#but the character developments were off and conflicts in the plot seemed out of place and things got resolved in weird ways

[guideaus]

anyways, I'm dropping how do we relationship

#personal #obligatory nice to see lgbt media. and in that respect it honestly was fine #but the character developments were off and conflicts in the plot seemed out of place and things got resolved in weird ways #the blonde girl keeps causing problems for some reason #the homophobic guy was not mentioned again despite being in the band?? #and the main girls never gave me any reason to like them being together #i never wanted to see them get thru things and it never feels satisfying when theyre done w smth #the characters are barely fleshed out at all and now theres love rival for both women??? #the two were also presented as opposites but they basically share the same flaws. nanami touko/Midori Oonishi/shima style #probably more stuff i cant remember

[justsome-di]

Now a Pulitzer Prize winning book (don’t fact check this, just trust me) and featured on Obama’s 2023 Summer Reading List!

You should be reading Nobody Ends Up Dead in a Bathtub, Everyone Keeps Their Organs! Why? See above.

It’s a good story if I do say so myself. And if you read it, you’re a cool kid. Don’t you want to be a cool kid? This is something called peer pressure, and it usually works.

But for real, if you read Nobody Ends Up Dead then you’re going to go on a good adventure with good characters I guarantee you will love. Not to brag, but it is a pretty good story. There’s funny one-liners, a cute plot, and relatable characters that have been developed for years. Just heed warnings at the beginning of chapters. NEUD deals with some heavy topics such as eating disorders.

NEUD is officially all online for free. But you can still access bonus chapters and short stories on Patreon for only $4.

Links: 

AO3

Wattpad

Patreon (Patrons had early access to the whole novel and also get exclusive short stories with the characters and sneak peaks for new projects!)

Netflix Previews

Characters’ Playlists

You can also check out my carrd if there are any updates to how/where I post, it’ll probably be the most accurate place to find new or updated links.

Transcript under cut:

The Story is Dope

A New York office worker and a sex worker get set up on a date--one thinking it's a real blind date, the other under the impression it's an ordinary appointment. After realizing it was all a shitty prank, they set out for revenge. Their plan: show up to an upcoming Halloween office party as a genuine couple, convincing the pranksters they genuinely fell in love and refusing to let themselves become the butt of the joke.

Our main characters are Alex, an awkward admin assistant for a medical company who hasn't been on a date since he was a teenager, and Damián, a sex worker who seems way out of Alex's league but keeps insisting on spending time with him so they can perfect their revenge scheme.

The novel features a diverse cast and explores sex positivity. I also like to believe that it portrays sex work well. Damián is a hardworking man, doing what he loves, and meeting mostly great people along the way--but he also would benefit greatly if sex work was decriminalized and therefore had better resources at his disposal.

If you're looking for a story with LGBT characters that's mostly light-hearted but still packs a punch every few chapters, this is it! Overall, it's a happy story.

The Characters!

oh boy the characters!

we got Damián who's hardworking and doting on his lil bro but oh wow does he have some angst

we got Alex who is nothing more than a burning ball of anxiety trying his best--all too relatable

Leo, Damián's bro, is an ally, and he will make sure everyone knows. Also has angst.

Eve, Alex's lil sister, is an edgy teen who's failing calc and runs a queer book club

together, they're a weird lil dysfunctional family

I'll be honest. There's a lot of love in this story. From me and among the characters. The characters love each other, and I think the readers love them, too.

It touches on a lot of loneliness--inspired by how I've felt since Covid started--and a lot of the conflicting emotions that come with being gay. What happy endings do we deserve? What about happy middles?

It's a touching book about learning to be a better person and finding people who love you--platonically and romantically.

Here are some of my fave parts:

And then there was a streak of gray hair that shocked Alex. A streak of gray hair off to the side, nestled close to a salt and pepper beard. Textured hands held cocktails. Little, subtle lines creased when mouths laughed. Alex held his breath. On the packed floor, they were the only people Alex could see. They were laughing and holding each other and enjoying themselves, firmly in the place they knew they belonged. Flashes of teeth pressed against each other, disappearing for long seconds at a time.

--

“Sorry,” Alex said. “Your arm got heavy on top of me.” “You’re a little mouse of a man. I didn’t mean to crush you.” “I’m what?”

--

“A dog!” Damián cooed as he sat across from the lesbians. “His name is Yam,” Martin said.

“His name is Yam,” Damián cried. Kris and Clara released Yam and gently nudged him to Damián. Ecstatic, Damián picked him up and set him on his lap. “His name is Yam,” he repeated to Alex. “I heard.”

--

But he couldn’t deny that he was having a good time. It was like intense yoga with the perk of having a cock shoved up his ass. He was going to feel limber as fuck after.

--

“Can I do anything?” Alex asked. “To help cheer you up?”

“You don’t have to worry about me.”

“I’d like to. If you let me.”

--

“Wow this sounds great where can I read it?”

Tumblr @justsome-di

Watpadd @justsome-di

Patreon @just some di (link on Tumblr)

AO3 @justsome_di

Updates every friday!

#writeblr #writblr #nobody ends up dead

[sarasade]

On Claudia, Viren, Aaravos & Claudia's Character Arc

This post is mostly about Claudia's character development or should I say character deterioration.

It's highly likely that Callum will be the one to take down Aaravos- like it all goes back to Harrow's letter in s2 and chains of history and the themes of free will vs destiny and such. Aaravos possessing Callum is all about that. He's literally taking control of Callum's faith. There is clear antagonism there that's in a direct conflict with who Callum is.

But at the same time Claudia is the one who's got the biggest personal beef with Aaravos. He exploited her grief, manipulated her and used her father to accomplish his own goals. If Aaravos didn't exist Claudia wouldn't have spent two years of her life in a complete stagnation waiting for her dad to come back from the dead instead of moving on. It seems like Aaravos has been molding Claudia into his personal minion through dark magic during the time skip as well.

Taking this into account it would be really satisfying to see Claudia snap out of it and take her revenge. Characters having a personal connection to the villain always makes a story's climax more gripping. More personal the better! And everything between Aaravos and Claudia is VERY personal.

That's why Viren worked so well as a foil to Callum and Ezran in s 1-3. Especially Ezran whose rightful place as the king he tried to take. He was basically their shitty, power hungry uncle who turned against them. Side note but if Viren is still alive I hope he makes a return as Ezran's foil.

Claudia helping to take down Aaravos would be emotionally satisfying. All the elements for that are already there. Of course Claudia should come to some kind of realisation about the way she's been used by Aaravos before she can take that turn. I doubt the show's got the time for that but it's an interesting possibility to think about.

I really like how the plot around Aaravos manipulating Claudia is done. Even Claudia's own father didn't do anything to prevent it from happening although all the signs of Aaravos having sinister plans for Claudia were there from the beginning: Aaravos calling Claudia "an asset" and encouraging Viren to lie to her in s3 therefore enabling Viren's worst impulses while also using them to his benefit. It's SO EVIL (and I love it). Viren isn't that much better since he always had some kind of excuse to ignore the red flags. At this point of TDP's run I'm convinced that Runaan's "Faith worse than death" line about Aaravos' mirror is finally paying off. It means that the consequences of Viren's actions have hurt Claudia, the only person Viren loves unconditionally, in an unfathomable way.

I think Claudia's arc is relatively subtle and very well done. It balances between Claudia being a victim of manipulation and neglect while also giving her agency to influence the plot as a whole. My only complaint is that Lost Child short story should have been implemented in the show itself and not just be extra material. I have some other grievances but those are mostly fandom related.

How some fans, especially in YouTube reviews, talk about Claudia's downfall like it was inevitable because she's always been fucked up or talking about how "trauma isn't an excuse for bad behaviour" is strange to me. Like, yeah, it isn't an excuse but it's simply just bad media analysis to instantly jump into condemning Claudia's actions, like she's a real person who uses trauma as an excuse to hurt other real people, instead of seeing it in the terms of a character study. Claudia clearly uses trauma to convince herself that what she's doing is right but never tries to manipulate anyone else by using it as an excuse. Think about her and Terry for example: she usually refuses Terry's help instead of trying to garner sympathy from him. This character trait is one of the many reasons why she felt obligated to keep her family together as well. She's extremely stubborn and not very self-conscious about her trauma brain but she does understand why others would see her actions as objectionable. I think this character type (usually a woman) has been given the playful nickname "trauma bitch" in the internet lexicon. Anyway god forbid if we actually empathise, reflect on and engage with unpleasant or problematic characters instead of instantly condemning them.

TDP is about how people can always CHOOSE a different path. Viren's dark magic hallucination in season 5 stated this very clearly.

In Claudia's case it's more interesting to think about WHY she DOESN'T choose differently. That's where all the meat of her character writing lies.

Claudia's arc is what happens when the desperate actions of someone motivated by trauma around abandonment are taken to their logical conclusion in this fantasy setting. It's a fictional story, it has metaphors and shit. Fantasy genre has used necromancy and extending one's life by magical means as a story element to explore humanity's relationship to death many times. The metaphor for loss and regret basically writes itself. Ursula Le Guin has used this trope in The Earthsea books, Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn has done it etc. Everything can't be a one to one comparison to real life (trauma rarely makes you want to kill your friends with dark magic irl. idk that's just me though) and there needs to be a level of abstraction involved in a fantasy story. Abstraction and metaphor, paradoxically, can reveal a greater truth about the world. (I'm probably accidentally quoting someone here but can't remember who.)

Anyway the rest is great. When you think of it all for a moment it's pretty fucked up how Claudia has been used by Aaravos. It's not some tiny part of Caludia's story. It IS her story. And Viren set that norm for her. Viren too has abused Claudia's trust. It's a complex subject and probably requires its own post since Viren, Soren and Claudia's situation reflects some pretty realistic dynamics real life troubled families have. That's why the characters compliment each other's stories so well. Viren is a more realistic character after all when Aaravos is more over the top and symbolic and less of a real person. Aaravos is one of those villains who embodies the opposing ideology of the heros. We (still) don't know almost anything personal about him so he matters mostly in relation to other characters.

Thanks for reading this Claudia propaganda! I've had so many of these in the drafts. Anyway TL;DR

#they did a callback to the unicorn horn spell in s5 #rule of threes guys- what if they use the unicorn spell on Aaravos? #like the whole fandom has already figured that Nova Blade is not gonna cut (heh) it #being real salty about TDP YouTube here lol #not to be that person but- is engaging with a complex female character's story really asking too much? #tdp meta #sarasade text #the dragon prince meta #tdp claudia

[amphiptere-art]

So we can all agree that the Sun and Moon fandom is dying right?

There is a quiz at the end of the post.

Me myself and many others have left. Whether it is due to the rising toxicity of the show or the fans. At this point it is simply a creative backdrop. Something you take ideas off of instead of something that you enjoy and turn into a AU. And at this point if you have it as an AU. You feel as if you need to somehow say it's separated or is only based off of the good old days.

The fact that there is a difference between the good old days and what has happened is sad. I will admit I haven't been here forever. I wasn't here since the beginning. I wasn't watching the episodes upload as I watched. But I did do my best to watch every single lore post I can find. Anything that wasn't a standard gaming episode. So I can at least say that I tried to follow the story.

And to put it slightly the story has gone sour. Characters have stopped feeling right in their actions. Underlying messages have started to get toxic. Many bad guys have gotten so characterized that them being bad guys doesn't feel right. Are good characters no matter how developed they get either regress due to plot convenience. Or have died and basically reset the storyline.

The story seems stuck. There's some gems here and there but it seems like they can't figure out the next story action. And even if they do, it gets so much hate from the fandom that it struggles to continue. It feels like they continuously reset and reset to try and find a story that the fans will enjoy. It's not working unfortunately. There have been many retcons due to this. And there has also been many splits.

And this is not even mentioning the toxicity of the fandom itself at this point. That's basically split itself in two and the other will hate the other. This happened most obviously with the Moon X Solar argument. Where you either enjoy it or you don't enjoy it. It has caused a multiple splits because of differences in morals. It's just created a hostile environment between fans.

And I'm not making this post a point fingers at the whole argument. I've researched it and I know why some people believe it's okay. Whether it's because they believe solar never really wanted to be a part of the family. Or the simple understanding that by most laws, incest between adopted family members is okay. I understand that people have reasons to like it. It doesn't mean that these reasons are shared though. It doesn't mean that the moral implications of that relationship don't affect some people. And neither side is willing to come to a mutual agreement.

This is also not bringing up the fact that the whole villain versus hero argument is starting to become even more split. Sun, Moon, Lunar, Earth, Solar are both currently on the good side. While Eclipse, Blood Moon, and a couple others are still obviously on the bad guy side. But Eclipse and Blood moon have started to become more and more relatable. People can no longer look at those characters and just imagine the villainy part. Especially when the heroes decide to mock the suffering that they did to the villains in the first place.

That is my personal scare between the fandom right now. I can't look at eclipse and not deny that Moon's actions were the reason of it. I can't look at moon and justify years of abuse. Whether it was old moon or new moon at this point. I can't stand and justify treating blood moon as a villain has tested its limit. I can't deny that blood moons actions are more so based on need than actual want. And the creators forcing that idea backfired enough that they barely have him as a character anymore.

There is a split between people who want to support moon and sun with all their actions. There is a split between people who think solar should be considered a part of the family or not. There is a lack of storylines that don't have half of the community hating upon it. There is a lack of feeling an actual tug of conflict in the stories due to the villains being so understandable. There is a hostility between the fan base because of all of these.

I put out a poll a long time ago. Asking people why they basically watched the show anymore. The general consensus was they were just watching the show because they needed to. Because they felt obligated to follow the plot wherever it went. I feel like the fan base that is following the show for their own enjoyment is slowly disappearing. And this is not talking about the amount of people that have straight out left due to all the reasons above.

Whether it is the show's fault for not being able to supply the engaging store anymore that people can enjoy. Or it is the fandom for it's toxic split between the morals of adoption incest, or the feeling that the villain shouldn't be getting as much hate as they do. The show was currently dying on both sides honestly. And the only reason many are continuing to watch the show, is the hope that it will get better, and the need to supply their AUs off of it.

How many of your friends have left because of these reasons? How many of them have had the conundrum of feeling like they need to stay because leaving feels like a betrayal to others or themselves.

How many of us are only holding because of nostalgia?

It feels like nowadays people either choose to blindly follow due to an overall support or question constantly if they should. It feels as if artists that give the show their thumbnails now, are the only people that do stuff happily with it. A conspiracy part of my brain wants to say that's only because not supporting it would mean they wouldn't have there art publicly endorsed. But that's only conspiracy and no fact.

The show has lost its splendor. As of now it's really only a character backdrop to some. A list of events and ideas that you could pull and twist to fit something kinder or better. It's like as if we're using the Sun and Moon like Robin Hood. Stripping it down to the basics just so we can share our twist of the same tale. I have heard many times from people that AUs are more enjoyable right now than actual Canon. I myself have said for multiple stories that they do not follow past backup eclipses death. Which in my opinion is when the show really started to go downhill.

I'm going to ask this question again. Because I feel as if it is important for people who read this post to see it under a newer light.

I will note. If you reblog this post just to argue that it's not dying, That solar X moon isn't incest, that characters like eclipse and blood moon should be treated as the absolute villains they are, and seeking Sun and Moon are evil is dumb. I will not respond. To be honest I will not respond to many reblogs of this. I'm simply putting this information out earnestly as my opinion. I am not here to hate on the artists. I am not here to hate on your difference in opinion. I am not here to say that the show writers are dumb or money monsters. This is my opinion. And if you wish to fight it, then you are not willing to accept differencing opinion.

#the sun and moon show #sun and moon show #the lunar and earth show #lunar and earth show #monty and puppet podcast #monty and foxy show #the monty gator and foxy show #monty gator and foxy show #the monty and foxy show #tmgafs #mgafs #sams #tsams #tlaes #laes #tsams fandom #sams fandom #the sun and moon show fandom #sun and moon show fandom

[itsnothingofinterest]

Hey, Hope you're having good Holidays? 👋

Do you think there's going to be a big twist coming up in bnha?

Or maybe a twist big villain or something?

Because all the other villains have been taken out of commission and there's still doesn't seem to be any way for deku to save/defeat shigaraki. (Nothing that we've been shown so far.)

Because shigaraki does seem to be more powerful than deku and even if they do FINALLY start talking, deku seems to be in the same place 'ideal wise' as he was several arcs ago.

Like what could deku say that could prove his point (not that he really has much of a point, as he still hasn't really even thought about trying to fix hero society's giant flaws) to shigaraki now?

Even more, what could deku do, since he's still focusing on the crying child inside shigaraki and not what made the crying child?

Well my answers about the same as it's been for a long while now; I agree Deku's not in the right headspace to save Tomura and probably can't cram the character development to get into that headspace in at the last second before/during his metaphorical final exam here. He still needs to further develop his own views on things if he wants to challenge & change Tomura's views. Maybe Deku could convince him the entire country's not a lost cause and he shouldn't destroy it within a few chapters, but there's a massive gap between that and actually saving him the way we usually mean. The fact the other villains have not really been saved either so far doesn't really help my opinion of Deku's chances.

So yes I do expect a big twist and, same as ever, I expect that twist to be that this is not the final arc and we'll get a My Hero part 2 after Hori takes a long break. It's basically the only real meaningful twist I can think of at this point that'd resolve this time conflict without rushing resolutions that should not be rushed. Especially with Kurogiri (& maybe Machia if he’s alive) still left as dangling plot threads that could potentially recover the villains.

(Though I would not hate it, half just because I think it'd be funny, if the HC president came out of nowhere to reveal she survived clone-stro and is taking over as big bad so that Deku...idk, reevaluates the system he's protecting or something.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Although while we're discussing where Deku is, ideal-wise, I have been meaning to go over my current criticisms with him for a bit; which to discuss below a cut:

Is mainly that he’s kind of just All Might again. He's like All Might in nearly every way that counts and his only aspiration is to be All Might 2 and save everyone he can like All Might did. I mean I’ve seen people sometimes say "no Deku’s totally different and better than All Might in this or that way" but those ways often seem to assume All Might was a lot worse, less kind, and more independent than he really was.

(And also that Deku is less independent than he really is; just compare this arc to Kamino, where they both work alongside their hero peers...until they feel the need to take on the final boss 1v1.)

Like, as someone critical of the hero society All Might built, I’ll bet I often come off as thinking All Might wasn’t a good hero. But that’s not so, I think All Might did the best he could have done, and moreover the best anyone could’ve done trying to fix things the way he did. I doubt anyone could've hero'd much better than him. If Deku were sent back in time to replace All Might, the best he could’ve done is about what All Might did. And if All Might faced all the hurdles Deku has, at the same power level for each, I believe he’d have managed at least as happy an ending to every arc.

So the great hurdle of this all is: All Might was the greatest hero he could possibly have been...but he also wasn't enough. The various ways the League were driven to villainy to form the group at all is proof of that. And that's why a rehash sequel to him won't be enough either. I understand why Deku and everyone else admires All Might, but he can't be doing the same things expecting much better results. If he does, then even if he does save Tomura here in the same way the rest of the League has been "saved" so far (a tall order already when Tomura's made clear he doesn't want another All Might), I fear he'll just face another League led by another Tomura in the future; another Tenko who was failed by Deku this time.

#Hope you're having nice holidays too btw. #bnha #shigaraki tomura #gigantomachia #kurogiri #toga himiko #dabi #spinner #redestro #paranormal liberation front #PLF #midoriya izuku #class 1a #all might #hero society #hero public safety commission #my stupid long term predictions

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group J Round 2: #J6 vs #J4

#J6: Students transported to bizarre new realities

#J4: Kids conquering dungeons to change the world

Details and poll under the cut!

#J6: Sonny Boy

Summary:

Thirty-six students find themselves and their school building suddenly adrift in a void-like dimension. When supernatural powers awaken in some of them, a sense of detachment begins to divide the group. Despite the student council's attempts to impose order, they clash with the students possessing special abilities, who rebel against their strict control.

This conflict leads them to discover that this world has its own set of rules—and following them is necessary for survival. After one of the students decides to take a leap of faith, the school switches dimensions once again. While they deal with the unique challenges and circumstances that each world presents, the students must unravel the mysterious phenomenon and find a way back home.

Propaganda:

Sonny Boy is one of the best shows to come out in recent years. The setting and plot is very fantastical, with superpowers and dimension travel, but fundamentally the story is about the characters. The character writing is really unique. Even the side characters feel like real people, not just cheap gimmicks.

But the main draw for a lot of people are the visuals. Sonny Boy looks like no other anime. The backgrounds are just absolutely stunning, and the realistic character design helps contrast the unreality of the world. There are these amazing visual sequences that just blow you away with how creative the writers must be.

I can't say much without spoiling but it's the kind of show you just have to experience. This is the kind of show where people either love it or hate it. If you are looking for clear, linear storytelling, this is not the show for you. If you're looking for a straight mystery where everything is solved in the end, you might be disappointed. If you want to cry, and feel something, and think about what it means to be alive, then I cannot recommend a better show.

Trigger Warnings:

Animal death - a bird died and is used as a metaphor

Flashing lights - many weird kaleidoscope effects and other sequences

#J4: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

Summary:

A Magi is a magician whose inclination toward magic is so immense that they can be said to shape the world. With their significant influence, each Magi chooses a worthy candidate to become a king, then helps them conquer strange labyrinths called "Dungeons" and acquire the power of mythical djinns within. Above all else, the Magi supervises their elected representative as they build a country that might one day bring the world to its knees.

Aladdin is a young Magi wandering the world in search of his true self. However, his journey is not a lonely one, as he is accompanied by his friend and mentor Ugo—a djinn he summons using his flute. On his travels, Aladdin also befriends Alibaba Saluja and guides him to a nearby Dungeon. With this newfound friendship, they begin an epic adventure across the world, witnessing various irregularities that seem more frequent than ever.

Propaganda 1:

Imagine characters from Arabian Nights/1001 Nights coming to life in an anime. Even though it is loosely inspired off of the tales, it is a unique time and place from most anime settings. It has action, humor, and deep concepts. One of my favorite parts about Magi is how well-developed the background characters are.

Propaganda 2:

This anime has a lot of philosophical takes on what fate is. Basically, is everything that happened to you caused by a force you can’t control or is it what you make of it? Is there something or rather someone pulling the strings on what should or shouldn’t be? Is the person you are because you were lucky or unlucky to be born in the wealthy family or not? Why are things the way they are? Why was I dealt with a shitty hand in life? Is it because I’ll never amount to anything, or is something doing this to me? Why are we here just to suffer kind of deal, but you know not the meme version, the really sad and real version. Then you have the side of the people who may have not had the best life, but found a way out of it. Why do some people get to feel the light when you went through the same thing, but still lost and in the dark?

Trigger Warnings: Partial nudity and slavery. One of the mains is a slave in the beginning, but the other two mains help free her from that.

When reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

If you want to criticize one of the shows above to give the one you’re rooting for an advantage, then do so constructively. I do not tolerate groundless hate or slander on this blog. If I catch you doing such a thing in the notes, be it in the tags or reblogs, I will block you.

Know one of the shows above and not satisfied with how it’s presented in this tournament? Just fill up this form, where you can submit revisions for taglines, propaganda, trigger warnings, and/or video.

#anime #best underrated anime #polls #poll tournament #tournament #anime tournament #animation #group stage #group stage round 2 #tournament polls #sonny boy #サニーボーイ #magi the labyrinth of magic #magi labyrinth of magic #magi #group j

[amostimprobabledream]

I have no idea if it's intentional, but does anyone else feel like there's some real potential of a huge fallout between Butcher and Kimiko?

Something that really annoyed me in The Boys Season 2 is the whole scene where Butcher tries to kill Kimiko's brother just for a shot at saving Saint Becca, and the whole scenario is used as conflict for a fight...between Butcher and Hughie. It's been a while since I've watched The Boys all the way through, but as far as I remember, I don't think there's a moment where Kimiko calls Butcher out on this and I don't even think she saw him about to shoot her brother - Hughie was the one who stopped Butcher and specifically told him who Kimiko's brother was and Butcher went for it anyway because everybody else is expendable to him.

But it was frustrating that we were robbed of Kimiko's reaction to this and instead her rage is refocused by the writers to Stormfront, since she killed her brother personally. Which is fine but it was annoying that a cool moment of character development for Kimiko was instead not explored and used as fuel for the relationship between Butcher and Hughie.

Then we have that whole thing in Season 3 where Butcher makes Kimiko go act as a honeypot to get something (I don't remember what) and she ends up saving a bunch of sex trafficked girls, but naturally she's still pissed at Butcher and tells him "I am not your gun." Then he menacingly tells her she is, they glare at each other and then it's cut off again by Frenchie. Kimiko and Frenchie even are about to leave the group at the end of Season Three because they're sick of Butcher's shit.

I have no idea if the writers are going somewhere with this, but I hope they are because it really makes Kimiko's character feel incomplete that she doesn't really have much personal conflicts or stakes in the group - she's just kind of there as the token female character and the only Supe, but I really wish that the writers would let her do more then just hang around Frenchie all the time. Season Three in general felt like it had no idea what to do with Frenchie, Kimiko and MM because they were too busy setting up Soldier Boy - in fact, a lot of plot points in Season Three felt incomplete to me, like the whole Homelander/Starlight fake dating thing was such a fantastic idea and never got utilised in an interesting way. Or Supersonic was such a boring character to me that I didn't remotely care when he died, because what did he do that whole season except simp over Starlight? I also thought Maeve's writing was awful because her motives seem to be all over the place and her sex scene with Butcher made me cringe.

Anyway yeah. I really hope there is a massive fallout between Butcher and Kimiko because honestly, the fact Butcher was perfectly fine with murdering Kimiko's only family that she just got reunited with after years of them being torn away from each other just for a shot in the dark at reuniting with his wife who ran away from him rather than simply tell him the truth was peak Butcher selfishness and it's disappointing that the only person who reacted to it was Hughie. I love Hughie but it wasn't really his moment, or at least it shouldn't have been.

#The Boys (2019) #kimiko the boys #Billy Butcher #Hughie Campbell #Rambling #Blogging #My memories of the show are a bit fuzzy tbf

[sapphicteaparty]

g witch ending spoilers

g witch is over. i don't have any criticism that isn't nitpicking and i don't care about nitpicking. to me this was a 10/10 show with zero filler episodes and i'm very happy with the conclusion of this story.

some thoughts about the ending:

calibarn's gay rainbow permet colors were so cool. no notes.

all the gay rainbow permet effects were cool. i don't even care about how ridiculous they were.

miorine dissolved the benerit group. i am so glad she doesn't have to continue the corporate legacy that delling created and it seems like she is working with gund-arm like she wanted, developing the medical uses of gund tech. living her best life.

nobody could end spacian capitalism but the space/earth power balance seems to be disrupted. that's not nothing.

delling, sarius etc are actually held accountable for benerit's crimes. good.

earth probably welcomed prospera after what she did to that SAL fleet IF they knew that she was behind it. i doubt earth even has a seat at the SAL table at all so someone like prospera could be a hero to them. or maybe she's just a refugee now, who knows. earth is probably the one place where she won't get arrested and where she can live in peace. either way i'm glad she lived. that scene in the data storm with nadim got to me. 😭

everything about Peil in this episode was so funny.

both miorine and suletta have some sort of gund-tech implants on the backs of their head. i assume this tech is for establishing connection to eri?

eri in the keychain??? so fucking stupid i love it. sometimes a family is you, your wife, your shitty dad, your mother-in-law and your sister-in-law inside a keychain mascot.

…what if you lose the keychain?? what then?? i'm not going to think about this any further. it's fine. she's fine.

sulemio is married. they should have kissed on screen (that's one nitpick) but i'll take this. i'm not disappointed at all in the way their relationship was portrayed throughout the show and i liked that they avoided so many common romance tropes. sulemio is canon (always was) and they get a happy ending which is what i wanted.

i knew she wouldn't die but suletta was still hurt by all of that gundam action. the permet scars, becoming disabled - details like that are a nice touch to show that suletta (and by extension anyone else) piloting giant death robots can't come out of it unharmed. and she didn't just survive, she's thriving and she's so happy!!!!

gund-arm's medical tech really is a ray of hope for many (like petra).

suletta's dreams came true 😭😭😭😭😭😭

actually nobody died??? after ep 23 i had the feeling that this would be the case because g witch seemed to be making the point that redemption through death is not helpful to those who are alive. killing off characters is such an easy way resolve conflicts and to drive stories forward and g witch examines if there can be a different way without violence.

…the downside to that is that it could go to the other extreme and be full on pacifist and excuse all those who had committed horrible acts (delling, prospera, shaddiq etc) but aside from prospera they're all held accountable and suffering the consequences.

prospera was right to want revenge and to want to create a place in the world for eri but her means were not justified. one of the thematic throughlines in season 2 was that how you do something matters just as much as what you do (like sameen shaw said). prospera admitting that she couldn't forgive herself for the things she'd done was just the perfect way of ending her story. i didn't need her to succeed in her revenge plot or to go to jail or die, i just wanted her to see that how she did things was wrong and that's the biggest payoff her story could have had.

and when she was like "my legs will be paralyzed soon anyway" and suletta just refused to leave her behind, and she got to be part of their family.... g witch really said disabled ppl deserve to be happy 😭

can't believe this show gave me everything i wanted???

#g witch #spoilers #g witch spoilers #long post #mp

[articroses]

I felt very underwhelmed by the Fionna and Cake Ending. Idk, after how episode 7 and 8 were so great and left us on an exciting cliffhanger and there were so many expectations for it to be an incredibly emotional experience and it was so hyped up—and then it just … fell flat for me.

I somewhat predicted what would happen in the finale and I was kinda fine with it (the unhealthy dynamics with Petrigrof, Fionna having to accept her unmagical world) but the execution really sucked in my opinion.

But putting my thoughts and how I would have executed it under a read more~

I liked their final goodbye in Simon’s memories but I think everything that led up to it could have been done better. Simon and (Gol)Betty’s reunion was one of the biggest things fans were looking forward to in the series. I felt that while seeing Shermy and Beth was interesting, it wasn’t a good move to bring them into the plot at this point of the conflict. Plus, the Casper and Nova’s metaphor, while necessary for someone as dense as Simon, was pretty much spoon feeding information the audience could already tell, so it felt like it was pulling more time away from that confrontation.

I felt like they could have pushed Simon’s self-sacrificial (suicidal) tendencies and emotions. We’re coming in from the heels of an episode that had Ice King dying sobbing in his last moments. Simon, when confronting Golbetty was very somber, so to speak. As a viewer, I wanted an explosion between them. With Simon finally getting out all the misery he felt in a world that he doesn’t understand / doesn’t understand him, living in the shadow of your crazed self that was embroiled in sadness and madness and magic for a 1000 years, and having no self-worth and when he (thinks) can finally escape this misery by becoming the Ice King, being useful and saving Fiona’s world too, she—the woman that he loved and who left him—won’t let him die. We see this frustration when Simon's mind is projected in Shermy but it isn’t as fulfilling since it presented as more comedic.

Maybe, even with Simon realizing how much Betty sacrificed for him and gave herself up, he’ll ask why, why she would do any of that in the first place for him (maybe digging more into Betty’s obsessive nature in the first place because it’s obvious she was obsessed with him from the start).

Also, having more of Betty’s voice! While we can tell Betty made the choices she made and that she has agency, I wish there was more showing of how Betty feels being a cosmic deity. Based on the posts on Tumblr, I feel like there’s some confusion on whether Betty is Golb, if they’re fused, or if she’s piloting him(?) like some messed up mech. It doesn’t even have to be a long scene. Maybe, a simple scene of Simon wondering if he had doomed Betty and Betty showing him like a slight sliver of the universe and she experiences it, and of course Simon can’t comprehend it , but she can and she wouldn’t trade it for anything. Immortality already seems so lonely, so I wish it was more explicit that Betty was going off on an adventure that she would very much enjoy.

Having to bring in a simple metaphor (Casper and Nova) to explain the unhealthy dynamics of Petrigrof’s relationship (which the audience could already tell) but not explaining enough the ultimately positive experience Betty will have makes me think the writers swung towards one extreme in a pendulum.

I also think Fionna could have been fleshed out a lot more. While I understand she’s a regular human, in comparison to how Finn was fighting in the original show, She’s not really as active (though I understand they are different). It seemed more like plot things just happened to her and all she could do was react instead of acting. I understand they were going for an emotional character development with her with how the fantasy world isn’t as fun as it looks, but I would have liked more actiony scenes of her kicking butt that wasn’t innocent civilians and maybe villains yet still realizing this isn’t the life / fantasy that she wanted. Idk I felt Fiona’s development could have been handled better.

I don’t like scarab as a villain but I understand his necessity. However, dropping off Lil Destiny, Jay and all the others into Fionna’s verse was completely unnecessary. Especially, since they really didn’t contribute that much to the final fight. I would have rather they stayed in their respective universes but have been included in the final montage with showing how their worlds became better due to Fiona’s showing up.

Really, this is my idea with the final montage:

Simon coming back from his adventures and going into his weird room garage museum or whatever, just to see Finn, Marcy and PB worried and waiting there. Simon says something about almost becoming Ice King again. Everyone flips out before embracing him in a tearful hug

More gumlee, they were amazing

I think everything going on in Fionna’s world was pretty good in the original montage

For the whole world that was created with the Lich’s wish, maybe show scenes of the other Mos roaming around. Maybe they become more advanced somehow. Either way, life begins again.

For the vampire world, maybe a group of humans running away from another group of vampires. Suddenly, all the vampires are ran over by the peppermint tank and out pops Baby Finn. The humans surround the tank and see all the weapons to fight off the vamps. Someone picks up baby Finn—it’s Minerva (I can dream)

With the whole world with the Winter King, the ice starts to thaw out from that winter kingdom. There’s more grasslands and forests. We see PB fixing and giving prosthetics to candy citizens. Life keeps going.

With farm world, we see Jay introducing Lil Destiny to Finn over dinner. Finn, with bandages over his head and bear hat still in place drops a bowl of hunter’s stew on the dinner table and stares menancingly at Lil Destiny. All of his kids stare too. The mood is tense as Lil Destiny holds her spoon to take a sip of her stew, only to really like it and grab the bowl and gulp it down. Finn ends up cracking a smile and all the kids laugh now that she’s officially been approved.

In Ooo, more montage of Simon hanging out with loved ones. Since everyone has gotten a tattoo (or at least tried to), it’s Simon’s time to go with the whole crew, except he’s so indecisive with what he wants and nervous about the pain that he keeps jumping off and coming back to the tattoo table, only to end up irritating the spider tattoo artist anyways. Everyone laughs about it

We see that glowing blue being that GolBetty turned into looking over the cosmos, looking excited about what’s to come Also, having all the finns interact would have been very math...

#These things seem better drawn than written but i feel too burnt out for that #I don't even want to touch upon the whole glitching thing that was never explained #I feel like these problems could have been remediated if the show had more episodes- aka the problem is capitalism #Really I think the finale was okay but they should have pushed the emotions and drama more #But also these are my opinions too haha #the finns all have a monthly facetime conference in my head no i dont know how it works but it does #fionna and cake #adventure time #fionna and cake spoilers #fionna and cake meta #adventure time meta

[sonic7ischaos]

Man, thinking about Dragonball's capsule tech, makes me wish Toriyama hadn't gone all powerscale-y on everything like he did. Like, even more than I already did.

I can imagine a version of the series where Bulma stays relevant, carrying around entire labs and workshops in her pocket, building weapons and augmentations for the group. Portable gravity rooms and exo-suits. Scouters for characters who can't sense ki. A version of the story where, like One Piece, Toriyama planned out the ending from the very start, and built consistently towards that with Buu, foreshadowing the whole time.

Like, I love Dragonball don't get me wrong, but it introduces some cool ideas and characters and then lets them stagnate. The original fighters from OG Dragonball should've been keeping up with the Saiyans to varying degrees. Bulma is Goku's first friend and now she's relegated to background support for the Saiyans, specifically Goku and Vegeta, most of the time. Gohan's missed potential as end of series protagonist stepping into Goku's shoes is well worn territory for a reason. Not that it's not good for Gohan as an individual that he got to retire from fighting and become a scholar, just that it's bad for the structure of the story as a whole that it gets set up that way, and then despite all the talk of passing the torch to future generations with Gohan, Goten, and Trunks, Goku and Vegeta swoop in at the last minute to steal the show, relatively speaking anyway, it's a long series, "last minute" is literal 10s of episodes.

Bulma and the earthlings, besides Mr. Satan, basically have no effect on the plot whatsoever after a certain point, but they should be getting transformations and new techniques too, always striving to keep up with Goku...until he's gone and then it becomes a way for them to carry on part of his legacy. Tien vs. Semi-Perfect Cell at least should serve as a wake up call and push the gang to catch up with all the Saiyans.

It even seems like he was setting something like that up in the Namek Saga by sending them all to King Kai's, where they too should be learning his techniques and catching up to Goku. Watching things unfold on Namek, maybe they adopt King Kai's techniques, and develop their own complimentary moves. Tien could improve the split-form technique and make it not divide his strength by modifying the Kaio-ken, as a literal off the top of my head idea.

Having them more or less be on Goku's level and STILL getting their shit kicked in by the androids, and having them play a greater role in the ensuing conflict would've made things that much more tense and dramatic. You could still have Tien's badass moment against Cell, a way to really hammer home how much danger they're all in if it's taking someone on par with Goku this much effort just to hold him in place and he's only in his SECOND form. It makes the Vegeta and Trunks leaving the hyperbolic time chamber all that much more a big deal because we're seeing just how much stronger than Super Saiyan the ascended form really is, by having the comparison to the fighters more or less on Goku's level.

Just...I dunno. I've looked for fanfics and fan comics that work to make Dragonball a little more cohesive and consistent, but I haven't really found anything.

Anyway, I digressed a lot here, my initial intent was to just talk about how fucking cool Capsule tech is, both conceptually, and in the ways that it could serve the worldbuilding and aesthetics if we were informed by the narrative of Bulma's loadout and limitations, make it more relevant to planning and fight strategy. Watching a reaction to Super, she pulls out a warehouse with a lab in it in Trunks' future and it got me thinking of how cool it'd be if she'd been able to do that sort of on the fly preparation on Namek y'know? Have someone who relies on tech rather than Ki to fight and get around factor into dealing with Frieza and his forces, outfitting Gohan and Krillin, and eventually Vegeta with armor and tools to help them overcome the power difference between them and Frieza's army, as an idea.

#dragonball #akira toriyama #worldbuilding #character writing #capsule corp #bulma #power scaling #storytelling #background characters #son gohan #son goku #vegeta #tien shinhan #yamcha #krillin #frieza #cell #majin buu

[sugarcubetikki]

I can’t stop thinking about the way elmax is built up. I’m always debating whether it’s romantically coded or not because it’s so similar to the way Byler is written.

They built Elmax up way more than Mickey Mouse - these past two seasons they focused on breaking that ship down and showing us why they’re incompatible together whilst focusing a lot more on romantic Byler buildup and Elmax’s bond these two pairings clearly being prioritised over their main couple. For Elmax, it shows even more than Byler that their relationship/friendship is clearly being prioritised over Milkvan’s own.

I also need to point out that both Byler and Elmax’s relationship/friendship always seems to be intertwined with the state of Milkvan’s relationship. For both El and Mike, it seems that whenever their romantic relationship was on “good terms” they were respectively distanced from Max and Will.

As this is about Elmax, I won’t go in depth on Byler here and also because we’ve discussed it so many times before of how Mike can’t seem to balance his relationships with both El and Will and how narratively in the first two seasons Mike was physically distanced from one whilst supporting the other. This obviously plays into the huge love triangle aspect of these pairings as well as Mike’s conflicting feelings here.

For Elmax, it’s a similar love triangle writing style used here. It’s important to note that El and Max’s relationship starts off with hostility and jealousy from El’s behalf in S2 due to the fact that El sees Max as a romantic rival in terms with her relationship with Mike (due to that single misunderstanding). Her jealousy over Mike is what prevents her from befriending and getting to know Max so Milkvan was a barrier to Elmax’s buildup here. And this is not me just saying this future seasons (especially s3 support this notion too based on how the show depicts it).

(Not to mention, this was also the time a lot of people expected a typical love triangle with Mike in the centre and El and Max with mutual rivalry between the two but thank god the show did not do that instead they used love triangle style writing in a different way).

Moving onto S3 with a whole lot of Elmax development, Max really helps El grow as a person and embrace some of her own individuality and freedom they’re relationship is at its peak and presented in a positive light when Milkvan is at a very low point. In fact it’s them being at a low point that makes El approach Max in the first place and it’s Max who encourages El to initiate the breakup because Mike wasn’t treating her right. Max and Mike are also constantly butting heads because of this and he’s accusing her all over the place for “corrupting El” and “conspiring against him” whereas Max here believes that Mike doesn’t see El as her own person but treats her like “his pet” rather than an equal. Essentially it was Milkvan vs Elmax season and Elmax was being depicted as the narratively better dynamic as it fit with El’s character needs whilst Milkvan’s arc that season didn’t.

S4 Vol 2 is very Elmax-focused with El’s goal being to save Max from Vecna. I think the clash with Milkvan here mainly comes at the monologue part and how little impact it has at the end of the day. Mike’s dramatic monologue that’s supposed to be impactful and powerful falls flat for a number of reasons (not just byler-coded ones also the fact that it wasn’t genuine) it’s also that it was depicted as a plot device but did little to actually help save the day. I mean they would argue that it helped El free herself from those vines but did it really? Also if the monologue’s only impact is freeing El from the vines but after that sells short and isn’t actually the reason that El revives Max then it’s a pretty weak plot device and presented to be insignificant. Usually, love monologues are impactful when they contribute to an impactful moment of victory. Mike’s monologue did not do that at all. After El frees herself from those vines, the thing that keeps her fighting on isn’t even presented to be her love for Mike, it’s her love for Max. What was the point of that monologue again I’m sorry? Yeah that’s right it’s a lie and everyone knows it so it’s insignificant to the point that El doesn’t even acknowledge it after. In fact, after the show points out El isn’t speaking to Mike, we see that El is thinking about Max and mainly Max (which is reasonably so too but the way the scene is presented once again supports the narrative idea of Milkvan vs Elmax).

I think I’ve established that Elmax’s relationship is vital to the overall storyline of the show and prioritised over Milkvan’s and is constantly clashing with the pairing to emphasise where El’s true character wants and needs rest.

I’m not sure if it’s romantic or not like I said but they’re very queercoded (owens mistaking max for a guy only so el can correct him that she’s not which is a very odd thing to write in because hello it’s gay) also along with the love triangle-esque writing they have so much chemistry and buildup on their own and they’re clearly vital to the series too honestly they have as much buildup as lumax.

Both elmax and lumax are built up so well and beautifully written honestly. They both have chemistry and work so well together. Both are romantically coded too. I think no one considers Elmax because of how well-built Lumax is already and heteronormativity. I personally think either would work as an endgame ship or even better elumax lol sometimes my brain believes they’re building up to that because it would make sense (I can see El and Lucas bonding too next season with Max in coma). I mean both El and Lucas’s love seems to be what supported her in Vol 2 and their love seems to be what’ll save her in S5 too at least I hope. Romantic or not from all ends, elumax is definitely going to be key in S5. (However, if S5 ends with byler and elumax endgame shut up I’ll be talking about it for months on end).

Once again, as long as some Elmax and Milkvan analysis, a lot of these are my thoughts and my opinions based on how I view and interpret the show, if you don’t share the same view and opinion on Elmax/Elumax, that’s completely fine but please don’t harass me on that matter as I mentioned this is my perspective and reading on the show thank you.

#elmax #elumax #byler #milkvan is bones #sugar analyses #byler analysis

[thetypedwriter]

Dark Heir Book Review

Dark Heir by C.S. Pacat Book Review 

Warning: *Spoiler Warning for both Dark Rise and Dark Heir*

Dark Heir by C.S. Pacat has been my most anticipated read. Not of the year, not of the month, just in general. More than any other sequel coming out, I could not wait for Dark Heir.

In preparation, I even reread Dark Rise to ensure that I had a full and complete understanding of every sentence and nuance put forth in Dark Heir. 

I was so incredibly excited for this book, especially as I found Dark Heir to be titillating and maybe the last book I read that truly took me by surprise and made me gasp out loud. 

I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed, because I think Dark Heir is good, but I also don’t think it’s perfect and having the astronomical expectations that I did have certainly didn’t help. 

Dark Heir picks up immediately after Dark Rise ends. Similarly to the first book, the gang is trying to stop the dark king from reaching his full power and face off against Sinclair, Simon’s father, in various moments with an array of tension and methodologies, all interwoven with intrapersonal moments of romance, friendship, and self-actualization. 

The biggest weakness of the first book was its middle. The beginning of Dark Rise starts off intriguing, with Will on the loose and an action-packed fight scene onboard a ship.

The ending of Dark Rise hits you like a bomb. The realization that Will is actually the dark king will never not be one of the greatest plot twists of all time. 

Other than the middle slog, though, Dark Rise was excellent. 

My biggest frustrations with Dark Heir are the treatment of the villain and the multiple POV’s. In Dark Rise, Simon is the big baddie. He’s calculating, manipulative, powerful, and charismatic. In Dark Heir, however, C.S. Pacat tells you that you’ve got it all wrong. 

It’s not Simon that is characterized by all those traits, but his father, Sinclair. All the attributes given to Simon in the first book are essentially just handed over to Sinclair with the attitude of making you feel stupid for thinking Simon was the villain in the first place…even though that’s what we were told in book one and Sinclair hadn’t even been mentioned previously. 

I find it frustrating when authors diminish an antagonist from one book to make another villain seem worse and more powerful later on.

Let Simon and Sinclair stand on their own, separate and distinct. Don’t minimize what happened in book one so that Sinclair seems more evil and important in the sequel. 

It didn’t work for me, and the fact that we don’t even see Sinclair is also a poor choice. For the villain to never even show up (other than possessing others) reduces his threatening presence overall and the tension I get as a reader decreases every time another page passes without Sinclair ever showing his face (it worked in Harry Potter only because another villain was there to fill the void). 

My second frustration is the amount of POV’s. In the first book, there were three POV’s: Will, Violet, and Katherine. In book two, we get Will, Violet, Cyprian, Elizabeth, James, and Visander.

It’s too many. Three is already pushing it and by increasing it from three to six, the overall arc for each character gets less spotlight and therefore less development. 

That being said, I like all the characters and loved seeing their POV’s. However, because there were just so many of them, I felt like it was quantity over quality.

Whereas I would have preferred the quality of less POV’s than the breadth of more, especially as several of them were with each other, as in the case of James, Will, and Cyprian and then Visander and Elizabeth. 

Will’s agony of being the dark king and trying to fight against himself, meanwhile seeking understanding and acceptance, is nothing short of brilliant. Will’s chapters were by far my favorite because they were so conflicted, in the most interesting of ways.

After Will, my favorite POV is Elizabeth’s. Her childlike way of speaking and understanding the disturbing world around her was always intriguing and poignant (and often hilarious). I liked that her POV offered a different view of what was going on compared to Will and his gang. However, her POV makes Visander’s obsolete. 

Violet’s POV could have been good, but she is imprisoned the whole time. I actually think the only reason is C.S. Pacat did that was because having Violet around the gang would have influenced the plot too much, so she just needed Violet locked away—cue Mrs. Duval with her controlling powers (which was never explained???). 

Violet’s chapters were boring, which is a shame because I really adore Violet. I would have loved to have seen the tension in Will’s chapters by having Violet close by the whole book and to see her relationship with Cyprian blossom and grow.

But no. Instead she’s locked up for 90% of the book before escaping just in time for the climax, interacting with virtually no one except some old journals. 

Cyprian’s POV was fine, but useless, as he was with Will 90% of the time. 

James’ POV was interesting, but not needed. I actually think a part of James’ allure is his mystery. What is he planning? How is feeling? What are his intentions?

A big part of my initial curiosity about James stemmed from those questions. In Dark Heir all that disappears. Because we get James’ POV, gone is the mystery about what James is planning, his true motivations, and his feelings. 

Honestly, if the whole book had switched off between Will and Elizabeth that would have been perfect. If three was absolutely needed, then I would take Violet too, but otherwise? All the other POV’s were not needed and only took away from other storylines. 

I feel so strongly about this because I really like all the characters. I find them all complex, intriguing, highly motivated, and conflicted for a variety of reasons.

C.S. Pacat did such a great job creating them that I want to see their storylines through. What I don’t want are filler POV’s that don’t offer much in the way of plot. 

The last niggling frustration I’ll briefly mention before getting to the ending is the setting. In book one, we get huge (maybe too long) descriptions of the Hall of the Stewards and of London.

In book two, we get none of that. We get descriptions of the dark palace and some small villages in Italy and that's about it. For a huge epic fantasy, the world felt very small and very unimaginative. 

The highlights for the book were definitely the characters and their interactions. Those proved to be just as good as the first book, if not better.

The relationship between Will and James, between Will and Violet, Violet and Cyprian, Cyprian and James, Violet and Tom, Visander and Elizabeth—they are all chef’s kiss! 

Truly, each and every character has such intense and significant ties to all the other characters that it kept me devouring each page like a starved man. This is where C.S. Pacat really shines. 

The last thing I’ll mention to bring this review to a close is the ending. Did it have the bombshell explosive conclusion like Dark Rise?

No, no it did not. 

Was it still good?

Yes…for the most part. The culmination of all the characters meeting underneath the mountain in the dark palace was great. However, I wanted more. 

There were several moments where a huge revelation or climactic fight was about to happen when the castle just happened to shake, or an earthquake appeared, or chunks of rock fell from the ceiling.

It felt cheap and frustrating to get cut off from an important moment, especially as this happened not once, but several times near the end. 

Additionally, the twist of James wearing the collar in the final pages would have been so much more powerful and shocking if we hadn’t literally read in the chapter before that the collar clicked around his throat by Sloane/Sinclair. 

 It doesn’t make any sense. 

Why give away your biggest shock factor? I have no idea.

Even after writing this, I realize that James’ POV might have actively been a detriment to the book overall, but especially to the ending, which was nowhere near as crazy a plot twist as Dark Rise. 

In general, I still liked this book. I would consider it leagues better than other YA novels, especially in terms of characters and their relationships, but it’s not without its issues, even compared to its predecessor. 

Frustrations aside, I enjoyed Dark Heir. The plot was palatable enough—there’s a dark army slumbering beneath a mountain in a hidden away palace that cannot be woken up, but it’s the characters, their interactions, and their desires that I found truly appealing. 

Recommendation: Reread Dark Rise like I did to fully appreciate the brilliance of it, and then read Dark Heir. It won’t be as good, but that’s okay. You’ll still get the character moments you’ve been craving before it’ll leave you wanting more.

Let’s hope that the next book will fulfill any lingering needs we have and (dark) rise to the challenge. 

Score: 7/10

#dark rise #dark heir #cs pacat #book blog #book review #book recommendations #ya fiction #book rec #popular fiction #books #popular books #top books #favorite books #fantasy #lgbtqbook #7/10

[13eyond13]

Hi...Can I ask your top 3 favorite characters from Nana? And why you loved them? And your top 5 favorite moments from the series? Thanks if you want to answer....

Hi hi!! I would LOVE to try to talk about this series for a bit, but PLEASE keep in mind I'm still only just finished volume 7 / chapter 24 (I am currently waiting in line to read volume 8 at my library! But I might get impatient and just try to find the chapters online too)... MY TOP 3 FAVE NANA CHARACTERS (SO FAR) 1. NANA KOMATSU / NANA 1 / "HACHI": OMG I love Nana 1 to death hahahaha. She literally makes me lol every single volume with her thoughts and decisions and interactions with everyone else, and it's just the most fun in the series to be inside her brain and following along with her relationships and emotional roller-coasters and little life lessons and anxieties and pains and hopes and dreams. She's an awesome character to me for being flawed and complex and selfish and immature yet still very likable and oddly tough and brave and sweet as pie at the same time. I think seeing the growth she's having as a person over the series is definitely the main draw for me, and watching her try to figure out her feelings for everybody and her place in the world and how to become the type of person that contains all the personality traits she's always admiring around her - and how to fill that void she feels of never completely erasing the loneliness inside or being perfectly synced up with the people she's trying to form a deeper connection with.

2. NANA OSAKI / NANA 2:

She's mysterious, she's proud, she's tough, she's badass, she's funny and sensible and kind! I love the more grown-up and emotionally reserved vibe she has in comparison to Nana 1, which totally makes sense considering her harder childhood and how self-reliant she always had to be. Her casual warmth with Hachi is endearing and her less obviously expressive and highly independent yet still emotionally intense personality is very relatable to me. It's the most fun to see Hachi reacting to Nana 2 to me I think, because Nana 2 is more closed off and a bit more afraid of exploring her feelings unabashedly than Nana 1. But she's by far my other fave in the series, and of course the heart of the whole thing is the very ambiguously devoted relationship between the 2 Nanas for me!

3. ???? I don't think I have a third main fave character in the story yet??

At the beginning of the manga I quite liked Shoji and Junko, but as the series is progressing it seems like they both got written out of the plot almost entirely. I liked Junko for always keeping it real with Nana and caring about her in a tough love sort of way, though she did for sure just seem a bit like the "voice of reason" character for the more ridiculous Nana to bounce off of whenever she was in a bind... I liked Shoji because he seems like a regular kid instead of some idealistic fictional love interest hunk - his reactions to Nana K. were pretty relatable to me, and their romantic interactions were cute and made me laugh and also cringe with sympathy at times (like when it was so awkward when Nana first moved to Tokyo too and they were still trying to readjust to being around each other more - I remember similar things happening to me whenever I had been long-distance in a relationship for a summer and and then suddenly near my partner again at some time). Even in the part where he starts developing feelings for Sachiko and sneakily cheating on Nana, I always felt he behaved pretty understandably and wasn't a horrible person so much as just a conflicted and young and immature one who wasn't in the right relationship when he was with Nana, maybe (though admittedly I wasn't that upset that he wasn't being featured in the story more after that, because that would probably get on my nerves). Currently I have just finished volume 7, and right now I am finding I don't feel a super strong connection to any of the other characters too much other than Nana 1 and Nana 2? The other guys in Blast are just okay to me, I don't have SUPER strong feelings about Nana getting together with Nobu (in fact I find him a little bit annoying at times - I agree with Shin that he "has some unrealistic ideas about women" and idealizes Nana too much - Yasu is chill and nice and wise, but a bit TOO chill and reserved to be super interesting to me). The members of Trapnest are also just okay to me? Ren bores me a little bit (maybe because I just would rather be reading about Nana 2 hanging out with Nana 1 than with him)... Reira is hard for me to form ANY opinions about other than eww, it's weird that she's sleeping with Shin, Takumi is a selfish yet possessive jerk and only thinking about himself, and I always forget the other one (Naoki?) even exists...

I WILL say that the little Nana 2 fangirl Misato is extremely cute and I'm always happy when she's on the page, hahaha. Her shameless devotion to Nana 2 and her politeness and extreme savviness about the music industry are just fun for me to read (as was Hachi's initial jealousy toward her, but I'm glad she managed to also eventually get over that)! --

MY TOP 5 FAVE NANA MOMENTS (SO FAR): Forgive me if these moments are completely arbitrary and sort of dumb picks, because I feel like I'm forgetting so much of the story from the previous volumes already, and I'm still only 1/3 of the way through the whole thing?? But here are ones that stood out to me whenever I was racking my brain: 5. Whenever Nana forces Shoji to let her sleep in his hotel room, then awkwardly sings him to sleep, and he's like: "YOU DON'T HAVE TO SING" hahaha...

my reaction to that was basically Junko's reaction:

4. Whenever Nana 2 starts getting jealous and confused about Hachi hooking up with Takumi I was like OHOHOH, HOW THE TURNS TABLE.... I think it's REALLY hard for Nana 2 to admit stuff like feeling vulnerable or jealous or possessive over Nana 1 at this point, and seeing her realize "heeyyyy maybe I want her attention and devotion a little more than I thought and was taking it for granted a bit"... that was a very feelsy little part! 3. Whenever Hachi is getting jealous about Nana 2's cute little fangirl and having super mean petty thoughts about her hahahah omg the most relatable thing of life! 2. When Nana 2 goes to Nobu after he first starts dating Hachi and is like: "I'M USING YOU TO KEEP NANA 1 IN MY LIFE FOREVER, SO DON'T MESS THIS UP!" OMG?? Fellas is it gay to keep your girl roomie nearby by throwing guys at her that are entrenched in your social circle and also more socially acceptable for her to date? When I say my heart skipped a beat at that moment!! And it just happened in the manga super recently, so who knows where things are going to go from here?

1. When Hachi is having so many gay thoughts about Nana 2 that she's like "AHHH THIS IS TOO GAY I NEED TO GET ANOTHER BOYFRIEND!!!!" Boy did I laugh out loud at the cognitive dissonance (and find it super relatable to younger me and my own panicking about maybe not being entirely straight thoughts? of course)...

#nana #nana spoilers #ask #anon #p #13readsmanga #thank you for asking!

[blueskittlesart]

In defense of the original, while I do agree the episodic vibes were a bit much at times, and it was something I kinda had to work my way through slowly rather than binging all in one...

I do kinda prefer the more gradual approach to laying out the information; getting to know both the setting and who Vash is as a person and the different facets of both, before getting the context that lets it all click into place. Plus the main quartet having ample time to grow together so that later developments have stronger emotional weight.

I will agree that Knives definitely suffered in focus, and I am interested in how Stampede handles him, but admittedly he wasn't really what I watched Trigun for in the first place. ^^;

yeah my gripe is less with the way the setting and characters were handled and more with the way the. actual plot was handled. it honest to god felt to me like they realized about halfway through their run that they didnt have enough episodes left to get the backstory in in a cohesive way so they just shoved it all into one episode and pretended that that explanation didn't create more questions than it answered. you spend 20 episodes teasing your audience like "ooooh what is vash?? clearly hes not human!! clearly there's something going on!!! don't you want to know whats going on?? keep watching and you'll totally understand whats going on!!" and then your big reveal is that. He Is Not Human. which is something that any idiot who has watched the last 20 episodes has already figured out. the question the audience ACTUALLY has at that point in the runtime is what, EXACTLY, is vash, and what the context is behind the conflict he and knives are in. the backstory episode explains that Knives Is Here, and it gives context to the setting and everything, but it pissed me off that it STILL didn't answer the actual mysteries i cared about, i.e. vash's real identity and the thing with the gun and his fucking arm and knives's motivations and everything. maybe that gets answered in the last episode that i neglected to watch but personally I prefer a story where i UNDERSTAND WHAT'S GOING ON by the time the final confrontation hits. with trigun it got to a point where vash was going out for the final battle with knives and i STILL didn't know who vash was, who knives was, where they came from, or what the hell their motivations were. that just made that final confrontation seem so wholly uninteresting to me that i didn't even feel like watching it. it was like "hey look vash is fighting a cardboard cutout that he is Afraid Of. Why? lmao idk man. probably has something to do with that weird spaceship that shows up in one whole episode before this point. not going to tell you how tho." I think some writers have this tendency to think that mystery = good writing and that not revealing anything to your audience will consistently draw them in for more, but that only works for so long. after 20 episodes of virtually net 0 information it got to feel like I was being strung along and like my questions were never going to be answered, so I gave up on the show in the final hour. Again, i'm not saying it was BAD necessarily and i understand the context in terms of writing and production that led to the show being produced that way but i think it really noticeably suffers due to the fact that it refuses to give the audience ANYTHING but crumbs of information for about 80% of it's runtime. that being said. i did genuinely like a lot of it. it has its moments. im not trying to discourage anyone from watching it or anything lol i just think stampede is a little more successful in keeping the viewer engaged in the story throughout by constantly feeding you bits of information and actually answering your questions as they become plot-relevant.

#asks #wow hi. trigun essay intermission sorry everyone #this same thing applies to virtually every villain in the show. nick. zazzie. the guy with the blue hair whose name i dont even remember. #you get like. the barest snippets of information about them. you know theyre working for knives somehow #you know that they've been somehow modified? and that their titles identify them as relating to knives #in nick's case you know that his whole thing has something to do with the orphanage and the priesthood #but beyond that you get... nothing. and you're expected to just speculate?? figure it out somehow??? #nick especially pissed me off bc it got to a point where he was DEAD and i still didn't understand what the fuck his deal was #despite him being a supporting character for almost the entirety of the show. he still got only like half an episode dedicated to explainin #his backstory and motivations and EVERYTHING. and then he DIED #and like. to be fair. i think the lack of explanation worked in some places. it worked decently with vash #but it worked with vash BECAUSE vash is pretty much an open book as a character. you can easily tell what he's thinking and feeling #and it's not hard to extrapolate things about him from what you see. his pacifism. the fact that he's not human. his past trauma etc etc #you can get a good portion of that just by watching him throughout the show #but i think that only works BECAUSE he shows so much of himself. for a character like nick who is deliberately closed off #and NEVER shows his true self expecting the audience to be able to understand & empathize with him based solely on what he projects #just doesn't work. because it's made clear to the audience from the getgo that nick is not the person he claims he is #and that he takes steps to never show too much of himself. so when his backstory shows up randomly in one episode #and then he immediately dies. it leaves you kinda like. okay. what the hell was that. who was that guy anyway #you know??? #ok rant over fr

[autisticcassandracain]

Read Duke’s story in Urban Legends #19! I did not like it!

Look, I get this is probably editorial mandates more than anything, but uh. There’s rushing and then there’s rushing. Like holy shit. The stuff that happened in this story could’ve easily filled an entire miniseries at least. I get editorial doesn’t wanna give Duke that time apparently but why start an arc like ‘Duke’s mom is missing’ if you’re uninterested in actually exploring it? As it stands, this story is absolutely pathetic and horrifically paced because there was no way this could’ve been paced better in the amount of time allotted for it.

Secondly. The conclusion to this arc made no sense with what was actually established in Secret Files. Duke’s mom was kidnapped from the Gotham Central Rehabilitation Center in broad daylight after half a wall was blown up. In this story, it is established that the patients acquired by Man-Bat’s father in law were acquired after the initial Joker attacks, by simply refusing to identify them and siphoning them off before anyone could come looking for them. We are shown a quiet, well-organized kidnapping that’s explicitly part of a system of kidnappings that Duke’s mom’s kidnapping does not fit into at all.

Like -

[Image: panel showing Duke watching a man load another man into a truck furnished like an ambulance, the narration text-boxes in yellow reading: “The guards were passed their money by the nurse on duty, who got her cut from a hospital administrator. There was a real system in place, and you could tell this wasn’t their first time. How long ago was it you were put in one of these secret trucks and whisked away?” End description.]

I’m sorry, why does Duke think she was put in a ‘secret truck’ and ‘whisked away’ when, once again, she was kidnapped in broad daylight and they blew up a wall to get to her? Even IF we assume she landed in the hospital again after getting caught in another attack after she was broken out of the rehabilitation center, that doesn’t answer who blew up the wall to get her out in the first place. This mystery is not at all solved and does not make any goddamn sense.

Third: the plot on its own is confusing and uninteresting. It does not really further Duke’s development or explore anything interesting. Man-Bat’s father in law is not a good villain and it’s goddamn ridiculous that the culmination of an arc of Duke that was set-up for this long ends up at this absolute nobody of a villain, with no connection to Duke and nothing interesting to offer.

Fourth, the fact that Metamorpho was able to synthesize an antidote to the more than two dozen strains of Joker toxin within literally three panels is a massive fucking cop-out. I don’t know enough about Metamorpho to know if this makes sense considering his power-set, but frankly, I don’t care. Duke’s parents have been jokerized since almost his first appearance; their jokerized state has been a major driving force and character conflict for him for pretty much as long as he’s been created. In-universe, it’s been at least two years since they were jokerized. He’s been put through foster care because of it, he became a vigilante because of it, he was unable to discern the truth of his biological family because of it. And in all that time, nobody, not anybody, seemed to have been able to help. And I don’t believe even for a second that Bruce didn’t call in asking for help. There’s just nobody who could figure out a way to cure his parents.

You’re telling me that all this time, all this fucking time, this random guy was able to do that in literally like, 15 minutes maybe???? All it took was Metamorpho looking at some chemistry schematics and boom???? Problem fucking solved????? What the fuck was all that for then???????????

It’s a complete anti-climax, and the incredibly fast pace of this story does not give us any time whatsoever to feel the emotional impact of Duke’s mother coming back to her senses, recognizing her son for the first time in years. Instead, we use precious panel time to have her flirt with Jefferson. Because clearly, that’s more important.

Which brings me to, fifth: the writer does realize that Duke. Has a dad. Right???? Duke’s got a dad! Elaine’s in a relationship! Why’s she flirting with Jefferson! Why is Duke’s dad not mentioned even ONCE in this story!! Was he also cured by Metamorpho’s magic gas, or is that honor reserved for Duke’s mom???? Where the fuck is Duke’s dad!!!

And lastly, sixth: Holy fuck why did they decide that on top of all the other shit this story needed to contain Duke revealing his identity to his mother?? It has NO emotional weight because there’s no TIME for it to have emotional weight!! It feels like a fucking cop-out!! You didn’t have the goddamn time for this dude, prioritize!!!

This story is just legitimately badly written and seems to forget some very essential elements about Duke’s backstory. It genuinely makes it seem like the author hasn’t read Batman and the Signal or Secret Files: The Signal, which is a huge problem because the mystery of Duke’s mom is intrinsically connected to both. Duke’s mom has had a lot of mystery tied to her ever since B&tS, when it was revealed Duke’s biological dad was a meta supervillain, but due to her jokerized state, Elaine was never able to answer any questions regarding this. De-Jokerizing Elaine, therefore, should’ve always gone hand-in hand with an arc about Gnomon, since now that she’s de-jokerized, she’ll be able to answer those questions, but the story isn’t interested in mentioning them, which makes sense, given the runtime, but. I’m not sure they even know these questions exist. And if they know they did, why on EARTH did whoever was in charge (the writer, editorial, God, I don’t give a shit) decide it was a good idea to finish up this arc in a fucking short story collection?????

This is an absolute goddamn disgrace and I am deeply disappointed to see how little DC cares about Duke’s character.

#wednesday spoilers #duke thomas #infodumping #i just want a good duke comic again!! he only appears like four times a year is it too much to ask those four times are of good quality???

[veryflirtytransportalate]

<Previous> . . . <Next>

"Hmm… I think I know a fellow performer when I see one. Good with your words? Know just the right thing to say at the right time?" - Magnolia

I recently went back to Good Neighbor for the first time in ages because I remembered that failing that Bobbi heist is the key to companionizing Hancock (I'm "collecting" all of the companions, like one collects action figures of a set). Plus McGravy will sell me his soul for literally less cash than a crate of fresh water, so, that's two down. McGravy went to live with Strong Mad at a Red Rocket upstate. He's very happy with lots of room to mope.

While I was there, the people of Good Neighbor begged, pleaded, dropped down on their knees and wept, "Oh great and mighty Sizz'el, won't you pose for a few tasteful photos on our woefully inadequate stage?" (I was really impressed Bethesda went to all that effort to program that, to be honest with you, but the game crashed twice during this photoshoot, so... not too impressed.) So, I put on my hottest shit, hit the stage, and the place... basically stayed the same. Which is exactly what they do when Magnolia is performing, so, rousing success, I guess. Magnolia seemed jealous of my undeniable slam dunk, but then she realized that I was down to clown and decided that was a fair consolation prize. The people in this wasteland are funkin' off, I swear.

(Outfit credits, my thoughts, and a few more shots below the cut.)

<Previous> . . . <Next>

The outfit is TheKite's Handmaiden Set (opens in new tab): TheKite makes a lot of... Uh, outfits, so, viewer discretion is advised. But gosh do I love the Handmaiden Set, absolutely fantastic work.

I am very unsure where I want to go next with this character: as my little status tracker thing lets you know, I'm basically coming up to the edge of available content that can be explored without locking myself out of content from the other factions in the game. In a more traditional RPG, I think we'd be moving from Act 2 to Act 3*.

I think up next for me is the Railroad. The game is gonna force me to meet them if I go and talk to Virgil in his Plato's Cave anyway, so, might as well. I don't think the Railroad are interesting, or cool, or fun, or engaging, but like... just like in real life, in a simulacrum of a world, if you show me the militarized anti-slavery faction that exists to oppose forced labor in all facets... I'm gonna help them to the best of my abilities. Which always makes me feel pigeon-holed by the game when it comes to picking an ending. Like, it really is between the Minutemen and the Railroad, because the Brotherhood are techno-facists who've lost all interesting nuance as the series has developed, turning into essentially The Avengers, and the Institute is just stupid. The Institute doesn't approach even a fraction of the genuine and well-considered faction building of the early titles. You're telling me none of the people in this building have thought to just... re-purify the local ecology? Fallout 3 had the plot of a child's first superhero comic book but even that game recognized that a wasteland's first major concern would be ecological recultivation! And centered it's conflict around that concern! Fallout 4 is a power struggle over a resource-depleted ghost town, and "the boogieman" is just a bunch of nerds replacing people with Bladerunner androids with literally zero objective except to see what happens. Even if you side with the fuckers there's no secret folder labeled "THE BIG PLAN" that gets slid in front of you. They have no plan. They have no goal. They were written to be "the boogieman" first, and then they wimped out and tried to make them human and understandable and it falls flat in every way.

New Vegas showed us a version of this world that was already sanded down to the bare-essentials, where the Followers of the Apocalypse are just a friendly lil' bunch o' pals, and the factions of the Strip are just three bands of progressively more evil weirdos led by robo-Walt Disney, but if New Vegas is sanded down, Fallout 4 has been left overnight in a rock tumbler.

<Previous> . . . <Next>

*If I had to four act structure the game it would be: Act 1 is setting up all the players, Act 2 is asking us to side with one of them, Act 3 is the big lame twist about Shauwn that stretches the plot out a little further and provides one last "a-ha!" double cross chance, and Act 4 is Explosions & GET TO THE CHOPPAH & Heroic Music.

#fallout #fallout 4 #fo4 #fallout mods #reshade #fallout original character #screen archery #Youtube #TheKite #the third rail #goodneighbor