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absolutebl · 3 months ago

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This Week in BL - Screw everything else inject On1y into my damn veins

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Aug 2024 Week 4

Ongoing Series - Thai

Monster Next Door (Thai Thurs Gaga ) eps 5-6 of 12 - Extreme introvert dealing with a very hot, very drunk, very affectionate extrovert was an excellent experience all around. “I was drunk and talking out of my ass, but I wasn’t lying” maybe one of the world’s greatest confessions. How meta that he’s checking out the book of the story that he’s in. Carry on boys, very enjoyable, very Thai BL.

My Love Mix-Up Th (Fri YT) ep 12 fin - It’s cute. They are all very cute. I do like it when high school BL gives us a coming out sequence. I know it’s old-fashioned, but it’s a trope that goes with this particular setting really well, and I just like it when it’s done nicely. I’m not sure I needed it to totally dominate the final episode of the series. But it was fine.

I gotta say, Fourth is an absolutely outstanding actor. He really did knocked it out of the park in this last episode especially.

In conclusion:

It was fine and it was charming, but it was also a little lackluster. Thailand managed to take one of Japan's softest cutest most bonkers BLs in recent memory and make it softer and cuter and... dull. They did this by watering it down. JBLs almost always have an edge to them, even the rom-coms, by dulling the edge, MLMU lost a great deal of the sparkle and tension as well. What an office setting managed to mostly maintain in the consummate hands of TayNew felt somewhat lackluster when handed off to the next generation and a high school setting. Cherry Magic was a lovely reinterpretation, Mix Up was an amateur's watercolor rendition of a colorful oil painting. Am I being harsh? G4 tried their best, and Fourth turned in some outrageously good acting in the latter half. But the show? It was fine. If you like water colors and you haven't seen (and loved) Kieta Hatsukoi. 8/10

This Love Doesn't Have Long Beans (Fri iQIYI) ep 8 fin - This was the first hint we got that the lead's relationship was anything more than sexual. And it was utilized for a breakup?! JJ and Wan's friendship is the best thing about this show. PWan selling JJ out to Methas was great. I was modestly delighted by the big fuck off ownership engagement ring. I admire a boy who likes to mark his territory with bling. I actually thought this was a decent final episode. If very rushed. I know, in general this ending was objectively weak, but I grinned the entire time, so I can’t really complain that much.

Final thoughts?

A story about a kid who infiltrates a cooking competition under false pretenses and then has to deal with the consequences when he falls in love with the head chef. The side couple is a poor little rich boy meets physical therapist (morality chain). The core friendships are excellent and the chemistry cannot be faulted across the (charcuterie) board. What this show lacks in substance it makes up for in health code violations. It was all chili all the time. Considering that the plot centered on betrayal but the romantic relationship never sweetened enough to balance that bitterness; one could be forgiven for throwing this one in the compost. But I got over all its weaknesses in flavor balancing for an ultimately satisfying meal, with a great dessert course. I've always loved spicy food. Plus the blooper reels were fantastic. 8/10

Addicted Heroin (Thai Tues WeTV) ep 2 of 10 - I like the side couple a lot. It’s nice to see that dynamic developed (as it wasn't in the CBL version). Of course, Thailand leans into a secondary couple, but I also like the super popular jock + geeky boy who couldn’t care less. You know what? I’m actually really enjoying this. And yes, I AM biased because it's August. (Wait, that could be taken several different ways this month. But you know what I mean.) Anygay, this is a lot softer than the original, and so Hero is much more of a pining character and less harsh. But I'm still enjoying it. I like the stepbrothers trope (we don’t get it very much from Thailand), and I enjoy the beats and pulses of this particular story. We will see if it derails into inconsequence and lack of conflict the way My Love Mixup did.

Sunset X Vibes (Sat iQIYI) ep 11 of 12 - I’m enjoying this show but it should’ve been just 10 eps. It’s feeling bloated at this juncture. That said, I loved our little GL kiss. Very pretty. I also really like the bit with Sam and Yo flirting with each other. Sam trying to get Yo to call him P'Sam was fucking brilliant. And then slipping in all of those nongs. Delightful. Linguistic negotiation, it's what's for dinner... along with Sam's d**k apparently. I frankly did not think they would take this couple that far. So, thank you very much everybody involved.

Battle of the Writers (Sun YT) ep 4 of 12 - I do enjoy watching Yim freak out and fall in love all over again. The reality is still better for me than the fantasy parts, but it’s all fun enough. The magic mushrooms bit was odd. In fact, there is definitely a core tenor of ODD going on with the show. Which I’m accustomed to from Japan but I’m not really sure about from Thailand. Thus I remain engaged but suspicious of this BL.

I Saw You in My Dream (Weds Gaga) ep 6 of 12 - Yu wants to take his baby on a trip, gets thwarted by his younger brother. Ouch. I really do think it’s time for Ai to tell Yu what’s going on with his dreams! Drunken boyfriend bolster pillow is a fav trope of mine. As usual, I’m catching second lead syndrome. What? I liked the rich boy badminton player. And then he picked up a guitar. Oh well.

The Trainee (Sun YouTube) ep 8 of 12 - No one cares about the hets. He was jelly? Cute. Also kinda an arse, by hey this is BL.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

The On1y One (Taiwan Thurs Gaga) eps 1-2 of 12 - announced in 2023, high school, stepbrothers, and is reputed to be high heat. Based on a novel Mou Mou + the Your Name Engraved Herein team.

ARE YOU READY? I'M GOING TO NOT SO QUIETLY LOSE MY DAMN MIND

This is old-school BL and it’s bloody fantastic. Tsundere seme to beat all tsundere (smartest + tallest + bestest at everything but people) meets socially-ept cutie smart-ass protag.

They living together by end of ep 1 and start kissing by end of ep 2.

There is an Unknown quality to this, and that I love. Also, and ironic to say this while Addicted Heroin Th is airing, but this REALLY reminds me of Addicted. It’s so fucking good. I am all in on this show. Shut up while this eats my life.

Cosmetic Playlover (Japan Tues Gaga) eps 5-6 of 8 - Of course! The POV shift to the seme character at ep 5! How could I forget? Japan loves this beat! AND.... The running of the gays. And a use of a first name! So darling. Also some crazy great communication and conversation that is NOT a hallmark of Japan. Sahashi is so very possessive. I loved the switch that went on in his brain and the mania in his eyes when he thought someone else was interested in Natsume. I continue to love this.

I Hear the Sunspot AKA Hidamari ga Kikoeru (Japan Weds Gaga) ep 10 of 12 - I’m never going to like Maya. Sorry. And the leads were separated for most of this episodes so it was largely disappointing. I did like the insight into the way T sees the world, and sees the alienation of a disability and what it's dong to his friend. It’s very empathic. He’s such an appealing character in his obtuse bull-headed way.

Seoul Blues (Korea Fri? YouTube) ep 2 of 8 - It’s intriguing, and I'm happy to have anything from Korea on my dash. But, like Blue Boys, I’m not entirely sure if I like it or not.

First Note Of Love (Taiwan Mon Gaga) eps 3-4 of 12 - This may be Taiwan but I’m still in the "no singing" camp. I’m getting a slightly better chemistry feel off the leads in this episode. I’m not sure if they’re keeping it stiff because the younger character is under age or if it’s just that the actors aren’t there yet? (In other words is this a directing choice or a performance issue?)

Takara's Treasure AKA Takara No Vidro (Japan Mon Gaga) ep 8 of 10 - I've finally come down firmly on the fact that it’s the uneven power distribution (in terms of interest and enthusiasm for the relationship) that I dislike about this show. Generally, I like a power dynamic differential, kinky and all that. But this particular dynamic, when it’s the weaker personality that’s so much more into the stronger one? I never like it, unless it engages a serious pivot at some point. (See My Personal Weatherman or Takara & Amagi.)

It's airing but...

Sugar Dog Life (Japan Sun grey) ep 3 of 10 - I was really loving this one but I can't find ep 3 anywhere so I guess I gotta wait it out. I hope I get to see it eventually.

4 Minutes (Sat Gaga) eps 1-6 of 8 - Gaga picked this one up so we can watch it there. If I have time, I'll get caught up and put it into rotation.

In case you missed it

Meet You at the Blossom (China) - I'm eating crow, binging the fucker, and live blogging.

The Time of Fever AKA Unintentional Love Story 2 (Korea movie) trailer IS COMING IN SEPTEMBER!!!! (Yeah this is gonna sit here until then).

Next Week Looks Like This:

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

Coming Next Month:

The Time of Fever (Korea)

9/1 Live in Love (Thai)

9/3 Happy of the End (Japan)

9/6 Kidnap (Thai)

9/7 The Hidden Moon (Thai)

9/9 Jack & Joker (Thai)

9/14 Love Sick 2024 (Thai)

9/17 Love is Like a Poison AKA Doku Koi: Doku mo Sugireba Koi to Naru (Japan)

More deets next week. It's late and I'm tired.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

It was pretty. I am very shallow.

Even more pretty. Petition to have Tenon with his shirt off and hair back in every subsequent Thai BL? Just because.

(SunsetXVibes)

(Last week)

Streaming services are listed by how I (usually) watch, which is with a USA based IP, and often offset by a day because time zones are a pain.

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

Sigh, Tumblr in its infinite wisdom doesn't like too many tags.

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shuaboo · 26 days ago

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imagine being at home with gyub and he’s looking SO FINE even though he’s just wearing a tank top, some random unzipped jacket, and sweatpants. his height and his huge ass hands contributes to the look btw🤭. it would take 10 muscle bound men to stop me from pouncing on that man and giving him the best head of his life right then and THERE….

SPEAKING OF HEAD… i imagine gyuvin as the type to put his hand on top of your head with enough force to push it down if he wants to while you give him head. does that make sense? cuz i’m not big in the gyuvin hair pulling agenda. don’t get me wrong— i like it, but i think he just pushes your head down when he needs to feel more of your mouth on his cock.. he’s letting out soft breaths and whimpering a bit when you hollow your cheeks out as you suck him off. he has one hand on his mouth trying to suppress his moans, (doesn’t work. poor baby js can’t get enough of your warm mouth around his cock.) and one hand atop your head, pushing it down a bit so you take more of his length. your hands use his thighs as support, and occasionally you rub his thighs with your hand and he gets SO MUCH MORE TURNED ON BY IT😭. baby calm down. his hips buck up when he’s getting close to cumming, which signals you to suck harder and take him deeper. when he cums, he’s taking a second to breathe before looking down at you. make sure he watches you swallow his cum… that shit will turn him on even more. after you do that, he’s groaning and swiftly pulling you to sit on his lap. the rest is up to your imagination~

i don’t think he’d really fuck your mouth unless you’re having like make up sex or something… basically when he’s not feeling nice, but that’s a story for another day.

i need my mom to sell me to kim gyuvin the way she sold me to one direction in a 2013 wattpad book. 😮‍💨

#zb1 smut #kim gyuvin smut #gyuvin smut #zb1 hard hours #zb1 hard thoughts

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vallettamango · 2 months ago

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Camp Half-Blood Headcanons

Things that probably would happen at camp. (Also ik that its set in the 2000s but just ignore I wanted to include some newer pop culture)

They have a annual memory/yearbook for the summer

Chiron will pick a few kids from different cabins and give them old film cameras to capture moments from camp

Chiron takes the “yearbook” committee group into nyc for a weekend they develop the pictures and make a single yearbook which Chiron keeps a stack of in the big hall where any campers can look back at past ones in their free time

A few years back at the request of some summer only campers he has started scanning the books digitally and emailing it to campers/parents so everyone can have a copy

They take one big camp group photo on the last day of summer

There’s a section at the end called “camps most likely to” and/or voted most ____

Here’s a few of them:

Connor Stoll is most likely to win a pie eating contest

Will Solace was voted most helpful camper

Austin Lake was voted to have the best smile

Cecil Markowitz was voted to have the best laugh

Alice Miyazawa was voted most likely to stay calm in a stressful situation

Drew Tanaka was voted best dressed (Piper and Leo still think that’s not true camp opinion and that the voting was tampered with)

Nyssa Barrera is most likely to shave her head

the stolls obviously sell contraband to other campers (snacks, weed, makeup etc)

Apollo cabin has 1 of 2 CD players in camp. When their older siblings would go home for the summer they would burn CDs with requests from everyone in the cabin and bring them back the next summer

The other one used to be in the big hall and used communally

It got broken during an intense food fight, everyone blames Ares cabin because their the ones that flipped their table over

The secluded area at the top of the strawberry field is known as the date spot for older campers

Aphrodite cabin made an initiative to have the camp supply campers with sex Ed and started a bowl of condoms in the infirm for anyone to take

Will Solace (and the other counsellors before him) will have dance partys to cheer up their younger siblings. like they'll just turn on music and jam n dance, they even have a specific CD for it. (Lee Fletcher started tradition)

Katie Gardner from demeter and Rachel Dare started baking as a new camp activity during free periods. They also teach about growing your own ingredients and nutritional value

Hermes cabin (Travis probably) once tried to make slap ass Friday a thing, it didn’t end well.

Definitely at some point some older campers in Demeter were growing weed in the greenhouse and selling it to other campers (in partnership w the stolls who distributed it)

they were stopped after about a month or two by Chiron who was not happy at all

Once Sherman yang became head counselor of Ares they all got matching pjs (I’m sorry I just love that idea)

Valentina and Mitchell’s from Aphrodite like to braid the mains of the Pegasus

Athena cabin loves to compete amongst each other of who can do sudoku the fastest, do a crossword first or win scrabble

Clarisse used to take ares cabin on morning jogs everyday

Once Hephaestus cabin built a giant nerf gun that shot meatballs

Aphrodite cabin covers their walls in posters of fashion and pop culture icons like: vivienne Westwood, the devil wears prada, Marilyn Monroe, 10 things I hate about you, destiny child etc

they’re currently obsessed with Sabrina carpenter. Lacy brought the CD of short n sweet and they’ve been listening to it non stop (Apollo cabin has been nice enough to lend them the CD player when their not using it)

A bunch of the younger ish campers were obsessed with the magic tree house book series (iykyk) because the camp had a box set in Ancient Greek (somehow?)

They thought it was cool how the magic treehouse was kind of like the human vs demigod world so relatable in a way

Kids from all the cabins would share them so they got pretty beat up but they were very well loved until the day the binding literally fell apart

For year round campers their end of school year Summative for social sciences (geography, history, Ancient Greek/english) they each research an event in American history then explain how it’s related to a specific god and the impact they had on the event

They all present them and they can present the project in any form they want (an art piece, a speech, a retelling of the event etc)

When campers go for their last summer they sign their bunks

After the battle of manhattan or a demigod dies before they get to turn 18 their sibling will sometimes write their names on the bunks for them

Once Aphrodite cabin snuck into other cabins during the day and hid a photo of Channing tatum's abs under the bed slats of all the head counselors

Everyone was just confused when they found this random photo months later

If you walk by the communal showers on Apollo cabins shower day and you’ll definitely hear all them harmonizing to baby by Justin beiber

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physalian · 4 months ago

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First Time Author Mistakes You Don’t Have To Make

This is for self-published authors, somewhat, I didn’t go through the agent/publishing house process, but I did give it a try.

1. Thinking everyone you work with will like your book

I wasn’t under this illusion, but I did assume that every beta I worked with would be able to stay objective, i.e. saying while they don’t like an element they think it still works instead of “I don’t like this” with no explanation. Which was not the case. If this happens, best thing to do is to cut your losses. They’re not your target audience.

2. Underestimating how long it takes

Your book baby is your top priority and yours alone. Everyone else that you could work with does so at their pace on their schedules. I wrote ENNS in one month. It took almost six months of beta readers and a professional edit for a lot of reasons, but largely in part due to betas just not being very speedy. In other areas, too. I didn’t query ENNS because my first experience trying to work with publishing houses was a lot of “hurry up and wait” and I did not have time to wait 6+ months, with exclusive submissions, just to be told no.

3. Underestimating how much it costs

I had funds prepared and set aside in a savings account to pay the editor that I knew would be the steepest cost of the whole writing process. I’d saved up over a couple months and was virtually unaffected by the exorbitant fee when the bill came due because I had prepared. Betas and editors cost money, and you can’t skimp on those otherwise you’re just burning money. If you hire illustrators or promoters, they eat up cash. Formatting, too, costs money. If I wanted to break even with ENNS, I would have to sell over a thousand copies. Just to break even. Even if you do it all yourself, of which I did my own illustrations and formatting, the programs I used cost money, and time.

4. Vetting book promoters

Anyone following this blog might know of my recent escapades in dealing with scammers. It’s my personal opinion that anyone who will promote any book for money does not have an opinion worth trusting. Do I think my book is good? Absolutely. Do I think every book they promote is good? No. Nor do these people seem to care about anything more than profit. I wouldn’t buy a product based on a review without integrity, and have learned a hard lesson in trying to undo that mistake. If you just want word out, then you can act without discretion and just pick the cheapest influencers. But their word means nothing if they’ll sell it to the lowest bidder.

—

These are just four things I didn’t quite think about going in. I’ve been a writer for almost 10 years now but this is my first time all the way through the publication process and it was a wake up call in many areas, especially with the bad actors on social media.

But the bottom line is this: Don’t underestimate the cost of the process, whether that cost be money or time or simply stress. Writing is easy. Publishing is work.

—

My LGBTQ+ vampire fantasy novel Eternal Night of the Northern Sky is out for preorder now! Paperback debut on 8/25/24.

#writing #writing advice #writing a book #writeblr #writing resources #writing tips #writing tools #publishing

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mostlysignssomeportents · 1 year ago

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Sponsored listings are a ripoff…for sellers

Tonight (November 29), I'm at NYC's Strand Books with my novel The Lost Cause, a solarpunk tale of hope and danger that Rebecca Solnit called "completely delightful."

Not all ads are created equally sleazy. The privacy harms from surveillance ads, though real, are often hard to pin down. But there's another kind of ad - or "ad" that picks your pocket every time you use an ecommerce site.

This is the "sponsored listing" ad, which allows merchants to bid to be among the top-ranked items in response to your searches - whether or not their products are a good match for your query. These aren't "ads" in the way that, say, a Facebook ad is an ad. These are more #payola, a form of bribery that's actually a crime (but not when Amazon does it):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payola#U.S._investigations_and_aftermath

Amazon is the global champion of payola. It boasts of $31 billion in annual "ad" revenue. That's $31 billion that Amazon sellers have to recoup from you. But Amazon's use of "most favored nation" deals (which requires sellers to offer their lowest prices on Amazon) mean that you don't see those price-hikes because sellers raise their prices everywhere:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/25/greedflation/#commissar-bezos

Forget Twitter: Amazon search is the poster-child for enshittification, in which Amazon locks you in (for example, with a year's shipping prepaid through Prime) and then you get recommended worse products while sellers make less money and Amazon pockets the difference.

Sellers who don't sell on Amazon are dead in the water, because most US households have Amazon Prime and overwhelmingly, Prime users start their search on Amazon, and, if they find the goods they're seeking. After all, they've prepaid for shipping.

So sellers suck it up and pay a 45-51% Amazon tax and pass it on to us - no matter where we shop. A lot of the junk fees sellers pay are related to Prime and other fulfillment services, but an increasing share of the Amazon tax comes from the need to pay to "advertise," because if they don't buy the top result for searches for their own products, their competitors' ads will push them right off the first page (those competitors spend money on advertising, rather than manufacturing quality).

There's a lot of YOLO/ROFLMAO in those ads: search for "cat beds" and 50% of the first five screens are ads - including ads for dog products, apparently bought by companies adopting a spray-and-pray approach to advertising. Someone selling a quality product still has to outbid all of those garbage sellers:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/28/enshittification/#relentless-payola

This is at the root of Amazon's Pricing Paradox: while Amazon can defend itself against regulators by citing sellers whose prices are lower and/or whose quality is higher, it's nearly impossible for shoppers to get those deals. If you click the top result for your search, you will, on average, pay 29% more than you would if you found the best bargain on the site:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/06/attention-rents/#consumer-welfare-queens

What's more, you can't fix this by simply sorting by price, or by reviews, or some mix of the two. The sleaziest sellers have mastered tricks like changing the number of units they sell so the total price is lower. For example, if batteries are normally sold $10 for a four-pack, a sleazy seller can offer batteries at $9 for three units. A lowest-to-highest price-sort will put this item ahead of a cheaper rival.

Researchers found that getting a good deal at Amazon requires that you make a multifactorial spreadsheet by laboriously copy/pasting multiple details from individual listing pages and then doing sorts that Amazon itself doesn't permit:

https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/3645/

There's an exception to this: Amazon and Apple have a cozy, secret arrangement to exclude these "ads" from searches for Apple products. But if you're shopping for anything else, you're SOL:

https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-gives-apple-special-treatment-while-others-suffer-junk-ads-2023-11

These payola markets are bad for buyers, and they cost sellers a lot of money, but are they at least good for sellers? A new study from three business-school researchers - Vibhanshu Abhishek, Jiaqi Shi and Mingyu Joo - shows that payola is a very bad deal for good sellers, too:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3896716

After doing a lot of impressive quantitative work, the authors conclude that for good sellers, showing up as a sponsored listing makes buyers trust their products less than if they floated to the top of the results "organically." This means that buying an ad makes your product less attractive than not buying an ad.

The exception is sellers who have bad products - products that wouldn't rise to the top of the results on their own merits. The study finds that if you buy your mediocre product's way to the top of the results, buyers trust it more than they would if they found it buried deep on page eleventy-million, to which its poor reviews, quality or price would normally banish it.

But of course, if you're one of those good sellers, you can't simply opt not to buy an ad, even though seeing it with the little "AD" marker in the thumbnail makes your product less attractive to shoppers. If you don't pay the danegeld, your product will be pushed down by the inferior products whose sellers are only too happy to pay ransom.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/29/aethelred-the-unready/#not-one-penny-for-tribute

#pluralistic #payola #danegeld #amazon #amazons pricing paradox #consumer welfare #ads #search ads #ecommerce #scholarship #empricism

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centrally-unplanned · 2 months ago

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I blogged before about this company, Orange, that is an AI-powered manga translation company. Essentially, their pitch is that most manga is still (officially) untranslated, a ton of manga gets made after all but few become mainstream enough to get ported overseas. They posit the barrier to that is the cost of translation; if they could automate that process, then they can make viable for release what previously was not. That concept rests on two questions - does the tech pan out, and does the economics add up?

Recently they went live, under the name Emaqi, so we can better explore those questions. What I notice on first glance is the pitch seems to have shifted a little bit in post:

You are not the translators of Vinland Saga, Witch Hat Atelier, or Magic Knight Rayearth, very obviously so. They have Sailor Moon in here lol. These are just the official translations being cross-listed into their "manga platform", where you buy it there and it lives, DRM-locked, in their app. Which is fair enough as a model, that is just Kindle, it works. Though Kindle and a dozen others already exist, so their value-add has to be the AI translation stuff right? That is why I would choose this over another app.

Which they do have, though it is kind of buried:

"Only on emaqi" - there is no mention of the translation approach, poor guys! Can't fault the branding decision I guess given the state of the discourse. When it comes to the products themselves, I went through ~6 or so of the sample chapters of different manga, did a few spot checks with the original Japanese, and read the reviews of some others who looked into it. They seem fine! I am cautiously impressed, I think there proofers did a good job smoothing out some edges, it has a "manga tone", and while small issues like the hyphenation the reviewer above mentioned do exist and are legit noticeable, they aren't common and not a huge deal. It has flow issues? Some dialogue should link together in how it is written, but doesn't. But it isn't crazy off or anything. You will not be wowed by these, but certainly if you are someone who reads bootleg scanlations you are gonna have no problems. A lot of manga uses pretty simple vocab and isn't breaking new ground on plot, I can see how a purpose-built tool could handle it well enough.

The economics though...here is where I don't think this case was ever going to pencil out and isn't now. Because I am pretty sure no one here has heard of any of the manga listed above as exclusives. (I saw 90's manga Geobreeders in there, but that was already partially translated in the 2000's, not sure if they did a new one? Setting it aside) Which, of course you haven't, if you had it probably would have been translated! Books are a 90:10 market, most books never get read and some books get read a ton. Anything big enough can justify a professional translation, and the other can't really sell to begin with.

On top of that, their model is mass translation; which means these obscure manga are presented to you with no context, no hype, no build-up. Wtf is The Blood Blooms In the Barrens?? See, if you were like a boutique publisher, selecting "the best of the best" in untranslated manga, you would promote your specific product. Interviews, social media, the value of the brand-itself as a quality seal. Publishing less is more, actually, your value as a publisher is as a quality selector. Or you could be say the porn market, where you max quantity so people can search "foot fetish breeding kink oshi no ko" and get results; they know what they want. But they aren't doing either! And to be blunt a lot of these are not gonna sell on their art alone:

I'm not mocking The Delayed Highschool Life of a Laborer here, that is better than I could do; but if you want to me spend money on a whim the bar is high and these don't reach it. Which of course they don't, they would be professionally translated if they did.

And finally, the price - $5 dollars, for volume 1's, like a 100-200 pages. The cross-listed manga typically sells for ~$10? That isn't much cheaper! If "translation" was this big cost barrier, and all you got is cutting the price of ebooks in half, I don't know if the analysis was so solid. This is a new product, I doubt they are overcharging to make a quick buck right now - this is the "sell at cost to scale" era.

In all of their lead up press they would say things like this:

Orange's process uses AI to read the manga through image analysis and character recognition, then to translate the words into English, Chinese and other languages. The technology is specialized for manga, meaning it is able to handle wordplay and other difficult-to-translate phrases. A human translator then makes corrections and adjustments. The process can deliver a manga translation in as little as two days. Orange will work with multiple Japanese publishers. The company looks initially to complete 500 translations monthly.

But this is missing a lot of context. For one, these manga are simple high school or battle manga that are ~200 pages long, many of those pages have only a few lines of dialogue, etc. Imagine you are a professional translator, and you are given that manga to translate, all the set-up done for you, all you gotta do is write. How long do you think that would take? Not that long! It could probably take like a week if it's actually all you did (calc'd from a 10k word count manga volume, 2k is a typical "good translator" per day count - many manga are shorter than that). And note how they said "as little as two days" - not median two days! Just, you know, aspirationally.

Translation is just not a big bottleneck. You gotta do layouts, lettering, proofs, etc, these can all take just as much time - and are being done by people, they still need wage workers doing all this. But that is small fry in comparison to publishing contracts, author approvals, distribution, all of that. And most importantly, product acquisition - you have to get authors to sign with you! That can be months of work. I am sure they are trying to get bulk agreements with publishers and such, but authors will push back on that, this is not an easy endeavor.

Which is why, in above, they say they hope to have "500 translations monthly". And after a year+ of work, on launch, they have...

...18. As best I can tell at least, their site deliberately obfuscates what they actually translated versus are just hosting for resale after all.

So yeah, as mentioned I don't think the economics pencil out. These aren't worth $5 dollars, they can't actually generate volume that makes "massive economies of scale" actually valuable, and their approach is currently antithetical to the idea of generating traction for any of their individual works. Niche publishing just doesn't work this way.

But it is early days, and hey I respect the experiment! I do think the tech is pretty good, and it is nice to see a company showcase it. It isn't quite good enough yet for prime time, but it could get there. I do want more manga to get exposure and audience; I will give a fair shake to any who try.

#animanga-as-industry analysis #the quest for tab zero

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outskirtspress · 29 days ago

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Top 10 Bestsellers for September 2024 from Outskirts Press

This is the bestselling book in September 2024. Congratulations! Every month, Outskirts Press reviews book sales to identify our bestselling authors! This impressive list showcases the wide range of genres and readership that our authors reach. Above is September’s bestselling book from Outskirts Press and below are the rest of the Top 10 Bestsellers for the month. Click on the book covers for…

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#self-publishing #self-publishing authors #Top 10 Best Selling Books

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bakersimmer · 2 years ago

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Sims 4 Flower Garden Legacy

This legacy is inspired by flowers and the meanings attributed to them. I used the interpretations from two books I found on my mother's bookshelf.

These are more like guidelines and thoughts on how to make your different generations more interesting, especially if you are like me, and you need goals and challenges to stay engaged. I didn't have time to playtest all the generations, but I know it's possible to push your sims to the limit without cheating.

First things first

TS4 is easy enough to play without cheating

Different generations are linked to different expansions

Objectives are not in chronological order

To add more excitement, try out different mods

There are no assigned traits, but some traits would make your sims life easier. Follow your gut on this

There are no assigned colors. Again, follow your gut

English is not my first language, so please ignore any grammar mistakes 🙃 unless I wrote complete gibberish and you don't understand a single word in a sentence, then let me know

G1 Azalea

Azalea symbolizes friendship, family, joy, and tradition. With the right amount of sunlight and water, this low-maintenance plant will bring an abundance of color and beauty to your life.

You have a gentle and nurturing personality, with a talent for caring for others and creating a warm, welcoming environment. You prioritize spending time with loved ones and creating meaningful connections with others in your community. You find joy in the beauty of nature and have a passion for gardening and spending time in the kitchen.

Aspiration: Big Happy Family

Have at least three kids

Develop the highest possible skill level in cooking, baking, gardening, flower arranging, and parenting

Have some kind of social event with family and friends every Saturday (dinner, bbq, etc.)

Grow at least 10 different types of flowers in your garden (As of May 2023, there are 24 flowers in the game)

Use only low to mid-range furniture and appliances. Never replace anything, fix it yourself

To make money, you can only sell what you have grown or made yourself (vegetables, flower arrangements, preserves, cakes)

G2 Hollyhock

Hollyhock symbolizes ambition, abundance, resilience, and determination. With little care, this tall and sturdy flower will bring vibrance to your garden.

You always felt like you had to compete for the attention. You are highly ambitious, striving to achieve your goals and exceed expectations. While putting a lot of emphasis on your education and career, you neglect your close relationships. You struggle to express your feelings and connect with others on an emotional level. Despite all this, you are a loyal and supportive partner who does everything to show your feelings in a more practical way.

Aspiration: Academic -> Fabulously Wealthy

Complete the first aspiration and move to the next one

Get the best possible grades in elementary school, high school, and university

Have a career in business. You aim for the top

Marry the first sim you have a romantic relationship with

You are the breadwinner. The spouse quits their job after marriage and never works again

Don't spend much time with your child/children

Your home has medium and high price items. When something breaks, you always replace it with a new one

Pass the family money to the next heir

G3 Hydrangea

Hydrangea symbolizes vanity, arrogance, and desire. With little care, hydrangea brings elegance to your garden with its large and showy blooms.

You are highly creative and have a refined sense of style. Being in front of the cameras feels natural to you. You are self-centred and tend to prioritize your needs and desires above those of others. Thanks to your skills and fame, you accumulate a large amount of wealth.

Aspiration: World-Famous Celebrity

Develop the highest possible skill level in charisma, comedy, and acting

Go to a club/restaurant at least twice a week

Have one Meet and Greet in every season

Use mean interactions often

Change your hair color at least 3 times in your life

Hire a butler

In old age, an unexpected wave of generosity hits you, and you donate all your wealth

G4 Yarrow

Yarrow symbolizes strength, courage, overcoming and recovery. This flower will grow even on the poorest soil and doesn't require any care to thrive.

You grew up in luxury and wealth, but now you have nothing. Despite the obstacles, you are determined to provide for yourself because you want a stable and secure life. It is very important for you that your children are equipped with the necessary skills to be independent and successful by the time they move out.

Aspiration: Renaissance Sim -> Super Parent

Complete the first aspiration and move to the next one

Start with 0 money and a tent

In addition to work, dumpster dive to find valuables that you can sell (Don't sell collectibles or paintings/music/books for extra cash)

Attend different skill classes

Choose medicine as the last career and work in that field until retirement

Fall in love with a patient and end up marrying them

All your kids must gain a Top-Notch-Toddler trait

Always help your children with homework/school projects

All your kids must gain at least one positive character value trait

G5 Gardenia

Gardenia symbolizes sensuality, passion, and secret love. This sweet and intoxicating flower requires a little bit more attention from its grower.

You have a magnetic personality and natural charm. You are a hopeless romantic who tends to get caught in the passion and excitement of new relationships. You avoid long-term commitment because you fear that the daily routine will kill the excitement and passion. For that one special person, you are willing to take a chance on love despite your fears.

Aspiration: Serial Romantic -> Soulmate

Complete the first aspiration and move to the next one

Have a childhood friend who later becomes your soulmate

Work in Public Relations (Social Media career)

Get married at least 3 times

Woohoo in 10 different locations (As of May 2023, there are 23 locations/ways on the list)

No kids until adulthood

Reconnect with your childhood friend and settle down with them

G6 Protea

Protea symbolizes dreams, exploration, courage, and resilience. This plant needs a lot of space and sun to grow. It should not be planted deeper than the surface level of the soil.

You have a strong sense of wanderlust and a need for adventures. You love new experiences and cherish old memories. For you, a job is just a means to an end.

Complete two adventure/location-based aspirations

Develop the highest possible skill level in fitness, photography, programming, and logic

Work as a freelance programmer

Complete the postcard collection

Move repeatedly and live in at least 3 different worlds

Settle down in one of the desert/warm climate worlds (Oasis Springs, StrangerVille, Sulani, Del Sol Valley, or Tartosa)

Go on a family vacation in every season

G7 Snapdragon

Snapdragons symbolize passion, deception, denial, duality, and strength. This eye-catching, mostly warm-colored flower spices up your garden.

You are a master of deception, leading a double life. At first glance, you appear ordinary or even mundane, but looks are deceiving. Beneath your boring surface lurks something more sinister. Your purpose in life is to make others' lives a living hell because seeing them suffer is your favorite pastime. You are very passionate about your hobbies...maybe even a little fanatical.

Aspiration: Chief of Mischief

Develop the highest possible skill level in mischief, singing, piano

Fight with 5 different Sims

Become a Triple Agent (Secret Agent Career)

All your kids have to play one musical instrument at the highest possible skill level before they become young adults

All your kids have to have one negative character value trait

G8 Daffodil

Daffodil symbolizes new beginnings, rebirth, truth, and creativity. Daffodils love sunlight and well-drained soil. Therefore, the best growing place for this flower is an open and raised flowerbed.

You are a detail-oriented individual driven by a deep desire to uncover the truth. While searching for the truth, you stumble on a secret that will profoundly challenge your worldviews. You are loved and supported by your community, who admires your dedication.

Aspiration: StrangerVille Mystery & Friend of the World

Work as a journalist

Be a member of at least two clubs and host club meetings every week

Solve StrangerVille Mystery

Get married to a sim who helped you defeat the Mother Plant

Host at least 8 different types of social events in your lifetime (As of May 2023, game has 25 different social events)

All your kids have to complete the Social Butterfly aspiration

G9 Rudbeckia

Rudbeckia symbolizes justice, fairness, motivation, and optimism. Rudbeckia is a hardy flower that loves evenly moist soil but can also survive drought and scorching sun.

You are a highly principled individual deeply committed to upholding justice and protecting others. You are willing to make great sacrifices to ensure that justice is served. After work, you enjoy creative pursuits which allow you to unwind from the stresses of your work. You desire balance and harmony in your home life.

Aspiration: Painter Extraordinaire

Develop the highest possible skill level in wellness, painting, knitting, and cross-stitching

Work as a detective

Have a romantic relationship with one of the suspects but break it off eventually

Own a house with a large and luscious backyard where you spend most of your free time

Be strict with your kids, and never miss an opportunity to discipline them

All your kids have to earn the Emotional Control trait

G10 Lavender

Lavender symbolizes spirituality, intuition, devotion, and growth. Lavender needs a lot of light and warmth. Although this flower looks hardy, it's highly receptive to changes in the soil.

You are fascinated by the concept of magical and mystical, so you spend a lot of your time exploring spiritual practices and rituals to connect with this hidden world. You are determined to connect with and become part of the supernatural world. You have a soothing energy that puts others at ease.

Aspiration: Choose a vampire, spellcaster, or a werewolf aspiration

Develop the highest level of Medium skill

Work as a paranormal investigator

Become a friend with a vampire, spellcaster, or a werewolf

Become a vampire, spellcaster, or a werewolf

#ts4 #sims 4 #ts4 legacy #sims 4 legacy #sims 4 flower garden legacy #ts4 flower garden legacy #flower garden legacy

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ttexed · 2 months ago

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youtube

Larry Williams - She Said Yeah

‘Larry Williams (May 10, 1935 January 7, 1980) was an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter and pianist from New Orleans, Louisiana. Williams is best known for writing and recording some rock and roll classics from 1957 to 1959 for Specialty Records, including "Bony Moronie", "Short Fat Fannie", "Bad Boy", "Dizzy Miss Lizzie" and "She Said Yeah," which were later covered by British Invasion groups and other artists. John Lennon, in particular, was a fan of Williams, recording several of his songs over the course of his career. "Bony Maronie" is listed as one of the Top 500 songs that shaped Rock and Roll.

Williams lived a life mixed with tremendous success and violence-fueled drug addiction. He was a long-time friend of Little Richard. As a child in New Orleans, Williams learned how to play piano. When he was a teenager, he and his family moved to Oakland, California, where he joined a local R&B group called the Lemon Drops. In 1954, when he was 19 years old, Williams went back to New Orleans for a visit. He began work as Lloyd Price's valet and developed a friendship with Little Richard Penniman, who was recording at the time in New Orleans. Price and Penniman were both recording for Specialty Records at the time. Williams was introduced to Specialty's house producer, Robert Blackwell, and was signed to record.

In 1957, Little Richard was Specialty's biggest star, but bolted from Rock and Roll to pursue the ministry. Williams was quickly groomed by Blackwell to try to replicate his success. Using the same raw, shouting vocals and piano-driven intensity, Williams scored with a number of hit singles. Williams' three biggest successes were "Short Fat Fannie", which was his first hit, reaching #5 in Billboard's pop chart, "High School Dance", which also made #5, and "Bony Moronie", which peaked at #14. Both "Short Fat Fanny" and "Bony Moronie" sold over one million copies, gaining gold discs. Several of his songs achieved later success as revivals by The Beatles ("Bad Boy", "Slow Down", and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy"); The Rolling Stones ("She Said Yeah"); and John Lennon's versions of "Bony Moronie" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy".

Williams had been involved with underworld activity since his early teens, and had reputedly been a pimp before he ever recorded music. After 1957 Williams did not have much success selling records. He recorded a number of songs in 1958 and 1959, including "Heebie Jeebies", with band members such as Plas Johnson on tenor sax and Alvin "Red" Tyler on baritone, Barney Kessel on guitar, Gerald Wilson on trumpet, Ernie Freeman or Williams himself on piano, and Earl Palmer on drums. He was convicted of dealing narcotics in 1960 and served a jail term, setting back his career considerably.

Williams made a comeback in the mid-1960s with a funky soul band that included Johnny "Guitar" Watson, which paired him musically with Little Richard who had been lured back into secular music. He produced two Little Richard albums for Okeh Records in 1966 and 1967, which returned Little Richard to the Billboard album chart for the first time in ten years and spawned the hit single Poor Dog. He also acted as the music director for the Little Richard's live performances at the Okeh Club. Bookings for Little Richard during this period skyrocketed. Williams also recorded and released material of his own and with Watson, with some moderate chart success. This period may have garnered few hits but produced some of his best and most original work.

Williams also began acting in the 1960s, appearing on film in Just for the Hell of It (1968), The Klansman (1974), and Drum (1976).

In the 1970s, there was also a brief dalliance with disco, but Williams' wild lifestyle continued. By the middle of the decade, the drug abuse and violence was taking its toll. In 1977, Williams pulled a gun on and threatened to kill his long-time friend, Little Richard, over a drug debt. They were both living in Los Angeles and addicted to cocaine. Little Richard bought drugs from him, arranged to pay him later, but did not show up because he was high. Williams was furious. He hunted him down but ended up showing compassion on his long-time friend after Little Richard repaid the debt. This, along with other factors, led to Little Richard's return to born again Christianity and the ministry, but Williams would not escape LA's seedy underworld.'

SOURCE: Wikipedia

#youtube

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hannahbarberra162 · 5 months ago

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Struck Twice By Lightning, Chapter 10

I love Buggy. I think he'd have Nami / Usopp energy with his BFF (me).

18+ MDNI

On Ao3

A day or so later, there was another island at which the crew wanted to dock. You didn’t understand their sailing path - where were they heading? What was the plan? Shanks said that they were “sailing around,” looking for parties, festivals, and booze.

“That’s it? You’re just… sailing around ?” you were flabbergasted.

“What else would we do?” Shanks said, already drinking in the early afternoon on a lounge chair.

“I don’t know - whatever Emperors are supposed to do! Collect money or get more subordinate crews?” You had been so into the grind of daily life for the last ten years the thought of doing nothing forever was completely foreign to you.

Shanks swirled his drink, and replied “I don’t feel like it.”

“You don’t feel like it ? Then how do you guys get money?” You were guessing he had no idea.

“I have no idea. Benn gives me some when I ask.” There it was. Just the thought of seeing their accounting books sent a shudder down your spine. You’d done your own finances for your business - it was a huge headache but it was important to keep yourself entrenched in the money side of things.

“Why would I improve upon a perfect system?” Shanks asked, reclining back and crossing his legs. You rolled your eyes - you didn’t have it in you to argue with such idiocy.

“You’re right, O wise Emperor. Why can’t we all just drink alcohol at 1 PM on a Tuesday?”

“I’m pretty sure it’s Monday.”

“It’s not. Speaking of alcohol, the sake is done brewing. The koji we got is better suited to a shorter brew. We can open it tonight if I can get it pasteurized in time.” It wasn’t the best you’d ever made, but it was pretty good for sake made on a pirate ship with makeshift tools.

“Hm. What should we call it?” Shanks tapped his drink in thought.

“What do you mean we ? I brewed it, I get to name it. I have a whole naming convention system I use.”

Shanks pouted. “But you brewed it with ingredients bought by my money on my ship. That means it’s mostly mine. So I get to.”

“You just said you don’t know how the money flows on your ship! Maybe it was money from Beckman’s private fund and he gets to name it!”

“No, I’m still his captain. Oh wait, that’s right!” Shanks snapped his fingers “Captain’s orders - I’m naming it!”

“You know that’s not how that works.”

“Sure it is, you’re not a captain so you wouldn’t know.”

“Fine, but I get to veto anything especially egregious.” You crossed your arms.

“Nonsense, all my ideas will be great. How about Shanks’s Huge Di-”

“No.”

Shanks scoffed at you. “You didn’t let me finish! I was going to say Shanks’s Huge Dinner, a sake meant for drinking with a fine meal.”

“No, you weren’t.” You smiled despite yourself.

“No, I wasn’t. What about Shanks’s Amazing Co-”

“No.”

“Shanks Gave Me A Screaming Or-”

“No.”

“The Red Force?”

“No.”

“Hey, what's wrong with that one?! That’s the name of the ship!”

“Ah, well, I already have one with that name. That’s the kind in the bottle I gave to Benn when I met up with you.” You muttered it reluctantly, knowing how Shanks would take it. And indeed, Shanks looked like the cat who ate the cream.

“Didn’t you say that it was your best sake? That it won awards?” Shanks was turning the screws and he knew it.

“Yeah, yeah.” You waved him off. “It’s not like the name did any of the work. Besides, I named other brews after other famous ships. I also have Queen Mama Chanter, Moby Dick, Big Top, and a few others. Helps sell the alcohol in different areas.”

“Awww, Buggy. I can’t believe you named one after him. I thought you didn’t like him.”

“What? No, I love Buggy. We’ve been close friends for years now. I should call him, actually. Let him know I’m here. He’d love to hear all the dirty details.” You’d buried the hatchet with Buggy long ago - it turned out you had a lot in common and enjoyed talking to each other. You had each other’s transponder snails and talked pretty frequently even though he was out in the East Blue. He was a great friend - supportive and caring, and always - always - ready to talk shit.

“And what dirty details are you going to share, exactly?” Shanks raised an eyebrow.

“Just confirm a suspicion or two.”

“Like what? About my huge dinner?” You laughed.

“No, a much darker and more closely kept secret…” you leaned over him and put your arms over the top of his chair, blocking out his sunlight. Shanks looked up at you with a furtive glance. You brought your face down to his and whispered into his ear.

“You keep the goatee because you still can’t grow a full beard.” Shanks smiled and snarled, reaching up trying to grab you. You laughed and danced away, evading his arm. He got up to chase you, catching you with ease since you weren’t really trying to get away. He pinned you against the railing of the deck with his body, nuzzling your face with his own.

“You’ve discovered my truth. What can I do to have you keep my secret?” He spoke softly into your ear, causing you to shiver. His hand was playing with the ends of your hair, lightly pulling.

“Hmm. I can think of a few things. Let’s talk more in your cabin.” Without another word, Shanks swept you up and carried you over his shoulder to the cabin, smacking your ass loudly.

“Hey! Just for that I’m naming it Shanks’s Goatee!” He smacked it again playfully.

If he got to float around the sea having fun and doing nothing, you didn’t see why you couldn’t do the same, at least for a little while.

~~~

Later that afternoon, you did decide to call Buggy. You hadn’t called him in a few weeks, due to all the Shanks shenanigans, which was a longer stretch than usual. You went to the cabin and pulled out your transponder snail. It was wearing Buggy’s hat with the hair pulled through the corners, which made you smile. You laid on the bed and dialed his line.

Purupuru purupuru purupuru purupuru

“What’s up toots?” Buggy’s familiar and pleasant tone came through. He was probably reading something on the other end, as the snail's eyes were tracking something.

“Don’t be mad,” you stated. That made the snail look at you directly.

“Don’t be mad about what? If the Big Top Brew was a flop this time, I don’t care, I'll still buy it all at full price.”

“No, no, nothing like that. I…uh…have some news.”

“What kind of news?” The snail’s eyes narrowed. You led a pretty boring life generally, it was usually Buggy telling you his adventures with his traveling circus.

“Well, uh….” In the background there was a commotion and some of the crew started yelling.

“What was that sound? Where are you?” He sounded concerned. Even though you never needed him in that way, you were sure Buggy would come to your rescue if you ever asked.

“Oh, um…I’m on the Red Force?” you ended the statement as a question.

“What.”

“I’m on the Red Force, with Shanks?” You were expecting a huge outburst from Buggy, since he was usually quick to anger. Instead, the snail sighed dejectedly.

“Why? I thought you wanted to divorce him.”

“I did - I do. But he wouldn’t grant me one unless I came on board with him for a month.”

“And you agreed? Come on, I thought you were smarter than that.”

“I - I guess not.” You didn’t want to upset Buggy and his opinion meant a lot to you. Despite what people thought about him, he was smart and perceptive. You were taking his words to heart. The snail sighed again.

“I’m not mad, just disappointed. You’re going to get hurt, and it will be worse than last time. Did you have sex with him?”

“.…” You didn’t want to lie to Buggy, but you sensed this was a dangerous path. You absently stroked the snail with a finger.

“Is Shanks with you?”

“No, but I’m guessing he’s listening in.”

“Hi Buggy!!!” Shanks yelled happily from outside the cabin. You imagined he was waving as well.

“Doesn’t matter. I’d say this to his face, too. This won’t end well. Shanks is a man who only wants what he can’t have. Call me when he forgets about you again.” Buggy abruptly hung up the snail. He’d never hung up on you before.

You sat there in stunned silence. You knew Buggy had your best interest at heart. His relationship with Shanks was…complicated, to say the least. But there was no doubt that he knew Shanks well, maybe even better than you. You’d cried to Buggy about Shanks so many times over the years. It would be hard to see a friend make the same mistakes over and over, you thought to yourself. You were still thinking about it when Shanks opened the door to the cabin and leaned against the doorframe.

“Can I come in?”

“Sure.” You gestured to the couch, where Shanks sat down. He looked pensive but cracked a small smile when he saw the snail.

“Is that his look now?” He asked, pointing at the snail. The Buggy snail in question had already fallen back asleep wearing the hat.

“Yeah, his hair’s really long.”

“ ‘S cute.” Shanks looked at you from across the room.

“If you asked me ten years ago, I would have agreed with Buggy.” Shanks was looking directly at your surprised face. “It’s a flaw of mine - he’s not wrong. I used to only want what I couldn’t have and once I got it, it lost its shine. Thrill of the hunt, you know. I had you, treated you the same way. So then I didn’t have you any longer.”

You stayed silent - this was similar to things he’s said before. But he’d never acknowledged that he’d lost interest once you were together for a while. It felt…validating. You were worried that this was all rosy retrospection, that Shanks was romanticizing the past and forgetting what it was really like.

Shanks continued, “I realized - I never had you. You’re not an object I can hold in my hands and claim. You allowed me to experience a slice of time alongside you. And I was ungrateful. Nothing has ever compared to that period in my life - I think about it all the time. I think about you all the time. I’ve never forgotten. That’s why we’re sailing to nowhere. I don’t need to hunt for the next big thing. I don’t need to collect experiences like notches on a bedpost anymore. None of that matters. I want something meaningful. I want you back.”

You swallowed dryly. You got off the bed and walked over to Shanks sitting on the couch. You were shaken by the depth of his words. You faced him and straddled his lap. You took his face in your hands, searching his eyes with your own. You pressed your forehead against his.

“I still love you too,” you said. You twined your arms around his neck and kissed him deeply.

#shanks x reader #op shanks #red haired shanks #one piece shanks #second chance at love #second chance romance #second chances #buggy d clown #shanks x you #buggy the clown #red force #shanks

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popculturebuffet · 2 months ago

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X-Month Finale: My Top 10 X-Runs

Welcome one and all to the grand finale of X-Month. A thing or two got changed and moved around but i'm overall proud of how it went this time. We've looked at darkwing duck, the greatest x-men cartoon ever, and Nightcrawler's two moms. Now we end this month with A look at something diffrnet but personal to me. These are my top 10 x-runs, the runs of x-men and it's various spinoffs that I truly love, that define the book for me and define this part of the franchise. There the books that either made me love mutants so much in the first place or helped reaffirm why. They run the gammut from the just ended at the time of this article Krakoa era's majesty all the way back to chris claremont helping retool a struggling half baked idea into one of the greatest comics ever. These comics are why I love x-men and i'm happy to share them with you and hopefully get you to read them and hopefully i'll be able to cover them all some day. But for now this is a nice smorgoseboard of what makes the strangest mutants of all marvel's best part, a small pocket full of creativity, commentary , change and artistic glory.

So a few guidelines: For longtime readers, I usually do top 12 lists, to the point i'm shirnking my best animated episodes list down to it, but with all the x themeing in the krakoan age it felt right to slim it down to a nice sharp x. The second is that i'm crediting every artist who worked on at least three issues. I'd credit all of them but the runs from the 2010's and 2000's are caked with one off fill ins and 80's comics tended to have a ton of one off fill ins or other people doing the annuals. I'm not against it, if you have someone who can do great art or guest on a run do it and it's thanks to this kind of thing we got walt simonson for one glorious issue of x-men, I just don't want the art credits to be 80 pages long, but DID take the effort to comb thorugh every run and find every artist that at least did an arc on the books honored here, as i'm trying to break out of only propping up the writers when it comes to comics. Their a VISUAL medium and the artists are often what makes a run. So to under the cut my x-men for the uncanny, the astonshing and my faviorites.

10. The New Mutants Written By Chris Claremont Drawn by Bob McLeod, Sal Buscema, Bill Sienkiewicz, Steve Leialoha, Mary Wilshire, Rick Leonardi and Jackson Guice Marvel GN #4, New Mutants Vol 1 , #1-54 + 3 Annuals, NM Special #1 59 Issues

It was the 80's and the Uncanny X-Men was marvel's best selling comic. Chris Claremont and a slew of talented game changing artists had turned a once niche property into one of the most layered, engaging and compelling books out there. So naturally Marvel wanted MORE money and to spin off this mother. Chris was reluctant because he wanted the main book to be special and it's own thing.. but was then threatned that if he didn't do it someone else will, so he found a concept he liked: Focusing on teenage emerging mutants something lightly glanced at with Kitty Pryde in Uncanny but this book brough to the forefront.

In the process Clarmeont and Bob Mcleod created a bunch of my faviorite mutants: The outspoken but Compasionate and tactical Dani, her bestfriend/sorta girlfriend and heavily abused prior to her coming to the team Rahne, naive country boy Sam, smooth talking only in his head and hot headed in everywhere including his body and my adopted son Roberto. Theree was also Karma, a later revealed to be queer immigrant (While not done by Chris Claremont here he certainly is responsible for it later int he 2000s', so respect) trying to care for two siblings the book quickly writes out.

The book would add four more to the mix: Amilla who thanks to a messy backstory and not a lot of use is eh, and three of my faviorites: Illyana, Kitty Pryde's best friend and a sorceress who was kidnapped and tortured by a demon man, Doug Ramsey, kitty's other friend and a computer genius who can read any language and in this era was a non combatant and Warlock, doug's best self friend, a goofy gloriously weird looking alien on the run from his abusive dad.

If your thinking this team has a lot of angst you'd be correct: Rahne is introduced running from an angry mob, Dani having to go with a white man she resents after her grandfather is shot, Roberto's girlfriend being killed by bigots and Sam barely able to keep his family fed having to mine in his pa's place after his dad died. The X-Men as a rule carry baggage but these poor kids had a whole planeload, not helped by being hated and feared.

And yet they perservere: they find love, find strength in each other. They sometimes clash, poor Illyana gets accused of being evil due to her demonic powers far too often, Sam has a one sided crush on Amara, and Doug grapples with being the only one on the team whose powers don't make him fight good.

The book also has a fantastic horror tone at times , something uesd early on as the Professor Xavier who brought these kids together to train them, and to not fight which being mutants is still something they run into constantly. While the issues after tried to go for a more conventional superhero book, Bill Skinewietz arrival, gloriously scratchy pencils and endlessly awesome covers helped cement it: these were kids dealing with terrible horrors: aliens who'd kill their own children, the DID ridden head of Charles Xaviers son, demons internal and without, and a demonic bear following Dani Moonstar I still don't fully understand, but still slaps.

New Mutants is one of the best x-books of the 80s, with X-Factor close behind it (It didn't make the cut but I still love Louise Simonson's Run), and one other just ahead. It's a book full of creative swings, ideas that would last the franchise a while and some of the best mutants ever made.

9. Iceman Written by Sina Grace DB Alesandro Vitti, Edgar Salazar, Robert Gil, and Nathan Stockman Iceman V3 1-11, Iceman V4 1-5, X-Men Winters End 17 Issues

This is the shortest out of these runs and that's for a very simple reason: Marvel's Editorial was very shitty to writer Sina Grace. They lambastated him for going on podcasts in a way that was subtly hompohobic, brought him back for another run.. and then cancled it 5 issues in. Grace has since done work for DC and marvel needs to both apologize and either bring him back or at least collect his run.

Iceman comes from RessuXion, Marvel's kinda sorta push to bring the x-men back after trying to kill them with the previous era. That's not hyperbole, there was a giant murder cloud, most of ya'll likely know, and Ike Pearlmutter was thankfully gone so the X-Men got something resembling a push and the fantastic four were reunited. That last part isn't relevant.

Ressurxion was only a half measure: the x-men really didn't interact with the rest of the lines still, one of the two flagship titles X-Men Gold, was a mediocre rehash of a bunch of previous stories wasting the great idea of having Kitty Pryde lead, and X-Men Blue, while awesome and only barely not making this list at various points, felt very weel spinny as Cullen Bunn wasn't alowed to change much as Hickman's run was on the horizon but not set ins tone. Which is stupid and something I doubt HIkcman actually approved or asked for.

Still Ressuction had a hidden gem alongside Blue: Iceman. So long story short that's going to sound weird even to fans who were there: The Original Five X Men were brough to the future by Beast in a stupid move that left them stranded and traumtized. Jean being about as tactful as a hurricane during Bendis run , OUted bobby claimed "he's not bi he's full on gay" and kinda shoved him out of the closet. While this was well meaning as Bobby still was in the closet in present day, it was done hamm handledly with a slice of accidental bi erasure.

Our Bobby coming out though was thankfully handled better with him admitting he didn't admit he was gay and while Bendis handeld the first part of the coming out with a sledge hammer, several previous x writers had left the seeds that the og class clown was indeed gay and it' sa move I support: the grounding was there and even with him dating women he never seemed that invested for the most part.

So the next era was too busy with the murder cloud to do anything of note with him being out, but thankfully they gave bobby to Sina Grace. Iceman is a fantastic solo and a fantastic queer superhero book, with Bobby figuring out what Coming Out means in his late 20's, and being both out and proud.. but still having struggles. He dosen't know how to put his profile together, has an akward mission with his last het romance kitty, a romance that in hindsight perfectly comes off like someone trying badly to pass as straight, and flirts with wolverine's disaster bisexual son who serves as the main antagonist. It's a book that explores just how fun bobby can be and sold me on a character I didn't care about before.

It also goes into his awful parents. His dad was a massive asshole in the 90's, tried to change but snapped back and while the snap back is a bit o fa continuity gafe, it's one that works as Bobby has to come out to two parents who already barely accept he's a mutant, and now have to accept he's gay. And then try to groom his past self to be the perfect son they always wanted.

It's a great run that not only lets Bobby show off his powers but his heart, humor and what makes him a great character. Check it out of you haven't and hopefully we'll get a one volume edition one of these days. Also just so I dont' have to say that a thousand time that goes for EVERY run present.

8. Wolverine and the X-Men Written by Jason Aaron Art by Chris Bachalo, Nick Bradshaw, Jorge Molina, Ramon Perez, Pepe Larazz and Ed McGuiness 42 Issues + Annual + AU Issue + Amazing X-Men 1-5 49 Issues

Wolverine and the X-Men is the big breakout of one Jason Aaron, a writer I have mixed feelings about. He has written comics I like, this one, doctor strange and so far his TMNT run, but has a weakness for putting over the top spectacle over character or cohesive plot, his Thor run degrading with time and his Avengers run having great ideas for plots but no real meat to said plots.

Wolverine and the X-Men does run into that a little, mostly with the x-men themselves as only WOlverine really gets an arc: most of the team gets a spotlight issue, but still spend the bulk of their time in fight scenes. Kitty Pryde is the only one besides logan to net decent focus and that gets thrown out as Brian Micheal Bendis called dibs as soon as he joined post avx. This was the first book I read with rachel summers but outside of her spotlight she's mostly there to be the token telepath. We never really get a sense of what she WANTS out of the school, how she feels about what Scott's up to anything personal. Cannonball, Sam from New Mutants, gets it worse as he's really just there for his sisters subplot and nothing else. I won't evfen get into the horny bird lady sexually harassing iceman. Ther'es also a bad tendency to treat Cyclops as some form of despot and not that guy what over at the other place.

That said the series manages to dodge this being a complete issue with the kids: Wolverine and the X-Men is at it's core a teen x-men book and the reason these teens are back in school at all also provides nice motivation for Logan to be running a school, something the book frequently lampshades is kinda nuts. With mutantkind dwindling at the time, Cyclops kept militarizing the children and Logan, tired of it and wanting them to live rather than surivvie, took half the x-men and any willing students.

The result is a diverse and intresting student body focusing mainly on Idie, a young religoius african teen who sees her powers as a curse and herself as a monster, Broo, my faviorite x-child period and an adorable nerd who happens to be a brood, a group of aliens that try to eat the x-men regularly with the mutation to not be a bloodthirsty monster, Gensis, a cloned apocalypse who was given superman's upbringing in stasis. And of course theirs Quinten Quire whose been overused sense this but hadn't really got to do anything. He's a punk who after a breakdown at finding out he was adopted decided to throw a riot at the school. He'd rather be on Cyclops Island but gets dragged to Jean Grey's School for Hire Leanring, renamed from "I did your wife school of hire learning". It' shis evolution tha'ts intresting: going from a mouthy twerp with way too much power and ego to.. well still a mouthy twerp but one with an actual heart and friends. We also have Kid Gladiator, son of the shiar empreoro gladiator and boisterious hilaroius jock. We also get great additions like eyeboy, sprite and shark girl, albeit none getting a ton of focus here.

While the main cast is great, what throws this series over the top its it's gonzo creativity. More than any writer since morrrison and until hickman, Aaron embraced the batshit insanity of the x-men and grasps at it with a gonzo whimsy few can match. Jason Aaron has had his issues with reining it in but with x-men it's just the right ballance.

The first arc alone, one of my faviorites despite not being a fan of chris bachelos art, Wolverine opens school, and find sit under siege from a revamped hellfire club, now a bunch of tweens lead by Kade Kilgore. Given hellfire was reduced to "sebastian shaw on occasion maybe" by this point, it was a needed revamp and I get it's not everyones taste but for me it works. Especially when one of Kade's minons is a frankenstien (the doctor not the monster man), who grenade launches frankenstiens at our heros and mutates two members of the school board into a wendigo and a sauron. Oh and the schools grounds have become a baby krakoa, the hisland that wallks like a schoolyard, which wins the day and soon becomes my faviorite part of the book. I loved krakoa since I was a teen so seeing him get revamped as this adorable adiditon was great and I still wonder what happened to them and why the krakoa era never adressed them.

Our heroes fight weaponized brood pregancies, go to space casinos to raise funds, deal with angel having come back as an actual angel and possed by.. something, too many tie ins, a murder circus lead by frankenstien, a field trip to the savage land and a final showdown with the hellfire club. It was a wonderfully creative, batshit insane story with tons of great ideas that have been barely touched, like School-Krakoa, Toad as a good guy or Logan's brother dog coming back as a time traveling badass. There are better books than Wolverine and the X-MEn but few have this much fun.

PS: Almost buried the leap, this book brought doop from x-statix back and i'm eternally greatful and his spotlight issue, drawn by co-creator mike allred, is easily the best of the run. I mean it has this alone

So speaking of doop

7. X-Statix Written by Peter Milligan Drawn by Mike Allred X-Force 116-129, X-Statix 1-26, Dead Girl 1-5, Wolverine/Doop 1 and 2 46 issues

X-Statix came about as part of marvel's big relaunch of the X-Men with New X-Men, canceling several titles, relaunching a few and changing up the few left. In this case X-Force, previously about the new mutants as they grew up and got guns then got their personalities back once Rob Liefield left, they instead completely upended it. The old cast was gone, the old premise was gone, and a whole new idea and cast of mutants were introduced.

The series had a genius premise: A shady reality show producer, Spike Freeman, starts up a mutant reality show at the height of the reality show boom starring a bunch of mutants who are desperate to be loved and adored by becoming rich and famous, often being conceded assholes like any reality tv star.

The catch was revealed in the first issue as the bulk of the team is gunned down: Only angry black man with internalized issues about his race Anarchist and the egotistical , pill popping shocking compitent u go girl are left as the team is rebuilt, now lead by the orphan, a man with super sensitivty and a ton of lampshaded angst, Vivisector, an erudite wolfman who later turns out to be gay, Phat, one of the many white kids approraiting black culture at the time, and Dead Girl. THere's many more but this is the core of the cast for most of the book, which was later relaunched as X-Statix. Many a member dies, no one is safe, and it's cyncial as fuck, making fun of celebrity, events, and mutant cliches. Some of the shine has rubbed off this one as a lot of these jokes have been made a lot, but it's still fun thanks to it's compelling cast who get fleshed out amazingly, meditations on fame, and Doop, the little ball of tumors that follows them around. It's it's own neat little pocket of the marvel unvierse: it's revivial is pretty detached from Krakoa and something I need to check out and it's cast, due to mbeing dead a alot, havne't really crossed over. But the book itself stands as a nice unique pocket

And saving the best for last no discussion would be complete without Mike Allred, an artist with a unique style remincent of jack kirbys btu still his own that's this nice art deco chunky goodness and works perfectly here, both giving the mutants all really fantastic designs and nicely giving everything a splash of color to contrast the dark tone. This is one I picked up in high school in backissues and hasn't left me since.

6. Uncanny X-Men Writer: Kireon Gillen Artists: Carlos Pachcheo, Terry Dodson, Greg Land and Daniel Acuna Uncanny X-Men V1 #534.1-544, X-Men Regenisis, Uncanny X-Men Volume 2 #1-20, AVX Consequences 1-5, 36 Issues

So when I first got back into comics reguarly I figured from both is more dangerous new design where he can't see too good

And the way both bendis own much worse companion book and various others like Uncanny Avnegers or Wolverine and the X-Men talked about him and AVX that Scott Summers had become the new magneto and a dangerous edgelord man.

Instead the truth was more nuanced as i'd learn: Some writers made Scott a bit of an ass during his time leading utopia, the slap of concrete what contained all the muants left. But despite some questionable actions down more to bad writing, he wasn't evil. He asn't purely good either as the schism I mentiond proved, driven to do whatever it took to survive. He was shady but never quite took the heel turn, instead being an intrestingly pragmatic character. Also while he did kill charles xavier it was while hopped up on the phoenix force, something he points out reguarly making everyone else come off as assholes for giving Jean a pass but not scott.

And the man who wrote this best was Kireon Gilleon, scottish writer and maestro who came along after a decent but forgetable run from Matt Fraction and gave the franchise the injection it needed.

His run started with the x-men on utopia nad not only reballanced Scott after said bad writing, but showed off the good and bad of Scott: he's repessed and obessive, but also a stategic mastermind determined to save his people. The early part of his run does what the run before it by Matt Fraction did: uses the whole of mutantkind for huge spectacle as well as return Kitty Pryde to normal, she was a ghost for a while, so she can go off with the other book. The highlight is it's climax: juggernaught, jacked up on the power of a god and a hammer like thor, is more unstoppable than normal and Scott throws EVERY plan he has at the guy and every mutant he has at the guy which is ALL OF THEM who aren't children. And even a few children because the situations that bad.

The real meat is the sadly short livedb ut awesome second volume of uncannY: After the schism, Scott splits up, getting Emma because she loves the guy, Namor because he wants to do Emma and i'm not exagerating he's blatant about it, Storm because Scott dosen't trust himself, Hope the mutants own personal jesus, Danger, the former danger room having gained snetience and tried to kill charles for enslaving her

Dr Nemisis, an immortal nazi hunter, Colossus, current host of the juggernaught powers, his sister Magik, Psylocke, and of course Magneto, who'd recently joined up and is master of magnet.

This team of scary motherfuckers is the exctinction team and that name is unsettling on purpose but also dosen't mean kill everyone.. it just means they could and Scott is both helping mutantkinds rep AND scarring the shit out of it's eneies my taking on extinction events: if something can wipe out huamnity it's their job and it's a fucking briliant setup. Take the strongest x-men left on scott's side, which is really most of THE strongest in general and put them against the worst.

This also sets up the big bad of the series and Kireon's best achivment: Sinister. Gilleon revamped him from a fairly sterotypical and deranced mad science man to a campy as hell horrible as hell man who sets out to remake the world literally in his image, thinks turn of the century britan was just fine, hates women and isn't lacking for quips or meance with our heroes stuck in a city of him that can develop safe guards every time they kill one. And he does so by stealing a celestial's head, which means the first mission alone is stop a space god AND a madman.

There's other good romps but sinister is the core and the series weathers the avx tie ins decently, weaving them into what's writtne. IT's ending, consequences, isn't nearly as good, with scott feeling out of character and was meant to set up further adventures that instead got handed off to bendis, but Gielleon's runs a great mediation on absolute power , scare tactics and the meaning of fear regardless and is still a joy to read every time.

5. X-Men Red/S.W.O.R.D. By Al Ewing Art by: Valerio Schiti, Jacopo Camagni, Stefano Caselli , Jacopo Camagni , Yildray Cinar and Luciano Vecchio S.W.O.R.D. V2 #1-11 , Cable Reloaded, X-Men Red V2 1-18 and The Resurrection of Magneto 1-4 34 Issues

Al Ewing is one of my faviorite writers in comics. easily. Starting with Mighty Avengers, i've adored his runs on Immortal Hulk, his ant-man/wasp trilogy, his character defining run for Roberto decosta on new avengers and usa avengers and what i've read of immortal thor among others. Al Ewing is Marvel's best writer these days and in a pool that includes Jonathan Hickman and now once again Gail Simone, tha'ts the highest praise.

So naturally given Ewing had a clear love of x-men from new avengers alone and a deep love of continuity I was chomping at the bit for him to join the krakoan age, a bit disapointed he wasn't in the first round of books but knowing he had ot show up he just had to.

Thankfully my prayers were answered as not only did Ewing arrive he arrived in style, bringing back SWORD, once shield's extraterestial arm now krakoas. Ewing at the time was reworking marvel's space with his Guardians run and wrote SWORD in concert with it, as big evfents happened and SWORD stood ready, while bringing earth, or sol as it's called onto the galactic stage, starting the run with stealing a mystery metal from the heart of creation and then using it to fund the galactic economy. SWORD was a solid captivating book, amping up the idea of mutant circutis (a bunch of mutants working in concert), galactic marvel and earth's place in it.

What's brilliant in hindsight though as while a great book on it's own, making characters I thought were highly underused like Wiz Kid or Frenzy rise to full potetial and making previously also ran mutant Peeper into a star overnight. I mean look at him

I also love Magneto is so .. happy to see him.

While SWORD is great what followed is truly incredibly, some of ewings best work and all the groundwork was laid in sword, from Magneto regretting his past in the hellfire gala tie in to said gala leading to one of the best events in x-history: Arakko. A bunch of mutatns who'd become a warrior civilization needed a home so thier island was put on mars giving them a planet and possible peace... and storm was put there as regent.

This leads to an even better sequel as ewing keeps SWORD head abigail brand on as big bad, wanting to destroy mutant civilzation and make earth a real power in the universe, and thus Arakko is a great chess piece as Storm plays against Abby for it's future for the first two arcs. Storm is a fantastic character and ewing gets her down pat, her grace, her badassery but also her humanity, kindness and mohawk. Helping her are my two faviorite mutants, no really 1 and 2 respectively, Magneto and Sunspot. Magneto was already eating well in the krakoan age, but ewing gives the old man humanity, with Magneto realizing his lost daughter Anya wasn't a mutant.. and thus can't be brought back and wondering what all this was for, being cojolled into things as he realizes as much as he wanted to retire he can't. Roberto meanwhile had a rough start in Krakoa as Jonathan Hickman took out all his brains for some reason despite being the one who started to emphasize that he's more than just a pretty face.

Ewing in his avengers runs made roberto into a master stratageist and chessmaster bar none who still loved parties, champaign robots and the mission impossible theme, so I was utterlyt hrilled to see berto on the cover. Now a consort to Shiar regent Deathbird and having a stake in the game, Roberto comes to arakko to play and quickly gets involved in things, using his skills to help his new team. Ewing is the man who truly made the best roberto decosta and it's so gratifying to see he got a second lap.

Ewing also builds up arakko well: it's culture, i'ts changes, and the challenges storm and magneto face in changing it, concluding in a massive war that ends the series as arakko's past rule comes knocking. Add in a great epilogue exploring magento and storm and you have one of the finest comic runs in recent memory.

4. New X-Men Written by Grant Morrison Art by Frank Quitely, Evan Van Sciver, Igor Kordey, Phil Jiminez, Chris Bachalo, and Marc Silvestri 114-154 Plus Annual 41 Issues

It was the early 2000's and the x-men had hit a fucking a wall. The 90s while fondly remembered for the jim lee outfits, awesome cartoon and other delights, were a nightmare time for the x-men. Just trying to read that era of uncanny and adjectivless to fill the gaps in my knowledge was a waking nightmare with only a few bright spots. I got as far as just after operation zero tolerance and bailed and despite bringnig back heavyweights like Alan Davis or Chris Claremont, restrictive ediotrial mandates, overdone crossovers and other nonsense had left the x-men barley standing.

Desperate Marvel had a bunch of creators pitch various ideas for a bold new take on the x-men.. and the winner was the one, the only Grant Morrison. Grant had already made big splashes at DC with their runs on Doom Patrol, Animal Man and more, had a penchant for writing gloriously weird, sometimes incomprehnsible stories with a beating human heart. So being both a hot writer from the other company and having a bigger bolder vision, and needing badly for the comcis to recover to cash in on the recent film and upcoming X-Men Evolution, they agreed.

The result is the run that made me the x-holic I am today: while I read x-men stories i loved before this, with Chris Claremont and Paul Smith's run being the first this is the one that got me as hooked as I am: a stylish run with what morrison called a kinetic strut, aided by Frank Quitely's weird and awesomely unique art and a variety of other artists of varying quality brought out a vision of a bold new era.

The run came out hot: it stripped it's cast down to a core of iconic x-men, added in Emma Frost finally fully reforming but still 100% that bitch, and threw in curveballs with kind monk with a hell of a look xorn and xavier himself getting his legs back. There were set backs as Colossus was killed before Morrison could use him and Claremont called dibs on rogue and storm for X-Treme X-Men, but they pivoted well.

However a flashy new look wasn't what made the book, it was it's frantic pace and bold new vision: Morrison recontexulizted the x-men as an actaul minority, giving them a culture, a voice and making many weirder and wilder than ever before, showing that not every mutant got to pass. He also threw the x-men out of the shadows: formerly, a group of outlaw mutants hated and feared, they weere still that but thanks to Professor Xavier's twin who tried to choke him in the womb, he's outed to the public and rolls with her , using his body as a suit at the time, doing so to change the x-mens mission, now doing more search and rescue with slick leather jackets. They aren't traditional superheroes anymore, but just a trained team of the best trying to help their own. The X-Men now hav ea worldwide reach with x-corp with missions going from paris to shang hai.

Morrison took plenty of other hammers to the status quo: Xavier and Lilandra broke up, he could walk, Genosha got destroyed in a devistating act, scott and jean had marriage crissi as Emma gaslit him into an affair and Beast got his awesome lion look. The run also isn't afraid to get weird with xavier's twin he seemingly killed in th womb Cassandra Nova, a corrupt general whose skin becomes golems, and a special class made of mutants all with weird borderline useless powers, most of whom would become fan faviorites.

Years ago this would've been my easy number one but age for both me and the comic have revealed cracks; Some bits haven't aged well like Dust, whow hil ea good character now was done with no real research or depth, the u men dangling way too close to a parody of trans people, being just fringe enough to avoid it but still far closer than they should be.

The biggest knock though is the final two arcs: everything up to that is minty fresh and full of cool ideas warts and all. The last two arcs have Morrison try to rerail magneto back into a hateful monster instead of the complicated monster he'd become, something already tried in the 90's but even worse here, with Magneto reduced to the boring silver age villian that got old fast. I'm not against holding his feet to the fire for his worse actions, but this one was too far and swiftly retconned.. in a very dumbass way but still, you uusally only get a patch on a bad story that fast. Here Comes TOmmorow likewise is a trippy and mediocre finale to the run. Not as bad as what just came before, but it's grant morrison at their most self indulgent... that i've read.

Still despite the runs issues.. it's a good ride and worth it for classics like E is For Extinction and Riot at Xaviers alone.

3. X-Men By Jonathan Hickman Art by Pepe Laraz, R.B. Silva, Lenil Francis Yu, Mahmud Asrar and Valerio Schiti House of X 1-6, Powers of X 1-6, X-Men 2019 1-21, 5 Giant Size X-Men One Shots, and Inferno 1-4 42 Issues

Anyone whose read this blog a long time knew this was coming. I mention X-Men as much as possible and the krakoan era, being so weird and wonderful, was something I brought up a lot. Especially the x-men colonizing mars. And I probably will again. The Krakoan age is one of the best eras of x-men and while it ended in fire and a whimper, it started with a bang.

The x-men were in a bad place in 2019. Ressurxion as I mentioned wasn't horrible but wasn't really a reinvention, partly because they woudln't let anyone make any real changes which... again this run could've easily dealt with fine. Before that Marvel , and once again entirely serious tried to kill the x-men, showving them to the side and trying intitally to make the inhumans symapthetic when they needed to get rid of their murder cloud. And the inhumans books WERE great, but no one could get the taste of ike pearlmutter trying to make them the new x-men out of their mouths.

And like the last time the x-men were in a bad spot, marvel sought a hot creator, gave them creative control and let them do a hard stylish reset. Last time it was grant morrison, , this time it was Jonathan Hickman.

Hickman is one of my faviorite marvel writers. While he started slow yet awesome with a small run on secret warriors, a book that remade shield and did black ops glory, he rose to his biggest success with Fantastic Four, taking one of marvel's greatest teams and plunging them out of their rut with a big sweeping sci fi plot, clever ideas like 4 great cities about to go to war, a council of far less moral reed richardses, and smaller scale but no less game changing ideas like havnig the fantastic four open up a think tank for children, the future foundation, finally once and for all resolving ben grimm's on and off state of being cured, and giving the richards kids fleshed out personalities.

I could gush about this run all day but i'll save that for next year.

The point is HIckman had a talent for big wordy sweeping epics and was quickly tapped to follow up Brian Micheal Bendis on avengers, which had also gotten old for some, expanding the team's scope, having a meta plot about the multiverse dying and combining a core of familiar faces (including hulk's first longterm run as an avenger), with people who had yet to wield the circle a like Cannonball, Sunspot and SHang Chi, giving all three a needed boost.

So him doing X-Men was a natural next step that seemingly just.. didn't happen. Ike Pearlmutter's attempt to dempahsises it probably is why and Hickman having completed his sweeping epic across several titles, was ready to go to dc. THen Marvel, desperate to revitalize the circle x.. offered it to hickman. And a thing I didn' tknow is while he got what made the ff and avengers work perfectly.. hickman wasn't a fan of either going in. He did his through homework and you honestly can't tell he dosen't, but X-Men on the otherhand was his teenage obession. Like me, it consumed him and he jumped at the chance to do it his way.

He also saw a franchise that post avx had stagnated, not really inovating and growing and gave it a shot in the arm. Just like New X-men before it, Hickman decided to ditch where the franchise had been stuck, in schools with never aging classes and wars with each other and try something entirley new, something that could not be walked back easily and that even going back to basics, the current run is still feeling the repurcussions of. With 6 golden words:

Hickman in his epic pair of mini series that are really one big 12 issue series, House of X and Powers of X flipped up the wohle gameboard and erased problems that had been plauging the x-men: The constant climate of fear? The X-Men decided to fuck off to their own island nation, Krakoa, the island that walks like a man and is now cool with them. Humanity hating and fearting them? still a problem but they can sue for peace with some mmmm drugs and deal with those who don't take the mmmmm drugs. And they could just give these mmmm drugs that cure brain diseases free but after the rampant genocides, not hyperbole they have a statistic

Their saying enough. And the various mutants killed off for shock value? Well... death no longer matters. In a game changing final reveal, mutants can now be revivied from teh dead thanks to 5 working in concert. Add in a meta riff with Moria Mactaggerts 10 lives and you have a brilliant start

And HIckman did'nt stop there, as his next book , X-Men and i'ts companion piece Giant Sized X-Men was less one long narrative and more a series of ideas for the universe he was creating, a series of brilliant one shots following Scott Summers in a good place in his life: His wife is back from the dead, their embracing polyamory so he can still see emma and Jean can see wolverine who lives with them, both their kids are alive and well. It's a dream. And with every issue hickman provided a great adventure from magneto standing against a tie in, to discovering Krakoa's lost sibling setting up the massive x of sowrds crossover, to a family roadtrip into space to dela with the brood, to the savage land ot fight the golden girls, to a hidden vault to face the future, there was never an end to his creatviity or clever ideas.

Sadly there was an end to his run with Inferno which left on a high tying up some threads and leaving the rest open for those to take up the sword after he left. Hickman's run is gorgeously drawn by a bevy of the best in the buisness, well throught out and stylish and I will likely read it forever. While Krakoa sadly didn't last this run stands forever as what it is : MUTANT.

2. X-Factor By Peter David Art by Peter David and Pablo Raimondi, Ryan Sook, Dennis Calero, Renato Arlem, Roy Allen Martinez, Khoi Pham, Scott Eaten, Valentine De Landro, Larry Stroman, Marco Santucci, Bing Cansino, Emanuela Lupacchino, Leonard Kirk, Neil Edwards, and Paul Davidson Madrox 1-5, V3 1-50, 200-262 , X-Factor The Quick and the Dead, X-Factor: Layla Miller and Nation X: X-Factor 119 Issues

Peter David might be my faviorite x-writer and is the other major reason I fell as hard for x-men as I did. Starting off at marvel with his character defining run on Incredible Hulk, he did a short stint on the x-side of things with X-Factor, following up the original run by focusing on a bunch of lesser focused mutants who weren't afraid to pepper things with jokes, weren't immune to tragedy, and threading a nice line between real danger and humor. It sadly didn't last long, but what we got was great.

So come the 2000's, he returned to marvel after a long stint at dc and another sensational run with young justice, Peter David asked "Are you ready for the sequel?" So came X-Factor, also known as X-Factor Noir to defretate it from the previous two runs, a decade long run rivaling Chris Claremonts in character, franchise impact and sheer girth. David's come the closest to Claremont's flair for shakeups, cast rotation and soap opera.

X-Factor primarily stars Jamie Madrox, an also ran mutant who could multiply who was the comic relief in David's previous run then kinda thrown aside like garbage and used in backgrounds. Clearly liking Jamie and seeing potential in him, David brought his boy back as a private eye working cases in mutant town. What was once the mutant burogh of new york is now filled with those who lost their powers on m-day, something our heroes also investigate as Wanda's mental breakdown wasn't exactly common knowledge.

Helping Jamie in his noir detective fantasy are Strong Guy, his best friend and the best character of the previous run, Wolfsbane, who was also on that team but is now older and angister, even more so after she leaves the team breifly to join x-force, Siryn, jamie's dupes ex and daughter of the banshee and M, monet st croix whose better than you and knows it. Monet is STILl a major fan faviorite and player to this day thanks to this run and everyone got a bump. This included later additons longshot and shatterstar, the latter of whom became a pansexual icon.

The run is massive and something I hope to cover someday in SOME form but loops our heroes as they do buisness in mutanttown, move to the east for goverment work, come back to nyc, and deal with everything from a manical man from the future to the invisible woman going missing. It's a fun run full of deep character development, well executed twists and while I used to feel it had a huge downturn, it seems far more coherent now.. though i'd still have to reread to see for sure. But what's ther eis one of the best runs in x-men , one of my faviorites.. and only one tops it you can transparently see coming

Uncanny X-Men By Chris Claremont Art by Dave Cockrum, John Byrne, Paul Smith, Frank Miller, John Romita Jr, Barry Windsor-Smith, Marc Silvestri, Rick Leonardi, John Bogdanove, Al Milgrom, and Jim Lee Uncanny X-Men 94-279, X-Men Annual #3-12, 14, Marvel Graphic Novel #1, Wolverine #1-4, Kitty Pryde and Wolverine #1-6,X-Men/ Alpha Flight #1 and 2, X-Men Vs Fantastic Four #1-4, X-Men #1-3 214 Issues

Hail to the King Baby. Having recently finally read EVERY issue of this run, I can say Chris Claremont defines the x-men. Even as things change, the basis was set by him. While Lee and Kirby created the x-men, Chris Clarmont made them truly exceptional.

Most of you don't need an intro but just in case: Chris Claremont was an up and coming writer at marvel who exploded when he took over x-men from Len Wein. Wein had relaunched the x-men with giant sized, creating a brand team with artist Dave Cockrum: Xaviers Original students were quickly written on in Wein's planneed next issue leaving only Cyclops, now moodier, as the vetral to command a group that was not 5 teenagers with attitude, later 7, but adults from radically diffrent backgrounds: A near feral and terse secret agent who once fought the hulk, a russian farm boy who can turn to steel, a woman from cairo who lived as a goddess in kenya, a former foe turned experinced ally, and a circus performer with the face of demon but the kindest soul of all.

Claremont would take this great setup and run with it once given full control. He reinforced the mutant metaphor which was present on and off in Lee's run, but now came blaring out, with the series first overarching villian being a mad scientest who speaks of mutants like a feral monster and has an army of shiny new sentinels, as opposed to the misguided previous users of them. The X-Men's rep takes a hit as the series goes and their forced to wipe goverment records as it plots against them. As the run goes on the racisim grows, as the goverment turns against them and the x-men are left as outcasts even among other heroes, going to war with both the ff and the avengers for diffrent reasons. In his most powerful use of this the x-men have to face Revered Striker, a fire and brimstone preacher with a secret paramilitary death squad.

But more than that he gave the franchise humanity: The X-Men here are fully fleshed out people: Scott strains under the role he's been given and trained since childhood and his rough past, Logan grows from a feral asshole who nearly kills nightcrawler for laughing at him, to Kurt's best friend and a wise if still gruff man who loves his found family. Ororo has the biggest evolution: from a shy woman discovering the world, to a goddess, to someone grappling with the darkness in her and the things she must do to keep her found family safe. Colossus grapples with the violence and confusion of his new world and of finding love even if it hurts someone he cares about. Things only get richer as new characters are rotated in: Jean is thought dead after joinnig breifly and leaves an impact and banshee goes to join his true love on a scottish island. This leaves the board open for Kitty Pryde, a 13 year old written shockingly well who grows up year by year and has to deal wtih the reality of being an x-man and of having a crush on a 19 year old and Rogue, who goes from a foe of the x-men they slam the door on badly haunted by her fractured psyche to.. well the last part dosen't go away but she's one of the most trusted x-men with time .

Claremont wasn't afraid to shake this up either: over the course of his run the x-men are thought dead by xavier and left to their own devices, loose jean, cyclops leaves, the mansion is breifly destroyed and their forced to live on magneto's spooky island, the new mutants arrive, and you never get a full sense of peace. When one status quo has set in a while, it flips. Just when the x-men were getting used to rachel summers, jean's troubled daughter from the days of future past, rachel flees and half the team is horribly mauled and they have to almost start over. The x-men sacrifie themselves and use their newfound supposed death to strike from the shaodow. and the final stretch of the run has the x-men scattered to the winds and coming back together.

Change is the constant as is a parade of intresting foes: Magneto is reconfigured from cackling super villian early on, to the troubled complicated man he becomes later, trying hard to be better while the world says no. The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants is reformed into a more modern for the time terroist group with the cunning mystique.. who tehn has the team work with the goverment when she finds that safer. Mastermind is taken from Magneto's lackey to a truly frightining figure whose only beaten because the person he was manipulating with. Then Claremont adds his own: The Hellfire Club, rich mutant assholes hiding in plain sight woh easily outflank our heroes, Nimrod, a robot from the future sent to kill mutants but who sees himself as a hero, the Brood, terrifying xenomorph knockoffs, and the Shadow King: Xavier's oldest and deadlist foe.

Ther'es a lot here: Our heroes go to space, grapple with demons literal nad metaphorical, spend time in the outback with a wiseman who can teleport, go to another dimension or two, there is FAR too much in this decade to recap but it is special

The run isn't without flaws and the age spots may be an issue: there's the entirely stupid and gross kitty pryde and colossus romance which is thankfully kept to mostly a crush but wolverine treats like Colossus wronged her by.. not wanting ot date a 13 year old and finding someone else. The bunche sof brainwashing. Kitty Pryde using the n-word twice. Coloring native american characters bright red. Ther'es a lot of stuff left over from the 80s in here that we'd rather throw back. Now Claremont's bdsm fetish on the other hand.. eh fair enough.

But if you can get past it, you'll find an epic like no other, one continuious story that nicely weaves with it's sister book new mutants. A story you can hop in at any point and enjoy (except maybe those last two years. Yeesh) yet as this glorious whole i've discovered now owning most of it and reading it often, it's a wonderful saga with tons of planning, and it'll likely never be topped in scope, though many of these fine runs equal it in quality. It's the basis for some of the best comic si've ever read, and I'm pleased to have read it all. Thanks for reading and please.. read some of these.

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