#Books of Magic 12

[batmanego]

crazy that comic books are sometimes really good

[egophiliac]

The chapter is insaneeeeeeeeeeee insaneeeeeeeeee please your thoughts pleaseeeee twest really went all out

HIS HORNS LIGHT UP

and all the other stuff that happened, look, I'm processing

[askthekoopsandjr]

This is actually a question for Ludwig! Would you consider yourself the most knowledgeable and skilled at magic compared to your other siblings? And if so, how would you describe your experiences wielding magic? Is it something you truly value?

[infinitelystrangemachinex]

streaming tv is like the fantasy/fiction need for a mid list. big money thrown at projects expecting that big money can make anything too big to fail, when the reality is that there’s only so much profit to make in an oversaturated market and only so many properties that can be the number one most popular thing at a time, but no matter how many projects fail or how variable the quality of the art is, it’s never going to be acceptable again to shore up most of your projects with only SOME money and letting that “mid list” find longlasting audiences that provide your baseline business

i wish both streaming tv and the publishing industry would spend less money on more projects that cultivate good writing. i want good writing and long projects to get invested in so bad that i'm caring less and less for production

my thesis statement is that tv shows are being canceled because they cost too much money. a mid list would have saved most canceled shows. higher production costs don't mean better writing, and lower production costs don't mean worse writing

the publishing industry is asking for shorter fantasy books and is canceling series and leaving authors behind because it is throwing all its money at shiny new things that are not actually new and don't stick

all of this without investment in a "mid list" to keep baseline profits coming or to keep a foundation of writers paid and busy

if companies spent less money on shows, would they last longer? would they hone writers' skills more? does this extend to animation where the budgets are so much smaller? or is there no world where i could get multiple 25-episode seasons of arcane and i'm just deluding myself

fantasy books especially have had an oversaturation problem for years, but the biggest problem is an over-reliance on debuts without investment in originality or in authors’ futures. what this looks like is big money thrown at marketing shiny debuts or at a subset of the old familiar faces in fantasy that established themselves before the shift in industry mindset. everyone else either gets scraps or can’t find their footing after their debut. you either go viral somehow or you go home. to make money, the only acceptable projects are generic or are recognizable rehashes of previously popular but specific ideas. fantasy is considered a popular genre now, but in my opinion, fantasy has never stopped being niche, but the need to find bigger audiences and bigger investment has resulted in pushing fantasy series that don't do anything new or interesting and actively spurn good prose, but can appeal to as many people as possible (instead of weird fantasy freaks, aka me, i'm freaks, now most of the freaky fantasy i can find is in video games and a single tear is rolling down my face)

now tv. buffy the vampire slayer cost about 1-2 million per episode. star trek tng cost 1 million per episode

look where we’re at with streaming services. tv shows that cost millions and tens of millions of dollars per episode. the sopranos redefined what prestige tv meant and it cost 2-6 million per episode. chasing the new prestige mindset, game of thrones started out at 6 million per episode. today, early game of thrones’ budget from about 2011-2013 is joked about like it’s chump change, especially for game of thrones or hbo. but prestige tv reeled in that subscriber money. the streaming model today is the continuation of the prestige tv model, except that every show needs to be prestige, no matter the audience or genre or story structure. because prestige tv made money

now that the baseline model for helping your subscription/channel make money is to throw 6 million+ per episode, it's no longer a mystery why seasons are getting shorter and shorter. and the demand for higher and higher production will only mean that shows take longer and longer to make

netflix shelled out 6 million per episode - what an oddly familiar number, huh? - for stranger things season 1. season 4 cost 30 million per episode

wheel of time season 1: 10 million per episode. rings of power season 1: 58 million per episode. these are adaptations btw, not original IPs, but this is SEASON ONE money you’re looking at. i liked both rings of power and wheel of time decently, but my hot take is that both of these shows are under-written and over-produced. why so much money thrown at projects with writers at the helm who are inexperienced in the fantasy genre? rings of power in particular is bank-breaking and it was originally planned to run for several seasons

the mandalorian season 1: 15 million per episode. andor season 1: 20 million per episode. the acolyte season 1: 22 million per episode

remember that the subscription model requires subscribers to make money and requires NEW subscribers to satisfy the hunger for growth, and star wars is a single IP with established fans. the mandalorian, andor, and the acolyte all took major risks in different ways. the mandalorian actually fell back on star wars fundamentals (rather than being something net new in my opinion) and its risk was in being a show, not a movie, and the first of its kind on streaming for star wars

andor could be the riskiest fantasy/sci-fi show to hit streaming, ever. 12 episodes for season 1 that cost 250 million overall, not 6-8, explores marxist themes, and did not pull in new subscribers. what popularity it does have is purely due to word-of-mouth and plain old good writing, rather than marketing or by simply being part of star wars. it was originally going to be 5 seasons but is now going to be 2 because... 250 million dollars is a lot to spend on one season of television that didn't make you a lot of money. simple as that, even if andor is the best live-action thing disney has produced in decades in my opinion

the acolyte season 1 was 8 episodes and cost 22 million per episode, which armchair critics on social media are stating is the reason why the show has been canceled. haters will just say it was canceled because of bad writing, and fans are saying it was because of review-bombing and the diversity of the cast and crew

i disagree on some level that the acolyte is the first star wars show to be canceled, because again, andor was going to be 5 seasons and is now going to be 2, losing over 50% of the original story. even fans of the acolyte will agree that its writing wasn't the best. most fans who have seen andor will agree that it is the best-written star wars media ever on par with the best episodes of clone wars. both shows brought me over to disney plus when no other show or movie did

but in effect, both shows have been canceled

my take is that if a mid list existed, both shows should have been on it. they are part of an established IP with established fans who were going to watch the shows no matter what. most people with star wars fatigue would not have heard about the uniqueness of these shows until later and would have probably picked them up by their finales or by their season 2s

if they were not star wars properties and were original stories instead, both of these shows were still fairly unique doing things that appeal to "weird" subsets of sci-fi/fantasy fans. the mid list would have been perfect either way

i firmly believe that a mid list would have saved both of these shows. 6 million per episode MAXIMUM. ideally less. not because i dislike either show, but because i care about writing above all else. pay 1 writers room a fair wage and let them go fucking nuts for a few seasons. as long as everyone else in the production is being paid a fair and living wage, i don't care how little is spent on the show

stranger things should have been a mid-list anthology series that ran forever, wheel of time should have been a mid-list tv fantasy with at least 12 episodes per season to do any justice to those massive books but also to pay homage to the book series' roots as high fantasy that goes on and on without much of a plan and with often mid and sometimes junky writing but with appeal in that it was long-running, made readers familiar with the same characters every book for many hundreds of pages each, and is something of a comfort read now for many fans

i think that reality is catching up to streaming services and things are going to get worse before they get better

but i also think that the next "evolution" of tv should be the return of the mid list

[killjoy-prince]

Long time, no manga haul

[kanansdume]

I read a post recently discussing how great Tamora Pierce's Winding Circle Temple from her Circle of Magic series is both as a school and a home for the people who live there and oh boy did it give me Jedi vibes like nothing else. I'm going to straight-up admit I was more of a Tortall universe fan as a kid than an Emelan universe fan, but I recently went back and re-read all of the Circle of Magic books as an adult, so I still feel qualified to discuss this a little.

The post discusses how a religious Temple is actually such an interesting place to use as a location for the main characters' adoptive home, with the little routines and philosophies and general lifestyle woven into the worldbuilding. It's not just a school, although it very much is a place of learning, but it's a HOME. There are people who just come to the Temple to learn, of course, but a large amount of the people who are learning there also consider the Temple their home. And it's this community built of people who have CHOSEN to be there and/or have been cast out of other societies for things they cannot choose or change about themselves.

While Star Wars has not truly delved into what life is like in the Jedi temple (not in high mainstream canon at least), I've seen plenty of fans coming up with detailed headcanons about what life would be like in the Temple, what kind of holidays the Jedi might recognize or practice, what the classes would look like, what kind of food they'd eat and the routines and traditions surrounding their food. Because the Jedi Temple isn't just a boarding school, it isn't a university, it's a HOME and a community made up of people who have chosen to be here above anywhere else and those who were cast out of their own societies. The people who live there consider each other a family.

The adults at the Winding Circle temple aren't PERFECT, but they are genuinely good teachers who take care of the children they have adopted. They're responsible and loving simultaneously.

The Jedi all encourage their children to question things, to tease each other, to take responsibility for their own emotions and their own actions, but also simply to enjoy the moment as it happens rather than getting caught up in thoughts about the future or the past. They love each other and are perfectly capable of being playful, but they also ensure their children learn discipline and good mental health, as well.

Each main child character is raised relatively communally by the Temple, capable of being taught by just about anyone, but are also being housed with two specific Masters and then each taught their specific magical abilities by one teacher who has more of a specialty in their type of magic. We see a similar set-up among the Jedi who have the children brought up by Masters who are specifically assigned to taking care of their physical needs, but are eventually matched up to a Master who can help them hone their SPECIFIC skills, and all the while they are being raised pretty communally with access to every Jedi Knight, Master, and Padawan in the Order who might have something to teach them. The Winding Circle Temple takes a very adoptive/found family approach to their relationships, same as the Jedi do.

What's interesting is I don't know if I've ever seen as much discourse about Tamora Pierce setting her series at a religious Temple as I've seen aimed at the Jedi. I don't know that ANYBODY who's read Pierce's works in the Circle of Magic series would claim these characters not to be a family or that Winding Circle isn't their home or that it was repressive and abusive because they asked their members to take responsibility for their actions, especially when they have such large amounts of power at their disposal.

[tothesolarium]

Leviathan and the bestie

Sometimes your best friend is locked in a barren pocket dimension so that he’ll be starving for a very deranged plane to bring about paradise. So what will a bestie do? Avery has plans

[the-gayest-sky-kid]

in other news i wish my mom listened to me for once in her life

[mlpmoviemerch]

New My Little Pony Friendship is Magic Volume 12 Digital Comic Book

New My Little Pony Friendship is Magic Volume 12 Digital Comic Book available here: https://amzn.to/3XVPyOM

Details below:

The craziest, most epic MLP story yet! Multiple versions of ponies are springing up around town and strange new beasts stalk the land as an orb of energy grows larger in the sky. Twilight and the Princesses have no answers… but Discord might in “Accord.” Then, Twilight is startled to find that the most important history books in Equestria are going missing. Will she and her friends be able to uncover the identity of the mysterious new villain responsible in “From The Shadows.”

Also contains the short story "For The Pony Who Has Everything" by Jeremy Whitley and Jay Fosgitt. Collects issues #48–53.

Publisher: IDW Publishing; Illustrated edition (June 13, 2017)

Language: English

Paperback: 152 pages

Perfect gift for any My Little Pony fan!

Features a Friendship is Magic Volume 12 digital comic book.

Brand: Hasbro

Character: My Little Pony

Color: Multicolor

Assembled Product Dimensions (L x W x H): 6.69 x 0.35 x 10.25 inches

Assembled Product Weight: 15.4 ounces

Reading age: 9 - 12 years

Grade level: 4 - 7

Inspired by My Little Pony

[dollfat]

stressing myself out doing act 3 stuff in a specific order for no reason

[cptnbeefheart]

[cicadaknight]

well into act 2 and supposedly astarion and i are together according to everyone in camp, but he has nothing more to say besides the usual “hello darling” 😩

[nocturnal-phantoms-fandoms]

tumblr stop suggesting me discourse post where people in the reblogs openly admit to not interacting with canon ever challenge failed

[genuineformality]

Febuwhump Day 12: Semi-Conscious

[poptartmochi]

until proven otherwise, i am assuming gortash speedran mephistopheles' lair with durge. and also. their funny little magician augusta

[pristine-starlight]

Struggling so much to remember what the fuck i did read during elementary school, especially in lower grades

I remember what my sister read?? And also a bunch of individual books i read around that time Probably

But aside from that idk. 80s scifi? Pulpy paperbacks about legionaires?? That second one sounds especially bad but i Specifically remember being in 5th grade and trying to cope with being made to watch fuckin Fatelessness by reading Rejtő under the desk