#it's in good rep but the pages of the other ones are all white and this one's are orange

[ssaalexblake]

after literally two years i have finally managed to pick up all of the fma volumes second hand for good prices. Just ordered the last one I didn’t have off a second hand bookshop. I can now actually read the official translations! 

[creatingblackcharacters]

FAQs!

I go by Ice, she/her pronouns 💕. In case you had any of these questions, here you go:

1. "Why'd you make this page?"

I want to make the creation space- fandom to professional- more inclusive for people that look like me.

It is very disheartening when you really like something, and you see that oh! It's going to include a Black character! And then you get that character and... They're subpar. Especially in comparison to the usually white characters that have so much thought put into them. You accept them because you REALLY want that rep, but... We deserve to wholeheartedly accept our characters too, no ehhs about it.

I wanted to challenge myself, using my amateur art skills and my teaching skills, to convey to creators how that makes us feel, and little things they can do to more intentionally create their Black characters. There's more to us than adding to a diversity quota.

2. "So you aren't even a professional?"

I got 27.5 years of being a Black person on my resume 🤣 jokes aside, I am a self teaching artist. It's only been about a year for me. My more specific goal here is to use my skills to convey a perspective change towards Blackness, not necessarily a "how to do". If you want to learn the specific how-to's of drawing Black characters, there are Black artists all over Tumblr and the web that can show you. I actively encourage you to go check them out and support them, it's a great way to learn as well as to support our community!

3. "But if you're not a professional, why should I trust you?"

Well, again, because I don't have to be a professional to recognize when supposedly Black characters... Don't look like me 😅. Or, in writing, don't have any thought about me behind them. I could show my 87 year old Grandma some art and she'd recognize the issues.

But also, I personally believe that if you start from the foundations thinking about intentionally creating your Black characters, it'll make it much easier for you moving into the future. I am holding my hand out as a Black peer to HELP YOU! There are professional video games and art pieces and projects out there with poorly designed Black characters. The concept clearly needs to be introduced to the people somewhere before a million dollar project is release 🤣 But I can't talk to the people at the AAA studios. I can talk to you!

4. "I don't think race matters/should matter."

Alas, it does, everything we do is affected by our beliefs unconsciously or not- but I'm not going to waste my time and argue with you. This blog isn't for you 🤷🏾‍♀️ this blog is for those who want to take that first step to be better, both as creators and as people. 👍🏾

5. "Do you support AI?"

Not in the arts. Learn how to draw and/or write, it's very fulfilling.

6. "Do you answer asks?"

I do! However, this is a lesson based page, more than an ask based page. If I think your ask can be answered by one of my lessons, I'll refer you to that lesson. If it's an ask that's relevant to something coming up, I will answer it, but you will find more detail in the lesson coming up! I'm only one person doing this, and I can't answer every singular scenario. Also, keep in mind, if you ask me my opinion on something, I will be fair, but honest!

7. Will you be turning on anons?

Okay: right now, we've earned Anon Office Hours Wednesday 12:30pm thru Friday 6:30pm EST!

Most of this is due to the nature of what I'm discussing. Historically, these topics (and how race is relevant) upset some people, and it can get unsafe. Personally, I have no intention of allowing racists, or those who will take my advice in bad faith, to hide their faces. If you want to hate me, speak with your chest 😤👍🏾

The other part is that it is not a bad thing to ask questions! I did create this blog to be a learning opportunity. So long as you are kind to me and send me asks in good faith, I will be kind to you and reply in good faith. I'm also pretty sure I have the option to answer privately, so if you don't want your question posted publicly, You can say that.

If I get more questions, I'll update this!

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PROPAGANDA

ARCEE (TRANSFORMERS) (CW: Transphobia)

1.) Transformers has had a troubled history with female transformers as a whole. They didn't really even exist until Season 2. And while they've all gotten the short end of the stick until recently, Arcee, who kinda ended up The Main Girl (sorry Elita) has gotten the brunt of this mistreatment. Mostly talking G1 here.

Toys kept getting cancelled over and over even though she's a main, important character of Season 3. She didn't get a decent widely available toy that actually resembled her G1 version (first one was a Botcon exclusive Blackarachnia redeco which I disqualify because convention-exclusive spider is not what I was looking for, and Binaltech is just kinda a pink and white robot who looks nothing like her, just with her name slapped on) until 2014. I wish I could use bold here, because there's no such thing as uppercase numbers. Before that, you just kinda had to look at the toys from other canons and squint because Hasbro doesn't think the pink girl toy will sell well.

And misogyny present in the fiction? A lot can be summed up in a couple words, namely, "Furman, why?" While most people go with his excuses of not believing in Cybertronian gender, it really comes across as him seeing men as the default, neutral state of being, and women as something that must be explained. Poorly. Explained very poorly. Not to explain things in Tv Tropes terms, but I have to, it reeks of the 'Men Are Generic, Women Are Special' https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MenAreGenericWomenAreSpecial trope.

Let's get us started with Prime's Rib. Oh my goodness, Prime's Rib. So, Furman doesn't believe in Cybertronian gender (and male is seen as default), and this has reflected in his writing. He's going along perfectly fine writing his dudes in the US run of the Marvel comics, Arcee entirely ignored… but what's this? The connected UK comic has her. He can't just ignore her. So, well. He needs an explanation. Explaining a plot hole isn't bad. It's how he did it. Arcee was created in response to a feminist mob who was mad Cybertronians were all guys. I don't think I need to explain this one.

I'm too tired to explain her treatment in IDW now. Something something unnatural attempt to introduce gender into a genderless species, something something, really weird uncomfortable treatment, it's a long story and I'm not an IDW expert, read the TFWiki page for Spotlight: Arcee.

I'm sure there's more in other media, but I've blathered on way too long and I'm starting to get frustrated and tired and AGH FURMAN WHY. He's gotten better, too, definitely not judging his present self over comics that are from many years ago, but asdfghjkl

Ok fine, one more thing. This isn't G1 but Michael Bay stated in interviews that he gleefully killed her movieverse version off specifically because he didn't like her. It's not NECESSARILY misogyny motivated. I wouldn't deem it misogyny coming from a different director with a different film series. Transformers writers have had personal beef with random characters which they wished to unceremoniously kill off before--Animated Beachcomber comes to mind, even if the writers never got the chance. But it's also Michael Bay's Transformers we're talking about here. Can you blame me for thinking that?

Arcee has gotten better treatment in recent years. Furman's clumsy attempts to explain Arcee's gender in tbe IDW run were slowly retconned into some pretty decent trans rep by other authors, she's really just come into her own as a character. But it was a long and rocky road to get there, and I believe we all need to acknowledge that.

2.) Was initially introduced in the 80's transformers movie only after being strong armed by Ron Friedman, being the first female presenting robot to be seen in the show. bright pink, cause, ya know, female. has the most romantic involvement of any transformer ever across all transformations media, cause, ya know, female, and god forbid she be her own person when hasbro can stick to her to Some Guy. she was made trans in the 2005 continuity and was immediately made berserk as a result. marvel made her a freak science experiment to shame feminists. why does the robot have curves when no one else does istg

i love her too much to stand by idly while she's treated this way

3.) hasbro keeps trying to convince people that her and elita-one (another pink fem character) are actually the same. "who cares same lore different names. what do you mean they're different characters?" and constantly flips their lore, designs, and names around with every single FUCKING continuity ie transformers rise of the beasts where they use arcee's design but call her elita-one SMASHES MY HEAD INTO THE WALL bro there's a whole group of autobots called the "female transformers". i don't. there's so little female representation in this series that hasbro decided the best way to fix it would be… segregation, ig. arcee is apart of it obviously. elita-one leads it. reminds me that i should (and maybe sick a couple friends on this poll) make a submission for elita because JESUS CHRIST hasbro fucked her up also apparently in some continuities arcee is trans. upon getting bottom surgery it fucking. idk how turns her berserk?? it's so weird. mind controlled/sleeper agent in like half of the fucking continuities for some reason. in every single one of these continuities she either gets with Springer or Hot Rod and ends up betraying them. every single time why does the robot have boobs

NAOMI MISORA (DEATH NOTE)

1.) I know everyone is gonna submit Misa but honestly she had it worse.

She gets introduced as this competent lady who's gonna help find Kira but then she just, decides to show some teenager her real ID as a show of trust and whoops that's Kira.

Also part of her introduction was her fiance going "You don't need to worry about this tracking down the killer nonsense, you're gonna be my wife, you should just be worried about raising kids in the future :)" or some shit. And it's barely addressed, because she just fucking dies.

2.) She was the only woman in the series to show any level of competence. She figured out more about how the death note works from some small context clues than L did in considerably less time. She was apparently so competent that the author decided to kill her off despite initially planning to make her a main character, fearing she would distract from the L and Light rivalry.

3.) the victim of “writer doesn’t understand women and also hates them” disease. Like, seriously, the author of Death Note could only imagine a female FBI agent as the fiancée of another, more senior FBI agent. The main character Light kills her fiancé Raye Penber (in honestly a really tightly written and cool episode) and so she tries to figure out who killed her husband. Unlike Raye who only figured out that Light was Kira as he was dying because Light basically told him, Naomi figures it out a lot sooner so oops guess she’s gotta die because she’s too good at her job.

[alexissara]

The Marble Queen Review

The Marble Queen is a an amazingly drawn book, Gabrielle Kari is one of the greatest artists out there and her brilliant craftsmanship truly captures a unique voice in comics. I am impressed her illustrative style was captured on so many pages of the books really showing the level of heart that went into this work. The amazing use of paneling and page layout allowed for very dynamic use of the medium of comics breaking conventions from each other while feeling like bold artist moves on the page.

The book is hampered some what by being a YA book, it feels like at times there are areas that maybe would have been better served with more details but it does really edge what most YAs feel their able to do in a first novel. With lots of death, some blood and some implied sex. The pacing was a bit fast, there were moments that felt like they could have lingered longer and taken more time and perhaps the beginning starts a little slow but the romance does feel satisfying.

I think there are feelings I'd like to see explored more, the ending appears to set up a potential follow up book but it's ending is satisfying enough to simply imply potential conflict that is not needed. Anna does do a great job capturing Amelia's anxiety and the ways it manifests, the ways she tries to treat it, and how it affects her life. It is a great deception of that mental health struggle. I do wish we could have seen more into Salira's perspective, the white woman who doesn't know about being gay being the POV makes sense in the like cynical ways but I would have liked to get more into the interiority of Salira who does fall a bit into the "more butch brown woman who dots after he innocent white GF trope." I think that would have been felt a little less if we saw the world a bit more from her eyes. That said the book does do a solid job of showing plenty of fem brown women so I think it be an oversimplification to say it's just an example of that. It's worth noting only in that i know several other BIPOC women who might hesitate at it but I think we're in the clear here.

This book does feel like it in some ways compensates for being about gay women with good straight brothers who are very good boys. In general we get an idea that Salira'a kingdom is homonormative and see that in a page but from that point on basically everyone is implied to be straight in the kingdom. They leave some details vauge, some people could be bi, but this is all the reader chosing the details what we do see if M/F relationships, a set of women attracted to men, and one other woman who is confirmed to be gay but is also tied into a plot twist so I won't go into detail. That's not to day the queerness feels bad in the story it is good, it's the focus, it's great just that I felt there was maybe a little room for improvement within the bounds the story itself set's up. Unlike something like the lack of trans rep which it does not ever bother with so I wouldn't mention outside of like using it as an example for something I wouldn't take points off for. Regardless, my point is it would have been nice for like one more named character to have been queer.

I do really enjoy that both girls have some troubles in the new arranged relationship and both gave up something they love for it. I also enjoy that there is a twist for a lie that is told that while given a moment of weight is not turned into a giant drama moment and just given a tiny bit of time before the pair moved on. It felt more realistic for the two to understand why that lie was told.

Ultimately, this is a rather good story that I feel like was close to great but maybe fell behind just a little. That said I really liked it and I'd totally love prints of it and stuff. The main couple are cute and extra adorable towards the end. I like that there is a flare of action in the story and that the story had some big shifts in the status quo by the end of it. I love a lot of the sweet little moments. I love the ways it really pushed on anxiety as this thing in your life that can be consuming. It's a really great piece of art. If you enjoyed this review and want to see other reviews and support me making my own sapphic art you can support me on Patreon.

[ccraccz]

Wisteria

┏━°⌜防風鈴 ⌟°━┓

Chapter 4

┗━°⌜防風鈴 ⌟°━┛

“Umemiya.”

“We’ve got trouble.”

“Yeah, I know,” The male responds instantly, taking the group off guard. The sun was beating on their heads, a cool wind refreshing them.

“We don’t have enough seeds!” 

The white haired fighter turns around in his crouched position, pointing at his plants. Sparks of shock appeared behind the group of first years, everyone deadpanning at the response of the third year and their representative.

“There’s one extra planting spot left over there! Is there anything you wanna eat?”

“Forget about the plants for now. Shishito-”

“SHISHITO PEPPERS?! DUDE, YOUR STOMACH FLARES UP LIKE A DISCO ALL THE TIME! YOU SURE YOU CAN EAT THAT?!” Umemiya cuts Hiragi off.

“They're… not even on the same page…” Nirei mumbles, nervous about the interaction in front of them.

“That’s…” Sakura mumbled, being confused that this sunshine, all smiles, and green thumb of a man is- “...Umemiya?”

Ryuu pats Sakura’s shoulder before the student is yanked by Sugishita, who glared at him.

“‘That esteemed man is,’ you mean!!” Sugishita glares, eyes wide and a large snarl on his face. “And it’s Umemiya-san to you!!!”

‘He’s such a doberman…!' Ryuu sweatdrops, a picture of Sugishita and a doberman side by side.

“Oh, shaddup already.”

“Oh, Whaaaaat?” Ryuu, Sakura and Sugishita turn towards the voice of their senior. “Why’s everyone here?” Beside him, Hiragi trembles harshly, bringing a small giggle out of Ryuu. 

Sitting down at the gazebo, there is a lot of chatter around. Umemiya rambled on about the different vegetables he has planted, Sugishita listens intently, nodding constantly at what Umemiya is rambling about, Hiragi angrily mumbles beside Nirei, while both Suo and Ryuu comfort and pat the middle schooler, who is about to have an anxiety attack.

“They’re all just grass of some kind, aren’t they?” Sakura, who seemed quite annoyed, asks. What he just said sparked an anger in Sugishita again, and made Umemiya keep talking about the difference between his plants.

Ryuu smiles before standing up and tapping Umemiya’s shoulder.

“Excuse me, Umemiya-san,” Ryuu gets the male’s attention, “We have a guest that would like your attention, sir.”

He presents the middle schooler, who stands up quickly after being given the chance. 

“Please let me…” He stutters “Explain myself.”

Ryuu sits down, patting the kid on the back to show his support.

"I saw someone shoplifting in the shopping district… I went after him… but before I knew it, I was already in Shishitoren’s territory… and when their guys started chasing me around… I thought that was it… I was done for.” 

“But these two saved me…” Sakura and Sigushita perk up at the mention of their actions. “And… he patched me up…”

Ryuu smiled at the kid, who’s tears started to drip down onto the picnic table. “I always wanted to be a member of Bofurin… and I got ahead of myself… But in the end, all I did was spark a fight with Shishitoren.”

“I’m… really sorry…” 

The boy bows in guilt, tears falling from his face in streams. “Sasaki…” 

“How do you know my name…?”

The white haired male bows slightly, making himself visible to the bowing middle schooler with a large smile. “Thanks, man.”

The air surrounding them became lighter and easier to breathe in as Umemiya spoke up. “I know what you did triggered a fight with them, but that’s only a result of your conviction to protect the town and its people right?”

“There’s nothing to apologize for!”

“Just leave the rest… to you good-ol big brothers here!”

Umemiya hits his chest with his fist, proud of himself and his group. He’s very confident in the strength of Bofurin.

…

“So, How did these guys save you?” Umemiya points at Sakura and Sugishita, a bright smile on his face as he speaks with the middle schooler.

“Oh, Uhh,” The kid stuttered, “Th-they kicked the other guy into the air.” Ryuu snorted, a small grin on his face. The rep quickly looks at Ryuu before laughing.

“THEY KICKED HIM INTO THE AIR?!”

The two freshmen stiffened and paled at the loud call out of their representative. “Man!” Umemiya lets out a hearty laugh, “THE POOR GUYS OVER AT SHISHITOREN!”

 “I know talking to them’s not gonna do any good anyway… but, WOW!” Everyone looked at him like he grew another head, “You sent him flying with a kick, Huh?!” Ryuu looks towards Hiragi, who clutched his belly and gritted his teeth in pain. He searches his green bag, sticking out his tongue before sliding over a new packet since he basically threw the other ones he opened before away.

“I’m terribly sorry, sir. I was with them, but even still…”

“Hiragi, you’re always trying to shoulder the blame by yourself. I’m the one who asked you to watch those two…” Umemiya pouted, comically glaring at the sharp toothed male as Hiragi grabs the pills that were just slid towards him, shaking his head toward Ryuu, who only showed him three more packs of Gas-Kun 10. 

Nirei whispered something towards Sakura, who quickly jumped up and retorted. “SH-SHUT UP ABOUT THAT ALREADY! KEEP YOUR DAMN COMMENTS TO YOURSELF!!” 

“Oh, Whaaaaaat?” Umemiya grins, one of his eyebrows raising as he teased “Were you picking a fight?”

Sakura quickly jumps up, slapping his hand on the wooden table, “TH-THOSE ASSHOLES CALL THEMSELVES THE DEVOTEES OF POWER AND CRAP, BUT THEY’D STILL BEAT UP PEOPLE WEAKER THAN THEM! IT’S SO LAME! I JUST CALL It as I see…” His yelling slowly turns into a mumble “...It…”

Everyone quietly stares at Sakura, who became a bit more self conscious every second that passed. Suo smiles “You said it, not me…” everyone sighs.

“But… Sakura’s views are not wrong…” Ryuu mumbles, scratching his cheek. Umemiya pats his back before quickly standing up from beside him, grabbing everyone's attention.

“Right, I see…” He sounded serious. Sakura stared defensively, stiff and ready to act if Umemiya were to do something.He looked almost like a cat to Ryuu, ready to pounce if his owner were to go pet him, hairs raised and arched back to be able to seem bigger. It was almost cute. 

Umemiya’s hand quickly swung up, open palmed and it arrived at its destination quickly. “Hmmmm! Well said!” He patted Sakura’s head repeatedly, everyone looking at the two in amazement, while Sugishita jumped in his seat like a cat.‘Everyone is acting like cats here…’ Ryuu thought, a small smile on his face as he watched everything go down. “I thought so, too. They’ve been pretty lame lately.”

“Sakura…” Everyone looks up.“... I heard about what happened on main street yesterday.” 

“And today you went and saved Sasaki…”

“With Sugishita!” Ryuu whispered, not wanting Sugishita to be left out, especially since he idolizes Umemiya. Umemiya’s downturned eyes closed, a big grin on his face as he ruffled Sakura’s cute black and white hair. 

“Thanks so much for protectin’ your family,” He pauses, Sakura’s eyes are wide and mouth open in shock as he looks at Umemiya like he’s from another universe. “I’m so happy we’ve got ourselves another reliable little brother." Ryuu smiles, and shakes his head, everyone seemed glad and happy but Sugishita seemed a bit jealous about the situation happening beside him.

‘What… the hell…?’

‘I feel the tips of my ears burning…’

Sakura’s fists slowly unclench, as he relaxes. ‘It… pisses me off so much… that my body’s relaxing…’

‘For some odd reason… I feel like I understand why they’re all so attached to him now…’ images of the past interactions with the class appear in his mind.

‘When I’m with him… I feel safe…’ 

Sakura blushes and pulls away from the older male, “WHO’RE YOU CALLIN’ ‘LITTLE BROTHER’?!”

“I think of everyone in this town as family!” Umemiya smiles as Sakura growls.

Ryuu smiles, before tensing and standing up, grabbing the attention of Suo and the middle schooler. Ryuu sniffs and covers his nose before sneezing quietly as he walks away. Something was gonna happen sooner or later.

 Soon after he stands up, Hiragi’s phone starts ringing, making him jump and have everyone turn towards him in alarm. “Kaji? What’s up?” He pulls his phone up to his ear.

“Shishi…Toren…” 

“KAJI?! HEY, KAJI! WHAT’S WRONG?!”

“Is something happening?” Umemiya asks, worried about the situation of one of the second years being in danger.

“GREEEEETINGGSS!!!” Everyone turns towards the source of the sound, Ryuu already looking at the situation from above with his hands clenching at the wire fencing, teeth biting at his bottom lip. “HELLO? HELLOOOO! HELLOOOO!! GREETINGS UP THERE!!” The rest of the first year gang and both Umemiya and Hiragi stood up and joined Ryuu at the edge of the roof.

Looking down, the fallen students from Bofurin and the perpetrator, they looked like ants from their position on the roof of the school.

“I’M THE LEADERS OF SHISHITOREN!” the boy calls out from below. 

“CHOJI TOMIYAMA!!”

Ryuu pushes himself away from the edge of the roof, going back and grabbing his bag. 

“UUUUUMEEE-CHAAAAAN! I’M HERE TO CHALLENGE YOU… TO A FIGHT! FIGHT!! FIGHT!!!”

“TH-THE LEADER?! WHY IS THE LEADER HERE?!” Nirei freaked out, Sakura grinning at the memory of Jo Togame only being the second in command and sensing that this Choji guy is stronger than him since he’s the leader of the Lions, only to shudder when he sensed something from behind him. Turning around, Sakura looked at the third years who were now walking away, Ryuu right behind them

When Sakura saw Ryuu walking behind, it was an instant movement as he started rushing behind them, taking Nirei off guard, Suo, Sugishita, and Sasaki going right after him.

“W-Wait for mee!!” He calls out.

A few minutes after, they reached the entrance of the school, Umemiya walking forwards, a serious air surrounding him. “Stay here,” he commands.

“Don’t give me that crap! If you’re goin’ to fight, let me in on it, too!”

“Sakura…” Ryuu grabs his shoulder

“I won’t say it again.”

Sakura, under Ryuu’s hold, trembles at the commanding tone in Umemiya’s voice. 

‘Shit… I can’t force my legs to take another step… He was all smiles earlier, but now… is he really… The same person…?’

The white haired male walks forward, leaving the other students behind at the front of the school as he approaches the shorter male. “Yo, Tomiyama. Look at what you’ve got there.” In the shorter’s hand was one of Bofurin’s students, bruised up face and bloody nose, being grabbed by the hair.

“That belongs to Furin.”

“Yup! I know!!” 

The shorter had a devilish grin, his eyes dull and emotionless. Ryuu shuddered.

The boy's eyes reminded him too much of his Gramps eyes after the death of his mother.

[f1oricide]

You got any rise ocs ? Love to see them ^-^

Omg thx for asking, I do actually!! If you go further down my page, I draw her human form for a fanfic I really love. I don’t have a name for her yet bc names are hard :/ BUT! I do have a little backstory for her

She is a battle nexus champion, but she occasionally works as a debt collector of some sorts for big mama. She hates getting her hands dirty so she uses magic claws as weapons. You can’t see it bc of the angle her hand is in, but in her glove, there’s an oval shaped gem that creates the claws for its user. If she has the gloves off, she can’t create those claws.

She loves magic! It’s so fascinating to her and she wants to study hard to be the very best sorcerer there is, but due to some unconventional events she’s got a bad rep at witch town, so she tends to steal magical artifacts when she’s out.

The reason she always goes back to big mama and her battle nexus is bc she’s a black cat, which isn’t bad at all but her power is probability control. She can manipulate fortune AND misfortune, but she struggles to control her magic which ends up inconveniencing to even hurting others around her. She can steal peoples luck as well to give her an upper hand in battle, which is why her eyes can glow a bright yellow.

For a cat with bad luck, there really isn’t any option for her but to go back to the place that accepts her even if it’s for their entertainment.

Now she isn’t the strongest physically, so she relies on her speed, magic and tools to win battles. She uses Mantis styled fighting techniques in hand to hand combat, but a flaw she has when fighting is that she puts too much focus on one thing she forgets about her surroundings which could potentially hurt her or allies.

Id like to believe she’s quiet but when she gets to know you, she gets very chatty, a bit snarky, overzealous, and pretty quick witted. She always has a trick up her sleeve…she has a lot of things up there. Very mischievous, sometimes can go too far with her tricks. Lowkey a bit condescending, but she chill ig.

She’s def a morally gray character, a bit chaotic neutral, the kind that does good or bad stuff for her benefit and maybe her friends too.

She’s known big mama since she was a kitten, so she knows her way around battle nexus ( may or may not be big mamas fav ).

She was born as a twin, her sister being a white haired kitten, both parents had white fur so u see where this is going. Kinda the black sheep in the family, she’s always causing trouble but she means well, her sister is the complete opposite tho. Has the power cause luck and take misfortune away, her sister became the favorite but she got a nasty personality. They always budded heads and fought but eventually her sister and her friends provoked her to the point she scratched her sister in the face out of self defense, the parents got mad and tried to declaw her but she ran away.

Now idk where in time I would like her to meet the turtles and April, but I have a story in my head inspired by some fanfic I read.

So she gets called into big mamas office for a new assignment, capture the turtles alive and bring them to her. Usually when she out she doesn’t have the authorization to bring her targets to the hotel, just to collect and come back. Even if she did, I’d be taken care of by goons, not big mama personally, so she’ll def recognize that it’s a big job if big mama is telling her this personally.

So she conducts research on the turtles but stalking them pretty much and finds out they’re friends with a girl named April O’Neil, so she uses a cloaking choker to enroll at her school and befriend April. It works and eventually, the turtles do some stupid shit and end up getting “found out” by her and April.

Slowly they all become friends (Leo has his suspicions) and eventually she gets invited to the lair by Mikey. She becomes the closest to him not only bc he’s the most social, but he has great magical potential, and she’s intrigued.

Once she gains all of their trust (may take a while) she eventually calls all big mamas goons to their lair and captures them, but at this point, she knows they’re actually good people and not the usual targets she gets assigned to, so after an inner battle with herself, she caves and lets them go, despite the fear in her veins at the thought of big mamas wrath.

I don’t wanna spoil TOO much abt this even tho I most definitely did💀

I wanna write abt her story and her relationship with the turtles and April (specifically one turt in particular;) idk I’m open to any suggestions and as always, sorry if this is a bit all over the place :))

[davidmariottecomics]

New Job, Boom!

Hey friends, 

Going to be a short one this week, but I definitely didn't want to let it pass without saying a little something. If you haven't heard otherwise yet, I'm now working at BOOM! Studios! Once I can say more, I'm sure I will, but it's early, things aren't really announced beyond that, and there are other matters to turn your attention to. 

Announcements: It's the Global General Strike for Palestine! For the next week, people all over the world are striking from all sorts of regular activity to disrupt the economic systems supporting the destruction of Palestine and to put that time and energy into active protest movement. This is a pretty basic explainer of what you can do and know that doing anything is better than doing nothing, right? If you have to go to work, be visible. If you have to shop, be visible and thoughtful. If you have to rest, enjoy the things you already have. If you want to post, make it about what is happening. Current reports are estimating over 25,000 people have been murdered, with the death toll just going to keep rising between continued bombardments and the lack of resources. Over 60,000 people are wounded, 85% of the population has been displaced, and roughly 1 in 4 people is facing extreme hunger. No hospital is fully functional, for the ones that are still left standing. The IOF (Israeli Occupying Force) has admitted to exhuming graves, and have claimed it's to "find the hostages", but in the face of the other war crimes they've committed, it's hard to believe it wasn't vengeful malicious behavior to psychologically wound Palestinians as much as anything else. While we wait--possibly years--to find out if the International Court of Justice rules that Israel is in fact committing a genocide, people are going to continue dying from this. And so, hopefully, with a bit of concentrated disruption and pressure, this destruction that's already lasted 100+ days may finally find an end. 

In terms of using your power and time, I've mentioned it before, but you could call your representatives. Fax their offices. Email them. Contact the White House. Join actions from organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace, American Muslims for Palestine, the Democratic Socialists of America, and be sure to focus your boycotts (during the strike and generally) on the businesses called out by BDS. You can take some time to read through Verso's Solidarity with Palestine reading list. Make signs for if you're going out protesting, to put in your windows, or coordinate outfits in Palestinian flag colors that show your solidarity. Make sure you're keeping an eye out for local events. If you see art installations, share them, and, yeah, that includes graffiti that bears the message. Let Palestinians take the lead in the global conversation on social media and if you see, say, your reps talking about other things, flood them with calls for a ceasefire in the replies. 

If spending money brings you any comfort and you feel a need to put something into good practice, the Cartoonist Cooperative's page still lists a ton of resources for E-Sim cards.Bisan mentioned today that E-Sims are helpful, but their use is becoming more limited as the overall infrastructure has been so damaged that you need to be in a high place to use them. 

Again, do what you can.  

What I enjoyed this week: Nancy (Comic), Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Links (Video Game), Baldur's Gate III (Video Game), Blank Check (Podcast), Dungeons & Daddies (Podcast), How to Read Nancy (Book), Ted Lasso (TV show), my new big Taschen Ads of the 80s book, Movie Flick Chick Vol. 1 by BonerBob (Adult Comic), The Traitors Season 2 (TV show), The Floor (TV show), having a new phone and slowly getting back up to speed with it, seeing some stuff I had been working on at the old job get announced.

Pic of the Week: As I've been wont to do recently, I've made a little promo image with my announcement, so that's here, but my real pic of the week is this amazing photo of Nadja. She was in the chair sleeping and I went to move the Hello Kitty and I put it on top of her and she didn't move at all! It was very cute. 

[haveyoureadthisqueerbook]

the other me by xan van rooyen (trans mc)

this rebel heart by katherine lock (polyam relationship, two bisexual mcs, one gay side character)

iron widow by xiran jay zhao (polyam relationship, three bisexual mcs, mc is also possibly nb or genderqueer)

call down the hawk by maggie Stiefvater (gay mc, bisexual mc, bisexual side character)

the prey of gods by Nicky drayden (can’t remember the specific kind of rep)

it’s not like it’s a secret (lesbian characters and relationship. please maybe note on the poll that the submitter would really really not recommend this book? i think it’s important to let people know of queer books, but also this book relied on so many stereotypes — about lesbians and Asian-Americans — and had a cheating subplot and was just….)

beating heart baby by lio min (trans mc)

the borrow a boyfriend club by page powars

may the best man win by zr Ellor (trans mc, bisexual mc, nonbinary mc, queer side character)

a promise broken by Lynn o cochroft (trans, aroace guy is one of the two mcs)

not your sidekick by cb Lee (lesbian mc, sapphic relationship, trans side character)

always the almost by Edward underhill

the spirit bares its teeth and hell followed with us both by aj white

a day of fallen night and the priory of the orange tree by Samantha shannon

generation one by pittacus lore (gay mc, not a huge part of the plot though. but confirmed in-text)

last night at the telegraph club by malinda lo

you’re not supposed to die tonight by kalynn bayron

lady midnight and sword catcher both by Cassandra clare

Star Wars: black spire by delilah s Dawson (aroace mc)

Star Wars: the empire strikes back 40th anniversary short story compilation (idk if it counts as a queer book but one short story was a sapphic love story)

one of us is lying by Karen mcmanus

two tuns of fun by

birthday by Meredith russo

invisibly breathing by

i’ll give you the sun by judy Nelson (i think! not sure if i’m remembering her name right)

brooms the graphic novel by jasmine walls

this queer girl is going to be okay by dale walls

two mummies / two daddies (kids picture books)

death’s country by rm romero

redsight by Meredith mooring

the death i gave him by em li xu (tumblr would LOVE this book)

Been outside by shaz zamore

ALSO: a note to op. this blog is such a great idea, but have you considered setting up a google form for submissions instead? they work for people who don’t have Google accounts, and you can export the entries to a spreadsheet automatically instead of manually that way too. if you let submitters view previous responses you can prevent repeats too?

I've queued most of these! Exceptions below:

-Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back 40th Anniversary short story compilation: since only one of the stories is queer, I'm not going to include it. This is absolutely arbitrary, I realize, but for short story collections, I'm looking for them to be mostly queer.

-Two Tuns of Fun: I couldn't find any book by this name.

-Two Mummies / Two Daddies (kids picture books): are these individual books? I couldn't find anything with these exact titles.

-Beating Heart Baby and The Priory of the Orange Tree were already queued (they were both in my initial batch of queued books prior to going live with the blog).

The google form is a good idea and something I'll consider! At the moment, it doesn't save me any work, and actually creates more. I would need to check every submission anyway to make sure it's correct and in the format I want it in. Currently I've got a Google Sheets spreadsheet with all books (both queued and posted) for people to check if their suggestion has already been submitted. Thanks for the idea, though!

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Lisa Needham at Public Notice:

It was likely only a matter of time before right-wing federal judges decided to weigh in on student protests over the ongoing slaughter of Palestinians. And, these judges being the reactionaries they are, their contribution to the discourse is not designed to provide solutions or even to advance a coherent worldview. Instead, it’s just some good old-fashioned hippie-punching. On Monday, 13 federal judges, led by Trump appointees James Ho of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and Lisa Branch of the Eleventh Circuit, sent a letter to the president of Columbia University, Minouche Shafik. They stated they would no longer hire as law clerks anyone who attends Columbia University — the undergraduate and the law school — starting with the entering class of 2024. 

This isn’t the first time Ho and Branch have pulled this stunt. In the fall of 2022, they both declared they would no longer hire law clerks from Yale Law School after students disrupted speeches by right-wing speakers. In March 2023, they extended their boycott to Stanford after students heckled fellow Trump appointee Judge Kyle Duncan. This time around, they’re joined in the letter to Columbia by 11 other Trump-appointed judges (Alan Albright, David Counts, James W. Hendrix, Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, Jeremy D. Kernodle, Tilman E. Self III, Matthew H. Solomson, Brantley Starr, Drew B. Tipton, Daniel M. Traynor, and Stephen Alexander Vaden). The esteemed jurists have three demands for Columbia — but they don’t provide any facts, context, or legal reasoning to underpin them. At only two pages, this is a thin little screed, particularly given that fully one-third of a page is just the list of the judges’ names. 

[...]

Quixotically, the people who will be most hurt by this are conservative students. The progressive students out protesting right now don’t want to clerk for judges like this. Right-wing students who might have contemplated attending Columbia will presumably go elsewhere, meaning the viewpoint diversity the judges demand won’t happen either. When Judge Ho announced his Yale clerk boycott, a Yale student asked him exactly this: “How will we fix the culture of students … if all of the conservatives suddenly boycott Yale with the judges?” Ho didn’t have an answer, instead saying that “if someone has a better idea, I am all ears” and that “the objective is very simple, it’s to restore free speech.” These judges are only part of the current right-wing project to redefine free speech and tolerance as the absence of diversity. They’re joined by people like New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, who has pushed the “great replacement theory” that Democrats are importing millions of undocumented immigrants to replace white voters. This is a theory endorsed by the marchers at Charlottesville and grounded in the antisemitic belief that Jews are behind the plan. These days, Stefanik is a self-styled protector of Jewish students, holding hearings to harangue university administrators over their ostensibly antisemitic behavior and celebrating when she gets them fired.

There’s also Christopher Rufo, who has helped with everything from destroying Florida’s public university system to ousting former Harvard president Claudine Gay. There’s former Trump senior advisor Stephen Miller, whose “America First Legal” law firm exists largely to file lawsuits to block any government initiative that attempts to redress historical wrongs against people of color. And there are any number of feckless state legislators who are eradicating all diversity initiatives in their states. At root, this is a profoundly cynical enterprise. None of this is borne out of concern for Jewish students. Rather, they serve as a convenient prop for the latest iteration of MAGA bombast. None of these people will ever confront the antisemitism at the core of their party and that Trump, their presumptive presidential nominee, has a decades-long history of stoking. These judges will continue to use their lifetime appointments to roll back rights for everyone they don’t like and they will continue to demand that schools show them fealty. Meanwhile, the students they loathe will continue to risk their safety and their future by standing in solidarity with people thousands of miles away. The kids, as they say, are alright.   

13 right-wing judicial activists serving on various federal courts sent a letter to Columbia University’s scandal-tarred President Minouche Shafik that they will not hire any Columbia attender for law clerk positions in the future as part of the overblown right-wing moral panic about antisemitism on college campuses.

[coulson-is-an-avenger]

I’ve never read moby dick in my entire life but seeing you post about it so much made me want to give it a try! any warnings before I go into it? :D

oh my god gbskxjs okay first of all im honored that my mad posting has had this effect :DD!! you are so powerful for this, genuinely 💙💙

and secondly YEAH ok i can absolutely give some warnings!!!! this answer got long tho so I'm gonna put it under the cut 🐳💙

Firstly: the main thing most people struggle with in Moby Dick (myself included) is how utterly rambley the narrator is.

there WILL be pages upon chapters at a time where he simply Cannot get to the point, which is frustrating!!! something that helped me to keep in mind, though, is that Ishmael is doing that on purpose to avoid having to relive his trauma. It helped me to think of his whale rants as either a friend infodumping, or a desperate plea for the story to stop repeating.

if that doesn't help, you can always look up a summary for a chapter to see if there's any plot you'll miss by skipping it lmao

The Racism. This is a novel written by a white man in the early 1800s. There is some bullshit in this.

Although Melville does try to be conscious abt race and stereotypes, and has a very diverse cast, he still majorly fucks up. He regularly refers to several major characters as "s*vage", uses outdated terminology for Black people, throws out all sorts of shitty descriptors for folks, and rarely lets the characters of color speak for themselves. It's important to be aware of that going in.

This one is a weird dichotomy though, bc like. on one hand. all of that is infuriating. but on the other hand, the love interest of the narrator is literally a Pasifika man who is a gorgeous character that undercuts a ton of stereotypes and is allowed to be a nuanced person with a life that exists outside of the white characters. There's several characters of color who get to be People and have nuanced experiences and vibrant lives!! Pip and Tashtego and arguably Ahab himself are all fascinatingly nuanced folks that are not entirely bound by stereotypes!!

However comma, there's also an entire character who isn't allowed to exist outside of "evil zoroastrian stereotype" so hgbbjggbngmdhhf. it's a whole thing. Be aware of it.

Animal death — this is a book about whaling gbsjfjjf

Seriously though a significant portion of the book is dedicated to violently killing and then harvesting the corpses of whales. It does get sad! Some whales are killed more brutally than others. There is gore.

Rope violence/strangulation

This is just a safe one to mention. Lots of shit goes wrong with the rigging/harpoon lines in the book. Several characters are seriously injured or killed directly due to this.

Suicidal themes/tragedy

The first chapter literally starts off the book with this gbskfjwjd but it is a present theme throughout, and especially in regards to the final tragedy. A significant portion of the story involves characters thinking that they have no choices left but to die.

In tandem with that, this book is a tragedy. Like a "everybody dies" kind of tragedy. Do not go into this story thinking that you're getting a happy ending out of it LMAO. there's love and joy and good times within the story, but it ultimately ends in tragedy.

This is a long ass post, but hopefully it's thorough enough to give you answers!!! On the more uplifting side: I did have a fantastic time reading this. The characters are all super compelling, the queer rep is incredible for the time, the narrative is truly awesome, and it genuinely left a huge impact on me. It definitely earns its place as a masterpiece of American literature imo.

I will also note that if you would prefer to engage with an adaptation of MobyDick that is not narratively racist to its characters, generally more accessible, and also gorgeous, I will always recommend @pocketsizedquasar 's Moby Dick (Or, The Webcomic)! It is, as of yet, unfinished, but they're currently releasing pages weekly, and it's what got me to read the book in the first place. There's a ton of heart here.

But yea thanks for reading this long ass ramble, and definitely do whatever you need to keep yourself safe! 💙💙💙 happy reading if you choose to!!! :D 🐳

[beardedmrbean]

https://x.com/thor_odinson/status/1767492789145629046?s=46

Can Rad explain why it was BLACK MEN, being sad over the lost of DBZ creator like this guy defending him

https://x.com/daquandsg/status/1766176795471048971?s=46

Also the idea that black boys need rep to feel validated…I mean I good when it executed well

But when most modern black male characters are BORING AF. It not fun

Also the idea of having a strong moral system from your environment is white culture

Not to mention most good black characters are like that because the writers don’t want to see racist

It no wonder why a lot of black boys are into manga

I have a rule that keeps stonetoss off my page, made a promise to someone, but that's going to be one of the ones of his that's pretty solid.

This on the other hand, that's quality stuff right there when the picture changed.

Just wow.

Can Rad explain why it was BLACK MEN, being sad over the lost of DBZ creator like this guy defending him

Probably not, rad probably was sad too but wanted to get some outrage points in on the internet.

DBZ is a cultural phenomenon, which culture you may ask, and the answer is all of them.

Mr. Miguel Angel Riquelme Solis, governor of Coahuila

The Japanese government knows that the episodes #130 and #131, whose copyright belongs to Toei Animation a Japanese company, will be exhibited in public spaces without the proper authorization of the author. Toei company has expressed their concern in their official statement attached to this letter.

The Japanese government expresses our interest on this matter being treated opportunely according to the copyright law and the established regulations on Mexico. In case that the screening is showed in a illegal way, the government of Japan wishes it to be suspended.

Accordingly, we expect a quick answer from the authorities that are planning this exhibition, so we can know the final decision. Sincerely Yasushi Takase _____________________________

Mexico really doesn't care about copyright law, and I love the dedication.

Everyone seems to love Dragonball, I've still never watched it but I know what it means to people same with ATLA.

No need to disrespect the creator especially over something that old that everyone is already aware of.

[namedafterflowerstournament]

based off your recent post about anti-propoganda (which i agree, totally sucks btw. if your choice is so good, why do you have to crap on the other one?) i was wondering, why don't you like the hunger games? i personally haven't read the other book that was on the poll, but i just looked at the summary and it looks super cool!! i'll have to add it to my list

if this is a bad question/makes you uncomfortable feel free to delete it! i'm just curious, i'm not trying to be mean or anything. have a good day!! :)

Hi ! Thank you for the question ! As long as they're respectful, I don't think there are bad questions, at worst it would be a question I'd rather not answer and it wouldn't make it a bad question at all.

There are several reasons making me against anti-propaganda : people don't know the media they criticize and assume inaccurate things and manage to spread misinformation that way, it can hurt people's feelings when it's quite virulent, it's always easier to criticize than to praise, it encourages harrassment and can create a negative atmosphere and tensions around the polls while people declare which media in a poll is the shittiest.

About The Hunger Games, it's mostly personal but not only.

Just so we're clear, I don't hate the books.

Spoilers ahead.

Bear in mind, I was about 12 when I read the first book. I think I was 13 when I read the last one, since I'm pretty sure it was a while before the first movie came out

I loved the first two books when I read them. I was reading them at the same time as a friend and it was a lot of fun to compare our impressions and screaming at each other through texts as we get emotional about the parts the other had already reached.

It was one of those books I read at night while I should have been asleep, keeping an ear out for my parents so my book didn't get kidnapped by the authorities

[spoilers]

One of the complaint I have -which I didn't really have then because I was a white kid and not as sensibilised to the big issue of POC rep in mainstream media- is this :

There are two characters who are explicitely dark skinned in the books (it's been a long time so I may be wrong about one but I believe he was)

Both die in the first book. I know many characters die in Hunger Games, that's kinda the point, but I still don't think it was necessary.

The movies casted a Black actor for another character (I don't think the character's race was mentioned in the books, my bad if I'm wrong).

Well, I'm sure you'd find it conforting to find out he survived the 1st part of the trilogy.

He dies in the 2nd part, actually.

That's my biggest non personal issue with THG. I haven't actively looked into it, but I've never seen it mentioned in popular posts

The rest is more about personal taste.

I was romance-repulsed when I was in my early teens, to the point I avoided mushy covers and saccharine titles but I would also put a book back if there was the slightest hint of romance, knowing that if it appeared in the summary, it'd be very much likely to be splatered all over the pages. "girl meets a mysterious boy" had me running for the hills every damn time, no matter how much I liked the rest of the summary.

There wasn't the slightest hint of a mysterious boy in the summary so I was convinced it'd be safe and there'd be at worse a very secondary romance subplot.

Que nenni, cher ami. I really didn't expect the romance to be so centerfront and it annoyed the hell out of me because it was predictable af (you didn't even get the element of surprise, which would have made their relationship at least slightly more interesting and redeemable for little me) and I found Peeta very, very boring from the start. Even Arya and Eragon's relationship felt more interesting to me, and while I liked both characters, I was very much not into their romance

(Looks like it's unpopular opinions day. I can't say if I hated Peeta's guts on the spot because I knew a romance with the heroine was coming or because I really thought he was that boring, which is a book character's greatest crime. This isn't really antipropaganda. Peeta's not in the polls. As far as I can tell his name is a corruption of Peter)

I don't blame Suzanne Collins or the books. She didn't do the marketing and her only fault here was to have written a series too compelling for me to put it down despite my grudge against amatonormativity being thrown in my face all the time.

I ignored the budding romance the best I could and kept reading. I enjoyed reading the books. My friend did too. She was #teamgale. I was #teamidon'twantanyromanceinthesebookspleasejustmakethemallfriendsorsomething We had great times criticizing Peeta's every move. The good old days. (Yes I'll stop talking about the poor guy, I think you got the message. Look I'm sorry if you love Peeta like 90% of the fandom, I just don't)

So yes, I managed to mostly not feel too concerned about the most boring romance I've ever read by then (if it's any consolation, I didn't read romances so that's a rather bland statement) and rolling my eyes at the "real or not real" stuff. I'm sorry but I found the inevitability of their relationship quite irritating (which means it probably was great forshadowing for anyone without aro tendencies)

Nevertheless, I was young and had hope.

More seriously, the 1st two books were nice enough. The third...

It felt messier to me. I couldn't decide if it was something the author wanted us to feel as we got closer to the end and signifiant losses impacted Katniss' judgement or if I've grown out of love with the writing style.

Some of Katniss' decisions in her grief were quite questionable but we were meant to question them (well I hope so) so I was mostly fine with it. Mostly. I also felt like she made unnecessary 360° shifts on some occasions

Full disclaimer : I'm not a fan of third books of mainstream dystopia trilogies aimed at teens (i didn't think the Maze Runner and Divergent had satisfying endings -okay I do think the latter was not as good as the others too but that's a personal opinion- for example). I struggled with Endgame's 2nd book and I can say the same with the Lorien Legacies and found Partials' 2nd book disappointing. So, I'm more of a first book type of girl when it's about sf for teens

Well I think I've turned around the bush for a sufficient time so let's get to the part that made me slam the book shut and go to bed instead of rereading passages I liked.

The controversial ending.

Yes, we knew it was coming from the start.

It was gutting nevertheless.

Now I'm a bit older, I get that Peeta didn't bully Katniss into having kids but the formulation made me feel sick at the time.

That wasn't my issue, really.

My issue was I read the epilogue and felt like it was a trap, with Katniss having to resume her life surrounded by mementos of the Games, instead of being allowed to run away and start anew somewhere nobody would have ever known her or looked for her, so she could heal in peace. I thought she deserved that. It felt for me like she'd been robbed of a second chance at life.

That's one thing. The other is a lot more personal and gave me even more grief.

I've fooled myself into thinking that maybe for once a book was aimed at me. As someone not interested into romance at all, I'd hope the heroine might be like me.

Despite all the clues to Peeta being written as her love interest, I've hoped that in the end she wouldn't pick any of the boys. That she'd be tired of them and decide she was better alone romantically speaking. That the heroine would get her happy ending and it'd have nothing to do with a -bland, may I add- love interest (especially a male one, when all 9th graders know that boys have cooties, duh)

That was a very bittersweet ending to me, because I saw too much of myself into Katniss and that I was at an age I was trying to figure out what my life would look like and the answer seemed to be "get a boyfriend like everyone else" and it felt like a betrayal. I was so, so angry about the ending.

So yes I have a quite complicated relationship with the books, but while I think the POC rep could definitely have been better dealt with, the rest is on kid me for not having her expectations met. I can't really blame Collins for not having written the "amatonormativity doesn't have to be the only/right ending/answer ; there are other ways etc." rep I so desperately needed as a questioning teen.

Ah and I didn't like the first movie (and have decided to not watch the others), which is why I don't necessarily used pics in the polls but I probably will for the main bracket. I wasn't a fan of the casting or decors or of the adaptation work to be honest but to each their own and I've seen much worse.

THG isn't a bad series in itself. I have issues with it that probably have roots into systemic racism and also just me getting my heart broken

As for the Wayfarers series (The Long Way To a Small Angry Planet is the first book), it is lovely ! A great soft sci-fi feel good space opera series with queer, disability and POC rep

I hope I've satisfied your curiosity here because that was quite a rant, op

[moonless-if]

MOONDAY UPDATE, OCTOBER 3rd 2022

happy moonday!

hope you're all having a good start to the week like i (mostly) am. it's all much as usual for me with work and home, although my workload will soon get a little heavier again, with student evals coming up and me going on a union rep training trip in two weeks, which means i have to make sure i got all the work done that i need to have done and also made plans for my sub teacher, so they know what to do and blah blah. not a lot that's interesting for you guys, but just to remind you that i'm entering a busy phase with my work life soon!

anyway, onto the update!

what i did

still chipping away at the prologue! still not really getting all the words out that i wish i could, but i'm honestly just feeling so good about getting something written every day, even if it's not a lot every day.

i'm nearing the end of one variation of a branch though, which means the other variations will be quickly written and hopefully allow me to get to the other two branches fast. a lot of it will need to be rewritten/edited because i didn't have a clear picture in mind of the environment/layout when i started to write this scene, but editing is for later! right now i just want to get the scenes out.

i've also spent the week working on game art (mainly during the weekend) and trying to figure exactly what i want to do with it so it's got a clear theme and isn't just a wild mix of stuff, but i will share a snek pek;

(i am good at thumbnails /s)

as you can see, i'm fiddling around with the colours for the game UI as well (probably won't be this bright blue, but that's for a later stage) and i'm hoping to do two different start page images, depending on if you have light/dark mode (or rather, dark blue, light orange mode) and then include those in the main game UI as well somehow. i'll probably also be adding a third option that's like low contrast/black and white, but then it probably won't be getting its own art. as for the mobile UI... i'm hoping i can do it's own thing for that which is a bit simpler than if you play on laptop/pc, but the mobile UI has been my biggest pain in the ass at every single turn so....

the main issue with the game art is me not knowing what i want with the background. part of me is like "just keep it simple, don't pull attention from the main motif" while the other part of me is yelling "PROPER ART WORK BICH DO BACKGROUND".

so. we'll see.

but that's what i've been up to last week!

plans for this week

for this week, i'm mostly planning on chugging along, again focusing a little more on my side project than the Moonless so i can get going with that in november, but i'm still gonna write a little bit and hopefully work on some art! so the plan is;

finish the branch variation i'm on

sketch on backgrounds for blue/dark mode artwork

sketch on ideas for orange/light mode artwork

and that's it from me for this week! thanks for now and see you next moonday!

- spacedfoxes

[acotars]

Need to know your thoughts about "Payback's a Witch" after seeing your tags on that edit you made. Because I just finished the book and it's like. so genuinely bad. The Harry Potter ripoffs, the corny banter between 26 year olds who sound like they're 16, the entire premise of hyperbolic trauma from what was at worst a high school breakup....... It was so CRINGE. Also I didn't like that there was so much emphasis on biological family, blood relations and lineage- it was weird to me, idk how to explain.

HI MIMI! i really disliked payback’s a witch. here’s my original review from a few years ago:

I really wanted to like this book, but it lost me a few chapters in and never got me back. It took me over a month of daily reading to finish this book, because it just failed to grip me. My main problems with this one stem from the faults of the main character, Emmy Harlow. Emmy is a witch who left her hometown (and her magic) behind ten years ago after a traumatic breakup, but heads home to the witchy, autumnal Thistle Grove for a once-per-generation magical tournament at the request of her father.

Payback’s a Witch is one of those Emma-like stories, where the main character starts off self-absorbed, pretentious, and largely tuned out to the consequences their actions have on others. Over the course of the book, they’re supposed to learn, face consequences, and make amends. The thing with this one is, Emmy realizes she’s been unfair to her family and her friends, but readers don’t ever really see her change. At the end of the novel, Emmy is still self-absorbed, unthinking of how her actions will affect her family and her friends, and she gets everything she wants, without having to sacrifice anything. Usually in a romance novel, that’s exactly what I would want. But with Emmy, it felt too easy and undeserved.

The romance was lackluster to me, relying on sultry looks and banter that failed to evoke any reaction. I wanted more witchy autumnal town, and less of… whatever this ended up being. Side characters were criminally underdeveloped and one dimensional, which was extra frustrating because there was so much potential for nuance in these characters and this narrative.

This was one of my most anticipated romance reads from 2021, and I’m sad to say I will not be rereading or recommending it to anyone. One star for fun bisexual rep, and another half-star for Emmy’s dad, whose bookish stoic personality really charmed me.

Everything you mentioned, I fully agree with! Contemporary fantasy with emphasis on bloodlines is inherently sketchy (it’s almost like… the egregious (and made up!) concept of blood purity exists outside of fantasy and was the driving ethos for countless genocides and crimes against humanity, and is still informing power structures in our everyday lives that oppress and kill people of color), and it felt like Lana Harper just fully leaned into that concept in this p much all-white town with reckless abandon.

the banter was cringe! and I’ve had to take a break from second chance romances because much like this story (a revenge fantasy, not a second chance), the hinging of a character’s entire adult life on how hard their breakup was at 16/17/18…. it’s exhausting to read about. like go outside! meet new people idk. breakups are challenging and there’s a lot of grief there, but are you honestly telling me your life hasn’t grown enough in a decade to eclipse that teenaged heartbreak? yikes!

emmy’s callousness towards her family really bugged me. especially her mother? in the story emmy’s mother is treated like a nuisance the entire time, even though as far as i remember, she doesn’t do anything on page besides tell emmy how much she’s missed her??

also, listen. i know it’s a revenge story. i get that. still, the whole entire time, i was waiting for a twist. it just seemed reductively simple for the story to be, my boyfriend’s family made him break up with me because i wasn’t good enough for them, so now as a grown woman, i’m going to humiliate that boyfriend and ruin his reputation. like, who’s really at fault here? in the story of two kids who are being manipulated by powerful parents who care more about blood and power than anything else? how is he still the villain? i understand he would seem that way at 16. but at 26? where’s the perspective? the whole entire time i was waiting for what would have been an easily-written redemption of the ex-boyfriend. in reality, the fault lies with the entire system at play, and those in power who instructed their child to break up with his girlfriend. the side plot of the ex dating her friend and breaking her friend’s heart too was messy and poorly-executed, but all it did for me was leave that door open even further! like he must be a decent guy if her friend fell for him too! there must be a misunderstanding here somewhere? i guess in truth i just kept waiting for all the youths of the town to realize they were being played, so they could band together, get revenge on those actually at fault (the magically elite!) and reshape the town without so much emphasis on lineage and blood purity. instead, they humiliate her high school sweetheart (who was also a victim in that scenario!!) and it turns out Emmy Was Actually The Most Powerful All Along Anyway! wow!

the romance in this wasn’t bad it was just lackluster in my opinion. which, in a romance novel…. if you can’t write good characters and your plot is lame and there’s a racist undercurrent to your entire premise AND the romance is boring??? what is supposed to be the selling factor? the witchy autumn town vibe? sucks that this failed at that too

[gangseysallhere]

WE'RE GETTING SHIVER!

EXCLUSIVE: Andy Fickman (One True Loves) is set to direct Shiver, a feature adaptation of the same-name novel by New York Times bestseller Maggie Stiefvater.

Producer Addam Bramich (Russell Crowe’s Poker Face) optioned the book, published by Scholastic in 2009, which is the first in Stiefvater’s globally bestselling series The Wolves of Mercy Falls and spent more than 40 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list. The film will follow Grace, who for years has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf — her wolf — has a chilling presence she can’t seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human… until the cold makes him shift back again. Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It’s her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human — or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

A writer for the film has not yet been attached. But Bramich will produce alongside Fickman and Betsy Sullenger (You Again, Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse) through their Oops Doughnut Productions, with Stiefvater consulting.

“From the first page of Maggie Stiefvater’s novel, I was transported to a vivid, magical and romantic world that I immediately wanted to bring to life,” said Fickman. “These multidimensional characters are grounded in the daily joys and terrors of high school, live in an elevated arena between fantasy and reality, and love across those boundaries and without limits. I’m thrilled to bring this stunning tale of forbidden romance to the screen along with a fresh coat of Minnesota snow.”

“We could not be more thrilled to embark on this journey with the incredibly talented director Andy Fickman, as we bring the adventurous and thrilling world within this story to the big screen,” added Bramich. “With this unique story, and the help of the brilliant author Maggie Stiefvater, it is with great enthusiasm that we begin this exciting collaboration.”

Fickman is an award-winning writer, director and producer whose romantic dramedy One True Loves hits theaters on April 7th. Simu Liu, Phillipa Soo and Luke Bracey star in that pic based on Taylor Jenkins Reid’s bestseller. In conjunction with Village Roadshow, he also recently directed and produced the stage capture of his award-winning show Heathers the Musical, which debuted to acclaim on Roku last September. The stage show is currently selling out at The Other Palace Theatre in London, where it has received several West End noms and other accolades.

Other notable titles helmed by Fickman include Fox’s family comedy Parental Guidance starring Billy Crystal and Bette Midler, DreamWorks’ teen sports rom-com She’s the Man, Paramount’s Playing with Fire starring John Cena, Keegan-Michael Key and John Leguizamo, Disney’s hit films The Game Plan and Race to Witch Mountain, both starring Dwayne Johnson, as well as Disney/Touchstone’s comedy You Again starring Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, Betty White and more.

On the television side, Fickman most recently directed and exec produced Netflix’s NASCAR comedy The Crew, starring Kevin James, Freddie Stroma and Sarah Stiles. He previously collaborated with James as director and EP of his Netflix stand-up special Kevin James: Never Don’t Give Up, also directing on Nickelodeon’s No Good Nick, starring Melissa Joan Hart and Sean Astin.

An author of books for all ages, as well as a musician and artist, Stiefvater’s book series The Wolves of Mercy Falls and The Raven Cycle were both #1 New York Times bestsellers. She also previously penned The Scorpio Races, which was named a Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book in 2012.

Fickman is repped by WME, Entertainment 360 and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller; Stiefvater by Angela Cheng Caplan of Cheng Caplan Company, Richard Pine of InkWell Management and VanderKloot Law.

[allie-campbell-bradshaw]

Chapter 3: Oath

A/N: Welcome to the third chapter of Top Gun: Baby, a love story following Bradley Bradshaw and Allie Campbell. This story is sequential, so if you have not already read the first few chapters, please go back and do so! All links to chapters and their mood boards can be found on my masterlist. I am dozens of chapters into this story and I absolutely HATE going in and editing these. I promise my skills in writing improve as we move forward. Like any story, the first few chapters are used to build background. Once Allie comes into the story, it gets WAY better. I had so much anxiety editing this chapter you have no idea! I mention this in my notes for every chapter, but just in case you missed it– I do not give permission for my work to be re-posted without credibility. If you do want to post this story to your page, please be sure that you tag my account or at least mention its original source in your post. Again, thank you for being here and I hope you enjoy :)

Warnings: Swearing, Angst against a loved one

Chapter Three: Oath

BRADLEY’S POV

I was already finished getting changed into my white works, holding onto my copy of Reef Points as others were still messing with their white fabrics and dixie cup hats. This is the official “handbook” if you will that all Naval Academy students have to have memorized by the end of Plebe Summer. All it is are facts and details about the USNA and Naval missions, histories, and traditions. Like a textbook that you use for a college course.

Lucky for me, I was able to get my hands on one earlier this year thanks to Hollywood, another naval man that flew with my dad. He contacted me after I received my acceptance letter and promised that if I ever needed anything, he would help. That was code for “If you want me to put in a good word, I’ll do it”. I am a man of my own integrity and have every intention of creating my own repudiation. What the fuck am I saying? There’s no way anyone generational can create their own rep in this field. I am and will forever be known as “Goose’s kid”. It fucking sucks. I hate it, and am headstrong enough to prove them wrong with any misconceptions they might have of me, but I know for some navalmen, that will be excruciatingly difficult. I want to do this on my own. I want to prove that I should be here, not just that I could be here because of my dad.

Within the next few minutes, we were assigned our ICAO Company. A group of ten women were assigned to the Alpha Company. Natasha was one of them. She gave me a wave as she walked over to her quarters, in her dress whites, which fit her perfectly. I looked like a clown. I hated the uniforms, but didn’t want to complain too much, because there was a point in my life where I thought I would never get the chance to wear them.

I was one of the last to be called to a group, assigned to the November Company. Once we made it to our quarters, which was on the first floor of the building, I heard an Officer yell out “102 Bradshaw and Frasier”. Someone Frasier, whoever he was, was going to be my roommate for the next four years. 

I walked forward and made eye contact with him as he walked to the front as well. “Looks like it’s us!” He said in a comedic tone. I could already tell he was going to be a character. Honestly, I would’ve preferred it this way. I would rather be with someone goofy like me than be with a hardass.

We walked into the room and noticed that there were 2 sets of bunks. Whoever Frasier made his way to the one on the right, so I made my way to the one on the left. The bunks were made of a deep gray metal and the room was covered in tan white paint. There were two white sheets on both ends of the beds, a fitted one and a flat one. Both polyester. Score! I loved polyester sheets. My mom would surprise me on random occasions and take me to a hotel to sleep when I was younger. Most of the time it was when I did something good in school, like scoring a 100 on a big test or reporting a bullying situation to the teacher. I was considered a tattle tale when I was younger, but I didn’t care! I got to sleep in a hotel and swim in their pools! So, you bet your sweet ass when I found someone getting pounded at recess, I was the first one to run to the teachers and alert them of the situation. I would do ANYTHING to get to sleep in those polyester sheets! Damn, I was a hot dog.

“I’m Bradley.” I introduced myself, holding out my hand.

“Emmett.” He said with a big smile on his face, gripping my hand and giving it a light shake.

“Nice to meet you.” I said, watching him as he put on his sheets.

“Quit staring at my ass man.” He muttered out with a corner of the fitted sheet in his mouth, swaying his hips from side to side as a way to show off his backside.

I let out an airy laugh as I turned to make my bed. I was going to like this guy. He was equally as well humorous as me. Just maybe a little more immature.

“So what’s your story?” I asked him as I focused on my sheets.

“Buy me dinner first.” He quickly responded. I chuckled at his remark and shook my head a little. I stayed quiet, waiting for him to respond, which he eventually did. “My mom caught me and my buddies getting high and told me that I had two options: report my dealer to the cops or enlist in the military”.

I shot up from my bunk, looking over at him, his hands here resting on his hips in a way too casual way for his recent admission.

“What?!” I asked, still in disbelief.

“No, I'm just kidding,” He said, turning back around, “Well, not about the getting high part. She found my bong and I knew I was fucked. So when she confronted me about it I was able to shoot back with the ‘I’m already planning on applying to the Academy’ card. Which was true! I was already going anyway, it just bought me some leverage”. 

“I maybe wouldn’t share that story with the Officers on base”.

“Oh yeah I know! They think I got the idea in church. Sitting in the front pew, on my knees, getting the idea all of a sudden, saying it was God talking to me. They ate that shit up”. Shit that was good. My admissions essay was about him, and my mom, and my dad. Basically how my whole life has been a fucking mess. I was able to buy myself some pity, but his essay topic, now that was just genius! “What about you?” He asked me.

“It’s generational” I said to him, which was just the abridged version of all of my shit events. I tucked the pillow case in the pillow and threw it to the edge of the bed.

“Cool!” Emmett exclaimed sarcastically. “You look a little old to be here”. He stated boldly.

This caused me to smirk and let out yet another airy laugh. “I’m 23.” I answered coldly again.

He had his hands back on his hips, looking at me as though I had more to add to our encounter. “Well, this has been a fascinating conversation” he remarked, yet in another sarcastic tone. “Got a girl?”

I shook my head as I adjusted the sheets on my bed.

“Yeah me neither.” He said quickly.

“What!” I exclaimed, turning to him, “How does a guy like you not have a girl!” I was saying it more in a sarcastically joking tone, but there was some truth to it, because he was quite fun.

“I know, it’s not fair.” he said slyly. 

Just then, someone barged into our room. His eyes were a piercing green, his muscles protruding out of his solid black shirt, he wore navy green cargo pants and boots. His skin was a deep color of brown. “Ladies!” he yelled at us. He was definitely our detailer, the man in charge of training us for the summer.

“That would be us!” Emmett responded. Shit!

“Never speak unless spoken to!” The detailer screamed in his face. Emmett immediately went cold. “Now drop down and give me 20”. Before I could blink, Emmett was on the ground, doing pushups. “YOUR NOSE TOUCHES THE GROUND!” He screamed. Emmett went down further, until the tip of his nose grazed the tiled floor.

“And you!” He yelled to me, in less of an angry tone since I didn’t do anything wrong, “15”!

I got down quickly and did my push ups in perfect posture. The tips of my toes were on the ground and I went low until my nose was touching the floor. I couldn’t see him, but I saw an adjustment in his shadow, telling me that he was impressed with my performance. 

We both finished at the same time, standing up and looking at him. “You always stand at attention when being spoken to!” Both of us stood up, sticking our chests out, making sure to mirror each other so that if we messed up, at least we went down together. The detailer sighed and let out a “Jesus” before walking over to us and adjusting our postures to what it should be.

“My name is Denzel Housemen. You will call me sir until I tell you to stop”. He finished adjusting me and I made sure to memorize the position my body was in, holding my stance until I was told to stand down. “When I am not near you, assume that I’m close. I can approach you at any time of any day. So be ready”. He said as he adjusted Emmett.

He took a step back and examined both of us, “At ease gentlemen.” He said smoothly.

Both Emmett and I dropped our stance and looked at him, ready to go down whenever we should. We heard yelling coming from other quarters and assumed that everyone else was becoming acquainted with their trainers.

Denzel looked me up and down. “You must be the Bradshaw boy.” He stated, confident in his answer.

My face pulled down, knowing that he knew about me and the story of my family. “Yes, sir.” I said quietly.

“I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” He started to scream at me.

“Yes, sir!” I yelled back, audible with clear diction.

“We expect great things from you”. He said calmly, before acknowledging Emmett. “Oh yeah, the kiss ass ‘found my calling at church’ admissions essay. Mom bust you for drugs or something?” He asked.

Emmett was about to answer and then froze, opting not to answer. “I ASKED YOU A QUESTION!” Denzel yelled at him.

“No, sir!” Emmett yelled back. 

I had to bite my tongue hard, fighting back with everything I had not to laugh.

“Well, you both seem very intelligent. We’ll see if you last the night. Follow me gentlemen- and in proper posture! Pivot on your feet when you make a turn and never look down. I promise I will let you know if the ground erodes from the Earth”.

Emmett and I followed him as he made his way to the commons area. Men and women were lining up in their white works, standing at attention and facing forward. Most parents had stayed for this portion, the most important portion. The oath of office.

Right at 18:00, a Commandment of Midshipmen began the ceremony. They first informed us about our statement of intent and then ordered us to raise our right hand and repeat after him.

I looked over my left shoulder and saw Natasha, she raised her right eyebrow quickly, moving it up and down while she raised her right hand. I smirked at her and then looked over my right shoulder, he was standing right at the end of the row I was in, which only had 3 of my classmates separating us. Although he wasn’t beaming with happiness, he didn’t look upset or angry either. One could say he looked proud. 

I shot him a disapproving look before raising my right hand, keeping a sharp glare on him as I repeated after the commanding officer;

“HAVING BEEN APPOINTED A MIDSHIPMAN IN THE UNITED STATES 

NAVY,

 I SOLEMNLY SWEAR THAT I WILL SUPPORT AND DEFEND THE 

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 

AGAINST ALL ENEMIES, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC; 

THAT I WILL BEAR TRUE FAITH AND ALLEGIANCE TO THE SAME; 

THAT I TAKE THIS OBLIGATION FREELY, 

WITHOUT ANY MENTAL RESERVATION OR PURPOSE OF EVASION; 

AND THAT I WILL WELL AND FAITHFULLY DISCHARGE THE DUTIES OF THE OFFICE 

ON WHICH I AM ABOUT TO ENTER, 

SO HELP ME GOD.

I closed my mouth and continued to stare at him, keeping my right hand raised as people cheered around me. I was now in the Navy. He lost. I won.

He didn’t cheer. He didn’t even smile. Instead, he looked at the ground before shifting his weight and walking away. Having no intention of staying any longer.

Yeah, that’s right. YOU lost. I won!