#but i guess anime characters are like more similar to the protagonists of the books i read as a kid which really shaped how i view fiction

[definitelyuseless]

its literally sso weird seeing like the majority of posts in a fandom just being people thirsting over characters, like, thats actually what that many people take away from watching television? and although they do it a bit over female characters, its mostly male characters, which i reckon must say a lot about demographics? and like, sometimes you can tell when theyll go weird over it from how the characters portrayed like 'conventionally good looking' and with body language and framing and stuff that you can tell its intentional, although in some cases (or maybe thats just my interpretation) but i always saw it as more the showing offs like the audience is meant to relate to them instead? like its actually from their pov and the audience is just meant to think theyre cool. although maybe thats just me. but then also sometimes the chaaracter is so much like one youre meant to thinks cool or from their pov or whatever and they havent portrayed the conventional attractiveness as clearly, or like thats not how their characters portrayed so its always so weird to me when people on here start going on about how attractive they are

#jujutsu kaisen #also other ones #i mean i havent watched hollywood films for ages and havent watched that many #but it makes me think of those like 80s-2000s especially hollywood films #there the audience is clearly meant to find both the male and female leads attractive which is so obvvious from how theyre portrayed #and like it takes up a lot of the film compared to other tv shows and stuff ive watched? #but then the thing with the animes ive watched is that its a lot more surprising to me when people are like that #although not always there are often times when characters are clearly portrayed like that #and its also like the ones ive watched and stuff #but i dont know maybe its also about how theyre portrayed like the hollywood films are those american hypermasculine guys #and im not saying anime characters are more realistic or relatable or anything neither are meant to be realistic #but i guess anime characters are like more similar to the protagonists of the books i read as a kid which really shaped how i view fiction #so those are the sort of characters that my mind goes to as the ones youre meant to like relate to #and like in general none of the characters might be similar to me in real life thats not what i mean by relate #i mean more empathise or something i guess like see from their pov or project on them? i dont know #but anyway the hollywood guys like theyre never very povable or whatever the word is? #and like those books i read it was often the sort of 'underdog' character or others that were meant to be relatable #whereas both hollywood and anime arent really that so much but anime characters still lends themselves to seing from pov perspective #anyway before ths went into pov it was about how the main way i tell if people will think characters are attractive is narrative positionin

[typellblog]

Nisemonogatari - An Analysis

Being a siscon really did not help with this one.

With Kizu I could somewhat pretend that it was its own isolated arc despite the absurd length, but as the cast ever-expands it becomes more and more difficult to act as though I’m only writing about one character at a time here. 

Indeed, we even have mini-scenes for each of our previous heroines. These are deeply oriented around fanservice, albeit in a way that actually also contributes to the characterisation of everyone spotlighted here. (Not that I can say the same for those involving his sisters, later.)

Hitagi gets to indulge her most sadistic impulses in a way I don’t think we ever see again beyond this point, Kaiki serving as both catalyst for her kidnapping Koyomi and catalyst for her changing in a more substantial way in the future. 

The mystery of Hachikuji continuing to hang around is once again raised, along with ominous foreshadowing of what this might mean for her future. She starts to emerge as a surprisingly mature character, her gags more obviously deliberate, her advice surprisingly helpful.

Nadeko is given a chance to pursue her one-sided crush on Koyomi. Her techniques are childish but reveal a surprising amount of . . . cunning? Malice? Foreshadowing for her later arcs. In any case, Koyomi remains completely oblivious.

I think the most interesting part of Kanbaru’s scene here is an indication that she’s not as much of a pervert as she presents herself to Koyomi as, and indeed to Koyomi is the operative term here, because as we hear from Hanekawa when Koyomi tries doing impressions of his friends (great scene, shame it was cut in the anime), Koyomi might have quite a different impression of Kanbaru than others do. 

Speaking of Hanekawa, she’s the only one that seems to be actually folded into the main plot this time, but simultaneously she feels like she’s growing more distant. She doesn’t get a directly horny treatment like the other characters, instead focusing on a gag about giving Koyomi permission to touch her boobs, but if he ever uses it she’ll hate him forever. Notably it establishes a completely different dynamic to her totally accepting attitude in Kizumonogatari.

Her character growth is significant, putting aside the stereotypical class president look in favour of a more ‘normal’ one, arguably something she’s wanted to do for a while. She had a sort of . . . lack of self-awareness of her own abnormality, before. Her role here is as a positive role model, I guess, for the entire set of Araragi siblings. If they’re fakes, she’s the real deal. If they need to be aware of their own weakness and inferiority, she needs to become conscious of her own strength. 

This, of course, doesn’t really make sense until we take a proper look at our arc character.

Karen Bee

To be blunt I struggle to bring myself to like Karen. She feels fake to me. 

I find myself in a similar position to Koyomi in some ways, the mentions of his sisters peppered into the Kizumonogatari novel triggering my own weird sense of jealousy/inferiority.

In theory, I should like Karen. She resembles nobody more closely than Emiya Shirou, probably my favourite protagonist of all time. Although, to avoid the risk of derailing into another Fate/Stay Night essay, I’ll make a different comparison. Someone who himself gets compared to Emiya Shirou all the time. 

Koyomi Araragi.

How come I’m able to get invested into this guy’s story, his justice, his self-sacrificing nature, his stupid, corny, but sometimes really cool lines, and not do the same for his sister?

I think on one level the answer is simple - I’ve spent the past four books inhabiting his perspective. I don’t have any context, for Karen. Who is she trying to save, and why? What difficult decisions does she have to make along the way? The Fire Sisters’ escapades are treated as a gag, occasional mentions of them playing Russian roulette with the Mafia or getting into brawls with the police, but nothing solid. Karen’s trying to save the middle schoolers getting scammed by Kaiki, but I don’t care about them. I’m not given any reason to. 

That’s just a matter of perspective, though. I don’t find it a particularly convincing argument, when Koyomi tells her that her justice is fake because she only acts on the behalf of others. Is that desire itself not beautiful? If you saw the same people suffering that she did, would you not want to help them, too?

I haven’t been shown any of those people, though. So I don’t get it. 

But I’m wasting time with this. I can’t see these people, won’t see them, because I’m living in a different world from Karen. She’s still in middle school, and Koyomi is in high school. This is explicitly called out as being a point of change for him, one where he first began to close himself off to others on account of his self-worth evaporating as he realised the world was more difficult than he had thought. 

Karen and Tsukihi don’t have that, yet. They’re missing the key element that’s driven Koyomi’s whole character progression over these previous four books - the fact that he doesn’t have any friends. Lol. 

But I mean seriously, you see how the problems Koyomi is faced with operate on a completely different level than those the Fire Sisters try to deal with? They have an idea of a clear and simple evil, one that they’ll go to any ends to defeat. 

In comparison - Koyomi isn’t fighting villains. He tries to help the victims of oddities, but they can only save themselves, or so we’re told, making Koyomi seem useless when it comes to the big action scenes. What he struggles to overcome is his vision of himself as a burden, someone whose helpfulness is an unwanted favour and selfishness is a destructive, vampiric urge.

Karen and Tsukihi never once consider the possibility of themselves being burdens. They go off to help people heedless of the potentially destructive consequences (which inevitably seem to result). 

Karen’s ‘acting only on the behalf of others’ is fake to Koyomi because he’s already come to terms with his own selfishness. He couldn’t help Kiss-Shot, couldn’t do what she requested, because her request was to die, and he wanted her to live. The Fire Sisters haven’t yet been faced with such a difficult problem, haven’t yet been asked whether their self-sacrifice is really just self-satisfaction. Koyomi is scared of hurting people. All the time. He makes his decisions with that possibility in mind. That’s something he’s just had to accept. The Fire Sisters don’t seem to worry about that at all. 

When Koyomi tells Karen that before being right, she must be strong, we initially assume he’s talking about physical strength - the ability to defeat one’s enemies. But looking over Koyomi’s past actions, we’ve seen physical strength prove of little use to him time and time again. What he means is the strength of will to not falter in the face of opposition or difficult choices. He may not have been right, when he chose to keep Kiss-Shot alive. But at least he had the balls to do it.

Hanekawa points out he’s really criticising himself with this one. After all, there are plenty of times where he’s failed to show strength, like his struggle to let the second snake go in Nadeko’s case. He couldn’t commit to one course of action or another and risked getting the worst of both worlds. Hanekawa, in contrast, always commits to the bit, never giving away in the slightest that she had feelings for Koyomi after he started dating Hitagi. She’s almost too strong, that was her problem according to Oshino, and indeed in doing so she ended up hurting herself as much as she helped other people.

She has to be aware of her own strength, not act as though everything she’s doing is perfectly normal, hold off on dragging everyone with her directly to the right answer.

In the same way that Koyomi has to be aware of his own weakness, to know he can’t solve everything on his own, and not be afraid to ask for help. 

In the same way that Karen hasn’t quite internalized it, that evil and good aren’t always so obvious, that you need to be ready for getting your ass kicked, and maybe you should have asked a couple of people to come with you.

When Koyomi and Karen fight, he gets the shit beaten out of him, but he still clearly wins. Karen struggles to articulate her viewpoint when faced with an actual objection, and eventually gives in, reassured by Koyomi that he never thought what she was doing was wrong.

Hmmm. I notice that I haven’t discussed Karen’s associated oddity yet, the bee. Interestingly enough, it’s just not that important to her arc. It doesn’t influence her personality or behaviour at all, like many of the other characters’ oddities. It just makes her sick. 

Oshino’s old adage proves true to an extent - the bee does appear for a reason, in the sense that Koyomi says it's her own damn fault, for going up against Kaiki alone. She gets what she deserves! A bit harsh, perhaps. It’s also her own fault in the sense that her overactive imagination is part of what stimulates its effects so much - the bee is a fake oddity, clinging to a fake person, someone who plays make-believe in such a way that they’re susceptible to a fake disease. 

Obviously the fire association with the bee makes sense for her, especially in regard to how it becomes a fever, getting heated up because of justice leads to her pushing herself too hard and burning out. Blah blah blah whatever. The symbolism doesn’t interest me, because I think the far more important thing about the bee is that it’s not representative of a larger problem. Karen acts fairly similarly before and after being afflicted. She isn’t saved by anyone else, but you’d have to stretch to say she saved herself, either. Unlike Koyomi, she has friends. Unlike Hitagi, she doesn’t have difficulty reaching out to others. Unlike Kanbaru, she doesn’t have a hidden side to her, a wish that she can’t fulfill.

I said it already, but the Fire Sisters don’t have regrets. They don’t have any lingering trauma. They’re the ones causing problems for other people, supremely confident in their own righteousness. They may be fakes, but in a sense they’re a lot more real than the rest of the cast.

Tsukihi Phoenix

Well, at least that’s the case for Karen, whose outside image and inside personality are perfectly aligned. For Tsukihi, on the other hand, there’s a bit of a disjunction. 

Alright, I guess we’re doing Tsukihi too. I wasn’t exactly planning on both at once when I started this, but I suppose at this rate I have enough room.

What, I haven’t talked about Kaiki yet? God, who cares. What do you want me to say, here. He’s a fake that’s accepted his fakeness in the same way Koyomi asks of Karen. A withered branch to Koyomi’s sapling, the third stage in the Araragi evolutionary tree. I don’t quite get it, how exactly this man is supposed to be Koyomi taken to his logical extent. He’s evil, but in a very deliberate way. He’s not convinced of his own justice, has no interest in promoting his position. He almost feels like he’s playing a character. I’ll get back to him in later arcs, but for now I think the important thing to note is something I mentioned last time - as a male character, his role is more about mirroring Koyomi than being someone Koyomi ought to forge a connection with. As an adult specialist, his arc is complete, so to speak. There’s nothing in him to change or that needs changing.

He’s the polar opposite of the Fire Sisters in that way. They’re too young to have changed yet, not quite mired in the coming-of-age plotline that ensnares this story’s main characters. Kaiki isn’t an arc character, doesn’t need to be won over by Koyomi, but neither does Karen, really. 

Koyomi already has a deep enough relationship with his sisters - just look at their openings, the lyrics addressed to a vague listener that’s almost him but feels far too idealised, his image cropping up again and again in their visuals. In Platinum Disco, he overshadows Tsukihi from the background, closing his mouth over her and forcing her to dance headlessly. His influence over her is obvious, almost total. In Marshmallow Justice, he’s buffeted around by the currents of Karen’s flames, speaking to a more antagonistic relationship, her trying to insist on her righteousness to him.

This is an established, regular part of their dynamic. If anything, the biggest change to their relationship doesn’t happen in the arc where Karen is afflicted by an oddity, it’s the toothbrush scene at the start of Tsukihi Phoenix. (Which still baffles me in a lot of ways, but I really don’t want to get bogged down in it right now).

I said it already, but Karen’s oddity doesn’t really represent any deep-rooted psychological issues for her - it’s fake.

Unlike Karen, however, Tsukihi’s oddity is of immense significance to her. Not just in terms of its importance to this arc, but all the way down to its influence on her personality and behaviours. After all, Tsukihi herself is the oddity.

The Shide no Tori, an immortal oddity that adapts to its surroundings. It’s volatile, mercurial, constantly renewing itself. It’s also eternal. The core of the thing is that it has no core, no consistent personality, and as such must take cues from those around it. Tsukihi acts according to her whims, but in the end remains incredibly dependent on others, latching onto them to give her a purpose. 

Her justice is fake in the sense that it’s been picked up from Karen and Koyomi. It’s not at the core of her being. 

She doesn’t have the same drive for it that Karen does, and as such tends to follow her sister’s initiative.

But, similarly to Koyomi, she does have the ability to regenerate from fatal danger. Just as he would throw himself into danger to help his friends even without it, she’s said to have thrown herself off a building to help Karen without even knowing she has the ability.

In comparison to Koyomi’s selfish, half-assed vampirism, a healing ability that has him straddling life and death without really making progress in any fight, Tsukihi’s immortality is pure. Instant. Perfect. There are no consequences. 

There are no consequences. She doesn’t regret because she isn’t given anything to regret. Learning about the supernatural would threaten the Shide no Tori’s position as a normal human, so the memories of being killed are wiped from her mind when she wakes up.

Of course she would throw herself into danger to save someone else. She doesn’t really have a ‘self’ to value in the first place. Everything important to her comes from other people. Koyomi faces immense self-loathing for a similar reason. Tsukihi doesn’t seem to be bothered by it, though. Perhaps she can’t be.

She knows her sense of justice is a bit different from her siblings, and she considers the possibility of the Fire Sisters breaking up. The possibility of Karen changing when she reaches highschool, in the same way Koyomi did. The implication being that Tsukihi would not, floating from hobby to hobby without ever forming a permanent attachment to anyone, constantly reinventing herself like a phoenix rising from the flames. 

That’s the Shide no Tori. A clever fake that keeps itself from being noticed by imitating a normal human. Kaiki might say that a deliberate fake may have more value than the original, but even the deliberateness of it is carefully removed, not allowing the host awareness of anything related to their condition. 

In that sense she’s not any more or less human than her siblings. 

That is, I suppose, the main conflict of this arc. It’s centered on Tsukihi but doesn’t involve her - how can it, when her entire gimmick involves being unaware of what’s going on around her?

Koyomi is opposed by the exorcist sisters Ononoki and Kagenui. Just as Kaiki mirrors Koyomi, they mirror the Fire Sisters. The older, physically inclined, human. The younger, an oddity. And they claim to be defenders of justice.

This is the tricky part about justice, which Koyomi has been trying to impart to Karen. Most people think their actions are justified. Someone like Kaiki is an absurd exception. How can you insist on being right when your opponents also claim they’re on the side of justice? We’re not getting a good answer to that in this book. 

Perhaps I’m starting to understand a little how Koyomi is like Kaiki, here. Because he doesn’t claim to be on the side of justice. He never even tries. He gives up that battle before it starts. He’s not on the side of humans. He’s not on the side of oddities. Like the time with Kiss-Shot, he’s nothing more or less than on the side of the person he chooses to protect. 

Little sisters are more important than justice. A sentiment I can get behind.

In any case, there’s something a little bit off about Kagenui here. Part of her motivation is hoping to meet Oshino and in his absence she takes on a little of his role - viewing Koyomi as a human, rather than a monster. 

Something must have set her off, Koyomi thinks, when she starts talking about him forcing his ideals on others. He might be fine with leaving Tsukihi alone, but what would Karen think? His parents? Tsukihi herself? Wouldn’t she become a real problem if she was aware of her true nature as an oddity?

He responds by saying he’s allowed to force things on his family. Once again, he’s okay with being a bit selfish, a bit of a burden. Koyomi’s sisters aren’t like the other girls he meets throughout the series. He doesn’t need to win them over, doesn’t need to break down the barriers between them and come to a complete understanding - he already does understand them.

Tsukihi being an oddity prompts realizations on his part, but nothing he didn’t already know. He already understands and accepts the entirety of her, in the same way they do for him. So he doesn’t need to worry about forcing something that can’t ever be repaid on her. He’d accept the same for her. They would, all three of them, happily die for each other, and they know it.

Something must have set Kagenui off, talking about this topic, and it seems to relate to her relationship with Ononoki. Are they real sisters, or fakes? Wouldn’t it be a real problem if an immortal oddity was aware of her true nature and tried to practice justice regardless? Kagenui argues that Tsukihi would be cruel and arrogant in the pursuit of it, having been freed from the constraints of human reason. 

Koyomi thinks of the former Heart-Under-Blade, someone who was obscenely over-the-top and utterly inhuman. I think of Ononoki Yotsugi, quick to violence, quick to insults, saying she’d be fine if this entire world of fakes was destroyed.

Yep, Kagenui is definitely a bit off, here. Too concerned with matters we aren’t really privy to, at the moment. It’s like the fight with Karen all over again - Koyomi gets the shit kicked out of him, but in the end he’s still standing, and his opponent wavers a little. Finally learning “a lesson ten years in the making”. 

She talks about the inherent nature of humanity, the doctrine of innate evil. If we suppose that people are born evil, then any good act requires putting on a fake persona. Like Hanekawa and Koyomi talked about in Kizu, self-sacrifice vs self-satisfaction. They both think of themselves as faking it, only acting like they’re truly ‘good’, but according to Kagenui’s proposal, there’s no such thing as being truly good. The truest good is in trying to be good, a deliberate imitation. A fake that has more value than the original.

So, where does that leave us? One really has to wonder about Koyomi’s decision to not tell Tsukihi (or even Karen) anything about the supernatural. Another selfish decision, in the vein of what he did to Kiss-Shot. It’s in character, at least. 

I think it’s interesting how he describes it, after kissing her. There was a time where Koyomi was an only child. There was a time when he only had one sister. But for her entire life, there wasn’t a single moment where Tsukihi wasn’t the little sister of him and Karen. Nisemonogatari is about family, and family, for Tsukihi, is something that she can define herself in relation to. It’s a permanent attachment, created by the circumstances of her birth. Like a cuckoo, the Shide no Tori leaves its young in the nest of another family to prepare them for facing the world. Tsukihi isn’t ‘really’ from the Araragi family, in the same way that she doesn’t ‘really’ have a sense of justice like the other two. But in her deliberate attempt to adopt it- well, you know how it goes.

Koyomi doesn’t need to tell her about the supernatural, about the fact that she’s a phoenix, because in a meaningful sense she isn’t one. She’s his sister. She’s Karen’s sister. That’s good enough. 

Koyomi’s last lines are strangely poignant, contradicting the usual epilogue format by occurring before he’s woken by his sisters the next morning. “I got way more involved than usual, but there was no point in staying there forever. For now, I’ll go back to my room and change.”  I feel like it’s a comment on the blending of worlds that’s been going on here - he’s part of the backstage, as Hachikuji puts it. His sisters are at the front. He’s entering the adult world, while they’re still kids. There’s a sense that he shouldn’t get too involved in their incidents, and vice versa. 

A hopeful reading would be that like Koyomi, they’ll also change. In their own time, at their own pace, in their own way.

But that’s all for now. I managed to be somewhat normal about Tsukihi. Somehow. 

#monogatariposting #monogatari #araragi koyomi #araragi karen #araragi tsukihi #nisemonogatari

[ladynightlark]

Hi! I love CFLDF so much! I have so many theories about where the characters are going and what their past is, I feel like I'm trying to piece together a mystery book. It's similar and different enough to canon that I can guess the major plot points and still be blown away! I really like the way you weave the characters and their relationships and how you make them feel like real people. Special highlights for me are Senjuro my favorite anxious mess, Nezuko my queen, and the rest of the thunder fam; Kaigaku (world's worst older brother), Zenitsu (he should have been at the club), Jigoro (crazy old man), and the honorable member Tanjiro (world's best older brother).

I'm also trying to write a role swap kny fic and I was wondering if you had some advice? If it isn't asking too much! I've had half finished versions of a first chapter sitting in my docs for months because I can't decide what direction to take the story 😔

I keep swinging back and forth between thunder breath! Nezuko (probably found by Mitsuri the stone pillar before she was sent to Kaigaku) (where Zenitsu fits in this au depends, sometimes he is a demon and others he is the world's equivalent of the butterfly girls) and moon breath! Nezuko (ft. Koku being the Tamayo of the world and teaching Nezuko); and I also alternate between having Tanjiro stick around like canon Nezuko or having the DK take him and Tanjiro forgetting all about his human life and Nezuko's mission being more about revenge before the grand reveal. And also, just for example, I can't decide if I want to have a Shinobu-Tomioka swap (Shinobu has a lot of dead relatives 🫤 and Giyuu is the medic always pretending he is not filled with untamable hatred) (Aoi is his tsuguko and Sabito is the dead brother lover), or a Doma-Shinobu swap or the flower sisters as the spider family. Or a Doma raises Inosuke and Kanao but they're still human and they infiltrate the corps for him sub plotline in between everything. Or, every member of the Kamaboko is working for the DK as demons and Nezuko's gang is just a bunch of minor (probably demon characters) and everything plays out fairly similar. Or a Shinazugawa and Rengoku brothers swap based on my mom's (an anime only) theory that the Shinazugawa brothers were experiments and that was why Sanemi was all scarred and Genya could eat demons.

Some of this can coexist but a good chunk of them can't and I'm not settling for anything. Like there's so many possibilities, and I was wondering if you had some advice on how to settle on something?

Hi! Thank you so much! I’m glad you’ve been enjoying the series! Hopefully many of your theories will be answered soon!

That’s awesome to hear that you’re writing your own role-swap! And I’d love to offer some advice. Feel free to take/use whatever you feel will help you best or ignore what you think you don’t need.

(Also I’m not an expert on writing this, so please, for anyone reading this, use what you’d like and know this is just my opinion on writing AUs for KNY.)

So, the first thing you should work out when planning a role-swap is WHAT KIND of role-swap you want to do. Based on what I’ve read, there are probably five different ways people have done Protagonist Nezuko Role-Swaps:

The Classic Swap - Tanjiro and Nezuko swap roles, but everything in canon (story and character-wise) remains the same

The Mentor Swap - Tanjiro and Nezuko swap roles, and a different Hashira/Demon Slayer takes them in (typically resulting in Nezuko learning a different breathing style); everything else in canon (story and character-wise) remains the same

The Hashira - Upper Moon Swap / The Human - Demon Swap - All members of the Hashira/Demon Slayer become Kizuki Demons and the Upper Moons/Kizuki become Hashira/Demon Slayer; can also be expanded into all humans being demons and vice versa too

The Character/Role-Swap - A specific character has their backstory (and at times, personality) swapped with that of another character (Ex: Rengoku - Shinazugawa, or Tomioka - Sabito)

The Customized Swap - May use a combination of some or all of the above swaps, or just take the story in a different direction (Ex: Tanjiro and Nezuko being separated for a majority of the story, or simply giving characters a new role without giving them a clear/strict “swap”)

Once you decide which one to do, I suggest “working from the inside out” when planning the rest of your Swap AU. This is more for the last three swaps but can be used for the others depending on how much you change.

Start with the characters you KNOW you want to swap (whether it be members of the Kamaboko Squad, the demon “defecting” from the Demon King, or the Hashira). Once you have those figured out, you can start filling in the blanks. It might take a little time to come up with, but whenever you have a thought, write it down and play around with the idea for a bit to see if it will fit with the story you are writing.

If it’s easier to start with the Kamaboko Squad, get everything you want figured out with them first. If it’s the hashira, have your line-up and see what details you can give them in the moment. If it’s the Demon King, come up with a basic idea for his/her appearance, personality, and motives. Start with what you know, and then move on from there.

Once you’ve figured out most of your characters, then look into how you’re going to develop the story. Will you be following the canon events exactly as they happened in the manga/anime? Will some events be rearranged? Added/Removed? 

I recommend creating a rough (and I cannot express this enough, ROUGH) timeline of how your story’s main events will unfold, and then walking your characters through them. See if it makes sense, and take note if you find areas where you might need to revise things or add another scene.

And as a final piece of advice, read a few role-swaps and see what you like. I know before I even started writing the first chapter of this story, I read through a lot and found a few favorites that gave me inspiration for concepts such as potential swaps, different ways to explore characters/events/themes, and how to handle changing what’s canon without taking away what made it good in the first place. Have fun with your research, and you’ll slowly start to see things come together!

(Manga Spoilers Ahead)

Now, to address some of the ideas you have…

I'd go with whatever breath-style you feel most confident writing Nezuko in. I know writing her as a thunder breather can be a bit tricky since we only see Zenitsu perform the first form in canon and Kaigaku’s version of the other forms are influenced by his blood demon art, I do think it’s one of the best breathing styles to play to her strengths. But I’ve never read a story with her as a moon breather, and that could definitely open a lot of segways into different storytellings (especially if you decide to go the Human - Demon swap route). Plus, having Kokushibo in a different role other than Upper Moon One or a Hashira could be a fun storyline to explore that would definitely catch some attention.

This is also a very interesting idea that could really set the story apart. Kind of like what I said above, I’d say go with what you’re most confident writing. Having Tanjiro stick with Nezuko is one way of keeping the story close to canon, and I think there’s a lot of popularity/meaning in having their strong sibling bond emphasized as they navigate the world of demons together. But having Tanjiro separated from Nezuko makes a lot of sense as well, considering their heritage and how the DK (if they are different from Muzan) may want to take advantage of a descendant of sun-breathing being a demon. That would probably change the story a lot, but if you have a plan for how you will navigate the split POVs and how their characters will be affected by the separation and development of their ideals, then I think that would be a fun route to go and lead to a lot of awesome content.

I can definitely see Tomioka and Shinobu swapping. I’d be curious to know how much of their personalities would change as a result (such as Shinobu being more open with her feisty attitude or being more subdued like canon Tomioka, and then Tomioka being like you said having some hidden anger).

I think any of the Doma swaps would be fantastic ideas to implement. Especially the one with Kanao and Inosuke being spies infiltrating the Corps! I don’t think I’ve heard of anything like that before, and given the amount of development that could bring about, and how much of a twist/shock that would be for their “allies” with their reveal, that would be such a great plotline to include.

I’d love to see more of the minor demons that were killed off early in the series get bigger roles! I think it boils down to what I mentioned in the first part of the post, and deciding what the exact parameters of your story’s swaps will be. If you do go this route, I’d be excited to see what other backstories the other demons/humans will get.

I think switching the Rengoku and Shinazugawa brothers would definitely be a cool idea! Especially given how they share a lot of similarities, like how the older brothers would do anything to give their younger siblings a better, happy life. And that’s actually a really interesting theory your mom came up with! I think that would be such a cool idea for an alternative backstory for Sanemi and Genya, given how unique their abilities and conditions are (Sanemi having incredibly strong marechi blood and Genya being able to eat demons and gain some of their strength).

Ultimately, have fun with it. If you’re having trouble deciding, try and write out rough story outlines for your ideas and characters and see what works best. Or, just pick the one you’re most excited about. After all, it’s your story, and as I’ve found, if you’re really passionate and excited about a certain idea or swap, the planning and writing comes so much easier.

I hope this helps! If you would like to discuss these more, I’d be more than happy to answer any questions you have or brainstorm. Feel free to privately message me here (or if you would prefer, I have a Discord where we can communicate further).

Thank you so much for reaching out and asking! Have an awesome day!

#kimetsu no yaiba #demon slayer #demon slayer fanfic #ask me questions #ask #writing advice #demon slayer role swap au

[filipinosamflynn]

RED RISING BOOK 1 CHARACTER TIER LIST + FULL THOUGHTS! >:D

Below is my review of book 1, I'll go into spoilers. After this, I'm either gonna move onto a different book or try to find golden son. Not sure which one will happen.

But yeah, great book, 4 stars, or 8/10! Definitely just set up for things to come in the trilogy, but also a really good setup & story.

PREFACE: This is from the perspective from somebody who DOESN'T read books for fun too often. Red Rising was the first book in a long while I chose to read for fun since Harry Potter in 1st year high school (I didn't even finish the series, I stopped at the start of Half Blood Prince). So you're dealing with one of the most casual guys who went into the series. Another thing: I came into the series thinking it would be similar to Nimona (2023) or Sylas's story from League, since I brought up these two things when I first asked for book recs, so my expectations were HORRIBLY wrong (kind of, sylas's lore is pretty similar and the only difference is that sylas gets STRAIGHT into action but also his characterization sucks). So my perspective is strange, is what I'm saying, and I am far from the most valid person to be seriously reviewing this book. I'm just sharing this for fun lmao :P

I'm just writing the first few things that come to my mind, so stick with me people! These are messy, unfiltered thoughts.

This book is rough, really whumpy at the start of the book, but it's good whump. It's just setting up and establishing what's to come and to make all the payoffs feel better by showing us the insane suffering Darrow goes through. But also? Damn. That was rough. it felt like grimdark (this is coming from the perspective of a guy who actively avoids all things grimdark - with the exception of whump fanfics on ao3).

And then we get into the institution, and I just went, "oh. This is hunger games harry potter." I was a bit disappointed to be honest, I know the book is called "red rising" and it literally means "the slow rise of a red" so he still needs to prepare himself for what's to come, but also... eh?????? Someone in Reddit called this segment "pierce brown kidnapping fans of the hunger games when it was at the peak of its popularity", which ✨️iconic behavior✨️ but I was a bit confused as we took this academy stuff seriously. But slowly, I grew into it when the characters started interacting. I liked it when Darrow was interacting with others since the first half of the book felt so isolating. I liked every single scene Sevro shows up since he brings so much chaos and fun to a story that had so much downtrodden underlying sadness. The chapter 9 reveal is still hitting me, like "damn FUCK THESE GUYS BRO, WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS PLANET HAS ALREADY BEEN TERRAFORMED???" Also because sevro's fucking awesome, but that's besides the point. The same goes for Darrow's scenes with Virginia and pre-sword fight Cassius, but they aren't as iconic as Sevro.

Darrow is a super compelling protagonist for the story he's in. Making him this power fantasy fulfillment guy makes things feel all the more liberating when he beats the shit out of a guy, it's sort of like a shonen anime protagonist, I guess (i don't watch anime btw). Bro talks about Eo a bit too much though 💀 it got to the point where it got a bit funny, but some moments do hit... before virginia came into the picture as the better love interest since she's girlboss and eo is seraphine from league of legends.

Most of the characters are well written or awesome! The proctors are real loveably hateable pieces of shit I wanted 200 feet below the dirt, and I loved seeing them get beat up. Except you Fitchner, you are iconic, and you gave us Sevro. I love you. Antonia, Cassius & Jackal are just set up here, and it's mildly disappointing? I am super happy the finale ended up being "FUCK THE PROCTORS" but also that stole time away from finishing off the inter-student conflicts. Yeah those will 100% be explored in the rest of the books with more time to do so, but damn :/ the last time we see Antonia, I think she just stands there at a castle to remind us she exists??? Whatever, watching the proctors get shit on was exactly what I needed to want to see more out of this series.

I was a bit disappointed when Darrow ended up being the only red we explore in this book. I was kind of disappointed when Darrow just speaks with a gold accent the entire time, I hope later in the series he speaks like a red again because I have a red bias and hate fancy ass shit. From a book called "red rising", there aren't too many reds after part 2 which I found odd for a revolution story about a red taking control over the system. Titus? Ohoh! FUCK HIM! why did they write him to be this rapist guy, and he just exists to let darrow know he isn't the only fake gold at the institute. I was mildly hoping we would get to see another red-turned-gold team up with darrow as a 100% trustworthy ally since I felt like we needed it after all the loneliness Darrow goes through, but sadly no :(

OH AND THE ACTION SCENES HELL YEAH!!! Reddit wasn't kidding when they talked about how bloodydamn GOOD the fight scenes are. I got spoiled that "Clang! Clang! Clang! Confess!" means something, and I don't even know who is fighting who, but I want to read the whole series just to get to that point because it sounds badass.

But uhhh this series came to me at a rough point in my life. It was hard to read some parts of it and I took a few breaks. Yeah, I read the whole thing in 2 weeks, but also just to fill myself with some sort of closure when I felt sad. I felt good coming out of it, but during? UHHHHHH-

These disorganized thoughts are getting messy, if you have any questions about specific things, comment them for me to answer. I might. 🥰

Story: 7/10, just set up but good set up

Characters: 9/10, bloodydamn good, almost all of them. I can tell, despite my initial disappointment for some of them since I know this is a book SERIES, so we will be seeing more of them soon.

Personal Enjoyment: ????/10, felt too sad at some points, absolutely adored this book in others.

Quality: 9/10, amazing writing, I want to buy all the books JUST to support Pierce Brown, I'm not even sure if I will be reading them, I just feel like throwing money at him.

Overall Score: 8/10, scared to continue, but damn I want to continue.

#red rising #tier list #sam flynn reads red rising #review #red rising book 1 #sam flynn reads

[the-sprog]

I've been obsessed with "How to train your dragon" recently and everything that I hear about the differences between the shows/films and the books makes me think about "Dragon Hunters".

"Dragon Hunters" (or "chasseurs de dragons") is a 2006 French cartoon. The similarities are there only in the shallowest sense possible.

We have the run of the letter guy who is very good at building things that has a pet dragon in a society where people hunt dragons. He can speak to Dragons (although I am not entirely sure if this is something exclusive to him) as well.

But there are also a lot of really fun differences. The main one is that the dragons in the show aren't, in fact, dragons. Already in the first episode and with Hector (the pet dragon) we can see that the creatures that they call dragons don't necessarily have wings. They are also furry and not scaly. Which is really weird and I don't even think they breathe fire. Why are they called Dragons??? 😭

Another difference is that the protagonist -whose name I keep forgetting- is a dragon hunter. But in a weird way where he doesn't seem to be actually good at or care about hunting dragons. He's just there for the money.

One really cool difference is that in "Dragon Hunters" the islands that they live in are floating islands and they exclusively travel through blimps which is really funny because the dragons don't fly... so.

In the first episode that I watched it seems to be that dragons are akin to animals (although Hector can write??? and Dragons have a language??? so they are sapient so I don't really know) in the way that their morality is thought about. Dragons cause a lot of damage and they attack a lot of people (hence why dragon hunters get contracted), but they seem to be regarded less as inherently evil and dangerous and more like they have the potential to be dangerous -because they have sharp teeth.. and are ginormous the majority of times- but they can choose whose side they are on.

For example the first episode has Hector running away from home to go back to the wilderness because one of the human characters call him uncivilized or savage. He takes offense to that because he is the one cleaning their shit and sharpening their weapons (I told you they are sapient and intelligent but they are also pets so I am not entirely sure where they fall). While he's out there he meets another dragon that seems to be the same species as them but is significantly bigger and stronger. He makes an alliance with this dragon where Hector distracts people and the other dragon creates a commotion so that they can steal food from the humans. Meanwhile our human protagonists are looking for him because he is LITERALLY THE ONLY ONE THAT DOES THINGS AROUND HERE. He's also the one that operates the blimp????? I guess he doesn't have wings so he had to do something to move from Island to Island.

At first they think that the giant dragon is Hector who has just eaten a lot. But then they discover that Hector has made the alliance and they tell him that they've been contracted to slay the Dragon that has been causing the destruction in the village. They basically give him an ultimatum. They say that if he is indeed even partially responsible for the destruction in the village they're going to have to kill him. But they tell them that he doesn't have to listen to other dragons and that he can choose whose he's side is on. He can choose to be good and be given food by humans freely. (In exchange to be in their pet and doing all their chores, which in light of the sentience that this creature has leaves a weird taste in my mouth).

Hector, of course, chooses his family.

What I'm trying to get at here, is that I think they have enough similarities where "Dragon Hunters" is very likely to have been inspired by "How to train Your Dragon", but in a way that only takes the surface level general concept and does it understand why that concept works.

And hey if you like "Dragon Hunters" I am not shitting on it. It's a childhood cartoon for me and it will always be in my heart. I'm not saying it's bad and I'm not saying that it's plagiarism, but I think some inspiration probably was there.

#Dragon hunters #chasseurs de dragons #how to train your dragon #httyd #me me post

[twistedtummies2]

Gathering of the Greatest Gumshoes - Number 17

Welcome to A Gathering of the Greatest Gumshoes! During this month-long event, I’ll be counting my Top 31 Favorite Fictional Detectives, from movies, television, literature, video games, and more!

SLEUTH-OF-THE-DAY’S QUOTE: “I don’t believe a detective exists who likes to see his trenchcoat ruined…”

Number 17 is…Blacksad.

In my previous pick, I talked about Sam Spade – arguably the most quintessential of all noir-style detectives. Today, we’re discussing another noir-style detective, but a very…different one. Unlike Spade, this character is far more recent, and originates neither from novels nor the cinema…but instead from the world of comic books. I am referring to John Blacksad, the titular protagonist of the graphic novel crime series, “Blacksad.”

This series is the brainchild of two Spanish creators: writer Juan Diaz Canales, and artist Juanjo Guarnido. Canales has been a comic book author for many years, but never really made a big splash till “Blacksad.” Guarnido, however, is actually someone many more people will recognize: even if you haven’t heard his name, the chances are you’ve seen his work. From 1993 to 2004, he was an animator and layout artist for Disney! Among other things, he was one of the lead animators for two recognizable Disney Villains: Hades in Disney’s “Hercules,” and Sabor in “Tarzan.” His final project with the studio was a short cartoon called “Lorenzo.”

It was not long after Guarnido left Disney that he reconnected with Canales, whom he’d met many years before. The two decided to collaborate and create a graphic novel that paid homage to classic film noir crime stories and pulp magazines of the 1930s and 40s. This novel was entitled “Blacksad: Somewhere Within the Shadows.” The book was highly successful, earning several awards and being translated into various languages; the English translation, interestingly, was handled largely by comic book veteran Neal Adams. (May he rest in peace.) Since then, there have been three sequel tales, and a four-part tale called “They All Fall Down,” which has yet to be finished; only the first two parts are currently complete, if I’m not mistaken. There has also been a video game based on the series made, called “Under the Skin,” which tells a new story all its own; I have not played the game, but I have seen some video of it, and it does a good job capturing everything great about the comics. In the English version of the game, Blacksad is voiced by Barry Johnson.

As you can guess from the cover shown here, the conceit of “Blacksad” is that all of the characters are anthropomorphic animals. (And yeah, it’s easy to see Guarnido’s Disney background through his art in several places throughout the books…and I mean that in a VERY good way, because the art is AWESOME on so many levels.) However, this is not a kid-friendly or heavily satirical series. While there are moments here and there of meta humor, paying homage to and occasionally poking fun at various tropes of the noir genre, Blacksad takes itself seriously: it’s telling more or less dramatic noir-style crime stories, it’s just that the characters are covered in scales, fur, and feathers. Many have compared it to the somewhat controversial graphic novel “Maus,” where creator Art Spiegelman uses different animals to represent different kinds of people. This is SOMEWHAT similar, but I think it’s more appropriate to say Blacksad is what would happen if “Zootopia” had been Rated R. The fact these characters are animals is often part of the story and many details in it, rather than just a mask, so to speak. As a fan of film noir, it’s interesting to see how these stories play out, with legitimately surprising mysteries, dark secrets to be discovered, and many murders most foul.

As to the main character himself…Blacksad is a pretty typical noir detective, but for some reason he still manages to stand out from the crowd in a fun way. While he’s a cynical and sometimes grouchy guy, he’s also a charming ladies’ man, and has a sense of humor about himself as well as the rest of the world. One of my favorite elements of his character is how he seems to DELIBERATELY play up his own noir-esque elements: it’s as if he’s putting on this show for the rest of the world, in-universe, creating this very specific façade for others to notice. Out of universe, of course, it leads to some wonderful jokes, such as him getting peeved about his trenchcoat being ruined (a-la the quote I selected). The supporting cast around him is a lot of fun, too: most notable are his two best friends. First, there’s Smirnov, a German Shepherd police commissioner who has a long history with the tuxedo tabby. Second, there’s Weekly, a literal weasel of a journalist (with notoriously terrible B.O.) who essentially acts as Blacksad’s sidekick in some stories. Both are fun characters who adhere to classic tropes, while also being unique and interesting in their own right; again, much like Blacksad himself, and the series as a whole.

If you’re a fan of comics, a fan of detective stories and film noir, or a fan of seeing former Disney animators do very un-Disney things with topics like racism, the Red Scare, serial killing, and other unspeakable forms of nastiness…then definitely check out either the comics or the video game I mentioned earlier. They’re definitely worth your time.

Tomorrow, the countdown continues with Number 16!

CLUE: “We're smart people. So why do we always do things that make us look like we have the intelligence of beef jerky?”

#list #countdown #best #favorites #top 31 fictional detectives #gathering of the greatest gumshoes #number 17 #blacksad #john blacksad #comics #mystery #noir #video games

[oddlyhale]

RWBY: The Show That's Tried To Explain Itself For Years

Lately, I have been into reading and writing again. I love reading books that are pretty fucking bad because, like bad movies, bad books are fun to read and collect. I've also been into watching other content creators review bad books and give their thoughts.

There's a term that I had never heard of before until a few days ago: "steam of conscious." What it means is "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator. Basically meaning the author is plugging in ideas that sound cool at the moment, and are forgotten about later because there are other random, cool ideas that the author keeps plugging in.

That's not inherently a bad method of writing. It's similar to "pantsing" a book, meaning "sitting down and writing by the seat of your pants," except it doesn't have to be left as is. You can plug in as many ideas as you want in your story, but you also have to remember to go back and do major editing to try and make these ideas flow and make sense to the story itself. Of course, that means you'll be cutting out a hunk of content that does nothing or makes no sense to the overall story. Unless you're an experienced chaotic writer, you'll be putting in a lot of work.

I like editing, and I like knowing that I am a pantser, so it feels like a good combination. Not a perfect one, but a workable one for me.

But it does make me wonder about RWBY overall, wondering now if the show was a stream of consciousness the whole time, except the writers can't go back to edit everything.

I wouldn't say RWBY is an unedited mess of consciousness. There's definitely editing here and there to make dialogue and scenes make sense, but the overall script is fucking nuts.

RWBY V1-V3 have their stream of consciousness where the writers had anime brain rot, plugging in cheesy tropes that other animes have to make RWBY fit neatly into that media. Oh look, kids with superpowers going to a superpower school to learn more about themselves. Oh, put in a tournament because other school animes have those. Oh, make the main cast have some personality tropes - like Weiss can be a cute tsundere, and Ruby can be the naive but brave heroine who is also likely the chosen one that will save Remnant.

Not saying these tropes are bad, but I don't think RWBY understood why those tropes were so fun in the first place after they blew it all up before V4 began.

This thought has been on my mind for a few days because oddly, it reminds me quite a lot of The Night and Its Moon. If you're not familiar with the book, it's a plagiarized Witcher story, but trying to be queer.

I say trying because the author failed miserably to make their sapphic main couple the main focus. Like, the back of the book promises an action-romance, but that feels like a lie. One of the women would rather be surrounded by her male harem while the other woman is wishing to find her long-lost lover.

But the author of The Night and its Moon admitted to writing the first book in an ongoing manic episode that lasted for a few days. She finished the entire thing in 10 days, self-published it and it was out in the world for her fans to check out. I don't mind if people take such a small amount of time to complete a book, but what I do care about is if the author cared enough to go back and edit everything.

As you can guess, TNAIM's author did little. She was fearful of criticism, saying this book is important to her identity as a bisexual and didn't want any negative feedback. As much as I understand where she's coming from, wanting to live in a bubble of nobody being allowed to criticize your book was where her book fell flat and fell miserably. The book turned out very problematic, not because of the queerness, but because of the weird white skin, white girl worship, and fetishization of the only dark-skinned woman who happens to be one of the main protagonists.

The book has so many plugs of cool moments that it never comes back to, moments between characters that seem to mean something but are actually never expanded upon ever again, the poor sapphic representation, and the racism.

Which is where it reminds me of RWBY.

The difference is that the entire story of The Night and its Moon was written by one person who refused critical feedback. RWBY has three-four writers that all share the same braincell and it still flops.

If you want to know more about the book, you can find out more about it by watching YT reviews made by Booktubers. It is a hot mess, that's what I'll leave you with.

YA novels have a hard time discussing heavy topics, yet they insist on tackling them. That's not a bad thing, but if you're going to do that, you can't just try tackling it while in a stream of consciousness. Many authors accidentally - or maybe not accidentally - come across as incoherent and offensive. Relying heavily on cheesy tropes to help build weak support but never do anything creative with it. Not being sensitive to topics that can be fumbled so badly that the audience may assume you're [a] problematic person(s).

I don't believe that CRWBY is working off a stream of consciousness after V3, however. That stream of cheesy anime material had dried out fast because they shoved almost all of them into the first three volumes. They published their metaphorical books and realized they made huge mistakes that they can't go back and fix, so they have to work with retconning or pretending those things totally didn't happen. Or perhaps acknowledge some of those ideas did happen but then quickly turn tail and run before explaining anything any further. Or, the worse thing, is to plug in a new idea that combats that old idea, but now they have to explain that new idea if it doesn't follow up in the next volumes.

A weird cycle of ideas that can or cannot be explained, and it feels like RWBY has become "the show that is trying to explain itself." Not a show about kids with superpowers trying to save the world.

Stream of consciousness and pantsing aren't inherently bad methods to write a story. I don't mind if you would even refer to yourself as a "chaotic but organized" creator. If you love the story, you'll put in that extra effort to make it cohesive to the general audience, or at least make it all flow together and make sense. But do not leave it in a messy heap that you need to justify in the next fucking book, and don't be mad when people point out the problematic things you wrote into the pages. The audience wasn't the one that put that context into the story. You as the writer did.

#rwde #pantsing writing #stream of consciousness #writing methods gone wrong

[crowns-of-violets-and-roses]

While Silvia Moreno-Garcia's The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is unsurprisingly inspired by Wells's The Island of Doctor familiarity with the inspiration - beyond knowing that it's about a Doctor that modified animals to make them more like humans - isn't necessary to appreciate it.

The general concept, Montgomery and Doctor Moreau are all recognisable if you have read the original but that's where the similarities end. It isn't a retelling or sequel. It's just borrowing the framework to tell a very different story.

It moves the location from an island in the pacific to Yucatán in Mexico (which is actually a peninsula rather than an island). Prendick the main character of Wells's book does not appear. Most significantly Moreau has a daughter who is the primary focus of the book.

The prose is solid. There are a handful of awkward sentences and it is occasionally corny but are the most part it's an enjoyable read.

At times the book overexplains things. If it was about scientific aspects I'd complain about infodumping but it's about mundane aspects of the setting that I can't see anyone needing explained. Relatedly the book occasionally has Montgomery condemn things that everyone reading already knows are wrong in a way that felt shoehorned in.

The plot, such as it is, is predictable. There are two twists which can be seen coming from the beginning of the book. I could even imagine someone guessing one of them just going off the title. Beyond that nothing unexpected happens. If you make the obvious guess for what will happen next you'll usually be right. The lack of twists isn't a problem in and of it self but the plot just feels uninspired.

One of the more interesting parts of the novel was that almost everyone stifles under the control of others. From the hybrids under Moreau's chemical leash, Montgomery under the debt and addiction that leaves him with little choice but to keep working his job and Carlota - the titular daughter - under her father's power.

Even a character in a position of power like Eduardo Lizalde considers himself, like Carlota, to be trapped by his father dictating his life. Moreau himself feels that his position is precarious and at the whims of his financial backer.

In some cases these feelings of powerlessness have more to do with perception than reality. It gradually becomes clear that if Moreau set his pride aside he has options. For Carlota and Montgomery while they are to a large extent bound by others they are also have a position of significant power over the hybrids. The book acknowledges all of this but never really goes anywhere with it. It's a shame because there's a lot of really interesting dynamics to dig into there but it's left unexplored.

I was also disappointed that it didn't show more of the hybrids. The story is told between alternating POVs of Carlota and Montgomery and while we hybrids appear they don't get the same development of the protagonists or even (with the exception of Lupe) the other human characters like Eduardo or Doctor Moreau. Not showing more of their perspective was a missed opportunity.

In general the book introduces a lot of interesting ideas, characters and themes but fails to do anything with them. They're introduced or sometimes just gestured at but never fully developed. All the building blocks for a fascinating construction are there but they aren't used to build anything.

Reading back over this it sounds more negative than I am about the book. I enjoyed it! It's genuinely good! This was the first book I've read by Moreno-Garcia and reading it left me wanting to read more by her. If I'm critical it's because it had the potential to be great but falls short.

#the daughter of doctor moreau

[booksandwords]

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Read time: 1 Day Rating: 5/5 Stars

The Quote: You wrote of being in a village upthread together, living as friends and neighbours do, and I could have swallowed this valley whole and still not have sated my hunger for the thought. Instead I wick the longing into thread, pass it through your needle eye, and sew it into hiding somewhere beneath my skin, embroider my next letter to you one stitch at a time. — Blue

This Is How You Lose the Time War (henceforth Time War) was such a stunning read. A surprise to me as well, I picked this up for its cover, animals to fill a prompt, I really didn't expect such a wonderful story and characters. A joyous way to spend several hours. I did read this is a single sitting between about 11 and 3 in the morning (woo disrupted sleeping patterns). Despite the time of night I was reading this easy to follow, something I was slightly concerned about. The only thing I missed until long after I should have caught it was the seeker following both Blue and Red through time and space as they read their letters.

Red and Blue are the book's protagonists, not their real names (we never learn those). Both women are time-travelling agents for opposing factions in a battle to create the ideal timeline. When the story starts they are both aware of each other already, both can sense each other moving upthread and downthread (the terms used for moving in the timeline) Red is an agent for the Agency, getting her orders from the Commandant. Citizens of The Agency are grown in what I see as Matrix-style tanks of liquid. Blue is a player for the Garden, receiving her orders directly from the Garden. Citizens of the Garden are grown in a garden bed. Red is more brutal in her style for making changes to the thread, Blue specialises in subtly. Though as different as they are they do have similarities. Both of them hate Atlantis, both see the beauty in the world and both are more isolationist than their people would like. Their letters to each other are hidden in creative and fun ways. Volcanos, tea, traditional paper and animals among others.

I really enjoyed the style. Time War is written in a combination of letters and third-person narrative following each protagonist in turn. This is a joint write between Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar, as I guessed while reading each author wrote a character. Max Gladstone wrote Red's letters and her reactions, Amal El-Mohtar wrote the same for Blue. They had agreed on a broad outline of the plot structure before starting but the emotional responses to the letters are organic (source: Strange Horizons). This is key to why the writing works so well. Gladstone and El-Mohtar give Red and Blue different voices befitting their different backgrounds. At least at first, I found that Blue had a beautiful mind and Red had a beautiful language. Eventually, their presentations are evened out as their trust develops and their relationship depends. Their letters are so sweetly flirty sometimes seemingly knowingly, sometimes not. The nicknames Red and Blue use to address each other range from funny to cute. There is a practical purpose to them but they are still really cute references. Some are more easily recognisable than others.

I usually ignore endorsements/testimonials/'puff-quotes' on books but I noticed one on Time War after I'd finished reading, it's from Madeline Miller, author of Cirice (more importantly I would say the legendary The Song of Achilles).

This book has it all: treachery and love, lyricism and gritty action, existential crisis and space-opera scope, not to mention time travelling super-agents. Gladstone and El-Mohtar's debut collaboration is a fireworks display from two very talented storytellers.

I like this quote because for once it does a halfway decent job of summarising the story and my feeling about it. I really do recommend this if the blurb appeals to you. It does a brilliant job of creating a world and really likable characters.

I could add so, so many quotes to the review here. I will try to refrain from going overboard. • "And then we'd be at each other's throats even more." Oh, petal. You say that like it's a bad thing. — It's just the way Blue writes this because both of them know this competition is part of them. (Blue, p.36) • Atlantis sinks. Serves it right. Red hates the place. For one thing, there are so many Altantises, always sinking, in so many strands. — The whole Atlantis thing makes me smile so many time travel books venerate Atlantis, and have it as a point in time to go back to a save. This book is very much is just it fails in every strand, why do we bother? (Red, 47) • We make so much of lettercraft literal, don't we? Whacked seals aside. Letters as time travel, time-travelling letters. Hidden meanings. — Should I explain the whacked seals bit? Red's last letter was concealed in a seal Blue had to kill to access it. (Blue, p.53) • I like writing to you. I like reading you. When I finish your letters, I spend frantic hours in secret composing my replies, pondering ways to send them. — This is intended to be reassuring to Blue and it is. There is also something so romantic about this. (Red, p.82) • There is a small hill from which can watch the sun set over the Outaouais River; every evening I see a red sky bleed over blue water and think of us. Have you ever watched this kind of sunset? The colours don't blend: the redder the sky the bluer the water, as we tilt away from the sun. — This is just such a visual description. It is in a letter from Blue while she an embedded operation, as she is for probably 1/3 of the book. This is what she does to remind herself of Red. (Blue, p.88) • I want to say, now, before you can beat me to it—Red, when I think of the seed in your mouth I imagine having placed it there myself, my fingers on your lips. — I'm not going to spoil this one. It is just a beautifully intimate quote. The longing is so plain to see. (Blue, p.125) • I'll be sent, no doubt, to undo the damage you've caused. And we'll run again, the two of us, upthread and down, firefighter and fire starter, two predators only sated by each other's words. — Does this just feel like a mix of want and content to anyone else? Red knows what she wants to be on the treads facing off against red, and she would be content with that... if she couldn't have more. I also really like the names she uses. (Red, p.128) • "You root in the air, my epiphyte. It's no hard thing to trace the new growth to you, singly." — I had to look up epiphyte, I should have guessed it was a botany term. "epiphyte: a plant that grows on another plant, especially one that is not parasitic, such as the numerous ferns, bromeliads, air plants, and orchids growing on tree trunks in tropical rainforests." It does kinda suit Blue. (Garden, p.145)

#tihylttw #sapphic fiction #lgbtq #sci-fi #book review #read 2022 #ktreviews #this is how you lose the time war #amal el mohtar #max gladstone #booklr #science fiction #spoilers on goodreads

[crystalelemental]

“books-are-my-life-stuff: Thank you so much for sharing! I really like reading your ideas! I kinda want Mob to have moderate to good DPS at least, much like SS Lyra to at least be able to solo stuff. I like the idea of Mob soloing Legendary Arenas like SST Red, except he also brings a lot of utility stuff like SS Lyra. It's a lot to ask but it's probably possible. Mesprit does suit him, but I feel like he might have two partner Pokemon, the other one for his ???% form. Maybe a Paradox Pokemon?”

Realistically, all he’d need is specific utility to solo stuff, which isn’t too hard to accomplish.  Regeneration, immunity to debuffs, guaranteed flinch rates; those definitely work out.  Piercing Blows is absolutely needed to get to SST Red levels, though.  I almost want to say Iron Valiant for the ???% form.  Raw power, you know.

“I do like the idea of three main esper kids having the Lake Trio though, it's a cool idea and the Lake Trio suits all three of them. Indeedee kinda makes sense since Ritsu used to not have powers before getting one and becoming psychic, but I do like Hisuian Arcanine more, it's a lot cooler. Him having kits that complements what Mob needs is cool too, maybe make Mob's trainer move only boosts +4 offensive stats+crit, while Ritsu caps it and adds more defensive stuffs.”

Lake Trio is always my favorite thing, but it does feel like it fits.  I think it could be either defensive buffs while Mob has offensive self-sufficiency, or a sort of SS Wally situation where Mob can technically cap his own needs, but wouldn’t mind the assist.

“Reigen with Kecleon is really great, I like it a lot, and nice callback for Mystery Dungeon as well. I dunno how its Color Change mechanic going to adapt to Masters since enemies tend to attack with various kinds of types, but it's an interesting one nonetheless.”

I’m not too sure either.  I guess it would be like...switching weaknesses?  Hmm.  Now I’m really curious.  Oh, wait!  I got one.  Increases the Rebuff level of the type of move last hit by 1.  So if he gets hit with, say, Dragon Claw, he gets +1 Dragon rebuff.  Those can go the other way, we just haven’t seen it happen yet.

“Bitter Blade might have nerfed base power because it heals, so maybe add a Ramming Speed passive as base to add more power, Unyielding 4 as 3/5 grid, and some debuffing passives/moves, that's gonna suit Teru a lot. I always associate Teru with electric-types because it's commonly fast and matches aesthetically, but I like Ceruledge, and I think it fits as well.”

That’s fair.  He was honestly one of the tougher ones to figure out, because it’s like...okay, rival vibe, and kinda shithead vibe, but also he’s a genuinely nice guy whose biggest moment is protecting a bunch of people, thus also protecting his rival/friend/lover(?)’s principles, and it’s like...there’s a lot to work with but it’s hard to pinpoint just one.

“I like the Dimple and Serizawa ones a lot, I don't think I have anything to add. I like the idea of Serizawa having Sobble too, it's great. Dimple with Banette is also very fitting character-wise I think Shou will be a very standard fire-type striker probably kinda similar to SS Hilda/NY!Lisia. Yes, his design was made with shounen anime protagonist in mind. Blast Burn, maybe Fire Shift Giga Impact, add Bob & Weave passive to reference that he can conceal his presence.”

Bob and Weave is a great idea.  Just go all-in on evasion play and add Blind Spot.  I think that’s the one.  I get the accuracy and evasion modifier names mixed up sometimes...

“OH RIGHT, Beheeyem is such a great idea, and a Dynamax one too for Tome, really fits her. I kinda want the Telepathy Club to have something otherworldly to match their character. Like Inukawa having Nihilego because instead of getting abducted by aliens, he got abducted by Nihilego. Body Improvement Club has to have Fighting-types. Onigawara and Musashi's partners are perfect, Musashi might have Gigantamax too.”

I’m all for anything with Nihilego, I love that thing.  And I am 100% on board with Gigantamax Musashi.  That just feels right.

#books-are-my-life-stuff

[jackdawandicarus]

My character naming process

My friend @robinsinthesummer did a post like this so now I’m doing one too. Also I’m probably going to put more effort into this than is really necessary but idc.

The first method is just giving them a name that randomly spawns in my brain and fucking haunts my thoughts until a name a character it or create a new character solely to name something that name. The current name haunting my brain is Sidney fwi. I have an OC named it but I don’t really like said character, they are too un-queer. Sidney is a name for the gays. A name-ghost I actually went through with naming the character is Michael for my main project’s protag’s father and Sandy for this little cryptic hunter character I have. Honestly might give her a sister just to name said sister Sidney lol. Or a friend or something. Maybe-

If there’s another character with a name too similar to the current name-ghost (e.g. my *other* potential Sidney, who is very queer, is a main character for my book in which there is already a main character named Kit, I found the start of the names too similar to use Sidney for the character, Sydney might’ve worked but I hate that spelling), I begin an actual active naming process. I think of names with similar sounds and vibes (to continue with my example, Macey or Darcy which have the ending sound which I want for the character), using Behind the Name to assist if necessary. Usually I’ll have around 3 names on the list.

I’ll try to to think about themes, personality, arc, etc. with some more important characters. My protagonist in one of my current projects is named Ophelia. While Ophelia was a name-ghost, I gave it to the character I did because I thought that the meaning of ‘help’ fit for the character (also something something Hamlet something something idk I don’t know shit about Hamlet, I just know Ophelia goes mad and kills herself, which actually fits my Ophelia tbh) because she begins the story very passive, she very much views herself as a supporting character. It also fits as a silent cry for help hidden within her name, she is unable to reach out for help, and attempts to repress her negative emotions. Pretty sure Hamlet also had something to do with it at the time but I’ve genuinely forgotten.

Her sister Casandra’s name was chosen in a similar fashion. Only I know for sure that I named her after the Greek mythological figure of Cassandra. I dropped an S because I like the way it looks like that. Casandra has Schizotypal Personality Disorder, which is a pretty recent addition to her character but I think makes sense with my pre-existing characterisation of her as having ‘magical thinking’, to quote Wikipedia’s page on STPD lol. Cassandra in Greek mythology is obviously most known for being cursed to see the future and have no one believe her (though she’s a personal interest of mine and I could probably tell you everything about her if you asked me to), which is how Casandra perceives herself. I’m still working on figuring out how I’m going to adapt her character now I’ve decided to give her STPD.

There’s also a little (read- pathetic) guy I named Pigeon. They’re my most recent character because I’m tired of not writing about anthropomorphic cats, I’m a Warriors fan goddamn it it is in my blood. Pigeon is named after a bird species which absolutely no one will be able to guess from his name! He’s named after the bird because said bird has this whole tragic ‘used to be a valued pet and working animal and then we abandoned them and call them sky-rats’ thing going on which fits their character arc.

Sometimes I’ll just go to Behind the Name and look through it to find a suitable name though lol. After naming Ophelia and Casandra I needed to name their triplet brother. I literally just looked through the masculine Ancient Greek list on Behind the Name until I found Zopyrus at the very bottom and thought it worked well enough. He dies half way through anyway.

Sometimes I’ll name a character after a real life person I went to Primary school with or something. This is most common with my Sims, though, tbh. I named a character Jessica, but I think that’s literally it for OCs so far

And thus ends my overly long post!

#hope at least 2 people enjoy this lol #I took way too long on this #writing #oc

[goddamnwebcomics]

8 Worst Character Designs I’ve Encountered In This Blog

It’s time for another article! Character design is important part of any story, and you can’t judge a book by it’s cover but...webcomics are a whole different medium. Character designs constantly go through subtle changes as artists improve and not improve, and many characters can either be designed by the author’s brain or the author’s genitals. Or they’re a reflection of author’s out of touch vision of what they consider trendy.

Here I am going to list off the worst of the worst, designs that I hope are never replicated by any other artist.

8. Vibibi from Console Girl

Console Girl’s character designs are often basic and meant to replicate the anime character cliches, the girl with huge tits, the tomboy, the idiot protagonist hero who falls to the dark side, minecraft villager, mad scientist, the evil girl with huge tits, the little girl of non-specified age and his big guy boyfriend, you get the idea.

As hideous as these character archetypes are, they aren’t exactly hard to look at even if the art gets worse. One character who is hardest to look at, is, fittingly enough, the Virtual Boy Girl, Vibibi. I don’t know what’s the idea with her being a grey-skinned Splatoon girl with random shades of red splashed over her? Her eyes are uneven and I am fairly certain her hairstyle changes every panel. EVEN IGNORING the fact that she calls her owner who is an older man with no blood relation “daddy”, she is just not a good design. I am sure there are better ways to make a Virtual Boy girl who remains faithful to the aesthetics of the original consoles. Vibibi in general was the stone in the middle that made console girls go from faithful representations of their respective consoles to “the author’s fetish” territory.

7. Tsuki from Warmage

Tsuki was the worst character in the history of this blog for the longest time until Riley dethroned her. Even then Riley at least has a kinda??? sorta??? maybe??? better design that Tsuki, who much like Vibibi is too chaotic to stand out as a sensible design. She is a japanese cyborg who also happens to be a tengu and another similarity she has to Vibibi is her using the word “daddy” a lot, this time in sexual context! She doesn’t look one bit japanese, she looks more like a pale corpse who decided to paint her eyebrows different colors and put on the most “LOOK AT ME I BEG YOU LOOK AT ME” haircut imaginable. Combine that with her horribly unlikable personality and ridiculous traits, and you know why she is so infamous. Maybe that’s why Llew spanked her.

6. Damian from Alien Dice

I talked about bad redesigns in my previous article, and quite possibly the worst redesign went to the poor Damian. I get that Tiffany wanted to make him look more unique, but did she really need to add that gigantic pinocchio nose? Like, even if Damian was not a womanizing cunt obsessed with parties, I’d still have hard time trying to take her seriously. And like, Tiffany’s inconsistent artstyle is not helping as some of his expressions are ridiculous. Just get a nosejob, bro.

5. Kir Kiridan from Kit n Kay Boodle

I wanted to include at least one design from Gene Catlow but I guess I have gotten used to just about every design I find improbable or hideous. That is not the case with it’s sister comic, Kit n Kay Boodle. Since majority of characters in the comic are often naked, many of them are quite unappealing to the eye, and the most unappealing character to my view is Kir Kiridan. Kir is a very muscular...something, seriously what species is he supposed to be? We don’t know his species, he looks like he takes anabolic steroids and he feels like a gay fantasy even Animan would feel is too much. And just as hideous as Kir are those ridiculous tryhard aroused faces Skamm makes whenever he sees him, ugh. I am so glad this comic is in my rearview mirror.

4. Dominique blah blah blah AKA Dullahan from Monster Girl Academy

Monster Girl Academy almost feels like cheating, since it might have the ugliest art style in this entire blog. However, it does commit major character design mistakes that make characters look like monsters alright. The biggest example of this is the headless harlot herself, Dominique, or Dullahan, or Dullahead and Dullabody. As much as I hate the minotaurs, at least they could look better if drawn by another artist. Dullahan has this weird tanned skin that makes her look like gyaru. It's toned down (hue) a bit after the first issue but her makeup is still a mess, even more so than Tsuki's. She looks much older than she is supposed to be, her anus is somehow visible through her costume, and when she blushes she looks like she's swelling up like a tomato. Granted, I think many of this article’s characters would be better if they were headless, but that would require their head to not be hanging around with them.

3. Laranya from Warmage

Yes, Tsuki is NOT the worst design to come out of Dumok’s pants. That would be this comic’s experiment into teratophilia, Laranya. Well, Laranya isn’t really a monster but rather a monstrous human. She has long claws, sharp teeth and snake eyes. However despite being an implied abomination she still wears makeup and she has this weird build which makes her look like a goblin, oh yeah and sometimes she’s naked and she has sex with Llew. Towards the end of the comic she just looks like a man which Dumok probably didn’t intend. Granted, I think a lot of why she is hideous has more to do with Dumok’s artstyle. If he can’t draw attractive women, he certainly can’t draw ones that aren’t.

2. Stealth from Alien Dice

Alien Dice sometimes pulls off intentional redesigns as opposed to unintentional ones, this is because since many of our characters are dice, they can evolve into higher forms. Stealth got the worst end of the stick, she started off as a marketable little kittycat, evolved into a slightly older cat and suddenly she loses her black fur and becomes a puma with red streak of fur, and when we reach Stealth’s current stage she suddenly has wings and HUMAN HAIR. This is not helped by how she emotes a lot by pulling off angry faces, while Tiffany seemingly can’t make up if she wants to give her a realistic lion face or a more cartoony big cat face. As a result, Stealth has had a SHITTON of hideous faces since her transformation to the point you can fill a whole page with them. She doesn’t look good from a far, she doesn’t look good in closeups, she doesn’t look good in any shot. Thankfully however, Tiffany has finally started to find a way to make her design look natural and like she belongs in the comic, but all of this could have been avoided if she kept Stealth’s older design.

1. Giancarlo from Roommates

Also known as VeERGHmon for a good reason. Our very first riff will always have the very worst character design in form of VeERGHmon, every shot of him is hideous, he never looks good or even appealing, even worse than that he was designed to be CUTE. Even ignoring what Veemons are meant to look like in their source material, Giancarlo is just a hideous lizard creature who spends most of the time being either naked or being a douchepussy. He could be the best written character in the world and that design could still stick out like a sore thumb. Go back to Gashire you hideous reptile.

#article thingy

[tapas-and-stuff-productions]

The Deities Project: Part 9

An early notion for the Keys & Kingdoms universe was to divide its world into sections ruled by three pantheons, and those would be the historical pantheons of Greek, Norse, and Egyptian mythology! As it turned out, the 3rd Edition D&D supplement “Deities & Demigods” included stats for those exact three pantheons, and I carefully studied that for guidance on how to reinterpret those legendary pantheons for use in a fantasy world.

And so began this project: drawing all 53 historical deities depicted in that book. Casey Gosselin drew their symbols and Stacy Lord drew the characters themselves. Neither saw the illustrations in the D&D book, but we stuck to what the book claimed as their symbol, their sacred weapon, and very general appearance. The big project lasted from October 2019 to August 2020. Since then, we’ve been putting more research into the real myths and other gods, but these will still form the foundation for the core members of the pantheons and what they’ll look like when the K&K universe begins.

This is an 11-part series presenting all the art anew and talking about the ideas behind it! Presented in the order in which they were done, which is approximately in the order of strongest to weakest according to their rankings in the D&D book. Don’t forget to check out Stacy and Casey’s own pages:

This is for sure a favorite design of  mine! The blue skin with the very pale hair looks awesome, the single-bladed greataxe, the proper bikini armor - and some actual muscles, to emphasize in her final design! Mm-hmm. Probably the most shoehorned a character’s symbol ever became… you can’t embroider fur, what the heck was I thinking?

Skadi’s got a funny backstory - a Jotun who wanted to defect to Asgard, she came seeking to marry Baldur. Odin didn’t want to just give Baldur away, so had her instead choose her husband from a lineup of various bachelor Asgardians while only able to see their feet. She hoped the cleanest pair of feet belonged to Baldur, but they turned out to be Njord’s. It seems she wasn’t happy with Njord, and they eventually divorced and Skadi ended up with Sif’s son Uller - I imagine she was happier there, as Skadi married to Uller seems a bit more “status quo”. Also, one of her domains is skiing. She is the goddess of skiing. People make fun of her for that.

Speaking of Uller, seems he’s on a similar power level to his wife. I believe mythically he’s Sif’s son and thus Thor’s stepson, but, eh, sometimes these tangled myths are worth simplifying, let’s say he’s Thor’s son as well. So… pretty good design, wearing a lot more layers than most, looks pretty adventurous and the colors are nice together. Basically, setting the standard for what more final designs ought to look like. And I love his extra-long silky hair!

Here we have my very favorite deity design in the whole collection! A lot of ideas together I wasn’t sure would work but sure as hell do - such as the animal-headed deities occasionally having human hair, his mace being golf club shaped, his sleepy red eyes, his condemning point, and overall slender frame. Really sweet. The symbol on his belt being the scales of life and death was another ad-lib from Stacy. Totally awesome. And the jackal head symbol is nice! Like Bast’s cat symbol, I figured it represents just a general jackal rather than Anubis himself, as evidenced by their different eye colors.

And we’re out of the lesser gods and into the demigods, in this case not meaning gods of partially mortal descent, but instead gods who have just the bare minimum amount of worshipers to be proper gods; deific beings without enough worshipers are called quasi-gods.

Nike is, er, sort of a Titan, I guess? She and her three siblings are more like embodiments of concepts - she is victory, and the most noteworthy beside her these days is Kratos, who embodies strength, because his name is now well-known as the protagonist of the God of War series… just his name, there wasn’t really much to the strength guy to borrow from.

Anyway, Nike. Kind of an angel of victory! I suppose there ought to be an explanation of some sort for why only a small handful of gods have wings… anyway, Casey and I both counted this among our favorite symbols, I like that sort of Christmas-angel version of her, and making it generally darker in color than her actual self, that feels legit. I specified a “trumpet-shaped mace”, and Stacy clearly didn’t know what that meant, as she made a flail with a trumpet-shaped handle, and I just didn’t say anything because I wanted to get through to the end of this thing, so, this is the other one besides Tyr that I really regret. But much less than him, because besides her weapon, her design is top-notch.

Apep! Sometimes called Apophis. Peppy, to his friends. This fiendish fiery serpent is the enemy to the Pharaonic gods - certainly a very different sort of deity to all the rest. Lots of novelty in his being totally non-humanoid. While usually depicted as a big python with some dragon-like traits, I thought making him a big thick cobra would be a fun new thing! Though since then I have seen him drawn as a cobra in one other place, a cool YouTube channel that explains lots of myths, been a valuable resource. Apep is important as we start out, since he will be the force behind the villains of “Keys & Kingdoms: The Choices”. So, yeah, I’m very happy he turned out this damn good!

#TAPAS and Stuff Productions #Keys & Kingdoms #The Deities Project

[quibliography]

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin

Synopsis:  This novel is about an American living in Paris in the late 50s. David is left to his own devices when his girlfriend flies off to Spain to contemplate her place in life. He keeps company with Jacques, an older gay man from whom he needs to frequently borrow money. Jacques takes him to Guillaume’s bar where he meets Giovanni, the new bartender. Between the imminent return of Hella and his conflicting impulses towards Giovanni, David is confronted with having to choose an identity, the one that society has chosen for him or one that he chooses himself.

My Quibs: Quite a serious and intense read. Definitely a book club book and it created really good discourse about identity, sexuality, etc as a whole but also about gender roles, social expectations, etc then versus now. The main protagonist is very uncomfortably an unsympathetic character. His behavior and attitude towards others though human is not humane. And both Baldwin and David seem to use the supporting characters for his own purposes before discarding them. Jacques exists for Baldwin as a sounding board for David’s internal distaste for flamboyant and indulgent behavior and for David as just a person of financial means in society. Once Jacques is not useful, he is set aside, and the attention turns to Giovanni. It makes David unlikable but maybe also a little pitiful. He seems to be paralyzed in both thought and action, like an animal sunk in mud. He clings to the edge between worlds and just judges both sides. 

“You love your purity, you love your mirror...”

But most of my un-sympathy comes from his choice of action, or I guess lack thereof.

“You do, sometimes, remind me of the kind of man who is tempted to put himself in prison in order to avoid being hit by a car.”

Even, or especially, with Giovanni, he creates something unsustainable and intangible. They leave projects half-finished: part of the wall torn down, shelves half assembled. Everything is done only part way and what’s actually consciously planned is an exit, a means of moving on without moving forward.

Should you read it? It’s a dense novel that is best read with others. There are many perspectives and facets here that can’t be seen from one side.

Similar reads? It’s not of a category that I read much from so it’s hard to say what else is similar.

(Spoiler Alert!) Two things that I didn’t expect, but in hindsight was almost fated for David. 1) Hella leaves him. In the first half, I was pleasantly surprised to see a book from the 50s have a female character that not only is able to travel alone in a foreign country but also for the intellectual purpose of self-discovery. It seemed bizarrely forward thinking until... In the second half, I was disappointed in what Hella discovered about herself. Granted, we are reading her through David’s perspective and I’m not scoffing at her choice for a domesticated life of motherhood. It was the very hard line in which all women were meant only to be mothers as dictated by society. So much so that she leaves him when he can’t conform. 2) Giovanni is convicted of murder. I guess death is the metaphor blanketing all the issues David is(n’t) grappling with. But it seems heavy-handed for the author to kill off the character that made David recognize and refuse something latent in himself. And even more heavy-handed, the execution is fabricated in David’s mind as he chooses to not confront the actual execution.

What did you think of Giovanni’s Room?

#giovanni's room #james baldwin

[frosted-night]

Jack Frost Designs Review

Yes it’s finally his time. This is going to include his book designs including previous incarnations in said books. There are more movie concept designs than book so, let’s dig in shall we?

This was in fact the first ever Jack Joyce designed while he came up with The Guardians Of Childhood. He even comes with his own backstory! (Which was cut. Sorry Joyce posts walls of text so it’s a girthy read.)

So instead of a young mischievous trickster, we got a much more depressing story of Jack. (Jack by default is sad obviously) but this one... It kind of hits differently and almost reminds me of the story he crafted for Pitch. A dad who tried to defend his family but through tragic events was ripped from them and changed completely. Design wise, he’s a lot more tree than snow. There doesn’t exist a colored version of this so we’ll never know if he sported winter and dull dead leaf colors rather than grassy greens.This Jack has a weird presence to him, I can’t put my finger on it. Rating: 6/10 He’s really neat! Just a little too Autumn feeling rather than a blend of both Autumn and Winter.

Nightlight feels like the baby evolution if Jack was a pokemon and that's what I’m gonna stick with. Below is a more recent version of him colored.

In all honesty that one is easier on the eyes proportion wise because sometimes Joyce has ‘interesting’ anatomy choices but we aint going into that today. It’s interesting how his hair somehow looks shorter and longer than Jack’s at the same time. Could be because the longer strands float seamlessly but star boy hair physics what can ya do. It’s a little hard to tell what is his skin and what is his armor, so that is a casuality in making a character only have one or two colors in their color scheme. I love other artist’s depictions of Nightlight but the canon one feels a little weak color wise. Rating: 5/10 Sorry, get some better LEDs and then come back.

Here we have a book Jack but I can’t entirely recall if this was used in the books or not. I digress. This design looks like him still wearing very Nightlight-esque armor/clothing and slowly growing into his new persona as Jack Frost. The intricacies are hard to make out but we’ll work with it. This one is very interesting to me because he very much looks like an older teen close to young adult. His hair looks very fluffy too. Not many complaints about this one but not much praise either.

Rating: 6/10 Not great but doesn’t stand out that much.

Remember when I said Joyce had ‘interesting’ anatomy decisions? Jack looks like he has half a head here and it bothers me GREATLY. This is the adult Jack design he went with. Supposedly he likes the opera and he sure looks it. This! Exists!! Kind of wish it didn’t. The outfit is nice but it just doesn’t fit Jack as a whole. This just screams to me that it’s someone else with a similar-ish hairstyle.

Rating: 3/10 Guess he’d be the...Phantom Of The Opera. (I’ll go home and so should he.)

And finally the final Jack. This is the one that almost exactly resembles the Jack we got in the movies(Probably because it was made after the movie but w/e) but just add a cape on him. I can’t really tell if hes got a hoodie and a cape, or just a cloak+hood on top of a sweatshirt. It isn’t too important because my thoughts on this one are obvious. Rating: 10/10 Edna Mode would have a field day with you boy.

MOVIE DESIGN TIME

Joyce claims this is a design he drafted when Leonardo DiCaprio was considered to voice Jack and I can kind of see that with how his face is drawn here. This Jack looks a lot more like a warrior and less of that trickster look. I can’t say I’m a fan of the weird antenna his hood has but his sword is really cool looking.

Rating: 4/10 Nice bow and sword but it can’t save your fashion choices.

This looks like a lanky 11-13 year old who would put rocks or slugs in my shoes and relish in my disgust. He has the exact look of a snot nose kid and I’m unsure how to feel about it.

His various hairstyles drafted here sort of make him softer looking or just more of a snot nose, no in between. Maybe even an Anime Protagonist.

The top right one almost looks like Hiccup from How To Train Your Dragon if you squint. It’ll be a little hard to rate them all as one individual but why not.

Rating: 5/10 I don’t hate them but they aren’t my cup of tea.

AH- IS THAT A FUCKIN GREMLIN?

Oh wait no it isn’t he looks like a 10 year old. Whatever don’t feed him after midnight. The staff’s design of not being shaped like a G is an interesting tidbit but the whole design looks like he’s really young or like a troll etc. This Jack looks like he thinks girls have cooties uses outdated slang.

Rating: 4/10 This is me being generous.

It honestly looks like he hiked his pants up all the way to his chest. A late teen with horrid fashion choices once again. Not many other thoughts here.

Rating: 2/10 Get a sweater on or something.

This is one is very interesting looking to me. His clothes looked a lot more leather based and very human-like. The tatters, tears and frays all make him look like he was a victim of an accident that never changed his clothes. It makes me wonder if this Jack had the same death as the final movie Jack or something else entirely. Either way, this one looks like hes a mid to late teen which really adds to my intrigue.

This was another image that greatly resembled the design so I included it here. It almost looks like his skin is blue here which is pretty neat to me at least. He’s also got leaf motifs here, which from the first Jack design Joyce made, we can see a pattern here.

Rating: 8 /10 I was originally weirded out by his head but now its not so bad.

This Jack is definitely dressed more like a nature boy rather than him having human influenced fashion and it’s an appealing touch. The tiny leaf sprouting from his staff is also kind of cute since the designers seemed to want to put leafs somewhere on his designs. His hairstyle is also very cute but it reminds me of Sasuke Uchiha in a sense. (Not a setback for me at least)

Rating: 7/10 13 year old Jack is going thru a phase.

I thought this Jack didn’t show up again in story boards but I was wrong!

They look a little different from each other but just similar enough to pair together, so bare with me. The first one obviously has looser pants, slightly longer sleeves and got his leaf motif going. This second Jack is a VERY green. It gives the impression that this Jack made his clothes out of plants and natural materials. Again I’m not wholly sure if greens fit his color scheme but they sure went for it for a while. I can’t say I’m a fan of it because it heavily reminds me of Peter Pan.

However a very similar looking Jack could be found in this storyboard. It doesn’t look as green as the other storyboards made it out to be and looks more like dead grass. Which is a pretty nice touch.

Rating: 5/10 I don’t hate it but it just doesn’t vibe yknow.

Speaking of a vibe...hoo this certainly has one.  This Jack isn’t old but certainly doesn’t look very young, maybe in the 20-30 range, thats just me. He has facial features that remind me of Pitch but resembles the Jack Frost of Santa Clause 3

That being said, I wondered if him looking similar to Pitch was in the storyline of them being brothers.(Which was a scrapped thing, who knew.) He’s a bit more menacing in this design but certainly seems like he relishes in his work.

Rating: 4/10 I’d make it a lower score but I gotta give it props

NOW THIS JACK IS KINDA INTERESTING. This one looks like he’s 16 and going through a grunge phase. He’s gonna play Nirvana loudly and not turn it down even if you tell him too. His staff itself has mini icicles hanging off of it and leafs look stuck to his shirt. Did you glue or staple those on Jack? His hair also looks much longer than his other designs and I kind of dig it( Shut up I’m bias.) I’m not wholly sure why else this design has stuck with me but it just has something about it that I just love. I wish there was a full body drawing of it.

(He also kinda has the same hair as the Jack Frost in Runescape but I wont go on about that hoo hoo)

Rating: 9/10 *Bad Boy by Cascada plays in the distance*

This one definitely feels like middleschooler trying to be in a band. His sticks just resemble drumsticks to me what can I say. I’m a big fan of his shoes and his color scheme screams a hibernating tree in winter. His hair also looks like it’s covered in frost rather than it being wholly white, which is very neat!! He looks like he wants to fight but has slight hesitance. Overall a very balanced Jack.

Rating: 8/10 He’s ready for band practice

Not many thoughts here, I just found these tiny Jack designs cute. His hoodie being a jacket instead just adds to the charm of this one.

No talk to him he angy.

Rating: 6/10 fun sized boi

Now this Jack resembles the one earlier that dressed entirely in leather brown colors, however he clearly is different than that one. I’m gonna say it, he looks like a zombie or undead in this design and its pretty fucking gnarly. I don’t know whats going on with his hair but I’m gonna assume it’s just the wind making it look like that. He just has the vibe that he was once human but was turned into something else entirely. It isnt in uncanny territory but borders that. This version of Jack meeting Pitch and the others would have been *very* interesting. Rating: 7/10 Eat a twinkie Jack you’ll feel better.

The final design! I can’t complain much about this one. The way his staff subtly has a G shape and a hexagon(his signature shape) is a wonderful touch. Additionally, the way the frost is gathered mostly where his hand is such an intricate detail. His signature hoodie is iconic at this point so I can’t bad mouth that either.(I can’t anyway because there's no complaints from me here.) Although, I never understood the leather straps that his pants had or their functions. I couldn’t find any colonial outfits that resembled Jack’s pants so its a total mystery to me at least.

And I can’t go on about this design until I mention the snowflake pattern in his eyes

Pure beauty. It’s at a hue of blue that almost looks impossible to have, combined with the electric blue color of the snowflake in his eyes. The amount of detail in this movie amazes me to this day. Rating: One Great Blizzard <3/10

#rise of the guardians #guardians of childhood #jack frost #jack frost rotg #jack frost goc #jackson overland frost #nightlight #nightlight rotg #toothiana #tooth fairy rotg #e. aster bunnymund #nicholas st north #pitch black #pitch black rotg #concept art #artbook #art book #design review #my bullshit #stay tuned for Aster's review

[arabian-batboy]

I was very surprised to hear you say that you wouldn't want an animated Super Sons show, if you feel like elaborating on that now, could you please explain why you think that is?

Well I like Super Sons in theory and I’m probably alone on this, but I just have too many issues with Damian portrayal in their comics and if I’m going to be completely honest. I genuinely think that his character was better off before it was made and that most hardcore SS fans are either just Jon’s fans or nasty J*nDami shippers (they're also a big reason as to why I don't want any more SS-related media), while most fans of Damian, especially the ones who have been here before SS, aren’t the biggest fans of that comic.

I mostly have 4 issues with Super Sons, the first issue is Damian’s and Jon’s extremely rushed friendship. Damian doesn’t open up to new people easily and those who are currently very close to him had to fight for a long time for Damian to allow them inside his walls, Jon on the hand had one fight with Damian the first time they met then all of the sudden, maybe 1 or 2 issues later, they became best friends who save the world together? In my opinion there was no build-up and it happened way too fast, most likely for no other reason beside DC wanting to sell a comic about the sons of Batman and Superman working together as fast as possible, so they didn’t bother developing their relationship properly beforehand and I while I love Jon on his own, I could never take his friendship with Damian seriously because of that. Especially considering that before he appeared, Damian had better relationship with other characters that in my opinion had the potential to have better dynamics than SS, but sadly they were all forgotten in order to make Jon be Damian’s best and only friend (I guess him having a team-up book with the daughter of No-Body, no pun intended, wouldn’t be as profitable/marketable as a team-up between the son of Batman and the son of Superman?)

The 2nd issue is the level of infantilizing Damian’s character. I feel like half the time the writers of SS do not really see Damian and Jon as their own characters, but instead they just write them in a normal story about “two kids fighting crimes together!” that might look appealing to young readers, but with basic characterization that isn’t unique to either of them and can fit almost any other fictional kid character in the universe. This of course isn’t as noticeable with Jon since he’s already similar to those stereotypical just-your-average-kid characters, but with Damian it comes off as very out-of-the-character. Not saying you can’t portray Damian as doing/saying childish things, it has been done before by other writers, the difference is that they managed to make it in a believable/in-character way that was still very much Damian-ish.

My main 3rd issue is that while he’s infantilized half the time, he’s demonized the other half (demonized might be too harsh of a word, but I couldn’t think if another one) basically I feel like with Super Sons, they take the whole “good cop & bad cop” act too seriously and obviously in this comic it’s Damian who end up as the bad cop, again, not saying that Damian is some angel that’s never mean/rude to others, but in his own solo he was much more 3-dimensional and was allowed to act in other ways that oftentimes were very endearing, which we don't see as often anymore. Meanwhile with Super Sons they’re hyperfixated on making him the edgy and stuck-up rich kid in order to emphasizes how innocent and pure-hearted Jon is in comparison to him. Now I don’t think this is necessarily done because they like Jon and hate Damian, but rather because they want an easy and cheap way to differentiate the two protagonists from each other (after all this is a kids comic, you don’t need to give them allure/depth, right?) and I guess you can see how this black-and-white portrayal of Damian, who already gets his fair share of hate by so many people for being a “brat,” can be a disservice to him.

The 4th issue might be a really petty reason, but it’s a huge pet peeve of mine. I personally have always loathed Damian with overly-spiky hair and I believe that Super Sons is a huge factor as to why people associate it with Damian so much. Before SS, spiky hair was never Damian’s signature hairstyle, in fact his hair was mostly down in his solo book R:SoB (which I much prefer) and when you look at every single comic that Damian and Jon has ever appeared in together, Damian is literally always drawn with that ridiculous spiky hair and like I said above, it’s mostly done because they think kids would be too dumb to differentiate the boy in mostly-red with the boy in mostly-blue and since obviously not whitewashing Damian so that readers will not mistake him with the white boy next to him is too much to ask for, nope, just give him a two-feet long quiff so that people know which one he is (it’s not like they have totally different costumes).

So like I said, I don’t think Super Sons is inherently bad for Damian, but sadly DC already decided on a standard formula for their stories and I’m simply not a fan of it at all, so if an animated Super Sons show is going to follow the comic's formula then I would rather it wouldn't be made in the first place.

#well this was longer than I thought #you know what would be a perfect solution for this problem? Have Jon and Damian in a team with other characters #instead of just being in a duo #Damian Wayne #Jon Kent #Super Sons