#making roundup

[notthewarriorprincess]

March Making Roundup

I managed to get to the sleeve split on my sweater the night before I had to roll my die for the next week's WIP. From cast on to sleeve split in like 5 and a half days, I can't believe how much progress I made in so little time!

The next WIP the dice thought I should tackle was the Pendants Shawl, a project I started in September as a sample for the yarn shop I work at. It got put aside in October to make room for the Stephen West MKAL, and I just never picked it up again after that.

Did a little work on a blanket I started a few months ago. I dont work on this much, just a row or two here and there

Started a new spin! This is 100% BFL in the colorway Lamb's Ear by Created by Elsie B. An absolute joy to spin!

Bound off the body of my sweater!

Finished the single for Lamb's Ear, and while I wait for it to rest I started something else!

[silvermoon424]

The way this outfit caused a slaytonic shift in my brain when I first saw it at age 13

[cowboysorceror]

I had a question, What was your motivation for making Jason Mexican? I hope I don't offend, I was just curious.

not offensive at all, this is a good question! the answer is a bit of a story -- I had a close friend in my early teen years who was the child of mexican immigrants. I had already found a love for comics through marvel (specifically matt fraction's hawkeye and phil noto's black widow and the whole of young avengers) but she was my introduction into DC comics. we were both closeted teenagers from strongly religious families -- she being catholic, and mine being [redacted christian cult] -- and our different experiences ended up being something we talked about a lot. when I did end up coming out in my junior year, she was one of the few friends I kept. I knew almost nothing about the Batguys when we started sharing comics, but she was a diehard Jason Todd fan, and she saw him through a very personal lens (as every angsty teenager should). the character will always belong to her, a little bit, in my mind 🥲 I've also taken a lot of inspiration from other artists and writers whose work features a mexican Jason!

[kindahoping4forever]

Cal having immaculate taste via Popheads

[sysig]

Cards 👏 cards 👏 cards 👏 (Patreon)

[cyberdragoninfinity]

wild dana spotted howling and barking about yugioh arc-v out in the parking lot

oh BOY oh boy it's bout that time again. i can't believe it's been OVER A YEAR (?!?!?) since i last did one of these 'i just finished a yugioh here's my little rambly retrospective about it' posts but we are BACK!!! Finished my first ever watch-through of Arc-V last Tuesday after some 8 months of it putting me through the spin cycle and now as it's wedging itself permanently into my psyche i need to talk about its Everything or i will explode. so LET'S SWING INTO ACTION!!! I'M TAKING CONTROL OF THIS DUEL STARTING NOW!!!

[SPOILERS ahead for this decade old anime, of course]

WOW. YUGIOH ARC-V, HUH. before i started it watching it, I knew two things: A.) every single bit of knowledge I'd learned about it from Duel Links events or otherwise had me so, so, unbeliebable fucking hyped. I was absolutely certain this Yugioh was going to be so full of Danabait and completely fry my brain like an egg on the griddle. I had to physically restrain myself for TWO YEARS to keep from jumping the gun and watching Arc-V before I'd finished all the series before it (a decision I'm ultimately thankful for--Arc-V hits kind of fuckign crazy as a chaser to four other yugiohs.). And also, B.) when people Talk About Arc-V they always talk about it in a Very Particular Way. like. it's hard to describe. I feel like you know it when you see it. There is the full range of human emotion in the way people talk about Arc-V. People talk about Arc-V like its a confusing, malicious specter haunting their living room. And this admittedly got me even more hyped to watch it.

And then I watched it and here I am and I KNOW NOW. I KNOW NOW WHY PEOPLE. TALK ABOUT IT LIKE THAT. FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART: WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT. SLASH POS. SLASH NEG. SLASH SECRET THIRD THING.

Arc-V is a fucking MESS. It starts out SO strong and then it starts setting plot threads on fire and writing conceptual checks it absolutely cannot cash. It falls down the narrative stairs like it has a goddamn death wish. It introduces 342052805 characters and then forgets to do anything with 99% of them. It does things to its girl characters that makes the back half of 5Ds's girl writing failure look like the height of feminist theory. If the stories I've heard about its deeply troubled production are any indication it is some kind of MIRACLE this show got made and aired at ALL. IT'S LIKE WATCHING A CAR WEAVING THROUGH TRAFFIC AT 90 MPH ONLY TO PLOW DIRECTLY INTO THE SIDE OF A PARTY CITY.

and goddamn if I didn't have a FUCKING BLAST watching it. GODDAMN IF I DIDNT HAVE SO, SO MUCH FUN. goddamn if Arc-V might very well end up being my FAVORITE yugioh out of ALL of them when all is said and done. WHOOOOOPSSS!!! 🥴🥴🥴🥴🥴

like. imo Zexal is absolutely from a quality/art direction/narrative/everything standpoint leaps and bounds better than Arc-V. Definitely one of my favorite cartoons I've ever seen period, and most people should give it a shot. Such a beautiful work of art. But Arc-V....... girl they put something In this one. My pre-show hype was absolutely warranted. This show is just one blast of Shit That Makes Dana Crazy after another. Every character absolutely delights me and is my best friend. I'm going to be losing my mind over Yugioh Arc-V for the rest of the year and maybe forever.

As usual I primarily watched the dub, with some sub episodes sprinkled in if I got tipped off about a big change, or just if I wanted to see what was going on back there. (glad I did, of course, for a number of reason--least of all that Arc-V's OPs and EDs are SO fun and so charming!!) (THOUGH SIDE NOTE: THE DUB OPENING SHREDS SO HARD IM SORRY. IT'S UP THERE WITH THE GX DUB OPENING FOR ME. CAN YOU FEEL THE FUCKING POWER!!!!!) Anyway, gotta say, really was blown away by this dub!! It's tied with Zexal for what's imo the 'best' yugioh dub--the majority of the voice performances were just fantastic (truly all the love in my heart for Michael Liscio Jr.'s performances as the yuboys, they all have such unique and charming voices and im OBSESSED WITH THEM.) and having watched some sub eps side by side with the dub it's really cool seeing a dub that genuinely tried to faithfully translate Most of the Original. idk it's just a really solid localization to me!! I loved it a lot!! ALSO IT'S EXTREMELY FUNNY. I SAY THIS ABOUT EVERY DUB BUT IT'S TRUE. there are line reads in the arc-v dub that have me SOBLAUGHING.

anyway. I like to do these little subsection breakdowns in these little retrospective roundups, so let's get into the weeds with it:

Stuff I Didn't Like: loooooooooong inhale through my nose. looks at you with mildly pained eyes. alright. let's get this one over with.

though I did really try to go in as blind as I could/avoid most spoilers with this one, I did inevitably get spoiled by some things from Duel Links, but in the case of. uh. Riley Getting Turned Back Into a Baby At the End. 👶🏼 I AM glad I had that spoiled for me, so I knew it was coming. Because if I didn't know that was going to happen and that clocked me over the head I would have been on the NEWS. I WOULD HAVE BEEN, SO MAD. HEY, YUGIOH: WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 👶🏼👶🏼👶🏼👶🏼👶🏼 WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO RILEY!!!!

"character gets permanently turned back into a baby for Critical Plot Reasons" has gotta be one of my LEAST favorite tropes in anything, it's NEVER GOOD. AND IT'S ESPECIALLY BAD HERE!!! Riley is such a good character, he's got such an interesting arc going on, and THEY JUST RIP THAT TO PIECES. SO RILEY'S JUST FUCKING GONE NOW I GUESS. COOL. ALRIGHT. SURELY THERE COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER WAYS TO DEFEAT ZARC. SURELY. just. good GOD. it was a small miracle to me when this happened like 8 episodes before the end, it was like ripping the bandaid off early, it was like "oh thank christ i got past that. ok well whatever happens it cannot possibly be as bad as the shit they did to riley"

^ (and imo it wasnt. thank GOD. actually let's talk about that)

LIKE. MAKE NO MISTAKE ARC-V'S ENDING IS CONFUSING AND CLUMSY AND SO STUPID AND NOT GOOD. WHY ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH DOES THIS SERIES NEED EIGHT EPISODES AFTER ITS BIG BAD DUEL.WE COULD HAVE WRAPPED THIS UP IN 2-3!!!! it feels like watching Chopped and the contestant has 20 seconds on the clock left and theyre like "i gotta make my whipped cream" like WEEEE DONT NOT HAVE TIMEEE FOR THAT!!!!! WHAT ARE WE DOINGGGG. why are we dueling jack AGAIN. FOR TWO EPISODES. EVERYONE IS YELLING AT YUYA LIKE ALL OF THIS IS HIS RESPONSIBILITY AND FUCKING IS IT??!?!??! HE'S 14. AND THEN THOSE EPISODES HAVE THE GALL TO THROW SO MANY COOL IDEAS ON THE TABLE (Gong fully exploring dueltaining, the Dimensional Highway, etc) AND IT'S LIKE. COOL!! WISH WE COULDVE HAD THIS ANY OTHER TIME THAN THE LAST POSSIBLE SECOND!!! WHAT ARE WE DOINGGGG

BUT all that being said, the way people talk about that fucking last episode I was expecting some genuinely godawful 'zuzu is yuyas mom again like in the manga' tier absolute nightmare scenario. i literally made a secret prediction chart of what insane plot twist i assumed the last episode was going to drop on me.

AND THEN THE LAST EPISODE WAS JUST. FUNNYBAD. just a run of the mill whimper at the end of eight episodes we KIND OF REALLY DID NOT NEED. THE SHEER AMOUNT OF RELIEF I FELT. like absolutely i think going into it completely blind/encountering that ending watching live I would have been pissed, folks are rightfully frustrated with it, but I WAS TRULY. EXPECTING MUCH WORSE. IT ENDS LIKE A FAKE TUMBLR POST. "AND THEN EVERYONE CLAPPED" ASS ENDING. I DO HAVE TO LAUGH

^ YIPPEEEE SIX CHARACTERS HAVE EFFECTIVELY STOPPED EXISTING YAAAAAYY (😬😬😬😬)

ALSO, IN GENERAL. SPEAKING OF. GOD. THE BRACELET GIRLS. YALL ARE SO COOL AND THEN POOR LULU AND RIN DIDNT GET TO DO A GODDAMN THING EXCEPT HAVE WORMS IN THEIR BRAINS!!!! HELL ON EARTH!!!!!! WHY DID THEY DO THATTTT GAHHHHH again!! show that introduces SO many characters, so many FUCKING COOL CHARACTERS, and then does NOTHING with them. Or hits them with PARALYZING NERVE GAS FOR 20 EPISODES. CHRIST!!! WHY DO ARC-V GIRLS SUFFER MORE THAN JESUS. LEAVE MY GIRL ZUZU ALONEEEEE

TO THAT END, ARC-V JUST MAKES; SO MANY CONFUSING CHARACTER DECISIONS. AND CHOICES. why is Yuto just out of the picture for like 60 episodes!!! Let him be Yuya's brain buddy!!! WHY WASNT HE. DID YOU NOT WANNA ANIMATE HIM FLOATING NEXT TO THE DUEL RUNNER??! BE REAL. It's like. GRAHHH In general Arc-V has a pacing problem that is like. Atrocious even for yugioh's bad pacing problems. This series needed to be 400 episodes long. I like the IDEA of a yugioh with a big cast, spending episodes cutting between different groups of characters like some kind of bulky YA fantasy novel, but in practice it got. Real Muddy. RIP Xyz dimension arc you shoulda had so much more to you. And then there's that combined with this way it's trying Really Really hard to ape the themes of the past yugiohs ('dont forget to have fun,' grief/moving on after loss, classism) but it's hitting every damn branch on the way down and just completely fumbling ALL of them, it's not actually doing much to Earn being able to have those kind of themes resonate properly. IT'S SUCH A BAFFLING SHOW. IN THE THEMES DEPARTMENT. AMONG OTHER THINGS. "DONT EVER BE VISIBLY PUBLICLY SAD" IS A FUCKING INSANE MORAL. AND IT TAKES THAT SHIT WITH IT TO THE BITTER END. WHY IS THE FATE OF THE WORLD HINGED ON YUYA MAKING A BABY LAUGH. WHERE AM I!!!!

god. god. ok. ok im calm now. im sure in the coming weeks i'll have more barking about arc-v's various fumbles. but i'll leave it at that for now, i wanna talk about stuff i DID like now lol

Favorite Season/Arc: ok well. this actually is a hard question. um. hrm. LIKE. I'LL GET SHOT BY SNIPERS IF I SAY IT WAS SYNCHRO ARC BUT ALSO

IM SORRYYYYYYYYYYYYY I GOT THAT DOG IN ME (A BACK HALF OF 5D'S LIKER'S SOUL.) and unfortunately I WILL go in there and think about it that hard (the absolutely fucked to hell sociopolitical situation happening in Arc-V New Domino City and how it contrasts with the NDC in 5D's) (one thing about me I love weird fucked up yugioh old people I love those bitchass old centrists apparently governing the entire dimension and doing a piss poor job of it it's just like contemporary American politics!!!!!!) ROGET WAS JUST REANIMATING DEAD PEOPLE AND PUTTING MIND CONTROL CYBERNETICS IN THEM AND WELL YEAH SURE I'LL BE NORMAL GRIP ABOUT THAT. NORMAL. i need to make an arc-v AU Aporia so fucking bad THEN YOULL ALL SEE *talking to empty room*

YES synchro was way too fucking long. but regretfully i love turbo duels and will never not be charmed when yugioh puts guys on motorcycles that have no business being on motorcycles. DAMN I JUST FUCKING WISH YUYA AND YUGO GOT TO ACTUALLY TALK AND MEET IN THE SAME ROOM THOUGH!!!! BUT ANYWAY!!!!

im. kidding at least a little, I actually thoroughly enjoyed like...all of Arc-V's seasons/arcs at least a little (barring a lot of the Weird Post Zarc Duel 8 Episode Dead Zone.) The first 50 episodes really are just peak banger Yugioh, I do love action duels to absolute bits (though Action Spells. Uh. Need Some Workshopping 8| If I See Evasion One More Time Im Gonna Lose It) and the shit especially that first season does with the crazy Action Fields is AWESOME. GENUINELY. GO DUEL IN THE VOLCANO. DO A FLIP. RIDE YOUR MONSTER. it's practically running on Pokemon universe logic i cant NOT love it. And well Fusion Dimension arc does just have a whole lot of episodes that make me go cuckoo bananas crazy. Truly something for Dana in every crevice of Yugioh Arc-V.

Favorite Characters: god I do think like a solid half of why I think Arc-V may be becoming my top fav Yugioh is that the cast is just, really Really fucking good. Like yes so many of them are underutilized but the time we Do get with them really just shows off what delightful characters they all are. Half the reason it took me so damn long to finish was I was having so much fun and was going to miss seeing them!! IT'S GENUINELY HARD TO PICK A TOP LINEUP OF FAVS. THERE'S SO MANY DANABAIT GUYS IN YUGIOH ARC-V. YES EVEN THE SYNCHRO ARC GUYS. LUCAS SWANK I MISS YOU SO FUCKING MUCH.

The Lancers alone are SO good, theyre up there with Team 5D's in terms of Favorite "Main Yugioh 'Friend Group'/Organization". Group of guys who kind of have horrible synergy and only like 3 of them are actually competent. Declan came up with it when he was 13. Funniest group of teenagers imaginable, I love them all. LIKE .YUYA MAY BE MY FAVORITE YUTAGONIST??? IM NOT SURE YET BUT. I DO LOVE HIM A LOT. HE'S A PATHETIC WET PAPER TOWEL AND I WANT TO GIVE HIM A NOOGIE. SLASH POS.

And I mean I'm always gonna be Z-one biased but I do like Zarc as a Big Bad a lot too... damn if I don't love Just Some Guy Has Become God and Is a Huge Tool About It <3 WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE THIS!!!!

ah. but. of course. i'd be remiss if i didn't bring up. Rainbow Carrot Rock Your World.

hey guys. why'd it happen again. why'd the Yugioh Carrot and Company get in my head and completely fry my brain AGAIN!!!!!!!! ORANGE CARROT. PURPLE CARROT. YELLOW CARROT!!!!🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕 YUGO ISNT EVEN MY TOP FAV BUT HE'S IN MY HEART AND IN OUR HOUSE FOREVER NOW. meanwhile i dont want. to talk about what yuri is doing to me. if i think too hard about this little purple freak i'll start going bonkers ballistic chewing my leg off. I like all the yuboys but he is especially. Gripping Me. La Cucaracha Loca. My shithead gay son.

dennis needs his own post he's just. a Lot. may very well be one of the funniest yugioh characters ever. Among Other Things. his dub VA's performance needs to be marked as culturally significant. AND THEY JUST KEPT BRINGING HIM BACK.

IN GENERAL, AS I WAS COMPLETELY EXPECTING, FUCKED UP AND EVIL DUEL ACADEMY REALLY DID ME IN I love you Fusion Dimension kids I love getting sick in the head thinking about card game child soldiers.My Actual favorite Arc-V character may just straight up be Sora..... I just like him a lot. He's got a really solid character arc, his deck rules, he's a little fucker AND an absolute real one. Just 10/10 little guy.

GOD WHAT EVEN IS MY TOP FIVE FAVORITES. UHHHH Okay Sora and Yuri for sure, and Declan, I love Declan. Yugo..... god. GOD IS THE FIFTH ONE DENNIS FOR REAL. I FEEL HIM IN MY BRAIN SO BAD. AAAAUUGHHHH (Runners Up: Yuya, Yuto, GONG MOTHERFUCKING STRONG!!!!!!, Rin my girl my badass mechanic girl IM ON MY WAY. I'LL THINK ABOUT YOU THAT HARD., Riley, Arc-V Aster unfortunately a Dana Guy ever. Why Is He Here. He Didnt Even Go to DA in GX. But all of this is subject to change in coming months as the entire cast continues to hit me with weapons. An honor and a privilege to induct these characters into my Blorbo Hall of Fame)

Favorite Duel: HEY QUICK QUESTION: WHY ARE ARC-V'S DUELS SO FUCKING WEIRD. LIKE. NARRATIVELY. There's like 4352984589 ties and duels that get cut short and DUELS WE JUST NEVER GET TO SEE THE FULL OUTCOME OF ON SCREEN?!?!? WHAT WAS GOING ON THERE. It feels like another symptom of arc-v just desperately trying to bite off more than it can chew 😭 Frustrating!! And god I LOVE the zaniness of Action Duels, but we neeeeeed to do something about Action Spells... GRABBING AN ACTION SPELL SHOULD NOT BE THE CRUTCH OF YOUR WHOLE DECK.........

coughs. anyway. My actual honest to god favorite Arc-V duel is Yugo vs. Celina in the Friendship Cup <3 IVE ALREADY TALKED ABOUT IT BEFORE BUT IT'S JUST SUCH A FUN ONE. It's got some great character moments on both sides, a yugioh girl Getting to Be Cool, the colors are gorgeous, it's SO funny, I just get such a kick out of it....I think part of what I Do like about the Friendship Cup is it really shows this sense of kinetic energy that the WRGP in 5D's really needed. I also really like the Shay vs. Dennis Friendship Cup duel for just going completely off the rails. Blow Up This War Criminal and The Whole Stadium With the Giant Bird Satellite Cannon. DOES NOT GET MORE YUGIOH THAN THAT!!

for all its weirdness Arc-V has a LOT of really fun duels that i enjoy--Shay vs. Sora is beloved for a reason, it also goes hard as hell. So many Season 1 duels are just a goofy blast, I really need to rewatch the quiz show one. For as much of an unnecessary mess as those last 8 episodes are, I DO really like Yuya and Dennis's duel too (THAT GETS REALLY REALLY GAY AT THE END???!?!? ARE WE ALL SEEING THIS.)

Hell even the Zarc duel started making me kind of sick in the head--watching Yuya's friends passing around his pendulum necklace while trying to save him makes me turbo emo WHAT CAN I SAY!!!

Arc-V also has the thing I had with Zexal where there's just some individual episodes that are absolute bangers for me. i love the Prison Break episode, it's fucking INSANE. HIP HIPPO SAID FUCK COPS FUCK THE PRISON SYSTEM!!! I love the episode where Gong and Dennis duel. FOR HOW LONG IT DID DRAG SYNCHRO HAS SOME REALLY FUN ONE-OFF EPISODES which I just really enjoy. Also love when Zuzu and Sora beat the shit out of a pack of cops. Based for that for real.

i do also love Yuri and Yuya's duel. Of course.

Other Miscellaneous Gushing/Shrieking/Losing My Mind About Yugioh Arc-V For Good and Bad and Everything in Between: arc-v arc-veeeeee yugioh arc-fiveeee theres just so MUCH. TO TALK ABOUT. THIS ONE'S GONNA BE IN MY HEAD FOR EONS I FEAR. THINKING ABOUT THE EVERYTHING. The sheer amount of narrative traits that make me specifically lose my mind (in a good way. as opposed to. the babyfication making me lose my mind. in a Real Bad Way :////) that they crammed into this. It's like digging in the treasure chest of elaborate fanfics I was writing in my brain in freshman year of high school. The Sick and Twisted Evil AU Version of Duel Academy. The Trained to Be Weapons Child Soldiers. Mind Control Reanimated Corpse Brain Chip. Alternate Dimension Selves. All of the Split Different Dimension Bullshit. Soul Splitting and Soul Fusion Framed as Fucking Terrifying. It's good I didn't have Arc-V growing up it would have been doing IRREVERSIBLE THINGS TO MY DEVELOPING CREATIVE BRAIN. INSTEAD IT'S DOING THEM TO ME NOW.

(side note, re: terrifying soul fusion: Arc-V is SO FUCKING SCARY SOMETIMES?!?? Like "ohh i wish yugioh was still a horror story" DAWG ARC-V ROUTINELY HAS SOME OF THE MOST DREAD-INDUCING CONCEPTS GETTING FLUNG AT YOU AT 90 MPH. SKIP BOYLE FORGETS HIS DAUGHTER EXISTED AND IT'S ONE OF THE MOST HEARTBREAKINGLY HORRIFYING THINGS IVE EVER SEEEEENNNNN )

The shit Arc-V does with Yugioh's themes of identity, these "when does a piece of yourself stop being you and start being their own person?" "what happens when multiple free standing people are one person" type ideas, you KNOW that makes my Aporia Turbofan ass go CRAAAZYYYY. AND THEN IT HAD RELIGIOUS MOTIFS TOO <3333 YOU'RE ME AND IM YOU AND IT DOESNT MATTER WHO DOES WHAT THE DEVIL WILL COME BACK REGARDLESS 😊💞💞💞

Arc-V takes such bold swings at things and 95% of the time it misses the ball entirely and spins up and out and directly into the fireplace but that 5% of sheer genius and thematic weight hits like a truck. Is Arc-V good? FUCK IF I KNOW. PROBABLY NOT. BUT ALSO YES IT IS. BUT ALSO IT'S NOT. BUT ALSO IT'S SOMETHING SO SPECIAL, AND I LOVE IT. That first like 50 episodes makes for such a good yugioh starter course tbh, the way it goes over different summoning methods and is very engaging and energetic, and then the rest of the show is an 18 car pileup of Card Game War that makes me automatically like DONT. START WITH THIS ONE. WATCH ANOTHER YUGIOH OR TWO FIRST AND THEN COME MELT YOUR BRAIN IN HERE. AND THATS SUCH A WEIRD DICHOTOMY TO HAVE WITH ONE YUGIOH. weird like everything else with arc-v i suppose. :,)

For all the mess and all the madness there truly is so much I love, though. I love the character dynamics, even when the show isnt doing much more with its cast--Yuya and Gong's friendship may be one of my favorite 'yutag and best friend' bonds, it's SO sweet and I'm going to be mad forever that Gong isn't more popular in western ygo fandom. I love the DUEL MONSTERS!! Performapals are SOOOO sillygoofy I have to adore them, the dimensional dragons all kick so much ass I love you Clear Wing my big legless weirdo. I love Shay's increasingly bigger Bird Guns. I LOVE FRIGHTFURS!!!! I LOVE D/D/DS!!!!! SO HAPPY TO SEE THEM ON ESPECIALLY SCREEN AFTER PLAYING THEM FOR MONTHS IN DUEL LINKS. MY FREAKY DECLAN DEMONS. I love the miscellaneous callbacks to past iconic monsters and funky weird AU retrains of the Legacu character's decks. Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend my friend Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend

I also do love that Arc-V in theory is trying very hard to be a celebration of past Yugiohs, but it's also instead being completely fucking insane with its 'tributes.' Oh you like Heartland City from Zexal? It's a carpetbombed warzone now! LIKE... HUH!!! When Lazar showed up at the end of season 2 i SCREAMED. I WANT TO KNOW THE LOGIC OF THESE CHOICES. THEY DONT MAKE ME MAD OR ANYTHING REALLY IM JUST FASCINATED BY THEM. i cant really be too angry at arc-v I'm just. transfixed. at every baffling choice it's ever made. I've really truly never seen a show that's so thoroughly felt like some kids doing a roleplay on a forum somewhere, players dropping in and out and mods not really knowing what to do with the lore anymore as things become more and more convoluted. I watch arc-v scenes and i can picture the text RP in my head, the players' forum signatures and all. It's truly some kind of feat to achieve that inherent vibe, that's for sure.

ok im running out of steam i think... what else. god. Yugioh Arc-V is just.... such a teetering Jenga tower of a show, a complete nuclear meltdown of clumsy writing and fantastic vocal performances (dub and sub) and confused handling of its own lore and occasionally some of the fucking coolest most intense expressions and gorgeous shots of any yugioh

I held out on watching it for so long cuz i just fuckin KNEW it was going to grab me by the brain and swing me into the wall and WELL!!! I WAS RIGHT!!!! SHES A MESS BUT SHES MY MESS BABEYYY!!! IS ARC-V GOOD? MAYBE NOT BUT, BROTHER, I FUCKIN LOVE WHEN YUGIOH IS BAD ❤ ive been a disciple of Bad Yugioh for 20 goddamn years and im not stopping now!!!!! I love you Pendulum summoning you insane busted ass mechanic. I love you all four completely fucked up dimensions. I love that they localized Maiami to Paradise City. I love the little nods to past yugioh things (like fusing with a motorcycle <3 Primo Moment...2!) I hate you Leo Akaba explode and die forever (though 'parent going mad trying to bring their child back' do also go me a little bananas.) I love the kickass shots of Yuya's monsters being set in the pendulum scale.I love Sora's relationship with Yuya and Zuzu. I love every fucked up crazyass expression Yuri makes. I love the sense of character design in this show. I love the Action Duel start chants. I love seeing the Synchro Math again and the Overlay Units and the deeply unsettling fusion hand gesture kids use with Polymerization. I love that third ED thats just the Lancers dicking around in different locations and having fun. I love Declan and Riley's complicated but deeply loving bond. I love when characters RIDE THEIR DUEL MONSTERS!!! AND I LOVE THAT DESPITE EVERYTHING I ALREADY WANNA SEE THESE CHARACTERS AGAIN. THEYRE MY FRIENDS!!!!! THEYRE IN MY BRAIN!!!!! MY KIDSSSSS

I KNOW NOW. WHY PEOPLE TALK ABOUT ARC-V LIKE THAT. AND IM ABOUT TO START TALKIN LIKE THAT TOO. YUGIOHHHHHH!!!!!

[deanmarywinchester]

previous years: 2022, 2021 / list of worst sf/f/horror

the bangers were BANGING this year, I kept mentally readjusting my top 5 list every time I read something good so the honorable mentions are extremely honorable this year. I hope you read anything that sounds good from this list and tell me about it!

top 5:

chain gang all stars by nana kwame adjei-brenyah: when I say that this book is like the hunger games for adults, I’m not making a glib comparison between two books about fighting to the death, I’m saying that I haven’t felt so intensely about a book since I stayed up late to tear through the hunger games and sob about it when I was thirteen. this book is satire as real and devastating as I’ve ever read, with action scenes that feel like they’re being dripped directly into my hindbrain and a unique and believable love story. put it on hold at your library literally RIGHT now.

the actual star by monica byrne: about a post-climate catastrophe utopian society built around a religion started by a teenage girl in 2012 based on mayan traditions, and also about the teenage girl, and also about the maya. this book made me crazy because the future society felt real enough to touch, with its radical openness and collectivity solving problems that exist today but causing new ones that are totally novel and meaty and interesting to dig into. read it if you’re interested in different ways of being.

the spear cuts through water by simon jiménez: really, REALLY good, fresh, original epic fantasy. jimenez picks a few perspectives to stick to but hops fluidly into bystanders’ brains to give you their perspectives, so even background characters feel fleshed-out and no one’s pain is dismissed as a side effect of heroic battles or whatever. highly recommended if you like framing narratives and stories about stories, and like epic fantasy but wish it wasn’t mostly about finding acceptable enemies to slaughter with cool swords

the dispossessed by ursula k. le guin: I love how much this book is about hope as clear-eyed commitment to the boring and difficult work of a brighter and necessary future. sometimes the work of the glorious anarcho-communist revolution is leaving your university post and romantic partner for months at a time to dig irrigation ditches so nobody starves when there’s a drought. read this book for diplomatic conniving, a clash of values between a capitalist planet and its dissident moon, and hope.

imperial radch trilogy and its spinoffs by ann leckie: what if you were built to be a weapon of the empire, a serene sentient battleship with thousands of human bodies all containing your consciousness, and you lost all bodies but one and had to figure out how to be a person, singular and alone? what if you were a 19th century british military officer and you slept for a thousand years into the decline of the empire? what if you were grown in a vat to be a facsimile of human and then told off for eating all your siblings even though eating them was SO interesting? what then. leckie’s prose is incisive and funny, her unreliable narrators are wonderful, and her stories are intimate even though the backdrops are insanely huge. 👍.

honorable mentions:

house of leaves by mark z. danielewski: guys? anyone hearda this one? anyway. Something Is Wrong With This House horror with themes of storytelling and grief. recommending that you slam this book as fast as possible like I did so you can hold all its layers in your head at once.

the lathe of heaven by ursula k le guin: i thought I didn’t like ursula k le guin, and then I read this book, went OH and immediately devoured the hainish cycle. im so sorry miss ursula. this book about a hapless pacific northwesterner whose therapist is making him dream different realities into being is so sharp and sly and funny. themes of choices, ends and means.

he who drowned the world by shelley parker-chan: I liked the prequel to this addition to the radiant emperor duology. I LOVED this book. parker-chan has invented new and exciting modes of fucked-up codependency and im obsessed. historical light-fantasy with themes of ideals vs what it takes to reach them, gender, and regret.

babel by r. f. kuang: found the didacticism of this book annoying, but i really loved the concept of this novel and the way it slowly ratchets up the stakes. this novel is for people who want to smash the fun of the magic school genre against the reality of universities’ complicity in the imperial machine.

piranesi by susannah clarke: im late to this book but it’s such a weird little gem. peaceful yet unsettling. a man takes care of an endless house with an ocean inside it until he realizes the house is stealing his memories. themes of memory and devotion.

hell follows with us by andrew joseph white: I can only read YA these days if it’s a reread or if it’s genuinely good and really really strange. this is that. weird gory fantasy about a trans teen who escapes his militarized post-apocalyptic christian cult and finds himself turning into something Different. my only gripe is that he uses 2023-perfect language to describe transness and I think he should be inventing genders weve never even thought of. such is YA.

some desperate glory by emily tesch: a rolickin’ good space opera time with terrible women <3. a thriller about how the golden child of her isolated human-supremacist space station cult deprograms and the consequences of it. this feels like a grown-up SPOP until the theoretical physics gets involved. big fan

the library of mount char by scott hawkins: this book is harrow the ninth in suburbia until it becomes a more macabre version of the absurdity of the gomens apocalypse. God raises his children, sometimes brutally, to hone their powers in a neighborhood that mysteriously keeps out outsiders. came for the dysfunctional mess of the god-children and now I can never look at a grill the same way

runners up:

bunny by mona awad: books that make you WISH you were in mona awad’s MFA program where she must have been having a terrible time. the weird one out in an MFA program accepts overtures into the unbearable rich-girls’ clique to find out what they’re Up To. themes of aimlessness and the intersection of class with the art world

camp damascus by chuck tingle: have you ever wished that you were simply too autistic to be successfully demonically brainwashed into not having gay thoughts? horror-flavored thriller that was just fun

light from uncommon stars by ryka aoki: this author put a bunch of genres in a blender and came up with something fun and surprisingly cozy. an immortal woman must sell violinists’ souls to the devil in exchange for their fame, or he’ll drag her to damnation instead. there might be aliens and coffeeshop romance involved. definitely a blender.

the fragile threads of power by v. e. schwab: if you haven’t read a darker shade of magic and you like tightly paced high fantasy and historical fantasy elements, political intrigue, and pirates, read that first. if you have, there’s more now! lila bard are you free on thursday when I am free

the library of the dead & our lady of mysterious ailments by t. l. huchu: a teenage girl provides for her family in soft-apocalypse magic edinburgh with a job carrying messages from ghosts to their living relatives. an ongoing mystery series about the intrigues she uncovers among the dead.

severance by ling ma: this books is on the list of media that is the terror to me: it's about an apocalyptic disease that makes people reenact their routines mindlessly until they collapse. intimate apocalypse novel with themes of late capitalist malaise.

ocean’s echo by everina maxwell: i didn't really like winter's orbit because i'm just not a romance guy, but this second novel stands alone and the romance is more insane and less of the entire point of the novel. (also it's between essentially Discworld's Carrot and Moist Von Lipwig, which is. really something.) in the Space Military, a buttoned-up mind controller must pretend to bend a socialite with illegal mind-reading powers to his will. what if fake relationship but the relationship they have to fake is "brain linked master/servant pair."

the murderbot diaries by martha wells: novellas about a misanthropic security android who jailbroke itself in order to watch tv. the name "murderbot" is a joke but it very much did kill people <3 themes of paranoia and outsiderhood, corporate wrongdoing, repentance, and trust

black water sister by zen cho: zen cho is good at any kind of fantasy she writes, including this, her first modern fantasy novel. a closeted lesbian has to move in with her family in malaysia after college in the US, only to discover that her dead grandmother has some unfinished business involving a local goddess and a conniving real estate developer. themes of family, gender, and place.

the way inn by will wiles: a man who’s paid to pretend he’s other people to attend conferences in their place gets trapped in an endless Marriott. has the sharp humor of a colson whitehead corporate satire until it becomes more straightforwardly horror-flavored.

[pinkytoothlesso11]

Annnd this marks the official end of Stricklake month 2024! Thanks again to @rexnanorum and @seekerofblades for helping me out with the graphics for each week, you really brought the month to life! And of course, huge thanks to everyone who participated! I'm still blown away by the amount of content, so it's likely I'll see hopefully most of you again for next year, fingers crossed!

As always please let me know of any errors to the post, and of late additions! The month may be over, but a couple days late submissions are still more than welcome!

🎉Week one🎉

Myth/Technology

15. Curse — @albentelisa

16. History Repeats Itself— Another badly timed Stricklake compilation: Downed Dragon — @toodrasticallydumb

Special mention:

17. Stricklander’s secret — @deerdrawingbook

Link to first roundup post is HERE.

🎉Week two🎉

Shipwrecked/Resort

15. Mystery of the Island — @albentelisa

16. Shipwreck/Resort — @littleladybaker

17. History Repeats Itself—Another badly timed Stricklake compilation: These Strangers like Me — @toodrasticallydumb

Link to second roundup post is HERE.

🎉Week three🎉

Sunlight/Moonlight

14. Moonlight — @littleladybaker

15. Sun/Moon — @ollie-alooffloof

Link to third roundup post is HERE.

🎉Week four🎉

Blood/Healing

13. Blood — @miniature-giant-space-degu

14. Mutual healing and martyrdom — @ollie-alooffloof

Special mention:

15. I Won't Say I'm in Love — @yavannah

16. Pie back time — @rexnanorum

Link to week four roundup post is HERE.

[lowrisemiller]

PART 1 OUT NOW ON MY PAGE

“SHE KEEPS ME UP”

hey!! joel x reader fic idea 💋

no outbreak!joel and reader meet at a Roundup bar, basically a club only for cowboys and country songs.

they make out against the wall exchange numbers and never speak again for a week.

until reader applies for a babysitting gig to help pay for college and when she knocks on her employers door it’s none other than joel miller

[notthewarriorprincess]

February making roundup

Finished the first towel! Only 3 more to go! These have been a lot of fun, but they're also really driving home how much I just still don't know about weaving. And for once, I dont think books or the internet can help me, I feel like most of my questions and worries can only be answered by learning in person. I think I'll keep a closer eye on my local guild and see if they have any beginner weaving workshops I can participate in. Sadly their monthly weavers get together happens during work hours for me. I also need to really do some work on my loom after this project, the beater isn't straight and its fairly obvious in person that I am weaving at an angle :/

I finished spinning the singles for this yarn, its a 100% undyed corriedale in brown, grey, and white.

I also finished plying it! It still needs a wash, but right now the large skein is 660yds. Ive been doing some knitting as well, but I haven't been photographing it. I finished the first side of my Festival of Stitches shawl, and started the second side.

I finished a sock tube! Well, the tube is off the needles. I still need to cut in the toes and heels, but I will do that another time. Im going to cast on another one of these, because I do love having this small, simple project in my bag all the time.

I went over to my brother's house, and picked up all of the yarn I need for my planned cast ons for the whole year out of my cedar chest he kindly lets me store there. I am planning a sweater, two shawls, a cowl, two hats, and a pair of convertible mittens.

I blocked my G Go Dynamo shawl! I then wore it all week, I absolutely love how it came out! And the cashmere fuzz (yellow) is so soft!

One of my friends very kindly ripped out the existing collar and picked up the stitches again on a sweater I finished probably 3 years ago now, so that I can re-knit it and hopefully actually start wearing it! I never liked how the collar came out, and I had so many other projects that I wanted to finish and this just kept getting pushed to the bottom of the pile because it was technically finished. My friend offered to get it back on needles for me so my brain would think of it as an actual project that needed work instead of a sometime distant future repair. And im already over halfway done with it after only about a week!

Started playing a game where I roll a die and then whatever number I roll is associated with a WIP, and I work on that WIP for a week. The second week of this landed on my sweater that I cast on 3 years ago. I ultimately made the decision to frog it, but that still clears it out of my WIP pile!

After frogging the sweater, I decided to start the next sweater instead of rolling the dice again. I cast on the Sea Glass Sweater by Wool & Pine Designs. I'm using handspun yarn that I spun in 2021, and I am in love with this sweater!

[l-e-i-k-o]

Holden Kamoins for @fizzytoo's cowfolk roundup!

young adult

he/him

bisexual

horse lover, rancher, self-assured

aspiration: championship rider

he's really just a dude who loves horses and riding them competitively and has a dream of owning his own ranch one day.

download here!

[yellowcry]

So... I've got this idea a few months ago...

What if after the argument, instead of dying, the magic turns Madrigals' gifts into curses in order to save itself...

CW: traumas, body modifications

Isabela: The plants are growing inside of her body, replacing her flesh. Causing severe bleeding. And attempts to remove plants only making it worse. She still tries tho and gets a lot of scars from removed vines. Not like it's matter, they will be replaced with plants anyway.

Dolores: The vibration from sounds starts to affect her body. It works like electricity. Quiet sounds are painful. But loud... Loud sound can cause heart failure. She just stays in her room the entire time, isolated, so she won't die.

Luisa: Her body slowly turns into a stone statue, cell by cell. Her mobility is also dissapearing since her joints being a fused pieces of stone. No need to tell that it's extremely painful. The fact that she can see how the difficulty of the simple movements grows only makes her more terrified.

Camilo: He shapeshifts uncontrollably. His curse usually combines the details from different people, making it even worse. For example, he might have Luisa's arms with Antonio's body and legs and Mirabel's head. Everything in its original size. Or somebody's leg instead of head... There's endless possibilities.

Antonio isn't affected. He's five and he only got his gift. It would be too cruel even for the curse. So he just loses his new ability, without any effect. The other Madrigals are keeping their gifts, but control over them is awful.

Alma, Mirabel, Felix and Agústin aren't cursed as well, since they didn't have gifts to begin with. But the whole situation can be viewed as the punishment for Alma.

And I'm not sure about the triplets. I think that Julieta might get back all the injuries she ever healed and Pepa's emotions being affected be the weather. But I don't want it to be too deathly (there's no point in curse if they die instantly) or predictable (that's why Dolores'/Luisa's curses aren't based on hearing/strength) And I have no idea about Bruno. You're welcome to give me ideas about their curses

[hughesybear]

allegedly, Petey’s Christmas gift for Brock is an orange Build-a-Bear with premade voice buttons from different Canucks players. this is the most important news I have ever received.

Canucks roundup December 2nd 2024 - December 18th 2024:

Tocchet on the group dynamics on the road:

“I gotta give the leadership group a lot of credit, they enjoy being together […] since I’ve been here, you look at the guys going out to dinner, I never see packs of two, I see packs of six, eight, ten. That’s a good thing when you have a lot of guys hanging together.”

The Miller family in the December issue of Vancouver Magazine:

While J.T. Miller is on the ice with his Vancouver Canucks teammates this season, there will be many nights in which his wife, Natalie Miller, principal of Natalie Miller Interiors, is putting on a show of her own: when the team is away, the players' significant others often gather to watch the games, and the Miller residence has become the go-to spot. "I host the most out of everybody," she says. "And I like this space because it's big enough to host 18 of us but it can also feel cozy."

This season is the couple’s sixth in Vancouver and both Millers feel at home in the Lower Mainland. “My parents get mad because I don’t call [Pennsylvania] home anymore. But what Natalie’s done with the house - she’s transformed it in the time we’ve been here; it really feels like home now,” says J.T. before taking a playful shot at his wife. “I think she has really great taste… but I’m not sure about trees in the house.” Natalie, posing for the camera: doesn’t miss a beat: “Smile if you still have all your teeth.” When J.T. signed his extension, Natalie donated all their old furniture to Habitat for Humanity.

Multiple Canucks players have been bringing in donations for The Shoebox Project, which helps abuse survivors in need

Demko on Sherwood:

“He’s a good dude,” said Thatcher Demko. “We love having him around. He’s a guy that has a positive attitude every day, chatting guys up in the morning — maybe you’re a little groggy in the morning before practice or whatever but he’s bringing everybody’s energy up. He was definitely really annoying to play against. It’s always nice when you meet a guy on the other side of it and you can cross him off your ‘Do Not Have Friendship With’ list.”

Teddy Blueger’s mom won $100k in the Canucks for Kids 50/50 while visiting from Latvia

Brännström and Filip Gustavsson:

Gustavsson is buddies with Erik Brannstrom, whom he robbed unbelievably in overtime. They went to dinner last night: "He wanted me to let one in and I just said, ‘No.’"

[sysig]

Double feature (Patreon)

[toomanytookas]

Pedro Pascal Fandom Bingo (+ April Reading Roundup)

@burntheedges is a genius and the creation of this bingo game is proof! I love how this has been encouraging me to reach out to people and broaden my reading, Kate. I'm posting this even though I'm late to the party because it's also helping me realise that I was actually quite active this past month even though I've been feeling down about not being as engaged! Here’s to an eventual board blackout. 🥂✨

I definitely did not plan to somehow fill so many squares without getting a bingo, it’s kinda wild. 🤷‍♀️

Spaces I’ve Marked So Far (as of 30 April)

This is just turning into my roundup of April reading because I couldn't handle leaving out any of the wonderful things I read this month!

I’ve tried to provide a super brief summary of each fic as a taster (obvs more info is provided by the author on each fic’s actual page). If you’re an author whose work is listed here and feel I’ve misrepresented your fic, let me know and I can change the little blurb/status! <3

List is alpha sorted by character then by author.

✅ Read and reblog a character that needs more love - Ben (my first!) visiting - @ladamedusoif - chaptered (ongoing) > Art history professor Lydia takes a visiting post that leads her to meet a certain lit professor, Ben Morales.

✅ Read and reblog a Dieter fic: park - burntheedges - oneshot > Reader encounters a snoozing Dieter in the park Recovery Road - @chronically-ghosted - chaptered (complete) > An epic-length tale of an ill-fated affair between actors (and their better-timed second chance at love). I'm Not in Love (If Wishes Came True) - @schnarfer - series (complete) > Dieter can’t help but sabotage his relationship with MUA reader (but first we get to enjoy the delightful, enchanting beginnings)

✅ Read and reblog an Ezra fic: be your hallowed ground - @kedsandtubesocks - oneshot (complete) > demon!Ezra lures reader off the beaten path and into a bit of delicious sin.

✅ Read and reblog a Frankie M fic: watch - @luxurychristmaspudding - series (ongoing) > Frankie and reader’s instant chemistry is brought back into play in their dynamic with Joel and Santi Be Good for Me - @pascalssbabyy - oneshot > Subby Frankie gets treated to some tasty pre-bedtime activities with reader. Up Sky, Low High - @undercoverpena - oneshot > Frankie and reader have a bit (a lot) of fun while on a helicopter ride. (Also a major shout out to Jo's Do Me Yourself. I'm an ao3 reader of Frankie & Rainy because of a weird mental hangup, so it doesn't count for bingo, but it's a story that means a lot to me!)

✅ Read & reblog a Javi P fic: Paranoid Heart - @goodwithcheese - chaptered (complete) > Two souls who are a bit too worldly wise for Laredo meet through their parents and fall for one another. 

✅ Read and reblog a Joel M fic: Maintenance Request - burntheedges - chaptered (ongoing) > Lit prof reader and [hey we know his job title now!] Joel meet as he works on facilities maintenance and landscaping around campus come morning light (safe and sound) - @janaispunk - chaptered (ongoing) > Joel & Ellie crash land at the reader’s home post Joel getting stabbed. Most Ardently (Nicest Things) - schnarfer - chaptered (ongoing) > Reader’s uncle’s neighbor, Joel, is everything her boyfriend isn’t—caring, attentive, and happy to help her read Austen while her hands are busy

✅ Read and reblog a Marcus M fic (my first!): Afterword - @secretelephanttattoo - chaptered (ongoing) > New-in-town reader makes an instant connection with local stationery shop owner Marcus

✅ Read and reblog a Marcus P fic: I'm Here - @davnittbraes - (open?) series > Reader discovers Marcus is the softdom she didn’t know she could ask for. in shades of gray and candlelight - @freelancearsonist - oneshot > Marcus meets reader at a gallery opening for a case. Raining in Baltimore - schnarfer - oneshot > Soggy Marcus angsts after a fight with reader.

✅ Read & reblog a Tim R fic: i don't wanna be me (bloody kisses) - @perotovar - series (ongoing) > Shane’s gay awakening is full of angst and a bit of getting into trouble. Good thing he has Tim Rockford to turn to as his gentle guide.

✅ Create & share a rec list: discovering lit through fic ✅ Send 3 people a fun ask: I passed this ask meme along! ✅ Send an ask to 3 people you never have before

The pie and bar charts are stowed away this month since I've got this bingo graphic instead, but for my own number-loving brain: In April, I read 320k words from 19 distinct works written by 14 authors. I made 47 comments across tumblr and ao3 (~13k words).

[galahadenough]

I may have gone a bit insane but I finished organizing my ao3 bookmarks in a spreadsheet? 🎉