#I have a funny guy for every faction now

[impossible-rat-babies]

I was fussing around in the cc and all I could think was like eshka in the epcot ball vine voice

[riptides-n-roses]

c*ck rider - jon moxley (18+)

⛧ pair: jon moxley x reader

⛧ tags: @88changemymind @reigns-prophecy @cyberdejos2 (please let me know if you'd like to be tagged in future ffs)

⛧ warnings: explicit content, cockwarming (duh hence the title), nonchalant jon, jon being an asshole, (unprotected p in v, creampie, as always minors should not interact.

⛧ the title is so fucking dumb but it's so funny at the same time (A wrestler's theme sometimes works magic) . i do miss writing smut for you all - i hate that college is keeping me busy and i hate that i have way too many drafts atm (i gotta fix that soon); short because my body hurts and i haven't slept properly in weeks (I love you guys though so...)

⛧ no plot - jon is deep in thinking because of his feud with copeland

⛧ word count: 502

You whined as Jon gripped your flesh, his knuckles turning bone white as you grind against him. It was another day where your partner wasn't in the mood for passionate sex, especially after his match with Adam Copeland. Jon's focus was on your shared tv - deep in his thoughts while you rode his cock, buried deep in your walls.

You were met with silence and the sound of sex. Frustrated, you bounced a little faster only to be met with a harsh slap across your ass

"Jon..." You whined, trying to get his attention, slowly bouncing up and down, your arms wrapped around him.

"Watch yourself. I'll make you regret making me more irritated than I already am, dollface."

You shivered to Jon's words. You knew it was a threat, especially when he isn't playing with your tits or using his hands to overstimulate your clit.

You whined into the crook of his neck, going back to slowly grinding on Jon. It was intoxicating, every slow stroke, your walls tightening around him, you were getting impatient.

"I oughta make him regret trying to get in my way..." Jon muttered, his hands digging in your flesh "I'm the one keeping this company alive"

You yelped as he roughly bit your earlobe, noticing him trying to escape his thoughts about his recent feud with Copeland. Jon was the champion and he wasn't going to let go of the title any time soon. Even without his faction...

"He pisses me off...This is my title. I'm not letting anything change that...Fucking hell"

You moaned as he thrusted harder, his balls slapping against your clit, you bit into his neck, causing a lustful growl escaping from his lips.

"Do you enjoy this dollface?" He laughed, slapping your ass once more. "Do you want me to pay attention to you?"

"Please, daddy! I want your attention.." You moaned, your stomach beginning to tightening.

"Really? Do you think you deserve it?"

You gritted your teeth at his words. Now he was being a jackass. You bounced faster on him in response, receiving a low groan from Jon.

"God you're such a whore..." He threw his head back, his arms wrapping around your body, holding you closer. You finally felt satisfied - his thrusts getting sloppier.

"You know, dollface, I should thank you...this is better than whatever i'm dealing with..." Jon growled, his grip tightening around you.

You smiled to this, relieved that you could calm your partner down.

"Fuck...I'm getting close, dollface"

"I-I can't hold it anymore, Daddy." You were begging. It was hurting to hold it in now.

"Go ahead, doll.."

You screamed as you came, your walls tightening as you came all over him, not realizing Jon came in you, his warm seed filling you up.

Your breath hitched as Jon was still buried deep in you. Your legs shaking from your orgasm. You looked into his eyes, met with a lustful stare. He smirked as he grabbed your hips roughly.

"Don't think I'm finished with you just yet, dollface."

[factual-fantasy]

Hola Factual! Hope your morning or evening is going well! I wanted to let you know as always that I found great joy in your recent posts- the Starscream twitter post was 100% accurate- and the Bibi comic was truly adorable- the little guy never passes up a chance to cheer you up! Kinda reminds me of those life size pokemon plush they make nowadays- ever see those before? They're super cool! (As cool as they are expensive)

Also, I wanted to apologize for dragging out our discussion about the vehicons- but you made some good points In the last post! Due to the convoluted creative process behind the aligned continuity, issues like that are apparent- I think what they were going for was that the initial Vehicons were closer to exact copies of the original, unable to change by design- and as the clone generations degenerated it became harder to instill the identical properties into them- though I agree it's strange that they somehow maintained sentience throughout- and the idea of cloning sparks so easily kinda messes with the importance of the Well of All sparks... It's possible that they still need to draw on its power to "Imbue" the protoforms with life, which would explain why they aren't shown making any more once they leave Cybertron, but since all of that is left up to interpretation and theories your probably right to just reimagine them as Drones and simplify the matter!

Plus, like you said, you could do some really cool, intimidating scenes with truly sparkless versions of the Vehicons- as much as I like sentient minions, I always appreciate soulless enforcers as well! Though, even if they're just robots used on mass by the Cons, do you think maybe, just maybe, since he's such a fan favorite you could try to sneak in Steve still? I think it would be funny if- to help Ratchet out at the base, the crew reprogram a random Vehicon as a helper bot instead, and the kids later give him the nickname? He wouldn't have a spark- but over time his AI might develop some quirky behavior, and Ratchet would grow fond of him despite his initial distrust.... (Plus then Steve could cover some of Ratchet's duties and let him get out in the field more often!) Just an idea! (:

And also, in that train of thought, I fully agree with your stance on the predacons in your last post. Cool as they are, it always bothered me that Shockwave somehow just created Sparks and bodies from some dusty shards of metal...but I would hate to see you scrap one of the coolest factions from the show over that- so heres a compromise idea! Predacons are naturally extraordinarily resilient creatures- so instead of just dying on earth in ancient times, they instead hibernated to conserve what little energon they had...

Then, later on, instead of digging up bones and cloning them, Shockwave instead digs up the ENTIRE hibernating Predacons- rendered near death from millennia of inactivity- and he begins the process of carefully reviving them using his science and energon transfusions. Predaking would be the first to successfully recover as usual, and from there Shockwave would prepare to resuscitate the rest- after which it's once again up to you if some or all actually survive, or if Megatron once again weighs his options and decides to pull the plug....

(Starscream twitter post) (Bibi comic)

Hello! I'm glad to hear you liked my recent posts! :DD And OF COURSE I've heard about those!! If I had the money and if they had one for every Pokémon, I don't think I could be stopped from collecting all my favorite Pokémon XDD

As for the Vehicons,, yeahhh I just don't see it working any other way. Making them mindless "robots" in the inorganic/not loving creature sense. Like A.I, drones, whatever word fits best. <:/

As for Steve, I don't think he's gonna work.. I cant make him a living and feeling creature with the new rules I've built for the Vehicons 😔

Now the Predacons. I have major gripes about those guys. I tried to go into detail about why I don't like them and why there is no way to make them work for my AU. But you caught me on a bad day and it just sounded like a rant no matter which way I spun it 😅

So all I'm gonna say is your idea is rather clever. And honestly I feel like the show would have been better off if they did something closer to that. But for my AU? With the rules I built for cloning? The Predacons/Predaking clones just cannot work. They absolutely do not work.

The possibility that I'll draw the Predacons for fun is there. And the potential idea that Shockwave makes these horrible Frankenstein beasts using the CNA of similar animals is also there. But the Predacon clones just ain't gonna cut it. In my AU they were never cloned and sent to Earth all those years ago, and Predaking was never cloned and sent after Wheeljack. They went completely extinct after the cataclysm and that's that.😅

[damiansgoodgirll]

Can i request a Damian Priest x girlfriend reader where reader gets mad with Damian and the rest of judgement day for the way they treat R Truth. so she defends Truth much to Damian's dismay.

pls i love r-truth so much

damian priest x reader

not fair

“i’m just saying, the way you guys are treating him it’s not fair” you tried to excuse damian’s behaviour towards r-truth.

you’ve always liked him.

he was fun. a gentle soul to be around and he always treated you right. he had nothing against you even if you were damian’s girlfriend.

he wanted to be part of the judgment day too. you didn’t know why. why someone kind and honest like him wanted to be part of the most cheating faction.

yet, it would have been fun to see him with the group but the way they were treating him, especially your boyfriend was making you mad.

“we don’t need new members in the group…” he tried to explain himself.

“yet you let jd in” it’s not that you didn’t like jd, you just didn’t see the value of having him in the group when there were more talented wrestlers in the business.

“just because finn wanted him, he’s part of the team and he wanted jd in…no one in our team wants r-truth in tho…” damian said again.

“i want r-truth in! do you know how funny that would be?” you tried to explain again.

“but y/n, you’re not a part of the group…not anymore”

“so my opinion doesn’t matter?”

yes, due to an injury sustained while you were still one of the original members of the judgment day along side with damian, rhea and edge, you had to quit wrestling to give your body time to recover.

only fact it’s been years now and your body hasn’t recovered yet.

you didn’t leave the wwe. you were still ringside to every member’s match, helping them as you could. you were backstage interviewing other wrestlers when you could, so, a part of you was happy that you didn’t have to leave but you wished that your group would consider your opinion a little more.

“no love its not that…your opinion matters…”

you scoffed “to who? it doesn’t seem like that it matters to you damian…i’m just saying you should consider the idea of having someone like in the group…people love him, he’s fun and hilarious and he makes people laugh…”

“we are the judgment day y/n, we don’t need to make people laugh, i’m pretty sure that adding him in the group would only make us look ridiculous…” damian said.

“whats going on here? we’ve been hearing you talking all the way down to the corridor…is everything okay?” finn said entering the locker room along side with dom and rhea.

“y/n was just trying to convince us or just me, to have r-truth in the group” damian said making the other two guys laugh.

you didn’t think it was that funny. they just didn’t want to see your point of view.

“why would we have to y/n?” rhea said. she was your best friend but sometime she couldn’t understand why you would get such weird ideas.

“for the millionth time…he’s a likeable person, people love him, i like him too, he’s funny and kind and he would bring a different tone to the group…i just think that he would be perfect as a new member of the group…he’s different and he proved to you many times he wants to be a part of the group…so why not?”

“that’s absolute nonsense y/n” rhea said, finn and dom agreeing with her. damian too.

“okay fine, do what you want. i’m tired of talking with ghosts…” you said leaving the room.

you’ve been supporting their crazy and nonsense ideas since you’ve left the group. but having them laughing on you just because you had a good idea wasn’t fair.

that day you talked to r-truth, explaining him that you tried your best to have him in the group but that they wouldn’t listen as they thought that your opinion didn’t matter anymore.

you loved the group.

damian was your boyfriend. rhea was your best friend. but sometimes you couldn’t go along with their ideas and most of the times you ended up fighting over stupid things.

“why don’t you join me and the miz ringside?” r-truth proposed to you “you’re too funny for the judgment day anyway” he said making you laugh.

“that’s a complete different role from what i had in the judgment day…”

“i know. you had to help them win, cheating of course. you had to cover for their lies and mistakes and even if that’s what the group is about, even if you can’t wrestle anymore, i’m pretty sure that there’s still something more than you could do…i’m not saying you should officially leave the group, i’m just saying, come ringside in one of our matches and see what happens, maybe that would change your mind” he said smiling at you before leaving.

once you were back at the hotel, you thought about the proposal.

maybe you should have given a try.

“hey…i’ve been looking for you everywhere” damian said before sitting next to you on the bed.

“yeah…i talked with r-truth…”

“i imagined it…” he whispered.

“he said that maybe i should leave the judgement day and join him and the miz…”

“what did you say?” he asked you.

“ that I have to think about it…but damian please, think about that too. my opinions are no longer welcomed in the group and honestly i just feel like a burden and you’re my boyfriend and we keep constantly fighting over stupid things and…and if leaving the group means that you and i or rhea and i are not gonna fight anymore then i’m okay with that…” you explained.

damian was watching you. “i don’t like the idea of you leaving the group honestly…but i can tell you are no longer happy with us…so if that makes you happy then go for it”

“you guys make me so happy, but i don’t feel respected anymore…”

“we’ve been hard with you, i know that. honestly i’m not fond of jd too” he said making you laugh “and your ideas are always brilliant it’s just that maybe they aren’t brilliant for our group? you are my girlfriend and in these years i kinda got to know you…you’re always looking for new things, new adventures and that’s something i love about you…don’t let our ideas discourage you to do so mi amor” damian said, trying to justify his shitty behaviour of before.

“i just wished we could do those brilliant ideas together as a group but sometimes my idea aren’t meant for everyone and i get that…i just wished you guys had a better way to express that tho…” you said, still offended by how they treated you before.

“i know and i’m so sorry about that. our tones hadn’t been nice and i apologise for that mi amor, disculpame…” he apologised, softly taking your hands in his bigger ones and kissing them.

“you’re excused…” you smiled.

“think about his proposal and do what is best for you, at the end of the day it’s me you’re coming home too, and i couldn’t be happier” he said, making you genuinely smile.

damian supported you, no matter what and that was everything for you.

————————————-

bonus gif :

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

I've never played a Veil Jumper but like are you guys okay do you need me to file a report with HR or something lol what did Strife do/say to you guys

cannot stress enough how unhappy this man is to discover you're not only back in town, but Involved In Some More Bullshit. and he strongly implies it's all your fault Elgar'nan and Gilan'nain are out now AND why Arlathan is falling apart AND these are just more reasons why you're a disappointment to him specifically 😞

here's the convo... the only option you can pick that addresses your history/backstory with them is the confrontational one which i guess says a lot about their relationship lol

the Veiljumper backstory is you were out with others in Arlathan, and responsible for a map to a site with lots of ancient elven artifacts. however suddenly everyone else was in Mortal Peril and you save them but lose the map. he gets mad at you for putting lives ahead of the artifacts and kicks you out for a while.

mind you. when you first go to Arlathan and find the Veiljumpers, they are running from an ancient elven construct, which Irelin is trying to control with another piece of technology. when she can't get it working in time and the construct is going to behead everyone Strife sticks his sword through the device to shut the construct down SO LIKE HE DID THE EXACT SAME THING HES SOOOOO MAD AT ME FOR 😭 and also takes a moment to comfort Irelin but all Rook gets is indifference at best or contempt at worst

like. some resentment. SOME resentment 😂 to be clear i both 1. still like Strife a lot esp from his pre-game media (short story/podcast) and 2. do think this is VERY VERY FUNNY. As much as I enjoy Viago pretending he doesn't very much care about my Rook de Riva, I think it is an absolutely HILARIOUS choice to have factions where the leader straight up doesn't like you. i wish the game would let me argue with Strife MORE. i wish we could bicker every time i go back to camp. it would be so fucking funny. as is i think him mostly ignoring you like... works, but in terms of actually playing, mostly just felt bland/like a writing weakness vs a character choice. closing my eyes and headcanoning about it instead.

however this is also why i think my Rook managed to weather Lucanis not responding to her flirting. if you want her to leave you alone you have to be straight up hostile. in comparison to Strife, anyone NOT yelling at her was a welcome improvement i guess 😂

[laswells-ashtray]

Any good COD fanfic recommendations?

Handful of really good ones:

There's only one author I know of to tag, if any other authors are on Tumblr, then I do apologise. And if the links are for the wrong thing then please do tell me because I'm doing this on mobile and I've probably made a right arse of it.

its just a shot away

On a foreign base, Soap has the opportunity to go out on a recon mission. By himself.

It goes, rather predictably, very bad.

Gaz's No-Good, Very-Bad Day [Funny as fuck.]

It's by @on-a-lucky-tide as is Cigars & Vodka [Brilliant collection of stories.]

so peaceful in the country

a horror fic for the spooky month. the 141 is on a mission in russia, but the town harbours many secrets. soon, things start being off, and the team isn't sure they can escape it

[Read this at night and freaked myself out.]

First, Eat.

141 is a prestigious, Michelin restaurant with accolades the world over.

John is quickly going broke taking care of his nephew and needs a job. He has no experience in the hospitality industry and finds fine dining to be a ludicrous display of overindulgence, but a job is a job. Besides which, the chef at 141 is something of an urban legend, and John is endlessly curious.

I am the Dog

Soap comes to terms with his mean bastard kink, while facing the fact he's being treated better in a fake relationship with a mark then he ever has been his whole life.

[Phenomenal, fucking adore this.]

something important

On a routine op, Ghost disappears. They come after him, of course, but he’s nowhere to be found, with not a shred of evidence to say where he is— only a six year old who looks suspiciously like him, who insists he’s Simon Riley.

[I've reread this countless times and I will again, very sweet.]

I thought love was only true in fairytales

Nik contacts the 141 tattoo shop to have Price give him a chest tattoo.

Price has done countless tattoos over the course of his career.

So why can't he stop thinking about this one?

And why is the Russian guy so pretty?

[Every character in this is so cool.]

He's Got Bi!Price Energy

John Price has worn many hats. Medical student, army doctor, captain, now retired veteran. He feels that’s probably enough, but now, with all this time on his hands, the universe has alerted him to another hat he wears: bisexual.

Navigating life after almost 20 years of military service is hard enough. Now John finds himself falling into the deep-end of his new identity.

[Kate and the house duck.]

the one with all the kissing

After hiding their relationship for six months, Soap accidentally kisses Ghost in front of the group, and he can only think of one way to fix it. Soap's squadmates refuse to let his behavior slide. Revenge is best served sweet.

[Short, sweet and funny.]

Our Time Is Right Now

A serial killer is making their mark on the newly installed crime factions in London. Smart, savvy, and undetectable in a city covered in CCTV. The man operates...like a ghost.

Captain John Price and his team aren't afraid to get their hands dirty and do a little ghost hunting.

But what happens when the ghost starts hunting them back?

[Fucking brilliant detective/killer story. I ate it up.]

[desperateknot]

Half-analysis, half-ramble:

I think it is really funny how we are often inclined to think of Ricardo as a pretty swell guy (minus the part when he chases the Sinner down for a hair coupon), while Queequeg absolutely abhorred herself as she was when she was in his position (rank, organisation and everything). That begs a question: how was she a reprehensible person assuming she was, in every way, similar to Ricardo now? Murder and torture are bad ofc, but in a setting like the City, a kill count of several hundred doesn't seem that...abnormal.

The easy explanation is we disagree with our question. That Queequeg did worse murders and tortures under the sanction of the Book of Vengeance than Ricardo did and thus, more reprehensible. And, do trust me, I love my morally questionable pixel women, I love it when my blorbos are messy, and I love it when characters are complex. Besides, it would be pretty lame for a character to give a redemption arc and then turn around and say "i mean it's all good what you did wasn't that bad anw." It takes away gravity from both the character and the redemption arc. A cowardly move. However, if we follow this argument with Queequeg specifically, we might be falling into a trap.

Remember what she said? "Thinking filth was everything." Her past justification for her atrocities was basically "everyone was doing it anyway." Therefore, I think, judging her actions from the point of view of her environment is a bit misguided and might even be harmful in trying to understand her. Just because others are doing it doesn't mean it is an okay thing to do. That is her conclusion, and in making this conclusion, she has to diverge from the moral standard of her family, of the Book of Vengeance and was thus forced to develop her own moral compass (hehe compass). Which turn out was a bit self-defeating because the said moral compass decided that she's a bad person and also stipulated that a bad person like her shouldn’t make any real decision, and soshe relinquished her autonomy again. But for a moment, her deciding what is right and what is wrong to do, without taking into the account of the guidelines of the Book of Vengeance or any social capital, was a really good thing for obvious reason. It was even more significant because it was her who went through this arc. Because throughout her story she has struggled with establishing and maintaining her own being and to be her own person.

Besides, do we really trust this woman when she says she is a reprehensible person? Does she look like an individual who held reasonable and sensible beliefs about herself?

That is to say, with the current information, I don't believe Queequeg, when she was in the Middle, did anything worse than anything an average officer of the Middle would do.

She might have still been worse than Ricardo though maybe. I feel like Ricardo is a better Big Sibling than average.

Edit:

To clarify, I am not saying Ricardo is a good person (because the Middle is also not a morally good faction either). However, I am saying that Ricardo was written to be liked. He is a comic relief antagonist (at least since Nocturnal Sweeping) with plenty of positive qualities. The point is he was not written as a reprehensible person, at least not as reprehensible as Queequeg made herself out to be. The question I set out to answer is "Was Queequeg really as cruel during her times in the Middle as she made herself out to be?" And the answer is "no."

My argument is such:

Queequeg wasn't worse than a regular official of the Middle or at least we don't have good reasons to believe she was.

The reason we *might* believe she was reprehensible is because she acted like it. The reason why this information is not reliable is

1. Ricardo wasn't presented as pure evil, at least not utterly reprehensible. Assuming Queequeg was around his level, then she wasn't really *that* bad in the context of her environment. (Main point)

=> Even if her actions can be seen as not *that* bad by the world she inhabited at large (people in the City, or at least in the Backstreets, kill all the time; even Limbus Company kills people, however, they either do it because of self-defense or because it is necessary for their missions, not for funsies) and normal by her specific environment (she's in a crime Syndicate), even encouraged/sanctioned by her Family (the Middle/the Book of Vengeance) - the "thought filth was the world" speech - she still managed to develop her moral compass independent of these outside factors. This is significant for Queequeg specifically, since she had always struggled with building and maintaining her individuality.

2. Queequeg is not to be trusted for her opinion of herself. (Minor point)

[csphire]

Hopes and dreams I had for Dragon Age 4 that we so did not get.🙃😢

An actual RPG game. Not Nice Guy, Nice Funny Guy, and Nice but Stern Guy. Let us screw up and piss off our companions.

No more dialogue wheel selection bait and switches. "Nooo I didn't mean that. I did not think they would say that! That's not what I thought that choice meant. I meant-fuck! *sighs* ...I guess I'll have to reload." Or more accurately, "That was the mean option? Are you kidding me!"

Letting the player be an asshole. Sometimes, it's just cathartic to punch a character. People in customer service especially need this at the end of a shift. Putting this in games is a public service. We needed more of those kinds of moments beyond the bloody tutorial.

More of our previous choices having an actual impact in DA4. Like the Well of Sorrows I was so certain would bite an Inquisitor in the ass somehow in the future. Like Morrigan with Mythal in her could force the Inqusitor to hurt or even try to kill Solas. So I agonized over that choice. The same goes for who we left in the fade. Honestly, the three or so that carried over I did not see any impact on DAVG at all. Am I wrong?

Who we left in the fade showing up or we find their body. "Where's Hawke?" Yeah... where's Hawke BioWare? Get's Hawke's clothes instead. Well, that's... depressing.

The option to play as the Inquisitor trying to be low profile or as a nobody aka Rook. This way, everyone is happy, right? For a lot of us, the Inquisitor going toe to toe again with Solas was important.

By playing as the Inquisitor we would have had one sweet Dagna-created prostatic arm-not from Bianca because screw her. Also, depending on our class each one would be a little different. Oh, and that prosthetic would also be customizable just like Varric's crossbow and every other weapon in Dragon Age Inquisition. I really thought BioWare would jump to help feature an amputee in an empowering way. True we had Neve but it felt like more of an afterthought to give her a prosthetic that honestly looks uncomfortable as hell.

Open worlds to collect mats, and kill things to craft gear and weapons for our team only better. It would have given us time to breathe and enjoy the scenery. Plus I like doing that kind of tedious shit and if you don't, fine go buy that stuff I guess.

Vendors that will sell us the goods if we got the coin and none of that faction BS.

"Knife ear!" You think at least the venatori would be shouting that at my elf. Nope! I did not feel like my character's race mattered in this game. I don't think Solas over a decade really put the fear of the gods into the North. We all know isms and slavery are bad but putting those things in a game's world helps people realize why they're bad and can even help people feel what it's like to be on the receiving end of such abuses which can help create a thing called empathy.

Blood! Where is the blood? Why is my character not covered in dirt and the gore of their enemies? Don't like that, fair but what about an on-off feature in settings?

Enemies that send chills down my spine. Instead, the ogres and darkspawn made me bust out laughing. I cannot take them seriously, especially the ogres. I see them and think, "Derp a durr... oh I'm an ogre and soooo scardy... rawr."

Dagna... because she's adorable and if any dwarf deserves magic it's her. Or at least let her nerd out, study Lace and help her understand more about her new abilities.

Sandal Cameo at least. Also adorable aaand... ENCHANTMENT!

Our companions can get hurt. I'm starting to think they made them immortal because they knew some of us would let them get hurt on purpose. There are no feelings of concern at all for them going into combat now, no pick-up mechanics it leaves me feeling only more apathetic about them.

Quicker cooldowns on abilities instead of spamming the left mouse button all of the time. And more than two fucking abilities on my hot bar. BioWare... what were you thinking?

Three or more companions traveling with us instead of two. It was the gold standard all throughout the franchise. How are we supposed to get to know them all when limited to-oh right most of them have a personality as deep as a kiddy pool, never mind.

Companions with personalities and problems deeper than kiddy pools. That tension between Cassandra and Varric, Dorrian and Vivienne, Cole and Sera, and so forth was... chief's kiss.

Control of all THREE of our companions traveling with us in combat. Look, I'm a control freak who likes strategy. Combat for the series has always been centered on strategy, pausing, builds, and gear. Am I still bitter that they dropped us to two? ...Yes.

If playing as the Inquisitor you get the option to romance someone new. Especially let us have the option for Lavellan to move on from Solas.

Better-looking hands and body proportions. Why are the heads so damn big? And honestly the hands in failguard genuinely creep me the hell out with tucking the pinkies away all the time. It's weird! Strange hill to die on I know but they just make me cringe and die a little inside.

Romance scenes that would make Larian and BG3 fans blush. This game was always meant for adults. Adults have *gasp* SEX!

Solas not being a total red flag d-bag for killing our favorite dwarf! Run Lavellan Run! You're probably next. And if not him, Bianca is going for your eyes!

Solas being less of a manipulative antagonist twat and/or the player has the ability to be more diplomatic from the start with Solas to get his help. I feel like Solas' character development sorta backtracked by a lot.

Solas once again is a romance option but this time to EVERYONE! That and I wanted to see Lavellan and Solas finally get it on.

They finally let us romance Varric. Oh they did you so dirty, baby... *ugly crying*

A memorable soundtrack that sets off all the feels and is not stuff that's reused from the Inquisition.

Last but not least, where the fuck is our Golden Nug Bioware?

I might add more later, but feel free to add more and comment below!

[nessacousland]

can i ask what was ur problem with treviso? i actually found treviso and the crows to be the most interesting faction out of all of them so maybe im just biased LOL

Okay, full disclosure: I was on vacation and didn’t get to play Veilguard until the 8th of November. Couldn’t take the potential spoilers everywhere, so I've been cramming these past few days to finish the game asap (I still did every side quest, had all factions at max strength and got the “best” ending etc. but didn’t do every chests/stats puzzle). By the time the Treviso questline concluded, I'd been fully marinating in the sauce of all the other criminally stupid quests, is what I’m trying to say, and Treviso was emblematic of every problem I already had with this game. It was my breaking point.

To start with, the questline is offensively generic and an actual insult to the players’ intellect. Painfully linear, cartoon villains abound and nothing of any substance was ever said during its run.

The moment Caterina told us about Lucanis’ non-death, I called Illario being the traitor. There were no clever misdirects, there were no other leads, nope, they showed us his hand *immediately*. Grandma First Talon of the murder guild has a clear favorite and didn’t tell the ‘spare’ heir about her suspicions? Yeah, okay. Repeat FAMILY as often as you want, you piss-poor Godfather knockoff of a questline, I ain't buying.

So, from the start, all tension is gone, I'm just sitting there waiting for the rest of these “capable” assassins who “rule Antiva from the shadows” to catch on to this incredibly obvious plot twist. Meanwhile, the quests had absolutely nothing interesting to say - about the Crows or Treviso. The first bad guy was, predictably, an evil evil Venatori, super more evil than the evil evil Venatori you've seen before, guys, she literally BATHES IN BLOOD. Omg, right? 🙄 (I found Tevinter infinitely more compelling when their entire ruling class were power-hungry tyrants out of self-interest instead of being hit over the head with the mustache-twirling villain/crazed cultist stick).

Mr. “totally not the traitor” kills Zara before she can tell us anything of substance, she dies,clearly shocked, calling him “Amatus”...AND NO ONE CATCHES ON. You can have Neve on the team, Bellara regularly reads Tevinter serials (the whole team has a fucking book club in the middle of an apocalypse), you can play a freaking Shadow Dragon Rook, but nah, nothing. We don’t even get to ask “Uh, what was that?”. Instead, we get to sit through more pointless missives/quests while the ever capable Crows are totally investigating the traitor.

Now, you could argue that the “Amatus” was a reward to tip off those of us who’ve played the previous games and know what the term means. But with a plot this threadbare and obvious…did the writers think they’re Agatha Christie here? Did they really think I was at the edge of my seat, desperate to find out “whodunit” and grateful for any crumbs thrown my way?

Well, anyway, we are told a million times over that super charming (where?) Illario is just “like that” every time he acts super freaking suspicious. (The funeral thing with Caterina's ashes was especially funny.)

You'd think those instances would start to add up and prompt someone - anyone - to start using their brains (don't we have a goddamn detective on our team?!), but NOPE. We have to corpse-whisper to progress this questline. One of the biggest ass-pulls they've introduced via this game in general, in my opinion (is this Forbidden Realms and we just unlocked the Speak with the Dead spell?) - and it acts as the deus ex machina here to finally give us a clue. Wow, thanks.

The entire sequence of Lucanis confronting Illario in front of the assembled mafia felt like something out of an Antivan play. So goddamn goofy. I thought that vibe was charming in Josephine's romance quest - Antivans live for the drama - but they wanted us to take this moment seriously. This is Lucanis confronting his “all he has left” (don't get me started on the Fade sequence - apparently we the players can’t grasp anyone's motivations without having them spelled out for us over and over again) for putting him through hell and changing his entire being forever. Should I be laughing right now?

To make matters worse,we're told that the Crows are the perfect killers who never leave a contract unfinished - and then Lucanis spares Illario because the humiliation is the biggest punishment??? Like, I'm fine with him faltering here, that’s human. But this should have had consequences. This is the murder guild we're talking about here. Lucanis’ parents were literally killed in a different house’s coup attempt. He was just made the head mobster, immediately showed weakness in front of the entire mafia and everything is just dandy fine??? Because FAMILY?

Another personal gripe with this is that - as always - Rook had zero agency. No matter what you do, Lucanis will forgive or spare Illario. Imagine if we had the option to convince him to kill him instead. Imagine the resulting resentment tainting our bond with him and having us actively engage with fixing or breaking it. Imagine us going along with his mercy but hashing out the painful consequences for his house with him. But that’s not the game Veilguard is.

Anyway, the quest then becomes even more ridiculous. We've long learned that a human traitor helped the Antaam claim Treviso overnight. Someone with great knowledge of the city and the necessary power to make it happen. Gee, I'm sure the human GOVERNOR regularly hanging out in the Crow headquarters or the market bitching about the Crows’ interference 24/7 - the ONLY town official we get to see - had nothing to do with it. Five scarves fluttered in shock out of five, great job, guys.

The Butcher thing was just…weird. Like, we get to hear and build him up as this totally different antaam leader, cruel but cunning and calculating, someone who will be difficult to dethrone. Only for him to show up out of nowhere and serve no other purpose than to move the main plot forward asap and die. Lol, thanks for your service, I guess.

Then Ivenci, for no fucking reason, decides that they, like any good cartoon villain, should reveal themselves to us just in order to gloat. Um, why don’t they simply order the Antaam to murder us dead right then and there? If Rook and their plucky team of friends are too powerful for that, why haven’t we taken Treviso by force already? But nah, lol, our plot armor doesn’t have any cracks yet, so they literally tell us to go away and try to disturb the gods’ plans, because those guys will totally kill us for them.

Now, we wait again. Excuse me, isn’t this a questline about assassins? Why aren’t we trying to, y'know, assassinate Ivenci? Cut off the snakes's head, how often have we heard this phrase otherwise? Nah, let's wait till we get another letter that shit is going down that the Crows totally didn’t anticipate and THEN let's confront them. (Ofc, the Crows’ investigation of the qamek stalled forever. Cause they’re incompetent.)

But the thing that really broke me…we KNOW Ivenci stole a bunch of special qamek. We run at them THROUGH A GREEN POISON CLOUD. And my Rooks's just like “Huhhh? Is something possibly messing with my mind right now?”. YOU STUPID POS.

And then, ofc, we end the questline and Jacobus pops outta nowhere to spare Ivenci because a good pirate never steals and a good assassin never kills, I guess. Jacobus founds his new house to basically become a big mafia family for orphans like him which everyone is super proud of, because, if the previous installments of the game have taught us anything, it's that the Crows are deeply concerned with the well-being of orphans. Whoop dee doo, the end.

Okay, more notes. It’s been mentioned plenty already that this game has completely neutered the Crows and turned them into edgy found family freedom fighters. Personally, I'm not okay with the explanation that this is simply a different house than House Arainai. Because what the actual fuck, game. Why is Ivenci the bad guy when they're literally right about everything?! Where's my option to agree with them that a fucking murder mafia shouldn’t be the ruling force of a town, let alone the entire country? Why is the municipal government the enemy while my non-Crow Rook keeps shouting “Viva the Crows”??? Are you really telling me that the Crows are the good guy mafia and House Arainai was the bad outlier? Is that what this is?

Look, I'm fine with allying with the Crows if that’s what necessity dictates. We're trying to stop the SUPER BLIGHT here. But don’t sugarcoat that this is us joining forces with the mob. The way Veilguard presents them makes me cringe cause they're basically just leather-clad incompetent fools larping as birds. Show us the reality of this alliance. Get into the nitty-gritty. Make this world feel real. God.

I *wanted* to like this questline. Out of every country in Northern Thedas, I've always been most interested in Antiva. The whole medievalesque guilds system and merchant princes, the mediterranean romance and drama, pirates and Crows, the snazzy outfits and Spanish accents, god, normally, I'm eating that shit UP. I didn’t even think twice about which city to save. Partially because Minrathous was better fortified and Venatori seemed like the lesser evil vs. blighted water, of course, but mostly because Treviso is absolutely gorgeous and Zevran and Josephine instilled a lot of love for Antiva in me that I just don’t feel for Tevinter. I also thought that the setup was very interesting - professional assassins turned into freedom fighters of their occupied turf. And it *would* have been if they had let them remain, y'know, the actual murder mafia they always were.

But aside from my gripes about the Crows’ portrayal, the entire questline was just a total nothing burger. This is the first time ever that we're actually in Antiva, our introduction, so to speak, and what do we learn about the place? That there’s strife and betrayal among the Crows? Um, yeah, Zevran covered that fifteen years ago. There’s nothing new whatsoever. Imagine if our primary goal had actually been to help the Crows free Treviso. That we're working to loosen the Butcher's grasp on the town via strategic assassinations (i.e. actual Crow missions) that also introduce us to Treviso's people/Antivan culture (taking out someone during a theatre play, for example! The drama!), the internal politics of the Merchant princes and the municipal government's struggle to keep this occupied city from imploding. Imagine us getting caught up in this web of intrigue as we get closer and closer to the Butcher and then suddenly, we're being played. And only *then* do we start to suspect a traitor among the Crows’ ranks and the whole thing unravels. Spitballing even further, why repeat the Crow/Venatori romance in a random side quest with random people? Why not have Zara and Illario be actually in love, but he kills her for his ambition anyway? And instead of taking responsibility for his actions, he blames Lucanis for forcing his hand? Or maybe, they both thought they were playing the other and as another power hungry asshole, Zara almost respects Illario for the hussle as she dies? *Some* messiness and drama? (Cause Varric’s initial narration sequence made Zara seem like this blood-soaked femme fatale but the actual narrative gave zero fucks about that vibe. Discount Countess Bathory wannabe).

That might just be what I would have wanted and nobody else, but I still maintain that anything would have been better than this cookie-cutter, baby’s first mafia story that is beat for beat exactly what you'd expect and have seen before.

Well, this was a long rant. I don’t intend to make a habit of shitting on things others enjoy on here, but my emotions are still running high after finishing the game yesterday and you did ask. Sorry.

[billveusay]

I watched Gundam: The Witch from Mercury and...

Wow, it's a doozy. There's so much to talk about. Lots of qualities, lots of flaws but overall... I like it a lot. I've been very critical of stories with wonky pacing and writing, and while that's still the case here (and it still annoys me), it does compensate by having a lot of heart.

But bitching about pacing is starting to become the theme of these reviews, so might as well start here. After all, it seems to be the consensus that the second season was rushed. However, while it was probably due to studio meddling, I think they could have made it work. But sadly... this show has a chronic case of too much goddamn stuff. Too many characters, too many subplots, too many factions. Really needlessly so for the latter, it's like they knew Gundam was known for featuring complicated geopolitics and wanted to showcase their Gundam street-cred by having lots of it. But please, explain to me why Dominicus, the special forces of Cathedra, needs to exist when Cathedra is already a military organisation and the only times they feature in the plot is through Dominicus. The show is full of redundancies like this, and because of it I had to alt+tab out to the wiki at the end of every episode to read the summary of what I just watched. The prologue is especially bad in that regard.

As for the characters... well it's a bad sign when everyone is gathering in preparation for a final battle and I'm squinting my eyes at a third of them. Who were you people? Are you the guys from Grassley or the duel after-school club? Especially when everyone is wearing helmets. I jest you not, that's the reason why I only realized that Guel had killed his father after he got explodified. And too many characters lead to too many subplots, like the stupid brotherly fight in the middle of the final confrontation. Though I liked how it concluded with... some lady yelling at them to cut out the bullshit. And if they edited a lot of the disposable stuff, they'd probably have more time to develop the most important aspects.

Moving on to Sulemio. I like them, but I have to admit I found Suletta irritating at first. It's the "well now I'm not doing it èné" syndrome of writers trying so hard to make the cutest possible character, and the constant awkward stammering didn't help. But she did eventually grow on me somewhat. Her little "...eh?" after Guel made his declaration really got me. Plus I think they did a good job of having a miscommunication "breakup" at the end of the first season stemming from a character being stupid in-character, and not because she picked up the idiot ball for contrived reasons. Or because she overheard half of a conversation through a door and drew the wrong conclusions.

Actually, the miscommunication is resolved by a character overhearing a conversation, which I find very funny. As is the following sequence. There is also some good writing in how her heroic traits, like her devotion to her loved ones and determination are twisted by her mother. Nicely done on that front.

I like Miorine alright too. She has some nice scenes, like the aforementioned post-toilet chase, and I was invested in their relationship enough. I just don't have that much to say about her. Though I do have something to say about something she does at one point.

However, my favourite character is Elan-4. In one single episode they managed to make me go from "oh cool, an ice-prince type archetype, literally referred to as the ice-prince. And he is contrasted with a hot-headed, fiery guy. And he's an emotionless asshole but he seems to have feelings for Suletta, how original, fnar fnar" to "wow, that's the most tragic fucking character I've seen in all of Gundam". His death is the peak of the show for me. Which is sad, cause it happens at a quarter of the show.

I'm teasing, there are still plenty good episodes after this. Like the 15th one, which is similar to the Norris fight from 8th MS Team: It's an episode that is not only very good, it can almost be watched in isolation. Useful if someone you know is interested but hesitating to jump into the franchise or a specific piece of Gundam media.

Going back to Elan, I like how they kind of did the same thing with the two other duelists. Introducing them as random archetypical husbando material and then gave them depth as the show went on. I also like Belmeria, she reminds me of Marcoh from Fullmetal Alchemist. And the team of students from earth. Even if many characters were cut, I'd keep most of them, they managed to give them convincing personalities, relationships, funny moments contrasting with more serious stuff, making the most out of their limited screentime.

Now for the characters I don't like. The two terrorist girls from the Dawn of Fold could have been interesting but they sorely lacked nuance for me, especially considering what they represented. I couldn't take Sophie seriously because of her uwu kill-crazy schtick, so I didn't really feel the emotional impact of her death. Which didn't help me get invested in turn in Norea's vengeful arc, consisting of yelling in a locked room for far too long, getting angrier in a Gundam and then dying. And somehow, Elan-5 fell in love with her in that interval. Not a fan of Elan-5 either. I mean, it was fun seeing him suck ass at being seductive and not fooling Suletta for a second. But overall he's one of the characters that I think they could have done without.

And Suletta's mother is... hm. Actually I don't dislike her overall, she's interesting as antagonists go, and the way she manipulates Suletta is really creepy. But in the end, even though she's done really awful stuff, she gets away with an easy happy ending.

And look (tangent alert), I'm really not in favour of the idea that every character needs to be "punished" by the plot for every bad action they've done. Actually the opposite, more stories should acknowledge that even the biggest arseholes are human, often driven to arseholery by ignorance, external influence, systemic issues, etc... and can become better people given the right circumstance. And there are no arbitrary lines where they have sufficiently "atoned" to receive the official "redeemed" stamp, nor is there a line where they are officially "irredeemable".

But with Prospera... it don't think she even acknowledges that she caused the death of dozens of innocents civilians and probably thousands more to come in the following years because she re-ignited the conflict between earth and space. It's just... "yeah, I guess I was a bit obsessed by bringing back my ghost-daughter and being a dick to my clone-daughter, I shall be a better mommy from now on". Pretty weak, and I'd say the oppressed earth/capitalism message is what suffers most from the rushed ending. But at least with the dissolution of the Benerit group, there are tangible things being done.

But while we're at the ending... a Gundam pilot using their weird psychic powers to block a colony-destroying laser beam in the climax. Didn't think anything of it at the time. But since then I have watched Unicorn. It does seem to take a lot of things from Unicorn actually, even the theme sounds similar. But it's not like Unicorn was the most original piece of Gundam media to start with (I shall get to it).

What else... ah yes, Miorine's stunt in episode 7. Can any econ major tell me if it made any kind of goddamn sense?

"Gundams are illegal. And because Shin-sei and Peil both made gundams, they will be dissolved and the Benerit group will lose billions. So instead, I propose we relocate that money to create a new corporation that will make... gundams" "But gundams are still illegal" "Yes, but I will ask my father to not make them illegal" "...But it's not corporate regulations, it's the law now, he can't change it like tha- oh I guess he can. But if he makes gundams not illegal, then Shin-Sei and Peil won't go bankrupt and so there won't be a need for Gund-arm to be created..."

Please tell me I wasn't the only one bothered by it, cause I felt like I was going crazy.

And a small pet-peeve: Post-credit scenes. I didn't know they had them, and so I almost missed the splat before going into Season 2. And after that, I had to check the 12 previous episodes to see if there were any. And there were, important ones at that. Not cool guys. Is it to spite people who skip the endings?

As usual, let's conclude with the animation and the designs: top-notch on both sides! Fewer 3D shots than I was expecting, lots of gorgeous 2D. Also, while I like the very grounded mechanical designs of ye olde OVAs from the 90's, I also love them slick and sharp designs. And some Mobile Suits are straight up armored cores (like the Zowort) which is a big plus for me. If I have one complaint though, it's that funnels, or in this case Gund-bits, make for less interesting choreography. You don't get a Mobile Suit overcoming another with precise shots, or by being more agile, or with a clever strategy, you just get pew pew pew pew pew pew pew pew pew. Except in the conclusion of the fight against Shaddiq, really cool moment.

And that concludes it! As I said, I have a lot of complaints, but it's probably still in my top 5.

Now for the biggest tonal shift you could imagine, next is Thunderbolt!

My gundam reviews :

> Hathaway's Spark > Mobile Suit Gundam > Gundam Zeta > 0083: Stardust Memory > 0080: War in the Pocket > 8th MS Team > The Witch from Mercury > Gundam Thunderbolt > The Origin > Turn A Gundam > F91 > Gundam Unicorn > Gundam 00 > MS IGLOO > Gundam Narrative > Iron-Blooded Orphans > Gundam Wing > Twilight Axis > Requiem for Vengeance

[centrally-unplanned]

I played some Victoria 2 today (a Japan campaign ofc, and admittedly with the Historical Flavor Mod), to sort of reflect on it in relation to Vicky 3. It is rough going back to the economy of Vicky 2 after playing 3, let me tell you - you knew intellectually it was "bad" system before, but you loved it anyway because of the full package. But now you can see the alternatives and remove the quotations, it is just bad! Building an ammunition factory that requires sulfur, having domestic RGO sources for sulfur but they are not producing enough to supply even one factory, and just not being able to do anything about it that isn't drastic or long-term because the world market is feeling fucky today is unacceptable once you have played a game where that isn't true. My industrialization strat should not waffle between "build a railroad for a 5% bump in output" and "invade Indonesia", give me a middle ground here guys! And it does not stop there - capitalists are useless, "build factory on RGO and expand forever" is optimal 99% of the time, key technologies will like double your output making them forced decisions, etc.

And, if you are can't build factories because you aren't civlizied yet...you have no econ game at all. You just do virtually nothing. Now that you see how that isn't required, the mechanics are ruthlessly bad in key ways.

But! But but but! I think Vicky 2 is a still a better game. The funny thing about that "I don't have enough sulfur" thing is that I didn't even care. I built the factory "for the future", subsidized it, it outputted zero bullets, and I barely notice because you make so much money anyway you can generally ignore it. I build the factories primarily so I can have clerks staffing them and generating research points! Is that insane game design? Yeah, it is! But it is insane game design that doesn't get in the way. Nothing stops me from building a factory, it just isn't very good. Wanna build a huge military? Encourage some soldiers with your national focuses and go to town. Want to declare war on someone? You can just do that! And then I take the army I built, click it on enemy, and it fights them - revolutionary new approaches to game design folks.

Even politics, where Vicky 2 definitely does get in the way a lot and is actively not-good, it is at least more permissive and more importantly simple. If you have elections you get events to shift voter ideology, and national focuses to boost party support that work exactly the way you would expect. If you are autocratic you can just swap who is in power! Liberals support political reforms, socialists support economic reforms, if you have a majority support for a law click a button and it passes. Done. Putting socialists in power in 1870 Japan might result in a revolution, sure, but it works, you can try it, and try to beat the militant tide.

Meanwhile in Vicky 3 if you are autocratic putting a "minority" faction in power literally breaks your government and prevents you from passing any laws. You can technically do it but you just die immediately. Wanna build a coalition then, where conservatives & agrarians ally together? You technically can again, but the penalty for "non-compatible" coalition partners is so high it 90% of the time crashes you into 0 anyway. So you have the "option" of switching parties, but...you can't. You just have to appoint the landowners every time or you die. So what is the point? Why have the option? Let me play the game!! Let me try reforming things and face a revolution I have 40% odds of losing to! That sounds fun, why are you rigging the game against that?

I tried an Iran run in Vicky 3 earlier, and I had a revolution against the landlords, who had ~50% of the "faction" points in government. I won, and so their points got knocked down to ~0%, how that works. So I made a new government, right? Well, no! Every faction left was "incompatible" with each other and none of them alone could even muster like 30%. I had literally no government capable of passing laws. So I fucking quit the game? Because this was the product of winning a revolution, why would I continue?

In Vicky 2 fascists win a revolution and they coup the government and it's fascist now. You get the fascist laws and can pass reforms they like. There ya go. Done. Is it interesting? No, not really. But it works! It doesn't literally stop you from playing the game.

My Japan game actually started as Satsuma, since in HPM Tokugawa Japan is split into substate Daimyo. I modernized via encouraging intellectuals, took military & railroad reforms, built a modern land army, and built up relations with the other domains. I launched the Meiji Restoration, got 60% of the Daimyo on my side, won the civil war. Began building factories everywhere, built up my industry, built up my research output. Used the new tech & money to build a larger army, fought the Qing in a tough war but got Korea & Taiwan, allied with the UK & built up a steamer industry to get a modern navy. Then Russia got into a crisis with Greece and so the UK and I backed Greece and broke Russia, with me claiming some territories around Manchuria in the process. Later I invaded China proper to annex Manchuria itself and get some treaty ports, easily now because my military was much more advanced. From all that my infamy was high so I coasted into the endgame and pivoted to culture techs to trigger "decisions" around modernizing Japan that gave me bonuses while having nice historical flavor to them.

And generally the game just didn't get in my way on doing all that. I could "tell the story", which for an easy game like Vicky is normally what you are here to do. Vicky 3 is a much better economy simulator, but telling the story beyond that is such a chore, and often impossible. On politics, diplomacy, and especially military, it is philosophically a step backwards such that its more "developed" mechanics cannot compensate for the mistake.

(I think it is funny how much better a gameplay experience the "narrative via decisions" of Vicky 2 w/ HPM is. They give flavor to the nations with a ton of bespoke, scripted events. Which...just works because they are straightforward. Vicky 3 wants to be "emergent" and so limited such events, but missed the forest for the trees there)

I find this sad because honestly there is a "blended" version of these two games that is amazing. Vicky 3's econ system (with tweaks ofc like making trade valuable) and philosophical commitment to minimal military micro (SO finicky in Vicky 2 to replenish armies where individual brigades die off, ugh), with a system that understood storytelling is first. Let players do things, and then give them consequences that are manageable in response. Get out of the way of the stories your sandbox game is built to tell.

[frutiylaris]

Warhammer 40K and 30K Masterlist (Update)

Hell again, this is an update to the warhammer youtuber masterlist that I previously created, it will focus on adding newer creators that were reviewed and checked. If you are confused, please consult the previous Masterlist post. Updated Scores: MajorKill 0/10 - Harassment, no matter the context or circumstance is not acceptable. I'd say do better but that discord and community he has is vile. A blight upon warhammer creators The Serpents Lodge [Removed] - After recent investigation, brought up with private concern from a blogger here. The lodge has been removed for their behaviour. New Creators added: Chaotic Voices 0/10 - Supporting harassment is frowned upon, no matter the context or circumstance. Live from the black library! 0/10 -I knew Chrono, at least by proxy, and whilst they were fine back then... information has been given to me that I cannot share showing me how horrible of a person they are. I'm sorry that your life is not great, but that is not a shield you can wield agaisnt criticism. Isyander & Koda 7/10 - Whilst there are minor errors here and there, probably one of the better "casual" sources of warhammer podcasts to get into. However, point deducted for giving community memes the time of day. Explaining Warhammer to my girlfriend 3/10 - I'm happy for them, I see them occasionally on the dash and the whole content idea works well for what they want from it, but you aren't a good source due to broad sweeping statements. Keep up the passion, though! Idiotic Synergy 5/10 - A wee bit cringe with the voice acting but good hearted and clearly enjoying himself, but please for the love of god stop with the femboy fulgrim jokes, it's not that funny. DreadAnon 0/10 - Thanks for the tutorial reminding me that Analog, delay and echo exist in Adobe Audition, but associating and spreading misinfo from the 'chudhammer' space is grounds for exilement. Adeptus Ridiculous 0/10 - I am biased against Bricky due to his networking with Vtubers, I despise Vtubers. However, this is judging a channels merits. The bookclub? A step in the right direction, but you've exposed yourself as an idiot for not reading ANY BOOKS. For someone who speaks so confidently and with gusto you sure are not qualfied to speak on anything except surface level stuff. But thats not my primary complaint, it is tertiary. My main complaint is that whenever the word 'female' or equvilant thereof it is nearly always in a sexual context and that rings alarm bells in my head. Also stop demeaning every fucking faction with those incessent perverted memes that wont DIE. I think devaluing the Tau only to sex jokes and gundam, as well as slaneesh, in relation to sex jokes, is terrible and has been a disaster for the wider lorespace and newer fans. Uncritically citing lexicanum, and at least, in one case plagerizing an entire page with only the barest of changes, HOWEVER! That may be a false positive on my end and as such will require further research for now it is [BEING INVESTIGATED] The shilling is also insane for videos, with ads, patreon, with an entire store page, you are giving Valrak a run for his polishing dorn's chainsword money. Unacceptable. Being a 'Lifelong' fan does not equate to you being qualified as you still get things wrong, at worse? Misleading, at best? Just marketing speak. Wolf Lord Rho & Valrak 0/10 - Guy's, I understand you are passionate, but stop the shilling, please. 40K Theories [Remleiz] 6/10 - Focused on speculation and Theories, I have barely anything bad or good to say. He exist, he does what he sets out to do. Arbitor Ian 5/10 - I have nothing bad or good to say about Ian, stop getting into fights would one of them because Ian is not cut out for the internet slap fights- buuuuut it seems he has stopped doing so, so good job. The Pontius 0/10 - No, female custodes are not some blackrock psyop meant to make warhammer woke and gay. The only thing you are doing is getting scared of shadows and believing lies.

GW is a company at the end of the day and I am not sorry that you think women as a whole are not allowed in the hobby. Boohoo, grow up. [Version 1.1 Update] If you have any suggestions, arguments or rebuttals, please comment and explain why to the best of your ability. That is all, thank you for your time.

[arsene-ee]

Can we talk about how both Preston Garvey and Wyll Ravengard are pretty much the characters that get treated the worst by their respective fandom? (Also Ik I'm being incredibly Biased here because I love both of them dearly)

Cuz like both tend to be called incredibly bland and are often times just overlooked. While both of them are incredibly complex character (as complex as a bethesda character can get in Preston's case)

Preston is consitently the butt of the same boring ass Joke. "hAhA aNoThEr SeTtLeMeNt NeEdS yOuR hElP, hAhA sO FuNnY" and yes I get it the line is incredibly repetitive, but every characters' dialouge gets repetitive with time as well. The reason this line is so repetitive is that Preston is pretty much the only Questgiver for the Minutemen for a huge part of the game, while other factions like the Railroad (and I assume the BoS) have multiple characters that give you quests. Lorewise Preston being the only quest giver for the minutemen makes sense due to him being like one of the few survivors and all (and the other characters wouldn't really make sense as quest givers, well maybe sturges but he's busy hammering the walls).

Preston has so much interesting lore if you take the time to listen to him, He feels so much survivor's guilt about what happened in Quincy. HE BELIVES HE DESERVES DEATH FOR GODS SAKE.

And I'm still so upset about how he's treated by the fandom, although I do mainly blame bethesda's lazy ass writing. (Also let's not forget that X6-88 is often completely ignored)

Now to Wyll, the love of my life, my babygirl. Wyll was extremly neglected by Larian's writing with him only having about 8.5h of content according to this reddit post. which probably has a lot to do with the fact that he was rewritten very close to release. Wyll is not boring, Wyll is not bland, Larian just didn't want to do him justice compared to other characters (Cough Cough Astarion Cough Cough 12.75h of Content Cough Cough) due to the response to him in EA being low. And let's not forget that up until Patch 7 his dialouge was bugged (apparently), it shouldn't have taken this long to fix it, but Larian was probably busy Animating the 1000000th Astarion cutscene (And don't even get me started on the racist white guy). Wyll didn't even get his own outfit like the rest of the Party (well Lae'zel is wearing Typical gith armor but you rarely encounter them, I recall like 3 or 4 times you actually wearing that armor) Wyll got the basic ass Warlock outfit, and yes it might make sense if you put it as "Well Wyll doesn't have anything anymore, he probably bought or got what was quickly available" well yes but then Astarion should wear some rags or something or at least more plain clothes cuz Cazador most likely would not pay for his clothes to get fixed or get fancy clothes for him, it was just Larian neglecting Wyll again.

And just like Preston Wyll is an incredibly complex character if you take your time to get to know him. His pact causes him pain (mostly mentally n all that) it got him disowned yet he doesn't regret taking it. Wyll was a menace of a Child, almost accidentally robbing a bank, reading smut when he was too young to read such content and then during the game reciting that shit in public. He is incredibly corny and he is proud of that and he fucking fangirls over Minsc. Wyll doesn't even hate his father for disowning him (I'm not saying Wyll should hate or forgive his father, I believe their relationship is incredibly complex), he only speaks rather fondly of him. (also if I see one more person stating Wyll is a Tiefling/Modding Wyll to look like a tiefling I wyll throw hands, he is not a tiefling he is touched by the hells. Same goes for the damn bloodstone eye mod, it's not supposed to be a bloodstone bbg lies about it). Wyll has been under Mizora's close watch for 7 years of course he wants to take romance slow.

Unfortunatley in both offical art and fanwork Wyll tends to be replaced by Halsin or straight up forgotten and in the offical art he does appear in he is often just glued to Mizora (yes I get that a Warlock pact is Binding blah blah) like in the offical art book where every character's alternate design is shown, just not Wyll instead it's Mizora. And I hate it, yes someone may percieve him as bland/boring when they just put him in camp and just don't interact with him, hell if that was a reason to call a character boring I could call Astarion boring but I'm not.

I understand that "good" characters might not be everyone's cup of tea but holy fuck it sucks so much that all the characters I like are just ignored.

The main difference between Preston Garvey and Wyll is that Prestion is the butt of a lame joke and at least is somewhat acknowledged within the fandom, while Wyll just tends to fall behind (Just like X6-88). Both of them are overshadowed by other characters in the game. Preston, Wyll and X6-88 are all pocs and all of them are overshadowed by/less popular than white/white read characters. it's honestly exhausting to see, especially for Baldur's Gate 3, when I see that Larian does indeed respond to fan complains in their content ("Fixing" Tav's expressions for Abuser Astarion kisses...dark romance has ruined fandom).

There is nothing much there can be done about Preston's lazy writing since fallout 4 is pretty much ancient by now (it's like 8 years old so almost a decade). But Baldur's Gate 3 has only turned one (1) year old recently and modern games get consistently updated, it would not be hard for Larian to just add more content for the characters that have less content and make the amount of content each character has kind of equal, hell I would write them the Wyll content for fucking free.

This casual racsim in fandom spaces, whether it's intended or not, is scary to see especially with the curent rise of right wing extremism in western countries (I'm mainly talking about germany here since that's what I can talk about, actually being from such a right wing extremist state).

[bubblecat-co]

very impromptu Crow Meeting - RRAU

With @so--whoonos lil blurb supply run I decided to add to it.

The Crow Advisor has a meeting that no one wants

Rooks - Heloise ( @a-mumbling-nerd), Portia ( @booksncatsworld), Alecto ( @alystrin03), Nheil ( @so--whoonos)

mention of - Nels ( @madrabbit014)

In Front of the Crow Advisor was all the crows currently working as agents. Most of them she knew a thing or two before hand but a couple she only heard idle whispers of or being informed by Viago when he saw it necessary. Right now, was her least favorite thing, being like the talon. “Ok we need to have a talk.” She stood tall, her arms cross as her eyes scanned the crow common area making sure she made eye contact with each and every person. No one turned from her gaze; they didn’t do it often not unless they were guilty of something that she was told not to know about. “I think we all enjoy the annoy Viago board, correct?” slowly the room responded in small nods “well, it’s all fun to do things but this.” she lifted up a piece of paper, one that Nheil of all people had handed her. 

She had no idea who had placed the idea on the board, the handwriting was fluid, but each letter written differently than the last. Clearly, they wanted to stay anonymous and knew the handwriting could lead to their identity. “What does it say?” Heloise pipped up, her voice was gentle and quiet. She was one of the only people Aria knew for sure didn’t put it up there.

“It says ‘Tell him that Aria ran to join the shadow dragons’ which could be funny but also had more consequences than just a reaction from the fifth talon.” there was a small giggle passing through the crows. She shot it down with a scowl “One of which is him storming up the lighthouse and causing issues with the shadow dragons not to mention me and the other talons.” 

“Come on Aria, it can’t be that bad.” Alecto was the first to speak up. 

“It can be. The fifth talon’s prodigy, the one he sent to control of the lighthouse abandoning the crows and joining a Tevinter freedom fighter group. It puts me in danger, and could put his own credibility on the line.” she let out a small sigh as she rubbed her eyes “I hate to have to put restrictions on the board, you guys were doing so well but I’ll be checking the board twice a day, once at night and once in the morning and maybe even more. I will rid of any plans that put anything i mean ANYTHING in jeopardy. Including people’s lives and the possibility of scandal or gossip.” 

“Damn it.” Portia grumbled “thanks to whoever ruined the fun.” she shot a glare at Nheil.

“Had nothing to do with me I swear.” he shot a sly smile back at her. 

“Seriously you guys could have said ‘Aria is running off to marry some random person’ and it would have a better reaction than leaving to join another faction. ALSO don’t do that one either, I would hate to have that conversation with him You know what. I’m off limits on the board, anything that involves me is a no unless you ask first and I say yes Understand?” there was a silence that stretched far too long for her liking “understand!” she repeated, raising her voice as it boomed around them. They murmured in front of her in understanding while nodding their heads “good, dismissed.” she walked away from them. Finally, free from the duty part of being at the lighthouse she went to find Nels to complain about it for a while. 

[ballena-asesina]

always in my head, you've got me enraptured. little ship thingies because sometimes i'm not strong enough and i think too hard about my faves. ft carlos, colt, and court as they are the most prominent in my head. the high rankers and the guy also really heavily in my head right nyeow. my c-squad. those are my specialest of guys and they make me sick and i love them so so so much :( (i love all of my mains don't get it twisted)

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ship thoughts: carlochlo

before the events of re3, they'd like to come back to their shared quarters and do nothing but sleep. because a lot of the time, the missions they'd do (whether this is before or during their time in umbrella) are. well. obviously very physically and mentally taxing. but they'd be tired enough to not give a damn about a shower. its like. chloë hits the bed first and she's dragging carlos beside her. he lays on top of her. it's a miracle they get all the weaponry and shit off of them first before they decide to sleep on each other for the next day.

post-re3 thing though; their lives are a lot more comfortable. they have a lot more steady footing not being associated with umbrella anymore. of course, they'd have to keep a low profile and whatnot because there are risks involved, and there are the possibilities that some faction of umbrella could find them...but otherwise, they're on better footing now. carlos is the kinda guy who takes chloë to meet every one of their new neighbors despite her being really awkward.

i like to believe that carlos has relatives that are still alive. i like to think his parents are still okay somehow. and his younger siblings are okay. they knew my grandparents because blah blah lore stuff (slight lore change though i let my grandma live so she's still around and keeps helping carlos' family) so they return to them after the events of re3. and its like. both parties are super happy to have them back. and in that process they learn Wow A Relationship Formed! and carlos and chloë get the familial teasing that makes them both want to get hit by a bus.

during the events of re3 there's a lot of silly banter between carlos and chloë. in general carlos' lines are really stupid (FUNNY! he's very entertaining) so it's like he'll say something really stupid and chloë pans her head in his direction and tells him. ew. shut up. what the hell was that. oh dear god he's at it again.

also in the events of re3, they'd probably have like. gameplay moments where they could heal each other. just a silly thought. made me smile.

since re3 progresses with the years, carlochlo is somewhere in the 40s as of currently! i like to think their life is a lot more peaceful and they spend a lot of time doing really mundane couple shit. but i really want a carlos comeback so i also really entertain the thought that they go and help out the other characters from time to time if they need it. in my head, they've helped out leon and jill in the events of death island. i also love entertaining the thought that they catch wind of luis being in danger in the events of re4 and they take a trip to sorta help him out. because that's their best friend. and sometimes their third (since i entertain polyamory..).

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ship thoughts: coltchlo

they both do stunts. so you know what that means. WOUND TENDING! in their younger years when they were still new to this scene, they both had a tendency to kinda brush off help in favor of looking cool in front of each other. chloë says getting her arm absolutely smashed in didn't even hurt and she feels great. colt crashes out of the windshield of a truck for a stunt and hits the floor pretty hard. says it was nothing he can't handle. with them currently, they're older. not that they're not as spry as they used to be, far from. but i mean if you're married for a long while, you don't need that front anymore. stunt is perfected? okay get over here let me patch your wounds. chloë may smack a bandaid onto colt's forehead though and be like "ah i shouldn't do that. whoops." he doesn't mind too much though, colt usually laughs.

despite both being born and accustomed to hotter climates (i've never been to florida so i genuinely have no idea how hot it gets there), only one of them grew up to retain heat tolerance. colt and chloë mutually grew, and the sun/heat had little of an effect on him. for her, she would get rather fatigued or have a headache because of it. colt's somehow got an umbrella on standby for chloë.

colt loves his coffee, chloë can live without it. she will be awake several minutes before colt may wake up and she makes him coffee. fine tuned to how he likes it, if the resources are available. so he just wakes up and there's a cup of coffee near him. usually cooling down. what a morning!

i doooo think colt sustained some. prolonged issues after breaking his back but i couldn't tell you anything specific because i don't know anything specific other than really bad back aches and the muscles there probably are fucked up. but he still functions pretty well during the movie so if anything it might be momentary hindrances rather than a constant thorn in his side. that being said, if there's a flare up, you know chloë's at his side trying to tend to it as best as she can. even if that means trying to twist him in a really strange position to help him pop his back.

chloë tends to worry a lot about colt leaving her (canon events in the movie. happened out of shame if i remember correctly. if not then i will update [eventually] but. tldr big fail that wasn't his fault was so detrimental to him that he just hid from everyone he knew) a lot. reckon she finds him a lot sooner than anyone else does in the movie, it still incites a lot of paranoia. and i can't even sugar coat it he feels bad about it frequently but he knows the best he can offer is reassurance that he's staying by her side.

you know sometimes they just roughhouse each other. make no mistake chloë is not frail and has a major complex over being seen as such. and colt will entertain this. happily. yes i think he would. if my wife could randomly lift me off the floor unexpectedly with how she looks even if it's for five seconds i'd never underestimate her either. also colt being a fan of her gaining weight HELLO!

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ship thoughts: courtchlo (he'll finally be referred to by name here. i think i'm finally comfortable enough to start using his name/tagging his name LOL. anyone curious though this was 🩶, huge thanks to zale and alexis making me more comfy. my beloved shmoopie)

hi yeah my favorite mess of a 30 year old. i do not think he gets proper rest. he is an assassin. kinda had his hands tied into being one. and is also a man of defense. i do not think court gets proper rest. neither of them do to be honest. but in between moments where things are calm and no higher ups are being demanding, chloë will be watching tv and she has court's head on her lap. she'll scratch his head to help him sleep.

his father figure was definitely aware of the relationship before anyone else was. didn't know chloë was a woman though. he was like i support you court. court's like oh uh thanks yeah that's my wife. and fitzroy is like oh that's a woman. okay. very nice. oh yeah i kinda recognize her now that i think about it. im like yeah i'm the person who you were confused even ended up here. before he retired fitzroy would pair them up intentionally though.

i added court for a reason and i'll keep it vague. certain mentions of certain things make me remember certain experiences and i will kind of. remember it for longer than i like. so in this case. chloë hears a mention of something and it makes her remember this experience from when she was way younger. though she mentions it casually, it makes court feel pissed off more than he shows and he kinda. locates the person. who did the thing. and beats the shit out of them. and chloë literally has no idea but would probably be appreciative.

relaaating to movie events though. while he is on the run. their banter is shown more. not even because high on adrenaline or nerves they just kinda start back-and-forthing a lot. chloë helping court into a safe space and he'll be like. woman get behind the damn wall they'll see you. she throws gauze in his direction and tells him to shut up while she keeps an eye out. also semi related she will take control of fighting people if it means court gets 5 minutes of peace to like. not bleed. and i won't lie he'll trust her before he gets back on his feet to help (because he'd never forgive himself for his wife dying on his behalf).

i like to believe they get more moments of peace after. movie specific events (book is probably a different story). so one of the things they enjoy doing together is getting to see fireflies. court just happens to see a bunch light up and he finds it mesmerizing. especially since he didn't grow up exactly pleasantly. and chloë stares at the bugs like ah yeah very cool (bug enthusiast has a great reaction. literally just ah cool) and sees court staring in amazement. she loves that. probably picks one up and places it in his hand and he thinks it's cool as hell.

they like to match outfits. except it tends to be unintentional. if they're scheduled for a mission, it's intentional so they can recognize each other better. otherwise if they have to change clothing to appear inconspicuous after anything they had to do, then they unintentionally match. court and chloë look at each other like "we're in sync apparently." and you could totally believe them. love it when couples match y'know.

[luckydicekirby]

Okay here’s my attempt at a book roundup this year—sorry in advance that this is like, half my reviews of various Expanse books, and then half my thoughts about Lestat. What can you do! I did not read as widely or diversely as I would have liked this year but. there's always next year I suppose. I’ve also included all the manga we read for book club, because it was on the same list where I was keeping this already!

January

Caliban’s War, James S. A. Corey

This is the second book in The Expanse, a series which I am now on the homeward stretch of. Have not seen the show, will get around to it someday, I really want to see Shohreh Aghdashloo say fuck. I’ve been switching back and forth a bit but mainly listening to these on audio—Jefferson Mays does a really great job as narrator, I highly recommend the audiobooks.

Very broadly, The Expanse is about a universe where humanity has gone to the stars and is in the process of terraforming Mars, as well as spreading out to a handful of space stations, moons, and bits of the asteroid belt. This has created a big new avenue of social stratification between people from Earth or Mars (who have their own political sniping between each other), and people from the Belt, an underclass that is constantly getting fucked over. We follow a variety of characters, but mainly the authors’ meow meow James Holden and the crew of his stolen-from-Mars-technically-but-don’t-worry-about-it-ship The Rocinante as Holden stumbles his way into various political problems. Also, some alien technology has just shown up and it is so so bad!

In general I’ve really enjoyed these books—there's faction politics, there's interesting worldbuilding, there's alien artifacts that will fuck you up every time. I appreciate the constantly shifting status quo—it’s a series that is really, really not afraid to blow things up. The characters are great, and my only real complaint is occasionally slamming into “oh this is sci-fi written by two white guys, it’s time to be weird about race or about women” disease. Also there’s a thread of like, bordering on evopsych running through its philosophy that everyone in the world seems to subscribe to and I just don’t think that’s true of every character! 

ANYWAY with all that background out of the way, this one was one of my favorites of the series! It has Bobbie Draper, Martian marine forced by circumstances into being a political pawn, which she hates, and Chrisjen Avasarala, UN bureaucrat and bitchy foul-mouthed grandma of my heart who knows better than everyone else and who loves maneuvering political pawns, and I am in love with them both. Also scary alien science monsters!

Dungeon Meshi, Ryoko Kui

Not much to say about this. Dungeon Meshi is simply very good! No one else is doing it like Kui! 

Thus Was Adonis Murdered, Sarah Caudwell

The first Hilary Tamar mystery! Thank you to blot for recommending to me I enjoy them so much! These are lighthearted mystery novels about a group of barristers in London in the … 80s?, narrated by their pal Professor Hilary Tamar, who loves to come down from Oxford to visit and will do absolutely anything to get a chance to be nosy and not do actual work. "Anything", in most cases, is solving a murder. These books are very dryly funny and every character is a delight. This one is about dear sweet idiot Julia almost getting arrested for murder, a thing that seems to happen to her a lot. These are so fun! Big recommend! 

Abaddon’s Gate, James S. A. Corey

Expanse book three. Having talked up Caliban’s War, I think this is actually my least favorite Expanse book so far. It has a lot of fun features: introduces one of the more status quo changing alien artifacts, has my favorite scary way for alien artifacts to kill you (INERTIA!!), and one of the main characters is daughter of a thwarted big picture antagonist from book one who wants to ruin Holden’s life. This is a great premise but I just felt kind of cheated of her and Holden having a direct confrontation before Clarissa decides to not be evil after all, and apparently that annoyed me enough to not have very fond memories of this book despite having just listed a bunch of things I love. Ah well!

The Shortest Way to Hades, Sarah Caudwell

Second Hilary Tamar! Also great. This is the best one due to it is the gayest one. 

February

Paradise Kiss, Ai Yazawa

A short manga written by the author of Nana about fashion, dropping out of high school, and relationship problems. Did not hit the heights of Nana but this was fun! Wish it had been less transphobic and homophobic but. The 90s. The fashions, as you might expect, are VERY good.

March

The Likeness, Tana French (reread)

It’s never a bad time to read The Likeness!

Broken Harbor, Tana French (reread)

IT’S NEVER A BAD TIME TO READ BROKEN HARBOR!

April

The Masqueraders, Georgette Heyer

Have been slowly working my way through Heyers on and off and this was the next one on my list! We follow a brother and sister who are both crossdressing as part of a Scheme (and because they’re like, undercover Jacobites or something, I forget). Not my favorite Heyer, but I really enjoyed the romance between Prudence and her Big Guy, and Robin’s romance was also cute, although I think it would be much improved by allowing him to be a lesbian. Have come to find Heyer’s classism kind of funny, and it’s always exciting to try to figure out how people are going to actually turn out to be nobles, because there’s no WAY she’s going to let someone of high birth marry a commoner! (I liked the switched at birth plot in These Old Shades better.)

Cibola Burn, James S. A. Corey

I got annoyed with this book a quarter of the way through and took a two month break but once I got back to it I did enjoy it a lot. In this one Jim Holden and his ragtag crew go to a newly settled world to try to mediate a property dispute between the inhabitants of the world and the company that technically owns all their shit. Really fun alien artifact stuff in this one, some characterization of the female scientist that made me feel crazy, etc. Classic Expanse!

Death in the Spires, K.J. Charles

One member of a group of friends at Oxford is murdered, and the rest of them are Haunted By This and their lives are ruined in various ways—until ten years later, when they begin getting letters accusing them of the crime and it’s time to solve it Once And For All. I’m a big big fan of K.J. Charle’s romances, mainly because my ideal romance has a murder in it, so I was very excited to read a mystery from her! I did come out of this one wishing…uh…that the love interest was Worse. Sorry. Otherwise I had a great time!

Nemesis Games, James S. A. Corey

My favorite Expanse so far! This one is very big on wrecking the status quo, and gives us POV from the whole main crew of the Rocinante. This vitally means we get POV from my special little guy Amos Burton, a tough, amiable bruiser with nothing behind the eyes who outsources his moral compass to Holden because he does not come with one preloaded. He is my favorite. Also, this book at least did something interesting with the central heterosexual ship that I do not really care about, by getting into Holden’s girlfriend Naomi’s questionable past.

May

Babylon’s Ashes, James S. A. Corey

I’m going to be honest, I was trying to look a few things up and realized this book and Nemesis Games are the same book in my mind, and I barely remember what actually happened in it. Since I loved Nemesis Games I guess that means it was good! I found it a little scattered (instead of having four main POVs, like most books in this series, it bounces around to a bunch of characters), but fun. 

The Sirens Sang of Murder, Sarah Caudwell

Third Hilary Tamar! Still great! 

The Ministry of Time, Kaliane Bradley

Oh, The Ministry of Time. Our unnamed protagonist is hired as a “bridge”, someone whose role it is to help acclimate, monitor, and otherwise Be In Charge Of people that the British government has plucked out of time. Because they have time travel now. Our protagonist is assigned to Graham Gore, a guy from the lost Franklin Expedition (who died in episode two of The Terror).

I really wanted to like this book! I enjoyed many aspects of it! I ultimately thought it was very mid. It brings up a lot of interesting ideas about complicity in empire that I found interesting but not fully explored, and I figured out a central twist early and instead of that making me feel smart it made me feel crazy and like the protagonist was an idiot. Her complete lack of curiosity about the very clear and VERY DANGEROUS spy machinations going on in this book—which she should be at least a little attentive to, as someone working for a secret government agency! were incredibly frustrating.

I really support the Graham Gore RPF hustle though and hope Bradley makes five million dollars. Also, I loved the fifteenth century lesbian so so so much and she and the protagonist should have made out.

June

Faithful Place, Tana French (reread)

You guessed it: it’s never a bad time to read Faithful Place.

Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice

Obviously, tv iwtv drove me to insanity, so I picked this up in Barnes and Noble intending to read a bit of it in store and then just bought it. It is completely impossible for me to think or talk about these books not in conversation with the show. The rumors are true, book Louis is kind of a wet blanket compared to show Louis. Book Daniel is very funny. I enjoyed thinking about the adaptational changes they made in the show and also saying to myself what do you MEAN lestat's dad was still around in nola?? Also, no one told me these books were actually gay. I cannot emphasize enough how much they are just straightforwardly gay. Anne Rice has very interesting ideas about interpersonal relationships and agonies, and then some really crazy ideas about everything else. 

July

Lady Eve’s Last Con, Rebecca Fraimow

A con artist In Space is out for revenge on the guy who broke her sister’s heart: she’s going to make him fall in love with her instead, and then swindle him for all he’s worth. Except…what’s that? It’s her target’s incredibly hot sister? Uh oh!!! Loved the romance here and REALLY loved the Sisters of it all. An absolute delight, and can confirm from experience your Jewish mother will love it too!

The Vampire Lestat, Anne Rice

I’m not summarizing Lestat’s life. Suffice to say he’s got a lot going on. I have to admit I really enjoyed this, and it made me kind of Lestat-pilled. All of Anne’s problems out in full force here: she gets more opportunities to be orientalist, and also made me read 100 fucking pages of Marius backstory. But also, Armand is there and he is so so so crazy? Have you heard about this? Lestat is doing little meow meow shit? It’s also written from his completely deranged POV and, I’ve got to say, I understand why Anne was so obsessed with him. He is such a funny narrator. Why did he write about making out with his mom in his IN UNIVERSE PUBLISHED AUTOBIOGRAPHY? He’s Lestat, you simply cannot stop him.

Fullmetal Alchemist, Hiromu Arakawa (reread)

What is there to say about Fullmetal Alchemist. It’s very good. 

August-September

This was the point at which my job kind of blew up so the only thing I read was ¾ of Queen of the Damned, which I still have not finished. The thing about QotD is it has a completely bizarre structure, the main villain has motivations I don’t care about and Lestat is stuck with her for a big chunk of the book, and once again Anne is just really on one. On the other hand, yeah the Daniel and Armand stuff is just as crazy as everyone told you. Who can say if it’s good or bad? Me, maybe, if I ever finish it!

October

Sunshine, Robin McKinley

Decided to continue my vampire kick by reading this, a book blot did not believe I had never read before. For good reason, as if I read this at age fourteen I would have never ever shut up about it (this is also true of iwtv). Sunshine is set in a post-apocalyptic world a few years out from a war between humans and magical creatures, the worst of which are vampires. Our main character, Sunshine, literally lives in a bakery AU before she gets kidnapped by vampires, along with a SEPARATE sexy vampire guy who has also been kidnapped. They team up, etc, you know where this is going! I had a lot of fun with this book—I’m a simple woman, I love a romance with a brooding vampire. The worldbuilding is also very, very interesting and not a lot of it is directly explained to you, which I always appreciate. It takes like 50 pages before we even mention the vampire wars that fucked everything up. Meanwhile, structurally, this book is insane, and it would have benefited from like 100 pages being cut. Still loved it!

Silver Spoon, Hiromu Arakawa

I think Hiromu Arakawa might be good at writing manga? Silver Spoon is a charming slice-of-life manga about a kid who cracks under academic pressure from his school and family, and says fuck it and goes to farm high school in Hokkaido. It’s very different from Fullmetal Alchemist but has a lot of Arakawa’s charm and humor, and is obviously very inspired by her life growing up in Hokkaido. Genre-wise, I’m always going to love a FMA type story more, but this is a great story about friendship and valuing yourself. It made me so, so hungry and also yearn to eat fresh food from a farm. The pacing got pretty wonky at the end—it seems like she went on a lot of hiatuses to deal with family things, and it ends up showing.

November

The Forbidden Book, Sacha Lamb

Sorel runs off on the night of her intended marriage to the rabbi’s son, ends up possessed by a dybbuk, and has to solve his murder, among other things. This had a lot of stuff I like in it—bodysharing where the boundaries get a little blurry! Genders! It did not reach the heights of When The Angels Left The Old Country for me, but I had a lot of fun. 

Fledgling, Octavia Butler

More vampires, but really swerving from Sunshine. Probably NOT my best choice for a first Butler book but here we are. Fledgling is about a young amnesiac vampire, and her attempts to discover who she is and what happened to her family. This book is really weird. I enjoyed it as a thriller, and it was constantly going places I did not expect (last third is like, a vampire courtroom drama. Sure! Why not!), and I liked the vampire society worldbuilding stuff. I was also constantly sitting there like what? What? What? The real barrier to entry here is the protagonist explicitly looks like a ten year old due to how vampire aging works, and also has a lot of sex. I wish that had felt more...necessary? To make up for the fact that I did find it pretty off-putting! I'm sure someone out there has written an interesting essay about this book and Claudia iwtv, which I would like to read.

December

The Talented Mr. Ripley, Patricia Highsmith

I love a good repressed gay serial killer!

Persepolis Rising, James S. A. Corey

I started this book immediately after finishing Babylon’s Ashes and was slammed straight into a 30 year timeskip (most of the Expanse books take place at most a few years after the last one). This is an objectively crazy thing to do which I do kind of respect, because we keep many of the same main characters so it is suddenly a cast full of 60+ year olds, which rules. It did lead to me taking a six month break from this series in bafflement though, so, you know.