#and the problem is how much i LIKED this arc for sophie. it felt really true to her character tbh. and we got to see how the bad things tha

[aardvaark]

oh i kinda hate how leverage: redemption season 2 ends. astrid just believes sophie & says she’s family? i love sophie, and i know what it’s like to hurt someone when acting in self-preservation or fear… but that’s exactly why i think that astrid deserves to feel however she wants to feel about what sophie did. she was sad and angry when we first saw her. she said she’d devoted her life to catching grifters because sophie ruined her and her father’s lives. like… you don’t just get over that in the course of a day! and you shouldn’t have to!

if she wants to forgive sophie, that’s really great too, i’m not against forgiveness lol - but we saw that astrid very much hadn’t forgiven her just hours earlier, and we didn’t get to see astrid express any of that anger & sadness or come to terms with this whole situation at hand. plus the show had been setting up a very emotional arc for sophie & astrid for quite a few episodes, and then we never actually get much of a payoff. and no proper explanation for why she trusts sophie’s plan and doesn’t want to arrest her.

but instead it makes no sense!! and was super crammed for time, which is probably why we didn’t get much of an explanation. we got more of sophie feeling guilty than astrid getting to process & discuss the thing that was done to HER. i loved all the build up to the finale episodes, but not the episodes themselves :( feel free to disagree though, id kinda like to hear more discussion & perspectives on this!

[dailycass-cain]

Birds of Prey #12 brings the Cass action to the forefront!

It also gets me something I always wanted to see: Sophie Campbell drawing Cass. But it comes-- with a TWIST!!

We're nearing the end point of this arc, and we get the craziest issue yet of the world hoping. This time the Birds getting "toonnified".

And that is "the twist"

Since I first saw her work on IDW TMNT. I always wanted to see Sophie Campbell draw Cass. Well wish granted this issue. But it's an utterly adorable Cass.

Though, what shall we call this Cass version? Toon Cass? Cass Toon? No wait that one is taken. 🤪

Anyhoot, this toon world feels honestly the most fleshed out of them all. Like it felt there was this underlying unease with each world the Birds visited.

Here this is the first one that feels like a world onto itself. I wonder where this will go with the "final world" teased at the end.

Even though, last issue Cass was put on the back burner, this issue she gets A LOT of focus. So much so I believe this issue she has more dialogue than the prior ELEVEN issues!

Even with all this Cass, all the Birds get a moment this issue. Barda and Vixen get absolute banger moments this issue and their toon designs are just perfection. Likewise so does Sin, and even Babs. Everyone gets something this issue.

And it all starts with Cela walking out, and Cass following. Now I now there was A LOT of shippers jumping onto the two this issue.

So let's dissect the real bonding, and maybe-- it can go to be more?

Writer Kelly Thompson has touched on many dimensions to Cass in the series thus far. Here she digs into the core of Cass: compassion.

A few issues ago, we learned Cela's origins, and last issue put it on the back burner, but this issue we get the forefront as she knows the Birds reunited that time is almost up with her newfound companions and the hope of being free from this prison.

I think Cass can really relate to Cela. That she's stuck in this world, and really is trying to be good despite the world wanting otherwise. Not to mention losing A LOT of sisters?

It sounds FAMILAIR doesn't it?

think Cass relates a lot to Cela and is trying to break that ice with her being there for her. She can see how her body is screaming for someone to vent with.

And well... we get the scene between the two.

Now as to WHY people are jumping on this ship bandwagon so much? Well, when was the last time Cass had an honest to god love interest in the main DCU?

You could say Stephanie Brown (Batgirls 2021-2023). Or... Harper Row (2016).

But if we're going to her honest-to-goodness CONFIRMED she's interested in?

It was Sal from Batgirl Vol. 2 (2009).

It's been THAT long since Cassandra Cain had a CONFIRMED love interest.

I think fan interest in wanting Cass to get SOME loving is WHY we're at this point. The girl deserves it. Though personally I see ANOTHER option (if not Harper), who just happens to show up this issue too.

So I get WHY many shipping vibes are there for Cass/Cela.

But the rest of the issue is Cass coming up with a plan to FINALLY be free while also dealing with Maia problem too.

And here we get our SECOND bit of Cass in the issue.

This and a few other reaction images are so getting memed by us Cass fans. I know it.

But yeah it's a nice "character progression" from someone who told a "bad story" in #1 to now coming up with a good plan in #12.

And the plan even involves a homage to what Sophie Campbell is most famous for. 😁😁😁

You thought I wouldn't notice the streams crossed did ya? BUT I DID!

Birds of Prey #12 is an emotional ride but with a toony twist. It has such a glorious cute edge this issue. And this world with the Birds REALLY clicked. I've gone back to reading this issue more over than the prior bits of this arc.

I feel there's nothing more to say than I'm REALLY curious where this all goes next issue and how this will tie into the Spirit World?

I guess we'll see. Other than, I'm curious what your thoughts are on Cass/Cela?

And are you surprised it's been THAT LONG Cass had a love interest?

*this is me now waiting for comments*

[deafchild2000]

Okay, a few years ago, my mind played with some crazy and unique ways to explore or rewrite H2O characters (at most: Lyla being Dr. Denman's adoptive daughter and healthily researching mermaid magic.)

But I've cooled down over the years and settled on a few that make sense (Charlotte being a mermaid again under dubious circumstances - being one of them and Kim actually being smart and figuring out the Secret using photocopies of Cleo's diary before it was destroyed).

Or maybe I'm not above writing stories with second chances, but not without taking liberties such as avoiding dumbing someone down or giving credit where it's due.

So, I had this idea for a story I attempted but didn't quite publish. The context: What if Charlotte, Miriam, and Sophie were mermaids?

Considering I go back and forth between Reddit and Tumblr, I was surprised (and not) by the Antis and the ones willing to indulge in the characters - I ended up joining in too. But this idea was me really pushing the envelope, so to speak, and thinking outside the box. And another thing, I'm kind of not afraid to go into mature themes that exist in real life.

So why these three? Because everyone hates them, and the exact challenge of making them worth reading about is what I strive for. And since I do believe being in the Moon Pool alone is why Charlotte got three powers, then making her part of a group & dividing said powers avoids some problems.

Charlotte is the easiest of the three, she deserved better in character development and writing (and I'm not above laying blame on the girls for creating her antagonism, to begin with). If H2O had started off with the story of a girl finding out her grandma was a mermaid, it would have felt fitting as it would involve her meeting Louise and doing the supposed job of tying both generations of mermaids together. Essentially doing what S2 chose not to due when introducing a former mermaid having left a legacy behind. On that note, Charlotte is Cleo's foil, so she does get Hydrokinesis.

Miriam is...so fascinating! Between her and Sophie, it's so easy to imagine Miriam disliking having a tail to begin with. At best, she's unilaterally Emma and Rikki's foil (everything Emma's not and Rikki hates). With the Mean Girl/Ice Queen persona she had going on, I'm not too against the trope of her using being a mermaid for popularity but I imagine having Charlotte involved means the worst gets curbed. However, I do imagine the "One Drop" policy getting old pretty fast, and sick of it as well. It was actually pretty difficult (and felt generic), but in the end - I settled for Miriam getting Hydro-cryokinesis.

Sophie, Sophie, Sophie...Not gonna lie, getting the one who destroyed the moon pool for financial gain (and more of a villain than the other two) was when I knew I had my hands full! Not to mention, she's an ADULT! Not an elderly or a parent - an adult with bills to pay and a brother to take care of. And that's where I feel her arc should be (adulting and a caregiver who now has to deal with a tail). But because I don't mind taking liberties, I traced her actress back to her previous role (Rachel Samuels of Blue Water High) and that's where things came together! Overall, she does have hints of Emma but could be more dangerous than Rikki. So hydro-thermokinesis for her.

There's so much to this dynamic of the 2000s mermaids not being like anyone expected and the potential. Charlotte is the first to embrace being a mermaid while Miriam fights it every second she can (Sophie being between the two). Given what happened in Red Herring, I'm particularly fond of the idea both Miriam and Sophie have dyes in their hair and the transformation reveals their natural brunette and blonde tones. As an anti of Will Benjamin and his behavior with Bella in canon, perhaps exposure and learning how NOT to treat a mermaid from the source could go a long way. I'm definitely LIVING for Louise adoring Charlotte yet meeting Miriam and Sophie and having difficulty adjusting to someone like them being mermaids & far removed from what she, Gracie, and Julia were. How Zane fits into this as without Rikki, Miriam's all that ties him to her. Sophie's past and why teenage drama dictates Miriam be such a bitch (as well as whether Tiffany has a place in her life). Or better yet, Lewis was the researcher, so is he obsolete from this AU or can he be brought in? Does Miriam have an Elsa episode where she freezes everything?

I can't promise Linda Denman or other likes in canon, but like lightning - some things don't happen twice without reason.

But main question: Why would these three meet? Charlotte and Miriam make sense, Charlotte moving a year early isn't hard to do as well as placing Miriam with Zane & Nate and having her steal the spark plug. Given the lack of background on their folks, Sophie and Will moving to Queensland is easy to arrange with the right backstory. So in the end, it all goes straight to the beginning - the Pilot.

(And where are the original girls? Given the effect this AU would cause, a lot gets undone. Cleo and Emma were already friends, just not likely to meet Rikki - whose actions triggered the events of canon to begin with! So at best, side characters who interact but don't influence the narrative as much...possibly.)

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 1/5

Book Blurb:

In this warm-hearted debut rom-com, a young woman returns home to run her family’s casket business and falls in love with a seemingly perfect stranger. But there’s just one problem . . . he works for Death. “A charming, original love story about grief. I loved it.”—Sophie Cousens, New York Times bestselling author of This Time Next Year Nora thought she was finished with Rabbittown, Alabama, for good. But an unexpected tragedy turned her life upside down, and she’s found herself back in her tiny hometown running the family casket business.

There aren’t exactly a lot of prospects for a single woman in her thirties in a place like Rabbittown. Until Nora Clanton’s ordinary, casket-selling day is interrupted by a handsome stranger wandering into her shop and asking for directions—as well as a date.

Garrett Bishop seems like the ideal guy. He’s thoughtful, he’s kind, and he has a lucrative job as a logistics coordinator, for which he seems to have a passion. She’s not totally sure what “logistics” entails, but she knows it means long hours, lots of travel, and urgent calls in the middle of the night.

When a few of Rabbittown’s residents suddenly pass away—a heart attack here, a car crash there—and Garrett is spotted at the scenes of, well, all of the deaths, his frustratingly vague job description starts to become increasingly . . . suspicious. What is it that Garrett actually does for a living?

He’s a logistics coordinator for Death.

When Nora discovers the truth, she is unable to reconcile the wonderful man she knows with the unthinkably cruel job he loves. Will she ever be able to understand how he can do what he does, or will she have to lay her best chance at love to rest? Casket Case is the heartfelt story of a small-town girl who feels surrounded by death—literally and figuratively. This clever, endearing, and romantic debut explores how love and loss are forever intertwined . . . but death might not be as scary as it seems.=

Review:

She's running her family's casket business but falling for a guy who is working for Death. Nora has unexpectedly found herself back home in her little town of Rabbittown... and working at her amily's casket business. Garrett Bishop seems like the perfect guy, he's sweet and has a good job... only he's hiding a secret and it's odd that his odd job behavior and the strange uptick in residents of the town passing away, has Nora's red flags up. What does he actually do and can she trust him with her heart? This was a small town romance that explores loss and dealing with death Unfortunately this one did not hit the mark for me, I really didn't care for the characters or the romance, despite how hard I wanted to like it. The premise made it seem like a book I would absolutely love but while reading it I just felt bored overall. Nora just didn't make all that much of an impression on me and I did not feel any chemistry at all between the two characters. The romance just didn't feel all that romantic and the story just felt "meh" for me unfortunately. If you do like small town romances that deal with grief and death, I'd say give this a go, maybe you'll have a better time with it than I did.

Release Date: September 10,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Dell for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[sara-likes-things]

I'm gonna preface this by saying I have no problem with representation. I love queer stories, especially when they're organic and natural. I'm bi, and I've had fulfilling relationships with women as well as men. Honestly, I would love a spin-off on Brimsley and Reynolds. It didn't feel.....forced. the characters were new and their story grew organically. Michaela? No. I'm trying to articulate how I feel without sounding like I hate the queer community because I genuinely don't. I appreciated Benedict's story line even if it was a little jarring. He's exploring, experimenting and that's fine. It still doesn't take away from his story. But the introduction of Michaela felt like a guy punch. It felt wrong. I've never particularly like gender swapping in stories based on an original IP, because it changes a lot of dynamics. It changes a lot of story lines. And yes, it's fiction, but I'm sorry I cannot get over it, especially when it's such a blatant case of pandering. It makes me feel as if I'm wrong to question this change and I've somehow internalised homophobia. If so, then why wouldn't I hate other queer characters or be similarly uncomfortable?

Okay I think I can make my argument clear with an example. If anyone has seen the movie Love Lies Bleeding, I think they'll get it. The sexual orientation of the characters didn't matter. It felt right. And it was not important to the story. It was just an established dynamic and we could enjoy the plot easily. It wouldn't have mattered if it was a heterosexual couple or a homosexual couple, the story is largely unchanged. If Michael becomes Michaela, here's the issues I see. Who inherits Kilmartin. We've already established an estate will go to the next male heir if the current owner dies. A major part of Michael's story was his guilt over his inheritance and his imposter syndrome. His story arc taking his place in parliament. It's all gone. I mean, I know the show isn't interested in the plots other than the main character pairing but this felt so wrong. If they wanted a lesbian lead, the just make another show with original characters why force this? I'm not looking forward to Francescas season at all. I'm sure a lot of people will like it and that's their prerogative but for me, personally, the only thing keeping the story moving forward is Benedict. Maybe Eloise. But I feel like the story of the show has lost its charm and has dug itself into a hole like Disney or marvel

I can see why you feel that way, for me its kinda like that but more so how they went about it.

I dont mind the gender swap but hate the way they went about it, diminishing the relationship francesca has with lord killmartin when they spent all season saying to violet and us how love stories are different but that doesnt mean theyre not as good but then go and do exactly the opposite??? I think if instead of francesca michaela reacted the way fran did then it would be less jarring because at the end of it its the same dynamic, but making fran react like that after just getting married means she doesnt really love lord killmartin as much as she told her mom and thats a problem.

Also i think the problem with the gender swap its that it doesnt really work with the overall story of francesca haha like if they wanted to gender swap one character there was sophie or maybe try that change with eloises story, you know, stories were someone getting pregnant isnt necessary.

I do believe bridgerton has lost some of the aspects that made it so good, the production feels cheaper and the writing too modern and simple, it feels like another show but even if im not that excited as before i know im gonna keep watching so 😐

[wondereads]

Weekly Reading Update (07/03/23)

Reviews and thoughts under the cut

Woven By Gold by Elizabeth Helen (8/10)

I immediately picked up the sequel to Bonded By Thorns since it was such a fun read. As with the first one, the romance is very strong and probably my favorite part of the book. Also, we get to know more about the princes (including the evil one) and their complicated pasts with their actions and one another. I felt like Rosalina was adapting a little quickly, but then I remember that she's spent months in the fae world at this point and it seems less unrealistic. As fantasy romances are wont to do, the plot is a little thin and drawn out, but I really only have two major gripes. One, the problem introduced at the end of book one is resolved almost immediately, which was a little unsatisfying, but it did introduce some characters and plot points. Two, the 'big mystery' concerning specifically Rosalina and her family is so obvious. Like, I get that they are not aware of the tropes of the genre they're in, but come on. Surely someone can at least suspect it?

The Wicked King by Holly Black (10/10)

The Wicked King is absolutely my favorite book of Folk of the Air. I just love magical politicking, and Jude does it so well. This sounds weird, but her time in the Undersea is a part that has always stuck with me. She's obviously miserable, but I think it's when I realized just how far Jude would go for her ambitions (and just how far Cardan would go for her) and I love it. Speaking of Cardan, the build in their relationship is so well done; a true enemies-to-lovers arc if there ever was one. As much as I know what's really going on with the twist at the end, it still hurt to read. I enjoyed this reread so much that I ended up changing my rating from a 9 to a 10 because I really can't think of anything to criticize about this book.

Everblaze by Shannon Messenger (9/10)

I think Everblaze marks a significant turning point in the Keeper books. This is the first time we start really interacting with species outside elves, specifically politically, and it's the first time doubt in the council comes front and center. The books are starting to explore what the worldbuilding actually means, and it means a lot of dubious things when it comes to control and privacy. The development at the very end (and I mean very, literally last page) disrupts the pattern that has been set in these books so far, and it definitely makes you want to keep reading. Fitz and Biana sufficiently redeem themselves in this one, but Dex is going to have to step it the fuck up before I even consider giving him another chance, especially since I already don't like his pushy romantic feelings for Sophie. As always, my favorite relationships lie in Sophie and Keefe and Sophie and Grady and Edaline, the latter of which really stood out this book.

The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black (9/10)

There are 308 pages in this book. I highlighted something 228 times. I remember when I read this book the first time I was a little disappointed that there wasn't much of the intense scheming that came with The Wicked King, and I take that back. Maybe Jude's plans are a little more straightforward this time around, but even knowing what was going to happen there was still an insane amount of suspense. The relationships in this book are so strong, and not just romantically. Jude and Madoc's fraught parent-child relationship in particular has me riveted; it's incredibly complicated and so good. But also romantically, Jude and Cardan are at the top of their game this book, and it's amazing to see Cardan so unashamedly in love. They deserve their happy ending and to take off their armor, one piece at a time.

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson (10/10)

I've been interested in this book for a while, but I was finally prompted to read it by the TV show announcement. And I can definitely say I wasn't disappointed. If you watch any sort of procedural show, this will be right up your alley. I loved how the actual investigation was laid out with Pip's notes and diagrams in the book. It made me feel like I was solving the mystery right alongside her. The focus is definitely on the murder, but I still got a good sense of Pip's personal life and how her obsession with the case was affecting her and her relationships. I won't lie, one of the most anxiety-inducing parts was her college applications, but maybe that's just me. I managed to predict who the killer was, but the actual story behind the whole thing made my jaw drop. I can't wait to read the rest of the series and see the show!

Guardians of Dawn: Zhara by S. Jae-Jones (5/10)

This book is not irredeemable. The plot is unoriginal but not nonsensical or boring, the magic is super interesting, and Zhara has a lot of potential as a character. However, most of the characters are one-dimensional and uncompelling and the writing is...not good. The unending focus on the romance when there were so many other interesting things going on was so frustrating. And then there was the unashamed insertion of what is clearly meant to be BTS (yes, worldwide kpop sensation BTS) that completely destroyed my immersion. Also, the disability rep is pretty dubious. I was pretty disappointed by this read, which sucks because I think it had a lot of potential.

Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater (10/10)

This book is like if Pride & Prejudice and Howl's Moving Castle had a baby, and I ate it up. This book perfectly blended a historical romance with engaging fantasy elements. Dora is a wonderful main character; she's lovable and engaging while still have a completely unique personality that really makes her stand out amongst a lot of fantasy romance protagonists. The love interest is suitably snarky while still being respectful and kind, especially to Dora. Their interactions are fun while still being incredibly romantic. The plot works well with the romance and characters, culminating in a very satisfying ending. Finally, I really appreciate the ending for Dora's issue in particular; it works well for her character and is, in my opinion, in good taste. I highly recommend this book, especially if you're looking for a light, quick read!

The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas (CR, 57%)

I'm kind of just reading this one to get through it. The stories are fairly interesting, but I was told it provides valuable context for Queen of Shadows, which is really the only reason I'm reading it. I'm not a huge fan of prequels; I don't like reading stories that I already know the ending of. So far, while some things have been interesting, like Celaena's training in the desert, it's very obvious that everything is building up to what I already know is going to happen. As such, I have really no interest in letting myself get attached to any of the characters, which is kind of affecting the quality of my reading.

[mermaidsirennikita]

ARC Review: The Duke Starts a Scandal by Sophie Jordan

3.5/5. Releases 10/24/2023.

Vibes: boss/employee, hero and heroines with a past, Two Weeks Notice but make it historical, low angst

After finally claiming his rightful position as the Duke of Penning, Lucian is determined to get his shit together, find a proper wife, and arrange good matches for his sisters--all while ensuring the upper classes don't find out about his past. The problem is, he's quite attracted to his housekeeper, the acerbic Susanna. Lucian doesn't want to overstep--or start a scandal--but is forced to work more closely with Susanna when his valet is put out of commission. As the two plan an important even together, the growing tension between them--and Susanna's own secrets--threatens to ruin everything they're working for.

This was a pleasant, easy read with the light sense of humor you'll find in most Sophie Jordan books. I liked it. However, I feel that for a few different reasons, it didn't quite go as far as it could have. Which will definitely make it appealing to those who prefer a lighter historical romance, but gave me some troubles.

Quick Takes:

--First off, I do want to make it clear that the chemistry in this book isn't lacking. Lucian and Susanna spark from the start, and I absolutely loved their meet cute. He's desperately trying to fit into a role that he didn't expect and wasn't raised for (per the rest of The Duke Hunt series, multiple other people took the Duke of Penning role... without being the Duke of Penning) and sees as a major stroke of luck. She's practical, jaded, and highly skeptical of his suitability as duke. Lucian begins the book seeing Susanna as a problem on multiple levels, but comes to develop a sense of kinship with her--and a reliance on her--that I found really lovely.

And there's great sexual tension here. It's a slow burn of a book, and the buildup of "oops, we overstepped" moments is really fun. These are two people who are trying to stay professional and really failing throughout the novel, and I enjoy that quite a bit.

--The flipside of this is that because I liked Lucian and Susanna's dynamic so much, I was kind of frustrated by how much of this fast-paced, relatively short book didn't feature Lucian and Susanna interacting together. There's a whole chapter (admittedly a brief one) focused on the secondary romance. A cute secondary romance, yes, but there was really no other time devoted to those characters' points of view. So I wasn't sure why they needed to get a whole chapter, when we could've used Lucian and Susanna bonding together.

What this does create is a sense that like... I was happy that Lucian and Susanna got together. But I felt a bit cheated of the time they could have spent together. Even them becoming friendly with each other is kind of a slow burn. You spend a lot of time in their heads, when I would have just preferred to have more time with them talking, or hanging out, or kissing.

--One thing I do think Sophie may have struggled with was the issues surrounding boss/employee romances. Obviously, the majority of dukes in real life probably didn't care too much about the ethical problems with banging an employee. But this is romance, so I'm totally down for romance heroes being more sensitive about these concerns.

However, let's be real--boss/employee romance is very much a thing, a trope people flock to despite the problematic questions surrounding it. And I don't necessarily think that romance readers should be made to feel guilty about liking it, and I feel the same about writers. Sophie is very sensitive about the topic, and I appreciate that. I just feel like she wanted to write boss/employee, but was ultimately reined in by anxieties surrounding reader reactions.

Personally, I really liked how KJ Charles handles this in The Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel. The boss recognizes the issue and feels guilty about it; he's nonetheless tempted; the employee enthusiastically wants to be with him; and they have a couple of discussions about it, making it clear that the boss in no way expects sexual favors from the employee, and the employee will not be punished if he decides to end their sexual relationship. I think something like that could've been done here, and would have enabled Sophie to move the relationship development up a bit in the story. As it is, a lot of stuff happens in the last 25% of the book, which isn't uncommon in a Sophie Jordan novel, but did feel quite rushed here.

--One thing I did really like here was Lucian's backstory. It's something I've seen in historical romance before, but not very often. Like I said before, Susanna has her own backstory, and I respect it, but it is something you're probably a bit familiar with in historical romance. Personally, I think that Lucian and Susanna could have bonded more over their shared anxieties surrounding their pasts. Additionally, I feel that more of the overarching tension of the story, the threat as it were, could have been centered around Lucian's past... which is honestly much more high stakes and scandalous than anything Susanna has to worry about.

The Sex:

Sophie Jordan writes a good, hot sex scene. That said, I have noticed less sex in her last couple of books. Like, maybe one or two scenes, inserted towards the very end of the book. Not sure how I feel about this. Again, the boss/employee aspect really held Lucian and Susanna back, and I think we really could've benefited from the physical aspect of their relationship beginning early in the story. Nonetheless, the inciting event that caused them to get physical is quite cute, and I liked it.

For a lot of readers, I think this low angst, fun historical will be a nice, quick read. For me, I just could've stood to see a bit more drama, and higher stakes. Still, I like Sophie Jordan's books, and there are definitely people I would recommend this to.

Thanks to Avon and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[sophie69420]

11/18/2024

I can't remember the last email I wrote to john and hank green but I guess this is really for me:

Dear Brothers Green,

It is truly such an honor to be a part of the Nerdfighter community. I have a signed DFTBA poster in my office from my first Project for Awesome perk in 2016, some eight years ago. I was a teenager then and that was probably around the time I first heard that Dr. King quote about the moral arc of the universe bending towards justice.

I have been thinking a lot about that quote amidst gestures broadly, and how it doesn't feel like the arc is bending much towards anything. And to top it off, I was sick this last weekend! With a cold! Ugh!

Maybe that's why I am feeling overwhelmed by the We're Here newsletter this morning. Why tears are springing to my eyes as I read John's words about making each other feel warm or Hank's gift card dilemma. I am especially feeling overwhelmed by the description of We're Here, that "the overarching theme is that hopelessness is the wrong response to imperfection."

You guys!! That is so good.

Whether or not the arc of the moral universe is bending in any which way is not my problem! Because I am not in charge of the moral universe, I am in charge of me! And the way I treat myself and my husband and my cats and my coworkers and my neighbors.

Here is the moment of kindness I want to share with you. The warmth that was spread to me during a cold Minnesota election cycle.

After Trump won, I text and called a lot of people I love. Because I was worried about how this was making them feel cause it was making me feel pretty shit. So I texted them things like "hey I love you, let's hang out soon" "hey, I love you, any reaction is an appropriate reaction."

And the best text I got back was from my 60 year old beloved Uncle Gary. I should tell you upfront, Gary's daughter, my cousin, died of cancer when she was 16 in 2010. A dark cold moment in our lives that really fucking sucked. Over the last 14 years without Cara here physically, some warmth emerged. I read the Fault in Our Stars and really connected with what I understand the central theme of the book to be, can the lives that have been cut short be meaningful? yes they sure can. And it led me to finding Nerdfighteria and all of that warmth. It also led to me having a relationship with Cara's family to be extremely deep and meaningful. Cara's sister Rachel is my best friend, the maid of honor in my wedding last summer (where we read an expert of the Anthropocene Reviewed as part of the service).

It also led me to reach out to Gary after the election where he sent me back this incredible text I share with you:

"Love you too. If you'd like to drown your sorrow in some ice cream or a shot of whiskey, or if you'd like to go out in the woods where we can scream expletives until our throats hurt, just let me know. I'm available all afternoon and evening."

In that moment, and in the evening when we did hang out and drink and talk about everything and nothing, Gary made warmth for me where there otherwise wasn't any.

This is definitely too long to include in your newsletter but it felt really good to write. Here is a picture of Gary and me enjoying some delicious Minnesota apples.

Thanks for everything.

Don't forget to be awesome, Sophie

[alicentflorent]

I think they didn't make Olivia Cooke look older because 34-35 is not old, and it really pounds the fact that she became a mother at such a young age into our heads.

My Mother had me at the same age that Alicent had Aegon, at 15 and my entire life I've had to deal with

"but she looks so young?!"

"How old was she when she had you?!"

"That's your Mom?! you look like sisters"

It started to bother me in my early teen years when I knew more about sex and slut shaming, it felt like something to be embarrassed of.

I now have a toddler, I wasn't a teen mom but I am a relatively young Mom. I had my daughter just after graduating university but was and still am in my early 20s. I get mistaken for a teen Mom all the time.

My parents are now young Grandparents, they still aren't in their 40's yet. They look young because they are. They always got the

"Those are your kids?!"

"How old were you when you had her?!"

Comments and now they get the comments of shock and disbelief that they are Grandparents because they don't “look it”. So | think Olivia is a physically accurate depiction of a former teen mom, now young Grandparent. Her children were even younger than I was when they became parents.

I do agree that they should ve cast others differently or made them look more age accurate. Alicent’s children should’ve been played by younger actors especially Aemond. Rhaenyra’s sons are because the writers wanted them to look younger, more pure like innocent baby boys who could do no wrong. On the opposite side they wanted Alicent’s to look older, more menacing men who “bully” Rhaenyra’s precious boys and less like the young men they are. While I understand that they want the green boys to perform sex, nude and Violent scenes, Emily Carey was 17 when she did that scene with Viserys. She and Harry Collett are the same age and are actually good friends and peers IRL. So it’s a troubling double standard this franchise has always had. Harry is now 20 but they still cut his Sara Snow arc which did not have to be explicit. While in GoT Sophie was 13/14/15/16 getting her clothes ripped off, being put into scenes with grown men who wanted or tried to rape her, she was underaged and kissing a much older actor.

At the end of the day Tom, Phia and Ewan are completely Aegon, Helaena and Aemond now but it’ll be interesting to see how they’ll cast Daeron. Show Daeron should be the same age, just barely older than him or even slightly younger than Luke, since Aemond is the same age as Jace. Will they go for a boy actor like they did with Luke to show how young he is and how much of a tragedy his death is? Or will Daeron be a 14/15 year old boy who gets played by a 20 something year old heartthrob with facial hair and washboard abs?

The casting motives will be very obvious then.

That’s a fair point and I understand that some teen moms do end up looking close in age to their kids and end up still being young grandparents. Thank you for sharing your experience with me ♥️ I just think that Hollywood has a problem when it comes to women and aging Olivia herself said she feels awkward playing a 40 year old (pretty sure she mixed up book alicents she with show Alicents age) and still looking the same as when she played Alicent in her late twenties. I can see why the whole looking youthful and beautiful as your character is supposed to be aging and you are the same age as the actors cast to play your kids may bother Olivia as an actress who is going to age and probably end up looking older than she does now and not considered young enough by Hollywood standards to play a character like Alicent.

You are right about the kids casting being the bigger issue here. Aegon is 21 so I think Tom can pass for 21, or he could in season 1 because I thought at the time he didn’t look much older than Ty Tennant. I think Phia and Olivia look the same age and she is meant to be 19, the same age Emily and Milly were supposed to be playing at the end of episode 5. They actually looked 19 and you can see the age difference between them and their adult counterparts. Aemond is the biggest casting mistake in terms of look, Ewan plays him so well but he looks 30 in that targ wig and older than Alicent, also he’s the same age as Jace and only like 3 years old older than Luke but he looks like a grown ass man going after a young teen.

I really hope they cast someone young or someone who genuinely looks like a teenager to play Daeron, as you pointed out they cast Emily and had her doing a rape scene at 17 and they put underage Sophie in traumatic scenes. If they cast a minor I do hope they protect their wellbeing on set and I don’t thinks there’s any innapropriate scenes that he will be in. Showing innocent kids caught up on both sides and also they seem more sympathetic when making poor decisions (example: some people thought show Robb was a stupid grown man but he was a naive teenager put in an adult role)

[alrightsnaps]

Its weird that people are justifying the Featheringtons screen time because they are much more real than the privileged Bridgerton family. Do people forget that they live on the same street as each other in the same part of london? Like, their broke due to bad money management not because they have been dealt a bad hand at life. Like should I really feel bad that Anthony knows how to manage money and not them?

What's ��real” about them?? They're literally aristocrats living in Grosvenor Square 😭

I'd much rather have stories like those of Siena and Marina that did feel real or Sophie, who would give such much needed perspective of the real world in the show.

Not to mention that the Sharmas were a perfect opportunity for an interesting depiction of a family that may belong in the world of London society but faces serious financial problems. Keeping the characterization of Edwina as someone feeling pressured to marry to secure her mother and sister's future (and the relief she felt to finally lead the life she wanted and make her own choices when Kate married Anthony) would've been fantastic.

Instead we had to watch the Featheringtons’ pyramid scheme arc for some reason.

[kn1felady]

HELLO THIS IS COMPLETE SPOILERS FOR THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL FILM SO PLEASE AVOID IF YOU HAVENT WATCHED IT (which you should)

These are my thoughts which are purely subjective and you can 100% disagree with. I just wanted to write some stuff down to live in peace. Then again I just watched the film and so some of my opinions may change.

Characters

- Agatha: she was fine for most of the film but in the final act I thought she was a bit of a wet blanket yelling “stawp…guys this isn’t you!!” WORST PART IS she lost her main scene: the mirror scene. That was meant to be the peak of her character arc where she realised that she’s not ugly to a witch and learns to embrace herself. Instead she’s just kind of there and suddenly falls in love. Also I feel like her relationship dynamic with Sophie just doesn’t work as well as it does in the books. Her relationship with Sophie is SUPPOSED TO BE ONE SIDED. Agatha is supposed to (initially) be dependent on Sophie because she’s always ever been alone while Sophie uses her as a good deed. I feel like it changes the relationship that was so inherently flawed from the get go. Also LET AGATHA SAY FUCK

- Sophie: I always never liked her in the books and the film is no different. The thing that annoys me though is even though Sophie is unlikeable in the books, she kind of owns it? In the film, all her agency is taken away as a character. At least in the books she was evil unapologetically but in the films she was manipulated the whole time so it removes any of her responsibility. Just let her be Grand Witch Ultimate. I do love her “the protagonists are talking” line though - it genuinely made me laugh so hard. The problem is she’s too sympathetic in the film. How is she not good?? Why is she evil??? In the book she uses Agatha as a good deed and constantly belittles everyone- yes, not outright evil but it still makes her a not good person.

- Tedros: with the removal of some of the most important plots in the book (eg circus of talents) there really was no development. In the first book he kind of is just a love interest with some personality but in the film he’s also really stupid?? Like just genuinely not bright. He flip flops between loving Sophie and Agatha yet neither relationship is fully fleshed out. Also his character arc throughout the books in letting go of his toxic masculinity (which is why he and Agatha make such a great pair among other reasons). In the books he actively despised when a woman (see Agatha) protects him or saves him. In the film he doesn’t really act that way.

- Rafal: I think they should’ve made his character more creepy with the whole Sophie true love thing. To be honest though, I don’t mind what they did with him and I have no major grievances.

- Hester: THEY BUTCHERED MY GIRL. Not really but still I feel like they could’ve used her more. In the books she is more of a major character so it’s a shame she was demoted like that. But I understand that they had to cut down some characters importance.

- Lady Lesso: clearly they just used her as a replacement for Evelyn Sader which sucks. I liked how Lesso was more strong and “evil” in the sense that what she sought was true balance in the books. ALSO GIVE HER A GIRLFRIEND AND BY GIRLFRIEND I MEAN PROFESSOR DOVEY.

- Professor Dovey: no complaints here actually. I liked how eccentric she was :)

- Gregor: I did like his inclusion but at the same time all he did was fill in the role of Agatha’s exploration of the school for Good exhibition. I cant really remember the chapter this was in (in book 1 obv) but it’s where Agatha realises that all the students who rank the lowest become mogrifs. It’s a massive shame they cut this scene out because I remember when I read it I found it really creepy and actually quite disturbing. I felt like Gregor’s death and subsequent transformation into a stymph could’ve been so much more creepy (although again I understand they couldn’t make this film graphic or anything)

PLOT:

- I actually quite liked it?? Obviously they had to cut out ALOT of the book which didn’t surprise me but I thought they way they incorporated some of the book events was pretty good.

- I’m sad they cut out the circus of talents though :(

- Also significantly reduced the trial by tale and whole class captain thingy.

- ngl I’m very disappointed they got rid of the enemies to lovers type thing between Tedros and Agatha. I mean it’s not a massive deal but I’m still a bit peeved.

- I REALLY LIKED THE MORALITY ELEMENTS. Like with Agatha questioning the black and white binary of the schools and Lady Lesso saying “it’s what you do that counts” etc etc. I genuinely can’t remember if it was in the books or not but…yes I’m impressed. I like it. (Pls read ‘was i most complete at teh beginning or the bow’ by nosecoffee which covers the greyness of morality much better than how I explained some of my thoughts here)

- Finally…IM SO HAPPY THEY KEPT THE SOPHIE/AGATHA KISS!!!!!!!! I was fully convinced they would cut that out but I’m very happy they didn’t in the end. They did beat you around they head screaming “THEYRE SISTERS. BEST FRIENDS. JUST FRIENDS” but I’m happy nonetheless.

- The ending was good but I feel like in the book it was done just slightly better. In the book Agatha is whisked away so quickly I feel like she couldn’t really choose to stay with Tedros anyway which is what makes her wish to return in book 2 more understandable. In the film Tedros watches them leave and says nothing?? And Agatha is so sure in her decision too which might make her wish in book 2 unfulfilling. This is a minor nitpick but I wanted to include this anyway because it just doesn’t sit right with me.

OVERALL

I genuinely can’t tell if this film is good or bad. I LOVE IT because I feel like I have an obligation to as I waited for seven years for this. At the same time though..I know some of the things in this aren’t great. Like for example the CGI didn’t look too good in the first half, the acting just didn’t work (for me) sometimes and the pacing was just a bit weird. But I still think it was a pretty decent film…I’m most definitely biased though.

Because the pacing was a bit off, I felt like both Tagatha and Tophie just weren’t developed enough to be believable. It’s a massive shame but I guess what can you do?

THE SCORE WAS FANTASTIC. The originally composed music slaps hard. I’m not a massive fan of using modern music (like Brutal) in the film but I found that I didn’t really mind in the end.

Also justice for Honora. She is a gorgeous woman who is lovely and awesome and DOES NOT DESERVE THAT SLANDER. And bring me more Callis.

[iwritebutshouldi]

Sentiment in a Bottle

Summary: You work as a coordinator for Fox Studios. The new project currently being in progress is the X-men movie! Things start out as always but when Evan Peters hits you with his car accidently, it starts an avalanche... Evan Peters x Reader! slowburn (very)

Warnings: None in this chapter, but there might be some smut in the future.

Chapter: 1.

You searched for the cream around you. You were sure that you had left it somewhere on the table back in the morning, but the mess the actors and actresses left after breakfast made it close to impossible to find anything there.

You sighed tiredly and started cleaning up the paper cups and plastic cutlery that were laying all over the little brown table. This was not exactly the job you applied for three years ago...

Technically, you were a coordinator. You warned the actors (and actresses) to get ready a few minutes before their take, dragged them to their makeup trucks and basically made sure that everyone was where they needed to be on time throughout the day. Even though on paper you were still just a simple coordinator, in the past years you had also became a personal assistant, lunch responsible, coffee machine and sometimes therapist. Unofficially of course.

But you still loved your job. Hollywood and the world of the movies had always attracted you like an oil lamp attracts moths, there was nothing you could really do about it. You even got a degree at an art school - as a screenwriter - but your chance to really become one had just not arrived yet.

Your coordinator work simply started out as an internship at Fox, but you did your job so well that the studio decided to keep you after finishing your school. You didn't mind as this way you could really get to know your way around the behind-the-scene parts of the movies and also worked on your scripts in your free time, hoping that one day you might can prove your bosses that you were worth it.

When the last paper plate landed inside the black plastic bag, you contentedly rubbed your hands together and returned to looking for the cream to put into the coffees for the stars of the film your studio had been working on lately. The new X-men movie! You loved it. You loved the cast as well as the crew and the mood in the building was always light and fun. Everyone always made fun of everything and they had these little games to play with each other which was always fun to watch.  

You looked at your small digital watch on your wrist to check the time. 10 minutes, you had left to prepare for the 8 stars that worked on their takes that day. You knew how they liked their coffees by heart after the first month of making it for them every single day so the recipes weren't a problem.  Jennifer asked it with sweeteners and no cream, Michael simply black, James asked it the sweet way and with quite much cream... And the butter! Damn, you forgot the butter again!  

Evan Peters liked his coffee with butter instead of milk - the vegan way - but for you it was so unusual that you always forgot to bring it with you in the mornings. You just hoped there was some leftover in the small fridge of the studio's kitchen and your heart beat up happily when you opened the door and did find some in the back of the refrigerator.

"Ah, thank god..." you mumbled to yourself as you bent down to grab it out and you were lucky since it was just the right amount as well. You still flinched, after weeks of making it every single day, when you dropped the little piece of cold butter into the hot liquid and impatiently stirred it with a spoon until it finally decided to melt away. You still had Alexandra's, Sophie's, Tye's and Nicholas' coffee left in 3 minutes.  

Your hands worked fast and with routine, you even had one single minute left before the takes are over and everyone has a break. You quickly grabbed a tray and placed everyone's cups on it, balancing your way out of the kitchen to be able to serve the caffeine to the stars just before lunch arrives finally as well. You heard the ring bell above you when you reached the area of green and blue screens, half filled with stage-sets to help the actors imagine their surroundings while acting.  

"Yes... LUNCH!" you heard Jennifer's voice in the distance and smiled to yourself how she always announced it like an alarm clock - everyone silently agreeing with her that it was indeed time for a good lunch. People worked a lot here. 16- and 18-hour days weren't rarities and meals were often late. Like almost every single day. You lost a few pounds immediately after you had started working in the industry, both from stress and the irregular meals as well.  

"Here." you reached his cup towards James who reached you first. Then Jen, Michael and everyone one after one, all of them smiling gratefully at you but... where was Evan? Only his cup was still on your tray. You looked around yourself, looking for a silver wig in the sea of people and you finally noticed him sitting in a corner, typing on his phone with a serious face.  

To make your job easier, you grabbed the cup into your right hand and placed the empty tray under your right arm, dancing between your busy co-workers. None of them looked your way just hurried towards something that was important for them so you had to be careful not to spill the drink in your hands.  

You sighed tiredly, feeling a thin strand of hair falling into your face when you finally made your way into the corner where the actor was still sitting all by himself. You coughed, but he was so into his phone that it was not enough for him to notice you at all.  

"Here's your... coffee." you said the last word, imitating a quotation mark with your free hand by the side of your head, but smiling kindly, making it clear that you were only joking. You teased him sometimes about the way he chose to drink his caffeine, but not too much so you wouldn't annoy him.

"I saw that." he said when he looked up at you and reached towards his shot of coffee. You felt his fingers slightly touch yours and since physical contact wasn't a usual thing between the stars and you, you felt your cheeks blush slightly.  

His face remained serious but you could see the corner of his lips twitch a little. He usually had a tired expression laying across his features when he wasn't acting, making it hard to find out what he was thinking about, but - even though you worked on the same set with him for the first time ever - you had already learned it was just the way he was.  

"Thanks." he said before sipping into his cup.  

"Of course." you smiled politely at him, and just when you turned away to go and prepare the table for the actor's lunch, you heard his voice again.  

"You should try it first, you know." he said, placing a gum between his lips when you looked back at him. When he saw your confused expression - at first you seriously thought he was meaning something about the gum - Oh, God, were your mouth stinking?? - he gestured at his coffee. "This, I mean." his eyes seemed to be twinkling in his amusement for a second and you felt yourself blush even harder than before.  

No! Stop it. Being embarrassed around the actors is so unprofessional. You're not some fangirl! You are working here...

"Oh... Yes! The coffee... I will! Definitely!" you said, but in the same way parents reassure their children about something that is not true at all, just to calm them. You saw him chuckle before turning away from him. You still had to prepare the table for the others! You hushed the image of his eyes staring at you out of your mind quickly before it could cause you any harm and concentrated on your job instead for the rest of the day...

***

The next morning you woke up forgetting everything completely. You hummed a song happily as you rode on your road bike on your way to the studio, maneuvering your way between the cars stuck in the everyday morning jam on the streets of Los Angeles. Fresh morning breeze tickled your face and you felt it was going to be a good day. For some reason you felt that nothing could stop you that day.  

And oh boy, how wrong you were...

The car came out of nowhere - even though you swore you had checked both sides of the road before crossing on your bike. You fell, no, you flew off your vehicle in such a perfect arc that even a professional athlete would have envied you. You did not really have time to react so your body hit the ground just like a ragdoll.  

You felt a sharp pain struck your chin and basically every limb of your body but you were lucky as you felt that you didn't hit yourself seriously. Bruises and frayed skin would remain on your body for days, you were sure about that, but nothing terminal.  

"God damn it..." you mumbled as you sat up, stroking your chin with your hand. So much about the perfect day...

"Jesus Christ, Y/N!" you heard as the door of the car that had hit you swung open. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" he crouched next to you, and when you gathered your strength to look up at him you almost fell back another time.  

It was Evan...

[evilwickedme]

ok so to sum up my feelings for leverage: redemption, season 1(a): (long post warning, there’s a tl;dr at the end)

I knew that Hardison wouldn’t be in most of the season due to Aldis Hodge being a busy bee nowadays, but I didn’t realize that meant he’d only be around for the first two episodes. He was sorely missed, not only because of my attachment to him, but also because he’s usually the grounding factor in the group dynamic, and his role as info guy and tech guy was split evenly between two characters who had their own issues.

That said, Hardison is absolutely a highlight of the two episodes he’s in. his speech about redemption was everything I could’ve hoped for (plus, more evidence for the Jewish!Hardison pile...). I wish we’d gotten to see more of his dynamic with Breanna because what we saw was funny and sweet and we don’t generally get to see Hardison taking care of somebody who so desperately needs taking care of. I hope that Aldis Hodge is around for more episodes in 1(b), because what we’re left with feels a little hollow.

Sticking to original leverage characters for now, for the most part the leverage crew still felt true to the original series as characters, even if the show itself was a little bit confused at times. The actors understand their characters and embody them so well that I think one could give them the trashiest script ever and they’d still sell it. Sophie is a particular focus in 1(a) because of Nate’s death, and she’s particularly well written as a result.

That said, I’m super bitter that we saw little to no mastermind!Parker. Parker’s character being given the mastermind role was a big deal and it feels like they’re walking it back because they feel uncomfortable with it. It is eventually given an in-text excuse, but literally in the last episode, and it was not a particularly convincing reason, and in fact contradicted moments from previous episodes (Sophie leaving for a client meeting and ignoring Parker in ep3 comes to mind). It’s frustrating, it makes the end of the original leverage feel pointless, and letting Parker make a decision once in a while is not the same thing at all. The original series repeatedly showed us that while everyone in the team had their strengths, Parker works problems and solves them in unique, interesting ways, and other characters’ days in the limelight tended to be comedic or even failures. It’s a broken promise, and a pretty major broken promise at that.

On a more positive note, Parker’s dynamic with literally everyone was fantastic. She’s possibly the best written character this season. They’ve taken the autism out of the subtext and into the text (although obviously still undiagnosed), and given her coping mechanisms that were taken seriously in the text even when they were played for laughs, which I appreciated. Her attempts to mentor Breanna were sweet, her friendship with Sophie was electric and at times (CRIMES) hilarious, and as usual, she has a fantastic dynamic with Eliot that makes my heart burst. If you don’t think they’re romantically involved, at least acknowledge there’s a life partnership here. They’ve spent the last decade together.

(We’ll get to Harry.)

Eliot isn’t given much arc-wise, which is frustrating since he’s my favorite. He’s being presented as the goal at the end of a redemption arc, ie to keep working at it every day until your soul heals or whatever, and it doesn’t reflect the message they’re trying to convey via Hardison’s speech and our two new characters. He’s got his moments, but I think they under utilized his potential.

Breanna!!! Breanna’s my new favorite, except for Eliot. She’s hilarious, she’s insecure, she’s nerdy and excited in a way that’s similar to Hardison but still distinct in its inherent teenage-girl-ness and I LOVE IT. Unlike the previous series, where Hardison’s “age of the geek” was often a joke played on Hardison, we’re at the point where Eliot and Parker are both right there with him, and so they accept and even appreciate Breanna’s nerdiness. Also, canon gay character? In YOUR Leverage? It’s more likely than you think.

(No, I never thought they’d make ot3 canon on screen. I hoped, but I didn’t think it would actually happen.)

I think Breanna’s the character that will be the most interesting to see grow. She’s got a lot of potential and a list of crimes a mile long (or more). I adore her with all my heart. I want to see her tiktok account.

Harry. Oh, Harry.

It took me a while, but I do like Harry. It took a while, because the narrative positioned him at the same level as Nate back in episode 1 of original Leverage. But in episode 1 we didn’t know the other characters. We had Nate as the POV character, and so we cared about him because we were seeing the world through his eyes. (This is TV Studies 101. I know this, because I took TV Studies 101 in 2019.) In Leverage: Redemption, we no longer have a POV character, for several reasons:

Nate, previously the POV character, is dead.

As it is, by mid-season 3 of leverage Nate was no longer a POV character. This is, coincidentally, the point where the leverage writers realized they had four other characters in the main cast they could do something with, and in-universe, Nate accepted that he was a thief, not a special Good Man.

Sophie is sort of a POV character for the first episode of the revival, but only for the first few minutes. Afterwards, the series settles into the groove of seasons 3-5, i.e., the entire crew is our POV. We know our crew, and we love them as is.

Narratively, however, Redemption insists on positing Harry as the POV character, because it is his redemption we are pursuing most vehemently. And I think they really relied on us already knowing the actor - I’ve never seen him in anything before, so to me he was a completely fresh face and they put almost no effort into selling him to me. Beyond being competent and consistently mildly baffled by the antics of the leverage crew, I honestly don’t know who this man is by the end of EIGHT episodes with him. I have a much better handle on Breanna by the end of 1(a), and I can tell you I knew all five of the original leverage crew better by the end of the first episode of the original series than I do Harry. What’s the name of his daughter, John Rogers. Is he still married. How old is the daughter. Why is none of this worth mentioning. Give him a sense of humor that isn’t reacting to other people’s shenanigans. I’m so frustrated. It’s bad writing.

I did manage to grow to like Harry by the end, but I’m pretty sure this is down to Noah Wyle’s charismatic portrayal of an under-developed character, at least partially. And I never stopped being frustrated at not knowing who this man is at all.

The two highlights of the season are undoubtedly episodes five and six. Episode five was the first time I felt like the episode was more than a collection of good moments between the main cast and mediocre moments between the main cast and also the main plot. The issues with pacing and tone that I suffered through for most of the season were mostly non-existent in ep5 and 6, and at least in episode 5 I attribute that to the pared down cast. They had time to focus not only on our actual characters - Sophie, Parker, Breanna - but also on the case. This is the only client from 1(a) I am going to remember next week without googling it first, mark my words.

Episode six worked for the exact opposite reason - it completely disregarded the client and plot and immersed itself in the characters. Breanna gets a moment to shine, but everybody else gets their bits and I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the script that was most fun to write. The characters felt natural, real, and captured the found-family dynamic that’s been missing all season for the first time.

While episode 2 is the weakest episode, I don’t actually have much to say about it. I am disappointed in episode 8. For a mid-season finale, I really expected them to do something. Instead, it was an episode about Nate Ford that copped out of being about Nate Ford (both with fake-Nate and with the new version of him being relayed to us). I would have told the writers to give that energy back to episode 1 and write an episode that’s about anybody who isn’t Harry, oh my God. I know I said I grew to like him but so many episodes were about Harry. He’s the newbie! Why didn’t Hardison get an episode that was actually about him, considering he was only around for two episodes? Why does Eliot have to be the butt of the joke when the theme of the series should directly tie back to him in a much more meaningful way? The last episode parodies their own tagline by saying Eliot isn’t just a hitter, but it deftly avoids noticing that they’ve turned him into nothing more than very muscly comic relief, including in that very episode!

Also, I hated the Marshal. Eliot actively looked uncomfortable around her.

tl;dr

The season took a while, that’s definitely true. But it did find its footing eventually, and by the halfway mark of 1(a) it finally felt cohesive again. The characters were played fantastically even when they weren’t well-written, and if nothing else, the humor landed every time. It still has its kinks and problems to work out, but if you look at it as a brand new show rather than a continuation of one that went off the air over eight years ago, it’s actually doing rather well. I’m choosing to judge it in both lights - according to its own standards, it establishes its identity in episode five; according to Leverage standards, it establishes its connection to its roots in episode six. Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed 1(a), and continue to have high hopes for 1(b).

fic writing will commence in three, two, one...

[iheartbookbran]

Anthony, Penelope, Marina and Colin deserved better...

Beware, rant ahead

Ok I wish I didn’t feel such strong need to continue beating this dead horse but oopsie, I will very much be beating it some more.

Like, my fave books of the Bridgerton series are Anthony’s and Colin’s books, so I’m seething about what they did with their characterizations, Anthony and Penelope in particular, because Colin’s only real sin was being boring, and if you remember how funny he’s in the books it makes me wanna fall on my knees and ask Chris Van Dusen whyyyy omg why would you do something like that to such a dynamic character. So yeah, Colin is boring af and a moron but at least he isn’t an asshole the way show Anthony and Penelope are, and I’ve seen people say that they can always be redeemed in future seasons, if we get them, but that’s exactly my problem, because they never had to be redeemed in the books, to begin with. Penelope more so than Anthony but let me begin by defending my boy.

Is he a jerk sometimes? Sure. Is he actively awful and uncaring towards those close to him, especially his family? Hell no, quite the opposite, in fact. Not to be controversial on main but in the books... he was right in not wanting Daphne to be courted by a man who he knew damn right had no intention of marrying her and as far as he was aware was only making her waste her time, and he was right in demanding Simon pay for compromising her honor. Could he have been more mindful of what Daphne had to say and listened to her wishes? Of course, but considering Simon and Daphne (both in the show and in the books) aren’t exactly masters in communication themselves, Anthony doesn’t come off as the biggest offender in that situation.

What he never did was force Daphne, or any of his sisters really, to do anything; if they didn’t like a guy then that guy was out of their lives no question asked, and he loved them enough to always have their best interests at heart, for his sisters and his brothers, to the point that even though he’s traumatized and thinks he’s gonna die young he’s still willing to get past that to do his duty and marry, because he doesn’t want to pass that burden on to his little brothers (so him deciding to leave all his responsibilities to Benedict so he can fck off with his mistress is... like, a choice lmao). In fact all the subplot with Siena felt like a choice on the writers part, like they truly liked Benedict and Sophie’s story so they just slapped it on Anthony so he could act all sad and sexy while they gave us foreshadowing with the subtlety of a warharmer that he’s ending up with Kate anyways (and that Benedict is ending with Sophie anyways too, so they would be using that storyline twice, unless they do make him bi and fall in love with a man, but maybe that’s too much of ask for this show), so what was Siena’s purpose in the story? Who tf knows not me.

Now Penelope, my god. Yes I know I joke Penny has never done anything wrong in her life, and I still love her, but she was wrong. Very much so. What she did was significantly worse than what Marina did, which I still don’t condone at all. Like yes, I still maintain that Marina tricking Colin into marriage was wrong (and I’ll go later on why that whole subplot was racist af), but what Penelope did could have not only ruined Marina and herself and her sisters reputations, but it was basically condemning an innocent unborn child to a life in the streets, that’s messed up. Even if Marina was rose-coloring her potential life with Colin and he might have grown to resent her, at least the baby would’ve been alright. And my problem with that whole subplot is that all of it was resolved so neatly, with Sir Phillip sweeping in to save the day so we don’t have to actually see what Penelope’s actions could have caused, but the implications are still very much there.

And I’m cracking my mind trying to figure out whether the showrunners just... really hate Colin’s book and Penelope as a character so they’re trying to inflict some kind of character assassination on her so they can get away with writing him off with another person without causing much outrage, or if they just thought there wasn’t enough ~drama~ or stakes on their book so they have to add them, and give him some kind of bullshit tragic romantic past to explain why he doesn’t want to marry, whereas in the books, the reason he doesn’t marry anyone is because he doesn’t feel like it, and that’s ok, there’s no need for every character to have a tragic backstory and to be riddled with angst; Colin is that character, he’s an easy going guy who’s just not interested in marriage until he falls in love with Penny AND THAT’S VALID, just because he doesn’t have the most complex motivations out there doesn’t mean he isn’t a compelling character. The stakes in his story after he discovers Penny is Whistledown are, as he points out, that she has insulted so many people there’s no way some of them wouldn’t want to retaliate if word came out, and he cares for her and doesn’t want her to get hurt (there’s also a dumb part about him being secretly jealous of her accomplishments as Whistledown, but thankfully he gets over that pretty quickly).

But while I am on that, it is true that Penelope wrote some uncharitable things about the mean people around her, but she never ever ruined someone’s reputation, let alone endanger the future of a child. Was she a bitch sometimes? Yeah, but she was also kind to a lot of people and her criticism was never unwarranted and never did more damage than maybe annoy a couple of girls like Cressida. I just hate the idea of this needing to turn into some sort of ~redemption arc~ for Penelope because, again, in the books she really didn’t have to make up for anything, definitely not to Colin, who was actually the one who had to do much of the heavy lifting in their relationship when he realized that he literally slept on her for years.

And now regarding Marina, like yes, she was wrong and I stand by that statement (but not as wrong as Penelope), but tbh I find it hard to be mad at her when they gave her such a racist storyline, as the scheming woc who gets pregnant out of wedlock and then tries to seduce the innocent white man, until the virtuous white girl needs to step up to save him. At least that’s what I thought initially as the writers intention, but honestly I’m not so sure anymore, I doubt they will continue to write her and Colin as a couple otherwise they would’ve bothered to show them interacting outside of her manipulating him and him acting like a bumbling idiot, the most sincere moment they had together was when he comforted her about the lie, but by that time this bitch (me) was empty and didn’t give a shit anymore. Literally all their other interactions where shown through Penelope’s POV to let us know she was sad, and Colin’s most significant scenes where again... with Penelope (because it isn’t as if he has a family and his own moments in the books outside of being an object for Penelope to pine after).

And as I said before, Marina had a—relatively—happy ending: married to a man she doesn’t love (just as she didn’t love Colin) but who will treat her right and care for her and her child in comfort. Is arguably a better ending than if she’d married Colin because now she doesn’t have to go through the trouble of explaining things to her new husband and run the risk of him resenting her forever. Phillip may not love her but he knows who he’s marrying and why he’s marrying her. That’s literally the same fate Marina had in the books, and it makes me wonder why, oh why would the writers do that.

Why create such a contrived plot to give a character who appears in one(1) chapter of an 8 books series then promptly dies, all at the expense of the characterization of one of the most beloved heroines of said books series? Why would you write this racist storyline for a character whose fate is dying? And now I’m horrified at the repercussions that can come with Marina committing su*cide like in canon, because the implications would be that Penelope would be responsible for it (and I hate the idea of blaming one person for the su*cide of another, fictional or otherwise, is harmful and we need to be careful with making such implications), which would make her even less redeemable or like, likable in general. Not to mention that would be like putting the final racist nail in Marina’s coffin by giving her that ending.

It makes me wonder, seriously, if Chris Van Dusen hated Romancing Mister Bridgerton that much, if he loathed the idea of writing a fat character finding love and getting sex that much. I just wanna know why lmfao.

[weirwoodking]

hi i was wondering if you would be interested in making a meta on the differences between show!sansa and book!sansa bc i know they changed a lot of her storyline but i don't understand why everyone hates on sophie turner? it can be short or inexistent meta if you're not up to it but i would be very interested to know what you have to say

I mean, the differences between the two are pretty simple. After season 4, D&D decided to cut Sansa’s book storyline, and replaced it with their own rewrite. This affected the plots of multiple characters, particularly Show!Theon’s and Show!Jon’s, but most of all, Show!Sansa’s, obviously. George himself has spoken on how much he hated what the show did with Sansa. He said in 2014 that he had “no idea what they were doing with Sansa or where they’re taking her storyline.”

I could go episode by episode and point out everything that’s wrong or is out of character, but it’s kind of useless. The show did not adapt books 4 & 5, it’s as simple as that, everything is different and feels like it’s out of character. For the first 4 seasons, I thought that Sansa’s story was handled fine (I haven’t watched GOT seasons 1-4 in over 4 years, so my memory is a bit foggy on the specifics tho). Sophie Turner isn’t exactly how I picture Sansa to look, but her acting was fantastic, especially for someone so young and for her first television role.

I personally haven’t seen people “hating on Sophie Turner”, but I’m not involved in the GOT side of tumblr, only the ASOIAF side, so I don’t see people talk about the actors that much. I do know that there are people in fandom (not just in the GOT fandom but in fandom in general) who will conflate actors with their characters. I have seen some toxic Show!Sansa stans do this with Show!Dany and Emilia Clarke (mostly last year). It seems to be more of a problem with female characters and actresses (‘cause sexism), and I think it’s really creepy and disturbing. Sophie Turner is not Sansa, so if anyone is “hating on her” because they didn’t like how the show changed Sansa’s story, that’s really fucked up. I don’t know much about the GOT cast, actually, I rarely watched interviews or behind-the-scenes videos. I don’t know if Sophie Turner has said that she likes the show’s ending or something like that, so if that was the case I could see people being critical of her opinion. But even if she did like the ending of the show and the way the writers changed her character after season 4, I still don’t think you should hate on an actor for that. Because the actors didn’t make the show, the showrunners did. It’s not on the actors to get everything right about their characters, it’s on the writers and directors to tell them the story and guide them through their acting. I don’t blame the actors for anything about GOT (no one should), I blame the writers.

What I find is the biggest problem about post-season 4 Sansa is how little regard they had for her character, while simultaneously claiming she was their favorite. I believe their exact quote was “Sansa was the character we cared about more than anyone”. Okay… then why did you cut her storyline? I feel like their whole “she’s our favorite character” act was more to try to defend against the criticism of the cutting of her storyline. What bothers me most is how they just casually threw her into the Ramsay plotline without thinking at all about what that meant. If you’re going to have one of the main characters of the show get serially raped, you need to think about what you’re doing and how to handle that horrific situation. In the books, the Jeyne Poole storyline is handled very carefully. The acts committed by Ramsay against Jeyne and Theon are never really shown, only implied, alluded to, or very briefly described. The show, on the other hand, explicitly showed Theon’s torture scenes, and made Ramsay a much bigger character in seasons 5 & 6 than he is in the books. I feel like they just used him for shock value, because so much of Game of Thrones revolved around shock value and in-the-moment reactions. I think they just saw Ramsay as a character they could turn into Joffrey 2.0, which is why they put Sansa with him. They didn’t care to follow Sansa’s book arc, they just wanted to continue the whole “caged-bird” thing with her, for shock value.

And to deflect against criticism, that’s why they made her so smart and powerful in the final few seasons. There’s next-to-no build up, no character development, no focus on her growth, the show just tells us that Sansa is the smartest character, and the audience is expected to agree. Because D&D did not care about showing her development. There’s a line in season 7, when Sansa and Arya kill Littlefinger, where Sansa says “thank you for all of your lessons, Lord Baelish.” And that immediately stuck out to me, because that sounds like something Book!Sansa would say. The show cut out Sansa’s Vale storyline, where she spends much more time with Littlefinger, and so… what “lessons” is Show!Sansa referring to here? They didn’t spend a lot of time together in the show. I do think that Sansa will defeat Littlefinger in the books, so that line makes sense for Book!Sansa.

What they did was cut Sansa’s storyline, throw her into a horrific situation that they used for shock value, and then expected to be praised when they made her a “girlboss” later on. They basically said “hey, we know we essentially erased this character’s arc and development, but at least we did a feminism, right?” And that’s what really pisses me off. The blatant disregard for female characters, then saying “no, we do care about them! Believe us!”

Lindsay Ellis has a really good video called “Woke Disney” that touches on this. Basically, she talks about how Disney’s recent live action remakes tend to make each of the princesses a “#girlboss” in a very corporate, fake-feminist manner that is very easy to see right through. (I recommend just watching the video, she goes more in-depth into the subject.)

A similar thing occurred with GOT (the show only had one female writer after season 4, by the way, who was a staff writer for season 8. And before that, only 4 episodes were written by a woman). D&D wrote a lot of problematic, misogynistic, homophobic, and racist things. Then they tried to cover that up with (to use a line from Ms. Ellis) a coat of #girlboss paint. For example, I remember after s8e3 (when Arya killed the Night King) came out, that was when the big criticism for season 8 really started. People saw how bad the writing of that episode was, and how ridiculous and anti-climactic it all felt. However, when people criticized the manner in which the Night King was killed (i.e. saying that it would have made more narrative sense for Jon to do it instead of Arya), there was another group of people who called that criticism sexist. “That’s sexist! You’re just upset that a girl did it instead of a guy!” Which… ugh... do I need to explain how idiotic that line of reasoning is?

And that’s kind of how the HBO show tried to get away with its misogyny, not just the misogyny of Dany’s ending, but of the whole show in general. “Look, we can’t be misogynistic, we had Arya kill the Night King! Look, we can’t be misogynistic, we had Sansa become a #girlboss!” Bullshit, you’re just trying to hide your sexism and bad writing behind a facade of fake feminism.

… *sigh* ...

Anyway, nothing but love for Book!Sansa, and nothing but hate for the writers of Game of Thrones. I hate how the show turned Sansa into a very polarizing character, when she shouldn’t be. None of the child characters of ASOIAF should be polarizing, they’re children for fucks sake.

I’m very excited to see where GRRM takes Sansa’s character in TWOW, I feel like she’s got an awesome journey coming up (hopefully involving her discovering her skinchanging powers, taking down Littlefinger, and heading north for home). 

Uh, wow, this got really long… and I’m exhausted after thinking about the sh*w that much. Here, as a treat for reading all the way down to the bottom, have a Sansa WIP drawing that I haven’t finished yet:

[kareofbears]

persona 5 strikers thoughts and feelings

This is going to be a long post. Like, the type of post you’d only really have time to read when you’re trying to sleep but you’re not ready to be unconscious yet so you’re just looking for something to do to spend your time with minimal effort. 

So in 2018, a masterpiece was born into the world: Into the Spider-verse was released and it was amazing—it’s honestly the best spiderman movie we have without a doubt, and it’ll be very far into the future before Spider-verse is beaten as the best spiderman movie. Them’s the facts. Then in 2019, Spider-man: Far From Home was dropped. It’s a great movie! Great characters, great continuation of who these characters are and works fantastic as a continuation of a story. It’s really hard trying to take the torch of a previous movie (or in Marvel’s case, juggling twenty something movies) and come up with a new movie that both works on its own, as well as being the next step in this series of films. Thus, with that idea in mind, I think it’s kind of unfair to judge into the spiderverse and far from home, because these are two movies with two completely different objectives in mind. 

Okay, so this is still a persona 5 strikers post, I promise, but the idea is the same: Persona 5 could basically do whatever it wanted—new story, new characters, new everything, and it’s just plain old awesome. However, Persona 5 strikers did not have that sort of freedom. It was bound to the original game, and it had its own rules and stuff it had to keep intact, characters they had to work with, and on top of that, it had to justify its existence as a sequel (lets pretend money doesnt exist lmfao). 

SO, the big question is: did it do that? Did it justify its existence? 

And my answer: holy fuck did it ever do that

I came into this game knowing the extreme bare minimum. I knew there was someone named Sophia, and i knew there was roadtrip, and i knew there were Personas. That’s my knowledge of it before i played it on the Switch.  I should also clarify like, early on, that i was not expecting anything from this game. At all. I was the world’s biggest cynic of this game—if you scroll down my p5s tag far enough, youll just see me complaining about a game that hasn’t even come out yet. I was fully expecting to have this be a Waifu show, and any male character that isn’t Akira to just be shoved aside like some kind of nerd in a high school hallway, and i have never been more pleased to be wrong. In fact, i actually owe it an apology, because of how fucking rude i was for no reason!!! Because this game deserves everything to be honest. 

Persona 5 strikers is, frankly, insane. Insane in the sense that it got to pull shit off that just would never have existed in the original game, because the original game is scared. It had to be as impressive as possible and garner as much attention as possible. Strikers does not have that problem—every single person who bought that game does not need to be convinced that persona 5 is a good game. They already played it. That means Atlus can just fuck around and have a good time, and man did they have a good time. There’s still scenes that still shock me if i think about it too hard, because i’m used to atlus having to follow this sort of rule set when it comes to persona 5 (or any of the main games im assuming, but i havent played them.) And on top of that, there’s still shit that’s Atlus Trademarked Branded in a good way. The style of story of story telling, and revealing the mystery that is so integral to what p5 is, is still there. 

So, to make this even a little bit comprehensible, i will make a list! 

First of all, What is this game?

In short, this game is an OVA of an anime. It’s bonus side content that has one thing in mind: to showcase these lovable characters more by putting them in fun situations. That’s it, and it is just phenomenal. That was the main point of, i’d say, like forty hours of the game. It’s just fun times with fun characters. 

But to get deeper of what i think is happening, or what they were thinking during the development, is that this is a second opportunity. Persona 5 (as we all know) had a lot of problems, and we were not quiet about those problems. We yelled it all out, made posts, made complaints on every social media platform ever. And Atlus heard all of them, and Strikers is a way to mitigate those mistakes. Aside from being a fun OVA, Strikers also works to be a deeper exploration of these characters—more specifically, the characters that did not receive much in the original game. Creating this sequel is having the ability to redo what they felt (or to be more specific, we felt) in the original game while adding new ones. I will get to that in a second.  

The format of the game 

Absolutely brilliant to throw them on a road trip. P5V already forced us to experience Shibuya for 200+ hours, and im so glad that they didn’t do that again. Going from town to town, making us experience these new places alongside our favorite characters is so good, and it just makes sense. It’s fun, it’s lighthearted, and it’s actually shockingly good. But one thing i do want to talk about early on is the way the story unfolds and the villains that they use, and what they do with it because it’s very interesting. 

So as we explore japan and stuff, we encounter jails, and with those jails comes an antagonist. This antagonist works to be a parallel to one of our characters. That character will find it in their hearts to feel bad for the antagonist, because the antagonist could have been them had the original game not happen. At first I thought all of the thieves were gonna get an antagonist, and i was really hyped for the ryuji one. And then came to hour forty of the game where i realized “yeah that’s not gonna happen. There’s just not enough time.” And i was right, and the game ended. But i am not salty at all, honestly, because the people who got a direct antagonist were: Ann, Yusuke, and Haru. (we wont count zen and sophie). 

Is there a trend??? Yes. these are all characters in the original game that have received the worst treatment by atlus. The three of them are basically cast aside the minute they finished their original arc, and its horrible! BUT that’s why this is the path that atlus chose for them—to give them more depth, and screentime, and a way to show their inner self. That isn’t to say that the ones who aren’t those three (makoto, futaba, mona, akira, ryuji) didn’t get anything. Futaba still has her thing at the end with ichinose, and she was very prevalent and animated during the rest of the game. Mona and Akira have to be a focal points, that’s just the nature of the game. The other two though, I will talk about in depth in a second.  

Makoto

Y’all i poke fun at shumako fans sometimes cause its kind of easy and fun, but i honestly love makoto. In my very first playthrough of p5 (my first ever jrpg game, first persona game, i had no idea what i was doing), i had only maxed out two characters: ryuji and makoto. And i know she had a lot of screentime and love in the original game which is great, but i truly felt like she was dissed in this game. Her only roles were

A driver

Someone to tell them “we don’t have a choice. Let’s keep going and see where this takes us.” (seriously, if you replay this game, you will see how much she does this)

Idk, i just wish she had more to do, especially compared to how much love they gave the other characters. 

But let’s talk about some of the new characters! 

Zenkichi

Damn you atlus. Damn you and your insistence at bringing in cop characters. I was fully on board with hating zenkichi, i was fucking ready for it. I was convinced that there was nothing they could do convince to like zenkichi. I was immune to their copaganda. 

And then i ended up loving him, which makes me sad a little bit. I didn’t realize how desperate i was to have an adult who has a persona. Someone who wants the world to change just as much as they do, while still having that aspect of them that makes them adult. Like??? As someone who is technically an adult, its a breath of fresh air. An adult. Who fights. For justice. Using a persona. And god i love akane so much, and her obsession with the thieves (that scene is probably in my top ten fave scenes of the game). Also what i loved about zenkichi is that he fucking hates the cops!! He hates the system of the cops!! And thats why i actually really started to love him!! Because i thought it was atlus saying that the systematic problem of the police cannot be solved by one person, and zenkichi threw away his badge. I actually cried at that part!! 

But then he became a cop again, and i was just :/ but as a character, i really love him to bits and would love to do a study on him, or at least use him as an outside pov. But! i absolutely love his persona, since im a les miserables fan hehe

Sophia 

she’s probably my favorite new aspect of the game. I was ready to not like her—again, i just suck like that, lmfao—and when i saw her, i was scared that she was just another waifu. I mean, she was very cute after all. But then as the game went on, i thought she was a little too cute. And even further into the game, i finally slapped myself in the face and realized oh my god shes not a waifu. Shes a sister. 

That blew my mind, im ngl to you. A female character that isn’t supposed to be romanced? By jove, what a miracle! 

And she…is an amazing character. Im sorry, i just love her so much. I love her so much that she  probably ranks as my fifth or sixth favorite character which is surprising even to me. Everything about her is delightful and invigorating. She’s funny??? Her comedic timing is amazing, and she has such chemistry with the rest of the team. She’s actually useful to the plot, and while her character design is a little too on the nose for me in terms of cuteness (i mean, good god she’s wearing oversized sweater to show how cute and tiny she is, and her hair has literal hearts in it), she is absolutely lovable. 

But what i actually really wanna gush about for a second is sophia at the last stage of the game. You get the idea, i dont really like to get excited over things, so at this point i figured that there was nothing this game could do to shock me. 

And then sophia had a persona awakening. 

Like. holy fuck did i yell. I didnt realize what was happening until the music had already kicked in. and its just so fucking smart!!! Sophia??? The ai?? With no heart?? gOT A PERSONA???? AWAKENING??? BECAUSE SHE LEARNED WHAT THE HEART IS AND THE PASSION THAT YOU NEED IN ORDER TO GET A PERSONA??? I started crying honestly, because it was just so smart. And looking back on it now, its obvious!! Of course it would lead to this, it only made sense that the culmination of her character arc leads to her getting a persona, nothing else would have been as good. Also, her voice actor is just amazing?? When she was talking to ichinose at the end, i actually got incredibly emotional because of the line reads. Its just so spot on and it really captures the essence of sophia.

Muah. five stars Atlus. You got me. 

Ryuji <3!!!!

Oh man. Oh boy. Okay. so where do i start. 

Yall know i love him. Hes probably my favorite fictional male character of all time, and he is the one i was the absolute most cynical about in this game. I was expecting literally nothing. Nothing. Like. nothing. I thought he was just gonna keep being used as a joke, or a gag, and he’s gonna be super horny all the time for the other girls and it was gonna make me mad and there was gonna be some insane homophobic/queerphobic jokes in every other scene and i know i was being unfair, but i cant help it. 

And then i played the first two hours of the game, and i cried the entire time. Because ryuji has never been better than he is in this game. Its crazy. 

The ryuji in persona 5 strikers is who ryuji should have been/how he should have been treated this entire time. From the actual funny jokes (for example, the gold bar joke + his reaction to it in the beginning of the game), defending his female friends instead of being the one people need to defend from (natsume arc), and the fact that he was the one to be there with morgana and akira in the very beginning of the game. Its such a small thing that they didnt even need to do, but it was such an integral part of the original game for me, that i just was convinced that nothing like this was going to happen. But then it happened. Its just small stuff like that that could have been overlooked but it wasn’t because this game? Persona 5 strikers? Fucking loves ryuji. 

The actual respect they gave this boy is insane and i wasn't ready for it. Like, they gave the shujin trio lunch, they gave the little charm of the katana when they were in natsume’s jail, and, in my opinion this is the second-best thing that they could have given ryuji is sophia. Ryuji and sophia are the pinnacle of a brother & sister bonding relationship in the game that isn’t akira & futaba. And its really prevalent too?? Small stuff from the beginning of the game (pulling her out of a jail, calling her shorty), but then you have the iconic “shut the fuck up” scene, and that scene was so well characterized and written and voice acted, that somehow him saying “fuck” was the least exciting part of that scene to me. Ryuji is an older brother to her, like its undoubtable, and its only further cemented at the end of the game where Ryuji helps out ichinose because he knows how much sophia cares about her. This game. Love ryuji. And i love. This game. 

You know what else i love? Akiryu. 

Guys. i was fully prepared to starve in terms of akiryu. But theres just. So much of it. I wont get too deep into it, because i think this aspect of the game for me still needs marinate a little bit. Like, what was that last shot when EMMA died and Ryuji walked to approach Akira so they could relish in their victory together?? And the smile from both of them??? What the fuck. That was amazing. Also Joker being saved by Ryuji when he was about to fall from the cliff to save sophia??? WHAT. The LEADER AND HIS RIGHT HAND MAN? WHAT. anyway. If theres anything i want to keep for myself in my own brain, its the akiryu aspect of this game, so i wont talk too much about that part of things (instead, itll probably manifest in fic lmfaooo). 

Sure, there’s tidbits of stuff i dont like that they gave ryuji: sexualizing ann in that one cut scene and making him touch the jails even though it hurts, and i recognize those and frown at them, but for the most part, i am blown away with how they treated him.

Basically, Ryuji has never been better. From the opening of the game with him being the first text message and the one to sling his arm around akira, to the very last cut scene where it was ryuji wordlessly leaving because he’s so confident that they would never be separated for long, this game adores Ryuji and i am so so happy to say that.

The Royal aspect of things

Yeah, i had to talk about this, but itll be a short thing i just wanted to point out. Because the last part of this game...is persona 5 royal. Which is curious. Like taking reality and giving that power to someone else so you dont have to experience suffering anymore? And even like, the final section just looked a lot like the top half of maruki’s palace?? And whats even crazier is that we had a boss fight with sophia, just like how we had a boss fight with sumire? Royal and Strikers have like, the same thesis statement. It’s kind of uncanny.It’s interesting, it’s like atlus came up with these two ideas, and then just decided they liked both of them so much that they just did it twice. I don’t mind though—actually, in terms of how the last Palace/Jails go, i probably like them both about equally. 

Though i did love the final battle in this one more than i did in royal. Splitting into teams?? Thats cool as fuck, and really innovative and i didnt see it coming. It also kicked my ass. A lot. 

Now for the last stretch: the small stuff!

The music — bomb as fuck. In my heart, Daredevil is ranked the same as Rivers. Axe to grind is also amazing, but Daredevil owns me

Akechi — i really debated whether or not to talk about him, but i figured a bullet point should be enough. Im really shocked that he wasnt in this at all. Like not even a name drop. If this is an OVA, and the point of the game is to please the fans, and akechi is arguably the fan favorite character, i was really ready for something. But there was nothing, except for the pancake hallway if that even counts as a reference. Thats it. Thats all i wanted to say about him.

The humour — FUCKING HILARIOUS im convinced that in my fifty hour playtime, five of that is dedicated to me laughing and unable to continue the game 

Akira — so much personality! His lines of dialogue are crazy sometimes (like. Whats up with him saying Ryuji has ‘nice abs’ when they were in bath? Im crazy and even i dont know what the fuck that could mean) 

Battle system — oh my god i almost forgot to talk about this. I love it! I kind of miss the turn based aspect just because i found it very comforting for some reason, but this hack and slash style of gameplay is so invigorating because i do feel like it justifies shit like the baton pass and huge attacks.  This battle system fully encompases how the Phantom Thieves are supposed to fight, you know what i mean?

Anyway, thats my thoughts on strikers. Loved it. Amazing. 9.3/10, wouldve been higher but Konoe’s Jail almost bored me to death. Also im a monster and i didnt do any requests that isn’t a fun one, teehee. As if i play persona 5 for the persona aspect of things.