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cybernaght · 3 years ago

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The Rebel/叛逆者: A Review of Sorts

After being only semi-invested in the Rebel, I ended up getting so into it in the final weeks of its release, I’ve shelled out on IQIYI premium just to get the final couple of episodes a few days earlier.

That’s right kids, it’s a Review of Sorts. Unfortunately, I could not find a translation of the novella the drama is based on, so will be looking at it as a separate entity.

Most of this post is spoiler-free, however I have dedicated a few paragraphs at the end of it to discussing the final episode, as there are a few specific things about it I wanted to mention. There is a clear spoiler warning before that part.

If you don’t want to risk it, TL;DR version of this review goes something like this: Rebel is very decent, and positively one of the best things that I have seen to come out of China since I’ve jumped into that particular rabbit hole. It’s pretty well written, it’s very beautifully dressed and shot, and the cast is killing it. I thought it dropped the ball a little in post production, and I did not always love the pacing. Other than that, it’s incredibly decent, and well worth watching, unless communist propaganda really irks you, in which case stay very well away.

I have been having many conversations with @supernovasimplicity all the way through watching this drama, so there are likely to be some thoughts here that are influenced by those.

The story centers around Lin Nansheng, a struggling servicemen in the Guomingdang party. He has a great analytical mind, and absolutely no emotional capacity for his job. He has trouble handling violence, he is impulsive, he cannot speak to his superiors without bursting into tears, and has nothing even remotely resembling a poker face. And that is what makes this drama as enjoyable as it is.

I don’t think Lin Nansheng’s journey would have been nearly as exciting had he started it from a place of competence. He botches up everything he touches because his big brain switches off the moment his emotions kick in. And so, when you see him grow in confidence, learn to control himself, learn to fake his smiles and compliments, you can’t help but feel a strange sense of pride. It also makes Lin Nansheng very likeable as a character for reasons other than Zhu Yilong’s ability to look like a bush baby.

It did take me a while to feel fully engaged with his performance - not because there is anything lacking in it, but just because it’s hard to be truly surprised by his choices after the exposure I have given myself to his work. That said, at about a half-way point I got charmed by him anyway, and there were quite a few scenes that were truly mesmerising. There were scenes where he broke out of the familiar mould of big unguarded eyes and fluttering wet eyelashes, and tried something that was not pretty: every time to a great success. I am hoping to see more of that in his future work.

I really wanted to like the female lead, Zhu Yizhen, but unfortunately both the way she was written and the way she was performed by Tong Yao left me somewhat cold. It did not help of course that the screenplay ended up sidelining her at every turn, leaving her with very little personal agency. She was set up so interestingly, but in the end her sole purpose became being someone for Lin Nansheng to pine over. It is particularly curious from a perspective of meta storytelling: seeing how this is all centered around superiority of communism, which as a whole was, arguably, ahead of its time in the matters of binary gender equality.

The ensemble cast of the drama is stunning. Wang Yang came very close to stealing the show at several points as Chen Moqun, somehow managing to make his rather unlikeable character interesting. I can say the same thing about Zhu Zhu who absolutely shined as Lin Xinjie, showing an incredible range and imagination in her performance.

The overarching story of the show is engaging, with some incredibly suspenseful elements; every narrative arc including a nice progression through it. As spy thrillers go, it was fairly well plotted. You could if you go looking for a few things that did not pay off in a satisfying way (notably, the Chekhov’s cyanide capsule), but you overall the story really was well told for the most of it.

I did, however, feel like the pacing started to fall apart in the last quarter of the drama. Last episode in particular really did feel rushed, not just due to its pace, but also in a way it failed to pay off the final mission in any visible way. There will be more on that in the spoiler section of this post.

Important to note that The Rebel is a show made in Communist China in the year 2021. It does not ideologically side-step from the path that was laid out for it by that fact. Which is to say, it is, undeniably, filled with propaganda. Communists are the good guys, and if you think a good guy (or gal) is not a communist, they probably secretly are. With one exception of a friendly character who is not a communist, and whose fate we actually never find out. Curious, that.

The Rebel is not a kind of a show where censorship-appeasing scenes are shoehorned in. It’s a kind of a show in which the main theme is Sacrifice For the Party.

Aside from the being the moral vector of the show, Mao’s gentle teachings explicitly help get Ling Nansheng out of prolonged depression following his injury, and almost annoyingly, this sat incredibly well with the character, as he was written. Lin Nansheng is conceived as this naive idealist who wants to be on the front line, who needs validation and support of others. His - and I can’t believe I’m saying this - his being disillusioned in his beliefs and choosing to join a party which includes people whom he likes and trusts makes sense. Him finding this one thing that gives him hope and letting it propel him into gaining confidence and competence makes sense.

In many ways, the Rebel is a story of Lin Nansheng’s failure to become an antagonist within the world of the drama.

I have honestly spent this past couple of weeks pondering whether being well written makes political propaganda better or worse, whether the subtlety of it makes it more or less palatable, whether it’s enough, as a viewer, to be aware of it to shrug it off. Ultimately, this is not something I could or should make moral judgements on, but I do believe that it’s possible to acknowledge the fact that propaganda exists in the drama, and still appreciate it for a good piece of television that it is.

That said, I am very well aware that me being kind of okay with it stems entirely from my own removal from the culture this is made in, and I am, perhaps, lucky to even have a choice as to whether I want to engage with a product which is, undoubtably, here to dress political ideology in fancy clothes.

I have, on the other hand, also seen many things in Russian media of the “Annexation of Crimea is Good Actually” variety and those make me feel very unwell, so feeling somewhat at ease with blatant political propaganda in Chinese media makes me the biggest hypocrite.

But, I digress.

Before we go into some specific plot-related things, I would like to mention that the Rebel has this weird dichotomy in which the production is sublime, and the post-production… not so much. The show very well shot. Every element of it sits perfectly together, not a single prop out of place, not a single extra underdressed, not a page of script not put to good use. It’s lit to perfection. It’s scored beautifully. So much of this show is just stunning.

And then… there is post-production.

This is not even about bad CGI (and the CGI is, indeed, bad), it’s just that most of post-production as a whole feels rushed.

Starting with surprisingly imperfect editing, which at times just fails to make the scene flow together. The final line of dialogue would be spoken within a scene, and it would fade to black instantly without a single breath to indicate a full stop. A montage sequence would be created, but every shot within it condensed to a second, making it feel incredibly fast-paced when the effect should be the opposite. There would be a cut away from a speaking character and to the same speaking character from a slightly different angle, making it dynamic without any reason to do so. There are a couple of truly startling jump-cuts.

I did not speed this gif up. This is part of a romantic montage, edited like it’s a goddamn action sequence.

And of course dear old friend slowing down footage shot at 24FPS. Please don’t do this. You think no one notices - but we do.

There are other tell-tale signs of production rushing to the finish line: occasional, but very noticeable ADR glitches, very sloppy job done at sound mixing, which contribute to parts of the show feeling ever so slightly off.

It’s not unforgivable, but it does make me wish the same amount of care and efforts that went into shooting this drama would also go into it after it was all in the can.

Oh, and just because if you know me you know I have a professional fixation on fights, and I am happy to say most action scenes are toe-curlingly delightful. Hot damn those fights are good. I am absolutely in love with the shot below, for example. Placing an actor behind a piece of set so he can exchange places with the stunt double during a one shot is such an old trick, but the execution, timing and camerawork are just... flawless. This is what perfection looks like.

Now we got all that out of the way...

SPOILERS FOR THE SERIES FINALE BELOW

Here’s the thing. I wanted to love the ending and I found that I could not.

The final mission was presented as important, and honestly the scene in which Zhu Yizhen is sending the vital message out as Lin Nansheng holds his ground in hand to hand fight is incredibly dynamic. Party, this is due to the fight itself being incredibly well choreographed, yes, but it’s also where it sits within the narrative, how high the stakes are for everything surrounding it.

But then, the tension all but bleeds out. The Important Message is sent, the fight is won, and we are treated to ten minutes of a very slow car chase, problem of which is not even its speed as much as its placing within the story. As in, by this point both of those operatives have lost their cover, and completed their Very Important Mission. It would be very sad if they died, but their survival does not technically contribute to their cause. Moreover, Zhu Yizhen getting mortally injured in order to protect Lin Nansheng as part of her mission read a little empty when the mission is technically over.

While I personally found Lin Nansheng slow recuperation and his low key ending enjoyable, I think I would have preferred to have seen a more tangible pay-off to all the sacrifices made in the name of “bright communist future”, just a little more justification for every moment of death and despair we witnessed. I would have certainly at the very least preferred to see Wang Shi’an’s death on screen. Considering how many likeable characters martyred themselves on screen, denying us the death of the one antagonist just seemed cruel.

I really did love the ambiguity of the final few scenes however, if we consider the children choir at the end a fantasy. The idea that Lin Nansheng will live out his life in this hope that Zhu Yizhen is still alive, imagining her just outside of his field of vision, his only joy being in this fantasy of her… now, that is incredibly strong. I equally like the idea of rest being promised to him at the end of his journey, and said rest being painful, and slow and unwelcome.

But it felt like as they chose not to to lean into the “sweet” part of the bitter-sweet tone of the ending and we’re unable not commit to the “bitter” part either, so it lands with a splat which is somewhat lacklustre.

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This concludes my thoughts on the Rebel.

I am more or less out of Zhu Yilong’s filmography to watch, which is probably a good thing at this point. I have just emerged out of several back to back work projects - literally today - and will hopefully once more have time for things I grew to enjoy doing during the lockdown.

Those things, if you have not guessed, include watching Chinese television and writing things about Chinese television.

#the rebel #叛逆者 #Zhu Yilong #review of sorts #now with gifs #chinese drama

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turnthedirtintojoy · 4 years ago

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I finished Rule of Wolves last night and although it was a thoroughly enjoyable read (as everything Leigh Bardugo writes) and an overall satisfying ending to the series, I do have mixed feelings about some of the choices that were made. And there were some VERY big plot holes. Some thoughts below the cut. Beware: spoilers.

Things I liked:

It was so nice to dive into this world one more (last?) time and to see all our beloved characters again (my Crow babies, Alina, Mal, Misha, Oncat...). Leigh’s writing was on point as always, and she really did a great job expanding this universe as well. We got to discover Shu Han and see a bit more of Fjerda, and this novel, I feel, has a lot more scope than the previous ones.

Leigh’s main strength remains her characters. Nikolai was delightful as always. Zoya’s arc was absolutely amazing. Nina was still the badass waffle-loving pansexual queen we all love.

Rule of Wolves offers great representation with a diverse set of characters. I never really clicked with Hanne’s character, but their story was told with grace and subtlety, and I love that Fjerda now has a gender non-conforming Grisha ruler (and they don’t even know it). Zoya’s road to acceptance of her Suli origins was also a nice touch.

I’m really grateful that we got a happy ending for most of the characters. Obviously I love that Nikolai and Zoya are endgame. Nina has found love and joy again. And although we only got a brief glimpse of the rest of the Crows, I like where they’re at (Wesper living happily, Kaz ruling the Barrel while Inej rules the True Sea).

Things I didn’t like:

So many plot holes and inconsistencies...

1. Let’s talk about the Ice Court, this supposedly unbreachable Fjerdan stronghold. It takes a whole book for the Crows to break into it, and they literally have to blow a hole in the wall with a tank to get out of it. But in ROW, although it is specifically stated security has been reinforced since the prison break, people seem to come and go as they please. Nina breaks into the Drüskelle sector not once, but twice. Not to mention Magnus Opjer who mysteriously manages to escape with nothing but a bone dart. Sorry, I don’t buy it.

2. The ending to Nina and Hanne’s story makes absolutely zero sense whatsoever. Why would Nina choose to keep Mila’s face? Couldn’t Prince Rasmus just marry Nina Zenik now that Fjerda is at peace with Ravka? It would make sense as a political alliance for the Prince to marry a Grisha. I hate that Nina will have to live as someone else for decades. Also, are we supposed to believe that Hanne will fool everyone as Prince Rasmus? A large chunk of KOS is devoted to Isaak’s training and difficulties to impersonate Nikolai, a man he has known for years and with the help of his closest friends (Genya, Tolya, Tamar...). He barely scrapes it in front of nobles, but Hanne will somehow manage to pass as Prince Rasmus, a man she barely knows, in front of his parents? That seems highly unlikely... One would say improbable.

3. As much as I adore the Crows, their appearance feels a bit forced and doesn’t really work narratively. I loved the Ketterdam chapters (of course I did), but they don’t really belong in Rule of Wolves and feel out of place. First, why would Nikolai and Zoya go in person? Also, we are talking about a Demon King and a Dragon Queen with an army of Grisha at their service, and they can’t manage without the help of Kaz Brekker, a 19-year old gangster, to steal stuff? Once was cute, twice is pushing it.

4. Since when are there Suli settlements in Kerch? And if Kaz knew it, why wouldn’t he tell Inej? This makes no sense.

Apart from this gaping holes, there are a couple of choices Leigh made that I am not a fan of. I mean, why kill David? On his wedding day no less! Hasn’t Genya suffered enough? I usually like a good character death, but this felt needlessly cruel and and it didn’t really advance the plot or the character.

The other thing that sort of bugged me were the two main romances which felt really dragged out. I love slow burns as much as the next person, but not every relationship needs to be slow burnt. It took almost two books for Nikolai/Zoya and Nina/Hanne to admit their feelings for each other while it was obvious to everyone involved that they liked each other since early in KOS. Leigh was trying really hard to find excuses to keep them apart until the very end and it kind of got tiresome at one point.

Finally, let’s talk about the Darkling’s storyline. COMPLETELY UNECESSARY. I mean he is by far my favourite antagonist in the Grishaverse (the other ones are a bit too one-dimensional), but bringing him back for so little was a waste of pages. I really didn’t like his arc: it felt forced and rushed and made very little sense. The blight storyline was solved in one chapter and didn’t really tie in with the rest of the story. Unpopular opinion but I also didn’t like that the Darkling had POV chapters. Kind of ruins the mystery of the character. I was fine with his ending (endless agony in exchange for Sainthood), but the fact that Genya, Alina and Zoya changed their minds five pages later kind of ruined the whole thing...

Despite its flaws, I still loved the book and devoured it in only a few days. I’m always sad when I finish a Grishaverse book and have to say goodbye to these characters, but thankfully we have the show coming out in a few days!

What did you guys think of ROW?

#rule of wolves #rule of wolves spoilers #grishaverse #shadow and bone #leigh bardugo #row #row spoilers #six of crows #soc #s&b #zoya nazyalensky #nikolai lantsov #nina zenik

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goneseriesanalysis · 4 years ago

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Caine Soren

Hiya guys, so here are my thoughts and opinions on Caine from my re-read of the first book. I was planning on writing this quicker but my ADHD told me no. I’m prolly gonna write up a bunch now though because I’m ✨in the zone✨ Also, apologies but this is another long one because I am physically incapable of being concise

Spoilers for Gone down below

Original Opinion: Most of my criticism on him as a character came as a result of later development so I’m not quite sure whether that will change as of yet. But as far as his role as a villain, I really enjoyed his character and what he brought to the story.

New Opinion: I still maintain that Caine is a good main villain for this book. I found him to be waaaaay different and way less competent than I remember, but boy is he interesting. I have so many thoughts on Caine and it was a real struggle getting them all down.

1.) CAINE’S APPEARANCE:

Ok so we are first introduced to Caine in chapter 14 through Sam’s POV. We see him standing apart from the other Coates kids “wearing a bright yellow V-necked sweater instead of a blazer.” This is obviously done to set him apart from the other Coates kids, and (forgive me for going all English teacher on you) the colour yellow has connotations of corruption and deceit, which fit in pretty nicely with Caine as a character. Sam then goes on to give us a more detailed description:

“He was handsome, even Sam noticed that. He had dark hair and dark eyes, not much different from Sam himself. But this boy’s face seemed to glow with an inner light. He radiated confidence, but without arrogance or condescension. In fact, he managed to seem genuinely humble even while standing alone, looking out over everyone else.”

This is one of my least favourite descriptions in the whole book because it simultaneously manages to tell us almost nothing about Caine’s appearance whilst making me cringe so hard that my muscles start to atrophy. Seen as we get very little description of Sam, telling us that Caine looks like Sam is pretty much useless – although it nicely sets up the brother twist – and dark hair and dark eyes could mean anything. Are his eyes blue, brown, black?? Is his hair black or brown?? Who knows?? Not me. And don’t even get me started on his face glowing with an inner light. Because no. I hate this line so much it actually hurts. I thought at first it may be in reference to his connection with the gaiaphage. But that makes no sense. It reminds me of the scene in The Great Gatsby where Nick describes Gatsby’s smile for about half a page and he just sounds ridiculous. I will admit the last two sentences give a good example of Caine’s ability to charm and manipulate those around him but the rest is just aaa

We also learn that he is handsome, which is then followed by what I consider to be a writer’s greatest sin. “He was handsome, even Sam noticed that” – Every. Single. Time a male character describes another male character who just so happens to be attractive in any given book from any author, we get this line. It is the writer’s equivalent of saying no homo and I’m going to make it my personal mission to call them all out on it.

Ok moving on – sorry about that. Rant over.

Sam then says that “His voice was clear and just a little higher, maybe, than Sam’s, but strong and determined. He had a way of looking at the crowed before him that made it seem he was meeting every person’s eye, seeing every person as an individual.” This is good at further establishing Caine as a leader, and shows his relationship with crowds, it gives the reader some indication of his ability to control. He is able to easily win over those of Perdido Beach with his charm.

Caine gets referred to as being attractive by a few other characters throughout the book, but the last main description we get of him is from Drake’s POV in chapter 20:

“Caine sat in his over-large leather chair, the one that had previously belonged to the mayor of Perdido Beach. It made him look small. It made him look very young. And to make matters worse, he was chewing on his thumbnail, which made it almost look like he was sucking his thumb.”

This description is kind of reminiscent of the scene with Sam and the shirt that I talked about in my Sam Temple post. He has taken over the mayor’s chair but he is not fit to take on the position of mayor. Whereas Sam’s weakness in leadership stems from his insecurities and doubts, it is Caine’s narcissism and over-confidence that make him unfit to lead. Michael gives Caine the compulsion of biting his thumbnail when he is nervous. This is a habit that people often pick up to deal with challenging emotions is a less destructive way (as opposed to having a meltdown or getting angry) and works nicely for Caine’s character. It shows that while he does have his moments where he loses control, he is capable of controlling himself to a certain degree, making it seem more likely that someone like Diana might align herself with him. This also helps to further the idea that despite his narcissism and delusions of grandeur, he is still just a kid. And of course sets up the idea that Drake is somewhat resentful towards Caine.

2.) CAINE’S PERSONALITY:

Caine’s personality is a difficult one to analyse as there are two main aspects to it – the personality he projects in order to manipulate people and his actual personality – and sometimes the line between these blurs to the point where it becomes unclear which one we are seeing. One thing that I did notice is that in this book we don’t actually get a Caine POV until the Thanksgiving battle, so we mostly see him through the eyes of Sam, Jack, Drake and Diana, who all have very different relationships with him.

As I mentioned before, we first see Caine through Sam’s POV, where we are introduced to what I’m gonna call his fake personality. Michael uses phrases such as “Caine appeared interested” alongside Astrid’s commentary, which lets the reader know that Caine is not what he appears to be, but of course the general population of Perdido Beach are not aware of this. One criticism I had towards the way that Caine’s character is portrayed is that it is initially hinted that the reason he is able to gain such control over people is because of his proficiency in manipulation and his superficial kindness (such as when he comforts the kid who asks for his mum). And yet he manages to fool almost no-one?? Astrid, Sam, Edilio, Albert, Mary and Howard all immediately see through his façade, which makes it hard to believe that this is how he gained such influence over people. (And of course all the kids at Coates who were cemented saw through it too). In fact I found myself to be kind of confused as to why anyone follows him at all?? Is it just a fear of his power?? That’s… a little disappointing. He doesn’t become mayor because he charms the population. He becomes mayor because no-one else wants to do it, and no-one can be bothered to oppose him. And even when people start to become more afraid, they aren’t afraid of Caine. It’s Drake. Although, you of course have to take into account the fact that these are just children who want someone they can look towards for help and guidance. Perhaps Caine’s persuasive abilities are less about using his charm to completely win people over and more about him being able to take advantage of situations that are presented to him. He has just enough superficial charm and makes just enough beneficial changes (such as laying down rules and protecting the food) that people are willing to overlook some of the more sinister things that he does.

That being said, I think my main issue with so many characters being able to see through Caine so quickly, is what it says about or “hero.” Sam doing nothing to stop Caine, despite him clearly knowing that Caine is bad news makes him seem a little selfish?? His insecurities stop him from doing what is right, and while it is good to have a flawed hero, his willingness to allow Caine to terrorise Perdido Beach up until he threatens Sam personally seems less like a small character flaw and more like a pretty big lapse in morality and compassion. Would Sam have ever taken control if Caine hadn’t kidnapped him?? If Sam had been fooled by Caine’s manipulation that would imo have made both of their characters better fit their respective roles of protagonist and antagonist.

That being said one of my absolute favourite lines regarding Caine is “Then let’s go in together,’ Caine said. He turned and marched purposefully up the church steps. The rest of the chosen fell in behind him.” in chapter 14. I think this perfectly captures the contrast between what Caine says and what he does, and I really love it. One of Michael’s strengths is adding little throw away lines that can perfectly sum up a character and their intentions. And this idea of Caine saying something but meaning something else is pretty central to his character – the biggest pay-off we get from this in book 1 is him promising to protect the little’s and then (horrifyingly) feeding them to the coyotes in the final battle. This was a scene that I did not previously remember and man did I feel some emotions when reading it. There wasn’t even a second thought, absolutely no indication of remorse. I know a few times it’s mentioned throughout the books that the difference between Caine and Drake is that Caine only does what is necessary – but the scene with the coyotes really contradicts that idea.

Caine’s ‘real personality’ imo is shown in little moments throughout the books. By Caine’s real personality, I’m referring to the part of him that we don’t really see at all in this book, the part of him that is only really hinted at by Diana, and occasionally Drake. Even when Caine is around Diana and Drake, he still tries to keep up a persona – this time that of a cold and detached boy with little to no emotions. But this isn’t really who he is. I think the ‘real’ Caine is an extremely emotional person (although I would like to clarify that by emotional I mainly mean angry and sometimes scared) and there are a couple of moments where this does shine through. There are a few times where Caine loses his temper with both Drake and Diana, using his powers to injure them and to reiterate the power he has over them. I think this shows how insecure Caine truly is, despite what he would have others believe. He only ever breaks character when his authority is mocked or threatened, even if the threat holds no real intention (such as Diana’s jibe after he kisses her). I do find it interesting that, at the core, Sam and Caine are quite similar. It is how these insecurities manifest and project themselves that really define them as different. Caine’s insecurities also shine through in these quotes from Diana:

“Yes. Sam is a four bar. And Caine would freak.” – Chapter 29

“Caine, despite his over-sized ego, his looks, his charm, was terribly awkward with girls.” – Chapter 39

Caine needs to be in control. He needs to be the most powerful person in the room at all times, and the only two people who can really be considered a threat to him in this way are Diana and Sam. Sam is his main threat and Diana, of course, holds a certain amount of power over him due to his feelings towards her. However, any time that Diana seems to be gaining or trying to gain more power (most notably when she makes fun of him for kissing her and when she tries to make him call off the coyotes) he reacts with violence. But I’ll go into that more when I make a post about their relationship.

Another thing that I noticed about Caine that I hadn’t previously remembered is that, he’s a bit of a coward. We first see this in chapter 34 when Little Pete frees the Coates kids “Caine was quick. He backed away, turned, and ran for the building.” The one thing that really got me about this is that he didn’t wait for Diana. He just turned and saved himself. Which kind of brings into question why Diana stays with him. Does he offer protection?? He certainly didn’t here. He literally abandoned her and ran for the hills. The other time we really see this side of him when he uses Astrid as a human shield in chapter 45. Diana even comments on this, telling him to “be a man for once.” I don’t have much else to say about this, but I think it’s an interesting aspect of his personality that certainly makes it easier to dislike him.

Now the last thing I want to talk about in regards to his personality is chapter 36 (the chapter where Drake gets his arm cut off). Caine gets in three good moments during this scene, the first one being:

“It’s not Diana or Chunk or even me,’ Caine said. ‘It’s none of us, Drake. It’s Sam. It’s Sam who did this to you, Drake. You want him to get away with it? Or do you want to live long enough to make him suffer?”

This is one of my favourite Caine moments in the book, and it’s really one of the only times that we see his manipulation actually work on someone. He knows exactly what to say to Drake in order to shift the blame in the direction he wants. Forget that I left you behind to deal with Sam and the escaped kids yourself. Forget that Diana is sawing your arm off. Just focus on Sam. And I think this line had such an effect on Drake’s psyche (which I will explore more in my Drake post) and really excellently shows off Caine’s ability to take advantage of a pre-existing situation in order to benefit himself.

The next two moments are where I really think the lines between Caine’s persona and the ‘real’ Caine blur to the point where it’s unclear which side of him we are seeing – and I think there is an argument for both although imo I feel like it’s his persona that we are seeing.

“It’s the only way to stop the pain,’ Caine said, almost showing some emotion, some pity. ‘The arm is done for Drake-man.”

“Don’t cut off my arm,’ Drake cried. ‘Let me die. Just let me die. Shoot me. ‘Sorry,’ Caine said. ‘But I still need you, Drake. Even one-handed.”

So, we first get the idea that Caine, at least somewhat, feels sorry for Drake. Drake’s injury is horrific and it’s clear that other characters, such as Jack and Diana, who are usually nothing but hostile to Drake (and rightfully so) feel some sympathy towards the situation. Now it’s also important to note that this scene is from Drake’s POV so we don’t actually know if the sympathy Caine is showing is real, is part of his attempt to manipulate Drake, or isn’t there at all and is just something that Drake wants. (I think the last option is entirely plausible as Drake often seeks praise from Caine, so in a situation like this it makes sense that he would seek some empathy). However, Caine then goes on to refuse Drake’s plea for death… because he needs him. Not because he’s a friend – or even just an ally. Not because he doesn’t want him to die. But because he needs him. That’s cold. And it’s really cold to tell him that – which leads me to believe that the almost sympathy Drake sees earlier on was never there, or at the very least was just a manipulation tactic. Caine cares so little for the people around him and I find it quite funny that it was his treatment of Drake (the person probably most deserving of it) in this scene that really showed me how much of a villain Caine can be.

3.) CAINE’S MOTIVATIONS:

Why does Caine do the things he does?? Why does he need to be in control?? And while we don’t really get much insight into Caine’s head in this book, there are a few good moments which allowed a reader to speculate as to what his motivations are. The first moment that really stood out to me was in chapter 39, where Caine tries to open up to Diana about his parents:

“I always had the feeling, you know? That my family wasn’t my real family. They never said I was adopted, but my mother – well, the woman I thought was my mother, I don’t know what to call her now. Anyway, her, she never talked about having me. You know, you hear moms talking about going into labour and all. She never talked about that.”

From this, we can see that Caine always felt like an outsider within his own family, he always felt like he didn’t belong. And this seems to be a pretty big motivator when it comes to Caine’s need to take over, to have power over everyone else. If he has control, then he will always have a place. He will always belong because the world will be his. Caine never fit in in the real world, his narcissism (and probably psychopathy) distanced him from other people right from the get go. But in this new world, in the FAYZ, Caine has a chance to be important, to be a ruler and he’s willing to do pretty much anything to get that. I think this idea, of his need for power and control stemming from the lack of acceptance and belonging he felt with his family, is emphasised in chapter 46, during the poof:

“Caine seemed spellbound, unable to tear his gaze away from the gentle, smiling face, the piercing blue eyes. ‘Why?’ Caine asked in a small child’s voice. […] ‘Why him and not me?’ Caine asked.”

This is the only time I felt the slightest bit of sympathy for Caine during my re-read of this book. He is 14. A kid. He spent his whole life feeling like and outsider and now he knows that a woman he knew, a woman that he saw almost every night is his actual mother. That she also knew this and yet never tried to talk to him, to explain, to do anything. And now he’s looking at ‘her’ and all he wants to know is why. Why did she give him up?? He lacks empathy and many other emotions that allow healthy relationships with others, yet he still wants people to have that connection with him. He needs him and rely on him. So his solution is to gain enough power, enough authority and control so that people have to listen to him and have to rely on him. He doesn’t care how many people he hurts or pisses off, because in the end, if he gets what he wants, that won’t matter. He’ll be too powerful for it to matter because they’ll still need him anyway. And that’s why “All that matters is winning. So save it.” – Chapter 45

4.) CAINE’S INTENTIONS/ HIS ROLE AS A VILLAIN:

Caine’s intentions are pretty obvious from the very first time we meet him in chapter 14. And, of course, it is these intentions that really define his role as a villain. Now, in chapter 14, it never outright says that Caine’s intentions are to take complete control over Perdido Beach. In fact, Caine tries to make it seem like he wants to make a collaborative effort to help them all move forward. But once again, his actions contradict his words, most notably in these lines:

“Orc grunted, shifted the bat from right hand to left, and stuck out his thick paw. Caine grabbed it with both his hands and solemnly looked Orc in the eye as they shook hands.”

“But Caine grabbed his elbow and manoeuvred him into a handshake.” [Referring to Sam]

“Caine had moved confidently towards the altar.”

These lines subtly show that, whilst Caine talks about working together, he is really the one in charge. He is the one dictating what is happening and when it is happening, forcing Sam and Orc to shake his hand. Giving them jobs so that he can keep an eye on them (Orc) or keep them out of the way (Sam). And of course, he won’t stand with them in the church. They don’t sit around a table and talk as equals. Caine has to be up at the front. He also gets extremely angry when other people make demands, or give an idea that he can’t take credit for. The most obvious example of this being in response to Howard telling him that they wouldn’t be working for Drake. “Sam saw a coldly furious expression appear on Caine’s handsome face, then disappear as swiftly as it had come.” This is then followed up by Caine ripping a 12ft cross off of a wall and launching it at them, so it’s safe to say that he doesn’t appreciate his authority being challenged.

Later in the book we then get more obvious examples of his intentions, as his role as the villain is fully unveiled:

“Caine, to the surprise of no-one who knew him, had taken over the mayor’s office.” – Chapter 15

“Number one says Caine is the mayor of Perdido Beach and the whole area known as the FAYZ.” – Chapter 16

After Caine basically walks into Perdido Beach, tells everyone what to do, and gets away with it, he begins to be more outright with his intentions. He immediately takes over the mayor’s office, and makes his new title of mayor the very first rule to be enforced. He isn’t really all that secretive about his intentions, at least not after the initial meeting. I think this is a measure of his confidence – he doesn’t feel at all threatened by the people of Perdido Beach. I think one of the reasons that Caine is such a good villain, is that when he is in control, he isn’t that bad?? I mean sure, having Drake as sheriff is less than ideal, but Caine himself is not a bad leader. He comes up with rules that both make sense and do actively increase the quality of life of those in Perdido Beach (minus the no magic tricks rule). It’s only what Caine is willing to do in order to get that power that actually makes him the villain. Once he has it, he’s not really a threat?? And then of course, we get Caine’s fantastic little speech in chapter 42 that really just sums up all these ideas in much less words:

“What was I supposed to do? Coates? That’s it? How do you not see what an opportunity this is? We’re in a whole new world. I’m the most powerful person in that whole new world. No adults. No parents or teachers or cops. It’s perfect. Perfect for me. All I have to do is take care of Sam and a few others, and I’ll have complete control.”

Because if it wasn’t for his ego, if he hadn’t attacked Sam, if he hadn’t used Drake to cause fear and enmity, he would have had it. He would have gotten his complete control, because no-one else really wanted to be in charge. The fool is his own worst enemy.

5.) CAINE’S POWERS:

So, the last thing I wanted to discuss about Caine, is his powers. To me, it seemed whilst reading that his powers are almost an extension of his personality. Caine is naturally a very domineering person, and so it makes sense that his power is the ability to control things with his mind. The first time we see Caine’s powers (also the first time we see anyone purposefully use their powers) is in the church:

“Caine sighed, raised his hands, and used both palms to smooth back his hair. There came a rumble, up through the floor and pews. A small earthquake… […] But then came a rending sound, steel and wood twisting, and the crucifix separated from the wall. It ripped free of the bolts holding it in place, like an invisible giant had yanked it away. […] The crucifix toppled forwards. It fell like a chain sawed tree. As it fell, Caine dropped his hands to his sides. His face was grim, hard, and angry. The crucifix, at least a dozen feet tall, slammed with shocking force down onto the front-row pew. The impact was as loud and sudden as a car wreck.” – Chapter 14

I like how, similarly to the way he talks, the first time we see a display of his power, he is hiding it – his body language is suggesting one action whilst he is actually doing something else entirely. This again makes me feel like the powers are an extension of personalities (and I will give other examples of this is later posts). I also noticed that the use of his powers is almost always as a response to his anger, something that Sam also learns to do thanks to Astrid’s guidance. These two scenes are great examples of this:

“Caine’s smile was cold. He raised his hand, palm out. An invisible fist hit Sam in the face. He staggered back. He barely stopped himself from falling, but his head was reeling. Blood leaked from his nose.” – Chapter 21

“Caine reached back over his shoulder with one hand, not even looking back. He spread his fingers, bared his palms. The fallen portion of the wall came apart, brick by brick. One by one, as though each brick had sprouted wings, they lifted off and flew. The bricks hurtled past Caine’s head and through the open door as fast as machine-gun bullets.” – Chapter 31

Unlike Sam, who often uses his powers as a defence strategy, Caine always uses them as a method of attack. He attacks Orc’s gang, Drake, Sam and Andrew – not as a last resort, but as a warning. He likes to make a big display of his power in order to deter people from actually engaging in a fight. Although when it does come down to an actual fight, he tends to be a little less confrontational and a little bit more of a coward. I mean come one. Hiding behind Astrid was low. At least this is the case in book 1.

Next, is the development of his powers. Unlike Sam, we know that Caine did not discover his powers alone:

“Several of us developed strange powers, starting a few months ago,’ Caine said conversationally. ‘We were like a secret club. Frederico, Andrew, Dekka, Brianna, some others. We worked together to develop them. Encouraged each other. See, that’s the difference between Coates people and you townies. In boarding school it’s hard to keep secrets. But soon it became clear that my powers were of a whole different order. What I just did to you? No one else could do that.”

The Coates kids formed a sort of support group for each other, which is why they have such a good understanding of their powers, as opposed to Lana and the Perdido Beach kids, who either hid their powers or else didn’t discover them until the FAYZ began. One thing that I do find interesting about this, is that the Coates kids all seemed to develop their powers pretty late. Caine says that the powers started a few months ago, and yet Sam first used his 14 months before the FAYZ began. I think that goes to show how the Coates environment really gave Caine the ability to experiment with and foster his powers, which is why he has such control. He achieved in a few months what is took Sam over a year to do. (One thing that I think would have been nice to have is perhaps in a later book some flashbacks on the Coates kids working together to do this. But oh well)

Thank you so much again for reading, and please feel free to add your thoughts. Next up is Diana and I have a lot to say about her. :)

#the gone series #caine soren #Gone

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norgestan · 4 years ago

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I dont think they are making him the villain at all, he is the love interest of Lucas and we are going to see their love story in the extra clips...he is just a teenager that does stupid things, we have seen all characters making mistakes not just him(Cris being a bad friend, Dani making racist jokes...), so why should he be perfect and not a real person like the others?

sigh, anon. i’m gonna try my best to not be a meanie here because the “in real life people are not perfect” argument is really ignoring the fact that putting the only muslim character of color in a bad light is not about realism, but what are you trying to tell in a show whose audience is mostly non-teenager muslims.

1. amira doesn’t like people who lie

@nolabballgirl was really nice to let me know that amira’s reaction to kasim coming out is not really ooc (as opposed to what i said) because it’s been established in previous seasons that amira is all about loyalty and honesty. see: season one where amira feels betrayed after she asked eva what’s going on and she never told her the truth, amira’s little speech to viri after finding out she was lying to the girls in season one just to appear cool to inés and her squad, amira’s conflicted reaction after nora finally tells the girls the truth about miquel in season three.

so with that out of the way... we have kasim, who is a person that amira connected with from the getgo, as she lets him know that in the last clip. but the kasim that we get in this clip is just... so far from the charming, nice, perceptive guy that we got on their first meeting. and so he’s completely faking his “perfect muslim boyfriend” image. and amira doesn’t let him go easy, she IMMEDIATELY reprimands kasim for fooling dounia and his family. and like... that’s such a harsh reply to a coming out? i also noted on the ask that i linked that amira never accused cris of fooling her and the girls, despite the fact that she was always talking about hooking up with guys and generally about her attraction to guys. but the fact that she never gives kasim the benefit of the doubt (he may feel and danger and that’s why he won’t tell his sister the truth, etc) and straight up calls him out for lying is just... that’s what the show wants us to think about kasim: he’s a fake. he’s a liar. and he’s forcing amira to lie too.

2. he’s forcing amira to lie too

one of amira’s resolutions for ramadan this year is to be honest:

“ramadan 2020: to not lie”. and then this clip itself makes a point with how committed amira is to that resolution, because she tells the girls she doesn’t wanna go party with them, and tells dani the truth about why she’s mad at him.

and today the clips made a huuuuge point that ramadan was starting, and so this resolution becomes even more important. therefore, to have kasim try to get amira to get his beard, and not only for his benefit but for her benefit... he’s directly putting her on a situation where she’s pressured to lie. by a MUSLIM character. by a gay, closeted muslim character, the only one in the show. that’s not meant to paint kasim in a good light.

3. the directing choices of this clip

i wanna make something clear: this is amira’s season. we see things in amira’s pov and we’re meant to empathize with her. this is why the girl squad has been portrayed as kinda shitty and careless even though we know they have a strong relationship and care about each other. this is why we see dani as a really soft spoken guy, because amira likes him. this is why we see microaggressions we haven’t seen in other seasons (except for cris’ mom in s2, i guess? and i won’t count the mallorca clip because it wasn’t on the main storyline). we are put in amira’s mind and she’s therefore really easy to empathize with and root for. so, let’s take a look at amira’s reactions in the clip.

when kasim comes out to her, amira takes a second to think. then, she stays quiet and sits right beside him. this is meant to show how she empathizes with him and is accepting of his identity. this is meant to paint amira in a good light.

we stay with amira when kasim says that he hasn’t come out to his family. amira is clearly disappointed by this. because the camera is showing us her reaction, this is what the clip wants us to think too.

another pivotal moment is after kasim tells amira that she assumed that he doesn’t drink. this is the moment where amira realizes kasim and her are... not really alike, after all. just look at the betrayal on her face: we’re meant to feel it, too.

oh but it only gets worse. look at amira’s reaction immediately after kasim suggests that they should fake-date each other:

she’s clearly disgusted by this - and i don’t blame her.

also, look how kasim looks while talking about this. he’s so... excited? in such a villainous way. like getting away with a lie excites him or whatever.

but then, kasim stands up. he’s no longer in the same level as amira: he now stands taller than her. more in control.

this angle too.... filming him from below while amira is filmed with a normal angle shows how they’re no longer on the same page. there’s now a power imbalance where kasim is over amira and we’re again meant to stay with her.

(i could also note how it’s a trend in cinema to record villains from low angles. just look at darth vader in star wars; and actually, that was something taken from nazi propaganda and the way they filmed hitler. not that i’m saying eskam writers are nazis LOL just providing some fun history facts)

(just look at where kasim’s shoulder is)

not only that, but the camera abandons kasim for a long while as we get shots of how uncomfortable amira is - and how kasim doesn’t get any of the clues.

and the cherry on top... kasim’s reactions when amira says no. straight up villainous.

4. why wasn’t dani painted in a bad light?

as contrast, look how amira reacts to dani making an al qaeda joke.

we get one second of her being surprised: but she doesn’t look particuarly offended.

and the camera cuts immediately back to dani. they don’t want us to make a big deal out of this, they don’t want us to see a deeper reaction from amira. this is not a microaggression to amira: this is a flirty funny back and forth between people who like each other.

what’s worse, this is the face she’s making as he walks away.

aaaand so far nothing about dani’s islamophobic joke has been presented as a problem. amira hasn’t confronted him about this and he hasn’t brought it up either. (and i know as a matter of a fact that they don’t do it in ep 3, at least)

so tl;dr... anon, if you don’t immediately hate kasim for this clip, it’s obviously because you and me both are people who can understand nuance and how this is a shitty writing choice and kasim is not actually the direct antagonist to amira’s faith and religiousness and a bad guy (and like, of course he’s not the villain, eskam and just skam in general never had villains per se). but the writing and direction of this clip wants us to be in amira’s side and to see kasim as the one who’s almost forcing her to lie. i don’t know what will be done with kasim in later episodes. but the seeds are planted. kasim is not what he said he was, so he’s fooling people with a fake image. not only that, but hours before ramadan starts he wants amira to consider a fake-dating plan. he’s directly trying to sabotage amira’s desires and interests. if a white character had done this, i would’ve been like “this fucking sucks for amira and i feel for her, but i know this exists to show how white people have very little care for other people’s faith, especially in minority religions and groups”. but this is kasim who’s telling this to her: the only recurrent male character of color of... hell, the entire show. the only closeted gay character. the only gay muslim character... you get the idea.

#skam españa #meta #answered #warning: this is long

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tema-makes-art-sometimes · 4 years ago

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“The Antagonist” is good and you should read it.

I saw that post going around about a subversive superhero book called “The Antagonists” and I always thought I’d want to read it but I never got around to it. Until tonight. I bought it for class to read (it was like 9$ USD) and was able to crunch it down in about half a day off and on reading. These are my clustered thoughts on it cause it’s 3am, no one is awake that I can rant to and I wanna get my feelings out.

TLDR: I love this book. It has some of the funniest character interactions, is played completely straight and despite having magic and superheroes in it was incredible grounded and simple. The story started and just kept on going until the very end. 10/10 would recommend.

I love how accessible this book is. I’m not one to go on about this kind of stuff, but as someone who has attention issues, and has issues reading large blocks of texts because I get easily overwhelmed, I love how this book is printed.

The text is big, well spaced and there are very few large blocks of texts which makes it so easy for me to read through without dissociating and worrying about losing my spot. Hell I accidentally closed it and was able to re-find it incredibly easy.

I was so used to bigger books with so much more going on, this story was incredibly refreshing. I’m not going to talk too much about the plot but suffice to say the main characters Minnie and Victor has some of the funnest character interaction and banter, not even getting into Victor’s family. The villains are infinitely detestable and the moment I read their dialogue I wanted to get up with Minnie and fight too.

The emotions the author was aiming for in certain scene cut through so well and I can feel so much passion and joy coming from this book. Also unrelated but look at this beautiful cover look how beautiful it is and how cool the characters look I’m in love.

I will say to show both sides, some “twists” weren’t as hammered home as I would have expected in any other medium, which I mean to be fair, that’s not really a bad thing at all.

None of the mysteries in the book are there to make you think on it, its not a mystery for the sake of it. The character has a theory, voices it, and not too long after its confirmed. This story doesn’t just let thing sit around.

It put the wheels on the ground and said GO GO GO and didn’t stop until the last page. I can’t say there was any part that was slow. There was always something happening. A fight, a character developing moment, a witty section of banter between the diverse cast of characters.

The only part that could be considered slow was the beginning, but it was setting up everything so of course it would be. Have to set up the slow life the main character has before plot breaks down the door.

Victor and his family were a delight and never stopped making me laugh, Minnie herself is the best one in the cast.

The villains were detestable at first meeting and it made the catharsis fight at the end of every superhero medium movie a joy to experience cause it was nice to see them get their teeth kicked in. Looking at the ratings a lot of people seemed to miss the point of some of the scenes. Like example yes, the villains are stock villains.

That’s the whole point. The point isn’t some massive plan or sob story, it’s they suck they say and do bad things, lets kick them in the face.

It’s ‘these people are doing bad things, this is what we do to stop them, mid book twist cause you know when the plot looks like it’s about to be solved but a third of the book is left something’s gonna happen, big fight against the bad guys, beat them look cool closing credits with wholesome payoff.’

It’s a classic and good formula for a good and simple story. It doesn’t need to be any more than that. The villains didn’t need fleshing out they’re a means to an end, something that brings the two leads together to fight them. That’s all they needed to be. And to that end, they work great!!! I was so happy to reading the ending where they got their just desserts.

That’s all the stuff I can think of for now. I highly recommend you read it yourself. Burgandi Rakoska wrote one heck of a book, and I will absolutely be reading it again, and will absolutely be debating on getting the rest of the series. The link to the book is below, please go give it a look.

https://www.amazon.com/Antagonists-Book-One-Burgandi-Rakoska-ebook/dp/B015BWS9J0

#the antagonists #burgandi rakoska #superhero novel

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geekmedium · 4 years ago

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Jack Kirby’s Jimmy Olsen

So I just got through reading the first omnibus in Jack Kirby’s Fourth World saga. I’m gonna try to make my way through every last one in order to see what the big deal is and analyze why they have such imaginative power while other Jack Kirby creations like the Eternals went down the memory hole.

And honestly this isn’t an auspicious way to start. I had wondered for a while why Jimmy Olsen isn’t really recommended in the New Gods Saga and now I know why. It’s barely a New Gods book. The only connections to the New Gods are:

Mokkari and Simyan as the recurring antagonists

Morgan Edge working for Darkseid (which isn’t resolved in this book)

Lightray appearing for a scene

Clark spending an issue in New Genesis

A few references to the Forever People

Not exactly the best intro to the War of the New Gods. In fact I would describe this book more as New Gods clean up. It spends more time dealing with threats that are the spillover of war rather than confronting the war directly.

The real through line of these tales is “The Project.” A genetics facility that would later be known as Project Cadmus.

Mokkari and Simyan create threats based on Cadmus tech. Superman and Jimmy deal with the monsters of a Cadmus scientist. We meet the D.N.Alien Dubbilex who investigates a secret passage to Cadmus. Heck the entire story starts with Jimmy investigating a wildness group that uses technology left over from Cadmus. If you’re someone who likes Project Cadmus then this is a highly recommended collection for you.

I think the biggest revelation was that Superman was a partner and firm advocate for the Project. Literally every piece of superhero media I’ve watched portrayed Project Cadmus as morally dubious at best, so it’s kind of surreal that Kirby intended them to be good guys. Especially since a lot of stuff they do in this book is still morally dubious. They create human clones (seemingly without permission) and employ mad scientists. Some of their soldiers are children or teens and they seem really intent on keeping all this literal life changing tech undercover. It’s kind of wild that Kirby framed all of this in the narrative as morally good without questioning it at all. Then again, wasn’t eugenics a well thought of science back in the day? I figured it died out in the 50s or so, but maybe a lot of people still agreed with it in the early 70s.

Anyway, the real reason why I think Project Cadmus is the focal point is that it allowed Kirby to work where he shines brightest. Big ideas.

Someone once described Jack Kirby as a hundred ideas per square inch, and it’s hard to disagree when reading through this. Small planets, D.N.Aliens, the Habitat, Zoomway, and the solar phone are just some of the inventions that fill the pages of this collection and I purposely left out the stuff connected with New Gods like the Boom Tube. But more than just making cool technology, Jack gave Superman cool threats.

It can be hard coming up with challenges for any incarnation of the Man of Steel, and I have to imagine the Bronze Age one was one of the hardest. But reading through these I’m amazed with how rarely I felt the threat was below Superman. And I think that comes down to the fact that rarely was Kirby trying to write a cosmic wrestling match. His solution to problems had a more cerebral element to them, and required Superman to get creative or even occasionally play for a more peaceful resolution. I think my favorite was when he saved Cadmus from a collection of atomic energy eaters in like 10 seconds.

In fact, Kirby wrote an absolutely fantastic Superman. Strong, clever, mature, creative, kind, and badass. I said it can be hard to write for Superman, and I think a lot of comic writers think that decreasing him makes him work better, but Kirby knew that all you really have to do is make the threats bigger. And this cosmic war of gods, with Earth as just a casualty in the way, is about as big as you can get. And as a result, the Superman that emerges here is all the stronger for facing these threats as they come one by one while also trying to help start a whole new branch of science that these monsters threaten or distort. While this isn’t much of a New Gods book, I consider it a bit of a hidden classic for Bronze Age Superman stories.

But what about the titular character of Jimmy Olsen? Well honestly, he really ends up playing a side character in his own book. And I’m fine with that, because I think Jimmy only really works as a spotlight character once every couple dozen of issues, but if you are reading these stories for him, you’ll probably be disappointed. It’s not that he has nothing to do, but when your book has New Gods and Superman and genetic warfare and interdimensional schemes of every shape and size, you’re just gonna have to play second or even third billing. To be fair, no other main player in the Superman mythos can really tag along either. Lois is nowhere to be seen, I think Perry White only shows up once, and while Morgan Edge is a small antagonists, he really only acts as an orchestrator instead of a major player. They are all gone to make room for the Newsboy Legion.

And man do the Newsboy Legion just barge into the story. Sometimes literally.

Kirby seemed to really want to make them a thing again like when he wrote them in the 40s. It kind of reminds me of how J.M. DeMatteis tried to put Vermin in a lot of his stories. And just like with Vermin, they really end up over staying their welcome.

They were fine in the first two or three issues, but around the time the Outsiders (no not those Outsiders, a different one) exit the story, the NL should have left too. They could return for a story or two, but no more. Instead Kirby makes sure they appear in every single story in this omnibus, including ones where they aren’t really needed. Oh no! Jimmy has been ambushed and Clark has been sent off to Apokolips with no way to return. Quick, let’s go see what hijinks the Newsboy Legion are getting up to. Like, I don’t hate them, and giving Superman super wacky kids who support him in his adventures isn’t a setup I’m adverse to, since that’s basically what Jimmy was for the Silver/Bronze Age. But man, the 70s slang and rapscallion attitude you see in the panel above is only a little of what shows up, and it gets really grating after a while.

On top of that were some other weird cast choices. I actually really like the Golden Guardian’s setup as a genetically made man with memories implanted with those of a dead man. I really looked forward to him relearning his past life while making a new one in Metropolis as much needed backup for Superman. But he honestly ends up as just a kind of Captain America clone

He also ends up just dropping out of the story later on. Not even leaving, it’s just that one scene he is with Superman exploring the city and the next Superman is off exploring a secret tunnel with Dubbilex and not-Lois character Terry Dean.

And speaking of Terry Dean I find it just hilarious that she is in this panel. Superman and the others are exploring secret entrances and contemplating literal apocalyptic war, and she’s just kind of...there. For those who don’t know or care, according to my research she is a character who showed up once before Kirby came on the Jimmy title, twice after he left it, and then one more time eighteen years later as a deep cut in Superman vol 2. #46.

If I seem to be nitpicking, it’s just that it’s so weird Kirby would go for this character instead of bringing in Lois. And he includes another weird character named Goody Rickels for like two or three issues for a story arc I’m gonna have to reread just to understand what the point of it was.

Still, ignoring these flaws, the Jack Kirby’s Jimmy Olsen Omnibus is a recommend if for nothing else than the fact that it is a good set of Superman stories with incredibly inventive and creative plots that hint at a larger world on the horizon. And I honestly can’t wait to tackle that new world of New Gods.

#review #Jack Kirby #Superman #bronze age #Fourth World

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fanbun · 4 years ago

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Seuss Tales: From Page To Screen

Below the cut is an essay I wrote about Dr. Seuss adaptations after I was inspired by watching Green Eggs and Ham on Netflix. In the essay I examine the changes that adaptations have made to the original stories and how they have evolved over time. If you’re interested, please give it a read! :D

The tone of a Dr. Seuss book has proven particularly difficult to reproduce in any lengthened retelling. It is much like attempting to expand a poem into a novel. Somewhere during development, the original form will fall away to fit the new medium. And while artifacts of the original may still be present in the final product, such as a line or two, it is likely that those artifacts will feel disconnected from the product as a whole. In terms of Seuss, this is usually classic rhymes from the original stories that the audience expects to be included in the adaptation. Even if an audience member has had little exposure to the source material, they can usually identify these moments when a character starts rhyming for no particular reason. Of course, it must be said that some adaptations mimic the original tone better than others, and in those cases the product feels much more cohesive.

Since it is so difficult to expand a short story, the safest decision when making an adaptation is simply to be faithful. In the past, Seuss adaptations stuck much closer to the source material. How The Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) set the standard for the many Seuss TV specials that came after it. These specials utilized a narrator that would read the book nearly word-for-word and had an animation style that stuck as close to the original illustrations as possible. Where padding was necessary to extend the run-time, it was usually done by including songs and extra animation sequences. This form of padding didn’t typically disrupt the flow of the story since the songs featured rhyming in them as well, and the added animations were used to bring Seuss’s world to life. Dr. Seuss himself even wrote the lyrics to many of the songs. Thus these first Seuss TV specials were as close to direct adaptations as the public was ever given.

So when did the trend change? Well Seuss died in 1991 and in the year 2000, a live action comedy film starring Jim Carrey was released based off of How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Ironically, the very same title that started the initial animated Seuss renaissance. It was not only the first feature length film based on a Dr. Seuss property, but it was also a major financial success as it offered a new take on the familiar story. After all, the original animated special was already so beloved. The producers had to try something new to entice people to go see it. So what was created was a movie about the character of the Grinch, that followed the general story of the Grinch, but was entirely divorced from the classic tone and presentation of a Dr. Seuss book. Additionally, it made alterations to the characters and plot in an attempt to add depth and expand upon the story. This live action Seuss trend didn’t last for long, however, and it came to an end after The Cat in The Hat (2003) left a poor taste in the public’s mouth.

Jim Carrey would later return to voice the quirky titular elephant of Blue Sky’s Horton Hears a Who in 2008. This time animation was back in the form of trendy CG. The humor was modern but not quite as edgy as in the live action movies, and the trailers promised a more authentic Seuss experience for the youth at the time. Though the age of CG animated movies was an attempt to return to form, they couldn’t escape the adaptational dilemma of trying to stretch short stories into full movies. Horton Hears a Who (2008) remained faithful to the book’s plot but was padded with plenty of gags that tended to outstay their welcome. In contrast, Illumination’s The Lorax (2012) padded its run-time by expanding on the Onceler’s character and introducing new characters, including an all new antagonist. This, although showing clear ambition, ended up being a controversial decision as many viewed it as obscuring the book’s intended message.

Interestingly, Netflix’s Green Eggs and Ham series (2019) is mostly padding. In fact, there is hardly anything in the show that resembles the original book aside from the two main characters, Sam-I-Am and “Guy”, and the aforementioned Sam’s affinity for green eggs and ham. And yet it manages to feel more like a Seuss story than many of the adaptations that have come before it. No doubt this is partly due to its traditional 2D animation style, though the inclusion of many Seussian creatures and contraptions should not be overlooked as an important factor. It is terrible as a direct adaptation, but as an expanded retelling it is brilliant. The writers were given a book so simplistic, with such a straightforward moral, that they only needed to follow it loosely to deliver on its message. They took a couple characters, a handful of words, and rewrote it almost entirely. And really, that was the only smart choice for a series that spans 6 1/2 hours in total.

One of the most drastic departures from the book was the decision to make the plot revolve around Guy and Sam smuggling an exotic animal (named Mr. Jenkins) in a briefcase to return it to the wild. This concept alone turns it into a completely different story. So much so that I’d argue the title of “Green Eggs and Ham” hardly fits as a descriptor. Still, the theme of animal protection is entirely in line with the types of morals found in Dr. Seuss books. This recurring message is made even more evident since the villains work for a serial animal abuser who keeps live animals on display as status symbols. I could have easily imagined that a separate Dr. Seuss story existed with this same plot.

But what is perhaps most interesting to me about the rewrite is that, along with convincingly portraying a story based on Dr. Seuss, it also adds its own modern sensibilities into the mix. Not merely by way of adding humor and references like some adaptations before it, but through the story’s structure itself. First of all, it is a multi-episode animated series with emphasis on continuity. Secondly, it fleshes out the personalities and backstories of the characters over time. And thirdly, it at once represents and transforms the source material in something of a metatextual exercise. The narrator’s tendency of breaking the fourth wall is a perfect example of this. He even acts as an audience stand-in at times, commenting that he wasn’t expecting to see the events that occur during the opening scene from a Seuss adaptation. Or at another point humorously asking “Was this in the book?” This brand of meta comedy made me take note of the more daring writing choices like the shocking reveals about Sam and the B.A.D.G.U.Y.S. toward the end of the season. Once again, the writers deliberately added complexity where there was originally very little.

Crucially for fans of the book, the rewrite doesn’t betray the original moral of Green Eggs and Ham. Rather it adds a layer of depth to that moral’s execution. In the book, the plate of green eggs and ham represents the characters’ willingness to try new things. It is the same in the series, however the unexpected journey the two leads embark on is what is given the most narrative focus. After leaving his comfort zone, Guy’s emotional attachment to Sam is what makes him finally try the green eggs and ham. It is a symbolic gesture of how far his character has come from the beginning of the show. He initially wanted nothing to do with Sam or Mr. Jenkins, but then he got to know them and discovered how much he cared.

So although it is risky to create an adaptation that changes much of the source material, it can absolutely be worth the risk. There is boundless creative potential to be found in transformative works, and that potential may be realized if given the right amount of passion and dedication. Sure, it might upset the purist in us, but the original already exists. Why not make something new out of it? Cut up pieces of the poem. Rearrange the words and add a new perspective. Some people will always consider doing so to be ruining a classic, but others might view it as a masterpiece all on its own. In the end it is up to personal opinion whether an adaptation is good or not, but nonetheless I think we should celebrate the cultural significance of these stories that leads us to recreate and retell them time and time again.

#Dr Seuss #Green Eggs and Ham #geah #The Lorax #The Grinch #dr. seuss #analysis #essay #my writing

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newmayhem · 4 years ago

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Reading and ranking the entire Den of Shadows series

Check out my other Den of Shadows reviews HERE.

After a year such as this one, I wanted to close it out with something fun so I spent the past month marathoning the entire Den of Shadows series- rereading the original quartet and then reading for the first time the new TDOS books. I was originally going to post reviews/reactions for each book, but that got too cumbersome. Instead, I’m doing one big post of my personal ranking so I can discuss each book and talk about the series as a whole.

Spoilers for the entire Den of Shadows series below.

Personal Ranking

I based it on several different criteria but mainly: 1) How much I enjoyed it, 2) Writing/storytelling quality, 3) If there was anything glaringly ‘problematic’ (which I’ve found is usually a big factor in how much I enjoyed it), 4) How it fits in context of the entire series.

9. Shattered Mirror It hurts to put this one last on my list because Shattered Mirror was my intro to The Den of Shadows and to ahar’s work. Reading this again as an adult was frustrating because I can see why I loved it the first time around and how most of that doesn’t hold up today. Sarah was a great main character who deserved so much better than the ending she got. It was just wall to wall rape culture and misogyny. I hated Christopher and how he was a creepy pedophilic stalker framed as a romantic hero, I hated how Nikolas got some copout backstory so he would look like a good guy even though he beat a girl to death for rejecting his brother, and I hated how Nissa was enabling both of them. I really hated that this was meant to be a racism/prejudice metaphor because that doesn’t work out when the ‘oppressed’ group does actually harm innocent people. Aside from that, I felt like the pacing was really off- the events unfold over the course of a little over a week and we’re supposed to believe that after hanging out with them twice Sarah’s developed a bond with these vampires strong enough to override the prejudice she’s been raised with since birth (and that Christopher’s in love with her). And then there’s that whole anti-climax when it turns out that the ‘villain’ was Kaleo all along, but instead of having the book end there, there’s another 20 pages where we have to watch Sarah get attacked and changed against her will and then have it framed as a happy ending. I did like that she decided to not stay with Christopher in the end, though.

8. Midnight Predator I was actually surprised by how much I liked this one because I didn’t remember anything from it at all except for like, two scenes and some character names. It felt more mature in writing style, thematic content, and aesthetics. I also liked that we got a main character who was a little older and that the world was, for the most part, very removed from the human world. It was a good way to close out the original quartet in that it touched on a lot of the themes that had been explored in the books previous. That said, I had a lot of problems with how the issue of slavery was handled and also with how victim-blamey the moral of the story turned out to be. It just didn’t sit right with me that at no point did anyone bring up the idea of, you know, ending slavery at Midnight, which Jaguar had all the power to do. I hate that we were supposed to be sympathetic towards Jaguar and treat him like a good guy because he doesn’t abuse his slaves (for reasons that center on him) like everyone else does when he easily could just...not own slaves. Tying in with the victim blaming stuff, it felt like we were supposed to be satisfied with Turquoise freeing herself but being ok with letting slavery continue. And the big character arc that leads to her getting revenge on Daryl was framed as her ‘not letting herself be a victim anymore’, which is an objectively terrible take on this issue. Aside from that, I also had issues with the pacing here. We were promised a story about Midnight and a mission to assassinate Jeshickah, but all of that goes out the window in an anti-climax about two thirds of the way through the book (and two days into the timeline), and then the rest is a plodding montage leading to a very abrupt end. I also didn’t like how Daryl was supposed to be the real villain of the story but was also portrayed as a snivelling idiot that no one liked anyway, because that lessened the impact of Turquoise finally getting up the courage to kill him.

7. Demon In My View This was a good followup to ITFOTN in that it struck a balance between being standalone and having ties to the previous book. That said, I found the tone to be surprisingly more immature. I mainly didn’t like how the main character and the antagonist were handled. Jessica, while being a great reader insert/power fantasy, wasn’t very interesting because she didn’t go through any character development or have to sacrifice anything, but still got everything she wanted in the end. Fala was too much of a buttmonkey and her motives were too weak to be taken seriously. It also didn’t sit right with me that she’s the only canonical woc so far and she’s being portrayed as this incompetent cartoon villain even though objectively, like, she does have a point. But I do love the introduction of my favorite underappreciated side character, the ultimate MVP: Caryn Smoke!

6. Token of Darkness This book had a lot going against it, mainly in that it’s the most disconnected from the other TDOS books in terms of not only characters and setting, but also with introducing beings that hadn’t been mentioned before (in text, at least). I think especially as one of the new TDOS books, it would’ve helped to at least offhandedly namedrop some people/events/places. My second problem with this book was that everything felt very underdeveloped. I loved the new characters that were introduced, but I was disappointed that we didn’t have a lot of time to get to know them. I would’ve liked to see Cooper actually start training under Ryan, I would’ve liked to learn more about the LeCoire family and what it means to be a sorcerer. I also just wanted more Delilah because she’s such a fascinating character (I loved her reckless and unapologetic ambition). Kind of like ITFOTN, I felt like this lacked an Act 2. I think the story should’ve started earlier so we could see more of the investigation part of it, so we can get all the characters together earlier and have them working together (while Delilah has her hidden agenda on the side) to figure this out and build towards that climax. Even with the pacing and development problems, this is higher on the list because I just really enjoyed it- it was light and fun and I hope we get a chance to see these characters again.

5. Poison Tree This was something that I really wanted out of a new TDOS book- it delved deeper into parts of the world that had been mentioned before- the Bruja Guilds, SingleEarth, the Mistari, and all of that serves to set the scene for Promises to Keep. The concept was this cool deconstructed/reconstructed whodunnit story. It was more complicated than the typical TDOS plot, so I appreciate the ambition. That said, the execution wasn’t great- I often had to pause and go back in order to keep the facts straight and figure out who knows what, which was distracting. Another reason why this didn’t rank higher was that for some reason, I didn’t connect as much with these characters as I have in other books. The pacing was odd, I didn’t like that it came to a point where everyone had figured the main part of the mystery out, but instead of going directly to the climax, it took a detour into relationship drama, which slowed down the momentum. I think it would’ve made more sense to put Sarik and Alysia into a situation where they were forced to work together (rather than that brief but drawn out thing with Sarik and Christian). There would’ve been more tension, conflict, and forward momentum, and because they’re the two leads that were supposed to be focused on, it would’ve felt less like a detour.

4. Persistence of Memory This was a very good return to TDOS. It feels very familiar in how the new characters fit into the world. It struck a good balance between introducing new characters and having them coexist with concepts and characters that we’ve heard of before. I felt the same spark while reading this as I felt when I first read the original quartet. Like, this entirely new book made me feel nostalgic, and that’s not to be underestimated. I really loved the two protagonists and I was very invested in both of their stories. I particularly loved Shevaun because her struggle with her fear of becoming human again is one that we don’t often see in vampire fiction. I also think both she and Adjila are the perfect embodiment of beings who’ve been around for centuries and just don’t have the same morals and boundaries that humans do. I don’t normally read these books for the romance, but both canon ships here were really well done and believable, and also paralleled each other in an interesting way. And I loved the oddly wholesome focus on found/chosen family. Also, this gets extra points for everyone dunking on Alexander every time he’s mentioned.

I didn’t rank this higher because I wished Erin was more involved in figuring out what was going on with her. I didn’t really like that after a certain point, it felt like Sassy took over as protagonist. Still, I really enjoyed it, the ending was very satisfying (I loved that it was a straight up happy/optimistic ending instead of a bittersweet or abrupt one like most of the TDOS endings had been so far).

3. Promises to Keep This was a bold ending to the series. It took a lot of guts to basically blow up the world that you spent nearly 20 years creating and I admire that. It was a really engaging story that truly showed the full extent of what ahar was capable of as a writer at that time and the full extent of what a TDOS book could be. I think this time ahar really nailed the pacing (which was something that had always been a bit shaky in the past). We got to spend enough time with Jay and get to know him (it was a good choice to have the protagonist be a character we’ve met before but could still get to know more). I liked seeing everything we’ve learned from all the previous books come together and come into play. And I especially loved that our MVP Caryn got the HEA she deserves. The little epilogues at the end were fun to read (only, I’m mad we didn’t hear anything about Risika. Especially because she does get mentioned (and we finally know that 1) she found out about what happened to her mom, and 2) she and Kaleo have active, ongoing beef over it)). It really felt like a finale, but at the same time, it felt like a new beginning and I can’t wait for new books in this post-Promises world.

This could’ve ranked higher, but I did have a problem with Brina. In terms of personality, etc., I loved her and she was fun to get to know, but I can’t get past the whole slave owner thing and how that aspect of her was handled. I wished that her character arc was more about realizing that enslaving people is objectively bad rather than having her keep pointing out Jay’s incidental hypocrisy as if it weren’t a false equivalence. Her happy ending just felt a little unearned- the only real ‘penance’ she performed wrt being a slave owner was a tacked-on apology during the ritual and a sentence about how she freed her own slaves (again, no mention of whether or not all slavery has ended), and even though she was turned human, it’s not framed as a great or permanent loss, and on top of that she also gets witch powers.

2. In The Forests of the Night I admit, this ranking is mostly based on nostalgia...but it’s still a very solid book to kick off the series, set the vibes, and introduce us to this world and what kind of series this will be. It’s not the best of the series in terms of writing quality, plot, or scope, but of the original quartet, I think ITFOTN holds up the best. For a YA book of that era, especially one written by someone of its own target demographic, this felt very mature. It wasn’t trying to talk down to its audience and that meant a lot to me. It showed me that YA could be dramatic without being overwrought, serious without being an ‘issues’ book. It tackled questions of identity, morality, faith, power, and freedom, all framed within a fast-paced revenge story. Most of all, Risika is such an interesting, complicated character and her journey was both relatable and entertaining. Of all the endings in this series, the ending of ITFOTN was the most satisfying for me in that the main character had to change and sacrifice, and in the end she got what she truly deserved even if it wasn’t entirely happy. My only complaint is that we don’t see more of Risika throughout the series, especially when there’s clearly more to her story.

1. All Just Glass The TDOS books are fine as standalones and it’s cool that each one makes it feel like whoever you’re reading about is just a small part of a bigger world, but All Just Glass shows how good it can be when we go deeper into a particular story and give it more time to develop. That said, I don’t think it would’ve been as good as it was if it was written right after Shattered Mirror. There’s a very clear improvement in writing quality and storytelling that can only come from 10 years of experience.

While it didn’t fix all the problems I had with SM (mainly, I would’ve preferred it if Sarah didn’t go back to the Ravenas in the end), AJG made a great choice in shifting to a different, more cohesive theme and illustrating it across a compelling ensemble cast. It cleverly plays on our expectations of the Vida line that were based on the limited scope of SM in order to show that contrary to what we’ve seen previously, this is actually an institution that’s in decline. The Vidas aren’t this great power ruling over the rest of the Macht witches- they’re actually these fundamentalist/extremist outliers who are on the fringes clinging to the ‘old ways’ while everyone else kind of does what they want and their decline is directly related to their obsessive adherence to tradition at all costs. What’s so great about this is that it’s not just a sequel, it’s a subversion of SM that also sets the tone of the new TDOS series in anticipation of the inevitable end.

General Notes

I loved reading these all back to back and watching ahar grow as a writer, watching the world unfold right before my eyes.

It was interesting to see the difference between the two series. I found most of the books in the new series to be generally more engaging because they’re based around a central mystery (What’s the connection between Erin and Shevaun? Who is Samantha? Who attacked SingleEarth? Who’s the shapeshifter?). I also liked that rather than shy away from mentioning technology and trying to pretend that it doesn’t exist or that we’re still in the early 2000s, ahar really leaned into it and in doing so, made the stories feel more realistic.

The original quartet was very aesthetically cohesive, it was a series of vignettes that purely aimed to explore a particular piece of the world. The new series, however, felt cohesive in that each of the books is building towards the end and showing a piece of the puzzle that sets the scene for PtK (PoM gives us more about the Tristes, ToD gives us the elementals, AJG and PT are about groups that are on the decline with their fates based on whether or not they choose to align with the rising power of SingleEarth).

On kind of a petty note, I wanted to mention how much I hate all the new covers (both for the new TDOS series and for the re-release of the original quartet) and I was really disappointed in how low-effort the marketing was for the new series. Even just reading the synopsis for PT and PtK was painful because they seemed slapped together at the last minute like no one cared. I think it was a real missed opportunity to draw in a new audience because they were coming out just as the YA boom, particularly in vampire fiction, was happening.

The biggest takeaway I got from this marathon is a huge respect and appreciation for this extensive world and cast of characters that ahar built (and then had the courage to entirely upend). I know mainstream attention isn’t everything, but I just really hope ahar gets their flowers because this is a great (and highly influential) body of work that’s so different and even ahead of its time.

Anyway, that’s my take on the series. I might make this re-read an annual thing because this was fun. Also, as I was reading, I made sure to note factual info about the world and the characters, so I’ll be making new additions/edits to the reference materials soon.

#Nyeusigrube #amelia atwater rhodes #Den of Shadows #In the Forests of the Night #Demon In My View #Shattered Mirror #Midnight Predator #Persistence of Memory #Token of Darkness #All Just Glass #Poison Tree #Promises to Keep #reviews #digressions

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crystalelemental · 5 years ago

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Last one of the night, maybe. Berkut. The grail unit I want to get a refine the most. He’s...really hard to decide on a good effect and refine for. He’s super slow, and aims to be a mixed tank cav unit. And we all know how well that goes. Plus, is it weird to anyone else that the guy who’s known for being prideful, antagonistic, and typically going on the offensive is designed to be a tank? That’s weird, right?

Base effect: “At start of combat, if units Attack > foe’s Attack, unit makes a guaranteed follow-up attack.” Steal a page out of Rudolf’s book. For all his faults, Berkut does look up to his uncle and would want to emulate him. He’s also the prince of Rigel, which is all about strength, so playing based on attack would be his main goal. While base attack is decent, it’s also a lot lower in today’s meta, meaning it won’t be as consistent as Rudolf’s absurd offensive presence. But he does have access to Hone Cavalry, which improves his attack significantly. I feel like, instead of denying follow-ups of the opponent and debuffing opponent attack and defense, Berkut would just aim for a clean KO on his own power. Guaranteed follow-ups feel much more appropriate for his character.

Refine effect: “If unit’s HP is > or = to 50% and foe initiates combat, unit makes a guaranteed follow-up attack.” Quick Riposte in enemy phase, because again, all about offense and persistence of attack. That said, I feel like QR is pretty uniquely aligned to his character. Berkut’s at his best when he feels like he’s on top. Once he starts losing to Alm, he loses his composure and falls apart. The HP requirements emphasize this. When he’s in good condition, he’s confident and ready to keep fighting. When he’s starting to lose, it all falls apart and he loses that composure.

What this does: Primarily, it turns Berkut from a mixed defensive tank, which was not working out at all given his placement in Tier 5, and the generally accepted fact that he’s one of the worst lance cavs even below Clive, and turns him into a mixed phase offensive powerhouse. His low speed is a sticking point, but the weapon effects can guarantee doubles and ignore the speed issue, as long as certain conditions are met.

I feel like this is much more aligned to how Berkut is as a character: relentlessly offensive. He prides himself on power, and when going on the offensive, gets to keep pressing that advantage because he’s confident in his ability to win on might alone. When pushed to defend, he’s able to fight back with greater strength when in good health, but when it’s clear he’s on the losing end of a matchup, suddenly that disappears and he’s a lot less imposing. Everything focuses on his raw offensive potential, and the ability to double. It does take away from his resistance, but frankly it just wasn’t cutting it in the first place, and Lull Attack/Defense will sufficient patch up his bulk while debuffing the defense of the opponent to strike as hard as possible. DC lets him perform as well as possible in enemy phase with the doublestrike effect, but he could easily run Warding Stance 4 or Mirror Stance 3 to patch up the lower res, give an offensive buff, and negate opponent specials. Or just lean into the player phase with DB4 and Hone Cavalry buffs. He’s got options.

#fire emblem heroes #feh refine crafting #berkut

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official-michael-afton · 5 years ago

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ABOUT PAGE FOR MOBILE USERS

UNDER THE CUT

Welcome to my blog! If you’re new here or need some catching up, here’s some of my important info!

Who’s Who!

Michael Afton

23, Demiboy, he/him, homoflexible, polyamorous

Michael is the son of William Afton, twin brothers with Red, and has two younger siblings: Elizabeth and Crying Child. He is the older brother in FNaF 4, Eggs Benedict in Sister Location, and the guard in FFPS. Thanks to Officialverse shenanigans, he was brought back to “life” and now lives in the Officialverse with his family and loved ones.

Red

23, Trans Man, he/him, biromantic, asexual

Fraternal twins with Michael, Scott goes by the nickname “Red” to avoid confusion. He actually came from an AU, and angsts over the fact that he “wasn’t meant to exist”. He’s very overprotective of his brother and really enjoys playing Pokemon. Also has glitch powers, but hardly ever uses them. Red is a Phone Guy, but not to be confused with PG!!!

Ennard

Age Unknown, Genderfluid, he/him they/them or she/her, pansexual

Originally the robot that inhabited Michael, Ennard was recently struck with anon magic that turned her human, and he seems to be permanately this way. Their personally tends to be all over the place due to being made of four different robots, but “mischevious” always seems to describe him well. She’s in a queerplatonic relationship with Michael.

Sasha Catter “Beans” Afton-Cawthon

Michael’s cat! Also lives with Scott, hence the same last name. She was adopted from a shelter.

The Night Shift

My interpretations of the night guards from Michael’s timeline, they’re open for questions but aren’t featured often on this blog.

It would be way too many images to go through, so go through their tag if you’d like artwork!

Phone Guy(PG): 30, Transmale, he/him, homosexual

Jeremy Fitzgerald: 25, Male, he/him, bisexual

Mike Schmidt: 21, Male, he/him, homosexual

Fritz Smith, 35, Male, he/him, pansexual

Li DeLacey, 31, Transfemale, she/her, heterosexual

Brandon Fischer(PD), 28, Nonbinary, they/them, aromantic asexual

Mahsa Smith(Cassette Girl), 34, Female, she/her, pansexual

Jonas(OC), 30, Male, he/him, polysexual

Terrence(OC), 30, Male, he/him, bisexual

Kiki(OC), 29, Female, she/her, lesbian

Scatter A. Patter

20, Transmale/Genderfluid, he/him, homoflexible asexual

The mod of the blog and as such, sometimes appears to mess around with Michael. Doesn’t interfere much, but occasionally goofs off with Michael and Ennard.

Important people in Mike’s life!

Family

William Afton/Springtrap/Scraptrap: Michael’s father and antagonist of the series. There are numerous Williams in the Officialverse, and Michael doesn’t seem to favor any particular one.

Mrs. Afton: Michael’s mother. Jennifer in Michael’s timeline, though he loves any interpretation of Mrs. Afton

Red: Michael’s twin brother, explained above.

Crying Child: Michael’s younger brother. Anthony in Michael’s timeline, though he loves any interpretation of Crying Child and always tries to make up for his mistakes.

Elizabeth/Baby: Michael’s younger sister. He’s forgiven Baby for the events of SL and FFPS and still loves her as a sister.

Henry: Basically adopted Michael since William is a terrible father. There are multiple Henries in the Officialverse and Michael doesn’t seem to favor any particular one.

Jack Kennedy has been adopted as a brother to Mike and Red, and they treat each other like family.

Dave Miller is Jack’s husband, making him Michael’s brother-in-law.

Henry Miller is a stinky piece of shit who adopted Dave Miller and tried to adopt Mike and Red too but he’s just- he’s a stinky!!!

Significant Others

Michael is polyamorous, so he can have multiple partners at once!

Sammy Lawrence: Michael has been dating Sammy for a few months now, and are unafraid to admit their love for each other. Mike wants to propose, but he’s still struggling to even get a ring.

Scott/Animdude: Both Michael and Scott have admitted to loving each other, live together, and certainly act very romantic around each other, though I’m pretty sure they STILL never made it official despite totally being boyfriends.

Phone Guy: Michael and PG have a thing for each other, and have gone on dates before, though this is merely the PG from Michael’s timeline, and does not have an Officialverse counterpart, so their relationship is pretty non-existant on this blog.

Oh, Michael is also extremely gay for Percy.

BFFLS

Ennard: Explained above, Michael and his Ennard are in a Queerplatonic relationship. For other Ennards in the Officialverse, Michael treats them as if they were a sibling.

Charlie Emily: Charlie and Michael grew up together, and have remained best friends this whole time. True wlw mlm solidarity.

Shawn Flynn: … Okay no they’re not friends. Actually Shawn is Michael’s enemy after Ink Stains(see below), and they hate each other… though, Michael is extremely empathetic to Shawn’s suffering.

Events!

These events are either ongoing or have happened in the past and left a lasting impact on Michael

Ink Stains: An event run by Drew Studios in which Shawn Flynn is the antagonist, using ink to corrupt everyone into a hivemind-like state. Michael along with a few others have banded together to reverse the effects and return everyone to normal.

Wandering is a Terrible sin: The aftermath of ink stains, in which Sammy and Michael attempt to find Joey while Shawn plots again.

The Joy of Creation: An au ran with Animdude, following the events of The Joy of Creation: Story Mode. Never finished!(If you just want art and general content!)

Mike and Scott go to Hell: Scott gets killed, goes to lakeside hell, Michael goes after him, feels ensue.

Human!Ennard: Ennard gets turned human for an m!a… turns out that ended up becoming permanent.

Family au: An au where Michael gets a twin brother, a fellow Phone Guy named Scott. … Then I gave Scott the nickname “Red” and now he’s a permanent member of the blog. WHOOPS.

Various Tags!

Art Tag: My art!(also related- my animatic, my edits, my moodboards, my audio, my stimboard)

Mike plays….: When I play various games like DSaF 2, DSaF 3, and FNaF World Redacted!

Fanart: When people draw things for me! My personal favorite tag!

Squad up!: When I draw other characters/officials- typically in a squad!

Batim stuff: Tag for Bendy and the Ink Machine content!

Sness Blunderall: Sans Undertale-themed shitposts

Big Fav: Tag for personal favorite posts

Ship/Relationship tags: Sammy/Lawrafton, Scott/Smike, PG/MichaelPhone

Animation Weekend: I like cartoons. Featuring Drew Studios Saturday and Disney Sunday

Henry Fan Club: Started off as a fun little rp thing, ended up becoming a discord server.

Aesthetic/Musings: For Aesthetical blog fun!

Stimmy Stuff: I’m just really ADHD so I keep all of my stimboards here!!!

Kin-etic energy: Harmless fun for fnaf fictionkin!

Other Blogs!

Main Blog

Art Blog

Sammy Lawrence T-Poses

#about #about page #mobile about

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tadmean-aa · 6 years ago

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YEP, HERE WE ARE FOLKS

so. this is a post i didn’t want to write, but here we are. if you’ve followed me for a while you know i don’t like drama / public discourse, but i genuinely have no other choice. i’ve tried to handle this privately to no avail. and while i’d appreciate the word being spread about this person, you’re welcome to block this post or blacklist the tags. i’m not here to tell you who to interact with or start a fight. i’m not here to discouse this or argue. the facts are the facts, and the facts are that this user has stolen from me repeatedly, even after being asked to stop, and has taken credit for intellectual property and an interpretation largely inspired by coping with trauma. massive drama under the cut. sorry folks. i’ve tagged it as ‘long post //’ as well for mobile users.

tl;dr? @cvffeinequeen (whats good?) ripped me off majorly. it’s driving me nuts. tw for ic abuse mention.

on one hand, i thought about not writing this because it’s literally just tumblr roleplay. on the other, writing coco this way, this very specific way, has been a way to cope with my own similar struggles, and the last straw was seeing this person getting credit for their “creativity”, aka the things they blatantly ripped from me. to see someone being praised by unknowing people for taking a story that i crafted from my own hurt, a story that they’ve gutted and repurposed so they can roleplay with it instead of coming up with something of their own, was the absolute final straw. not to mention that if they’ve stolen from me and gotten away with it, it’s not unlikely they’ve taken from other sources as well. maybe someone else will come forward, idk.

if any of the screenshots or links below are not conclusive enough, feel free to come to me and i will try to get you better ones / answer your questions. this is a long post, but i’m not about to call someone out for the first (and hopefully last) time without bringing some hard ass motherfuckin proof. my old blog (tadmean.tumblr.com, or tadmean-a.tumblr.com if the first doesn't work) is available multiple times on the wayback machine if you need to check some of these for yourself.

for context, i found this user in the coco adel tag through an edit. i always like to see duplicates (it gets lonely being the only coco), so i clicked the url to see what their blog was like and maybe follow if they were cool with that. immediately, something stank. on closer inspection, i realized their bio was ripped directly from mine and reworded—examples below. bear in mind that they have changed their blog background color since then, which is why some of the caps dont match the current blog; it used to be this shade of red (?), now it’s a brownish pinkish color. the bio has also since changed, but i’ve included the three different versions. i sent these screenshots to a close friend the night i found this blog, as well as to another friend a couple days later / a week maybe? so that’s why some of these are discord screenshots.

BIO POSTS: ( pt 1 ) ( pt 2 ) ( pt 3 ) ( pt 4 ) ( pt 5 ) ( pt 6 ) ( pt 7 ) ( pt 8 ) ( pt 9 ) ( pt 10 ) ( pt 11 )

screenshots in hand, i instant messaged them and let them know i saw what they were doing. screenshots below:

DM CONVO: ( pt 1 ) ( pt 2 ) ( pt 3 ) ( pt 4 ) ( pt 5 ) ( pt 6 ) ( pt 7 ) ( pt 8 )

NEW BIO AT THE TIME: ( pt 1 ) ( pt 2 ) ( pt 3 ) ( pt 4 ) ( pt 5 ) ( pt 6 ) ( pt 7 ) ( pt 8 ) ( pt 9 )

BIO AS OF NOW ( 11 / 29 / 18 ): ( PT 1 ) ( PT 2 ) ( PT 3 ) ( PT 4 ) ( pt 5 ) ( pt 6 ) ( pt 7 ) ( pt 8 ) ( pt 9 )

past this, we just agreed to be mutuals and that, i thought, was the end of it. sure, the bio wasn’t all that changed, but they’d seemed to realize the error of their ways and i was naively optimistic.

from here, it temporarily got better. then got way worse. whether it was formatting ( x, x ) ( x, x ), ( x, x ) the names of tags ( x, x ), ( x, x ), personalized tags ( x, x ), musings posts ( x, x ) ( x, x ) (these being just a few), etc. this user has mimicked my blog to a T. but this is all just context. the thing that i’m here to talk about, however, are headcanons. i started writing coco as a way to cope with my own trauma/abuse & personality disorders; it started from the thought that if a strong character like coco can manage it all, then so can i. and it’s not like we have a whole lot of canon content for coco that might lead people to the same conclusion about her life—coco is a character that has maybe? 30 mins to an hour (being very generous) of overall content? the things i’ve written about coco is not stuff you can conclude from her canon material. period. she’s essentially an oc based on five seconds of material. if you have any doubts, remember that: coco has essentially no canon content or backstory. almost everything on my blog is a headcanon. that said:

LIST OF A FEW STOLEN HEADCANONS:

stole coco’s troubled home life as an heiress ( x ) and how she runs away later in v4 ( x ). this is the biggest one.

coco’s father has been the main antagonist of her story (way before weiss’s bg was revealed, or jacques was really even a character). this person has not only ripped off coco’s bad home life, but ripped off her father being the particular antagonist ( x , x ). they’ve also mentioned the similarity to weiss’ story but i can’t find the post. however, because this is ripped off, there’s no reasoning for why he’s the worse of coco’s parents. this is a common theme with this person: they take a headcanon and remove the fat from it so it’s not as recognizable. this also removes the context and reasoning for the headcanon.

ripped off small bits and pieces off my page: like coco barely sleeping ( x , x ), often getting detention ( x, x ) (something that’s not mentioned in their bio), sweet tooth ( x , x ), scars ( x, x )

coco’s full name being something she only gives to people she trusts ( x , x ) or people who would have it off her record, since it’s a reminder of her family.

oh, the best one! i posted a headcanon post specifically to literally see if they would take anything from it, and they did! blatantly! here (hair hc: x , x ) and here ( x , x, x , x). a link to my post: x and theirs: ( x, x )

in their bio, they write that these are headcanons they’ve been writing for years. well, funny enough, lots of the things they’ve taken are things i posted and started writing about years ago. so i guess in a way, that was honest. throwback thursday!

let me be clear: if you’ve interacted with this person, or if you didn’t notice, or you noticed but didn’t say anything, you’re not the bad guy. in these situations, the bad guy is the thief. period. i realize to some people this might seem silly, but i’m extremely sick & disabled and cannot work or really do much of anything; writing coco convincingly and making her relatable has essentially been my job, my sole motivation, for these past 3-4 years. i’ve poured hard work into this interpretation, only for someone to come along, butcher it, and claim it as their own. to you, it’s not a big deal, but to me? it’s years of work, stolen.

i hate to make this post. i hate serious posts, i hate drama, i hate anything that might discourage someone else writing for coco. i love duplicates! i’ve never had any issues before! but this person isn’t roleplaying as coco; if anything, they seem to be roleplaying as a version of my blog. which, not cool but also, creepy.

so, yeah. please dont send anon hate their way, this person is still a minor. but being a minor doesnt make theft okay! apparently we still needed that said out here in the rpc. thanks for reading guys, peace

#call out post //#long post //#theft //#callout post //#ok to reblog #ooc.#drama //#is it ? idk

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hellyeahheroes · 7 years ago

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Ten Winners and Losers of DC Rebirth:

DC has dropped the Rebirth logo out of their titles. That is usually the sing they consider that the transition period for their books is over. They have built their status quo and what they have built during it is the new DC Universe. While I doubt fans will stop calling DC books Rebirth titles from now on (same as they didn’t stop using New 52 name long after DC dropped it from the covers), I want to look at what they managed to fix and bring to new fresh in this period, this last 1,5 year and also on what has failed. What were the winners and losers of DC Rebirth. Enjoy:

Winner: Superman Family

Out of all lines, I don’t think any has made as much of an improvement as Superman’s. While there were good stories in New 52 Era, that time’s take on Superman has been generally seen with negative reception. Bringing back married Superman and Lois AND their son Jon has been a brilliant move, that quickly launched both Superman and Action Comics to some of the most popular in the era. The emphasis on Superman as a father made him more relatable to growing audience, several well-written Lois moments helped remind people why she is a belowed character and Jon quickly gained love of older fans and kids alike. That success was then quickly capitalized on with Super Sons, giving the spotlight to Jon and his new friend, Damian Wayne. The return of classic Superman villains like Eradicator, Metallo, Doomsday, Hank Henshaw, Mr. Mxyztplk, Manchester Black and General Zod with a new, interesting antagonist in Mr. Oz, helped make it an era that will certainly be remembered.

Adding to it three new books - Superwoman, Supergirl and New Super-Man only cements the lines’ status as probably the best quality-wise of the entire Rebirth. While Superwoman was sadly the shortest-living of them all, it still left us with Traci Thirteen and Natasha Irons as a couple, a move fans approved so much we now hope for Traci’s sexuality to be addressed in her upcoming show and Young Justice Season 3. Meanwhile, new take on Supergirl, taking clues from the show, but making Kara a high-schooler with adopted parents, has been well-regarded by the fans and New Super-Man became a minor fan-favorite, to the point DC took back the decision to cancel the series and let it continue as New Super-Man & the Justice League of China.

Loser: Blue Beetle

Poor Jaime. One of the few characters that Rebirth set to fix after New 52 made him into a hot mess. The premise was solid - Jaime getting a mentor in form of previous Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, written by Keith Giffen, who shaped Ted into a comedic character and helped launch Jaime’s 2006 book. It had the potential for success. But the creative team (which J.M.DeMatteis joining in the middle) clearly didn’t believe in it and tried to launch a stealth team book they should have pitched in the first place. This resulted in a chaotic story that has lead to Blue Beetle’s cancellation and many plotlines left unresolved.

Winner: Damian Wayne

Rebirth was a good time to be Damian fan. Between his appearances in not one but two books, leading new Teen Titans and forming great friendship with Jonathan Kent as well as having a handful guest issues, be it in Nightwing or Superman or Batman, Damian has received a tremendous push. While the quality of some of these titles remains debatable among the fans and some are unhappy with him not being pushed as Batman’s partner, it is undeniable they have a lot of fresh Damian content to choose from.

Loser: Tim Drake

By contrast with Damian, Tim Drake has spent most of the Rebirth imprisoned by Mr. Oz and presumed dead. While his spirit was hanging over his friends in Detective Comics and his perceived loss affected them greatly, he himself was almost not present at all, really having a chance to shine only in two stories, Rise of the Batmen and A Lonely Place Of Living. In a way it feels as if James Tynion IV even knew he likes Tim too much and moved him away to give everyone else the spotlight - spotlight they undeniably needed, may I add.

Winner: Batman

It’s bizarre for me to even put him on this list. Batman is the golden child of DC, the fortunate son, the star, the fan-favorite. He always gets best writers, the spotlight, the books, the guest appearances. And yet, DC Rebirth did something unbelievable, something I would never bet to see with Batman. They let him be weak. When over the years Batman has amassed reputation that earned him nicknames and memes like “Prep Time”, “BatWank” or “Batgod” over how perfect, always right and invincible he became, in Rebirth this feels toned down.

Batman in Rebirth was allowed to have flaws and vulnerabilities. His moments of super-competence are now contrasted with his emotional vulnerability. Batman was allowed to be a father who needs his children maybe even more than they need him, he was allowed to take serious beatings from Bane and Reverse Flash, to grieve after Tim, to seek happiness in marriage with Selina, to see his fears and regrets exposed in monstrous forms of Seven Dark Knights. All these things like tiny woodpeckers chipped little bits away from the image of BatGod and brought back Bruce Wayne, Batman the human. And boy did he needed to come back and remind people why this character is popular, to begin with. I mean, if even my bitter and cold heart started feeling a bit more sympathy for the guy whom last few decades made me despise, you know DC is doing something right.

Loser: Raven

One of the biggest mistakes of DC Rebirth was Marv Wolfman’s Raven book. Not the book itself, but the fact it was only a miniseries. Being limited to only six-issue format have visibly constrained the potential the story had and forced the writer to rush things. The fact that in January DC launches new Raven book only makes it that much more infuriating. DC had little faith in the character and while I’m grateful they were willing to try at all and they clearly are testing waters for her potential ongoing, I wish we could see how things would turn out, had she been given one in the first place. Or at least a twelve-issue miniseries, I’d rather have that than 12 issues of Chuck Dixon slamming his head against the wall in Bane: Conquest.

Winner: Green Lanterns

That was the book I doubt that many people believed in. Two relatively new members of Green Lanterns being given their title that early and made to work together. A book written by Sam Humphries, who didn’t gain that much of a good reputation for his works at Marvel. And yet...it worked. The series earned peoples’ love with an honest approach to subjects like anxiety disorder and extremely relatable portrayal of main characters. Jessica Cruz, in particular, seems to have grown into a fan-favorite to the point she’s going to be Green Lantern in DC Superhero Girls Universe and may even find a way into DC Comics Bombshells. This book opened a path of bright future to both Jessica and Simon, seeing how it still steadily continued as a bi-weekly series when other books with seemingly more famous character have been reduced to a monthly series. It opened Sam Humphries a way to his dream work at Nightwing. It thinks out of all Rebirth books this one might be one of the biggest breakout hits.

Loser: Gotham Academy

It feels cruel to put Gotham Academy in that category. The creative team truly gave their all to this title. But sadly, the second book they got managed only last for twelve issues, enough to wrap the dangling plot threads. While other DC books benefitted from a new beginning, this one seems to have suffered what restarts did to Marvel books - diminished sales. But I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again - the combined amount of issues Gotham Academy had is an impressive number of 38. Let the fans never allow anyone tell them this title failed. I need to also praise DC for the amount of faith they’ve put into this series and how hard they tried to make it take off and become popular. This effort is worthy of respect. And something that I’d never been expecting from Marvel, so kudos for trying to do better.

Winner: New 52 Wally West

When Old Wally West from before Flashpoint came back, many people feared this means his New 52 counterpart, now revealed to be a cousin with the same name, will drop into comic book limbo and never be mentioned again. Thankfully DC had a better idea - they kept both of them around. And through a string of writers who wanted to use him, Young Wally has not only been prominently featured as a supporting character in Flash but also joined Teen Titans, had appearances in his cousin’s book Titans and even managed to become a cast member in Deathstroke’s series. While I have complained his life probably sucks with an amount of bad stuff happening, he did leave his mark on larger DC Universe, had a chance to win fans’ love and established relationships with other characters. Hell, he even managed to send Raven’s heart...racing.

I’m sorry, no more puns, I swear, don’t hurt me!

Loser: Conner Kent and Bart Allen

Another case where it feels outright cruel to call them losers. Both of them were erased with the reboot and replaced with versions that can be respectively called a hot mess and an outright identity theft (no, seriously, New 52 Bart turned out to be some asshole using his name). Since Rebirth launched the books started to tease fans with their returns. First, it was who might be in Mr. Oz prison next to Tim Drake’s in Detective Comics. Then the very clear erasure of Conner from Superman’s memories of Reign of Supermen, with Clark noting something is missing on the same page. Then Batman of Tomorrow bringing up Conner and finding out present Tim doesn’t remember him. The Murder Machine telling Barry there was a Bart in his reality. James Tynion IV and Joshua Williamson being very clear they want them back. And of course that Geoff Johns himself seems to want pre-flashpoint Conner back. And now the upcoming appearance of their evil future selves, Titans of Tomorrow in Super Sons of Tomorrow crossover. On the one hand, it appears DC wants to play a long game with setting up their return. On the other, many fans are probably having enough of constantly being shown a carrot on the stick and I hope DC will manage to bring those two back before fandom’s patience runs out.

Winner: Christopher Priest

If you read his essay The New Black Mambo, you will know that Christopher Priest has a complicated history with Big 2. After his successful, character-defining, run on Black Panther, he started to feel the publishers are seeing him as “black guy to write black people” and he felt they’re denying him their A-List characters and jerking him around whenever he tries to pitch a non-black book (he tried to launch an all-female Avengers series almost a decade before A-Force, for example). He also felt his books that do feature black and other poc protagonists are thrown to the assholes on the Internet, even back then ready to declare them a “black propaganda” and other bullshit, which killed his project the Crew before the first issue was even out. This had led him to reject offers on DC and Marvel books for nine years.

Thankfully, during Rebirth DC was pulling its collective head out of its collective ass so well, they finally noticed why he keeps saying no and pitched him a different character - Deathstroke. On that book, Priest not only managed to rebuild mythos destroyed by New 52, but also built around Slade a diverse cast of complex, multi-layered characters and showed exactly how much of an awful, destructive person somebody like him would be. This opened him the door to Justice League, which he is currently writing, glad he can finally get his hands on all those characters he was always denied.

Loser: Cyborg

The news on Christopher Priest taking over Justice League was quickly followed by reveal he will make Cyborg the new leader of the team. This sadly quickly became ironic, as DC announced the cancellation of Victor’s own series. Cyborg was another one of those characters DC tried to push even before Rebirth, during DC You, but to no success. Cyborg still retains his role in Justice League so his fans can see him there, but it’s a shame Rebirth didn’t manage to save his book.

Winner: Stjepan Sejic

Stjepan Sejic has become fairly popular on the Internet and in indie in the last few years. Yet, despite years of outstanding work and even solid portfolio of Image Comics books he worked on, he never managed to land a work for the Big 2 outside few covers for Marvel. In Rebirth DC has changed that by giving him not only an arc on Aquaman but bi-weekly Suicide Squad series as well. Hopefully, this will finally give him the spotlight and help land more prestigious jobs in the future, both of which he certainly deserves.

Loser: Frank Cho and Jonboy Meyers

Not all artists managed to capitalize on the success of Rebirth and made their own. Incredible talented Jonboy Meyers was on his way to make his art become the face of new Teen Titans, with his animesque style and modernized designs of the team members gaining a lot of attention. Yet he fell off the project due to “creative differences” after just a few issues. While creators leaving DC books and cursing the editorial was a common occurrence in New 52, it didn’t follow his departure. What’s more he also quickly had the same thing happen to his job at Marvel’s series Royals. I have not been privy to what were his reasons, but I just hope it wasn’t any serious health issues, as he gives an impression of a man too nice to lose two jobs due to acting like a primadonna, unlike some creators in the past.

Frank Cho, on the other hand, DID lose his Rebirth gig due to acting like a primadonna. Being put on variant covers for the first 24 issues of Wonder Woman, he has quit after just six, because Greg Rucka asked him to remove a pantyshot - a reasonable request especially during the time when DC tried to avoid controversies that haunted New 52. Cho, however, decided Diana’s underwear is a hill he will die on and threw a colossal temper tantrum that made him look extremely immature. Ever since his output involving Big 2 characters was a series of “fan” pinups of the same woman in different costumes with some characters screaming “OUTRAGE!” in the background, a sad attempt at pissing people off to feed his persecution complex.

Winner: Jack Kirby

In the seventies Jack “the King” Kirby gave DC several books and characters who maybe never rose to the popularity of their core heroes or his Marvel creations, but became iconic fan-favorites none the less. Were he still alive, 2017 would be his 100th birthday and DC went out of their way to honor him. Kamandi Challenge, Mister Miracle, Bug! the Adventures of Forager and Demon: Hell is Earth all are limited series that allowed some of King’s creations shine once again. Then DC gave others special issues that are now collected in a sweet trade. Not to mention some of those titles featuring Kirby’s heroes meeting each other (I mean, Forager outright went and resolved cliffhanger of Kirby’s original OMAC series) and his other characters and concepts are being featured in ongoing books like Superman or Green Lanterns. DC went out of their way to celebrate Jack Kirby during Rebirth. This is especially poignant at the time when all Marvel managed to do are some cheap variant covers and putting a bunch of his Monsters into one event because they were too busy spending most of the year shitting on one of his most beloved characters in Secret Empire.

Loser: Justice Society America and Legion of Super-Heroes

These two teams have been on everybody’s mouths ever since DC Rebirth Special teased their return. Yet outside of occasionally throwing us a bone here or there, teasing their returns in Batman and Flash, nothing had materialized out of this. I heard rumors there was a plan to launch JSA book, but it appears to have fallen through. Meaning currently both teams are in Comic Book Limbo with Shazam and Martian Manhunter.

Winner: Grant Morrison

Rebirth has become a time when you could notice more and more references to works of certain creator popping up - crazy Scott, Grant Morisson. Be it use of his characters like Aztek in Justice League of America or Doctor Hurt and Professor Pyg in Nightwing or concepts like Hypertime or his Multiversal ideas. With writers like Joshua Williamson, Tom King, Scott Snyder, Gerard Way, Tim Seeley or James Tynion IV it is clear that right now DC Universe is put in hands of creators who have been influenced by Morrison’s body of work and even others, like Gene Yang, while not directly touching on his ideas still add more pieces having similar feel. I’ve been saying Grant Morrison would be proud several times during this era and for a good reason. It feels he has achieved a similar position Warren Ellis had at Marvel for some time before 2015 - maybe not directly affecting the company, but having enough people who learned from or were inspired by him working on it, that he is present in spirit even when he isn’t writing anything.

Loser: Eddie Berganza

This might be a bit cheating since this has little to do with DC Rebirth itself. But it needs to be pointed out that during this era position of Eddie Berganza, an important editor and a serial sexual harasser who was seen as too big to be dealt with, started to tremble. Greg Rucka made DC ensure his new Wonder Woman book will not be edited by Berganza and neither he nor any member of his team will have to even interact with the guy. I like to see it as the first sing the industry was ready to deal with this pathetic, painful ulcer of a man. A thing that indeed has happened, when on the wave of allegations of sexual harassment in Hollywood his name has been brought up. DC and Warner decided to take a look at his case and he was promptly, in their own words, terminated. Good riddance.

Winner: Imprints, Crossovers, and Elseworlds

One of the greatest successes of Rebirth for me was that DC took serious attempts at bringing back Wildstorm and Vertigo characters, whom they have mistreated by forcing into one Universe with rest of DC in New 52. Warren Ellis’ Wild Storm rebooted the 90′s Universe in a new flavor, giving us a fantastic science-fiction take on their heroes.Gerard Way brought back the feel of early Vertigo in his imprint Young Animal with great series like Doom Patrol, Shade: the Changing Girl, Mother Panic, Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye and Bug! the Adventures of Forager. They are not stopping there, seeing how they are working on the return of Milestone Media, launching Dark Matter and working on an all-ages imprint.

At the same time DC launched an imprint for reinventing properties under their Hannah-Barbera license. Which, admittingly, gave us two baffling books in Scooby Apocalypse and Wacky Raceland but also fan-favorite Future Quest, Flinstones or new Dastardly & Muttley. DC seems to have enjoyed working on those books so much they made series of one-shots crossing over other HB characters with their heroes. And enjoyed THAT so much they did it again with Looney Tunes, which were much more entertaining I think anyone would have suspected. Speaking of which, DC has a blast with doing crossovers and you can always see them doing some sort of it - He-Man/Thundercats, Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Shadow/Batman, Wonder Woman/Conan, Justice League/Power Rangers or several Batman ‘66 crossovers. It seems to have even rubbed on their games, with Hellboy and Turtles making their way to Injustice 2.

And finally, DC had a lot of fun with Elseworlds lately. Including Nightwing: New Order, Green Lantern: Earth One, Gotham City Garage, DC Superhero Girls, DC Comics Bombshells or Batman: White Knight. All of it contributed to a new image of DC as ever-expanding as both the world and the publisher. Which I feel greatly helped their success.

Loser: Marvel Comics

Oh come on, you’ve seen this one coming. When DC wins, Marvel is the biggest loser and vice-versa. But to say that DC suddenly cleaning their act caught Marvel by surprise would be an understatement. It might even be said that their own behavior allowed Rebirth to succeed - after all the big plot twist if Rebirth Special, the big reveal that could have easily turned people against DC, has been overshadowed by Marvel turning Captain America into a Nazi. Compared to THAT what DC did seemed much less outrageous and many people seem to be more open-minded to the Rebirth as a whole as a reason.

After consistently losing in sales for months, Marvel tried to desperately try to shift the blame on diversity, bloat their sales, copy Rebirth with Legacy, while also making a ton of fuckups and see their bad past decisions finally catching up to them. It is shocking how badly they took the beating, culminating probably with a kick to the balls in form of DC nabbing Brian Bendis, Marvel’s best-selling writer - and even he was just one of the many creators who jumped ships by that point. Things have gotten so bad at Hosue of Ideas they let go their Editor-In-Chief Axel Alonso and replaced him with C.B. Cebulski. And even in that, they manage to come under fire.

While in general, both companies seem to be in the constant back and forth, when one is on top and the other starts fucking up, how drastically had the landscape shifted from New 52 era, when Marvel was seen as a dominant one even if DC was beating them at sales is, to me, a testament to how big success DC had with Rebirth. Now the question remains if they manage to keep it up going forward - which I sincerely wish to them. Because let me say something - DC Rebirth made me fall in love with so many aspects of DC Universe I didn’t care about before and it even made me seek some older DC titles. And that, I feel is the best testament to Rebirth’s success.

If you feel I have missed any winner or loser or just want to call me an idiot for something I’ve said, comments and reblogs are welcome.

- Admin

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gunnerpalace · 7 years ago

Note

Have you seen the vid 'Shonen Anime's Biggest Problem' by Reality Punch Studios? Bleach is briefly mentioned in it and the guy basically says that Kubo did a great job with the plot and characters during the Soul Society arc, but then later failed with all the other arcs after it. Thoughts?

I haven’t, but that’s pretty accurate. This is long, but fuck it, I want people to see it.

Karakura I: Great! Minor flaws, e.g., Ichigo leaving Rukia to fight Shrieker while he escorted Karin, rather than having the clearly less-than-combat effective Rukia do so, and learn about Ichigo; not covering a whole month of their time together (including Ichigo’s birthday); ultimately dispensing with Tatsuki’s importance to the plot; could have probably stood to be about twice as long to show more of Ichigo and Rukia’s early relationship and flesh out relations with the nakama more.

Soul Society: Great! No real flaws until the end, e.g., you just killed off Central 46 and had a great upheaval in the power structure of the to-date main antagonists; this was the perfect time to have some exposition on them (e.g., who the other two Great Noble Houses are, what their role in Central 46/Soul Society is aside from being strong, etc.); good pacing, dramatic, memorable and contained fights, even for supporting characters (e.g., Uryuu vs. Mayuri, Renji vs. Byakuya).

Karakura II/Arrancar: Not so great! So, Ichigo’s just spent his summer break, what, moping over “the Hollow?” Why does everything in this series revolve around no one (Kisuke, Isshin, Juushirou, Yamamoto, etc.) telling Ichigo what the fuck is going on and just solving the problem? One of the only times I can remember an authority figure just saying “We’re here to do X because Y,” is Toushirou in this arc, so good for him? The fights against the Arrancar are when Bleach started to go bad with F I G H T S N O B O D Y C A R E S A B O U T ™ because they don’t involve the protagonists. Grimmjow was an effectively introduced villain even though he’s really just Kenpachi + Zangetsu (”Shirosaki”). The moments with him, Ichigo, and Rukia were good. The Visored were neat but were ultimately a waste. Most damningly of all, Orihime didn’t learn a goddamn thing from going to an alternate dimension and watching Ichigo almost die over and over to save Rukia.

Hueco Mundo/Fake Karakura+: Really bad! When FNCA became a real problem. Just all kinds of shit that didn’t matter and wasn’t satisfying. The entire premise of them being there was stupid, as was the entire structure of the war. Aizen’s grand scheme turned out to be a bunch of bullshit. Overall just a terrible inversion of the Soul Society arc featuring a bunch of poorly-realized villains that were way overhyped. (Also, the final demonstration of the worthlessness of the Visored!) Our protagonists had to be rescued for the plot to continue on stupidly. (This can work, e.g. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, but this isn’t the way to do it.) An unsatisfying conclusion that explained nothing about why what happened, had.

Lost Substitute Shinigami: Garbage. Okay, this arc has some great character-building for Ichigo and Rukia, and Xcution have memorable designs. I like Riruka. Ginjou, Giriko, and Tsukishima are really hateable villains. I like Ikumi. But. But. Fullbring is dumb and makes no sense, or needed to be introduced much earlier. The story of the substitute Shinigami is dumb and doesn’t fit well with what we know. The contrivances necessary to make Bleach work like a horror manga are ridiculous and just make the adults around Ichigo (e.g., Isshin, Ryuuken, Kisuke, Yoruichi, Shinji, et al.) look like fucking negligent assholes at the same time as Ikumi is telling Ichigo to trust adults. Also, the way the time skip was handled was that it wasn’t. It literally never gets addressed outside of about a dozen panels. It speaks to my heart but it wasn’t well-executed (hah!) at all.

Thousand-Year Blood War: Total shitshow where everything is on fire. The Sternritter were awful and utterly lacking in interest. (They’re all amoral psychopathic murderers, whoo!) FNCA go on forever, nobody does anything of importance, Ichigo and Rukia barely appear for large sections of it, and nothing sensible or satisfying happens except for an explanation of Ichigo’s powers that, while making a kind of sense, still doesn’t really explain anything. Don’t get me started on the ending, that requires War and Peace to fully deconstruct with how it doesn’t fit any of what came before.

If Kubo was just going to stop the manga, he should’ve stopped it after Soul Society arc. He couldn’t, because Aizen was still on the run, but if Aizen had been taken out there, it would’ve been okay. Open-ended, maybe an epilogue panel or page of Rukia putting on civilian clothes to see Ichigo again. Cool.

If he was going to stop after the Aizen saga, he should’ve done that. Again, an open ending. You could maybe have an epilogue of Ichigo thinking he sees Rukia out of the corner of his eyes over time. Whatever.

But no, this guy had a plan. Bleach is kinda like The X-Files, in that there’s a bunch of episodes, and then an overarching plot arc, except instead of being episodic, it’s archic; a bunch of small arcs under a larger one. The larger arc is that Soul Society, and existence itself, is fucked up. The smaller arcs are about what passes for “mundane” or “the usual” within this fucked up existence.

That alone probably answers your question, but I’m me, so I’m going to continue on to talk about what I want to talk about.

WHAT THE FUCK WAS BLEACH ACTUALLY ABOUT?

Let me explain my theory of what Bleach was supposed to be about, before Kubo got bogged down in thinking he was Tolkien II Turbo DBZ edition and got his series cancelled with his fuckery.

There’s this interesting video about how, in The Matrix, Neo isn’t “the One,” but rather, Smith is.

youtube

The Architect tells Neo that he’s the sixth “Anomaly” which resets the Matrix. Their arrival is expected and anticipated. Smith, unwittingly “created” by Neo, is what causes this particular iteration of the Matrix to end very differently than the previous five.

Okay, what the fuck does this have to do with Bleach?

Check it out: Ichigo (and Rukia) is (are) the One. That is to say: they’re Smith. The planned outcomes, the “Anomalies,” were Aizen and Yhwach.

They would go about their plans, get up to the Royal Realm, and then be summarily murdered by Zero Division and turned into the new Soul King, as a Soul King only lasts a certain amount of time and needs periodic replacement. (Check how old and busted the current one is.) This is why Zero Division gave zero fucks about whatever happened down below: it not only didn’t matter to their outcomes, it was necessary. (Kind of like Soul Society requires suffering to work properly.)

There’s evidence of this in Sajin and his grandfather. Their existence is never explained, but Clifford the Big Red Dog says “The world’s ‘bearer’ will simply change. We won’t change. No matter who holds the world. All we can do is lay low.” This is strikingly similar to The Merovingian and his motley crew of exiled programs from previous iterations of the Matrix: they are remnants of a bygone age, after successive resets.

What resets Soul Society (or possibly reality) is swapping Soul Kings.

Now what fucks everything up and makes this time different is the existence of Ichigo and Rukia. Ichigo is directly created by the fuckery of Aizen and Yhwach, much like Agent Smith was turned into Smith. The existence of Yhwach’s descendants, plus Aizen’s machinations, produces an unplanned-for feature. Something new. He’s easy to explain.

But Ichigo isn’t alone. He would’ve never gotten anywhere without Rukia. And Rukia is harder to explain.

Now Aizen says “The ‘true’ power of the Hougyoku is to read the minds of those around it and make manifest of what it finds there. […] You don’t understand? I’m saying that all of the ‘miracles’ that have occurred surrounding Kurosaki Ichigo, Kuchiki Rukia, and Urahara Kisuke thus far were manifested by the Hougyoku’s will.“ He goes on to say "And then I, armed with a hypothesis about the Hougyoku’s abilities, sent Kuchiki Rukia in the direction of Kurosaki Ichigo. Of course, there are limits to its abilities. The Hougyoku manifests what’s in the minds of those around it. But this will not happen unless the subject inherently possesses the power to fulfill their desire. By that token, this could also be called the ‘power that guides people toward their desires.’ … But living creatures are strange, they are made in such a way that they can actualize only what their minuscule minds wish for.”

First, notice how utterly fucking pissed Isshin is. Nothing else makes him remotely this upset. Nothing to do with Grand Fisher or Yhwach makes him even fractionally this agitated.

Now, stop and think for a moment. Does what Aizen said actually make sense? The Hougyoku does what those around it want, but it can only do so through what they are capable of. He also says that the Hougyoku has begun to understand his will… only just prior to explaining all this. Why does Aizen think he was previously outside of the Hougyoku’s influence?

Kisuke’s incomplete Hougyoku was hanging out in Rukia for a long time; presumably, out of anyone, it understood her will best. Aizen sent Rukia to Ichigo? No. Rukia wanted to go to Ichigo, and Aizen was the means to facilitate that, which coincidentally accorded with his desires too. Aizen is confusing cause and effect here through his own hubris.

How did Rukia know of Ichigo? Well, you could say she was looking for someone like Kaien. But there are inevitably many people like Kaien in the world and it could’ve guided her to any one of them. It took her to the only person who could do something about the world, which Rukia saw as fundamentally unjust. But how would the Hougyoku know about Ichigo? From reading Aizen’s mind? Maybe, but can it understand things like genealogy and ghost genetic engineering? It’s much simpler to say that it saw their connection.

I’m not going to relitigate all the material in Bleach which asserts that Ichigo and Rukia are connected and fated to meet one another, like the Sand and the Rotator chapters. But it’s out there, and the Hougyoku knew, so it put them together and warped everything around it to make that happen; to execute Rukia’s will, not Aizen’s.

My feeling is that Rukia and Ichigo form a single unit for the purposes of reality-disruption. They are the Pair, rather than Smith’s the One. Surprise, this is why Kisuke leaves it to them when he thinks he’s gonna die. He’s like the Oracle. Or something, this analogy is getting a bit loose.

Also, Ichigo’s whole thing is power, and Rukia’s whole thing is control. You might say they’re like a power source and a regulator. Water and a water wheel. Sand and a rotator.

So, much like Smith, they were going to change the outcome of their iteration in a way that couldn’t have been foreseen.

Then Kubo got his series cancelled because he spent too long drawing Doctor Juggalo fighting a giant hand, and Sword Hobo fighting Imagination Boy and Thor, so none of that happened.

tl;dr Kubo’s inability to stop himself from fucking with unimportant characters and unimportant plots, i.e., getting bogged down in the minutiae, is exactly what killed Bleach, along with trying to be too clever by half with things like Hueco Mundo as inverted Soul Society. Dude lost the plot and couldn’t see his own damn forest for the trees.

#Asks #Bleach #IchiRuki

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kingaid1-blog · 6 years ago

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Gameplay Prototyping - Tuesday 05/02/19 & 12/02/19

This week my aim was to sort out my moving platforms, while I also had to start fleshing out ideas on paper for my coursework. Currently, when the player lands on a moving platform they do not share its movement. By this I mean the player stays at the same position in the game world and falls as the platform moves away underfoot.

After some looking into it, I found that the method used to sort this out is to have the player character parented with the platform on collision. After having a look at some tutorials during the day on Tuesday, I went into the labs and got right to it.

After some tinkering about with the rigid-bodies and the box collisions, I finally managed to get the thing working. After an hour of messing about with tick boxes and values, the guy eventually stayed put.

My next move as I said was to start thinking of a plot, or when considering the MDA framework thinking of mechanics to build this story around. I’ve said before I was wanting a vertical platformer and I had done some research. During the week I kept thinking about my PS1 days and the game ‘Heart of Darkness;’. It was an old yet very addictive platformer and its use of cinematics to portray the story was great at the time, the same reason probably Final Fantasy VII and IX are my favourite games. The different obstacles the boy Andy endures to save his dog from the darkness was fascinating. At the same time, all my games from back then have a sentimental feel about them and I tend to relive these memories with the odd playthrough.

I did exactly that with Heart of Darkness, fighting shadow demons and progressing through the dark levels. I always remembered it being great graphics, as I did for Medievil, Duke Nukem games etc when replaying them. Still it was good looking at it from a game designers perspective and breaking it down, as one tends to do in these roles.

I had some visions of what my game could look like, imagining myself traversing up these vertical levels. I was asking myself, where am I heading. With the help of some recent news stories and events, I think in my mind I was trying to make a mix of some of this within my imaginary prototype. Recently on January 29th, Donald Trump posted on Twitter one of his classic non-presidential-like comments on a serious situation.

Whether he fully understands that global ‘warming’ does not specifically mean everywhere gets warmer or not, the tweet amazed me and was a small topic of conversation last weekend at dinner with my family. I thought, how about if my guy is going up there to stop global warming. After this, some strange plot ideas started forming and I wrote some more stuff down.

So I the main plot that I started to think about was that the player is travelling upward in order to destroy some machine which was actually the cause of global warming, a machine that slowly deteriorates the Earth’s o-zone layer. The antagonist is unknown to the player and to myself at the moment, but my first thought was some other lifeform, aliens possible? Then again, it could be a nice story for a conspiracy. Was Trump playing dumb and was behind global this whole time? After some play-throughs and other research, I began to write/sketch away.. Most is probably unreadable as I am still recovering from a broken hand, making using pencil and pen a rather more tiresome after a while, but here it is anyway.

This first sketch is a bit of a mixture of sorts, but mostly of the page refers to this module, Gameplay Prototyping. Initial thoughts here were mostly on mechanics and plot, some ideas of what sort of protagonist would be most fitting seemed to be some sort of scientist, or other who has an interest along the lines of this global environmental well-being. Thinking along the lines of science, it would also be quite fitting to possibly think up cool gadgets to help the player through levels.

On the mechanics side of things, I had already imagined my first ideas in previous weeks about the player avoiding rain. Some of the diagrams you might make out on the sketches on the previous page show an idea or two to continuously utilize this hostile water to create a less monotonous “obstacle – move – obstacle – move” game-play. using the shape of different platforms I thought about creating a timer on certain ‘Raindrops’ falling, with ones that don’t hit the player being gathered in a bucket on a platform below. The idea is the bucket will fill after three (TBD after testing) raindrops gather, after which the bucket will release a flow of water hitting (in this case) the sloped ramp below. This flow of water will then run down and knock the player back to whichever point below they may land.

This creates the obstacle at a lower point, forcing the player to take a note of the timing, and allowing them to access the next area just below the platform with the bucket if they time their jumps correctly.

Looking at sketch number two, I thought about how to mess around with my jump mechanic and possibly make my infinite jump a little less infinite. I thought about a pong-type movement interaction, where whatever angle the player hits the ball off their platform the will mirror that angle – as long as the jump button is pressed again in good timing.

So in the past two or three weeks I feel I have made good progress in terms of thinking of the coursework. I’m happy with what i’ve got so far and i’ll be keeping an open mind for any new ideas, such as any more tweets on current world issues.

I think I have merged weeks in and missed a weekly blog post after some confusion with the dates, I have edited the title to account for this. I think the size of this post will keep any readers busy enough and I’m sure there will be more news to come soon.

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netherreads · 8 years ago

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Soulmated- Book Review ((ARC TOUR)))

Hiya Guys- Welcome to the Nether! I am SUPER EXCITED to tell you guys I got apart of my first Blog Tour. Today I am honored to be reviewing Soulmated by Shaila Patel.

I just want to thank Month9Books ((@month9books)) and Shaila for letting be on this Blog Tour!

Before I get into my regularly scheduled review I am will be posting about the plot and a little bit about Shaila Patel herself. I will also put the links below where you can find the book and purchase it yourself!

Title: SOULMATED (Joining of Souls #1)

Author: Shaila Patel

Pub. Date: January 24, 2017

Publisher: Month9Books ((thanks for this opportunity))

Format ((hard copies and such)): Hardcover, Paperback, eBook

Pages Count: 300

These are the links where you can find this book!: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | TBD

This is the Summery said by the Publisher:

Two souls. One Fate.

Eighteen-year-old Liam Whelan, an Irish royal empath, has been searching for his elusive soulmate. The rare union will cement his family's standing in empath politics and afford the couple legendary powers, while also making them targets of those seeking to oust them.

Laxshmi Kapadia, an Indian-American high school student from a traditional family, faces her mother's ultimatum: Graduate early and go to medical school, or commit to an arranged marriage.

When Liam moves next door to Laxshmi, he’s immediately and inexplicably drawn to her. In Liam, Laxshmi envisions a future with the freedom to follow her heart.

Liam's father isn't convinced Laxshmi is "The One" and Laxshmi's mother won't even let her talk to their handsome new neighbor. Will Liam and Laxshmi defy expectations and embrace a shared destiny? Or is the risk of choosing one's own fate too great a price for the soulmated?

Before I get into Shaila’s bio and links I would like to say she is a wonderful person. She talks to me almost everyday on Twitter and she has no problem befriending her fellow readers. She is a very positive person and a great role model. I enjoy talking to her on a regular basis and she always is not afraid to answers my questions when I was having a difficult time understanding the novel. I hope that you like this book as much as I liked it because Shaila deserves all the best.

About Shaila Herself- she is a wonderful woman:

As an unabashed lover of all things happily-ever- after, Shaila’s younger self would finish reading Cinderella and fling her copy across the room because it didn’t mention what happened next. Now she writes from her home in the Carolinas and dreams up all sorts of stories with epilogues. A member of the Romance Writers of America, she’s a pharmacist by training, a medical office manager by day, and a writer by night. She enjoys traveling, craft beer, and teas, and loves reading books—especially in cozy window seats. You might find her sneaking in a few paragraphs at a red light or connecting with other readers online at: www.shailapatelauthor.com

Find Shaila:

Website Twitter Facebook Instagram Pinterest Goodreads

OKAY NOW THAT IS OUT OF THE WAY- Let’s get onto the actual Review shall we?

Point 1: I always start with the romance of the novel- and since this book is mostly about the romance of the said characters this is going to be a easy point to talk out with you guys. I, to be honest, at first thought that the instant connection between the two main characters, Lucky and Liam, was kind of a instant connection. Granted you guys probably know that is one of my biggest turn offs when it comes to paranormal romances- but that does not mean that I can’t like it in some cases. Shaila took the time to explain to me the magical connection between the two characters- which is some type of force that makes them instantly connected to each other. Granted I don’t believe that this book reads more like a FANTASY it reads more like a CONTEMPORARY romance where the two characters meet and start developing a relationship. I personally liked that the two characters were so different from each other. As you can see in the summery I just gave you guys- Liam is a Prince from Ireland and Lucky is a Indian American. The two seem to click very early in the novel and they seem to joke a lot with one another. The book seems to establish the romance early on- and then proceeds to go into detail about why they like each other. I wish there was more cute-sy scenes within the novel- but what can you do. LADYBUGS IN CLEAVAGE ARE NICE THOUGH...Ladybugs in cleavage.

Point 2: This is where I am going to get into the actual plot of the story. This book is told by two points of view- Lucky and Liams. Liams is more on the magical political side- and Lucky’s is more realistic. I actually liked Lucky side of the story slightly better because I liked learning about the Indian culture a bit. Lucky talks about her mother and how she is so strict on what is in store for Lucky’s future. Her mother also seems to not like white people for some reason ((this is actually unexplained- but that is why she doesn’t want Lucky dating Liam)). This is normal in Indian Cultures- not the racist part but the cultural part. Usually, girls especially, would be subjected to what the parents desire of them. Usually this involves arrange marriages- which Lucky is does get constantly harped on about. Liam recognizes the strictness about Indian parents- but he does not know about the arrange marriage as of this book. Liam side of the story consists of his father harping on him about finding his empath before the Elders do- something about his aunt too trying to help them by going to a library where she is not suppose to go. I think it is pretty different for the most part. Granted I gotten confused about it until Shaila explained it to me better- but mostly Liam has to find his soulmate in order to be a part of this political circle of Elders back in Ireland. I guess with their soulmate it makes it easier for them to channel their powers. Being in a empath with someone only comes every several generations, and the only people who know about the empath are physics who have visions about them. ((this is what I got from reading the beginning)) Liam’s father, Patrick, is a physic- and he starts having visions about Liam having a empath. There the family ((his mom and dad- and Liam)) go to America ((where Patrick seems to be having these visions about)) to find a Indian girl who suppose to be Liam’s Soulmate. Liam has dated about four to six girls in the past ((all looking a like)) but finds out within a year non of them are his soulmate. When he meets Lucky all of his emotions start to change- and the connection is REAL. This makes it so he knows he found his soulmate- and most of this book is about him developing a relationship with Lucky and a little bit about the politics around the empath. There is also the Elders ((technically the bad guys of the story)), who are already in the circle - and are trying to find the empath as well. Some are trying to take Lucky for their own ((because they want to power)). Will Liam be able to protect Lucky from the Elders? APPARENTLY THAT IS IN BOOK 2!

Point 3: The side characters- I wish there was a little more development within them, but in terms of this book they aren’t really the main event so I will let it pass. Shiney and Jack are cool additions- I think that they add some comic relief to the tale. I like that the Lucky’s mother,Moria ((I hope that’s how you spell her name)), is very strict and wanting only the best for her daughter. Lucky’s father is dead- but you can see the connection Lucky had with him even though he is gone. Liam’s Mother and Father probably have the most spotlight out of all the side characters in the tale- maybe because Liam has a better connection with his parents than Lucky has with her mother. I think Liam’s Mother is a sweetie I liked her. Would I call the Elders side characters? Probably not- I would call them main antagonists. They seem to always want to know what Liam is doing and when he is doing it. Liam wants to protect Lucky from them but with their powers he seems to ultimately fail at that. We will see what happens with that because Shaila doesn’t go into extreme detail about what they truly are and what are some of their intentions.

Point 4: I would say the writing is very riviting- it seemed to flow nicely together in the story. Like I said I am treating this more like a contemporary with some fantasy elements so I would say the writing is well sorted for a love story about a girl and a boy with many issues surrounding them. I was slightly confused about what was hurting Lucky be the end of the novel- like they were being ‘soulmated’ together and all the sudden a magical force was like swinging her around and I was kind of confused on that part- but I would say it overall made sense that Liam wanted to stay away until he found out how to safely empath with her without hurting her. I thought that was a truly noble thing to do specially when his literal life was to find a girl to soulmate with for power. Good job Liam!

In Conclusion I am going to give Soulmated a 4 star rating for being different and for actually teaching me about certain things in Indian culture. I liked that she danced a traditional dance I like that they fell in love on their own terms. It is a pretty different book overall and I would hope you guys would want to pick it up for your own enjoyment.

BEFORE I GO - Since I am the last stop on this book tour I want to tell you about a giveaway and the other review interview and expert links!

Giveaway Details- SO COOL!:

(1) winner will receive a Perfectly Posh, Posh To Meet You Set ($20 value), US Only.

(10) winners will receive a SOULMATED Swag Pack, US Only.

Rafflecopter Link:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/ZTIzODliYTI4ZTEzMGVjODBhNzA2MmFmMTU3YWM3OjUzMg==/

Now here are the other bloggers - give them SOME LOVVVVEEE:

Week One:

1/23/2017- Dani Reviews Things- Excerpt

1/23/2017- I am not a bookworm!- Review

1/24/2017- Two Chicks on Books- Interview

1/24/2017- Book-Keeping- Review

1/25/2017- Black Cat Blog- Guest Post

1/25/2017- Omg Books and More Books - Review

1/26/2017- Don't Judge, Read- Guest Post

1/26/2017- The Starving Bookworm- Review

1/27/2017- Hidden Worlds Books- Guest Post

1/27/2017- Book Review Becca- Review

Week Two:

1/30/2017- Jorie Loves A Story- Interview

1/30/2017- Drink Coffee and Read Books- Review

1/31/2017- Read Coffee and Teen- Interview

1/31/2017- The Bookavid- Review

2/1/2017- Lisa's Loves(Books of Course)- Excerpt

2/1/2017- NovelKnight- Review

2/2/2017- YA Guy- Excerpt

2/2/2017- Rockin' Book Reviews- Review

2/3/2017- So Few Books- Interview

IM GOING TO GO NOW! GO READ IT! BYE~

#ARC Tour #soulmated

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