#after his death his Entire Character was boiled down to “girls dont like me” and people STILL insisted he was somehow the devil in a scarf

[twotriickhoofbea2t]

i know it's fandom nature to go crazy = hot and mediocre = horrible. but it really is wild how much HS fandom warped this perception to the point that the NARRATIVE ITSELF was claiming eridan (and dancestor eridan who's name i can't be assed to recall) was the go-to-worst person because he did some fucked up shit, but more importantly because he was Weak and Lame about it.

then turn around and fall ass-backwards over Gamzee who, and this is gonna be an unpopular opinion, is So Much Worse than eridan by the story's end. anything eridan coulda done gamzee did do but more nauseating and bad.

[neapolitan-reviews-blog]

Tale of Tales was literally the WORST movie i have EVER seen in my entire damn life

i cant believe it actually was made? created? funded? who approved of this? who genuinely looked at any part of this movie and said “yeah, this is good” what the absolute fuck

SO LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT SOME OF THE BS THAT WENT DOWN IN THESE 2 1/WHATEVER HOURS

queen RAGES after seeing some pregnant jester

mysterious tall man tells her birth comes from death. kill the sea creature

sea creature dies but so does the king

some WEIRD ASS ritual occurs and the virgin fucking Mary gives birth to the Queen’s second son

SECOND STORY (because there were 3 different fucking subplots jkdksjzhfd) a rando king’s daughter jamming out on some instrument to appease him

king is more interested in the flee on his hand

Flee grows to the size of a fucking small hippo! BITCH WHAT THE FUCK

daughter is soooooo thirsty for foreign dick

THIRD STORY another king, youngest of them all, is dissatisfied with his hoe life

hears a woman sing and is overcome with lust

woman is a 90 year old lady but the king doesnt know that!

OLD LADY BOILS HER FUCKING

SHE BOILS HER FINGER

THEN THE KING SUCKS AND SLURPS ON HER SISTER’S (also in her 90′s) FINGER AND SHE LEGIT  

IS ABOUT TO CUM

Back to the first story, years have passed (17 to be exact) and the prince loves chilling with his sorta bro and the queen is Not Happy

prince’s sorta bro (they are literally fucking identical) is kicked out of the kingdom

“but bro, why are you leaving”

“cant tell you bro, but look at this fucking water” *stabs tree* *water flows out tree* “If it stays clear, im good bro. If it’s muddy, im dying”

Second story, thirsty girl wants to be married!!! and sucking dick already!!!

giant flee thing DIES and the king makes it into i dont know what they’re fucking called, those fur skins you hang on wall minus the fur

ANYWAYS he says “guess what animal this is from and you can take my daughter”

A GOD DAMN OGRE! AN OGRE!!! CLAIMS HER AS HIS WIFE BECAUSE HE KNOWS WHAT FLEES SMELL LIKE

HORRIBLE THINGS DONE TO HER

a family of performers save her ass and get mother fucking SLAIN by the ogre (rip only good characters)

she kills the ogre

Third story, old lady GLUES the folds in her back to make her skin more “smooth” and hops on the kings dick in darkness (pulling some Myrrh shit here)

king sees her face and is having NONE OF IT AND THROWS HER OUT THE FUCKING WINDOW

she doesn’t die, and a magic lady consoles her with her tit (she literally fucking rips a part of her shirt and shoves her tit in the old lady’s face akshzkjdfhskd this is also some Myrrh shit)

OLD LADY BECOMES YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL, I DONT KNOW WHAT KIND OF TITTY MILK

king is all “hhhnngggg” and marries her

Her fucking sister

pays someone to

CUT HER SKIN OFF

IN HOPES OF LOOKING YOUNGER LIKE HER SISTER (now the Queen)

I JUST

WHY

back to the first story (im not going in complete order but believe me this movie is too, also, all over the fucking place)

Bro saves the other bro from a GIANT ASS BAT, WHO WHEN DECOMPOSING, BECOMES THE QUEEN?? WHO IS NOW DEAD I GUESS?? I DONT UNDERSTAND

anyways this is all i could handle, the movie wasn’t even done but I sure as hell was.

This movie is based on 3 Giambattista Basile tales (the same dude who did Cinderella and Rapunzel. NOT the Grimm’s brothers), but truly, what the fuck?

[temarisnara]

I like both deanoru and karoxavin and I’m nonbinary but I feel like the major problem with the latter is k doesn’t always seem to respect x’s gender? I definitely do want xavin to show up asap but at the same time I’d rather not have to sit through the arc of k trying to prove her partner is actually a girl deep down. I’m not as worried anymore tho deanoru (more importantly canon bi nico) made me feel they’d handle k/x a whole lot better than the comics did.

so i have a lot of opinions on this, and they all boil down to you’re right, xavin’s gender was not always handled the best way, and there was a lot of transphobic comments made by the runaways, and while karolina was never transphobic, she also didn’t understand xavin’s gender identity. but, neither did xavin. that was such a crucial point to their character. xavin didn’t know what they were, and i dont know if BKV had an endgame with that, if he intended to explore the complexities of gender more or what, but BKV only got a few issues to really work with Xavin before he left, and most of those issues were Gert’s death and the following trauma. 

After BKV left, Whedon came in and was like “nah, fuck all that other bullshit, Xavin’s a girl.” and then he left immediately, and terry moore came in and within his first six issues (i think? i can’t will myself to reread that hot mess) he just…wrote xavin out entirely. 

So Xavin never got a chance to grow. To build relationships outside of Karolina. To explore what their gender identity was. To reveal more about themselves. Anything. And I also think it’s…mm, I don’t know if unfair is the right word, but when it comes to Xavin, I ignore Whedon and Moore, because they completely ignored what BKV was doing.

But another point is, Xavin was (to my knowledge) one of the first ever non-cis main characters in Western media. I remember the first ever trans character I saw on TV was in 2010, FIVE YEARS after Xavin was introduced in comics, and that character was the first ever main trans character on  western TV (or at least the first ever male trans character? I forget). So, not to defend what Runaways did wrong with Xavin, but they were in uncharted territory at that point, and for every questionable thing it did, it still made it complex. It could’ve been so easy to just have Karolina be like “I like girls.” and Xavin be like “k.” and never explore what that meant for Xavin. But they didn’t, and that ended up causing problems once BKV left, but the intent was clearly to make it not have a simple answer. 

god, i’m sorry, thats so all over the place but i just love xavin.

anyway, onto the concern of the tv show. like i’ve said before, i’m 99% certain when xavin is introduced, they arent going to be karolina’s arranged fiancee, just because it doesn’t make sense. if they bring in xavin, they’re going to be their own character, who’s also a love interest for karolina. and runaways has done such a great job with confirming nico as bi and giving us nico/karolina, and for not doing the mole storyline the same way as the comics, and for taking away the self harming aspect of the staff of one. so i’m not saying that josh and stephanie are going to be perfect at writing a nonbinary character, because  thats impossible and for all their good intentions, they’re still cishet white writers. but they have something BKV didn’t have. they live in a more educated culture. i didn’t learn about transgender people until 2008. my 10 year old cousin knows about them already. the culture is so, so different then when runaways was coming out. there’s more information, more own voices, and people are educated. 

so im not saying they’ll do xavin perfectly, but i do feel confident enough to trust them to do their best, to do it respectfully, and to listen to the criticism re: xavin’s character and take the right steps when it comes their turn to write them.

[forgetmenotblues]

52 in 52

So last year I tried to read 52 books in 52 weeks (aka a year, if you're nasty), and because I was a shiftless philosophy student, I managed and then some.

Here are the books I've read, with some thoughts on them, for posterity, or recommendations

1) Sandman Overture, Neil Gaiman

Pretty solid, usually I hate prequels, but sandman was always pretty meandering and non-linear, so it works well. Just annoying it doesn't fit in with my pretty leatherbound absolute editions

2) Radioactive: love and fallout, Lauren Redniss

Very cool artsy biography of Marie Curie, and glows in the dark!

3) XKCD What if?

Extremely fun science, makes some abstract concepts approachable, I mean it's Randall Munroe, it's solid

4) Rise to Rebellion, Jeff Shaara

Historical novel (gonna be a few of these, I'm dead into them) about the build up to the American revolution . Kinda dry for a lot of it, but can ratchet the tension up, taught me lots I didn't know, and there's a bit towards the end where John Adams' wife calls him out on his privilege and it's pretty rad

5) Dune, Frank Herbert

I hate myself for saying this, but I was expecting it to be a bit more... dry. But seriously, everything described it as complex philosophy and politics, ASOIAF in space, and then it was a pretty straightforward adventure. The dynastic politics boiled down to a family of cool beautiful good guys vs an evil family of "hilariously" fat perverts. It was a great read, but more Laurence of Arabia than anything else

6) Squirrel girl, Ryan North 

Fantastic, fun, brilliantly written - it's Ryan North, nuff said.

7) Virgil, Steve Orlando

A cool, dark, "queersploitation" comic. Your basic "beaten and left for dead, wreaks vengeance" type story, brutal, but honestly pretty cathartic

8) the house that groaned, karrie fransman

A comic about a bunch of dysfunctional people. I didn't care for it, it was a lot of kinda shallow Freudian psychology and slightly tim burton esque "quirky" characters. It was kinda like the A Dolls House arc of Sandman, but... not good

9) The Last Continent, Terry Pratchett

Discworld is always fantastic, and I've got a real fondness for the classic travelogue style rincewind ones.

10) Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist, Russel McCormmach

The story of a German physicist who's dedicated his whole life to ether model physics and is realising his life's work is being disproved by recent advances... so a barrel of laughs. All about mortality, the fear of obsolescence, nationalism, and academia.

11) The Property, Rutu Modan

Indie comic about a girl learning about her family's heritage in Europe, lots of post war stuff and exploring "the old country". Very good

12) The Wake, Paul Kingsnorth

This was one of the real wins of this year, a story about the Norman occupation of Anglo Saxon England after 1066, and resistance thereof. Written in a conlang made to simulate old english, it seems totally unreadable, but you pick it up, and it makes the story infinitely more engrossing. A cool setting plus a whole other language wouldbe enough, but kingsnorth goes one further and makes it a savage deconstruction of nationalism and a beautifully painful exploration of tropes these sorts of books tend to embrace. Can't recommend enough.

13) Adventures of Hergé, Jean-luc Fromental

Biography of hergé written in the style of a tintin comic, a lot of fun

14) Carpé Jugulum, Terry Pratchett

Another Discworld, another classic. A lot of fun stuff with vampire tropes, although also a pretty serious discussion of "all evil comes from utilitarianism", which I felt didn't entirely fit, and I disagreed with. But again, the biggest criticism I've ever had of a Pratchett book is "his intelligent discussion of philosophy felt a little out of place", so not the end of the world

15) Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett

I went on a bit of a discworld binge here, another great one

16) Half a King, Joe Abercrombie

Great deconstructive low fantasy  novel, one of the many ASOIAF-esque books out there, and one of the few I've really enjoyed

17) Batman and Robin Eternal, D.C. Comics

Fun story about the batfamily, one of the rare bat-titles to really say "hey maybe this should be fun, you guys?"

18) Magical Game Time, Zac Gorman

Brilliant comics about video games, capture the real magic and freedom you found in games when you're a kid, the epic narratives you'd weave out of very simple Zelda games on the NES. makes me happy on a fundamental level. A lot of its available as webcomics, look it up, you won't regret it

19) The Truth, Terry Pratchett

Another brilliant Discworld book. Not much to say as there's a lot of these another all just consistently amongst the best books ever.

20) Wonder Woman Earth 1, Grant Morrison

Grant Morrison's always got a gift for finding the heart of a character, and he doesn't disappoint here. A lot of weird analysis of wonder woman as a feminist character, but he handles it pretty well overall.

21) & 22) Half the World, and Half a War, Joe Abercrombie

Parts 2 and 3 of the series, stays brilliant. Abercrombie is apparently best known for more adult stuff and this is more YA, but if anything that refines his writing - stops him being another grimdark game of thrones wannabe, and keeps it slightly more reconstructive and intelligent. Brilliant use of characters, the hero of the first book ends up almost the villain of the last, and all for entirely understandable reasons.

23) Machine of Death, various authors

A short story collection about a high concept: a simple blood test can tell you your cause of Death, but not the time or any specifics. A brilliant idea is explored in a lot of clever, beautiful, and hilarious ways.

24) The Last Hero, Terry Pratchett

Another brilliant Discworld, acting as a bridge between the classic fantasy of the older books, and the renaissance era politics and science of the later books - v poignant

25, 26, & 27) Harlequin, Vagabond, Heretic, Bernard Cornwell

Historical novels about the battle of creçy and the start of the 100 years war. Cornwells always good, although honestly these aren't his best. Pretty cool comparison between the chivalry of grain quests, and the reality of medieval warfare.

28) Long Halloween, Jeph Loeb

A classic batman, the story they based Dark Knight on, with a cool transition from down to earth organised crime of Year One to the zany madness of later batman

29) Little Brother, Cory Doctorow

A novel about post-911 culture, and counter culture rebellions against it. Fantastic novel, available as creative commons, so you can get it for free, so no excuses not to read! Very inspiring in that fuck Bush and fuck this war aesthetic, and Ihve a feeling it's gonna get real relevant in the coming years

30) Enders Game, Orson Scott Card

Pretty fantastic sci fi, analyses the psychological impacts of chosen one children saving the world, and the ethics of a "all the enemy are evil aliens" narrative. Obviously all this ethicality is a bit hypocritical from Orson Scott homophobia, so buy it second hand?

31) Black Guard, AJ Smith

Pretty cool fantasy, another faux ASOIAF type one, fairly straightforward, but plenty enjoyable

32) Deadpool vs Hawkeye

Pretty fun comic, read it on a plane back from Costa Rica, so I dont super remember it? But I enjoyed  

33) The Sleeper and the Spindle, Neil Gaiman

Very cool twisted fairy tale type thing, Neil Gaiman's always good, and beautiful Chris Riddel illustrations on top

34) Dial H for Hero, China Miéville

Great comic series, takes a simple idea (guy finds magic phone, when he dials it, he becomes a randomised superhero) and explores it in every possible way, becoming a full blown epic. Plus a scene where he becomes old timey racist heroes from the 60's and has to balance the good of doing superheroics vs the offensiveness of going out as "super chief" or whoever

35) Ravenspur, Conn Iggulden

Historical novel about the war of the roses. Iggulden is always very good, makes extremely readable stuff, and his war of the roses series is fantastic, a complex story made into an awesome action story. However, this last book isn't his best, it spends about 2/3rds of the book on a 6 month period where not much happens, then blazes through 10 years of action in no time at all, the pacing just felt a bit off. Still very good.

36) Howard the Duck, Chip Zdarsky

Very readable, very fun, very witty

37) Stonehenge, Bernard Cornwell

Historical novel about the building of Stonehenge, this is cornwell at his best, at border of very well researched intelligent history and the slightest hint of fantasy, making a brilliant story that brings history to life.

38) Black Orchid, Neil Gaiman

Slightly deconstructive superhero story, reads very much like a companion piece to Alan Moore's brilliant Swamp Thing

39) The Hartlepool Monkey, Wilfrid Lupano

Historical comic about a northern English town that hanged a shipwrecked monkey as a Napoleonic spy. A brutal read, exploring idiotic nationalism, well recommended

40) Turned Out Nice Again, Richard Mabry

Cute non-fiction musings on the meanings of weather and it's effects on our day to day life

41) The Heroes, Joe Abercrombie

Another deconstructive low fantasy, this time part of his adult series, which actually kind of works against it. Without the lighter edge, it can be a little bit of a downer. Nonetheless, well written, solid characterisation, and an excellent take-down of fantasy's belief in the glorious nature of war.

42) Thief of Time, Terry Pratchett

Another fantastic Discworld, fun, funny, and clever

43, 44, 45, 46, 47) A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, A Dance with Dragons

Reread all of ASOIAF, absolutely fantastic, better on a second read. The first 3 are great as last time, plus all the foreshadowing that now makes sense. And 4&5, which I felt bit more ambivalent about the first time round, I've since read various analyses of (check out @asoiafuniversity), and I'd now consider them some of the best books I've ever read.

48) Gettysburg Address, Jonathon Hennessey

Absolutely brilliant comic, dissecting the Gettysburg address, using each line of it as a jumping off point to explore the history and philosophy of the civil war, incredibly high recommendation

49) Lazarus, Greg Rucka

A fantastic sci fi comic series, brilliant writing and characters, rucka is always great, and this is some of his best

50) Night Watch, Terry Pratchett

Another Discworld, but this one is even better than usual, this is one of the ones that stand out as serious business, much less comedic and much more epic than usual

51) A Brief History of Vice, Robert Evans

Hilarious and informative book from a cracked.com writer about use of drugs and alcohol through history, with recipes and recommendations for legal highs and drink recipes

52) Just City, Jo Walton

Sci fi / fantasy /philosophical novel, where great thinkers from throughout history are brought together to build Plato's perfect city. All about the clash between high ideals and practical reality. Very enjoyable, the sort of book where action scenes are philosophical debates.

53) Goldie Vance, Hope Larson

Fun cool progressive detective comic

54) Temeraire, Naomi Novak

A really fun fantasy novel with a concept that seems so simple, you don't know how no one's done it before. Essentially it's just the classical trope of dragon riders, but updated from pseudo medieval to the Napoleonic era, with all  associated tall ships and iron men and officer and a gentleman tropes