#I love ski lodge arc

[cerealforkart]

Well, if you're really curious, I do have a couple thoughts about my imaginary anime adaptation of this podcast!

Here's some ideas I had:

*Anime timeline is obviously different from podcast timeline, the anime dawdles in several filler arcs while the podcast got ahead (which does not make sense because you would be able to get at least a couple episodes of anime out of every episode of podcast, but leave me alone it's not real).

*The ski lodge arc takes place very early in the season, I’m thinking after Scary Movie 2 the teens don't immediately free Willy (lmao) and go to the Forgotten Realms, in between they play around in the monster of the week vibe, going on missions for D.A.D.D.I.E.S. and the ski lodge arc is one of these adventures

*Mae Hailes sends the teens on a mission to wherever the nearest ski location is to San Dimas California to deal with an incursion

*When they arrive, they meet the real world Chris, who also happens to be there to ski. Lincoln is very excited to meet his simulation spouse in the real world, and the two quickly connect and begin to get close

*Scary is obviously not happy with this development, but her jealousy isn’t strictly romantic, it’s like when Erica was around, Scary’s threatened by an outsider that her friend might like better than her

*This arc is gothcleats bait though, so the romantic angle is definitely prominent

*Normal, ever the #1 gothcleats shipper is pushing as hard as he can for the idea of Scary having a crush (which she always denies) and is really excited by the situation, he firmly plants himself in Scary’s corner to help her win Link over

*Taylor on the other hand quickly figures out that they’re in a romance-forward arc and he is Not Into It because he knows that it isn’t about HIM. He just wants to get to the cool monster part, he doesn’t care about the relationship drama even a little bit

*Hermie is also around, I don’t really have any ideas for what he’s up to specifically, but he’s around, mostly getting forgotten by the rest of the cast

*Lincoln and Chris get on really well, and there’s some obvious flirting from both parties, but the relationship isn’t as smooth as Link had hoped, the knowledge from the simulation makes things a little awkward, and they get in a big argument at the climax just before the monster shows up

*Fight sequence, Chris and Link make up, but ultimately decide to remain friends for the time being

*Arc ends with Link choosing to stay in with Scary on their last night at the lodge after Chris invites him out skiing. This is mostly because Link is really bad at skiing and getting frustrated with it, rather than because he noticed Scary’s jealousy

*Still, Scary takes her win and spends a really nice night with her friend

*Chris continues to make minor appearances throughout the rest of the series, often as Link’s love interest, always to Scary’s annoyance, and has a major role in one more filler arc later in the series

I know people are always complaining about filler, but I really loved the Ski Lodge/Chris arc that definitely isn't just something I made up to dress the teens up in their winter gear after I realized there was no opportunity for them to wear it within the constraints of the podcast

[tare-anime]

SxF Mission 94

(Beware of spoilers)

I...... 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

This is such an "out of nowhere" funny chapter.

Like.....

A ski trip as Anya's present for her 3rd stella?

I have a feeling that Endo is giving his thank you to the anime team for the success of Code White movie (in his own way)

But seriously....

A ski lodge murder mystery ala Detective Conan?

Endo even went full out with the introduction of characters as what was common in murder mistery stories 🤣

And look at these names!!

A bunch of college students who are: Max(imum) Slacker, a drama queen, short on credits, and need a job soon?? 🤣🤣🤣

And then the Lodge Host, and Spouse. Also a part timer Porter.

A hack scripter, and a guy who loves to ski???

(The English translator has done a remarkable job in translating the pun in the names 🥰🥰👏👏 amazing job!)

And then the anticlimax of murder solving, as Anya immediately found out the culprit, RIGHT after Loid's dramatic exclaim..

This panel...

I can't ...

The Forgers truly are unfit to the building up mistery murder cases kind of story...

Truly 🤣🤣🤣

Will this be a standalone fun chapter, or a beginning of new arc that leads us to the 100th chapter (there might be something big happen, or not. Endo really is unpredictable).

We shall see at the 18th of February.

1 month wait.

I better read more TwiYor fanfics then 🥰🥰

[lavellenchanted]

Belated salty asks! 3, 6, 10, 23

and some belated answers!

3. Have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion?

Yep. I don't mind a few differences of opinion and I usually filter/block tags if I don't want to see something but like the rest of someone's blog, but there have been a couple where they were starting to post nothing but things I disagreed with/disliked and I was getting annoyed so I unfollowed. Gotta curate your own experience!

6. Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?

Hmmm I don't think so? Usually the opposite, lol.

I suppose there are some very talented Game of Thrones/ASoIaF writers who have made me enjoy Jon/Sansa as a pairing in fic, when I'm very "eh" about them in canon, and only really started reading them because there is so little Sansa-centric fic out there and I find it the most tolerable of the popular Sansa ships.

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

Ooh, it's definitely to pick one, there are so many where I feel the characters deserved so much better. Sooo to pick one:

I hate Peter Parker being mentored by Tony in the MCU, and using Aunt May as in the Uncle Ben role when Peter's already been Spider-Man for several years. Both do a massive disservice to Peter's character, in my opinion. Tony/Iron Man is pretty much the antithesis of Spider-Man, and I feel like Peter's been more subsumed into Tony's story instead of being allowed to shine on his own, as well as the narrative having to gloss over the absolutely appalling way Tony treats him in canon. And the fact that trying to Spider-Man fic on AO3 that does not involve Tony is practically impossible is further aggravating.

And Aunt May things frustrates me a) because her character was basically sidelined for two movies before being fridged and b) because Peter had already given a version of the "with great power" speech when he was introduced in Civil War and the whole point of Uncle Ben dying is that it inspires Peter to become Spider-Man, his whole person is shaped and built on the foundation of that lesson. It makes absolutely no sense for Peter to learn this five years into being Spider-Man.

(But also shoutout to the unbelievably stupid triangle-identity crisis-ski lodge arc in Girl Meets World, without a Season 4 to unpick it, it is the most frustrating thing to watcha and not get resolved)

23. Unpopular character you love?

Oh, so many. Edwina Sharma, Sansa Stark, Catelyn Stark, Alicent Hightower, Mal Oretsev, Matthias Helvar, Fjord Stone for a while . . .

Gale Hawthorne as well. I was absolutely shocked to discover the level of vitriol for him in the fandom, and the total lack of media literacy in the way most people talk about him is so frustrating. I am a Gale Hawthorne apologist and I will hear no slander against my boy.

salty asks

[bisamwilson]

catch up tag

tagged by @smfstump!! thanks whiz :)

last song: through the valley by shawn james

favorite color: red!!! definitely the color i own the most of, and a bit of a signature one tbh

currently watching: i am literally in the middle of watching the hunger games: catching fire right now, but in terms of shows, there's a few i'm (very slowly) watching with various friends. one friend and i are watching the loki show as it airs as well as the justice league animated show, another friend and i are slowly making our way through severance (i think we have four episodes left? i'm in love with irv and burt already), and another friend and i are rewatching avatar: the last airbender (we're currently on the ba sing se arc of book two)

last movie: outside of catching fire, last movie was anatomy of a fall which i saw earlier today and would DEFINITELY recommend. love a good courtroom drama. also going to see the killer in theaters tomorrow!!

currently reading: killers of the flower moon, and i'll probably start a hunger games or a percy jackson reread soon as they're both on my list

sweet/savory/spicy: sweet!!! all of these flavors are good flavors but i've got a major sweet tooth :)

current obsessions: idk if i have a singular one at the moment? i'm always thinking about star wars so i guess that but it's died down a bit recently, but otherwise it's mostly just all of my speculations and excitement for the new oscar szn movies coming out soon!!! oh and also christmas. i spend all of november and december obsessing over christmas, and i started a bit early this year (they were putting up the lights downtown today!! what can i say!!!)

last thing I googled: matthew perry :(

Currently working on: fan wise? not much of anything! super busy at work with a lot of projects there but haven't had much inspiration recently to create, though due to previous christmas obsession i have been musing only in my head about 1) a sambucky fic based on a christmas to remember by dolly and kenny rogers where bucky works at a ski lodge and sam visits with sarah+the kids for christmas and they have like a lil hallmark movie plotline and 2) a kind of angsty steve centric steggy fic inspired by i'll be home for christmas where catws era-ish steve reminisces on the christmases spent with peggy during the war and some of the hopes for future christmases they never got to have. i will probably write neither of these

no pressure tagging @livingincolorsagain @logicheartsoul @saryasy @apatheticjoy @jonkentt

[bunnymajo]

I love your takes!! 1, 22 and 25? (also I got too excited to send an ask and accidentally clicked unfollow)

(I'm gonna assume this is about Sonic?) also thank you!

1.the character everyone gets wrong

I'm gonna say Princess Elise. I get that she was handled incredibly poorly in her game, but even based on what we have I don't think she's that bad but people are still quick to call her all kinds of nasty things.

She's a girl who's left as a kingdom's only surviving monarch who's been told that she's not allowed to feel/cry and keep a stiff upper lip at all times. Then here comes Sonic here to tell her it's ok to have fun, to take in the good and the bad - she makes her first real friend - and then he dies right in front of her.

When people over react to her kissing him it reminds me of people calling prince's in fairy tales necrophiliacs. Like that's clearly not the intent here.

I dunno, maybe I'm just nicer to characters who've gone through some parental loss & suppressed emotions now.

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

In IDW I like the stories that take place in like a camp ground or the ski lodge. I want to see fun new locations like that, I love character bits & gags, I wanna see more of this new comic world. Every time people call arcs that aren't action heavy "filler" I want to cry. Please give me more Sonic slice of life stuff. I need it to live.

25.common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

Belle the Tinkerer is my friend and she's welcome to stay in the comic for as long as she wants.

[jesterbells]

The Niles and Daphne show

So, background: some friends and I used to watch Down With Love a lot and I became a fan of David Hyde Pierce (he’s the modern Danny Kaye or Donald O’Connor--he can act, sing, dance, and be funny at the same time). Anyway, when I came home from school and turned on the TV, two shows were always on: M*A*S*H and Frasier. I saw Niles and was like “What’s DHP doing in this sitcom?” and started to watch. I quickly became intrigued by the subplot featuring Niles and Daphne, and looked up a list of every episode featuring it, and made a list. This being before streaming, I checked the TV schedule and saw that all of those episodes were on TV within the next two weeks. So I recorded them and watched them in order, and discovered that it formed a really excellent show with a satisfying overarching plot and character development, and got more invested in that than in the rest of Frasier. So now I go back and re-watch what I call The Niles and Daphne show. I’m always trying to get more people into this tiny fandom. So in view of that, I present my curated watch list of Frasier, A.K.A. The Niles and Daphne show:

A list of Frasier episodes that are essential to the arc of the Niles and Daphne plotline:

• “Dinner at Eight” • “A Mid-Winter Night’s Dream” • “My Coffee With Niles” • “An Affair to Forget” • “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine” • “The Last Time I Saw Maris” • “Come Lie with Me” • “Moon Dance” • “The Two Mrs. Cranes” • “Mixed Doubles” • “Daphne Hates Sherry” • “Are You Being Served?” • “Ask Me No Questions” • “Halloween” • “Voyage of the Damned” • “The Maris Counselor” • “The Ski Lodge” • “First Date” • “Dial M for Martin” • “Secret Admirer” • “How to Bury a Millionaire” • “To Tell the Truth” • “Decoys” • “Taps at the Montana” • “Visions of Daphne” • “Shutout in Seattle (part 1)” • “Shutout in Seattle (part 2)” • “Father of the Bride” • “The Late Dr. Crane” • “Back Talk” • “The Fight Before Christmas” • “Big Crane on Campus”* • “Whine Club” • “To Thine Old Self Be True” • “The Three Faces of Frasier”* • “The Dark Side of the Moon” • “Something Borrowed, Something Blue (part 1)” • “Something Borrowed, Something Blue (part 2)” • “And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon (part 1)” • “And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon (part 2)” • “The Bad Son” • “The Great Crane Robbery” • “Taking Liberties” • “Legal Tender Love and Care” • “Frasier’s Edge” • “Hungry Heart” • “Daphne Returns” • “The First Temptation of Daphne” • “Mother Load (part 1)” • “Mother Load (part 2)” • “The Proposal” • “The Guilt Trippers” • “Moons Over Seattle” • “The Ring Cycle” • “Bristle While You Work” • “Rooms with a View” • “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” • “Daphne Does Dinner” • “No Sex Please, We’re Skittish” • “Maris Returns” • “Murder Most Maris” • “Crock Tales” • “Goodnight, Seattle (part 1)” • “Goodnight, Seattle (part 1)”

*optional additions--a few significant scenes but no big changes, and most of the episode is focused on something else

[boatempollstriper]

Ya know I could write a DSMP hallmark au. But would it be serious and fluffy with Phil and Kristen or a joke with like DNF or some shit…. The real questions

Like Phil could be coming back to his small town after losing a job (dying in season 2). He reunites with his old friend Techno. Tommy’s mumza’s like idk son or some shit. He’s also forced Mumza to adopt Wil by extension. Mumza works at a bakery like the queen she is. (Niki works there too. Little side plot with her and Wil maybe) Tommy lives to bug the shit out of techno and Phil. The whole time Technos like “eh that kid kinda looks like you” Kristen is stricktly avoiding this whole mess. And then it happens: Tommy finds out Phil used to date Kristen. Wil’s like bestie king kiddo you’re definitely his kid. Phil gets upset that Kristen didn’t tell him but Kristen’s like bitch you were basically half way out the door moving when I found out so fuck you. And then we find you that like Phil’s been getting his ass beat by his boss in the city and finally breaks down and tells Kristen that he quit. He couldn’t handle the city life and everyone at his job didn’t give a shit about people. In the true hallmark spirit, He needed to be more connected to people. Kristen’s like bestie it’s okay your tried something but when you didn’t like it you should have came back sooner. And like all hallmark movies they have a very rushed conclusion to the character arc where Kristen and Phil get back together, Phil promises to be a better dad, Wilbur finally makes the money he needs to give to his drug dealer, Techno and Tommy come to somewhat of a mutual friendship by hooking Phil and Kristen up again, and Niki finally gets the restraining order she needs

But like DNF? That’d just be funny. Maybe one of those skiing/snowboarding ones? Like Dream and George run into each other at the slopes. George went with the British boys and Dream took like bbh and sapnap and Big Q and like Ant and Velvet maybe (OH side note self awhear au with Ant and Velvet were Velvets just trying to fuck up the ratings) Maybe Dream sees George and it’s love at first sight but oh no George’s shity ex is also there. Or maybe like the accidentally mix up their equipment in the lodge. Or maybe in Mangoball fashion they’re all in the same villa/timeshare. Just fun crack head vibes. Everything seems to be going well, Dream and George are “forced” to spend the day together by the rest of the people skeming (this is when they run into the ex?) and do like idk dinner or trivia in the lodge that night and it’s super cute. Oh and they do the one thing where you go up the ski lift and underneath you there’s all the decrative Christmas lights! And Wil drug dealer comes to collect money during DNF’s great night so he has to leave. And then the week ends and they have to part ways and it’s super sad cause everyone saw it coming. Ah! But wait! George got a new coding job and he actually moves to the city Dream lives in and the run into each other at a coffee shop and decide to give it a try. There’s cute side things like Benchtrio meeting (Tubbo and Tommy came with the British and Ranboo with Dream) and learning to ski/snowboard. And like Wilbur and Big Q run into each other but they already knew each other so there’s just this awkward (sexual) tension. Ant and Velvet just living their best life. Phil’s just there on a phone. BBH finds a rock and names it Skeppy. We love Skeppy the stone here. Techno also came with Dream but somehow knew the British boys and is now in charge of teaching Benchtrio how to ski/snowboard

(I don’t actually ship DNF btw)

I kinda wanna write this now but like also superhero au but like also the DNF one in a Mangoball style social media au????? Maybe

[key-to-my-heart]

S2 WISHFUL THINKING

hey hi hello! i haven’t really been active on tumblr but i wanted to get back into the swing of being active and posting often. so.

i decided i will take note of some of my predictions, hopes, wishes etc. for Season 2 of Rainbow High!

so i kinda wanna just cover the things we canonically have seen aka specific events and drama that has gotten introduced

- The New Roommates / Series 3 Girls

i feel like we will definitely see more of them within the coming episodes. rainbow high literally advertised the new teams as like… i think the second or third teaser for the new season

it’s interesting to me because. this makes me think of What The Runway Project is? what could it possibly be? i believe i made a post about this in the past but the main theory (and theory i believe the most in) would be a Stage Production of sorts. i mean… it makes sense!

the twins are both Performing Arts focus and are definitely the antags this season. so why wouldn’t they cause trouble in regard to a stage play? plus, bella is back. she’s literally a set designer! we have never seen her do any set designing (other than making a sketch) so it would be fun to see that! if river were to get more focus this season, he would definitely have an outlet to channel his Performing Arts creativity! plus… Daria is a song writer so like. imagine if we were to get music out of that? please. the possibilities are endless.

im also eager to see the series 3 girls dynamics. like are the rest of the girls (gabriella, georgia, emmy and daphne) all roomed together? do they get along? will they all be just as dramatic as stella, sheryl and daria’s dynamic?

but anyway. whatever the drama and the semester project is, the new teammates definitely seem to be playing a crucial role in this season.

- The Twins

i’m actually really eager to see more of them. i feel like not enough people are talking about them? season 2 is actually really interesting so far…. maybe more so than season 1… and i feel like we are going to have to thank the twins for that at some point lol

like. idek what they’re planning on doing but. i’m excited to see what it is! they’ll probably be involved in the semester project or at least causing problems to all of the roommates and teams. they’ll definitely have something going on with bella. and it seems that they have a good bond with karma (after the KWK we got). so maybe they’ll have input in any potential drama with Karma. which leads me to

- Karma VS. Violet

so. this drama has been teased at for like. ever. for what feels like forever.

this moment in Karma’s bio PLUS the commentary about violet from her and the twins in the recent KWK episode. but anyway. i’m actually super interested in whatever this drama could be??? like. why is karma watching.

we know violet adores karma, she really wants to have her in the vi life. so i’m sure she basically looks up to her! but like. will karma actually genuinely be nice with violet? keep a distance? make remarks like she did in her recent vlog? i don’t know. idk what to expect. of course it’ll have to do with vlogging or something.

- Bella

ok so there is a few things to note with bella. i’m still interested in if bella will accept to do an interview with Karma for her vlog? if so, i wonder how that would go. and i wonder how violet would feel about it. like the very last time bella was featured in vi’s vlog was on a bad note (even though they made up) but like. idk AAA

also i’m wondering how bella is gonna handle being back to rainbow high. because so far it seems she’s having trouble fitting in. will the key to her fitting in be Jade? will Jade help her figure everything out? or would it be someone else?

as much as i’d love Jade to be the reason Bella starts to feel more at home, i also love the other idea of Amaya being the reason bella feels comfortable again. Amaya was once the new girl (and of course in an awkward position because she was essentially a replacement for bella’s spot in the runway group) but. she didn’t fit in. she had to find her place at rainbow high… and it took her until the runway show to be able to truly feel comfortable.

and like. i’ve been rooting for bella/amaya dynamic for awhile now. i see a lot of potential in this duo. we know they somewhat have tension. i mean. bella had a really awkward confrontation with amaya and that was rly their first and last conversation. sure they’ve been around each other like in the music video, at the end of s1, and when bella walked into the girls dorm s2ep2 but like. that’s it.

SO ANYWAY. what i’m trying to get at is that these two definitely need to become friends. i mean. they have a LOT in common. i was talking about the new girl situation because i feel like they can relate in that way. they both had an awkward entrance into rainbow high and could bond over that. it took amaya awhile to feel at home at rainbow high… so maybe she could become friends with bella and help her feel at home! they’re both very determined leader types. they’re really passionate and! they have the same friend group! so why not become friends?

- Jade and Bella

of course i will wonder about these two! i have no clue what to expect with them. the fandom and myself are really really really wanting to see these two become a canon sapphic couple. i really want to see this happen! and mga knows this. mga knows we want to see jella happen. i mean, they literally snatched the ship name from us and plastered it into their vlogs. so they KNOW

anyway. these two are literally going through it rn. the way jade’s eyes lit up when she saw bella was back at rh. and now both of them are looking for each other and worried about each other. jade thinking bella is mad at her rn? please. i will sob. they are really holding off this jella reunion but i hope it’s for a good reason. i just want them to talk and have a good reunion… a hug……. happy tears, happy smiles…………..a love confession…

- Amaya

so i don’t really have much to say here but i’m just wondering about amaya this season. she’s definitely been advertised so much to the point that she essentially became like. THE main focus in season 1. this peeved some people but personally i loved amaya being like a sort of main character figure. she didn’t really take attention away from the other characters but also had that energy of being a main character anyway.

my point is, though, idk how she will play out in this season? like is she going to be as much of a main character as the main 6 are…. or will she play a bigger role? i have no clue. it seems bella is going to have a key focus this season, which makes sense, but it still just makes me wonder about amaya’s role this season

- Colin

i just hope this man does not get a development arc. i know some people want him to…. but i just. i don’t. i don’t understand. the point of him existing was to show that cheating is wrong and to display girl power. by teaching that skyler didn’t need a man to prove her worth. that she is her own person. her own strength! i really hope that colin and bella don’t have anything omfg.

- Winter Break

i’m really. REALLY excited for the winter break arc. it’s about time we get to see some backgrounds outside of rainbow high! plus the animated tidbits of ruby, sky, and violet in their wb outfits in the wb commercial was everything.

i’m so excited to see their new hairstyles, to see them with their snow gear and more. omg. of course i think the twins will be involved in this arc someone. krystal briefly mentioned the twins’ family having a ski lodge. and then of course we see sunny with her skis so like. yea!! i just wonder how these episodes would play out. or episode. but anyway like… will they just vibe? or will there be a problem of sorts? if it’s winter break then it probably won’t tie into school or like projects or anything like that

- Kia Hart

i’m actually hoping kia gets some focus this season. like. what is she going to do? is she going to pair another couple together? (if so, please be jella. okay wait seriously what if she is the key to reuniting jade and bella together… anyway) i just hope to see more of her and possibly more of her and krystal together haha. but kia just vibes so far, it would be lovely to get more of her!

- The A’s

so ainsley is finally beginning to get some attention! i really hope we continue to get more of her as well as avery, and aidan of course! we did get a bunch of content of aidan but you can never have enough honestly.

but i just wonder about how the A’s will be this season. like will they do anything significant? are bella and avery going to remain close? what is going on!!!

- The Malibu Line

so we literally know nothing about this except

but i still wonder like. if we will get to see anything about it at any point during the web series. perhaps it would be more of a summer thing. but it definitely means something if Bella is in it! (also i’m just generally excited for her new doll. omfg.)

- The Rock Line

so we also know almost nothing about this except

saw someone discuss that the music being heard during s2ep2 could be in regards to the rock battle. honestly. what if this is some sort of project? battle of bands or something? that would be cool lol. anyway i’m intrigued for this line mainly because of all the clothing leaks we have been getting omg.

- The Slumber Party Line

we have known about this for a little while (with the theory of the baby blue girl being in it) but i’m just curious as to who the characters are and if they will be in the web series at all.

- Jett Dawson

okay so. this is a big one. jett being a collector doll, i feel like she’ll definitely play a crucial role in the series. so like. who will she be to the main characters? it says she’s generally nice. why was she giving that look to the girls after their runway performance? IDK! i have no clue what to expect with her. i feel like the expectations i had for amaya (before we knew anything about her) will be put into jett because. the vibes i got from amaya ever since we just had her doll… i am also kind of getting from jett. so i’m eager!

[ozpins-halfway-house]

Hey, Oz. *slips you a check for 2500 dollars* Make sure the kids have a good time on that ski trip.

Also, I know a local ski shop that can cut you a deal. The owner used to be homeless, so he should be sympathetic.

Jaune: Hey, Mr. Oz, I think this gives us just enough money to rent an actual house instead of getting rooms at the lodge!

Mr. Oz: I believe you're right, Mr. Arc, that's wonderful! Having our own space will definitely make the weekend that much nicer for the children.

Qrow: Hey, Oz.... does that mean.... we can....

Mr. Oz: [affectionate sigh] Yes, Qrow, that means we can bring Storm, too.

Qrow: Did you hear that, buddy? You're gonna get to go on a trip with us!

Storm: ruff, ruff!

Mr. Oz: Would it be at all possible for you to stop being so adorable for at least one moment?

Qrow: Aw, come on, Oz. He can't help it, he's still just a puppy.

Mr. Oz: I wasn't referring to the dog, love.

Qrow: Oh. [blushes]

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

lmao oh my god, telltale and skybound have done lots of things that ticked me off [Violet being totally out of character in ep3, The entirety of season 2, killing off Luke for no reason.] but i don’t think anything has hit a nerve as much as the comic has. WHYYYY did they think it was a good idea?? they could’ve at least sent aasim and ruby off with her?? also, there’s no way louis/vi would let clem just run off on her own, most importantly, clem would NEVER leave AJ or her home. I’m so upset.

Sigh, I feel ya, anon.

I've had a lot of time to sit on the info we have so far and I just keep hoping that they just gave a shitty description. When it gets closer to the release date, maybe they'll release a full synopsis that gives us more of an idea.... but right now? All we got is skybound pretending this is canon with the games, Clementine leaving Ericson with only one leg, no AJ, Louis, or Violet, and some Amish dude names Amos... oh and Vermont and a ski lodge....

Y'know, I can always tell when something's weighing on my brain when I start to have dreams about it..... and well, the other night I had a dream about the Clem graphic novel and it was not fun.

I don't remember everything, but I can remember holding it in my hands and being livid because it revealed the reason Clementine abandoned Ericson was that AJ had gotten sick and died and she felt she had no other reasons to stay and lemme tell you..... if that ends up happening, I will not be okay.

Like yeah, I've already declared these graphic novels non-canon and everything, they're basically fancy fanfiction, but if that ends up being the reason she leaves...? I will rant about it.

Oh, and lemme tell you about the other part of the dream that left me furious-- Clementine's love interest. Yeah, I remember reading it and being introduced to a bunch of characters I didn't care about but then Clem's love interest was this girl who probably had a name, who knows? But she was basically a carbon copy of Louis, but she had Violet's whole ex-girlfriend plotline [y'know, the thing I hate about Violet's whole arc? hell, I've grown to really hate ex-lover plot points in general] and it was a horrible mess.

I honestly hope Clementine doesn't get a love interest in this comic, and the whole romance teaser in the description is for one of the other characters.

I dunno.... all we can do right now is wait? the first comic will be out soon and we'll deal with that, and then the first graphic novel comes out next year, I believe.... until then, we can only speculate.

Hell, y'all wanna take bets on what happens? If it's coming out we might as well have some fun with it, right? And when it does come out, we can look back on this and be like "huh we were way off" or "ah-HA I CALLED IT" y'know?

[herbgerblin]

Favorite moment from all the major arcs?

[spoilers]

Balance: That’s almost impossible to say. There were so many big serotonin moments and every time I relisten, I find a new things to be obsessed with. Off the top of my head right now, I love when the boys are fighting the Hunger and Taako takes out the immovable wand and Magnus and Merle are bracing against him. It’s just so good to see how far they came.

Amnesty: THE SKI LODGE EPISODE. I will be forever salty that there were not more episodes of them just having fun and enjoying what the town had to offer.

Graduation: Up to now, that moment when Fitzroy bit the apple, spit it it out at the centaurs’ feet, and basically said, “Figure it out like adults!” King shit.

[semperintrepida]

100% Relative Humidity

Kassandra had just finished inspecting the fenceline along the back forty when she saw the flash of red — not the orange-red of fire or the arterial red of blood, but the deep bright red of ripe berries, the kind that caught the eye and made the mouth water with imagined sweetness. The berries stood out against a backdrop of Kermit-green leaves the size of her hand, and she grinned with recognition: thimbleberries. Kyra's favorite.

Perfect. She'd been daydreaming about Kyra all day. Kyra, bent over the kitchen table. Kyra, pressed against the bookshelves downstairs. Kyra, splayed across their linen sheets, her skin dusky with arousal, whispering—

Soon. She'd have Kyra in her hands soon enough. She dug out a handkerchief and set to picking, despite the cloudy skies threatening rain, and she was careful to keep from damaging the fragile fruit as she placed them into the sling of fabric. All sorts of berries thrived in Oregon, but the thimbleberry had resisted all attempts at cultivation. Too wild, too graceful to tame, it carried its nature within its delicate flavor. All other berries paled in comparison.

A big handful was all she risked picking — too many in a pile and they'd crush themselves — and then she journeyed through the woods back to the house she and Kyra had built on a hillside overlooking a hollow in the Coast Range, in one of the last stands of wild forest left after the timber companies had clearcut every mountainside and replanted them with nothing but Douglas fir.

There were Doug firs here, yes, but also western red cedars, hemlocks, spruce, and pines, and she'd even found a few Pacific yews scattered across the acreage. After a career of trying to save forests from wildfire, she'd finally gotten some trees of her own.

Raindrops pattered the grass around her as she knocked the sides of her boots against the post at the bottom of the stairs up to the house. Even in Oregon it was rare to see rain so early in August.

Inside the mudroom, the door to the kitchen was wide open, and she shed her boots without making a sound. Kyra was standing at the kitchen sink, humming as she cleaned a paintbrush, and Kassandra crept up behind her, silent in her sock-covered feet. She carefully avoided the squeaky floorboard near the woodstove, then slid her body against Kyra's, pinning her against the counter so she couldn't turn around and deck her after being startled.

"What—" she gasped, then blew out a breath of exasperation. "Did you have to scare me?"

Kassandra smirked. "You'll forgive me, 'cause I have a present for you," she said.

"Oh yeah?"

"Close your eyes and open your mouth."

Kyra did. No hesitation. And Kassandra rewarded her with one of the thimbleberries.

A moment later, she turned around as far as Kassandra's hips let her, her face beaming with delight. "They're finally ripe?"

Kassandra smiled and nodded.

Kyra had a smudge of dark green paint above her brow and another under her chin. "We need to go picking."

"Yep." She held another berry to Kyra's lips. "Maybe tomorrow. Rain's starting up."

Kyra sucked Kassandra's finger into her mouth along with the berry, and she flicked her tongue against the pad of fingertip she'd captured, her warmth erupting into heat. Then she set Kassandra free, gifted her a silky smile, and turned back to the sink.

Kassandra's heart revved up, valves opening wide, the pump coming online. She set the berries on the counter. "Are you done for the day?"

"Yeah." Kyra flicked the brush, the water in the sink milky with paint. She'd spent all day working in her studio. It was once the old machine shed, and they'd knocked out the wall that faced the valley and put in floor-to-ceiling windows. If Kassandra knew mountains and forests by the miles she'd walked across them, Kyra knew how to capture them with paint, in large-scale landscapes of rocky crags and misty woods and still waters.

Ten years they'd been together, as Kassandra worked her way up from her first Hotshot crew to leading a crew of her own, and Kyra began making a name for herself with her paintings. Ten years, but they'd spent much of it apart for months at a time, as Kassandra's crew shipped out to fight fire from Washington to New Mexico. She'd even gone to Australia a couple of times.

There was nothing else like it, the way a wildfire moved like a living thing, how it could be benevolent when contained, or demonic when left to its own devices. And she'd loved her work: the camaraderie of her crew, the challenge of 16-hour shifts over days and nights, the satisfaction of a fire contained. She'd even loved the danger.

But a couple years back, when that deadfall had caught her and nearly taken her arm off above the elbow, Kyra had begged her to quit if her arm didn't come back right.

Her arm healed, almost good as new. She'd always been good at that.

But she still quit anyway.

The wildfires were bigger now, the terrain more rugged, the seasons longer. She used to work for six months at a stretch; now she could work almost year-round if she wanted to. But every shift was a gamble of life and limbs, and Kyra had already spent years waiting for her at home, dreading every phone call.

It was time. Her life was no longer hers alone to risk, not if she wanted to spend a good long chunk of it with Kyra, and she needed her limbs, to do things like slip her hand inside the waistband of Kyra's trousers, to slide along the curve of Kyra's ass, to find the source of Kyra's heat. She'd always been good at that, too.

Kyra was damp and only a little swollen. Disappointing. "You didn't think about me at all today, did you?" she whispered into Kyra's ear, a pout in her voice, milking it for all it was worth.

Kyra's ass pushed back against Kassandra. "I... had to focus." She'd been finishing up a painting, the canvas almost as tall as Kassandra, bound for some rich man's house up in the San Juans. The sale would pay their property taxes for the year.

She'd been working so hard lately. She deserved a reward.

That was something Kassandra could give her. "How about focusing on this?" she said, and she slid her fingers close to Kyra's clit, close, but not quite touching, and grinned when Kyra dropped the paintbrush into the sink and pressed her palms into the countertop.

"Fuck," Kyra said, her voice quivering, and soon her muscles were quivering too, as Kassandra's fingertip set a fireline around her clit and Kyra's body answered with wet, sticky heat.

"Patience, love."

Kyra's laugh was short and incredulous. "Patience? That's rich, coming from—"

She slipped two fingers inside and stole the rest of the thought, and Kyra gasped and rocked her hips in reflex. Kassandra leaned forward and pinned Kyra harder up against the counter, and she buried her face into Kyra's hair, breathing in the toasty scent of her, warm and familiar and perfect...

Then she heard Kyra's voice, saying, "How long can you hold out, really," the burr of it vibrating into her own chest and lodging there as Kyra clenched her muscles tight around Kassandra's fingers.

"Sounds like a challenge," Kassandra said, and her free hand brushed Kyra's hair aside to expose her neck, stroked across her solid shoulder and bicep and forearm down to her hand, and their fingers entwined as Kassandra bent and started branding hot kisses into the arc of her neck. And sometimes it wasn't a kiss — it was the sear of raked teeth, or the burn of suction, Kassandra's wants flaring against her surface.

Oh, how she wanted. The heat in her belly burned along her veins, like fire spreading through tree roots under the forest floor. She wanted to fuck Kyra hard until she came, then fuck her again and again. But the gauntlet had been thrown. How long can you hold out?

Now Kyra was trembling and panting as Kassandra worked her up with short, teasing strokes that climbed but never peaked. But as rarely as Kyra ever begged out loud, her body always did it for her, her mouth falling open, her thighs spreading wide to expose how fucking soaked she was.

Oh, how Kyra wanted, too.

She was so wet that she ran down Kassandra's fingers, pooling in the palm of her hand. Ready and willing. And so Kassandra smiled, flexed her fingers, and...

Stopped.

Outside, it was raining hard enough for fat droplets to splash in through the open window. Kassandra pulled her hand away, her heartbeat doubling up at Kyra's whimpers of frustration, and she reached across the sink and tugged the window closed.

Her hands on Kyra's hips, firm, pulling her around so they stood face to face. A kiss as she loosened buttons, tugged trousers down. And then she lifted Kyra up to sit on the edge of the counter next to the sink, and Kyra stared at her, breathless and flickering.

She ran her hand through Kyra's slick heat, eased the tips of her fingers inside. Kyra sighed and her thighs spilled open wider. Wanting more. God, she was beautiful this way.

Then Kassandra leaned closer so their foreheads touched, and Kyra lifted her arms and circled them around Kassandra's neck, and they breathed each other in, and Kassandra closed her eyes and listened to the surge and splash of her own blood.

"Kassandra?"

"Hmm?"

"If you don't do something in the next two seconds, you're sleeping in the studio tonight."

Kassandra played dumb. "Oh, was there something you wanted?"

Kyra rolled her eyes. "Isn't it obvious?" She always had an attitude when she was being done to.

"Something like this?" Kassandra asked innocently. And she stroked deep deep inside, easily, languidly, until Kyra tilted her head back and let out a moan in perfect counterpoint to the rain drumming against the roof.

Kassandra was retired now. She had all the time in the world, and she made sure Kyra knew it, knew that the stamina that had powered Kassandra up and down mountains while carrying fifty pounds of gear and a chainsaw was now going to keep Kyra right on the edge of orgasm as long as Kassandra wanted.

Rain on the roof, dripping from the eaves, soaking the earth, the air scented with dark rich soil and the musk of need as they moved outside of time. "Oh god," Kyra said at some point, as she wriggled on the countertop, eyes closed, arms a circle of tension around Kassandra's neck. She was close, too close. Kassandra pulled back. Slower now. Not so deep. Feel Kyra quivering around her fingers, feel Kyra want.

All Kyra had to do was say please. She knew it, always had. But she was stubborn, so stubborn that it gave her secret away.

"You love it when I do this," Kassandra said, and then she leaned forward and kissed Kyra, helping herself to that sumptuous mouth while her fingers kept moving in the rhythms of build-up and denial. "I haven't been taking care of you well enough, if you could go all day without thinking about me."

"'s not true."

"Maybe I should wake you up every morning like this." Her fingertips sought the deepest place, that soft, hidden spot, and she lavished it with gentle attention until Kyra was writhing against her. "Work you up so you're just about to come, and then... stop." And she stilled her fingers to match her words.

Kyra buried her face into the side of Kassandra's neck, shuddering into her in long, rolling waves.

"You'd think about me then, hmm?"

Kyra groaned into her skin.

"I like this idea."

Kyra lifted her head and stared at her, eyes dark as loam and filled with pure, naked wanting. Her lips parted, and her mouth moved soundlessly as she breathed, showing flashes of tongue that made Kassandra's clit burn. Later. They'd plenty of time for that too.

Kassandra smiled. "So remember this part," she said, and then she fucked Kyra for real.

It was glorious, the way Kyra arched her back in offering, the way the muscles in her neck and arms corded as she held on tight, the way she cried out with the fierceness of a hawk as she came. She rippled around Kassandra's fingers, her pleasure imprinting itself into Kassandra's skin, and Kassandra pulled her close, held her as she trembled and caught her breath.

"Fuck," Kyra whispered.

"I was planning to," Kassandra said, and she scooped Kyra up from the counter and carried her in her arms.

"Oh yes. More," Kyra said, smiling her slow, silky smile. "But this time in bed."

Kassandra was already on her way.

Part of the Heat Index...

[mewtonian-physics]

An Honest Review of Nancy Drew: Treasure in the Royal Tower

Spoilers under the cut!

Hi! Penny (not that one) here with the next installment of my Nancy Drew game reviews!

In case you haven’t seen the previous reviews, a quick overview of how I’ll be doing this:

I’m going to include several different factors in my review of each game. First, the plot; obvious enough. The plot is, after all, the driving force behind the game. I’ll also be talking about what I think of the characters, as well as how fun it is to play/replay, and the general atmosphere/setting of the game too. And, of course, I’ll talk about my opinions of the music. I’m not going to be doing any ratings or anything like that, no numbers will be coming into these reviews; I’m just going to say my honest thoughts. (Even when they are not nice thoughts.)

Please remember that these reviews will be my entirely subjective opinions! If you disagree with me on any points, that’s absolutely your prerogative, and in fact, I’d love to discuss it with you and hear some perspectives aside from my own. These reviews are not meant to hurt or invalidate anyone’s feelings, but only to put forth my own.

So without further ado, my review of Treasure in the Royal Tower!

Plot

The plot for this one is pretty neat! I literally never gave a single fuck about the French Revolution until I played this game, and now... Well, I do now. Not much of one, because it is still history, but I do. This one kicks off what will soon become a staple of the series--‘Nancy goes on vacation and discovers a mystery!’ This time it’s in a... a castle. In Wisconsin. I would really like to know why anyone would put a castle specifically in Wisconsin. If there’s anyone from Wisconsin reading this, please let me know what it is about your state that makes it the ideal location for a castle. I am genuinely curious. Honestly the entire location feels a little bit weird, like, why is this castle also a ski lodge? But I go to the same place basically every time I go on vacation, so maybe my experience is just too limited. Anyway, Nancy finds out that the library was vandalized, and because she’s Nancy fucking Drew, she immediately has to figure out who, how, and why. (What, when, and where were already covered.) This somehow turns into a hunt for a diamond that belonged to Marie Antoinette (except it didn’t actually, most of the backstory here was entirely made up) that takes Nancy into corners of the castle that by all means should no longer exist, to find clues that also should no longer exist, since the entire castle was taken apart piece by piece in order to be moved to Wisconsin, meaning that the diamond, or at the very least the clues leading to it, would have been found during the dismantling and reassembly of the castle. Suspension of disbelief, I guess. Despite all of the questions that arise during play, it is still an entertaining plot. 

Characters

This game boasts the proud title of being the first game in the series to include an actual character arc! Seriously, the characters in this game are pretty great, although it’s two in particular that really stand out. First of all, we have Dexter Egan--a bitter, resentful old man whose adoptive father, Ezra Wickford, was quite frankly a piece of shit. What kind of parent keeps a scrapbook of every time their kid fucked up? Hello? And then he just disowns him, just like that? I’m not mad or anything. But you can really see why Dexter turned out how he did. Any parent who keeps a literal record of their child’s wrongdoings is undoubtedly going to mess up their kid quite a bit. Anyway, Dexter gets some pretty great development over the course of the game. I’m proud of him.

The second standout character is, of course, Professor Beatrice Hotchkiss! A smart, funny, slightly airheaded icon who quickly became one of my favorite recurring characters. How could she not, when she orders fifty chicken drumsticks (cluck cluck) practically ten minutes after her introduction? And that’s only the beginning! She also serves as an invaluable source of help during the rest of the game, and during the other games she appears in. High five, Team Hotchkiss!

Gameplay

The gameplay in this one is generally pretty good, although it can get kind of tedious at times. (I should have only had to open that door ONCE!) I honestly don’t have a lot of comments to make here. I’m not a fan of how easy it is to get completely lost in the castle, even though I know it adds to the experience... But it bugs me. Still, it’s nice to be moving on from the days of ‘here’s this area you can look at, it will literally never be important in the slightest’, y’know?

Atmosphere

I like the atmosphere of this game a lot! Admittedly I have no idea what Wisconsin is like, I have never been to Wisconsin, but I have been stuck inside during a snowstorm and this game captures that feeling quite well, if you ask me! Which you kind of are, since you’re reading my review. The castle (especially the room with the fireplace) has such a lovely, cozy feeling. I love walking by Professor Hotchkiss’s door to hear her typing, it just adds to the calming effect. I’d love to get a book or two from the library (you know, if it wasn’t vandalized) and just go sit by the fire and read for a while! Also, some of the more secret areas have this delightfully old and kind of spooky feeling, while the Queen’s Tower itself... It’s very ostentatious, as expected, but there’s also something majestic about it, too. All in all, this game did REALLY well here.

Music

Oh, the music. The music. What could I ever hope to say about the music? It’s absolute perfection. The more old-fashioned style enhances the plot so much. The songs themselves run the gamut from calming to intense, from sadness to triumphant majesty, and the use of repeated motifs throughout several of the tracks really ties the whole soundtrack together. I truly do not believe it is possible to improve the music for this game at all. This soundtrack is a work of art, and I don’t say that lightly.

Conclusion

This game is incredible. The plot, the characters, the atmosphere, the music--it all ties together so well that a bit of slightly tedious gameplay isn’t nearly enough to bring it down. It is without a doubt my favorite game in the first five, and might even be my favorite in the first ten. I would not hesitate a moment to recommend this game, as I truly believe that it is an absolutely vital play for any fan of the series. At the very least, go listen to the soundtrack. Go listen to it right now.

See you next time, when I review game #5: The Final Scene!

[libertyreads]

Best and Worst Books of 2020

This has been a mess of a year for everyone, but I actually managed to get a lot of books read. I decided to repeat this post from last year because I enjoyed going back through all the things I read and remembering how I felt about them.

I’ll try to avoid any repeats, but I’m sure it’ll happen at some point. If you want more info about my feelings on these books, check out my ratings and reviews on GoodReads.

Best Sci-Fi: This one was such an easy pick for me. All Systems Red by Martha Wells. This whole series just knocks it out of the park. The Murderbot Diaries is a series about a Security Bot who hacks their governor module so they can just watch their shows all day. Too bad the humans they’re assigned to protect are getting into trouble left and right. Worst Sci-Fi: Starstruck by Brenda Hiatt. I remember this being a free e-book that I picked up this year. I explained it to my husband as a sci-fi version of Twilight. You get a small town nerdy girl with few friends who suddenly becomes important when this alien boy pays attention to her. It was definitely a book of its time. Best Fantasy: A Fantasy that I really enjoyed this year was Fable by Adrienne Young. It is about a girl whose pirate father leaves her stranded on a deserted island after her mother dies. If she can survive, she can find her way back to him and receive her inheritance. It goes in depth about family and friendship. Plus found families. Am I right? Worst Fantasy: The Magicians by Lev Grossman. Oh boy. How do I get into it with this one without regurgitating my review? I had a problem with the author taking all of the best known magical stories of all time and twisting them throughout this dense book in order to point out that magic is a problem to be dealt with and not all unicorns and rainbows--just to rip that point out of the reader’s hands in the last four pages of the novel. Please read my review I go so in depth there. Best Contemporary: Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson. I think this was mostly just that I read this book at the right time. This book is about a family who is going through a hard time when the father is diagnosed with terminal cancer. They decide to spend one final summer at their cabin on the lake before he passes. I distinctly remember crying my eyes out at the end of this one and it hitting me so hard. Worst Contemporary: Girls in the Moon by Janet McNally. This was a Book of the Month pick for me at a time when they had less variety in their options. I felt like I couldn’t keep pushing back my picks every month. It’s a story about this rock band family who divorced in the late 90s and the fall out for their two children while one moves to New York to pursue a music career. A lot of fluff and almost no substance. Best Mystery: This is the year I realized that I like YA Mystery novels and not a lot else in the mystery genre. I had a three way tie for best Mystery and they call came from the YA Age Range. The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson, In the Hall with the Knife by Diana Peterfreund, and The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. These were all done so well and all taking the things I love about mysteries and twisting them. Worst Mystery: In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware. I had heard so many amazing things about this book, but it fell so flat for me. I hate unreliable narrators. Why are they necessary in this genre? I feel like if you need an unreliable narrator to write a good mystery then you’re a bad mystery author. Best YA: Traitor to the Throne by Alwyn Hamilton. This is book 2 in the Rebel of the Sands series. It’s a desert Fantasy that is written so well. The world building is fantastic. We have a rebellion, magic, and some amazing characters. In book two we see Amani thrust into court politics. I marathoned this whole series in a couple of weeks and loved the adventure. Worst YA: The worst YA book I read this year was Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke. I felt like the story went no where and the writing was overly flowery. I’m sure it does good things for some people but it’s the polar opposite of what I love in books. Best Adult: For this one we have a two way tie. The first book is House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1) by Sarah J. Maas. Is this the next great American novel? Of course not. But I had an amazing time reading this book. I felt so many feelings and the world building was fantastic. The second book is In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren. I read an ARC of this for my Christmas in July and enjoyed it so much I had to read it again right before Christmas. It was perfect for getting in the Christmas spirit.  Worst Adult: This category is also a two way tie. I read The Broken Girls by Simone St. James and thoroughly disliked the mystery aspect of the story. I felt like it was left too open ended and it completely put me off. The second is a book of poetry called Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur. It felt like a lot of these poems were incomplete thoughts. Maybe it’s how open it is too interpretation again, but I really did not like this at all. Best New Release: This feels like the hardest category to pick from. If we’re going based on ratings, Check, Please! Volume #2: Sticks and Scones is the highest rated new release that I read this year. But I also have a couple of YA Mystery novels that I read this year that I loved and that stuck with me throughout the year. The first is The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson which is the third book in the Truly Devious series and finishes out that mystery arc. The second is The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes which I have been raving about since I read it this fall. The Inheritances games is the first book in a new series that is like a combination of Knives Out and Clue plus puzzles minus a few murders. It’s just so good. So, a top three for this category I guess. Worst New Release: The Bookweaver’s Daughter by Malavika Kannan. This one was easy to pick hands down. I felt like this book brushed over some major events that happened. As well, there’s a major lack of world building in this novel. I think with some polishing it could have made for a good middle grade novel but was sold as a YA novel. Best Backlist: The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty. I’m normally not huge into Adult Fantasy, but I feel like the author does a good job of making the world accessible to the reader even though it’s vast with a lot of political machinations. Probably one of the best series I read start to finish this year. Worst Backlist: The Cruelty by Scott Bergstrom. I was going to put in Wink Poppy Midnight here again, but technically I gave The Cruelty the same rating and I wanted to avoid repeats. For this one, I gave a LENGTHY review about my problems with the book. I wanted to like it, but the author’s internalized ableism and misogyny really ruined the party here. Best 2021 ARC: This was a two way tie between “You Have a Match” by Emma Lord and “Shipped” by Angie Hockman. I had no idea I enjoyed these equally because they’re such different books. Both are contemporaries but “You Have A Match” is YA Contemporary about families and secrets while “Shipped” is an Adult Contemporary about a hate to love romance and work/life balance. Worst 2021 ARC: “The Castle School (for Troubled Girls)” by Alyssa B. Sheinmel. This one is more of a problem about what the publishers sold the book as. Because the book summary wasn’t correct when it came to the whole point of the book. So I went in with completely incorrect expectations. I think because of the plot twist I would have still rated it lower than the other 2021 ARCs I read, but it would have been a closer contest. Best Standalone: I Hope You’re Listening by Tom Ryan. This is a YA Mystery that came out this Fall that I really enjoyed. It’s about a girl who is present when her friend gets taken from the woods. Years later she still has trouble dealing with being the child left behind so she starts a podcast to help people solve missing persons cases. It also had a surprise cult element that I wasn’t expecting and really enjoyed. Worst Standalone: Meet Me at Fir Tree Lodge by Rachel Dove. This one is a bit blurred in my brain. I think that really speaks to how I feel about this one. It is about a girl whose life falls apart after a skiing accident and how she tries to put it back together. But it involves a romance with an Alpha Male character which everyone hates at this point. I wanted it to be sweeter and softer and more heart wrenching than it was. Best Book in a Series: All Systems Red by Martha Wells. I scoured my spreadsheets to try to find a book I hadn’t already gushed over, but there’s a reason this one is in the top of so many categories. I love Murderbot and following all of their misadventures. The Murderbot Diaries is a series about a Security Bot who has hijacked their Governor Module and just wants to watch their serials all day. But those pesky human’s they’re hired to protect keep getting themselves in trouble. Worst Book in a Series: I found the book in a series that I gave the worst rating to and I had to go over my review to try to remember what it’s even about. I read Legacy of Ash by Matthew Ward which is the first book in the Legacy Trilogy. And I still don’t remember much about it. I remember it being dense and hard to read without getting a lot out of the book in reward for my effort. It was a hard slog and clearly not great if I can’t remember what it’s about less than 9 months after I read it.

[mst3kproject]

Terror in the Midnight Sun

Let’s see… aliens?  Check.  Sasquatch? Check.  Weird Scandinavian production trying to look like Hollywood? Check!  Bring on Terror in the Midnight Sun.

A glowing orb comes in for a landing in the arctic.  Word of this spreads quickly, and soon an expedition is dispatched to retrieve the unusual object.  One of the scientists on the trip is a Dr. Wilson, who is excited not just by the meteor but by the opportunity to visit his niece Diana, who is in the area training to be an Olympic figure skater.  Upon arrival, the scientists learn that some monster is going around killing people and reindeer, leaving gigantic footprints, and carrying off pretty girls.  When they follow its trail, they learn that what landed on the glacier is no meteor – it’s a spaceship, and the aliens’ pet Yeti has kidnapped Diana!

Yeah, that’s the movie all right.

Like a number of MST3K features, including The Touch of Satan and Blood Waters of Dr. Z, Terror in the Midnight Sun has several titles.  In its homeland of Sweden it is called Rymdinvasion i Lappland (Space Invasion in Lappland), while in English-speaking parts it is frequently Invasion of the Animal People.  Of these titles, not one of them is accurate. There is only one ‘animal person’ in the movie, and the single ship and crew really aren’t enough to constitute an ‘invasion’.  As for Terror in the Midnight Sun, that one may sound good, but there’s no midnight sun in the movie.  Rather, characters keep talking about ‘it’ll be dark soon’ and ‘we won’t make it by nightfall’.  Points for poetics, Title Guy, but none for relevance.

As well as alternative titles, there’s a whole alternative version of this movie available, produced by Jerry Warren of Wild Wild World of Batwoman fame.  It reportedly begins with John Carradine telling us why science is good, followed by a prologue in which Diana is abducted and then released by the aliens prior to the events of the original film.  I did not watch that version.  The one I did see was plenty weird enough.

Another random thing we have in common with multiple MST3K movies is the preponderance of padding.  Lost Continent was mostly Rock Climbing and Racket Girls contained far too much wrestling.  For Terror in the Midnight Sun, it’s skiing. Diana and hunky geologist Eric Engstrom spend a day on the slopes to show us that they’re falling in love. Later, the couple attempt to ski back to civilization to get help, after the yeti destroys the party’s small airplane. The nomadic reindeer-herders who live in the area ski everywhere, and we have to watch even when they’re not going anyplace plot-relevant.  And I sure never thought I’d see a movie with a torches-and-pitchforks mob chasing a monster on skis yet here we are.

Besides the skiing, Terror in the Midnight Sun also lingers on things like planes flying, couples dancing, and yetis blundering about.  There’s a gratuitous song sung by a gratuitous lounge singer.  People wander around in a blizzard in ways unpleasantly reminiscent of Hercules wandering around in a sandstorm.  All of these last just slightly longer than they should, and I imagine Joel and the ‘bots having a very hard time with them.

For an old, cheap, black-and-white movie, the photography is surprisingly good.  We can always tell what’s going on and tell the characters apart, although don’t ask me to remember anyone’s name besides Dr. Wilson, Diane, and Eric.  Cinematography is just good enough to make you think that filming an arctic landscape in monochrome has untapped artistic potential – but not good enough to realize that.  Instead, I found myself noticing that the characters’ surroundings are not nearly as bleak as the miniature shots and the dialogue are probably trying to suggest.  There seem to be plenty of trees and rocks and cabins around, while we’re evidently supposed to believe they’re miles out on the tundra.

Again like many MST3K subjects, Terror in the Midnight Sun has a pretty girl in it for no better reason than that movies are supposed to have pretty girls.  Diana is otherwise entirely useless.  She invites herself along on her uncle’s expedition for no reason at all besides possibly that she’s bored, and she brings nothing to the party whatsoever.  The movie bothers to establish her as a skilled skater and skier and then never makes use of either talent – when she and Eric try to ski to the nearest settlement for help, she runs into the only tree for miles around and sprains her knee, so he has to leave her behind in a rescue cabin to be kidnapped by the Yeti.

I think this injury is what’s supposed to prevent Diana from escaping the Yeti… only it doesn’t keep her from running around for hours in the snow.

She’s also here to fall in love with Eric, because the reason movies need pretty girls, besides the audience’s opportunity to ogle, is so that the heroic male lead can get to touch some titties as his reward for saving the day.  The whole arc with the two of them is really weird.  They have a bit of a meet cute when Diana calls out “hello, darling!” to her uncle (who does that?) and Eric thinks she’s talking to him.  Dr. Wilson warns Diana that Eric is known as a heartbreaker who can’t stick to one woman, but this doesn’t seem to discourage her.  The lovebirds then have their skiing day, when Eric knocks Diana over and she retaliates by stealing his skis and leaving him to walk all the way back to the lodge!  He arrives tired, wet, and angry, and she asks him what took him so long… but twenty minutes later he still wants to dance with her.  What the hell do these two see in each other?

When she sees the Yeti, Diana screams and faints. It carries her off back to the crater where its extraterrestrial masters – pale coneheads in long robes – are waiting.  She wakes up and sees them, and screams and faints again.  Her entire purpose in the plot is to give the movie an excuse to show us the aliens, and the whole ‘alien’ thing itself is ultimately quite useless. In fact, the movie would probably have made more sense if the Yeti had been an Earthly monster.  At the climax, she remains an inanimate object in the Yeti’s arms.

By now we’re pretty convinced the creature isn’t going to hurt her on purpose, but the movie never says what it plans to do with her instead.  In the Creature from the Black Lagoon movies, the monster’s interest in the women was overtly sexual. In Giant of the Twentieth Century, the Yeti thought the two human children were young of its own species in need of protection. Here?  I dunno.  Diana’s in the movie because movies are supposed to have pretty girls, and the Yeti menaces her because that’s what happens to said pretty girls in movies.  Nobody’s meant to care about the reason.  The writers sure didn’t.

The Yeti itself is doubtless what you’ve been waiting to hear about.  It’s the real star of this movie.  While the aliens and their ship don’t look too bad, either, the Yeti suit is clearly what the film-makers are most proud of, and it gets plenty of screen time. It’s a pretty fun Yeti as crappy movie creatures go, around twenty feet tall (except when it’s carrying Diana, when it mysteriously shrinks to more like seven feet) and shaggy, with big tusks sticking up from its lower lip.  The script doesn’t give the guy in the suit much to work with, but he manages to convey that this is a creature capable of both violence and gentleness, even as its actual motivations remain a mystery.

The motivations of the aliens are equally murky.  The climax of the movie happens when the angry mob on skis chases the Yeti to the edge of a cliff, where they throw torches at it until its fur catches fire.  It is then kind enough to put Diana down, before toppling off the precipice to its death. And then, with their Yeti dead, the aliens just fucking leave!  Only minutes later, their glowing ship rises out of the snow where we’ve all been assuming it’s stuck, and flies away across the sky.  The movie treats this as a victory, never entertaining the idea that they’ve, say, gone to get reinforcements.  Dr. Wilson watches them go and muses, “I wonder if they found out what they wanted to know.”

Personally, I don’t think the aliens were here for any sort scientific or military purpose.  Instead, imagine you’re on a cross-country road trip with your buddies, and somebody brought their dog.  That’s fun, but it does mean that every so often you’re gonna have to stop somewhere to let the dog stretch its legs and pee on a few things.  With me so far?  Okay, imagine that on one of these stops, the dog digs up an anthill, and the ants retaliate by setting it on fire and pushing it off a cliff.  You’d leave pretty damn quick too, wouldn’t you? I don’t think we have to worry about these particular aliens ever coming back.

[letitrainasunnyday]

I feel like Aoyama is mistreating Ran's character too much. If you think about it, almost all the characters have had chapters focused on "their world" except Ran. Ran always accompanies others, but is never the protagonist of the chapter. Gosho could, for example, do a chapter with Ran and his karate team or something else. I think she needs a little more prominence, because she is a main character and she deserves it.

I’m not sure I’d like to use the word “mistreated”, but I see where you’re coming from. 

I’d love to see Ran take center stage more often than she has, cause I love my girl with everything I’ve got. But I can also count with the fingers of one hand the characters other than Shinichi that have had chapters focused on “their world” without Shinichi having much prominence. Off the top of my head, I’d say Kogoro, Heiji, Amuro and Akai. But truly the rest of the characters always accompany Conan.

And Ran’s had chapters focused on her and her friends. She solved her own case at one point, for crying out loud. In the Paper Planes Case, she single-handedly acted as the heroine and saved that poor kidnapped man. The chapter where she tries to unlock Shinichi’s phone also has her at center stage. In Kyoto she has a lot of prominence too, and she also does in the Shiragami Case.

In London she pretty much takes charge in a lot of ways. 

Honestly the more I think about it the more chapters that come to my mind. The Ski Lodge Murder Case. The Memories of First Love Case. The Desperate Revival Arc. The list is actually pretty decently long. 

Though I kinda get what you’re saying, to be fair.