of homoerotic subtext- you're all good... plus its just a tad funnier this way.

#“He's not only the best but the most amazing First Officer in the fleet.”#star trek #star trek tos #star trek tos fotostory #star trek fotostory #amok time #star trek the original series #the devil in the dark #city on the edge of forever #spirk #spock #kirk #star trek the motion picture

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fierrochase-falafel · 3 months

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A 'The Lightning Thief' Musical Appreciation Post (and recommending a documentary-of-sorts)

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Message to all you TLT: The Musical fans out there! Just watched the new documentary-of-sorts by Wait in the Wings about the production of TLT and its journey through from small 1-hour play for middle schools to (still underrated) Broadway production, and I cannot recommend it enough! It has interview excerpts from Joe Tracz, Rob Rokicki, Stephen Brackett and Kristin Stokes as well, and both Kristin Stokes and Chris McCarrell have praised it if that helps your expectations.

Always nice to see this musical appreciated online and elsewhere, in all its camp glory. To all the TLT musical fans out there who have also been here and treasured this show and the community surrounding it, perhaps the real lightning thief was the friends we made along the way. Always glad to have found this community :)

Quick message for Percy Jackson fans that haven't seen the musical yet: Well, you might be wondering what to do after you've watched the TV series and boy do I have the content for you. This is a great musical for anyone whose a fan of the books; having beared the brunt of negative expectations after the unspeakable movies came out, this musical still captured people with its fun charm and emotional core for good reason. The soundtrack is out everywhere pretty much, it might not be your kind of media but I'd still give it a shot (particularly if you're into musicals)! I know I haven't gone into much detail here about why this musical works, although I'd like to say more someday; if you want more information, plenty of people on Tumblr have said things about it and the video above does go into why this musical is/was so loved by fans of it. For now I'll just say that it is very genuine and heartwarming, taking the emotional core of the Lightning Thief novel and adapting it for the stage in a way that commemorates and stays true to the novel (even with references to the rest of the novels in there, such as a Bianca di Angelo cameo in the Lotus Casino!).

Anyways, quick post here, just another reminder to always appreciate the TLT musical. Cheers!

#Youtube #this is just an appreciation post man #always willing to give 3 cheers for the lightning thief musical #so many people have forgotten this gem in the run-up to the TV series and I am here to remind everyone whether they like it or not #with PJO getting popular again hopefully this fun musical gets a bit more recognition too amongst Percy Jackson fans #I hope it has/will atleast!#tlt musical #tlt #pjo #percy jackson #pjo tv show #wait in the wings #riordanverse #musicals #musical theatre #pjo adaptation #appreciation post #posts originating from my brain

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supernaturallyliterate · 9 months

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Thoughts on Heartstopper Season 2!

🛑🛑 SPOILERS AHEAD 🛑🛑

I really liked the way they switched events around but still incorporated all the main events / convos / quotes!! Like Ben asking for an apology, but instead of doing it at Tara's Bday party, they had Harry try to come in & get rejected & gave Ben's moment more depth and gave Charlie a more specific speech to be like "no, I don't forgive you, and I don't want you in my life. GTFO"

I absolutely loved every single one of Elle's outfits. And the dynamic between Elle & Tao developing their relationship! And I really really liked that we got more Tao backstory. His interactions with his mom, his heart to hearts with Nick (esp about his dad & relationship insecurities; we love a self aware king), his awkward first date with Elle at the theater

I liked Elle having more trans and non-binary friends!! And her art school journey!! Yes, give me more insight into each character's world

Naomi & Felix were iconic and I hope to see more of them! I liked that their presence also drew out Tao's insecurities and forced him to confront them. Like at the art show!!

I of course loved more focus on Tara & Darcy! I'm glad it wasn't just "Darcy is afraid to say I love you :/" and more was revealed about her homophobic parents and toxic home life! And oh my god the moment of Tara walking up to Darcy's house to check on her and meeting her mom for the first time had me SCARED. I was literally hiding behind my partner’s shoulder

I think the pacing still felt really good. And even though I knew what path the story was headed, it still felt natural when they switched things up. They maintained faithful to the original narrative while effectively adapting it to a TV show format, which is honestly SUPER impressive

And I am glad they kept in Charlie's mental health!! I think all the small switches they made really draw attention to how difficult it can be to notice an ED, anxiety, OCD, etc in someone else, even a partner. And they found good ways to express that anxiety with different conflicts and situations

IMOGEN. That girl is so bisexual. I called it last season. The vibes. The hair dye. The insistence on being "an ally." And she's totally falling for Sahar and I am HERE FOR IT.

ISSAC. I really really liked his whole arc with James. Asking Charlie how he knew he had a crush on Nick, relating to most of it, testing the waters with a kiss, and then being confused. Taking to the aroace artist at Elle's exhibition. Going back to that oh so centrally placed Ace book from earlier in the season & happily skipping off with it. I am so happy for him

TORI. Iconic, truly. Love all of her appearance and threats to people who could hurt Charlie. THE PHONE KICK SCENE, AHH. I really hope season 3 gets some sprinkles from Solitaire. They kinda hinted at some stuff to come by calling attention to Ben switching to Highs instead of staying at Truham. But I cannot wait for Michael to be introduced and the chaos to ensue.

The casting: 10000000/10

The acting: infinity / 10

The script: PERFECTION / 10

Please please please go watch or read Heartstopper. Better yet, do both.

#heartstopper #lgbtq #nick nelson #charlie spring #joe locke #kit connor #heartstopper spoilers #heartstopper s2 #heartstopper show #alice oseman #osemanverse

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reluctantjoe · 7 months

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a good girl's guide to murder spoilers (regarding elliot ward and the television adaptation)

i finished reading agggtm yesterday in anticipation for the tv series and now i cannot WAIT for mathew baynton's portrayal of elliot ward. i've been hoping a villain role such as this would crop up again since 2015 when he played ariel conroy in you, me and the apocalypse

a side of mathew's acting we rarely get to see nowadays is now finally coming to fruition - all thanks to holly jackson and bbc three! a much darker side mathew can show on television will be back and i'm so excited! (especially for those who call him 'the horrible histories guy'. it's amazing seeing their reactions to roles like these!!)

2024 feels so far away yet so close. the show is set to air early on in the new year so i can only presume january or february would be appropriate. elliot ward you killing, kidnapping history (english in the television adaptation) teacher: i am READY

#a good girl's guide to murder #a good girls guide to murder #agggtm #elliot ward #mr ward #mr. ward #mathew baynton #mat baynton #rj: text #rj: a good girl's guide to murder #rj: elliot ward #rj: mathew baynton #rj: 2023 #is there a world without the love of queue?

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destiny-smasher · 4 months

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Stuff From 2023!

List of things of note I experienced in 2023! A few things didn't technically release in 2023, I'm sure, but yea. Will contain my 'Top 10 Games I Played in 2023' as well.

Firstly, something I played a lot of this year in bursts but doesn't quite crack my Top 10 is Vampire Survivors. Very addicting, did some very fun goofy shit that had me laughing and engaged in a lizard brain way. Appreciated the many Castlevania references and jokes, too.

A couple of games I played every weekend for a few hours across many weeks this year were Project Zomboid and Roots of Pacha, both in a group 4. We had lots of fun with those two, and I think they're both great co-op time-sink games. Zomboid is a zombie survival sim that has way more attention to detail than its graphics may imply. It's still in early access but the depth to its is honestly pretty dang impressive. Pacha iterates on the Stardew Valley formula in a ton of small but deliberate, thoughtful ways that make for a nice twist on that Harvest Moon style game.

REMAKES

There were so many great remakes this year, on top of just amazing games in general, I can't fit them all into my Top 10. So here's a segment dedicated to most of the remakes I loved this year.

The remake of Super Mario RPG was such a surprise, and turned out very damn well. That game, turns out, is very near and dear to my heart and I did not fully appreciate that until this remake was revealed. It comes just shy of cracking my Top 10 list and that's honestly only because I finished Mother 3 finally right at the tail end of the year. This game manages to still feel weirdly fresh even today just due to how fucking strange it is, and the remake speeds up the pacing a bit while also adding in some new mechanics and a chunk of new post-game content. Everything was handled so well. This is like the new gold standard of complete one-to-one remakes of sprite-based games imo. I will admit the artstyle is a bit 'off' in some ways but I think it's very clean looking and captures that 90's CGI spirit really well, all things considered. And the music, OOF, so damn good.

The remake of Dead Space I don't have much to talk about, but it's very well produced. It's remade so well, in fact, that it felt like my memories of the original, even though I know it's not an exact recreation. Very well done and still holds up as a great horror action game with these improvements.

The remaster of Metroid Prime is so impressive it feels like a remake, even if the game is identical to the original aside from presentation and some control changes. It's an iconic classic, and yet I have no patience to do the Chozo Artifact stuff, so I actually did not roll credits on this version BUT still thoroughly enjoyed reliving the game with a very nice new coat of paint. It makes me excited to see what Prime 4 will look like on, I expect, more powerful hardware.

SHOWS/MOVIES

The year started strong with a TV adaptation of The Last of Us. While I've come to have conflicted feelings with the franchise at large, mainly due to its leading boss man, I thoroughly enjoyed the first season of this series. Very well done adaptation that picked and chose what to keep and what to change and honestly makes for a better story as a whole if you ask me, while not really replacing the game's tactile interactive tensions. Cannot wait to see what they do with Part 2 tbqh. I loved that game more than the original but also felt it was worse as an overall game/experience/narrative. But a fresh take on that same plot could potentially address a lot of the issues I had with Part 2, while simultaneously not really 'replacing' it, either.

The Bear. If you haven't seen it, it's just. Very good television. Two seasons in and it's sitting up there chasing Mr. Robot and Better Call Saul as one of the best live action series I've ever seen. Season 2 did such a great job of giving us deeper dives on the various characters and building toward an organic and rewarding conclusion that still leaves room for another season to theoretically wrap things up. Nothing too crazy with this show, it's super down to earth, and it owns that very well with editing and pacing that varies per episode, kind of in line with the different character perspectives.

Super Mario Bros.: The Movie had me worried for a while, mainly due to the animation studio and casting. And while I'm still not 100% sold on this celebrity casting, I will admit it didn't weight the experience down -- even if it's still the second weakest element by far. The weakest element is the writing. It's not, like, offense -- it's loyal to the source material and works, it functions. But it's not doing anything beyond pushing us from set piece to set piece. If anything, the movie is a bit too short for all of the stuff it's cramming in. But on the upside, there is a lot of amazingly rendered visuals and music to take in. A real treat for fans of the franchise, and the most loyal gaming adaptation in movie form, I would say.

Across the Spiderverse is in essence the first half of a two part film. That makes it kind of difficult to talk about, especially when it's also a sequel, and the production sounds like it was marred with bad management and crunch. But the results they came up with actually met my hopes and expectations for a sequel, and that is saying something, as I had very high expectations. I completely adore this film's stupendous sense of style, editing, framing, writing, and the way it's making meta-commentary on multiple levels on top of just being an effective narrative on its own. This is animated storytelling running at full capacity in my opinion, and in general just film doing all of the kinds of things film can do. So it's no wonder that there's still a rub -- this is the first half of the story they planned. The editing, animation, framing, effects, acting, action sequences, music, writing, theming, just Farore's sake, this is SUCH a damn banger of a film and one of the best movies I've ever seen, which, again, is kind of insane given the circumstances. I can only hope they don't fuck up the conclusion.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off was quite the surprise announcement, and as it turns out, quite the surprise adaptation. I won't spoil much but I will say that by the end of the first episode, it becomes very apparent that this series is no mere by-the-books adaptation, and does something unique and edifying, even if it still maintains a certain surface-level depth I wish the franchise would push beyond. Either way, I enjoyed it way more than I expected to going in, and I think it makes for a great companion to the rest of the series. The animation style was super fun, as well, with some great action sequences.

But Blue Eye Samurai sucker-punched me, having released before I'd even known about it. This show is something else, something unlike any other animated show I've seen besides Arcane. And it's not like it's mimicking Arcane, it's just the closest I can think to compare it to: a quality, thoughtfully framed, thoughtfully written, made-for-adults animated series. It tows the line between fantasy and realism in a refreshing way, its protagonist is great, its cast is compelling, its plot goes to some neat places, and things just feel very well thought-out and well-executed. Slap this in second place behind Arcane as the TV series I am the most excited to see more of in the future, just ahead of The Bear.

Something I did near the end of the year was watch The Hunger Games movies, back to back over the course of like, a week. Have not read the books but man, watching these sure made me interested in doing so at some point. I totally get why people were so enamored with this franchise, and honestly, I think its themes and messages are more relevant now than they were when this franchise was at the peak of its popularity. The films certainly have glaring issues for my tastes but yea, I managed to really enjoy them as a whole despite my lack of mainstream sensibilities. Looking forward to reading the books eventually.

Another thing my wife shared with me was 花ざかりの君たちへ (often called 'Hana-Kimi' for short). Specifically, the 2007 version, as, uh, apparently there are multiple adaptations of this. It was a live action Japanese drama about a high schooler who was born female but transfers into an all-boys school, identifying as a boy while she is there. There's more to it than that, and I won't say it handles everything the best (it's from the mid 2000's) or concludes things in quite the way I'd have preferred. Not to mention it's kind of weird seeing many tropes I'm used to seeing in anime rendered by physical, real actors. BUT it was overall a really sweet, adorable, funny, heartfelt, and reached for pro-queer expression in a time and place when that wasn't mainstream yet (and honestly kinda still isn't depending on who you ask).

Good Omens Season 3 also dropped this year. I actually don't have much to say partly because I think a big element of it is just not knowing what to expect going into it! But it was also very good, very fun, pretty damn gay, I really enjoyed it and am crossing my fingers hard they get to wrap it up the way they want.

All right! Onto my personal top 10 GOTYs.

TOP 11 GAMES

(I played and finished in 2023)

11) Mother 3

The one entry on this list that did not actually come out this year -- in fact, it's never technically released outside of Japan. Originally release in 2007 on the Game Boy Advance, this quirky RPG has developed quite the reputation. I started playing the fan translation back in like 2020, and only got around to finally finishing it this year. While that likely did tarnish the experience a bit for me, so does the final third or so -- it kind of drags on a bit, and any old school format RPG that requires grinding to progress can become a bit of a chore.

Thankfully, Mother 3 did earn its hallowed reputation in my eyes now that I have experienced it. I totally get the passion for this game now, and I am a convert. It makes me want to finally finish Mother 2, aka Earthbound. But here's the biggest thing about Mother 3 I weirdly did not expect going in, yet smashed my face in like a hammer by the time I finished it:

without Mother 3, there is no way Undertale/deltarune would exist.

The DNA for Toby Fox's works is achingly obvious in its relation to this game, specifically. I won't spoil anything and I won't go into my long list of evidence like an Ace Attorney case, but trust me, there is ample evidence to make this claim.

And that also means that Mother 3 stands on its own merits as doing things that RPGs just plain were not doing in 2007, and in some ways still aren't today. Aside from some pacing issues further in, the characters in your party aren't as developed as much as I'd like. BUT the overall narrative it tells, especially in those opening chapters, have a rare kind of earnest, human magic to them that most games just don't let themselves fall into. And it concludes in ways I did not expect and yet offered clarity as to why it is so beloved, and how Toby Fox was so inspired to put his own mark on the gaming landscape.

I owe a great deal to Undertale, personally, and as such, I also owe a great deal to Mother 3. You don't need to have played others in the series to enjoy it, you'll just be missing some referential stuff here and there. It's quite playable and unique by today's standards and I strongly recommend it if you want an RPG that is heartfelt, funny, fun mechanically, and has some simple but hard-hitting things to say about the world we live in, and what we are doing to ourselves and that world.

10) Super Mario Bros. Wonder

What can be said that hasn't been said already? Nintendo knocked it out the park with this one. This was everything I've wanted in a 2D Mario for like 15 years. The only thing 'missing' from it is playable Rosalina, but hey, we finally got Daisy in a mainline Mario game, so I'll take it. After a decade or so of dragging their feet with low-effort but enjoyable 2D games, Super Mario Wonder finally, at long last, captures what makes Nintendo games great and with their best foot forward. They haven't done 2D Mario this well since World on the SNES in 1991. And they have never put this level of production into a 2D game since... ever?

This is one of the all-time best 2D platformers out there, and for once it finally feels like 2D Mario is running on all cylinders as a big budget passion project kind of game. You love to see it.

9) Scarlet Hollow

This game isn't technically finished yet, as it is episodic, and its developers wanted to release Slay the Princess in the interim, but that doesn't stop its quality from being good enough to make my list. This game is doing the kinds of things visual novels should be doing, the kinds of things I wish to do in a sense with my own visual novel development.

It's a horror themed experience but balances the high tension with actual real stakes very well against mostly down-to-earth conversations, with lots of great tricks and touches of presentation you don't typically see in indie visual novels, along with a fantastic art style, charming characters (my favorite character has turned out to be the one I immediately disliked at first, and that's rare for me), and meaningful choices.

I can't wait to see how this one wraps up but even as it stands it's one of the best things I experienced in 2023.

8) Xenoblade Chronicles: Future Redeemed

I will admit I skipped Xenoblade Chronicles 2 after giving it an honest go in like, 2019 or so. A few hours in and i couldn't stomach it, the tonal whiplash from Xenoblade 1 (one of the best RPGs I've ever played) was too much for me. But then Xenoblade 3 came out last year, and is also one of the best RPGs I've ever played, even better than the original for my tastes.

But I wasn't prepared for the DLC to drop a whole ass side-game on us, a self-contained prequel to 3 that serves as narrative cohesion to tie the whole trilogy together with a bow on top, complete with perfectly tuned fanservice (and not the sexy kind, although grown-up Rex and Shulk, well, yes) that really respects its fanbase for investing hundreds of hours in this franchise.

Matthew is easily one of my all-time fav RPG main characters, probably the favorite RPG main character when I think of it (as main characters specifically go, anyway), and his game is a fraction of the length of many RPGs out there. But as usual, the entire cast had their charms, the story was nicely paced, the gameplay and overall length was just about damn perfect for what I could want from the genre.

As an expansion to a pre-existing game, this is one of the top 3 best expansions/DLCs I've ever played. When taken as a side story to an overarching trilogy, I'm not even 100% in on the lore and I still enjoyed the hell out of it, it's just the kind of thing that hits a tone of 'damn, video games are a fucking unique medium that we can do specific narrative things with across years of telling a story.'

I don't know where Monolith Soft is going next, though the ending certainly offers some intriguing teasing, but I suspect I will be there day one to see it, and am looking forward to it.

7) Pikmin 4

Given the long wait (10 years!) one might understand fan concern over the state of Pikmin 4. Turns out, that extra time was spent making this game fucking good. It's not the largest, most impressive, most complex, most inspiring, most 'anything' game I played this year, and yet I can't help saying that this is a damned good video game. It really nailed what it set out to do as a sequel, incorporating just the right ideas to spice up the formula while bringing things back to how Pikmin 2 was, and improving on the series in basically every way -- including stuff to do!

This is easily the most Pikmin game... in a Pikmin game. I still haven't 100%'d it. Without giving away any details, I'll just say that when a game rolls credits and you're only like, halfway through its content, and it just keeps going, that's just kind of wild. It would've felt like a great game even then, but the breadth and depth it ends up going to in order to keep giving you ways to engage with its wonderfully detailed world and addictive mechanics, I love it.

I just want more of it. Give me DLC with more Dandori content, the formula and feel just works so well at this point.

6) Sea of Stars

How the hell I forgot to include this one on my list initially is boggling. Easily one of the best indie games I've ever experienced. The writing is nothing to, well, write home about, but it's not bad. And in fact the story has a lot of great things going on, from an interesting world to a very potent arc with the leading support character (who, let's face it, is kind of more the main character than your two main characters).

The game's art and music are phenomenal, capturing the essence of 90's era RPGs but clearly doing things not capable back then. Made even sweeter, the game is a prequel to the studio's prior work, The Messenger, which I also played and adored in tandem, kind of going back and forth between the two once I was partway into Sea of Stars. The way this RPG repurposes songs from Messenger as well as all kinds of seemingly superfluous elements but makes it feel cohesive is pretty great.

The game also trims a lot of the fat you'd find in older RPGs, as well as lets you customize your experience in a modern way using collectibles you can toggle on and off to grant all kinds of effects, like increasing or decreasing the difficulty in various ways.

The homage paid to classics like Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG is clear but it's not at all copy-cat-ing, instead wearing those inspirations proudly on its sleeves and forging its own path with its own ideas. A fantastic collection of party members, a wonderful world, amazing presentation, and environments and pacing that help it stand apart from the genre that inspired it. I wish we got to know the leads better, there is a lack of character growth in many ways, but that's me grasping at straws to critique, it's just a fantastic experience and the studio should be very proud of what they've accomplished.

5) Hi-Fi Rush

This is gonna be a running trend from here on out, but on any other year, Hi-Fi Rush would've been my GOTY, easy. From this point on, we're talking measures of inches rather than miles in terms of my love for these games.

Hi-Fi Rush finally delivered on something I have waited like 20 years for: a rhythm action adventure where playing the game in sync with the music felt fucking cool and gave me emotional resonance in a way only this medium can. The humor was charmng. The visual aesthetic is almost peak 'my taste.' The music was groovy with a few tracks I did not see coming but loved seeing how they were incorporated. The story was surprisingly fun! The characters were fantastic, I loved the entire main crew in a way I rarely ever do and would jump at the chance to spend more time with (and hey, there's a whole bunch of post-game I have yet to do, so I intend to in 2024).

The only real thing I could reasonably ask for from this game is a way to play as those other party members in post-game content or new-game plus or something. And who knows, maybe we get that some day. Even if we don't, what they came up with here is the next best thing besides. And what we got is one the most video-gamey video games I have ever played, a real classic and one I think will go down as one of my all-time favs. A passion project given meaningful time, budget, and creatives to bring it to life.

Had this game offered multiple playable characters, a bit more development in its story, and maybe a stronger climax, it'd be higher. I still love it to death and want more games like it regardless.

Hi-Fi Rush is exactly what kind of game we could have gotten more of if the Internet hadn't pushed gaming into a 'live service' direction. It is literally the spirit of a PS2/GameCube game given modern form. And either way, we did get it, at least, in that form, and it fucking rocks.

4) Resident Evil 4 (Remake)

This year was big for remakes and remasters, but one stands tall above the rest, if you ask me. The original RE4 has stood as my fav in the franchise, the one that got me into the franchise, the one that got me into M-rated games in the first place. Lots of nostalgia, but it's held up surprisingly well over the years despite some limitations of the time (mainly the controls) and some older-fashioned sensibilities ("with ballistics, too~").

But Capcom fucking nailed it with this reimagining. Like Final Fantasy VII: Remake, this game is not a remaster, or a one-to-one recreation. It is a brand new game, built from the ground up, reimagining the original entirely, complete with new mechanics and story. But unlike with FF7, this is also shockingly authentic and loyal to the original at the same time. It remixes elements from the original game, maintains most of the original's map design, adds in new stuff, removes some of the more goofy shit -- and even 90% of what feels 'removed' is revealed to be repurposed for the Ada side story DLC.

It looks great, it sounds great, the adjustments to characters and story are improvements across the board, (except for Hunnigan, RIP) the gameplay is improved in intensity and feel and action and replayability. And yet despite all of this, it balances that campy tone of the original just enough to still evoke what I loved about the original's tone. And it doesn't outright replace the original game, either. The two are now like different recipes of the same sandwich or something. There's reasons to revisit the original, though for me this has now replaced the remake of RE2 as my fav in the franchise.

I really don't know where they go from here but I will look forward to it, and regardless, they fucking nailed this one.

3) Street Fighter 6

Two Capcom games, back-to-back? They had a fucking good year in my eyes. The interesting thing about this particular entry is that unlike the others on this list, I will be continuing to play this one for hours and hours into 2024, especially with more fighters still planned. And in another year, this would've easily been my GOTY.

After all, Street Fighter 6 is the single-best traditional fighting game I think I've ever played. And while fighting games are my overall personal favorite genre, I'm more of a Smash player who also loves the hell out of Street Fighter and then dabbles in Tekken and whatever else releases. Street Fighter has always been one of my go-to top multiplayer games since I got into the franchise with SF4 in 2010. While I did enjoy SF5 well enough, it just didn't keep me hungry to come back for more like 4 did. SF6 has fixed that problem by way of a multitude of changes.

It has easily the most fun single player mode I've seen any fighting game have. Like, yea, The Subspace Emmisary (and even then, I don't love that mode like other folks do, I kinda think it's... fine?) but tbqh World Tour is just better in most every way. You get to build your own fighter, earn and mix and match different costumes and individual character special moves with each fighter's fight style. You get to just hang out with the SF characters, get to know them as people, their hobbies, their fears, their insecurities, their passions besides just beating the shit out of each other. On top of this, the realistic art style shift (a by-product of the RE Engine) seals the deal on what Street Fighter 6 is aiming to do: humanize its cast.

Is it still wacky as fuck? Is it still comical and weird and goofy? Hell yes, it is. Is the story mode deep in its narrative? Not in the slightest. But it's still stepping confidently in a direction fighting games should be trying to, not being too self-serious, but also being earnest.

And I haven't even touched on the mechanics! The Drive System alone is a brilliant addition that adds a sort of 'stamina' system that works so well to add an extra layer of decision making and tension. The game's not perfectly balance imo but for how much is here it is surprisingly damn well balanced, especially given they have insisted on not pushing out a single balance patch since it launched in June. For most any other competitive game, that would be like suicide for the scene, but the game seems to be thriving and selling extremely well for the franchise. And it's earned it.

I will absolutely be continuing my warrior's journey into 2024 and I can't wait to see what else Capcom has in store for this game.

2) Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Out of every game I played in 2023, Tears of the Kingdom is easily the most technically impressive. From a design standpoint, from a 'how in the hell is the Switch doing all of this without exploding' standpoint. From a 'holy hell how is there this much stuff in a single player game' standpoint. From a 'oh my goddesses that stupid batshit idea I had 100% worked because it actually did make sense' standpoint.

Where Breath of the Wild opened our minds as to what an open world game could be -- fully designed like one giant interconnected 'level' -- Tears of the Kingdom replied in much the way I expected: it pulled a Super Mario Galaxy 2. What I mean by that is that this is a direct sequel, building directly off the foundation of the original. You know. Like video game sequels almost always used to. And which many very successful ones still absolutely do.

But Tears of the Kingdom somehow managed to wow me all over again by adding to that open world's verticality in insane ways -- the Depths alone are probably my favorite 'mechanic' from any Zelda game ever besides the time loop of Majora's Mask (and what that did for the story and gameplay). But beyond the scale of the world basically doubling and then some (floating islands and caves on top of Depths), I was curious how this game could stand tall after Elden Ring, which is easily in my top 10 favorite games of all time at this point. Elden Ring was Fromsoft's reply to BOTW. And yet Tears of the Kingdom still managed to have something new to say in spite of that very strong reply.

Tears of the Kingdom opened the door to let players essentially create their own mechanics. By removing the abilities Link had to engage with the world before, and replacing them with a brand new toolset that includes abilities you just... don't see games give you, because they'd be 'overpowered,' TOTK designs its massive world in ways that invite you to use those 'overpowered' abilities however you see fit.

Being able to interact with the world and objects in this way, being able to fuse them together to create all kinds of effects, or new methods of transportation, even interacting with things not just spacially but in respect to time, it's nuts and fun and I've already poured like 130 hours with still so much I haven't done. And that's the thing: this game wasn't designed to be 100%'d. It was designed to just... be experienced, as much or as little as you want. And games on this level of scale/budget just do not have the guts to let so, so much 'content' be missed out on. And this game does.

It's a technical achievement and while I had my doubts with how strangely little Nintendo had to show, I am very glad that the experience itself manages to breathe new life into one of my all-time favorite games while improving on it in so many ways. It won't convert you if you didn't love the original -- this is a Super Mario Galaxy 2 style sequel, after all. But it's essentially replaced the original in ways I didn't think would be possible.

The story? Oof. Uh, not so much the story, let's ignore that part. That's what Nintendo wants you to usually do, anyway. But everything else, just. Din-damn.

It expands upon the first game's already fairly open-ended nature in an exponential way that I suspect developers will spend years to come trying to pin down, much like how they've spend the past 6 or 7 years trying to replicate BOTW's open world design.

For much of this year, I thought this was personal GOTY. And for many it will be, because it's just an extremely impressive video game.

Number 1...?

Going into this list, I kept telling myself, 'man, on any other year, this would be my GOTY. And if you know me personally you likely have already figured out what my GOTY is by omission. But the more I've thought about it, the more I've realized just how close these top 5 games are, it really is like centimeters instead of inches, and they each -- well, every game I've mentioned here, beyond the Top 10, as well -- offered something edifying that I was very satisfied with.

And no, it's not Baldur's Gate 3. While I have spent hours playing it in co-op and a little bit solo, that game's just not really for me, exactly. Like, I can enjoy it, and I have massive respect for the dev team and what they accomplished with it. But I don't much care for D&D, and the game just didn't do very much for me personally, I lack the motivation to finish it. Remove Karlach from the game and I have next to nothing to really attach myself to, personally. I definitely get why it's many people's favorite game of 2023, though, and I do think it's a bit of a wakeup call for what can be accomplished by just making a GAME instead of struggling to contort it into a service etc.

Street Fighter 6 is fucking fantastic but it could still use some more actual fighters and incentives to keep playing besides monetizing its players in weird ways. I love it, and it will be the game from 2023 I end up playing the most (it already is, I think). But if it ended as it is, I would be very satisfied.

Hi-Fi Rush is oozing with originality and style and I adore it to death, and when I finished it, I was very satisfied.

Resident Evil 4 kept me addicted for over 100 hours, had an amazing DLC expansion, oozes replaybility in the specific ways I like for a single player action game (rogue-likes besides). I am extremely satisfied by it.

Tears of the Kingdom is so massive and fun to just explore that I know I will continue to play more in the months to come. Will I ever revisit it entirely? I'm actually not sure! That massive length does lend some repetition, even if it's the kind I find therapeutic and satisfying.

And that's what made me realize something. My personal GOTY did not just satisfy me. It made me hungry. It filled me up in a way I didn't think was possible and yet I still hunger for more, because I enjoyed it that fucking much. I played through it twice and still hunger for more. I know I will play it a third time eventually, but mainly I just have not been to remove from my brain the particular ways it made me feel, ways that only a video game can. Nothing about it felt like it needed to be overlooked.

SF6 and RE4 had dubious monetization, TOTK had a story I found to be like 90% boring and it still maintains many of the flaws of the original. And Hi-Fi Rush, while amazing, just didn't scratch the particular itch this game did for me.

1) Lies of P

If you told me that Lies of P was a game developed by some sub-division of FromSoft, I'd believe you. Which is to say I would also believe that it was made by people who wanted to break free from some of the shackles of the now infamous 'soulslike' genre.

A narrative that actually makes sense by the end? Opening up options for the player without requiring specific stat levels? Encounters and boss fights that feel ravenously challenging without just feeling like cheap bullshit? Music that crosses borders beyond 'angry chorus, angrier orchestra'?

Lies of P doesn't quite eclipse Elden Ring, but that's an absolutely unfair comparison given the utter scope and scale and variety that game packs. But Lies of P improves at the FromSoft formula in specific ways, while making concessions in others, and as a result it's just an experience that seeped into my brain like no other game this year, not even Tears of the Kingdom, despite that I put half the hours into this one.

I love all of the games I have mentioned here, you could honestly swap around the order of this top 5 and I could mentally meander a way to justify why, no, actually, this one was my favorite game of 2023. In a year so awful for the people who make games, yet so amazing for games themselves, Lies of P is exactly the kind of game I needed. I needed someone to show me that you can make something directly inspired by someone else's work, yet fine tune it in all the right ways to make it stand just as tall in terms of quality and design. Lies of P made me feel things in ways only a handful of games ever do -- and I would actually count Hi-Fi Rush among those in a regard.

But Lies of P also told a story I found compelling. It had mystery, tension, buildup, it started off seeming like it would do the vague FromSoft schtick only to 100% come together, make sense, be rewarding, and offer a 'true ending' that I got on the first playthrough, organically, without looking things up, because it just... felt right. Not only is the game adapting FromSoft's formula into something its own, it's also doing that with the story of Pinocchio. The gameplay and the story congeal together not in the 'perfect' way that it does with games like Celeste or Undertale, but rather in a more... messy way, like a puppet aching to become a real boy.

The game is full of loss, in its world and for you as the player, who will die many times. But unlike much of FromSoft's catalogue, I never once felt like I died because of bullshit. Was I trolled? Sure, the game definitely 'trolls' you in classic FromSoft fashion, lulling you into a sense of security only to sweep you off your feet. But unlike how FromSoft does it, these circumstances can always be avoided if you're cautious. And if you're not? Hey, 'We got you! We gooottt youuu, haha' and you lose a couple minutes of progress, rather than like fifteen minutes and also an entire level's worth of souls because oh right, this section you just got through is kind of bullshit cheap.

Don't get me wrong, I love Dark Souls. But the thing is, Lies of P takes the parts I love about Dark Souls, admits it can't pull off quite the intricate web of level design, but then throws away everything I do not like about Dark Souls, improves on the things I already liked, and then pushes me to meet it on its level.

The satisfaction of being a boss you spend an hour, two hours on, cannot be understated. It's a feeling unlike any other, and one only this medium can provide. And Lies of P kept me motivated, like Sekiro before it, to keep improving, keep growing, keep trying. And unlike Sekiro, it gave me so many more tools to play with, to learn, to balance in an arsenal with intent. Enemies have elemental weaknesses if I so choose to exploit them, the moveset of one weapon's handle can be applied to a completely different blade, my robotic arm can leverage things in a pinch, or be the backbone to dealing with a boss. Mastery is rewarded with practice. A vicious boss that annihilates you in five seconds can be defeated without a single scratch if you practice enough. Mastery, creativity, quick thinking, and reacting are all rewarded here.

I am more than the hands pulling the strings, I am more than a puppet, I am human. And games like this can only be made by humans, who get that specific itch that only video games that challenge us can scratch. It's not an itch everyone has, but that's why it's my GOTY and not yours, innit?

With its unique setting, its wonderful music, its cozy hub area, its narrative that offers just enough to make me care, but not so much that I am bored or feel misled, its amazing boss designs, and its wonderfully tactile and engaging combat, Lies of P is a game I just can't stop feeling something about whenever I am reminded of it.

It epitomizes so much -- not all, but much -- of what I love about what video games can do, what adaptations can do, and much like how Toby Fox was inspired by Mother 3, what people can do when they are inspired by someone else's work.

As far as I can tell, this is developer Round8's debut game, and just. Holy hell, what a way to come out swinging. I haven't seen a debut game hit this hard since, I don't know, Bastion.

Close your eyes. Come to me. Feel all right.

I did, and I do, and given what you teased at the end of this game, I have extremely high hopes of what you come up with next. And in a landscape where things feel more difficult to get excited for with each passing year, much less new IP, it's so damn refreshing to have both Hi-Fi Rush and this game standing out as signals that, hey, some folks are still willing to invest bigger budgets into new games, new ideas.

Again, a battle of centimeters here and at this point I should wrap this up and go to bed.

But yea, Lies of P reminded me of what makes me, specifically, human, in a very particular way that only it has. And I honestly think out of all of single player games of 2023, I think it will actively stand out in my heart the most in the years to come.

#GOTY 2023 #goty #video games #gaming #Mother 3 #scarlet hollow #super mario wonder #future redeemed #Pikmin 4 #Hi-Fi Rush #re4 remake #TOTK #LOZ TOTK #Tears of the Kingdom #Lies of P #long post #Sea of Stars

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ashetherando · 2 years

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Date Night| Glitch! Turbo x Human! Reader

Requested by JulianToons

Ps. I’m writing this on my phone, so this is kinda wonky-

Context: Turbos body cannot handle the sudden changes to his world to our world, so he will glitch to his regular form (Turbo) to King Candy, and his Cy-Bug form based off of his emotions (sorta like turning red) aggressive emotions (anger, obsession, and jealously) will be his cy-bug form, happy emotions (joy, excitement, and hyper) will be his King Candy, other emotions (fear, disgust, etc) will be in his Turbo form.

3rd POV It’s been at least a few months with Turbo living in your home, Turbo would constantly ask for you to at least go to the the park for your first date, but you would say no due to how his body is like. You would be brushing your teeth or making coffee before Turbo would ask that specific sentence “can we go on a date” “no” “damn it!” And he would walk away. Today was different though, he didn’t mentioned about at all, in fact he was in his King Candy form half of the day your were awake. You grabbed your coat before you left for work “alright, what’s the hub up?” “What do you mean, my dear? I couldn’t be happy with the love of my life!” “You are allowed to do that, but I have a feeling that you did something, you didn’t even mentioned about that date thing!” “I just thought that you were right, until I get my emotions straight we won’t be in any dates!” You blinked in confusion “uhh, you listened to me? For once?” “Hon, you are gonna be late for work if you are gonna stand here with your jaw open” you snapped thoughts and nodded “right, bye, turbo! You know the rules!” You put on your coat “foods in the fridge, don’t answer the door for strangers, and don’t destroy anything and blame it on my cy-bug form!” Turbo list the things what not to do “thank you” you smiled as you opened the door and step forward out the door “wait!” You turned and Turbo kissed you on the lips “see you later, sugarcub!” You blushed and smiled “see you later, Turbo” you get in your car and drove off.

Turbo watched you drove away, waving at you bye before he cannot see your car. He went inside and closed the door “okay, I need to be more pushy with the whole date thing..hmm” he thought for a long while “I’m sure (y/n) would kill me if I would raise the electric bill for a date” and idea popped in his head “I got it! A Movie night! Both a date and I get to have my emotions run wild!” He cheered, he ran over to the TV and got on to Netflix and scroll on the options “why dose the Netflix originals suck, we watched almost half of the movies here!” It’s quite rare to find good movies or shows that it don’t get canceled or removed from the platform, he remembers very vividly that it was 12pm and he heard you yelled angrily at the TV because they gotten rid of the cartoon adaptation of him or at least one nostalgia show that you wanted to watch with your lunch while Turbo was having his afternoon nap. Turbo switched over to Hulu which took awhile from how uneducated he is with the internet and technology, he’s only good at messing up coding and racing! He scrolled a bit more before he gave up. He’s eyes was now hooked on the VHS player next to the older Nintendo. He tilted his head he does remember a bunch of boxes in the basement where he slept. He got off the couch and went down the basement and over to the boxes that was covered in cotton candy webs, he swiped the cotton candy away and start opening random boxes. From weird stuff that he see inside of the boxes like random clothes, books, and holiday stuff that is not hung up yet, he now knows what clothes he now owns and smells next! He finally found the box full of VHS tapes some of the them have covers and some of them don’t, he picked up the box and struggle to stake up the stairs to the living room, he’s height didn’t go well along with the box weight, he was leaned backwards and struggled to take up the stairs “come on!” He was scared that if he would fall down the stairs and destroy your VHS tapes! He managed to get to the door and try to use his other hand to open the door “almost..Got it!” He opened the door and placed it on the coffee table. He looked inside, there was allot of Disney Movies, cartoons like Super Marios Brothers Super Shows. He placed it on the coffee table gently, he managed to finalized what he wanted to watch Halloween! Fall is coming up and he wanted to be theme oriented! He doesn’t know why there’s a person with a mask, but he doesn’t care! He gets to hang out with you! He glitches a bit to his cy-bug form then back to King Candy he giggled as he placed the rest of VHS tapes back into the box. He doesn’t want to go back downstairs with the stairs of death and the box of the grim reaper, he’ll wait until he goes to bed to place them down. He pushed the box next to the couch then placed the tape down and think about the things to make this date successful!

After a long day, he heard your car pull up from the drive way. He decorated almost half of the of the living room, he ran over to the door and opened the door “(y/n)! Welcome home!” Turbo smiled at you as you closed your door and yawned, oh no… ”are you okay? Did you sleep well? Do you want coffee?” Turbo bomb barded (y/n) with questions “I’m fine, Turbo, I just need a nap or a full blown sleep until I’m 40” you smiled and chuckled “don’t worry! I’ll be right back! Stay here!” “There’s no way I’m getting kicked out of my own home!” You heard a bunch of noises and a couple of crashes “that’s it” you pulled out your house keys and unlocked the door “Turbo!” You closed the door, removed your shoes and coat then ran into the kitchen/Living room, it was a mess the kitchen was in while turbo was glitching like crazy, shifting to his multiple forms while grabbing coffee cups “turbo!” Worry filled you “don’t worry, (y/n) hohoho! We’ll have this movie date!” That is what is about!? “Turbo” you went over and placed him down, and grabbed the coffee cup and placed it on the counter “Turbo, what is up with you about this whole date obsession?” You we’re concerned about him, he was stressed out to the point he was glitching like crazy! You went to him and crouched down to his level “listen, I understand that you want to do something romantic between the two of us, but not until you get your behavior under control or figure out how to me calm. No outside dates” he looked up at with confusion “you didn’t say ‘no dates’” “well, you worked hard to make all of this, so our first date will be here having a movie night” you smiled at him. His eyes widen and smiled as he glitched to Turbo “alright! Let’s go, let’s go!” He pushed you to the couch and forced you to sit down. He ran over to the VHS player and played the movie “what movie did you pick?” “It was called Halloween, so theme oriented! Hoho!” He cling onto you as the movie rolls on “uh-Turbo-“ “hush! Movie starting”

After the movie, you fell asleep but Turbo was still awake, glitching from his turbo and king Candy form. He was thinking of the gory scenes that put him in the fear state but he’s happy to be with you, he looked over and see you asleep “so…(beautiful/handsome)” he went over to you as he glitched to his Cy-big form, he does still have some obsession for you ever since he managed to glitched to your world to see you. He grabbed you and curled into a ball, spooning you. You were small compared to him, he closed his eyes and also fell asleep.

#king candy x reader #king candy cybug #turbo wreck it ralph #turbo x reader #wreck it ralph king candy #wreck it ralph x reader

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xxgothchatonxx · 1 year

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As someone who often plays the game “spot the theatre actor*” when watching film and television, I adore how “stagey” AMC’s Interview with the Vampire is.

I heard that the writing team is made up of a group of playwrights and it shows. From an adaptation standpoint, it makes perfect sense. Anne Rice��s writing and dialogue was very theatrical, and primarily character based. You can’t really play her work straight, so to speak (...literally speaking as well). So these writers (and directors!) have given the actors plenty to work with, character-wise. Even the most serious moments in the show have that heightened level of drama and theatricality while still feeling real in the context of the show (i.e. Episode Five.. just.. all of it)

That stagey feel also extends to the minor characters and extras. Everyone feels like they’re stage-acting, and I think it works to the show’s advantage. It makes even the one-scene-only-actors memorable.

I know that style of writing can be very hit and miss for people when it comes to film and TV, but I love it when it’s done well. And, well, look at Louis’ confessional scene. And considering we are literally going to a theatre of vampires next season, I cannot wait to see what this writing team gives us next.

(*yep my "SPOTTED: THEATRE ACTOR” radar went off the second Eric Bogosian appeared on screen, ditto with Assad Zaman 😂)

#interview with the vampire

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gallifreyan-ginger-sociopath · 1 month

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The Geeky Rom-Com of my Dreams!

I was lucky enough to get an ARC copy of Mallory Casper's debut novel The Star Next Door. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Trixie is a cosplayer and a giant geek, stuck in a dead-end job while putting her creative dreams on hold to care for her family.

Marty is the geeky, hunky guy who she gets along amazingly with and who she maybe, just maybe is falling for. Oh, and did I mention he's playing her long-time favorite character in a new tv show adaptation of her all-time favorite book series?

The Star Next Door is full of lovable, relatable, down-to-earth characters who will feel familiar to anyone who's been in the fandom scene before. From Trixie's hatred of her day job, to Marty's realistically dark past, from the loving family who supports each other and isn't afraid to tell someone when they're being dumb, to the snarky non-binary best friend who will be the first to tell Trix when she's being dense, to the actors and big names brought to earth and rendered utterly human, all of these characters are treated with love and care by an author who is going to do great things.

This book is charming, witty, funny, and heartfelt from page one. It's a relatable story with a romance that puts it in the realm of the geekiest of wish fulfillment. The chemistry, romantic and otherwise, reads true to life for those of us who know the immediate click, skip-the-small-talk joy of meeting other geeks in the wild. The romance is at the fore but never once overpowers our lead's other connections. The plot and pacing are excellent. There's just enough tension, just enough conflict to keep you needing to know what's next, without ever feeling like you have to slog through too much bad to get back to the good part. The push and pull from our two leads as they figure out their feelings is incredibly well done, and the emotional payoff is well worth every moment you'll spend waiting to see when they'll finally notice the romantic tension and do something about it.

Mallory Casper has crafted an amazing debut novel here, and I can't wait to see what she does next.

Pre-order for the book is available now, the book releases on May 1st, 2024. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

#The Star Next Door #romance books #romance novels #books #book recommendations #book recs #debut novel #upcoming books #Mallory Casper

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jobazzle · 1 month

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books i've read in 2024

i meant to start this post in january but of course! i forgot! so here it is now!

January

Babel - R.F. Kuang ★★★★★ one of the greatest and most masterfully written books i've ever read in my entire life oh my god i will recommend this to everyone from now until the end of time!!!!

Yellowface - R.F. Kuang ★★★★½ never hated a main character more oh my godddddd what an infuriating read (the half star off is bc i didn't love the ending but like the ending is kinda the point so like i get it but I DON'T LIKE IT)

In A Holidaze - Christina Lauren ★★★★ went into this being like "lol i already know exactly how this book is gonna go!" and then somewhere in the earlier chapters Something Happened that made me gasp in shock like what the HELLLLL. finished this in like 2 days i NEEDED to know what happened next

People We Meet On Vacation - Emily Henry ★★★★★ book lovers is my favorite eh book buuuut this is such a close second!!!!! (friends to lovers is my favorite silly little book trope so like. this was written for me. i was destined to love this)

February

Daisy Haites: The Great Undoing - Jessa Hastings ★★★★ the second half of this > the first half (god one specific main part of this book was painful to read like i knew exactly where it was gonna go and UGH. IT HURTTTTT)

A Court Of Silver Flames - Sarah J. Maas ★★★★★ favorite book of the entire series but i can't stop thinking about this one critique i saw online about the plot that's like...so true....so true....i do agree....but also....love these characters...so is this book perfect? NO do i adore it? YES

Only When It's Us - Chloe Liese ★½ hated this so much oh my god it made me so mad i was so annoyed for a majority of it...only gave it the stars i did bc of the relationship between the main character and her mom...other than that BOY WAS THIS A PAINFUL READ

Magnolia Parks: Into The Dark - Jessa Hastings ★★★★★ i love and adore (and deeply relate to) this like oh my god this book has my whole heart i love these characters i love their growth i love their flaws I!!!! LOVE!!!! THEM!!!!!!

Heartstopper Volume 5 - Alice Oseman ★★★★ immediately decided this was my fav of the series and i can't wait to see it play out on the show in the future!!!

The Bodyguard - Katherine Center ★★★★½ this is sooooooo miss congeniality x every real person fanfic i read when i was a teen (affectionate). i was blushing i was giggling i was kicking my feet this was sooooooooo so so so romcom ugh i loved every second of it and i want (NEED) a movie/tv adaptation so baddddd

Always Only You - Chloe Liese ★½ i thought "ok i hated the first book in this insanely long series but let me give the second one a try" NOPE. SHOULDN'T HAVE. MIGHT'VE HATED IT EVEN MORE THAN THE FIRST ONE. despite loving the characters the writing was so terrible to me that i had to give up (and i was rly looking forward to the book in the future about two rival soccer players who fall in love but I SIMPLY CANNOT READ ALL OF THESE TO GET THERE. I GIVE UP)

From Blood And Ash - Jennifer L. Armentrout ★★★★ was this the most predictable book I've probably ever read? yes. was it an insanely fun and quick read? ALSO YES. idc this was surprisingly enjoyable and sooooo silly at times (was rolling my eyes sm and was screaming "HOW HAVE YOU NOT FIGURED THIS OUT YET" fjdjfjd)

March

The Winter of the Witch - Katherine Arden ★★★★★ read the first book of this trilogy in 2022, the second in 2023, and this one FINALLY in 2024...what a journey it has been!!!!! The action!!!! The character relationships!!!! The heartbreak!!!! What a wonderful conclusion. Literally loved every second!!!

Throne Of Glass - Sarah J. Maas ★★★★½ actually so confused bc i saw reviews saying how difficult it is to get into this series/that they find the first book (so, this one) boring???? I WAS ENTHRALLED. OBSESSED. WANTED TO BE READING IT 24/7. CAN'T WAIT TO START BOOK 2 AHHHHH (which will take a while bc my brother has to read it first and he is a slower reader than me 😀)

A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire - Jennifer L. Armentrout ★★½ wtf happened between the first book and this one??? how did it get so much worse???? my god was this a whole lot of NOTHING. full of confusing world building/lore and oh my god the conversations between characters went in circles. NOT A FUN READ (except for the very end which was a little redeeming lol)

Lovelight Farms - B.K. Borison ★★★★★ what more could i want in a book liiiike this literally has everything i love about a romance book put into one beautiful wonderful heartwarming cozy endearing story (i should've read this during christmastime)(literally it haunts me that i didn't read it in december last year)(WHAT A MISSED OPPORTUNITY)

Mile High - Liz Tomforde ★★ cringed a lot. some parts were uncomfortable to read. had one of my least favorite book "tropes". the plot motivation made no sense. didn't enjoy.

The Right Move - Liz Tomforde ★★★★½ far from perfect and won't be for everyone but when i say i loved pretty much everything about this!!!! i mean it!!!!!! so glad i gave this a shot despite not loving the first book!!!!!!!!! i adored this so much i made a spotify playlist like...i'm obsessed

Caught Up - Liz Tomforde ★★★★½ that feeling when you're reading a book you love so much you almost don't want it to end so you start reading slower was FELT as i read this. and MAYBE it made me tear up A LITTLE.

Bride - Ali Hazelwood ★★★★ super fun except i'm not used to reading supernatural/fantasy books that take place in the modern day like wdym you're on a computer or using a cellphone but also vampires and werewolves existfjenfjfb

Wildfire - Hannah Grace ★★ what a waste of time i wish i'd never read it oh my god.

One Italian Summer - Rebecca Serle ★★★★★ reading a story about dealing with the grief of a parent dying while dealing with the grief of your own parent dying 😀 ouch ouch ouch pain pain pain my thoughts in book form i sobbed every chapter and i'm in awe of what this book now means to me

April

In The Weeds - B.K. Borison ★★★★★ i read a romance book so beautiful i started crying? (no actually i teared up reading this I LOVE LOVE AND BOY DOES THIS AUTHOR KNOW HOW TO WRITE A LOVE STORY)

The Crown of Gilded Bones - Jennifer L. Armentrout ★ absolutely 1000% done with this series....how do you make the first 500 pages of a 600 page book boring??? and then make the last 100 filled with everything i wanted from the rest of the book??? I AM: DONE (will be reading the synopses of the rest of the books so i know what happens but THAT'S IT)

Done and Dusted - Lyla Sage ★★★★ when i say this was a quick read i! mean! it! (no literally i started it on april 3rd and finished it april 4th i was hoooooked)

Swift and Saddled - Lyla Sage ★★★★ the book mentioned taylor swift and bake off (two of my favorite things) of COURSE i enjoyed it (ok the end annoyed me a little but that's a me specific thing i don't think it was a bad ending!)

Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie ★★★★★ so um this left me in shock fhdshfkds i also jokingly guessed the ending (and thought "but there's no way. that would be ridiculous" lmaooo)

Come Back to Me - Mila Gray ★★★★½ this was a reread and i can confirm: i am still so deeply fond of this book <3 (and despite knowing everything that was gonna happen i still! sobbed!)

Stay with Me - Mila Gray ★★★½ another reread/comfort book <3 not as good as the other book from this author (i hate you miscommunication trope!!!!) but overall still fine)

Run Away with Me - Mila Gray ★★★½ another!!!!! reread!!!! would've loved it more if my copy wasn't riddled with typos and minor plot errors (i remember being obsessed w this book but like...not anymore oops)(it's fine)

Watch Over Me - Mila Gray ★★★½ would! watch! a! movie! of! this! (they will never make it so i'll have to just reread it every few years lol)

Fall Into Me - Mila Gray ★★★½ i am unfortunately not immune to the charms of a bodyguard romance ok this was...slightly endearing despite its errors/plot that was a little too fast-paced for me (also: a reread)(and my fancast for this one! IMPECCABLE)

Mixed Signals - B.K. Borison ★★★★★ oh this had me gigglingggg i was emotionallllll i adore this sweet little small town romance series <3 (also!!!!!! when an epilogue ties into the premise of a book so perfectly!!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!!!)

Flawless - Elsie Silver ★★★★ what do you mean this book says seriously "you wear the hat, you ride the cowboy" PLSSSSS I LAUGH EVERY TIME I THINK ABOUT IT HFJKDHSKFJHDSK. anyways this was a quick read!!!!! and had an interesting "plot twist"!!! OVERALL V FUN

Heartless - Elsie Silver ★★★★ the more i think about it the more i wanna rate it a 4.5 but FOR NOW it's just a 4 (but like A HIGH 4)

Powerless - Elsie Silver ★★★★★ what can i say, i'm a big fan of friends to lovers in any form any iteration any plot any characters....i! love! it!

Reckless - Elsie Silver ★★★★★ this has my fav couple of this series from this author i'm obsessed w them i'm obsessed w their love story i literally read the second half so slow i did NOT want it to end 🫶

Hopeless - Elsie Silver ★★★½ this felt rushed and the pacing was weird and there was a weird nickname for one of the love interests BUT it's not like. an offensive book or anything. overall just...ok! a decent time!

Funny Story - Emily Henry ★★★★★ in. tears. feeling. so. many. emotions. EMILY HENRY YOU HAVE DONE IT AGAIN!!!!! may she continue writing forever bc I WILL BE READING

#yeah i've kiiinda been reading a lot this year for some reason #like how is it only just now the end of march and i've completed that many books?????#(it's definitely bc i have an ereader now and reading somehow takes less time on there)#books i've read in 2024 #books i've read #personal

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rukimakino-heirofheart · 4 hours

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🔥Puella Magi Madoka Magica

🔥Renaruki

🔥 MadoMagi:

The original anime was pretty mediocre and had a mediocre soundtrack. Its fatal flaw is that it tries to center itself around a single main character (Madoka Kaname herself) whose viewpoint we see the world through, but her characterization physically cannot get focus in this format in an anime, because you just don't get to see how deeply screwed up her worldview is if you never know what she's thinking. Consequently, you actively lose information by telling the story in a format other than a novel or VN. (Observant viewers may recognize this as the same ultimate problem behind why adapting FSN for the screen inherently requires getting more exposit-y about Shirou's deal.) Ultimately, I wholeheartedly recommend skipping the MadoMagi TV anime entirely; most of the best parts of the Puella Magi Series are elsewhere and don't expect familiarity with a disappointing TV anime. (The Different Story, Rebellion, and Wraith Arc escape this curse by not being Madoka-centric, instead focusing on more conventional protagonists in Kyouko and Homura.)

Rebellion was a perfectly fine ending in and of itself, and it doesn't need a sequel. The only reason I'm interested in Walpurgis no Kaiten's existence is that it seems to be going so far out of left field that I kind of have to entertain it and find out what the cook is.

Of the "classic" Puella Magi titles (pre-2017, i.e. before Magia Record), I'd rank them like this:

Puella Magi Tart Magica - Masugitsune

Puella Magi Oriko Magica - Kuroe Mura

Extended Puella Magi Madoka Magica Series - Gen Urobuchi (TV, Rebellion, Wraith Arc) & Masaki Hiramatsu (TDS) & Hanokage (Wraith Arc)

Puella Magi Suzune Magica - GAN

Puella Magi Kazumi Magica - Masaki Hiramatsu

Rankings of Tart and Oriko may be swapped depending on how I'm feeling that day.

This is not to say that Suzune and Kazumi are bad manga, but the former quite infamously ran into production troubles and the latter bit off way more than it could chew, and it shows. Kazumi has a lot of cool plot ideas and themes in play but reading it for the first time can feel like being subjected to a plot point firing squad. The original manga run of Suzune was good but not spectacular -- it didn't truly get to shine until the MagiReco crossover events started happening. (It has been 1200 days since the last Suzune event...)

MagiReco fans often describe Arc 2 as "when it gets good," and it's common to write off Arc 1 entirely as an extended prologue, however I do still maintain that Arc 1 is a good story on its own terms. You can feel the weight of the production issues (there's a very noticeable midpoint shift where a major rewrite happened) but it's still a perfectly fine and coherent story. Most of what the fandom writ large likes to call "flaws of Arc 1" are just, intentional foreshadowing.

When AniReco (the companion anime to MagiReco that tells a completely separate story)'s final batch of episodes originally came out that fateful April 3, I gave the production as a whole a massive side-eye (I distinctly remember logging on and asking a chatroom I was in "what is even happening?? Why is the anime Folklore of Zero propaganda all of the sudden?? Wait, Neo Dorothy Motherfucker???? Huh??????"), but I've since warmed up to it. It's its own thing, and you have to have its place in the series' cosmology and the showrunner's goals in writing it explained to you first before you start watching, and it makes some writing decisions I find to be questionable, but it did a remarkably good job for a series that was slashed from 39 episodes down to 25 halfway through.

Apparently this is a hot take now: I like Nagisa Momoe's actual backstory as detailed in MagiReco a hell of a lot better than "dumb idiot child wished for cheese instead of healing her ailing mother." The collected Nagisa cycle of MagiReco stories makes her arguably the single most interesting member of the Holy Quintet.

I want more Kyubey worldbuilding, goddammit! We know precious little -- the Incubators were created by an advanced alien civilization (local expert Touka Satomi, A1C9), and their tissue is analogous to stem cells and can be reconfigured on the fly (Kosane Kiriha, NMG) -- and I need to know more! What were the progenitors like? Did they wipe themselves out? Actually, now that I think about it, are Incubators like Touhou's shikigami where you take fleshy hardware and flash it with your own artificial intelligence? We know a human can control one (Madoka uses LoC-branded pink Incubators for surveillance purposes) and we know a human can have their soul shoved into one losslessly (mokyu!), so like, what are the limitations here? Hell, the Pleiades made their own once! It sucked at its job, but it existed! How did they do that? Tell meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I think that even in the absence of the Automatic Purification System, being a magical girl is just kind of objectively better than being human. You get to opt out of mortality, you get private(-ish) telepathic communication for free, you get a shrunken hitbox -- no more worrying about workplace safety hazards as long as you protect the gem! -- you get a weirdly specific personal magic that varies in effectiveness from Konomi's baton pass to Iroha's localized time reversal, and even if you don't get something useful you still have a magical weapon that you can spawn on command. That's even before we get into the existence of Coordinators, and the logical applications of their Adjustment magic in gender-affirming care. To be quite honest, if Kyubey ever had reason to approach me, my wish would probably just straight-up be "immediately megucify every human who exists right now and every human who will ever exist in the future regardless of energy cost."

I'm scared of the new Magia Exedra mobage's existence because (1) it's very prominently advertised as being Quintet-centric and I'm sick and tired of the Quintet, and (2) there's a nonzero chance it will take resources away from Magia Record to focus instead on what seems, if the credits on the website are to be believed, to be a shitty autobattler. MagiReco is the best thing the Puella Magi Series has ever done and I want it to survive well past its tenth anniversary.

🔥 RenaRuki:

Okay, seriously, did the entire Tamers fandom collectively forget that, past a certain part of the D-Reaper arc, none of the Primary Colors are actually human anymore? Because it feels like I'm the only one who's acknowledging this, despite the fact that "Ruki, alienated from humanity, voluntarily gives it up, while Renamon, aligned with humanity, is a trans woman" seems like a pretty obvious thread to work with, and being turned into a digital life-form offers plenty of opportunities for neat body horror, not even to mention how this affects the ways in which Ruki's Candy timeline counterpart has steadily been getting worse for two decades.

[Side note: I really need better names for the "more canon" movie timeline that's relevant, essential and true, and the "less canon" drama CD timeline that isn't. If I keep calling them Meat and Candy I'm going to get weird looks from the non-Homestucks.]

I swear I had more observations I was going to put here but I got sidetracked. Might add on a reblog later.

#ask game #renaruki

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evilwickedme · 1 year

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Hi so. As someone who is vaguely into comic book adapted media, but hasn’t read any superhero comics ever, what sort of like. Super basic suggestions would you have for some favorite characters/runs/series you’ve read? Sorry for the SUPER broad question

So I'm waiting for my doctor's appointment and it's taking forever and my earphones are out of battery so sure why not let's give some recommendations. As usual keep in mind I'm literally just a guy and plenty of people will disagree with me or have read comics I've never touched. Also I've read a very random collection of stories like I've never sat and read any specific spider man run but I've read random specific spider man stories you know? Anyway

Marvel

I've been reading Marvel comics for a long time now, so I'm most solid about these recs.

Deadpool

This is obviously the subject I know the most about and I've been very clear about this in the past but my favorite Deadpool run/story is the 2012 run by Posehn and Duggan, and it was one of the first comics I ever read so obviously I think it's pretty good for beginners. It's got some solid humor, a healthy balance of violence vs story for a Deadpool comic, and it's got some serious heart too. It's also a soft reboot of the Deadpool canon, only has a few references to previous events, so it's really readable for newcomers. If you like Deadpool and are willing to pick up an ongoing I also warmly recommend the new ongoing by Alyssa Wong. We're only three issues in right now but it's delightful and we've officially got our first non-woman love interest for Wade, Valentine Vuong, who's non binary!!!! Super recommend.

Kamala Khan

The original Ms. Marvel run for Kamala from 2014 by G. Willow Wilson is both delightful and incredibly beginner friendly. I haven't kept up with her but she's got a relatively easy catalogue to follow and she interacts with a lot of other heroes which means she's also a good way to get to know the marvel universe at large.

Jessica Jones

Alias is a bit of a darker, more adult series, but it's also entirely a standalone story that requires, in my humble opinion, no knowledge of the marvel universe at large to read, and is ridiculously well done. If you've seen the show, season one is a relatively faithful adaptation in that it covers the spirit of the comic and includes most of the main characters but does not adapt the story beat for beat. Definitely look up the trigger warnings if you're going to pick it up but it's a truly excellent story.

Hawkeye

I'm not as much of an expert in Hawkeye comics as @not-the-blue is (who's currently attempting the truly Herculean task of reading every important Hawkeye issue ever for her lecture, wish her luck) but Hawkeye (2012) by Matt Fraction is a really well done self contained story that includes both Kate Bishop and Clint Barton, and has an issue from the POV of a dog named Lucky the Pizza Dog who is so good! The Hawkeye tv show was based on this run but the comic is considerably better. My one problem with it as a beginner's comic is it does assume familiarity with Clint's personal history, so if you don't know that Clint used to be married to Bobbi Morse, now you know have fun.

I'm much much newer to DC as y'all know but here's how I got into it at least!

Superman

All Star Superman is the easy answer and therefore the answer I'm going to give! It was conceived specifically as a story that could be read outside of main continuity, a sort of definitive story that includes all of our main Superman cast and deals with a lot of Superman's mythology without being bogged down by needing to fit in with the mainline DC universe. It's not my favorite Superman story I've read but it's really beginner friendly. My one gripe with it, and I'm not the only one by any means who feel this way, is that I think the art is butt ugly. A lot of people think it's gorgeous and I just cannot see it. I follow ppl on TikTok who refuse to read it bc of the art like. Idk. Story's great but I wish literally anybody else had drawn it

Batfam

Honestly I'm not sure there's an easy way to get into batman. Most of the elseworlds stories* I've come across for batman are either completely disconnected from the main universe in a way that makes them unrecognizable or not very good for beginners. One thing I'd do is check out the webtoon Wayne Family Adventures; it's free, and it'll get you familiar with the names of pretty much every batfamily member. The problem with WFA is that it's based on fanon interpretation of the characters and character dynamics, so even though it'll loosely reference the occasional canon event, for the most part you can't really trust it for anything more than civilian names, vigilante/superhero names, and basic appearances of, well, honestly pretty much everyone, including people I haven't even begun getting into for real. From there it's pretty much just diving into it. For Red Hood, I recommend reading A Death In The Family (the print edition I own also has A Lonely Place of Dying, which introduced Tim and is honestly a better story) as a prelude for Under the Red Hood, which, you know, reintroduced Jason as Red Hood. The first Batman story I read was Batman: Black Mirror, which features Dick as Batman and focuses on the Gordons a lot, it's a really good story, my only gripe with the story is the changing art style, the two artists do NOT mesh well. Batwoman: Elegy is a really, REALLY good standalone story, might actually be beginner friendly now that I think about it, cause it's basically her introduction (not literally but very close to it) and it doubles as her origin story; also it's written by Greg Rucka, and I'd trust him with writing my life story, fr.

*elseworlds stories are DC's term for any story that does not take place in the main multiverse and is entirely non canonical. Marvel doesn't really have this concept except I guess what if? stories, most of the non-canonical stories marvel chooses to tell simply take place in another universe within the main multiverse. All Star Superman is an elseworlds story

Watchmen

Is Watchmen beginner friendly? I genuinely have no idea, I'm incredibly biased bc it's literally the first comic I read, before I even had my webcomic phase. It's a DC comic in the sense that it was published by their imprint, but I don't even know if it counts as an elseworlds story, it's just... Completely unconnected to anything. It tells the story of the second generation of heroes in a world that is closer to ours than Marvel or DC's. There's only one truly super person in this world. Because vigilantes really did appear and rise to some kind of prominence in this world, comics look very different than what we know, and the main story is interspersed with an in universe comic about a pirate. There's a lot of political commentary in this and some of it arguably didn't age well, but it's a really interesting deconstruction of the superhero genre and one of the most notable of its kind. For better or for worse, modern comics are what they are at least partially because of this comic, and I think it's worth a read

Indie comics

I know you said you wanted beginner's recs for superhero comics, but I want to give a couple of recs for indie comics because they're worth checking out as well

Lumberjanes

Y'all know their work from She-Ra, but before they were the creative mind behind one of the most successful queer cartoons ever ND Stevenson was a well known indie comic artist and writer. They've created a number of comics I love, including the Graphic novel Nimona which I also warmly recommend, and they're also the reason I picked up lumberjanes, which is a story of a girl scount-like summer camp which is deeply weird. It's queer and a lot of fun, sort of Night Vale vibes at times. If you're looking to get into indie comics this is definitely one of the best

Giant Days

This one is a lot lighter than Lumberjanes since it's a slice of life comic about three college girls, not that Lumberjanes is exactly heavy duty. Honestly don't have much else to say about it I think it's really good!

And that's it for now! By no means a comprehensive list of... Anything, and not even a list of my personal favorite comics (although I did only include comics I genuinely enjoyed). Good luck!

(mutuals feel free to add on to this!)

#comics #superheroes #marvel #dc #marvel comics #indie comics #gail speaks #ask #page-vacat

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