#more on cynthia in the comics under the cut | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

charbon-et-feu · 6 days

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Hey, I'm Jess!

Welcome to my main blog!

I'm a hobby artist. Pokémon and Zelda are two of my favorite things, so you can expect to see a lot of fanart for those two series. I tend to obsess over one thing for a while, but I have other interests that may sneak into my art from time to time. And on rare occasions, I might even draw some original art!

This is my main blog. I reblog my art here, but I also use this blog for everything else, so you'll see my art mixed in with reblogs of cool art, references, shitposts, and anything else relevant to my interests. If you mainly want to see my art, I recommend following my art blog and turning on notifications. However, I will sometimes share WIPs and sketches here that I might not share on the art blog.

Anyone is welcome to follow, but please be aware that I sometimes share nsfw stuff. Also, I am very liberal with the block button and will not tolerate bigoted, entitled, or generally hateful behavior. I will also block anyone who spouts pro-censorship rhetoric and supports harassing creators over fiction.

Art blog: @charbon-et-eau

Other socials:

🐘Aethy (Mastodon)

🟦☁️Bluesky

I'm not currently taking commissions, but if you'd like to support me financially, feel free to donate to my Ko-fi.

I also have a Discord server for my art where I share sketches and WIPs. Sometimes I stream and chat in vc while I draw. Please DM me for an invite link if you're interested in joining the server.

More about me and my interests and some handy links under the cut.

I may add to this later, so it can be a masterpost for my favorite art and fandom thoughts. But this works for now.

Pokemon

Favorite ships

Volo/Akari Cogita/women Cynthia/Dawn Volo/Cynthia/Dawn Steven/Wallace/Brendan Cynthia/Diantha Geeta/Rika

Age headcanons for some of the ships I've drawn the most

Hoenn Boys (Steven/Wallace/Brendan)

Sexuality and top/bottom headcanons

Mer!Wallace AU

How often does Steven kiss Brendan?

Volokari (Volo/Akari)

Distortion Volo AU (aka Gira!Volo)

Reversal AU (Akari betrays Volo)

Zelda

Favorite ships

Urbosa/Zelda (BotW) Midna/Zelda (TP) Sidon/Link (BotW) Ghirahim/Link (SS) Link/Zelda (SS is my favorite version) Link/Malon (OoT) Kafei/Anju (MM)

Majora's Mask mini comics(WIPs): 1-3, 4

Fire Emblem: 3 Houses

Favorite ships

Linhardt/Lysithea Mercedes/Constance Caspar/Hilda Leonie/Marianne Balthus/Lysithea Edelgard/Lysithea F!Byleth/Edelgard Claude/Petra

Misc

I try to avoid discourse and drama, but since I like to draw characters kissing, I have unsurprisingly received asks about character ages and whether or not certain characters should be allowed to kiss, and I'm sure I'll get more. I'd prefer not to answer the same question twice so here's what I've already answered.

My response to being called a "fucking proshipping bastard"

My thoughts on people assuming the ages of anime/cartoon characters

Also, I want to make it clear that the proshipper ask is the ONLY ask of that nature that I will ever respond to on my art blog. I will most likely delete any future similar asks, but if I do decide to respond to one, I will do so by making a post on my main blog and including a screenshot of the ask. I refuse to clutter my art blog with aggressive asks from people who just want to be mad at nothing.

#pinned post #intro post #artists on tumblr #fanart #pokemon #legend of zelda #finally made a pinned post lol

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charbon-et-eau · 7 days

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Hey, I'm Jess!

Welcome to my art blog!

I use this blog mainly for sharing finished artwork, but I'll also sometimes post sketch dumps and respond to asks related to my art. I only reblog my art posts to my main blog, so if you don't want to miss anything, I recommend clicking on the "get notifications" button for this blog or following my main blog.

Anyone is welcome to follow, but please be aware that I sometimes post nsfw art (I always put it behind the filter). Also, I am very liberal with the block button and will not tolerate bigoted, entitled, or generally hateful behavior. I will also block anyone who spouts pro-censorship rhetoric and supports harassing creators over fiction.

Main blog: @charbon-et-feu

Other socials:

🐘Aethy (Mastodon)

🟦☁️Bluesky

I'm not currently taking commissions, but if you'd like to support me financially, feel free to donate to my Ko-fi.

I also have a Discord server for my art where I share sketches and WIPs. Sometimes I stream and chat in vc while I draw. Please DM me for an invite link if you're interested in joining the server.

More about me and my interests and some handy links under the cut.

I may add to this later, so it can be a masterpost for my favorite art and fandom thoughts. But this works for now.

Pokemon

Favorite ships

Volo/Akari Cogita/women Cynthia/Dawn Volo/Cynthia/Dawn Steven/Wallace/Brendan Cynthia/Diantha Geeta/Rika

Age headcanons for some of the ships I've drawn the most

Hoenn Boys (Steven/Wallace/Brendan)

Sexuality and top/bottom headcanons

Mer!Wallace AU

How often does Steven kiss Brendan?

Volokari (Volo/Akari)

Distortion Volo AU (aka Gira!Volo)

Reversal AU (Akari betrays Volo)

Zelda

Favorite ships

Urbosa/Zelda (BotW) Midna/Zelda (TP) Sidon/Link (BotW) Ghirahim/Link (SS) Link/Zelda (SS is my favorite version) Link/Malon (OoT) Kafei/Anju (MM)

Majora's Mask mini comics(WIPs): 1-3, 4

Fire Emblem: 3 Houses

Favorite ships

Linhardt/Lysithea Mercedes/Constance Caspar/Hilda Leonie/Marianne Balthus/Lysithea Edelgard/Lysithea F!Byleth/Edelgard Claude/Petra

Misc

My response to being called a "fucking proshipping bastard"

My thoughts on people assuming the ages of anime/cartoon characters

#pinned post #intro post #artists on tumblr #fanart #pokemon #legend of zelda #i've been meaning to make a pinned post for a while #so here it is #i should add that silly steven art to the end of every long post as a treat for anyone who makes it to the end lol

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screenviolense · 1 year

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underused starter call. but specifically for my least used muses who i think deserve more attention. those who specify muses or fandoms get priority. list of applicable muses under the cut

all fandomless ocs (there's too many to type here, just check the muse list.)

all animal crossing muses (fauna, isabelle, lucky, merry, skye)

aya drevis (mad father)

melody valentine (archie comics)

libby rhodes (the atlas six)

all ninth house muses (alex, dawes)

taylor gentry (behind the mask)

all halloween muses (laurie, vicky)

isobel martin (the night circus)

all the outer worlds muses (parvati, valerie)

all percy jackson muses (emmaline, jade, jessie, katie, mary lou)

dana polk (cabin in the woods)

all pokemon muses (cynthia, rosa, lucy, irida, luna, marie, melanie, monica, sonia, summer)

ginger branch (the quarry)

all stranger things muses (joyce, chrissy, rachel)

all days gone muses (sarah, rikki)

farrah (descendants)

all stardew valley muses (emily, penny, ola, violetta, shane, jodi, rosemary)

all harvest moon muses (kathy, molly, pepper, elyse)

all dragon age muses (hawke, arri, atlas, anais, millie, elian, rowena)

aahana (dnd)

all sims muses (ara, violet, kayleigh)

yor briar (spy x family)

lupe madrigal (encanto)

all star wars muses (leia, keeta)

all fallout muses (cressida, dahlia, lidia, sarah, victor)

nana (ffxiv)

all fire emblem muses (anya, celine, alcryst, ivy, kagero, orochi, hana, selkie, setsuna, robin, panne, say'ri, cherche, dorothea, byleth)

all the wolf among us muses (snow, bloody mary, nerissa)

laetitia bresson (lupin the III)

lucie tedbury (league of extraordinary women)

#please like this bc it took me so long to list everyoen

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juukeboxx · 2 years

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Mutant Mayhem Hype!

Hi everyone!

So today is a big day: The first official teaser trailer for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem was released! The trailer will be linked in case you haven’t seen it or want to watch it again. But I wanted to just share my thoughts on the trailer and share my hopes and dreams for this movie, which will all be under the cut.

Here’s the trailer:

youtube

First and foremost: I am so excited for this movie. Everyine has been waiting so long for this first teaser trailer and I'm not gonna lie, I was sort of in disbelief when it dropped. There's a lot to cover so I'm going to break it down into sections, and the last section being what my hopes are going into this movie.

The Turtles

I know that people have talked about the designs of the turtles themselves since they were leaked a while back, but I adore how these turtles look. This is something I'll mention throughout this post, but it's very clear that Seth Rogen has taken a lot of inspiration from the original 80's cartoon when designing these characters. What's nice about it is that he's given their desings their own little twist that makes them unique and fresh i.e. Mikey's braces.

I absolutely adore the voices they chose for these turtles because they are actual teenagers. Nicolas Cantu as Leo, Brady Noon as Raph, Micah Abbey as Donnie, and Shamon Brown JR as Mikey. I don't know of any instances where the turtles have been voiced by actual teenagers because as far as I'm aware they've all been voiced/played by adults. This also just feels like another breath of fresh air for the series.

What they've shown of the turtles so far seems pretty promising.

Teenagers Acting Like Teenagers

One of the first things they show in the teaser trailer is the turtles goofing off the way teenagers do, and this absolutely made my heart soar. I feel like in other versions of the turtles we always see them so caught up in conflict that we never really get to see them hang out, goof around, and get to act their age. Rise was one version that I think showed this the most so I'm really glad to see more of it in this movie.

This Movie Looks Stunning

I'm sure other people have made this comparison but this movie really does give off the same vibes as Into the Spiderverse. It wouldn't surprise me if Seth Rogen and the people who have been working on Mutant Mayhem took inspiration from that movie. The imagery in the movie is absolutely gorgeous, and I love that it has this "hand-drawn" style. Like Into the Spiderverse, I have a feeling they wanted to achieve this look as sort of a call back or an homage to how the turtles got their start: As a comic book.

I personally really like that the colors aren't super overwhelming. In some shots from the teaser trailer there are nice bright pops of color that really stand out and liven it up. I'm not an expert, but I think it's a really nice design choice.

Secondary Characters and Cast

This cast is absolutely stacked y'all. If you haven't seen it on Twitter I'll list the rest of the cast here:

Jackie Chan as Splinter

Ayo Edibiri as April O'Neil

Giancarlo Esposito as Baxter Stockman

Seth Rogen as Bebop

John Cena as Rocksteady

Maya Rudolph as Cynthia Utrom

Rose Byrne as Leatherhead

Natasia Demetriou as Wingnut

Paul Rudd as Mondo Gecko

Hannibal Buress as Genghis Frog

Post Malone as Ray Fillet

Ice Cube as Superfly

I don't think it comes as too big of a surprise that a lot of the other characters featured in this movie are going to be voiced by well known actors, but I'm honestly really pleased with this lineup. And based on this lineup I think we're going to see some really interesting takes on some of these characters like Leatherhead and Wingnut.

As a sidenote, I am so excitied to see Leatherhead in this movie. In general Leatherhead is just one of my favorite secondary characters.

The designs, like I said before, have taken a lot of inspiration from the 80's cartoon. Splinter's, what I can assume is a kimono (though I might be wrong), has the same pattern as Splinter's kimono from the 80's cartoon. April of course has her signature yellow jacket and I love that he outfit looks so casual but it's perfect for running around trying to get the best scoop. Bebop and Rocksteady's clothes are pretty much right from the 80's cartoon and I absolutely love it, and personally I think that Bebop and Rocksteady look great in this art style (honestly this applies to all of the characters).

I have a feeling, and at the same time I'm hoping, that the first official trailer or the next teaser trailer (whichever one comes first) shows off some more of these designs or even shows the designs of some of the other mutants that are going to be featured.

Hopes for Mutant Mayhem

I know that this is only the first trailer of many between now and when the movie releases, but I genuinely have high hopes for this movie. This is going to be the first TMNT movie getting a theatrical release (clairfying with theatrical because the Rise of the TMNT movie was a Netlfix original) in 7 years since Out of the Shadows released back in 2016.

Even with this trailer being just under two minutes I think that they are taking these characters in the right direction and I'm genuinely excited to see their personalities shine. When Seth Rogen posted descriptions of the turtles on his (I believe) Instagram I knew that they were going to do these characters justice.

When Mutant Mayhem is released in August and I go to the theater to see it, I wanna walk out and say “That was amazing, I want to see it again”. From the developments over the months and with the release of this official teaser trailer I hope that I can say with confidence that not only did I like it, but also that it was a Ninja Turtles movie made by Ninja Turtles fans, for Ninja Turtles fans.

#tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt mm #tmnt mutant mayhem #tmnt 2023 #mutant mayhem #tmnt leo #tmnt raph #tmnt donnie #tmnt Mikey #Youtube #press play on the jukebox

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alternatively-undesignated · 1 year

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Fave Shows Tag Game

Rules: List 5 favourite shows (in no particular order) and answer questions accordingly.

Loki

Leverage

The Flash

9-1-1

Only Murders in the Building

@johnsimms Thanking you for tagging me. Love these. Answers under the cut

1. Who is your favourite character in 2?

OT3 as a set but Parker as an individual. From her in season one to her in Redemtion the growth and to still be so mysterious makes me smile. There is also because she helped me with some of my own emotional difficualties.

2. Who is your least favourite character in 1?

oh but this is hard becuase I don't think i have a least favourite from Loki. Maybe the bearded Loki varient who I think is the Hippie one. Kinda creeps me.

3. What's your favourite episode of 4?

Chimney Begins and Oceans 9-1-1 are tided in place as my all time favourite episodes of 9-1-1. Some days one exceeds the other but most the time it's a tie. Ones all the drama the other all the comedy I love it.

4. What is your favourite season of 5?

Both have been so much fun to watch but maybe season 2 of OMITB because it wasn't so confide. Like the whole 'Oh shit here we go again' just makes me happy. They know what they're doing now and they've grown to love each other and want to help/protect each other more. And the twists and sudden 'Oh Shit' revelations. I looked forward to a new ep each week way more than I did with season 1.

5. What's your favourite relationship in 3?

Cisco and Everyone. Like he's the little black dress of the arrowverse. But particularly Cisco and Harry make me so happy and Cisco and Cynthia. Just the rough and ready to throw down with the sunshiny sparkle is a trope I love.

6. Who is your anti relationship in 2?

Eliot and Sterling. I just do not understand that. They hate each other so thats a rivalry I can get behind.

7. How long have you watched 1?

Since it aired. Well technically I waited for it to get a couple episodes in so I could have a few to watch in one go. So like from ep three upload date onwards.

8. How did you become interested in 3?

My brother bullied me into wacthing it. I get it cause I've been bullying him to watch Leverage (he hasn't yet I must bully harder). I enjoyed the comics before and seeing the characters in a different way on tv was cool. And being introduced to ones I'd not heard much before was real cool. I hate he was right about me enjoying it; it's fun and enjoyable (at that time it was) and well acted for a show off SeadoubleU.

9. Who is your favourite actor in 4?

Kenneth might be the most fun and play my favourite character but Jennifer Love Hewitt might be my favourite actor overall. FinalGirlScreamQueen alum has to take the top spot on this show.

10. Which show do you prefer 1, 2 or 5?

I've rewatched Leverage way more than the other. Yeah it is older and has more epiosodes even if you combinded the other two shows. It might be dated a bit and have some not so good peole involved you can say the same for the other shows. At the end of the day if all three them in a burning building I'd save Leverage.

11. Which show have you seen more episodes of 1 or 3?

The Flash and it's mostly because it's a full season worth of episodes and not a limited one like the others. Saying that I quit the show becuase it was getting bad and if they had made it limited it might have been better.

12. If you could be anyone from 4, who would you be?

Oh but this is hard cause like I'd want to be like Maddie or Chim or Hen or Bobby cuase they all so cool and have qualities I admire. So since I have a job a little like hers I'd say Maddie.

13. How would you kill off your favourite character in 5?

It would have to be something very dramatic and over the top for Oliver. I don't see him being a simple run of your mill death. It can't be a stage accident or something related to the theater. Something that would be more of a puzzle than we've already seen. So bludgeoned to death by his own phone so many suspects for it all to turn out to just be an accident after all.

14. Would a 3/4 crossover work?

Okay but this is hard becuase a crossover between the two would be hysterical. Team Flash and the 118 fighting crime together. Hen and Chim treating Barry but he's already healed up. Buck investigating the weirdness while Joe and Athena tell him to leave it to the professionals. Just the chaos that would be Cisco and Chim together with Hen and Caitlin rolling their eyes at their antics. Just think of the jokes that could be had. Think of them.

15. Pair two characters in 1 that would make an unlikely, but strangely okay couple.

Besides Lokius, Miss Minutes and Casey. Unlikely partners. Give them a spin off ala the office.

16. Overall, which show has the better cast, 3 or 5?

Another hard one cause I adore both sets of main (OG) casts. Like they're all so multi talented and amazing. But like I've known/watched Steve Martin Short longer and they're like a comfort pair since FotB. Their ability to make me laugh than cry and laugh-cry in OMITB is top level. But with that I do love The Flash cast and want to see where they be going next.

I'm not sure who to tag so if you see this and would like to give it a shot I tag you.

#Sorry it took so long to do this I'm still not happy with my answers lol

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wesavegotham · 2 years

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While I did say in my post about Batman vs Robin #2 that I liked the issue better than the first one because we finally saw Bruce act like he cared that Damian was possessed by something evil, I also have to agree with this reviewer:

I really liked that we finally saw Bruce care...but mostly because I felt it was something basic that already should have been in the first issue, because if Bruce isn't shown to care then the story doesn't land emotionally.

But to make this a good Bruce and Damian story you have to do more than the basics. One way Waid could have done this would have been to cut the cameos of some of the Sandman characters that didn't really seem to serve a purpose aside from Waid getting to show us that he knows these characters exist. Like, it was good to see that Bruce knows exactly what perfume Talia is using, but what was Cynthia even trying to achieve by turning into her and then trying to stab him?

Anyway, cutting these characters out could have made room for more internal monologue like we got in the first issue when Alfred showed up at Wayne Manor. I think giving us reactions to what is going on in the story this way is especially important for a character like Bruce who tries to hide his true feelings and thoughts from the outside world a lot. Reactions are important. It's what makes plot points have an emotional impact. Yes, it's sad on it's own to see a character die for example, but what really makes it feel impactful is seeing how the world around that character reacts to their death.

So instead or at least in addition to the exposition dump we got it would have been better to tell us what Bruce thinks about the things Damian went through on the island, what he feels because Damian didn't tell him about it and maybe even have him reflect on the role he played in Damian landing in this situation in the first place.

Because so far this story doesn't feel very personal. It's not really about Damian as a person or about Bruce and Damian's individual relationship.

If what we saw in the house of secrets can be believed Nezha possessed Damian purely because he is Batman's son:

Likewise Bruce wants to rescue Damian mostly because he is his son:

Now, don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with this per se. Damian is Bruce's son and that alone should be reason enough for Bruce to want to rescue him.

But it would be more impactful if it felt like there was more to it than just the basic role Damian occupies in Bruce's life. You know like love? Appreciation for the person Damian actually is without the possession? The importance he has to Bruce as a person seperate from Damian being related to him by blood?

And here is where issue #1 is ruining things again because from the choices Waid made when he wrote that first issue it's not unreasonable to assume that he works under the assumption that Bruce does not like Damian a lot as a person:

Having Bruce describe Damian that way and making a call-back to that line from Tomasi's last arc on Detective Comics sure are choices.

It doesn't help that the issues in their relationship Waid adresses are either outdated (Damian thinking he's destined to be Batman and feeling like Bruce blamed him for Alfred's death) or don't really make sense for Damian to be angry about in the first place:

Damian doesn't think much of leading a normal life and he didn't have one before he met Bruce. It's criticism often applied to Batman and the Robins, but it makes more sense when thinking about what role he played in the lives of Dick, Jason and Tim. It doesn't really work with Damian (or Stephanie) and thus doesn't feel like it says a lot about Bruce and Damian's relationship. And ignoring that a lot of the things Damian is angry about in this book were already resolved in his solo makes it feel like he's really just a plot device, pulled into this story to explain why Batman is the protagonist in this and not Superman (the one who actually put Nezha back in his jail) or one of the magic users (since it's all about the magic being screwed up and magical artifacts getting stolen)

Now, Waid does have three issues left to turn this around and try to say something interesting about Bruce and Damian's relationship. But considering that Nezha has all the Robins under his spell now and Bruce will have to fight them:

Plus Waid escalating this into a global event in issue 4, which will lead to the Lazarus Planet event (as Bruce said, this is clearly about more than Damian and him), I'm fearing that Waid might be more or less done with the focus on Bruce and Damian's relationship.

I expect the focus of the next few issues to be increasingly about Bruce's relationship with the Robins and the batfamily in general, Alfred (since Bruce is going to find out he's being controlled by Nezha sooner or later) and Nezha, the main antagonist Batman has to defeat.

#damian wayne #bruce wayne #batman vs robin

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penguinkinggames · 3 years

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Cerebos: The Crystal City Version 1.0

Cerebos: The Crystal City leaves early access today! This tabletop game of memory, attachment, and magic(?) trains was successfully crowdfunded in April of this year, and today’s update marks its full public release. If you’re into trains, deserts, magical realism, the looming spectre of mortality, and/or talking about your feelings, Cerebos may be the roleplaying game for you.

Cerebos is available via itch.io and DriveThruRPG.

Changelog under the cut:

Note: all page numbers refer to the PDF version of the game.

Core Rulebook

Added four-page introductory comic "City of Surprises" by Cynthia Yuan Cheng (pp. 2–5), plus a bonus epilogue page (p. 91)

Updated "Credits and Acknowledgements" (p. 6) to include authors of stretch goal Conductors (see below)

Added four new illustrations: "Meet the Conductors" (p. 18) and "Traffegg Jam" (p. 50) by Kaninchenbau, and "I Hate Phantom Mothman" (p. 39) and "Speeding Along Like Dynamite (pp. 58–59) by Madeleine Ember. This rounds out fulfillment of the the "Double Art" stretch goal.

Expanded preamble/genre discussion for all four existing Conductors (pp. 20–23)

Inserted hyperlinked page references for Conductor Powers that modify or replace standard Train and Stop Actions, pointing to the relevant Action's writeup (pp. 20–26)

Corrected several incomplete/improperly formatted pull quote citations (pp. 20, 26, 52, 54)

Made minor clarifications to the "Musical Journey Through Space" Conductor's Montage Power (p. 23)

Added three new Conductors: "Surreal Anime Bildungsroman" by Ashley Flanagan (p. 24), "Twisted Folk Horror" by Madeleine Ember (p. 25), and "Mythic Transgression" by Zach Welhouse (p. 26)

Restored missing page border art to the "Random Touchstones" appendix (pp. 74–83)

Events and Stops

Added printing instructions to "Events and Stops" PDF

Added "Cities of Motion" by Zach Welhouse to the Events packet.

Added "Cities of Persistence" by Zach Welhouse to the Stops packet.

Added blank and form-fillable Events/Stops table templates to download package; these resources are also available via the Penguin King Games website

Quick Reference Postcards

Reformatted print-and-play PDFs to have more printer-friendly margins

Updated page references throughout "Summary" reference card to reflect updated core rulebook pagination

Updated page reference in Waking Dream Power of "Psychogrit" conductor reference card to reflect updated core rulebook pagination

Update description of "Musical Journey Through Space" Conductor's Montage Power to reflect core rulebook changes

Added reference cards for "Surreal Anime Bildungsroman", "Twisted Folk Horror", and "Mythic Transgression" (see above)

Miscellaneous

Fixed several formatting issues with passport-style character record sheet; this resource has also been made available via the Penguin King Games website

Download package reorganised to gather all blank playsheets into a zipfile and keep the length of the file list from getting out of control

#gaming #tabletop roleplaying #tabletop rpgs #cerebos #death mention

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cartoonfangirl1218 · 4 years

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If Bombshells ever returned, maybe to explore the aftereffects of the war. Here are some superheroines and supervillainesses that could join the fight into the new era. The Cold War.

Jesse Quick; Jesse would totally join the families providing their homes to the displaced Jews of Europe while at the same time protecting her city from all sorts of crime. But her storyline might come with learning that in her need to help everyone and solving everyone's problems since she has the technology and the privlege, well... kinda appears as a white savior. At least to Lisa Snart which brings me to...

Golden Glider: Well I think we can all guess that Lisa has a Jewish-like last name and while her big bro, Captain Cold, Leonard was working with the Nazis, I am so arguing that he was just conveinately converting in order to save his skin and his sister's. Anyway with her brother in jail and Europe in shambles after the war, Lisa can travel to America with other displaced Jews. Some families were kind enough to "foster" these peoples which is where Jesse comes in. Well Lisa isn't the type to accept the "pity" and dislikes how priviliged a life, Jesse leads. Then comes a whole new yet classic Flash vs the Rogues rivalry.

Nyssa ah Gul: How can we forget another misplaced Jew. Well not Jew but Ra ah Gul's other daughter, Nyssa, whose entire adopted family died in the concentration camps while Ra was off whatevering with the Lazerus Pit. But since Ra's long gone from the picture, I suppose Nyssa will have to seek answers from Talia about why she didn't try to help her or contact her after finding out they were sisters.

Mya: Meanwhile after WWII, India is revving up for a revolution after being used and abused by the British Empire in a war they didn't even want to be in. And after being in the war, STILL treated like second class citizens. That's why Myra, prodigy of Shiva is up to lead a revolution for her people.

Gypsy: Let’s not forget about all the other groups that Nazis were prejudiced against. Cynthia Reynolds or "Gypsy" as the SS slurred against her and her Romanian family. But with Europe's landscape in disarray, Cynthia can use her earth-bending powers to help and educate people that she is more than the fortune telling, pick pocketing stereotype that the world believes.

Volcana: Now I know we didn't really get into Italy's part in WWII, but someone with volcano powers would totally be working in Italy, specifically Pompeii. The one issue is that, like in her origin story, she was working for Mussolini against her will and the Italian still wants their "super weapon" under lock and key in case of WWIII.

Thorn: Meanwhile the late 40s-early 50s is totally not a time to be woman with a mental illness. Especially when the "understanding" doctors try to lobtomize you. So Roselyn Forrest's double personality disorder is a big problem in her life. Especially since her second personality is a scythe weilding maniac and her uncle wants to put her in an institution. Added to the fact that she is still suffering under Irish discrimination. Hopefully the Batgirls can help, not only change child labor laws, but views on mental illness too. Giganta: A gorilla turned into a girl. Why shouldn't that be an experiment by the crazy Americans or Russians in a way to beat each other as the world superpower. Well technically the Russians wanted to send a gorilla into space and beat the Americans, but they thought a woman astronaut (or as they called cosmonaut) would make them look better. (All true look up Valentina , first woman in space). But besides being part of the space race, Giganta can bring spotlight to Africa where she was born, and which is being divided by the major world powers for exploitation.

Crimson Fox: Constance D' Amis, French heiress would be part of the small army of woman workers during the YALTA conferance trying to get their say into how to rebuild Europe for the benefit of all. Who knows, maybe she even talked to Selina Delgatti. Hey French heiresses and Italian heiresses must know each other. Plus she expels hormones that can make anyone under her thrall which leads me to...

Queen Bee: Another pheromone expelling woman. A villainess though. Africa wasn't the only one being exploited and colonized. The former Ottoman Empire was being exploited for its oil and Lebenon is taken over by the French (Basically ample reason for Constance to go to Lebenon and fight Queen Bee). And the former queen is certainly not above going to the Russians to fight the US/Europe to get her country back. Or just team up with Lex Luthor to take down Supergirl and get her country back. I just imagine Lex and --- to be like an evil Mr.Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet okay. All suave, witty banter. It makes sense in my head.

Catherine Colbert: A bit like Lois Lane, Catherine is an everygirl. Well if the everygirl was a daughter of an dimplomat and had her sights on making a name for herself in NASA and trying to avoid the pressures of mysgonistic men that woman aren't fit for government. Being told that she is too emotional and should stay in the kicthen, Catherine rebelled by becoming a stone faced, cutting ice queen in the diplomacy track and also a horrible cook. Artemis and Cheshire: I'm taking a bit from the YJ story in that Artemis and Cheshire are half-french, half-Vietnamese. Since their abusive father was loyal to the Nazis, he disowned them and cast off their Vietnamese mother in Japanese concentration camps. While Artemis made it to America and tried to stay on the good ol American democratic way (while fighting petty looters in the streets of Gotham as one does), Cheshire went to Vietnam where she works as an assasin, for the communists and the non-communists. It doesn't matter to her as long as she gets paid. But times are changing in Vietnam as the fights about communism between the North Vietnamese and South escalate.

Lady Blackhawk: Zinda Blake, hero of WWII and the Blackhawk brigade comes home to nothing. No money. No pension. No respect. Life as a veteran has no perks since no one has money to pay in Europe. Plus she'd still be trying to adjust to civilian life after nonstop combat and the inevitable PTSD while the Germany she loved is split into two. Hopefully Rudi and Helen will help to keep her in a safe place until she can get back on her feet. Miss Martian: While I don't know whose in Harley, Ivy and Viktoria's circus, I feel like Miss Martian would find a safe haven there. While she did not experience the WWII, she did experience a similar prejudice and genocide on Mars being a white martian so I bet she can help with reprations. Or just join Starfire on the fire squad...wait nevermind. Fire is Martian weakness. Well at least have her and Starfire being alien girlfriends exploring the strange Earth world together.

Rocket: Again, haven't had the joy of reading the final vol of Bombshells United so I don't know exactly what Bumblebee has been up to nor the racism she had probably experienced. But Raquel would be in a similar boat. An African American teen in an unjust pre-Civil Rights movement society with the added difficulties of teen mom hood. I really want some spotlight on her whether she joins the Batgirls or strike out on her own or helps Icon just like in the comics.

Mercy Graves: Alongside Lex wherever he is, I want a similar debut to what Mercy did in JL. Mercy takes over LexCorps during Luthor's absence, absolutely crushes it and makes it more of a success than Luthor ever did because she is not obsessed with the Kryptonian heroes. Maybe she even teams up with Waller? Who knows? Or even have two heads, Mercy Graves and Lena Luthor, making millions and making plans, evil or no, always ending on top.

Silver Banshee: A woman whose screams causes people to age. How they could NOT use her in a war, I do not know. But I picture Siobhan's arc going something like after her family dies in battle or something or other, she taps into her genetic banshee powers. Fueled with grief/cynicsm/vengeance she travels around the Iron Curtain, causing death since death is a mercy compared to living in destitute misery.

Plastique and Roxy Rocket: One is a Canadian explosives expert, another just really, really loves rockets. Both would be very useful on either side of the Cold War. They're traditionally illanesses so I could see them as double agents like Cheshire, working for whoever pays the most for their time.

Roulette: Roulette’s big thing is gambling on illegal cage fighting activities. Well lets up the ante by having her big gamble being stoking US/Russian tensions. After all the longer the war goes on, the more she gets paid for her information on the other side, her contacts for weapons, her spies etc. She'd be rolling in dough, and loving it even when under threat of nuclear destruction.

Fire and Ice: No idea how the heck they would fit in to a post WWII world. But let's suppose they want to escape Brazil and Antartica respectively to be able to help out in the aftermath after doing nothing during the war. Jessica Cruz and Aresia vs Star Sapphire Meanwhile with Hal Jordan out of the picture, let's have the infamous Green Lantern vs Star Sapphire rivalry again.

Lady Shiva: Street fighter, assassin, mother of the future Batwoman, Cassandra Cain. Lady Shiva must be part of the Cold War. She is bit of a anti-hero so I doubt anyone would know where her loyalties truly lie, but she'd be on the side of whoever her daughter wishes to protect.

Cassandra Cain: The new Black Bat, continue Katy Kane's work, and the Batgirl's work, and all the work that needs to be done after WWII. She's the new heroine.

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inclineto · 4 years

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Books, July - August 2020

The Lawrence Browne Affair - Cat Sebastian [interesting: I liked this a whole lot more on rereading than I did the first time]

Notes from an Apocalypse: A Personal Journey to the End of the World and Back - Mark O’Connell [much funnier than I expected a book featuring this many libertarians to be; also, god damn Ayn Rand and her community- and compassion-fearing nihilistic fanboys]

Queenie - Candice Carty-Williams

Solitaire - Kelley Eskridge * [the only surprise is that I waited until Day 111 of isolation to reread this]

In Praise of Paths: Walking Through Time and Nature - Torbjørn Ekelund, translated by Becky L. Crook *

Her Body and Other Parties - Carmen Maria Machado

Crystal Line - Anne McCaffrey

A Children’s Bible - Lydia Millet *

Daughter of Witches - Patricia C. Wrede

The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller [you know, I can understand why other people despise this take, but it worked for me]

Folly - Laurie R. King

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld - Patricia McKillip

Boyfriend Material - Alexis Hall [The novel version of spending Friday night home alone on the couch with red wine and French bread-and-butter. Highly satisfying in the moment, and ruthlessly wink-and-nod in-the-know about (a particular sort of) internet culture, in a way that means it should be read now and not later. Although it probably doesn’t really need to be over 400 pages long, I’m not sure what I’d cut, and anyway there’s PINING. (But also: I think this needs a warning for somewhat disordered eating, which is a) a minor but believable characterization detail, and b) not the point of the novel at all, but c) it nagged at me in a really unpleasant way throughout until it was acknowledged)]

An Extraordinary Union - Alyssa Cole

Spirits Abroad - Zen Cho

The Equivalents: A Story of Art, Female Friendship, and Liberation in the 1960s - Maggie Doherty

The Ten Thousand Doors of January - Alix E. Harrow

Something to Talk About - Meryl Wilsner

The Terracotta Bride - Zen Cho

Under Another Sky: Journeys in Roman Britain - Charlotte Higgins

Stormsong - C. L. Polk

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong

The Only Gold - Tamara Allen [new favorite terrible penis euphemism: “the instrument of contention”]

The Dispossessed - Ursula K. Le Guin

The Snow Queen - Eileen Kernaghan

Wives and Daughters - Elizabeth Gaskell [her character sketches, my god: ”Let Cynthia be ever so proud, ever so glad, or so grateful, or even indignant, remorseful, grieved or sorry, the very fact that she was expected by another to entertain any of these emotions, would have been enough to prevent her expressing them.”]

Fallen into the Pit - Ellis Peters

These Old Shades - Georgette Heyer *

The Genius of Birds - Jennifer Ackerman

Two Rogues Make a Right - Cat Sebastian [conclusion: the Sedgwicks are simply too wholesome for my taste, but I’m probably going to end up rereading the one with the vicar and the ducks anyway]

The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire - William Dalrymple [dnf]

The Doctor’s Discretion - EE Ottoman

The Bishop’s Heir - Katherine Kurtz

The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly - Jamie Pacton

This Other London: Adventures in the Overlooked City - John Rogers [dnf]

Death and the Joyful Woman - Ellis Peters

The Glass Hotel - Emily St. John Mandel

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water - Zen Cho

The King’s Justice - Katherine Kurtz

Catherine House - Elisabeth Thomas

Flight of a Witch - Ellis Peters

Blackfish City - Sam J. Miller [dnf]

Crooked Hallelujah - Kelli Jo Ford

Devil’s Cub - Georgette Heyer * [on the one hand, it’s appalling that we’re meant to cheer for Dominic; on the other, chapter 18 is a comic masterpiece]

A Duke by Default - Alyssa Cole

The Night Watch - Sarah Waters

It Takes Two to Tumble - Cat Sebastian [just as I predicted! and I remain unconvinced by these ducks; after all, I have met a duck]

Hild - Nicola Griffith

Water, Ice & Stone: Science and Memory on the Antarctic Lakes - Bill Green [dnf]

Have His Carcase - Dorothy L. Sayers [I do appreciate how Sayers juggles tonal registers, in order to break up the novel’s prevailing humor - ”A solitary rock is always attractive. All right-minded people feel an overwhelming desire to scale and sit upon it.” - with those raging gratitude-and-obligation scenes and the occasional peek at decisions mercenary and necessary.

A Study in Honor - Claire O’Dell [there’s something interesting here about the world-building dangers of using the present to establish the near future with too much specificity - I know most the books Watson is reading; I like many of them; I realize they’re name-dropped in part as thanks and homage; and I still found myself thinking, “has no one written anything since 2015?”]

The Sugared Game - KJ Charles [no surprise, Maisie and Phoebe are my favorites...now kiss]

Sorcery and Cecilia, or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot: being the correspondence of two Young Ladies of Quality regarding Various Scandals in London and the Country - Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer * [yay!]

#books 2020 #books practical and pleasurable #featuring the week in early july when everything was pleasing to me and the stretch of mid august when nothing satisfied

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doomrichards · 2 months

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Joseph Culp as Dr. Doom in The Fantastic Four

I've been seeing mentions of Doom getting white-washed for the fourth time: Fantastic Four (1994) - Joseph Culp, Fantastic Four (2005-2007) - Julian McMahon, Fantastic Four (2015) - Toby Kebbell, and the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday (2026), Avengers: Secret Wars (2027) - Robert Downey Jr. I wanted to share Mr. Culp's interview on his performance Dr. Doom in the Fantastic Four movie, whose budget was 2 million dollars. He realized the responsibility he had as the first time any actor was going to play Dr. Doom on screen, and gave the comic books their due, investing in Victor's backstory not mentioned in the script, including his Romani background and the loss of his mother, Cynthia von Doom. That background ties directly into the persecution which Victor and his family faced in his country driving his need for power and control and to fulfill his destiny as ruler. It makes him DR. DOOM. Three decades later and the Marvel Cinematic Universe with its 80 million dollar salary to a stunt casting that white-washes and subsumes Dr. Doom's character with Iron Man's actor and its associations is an insult. Joseph Culp put an operatic, Shakespearean take on Doctor Doom and carried him with the gravitas due, as well as knowing how important his relationship to Reed Richards is--that of a wounded lover.

Source: josephculp.com

Transcript under cut.

INTERVIEW WITH JOSEPH CULP FOR FANSITE VICTORVONDOOM.COM by Joshua Hicks (2008) First off your performance as both Victor and Doctor Doom felt very genuine. What type of preparation did you do for the film? After I was cast in the role, I started by going back through all the issues of Doom in the comic books and I realized just how important a task this was. This would be the first time any actor was going to play Dr. Doom on screen, so I got more excited and also realized what a responsibility I had to try to do something that would honor the glory and grandeur of the character. There were limitations of time and budget, and so much came down to what I could do without special effects. . I definitely wanted to capture his classical style, the villainous "panache", in his voice and physicality, but I also wanted to know what kind of inner life drove him. Doom is right up there with some of the classic archetypal villains who are filled with contradictions: The gifts of genius, the lust for control and power, but the desire to be loved. I invested a lot in Victor's backstory, even if it wasn't mentioned in the script. The loss of his g---- mother, the desire to contact her through mystic arts, the need to fulfill a destiny as the rightful ruler of his country. I wanted to show in the beginning scenes with Reed, that he had a softer side and even valued the friendship, which later his madness transformed to bitterness and feelings of betrayal. Not all these ideas are supported by the comic, but I felt they would give a fuller human picture. I wanted to try to bring out some of his pain and suffering even as he pursued power and the destruction of others. I also saw a wicked sense of humor in the comics, (as is befitting a tortured genius!), so I wanted to give him moments to tease, be sarcastic and enjoy his power, reveling in some moments of explosive mad laughter. But if you listen, the laughter is also full of rage and sorrow as well. In preparation, I remember spending some time in a ski-mask to see what feelings would emerge from living in a "mask" and armor. The sense of affliction, imprisonment, of not being truly seen, and also permission and power. Lots of improvisation, physical and vocal exercises and finding my own personal link to the extreme qualities of this character.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ DOOMSAYER Magazine Article

Actor Joseph Culp puts a Shakespearean twist on the FF's arch nemesis, Doctor Doom. [Picture of Doom taking off the mask to reveal dark curls and a handsome face with a small scar by Jack Kirby]

This never-before-published drawing of Doctor Doom reveals that the vain villain wore a mask to hide just one tiny scar. Doom was for me an operatic dip into my own latent sadomasochistic tendencies," says the intense actor. And Joseph Culp means it. When pressed to talk a little about his personal life, he refers to himself as one of Doom's "impersonators." Culp, who grew up in California, had starring roles in Dream Lover and Monte Hellman's Iguana. However, his role of Doctor Doom is one that he takes very seriously. "As a kid, the FF was probably the only comic I really cared about." In this journalist's opinion, genre actors are not as appreciated as dramatic actors. In science fiction, fantasy and horror, the actors are expected to bring believability to unbelievable characters and impossible situations. There was no doubt in Culp's mind that he was up to the task. "I have some Shakespearean training. Doom is a very operatic character, a glorious tyrant king. This was a very challenging role because I was incarcerated in an iron suit most of the time, which was very grueling, frustrating and maddening." Does Culp have any interesting body scars himself? "I got a scar on the crook of my left leg from wearing the suit. It dug into me suppose my motivation could have been brought on by actual pain during the performance." Doctor Doom has never been unmasked in the comics. However, Jack Kirby's interpretation of the face behind the iron mask is that Victor Von Doom hides only one tiny facial scar because he is so vain. Culp offers his own insight. "Doom is a narcissist to the extreme. I believe he is completely scarred and mutilated. Being such a brilliant scientist, he could certainly reconstruct his face. But he chose to keep his scars as a living testament to his vengeance on the world and, specifically, Reed Richards.

"With Doom you really can't go too far. He's a raging ego and a wounded lover."' -Joseph Culp, the actor playing Doctor Doom [Picture of Victor von Doom during college in the Fantastic Four (1994) movie] Above: Joseph Culp plays Victor, Reed Richards's college buddy who falls victim to a terrible accident. Right: Culp as the operatic Doom. "Reed stands for everything Doom wishes he could have acceptance from the world, good looks, a sexy girlfriend. He's very envious of Reed and felt betrayed when their experiment went awry. He always wanted to be Reed's best friend, and when everything went wrong and he nearly died in the experiment, Reed went on to collect all the laurels that he might have had. So there's a lot of jealousy involved in his relationship. I think that deep down he actually loves Reed Richards. The person you love the most is the one you hate the most. Doom's inner sorrow and frustration-a kind of unbridled psychotic rage-propels him to do the things he does." Culp ends our conversation with a very serious diatribe on the depths of the demented Doctor. "Remember that Doom is all that we wish to be and all that we cannot face. From the depths of our fear he is the towering Freudian id. With Doom you really can't go too far. He's a raging ego and a wounded lover."

#doomreed #reed richards #victor von doom #joseph culp #doctor doom #marvel comics #fantastic four #mcu #marvel cinematic universe #continuing my job of making this stuff be accessible #doctor doom is not a vehicle for the mcu to pull a stunt casting soulless attempt at a cash grab.. frustrating #culp is a comic reader.. i do wonder if he's read infamous iron man of which doom as roma and cynthia features so heavily

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richincolor · 4 years

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Last week someone asked if I knew of any good lists of memoirs and coming-of-age novels. We do have a list of memoirs, but that was created four years ago and several more have been published since then that we’d recommend. I couldn’t recall or find a list like she was describing for coming-of-age books either, so the librarian in me felt the need to make one. Here’s an updated collection of memoirs along with a few coming-of-age novels. If you know of others written by BIPOC authors that you would recommend, please share the titles.

Memoirs

All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto by George M. Johnson Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Byr)

In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys.

Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well as a reassuring testimony for young queer men of color, All Boys Aren’t Blue covers topics such as gender identity, toxic masculinity, brotherhood, family, structural marginalization, consent, and Black joy. Johnson’s emotionally frank style of writing will appeal directly to young adults.

Almost American Girl: An Illustrated Memoir by Robin Ha Balzer & Bray/Harperteen

For as long as she can remember, it’s been Robin and her mom against the world. Growing up as the only child of a single mother in Seoul, Korea, wasn’t always easy, but it has bonded them fiercely together.

So when a vacation to visit friends in Huntsville, Alabama, unexpectedly becomes a permanent relocation–following her mother’s announcement that she’s getting married–Robin is devastated.

Overnight, her life changes. She is dropped into a new school where she doesn’t understand the language and struggles to keep up. She is completely cut off from her friends in Seoul and has no access to her beloved comics. At home, she doesn’t fit in with her new stepfamily, and worst of all, she is furious with the one person she is closest to–her mother.

Then one day Robin’s mother enrolls her in a local comic drawing class, which opens the window to a future Robin could never have imagined.

Banned Book Club by Kim Hyun Sook, Ryan Estrada, Hyung-Ju Ko (Illustrator) Iron Circus Comics [Crystal’s Review] [Q&A with Authors – in a Comic]

When Kim Hyun Sook started college in 1983 she was ready for her world to open up. After acing her exams and sort-of convincing her traditional mother that it was a good idea for a woman to go to college, she looked forward to soaking up the ideas of Western Literature far from the drudgery she was promised at her family’s restaurant. But literature class would prove to be just the start of a massive turning point, still focused on reading but with life-or-death stakes she never could have imagined.

This was during South Korea’s Fifth Republic, a military regime that entrenched its power through censorship, torture, and the murder of protestors. In this charged political climate, with Molotov cocktails flying and fellow students disappearing for hours and returning with bruises, Hyun Sook sought refuge in the comfort of books. When the handsome young editor of the school newspaper invited her to his reading group, she expected to pop into the cafeteria to talk about Moby Dick, Hamlet, and The Scarlet Letter. Instead she found herself hiding in a basement as the youngest member of an underground banned book club. And as Hyun Sook soon discovered, in a totalitarian regime, the delights of discovering great works of illicit literature are quickly overshadowed by fear and violence as the walls close in.

It’s Trevor Noah: Born a Crime Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah Delacorte Press

Trevor Noah, the funny guy who hosts The Daily Show on Comedy Central, shares his remarkable story of growing up in South Africa with a black South African mother and a white European father at a time when it was against the law for a mixed-race child to exist. But he did exist–and from the beginning, the often-misbehaved Trevor used his keen smarts and humor to navigate a harsh life under a racist government. This fascinating memoir blends drama, comedy, and tragedy to depict the day-to-day trials that turned a boy into a young man. In a country where racism barred blacks from social, educational, and economic opportunity, Trevor surmounted staggering obstacles and created a promising future for himself, thanks to his mom’s unwavering love and indomitable will.

Infinite Hope: A Black Artist’s Journey from WWII to Peace by Ashley Bryan Atheneum Books

In May of 1942, at the age of eighteen, Ashley Bryan was drafted to fight in World War II. For the next three years, he would face the horrors of war as a black soldier in a segregated army.

He endured the terrible lies white officers told about the black soldiers to isolate them from anyone who showed kindness–including each other. He received worse treatment than even Nazi POWs. He was assigned the grimmest, most horrific tasks, like burying fallen soldiers…but was told to remove the black soldiers first because the media didn’t want them in their newsreels. And he waited and wanted so desperately to go home, watching every white soldier get safe passage back to the United States before black soldiers were even a thought.

For the next forty years, Ashley would keep his time in the war a secret. But now, he tells his story. The story of the kind people who supported him. The story of the bright moments that guided him through the dark. And the story of his passion for art that would save him time and time again.

Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir by Nikki Grimes Wordsong

In her own voice, acclaimed author and poet Nikki Grimes explores the truth of a harrowing childhood in a compelling and moving memoir in verse. Growing up with a mother suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and a mostly absent father, Nikki Grimes found herself terrorized by babysitters, shunted from foster family to foster family, and preyed upon by those she trusted. At the age of six, she poured her pain onto a piece of paper late one night – and discovered the magic and impact of writing. For many years, Nikki’s notebooks were her most enduing companions. In this accessible and inspiring memoir that will resonate with young readers and adults alike, Nikki shows how the power of those words helped her conquer the hazards – ordinary and extraordinary – of her life.

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, Harmony Becker (Illustrator)Top Shelf Productions

They Called Us Enemy is Takei’s firsthand account of those years behind barbed wire, the joys and terrors of growing up under legalized racism, his mother’s hard choices, his father’s faith in democracy, and the way those experiences planted the seeds for his astonishing future. What does it mean to be American? Who gets to decide? When the world is against you, what can one person do? To answer these questions, George Takei joins co-writers Justin Eisinger & Steven Scott and artist Harmony Becker for the journey of a lifetime.

Coming-of-Age

Clap When You Land by Ellizabeth Acevedo Quill Tree Books [Crystal’s Review]

Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people…

In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal’s office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash.

Separated by distance–and Papi’s secrets–the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered.

And then, when it seems like they’ve lost everything of their father, they learn of each other.

Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram Penguin Books [Interview with Adib Khorram]

Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He’s a Fractional Persian–half, his mom’s side–and his first-ever trip to Iran is about to change his life.

Darius has never really fit in at home, and he’s sure things are going to be the same in Iran. His clinical depression doesn’t exactly help matters, and trying to explain his medication to his grandparents only makes things harder. Then Darius meets Sohrab, the boy next door, and everything changes. Soon, they’re spending their days together, playing soccer, eating faludeh, and talking for hours on a secret rooftop overlooking the city’s skyline. Sohrab calls him Darioush–the original Persian version of his name–and Darius has never felt more like himself than he does now that he’s Darioush to Sohrab.

Forward Me Back to You by Mitali Perkins Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Byr)

Katina King is the reigning teen jujitsu champion of Northern California, but she’s having trouble fighting off the secrets in her past.

Robin Thornton was adopted from an orphanage in India and is reluctant to take on his future. If he can’t find his roots, how can he possibly plan ahead?

Robin and Kat meet in the most unlikely of places–a summer service trip to Kolkata to work with survivors of human trafficking. As bonds build between the travelmates, Robin and Kat discover that justice and healing are tangled, like the pain of their pasts and the hope for their futures. You can’t rewind life; sometimes you just have to push play.

In turns heart wrenching, beautiful, and buoyant, Mitali Perkins’s Forward Me Back to You focuses its lens on the ripple effects of violence–across borders and generations–and how small acts of heroism can break the cycle.

Hearts Unbroken by Cynthia Leitich Smith Candlewick Press

When Louise Wolfe’s first real boyfriend mocks and disrespects Native people in front of her, she breaks things off and dumps him over e-mail. It’s her senior year, anyway, and she’d rather spend her time with her family and friends and working on the school newspaper. The editors pair her up with Joey Kairouz, the ambitious new photojournalist, and in no time the paper’s staff find themselves with a major story to cover: the school musical director’s inclusive approach to casting The Wizard of Oz has been provoking backlash in their mostly white, middle-class Kansas town. From the newly formed Parents Against Revisionist Theater to anonymous threats, long-held prejudices are being laid bare and hostilities are spreading against teachers, parents, and students — especially the cast members at the center of the controversy, including Lou’s little brother, who’s playing the Tin Man. As tensions mount at school, so does a romance between Lou and Joey — but as she’s learned, “dating while Native” can be difficult. In trying to protect her own heart, will Lou break Joey’s?

Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen Harperteen [Jessica’s Review]

And just like that, Ever Wong’s summer takes an unexpected turn. Gone is Chien Tan, the strict educational program in Taiwan that Ever was expecting. In its place, she finds Loveboat: a summer-long free-for-all where hookups abound, adults turn a blind eye, snake-blood sake flows abundantly, and the nightlife runs nonstop.

But not every student is quite what they seem:

Ever is working toward becoming a doctor but nurses a secret passion for dance.

Rick Woo is the Yale-bound child prodigy bane of Ever’s existence whose perfection hides a secret.

Boy-crazy, fashion-obsessed Sophie Ha turns out to have more to her than meets the eye.

And under sexy Xavier Yeh’s shell is buried a shameful truth he’ll never admit.

When these students’ lives collide, it’s guaranteed to be a summer Ever will never forget.

Parachutes by Kelly Yang Katherine Tegen Books

They’re called parachutes: teenagers dropped off to live in private homes and study in the United States while their wealthy parents remain in Asia. Claire Wang never thought she’d be one of them, until her parents pluck her from her privileged life in Shanghai and enroll her at a high school in California.

Suddenly she finds herself living in a stranger’s house, with no one to tell her what to do for the first time in her life. She soon embraces her newfound freedom, especially when the hottest and most eligible parachute, Jay, asks her out.

Dani De La Cruz, Claire’s new host sister, couldn’t be less thrilled that her mom rented out a room to Claire. An academic and debate team star, Dani is determined to earn her way into Yale, even if it means competing with privileged kids who are buying their way to the top. But Dani’s game plan veers unexpectedly off course when her debate coach starts working with her privately.

As they steer their own distinct paths, Dani and Claire keep crashing into one another, setting a course that will change their lives forever.

Yes No Maybe So by Aisha Saeed & Becky Albertalli Balzer & Bray/Harperteen [Group Discussion]

YES

Jamie Goldberg is cool with volunteering for his local state senate candidate–as long as he’s behind the scenes. When it comes to speaking to strangers (or, let’s face it, speaking at all to almost anyone) Jamie’s a choke artist. There’s no way he’d ever knock on doors to ask people for their votes…until he meets Maya.

Maya Rehman’s having the worst Ramadan ever. Her best friend is too busy to hang out, her summer trip is canceled, and now her parents are separating. Why her mother thinks the solution to her problems is political canvassing–with some awkward dude she hardly knows–is beyond her.

MAYBE SO

Going door to door isn’t exactly glamorous, but maybe it’s not the worst thing in the world. After all, the polls are getting closer–and so are Maya and Jamie. Mastering local activism is one thing. Navigating the cross-cultural crush of the century is another thing entirely.

#memoir #Coming of age #YALit

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pricechecktranslations · 5 years

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TTDS: The Three Daughters of Sir Torture; Chapter 3

Torture Tower Doesn’t Sleep: The Three Daughters of Sir Torture infomine under the cut

Character Info:

Beritoodo (Beritoad): Not actually a god, of course--just a wraith. Has been alive for a very, very long time. He has alchemy powers (which allows him to, for example, make gold). He is also clairvoyant, able to see everything that’s going on in Torcia Tower.

Joshua Haabaato (Joshua Herbert): A member of the lower house of parliament, and a commoner. Was very young when Hank died, so probably in mid-twenties. Used to admire Hank as a hero, and was a big fan of the works based on him (such as the book series featuring Lancelord Hark, and the stage play). Kind of heartless (doesn’t care that Raymond might have died at one point).

Rakku (Rack): Unlike her sisters, she can’t just summon a torture device at will (having to stash them around the third floor to get at physically). Though she’s still fearsome in combat.

Reimondo Atouddo (Raymond Atwood): Is able to use real magic due to being part wraith, himself (it doesn’t say that outright but pretty sure that’s the case). He secretly is a wraith hunter (of a sort). He can use lightning and alchemy magic, the same as Beritoad. He can also run really fast.

Vivian (Vivian): A Crossrosier “sorceress”. Rude, arrogant, and impatient. Think of Elluka, except a complete bitch (to Raymond, mostly), and also not actually a sorceress at all. She looks young and pretty (though wears a lot of makeup), but is actually a considerable age.

Setting Info:

Kurosuroojia (Crossrosier): An organization of sorcerers (really, they’re magicians, and it’s all just sleight of hand). The king and parliament doesn’t think highly of them (hence why they weren’t consulted on resolving the issue with Torcia Tower). According to Raymond, it’s more like a malicious religious group—they insist they’re legit sorcerers, but it’s just parlor tricks. The “wraiths” they’ve fought are really just deformed animals and the like (rumored to have been made by Crossrosier as well). They’re very careful at their charade. Only the upper brass know it’s a sham—lower level members like Vivian have been brainwashed into thinking they have magic.

Plot Summary:

Scene 1

Gibbet goes to see Beritoad about her dream.

The narration gives some exposition on him. Beritoad is not a god (he knows gods don’t exist), but he knows from experience that divine figures are in a unique position to manipulate people with, and so he pretends to be a god now (and has done so in his past) for better control over his pawns. There were times when his name was known among humankind as the personification of “evil”. Doesn’t care much about that, etc.

Anyway, he’s not sure how to council Gibbet on her dream. He doesn’t want to lose a pawn. The fact that she’s having these dreams is because she’s not “perfect” (I’m not sure what it means by this). And him being stuck here as a toad in this tower is because the one (male) before her wasn’t “perfect” either (or maybe not that they aren’t perfect, but that something about them isn’t perfect?).

It’s a little vague—I’m not quite sure I understand exactly what he’s reflecting on but I suspect it’s merely foreshadowing. Point is, he’s absolutely manipulating the girls to his own benefit (especially as he’s kind of powerless right now). He feeds Gibbet some BS about it being a side effect of her powers of induction (like, she’s even captured the consciousness of her victims or whatever, like that dream somehow came from Cynthia’s memories since they started after they first met).

Yeah, the girls are definitely not just implements of torture who spontaneously woke up in the tower one day, Beritoad is definitely lying about that (that’s my own opinion—Gibbet is conflicted but she doesn’t have any grounds to say he’s wrong).

Beritoad gives her some money to go out to town with (the only money they have is what he gives them). Before she leaves though, he realizes there are 3 intruders in the tower. Gibbet doesn’t recall having invited anyone of their description, and he sends her to go catch them (and torture them to ask how they knew about the tower later). As she’s already left he realizes that one of them looks like (someone, it doesn’t say who), and he freaks out, calling for Gibbet to wait, but she’s already left the room.

Scene 2

From the perspective of the intruders—it’s Joshua, Vivian, and Raymond (who is there as their servant, hired three days ago). It’s dark, so Raymond lights up a lamp for them to see by. Vivian consults a crystal ball for the three girls’ location, saying that there’s one on each floor above them (2nd, 3rd, and 4th).

Vivian has Joshua stand behind her (which leads to a funny exchange where Raymond waits for her to go, before she points out he’s the one with the lamp and kicks him in irritation). It’s revealed they’re working secretly, without the king’s or House of Lords’ (the word used is the word for a section of British Parliament) knowledge.

They have a simplistic map of Torcia Tower for navigation. While walking, they discuss what’s happening, talking about how Hank was actually a fiend who sold his soul to a wraith (common knowledge in Crossrosier), torturing people as sacrifices. Apparently if word of what was going on here (with the three girls) got out, the king’s political power would take a hit.

Joshua is at the tower not for money, but political power. He wants to resolve the issue with the tower in order to leverage more favor with the king. He has to make sure it isn’t known that Crossrosier is involved, though. Vivian agreed to secretly help him in exchange for getting the Pot of Basuzu.

They talk a little about how they would fair against a wraith (Vivian is confident she’d win but not that the others would come out unscathed), which panics Joshua a little. She gives him a magic square (a piece of cloth with a bunch of strange writing on it) to protect himself with, by spreading it on the floor and standing inside it when the time comes (wraiths can’t cross it). She gives nothing to Raymond, but as he gets distraught eventually she takes pity on him and gives/throws a cross at him to hold on to.

They continue on up the stars.

Scene 3

Gibbet is waiting for them. Joshua gets on his square immediately. Vivian reveals she knows who she is due to the information known to agents of Crossrosier. They exchange very brief banter before light spirals out from Vivian’s crystal ball (and some comic relief with Raymond wondering why a lamp was necessary then). Vivian claims it’s the flames of purgatory that will turn her, a wraith, to ash (the crystal ball is the result of Crossrosier’s alchemical skills), and the light grows stronger.

Joshua, standing on his square, is convinced Vivian will win. She unleashes the flash, and there’s a loud noise. When he looks up, he realizes that the noise was not the flash, but an iron maiden that fell on Vivian and killed her. The last thing he sees is the spikes of the iron maiden.

Scene 4

Gibbet is about to unload on Maiden for killing their targets, but Rack explains they were given special orders to do so by Beritoad, as one of the intruders is dangerous. Gibbet looks back to Vivian and kicks the crystal ball, shattering it.

They discuss amongst themselves how odd it is that Crossrosier is a sham organization, but Vivian believed in her own talents. Raymond chimes in, explaining his knowledge on the subject (this takes up most of the page), as well as the fact that humans can’t use real magic. Anytime someone has, it’s just a trick. The girls stare at him in utter disbelief, not having realized that he was still alive.

They argue over who was supposed to kill him for a moment before Gibbet makes a Gossiper’s Violin float into the air (a violin-shaped device with three holes in a line, two of them for hands and the one at the end for the neck. Also as a note, while it might not need saying—the torture devices the girls use each correspond to their assigned role. Gibbet’s are for capture and imprisonment, Rack’s are for causing suffering, and Maiden’s are for killing).

The girls fail to realize that he is different from the foes they’ve faced thus far (and not just some easily distracted idiot). He dodges and then zaps the violin, where it falls to the ground, charred.

He then discards the cross that Vivian gave him, saying it just gets in the way. Then he pulls out a black silk hat and a knife. He talks like he’s doing a magic show, putting the ordinary knife in the silk hat, flipping it around, and then pulling out an Estoc in its place (so, the irony here being Vivian has magic tricks which look like real magic, and Raymond has real magic that looks like magic tricks). Rack responds like a typical child audience member to his performance.

He introduces himself properly—he is a clown by day, and a wraith hunter by night. They do battle, Raymond targeting Gibbet first as she needs to summon a new torture device and is largely helpless without one (Rack using whips and Maiden using iron maidens). Rack manages to deflect his strike with her whip, though.

They fight some more, Raymond against Rack now (Rack having fun at first), and it becomes clear he knows of them already. He dodges her attacks—she’s frustrated, but has to stick with the whip because she’d need to go back to the third floor to switch for a different device. Raymond starts backing her into the corner, and that’s when Maiden jumps in.

As Raymond is dodging the iron maidens, Gibbet catches his foot with a bear trap. As they press in on him, he realizes that he can’t beat all three of them at once, and decides that it’s a good time to split (having learned the layout of the tower and confirmed their powers for himself). He flashes lightning at them, and while they’re distracted someone blows a hole in the wall and he jumps out, saying next time he’ll come to kill Beritoad.

After a bit of puzzling on where Raymond got his info and what he is, Gibbet declares that they’ll have to report on what happened to Beritoad.

Scene 5

Raymond makes a hasty escape, thinking to himself this wouldn’t have gone so well during the day (it’s a full moon out, which I expect has something to do with it). He sees two people as he slows down, thanking one of them (it’s Lloyd in a wooden mask) for blowing the hole in the wall (with the dynamite the miner gave him).

They ask about Vivian and Joshua—Raymond didn’t bother to save them because they were both bad people. Lloyd briefly chides him on this before admitting he’s not really in a position to judge. They ask the third party (I think Benji, because he’s got glasses on) if he has the “item” they needed, and he says he found it, yes.

The sun is coming up, and they both decide to return again in a week.

Beritoad thinks on what he saw of the fight with Raymond, that he hadn’t expected the child (Raymond) to still be alive (hinting at their connection to each other), and curses Romarius for hiding him from him.

#()torture tower doesn't sleep #the plot thickens #i should probably see about buying the next one soon i seem to be reading this awfully fast

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tessatechaitea · 5 years

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Teen Titans Spotlight #13: Cyborg

What are the two faces of evil? Cyborg's two halves? The two different houses Cyborg is climbing into at the same time? The gun and not the gun? The two cats in the painting? Probably Two-face?

Oh! I just understood this! I figured the chrome was Cyborg's face and the green was Two-Face's face. I thought maybe the pink was the other half of Two-Face's face but I couldn't figure out the other one until I finally started discussing black super heroes! I blame the lighting in my office and/or the colorist because the Victor "face" just seemed gold to me.

Two-Face sees Cyborg on television recognizes himself on a completely superficial level. But the superficiality is the point! He sees that Cyborg is accepted as a hero while he's seen as a monster. Maybe if Harvey Dent had become half sleek and shiny instead of half gross and disgusting, people would have accepted him and he could have gone on being a district attorney. But then it's also not the point because Two-Face understands that the people see Cyborg's deeds before they see his deformities (I probably would never refer to Cyborg's robotic parts as deformities but when you see some nice alliteration flashing its genitals in your face, you just got to put that shit in your mouth and go with it). And that's sort of the problem. Two-Face saw himself as a monster and thus began acting like one. Cyborg may think of himself as a monster from time to time but he doesn't let it stop him from making the world a better place. Harvey just uses his deformity as an excuse to not give a fuck anymore.

"We need an ad that declares 'Little kids who build our models fuck!"

I know I've suggested a ton of ways I'd use a time machine if I had access to one but I think I just came up with the thing I'd do first. I'd go back in time and tell the MPC model car company to get a different advertiser because I think their current one is a total pedo. Victor goes on a date with some woman named Cynthia Adams. I'd probably remember who she was if I didn't constantly fall asleep reading Cyborg comic books. I'm fairly certain I've used that line before but it's also possible I've just dreamed it every time I've fallen asleep reading a Cyborg comic. After the date, Victor doesn't score but mostly because Cynthia was being modest and chaste and instead of saying, "Show me that cyber-weenie, you sexy hunk of metal!", she just lets him go while secretly hoping he comes back to ravish her.

If she wasn't so thirsty, she never would have buzzed Two-Face right up!

Two-Face kidnaps Cynthia and uses the threat of her death to make Cyborg do what Harvey wants. Two-Face is all, "They'll see! There's no difference between us! None at all! Except maybe the kidnapping. And the obsessive coin flipping. And all the crimes. The only people hate me is because I'm not hot! But I'm a nice guy to! They'll see! They'll all see!" Cyborg's first task is to sneak into a woman's room and get his next task on a note under her alarm clock. But when the alarm goes off and she catches him, she calls him a monster! After escaping, Victor Stone doesn't think, "Fucking Two-Face. He made me scare the shit out of that woman by breaking into her house and startling her awake! Of course she was scared and called me a monster! Fuck, at least she didn't call me the n-word!" Instead, Victor thinks, "My name is Victor Stone. I am not a monster." Damn. Two-Face's plan is really going to work, isn't it?!

I'm perplexed as to why Cyborg begins jerking off in this panel.

While arguing with himself, Harvey admits that they first began calling themselves a monster. So the entire experiment is flawed! Two-Face wants to be able to blame his monstrous tendencies on the people who called him a monster because of the way he looked. So he's going to get Victor called a monster multiple times in one night and Victor will obviously snap! Who wouldn't?! I remember when I was called fat in junior high all those times while being fat that I became fat. No wait. Maybe that was somebody else. Nobody made fun of me because I was so fucking disconnected from what was going on around me that I never noticed. There were way better targets in junior high than me! I just went around telling everybody about how awesome Elfquest was. And they were all, "Really, fatty? Can I read your copy?" And I was all, "Sure! See you at the D&D game at lunch!"

I know I'm supposed to be reading this as if it took place in 1987 where you were supposed to think it was the robot half that everybody was afraid of and judging as a criminal. But this is 2019 and, well.

Imagine how short this issue would have been if Cyborg was connected to the Internet or had an internal cell phone. He must have had some internal gadget that could page Nightwing or the Gotham Police that he simply forgot about in the moment. Oh no, of course not. What am I thinking?! This is the era where Cyborg's only attachment was the white noise cannon! Cyborg finally confronts Two-Face on page 23 because this story is 25 pages long! Wow, I thought I was yawning a lot more than usual, even for a Cyborg story. Anyway, Two-Face declares he killed Cynthia thirty minutes ago because he totally read Watchmen and was all, "Oh fuck. That's a cool line. I am so using it some day!" But even that doesn't convince Cyborg to kill Two-Face. And while it means Two-Face gets to live, it also means Two-Face has to live with himself and the knowledge that maybe he was the real monster all along. Surprise! It wasn't society at all! Even though we all know it actually is society. People are fucking terrible. Surprise again! Cynthia was in a Two-Face mask and Two-Face was trying to get Cyborg to kill her! What a dumby! Hasn't he learned anything from Batman? If a hero doesn't kill, the hero doesn't kill! Sure, if this was Red Hood, Cynthia would be a fucking bullet sponge right now. But that's because he's expected to kill! How often does a hero who doesn't kill suddenly start killing? If you discount Hal Jordan. And Green Arrow. And Black Lightning. And Wonder Woman. And Black Canary. And Guy Gardner. And Fire. And Starman. And Obsidian. And Dr. Fate. And Black Canary. And, you know what, maybe this is too many ands for my initial premise to remain valid. Never mind. The issue ends with Two-Face realizing the problem wasn't "Cyborg could have been Two-Face" but that "Two-Face could have been Cyborg." Live with it, asshole. Teen Titans Spotlight #13: Cyborg Rating: B. I often tout Cyborg as boring because writers always simply do the same things with him. And while this is still another "Am I human?!" story arcs, at least it had a nice twist in that Cyborg plays off of a villain that you wouldn't have expected. Usually the writer brings in another character that's part robotic so that Cyborg can see his own humanity through the flaws of his foe. But has a writer ever thought, "Hey! Cyborg and Two-Face look fairly similar. I bet there's a story there?" Well, at least one did! And I'm happy to say they made a fairly decent go of it. Although wouldn't it have been nice if this story had been the last word on Cyborg's anxiety about how human he is?! Man, what if this was all the therapy he needed and for the next thirty years, DC audiences had been given a healthy Cyborg who would always be, "Oh yeah, I'm part robot! But I'm still all human! Want to fuck, baby?!" I miss that Cyborg that never existed.

#Teen Titans Spotlight #Cyborg #DC #DC Comics #Teen Titans

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for-f0rever · 6 years

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okay so like i did with my post when i saw Noah, i’ll do a recap of Mike’s last show! i’ve been fortunate enough to see this show three times and to see Mike as Connor all three times, but i think this time was my favorite :) (MLB was my first Evan, then Noah, then Taylor)

if you were at the show and i forgot anything feel free to add to this! i write these on the train home and sometimes i just...forget things haha. also you can always send asks if you want to know more about something or you just want to ask something :)

anyway like with the last one i’ll put it under a read more so you don’t have to scroll forever because i tend to like... ramble when i write things haha

Act 1

so obviously when you look at the board picture i posted, Asa was on for Larry. I had never seen him before, but he was amazing. i really liked his interpretation of Larry, he was more relaxed and rarely raised his voice, which was a little bit of a change, but one that kind of made everything super interesting

Taylor is also amazing. he plays a little bit more of a confident Evan, but he rubs his face a lot and wipes his hands on his jeans, so you can definitely still tell he’s super anxious. i really liked the way he approached Evan

Mike seemed so relaxed throughout the show. He was smiling and laughing through the funny parts and i kind of felt like he was trying to take it all in. he was definitely embarrassed by all the attention though haha.

when they come out in Anybody Have A Map Jennifer had to wait until the cheers died down for him (which were so loud) and he looked back at her and smiled but i’m pretty sure he just wanted her to start because the cheers were so loud and for a good few seconds

usually during Anybody Have A Map when Cynthia says that he’s not high Connor just looks up in Zoe’s direction/not really staring at anything, but in this show he turned back and looked at Jennifer and smiled

Phoenix was adorable and the way she portrayed Alana was amazing. you can tell she just wants to fit in and the way she’s so confident but so eager to do something is portrayed so perfectly by her. her voice is also insanely good

Jennifer generally gets super emotional through the show (obviously), but she seemed even more emotional at this show than the other times i saw it. there were times where she was inconsolable and it was so heartbreaking (she always breaks my heart, but i felt like it was so much more painful today)

When Connor grabs Evan’s arm Evan like yelps out quietly in pain, and normally Connor just like apologizes quietly and then writes but this time he sort of paused for a few seconds and then wrote his name

Mike didn’t finish his little “that’s the saddest fucking thing i’ve ever heard oh my god” after he asks how Evan broke his arm. He ended up laughing quietly before he got through “oh my god”

when the Murphy’s tell Evan that Connor took his own life, Larry sort of turned to Cynthia when they realized Evan didn’t know and Cynthia just looked SO upset and immediately started crying and shaking her head. she sounded so broken when Evan tried to tell her the truth

For Forever was so painful. The Murphy’s all just looked so sad and Evan just wants to make it better and you can see. Cynthia was just sobbing at the table listening to him tell this story

Sincerely, Me was SO carefree. Will was so funny during it and Taylor was so stressed. Will and Taylor feed so well off each other honestly. during “my sister’s hot” Mike smirks and Taylor sounds horrified that Jared would even write that. Taylor hugged Mike during “our friendship goes beyond your average kind of bond” and then like runs away from him during “but not because we’re gay”. the two of them were laughing the whole song and during the final chorus when they’re all dancing all three of them were smiling and laughing with each other and it was so cute

Laura cried through almost all of Requiem, which i’m pretty sure didn’t used to happen. she still sounded upset during the next scene right before If I Could Tell Her. Requiem is a heartbreaking song in general, but god it really was painful at this show

Taylor’s mannerisms in If I Could Tell Her were adorable. He was so nervous and he would like nervously pace and he touched Connor’s comics at one point

Mike in Disappear was more carefree than i could ever remember happening before? when Evan says he doesn’t know who to talk to Connor just said “you can talk to me” but Mike didn’t make his voice high pitched or anything he just sounded genuine about it. Disappear was so cute and they seemed like they were having such a good time. Taylor had turned to look at him when he was singing at one point and just smiled at him

Cynthia telling Evan that Connor hadn’t been invited to any bar mitzvahs was so sad she could barely get it out when she said it

Taylor’s panic attack just before You Will Be Found was INCREDIBLY believable. when he fell over he just sort of laid there stunned and then looked like he was going to throw up for a minute before he picked himself up finally. I could see his hands shaking and I was pretty far away

during You Will Be Found Mike’s baby pictures pop up on the screen (i’ve reblogged a boot part of that before if you’ve never seen it! i could find it again because it’s one of my favorite moments) and they were so painful to look at at this show. Larry collapses when he’s looking up at him, and Asa seemed so distraught. his interpretation of Larry was so incredible, and when he grabbed Cynthia right after the baby pictures stop flashing on the screen you could tell how upset he was that his son is gone.

Laura’s “you’ve given me my brother back” at the end of YWBF was heartbreaking. she was crying and ugh it was awful

Act 2

During Sincerely, Me Reprise Will’s laugh made Mike laugh it was so funny. and Mike’s expressions when Evan says they can’t just make things up about this was priceless. i really can’t remember him being this animated before

During To Break In A Glove in the bridge right before Larry says “you’re just trying to do your best for a kid who’s lost control” Asa leaned his hand on the work bench and tried not to get emotional

It probably has a lot to do with Taylor and Laura being close, but right before Only Us when Evan is panicking that they’re going to break up was hilarious. He reached out to hold her wrists and was like “thank you” and she laughed and was like “don’t mention it” and they both laughed

Zoe does a TON of nervous fidgeting. it’s such a little detail that i don’t know if i’ve ever noticed before, but it’s so important and i love it

I’ve written this before i think, but the tenseness in the scene where the Murphy’s offer Evan Connor’s college fund is so awkward and tense and you can tell how embarrassed Heidi is that Evan had even said anything about this to anyone

RBJ and Taylor’s fights are SO much more escalated than MLB and Noah’s were. Taylor’s almost a more confident Evan while still being anxious at the same time, and they’re screaming at each other and you can tell Evan is getting worked up but he’s so upset at the same time and it’s so intense

Jared looked and sounded so hurt when Evan said that they’re friends because Jared doesn’t have anyone else to be friends with during Good For You

During the “did you fall” scene, Mike definitely started getting emotional way earlier than he normally does. his “you can get rid of me whenever you want” was so heartbreaking and emotional and you could see how upset he was in this scene

Phoenix’s interpretation of Alana is SO good. I really liked the way she approached her and when Evan stops helping her with The Connor Project she is SO pissed. it was such a raw and real reaction that i loved

The lead-up to Evan admitting the lie was so intense, it just kept building and Cynthia just kept getting more upset and then he reveals the lie and everyone is so emotional. Zoe’s “how could you do this?” was so quiet but you could tell how hurt she was

usually when Connor comes on stage he just stays on for a second or two during Words Fail (right before “this was just a sad invention”) but today he lingered a little longer, walked a little further on the stage, shook his head and then turned and walked off and you could tell he was upset/crying. it brought so much more emotion to that part

right before So Big/So Small Evan was much more emotional. Taylor was crying, and Rachel was emotional, and it just made the whole scene so raw? that scene is heartbreaking crying or not, but this made it even sadder if possible.

RBJ’s vocals are INSANE. i know i’ve said that before and i think everyone knows this, but god. she is so heartbreaking in So Big/So Small, and she grabs Evan and holds him so tight, rubs his back and rocks him

Zoe and Evan at the orchard is so sad, but it’s the kind of closure you need at the same time. there’s little moments where you wonder what they could’ve been, but overall it’s just a lot of healing. Zoe says “it’s been hard... it’s been a hard year” with a sad smile to him and you can see how she’s still hurting

during the finale they all walk on stage and when Jennifer turned to walk back to her final spot she glanced at Mike and they smiled at each other

There’s a video of the bows but since they cut off the side of the stage i’ll just explain them too! the cheers were so loud for Mike when he came back on and immediately you could tell he hated the attention haha. when Mike and Phoenix walked over to the side Phoenix said something and they both laughed and then Mike pulled Phoenix in for a hug. Asa came over and hugged them both and he rubbed Mike’s back. then Laura came over and grabbed Mike in the tightest hug and she was crying so, so much

when they finished bows Mike tried to sneak away but Phoenix grabbed him and pulled him back and he was laughing and shaking his head like he literally hated that they made him have the attention on him omg. Jennifer brought him his flowers and she was crying but she said something to him and kissed his cheek and hugged him so tight. Mike blew kisses to the whole cast and waved to the orchestra, and then turned back and did one more quick bow before he BOLTED off stage i’m dying he literally hated the attention on him

so in summary, while it may have been SLIGHTLY irresponsible to spend money and see the show again, i’m so glad i did it. i don’t think it’s a secret that Mike is one of my favorite actors, and to see him in his final show is something i’ll never forget. he is so humble and adorable and talented and i can’t wait to see what he does next :)

#deh recap #dear evan hansen recap #mike faist #jennifer laura thompson #asa somers #laura dreyfuss #rachel bay jones #taylor trensch #will roland #phoenix best #dear evan hansen #deh #happy trails mike 💙

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