#a little hint of some of what the plot revolves around

[antidotetogo]

Sending a couple words so you can either share more than one snip, pick the word you like best, or pick the snippet you like best.

Water, sigh, stubble

I'm going with "sigh" :)

“You’re talking about Saudi Arabia,” Harry sighs. He picks up a pen off the table, spinning it between his fingers nervously.

“And Qatar, Abu Dahbi, Turkey, and Singapore,” Christian says. “They all have anti LGBTQ legislation.”

[menuliso]

i actually think i have some sort of brain damage from chapter 403 because now ive taken my bkdk obsession to a whole new degree. like, i was insane before, but now i feel as if i should be genuinely put into an asylum.

ive gone through a full on awakening.

before this chapter i refused to believe that bkdk would become canon/hinted bc like its wishful thinking. but now? ive fallen into the fucking deep end. i am of full belief that bkdk will become canon or at least be hinted bc horikoshi is cooking something and im so glad im not the only one to see it.

there is no way that man doesnt know what hes doing. bkdks entire arc has been fucking perfect and this man just keeps BUILDING UP. like all this talk about feelings, and how bkdk have never really spoken about them to eachother before??? this is like, building up to a fucking love confession i swear, because katsuki DIED for izuku, and izuku cant control his heart when it comes to katsuki, and like… what other explaination is there? atp i consider it canon that theyre in love with each other.

and the other most likely ship that i thought was gonna be canon, izuocha, just is not feasible. its not like i dislike the ship, no hate to it at all, but making it canon would be so fucking harmful to izuku and ochakos characters and we dont talk about that enough. it would a dissapointing, flat conclusion with barely any build up and itd be the bland, predictable formula. like, ochako has already basically wrapped up her thing with izuku with that entire fight with toga. shes admitted herself that her crush on izuku was more admiration than anything of massive substance. and dont even get me started on izuku. barring some fluster and embarrassed blushing in the early seasons, this boy has NOT reciprocated AT ALL. its actually ridiculous. izuku has been focused on like, two things only: hero work, and kacchan. izuku does not show ANY romantic feeling to ochako whatsoever.

surely, surely if horikoshi were to make this canon, he’d put in a little more effort? add some more chemistry, more development, more than just ‘boy meets girl. blush and get shy. little crush. get married. the end’?

that is bad storytelling, and horikoshi is anything but a bad storyteller. this guy adds foreshadowing YEARS before the chapter. horikoshi is INSANE when it comes to character + relationship + plot development. if horikoshi throws all that out the way, and makes izuocha canon, id be extremely, extremely disappointed. not because i hate the ship, but because itd be out of nowhere, disregard practically ALL development, and be nauseatingly dissatisfying.

talking of which, for the entire day ive been thinking about the foreshadowing for bkdk.

there. is. so. fucking. much. it feels like everytime i read like a new section of the manga, their relationship is described in the most frutti tutti rainbow gay way. im sorry, shigafo, did you just say that katsuki is closer to izuku than ANYONE else? excuse me, aizawa, did you just describe them as pair, a pair that the class revolves around? dont even mention the shit that izuku and katsuki say referring to each other. i cant even choose one to add in here, but every out of context bkdk quote has like these SEVERE more-than-platonic undertones, especially when you consider their past and their development. i feel like horikoshi has been doing some fucking insane foreshadowing for something MORE.

yk, i keep on thinking about how in the double spread in 403, the words ‘the beginning’ are displayed right over bkdk, as they find each other. call me delusional, but that has to be on purpose. i also keep on thinking about izukus green and orange gloves in so many official arts, and the light in both their eyes when they see each other, and the way theyre both always observing the other, never speaking about how they feel directly.

their relationship is just so, so……. and i feel like the only next step is for them to talk. just. fucking. talk. its been hinted at for so long, and horikoshi is doing SOMETHING.

them simply being together would be the most satisfying, developed, beautiful ending.

if they arent canon, i will die. ill say it now. bkdk canon. there is too much proof. as a writer, i know for a fact that i write everything for a REASON. why would horikoshi write this, if he wasn’t going to do anything with it?

bkdk will be canon. i dont care if i sound insane, or get proved entirely wrong. i now fully believe that the last page of the manga will be bkdk at a theme park eating crepes.

thank you chapter 403 for driving me off the rails.

[fear-is-truth]

This could be written as anything (your thoughts, drabble, hc, etc) but how do you think kai would react to reader asking to try his adderall? Could be for any particular reason u want. I feel like depending on the typa day you ask him he could either tell u no cs he doesn’t want to share something as precious to him as his pills/him silently worrying abt not wanting u to become like him where he basically needs them to function.

ORRR he could say yes but be an asshole abt it nd make u chew and swallow them like he does instead of downing it with water LIKE A SANEE PERSON

tw: mentions of substānce abūse

a/n: *adjusts my fake nerd glasses that i don’t actually need* omg i LOVE yapping about kai.

scenario 01. “no” bc he doesn’t wanna share with you

this is also highly possible, as it taps into kai’s obsession with control and focus. he’s not gonna risk losing his edge or sharing something that he sees as critical to his ability to function. his whole persona revolves around being one step ahead, and the adderall is part of that. he needs it to stay sharp, and he’s not going to waste it on anyone else.

kai doesn’t even look up when you ask this time. his fingers stop tapping the prescription bottle for a second before his grip tightens around it. “no,” he says, firm and final. you wait for an explanation, but he doesn’t offer one. he just leans back in the couch, cracking his neck like he’s already tired of the conversation.

“i need these,” he adds, quieter but with no hint of softness. “you don’t.” it’s clear this isn’t a conversation. he’s not going to explain further or let you question it. in his mind, the pills are his fuel. they keep him wired, focused, able to plot and manipulate. sharing them isn’t an option. the bottle vanishes into his pocket, and with it, the conversation.

───────── ⋆⋅౨ৎ⋅⋆ ─────────

scenario 02. “no” bc he lowkey doesn’t want you to end up as a paranoid drug addict like him

on the surface, he’s giving you a condescending, sexist excuse about why you “won’t be able to handle it,” but beneath that, there’s a sliver of genuine concern for your well-being. it’s just that kai, being kai, would never admit to caring outright. vulnerability isn’t something he handles well, and showing concern would go against the power dynamic he thrives on.

kai looks up from where he’s sprawled on the couch, one arm draped over his stomach, the other playing with the orange prescription bottle between his fingers. when you ask to try one, he raises an eyebrow, giving you a look that’s both incredulous and dismissive.

“you won’t be able to handle it,” he says flatly, as if speaking to a petulant child. at this, you frown, leaning forward. “i’ve handled other stuff. what makes you think—”

he cuts you off with a smirk, eyes gleaming with condescension. “this isn’t like some college party drug, little girl. these are what keep me sharp. vigilant.” his tone drops, and he shakes the bottle slightly. “you? you’d probably just get jittery and start freaking out.”

───────── ⋆⋅౨ৎ⋅⋆ ─────────

scenario 03. “okay” bc he wants to mess with you

this is classic kai anderson—mean, condescending, and wanting to assert his dominance. making you chew the pill is not only gross, but it’s a ploy to make you regret ever asking. he’ll get a kick out of watching you suffer through the taste, and he’ll turn it into a comparison of how “tough” he is for doing it all the time. for him, it’s a way to show you that he’s built different, superior. it’s his way of saying, “you don’t deserve my adderall, and if you want to try it, you’re going to suffer for it.”

kai’s eyes light up as soon as you ask. “oh, you wanna try my adderall?” he drawls, pushing himself up from his slouched position. shaking one pill onto his palm, he holds it between his fingers and smirks, mockingly.

“be my guest. but you’re gonna take it the right way. the effective way.” before you can ask, he snaps the pill in half, shoving the broken pieces into your palm.

“now chew,” he orders coldly. you hesitate, before tilting your head and popping the pieces into your mouth. the bitter taste hits immediately, making you gag as you chew it down, dry and chalky.

“don’t like that, huh?” he sneers, leaning in closer. “good. that’s what i deal with every day. it’s not some game for you to mess with.”

───────── ⋆⋅౨ৎ⋅⋆ ─────────

jackie lore: i dry-swallow my pills (even the big-ass ones) but for completely different reasons. simply because i’m too lazy to go get a glass of water 😭

[aboardthescheherazade]

is it true that they removed mentions of tintin journaling/actually mentioning his job/etc when they redrew some of the older tintin comics? i swear i remember seeing examples of that once but i have no clue where to find them again

I definitely know which post you're talking about, but I can't find it either. I'll try to compile what I remember and/or know about offhand...

For the most part, the most references to Tintin being a reporter come early on in what are considered the "newsprint editions" of the comics. The first nine albums were serialized in Le Petit Vingtieme and Le Soir Jeunesse, and these pages were later re-collected and coloured (and occasionally cut down/rewritten) for what are now known as the "Casterman editions".

Tintin being a reporter is all over Land of the Soviets, and it's introduced as early as page 1. It's the silliest album, but it's also the only album thoroughly revolving around Tintin going on a reporting assignment.

(Soviets pg. 4. By God, look at that guard in the upper right. He looks like the RESPECT! butler)

Tintin is still a reporter in Congo, but it's scaled far back in the redrawn Casterman edition. In the latter, it's kept to one mention in the very first panel, which was also turned into the first appearance of Dupont and Dupond:

(Congo pgs. 1)

Meanwhile, the newsprint edition has a scene where newspaper agents try to scout Tintin as a reporter, I guess because his stories are just that good. He ultimately declines, claiming Petit Vingtieme is paying him way more than what they offer.

(Congo pg. 17)

Now, I'd had a theory that the series just became too plot-focused to keep pausing for references to Tintin's writing, but Reddit user XenophonOfAthens made a good point about Herge being forced to pause discussion of the press and current events after the nazis shut down Le Vingtieme, thus moving Hergé and many of the same staff to the nazi-overseen Le Soir and Le Soir Jeunesse. Tintin had been introduced as Le Petit Vingtieme's boy reporter who child readers could follow along with, but now with a new (heavily monitored) publication, mentions of the "boy reporter" slowly phased out.

One of the more significant edits to Tintin's reporting comes in Cigars of the Pharaoh. Sheik Patrash Pasha originally says he's followed Tintin's adventures for "several years" and presents a then-new Vingtieme publishing of Tintin in America.

In the colour edition, he instead presents Destination Moon. This album was in production at the time of the redraws, and it was one of the first albums to be published outside of Europe...but now Tintin's reaction is especially visceral, since that album involves him going to the moon with two people he hasn't met yet.

(Cigars B&W pg. 39, Casterman pg. 15. I also gave the Sheik's servant in the latter a quick edit because it was somehow worse than the 1933 version)

The last reference to Tintin's reporting for a long while was in The Broken Ear. We are now in the Soir era:

(Broken Ear pgs. 2)

This line never made it past the newsprint version. Tintin hears the news about the museum theft, and originally, he remarks that it'll make for a nice report...but in the reprint, he's just declaring that he'll go to the museum. I feel like the wording in the original could have referred to something specific about the comic's run in Le Soir Jeunesse, but it also could have been removed under the assumption that the reader would be going into this book knowing Tintin is a reporter. He does have a notepad with him through the rest of the page, but without that context, he just seems like a busybody.

I feel like there were a lot more references to his reporting in Le Journal Tintin, which is where the comic moved its publication to. This adds credence to the possibility that readers would be picking up these books knowing Tintin was a reporter, thus it being less of a focus within each album's plot. There do seem to be little hints throughout the albums about Tintin being a reporter...one of these is a moment in Explorers on the Moon where Tintin describes the moon's surface to ground control, and as a writer myself, this to me feels like him gathering his words for a future story:

(Explorers pg. 24)

However, Tintin's reporting is brought up in an album one more time, decades later, in Picaros. Tintin is referred to as a reporter on televised news, so this is at least some confirmation that he does submit journalist work, at least off-camera or between albums:

(pg. 47)

In short, Tintin's reporting started to fade off suspiciously during an era where nazis were breathing down Hergé's neck, then got a little lost in translation, and then ultimately came back.

My theory for Tintin's reporting slowly becoming less important in the albums happened either due to 1. Hergé and co. becoming more interested in writing about other things, 2. the series being moved to a vanity publication that discussed Tintin being a reporter outside of the canon comics, or 3. it got phased out during the Le Soir era because Hergé's supervisors didn't want to promote a gonzo journalist as a hero during a time with heavy political censorship and turmoil. It's completely up in the air.

[zmediaoutlet]

spn20rewatch, 1.11: "Hell, I wish I..."

Well, after a nadir, the only way to go is up.

The long-form conversation of s1 continues here, as the Winchesters keep revolving around: who's in charge? What's the right play? What roles do we want to have, and do they have to be set in stone? Sam's frustration with John's distant orders reaches a boiling point when they're sent to yet another town and it's clearer and clearer that John has no interest in their assistance with The Big Plot, and he's even more frustrated that Dean (as always, from his younger-sibling point of view) is taking John's side. It isn't enough to do these small wheel-spinning hunts, even if they are saving people -- Sam's demanding action, here, on the big revenge plot, but he's also saying: god damn it, am I an equal partner here or not? Are we adults? What's the point, if we're not?

Dean's equally frustrated, because they've been through this before. How many times does the slogan have to be repeated? If they can't help with the major plot, then they can at least do something to make the world a little better. It's Dean retreating back to the safest place he knows: doing what Dad says, because Dad knows best and it's worked out so far, and he's the good son, remember? He knows what his place is.

Sam going through with leaving cracks something, though, and that something's never fully put back together after this. Dean's off-kilter while trying to hunt by himself, and we know that he managed hunting alone just fine before Sam came back into his life. (If nothing else, he lived through enough hunts to make it to the pilot.) Sam's doing okay in his runaway guise, and he's done that before and should be fine, except that he's fine with checking in on Dean, and his thoughts are back in Burkitsville, and even when Meg keeps drawing him toward what his role is meant to be -- independent rebel son -- Sam's tangled back up with Dean, and he isn't willing to throw everything away again to get what he wants.

SAM: You know, if you’re hinting you need my help, just ask. DEAN: I’m not hinting anything. Actually, uh—I want you to know….I mean, don’t think…. SAM: Yeah. I’m sorry, too. DEAN: Sam. You were right. You gotta do your own thing. You gotta live your own life. SAM: Are you serious?

Sam turns back, not long after this. He deflects Meg's encouragement to get further from his 'controlling' family, not long after this. He's softly pleased that Dean still wants to talk to him, and he's shocked by Dean's pride in his independence. The impression we're left with is that Sam just needed to hear it -- that he's not wrong to want to be his own man, to do what he wants instead of following his father's orders. And admitting it does something for Dean, too, that we'll see grow over the next handful of episodes. He envies Sam's independence, even if he struggles to embody it himself. There are things he wishes he'd done or said, or been, that he can't ever be. With a few more truths out in the open, the Winchester brothers grow even closer, and it's that interlocked trust that will lead inexorably to some choices they make in the finale.

[transformers-mosaic]

Transformers: Beast Wars - Second Chances - Page 22

Originally posted on February 2nd, 2011

Story - Mike Priest Art, Letters - HdE

deviantART

wada sez: The sunrise seen here, and the ripple effect in the final panel, both evoke similar visuals from Dinobot and Depth Charge’s storylines in the actual Beast Wars cartoon. See below for Mike Priest’s original script, titled “New Dawn”, and some thumbnails, along with a little afterword written by Mike Priest just for this archive!

Beast Wars: Second Chances- Page 22

“New Dawn”

By Mike Priest

-

(FIRST PANEL:  Dinobot in robot mode, sitting on a flat rock outside, with the future Mount St. Hilary behind him.  His sword is stuck in the ground, with one of his clawed hands resting on its hilt.  He seems relaxed and yet vigilant at the same time.  It seems like dawn- the first hint of the sun is peeking out, catching Dinobot in a shaft of light.)

DINOBOT:   (Narration box) I find myself with purpose again.  A noble purpose.  A lofty one.

(SECOND PANEL:  Dinobot peers over his shoulder, still seated, looking at the Ark’s resting place.)

DINOBOT:   (Narration box) Behind me, the past…and the future!

DINOBOT: (Narration box) And once more, I find myself its guardian.

(THIRD PANEL:  Dinobot looks to the rising sun, now standing on the rock.)

DINOBOT: (Narration box) I will not falter.  I will stand tall, even as some…

(FOURTH PANEL:  Depthcharge, robot mode, in knee-deep water, wading out into the ocean.)

DINOBOT:   (Narration box) …descend back into the depths.

RAMPAGE:   (Unlinked dialogue bubble) You could have let it end.  You could have granted us peace.

(FIFTH PANEL:  Different angle, Depthcharge is up to his chest in the water now.)

DEPTHCHARGE:   Guess it’s just not in my nature to grant you even a moment’s peace.

RAMPAGE:   (Unlinked dialogue bubble) And you think this will be any better?  Being trapped with me?

(SIXTH PANEL:  Depthcharge is almost completely submerged, only his head from his optics up is visible now.)

DEPTHCHARGE:   I’m not your prisoner.  I’m your jailer.

RAMPAGE:   (Unlinked dialogue bubble) You’ll live to regret this.  Live forever.

DEPTHCHARGE: I’ve accepted my fate.

(SEVENTH PANEL:  Depthcharge has vanished under the water, leaving only ripples and bubbles.  We see the sun has risen in the sky, as reflected on the water’s surface.)

DEPTHCHARGE:   Have you?  

I'm proud of what me and the others accomplished with "Beast Wars: Second Chances", but it was a long hard road getting to a finished project.  It was an interesting exercise to work with multiple writers on a single cohesive story, but I do think we ended up getting in each other's ways most of the time  We all had specific visions and ideas, not all of them saw the light of day, and the finished project had to be rather ruthlessly hammered into shape just to get to the finish line.  The story itself is functional, but I can still see the flaws within it, flaws that I admit exist even in my own original pitch.

For one thing, someone just conveniently arrives to "switch the plot off" in all versions of the story, be it the Vok (in my original pitch) or Starscream (in the finished project).  Actually, a lot of my gripes revolved around Starscream.  I don't think we made it particularly clear that Starscream was gonna keep Terrorsaur's body at the end, and I still am unsure why he'd need a CR chamber on his final page.  

I remember fighting for Starscream to appear in his War Within body in the Ark, but it was eventually decided it would be his G1 form to maintain consistency with the original material.  Even then, the artist ended up drawing his Masterpiece body for the finalized page!  I even pitched that Starscream should go find Skyquake's body so he could become Machine Wars Starscream, but that would have probably been too complicated too.

All that said, again... I look at the finished project and am proud of it.  Some of those pages and covers are absolutely beautiful- I particularly love Daniel Olsén's cover of the entire cast in beast modes and I even have Jeffrey Witty's Dinobot/Depth Charge Wolverine-homage cover framed on my wall!  I always worked well with HdE and he brought a certain distinct flair to my scripts in this and several Mosaic pieces we collaborated on.

I don't know if I'd ever want to repeat the experience of trying to write a focused 22 page comic story with four-to-five other writers.  However, even with any squabbles we may have had, I had so much fun exchanging emails within the creative team and they were all passionate, talented people.  I'd work with any ONE of them again anytime (one at a time, this time!)

[pricechecktranslations]

Would you consider 5th perriot as a main series sin song (ex evil food eater)or a response song(ex drug of gold)- obviously it starts as a response song but it really doesn't fit the typical Mode as a commentary on the sinner by someone who loves them its just lemy killing some guys and dying. maybe It's a false response b/c of margarita's false contract? I don't see how lemy could be 'diligence' like gumila is 'chasisty' lol

It's a response song. My main reasoning for labeling it as such is the Seven Crimes and Punishments album, where all of the main seven deadly sins songs are paired up with their response song. Fifth Pierrot fills that slot for Gift.

However, the very concept of "response song" is itself an arbitrary label that the VOCALOID fandom is, I think, a little too rigid about--I don't know if mothy himself has ever described these songs as such, and Fifth Pierrot is not the only one that doesn't really fit. I mean, the song for Muzzle of Nemesis is Last Revolver, which A) came out first, and B) is from Nemesis' perspective rather than that of her lover. Girl of the Miniature Garden similarly came out before the song it's supposedly a "response" to. Weathered Head might be about two people who loved Kayo, but it's written from the POV of a detached narrator, not in first person.

I think it's more helpful to view them not as "response" songs but rather just "directly connected" songs. Songs that are meant to give us an alternate or opposing viewpoint of the events of the main song, something that sheds new light on what happens in it. Sometimes that means showcasing a sympathetic side to the main sinner that wasn't present in their song. Sometimes it gives a "conclusion" to a story that had an ambiguous ending. Sometimes, like in Fifth Pierrot, it means revealing more fully the sinister criminal organization that was only hinted at in Margarita's song. It's also worth pointing out that this was around the time mothy was getting more serious about writing the plot to his story, so I think when making Pierrot he was more interested in setting up story threads that would pay off later.

.

Also these "response songs" aren't written around the "7 heavenly virtues". Like, I've seen people try to make that argument multiple times and it feels like shoehorning to me. Gumina's song isn't about chastity any more than Carlos' song is about temperance.

[kingdomoftyto]

Hi, happy spooky month, I have a ✨manga rec✨!! And in the spirit of the season, it's a horror story! >:3c

I want to spoil as little as possible because I went into this manga essentially COMPLETELY blind and, honestly, imho, I imagine it's the ideal way to experience the story. I literally first heard about it from a random youtube comment on a video about an entirely different manga--one which, mind you, had VERY different themes, which colored my preconceptions and added to the surprises for me later on!

ANYWAY, what I mean by all that is I'm going to start with the simplest possible summary of the premise, and if that's intriguing enough for you to give it a shot, then I recommend diving right in!! But, if you still need more of an in-depth, slightly spoilery rec? Then I'll gush a bit more under a cut to see if I can hook your attention.

With all that out of the way,

The Summer Hikaru Died is a horror/supernatural story about a high school boy named Yoshiki whose best friend (Hikaru) went missing in the mountains outside of town. What comes back is... something else. It looks, acts, and talks like Hikaru, but it's not him, and Yoshiki is the only one who seems to notice.

The only other thing I knew going in was that the commenter made a brief mention of the "Hikaru"-thing protecting Yoshiki, which seemed odd but intriguing alongside the rest of the premise.

So if that's enough for you (plus the fact that I'm telling you I haven't stopped thinking about this story since I read it two weeks ago), then please check it out! There are only 5 volumes so far!! Suffer through the wait for the rest with meeeeee ಥωಥ

More spoilery extended rec below the cut:

📣THESE MOTHERFUCKERS GAY*!!!📣

📣GOOD📣FOR📣THEM!!!📣

I know what you're thinking, and YES, it appears to be BL between the TIMID HIGH SCHOOL BOY and the ELDRITCH HORROR WEARING THE SKIN OF HIS BEST FRIEND.

And it's SO GOOD.

No SERIOUSLY, for real though, I had NO inkling going into this that it was even in the realm of possibility that it would involve romance

Let alone a nuanced, slow burn, VERY QUEER romance layered with ruminations on grief and identity and one's relationship to society

(ON THIS NOTE, I must advise up front that I DO NOT KNOW if this story will end in tragedy... It's still ongoing, after all! BUT, I think either way it will be an amazing story and... maybe I'm just delusional, and though this may be considered spoilery in itself, the most recent chapters have me optimistic that we might indeed be on track for some sort of happy ending... eventually.)

Anyway, I cannot express enough how incredible it was to uncover this aspect of the story organically without knowing about it beforehand. Born and raised in a rural village, Yoshiki is deep in the closet, and that's reflected in how subtle the hints are at the beginning. Over time, it starts to become clearer and clearer, but always with a layer of plausible deniability, at least if you're not expecting it to take such a queer turn. ("Hikaru" literally makes a ton of "no homo" style jokes early on, which... god don't get me started--)

As you might guess, Yoshiki had feelings for the real Hikaru before his disappearance, and ooh boy does that affect how much the grief and guilt and fear play into things. It's delightfully fucked up.

So yeah. I 100% expected the plot of this manga to revolve around the intrigue of the monster finding out Yoshiki knew its secret, the fear of not knowing when the monster would strike next, etc, but NO! That particular "reveal" happens within the first 10 pages, and then the entity just kind of... lives the life of a high school kid! He's kind of a little shit, but for the most part, he's a nice boy! Yoshiki is the only one who knows who "Hikaru" really is, but much of the tension comes from him having to come to terms with that, rather than the fear itself.

...and also the OTHER horrors and mysteries. There's tension there too, considering it's where the actual plot lies, lmAO. Just because "Hikaru" isn't a totally evil monster doesn't mean there aren't a lot of grotesque and scary things in here. Most of this manga I would classify more in the "supernatural" genre than "horror", but in those moments it DOES delve into horror, it goes pretty damn hard. I remember more than one moment where I felt sharp regret about reading it in the dark at 2 a.m. 💀

Still, if you dare, it's worth the read. I can't recommend it enough.

P.S. I wouldn't say it's a "funny" manga but it does nonetheless have an amazing sense of humor. There are a handful of actual jokes and gags that did have me rolling, but more importantly there's an unspoken, implicit acknowledgement of how absurd this all is, in that way only good self-aware horror can achieve. Take the main character Yoshiki for example. The image I used of him up above? The unsettling camera angle, the haunted look in his eyes? That's just how he always looks. The panel after that one shows that all he's looking at on his phone is a text from his sister reminding him to pick up wasabi flakes.

P.P.S. There's apparently an anime adaptation coming out sometime? I'll probably watch it, but I expect something will be lost in translation. We'll see, I suppose.

*- To be precise: Yoshiki is gay. The creature that takes Hikaru's place has a more nuanced (and alien) perspective on sexuality, and... I'll leave it at that.

[angelhecallsme]

Good Omens Rant : Season 3 Predictions, Questions and Thoughts [updated 6.10.24]

In S2 we don't have the narration from God as we did in S1 but there is a few moments we do hear from her.

When she speaks to Job, and we hear what we assume is her voice overlaid with Jim's (Gabriel) when he has his flashbacks. Crowley is the only character who is present in the scene for all three moments. It seems rather significant that we have so little "screen time" of God without her narration in S2 but for what time she is present, Crowley is there to witness it.

Which leads me to speculate...God will speak directly to Crowley in S3.

The more I've seen for theories of what is going on in S2 the consensus is there has to be some sort of time loop, alternate memories, changing history plot going on. The whole season effectively revolved around memories, recounting them through different character perspectives and without a narrator to help guide us (God) we have to take it as face value. I'd guess that at some point Crowley will hear from God, and speak to her directly as a message to forgive and help Aziraphale, and save the world.

---

I've seen a lot of predictions about how we'll see Crowley handling the aftermath of Aziraphale leaving with a lot of drinking, anger, rage type feelings. But that's how he responded in season 1 when he thought Aziraphale was dead / discorporated. I imagine he'll lean more towards a depression, little to no emotion or want to do anything now. He knows Aziraphale isn't dead, just that he's gone back to heaven on his own will and there's nothing he can do to change it. He's not angry this time, he'd be devastatingly sad.

And I'm not sure I see a scenario where he reaches out to Aziraphale first. My guess is Aziraphale will leave small hints of himself (by miracle) to show Crowley that he still cares for him, and Crowley will reject every one. Until shit starts to get real with the second coming, and Crowley is in trouble, then finally Aziraphale will come to rescue him and rekindle their feelings.

Honestly, I don't care if they kiss again. I want a deep, meaningful hug.

[mikuni14]

Takara's Treasure - Ep 10

This will be a very critical and subjective review of this series, so if you are a fan, you better skip reading further, because I will not hold back 🥳:

I can guess (?) what the idea of ​​this series was, which in my opinion failed. They wanted (I think?) to make a classic story of an aloof, brooding, unhinged, popular seme obsessed with his little uke and a clueless, naive uke, who with his innocence, honesty and sweetness brings the seme out of his shell - and idk, maybe it worked in the manga, but not in the series. The seme came out "flat" in general, his story was quite… melodramatic instead of real, saved only by the charisma of the actor (who carried this series for me and made it bearable), the uke came out simply like a child. As for Takara: Yamato from I Cannot Reach You beats him hands down in the matter of an unhinged, obsessive, very in love seme and what's more important, it was visible in him. We know that Takara has an obsession from the fact that he mentioned it. But there is no sense of urgency, no tension in him, like in Yamato.

The whole series would be half as long if Taishi didn't repeat every. fucking. sentence Takara said, only with a question mark at the end. And if they removed all his "Eh?"s. Every sentence, every scene, their conversation was so fucking slow and drawn out. I'm not surprised at all that people watched this series by speeding it up. It wasn't a slow burn - The On1y One is a slow burn - delicious and beautiful. No, it's just... nothing happened there, Taishi was confused and wide-eyed all the time, that was the plot.

Zero chemistry between the actors

Everything revolves around Takara, Taishin's entire being is about him. He swapped his obsession with a parrot for an obsession with Takara and it even happened on the same day 😆

We know a lot about Takara. We know next to nothing about Taishin, who doesn't exist other than as a satellite of Takara. He went to his university (we don't even know what he would really like to study and where if not for that), he went to his club to be with him, he stalks him, he's interested in glass balls because he likes them, he gives him presents, he stares at him to catch his mood, he organized the whole date so that he liked it the most and at the first hint that Takara might not like it, his whole mood dropped. He's happy crying because he's liked by his senpai, it's just so unhealthy

Takara "worrying that he's like his mom" seem very far-fetched as a problem, and Taishin's reaction to his expressed worries basically comes down to "you can't be bad because in my eyes you're the best, senpai 🤩". Even if Takara had some legitimate problems with himself, Taishin wouldn't notice or care about them, he would dismiss them with "you're good senpai because you're good!", because Takara is an IDOL to him, someone who has no flaws. Or rather - someone who can't have flaws! Impossible! He's perfect! They haven't had a single conflict. Taishin himself said that everything about Takara is great and he likes everything he does, I'm sorry but it's not normal!

It also really bothers me that the actor playing Taishin is very visibly older than the actor playing Takara (in some scenes they looked like there was like a 10-year age difference between them) and he tries very hard to look younger and sweeter, speaking slowly and in a cutesy way, widening his eyes to make them seem bigger like in the manga, pouting his mouth, which gives an effect that is partly comic, partly weird. It was so unnecessary, this exaggerated childishness, they shouldn't have done it and in my opinion the series would benefit from limiting this exaggeration in Taishin's behavior

Takara called Taishin a child, slow and dumb. He was being affectionate, but yeah, that's exactly my opinion about Taishin and I will never understand the romantic appeal of such a character, not to mention the physical one 😬. I LIKE characters that are clueless, airheads, baka, himbo and even slightly childish ones, but in an open-minded, cheerful, puppy-like, curious and carefree way, NOT mentally at a child's level, but sorry, I just don't see here, what is sometimes charming in other such characters

from the beginning this couple has never made me believe in this relationship, and certainly not in their love. I mean, I do believe in idol-worshipping form Taishin's side. I might believe in Takara liking having a simple, puppy-like person around him. But not in their love. I have also written many times about the inequality in this relationship, which I saw all the time, literally until the last scene of this series, which is a big NO for me

What did I like?

Iwase Yoji and his smile

morbid fascination with which I watched this series was somehow fun 😆🥳

I'm not sure if I will watch the spin-off, I think that will be the end of my adventure with this series. I'm happy that many people genuinely liked this series and I regret that I could not participate in enjoying it. But. Gosh, no. nope lol

[thebroadcast]

"One of the main six is going to die" - an opinion piece

Again, a show-relating rant of sorts! I do apologize for that, but the static that I call my mind just will not stop producing. Hence I will subject you, dear reader, to my very own take on a very sensitive matter. Hence, blanket TW for discussion of d*ath. In the cusps of the season one finale of HH, I have seen plenty of discussion on the topic of "who is going to die" - following an age-old (/h-jk) statement of the creator that "one of the main six is going to die". There seems to be a common conception that this will be happening now - which we do not know for sure, even if this is going to happen at all is not certain! - and the discourse mainly revolves around Vagatha and Angel Dust, with some speculating about Charlotte or possibly Alastor dying. If we stick with the common idea that the death is going to happen in the finale of the first season (which I am not completely sold on!), all of these could be compelling story-defining events, lending new and deeper motivations for those around them to oppose Heaven - but they would also be terribly boring because they are so overt!

Thus, I want to revisit two ideas with you, dear reader.. who are the "main six" in question and what does "dying" mean for each of them?

For the first one, I do not believe that the addressed "main six" are the main cast of the show or even the main characters living in the hotel! Eight characters are living there currently (Charlotte, Vagatha, Alastor, Nifty, Husker, Angel Dust, Keekee, and Pentious) and while, yes, dear Nifty and Keekee have been more of a supportive staff for now, again, this would be too overt. I will offer you a different reading.. how about the main six characters developing the plot and conflict of season one - the possibility of rehabilitation, redemption, and the opposition of this idea? Would not a death in this rank have a much bigger impact on the narrative..? I present to you, dear reader!

- Charlotte - the leader of the rebellion forming, the spokesperson for the worth and rehabilitation of Sinners. Her death could be a tragic rebirth, thrusting her into her Becoming and the Blooming of her powers. - Adam - the leader of the Exorcists, her direct foil and antagonist. His death could be an escalation of the conflict and/or the gateway to the introduction of an even Greater Evil.. we don't know what Exorcists really do all year long, and what if they keep the Greater Evil at bay? (Hints for Roo, possibly, and/or the things not written in ink). - Vagatha - the fallen Angel, protector of Charlotte, her partner and confidant. Her death could be a rebirth as a true Demon or Angel again (redemption through sacrifice, perhaps?) or a permanent fixture to support Charlotte's drive for justice. Also, why is no one talking about the possibility of HER having killed the Exorcist? - Lute - the second in command to the Exorcists and Adam's companion, as Vagatha's foil. Her death could be just as much a trigger to violence for Adam and the Exorcists, pushing the conflict to a new level. (Also, as a little side note.. we have seen her face. That cannot be a good sign! Also, what are the LED screen helmet designs all about? I cannot stop thinking about it!) - Emily - the Seraph who comes to the same conclusion as Charlotte, that Heaven has to be a lie. Her death could be a reprise of the Fall of Lucifer, her joining the main cast in the fight against the double standards of judgment to make right of what is wrong. - Carmilla - the Sinner (and possibly fallen Angel, seeing all the thematic ties she shares with Vagatha) who seems to know that Heaven cannot be trusted, but speaks for the status quo to remain unchanged - her call to conservation is a foil to Emily's drive to change. Her death would shake up the Overlords, possibly opening up the scene for the Vs to spark the fight on their front.

In my humble opinion, Lute and Carmilla would make the most compelling candidates for the character to die, if this is to happen in the finale of the season. The potential impacts of their deaths could be magnificent while also omitting the sacrifice of characters that bear the possibility of age-old, deep conflicts and developments yet to be seen. What do you think?

[acourtofthought]

The Trove was a big deal in SF. The possibility of world walking is clearly a major issue the ACOTAR characters will need to deal with after the crossover. The Illyrians? Definitely something for them to address down the line.

But I think because some readers favor those storylines and the characters involved in them, they ignore or downplay storylines that are equally as important but connected to other characters.

Though most of Nesta's story and even the crossover deal with certain plotlines, SJM still addressed other plots she set up in past books (Vassa / Koschei / Beron’s cruelty towards Lucien) in SF meaning these things are still relevant to current events. In a book that mostly revolved around training in the Night Court and the Trove she went out of her way to pepper in mentions of a court that neither Nesta nor Cassian have any connection to:

SJM could have easily had the characters meet with Eris in the Hewn City. Or the Night Court. She chose to write them meeting in Spring for a reason. She chose to repeatedly remind us Tamlin isn't getting better and the people are still neglected. She chose to tell us Eris is worried about Tamlin selling them out for meeting there, that Tamlin did not take Feyre's pregnancy news well. She chose to remind us that they need an ally in the Spring Court and it's forces (something mentioned in both the novella and SF) and then went on to tell us that now Lucien is permanently stationed there and Spring had been made for Elain.

To me it seems clear that SJM wants us to know Spring is still one of their biggest concerns. The problems there haven't been resolved or gotten even a little better. In fact, they've progressively gotten worse since ACOWAR.

Honestly, I don't care what happens to Tamlin. He could end up the redeemed High Lord of Spring, he could step down to be a traveling fiddler, he could become the general of Springs army's, I'm fine with whatever. But logically, does it make sense to drag out the Spring storyline any longer? Tamlin is at rock bottom and has been there for quite a while. Springs people have been without a real leader for quite a while. The Night Court has been stressing over the state of Spring for quite a while. And the author made sure we remembered all of that in Silver Flames while placing one of her main characters directly in Spring on a permanent basis and giving us hints that another will end up there.

Of course her other open ended plots are important too but when Spring borders both Autumn and the human lands, making it's location a politically important one and the possibility of having it fall into enemy hands is a pretty big concern, I don't think it's a plot she'll continue pushing to the side, not when SJM went out of her way in the novella and Nesta's book (Nesta with zero connection to Spring) to remind of us of its importance to the series.

[wouldntyou-liketoknow]

Sylphanie/Sylph

The awesome @sammys-magical-au is almost always my go-to for brainstorming, whether it's for characters, plots, descriptions, etc. And it seems they were kind enough to remember one of the much more obscure fanegos I've been quietly working on for a while now. Kind enough to even mention her in one of their latest fics!

And that basically kicked certain parts of my brain into gear, so...here we go! I've currently got yet another WIP cooking up, so I figured I should do some clarifying before it's ready for posting.

Much like Caliban and R.D., this uncanny lady is a partner to LeviathanPat! Or...partner-adjacent? As you'll soon see, things are rather complicated. (Go figure, I'm the writer behind aforementioned things, lol)

Although she isn't bound by standard entry rules like L.P. is, she still has her fair share of limitations. The biggest one being that she can only stay on certain planes of existence (such as Earth, for example) for short amounts of time, whereas L.P. can come and go as he pleases.

She may not be as morbid or aggressive as L.P., but it would be a grave mistake to see that as weakness. In fact, she's actually one of very few entities who have a little more power than he does. As for what exactly her power includes...well, you'll just have to wait and see~

She's one of very few entities who can call L.P. by his true name (only half of which is pronounceable by the human tongue, hence why Sol just calls him "Pat").

To say that Sylph and L.P. go way, waaaaay back would be an understatement. (Yes, that was technically a pun. No, I'm not sorry.) The feelings on either side are mutual, though certain views and methods are...not. Admittedly, Sylph sees humans in a way similar to how humans see insects. Little creatures that are sometimes interesting and mildy-entertaining...but not much else. Still, that doesn't mean she condones putting them through twisted experiments just to see what happens to them, L.P.

Now, I wouldn't be me if I didn't pile on the angst, so...While the two of them are on a very similar creature-caliber, Sylph and L.P.'s natures are just so antithetical to each other that they can only afford to be in each other's presence for a limited amount of time. Granted, they can gradually adjust to get closer and make physical contact, but even that is a slow-moving process. In fact, a huge part of their relationship revolved around the two of them searching for a way to overcome this. Unfortunately, surreal shenanigans ended up happening, which ultimately led to...The Incident. Ever since then, they haven't really had a chance to see each other...which just might change in the future. Hint-hint. (Please just be patient with me. Writing is hard, okay?)

Where L.P.'s form relates to darkness, Sylph's form relates to light. That is all...No, actually, I lied. That is NOT all. I'm talking bioluminescence plus-plus. I'm talking so bright it's legitimately kinda painful for mortal eyes to try looking at.

Then again, that light is mainly produced by her internal organs. Some of it sort of functions as her hair, and some of it does leak out into the world through her eyes. And by "eyes" I mean, "a scattering of holes in her skin that can stretch to be wider/longer or even move along as she pleases." (much like L.P., she often has way too many of them).

In fact...for the readers who have watched Jordan Peele's NOPE (and for everyone who hasn't...WHY?! IT'S SUCH AN AMAZING MOVIE! GET OUTTA HERE AND GO WATCH IT NOW!): remember the forms Jean Jacket took in the ending scenes? Well, I'm not saying that Sylph looks exactly like that, because I don't want to plagiarize...but that doesn't mean I can't take inspiration from it.

So, just imagine Sylph's outer skin behaving in sort of a similar way to Jean Jacket's. It can resemble all manner of things from jellyfish to orchid flowers to sheets of billowing cloth. Layers of it basically orbit around all the light she produces, all working together to form a vaguely human-esque shape. Not only that, but her skin also has a sort of opalescent effect to it. It can reflect hints of a variety of colors beyond the bright, pale glow of her internal system.

I usually apologize for rambling...but not today, because it took so much time and patience and experimenting to come up with a description that would be pretty and unsettling at the same time. Thanks again for all your help, Sammy 💞)

Because of that orbiting effect I mentioned, Sylph is also capable of shapeshifting much like L.P. is. The main difference is the fact that Sylph's form technically has visible structure, whereas L.P. is basically a moving, talking void no matter what shape he takes.

@insane4fandoms @inkbedou @the-matpat-ever @b-is-in-the-closet

[amaryllis-sagitta]

Take a hard look on Nemesis (she's around)

(I'm only in early stages of Hades 2 EA. Spoilers below)

So far, I found Nemesis in Hades 2 to be a painfully real representation of toxic justice and unforgiving criticism. And since I've been on a periphery of a few fandoms for quite some time, this portrayal hits a little too close to home.

What stands out about Nemesis early in the game is how consistently she dunks on Melinoë's hope and effort, in contrast to Odysseus being the streetwise, world weary advisor in the Crossroads, who's learned to always see a way out of difficult situations. Despite being on Hecate's team, Nemesis is restless, she argues with Hecate, and suggests to Melinoë several times that Hecate is just using her. Before we get to meet Eris, it is hinted that Nemesis and her have their own plot on the side, which raises a worrying suspicion that Nemesis might leave to pursue her own agenda at the first opportunity. The juxtaposition between our early dialogues with Odysseus and Nemesis revolves around hope and hopelessness first, and secondarily around curiosity and appreciation for life on Odysseus' side, and thanklessness and hardened self-reliance on Nemesis' side. Which is interesting since both advisors are highly self-reliant figures, except Odysseus is wiling to share his experience and cooperate by default.

In the case of Nemesis, the hopelessness seems to stem from her archetypal disposition and an attitude towards the Crossroads' team that's... deeply egotistical, really. She drags down Melinoë's confidence. She considers her own guard duty beneath her. When Odysseus becomes worried about the group dynamic, she accuses Melinoë of scheming against her. The first time you give her Nectar, she pulls the "I don't need handouts from you" card.

It kind of sucks to have Nemesis around, and it's perfectly consistent with her archetypal disposition. Once again, Hades 2 reminds us that neither the Chtonics nor the Olympians are great people in many cases.

Nemesis embodies the self-defeating attitude of a covert narcissist, or the "victim mentality" in pop psychology - someone who tries to put the spotlight on themself by emphasizing the ways in which they are wronged and persecuted, but avoid the accountability for further constructive input. It's not a coincidence that she could ally with Eris, because what follows this kind of an attitude is usually some kind of an artificial divide that drives conflict.

(Edit: I looked things up and it appears that Nemesis hates Eris's guts and Eris doesn't like to answer to anyone either, though Nemesis has a strong attachment to Nyx and is concerned about Nyx being held hostage, so there's that.)

You can pick up a distinct vibe that she isn't very fond of Melinoë being the apple of Hecate's eye as her ward and acolyte, burdened with the task of defeating Chronos. Almost as if she wished she were in that place instead. Which brings us to the point of the concept: envy.

(Edit 2: Turns out that when I typed the original post, I was 1-2 conversations before she admitted that she considered herself a more suitable candidate for the task.)

The Roman counterpart of Nemesis is none other than Invidia, personification of envy understood as looking down on someone with hostility, including the evil eye curse (The Evil Eye is even Nemesis' keepsake).

When thinking about envy, I always go back to Melanie Klein's understanding of the concept as a deep impulse to destroy things that are good just because they seem good, as opposed to the protective nature of jealousy towards objects of desire. Klein half-adequately identifies the dynamics of envy as a source of deep internal deprivation, which manifests as never being satisfied and never considering anything worth appreciation just because it isn't a certain archaic unconscious ideal that keeps affecting the psychic reality. In her essay Envy and Gratitude, Klein points at several chronically dissatisfied patients who seem to actively search for things to complain, ways to feel bad themselves and to discredit others around them. What she failed to point out explicitly in her work is the narcissistic and grandiose root of envy: all things need to be dragged down for every little aspect in which they are imperfect to the person who makes the judgment. Envy works in tandem with emotional greed, so that nothing the person actually receives is ever enough.

Defeating Chronos Hecate's way is wrong because it isn't the Nemesis' way. Melinoe represents the spotlight Nemesis was denied, so her experience must be soured at every opportunity.

I think this picture might hit a little too hard if we compare it with some things we witness in fandoms, and even in a broader scope, in social justice circles on the Web - the callout culture, the hunt for problematic or vaguely bad takes, the exclusionary attitudes, the pursuit of morally pure content. It sucks to have Nemesis around.

(And I'm yet to discover if there's a positive arc for Nemesis further along Hades 2, and if we get a quest/ prophecy to sort out stuff between Echo, Narcissus, Hera and herself, because that's the full relevant cast of the Narcissus myth.)

[greatqueenanna]

Frozen: Forces of Nature - A Review

Queen Disa and Rupert Wolfgang's Big Adventure - Oh yea, featuring the Frozen Characters.

I was able to get access to Frozen: Forces of Nature early, on the website Wonderly with their + program. So, naturally, I felt it appropriate to give a review for those who are curious about the project and want to know what it is about and what to expect. Keep in mind that this is of course my opinion, and I recommend giving the Podcast a listen so that you can form your own.

This review will mostly be spoiler-free, however, I might mention a few things here and there that could be considered spoilers, so I will put the review under the read more. If you do not want to be spoiled at all, even a little bit, I recommend skipping this review. The free release will be on most Podcast platforms will be on October 11th.

---

For a quick review for those who don't want to read too much - Forces of Nature is a cute story about Queen Disa learning to trust magic and how to be trusted herself. The secondary protagonist is Wolfgang, the Duke of Weselton's nephew, who through the help of Kristoff and Mattias, learns to find his true passions. Yes, the story revolves around Queen Disa and Wolfgang (you can't convince me otherwise), while Anna, Elsa, and the rest of the Frozen cast, take a huge backseat and act more as supporting characters.

There are many potentially interesting ideas in the podcast, but they are not explored to their fullest potential. We focus instead on these two characters and their relationships with the main Frozen cast and how they push them in the right direction to become better versions of themselves. Honestly, they should've made this a spin-off about these two characters instead of teasing us with Anna and Elsa being placed on the main cover.

My Overall Score - 40/100

I want to start by saying Forces of Nature is definitely not a mainline entry, even though it tries to imply this with the description of it being 'a story that happens between F2 and F3'. It was very much written like another Extended Universe Novel, both in the references to the recent novels in the F2 era and even using places from pre-F2 comics. I think they should have advertised it more as the last side story that they're going to release before F3 to give fans a better idea of what they can expect.

Some fans, including myself, theorized that Forces of Nature was going to tell a story about climate change (or nature vs. industry) with the hint of automatons disrupting the balance of nature and causing the spirits to be aggravated. However, this is not the case. While there are automatons, and the spirits definitely don't like them, it doesn't really try to touch on this subject at all.

The story, instead, seems like a story about trust. Anna and Elsa take different stances on trusting Queen Disa and her obsession with science, and the entire cast has to learn to trust Wolfgang, since his uncle is the Duke of Weselton. Queen Disa also struggles with trusting magic without knowing how it works, which causes some tension with Elsa. Elsa doesn't want to trust her, but Anna treats her as her closest friend. Wolfgang also has a side plot of trying to find his true calling and helps develop it as he builds a relationship with Kristoff and Mattias. Also, Wolfgang has bonus solo episodes.

Now, I don't mind when sequels or side stories try to make new characters have more depth. This was a main critique I had when it came to Polar Nights - how Inger and Sissel seemed to be just diet Anna and Elsa rather than interesting characters in their own right that we should root for. However, if it comes to the point where these new characters are taking time away from the characters we know and love, and the story pretty much revolves around their development, it makes them more annoying than interesting.

A balance definitely has to be made, making interesting new characters but not taking anything away from our actual leads.

Elsa is practically a non-character, only there to act as an obstacle to Disa's development, while Anna is the supportive best friend. Kristoff and Mattias surprisingly get a bit more screen time here, with Mattias narrating the story, and it is definitely welcoming. In Kristoff's case, however, he only shows up when he's directly involved with Wolfgang or Disa. No, there is no Kristanna content. You heard that correctly. there is none. Not even a little kiss or a 'my love' or nothing. Unless of course I missed it, but then it was incredibly tiny.

Another big thing that was disappointing, but sadly expected at this point, was that the Northuldra did not show up at all, only Ryder gets mentioned in passing. I understand that Disney does not want to write anything without Sami advisors/writers, but ignoring the Northuldran characters is not doing anything good either.

There are a lot of potential and interesting ideas present here, but a lot of it seems to not be explored at all. For example, Arendelle seems to have a big reputation for being magical and strange, but we don't really get to see this explored too much - only in relation to how Disa feels about the magical elements. We also get small crumbs of Kristoff learning to be a leader, but it is never really addressed that he will one day be King (or Prince Consort), it's only used as a way to build Wolfgang's character up some more. There were also some hints about climate-related damage, like how Sankershus was practically underwater due to floods and how the automatons leak oil - but again, it's not really explored.

Now, it could be that these things are not explored in depth because they are indeed hinting at what F3 could explore. However, I'm going to try not to go that crazy with speculation.

Overall, it was a decent experience, and had some very fun moments. However, Queen Disa and Wolfgang oversaturate the plot and take away screentime from our favorite characters. Elsa and Olaf are practically not in the story at all, there is no Kristanna content, no Northuldra, and even the spirits are surprisingly absent and only appear maybe once each. Many potentially interesting ideas are not explored, and it is a shame that this podcast had so much potential but ended up being, in my opinion, the worst post-F2 entry and possibly even the worst Frozen entry in the whole franchise.

[explodingsilver]

Book review: Lightlark by Alex Aster

Back in January, I was in the mood to read a bad book, and Hoopla just so happens to have this one. You may remember hearing about it last year; it’s most famous for being 1) heavily advertised on TikTok, and 2) very poorly written. Turns out that second point is no joke. But it’s not just bad, it’s the specific flavor of bad that compels innocent bloggers on tumblr.edu to write 3,000 word reviews that don’t even exhaust every problem they had with the book. Such as myself, for example.

(This won’t be as long or as thorough as @crow-caller​‘s definitive review, but it’s still the longest post I’ve ever written.)

The writing style

I’ve said it before, but the best way I can describe the writing style of this book is that it reads like it was written by a neural network that was trained entirely on Throne of Glass clones. Aster clearly knows what words she needs to use to make it fit the YA style, but she does not stop to consider whether the resulting sentence actually coheres. One of the more egregious examples:

Oro's betrayal was a glacier in her chest, throbbing and raw.

Are ‘throbbing’ and ‘raw’ really words that people use to describe glaciers? Because if so, that’s news to me.

But it’s not just the individual sentences that feel slightly off and more than a little bit auto-generated, it’s the whole damn plot. The sentences are merely a scaled-down version of this book’s uncanny feeling, like some strange literary version of Pumpelly’s rule. The actual plot is constructed with that same strategy of throwing the most popular components of YA fiction into one story with no thought given as to how they actually fit together. The protagonist, Isla Crown, is incredibly sheltered but also a fierce warrior, the plot revolves around an infamous fight-to-the-death where no one has actually died, there’s the two 500+ year old love interests, a rival woman whose main personality trait is hating the protagonist...

This is much more of a tangential problem, but I also suspect that the book would be about 3/4 of its current length if you just removed the unnecessary paragraph breaks. I can’t recall having that complaint about any other book I’ve read.

Lightlark and the Centennial

The whole conceit is that the titular island of Lightlark is surrounded by a storm that only lets up every 100 years, so the leaders of the six realms meet up during that brief window in order to try and break the curses on their realms. With a concept like that, you’d think that Lightlark is a vast wilderness with maybe a village of hardy recluses here and there, but no, it’s an absolute bustling city, practically the capital of the world. (As an aside, it’s hinted that the world does contain more than just the six realms, but the book is really bad at making this feel true.)

Let me preface my description of the Centennial with a disclaimer: I dislike it when a book’s magic system justifies the existence of hereditary monarchy. Obviously, a book’s magic system necessitating the existence of hereditary monarchy endears it to me even less. Well, guess what this book does! The prophecy they are following in order to break the curse says that a ruling line must come to an end, so none of these rulers have heirs. But in this world, a realm’s magic is stored in its royal family, being passed from parent to child, and if the line dies out, the whole realm will go extinct. Sad news for the guillotine fandom.

The Centennial is an infamously deadly affair, because in order for the prophecy to be fulfilled, someone has to die. Here’s the thing: this is the fifth Centennial, and all the realms are still around, meaning that no one has ever died at this notoriously fatal event. They’re not even allowed to try to kill each other until the halfway point, with the first half just being various demonstrations that are subject to the whims of the rulers who come up with them. Later this is explained by saying that it’s really tough to choose which realm has to die so the others can live, which fair enough, but still doesn’t explain the reputation.

Now, while everyone else tries to do their own thing, Isla and her best friend Celeste (the ruler of Starling) secretly try to find this fabled artifact called the Bondbreaker, which can break the curses, but requires enough blood to kill a person to activate. Their plan is to split the blood cost between them, and this should break the curses on their realms but not the others. Why Isla never suggests that all six look for it and split the blood cost six ways and break the curse for everyone is beyond me.

The realms and the curses

So first off, the six realms that are actually competing are named Wildling, Sunling, Moonling, Starling, Skyling, and Nightshade. I’m going to be real with you: I don’t like those names. The fact that five of them are [Noun]ling makes them feel like placeholders that Aster forgot to change before submitting the draft to a publisher, and ‘Starling’ and ‘Nightshade’ are already words with definitions that are never acknowledged by the book.

The curses are also strangely incongruent. Starlings all die at the age of 25, while Skylings can’t fly, something that no one else was able to do in the first place and so really doesn’t make me feel bad for them. The Wildlings, meanwhile, get hit with a double curse: they must kill whoever they fall in love with and they have to eat a human heart once a month!

Yeah, let’s talk about the Wildlings, shall we? Given that our protagonist is one, we end up learning a lot about them.

The Wildlings are, we’re told, a society of fierce Amazonian temptress warriors. They seem to be matriarchal, though this isn’t really explored in-depth. It’s also stated that they’re at risk of going extinct because of the curse that requires them to kill whoever they fall in love with. Now hold up: why would the society infamous for producing seductresses stick to monogamy so fiercely as to pose an extinction risk? You’d think a society like that would opt for a more “conceive via one-night stands and raise the child communally” approach or something similar, especially since this has been a problem for 500 years, but that would require Aster to think through the implications of her own worldbuilding.

Now you might be thinking “hey, maybe the extinction risk is because of the whole needing to eat human hearts thing”, and yeah, you might think. But that particular aspect of the curse is explored so little that I began to get the feeling that it only exists as an excuse for the Bad Boy Love Interest to give Isla the nickname ‘Hearteater’ (but more on him later).

(As a side note, the combination of the heart eating thing and them having nature powers made me realize that I would like them more if they were straight-up Bosmer with the serial numbers filed off, but that’s just my preference.)

Isla is notable in that, due to her parents falling in love without killing each other, she is not affected by the curses, but also has no powers. Given that the Centennial involves demonstrating her powers, she has to find ways to either fake it or distract everyone by doing something else. This is one of the few things I actually liked about the book, and also something that will be important to remember for later.

Isla’s abilities

Back when I read Throne of Glass, my biggest complaint with it was that it keeps hyping up Celaena as the most feared assassin in the land, yet she spends most of her screentime doing things like playing the piano and trying on pretty dresses. This book has the opposite problem: we’re constantly told that Isla is incredibly sheltered due to her guardians trying to hide her lack of powers, yet she is easily able to do things like beat two different 500+ year old guys (who have commanded armies!) in one-on-one combat. This is explained as her having been trained all her life by one of her guardians, but I still don’t think that accounts for her being strong enough to do that.

And speaking of things her guardians taught her: her guardians’ plan is for Isla to seduce the king of Lightlark, a notoriously cold and reclusive man, because in this universe, if someone falls in love with you, you get access to their powers, and since he has the power of four different realms, Isla would finally get actual powers. Do they ever test her to see if she can seduce anyone at all before sending her off to do this? No. They seem to be under the impression that packing a bunch of revealing dresses will be enough to do the trick.

Isla refuses to go along with this plan for reasons that amount to “I’m not a slut, I’m a good girl who wants True Love”. So of course, she gets herself into a love triangle.

The love interests

Because is it truly a bad YA book if the protagonist doesn’t have to choose between Boy Next Door and Badboy McHunky? (Good YA authors realize that this actually isn’t a necessary component.) As mentioned earlier, they’re both over 500 years old.

Badboy McHunky is Grimshaw (nicknamed Grim), the ruler of Nightshade. Here’s the thing: I fundamentally get the appeal of dark and brooding bad boy love interests, moreso than most people in my general Tumblr cohort. Darkness is sexy by default. So keep that in mind when I say that this guy did nothing for me. His only personality traits are being edgy and horny, and I say this as someone who generally considers those to be positive traits. And despite all the suggestive scenes and the book playing up their attraction to each other, I never figured out why he likes Isla in the first place.

He also just doesn’t really work as the bad boy that the book is trying to pass him off as. The book will do anything to sell him as a villain except for having him actually do anything evil on-screen. Even the reveal of the one genuinely bad thing he did makes him come across as less like a villain and more like some clueless schmuck who got played like a fiddle by the real villain.

Boy Next Door is Oro, the king of Lightlark and ruler of Sunling. He’s the one that Isla has been tasked with seducing, and he’s developed a sort of cold detachment from everyone specifically to prevent himself from falling in love. Of course, things like “spending a lot of time with Isla and at one point carrying her while flying Superman-style” don’t exactly work in service of that caution.

As a side note, given that he’s portrayed as cynical and world-weary, I spent the whole book picturing him as a handsome but tired bearded man. Imagine my disappointment when I finally saw the official art of him that shows him as looking like Ken from one of the newer Barbie movies. If this were a movie, he’d be played by one of the Sprouse twins.

In the end, I really did get some satisfaction out of Grim realizing that he can’t use Isla’s powers because she doesn’t love him anymore, while Oro can. But I get the impression that my reaction was supposed to be “serves him right”, and instead it was “oh thank fuck, she’s going to end up with the guy that she has the bare minimum amount of chemistry with”.

The plot twist(s)

Remember how earlier, I said that Isla’s lack of powers was one of the few things I truly liked about this book? Yeah, I use the past tense “liked” for a reason. Because not only is it revealed that she did in fact have Wildling powers the entire time, but her father was a Nightshade, and therefore she also has Nightshade powers! And the only reason she thought she was mundane is because her Nightshade powers were masking her Wildling powers! So not only does the best thing about the book not actually apply in the end, it doubly does not apply! It’s important to note that earlier, Oro told Isla that if a child is born to parents from different realms, the child only gets one realm’s power. I also don’t remember if the book ever addresses why she’s not affected by the curses if she’s had powers the entire time.

But that’s not all! It turns out that Celeste is actually Aurora, the one who caused the curses and is therefore immune to them, and has used her shapeshifting ability to pretend to be every member of her own line of descendants for the past 500 years! I don’t even want to try to comprehend the logistics of doing that.

But that’s not all! It turns out that the Bondbreaker is actually the Bondmaker, and its purpose is to steal someone’s powers!

But that’s not all! It turns out that Isla and Grim were in a relationship prior to the events of the book, and he memory wiped her so that she’d go along with her guardians’ plan! When she gets angry about this, he immediately tells her that he really did believe that this was necessary, as Aurora convinced him it was.

So Isla abruptly falls out of love with Grim, uses the Bondmaker on Aurora to steal her powers, and then kills Aurora, bringing the Starling ruling line to an end and fulfilling the prophecy. But since Isla now has Aurora’s powers, the Starlings don’t drop dead, and since Isla and Oro are in love, Isla now has all six powers.

The wardrobes

I know, I’m also surprised that there’s enough to say about this aspect to warrant its own section in the review. But there’s several things that bothered me about the Isla’s outfits, and I am normally not a stickler for fashion in books.

Thing number one: there was a weird color coding system in place for the realms, where every realm is obligated to wear one specific color. And by weird I don’t mean “counterintuitive”, because the color choices made sense, but weird as in “why does this system even exist in the first place?” I can understand color coding the leaders during the Centennial, but everyone must abide by this system all the time. The only reason I can think of is so that everyone can tell at a glance what realm any given person is from, which is something that I cannot see being used for good, but the book never even attempts to address this. But there’s a catch: because nature contains a variety of colors, Isla and the other Wildlings can wear any color they want as long as it’s not already claimed by another realm! Isn’t she unique? Here’s the problem: Aster seems to have forgotten that this is also true of the sky. The joke here is almost too obvious to make.

Another thing that bothers me is the anachronism in her clothing. I do not mean this in a “this fantasy based on a specific era has characters wearing clothes that went out of fashion ten years beforehand”, I mean that this is a medieval fantasy setting and yet Isla wears a modern day bra. She also owns several tank tops, which are even referred to as such by the text. Sometimes her outfit descriptions, particularly ones where she’s just relaxing in her room, make it sound like she’s about to get sold to One Direction. But not all of it. Sometimes you get descriptions like this:

[The armor] had been fashioned into parts that accentuated her figure while also protecting it–metal shoulder pads, chain mail sleeves and tights, metal-plated boots that ran up to the top of her thigh, a sculpted breastplate.

This is the kind of passage that would get posted to r/menwritingwomen and get 10k upvotes, with one comment pointing out that a woman wrote it buried in the comments section with 4 points. Why does she need chain mail tights if her boots cover all of her legs? How does she even move in those boots? Doesn’t matter. The first priority is looking sexy, with practicality a distant second.

Miscellaneous points that didn’t quite fit into the other sections

I understand that the marketing for this book promised diversity? Well, the actual extent of it is that the token black guy is mourning over his dead husband.

Isla does not realize that Starlings can use their magic to forge weapons despite watching them do it right in front of everyone in a previous chapter

The necklace Grim gives her is described as a “diamond large as a small potato”, and I’m torn between thinking about how much her neck must hurt and making a “large boulder the size of a small boulder” joke

The book implies that Isla has some sort of spine pocket and refuses to elaborate on this

One thing I will say in this book’s favor is that at least the title does not follow the ‘X of Y and Z’ format. I know that’s damning with the absolute faintest praise, but I really can’t tell books with those titles apart anymore.

At one point, Isla sees the teeth of some wicked creatures who are trying to kill her and realizes with fright that their teeth are "tools to eat with". This woman is ~20 years old and has gone most of her life not knowing what teeth are for.

Conclusion

Honestly, this isn’t the worst book I’ve ever read, it’s merely the worst professionally published book I’ve ever read (not counting those where the publishing house exists solely for the sake of that book, à la Handbook for Mortals). Lightlark is to Maas-style fantasy what Divergent was to YA dystopia: bad in a specific, formulaic way that exposes the scaffolding of the genre for all to see. It hasn’t caused the immediate collapse of the genre, but ten years from now it will be commonly cited as the beginning of the end.