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loopy777 · 3 years

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Non-Review: Free Comic Book Day 2021 - The Legend of Korra (Also Featuring Avatar: The Last Airbender)

With all the hype around 'Suki Alone,' it looks to me like most of the fandom missed that an additional Avatar comic with a story from each cartoon's era was just released for Free Comic Book Day. You can read them for yourself on either Dark Horse Digital or Comixology where it's mislabeled as being for ages 17+ (free accounts are required for both), but I'm sure one of the reasons you all love me is because of my willingness to jump in between you and these comics like the deadly bullets they can be. Well, I'm happy to die (metaphorically) for the sake of (a little anonymous internet) love, so I'm doing a full snarky review for each ten-page story. Also, I'm bored, and it's more fun to make fun of mediocre stuff than to praise stuff I like.

It's time for me to review "Free Comic Book Day 2021 - The Legend of Korra (Also Featuring Avatar: The Last Airbender)" or more specifically "The Legend of Korra: Clearing the Air" and "Avatar: The Last Airbender: Matcha Makers."

CLEARING THE AIR

The cover makes this look like a story about Jinora and Ikki having a sibling conflict. That's a lie. The Air Sisters arguing is merely the inciting incident for Tenzin telling a story of his youth. I should note that, as inconsequential as the Air Sisters stuff is, it's actually written very well because it posits Ikki as a victim of circumstance and Jinora as a bully who terrorizes her little sister with threats of getting thrown in jail by Metalbenders for an accident, cementing the characterization from the cartoon. This is not sarcasm. I really do think Jinora is presented by LoK as a Holier Than Thou little snot who just so happened to be naturally gifted with magic spirit-powers, but for some reason the rest of the fandom doesn't agree with me.

Anyway, Tenzin comes in to find the arguing (and Meelo just running amok for the fun of it and so far these characterizations are perfect), and rather than telling Jinora to shut her stupid face, he delivers a tale of his youth about conflict resolution.

So the meat of the story is how, when Tenzin was "a few years older" than Jinora, a pair of vandals got onto Air Temple Island and burned some graffiti into the spinning-panel things that Korra will destroy out of frustration during her Airbending training. Literally, the vandals are depicted as scorching the wood with enough smoke to be seen across a plaza. Tenzin goes after the vandals and they flee across the bay back to Republic City proper (one of the vandals is a Waterbender with a surf-plank). Tenzin pursues, catches them, and attacks them hard enough to smash some dockside crates. They are all then arrested by Metalbenders and dragged before Chief Toph. She's going to let Tenzin go (yay Toph!) and throw the vandals in jail (YAY TOPH!) and makes this face, and this entire comic is worth it:

However, Aang arrives and instead arranges to forgo the jail-time in favor of an Air Nomad Conflict Resolution Ceremony. This is nice and in-character, but I'm totally with Tenzin that these vandals should have been thrown in jail. They literally burned insulting graffiti into antiques from a genocided culture. But instead, Aang demonstrates conflict resolution by having Tenzin explain why he's hurt and what needs to be done to redress the wrong. And so the vandals help Tenzin scrub the graffiti off the panels with water and rags and mops- how, I don't know, since they were literally burned.

They also do a ceremony thing where they each take turns bending their element into a central space between them to 'clear the air' (GET IT GET IT HA HA IT'S ALMOST LIKE A PUN BUT NOT), so it's a good thing they were all Benders because this is kinda racist. This fixes all the problems and everyone is friends. Yay!

In the present, though, things are not so nice, because Tenzin's kids are still screaming at and provoking each other. Korra comes in with Asami at the end to ask what's going on, and Asami says nothing, so I still think everyone is characterized with perfect consistency with the cartoon.

I made this sound silly, but (aside from the spinny-panels getting cleaned with a little water and elbow-grease, which doesn't matter because Korra will eventually blow them all up anyway), I actually like this one. It has Tenzin demonstrate how much he's always had to work to be the Perfect Air Monk that everyone expects him to be, and Aang acknowledges how this is unfair but that Tenzin will never let him down no matter what. It also has Katara come in at the end (for just one line, boo!) to acknowledge that this was an especially easy little conflict for Tenzin to practice on and he'll eventually face worse. I found it a nice adult moment in a story that's otherwise clearly aimed at 8-year-olds.

The art is good. It's simpler than the LoK cartoon, with flat colors, but it captures the story and has enough liveliness for everyone's character to come across in their look and body-language. The brief action-sequence where Tenzin attacks the vandals is well done, moving quickly but showing the full flow of the fight and every move Tenzin makes.

MATCHA MAKERS

Apparently, "Matcha is finely ground powder of specially grown and processed green tea leaves, traditionally consumed in East Asia" according to Wikipedia. I had to look that up. I'm curious how many people understood the full reference in the title, especially since these comics are aimed at kids too young to be allowed on the internet.

This is a very simple story about Iroh in his tea-shop in Ba Sing Se. He has an assistant/waitress named Feng, a new character who wears glasses, ruining the hopes and dreams of all the fanfic-writers who were so sure he'd rescue Jin from the Lower Ring. A frequent patron of the tea shop is an elegant, older lady (very clearly Upper Ring material) named Li-Mei, who cannot go a single panel without giving Iroh a HEY BIG BOY look. She is very clearly smitten. Also, I feel the need to clarify that she knows his name is Iroh, so apparently Ba Sing Se is okay with the Dragon of the West serving tea to their wealthy. I don't say that as a criticism, I'm just noting it.

That night, Iroh meets up with his friends- the Pokemon-style spirits that we saw in Legend of Korra. (I don't know if they're the actual spirits from LoK, or just new spirits in the same style. This is because I would sooner grind matcha into my eyes than rewatch Book Spirits.) He serves them his special blend of tea and talks about how he's totally into Li-Mei but isn't going to pursue it because he's feeling old and doesn't want to take a risk. At this point, I could stop describing the plot because between the title and what I've said so far, I'm sure you could figure out every single plot beat that will follow.

The next day, the spirits trip Feng so that she drops Li-Mei's tea and Iroh needs to bring a replacement, and they've drawn hearts on top of the replacement tea with foam or sugar or milk or whatever. I don't know because I've never bought tea in a place that will even put the bag in the hot water for me. Iroh gets out of the situation without starting any love-affairs and runs into the back to tell the spirits to knock it off, dudes, they're totally embarrassing him! The spirits respond by giving him a flyer for a romantic restaurant. I don't know how they got it, so I can only assume that some Upper Ringer had their mail diverted.

Iroh refuses, so when Li-Mei orders more tea and he brings it to her, the spirits hover just out of her sight and threaten to smash the furniture. I am not making that up. They literally threaten to smash Iroh's furniture unless he asks the lady out. He submits to their tyrannical threats, Li-Mei happily accepts the date, he happily accepts her acceptance, and the story comes to a close. Iroh thanks his spirits friends for opening him up to new experience, but hopes that next time (so I guess Iroh is signing up for Tinder after this?) they won't threaten his shop.

At best, I can describe this story as 'harmless.' But it's been a long week and I just got a bunch more extra work at my day job that I really don't want to do, so I'm going to go ahead and call this story 'dumb.' It's rote, leans towards humor without actually being funny at all, and turns the spirits of the setting into Pokemon. And not even the cool dragon kind.

The art is strangely stiff. The coloring is soft and nice, but the drawings seems more 'assembled' than actually drawn. I swear there are even a few panels that reminded me of 'How I Became Yours' with janky poses, horrifying expressions, and just enough resemblance to the original cartoon to make me think a screenshot was partially traced and then ruined. (I'm not accusing the artist of tracing, BTW. I wouldn't even condemn the artist for tracing if they did. I'm just describing that HIBY feeling I got.) It was so stiff that rather than hear Iroh's dialogue in Mako's rich tones, I instead imagined Greg Baldwin doing a stiff Mako-impression with no naturalism to the delivery.

This story is definitely worthy of its "Also Featuring" billing. I'd rate it below Gene Yang's Mai and Suki FCBD short stories, but above everything else he wrote for Avatar.

So there you go. Overall, this is very middle-of-the-pack for Avatar FCBD stuff. It's very much of the nature of the 'Team Avatar Tales' stuff, and I wouldn't be surprised if the Iroh story was a leftover from that project. On Free Comic Book Day, you often get what you pay for.

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finnofamerica · 4 years

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Oh A Little Bit (Every Day) - Bofur x Reader

Summary: Not used to recieving compliments, you shy away from the company’s attempts at kindness. Bofur makes it his quest to prove to you that you are worthy of the compliments they award you.

Word Count: 1,185

Date Posted: 04.26.2020

Note: It’s been a long time since I last wrote for The Hobbit and I went and rewatched the movies to refamiliarize myself with the characters, so while this is fast paced and seems kinda short I hope I did Bofur the justice that he deserves.

|| Masterlist || Requested by @on-my-way-to-erebor

You were torn as everyone set up camp for the night. The dwarves treated you so different than anybody in the Shire. You were a half breed dwarf-hobbit, and many hobbits from the Shire did not like that in the slightest, just how they rejected Took blood. Bilbo, your cousin’s cousin, was the only hobbit who treated you with any sort of kindness. The rest of them treated you like the scum of the earth. There were plenty of rumors floating across the valley that you had been a bastard product of rape and violence, but in reality, your father loved your mother. He loved her to death, and he gave his life to protect you and her from an orc raid. Your mother died of heartbreak short thereafter.

You happened to be sitting down to dinner at Bilbo’s when the dwarves arrived, delighting in running amok in their unwilling host’s household. The dwarves took a liking to you, treating you like a lady - something you weren’t used to from anyone other than Bilbo and it made you uncomfortable at first.

Now you were sitting next to the fire, listening to the spirited dwarves tell their stories as you watched Bombur cook and fiddling with the bead that hung around your neck. Bofur had given you one of his cloaks seeing as you didn’t have one, you frowned at that, but accepted his gift. Every time they treated you nicely you wanted to curl up and hide.

“Lass, can I talk to ya for a minute?” Bofur asked, holding two bowls of stew in his hands, indicating the edge of camp with a nod of his head. You stood, following him just beyond the light of the fire and out of earshot.

“Is there something wrong Bofur?” You tilted your head to the side in question.

“I think that’s something I should be asking you, Lass,” Bofur handed you the bowl with a smile, “Why do you shy away from us?”

You scratched your arm nervously, not really sure how to tell him the truth, "I - I don't really get compliments. Most people in the shire consider me the scum of the earth. Nothing more than a dirty half-breed. You guys are so nice to me, I'm not really sure how to deal with it."

"Oh, lass," Bofur set down his bowl, taking your free hand, "You're beautiful, y'know that? Those other Hobbits were wrong, I've seen you stand bravely against trolls, and mountain giants, and goblins, and orcs! You're braver and more worthy than the lot of them and if you can't see that, I'm gonna prove it to you."

"Bofur, no, you really don't-"

"Too late, I've decided." He smiled at you. "By the end of this journey, you'll see your beauty too."

"Bofur!"

"Eat up, Lass. Rest well. We have an early day tomorrow." Bofur tucked a bit of hair behind your ear and returned to the heat of the fire.

You stood next to Bofur on Erebor's wall, watching as the armies marched on the valley below. Good men, dwarves, and elves fighting orcs that wanted the mountain.

"This is wrong," you whispered to him.

"I know lass, but what can we do? He is our king." Bofur took your hand for a moment. "We have to trust that he will do the right thing."

"We can't sit by and watch innocent men fight a fight that isn't theirs."

"It's Thorin's decision. Dwalin is handling it."

You frowned. "If he chooses to hide in his hole, I will join the fight without him, and without you. I will not ask you to betray your king."

"Y/n, I know Thorin will do the right thing. Give him time."

You watched the battle with a wary eye until Thorin approached everyone with his apologies and his decision.

"Y/n," Bofur turned to you, a look in his eye that you'd rarely seen. "When we make it out of this, I want to put a braid in your hair."

Though that wasn't as romantic as he wished, you knew what he meant. He was offering you courtship.

"Only if I put one in yours." You squeezed his hand. He smiled at you and ran to follow his king into battle.

You lost Bofur on the battlefield, but you knew Thorin and followed him to Raven's Hill. You fought hard for the dwarf king, being the blade to save his life and the lives of his nephews. And on Raven's Hill, you sat tired, unsure of what had become of Bofur. God, you hoped he was alive. Every day of your long journey, he'd said a nice thing to convince you that you are beautiful and worthy of being loved and complimented. Bilbo sat next to you, tired and not quite ready to make his way back to the mountain.

"Bilbo."

"Yes."

"Bofur offered me a courtship, and I intend to take it if he's still alive."

"Are you asking for my blessing?"

"You're my cousin. You're the only family I have. Yes, I'm asking for your blessing, but I will accept his commitment with or without it." You said to him.

"Relax, he's a good man. And there's no use waiting up here. Let's go let him know you're alive." Bilbo stood, leading you back down Raven's Hill.

Bofur was pacing anxiously at the front wall of Erebor. He'd asked all the dwarves that had returned if they'd seen you and all he'd gotten was no. He'd searched the corpses and couldn't find you among them. He could only hope that you were alive.

"Bo!"

He turned at the sound of your voice, running as fast at you as you were at him.

"Oh, Amralimé, you're alive," he pulled you close to him, neither of you cared about the pain of your wounds. You held him tightly, glad to be with the one you loved. Bofur dug in his pocket, producing a bead.

"I carved this for you the night I made my promise to you. That I would make you see your beauty. You are beautiful, My Little Warrior.” He cupped your bruised cheek. He grabbed a section of your hair from behind your ear, braiding it with skillful hands. You didn’t have a courtship bead for him, and how you wished you did. What you did have was a token given to you by your mother. You slipped the bead off the string you wore.

“I know I didn’t carve it, Bo, but it’s the last thing I have of my parents. My father carved it for my mother, and I’d be glad to see you wear it.” You showed him the little bead, within it an intricately carved sunflower. Bofur smiled at you gently, taking off his hat to give you access to his hair. Carefully you braided a stand, slipping the bead on with gentle care.

He brushed his dirty thumb over your cheek, almost in disbelief that you even agreed to court him. He could’ve lost you in battle today, and silently he vowed to never lose you.

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#bofur x reader #the hobbit x reader #finn writes #full leng #4/26/2020

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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The Star Trek: The Original Series Episodes That Best Define the Franchise

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By the time my generation got to watch Star Trek: The Original Series, the episodes often were being presented in top-ten marathons. When I was ten-years-old, for the 25th Anniversary of Star Trek, I tape-recorded a marathon of ten episodes that had all been voted by fans as the best-ever installments of The Original Series. Later, I got lucky and found Trek stickers at the grocery store and was able to label my VHS tapes correctly. But do I think all the episodes that were in that marathon back in 1991 were really the best episodes of all of the classic Star Trek? The short answer: no. Although I love nearly every episode of the first 79 installments of Star Trek, I do think that certain lists have been created by what we think should be on the list rather than what episodes really best represent the classic show.

This is a long-winded way of saying, no, I didn’t include “Amok Time” or “The Menagerie” on this list because, as great as they are, I don’t think they really represent the greatest hits of the series. Also, if you’ve never watched TOS, I think those two episodes will throw you off cause you’ll assume Spock is always losing his mind or trying to steal the ship. If you’ve never watched TOS, or you feel like rewatching it with fresh eyes, I feel pretty strong that these 10 episodes are not only wonderful, but that they best represent what the entire series is really about. Given this metric, my choice for the best episode of TOS may surprise you…

10. “The Man Trap”

The first Star Trek ever episode aired should not be the first episode you watch. And yet, you should watch it at some point. The goofy premise concerns an alien with shaggy dog fur, suckers on its hand, and a face like a terrifying deep-sea fish. This alien is also a salt vampire that uses telepathy that effectively also makes it a shapeshifter. It’s all so specifically bonkers that trying to rip-off this trope would be nuts. Written by science fiction legend George Clayton Johnson (one half of Logan’s Run authorship) “The Man Trap” still slaps, and not because Spock (Leonard Nimoy) tries to slap the alien. Back in the early Season 1 episodes of Star Trek, the “supporting” players like Uhura and Sulu are actually doing stuff in the episode. We all talk about Kirk crying out in pain when the M-113 creature puts those suckers on his face, but the real scene to watch is when Uhura starts speaking Swahili. The casual way Uhura and Sulu are just their lovable selves in this episode is part of why we just can’t quit the classic Star Trek to this day. Plus, the fact that the story is technically centered on Bones gives the episode some gravitas and oomph. You will believe an old country doctor thinks that salt vampire is Nancy! (Spoiler alert: It’s not Nancy.)

9. “Let that Be Your Last Battlefield”

There are two episodes everyone always likes to bring up when discussing the ways in which Star Trek changed the game for the better in pop culture’s discourse on racism: “Plato’s Stepchildren” and this episode, “Let that Be Your Last Battlefield.” The former episode is famous because Kirk and Uhura kiss, which is sometimes considered the first interracial kiss on an American TV show. (British TV shows had a few of those before Star Trek, though.) But “Plato’s Stepchildren” is not a great episode, and Kirk and Uhura were also manipulated to kiss by telepaths. So, no, I’m not crazy about “Plato’s Stepchildren.” Uhura being forced to kiss a white dude isn’t great.

But “Let that Be Your Last Battlefield,” oddly holds up. Yep. This is the one about space racism where the Riddler from the ‘60s Batman (Frank Gorshin) looks like a black-and-white cookie. Is this episode cheesy? Is it hard to take most of it seriously? Is it weird that Bele (Frank Gorshin) didn’t have a spaceship because the budget was so low at that time? Yes. Is the entire episode dated, and sometimes borderline offensive even though its heart is in the right place? Yes. Does the ending of the episode still work? You bet it does. If you’re going to watch OG Star Trek and skip this episode, you’re kind of missing out on just how charmingly heavy-handed the series could get. “Let that Be Your Last Battlefield” is like a ‘60s after-school special about racism, but they were high while they were writing it.

8. “Arena”

You’re gonna try to list the best episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series and not list the episode where Kirk fights a lizard wearing gold dress-tunic? The most amazing thing about “Arena” is that it’s a Season 1 episode of The Original Series and somehow everyone involved in making TOS had enough restraint not to ever try to use this Gorn costume again. They didn’t throw it away either! This famous rubber lizard was built by Wah Chang and is currently owned by none other than Ben Stiller.

So, here’s the thing about “Arena” that makes it a great episode of Star Trek, or any TV series with a lizard person. Kirk refuses to kill the Gorn even though he could have, and Star Trek refused to put a lizard costume in a bunch of episodes later, even though they totally could have. Gold stars all around.

7. “Balance of Terror”

The fact that Star Trek managed to introduce a race of aliens that looked exactly like Spock, and not confuse its viewership is amazing. On top of that, the fact that this detail isn’t exactly the entire focus of the episode is equally impressive. The notion that the Romulans look like Vulcans is a great twist in The Original Series, and decades upon decades of seeing Romulans has probably dulled the novelty ever so slightly. But, the idea that there was a brutally cold and efficient version of the Vulcans flying around in invisible ships blowing shit up is not only cool, but smart.

“Balance of Terror” made the Romulans the best villains of Star Trek because their villainy felt personal. Most Romulan stories in TNG, DS9, and Picard are pretty damn good and they all start right here.

6. “Space Seed”

Khaaaan!!!! Although The Wrath of Khan is infinitely more famous than the episode from which it came, “Space Seed” is one of the best episodes of The Original Series even if it hadn’t been the progenitor of that famous film. In this episode, the worst human villain the Enterprise can encounter doesn’t come from the present, but instead, the past. Even though “Space Seed” isn’t considered a very thoughtful episode and Khan is a straight-up gaslighter, the larger point here is that Khan’s evilness is connected to the fact that he lived on a version of Earth closer to our own.

The episode’s coda is also amazing and speaks of just how interesting Captain Kirk really is. After Khan beat the shit out of him and tried to suffocate the entire Enterprise crew, Kirk’s like “Yeah, this guy just needs a long camping trip.”

5. “A Piece of the Action”

A few years back, Saturday Night Live did a Star Trek sketch in which it was revealed that Spock had a relative named “Spocko.” This sketch was tragically unfunny because TOS had already made the “Spocko” joke a million times better in “A Piece of the Action.” When you describe the premise of this episode to someone who has never seen it or even heard of it, it sounds like you’re making it up. Kirk, Spock, and Bones are tasked with cleaning-up a planet full of old-timey mobsters who use phrases like “put the bag on you.” Not only is the episode hilarious, but it also demonstrates the range of what Star Trek can do as an emerging type of pop-art. In “A Piece of the Action,” Star Trek begins asking questions about genres that nobody ever dreamed of before. Such as, “what if we did an old-timey gangster movie, but there’s a spaceship involved?”

4. “Devil in the Dark”

When I was a kid, my sister and I called this episode, “the one with giant pizza.” Today, it’s one of those episodes of Star Trek that people tell you defines the entire franchise. They’re not wrong, particularly because we’re just talking about The Original Series. The legacy of this episode is beyond brilliant and set-up a wonderful tradition within the rest of the franchise; a monster story is almost never a monster story

The ending of this episode is so good, and Leonard Nimoy and Shatner play the final scenes so well that I’m actually not sure it’s cool to reveal what the big twist is. If you somehow don’t know, I’ll just say this. You can’t imagine Chris Pratt’s friendly Velicrapotrs, or Ripper on Discovery without the Horta getting their first.

3. “The Corbomite Maneuver”

If there’s one episode on this list that truly represents what Star Trek is usually all about on a plot level, it’s this one. After the first two pilot episodes —“Where No Man Has Gone Before” and “The Cage”—this was the first regular episode filmed. It’s the first episode with Uhura and, in almost every single way, a great way to actually explain who all these characters are and what the hell they’re doing. The episode begins with Spock saying something is “fascinating” and then, after the opening credits, calling Kirk, who is down in sickbay with his shirt off. Bones gives Kirk shit about not having done his physical in a while, and Kirk wanders through the halls of the episode without his shirt, just kind of holding his boots.

That’s just the first like 5 minutes. It just gets better and better from there. Like a good bottle of tranya, this episode only improves with time. And if you think it’s cheesy and the big reveal bizarre, then I’m going to say, you’re not going to like the rest of Star Trek.

2. “The City on the Edge of Forever”

No more blah blah blah! Sorry, wrong episode. Still, you’ve heard about “The City on the Edge of Forever.” You’ve heard it’s a great time travel episode. You’ve heard Harlan Ellison was pissed about how the script turned out. You heard that Ron Moore really wanted to bring back Edith Keeler for Star Trek Generations. (Okay, maybe you haven’t heard that, but he did.)

Everything you’ve heard about this episode is correct. There’s some stuff that will make any sensible person roll their eyes today, but the overall feeling of this episode is unparalleled. Time travel stories are always popular, but Star Trek has never really done a time travel story this good ever again. The edge of forever will always be just out of reach.

1. “A Taste of Armageddon”

Plot twist! This excellent episode of TOS almost never makes it on top ten lists. Until now! If you blink, “A Taste of Armageddon” could resemble at least a dozen other episodes of TOS. Kirk and Spock are trapped without their communicators. The crew has to overpower some guards to get to some central computer hub and blow it up. Scotty is in command with Kirk on the surface and is just kind of scowling the whole time. Kirk is giving big speeches about how humanity is great because it’s so deeply flawed.

What makes this episode fantastic is that all of these elements come together thanks to a simplistic science fiction premise: What if a society eliminated violence but retained murder? What if hatred was still encouraged, but war was automated? Star Trek’s best moments were often direct allegories about things that were actually happening, but what makes “A Taste of Armageddon” so great is that this metaphor reached for something that could happen. Kirk’s solution to this problem is a non-solution, which makes the episode even better. At its best classic Star Trek wasn’t just presenting a social problem and then telling us how to fix it. Sometimes it was saying something more interesting — what if the problem gets even harder? What do we do then?

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The humor and bombast of “A Taste of Armageddon” is part of the answer to that unspoken question, but there’s also a clever lesson about making smaller philosophical decisions. In Star Wars, people are always trying to rid themselves of the dark side of the Force. In Star Trek, Kirk just teaches us to say, “Hey I won’t be a terrible person, today” and then just see how many days we can go in a row being like that.

What do you think are the most franchise-defining episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series? Let us know in the comments below.

The post The Star Trek: The Original Series Episodes That Best Define the Franchise appeared first on Den of Geek.

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bxdcubes · 4 years

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“I’m a loyal subscriber!” “... Im deleting the account.” Stoyd? Stiles somehow finds Boyd’s YouTube channel where he reviews comics?

I’m sorry because it’s been ages. But at first, I really didn’t know if I would find an idea for this. I hope you like it!

Stiles found Boyd’s channel by an accident. He was on an anxiety-fuelled internet bender looking for a distraction and fluctuating from one interest to another when he saw the cover of one of his favorite Iron Man comics on a thumbnail for a YouTube video.

He wasn’t quite sure what he expected from the video itself, but within three minutes he got completely hooked and the sole reason for it was the YouTuber behind it. Boyd reviewed comics, something he seemed to be doing on and off for a year, judging from his channel page, and he did so with wit and a kind of dry, sometimes dark humor that Stiles really appreciated.

Boyd was also ridiculously handsome and Stiles might have had to rewind some videos a few (dozen) times, feeling at times absolutely devastated by how beautiful Boyd’s smile was.

He watched all of the videos on Boyd’s channel in the span of three days and honestly, it was the best not-sleep he had in a while. It also meant that he spent the remainder of his week off work rewatching his favorites, sometimes playing them in the background as he cooked or cleaned his apartment.

It was just that Boyd’s voice had a soothing quality to it and focusing on it, being now familiar with the videos, helped Stiles to settle his mind when his thought threatened to run amok. It was just like rewatching his favorite show with the difference of Boyd being an actual real person.

Stiles didn’t even mind that much that Boyd seemed to have abandoned his comic reviewing carrier a few months back and there didn’t seem to be going to be any new uploads.

It didn’t stop him from commenting on every single video one night, thanking Boyd for his work and helping Stiles take his mind off life in general. It just seemed like the thing to do even if immediately after Stiles got embarrassed at how overzealous some of it might have sounded and spend a whole day anxiously awaiting any notifications that might pop up.

But nothing of the like happened, Stiles’ week off ended and he got back to his job at the bookstore just as tired as he felt last week.

He got welcomed by a friendly slap on the back from Erica and the order to shelve their latest shipment of books. So Monday as usual.

Only when Stiles stopped at the comic section of the bookstore he almost lost his grip on the box of comics he was holding because right there next to the display stood Boyd.

And Stiles did feel like an absolute creep right then, recognizing Boyd solely by the shape of his ears, Boyd’s profile and what he gleaned from the videos to be Boyd’s favorite hoodie since Boyd wasn’t even facing Stiles.

He didn’t know why he did it, maybe he just wanted to see if it really was him, if he was as handsome in real life as on camera, if his smile would have the same quality to it, if his smile would be just as sweet. But, feeling absolutely weirded out and strangely excited, he approached Boyd.

“Hi,” he said, a little shakily, “Can I help you with anything?”

Boyd looked at him then, smiling politely, and it was him, Stiles would recognize him anywhere, so Boyd’s “Thanks, I’m just browsing.” didn’t put Stiles off in any way.

His mouth though seemed to have gained a mind of its own because in the next moment he just blurted out, “I’m a loyal subscriber.”

Immediately, he could feel his face heating up in embarrassment, and Boyd’s obvious surprise only made it worse.

“... I’m deleting the account.”

Scratch that, what Boyd just said was the absolute worst.

“What? No!” Stiles exclaimed, then cringed at himself. He finally put the box he was holding on the floor because he was only making the situation worse and the box was in the way, “Sorry, I mean, please don’t delete it. I know this is probably very weird to you and I’m creeping you out, but if nothing else, please don’t delete the videos. They’ve been a great way to help me deal with anxiety lately and yeah, it’s your channel and you can do with it what you want and an absolute stranger like me really shouldn’t be telling you what you’re doing, but please?”

Boyd stared at Stiles for a long moment, his eyes roaming over Stiles’ face, cataloging his desperation probably, before finally saying, “Okay.”

Stiles sighed in relief, “Thank you.”

“But only because you’re really cute,” Boyd said, smiling and Stiles’ face felt so hot it might actually fry some eggs.

“Oh, um. Thanks?”

“Look, this might be a bit forward,” Boyd continued and he looked a little shy then, “But you’ll probably admit this whole meeting is weird, so maybe you wouldn’t mind getting a coffee with me sometime?”

“Yes!” Stiles exclaimed, then backtracked, “I mean, I wouldn’t mind getting a coffee with you, in fact, I would like that, a lot.”

The way Boyd smiled at that surely made better men than Stiles weak in the knees. And as weird as their first meeting was it made for a great video a few weeks later when Stiles got to be a part of the renewed and rebranded comic review videos on Boyd’s channel.

#stoyd #boydstiles #mar writes #mssmartian #anonymous

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bigdreamsandwildthings · 5 years

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Review: Slayer (Kiersten White, Slayer #1)

Rating: ★★★★★/5

"It's different when you're the one with the power. The choices are so much harder and so much more important. What would Buffy do? She'd charge in and figure this all out with fists and sheer force of will. If people didn't believe in her, she would make them. And she wouldn't stop until she beat back anyone who threatened the ones she loved." I absolutely loved this. I was late to the Buffy train - meaning I only binge watched the series for the first time in 2014, and have only rewatched it twice or fifteen times since then - but I connect with the TV show and its characters on a deep, soul level. When I learned that Kiersten White was set to write a YA Buffy series I almost cried from the anticipation alone. One of my favourite authors tackling one of my favourite universes? How could it be anything less than perfection? Answer: it couldn't be. This book is all that I could have hoped for. It's laugh-out-loud funny, emotional as hell, and real in a way Kiersten's books always are. Nina (Athena) and Artemis are Watchers. Their father was Buffy's first Watcher who was killed in the line of duty, and their emotionally distant mother has dropped them into what was once a Watcher academy of sorts - until Buffy went and destroyed the Seed of Wonder, leaving the Watchers decimated and too many Slayers running amok all over the world. What follows is a glorious blend of traditional Buffy lore, with demons and vampires and all the goodness that comes with them as Nina battles her own expectations of what Slayers and Watchers do and who they are, who she believes she is, and who everyone expects her to be. From the very first page, I knew this was exactly what I wanted it to be. It's light and fun, with just enough snark to keep me giggling and feeling lighthearted throughout the story. There was a Coldplay joke that actually made me go HAH out loud and then slap a hand over my mouth because the rest of my house was sleeping and it was way too loud for how late at night it was. Kiersten is the absolute master of making you care about her characters, and this is no exception; everyone here is so fleshed out and wonderful. Doug is someone I will not soon forget, and not just because he's neon yellow and a demon but because he was just...wonderful. I'm using that word a lot, but it really does sum up how I feel about this world and about these characters. And that final plot twist in the last few pages? BRILLIANT. This felt like coming home. Like stepping into a familiar world and having it handled so perfectly that you just know that the author is just as much of a fan of this universe as you are. I enjoyed the ride so goddamn much that I forgot I had to go live in reality after I closed the book. I already eagerly await anything Kiersten writes, but I will be the first in line for the next Buffy book. If I don't break down the bookstore doors to get it before then (shh, don't tell them...).

#booklr #book photography #slayer #kiersten white #ya fiction #ya paranormal #ya urban fantasy #book community #bookworm #bibliophile #my photos #my reviews #mine

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