#AND THE SHOW KILLED THE CHARACTERS OFF EVEN THOUGH THE NOVEL HAD A HAPPY ENDING

[letsbesharkfriends]

rewatching one of my favourite TV series that was based on a queer novel but had to be changed to platonic to be aired, and even though the actors did so well to subtly communicate the characters' immense underlying love and devotion, they didn't even get a hug.

it's the first time I've watched it since I discovered SFTH, which just reminds me again and again of how I could never take SFTH and their comfort and dedication to portraying queer characters for granted.

[twilightarc-gm]

Why do you like jiang cheng?

At the risk of liking him for the wrong reasons, let me be verbose and annoying about it.

A short anecdote: I finished the donghua before the novel and I liked JC's aesthetic so I was happy to have that imagery in my head for the novel, but mostly I came out of the donghua like "cool story, the ending was frowny face though" and I came out of the novel like I was lost in the IKEA store "there's stuff here but it's not what I want and it's organized in a way that's hard to navigate through." Bit like giving me a puzzle to solve.

Anyway, imagine a cat bapping at a thing trying to get fandom to show me what to do with MDZS (i.e. reading fanfic) and then I come across anti-Jiang Cheng stuff.

//record scratch

I'm sorry what?

Why?

NO.

I started then on Shuangjie reconciliation fic and quickly evolved into Jiang Cheng "Apologist" ((I actually don't think he has anything to apologize for even if he would do so anyway.))

I've been in the xianxia/wuxia sphere of media consumption for a year or so before trying out MDZS and JC just fits so well as the main character of his own story; destined for a position of power through birth, friends with someone in his life that causes conflict, seemingly betrayed by said friend when needing that friend the most, losing and losing and losing as his trust in said friend proves unfounded because the friend walks a path he can't follow, and then he's left with the tragedy that befell the world because--ultimately he trusted this friend too much.

It's a classic story of love and attachment and how good intentions can have massive consequences. Two men entwined by fate and in the end there's a battle on a hill (off screen in this case) where one is forced to "kill" the other.

MDZS could have ended with the past timeline, and I would have liked it more but at least in the present timeline we get Jiujiu and a-Ling.

Anyway: Excerpts and Commentary Below about WHY I LOVE JIANG CHENG, courtesy WANYIN

Of all the clans to offend, you don’t offend the Jiang Clan, and of all the people to offend, you never offend Jiang Cheng.

We stand by a badass mf in this house. The first thing we learn is that he gets credit for killing a big baddy and the second thing we learn is how fierce the rest of his reputation is. He brooks no shit and leaves no quarter. Amazing 💜

Well, I was done for at "gaze like two streaks of cold lightning" so RIP me, I guess. Reminds me of some antis that are like "you only like him because he's hot" which isn't true but it is a nice plus. He's described as inferior to LWJ so like, if it was only about hotness then wouldn't I like LWJ???

“I am his uncle. Do you have any last words?”

At the sound of that voice, every drop of blood in Wei Wuxian’s body seemed to surge to his head but then immediately drained away again. Thankfully, his face was already a mess of ghastly white, so it didn’t look strange when he went a little paler.

A man in purple attire strode over. He was dressed in a narrow-sleeved light robe, with his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. A silver bell dangled from his waist, yet there was no sound when he walked.

This young man had fine brows and almond eyes, with a chiseled handsomeness to his features. His eyes were deep and intense with a hint of aggression, his gaze like two streaks of cold lightning. He stopped and stood three meters away from Wei Wuxian. His expression was like that of a nocked arrow on a bow, ready to shoot, and even his composure was suffused with arrogant pride.

Jiang Cheng ruled the Jiang Clan of Yunmeng alone, so it could have been said that he was in a state of isolation.

🥺 Alone?? And he could still afford 400 Immortal Binding Nets? Self-sufficient king 🤩 And like, his reputation is so fierce and he's boiling over with anger in that scene, but still he restrains himself because he did the cost-benefit analysis! And then later he takes a huge risk on WWX, like he always does for WWX, and that doesn't work out for him--like it always does.

Seeing that nothing had happened to Jin Ling, Jiang Cheng was greatly relieved. However, that relief soon turned into a furious reprimand:

Parent behavior. Enough said.

He has a twisted smile when encountering a trigger for his PTSD and then he decides to fight it instead of letting it paralyze him. He's such a doer. Like, every other moment of the day he's carefully calculating pluses and minuses to every choice (valid) but when it comes to facing his personal demons he's ready to throw down. Excellent.

A moment later, Jiang Cheng’s lips pulled into a twisted smile. His left hand subconsciously began stroking that ring once more.

He said softly, “Excellent. Back, are you?”

He let go of his left hand, and a long whip dangled from it.

“Oh? Then please enlighten me, what is your type?”

Walking A-Spec flag very concerned about what the man who might be his shixiong thinks about him, more at eleven!

Wei Wuxian waved him off and then hooked his arm around Jiang Cheng’s shoulders. “Who cares? I’ll tease him a bit more before I go. You’ve already collected my corpse so many times. Once more won’t hurt.”

Okay but big lol that JC doesn't get to collect WWX's corpse that final time. //sounds of sobbing

A smile appeared on his face, but then he immediately humphed.

He's so grumpy and adorable! I love him! pre massacre JC is precious and I just want him to have someone to bring out that smile again.

He literally didn't have to do this. He makes all these excuses how he'll be embarrassed if WWX is rolling around 😂 Perfection. Boy, you are still carrying him and he doesn't want you to stop.

Jiang Cheng, walk slower, you’re gonna throw me off.”

Not only did Jiang Cheng want to throw Wei Wuxian off, but he practically wanted to bash his head into the ground to create a human crater. “So fussy even though I’m carrying you!”

“I didn’t tell you to carry me,” Wei Wuxian reasoned.

Jiang Cheng flew into a rage. “If I didn’t carry you, I think you’d hang out at their ancestral hall all day, rolling around on the floor. I can’t afford this embarrassment! Lan Wangji took fifty more strikes than you, but he walked away on his own, and you’re not embarrassed, pretending to be an invalid? I don’t want to carry you anymore. Get the hell off!”

“No, I’m wounded,” Wei Wuxian said.

Alrighty, like I'm just going through the entire book at this point.

Let me see if I can make this more concise:

Sacrifices himself despite his very dutiful nature that would oppose this. He throws away all his responsibilities for WWX, again and again, carrying on a tradition of favoring WWX over his own health and happiness. Citing: JFM favoring WWX to the detriment of his marriage, JYL dying to save WWX, and JC (exhausted and with little or no power) running into danger to save WWX ala distracting the Wen patrol and 2nd Siege.

Can't be honest in his affections and makes up excuses to do nice things for others.

Loves and understands his sister. She wanted JZX so he made it happen when LLJ had absolutely no reason to reinstate the marriage contract between Xuanli. JGS notes in the CR arc that he didn't want the marriage for his son in the first place and that there were better options than YMJ, and that was before the war! JC helped her get to Yiling to show off her wedding dress! Even though she married out he still felt so attached to her son he couldn't not co-parent Jin Ling.

Yes, he has Zidian, but he also has a second horsewhip that he keeps on him which is very exciting to know.

The narrative hates him but he survives. (He survives because the narrative hates him).

Most BAMF entrance in the novel at the temple scene with the busting the temple doors down and coming in from the rain with an umbrella. Like sure the narrative hates him but small blessings that rule of cool still counts for something.

Mama's boy.

Just some dude, shows up late to treasury room nonsense, knows all the gossip, no one has faith in him including himself, but he keeps going and doing what needs to be done even when he's so so tired and his shixiong shows up 3 months late with a ghoul lady and a latte, or disappears to liberate slave property without warning first and now he's called into a midnight meeting after trying to get some much needed rest and now he's got consequences to deal with. Someone help him!

An expert at sneering. Threats as a show of worry and care. This makes all the little and brief smiles so much more endearing.

Sandu Shengshou is an amazing title, get out of here if you don't agree. Holy Hand of the Three Poisons? Brutal, perfect 💜 It gets used like, ONCE. Crime against me personally.

Link to Blorbo Sheet for JC

He loves, he hates, he wants to hate he's not allowed to love. Zero middle ground, he's all in and there's no way out.

//is shot and dragged off stage

But just as the Wei Wuxian of the past who’d extracted his golden core for Jiang Cheng had been unable to tell him the truth, the Jiang Cheng of the present could no longer bring himself to speak up.

[absolutebl]

I'd like to specify a request for good Thai shows that just finished. They're my favorite for many reasons, and I also enjoy getting to learn more Thai words.

Good 2023 Thai BL That Recently Finished (to Binge!)

(I actually held off answering this one until a few had ended this week because I didn't have many for 2023. It's not been great year for Thai BL so far IMHO. Now South Korea is KILLING it. So is Japan.. in a different way.)

My School President

9/10

GMMTV gave us a classic high school set Thai BL with tropes like messy boys singing their feelings that made this one Love Sick for the modern age with all the gentle sweetness and pining ache, but none of the dated damaging tropes or issues.

Yes, we’ve seen it all before, but I still ADORED this. And there is a lot to be said for the classics being re-executed perfectly. Who let my BL be this wholesome and funny? This show was fantastic, it’s only flaw was the singing (and that’s my baggage).

My favourite GMMTV BL offering to date. And yes, I've watched them ALL. (YouTube)

Step By Step

9/10

This was Thailand’s answer to The New Employee, and everything I loved about that show I loved about this one.

This was an office romance between stern boss and sweet subordinate that felt more authentic to an office environment than previous Thai BLs of this ilk. And that authenticity added tension to the narrative and character development (how novel). Now that might be because it has western source material, or it might be because it is actually kind of old-fashioned (it’s been years since I worked as an office grunt). I also really enjoyed the brothers’ relationship, and kinda wished they hadn’t attempted (and failed) to give said brother his own side BL.

(Gaga & YouTube & Viki)

La Pluie

9/10

This BL takes to task the fated mates trope and what it means to have love chained intimately to predestination. It’s about how faith in destiny before choice diminishes the authenticity of emotion, relationships, and connection. This is a high concept to examine through the lens of a BL.

By activating + examining the soulmates trope this show is challenging a foundation of romance: the idea that there is one person meant to be your one romantic partner all your life. This means that we, as viewers, spend much of the show worried about it having a happy ending, and that’s the source of both its brilliance and tension: would the narrative have the strength to truly challenge its own romantic core?

But, ultimately, all this elevated complexity was executed in a somewhat shaky manner with the narrative derailing into some serious pacing issues and characters manipulated by miscommunication. However, with good chemistry and decent acting all around, plus some excellent high heat and representation of consent and a few other rare tropes, this one has to (like it’s sibling show My Ride) earn a 9/10.

I enjoyed it even as it made me think. (iQIYI)

Make a Wish

8/10

PNR (from Sammon: Manner of Death & Triage) about a doctor who can see the dead and strikes a bargain with a wish-granting irreverent tree angel - naturally they fall in love.

Stars Fluke Natouch opposite not-Ohm, but who cares bc Fluke has chemistry with everybody. Once again the Thai afterlife is incredibly bureaucratic but I enjoyed the premise and the unfolding of the story (it’s not predictable but still satisfying and with nice little twist). I like that the doctor is just gay af and has a fag hag bestie and everything.

The cast is excellent but the comedic stylings are too overblown and tonally off. It had sad parts and did make me cry but is ultimately happy with a great sex scene, good smiley kisses, and all the agency. (grey)

Moonlight Chicken

8/10

I enjoyed this complicated little show, even though it’s spectacularly messy gay with lots of shrapnel and authentic pain.

I thought EarthMix turned in their most compelling performance to date. But it was GeminiFourth who stole my heart.

That said, the most interesting central relationship was that of Jim & Li Ming, their father-son angst mixed with evident affection made me tear up.

This was more slice of life than it was BL, but it ended happily so I’m not mad at it. (YouTube)

Never Let Me Go

8/10

Bodyguard romance where poor boy must watch over rich boy for family obligation reasons. Simple premise well executed with a few bumps that made it feel like it was trying to tackle too much (when it wasn’t).

Still, an enjoyable show that benefited from being handed to PondPhuwin who did a stellar job with their roles and chemistry. Is it going into permanent rewatch rotation? No, but a solid GMMTV offering. Of GMMTV passing out new series to established pairs this has been the most successful IMHO. PondPhuwin were about 10000x better in this than FUTS (and that's FUTS's fault, not theirs).

It's typically Thai in that its a bit bloated and has a confusing plot, but at least it HAD a plot and the central relationship is solid and loyal. Their Our Skyy 2 follow up is great. And very much adds to the cannon in a fun way rather than feeling superfluous - making this show ultimately 14 eps rather than the usual 12. (YouTube)

Destiny Seeker

8/10

A darn near perfect pulp featuring 3 likable grumpy/sunshine pairings with uncomplicated iterations of enemies to lovers. At least one half of each does a decent amount of pining and there’s good chemistry, classic tropes, and communication rep. It’s fun and full of linguistic jokes.

Sublimely cheesy but a good rainy day offering with tons of rewatch potential. (WeTV)

Bed Friend

8/10 (Triggers include: child abuse, attempted rape, family abuse)

Office frienamies transition a flaming hot one night stand into a f-buddy relationship that is built on a puppy/cat dynamic (and kinks into it at one point). Our puppy is loyal, smitten, and protective with endlessly longing eyes, while our cat is snarky, prickly, and deeply damaged (ALL THE TRIGGERS).

NetJames give lovely high-heat with excellent chemistry and tuned-in performances of surprising depth, unfortunately the story ultimately failed them. Had the show had the strength of its convictions and kept to a tighter, darker, harsher 8 eps it would have been the first high heat to earn a 10/10 from me, but once they fussed with it, it dropped to a solid 8/10.

Could have been great but was overworked. Still if high heat is your thing, this one will not let you down. (YouTube)

Between Us

8/10

Featuring the hugely popular side characters from 2019′s Until We Meet Again, Win Team (played by Studio Wabi Sabi's most popular, and commercially viable, pair BounPrem - Long Khong, You Never Eat Alone, Seven Project, Even Sun), adaptation of the y-novel Hemp Rope.

It’s a serviceable series about hot swimmers flirting and dealing with family drama in a sweetly earnest manner, but ultimately it squanders the talent in play. I would’ve preferred a cleaner narrative arc, less angst and more plot, fewer couples, and a shorter series.

That said, there’s nothing objectively wrong, sub-standard, or off-putting about this show. And it has lots of consent and other good qualities.

It’s fine. Watch along here. (iQIYI)

This list dated July 16 2023, not responsible for anything that came after, that'll probably be in end of year wrap ups.

[kashilascorner]

Out of the three main villains, I think Fernando is the least bad because he does have one redeeming quality: he does loves his wife and child (literally) with all his life. Rather than a terribly bad individual, he is a profoundly misguided person. From his obsessive love to Mercedes to how he was convinced into condemning Edmond to how he betrayed Ali Tebelen. His seemingly violent character does not help. A testament of his genuine love is the fact that, despite everything, Mercedes and him do seem to have had a rather happy marital life and Albert had a good upbringing and became a good man. Also, he is not obscenely rich. Dumas goes out of his way more than once to assess that the Morcerfs, while privileged and no doubt well off, have a relatively modest fortune compared to their other peers in the novel. This, in my opinion, shows that even if he was unscrupulous in building his fortune and station in the beginning (when he was poor and had nothing to give Mercedes the life she deserved), he did not necessarily continue on that path --whether because he was not interested or because he was not clever enough or because he was more prudent but not actually less unscrupulous we could debate. Lastly, he's not entirely without remorse. When confronted by Haydée he feels some of that. In the end, understanding of the shame he has brought upon his family and how he betrayed their trust, seeing that they will never forgive him, he kills himself. Perhaps one last act of love to them as much as an act of desperation and selfishness for losing all he cared about in life.

Then you have Villefort, who is a far darker grey, a man who's obsessed with status, with himself and his name, but who ultimately had moments of "weakness": seeing Valentine's death, being moved by his past lover Hermine. To protect the status and name that's the most precious thing in his life he's willing to go to terrible extremes, even if they weigh on his conscience later. It's obvious he's capable of certain warm feelings and that he is a man who's constantly repressing himself into the image he wishes to project. He's a man who defines himself by his job and station, a man rather obsessed with work though, by his own admission, he works because that allows him to forget. That doesn't sound like someone with a clean conscience at all. He's justice, but he bends it to convenience and that is his downfall.

Lastly: Danglars. This guy is the most irredeemable of all three. Not only is he selfish and greedy and does not show a single warm feeling towards anyone in the entire novel, not even his daughter and wife. Everything he does is always under an utilitarian light. He does not even have good taste. And this whole thing started, his so terrible hatred to Edmond goes down to two things: 1 he caught him stealing (they settled that up) 2, and in my opinion most telling, he was envious. He really does not have a single redeeming quality, so in some ways he's the worst of all three main villains however I must point out that he's the only of the three who doesn't seem to have murdered anyone directly lol

[bookswithsyd]

It Was HIM All Along! | Heaven Official’s Blessing

Coming back to present times, book seven of Heaven Official’s Blessing returns to the kiln with Xie Lian and White No-Face. I was waiting for the entirety of arc four to come back to the kiln. I wanted to see an epic battle between the two, maybe have Xie Lian unlock some hidden strength to defeat White No-Face and escape. That did not happen. Instead, the least likely thing happens and San Lang’s giant divine statue breaks Xie Lian out of the kiln.

Honestly, the Mount Tonglu scene didn’t grab me until Jun Wu descended to assist with the duel. Only the lending of spiritual power and the unique way of obtaining a sword grabbed me for more than a page. After everyone is sent to fend off evil spirits set on re-releasing Human Face Disease to the world, things start to heat up.

Once Xie Lian and Hua Cheng make it to the Royal Capital, Heaven’s Eye, and friends frankly are unless for the first half of what I dub the Human Array Section. None of the masters wanted to lend themselves to help defend the city. Thank god one of the best characters makes his return! Shi Qingxuan and all this broken glory is the only reason why the array gets started. Seeing him living life as a beggar, injured was hard. After reading the events of book four, I only want happiness for him, I wish he could be in better condition, but seeing him alive is enough for me.

Once the array got going, all was well for a minute, the masters gathered around to join, they brought disciples and the evil spirits could be captured. I was not expecting the Xianle state preceptor to be the thing that got the plot moving. It was a great way to transition back to the Heavenly Court.

This whole time, I thought that there was this deep connection between White No-Face and Xie Lian, but instead, I got the reveal that Jun Wu was actually the monster lurking around all the misery that had happened. Seeing Jun Wu take out most of the Heavenly Capital, the way he easily captured all the officials, set the court ablaze, and transformed the Heavens to be his own fighting machine finally showed off all the power that was mentioned throughout the series. Even though it was as the antagonist, it was nice to see that power in action.

Even with all the seriousness of this section, there were still moments of secondhand embarrassment to brighten my mood. From Qingxuan walking in on Xie Lian and Hua Cheng’s goodbye kiss to Xie Lian pulling Qi Ying in front to hide his spiritual power exchange, there is always some way for Xie Lian to make a scene.

A lot of this novel revolves around keeping the human array intact and fighting against Jun Wu. After his near defeat in Black Water territory, I thought Jun Wu retreating to the Royal Capital signified the beginning of the final battle. This was a good fight scene, Pei Ming facing Jun Wu one-on-one, Qi Rong almost getting Guzi killed, and the three mountain spirits coming to the rescue by becoming a sword all added to the suspense. Seeing everyone come together to try to take out a single enemy was a nice change of pace. Bringing together most of the introduced characters from the series made this scene even more impactful.

The ending trip back to Wuyong was the most stressful thing to read. With the uncertainty of Mu Qing being who he says he is, and Hua Cheng rolling a one and saying that it means something dangerous is waiting for him, this was not the best way to enter a new scene. Entering the one place where the enemy feels most at home is not the best idea before what MUST be the final fight. Ending the entire book by finding Feng Xin alive and scared of Mu Qing is not a reassuring way to go into the last book of the series.

[presidenthades]

Did you like the new episode ?

It was…an episode. 😅

I don’t have particularly novel thoughts for S2E5, but I can give some highlights.

I have seen people criticizing the scene where Meleys’s head is paraded through the city, mostly in terms of the smallfolk reactions. I agree that there should be more mixed feelings, because it was only about a month ago that Rhaenys and Meleys massacred a bunch of peasants. But it does make sense there’s a sense of awe and dread, because even though dragons HAVE been killed in Westeros before, none of them have ever had their heads paraded through the city.

As an Aemond fan…I really hate him right now. 🥲 He only had maybe two sympathetic moments this season so far, both in the brothel, including where Aegon made fun of him. Then he just decided to turn evil and fratricidal. When he went to watch the maesters take off Aegon’s armor and immediately said “someone else needs to rule in his stead” (paraphrasing), I was shaking my fist at the screen.

On the plus side, I guess we kinda finally get Alicent realizing Aegon is her son and she’s supposed to care about him? That little “mummy” broke me. 😭

I never thought I’d be rooting for Alicent over Aemond, especially this season, but I did find myself hoping she’d be picked as regent. Mostly because I don’t think Aemond is a good choice at the moment. Man, I miss Otto (something else I wasn’t expecting to say).

Gods bless Orwyle though. I feel justified in previously admitting I like him.

I don’t have particularly unique thoughts about that Daemon scene. 💀

It is interesting how GRRM tends to be very pro-Blackwood and anti-Bracken, but the show has actually made the Brackens look badass in this episode whereas the Blackwoods have become war criminals. I can only hope (delusionally, maybe) that the show will follow through on the “angry Riverlords denouncing Daemon’s war crimes” plot line instead of conveniently forgetting about it. 🥲

The show keeps framing Alfred Broome as dumb and misogynistic…but he’s actually speaking a lot of sense? 🧐 I know what he ends up doing in the book, so this might be the start of an interesting character arc for him. Usually I’m all for interesting character arcs…but Alfred is a minor character in the grand scheme of things, and it reminds me that a lot of the main characters are not getting logical character arcs. 😔 I’m gonna laugh if Alfred ends up being an accidental fan favorite.

I am not sure that Jace’s diplomatic negotiations with the Freys will go as well as he thinks. And not because they’re Freys—Freys don’t get a bad reputation until Walder a few centuries later. Sure, taking Harrenhal from Larys makes sense, but what about Daemon’s new BFF Simon Strong? I can’t imagine Simon is going to be happy about the family castle being handed over to another house.

(It’s probably moot because Aemond is gonna do…stuff…at Harrenhal eventually. 💀)

I loved the glimpse of the Eyrie. TBH I’m on Jeyne’s side here about being cheated in their deal. 😅 Hatchlings are probably liabilities more than assets. Their riders are babies, and the hatchlings are just gonna eat a lot of food.

The convo between Corlys and Baela is really nice and lovely. But. Her rejecting Driftmark without even thinking about it feels very “the writers want the audience to know it’s OK that Laena’s daughters are being passed over, we’re all friends here.” I feel like Corlys keeps making halfhearted gestures about being angry with Rhaenyra but never following through. Just a taste of drama and infighting without the actual consequences.

We’ll probably get more details about the Elinda and Dyana plot next episode, but I don’t have high hopes for logic and consistency. The first thing I asked myself when Dyana recognized Elinda was “how do they know each other?” I think the show might have them be friends from their days of working at the Red Keep, but there’s a problem with that. Elinda went with Rhaenyra to Dragonstone, so she was gone from KL for 6 years. Dyana is notably very young, so I can’t imagine her being a little girl already working as a royal chambermaid 6+ years ago; being a front-of-house servant for the royal family would be a very coveted job probably based on seniority, experience, and connections. So odds are their time as royal servants at the Red Keep didn’t overlap, and servants had a hierarchy of their own, so it’s not like Elinda (who is a noblewoman) is hanging out with the scullions. I guess we’ll just have to see what the show does…or if they just gloss over it.

I am excited about the dragon seed plot, even though there are some plot holes and problems with it. I quite like what they’re doing with Hugh (his wife’s Tumbleton mention is not going to end well 👀), and Ulf has honestly been fun to watch. But I’m going to be very disappointed if they really cut Nettles (and it sounds like they did). 😢

[vikenticomeshome]

Monster House (2006) had a tie-in graphic novel?

Yeah, it did. I only found out about it by chance when reading the wiki. It was done by IDW Publishing on June 14, 2006. This would have been roughly a month before the film had its theatrical release in the U.S. on July 21, 2006.

Before we start talking about the content, let's talk about the credits. The comic consists of two stories. I will print the credits exactly as they appear.

"Skull & Bones" Written by: Joshua Dysart Art by: Simeon Wilkins Colors by: Len O' Grady

"Honor Roll" Words and Art by: Simeon Wilkins Colors by: Len O' Grady

Edited by: Kris Oprisko Designed by: Neil Uyetake Lettered by: Tom B. Long

Now, of course, I cannot post the entire work here. Sure, the comic appears to have only been printed once in 2006. Sure, it is unlikely that it will ever be reprinted, as Monster House was a single film that told its complete story and never got any sequels or spin-offs. Sure, the only way to legitimately purchase a copy these days is to buy it second-hand. Still, I could get in trouble for posting it in full here.

However, you could try searching "Monster House Graphic Novel". You may find that someone has scanned and uploaded a copy that you can read for free. You might even feel inspired to make a Tumblr post sharing some of your favorite panels from that scan. Imagine that. https://archive.org/details/monster-house-graphic-novel

Anyway, before you go past the "read more". I recommend you obtain the graphic novel and read it for yourself to get the full experience.

The first story, "Skull & Bones", alternates between scenes that take place at the same time as the movie and scenes that took place 20 years earlier. Our protagonist for the evening in both timelines is "Bones". You remember him right?

We all remember the scene between him and Zee where he's messing with her, she gets sick of him, and she kicks him out. Mind you, the movie showed it from DJ's POV, who couldn't see much from behind the couch.

The comic lovingly recreates the scene from the front of the couch.

Comic made him more of an ugly sonuvabitch than the film did.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Remember, he did have his back-story that he talked about during the film. Now, we get to see it.

One day, 20 years ago, long before his nose was quite so big, Bones was flying his kite. The kite's name was "Awesome Kite".

But then, it all goes wrong. Awesome lands on Mr. Nebbercracker's lawn. Bones knows well and good that Nebbercracker will steal his kite if he doesn't get it back quickly. Worse, he has to listen to Nebbercracker's marital problems.

Mr. Nebbercracker is calm and reasonable about the whole thing, just like in the film.

Back in the present-day, we have Skull and Bones showing that they care about making children happy, or maybe they are just desperate for a gig. Either way, they are playing a gig at the local children's hospital.

However, they parked in a hand-capped spot. Well, nobody's perfect.

Lester very nearly ends the story early, but our heroes are saved in the nick of time.

Oh look, its the little girl from the movie's intro. Why does her face look like that?

Okay, let's go back to just after Zee kneed him the stomach and sent him packing. We know that he went to take his anger out on Nebbercracker's house.

Our idiot hero is easily lured into the house by Awesome Kite, who is made to float in the doorway.

Then, he gets eaten.

He'll be fine though. Everyone remembers the ending of Monster House, right? We got a montage of all the characters who were eaten by the house climbing out of the ruins. The children in the audience were re-assured that the house never actually killed anyone.

Yeah, no, the comic confirms that Constance isn't the only skeleton in the basement. I spy a mail carrier, a door-to-door salesman or special agent from ACME, the milk man, someone who was just shoveling the sidewalk, and at least one dog. At least I don't see any child skeletons.

Still, our plucky hero continues his search-and-rescue operation. At last, he reaches Awesome Kite.

Before, he can reach it though, let's flash back to 20 years. While Bones is sulking over his kite, Zee is having a tea party. Lovely.

Look, I don't care about the monster house anymore. This scene of Zee obliterating the dolls with a damn weed-wacker is amazing.

Bones meets up with his friend Skull, and we get our musical number.

Afterwards, Skull and Bones go on their mission to retrieve Awesome. They don't have J.D's level of planning however. Lester, who would go on to become the skinny cop, discovers them.

I know I've been making fun of the story, but it does show us an important angle that we don't get in the movie.

We see Nebbercracker frustrated with Constance's actions, as well as all of the effort he puts into keeping Constance's true nature a secret.

I want to share one particularly impactful line.

"You keep saying you love me! But you don't know how to love!"

Then, he tries to leave.

And she doesn't let him leave.

No, he returns to stare into the fire.

Yeah, he kisses her on the Mantle. Bones and Skull don't understand how tragic this whole scene is.

And now, we're back to business as usual. Nebbercracker goes after the kids, and Constance looks ready to eat them herself.

And now we're back to present-day Bones and near the end of the movie. The house rips itself out of its foundation. While it hurries away, probably to go eat three kids, Skull is able to climb out to safety.

Skull, the twist villain of the comic, has stolen his girl.

Or, maybe she was just pretending to date Skull to make Bones jealous? Maybe they're a polycule now?

No matter what happened, it looks like Zee lost in the end. That's what she gets for breaking that plant pot and blaming it on DJ.

I managed to hit the image limit before I got to the second story. However, that one doesn't really have much to do with Monster House. "Final Roll" tells us that Skull and Bones play DnD. Its really just Bones walking away from the game after refusing to make a roll. Skull badgers him for weeks until he throws the die into Nebbercracker's lawn. I may make a second post with highlights from that story, but the first story was definitely the more important one to cover.

I'm glad that I got to read this comic. It was alot of fun. The original movie is a masterpiece in presenting such dark themes to children. And then, the graphic novel expanded upon it. We got to see that Nebbercracker was not always able to keep everyone safe from Constance. We got to see how much of a toll the whole unfair situation took on him. We got a peek at Bone's, Skull's, and Zee's childhoods. We got to see Zee destroy a bunch of plastic dolls with a damn weed whacker.

If you haven't read it, go read it. My post isn't going to be the same as reading the whole thing.

[irlkdj]

I dunno who needs to hear this but Yoo Joonghyuk did not regress ONLY to meet Kim Dokja again. I think to reduce it to that is to minimize his character—it was a lot more than that. I think the moment he chose to regress in the 0th round was an important act of agency. Throughout the novel, Yoo Joonghyuk is constantly characterized through Kim Dokja’s eyes. We don’t have a good sense of who he is until about the 200s I would argue. But the reason for that is not just Dokja’s assumption that he knows him best because he read about him, but also because Yoo Joonghyuk /himself/ doesn’t understand who he is as an individual. He’s the regressor. Protagonist. But never just Yoo Joonghyuk. It’s always what he can offer other people. He even says himself he started to identify more with his role as a regressor than as a person with autonomy:

“He realized that, if he were to get to the end of all the scenarios, he needed to kill off his emotions, that he must not live his life.

And so, he decided to become not 'Yoo Joonghyuk', but the 'Regressor', instead.”

Here he lays it out plan and simple. In order to continue, he cannot feel, he cannot be an individual with agency, he cannot live his life. He is trapped in this never ending cycle—and even in times of success and relief, he cannot see the merit in his efforts:

“What was 'happiness'? That term felt so very alien to Yoo Joonghyuk. He thought he might have felt such an emotion from somewhere within the memories of the 0th turn that he managed to steal a glance earlier. However, that was no longer his life.”

So this brings us back to him regressing in the 0th round. 

"One day, I suddenly came into existence in this world."

A man who came to exist in this world without a warning.

"Without any memories of my childhood, I was suddenly cast into this world. I wandered around an illegal work site, and through sheer luck, got spotted by the director, and thus became a pro gamer. But then out of the blue, someone abandoned a child on my doorstep. A child, supposedly my younger sister."

A conveniently-crafted life, a series of adversities created solely to become a tragedy later.

"Once, I searched for my parents. However, no matter how hard I searched, I couldn't find them. Even the professionals that could unearth the president's hidden illegitimate child couldn't find my par-ents. It was as if such things didn't exist in this world, to begin with."

[Constellation, 'Demon King of Salvation', is...]

"So I ask you, 'Demon King of Salvation'. Who am I?"

My heart was in pain. The fact that Yoo Joonghyuk had eventually reached that question was endlessly tormenting me.

I needed to say something. Anything...

"Does the secret of this world lie beyond the wall, where you are?"

Yoo Joonghyuk does not understand himself. He is happy, something he proclaims to Kim Dokja. But he feels as though something is missing. Some integral part of himself—the part that he desperately wants to explore and understand but never had the chance to do so. Obviously, the 0th round took place before the 1864th round, but the backstory we looked at earlier shows his character. He is on a journey of self-discovery, that’s what his story is about. He says: “I'm curious about the reason behind all the goodwill you've shown me. I'm also curious about the meaning of my life, where I was born, and why I had to come here. If I had one more chance…” So while meeting Kim Dokja again definitely could’ve been a factor in his decision to regress, I don’t think it was the end all be all. I think to minimize it to such a reason is to ignore his struggle with agency and identity.

[fast-moon]

Star Trek: Picard Season 1 Thoughts

So, after finishing and thoroughly enjoying Deep Space 9, I wanted to pick up a different Trek series because at this point I had gotten used to marathoning a few episodes every evening. I wasn't too eager to try watching Voyager all the way through due to the Maquis involvement (my second-to-least favorite recurring plot in DS9, with Mirror Universe being the least), but I read that Picard followed up on the ending of DS9 in season 3, so I figured, why not.

Gotta get through seasons 1 and 2 first, though.

So, first off, going from something made in 1993 to something made in 2020, was certainly a jolt. Widescreen format, CG everywhere, and no one's enunciating for the microphones anymore so you have to have the subtitles on to know half of what anyone's saying.

I'm not going to be doing an episode-by-episode recap of this like I did with DS9 due to it being in the "8 hour movie broken into chunks" format that's common with streaming shows nowadays, so the content of every episode kind of blurs together, anyway.

Right off the bat, I have a similar overall issue with this as I had with Harrison Ford coming back for the Star Wars sequels: He's just too old to be doing this anymore. He sounds so out of breath in every scene to the point that it's uncomfortable, and I just want him to sit down and take a nap.

I did like that the premise of Season 1 was basically "We're going to take the episode 'Measure of a Man' and then expand on that theme of whether androids have human rights or not." What I liked most about DS9 was its penchant for political allegory and devoting entire episodes to thought experiments and debating novel or morally grey legal concepts.

So Picard S1 set up two moral questions: "Do androids have human rights?", and "Are you obligated to aid the people of an enemy nation when they're facing an extinction-level event?"

And then proceeded to devote very little of its runtime to exploring either of those questions.

What it did devote most of its runtime to was "look at how cynical everyone is and how much baggage they have". Yes, characters need flaws and challenges to overcome, but they also need to be someone I can root for. What I liked about TNG and DS9 were that, even though they regularly got into emotionally heavy stuff, there was still this sense of adventure, optimism, and camaraderie among the crew. The whole theme of "Things suck now, but we can fix it and make it better, and everyone around you wants to help."

But now it's just fallen into that gritty, edgy sci-fi that makes it feel altogether generic. Where if they didn't say things like "Romulans" or "Federation" or "Borg", it would be unrecognizable as Star Trek.

The only real underlying sense of "fun" in this season was Rios's crew of holograms, which were the high point for me. We need campy silliness to endear us to characters so that we can actually care when bad things happen to them. If they're in a funk all the time, what makes this latest crisis worth special attention?

The other high point was the Riker family lodge, since it was another instance of "look at how happy and fun people are, and this is what we're trying to protect". And I was SO worried the series was going to make something terrible happen to them (although, there's still two more seasons). They brought Hugh back just to kill him off in a random pointless way, after all.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see Seven of Nine (pretty much the only character on Voyager I liked, and she didn't show up until that show was halfway done), although the "Coming up on Star Trek: Picard" reel at the end of episode 1 spoiled both her and Riker's appearances in the series, which bummed me out.

I found the season finale to be 50% heartwarming and 50% absolute bullshit. So, Picard at the beginning is stated to have a ticking time-bomb in his brain that will kill him eventually. Then at the end, he settles everything with a speech, but the stress causes his brain to go boom and he dies. But! Thankfully he just happened to be on the planet of artificial bodies and they just finished their procedure of transferring a human consciousness to one! So he died for a completely contrived reason, then was immediately brought back to no ill effect, to the point of why bother in the first place?

But, the heartwarming aspect of it was for him to be able to talk to the soul of Data, and hear Data's wish that his remaining consciousness be deactivated so he can die like a mortal. Very reminiscent of Vision's request in the Marvel comics, that he be allowed to die instead of constantly being rebuilt and reactivated, so that his life has meaning (and, side note, I read that the director for Picard Season 3 is heading up the Vision Quest D+ series, which was another reason I was curious to watch it and see what Vision's story might be in for).

So, all in all, I thought it was... okay. A bit too dark and cynical for what I want from Star Trek, and I hope in the subsequent seasons they can let themselves have more fun with it.

[inseasofgreen]

Writeblr Interview

Thank you both to @leahnardo-da-veggie and @drchenquill for the tag!

Short stories, novels or poems?

Novels! all the way

What genre do you prefer reading?

Fantasy, both dark and romantasy. even better if they're combined

What genre do you prefer writing?

Fantasy! I tend to struggle writing anything but fantasy.

Are you a planner or a write-as-i-go kind of person?

I like to start with a plan and some ideas, then let the characters take the reins and throw it all out the door

What music do you listen to while writing the story?

I have a playlist with cinematic soundtracks that I tend to listen too. Though I do often listen to the GOT and HOTD soundtracks. Daenerys' aaaHHHH AHHHH's actually are the source of a lot of Zemorri's most badass scenes.

Fav books/movies

I've been trying to get more into reading so lately it's been ASOIAF and the Witcher - two of which inspired the creation of Nyrus and POTO. I have a long TBR but I like to buy books before I read them, which is hard right now with money being a bit tight the next month or so.

Any Current WIPs?

2! Well, more like 3 if you include the second Plight of the Dragon, the sequel to POTO. We have Plight of the Oracle, which I pretty much have dedicated my blog too. Plight of the Dragon, which is more like one shots and random braindumps of what happens after the first book. Then Familia Ante Omnia, trilogy set in modern day NYC and is about the downfall of the crime ring from inside. Which I actually see a lot of it's themes in POTO. But that's on a hiatus for the foreseeable future.

If someone were to make a cartoon out of you, what would your standard outfit be?

An oversized orangey flannel, black crop top, and either leggings or shorts depending on the weather. Throw in a black beanie for good measure too

Create a character description of yourself

oof okay here we go

She was a short, adorable little thing. She sat fidgeting with a ring on her left ring finger, too timid to make her presence known. Her dark brown hair, cropped at her shoulders was tucked behind her ears. A few strands that had once been a fringe fell, cascading over her grey eyes. The roseness of her cheeks a striking contrast to the porcelain like skin. She looks up at someone giving a slightly crooked smile before getting up from her seat.

was literally me a few minutes ago rereading was I wrote when my fiance came up and wanted to go up to bed lmao

Do you like incorporating people you actually know into your writing?

oof no, hard pass. fictional people tend to be more interesting anyway

Are you kill-happy with the characters?

I tend to be? I have a rule with killing off characters, a few actually. It ends their arc nicely, it serves an actual purpose and isn't for shock value, and they under no circumstance can come back alive. I absolutely h a t e when death is cheapened. Don't introduce stakes that high only to make them pointless.

Coffee or Tea while writing?

diet coke or water!

Slow or Fast writer?

both? I don't know what is considered fast I guess. If i'm really feeling it and don't have distractions I can get about 1k an hour and keep that up for a few hours. Then there's days like today I'm surrounded by distractions and not feeling it too much, right now I'm at 1,500 for the 4 hours i've written

Where/who/what do you find inspiration from?

Shows and books! Also games. Funny enough Zemorri came from a skyrim oc and Sciosa came from DnD campaign that never happened. They've both undergone a lot of changes since then though.

If you were put into a fantasy world, what would you be?

I answered a similar question a few times and I think I'd really be a dragon. I'm a hoarder of my little trinkets and love to stir the pot a bit.

Most fave book cliche?

Chosen one and mentor. WIth a spin. Do not give me another old ratty wizard and some a elijah wood/daniel radcliff look alike. PLEASE. Using this to promo POTO which has chosen one and mentor- mentor: hot scary milf chosen one: anger riddled brat who really isn't keen on playing by the book. boom there. not that hard.

got kinda heated there. apologies

Least fave book cliche?

"Only one bed" I'm sorry!! It's just over done at this point

Fave scenes to write?

Any scene with dragons. They're the most fun to write honestly.

Most productive time of day for writing?

Night! I literally typed that as nite send help I've always been a night owl haha. It's actually almost 4 am as I type this

Reason for writing?

Writing has always been an interest of mine. I would love one day to be able to support my family with it! Whether that's as an indie author or traditional author. Also I fear I would go crazy with how many stories and plot lines I got up in my head. That or my oc's would manifest irl and nuke me right there with their dragons.

Leaving this an open tag!

My brain is clocking out and I can't even think of who to tag at this point. So if you're reading this and want to be tagged congrats!! Consider yourself tagged

[yuexuan]

[Review]惊悚练习生

Title: 惊悚练习生 Thriller trainee

Author: 妄鸦

Length: 251 chapters + 8 extras

Tag: transmigration, infinite flow, horror

Summary [taken from novel updates]:

The washed-up magician Zong Jiu transmigrated into a horror, infinite flow novel about a survival show, taking the place of the cannon fodder who died tragically in the first evaluation round. This show was very interesting. Out of the tens of thousands of people, only a hundred people could survive, and the c-position (strongest contender) could even get a universal wish ticket.

If it were someone else, they’d probably be scared to death.

No one expected that Zong Jiu was not only unafraid, but also caused a sensational stir, shamelessly showing off his tricks the whole way.

Once his tricks stopped, and his life could be considered safe and sound, he ended up in a rivalry with the novel’s big villain.

Today you try to get at me, tomorrow I’ll get you back, back and forth, it’s pretty fun, heh.

As a result, though it was just playing around, one time they got carried away and really did end up sleeping together. Watching the nemesis who was pressing him to the ground, Zong Jiu lazily lifted his gaze. “If you want to kill me then kill me, don’t speak nonsense.” Even when at a disadvantage, he showed no trace of fear, and actually continued to provoke him.

That person used his ice-cold finger to trace his ear, and the action heading toward the aorta suddenly stopped.

“What a pity. I’ve changed my mind.”

—

He was once very willing to personally give Zong Jiu death. Every day, he used to regret not gouging out his flesh, personally snapping his neck. But after this person fell into his hands, another, more urgent desire grew like weeds.

Compared to winning or losing, he would rather see him crying and panting, with eyes red, begging for mercy.

Novel | Novel [translated]

Comments **contain spoilers**:

The summary pretty much covers the gist of the novel. The main couple has an enemy-to-lover dynamic, with the MC being a cool and stoic world-class magician, whilst the ML being a cunning devil. On the surface, the two of them are arch nemesis, but beneath it all, they are pretty much the same type of person, seeking the thrills within each horror show.

Highlights:

The tension between the main couple is solid. ML is constantly trying to create troubles for MC and MC is constantly thinking outside-of-the-box to beat ML’s games. As the no. 1 trainee and ‘trainer’, ML has the ability to control any trainee and NPC of his choice, sending them to obstruct MC’s progress. Fortunately, MC received a stack of tarot cards that enabled him to seek out the characters that were controlled. The entire plot revolves around the two of them playing a figurative game of chess, until their enmity eventually evolves into something more hehe.

As with many infinite flow stories, worldbuilding is always a highlight. I liked how there were more ‘relaxing’ games after each ‘show’, where the trainees were allowed to rest or bet their lives on additional rewards. Out of all these games, I particularly liked the amusement park arc where MC befriended the monsters/ghosts and received their assistance in winning the game. It was kinda sweet watching the monsters/ghosts feeling happy interacting with the trainees.

Another unique aspect is that there were shows where trainees had to work together to survive. For example, the arc where they had to pass exams in a school was particularly touching when members of the 9th class sacrificed themselves to ensure the survival of the rest of the class ):

Aside from the main pairing, I also liked the second pairing a lot - watching them go from F-tier trainees to A-tier trainees through their hard work was so sweet and I wished there were more moments of them together.

Things I didn’t like:

This novel reminded me a lot of <这该死的求生欲>, where the main pairing also had an enemy-to-lover dynamic and ML was one of the bosses. More importantly, the writing style also reeks of chūnibyō from time to time. The way the novel described the interactions between the main couple and their appearances can come off as very immature-ish haha. That said, it does get better in the latter half of the story, especially after the two realized that they had special feelings for one another.

[bananastarion]

Finally finished BG3 for the first time

Still kinda processing things, so it might take me a while to gather my thoughts.

Off the top of my head: (hidden for spoilers)

I love the idea of my Tav and Astarion starting a new adventure together, but I wish we had the option of helping the vampire spawn in the Underdark AND looking for a way for Astarion to be out in the sun. We can multitask! Also, my human Tav needs to be searching for immortality while they're at it- otherwise our relationship is doomed to quite a tragic end. And God knows if they ever made a sequel game or expansion where I could see any of these scenarios actually play out, I would cry tears of joy and give them all of my money, worldly possessions and soul while I'm at it.

Where tf is Shadowheart?? She didn't say a goddamn word after the final boss fight. I was given no information whatsoever about what's going to happen to her from here on. She was in my party throughout the entire game and I had her approval rating maxed out, it just feels weird to have absolutely NO closure for Shadowheart. Is it just my playthrough, or did they really forget to give her an ending?

What about Halsin? Minsc, Boo and Jaheira? Hellooo

I was super bummed that I couldn't fix Karlach's heart, I was so certain the steel watch foundry would provide some solution and was super confused when none was presented. Still, love the ending with Wyll and Karlach because I'm just happy she didn't die, even though it sucks that she's stuck in a world she has such terrible memories of. I would love to see more of their adventures. I was tempted to join them, but Astarion and Tav have business elsewhere.

Gale's little quip after Astarion scrambles away from the sun in horrible pain really pissed me off. You guys have been adventuring together for how long, and been through so much, and you don't even give a fuck about his well being? Astarion showed more care about Gale throughout the game than Gale ever did of him. Is he STILL bitter I rejected him for Astarion or what? Get over it, asshole. You're never seeing either of us again, that's for damn sure.

So like, what is Withers exactly and why was he helping us? Was that ever cleared up or did I miss something?

All in all, it was emotional, but my heart is longing for more. I love all these characters, and while I know it's the nature of a story to eventually end, it kills me not knowing for sure where all my little virtual friends will be after this point in time. I hope that at the very least, if they can't commit to making an entire sequel or even an expansion pack, they might at least publish some novels expanding on these character's stories? Kinda like Star Wars?

[ceph-the-ghost-writer]

@thatndginger This ask you sent me back in November (mea culpa) was sitting in my drafts. But since it no longer seems possible to edit a reply to an ask (?), I had to start fresh.

Original Ask: Happy STS! I might be bearing my own secrets a little here, but oh well! Your characters are playing a dating game, which archetype are they going for? (ie: the arrogant one, the cold one, the childhood friend, the older man, the shy one, the flirt, etc)

Answer:

Fortunately for us, Dorian is as much an expert on dating games as they are vampires and dinosaurs. They graciously compiled the data for us in their observation notes while traveling with their companions

Test Subject #1: Isaac Soto

Little to no prior experience with material in question

Self-reported type: Claims he doesn't have one

Game Selected: Love, Me

Subject initially very grumpy and reluctant to play. Finally agreed after I batted my eyes teehee 💜

Took nearly 20 minutes deciding which character to spend personal time with when first prompted

Went with the Shy, Quiet Type who only opens up after earning her trust (recognition of the self? working out personal issues through fiction? just trying to throw me off bc I'm watching?)

Played through that storyline and got happy, romantic ending. Subject expressed general satisfaction and was amenable to a second try

Went with the Playboy who's secretly deeper than he appears and craves love (going to the other extreme? unconscious desires?)

Subject sarcastically expresses doubt and scorn about Playboy's every action. Not unlike with a Certain Someone irl 😏

Subject grew increasingly more flustered and annoyed as Playboy showed more facets and genuine feelings

Subject very quiet and went to bed after getting happy and romantic ending. Has been still and silent but not actually sleeping for the past half hour

Test Subject #2: Kinslayer

Claims extensive knowledge of material in question

Self-reported type: "Gothic novel protagonist" or "anyone with a heart that continues to beat despite how easily it bleeds"

Game selected: Monster Wife

Judging from the amount of tentacles involved in the game design, I may have made a grave miscalculation here

Subject has kindly offered to let me know when to avert my eyes. However, I will remain vigilant. For science 🫣

Went with Tsundere Type werewolf (identity crisis? repressed emotion? just likes brawny women? <- relatable)

Surprising amount of story layered between the heaving bosoms and horny cutscenes

Subject makes game and gift choices which net high approval every time

Image feed flickered several times during more emotional scenes. Subject apologized off-handedly. Said they'd been "tasting the story", which can interfere with electronics (???)

Subject achieved happy and rather explicit ending. Asked whether I had learned anything

I deflected by suggesting we go out for pancakes, which was accepted

Subject #3: Renato Faria Dimas

Has heard of subject matter but has no experience with it

Self-reported type: Self-destructive and/or tragic heroes

Game selected: Wine x Blood x Roses

Subject very amused by the vampire theme

Despite stated preferences, subject is romancing Unassuming Girl with Glasses. Claims it's bc she stood out from the rest of the brooding/seductive characters (protective streak? desire to corrupt? being honest about his feelings for once?)

Unassuming type is indeed quite interesting. Not shy per se, but with a disarming cheer, and keeps avoiding talking about her history

Subject obviously intrigued despite his jokes about how she must secretly be evil. Gives no sign if he's noticed he uses the same cheery tone as her while doing this

Turns out Unassuming is much older than the other vampires, and she killed a lot of people in the past. She's slowly turned around, though, making a quiet life for herself among books and studying nature

Subject did not have any quips for these revelations

Same during the points where Unassuming questions whether she even deserves peace after all she's done

Subject repeatedly chose responses that reassured Unassuming that she's not a monster deep down and that people can change and learn from mistakes

Happy, platonic ending achieved

Subject thanked me for showing him the game despite his haunted stare. Quietly slunk off to brood somewhere for awhile before I could figure out how to get him and Subject 1 to just talk already

[demonfox38]

I can't think anyone but a handful of my mutuals will care about my opinions regarding this, but here's my thoughts on the "Castlevania: Nocturne" trailer:

Looks like we ain't getting a "Castlevania: Bloodlines" adaptation, huh? 😅

I still don't know why this team didn't have a Simon Belmont run. Dude's super recognizable and about as free as it gets for canon shenanigans. I don't think many people would argue against Simon having an ultra-violent, exploitatively gory adventure…Especially not after that whole "picking up Dracula's body parts, reanimating him, and beating the shit out of him again" situation.

I can see the appeal of writing a French Revolution "Castlevania" story, but it's a little off, too? Like, the only roughly French person was Maria, and even that's a tangential stretch based on her last name (which I think came from some university one of the game developers was associated with, if I remember correctly.) I suppose what I've gotta point out is that the intro to "Rondo of Blood" is very, very much in German, which is super unique for the series. If this story was happening outside of Romania, I'd have to peg it to Germany for that reason.   

I'd almost be certain that we're going to see Marie Antoinette die in an exploitatively gruesome fashion, but I wonder if Konami would put a stop to that. Not that they care much outside of getting cash money for licensing, of course. It's just that most Japanese media tends to have a more sympathetic view of her, so I wonder if that would filter over even to an American adaptation of a Japanese video game series. Then again, they let S3E9-10 happen, so…

Interesting spin on Orlox. There's definitely potential to play with there! Dude's almost free in terms of canon, unless you want to get into Japanese light novels post "Dawn of Sorrow." But that's way, way, way, way in the future…

Don't know why he wouldn't just kill Richter as a kid, though. Unless we're setting up some kind of "Berserk" style misery gambit.

Honestly, I almost thought Isaac would show up 300 years later with schemes to get Dracula back. A different flavor of Shaft, if you will. Although damn, does that not sound right.

Actually, what the hell kind of happy ending fuckery are they going to do with what happened at the end of S4? That was surprisingly rainbows out the ass for this series. Like…When did Lisa die again? How does Dracula react to that? How fucked up did the CV3 hero set end up afterwards? Something had to put Alucard back under, right? I doubt these people would let SOTN slip by, and that definitely starts with him waking up from an extra-long nap…

There's going to be such hell-on-earth pandemonium if this interpretation of Annette also ends up as a succubus/vampire lady. Like, that's not worse than what "Berserk"'s Casca went through, but it's a disturbing enough thought... I don't know why I keep thinking of "Berserk" for a series comparison….

Also—say! That's an interesting idea, having a character from the Caribbean. You know what else is famously associated with that location? Pirates! I wonder if maybe they could have had, I don't know, some kind of knife-throwing, acrobatic pirate thief in the last series…But that would have just been silly, right? 😑

Anyone got a bead on Doctor Iris, or did Richter forget to save her?

Also, is it me, or does this Tera interpretation look more like Yoko Belnades than the character she's actually based on?

Haven't had a Netflix subscription in years. Probably will get around to seeing this at some point, but I'd like to have a buffer first. Maybe listen for the screamings of other damned souls before sticking my head into the hell portal.

Honestly, I probably would get back to that "Lupin" series first...

[thornheartcat]

Fiona's 2023 Anime Awards

Thoughts on anime this year!

Top 5:

Pluto (even has my mom's seal of approval!)

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

Heavenly Delusion

Undead Girl Murder Farce

probably Scott Pilgrim Takes Off once I get around to it (I KNOW I'M GONNA I SWEAR)

Show that most came closest to making the top 5 but I think I'll still like Scott Pilgrim better: My Happy Marriage! I want what they have...

Most underrated show: BULLBUSTER. I know robots aren't very in right now or whatever but it's a robot workplace dramedy! Give it a chance!

Runner up: Synduality: Noir. Also robots. This one has such Eureka seveN vibes and I mean that as like one of the highest compliments I can give! I missed shows like this! Bring shows like this back! Also it's from the writer of Bunny Girl Senpai! If I say that will you watch it?

Most overrated show: Oshi no Ko. This shit was 60% monologues about how "the entertainment industry is bad, actually" by volume. Snore.

Runner up: JJK2. I mean it's like fine I guess but at this point JJK is like a vehicle that delivers cool fight scenes to my eyeballs. If you ask me to care about the characters or the mechanics behind the cool fights I will laugh at you.

Most niche show I enjoyed: 16bit Sensation: Another Layer. You have to be in so deep in the world of visual novels and eroge to really appreciate this show but I've been in too deep since I was like 14 so I love it!

Show that most should've been bigger: Undead Unluck. I know it's floundering here because it's a Hulu exclusive and Hulu has literally not even spent a single fucking tweet promoting their exclusive anime for some goddamn reason but give it a chance I am BEGGING YOU. Heavenly Delusion and Synduality: Noir had this same problem but Undead Unluck is based on a SJ property so you'd especially think it specifically would be bigger!

Show that most surprised me: Tearmoon Empire! I didn't know I wanted a show about Marie Antoinette getting sent back in time to prevent her own guillotining, or that I wanted that show to be primarily a comedy, but I got it and I love it! I hope it gets another season, I want to watch Mia bumble her way into becoming a better person and making the world a better place some more!

Runner up: Helck! I'd heard good stuff about the manga so I wasn't surprised it was good but I was surprised at just how well it shifted from comedy to drama and how emotionally invested it got me. Every week of that flashback arc had me yelling "NO!" at my computer when each episode ended because I wanted to know what happened next so badly!

Show that most was just sorta there but I had fun anyway: Mononogatari. It's such standard shounen fare and the art and animation rarely rises above the level of even "competent" but by the end of the second half I found myself genuinely invested in the characters? Also the second OP goes hard as hell

Runner up: Spy Classroom. It's not the best spy show out there, but if you've already watched Princess Principal and Spy x Family and you want more anime spy content it's there for you. I liked the girls and their unique abilities, and the narc episode is counterbalanced by the extremely hilarious and period accurate WcDonald's that is "White Fortress".

Worst anime: A Girl & Her Guard Dog. The premise is already not my cup of tea (not a huge age gap fan and especially not a huge fan of the girl falling for the guy who basically raised her, Bunny Drop style, though at least this series is up front about all that rather than luring unsuspecting people in with wholesomeness), but its execution is what really kills it. There's nothing more profoundly unsexy than the love interest behaving like an overprotective sitcom dad. Also doesn't help that the art and animation are straight DOGSHIT. I feel so bad for the animators, they must've been on an insane crunch, you can really feel that they kinda just shit this one out and you just know they're not proud of it and wish they could've done better work. I also feel bad for fans of the manga, the art there isn't terrible and while translating it to animation was always gonna be a little hard this is a particularly tragic attempt.

Most anticipated of 2024: Delicious in Dungeon and Dandadan!!!!!!! GET HYPE BABYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

[wanderingwolpertinger]

finished Six of Crows yesterday (yes I skipped shadow and bone entirely the opening exposition was annoying me buuuut I'll go back later. Blame my friend she said I should start with SoC) and I haven't started Crooked Kingdom (no spoilers please!) however I wanted to dump my thoughts for a bit (I probably ended up being overly critical so if this is your fav series maybe scroll by lol)

-the characters were the highlight of the story for me, super well executed banter. Tie between Kaz and Matthias for fav POV. (Kaz's backstory was especially well done, the way it influenced his actions throughout SoC was very natural)

-worldbuilding/lore was pretty easy to follow even though I did not read S&B or watch the show. magic system is pretty cool, excited to see it fleshed out in S&B

-not sure how I feel about how ship-happy this series is (maybe the author was trying to outrun ship war potential idk). possibly makes more sense when viewed as a series? (will have to update my opinion later) but overall having every main pov character paired off somewhat sappily by the end of book one was ehhh? I'm not opposed to romantic subplots but I felt they may have held too much influence in the main plot here.

-hrrmmm love me some GrimDark (not) (ok not when it's not done very impactfully imo) (mmmm let's not explore the ethics of casually taking lives for more than 0.5 seconds) (yes it's a fantasy book but still) (particularly Jesper's pov was ... odd) (he seemed to have issues with his actions but also didn't?) (maybe it will make more sense upon reread)

-Standard Heist Plot (no notes) (yes to explosives)

-ok back to the crit. one of the reviews in the front of my copy compared SoC to ASOIAF (haven't read it but I know enough to verify) and like yes actually it really did feel somewhat like aggressively PG-13 Game of Thrones. (I dunno this is more of a personal gripe with authors feeling the need to inject the sexual exploitation of women into their fantasy novels in order to be more Realistic) (especially when it's minors) (bleh)

-idk a lot of the side worldbuilding choices felt like something an edgy 14 year old would choose because they were Dark ™️

-however props for character design, the appearance/physicality of each of the Crows was wonderfully distinct

-not in loooove with the ending. It sets up book two nicely yes but kinda gave me KOTLC cliffhanger flashbacks

-sort of feels like this book is a sanitized adult fantasy novel with de-aged protagonists (could be being unfair here) and a YA plot

-no actually the number of times Nina's breasts are mentioned is absurdly high, the heck was up with that

-so Matthias being a ex-witch hunter = bad (duh) cause he was going to send Grisha to their deaths. Ok makes sense. Now tell me why Kaz/Inej/Jesper killing somewhat indiscriminately is not really addressed in moral terms beyond "necessary"? (Actually ignore this one for now I would need to do a reread before I have full thoughts on this) (But there will be thoughts)

-overall, I had a good time reading this book. Yeah I had problems with it but some of that could honestly stem from the fact that I am not 15 anymore and have different taste in books. (ok ok also I am actively comparing this with Lockwood and Co and I feel that series took equally dark topics but explored them much more maturely) (and honestly also Mistborn. That series also had dark worldbuilding but didn't linger on what it didn't have to?)