#i really like how the 'court' themes are in a style that is very different from the other games

[inbarfink]

After all these years, ‘I Remember You’ is still one of the great highlights of Adventure Time Storytelling. And not just in the basic ‘what???? Silly children’s cartoon does something SAD??? HOLY SHIT MIND BLOWN’ way. But with the execution of that Something Sad. How it manages to pack so many Complex Emotions into just 11-minutes of television. And especially the way it utilizes the basic Adventure Time format for that purpose.

So Adventure Time is a Board-based show. Each episode has an outline pitched and written down by the writer’s room, and then this outline goes to a team of (usually) two Storyboard Artists who develop that simple outline into a full story. And with the show’s art-style deliberately eschewing staying perfectly ‘on-model’ in favor of having the animators take direct reference from how the different storyboarders draw the characters

And the show being generally extremely versatile in terms of themes and tone - AT has allowed a lot of their Storyboarders to really express themselves and their unique artistic vision as part of the Big Collaborative Narrative that is Adventure Time. 

Now, the Boarders who worked on ‘I Remember You’ are Cole Sanchez and Rebecca Sugar. These two were a Storyboarding Duo from the start of S4 and until Sugar left the AT Crew during S5, and they always struck me as a curious combination. I think really from all of the individual boarders working on AT during that time, these two really are the closest to having like… Totally Opposite Artistic Sensibilities as boarders. 

With Sugar favoring a style that is very loose and sketchy and also very rounded. Focusing on expressions and subtle body language and lighting. And being famous for going deep in depth into Big Moments of Emotional Catharsis

And Sanchez having a very clear art style that emphasizes strong silhouettes and clear lines that suggest flatness. Focusing more on major poses and the character’s positions in the space. And having just a really great eye for AT’s brand of silly humor.

Like, I almost kinda suspect these two were paired together so they can each cover for the other’s “weakspots” in writing ‘Adventure Time’. 

And there were a few episodes that did some really interesting stuff with this very contrasting pair - ‘Jake the Dog’ is another example. Giving most of the Farmworld scenes to Sugar and most of the Time Room scenes to Sanchez both plays to their personal strengths as storyboarders and helps to emphasize the strong emotional contrast between these two scenarios. 

And ‘I Remember You’ is actually kinda unique among Adventure Time episodes cause… Most episodes will have the two boarders alternate between working on the episode throughout it. Like you’d have Boarder A draw a bit and then Boarder B and then Boarder A again… But “I Remember You” is divided between Sanchez and Sugar… basically perfectly in the middle.

So the entirety of the first half of the episode was boarded by Sanchez

Until Ice King pushes Marceline and then leaves the room in shame.

And then, Sugar takes over.

And, like, even if you don’t know anything about the Behind the Scenes of Adventure Time or who Cole Sanchez and Rebecca Sugar even are - the Shift is noticeable. The shift in tone, in narrative focus, in the subtleties in which the characters are drawn. 

The entire first half of the episode has this thin veneer of just being a Silly Goofy Ice King Episode. Sanchez’s talent for Adventure Time’s brand of comedy is on full display… but there is also this underlying feeling that Something is Happening just under the surface. And these hints of the Big Emotions of ‘IRY’ expressed via Sanchez’s kinda goofy style really create this balance between putting the audience into a false sense of security that this is just a Very Normal Episode about two characters hanging out and the Tension constantly brewing in the subtext. 

And then it all comes to a blow.

And then the Shift happens. And now we are in Sugar’s court.

And this subtle shift in the artstyle and storytelling also coincide with Marceline finally openly expressing her feelings and the Reveal of Simon and Marcy's shared past. The episode changes focus from Ice King's silly antics to Marceline's feelings. Everything changes, everything in the first part of the episode gets recontextualized and... even on the most basic level, the episode is now Noticeably Different.

I would almost say that Sanchez’s half of the episode has Ice King define the tone, while Sugar’s half of the episode has Marceline define the tone. But more than anything it’s the catharsis. The reveal and release of those emotions that were building up so expertly through the Sanchez half of the episode. All of the Sugar-boarded scenes in this episode are really heartbreaking on their own, just through the tragedy of the story and Sugar’s expert knowledge of howto convey emotion in the visual medium - but it’s so enchanted by what came before it.

“I Remember You” is truly a great testament to how ‘Adventure Time’ could use every aspect of its medium to tell a great story in such a short time.

#adventure time #at #atimers #adventure time analysis #i remember you #rebecca sugar #Cole Sanchez #storyboard #ice king #simon petrikov #simon and marcy #the ice king #marceline #marceline the vampire queen #marceline abadeer #at ice king #at simon #adventure time ice king #adventure time simon #ice king adventure time #simon adventure time #simon at #marceline adventure time #at marceline #adventure time marceline #marceline at

[ofbreathandflame]

My real problem with the New Adult genre as a whole is how similar these stories not just at a concept level, but the prose level. This is the biggest reason why New Adult always reads much younger than Young Adult or Middle Grade novels. Say what you will about the Hunger Games era — and even the Twilight era, but those stories were always only identical at the idea level. Divergent obviously comes in to capitalize off of Hunger Games, and those stories mirror each other on the surface level, but the writing of those novels reads completely different to one another. Shatter Me reads different from both of those novels, even if I can opinions about the writing decisions. The tropes might be similar, or diluted down from Hunger Games, but the stories still read like their own.

New Adult, as it is now, reads exactly the same not just at the idea level (courts, dark romance, magical Faeries, dark-haired love interest) but literally on the prose level. I remember when I reviewed Serpent and Dove for the first time and I realized just how similar the writing was the author who will not be named. These stories make the same grammatical mistakes, the same sentence structure, the same exact plot points. They’re ALL copying the same author’s prose and it’s so jarring. It’s the same narrative voice, the same syntax/sentence structure, the same exact character descriptions. Even when the story is trying to delve into the complex themes the stories all lean into the same moralistic, simplistic style of telling instead of showing.

The dystopian era of YA was always heavily generalized, but a lot of the stories always deviated at some point from one another. At some point these stories became their own narratives. And there was some very good literature to come out from that era. If you look you’ll find wholesome, original content. We’re not even getting that now. It’s literally so similar that if you give any random NA book that’s popular on TikTok any person could guess the plot points down to a T. All the way down the the ending of the story. Even down to the ‘plot twists.’ It sort of feels like insanity.

I could find a YA or MG book that reads much more mature in a heartbeat. Fourth Wing may be explicit in terms of sexual content, but it reads younger that Middle Grade. I was reading A School of Good and Evil and even that reads more mature than that book. I think authors need to really give themselves more time with their editors, because even when the books offer interesting ideas they end up being written in a way that’s exactly the same.

#young adult #ya lit #ya literature #ya dystopia #ya lit discourse #literary critique #literally criticism #yes this was based off my last rb and my reading of fourth wing

[autumnbrambleagain]

edit: rant edited to reflect how Snoot Game treats gender identity b/c i hadn't really done more than look at a few convos about it

I'm GBH, Goodbye Volcano High got like, the worst fucking shake

Disclaimer, I haven't played it (there is a very special irony in this that i'll get into in a bit), but I've watched people on youtube play it, and I think it's. Fine? It's fine. But everything surrounding this game, everything that happened to and around it, it's fucking wild. I've never seen a game get such a poor serve-up on the tennis court before.

It gets put up on the big console premier along huge AAA budget games. That's rough. A small intimate-scale VN about the end of the world as a metaphor for growing up and leaving highschool and changing and also a non-metaphor for the world ending as itself a metaphor for the new generation entering into what feels like an absolutely hopeless, pointless future (spoilers: the future is pretty fucking dire (the present is already fucking bad))?

Those are some rough themes! That isn't doomchief and master slayer punching guys! And not to denigrate doomchief! These are some ROUGH themes and the trust that those themes will be handled WELL isn't something you want to give out so readily! Those are themes that are easy to fuck up! Fair! But still. Oof!

To have your relatively small scale game put up as a launch title alongside mass-consumption AAA games. Ouch.

I'll admit: the art style was pretty rough, it's really rough on first look. I made fun of it too.

Then it comes out the MC is enby, that it deals with queer themes, and 4chan-esque folk go nuts over it. Snoot Game comes out which, apparently, seemingly, actually not bad! A lot more ironic but with serious themes handled, apparently earnestly, and it's overall... good!? Even some critical accounts suggest it isn't, at least, bad? Whichever: it comes out faster than GVH does, so it now has a parody-competitor dealing with the same themes, but not just as a JOKE but actually putting effort into it too. Like. That's the thing. Snoot Game DEALS with strong themes of growing up, of becoming a person, it DEALS with the themes GVH is saying it will deal with... and it uses the characters to do it too.

And it does it, by some accounts, WELL.

Ouch!

Granted Snoot Game is from 4chan and apparently I'm now reading one of the themes is Fang accepting they're a woman and they were just being enby to try and be different, and while it seems like it DOES handle it very seriously, and like, the game seems to penalize you for being shitty about their gender, and like, detransitioning IS a thing! I don't want to give TOO much trust to a 4chan-derived game either. I'm literally enby, but I also wasn't always enby, but like. Having a game where the message of "you were only trans because you were pressured into being different", it's, ehhhhhhhh not great no!

TBH without going through Snoot Game I can't really speak about it but Snoot Game overall isn't the main point, the main point is:

Some people are already now primed with associations and expectations, you already have a doppleganger as your competitor. OUCH.

So like.

Pretty rough.

And while Snoot Game, from the compressed summaries of it I've seen, seems to actually have honest heart and love in it in its final form, a lot of people just seem to be along for the hate-ride against GVH at this point because "eww the alphabet rainbow furries."

And then the writer has to step down because they found out she's into child por--wait, it was just 3d animations? That someone else made? That she was watching and criticizing as part of an article on how dumb video game porn is?

Oh. See, there's a difference between "the author is an active pedophile" and "the author watched a Harry Potter porn animation to write an article on the concept of video game porn," but in our modern era there's really never a distinction. Drawing something bad is the same as doing it in real life. Looking at it at all is the same as doing it in real life. If you see a woman's ankle on the street, make sure to head immediately to confession or God will judge you for the rape you have committed in your heart.

We live in such a media-literacy dead-end zone that people are calling the original Lolita book child porn. We live in such a media-literacy dead-end timeline that people are saying the only media that should be permitted to exist is happy comfort fluff where nothing bad ever happens because if you make bad things happen in fiction it means you're an evil villain :3 i'm not an evil villain, though, i don't watch bad media!

So of course it's fine to ruin careers because that's not EVIL. I didn't look at the BAD media so I CAN'T be evil. So you know, we have this modern purity pandemic of people thinking they're heroes for getting people to kill themselves because they drew or wrote "the wrong kind of thing" and are therefore EVIL and we're in a post-DnD world the cultural well got poisoned by DnD's secular take on evangelical protestantism's absolute morality of saved-vs-nonsaved. You're Lawful Good, you know you're Lawful Good. Whatever you to do Chaotic Evil people? That's fine. You can do whatever you want to them. You're Good.

Anyway, then it gets delayed to remove all her influence from the game, because at this point, even admitting you know what sex is online seems to be enough to ruin anything you touch tbh. Humanity's doing great, btw.

Like I can find twitter posts of her apologizing for "hurting people" by having seen harry potter porn. Your species is insane, just btb.

GVH finally comes out quietly and everyone's so fucking. MAD at this game. Hardcore 4chan whateverfolk hate it because there's queers and highschoolers. Other people dislike it because Snoot Game already came out and now GVH feels like fanfiction of THAT to them. They already met these characters, enjoyed them written like they were in Snoot Game, so how they come off in GVH feels worse. And you know, sure! That's a rough fucking shake when a fanfiction comes out before your actual release and it's good! For others it's tainted because a ""sex perver"" had worked on it. For others the art style and that it premiered alongside big name AAA games as a launch title was enough to slot it firmly in the derision zone. For some, because the queer community cannot NOT devour its own tail, it's doing queerness wRONG (Fang's parents MISGENDER and DEADNAME them!!! you can't put that in a game that deals with gender as a theme!!!!)

And then you have people who don't care about ANY of that, who are upset that everyone dies in the end and "your choices didn't matter", despite your choices affecting your relationships with the other characters. Granted? Sure! More actual endings beyond the end-of-the-world concert would be great! But comparing it to Mass Effect 3 where NOTHING mattered because the Reapers destroy everything and you pick one option at the end and their implied consequences before like 4 different changes to the ending came out to retcon "oh yeah everyone in the galaxy is stranded, everyone probably dies anyway, you accomplished nothing everyone's still dead" ? ?

The world's ending. That's the point. It's what you do with the time left that seems to be the point? Yeah? No? I'm not saying it HIT that theme well, and I'm not saying it actually failed at it either. I honestly think it did FINE. The criticism i keep seeing is "everyone died so nothing mattered." Buddy. Buddy. YOU ARE GOING TO DIE. Please do not let that convince you that nothing you ever did mattered.

Among all that it came out buggy, apparently, and the music minigame isn't like. Super. Good. Doesn't matter too much if you do well or not. Not greatly designed? So you know. The game also has just general internal problems too mechanically, so people without a dog in the race just don't enjoy playing it? Like, the art style was all on the creators, like, it's... it's not GREAT I'll be real! It's really weird. It's humans in those latex dolphin masks the memes weren't off base even i was laughing at it and groaning at yet another piece of media whose theme was "leaving highschool is like the world ending"

but like.

GVH isn't like. I dont' think this is some great amazing the best game ever. The art style's grown on me but in the way where you learn to ignore how it looks. But like, I see people complaining it's too whiny--wait, the characters aren't depressed ENOUGH about the world ending--honestly, honestly,

I think I like it? I haven't played it but I've watched it and I think I like it. I'm not like, this is probably the last day in a while I'll ever even think about the game, it isn't going to stick with me for years and years, it didnt' make a big impact on me--but I liked it well enough???

At this point, my default assumption at this point is if someone strongly openly firmly dislikes this game it's not at all for any good reasons--or rather, that it's not on the value of the game in-and-of-itself. This poor game was saddled with all this WEIGHT on top of it. Can you even dig it clear of this external context and examine the game itself for what it is anymore?

I'm writing all these words and like. I haven't PLAYED it i've just watched other people play it. I'm not even BIG into the game it's like... it's okay!

But oh my god I cannot get over what a fucking. BAD serve-up the game had leading to its release and just beyond. Oof. Ouch. God. That's real rough, buddy. I have never seen something get this POOR a serve. What an absolute rough, ravage, unfair birth for a thing into the world!

I think if the game congealed out of the aether (and maybe with a more... better art direction?) it'd be fondly remembered in small quantities?

Instead it's just... the actual game itself is just BURIED under all this mess.

It's fucking fascinating to me, honestly. It's far more fascinating what happened to this game than the game itself at this point, and that, too, isn't very fair to the poor game. I, too, am here not to talk about the game, to care about the game, to have anything to say about the game. I am PART of this problem I'm talking about. Instead of addressing the game I'm talking about the context that was built around it.

I'm here because I remembered the drama, looked into all the drama, then went to watch the game and, after seeing ALL of that, EVERYthing I read through to get to the game itself, actually seeing the game was just... like... for this? All of that, for this?

Huh.

#long #autumn says things #autumn rambles

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group C Round 1: #C8 vs #C1

#C8: Government employee and his white cat boss

Chen Shi, a young man from the countryside, journeys to the capital in search of his missing older brother, whose existence he only knew about upon his mother’s death. He knows neither name nor face of his brother, and after finally arriving at the capital, he runs out of money as well. One thing led to another, and he finds himself employed at Dali Court, where he works for Vice Minister Li Bing, a large white cat.

On the other hand, Li Bing is of royal blood who was imprisoned because of his family’s treason and now has to work in the government to atone for the crime. As for why he is in cat form? That’s for you to find out.

#C1: Friendship over nostalgia for the past, and moving forward

The main girl works at a diner and misses being able to run. Main guy is the boss at the diner and misses writing.

Titles, propagandas, trailers, and poll under the cut!

#C8: White Cat Legend 2020 (Dali si Rizhi)

Propaganda:

Season 1 is light and hilarious, featuring the adventures of Chen Shi and his colleagues at Dali Court. The show has a very colorful cast, and whether they’re on the side of the protagonists or against them, you will find loving them all the same.

And that leads me to another thing I like about this show—nothing is black and white. There are no characters who are “evil” just for the sake of it. Even the most hateful villain has his story. And it’s never clear whose side the characters are on. Enemies may become friends, and friends may become enemies.

Season 2 is more on political intrigue, and it presents us the conflict from two perspectives—from the commoner Chen Shi and from the noble Li Bing—showing us how the same problem can mean differently to people of different classes.

The animation is also top-notch, and the OST is amazing. But the fight scenes are definitely my favorite! They’re so smooth and dynamic, and I keep rewatching them. It’s based on a web comic with a very simple style, but the donghua (Chinese anime) really went far and beyond that.

There’s comedy, drama, action, mystery, hot guys, and cats (both actual and demonic)—so what’s not to love?

Trigger Warnings: Animal Cruelty or Death, Cannibalism, Graphic Depictions of Cruelty/Violence/Gore

I’m not sure if it counts as cannibalism, but there’s a cat demon who appears in human form, and he eats humans (it’s not shown explicitly, though). Oh, he also eats animals raw (again, not explicitly)—that’s why there’s an animal cruelty/death tag. The violence isn’t really graphic, but there’s blood and sword fighting, especially in season 2

#C1: After the Rain (Koi wa Ameagari no You ni)

Propaganda:

It feels like a lot of folks didn’t give this a fair chance because they thought it would be an age gap romance, when it really is more about friendship between the MCs. Don’t be turned off by the opening. It’s cute, but all from MG’s POV. The art is pretty, and Aimer’s “Ref: rain” is one of my favourite songs now, besides it being a beautiful ending theme. Depending on how old you are, you might relate more with one MC over the other.

Trigger Warnings: One-sided age gap. Depending your views, MC's friendship with her boss could be uncomfortable

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

#anime #donghua #best underrated anime #polls #poll tournament #tournament #anime tournament #animation #animated show #group stage #group stage round 1 #tournament polls #chinese anime #white cat legend #dali si rizhi #da li si ri zhi #after the rain #koi wa ameagari no you ni #group c

[melliotwrites]

Hi! I’m writing my own music, and Adamandi is an inspiration. I’m just wondering, has there been any inspiration when it came to you two writing musicals? (Adamandi, The Art of Pleasing Princes, Ghost Story, and any other future musicals.) Such as, any movies, TV shows or any other musicals? I find the aesthetics and music in these musicals all so different and I love that! And the themes in these musicals are so interesting! (/vpos!)

Great question! It's hard to separate genuine inspiration from research, since once we get an idea we usually try to consume everything that's related to what we want to write to figure out what we wanna add to the cultural conversation. Sometimes we also get inspiration from a work because we don't like it and want to position our piece in opposition to that one. But for this post we'll try to keep it to Genuine Inspiration that we consumed before we wrote each piece (hey, this thing is cool, this helped me figure out how I wanna write my thing for the better.)

Maybe we'll break this up by show:

TAOPP

Fun light fantasy with heart that plays with the tropes of fantasy settings, a la classic DND settings, Six of Crows, Terry Pratchett

Mel took a class on the High Middle Ages and read On The Origins of Courtliness (from which the title is derived!) and The Ballad of Tristan and Isolde, which got sort of melangéd into the Princes court world- living and dying by the king's pleasure, etc.

Aesthetically, the TV show The Great? Mel watched it a little bit before writing Princes and the anachronistic dialogue + rules of court drama have something to do with it.

Not much musical inspo for this tbh, I think it was just our first go at Writing A Show Together so a lot of our influences were just other musical soundtracks we thought might be the vibe we were aiming for. (Probably Pippin, 35mm, Great Comet, etc..)

Similarly with lyrics, I wasn't really thinking of a lyrical style, but I think I based a lot of my song forms on Something Rotten as the other show I knew set in the same era (using the very loose definition of "the same era"). ~Mel

ADAMANDI GENERAL INSPO:

the usual dark academia medias (Maurice and Another Country were our favorites) and also attending undergrad at a dark academia ass college

Lots of folk horror! (The Wicker Man (1973) - was particularly fun for me in thinking about the Catholicism storyline -Mel)

Jordan Peele movies like Get Out and Us

For musicals, Passion was really inspirational in both tone and subject matter.

Lyrically, I tried to think about Falsettos and Sunday- very lyrically dense shows that portray the intricate vocabularies of a specific, often highly intellectual subculture. What shibboleths do academics use to identify who does and doesn't belong? And why is the word "shibboleth" so not singable :( I think really liking Matilda as a kid also had something to do with it. ~Mel

I looked at a lot of horror musicals for a research paper but didn't like them much. (Except Little Shop. I love Little Shop and kinned the dentist in high school.) So I guess that's inspiration but in a what-Not-to-do way? Which is how I stumble on a lot of "inspiration" - Elliot

ADAMANDI MUSICAL INSPO:

chamber pop, baroque pop (incorporating the orchestral/acoustic elements of "dark academia" movie soundtracks with alternative pop and rock that's associated with the dark academia aesthetic more thematically)

The Dresden Dolls/Amanda Palmer's music

swing, jazz, dark cabaret (for the 1930s vibe)

Murder ballads (e.g. American Murder Song)

also weirdly the soundtrack to the Yellowjackets TV show. I love the eerie vocals in them and the creepy use of body percussion/breath - Elliot

here's an early inspo playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2wjhDj3ZzR01ghNfB03sYC?si=6f38f4c5f2ee43c7)

GHOST STORY

(more of a reading list since we're thinking top-down for this one!)

M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang. I will never write anything as bangin' as "Being an Oriental, I could never be completely a man." - Elliot

Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection by Julia Kristeva

Stranger Intimacy by Nayan Shah

A View From the Bottom by Tan Hoang Nguyen

Ishtyle: Accenting Gay Indian Nightlife by Kareem Khubchandani

For musicals, Assassins and Parade

Arcadia and Follies are my touchstones for how the past and present can intersect onstage, and what got me excited about doing it ourselves! ~Mel

GHOST STORY MUSICAL INSPO

ragtime, jazz, Americana, blues, folk, country ! For inspo, trying to look for American folk music as close to 1880 as possible, but it's hard to find. Allowing myself to listen to stuff up til 1920.

Also alternative pop/rock/indie/whatever per usual. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0QwtUiwwZfc3TYMy0DarOq?si=cc9d5129d43b4aeb is my working inspiration playlist right now - Elliot

#answered #kaswithak #adamandi #the art of pleasing princes #ghost story #musical theatre writing #adamandi musical #ghost story musical #Melliot #taopp

[dotthings]

Gotham Knights 1x07 "Bad to Be Good"

Thank you to the writers, Allegre Rodriguez & Michelle Furtney-Goodman.

Loved this ep overall. Also bless this series for how it films Misha Collins. Who is himself a work of art.

Following on that theme from the past few eps, Cullen's concern about saving the painting from the black market, where it would wind up hidden from public eyes, is very community-minded of him. He also genuinely cares about the role of art. Steph also takes this up, as we're told they talked about "the importance of art." But also during their coffee and art talk, found a link to their immediate interests and needs.

Harper wonders why she or the Knights should care about works of communal value. She only gets interested when Steph tells them the paintings were all owned by Alan Wayne, which is a link to the Court of Owls. Harper needs a specific and immediate purpose link that involves self-preservation or protecting people she's close to before she cares. Cullen and Steph see a bigger picture but are also motivated by the specific interest and needs, they do both.

Carrie and Duela are a really fun chaos duo, opposites conspiring together and bickering the whole time. Carrie's judging-you-both faces at Eunice and Duela, the epic eye-rolls, Carrie regretting all her life choices, Carrie's thinking FML how did I wind up in this mess. And then Duela eye-rolling over Carrie. Comedy gold. The beginnings of that friendship was unexpected. They're demonstrating different points on the morality and ethics scale. This show has a lot of moral relativism. "Potato, tomato, little bird." Carrie was morally right, but wrong in this situation, Duela isn't ethical, but Duela's antics allowed them to save Detective Green's family.

Eunice stabbing Duela's hand with the ballerina from her music box was very hard core.

Turner seems like he's emerging as more of a leader in this ep. He's also using the bat-toys. Following his dad's legacy, but in his own way, not trying to be Batman.

I immensely enjoy how Misha plays every scene in this like the lead in a classic Hollywood noir or suspense thriller. He's got some great Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart vibes going on. That shot of the cordless phone ringing, looming ridiculously large in foreground, is also vintage Hollywood, Hitchcock kind of style. Misha has the range, the gravitas, and the camera adores him. And Harvey's a whole meal of a character here (on top of being an absolute snack), one of the few decent Gotham leaders, a regular guy in over his head, wondering if he's going mad, trying to solve the mystery, plagued by his inner demons, while being a good person, but shadows over his shoulder.

Lauren Stamile does a great job playing Rebecca March. Her role here is the femme fatale of classic Hollywood. Vulnerable, sincere, yet a touch dangerous. Doesn't mean Rebecca is lying. But anyone who's watched some of those old films knows there could be some plot twists. I wonder where this arc is going to lead.

Steph tending to Harper's wound outside the warehouse and in the end scenes. Their cute flirting. The little smiles. After Harper saved Steph from mobster bullets, Steph taking care of Harper's bullet wound. Enemies to reluctant allies to sorta kinda friends to lovers? Yes please.

Cressida going to Harvey for help...might be sincere. It's looking like all of Gotham is in deadly peril, so much so that Cressida's fear for the fate of millions is overcoming her fear for herself. If the Court's bigger picture plans are a lot more dire than just controlling Gotham financially and socially. Something has scared her badly. Or it's another ploy.

That's one of the fun things about this series, there's a lot of layers, and secrets inside secrets and things not being what they seem.

#Harvey Dent #Misha Collins #Gotham Knights #Gotham Knights CW #GK meta #GK spoilers

[badlydrawnarsenelupin]

what kind of hanfu would you envision lupin wearing :3c

// Hello anon, first of all: thanks for sending something so catered specifically towards me (designing useless alternative outfits for my blorbos). Second, I just want you to know that this was one of the most redraw-heavy, hair-pulling, triple-digit-layers experiences you've sent me on. Also lots of reading and research, which I am now going to make you read.

There's a lot of different styles of hanfu depending on the eras, the three main, popular styles these days are from the Tang, Song and Ming dynasties. There's more but you don't need to know about them here lol.

The ones I've drawn here aren't like.... super historically accurate but more of a mix of modern hanfu + Lupin-vibes for the✨aesthetics.✨

This is called Feiyu-fu/飞鱼服 from the Ming dynasty, which translates to 'flying-fish uniform' for its depiction of the Feiyu/飞鱼 in the embroidery. It's not actually a fish but a dragon-like creature, with wings and a fish-shaped tail (guess why it's called flying-fish lol). It's one of the more popular types you see in modern hanfu because it's just really elaborate and cool looking.

Speaking of elaborate, here's a closer look at my suffering!

Historically, Feiyu-fu was one of the type of clothing to be bestowed upon people by the emperor. There's like different tiers depending on the embroidery, the dragon or the Long/龙 is like exclusively for the emperor and then following that in order of tier are: Mang/蟒, Feiyu/飞鱼, Douniu/斗牛, Qilin/麒麟 etc. Those guys, unlike the Long has 4 or less claws instead of 5. If it's confusing, don't worry about it, they're basically different types of mythical "dragon-like" creatures.

There's a whole culture of gifting these specially embroidered clothes (from the imperial court to court officials, nobles, foreign royalty etc.) and it's pretty prestigious to get one. I found it fitting for Lupin since:

it's very lavish and opulent, also high-status

seems very much like the type of thing Lupin would somehow get his little thief hands on✨

unrelated but the two white stripes down the front on aren't a thing, I made it up for style + to add the lupine flowers on it (although they kind of look like wheat??? I tried my best ok)

Okok so fun fact, later in the Ming period, the Feiyu started to not be depicted with wings for some reason, and it became really really hard to differentiate it from the Mang, so some people just started wearing their Feiyu as a Mang... because it's a higher tier and second only to the emperor's Long-clothings. I just think that's funny and it reminds me of Lupin lmao.

Here's a more casual style with the Feiyu-yesa/曳撒 robes + a zhaojia/罩甲 on top!

So the flower here on the zhaojia is the plum blossom, or meihua. It's known as one of the four "gentleman-ly" flowers along with, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum (梅兰竹菊).

I thought the gentleman-ly theme was fitting for Lupin... although the four flowers' symbolism is more for strictly pure, noble and righteous characters.... That's ok, it's how Lupin thinks of himself anyways psh

Close-ups for the long-hair enjoyers. The little thing he's wearing is called fa-guan/发冠, it's basically a little crown-like thing that's used to hold up hair, sometimes coupled with a cloth/ribbon. The version on the right is a style very commonly seen in cdramas these days but it's historically-inaccurate... it looks cool though lol.

More details! These are called hebao/荷包 and they're basically little pouches to store things in, like money or handkerchiefs. They can also be used to carry fragrant herbs/perfume. They can also gifted from young women to men they like :^))))

For alternative hanfu styles, I think something like the modern Tang dynasty-inspired hanfu would fit Lupin as well... they're more flowy and with larger sleeves that you can hide stuff in... They look best in motion! An example from those videos of skateboarding hanfu guys.

Alright that's finally done! I'm going to go and pass out for the next 10 hours _(┐ 「ε:)_

#arsène lupin #ooc; en coulisse. #m: griffonages. #anonymous #long post

[ijustkindalikebooks]

March, Spring, is finally here.

I have missed actual sunshine, I felt heat from the sky the other day for the first time in months and I think my dopamine returned, I was just like yes, finally, natural light.

This month I have have read 38 books, including some books I actually viscerally hated, but also books I loved, with the highest amount of five stars of the year so far being read this month.

here are some short reviews of those books!

Reading Lessons by Carole Atherton - You can find my review of this book on the blog, so I won't go over it too much, but this book includes short essays and memoirs of different books read in school. Insightful, interesting and nostlagic, this book certainly gave me new perspective on books I loved in school and ones I didn't know so much - I particularly appreciated the essay on 'An Inspector Calls' one of my favourites reads from my time in school.

Quiet by Victoria Adukwei Bulley - A fantastic collection of poems about indentiy and love, Quiet explores different themes and styles to deliver a poetry book that is hard ro forget. I highly recommedn this collection, it really leaves with something to think about.

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty - A book I've heard alot of hype about recently, I did worry it wouldn't live up to it, but boy does it. The story of Amina as she returns to the sea after a decade to recover the granddaughter of one of her former crew, 'The Adventures..' is beautifully written with characters that make you feel like you know them, you are invested from the very beginning. Intense, and brilliant - I can't wait for the rest of the trilogy.

Blue Exorcist Vol. 7 by Kazue Kato - The story of a young man going to an exorcist school while being the son of Satan himself, Blue Exorcist does get better and better as it goes on. It's hard to talk about what's been going on as it's very spoilery, but this story arc is brilliant and I can't wait to see how this story ties up.

The Apothecary Diaries Vol. 1 by Nekokurage - based on the light novels by Natsu Hyuuga, The Apothecary Diaries tells the story of the arrival and the promotion of Maomao as she works her magic in the court of the emperor making aphrodisiacs and figuring out why the emperor's children are dying. A fantastic first volume, I'm waiting for the second one at my library already.

What have you been reading in March? What would you recommend me based on these books? I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading!

Vee xo

#booklr #books #fiction #bookblr #book #book review #book reviews #manga #fantasy

[1ore]

question for yuri, the lastborn, and blighted trahearne—fave physical feature on each person (self & the others)?

(rubs my shitty little fly hands together)

Yuri

@ himself:

His legs, for running like hell when shit hits the fan LOL. He doesn't think about himself very much, but if you were to ask him, I think he would say something like that. There's an extra layer of significance to them, what with the Orrian diaspora living with one foot in the ocean and one on shore, not taking terra firma for granted, and being forced out of their homeland to wander abroad. Also this sentiment that the Museum of Walking impressed on me, that walking is like knowing a place, kissing the ground.

otherwise I think he might say his hair. It takes time to style and care for, so he must enjoy it on some level.

@ trahearne:

Impossible to narrow down to a single trait, and I imagine this will be a theme.

I think Yuri was arrested by Trahearne’s silently-amused/knowing eyes, after they met at Claw Island. The resting gay nod. A funny side-effect of meeting Trahearne in the middle of a crisis is that seeing him out-of-action for the first time comes as a surprise. Like, this is The Same Guy. It’s a far cry from his serious and sometimes grim Pact Marshal demeanor, but at the same time it's not really that different. (Aside: when Yuri realizes that this isn’t rare for him, he just finds himself so burdened with responsibility that he doesn’t have time to put it all aside, Yuri’s heart bweaks.)

Also his coattails and ���second skin” of armor in general…….. Trahearne gets a kick out of it when Yuri sidles his hands under there, but I think Yuri gets inordinately excited. He loves ruffling his hair, his collar, the combination body hair / coat lapels that run down his chest, all of it.

Yuri also thinks Trahearne’s jawline and "beard" are so handsome. And when his pseudo-snakebites catch on his lips when they kiss. Well. That’s just what it’s all about, isn’t it

@ the lastborn:

Yuri was intimidated by the Lastborn’s attention because of a lot of reasons, but one of those reasons is because he thinks the Lastborn is a beautiful person from toe to tip. Like YES he thinks Trahearne is unattainably handsome in his own way, but the Lastborn has an ethereal or fey-like quality to him that makes him truly untouchable to Yuri… Even though he’s been serving “Born on a mountain / raised in a cave / truckin’ and fuckin’ is all that I crave” since the moment they met.

If he had to point to specific areas, I think it would be his wrists, neck, and shoulders. They’re elegantly lithe but inelegantly lanky/gangly at the same time, in the way a fawn’s legs are. Also his stomach. I think the exposed area where his "coat" comes apart feels velvety soft, like the flat of an agave blade.

Yuri also gets a kick out of the Lastborn's yucca mane for concealing his body, the way clothes or armor otherwise would. Getting a flirty peek of collarbone feels special. It helps that the yucca blades are so sharp, he feels privileged when he’s allowed to be physically close with him.

Aaaaand his profile in general is handsome to Yuri, especially the broad curve of his nose and the way his eyelashes hang over his lidded eyes. He feels like the Lastborn is truly Seeing him, even when he’s just absently glancing at him.

Lastborn

@ himself:

His scar. I’m not sure how he gets it, but it’s probably from his time in the Nightmare Court. To him, it marks him as irreparably “broken” in the eyes of both the Grove and the Court—he is neither the Pale Tree’s perfect step-son, nor is he the Court’s little prophet-prince. He doesn’t belong to them anymore and he’s free to be his own dude.

@ trahearne:

🙄 You’re so vain. You probably think this post is about you. You’re so vain. (so vain.) I bet you think this post is about you, don’t you, don’t you?

Anyway. God. Where does he begin. I think the severity/sharpness of Trahearne’s features left an impression on the Lastborn, when they first met. Like, he had been fed such an idealized picture of The Firstborn ™ (good and bad.) It disarms him to realize that YES Trahearne has a presence and is handsome in his own way, but it’s a rugged handsomeness. He has nicks in his leaves and gnarled corking on his arms and his shoulders and elbows stick out at awkward angles, sometimes. This guy’s been all over, and he isn’t pristine like the Firstborn who stayed in the Grove.

This sentiment also allows him to help Trahearne, as he reconciles with the scars he got from battling Mordremoth. They give Trahearne a little bit of dysphoria, because they’re a painful reminder of his failures in Maguuma, and they're not what anyone imagines when they think of him. But the Lastborn met him so late in his life that they’re an indelible part of Trahearne's image, in his mind's eye. The Lastborn thinks of them the same way he thinks of his own scar--that they’re a visual reminder that he’s free to be his own dude now. And he also just thinks they’re hot LOL.

What else… That he’s a short twunk is endearing, sure, but I think the Lastborn genuinely loves what a solid little dude he is. In the same way that he loves how soft Yuri’s body is, it’s comforting to drape himself over someone who is physically sturdier? stronger? than him. When they start to get closer and Trahearne gets to be more physically affectionate with him, it really makes him feel held.

He’s also a little envious of his nighttime glow. The Lastborn doesn't have one, and it clearly identifies that something is "wrong" with him in the eyes of most Sylvari. But he also just thinks it suits Trahearne that he can always see him—however faintly— even when it gets dark.

@ yuri:

God. Not to be like this, but during their flight from Maguuma, I think the Lastborn saw Yuri’s warm eyes looking up at him with exhausted gratitude and felt something for the first time in years. The Lastborn is embarrassingly fixated on how warm and tender he is in general. Not just emotionally, but physically warm, soft, unarmed—no sharp edges on him, like there are on the Lastborn. He doesn’t have to restrain himself to be around other people, he can just be with them.

Also his scent LOL. Yuri is well-groomed, but I think the innate smell of his skin is novel and exciting to the Lastborn. He likes that he can smell him on his clothes or his bedding, and it doesn’t get lost the way his own scent might.

The Lastborn also has an oral fixation loves his mouth and nose, just the shape of his face in general. Again because there’s not a single hard edge on him, and because he thinks he's hot. But Also because he's charmed by how openly Yuri expresses himself, he smiles so widely and frowns so deeply. The Lastborn doesn’t have to guess what he’s thinking, it’s usually written on his face. He’s very honest in that sense.

Trahearne

@ himself:

Not sure if “favorite” is the word, but I think Trahearne has a complex relationship with the unarmored parts of his body. I think it reminds him of the vulnerability he felt, during those first hours he spent under the Tree, newly emerged. Just him and the whole wide world.

I think he also has a similar relationship with the ground as Yuri does, where keeping his feet and hands exposed keeps him in physical touch with his surroundings. He’s well-armored, but it’s a conscious choice not to close himself off completely.

@ yuri:

His hands. Sorry this is a basic answer for this audience, but I think they would have been the first point of physical contact for Trahearne. They were also the only part of Yuri’s body that was exposed (i mean, besides his face) when he was still wearing his Pact uniform. Trahearne was lucky enough to learn the rest of his body, but his hands were first.

After Yuri becomes a shambling war spirit, I think this fascination with his hands is re-awakened by the fire magic that Yuri stole from Balthazar. Trahearne would never admit it-- he knows what a fraught relationship Yuri has with Balthazar, and for a while, it’s difficult to see him as a pale shadow of the man he knew. He would also rather die than admit that, because it IS powerful magic, it feels physically good to him and to the Dragon. But still, he’s fascinated with Yuri’s control over it. It seems effortless for him to take command of something violent and unpredictable. Trahearne struggles to wrap his head around it, when he’s had to fight tooth and claw to control his own Mordy powers.

Trahearne loves all of him though, I think he takes quiet joy in giving and receiving physical affection. He's lucky that Yuri is a big guy with a lot of love to give. Getting a hug is like getting bodied, and there’s no shortage of chest or stomach real-estate to rest his head on.

@ the lastborn:

I think Trahearne shares a little bit in common with Yuri, in that he initially sees the Lastborn as someone he doesn’t know how to “be” around. But the similarities end there. For him, it’s because the Lastborn has always been framed as dangerous, strange, and other to him. His body was made for a desert far away from the Grove, with plants that arm themselves and shrink from the sun. They don’t aggressively associate with one another the way a forest understory does, so they seem to him to be unfriendly and inhospitable (if strangely beautiful.) This is very much how he feels about the Lastborn before they get to know each other, to the point that the Lastborn notices how unwilling Trahearne is to do his usual microgestures, like touching shoulders or grabbing hands, and this stings.

(The Lastborn was also created to chew on the roots of the Pale Tree with his weird little mandibles, so. that's a lot to take in.)

This changes bigtime when Trahearne starts to appreciate how much they have in common. I think he learns to love him truly, not for some austere beauty that exists “despite” his thorny exterior, but just as he is. The blighting pod exaggerated his own thorns and sharp edges, after all. They aren’t so incompatible with one another.

I think he also enjoys the Lastborn’s mane for the same reason Yuri does, and the same reason he finds Yuri undressing to be hot (removable clothes are a funnie concept to guy whose skin is also his clothes.) Tousling it, fussing with it, getting past it is a ritual. It’s always there to keep his hands busy while they gossip.

What else... Trahearne has a strong knee-jerk reaction to his scar, as well, because he initially sees the Lastborn’s face as a sole touchstone of familiarity. It reminds him that he's looking at the face of someone from the Grove, someone who is part of his family... And may or may not be strangely handsome in a way he doesn’t trust… But then the scar reveals his underlying mandibles, and the illusion is broken.

Later on, he realizes that he’s drawn to it more than he is pushed away by it, and this feeling supplants any feelings of repulsion/othering he used to have. The scar mostly reminds him of Malomedies. It seems terribly unfair that someone would do something so violent to him, and it would stay with him so permanently, but he is learning to appreciate it from the Lastborn’s perspective.

#THAAAAAAAAAANKS #i was going to apologize for how mortifyingly sincere this is but you know what. im having fun and thats what matters #guild wars 2 tag #yuri six-cants tag #lastborn tag #trahearne tag

[acesydneysage]

I'm very curious about what Adrian's art is like and what his style would eventually settle into. Gonna talk about a bunch of aesthetic stuff that I have very little actual knowledge about, but I think it's fun to consider it.

The man is old, old money, literally aristocratic, so you expect certain artistic sensibilities of him. But when Sydney describe his taste it always seems interestingly dissonant to me. It makes me wonder about both of them.

His fashion sense is more standard, it's simple and is usually compared favorably to other people by Sydney, who has pretty conservative taste. Although it's a bit more daring then people who don't care it's still not outlandish, as you see in Sonya's wedding, where he's wearing blue instead of plain black but looks very normal compared to Abe. He's trendy, and sometimes dressed inappropriately for the occasion but not accidentally

But his taste in decor seems to be downright kitsch, it's kind of delightful. Sydney claims his sofa really clashes with the yellow he picked for his walls. While his choice in second hand furniture and his happiness with it might have more to do with his financial limitations and his joy in actually having some autonomy, making his own choices and doing this adult thing by himself (I believe he describes his place in court as a glorified dorm), I doubt the paint would have been more expensive in a different color, he chose that one.

Yellow is also the color of Sydney's aura, which is part of it, but he probably wasn't consciously thinking of that so early on, and there were probably more muted options. From Sydney's perspective his decor seems to be an affront to good taste, but also something she's immediately fond of because it shows his personality so clearly. In the golden lily she says both drive away the shadows (of the bad memories in the apartment, of her own troubles).

:read more:

Again, Sydney has pretty conservative taste, but Eddie is usually the representative of normality and he seems to agree that it's all a bit much. He also thinks a similar color on the Ivashkinator is ugly. Meanwhile Sydney likes it because it's the historic original color, and Adrian likes it because it matches his walls (and Sydney's aura, perhaps more consciously this time). I love it when Sydney and Adrian arrive at the same place through different routes.

Finally, the actual art he makes. It's very early on and he's still exploring his style. He makes a lot of different things for his first homework (nerd) and when he's supposed to make a self-portrait he ends up gluing together parts of very different pieces which he wasn't satisfied with.

There's a lot of very abstract stuff, and Sydney teases him about some of it but she's clearly fascinated by his art and loves a lot of it. Some of it expresses his emotions in a very direct way, some of it gets sloppy when he's drunk. It can be very earnest or very pretentious, probably normal in a young artist.

But this post was actually prompted by a post about how people who paint "badass pictures of skeletons with fire and motorcycles" should get more credit, and Adrian definitely appreciates them. He has more high minded stuff, but he's also here for the Van Wizard School of Art. The skeleton pirate biker was an absurd thing he came up with while desperately reaching for stuff to say, but he made it into a shirt and actually wore it.

He also does some more surrealist things, we see a painting of a building which gets smashed during his fight with Marcus. Surrealism matches his themes in a very obvious way considering how important dream walking and delusions are in his arc. Something inspired by the dream world and the subconscious mind would be directly linked to that.

I know nothing about art, but I really love looking at stuff by Hilma af Klint and Remedios Varo, and I wonder what he'd think of them.

Hilma did abstract that was very inspired by the spiritual world with beautiful vibrant colors that seem cheerful to me.

Remedios did some amazing surrealist work, which I find somber, strange and striking.

Okay, I'm done now

#Rapha's Bloodlines Tag #adrian ivashkov #sydney sage #sydrian #bloodlines series #I have not finished the show #so I don't know if there's anything there #long post #va #eddie castile

[pagesandpagestogo]

January Reading Wrap-Up

The first month of the new year is over, and with it begins a whole new year of reading goals! I personally set my goal to 24, which was the number of books I read last year, but considering I've already read 12 this month (okay, two of them were short stories) I'm feeling pretty confident about overcoming that goal!

I thought it would be a good idea for me to write down short reviews of books I read each month, as a way to help me better understand what it is that I like about books. I've never been very critical with my ratings, as you'll notice soon, so I'm hoping that the more thought I put into the reading I've done, the less 5 star ratings I'm giving out.

Books I'll be discussing below:

A Court of Silver Flames, by Sarah J. Maas

Ankle Snatcher, by Grady Hendrix

The Pram, by Joe Hill

Don't Let Her Stay, by Nicola Sanders

The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien

Red, White & Royal Blue, by Casey McQuiston

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

Do Not Disturb, by Freida McFadden

Mister Magic, by Kiersten White

Circe, by Madeline Miller

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglas Adams

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, by Suzanne Collins

And of course, here are my Goodreads and Storygraph profiles if you're interested!

A Court of Silver Flames Sarah J. Maas

“The struggle with that darkness is worth it, just to see such things.”

As you could probably expect considering this is the last (at time of writing this) book in the series, I’ve read all of the books to come before it. And this is actually my favorite one.

Which surprised me, I kept seeing a bunch of bad reviews and people talking about how unlikable Nesta is, but I really just don’t agree. I mean, yes, Nesta’s unlikeable at first. That’s the point, character growth and whatnot, but I actually found her much more relatable than Feyre ever was. In fact, I’d go on to say the romance of this book is more fun than the romance of the rest of the series. I adore Feyre and Rhys, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes it’s really nice having a relationship that has more emotional conflict to it. In fiction, at least.

Feyre and Rhys in this book both come off as very up their own asses, which I always imaged had something to do with why people aren’t as fond of this book. But I honestly was a big fan of it. It’s interesting to me seeing the way a character you thought you knew so well can appear from a different POV.

And all that aside, I do genuinely enjoy the arc Nesta goes through, and I really found her emotional struggles very relatable. It felt so worth it coming out at the end and seeing just everything we overcame with her.

4.5 Stars

Ankle Snatcher Grady Hendrix

"They live in our closets and under our beds, and after dark they come out when we break the rules. We’re serving time for the boogeymen’s crimes.”

I liked how the theme for this short story was very clearly generational trauma, being shown in a physical sense with these sorts of demons that are physically following people down the generational line. In the case of the main character here, it’s a monster under his bed that will kill him if he gets out of bed at night, this monster having come to him after being attached to his father. I’m a sucker for generational trauma as a theme, especially when it’s shown in a bit more abstract ways. It was a really quick and easy read, I honestly just was reading it when I had nothing to do at work, and it was really digestible as a horror short story. I'm a very big fan of Grady Hendrix's writing style, and I think it really works well in the form of a short story.

4 Stars

The Pram Joe Hill

It never once crossed his mind that he was depressed, too, that he had also lost a child.

The Pram was a very emotional experience to me. I’m not going to really divulge much of the plot, as there is a very heavy content warning for loss of a child, but I do think it’s important to share the remaining emotions connected to the story. The main character is shown to be developing resentments regarding the content warning above, and we as the reader get to watch as it slowly begins to take over him. It’s an interesting perspective to see from, as there is even a moment where the very obvious root of the resentment starts making sense, and you begin to understand he doesn’t resent the situation, but rather his own emotional reaction to it. I think Joe Hill is a really talented author, especially with situations that aren’t always completely comfortable to readers, but it’s handled in a way that made this a very emotional read.

4 Stars

Don't Let Her Stay Nicola Sanders

'Don’t stand too close to any balustrades, Mrs. Atkinson.’

I honestly keep having a hard time trying to put this one into words. It twists and turns and sometimes I loved it and sometimes I didn’t.

It was the kind of book that made me confused, sometimes unsure how things were going to go, and always eager to find out. Yet simultaneously I just kept feeling like the main character was far too oblivious. I may have enjoyed the uncertainty of what I was experiencing, but the main character really felt like she was just gliding along in life with no understanding of why the sky was blue.

I’d have my suspicions about the twists shortly before they happened, but I still wasn’t really displeased to see them play out. Unfortunately, I did still find myself a bit disappointed with the outcome, despite enjoying most of the journey. I don’t know how to explain it without spoiling, and I’d like to avoid spoiling since I understand that a lot of people can still get enjoyment out of this book, regardless of the opinion of an internet stranger. I don’t think this book isn’t worth the read, and I’d hate to turn someone off of reading it because I couldn’t help myself and spoiled it while attempting to discuss my thoughts. I guess if anyone is ever interested in asking questions or discussing, I’m here to talk!

3.75 Stars

The Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkien

“Go back?” he thought. “No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do! On we go!”

I don’t even know what to say here. If you haven’t read The Hobbit yet, then I don’t know what I could say to incentivize you! At this point, I don’t personally know a single person that doesn’t have at least some understanding and interest of the Lord of the Rings franchise.

If you’ve been interested in the franchise but have been a bit stressed about reading the **book (like I have) then The Hobbit is a great start. The fun and adventure that J.R.R. Tolkien is known for, and The Hobbit is a far smaller book than the rest of the franchise. I’m a sucker for immersion reading (reading while listening to the audiobook at the same time) and I highly recommend the Andy Serkis version of the audiobook, if you choose to listen. He’s a wonderful actor and does an amazing job reading the book, and you just can’t deny getting to hear Gollum himself reading Gollum dialogue!

5 Stars

Red, White & Royal Blue Casey McQuiston

"With me it is quite stark: I miss you even more than I could have believed; and I was prepared to miss you a good deal."

This book is fun, and that’s a fact that rings true no matter what I say about it.

I’m not always the biggest fan of the writing, but sometimes I’m in love with it. Sometimes I find the concept incredibly silly, while other times I think it’s an interesting idea. It’s not incredibly deep or thought provoking, but it did give me the opportunity for some introspection. It might not make you cry, but you might have some strong feelings. You might roll your eyes, you might laugh. I may not have always been in the mood to read it, but I still had difficulty putting it down.

Above everything, this is the most important sentiment I have to say about it:

Sometimes it was incredibly, eye-rollingly, gushy. Sappy, even. But it kept making me smile and think about my own experiences with love. At the end of the day, I don’t care about the times that it felt a little silly, maybe even like fanfiction. I got a really good, loving experience out of it. I might not read it again, but I know I’ll keep going back to the quotes I highlighted from it.

4 Stars

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams

“I think you ought to know I’m feeling very depressed,”

The first time I read this book, I was a teenager. And even before I read it, it still had a very prominent place in my household. My dad was always making references to it, my very first email address had a “42” slapped proudly on the end of it, this book was always just in my general consciousness, whether I fully understood why or not. This book, despite being a fun sci-fi adventure with an interesting outlook on life and the creation of it, is just so ungodly funny. I’ll never not cackle at “[t]he ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t.” The humor is just effortless, and rereading through it, it becomes clear just how much of our modern humor, whether intentional or not, is at least partially derived from this series.

It’s a very quick book, and really worth the read.

5 Stars

Do Not Disturb Freida McFadden

I’ve never attempted to get blood out of my clothing before

I was honestly really invested in this to begin with. I adore the movie Psycho, and this book clearly began as a love letter to it. Plot points are almost beat for beat in certain aspects, it almost read as though the author was looking to see what her take on a story with the same premise would be. And I loved it for a good minute! Then the twist happened. The twist isn’t entirely bad, just very uncharacteristic and makes the book impossible to reread, as suddenly a good amount of the book just doesn’t make sense anymore. It really doesn’t line up with the twist. You know that thing people complain about with Frozen, like “it doesn’t make sense for Hans to be a twist villain, we see him smiling fondly at Anna when she’s out of shot! She would have no way of seeing that, so who was he trying to fool?” It just felt like that. Too focused on making the twist shocking and exciting, and not enough focus on making it an actual reasonable twist.

3 Stars

Mister Magic Kiersten White

"You never forget the lesson that they would rather destroy you than let you inconvenience them.”

I really adore this book. I always loved the Creepypasta Candle Cove, which this book very clearly took heavy inspiration from. And I absolutely mean that as a good thing. Chapters will end with forum posts, podcast discussions, AO3 posts. (Yes, really) It’s a very clear love letter to the fascination with lost media and Creepypastas. I loved the paths this book took, I adored the characters, and I loved the premise. When I first finished the book, I found myself slightly confused by the way it ended. I foresaw a complete separate ending, I couldn’t understand why this was the ending the author went with. But then I read the acknowledgements at the end of the book, and immediately the tears fell. I got it instantly, and I just loved it even more.

5 Stars

Circe Madeline Miller

You threw me to the crows, but it turns out I prefer them to you.

I had always heard people say that this book wasn’t anywhere near as good as Song of Achilles. I ADORED Song of Achilles, so I was a bit hesitant to read this book. I understand everyone’s tastes are different, but man I just loved this one so much more. What’s not to love about a woman living in isolation, turning men into pigs for stepping foot on her island.

There’s a lot of emotional hardships in this book, and yet I couldn’t put it down. Originally I had worried about the book running slow, considering the limited locations available for the story, but it really flowed nicely and I was never bored. I’m a sucker for retellings of mythology, and Circe is just so wonderful.

5 Stars

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe Douglas Adams

In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

This is going to seem lazy, but everything I said for the first book is the same here. Really there’s not much else to say. It’s more time with the fun characters that were introduced in the first book, as well as some new additions as well. I adore the titular restaurant as well, it’s such a fun concept to me and it was really enjoyable reading the scenes taking place in it!

5 Stars

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Suzanne Collins

People had short memories. They needed to navigate the rubble, peel off the grubby ration coupons, and witness the Hunger Games to keep the war fresh in their minds. Forgetting could lead to complacency, and then they’d all be back at square one.

Sometimes I really am a sucker for a main character that I don’t agree with.

Going into this, I knew I wasn’t going to agree with him. That’s kind of the point, isn’t it? To see the creation of the monster we know from the original trilogy. But he’s so human, and it’s kind of sad. Not sad from a writing perspective, she did a great job introducing nuance to the character. But it’s sad because it shows just how normal and natural a person may live and portray themselves, despite having the thoughts and feelings they do.

I adore this franchise, The Hunger Games is just so wonderful and I always love rereading the books. The last time I reread them was Valentine’s Day of last year, so who knows, maybe I’ll do that again this year.

My absolute favorite part of the book is seeing the little bits and pieces that you recognize of Snow from the original trilogy. Things that may seem inconsequential, if you’re reading this book as a new fan, but acts almost like little nods to the people who know what his future holds. The creation of this book, and the new movie based on it, has introduced a lot of people to the fandom. And it makes me so happy seeing all these new takes and perspectives!

5 Stars

#bookblr #books #reading #book reviews #reading wrap up #goodreads #storygraph #reading goals #a court of silver flames #ankle snatcher #the pram #don't let her stay #the hobbit #red white and royal blue #the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy #do not disturb #mister magic #circe #the restaurant at the end of the universe #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #sarah j maas #grady hendrix #joe hill #nicola sanders #j.r.r. tolkien #casey mcquiston #douglas adams #freida mcfadden #kiersten white #madeline miller

[golvio]

Alright, so I’ve got this plan for an anthology style Zelda horror series specifically based on some background details about the primary antagonist of BotW that really intrigued me and felt like something I could build a bigger horror-themed mythos out of. I’m making progress on the very first story and I think I like where it’s going.

I’m mostly sick of horror-themed Content for the series just being Ben Drowned, riffs on “Ooh, wasn’t Majora’s Mask too spooky and mature for the kiddos,” and “Top 10 Enemies in Ocarina of Time That Made 8yo Me Pee My Pants In Terror.” Like, yeah, the Redeads and Dead Hand freaked me out, too, but at some point you’ve gotta expand your horizons and come up with new things to be spooked by.

Like…there’s so much going on with Clammy Gan in the background that you can’t help but think things could’ve gotten way more fucked up if he wasn’t presented as a generic world-destroying apocalyptic event, particularly if he was operating at more than 10% brain capacity and wasn’t dealing with a nonstop Princess-induced tummy ache. Particularly after Elden Ring showed how to introduce various strains of subtle background cosmic horror upon a besieged, generically medieval European location while tying it up in a story about court politics, imperialism, and the most dysfunctional family ever. Something about the human intersecting with the eldritch/divine, and the two becoming enmeshed and hideously corrupting each other without losing those relatable, down-to-earth personal elements that made both the Demigods and their mortal subjects so intriguing.

This isn’t going to be a linear chapter-by-chapter story. It’s going to be an anthology with vaguely interconnected plot threads and maybe the occasional recurring character beyond The Horrific Centerpiece Himself, but at least initially the focus will be more about exploring various vaguely interconnected ideas and different genres of horror than having a huge, overarching story with Deep Lore. This is an experiment, after all.

[nyaagolor]

SWSH LIVEBLOG PART 1: INTRO

When most people play through every game in a series, they start with the first entry and play in order all the way up until the most recent. For this particular project, however, I’m choosing to work backwards, both because SV was the unofficial and accidental start of this project, but also because actually getting a physical copy of the game and trading is going to be exponentially more difficult the farther back I go. While I do plan on using a few hacks to make version exclusives catchable and trade-evos have an alternate pathway when necessary, I figured starting with a game that already has pretty robust online support would be a good idea. Also, SwSh has been so embroiled in web discourse and discussion that tackling it after people have moved onto SV felt like the blank slate I wanted to tackle this game with, especially since this is the game that convinced me to get a Switch in the first place! And with all that intro out of the way– liveblog starts under the cut :D 

Something I have always given SwSh a lot of credit for is the immediate and tight explanation of its themes and world, which I think the opening cutscene captures incredibly well. The world of Galar feels corporate, and starting SwSh with the equivalent of a sporting match commercial is some genuinely great exposition. From the first 30 seconds of gameplay, I have a clear understanding of the culture and attitude of the region entirely from visuals, both in what they show and how they show it. The very first shot is of a logo, then the crowd, and then finally Rose, shot from far away and above to show the sheer scale of the battle court. The entire cutscene, while using similar dialogue to other intros, has a drastically different feel because of the spectacle and cinematography. Not only that, but this is the first game I remember in which the opening cutscene isn’t referring to the player directly. From the onset, you’re shown what battling is, how important it is to the region, and immediately get a sense that this gym challenge is far bigger than the protagonist or player. Personally, I think this decision to take the expository spiel of the professors and lean into its corny and commercial sounding dialogue to turn it into an in-universe commercial is a great way to introduce newcomers to the idea of the pokemon world while also delivering a lot of regional worldbuilding at the same time. This is a concept I’ll harp on over and over, but SwSh really shines in its presentation, showing via little pieces of dialogue and framing exactly what’s going on behind the scenes of this massive gym economy and making Galar feel far bigger than the scope of the protagonist’s journey. 

Side note: Coming to this game after SV made me realize how glossy it is. Everything has this very smoothed out and shiny feel to it, almost like it’s made of plastic. I kinda get the feel of like. Action figures? Which ironically fits in with the overall sports / commercialism feel of the region. Neat!

Shoutout to the art direction of James Turner for making this game feel so unique. Something I noticed about Turner’s style is his focus on the pop culture elements of different regions, and I think choosing to make him art director for this particular game is an especially good choice by the company, because he really does a fantastic job at coalescing the themes of the world and the designs into a unified whole. It feels incredibly fresh and incredibly distinct within the universe of pokemon, and has a clear and recognizable identity. Also he’s British so that counts for something.

Something I noticed about the more recent games, especially the Switch titles, is that they seem dedicated to making the game introductions longer and longer. While this isn’t terrible, as it feels more naturalist, they do tend to drag a bit. As such I don’t really have anything to say about this section of the game as a whole except for a few myriad points: 

The whole Slumbering Weald scene was kinda. Strange. I can understand why they shied away from having you enter before you got your first pokemon, as it would feel a bit like a DPPt rehash, but I still think the decision to make you go to Wedgehurst and back like three times before the story even starts was a bit odd. Not only that, but the introduction of the wolves felt like a poorly executed way to keep the legendaries from being end-of-game prizes. We do see them towards the beginning of the game, but then we put a pin in that convo and don’t talk about them until 45 gameplay hours later. While not too egregious, the awkward integration into the story is a pretty consistent gripe I have with quite a few story beats (which we will get to later)

Magnolia is a complete nonentity of a character and I really think her and Sonia needed some serious rehashing. You get the pokedex, find out that Magnola has some history with Dynamax and therefore Rose, and then she fucks off for the rest of the game. One of this game’s other major story problems imo is the sheer amount of characters, since due to time constraints a solid half of them do absolutely nothing. I’ll talk about this more when the story kicks off but this cast is really bloated and needed a bit of reshaping to be coherent

As much as I think the intro drags, I will concede that it sets up the gym plot quite nicely. The actual background details and in-universe justification for why things happen the way they do is quite solid, and the ceremony, endorsements, registration and uniform switching paints a really fun picture of the gym economy within Galar. To me, it’s these details in combination with the visual spectacle that really sell the gyms as a sporting event, and really nail the systems by which the gym circuit operates. Much like Alola and Paldea, I think Galar has a really clear direction with its gyms and culture that just Works and serves to bolster its story

If it wasn’t obvious already, I think the gym circuit is the highlight of this game– it makes the world feel lived in, it provides an interesting framework in which the characters operate, it drives the plot, it gives clear direction and motivation to many characters including the player, yadda yadda. I’ll talk about the wolves later when they get more relevant (bc I sure as hell have a lot to say) but I think the intro doing so much to set up the gym challenge really gives a taste for the feel (and focus) of what’s to come. 

(This was going to be the point where I talked about Leon and Hop, and then I realized I would literally go over the tumblr character limit if I tried to include it in this post, so I’m just gonna let them have their own lil analysis post. Anyway.) 

The intro to this game highlights what I feel is a pretty consistent theme throughout the game: the gym challenge is the foundation of the plot, and everything else feels laid directly on top of it. Your goal is to be champion, your journey is the gym challenge, and everything else feels somewhat secondary, like it developed separately and then added at the end in ways that would supplement but not distract from the Main Thing You’re Doing. It’s for this reason I feel like the plots of the wolves, Marnie, and Bede don’t stick their landings– they’re not particularly well integrated into the gym challenge in the way that Hop’s story is, and as such feel kind of awkward and weirdly timed. Even their introductions into the story feel somewhat lackluster: Bede is a jerk for no reason, and Marnie is. There. You get a few lines to establish their personality, maybe a battle to ensure the first few hours of this game aren’t purely cutscenes, and then they leave. Especially in this intro, these two rivals feel more like they’re having their own adventure you’re awkwardly walking into rather than a plot that directly involves you. To each their own– I personally find stories that exist outside the player to be insanely interesting, but these two fail to deliver on that front for reasons that become more obvious later in the game. 

Other Notes: 

When Leon teaches you to catch a pokemon, he doesn’t weaken it first, nor does he mention you should. The juxtaposition between his reputation as league champion in contrast to his lack of knowledge about seemingly basic subjects is kinda fascinating to me? They really hammer in how strange he is and bring up some super interesting complications to his character due to his status as a grown-up child celebrity. This is never expanded on but it’s fun either way

Leon’s cape being covered in sponsor logos and him overall having the driest fit imaginable is one of my favorite pieces of visual storytelling this game has. I’ll talk about it more in my Leon and Hop post, but Leon’s status as a gym challenge figurehead is absolutely fucking fascinating

The Galar pokemon have some of the cutest battle animations I’ve ever seen. Nickit wipes the ground with its tail, Yamper’s fur spikes when it’s angry and it hops back to you after an attack, Wooloo has a stumbling bounce backwards to right itself after a rolling tackle. People were so distracted by the tree that they ignored how much character got put into the designs based on how they move and I’m forever gonna be mad about it

The Wild Area sure does exist. 

Overall, I think the intro serves as a microcosm to the entire game: The gym challenge setup and worldbuilding is great, the visual design is great, Hop is great, and everything else sure does exist. See yall next time! Next post will cover gyms 1-3 (with a side post about Leon and Hop) :)

#vex liveblogs #pokemon swsh #these aren't heavily edited so uh. hopefully it's comprehensible

[talenlee]

Feinting Couch

Ah, the age of adventure, of conquest, of nobility and of duels. Yes, the time when if someone defied you, you pulled off your glove and you threw it to the ground and demanded she meet you on the battlefield with god as your witnesses. Sublimated homosexuality and swords with reach, raucous adventure and getting out of town just ahead of the local law, it’s a question not about who did it first, but who did it best.

And the best… needs an audience.

En Garde!

Feinting Couch (prototype name) is a game (prototype) that has finally cracked a nut for me in design of representing an auction game where you’re not trying for first place, you’re trying for second. Players each play reckless duelists prone to partying hard and causing incidents all across different courts of what’s probably going to look like France, choosing each turn just how stupid they’re going to be in any given court.

Each round, players place face-down cards symbolising how their particular duelist has caused a fuss in each of a number of political courts. When everyone’s placed cards in each of the courts, players flip up their cards and see who is the most famous, the most renowned, the most rambunctious duelist in town… and then that person is immediately kicked out of town for making a fuss. If there are ties? All of you, get out, we don’t need you causing your sublimated homosexuality as metaphorised through swordplay here! Go do that in the wilds, on the highway, under the dewy rain!

Each player who remains in court, having managed to have a lot of fun but not so much fun that they ‘re the literal worst, gets to win that court. You play through three rounds of three courts, or until one player has four courts. Winner of the game is the player with the most points from their court cards, and that’s kind of the whole game.

This game has been stuck in my head for a while now because it has had a big problem with its fiction ever since it started. The first idea was that you’re all the heads of expeditions sending out Indiana Jones style explorers, going to temples, but the nature of the deadly temples meant that the first person to get to any given temple was immediately going to fucking die, and therefore, it was the second place winner of the auction who got anywhere.

Problem: Dudes raiding temples for treasures is, as themes, both very common and easily racist. It still painted the exercise of ‘go to an ancient ruin and steal stuff’ as the thing players want to do, and while it was very funny to imagine players hitting the wall and getting smooshed when they went to these places, it still was about playing interlopers stealing stuff. Throwing that theme way, I wanted to conceive of a lot of different alternative themes.

The second-place theme, ironically, was players playing bugs that wanted to make noise so they could attract mates. The noisiest bug every round gets eaten by a bird, the next noisiest is the one who attracts a mate. Kinda a fun idea, but also, do I really wanna make a game about ‘oh this is the one about bugs fucking,’ especially when a cartoony take on that would inevitably, wind up with a lot of high-femme bug art, and I dunno, it feels like a great way to be heteronormative and weirdo at the same time.

The game that I want to make now is a game about cool duelists getting into trouble and fleeing towns that are on fire. I don’t actually know that much about this period of history. I don’t know much about actual duelists. I don’t even know that much about setting towns on fire. It’s really a thing I didn’t get enough practice on when I was a kid, it’s a real shame.

I feel like this is one of those times where what I’m referring to needs pre-loading and I’m not well equipped to do it. Do you know who Juliet D’aubigny is? Do you know who Centurii-chan is? Do you know what ‘Rapier Girls’ are as a genre? Do you know someone who gets extremely hot and bothered about queers in ruffled shirts with side shaves and possibly drinking wine in an impossibly bisexual way? What about that one picture of Anne Hathaway crossdressing for a Shakespeare play? If I say ‘sexy anime Guybrush Threepwood’ have I lost you?

That’s kind of the spot aesthetically I want to land.

I have no idea how to explain it except to find someone who’s already familiar with it and say, ‘yea, that.’ If you’re reading this on tumblr and think you know someone whose art would be a fit, tell me about them so I can at the very least talk to them about what this game should look like and maybe get the right formal language about it.

The game’s form is a single deck of standard-sized playing cards in a standard tuck box deck. A standard deck of cards is 54 cards, and doesn’t tend to have a rulebook in it, but you know, sometimes. It’d be a typical mid-sized Invincible Ink game at that size, which is a good form factor for our normal needs to sell games.

This 54 cards creates a constraint on the design, and that constraint at the moment is the question of how many players can this game support?

The game loop runs:

Players play cards from their hands to each of three of courts in a blind auction. You can play multiple cards to a court, but everyone can see that you did that and everyone can see who has already bit.

The cards are revealed, those bidding cards are discarded, and players draw another set of cards to do another round of bidding.

This means the deck of cards needs to have enough cards for multiple players to engage in this loop in an interesting way that gives you strategic choices. If you all start with the same cards in each hand, then the choices become more about memorisation of patterns, rather than about bluffing with a dynamically shifting experience. Therefore, players need to have more cards available to them, for a ‘deck’ than they have in any given turn of play.

Since I want players to have unpredictable hands, that still nonetheless reward some attention paid to what players are already paying then, I want to make sure that the player’s hand size does not neatly divide into the deck size. So, if a player has 3 cards in hand, their remaining deck needs to be 4, 5, or 7 cards. If a player has 4 cards in hand, their remaining deck needs to be 5 or 7 – every card the player has will get put into their hand, but never entirely predictably.

Like, let’s say that the deck is 6 cards, and the player starts with 4 drawn. That means their first turn, entirely unpredictable, but their second turn, you know what half of it is, if you memorised those numbers. The next turn, they discard those cards, and you know half their hand again, and then you get a fresh set. This seems to reward a lot of memorisation.

We also need some cards for courts – players are going to be bidding on three at a time, after all – which means that courts need to similarly be represented in some volume.

And again, how many players can this game support?

What I want is for each player’s deck to be equal and symmetrical. Therefore, of ‘player cards,’ each player adds an extra multiple. Heads-up duel game? 54 cards could be split clean down the middle, two 27s. Bit unwieldy, not necessary, but still an option.

I asked my mastodon what a tuckbox of the type felt like to them, how many players they expected, and most people seemed to be okay with the game being for 2-4 or 2-5 players. Well, if the courts and the players occupy the same space, that means the game could be expressed as 54/6, and that’s nine cards. Nine cards is a great number for hands of four. It runs like this:

First turn, four cards, five in deck. No known information.

Second turn, four cards in hand, four in discard, one in deck. Almost complete information, but crucially not actually complete.

Third turn, four cards in hand, five in deck, and only one card in hand known. At this point the loop resets.

Okay, that means nine cards is our player count. That’s great, and now I get to throw in my next little tweak to the math of this game: Your cards are not valued 1-9. Your cards are valued -2 to 7. If you bid two cards on a Court, you’re not necessarily bidding up to a high number, you might be trying to sack out a value down to something lower.

(Oh and I think if bids for a court don’t break 0, then the court is incensed and nobody gets nothing from it so the -2 and -1 cards aren’t just inherently the best bids for things.)

Does the game need this structure of 9 player cards for 5 players and 9 court cards? Nooo it could also work out smoothly, mathematically if players had 6 cards and and then the game could handle 8 players and 6 courts, but that feels like burning space. Most groups with eight players are going to play something even looser, where physical proximity isn’t as important, like Werewolf or Resistance or Secret Hitler or something.

There, tha’ts a description of a game prototype. Now I just gotta make the thing, and that means finding artists who do this exact very specfic genre of trashy queer duelists. The fantasy is that I somehow get this blog post in front of Centurii-chan and she likes the idea enough to let me license a bunch of her art of Rapier-chan and the like. Understand even in my fantasy, I’m still paying for things, because I respect workers.

Diary out!

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#Games #Making

[mar64ds]

JEVIL

where do i begin with my funny little friend... jevil is a character that i have always thought was really fun: a secret difficult boss fight, a mysterious connection to gaster and overall i think he has a really funny personality, i've always really liked him! he wasn't my favorite character and i don't think i was as invested in this character as everyone else was in 2018, back when he was the most mysterious character that we had met so far, but when chapter 2 came out i kind of started to appreciate jevil more? Since we were all so focused on new content that made me remember how much i liked chapter 1 and my love for jevil grew more

I have always really liked his relationship with Seam even if we never see them actually interacting, I have mentioned before that they just seem to me like they would have a very Sam&Max dynamic asdfghjkl and i always like duos like that they are funny and endearing. And adding all that tragedy to their relationship makes it even stronger, I just really like these two and I don't care how their relationship is interpreted they are companions and i like them and if they don't talk to each other in the game again i will break my computer

I focus on him and Seam the most but Jevil is a character that is really fun to make interact with anyone, some based on canon material and others just fun concepts

I think the idea of him and Susie becoming friends (perhaps even family) is so sweet to me, these two have so many parallels and I love the way they interact, Susie is very blunt with him and that doesn't bother Jevil at all, they are two sharks prepared to fight!!

I personally like to think him and Gaster were genuine friends, that Gaster didn't mean for Jevil to end up the way he did, that they both just wanted a friend...

Him and Spamton are really funny, wacky cartoon characters in one room together what could go wrong, funny exes. I know I don't focus a lot on them but I like them and some very talented artists make such cool content of them that it makes appreciate them more, keep up the good work everyone

Jevil mentions Queen once but I really like to believe they got along really well, that maybe all the other kings were stuck-ups but she was always the one who found him funny the most..... 🥹 I think they are friends :)

Now for relationships that are completely made-up by me? Jevil and Toriel, they are friends to me, they are such close friends. Heartache used to be Jevil's theme!!!! They both like jokes!!!! They both have horns!!!!! They both feel trapped and lonely!!!!! They could be best of friends. I also think him and Papyrus could have really interesting interactions, they are both positive people, just two different kinds of positivity

Jevil is a secret boss that doesn't get much screen time and we barely know ANYTHING about him, so a lot of my headcanons are just based on what I believe he COULD have been like or could be like at the moment, it's all pure speculation and having fun with a character i like and that i think has a lot of potential, he's slowly just becoming an OC at this point lol. I like to believe he was a little prankster as a kid and the funny kid on school but he didn't have many friends, when he was a teen he goes through his 'emo phase' and tries to pretend he doesn't care about being a funny little jester anymore and focuses more on his 'grim reaper' style (and the reason why he does this it's not just because it's a funny idea it's because he's tired of being rejected for being so 'different', he's masking pretty much), when he's a young adult he goes back to trying to be a funny jester and he ends up becoming the court jester!! The rest is history and I think he meets Seam after he has been the court jester for a little while

I see Jevil as trans, ace and aroflux! Autistic as well! Jesters and rubber ducks are two of his biggest special interests, he stims with his hat, tail and hands and has a a chew stim toy in the shape of a spade! He of course also vocally stims all the time! He repeats words often and likes to imitate sounds. And I also really like the idea that he has a lisp!

This might sound silly but Jevil has helped me a lot with my confidence towards my autism this last year? Papyrus too, they both have helped SO much. I don't know, i'm a very insecure person and sometimes i think i'm extremely childish (not as in... a mean childish attitude, i mean having childish interests and things like that) or sometimes i can just feel very different from everyone around me, and thinking about Jevil i don't know makes me happy? Like i get it he's the court jester but he's a guy that likes playing games like roundabout and things like that, and he vocally stims all the time and it's established that he was very lonely but the people that cared about him? They cared, they cared a lot, he was someone that was missed. And uh... wow that means a lot i'm going to explode and cry

Anyway, i like jevil, worst character ever

#YOU UNLEASHED THE JEVIL INFODUMP WHAT HAVE YOU DONE #(thanks anon) #deltaruneundertale

[waffelteufel]

Stopped reading books after highschool and only picked it up very recently again and it is such a good feeling! Very proud of the amount of books I've read since last fall, despite being pretty busy. Gonna put some silly thots and reviews under the cut, just cuz I wanna:

Almost all these books have some queer and/or liberal themes in common, which is kinda the only thing I am interested in, at least at the current moment. The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison (MY RATING: ★★★★★) A half-goblin protagonist who has been disowned by his father emperor, trying to survive court after being crowned because said father has been assassinated. Despite some very depressive tones, it actually turns into an A+ Comfort Book about hope and finding new connections. Practically no action in the book, just people being people. No explicit queer plot except one character, but the themes are very liberal in my opinion. Witness for the Dead - Katherine Addison (MY RATING: ★★★★★) Spin off from Goblin Emperor with a character from the first book. The vibes are very different, but still retain that comfort feel. A pretty melancholic journey with hopeful tones. The book is pretty short and it is very easy to get through it. The main character here is a gay man this time! Thara my blorbissimo... The Grief of Stones - Katherine Addison (MY RATING: ★★★★☆) Sequel to Witness of the Dead. If you liked the previous one, you will like this one too. I enjoy Thara as a main character SO MUCH and relate pretty hard to him. Despite there being no love story in these two books, I am getting some Vibes (tm) from a particular character though, and I really wanna see where that will go in the next book. I love the Goblin Emperor universe So Much. Only critique I have, is that the author makes the more action-oriented narration very brief (too brief for my taste) and I always feel surprised at how quickly it's over, which makes it feel a bit dull and rushed. I'm giving it 4 stars, but actually 4.7 would be more accurate. How To Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone (MY RATING: ★★★★★) Really funky and surreal sci fi fantasy with time travelling shenanigans. Pretty short but profound love story between two women that mostly communicate through letters. Enemis to Lovers, and really well done too. The premise is very unique in my opinion, and because of the style it is written, everything feels pretty fast paced and fun.

The Traitor Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson (MY RATING: ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★)

I am fucking insane about this book, my god. It rearranged my brain and shattered my heart. A very low fantasy setting with a poc lesbian protagonist trying to dismantle a colonial fascist empire. It is raw and deals with very awful and heavy topics like eugenics, homophobia, brainwashing, colonial atrocities, etc. and is not scared to be blunt about it. The story and characters feel very clever and intelligent, and it is thrilling to see it all develop. Do not read this if you want a wholesome happy story, but do read it if you want something that will stick with you forever and make you think critically about the western powers of our world, whilst exploring that through a fictional lens.

The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson (MY RATING: ★★★★★)

Sequel to Traitor. The style of writing and the pacing changed a little bit, because of personal reasons of the author. It takes a little bit to get into it again, but the book starts on a similar note as the last one ended, which I found awesome. Certain characters from the first book are given more meaning through this one, and some surprising twists occur. Characters are given more depth, I ended up having a new fav that I did not expect to enioy as much. Towards the end a few things happen that felt "too convenient". It changes the vibe of the story a little bit in my opinion, and I am still unsure on how to feel about it. I might change my opinion for good or worse once I am done with the next book. Still a really fucking good read though, Baru is such a character.

Crier's War - Nina Varela (MY RATING: ★★★☆☆)

Fantasy automatons rule the world as first class citizens. Humans want to start an uprising. Human girl tries to get close to a very important automaton girl as a handmaiden, but ends up developing feelings for her. The premise is very cool and I like the tropey feel, but the politics in this books or unfortunately very superficial and childish to me. The actual love story feels very indulgent sapphic, which I did enjoy, but the bits of politics scattered into it feel like a distraction. While reading I often felt like the author must not have a good grip on what politics actually are in the real world, and I often wished that it was just hinted at between the lines, instead of getting those childish plot threads. I also did not enjoy the flashbacks as they felt very on the nose, and just like with the politics it would have been much better if there was more of a "show, don't tell" approach.

Sweet Bean Paste - Durian Sukegawa (MY RATING: ★★★☆☆)

Not a queer book, but it was the first one I read since forever, so I have a soft spot for it. Sweet Bean Paste is a very light read, very short. A cute comfort book playing in Japan about a guy with a criminal record finding his new passion of making doriyaki, after befriending an old disabled lady. No romance in the book, no action, just good vibes. The book is perfect to pass the time. Jasmine Throne - Tasha Suri (MY RATING: ★★☆☆☆)

Ok so the setting is amazing, but I absolutely couldn't force myself to finish the book, which in my opinion is the worst thing that could happen. It's a south asian fantasy setting (dope!) with two sapphic leads (hell yeah!) with the handmaiden trope, some nature-focused fantasy and really good visual descriptions. The setting and idea of the world itself is marvellous, but I just couldn't get myself to care for the characters. At all. And that breaks my heart. I kept losing focus when reading, because there were simply so many shallow POVs (the chapters are written in different POVs) of people I simply didn't care about. The dialogues are so and so, and the villain feels very cliché too. There are a few twists in the book, which I could tell from miles away, and that just took away all the excitement I had. That whole different POV thing was def the nail in the coffin for me though. There is literally a chapter that is a few pages long from the POV of a completely random soldier that dies at the end of said chapter, which is supposed to show you that a certain location has been attacked... We don't actually need that information straight up like that. The characters could simply see a location on fire from far away and simply deduct that someone has been ambushed. Spoon-feeding plot just feels very eh to me, and I'd rather read between the lines to find out about such things. The relationship between the two WLW characters felt promising, although it didn't work on me as well as I hoped. Maybe it's just Not My Kinda Book though, others will probably enjoy it much more.

To Be Taught, If Fortunate - Becky Chambers (MY RATING: ★★★★★) A short novella about four astronauts who have been sent into space to study a couple of planets. The books is very relaxing and good vibes, the characters all have a very close relationship with each other and there are vague hints towards them being poly and being romantically and/or sexually involved with each other. One of the character is also heavily hinted towards being trans. What I liked about the book a lot was the perfect combination of just showing people and their emotional states and lovely dynamics, and combining that with (actually really damn interesting) scientific lore drops from their journeys. The excitement the character feel during breakthroughs felt very infectious and I smiled a lot while reading. Again, the novella is REALLY short, so I am actually amazed at how much the author managed to fit into it without making it feel crammed. Overall a very lovely experience.

#i talk sometimes #book reviews #maybe i'll write more of those once i am thru some more books #nobody reads these but i love writing this shit so bear with me lol