#in a similar way to how i adore the trilogy despite not being the intended target audience. it has enough substance to carry past its flaws

[nellasbookplanet]

The more time I sink into andromeda, the more I suspect the biggest reason it ultimately failed commercially was because of the massive tonal shift I've already mentioned, and how there was probably a pretty big chunk of original trilogy players who simply no longer fit as a demographic, while the game failed to reach the people who might’ve enjoyed it.

The original trilogy, much as I love it, feels a little bit like a wishfulfillment power fantasy for a very obvious demographic. Almost all women are overtly sexy in design and the f/f relationship in the first game seems to be written along the guidelines of 'what would a straight man find hot'; you play as someone cool and confident and powerful, the most specialest human ever, and maybe you aren’t always respected but YOU and the NARRATIVE always know you're right and you get to be rude to and sometimes punch/murder people who disagree with you so it’s fine. The game then salvages all this by means of genuinely well-written characters and arcs, really cool sci-fi tech and lore, a fantastic story, and meaningful and hard-hitting choices and consequences (which also allow and often encourage you to steer away from that exact macho ideal).

Enter andromeda. Instead of being a super powerful supersoldier from the start, you're the kid of one. You barely know what you're doing. Everyone doubts you, including yourself. You don’t get the assuredness of knowing you are Right and Cool that you have as Shepard. You don’t demand that same respect. And I'm sure there are a lot of people who hated that.

[lutrain2020]

Meet the Creator!

Introducing: Aprici / Soybean or Lili!

Commission:  I don't do commissions because I don't have a way to transfer payment, but I do take requests.

Social Media: AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Japo_Chan23

Tell us a little bit about you!

My name is Lili, but online I typically go by soybean or Aprici. My favorite color is blue/pink and I really enjoy playing video games and writing. Despite how long I've been writing, I've always dreamed of being a psychologist or therapist, so once I graduate high school I'm going to have a double major in psychology and social services. I might keep writing when I get older, but it would be more as a pass time than anything.

Is there someone who inspires you and your writing?

Barry Lyga and Neal Shusterman, for sure. They are both phenomenal writers and I want my style of writing to be similar to theirs because it just makes everything fit so well. Lyga, in his I Hunt Killers trilogy, was able to capture suspense perfectly and had very good pacing, and Shusterman was able to tell a great story with diverse and well thought out characters. I aspire to be able to write things that are well paced and have fully thought out characters one day. Lyga and Shusterman were the main reasons why I started writing again after I dropped it for a few years.  

What got you into writing?

I was looking at fanart of Gravity Falls on Deviantart and I found this one fanfiction and it just seemed really interesting so I read it. It then led me to fanfiction.net and then I decided that "why don't I wrote my own fanfiction?". So I did, and this was when I was in 5th grade so it was REALLY bad haha, but I ended up reading a lot in middle school and got a better grasp on storytelling and overall just how to write. I was writing constantly during middle school, and I got better once I entered high school.

What's your favorite part of the writing process?

Oh boy, I don't really have a writing process, so I just lack any outline whatsoever.  Sometimes I just get struck with some idea to write a story and then I'd go and do a livewrite immediately without a plan in mind. It makes me happy when I just start writing and then I don't stop. I like the ideas I get out of nowhere and then having the ability to execute that ability it just my favorite.

What's your least favorite part of the writing process?

I absolutely HATE editing and just rereading everything. When I think about what I'm going to write I end up losing the inspiration to actually write what I wanted, or if I do write it it just lacks the emotion or detail that I had originally wanted. It just doesn't work with me if I write something that I actually thought out. In the fanfiction I'm writing right now, "Pick Your Poison, Love" I was originally gonna just have it be like five chapters, but on the third chapter I was like, "hey, how interesting would it be if I just killed a character and made a murder mystery of sorts and then that's how the characters become closer?". I hate making a plan or thinking about what should come next. It ruins my flow, so whenever I decide to make a plan or something, everything I write ends up losing the love that I have for what I was writing because it just doesn't turn out like how I expected.

Whats your favorite type of scene to write?

I looooove writing characters bonding. It comes easily to me. I also love writing scenes of just detailing the world around you or the actions a character is doing. It just comes easily for me.

What's the hardest for you to write?

Fight scenes, anything super extreme, and adult content. I just struggled with writing the simple details that come with it. It's hard for me to write because if you miss one detail everything falls apart and it doesn't turn out well whatsoever. I'm very inexperienced in these areas because I just lack the detail in writing it out. It just comes out bad and bland.

What's your favorite genre to write?

I like to write a general hurt/comfort kind of thing, or something modern/realistic. I like the balance between fluff and angst. I never really enjoyed writing full on angst because I just lack the motivation to write someone getting hurt and then just not having support, and sometimes fluff is hard to write as well if it's just too much, you know? I just want to write something the embodies both elements of angst and fluff.

What fandoms do you enjoy writing for?

Right now I've mainly been writing for Legend of Zelda, hence why I'm doing this train. I used to write for a multitude of others fandom that I soon dropped. I've only wrote for Legend of Zelda right now, but I enjoy writing Twilight the most. He's just simple and I like writing him with Midna.Twilight Princess was one of my first Zelda games, so once I replayed it I just fell in love with the character again. The Linked Universe fandom is also really sweet and I love talking to everyone in the discord! I really appreciate everyone there because they all have so many ideas and they're all so creative, and I love just hearing what other people have to say about it. I used to write for Marvel a lot (specifically some Spiderman stuff), but I haven't recently, but I really like writing Peter Parker because it just came easily to me. Peter's a nerd who went through a lot of grief, and after my grandmother died I projected a lot onto him and wrote a lot of stuff relating to him and Gwen Stacy or Harry Osborn because it just came easily to me.

What's the work you are most proud of?

I wrote this fanfiction recently called Sunkissed (https://archiveofourown.org/works/24318283) and I ADORE it. I love it so much, it was fluff, but it wasn't too much, and I added some humor to it as well. It was just all the boys having fun and acting like a family and it just made me happy to write because the scene at the end where they're all playing in the river is literally just how I act with my friends sometimes. I just like this piece a lot because it just gives me a warm feeling. I'm also super proud of called It's Complicated (https://archiveofourown.org/works/14798700) which is based on Peter Parker trying to make amends with Harry Osborn. I really like it because I feel like this was the one time I was able to really capture who these characters are and it just had a good balance of emotions that these two had over everything that happened between them.

Is there a specific scene you are particularly proud of?

There's this one scene in Pick Your Poison, Love when Midna and Twilight are about to go and meet Dead Hand that I'm fond/proud of because it just seemed like, such a Midna thing to do. Cause Twilight fell from a ladder and instead of catching him she just let him fall. They just met so I tried to make her act more like how she did when you first meet her in Twilight Princess. Also I'm proud of the opening scene I had for Secret Agent W, when they all met Wolfie for the first time. I really enjoy that scene and I find it funny, even though I wasn't really intending there to be too many in your face jokes, you know?

Is there something you had to work through that forced you to grow as a writer?

I had to go through some things in real life relating to my family and my relationships, but going through everything made me grow as a person, which then impacted my writing as well. Growing as a writer was hard because a bunch of my super old works were REALLY bad, but it was just the act of writing them continually that helped me grow as a writer. I know what I was writing was bad, but I did it anyways because I liked it. I became a better writer when I got older because of how often I was writing.

Do you have any fics inspired by real life stories?

I wrote this one story that was just making a bunch of metaphors, but I just included this one scene I was asking this guy, Rick, if Italy was pretty when he went there and when he said it was beautiful and I was almost in tears haha. I include a lot of moments from my life. In Sunkissed, at the end when Warriors and Twilight are throwing Wind back and forth towards the other, that was what my brother and my dad did to me when we were in Florida! We were in a pool at night and they were just chucking me back and forth! It a memory I'm really fond of. There might be a bunch of references here and there in any of my stories that have happened in my life, but I can't think of any off the top of my head, and I have like 45 works posted on my ao3, so I don't really want to go check, haha.

Where do you post your finished works?

https://archiveofourown.org/users/Japo_Chan23

[linkspooky]

Eri and Shigaraki are obviously supposed to parallel one another, but in the sense of "showing what might have been both ways" not in "Eri was saved, so Shigaraki will be too", I think.I can't say anything for certain, obviously, but I feel like everything we've found out makes any salvation for him less likely, not more. I would like for the series to directly address that the two characters have important similarities, though. like enji and bakugou 1/3

I think the parallels between eri and tenko of them exist primarily to demonstrate how much of a difference it can make depending on how people are treated and, on a slightly darker level how the people that heroes protect can potentially become the villains that heroes were protecting them from in the first place. Shiggy is one of those tragic cases where you can totally see that he could have been redeemed if he had been helped sooner, but it’s nearly impossible to imagine a scenario 2/3

where his current self could be redeemed. Shiggy could of possibly been redeemed when he was a child, if someone more morally sound got to him before All for One did. Sure, he would of likely been a traumatized and guilty wreck once he realized exactly what he did but atleast he would of had a chance. In the present he’s not so much someone to be redeemed as he is a serious threat to public safety that needs to be contained. 3/3

Thanks for the ask, anon!  You’re free to disagree with me all you like, I hope you don’t mind if I continue the discussion. I consider this blog to be all about discussion so nobody is truly wrong, all I can do is restate my point of view and hope it’s understandable. 

Shigaraki’s Character Development  and Why it Shows There’s Still a Chance for Him

Shigaraki is an ugly, messy, bad person one who is hard to sympathize with. The entire point of his conflcit is that it’s difficult to imagine him being saved, but the story goes out of its way to show that he is at the same time, a person capable of changing for the better. If he were a lost cause, he would only experience negative development not the positive development he’s been shown. The plot is heading towards Shigaraki being saved not because people should have to sympathize with him, but because Shigaraki has a character arc. He’s not spiraling out of control, he’s growing into becoming his own person outside of the threat to society All for One intended him to be. 

I never once said in my post that Shigaraki deserves redemption, or is going to be redeemed in a straightforward manner. My post is entirely about how moralizing the way one victim of abuse acts, in comparison to the way another victim of abuse acts and deciding which one of them should be saved based on that black and white judgement is wrong. At that point the complexity from both characters is erased to rule that Eri is the “good victim” and Shigaraki is the “bad victim.”

Saying that only Eri deserves comfort or solace from what has been done to her is the same as saying that victims only deserve to be helped if they are acting a certa “acceptable” way. It was also about the complexities of empathizing with someone. Not every case of empathy is going to be beautiful, not every person you’re asked to sympathize with is going to be as straightforward as feeling bad for a crying little girl. Sometimes people don’t cry, sometimes people resist you every step of the way, sometimes people are ugly and hard to confront but that does not make them any less deserving of empathy. 

Shigaraki does not stop being a human at any point. His victim status does not get negated by the fact that he has grown up. Especially since, Shigaraki is still very much underneath All for One’s thumbs and in the middle of his machination. In fact because Shigaraki is still a human who is effected by the environment around him he has been shown

#1 - Shigaraki has a character arc, and is directly tied to the themes of the story

Most importantly, Shigaraki is a character with an arc. The reason I say he is going to be saved isn’t because I like redemption arcs, or I think every villain needs to be redeemed. In fact I hate the term “redemption arc” because it’s dumb, literally what makes a redemption arc good is the same thing that makes any other character arc good, a character facing consequences for their actions and being forced to change. A character getting their teeth repeatedly kicked in until they learn better. 

You have to think of this story in terms of themes, and characters. Shigaraki is the second most important character thematically after the Deku, so he’s not just a tragic case that can disappear after one arc. What exactly would the story be saying if a kid who has basically been abused all of his life and raised as a child soldier gets “put down” before any single person sympathized with him or even gave him a chance? That you only get saved if you’re lucky enough to be saved? That’s super optimistic there. 

Thematically the main conflict of the story is that in a society made up of heroes, there are people who do not get saved. This is how the story starts “In this world people are not created equal”, this is what Shigaraki thinks when he is alone in a crowd of people desperately begging for people to help him, only for people to ignore him, because he looked too ugly, or too dangerous to get involved in. 

I’m not saying Shigaraki deserves to be saved because it’s nice, or because I want him to, by “deserves” I mean this is an idea the story is building up and should be paid off. The theme is a question and the events that happen in story is an answer. 

What exactly do we learn if Shigaraki is just “put down by the plot?” 

That some people don’t get saved? But we already knew that at the start of the story. It is the literal first line in the story. By that logic Deku should never have gotten All Might’s Quirk, because he was unlucky enough to be born without it. The point of stories is that they challenge the status quo, change it, and then resolve it. My Hero Academia is not a cynical story, it’s about using effort to change and overcome the things that are unfair about the world rather than just succumbing to the world’s flaws around you. It’s a story where the system can be overcome, where the heroes are expected to be heroes and do better to make up for the failures of the previous generation. 

At the start of the story Shigaraki was just another villain to take down, if that’s his final fate at the end of the story then there was no point in following him for hundreds of chapters. He could have just been a villain that disappeared after the first arc, and then got replaced by Stain, and then got replaced by Chisaki, and then by Re-Destro. 

The point is the story is choosing to focus on Shigaraki’s growth and development because the author plans to go somewhere with it. Since My Hero Academia is thematically about saving people, and Shigaraki is the most difficult character too save, but also emblamatic of the victims that society creates it makes thematic sense to save him. Your argument that Shigaraki only serves as a bad example of what could have happened to Eri had she not been saved does not work, because Eri is not an important character. She’s introduced in chapter 129, as opposed to Shigaraki who makes an appearance in chapter 13. 

As someone who loves the Overhaul arc, and who adores Eri, at this point Eri is not that much of her own character. She basically exists for two reasons, the relationship she has with three important characters (Eraserhead, Mirio, Deku) and also the plot point that her quirk is a weird macguffin that needs to be studied. Despite being in a highly volatile and violent environment as a child, Eri shows almost no negative signs of her abuse at all (that is getting violent herself, acting out, lashing out) and is basically gets over most of it writing wise by having a fun day at a concert. Once again, I don’t think this is bad, it’s just that Eri isn’t as important to the plot so she’s written the best she can with the limited amount of focus she’s given. 

Eri is entirely there for her relationships to other characters. Therefore, it makes far more sense that Eri is there to serve Shigaraki’s storyline, not the other way around. 

See let’s use star wars. Darth Vader is there to be a negative foil to Luke, to show a jedi who fell to the dark side as Luke’s literal father. The possibility that Luke can fall to the dark side is present in his connection to Darth Vader. However, the reason Darth Vader does not get a full redemption arc in the original trilogy is that Luke is far more important a character being the main character. 

As opposed to Eri who is just a side character, compared to the literal second most plot important character. Shigaraki is connected to the conflict with All for One which is the central conflict of the story, and he was born into it rather than Deku who inherited it from All Might. Shigaraki is connected to the idea that some people are not saved by Hero Society, and are victims who fall through the cracks and then grow up to be villains. Shigaraki is connected to the idea that some people’s quirks are not really able to fit into society if they are actively destructive and dangerous, that some people have more villainous quirks and are therefore stigmatized and not help. Shigaraki is connected to the conflict with Endeavor because Dabi is his right hand man. He was connected to the Stain conflict due to AFO pulling them together. 

Finally, yes there are villains who like Shigaraki could have been saved but are defeated instead and their backstory only exists to make them a tragic character. Chisaki is the biggest example that I can think of, because he’s a heavy character foil to Shigaraki, they were both abandoned as children and picked up by father figures in crimminal syndicates who ultimately saw them as tools. 

However, the difference between Chisaki and Shigaraki lies in the writing. Shigaraki has a character arc, and Chisaki does not. Shigaraki exists in several arcs and persists in the story, and Chisaki disappears after one arc. Which is the point, that what we’ve been shown makes the prospect of Shigaraki’s salvation more likely, because we’ve been shown he’s capable of growing and changing. Shigaraki, just like any character in the plot screws up and then when his screw ups explode in his face he learns and gets better. 

Shigaraki is introduced as a character who cares nothing at all about his allies, is fickle, gives up easily. He is almost exactly what All for One raised him to be, a symbol of fear, who kills for no reason, and seems to only exist to destroy and hurt others. 

All for One’s intentions were to make Shigaraki someone with no positive emotions, someone with no positive qualities, no positive relationships. Someone who is only capable of hating, only lashing out in anger. Hanging onto those negative emotions completely stunted his growth and made him incapable of developing as a person.

When he is first introduced, Shigaraki is not his own person but acting exactly as All for One wants him to be. However, the point of Shigaraki’s failure in not only this arc but the next arc is that Shigaraki is told again and again that his methods do not work. None of his allies want to work with him, he cannot make his plans work because he’s just attacking for the sake of attacking without an objective. He’s also entirely dependent on what All for One gives him, and can’t really accomplish anything on his own, and has to use the fallen king of evil’s vast amount of resources. 

He throws tantrums, he loses out on potential allies, he squanders resources on his petty little emotions. The point is not only does Shigaraki fail again and again, but it’s also something he’s consitently called out on. When he fails, he does not get the results he desires, and nobody coddles him for it. 

Shigaraki is told that if he wastes his allies then he’ll be a failure by Kurogiri. 

Deku tells Shigaraki to his face that Stain is a better viallin then him, and more people believe in Stain, because he doesn’t give up that quickly, because he gives them something to believe in and a reason to fight. 

Shigaraki’s plan to kidnap Bakugo to find sympathizers completely blows up in his face (quite literally as well), and not only does Bakugo lecture him yet again, but he loses the one support system he had in All for One as a result of his failure. 

Not only does Shigaraki lose the security and infinite amount of redos that he had, he also feels the consequences to his actions for the first time. 

An intentional move on All for One’s part to make Shigaraki realize he is responsible for his own actions now, and cannot be like a child having their parental figure clean up all of their messes for them. A move that forces Shigaraki to grow up on his own. 

It’s also no surprise that by the time that by the next time we cut to Shigaraki, he’s learned to value people more. After all, he’s now lost the one person he did have an attachment to in his life and he knows what that pain feels like. Not only does Shigaraki in the Chisaki arc get lectured and have his past failures held against him yet again as a person.

Shigaraki’s lack of a plan, and how much he let allies slip out of his hands in the past are both things that he is criticized for, and also something he faces a direct consequence for. Due to the fact that he was not enough on his own to bring Chisaki into line, in the resulting Melee in the league vs the Yakuza magne dies, and not only that Shigaraki also has to bow his head down to Chisaki and agree to work under him in order to get what he wants this arc. 

It’s at this point we see Shigaraki’s growth as a leader. He’s no longer someone who does not care about his allies, because he speaks to them on a personal level, and also takes responsibility for his failings and mistake. He’s learned the value of his allies, and how to speak with them. This is a complete 180 from the person who tried to kill Toga when she first met him because he annoyed her. 

However, his victory against the Yakuza and choosing to pursue personal vengeance over joining hands with the Yakuza is also something that has consequences for Shigaraki. 

They are out of money, directionless, and his own allies are questioning him because he doesn’t make it clear what he wants to do for them, or what his goals are. Even though the League of Villains is close, they’re not sycophants like Kurogiri, so they don’t just unquestioningly do whatever he says or put up with him. They actively call him out. 

Not only that, but Shigaraki is called to prove himself yet again. He’s called out for accomplishing nothing, despite starting out with the vast amount of resources that All for One gave him. The league of Villains has notoriety and not much else, because at the moment it consists of a core group of homeless twenty year olds strapped for crash and stayin in a dump. 

However, Shigaraki’s character arc is not an arc that just develops him as a villain. He also develops as a person as well. Shigaraki himself is aware of the fact that even if he were to become the perfect king of the villains and All for One’s successor that’s not something that would satisfy him.

Yes, characters are defined by their choices. Shigaraki can make choices now and those choices have meaning. But it’s also important to remember that there’s no such thing as a person with 100% free choices to define who they are. There are choices you get, and things that are chosen for you, and a lot of times especially in stories characters are defined by what they choose when given the choice.

Shigaraki has consistently chosen to value his allies, ask people to believe in him, connect on an emotional level, and even to try to save the people who are on his side when they are lost. These are not things All for One would choose, because All for One raised sycophants and disposable pawns. We see when Shigaraki is given the choice, he chooses to grow on his own to be a better person, despite being met with constant failure. At no point does he give up, or give in. 

By being what All for One wants him to be, Shigaraki completely fails as a person. He only starts to grow and change for real when allowed to be his own person. When he grows independently from All for One, he shows positive character growth that a person who is supposedly past the point of no return should be incapable of. 

Shigaraki at the start of the manga was an insane misanthrope with no social skills at all, who was fickle, gave up, barely tried, and just wanted to lash out. 

Shigaraki now is a person who values his allies, is capable of planning for things in advance, has the determination to fight an impossible battle against an entire city for the sake of one ally, and was clever enough to actually win that fight. If Shigaraki cannot be saved, then why have we already seen him heal to this point? Why are we shown he is capable of change and improving as a person? 

Shigaraki is constantly told how terrible he is and is forced to grow. The most Deku does is occasionally break his bones.  

#2  Bakugo and Enji

Saying that Bakugo and Enji are characters more redeemable then Shigaraki is a pointless statement to me, because Enji and Bakugo are already tied thematically to Shigaraki’s plotline. You cannot have one without the other. You see, because Bakugo and Enji are both explorations of the idea that there’s more to being a hero than just punching villains. 

This is the ideal end point of Deku and Bakugo’s rivalry. That both of their ways of idealizing heroes are misguided, because Deku always hurts himself too much because he prioritizes saving others over his own safety, and Bakugo cannot save others because he is a hero mainly to be the strongest, and to defeat villains. 

Which is one of the critiques of hero society that the story has offered, that there are heroes who are in it not to save other people, but to be the strongest. Which is an unhealthy attitude, because it leads to Bakugo bullying Deku for years over his fear that Deku was looking down on him, and Enji taking out his feelings of failure on his own family. 

Bakugo and Enji are not good heroes, specifically because they would never save someone like Shigaraki. Their priorities are not in helping victims to begin with, just beating up villains because they want to feel strong. If the story is thematically about saving others, it makes sense then that these two characters would be challenged to, yanno, save people. 

If the Ultimate Ideal end of Bakugo and Deku’s relationship is someone who will always win, and save others, then it makes sense for Deku to grow into someone who would not lose to Shigaraki, but also someone who would refuse to see Shigaraki as a victim and be capable fo saving him. 

Also, there’s almost a world of difference in the motivations between Bakugo + Enji and Shigaraki. Bakugo’s backstory is that everybody told him how special he was and he put too high expectations on himself. Now, that was mainly an oversimplication (I have done an entire post on how Bakugo pressuring himself is relatable and also his behavior is a failure on the part of the adults around him to reason with him and discipline him because he’s still a child, just check my mha meta tag)

The things which shaped Shigaraki into the person he became he had almost no control over. What happened to his family was a freak accident, All for One finding him was due to who his grandmother happened to be no fault on his part. He was basically raised in a basement and his only exposure to the outside world was when All for One sent him out to kill people. 

Yet, despite being not responsible for a lot of things that turned him the way he was, Shigaraki takes a lot of personal responsibility for his growth. It is on Shigaraki to learn from his mistakes and right those things. When he fails, Shigaraki takes the brunt of the failure. 

Yet, we have people like Enji who for the most part just blames the circumstances around him and does not change. The reason people want Shigaraki to get exploration as a character is because he does change, and he takes personal repsonsibility to improve himself and faces consequences for his action. Enji faces no consequences for his actions beyond the people he abused not liking him, and he still stays the same person. He still only values individual strength, he still fights by using flashy moves to defeat villains while critically endangering civillains. 

Bakugo is a kid, and he’s also learning to build bridges with Deku instead of repeating his behavior in the past, so he’s capable of change and resolving the conflict of his character that he can be a strong person good at defeating villains but that does not necessarily make him into a good hero.

Shigaraki has also demonstrated that he is a person capable of taking responsbility for his mistakes, and changing to be better. The reason he’s being explored as a character is because he can change. 

Endeavor in his refusal to change far more fits the bill as a tragic example that you were trying to talk about in your response, because that’s how stories are written. Stories are all about development, and change.

[mysterious-prophetess]

Movie Double feature

Today I saw TWO Movies somewhat back-to-back.

Bumblebee AND Aquaman.

One I’d been anticipating and one I was slightly skeptical about.

So I’m going to do my little post movie write up AS a double feature as well.

So first the overall experiences I had with both and then below a read more, I will get into spoiler territory.

Bumblebee

I will admit I had the bar set low because it’s a Transformer’s movie. Though, I was slightly hopeful because Bee was a bug like he was in the cartoon. And also, Bee is my favorite transformer’s character.

I was right to be hopeful. This movie was thoroughly enjoyable. Not once did I glance at my cellphone. Ok I did but that wasn’t because I was bored. 

The pacing could be very quick at times but the human protagonist was actually someone I could give a full damn about. The plot wrapped up nicely and if Michael Bay really wanted, he could reboot the whole franchise and it would work. Easily the best of the....how many are there at this point? Let’s see.....(one google search later) Six. Best of the Six Transformers movies out. Personally, I think Michael bay should just reboot the series.

Aquaman

I didn’t have the bar super high here either but I was hoping for it to be good because of several reasons.

1) I am a HUGE DC fangirl. That’s right I’ll admit it, I prefer DC to Marvel. So, I’d prefer it when DC movies are good.

2) Representation matters. 

3) The way they set up Aquaman in Justice League (especially with the Motherbox thing and Mera) intrigued me.

So, how was it? Well, I will say it was not as good as Wonder Woman. However, it was better than all the other current batch DC movies, though. By which I mean the ones that are already out. Which is something it does pain me to admit since I am (at heart) a hardcore Superman fangirl. So, for me current DC movie rankings in quality (in my personal opinion):

Wonder Woman

Aquaman

Justice League

Man of Steel

Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (extended cut)

Suicide Squad

The tone flipped back and forth with light and more serious moments here and there. The pacing could be choppy in a few segments and Snyder is back at it again with his choices for editing scenes together. More on that in the spoiler section. But it was also fun and Arthur’s 1000000% done with it was something I could relate to. Yes, it is the standard trope-y King Arthur tale (yeah, pun intended and DC did that too) of good true king versus Bad False King, but it also wasn’t totally stale. The art direction is what really made this movie for me. I loved LOVED how the underwater civilizations looked.

Now time for the spoiler section.

You have been warned. Don’t read if you’ve not seen either.

Bumblebee

Like I said above, I did not enter this film with high expectations of it. I mean, I don’t hate the other Transformers movies. I’ll just admit up front that if I could cut out the human bits from most of the other five films and just have nothing but giant robot fights, I’d be more than good with that. Especially Dark of the Moon. Just give me the giant robot bits and omit the rest please.

Charlie is actually relatable. Especially to me because I’ve had the sucky as fuck job at an amusement park. I won’t say where or when but trust me: working at a theme park is not fun at all. She also has something of an arc in this film that isn’t “get the girl” or whatever Mark Whalberg’s character’s arc was supposed to be in Last Knight (I didn’t see age of extinction but it seemed his arc there was around fatherhood or something). Charlie is also (as a character) charming enough to help carry the film with Bee. 

I won’t say the Charlie parts were always 100% good, but definitely good more often than not.

The male human lead (Memo?)...he was just Sam Witwicky 1980′s edition and a little less pathetic. 

Bumblebee was adorable in this. I get it was the amnesia but before he lost his voice, it was nice to hear him actually talk and the fact they cast a guy with a young-ish sounding voice was something I really liked since in the cartoon I’m more than fairly certain Bee was a kid or the youngest member of the Autobots. After the amnesia, it also sort of was childlike in his behaviors. 

I even liked the Decepticons. They were barely playing nice. 

I like that the human military was trying to play them right back.

Best line in the movie was when the John Cena character Agent Burns says something like,

“Should we even trust them, It’s right in their name “Decepticons”“ 

That was actually a clever thing to have in the film. 

Something else I liked was the fact that Optimus Prime, Soundwave, and Ravage were all really close to their cartoon designs, and it looked so much nicer to me.

Bee as a Camaro origin story. It was a nice touch. This skews the canon of the films a little but since it’s in my personal opinion they should just reboot it here and run with this new universe, any continuity issues aren’t that big to me.

Were there times the move just went from 0-CRAZY. Yeah. 

Charlie’s family: Borderline abusive at times, and borderline too...much. They weren’t as over the top as the Witwicky’s but that’s not saying much.

The internet already existed in the 80′s for the military as either DARPA or ARPA Net, so that little revelation was stupid.

The bullies who harrass Charlie at that party spot. I’ve never met someone that callus IRL and there is no way the bitchy chick making fun of the fact Charlie’s dad dropped dead wouldn’t have had at least someone aside from Memo and Bee going “Not Cool”

Speaking of that, the whole delinquent thing that they did to rich girl’s house? Funny but not 100% plot relevant. There were other ways to end up with Charlie, Bee, and Memo in a car chase. 

E.G. Bee’s trying to cheer Charlie up by going fast or something.

The nod to the other films with Simmons was nice. 

A solidly enjoyable film. I do actually recommend it.

Aquaman

Now onto a bigger spiel.

Again, due to DC’s track record for film quality with the current movie universe (and beyond) I did not want to have my hopes up, but I already mentioned why I wanted it to do well above.

The tonal shifts from serious to light to serious again could be (to borrow what my dad said) corny. I like corny, personally, but I get that tonal shifts like this can give others whiplash. Fortunately, they didn’t do this all the time.

What Snyder had them do enough times, however, was editing in flashbacks in the main flow of the story with little warning a la Man of Steel and I didn’t like it then, I don’t like it now.

Sometimes the dialogue could be a bit on the nose and clunky but I did like Arthur’s arc in this film. It was slightly incomplete because part of his arc started in Justice League which was learning how to play nice with other people to do something. Then there was the whole reluctant leader thing. It was done well enough, but having seen it done much better in the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings trilogy, I know that attempting this sort of character arc in one film was asking for it to be a little less refined. Which is the result. Yet, despite it relying on a very Arthurian trope of Chosen King with Magic Weapon, it did it well enough that it wasn’t a totally stale thing. The fact he had the magic-trident of King Atlan was something he was actively working to earn throughout the movie. It did actually feel like he had gone through enough of a growth in the film (and part of Justice League) to merit him earning this achievement of his. 

The film did drag a little in places but only twice did I just want them to get on with it already.

Black Manta Ray’s origin was interesting in this universe. Arthur did quasi-create this enemy. 

On the other hand, I can’t fully feel sympathy for a murderous pirate dying because he tried to kill Arthur and Arthur decided that the man who tried to blow him up wasn’t someone he wanted to save. But that’s because I’m a vindictive bitch.

Arthur, later, realizes that he should have done the right thing all along but too late now. He also realizes the value of mercy because of this so...

Mera’s powers are never fully explained, but I find myself mostly ok with that because I just started calling her a waterbender in my head. 

Arhtur and Mera’s relationship evolved semi-organically. They did have chemistry for the most part, but it was almost too cliche at times yet it was fine because it’s the action movie romance cliches that aren’t 100 horrible but it was even at times a little sweet.

So, let’s go over, in detail what I loved about the art direction

Yes, it does look very similar to other underwater cities that I’ve seen in the past in other media, but they also incorporated enough new and nature inspired parts to it that I loved looking at each underwater civilization. The ruins, the tech, the fact things glowed the way they did. That pirate ship air pocket was also a really interesting thing though I kept wondering where Ariel was

I even got that the reason there was water in the Atlantean vehicles was Atlanteans don’t need to worry about things being airtight because they breathe under water. 

Later when it was explained that only a handful of Atlanteans can even breath in the atmosphere it made even more sense.

When Volko was training Arthur in his Atlantean skills and stuff started to glow once he went deeper in the water I actually nodded because there is scientific evidence that every living thing does give off small amounts of bioluminesce. Even we humans do, but it’s so faint we can’t perceive it.

I personally think the Atlanteans should have glowed a little too. 

The different species of Atlantean were very neat. Especially the “feral” ones. Reminded me of someone crossing a Zora with that creature from Pan’s Labyrinth or that thing from Hellboy 2 that Liz made a deal with to save Hellboy.

Onto other things:

The Karathen. I did not expect her to live up to the hype the movie was building her up to be. I was also pleasantly surprised that it was a “she” during the scene where she is trash-talking Arthur without knowing that he can understand her. Then, later, I found out she is voiced by Julie Andrews.

Also, because the Karathen did make such a huge impact in that final fight two things entered my head.

“RELEASE THE KRAKEN” and 

Orm: “I have an army!”

Arthur: “I have a sea monster.”

The Atlantis thrown down was noticed but that got me thinking: Where was the rest of the JL during this. Were they just doing damage control or something after Orm’s little oceanic temper tantrum?

The mid-credits stinger with Mantaray. I knew he wasn’t done because Manta Ray is a major Aquaman villain. I just didn’t think the Atlantis obsessed prof would end up finding him.

I don’t fully get why Nereus would want a war with the surface with Orm in charge, unless he would just strike Orm down later and take his power. 

I didn’t get why the fishpeople didn’t just RUN AWAY whenever Arthur showed up with the Karathen AND wielding the Trident of Atlan. All Fish-People Princess would have had to do was say “my people RUN FROM THE MONSTER” And Orm’s armies (and Orm himself) would be so busy fighting a literal sea monster from their worst nightmares that no one could or would have stopped them.

In fact, I am confused as to why there wasn’t mass panic once the Karathen showed up and she started wrecking all the military vehicles. -\( `-`)/-

Arthur’s ability to speak to the aquatic animals was actually built up to be a major ability. 

Aquaman’s been made fun of in the past for this, but considering he was able to talk to the Karathen, and control a bunch of apex sea predators (turning them on their masters) it isn’t something to be fully laughed off. Outside the ocean, sure it doesn’t really make a huge difference but that’s where making the Atlanteans tougher than land humans comes in. That too makes actual sense with the reasons as to why this was.

Atlanna’s survival wasn’t really too much of a shock for me. I was half-expecting the Trench-peoples to not be totally savage and actually just have a bad rep. 

The Hidden Sea at the Earth’s core bit got an eyebrow quirk. I was half expecting it to be the Caspian Sea....

I would still very much recommend Aquaman.

[chicleeblair]

Dear Yuletide Writer

Dear Yuletide Author,

EDIT: I am not able to participate in Yuletide this year--I had to forfeit in 2016 due to being unexpectedly hospitalized in Nov/Dec after poorly managing my time, and misreading the rules--I thought the ban could be cleared by submitting a treat OR waiting a year, turns out I have to complete a finished story to be cleared, which I will this year.

All that said, I spent quite a bit of time on this and since I could manage to pinch hint and get to make my requests I’m going to leave my DYW letter here. If anyone feels like writing to these prompts, feel free. I’ll probably reuse them last year, depending on what is written for other people, but I already have plans to nominate a few newer fandoms next year.

Fandoms included: Newsflesh (incl Feedback), 

Hi! I’m incredibly excited about Yuletide this year, and I’ve been considering my requests and offers with more thought than I should be willing to admit to this week. There are so many fandoms that I love nominated, and though I’ve learned to be careful about what I offer to write for, I’ve still found myself making detailed mentao pro-con lists, especially since I try not to request fic from the same fandoms I offer to write in. Still, I’ve been surprised by some of the nominations—I only finished The Lonliest Girl in the Universe a week ago, and Lauren James isn’t well-known in the States, despite being one of my favorite authors. Anyway, I think I’ve got my lists figured out now, so the time has come to tell you what it is I love about my favorite pieces of underappreciated media. What an easy project /sarcasm.

 DISLIKES Before I get into the fandoms individually, I suppose I should let you know what my squicks are (you know you’ve been in fandom too long when you’re shocked Word doesn’t recognize the word ‘squicks.) None of these are triggers in particular, I’ve got depression, but it’s managed, and I don’t have any major traumas to worry about in particular. I don’t mine NSFW/explicit fic, but it’s also not often my reason for reading. That said, the following tags make me likely to hit the back button: watersports, alpha/omega, knotting, feces, mpreg. I’m not particularly fond of girl!penis as a kink, though it’s different if the character is actually dealing with being trans or intersex.

 LIKES One thing I do like that a lot of people don’t is bloodplay, though as there aren’t any vampire stories in my requests it probably won’t be a Thing this year, and I’m good with consensual BDSM.

 I’m sure it’s obvious from my reqs that I’m into zombie fiction, though it’s the human side of it I like, whether that’s humans dealing with zombies, or zombies attempting to deal with their humanity. One thing I will say is that I’ve chosen fandoms that all rest on detailed world-building, and if you want to write a fic that explores the edges of these universes without necessarily including the listed characters, I’m happy with that. Anything that explores how the world has changed/how a certain person has been affected by the big change is fine with me!

 I’m bi, with a deeply abiding love for f/f fic. I definitely have het ships that I’ll fill you in on, but I still love stories where those ladies interact with their female friends. I’m very pro kid!fic, I adore time stamps, alternate POVs, epistolary fic, social media fic, anything that explores the world that an author has already built. I wasn’t ever the kid simply rubbing their Barbies together, I acted out Barbie and Ken meeting while they babysat Kelly and Tommy. (True story: these stories were also written down in a notebook I carried around at school. Basically, I started writing Barbie fanfic at the age of eight.)  

 I’ve received some great Yuletide gifts via letters where I’ve spelled out specific desires, but this year I don’t have specific stories I want written so much as worlds I’d like to see explored further. What are they? Glad you asked, friend!

 Newsflesh (Feed, Deadline, Blackout, Rise, & Feedback)

 This isn’t the most obscure fandom in the world, by any means, since it’s written by Seanann McGuiare under her Mira Grant penname, and because Mark Oshiro of Mark Does Stuff chronicled his journey through the original trilogy. That said, I’m pretty obsessed with the world of these books, and have read and reread all the books and novellas, and I’m not as into the main ship as most readers seem to be. I’m adopted, so the relationship between Georgia and Shaun I don’t love incest in general, though a high school obsession with Life with Derek means I can’t cast stones. However, I nominated this fandom in the first place, and I picked the character pool especially so that even if I didn’t end up requesting it, other participants might take the chance to explore other characters, specifically the characters introduced in Feedback. Their story takes place parallel to Feed; while the Masons are covering the Ryman campaign, Aislinn North, the Irwin who adores chasing zombies, and her companions are on the election trail with Senator Shannon Kilbourne. I like Feedback due to the diversity of its cast—Mat, the teams’ techie and makeup blogger, is nonbinary, and Ash is married to Ben, the Newsie, on paper, but really in a relationship with the final member of their team, fiction-writer Audrey). But another feature I love about this book? Unlike the original trilogy, it was written after the date when Grant sets the Rising—July 2014. Because of this, the book contains some amazing pop cultural nuggets that just make the whole thing seem more real, for instance Ash mentions that Frozen merchandise is a rarity, since the Rising happened mid-PR campaign, and Taylor Swift’s pre-2013 music is “before she turned political.” (If only. Tay and JLaw disappointed me last year.) Like I said, I’m not married to you using these characters. Heck, if you want to explore Taylor Swift’s life, post-Rising, that’d be cool with me. That said, I chose Ash, Emily Ryman, Maggie, and Georgia because they are awesome female characters, and I’d love to see them interact. I can see Ash and Maggie having known each other/dated at some point—though post-canon I am pro-Maggie/Alaric, though less crazy about Ash’s girlfriend—and any situation where they could meet would make a great fic, especially if both Georgia and Ash have to deal with their prejudices towards each other. Also, in regards to Maggie, I wouldn’t mind knowing more about Alisa, Alaric’s sister, especially because the Masons take her in from a shelter in Ferry Pass, which is part of my hometown of Pensacola. Emily is painfully underused, being born pre-Rising and developing retinal KA, and all of them are just badasses. Basically, this world is awesome and I think more people need to be exposed to Feedback, and it’s Irish spitfire of a POV-Irwin. Another feature of this universe I’m interested in is the kids who grow up post-Rising. Grant looks into this with blog posts and flashbacks, but even the description of the post-Rising orphanages in the “All the Pretty Little Horses” short story from Rise makes me want more.

 Parasitology Parasite, Symbiont, Chimera

 Another Mira Grant, another apocalypse. People have accused her of revamping the same story again, but in spite of having some similar characters and circumstances Sal’s story is nothing like Georgia or Ash’s. Of course, I adore the similarities in story-telling—ephemera is my kryptonite—but Sal’s development is unique to Mira Grant books, if not to books in general, and her relationship to her own humanity/lack thereof is fascinating. I especially love that she spends the whole series in a committed relationship, one that she is confident of, and that in spite of only technically having existed for six years she is incredibly sure of herself. I nominated this one as well, and chose Sal, Juniper, Doctor Cale, and Tansy because they are strong ladies with complex stories that have lots of room to be explored. Dr. Cale, Tansy, and Sal to a degree, deal with disability—and this is particular interesting for Tansy & Sal, since they are aware of the fact that they are making a choice to keep this malfunctioning human body. Juniper is a little girl, yet she and Tansy are learning to be people together, Sal is learning to be a mother, and in a way so is Dr. Cale. Also, eventually Juniper will have to decide whether or not to engage with the humans of her generation, and that could be fascinating. That said, Grant hasn’t told nearly as many stories in this universe, since the trilogy relies far more on Sal herself than Newsflesh relies on the Masons, so I’d love to see an exploration of how the parasites and chimeras affected other parts of the world. I think the fact that the symbiotes have brought humanity so close to eradicating illness is something that could be explored further, too, especially when you consider that the parasites disabled their inventor, and that if the Mitchells hadn’t been attempting to hide Sally’s epilepsy, Sal might not have been born. There’s also the fact that the other doctor who is close to Sal—Cale’s son, Nathan—does not use the implants at all, suggesting that at their core physicians with their hearts in the right place know that there is a line that shouldn’t be crossed, that maybe humans need illness and disability to thrive.

 In the Flesh

I really debated requesting this, since it’s a fandom I think I could write in, but I liked the idea of letting my requests adhere to a theme, and this series was the first piece of zombie media I ever consumed (pun intended). There have been many great fics in this fandom, they are often AU and revolve around Kieren’s relationships—I’m all for people celebrating canonically queer characters, but to me neither of those ships were what drew me into the series. I didn’t nominate ItF myself, and I wish I had because I would have included Amy Dyer. As it is, I don’t mind if you mention either of Kieren’s relationships, but I only asked for Kieren and Jem because they’re the characters I care most about, truly. Honestly, I actually care the most about Jem, because I think she’s an incredible character who went through so much to protect her family and is forced to face her fears every day in order to have a relationship with the brother who made her who she is—in so many ways. I am also fascinated by the idea of a world that has faced the apocalypse and is having to move forward. The little details that serve to remind us that society had to hit the pause button, such as the lack of cell phones, are really intriguing to me, as well as the issues students like Jem face having to return to school after war. This world also opens the door for an exploration of what life might be like for children&teens who came back—Henry was a missed opportunity IMO—and while I don’t mind if you don’t bother incorporating the storylines Dominic Mitchell has said he would include in a season three, the idea of Jem making a friend with PDS (as opposed to PTSD, that acronym similarity needs mentioning) would be so great. Again, though, feel free to take this world and run with it, no need to stay in Roarton—I wonder what adulthood for Jem would be like, with Kieren never having aged, for instance?

 World War Z

Another of my nominations. I don’t know why, but I am obsessed with this book, specifically the audiobook. Max Brooks has talked about how he based this book on an oral history of WWII, and I think the parallels between the two wars are deep if you look closely—the idea of total war, the amount of work on the home-front, the inefficiency of assuming what won against one enemy will suffice against another, children escaping unimaginable violence, the nuclear bomb survivor, so much more—but what I really loved is how Brooks really fills in the details from each POV he uses. Without naming celebrities, Brooks clearly sets it in the Bush-era, which is interesting to me but probably not affect fic, but shows how well the world is crafted. The imagery that comes from the Australian astronaut who spent the war on the ISS is particularly poignant to me, especially the way he describes them discovering the burrowing zombies. I also get chills from Jessica’s story, the girl whose parents dragged her up to Canada, and when she discovers the Spongebob sleepover, because it’s a mark of how bizarre our culture and entertainment would seem, and how our comforts could disappear in the blink of an eye. I do think that this book is lacking in female POVs, particular ladies who might not be soldiers but were fighting the war in their own way. I loved Joe Mohammad’s POV, too, but not everyone would need to be part of a patrol group or militia to survive. I’d love to see what the situation was like for city-dwellers, or people who were in the areas not getting supplies due to the Reddecker plan. What about the Israelis, what was it like in the country during this isolated period? There have been some great fics exploring issues like euthanasia and abortion in that period, and I’d love to see an issue like that expanded. On the other hand, there is a lot that could come from looking into the world post-war, describing what the Narrator goes through to get these stories, or what kinds of stories he might hear after the initial book is published—a history of the rebuilding would be interesting since in this world the threat isn’t completely gone. Brooks has written two short stories that are explicitly in this world (a couple that are borderline) and one of them, Closure LtD, and I don’t want to spoil it, but it really makes me wonder what other kinds of industries would emerge in a post-zombie war world.

 Inhuman Condition

Also my nomination, this is a webseries that did not get NEARLY the amount of viewers or fans it deserved. The author has created this incredibly interesting alternative history, and I don’t think everyone who watched even knows how much detail was put into it. For instance, I discovered a blog (https://angrydeadgirl.wordpress.com) written from the POV of Clara—my favorite character—wherein she analyzes TV shows such as Grey’s Anatomy, except it’s Grey’s Anatomy reimagined through the lens of this world, and there is NOTHING I love more than inter-textual references like that. There are other in-universe shows that I have honestly begged to see for real, and via the show we only get a taste of these details. I’d also love to know more about how the existence of zombies and lycans affected history aside from the terror attacks we know of from the series. I’d also love to see more about Kessler, what got her into working with other-humans, whether there is a personal connection that we’re not told, more about her daughter, Mira, who has grown up in a world where the truth is known, there’s so much in there to mine. I didn’t nominate Tamar, the character who seems more superhero than supernatural, because to me her story seems to fit into this world less than Clara and Linc. Not that I don’t like her, I did, but while I totally believe they could all exist in one universe—I read Marvel, after all—her condition doesn’t seem to be in the same category, so the backstory would be different. Lycanthropy and Clara’s form of zombiism both seem to be medical conditions, to a degree, and while Tamar’s issues definitely parallel mental illness, it’s a different issue. I wouldn’t mind seeing her or others like her, just that I think the dynamics of lycan/walker-type conditions. I really appreciate how, like In the Flesh, this series allows the conditions to be a metaphor for real life issues, without erasing those issues. One of Clara’s blog entries, for instance, mentions that there are cases of people being killed for not informing sexual partners of their condition, and this is explicitly related to people with HIV who have faced similar violence. Also, Linc and Kessler are both explicitly bisexual, and in my mind Clara is non-straight, too, and that’s a reason I included Mira because WHY NOT? I nominated Frank because after seeing a fic that shipped him and Clara I got interested in what it would be like to have to spend all your time with this vibrant girl who is so afraid of becoming a monster, I don’t ship them necessarily, but I am interested in knowing more about him. This is the one fandom where I am kind of tied to having the canon characters front and center, but if you want to explore this world through a different lens, I’m open to it.

 The Loneliest Girl in the Universe

 I really, really thought about using this slot for iZombie, because it’s one of my favorite things and fits the theme, but I read The Loneliest Girl in the Universe a few weeks ago, and am THRILLED with the idea of finding other people who love it. I also considered offering to write for it, but I do not have confidence in my ability to calculate transmission delays or describe space physics. I mean, it’s basically a YA version of The Martian featuring an MC with anxiety who writes fanfic. WHAT MORE DO ANY OF US WANT? Throughout this book I was terrified that J would turn out to be an AI, but his actual backstory basically broke my heart, as did the reveal of Romy’s history. I really wish her mother had survived, and I would like to see more of her in Romy’s memories or maybe in the logs/archives now that Romy might be open to looking into them. I would love to see her asking Molly about them, or reading/watching her parents’ reports or journals as she builds a new world with Issac. I also want to know about Issac Evans. Who is he? What happened with him and J? Will he and Romy be MFEO, or simply besties who raise babies? What are the other adults on the ship like? Does Romy find a different person to love? Is it a girl? I’d also LOVE LOVE LOVE to see Romy’s life from the POV of an Earth dweller. You see, DYW, I am a huge fan of several family vlogs; there are babies I have watched grow up via the internet, and I am DEEPLY invested in their lives. NASA would be crazy not to have gotten the world to rally around baby Romy, and some of them probably still read her fics. That’s the thing, though, this book includes her fic, and imaging fic from 2067 makes me want to see more of their social media, and to know how it affected this next group of astronauts. Also, since it turns out that J lied about the war and the collapse of the world’s governments, I’d love to see what the world is actually like. What else is NASA doing? Does the entire world freak out when they find out what happened with Romy and J, or only Molly? Who is Molly? Did she suspect J based on how well she knows Romy? I have a need to know.

 That is it, oh Yuletide Author, way too many of my thoughts about Alternate Worlds, most of them infested by the undead. As I’ve said, I would be happy with stories that feature the characters I requested, or that don’t at all, but unless mentioned I’m not crazy about canon-alternatives.

[evilsapphyre]

Mass Effect Andromeda Appreciation WEEK!

Rules: Answer the questions and tag 10 people. [Optional: post any MEA screenshot you’d like to share!]

Tagged By these lovely people: @lonyn, @amarmeme & @reyesvdl

I shall tag... @chenria, @faejilly, @dragonwyrd316, @teklacat, @syzara

What is your favorite scene in MEA? There were a lot of great scenes, and I’m torn between two in particular: (1) the sunset viewing/whiskey drinking scene with Reyes because that was turning point for me with the game. Before then, I was enjoying it, but there was yet to be a point of true investment beyond Oooh Mass Effect (which anyone will tell you Mass Effect is enough to invest me), but the emotion and vulnerability and storytelling of that scene were just magnificent. (2) The twin scene when you are on Meridian, where you are suddenly in control of your sibling, and despite having been comatose for the majority of the game, they are now working to save their twin light years away - and about to give themselves up to the Kett in the process. 

What is your favorite quest? I’ll have to agree with everyone here that I’ve seen that Liam’s Loyalty Mission is by far the most fun. I really just adored it, and how it oozed pop culture from start to finish. Emotionally, it was again (in agreement with others) Ryder Family Secrets. Plus they just pulled one over on me, that I did not see coming with the reveal at the end.

What is your favorite weapon? Hornet - It shot like an AR and hit like a pistol. It was my best friend.

What is your favorite armor? N7 armor still looks the best to me, but I went with utility over looks. I lived in the Angarran armor for all their tech bonuses.

What is your favorite power ability? Remnant VI, Incinerate, Energy Drain was my chosen power loadout, and I never switched from it. I ran a straight Engineer profile the full game, and Zap was my favorite power, and sometimes squadmate. Zap doesn’t judge!

What is your favorite planet? Kadara - Beyond a certain smuggler, I loved the colors of the planet, and it was the Nar Shadaa, Mos Eisley, or Omega of Andromeda. I loved it. Despite how I often play and write straight-laced characters, I love the worlds and cities that are actually just fronts for the criminal underworld. I might declare myself to people as an Imperial, but I’m a Hutt faction supporter at heart.

What is your favorite addition to MEA that wasn’t in the original trilogy? Jump jets! 

I love the jump jets. I jump jet everywhere. 

And, as my husband would tell you, I billy goat everywhere too. (Taking a path that isn’t intended to be a path just because I can kind of get traction up the steep incline.) Jump jets make it soooo much better. (Plus, I did enjoy hovering in combat and raining death upon my enemies.)

Who is your favorite non-romanced (one you didn’t romanced but could be) character? (can be NPC or squadmate) Drack - I always end up with a soft spot for the Krogan crew member, but I didn’t expect that I would want to be adopted by the Krogan crew member in this game. Like, one of my best friends and I are looking into making Clan Nakmor t-shirts to show our support of our adopted kin. Favorite squad/party combo? Drack & Vetra - They tell the best stories in the Nomad. Favorite non-bipedal animal on Andromeda? Count me in the corner of flying beasties on Havarl. 

What surprised you most when you first played MEA? I was surprised how much I loved the game. Although I’ve never been in the hater camp for ME3, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that the direction they chose for the story wasn’t what I wanted. I just chose to enjoy what they gave me, otherwise, I’d have hated the game from Mars. So there was apprehension about Andromeda for me.

And then, I played for a few hours, and I was hooked. I loved how similar yet different the game was from the original trilogy. It gave me the nostalgia of the series, but I felt it made the game it’s own.

What is your favorite quote? “I liked the way you looked at me. I was afraid it would change”–Reyes ❤

That line? For reasons not entirely capable of being ascribed to the game, it hit me (and Yumi) hard. I’ve admitted multiple times that I borrowed the main character from my original series for Andromeda, and I just finished the first draft of her third book a couple of weeks before Andromeda launched. And this line, and the scene it was in, resonated so much with her, and with me, and no one could possibly know why yet.

--- Sadly no screenshots because I forgot to install Fraps on my first playthrough.

[recentanimenews]

My Week in Manga: April 17-April 23, 2017

My News and Reviews

Well, I didn’t manage to post my in-depth manga review for April last week after all. Today I’m starting in a new position at a different library, meaning that last week I spent most of my time tying up as many loose ends as possible at my previous job. This included writing a lot of documentation. And since I was doing so much writing for work, by the time I got home I didn’t want to do anything but read, so that’s what I did. (Which goes to explain why I ended up finishing Cixin Liu’s excellent novel The Three-Body Problem much sooner than I had originally anticipated.) But never fear, I’ll be posting my review of Nagabe’s The Girl from the Other Side later this week in addition to the monthly manga giveaway.

In other news, Seven Seas continued its string of licensing announcements, adding Orikō Yoshino and Z-ton’s light novel series Monster Girl Doctor, Kazuki Funatsu’s Yokai Girls manga, and Saki Hasemi and Kentaro Yabuki’s To Love Ru and To Love Ru Darkness manga to the slate. Recent announcements from Viz Media included Sankichi Hinodeya’s Splatoon manga, a Hello Kitty coloring book, picture books of Hayao Miyazaki’s Castle in the Sky and Princess Mononoke, as well as the My Little Pony: The Movie artbook. Kodansha Comics had a couple of announcements to make recently, too, such as the upcoming release of full-color hardcover edition of Gun Snark’s Attack on Titan: No Regrets (I’ve previously reviewed the series’ first English-language release) and a hardcover omnibus edition of Yukito Kishiro’s Battle Angel Alita. (The series was originally published in English by Viz Media but has been out-of-print for quite some time.)

I also came across a few other interesting things last week: Over at The OASG, Justin interviewed Mariko Hihara and Kotoyo Noguchi, two independent manga creators in Japan. Noguchi also had some questions to ask in return. Frederik L. Schodt (whose work I greatly enjoy) was recently profiled at Nippon.com. The article takes a look at his involvement as an ambassador for manga over the last four decades. Caitlin from I Have a Heroine Problem presented a panel called “Is This Feminist or Not? Ways of Talking about Women in Anime” at Sakura Con 2017 and has made her slides available. A very nicely designed site called Persona Problems offers criticism of Persona 5‘s English localization and delves into translation theory and practice that even people who don’t play the game may find interesting. Finally, the author and designer Iku Okada has started a series of autobiographical essays called Otaku Girl and Proud which explores Japanese gender inequality and identity and how popular culture can impact that experience.

Quick Takes

Dorohedoro, Volumes 17-20 by Q Hayashida. Despite being one of my favorite ongoing series currently being released in English, I seem to somehow always forget how incredibly much I love Dorohedoro. I tend to forget how tremendously horrific the manga can be, too, mostly because it simultaneously manages to be surprisingly endearing. Hayashida’s story and artwork is frequently and stunningly brutal, gut-churning, and grotesque, but Dorohedoro also carries with it a great sense of humor. Granted, the comedy in Dorohedoro tends to be phenomenally dark. Lately, as Dorohedoro continues to steadily progress along what I believe will be it’s final major story arc, the series has become fairly intense and serious, but it remains exceptionally weird and has yet to completely lose its humor. The plot of Dorohedoro does meander a bit and because it’s been so long since I’ve read the previous volumes I’m sure that I’ve forgotten a few important details as the story takes multiple convoluted turns along the way. Ultimately, it doesn’t seem to really matter though since the world and characters of of Dorohedoro follow and operate under their own peculiar sort of logic; Dorohedoro doesn’t need to make a lot of sense in order to be bizarrely enjoyable.

FukuFuku: Kitten Tales, Volumes 1-2 by Kanata Konami. Before there was Chi’s Sweet Home there was FukuFuku Funyan, Konami’s cat manga which started in the late 1980s. The series featured an elderly woman and her cat FukuFuku. More recently, Konami created FukuFuku: Kitten Tales, a spinoff of FukuFuku’s first series which, as can be accurately assumed by the manga’s title, shares stories from the loveable feline’s youth. While Konami’s artwork in FukuFuku: Kitten Tales is black-and-white rather than being full-color and the manga is only two-volumes long rather than being twelve, the series is otherwise very similar in format to Chi’s Sweet Home. It’s actually been quite a while since I’ve read any of Chi’s Sweet Home, but FukuFuku: Kitten Tales feels like it might be a little more episodic as well. However, it is still an incredibly cute series. Each chapter is only six pages or so but manages to tell a complete story, accurately portraying the everyday life and antics of a kitten. FukuFuku: Kitten Tales isn’t especially compelling or creative as far as cat manga goes, but it is an adorable series which consistently made me smile and even chuckle from time to time.

Magia the Ninth, Volume 2 by Ichiya Sazanami. I enjoyed the first volume of Magia the Ninth immensely. I’m not really sure I could call it a good manga per se, and I don’t think I would necessarily recommend it broadly, but personally I got a huge kick out of it. That being said, I can’t say that I’m surprised that the series only lasted two volumes. (I don’t know for certain, but I get the feeling that Magia the Ninth was cancelled.) What did surprise me was how well Sazanami was able to pull everything together to conclude the manga in a coherent (and almost satisfying) fashion when obviously it was intended to be a series on a much grander scale. To be honest, Magia the Ninth probably would have done much better for itself if the manga had had that level of focus from the very beginning. Magia the Ninth is a strange and somewhat goofy little series about demons, magic, and music. While the series wasn’t always the most comprehensible, it’s stylishly drawn, has tremendous energy, and even manages to effectively incorporate legitimate music history into the story. Magia the Ninth may not have lived up to its potential, but I had fun with it.

The Prince in His Dark Days, Volumes 2-3 by Hico Yamanaka. More and more of The Prince in His Dark Days seems to revolve around Itaru, but at this point I would still consider Atsuko, who is serving as Itaru’s double, to be the real lead of the manga. Unfortunately, Atsuko is casually threatened with sexual violence on a regular basis in the series which frankly makes me uncomfortable. In general, the power dynamics in The Prince in His Dark Days tend to be fairly disconcerting. It doesn’t really help when other characters’ try to play it off as a joke, either. If anything, it only seems to emphasize the fact that so many of them are unrepentant jerks. I know that I’m supposed to empathize with some of their personal struggles, but I find it difficult to spare a lot of sympathy for entitled assholes. However, the themes that Yamanaka explores in The Prince in His Dark Days are of tremendous interest to me, most notably those of gender expression and sexual identity. I also appreciate the manga’s melancholy mood and the slow blossoming of love in unexpected places. There’s only one volume left in The Prince in His Dark Days and despite some of my reservations about the series I am curious to see how it ends.

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu. If my memory serves me right, The Three-Body Problem is actually the first contemporary Chinese novel that I’ve read. It initially came to my attention when it became the first work in translation to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel. Interestingly, when The Three-Body Problem was translated into English by Ken Liu, the order of the chapters was restored to what the author originally intended and a few additional changes were made in consideration of some of the real-world scientific advances that had developed since the novel was first published in China. As a novel that leans heavily on hard science, I found The Three-Body Problem to be fascinating. (At one point in my life, I actually considered going into theoretical physics.) But what makes The Three-Body Problem so compelling are the social aspects of the narrative. In particular, China’s Cultural Revolution and the characters’ responses to it play a critical role in the story’s development. The Three-Body Problem is the first book in a trilogy, Remembrance of Earth’s Past, and so while largely being a satisfying novel on its own, it’s obviously only the beginning of a larger work. I definitely plan on reading the rest.

By: Ash Brown