#PLUS the theme of pain and vengeance bring more pain

[ladysqueakinpip]

not me lying wide awake at 5:30am on a sunday on my day off bc after almost a full year I finally FINALLY realized the implication of the end of remember them from the cyclops saga

[reginarubie]

I was thinking about your post about Dany's supposed resurrection. It's confirmed that Jon is going to be resurrected in next books. Some of the themes will be similar like fire magic, a maegi or witch etc. In books the moment Dany enter the pyre it was about her dragons and she made the choice be a dragon. Jon soul is captured in Ghost and if he is resurrected he will be more wolfy. Plus Sansa will be biggest factor in his life. What do you think about differences in Dany and Jon resurrection?

Ciao anon!

Without doubt it’s going to be very different between Jon and Daenerys as between Jon and Lady Stoneheart and even Beric Dondarrion.

Of these four only Daenerys deliberately did the rite, the others were forced in way by others. Beric died and Thoros performed on him the Last Kiss but it wasn’t Beric’s choice.

In the same way, Lady Stoneheart has been forced from her death by Beric who performed the Last Kiss possibly without the competence to do so which would explain why Lady Stoneheart is even less herself than Beric was.

In the same way Jon has not chosen to return to life — but, as his body is dead, his spirit has yet to leave this plane so to speak and he is warging in Ghost. It wouldn’t surprise me if Martin showed Jon deliberately albeit uncomprehendingly choosing to return to his body after Mel performs the Last Kiss on him or any kind of funeral.

My theory resides in the fact that once a character get resurrected they become the purest form of themselves (especially since the entire rite involves flames, and the red priests say that the fire burns all impurity and terrors away) and by that I do not mean the best form of them. But the purest and truest to their identity and what they identify with.

Which makes the story of Daenerys even more tragic. Daenerys is a character we easily empathize with, in the beginning of AGOT, especially when she is suicidal and you see the toll all the trauma has had on her. Slowly we see her, in the course of the entire first book dream about the dragon, who defends her and reminds her she's the blood of the dragon.

She identifies with the dragon as coping mechanism. Which is what makes this all even more tragic. So, when Daenerys enters the pyre and weds the fire, with the flames kissing her (the Last Kiss rite consist in the priest/priestess to breath fire into the body of the dead through a kiss just saying) she sheds all her insecurities and becomes the dragon. Which doesn't mean she doesn't have moments of uncertainty, only that in them starts to shine always brighter the dragon beyond the girl, and that is really tragic in my opinion.

In the same way, Beric Dondarrion was tasked by the Hand of the King to bring justice in the Riverlands and he dies during so, so he dies tasked with the mission to bring justice against the overpower of the stronger. So what does he return as? There is no longer any loyalty to a single banner, and he becomes the leader of the Brotherhood Without Banners, bringing justice or trying to, despite the who has the power and who is the powerless. So from a knight tasked to bring justice, to a man who tries to bring justice (in his own head) independently by who is in charge.

Catelyn died thinking of her children, all dead, and of Ned, begging him to make it stop, so what does she becomes? Lady Stoneheart, who feels no more sadness, but only pain and revenge. As her last thoughts were all she lost, she has returned a vengeful spirit to avenge her loved ones. I wouldn't be surprised if Lady Stoneheart will die after she somehow makes Arya understand truly the difference between vengeance and justice.

Back to Jon. Jon died thinking of Arya, the sister he wanted to protect, thinking of the siblings he could not protect and warged into Ghost as he did. Instead of in the realm of the dead (like Catelyn and Beric) Jon and Daenerys already had a previous bond with that part of themselves who would link to the dragon and the direwolf, they dipped into that when they died.

Daenerys into the dragon. Jon warged into the direwolf and if already he was considered half a wildling and half a wolf, just imagine the potential of savagery and wildness that has. And with all the foreshadowing of Sansa helping a cousin with tales of valor, songs and helping him by the hand through the dangers and into safety... well you catch my meaning especially with snow (Jon Snow) kissing her lashes and her lips, okay?

Also I think the Stark sisters will be his core motivation once he return. He somehow always links his thoughts of one with the other, he dreamed of both of them, thought Ygritte reminded him of both of them (Arya for her behavior and Sansa because of her red hair, easy smile and singing) which will lead to it being mostly Sansa because a) Sansa is going to find him first; b) Sansa fills the bill for the ladylike woman Jon dreams of; c) Arya's arc will make her become no one, which will possibly create problems with her identity until the end of asoiaf, and d) Sansa has a way with animals (just remember she had Lady completely well mannered from the get to go) and her singing seems to be able to calm the fraying nerves of boys and bloodthristing men alike as scared women; also f) Sansa is the definition of the soft power Jon admires and wish for in a partner.

I will speak more in the detail about the difference when I finally get around writing that series of metas on the resurrection matter, mostly we have:

Daenerys is the caster and the casted of the rite.

Jon will be the one on whom the rite will be forced upon, not the caster.

Daenerys chose deliberately to do the rite, understanding to a degree what it entailed and how. She accepted it wholeheartedly

Jon might have difficulties adjusting (as foreshadowed by the show, where Jon says he doesn't belong back with the living)

Daenerys slowly falls more and more into the pit of the dragon identity without anyone gripping her back from it (also, some of the characters around her seem to push her in that direction precisely, but I digress)

Jon is foreshadowed to do the reversal arc, from animal back to man.

Jon has nursed his bond with Ghost for years before he died and warged into him, also Ghost is a gift from the Old Gods and like I have theorized in my mythology meta (Jonsa—Orpheus and Eurydice genderswap) it is entirely possible that the Old Gods punished Jon for breaking his vows for real (and not to keep them as he did with the wildlings) to save Jeyne Poole believing her to be Arya, but at the same time gave him the way to stay alive by his bond with Ghost.

The bond Jon shares with Ghost is completely different than the one Daenerys shares with Drogon. To put it simply imo, Daenerys is the vessel of the bond and Drogon bonded to her instead with Jon and Ghost is equal, Ghost ends up being the vessel of Jon and their bond has been nurtured for years before Jon dies, whilst the bond between Daenerys and Drogon comes to life when Daenerys dies and returns, even if it is finalized years after that when Daenerys finally rides Drogon.

Jon identifies with the wolf protecting the wolfpack that means when he'll return his whole might will go in that direction possibly; Daenerys identifies with the dragon protecting itself, so when she returns she does exactly that, to the extreme as to which she wants the 7K to drink the wine of vengeance from the skull of the Usurper (even tho she already knows Bobby B is dead) whilst Jon will move to protect the pack.

Jon has been taught lessons that are core different from the ones Daenerys learned in her infanthood and young years, that means they attract different kind of people around them, that compliment those traits.

It will come down to fear against love, I have discussed how to Daenerys there is a coexistence and ambivalence between love and fear, whilst Jon recognizes the difference between the two and chooses love every time (just think of him recognizing from distance the men he has sent out, or thinking on how he has to act as lord commander, loving his men and but knowing how to keep a distance).

Anyway, I promise I will expand on this soon as I have already started to work on the research for the first installment of the resurrection in asoiaf serie (which will come after the Lady Stoneheart/Arya — Orpheus and Eurydice meta I am writing).

What do you think of the differences between Jon and Daenerys resurrections?

As always thank you for your ask! Wishing you an amazing day!

[sortasirius]

“Unity” and the Broken Boys

BOY Y’ALL BETTER SIT DOWN BECAUSE THIS IS AS LONG AS CAN BE AND I TOOK OFF WORK TOMORROW SO I’VE GOT TIME

This is....one of the best episodes in the show.  Yeah, in all 325 of them, this is hands down one of the best.

First of all, stan Amara for clear skin.

That silent treatment babey, right out the gate with the Angst.  Tbh Dean deserves it.

“Like I said, killing Amara, Jack dying...that’s the only way.”

“The only way.  Our one shot.  Our Last chance.  You ever get tired of saying stuff like that?”

“We don’t have to like it, alright?  But you and me, we gotta get it done.”

Amara is such a welcome energy in this whole episode.  She’s warm and understanding, whip-smart and probably more powerful than Chuck.  I love her.

Sam is a wonderful, understanding, loving dad.  I love him eternally.  He loves Jack so much, he’s trying so desperately to do what’s right for Jack but also what’s right for the world.  Jack made this choice, but he can’t live with it.  How do you support your child when their life is at stake?

“Come on man.  Blindly following orders, lying to Amara, sending her to her death. Does any of this feel right to you??”

“It doesn’t matter how we feel!  You know what?  Stay.  Stay.  Someone has to be the grown up here.”

“Yeah well someone has to keep fighting for Jack!”

“He knows what he signed up for!”

“Last I checked, we don’t give up on family.”

“Jack’s not family.”

Y’all should have heard the noise I made.  What a fucking line.

“I know how you feel about the kid, I care for him too, I do, but he’s not like you.  He’s not like Cas.  He’s just not.”

“I’m- I’m ready.”

You can see the regret, the heartbreak in Dean’s eyes.  You can see how he wants to take those words back the moment he said them, and for Jack to hear them?  It’s unthinkable.

Sam and Cas I’m just so fucking emo dude.

“Sam, you stayed behind to find another way huh?  I woulda done the same.”

AMARA

First of all, LOVE this structure.

Amara and Chuck have such a fascinating dynamic.  Rob and Emily do a great job (as they have all along) by clearly being siblings but...heightened.  You can just tell they both exude power, and the other is the only one they consider an equal.

“You and Dean had that whole weird...thing.”

“That wasn’t you writing?”

“Ugh, not that part.  Gross.”

What I took away from this is what I’ve suspected all along.  They HAVE free will, just not total free will.  Dean and Amara’s connection wasn’t Chuck, there are parts of the story he didn’t write.  Obviously, this comes into play later. 

I also have a hunch that Chuck doesn’t write romance.  I also think that in particular will come into play.

“Balance.  Something we’ve never tried before.  Creation and destruction, light and dark, brother and sister united again, but on behalf of one world, this world.  True balance.  The way it was always meant to be.  But you can’t.  You only care about your pleasure, your story.  Well, I guess that makes you the villain.”

“Villains get all the best lines.”

We see again and again this season, Chuck is irredeemable.  He doesn’t care about the angels, he doesn’t care about the world, he doesn’t care about anything.  He is a petulant toddler who has broken his toys. And when he realizes he’s trapped, he gets angry, he shouts and screams, completely at odds with Amara’s peace.

“You can’t hold me here forever.”

“I can hold you long enough.”

DEAN

Pain is the name of the game in this section homies.  Because not only are we dealing with Dean’s pain, we’re also dealing with Jack’s.  Jack says he understands why Cas and Sam mean more to Dean, but Dean clearly doesn’t, he, once again, wants to say more, but is stopped, still stopped by his fear: his fear of not beating Chuck.

Alright guys, gals, and non-binary pals.  Let’s talk about Adam and Seraphina.

Adam.  The first man.  And Seraphina.  The angel.

“My old lady.  She’s the only one who could put up with me all these years.”

Yeah okay.  Volume at 100 I get it lmao.

But also: Adam wants God dead not because he and Eve were kicked out of the Garden, but because he went after their sons.  The theme of protecting the children strikes again.

“Killing God is your plan?”

“Yeah, Billie’s been giving us a hand but Sera and me, this is our baby.”

This juxtaposed directly with Dean’s own pain at what he has to do to kill Chuck, to gain his free will: the cost of his child.

Adam’s rib.

And who else might get his ribs hurt, only to be likely healed by an angel?

It’s fine, that’s fine.  I’m fine with that.

“Jack, I don’t know how to explain it but, when I found out about Chuck, it’s like I wasn’t alive.  Not really.  You know like my whole life I’ve never been free, but like really free.  But now?  Now me and Sam, we got a shot at living a life, without all this crap on our backs.  And that’s, that’s because of you.  So, I want to say, I need to say...thank you, Jack.  Thank you.”

I’m gonna have to do a separate post about just Dean in this episode, because there is so fucking much to talk about, but there are a couple of things that I think are important:  Dean realizes how wrong he was, to say what he said.  He knows that it’s not true, this is the way he’s always coped with loss, by pushing the person to be lost away, but for Jack to hear it?  He can’t stand for that.

And:

Dean has finally pushed through the barrier.  He won’t be quiet in the face of his doubts anymore.  This is a breakthrough for him, and, of course, there are more to come.

SAM

Sam and Cas, my chaos duo.

The box, the inscription, the door.

Death’s library, filled with dead reapers.

And there it is.  The Empty.

It tells Sam the plan, the plan for Billie to take God’s place.  For everything to go back to the way it’s “supposed to be.”

This has always been the game, since season 13.  This is the longest of long games.

Sam fuckin Winchester, lying his way out of a confrontation with the Empty like the legend that he is.

He comes back with a new purpose: to stop Billie’s plan, and here’s where we get to the heart of the episode and maybe the heart of the season.

“You hear that?  Dean, brought to the edge of doubt.  His sense of duty, his rage winning out in the end.  And poor Sam, always gotta know everything.  Can’t leave well enough alone.  This is my ending, my real ending.”

The gun comes out, pointed at Sam.

Hmm...what did I say during 15x05?  Oh yeah, this.

And:

Dean would never survive killing Sam, but he’s willing to do anything, anything to earn his freedom.  His ending, where one brother kills the other and then kill himself.

Why, you might ask, did Sam not mention that the angels would be sent back to Heaven, why does he not mention Cas?  I’ll tell you why, or rather, Becky will.

Plus, Dean looks back at Cas IMMEDIATELY when Sam says that, when he mentions Eileen, and THAT’S the first time he hesitates.  He can’t lose Cas.  But at the same time, he’s willing to do anything to have his freedom.

“Sam we don’t have a choice, Jack’s about to blow!”

“We always have a choice!”

You know me, just sitting here thinking about choice, the ability to choose, and how that translates to their free will.

And Sam...I don’t think there will ever be characters I love as much as these.

“I don’t care if Billie gets what she wants!  I don’t man, I’d trade it all, I’d trade em all for Chuck.  In a heartbeat!”

“What about me?”

“You’d trade me?”

“Chuck has to die.  He has to!  Otherwise he’ll keep us tap dancing forever, and I can’t live like that man, I can’t live like that, I won’t!”

“I know you feel like that right now, okay? I know you do, but you gotta trust me.  My entire life, you’ve protected me.  From Dad, from Lucifer, from everything.  I didn’t always like it, you know?  But it’s the one thing in the whole world that I could always count on.  It’s the only thing I’ve ever known that was true.  So please, put the gun away.  Just put it away.  We’ll figure it out, Dean, we’ll find another way, you and me.  We always do.”

Okay I feel like this is going to be one of those scenes that I cry watching for years to come.  Because fuck.  After fifteen years they finally admit that not only did Dean protect Sam from Lucifer, but he protected him from John.  John.  On a par with Lucifer.

Dean and Sam have, for so many years, sacrificed themselves for the other.  Dean’s demon deal, Sam and the trials, every season they have fought to see who can die the quickest for the other.  But this?  This is them fighting to stop the violence, to stop from killing the big bad.  This is them growing, in our eyes, in real time.  Sam has always been able to get through to Dean when no one else had a prayer, but for Dean to listen, for Dean to take his words to heart, to stop the hunt for Sam, for their family, that’s how you know they do have free will.

(Btw Chuck’s eye effect when he dusted Amara was sick as fuck but I’m emo for my boys so.)

Chuck knows it’s a loss, he knows that his story has, once again, been thwarted by the boys making their own choices.  And he’s pissed, but in his anger, we get a bomb dropped on us.

“Spare me your contempt Castiel, the self-hating angel of Thursday.  You know what every other version of you did after “gripping him tight and raising him from perdition”?  They did what they were told.  But not you.  Not the one off the line with a crack in his chassis.”

Are you fucking kidding me?

Also, just worth bringing up this one as well:

Every Castiel pulled Dean out of Hell.  Every one told him the same thing.  And yet, immediately, with this Cas and this Dean, something was different.  Because what has everyone seen about Cas, from the moment he met Dean?

And there’s our endgame people.  Laid out on the line.

But we ain’t done yet, fam.

We’ve talked about the handprint, but you know:

So there you have it, our prep into the “monumental” 15x18.  I have spec on that, of course, but I think a novel is long enough for this.

What to take away: Dean’s rage was always Chuck’s plan, they do have free will, their love for each other, for their family, is what will stop Chuck’s control, Death is about to come back with a vengeance, Cas’ deal is at play, and, most importantly, Castiel and Dean Winchester are a blind spot for Chuck, something he has never, not once, controlled.

[cherry-valentine]

Spring 2021 Anime Season

Mars Red is one of two series this season set in one of my favorite periods, the Meiji era. It’s a vampire series that deals a lot with the politics of war as the Japanese military is attempting to establish a vampire unit, supposedly to compete with the British vampire unit (because of course that’s a thing). It focuses on a human military officer named Maeda who is charged with recruiting and managing vampires. Maeda is the type of character I really enjoy. Handsome, a little older than most anime protagonists, chain-smoking, overly serious, and voiced by Junichi Suwabe (who has to have the sexiest voice in all of anime). The series has a classic, romantic feel to it. Its take on vampires is somewhat traditional (they evaporate in the sun, drink blood, sleep in coffins, have super strength and speed, etc.). If it brings anything new to the table, it’s the concept of vampires having different ranks, from S-class down, and how lower ranks naturally fear higher ranks. Still yet, the classic vibe works in the show’s favor. Combined with the historical setting, it gives the show a certain charm. The art is lovely, from the backgrounds to the character designs, and the music is a high point. It easily has the best ending theme of the season.

Fumetsu no Anata e (To Your Eternity) is a unique series. I’ve seen a lot of people comparing it to Mushishi, but with an overarching plot, and that assessment is pretty accurate. The show follows an entity that comes to be known as Fushi. It begins as an orb, and as it makes contact with other objects and creatures, it learns from them and can possibly take their forms. Among the forms it most often takes are a white wolf and a young man. Originally, it’s a somewhat empty shell, incapable of communicating, but as it meets different creatures and learns, it develops a personality and begins to speak. The series is, overall, about Fushi’s journey through this world and all the experiences it gains, both wonderful and tragic. There’s a subtle beauty to the series, with an early focus on nature, but it also has scenes of trauma and violence. The animation is fluid and the facial expressions are amazing. There’s an overall natural feel to it that, like others have pointed out, reminds me of Mushishi (though it’s definitely faster paced than Mushishi). The show also likes to make you cry, so keep that in mind.

Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood is the other series set in the Meiji era this season, albeit an alternate version of it that has a strange form of technology. To be honest, I’m a little fuzzy on some of the details, but it seems to be about a group called the Nue who work for the government to fight against a growing rebellion. The main character is Sawa, a member of Nue who has some sort of special powers involving her blood, which allow her to transform and battle monsters, or whatever else stands in her way. Her goal is to get revenge for the death of her entire clan (implied to be wiped out because of their power). Sawa is a decent heroine, a woman who craves vengeance and is determined to get it through any means, but is, at her core, a compassionate person who would rather live in peace. It’s this internal conflict that makes Sawa compelling (even if it’s not entirely original). The other characters are interesting, particularly Tsuki, whom I won’t talk much about because it would involve spoilers. The plot and details can get a little convoluted, but the action and animation are solid. When Sawa transforms, the art style changes, and it’s a really cool visual effect. The music is also nice.

Shaman King received a remake this season. I was a huge fan of the original, and so far I’m enjoying the remake, but to be honest, I’m having trouble seeing the point. The art is almost the same (just a lot shinier), the voice actors are the same, the plot is the same. Maybe it’s just that it’s been so long since I saw the original, I’m unable to remember the details and so I can’t tell what’s different. But to me it feels like I’m just rewatching the show. Which is fine, because I loved it to begin with. Maybe it gets different later on. Maybe it more closely follows the manga. I’ll keep watching to find out. For anyone new to the series, it looks like the remake is a solid place to start if you want to get into it. I won’t go into plot details for a story this old, so I’ll just say it’s a top tier shounen fighting series with a unique art style and some very memorable characters. If you like that sort of thing, and missed the original (or you just want a refresher), definitely check it out!

Godzilla Singular Point is a true delight. I’m a huge Godzilla (and kaiju in general) fan. I’ve watched every single Godzilla movie, as well as all the related movies (the Mothra films, Rodan, etc.), but I never watched the previous Godzilla anime that was on Netflix a few years ago. It just didn’t sound like something I’d like. Singular Point, however, is right up my alley. Set mainly in a small seaside town that’s suddenly attacked by bird-like monsters known as Rodans, we have two geeky protagonists using their intelligence to figure out what’s going on while more and more monsters appear. Mei and Yun are excellent heroes. They rely on their wits rather than physical strength, which is a refreshing approach. It’s also interesting that they have little to no face-to-face interaction. Instead, they chat with each other via text as they work separately. They often challenge each other with science questions. It’s adorable. The show’s overall feel is fairly upbeat and energetic. The colorful art and peppy character designs by Kazue Kato (who did Blue Exorcist) help with this feel. It should be noted that Godzilla himself doesn’t fully appear until halfway through the series. It says a lot about the quality of the show that I don’t actually mind that at all. Some of the science stuff does go over my head, but the general plot is easy enough to follow and the action is very well done. It also has fantastic music, with my favorite opening theme of the season. Even if Godzilla isn’t your thing, consider giving this series a shot if you like nerdy science types as heroes.

Burning Kabaddi is a sports anime about an unsual sport. I’d never heard of it before now, and if people in the comments were not talking about the very real sport, I would have assumed it was made up for the anime. The show is aware that the sport is obscure, so it takes great pains to explain the rules and details so that we can all follow the action. The story centers on Yoigoshi, a soccer prodigy who decides to drop all sports once he gets to high school due to all the drama and angst that surrounded him (mostly due to his teammates being jealous of his talent), and pursue a career as a streamer. All the various sports clubs at the school want to recruit him (especially the soccer club, of course) because they’ve heard of his skill and he has an athletic build. He rejects them all, but the Kabaddi club is strangely relentless. He ends up being manipulated into joining (the vice captain of the team straight up blackmails him by threatening to show his online streaming account to the whole school). Despite this rocky beginning, Yoigoshi actually starts to enjoy playing Kabaddi, and more importantly, begins to bond with his new teammates. It’s pretty fun stuff that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The art is serviceable for a sports anime and the music is fine. The series isn’t going to blow your mind, but it’s a fun way to spend twenty minutes every week. Worth a watch if you have a weakness for hot blooded sports anime.

The World Ends With You finally got its anime adaptation and I was so excited. The game is one of my all-time favorites. So far the anime is pretty good. The art is a near perfect replication of the bold, thick-lined art of the game. The battles are exciting and cool. Best of all, the anime often uses music from the game. This is important because the game has one of the best soundtracks, ever. Every time I recognize a song from the game, I almost squeal. If I had a complaint, it’s that the pacing feels a little off at times. It feels like the anime is rushing through the story, but that’s understandable. In the game, it took longer for everything to happen because you were walking from place to place, fighting battles along the way, stopping to scan NPC’s, shopping at stores, spending time in menus, etc. The anime has to cut most of that out, so naturally things are going to move faster. The result is that you don’t get to spend as much time with these characters, and so you feel less attached to them. Anyone watching the anime who didn’t play the game might feel like the emotional beats are lacking. I feel like this anime is definitely meant to be enjoyed by fans of the game, rather than newcomers to the story. But if you are a fan of the game? You should be watching this every week. It’s an excellent refresher on the story, just in time for the second game to come out this summer. Super high on my watch list.

Boku no Hero Academia has a new season. To be honest I don’t remember what number we’re on. This season, so far, focuses on a tournament-style competition between the two main hero classes. I would much prefer the plot to move on to something more exciting involving the villains, but I suppose they have to throw arcs like this in every so often just to remind everyone of which characters have which quirks. The plus point is that instead of being an individual competition, it’s team-based. What this ultimately means is that characters that are viewed as weaker or having more obscure quirks actually get a chance to shine. These are characters who definitely aren’t going to win one-on-one battles. In an individual tournament, it’s pretty much a given that characters like Deku, Bakugou, and Todoroki are going to win most of the matches. But in a team, everyone has to work together. The end result is that the lady characters, all of whom have fairly weak or situational quirks, finally FINALLY get to actually do stuff! Even better, in several of the match-ups, the girls have taken the lead in planning and strategizing. It’s been pretty nice to watch. The girls from the other class have been very proactive as well. I really wish the girls could do more in “real” battles with villains, since it’s clear that they can step up when they need to. Who knows? Maybe this is a sign of good things to come.

86 is a new mecha/sci-fi anime based on a series of light novels. The setup is fairly cool: In a country where everyone has silver hair and eyes, the people live in what looks like a utopia. There is a war going on outside their protected land but all combat is performed by automated robots, so there are no human casualties... or so the government would have the people believe. In reality, there is a district that exists on the outskirts of the country called 86, where people who don’t have silver hair and eyes are sent to pilot the robots and fight to protect the country that shunned them. Most of the pilots are children or teenagers. The mortality rate is high. Only a few people in the government know of their existence, mostly military types that include “handlers”. These handlers each take on an 86 unit and communicate with them through a system called “para-raid”. Using this, they monitor the battlefield from their safe positions and issue commands. Naturally, most handlers view their units as nothing more than tools in the war, and most 86-ers view their handlers as privileged snobs who know nothing of actual battle. The real plot kicks in when Lena, a young Major, becomes the new handler for a particular 86 unit. Lena is sympathetic to the people of 86, but it’s going to be hard getting her notoriously rough unit to accept her. The plot is a bit complicated and the show deals with some weighty themes (racism, privilege, war, child soldiers, death). Lena is a likable enough heroine and the members of 86 are all interesting and fairly well written. The music is fine. The art... well, it’s pretty to look at, but it feels a bit generic to me. A bit too shiny. The mecha designs are great, but I’m not crazy about the character designs, which feel like they could be from any other modern anime. I also find it sad but hilarious at the same time that the women’s military uniforms are clearly designed for fanservice (they include mini skirts, thigh-highs with garters, and a short jacket that opens up just above the chest to show the tight shirt underneath) while the men’s uniforms are just totally normal military wear. To be honest it’s just too stupid to actually be offensive, so it comes across as comical. Thankfully, the interesting setup and plot carry the show, making it good enough to overlook the generic visuals.

Moriarty the Patriot has a new season... maybe? I think it’s technically still season one, but with a split cour. Regardless, it feels like a new season so I’m treating it as such. The series focuses on famous Sherlock antagonist Moriarty, here represented as a trio of handsome brothers (though one of them is clearly the protagonist and the leader of the group) who work as “crime consultants” and basically help the lower classes wage class warfare against the nobility. This season shifts the focus away from the individual crimes Moriarty concocts and instead focuses on larger-scale conflicts that involve government conspiracies, corrupt cops, etc. We’re also treated to a lady James Bond (finally!), fixing one of the very few complaints I had about the first cour (that it lacked strong lady characters). The show remains very compelling, with beautiful art and excellent new opening and ending themes.

Best of Season:

Best New Show: Godzilla Singular Point

Best Opening Theme: Godzilla Singular Point

Best Ending Theme: Mars Red

Best New Male Character: Maeda (Mars Red)

Best New Female Character: Sawa (Joran)

[tundrainafrica]

Hey Sav! I hope you’re doing well! So I was rereading chapter 137 (wow, what an emotional chapter man), specifically Levi’s part when he kills Zeke, and I remembered a few theories about how Levi felt while he did the act and I’d like to know your opinion on this too since your analyses are always super objective and you always support them with facts which is a big plus (in short I really love your metas!!).

So I’ve seen many people say that Levi only killed Zeke to fulfill his promise to Erwin, and while I agree with that, I personally don’t think it was his main drive anymore. I’d say at this point he killed him to put a stop to the rumbling like Hange had predicted since he looks very done and very very broken (it’s really painful to watch ngl). So yeah, what do you think about this?

I also wanted to thank you so much for running this phenomenal blog, your analyses about Levihan and Hange and just anything at this point are so beautifully crafted they’re always such a joy to read! They helped me feel so much better and also feel more validated about how I see certain aspects of life, especially when I went through a harder time, so thank you so much for taking the time to feed us with such quality content (and fics too your fics are So Good dude you’re so talented!!) and for being such an incredible person!!! 🥰💗💗

Omg anon, Thank you so much for this ask and for your kind comments. 

Apologies for taking my sweet time. My laptop recently broke and I only got it to work just recently.  I’m happy to hear that you enjoy my fics and my metas. I got into a Levihan during a tumultous time in my life and I guess that’s why I like to explore both the fluffy and the angsty parts of the relationship and I tend to use it as some sort of means to explore a lot of themes in life because Levihan just has so much potential as a ship. I recognize that Yams just can’t turn his war anime to a romance so I do what I can to make some sweet sweet lemonade from the lemons Yam gives us.

So moving on to your question...

So I’ve seen many people say that Levi only killed Zeke to fulfill his promise to Erwin, and while I agree with that, I personally don’t think it was his main drive anymore. I’d say at this point he killed him to put a stop to the rumbling like Hange had predicted since he looks very done and very very broken (it’s really painful to watch ngl). So yeah, what do you think about this?

I feel like I have done a meta on this already  but whatever man, I’m just gonna word vomit again because that take just makes me hurl. Because I think it really does such a disservice to Levi’s character. Why are they reducing Levi to some vengeful mercenary? 

When? And here’s one thing I kept on pointing out.

Let’s compare this to one of the most iconic revenge arcs in Anime history: The Sasuke and Itachi arc. And low key, as a Naruto fan, I enjoyed Sasuke back when I was like 12 but rewatching Naruto recently, damn Sasuke was the epitome of revenge and hate.

And let’s think back to another more iconic vengeful person: Jet from Avatar. 

These are characters where a huge portion of their narrative was built on vengeance and I guess we can see similarities and Jet and Sasuke’s characters during their revenge arcs. 

But when I try to consider any similarities? When I try to think... is Levi the same way? And I try to look back at all the Levi scenes in Season 4... I can’t help but think...

WHERE. 

Literally, where in the whole show, did Levi imply at all that his whole point of existence was to take revenge on Monke. Literally, he was supporting Hange when they opened up Marley, he cooperated with Zeke to save Eren, he watched Zeke at the forest and calmly listened to Zeke’s confession on what happened at Ragako. 

Would Jet have been able to calmly listen to fire nation soldiers? Was Sasuke capable of talking to his brother WITHOUT trying to kill him? 

I’m sure you guys can come up with other trope-ey harbingers of revenge type of characters. These are the first two that just comes to mind as I write this. 

And if Levi really as vengeful as people are making him out to be...

WHY DIDN’T HE KILL ZEKE WHEN HE GOT THE CHANCE. Literally, Zeke was a pig ripe for the slaughter in the raid at Marley and back in the forest. 

Levi is strong as fuck and he had so many chances to kill Zeke. 

So really??? Where is everyone getting the crumbs they’re using the cheapen Levi’s very complex character??

And we saw him when he had to kill Zeke right? I mean this may be my shipping self talking but I am really more convinced that Levi decided to kill Zeke then because Hange guessed that that was the way to end the rumbling and before that, the reason why Levi was so calmly able to RESIST or just decide not to kill Zeke just yet was because Hange was still very much interested in the ideas Zeke was bringing the table. Hange could have very much been a reason Levi didn’t kill Zeke yet.

Actually you know what, I removed my shipping glasses already. The fact that Levi only brings up the option of killing Zeke again AFTER 126 where I suspected Hange talked to him about how to stop the rumbling, really convinced me that it was Hange that planted in him the idea of killing Zeke again. 

And it just so happened that conveniently, Levi got to hit two birds with one stone when he killed Zeke. 

But really? Did he look happy about it? :)

[zenosanalytic]

Harrow the Ninth: Wordplay and Implication

So I started reading Harrow the Ninth last night(haven’t gotten far; I’m only on page 47), but some interesting stuff cropped up I wanted to yack about. Explaining it requires some Serious Spoilers tho, so don’t read past this point if you haven’t reader further than me and are also avoiding ...spoilers... X|

Ok so: Harrow is obvsl going through some Things. To begin with she seems to be having some manner of psychological break exacerbated by(possible caused by) the Lyctor transformation? A huge part of it is obvsl grief over Gideon -she seems to be avoiding any memory or thought of her and this mental block seems to be impacting her ability to access Gideon’s soul and thus her full Lyctor capabilities- but she’s also overwhelmed by her new senses and her inability to feel physical pain, and a bit unstuck in time? Some of that just might be her grief-driven illness, but so far there’s been some jumping around in the timeline/her memories so it’s possible this is also a side-effect of the Lyctor transformation and existing on both sides of life and death.

Anyway, there’s some nifty wordplay associated with all of this :>

the first one is in an edited memory, and it’s right at the start of it, in the chapter-title for said memory: “Parodos”.

Now most obvsl, that looks&sounds allot like “parody” and, while they aren’t directly related, the connection btwn the two is STILL intriguing: “parody” comes from para(side/beside/parallel) and oide(song), in the sense of a comical/mocking “parallel” to another song; parodos literally means entrance, though specifically it’s the name of a SIDE-entrance in greek theater-design which gave actors access to the stage, or the chorus access to the orchestra, BUT ALSO it was the name of the song(oide) the chorus sung upon first entering the play, coming after the prologue. The connection to an actual side-entrance makes me suspect the “par-” phoneme is from “para”, but I can’t find a constituent breakdown of “parodos” so it’ll have to remain a suspicion :T

Regardless: it is, in the manner of a proper parodos(even IF Harrow, here, is her own Chorus; this is a 3rd person perspective section), seeming to introduce us to the central conflict of the tale; Harrow is censoring Gideon from her mind, altering her perceptions and capacities in response to her grief, struggling with feelings that she is LOSING her mind(associated with, possibly embodied by, her “hallucinations” of The Body[1]), and clinging to this expression of control as a life-raft among all this trauma. At one point The Body even appears in this memory just to tell her it didn’t happen like this which “gave Harrow a curious strength”.

IntriguinglyER(and this is more of a stretch and idk if Muir really intended this implication) parodos is often popularly confused with/assumed to be related to “parados” which is a fortification embankment built to protect the rear of a military position(it’s basically the backside equivalent of parapet. Parapet=forward, parados=behind). What makes this intriguinger to me(aside from the fun of a FALSE pun for a FALSE memory :p), is that the false memory is part of Harrow’s mental DEFENSES, and in it she asks Ortus Nigenad to PROTECT her by keeping the secret that she is “insane” because, since opening the Locked Tomb and seeing the girl trapped there, she’s been experiencing full-spectrum sensory hallucinations of said girl(ie: seeing her, speaking with her, feeling The Body[the girl] touch her, the whole hog, etc etc). I feel like this is MOSTLY symbolic though, and the REAL secret she’s asking him to protect her from is Gideon’s death(and her “consumption” there of; since becoming a Lyctor The Body has had Gideon’s amber-colored eyes). Of course there’s another aspect to this and one of two OTHER potential secrets; Gideon’s body wasn’t recovered from Canaan House, Harrow does not seem to be in “possession” of her soul(though she does have SOME aspects of Lyctor abilities, so perhaps it’s partial or a connection?); so

it’s possible the SECRET Harrow is actl using Ortus to protect is that Gideon isn’t dead, that they healed her after defeating Cytherea and somehow undid the Lyctor process. OR

They’re keeping Gideon’s existence a secret for some reason

Now I think these are a bit out there theorywise because, while I’m not far into the book, I’m fairly certain that it’s only Harrow who is thinking Nigenad was her cavalier at this point. I mean: the Emperor would have spoken to Ianthe, and there’s no reason why she’d keep Gideon’s existence secret(also everytime the Emperor says Ortus Nigenad it’s attached to a description of his mouth moving oddly, so I’m fairly certain he’s actl saying Gideon Nav and her brain’s editing it to Ortus Nigenad to spare her facing Gideon’s death). Also and SUPER tellingly there’s this passage:

The Resurrecting King took on the expression of a man working out a very difficult and emotionally taxing anagram. He said, “Ortus,” again, but the bile was sputtering up into your throat...”

Now that just seems like an INVITATION to see what Ortus Nigenad can be an anagram of, doesn’t it? And, INCREDIBLY OBVIOUSLY it’s a partial anagram:

Ortus Nigenad

Gideon

Of Gideon’s name. Partial, because it doesn’t include “Nav”, and also there are these left-over letters

rtusna

Hmmm... What can THAT be an anagram of?

rtusna

Saturn

Well flog me with a spoon! I have NO IDEA what this, GIDEON SATURN, could POSSIBLY mean in the context of this convo or of the larger story(also: maybe this anagrams to other words? I honestly didn’t try too hard after this very obvs one. AtRSun??? Taurns?? OF COURSE Harrow would play Horde if she played WoW, but I’d imagine she’d’ve been a Forsaken Warlock, or Orc one at the very least :p), but that we have a character’s name being called an anagram by the narration and then that character’s name turns out to BE AN ANAGRAM of the first book’s, now(mysteriously[2]?) absent, protagonist plus the planet Saturn[3], seems an awful coincidence. Of course that doesn’t mean it ISN’T a Coincidence, nor that it means anything in relation to the story even if it IS intentional; it could be meant to throw off theorycrafters, or just as something Muir thought would be fun to do(making Gideon Nav, “the greatest cav the Ninth ever produced”, a near-anagram with Ortus Nigenad, one of it’s worst). Of course, it could also be a hint to Gideon’s origins, or where she/her body is now. For what it’s worth, I seem to recall the big contenders for her origins were Third through Fifth House, and those seem to be the most likely to be the Gas Giants&GG Moons(Third’s the wealth-house, and there’s probably more concentrated resources in Jupiter and Saturn than on any other planet in the solar system. And, for whateverMORE it’s worth, Saturn WAS the Roman god of wealth&the harvest. If Mars’s ...Martial[X| X|]... associations are a firm enough basis for its guess in the order, then why not Planet Fucking Saturn? Of course the trident theme suggests Neptune, but why in the cosmos would THAT be the third colonized planet in the system? Makes no damn sense |:T |:T).

The last thing(two things?) that I wanted to bring up, though it’s not really related to any of the above, is Alecto, the name for the next book. Presumably, this is The Body/The Girl. Alecto means “Implacable/Unceasing Anger”, and it is the name of one of the Erinyes; the Furies; the goddesses and purveyors of Vengeance. The Furies, according to Hesiod, were born from the blood of Ouranos spilled when Kronos castrated him. Interestingly, the way Necromancy works in this universe(as explained in these early pages) is that the Cohort “breaches” a planet, after which point its “thalergy”(life energy; presumably metabolism-produced energy since necros aren’t snacking on ambient heat&light) begins converting to “thanergy”(death energy, tho it’d be more precise to call it the energy generated by the detachment of a soul from a body), which Necros can use to do Necromancy. The microbiology within a planet’s soil can similarly be drained, as can the animals and plants, and the process of “breaching” allows Necros to draw on the thalery/thanergy of all of these. So Necromancy is a metaphor for environmental/planetary destruction&exploitation. Kronos is a harvest-god(his name is obscure, but probably means something like “the cutter” or “the striker”); Ouranos is the sky(probably a raingod with a name related, hilariously, to the verb for “to piss” :p :p), but at the same time still a planetary deity. Coincidentally, the primary antagonists so far in the book are “Resurrection Beasts” which seem to have been created by The Emperor Necrotising the Nine planets of Dominicus, and who have been pursuing him and his Lyctors to destroy them for this/for becoming Lyctors(Lyctordom is legit called “the indelible sin” by the Emperor himself) ever since. Sounds allot like the Furies, doesn’t it?

In this context, the Kronos Ouranos myth can be read as a story of planetary exploitation/injury(caution: I am NOT saying that’s the intended meaning of the myth originally, just that it is a possible application of it as a lens of analysis[it being referenced by the series through Alecto] to this story), and THAT suggests that Alecto, the Fury, may have been associated with this initial Necrotization(The Resurrection/Nine Resurrections, which SEEMS given what little I’ve read so far to be what they call the initial Necrotization of the Nine planets of the Sol System? Though maybe they were already Necrotized&all used up, and the Emperor revitalized them somehow?? I’m not sure yet), may be something instanced to stop it, or may be a “Resurrection Beast” herself; perhaps the initial form they took before 10k years of thwarted rage pushed them to become more monstrous. Alternately, I wonder if Alecto might be a manifestation or servant of Death? There’s a repeated focus on the Emperor having “defeated” Death, and The Body in the Locked Tomb is repeatedly referred to as a foe he defeated once but could not defeat again, so there are good reasons to disregard all the mythological trappings and focus on the clearer, less metatextual possibility.

Of course: it’s probably none of this and I’m just spinning Fantasy wholecloth from between my entirely metaphorical ears :p :p :p

[1]The Body is The Girl in the Locked Tomb which Harrow fell in love with. I’ll get to why this is relevant very soon after this footnote

[2]I mean we watched her force Harrow into Lyctorship by killing herself, so I’m still more convinced this is all trauma response. Her corpse IS MISSING, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t super-dead. Though: Camilla and Palamedes DID have a contingency, and Gideon DID wink at Harrow post-Lyctoring, and it was ambiguous if this was her impaled body or her spirit/hallucination doing the winking, so I can see ppl running with this theorywise...

[3]which is one of the Houses, obvsl(or at least it’s moons), though I’m only really confident on Sixth House(Mercury), Ninth House(Pluto), and 2nd House(Mars) at the moment. Seventh House is PROBABLY Venus, giving all its connections to poison, wasting disease, and Aphrodite(Cytherea is another name of the goddess), but that’s all just thematic suggestion. Oh also, I figured I should throw this in here given the large digression on Kronos and Uoranos, Kronos is Saturn’s Greek equivalent(or at least, the Romans considered him so).

[thefugitivemango]

🎶 what song makes you think of your muse (One for each)

OMG there are too many songs to list here for them! I’ll try to pick ones I’ve listened to recently that made me think of each character. It’s by no means a list of their “theme” songs or anything, just something that made me think of the character. Please enjoy!

Argonas - Always Something There to Remind Me by Naked Eyes

This is one of those songs where the tune and lyrics are mismatched, and that’s something I’ve always enjoyed! In this case, the melody is catchy and positive, but the words tell a story of pain and loss. And there’s plenty of that in Argonas’ story as of late! Lyrically, this song speaks to how the Vindicator feels having survived his beloved Sinafay ( @sinafay1​ ). He spent so much time with his love, weaving her presence and existence into his daily routine. And now, in her absence, the memories are a constant reminder of what he’s lost. It points so strongly to their situation, that I always think of it the instant those introductory wedding bells chime.

“I was born to love her, and I will never be free... you’ll always be a part of me.”

Avehi - Living Dead Girl by Rob Zombie

Obvious title aside, this song makes me think of Avehi more and more as she becomes comfortable in her own skin. She used to lament her undeath, but now that she’s accepted what she’s become, she’s moving forward and getting on with her life... so to speak. This includes engaging in some of the activities she enjoyed when she was alive again... if you catch my drift. But truly, Avehi’s fought against becoming a monster for a long time. And now, with how her story’s going (and how it’ll likely shape up in Shadowlands) she’s starting to see undeath as far more gift than curse...

“Blood on her skin, dripping with sin, do it again, Living Dead Girl!”

Bey’ron - The Man by The Killers

What’d you expect it to be? Bey’ron Everblaze most assuredly thinks very highly of himself. And few songs I’ve heard recently portray such confidence and narcissism fitting for such a quintessential elf! His arrogance is legendary! His self-aggrandizing unrivaled! He’s a god among elves, and he’ll happily let everyone know it.

“They kiss on the ring, I carry the Crown. Nothing can break, nothing can break me down.”

Brent - Look at Me Now by Reveille

This sleeper classic still pops up in my playlist from time to time, and always makes me think of Brent. Brent’s story is one of history repeating. All iterations of his transformations have followed a formula ; trapped in a cycle of mistakes that he’s constantly trying to outrun. The line “He don't want it, but craves what he can't escape” rings particularly reminiscent of that conflict that sparked within him later in his story; his shattered faith and desire to move away from the Cult, and his dependent relationship with Nepen’thea, the Coterie’s Speaker ( @nepenthea ). Plus, doesn’t the angsty screamo just fit a velf rogue so well? xD

“...And still he worships that fundamental bullshit talk. ‘The path you carve yourself is the path to walk?' Now walk alone!”

Dahlyah - Don’t Fear the Reaper by Blue Öyster Cult

This classic song’s message is a lot of different things for a lot of different people, I know. But I feel it relates to Dahlyah whichever way people spin it. In her profession of hunting people down, it’s never anything personal. And dangerous as it is, she knows the consequences that could happen if things take a bad turn. But she doesn’t let either bother her. Don’t Fear the Reaper has that casual, upbeat tone for a generally upbeat Dwarf. A the lyrics convey a message both to Dahlyah and her quarry; 

“Seasons don't fear the reaper. Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain. We can be like they are. Come on baby, Don't Fear the Reaper.”

Gattius - Rise Today by Alter Bridge

Ah, yes. A wholesome Christian rock song about making the world a better place! Fitting for my boy Gatto! He’s an altruistic soul, as those who have interacted with him know. So compassionate! And that compassion started him on both paths his life has taken; to become a doctor, and to become a protector in the form of a Blood Knight. His life’s work has been to help his people, and that’s expanded beyond just his elven kin. Regardless of faction, race, or belief, Gattius has seen to helping anyone he can!

“Seems to me that we've got each other wrong. Was the enemy just your brother all along?”

Grakkar - Warriors of the World by Manowar

Grakkar’s retired, sure. But his story is that of a mighty warrior! And this song is basically any true warrior’s anthem! I first got turned on to this song by a friend of mine named Droz. It has such presence to it, that it stands out to me for any warrior archetype character, including my Warsong Orc Grakkar! And this one’s a War Song if ever there was one!

“ All are gathered here... victory is near!  The sound will fill the hall bringing power to us all!”

Tyrellius - Strength of the World by Avenged Sevenfold

Looking back at the whole list really paints a picture of my preferred style of music, huh? Oh well. Between the phenomenal guitar riffs, this song tells a tragic story of a man who lost his family, and turned that pain into vengeance. So, too, has Tyrellius lost a lot over his many years, and turned the pain of that loss into vengeance for his people. He’s taken many risks, walked paths that should’ve led to his demise... giving all he can to make sure no one else loses people the way he has. He still endures,

“Avenge the dead, kill all who cross me in my path. Suicidal, I never planned on coming back.”

Thanks for the prompt @syrielle! This was a fun one! ^^

[crystalelemental]

Voting is complete.  Now to wait a week for results that will be utterly predictable, in which no major shifts in popularity occur at all, and not a single one of the new characters, who all seem really cool, will break top 20 because god forbid the fandom collectively stops sucking EoSD’s dick for one year.

Anyway, my picks for everything’s under the cut.

Characters:

Okina.  I really love Okina.  I don’t get how she’s so (relatively) unpopular.  Like I really don’t.  She’s so much fun!  Like, every time she’s in the spotlight, you’re constantly caught between what she’s telling you and what you think her hidden motivations are.  And oftentimes, I think both are true.  I also just like how she operates.  She’s drawn to ambition and willpower.  It’s why she likes Marisa so much and is determined to get Marisa to work for her, and why she’s so insistent that Aya take pride in beating her, even when she was holding back.  It’s why she helps Sumireko in Violet Detector despite having nothing to gain from it.  She love ambitious, strong-willed people, and seems to motivate those qualities in others.  She wants to see people overcome hardship on their own merits, which, after the reveal in Visionary Fairies that she is disabled and sometimes needs a wheelchair to get around, adds a great new layer of context to this aspect of her character.  Okina is a fantastic character, and my only wish for future works is to see her play a bigger role.

Keiki.  Surprisingly, I adore Keiki too, despite not having played WBaWC.  Keiki just...hits right, you know?  You have this world where everything’s fucked, and humans are used more as resources than as people by the powerful beast youkai in charge.  Keiki’s spawned into existence by their desperation, but all she can think to do is fulfill her role and turn everything static.  I honestly enjoy how she’s super well-intentioned, but her actions are questionable over whether they’re effective or the right thing to do.  Plus she was adorable in the Komachi manga.

Kanako.  Look, we all know I’m a Mountain of Faith person at heart, and especially love the Moriya Shrine, so I’m not gonna waste too much time here.  Kanako’s awesome, she’s the lowest ranked of the three, this had to happen.

Mamizou.  How a character who’s so routinely important to the stories and plays her role this well is so low ranked is beyond me.  Mamizou is such an interesting character.  She’s like this sweet old grandmotherly figure up until she reveals her master plan and desire for power.  She’s like an active version of Yukari and Okina, out in the open and pulling off her grand schemes, and it’s a ton of fun to watch.

Doremy.  My blood pact to vote for her aside, Doremy does sustain as one of my favorites.  She’s just...I don’t know how else to describe it but “unique.”  She’s different from a lot of the cast, in that she’s overall just really nice.  Like she genuinely seems to care about people, and her dream people especially.  She’s got her job to do and will carry it out, but mostly stays out of the way otherwise.  She’s a bit mischievous, but this is Touhou.

Junko.  I like Junko.  Vengeance mom who won over a part of Hell by swearing to bring chaos to the Lunarians.  I don’t have a ton to say, because unfortunately she doesn’t get much play.  I wish she did.  Maybe in the next Fairy-focused manga.  Everyone goes for a sleepover at Clownpiece’s mom’s place, and has to travel into hell and Junko’s just around.  That’s all I really need.

Sumireko.  While Sumireko’s fallen a bit as a favorite, and is almost certainly going to continue falling, I do like the kid.  She’s a bit of an obnoxious dingus at times, but I find her antics funny.  The way she sometimes just goes off on a ranting tangent that’s spot-on is just...it’s very in line for a super smart teen who’s just disillusioned with everything.  I dunno, I just enjoy her a lot.

Music:

Concealed Four Seasons.  Turns out, Okina’s not just a great character, but has a kickass theme song.  I love this battle theme, I think it’s my favorite.  It’s got such a good energy to it.

Desire Drive.  Best stage theme in the series.  It’s so catchy.

Lullaby of Deserted Hell.  I love this one entirely because it’s this soft, gentle music that plays as you’re traveling through hell.  And I mean that in the literal sense of it was once physically hell, and also this stage is a fucking disaster and I love it.  It’s like why the sixth stratum theme from Etrian Odyssey 2 is good.  Nightmare land with the most calming theme imaginable.

Heartfelt Fancy.  Listen, SA did good music.  I actually like the stage theme more than Satori’s boss theme.

Lost Emotion.  Kokoro’s theme is great, and one of exactly two themes I remember from the fighting games (the other is the Yorigami sisters’).  Fight game music tends to not be very good, in my opinion, but Lost Emotion hits all the right notes with me.

Shining Needle Castle.  Fun fact!  I don’t like DDC.  At all.  I think the cast is pretty boring, especially in the second half.  I don’t like the collection system.  The only cool thing visually, for me, was fighting music-themed enemies in a thunderstorm, which is cool as shit.  But goddamn this song is good.  It’s one of the few highlights of the game for me.

Dream Palace of the Great Mausoleum.  I really like just how grand it sounds.  Like it sounds awe-inspiring, and fits the area you’re in well.  I like the track on its own, but I really like when a track syncs up with the atmosphere of a place.

Fires of Hokkai.  Speaking of, good god this song.  This is probably the single best establishment of atmosphere in the series.  After everything else in the game, and all the craziness of the last stage, you hit the final destination and it starts out with a quiet heartbeat sound.  Then it just builds and builds into this powerful, driving theme that loops perfectly back to near silence as you encounter Byakuren herself.  Stage 6 is so fucking good, shame I suck at this game too much to ever get there.

Beast Metropolis.  This is purely off sound, since I haven’t played the game.  But you may notice that, thematically, it fits in with a lot of my favorite tracks.  Softer vibe, stage theme setting the mood of an area that you’d expect to be crazy but turns out to be eerily...not that.

Faith is for the Transient People.  This was a toss-up, with a lot of options I was considering, but Sanae’s theme won out.  I do like it a lot, and I didn’t vote for Sanae in characters despite her being one of my long-standing favorites, so she got this one.

Works:

Hidden Star in Four Seasons.  Okay listen.  I get that this game is not popular among fans.  I do not get why.  Are you seriously going to look me in the eye and tell me this game wasn’t a relief to play?  After the last four games had bullshit collection systems for resources, having a game that just played lives based off score again isn’t a good thing?  Yes, it was easier.  Good.  Did you miss how bullshit LoLK was?  Sometimes you gotta backpedal, right into the range of things I can actually play.  I know some people don’t like the cast at all, some nonsense about “Why are they so familiar with characters if I’ve never seen them” or something.  But the cast is spectacular.  Eternity Larva’s a fun new fairy to add to the group, and her short-lived stint in VFiS was great, proving that she’s the only fairy who has her own reserve of braincells.  Aunn is precious and wonderful.  Okina.  OKINA.  This was easily my favorite cast since Subterranean Animism, and that was a strong cast.  I just do not get the dislike of this game at all.

Mountain of Faith.  Hey, look at that, I like the games that are simple and fun for me to play.  What a surprise.  MoF was the first game I beat, because Suwako was the first character I encountered and I had to one day git gud enough to beat her.  So I did.  After like three weeks.  That was an adventure.  Anyway, I think MoF holds as one of the best in the series.  Aside from simple gameplay that’s actually fun instead of painful, it had a great cast of characters, and honestly the best environments.  Like, this game just looks good.  Maybe that’s personal bias because autumn theme and autumn is the best season, but I loved the backgrounds in this game.

Forbidden Scrollery.  Hey, it’s the thing that got me into the written works!  Yeah, I really like Forbidden Scrollery.  It’s a fun exploration of things from within the human village, from the perspective of a human who lives there.  Plus we got some of the more interesting lore bits for the series from this work, which is valuable.  And of course...human disguise Mamizou.  10/10.

Visionary Fairies in Shrine.  While there are many fairy-focused manga, this one’s my personal favorite.  Because it’s got Clownpiece.  No really, that’s it.  I like the general fairy shenanigans that the trio gets in to, but I really enjoyed how this one almost focused on Clownpiece’s integration into Gensokyo.  I think it’s a lot more compelling to have that sort of arc for the character, and it really endeared Clownpiece to me as a whole.  My only complaint with it is that Eternity Larva didn’t stick around too.  I know she had less to contribute and that Clownpiece is the central focus of this one, but it would’ve been nice to have Larva stick around and get a bit of development herself.  Maybe next manga, eh?

Subterranean Animism.   I debated this and Cage in Lunatic Runagate.  I actually regret my choice.  Subterranean Animism won out based on my enjoyment of the music and characters in the game, and (if you can believe it) my enjoyment of the gameplay.  Yeah, it turns out when the game rewards just surviving, even if resources are more scarce, I do like 10x better than when resources are only obtained through flying headlong into a storm of bullshit like the next four games demanded.  FUCKING IMAGINE THAT.  Anyway, CiLR was a serious contender that, again, I kinda regret not picking.  Bougetsushou in general was a strong compilation, but CiLR is the one that made it really stand out.  SSiB was a fun silly story, and Inaba was hilarious, but CiLR was by far the most serious and poignant of the works.  It focused really strongly on the characters, something Touhou...hadn’t really done at the time, and still doesn’t always do, and expanded them beautifully.  We get a lot more insight into Kaguya and what her life is like, we get the backstory for the new Reisen, we get background on the Watatsuki sisters, we get the Mokou chapter, arguably the best character development in the entire series.  So it really comes down to a game that I like because I can play it, or a written work that also did a lot for the characters in it.  Both excellent but I locked myself into one or the other.

[molicioushat]

🐲THE TARGARYEN TAG🐲

I thought it would be good fun to come up with a tag for all the Targaryen lovers out there so here it is!

This tag is open to all, so feel free to participate regardless of allegiance!

I was tagged by: @naomimakesart

🐲🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🐲

1. Your favourite/least favourite Targaryen:

This was super hard to narrow down to even a top ten.

Top Ten Favorite: Visenya, Alyssa, Baelon the Brave, Baela, Elaena, Rhaenys the Queen Who Never Was, Baelor Breakspear, Maekar, Daeron the Drunkard, and Good Queen Alysanne.

Least Favorite: Aegon II

2. Underrated Targaryen:

Probably Septa Maegelle. She's smart and she tends to the sick and that's on top of being able to get her parents to reconcile. She's also brave since I don't think many people would willingly tend to people with greyscale. It's such a shame we only see so much of her.

3. Snog/Marry/Avoid Targaryens:

Snog Daemon the Rogue Prince

Marry Queen Rhaella

Avoid Aegon IV

4. A Targaryen who deserved better:

Hard choice, there are so many. But I would choose Princess Alyssa Targaryen because of the way she was written to get her off the stage so to speak. GRRM could have killed her off in multiple different ways (riding accident, a fall, a hunting accident, a sparring accident, an illness, appendicitis, exit pursued by bear, etc) but no she dies by childbirth. Yet another among the disproportionately many other women who died that way.

5. OTP Targaryens:

OTP - Alyssa x Baelon, Daeron x Jeremy, Daeron II x Mariah, Alysanne x Valyrian Scrolls, Aegon III x therapy, Aerea x Life

OT3 - Visenya x Aegon x Rhaenys, and Rhaena x Elinor x Jeyne (that was my secret favorite before Sons of the Dragon came out but then GRRM kinda fulfilled it by a 3rd in Fire and Blood. I'm still disappointed that it doesn't seem like Elinor or Rhaena had any communication after they survived Maegor. *sighing forever*)

6. A Targaryen you’d like to go on holiday with:

I bet Rhaenys and Corlys went on a bunch of fun trips to all sorts of places. Would be fun to go with them to Braavos or one of the other Free Cities.

7. A Targaryen you’d want to be best friends with:

Alyssa. She's described as being all her mother is and more and since Alysanne is a pretty amazing and smart person then it stands to reason Alyssa is as well. She's probably a blast to hang out with if you have similar interests.

 8. A Targaryen who just needs a hug: 

I would hug Aegon III if he would let me. Alternatively Maekar or Daeron the Dreamer.

9. Problematic Fave:

Saera Targaryen. She's a terrible person but I'm fascinated by her. I'm currently writing a meta piece on her rn.

10. A Targaryen you’d go on a dragon ride with:

Queen Rhaena. She's traveled all over and she's flown with people before. I think if we found something in common she would be a good travel buddy.

11. Favourite Targaryen bastard?

Bloodraven, I mean have you seen him in the Mystery Knight? He's a ... riot.

Non Great Bastards would probably be Gaemon Palehair because he's totally Aegon II's but he had poor Essie tortured till she would say what they wanted her to say. Because honestly he already had 2 bastards born around the same time the twins were and they were called his first bastards, he very likely had more.

12. A Targaryen you’d want as a lover:

Shiera Seastar duh. Less trouble than being one of Prince Daemon's. Mysaria would probably have me killed. Oh sure people fight over Shiera but if she's fine with it then I'm down. Plus, who would fight a person with boobs for her? How embarrassing would it be for them to lose to me?

13. Which Targaryen dragon is your favourite? 

Vhagar followed by Moondancer.

14. Bloodraven: fan or ban?

Part of the fan club.

...wait there are people who don't like Bloodraven? Is that a thing? ???

15. Viserys (son of Aerys II): evil twit or mentally scarred victim?

Uh... neither? He's not evil. Abusive yes, evil no. He might have been evil if he was in a position of power but only because of paranoia. I'm not sure he gets enjoyment out of hurting others like his father, Joffrey, Ramsay, Euron, or Aerion do. He hurts Dany because he gets angry and he has power over her.

And he's not a victim. He's a pawn in Varys and Illyrio's game. And while he does have mental issues, but I don't know if that's because he was mentally scarred. I think he's predisposed to paranoia. The situation he's lived in since the war is not helpful and it definitely was a contributing factor when Dany and him were on the streets. But I think it would have happened eventually regardless.

16. Favourite non-Targaryen spouse/consort? 

Favorite Consort: Queen Alyssa Velaryon

Favorite Spouse: Ser Michael Manwoody

17. Team Lilac Eyes or Team Indigo Eyes? 

Indigo. Everytime I think of Lilac I think of Viserys. I can't help picturing him everytime I read it.

18. Favourite quote by a Targaryen: 

It's a tie.

"Your guards are slow and lazy." - Visenya the most badass. No fucking around, straight to the point.

And

"His Grace my brother can command me. You cannot." - Baela also a certified bad ass.

Just realized these both have face slashing before these quotes. I guess it's a theme. lol

19. Most badass Targaryen moment:

When Daemon jumps from his dragon to stab Aemond with Dark Sister. Metal af.

20. Blackfyres: Yay or Nay?

NAY!

Daemon might have been an upstanding guy, but to steal a quote from Ser Eustace Osgrey, "You can know a man by his friend," and Daemon's friends were terrible people.

21. Most touching Targaryen moment:

Bolded for emphasis:

[“We are glad to have you safe home, my brother.”

Mushroom says that Oakenfist was laughing as he climbed back to his feet. “Sire,” he replied, “you have honored me with your sister’s hand, and I am proud to be your brother by marriage. Yet I can never be your brother by blood. But there is one who is.” Then with a flamboyant gesture, Lord Alyn summoned forth the treasure he had brought from Lys. ... The boy threw back his cowl. As the sunlight glittered on the silver-gold hair beneath, King Aegon III began to weep, throwing himself upon this boy in a fierce embrace. Oakenfist’s “treasure” was Viserys Targaryen, the king’s lost brother.]

This scene was so touching it made me cry. First, Aegon calls Alyn his brother which is very sweet. He could have called him his goodbrother, but he didn't. And then Alyn's whole bit how he's proud to be a part of Aegon's family but acknowledging that he can't replace Viserys. And then Aegon finally being reunited with Viserys after so long and how he doesn't have to feel guilty anymore because Viserys can forgive him. Just feels all around.

22. Which Targaryen would give the best life advice?

Probably Baelor Breakspear. He's down to earth and smart.

23. Your favourite Aegon?

Aegon V for now. May change depending on what leads up to the tragedy at Summerhall. Aegon III is a close second.

24. Which Targaryen was the most badass?

Visenya, I mean fuck but she's so boss. She fought to till she was like 74. She was probably one of the best warriors of her time during her prime. Especially since she was key to protecting Aegon during that attempt on his life.

25. Most heartbreaking Targaryen moment:

I'm just going to quote the whole section:

[... of Lady Jocelyn’s empty bed and bitter tears, and the way Princess Rhaenys wept to know that her father would never hold the child she was carrying? Far easier to speak of Prince Baelon’s wroth, and how he came down upon Tarth on Vhagar, howling for vengeance.

...

But it is said that when he saw his mother again, he fell into her arms and wept. “I slew a thousand of them,” he said, “but it will not bring him back.” And the queen stroked his hair and said, “I know, I know.”]

It's just so heartbreaking. Yes it's sad for Alysanne and Jaehaerys to lose their son, because it's always terrible when a parent has to bury a child before them.

But for Baelon, Jocelyn, and Rhaenys, they should have had so many more years with him. Baelon and Jocelyn should have grown old with Aemon! Rhaenys had her father taken from her too soon. Her children will never get to know their grandfather. Jocelyn should have had Aemon by her side to spoil their grandchildren!

And Baelon! No one knows a person as long as a sibling does. Not every siblings are friends but Baelon and Aemon were close to each other, probably each other's best friends. Baelon's grief is one that strikes me right in heart. His pain is so raw. And as an older sibling who is very close to her brother it's also one of my biggest fears. This wasn't the only time Fire and Blood made me cry, but it was the one that really stuck with me. That image of Baelon crying into Alysanne's arms as she says "I know, I know."

Oh, oh, oh...

Please excuse me while I go cry forever after that downer.

🐲🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🐲

Anyone of my followers who sees this and wants to do it, please feel free to do so!! I'm not going to tag anyone directly in case you don't want to do it.

[rahirah]

The whole "And If the Grave Be Now Thy Bed" counts as a chapter or scene, right? "Splendid news, Mrs. Mears. Bloody Vengeance Inc. is going to take your case." Commentary, please :)))

For reference: https://archiveofourown.org/works/478957

Ok, this one is too long to do a blow-by-blow in a Tumblr post, so I'm gonna talk about it more generally.

For those of you who haven't read the series this story is a part of, it's a long-running AU which branches off of canon after "The Gift."  I started writing the first story in it immediately after "The Gift" aired, so Spuffy wasn't even a canon thing yet.  At the time, I was pretty certain that Spuffy would never be a canon thing; at most, I thought, there would be a lot of pining and UST, and maybe, in the very last season, Spike would get the crumb he was hoping for.

But I didn't care about that; something doesn't have to be canon for me to ship the hell out of it.  And I was fascinated by the concept of an evil demon trying to be good.  What would it look like, I wondered, if Spike and Buffy did get together in a working, functional relationship?  What changes and compromises would both of them have to make?  How would it meet both their needs?  What would the pain points be?  Of course, the easiest way to do it would be to slap a soul into Spike, but I felt that the show had already thoroughly explored that avenue with Angel, and I wanted to do something different.  Plus I have never been one to do things the easy way, and one of the recurring themes in my writing in general is free will and choices.  So I set myself the challenge of writing a story about how Buffy and Spike forge a relationship that works for both of them, and doesn't cheat on characterization – that is, Spike, having no human soul, is still "evil" in Buffyverse terms, and his motivations and behavior reflect that; even when he is doing good things, he is not doing them in the same way, or for the same reasons, as a human would. *

ANYWAY.  In this AU, Warren Mears and Co. still killed Katrina, but Warren went to jail for it.  However, when his inventions came to the attention of Wolfram & Hart, they got him released on a technicality, and brought him into their R&D department.  Warren took the opportunity to get his revenge on Buffy and Spike by zapping Buffy into a W&H pocket dimension, where W&H was collecting Buffys from many dimensions for nefarious purposes.  Unbeknownst to Warren, Buffy has just discovered that she's pregnant.  

This scenario generated four stories: "The Lesser of Two Evils," which details what happens when Willow and Spike confront Warren and try to force him to bring Buffy back; "In A Yellow Wood," which is about Buffy's adventures in the pocket dimension, "If the Grave Be Now Thy Bed," which deals with the fallout of the first two stories, and "To Grandmother's House," which wraps up the arc with Buffy's final decision about the fate of her baby.

I wrote these stories all out of order: "To Grandmother's House" first, "The Lesser of Two Evils" second, "In A Yellow Wood" third, and "If the Grave Be Now Thy Bed" last.  I knew the general course of the arc all along, but writing it inside out and backwards, over ten years or more, posed some interesting challenges.  "If the Grave Be Now Thy Bed" was not part of the original arc plan – in fact, it grew out of feedback I got for "The Lesser of Two Evils."

TLOTE/IAYW are deliberately morally ambiguous stories.  Spike, Willow, and Buffy all do questionable things – perhaps flat out wrong things – under severe emotional stress, and the consequences of those actions echo for a long time through the years to come.  While I hope that readers find their motives understandable, and even sympathetic, I didn't necessarily expect that every reader would agree with or approve of their actions.  Most people who've sent me feedback seem to enjoy the ambiguity, or at least find it intriguing.  Not all of them, however.  

One particular reader had...issues.  Over the course of several conversations, I found out that while they were a Spuffy shipper, they had very particular requirements for the kind of Spuffy stories they liked.  They had to be either A) totally canon-compliant, angst-ridden stories where Buffy hated herself for giving in to Spike's sinister attraction, or B) stories where Spike was a Romance Novel Bad Boy With a Heart of Gold, and there was a tacit agreement between writer and reader that hey, we both know this is totally OOC for both characters, but we're just here for the porn, amirite nudge-nudge wink-wink.

Reader In Question had started in on my work with the assumption that it fell into the latter category, but the more they read, the less comfortable they got, because, as I mentioned above, I was in this for serious.  I sweat blood over characterization.  And I was starting to convince them that maybe a relationship between Buffy and soulless Spike COULD work.  And they didn't WANT to believe that.  So they absolutely had to interpret my work as a dystopian take on Buffy's slide into total moral decay, with this particular arc as the nadir of her fall.**  They left me some despondent feedback on TLOTE, wondering what Warren's dear mother would think of this turn of events.  I'm not sure if they intended to shame me (or Buffy) for our evil ways, but I thought it was an interesting point.  And it planted the seed of an idea.

Over the next several years, as I worked on IAYW (and let me say right here, the less-than-enthusiastic feedback Reader In Question sent me on TLOTE made me work my ass off on IAYW.  Though I obviously don't agree with their overall interpretation, I thought they had some good points, and I wanted to be sure that IAYW addressed those points) I mulled over the thought: What WOULD happen if Warren's dear old mother confronted Buffy and Spike?  

A lot would depend upon what Warren's dear old mother was like.  There were two obvious ways I could go with that: she could be an innocent victim, or she could be as much of a monster as Warren was.  But I didn't want to do anything obvious with this story.   Fic-wise, I always like to take the road less traveled if I can, but in this case, I have to admit that I got a perverse pleasure out of taking Reader In Question's finger-wagging admonition and using it as inspiration for a story that's, well, not exactly what I imagine they were hoping to inspire.  I decided that I was going to make Mrs. Mears a little of both.

The next question was, what did I want to have happen when she shows up?Again, the obvious thing would be to have Buffy feel guilty.  But I had already dealt extensively with Buffy's feelings, and her reasons for making the decisions she made, in IAYW and TGH.  Yes, she feels guilty; she's not sure she did the right thing.  She's not even sure there was a right thing to do.  But that particular subplot plays out over the long term in this AU, culminating many years later in a completely different story arc, and I couldn't bring it to a premature resolution here.  Besides, I knew that Barbverse Buffy would never return to the uncompromising system of morality that Reader In Question wanted her to,*** so there was no point in writing a story where she Learns Her Lesson, Dusts Spike, and Is Very Sorry. ****

So I decided that this story would focus on Spike, and his reaction to Warren's mother and her loss of a son.  And that opened up a lot of possibilities.  I was to some extent constrained by the fact that I'd already written quite a lot of stories taking place after this one in the timeline, so there were certain things I couldn't do.  But I've always found that if you ask yourself, "What would X logically do in this situation?" and follow that through, you can avoid Idiot Plot Syndrome.   Let your characters be smart.   What would Spike do, confronted with the mother of the man he'd killed?  What would Mrs. Mears demand of him in recompense?  

What I wanted to do in this story was to answer those questions in a way that people wouldn't expect.  I was able to bring Spike's ambivalent feelings about his own mother into play, and provide a way for him to get some character development around coming to terms with her death and his part in it that I might not otherwise have been able to do.  And I was able to draw parallels between Warren and his mother, and Spike and Anne Pratt, and come up with some really intriguing takes on how and why Spike can do the right(ish) thing even when his reasons are kinda-sorta wrong(ish).  It gives some background, hopefully, on  how Buffy can make the ultimate decision she does in "To Grandmother's House," and not feel that she's tobogganing head-first down the slippery slope of Utter Moral Decay.  And I got to write Zombie Warren, who was gruesomely, deliciously horrible.  And I got to give Mrs. Mears the last word.

By the time I finished the story, Reader In Question had long since left fandom, and they probably wouldn't have read it even if they were still around.  But I feel I have to thank them for it anyway.  And that's why I always say that even though I don't necessarily like getting critical feedback, it can be the most useful feedback you can get if you look at it in the right way.

__________

* I could write a whole nother essay about the challenges of writing an evil-trying-to-be-good vampire, but that is beyond the scope of the current post.

** Eventually, they practically begged me to tell them that I was deliberately writing Buffy and Spike out of character, and that I didn't really think a relationship between them could work.  Alas, I could not oblige them, and they stopped reading my stuff.

*** I don't even believe canon Buffy stuck to that kind of rigid moral code – she tried to, but one of the things that makes her a complex, fully realized character is that canon Buffy is perfectly capable of double standards and hypocrisy where her friends are concerned, not to mention just plain changing her mind about things over the course of the show.  For every decision I have Barbverse Buffy [or Spike, for that matter] make, I can point to something in canon and say "This is why I think she could do that."

****Although... I do have an alternate ending to "To Grandmother's House" plotted out in my head, where Buffy [either accidentally or on purpose – just as in the main story, it's ambiguous] doesn't stop Giles in time.  I consider the Barbverse to be a low-probability AU, and I watch out for times and ways in which things could go spectacularly wrong, just so I can be sure to avoid them in a believable manner.  Or write stories about them going wrong, and the characters dealing with them.

*****

[imagitory]

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi Review [Spoilers]

Hey all! So I just got back from seeing The Last Jedi, so I can finally put my two-cents in on the newest installment of the trilogy. Before getting into spoilers, I will say this film is a worthy addition to the franchise, building upon concepts from previous movies while also creating new, creative imagery for this film that fits alongside the stuff that came before it. While I successfully guessed a few twists this film took, it also surprised me just as much, and I greatly appreciate that. It kept me on my toes the entire time. Overall, I would say every Star Wars fan will get something great out of this, even if they end up not liking the film as a whole.

Now then...spoilers ahead. Beware, all ye who enter here.

The Good!

+These action scenes...DAMN! I think they were easily some of the most creative and thrilling in the entire film series. Rose and Finn’s chase through intergalactic Las Vegas Canto Bight, the opening battle with the fighter jets, the confrontation at the rebel base, and the battle between Rey, Kylo Ren, and the First Order officers were all fantastic. The effects were spot-on, the music matched the movement perfectly, and the choreography of both the CGI and the actors was really well-done.

+Mark Hamill as Luke. I mean, yeah -- what can you say here except “duh?” Mark really went above and beyond here. Yes, I knew I was going to love seeing him as Luke again for nostalgic reasons, but what I love most is how much more depth Mark brought to the character, after all of the trials and tribulations he’s gone through between the films. He depicted a character who most would think would solely be a mentor figure, given his age and his beloved status, but who it turns out has his own learning curve to take on. He needs to acknowledge that while the Jedi were flawed, their philosophy shouldn’t just be completely thrown out and their old religion shouldn’t just be forgotten -- there are pieces that are still of use and should be passed on. It’s something Rey also realizes, and Kylo does not -- Kylo wants to burn everything down, including the past, regardless of the shreds of good there might be in that past along with the bad. And like Rey, as much as I was sad to see Luke go, I felt peace as it was happening. He is now one with the Force. Now he can guide Rey into the future and haunt Kylo for his mistakes -- both of which I will support him in wholeheartedly.

+Carrie Fisher as Leia. This truly was a shining performance -- I feel so beyond blessed that she was able to finish shooting her scenes before her sudden death, because hail to the motherfucking Queen, baby. When the Rebel bridge got blown up with Leia inside (good touch having it be Kylo’s men and not Kylo who did it, by the by), I literally felt myself stop breathing. But then she FLOATED HERSELF BACK TO THE SHIP TO SAVE HERSELF AND HOLY SHIT. It was actually eerie seeing Leia unconscious on the ship, as I couldn’t help but think of how Carrie had also been in a coma just before she passed...it was beyond merciful that Leia survived in this installment, and that she got to kick so much ass here. I do wonder how the filmmakers are going to handle her loss in the next movie...but wow, am I glad we got to see Carrie one last time on film, especially when she gave such a good performance.

+The focus on Poe. Honestly, Poe Dameron didn’t get that much attention in The Force Awakens, and I’m glad he got his proper share of spotlight here. I love the arc he went through and how he came to appreciate Vice Admiral Holdo’s leadership, even despite their differing approaches and distrust of each other. I think he’ll truly be able to step into Leia’s shoes as leader of the Rebellion in the future, now that he’s learned the value of human life over glory.

+The theme of rebellion being a symbol of hope to the oppressed, best exemplified by Rose and the other marginalized citizens of intergalactic Las Vegas Canto Bight. Yeah, I keep referencing Las Vegas when I talk about that planet, and yeah, they clearly modeled the look of the wealthy casinos and buildings off of it...but after having visited Vegas recently, and since I’m living in another wealthy tourist town myself (Anaheim), I must applaud the fact that they modeled the planet’s ugly underbelly to the same one that you can find in Vegas and cities like it, and actually took the time to discuss it. Where there is obscene wealth, there is also sickening, crippling poverty; where there is privilege, there will always be abuse. It ties back into the lesson Luke taught Rey about light and darkness -- how they constantly balance each other. But just like how Rey and Kylo mirror each other, being strong in the light and the darkness respectively, so too can rebellion become an equal to tyranny...and the end of the movie with the children likewise invigorated to take on the fight about to come left me feeling empowered.

+Finn’s arc from solely focusing on his friends and himself to seeing the Rebellion as something just as important to fight for. I’ve always seen Finn as a Hufflepuff or a Slytherin, morality-wise, in that he values his inner-circle over the whole world, but it was really neat to have him learn about how the world must be safe in order for the things he loves to be safe too.

+Kylo Ren killing Snoke. It felt in character and I think it will allow Kylo to go darker and become the real Big-Bad of the trilogy, since he won’t have to skirt around Snoke’s coattails anymore. Plus, admittedly, I always found Snoke sort of disappointing as Star Wars villains go, and I think it establishes how very treacherous the First Order is -- Kylo turned on Snoke, so who is to say Hux or any of his other subordinates won’t turn on Kylo? Unlike the Rebellion, whose bonds are strengthening, we’re already getting the hint of just how fragile the bonds binding the First Order together are...and that means Kylo has no one who he can truly rely on, unlike Rey, who of course has friends she can trust.

+I like that for all of the “mirroring” this film tried to do with Rey and Kylo, Rey still refused to follow him. She’s strong enough in herself and her moral compass to use her head and not trust him, even if he tries to lure her with knowledge of her parents and a promise of companionship. (I mean, seriously, Rey -- who gives a damn about your deadbeat parents, Finn and Poe and Chewie and BB-8 and Leia love you like few other things in this world! They’re your real family!)

+All of the actors gave very strong performances. I can honestly not pick out any weak links here -- they all gave it their all.

+The hacker character DJ I hope pops up again in the next movie. He seems like an interesting chaotic neutral character and since he didn’t get much of a resolution in this film, I look forward to what he’ll get in the next one.

+FINN KICKED CAPTAIN PHASMA’S ASS, HELLZ YEAH, THAT’S MY BOY. (Also, good to see Phasma having more screen time than in the last movie, even if it still wasn’t that much.)

The Not-So-Good...

+All the Reylo shipper fuel. *dodges knives* OKAY -- LISTEN. I do not support Rey/Kylo, and I probably never will, but shipping aside, here’s my problem with it -- the film did not properly convey why Rey has forgiven Kylo enough to let him into her mind. I’m sorry, it just didn’t. Kylo killed his father -- Rey’s mentor -- one of the first three protagonists that we all fell in love with in the original trilogy -- who went to bring his son back to the Light, only to get stabbed through the chest for his trouble. I just didn’t feel anything close to what Rey did when she started going, “Why? Why did you do it?” and questioning why Kylo destroyed the Jedi Temple -- I’m sorry, all I saw from Kylo in this film is that he was conflicted, not that he was sorry or had any interest in fixing his mistakes. It doesn’t matter if killing his father was painful for him -- it should be. He committed first-degree patricide. Feeling bad for your actions alone is not enough -- you then have to do something about it -- and Kylo did not do that. It felt like in some ways they were trying to parallel Padme and Anakin, where Padme likewise fruitlessly implores Anakin to come back to the Light Side even though it’s too late -- but there are a million and one differences between Anakin and Kylo, most relevant in this case being that Anakin’s reason to not turn back was out of misguided love for Padme (and later because he had no choice, since he’d alienated all of his allies and his suit basically left him tethered to Darth Sidious and the Empire), and that Kylo’s was to assert his loyalty to Snoke (and later to take vengeance against those who wronged him and assert his power). Anakin was trying to protect one of the people that meant the world to him after having known so little love in his life, while Kylo had a family who supported him, taught him, and trained him and he decided that Snoke’s approval and his own pride were more important than that. Anakin was raised to think that he was nothing -- a worthless slave -- while Kylo knew likely from the time he was very little that he was special and decided to act out because of it. Anakin’s initial fall was out of ignorance and a selfish kind of love, but Kylo’s was out of active vengeance, teenage angst, privileged frustration, and a toxic need to dominate and control. Snoke was right when he said that Kylo was no Vader, and that he instead was just a child -- he’s too immature to even acknowledge that his rationale for falling to the Dark Side and doing what he did was WRONG AND EVIL AND STUPID. That’s why I still don’t forgive Kylo Ren, that’s why I don’t think Rey should’ve been as open to him as she was, and that’s why I was satisfied by the ending where Kylo proved himself to be just as vile as I always thought he was, by blaming Snoke’s death on Rey so he can take over the First Order himself and go about terrorizing the galaxy. Someone who was truly sorry for what he’d done and had the capacity to change would’ve at the very least taken the “Zuko Alone” route and tried to recollect himself and redefine a new moral code that he can follow. As of now, the way things are now, I hope that in the final movie Kylo Ren burns, leaving nothing behind but a pile of ash, same as the Jedi Temple he burned to the ground.

+Rose/Finn. I know a few other people have said this, but...yeah. It was WAY too rushed. Honestly, the only thing I can hope for is that in the next film, Finn has to politely turn Rose’s feelings down, because honestly there was just not enough romantic chemistry built up between the two characters. I’m not a rabid Poe/Finn or Finn/Rey shipper, but I still think either of those couples had much more behind them than what this film gave Finn/Rose. Maybe this couple could’ve been written better, maybe it couldn’t have been, but regardless, it was a misstep for this film, the way it was handled.

+C3PO and R2D2 were pretty much dead weight in this movie. BB-8 remained relevant and necessary throughout the runtime, but our old veterans were basically props. They didn’t even really get that many laughs.

+Porgs may be cute, but...wow, were they oddly forgettable. I liked the crystal foxes (Vulptex?) much better.

I definitely look forward to seeing how this new trilogy ends. The messages and action of this movie definitely make me eager to see how the filmmakers will follow it up, and I hope that the few problems I did have are properly addressed. The new Star Wars trilogy is truly exciting...the possibility and potential for the next one truly are limitless, as far as I can see.

Overall Grade: B

[livefromtheloam]

Tenchi Muyo! Galaxy Police Transporter

So I finally watched Tenchi Muyo: GXP. This is super long and full of fifteen-year-old spoilers, so I’ll stick a jump right about here.

tl;dr: Absolutely adored the series (with a couple of gripes), but hate what it heralded for the Tenchi Muyo franchise.

To start off, I want to say that I loved watching GXP. Had it come out earlier (and obviously had it not starred Seina), I would dare to call it the ultimate Tenchi series.  It combines the canon and overarching galactic epic of the OVA, the episodic format and character development of Universe, and the unbridled humor of Tokyo, then kicks every one of those things into high gear. It also fixes a lot of the problems that the three series were notorious for, namely: the OVA’s tendency to throw important details under the rug in order to put together cool set pieces, Universe’s low animation quality and over-reliance on filler, and Tokyo’s over the top irreverence (I’m normally a huge fan of irreverence, but man did Tokyo take the entire franchise off the rails).

It feels weird to call GXP a Tenchi Muyo! series, considering it’s as much of a spinoff as anything can get, but it does share most of the themes that all TM properties share. It’s got the harem, space adventure, comedy, drama, excellent character development (except for its main character somehow), and a cabbit. Granted, not all characters we’re supposed to care about are given any kind of dimension (looking at you, Miss Balta), but it’s so weird to start to care about secondary characters that were, once again, thrown under the rug in the later OVA’s, like Airi, Mikami, Seto, and even a few of the tertiary characters. Except for Tennyo. So sad.

Oh hey these ladies are actually great characters! (Not pictured: Tennyo.)

My favorite part was how relentlessly funny it could be. The show had no problem engaging in little gags here and there, but once Seiryo gets a more prominent role in the story things get downright hilarious.

I will never stop laughing at this.

I also appreciated how the opening and end theme sequences added new things as the series went on, such as replacing band-aids with Fukus, highlighing or blocking out certain characters, and adding others when they join the story. While I don’t usually like the harem genre (I prefer the first two OVA’s and Universe for their use of a love triangle rather than an out and out orgy), I always try to put my hangups on hold when it comes to Tenchi. Additionally, I just pretended that Seina was at least eighteen by the time the series ended just to get over the creep factor of a person who would be considered a child entering into a relationship with several adult women. Graduating from space college has got to take at least three years, right?

Speaking of, as much as Seina was yet another mediocre yet earnest everyboy protagonist, I couldn’t help but enjoy his antics. Maybe it was his almost Brooklyn accent (I watched the dub, so sue me), maybe his misfortune, maybe his complete and utter acceptance of pain and injury, but it was hard not to root for him. Plus, I love how his bad luck superpower can be used to explain why so many women are attracted to him despite being actively bad for anyone to be around (and way too young - seriously what is up with that?)!

“I guess they must be thirsty.” Ya don’t say.

And then we get to the last few episodes.

This was the point where GXP got over the top irritating for me. At some point, Seina’s bad luck turns to good, but with no noticeable difference either way. He’s given an incredible amount of gifts - A living ship made by Professor Washu! A royal tree to merge that ship with! A primordial battle mech powered by the sibling to the original Juraian tree to merge himself with featuring built in Easter egg action and kung fu grip! Light Hawk Wings! - and bad luck or good, these things serve to push Seina to godlike status. And that’s ok because it’s just a TV show. However, when he wins the duel against Seiryo due to, what else, a fluke of luck (why did either of them agree to a rule whereby someone can lose via embarrassment?), it finally reaches beyond frustrating just how much the showrunners pamper their protagonist.

The first of many promotions, given to him about a week after enrolling in the academy.

Seina himself does precious little on his own. He does his best, but grows very little as a person. Just what are his motivations, aside from a vague sense that he wants to be in the GP? We never see him try to do anything he can’t reasonably do because he wins every single time through either bad luck or good luck or someone looking out for him. He never comes to understand Kiriko’s concerns or Amane’s insecurities, nor does he try to get to know Ryoko or Neju better. He’s gotten everything - power, money, women - without doing anything to earn it.

Finally, the series ends with his wedding. To four women. And sure, it’s a political marriage in a culture that allows powerful nobility to have multiple spouses. And sure it ostensibly serves to ensure the longevity of the dream team that’s been ushering in an age of prosperity for businesses all over the galaxy, fine good whatever. But the show can’t even bring itself to respect these women who, for the most part, have proven themselves to be badasses who’ve earned every bit of respect they never got.

Does this look like the face of mercy?

Kiriko was a tactical prodigy who rose through the ranks of the GP through her willpower, wits, and ability to jump fearlessly into any situation regardless of danger, not to mention a distant blood tie to the royal family of Jurai. Amane was a wealthy heiress who threw away a promising career because it was too easy and challenged herself to make her way through the GP ladder. Ryoko Balta, despite being a bit bland, was a badass space pirate whose intuition, navigational skills, and battle prowess kept her ship floating long after most of the rest of the Daluma fleet had been captured. Neju was considered one of the most powerful head priestesses of all time (told not shown, sadly), and was revered (and reviled) throughout the galaxy for her two millennia of stern justice.

And they get lumped all together during their own wedding, all so that Seina can get a huge flashy show.

Seriously, they all walk out at the same time with identical smiles on their faces, as if they weren’t fiercely independent women like one episode prior.

And sadly, this is the final piece of the puzzle I needed to understand where the Tenchi Muyo! franchise has been going over the past fifteen years.

After GXP was somewhat of a flop, Kajishima took it back and has been writing a series of novels based on it. This precluded any need for a team to talk him back from the skeevier elements of what he thinks TM should be, including the harems and incest, and gave him full control over the direction of the OVA continuity. While I’ve never understood why the doujinshi are considered canon by fans, it’s hard to argue with the creator of a series when he says the officially published novels are what the real story is. I haven’t read through the whole set (I figure I’ll do that once my Japanese reading skills get a bit better), but from what I’ve seen so far the novels eschew the comedy and lightheartedness for exposition and expansion of the lore. Which wouldn’t be so bad if it were going somewhere, I dunno, fan-accessible?

As much as I dislike what the future holds for Tenchi, I’d love to see them all on Maury. (Thanks to AstroNerdBoy for the scan.)

Instead, we get a Tenchi Muyo! OVA that seems to serve the purpose of connecting Tenchi’s world to Seina’s rather than the other way around. Characters who fans loved and built a following for are pushed to the wayside for characters who appeared in Seina’s story, and the overarching epic is leading somewhere few fans ever wanted to go - namely Seina’s harem of twenty wives, a number of whom are mother and grandmother figures.

This is literally a grid of potential partners for Seina. He has backup harems. One of them involving Kiriko’s mom. Fantastic. (Thank you Tenchi Muyo Wiki.)

If I’ve mentioned characters a number of times in this piece, it’s because that’s the unshakable foundation that the entire Tenchi Muyo franchise was built on. There are at least five different continuities, and throughout them all the characters remain the same at their cores. Tenchi is plain but earnest. Ryoko is hotheaded and passionate. Ayeka tries to be proper but fails in the face of Ryoko’s teasing. Sasami is sweet, kind, and hard-working. Mihoshi is ditzy yet well-meaning. Washu is the greatest scientific genius in the universe! As of the ending of GXP, however, characterization seems to mean very little to the author. Kiriko, Amane, Ryoko, and Neju give up their individuality because... Seina. The women of the Masaki home take a backseat to Noike because... they’re no longer important to the story being told. Proud Emperor Azusa, who was embarrassed at the hands of Tenchi Masaki, grandson of that worthless Yosho, is suddenly devoid of any personality let alone desire for vengeance because... Seto is also on screen and she was an important character in GXP.

I will say that I’ve come to enjoy the third and fourth OVA’s, simply because now I’ve been properly introduced to more of the characters. The final episode of OVA 4 does a great job of tying up many of the loose threads that have been floating around since GXP’s inception and bringing all the OVA continuity series into a cohesive whole. It’s nice, but once again, makes me worried that a series that used to be about lovable characters having space adventures and shenanigans at home with tender moments thrown liberally into the mix is turning into a creepy ecchi series with no regard for characterization unless it gives Tenchi or Seina another wife.

They spend so much time this episode of Tenchi Muyo! talking about Seina that it’s ridiculous. They then proceed to tease the mother of his childhood friends about her obvious hots for him. (Thanks to EcchiOujisama for the subs!)

My theory is that it’s because Seina is the one thing that Kajishima has had all to himself for over a decade. Seina is his favorite child, who will receive gifts of women and good luck, regardless of how much the fans still love Tenchi and company. As much as he can profit off of doujinshi and art (and I’ll admit that I hope to own one of his sketches one day), he still has to share Tenchi with other people. This doesn’t prevent him from throwing Tenchi a bone in his fan comics, but the more he can tie the entire continuity into Seina’s story, the better. I wonder if the same thing is going to happen to Kenshi now too.

I liked Seina and rooted for him, but by the end it was obvious that he’d never become anything but a fantasy fulfillment device. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems to me he has no reason to grow or change, and is emblematic of what many people disliked about the franchise after 2002.

I accepted a while back that the OVA series and maybe even the franchise was no longer “for me.” The old episodes, movies, novels, and manga still exist, of course, and I can and do enjoy them immensely. I’ll also be watching GXP for years to come and plan to read the novels when I’m able to. I think I just wanted to get my thoughts out about a series that I watched and enjoyed, and how it changed a franchise that went down a different path a long, long time ago.

Adieu, Tenchi Muyo!

Also, why did all the members of Tenchi’s household get new voice actors for this show? That was weird. 

[alwayssummerblog]

Hot Winter Activities To Try In Nashville This Holiday Season

Even though Music City rarely dips below freezing in winter, there’s still lots of cool activities that will delight visitors this December. Check out the list below and plan some festive fun for the whole family! We found activities perfect for the Nashville natives as well as the lucky tourists visiting Music City during the most wonderful time of the year.

1) Gaylord Opryland’s “A Country Christmas”

ICE! Ice tends to feel twice as nice inside and you’ll experience tons of bundled-up festive fun as part of “Ice!” and many more of Gaylord Opryland’s “A Country Christmas” wintry mix of events. There’s a chill in the air as you walk throughout the 2 million pounds of sculptures – and it’s not just because How the Grinch Stole Christmas is this year’s theme. The room is kept at a steady nine degrees that features four two-story tall ice slides and a crystal-clear Nativity. Other activities you’ll flip over include ice skating on an 8,000 square-foot rink, ice tubing on the lawn, carriage rides and an on-so-sweet gingerbread decorating corner. You can enjoy a delicious meal and meet the Grinch while you’re feasting! The interactive dining experience includes a buffet of Who-ville- inspired items and table-side visits with The Grinch. There’s still more to discover and too many “A Country Christmas” events for which to quite capture the essence here so please visit the resort’s official site for all of the information your holiday heart desires. Many package deals and discounts are available for adults, children, military and more.

Elsewhere on Gaylord ground, every light in and outside (there’s at least 3 million of the holiday variety) of Gaylord Opryland’s house is on as country superstar Trace Adkins performs featured standards from his 2013 release The King’s Gift on select dates in the resort’s Tennessee Ballroom through Christmas Day. There’s even a special menu – featuring fare like “Noel” chocolate custard. Get your tickets HERE!

Photo Credit: Gaylord Opryland’s “A Country Christmas” Website

2) Walmart’s Holiday Spectacular

It may not be Santa Claus or Candy Cane Lane, but on December 17 the Walmart at 204 North Anderson Lane in Hendersonville intends to festively rival these names. How? Well if you follow the wheels on the loads of tour buses that typically go round and round you’ll find that they’re opening up their doors as part of the annual Christmas 4 Kids outreach in the store’s holi-dazed paradise of a parking lot. From 5 to 9PM, fans will get an opportunity to meet some stars and climb aboard their parked tour buses. The annual bus show raises money to fund holiday shopping sprees at Walmart for more than 400 local school children. Those scheduled to appear include 3 Doors Down, Adairs Run (who recently performed on USA Network’s Real Country); talented songstress Ashton Shepherd (with top 20 singles “Takin’ Off This Pain,” “Sounds So Good,” and “Look It Up” to her credit), Craig Wayne Boyd, Kimberly Schlapman of Little Big Town, Tennessee favorites The Young Fables (who’ve also performed on Real Country), Lee Greenwood, rockabilly renaissance man Eric Heatherly (whose new album Matchbook Rendezvous will be released next year) and many more. Hunter Hayes will be there for one hour only from 5-6PM. For the complete list please, click HERE!

[instagram]

3) The Oak Ridge Boys’ Shine the Light On Christmas Tour

Spruce things up with a special show from some iconic country crooners. The one-of-a-kind Oak Ridge Boys are wrapping their holiday tour season up in style as their popular Shine the Light On Christmas Tour arrives on December 23 at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center. If the previews are any indication then the Boys are more prepared to pull out all the stops and then some at this jubilant event (presented without orchestra). This show is nearing sold-out status so hurry and get your tickets at nashvillesymphony.org to avoid a blue Christmas.  

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With a record that sounds straight out of the early Sun Studios recordings, The Oak Ridge Boys have added to their tremendous legacy with 17th Avenue Revival. Dave Cobb (Brandi Carlile, Chris Stapleton) keeps the production crisp and honest, true to the live recording rooms that first waded into rock and roll’s gospel-influenced waters. ~ Matt Conner @CCMMag (Buy link in bio.)

A post shared by The Oak Ridge Boys (@theoakridgeboys) on Dec 8, 2018 at 2:01pm PST

Speaking of which – - - feeling Elv-ish? Catch some Christmas classics of The King’s (of Memphis – not Bethlehem) courtesy of Terry Mike Jeffrey and complete with symphony for only $25 on the 19th and 20th with “An Elvis Christmas” at the Schermerhorn.

4)  Vince Gill and Amy Grant at the Ryman

Harmonious husband-and-wife duo Vince Gill and Amy Grant are settling in for so many of their famed Christmas shows at the “Mother Church” that they may as well be pitching a tent (or paying rent). Rodney Crowell, John Jorgensen and Hannah Sutherland open. Remaining dates of their 12 days/nights stand are December 16-20 and once more on the 23rd. “These holiday tours have become our favorites,” chimes Vince. Tickets HERE!

5) Cheekwood Botanical Gardens’ Holiday “LIGHTS” Experience

Brighten up the season: Stroll in and around Cheekwood Botanical Gardens’ Holiday “LIGHTS” experience featuring one million bright bulbs along the one -mile walking path. Visit with reindeer, enjoy seasonal drinks such as hot chocolate and cider, be crooned by carolers, see a 500+ poinsettia tree, roast a marshmallow and maybe even meet Santa! Check out the official website HERE!

Photo Credit: Cheekwood Botanical Gardens’ Website 

6) The Country Music of Hall of Fame and Museum

Hall aboard! The Country Music of Hall of Fame and Museum is gifting an impressive display of offerings to visitors during its Deck the Hall events. “Tour and Concert: A Legendary Holiday” gets underway December 15 with a tour of historic RCA Studio B and music from Jason Coleman and Meagan Taylor. Shake things up and make mini-museum exhibit snow globes in the Hall’s creative zone, or take in a movie with a screening of the legendary “Whisperin’” Bill Anderson’s 1968 A Country Christmas on December 23 from 11AM to noon. More “Deck”-designed happenings HERE!

Photo Credit: The Country Music of Hall of Fame and Museum’s Website

Speaking of flicks, on a (loosely) related note we would be remiss not to mention everyone’s favorite classic Christmas film Die Hard. It’s bursting onto the Belcourt screen with a vengeance on December 15 at midnight. 

7) Bring Your Pets to Meet Santa!

If you’re in the vicinity of Goodlettsville and want to extend the warm and fuzzy feelings along to your furry friend then chin up! Good tidings for you. RiverGate Mall is hosting Pet Photos with Santa in front of JCPenney on December 18 from 6-9PM. It’s a special night just for pets and you can reserve your time online HERE!

Photo Credit: Pet Photo Nights with Santa

8) The Old Crow Medicine Show

Feeling a dreary winter cold coming on? Cure it with a good fix from the Old Crow Medicine Show. On December 30 and 31 the much-beloved Americana-ian band of merrymakers are building a Nashville nest for themselves as the Opry-member and GRAMMY-winning group swoop into the Ryman Auditorium for a two-night residence to close out the year. Curious as to just what kind of raucous Ryman nights you might experience with these fowl folkists? Here’s a quote from lead vocalist Ketch Secor (upon OCMS’s Opry induction) to give a good glimpse.

“We the Old Crows are just so proud to be entrusted to carry on the traditions of the Grand Ole Opry’s good-natured riot.”

Their newest album Volunteer was released earlier this year and is available HERE. Tickets to both shows (featuring The War and Treaty) are available via Ryman.com.

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Location scouting... I’ll tell you the rest later...

A post shared by Hunter Hayes (@hunterhayes) on Dec 5, 2018 at 4:41pm PST

9) John Prine at the Opry House

Lastly but not leastly, if the thought of ringing in the new year gives you hot and cold fever (and, ya know; leaves you in a cool cool sweat) then you’re in luck. John Prine plus prime openers Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats (with special guest Iris Dement) take the Opry House stage at 8PM on December 31. More info and tickets HERE. To further set the tone you can also see performances from Prine plus Rateliff and the Sweats’ steamy number direct from the 2018 Americana Music Festival by streaming CMT’s hour-long Americana Fest special for free through select cable providers.

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Turned my back for a couple of days to go on the road and the folks at @ohboyrecords are practically giving away my favorite Christmas tree! I hear you even get a discount on shipping...get your orders in by Monday before I’m back! store.johnprine.com

A post shared by John Prine (@john_prine) on Dec 14, 2018 at 2:20pm PST

**If booking an area hotel stay, consider choosing Music City’s “Holiday Memories in Nashville Package” where you can choose from a list of area events through the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corporation and have a one-of-a-kind “Spirit of Music City” (including lots of sweet treats) gift box to show for it. Click HERE for more info.

[sectux-blog]

Aurora and the new theme.

And now we get a new theme!

I have always liked Aurora, and her fast way of playing, but I was never too keen on the assassination only way of playing. It always felt too one dimensional to me. With the new theme force, this now changes: she can do infantry spam like axis was prone to in MK2.

Firstly, the theme: this was put in an Insider, so this is the interpretation, not the full rules:

Enigma Foundries go up to FA: 4 – Going back to the recursion spam of Axis is great, and even with the detriments of recursion in MK3, having the ability to play more than 2, and put up to 12 models back a turn is great for exerting pressure on your opponent.

For every 20 points of infantry, you get a free soul vessel solo – this makes those foundries free, or you can go for the UA if you want. The steel soul protectors are also options, as are the ADO’s. so a lot of choice. The most basic idea is to be playing 12 points up, which when you factor in the Foundries, this becomes a lot more for the opponent to chew through… I sense a pattern!

Lastly, there are two benefits for models on the field. All shield wall models get advanced move. So Obstructors and Recipricators, both of which can be slow when they shield wall… so that is an extra 5” advantage. And this especially helps against those new lists that stop Advanced Deploy! The other benefit is all medium based units get Vengence. So a free 3” move and melee attack if they are damaged. Note that vengeance runs on damaged, not killed, which means those 8 box models can take a hit and still benefit from the extra move.

All these benefits together work for a massively infantry based force. We have not got the cheap infantry to spam, since the obstructors are FA:3, but I believe this theme list works towards having a mix of medium and small based models in the list.

Oh, and you cannot take the battle engine or Bots (but I can see why!)

So a bit of caster reviews:

Mother – like the theme, can take advantage of the vengeance move plus her Tactical Supremacy can get those models up the board, and her Imperil will add to their damage output.

Syntherion – nope. Apart from magnetic hold, he does nothing to assist infantry.

Lucant – the dream of the Massive Metal Mountain springs forwards, running 4 units of recursion medium bases at the opponent. Positive charge, shield guard from his jacks, and 20 8 wound warriors who all are safer against shooting, allows him some great scenario presence.

Axis – Back to his theme list here. You can run that infantry spam with him, now backed up with his lovely inverters, and we know his feat and onslaught supports the infantry.

Aurora – The Infantry Princess. Flight and +2 movement on top of the theme buffs makes for a very mobile force. Those Shield Wall units are at the 24” line on turn 1 if they run, and you go first. That is very scary for the opponent. If you go second, you still get them up to the 22” line and shield walled up. That stops the Haley scenario blocker and the like. Aurora also has Arcane Might, which helps to boost the hit and damage potential of the units, but she does not always have a lot of focus to spend on this after aerogenesis… Finally, her feat with an infantry theme, gets it right down the opponents throat, even past their lines.

Orion: the new caster, and also one who can benefit from the number of units with his self vengeance spell, but he would probably be looking at a 50-50 split for jacks and infantry. Add in Perforators with him getting vengeance, and that gets them a lot closer to their targets…

In the end, This is a good theme to oppose the destruction initiative, which focuses on Jacks. This infantry focused theme is the other side of the coin.

So for a list I have been running for the last few weeks since the announcement:

Aurora: - 29

Corollary – 6 (Because you should)

Conservator – 12 - Shield guard, hand of vengeance, and LOS blocker for Aurora.

Conservator – 12

Max Obstructors – 11 – nice chaff to get across the board on turn 1. Either run, or shield wall to get to the middle part of the board and put pressure on the opponent. And the reach chain weapon is always useful when you spread out. Add in CMA and they can get the work done against higher defence targets

Max Obstructors – 11

Max Eradicators – 15 a great unit for feat turn, and they have enough armour to get across the board and survive, whilst still being low enough to trigger vengeance. Also, the ability to get to Mat 9 really helps, plus their side steps and feat with aurora can get them into the opponents back arc. Or as I like to put them, surrounding the enemy caster with a 19” total move… just make sure that it is not against a caster that can destroy them easily like Butcher, or teleport away like Caine.

Max Eradicators – 15 – because two is better than one!

Max Recipricators – 18 – The anchor of the list. They are slow, and will shield wall their way across the board, but as a unit can put out a nice chunk of damage against an opponent if needed. They are a scenario holding unit, to take a section I want to contest and just be a pain to remove without using a heavy.

Enigma Foundries x 4 – 4 points (actually 16, but 3 are free due to the theme force benefits.) Because bringing back multiple models, and still have the speed, is great. And this is what the theme is about!

I have gotten some games in with this list, so I will put some up over the next few days.

By for now!

�̒ B

[imonthatnextnext]

THE 'NEXT' REVIEW (BEST OF 2016): Eshon Burgundy - The Passover

Written by Jason Andre Roberts aka CONQUEST So..... A weird thing happened with Eshon Burgundy. After dropping arguably his best album to date in the masterpiece known as "The Fear Of God", Eshon left the label he released it on known as Humblebeast Recordings. It was a scenario that was strangely similar to JGivens' exit from that same label after one release once he dropped his classic album "Fly Exam". It was move that would beg the question, why would both J and Eshon leave one of the biggest CHH labels exists after ONE RELEASE after dropping their best work on that same label. Speculations behind Humblebeast departures aside. Many also wondered if Burgundy had the ability to craft another masterful body of work to add his to his catalog. Fortunately for some of y'all, I may have the answer with this track by track breakdown of Eshon's new album: "The Passover".... Feel free to do the knowledge. Intro - Eshon definitely sets a heck of a tone here with verses that speak to the theme of "The Passover" over a beautiful, yet percussion less bed of music where the horn work takes centerstage. Bless Your Name ft. Th3 Saga: One of the few tracks on this album that's decent, and yet somewhat underwhelming, especially for the 2nd track. Eshon does great with the verses, but the hook is sort of generic & lackluster. Plus, Saga's appearance here isn't his best, as his verse is often rushed and contains one syllable too many per line & it awkwardly tampers with the execution of his flow. What I Prayed For ft. Abiv - "The Passover" continues with a phenomenal joint. Eshon's lyricism largely explores the idea of who God is in comparison to himself, his place in society and the faith that comes with that. Meanwhile Abiv is skillfully vocalizing a very well written hook that does a fantastic job of bring the whole record together. Dead Letter - I'm gonna assume that's Eshon singing the hook of this record, and if it is, he should do more of it when it's required, because he's got a bit of a voice, and it's pained and heartfelt in a real way on "Dead Letter" where he also uses his verse to confess and celebrate the death of his flesh The Great Exchange (Currency) ft. Jeremiah Bligen: Jeremiah and Eshon make a great team and the two go to work on this track where J' higher pitched vocals matches well with Eshon's hardened baritone that explores the idea of a constant love & idolatry of money putting the relationship with a sovereign God in serious jeopardy. Gunz x Rosez - Over a powerful Apollo Brown production, Burgundy destroys this track with his biting observations of the idea of vengeance and being rescued by it from Jesus' intervention. It is pure boom-bap perfection. Before I Choose You ft. Parade - Eshon's singing again and he's got the reggae twist on the boom-bap banger and it works on this track that has him extremely thankful to Yahweh for choosing him. This has "hit single" written all over it, and Parade does her thing on it as well. Great collaboration. Pray (Extended) ft. Jeremiah Bligen - Burgundy does his thing dissecting the power of prayer and reverence towards of God and his grace over production that's present in the mix but falls back enough to let Eshon's words breathe. As a guest artist, Bligen's hook work and guest verse rings true, plus his Creed/Stallone line is classic material. Can't Tell Time - This recording is righteously agressive and vivid and it's where Eshon is using wordplay to praise the powerful God he serves. Not only that, he's breaking down why he needs our full priority, allegiance and focus with the time on earth we're allotted over the trappings of street life and the riches of the world Smoke & Fire (ft. Steph Silva) - There's no denying that this is definitely one of my favorite records on "The Passover", and it just so happens to be the final track. On this one, Eshon's flow is surgical as expected, but the real highlight is the the stalking and mysteriously melodic production and the gorgeous and soulful hook from Ms. Silva which takes this track to a whole 'nother sphere. This album may not be great as it's predecessor, but it's undeniably a top ten album of 2016 and a reliably excellent project from one of Christian hip-hop's greatest lyricists, one who's decision to go back to being fully independent was a smart and informed move after all. Rating: 4.25 out 5 Download Eshon Burgundy's "The Passover" on iTunes now.