#the pre-prequels era was pretty good actually

[blitheringmcgonagall]

Thanks for tagging me @enbysiriusblack @squintclover and @mppmaraudergirl 💕💕💕!

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

33 (I had more, but every few months I delete 1-2 things I’m not mad about so it doesn’t grow?)

2. what's your total ao3 word count?

612,715 🥰🥰🥰

3. what fandoms do you write for?

Only the marauders era HP

4. what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1 - We Can Be Heroes : my canon marauders fic (Jily and Wolfstar) with the ending they bloody well deserved

2 - it was A Little Risk which is a 1930s murder mystery/Anti-fascist AU but I’ve taken it down!

3 - Boys Don’t Cry: the prequel to We Can Be Heroes. A prank fic mostly from Sirius Black’s POV (pre relationships).

4 - Maybe I Waited Too Long - a doctors!marauders AU with Wolfstar and Jily. I had a laugh writing this one.

5 - This Is The Way The World Ends - it’s heartbreaking and a canon divergent Wolfstar AU about Remus getting bad news…

5. do you respond to comments? why or why not?

I always usually do, it’s one of the main reasons I love writing fics!! Without the interaction I wouldn’t bother posting istg!! People can be so kind and generous 🥺❤️

6. what is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably number 5 because it has MCD and apparently made people cry? But equally, I did write 3 short fics about 31st October 1981 from Jily, Sirius and Remus’ POV and that was pretty heartbreaking/ ugly crying stuff.

7. what is a fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of my fics have happy endings it’s probably a toss-up between We Can Be Heroes and Have Yourself a Merry Little Wolfenoot

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind?

Nope! All mine are either T rated or fade to black

10. do you write crossovers? what's the craziest one you've written?

I’ve only ever written one, a LOTR/Marauders crossover, and I actually had great fun trying to write it in LOTR style? Wolfstar are Éowyn and Faramir. It’s called Ithilin and Silmë (only wrote it because @therealrjlupin wanted it 💙)

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know!

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

I did! It was a Jily celebrity AU translated into Chinese that I thought wasn’t any good and have since deleted 😂😂!

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

Once. It’s a WIP crackfic called One Line At A Time written with @mppmaraudergirl @theresthesnitch @missgryffin @mabeltothknows and @maraudersftw and it still makes me laugh, it’s bonkers I love them <3333

14. what's your all time favourite ship?

I’m sorry it’s so weird but I insist on putting Wolfstar and Jily/ Jily and Wolfstar tied for top spot, I just love these two couples so much <3333

15. what's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I don’t keep WIPs that I’m not planning on finishing (I delete or orphan those), but the one I’d like to finish is BLAME (a what if…? First war AU)

16. what are your writing strengths?

I have zero clue sorry you’d have to ask someone who likes my writing. I mean I’ve made people cry so there’s that?? 😬🤣

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

Again, v hard to be objective aside from vague “it’s not great” stuff? I think it has improved with writing practice and with time.

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I’ve done it in We Can Be Heroes - James speaks fluent Italian and Sirius speaks fluent French. As I can speak the languages it was ok, but I had to check with @constancezin to be sure the written French was ok!

19. first fandom you wrote for?

HP marauders

20. favourite fic you've written?

A Little Risk is the favourite thing I’ve written but I’ve taken it down, so my favourite marauders fic I’ve written and is still up is We Can Be Heroes or This Is The Way The World Ends.

Tagging @engie-ivy @mabeltothknows @therealrjlupin @annabtg @maraudersftw @greyeyedmonster-18 and anyone else who wants to <33

#tag games #marauders fics #jily and wolfstar #Wolfstar and Jily #loveliest tumblr friends #💕💕💕💕

[spinningbuster98]

Man I love everything about Rondo's opening!

From the dreary and menacing pre-title intro with the German narration, to the pumping and cheesy as fuck anime cinematic (is that a map of the Castle Richter's looking at at the start? That's gonna be useless).

I'm kind of ashamed to admit that it took me years to figure out that the first stage is a recreation of the town of Aljiba from Castlevania 2, it actually is pretty faithful. Sure it's not set in France and I see no Revolutions going on but I suppose I can't expect a silly little 16-bit game to respect the standards of true art and masterful storyte-HAHAHAHAH

When you think about it Rondo was the first game in the series to be an actual sequel to Simon's era, as all the others had been prequels and remakes, so in a way it's fitting to start in an area belonging to the previous chronological installment

I dunno why Shaft kidnapped Maria, I guess that Dracula kidnapped the other girls because spending a hundred year dead will get you horny but Maria? I'm going to assume that Shaft kidnapped her because of her abilities. The better question would be how the fuck did he manage to but oh well!

Stage 3 has my favorite rendition of Bloody Tears in the series, that organ is just majestic. This game's entire OST is great, full of that early 90s energy. It completely drops any real atmospheric intent started by Castlevania 3 and 4 and sounds less like the ost of a gothic/horror themed game and more like something from a pure action game, but hey good music is good music and I'm not gonna complain!

Rondo's anime style is really endearing to me and one of the highest points in the game

....I do find it a little odd how it's ok here but it "ruins" DoS and PoR though. Yeah I know it's not the same type of anime style and Rondo's is far more charming....but whatever, I'll keep that discourse for when the time comes

#akumajou dracula #castlevania rondo of blood #my gameplay #Youtube

[ferretrade]

Fic Writer 20 Questions

Thanks to @merlyn-bane for tagging me! <3

1.) How many works do you have on ao3

Currently 56!

2.) What's your ao3 word count?

183,482

3.) What fandoms do you write for?

At this moment, it's Star Wars all day every day. Specifically into the prequel era and Star Wars Rebels related stuff.

4.) What are your top five fics by kudos?

Twenty-Two - an Enjoltaire fic I wrote when I was 20 so let's not talk about that

it's a gift to be truly known - skybridger fic, I'm thrilled to see it this high :')

held like a dream - codywan, interesting it's done better than the others

Lost in the Supermarket - another enjoltaire from the wee age of 20, don't look at me

beholder - codywan, I do really really love this one

5.) Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, mostly! I don't always because it gets mixed up with my anxiety and I feel overwhelmed and pressured. So I live by a policy of "respond if I am feeling it, if not nbd."

6.) What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I genuinely can't think of anything that has an angsty ending. Angsty middles, sure, but I'm a happy ender. I guess it's like poetry, it rhymes (shatterpoint lineage fic) is a little bittersweet?

7.) What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Hard to choose? I've written some pretty sappy fluff. I've decided on frame the halves, call them a whole (codywan) because you get a good, way pre-O66 fix it that means no one I like died PLUS force sensitive clones! :)

8.) Do you get hate on fics?

I don't believe I ever have!

9.) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Haha yes. It's generally queer and pretty tame in terms of kink.

10.) Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Nope, never have.

11.) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so! My fics are pretty mid-tier at their highest popularity so I don't think anyone really cares to lol

12.) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes and I'm still so, so flattered and thrilled by it. :''') I believe I had one (or even two???) old Les Mis fic translated before, but I don't see it linked on ao3. And then there's this absolute beauty:

Comme de la poésie, ça rime

13.) Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Not technically, but Haley and I have a draft we lovingly refer to as only fan-akin, doc titled (by Haley, credit where due) "the west wing but if sam married the hooker and became president instead of dropping that storyline and leaving after s3"

14.) What's your all time favorite ship?

Maybe probably Billy/Teddy from Young Avengers. They're my boys!!!

15.) What's a WIP you'd like to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Baby girl, I have WIPs you don't even know. I wish I could write the jedi temple epic I wanted to, but my thoughts and feelings have changed so much the whole concept has collapsed and what I have is too messy to use elsewhere. And then there's the courferre soulmate fic I dearly meant to finish and just never will since the interest dried up.

16.) What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue. That's the easiest part for me to write.

17.) What are your writing weaknesses?

Uh well first of all, actually getting myself to write is a big fucking challenge of mine. But really, the spacial stuff and descriptions kill me. Please know that if you ever read non-dialogue, non-thought parts that you like, it probably took me like 10 writing passes to get it just right. I live in a state of editing and reediting.

18.) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I just don't! I am willing to add in as much as I know or easy words-- like a bonjour or, if we're talking Star Wars, sprinkles of words like vode. But if someone is talking in sentences, I will straight up do "Sabine said something in Mando'a" or "Stop that, Sabine told him in Mando'a." Easier for me that trying to do bad translations.

19.) First fandom you wrote for?

Young Avengers!

20.) Favorite fic you've ever written?

This is ever changing. While I probably go back and read it's a gift to be truly known the most, I love a single slow desire for it being the best, biggest world building I've done. Plus it's f/f and I need more of that in my writing life

I think everyone ever has been tagged already, but if not! Tags for you: @afoundling @happybean17 @tired-bshocked @goddammitjim

#ferretalk!

[clownkiwi]

wowie zowie, there are a ton of new trailers!!!

there are a ton of new trailers for things im looking forward to this year that just dropped, here's my thoughts on them!!

star wars: the acolyte

the name of the game here is: cautious optimism. im being cautiously optimistic about this one because im more excited about new stories & characters in the star wars series rather than a reliance on pre-existing characters. idk, after the boba fett show, the obi wan show, mando season 3, & the ahsoka show, ive been worried about the state of star wars as its presented in shows (out of those 4, ive only ever seen 2 of them, & the quality seems pretty consistent across the board)

maybe the series just needed new names & stories to change things up. and i was initially excited for this one after it was announced to be part of the high republic initiative, an era of star wars we havent really seen in the disney canon yet. in terms of upcoming star wars content, this & the skeleton crew are like the only stuff im cautiously anticipating because of the wholly new content they're presenting

as for this show in particular, idk. ive seen people make fun of this (purely because of the recent battlefront rereleases reputation currently), but idk. this seems interesting, it seems like this one is gonna be more action packed than the slow lightsaber duels we've had in the most recent shows. and i like seeing a whole bunch of jedi together, im glad lucasfilms are getting comfortable enough to put a bunch of jedi in a scene together since the prequel films (theyve been slowly building up to this since at least the order 66 grogu flashbacks in the mando)

really, we'll have to see if this ends up being good or not when episodes start dropping in june

alien: romulus

speaking of classic 70s sci-fi series, ever since this and the tv show were announced, ive been looking forward to a new back-to-basics approach for alien!! after living through the prequel era of the 2010s, it kinda seems like the series was stuck in a weirdly creative rut?? idk, i havent actually sat through prometheus, and alien: covenant i thought was. OK. it was OK, serviceable.

but hearing that the next film would be an early reboot of the series set closer to our time, directed by fede alvarez of 2013's evil dead, i was a lil bit excited. even if i may not like 2013 evil dead, the kills in that were really gnarly & sick!! im ready to see him bring that energy into an alien film!!

and from the one minute teaser we got, it looks fun!! it looks like a fun alien movie

i liked the wave of facehuggers chasing people around

i also liked how Orange this film is. compared to like the first & second films (alien is a very Green film to me, & aliens is a very Blue film to me), i'm glad to see how Orange this film is. whenever i think of the 70s, i think of Orange, so im glad to see this film use Orange to its advantage

speaking of 70s, i like how this film accurately recaptures the exact set design of the original film. that exact feeling of claustrophobia in an old space trucker ship surrounded by an unknown lifeform that could kill you, its really cool!! this & isolation were like the only two alien media that accurately recaptured the original films unique set design

yeah, idk what else to say, this looks like a fun, freakier alien film than i ever expected!! i hope the writing quality will match up, but even if it doesnt, id be down to just watching some really freaky kills in space

#rubys clown thoughts #BTW idk if it matters but i will be pirating these two #20th century is owned by disney & theyre still giving money to israel. im gonna pirate star wars & alien when these two drop #i still wouldve pirated them even if disney wasnt donating money to israel

[dangermousie]

2020 End of Year Post - cdrama edition

This is only going to cover cdramas that aired in 2020; if I had to make a post about all the cdramas I watched this year, I would still be doing it in three months...

Overall it’s been a fairly decent cdrama year (certainly better than the very lacklustre kdrama year.) It’s no miracle that 2019 was (so many excellent dramas!) but overall pretty solid.

DRAMAS WATCHED

(In order of liking from least to most as opposed to pure quality; I am including if I’ve seen enough to make up my mind; yes I realize that’s inaccurate, but that’s my list)

44 The Legend of Jing Yan - the worst cdrama I have seen this year, and possibly the worst drama of 2020, period. The hero and heroine were both uncharismatic, incapable of acting and saddled with such shrilly moronic characters, the only suspense was how they haven’t both perished long since from forgetting to breathe. Nor was anyone in the rest of the cast much better; the screenplay was written by a lower mammal and the cinematography was the best a third-rate wedding cinematographer could offer. Stay the HELL away from this one.

43 Unicorn Girl - the only unicorn about this bland yet irritating piece of pap was the fact that I was supposed to believe the leads are hockey players.

42 Autumn Cicada - I like spy stories, Allen Ren, and Republican Era settings. I can tune out Communist propaganda with the best of them. Yet, the propaganda ate the story to such a degree that there was nothing left; pre magic change Pinocchio was less wooden then this narrative.

41 You Complete Me - no you do not.

40 Skate into Love - the only positive thing I can say about this is that at least it’s better than Unicorn Girl, if for no other reason that only one of them is supposed to be a hockey player.

39 Irreplaceable Love - how do you make a story about fake siblings with a mad mother falling for each other boring? I don’t know, ask the makers of this.

38 Eternal Love Rain - I hate to rain on their parade, but these two actors cannot act, have about as much chemistry as a piece of bread, and are trapped in a story perfect for entertaining the mental abilities of the leads of Jin Yan.

37 For Married Doctoress - ummmm, you could do worse I guess. It only made me break out in mild hives. The sadistic ending did make me laugh though.

36 Dance of the Sky Empire - why you get Xu Kai and waste him in this insipid mess of a story is beyond me.

35 Love Designer - it’s inoffensive except to my sense of entertainment. There is nothing wrong with it but oh God is it bland.

34 Love a Lifetime - It felt like a lifetime watching this, but I didn’t love it. The story is incoherent, the actors have no chemistry and it’s all an epic waste of time.

33 Love is Sweet - so sweet it gave me diabetes. I like Luo Yunxi and Bai Lu, but there is literally no plot. I don’t need to sink into a plotless morass to watch pretty people engage in PG-rated make-outs. I am an adult with access to stronger stuff if I am thus inclined, though to be fair they could get x-rated and I still wouldn’t be able to sit through so many episodes of plotlessness for that.

32 Fake Princess - I love Zhao Yi Qin, but the guy needs to pick better projects. The female lead in this one has the voice and personality that can strip paint but the story is also doing nobody any favors.

31 The Changan Youth - I lost my brain checking this out. I had to go and read a dense treatise on medieval coinage or Mayan farming to try to recover it.

30 My Dear Destiny - kinda cheesy fun. It honestly shouldn’t be as low except it really feels like community theater.

29 Handsome Siblings - why is the Nic Tse version so good and this one so bad? True mystery for the ages. Chen Zhe Yuan is the sole reason this isn’t lower, because that kid tries SO HARD to make this drama bearable and almost succeeds. I can’t wait to see him in Sha Po Lang which actually will give him something to do.

28 In a Class of Her Own - see my comment on The Changan Youth. But at least Song Weilong is gorgeous to look at.

27 General’s Lady - inoffensive, pretty and so utterly pointless.

26 The Blooms at Ruyi Pavilion - those two leading actors are a no go to me but at least they considerately acted with each other instead of ruining two dramas for me. It’s very pretty though.

25 Jiu Liu Overlord - it’s a mess and I bailed, but I placed it this high merely due to the fact that Lai Yi finally gets a leading role and he’s sexy as fuck and I am shallow. Whoever styled Bai Lu should never work again except at a circus, however.

24 Cross Fire - not my genre and Luhan will always look too much like my cousin for comfort, but it’s a surprisingly gripping and dark drama. I liked it!

23 God of Lost Fantasy - if you want to watch a mediocre wuxia/xianxia, this is not a bad choice. Probably better than Legend of Fei actually, because at least it doesn’t have an A-list cast to waste and gives us Sheng Yilun himbo and shirtless.

22 Renascence - the insane cuts (it went from 70 eps to 36!!!) made a fairly cheesy story into a total mess. But I had a good time until I finally bailed mainly because of the male lead (Chen Zhe Yuan yet again carrying a not-good 2020 drama on his shoulders; the guy should be nicknamed Atlas) and the insane but in a fun way story. The female lead (both the character and the actress) were not up to par but oh well.

21 Legend of Fei - only this high because objectively there is nothing I disliked it. But there is nothing I liked either. The most uninspired drama on the list. If you could eat cardboard, this is what it would taste like.

20 Ever Night 2 - compared to EN1, it’s a waste of film. On its own merits, it’s not very good (the cast replacements are uniformly inferior and Dylan Wang is so wrong for Ning Que I cannot even put it into words; the script is useless.) But it had some parts I loved so very VERY much (all the shippy stuff was perfection) so I don’t feel too bitter.

19 Castle in the Sky 2 - a lovely if not too complex fairy tale. It is inferior to its prequel because it doesn’t have Zhang Ruo Yun who elevated it, but it’s still a solid bit of fun.

18 The Great Ruler - it’s very high fantasy, very pretty, and surprisingly involving.

17 (tie) Legend of Two Sisters in the Chaos - the secondary couple steals the show but the rest is not too bad if not too involving.

17 Legend of Awakening - a solid bit of fun with a seriously BDSM streak (theme this year apparently - but come on, the lead’s powers only activate when he’s in extreme pain!) It’s a bit generic and the costuming is done by a blind person, not to mention the OTP is a NOTP, but the rest of relationships (romantic and platonic) are wonderful (I live for the found siblings story in this one) and I like most of the characters.

16 Consummation - a rare modern cdrama I liked; a sweet coming of age story (and love story) even if wrapped in a pretty weird virtual reality concept.

15 Oops the King is in Love - this is how you do a low budget, sweet, silly piece of fluff. Our heroine pretends to be a eunuch and crosses paths with a powerless young king and they are adorable, even more so than the drama.

14 Song of Glory - pretty solid, though draggy and I didn’t love the toothpaste filter. But A+ cast, excellent leading couple chemistry, Li Qin being a BAMF and a leading man (Qin Hao) who is actually an adult.

13 And the Winner is love - objectively kind of a mess (and the heroine has the brainpower of a gnat), but the OTP chemistry is excellent and Luo Yunxi fighting and flirting with a fan as finally a leading man is worth the price of admission.

12 Miss S - snazzy and snappy and stylish and whatever else starts with S.

11 Eternal Love of Dream - I don’t know if it would work for you as well if you weren’t a hardcore shipper for this OTP in Three Lives but I was and this was such a darling, wonderful, shippy delight; plus I love this type of high fantasy.

10 (tie) Maiden Holmes - solid and sweet and a wonderful OTP. Proves that functional doesn’t have to mean boring. If you watch one cross-dressing drama this year make it this one.

10 Qin Dynasty Epic - srs bsns history epic. I am not far into it but it’s so good and smart and visually stunning (if you love battles, this one is for you.)

9 Love Lasts Two Minds - I adored this so much more than I should objectively have, but it’s so beautiful (and no I am not just referring to Alan Yu’s face) and the OTP has wonderful chemistry and the story is solid, and the whole trope of her memory being wiped but falling for him all over again while he’s constantly and utterly devoted is a fave; plus he’s in pain and semi-dyng for most of it so sluuuurp (happy ending, don’t worry)

8 To Love - yes, a modern drama is this high! But it involves intensity, tragedy, genuine adults and sexiness that is Lin Gengxin. And there is an actual plot and darkness OMG!

7 Legend of Xiao Chuo - so beautiful, so fun, so full of gorgeousness of Shawn Dou. Plus, Liao is a rare setting for a cdrama and there are a lot of characters and stories I liked a LOT. Less ship content than I wanted but more than I expected.

6 The Romance of Tiger and Rose - so so delightful. I was literally laughing out loud. I have no idea if it will work as well if one isn’t a seasoned watcher of period cdrama/reader of web novels, with bonus for watching/reading Goodbye My Princess, but it was a complete delight for me (and yes, I shipped for real, as well. Best of both worlds.)

5 Twisted Fate of Love - Jin Han gets a leading period drama role! And he’s enjoying it to the hilt, excellent as a smart, twisty bastard who is also charming and so madly in love with heroine. Sun Yi is beautiful and tough and her chemistry with JH is on fire, the story never drags, and it’s so twisty and fun and just awesome.

4 Love In Between - the most underrated drama on this list. It has no big names or big budget, but it’s wuxia that’s clever, driven, tragic, hopeful and so beautifully shot. Three separate (amazing) OTPs, a leading man who is so not typical (a doctor who cannot fight and who never acquires this ability) and who is intense and smart and damaged, a heroine who puts her quest ahead of her emotions, an unhealthy degree of involvement by yours truly. This is a drama Fei should have been.

3 Love and Redemption - such a lovely, addictive, utterly romantic fairy tale. I was obsessed with it for a reason. All the tropes you love and some you didn’t know you did, a star-crossed OTP to the nth power (and a secondary OTP I hardcore love), a twisty yet coherent plot, some insane chemistry and so much whump and hurt/comfort they must have bought blood packets in bulk.

2 Go Ahead - yes, I can’t believe it either. A contemporary slice of life cdrama made it this high on my list. But the way it feels so real, the found family perfection, the characters I love and loathe, the perfect cherry of a wonderful OTP that hits my narrative kinks on top, and just a perfect storm of loveliness all around with this one.

1 The Wolf - is that any surprise to anyone who’s checked out this tumblr for the last couple of months? Tragic, intense and gorgeous; so romantic and angsty and passionate it made me lose my mind (though some of it was gone the moment the camera panned to Darren Wang) - all my favorite tropes and then some; this is a drama that may not be perfect but it is 100% and then beyond perfect for ME.

FAVORITE DRAMA

The Wolf - I have seen objectively better cdramas; even this year. But it has been literal years since I have been this hardcore obsessed, this utterly pleased, this emotionally catered to and devastated at once. A beautiful dark fairy tale that manages to own me despite the storytelling gaps due to censorship, it took me for one of the biggest emotional roller coaster rides of my drama watching career. Visually gorgeous, poetic, intense, and so romantic it took my breath away, this is not just my favorite cdrama of 2020, it’s my favorite drama this year period, and the one cdrama this year to make it into my permanent Top 10 cdramas list.

WORST DRAMA

Legend of Jin Yan - see my write up for it for why as I refuse to waste more time on this stupid mess.

FAVORITE MALE CHARACTER

Wolfie, The Wolf - he is such a haunted, tormented, complex, dark mess; loving and violent, severely damaged and with a hidden yearning softness, longing and aloof. And the amount of charisma and sheer masculine sex appeal Darren Wang brings to the role is insane and not something I see much of in a cdrama. Plus, that character arc with its rapid fall and slow painful redemption is A++++

Runner Up:  Sifeng, Love and Redemption - has a male lead ever loved more utterly and selflessly, suffered more thoroughly and beautifully, and managed to have such chemistry with both his leading lady and his leading man (that his leading lady temporarily turned into) at once? The answer is no.

Almost made the cut - Feng Xi, Twisted Fate of Love, Han Shuo, The Romance of Tiger and Rose, Qing Ci, Love in Between.

FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER

Xiao Qian, The Romance of Tiger and Rose - so funny, so much the reason this drama was such a delight. I adore her beyond words.

NEEDS TO BE MURDERED

Murder Daddy, The Wolf - I am sad the censors robbed us of seeing him die on screen. He was fully human but nonetheless managed to be the worst monster in a drama full of literal ones.

Ling Xiao’s Mom, Go Ahead - I hate her so much I don’t want to look up her name. She abused the kid, the disappeared and came back to abuse him some more. I mean she literally gave her child mental health issues. She is the WORST.

FAVORITE SHIP

Xing’er x Wolfie, The Wolf - are you kidding me? Who else could it ever be for me? They destroyed each other and saved each other, sworn enemies and childhood lovers, soulmates and epic messes, they couldn’t live with or without each other. The longing, the passion, the intensity, the angst, the epicness. LIKE THERE ARE NO WORDS!!!!

FAVORITE SECONDARY OTP

Si Yuan, Shen Manqing, Love in Between - I loved them as much and often more than the main OTP. So much angst and passion and a happy ending! She is a seeming sect darling (except the sect is horrible and also sexist so her only worth is as a marriage candidate) and he’s an information broker who is actually one of the members of a destroyed sect that’s blamed for the massacre of her family. That chemistry and yearning is insane. The scene where she touches his face when he’s unconscious was in serious running for my favorite scene of 2020.

NOTP

Legend of Awakening - I have never seen a couple that didn’t just have no chemistry but exhibited actual revulsion towards each other before watching Chen Feiyu and Cheng Xiao try to act as lovers in this one. It was almost entertaining to be honest.

FAVORITE SCENE

It’s a tie and both are from The Wolf. One is a sequence where Wolfie marches to the walls alone, seeking death at Xing’er’s hands and the whole sequence with the battle and rescue follows. The other is the intercut between Xing’er going to her wedding and Wolfie going to his execution, and the auto-da-fe being intercut with her wedding.

BIGGEST CRUSH

Wolfie, The Wolf - Ummm have you seen this tumblr lately, it’s basically a drool shrine to the man.

BEST SCENE STEALER CHARACTER

Yelü Yansage, The Legend of Xiao Chuo - I have loved this actor since The Myth and he continued to competently steal every scene he was in.

NEEDS A SEQUEL

To Love - come out of the coma, dammit!!!!!!!

NEEDS A DIRECTOR’S CUT

The Wolf - duh. It started out as 59 eps and got cut to 49. I reaiize some stuff is never gonna get put in due to censorship, but some of the stuff that got cut got for time reasons because they were deluded and hoping to get a TV broadcast so ep count had to be under 50. I mean I doubt the censors would care if they kept scenes of Wolfie building her a swing or whatever. I really really want a director’s cut the way Goodbye My Princess did even if like with GMP it’s only three extra eps. Hell, I will take extra three minutes, as long as those three minutes are Darren Wang shirtless or with a sword. Ahem.

NEEDS SCISSORS TAKEN TO IT

The Song of Glory - it’s a fairly solid drama but honestly it didn’t need to be as long as it was and kind of got draggy and I got lost interest. (I could have gotten snarky and said all the dramas I didn’t like needed scissors taken to them in their entirety but decided to play nice.)

TOO MANY SCISSORS TAKEN TO IT

There are a number of dramas I could complain about with regard to this (hi there, darling The Wolf!) but this award goes to Renascence - poor Renascence was never going to be a masterpiece, but it had the potential to be a bit of good cheesy fun until it had its run time cut by more than half and became an incoherent piece of insanity.

TROPE THAT NEEDS TO DIE

Dumb shrill innocent heroine who can’t tie her shoes - see basically all the cdramas I didn’t like this year.

FAVORITE TROPE WE’VE SEEN A LOT OF

Male lead torture - I mean it’s always open season on that in cdramas, but between Love and Redemption, The Wolf, Love Lasts Two Minds, Love in Between and so on, it was a banner year!

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

Legend of Fei - what a waste of that cast; what a waste of our finite time on this Earth. What a waste of my intelligence to hope for something better and stick with it for a dozen eps. I have had stale wonderbread that had more personality than this drama.There is absolutely nothing that stands out about this drama in any way,  from half-dimensional characters, to actors who are sleepwalking, to a plot that moves at the speed of an arthritic snail, to uninspired cinematography and direction, to lack of any chemistry between anyone in the cast. If paint-by-numbers was done by a group of particularly linear robots, it might come across the same way as this drama.

BIGGEST GOOD SURPRISE

The Wolf - honestly, I did not expect it to come out AT ALL EVER let alone to become my favorite drama of 2020. I was not familiar with the leading man (hahah), I liked Li Qin but wasn’t yet obsessed with her, and Xiao Zhan was excellent in The Untamed but I was hardly going to follow him from drama to drama (and I don’t do SLS any way.) And the trailer was enjoyable but unlike seemingly everyone, I didn’t think it was going to be some epic masterpiece. And then it came out and while it wasn’t objectively an epic masterpiece, it pulled out all the favorite tropes, shippy and narrative kinks from the deepest darkest recesses of my id. And I fell harder than I have in years. 

2020 DRAMAS I HAVEN’T SEEN THAT I MOST WANT TO WATCH

None. Covid Year gave me PLENTY of time

BEST NON-2020 DRAMA I’VE WATCHED IN 2020

Novoland Eagle Flag and Joy of Life - they are in my Top 10 dramas from anywhere now. They are quite different except being smart and giving me protagonists to obsess over.

ETA: Also The Untamed because @idlewilds3 pointed out I actually watched it in 2020 even though I didn’t think so because this hellyear has lasted about three decades.

MOST ANTICIPATED IN 2021

I am gonna limit it to dozen and leaving out ones that aren’t necesarily supposed to air next year (Joy of Life 2, Love in Flames of War, Novoland Princess from Plateau.)

Monarch Industry, Novoland Pearl Eclipse, Silk Washing Stream, Dream of Changan, Sword Snow Stride, Wu Xing Shi Jia, Ancient Love Poetry, Immortality, The Long Ballad, Mirror Twin Cities, The Imperial Age, Fall In Love

#cdrama #legend of awakening #the wolf #go ahead #love and redemption #love in between #legend of fei #the legend of jin yan #the romance of tiger and rose #twisted fate of love #castle in the sky 2 #legend of xiao chuo #the legend of xiao chuo #oops the king is in love #unicorn girl #autumn cicada #you complete me #dance of the sky empire #skate into love #irreplaceable love #eternal love rain #for married doctoress #love designer #love is sweet #renascence #my dear destiny #the chang'an youth #god of lost fantasy #cross fire #handsome siblings

[agent-aurelie]

A thousand years ago (last week) my sweet pal @crimson-dxwn tagged me in this ask meme, and between home renovations and uh, pregnancy, I literally have not had a chance to do it till now, so indulge me. <3 

Name: You can call me Aurelie! (So I don’t get fired, lol.)

Fandoms: Just Star Wars these days.  Prequels, Clone Wars, Rebels, OT, Mando.  The Sequels do NOTHING for me, except for Resistance, and even then, only on a good day. Insofar as writing? Just post-A New Dawn, pre-Rebels era Kanera.

Most Popular Oneshot: If we’re going by hits, it’s The Sleep Shift. 

Most Popular Multichapter: Fam I am tired all the time and barely have the focus necessary to actually plan and plot things out so mutichapters are really hard for me to write.  (But I love reading them!)  I only have the one -  Stay, which was the fic I met @crimson-dxwn while writing! <3 

Actual Worst Part Of Writing: Getting the content from my filthy, borked brain out on “paper” - the number of lines and scenes I’ve lost while trying to fall asleep or taking a shower or driving into work could probably write a full length novel. And then when I finally do have the time or motivation to sit down and make progress - poof!  they’re gone! 

How You Choose Your Titles: Always the dead last thing I do. I usually shorthand my titles or come up with something ridiculous in my Google Drive while I’m working on things, and then when it comes time to post, I straight up panic. (My favorite Google Drive Den Of Sin temporary title was “Stupid Sexy Cockpit Accent Thing” which turned into How Could I Forget? ... the one I’m working on now is pretty funny but I won’t post it for fear of spoiling.  They fuck in it.  Spoiler alert.)

Do You Outline: An outline sounds a lot like a plot, and I’m here for a good time, not a long time.

Ideas I Probably Won’t Get Around To, But Wouldn’t It Be Nice?:  Honestly this implies that I plan far in advance, and I’m not joking, I’m a literal fanfic clown.  I TRULY had no intention of continuing to post, but everyone’s feedback was really encouraging and apparently there are a lot of thirsty people out there. So as long as the interest is still there and I have the time, I’ll keep going, I guess.  Though with a Yodito en route, the kinktober prompts will probably be the last of it for awhile, unless some idea really takes me or I get a compelling prompt. That isn’t pegging, please stop sending me pegging prompts.

Callouts @ Me: For fucks sake, please, self, learn to write from Kanan’s POV.

Best Writing Traits: Y’all seem to like my dialogue based on the lovely comments you provide.  So thanks for that.  I guess I like it, too. 

Spicy Tangential Opinion: I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS. As the Kanera Statler and/or Waldorf to @specseven (wait which one am I again?), I have so, so many spicy opinions, and not in the sexy way.  I’ll leave Filoni worshipping out of it, I guess, because I’ve made my stance clear there.  If we’re talking specifically about fics, one of the things that is a HARD NOPE, a MAJOR TURN OFF for me is Hera being this naive, delicate little flower who knows nothing about drinking or sex or life until she meets Kanan.  I get that she’s “mom”, whatever that means, but at the end of the day, she’s also young, comes from a war torn world, and she’s been independent enough of her life to have seen and experienced the good and bad of the galaxy.  Moreover, she has her flaws, she’s made her mistakes, she’s learned a lot about how things are before she even crosses path with Kanan “What Are You Wearing?” Jarrus. Kanan didn’t swoop in to somehow “corrupt” perfect, virgin!Hera with his crazy sexual prowess and drinking habits.  FFS let the woman live. Don’t @ me.  Or do.  I don’t care.  Y’all wanted spice. 

No Pressure Tags: @specseven, because I love when she has a spicy tangent, and most of her work has heavily inspired mine. 

#writing meme #This Was Fun Thanks Bby

[thisbluespirit]

10 books I’d like to read in 2020

I was tagged by @captain-aralias for this.  I can’t really do this properly, because I have ME (or Chronic Fatigure Syndrome) and my concentration is very shaky and reading is still something that can come or it can go, so the idea of being daring enough to suggest that I have 10 specific books I plan - plan! - to read in a certain amount of time instead of just seeing what works right now, if anything does, seems like an outrageous tempting of fate.

That said, it is better than it was!  Most of the time now I can read okay and even take stuff in and sometimes actually care about the story and the characters (that takes lots of energy, you have no idea, till your battery setting is permanently on low).  And I have a to-read shelf with things I am reasonably confident of being able to handle and even enjoy.  But I have no ambitious projects. 

(I’m a librarian who’s been stuck home alone for nearly ten years with all the time in the world... and no brain for reading or anything really, except by tiny steps forward day by day.  So, please understand if I’m a bit weird on the subject.  At one point, I honestly thought I would never read again.)

1. I’ve been reading through any Prequel era SW books I could get my hands on over the last month or so, and having fun.  I have only one left in the house now (although still more to look out for when we can do normal things again), and that’s Shatterpoint by Matthew Stover, about Mace Windu, and it looks good.

2. When I saw what was coming, I not only ordered some SW books, I also got one of the few Daisy Dalrymple books I haven’t yet read by Carola Dunn.  They are a light but enjoyable series of 1920s-set murder mysteries.  The one in my emergency box in the spare room is Murder on the Flying Scotsman.

Other than that, I hope that some of my stuff on the to-read-someday pile will work. 

I would at some point definitely like to read the final book of Ann Leckie’s Ancillary trilogy and also Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers, finish the Temeraire series, read the Vorkosigan series (which is not easy to find in the UK save by ebook, and at the moment, having to learn a different means of accessing books adds another lot of energy-draining effort onto the process), and I am very intrigued that the SW range is going to include some ‘High Republic’ stuff soon, set 200 years pre-canon, because (as you can tell) I am here for the Jedi and duels and the whole pretty and world-building and idealism of the Republic & Jedi rather than endless rebels vs empire fighting.  Also the new Susanna Clarke when it comes out someday as well.

But I just hope that I won’t suddenly find I can’t read again.  I think I’m past that point, but you can never be sure.

#reading #books #star wars #star wars eu #don't ask me about reading or music #or making choices #because what choices #just what works #being ill is extremely boring #meme #replies #captain-aralias #or films #or tv really] #that's how i wound up watching so much 1970s uk tv #it moved slow enough #while being interesting

[toku-explained]

The Darkest Swordsman

Z: GAFJ have developed D4 from Barabas' horn, a dimension destroying weapon, and have ordered it's installation in King Joe STORAGE Custom, the installation overseen by Yuki Mai. The Maintenance team make clear from the start they are against this, and the main squad are clearly against it as well, and the Director makes clear he is against using D4 as well, but orders have come down, he's not well, and Celebro encounters him. When Kelbim arrives, drawn by the energy at the initial test site, it quickly heads to where the next D4 weapon is, and the Director brings down the orders from on high to use only King Joe STORAGE Custom and make use of D4, even as more Kelbim descend from the sky and hatch. It's pretty obvious what has happened to the Director, but it's not outright shown. In defiance of orders, Hebikura dispatched Haruki in Windom, but even as they take out one another spawns, and Z is forced to come out. As they continue more appear and Yuka detects the Mother Kelbim in space. Z Delta Rise Claw goes to face it, but even as it wins the numbers become to much and Yoko is forced, out of desperation, to use D4. The attack does take out the Kelbim, but the dimensional collapse keeps spreading, only being stopped by Z. Hebikura makes clear he is angry about all of this, and Yuki Mai seems to have ideas about Ultraman's power. But the big this this time is, as every single member of STORAGE, the entire maintenance team lead by Bako, Yuka, Yoko, Haruki and Hebikura defies GAFJ orders, and the entire unit is being dissolved.

Ultra 6 Brothers The Live: I laid actual money to watch this, since it seems to tie into The Absolute Conspiracy. After Nice warms the crowd up, the story introduces us to Baltan Seijin Baruru, a child alone on a world save for his robot friend. Baruru seems to remember his grandfather, but that's it. One day Red King, Hellberus, Astromons and Giestron rampage, and Man, Seven, Zoffy, Hikari and 80 arrive to stop them. Afterwards the brother discuss why the Kaiju are acting out before all but Ultraman leave. He meets Baruru and befriends him before leaving, asking the robot to look out for him, and after it's gone Baruru and the robot plan to plant a flower, when a gang of Valkie Seijin, Magma Seijin and Zarab Seijin arrive, and start beating up Baruru, calling Hellberus back to assist. The Robot, inspired by Ultraman's words, fights back and does a decent job until losing power, but as more Kaiju come the day is saved by the arrival of the Ultra 6 Brothers. Zoffy fights Zarab, Man fights Red King, Seven fights Valkie, Jack takes Giestron, Ace battles Hellberus, Taro deals with Magma. After the brothers win, they save the Robot and leave, Baruru and his companion continue their journey, but in the end Baruru walks away from the robot, which continues the other way with the flower. Absolute Tartarus appears, commenting on a power. After an intermission the plot moves forward, and to an earth in 2020, where Bemstar and Telesdon come down from the sky, and the narrator explains the Devil Splinters, this is followed by Z Alpha Edge's stock footage, the Rise accompanied with a new one for Zero. Zero and Z Alpha Edge face the two Kaiju, then discuss about the Devil Splinters when an effect devices the Kaiju. Zero defeats Bemstar only for Tartarus, who Zero is aware of, to appear and revive Bemstar, and reveal his servant, the adult Baruru, who created the system reviving the Kaiju. Zero and Z are overpowered until Ultraman and Seven arrive and help defeat them. Ultraman recognises Baruru, and Baruru remembers him, Tartarus arrives and explains their plans. Ultraman asks him to stop but he lashes out, and uses the system to revive Zetton and EX Zetton, which overpower the Ultras, before taking them aside and fusing their genes with himself to become a Zetton Baltan Seijin (variants previously appeared in Orb stages, one being a Dark Ring fusion), and join the Zettons in their battle. While the other Zettons take Seven and Zero offstage, Man and Z fight Baruru. Nice comes onstage to guide some audience interaction to power up the heroes here, which brings Seven and Zero back, and the rest of the Ultra 6 Brothers. After a moment where Man and Baruru wordlessly reflect on their past, Nice somehow finds himself faced with Tartarus, who trounces him before the Brothers minus Man pull him away, they then defeat the Zettons. Zero and Z face Tartarus until he decides to leave, but Z pursues. Ultraman and Baruru fight, although really it's just Man trying to remind Baruru of his true self, Baruru wakes up and returns to normal, but Zetton Baltan Seijin still exists on its own, now mindless and Ultraman is injured taking a hit. Zoffy, Ace and Seven take care if it long enough for Baruru to revive Man using his device, and he destroys Zetton Baltan Seijin. Tartarus murders Baruru and calls on Tyrant, which already mostly defeated Jack and Taro, and Man, Zero and Z struggle with, until Nice leads the audience again. Together the Brothers Zero and Z defeat Tyrant. The dying Baruru is shocked by the robots return. Ultraman informs him they're on earth. The robot uses the system to save Baruru, and presents the healthy plant. After sharing some parting words Baruru and his friend leave. The assembled Ultras thank the audience and leave some last words. All in all good, but about as important as those Ultraman Festival Stages or the Final Stages. Also this is pretty clearly pre-Z so I don't know why they didn't just have Z in his initial state.

The Absolute Conspiracy: The highly anticipated event begins. New Generation Heroes was a prequel to Taiga, and featured the first live action appearance of a character previously only seen in a Pachinko machine. Similarly, The Absolute Conspiracy is a prequel to Z and features several characters previously only seen in the Ultraman Festival Stages. There are differences too though. The central villain here is, to my knowledge, wholly original, and while New Generation Heroes was a a single narrative from start to finish, this is a story in 3 "parts", and while New Generation Heroes focused on only the New Generation Heroes, as well as the two most direct mentors to that group, and an Ultra who debuted in the era but is not considered part of the group, here we have quite a diverse group. So we start here in Part 1, starting Ultraman Ribut. In the M78 timeline this would appear to be set sometime in the 1000s of years gap between Mebius and Ultra Galaxy. Cool to see there's a proper OP this time, evidently going to switch up for each part. After our brief appearance by Absolute Tartarus our focus moves to young recruit Ribut, who is working alongside Civilisation Guard Max (original VA), who is one of a number of M78 Ultras who was originally believed to be from his series' universe version of the Land of Light, but since the Zero movies we now know them to be from the main M78 universe, and traveled from there to the timeline of his series. The planet is having it's energy drained by a Maga-Orochi egg, the existence of which is concerning due to the Maga-Orochi being sealed on Orb's earth....by a group of Ultras that included Zero....this might be later in the timeline than I thought. Hellberus might be an indicator Tregear is behind what's going on, he has interfered with several other New Generation Kaiju, but Sran Seijin is the only mastermind we have at the moment. Gudis Cells are infecting Max now, and I presume they want the Maga-Orochi to evolve into something more. We go to Planet Kanon. This is before the event of The Origin Saga, as the Tree of Life is still standing. The present War God, Queen Izana, is also part of the Galaxy Rescue Force, which seems to draw from an old idea from the 70s of a Galactic Federation that Tsuburaya's heroes were all part of, in this instance though the alliance is multiversal. Anyway here we have Sora, making her first appearance outside of stages, she started out as one of the generic Ultras, but now have that armour to stand out. She's accompanying Yullian (new VA) princess of the Land of Light, who is wearing a mantle here for the first time. Leucocyte attacks, which may further point to Tregear, and 80 (original actor) appears to help, until Leucocyte flees. The 80 sequence heavily reminds me of the Ace and Leo Brothers sequences in Ultra Fight Victory, giving the classic Ultra a strong showing before the newer hero takes centre stage. Ribut reports what happened to Zoffy, Taro and Hikari (all have their longstanding VAs) when the other 3 arrive with their own report, giving them a lot to deal with, and establishes the history of Ribut and Sora. They have to create an antibody to Gudis' cells in 3 days or Max is lost, and Ribut is sent to train on K76, where he meets for some intense training Great (New VA) and Powered (Kai's actor Kane Kosugi in English, Kai's dub VA in Japanese).

Saber: Tassel on the phone to somebody, interesting. I've gotten over my issue with Touma's memory from last time, knowing he was friends with Kento and finding Kento was in the memories that seemed to be dreams are different things. It's only natural that Kento is confused, and he decides getting Kamijo to tell him everything is the only option. Apparently the 6 swordsmen being present is reason for Legeiel to step up Megiddo plans using Goblins. Kento and Rintaro argue before the activity starts, Sophia gives Mei a key and heads out, leaving Northern Base to her. Kenzan goes to face one Megiddo, while Buster's mission to face another is interrupted by Desast. Rintaro and Kento argue about duty to Sword of Logos when Kento is called by Reika to where Sophia is confronting Caliber. Saber arrives at another Goblin. Sophia is trying to get explanations from Kamijo when Kento and Rintaro appears. Kento asks if the worst possible scenario is true before confronting Kamijo, Espada and Kamijo clash, Slash joins Saber and lends Bremen no Rock Band, when Zooous arrives to face Slash. Caliber claims he cut down Hayato for being a traitor, while calling himself a seeker of truth, Espada uses Golden Alangina and pushes Blades out the way. Kento gets a good hit in, and Caliber decides to use Jaou Dragon, becoming Caliber Jaou Dragon. While they fight Sophia suddenly vanishes. Mei uses the key an unlocks the screen, and Saber uses Dragon Bremen to defeat his Goblin as Kenzan does the same. Unfortunately, this is exactly what Legeiel, Zooous and Desast wanted, opening gates of Fire and Wind. Caliber overpowers Espada on the end, and tries to make the killing blow, but Blades takes it, and Rintaro is in critical condition. I think Kento's probably going to act less rashly now. Tassel has a guest, and I have an idea who. I might be wrong.

Kenshin Retsuden: This time we have an episode of Kenzan, listed as being "another side" of episode 9. Ogami and Ren are both looking for Caliber when Ogami realises Sophia is about to do something reckless. Desast, who is looking for Caliber to reclaim his book, confronts Ren and mocks him on the nature of ultimate power, Ren showing some serious might makes right thoughts, before leaving, thinking something about him afterwards about Ren's nature. Ogami saves Sophia as in the episode, but afterwards Sophia comments that Kento will be hurt regardless of who Caliber is, opening Ogami's eyes to the possibility of someone else behind the mask.

Kiramager: Whatever it is the guy wants to say to Sayo, he's clearly nervous. Sayo has gone into the dinner with certain expectations, but isn't sure how she feels quite yet. The team tries to let her keep the evening for her date. While the team is busy, she really wants to hear it at least. Garza's plan is to unleash multiple Jamenju, which Riddle Kamen is making plenty of energy for. As for Sayo, it's not like she doesn't like the dude, but she won't know until he says it, but I like how everyone is just desperate to know more. Sayo solves the riddle but doesn't tell the others what it is. Garza is bending Hakobu to his will. While it appears what Kusaka had in mind was something different, Sayo gets straight in to helping him. I am a little disappointed that we're having a marriage would mean quitting being a ranger plot for a female in fucking 2020, but that doesn't matter because turns out, surprise, Kusaka was working with Yodonna. Garza is off to eliminate Oradin. Sayo still protects him, but any chance of anything more is done for, but she still entrusts him with warning CARAT. To be fair about the marriage plot, Sayo herself had every intention of making it work, and there is the whole surgeon thing giving it more justification here than in other plots. I like how we have this goofy scene of Juru making Riddle Jamen answer a riddle of his own interspersed with the fairly serious drama of the Sayo plot. Garza has arrived in Atamald, the plant is sprouting, and 3 Jamenju arrive.

#toku explained #ultraman z #ultra galaxy fight #kamen rider saber #mashin sentai kirameiger

[gffa]

Hi Lumi, I wanted to ask how it was like for you post-PT but pre-ST. As a PT fan (before the ST came along and loads of people now call it the worst trilogy of the bunch), it was just either OT or PT, and o' course everybody was all "OT is superior!" How was your experience in the early days? My first SW film was actually TPM! And I fell in love with the GFFA as shown in that movie, despite the clear missteps. It's kind of a dirty secret because people think I'm a lesser fan for liking TPM!

Hi!  Oh, you’re sweet to ask this of me and you’re probably going to be disappointed with the answer because my Star Wars path has been kind of boring:--> I think I was vaguely aware of the OT, but I was so young it was hard to tell, beyond “I remember liking Princess Leia”--> The Phantom Menace was actually my first SW movie, too!  I was HEAD OVER HEELS for that movie at the time, though, my memory of that era is really fuzzy because I was so young that all I remember is that I very strongly shipped Q/O and I think I read some of the JA books at the time?--> I drifted away from SW fandom probably about a year after TPM and I occasionally thought about checking out some Leia & Vader fic, but I never found any that appealed to me (I didn’t try very hard, mind) and so I kept wandering back off--> I wasn’t involved in SW fandom until The Force Awakens, when I came out a total sequels fan and that was my primary focus.  Absurdly, the thing that got me to even go see TFA was that Darth Darth Binks theory on Reddit and I was desperate to know if it was true, it ate my brain for a couple of weeks.-->  But then I got into ST fandom (I shipped Finn/Rey to a degree, but mostly I was a hardcore Kylux shipper back then) and wasn’t really involved in OT or PT era fandom, though, I was reasonably Jedi-critical.  I did the whole “they were actually kind of a cult” and “they taught people to suppress their emotions” and “they had to end so a new, better source of the light could arise” bit.  I was absolutely onboard that train.  I even did the “everyone knows the prequels were objectively bad” thing, much to my chagrin.-->  I wanted fix-it fic for the ST, because things were so sad!  Luke and Leia and Han should be happy!  I don’t find this new story satisfying, BRING ON THE FIX-IT FIC.  Except you can’t really fix the OT 100% without fixing the PT.  So, I started getting invested in time travel fics for the PT era, which led me to go, “hmm, maybe I should watch The Clone Wars” because everyone says it’s actually good.-->  Three things happened over the span of about the first six episodes of TCW:     - I realized, what, what?  Obi-Wan is actually pretty kind and supportive towards Anakin???  But that’s not-- that’s not what I thought was going on with the prequels???      - OH SHIT OLD MARRIED COUPLE BANTER WITH OBI-WAN AND ANAKIN, NOOOOOOOO, I ANTI-SHIPPED THEM BEFORE, NOW THEY’RE AN OTP??? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE???      - Well, shit.  I love this show.  I love these characters.  I’m going to go back and go over the prequels movies again.  WAIT, THE PREQUEL MOVIES ARE MY FAVORITES NOW????-->   That was me now.  That was my life now.  Die-hard Jedi stan, Obi-Wan Kenobi stan, Anakin stan, Obi-Wan&Anakin stan, prequels stan.Which is a long-winded way of saying:  I never really had a chance to experience the post-PT/pre-TFA fandom in the way you probably did.  My experiences with TPM fandom were very positive, people loved that movie and they were excited about the characters and sharing a crapload of fic, and I didn’t really experience much of the wider world beyond that fandom specifically.By the time I got into TCW fandom, it had been established enough that it had its fans and I could sink into that part of the fandom, as well as I wasn’t registering the “the PT is kind of actually really terrible” comments because I had internalized a lot of that and was only just beginning to shed it.I know it was tough for a lot of years and even today I still see a lot “yeah, but everyone knows the PT movies were really bad” like it’s objective fact, but I think the more SW explores more areas, the more people can just go, “Well, that part wasn’t for me, I’m going to stick to the part I like.” and it eases things up.  I think it was probably hard for a lot of OT fans when the PT was in full swing, where all the new TV shows and comics and books were very PT-heavy, so there wasn’t really room to get away from it.Now, we each have more space to play in, if we don’t like that era over there.  And I think that’s a thing that’s really, really valuable, that a lot of us need that kind of positive space to just have a good time in our fandom, instead of constantly being bombarded by people who actively dislike what we like.  As well as we need to be able to get away from things we don’t like, lest we become the ones elbowing out others’ enjoyment of what they happen to like.My closest experience to yours is probably being a Jedi fan in this fandom, which, LOL, can be pretty difficult sometimes.  I’ve mostly made my peace with it and found my groove for myself, but there were some really, really rough patches when I just wanted to be left the fuck alone or when I felt incredibly isolated.  This isn’t me yelling at fandom, people have different opinions!  But because of the way a handful of fans behaved and a lot of my fellow Jedi fans feeling pushed out of fandom/too scared to make posts, it was hard to navigate through my feelings on that.I imagine a lot of PT fans went through similar struggles with their feelings and how it felt like they were being elbowed out by people hating on this thing they loved, in such large numbers.But I’m glad that you seem to be in a better place.  It sucks that we go through this, but fandom is fandom, they don’t owe us agreement with what we like, whether they’re perfectly nice about it or assholes about it, and we can make our own corners in fandom and find joy that way.Being in love with TPM is GREAT and anyone who says that you’re wrong for loving that movie is being a dick.  It doesn’t have to be their favorite movie, hell, they can think it’s a terrible movie.  But there’s room for more than one opinion and viewpoint, so JUST YELL LOUDER HOW MUCH YOU LOVE TPM AND THE GALAXY OF THE PREQUELS.  It’ll make you feel better to pour out a bunch of love for this thing you like, too.  ♥

#i should have a personal tag around here somewhere #Anonymous

[sometimesrosy]

Did you hear the news about The 100 prequel today? I’m pretty intrigued, but I don’t like the idea that it’s going to take away an episode from The 100 in its final season, as it’s a backdoor pilot (already confirmed that it’s going to air as an episode in season 7). So now we have 15 episodes of The 100 itself, and that makes me sad. I wish they could just do it after the final episode and not in the middle of the final season. I want as much time with our current characters as we can get.

Yes I heard about it and I made the mistake of reading the comments on twitter.

I was horrified by how negative and entitled our fandom has become, how dismissive of JR and of the story that HE is telling. Downright insulting. Don’t listen to those people. Don’t listen to assholes. This season already has more episodes than a regular season, he can tell the story of Bellarke and the delnquents in that time.

Why do you people ASSUME that he can’t tell this story to your satisfaction? If you hate his stories then you shouldn’t be so attached to them in the first place. If you dont’ like his writing or storytelling then you should let go of this show because you don’t like it and you dont’ think he can do a good job. 

Instead, people act like the dude who has stubbornly refused to to be moved by ANYONE away from the story he wanted to tell is somehow going to sell out. 

Set 97 years before the events of the original series, the new project starts with the end of the world, a nuclear apocalypse that wipes out most of the human population on Earth. The adventure follows a band of survivors on the ground as they learn to cope in a dangerous world while fighting to create a new and better society from the ashes of what came before. [x]

I mean. This doesn’t sound bad. If we think about what we’ve already gotten about this topic, none of the prequel era episodes we’ve seen have been disappointments. Watching how Becca/ALIE were connected to the end of the world was fascinating. Watching Josephine in her flashbacks was fascinating. Meeting Diyoza and the eligius prisoners was fascinating. Seeing the Sanctumites land and colonize Alpha was fascinating. 

None of this storyline has so far made the story of The 100 lesser. In fact, it has enriched it. 

None of these stories took away from the current characters. They in fact, can all handle being their own stories. 

If we get something along the lines of Thirteen, when we found out how Becca was connected to the grounders, not only do we get backstory that moves our story forward, but we also expand into a world that... now is going to be its own story. It turns out we’re going to be GETTING that story. 

You know. I first hear that information about the back door pilot, and as usual, I derived and entirely different meaning from it. 

You see, what I thought was:

time. travel. TIME. TRAVEL. time travel time travel time travel.it's still possible

I got real excited thinking about HOW they might manage to work this pre apocalypse story into the story so many centuries in the future. And I’m like, because the Anomaly offers a gateway into the past and now ALSO onto the earth? HOW ARE WE GETTING BACK TO EARTH? None of our current character saw the apocalypse. Even Diyoza or Russell who were legit alive and on earth before it all went down, they LEFT before it happened. The eligius missions were gone. The only one who was there was... sheidheda. or maybe not. we don’t know when he became heda. but we was the only one there after the bomb. 

Then I went over to see JR’s tweet and stupidly read the comments. And y’all are just like *but i’m not getting what I want and i hate you because it’s not about me and my ship.* and i’m just so fed up with fandom.

You’re given all this new shit and you’re just like, but what if my headcanons dont’ come true?

COME ON MAN. Get over yourselves. Think about what it could mean to the story that might go somewhere rather than just what you don’t like. Stop thinking about how it affects YOU and start thinking about how it affects the story.

Like. Did any one of you think that if we have some sort of ACCESS to earth at the time of the apocalypse or pre apocalypse that maybe OUR HEROES will be going back there too?????

I mean. Where the hecking heck is Diyoza? And Hope and Octavia, where were they? There’s a place. With a culture. And they live there. 

Did anyone one of you think that this backdoor pilot might actually be... not just the apocalypse, the first one, but... what if it’s OUR DELINQUENTS who are sent back in time. What if THEY are the ones living in the apocalypse. We now have Clarke, Echo, Murphy and Emori who are nightbloods. Why? Why Echo? She didn’t get a minddrive, just the nightblood. THEY are more able to survive in a nuclear apocalypse now. 

I don’t know for sure that our heroes might carry on over into the new pilot, but I don’t know for sure they don’t either. Maybe it’s Hope’s world. Maybe it’s the world that Becca showed us. IDK.

BUT THERE ARE POSSIBILITIES and we don’t know that those possibilities are bad. Why anticipate them sucking? Maybe they’ll move OUR story forward too. Stop being so jealous. 

I also found this.

Back in August, Rothenberg himself revealed that The 100 will end with the upcoming season 7. And when EW asked the showrunner if anyone would get a happy ending in the series finale, he laughed. “I think that’s an interesting way to put it,” Rothenberg said. “A happy ending? I’d say that’s probably, well… it’ll be our version of a happy ending, how about that?”The showrunner laughed again before continuing. “But I definitely can safely say that we’re trying to say something more with season 7,” Rothenberg added. “The ending of a story always is the point of the story, the moral of the story. We have yet to reveal the moral of the story, but it will be revealed in season 7. And it won’t be ‘People are horrible, we all suck, we’re willing to kill everyone and everything and do anything to survive.’ There’s a higher purpose.” [x]

See. Now. I hear that, and I think what he’s doing is all part of a plan. If you think Bellarke isn’t part of that plan, you haven’t been watching very well. If you think this backdoor pilot isn’t part of the plan or won’t fit into his plan, you aren’t noticing how much of a creative control freak JR is. 

#the 100 #the 100 s7 #prequel #i interpreted it very differently than fandom did #i'm excited

[vaguely-concerned]

I am reading the Rogue One visual guide and I’m going to ramble at you about it

Starting with Baze and Chirrut facts because nothing is more important than Baze and Chirrut

- The Guardians of the Whills believe very deeply in the Force but their cosmology doesn’t center any fight between light and dark and they believe mortal minds can ‘encompass the totality of the Force’ with the right training (seemingly even for non-Force sensitives). *thinks of a little green baby who’s going to need some help with his place in the universe one day and how reductive the light/dark side dichotomy can be* good to know good to know. yes everything eventually comes down to baby yoda and his poor stressed out dad. protect them

- “Opposites in balance. Chirrut Îmwe and Baze Malbus share a homeworld and a history, although they strike a compelling contrast. Baze is a hardened pragmatist, while Chirrut’s faith flourishes even in trying times. They both claim to act as the protector of the other.” 

in every way they are #goals. bffs/partners to lovers is Everything. ‘They both claim to act as the protector of the other’ is very funny and very sweet and very true; my favourite thing

- this book describes chirrut as baze’s ‘best friend and moral compass’, which is a funny way of spelling ‘husband of 30 years’ but who am I to criticize 

- baze is just. he’s so good. they say here pragmatism is his biggest trait but you can tell how much love has been at the center of him (and probably continues to be under it all) from the totality of his rage. I don’t think you can be this deeply hurt without loving just as deeply first. (like chirrut says, he used to believe more than anyone and now he’s thrown aside literally everything about the guardians except chirrut) it’s like he’s suffered a moral wound just seeing what’s happened to his home and it won’t heal and it never does, he just loses chirrut too and then at least it’s over. jesus christ it’s so soul crushingly sad in a quiet undramatic way 

- “Though both are Guardians of the Whills, Baze and Chirrut could not be more different in their approach to combat. Traditionalist Chirrut still carries weapons associated with the ancient order, while Baze adopts an implement of modern warfare. Their methods suit them individually, and both are effective extensions of their distinctive personalities. Though Baze may chide Chirrut for his antiques, and Chirrut may decry Baze’s reliance on soulless tools, they trust each other’s defences to such weapons.”

THEY TRUST EACH OTHER’S DEFENCES TO SUCH WEAPONS. YOU HAD TO WORD IT LIKE THAT HUH. YOU HAD TO GO AND MAKE IT CLEAR THEY’RE EACH OTHER’S MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE WHOLE WORLD. WHAT. THE FUCK

- it’s implied baze’s hair used to be shorter when he was a Guardian! he’s just let it grow past what’s customary for them (and an excellent choice too his hair is wonderful)

- his repeating blaster is described as ‘modified and highly illegal’ hahaha

it also weighs 30 kg and is meant to be mounted on a tank

baze is the best

- chirrut built his own lightbow! apparently used to be a thing the guardians did to symbolize the end of their training. I wonder if baze used to have one too? even more I wonder if they’ve always been part of the same uh ‘divisions’ or what have you within the guardians, because I think there are some implications that baze has been more of an assassin/focused on violent conflicts even before the empire came and chirrut hasn’t

- this book does not adequately capture chirrut’s trickster/funny side, making me wonder how much of that was an addition by the actor and how much was planned out

- honestly... more baze & chirrut (well baze/chirrut let’s not play here) prequel books WHEN. what does their living room look like (because we do know they live together) how did they meet, when exactly did baze lose his faith and chirrut his sight, what was their first kiss like 

inquiring minds want to know (it’s me I want to know) 

- unless the wording is deliberately misleading here chirrut was not born blind (though he won’t discuss how he ended up this way) and he’s learned his current fighting technique over a prolonged period of time 

- bodhi is a bit of a gambling addict! and specifically one who’s pretty good at it; even after the empire knows he’s a defector he gets past their restrictions because he’s saved up all the credits/favours/even id-vouchers he’s owed by other imperial grunts fsdhfksdjf precious I love him 

- saw gerrera’s medical droid a) has been modified so its programming won’t stop it from being able to dispense drugs at dangerous intervals, b) professes sheer bafflement that saw is still alive and c) is ‘frequently deactivated to prevent it from building an ethical case to discontinue treatment’. I find the whole thing darkly hilarious.  

- there are literally whole subplots going on in the crowd scenes on Jedha about a mad evil surgeon who ‘decraniates’ people (essentially turning them into mindless servile husks with all of their head above the nose cut off, somehow), a masked cop from the Milvayne Authority who’s gone rogue to do the right thing and hunt him down against orders, a death cult, a bunch of different religious sects, a translation droid who has befriended a group of local orphans and shares his credits with them so they can eat and he’s SAVING UP FOR A PROCESSOR UPGRADE SO HE CAN BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND THE NATURE OF SPIRITUALITY ;_____; what the fuck I want a tv-series about this droid IMMEDIATELY 

- this book shows you just how crucial K-2 is as an asset and what a masterstroke cassian’s reprogramming of him is... and it says some very, very sweet things about cassian as a person under all the trauma and spy stuff that he essentially treats him as his best friend instead of a tool. cASSIAN he deserved to survive and have SO much therapy ;_____; ah well at least we’re getting a prequel series about him right? pls be good

- oh cassian was a proper separatist during the clone wars! he probably has some very interesting points of view about the republic pre- and post empire huh (this is what I love about the clone wars era; they have built SUCH a believable and interesting political world here, all shades of grey. there were separatists with very valid points even thought they were lead by a guy named COUNT DOOKU played by CHRISTOPHER LEE, the first sign that you should look inwards and ask yourself... wait are we the bad guys)

- it’s so much more understandable to me now who in the rebel leadership is for following jyn’s plan and who is not. (namely: the ministers of finance and industry are both Not Into challenging the empire directly, kind of understandably)

in depth description of weapons technology... I sleep. deep dives into the political structure of the alliance leadership and their backgrounds and motivations? I have never been happier

(this. sort of should have been in the actual movie tho things would have made more sense)

- BAIL ORGANA Leia’s actual dad out there lookin’ fiiine, being righteous and good, almost making me forget he’s going to die SO SOON oh fuck :( 

- orson krennic is, presumably straight faced, described as ‘a cruel but brilliant man’ which is PATENTLY LUDICROUS because krennic is by literally every indication a fucking idiot, he needs galen to do all the real work for him, he mouths off to DARTH VADER and then tarkin just effortlessly swoops in and fucks him over in the end, easily outmaneuvering him... orson krennic is a fucking loser I don’t care if he’s the one who introduced brutalist architecture to coruscant

lol lol lol *arrow pointing towards krennic’s head* ‘Keen mind dissects architectural puzzles and conspiratorial plots’ okay I see what happened here orson krennic wrote this book 

- oh galen erso is kind of one of the most interesting and heartbreaking characters in all of star wars. (and I do not say this just because of mads mikkelsen’s cheek bones) he’s incredibly intelligent but from a really poor family and wanted to eliminate the difference between rich and poor and invent a new form of infinitely renewable energy... and technically he did achieve that, except his old college buddy orson krennic immediately found a way to use his technology for genocide and he didn’t realize until it was too late :’) there is something so comforting in the fact that in the end galen still got the last laugh in the most epic but unsung way. he’s the sort of quiet Magnificent Bastard who doesn’t even care he’ll never get the credit as long as it worked. u did good on that one jyn

also several of the scientists galen is leading on eadu are in the same category as him -- captured and forced to work for the empire. so that’s great and not at all upsetting 

- galen and lyra’s falling in love story is kind of sweet (though naturally it pales against baze and chirrut’s whole deal but then who could compare) and the sheer effort and detail that’s gone into building the farmstead in the beginning we end up seeing for 5 minutes... dude (it feels very convincingly like somewhere a family would live though) 

- *sees that ‘databook’ is a concept that exists apparently; groans in fic research I thought ‘holodisc’ might do the job but maybe this is a better fit*

- I will say that my largest gripe with this movie is how glaringly unnecessarily male it is. there’s literally no reason for most of the rebels and ESPECIALLY all of the scientists to be male but here we are. 

well the stormtroopers could all canonically be any gender behind the armor so uh that’s. something lol

- despite being all desert-y jedha is apparently quite cool! temperature-wise I mean though the huge ancient statues lying everywhere are pretty awesome too

- wow stormtrooper armor really does just suck huh. it’s like ‘well it might protect you from a blaster bolt if you stand upwind and angle yourself just right, who knows’. I guess this is why everyone and their grandmothers are drooling over mando’s beskar lol

- star wars’ insistence on sticking to single-biome planets is so silly and I love it. stick to that incomprehensible world building decision lucasfilm I respect you

- mon mothma! basically the most important character in the star wars universe who most people won’t know about lol she’s like the anti-palps. for the most part she is one of the most Big Goods in all of star wars (along with bail) but also she’s played by the actress who voices moira in overwatch so I do instinctively distrust her whenever I hear her talk haha. called palpatine a ‘lying executioner’ to his face which is both admirably bold and remarkably restrained, considering all the things palpatine is.

- oof the two people mentioned the most on anakin/vader’s pages are palpatine and obi wan. that’s. hurtful and bad and awful. the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was making me watch ‘clone wars’ because watching ‘clone wars’ actually made me care about anakin skywalker :(

-ah shit this is a lot of pages about pasty empire dudes i’ll uh come back to these lol

#first post of 2020! keeping it on rambling brand into the new decade #star wars #rogue one #baze x chirrut #meta #if you're here for information about baze's hair and how overwatch has coloured my view of a star wars character... #boy have I got a post for you lol

[twilightofthe]

sw asks: 1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 13, 14, 15, 16, 24

Which era do you find most compelling?  It’s gotta be the Prequel Trilogy for me.  It’s got Obi Wan and Anakin in it and all of the other characters that I love and ugh, I just adore how Lucas wrote Anakin’s tragedy in three acts and it was beautiful (TCW made it even better) and I’ll always love the artful and creative and heartbreaking story and its political commentary and pretty actors and amazing saber duels and EVERYTHING BLARGH, idc what other ppl say, it’s the best

Whose wardrobe would you steal?  Idk what other answer there could possibly be besides Padmé Amidala, every outfit she wears in the movies is stunning and if I could have even one of her pretty dresses I’d wear it every day for the rest of my life (I am not including her TCW outfits, out of all of them I think they designed like one non movies-based one where I didn’t find something about it I didn’t like, I am disappointed in them -_- )

What’s the worst headcanon you’ve ever seen?  Oof ouch I don’t really like to put down other people’s headcanons...

That being said, I’ve made it known that I despise with my entire being the fanon-turned-possibly-canon about Anakin not being a Force Baby and was actually just a Dark Side creation made by Plagueis and Sidious

I don’t like it when people say that Han and Leia were bad parents

I really don’t like it when people headcanon Anakin and Obi Wan as having this cold, uncaring, cruel relationship between them and put other side characters as being closer with them than each other canonically are

This is silly, but I get ridiculously worked up over that popular Tumblr post going around about “Oh Leia is OBVIOUSLY a Slytherin” and I’m just stomping my feet because are you kidding me???  She’s the Gryffindor-iest Gryffindor there is!!!!  Star Wars has Slytherin heroes, but Leia isn’t one of them.

What’s your favorite fan art/work? (bonus: reblog and tag the creator if you can) Ooooh there’s so many good SW fanart and works, how could I possibly chose one?  It’s flat out impossible for me to choose a favorite, per say, but I guess I can say two works that were instrumental in getting me back into the Star Wars fandom were: 

The World Undone by @writegowrite (lilyconrad on ao3), that fic got me full on into the prequels as well as convinced me to start writing fanfic again, it’s an AU Obikin fic with some of the most gorgeous writing I’ve ever read (all their works are superb 10/10 recommend)

No specific work in particular, but all of the Rebels comics and art pieces done by @lotldraws, Rebels was my first forage back into SW land and I found their art fast and it’s just some of the funniest, charming stuff, it really makes you love the Space Family and I still look back on their art when I need a smile!

Most interesting force power?  Hmmm that one’s tough!  I honestly gotta go with being able to manifest as a Force Ghost, since there’s just so much we don’t know about it and it’s really freaking cool

If you could swap places with any character for a day, who would you swap with?  That’s not fair, everyone in Star Wars has an awful life xD  I guess I’d say Anakin?  Pre-Vader of course, so then I could legit go up to the Council and be all “hey fun story so Palpatine’s a Sith Lord and the clones all have murder chips in their heads, have fun taking care of that I’m just gonna be off far away from here so I can’t get corrupted ok bye!” and then I guess I’d like lock him in somewhere he couldn’t escape if they failed to take care of Palpy in a day

Who would be your best friend?  My prequel faves are all intimidating as hell, so I’d probably say Luke!  I think if I met him on Tatooine we’d end up getting along pretty nicely!

Funniest moment in Star Wars:  All of it???  I’m sorry, I’m a loser and if I’m not crying over Star Wars for being so sad, I’m cracking up over it because all of the main characters are ridiculous drama queens and their antics amuse me endlessly

Saddest moment in Star Wars:  Revenge of the Sith from the moment Order 66 is executed (oof TCW is gonna make it hurt so much worse) till the end of the movie, Mustafar hitting the hardest Anakin why?!?!?!?

If you could make one thing from the Star Wars universe real, what would it be?  Look, I understand that the world already has enough issues with dangerous weapons in the hands of those who don’t need them and shouldn’t have them, and I also know that I would have zero reason to actually use one, but god DAMN IT I WANT A LIGHTSABER xD

[sanerontheinside]

tagged by @tohje. 😊 

Name: saner

Fandoms: Star wars, mostly prequel era. Occasionally may dip a toe into other fandoms (Overwatch, Hannibal, HP, etc), mostly based on recs. Have pulled ppl into the Bond fandom (Daniel Craig movies, very specifically here for 00Q). 

Where You Post: ao3

Most Popular Oneshot: A Subject for Careful Meditation, by hits, kudos, and bookmarks all across the board. Which is... surprising? well, to me, idk. 

Most Popular Multi-Chapter Story: by bookmarks, A Code to Live By. By kudos and hit count, SELIA I. Decompression.  

Favorite Story You Wrote: Sound the Abyss With Bitter End in Hand has to be my favourite posted* work. I was also very fond of Armoured Hearts, actually, but the size of Abyss and the complex evolution of angst and feels makes it, quite possibly, my best to date. * But this is not considering my current wips. 

How You Choose Your Titles: Who even knows anymore. Usually there’s some theme I’m going for, but a lot of the time it’s what sounds pretty. I’ve asked for help on 2 occasions and gotten some excellent suggestions, too. 

Do You Outline: The longer the fic, the nittier and grittier the outline. Silent enim leges inter arma (aka SELIA, the frankenau, frankenfic, frankenhell, etc) has some 3 trello boards and a lot of notebook pages devoted to it. Outlines tend to happen “when I have no idea what’s going to happen in these middle sections but the ends are pre-determined”. They do not always help. 

Complete: lolwut

As of early this year I’ve adopted a new approach, which is: I will not post unfinished works until they are at least fully drafted; for multi-part series, I will not post new parts in the series until that part is fully drafted. This has effectively put everything on hold, but at least for the time being it limits my embarrassment. I may reconsider. 

As of March, I have acquired some 4 new ideas. Of these: 1) stalled halfway thru at 17.6k, 2) got way longer than anticipated and is currently sporting an unbelievable 26k and not even halfway done, 3) got to 12k and was outgunned by #2 for attention, 4) got to maybe 1.5k and got outvoted by everyone else. I repeat, these four were all brand-new ideas in March. 

The next part of frankenfic is now at 3 drafted and complete chapters, unknown number of chapters to follow. I have written more of part V than of part II. 

Coming Soon: #2 of the March fics, aka Occupational Hazards. I swear, I have been working on this thing nearly nonstop for months now. After that I’m working on either #1 March fic or frankenfic. 

I was hoping, a few months ago in a more innocent time, that either #1 or #2 of the March fics would be complete by the time of jinnobi challenge posting. It is now October 8th of my busiest semester yet. I have 20 days... and I’m pretty sure I have at least one school paper to write within that time. It’s not looking good. 

Not Yet Started: My Hope is on the Horizon, aka another Gone in the Wake au. 4th March fic probably counts as ‘not yet started’. 

Do You Accept Prompts: As I’ve mentioned before, prompts have at best a 50% fill rate. I have a tendency to run toward big projects rather than keep things small. 

Upcoming Story You Are Most Excited To Write: #2 of the March fics, aka Occupational Hazards. I love #1 to bits but... I got stuck. And there is so much I love about frankenfic that I am pretty certain I’ll keep on writing it for years to come. 

Tagging, hmm.. @skyywalkerfen have you been tagged yet? 

#woohoo tag games

[republictrooper]

Star Trek Discovery Season 2 Finale Thoughts.

Ok, so like. I finally got to watch the last episode since I was on Vaycay last Thursday.

I like the ending. It was 90% explosions and 10% plot, but I liked it, a lot, some reservations aside.

I mean, I always felt like we needed a new Trek series set in the future instead of all these prequels (one reason I’m not on the “Pike Miniseries” train), but sending the prequel series into the future to BE that series was... actually a pretty smooth move.

On one hand, it’s a little ingenious how many holes it plugs up from the timeline perspective - Spock never talks about his sister because it’s a matter of temporal security, the Spore Drive never sees wide use because both ships that used it met a grisly,grisly end, Cornwall never showed up in TOS because she was KIA in a battle that was at least partially classified, etc.

On the other hand, I found that most of the people concerned about that stuff were of the whiny fanboy brigade angry that the SJWs were taking over their beloved trek, and honestly, screw those guys. Retcons are a standard of most longrunning series, so just retcon that Michael took her wife Tilly to the Enterprise for regular visits with Spock and constantly teased him about how he was obviously smitten with Jim, and that Hugh and Bones constantly traded tips about how to be gay doctors in space and the Red Lizard alien bridge crew member actually always existed on the bridge even during the TOS era and was Uhura’s beloved wife and helped Spock spirit Pike away to Talos after his injury and etc, etc, etc... Cuz retcons can be ok in a lot of cases and the fanboys could learn some humility.

So it’s comme-ci, comme-ca, I guess. Overall, I do think releasing the series from the shackles of being a lore-friendly prequel was a GOOD thing for sure.

Other thoughts:

We finally got the promised Paul/Hugh reconciliation and it was everything I hoped for and more.

Jet Reno has seen the future, and says she has “at least” 5 lives left? 

Did she see herself almost die 5 more times? 

Did she see herself DIE?

Or was she just using a colloquialism and I’m reading too much into it?

Nhan definitely likes ladies, I’m pretty much convinced of it given how she and Phillipa were basically flirting while they pursued Leland. Hopefully she gets with a nice girl who’s not a backstabbing evil bisexual empress from an alternate dimension, though, tbqh. I could see her and Jett or even her and Michael making a great team, tbqh. I’m pretty sure she survived the fight with Leland, at least.

Speaking of the fight with Leland, the fact that he WAS Control in the end (enough such that his fleet couldn’t keep fighting once he was magnetized) makes me a little nervous that he went to the future with everyone else. I don’t trust those magnets to completely stop him. Or even if they did, what if he reconstitutes in the future and keeps the apocalypse going? Frick, I hope they manage to completely erase and dispose of EVERY SINGLE NANITE. Or do future nanites get their data erased by magnets like old school floppies?

On the other hand, maybe Zora evolves in part because she IS the remnants of control. Which uh. might explain why she was abandoned. Control starts reconstituting again, gets full sapience via the sphere data on Discovery’s computers, so they have to leave her in a space storm in the past in hopes it prevents her from going full Borg again?

Man, I really hope Control isn’t somehow the protoBorg. THE BORG ARE ALWAYS AT THEIR BEST WHEN THEY’RE MYSTERIOUS DAMMIT.

I like to think that shot of Detmer getting back to her chair after Leland left the bridge was because she was making sure her girlfriend was alright. I am glad Owosekun looks alright, when she got hit I was bracing for the worst.

Still not sure I get the whole Ash Tyler situation. This is one of the biggest weaknesses of prequels, at least for me, and one of the few loose ends they didn’t actually tie up with the time jump, oddly enough. You can talk about Ash reforming Section 31 into something better and more transparent, but we already KNOW he fails. At some point in the future, Section 31 will be the horrific secret police of the DS9 era, even grimmer, more nihilistic, and less transparent than pre-Control Leland. I was never an Ashburn fan, and I’m still a little sore at him for killing Hugh, so I’m not especially mourning the fact he stayed in the past, but frick, at least let him go back to Earth and sail boats for the rest of his days. He deserves that more than vainly struggling to reform an organization we already know will fail to live up to the goals he has. 

Anyway, Section 31 was a mistake and Ash Tyler was too good of a character to waste on that. Given they sent Phillipa into the future, I was hopeful they had cancelled the S31 series in favor of keeping her on the main series cast and the concept of S31 as anything other than the clear villains could die a quiet, peaceful death, but I GUESS NOT.

Also, still a little weird that the Klingons are gonna be cold war enemies for the next few decades/centuries. I guess at some point L’Rell is no longer able to hold the Chancellorship solely on strength of threatening the other clans with blowing up Quo’noS and/or doing the whole “Mother knows best” thing? Or then again, they never quite established how or why she gave up the whole Klingon supremacy movement, so maybe she just goes ahead and gets back on that now that most of the Starfleet-aligned people keeping her in check on that are either dead or 900+ years in the future.

Anyway, the biggest question is, what happens in the future?

Do we have a weird Voyager-like situation in which they are so far in the beta quadrant and in time they have to work with limited primitive resources and/or try to make it to federation space despite a travel time of multiple decades, whether because Paul can’t jump anymore due to his injuries, or Phillipa fried the spore drive when she killed Leland?

Or are we gonna have a full on Federation that’s spread between Quadrants, and if so, how does Discovery slot into that? Do they just get reintroduced and get the Discovery retrofitted to full futurosity? Does Tilly get to fulfill her dreams of captaincy in the future Federation, or does she just have to hope Saru or Michael passes the captaincy on to her when they die or retire? Or does she give it up because everything’s gone sideways and instead stays on the Discovery (possibly as chief science officer, while her wife moves up to 1st Officer)?

I mean, I have always loved Trek for its optimistic view of the future, so I hope the Federation is around and basically a forward-looking, peaceful organization, but given the brief glimpse we got from Calypso was of a warn-torn future, I’m a little iffy. S2 was great in part because it dared pull away from the overly darkness-filled S1, I hope we don’t plunged back into a grimdark future. I guess there could also be a plot twist with Zora and Craft. Maybe the Alcor IV folk are human separatists and the V’draysh are the peace-loving forwarding thinking Federation.

The spirk nod was amazing and gdi, I would pay like a million bucks for a retcon somewhere down the line that establishes Kirk and Spock got married at some point and settled down somewhere, where Kirk died peacefully of old age (and not on some dusty distant planet after being swallowed by the metaphysical concept of heaven then spit back out to get unceremoniously bodied by Malcolm McDowell) sorry Generations) before Spock went back to being an ambassador and doing all the stuff in the TNG-era shows/movies/novels/etc.

I don’t even necessarily ship Spirk that hard, Spock is just undeniably queer as hell and we deserve that reading of him finally being canonized. 

Anyway, I liked Season 2 overall. I look forward to season 3!

#star trek discovery #star trek discovery spoilers #spoilers

[tisthenightofthewitch]

Ghost interview: the masked metal band on their new “positive” record about The Plague

To begin, a horror story…

It’s chilling to think how The Black Death arrived in Ghost’s native Sweden. In fact, there’s a deeply upsetting story on the website Gizmodo that can be summarised thus. After marauding through Asia, by the late 1340’s, the plague arrived in England. A decade of horror followed. Then a ship left England for Scandinavia; it’s cargo, a shipment of wool. The plague killed every man aboard. The ship then drifted for a few years or so, the disease feasting on the rotting corpses of the crew, until it ultimately ran aground near Bergen, Norway.

From then the plague spread into Sweden. Then into Russia. By 1353, one in three Europeans had lost their lives. It would take two hundred years for Europe’s population to return to pre-plague numbers.

“I think this record might be the first positive record ever written about the plague,” says Tobias Forge of Ghost, describing his fourth studio album ‘Prequelle’ with just enough levity in his voice to acknowledge the ridiculousness of that statement. “Essentially, it’s a record about survival, start to finish. The record takes you through the idea of mortality, before ending on the question, ‘if you could circumvent death… would you?’ I come from the metal underground, and the subject of The Black Death has been excavated many times. But those records are about the decimation of everything, and little light is shown to the survivors. There’s an argument that mankind learned a lot of good from what happened…”

This talk of the Bubonic Plague is almost certainly allegory. ‘Prequelle’, see, is the follow up to 2015’s ‘Meliora’, the record that dug Ghost out of the metal underground, and anointed them a pretty big deal. This meant tours with Iron Maiden and Slayer, Avenged Sevenfold and Deftones. It meant acclaim from the fuzzy lips of Dave Grohl – not in itself especially impressive; like an alt-rock Bono, Grohl knows the cool bands he needs to anoint and when – the masked Foo Fighter being rumoured to have sat in on drums for the band on a variety of occasions (as we’ll get to, you wouldn’t know otherwise), as well as producing their ‘If You Have Ghost EP’ in 2013. ‘Meliora’’s stand-out song, ‘Circice’, even won a Grammy for Best Metal Performance in 2016. ‘Prequelle’ arrives with much expectation. It also arrives with Tobias bruised and battered by its creation.

‘Prequelle’ is a record about looking forward. But first, a look back. Early 2017 saw Tobias sued by former Ghost personnel, claiming the frontman had, “in an underhanded and shameless way, attempted to transform Ghost from a band into a solo project with hired musicians”. Tobias responded that “no legal partnership” ever existed between him and the other members, that they were paid a fixed salary to perform as his wont, that they were essentially session musicians. Like everything does now, this all played out in public, with opinion welcome from anyone. Where this gets really messy, is that unless you had an in, nobody really knew who any of Ghost were. Tobias performed as a variety of masked cardinals; three iterations of the demonic anti-pope Papa Emeritus, changing each record. The band performed in masks as the Nameless Ghouls. They were sort of like KISS if that band sang about Satanic scripture instead of shagging. Legal proceedings forced Tobias out of the shadows and shot mystique in the head”

“All things considered, a year down the line, having been through so much turmoil,” says Tobias, with acceptance that he now only has to pretend to be an actual ghoul onstage, not off it, “I’ve come to realise that what happened needed to happen. Also, I’m a big fan of rock, of rock history, and I’ve read every classic rock biography of every band I’m a fan of. You know what? The same shit takes place in every single one. A friend of mine, a very successful songwriter, said to me, ‘you’re not really in the game until you’ve been sued, so welcome in!’ and I think he’s got a point. I’ve been in lots of situations in my life where I’ve managed to turn pain into growing pains. Really, what happened was a receipt that things are going well.”

Tobias takes a deep breath.

“It’s fine. It’ll be over…”

It is unquestionable this experience shaped the record’s DNA, even if, with the lengthy process of litigation dragging along in the background, there is a limit to how much Tobias can say. Freely, that is. It’s all there on ‘Prequelle’. “The song ‘See The Light’ (a stormer of a power pop metal song, it should be said) sounds like it’s about people who’ve crossed you,” we say, thinking of lines such as, “Many a rat I’ve befriended” and “Of all of the demons I’ve known, none can compare to you”. There is a pause so pregnant, metaphysical wet towels are piling up all around us, before Tobias responds, “Yes”. We ask if it’s a song that relates to his current situation. He replies, diplomatically, “I think it’s a song that can apply to any situation in which you’re surrounded by enemies. Really, it’s a song about redistributing anger and negativity.”

As of writing, ‘Prequelle’ isn’t released for another couple of weeks, but you will most likely have already heard its lead-off single, ‘Rats’, which also debuts Tobias’ new rubber faced persona, Cardinal Copia, sort of the midpoint between a deranged Satanic preacher and a used car salesman. If you’ve seen the video, it turns out that the Cardinal can bust a move (Tobias: “Have I ever had dance lessons? I’m mobile, but not nearly as much as our promotional videos lead people to believe…”). ‘Rats’ is also, perhaps, the most direct comment on what Tobias, and the Ghost that’s now been repositioned as a vessel for his self-expression (he prefers ‘project’ to ‘solo’ by the way) have been through during its parent albums creation.

“It’s a song about public trials,” says Tobias. “Rats traditionally were what carried the plague. But they’re also a good analogy for something that’s all around you. I mean, one thing that’s annoying about rats, is they can hide in your walls. They can come up through your toilet. They sort of eat their way into your life. And so I think about the kid getting bullied, and how in the past, the bullies were just at school, or on the way to school. Now they’re there all the time. Online.”

“We look back on ancient times,” he continues, “and we like to think about how sophisticated we are now, whereas in the past we were barbaric. But in the last ten years, I think we’ve regressed back to such a stone throwing, stupid, superstitious, nincompoop way of thinking. It’s fucking horrible…”

So you’re referring to social media? I’m thinking of the line in Rats, “they’re still coming after you, and there’s nothing you can do…”

“Well, as much as I’m an advocate for whistleblowing culture in the modern era – and of course I’m for that, things that are bad for the world should be exposed – I’m not sure that’s the forum for it. All those people just… shouting…”

Does this relate to your personal experience in wake of the lawsuit? When that story broke, it felt like everyone had an opinion on you…

Another pause. Then finally, “Yes”.

“So many people have opinions based, not on fact, but spite,” Tobias continues. “There are people who just love to destroy other people. It saddens me to admit, that I think at whatever state of human civilisation we arrive at, the will to destroy other people, is something that is innate in some people.”

There are of course moments on ‘Prequelle’ that are filled with joy too. A kind of dark, sticky, oily joy, yes. But joy none-the-less. There’s a reason Ghost’s aesthetic riffs off the ecclesiastical after all. All their best songs are big, bold, searching. Take Dance Macabre. Far closer to Duran Duran in their pomp than it is Carcass, if there is a death disco somewhere, an actual one with skeletons and tasty alcoholic beverages that are slime green and taste of formaldehyde – the best night of your death, so to speak – it’ll surely be the most requested song all night.

“I really wanted to explore the use of piano on this record,” says Tobias. “Take the song, Life Eternal, the last song on the record. I wanted it be very ambitious, almost classical, and the piano gives that song air and clarity…”

He concludes. “Like I say, I wanted this to be a positive record, a record about survival…”

LINK

#Ghost #The Band Ghost #Cardinal Copia #Tobias Forge #Ghost BC #Interview

[corellianangel]

Fan Review: Solo: A Star Wars Story

May contain minor/some spoilers after the cut.

I suspect that Solo: A Star Wars Story might be a bit like its title character. A bit rough at the start, maybe shady, pretty good-looking, and definitely out to get your money. But, as it goes on, it becomes more and more apparent how good and truly nostalgic and lovable it is.

This is a film that “nobody wanted.” Which means...what? I wanted it. When I saw Star Wars ANH, I wanted to know all about that cool Solo guy. And finally, 41 years later, I got my wish. And yeah… I’m mostly happy. After Last Jedi, I was pretty much done with the franchise, so it’s not like I went in with high hopes.

Solo is a relatively low stakes reprieve from the “we must save the world/galaxy/universe” all-or-nothing epic trope that has plagued us for the last few years. This is an adventure, a coming of age, and a western heist. Stakes are high, but only for the characters you are relating with onscreen, making it a curious addition to this year’s blockbusters.

Make no mistake; This is a love-letter to original trilogy Star Wars fans. It’s Han Solo in an Indiana Jones style adventure ( and what could be more fun than that).

4 out of 5 stars.

The first minute of Solo is exactly how a movie about the titular character should begin. But then it immediately lags, then even more so under ill-paced exposition. As soon Han goes solo though, it gains momentum. Then a short few minutes later as Woody Harrelson appears, things get rolling outright.

Alden Ehrenreich takes a bit of time to slide into Han’s scuffed boots, both onscreen and in our fan hearts. But when he does, it works wonderfully. He’s not the sexy gruff cynic Harrison Ford portrayed. No, he’s a “Kid,” who's got dreams. He’s a romantic. He’s wide-eyed, immature, and even petulant at times. But like Harrison’s portrayal, he’s arrogant, talented, goofy, jealous, easily embarrassed and will gladly spin a terrible lie. And oh yes… he can turn it on. Not at first, no… that’s really awkward ( more on that with Emilia). He’s not Harrison Ford by a long shot, but when given the chance later in the film, he makes a scene his own, and it’s HOT.

Unfortunately though, Alden is easily five inches shorter than 6’ 1” Harrison. And it’s glaringly obvious (especially to me, as I am quite a tall person). Sadly, Alden’s 1” platform 2”+ heel boots can only add so much. Otherwise, I’m satisfied with his portrayal. Alden’s a great actor, he had huge boots to fill, and I think he’s really been treated unfairly by the fans. Give the kid a chance, he might win you over.

Donald Glover IS Lando Calrissian though.  He’s sexy, sauve and even a bit silly ( in all the right ways… make no mistake).  I daresay Mr.Glover has taken Billy Dee William’s place in my heart as the epitome of Lando. Whether he’s coming on to Han, or Qi’ra or some unspecified alien species, he’s a pansexual on the level of Oberyn Martell from Game of Thrones. An arrogant playboy badass, who loves all the finest things. He is willing to enjoy everything life has to offer, and why not? It’s hard not to love him as a result. Lando movie, anyone?

Tobias Beckett is everything Han wants to be. Beckett is also in love with fellow crook Val, and his attachment to her is cemented firmly in a couple of scenes, which unlike the Han/Qi’ra scenes–have great chemistry. And Woody Harrelson’s portrayal of yet another grizzled mentor is stunning. I found him much more appealing than Harrelson’s equivalent character from Hunger Games. Though the mantel is starting to wear. Don’t get me wrong. I adore Woody Harrelson. His being in this film gave me a reason to think I might just like it. I’m just not sure I want to see him as yet another badass mentor after this.

When Thandie Newton appeared in Beloved back in 1998, I was an instant fan. I’d seen her before in a few other flicks, but she blew that one out of the water as the title character. Since then she had worked steadily in a number of critically acclaimed roles. I was absolutely thrilled to see her in this as Val. And utterly heartbroken that she was totally underused. When Val is onscreen, she overshadows everyone else, even Beckett. It’s a shame we don’t see more of her than we do. Boo!

Emilia Clarke as Qi’ra…Hmm.  She’s cute, charming, and tries her hand at swordplay here. But honestly, the Queen of Dragons is a poor fit. The original casting call was for anything other than yet another white brunette. And with amazing ladies like Tessa Thompson in the running, why oh why did we end up with Emilia? If not racism (God, I hope not); Ang’s answer: Think $$$, from Game of Thrones fans in theatre seats. I can think of no other reason. Her chemistry with Alden is tepid at best ( and any of that comes much, much later). I feel bad for Emilia here. I think she was miscast, and that tarnish will always stay with the fans. ( P.s. : the three adult heterosexual males I watched the movie with, were over-the-moon smitten with her. To each his own. I guess…)

On to the non-humans...

Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca is physically brilliant. He’s stolen my heart as Chewie from the lovely Peter Mayhew (sorry Pete) over the last three movies. But honestly, we discover nothing new about Chewbacca in this. Zero. It’s rather unfortunate. I wish I could say more. But we learn more about Chewie in episode three than this. A missed opportunity. Sorry Chewie. For some reason Disney put your character in the doghouse here.

L3-37 is another definite weak spot in Solo. We have a snarky female droid (yay!) as a droid-rights advocate (cool!).  But it’s so completely overwrought. Only Lando’s constant eye rolls save this character from being as ridiculous as Jar Jar Binks. Which is another shame, because I felt she fills in the current canon equivalent of Lando’s copilot droid Vuffi Raa, from the EU/Legends novels from waaay back in the 1980’s, (interestingly they are both pilots, are both self-aware droids and have vaguely parallel fates) Some editing issues arise as far as L3′s character is concerned too. She’ll be leaning, casually watching,  while droids are being slaughtered in front of her, but only interferes with other robots later in the same scene? Why?? Were the first dead droids not good enough for her to save? It’s inconsistent, poor editing; and that really hurts the character. Sorry Phoebe Waller-Bridge, you did great job with what you had. I’m not sure that the script/editing was as good as you deserved.

The spaceship the Millennium Falcon is 100% a full character in this too. Without giving too much away, she represents her pilots as they sit at the helm. She’s treated with more respect - reverence even -  in this, than any other film. And I can say this is her movie as much as it is Han’s. Millennium Falcon fans, you are in for a treat!

And the bad guys...or one guy anyways....

Paul Bettany is chilling and utterly convincing as the gangster Dryden Vos. He also has much better chemistry with Qi’ra than Han.  I’m fairly certain this is mainly due to Paul’s astonishing acting ability.  He first came to my attention as the title character in the darkly funny UK crime film Gangster No.1. I was floored by him then and he’s still blowing me away, even as the rather challenging character Vision in the MCU. Bettany does not disappoint in Solo either. He took over this role with zero preparation, with the weight of replacing another respected actor at the last minute in an extremely troubled production. And the optics of having a white European actor taking over from an African-american are...ermm...not the best. He pulls it off, though. But I can’t help but wonder what Michael K Williams would have brought to the role. Vos is a soulless psychopath under Bettany, not unlike his character in Gangster No.1.  Would Williams have brought the tragic–almost romantic deep spirit and inner strength he brought to his gangster Chalky White in Boardwalk Empire to Vos instead? It’s rather sad we will never know.

I don’t think I can say much else about the other antagonist(s) without spoiling a bunch. But let’s just say...wow! Well done! Surprises and fan service all around!

There is something missing here too. We never see Han as an imperial pilot. Nor the promised Shakespeare-inspired comedic comic book characters that Ron Howard teased last fall.  These gems may be reserved for DVD releases, but I feel Han’s missing academy stint is definitely a gap in this story. And the movie lacks because of it.

Importantly, I do recommend seeing this in IMAX 2D as it is a very dark and muted film.

The usual amazing, special effects, costumes and sets we’ve come to expect from the Star Wars film franchise are all present here.  The styling is different from the previous films, as it takes place about halfway between Episode Three and Rogue One.  It’s neat to see the evolution of the Empire’s gear. 

And the easter eggs are everywhere; prequels, Rebels, Clone Wars, Star Tours ( the Disney Park ride), the comic books from the 1970′s and 80′s, the EU/Legends Han Solo novels by Brian Daley, the Lando Calrissian novels from the same era are especially referenced numerous times. Even the Indiana Jones franchise gets a significantly placed nod.

To say the least, the fan-service is strong with this one.

But not the Force. Not at all. None of that simple tricks and nonsense here at all.

Because I’m a pretty hard-core fan, I pre-bought two showings on initial release. The first time I saw Solo, I was unsure if I actually liked it, but it seemed to be a decent film.  The second viewing ( the same night) was an absolute joy. Times three and four were with different groups of adults, and they all had a blast. Five was with a group of 13 year old girls, and they all enjoyed it too.

So let’s call my rating of Solo then, 4 out of 5 stars. 

Honestly I don’t get the backlash against it.  Don’t take your Last Jedi hate out on this. It’s a fun ride with decent jokes and no space-boob-milk monsters—honest!

And if you think Solo offers nothing different, new, or imaginative. You are 99% correct...Remember, we got that full package of “different and innovative” in Last Jedi. If that’s your schtick, watch that one instead then.

Oh, and one more thing- that 1%?... two words:

Shower scene.

#movie review #spoilers #Solo a Star Wars story #was fun #4 out of 5 stars #Han Solo #that was long #i liked it #han solo movie #Lando Calrissian #l3-37 #Val #Alden Ehrenreich #donald glover #thandie newton #Legends Canon #Disney Canon #Star Wars Expanded Universe #star wars #fan review #Harrison Ford #Goddamned long #i had to get this off my chest