something that makes me sad is when people tell me the healthy communication in my writing is "unrealistic."
like guys this is how me and my partner talk with eachother... I'm writing from personal experience...
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michie ficrecs!
hi!! i saw @24-guy asking for michie fic recs for what to reread and figured i’d just post the fic rec list i made for my friends :-) i’m making my own post because it has some fics written by 24-guy and i’d feel really weird recommending those directly to zem, but i figured someone else might also be interested fjdjfnd
i've split this list into completed fics and ongoing fics for your viewing pleasure, otherwise they're in no particular order :] let me know if there's any mistakes or misattributions, i didn't get anyone to proof read this for me before posting ^^;
enjoy!
COMPLETED:
Max Jagerman's Socks by lab_trash / @lab-trash
"Max's socks start getting interesting, to the point where people actually notice. They don't even look like stuff he'd own, really."
~4k words, 1 chapter, rated T; pure fluff, 5+1 things, a really cute and cozy secret relationship fic
Dangling from the edge by Olive_of_Vanders / @oliveofvanders
"On that fateful day at the Waylon place, a certain weeb saved the bully."
~1.5k words, 1 chapter, rated T; richie saves max's life at the waylon place, plus bonus points for the uncle paul headcanon :] i actually stumbled upon this while trying to remember which fics i’ve been meaning to rec but it's VERY good so i just had to include it
Near Death Panick by lab_trash / @lab-trash
"Max and Richie panic when Max almost dies and they forget they aren't alone."
~2.5k words, 1 chapter, rated G; richie saves max's life at the waylon place, with added secret relationship <3 a delight to read
Hatchetfield's Finest Breadsticks by KairiTheMango / @kairithemang0
"Richie was unsure if he regretted agreeing to be Max's Algebra tutor just yet, however out of the kindness of his heart (and deep down his desire to spend more time with him) he chose to take the job. How hard could it be really? Just a few hours of extra math, it wouldn't hurt anyone."
~1.5k words, 1 chapter, rated G; a short and sweet tutoring fic!!! real neat
class of 2021 by hatchetscandal
"living it, ten years were just that—ten long years. but looking back, ten years is simply the blink of an eye.
or
the hatchetfield high school class of 2021 is celebrating their ten year reunion, and things have changed drastically in that time."
~4k words, 1 chapter, rated T; cute future class-reunion fic :]
Michie short series - What the fuck happened last night by bonezthewriter
"Richie wakes up in the bed of Max Jagerman one fateful day. Follow them as they develop their relationship; and themselves."
series: ~5.5k words total, 4 works (4 chapters total), no ratings except for the last work (rated T); possible cw for misunderstandings of a somewhat sexual nature, nothing actually happens but they sure do convince themselves it did
Lost and Found by 24_GUY / @24-guy
"A Canon Divergent AU with Michie secret dating and a lot of suffering for Richie. (Less suffering in the sequel, I'm determined to have a happy ending.)"
series: ~21.5k words total, 2 works (18 chapters total), all works rated T; hurt/comfort + secret relationship, THIS ONE IS SO GOOD. it explores richie’s grief at losing max in a really interesting way and then manages to work in a happy ending <3 cw/tw for detailed depictions of the different stages of grief (especially depression)
cause i can’t help it if you look like an angel by pixelprotag / @milgram
"max finds a pretty cool cosplayer online. halloween rolls around, and it turns out he goes to his school."
~1.5k words, 1 chapter, rated T; a really cute fic surrounding the idea of richie doing cosplay, plus another win for "paul is richie's uncle" truthers :P
Paul Matthews and his many children by ThatStar_Guy
"Paul acquires his first adopted son when his sister kicks out his nephew, Richie, because of his sexuality. Richie goes to Paul for help, and he and Emma are glad to provide it.
He acquires his second adopted son when Tom perishes in an explosion. Tim, having no other family, comes to live with them.
He acquires his first unofficial son when Pete starts spending every day at his house.
He acquires his first unofficial daughter when Ruth also spends every minute at his house.
He acquires his second unofficial daughter when Grace starts dating Ruth.
He acquires his first blood daughter with Emma when they are 32.
He acquires his first son in law when Richie marries Max at 20.
He acquires his first unofficial daughter in law when Pete marries Steph at 22.
He acquires his first grandchild when Richie and Max adopt at 24.
He acquires his first and second unofficial grandkids when Pete and Steph are 25."
~3k words, 1 chapter, rated G; a "paul is richie’s uncle” fic taken to the extreme in the absolute BEST way possible. mostly paul centric and focused on paul/emma, with background richie/max, grace/ruth, and pete/steph as far as ships go. THIS ONE IS OF MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITES!!! lots of Black Friday references
r/TrueOffMyChest by lab_trash / @lab-trash
"I (21m) am in love with my roommate and former bully victim (20m)"
~3k words, 1 chapter, rated G; future fic, in-universe reddit post format. this ones clever and addresses just how shitty Max was in highschool
Maybe We Can Find A Home Here by 24_GUY / @24-guy
"Max confides in Ruth once, and gets a family out of it."
~3k words, 1 chapter, rated T; a really cute ruth and max friendship fic. words cannot express how much i adore it :3
UNFINISHED:
Won't you pray for me? by Whowillprayforyou / @whowillprayforyou
"Max Jägerman is as straight as a board, as per the norm with being who he is. King of the school, Star quarterback. He's got one weakness, Repressed nerds, and thankfully Grace chasity isn't letting up any time soon.
Imagine his surprise when his focus shifts to a different not so repressed nerd, after a life changing event. Even more shocking, said nerd is Richard Lipschitz."
~17k words, 5 chapters, no rating as of posting; richie saves max’s life at the waylon house, slow burn ensues <3 i'm literally obsessed with this one
Zeek: The Fighting Nighthawk by lab_trash / @lab-trash
"Max strikes up conversation with their school mascot without knowing who's under the costume. Richie just goes with it, even through that massive anxiety… which fades so quickly for some reason. He learns so much about Max, and he'd never seen him so relaxed before.
It's not so bad."
~9k words, 4 chapters, rated T as of posting; secret identity shenaniganery >:] I LOVE THIS ONE SO MUCH. it's probably one of my favorite npmd fics. plus, this one has the “trevor is richie’s twin” headcanon in a really prominent way which the author executes really well
Car Lights by 24_GUY / @24-guy
"When Richie takes Amanda - his best friend's daughter and his goddaughter - to the grocery store to fill their day, he least expects to run into Max Jägerman of all people."
~36k words, 18 chapters, rated T as of posting; future fic with background steph/pete and some really sweet ruth and max friendship moments :3 I FUCKING ADORE THIS ONE!!! another great twin headcanon piece as well. it should be noted that i've been a dancer for 15 years and this is somewhat of a dancer au, so i may be biased
Beanies by lab_trash / @lab-trash
"As soon as Max turned 16, his father began berating him to get a job so he could pay rent for his room.
Actually, that’s a lie. It started a couple weeks before he turned 16. To “give him time.”
He actually expected Max to have a job as soon as he was 16.
It wasn’t so bad at first, since he didn’t have school and he could manage his part-time job and whatever sport practice he had going on at that time. But once the school year started…
Max was always a bully. But in his junior year, he became a literal monster.
OR: Max works at Beanies and accidentally sort of makes friends with a regular customer who just happens to be a nerd."
~16k words, 9 chapters, rated G as of posting; paul is richies uncle and theres a background focus on paul/emma. probably my all time favorite michie fic— lotta well thought out references to the other musicals. i've been rereading at least part of it every day for the last couple days, its just that good
thanks for reading!!
feel free to drop into my ask box to talk about any of these or just hatchetfield stuff in general ^w^ have a lovely day/night
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And never let you go ♥
Bonus without the overspill lighting:
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what's so weird is that I joined the sw fandom while rebels was airing right? like. by the time I caught up on the movies and tcw, star wars rebels season 3 was about to drop and there were all these hints about obi-wan showing up, so as a brand-new obi-wan fan I was like. HYPED
and I was also like "omg omgomg omgomogmg ewan should come back as obi-wan please it's all i want i'm going through A Lot and him coming back as obi-wan would just really help me get through all the shit i'm going through"
and so yeah obi-wan does show up in rebels which is like :')))))) SUCH A GOOD EPISODE btw and not long after that tcw season 7 was announced so I was like "omg yes even more new obi-wan content! i am thriving!"
and then not long after that the kenobi series was announced and that show made ALL of my dreams come true but now it's like. it's done and I'm so conflicted about whether or not I want a second season (I think I'm leaning more towards I want ewan to come back again but I'm not sure if it should be in the form of a second season, since the series ended on such a perfect note)
but now it's been almost two years since the show and for the first time since I joined the fandom, there's been not much new obi-wan content in tv/movie canon (there are plenty of books and comics though I'm just very behind with my TBR aklsdjfljalsdflafd)
so the fandom just feels different to me y'know? or at least the obi-wan centric part of the fandom feels different. the past few years have been amazing and I really hope we continue to get more obi-wan content in one way or another but I also don't want it to be at the expense of his character. I want it to be right.
but this means less obi-wan content and I'm just trying to come to terms with that :/
TLDR i joined the fandom at a time when a lot was happening with obi-wan's character and now things have settled down after all of that and I'm trying to wrap my head around all of it
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It always seems like such a good idea in the moment (Patreon)
The first four are in reference to a great idea I had of - since I’ve finished my lower-limit page number testing for making books; shorter fics take up less page space, and just increasing the font size isn’t as handsome! - simply making a mini book! All it would take would be to halve the pages again, right? Just cut them right down the middle! Easy peasy!
As I’m sure you can tell by the second, no. Not easy peasy. Difficult painful un-fun >:(
Obviously I still did it tho! What do you take me for, someone who could have the idea of an even tinier book and then not do something about it?? No
It’s also the only one so far to have a paper bookmark rather than a ribbon!
All told it’s a bit smaller than your average manga (I love the monochrome covers on these under their dust jackets haha <3) - you can see even with effectively doubling up the pages by halving their size, it was still very small-spined!
A quick shot while it was still being made hehe ♪ It’s Out! Paired here - and the earlier one, just without its dust jacket haha - with my Zarla SC2 collection (ft. Family, Negotiations are Going...Well, and With No Obligation) - I absolutely kicked myself after the fact for not including Out as the run-up to everything, I was really trying to make a full collection in probably-chronological order! Out would’ve been a perfect start! And it only would’ve taken like four pages!!
Ah well, it was still quite a learning experience - I probably wouldn’t make another standalone of under 4k-ish just for formatting reasons but I did get some good ideas of how to do so if I wanted to! Although, my next project is going to be even more of a formatting nightmare........I’ll get there when I get there! Lol
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I did some gushing over WN on Dreamwidth for the Snowflake Challenge if anyone is interested.
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hater of me but something about that like. skinny perfect blush giant sparkly eyes doll aesthetic makes me crawl out of my skin. i respect the craft but that thing is so inhuman it feels wrong to even compare it to one. which like, thats neat in it's own right. i find great appeal in the uncanny stare of glued, airbrushed perfection of an expensive bjd. something so... personification of dangerously unrealistic ideals about them to me. they're so fucked up
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💫 🤍💘 pls crystal 🥰
Anything for you, Jess. 😌💙
💫what is your favorite kind of comment/feedback?
I really appreciate hearing from readers who chose to read something despite it not being their usual cup of tea - whether it be the particular band member, something in the tags, the genre or even that they don't read much fic at all - but for whatever reason, they decided to give me and my story a chance. It's a nice feeling to know that they saw something there that made them want to make an exception and that they ended up being happy they did. That kind of faith and intent is a special kind of reader/author vibe.
🤍what's one fic of yours you think people didn't "get"?
Two fics came to mind but I can't really pretend that I don't understand the response they got because in one way or another, I feel like I didn't totally "get" what I was going for either. Both have a slight angst element to them and while I was intentionally trying to challenge myself to write something different, I should have realized that my audience (at least at the time) really just wanted to have a dirty, banter-y good time and so it made sense these stories didn't hit like the others did.
The fic that immediately came to mind is I'd Rather Be In Love, the one and only non-smut fic I've ever written (and most likely, will ever write). It was written in the 5+1 format and while I'm actually fairly proud of the way I structured the narrative, it's ultimately a story that didn't need to be written (I was in a rut and 5+1s were going around so I tried it out just to try it) and at least to me, it doesn't really feel like one of my stories without the smut. So with the confines of the format limiting my ability to give my characters as much depth and personality as I typically do, a wildly different tone (I literally have it tagged as fluff on AO3) and a blink and you miss it sex scene, I think my audience simply didn't know what to make of it and to date, it remains my least engaged story on both Tumblr and AO3.
The other story I thought of is Threw Out Our Cloaks & Daggers Because It's Morning Now (also probably my worst title lmao). For some reason, I thought my super fun and sexy Gardener!Ash series needed some dramatic weight and this was meant to be the first in a multi-part emotional arc (spoiler: that was for some reason going to culminate in Ash getting pegged) but I struggled so much with writing it and the reception was so underwhelming, I shelved the entire series. It was an unremarkable idea executed poorly (the structure is a mess, the tone is all over the place and you can absolutely tell I cobbled the final draft together from a pile of scraps because I just needed it to be done) and again, it was an unfortunate case of me just not understanding what my audience liked about my writing and specifically, that series. Who wants to see Gardener!Ash sad?! It made sense it bombed and I've genuinely considered retroactively calling it a standalone piece instead so it can be retconned out of the Gardener!Ash universe.
💘Is there any posted fic you want to rework/re-edit/re-write?
In the years since I wrote Release, I've quietly gone back in and made some changes but I think overall I'd like it a lot more if I gave it a more thorough overhaul. It was my first fic and I'm still proud of the concept but I just know that 2023 Crystal could handle certain ideas and scenes with a lot more grace and style.
Stylistically, in a lot of ways it feels like I was kind of mimicking Cass and a few other authors I looked up to at the time so a lot of my own sensibilities were still forming and thus don't really feel present. But the biggest issue for me is the centerpiece of the fic contains this extended rough dom sex scene and while I don't think it's a misstep (I still like what it means for the characters and the overall narrative), I can totally admit that I was out of my depth attempting such an emotionally complex scene like that with so little writing experience. If I were to write it now, I would definitely check in with the characters and their thoughts more to make sure that the point of the scene, what it meant to them and their relationship was spelled out a bit more responsibly. Thankfully, the majority of readers understood it anyways but still, I wish it was a little more obvious a lot quicker because as it stands now, it's kind of a crazy tonal shift.
I'd also probably tone it down a little bit. Hard dom fic was A Big Thing at the time and so I didn't think twice about including some fairly harsh physicality and degradation elements that I don't entirely vibe with now and are a pretty stark contrast to the type of fic I'd go on to write lol. Again, I don't regret the scene, I just think if I wrote it now, I'd be able to provide it with the nuance it required and deserved. (Cass and I have also discussed revising the poly!Lashton series we collaborated on for these same reasons.)
Let's chat! Writer Asks
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despite the writers' best efforts to make them all shallow caricatures except adam--especially ivan--the sutekh-shu-ras are an excellently sad, fucked up dysfunctional mess in all directions and i really need to write up meta about them
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poses
im gonna be normal today
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A house, a home || Young Wizards
I saw the ask response around the current canon ages of the YW kids while in the midst of camp NaNo, and wrote 1,800 words of spontaneous domestic fluff
Also on AO3
Nita flopped down onto the couch, letting out a sigh of relief. She enjoyed her job - mostly - but she still treasured her weekends, and Friday evening had finally come. Kit dropped down next to her, handing over a glass of water and only just avoiding spilling his own. She waved a hand in vague gratitude, knowing he’d understand it to mean thanks! Great to be home and good to see you, hi! without her saying a word, whether verbally or mentally. After over a decade of being each other’s closest friend and wizardry partner, they could have whole implied conversations through a few gestures or the twitch of an eyebrow.
After a few minutes, she twisted to curl up against him, head on his shoulder. He pressed a quick kiss to the top of her hair.
“Long day?”
“Yeah. Good! We got the agreement through, but it’s such a - ugh. You know.” Kit nodded, though she couldn’t see it. Even without listening to her talk about the ins and outs of environmental policy campaigning, he had a pretty good background understanding of his own. It was hard not to, as a wizard who could speak to the trees and understand what they said about the changing seasons and patterns, had friends who happened to be whales or dolphins (and sometimes wizards) who were as sensitive to the changes to the ocean as it was possible to be, or flip open your manual and see detailed readings of any atmospheric variation or pattern you cared to look at for as long as it had been possible to get measurements - in some cases longer, though those were less reliable. Some days Nita found the work invigorating, a way of following her Oath of wizardry in her day to day life. Other days it was just depressing.
Kit nudged her gently in the ribs.
“Okay, let me up. I’m gonna make mama’s chicken for dinner - it’s already marinading, we finished up a bit early ‘cause we had a super early call.” Nita let herself slump sideways into his vacated seat.
“See, this is why you’re the best.” He laughed, patted her ankle on the way by, and headed back into the kitchen. Nita wriggled until she was on her back, feet propped on the arm of the couch and staring up at the ceiling. She wrinkled her nose at the cracks in the paintwork. They’d fixed anything structural, mostly through subtle wizardry, though one or two things they’d had to get someone in to help with just to make it not too obvious that there was something odd going on.
They hadn’t gotten through much of the decorating yet, still getting used to the idea that they could decorate the place however they wanted. Splotches of paint samples dotted the walls, though Ronan had laughed his head off when they told him and then reminded them that you could buy pretty much anything you wanted at the Crossings. Including time in a nifty device that threw incredibly detailed holograms up, accounting for objects in 3D space, so that you could make a lifelike mock up of any room you chose and walk around it, seeing how different colours worked and what furniture you wanted to use. It wasn’t cheap, but Nita still had a lot of credit worked up with the staff of the Crossings from various dramatic exploits, and a solid in with the stationmaster. Also a very healthy alien bank account that was built largely on investments and returns from Carmela and Ronan’s ongoing side business of ethical chocolate exports. Writing them a custom wizardry for filtering through the business practices of every step of their pipeline to help quantify as much as possible the ethics of each partner had earned her several shares, and they were paying dividends.
It was largely how she and Kit had been able to afford the apartment.
Nita had been torn on the option. On the one hand, being able to play around in a SIMs style mock up was appealing. On the other, there was something nostalgic about putting up swatches, trying to imagine how the room would look. Eventually they’d decided it would be fun, and spent a day up at the Crossings getting increasingly distracted by different options - particularly after taking off the filter to limit them to what could be reasonably implemented on Earth, and could goof around with anything that the Crossings system could find labeled for sale anywhere related to ‘interior design’. Even if most of it had been for fun rather than useful, it had helped narrow down their colours and had given them ideas for things they might not have dreamed up otherwise, and for a few pieces of alien technology that they could pass off as slightly weird decorating choices or furniture, or even that just wouldn’t be visible.
(Alien temperature regulating systems, for example, ranged massively as you would expect, but there were several very discreet options that you could get that blended in perfectly to the join between wall and ceiling. While they could use Wizardry to achieve the same effect - and regularly did if they went anywhere out of atmosphere - it was also the kind of frivolous use of Power that they tried to avoid, particularly when there was a perfectly reasonable solution available.)
- Kit, do we have any plans this weekend? - There was a thoughtful hum from the kitchen, just about audible under the clatter of pans.
- Uh, think we’re seeing your dad for dinner on Sunday. There wasn’t anything urgent on my Manual when I looked earlier, not sure if anyone’s clamoring for more of your time more urgently - His mental tone was teasing, and Nita snickered. There was always someone asking for time from one or both of them; they’d taken on deputy-Advisory responsibilities for the region some years ago and taken on increasing responsibility since then. They’d talked it over a few times, and Kit thought he was likely to phase out of the pipeline for full Advisory soon. He liked working with other Wizards, but he dealt better going in depth with one or two as a mentor or support on a specific project, rather than trying to keep on top of what was going on with several people. In his own words, this is why I don’t want to be a manager at work, Neets. Better play to my strengths, yeah? Nothing concrete had been said, but Nita suspected that once they were more settled into their new home there would be more official movement coming through to back it up; the Powers and their on-planet network tried where they could to not pile new responsibilities on when you were dealing with something major outside of Wizardry, whether positive or negative.
Nita pulled her manual out of her otherspace pocket, skimming through messages.
- Nah, unless something comes up think it should be fine for my usual hours, a few consults and a request to look at a spell calculation, but no fires to put out -
- Nice! Why d’you ask? -
- Figure maybe we should actually take the plunge and do some of the decorating. If we hate it, we can always change it, right? -
- I was gonna say, actually, Chel and I were chatting, and he said - Kit broke off mid thought, the oven beeping. Nita tucked her manual away and rolled to her feet with a groan, going to set the table. Once they were sat down, plates piled high, Kit continued -
“Like I was saying, Cheleb was really interested in what we were doing, and told me that they do a kind of paint in one of the - ugh, I can’t remember where - anyway, someone, somewhere, does a kind of paint that changes colour really easily. Like, you don’t need Wizardry, just ask it nicely in the Speech with a passcode, and it can change to loads of different colours. Chameleon particles, it translated at, but not sure if that’s literal or a cultural translation.” Nita grinned, raising her glass in salute.
“That sounds perfect. Painting party this weekend?” Kit clinked his glass against hers solemnly.
“Sounds like a plan.”
They clattered into Nita’s old family home on Sunday evening, shaking rain off of their umbrella before propping it in the bucket left by the door. Her father called a greeting from the kitchen, echoed by Dairine, Roshaun and Filif. Nita lit up, sticking her head into the kitchen.
“Filif! I didn’t know you were gonna be here, how’s my favourite Christmas tree!” He waved back, and the house filled with chatter about what everyone had been up to.
“Nita and I are officially adults now,” Kit declared when it was their turn, helping carry plates over to the table. Dairine snickered, and her dad raised an eyebrow as he sat down.
“And you weren’t for the past decade? Well, almost decade for Kit, give or take a few weeks.” Nita giggled.
“We’ve discovered we have strong opinions about curtains.” Kit nodded solemnly, trying and failing not to grin. “Seriously, we spent forty-seven minutes discussing options and I don’t think I’ve ever felt so much like I’m an actual grown up.” Dairine spluttered with laughter.
“So, you didn’t feel like an adult when we did that errantry right after your birthday - you know the one,” she grimaced and there was a collective shudder. It hadn’t been terrible work, not the most stressful situation they’d worked on by a long shot, but it had been a spectacularly uncomfortable location. “Or when you both finished college -“
“- or, Nita, when new wizards started popping up in your manual first, rather than in your senior advisory’s to triage support -“ Roshaun added with a smirk, Dairine nudging him in the ribs with false irritation for interrupting.
“Or when the pair of you got jobs, or bought a flat together.” Harry added with a grin. Filif rustled his leaves, obviously cataloging this list of markers of human adult life. Nita and Kit both shook their heads, grinning.
“Nope. Turns out you’re actually an adult when you spend your spare time thinking about colour swatches, curtains, and whether it really matters if all the place-mats match or not.” Harry chuckled.
“Ah yes, true responsibility - the first time you understand why your parents were always so adamant that you be careful of the paintwork and not eat on the couch. Even if you do have the benefit of that little mini alien roomba…thing. Thanks for that, by the way, it does making keeping everything clean so much easier, even if I do have to remember to hide it whenever the neighbours pop by so I don’t cause an extremely international incident.”
Nita grinned, nudging Kit’s ankle under the table. He nudged her back, smiling, and hooked his ankle around hers companionably.
- I still think the green will look best -
- Ugh, I don’t know! I like it, but I’m worried it will be too dark -
- Well, maybe whichever planet it was that does chameleon paint also does a chameleon curtain… -
- The perks of being a Wizard, huh? -
- Carmela will be so proud of us. Let’s not tell her and see if she notices anything -
- Agreed -
“Hey, Dair, pass the potatoes? Filif, how’s that spell circle you were working on going, I haven’t had a chance to take a look at progress…”
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pokespe reread: yellow chapter - closing thoughts! 🟡
that's the end of yellow and gen 1 as a whole!! before i (very excitedly) move onto GSC, here's my closing thoughts ft. me talking way too long about blue for some reason
(before we start i want to reiterate that i use they/them for yellow. i just cant use anything else sorry. i also use "yellow" and "amarillo" interchangeably 👍)
ok, i wanna start by talking about yellow's personality bcuz MAN! i am so glad i reread this chapter in particular bcuz i really forgot so much. as a child i 100% woobified yellow very badly and basically any trait of theirs that wasnt "sweet nice pokemon-loving healer" got destroyed in the process
there's so much else to them!! they're headstrong, they're brave, they're determined.... and while inexperienced, they're literally stated to have power on the same level at red's at certain points!!! amarillo is not just a little cinnamon roll or whatever, and i really appreciate being able to remember that via this reread.
i also really love their pacifist streak! i like how they're kind and prefer not to fight not out of naivety or stupidity or cowardice, but as a conscious decision that they make because that is what they want to do. and i think that's really admirable! sticking to ur principles while being informed and everything. and it def leads to a lot of interesting situations where they're able to win without actually attacking, which is cool to see
ok you know me. ive gotta talk about yellow's gender.
i love yellow bcuz they're one of those characters where everyone has different interpretations of them gender-wise but we all sort of agree that they are not cis LOL. those kinds of characters are fun to me
i def can read yellow in different ways, but i personally see them as an afab non-binary person. (tho i dont think they would've had the words for it until later) that's just how they read to me. and im definitely even more attached to this hc now that i myself am trans LOL (not that i wasnt before. you know how it is)
anyways, when it comes to what's actually in the text, i actually like how yellow's gender was handled! i really like the fact that as a reader you go through almost the ENTIRE ARC thinking they're a boy before it's finally revealed. i think that's definitely preferable in this situation to the audience knowing from the start.
not only does it come as a surprise (i mean. if it's your first time reading obviously lol) but it sort of asks you as a reader to inspect your own perceptions of characters when it comes to their gender, esp probably when this came out. how does your perception of amarillo change once you find out they're actually a girl? should it change? idk i just find that interesting
i also do appreciate that yellow's abilities and personality (at least for this arc) dont change between before and after the reveal. like thats a low bar lol, but i appreciate that they're still shown to be strong in their ways once you know they're a girl, and they also still act the same. again low bar but it would've been easy to treat yellow more like A Girl afterwards so im glad that doesnt happen.
(im a little wary for the future since yamamoto definitely draws yellow more overtly feminine-looking than mato, but lets hope that stays about the same. ok?)
^ while im mentioning that btw. i fucking loveeee how mato draws yellow so much. they're so perfectly androgynous looking it makes me happy :) and again that doesnt change at all after the reveal so yayyyyyyy
but anyways. i also rlly like blaine's reaction to finding out in particular. he asks about it, a little bewildered, and when they request that he not ask about it right now, he obliges and does not bring it up for the rest of the arc! and doesnt treat them any differently! its fucking awesome i love blaine so fucking much guys
amarillo's gender in general was a lot less of a big deal than i remembered/expected it to be? like it really does not matter in the grand scheme of things and i think thats pretty cool ^_^
on the subject of that scene though...
bro im sorry this is not the reaction of a cis girl who's only been caught pretending to a boy 😭 the "dont ask right now" thing i could understand, but this line??? this feels wayyyyy more personal. fym you feel naked without that hat? the hat that hides your ponytail and girlness?? you feel exposed and bad without hiding the fact that you're female? interesting.
like to me. yellow might've had some preexisting feelings, but blue telling them to pretend to be a boy (i'll get to that later) and getting to go around like that was their trans awakening for sure.
but what i find interesting is that despite blue saying that, yellow doesn't... actually ever introduce themself as a boy? like literally not a single time. they hide their ponytail and dont correct people when they refer to them as such (although now that i think about it i actually cant recall if anyone actually calls them a boy or uses he/him for them in their presence, but it probably happens) but never do they actually call THEMSELF a boy or anything like that
like despite blue's instructions, yellow doesn't really pretend to be a boy so much as just go around with their ponytail hidden and have everyone just assume they're a boy. which i find interesting, and its why i so strongly see yellow not as transmasc but as non-binary. they're a "girl" but everyone assumes they're a boy, but yellow themself doesnt ever comment on the matter. truly goals oh my god if i could go around and just have everyone think im a boy even if its technically more complicated than that my life would be blessed. anyway
that's the sort of subtextual reason as to why i view yellow as non-binary, but in terms of my actual hc, this experience is their awakening not because of them getting to be a boy, but rather them getting to not be a girl. and i think once they get to live like that for a little bit that's def what leads them to think about it more and eventually figure all that out :)
ANYWAYS. getting back to the actual text. i wanna quickly talk about the other characters bcuz i really like how everyone was incorporated into this arc
i thought this arc did a great job handling all of the different characters. i like how each of them gets a chance to shine without it feeling too crowded, and it's really cool seeing what everyone's been up to in the 2 years since RGB.
obviously you've got blue leading yellow, green training them, and the whole thing with red (which i'll get to in a little bit), but also the gym leaders (both good and bad), bill, blaine and mewtwo... they all felt important in their own way. no one felt glossed over or anything.
that little peak we get of green's childhood + him teaching that little boy was cool :D i love green so much.
i particularly liked seeing blaine and mewtwo's bond after 2 years of them healing and training together, and the twist of giovanni being the one to let red out of the ice genuinely had me shocked, i did NOT remember that. him showing up at the end to save yellow (and using the same move red beat him with!!!!) was a really cool moment that had me freaking out
the elite four were also really fun (and very intimidating) villains! i like how they each had their own point of intrigue, they never felt like just one unit without their own personalities. lorelei is the one who froze red, bruno was being manipulated, agatha mostly sticks to the shadows but has her past with professor oak, and of course everything with lance. their goal is insane but they really do feel like actual threats so it never feels ridiculous
speaking of lance, he is the PERFECT foil/antagonist for yellow. having them both be from the viridian forest, both with the power to read pokemon's minds and heal them, but with vastly different outlooks on the relationship between people and pokemon is just suchhh a good dynamic
amarillo uses their power for good to help both people and pokemon, while lance uses that same power in pursuit of helping pokemon but via a plan that would've surely only ended up hurting both..... very very good...
i like how the story does sympathize with lance's cause and points out that YES, humanity has problems, and their actions and pollution and everything have hurt many pokemon. but that's not a reason to wipe out ALL humans; it's instead something to try and improve so that both people and pokemon's lives can be improved and they can live in harmony. lance's motivations are noble but obviously the way that he goes about it (attempted global genocide) is uh. not
i also like how its shown near the end that lance's efforts won't just hurt pokemon if he gets his way, but are actively hurting HIS OWN right now. his dragonite was suffering in silence in pursuit of his goal, and thats not to mention all of the trainers opposing him's pokemon who could've gotten seriously injured battling with him. and of course that's not even getting into the fact he FOR SURE killed at least a FEW people in the midst of destroying an entire city. and partially destroying several other cities. noble cause, but bad actions in pursuit of that cause. i always find that kind of thing interesting
rq before i talk about red and yknow. the main plot. i wanna circle back and go on a small tangent about blue because she makes me insane and even though i already said some of this in the tags of a previous post i need to get it out here
this line made me spiral into my years-long sadness about blue and the loss of her childhood and i just. need to talk about it. going ahead and giving the disclaimer that a lot of this stuff was definitely not meant to be that serious (because this story is written by a man who was definitely not thinking about the implications of stuff like this) but the way that it ties into blue's larger backstory makes me want to grab someone by the shirt and shake them violently
blue saying "until you can use the fact that you're a 'woman' as a weapon" is soooooo fucking sad dude. blue is a girl who has been using flirting and her position as a "woman" in the world to her advantage since AT LEAST 11 years old in RGB. literally in order to survive on the street
we can assume (and hope) that nothing bad ever happened to her, thank goodness, but that's still a very dangerous position for a little girl to be putting herself in. and it's always been really sad to me that she's had to learn how to weaponize being a girl from such a young age.
how did she learn that? somehow blue had to learn that she could get her way by flirting with men and making herself look and act as appealing as possible and i really dont want to think about a little blue out on the streets learning to play into the desires of men to survive, something she should NOT have to be dealing with that young. she should be getting to play!! to discover who she is!!
and this is AFTER already getting kidnapped, groomed into being a perfect trainer, and having to basically raise a kid only a few years younger than her in the midst of all that trauma. unintentionally or not, blue is literally like a personification of what it's like to grow up as a girl and how awful it can be and it makes me SO fucking sad.
blue had to grow up far too soon and i feel like this can even be seen in her want to get her own pokedex in RGB. she has had such a hard life and she's only 11 fucking years old (at the time). she's either had to play mother or be an object of desire to make ends meet, OF COURSE her deepest wish and motivation would be just to go on her own pokemon journey like other kids her age!!
so while again i could just chalk up blue telling yellow this to "a man wrote this and it wasnt meant to be that deep", i do genuinely believe blue WOULD say this. because this is what she's had to do to survive and she thinks it's fucking normal!!!
OK. ANYWAYS. SORRY. this chapter is not about blue i just had to rant for a second bcuz she makes me so sad and im not normal about her. let's move on and wrap this up lol
red's disappearance is such a fantastic event to base the story around. i totally forgot that we see him in the very beginning, but i like that all we get is him getting the battle invite, and then it cuts to oak and misty discussing how he's gone missing. (for whatever reason i thought that he was missing for way longer than a month? i guess my child brain just exaggerated that lol)
i feel like not seeing red at all before he goes missing could've been interesting? but i think getting that small glimpse at the beginning is good for reestablishing his character, especially since you've gotta account for people who are just now tuning in.
but anyways, the mystery of what happened to red is really well done. i like how it's really unclear what happened for a long time and even after getting hints like learning he was frozen by the elite four, it's still unclear exactly how he got out, where he went afterwards, why they froze him, etc.
you don't even SEE him in action besides the opening for quite a while, which i reallyyy like. all the information is coming from people OTHER than red, which gives him a really interesting, vaguely "haunting the narrative" type role in the arc as a whole. esp since the protagonist this time is yellow, someone who's only met red once or twice briefly when they were younger and therefore doesn't really know him.
the scene where we finally get to see red and bruno's battle is sooo impactful too. you watch as it starts off normal, as red is able to overcome challenges over and over again like normal, and then in an instant it all goes wrong...
watching red accept that he's not gonna be able to get out of this one by himself and sending pika away to get help.... his sad little smile before he falls..... him struggling on the ground, realizing that it'd be basically impossible for pika to be able to properly communicate with anyone, before he finally succumbs to the ice....
it really does hurt, ESPECIALLY considering his previous role as hero. he always manages to win in the end, but not this time. and his last thoughts before getting frozen are literally him starting to think that it might be hopeless. and reminder that he's literallyyyyy 13 during all of this. lorddddd
LAST THING I WANT TO MENTION
this arc does a reallyyy good job at subtly setting up for GSC. like throughout the arc, blue mentions how she's still working on trying to figure out who kidnapped her as a child; it never becomes relevant during yellow's plot but it keeps it in the back of your mind.
and then of course you get silver's cameo midway through + the direct tease for GSC with him showing up at the end and everything. obviously a very minor part of the chapter overall but it does a great job at keeping this plotline fresh in your mind so that it can be really delved into later. very awesome
AND SPEAKING OF GSC. I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED THIS FUCKING POST oh my god its like 3am. i really did not mean to write this much but i just love pokespe so much and i have thoughts. ok?
ANYWAYS. it's officially time for GSC babey. i was thinking of maybe splitting gold & silver and crystal into two separate arcs? i know they're technically the same arc but this is also the longest arc in the whole series so maybe that would be good.....?
although then "gold & silver" would only be those first two volumes, and i also dont remember if those leave off on a good point.... idk i'll probably just put them all together. "gold & silver reread" and "crystal reread" just look better than "gsc reread" ....... T_T
oh well i'll figure it out tomorrow when i continue onward. it's finally time for SILVER BABEYYYYYYYYYY (and gold and crystal i love them all dearly. but i do have a favorite)
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none of this writing has charming soap opera drama appeal i feel like im reading bad wattpad fanfic turned novel drama instead.
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TFW you kill god: Oops lol 🙈😳✌ ️(Patreon)
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