#i got really ambitious with this one and ended up posting it really late last night

[pokegeek151]

Febuwhump 2024, day 3 - "Bite down on this"

Fandom: Linked Universe

Characters: Time, Legend, Warriors

Summary: “I can usually get by just plucking them as they sprout, but they aren’t growing well this time. I think there might be some, uh, root rot. I’m pretty sure the roots will need to be…extracted.”

His blood rushed past his ears, and he could barely hear himself think. “Extracted.”

[soul-dwelling]

The one "positive" from MHA is... That it made me apreciate SE in comparison lol, hell even the mangas awful copout ending atleast was memorable in how bad, disgusting and rushed it was - in MHA it just feels like nothing, not even giving us those rushed redemptions - nah even that is too much for Hori, so lets just give the old "dead equals redemption" trope which is as lazy as it is cowardly - atleast Crona got the hope of getting bailed out of jail, and the society actually changed, even if unrealistically, with the witches truce - while in MHA the whole buildup of "maybe this society is bad, maybe heros shouldnt be worshiped, maybe civilians should not be infantalized and depowered and shouldnt just rely on fascists supercops when they literally have their own powers, maybe the villians should be integrated and understood...."- nah, they are all evil psychos, lets stigmatize mentall ilness as being violent...

It really was reduced to "one evil baby is at fault, so if we use our flashy moves and kill it, everything will go back to normal" - but no Hori then trys to have his cake and eat it too by trying to force the whole meta "actually live doesnt return to normal after a war!" - but it kinda does, besides the Endeavour misery porn which doesnt work after he got retconed to not be evil - because that is what happened and why it does feel weird when Natsou disowns him - because that would have worked with the og Endevour, showing that a redemption arc isn't enough and some scars will never heal and he has to accept it and repent for the rest of his life - but after it getting changed that Toya was unhinged from the start and Endy was just kinda bad at communicating...

Man I ranted a lot longer than I thought, apologys for that, MHA is just so bad that it happens

I debated whether to post this now or wait until Chapter 426 of My Hero Academia comes out on Sunday, given how many spoilers there are in my answer and in the question itself. 

But I would rather get the answer out now instead of letting it fester, especially as I’m guessing this will not be the last time I respond to this chapter, this extended epilogue to the manga, and how the beginning, middle, and end of My Hero Academia worked and didn’t work. 

So, screw it, here is my response, and I hope the spoiler tags are enough to prevent people from learning something they weren’t ready to read until Sunday.  

The ending, ongoing

A friend of mine had written something similar: it feels like My Hero Academia is ending with a whimper. 

The thing is, I have been struggling lately with whether I want something to be ambitious and fail at its own goals, or competent but cliche. 

You bring up how Soul Eater had a memorable ending even if it was, let’s be charitable, flawed. I’m not sure I agree, as Soul Eater’s ending was so bad that it’s hard for me to see MHA somehow having a worse ending. You’d need to resurrect Midnight just for a fanservice gag to get things as bad as Soul Eater’s ending. 

The comparison I’m grabbing is actually to Fire Force, as it does something similar to MHA: the final battle ends in glorious fashion, then the epilogue we’re dealing with is rushed, unsatisfying, contradicts earlier character beats, and re-stages the setting in a way that is bothersome (Fire Force is revealed to be the Soul Eater prequel no one was asking for; My Hero Academia should be showing life after near global destruction, or at least the destruction of most of Japan, and instead Cementoss is already rebuilding entire cities, so the stakes have evaporated--even if, I’ll admit, once you introduce a character who can do almost anything, that’d be pretty stupid to not have that character still out there single-handedly saving the entire world *cough cough* why is Yosano only with the Agency if she could be healing people of cancer throughout Japan in Bungo Stray Dogs *cough cough*). 

Ambitious or Competent? 

But to go back to what I said, that I struggle to decide whether I want a story that is ambitious or competent, it’s kind of how I feel comparing Chainsaw Man and Dandadan: I really cannot stand the storytelling direction of the former even as I have to admit it is more audacious and trying to say something really complicated even if I think it is failing at getting that message through to its audience, while the latter in terms of plot, character progression, paneling, character designs, humor, pathos, and dynamic artwork and action is all or mostly expertly crafted but not necessarily groundbreaking (minus the stunning artwork and two-page spreads). 

And even then, Dandadan doesn’t get it always correct, where a potentially thought-provoking detail is reduced to a cliche, and often an offensive one at that: the latest chapter as of writing, Chapter 158, takes a complicated idea about mourning the failure to live the dream of a childhood friend…and instead of using that to talk about hyper-sexualization within idol culture and maybe even the magical girl genre, it’s just a really bad joke of an underage girl forced against her will into a revealing outfit to put on a show she does not want to put on but is coerced into doing, and, oh, to keep the author’s exposure kink going, we got to make her a (forgive the insulting phrase) “mousy” girl with pigtails, glasses, and a more reserved personality so that the readers can also enjoy the author’s kink--gross, fuck this shit.  

So, do I want My Hero Academia to be competently done even if the ending is cliche, or do I want it to be ambitious even if it can’t quite reach those lofty goals and still ends up with a deflating ending or a confused final message it is trying to give to the audience? 

I’ve said before that Shoto Todoroki may work better as the protagonist of his own story. With that idea in mind, and based on your remarks, is it possible that Horikoshi had a very ambitious idea in mind--the tragedy that Endeavor and Dabi both got what they wanted, and the cost ended up making what they got a punishment rather than a victory--but that the kind of story Horikoshi is writing was not suitable for that tale? 

I really hate that argument I am proposing, because it makes it sound like the problems are the circumstances of genre (superheroes), demographics (shonen), and the publishing industry (weekly release schedule, etc) that hampered Horikoshi, when the more likely answer is either that Horikoshi just isn’t that good at writing that kind of a story, or that it was never that kind of story he was interested in, or that he succeeded in the story he wanted to tell and I just don’t like the execution or even the message itself. 

Too Many Characters?

A common complaint I read online is that My Hero Academia suffers because it has too many characters. I have never been convinced by that argument. 

MHA is like a good Pixar film: there is always some group of misfits in the background serving as comedic relief but who also have their own narrative path through the story, whether it is to give those misfits their own path for character progression or, as is more often the case, just a path to show what their characterization has been this whole time. 

Think of Gurgle in Finding Nemo when one of his last scenes in the movie is yelling at the Aqua Scum: that’s not showing his character progression, that’s clarifying what his characterization has been this entire time--he is indeed concerned about cleanliness, but even when the Aqua Scum gives him what he has always wanted, that being an absolutely clean tank, he is not overjoyed but horrified because it ruins his buddies’ plans to save Nemo. Gurgle’s characterization was never cleanliness above everything else; his characterization was he wants cleanliness _and_ to keep protecting his friends. That moment is more ironic than anything, as well as the start of his plot, that being, how is he going to save Nemo and fight against the very thing he has always wanted…only that plot never actually starts or reaches a conclusion because the title of the movie if Finding Nemo and other characters such as Gill are the actual protagonists or at least supporting characters that instigate the plot and progress along the way. 

That is my long rant about why I don’t really care that Sero and others have limited character moments in this final arc, and why I think it’s silly to say that there are too many characters for Horikoshi to satisfy for all of them. 

That being said, that doesn’t mean I don’t think he dropped the ball--because I think he did when it comes to the Todoroki family drama. 

Natsu as Audience Surrogate

As I said before, I am struggling to separate my thoughts from just whatever was the last thing I read online. But I can’t ignore what I think people in the Reddit thread got correct, that the final arc centers on Endeavor when the audience also wants the ending to center on Dabi, Shoto, and the rest of their family. It should have been enough to gesture at just enough of Natsu’s education, career, and dating life to give a sense of full characterization--and instead he ends the story still striking me as an accumulation of grievances against Endeavor, and it rings hollow rather than making Natsu our audience surrogate, someone we identify with and agree with and hence can characterize ourselves. 

I don’t know--would it have been better to lend less background information to Natsu to make him a better audience avatar? Should he be like a Fire Emblem protagonist or the OC you create in Sonic Forces, just bland enough that you can place yourself in their shoes? I don’t think that’d work either; it’d just make Natsu into a dull protagonist like someone out of a crappy isekai. But at least I’m trying to figure out what went wrong and how to improve on what is already in the story without re-plotting and completely contradicting the messages Horikoshi is trying to deliver. 

Move Up Dabi’s Confrontation with His Siblings

As I have also said, maybe I would have enjoyed parts of this final arc if they were not forced into the end of the story, which would mean moving them up to earlier in the story. This again is based on something elliotthezubat and I have been plotting as ideas about how My Hero Academia could have gone, but one idea I had discussed was having Dabi confronting Natsu and Fuyumi earlier and on their own. Between when Dabi puts out the video and when the final war starts, why not have a scene of Dabi sneaking up on Natsu and Fuyumi to confront them? 

I know that does not sound realistic, or even believable--I’ll address why that can still work, however, in a moment. 

And it disrupts the intended forcefulness of forcing all of the confrontation into one moment of the family trying to freeze Dabi together. But that is my point, forcing all of it at once undermines a lot of the more nuanced details you can pull from the complexities of the sibling relationship. It also would actually let Natsu and Fuyumi say something more meaningful than just repeating what Endeavor and Rei were already yelling at Dabi when trying to kill or freeze him, and it would address what is a repeated complaint in the Reddit thread, that Natsu and Fuyumi say next to nothing to Dabi when they actually face him at the hospital. 

As for why this would still work even if it doesn’t seem initially to be that realistic or believable: we already saw Dabi sneaking around to find Toga to deliver Twice’s blood. It is in keeping with his methods and skills that of course he could find some way to get to Natsu and Fuyumi when they are alone. “But aren’t they at the UA fortress?” Then write a way for them to not yet have arrived there; it can’t be any dumber than how they all happened to show up right where Dabi and Endeavor are fighting in the climax. 

Make This an Actual War Arc

Having Dabi track and confront Natsu and Fuyumi earlier has the added benefit of making your war arc into an actual war arc. I have complained repeatedly online that the wars in My Hero Academia don’t feel like wars, they feel like one big battle that constitutes the entirety of the so-called war. Wars consist of numerous battles, not just one big battle--and I don’t think MHA did a good job making this all feel like a series of battles leading to anything. It got better when it was Izuku and the Pros finding AFO’s base only to get the video message--that kind of covert work shows greater dimensions of a war beyond just fistfights and explosions. 

And that’s why Dabi on his own looking for Natsu and Fuyumi would suit this war arc: it’s a quieter moment of surveillance and covert work, not a major battle. 

One thing I never appreciated enough in the Season 1 finale of Justice League was how the World War II scenes are broken up into the various dimensions of war: Green Lantern on the ground with the infantry, Supes and Hawkgirl in aerial combat, but also J’onn and Wonder Woman on their own covert spy missions. 

MHA didn’t have enough of the covert spy stuff during the war arc, I anticipate because Horikoshi covered a lot of that before the war kicked off with Hawks infiltrating the PLF. But to not persist with that tone and style of warfare is a missed opportunity and hurts the pace and intensity of the war: we need those quieter moments that a spy story can provide against all the explosions and physical battles.

And it is a good spot where to stage Dabi, Natsu, and Fuyumi airing their grievances now so that we get where they come from in the final confrontations, rather than forcing all of it with limited page space, time, and dialogue to get at how the relationships between them have changed since Toya “died” and since Dabi’s video. 

Does Anything in Society Change?

I’m going to quote part of the initial question: 

“not even giving us those rushed redemptions - nah even that is too much for Hori, so lets just give the old ‘dead equals redemption’ trope which is as lazy as it is cowardly - atleast Crona got the hope of getting bailed out of jail, and the society actually changed, even if unrealistically, with the witches truce - while in MHA the whole buildup of ‘maybe this society is bad, maybe heros shouldnt be worshiped, maybe civilians should not be infantalized and depowered and shouldnt just rely on fascists supercops when they literally have their own powers, maybe the villians should be integrated and understood....’- nah, they are all evil psychos, lets stigmatize mentall ilness as being violent…”

There is a lot here, so forgive me if I go out of order. 

I think the story lost me about any chance of a changed world when it had, to repeat myself, Cementoss already rebuilding entire towns that quickly. As I said, of course that would happen--Cementoss has that power, he is a good person, it would not be pragmatic to do anything else, use every tool you have. But visually and thematically, it says, “Don’t worry about your emotional attachment to your original home and possessions--things are reset back to normal!” 

Add to it that the Cementoss moment is on the same page as a useless cameo by Koichi from My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, and I was sour. How do you stage the arrival of a popular enough spinoff character to just have him looking around at everything? You could have just as easily had him as a background gag, where he’s still having the same problems as before, to indicate he really hasn’t progress as a character (because, sorry fans, Koichi never progresses in Vigilantes, that is why the ending to that series is miserable to sit through). 

I think I understand your point about “death equal redemption,” as regards maybe Toga, if she is confirmed dead, and Dabi, whenever he finally dies having now given an unearned, barely registering apology to Shoto, as well as Endeavor’s attempted death to stop Dabi that has effectively killed his Pro Hero work and, in a rather disablist fashion, implies that with his injuries he may as well be dead--which is fucked up and offensive, but that could be my misreading, not Horikoshi’s intention or even execution. 

I do think that is similar enough to Crona’s willed exile to stop Asura, but I agree, there is the intention by the end of Chapter 113 that Maka will get Crona back--it’s just a matter of how much time and whether Ohkubo will ever wrap up that story (and wrap it up in a way that satisfies enough readers and not piss away continuity, canon, and the lasting message or theme of Soul Eater as a whole). 

I don’t know what to make of Horikoshi’s attempts to speak to the problems with Pro Heroes within his fictional setting and as suitable for real-world application to talk about policing and other power structures--because Horikoshi was never consistent. Maybe this would work better if My Hero Academia was split into different series. I hate to suggest the MCU model, as we have seen how that has hurt enough other stories, MHA being one of them. But what if each competing, potentially contradicting message was in its own story, even as they share the same setting? You can have your story about how being a hero, lowercase “h,” rather than a Pro Hero means that you are holding onto the ideals, and how you wrestle with your own failures to hold onto those ideals and need to be more pragmatic or else you burn out your body: that is the point of Izuku’s journey in MHA. Then you can have a spinoff about the dangers of such power structures as like a form of policing and how such structures do violence not only to society and the people injured by police but also to the police themselves: that is Endeavor’s story, and it’d be a hell of a lot better as its own manga so that the full tragedy of what happens to him is not getting in the way of whatever hopeful message Izuku’s story is offering. 

Furthermore, for all the praise Endeavor is getting right now, the guy was a bad Pro Hero. In Vigilantes he sends his flames out at random and burns to death a bystander [who turned out to be a villain anyway with a regenerative ability, so no lasting harm done]. During the Sports Festival he was a braggart about his son and burning bridges with All Might instead of focusing on collaborative efforts--something that then harms the mission to save Bakugo. His fixation on handling missions faster than his sidekicks fails to train them as effectively as he could, and it risks exhausting his body and attention, something that already happened against the Nomu, which he is still recovering from, and will persist when trying to save Natsu from Ending and stopping AFO. All of that works in terms of characterization, just not when the readers keep insisting he is a great Pro Hero and a great hero when the story is actively showing you he is not, and even Horikoshi is hammering this point when the only reason Endeavor got to be Number 1 is because All Might retired: Endeavor was a good enough Pro Hero, but he wasn’t a good Pro Hero or even a good hhero, if that makes sense. 

You point out how the story seemed like it would go in the direction of presenting a message that heroes should not be worshipped. I have to agree that this detail falls apart within the story, as Izuku still, correctly or not, gets praise for what he accomplishes: the hero worship has not ended. But I do think the story can still stick this landing if we see Izuku does serve as inspiration that people take on agency themselves to help others rather than waiting for someone else to handle it. 

You point out how the Pro Heroes are presented as akin to “fascists” and “supercops.” I think Horikoshi even backpedals on this point, getting close to the idea but refusing to commit to it. Endeavor is already one example I gave above. We can also take examples of Mount Lady and other seemingly selfish Pro Heroes--who are later shown to have actually decent reasons for their actions, understandable ones, defensible ones, or just pragmatic ones that are more so indictments against the system rather than only the individuals within it. 

Why is Mount Lady a glory hound? Her Pro Hero work does enough collateral damage that she has to offset that bad impression by making a good impression on people, which means she also has to do even more Pro Hero work to pay for the damage she causes and to get better insurance coverage as she keeps losing providers because of the damage she is doing, putting her into a viscous cycle of having to get more fame to pay for damage she causes but which itself causes more damage that she then has to get more fame to pay for and on an on: she is a victim of her own success because the system does not make best use of her abilities. Granted, maybe she should have stayed in her rural hometown where she couldn’t cause as much damage--but that’s also a waste of the talents she can offer across Japan, as she can get around faster by her size and is useful when dealing with rescues from tall urban buildings. And granted, a lot of what I said is based on gag comics and encyclopedic information that should have been in the text itself, otherwise Mount Lady’s progression comes across as lazy: she goes from showboat to serious fighter in Kamino to giving useful advice to the students without a hint of self-absorption. 

Society’s Fault or AFO’s?

I question how much of my problems with MHA are because I am asking the story to hit me over the head with its message and that I’m not practicing enough close reading skills to get the nuanced message it is offering, and how much of the problem is because Horikoshi is bad at this. AFO being responsible for so much misery should be fine because it does not detract from the responsibility Nana, her son, All Might, Gran Torino, bystanders, Endeavor, and others had for how Shigaraki was abandoned, Toga was suppressed, Spinner was ostracized, and Toya “died.” The problem is also that it is too coincidental even for a supposed galaxy brain-tier villain like AFO to account for all possibilities, at least with Shigaraki. Add to it how offputting it was for the story to need narration to literally spell out that AFO was always this bad since birth--no, that is not how babies work, they are not born bad, why is it now that the story is hitting me over the head with a message and one that is not believable? It’s not as if this could not work: show that Yoichi and AFO were taken in a few times since they were babies, hence each time was a chance for AFO to grow up and learn to work with others--and instead AFO got possessive and killed them all except Yoichi. Yes, that is still offputting that a child would be that lethal, but it also shows that he has been given chances over and over again--he was not born evil, he just refused to learn to live with others and that allowed him to be evil. 

Endeavor and Wrapping Up 

And I still didn’t tackle how the manga seems to retcon some details. As you point out, the conflict now comes across more as Endeavor being bad at communicating to Toya. And while the manga makes it clear that Endeavor’s bad communication with Toya doesn’t ameliorate the facts that he was practically buying Rei from her parents, hit her, hit Shoto, indirectly led to Rei scarring Rei, and indirectly led to Dabi leaving burns and scars on his mother and siblings, it is difficult to read this less as a complication for the character so that we see his tragedy and more as a late attempt to make him more endearing and sympathetic rather than maintaining his guilt. It’s as bad as the late revelation that all of this is inspired by Endeavor’s dad dying trying to save a child--something that should be poetic or thematically appropriate, that Endeavor’s dad died trying to do something he thought would help but only ended with both parties dead and a child without a parent, and Endeavor’s work to be a better hero did little initially to help society to prevent another father from dying and only stopped AFO after numerous failings ruined the lives of his wife and children--and even that victory fell apart because Endeavor didn’t stop AFO or even Dabi, it was Bakugo killing a child, then Izuku screwing up and letting AFO back, and the family having to contain Dabi. It’s a muddled mess where I don’t know what the point to any of this was except, “Endeavor must suffer,” and instead of that being cathartic or a lesson, it’s just a confusing mess. 

I’ll wrap up there for now. 

There’s more I want to say about Endeavor, but I think I touched upon the basics of how I would have responded to your point: Endeavor’s tale should be a tragedy, but that message is in conflict with the message we get from the stories of Izuku and everyone else, so, if Horikoshi wanted to get that message across, it would have been better as its own series running parallel to the initial My Hero Academia manga. But that was not going to happen without Horikoshi taking a slower pace or sharing art and writing with someone else. I mean, it sort of worked for some of Bungo Stray Dogs to farm out some of its art to other illustrators…

[ninja-muse]

So, June was a month! Felt like several, but apparently still just the one. Usually I measure the length of a month in books read—more books equals a “faster” month, fewer books equals a “slower” one—but that doesn’t work this time. I read nine books, so about my average. I think the number of “this was fine” books skewed things, as did The Hands of the Emperor which was excellent, but also very long.

And yes, I’ve finally read The Hands of the Emperor! It was everything I expected it to be and more, and just lovely and charming and cozy and all of things. I am bummed that my library doesn’t have the sequel, not that I’d be launching into it right off anyway. It’s the principle of the thing. The only reason it didn’t get my Review of the Month is because it’s hard to take photos of ebook covers….

On the opposite end of the spectrum, my TBR shelf book this month was a last-minute scramble and I opted for something short as a result. (And a classic, because I hadn’t read one of those in a while.) Tortilla Flat really hasn’t aged well, folks. Let’s all hope my next classic is better.

The other last-minute addition to this post is DIGGER IS HERE! I got the notice that it shipped late last week but didn’t think it would be coming to my door quite so soon. It has bookmarks, plural, you guys! I would be jumping into it next except that I’ve barely finished Shubeik Lubeik and I need to put space between excellent graphic novels.

Next up, though? One of the ARCs I hauled this month is The Frugal Wizard’s Guide to Surviving Medieval England. I’m going to be starting it today.

(Episode Thirteen is my other hauled book this month. I’d forgotten I’d requested a copy from a book rep.)

Other life events? I finally saw The Importance of Being Earnest performed! Another last-minute thing, that. I heard about it near the end of May and dithered about getting a ticket because the theatre was a bit of a trek, and then went, well, when else am I going to see it… Worth it, and that’s one thing off my bucket list.

Hopefully July has a lot of good books to make up for the kind of average reading month I’ve just had. Wish me luck!

And now without further ado, in order of enjoyment…

The Hands of the Emperor - Victoria Goddard Cliopher, Secretary to His Radiancy, the Last Emperor of Astandalas, invites his lord on a beach vacation. He has no idea how this will change the world—or his life.

8.5/10

Pacific Islander-coded protagonist, cast contains a range of ethnicities and skin tones, 🇨🇦

Shubeik Lubeik - Deena Mohamed A Cairo kiosk owner tries to sell off three wishes. It doesn’t quite go as planned.

9/10

Egyptian cast, largely Muslim cast, Egyptian author, #ownvoices for Egyptian

warning: depression, suicidal ideation, death of a child

Shadowlands - Matthew Green Short histories of lost settlements from across the UK.

7/10

The Golem of Brooklyn - Adam Mansbach Len creates a golem while stoned. This is only his first poor decision of the week. Road trip, anyone? Out in September

7/10

largely Jewish cast, 🏳️‍🌈 (lesbian) secondary character, Jewish author, #ownvoices for Jewishness

warning: anti-Semites, white supremacists, homophobes

The Helios Syndrome - Vivian Shaw A freelance necromancer must help determine why an airplane crashed, while being haunted by a pilot.

7.5/10

🏳️‍🌈 (gay) protagonist, 🏳️‍🌈 (gay/bi) secondary character, 🏳️‍🌈 author

The Dress Diary of Mrs. Anne Sykes - Kate Strasdin A history of Victorian fashion through the lens of a fabric scrapbook.

7/10

The Gifts - Liz Hyder In 1840s England, a woman grows wings, a storyteller comes to London, a wife grows unsatisfied, and a doctor gets ambitious.

7/10

Black British POV character, 🏳️‍🌈 secondary character (gay)

warning: racism, misogyny, animal death, medical content

The Road to Roswell - Connie Willis Francie travels to Roswell to save her college roommate from a misguided marriage, and promptly finds herself on an involuntary road trip with an alien.

6.5/10

Tortilla Flat - John Steinbeck A group of friends ramble around old-time Monterey.

3.5/10

multiracial protagonists, largely BIPOC cast

warning: racism, misogyny, alcohol, racial slurs

The Gay Best Friend - Nicolas DiDomizio Dom’s best friends are getting married! Which is great, except he’s having to keep secrets for both of them and maybe he needs to think a bit about expectations and authenticity.

5/10

🏳️‍🌈 protagonist (gay), 🏳️‍🌈 secondary character (gay), 🏳️‍🌈 author, #ownvoices

Currently reading:

Nothing! I start July with a clean slate.

Stats

Monthly total: 10 Yearly total: 62/140 Queer books: 2 Authors of colour: 1 Books by women: 6 Authors outside the binary: 0 Canadian authors: 1 Off the TBR shelves: 1 Books hauled: 2 ARCs acquired: 5 ARCs unhauled: 4 DNFs: 0

January February March April May

[litcityblues]

Doctor Whoquest Part 10: Flux Capacity Overload

I'm going to have to depart from the usual format of these posts for this season because they did something kind of unusual with it. I don't know why they structured this season the way they did- whether it was a weird post-COVID timing thing, whether it was the mixed reviews of prior seasons, or just some BBC internal decision-making, but this series marks the end of Jodie Whittaker's time as The Doctor and producer Chris Chibnall also took a bow and exited stage left to prepare for a new (and old?) era with Russell T. Davies coming back to take the reins for the next series.

For this season, they had a six-part series entitled 'The Flux' followed by three specials which culminated in the feature-length special 'The Power of The Doctor' for the BBC's Centenary celebrations. Because of that, I can't really do the 'Three Episodes I Liked, Two I Didn't Like, One To Consider' thing because it's a pretty small sample size. So, I'm just going to break it down and take the two components separately.

First, The Flux:

When I was a kid, they would show old episodes of Doctor Who on PBS late at night before the channel went off the air. You'd be staying up late at a sleepover, trying to stay up all night and you'd stumble across them. You wouldn't know what the hell was going on. The plot wouldn't make much sense. But you'd watch it anyway.

The Flux is a lot like that, only supercharged and on steroids.

Don't me wrong: there's a lot to like about it. If there's one thing to consider about the Chibnall Era it's that the show took some big swings here and there and sometimes they worked (like The Lone Cyberman) and sometimes they didn't. The Flux may well be the biggest swing the show has ever taken and unfortunately, they missed.

The Flux jumps right into the thick of it and doesn't let up for all six episodes. it is very much 'all gas, no brakes' which makes it fun, but it's also a glorious ride on the Hot Mess Express. I couldn't tell you the plot in any meaningful way. The Doctor and Yaz are on the trail of Karnavista, who is supposedly a bad guy, but turns out to be a good guy and a big alien dog species called The Lupari who are bound to protect Earth from an oncoming Universe destroying event known as The Flux.

Time gets all twisted in on itself and takes the plot with it, but someone there is Sontarans in the Crimean War and just everywhere in general. The Weeping Angels get involved. Division is back- though I'm confused, did they make references to Division in the last series? Did I miss that? There's a creepy-looking guy who is called The Great Serpent that's floating around somewhere. There are these bad guys called The Swarm with bits coming out of their heads and Old Lady Raiden and an Ood show up to connect all back to the TImeless Child thing AND to top it all off, there's an old guy in 1820 wandering around tunnels he keeps digging in Liverpool oh and they pick up a new companion, Dan Lewis (John Bishop) who is very much from Liverpool and has a lady friend Diane who is kind of has a thing for and there's a couple of other people floating around too.

That makes sense, right?

I will give it this: Doctor Who once again, succeeds at making side characters incredibly interesting sometimes. Professor Jericho (Kevin McNally) and Claire Brown (Annabel Scholey) are standouts that I wish had more time on The Flux because their plot lines got interesting even if they did take a left turn into Weeping Angel territory. Similarly, the reappearance of the Sontarans makes me long for the Paternoster Gang to show up again- though to be fair, would another plot point in an episode absolutely packed with them.

Also, full credit for attempting to raise the stakes in a serious way. A big, Universe threatening *thing* for the Doctor to tackle is legitimately ambitious.

Ultimately, The Flux was that. A glorious, ambitious mess of pure distilled Whovian energy. But it’s beyond that– somehow you managed to put an infinite number of plot lines and villains into this and it collapses in on itself like a black hole and forms a pure dense neutron star of Whovian energy. It’s that much of a glorious mess.

Second, The Specials.

Eve of the Daleks, in the wake of The Flux, time-loopy shenanigans on New Year's Eve feel like a breath of fresh air with a plot that's... oh, what's that word: straightforward and one, singular Dalek is a nice change. It's an even nicer change when you throw in the fact that they've seemed to have thought their plan through for once AND they have super cool machine gun thingys now. Bonus points for casting Aisling Bea, who is pretty great in this.

Legend of the Sea Devils was entertaining enough. I like it when the Show digs around resurrecting villains from way back because they've got plenty to choose from. Pirates are always nice. Chinese pirates? Not what I was expecting and pretty awesome as a result.

The Power of the Doctor: Well, I'll give them this-- they went out on one hell of a high. This was exactly what you would want in a Centenary Special. The Master (Sacha Dhawan) returns along with the Cybermen and The Daleks for a plot to destroy the world- but really, to capture the Doctor and force her into a regeneration to essentially take her over. The Doctor has to rally friends and companions both new and old-- we see the return of Ace (Sophie Aldred) and Tegan (Janet Fielding) alongside multiple Doctors who appear both in the in-between space as the Doctor is being forced into a regeneration and as various incarnations of a hologram helper the Doctor created to help coordinate the efforts of her friends to stop the plot to destroy the world. The Master manages to mortally wound her in the end before seeming to succumb to his own injuries. She says farewell to Yaz, who finds herself in a support group for former Companions and then goes off to regenerate and finds that the Fourteenth Doctor looks a lot like the Tenth one.

I feel bad for Dan in this, because he kind of dipped out right at the start and we don't see him again until the end. Would also have been nice to see Ryan with Graham, but I'll take what I can get. Loved the old Doctors and the old companions coming back. That was a nice touch and it underscored the name of the episode-- the real power of the Doctor is that of her friends both old and new.

The Season Verdict:

The Flux: Hot Mess Express, 5/10

The Specials: Solid and ended beautifully with the last one. 8.5/10.

The Whittaker Verdict: Nowhere near as bad as the Interwebs would have you believe. I know, because of the times we live in, that there were going to be the inevitable grumbles about her gender, but you know what? It's not really an issue. There is, I think, nothing written in the rules excluding the possibility of a woman in the role and for that reason, I didn't have a problem with it-- after 60 years, you're going to have to do some things you've never done before if you want to keep your franchise fresh for new generations and fresh full stop.

Jodie Whittaker is an excellent actress. I loved that they took some swings here and there and tried to push the envelope over the course of her tenure. Ambition is not a sin in my book and there was lots of very very good moments and fresh takes on things we've seen before during her run. The Flux was a glorious hot mess though and for that reason, I'd probably put her at a solid 7/10.

[purplesurveys]

1749

How old were you 10 years ago? I was 15.

The last time you went out to eat, where did you go? I already talked about it in detail in a previous survey but my workmates and I went to a wine bar for Trina's despedida. We went to a nearby bar after for more filling bar chow cos all they had in the first place were light finger food meant to be paired with wine.

What did you order? For the wine bar, we got a few bottles of wine, clams, a cheese plate, and fries; for the bar, we had chips, sisig, and mac and cheese balls.

Think of the last film you watched. Who was your favourite character? I can't remember the last movie I saw because I rarely watch any anymore; but the last anything I watched was Prison Playbook. I'm only one episode in, but my favorite has been the sweet dude who was part of the same inmate batch as the main character. Least suspicious character so far, and it helps to know that his reason for getting incarcerated was merely because he didn't pay back the loan for his mom's surgery.

Do you use Twitter? How about Tumblr? I do use both, although I'm much more active on Twitter because all I do here is take surveys on weekends and the occasional weeknight.

What colour are the walls of the room you’re in? They're white.

What would you like to say to the last person that hurt you? I have not felt hurt by my loved ones for a very long time now. That feels pretty great to realize!

When was the last time you felt disappointed? Who/what cheered you up? I was soooo bummed last Friday – I had booked a visit to a museum, but I didn't expect the traffic to be absolutely awful (it was mid-afternoon, when roads would be relatively more relaxed) that I got to my destination 40 minutes after my reserved slot. It was also the last timeslot for the day, so it wasn't like I could just join the next batch of visitors.

I figured it'd be stupid of me to even show up lol, so I just went to the food hall next door, which also ended up sucking because there was no cell signal inside; I couldn't even use my data. At least I got a delicious spicy tuna poke from my visit.

Do you have a friend whose name starts with ‘L’? Describe him/her. There's Lea and Leigh. Lea is SUPER friendly, I love love love having conversations with her so it's a shame we see each other so rarely; I also see her as headstrong, ambitious, and intelligent. Leigh is creative, gentle, and a really talented singer.

When you opened your eyes this morning, what were your first thoughts? Holy shit I suck at waking up, I must have missed Jungkook's set at the Global Citizen Festival and I hate myself. Then I checked my Twitter (it was 7 AM by that point; they advertised the set as starting at 4 AM, Manila time) and apparently he was still in the middle of doing Seven LOL. Man did his set three hours late so I got to still hang out with him for a few minutes AND see the teaser for 3D!!!

Have you received any compliments today? Nah.

Describe one of your favourite items of clothing. Where did you get it? My brown sleeveless maxi dress - just Shopee, haha.

Name one of your favourite foods that starts with the letter A. Arancini.

Is there anyone from your past that you sometimes miss? Tell me about them. Only people I can think are Sofie and my grandpa. Sofie was my best friend in high school and we were each other's biggest confidantes. She was born overseas but since her parents were incapable of raising her and were separated, she was sent back here from childhood, and that's how she ended up in my school by around Grade 7. She had hair as thick as mine, loved makeup, and got me into Audrey Hepburn. We grew apart in college and saw each other a grand time of Once before she migrated to the UK this time last year. Our relationship post-drifting-apart has been wholesome and there's been absolutely no grudge or bad blood or whatever. I was raised around my grandpa routinely telling me random trivia and general knowledge, and I think I got my love from learning from him. He is a gifted writer and he apparently used to write my grandmother poems when they were younger, and is into history. If there is one thing he can't handle well, it's alcohol, and I have my fair share of trauma from what I've seen of him when he has had too much to drink. Nevertheless I think of him fondly, especially for the person he was without his brandy. He died in 2015 from a sudden heart attack when he was visiting family from our province.

How long have you known the last person you text messaged? Since 2020.

Do you know what the person you miss is doing at this moment? Probably on his lunch break.

Has anyone told you that they love you today? Yes.

In the last week, what’s the kindest thing that someone has done for you? My sister making me instant noodles when I asked her.

Is there a song that makes you cry every time you hear it? We Are Bulletproof: The Eternal has been a little rougher to listen to these days. So has Love Letters.

If someone read your mind right now, what would they hear? They would hear remnants of Le Sserafim's Fire In the Belly because I can't stop thinking about it lmao.

Do you have any favourite jewellery that you wear every day? Yes, my purple heart charm necklace that Reena gave me.

What colour are the eyes of the last male you talked to? Dark brown.

Are you wearing anything orange or red? Yes.

Who was the last person you said “hello” to? Idk, I think my sister.

I like to think there is always something to smile about…so, tell me, what’s your reason to smile right now? News about my potential resignation has apparently spread at work so I'm just happy that I'm not bearing it on my own anymore. They know I have plans to leave and they know I'm not too thrilled with my promotion, so at least I don't have to worry about violent reactions when the timing is finally right to step back and step out.

Also, Jungkook new single on Friday.

[tangy-soup]

Hii lookie! Even though I only made like 4 fully rendered pieces this year, I'm happy with what I've done this year!

(For months where I dont't have fully rendered finished pieces I put in the next closest thing I have that month.)

Ramble under the cut where I try to go over each month

General overview:

Funny thing I've noticed is how often I used cool tones this year bc my older art (that ive never shown from like 2 years ago) was characterized by warm tones

Even though I work through fully rendered pieces super slowly and barely come out of the year with any, I'm super proud of my progress this year! I've learnt and grown a lot as an artist and have also realized my potential. With that though also comes my fear of not being able to top what I've done, which I'm trying to work on! My issue is I tend to produce a lot of art when feeling highly inspired by a media, and right now I don't exactly feel the same kind of spontaneous and passionate inspiration as I did during the year. I'm definitely dealing with some sort of mental block right now when it comes to digital art and I'm hoping to get through that soon because I miss the process of making something I love through drawing!!

January:

honestly thought the boatem piece was done last year so I was surprised to find it in my January files! This piece was kind of a turning point for my art as it was my first more complex pieces (i had not previously done a piece w more than 1 character in it really). It was a lot of work and I was very nervous about it but I'm quite proud of what I was able to do!

Late january is also when i started sketching out the ethubs piece actually (i work slow)!

February:

I didn't actually do a ton of art this month, as I tend to take a break and slow down right after finishing a piece. At this point I was very keen on doing pose studies traditionally. I posted some of these and most of them were desert duo.

This month i started to really figure out my dnd character Ethe's main design as our campaign was starting. So, i did a portrait of her for that. The rest of February was working on ethubs and studying how to paint grass and clouds and just sketching here and there. I think desert duo brain rot was strongest this month

March:

March was also a mix of pose studies and random sketches and FINALLY FINISHING ETHUBS. I was also doing some art for dnd ^_^

April:

I finished the dragonborn npc centered dnd piece this month, and also began sketching out the cleo piece. In between working on cleo I did some joe art including an animatic featuring the wordle boarder and the sketch for biblically accurate joe :D

May:

Pretty much anytime i had procreate open in may I was working on Cleo. This is the most ambitious art project I have taken on and I wasn't sure if I was able to make it how I wanted, so I was kind of slow and on and off with it. I ended up putting it down towards the end of the month and did some more personal illustrations

June:

Big month for my dnd blorbos tbh! I introduced a sister for Ethe and was working on her design and their interactions. I also got a bigger sketchbook this month and did a bunch of traditional studies. I finished the flats for cleo this month and took a break so most of the art I did were sketches

July:

I was in the home stretch for cleo and with the help of my friends telling me to finish it i finally pushed through and finished it. I couldnt be happier w the results!! it's one of my proudest pieces this year and I put in so much work for it. But after I finished it i took a huge break from mcyt art and focused on dnd art yet again.

August:

My work for the multidimensional big bang started this month!! I worked out the character design early august and had a sketch for the full piece by the end of the month. In the meantime I was actually working on a cat painting I never posted... maybe I'll post it in an end of year art dump

September:

This month was all about the big bang piece. I had so much fun doing it and am super proud of the finished product. Im especially happy with the composition and inclusion of the background characters!!

October:

Again. Major break from making full pieces after finishing a huge one last month. I think I spent more of my creative energy elsewhere like my writing. Also school started again and I had moved apartments and there was a lot of irl stuff preventing me from drawing. I did try to do traditional studies if I could

November:

Kind of a dead month for drawing. Super busy w school, chugging my way through Ethe's ref sheet i started months ago.

December:

Literally haven't drawn anything new besides a new years illustration for greeting cards. I picked up crocheting again and have been spending a lot of creative energy on that instead, but to keep my drawing going I've been doing more figure studies in my sketch book i guess!

[cascaria]

Blog Post 5/29/2023

Music is an artistic venture that's been on my mind a lot as of late. Rather, lyrics are specifically. I've been taking a different approach with lyrics than previous efforts (different from what I've put out publicly anyway), trying to get more personal. A lot has changed in my sense of self recently (trans moment teehee) and its made attempts to write more personal stuff feel,,, strange. Songs I wrote mere months ago feel like they were written by a different person, ideas expressed in earnest feel fake somehow.

I tried to make a clumsy snapshot of myself at this point in time, a lyrical self portrait of sorts, but the subject changed always through the painting. All it really needs is a little course correction; tweak some lyrics, scrap a few songs, write a few new ones, typical creative process. But even so its got me thinking in pretentious philosophical ways I hadn't considered before.

Can a person really be captured in the art they make? The answer is no, of course, the most realistic paintings, the most high quality photos, no matter the medium there will always be something missing. Someone could write an autobiography the length of all the Wheel of Times books put together and details would still be missing. You could film every second of a person's life and still never capture the whole picture. Of course what I'm attempting is nowhere near as ambitious, but even capturing one moment in time in total is impossible. Even in the attempt, the moment passes and a new moment is born. Sometimes the changes aren't drastic so its negligible, but of course realizing you're trans is anything but a minor shift.

Words are a weird thing for me. When I'm speaking in the moment I never feel like I can muster the right words to truly express what I'm trying to say. Given time and a big word count I can get closer, but even when I'm satisfied I'll come back to it a day later and realize ten billion things I forgot to say or wish I worded better. This includes stuff like this very blog post this sentence was added last minute.

Lyricism and poetry is a whole other beast, though. So much more has to be taken into account when crafting every line, and some ideas are really fucking hard to compress down into a rhyme scheme and melody. Ideas of the self are especially difficult. How can I make a song to express an image of myself when I barely know who I am? How can I create a snapshot of myself as a person when I barely feel like I'm real? If I don't even feel like me, how can I know what that "me" even is and express it in any way, let alone lyrically?

I've tried expressing that very experience via song and while I've written some lines I'm proud of I still feel like I'm barely scratching the surface of what I want, what I need, to convey. Part of the whole point of this project is to take the ideas and feelings out of my shitty brain and express them outwardly. Even though only like 5 people will listen or care (hi friends :3) the fact that it was heard is what matters. The fact it could be heard. But I can't make something heard if I don't know how to say it. No matter what I do, anything I write anything I sing anything I create will just be a faint silhouette of the picture.

I guess all art is like that, though. A drawing or painting can never measure up to the image formed in the artist's mind. A novel can never contain every detail of the vast world an author imagines. A song can never fully convey the emotion of the songwriter/performer. But, these things still resonate. A novel can't contain the whole of fantastical world in the author's mind, but it can create a whole new one in the mind of the reader. Art doesn't end with the artist. Once its made, once its out there, while the version in the artist's head will die with them, a new version will be made in the mind of everyone that chose to engage with it.

I can never fully express myself in the way I want to, but I can express enough that whoever engages with my art can form an image in their own head. Maybe it differs from mine, but the details that matter will be there. I can never fully put myself in a song, but I can try. I can put fragments together that a listener can pick up and graft to their own experience. Maybe it isn't about making an image of myself. That's certainly part of it on my end, but it doesn't end with me. Maybe its about making a mirror. A mirror containing fragments of myself that can also reflect fragments of whoever chooses to pick it up. Even if I am the subject, my art will never ultimately be about me.

I feel like a pretentious ass even insinuating anything I make could ever have a serious impact on someone, but I hope it does. If I could impact even one person with my art the way other people's art has impacted me, that's more than I could ever ask for. Even if I don't though, even if everything I make is doomed to obscurity for the rest of time and even all my friends fucking hate it, maybe it was enough that I tried. Maybe that's all that really matters in the end. Maybe that fruitless yet meaningful effort is what art truly is. I don't know.

[popculturebuffet]

Breaking Cat News Years 4 and 5: Archived Footage (Patreon Review for Emma Fici)

Hello all you happy people and welcome back to my look at one of the best comic strips of all time, breaking cat news!

This time as you can probably guess by the title we're going back to go forward See as I outlined last time in what i'm supsecting to be late 2016, BCN was picked up by U-Versal U-Click, aka Andrews McMeel Publishing, aka GoComics aka Jimmy the Reach. For those not as familiar with them as a comic strip nerd like me a refresher: U-Versal/Andrews is a newspaper syndicate, which helps both distrbute comics to newspapers the traditional ways an din the last few decades also puts them online and maintains the archives, so even with print collections having died off for the majority of strips, you can still find the complete works of most strips. Their easily the biggest of the two that exist, having dozens of iconic strips under their umbrella: Calvin and Hobbes, Doonesbury, Bloom County (those two shared with the washington post writers group, a smaller syndicate), For Better or Worse, Phoebe and Her Unicorn, Heart of the City, Big Nate, Pearls Before Swine and SO much more. They also are nice folks who let you visit the archives for free.

Not only did they handle the collections, but they also gave her a nice bump, allowign Georgia to go from freeflowing strips published whenever she could to a daily format that still supported the long sagas the strip, and sundays to still do the one offs the strip was famous for. The fandom nicely moved with her, with many a longtime fan having come in from the web runa nd being just.. lovely to me when I started out. And with Go Comics still providing a digtial space there weren't a lot of downsides: Georgia got a more visable platform, more pay for her work, yearly collections.

This was all great news and in the long run it pushed the strip to even higher highs , and it's only gotten better. In the short.. it had one small drawback. For the next two years or so of strips… they had to go back. See it's the downside of a webcomic getting picked up: you need to spend some time, sometimes a few weeks sometimes longer, aclimating the newspaper audience, which pauses it for those who have been reading it all along. Most take a few months, wallace the brave did, crabgrass did, Phoebe and her Unicorn did, and reprint strips.

Georgia.. got a bit more ambitious. Instead of just reprinting the strip up to this point.. she redrew the whole damn thing. Every strip was represented either as a daily storyline that extended it or as a sunday strip, simplyt aking an old strip and reconfiguring it. Everything happened and even with two arcs skipped over, they still happened two, but it's simply expanded and redrawn to fit Georgia's evolved art style

So the big question i've had since considering this project in the first place is .. how the heck do I cover these. You'd think "oh well just skip em you stupid weak baby, you gonna cry now you stupid weak baby", and in that case.. please seek help or at least better simpsons refrences. But I really can't.. while the strip DOES go back in time… it's still moving forward in how Georgia does things: it's worth looking at how she adjusts to the format, changes up how she works with it, and what she changed. What she added> What new characters were introduced. And of course the handful of new storylines that are every bit as canon as what came before and simply come up between those stories i've covered.

There's entirley new running gags, character bits, and payoffs that simply were not there before. So I compromised: I'm still doing these bcause their valuable and well done strips, but I'm doing two years at once this time, discussing both how the strip evolves and the handful of arcs that are all new and all diffrent. And just as a heads up this isn't even the end of the semi-reboot as next time we have to deal with beatrix's arc, it's just out of the arcs covered that one has the most added bits.. mostly to help explain why bea didn't join the family.. but someone else we'll meet next time does. For now though let's get back on the ari and explore what's old, what's new, and what smells like toast.

Everything Stays, But It Still Changes

Something that caught me when doing this is that while a lot of story beats are repeated, Georgia used going back to the beginning to get new material, to use the fact she had to strip things back to do more antics with just the big three. We also get a nice prequel to Tommy's intro strip

You can also see with this the early strips of this run.. have a bit of a change. Georgia wasn't doing the coloring herself for the dailies. And .. i'm not a huge fan of it. I"m not against having the syndicate do colors, but it has to fit the art style. BCN has a very free flowy, painted style that's very beautiful and the coloring is a major part of that. I can't blame Georgia for trying it, being a daily cartoonist is exhausting and I also don't begrudge a single one that DOESN'T do their own coloring: the majority of artists don't. It's just in this case the syndicate also really didn't make the colors match the style, so their a bit flat.

The stories are still as sharp as ever, and like Tommy's storyline the characters moving in gets more expansion. For starters the woman is visibly pregnant for it, and is at the start of the strip, likely to speed up introducing the boy. While she was always precise with introductions, the newspaper run takes it to a new level as she had a very clear and well thought out two or so year plan. As such while , much like the original year one, we're mostly limited just to the main trio and tommy cat wise, things move on at a decent clip and the move is moved up, with Puck bringing his brother some tea and some nice moments.

The biggest most noticable change though.. is that THe Man and Woman are more active characters. They still have the primary role of doing thigns our heroes just don't understand or thrwarting them for reasons they don't understand while still being loved by all.. okay the Woman is loved by all, the man is loved by 2/3 and resnted by a cat who was there first dammit. While the strip had hints of it as it went, the daily run is where the man and the woman really become character sin their own right, with the woman becoming a vehcile for Georgia to chroncile her own life and foibles

And.. I love it. It feels like the last step to the strip reaching full speed. It's been great so far, at the top of it's game but allowing herself to be a character allows georgia to really vary up the humor. The primary focus is still on our intrepted reporters, as it shoudl be, but it opens it up for the woman/georgia's own loves of cozy mysteries, sci fi, and much more, to be fodder for some really great jokes. It's also where the strip starts to let more of Georgia's personal intrests in in general, leading to some great bits. The biggest of which we'll tackle later

And even with all the neat new stuff…. the old also gets a nice coat of paint as the cat's new level of expression (even if they still default to having no mouths when needed), makes already great moments even BETTER. Take for instance Puck's dramatic reunion with buzzy mouse after the people find him under the couch.

After this we get our first major addition to the lore in this new version, the mystical and wonderful creature, the mailman.

This also begins a trend for the strip that leans into the new format: normally most story arcs for the cats came and went: we saw something big happen, saw it play out , then moved on. The stories all had an impact.

Having a new format, Georgia now breaks up the storie, having ones that either play out over a few months with other stories inbetween or ones like this mailman that take quite some time to payoff. We also get the cats dealing with the terrors of the vacuum, their mortal enemy… another seed to payoff later.

I'm also glad because while i'm mostly glossing over previous material… there is one strip I DID not get to cover. okay there's actually a lot of them because Tumblr's image limit is bad and should feel bad, but there's one bit in paticular I was still sad I never got to cover and thought I never would as I was sure it wasn't recovered… but low and behold it was. Is it plot relevant? no, it's why I have to skip a lot of my faviorite bits sadly and enrouage you to read the full strip. But is it one of the funniest thing in the entire strip? HECK. YES. So when Georgia first had the baby someone around her she's never idenified… said this nonsense.. and the cat's reactions to this bullshit are just.. the best thing in the world.

After this glory we get more of the vacum as elvis gets stranded away from the others and his idnginacy soon turns to terror as the vacum strikes him where he is!

That last panel always strikes me as the most adorable thing. IT really underlines how close these two are, and during an earlier Vacum attack, Elvis rescued puck.. he really would do the same. So with that bit of bravery we enter our first proper full on new storyline. While this is somewhat based on the cats visiting the vet in the original there we really didn't see the visit any. Here though…

Also yes those are some familiar faces making an early cameo in the background. ALso I wish we'd see melty dog again. He's a very good boy.

We also meet Tommy's Woman earlier, as she's working as the vet's assitant.. and as a result gets to meet Elvis earlier too.. it goes about as well for her as it did for her fluffy boy

We also get our first new addition to the cast in this run, one who will be important when we catch back up with the regular timeline: Dr. Mann. And unlike the man and woman that's his actual name.

With the vet's visit over, Puck continues his mailman vigil, las gatos noches settle in up above setting them up for later and their woman gets a much earlier apperance, likely because Georgia decided to cut her intro arc.

The woman's costume confused me at first.. but the man's made what the heme was both more obvious and more awesome

Also yes, those really were their costumes for the boys first halloween. Just when you think you can't love Georgia Dunn more you find out this. As you can probably guess I fucking love little shop of horrors and let's just say if all goes well you'll be hearing more about that in october. Elvis takes his imprisonment well..

After that we get an arc that actually ran LAST WEEK at the time of this review. Yeah sadly the strip is currently in reruns as Georgia injured her wrist. Thankfully she's fully recovered and can draw again, it just means the strip is in reruns (ones chosen by the fans), until it catches back up. But it was still good timing as this arc about leftovers.. leads to one of the best stylistic touches of the strip: Waxing Lyrical. For those unfamiliar with the trope it's when a character drops song lyrics into conversation. The cats will drop many or throw in outright parodies of song staring with this banger.

Also why the Man was so opposed to giving the cats food I DO NOT know. I mean my dog also begs constantly, but you still give them a scrap.

We then get Elvis' Christmas Adventure Again, and this arc and the mice arc the next year are the main reason for the staggered introductions: Both stories NEED the Christmas setting and thrive off it: Elvis getting lost is all the more harrowing because of the winter chill, and also makes it that much easier to buy Tommy could talk him into finally accepting help, with with the mice the entire story revolves around it being christmastime. Both stories just dont' have as much impact if they aren't around santa season. So it was either skip them entirely and try to cram every character introduction into a week.. or simply slow it down slow it way down, which sadly means it's a while before we get back to present day… but as we've seen also allowed for a LOT of new stuff and will continue to.

While I was mildly inconvenienced by the former at first going through these archives allowed me to see the brilliance: while Georgia had to start over her it allowed her what all creators long for: a chance to go back to a story and add stuff they thought of only after they were done. Even as a reviewer myself, there are times after a review I think of a joke and simply can't fit it in the way the review's structured. So I can't begrudge her for seeing an opportunity to slot in stories from when the kids were babies or even new stories that just so happen to fit into the old timeline.

We also get SOMEWHAT of a payoff to the mailman storyline.. as afrter much exaustive searching… Puck's efforts bear fruit.

Sometime later, we get the introduction of Georgia's sister, aka the intruder, aka the love of lupin's life. We also get the start of another running gag where Georgia tries not to frame her special boy as the loveable garbage cat he is

And like many things the real elvis does do this. And it sounds adorbale. We also get to see some precious baby pictures of my precious boy as The Sister waas there for it

We then get the ceiling cats proper intro, the only big diffrence being we get subtitles this time for what fig's saying all the time, not just for the one strip. Though it dosen't change much it's still a nice touch

We do get an expansion on BCW, as it gets a new talent added to the roster

Who seems to be a take on Dusty Rhodes Baby. I approve. One match with a dq finish for Leapin Lupin to retain later and it's time for another grudge match…

Our heroes try the obvious tactic of just.. dumping the fur back on there but the woman simply vacums it back up leaving our heroes on the run… which is bad because Elvis can't run on linolem and puck refuses to leave a man behind. Luckily lupin leaps in, saves them.. but he's fed up and has a brilliant plan

Okay about as brilliant as you'll get out of Lupin. I love burt's caption humor here (explained in universe as him putting them on the archived footage) Also don't think I didn't notice him calling PUck cute ealrier. Maybe puck has a shot with him after all. Just saying.

As for said cutie, Puck's job is to guard the vacum's lair, aka the closet, as while Puck is the better boxer, the vaccum terrifies him too much. We also get a nice sweet moment from Lupin who reassures him it's okay to be scared. So with that the plan is a go, using the studio mikes and for Lupin the mobile teleprompter to cordinate. Lupin gets into naked fighting stance and while the woman sighs, Elvis tracks the cord and Puck decides to cautiously enter the lair…. and finds something shocking

Sadly he can't inform Elvis or Lupin in time as Elvis bites.. the av cord. I love that joke and that nice swerve. Puck swears this dusty cherub won't be an orphan, his exact words, and goes to stop lupin from fufiling his naked destiny. Thankfully he does and Lupin backs down, realizing she's simply been terriotiral because she's got a herd to protect. The bad news is Elvis is still trying to eat the cord to kill this mama bear.. the good news …

I mean in his defense The Woman, the toys are just as much for your amusment as him. Be honest about that…. though it's still really hard to loose an argument where the other person is trying to argue for choking to death.

Lupin and Puck take Elvis to the lineloim, a nice chekovs gun, and the Woman plugging the baby vacum in shows them. Elvis and puck order cords and take a nap and Lupin makes an agreement with the inanimate object

This arc is great: not only is it pateintly hilarious, but it has a weird but wholesome emotional core: yes we know what's actually going on but the strip does one of the things it does best: contextualize something from the cats point of view turning a simple vacuming session into a battle to the death and then a race to stop Elvis and Lupin from orphaning a majestic creature.

After this we get the million dollar debut of PENGO… he's the Boy's faviorite toy and willr emain a fixture for the rest of the strip, always by his child's side.

We also get introduced to the woman's love of cozy mysteries. I really wish I could show EVERYTHING set up, but well blame tumblr. Or blame me for not picking the best format for this blog there's plenty of blame to go around.

We move on to the birth of the girl, the boys shedding up the man's wardrobe (He's a video editor for the record), Burt makes his debut again, Pengo gets a bath hobbes style.. and with that we come to our final arc for today as novemeber and december are taken up with strips remade into daily arcs and naturally all I want for christmas is revenge closing out the year. But at at time when most major stories were being reprtined.. one coudln't.. so Georgia found a workaround

Save Our Pucky

So as i've mentioned in the past two posts the ghost arc… wasn't adapted for this run. Georgia PLANNED to.. but realized the amount of newspaper clippings meant it just coudln't be compressed into a daily format. The same was likely true for Wicket. Problem is Wicket, while very important to Baba's backstory, isn't really relevant to the main story, still being at the shelter at the time of this writing and thus not a concern to the rest of the cast: baba had long moved past him, our heroes vanquished him and it's unlikely he's leaving the comy confines of the shelter this time. He occasionally gets mentioned on dr.scuttles blog and while he likely WILL return I can see why it was way easier to just skip over his arc and fill the audience later if he returns.

Conversely though Tillie, the cat ghost… had a lot more to explore, and Georgia clearly wanted to expand the concept, so instead of recapping her arc, Georgia simply made a sequel, still aclimating the newspaper readers to the fact there's a ghost in their home but it's better than being alone, but allowing her to move forward iwth the concept.

So this adventure begins with Puck discovering a way to the attic early in the morning and deciding to go for a nice brisk climb complete with hoodie and backpack, long before his brothers wake. But while our boy is more cautious than say.. Lupin, which granted a chiuana on cocaine and 3 cans of redbull is more cautious than lupin, he can still make a mistake or too.

What I like about this arc's conflict is the stakes.. are distresingly real. Sure there's a ghostly fix.. but the idea of a pet getting stuck somewhere they can't be found in time is every pet owner's nightmare. I still haunted by finding my own cat dead and it was from natural causes simply lying down and going onto his eternal rest. Thankfully this is a comic strip so tillie can help.. unfrotunatley the only cats who can see her are less than helpful

Also while this goes on we get in the sundays the first of the tails from the space heater, aka the boys tellign spooky stories. It sadly won't get brought up much here but their a delight every year.

Anyways Elvis eventually gets over himself when Lupin reveals a note from puck. Puck was thankfully conteious enough to say he'd gone climbing. I mean given how Elvis is, it's required but it still saves his life as elvis now gets why Tillie was haunting him and since she's apparently spent the last ten minutes getting hissed at by tabitha, she's more than willing to give him another shot . So whlie Tillie goes to get Tabitha (Since she needs BOTH cats to rescue puck) and assure puck heis rescues on the way the rest of her crew and their radio show gets introduced

Sidebar:Tabitha's hissy face is adorable. Anyways Elvis bridges the gap, as well as explaning it to the other two what's going on. The godo news is they can use the dumbwaiter.. the bad is they have to use elvis as tilly has to guide them, even if elvis is the worst climber. Lupin bids him farewell. I'd be madder at him for pulling his annoying younger sibling schtick at a time like this but I love his t-shirt for the mew.

While we find out the other reporters are all the cats form the shelter, and the golden mouse,…. but despite all our heroes efforts..

Luckily.. help arrives

So with that everything is okay, PUck carries elvis back down and the humans find the two in the dumbwaiter. And with that we conclude today's broadcast and these two arcs. It was a lot more fun than I thought it'd be and there's a lot of good content. So while the binge may be a bit wobbly as you'll have read some of these arcs already (And are free to just skip over them, as most are about the same), I still highly recommrend reading this era. It helped solidfiy Georgia as a character in her own strip, added some fun new bits to the series universe, and gave us a great ghost story

Next Time: MORE RERUNS.. but we rerun to the end as we get setup for the future and finally enter the present as the station gets a new visitor on a quest. What is her mysterious mission? Can our heroes help her? And what is her utterly heartbreaking backstory? Find out next month and thanks for reading!

[ren-c-leyn]

Happy STS, Ren!^^ Great start for the special celebration posts, looking forward to the other ones✨

How have you been? Any project/writing/thinking updates? :D

About Gods from Forgotten Gods - what kind of shape do they have? Where do they "live"? They can't really interact with the world other than through the champions, right? So do they have their own realm? Can they interact there? Can they see themselves and each other there? How does it work with them and where does their interest in mortals and champions come from?

@writingonesdreams

Happy STS to you too, Dreams ^^ I come bearing the promised ramble!I checked the word count for the lore part of the ramble, and it’s over 1,800 words XD I knew it was going to be a long one, but this entire post is as long as a chapter of The Shackles of Time.

 I'll start with the update ^^ It's going under the readmore with the ramblings though because it turned into a ramble in of itself XD (I think it's almost as long as the lore ramble....) But! I think it's a ramble you'll enjoy since I've been having thoughts about your favorite projects now that I've got a little bit of breathing room from the Anniversary specials.

I'm wrapping up the last of the celebration posts. It's taking me a little longer than I wanted, but I just have one left to go and then I can get back to my other projects. I just noticed that I only have enough The Shackles of Time chapters scheduled to get through October's bonus chapters, so I will be buckling down and hitting it hard until I have enough to get through January.

I'll have to do quite a bit of writing on it, though, since December is also going to have 2 extra posts and I'm going to be releasing an extra chapter on January 1st to celebrate new years as well. So, that's 8 chapters I need to write, or at least rewrite, and then schedule before I'll feel comfortable enough to get back to work on Forgotten Gods' second draft.

That being said, Firewalker has been chewing on my brainstem for attention recently, so I may begin prepping the rewrite notes for it's second draft. I just really miss Thistle and Valerian and the birds and the utter chaos that is their lives and disaster of a friendship XD

I'm also still thinking of drawing the casts of all of my WIPs and doing proper character introductions for everyone. But that's going to be a very ambitious project that I'm not going to touch until I recover from the 1- year Shackles of Time Anniversary celebration. I've loved every second of setting up for it, but it has also been a bit draining on the creative batteries.

I've also been playing with ideas for what I want to do with The Forgotten Gods' world once I'm done with the current story. It's left off on a bit of a cliffhanger, so I could try to build up a plot for a sequel and keep playing with our favorite trio of social disasters and their Gods. I even have an idea of where to start building the plot points because of the motives of said Gods. There's also some new developments that happened towards the end of the story that I'd love to explore more, and plenty that I think can be done around the old, misty forest.

But, a certain enabler's questions (*coughs* you *coughs*) has got me thinking about my original concept for that world again. All of the weirdness of the Gods clashing and messing with mortals that isn't as show-cased as I wanted.... But I got to thinking on it. There's hundreds of Gods in that fictional world, and thousands upon thousands of unlucky mortals who are forced to deal with said gods. And I may have thought of an MC and God combo that is a match made by chaos, is 100% problematic for both parties but it's too late now, and while it's only a vague concept it already promises to be fun to play with. If it works out the way it is in my head, it will be a lighter, more chaotic, more swearing involved story than the original, but it would still be very much in The Forgotten Gods' world.

So I'm not sure which option I'm going to go with. Eventually I'll probably end up pursuing both, it's just a matter of picking which route sounds like more interesting. Though, even if I did know which one I liked the sounds of, which one interests me more might change by the time I get there. So I'm not pushing myself to make the choice now. I'm just letting my mind play with possibilities.

And before I get to that, I have The Dark Princess of Aconitum to consider. I think I have everything in place for book one of the trilogy, except the names of course, though it's going to be a beast of a project to actually sit down and write. The details are going to be the key with making it work and the foreshadowing is going to have to be on point but subtle. Luckily, I'll have several drafts to get it all ironed out ^^ I'm not sure if it's going to be the kind of project I can set down and work on other things between books or if it's going to be one of those that I can't stop until the series is done, though. As complex as it is, pausing it could muddy it in my mind and this isn't the kind of story I can afford to let get messy. And that's part of why I want to clear my plate a bit before I get started on it to give me the room to work primarily on it and Shackles of Time side by side.

The dragon/warrior woman idea has not entirely faded, it's just quieted down, so I think it just needs more time to simmer and decide what kind of story it wants to be before it decides when it wants to be worked on, and that's okay. As you've probably noticed from the rest of this ramble, I've got a lot going on ^^;

Okay, I thought the update section was going to be shorter than it turned out to be, but apparently I’ve been thinking more than I thought I have. ^^; So onto your real question -

Each God of Forgotten Gods has a different form. Some of them are more humanoid than others. Some look absolutely monstrous. And some are just plain weird. Their appearances are as varied as the Gods themselves.

Here's three examples from the gods I built for the story -

Corona looks a lot like a human woman with very dark skin, long black hair, and wings. She is constantly surrounded by an aura of light so bright, however, that it would be very hard to actually see her without going blind. She is a power sun goddess, after all, and you can not look at the sun.

Eternity is kinda humanoid. He's blue skinned, abnormally tall and slender, with sharp claws and horns and glowing purple eyes.

Cordial is... less humanoid. He has a deer head, fur, antlers and is a towering height compared to even Eternity.

 These appearances are subject to change, however. I haven’t worked out all of the details of this aspect as it never really comes into play, but I imagine that as a God gains more followers their appearance evolves, like how Corona has an aura of light, though her temples depict how she’d appear without it. The depiction likely came from priests/priestesses she gave visions to before she gained her aura. I also imagine that as Eternity regains his foothold in mortality, aspects of his appearance will change as well. Though I’m not sure if that will come into play in later books or not, but it definitely didn’t in Forgotten Gods.

 Which makes sense since Silver is basically his one and only follower, which kinda makes her the default high priestess and head of his religion, but she’s extremely anti-social and rarely speaks of either of her Gods. And since she’s the only one, he doesn’t really have the strength to do anything on his own. Soooo, he’s not getting many new followers anytime soon XD

 And I suppose that dove-tails nicely into ‘ They can't really interact with the world other than through the champions, right? ‘

 They can! They’re Gods, they can do whatever they like, for better or worse, often worse. They can send random people visions, talk in certain people’s minds, mess up your dreams, summon monsters, pull new animals out of thin air and release them into the ecosystem, reshape the landscape on a whim, paint the trees different colors, change the weather, among lots of other weird stuff. I’m sure some poor farmer woke up one morning to find an entire mountain range where their crops had been last night thanks to a God’s whims. That’s part of why what God is in control of a region is so important to the people there.

 However, Gods are beings of pure divine energy, so they can’t come into the mortal realm themselves. If they try, terrible things happen to the world as mortals cannot touch the divine without great harm. It tears their bodies apart, and it also messes with the environment and world in general. One evil god tried it once, but all of of the other Gods dog-piled him and then set about cutting him off from the mortal realm to protect themselves and their own followers. So all Gods have an unspoken agreement since then - no one enters the mortal realm. Anyone who does gets Forgotten.

 So the champions are an important part of how they conduct their business in the mortal realm, they can act where a God cannot necessarily due to their restrictions, but normal people are too. Sometimes a God will give you a vision, knowing you tell your one friend all of your weird dreams so that friend will get the message. Sometimes a priestess will be cued in on someone the God wishes to help. Sometimes a random dude will accidentally bumble his way into letting an evil God’s pet monster loose on the world. Mortals make useful aids when it comes to setting up the Gods’ games, whether they like it or not.

 The Gods can handle some things on their own, though, like you can absolutely get lightening bolted by a cruel god of storms for saying he’s cruel out loud and a goddess of protection can absolutely shield you from a blow that would have killed you and so on. But they aren’t omnipresent, so sometimes things happen when you’re God isn’t looking for better and worse, and Gods also have a hard time acting outside of their territory in mortal domains. If you say worship a relatively unknown sun god and walked into one of the large swaths of territory Corona controls, your God cannot really be counted on to you because Corona can just a laugh at anything he tries to day and say ‘no’ and block his ability to do anything.

 Now then, as for where do they live and how they interact with each other, each God has their own realm. Their own little reality bubble. They can see themselves in them as they experience these reality bubbles much like we experience our lives.

 The realms are set by the Gods themselves and can be redecorated to fit their interests and liking. Some God’s realms never stop changing, some God’s realms haven’t changed since they came into existence.

 There isn’t a large common realm, but if a God’s influence comes into contact with another God’s influence, like two champions meeting, they become aware of each other and can link their realms together so that they can talk face to face. When realms are linked, the Gods can walk over to each other’s domains like walking to a next door neighbor’s home. These links can be severed either by the will of one of the gods or by one of the gods no longer having the strength to maintain the connection. Fun fact - In Forgotten Gods’ a pantheon references to a group of Gods who’ve all linked their realms together and decided to stay linked. They’re like friend groups or alliances. Another fun fact - Eternity and his husband, another God whose name he can’t seem to recall, were apart of a pantheon before that pantheon lost a territory war and were all Forgotten.

Here’s three examples of what the realms can look like using the Gods from before -

Eternity’s realm is a ship on a starry sea with fog rolling over the waves and multiple moons overhead. Any light not from the stars or moons glows purple regardless of the source and it’s always night.

Corona’s realm is a city in the sky. It’s perpetual daytime with clouds floating beneath it. Her divine messengers, made in her image so they are also dark-skinned humans with wings and golden eyes, all live there along with her faithful companions, four golden dragons. There is almost constant singing and color everywhere in the city.

Cordial’s domain is actually a massive, rustic log cabin complete with a large living room with rocking chairs and a hearth, a large kitchen with nice tea sets, a basement stockpiled with thousands of different ingredients and wines and the like, among other things.

 And now for your last question - where does their interest in mortals come from. This links into the phrase ‘being Forgotten’ you might have noticed me use a few times, so this is a good wrap up question ^^

 Divine energy feeds on mortals’ attention. Gods need to be acknowledged by the mortals as a part of survival. It doesn’t matter if it’s positive interactions or negative interactions, but they need someone to say they are real or they get Forgotten. When a God is Forgotten they lose their connection to the mortal realm and their own divine realm starts starving. Over time, the God grows weaker as it feeds on their own divine energy, then the God starts to lose their memory, and then the realm starts to eat itself with little elements going missing day by day, and then, if no one remembers them or finds proof that they were once there, they disappear.

 Every god is terrified of disappearing. Even the evil ones.

 So when Gods get into wars, is never comes to blows between them directly. No, they direct the mortals to go after that other Gods’ following. Priests, priestesses, and champions are usually the first targets. Then they go after the every day people who followed their enemy. Temples are desecrated, holy texts burned, and tragedy thick. It’s a literally fight for their lives for both the Gods and the mortals. If a priest/priestess realizes their side is going to lose, they usually have something connect to their god smuggled out by someone who doesn’t know them so that one day their God may break out of being Forgotten. This has saved many gods, and gotten many innocent traveling merchants killed for being in the wrong place during a God war. The goal is to destroy any evidence that a God ever existed so that they will not get any divine energy replenished.

 It quite savage and brutal when wars between gods happen in this world.

 All of this said, worshipers and loyal followers are usually preferred by Gods. Having someone doing what you say/ask feeds the divine energy more, and in the case of a God war, a willing follower is more likely to try and save you than the guy you’ve annoyed with random holes in the ground for the last three years. Plus, the more divine energy you’re generating in an area, the more secure your territory is and loyal worshipers attract more mortals to you and will probably at least talk about you or say prayers which feeds the divine realm and increases their influence.

There are some Gods who don’t care about any of that, though, and continue annoying mortals for the fun of it. XD

 Champions are mortals who have been infused with divine energy, giving them magic and such. I remember giving you a ramble about them specifically before, and I think I remember talking about how divine energy will eat at a Champion’s body if they use too much along with the varied types of powers champions can get. But as for why the gods are interested in making them, the increased power of a champion is a draw for a lot of people. It’s proof of the God’s power, gives the god a mortal agent to deal with rival God’s followers, threats to their own followers, and just go out and win fame and influence for them in general. However, maintaining a champion is difficult since the god has to maintain a constant connection to the mortal plane and keep it open. If they open it too far, the divine energy will kill their champion. If the connect gets too weak the champion can’t draw on their power, this is much more difficult if the champion is outside of their realm. Which is why most Gods only have one or two champions since they have other things to do and don’t want to just spend their time maintaining a dozen different connections to their realm all day.

 And that’s my ramble. If you have follow up questions just let me know ^^ Thanks for stopping in, Dreams. I hope you have a lovely day/evening.

[sugareey-makes-stuff]

5, 14, and 24 for the ask meme!

Hiya, Grace! You got it! :D There will probs be some mix of fic and art mentioned, since I guess they go hand-in-hand for me nowadays. 5. Which WIP is first on your list to complete this year? Will you post a snippet? Oh gods, I know I’m being super ambitious since I’m a slow writer (and kind of a perfectionist since I research the hell out of everything). If I can swing it, I’d love to get the current Sterek fic I’m working on finished to post for Sterek Valentine’s Week. I’ve been screaming about this fic with my partner and my Sterek crew, and it just needs to exist ASAP. This is all going to depend on timing since RL and work is weird rn and has limited my creative time lately. I’m basically squeezing what free time I have now (while on break and/or on weekends) to make it happen. Crossing fingers that it’ll be a go, since it’s going to take some major coding for AO3 skins. I have a small excerpt in this WIP Snippet post that pokes at what the premise is so far if you’re curious! :P 14. Have you ever lost large chunks of your work in the past, due to not backing up your work? Will you change your methods this year? Nope! I am that person who presses Ctrl S every few minutes or so, because I learned this the hard way with art projects! I’ve been lucky that I haven’t lost words yet, but I cannot tell you how much art progress I’ve lost for being a dummy and not saving enough. Also, Scrivener has been really nice to me. It definitely helps that I now have a powerful desktop PC now that can handle all my crazy projects and that can serve as a backup (instead of relying on external hard drives). 24. By the end of this year, you want your fandom to think of you as “that author who _______.” You know, I’m not sure! I’ve never been one for labels as a person or a creator. I can tell you people know I love Drarry, and they’ve picked up that I can make stuff for different HP rare pairs too. Folks have most definitely picked up that I’m a Perciver contributor, since I’m now actively making art and writing for them. I mean, I also have Wood Your Rather and Perceptual Prompts challenges going, so maybe I’m a Perciver enthusiast or enabler too? Not sorry, of course! I’m foreseeing that might be the same way I’m going with Sterek for 2023. I’m still a noob in the Teen Wolf fandom, but I’ve already made 5 pieces of art for them in the last few months, and my 2nd Sterek work was some autumn art with a triple drabble. If the said multi-media fic mentioned above goes well, then anything is possible, right?

Thanks for the ask!

___

Previously asked: 8, 11, and 12 and 23

Have a question? Send a q for fanfic asks for the new year!

[thisaintascenereviews]

I Finally “Get” U2: One Music Fan’s Journey Of Self-Discovery

Irish band U2 is the ultimate “classic rock” / “dad rock” band. They’ve got a very accessible sound, soaring hooks, larger than life lyrics, as well as a larger than life vocalist in the form of Bono, and their career has been going on for 40+ years. They’re one of the best-selling bands of all time, but they’re also one of the most interesting bands of all time. Most people know their big hits from the 1980s, and even a few from the 1990s, but they’ve reinvented themselves a few times over their career. Since starting in 1976, the band went from a post-punk sound in the early 80s to their trademarked and well-recognized arena-rock sound of the late 80s (Joshua Tree, specifically, but they also experimented with blues and soul on 1988’s Rattle & Hum), moving to an alternative and electronic sound in the 90s (with diminishing returns as the decade went on; 1991’s Achtung Baby is considered to be one of their best albums, but the following two records of the 90s, well, aren’t) to their “classic sound” in the 00s with a brief return to superstardom with 2000’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind, and 2004’s How Topic Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.

Since the 00s, their star power has faded slightly, but more so delegated to legendary status, despite still selling well (they did just do a residency in the Las Vegas Sphere and it was a huge success for them), and Bono put out a memoir last year along with a companion album, entitled Songs Of Surrender, that recontextualized and redid 40 of their biggest hits in an acoustic format (the book, which has the same name, has 40 chapters and each of them are named after a U2 song). In the last decade, however, they’ve gone down in history as being the band that put an album onto everyone’s iPhones without asking. That album, 2014’s Songs Of Innocence, isn’t half bad, at least from what I remember, but it was my introduction to the bands and that’s not a good idea. Ever since, I tried listening to a few of their albums, and while I did enjoy 1987’s Joshua Tree, and 1983’s War, among listening to a couple of others, I just didn’t “get it.”

In all my years of being a music fan, U2 has been the band that I’ve just never got into, even though I always felt like I should love them. I realized my problem after all of these years — they’re best digested in a greatest hits package. I randomly found their 80s greatest hits album on Amazon for $7 a few months back, and I decided to pick it up, especially after realizing that I love a lot of the songs on it. U2 is a band that I’ve always enjoyed songs from, but I just never got into a full album. What I ended up doing was going on a bit of a deep dive of the band from their 80s greatest hits to listening to their albums from the 1990s and the two albums from the early 00s that I mentioned earlier. I wanted to really sink my teeth into the bulk of their discography, and I plan on listening to the rest of their 80s albums, but the greatest hits is a perfect place to start if you’re new to the band.

The band’s distinct eras are very interesting, as they’ve always been ambitious and interesting, even when it didn’t work as well as it should have. The greatest hits album from the 80s, however, is what I should have always started with; some bands are just better off as “greatest hits” bands, and I’d say U2 is one of those, but a lot of their deep cuts are great, too. While their 90s output doesn’t do so much for me, although I do enjoy Achtung Baby quite a bit, and 1993’s Zooropa and 1997’s Pop are both pretty good for what they are, but U2 got very self-indulgent at this time, only to bring themselves back to Earth with the masterpiece of 2000’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind. 2004’s How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb is a fantastic record, too, but the former album is gorgeous in every way. It’s a great pure rock album, filled with the hooks, vocals, and lyricism that U2 was originally known for, and I wish that I would have started off with this album, or the greatest hits.

It took me years, but I understand them now; I finally get what the hype is, especially when it comes to Bono and his larger than life sound, but this is a good case of listening to the wrong album(s) can sour one’s interest in something. Some bands need the right starting point, and U2 is the best example of that. Because of their different eras, and how I started with their late 00s and early 2010s material (while I did go back to a few classic albums, I just didn’t appreciate them at the time), I just didn’t care for them as much as I should have. Looking back, I’m not sure why I wasn’t into them. I love bands that are huge, soaring, catchy, and fun, especially with a vocalist as unique as Bono and The Edge’s unique guitar playing. There’s no other band like U2, and after doing a deep dive into their work (and reading Bono’s memoir), they’ve become one of my all time favorite bands.

[shadowsong26fic]

Coming Attractions!

First Monday of the month, so here we go!

As per usual, this is also an Open Question Night--anything I've posted about here or on AO3 is fair game; my askbox is always open but tonight I'll be keeping an eye on it and responding. I do take prompts, but no guarantees on how quickly I fill them.

Not a whole lot to report this month--mostly because moving took up A Lot of time/energy/etc., so I didn't get as much writing done as I would have hoped, so just a quick blitz through:

OTP Meme fills-- I'm still super behind, haha. I caught up on June, but I need to do July, August, and September for all five ships this month, so that'll be fun.

PodTogether-- It got posted! It ended up being not quite all I'd hoped it would be (our plans were a lot more ambitious than our execution, haha), but the three bits that did get finished/posted I think turned out pretty well. I do enjoy doing this event a lot; next summer should be less busy for me, too, so hopefully it'll go a little smoother/I'll get a little closer to whatever my partner(s) and I end up planning (although I think I might take Leverage off my fandoms list next time; we'll see.)

Other SW-- No real updates here, other than we at SWBB got an ask about next year's event already (signups don't open til like December!!!), so I'm going to dig up what I started last year and hopefully actually finish it so I can participate. I've been involved with that event for so long that it felt weird to only do modding/betaing/podfic and not Write for it this time. (Precipice!verse has the same update it has for the past several months. It will not die until I leave this fandom, but it hasn't been getting much/any active focus lately.)

BSG-- Signups are still open for GBB! We could use a few more artists and betas. Story detail submissions are coming in, and I'm excited for what I'm seeing. I also want to get a little more into actively working on TOB over the next few weeks/by the end of the year. It's been floating around in the back of my head for so long and I thiiiiiink I've named all of the people and patched enough of the plotholes to get started...of course, now I need to figure out exactly when/where I need to start (especially since...you know, need to introduce a bunch of OCs plus explain why Baltar ends up in a different position...so yeah XD) I do still have various crossover snippets that might get worked on (like the one I reblogged the other day; there's also the Zeb and Helo one that I thought turned out pretty well); plus The Blood of Angry Men which I do genuinely plan to write at some point, but structuring it is a complicated question XD (Zarek character study/backstory piece; mostly focused on everything that initially sent him to prison, told through the lens of him looking back on it as he faces down his execution in S4; some stuff about charisma and followers he's lost/led to their deaths; the balance between him believing in his rhetoric and wanting power/using that rhetoric to gain it...a lot of really interesting things to think about here, lol)

Les Mis-- P&J will update soon; I'm also working on Acheron which I'm super excited for. I've written snippets of dialogue for Provenance (companion to P&J) but that won't get posted until the main fic is complete (because it's probably more fun to watch Ari solve as much of the puzzle as is possible given modern-day available records/evidence before filling in some of the gaps with a somewhat more traditional-style fic, lol)

Castlevania-- Not really much to say here other than at some point I will pick up Incinctus; also when Nocturne starts airing I will probably be Very Tempted to do a more active/actual crossover with Vampire Chronicles (bookverse) because. Like. The Theatre is right there lol (I know the vampire rules are very different in the two canons; which is part of why Marius existing in Incinctus is only a quick Easter Egg cameo; also Alucard and Armand would hate each other so much lol and I love them both so I'm not...suuuuuper interested in writing about that XD) Anyway, we'll see how much Nocturne actually draws me in, but at the moment I'm looking forward to it.

...I think that about covers it! Moving is exhausting and expensive but while unpacking/setup is still going on we are Fully Moved at this point, so...yay! Hopefully next month will pick up some.

[sfmg]

1/?

I am feeling very cringe and very much struggling in an engineering university that I am in right now, and I MUST get to a better one. For that I need to do well here and do a lot of extra stuff so I am starting the academia 100 day productivity type thing where I write a debrief at the end of each day to say how I only did 20% of what I was planning again, but not 100 days and just indefinitely, 100 days would be just a nice milestone, BUT ALSO WITH A TWIST!

I AM EXTREMELY DUMB AND IRRESPONSIBLE AS OF WRITING THIS

I am studying aerospace engineering snd I am very unfancy. I have seen a lot of posts starting this sort of thing and watched tons of videos. People have plans and stuff figured out, extremely effective schedules and stuff and I have been miserably failing on thay front. People have cute tidy tables, lots of gadgets to help them focus, going to libraries and reading stuff. I.... have none of that. My table is a mess, I have practically given up on using textbooks, my monthly money allowance is negative, the most fancy piece of technology are my laptop and my phone(birthday gift :3), I don't even need them to be fancy right now, our university library is unavailable to study at, my dorm apartment is the size of a dumpster and full of cockroaches, and I share it with 2 other people.

I think you got the idea. I am tired of blogs with soft tidy and often rich (by my standards) study experience. I have no grudge against people who do them however, that would be dumb, I just want more representation of the raw dirty grind where my routine environment is a STALKER-like experience.

So anyways my goals are simple so far: survive the midterms and maybe be french sometimes. For that I start off small: 3 hours of out of class studying per day at least, not a lot but if I start big I will quickly flop and be ashamed of myself. 3 hours studying whatever I see fit for the day is enough for now. I believe that some accountability to strangers on the internet will help me have a bar below which I do not procrastinate and eventually grow into a more responsible hard working person. A bit of a cringe way to do that I feel, but as an engineer, a man of science, I must first "fuck around and find out" to judge the method. I am glad to say I already did study today but relatively inconsequential. Finished my physics homework (fingers crossed I won't have to redo it), did some lineal algebra homework, didn't finish it though, went through some notes on statics, rewrote homework for theoretical mechanics, does doing a bit of Duolingo counts as studying?

How the uni and dorm look like

Some background on me if you for some reason want to know how am I in aerospace engineering while being unresponsible and why I need to get to a better uni. I pretty much failed most of my school but at the last 2 years started getting good, not good enough to be accepted to Purdue or UIUC as I started getting ambitious too late. Failed to go to a community college because of unfortunate political decisions made by the assholes running my country. Now I am enrolled in the (supposedly) best engineering university of Russia and have to make my escape, because I really don't want to study engineering here. Living? We'll see in like 10 years, maybe I'll come back. I haven't seen people in a situation similar to mine but if you are one of them then I will be glad to serve as an inspiration.

I may be dumb and have severe problems with socialisation and organisation. But I know one thing about myself: I never give up and neither should you

[miralfake]

Acme playwords

My first malaplop since joining this group – ONS at 20A! Kodak moment! I just kept looking at the MAU_ _ _ _UM and STO_ and kept smelling a – after I parsed it correctly, I loved – hand up for “roo” before OWL and always blinking at the “l” in SOL. I liked 8:02 – I wasted a lot of time looking for Baa Baa Black – my shoe(s) dropped at MAUSOLEUM and STORE. I try to leave Dad to his own devices, especially before Friday, but I called him this morning, and he answered, “I’m taking the day off.” I told him this was gonna be one people loved or hated, and now having just read the comments, I see I’m right. I remember this because "CK" = Calvin Klein = fashion designer. 14D: Big name in kitchenware ( EKCO) - The fashion designer is Marc ECKO.43D: Electrician's alloy ( SOL DER) - the fact that this word is a noun always surprises me.I like the ".and the rest" quality of "two others." 60A: Place for a butcher and two others ( TUB) - Nice one.49A: Cousin of a bittern ( EGRET) - off the "E" pretty common crossbird.29A: Carrier whose main hub is Kastrup airport ( SAS) - got it off the "S," but didn't really *know* it, and then doubted it after I couldn't make SPA work for 3D: Resting place ( SO FA).Time was a few seconds faster than last week's, though I'm pretty sure this one's going to play harder for most folks (if the NYT times being posted right now are any indication). Went in expecting "SO," so MAU SOL EUM took slightly longer to come into view than it should have ( 28D: Commence hostilities). The "L" part of SOL always surprises me, no matter how many times I see it written out. Everything else was pretty straightforward. Up top, I don't know / didn't remember CHAOS as a place (8A: Source of Erebus and Gaia, in Greek myth), and always throws me, as my first idea for a synonym is always "DANG!" So even with -K in place, ASK didn't come right away. ROO instead of OWL ( 67D: Pooh pal) and DDE instead of IKE (69D: Two-time opponent of 32-Across). Which reminds me-that damned SW corner (and, to a lesser extent, the NE corner) killed me a little. Once I finally broke NOW I KNOW MY ABCS open, I put it all together. I thought maybe the western notes would be a mirror image. Even after I'd gotten the note / rebus thing, I had no idea what was going on song-wise, since I had only the eastern notes (broke through at ISE RE 24D: Rhône feeder) and couldn't / didn't sing them so had no idea what they represented. I thought the puzzle was actually pretty dang easy except for the whole center area. But thematically this one just feels like a miss. And I'll take ambitious over yawny (which many puzzles have been of late). Plus, the notes actually *did* (by the end), help me to get one of the answers (the SOL in SOL AR, to be exact) ( 44D: Kind of power), so fun was had. Now, neglecting the fatal thematic flaw, the grid is not bad, and I always enjoy a rebus. Symmetry would be blown, but at least those damned eastern notes would have something to do. Maybe you could shove YOU ARE in there somewhere. but what about the end notes? Again, great idea, but just Not There in the execution. and TWINKLE TWINKLE, which really only gets you through DO DO SOL SOL. sort of, and NOW I KNOW MY ABCS works perfectly (in that you sing it to the tune of the notes on the left side of the grid), but then there's those notes on the right. The game ends once all cards are moved onto the foundation piles.An ambitious train wreck. Top card from the waste pile can be moved onto the tableau or foundation piles.1 redeal is allowed so when all cards from the stock pile are moved to the waste pile, it can be moved back to the stock pile by clicking on empty stock pile. Player can click on the stock pile anytime which deals 1 card face-up onto the waste pile.Whenever a card is moved from the reserve pile, face-down top card of the reserve pile is turned face up. Top card from the reserve pile can be played to the foundation or, the tableau.If there is no card in the reserve, then it can be filled with a card from the waste pile or another tableau pile. Empty tableau pile is always filled first with top card from the reserve pile.Only top card of a tableau pile is available for play.Cards to the tableau piles can be played from the reserve, waste pile, or another tableau pile.On the tableau, cards are played in descending order by suit.Foundation piles are built up by suit starting from Ace to King.

[pop-punklouis]

by: @aliensyndrome ✨

Monday night, Louis Tomlinson’s career-defining music festival, Away From Home, took place at the Crystal Palace Bowl in London. A one-day event that Tomlinson entirely curated, himself, was something the Walls singer had been working towards for nearly a year when he had the idea 12 months ago— a free concert, for his fans, to take a stand against the gatekeeping done by ticket prices, and a way to give exposure to smaller artists. He hopes to make the show an annual event placed in different locations each year.

The festival had a massive turnout, hosting roughly 10,000 people, with a lineup including Jess Iszatt, BILK, The Snuts, and Tomlinson, himself, as the headlining act. The show marked the smashing return of Louis Tomlinson to a live stage after his first tour was postponed in early 2020 due to the pandemic. During his set which lasted 70 minutes, fan videos showed how engaged the crowd was. A few times, the audience’s voices matched the power of Tomlinson’s own, building electricity for the return of live music. He was in good spirits, performing at the height of his talent with soaring vocals, feverish frontman-ship, and infectious confidence.

In between delivering a career-best performance, he got emotional addressing the festival and the fans. At one point he stated, “I’ve only done two tour shows before now, and I don’t really know what to expect. Honestly, throughout this whole gig, all I feel is excited about what’s the come. I try in these moments to show you my thanks, but honestly, I can’t even articulate it. I just f****** love all of you.” Even through a screen, one could feel the overwhelming gratitude expressed for his fanbase and the success of the event.

He also premiered a new song at the show— a fuzzed-out, indie-rock track titled ‘Change’ that bubbles into a massive moment for Tomlinson as it feels like it was made to be performed in a festival setting. Seemingly documenting the rambling nostalgia of chasing youth and fleeting youth, it resonates deeper for all those who have had the same bombarding thoughts over the past year due to the pandemic. This only intensifies with hard-hitting lyrics such as “Everything’s changed outside, but I’m still the same inside.” This is his second unreleased track performed live over the past year. The first being the lyrical marvel “Copy of a Copy of a Copy” teased late last year. During the show, Tomlinson confirmed that both of these tracks would make an appearance on his upcoming sophomore album.

Yet, the Away From Home Festival isn’t Louis Tomlinson’s first performance in 18 months. Back in December 2020, Tomlinson put on a live-stream event through Veeps that ended up awarding him the title of “Biggest Solo Male Livestream” of the year with over 160,000 virtual tickets sold worldwide while placing him third for biggest live-stream overall just after Dua Lipa and BTS. This live-stream, Live from London, was done entirely for charity, donating the profits from the show between Fare Share, Crew Nation, Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice, and Stagehand. He also gave proceeds to his own touring crew.

Saturday, September 4th, Louis Tomlinson will be hosting a live-streaming event for all those who couldn’t attend the Away From Home Festival. Not just a replay of the full concert, itself, the global stream also features a mini-documentary alongside post-show backstage footage. Directed by Charlie Lightning, the 30-minute documentary will showcase Tomlinson and his team as he takes on his most ambitious project to date— the journey and curation of the Away from Home Festival 2021. Veeps has more information regarding ticket prices and timezones.

Louis Tomlinson’s Away From Home Festival wasn’t an easy thing to pull off— especially as an independent artist. But, Tomlinson’s dedication, verve, and loyalty over producing a free festival for fans and DIY artists alike is what allowed it to happen and happen seamlessly. The exceptional turnout and the strong belief in the festival’s presence make this Louis Tomlinson’s most career-defining moment to date. It’s only up from here.

[umbran6]

Hogwarts Houses for the Heroes of Olympus, Apollo, and Meg.

I’ve seen a lot of people do this, so I thought I should do this and explain as to why I wanted them there. Spoilers are abound through Heroes of Olympus and Trials of Apollo as I explain my reasoning. 

Percy Jackson: Hufflepuff. Look, I know a lot of people place him in Gryffindor. That’s a reasonable outcome one can reach, considering his feats could be considered immensely brave. However, Percy has often participated in his quests out of a sense of loyalty towards those he loves, whether it’s his mom (The Lightning Thief), Camp Half-Blood (The Sea of Monsters), Annabeth (Both The Titan’s Curse and Battle of The Labyrinth), and in The Last Olympian, all of them. What really pins him in place is when he willingly fallis to Tartarus alongside Annabeth by the ending of The Mark of Athena, which is a remarkable yet insane feat of both love and loyalty. He also has a work ethic, which is revealed during The Tower of Nero. Rather than just go straight to New Rome and live a happy life, he went to a hellish military school just so he could graduate from there with a high school diploma. If that’s not a work ethic, I don’t know what is. Loyalty and work ethic are key Hufflepuff traits, and Percy has shown all of them. 

Annabeth Chase: Slytherin. Annabeth has often shown a lot of intelligence, but also a lot of resourcefulness and cunning during her time in the series. She literally tricked both Arachne and Nyx in what were impossible situations, and her goals are extremely ambitious, with her wanting to become an architect so she could build something that could last a thousand years. She also has a lot of Ravenclaw traits, to the point she repeated Odysseus and listened to the Sirens so she could learn what she desired the most. However, that was only once, and most often she used the knowledge she was given in resourceful and cunning ways, such as during the Last Olympian where she used the statues from Daedalus as a way to defend Manhattan. Needless to say, in my opinion she is a Slytherin first and Ravenclaw second. 

Jason Grace: It’s quite tricky, considering we don’t get to see any key defining traits, but I have decided to put him in Gryffindor. Jason’s shown plenty of bravery, fighting Giants and Titans during his quest, but he also has honor and chivalry, which he shows during Blood of Olympus, and later on, The Burning Maze. Specifically, in the scene where he makes a deal with Kymopoleia, promising to make shrines not only to her, but to all of the hundreds of minor gods of Greek Mythology. As we later see during The Burning Maze, Jason was completely willing to honor such a deal, working on the shrines even while he was living the closest thing to a normal life one could achieve as a demigod. And of course, we can’t ignore the fact that he was brave to fight Caligula just so his friends could escape. 

Piper Mclean: Slytherin. This is because during most of the time we’ve seen her, Piper fights dirty. She doesn’t stab a monster in the dagger, but charmspeaks the monster and stabs him in the back while he’s distracted. When claiming the position as Cabin Counselor in the Aphrodite Cabin during The Lost Hero from Drew, Piper uses the rules against her to get the position, rather than straight-up fighting her at the very beginning. Furthermore, rather than fight Khione upfront during the House of Hades, she bides her time and stalls the goddess until she can find a way to win. Though she has some traits that could go along with the other Houses, Slytherin tends to stand out the best. The only way she isn’t Slytherin in terms of traits is that she lacks ambition — we never see her have a higher goal beyond the quest, or any plans for what she’s going to do after everything’s done. Overall, she’s Slytherin through her actions, not her words, ironically. 

Frank Zhang: Gryffindor. This is because Frank performs a lot of actions that are by any standard, brave, and often selfless and self-sacrificial. Specifically, a lot of the sacrifices he performs throughout the series. In Son of Neptune, he was willing to be the distraction against the Laestrygonians so that Percy and Hazel could start their escape plan. He was literally willing to burn his own life force (his stick) so that Thanatos could break free despite the very large risk it posed to him. He even stood in the way of a Giant, pushing him all the way to the Canadian border. And as we learn in The Tyrant’s Tomb, he was willing to repeat his sacrifice if it meant Caligula and Commodus were killed.  Frank is a Gryffindor through and through, though he does have some minor Ravenclaw traits such as his use of tactics against his opponents, way of making plans, or recalling ancient Roman history. 

Hazel Levesque: Once again, this was another difficult one. Mainly because Hazel is split right down to the middle between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. On one hand, she was so loyal to her mother that despite the fact that the lady got them into this mess, Hazel willingly sacrificed Elysium so her mom wasn’t punished. On the other hand, she was also willing to sacrifice herself so Alcyoneus couldn’t rise again despite the fact that it would lead to her and her mom’s death. Finally, I decided she deserved to go to Gryffindor, because of the fact that she willingly went towards the quest to rescue Thanatos in The Son of Neptune despite the fact that it was very likely that the god of Death would take her back to the Underworld. That takes immense amounts of bravery, not only because it’s the right thing to do, but she’s also putting herself at immense risk of being dragged down to the Underworld. 

There are some Slytherin traits, such as when she made a plan to trick Sciron during the House of Hades, or the plan to trap Nike. However, Hazel’s a lot more defined by her bravery and empathy, which are more Gryffindor traits. If she had more ambition, a big goal after the quest it could be understood, but overall her Gryffindor traits are more prominent. For example, let’s compare how she got to Praetor and Octavian got to Praetor, and later on, Pontifex Maximus. Octavian often used a lot of word-twisting and dirty tactics to get his position, and only got there because Reyna left her post so she could help Jason. In comparison, the legion willingly raised her on a shield and collectively voted her into the position due to her bravery during the fight against Tarquin in The Tyrant’s Tomb. 

Leo Valdez: There have been arguments over where he should go. All of them want him in one house or the other, but the most convincing ones were either having him in Slytherin, or in Ravenclaw. And I can definitely agree with both — Leo has shown immense amounts of intelligence and cunning throughout the series.  He’s also intelligent in the sense that he created the Argo II, multiple weapons, the Holographic Scrolls, and even Buford. 

However, after looking through his actions, I found that he leans more towards Slytherin. Although his façade of cheerfulness and humor was used to disguise trauma, he also used said humor to make himself appealing towards bullies so they didn’t beat him up. He often used his cunning to morph himself to social situations such as his façade as a jokester to look less threatening in comparison to others. 

During the times we see him fight, he’s also the one to not only play it smart, but also using tactics and dirty tricks, rather than focusing on swordplay or his own fire powers. The only time we see him go ham with his pyrokinesis is when he’s fighting Khione during The Lost Hero. Furthermore, in The Mark of Athena, rather than straight-up fight the nymphs and Narcissus to get the celestial bronze he needed to make repairs, he uses himself as a distraction and has Hazel manipulate the bronze in a place where she can’t be seen, which is a plan that needs a lot of manipulation of the opposing parties.

What finally acted as the nail in the coffin for me was his plan to defeat Gaea during Blood of Olympus. It involved a lot of manipulation of both enemies and allies, and in the ended it succeeded so brilliantly that everybody got what they wanted, with none of them being aware of the plan until Frank and Hazel explained it, and they were the very few people in the know regarding Leo’s sacrifice. Developing such a plan takes immense amounts of cunning and ambition, which are both Slytherin traits. Although he may be chaotic, mischievous, and annoying, Leo is the guy you don’t realize is a Slytherin until it’s too late.

Nico di Angelo: The thing about a guy who was pretty much a loner throughout most of his time in the series is that it’s hard to tell what values he has. Ergo, we should look at his actions rather than his own words. Nico, although mainly dominated by his naïveté during his younger years, has shown himself to be extremely brave. For example, there was him openly defying his father by saving Percy from his imprisonment, and later actively convincing Hades to stop his vow of neutrality and fight alongside the Olympians in The Last Olympian. Finally, there’s his excursion to Tartarus and later his willingness to transport the Athena Parthenos during Blood of Olympus. Nico willingly went there to see if the Doors of Death were over there, and later transported the Athena Parthenos to Camp Half-Blood even if it meant he would fade into the shadows forever. All feats are insanely brave, and therefore I argue that he should go to Gryffindor. 

Reyna Avila Ramirez Arellano: Hufflepuff. Most of Reyna’s actions aren’t inspired by bravery, honor, or chivalry, though from a certain point of view they are brave. Reyna often performs most of her actions out of loyalty for those she cares about, almost in a Percy-ish kind of way. Her interrogation and cold nature towards Percy in Son of Neptune? Suspicion that he would be a threat to Camp Jupiter. She metaphorically fought against Octavian’s power advances because she knew his own ambitions wouldn’t help New Rome. Willingness to cooperate with the Greeks before the Eidolons screwed up everything? She believed that it was best for New Rome. Willingness to brave the Mare Nostrum all by herself? Both her loyalty to Jason and that she believed that waging war against Camp Half-Blood was not the best for the legion. Her loyalty and ethic just make her a shoe-in for Hufflepuff. 

Apollo/Lester Papadopoulos: Oh boy, he’s kind of at an in-between when it comes what house he should be in. If we were talking about him pre-Lesterfication, I would honestly say Hufflepuff, but he takes a good chunk of those traits and turned them into a darker way. He defeated Python because the snake monster had chased his mother off of Delphi. He alongside Artemis murdered Niobe’s kids because the goddess insulted Leto by saying she was better than her. When Asclepius is murdered by Zeus, he retaliates by murdering the Cyclopes who made the weapons. And finally, he punishes those who broke their vows He shows loyalty, but in a lot of darker ways that we don’t expect. He’s got Hufflepuff morals, but they’re in a darker, more warped way than we expect. 

If we’re looking at him post-Lesterfication, I would still say Hufflepuff, but now he does it in a brighter way and is also more Gryffindor. He was more willing to sacrifice himself if it meant saving those he cared about, such as when he willingly tried to kill himself during The Burning Maze if it meant Caligula would stop holding his friends hostage. He was also willing to commit more honorable gestures such as bringing Jason’s body to New Rome during The Tyrant’s Tomb. He was even willing to own up to his mistakes right in front of a god who had every right to hate him if it meant Meg and Reyna could be spared. He’s still a Hufflepuff, but he’s a more idealistic and less warped version of the values he had before he became Lester. 

Meg: In a way, she’s pretty much like Apollo. She’s a Hufflepuff, but in all the wrong ways at first. We see this in The Dark Prophecy when its clear that during that time, she was more loyal to Nero of all people rather than her fellow campers, to the point of accepting Nero’s gaslighting if it meant she could see the positive view of him. However, she’s also loyal to Apollo and her father, which we see in The Burning Maze because the main reason she guns for Caligula is because she often compares him to The Beast aspect of Nero, the person who killed her dad. She in the end is also willing to accept and finish her father’s legacy, planting the seeds that eventually become the Meliai. Tower of Nero is when she gains the will to stand up to Nero after support from Apollo and her friends, and is later on seen taking care of the other children Nero abused. In the end, she’s a Hufflepuff despite the fact that she may not look like it. 

Now, before you guys getting up in arms about there being no Ravenclaws, in my opinion the house is a lot more knowledge-focused, whether its discovering more knowledge, but also using it in a more academic and experimental way. Considering we don’t see this attitude or its corresponding values too much during the stories that we see since they’re more save-the-world mission focused. While Slytherin does have an intelligence-centric value such as cunning, its more focused on using such intelligence to manipulate and trick others, while Ravenclaw uses such intelligence in the discovery for knowledge.