#like fav book or fav arc or fav villain or whatever

[toa-character-tournament]

You're probably not active anymore but I just wanted you to know that I really loved this blog and miss the polls dearly

HIIIII !!!!!!!!!!! im glad you liked the blog so much hehe....... since the polls have finished i've left it to preserve it for posterity

although........ maybe we should have a 2024 version? what do yall think?

[nanistar]

what's a character that you like that you would consider a "problematic fav"?

★ julius was fronting when typing this ★

hmmm that's kind of a hard one because i personally don;t really think any characters are problematic, since they tend to be pretty poorly written and a lot of their personalities, values and issues will change all willy nilly between books for whatever the authors see fit instead of creating a character with set morals, ideals, goals, and an established character arc lol. and also i don't really like a whole lot of characters, i tend to Nothing a lot of them. but, as i've said before, my opinion on characters, ships, scenes ect can usually be swayed by whoever is writing it or talking about it.

that being said, characters that i like that could generally be seen as problematic...

i love tigerclaw. always have. (keeping in mind that i read warriors long before the pinestar novella gave him a specific extra hatred of kittypets and the dark forest stuff was retconned to be in his past instead of only after his death) i have always thought that tigerstar was the best villain that warriors has ever had, and ever will have. he's patient, smart, and he plays the long con. despite fireheart being suspicious of him, which makes the reader suspicious, he puts on a front for almost three books. he's mean, aggressive, sure, but he's loyal to thunderclan* in battle and in daily life and i genuinely believe he started out wanting what was best for the Clan, believing (maybe due to thistleclaw's influence, maybe not) that Bluestar was not good for the Clan/was too soft/ect (like bringing in a kittypet kitten, like sending a party to look for WindClan instead of taking their territory) before the idea of absolute power got to his head.

he's awkwardly respectful around the Medicine cats, he listens to Cinderpelt when she yells at him about silverstream's kits (i think the quote is something like "do you want that kit to die?? shut up and lick it") and he does and even fireheart is surprised. this little scene in particular says a lot about his character to me: he's a ruthless killer but he cares about young life, and he respects the authority of the clan;s healers. he's more than Just evil. he's a person.

he plans things perfectly, his plot to kill bluestar and pin it all on brokentail's gang almost succeeded.

he's exiled and immediately takes control of the gang of brokentail's rogues that he JUST tried to blame the (attempted) murder of a leader on. his ruthlessness and his diplomacy is unparalleled by any other character in WC. he brings this gang of abusive cats back to Shadowclan, where a majority of them were exiled from due to war crimes in the first place, and takes over the Clan. is he bad? absolutely. but he pulls the frazzled, sick and dying ShadowClan back together, nurses them back to health, and plays the straight man again for the next book all the while he's plotting with blackfoot and darkstripe to bring his kids to safety because he's slowly feeding the dogs in TC territory and plotting to kill everyone in a ruthless, indiscriminate slaughter. he's there for it. he's watching the whole time. we know this because, at the end of the chain, he catches fireheart and holds him down for long enough for the dogs to catch up. at this point, he doesn't care about TC, he just wants fireheart dead. plans are foiled once again when bluestar leaps to the rescue.

next he moves to Riverclan, he convinces Leopardstar to combine Clans and join him. the newer books want you to believe that she was pressured into doing it, but truthfully she was equally as ambitious as he was (just less willing to kill indiscriminately for it) and likely saw it as an opportunity to get into a higher position of power, probably planned on dethroning Tigerstar the second she had the chance. obviously this doesn't happen.

he creates this whole narrative about halfclan cats not being loyal to their given clan, using mistyfoot and stonefur (The RiverClan Deputy!!!!) as examples and even riverclan believes him despite the fact that misty and stone have never had a lapse in loyalty for their entire lives, only finding out they were half-clan a few moons ago. (unrelated since it's due to the retcons of later super editions, but silverstream's mom and crookedstar's mate Willowbreeze (AND her sister Graypool) was also a halfclan cat, though her loyalty was never doubted, which while halfclan cats are rare it seems like for the most part theres not tooooo much discrimination of them, leading me to believe that tigerstar did sort of jumpstart this new narrative of them clan-swapping and having no true loyalty.) they even doubted the loyalty of two young apprentices, featherpaw and stormpaw, and kept them all locked in a prison and starved. riverclan may have objected to this, but they couldn't say anything about it and they certainly couldn't have stopped it at all.

then, he gave stonefur the chance to prove his loyalty; prove you're loyal to your clan by killing these two apprentices. of course he knew stonefur would never. stonefur objects, and while leopardstar does seem reluctant, but she agrees with tigerstar. she thinks, maybe due to his heritage, he IS unloyal to riverclan.

what tigerstar does is cruel, violent and horrible. he has a calmness about him, a patience, and an intelligence that makes him incredibly scary. he always has a backup plan. when his plans are foiled he is quick to think of a new one. he;s diplomatic, charismatic (at first), he could convince you to give him the clothes off of your back. he escalates and escalates until he almost has everything.

then he gets unzipped, and starts ALL over again in the dark forest. (i do not care for dark forest tigerstar after TNP. it gets really played out and boring.)

anyway i like him (: *not fireheart

[vanilladrizzlequeen]

Congratulations!! You’ve now followed a depressed and mentally unstable creature :D

What’s on here??

-some School for Good and Evil Stuff

-so much Avatar (and NOT THE BLUE PEOPLE THANK YOU VERY MUCH)

-some Star Stable Online

-occasional Wings of Fire

-the very rare Evelyn Hugo

-lots of Harley Quinn Show stuff (but less now that the season’s over)

-whatever random shit i think of next

but Anna why did you even make this blog with everything instead of side-blogs for different fandoms?

short answer? i’m lazy.

long answer? i’m really lazy.

what do you even do with your life then?

✨glad you asked✨

-i write (i don’t really post my writing though- lmk if y’all are interested?)

-i do lots of work (i’m a high school student so i’m fairly busy)

-i play violin, trumpet, and i sing

-i play field hockey and lacrosse

-i read SO. MUCH.

-way too much YouTube and Netflix

-i scroll through the wonderful chaos that is tumblr

now anna i hope you’re aware that nobody’s actually asking these questions but let’s continue the hallucinations! what do you like in each fandom?

yay i’m excited for this ALRIGHT

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER

-AZULA IFNWOAHRIENSHFOENS

-love her SO much

-maiko stan (for the few people that don’t know that’s Mai x Zuko)

-mixed opinions on azula redemption arc

-fanfic gremlin (i read so many in maiko or azula it’s not even funny) (yet i’ve only written one and it was a sad maiko one)

-yeah idk Azula i guess

-she’s mostly it tbh

-i mean other than maiko

WINGS OF FIRE

-Scarlet Scarlet and more Scarlet i love her so much

-don’t come at me but diehard Darksight shipper

-absolutely love the SandWing sisters (BLISTERRR)

-really just the badass female villains tbh

-also a sucker for royalty

-favorite artists you say? wellll go check them out!!! @meroaw @human-wof-designs @ookamimonster

SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL

-HESTADIL. ALL OF IT. FOREVER.

-go look at @petrichora-art the art they did of Hester and Anadil is WILD i love it (and i’m also the annoying creature that repeatedly requested it)

-look Hester and Anadil belong together i don’t make the rules

-favorite fics ever: @im-gay-and-mentally-unstable

-other favs: @simplybybea @tilda-rothery @spookystar29 @ambrsn

-read through the books it’s painfully obvious but SOMEONE refuses to actually write it canonically *cough cough SOMAN cough*

-Anadil by far my favorite character i love her so much aghhh

-and then Hester obviously

-hard Dovesso shipper

-i only accept Kerry Washington and Charlize Theron

-grandma dovey in the books is weird ok i like her character but not to ship with Lesso book-wise

-Sophie’s cool i suppose

-and Tedros is a Ken he just is

-he’s dumb af but i love him ok <3

-hort is a way of life

-hophie is shit i’m so sorry (i’m really not)

-tagatha’s fine i guess

STAR STABLE ONLINE

-i don’t actively post in ssoblr but i’ll pop in once and a while

-if you’re looking for an sso blog i absolutely recommend @jorvikwildhorse @everwindfields @juni-ravenhall @starbornsoulrider and some other people I’m definitely forgetting

-currently in Frost Valley I believe

-name is Hadley Truthstone, i’m probably on some really tall horse (or Nugget my Dartmoor)

HARLEY QUINN SHOW

-AGHHHHH

-i think Harley and Ivy are my spirit animals

-so i’ve watched each season several times…oops

-but honestly such a well done wlw couple i’m so happy

-only reason i didn’t say lesbian couple is cause i’m like 99% sure they’re both bi (Joker, Kiteman)

-Ivy is everything

-i have…opinions on s4

-they’re not all good

EVELYN HUGO

-honestly nothing to say here

-i mean fabulous book fabulous characters

-i’d die for Celia

-that’s about it really

And if you’ve somehow read this far…good job. here’s a cookie i guess 🍪

follow if you want. or don’t. i’m not forcing you (only secretly manipulating you behind the scenes until you accidentally find yourself clicking that follow button…just kidding. probably.)

good luck with whatever more productive things you’re doing with your life as i write this shitpost :’)

[esther-dot]

Honestly I don't understand why ppl are assuming all Sansa stans also love or defend Cersei though 😅. I am a Sansa stan but I genuinely don't care about Cersei at all. I am sure there are more ppl like me who feel the same. Not all of us stan same set of characters. I loved Lena's acting in GOT which made show Cersei much more interesting to me than book Cersei but I am not a fan of her, even as a villain.

That being said, the way Sansa & Cersei stans talk about Cersei & the way hound lovers talk about Hound seems completely different to me as Sansa fan. Ppl who stan both Sansa & Cersei don't write metas about how Cersei treated Sansa gently, claim Cersei abusing Sansa was alright bcs she was also victim of abuse, wish for Cersei to become Sansa's loving step mom at the end of series after Sansa forgives her or think Cersei is on redemption arc😭. Most only focus on Cersei as an individual character bcs she is a POV who has a lot of other stuff going on in her arc apart from Sansa, unlike hound who is a tertiary character & doesn't have much going on, except whatever we get to know about him from his interaction with main characters like Sansa, Arya etc. So as a Sansa fans of course we will talk about him in the context of Sansa.

In asoiaf fandom, ppl either think he is just a misunderstood soul with heart of gold & read his interaction with 12 year old kid as erotic or else still think he is a misunderstood soul with heart of gold but consider him perfect baby sitter/protector of 12 year old kid he tried to rape 🤷‍♂️. If there are ppl who recognize Hound was abusive to Sansa/don't ship S@ns@n & still love/sympathise with him then I have never come across them so far unfortunately.

So basically apart from Sansa/Jonsa fandom, majority of ppl have absolutely loved his character for years bcs no part of fandom wants to acknowledge Sansa was a victim of his abuse. Show whitewashed him so much that even among local audience he was fan favorite. There are metas calling Hound a byronic hero and what not. It seems he has more stans than he has haters ( which is exactly opposite of Sansa btw 😂). Even ppl outside Sansa fandom who acknowledge LF, Tyrion as her abusers leave out Hound's name even to this day. It's only the ppl (read Sansa fandom) that treat Sansa as a main character & try to analyze her interaction with others by considering Sansa as a main POV & protagonist call him out for his abusive behavior.

(in reference to this ask)

Sansa fans/Jonsas likely get lumped in with Cersei fans because we (overall) don't have that passionate desire to watch Cersei be humiliated/suffer the way the rest of the fandom does. Even if we aren't defending her, I think you can feel a difference in how we view her. That probably annoys people.

I did say a bit ago that Cersei was my favorite of Sansa's villains, and I reblog gifsets of her, but I think it isn't about me/any of us being Cersei fans really, it's just that, the only way Sans@n shippers can push back against what we're saying about the Hound is by calling me/us hypocrites, seeing as what we say about their fav consists of direct quotes from the books. They can love him, but his actions and words are damning.

I agree about the show fans loving him though. I was surprised by how many people cared about Clegane bowl, and I know a lot of them also really liked the Hound's scenes with Arya, so I didn't want to say there weren't non-Sans@n fans, but those people weren't interested in the Hound's trauma either. The only people who I've seen talk about it always do so in conjunction with explaining away his actions in regards to Sansa. Even if they aren't doing it for shipping purposes, they are doing it to try to alter his villain status which is so weird to me because, it isn't weird or bad to enjoy villains? Particularly in this series in which the author really wants you to see good and bad in his characters? The point isn't to allow one aspect to eclipse the other, Martin really wants us to have to deal with the pros and the cons. I find Cersei’s love for her kids very sympathetic even if she and Joffrey are evil. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I guess you're right that this must go back to the idea that Sansa isn't a main character, so having a Sansa-centric take on other characters/events really doesn't make sense to people. It doesn't bother me that every character has fans, that every villain has fans, I just don't really care about this villain, and I do care about how he hurt Sansa. That seems like a totally rational stance to me. Clearly, it doesn’t appear so to others.

[princesswan]

I haven’t been here in ages but I desperately need a place to rant right now. This is gonna be long, I’m sorry but I need to get this off my chest.  So, Bellamy Blake.  This doesn’t make any fucking sense to me. Nothing about this entire season makes sense, but what happened in 7x13? That I just can’t get past. I genuinely can’t believe that the writers room thought that scene out, wrote it and then was like “yeah this is a good way to kill off the male lead who’s been with us since day one”. It makes zero sense that it is a thing that actually happened. I set the bar so low for them and still they manage to achieve a level of shitty, spiteful, senseless and absolutely horrible writing. And it’s not like I was convinced that Bellamy wasn’t gonna die, because deep down we all knew that in some way he was gonna leave us, and I would have been okay with that with time, but not even in my worst nightmares I expected this bullshit to happen on my screen. And I’m mad, I’m so mad right now because I never thought I would come to hate one of my favorite shows in the entire universe. It just doesn’t make sense to me, I still can’t wrap my mind around the fact that one of my fav characters is gone just like that, it completely clashes with everything that has happened and has been said in the past six seasons. He died in the worst way EVER, because I’ve never in my entire life witnessed such a horrendous death, killed by one of the people that meant most to him, a person he trusted, that he loved and took care of, and stood with, he died convinced all of his friends hated him, he died without any kind of redemption, without saying goodbye to his sister, he died on another planet, completely alone and abandoned by all of the people he considered his family. And the worst thing is that we saw nothing of him in season 7, he disappeared for most of it and when he got back they made sure he would be villainized, they isolated him and made everyone turn their backs on him without a second thought, without even trying to understand his point, his fears, his story. And then, 3 episodes after getting him back he’s brutally killed, just like that, over a book Clarke didn’t even get. And I know it’s more than just a book and that she wanted to protect Madi, and I absolutely don’t blame her for putting her daughter first, but that scene could have gone in like a thousand different ways, and still, she chose to shoot him, TO DEATH. She could have shot the disciples, and then him in the leg to get the book, I really don’t know, she could have done a million things to prevent literally killing one of the people she was closest with, and still she didn’t, and STILL she left that damn book there. This was just so fucking unnecessary and let me add, so out of character for her. I don’t care, the real Clarke would never ever do that, she couldn’t kill him to save the human race in s4, and I don’t believe for a minute that she would actually do that now, despite the betrayal she could be feeling over her best friend acting like that, she would never do that without thinking of another solution first. And that’s all on Jason’s spiteful ass, this is just a slap in the face of the fans who supported his show through the years no matter what. I knew he loved doing things just to spite us, just to make us feel bad and angry, but this is on another level. He literally killed off Bellamy, ruined one of the most beautiful and developed relationships ever and ruined his show in the matter of 10 seconds because he needed to make a stand and show that it’s his show so he can do whatever the fuck he wants. I still don’t get and will never get Jason’s need to cut Bellamy off like that, but what I know is that this horrible, dumb storyline they gave to the male lead is just because of his private matters with Bob, and that simply shows how disrespectful and unprofessional he is. I don’t give a fuck what their problem was, when you are on set, when you are working on your damn show, you put your differences aside, you try to make the best out of it, for you own sake, for the sake of the content you put out, you don’t just throw away an entire character, his development and his relationships because you are petty. That’s not how things work, but it’s exactly what jason did anyway, and for that I will never forgive him. He really managed to ruin his own show, everyone will literally remember the 100 for this, for his pettiness, for his constant need to bait and then let down the fans; looking back, despite all the fond memories I have of this show, my mind will always go there first. I’m just so ashamed, I feel so disappointed and so emotionally drained like “why did I spend so many years investing my energy in THIS?” and that’s the worst feeling ever in regards to a show, it just means that the story failed. I’ve never regretted watching anything before, even when things got bad and out of control, and now I just kinda wish I never put myself through this in the first place. I’m so sorry for what it has become, I’m so sorry for the cast who worked so hard for this last season to be a complete mess only because a childish, petty, ridiculous show runner made the dumbest decisions ever, turning his own product into a fucking joke of a show, solely to concentrate on a prequel project that’s not even assured to be picked up, solely to get revenge on his lead for who knows what fight they had in the past. But most of all, I’m so sorry for Bellamy Blake who deserved at least the chance to get his redemption arc, to work things out with his friends, to have them understand him, to reconcile with all the people he loved, to get a chance at happiness. He deserved so much better but he was left with nothing. As we are. And lastly I’m sorry for the fandom, we deserved so much better too.

[gwendeeagain]

Compelling Characters, and why I like Gakushuu Asano

I saw a really fun post by Zaina (@dreaming-of-assclass) asking why people like Gakushuu and I thought it was super fun! I realized I have a lot to say about that little shit, and I didn’t want to hijack the original post because I’m about to spam, so is why I like Gakushuu Asano, and a mini commentary on what makes an intersting character, interesting

I think I’ll put this under a read-more because it’s actually kinda long.

(Note: I don’t actually know things. This is just me rambling)

The sympathy factor, or: the sad backstory effect. This is pretty self explanatory - we’re empathetic creatures, and having a sad backstory trope is a pretty quick and easy way to get us to sympathize with a character. You don’t have to necessarily have previously liked/paid attention to a character to feel bad for them, but feeling bad for someone is a first step to emotionally connecting with them. And we feel bad for Gakushuu, right? When he shows vulnerability and weakness, cowering in front of the Principal beating his friends bloody or being slapped across the room. We say, aww, poor boy. The concept of someone facing adversary and getting back up just tugs at people’s heartstrings. 

And then we have character development: the redemption arc. (I’m going to say as a precursor that apart from the kids and Koro-sensei, Assclass sucks at redemption arcs. Gakuhou?? Shiromi?? @ me.) But Gakushuu got a pretty nice character arc to follow through. I loved watching my boy grow up, realize his mistakes, and work towards being a better person! It works especially well if you relate to the character, you start to reflect more about yourself. Dynamic change arcs are more interesting than static characters that reflect no shift from start to finish (if this storyline didn’t change them, how is it supposed to change you?). And compelling character stories don’t even have to reflect good change - I’m sure we all look at characters who slowly delve into insanity and think, yes, good. Humans just love introspection - what else is there to think about if not yourself and others, and how we react to the world around us?

Gakushuu also often subverts expectations. We keep track of unusual and unpredictable situations because we want to know what up next? He debuts with dramatic music as boy-with-book, and then the next time we see him is him pulling out pictures of Koro-sensei in the Principal’s office. The scene from Gakushuu kicking Isogai’s face in during the Pole-toppling tournament and then the immediate switch to watching his friends get their faces kicked in was a shock. Then the next time we see him is his sad backstory, and then he’s asking 3-E for help. It’s spicy. Unpredictable. The character equivalent of a cliffhanger. We take notice of him because we don’t know what happens next, we watch him closely because whatever happens to him is closely tied to the 3-E kids - even if you dislike him, you’re kind of forced to pay attention to him. For anyone ambivalent, thinking more about a character just makes you feel more emotions about them. 

Relatable characters: We tend to attach to characters we see ourselves in! One of the most common relatable factors I’ve seen are their character backstories/circumstances, and Gakushuu has a pretty run-of-the-mill storyline, with overbearing parental pressure to do well in school. Half of us probably looked at him and said, “yep, that’s me aged fourteen”. I definitely did. One of the reasons I attached to him is the point I figured out that as much of I would like to think I was one of the 3-E cast, I would 100% be part of the Main Campus if I was 14, jeering and booing and all. It definitely made me more sympathetic towards the Main Campus cast.

If not for their backstories, we relate to characters with their personalities, and their goals/motivations. (That’s why people often relate to villains - it’s easy to admire the altruism of our hero protagonist but it’s hard to imagine standing in their shoes, and it’s so much simpler to want to be selfish.) Gakushuu’s goals are surprisingly mundane and fun, he just wants to get As, get into a good high school, get the upper hand over his abusive father, and figure out the secret of class 3-E. You can bet that if I was in Assclass, my middle name would be paparazzi and my hobby would be hiding out in bushes. 

And Gakushuu has one of the most compelling character interactions with other characters. We love watching our favs interact with other people! That’s why shipping is so common, because a character floating in isolation isn’t very interesting on it’s own, and the fun comes the rapport and dynamics between them. Rarepairs, undeveloped side characters, and OCs are new, unique sets of character interactions/interpretations, which is why they’re so fun. AUs allow you to dump them into whole new situations and have them re-interact with others in different circumstances! Where was I? Gakushuu is just wild. The Asano family dynamics are just... insane. Every interaction Gakushuu has with 3-E is just so unpredictable. Is he going to help them? Kick them in the face? Ask them for help? Who knows. I love it. 

Personality wise, the characters I think people tend to lean towards are characters they think they are alike, characters they are the complete opposite of, and characters that remind them of people they know. If your fav falls into one of those three categories it’s just more likely that their name will pop up more often in your head. Drawing real life connections to fictional things also makes you feel more empathetic towards the fiction. 

(A digression: most MCs are the most plain of the bunch, because you get to project more onto them! They’re a blank slate for you to imagine yourself in, and they typically have very safe mild but positive personality traits, because you want to associate yourself with someone kind.) 

Not so much of character writing but more of just how AssClass manages comedy: every situation 3-E faces is treated with equal weight. Oh no, someone tried to poison them and drown them and kill them! Oh no, they have to put on a school play and they’re going to fail their midterms! It’s hilarious. Gakushuu’s debut is especially funny because we have 3-E coming down from the immediate previous crisis of their teacher who gave them broken ribs, and then (cue dramatic music) their next equally daunting situation: midterms. Their next recurring antagonist: a boy that studies a little bit too much. It’s downright hysterical, and it’s why Gakushuu caught my attention in the first place.

Where was I? I don’t know. This got away from me. This is why I don’t post often on tumblr or you get behemoth walls of text like this kjhgk

[ratanslily]

Apologies in advance I have a lot of fee-fees about Bloodbound and its ending and not a lot of them are good lmfao. I think the whole LI death controversy thing in Bloodbound is a result of a failing of its story tbh. Ending on a somber note with a death of a friend is fine, even desirable in a CYA game that wants that angst as it offers a significant branching path for the viewer without actually changing the ending so it isn't a lot of work to code. (Especially if the conditions are simple, in this case being "we killed this one bc you flirted with that one" or whatever the conditions were I don't remember.)

The thing is though is that deaths at the end should be thematic in some way; since there's a limited time afterwards to process because the story is ending in just a few lines. ILITW deaths, for example, didn't really get the time it needed to let those deaths sink in. They have a funeral for a scene and that's it. If it's thematic you at least have that to think about and it feels like a sacrifice worth making. From what I remember (been a while) there isn't a specific theme around Lily/Jax's death - just for the angst. And that route is fine if there's a proper conclusion and send-off for the character I guess, just not ideal really. Audiences like their favs to die for reasons and not just for misery porn.

So Jax/Lily died for no reason but it was ALSO unequal. You have to have a pretty robust reason to kill x but not y. It could be a story reason, like y *could* have died but just happened to be in a different place through pure luck (gives thrill through an 'oh-shit' feeling) or a motivation (death of x inspires y, etc) or to display the power of the villain (typically used for side characters; used basically every 3rd chapter in Across the Void), or a theme (loss of loved ones, etc etc.)

In Bloodbound it's weird not just because they killed 1/2 of the poc LIs, because it highlights how 2/4 of the LIs are barely even involved in the lore of the world. Adrian and Kamilah are the only ones in MC's group who know what's going on because of their age, while Lily and Jax are just as fish-out-of-water as MC is. Adrian/Kamilah *can't* die because if they do the story can't come to a conclusion bc no one else knows anything about what's happening! And that's all because they decided to do an ancient fantasy epic instead of the vampires-in-a-modern-age setting that they built in the first book. There's a lot of feelings I have about BB's confused setting (it goes from modern day to ancient society to futuristic with the addition of the vamp hunters & the Big Four then to post-apocalypse and back to ancient times... why) but its biggest crime is that we're given 4 LIs and only 2 of them can actually move the story forward. It makes the other two's arcs feel especially "side" and no one can accomplish anything significant unless Kamilah or Adrian are there. If they really wanted to heavily incorporate ancient history with their 2 old lead vampires, then why not do a modern vs. ancient vampire conflict? Ffs you have 2 ancient LIs and 2 young vampire LIs, AND several ancient vampire villains (Gaius, that vamp hunter guy) and several young vampire villains (the Council guys). Highlight the differences between the two worlds by making them fight and then in book 3 oh shit it's Rheya, here to destroy the lifestyles of both vampire worlds time to Crush Ass, you know? (I honestly preferred the story w/o her but she's an important part of the world I guess) It was there it was right there the setting would have been more consistent and Jax and Lily wouldn't be just as confused around the story's events as the reader is because they're still in their modern world, playing by the rules that they learned in *contrast* to Adrian and Kamilah - as opposed to being forced to play by someone else's! And if you want an angsty end LI death you can kill everyone with no hesitation because everyone can move the plot forward!

I actually prefer the death system in ilitw. Sure, the funeral system was handled poorly but atleast there was a chance of everyone dying (no special preference for death art scenes, you know, unlike bb)

I'll always remain pissed about bb cuz they always shifted jax and lily to the side with either a) their backstory having bare minimum relevance to the plot b) in Lily's case practically 0 backstory. Jax gets some tapestry scenes in bb while lily just got one in that holiday book. while the whole series is just like adrian! kamilah! gauis! rheya! *insert more characters cuz my memory of bb is fading fast due to annoyance*

I wasnt there for bb release, only the third book. so idk how people handled the mistreatment of jax and lily before i joined in here

about pixelberry saving "money" by not making 3 adrian and 1 kamilah death art scene: [pb youre rich enough to fund art scenes for tna lol ik its all recolouring but there is too much art in books these days. hell, even standalones main lis get art. see: blaine hayes and edward mortemer] they couldve easily killed off gauis and call it a day, it would take just one art lol. mc and gauis were getting much buddy buddy those times too, it wouldve given the required angst.

[beccas-books]

Children of Blood and Bone

Things I liked:

-       The whole idea behind the worlds magic was so well thought out and so beautiful.  Each kind of magic has its own beauty to it that I think Adeyemi really does have magic.  She thought of everything for these clans and as person who loves a detailed word it really spoke to me.  

-        Zèlie is an amazing protagonist.  I loved her and everything she did.  Even when she kind of did things that I thought were weird I didn't mind cause I love her.  She wasn't winy and annoying like some other main females can be.  She is always unapologetically herself and she will do whatever it takes to help those she loves.  

-       Amari was not my fav in the beginning of the book.  I think she took on the annoying girl role from Zèlie but by the end she was great.  Her character growth from the start of the book to the end is something I love to see in her kind of character.  

-       Saran sucked.  The worst kind of guy, but that's what I love in a villain.  Someone that no matter what he does I will never root for him is the perfect antagonist for me.  I love a villain that is just a villain.  No redemption arc, so change of heart.  He just sucks, and it was great.  

Things I didn't like: 

-      The relationship between the Inan and Zèlie didn't really fit into my idea of the book.  But this is such a small thing that I'm perfectly ok looking over it for the whole of the book.  

-     This book did the thing that I don't really like in fantasy novels, which is introduce characters then kill them right away.  It only happens a couple of times and only one case I thought could have been left out.  But again everything else was so good about the book, that in gonna look it over.  

Overall:

-        Where do I begin with this book.  This book was amazing from start to finish.  Such an interesting take on the fantasy genre.  I loved all the characters, and the things that I didn't like were easy enough to look over to still give this book a 5/5.  The pace of the book was great.  The balance between the action and the narrative of the story was perfect.  I never felt bored even when nothing super crazy was going on.  The ending leaves just enough open to make you want to read the next one, but it does close the initial conflict of the first book.  This is something I really liked, it felt kind of like a revamp of the normal cliff hanger ending.  I love the multiple POV aspect, I think it makes the story more interesting to read in a lot of cases.  And this book defiantly benefited from it.  I think this book would be great for anyone who is in a reading slump, cause it pulled me out of mine.  

- Rating: 5/5

[guymaito]

For the ask thing :3:

Top 5 animals? Top 5 fav/comfort movies? Top 5 fav cartoons/shows?

I’m honestly glad to know theres other people including you who actually like Pakku and his character :3 Yes he was a completely asshole at the start but he did change, it’s just that it was so subtle that not everyone saw it

Also random song associations with characters:

Fighter by Jack Stauber reminds me very well of Piandao, Pakku, and Jeong Jeong as their younger selves during the war.

Why do I associate Grace by Lewis Capaldi with Bumi? (the music video tho would give more context to why it might make sense)

Oh Klahoma by Jack Stauber reminds me of Piandao and his overall anxieties for his partners.

Consider some of these songs as sorta song recs? Idk but still :3

1. Giraffes!! the reason why their tongues look like That is cause of extra melanin and to prevent sunburn!!

2. Seals!! there are 33 different kinds of pinnipeds and there over 50 extinct pinnipeds

3. Dogs!! they can only see in shades of blue and yellow, so bright red roses look yellowish brown and lively green grass look dehydrated and dead

4. Crows!! a group of them are called a murder

5. Cows!! they’re actually colorblind, they can’t see red specifically, so male cows, bulls aren’t getting mad at the color, they’re getting angry at the movement

1. The Losers movie from 2010, it’s a action mystery movie about Clay and his team that are a part of an elite US Special Forces Unit and are approached by a mysterious woman to exact revenge on their handler, Max, who betrayed them and just,,,the characters, CHRIS EVANS, jake jensen and all of his kinda weird glory, THE ELEVATOR SCENE, also cougar!!

2. Captain America and The Winter Soldier movie, it’s a action movie, which makes me realize that a lot of my faves are prolly gonna be action something, but anyways, it’s about Steve Rogers, who now lives in the nation's capital as he tries to adjust to modern times. An attack on a S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague throws Rogers into a web of intrigue that places the whole world at risk. Joining forces with the Black Widow, Natasha Romanov, and a new ally, Sam Wilson, Steve struggles to expose an ever-widening conspiracy, but he and his team soon come up against an unexpected enemy. oh my god,,,just,,,the fight scenes, the running scene at the beginning of the movie, steve meeting sam that way, just everything!! this was also my introduction to marvel so in my mind no other marvel movie can live up to this (other than spiderman away from home)

3. Spiderman Far from Home, again, it’s a action movie, i’m not gonna explain this cause the post is getting long, but!! mj and peter!! just,,,all of their scenes!! also jake gyllenhaal!! the fight scenes!! the soundtrack!! everything about it is amazing!!

4. Thunderforce, again, i’m not gonna explain, it’s an action adventure and comedy movie (ofc it is look at the other 3 🙄 /s), the relationship between lydia and emily!! the relationship between lydia and emily’s daughter!! the humor!! the fight scenes!! the soundtrack!!,,,,just everything about is good despite the bad ratings

that’s more like a top 4 than a top 5 but that’s like,,,,all the movies i genuinely like and will rewatch if given the chance and for that where’s a honorable mention: Hamilton (the movie version on disney+ that came out i think nearly a year ago), the soundtrack is amazing, the characters are better, got some funny moments and is mostly historically accurate, like yeah angelica did forget her name cause at the time of her meeting alex ham, she was married to a man named john church (or something church idk) so her last name was church but she introduced herself to alexander as angelica schuyler, not angelica church, so in satisfied she was telling the truth about forgetting her own name, but in the same song she said that her father had no sons even though the real angelica had 3 brothers.

1. Avatar the last Airbender, ofc or else i would have a blog (mostly) centered around it and it’s sequel /s but fr though?? it’s such a good show!! zuko’s redemption arc, iroh’s redemption arc (even though his more subtle than zuko’s) , aang!! love him and his character so much, especially when he gets to be a sassy little shit, sokka and his shit humor and brains, katara, toph, hakoda and HIS shit humor, the fight scene with hakoda (he fights kinda like a waterbender, using his opponent’s momentum against them), bato and his lovely, lovely voice, piandao, aang going ‘how about he get on YOUR back and you can fly us to the south pole’ or something like that to sokka after he complained about appa not flying higher, the boiling rock episodes, hakoda apparently being a good dad but a shitty prison riot starter (love that for him), just!! atla is such a good ass show, im not changing my mind. also!! i like the way they introduced ozai, not showing his face but still presenting him as not only a shit dad, but a shit person as well, like up until book three, we only saw him like, the neck down and in like, a flashback or two (i don’t really remember how many flashbacks ozai was in actually cause it’s nearly been a full year since i last watched it) and that’s it, so it made seeing his face for the first time all the more better cause you was already like ‘what the hell does this shitbag look like’ and then you see him and now ur like ‘oh!! THATS what he looks like!!’

2. The Legend of Korra, again, ofc or else i wouldn’t have a blog (mostly) centered around it and it’s prequel, just,,,,korra’s arc from being hot headed to calm is fantastic but also sad considering the way she went from that to this, korra’s book 1 character!! for whatever reason i really like b1 korra, just,,her design, her hair style (even though she had it for nearly the entire series) just!!! book 1 korra <3, also the entirety of book 1!! just amon posing as a anti bender nonbender despite being a waterbender himself, the scene where tenzin and his kids nearly lost their bending, which would’ve meant that, if tenzin did lose his bending but his kids didn’t, that would’ve meant the strongest airbender would’ve been his 11 year old daughter, the gruesome way to end the season finale episode by doing a murder suicide which was dark as fuck for what?? a kids show??, also the villains in this show!! their good as hell!! the backstory of the red lotus and how and why they were created?? amon and his anti bending?? kuvira and her plan to basically rule the earth kingdom (idk i haven’t finished book 4), unalaq and his spiritual stuff and wanting to become a dark avatar and fusing with vaatu?? also!! the other disturbing scene of korra basically getting tortured near the end of book 3, i mean?? it deadass left her hella traumatized and unable to walk, again hella dark for a fucking kids show

3. The Walking Dead, even though i haven’t finished it or watched in like, 4-5 months, i just,,,the way the presented negan!! practically foreshadowing him the entirety of season 6!! him appearing at the very end of the season 6 finale and pretty much having an entire episode dedicated to him in the very beginning of season 7 (which is why some fans argue he was introduced in s7 not s6 cause of the fact that he didn’t show up until the very end of the s6 finale but had an entire episode with him in it in s7, while others say vice versa cause the very the first time we see him was in s6 not s7), the fact that the walking dead logo was getting progressively more and more decayed as the series go on?? the fact that the WALKERS (the zombies) are getting more and more decayed as the series go on?? dale’s death scene?? shane’s death scene?? negan’s relationship with rick’s daughter?? the fact that this show also has what?? 11, 12 seasons?? which reminds me that i’m still on season 9 of twd

4. Sabrina the Teenage Witch, just,,,salem and his sarcasm?? sabrina’s aunts?? sabrina herself?? just!! everyone is just so fucking funny in this show it’s unreal, specially salem!! a lot of my favorite scenes have salem in them, the ‘are you on a women’s chat room again?’ (or something like that) and salem saying ‘i like the attention’ in response, that one harvey and salem scene that i don’t know how to describe without turning this into a giant paragraph like the ones before this one

5. blue’s clues, it was my favorite childhood show and i love the reboot of it so much!! especially p for pride moment in that song i don’t remember the name of, blue themself!! steve leaving which was sad but getting an equally amazing host in the process?? amazing!! the scene where salt and pepper introduced their baby, paprika?? just,,,it’s such good show and i loved it when i was younger and i still love it now!!

[hrsloren]

HELLO EVERYONE ! i’m rlly excited to be here at hearsay. actually is a new kind of rp concept for me so if im a little slow in coming up with ideas please be patient w me, i promise i’m engaged and interested. i’d also love recs of your fav murder mystery stuff for inspo! neway some info about ren is under the cut (along w some plot ideas!) and ill message yall once i have a chance to read over the apps so that hopefully i can come 2 u with some thoughts for plots~ ur also welcome to message me first of course or hit that like or really anything else lol!! discord avail on request for plotting, too, if thats more your style. 

kwon loren is a 26 yr old scorpio, horror enthusiast, entrepreneur (cough, drug dealer), n webtoon artist and she’s never met a villain she didn’t want to write a redemption arc for.

yes i almost exclusively chose her name bc it can be nicknamed into ren which obviously sounds like wren and i thought it was punny / suitable lol. 

unfortunately the only one of those that makes any money is the entrepreneurial bit and that is a totally illegal path. so her day job is her night job as the overnight manager of the gs25 near her dingy apartment building.  she works sunday to thursday nights, usually, since she makes the schedule she selfishly schedules the part timers on prime weekend night slots.  she also draws weird commissioned porn for folks w strange kinks (tentacles?? yoikes no judgement but yoikes) when she needs the xtra won.

she was the black sheep of her family even before her personality really showed itself, and once she revealed herself to be a tomboyish, unruly, temperamental, reckless, passionate, and alarmingly contrary child the whole thing just got worse. rlly the only person she was ever very close with was her grandfather, who is a somewhat-renowned murder mystery / horror writer. sneaking peaks at his books and manuscripts was probably what kindled a lot of her weird proclivities as a child, which she carries forward to now.

she’s quite excessive in a lot of ways. too much smoking, too much drinking, too much feeling, too much dreaming, too much scheming, too much writing.... basically the only thing she doesn’t overload on is sleep?? so check out those atrocious under eye shadows sometime bc its a yikes from me yall. 

u can track her moods pretty easily despite the fact that she’s got a hard to read face. once  you get used to her habits and mannerisms its rlly clear to see that she’s an open book. the only thing that can throw it off is that she’ll try to stop smoking abt once every 3 months, at which point she becomes a complete nightmare w very little notice. it usually doesn’t last very long unfort for her lungs.

speaking of smoking shes the kind of person to immerse herself in things easily and get totally wrapped in them. like, she’s v prone to addictions or obsessions. this can be with things, people, television shows, etc. she’s never known a good series she didn’t binge as quickly as possible, a good book she didn’t read cover to cover, sleep be damned. this means she’s often kinda grouchy or trying to sleep something off. she’ll also talk ur ear off about whatever she’s fallen into at the moment. 

just for a weird fact, she has a complex about her hair. its naturally relatively coarse and bushy and curly and frizzy. her mum used to pull it back every morning in a rlly tight ponytail and pin down all the unruly bits with bobby pins or barettes and she hated it, it always made her head hurt and obviously it made her feel like her hair was ugly.  so for a long time she chemically straightened it and did all kinds of treatments, but now she’s trying to maintain it more naturally. so yeah sometimes it looks like a birds nest but at least it’s healthier. 

she’s very picky about her surroundings and organizing her personal space, especially when she wants to work on something. she gets picky about things being in a good visual order, and if she notices something is out of place around her, she’ll hyper focus on it until she can fix it. this can be something meaningful (noticing she didn’t do the dishes) or something absurd (noticing someone left a napkin on the ground at the cafe, across the room, and having to go throw it away before she can focus on anything else). 

just like with her surroundings, with aesthetics, and with substances or media,  she hyper focuses on people too. when she decides someone is ‘hers’ she will go all in on them, becoming loyal to the point of honest to goodness fault. this isn’t to say she’ll tell them they’re the best at all times or be unrealistically enamored with them. she’ll still be fully cognizant of and happy to point out faults, but she won’t turn her back on them. she’d help you bury a body, basically, but she’d tell you what a goddamn psychopath you were as she did. 

FOR SOME PLOT THOUGHTS

her only real established canon relationships have to do w her drug trade or her much better cousin (just ask anyone in her family) so she’s very well open to just about anything. she’s canonically close to magpie and cousins w swallow, of course, and sells to an established handful. i’d love to get her a bit wrapped up in things these days, maybe some secret trading or ferreting things out. i imagine she feels loyalty to magpie and resents those who might come out with accusations against him. 

i’d love her to have an outcast ride or die best friend from high  school, someone who was also on the black sheep side of things. she did participate in the high school literary magazine (layout) and on the newspaper (though not as seriously as one might have hoped) and certain undesirables spread rumors about the english teacher “favoring” her (at least some guiding figure finally liked her dammit). so bullies from high school are fully possible. she was kind of a weirdo (duh) so i imagine it would have been pretty normal to pick at her here and there, though she did try to fly under the radar a lot. people who used to harass her coming to her for pills now could be a thing to explore, or someone who dated her in high school but didn’t really want to be “out” about it due to you know like dumb high school social differences so resentment grew and it was a whole teen movie drama that ended up without the happy ending and now its weird when they see each other, which could go many ways. those she’s befriended or so forth since coming back to town down on her luck, also, would be welcome! 

anyway if you made it to the end of this ily very much and i hope we can plot asap huhu

[blueeyeswhitegarden]

My Hero Academia, Hunter x Hunter.

My Hero Academia:

haven’t heard of it | absolutely never watching| might watch | currently watching| dropped| hated it | meh| a positive okay| liked it| liked it a lot!| loved it| a favorite

don’t watch period| drop if not interested within 2-3 episodes| give it a go, could be your thing| 5 star recommendation

fav characters: I really like Midoriya. He’s just so likable, endearing and sympathetic. I really like Todoroki’s character development. Iida has had some really cool moments too. Uraraka is just so sweet and upbeat. Eri is a new favorite as well.

least fav characters: It might be a cliche at this point, but that would easily be Mineta. He is indeed the worst and the only good thing about him is that he gets little screentime to do the whole gross pervert gag. I’m not a huge fan of Kaminari either since he tends to hang around Mineta, but at least he can be funny and got a good chance to shine during the Provisional License Exam arc.

fav relationship: I really love Midoriya’s student-mentor relationship with All Might. They truly care about each other and I love seeing All Might basically go from this idealized hero to a friend and father figure for Midoriya. I also like Midoriya’s friendships with Todoroki and Iidya. He was able to help both of them through difficult situations and it was nice to see them become closer with each other over the course of the series. Bakugo and Kirishima’s friendship became much more endearing than I expected as well, especially when I initially thought it was going to be one-sided.

fav moment: There are a lot of great moments, but a new favorite moment for me is Eri choosing to be saved. Honestly, episode seventy-six is easily one of the best episodes of the series to date. The insert song was beautiful, I loved how determined Midoriya was to save Eri and Midoriya vs. Overhaul was terrific. But I started crying the moment Eri broke through Overhaul’s emotional manipulation to grab Togeta’s cape. She is a traumatized child, been treated like a monster her whole life because of her Quirk, has been abused both physically and mentally by Overhaul and thought that the only way to stop people from dying around her was to stay with Overhaul. Seeing Midoriya chase after them and then Togeta’s cape gave her the courage to break through years of trauma enough to realize that she needed to let them save her. It was a beautiful moment that made me instantly love Eri.

I also really love the lunchroom scene with Midoriya, Iida and Todoroki. It was a short scene, but it really showed off their friendship so well and how they all support each other. I also loved that Iida said the same lines that Midoriya did before they left for their internship. He saw that Midoriya was bottling up his feelings just like he was before and wanted to at least offer some reassurance.

headcanons/theories: I don’t really have any theories or headcanons for this series.

unpopular opinion: I’m still not a huge fan of the Midoriya and Bakugo pairing. Their relationship has improved, but their dynamic for the first couple of seasons bothered me too much. Season one Bakugo reminded me way too much of bullies I had to deal with, so that stung a bit.

how’d you find it: I didn’t watch it until it started airing on Toonami. I watched the first season there, binged watched season two and the bulk of the third season within a week and I’m currently watching season four on Funimation’s website.

random thoughts: My Hero Academia is one of the few shows that lives up to the hype for me. It is a shonen series to its core, but it’s shonen done extremely well in my book and I look forward to pretty much every episode. It’s a solid series that is worth at least checking out.

Hunter x Hunter:

haven’t heard of it | absolutely never watching| might watch | currently watching| dropped| hated it | meh| a positive okay| liked it| liked it a lot!| loved it| a favorite

don’t watch period| drop if not interested within 2-3 episodes| give it a go, could be your thing| 5 star recommendation

fav characters: I really like Gon and Killua. They work so well together, but they’re also really good characters individually. Leorio turned out to be more likable than I thought he would, although I think he needed more screentime. Meruem is easily the most interesting villain in the series. Biscuit is such a fun character and easily the best female character in the cast.

least fav characters: I don’t really like Hisoka. He’s strong and intimidating, but I find him too creepy for my tastes, especially during his fight with Gon in the Heavens Arena arc.

fav relationship: Gon and Killua’s friendship is the heart of the series. It provides so much growth for Killua in particular and I honestly don’t know how the series functions without having the two of them traveling together. Mereum and Komugi’s relationship turned out to be sweeter than I expected. Meruem found a genuine connection with another person, which gave him more humanity than he initially thought he had. It was also strange for me to become a fan of their pairing in the same episode where they both die.

fav moment: I really like Gon’s emotional breakdown over Kite’s death. While the anime not including Kite prior to the Chimera Ant arc weakened the impact to a degree, it still worked because Gon’s main focus throughout the bulk of the arc was to save Kite. He was so sure that Kite was alive and they just needed Pitou to heal him. But then he was hit with the reality that Kite was long dead and it crushed him. The emotions were so raw and intense with Gon going back and forth between anger and sadness. The way he defeated Pitou was so harsh and brutal, but matched with those emotions. It didn’t feel cheap either since Gon nearly died from using that much power and as far as I’m aware, still can’t use Nen in the manga. It was an intense moment that really felt like a natural progression for Gon’s character during the arc.

I also love Leorio punching Ging right in face. Even with knowing that Ging allowed Leorio to do that, it was still immensely satisfying and made up for Leorio’s minimal screentime.

headcanons/theories: I don’t really have too many theories or headcanons for this series either.

unpopular opinion: I still think it was a massive mistake to bring Kite back to life. He still is technically a different person and just has the original Kite’s memories, but it felt like a cop out way for Gon to not really have to deal with Kite’s death. Maybe it will be better depending on whatever role Kite has in later arcs, but I think it would have been better if he hadn’t been reborn as a Chimera Ant. I’m not sure if this is an unpopular opinion, but I have no idea why Colt had so much screentime during the first half of the Chimera Ant arc if he wasn’t going to be involved in the second half. I’m still disappointed that he doesn’t get to be reunited with his sister or his birth mother, so that could have been resolved if the last Chimera Ant was Colt’s human sister reborn like I initially thought it was going to be instead of somehow Kite.

how’d you find it: I watched the dub on Toonami. I could have gone through the series faster with the subs, which might have helped with the pacing a bit, but I like the dub voices, so I was okay with that.

random thoughts: Hunter x Hunter is a really good series. It has really solid battles, the powers are unique and the expansions on Nen feel pretty natural. I also think that it tackles training arcs really well. We get to see enough of Gon and Killua’s progress to where their increased powers feel believable and earned, but they don’t feel like they’re dragging this out either. It might be more intense or violent than people would expect from a shonen series, but it’s worth checking out at least.

Thank you for asking. ^_^

[littlehollyleaf]

Name ten favourite characters from ten different things (books, tv, film, etc.) 

Then tag ten people

Tagged (ages ago, whoops!) by @castiel-saved-me-from-myself 

(I’m sorry, I got distracted!)

1.Supernatural. Castiel.

Obviously. I may be out of the fandom now, but I’ve never loved a character as much as Cas, and probably never will.

2. Good Omens. Aziraphale.

Thought I’d put both my darling angels at the top :) I suspect that without Zira there to pave the way Castiel may not even have existed, so I love him double - for himself and for Cas as well :p 

While really quite different when it comes to their personalities (just think how Zira would SHUDDER at Cas’ trenchcoat), they share a lot of character traits and tropes (mini-series!Zira anyway, maybe less so in the book, or less obviously anyway), so, no surprise that I should adore them both. I’ve also said before, and I stand by it, that Aziraphale is sort of a combination of my favourite aspects of both Cas and Dean in one, with Cas’ struggle with Heaven/god and trying to be a good angel and finding he loves humanity/earth more, plus Dean’s whole ‘performing Dean’ thing and repression of queer feelings he is scared to admit to (out loud) because he believes they are somehow ‘wrong.’ 

...just to give a little insight into my feelings about these two that was neither needed nor asked for...

4. Hellblazer. NBC Constantine. Legends of Tomorrow. John Constantine. 

Aaaand the other guy I love twice because Cas, and indeed spn in general, kinda owe their existence to him. Though in turn his fabulous live action portrayal by Matt Ryan probably owes its existence to spn and Castiel’s popularity. So... there’s a weird ouroboros situation happening with my favs here that makes my head spin whenever I think about it, but I love it - stories within stories built on stories feeding off stories, which connects to wider themes of story and storytelling being vital and intrinsic to life and stuff.

Anyway, despite his wardrobe, Johnny is NOTHING LIKE CAS. He is, in fact, a lot like Dean. But I like him more. Maybe because he’s British :p He has the whole ‘repressing his feelings’ things, a bit like Zira, but it’s not because he thinks they are wrong, it’s more of a coping mechanism to deal with the constant tragedy/trauma his life/lifestyle/fate causes him to suffer. But whatever the reason, I like my characters facing that struggle :) (actually the British element is probably way more significant to my enjoyment of him than I’ve been fully aware of... that’s probably why I loved Zira so fast as well... obviously they are both a completely different class of British, literally, but the fact they ARE British is INTRINSIC to both their characters, and I guess a little, vaguely patriotic part of me is excited by that... :p)

4. Gotham. Edward Nygma.

Since I’ve started giving explanations - I love Eddie because he’s also got the whole ‘emotionally repressed’ / out of touch with (his) emotions thing going on (as seen in Zira and Cas), but with the addition of various geeky / ‘tech guy’ character traits that I also love.

5. Doctor Who (Classic). Vislor Turlough.

I waxed poetic once about how I liked Gotham’s Edward Nygma because he reminded me a bit of Turlough. That was early on in my Gotham days though and given how Eddie developed I don’t see as many similarities now. Turlough shares some of Eddie’s ‘dark’ traits however - self-centered, often lacking in empathy for others and nonplussed (sometimes even happy) to see them get into trouble or hurt. But ultimately his attempts to be self-serving and cowardly end up thwarted by him developing feelings for specific individuals despite his best efforts, which is what I enjoy about him (and actually that’s a lot like Eddie still, huh... their endgame’s are opposing though ofc - while Eddie goes on to embrace being a villain, Turlough gives up on villainy and even becomes a bit of a hero, now and then). Plus, Turlough is the ONLY Companion (IIRC?) to have joined the Doctor specifically in order to MURDER him and... idk, I just think that’s cool :P

6. Doctor Who (New). Donna Noble.

(I’m trying not to double up on fandoms/shows so I can cover more, but New and Classic Who count as different things, kinda, right...?)

Donna doesn’t really fit any of the character traits I’ve talked about above, though I guess her low self-esteem is something that all my other favs share in various ways (though it’s not such an EXPLICIT aspect of their characters and story arcs as it was for Donna I’d say). What I first loved about her was that after YEARS of New companions (and other randoms) being literally in love with the Doctor, she had a strictly platonic relationship with him. Yeah, I think maybe the show was a bit heavy-handed about it, but even so it came as a huge breath of fresh air and frankly a RELIEF to me. Not that I’m opposed to the Doctor having romantic/sexual  relationships, it was just that... coming from a childhood love of the Classic series where that just... didn’t happen (save a fleeting kiss in the TV Movie - which I actually enjoyed fyi!), it just... idk, was starting to stretch my credulity that EVERYONE seemed to be falling for him maybe? Or at least for me it was growing tiresome. So the fact she didn’t have that element to her character/story was a plus. Then I just adore how loud and brash she is when calling anyone, including the Doctor, out on their shit (I envy her that maybe). Plus I like the way she isn’t... traditional TV pretty, you know? (ie. young and slim, like a lot of other companions).

...or maybe I just like redheads *shrug emoji* 

7. Spartacus. Naevia.

(she has two actresses okay? and they both deserve kudos!)

Truth is I love FUCKING EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE IN THIS SHOW. Spartacus is like... my PERFECT SHOW. There isn’t a single moment, a single plotline, a single character that I don’t enjoy. I have never even CONSIDERED looking up or writing fic because the finished product is completely satisfying exactly as it is. God. But I wanted it represented in this list so I had to pick someone!

Considering the time period there couldn’t really BE a ‘geeky, emotionally repressed with low self-esteem’ character :p BUT nearly ALL of the characters have the whole ‘struggle to understand/discover who they are’ thing and the ‘who I am and want to be is counter to who I’ve been told I am / should be’ arc, on account of the main cast being rebelling slaves (though the other characters are equally complex and compelling and I love them too - Lucy Lawless in particular is incredible!). Anyone who’s seen me blog about the show before might have thought I’d pick either Agron or Nasir as my favs, since I do like to squee over their romance. But whenever I think about the show it’s usually Naevia who I remember first, because her character arc/development just BLEW ME AWAY. She went from someone I’d kinda dismissed at first as a typical het love interest to a WARRIOR GODDESS and you SEE all the key moments of that growth, you FEEL it, it makes ALL THE SENSE. And her romance with Crixus, which again I was initially a bit dismissive of as a typical, sudden, weak het romance, grows into, imo, one of the deepest, most developed, most believable love stories in the show. So yeah. Naevia. Amazing.

8. Due South. Ray Vecchio. 

(he’s the guy not the dog - gifs were limited! ...also the dog is actually a wolf, it’s a whole thing... that doesn’t need exploring at this juncture)

Ray was my first TV crush :P He had a bit of a sidekick vibe to him I guess, which I like (lead characters tend not to interest me as much). He wasn’t ‘geeky’ exactly, but he def had the ‘trying to look/act cooler than I am’ thing going on... also an obsessive attachment to his vintage car... meanwhile his partner Benny was the stoic, ‘British, stiff upper lip, keep emotions in check’ one who was always trying to live up to the ideal persona dictated by his people/employers, in this case the Royal Canadian Mounted Police... HUH, so... it’s actually SUPER WEIRD that I ended up loving Cas and Zira over Dean and Crowley when it seems pretty clear suddenly that my first big fictional fav was CLEARLY the Dean-Crowley to Benny’s Cas-Zira......?? Ray was FUNNY in a way Dean and Crowley aren’t though, I think? He def filled a ‘comic relief’ slot on the regular and I liked that a lot (it also made his serious, angsty moments EXTRA serious and angsty, and extra angst is something I always love!)

9. The Librarians. Eve Baird.

Remember this little show? It was... is... sorta ridiculous. Not amazing. Based on some... very cheap, very OBVIOUS Indiana Jones rip-off films, that were also ridiculous and... not... great (the third one is the best, with an awesome performance by Stana Katic aka Kate Beckett as a vampire, but I digress). But... idek, I am EXTREMELY FOND of the series for some reason :p

There are a WHOLE BUNCH of characters that fit my ‘type’ more than Eve tbh... in fact... probably every.single.other.main.cast.member (save perhaps Jenkins?) shares the traits above that typically make a character my fav. But... EVE! I just... think she’s neat! ...maybe it’s BECAUSE all the others are main/lead characters that makes me gravitate towards her? In a cast where ‘geeky, socially awkward, struggles with emotions’ is the norm, Eve being the no-nonsense, socially competent, badass soldier type therefore becomes different and thus more interesting to me? Also, much like with Donna, I appreciate that she’s an older woman who gets to have a full character and plot of her own. There’s also something about her romance with Flynn that... makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

10. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Jonathan Levinson.

(tumblr gif search failed me so I had to grab from elsewhere...)

Listen. Look. Okay. Buffy is pretty old school these days so, for anyone not in the know, as a character, originally, Jonathan... he wasn’t even a side character, he wasn’t even REOCCURRING, he was barely a background character. For several episodes he didn’t have a name and it wasn’t until several seasons after he became ‘Jonathan’ that he actually got a surname. Danny Strong was just an actor who happened to be occasionally on-hand when the script called for a random to have a line, until eventually that happened often enough for Joss to think ‘hey, you know what, let’s make this guy an actual part of the show...’ 

He got a couple of episodes focused on him in S03 and S04 respectively, but didn’t become a regular until S06 (and wasn’t in S05 AT ALL). Other than that he had a HANDFUL of ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ moments here and there, not even full scenes for the most part, usually lasting no longer than the above gif.

I tell you all this so that when I say childhood me (well... somewhere between 12 and 14 years anyway) was OBSESSED with this character in the show, and I mean O B S E S S E D (to the point of spending hours painstakingly making VHS recordings purely of the episodes he was in), you understand how UTTERLY BIZARRE that was. Because this obsession pre-dated S06. Was, in fact, in full swing during the airing of his S04 episode - which was, like, a fucking DREAM COME TRUE for freakily obsessed me fyi, because the whole episode was constructed with him as the LEAD CHARACTER, because he’d performed a spell to make him super awesome. They even changed the title sequence to read ‘Jonathan’ instead of Buffy! And while other fans were no doubt just lol-ing at the random I was bouncing about on my sofa all ‘MY TIME HAS COME!’ and fucking SWOONING over seeing MY CHARACTER suddenly in the spotlight and getting to do crazy fun OOC shit like this -

Then when S06 rolled around and HE WAS A LEGIT REGULAR, omg, I was in HEAVEN! First TV boxset I ever bought that - Buffy S06 :P

So... yeah. A bit of a fav. Geeky. Outcast. Slowly grows more morally grey, what with that spell I mentioned and also the fact he was teamed with the ANTAGONISTS in S06. I guess you could say he was the beginning of a lot of my fav fictional character traits/tropes (though looking back - I think his ‘villainous’ teammates in S06, Andrew and Warren, are more my ‘type’ these days, and I did end up loving Andrew especially a whole damn lot, but at the time I’d been a Jonathan fangirl for so.fucking.long. there was just no chance anyone else in the show was ever gonna come close to my heart!)

THE END.

Sorry not sorry for the tmi. I got a bit too into this one.

Actually sorry I have so few women on the list :( Internalised misogyny/sexism is a real thing and I spent a lot of my life being... somewhat unfairly dismissive of female characters or at least prioritising male ones over them. I’m working on it.

Ten people is SO.MANY. to tag. But I might as well do this right this time, since I’ve come so far. But if you’d rather not play, no worries! <3

@enchantersnight @momecat @bold-sartorial-statement @vampirebillionaire @edwardnashtons @miss-olivia-cellophane @knightinpinkunderwear @supes9 @leaper182 @hamburgergod

Honourable mentions (because I CAN):

Gotham. Lucius Fox.

Gotham. Fish Mooney.

Gotham. Tabitha Galavan.

Doctor Who. The Doctor.

Doctor Who. The Master/Missy.

Supernatural. Hannah.

Supernatural. Naomi.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Andrew Wells.

[hnnnfdfds]

ohhhh, tell us about yaiba!! who’s your fav, what do you like the most about manga/anime in general and whatever else you want to share🌊💕

!!!!!

I can’t really settle on a fave, tbh? I mean, it’s gotta be Tanjirou bc I almost always end up loving the mains and he’s just so damn pure,,, Nezuko is cute too, omg!!! Also, I really like Zenitsu!!! But then Inosuke came and I was like, damn he’s cute!!!

But like, Giyuu??? Shinobu??? Someone how to decide???

Mhm, I think what really gets me in an anime, is if the world-building is done greatly. I never really realized it until one month ago, but I pay a lot of attention to the world/universes in fictional work. It doesn’t even really have to be made up, you know? It could totally be sth taken from reality and just adapted with a few little differences, varying from living styles to incorporating stuff like a demon slayer organization and life between demons and humans.

So, yeah, KnY, really has done it well so far. It has all the basic questions done. Demons exist. Relationship between demons and humans? Bad because demons eat humans... yet Nezuko is differently so it creates curiosity and the whole wondering of if-situations... 

How to counter the bad nature of demons? With demon slayers, of course!

A whole organization with ranks has been invented. Even the demons have some kind of rank system which connects the whole world-building to the plot.

Why do they have a rank system despite being quite content being alone? Ah, because there’s a guy, obviously stronger than them, that created them in the first place.

The plot is about a boy trying to beat this guy out of revenge but mostly to turn his demon sister back. It’s not mindless revenge, it’s emotion-driven but not to a negative strong extent because of said sister existing.

It’s not some mind-blowing plot, at least not if you cut it down to the basics.

- Guy creates demons

- Demons kill humans bc food

- Boy loses his family like that

- Proceeds to chase the guy

You see that kind of plot a lot in anime. It’s also why a lot of people don’t like a plot bc it’s abnormal or somewhat impossibly different. People end up liking works with the same plots or totally different plots.

Because? Because either they really like the basic plot or they just really care about the differences which are shown in the details surrounding a plot. Those are, of course, part of the plot but different on their own.

Basic plot but...

- Kid sister is alive but a demon and she doesn’t get kidnapped or something

- Guy actually just really wants to cure his sister (Tanjirou dislikes Muzan but the first time we really felt his rage was when he actually met Muzan before that it was just worrying about Nezuko)

- He can only do this with special kind of weapons and breathing styles (I really love the concept of the breathing styles)

- Nezuko is basically somewhat different from other demons

- Demons are shown to be actually really miserable creatures

- Demons were actually once humans. They didn’t just one day appear and start existing, they weren’t created out of nothing either. They were turned into demons.

Actually, that point is fucking sad.

If you look at most of their backstories they decided to go be a demon either after the people around them let them down, were assholes, or their circumstances let them be desperate enough to accept being a demon over what they were before. Or they were turned against their wills.

It really parallels to how some humans just turn... into assholes or at least end up being really miserable? If you get constantly told you’re trash or if you feel desperate in a bad state of mind, it’s not impossible that you either stop caring or rejoice in paying back.

Hmm, I mentioned it already but I really love the breathing styles and the action scenes in general. Like, bless, the animation bc holy fuck, the action scenes are so damn gorgeous.

But overall, I just love the concept and the imaginary to go along with it and how it works. It’s so different from what I’m used to in weaponry/attacks/fight styles. Like, take, BSD for example. I always loved BSD’s concept of abilities because it’s actually in a sense an unusual idea. Take the most known book, and go over its plot to create a good ability fitting the character, which is more or less based on said book’s author. 

It’s also one of the points that will come up the first when I tell someone about BSD.

Like for BNHA, I’ll most likely go with something along the lines of, “It’s about a world in which most humans have quirks and thus heroes exist to make sure villains don’t cause chaos.”

For BSD, I’d go, “It’s mostly about this detective agency with special abilities... You know, the characters are based on those authors and...”

I go a bit more in detail in the BSD explanation. For Bnha I’d only mention that it’s about heroes most times. And an interesting fact for me, quirks suddenly developed and almost everyone has one. 

For BSD, the natural choice for me would be to tell them about characters and skills is based on authors and books because it’s just kind of unique to me. 

If I were to describe KnY, I’d most likely go, “Ah, there’s this anime about a boy becoming a demon slayer to obviously slay demons. But you know, you’d really give it a try, because the attacks are kind of interesting.”

It’s such a simple fact, but the moment something interesting/unique comes up we’ll mention it because it stays. The plot is like a basic mention. It’s just something you say to either warn someone about what kind of anime you talk or test to see if they might like it and you can continue talking, but once you get over that basic testing, you immediately pull out the most convincing facts about it in hopes to keep their interest in the anime/manga.

And I’m totally off-point again,,,,

I’m still not that far in the manga so I can’t say much except I really like the art style so like, bless. But what I’m happy about it, that it’s far enough to approach the topic of the Pillars. You know, being a demon slayer in KnY seems like a weird concept at first. Nezuko and Tanjirou travel around and slay demons — the only contact to others from the organization they have are through crows/letters. In some situatiosn, they do have a lot of contact with other slayers/workers because of situations where they need help or need to provide help. Of course, Zenitsu and Inosuke are also part of the organization but most times they feel more like travel companions except when they fight against demons. 

In fact, the whole setting is airly and friendly, that only in the most recent episode—episode 20—did they find out that something like Pillars exists. They passed a test to join an organization. I totally find that intriguing because whilst of course, we get to see small snippets of it, it’s never really portrayed like how it really is. 

The kids are working under someone. They are part of something led by someone.

It’s only in epi 20 in which it started to properly show for me. Well, the whole scene in the forest with the workers also went there for me. Like, there are clean-up workers and obvs higher-ranking people. Other squads are sent out to help when there are problems.

It’s a whole fucking system.

And they didn’t even know about the existence of Pillars as proven in epi 20. This is most likely to keep our interests as watchers/readers more or less at the same wavelength and because of a new arc kind of situation. 

But like, the moment they passed that exam they somewhat agreed to work under that organization. And I really, really, love observing inner-workings of such in fictional works.

Like seriously, I love the agency’s dynamic in BSD and I really, really like the Port Mafia because they basically kill people but they have an orderly construction in their systems, it’s fascinating. 

Uhhhhhhhh

I’m gonna go write some prompts now because life.

[lifeofnickripley]

Game of Thrones: Fav characters and characters I dislike

(Long post) Kay so, today is the premiere of the final season, guess I'll do my top Ten favorite characters(it is pretty much my favorite show of all time). Show only since I have yet to read the books. If you wonder my opinion on any character not mentioned I either forgot to mention them or I didn't think they really earned a spot on the lists. Yes I do censor things in this a bit buuut I want my web comic to have a wider audience so yea, deal with it. (SPOILER WARNING, at this point, if ur not caught up tho, you have only yourself to blame) Liked Honorable mentions: - Melisandre - before I found out bout the necklace, I had the HUGEST crush on her. She's evil, yes, but she adds a sense of wonder and magic to the show, so I still like her character (other than that necklace scene obviously). Plus Jon wouldn't be back if it weren't for her so haters gonna hate. - Bronn- if he doesn't get his damn castle...lol I doubt I need to say why this wise cracking sword for hire is a favorite, I think most people love him. - Yara Greyjoy - Badass pirate/Viking chick on the high seas? Hell yeah! Plus I love Greyjoy armor, I don't doubt Euron will probably kill her though. - Oberyn Martell - Awesome character, the Red Viper was fierce with a spear and even moreso with his attitude. Unfortunately his pride wound up being his undoing in the end, arguably one of the most effective deaths in the series. - Tormund Giantsbane - How can you not love this absolute bro? I don't even like Brienne and I ship them. Geniune badass. - Jorah Mormont - Lord of the Friend zone, his loyalty makes him one of my favs, not top ten tier though - Petyr Baelish: The events of Game of Thrones wouldn't have happened without this slimy bastard. He was smart and cunning (which made him fun to watch) and though his death was cool, the build up was kind of weak (weird Sansa/Arya storyline) Favorite characters: 10.) Ned Stark - Everyone's original favorite character, his death cemented that GOT wasn't f*ckin around. I mean, damn, still a brutal death scene to watch to this day. Props to Sean Bean for making his so awesome. He was honorable to a fault in a dishonorable world. 9.) Ramsey Bolton - Kay, so I might get some flack for this one, but he was a great bad guy. I mean he was legit terrifying and despicable! Made the Battle of the Bastards have an entirely different level of intensity than most of the battle scenes. Dude was an absolute monster, but unlike another widely disliked villain, this psycho got his own hands dirty instead of beckoning others to. His death scene was poetic but I kinda wanted it to be gorier. (I'm an edgelord though) 8.)Jon Snow - Awesome character, obviously I dig him, so why so low on the list? Honestly, there's characters I like more. But he's still really cool, definitely has the best fight scenes of any of the characters. WE BETTER SEE GHOST THIS SEASON THOUGH!! Lol things are gonna be hella awkward when he finds out Dany is his aunt, yet we still root for them as a couple...that's wincest for you hurr hurr hurr hurr (sorry) I could see him living in the end cus tbh killing him again would be repetitive BS. 7.)Tywin Lannister - Kay...so he died on the sh*tter (imo probably the worst place to die) AND he was an absolute d*ck to Tyrion...but dude, he was awesome. He literally has a song about him in the world of GOT that is used as a warning to others to not f*ck with him!! He took a house that was laughed at and turned it into one of the most feared houses in all of Westeros. That is pretty frickin cool. 6.) Cersei Lannister - Another one I'll get flack for but whatever lol She's cool! So what she shags her brother and is an awful human being? She's a badass! Did you SEE how she blew up all of her enemies in the court and solidified her queen status in one fell swoop? That was dope!! She's vile but very entertaining to watch. RIP the Tyrells. Probably gonna get choked out though by her brother like Maggie the frog predicted. (By my second favorite character no less) 5.) Daenerys Targaryen - Dany! One of my cats is named after her! I love this character. The dragons are amazing, she's cute, she's powerful, maybe a little insane cus of Targaryen madness, and she's overcome some amazing odds. Her storylines could be a little meh in the grand scheme of things but Emilia Clarke's portrayal has made a character that we really root for. I suspect she'll die personally by the Night King buuuuut we'll see. 4.)Tyrion Lannister -Tyrion's writing has gone down a bit in recent seasons but still, most people's favorite Lannister. His quick wit and resilience make him a solidified favorite. Still seems like the person you'd most wanna drink with. I'd be pretty damn surprised if he bit the dust. 3.) Arya Stark - My other cat is named after her and there's a good reason why, SHE'S BASICALLY BECOME A FREAKING FACE STEALING NINJA!!! She was always likeable and I think I've enjoyed almost every storyline she's been a part of (excluding her main one last season) Maisie Williams is a great actress and I hope to see more of her in the future. I doubt Arya will die, but based on that one trailer, things do seem rather bleak for her. Who knows...maybe GRRM wants a divorce... 2.) Jaime Lannister - Yes. This dude is my favorite Lannister. In case you couldn't tell, Lannister is my favorite house. He's really had the best redemption arc in the series. He went from a character I disliked to my second favorite. I predict he will be the one to kill his sister, what happens to him after that, idk. It'll be awkward when he meets Bran again though... 1.) The Hound (Sandor Clegane) - CLEGANEBOWL BETTER HAPPEN!! Kay so... admittedly I screamed like a little freaking girl when this character came back. He... HE'S JUST SO FREAKING COOL!! Admittedly being a 6 footer and a rather grumpy individual, I probably relate to him more than I'd like to admit. Probably will die, but as long as he fights his brother, I'll be a very happy edgelord. Characters I dislike: 10.) Sansa Stark - Kay so I just...I dislike her, I never liked her. I feel sorry for her, sure. She's gotten better over time, sure. I still see her as very entitled and kinda whiny/bratty. She'll probably die. If not I won't be disappointed, still though, not a fan of Sansa. It was cool how she killed Ramsey, tho again, do wish the scene was gorier. 9.) Robb Stark - Ned Stark 2.0 but way less cool. Nuff said. I was okay with his death in the Red Wedding. Shouldn't have made a promise you weren't gonna commit to. Even if Walder Frey is a d*ck. 8.) Catelyn Stark - She was just such a jerk to Jon Snow and Tyrion, seriously. Even moreso in the books from what I have read of them. She got on my nerves. Honestly, I don't feel like Lady Stoneheart would've added much in terms of storyline. 7.) Brienne of Tarth: I find her annoying. Sure, her fight with the hound was FREAKING COOL, but she's kinda too self righteous for her own good. Duty is her thing and all but she is really not good at holding up to her vows. Still ship her and Tormund though. 6.) Theon Greyjoy - hated this dude, then felt sorry for him, now I roll my eyes at him. Honestly, Greyjoys other than Yara are pretty meh characters. Good for him finally regaining figurative cajones. Doubt he'll save his sister though, or survive the White Walkers for that matter. 5.) Euron Greyjoy - this one is a shame cus I hear the book character is amazing. Feels like a pretty generic bad guy of the week type for a show with outstanding villains. Funny like here or there, but kinda a weak character overall. Theon will probably kill him, though I'd love to see a twist where he kills Theon. 4.) Walder Frey - Old dude that got what was coming to him, props to the guy who plays Filch, portrayed two characters who were absolutely despicable. I doubt I really have to list the ways this cowardly character was despicable. Awesome death scene though. Winter came for House Frey. 3.) Shae - Grrrr. The actual actress I feel very sorry for cus I've heard her story, but man this character. Dumb but smart enough to screw over Tyrion. For personal reasons, I really hate this character, reminds me of people I've known. 2.) Tommen and Myrcella Baratheon - Most. Useless. Lannisters. Ever. I'm a Lannister fan so you could see why I roll my eyes so hard with these two. Tommen rolled over so hard you might as well have called him a wheel. And Myrcella was just kinda there, admittedly sad to watch her death scene though (pretty much moreso because it was the only time Jaime was really able to connect with his daughter) 1.) Joffrey Baratheon - Everyone probably saw this coming. Joffrey is that kid on the playground that'd hit you, you'd hit back, they'd start crying and get you in trouble. Everybody knew that kid, I think that's why everyone hates this character so. But man, his death scene was soooo satisfying. Props to the Jack Gleason for making him so horrible. There ya have it. My opinions on GOT characters. Freaking excited for tonight's premiere!! WINTER IS HERE!!

[ouidamforeman]

Hey so, I've read a couple of Eight's books, and I was wondering if you had any specific recs for your fave DW books? Not just Eight, but any Doctor? Which ones have you liked most? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Hhhhhh holy shit. Ok.I’ve read a TON of Dr Who books and there are MANY I love so here are my very faves. I’ll list the range they’re in, whether or not they’re standalone, and any other really important info next to them but if you have any other questions like where to find copies (I’ll most likely be able to dig up PDFs for you), more of what they’re about, etc. just message me. Idk what you’ve read either, so yeah I’m just gonna make a general list.Ok, so very fav books:-Alien Bodies (EDA, it introduces a lot of plot threads and concepts so it’s basically standalone. It’s not actually one of my ultimate favorites but it’s considered to be one of the best DW books ever written so I’m including it bc I agree everyone should read it.)-The Scarlet Empress (EDA)-Unnatural History (EDA, my favorite Doctor Who novel ahhhh. There’s a lot of character continuity in this one and continuations of plot threads from other books though so I’d watch out here a little bit if you know nothing about the early EDAs)-Interference (EDAs, comes in two parts/books. Plot heavy but honestly whatever bc it’s not in a way that detracts from anything cool. And these books are really cool.)-The Blue Angel (EDA. This book is weird as SHIT, please read it. And then read the sequel and screenplay adaptation because they’re all GREAT.)-The Turing Test (EDA, recommending this because it’s probably my favorite DW historical story. It takes place in the middle of the Eighth Doctor’s amnesia arc but other than that there’s nothing continuity heavy in this one I don’t think. It’s just a really damn good book tbh.)-The Year of Intelligent Tigers (EDA, basically standalone except for the Doctor’s amnesia. My third favorite EDA.)-The City of the Dead (EDA, pretty much standalone. This is my second favorite Doctor Who novel. I have no idea what the wider fandom opinion on this book is but I fucking love it to bits, it’s dark and atmospheric and HILARIOUS.)-Mad Dogs and Englishmen (EDA, standalone if you know who Iris Wildthyme is. Read this for a damn good time.)-Camera Obscura (EDA, I don’t remember how standalone this can be, there’s a reoccurring villain and some other stuff but idk how much it effects everything. Read it anyway it’s great.)-Fallen Gods (Telos Novella, standalone. Probably in my top ten DW books ever. Hhhholy shit it’s beautiful.)-The Drosten’s Curse (a more recently published Fourth Doctor novel, so idk if it counts as a PDA? Anyways it’s standalone and it makes me happy every time I think about it.)-Festival of Death (PDA, standalone. I haven’t read this in at least five years I just remember it’s good)-If you haven’t read Shada you probably should-Cold Fusion (VMA. This is a lore-heavy book so it’s kind of standalone and not standalone at the same time. Idk it’s just filled with continuity fuckery. Just read it and figure everything out afterwards like I did. I love this book so much I spent $72 on a physical copy bc I am lame.)-The Infinity Doctors (PDA. Kind of the sequel to Cold Fusion, you’ll probably want to read this after it as it continues and explains some things. This book is simultaneously one of the most lore- and continuity-heavy Doctor Who stories ever and almost completely independent and standalone. I don’t know how that happened. Read it and you’ll see what I mean.)-Fear of the Dark (PDA, standalone and very scary)-The Empire of Glass is fun, if you like Braxiatel and Vicki and Steven and horribly complicated historical misadventures.-I haven’t read them yet but I constantly hear about how good The Witch Hunters (PDA) and Verdigris (PDA) are? Harvest of Time too probably (I’ve read that one I just totally forget everything about it because it’s been years)-There are lots of good VNAs but I’m super behind on those so you’ll have to ask someone else for recommendations on them-You might want to read Engines of War, the one War Doctor novel (it ties into Day of the Doctor)-Read Big Bang Generation for the sole reason of seeing Benny Summerfield and the Twelfth Doctor together I’m also a huge fan of anthologies, so here are some of my favorites:-Decalog 3, because you HAVE to read Continuity Errors oh my god -Short Trips and Side Steps is an experience -Short Trips: The Muses is my favorite Big Finish Short Trips book, it’s gorgeous and you’ll probably cry -Companions, Steel Skies, and Farewells are some of my other favorite Short Trips books, and Seven Deadly Sins has a really cool plot thread through the whole thing even if every individual story isn’t the greatest ever. Anyways the Short Trips books are all underrated and more people should read them.-Time Trips is a beautiful illustrated collection -The Scientific Secrets of Doctor Who is also wonderful Aaaand I think that’s all of my top favorites, there are many more but those are kind of my must-read ones, along with some other stuff I like just to add some variety to the recommendations lmao (I rly like EDAs and anthologies help me). If you want anything more specific I could give recs based on feel/genre/content, Doctors/companions, etc. too.

[mrsspidermanmaryjanewatsonparker]

Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows Vol 2 #6-7 Thoughts

Previous thoughts here.

Okay I’ve finally caught up to where I left off with RYV in 2017 so these are my thoughts on the X-Men arc.

I have very mixed feeling about this arc depending upon what POV I look at it from.

As a general story unto itself and an instalment in this series it was pretty great.

However in the context of an AU series with a limited shelf-life as is and in a context when Spider-Man had so often been sharing the spotlight (and the Spider-Marriage hadn’t been seen) making what amounted to a standard paint by numbers X-Men story just from the Parker’s POV was very questionable even if I like the X-Men.

Finally from the POV of a guy who likes the X-Men but isn’t hardcore but is very much in love with 90s X-Men (which this version is based upon) my feelings are very mixed.

And that boils down to what I love about the X-Men and that era of the X-Men vs. how Conway apparently feels about them.

But let’s get general perennial opinions out the way. I’ve grown to begrudgingly accept the conceit of this series as a Spider Family book and a book where we are just going to ignore the child endangerment issues at play. But i’ve spoken about that before in my older coverage of issues #1-5. Similarly in those issues and it still holds true for this arc, Stegman is the goddam man when it comes to the artwork.

Whilst there was one panel in which he tried to draw MJ shocked and upset and it came off just goofy, over all the artwork in this arc was stunning and I genuinely said ‘wow’ out loud when I got to the splash page of Spider-Man and Wolverine.

Keeping on the visuals for a moment, I goddam love the costumes chosen for the characters here. Yes even the reimagined looks for Toad, Crucible and Mist Mistress.

Obviously I don’t talk X-Men here much but I adore the 1990s X-Men costumes from the 1992 cartoon, which originated under Jim Lee. And honestly they genuinely are among the most iconic and visually dynamic looks for the characters so it’s not purely personal preference. This is especially resonant for me with Wolverine. Spider-Man is my favourite (American comic book) character and following him are various Spider-Verse characters like MJ, Norman Osborn, Ben Reilly, Mayday, etc.

But outside of those Spider-Verse characters, Wolverine is my absolute fav Marvel character and it’s always annoyed me that Marvel were like embarrassed to put him in his classic Giant-Sized X-Men uniform once Whedon began writing X-Men.

That is THE iconic Wolverine look and in this story Stegman brought it back baby!

Similarly I appreciated that the Magneto of this story both looked and acted like classic Magneto. Not the aweful black and silver shit he was wearing around this time in the comics and I’ve never been fond of him as a good guy member of the X-Men.

Honestly, whilst I get it was well executed character development, Magneto is inherently more interesting as a morally grey antagonist for the X-Men than among their ranks. So much of the core premise of X-Men is built around the fundamental philosophical conflict between Magneto’s beliefs and Xaviers that you lose a not insignificant chunk of the essence of X-Men when you put them on the same side. Not to mention in a superhero story you want strong characters as antagonists and Magneto is arguably the best X-Men villain, scratch that best comic book villain, ever.

Okay now let’s chat story.

I wasn’t pleased with  the deaths in this. Banshee might be few people’s fav  but Beast was and in both cases their quick shock deaths were unearned and unworthy. Kind of overly dark to be honest with you given the nature of the RYV book and it gave the impression that Conway isn’t fond of either character.

But that sentiment shines through far more poignantly with Jubilee and Cyclops. Whilst Cyclops gets screwed over slightly less badly than he did in the X-Men movies, the same problems occur. He gets undermined in favour of Wolverine and so Logan and Jean can be shipped together. Which is only a different flavour of frustrating if you LIKE the Cyclops/Jean relationship as I do, than when Jean got screwed over so Scott and Emma could hook up. I still despise that.*

But at least this was kind of believable, at least to me. No X-Men expert so maybe their break up was OOC, but the idea that Cyclops and Jean broke up because Jean didn’t have faith in controlling her Godlike powers whilst Cyclops did is an interesting piece of relationship drama. And at least the characters in RYV didn’t get fucked as hard as they did in the 2000s.

Still you can kind of tell Conway isn’t a big fan of Cyclops (understandable he has his haters, I hate 2000s-2010s Cyclops) but you can equally tell he really doesn’t like Jubilee.

Again, not an X-Men expert here but I’m pretty sure Jubilee being a traitor to the X-Men and being disillusioned by Xavier’s methods is immensely OOC for her character.

Now that isn’t that big of a deal because this is an AU at the end of the day. But if you like Jubilee or just know her character then it will probably annoy you. Unfortunately for one reason or another Jubilee in my observations seems to get a lot of hate that Kitty Pryde and X-23 don’t and I do not understand why.

In the cases of both characters I could tell instantly that Conway was setting one of them up to be the traitor and honestly if you are doing an AU book, Cyclops is kind of the more interesting choice although I grant you maybe not in the context of 2010s Cyclops who already murdered Xavier in AvX and has been a douchebag for a long time. But in the context of this story and 1990s X-Men which this story is trading off of, it’s the more interesting choice. I will give it to Conway though for at least bothering to give us 2 suspects. These days most writers wouldn’t even bother with that and just think they were being subtle when they have Jubilee say shit like “Maybe your human friend wouldn’t like you if she knew you were a mutant!”

On some final notes about the X-Men themselves I feel like there was maybe something more interesting you could’ve done with Jean and Wolverine’s child than what we got with Shine. In her personality and powers she could be any one of the army of Summers/Grey children or any given generic mutant. There is no Wolverine in her to be seen.

That’s not me inherently hating her. She’s just more of a missed opportunity. She was adorable unto herself and even moreso in her relationship with Annie and I hope that gets revisited in consequent issues.

My final little note regarding the X-Men themselves was that I didn’t care for Magneto being mind controlled at the end or his over all plan.

Okay, it’s more like I felt his plan was underdeveloped. Because it’s not that it didn’t make sense because it was literally the same plan from X2: X-Men United. But Conway basically expected you to have just known  that because of the visuals and results of the plan. And for comic book and comic book movie fans like me, sure I know the shorthand but it’s not good storytelling. Similarly Emma Frost shows up at the end, barely talks but just kind of takes over as the main villain when Magneto had been the guy built up in the story and...he, he’s Magneto dude. That’s like having Puppet Master show up towards the end of a story where Doom’s been the main villain and take over.

Also doesn’t his helmet shield him from psychic control? I mean again it’s an AU and I feel like that wasn’t established until way later about Magneto but still.

I also wanna talk about how this arc more than anything else just blows up the continuity between RYV volume 1 and volume 2.

In RYV vol 1 #1 it was a big deal that the X-Men got wiped out by Regent and the implication was that the universe diverged in the early-mid 1990s.

In this arc though it’s made crystal clear that obviously the X-Men are fine and that in this universe (the dumpster fire clusterfuck that was) Civil War 2006 was avoided.

Which is again an example of Conway subtly saying screw you to stuff he doesn’t like but I don’t mind that because yeah screw Civil War it was hot trash. But it does make RYV volume 1 way more confusing in terms of continuity, especially since literally no other post-Secret Wars ongoing series (including X-Men ’92) seemed to radically alter their universe after the event like RYV did.

Honestly I think the only way to have it make sense is to just say RYV volume 2 is an alternate version of the RYV volume 1 characters and that prior to volume 2 a guy called the Regent showed up, stole some people’s powers then Spider-Man and his family stopped him. He didn’t kill anyone, he didn’t take over the world, he wasn’t trying to kill God Emperor Doom or whatever and the world didn’t know who Spider-Man was by the end of it.

This actually jives way better with what Houser would later establish in her run on RYV that Annie isn’t a daughter Peter and MJ had INSTEAD of Mayday, but in fact the daughter they would’ve had if OMD hadn’t fucked everything up. I guess in the RYV universe though Spider-Man never joined the Avengers and fashion was stuck in the 1990s even in the 2000s.

I’m not complaining I’m just trying to get all this stuff straight.

Okay let’s move onto the Parker family.

I loved the payoff to issue #2 with MJ planning a party and it turning out to be for Peter’s birthday. That was the best scene in the whole story. Normal life drama with supporting characters we know and love. This is the heart of Spider-Man! And it came with adorable scenes like Annie confronting the horror of gluten free desserts and acknowledgments of Aunt May and Aunt Anna’s deaths.

The heart of the story was the stuff related to whether Peter and MJ should make Annie stay at the Xavier school or not and the scenes exploring this were really good.

Spider-Man deal with relatively relatable everyday issues and failing that stuff that s clearly allegorical to said issues. In this case Annie’s powers are allegorical to a kid with a disability, special learning issues, or someone with a particular aptitude for learning that would make a normal school more challenging.

Special props goes to Peter relating to how he struggled in school and not wanting that for Annie. In MJ’s case though she wants to keep her daughter close. This makes sense retroactively when you consider she’s already lost one child and if you pretend RYV vol 1 happened then she spent years keeping Annie close out of fear that she died.

Putting those aside though it could be a commentary upon MJ’s own childhood growing up where she was constantly being uprooted and saw her family and her sister’s family fall apart. For MJ it’s likely very important that the family unit stay close together.

Conway’s writing shines because he organically (albeit not as subtly as he could) has them switch positions creating yet more potential conflict and makes sure Annie has her own view on the matter. She likes the school, she likes Shine but she doesn’t want things to change and justifies this in a childish way by making out a popular kid in her school is a bigger deal than she actually is.

My major point of condemnation though is that I feel way more could’ve been done with the premise (e.g. having MJ and Jean connect over super powered kids) than actually was because so much of the plot is dominated by villains invading the Xavier school for the umpteenth time.

Actually goes into two other problems with the arc. This is an incredibly generic X-Men storyline because obviously it’s from a Spider-Man perspective. Like if an X-Men story tried to present a window into the world of Spider-Man it’d be a typical thing about him making rent, working for Jameson and missing a date or whatever. It’s like default setting X-Men and whilst I like that because I miss those days before X-Men became a clusterfuck, it’s not the most compelling main plot in the world.

And honestly it wraps up too quickly and easily, MJ just decks Emma Frost and the story is done. Annie and Peter don’t get involved enough which is weird because isn’t this a team book? I mean as the story highlights it makes Mj look cool but I don’t like doing that at the expense of the other characters.

Now in fairness that might’ve been set up for the next arc, which I know is about MJ becoming Venom. The last page or two of the arc implies this because it features an overtly villainous Liz Allan.

At first I raised my eyebrow at this. Around that same time Liz had been presented as evil in the 616 books and I thought this might’ve been lame out of nowhere synergy.

But in thinking about it, if this really is a Liz Allan who is recently went through the stuff she dealt with in DeMatteis’ Harry Osborn arc from the 1990s (as is the implication) then Liz would be a darker person, would be more hard hearted to protect her son and she wasn’t the nicest person to the Parkers at that time.

Although issue #4 had MJ refer to Normie as creepy implying the Osborns and Parkers generally aren’t all that close in this universe.

Regardless Liz with the Venom symbiote targeting MJ and having the there be an explicit thematic connection between them via their shared motherhood was a darkly delicious moment.

As many mixed feelings as I have for this arc over all I give it a solid B.

*Hence I personally also loved Emma Frost just being a plain villain and getting decked by MJ because I goddam hate Emma Frost I really do.