#pre war eras intrigue me so

[allherfaeriesmeetinjuly]

obsessed with russian “doomed” music and german expressionism art rn

[vhs-rs]

Since the paintings were shared in their full glory the other day, I decided to go ahead and elaborate a bit further on this - but also simple enough that its just this one image lol. 👍

Thoughts?

Also some side notes / tangents to this:

The Star and the Moon collector appear to be presenting the Starchild (our collector) to the others (the Planet and the Sun collector). Despite how little detail there is in such a piece, you can tell they are proud of this little gremlin and enough so to introduce them.

Trailing slightly off of the previous note is the fact that every portrait has the Star collector alongside the main focus being each collector. @kickfwip and I think it’s depicting the Star collector gathering everyone together to tell them of the news - as the planets are in a line with the sun, and the Star is seen around the Planet and then right in front of the Sun. Likely that all of these depictions from the right side of the hallway are pre-titan war era events and whoever it was that disappeared (I think it was the Planet) really pissed the collectors off.

I am 100% definitely most absolutely very much certain that the Sun collector is the Grand Huntsman - tho the credit for that understanding and realization goes to @sepublic :) - and the Moon collector is the one that was responsible for trapping the owl beast in a scroll. The Moon being the one to trap an owl of all things is what really pulls me in deeper on this, like why did they do it? Of course there was some kind of lengthy chase that had been happening as implied by the lines spoken, but why??? Man if only we had time for 20 more adventures…

The Sun really said, “No you’re doing it wrong. Let ME show you how its done,” and then proceeded to slay. I don’t know why but the fact that my homie turned into a buff cult leader capable of genocide is really intriguing in comparison to whatever the Moon was doing. 😭

[rallamajoop]

Cultic Iconography in Resident Evil Village

As the kind of nerd who loves all the creepy artwork you can find decorating Miranda-shrines around the village (like, just check out that one of the half-skeletal Miranda hovering in the graveyard and just tell me that isn't metal AF), I was on the lookout for the original image assets while poking through the game files. I'm hardly an expert on Catholic or Orthodox iconography (plenty of which is creepy enough just to begin with), but I adore how you can see all those elements being twisted and appropriated by Miranda's cult. You'll find these six pictures plastered all over the village in various combinations.

So you can imagine how thrilled I was to find a whole extra batch of unused artwork in the same set!

Lest you doubt these were all meant to go together, they all hail from the one big compilation file ‒ I've just cropped them out separately for ease of viewing. For all I know, maybe some of these were used somewhere in the game and I just never caught it (and if you have spotted any, please let me know!)

But taken at face value, our unused images consist of one picture of the megamycete, a 10-winged-madonna figure (why limit yourself to just 6?), a side profile of Miranda herself (possibly excluded because it shows off a little too much of her real face?), two images of dead crows, and (strangest of all) a man holding a goat head.

That last pic especially stands out ‒ and not just because I could (and, indeed, now have) legit write you a whole essay on just the significance of the goat's head motif as a protective symbol in the village (seriously, it's everywhere from the Goats of Warding to the symbol on the shield of the Maiden of War statue), so I'm going to be all over any new example. But who the hell is that guy carrying it? No other image centers anyone but Miranda herself as an object of worship. This looks more like someone's taken a generic pic of the likes of St Francis of Assisi hanging out with some animals (it's a theme, you can look it up), then just cut the poor animal off at the neck for added creep factor.

So do we take it that this guy was, at some point, meant to be another key figure in Miranda's cult? Or was generic-saint-with-animal-plus-extra-squick all they were really going for? Was it drawn before the writers made Miranda the cult leader? Or could this even have been intended (as the goats themselves seem to be) as some in-universe, pre-Miranda relic of an earlier era?

Also interesting: he appears to be holding one of those ornate staves you can also see in the fire and skeletal images of Miranda above (and can also find in the field near Luisa's early in the game, before they're all replaced by charred, semi-crucified corpses). Did that symbol predate Miranda too? Fascinating, either way.

Those two crow pictures may be even more intriguing still. I'm sure we all remember that spooky batch of dead and/or hanging crows Ethan discovers at the start of his descent into the village, but thereafter nothing like that is ever seen again. Given that Miranda herself is so closely associated with crows, it's reasonable to wonder if this very-literal murder-of-crows was in fact some act of heresy by an unbeliever, deliberately hidden out in the woods.

But if images of dead crows ‒ including one hung in the very same position ‒ were at some point intended to appear alongside other images of Miranda-veneration, then presumably veneration was always the intent for those dead crows out in the woods. Suffering is, of course, a key part of the stories of so many saints. And perhaps crows are sacred only in the same way that the goats are: ideal candidates for ritual sacrifice.

Much as I love all the concept art you can already unlock with the game, I'd pay good money for a proper artbook going into all this kind of design work. There's clearly so much more that went into the concept art stages of this game that I'd love to hear more about.

And while we're at it, here's a nice big version of the standard winged-fetus symbol too:

[gallifreyinstituteforlearning]

Do you know anything about gallifreyan marriage and dating? I’m a huge dr who fan and a friend asked me about it but I don’t have much information myself and I couldn’t find a ton of information either aside from a few bits about gallifreyans marrying members of other species. I wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t much information Given that gallifreyans don’t typically have the same family structure as humans but I thought I’d check and see if you could come up with anything

TL;DR:

Gallifreyan relationships, steeped in tradition and influenced by duty, are a crushingly hierarchical blend of strategic alliances and personal connections. Dating may or may not be a thing, and marriage ceremonies are also very vague. However, we do know the bride/groom rock to the nuptials up wearing the colour of the personification of Death, so make of that what you will.

Give me details!:

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cultural Norms and Practices

Gallifrey, being a highly advanced and conservative society, has its own unique set of cultural norms. For Time Lords, especially those involved in the politics of Gallifrey, relationships are influenced by their duties and responsibilities. Given their long lifespans and the political nature of society, relationships are often more strategic or functionally based rather than romantic, serving to strengthen allegiances and bring together Houses. They often approach relationships like a chess game, with each move calculated for maximum advantage.

Gallifreyan family structures are complex. Traditionally, Gallifreyans were "loomed" into existence - a form of asexual reproduction - which cultivated a very different cultural approach to family and relationships. However, in the pre-War era, Gallifreyans have biological children, so have a more conventional Human family structure in the new age.

💍Dating and Marriage Conventions

Time Lords are often somewhat detached from normal human emotions, which affects their approach to marriage and dating, but despite all the political manoeuvring, some have married for love.

The ceremony of marriage itself is again a grey area. The bride/groom traditionally both wear white (which is intriguing when you think white is the Gallifreyan colour for the personification of Death), and long hair is braided, and that's about all that's known.

There is no information on what courting Time Lords may regard as a 'date', or even if Gallifreyan date nights exist. However, there are clubs and dives in the Low Town one may like to explore, but for the more discerning couple there are plenty of upscale restaurants in the major cities, one of which is the Palace of Arcadia (may I recommend the dactyl eggs?). Other potential forms of Gallifreyan date nights are available.

🏫 So ...

So while very little is known about the practicalities of marriage and normal dating conventions, there's a lot to be said for the culture surrounding it. Marriage is unlikely to look like it does in various Earth cultures, and there may be a special ritual involved that could include the weaving of biodata or psionic connections, but the rest, as they say, is confetti.

Hope that helped! 😃

》📫Got a question / submission? 》😆Jokes |🫀Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts 》📚Complete list of Q+A 》📜Masterpost If you like what GIL does, please consider buying a coffee or tipping below to help make future projects, including complete biology and language guides.

[sitp-recs]

HP Rec Fest, Day 21

Today’s is hands down of my favourite prompt from @hprecfest, what a banger! I love being wowed by thought-provoking fics and it was a pleasure to reread these two all-time favourites for this post. I really hope more people will feel intrigued enough to check these out! On a side note, I won’t be posting any recs for tomorrow’s prompt (day 22: a fic that hasn't been updated in 10 years or author stated it was abandoned) as I haven’t read unfinished works in years and I completely lost track of the ones I’ve read in the pre-AO3 era. See you again on Saturday!

Day 21) a thought-provoking fic:

Drarry

And Save Me From Bloody Men by @blamebrampton (T, 10k)

Draco Malfoy once watched others fighting to stop the world falling apart. This time, he's not just watching.

why yes, I’ll be screaming about BB and this particular fic until the end of times, thank you very much :))) this is easily the most thought-provoking fic I’ve read in the HP fandom and remains (frighteningly so) current and relevant despite having been written well over a decade ago. the world building is phenomenal, my jaw dropped as I was introduced to this fascinating post-war dystopia full of disturbing political allegories. it’s brilliant and depressing all at once. my heart belongs to this redeemed Draco who’s so capable and tough, trying to do the right thing for once; his chemistry with Harry is instant and deliciously uncomplicated, but a war romance is inherently angsty and this will tug at your heartstrings. so many feels! I loved seeing Draco’s side relationship with Ernie, the trust and camaraderie between them is sooo good. Draco’s character development is truly fascinating to watch and believe me when I say you are not prepared to face this thrilling yet devastating ending. it will make your heart race and blow your mind just like the rest of this witty, fierce and sophisticated commentary. an epic classic that definitely deserves more love and more obsessed readers to join me and @tackytigerfic 🤝

Rare pair

Help Wanted: God and Executioner by pir8fancier (Snarry, E, 20k)

The war is raging on and Harry learns that there are no right choices.

yet another grim and brilliant wartime fic, this one delves deeper into the brutal reality of war tragedy and loss. love the poignant dialogue, so very honest and in character, and the way the sexual tension builds urgent and insistent but still organically. there’s so much going on, so much hurt and grief all around, that seeing Harry and Snape disconnect and find comfort in stolen moments before (or more likely after) the storm hits is very cathartic. I loved getting immersed in their dynamics and conversations. the dialogue is so good but I must remind you that this is not a happy fic, although it has its tender moments. Harry’s loneliness and search for punishment are devastating but there’s also understanding, intimacy and worshipping sex (!) which is everything we want and need. if you’re a Snarry fan I highly recommend giving this a try and then checking all of pir8fancier’s catalogue bc they’re a fabulous author!

[jounosparticles]

Hello o/ i just finished midterm im finally free orz.How are you doing?

I want to asked what do you think about Fukuchi?like his relationship or morality anything in general.Hes such an interesting character i wish ppl talk about him more.

hello! i’m pretty good! finished a read through bsd beast today (fantastic novel btw) and will work on some writing tonight i think!

i hope your midterm went well!! feel free to tell me about it if you’d like :) i’m interested

and ty for asking about fukuchi! i have lots to say about him.

fukuchi - my opinion

first off i will preface this by saying i USED to be a fukuchi hater. he used to really piss me off but looking back it was 100% biased towards the characters he hurt and i didn’t think too much of his motives. i actually really like him now and believe he’s very underrated.

for starters, i LOVE his design. the face scars especially really tie everything together. i also like his silly moustache hehe

his role as a hunting dog was really great and i hope we see more of that—some sort of pre-DoA scenes where we see the hunting dogs work together so i can look into their dynamics more. it seems that he genuinely was a good leader and cared for his squad. he was fun and lighthearted and seemed to be kind to his subordinates.

i really hope we get some sort of scenes where we see him interacting with the other members of the DoA, flashback scenes or something. we only really seen him interact with bram. i feel he would have gotten along well with sigma, since neither of them are bad people. in contrast i want to see him interact with fyodor and nikolai for the very opposite purpose.

i somewhat sympathized with fukuchi when he was fighting atsushi and akutagawa, his view on war clearly messed him up a ton and he just appeared to have a bad approach to solving what was right. i regret to admit i think i let a lot of the general perception of fukuchi hinder my opinion on him here. i understood his motives to a degree but couldn’t like him for that (which has since changed).

i wholeheartedly believe fukuchi is a good person. he is severely traumatized from all the war he had to deal with, which altered his perception on a good approach to solving things.

assuming he is around 45 years old, he would have received the warning of the war at the age of 9. imagine being a small child and realizing you have to save millions from dying? yet throughout it all he kept a great composure and was kind to others. the scenes where he was with fukuzawa as a child showed he was a good kid despite the huge task he would need to complete. this displays immense courage.

now more onto the DoA era.

notice how he turned everyone into vampires instead of just killing them? partially this was likely to build an army, however i assume part of it was to keep people from dying. he doesn’t want any more bloodshed and did what was necessary. he never told anyone about this though, there’s a good chance bram would have been more willing to help had he been open about the plan. maybe?

the way he treated bram wasn’t great though. it would have been cool to see him talk to bram about it and they work together. of course bram didn’t really seem to care too much about humanity before meeting aya, so he may have not agreed.

fukuchi was also incredibly smart for trusting fukuzawa to do what was right. it really shows their bond and how they knew each other. i’d love to look into their dynamics more, especially the scene where fukuchi tries to convince fukuzawa to go to war since there was a ton of symbolism there.

fukuchi and jouno’s bond also intrigues me. we know he invited jouno to the hunting dogs with the goal of him joining the DoA yet jouno was too influenced by good to be able to do it. i wonder if fukuchi would have told jouno the truth in the case that he agreed to join? or did he assume jouno was willing to be a ruthless killer? id like to think that fukuchi believed jouno had the morality to keep the agency safe despite being supposed to act evil; since fukuchi didn’t actually want them dead. ill make a longer analysis about this idea soon actually since it has the little gears in my head turning.

his relationship with tachihara is also interesting to me. i haven’t thought too much into it, but i believe fukuchi said something along of being disappointed in tachihara’s "betrayal". it makes me wonder if maybe he had hoped tachihara’s morality had changed in the mafia so he would never need to face him in battle? i’ll have to reread the chapters and look into this more.

his relationship with teruko also is one that makes me quite sad. she looked heartbroken as she had to kill him. she was also the only one he told other than fukuzawa about his real plan (as far as im aware). they were definitely close.

in the end, fukuchi’s reveal of the truth and everything he had been dealing with for so long made his actions make a ton of sense. he was just a person with a huge responsibility who tried to save things as well as he could. i really wish he could have gotten closure on the world he saved (if he is truly dead). he’s a fantastic character and has a ton of depth. i only scratched the surface here. maybe i will need to make an "in defence of fukuchi" essay at some point.

[poelya]

you are braver than any us marine for these takes... anyway, i'm sure you've talked about this before but how do you feel about sequels era Leia/Holdo?

😌 thanks casey, it's from years of practice of having combatting star wars opinions with a us marine (my father) asfjoasfjosa.

Aha! Leia/Holdo. Man now there's a dynamic i'm constantly just. sticking under a microscope and studying. It's funny because although I'm in a place where I'm like "oh they're so canon", I've only ever thought about them being together pre-canon. Like to me they're very amicable exes, and Leia still has such a huge soft spot for Amilyn and vice versa (sometimes I think about how it feels like for, the majority of the movie, Amilyn is trying to act the way she thinks Leia would, and it. gives me emotions).

So it's not a hop and a skip for me to be intrigued by the thought of them together during the sequels era. It opens the door to a lot of interesting stories imo and a lot of sweet character development and my personal favorite - angst. So I could definitely be convinced by the thought of them rekindling something.

send me a ship and i'll tell you my opinion!

[broomsticks]

Heyy! I was wondering, can you help me out with some drarry recs? I read a few drarry fics YEARS ago and honestly don't remember them at all, and the past few years, I've only read marauders era fics. I want to explore drarry a bit, but in a lot of the fics i try out the pairing seems kinda illogical. Yk like the fic just pushes them together bc it's a drarry fic but it doesn't really make sense beyond that. Maybe I've just had bad luck. But that's why i wanted to ask whether you have any recs that could get me into the pairing again. I think i mostly want canonish stuff (no crazy AUs), and lengthwise im alright with whatever, but a longfic would be nice!!

so first off - thank you for thinking of me hahaha, but I'm not the best person to ask because I don't read a ton of Drarry! (I say that and it's my third most bookmarked ship, behind Wolfstar and Jily.) it's not a ship I'm particularly wild about either, for similarrrr reasons to you it sounds like (not a huge fan of postwar redemption arc and if I'm going to read that I usually would rather read lightning gen femslash, and most of the AUs tend to read sorta 'any two guys' to me), but I have read a bunch I enjoyed and I do have a couple faves:

Listening for the Angels by @hawksquill // 12k, M

The trials are over. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy are in Azkaban, the Ministry has seized Malfoy Manor, and Draco is banished to live among Muggles. His exile brings Draco more than he ever bargained for: a Squib therapist, Muggle friends, a new career, and a mysterious pen pal who helps him come to terms with what it means to grow, heal, and make amends.

lmao I know I just said postwar redemption not my jam blah blah, but the writing of this one is just lovely. it's Draco-centric and more pre-slash gen than relationshippy, but the character growth is so well done.

.

What We Pretend We Can't See by @gyzym // 131k, M

Seven years out from the war, Harry learns the hard truth of old history: it’s never quite as far behind you as you thought.

the plot. the relationships. the conflict. the humanity. I remember this one totally sweeping me away! gyzym also wrote one of my favorite aziraphale/crowleys (build me a city, call it jerusalem, 3.5k, T), pre-show/dated 2012, give this a try if you'd like a quick taste of their writing, it's what motivated me to start reading that Drarry longfic!

.

I found the sentient house magic intriguing in this one:

The Claiming of Grimmauld Place by bixgirl1 // 75k, E

When Grimmauld Place begins fighting against Harry’s ownership of it, he decides he needs help to train the historic home — but little does he expect that it’ll be Malfoy who’s most suitable for the challenge. However, as Malfoy and Harry get closer, Harry comes to understand that expectations aren’t always the best path by which to guide his heart — and in the process learns just what is needed to make a house a home.

I will say this ship has a lot of a) magical theory, particularly sentient house magic, b) auror partner casefics, and c) mysterious medical maladies, so if that's something that interests you I can rec a couple more!

.

last but not least I know you said no crazy AUs, but you did also say Wolfstar, and I was just rereading this to rec it elsewhere: here's an online romance Drarry AU with HIV+ Remus and Wolfstar raising Harry. Angst, smut, fluff, family... this fic is lovely.

Dragons Don't Know Paradise by @teacup-tai // 51k, E

In 2004, when Remus spends two scary weeks in the ITU due to complications of pneumonia and his HIV condition, Sirius walks around the house like a ghost and Harry finds comfort and strength in Draco through a chat in an online LGBT forum. Harry falls for him, but Draco has a lot of secrets and, before long, will need to come clean—even if he believes that no one is able to understand a dragon. This is a story about falling in love online and about facing the reality of death, but above all, this is a story about hope, finding love and acceptance. (Non-magical / bookshop AU, written for the 25 days of Drarry 2020)

a couple more recs here for Wolfstar + Drarry!

[mishkakagehishka]

Growing Up, directory

Fandom: Ensemble Stars!! Concept: an exploration of Mika's past and his growing inner psychology as presented through the celebrations of his 15th, 16th and 18th birthday (or, during his final year before Yumenosaki, first year in Yumenosaki/pre-War era, and 3rd year in Yumenosaki/!!time as calculated by the person who almost failed maths in years 11 and 12) Total word count: 5955

Warnings: implied child neglect, exploitation of child labour, restricted eating and not eating at all, canon-compliant cruel pre-War era Shu, angst-focused look at Mika's past

AO3 link (tumblr links below the cut)

Notes and ramblings: I wanted to, for Mika's birthday, write about his past. I talk a lot about the fact that he seems to have been parentified, and it's just intriguing to me - his life before Yumenosaki. We only know that he grew up in a home and that he was "in charge of" taking care of the younger kids, to the point that he'd have felt guilty if he were adopted himself (even though it seems like a part of him still craved acceptance and a family). I just wanted to expand on that <3 And so, this three-parter was born.

"An exploration of Mika's past and his growing inner psychology as presented through the celebrations of his 15th, 16th and 18th birthday", or, in other words, a fic that is supposed to expand on what little we know of Mika's past. That is supposed to showcase more of Mika's psychology, of the various mindsets he has internalised and others he adopted as a way of coping, and further how his mind and psychological state evolved and grew, dare I say, kinda sorta a-little-bit healed with time, in the simplest way:

Part 1 - Forgotten: His 15th birthday, which he himself had forgotten because he was too caught up in work, his mind always preoccupied with the other kids' living conditions to even remember his own birthday. Despite that, the kids love him as a brother, and wanted to show him their appreciation.

Part 2 - Discarded: His 16th birthday, after he was accepted into Yumenosaki and Valkyrie. Although he remembers his birthday this time, he fruitlessly hoped Shu and Nazuna would celebrate it with him. When that falls apart, he hopes Shu merely forgot, wanting to give him the benefit of doubt, wanting to believe Shu would have celebrated with him if he knew - only for Shu to tell him that there are simply more important things to care about than birthdays.

Part 3 - Celebrated: His 18th birthday, celebrated properly, and all that led up to Mika allowing himself be celebrated. The culmination of his personal growth, his coming out of his shell and making honest connections with others.

[loth-creatures]

what's your fav star wars era

early rebellion era for sure!

Obviously rebels is my absolute favorite part of star wars forever but also I NEED more content between revenge of the sith and rebels. Loved Andor so far, frothing at the mouth for s2, I really enjoyed the Obi-Wan show even if it had some short comings, etc. but I've said before and I'll say it again give me literally anything about how the rest of the Ghost crew came together pre rebels GIVE IT TO ME NOW. Trying my best to write some snippet fics on the matter but i simply cannot write the full length novel(s) that i crave hhhhhgn (Ive also read many excellent fics by others but it's still killing me lol) Also also the obi wan show made me really want to know more about how the surviving jedi as a whole found safe havens and connections if only temporarily before being picked off by the inquisitors. Also I'd genuinely like to see more stuff similar to the Solo movie? That movie was..a mixed bag certainly..but it was fun and intriguing and I've been waiting years for them to follow up on what was introduced there like oh you know wtf was Maul doing before he ended up on Malachor??? I know there’s some comics about qi'ra but idk about anything else. I still gotta read the thrawn books too aaaa

Aaand forever mourning that show they never made about the criminal underworld of coruscant or whatever. Idk where on the timeline that was supposed to take place but I assume it was after revenge of the sith? It sounded cool af tho.

[heylo-reylo]

it's been years since this happened but how exactly did the anti-shippers get this idea that Rey was Luke's daughter therefore reylo was incest so now the shippers are shipping cousins?

I haven't seen the movie since I saw it in theaters but as far as I know there was no evidence of Luke being with anybody sexually or romantically and same with Obi-Wan Kenobi.

so was there some kind of "evidence" that I missed?

Like I'm honestly confused I have no idea how they got that idea

As far as the rumor about Rey and Ben Solo being cousins, probably the most prevalent reason I've seen stems from the 2018 Star Wars comic Darth Vader #25, in which Anakin Skywalker has a vision of Palpatine using the Force to impregnate his mother Shmi. It's been confirmed by Matt Martin of the Lucasfilm Story Group that this scene is only in Anakin's head, and not meant to be taken as a literal fact (you can read the Twitter thread here), but to this day I see people using it as proof for reylo being incestuous, which it isn't. It doesn't help that there are still a lot of articles and Youtube essays around that cite this comic as revealing Palpatine is Anakin's father, even though we've been shown time and again that Force Visions, Quests, etc. are notoriously unreliable. You can read more about the comic in question here.

I'm with you that there's absolutely no actual evidence for Rey being the child of Luke Skywalker either. I think that because the Original & Prequel trilogies centered heavily on a Skywalker and Darth Vader's "I am your father" revelation to Luke is such an iconic moment, many people expected that there would be a similar reveal with Rey and held to that belief even after the movies demonstrated that it wasn't happening.

Rey being a long-lost Skywalker was always based on surface-level parallels that ultimately served to contrast her character with Luke, not to indicate an actual blood connection (e.g. she lives on a desert planet à la Tatooine and has strong natural ability in the Force.) Some claimed Rey looked similar enough to Padmé that it had to imply a familial link, and others wanted to see the mega OP Luke Skywalker of Legends, who also had a child, brought back into canon. JJ Abrams and Daisy Ridley both said in TFA-era interviews that Rey's parent(s) did not appear in the movie, which ruled out Luke, Leia, and Han. Moreover, we learn early in The Force Awakens that Kylo Ren/Ben Solo is the grandson of Anakin and son of Leia, making him the new Skywalker of the Sequel trilogy, but it seems that even to this day there's a chunk of the audience that wants to ignore or downplay that fact.

As for Rey being a Kenobi, the most intriguing evidence to me (pre-The Last Jedi) was a.) that Ewan McGregor recorded the line "These are your first steps" (heard during Rey's Force Vision with the saber in TFA) and b.) that Rey has a British accent. Besides that, I think the Kenobi theory was just a fun one to consider despite there not being much in the actual movies to go on as far as Obi Wan being shown to have any romantic relationships as you said (RIP Satine.) ScreenRant is hit and miss but this article has a pretty thorough breakdown of the reasons behind the Kenobi theory. And hey, Rey being a Kenobi wouldn't make her and Ben cousins, so while I prefer Rey Nobody it could have been a fun route to explore.

Hope that helps!

[mensajeroseis]

i need to fallout post because my brain is just so neurotic tonight, and it’s like the easiest distraction for me. I’m Living, I’m Laughing, and I’m Loving.

Anyways, vaults are cool. Yet, they are also very boring. Like, very understated environmental pieces. Though I think I mostly mean this towards fallout 4, literally the worst vault atmosphere of all time. Fucking Awful. Aside from the experiments with them and vault tec’s construction mishaps with them making it more intriguing. I think fully, they should’ve leaned into the more sci-fi aspects of it, like Adam Adamowicz concept art. Or at least something more campy, since those concepts are incredibly expansive. And I think it’s something that should be very leaned into in like fanon or whatever. I hate that word. Like if you look at any bunker made during the cold war era and maybe earlier, they have this extravagance or fake reality to them. Consider painted backgrounds of like beaches, or any landscape etc. I think vault tec setting up vaults with painted environments like that in like hallway windows, and that change depending on time of day or season would make vault’s feel livelier. Plus it would be more jarring to vault dwellers because the environments are probably painted after pre war scenes of wherever their vault is located. It would feel like looking outside while riding light rail on a commute. Uhhh I might come back to this later, but that’s all I can articulate right now, I wanna go listen to music and draw

[amenomiko]

Thank you for the request ❤❤❤❤❤❤!

MC with Godlike Powers

Nobunaga - Talks to Animals

This woman who had saved him out from burning Honno-ji is a very peculiar woman-- is what he have thought at first, until she told him that she is from the future.

He assumed that's what sums out all the special things about her; her background, her era, and what does the future offered. Until.. He brought her for hunting.

She was amazed with Haguro, and didn't even cower in fear when it is near her. But then again it was his turn to be amazed when Haguro itself fly down from his arm, and to MC. It somehow gave a curt nod at her before letting MC to rub its head.

Then one after another; the animals, came to gather around them-- her, especially. Birds, rabbits, even fishes gather near her when she was resting by the lake. He watches, mouth opening and closing but can't bring himself to break the serene moment in front of him.

"If you are curious.. Well.. I can talk, and understand them. I have this... Ability, since I was born. It's a gift, they say. But I think it is more than that."

She brings Haguro to him, smiling as she continued to rub its beak. "I can feel the connection from me, to them. If you get what I mean."

A grin slowly curved on his lips. "I can see that." His carnelian eyes narrowed to his pet. "Does Haguro have anything to say to me?"

"Hm? Oh," Her smile widen. "He is honored to have you as his master. It is why he choose you."

"Hooh." He smirked, leaning closer to her, "How about you? Are you honored to be my woman?"

".....Birds. Peck his neck (ㆁᴗㆁ✿)."

....Oh hell.

Hideyoshi - Ability to Control Elements

He is wary. Very, VERY wary of her the moment she uses her power to bend water to put out the fire around Honno-ji.

But then again.. Those wariness faded away when she rescued Mitsunari from slipping on a puddle of water, assuring him that she will only use it for saving people, instead of bringing danger.

Day by day, he watch her, using her power to make everyone's life in the castle to be more convenient, like-- calling for the wind to carry heavy items, bending fire and water in the kitchen, and so forth. She even volunteered herself to aid during war, even if it will exhaust herself, to the point he fell for her passion to help people.

"Hey. You should rest. You've used a lot of your power today-- Hey! What are you doing with that water?"

"To drink it..?"

"There's no need to bend it, let me pour it for you."

"W-well.. I can't move much, nor be able to grip around the glass.." She laughed weakly, "I can't move my hand.. Sorry."

He huffed, circling his arm around her shoulder. "You know you can ask for help. And there's no need to be sorry for."

"But.."

"No buts." He said, before sipping the water into his mouth and 'transferred' it to her, through her lips. It surprises her, but she gradually drank slowly, lips unconsciously move on his, somehow sharing a slow kiss.

He pulled away, cheeks flushed slightly. "Do you want some more?"

"..You know you can.. Help to hold the glass right?" Her eyes narrowed, staring into his lips.

"This way is the fastest, more than the need to hold the glass nor for you to bend it-.."

"Hehehe.. You are bad with words at this kind of moment, hmm?"

He feign a cough, looking away awkwardly before turning back to her. "...I can't help it."

Then they slowly lean, and shared another kiss before undressing each other's clothes.

Masamune - Telekinesis

"No..!!!"

She accidentally overused her power, instead of pushing him from the sudden kiss, she had sent him flying to the other end of the lake, with a loud splash.

That's where he discovered her secret power. The ability to move objects, like a psychic, and even the power to destroy something with just a flick of her finger.

It was horrifying to see when she ruthlessly break an enemy's neck in the battlefield, and he is the one to teach her to control her power. She said that it was both a gift and a curse, and was thankful that Masamune is there to calm her down.

Yet somehow it can be scary when she is angry. She will lock all the doors shut, breaks the fragile items around her, even making the maids run away from the floating knives around them. Hence, another note to be taken to NOT mess with her.

"Say.. This power of yours.. I believe "Teleportation" is one of it? I heard it from the ninja lad from Kasugayama."

She nodded. "Yes, but it wasn't a part of my power. Teleportation is a minor power within my bloodline. Why do you ask?"

"Ah.. Well it could be a convenient thing you know? Especially during emergencies."

"Hmm.." She pondered. He is right for that part. But she is thankful as it might use a lot of mana.

"...For example, if you need to poo, teleportation is needed right there, right then. Or maybe, appearing behind Hideyoshi and pull his pants down and disappear again. Pfffft- I just wanted to see if he really wear 'No.1 Right Hand Man for Lord Nobunaga' on his Fudoshi." He snickered to himself, pinching his sides from laughing outloud.

Meanwhile MC: *Already walk away the moment she saw frowning, approaching Hideyoshi from afar* ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Ieyasu - Premonition

Out of the 6 lords of Azuchi, he is the only one to refuse to believe MC's skills to see the future.

"What is the point of knowing the future? It will only be a nuisance matter to think deep when you are in present."

"Well, lad, there is no need to think deep as you said, we can just take it as a pre-caution." Masamune shrugged before he added "Besides, so far, her premonition is on point. Why not you give it a try?"

"Hmn. I have no interest at all."

"Ieyasu..! Wait!!"

Speaking of it, there she is.

"..What?"

"I apologize if I may offend you but right now, you must listen to me, just this once. I promise that I won't lie."

He glared at her, somewhat irritated to the seriousness in her voice and expressions. "What? Trying to make me believe in you?"

"No..! It's not that. It's just.. If you follow the direction of the hallway that you always use to return to your castle.. I just want to advice that it is better if you use the other way round just for today. As.. Something unlucky will happen if you--"

He turned, not allowing her to finish and start to walk away. "Nonsense."

"I- Ieyasu..! Just this once. Please..!" She begged, while Masamune went silent all the time, silently intrigued to what might happen even when MC ask him for help.

Then..

*Bam!*

"Uwah--"

*Chuuu~~~ ❤❤❤*

"MMF---"

Ieyasu bumped onto running Mitsunari from the so-called direction, loses their balance, and shared a kiss with one another. Not only that, the poor tactician tried to stand up, only to grope on Ieyasu's rear by accident.

"HEY GET OFF---"

He tried to get away from Mitsunari, accidentally slipped on Mitsunari's pants, and fall backwards. In the midst of it, he bumped onto passing Nobunaga and both of them repeat of the things that happened between him and Mitsunari just now.

It didn't end there. He uncharacteristically panicked, stumbled forward, loses his balance and landed on Mitsuhide, and *Chu*-- 3rd Kiss of the Day.

10 minutes later..

Ieyasu: *Gasp* Mmmf!!

And he vomited at the nearby garden.

Mitsunari: Poor Ieyasu-sama QAQ. He must have been sick.

Mitsuhide: Ah, we have made him pregnant with our child it seems ( ͡^ ͜ʖ ͡^).

Mitsunari: EEEH QAQ??

Hideyoshi: Mitsuhide stop it! That's not how it works OAO!

Nobunaga: Hmm.. But his lips is soft 😏

Mitsuhide: Ah I agree 😏

Mitsunari: Yes, I agree too (*´˘`*)

Ieyasu: Mmmf!!! *3rd wave of vomit*

Meanwhile, Masamune: *Laughs on the floor until he have coughing fit* 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

MC: ....Told you 🙄

[bestworstcase]

farran rereads lost lagoon: chapter 13

- *sigh* dahlia.

- i’ve got to admit, at this point i really just... don’t care. about these characters. my vague memories of thinking this was an alright book but not really my cup of tea and with some very questionable moments wrt to the handling of the saporian issue have morphed pretty rapidly into. i flat out do not like it. there is no aspect of this story that i’m enjoying. the characterization is poor, the plot is falling down, there’s no tension, the prose is passable at best, and i’m getting very tired of reading conversations that feel like they were written by an AI. so i’m going to press pause here, because i don’t want this reread series to just turn into me bitching about the things i don’t like, and do a little autopsy. 

let’s talk about varian and the seven kingdoms for a minute.

for the uninitiated, v7k was a varian-centric tts spinoff comic proposed by a couple of tts storyboarders, which disney chose not to pursue. it was developed as a fan project for a while, fell by the wayside for other projects. semi-recently the plot outline, some worldbuilding notes, and character concepts were all made public and the crew members involved gave the fandom carte blanche to do whatever with it. 

now! the interesting thing about v7k, and the point of this little tangent, is that because much of the development process happened during s1, a lot of the worldbuilding is contradicted directly or indirectly by tts canon and some of the characterization choices feel... incongruous with the way tts s3 ended. i’m not going to get into that too much, but it seems to me that v7k and lost lagoon have a problem in common, and that problem is that they are stories that diverged from the main trunk of the story that inspired them but are still pretending to be canon compliant, to their own detriment.

some of you may remember og bitter snow, which began as a pre-s3 speculative fic about what cassandra might have encountered in the HOYT and spiraled into a kind of cass-centric s3 rewrite... which stalled out about a quarter of the way into the story i had planned because i ran into a similar problem: i was writing a s3 au that was ostensibly canon-compliant for all of s1 and most of s2, but the direction i wanted to take the story just didn’t fit naturally on top of canon s1 and s2... my options were to start retconning things from canon after ~20k words of implying canon compliance, or to force the story i wanted to tell to stay within the boundaries set up by s1 and s2, and i didn’t want to do either of those things, so i stopped and started over completely from scratch with benighted. 

v7k began with the intention of being licensed fanfiction, and lost lagoon is licensed fanfiction, so they both needed the disney stamp of approval, and that meant they couldn’t take the revamp bitter snow approach of going ‘my city now’ and just changing whatever pieces of tts they needed to to make their own stories make sense. they had to fit their stories into the canon framework as best they could while ignoring or glossing over the inconsistencies and pretending it all fit together in a logical way. 

and i think this is why lost lagoon is so very boring. 

lost lagoon is marketed as a prequel to tts s1, but that’s not really what it is. only the first third of the novel actually takes place before tangled: before ever after. the rest of it is supposed to take place in the empty spaces between episodes of s1, and—because this is licensed fanfiction that needs to meet a certain threshold of being plausibly canon compliant—that means it can’t do anything that would meaningfully disrupt the story of s1. the events of lost lagoon cannot be big enough to influence any of the episodes of s1 that take place concurrently. the plot of this book must be absolutely self-contained, or else the thin illusion of canon compliance falls apart. 

hence: rapunzel has no problem keeping the lagoon a secret from everyone, despite her refusal to keep the black rock excursion a secret mere pages later. hence, the ultimate reveal that the secret ‘power’ hidden in the lagoon is that it represents shampanier’s and der sonne’s love. it’s hard to have an interesting plot about intrigue and mysteries and such when you have to tip-toe through a series of light-hearted fluffy character establishing episodes instead of just writing your own story.

so i do have some sympathy for ms howland. i do. i think she probably did the best she could, story-wise, within the restraints that were imposed on her by the existence of tts itself. i would probably write a boring story given those same restraints to. 

*deep breath*

- anyway, cass and rapunzel do market stuff, the dahlia jealousy subplot gets seeded, and then we head to xavier’s, where he shows them some daggers whose key features are being extremely light and able to “cut through armor as though it were paper.”

no 💜

- blah blah they ask xavier about the henge(?), it’s a saporian “ceremony circle,” blah blah. they show him the lost lagoon book and he waxes on about how rare and special it is and how “even those cartographers who made it their life’s mission to chart every inch of this kingdom” couldn’t find the cenote that cass found in a matter of hours because she is just! that! special! gag.

- xavier gives the date of the saporia-corona war as “more than two hundred years ago,” which i am taking to also mean “less than three hundred years ago.” i had actually forgotten that the gave a semi-hard date for all this nonsense so. ha. ha ha. ha. this is fine

- in this telling of the tale, shampanier steals der sonne’s journal with the intention of using the tunnel maps to invade the capital city, but she finds his confession of love at the end (“he was head over heels for this strong, intelligent woman” GAG). frankly this makes a teeny, tiny bit more sense than the story as told in under raps, where shampanier and der sonne duel for hours before she... randomly reads the journal? but then again—if shampanier herself infiltrated the coronan palace to steal herz der sonne’s personal journal, why did she not simply assassinate him in his sleep?

- xavier describes shampanier as “the ruler” of saporia, implying saporia was an autocratic stratocracy. remember this. it will be important later. 

- der sonne and shampanier’s marriage heralded an “era of unity” during which they “joined the countries together to create corona as we know it” and there was an “explosion of romantic poetry” during this time, with the lost lagoon being “one that really captured the people’s imagination.” 

- the only thing i’m going to say about the saporia stuff for the time being that is that if this doesn’t scream conquerer propaganda, i don’t know what does. but we’ll get there, don’t you worry.

- they are interrupted by the entrance of xavier’s assistant, marco, who is so transparently a bad guy that i really can’t do anything but laugh. xavier is like the ancient power is definitely one hundred percent not real and cass immediately bustles rapunzel out of there because she’s annoyed, which is fair, i’m also annoyed. 

- there is a character named monsieur lafleur and i am choosing to believe that this man is tromus, because this book is sorely lacking in the demons department. 

- queen arianna randomly walks in at the end of the chapter to make cassandra nervous and remind us all that cass is worried about her role in the black rock excursion getting out. i resent this scenelet because it reminds me that i could be watching tts instead. i miss tts cass. a lot. but anyway that’s the end of the chapter. 

[daleisgreat]

The Avengers: Endgame

Over the last couple months I finally upgraded to somewhat modern TV and gaming rigs in the form of a 55” Samsung 4KTV and Xbox Series X. I own three 4K UHD discs, but one I already covered a couple years back with my entry of the BluRay version that came bundled with the 4K disc of Die Hard. The other is a two pack of the first two John Wick films, and rest assured those will get their day in the sun here eventually. From my research, the Xbox Series X is not a top shelf 4K BluRay player, at least not at the system’s launch before presumable system software updates, but also sounds like a fairly better quality version of the drive that came in the Xbox One X|S, and also supports upscaling of regular BluRays to 4K. Coincidentally, on top of my movie backlog pile was a movie I absolutely wanted to take advantage of that 4K upscaling and thus here we are with today’s write-up for 2019’s The Avengers: Endgame (trailer). WARNING: Unlike nearly most of my other movie recaps I will be diving into serious spoiler territory ahead. The amount of hype leading up to Endgame was insurmountable. Anthony and Joseph Russo did an astounding job directing the first part in 2018’s Infinity War (read my entry for it here). Both that and Endgame top the three hour mark to squeeze in as many characters, references, periphery side plots and so much more from the previous 21 Marvel Cinematic Universe films that lead up to this finale. By accomplishing just that, both movies are the breeziest three hour viewings I have experienced because the Russo brothers do a commendable job at keeping the scenes flowing and doing their best to give everyone their proper time to shine. The ending of Infinity War saw Thanos (Josh Brolin) deliver the snap heard around the world that vanished half of all life in the entire universe. It was a soul-crushing downer of a cliffhanger to end on, but the post-credits tag hinting at the cry of help for Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) left crowds with a glimmer of hope. This being based around comic books there is the unwritten rule where no one truly stays dead either, so part of the experience going into Endgame was to see how the remaining Avengers plan to bring everybody back. Endgame kicks off with the fresh effects of ‘the snap’ when it starts with Hawkeye’s family all getting dusted from him in the middle of a picnic.

The film transitions to the remaining un-dusted Avengers squad of Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Iron Man (Robert Downer Jr.) floating aimlessly in space until the convenient deus ex machina that is Captain Marvel miraculously tracks them down and hauls them back to Earth. A few weeks Avengers HQ tracks down Thanos on an isolated planet and with Captain Marvel’s power, they anticlimactically kill him off in a brief scene. This was one of the parts of the film that did not sit well with me after building up Thanos as this unrivaled threat in all the previous films, and to have the Avengers cold-bloodedly put him down in quick order seems so……unlike them, but he did off half the universe so I understand how the Russo’s felt justified for filming it that way, but I cannot help that it did not come across right, and could have been handled better. Of course, a more proper Thanos battle would be coming later in the final act thanks to my pet peeve plot device that is…. …TIME TRAVEL!!!! This and alternate dimension traveling I despise and have turned me off to many shows over the years like Lost and CW’s DC shows. The worst of it is indeed present here because meaningful character deaths that happened in Infinity War to Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Gamura (Karen Gillan) become undone and their sacrifices proved for naught. All that griping aside however, I will give the Russo brothers credit because even with those qualms I feel they pull off time travel and have it appear as more than a convenient storytelling method. Again, major props because that is a hell of a hurdle to overcome. The filmmakers go out of their way in a couple scenes to directly call out Back to the Future’s style of time travel bullshit, and have a couple characters ever-so-carefully explain in detail and for the laymen how “real” time travel works.

This is all thanks to a rambunctious rat who inadvertently zaps Ant Man (Paul Rudd) out of the Quantum Realm…after being trapped there five years due to his team being on the end of a dusting before bringing him back. Ant Man deduces upon his return that he is able to undo the dusting through his van-quantum-realm-contraption, and convinces the Avengers to conjure up a plan they cleverly dub the “Time Heist” to travel back to capture all the Infinity Gems Stones before Thanos does. I loved how these scenes played out, and there is a plethora of fan service throughout it as the three squads of Avengers jump to different periods like the final battle of the original Avengers film, and a 1970 military base where Howard Stark (John Slattery) unknowingly meets his son. Plans do not proceed swimmingly to say the least, and past timeline Thanos becomes clued in to their plan and thwarts the Avengers attempt at trying to undo the past in a CG showpiece for the ages with his assault on Avengers HQ. The CG fireworks continue to dazzle for the bulk of the final hour of the film with a climatic showdown between Thanos and his forces against The Avengers and the returning of the dusted Marvel characters. I have seen too many comic book films fail at translating over-the-top comic book action on the silver screen, but the Russo brothers always manage to pull it off. I fondly remember the theater crowd going gaga when Captain America (Chris Evans) summons Mjolnir and wallops Thanos with it. The women of Marvel have another moment to shine together where they collectively team up to kick ass. Moments of levity are brilliantly peppered in throughout the chaos for a much-needed chuckle from the nonstop adrenaline-boosting action. That final battle masterfully builds up to the dramatic sacrifice of Iron Man in the standout emotional scene of the film.

The resulting aftermath was heartwarmingly done here with a pre-recorded farewell from Iron Man, and a collage of nearly all the major and minor MCU characters at Iron Man’s funeral. I believe this is the first MCU film without a post-credits tag, and that is 100% fine by me, because the beginning of the credits is a lovingly crafted tribute to the original Avengers cast done in the fashion of the Original Series cast of Star Trek VI that resonated with me feeling the end of a pivotal era of the MCU that I have been largely enjoying since the original 2008 Iron Man. I usually do not dive into this much detail and spoilers when recapping the movies here, but due to this being the final chapter of this era of the MCU films I could not help myself, and believe me there is so much more I wanted to dive in here on because like I said, the Russo brothers crammed in an incredible amount of narrative into three hours. There is so much ground in here it is impossible for me to recap it all, and that it will in all likelihood be the fastest three hour movie you will ever endure. I did not get a chance to even touch on over-the-hill Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and the hybrid Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo (spoiler: they both killed it!)). Endgame unsurprisingly did major bank at the box office, so I feel safe knowing most of you reading this already watched it by now which is another reason I went all out on the spoilers.

I re-watched the film for this entry a second time with commentary from the Russo brothers, and writers Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, and that greatly helped explain some little tidbits that were easy to miss and/or not fully comprehend in the midst of the three hours. I know this is a little detail, but I want to give props to Marvel for being one of the few companies out there for shelling out resources to caption the commentary track! I exponentially appreciate it more than you know! The commentary helped with understanding why they did not do a lot for Black Widow’s (Scarlett Johansson) aftermath of her death because she has her prequel film set to release. Other notable takeaways from the commentary was how Stark’s “I am Iron Man” line was a last minute addition to the film, giving credit to Star Trek VI as inspiration for their credits sequence, being hopeful for Marvel capitalizing on Falcon donning Cap’s shield and lots of understandable love for the visual effects team for their hard work. Aside from the commentary track, the BluRay has a second disc with just under an hour of bonus material. There is the requisite short, but top-of-the-line gag reel that is standard in most Marvel Studios home videos. There are five minutes of deleted scenes worth a look, with some of them lightheartedly covering up plot holes. Remembering Stan Lee is a touching tribute to Stan, filled with archived interviews from him on his experiences in the cameos, and showing plenty of delightful off-camera interactions with the cast and crew. There are well done character profile pieces for Thor, Black Widow, Captain America and Iron Man, with each one having countless cast and crew state proper kudos to what the actors have done for those characters over the years. If you only have time for one then I recommend Man Out of Time: Creating Captain America, because it goes into a little more detail than the others and Chris Evans has some intriguing introspection from his years with the character. Finally, there are short, but worthwhile pieces on the Russo brothers and the women of the MCU that should not be skipped out on either.

As I mentioned above, the hype building up to Endgame was insurmountable, but Joseph and Anthony Russo overcame the odds and delivered a gratifying conclusion to this era of the MCU. Watching the BluRay upscaled in 4K on a TV about a third bigger than my previous set made it a grander experience too for those showpiece moments. Sure I had quibbles and nitpicks I mentioned above, but by and large those are easily overcome by how much the Russo brothers got it right with this film. I am kicking myself for waiting a year and a half to re-watch it, but picked up on a lot of little things that went right over mine and Drax’s heads the first time out. If you have yet to give The Avengers: Endgame another viewing, then do not hesitate because you will not regret once again taking in this landmark epic that delivered against all odds! Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs 3 12 Angry Men (1957) 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown 21 Jump Street The Accountant Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Atari: Game Over The Avengers: Age of Ultron The Avengers: Infinity War Batman: The Dark Knight Rises Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Bounty Hunters Cabin in the Woods Captain America: Civil War Captain America: The First Avenger Captain America: The Winter Soldier Christmas Eve The Clapper Clash of the Titans (1981) Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special The Condemned 2 Countdown Creed I & II Deck the Halls Detroit Rock City Die Hard Dredd The Eliminators The Equalizer Dirty Work Faster Fast and Furious I-VIII Field of Dreams Fight Club The Fighter For Love of the Game Good Will Hunting Gravity Grunt: The Wrestling Movie Guardians of the Galaxy Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Hell Comes to Frogtown Hercules: Reborn Hitman I Like to Hurt People Indiana Jones 1-4 Ink The Interrogation Interstellar Jay and Silent Bob Reboot Jobs Joy Ride 1-3 Last Action Hero Major League Man of Steel Man on the Moon Man vs Snake Marine 3-6 Merry Friggin Christmas Metallica: Some Kind of Monster Mortal Kombat Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpions Revenge National Treasure National Treasure: Book of Secrets Nintendo Quest Not for Resale Payback (Director’s Cut) Pulp Fiction The Punisher (1989) The Ref The Replacements Reservoir Dogs Rocky I-VIII Running Films Part 1 Running Films Part 2 San Andreas ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery Scott Pilgrim vs the World The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Shoot em Up Slacker Skyscraper Small Town Santa Steve Jobs Source Code Star Trek I-XIII Sully Take Me Home Tonight TMNT The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2 UHF Veronica Mars Vision Quest The War Wild The Wizard Wonder Woman The Wrestler (2008) X-Men: Apocalypse X-Men: Days of Future Past

[carriagelamp]

Book Review - Summer Summary 2020

I didn’t get around to doing an individual post for the books I read in June/July/August, so I decided to choose a dozen that I read over the summer... I’d separate the wheat from the chaff for you so to speak. Though like you’re about to find out, that doesn’t necessarily mean they were all good by any means...

Crave

My girlfriend got this for me to “tide me over until Midnight Sun”. Between you and me, I think she was taking the piss. Anyway, Crave is very... standard fare paranormal YA school romance with the added flare of being written by an adult erotica writer, meaning the rhythm and tone of this novel is fucking bonkers. If you want to read the novel without reading the novel, just take Twilight and the entire Vampire Academy series, shove them in a blend, and force down the sludge you get from that. Normal Average Girl Goes To Secret School In Alaska For Vampire, Werewolves and Dragons. That’s this book. It is so big and so so so bad. I finished it out of spite, please don’t do that to yourself. Unless you are really craving (hurr hurr) some top tier trashy paranormal romance, in which case... no judgment.

The Last Firehawk

The Last Firehawk is a Scholastic “Branches” series, written for beginning readers (grade 1-3ish, depending on the child’s reading level). It has short stories, big text, and awesome pictures on every page. Guys. I unironically am adoring this series. It’s simple and is introducing children to a number of classic elements in the fantasy quest genre, but it is so charming. Friends Tag and Skyla discover a firehawk egg, and species that is supposed to have disappeared long ago. When Blaze hatches from it, the three are tasked with going out and finding the magical ember stone which was hidden long ago by the firehawks and which could be used to defeat the evil vulture Thorn and his dark magic... I read the first two books to second graders who ate it up and read the next four books because I personally wanted to continue the series. If you have young readers in your life (or just want a fun kid adventure) then please try these they’re the literary equivalent of nibbling on a chocolate chip cookie.

Lupin III: World’s Most Wanted #3

All the kind people that still follow my tumblr and haven’t tried to murder me because of my Lupin obsession are not going to be surprised by this one. I finally read one of the manga for this series and honestly I’m delighted. Somehow even hornier than the show, but hilariously funny. I felt like I was reading a more adult version of Spy Vs Spy. It’s a bunch of short, individual bits/adventures with lots of visual gags and an artstyle that is really different and delightful.

River of Teeth / Taste of Marrow (American Hippo series)

I’ve talked about River of Teeth before, but I finally finished the American Hippo duology and need to sing its praise. This is an alternate history series composed of two novellas that explore the question What would have happened if the States had decided to import hippos as livestock...? Anyways, my pitch for you: queer hippo cowboys. That’s all it took for me to read it. You have a gay gunslinger who loves his hippo to death, a nonbinary explosives-expert / poisoner who is the main love interest, a fat con artist who spoils her hippo and is the only voice of reason in this entire series, and a latina mother-to-be who is the scariest assassin in the entire series and is obviously scheming. The four of them are brought together on a job to deal with the Mississippi’s feral hippo problem.

IT’S A QUEER HIPPO COWBOY HEIST NOVEL GUYS I DON’T KNOW WHY I’M STILL TALKING AND YOU HAVEN’T JUST GONE TO READ THIS YET.

Petals to the Metal (The Adventure Zone series)

The graphic novel adaptation to the McElroy family’s DND podcast The Adventure Zone. Most of you are probably aware of this? It’s a great adaptation, it hits all the important beats, shows off the characters really well, and still gets lots of good gags in even while condensing entire arcs into single book stories. This one is probably my favourite so far just because Petals to the Metal was one of my favourite arcs in the show... but you can also see how the art has improved and the chaos of the race is fun to see drawn out.

If you like The Adventure Zone but haven’t tried the graphic novels yet -- would recommend! If you’ve always wanted to listen to The Adventure Zone but don’t have time for such a long series or struggle to focus on podcasts then pick up the first book of this series (Here There Be Gerblins) and try reading it! It really is an enjoyable adaptation.

Pony to the Rescue (Pony Pals series)

I continued my April/May theme of reading old-school chapter book series to combat Covid Brain Fry, so I picked up a few Pony Pals books. I read these as a kid and always enjoy them -- there’s just something so appealing to a child about having a horse. It gives your child characters a level of independence and ability to explore that you wouldn’t get otherwise. These books definitely read young, but they were nostalgic to revisit.

Small Spaces

A really cool middle grade horror novel I picked up. Maybe it’s because I live around a lot of corn fields, but farm/scarecrow themed horror absolutely does it for me. One evening, after seeing a woman try to destroy a strange, old book, eleven year old Ollie doesn’t stop to think, instead stealing the book and running. That’s how she becomes wrapped up in the strange, sinister story of a cursed family and creature called the Smiling Man that seems to live out in the foggy fields. While unsettling, Ollie tries to remind herself that it’s just a story... but this becomes more challenging when her school bus breaks down one day out their own set of fields, and a fog is rolling in...

“Avoid large spaces. Stick to small.”

Snot Girl #1 - #2

A Canadian graphic novel series by the creator of the Scott Pilgrim series! I love his work so I decided to give Snotgirl a try, even though it’s not generally my genre. I’m glad I did! First book took a while for me to get into, but by the time I hit the second I was really wrapped up in the mystery and character development. Snotgirl is about Lottie, a self-consumed fashion blogger whose biggest struggles are dealing with her allergies, frustration with her fellow-blogger friends, and how entirely her self-esteem is tied to her “beauty” and how people view her. But everything shifts in strange and horrifying ways when Lottie starts taking a new allergy medication, meets a new friend... and then witnesses that girl’s death. Or does she?

Seriously, or does she? I have no idea, I need to read the third book. This book is full of intrigue, complicated relationships, murder (or not?), and a healthy dose of magical realism to keep you guessing. If you like slice-of-life, crime, and abstract reality then this series is world a try. Plus the art is gorgeous.

Summer Wars #1 - #2

I recently rewatched Summer Wars (still one of my favourite movies) and decided to read the two-book manga adaptation. It was a really neat little adaptation. The creator of the movie gave the writer free range to tweak things to fit better in a manga format, which means some movie elements were allowed to fade into the background, whereas other aspects were fulled into the forefront and fleshed out to a greater degree. It was very cool, it kept the same story but gave you new things to think about which I wasn’t expecting. Reading this as a stand alone works just fine, but honestly if you’ve never watched the movie Summer Wars you should give it a try! It’s a great mix of slice-of-life, sprawling family dynamics that I relate to a little too well, cyber adventures, and fantasy. Super feel good.

This One Summer

Okay, last graphic novel, I swear. This One Summer was... weird and intense. It’s a coming-of-age Canadian graphic novel that follows a pair of pre-teens who meet up like they do every year at their family’s summer cottages. You see them both in the awkward phases between childhood and growing up to become teenagers, as they’re confronted with things like maturity, friendship, self-esteem, family problems, and sexuality. A beautiful read, but probably the heaviest out of all the books on my list.

Wild Thornberrys Novelization

I rewatched The Wild Thornberrys movie with my girlfriend earlier this year, and decided I wanted to hunt down the chapter book novelization because I’m kind of a sucker for novelizations. Honestly, this was about what you would expect from the era. 90s/00s novelizations, especially young novelizations, are generally just a transcript of the movie without much thought or effort put into them to make them anything but. That’s what this was. It was fine, and it really let me revisualize the entire movie, but honestly you’re probably better off just rewatching the movie unless you also really deeply love The Wild Thornberrys.

The Willoughbys

I saw that Netflix had done a funky looking adaptation of The Willoughbys and I decided I needed to read the book first before watching the movie. This was a little bizarre, I’m still not sure how I feel about it. Over all, I think it was a net-positive experience. It’s an obvious satire on classic children’s novels, especially the likes of Mary Poppins (real Mary Poppins, not the Disney version) and while a little heavy-handed, it does a Series of Unfortunate Events vibe that redeems it. The story is about a group of horrible children (The Ruthless Willoughbys) who decide they are sick of their parents and would rather become Worth Orphans... and to do that, they’re going to have to dispose of their inconvenient parents, obviously. Conveniently their parents are also sick of having children and decide to do away with them as well. The Willoughbys sets up three (or four?) different subplots that are gradually woven together through a series of schemes and exploits. It’s definitely more ruthless (hurr hurr) than the Netflix version, which tried to make the children more sympathetic, and in some ways I think that’s a definite point in the novel’s favour. I’m not sure I would go out of my way to recommend it, but it was a fun romp if you want something short and off the wall (and a lot more fleshed out than the Netflix version).