#blue has no clue: liveblogging

[somebluemelodies]

i always love when we get large order meetings like this and the lore implications but there’s something so funny about visualizing them talking about this Evil Cucurucho and q!Forever being in a coma and whatever happened to the eggs… in the Mexican attire

[freezing-kaiju]

ALRIGHT I'M MAKING THE POLL!

For my next liveblog, of anime, to run alongside Kamen Rider Ryuki, I'm presentiiiing.... 12 options!

Blue Gender's a scifi with some horror and with mechs, and from what I've heard it has a very cool woman, a loserman with weird cancer disease, violence, and crabs.

Mou Ippon is a show about a girls' judo club, and it would be the first sports anime I finish if I put it on! Got recommended it for being a non-horny girls sport anime, i like the designs, its got rivalries, and ive heard its underrated!

Asteroid In Love is vaguely a yuri, it's got an astronomical theme, I can never locate the manga for it, and I rarely watch slice of life shows so it also sems like a change of pace. Might not be too fun to liveblog tho?

MoNoNoKe is a show ive heard is fucking insane. About a medicine seller who hunts yokai with it all being morally ambiguous, wildly visual, and deliberately bizarre. Seems very fun to blog and watch, though maybe disorienting

SSSS Gridman is the only thing Tsubaraya has that isn't ultraman, and it has evil yuri megatron or so I've heard. Mech show with characters! got kaiju! comes highly recced.

Zetman seems to be both tokusatsu-y and stupidly edgy. That's al I know, that and the title character looks like an utter dingus!

Ex-Arm is a trainwreck masquerading as a yuri masquerading as a cyberpunk masquerding as a trainwreck masquerading as pornography. Few things have looked more funnybad on visuals alone. Also Zero Berzerker seems to be there

Agatha Christie's Great Detectives is an old show about both Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot occurring at the same time. Seems to be an interesting way to connect two series of mysteries. Also there is a bird and a girl

Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna is a mystery show with a beautifully grating OP about some sort of murder, some people called Blade Children, a class reporter hounding a protagonist to see if he's a murderer maybe?? There appears to be a kaworu and a misato. It compels me

Air is about a puppeteer searching for a Winged Maiden and I have absolutely no clue what it's doing in my list. Look at this cool art i found

Ajin is a 3d grimdark? anime about zombies slash Orphnochs being hunted by the government and its got horror and gore. and ghost?

Canaan is a TYPE-MOON work, though doesn't seem to be in the Fateverse or the Tsukihimeniversity, it has mercenaries, violence, hopefully yuri, and even more hopefully the Nasu Dialogue we all know and love.

Regardless! These are the choices for the anime to stand alongside Kamen Rider Ryuki in liveblogs once i'm done with Vampire Miyu!

And if you wanna pick more pls tag your extra picks ^_^

[pitbullwithaship]

DOCTOR WHO LIVEBLOG S4 EP7

Okeydoke. Okeydoke. Yay another episode and then I have to sleep because I have an exam.

Ooh pretty house

Nice gardens

Nice car that's actually so cool

PROFESSOR PEACH lol

Cool library

(I'm just gonna be admiring Architecture and interior design this whole episode)

Okay something bad just happened

Omg that's a nice dress

I love the doctor

THE unicorn

I love the announcing people thing

Okay something weird is going on with the son

AGATHA CHRISTIE I LOVE HER SHES AMAZING

She has oddly blue eyes

THE DAY SHE DISAPPEARED OH WOW

Oh shit is he dead

PROFESSOR PEACH IN THE LIBRARY WITH A LEAD PIPE

It's a game of clue indeed

Ya that actually happened Donna

OOH THEYRE GAY THATS WHAT WAS ODD

That's a gun

Yes definitely a military memoir lol

Looks like tea

Smartie smartie pants

The butler did it

BEES

HOLY SHIT A GIANT BEE

Sanity time is no time

Oh No Shes Dead

That's a very angry wasp I already hate wasps this isn't helping

Don't pressure poor Agatha like that

Yay Donna with the EQ

I think the butler did it

OMG ITS THE POISON CHARADE SCENE

The kitchen staff watching horrified

They would suck at charades. And probably also heads up. And any high pressure game.

That's a shock

I bet it was the butler

OoooOooooOo Spooky

Aww okay maybe it's not the Butler

Oh shit he's dead

At least the Unicorn is pretty (she's like really pretty)

Crossing off the clue squares

OH DAMN SHES EXPOSING THEM ALL

Oh wow she fell in love with the alien wasp!!

Okay Doctor you need clarify everything before you point at people

Oh damn that's amazing

Oh poor Agatha

Alien soup

Aww mercy has been shown

That's so cool

5000000000 THATS AMAZING OMG I do love Agatha Christie

[shipaholic]

Episode 2: “The Clue” / “A Companion To Owls”

Good Omens 2 Episode 2 liveblog! Beware spoilers!!

- Crowley is such a troll in this opening scene. I've come around on the beard/glasses combo. He looks like a wisecracking talking Disney goat.

---

- Jon Hamm’s impression of Buddy Holly is amazing. “Ah-hey, ah-hey-hey” yes give me those weird, grandpa-like hiccups.

---

- I can hear a fly during the zoom in on sleeping Crowley in the Bentley... does Beez have one spy in the bookshop and one on Crowley at all times?

- Hmmm, Shax tells Crowley right away about Heaven detecting the miracle. That could be evidence for my Beelzebub theory, I guess...? Beez wants Crowley kept informed about the danger, so that he’ll continue to keep Gabriel safe, but they get to keep up plausible deniability with Shax and the other demons that they’re only threatening Crowley.

- Poor Shax. Crowley’s bullying her.

- LOL are all the other demons afraid of driving at high speeds? (See: Hastur.) All he had to do to get rid of Shax was rev the engine.

---

- I like Maggie, but she’s a little clingy with Aziraphale. You’d think the euphoria of having 8 months of overdue rent forgiven would have lasted longer than 24 hours. On the other hand, her encyclopaedic knowledge of music history is really cool.

- Aziraphale conducting every time he sings Everyday is the cutest thing ever.

---

- Crowley orders Talisker! I assume John Finnemore insisted.

- OMG, Mr. Brown is holding a newspaper with THEE headline in it about the Nebraska woman who taught her duck to play the accordion.

- “Get humans wet, and staring into each others’ eyes. Vavoom.” I. I don’t think Crowley knows where babies come from either.

- THAT JANE AUSTEN LORE. AND CROWLEY DISAPPROVES?? SHE SOUNDS AWESOME

---

- Aziraphale is so hesitant when he says he doesn’t think God wants to kill Job’s children, and so utterly certain when he says he knows Crowley doesn’t want to. He already has more faith in Crowley’s mercy than God’s. 😭

- THE UNBELIEVABLE LEVELS OF SASS

- OK Ty Tennant is very funny

- Both the older kids treating Aziraphale like a waiter is hilarious actually, as is Jemima wanting to be a blue lizard and Crowley obliging

- I’ve been jossed a bunch already this season, but the biggest shock to my system by far is Crowley tempting Aziraphale into enjoying human food. I genuinely assumed Aziraphale has been nibbling on whatever was around to nibble on since he was first deployed on Earth. It took him a millennia and a half to try barbeque?? Poor deprived bb

- Whoever wrote that post about Aziraphale discovering honey and tearing into a beehive like an especially feral Winnie The Pooh, I hope they’re patting themself on the back right now.

- I am more into the sight of Michael Sheen falling onto an entire ox corpse like a starving werewolf than I am comfortable with, but fine, I guess this is who I am now.

- ALL I’M SAYING IS, Crowley and Aziraphale’s first kiss had better go EXACTLY like this.

---

- I’m here for hungover Crowley wobbling across the sand.

- I suspect this minisode is difficult to follow for any viewers who didn’t swot up on the Book of Job a fortnight or so ago, like I assume we all did.

- Michael is the only angel in this scene who possesses more than a single braincell, but they’re all clearly thick as can be. The only people thicker than them are Job and Ennon, who are somehow even worse at lying than Aziraphale and Crowley.

- Crowley has such immense fucking panache this entire episode. I do love him and his terrible beard.

---

- That little tongue in cheek thing Aziraphale does on “investigation” - he cannot get any cuter now. it’s literally impossible. please.

- Crowley slapped his hand omg

---

- Oh god, the conversation on the bench... Aziraphale is in actual tears, and Crowley is so wry and gentle and reassuring, even while delivering words that are, taken on their own, a stark form of comfort. He’s just a calm presence while Aziraphale experiences shrimp emotions on the other side of the bench. I can’t even speak about Aziraphale, honestly, but I’ll give it a shot... he is so brave and scared 😭😭😭 Hell?? He really thought he belonged in Hell? Crowley was absolutely right to gently laugh at a notion that ridiculous (and awful) (and then again, Crowley also used to be a sweet little curly-headed bunny of an angel, and look at the unspeakable thing that happened to him). There’s that little moment where Crowley says he’s not going to tell anyone, and asks Aziraphale if he’s going to tell anyone, and Aziraphale gives this little ashamed headshake, like he’s realising for the first time that he’s not, he’s willing to lie (by omission) about this too. And then he glances at the sky, as if verifying that God isn’t going to send down a thunderbolt, and realises that he’s actually safe. There aren’t going to be any consequences; he’s going to get away with it. And that’s almost worse, the idea that he doesn’t live in a world with clearly defined rules, and he truly can’t predict what God thinks, or what she is going to do. She spoke directly to Job, but she’s a closed book to Aziraphale.

---

- The ending credits are on fire so far this season.

---

Right, um, next up, an episode I haven’t already seen. asdhkagsd.

[daisyachain]

hi!! i've been reading through your ao no flag liveblogs lately and they're really interesting! i enjoy seeing someone so passionate about this manga and it makes me want to reread it .... i'm really interested in hearing what you have to say about masumi's ending though!! part of me thinks it makes sense but i'm mostly conflicted on it and would love to see it from your perspective ^^

haha well thank you! ah yes, the arc that created as much controversy as you can get in an active readership of like 10 people...

Blue Flag is an imperfect story, but it also gets a lot of flack for things that a) didn't...actually...happen, b) didn't happen in the way people think they did.

Part 1: Is it actually straightwashing?

The most common criticism I see of Masumi's ending is that she was written as a lesbian character and straightwashed at the end. Marrying off a female character as a way to 'fix' her issues is a common and harmful trope, and saying that lesbian women just need to get a man is a widespread homophobic trope and talking point. So, it's not a good look. To have a character angst over interest in a woman and end up happily married to a guy reads like a '50s pulp novel that just uses f/f attraction for marketing.

But, if the intention of the ending was to show that Masumi should give up on women and force herself to date men, then it doesn't. Mitsuyuki's description of her is 'look at my bisexual wife who has dated both women and men and could also have married a woman', which is an odd choice if the intention was straightwashing. It feels more like a clumsy way to make sure that, in a series full of ambiguity, there could be no argument that Masumi was queer. That isn't to say that cisstraight people don't view bisexuality as less/better than/straighter than her being lesbian and that making a previously gay character bisexual isn't still straightwashing (increasing the appearance of straightness).

Part 2: Was it actually a retcon?

So: Masumi's ending reaffirms that she's a WLW. One question is, was she always meant to be bisexual, or was she originally written as lesbian?

Blue Flag doesn't have a lot of straight (no pun intended) answers. Taichi never expresses any explicit attraction to guys, but there is enough subtext to suggest he's attracted to Touma well before the finale. Futaba believes she is attracted to Touma at first and is shown to be attracted to him using the visual shorthand of manga (blushing, etc.), but she later says that it was just misinterpreted admiration. Mami doesn't want to date Touma or any man, but she implies that she is attracted to Touma when she says around him she was 'glad to be a woman.' Within the main romance, Futaba says that it was specifically because Taichi was a friend to her that she grew to like-like him. The lines between friendship and romance are blurred in Blue Flag, and sometimes romance can only grow out of friendship.

Masumi has a tense conversation with Taichi in the first half after she breaks up with her boyfriend that most people (me included) read as her saying that she tried guys and she just isn't and can't be attracted to them. However, it's Blue Flag, so the conversation is unfocused and doesn't paint a complete picture.

"Even if I get a boyfriend, I can never make it work"/"I don't know why [I don't like him anymore]" seem to imply that Masumi realized that she was feeling compulsory heterosexuality and that she will never like men. "[I don't know] why he like someone like me"/"You can be friends with potential sexual partners? With both guys and girls?"/"I just wanted to hear how you men feel about [a girl liking other girls]" seem to imply that Masumi is bisexual and is afraid to date because someone might find out. Maybe she's written as questioning--she knows she likes Futaba, but she's feeling out other possibilities. It's Blue Flag, so it's unclear.

Part 3: How does it work with Masumi's arc?

Diving further into Masumi's story, she acts as a foil to Touma (and Futaba, see later). Touma feels free to show his affection for Taichi as a friend as well as a love interest and almost confesses to him of his own free will, well before he's forced to. Touma tells her that he intends to try and set Taichi up with Futaba (because they would be good for each other), and also that he intends to pursue Taichi in some way. He tells her he's "not like [her]."

For Masumi's part, she tells Touma that she wants to express more affection for Futaba--not necessarily in a romantic way, just to participate more fully in that relationship--but she's afraid to, she doesn't feel confident enough to try, and that she's "the worst" because of it. We see this theme repeated, that Masumi is pessimistic, is afraid to trust people and hates herself for being afraid. Her conversations with Aki and Mami explore this; Aki tells her that it's not bad to be insecure or unready and that it's fine to keep a secret/stay closeted until she's ready, Mami tells her that she does have people she can trust, who care about her and who will do their best to understand her and help out. Why am I typing all this out? Because Masumi is a bitter, insecure wlw and that is an Established Trope, but her twist on it is that her negativity or bitterness isn't over her attraction to women/to Futaba or even over the reaction she might get from others (as Touma's is), it's over her own insecurity. Like Futaba, she's hesitant to act on her feelings, and like Futaba, she gets frustrated and hates herself for her own inaction.

All that is to say--Masumi is never shown to have a problem with her attraction to women. Her angst isn't gayngst, she's not ashamed of her feelings for Futaba bur rather her inability to express them. Her problems are with social attitudes and more with her own personal feelings--she and Touma face similar problems, but Touma is simply aware of the consequences (being roughed up and ostracised by a certain group of people) while Masumi feels a more generalized and ambiguous fear.

If Masumi were shown to have mixed feelings about her queerness/were shown to be in denial/were shown to be trying to move on from Futaba, then her ending would read more as straightwashing. As it is, there's nothing in her character and arc to say that she'd ever want to erase that part of herself or get rid of it, rather, she wishes she could embrace it but she just doesn't feel confident in doing it. Her ending shows her as an openly bisexual woman who is out to her friends and husband at the very least, which is a completion of her arc in the manga (of learning to trust other people and express her feelings honestly).

Part 4: What context clues does the rest of the series give us?

This is branching off a little from the strict text of Parts 1-3. As I've said, as we know, Blue Flag is 50% subtext and interpretation. Characters speak, but they don't say what they mean, characters think, but they're not always honest with themselves or in tune with reality. Mami is an ominous and antagonistic figure in the first half, but then it just turns out that Taichi was jumping to conclusions. Taichi is the main character and narrator, but we get radio silence from him for like 7 chapters after the climax. Taichi is bisexual, but the reader has to guess that from the way the art style shifts between PoVs, the similar panelling between Futaba and Touma's confessions, the things he does and does not think about Touma and how he feels about them. It's safe to say that there is room for speculation.

First, there is no explicit evidence that Taichi could be bisexual before ch 54. It's easy to tell that he is, but again, there's nothing specific. Some people reading Blue Flag have said that him marrying Touma was out of character, unforeshadowed, bizarre, inexplicable, etc. because their experienced is coloured by their own heterosexuality. Masumi is shown to have dated a guy and in saying she didn't like him "anymore," implied that she did like him. Her conflicted feelings over her bf could well have been foreshadowing her liking men as well, and my reading that as comphet could have just been my own experience colouring the text. Who knows! Taichi's bisexuality was intentional from the start but could be read as a last-minute twist, so why not Masumi's?

Second, Mitsuyuki is Futaba 2.0. Same colouring, same personality. This could feel like a way of saying "Masumi just needs to like guys instead," but to me it reads deeper with some of the trans subtext around Futaba. One of my issues with Blue Flag is that it doesn't go further into Futaba's admiration/envy for masculinity and her uncomfortable relationship with femininity. As a cis woman who wants to be buff and mildly masculine, I can understand why she's a cis girl throughout and I don't necessarily think that she was supposed to be a trans guy. However, her relationship with masculinity draws a parallel to Mitsuyuki. Reading Mitsuyuki as a cis man, he is the combination of Futaba's personality and looks with her 'ideal form.' So, Masumi marrying Mitsuyuki can read as Masumi marring Ascended FutabaTM.

Third, Futaba having a faceless prop husband is interesting in the context of Mitsuyuki getting a name and personality. Mitsuyuki = Futaba and Mr. Kuze is a blank space, so the reader is prompted to reduce the scenario and slot Masumi into that blank space. Given Masumi and Touma's history as foils, I'm inclined to think that Mitsuyuki exists to show the road not taken. Back at the fireworks, Touma tells Masumi that he hasn't given up on Taichi, and Masumi says she doesn't intend to pursue Futaba even though the pining is making her miserable. Given that Futaba reacts a lot better to the idea of Masumi liking her than Taichi reacts to the idea of Touma liking him, given that we see Masumi has successfully wooed male!Futaba, I think that Masumi's ending shows that she could have ended up with Futaba if she chose to pursue her. She didn't and she still got a happy ending where she is confident in her sexuality and unafraid to trust, but she could have also had a happy ending where she married Futaba. Mitsuyuki is a man because desire-for-masculinity is a key aspect of Futaba's character, and Mitsuyuki is a named character with a personality because KAITO wanted the reader to know that Masumi could have ended up with Futaba (as Touma ended up with Taichi).

Fourth, KAITO's notes on volume give us a few hints. He comments that there was remarkably little interference with his story and that he was able to tell it as he wanted, and that the ending was meant to be a "question" to the reader. The way I see it, Masumi's ending wasn't meant to say "maybe you'll be fixed if you get a man" but rather was meant to complement Taichi's ending and say "things happen in ways you might not expect, but that doesn't mean they're bad."

Fifth, Touma/Taichi ending up together shows us that the series is willing and able to show queerness as a good thing and a happy ending, so it's unlikely that Masumi was meant to come off as "actually she just needed a man" and more as "life can be unpredictable but you can always find happiness"

Summary

It's unclear whether Masumi was written as a bisexual woman or a lesbian woman or a questioning wlw

I personally read her as a lesbian and I wish that part of her character had gotten more exploration

Masumi's ending wraps up her arc (struggling to trust other people with her feelings in general and her queerness in particular) in a satisfying and logical way

Masumi being bisexual does not in any way negate or lessen her identity and experienes as a wlw, bisexual people still face external and internalized homophobia and all the associated issues

Masumi's bisexuality may well have been foreshadowed, but the execution makes it easier to read her as a lesbian, which makes her ending seem like a homophobic cop-out in the style of the Hays Code

Masumi's ending doesn't straightwash her and goes to unusual lengths to affirm her attraction to women

Masumi's ending seems to be written to contrast Touma's ending, showing that getting or not getting the love interest depends entirely on whether you choose to pursue them

It's unlikely that authorial intent was to straightwash Masumi

[thebibliomancer]

Tides of the Dark Crystal liveblog pt 9

Tides of the Dark Crystal by J.M. Lee because SKEKSA!

Last times in book: Sent on a mission by Aughra and the Crystal to unite all the Gelfling clans in resistance against the Skeksis, Amri and co head to Cera-Na to try to persuade the Sifa Maudra Ethri to join the cause. Ethri tells them that she’s not keen on joining but that they can hang around a bit before they have to try the next maudra. An ill-looking Tae is encountered and suspicion falls on Amri despite having a great alibi. Into this tumult enters skekSa!

Chapter 9

Detective skekSa investigates the Case of the Poisoned Tae

So last time ended with a surprise skekSa reveal. A stupendous one.

The protags are less impressed than I am. And more…. Alarmed? Terrified?

The Sifa aren’t surprised to see the Mariner. Which makes a lot of sense. Team Naia doesn’t know this but skekSa has a humongous and unmistakable ship. She’s not going to be in town in an anonymous skiff. So yeah, the Sifa know she’s there.

They’re thrilled she’s there (as am I) and throw pretty things at her feet after Maudra Ethri tells them to go back to their ships.

Amri is less than thrilled. Very much less than.

“So, this is why you turned your ear against us?” he asked. “Because it was already owned by a conniving Skeksis?”

skekSa snorted. “It’s rude to talk about a conniving Skeksis while they stand right in front of you.”

Oh she is wry!

Amri tried not to buckle at the Skeksis’s deep, velvety voice.

And she has the velvety voice of the infinite!

Two pages and I’m already far more sold than with the Satirist.

Amri also notices that she’s a lot more limber and graceful than the Chamberlain. Since she denies later drinking essence that means that an active lifestyle and fresh ocean air is a way better means of preserving Skeksis than huddling away in a castle and the temporary performance enhancing effects of drinking soul goop.

It’s a funny thing that between the Hunter (of the show) and skekSa, the best preserved Skeksis are the ones who decided to remain active and not in the castle. Maybe that’s why skekUng is the beefiest boy come the movie since he spent the entire show elsewhere.

“Poor little Tae. Let us move her to somewhere more comfortable. It is unsettling to see her in a pile like this.”

She easily scooped Tae’s body up in one arm, cradling her like a youngling. Her tenderness made Amri wriggle with discomfort.

Really illustrates the size difference that Skeksis can just scoop up an adult Gelfling like that.

Amri can’t really act on his discomfort so the group just follows skekSa to the beach where Tae is gently plopped down on an abandoned quilt.

Then skekSa becomes a pirate captain detective. Horatio Holmes. And asks Naia to lead her through what happened. Naia just says she knows what the Skeksis have done.

skekSa placed a hand against her breast, leaning back and raising her brows as if scandalized.

“You know what I’ve done! So then, you know that I left the Castle of the Crystal hundreds of trine before you were born, when I was disgusted with the way skekSo chose to rule? Hmm? You know that I’ve spent the last seventy trine alone on the Silver Sea, as far from the land as I can sail? Only returning to Cera-Na to gift my little ones with the treasures I’ve found abroad?”

The sarcasm!

Maudra Ethri interrupts to ask what’s wrong with Tae and Naia insists that she’s been drained, based on her blank face and unseeing stare.

skekSa disagrees because Tae’s eyes don’t have that milky film on them. I guess despite being on the Silver Sea for seventy trine, she’s up on current events?

Instead, the Skeksis pirate thinks Tae has been poisoned and they need to find out what the poison was ASAP before Tae gets too ill.

And the quickest way to do that would be to figure out who would poison Tae so they can be forced to reveal what the poison is.

“Who here in Cera-Na has motive to poison your dear Tae?”

Ethri paced, kicking up sand in her distress. It was not the stoic countenance of a maudra but the worried agitation of a friend. Though it betrayed her inexperience as a leader, her concern for Tae was the first thing that endeared her to Amri.

“I don’t know! Everyone loves Tae. She has no enemies, makes friends wherever she goes. I can’t imagine who would want to do this to her.”

Kylan says that Tae told them that she had someone to meet so they know she was probably poisoned then. But she didn’t tell them who.

skekSa tells Naia to use her Gelfling healing magic but Naia hesitates because what if seeing Gelfling magic makes skekSa thirsty for soul goo??

Also:

Amri shouldered his coat back, the way he’s seen angry Captain Madso do, to make sure skekSa saw the hilt of the sword at his hip.

skekSa took note of it, sniffing as if he’d said something amusing.

Hah.

But skekSa tells Naia to go ahead. But before Naia can do the blue glowey, she smells Drenchen nectarwine on Tae.  “It’s made from fermented sogflower nectar, used in recipes for healing and merriment.”

And as skekSa points out, there’s a lot of other “merriment potions” available. Only someone with a taste for specifically nectarwine would have it on hand specifically.

I want to note that it feels very much like skekSa has already figured out the whole riddle and is just gently leading everyone else to the answer for her amusement.

But the reveal that Tae probably met with someone with specific taste in merriment makes Ethri call for Captain Staya.

“Grand, simply grand,” skekSa said. “Our first clue. Perhaps Staya could bring some to share. I could use some potions of merriment m’self.”

I’m 99% sure that skekSa already knows the answer. That goof.

Staya is brought to the scene of the Tae but denies doing anything but a mild rebuke from skekSa has him admit that he did meet and drink with Tae and claims she was wobbly when she left.

He also denies taking Tae’s jewelry because “what need have I for her dainty lassywing metals?” when he’s loaded down with twice as many accessories as Tae had.

With Tae’s pulse growing weak, Maudra Ethri demands Staya reveal anything he knows for Tae’s sake, with skekSa chiming in to consider the penalty for deceit.

“I put zandir in her nectarwine,” he confessed. “To make her tell the truth. And I’m glad I did, because she told me what you’re planning, Ethri!”

Ethri went rigid like she’d been struck by lightning, every facet of her gem eye igniting with light and fire.

“What’s he talking about?” Naia asked lowly.

“Ah, the truth, the truth,” Captain skekSa sang. She rose and swept closer to Tae, stooping to once again life the unconscious Sifa into her arms. “It all comes out in the dark.”

Such intrigue!

This feels exactly like playing a game and rolling into town where there’s a bunch of secret plotting that’s been happening and it all takes off just as you get there.

And skekSa is living for it.

She ignores Ethri’s attempts to justify herself to Staya and sets off to take Tae to her ship for healing, dunking on Sifa medicine while she’s at it.

“I have the means to heal her there. More reliable means, that is, than burning colored dust and reading bones over her slowly dying body.”

Ouch.

She also asks Naia to come with her to heal Tae. Amri is hesitant to have any of their group alone on skekSa’s ship where anything could happen to them but Naia has her dander up and refuses to leave Tae alone with the Skeksis.

Naia also tells Ethri she’s got some splainin’ to do after this.

So Ethri, Staya, Naia, Kylan, and Amri all follow skekSa down a loooong dock far away from any of the Sifa ships. There doesn’t seem to be a ship and Kylan says as much to skekSa’s amusement.

She pulls out a metal pipe and blows a “long, high-pitched, almost inaudible note” onto it that hurts both Amri and Tavra’s ears or lack thereof.

Waves churned in the deep water off the end of the headland. Under the pale light of the two Sisters shining above, the ocean split across the spined ebony back of an enormous beast. They all watched as the thorny shell of the biggest creature Amri had ever seen rose from the water. Its carapace glistened in the moonlight as the ocean water streamed down its sides. Its shell alone was as large as the Omerya, though its obsidian color stood in contrast to the brightness of the maudra’s coral ship.

The moaning grew louder and louder until the behemoth’s cavernous head breached the surface of the sea. Waves sloshed against the dock. It groaned again, the sound so loud, Amri felt it rattle in his chest.

Moments later, a small boat detached from the great beast’s shell, pulled by an armored, spiny fish with glowing spots along its back. The fish brought the boat to the dock.

skekSa gestured casually, taking care not to jostle Tae.

“All aboard.”

Hot damn! Davy Jones wishes his ship was this excessive!

skekSa lives in a sea monster!

[duhragonball]

BEGIN: Hellsing Liveblog Ch.1

Okay, so in 2017 I tried to do a minimalist log of my experiences watching/reading  JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.    At first, I tried to confine myself to posting one zany  screencap from each episode, but as I got deeper into the story I couldn’t help but write giant blocks of text about my thoughts.    So by the time I got to Part 6 I was essentially doing an honest-to-goodness liveblog.  I even went back and re-covered Part 5 in more detail, just because I barely understood it on the first read.   

In 2019, I decided to do a full-on liveblog of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, since I thought it would be a cool big thing to do.    It was a lot of work but I found it immensely satisfying to discuss the whole story in order.  

After that, I thought it might be nice to tackle something smaller, and Hellsing seemed like a good pick, because I really loved the Hellsing Ultimate anime when I watched it in 2016, and for a while I craved More Of That.    Only there wasn’t more, the Hellsing TV series was a hot mess, and that’s about it.   That just left the manga, which I didn’t want to read right after consuming the anime adaptation.    So I decided to liveblog Hellsing in 2020 and... I didn’t.    I just never felt like getting started.    Call it apathy, call it real life getting in the way, call it me being too busy to commit to the project.    All I know is it’s 2021 and I’m just now getting started.  

I meant to start yesterday for the New Year, but work kicked my ass this week and I needed to decompress more than I realized.   But today, I’m like “No more delays, I’m going to break ground on this, because I want to make this happen.   So here we are. 

I think there’s fan translations of the Hellsing manga out there, but I found them nearly impossible to read, so I purchased the digital editions of the official translation published by Dark Horse Comics.   Unfortunately, they don’t seem to sell that on their website anymore.   The only reason I still have my copy is because Dark Horse let’s you keep your purchases even after they stop offering them for sale.   For example, I’ve got a bunch of Star Wars comics from them, and they’re still on my account, even after Dark Horse lost the Star Wars license to Marvel when DIsney bought Lucasfilm.   I... don’t like to think about that too much.    Let’s just get rolling here.

The story starts on June 14, 1999.   At least, I’m pretty sure it was 1999, but that’s one of the reasons I’m reading this, so I can get my facts straight.    There’s a new vicar in the town of Cheddar, up in northern England.    The comic makes it seem like he just wandered into town one day.   I always figured he was an established member of the community who just happened to become a vampire, but this probably makes more sense.    Everyone calls this dude “The Cheddar Priest”, which leads you to take that description at face value.    It’s easy to think that he’s a real priest who’s lived in Cheddar for a long time.  

But it makes more sense if he’s not.   He just dressed up as a vicar so he’d have an easier time preying on the villagers.    The local church would accept him, and his clergy robes would give him an automatic authority.    On June 21, the first incident happened, where a young man on an errand to the next town over never came back.    So the Cheddar Priest played it very carefully to start out.   He waited a week to start feeding, and his first victim was someone who was going to be alone for a while.  And he took ten more victims over the next ten days.   Finally, someone caught sight of the priest with blood trickling from his mouth, and he managed to survive the encounter long enough to tell the cops about it.   But when they questioned the priest, he just attacked them, which brings us to July 5.

By this point, the police have sealed off Cheddar with roadblocks, since no one has come out of the village since they first confronted the priest.   At some point Sir Hellsing shows up to take over, and everyone’s like “Sir Hellsing is a g-g-g-g-girl!?”  It seems kind of odd to me that all these people would be expecting Hellsing but know so little about her, although she did inherit the title from her father, so maybe they were thinking of him when someone told them who was coming.  

The really distracting thing about Sir Integra Hellsing in this manga is how... curvy she is.   Both anime adaptations focus on making her very thin and angular, probably to emphasize her visual distinction with Seras, but also probably to play up her masculine traits.   She wears suits, never dresses, goes by “Sir” and not “Lady”, and immediately takes charge of every situation she’s in.     The Team Four Star abridged parody of Hellsing Ultimate has a few bits where other characters mistake her for a man.    I don’t thing Ultimate went that far with her design. But I could see someone slipping up on that.   

But the manga Integra looks a lot more feminine, maybe because Kouta Hirano was going in the opposite direction.    She wears a suit and goes by “Sir”, so he wanted to make her look more babelicious for the sake of contrast.   That’s a technical term, by the way.    Also, this is literally chapter one, so making her look different from Seras isn’t necessarily an issue yet.  

Anyway, Integra explains what most readers probably already knew from the back cover of the book: that there’s a vampire in Cheddar, and the cops have no idea how to deal with this.    She has already found visual evidence of “ghouls” in the area, which are humans that have been turned into zombies by a vampire bite.    If the human wasn’t a virgin when they were bitten.  We’ll get into that later.   

The cops think she’s talking crazy, because they think vampires and ghouls are fictional, but Integra explains that supernatural monsters are real, but highly classified.    That’s how she got called in to this matter, because her Hellsing Organization, aka the “Royal Order of Protestant Knights”, is responsible for destroying these creatures.   

What doesn’t make a lot of sense, though, is how Hellsing can properly respond to these kinds of incidents if no one knows to report them.    The tragedy of this chapter is that a lot of innocent people got killed because the police tried to handle it themselves.    What they should have done was to contact Hellsing immediately, except no one knew they were dealing with a vampire because no one thought vampires were real.  And no one knew Hellsing was the agency to contact, because Hellsing’s mission is a secret.  

For that matter, why should any of this be kept a secret at all?   If vampires are a real thing, why not tell the public about it?   That may sound like a stupid question, but tigers are real, and everyone knows it, no matter how big and dangerous tigers can be.   I suppose there’s a fear that if people knew it was possible to become a vampire then they’d try to do it for the immortality, but keeping it a secret didn’t stop the Cheddar Priest.   If anything, all this secrecy gave him a three-week head start.  

While explaining the plot to the police, Integra also explains how vampires work.    By drinking the blood of a virgin of the opposite sex, they can turn that virgin into a new vampire.  Any other victims just turn into mindless ghouls, which are “nothing more than the vampire’s servants”.   So sending cops into Cheddar only makes the problem worse, because the Priest will just eat them and generate more henchmen.   Her solution is to send in a single “special anti-vampire expert” to take care of the whole thing.   His name is Alucard, and one of his first lines in this story is about how he wants to suck some blood.     So he just sort of strolls into Cheddar while...

Of all the police they sent into Cheddar, only one remains, and the Cheddar Priest and his ghouls chase her into the woods.    This is Seras Victoria, as we later find out, and she’s in deep shit right here.   All her comrades are ghouls now, and her gun doesn’t work on vampires.   I’m guessing the only reason she survived this long was because the priest had to take the time to kill and feed on the others.  

Here, we see the Priest is also aware of the vampire rules Integra laid out.    He seems to want a devoted army of ghouls, so maybe this was his plan all along.   If he just wanted to feed, he probably should have moved on to the next town before everyone got suspicious, but instead he’s making a stand in Cheddar, steadily building his army while the police are powerless to stop him.   And maybe this is why Hellsing is a secret.    He thinks he’s unstoppable because he doesn’t know what measures are in place to stop him.  

With Seras, ol’ C.P. decides that he should rape her before drinking her blood, because he figures there’s a nonzero chance that she might be a virgin, and he specifically doesn’t want to turn her into a vampire like himself.   I’m not sure why, but I always figured he was concerned that a vampire Seras would turn against him or at least make things difficult for him.  

But then Alucard shows up and introduces himself.   The priest orders his ghouls to gun him down, but it turns out that Alucard is a vampire himself (gasp!), and the guns don’t work on him, just like they don’t work on the priest.   Then Al whips out his gun, which does work, because it fires bullets laced with silver from a cross that was in a cathedral.   Wait, I just got a clue.  I always thought it was weird that silver bullets kill vampires in this story, since that’s more of a werewolf thing, but that’s why the silver was from a melted down cross.    That way it’s good for vampires and werewolves.    There might also be some Blue Kryptonite in there for possible Bizarro infestations, but it’s never outright stated.

So then the Priest gets nervous and takes a hostage.    He never dreamed that there was another vampire running around, let alone one working as a  vampire hunter, in the service of humans.   He assumes that Al will let him go in order to save the girl, but instead he asks her if she’s a virgin, and the priest realizes there’s only one reason he’d even bring that up: Alucard isn’t here to save anyone, he’s just here to kill the Cheddar Priest. 

For some reason, despite saying the bullets would kill vampires, Alucard runs his arm through the Priest after he makes the shot.   Maybe that was just for flourish.    The real reason he used the gun, of course, was that he knew Seras would die in any event, but at least this way he stopped the Priest before he could decapitate her or something.    Seras’ wound is fatal, but at least there’s time for him to offer an apology and give her a chance to consider his (implied) offer.

When Alucard returns from the village, he’s got Seras wrapped up in a blanket, and it turns out she’s a vampire now too.    And this is kind of the most important moment in this whole story, because Seras is the best character, there are no elections, and this her origin story.   

I think a lot about Seras’ fateful decision here.   It’s often framed as a choice.   Whenever she gets frustrated with her situation, Alucard reminds her that she could have just refused him, but what kind of choice is that?   She could either “live” as a vampire or bleed out in the middle of nowhere.    Seras is a survivor.   She kept fighting the priest until the bitter end, and when there were no other moves to make, she accepted the one path that would allow her to continue.   

Also, I think a lot of their relationship is based on Seras seeing what Alucard is and wanting that for herself.    He marched right into Cheddar like a badass, ready to beat all the bad guys, but that’s the same thing she did earlier.    The only difference is that his gun actually worked and he had the power to use it.   I don’t think Seras wanted to become a vampire, but becoming a vampire hunter? One as strong as Alucard?   Yeah, she would want that.   Especially after the utter despair and humiliation she just experienced.   But we’ll have plenty more to say about Seras, don’t you worry.

I was planning to cover three chapters in one post, but this one is pretty important, and I kind of went overboard, so I’ll save Chapters 2 and 3 for later.   Doncha dare miss it!

[nerdishfeels]

Wow, Harry really did get a close-up dose of "how I met your mother" in Snape's memory. James and lily had quite the chemistry lol.

Lily reminded me so much of Hermione. She read James, as if he was nothing but a boring advertisement on the wall.

Feel sorry for Harry tho. His dad acted like a proper bully. But it still doesn't give Snape the right to pick on Harry though 😑

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix liveblog!

Hey guys! It's time to read book five of the Harry Potter series. If you missed my previous liveblogs, don't worry! I'll be doing a masterpost where you can find all my liveblogs.

Before I start, I just wanted to ask that if you've been enjoying my liveblogs, please consider buying me a coffee. This book is pretty thick, so I'm gonna need all the energy I can get lol.

Feel free to share your thoughts as I share mine ❤️

[toooldforfandom-liveblogs]

RWBY V07E01 - The Greatest Kingdom

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA RWBY V7 IS FINALLY HERE.

My hype has been a rollercoaster, from being very hyped after the v6 finale to a more sedate "let's wait and see what's going to happen" but these past few days the hype has come back in full force.

The title of this episode sounds very... arrogant, which is precisely what I expect from Atlas.

Let's do this!

Spoiler note: I have been spoiled on two things about V7. I think Ruby gets a haircut (I saw fanart with Ruby with spiky hair and a comment about it) and Penny is somehow important to this episode since she appears in a credits card I accidentally saw while downloading this episode. My hype went from 100% to 100²% because of that last spoiler so aaaaaaaaaaaaa

I was going to comment about the orchestral music sounding very "Empire" from Star Wars but that subtitle says it all.

Qrow sounds like Qrow so far!

I'm sure it has probably been used before but I think this is the first time I've noticed the show using a bit of depth of field to emphasize who's talking.

Nothing says sci-fi authoritarian dictatorship like giant talking screens.

Mantle looks dingy but I expected it to look even worse, considering the obvious implication of the floating city above. I think the material of the buildings is what bothers me, they don't look gritty enough.

Okay, there's no way the woman in the poster is not going to be important to this season.

Also, white hair. Is she somehow related to the Schnees? I'm trying to remember if there's been any other character with pure white hair besides them but I'm coming up blank. Hmm

Politics? In my RWBY? YES PLEASE

The video compression is killing me but I think that woman says "Hill", same as the poster. I assume she's the "Mantle Hometown Hero" vs "Atlasian Tycoon" which I hope is not Jacques (it'd be interesting for a Weiss arc but not everything has to be directly related to the main characters, even if they end up getting involved later on.)

"Outer Wall Damaged" is probably about Argus (how long did the trip take?), and a setup for a possible plot with that missing journalist.

I can't imagine pre-self-actualization Weiss walking the streets of Mantle though.

Oh Yang, never change.

I didn't expect the episode's title to come from a drunk man but it certainly fits.

aw crap

he's going to get a punch in the face, isn't he?

I'm basically Nora's expression right now. I love Weiss.

Awwwwwwwww she's so happy with her new arm

Some day Maria is going to introduce someone to the crew who actually remembers her and doesn't hate her.

I'm screaming internally because the colors of that... leg-chair(?) are _very_ familiar.

OH MY GOD. It's so good to see these characters again.

What about both? I remember Watts being referred to as an "atlesian scientist" so he probably knew how it all worked.

there you go

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Wait, are those Grimm half-machine? Because that would be _sick_

aw no, just... blue for some reason.

Every first episode has had a fight so I was waiting hoping this episode wouldn't be the exception. This _is_ the first time that there can't be anything "new" though since there hasn't been a time skip in between seasons or a character that hasn't been shown fighting in some time (like Yang in V5) so I wonder what element is going to be the differentiator.

I've always liked "serious Ruby" and I always will.

aaaaah so cool

Did they change how the Grimm dissolve or is it more noticeable now due to the added color?

Her ability to transform into multiple streams to go past an obstacle is back! I can't remember seeing it since the V4 short.

Poor Weiss. Ruby gets a long scene killing multiple targets and she gets... one.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Look at how graceful she is!

I wish I hadn't gotten spoiled about Penny possibly re-appearing but I'm also not sure how I'd have handled it because I'm freaking out right now. I really, really hope she remembers Ruby, my heart is not ready for Penny-related angst. She _has_ to, right? Pietro did mention that she had told him about RWBY...

SHE HAS LONG HAIR!!!! I kinda saw it while making the gif but it's obvious here. AHHH

WHY IS HER RIBBON BLACK

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THE DORK ROBOT IS BACK

My internal freaking out just downgraded (or upgraded?) to sobbing. I'm so _so_ happy she's back.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAa

oh my god I love her I love everything about this

C'mon Qrow, you know better than anyone the danger in saying things like that.

yup, jinxed it

I _really_ don't like that uniform. A muscle tee doesn't exactly say military to me.

Their weapons and movement remind me a lot of Korra's metal-bender police.

I'm going to leave the OP for a separate post since I always end up writing too much about them (but oooh, Blake's hair looks a lot shorter and Weiss's dress that looks different)

OP post is here

---

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I think this is the fastest a RWBY season has made me cry, first episode, a record!

After seeing that credits card I was really hoping Penny would be back but I didn't expect her to be appear right away. I thought they'd meet Dr. Polendina or maybe hear something about her and leave the actual meeting until later on so... I'm so very happy.

I'm also having problems writing about the episode because I managed to forget everything else that happened but I'll try.

It was mostly a setup episode with the introduction of half the setting (Mantle) but there are hints that something big is brewing with the election and the disappearance of that journalist (possibly caused by Cinder's or Watt's group?)

I don't want to speculate too much about where the election plot is going to go since it's too early but I'm wondering how the main group is going to fit into the situation. Will they have to choose the lesser evil? Is "Hill" the clear "good" choice or is it going to be a Kuvira situation? Is the graffiti "Show your teeth" relevant at all (since it seemed to get noticeably framed before Yang noticed the droid.) I'm hoping the OP is going to have more clues about this.

It was nice to see confirmation that Dr. Polendina was the one who made Yang's arm and there was something incredibly wholesome about the scene where the girl with her new arm is skipping down the street. He's a treasure and I hope nothing bad happens to him.

I think that's all, at least until I watch the OP, so until next time!

PS: The liveblog for episode 2 is out on the discord.

[atamascolily]

lily liveblogs “terminator: dark fate,” part five

HEY, time for our industrial end sequence!!  This time, it’s on a dam because we had fire and machinery in previous films, and we’re switching to a different element.

(this means that the next film would have ended with a FOREST fight scene, right? Right.)

[parts one, two, three, four]

The NPCs run for cover. I have no idea what dam this is supposed to be! It looks like Hoover, but I honestly have no clue where they are at this point.

Carl and the chassis are fighting in the water. Then the oozy metal part comes up and grabs him from behind! I hate it when they double-team like that.

Wow, they just barely keep from going over the edge there. Oh, wait, too soon...

Sarah dislocates her shoulder. Ow. Grace pops it back in. Sarah gets another "Fuck!"

The Rev-9 vaulting out of the water is just like in the beginning....

"No, no, Grace, really...?" YES GRACE. She yells back at them to wear their seatbelts!!! WOW... Sarah snarks back at her because what good is it if you can’t get a one-liner in right before you go over the edge into the abyss and certain death?

OH my god the Rev-9 on the windshield is so fucking scary right there they are UNDERWATER in the DARK aaaaaaaaah.

Okay, I'm not sure how if they would have survived that in real life, but fuck if that underwater fight scene isn't as cool as hell.

A legit complaint I've seen is that the bulletproof vests would weigh them down too much to get to the surface with the air they have, but... I mean come on, if that's your only factual complaint about this movie, I think they did a good job.

Cut to them on top of the dam again, wow that was fast. This scene with the three badass women battered and bruised and clinging to each other.. MY HEART. MY POOR HEART!!

Ah, here it is... Grace's power source! The EMP substitute I’ve been waiting for. Then Carl shows back up.. with a weapon for Sarah. Triumphant theme music. The whole family is here. Oh, and meds for Grace. YAY. wouldn’t want to pass out halfway through the climactic fight scene.

Wow, this functionally dysfunctional found-family is only together for like half a day and I need a million TV episodes about them STAT.

Oh, of course it's a hydroelectric dam...so generators!

Oh, hey, Grace gets her chains from the poster! Nice.

Murderbot bonding time! The Rev-9 talks to Carl: "You and I were built for the same purpose. And Legion is the only future." SO MANY FEELS ABOUT THIS.

"I know she's a stranger to you. Why not let me have her?" POLITICAL QUESTION OF THE MOMENT, KTHANX. But also proof that even though the REv-9 is good at mimicking humans and predicting humans, it still doesn't UNDERSTAND humans.

"Because we're not machines, you metal motherfucker," Sarah snarls. And I think we're up to six fucks for Sarah at this point? I've lost count.

Have I mentioned that the splitting Terminators are creepy? Have I? HAVE I? Because they are.

Oh, dear, Sarah Connor confronting her nightmare of flaming death murder skeletons again.

Geeeeee, I wonder if that turbine will do anything...

Oh, Grace is stabbed, I guess she's gonna pull the power source out and take him down with her... or not. But at least now Dani’s going to object way less about self-sacrifice, since she’s already doomed.

I don't know why the REV-9 goes back to one; I feel like he's stronger and fights better in two parts? But you do you, I guess.

Pretty sure it's not over yet because Dani still hasn't done anything against the REV-9 herself. Oh, good, and Sarah gets to relive yet another nightmare of a metal skeleton stalking out of the flames. ONLY THIS TIME IT'S ON FIRE, TOO. (I guess that's the polyalloy bits melting away??)

Yep, Grace is gonna sacrifice herself to save Dani from the REV-9 and remove her power source. Oh, wow, Dani has to stab her and pull it out herself. That's gonna cause some more trauma. Another round for everyone!  

Dani gets to go after the REV-9... but it goes badly, because drama. Sarah yells for Carl to wake up, and it works!! He distracts the REV-9 long enough for Dani to stab him in the eye with the power source and... I guess that sets it off???

[why the hell didn't they augment Grace with more than one of those things? Maybe Dani will fix that in the future when she gets there. maybe that's something to add in fix-it fics. And where did they get them? Did they take them from destroyed Terminators and weld them into humans?? What happened?? ]

Carl and the REV-9 fall into the abyss together, because OF COURSE THEY DO, because just when Sarah has learned to forgive/accept Carl as he is, she has to lose him because RULE #1: SARAH CONNOR MUST ALWAYS SUFFER. And the REV-9 rips his flesh off and they both die when the EMP goes off, and it mimics the lightning flash in the beginning.

Oh, so yet again, Sarah Connor has to stand and watch a Terminator she cares about die in a fire. GOOD JOB PACKING ON THE ANGST, PEOPLE.

"For John." OH MY GOD, WAY TO GO OUT IN STYLE AND ALSO MY HEART.

The difference between this and the first film is that Sarah isn't alone at the end. The difference between this and the second film is that Sarah and Dani are... not equals, exactly, but they are more equal than Sarah and John were at the end of T2. They're veteran and leader, not mother and son. Dani and Sarah understand each other in a way that no one--not even John--can because of what they've suffered and lost. The cycle repeats, and yet it’s subtly different each time

cut to Grace as a kid on a playground, oh now there's some loaded symbolism in this francise, lol. And there's Dani looking through the chain-link fence at her right on cue, like Sarah looking at her might-have-been kids in T2. Is this where the filmmakers got the idea that Dani is Grace’s “mother”? LOL, nice try, guys.

She walks over to the car where Sarah is waiting for her. It's a Jeep, just like the one she drove to Mexico in at the end of T1. She tosses Dani the keys and moves over to the passenger seat AND IF THAT AIN'T A STATEMENT, I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS.

"I won't let her die for me again," Dani says. "then you need to be ready."

Dani puts the car in gear and they drive away down the eucalptyus-lined streets of the California suburbs where everything is green and tranquil and beautiful, and while the movie ends perfectly here as is, I can also see how they would have linked it into a trilogy like they'd originally planned. But alas, this is probably the end until the all-but-inevitable next reboot.

And THEN the credits roll, and we get the main theme at the end, and I jut have to say, it's not the same as in the other movies, where we had to listen to the whole thing first THEN we heard it in the film itself. But nobody has the goddamn patience for credits anymore, which is why Marvel started sticking bonus scenes in theirs to keep people in their seats.

...but wow are these credits long. Oh, well, the music's good and I learn random tidbits this way, like how the writers have little imagination when it comes to naming minor characters, and just give them the same name as their actors (Diego, Gabriel, Alicia, etc). 

sadly, all the deleted scenes and bonus content is on the blue-ray and not the DVD sigh.

So. Was this a perfect film? No. It was written by committee, and I think it shows. Did it deliver what I hoped for--Sarah Connor being a badass, snarky dialogue, and cool action sequences? Yes. Did I enjoy watching it? HELL YES. Will I be thinking/ranting about it for a long time. YOU BET.

Was it "necessary"? Of course not-but is ANY piece of art ever really "necessary"? Who cares! It was fun, and it was thoughtful, it was interesting to me, and it was wayyy better than most of the recent rounds of sequels and reboots. 

And to be honest, if they can make a bajillion Fast and Furious movies, and James Bond, and John Wick, and Mission Impossible and Karate Kid action flicks featuring men (not to mention Star Wars and remakes of every single animated Disney film AND a three-part Hobbit movie trilogy), I think I can enjoy a female-led action movie with zero guilt whatsoever without having to justify its existence to anyone.

(I can’t think of a single other action film with three badass female leads, who have complete character arcs and aren’t sexualized for the male gaze... and if there is, I want to watch it STAT)

[somebluemelodies]

cellboier being walter and jesse… this whole event is a fever dream

[loreweaver-universe]

And that’s the episode.

Holy hell, this one shot out of the gate.  I like this.  I like this a lot.  It’s funny, relatable, and real, even during the fantastical parts.  I like Tulip, I empathize with Tulip, One-One is hilarious.  It’s fast-paced, snappy, funny, and intriguing--I’m already fascinated by the Train, and I’m going to be scouring the coming episodes for clues as to what, why, and how it works.

The Grid Car, obviously, comes in at my new #1 for the series, since it’s the first episode, but I’m mostly just dropping the link to the ratings list for easy access.

Up next is going to be more Infinity Train.  Fair warning--I may be taking a break at the start of the month to focus on Steven Universe’s movie, if it exists in a livebloggable format.  If not, I’ll be doing the Patron Picks to clear the way for it; Infinity Train will come after if I can’t liveblog the movie yet, but it’s probably going to play second fiddle to Steven Universe.  I will say that I’ll probably be plowing through it all before moving back to She-Ra.  I like She-Ra, but I’m already fascinated by this, and there’s only ten episodes anyways.

I’ll be back Wednesday for episode 2--I’ll see you guys then!

IN OTHER NEWS:

If you’d like to help me pay my rent, buy me some food, or help with my bills and medicine, please use my direct donation link!  If you’d like to support me per liveblog completed every month, please pledge to my Patreon! Becoming a patron not only allows you to vote on what shows I do next, but also grants access to the community Minecraft server to $5 patrons or higher!

You should also go pledge to Gio’s Patreon–our Discord server maintenance tech, creator of Rubybot, and community Minecraft server overlord deserves far more than I can afford to give him by myself.

If you’d like more of me and my content:

My Discord server, where you can come hang out with me and other fans, check out member liveblogs, and join community gaming guilds!

My Twitch channel, where I stream variety games once in a blue moon!

My Youtube channel, where you can check out past streams!

It’s your kindness and support that lets me do this stuff, and I wouldn’t be where I am without all of you to do it for.  Thank you all so much for your support, and for tuning in every episode!

OTHER PEOPLE YOU MAY ENJOY:

I may have been one of the earlier Steven Universe liveblogs, but a whole community of livebloggers has sprung up over the last three years!   I linked to a bunch individually for a few wrap-ups, but honestly, this end-slate is already eight billion miles long, so I’m just gonna link to my links page.  Click here if you want recommendations of other livebloggers, or other neat people, or webcomics and podcasts that I recommend.

[faunusrights]

‘AFTER THE FALL’ - LIVEREAD

I say ‘liveread’ but there’s a pretty decent chance this’ll turn into a RWDEread.

So, After The Fall is finally out in the UK and my copy has landed arse-first on my desk, so I’m gonna read it and post my observations here so that you can experience it with me! And also experience whichever stages of grief I go through as we go!

I will preface this with a warning: as much as I love the characters of RWBY, canon is currently the target of all of my spite, so I’m approaching this novel with HANDFULS of wariness and also salt! Most people who follow me already know I don’t pay attention to canon, nor care for it, nor listen to it, and most of you also know I headcanon Velvet as a 6ft+ trans and queer beefcake who can bend your spine into a pretzel, so I’m already at odds here. As such, if it seems like I’m not approaching this liveblog with the benefit of the doubt: that’s because I’m not!!! Yay!!!

So with that said, let’s enjoy Murphy Wishing Velvet Were Big, But Isn’t, And So Suffering Never Ends:

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Firstly, this book is thicker than I expected, whilst the font is bigger than I’d have thought. I know it’s for teens so it’s not as if this was gonna be, like, 1000 pages in a size 10 font, but this probably won’t take me long to read (although it’ll take longer by virtue of me adding to this as we go). There doesn’t seem to be a chapter list, though, so I have no clue how long each chapter is. Guess we’ll find that out when we get there.

Secondly, the cover of this book sure is, uh, a Thing. What’s going on with Velvet’s face?

Thirdly, the cover is Not Nice to Touch. This is a weird observation, but trust me, I’m tempted to laminate the cover just so it doesn’t feel so... dusty.

PROLOGUE

Velvet’s the narrator, and Murphy isn’t surprised! Velvet’s such a fan favourite that having her not be the narrator (at least for some of this book) would have been an absolute crime.

Okay, halfway through the first page and I did laugh at ‘a terrible place to visit, but you wouldn’t want to live there’. I may pass that line along to my dad, because it’s a, how you say, big mood.

Fox’s Semblance is Telepathy, which is... a thing, I guess? I’ve seen some pretty creative thoughts on what Fox might have, and this seems kinda lackluster, but the phrase ‘special teamspeak’ IS funny and I love the concept of them acting like it’s a voice channel on Discord. That’s good, and for that I accept this.

(I will note I trust the author of this novel. He seems neat and I already like the humour. I don’t trust M+K but we already knew that.)

‘As [Yatsu] stepped onto [Velvet’s] linked hands, she heaved upwards and stood, boosting his jump as he catapulted high over her head.’

Velvet, bridal-carrying Yatsu: idk he weighs the same as a couple of grapes

I will say, it’s nice having CFVY content at all. They might be Fools but I do love them,

‘[Velvet] pressed the stitched heart emblem to open it and then removed Anesidora, her high-tech camera that used special Dust--’

Anesidora???? That’s the name of her camera??? Of all the things I expected, that was probably the LAST thing I expected. What??? Wikipedia says it’s Greek for sender of gifts, but why that’s the name I am, Not Sure,

‘Combined with her Semblance--photographic memory--Velvet could wield these 3-D replicas with skills and moves that otherwise would have taken years of training to master.’

That’s no surprise, really (and I did already write a short about Exactly That) but I probably wouldn’t have called it photographic memory. Muscle memory, more like? But yeah, that’s pretty expected.

REESE GOT MENTIONED ILU REESE,,,, when will my gay child return from the WAR. LITERALLY. WHERE IS SHE.

Velvet’s thinking abt Weiss dustbun confirmed!!!!!!!!!!! But seriously when will Velvet kiss a small gay Schnee??? What must I do. Whomst must I kill.

OUGH VELVET LOSING THE PHOTOS OF FRIENDS SHE ISN’T SURE HAVE SURVIVED,,,, OWIE. THAT HURT MY FEELIES MR MYERS,,,, but I AM enjoying this angst and that I shall not lie about.

Ruby and Coco, leaders in arms... I will say that the moment of them kinda regarding each other as equals would have landed considerably better had they ever really, uh, interacted in the show. I tend to write Ruby being Coco’s little protege, but we don’t actually have a ton of canon evidence of that really being a thing? So even though I’m enjoying this li’l tidbit, it’s really lacking some foundation, alas.

Fox’s tonfas (is it tonfa time? I think it’s tonfa time) are called Sharp Retribution. Which MMORPG did he get that from?

“We’re Shade Academy’s newest star pupils.”

The sheer cockiness of it all. Ilu Coco.

Okay so, y’all know that Murphy’s about to say: I HATE that Velvet gets treated like a goddamn marshmallow. I’m trying my BEST, I SWEAR, not to complain abt canon Velvet because everyone knows this is my biggest sticking point, but god I hate that she’s written to have such a specific semblance and be so squishy. Aaaaaaaaaaaaa--

Also: we’re having a case of a jumpy POV, particularly with the conversation with Glynda. I know this tends to be something that happens with writing for younger audience, but woof am I noticing it.

I’m liking Yatsu!!!! He had like, no lines (at all) in the show, but he’s actually more of a smartass than I had dared hope for, so that Something.

Oh yeah, Fox is a Vacuan boye! I do like that he’s very chill with everything whilst Velvet is begging for seven different types of death (but could I make a comment abt my Velvet here? Yes. Am I going to? I’m trying not to).

CHAPTER ONE

Owie wowie this is already gettin’ kinda long. If chapter one causes a lot of commentary, I may have to add on in a reblog so the people don’t have to suffer.

Coco is our narrator now! Let’s see how many times the word ‘sunglasses’ comes up (hint: probably enough times that if I took a shot for every one I’d be very dead).

/sees the name Alabaster YOU aren’t a big chunky polar bear Faunus! Leave!

“Who’s your tribe?” “I’m from Kenyte,” Fox said. “But it’s been a long time.”

Vacuan tribes, baby! I’m tempted to see how I could work this into anything, but my lore is pretty stick-stuck so I’m probably just gonna jot this down as a ‘cool thing’. Oh, wait, they’re tribal nomads, which means it DOES fit the lore!!! Nice!!! Murphy guessed it!!! Cool!!

‘A perky Faunus waitress with a pig snout came over.’

With a what. Canon, where are we with traits? Also, like, I feel there are multiple childhood movies that scared the crap out of me with people getting pig snouts so I’m making the executive decision to ignore this line. Never happened.

Racism incoming, so I’m getting a cup of tea.

And we’re back! This guy also has a mace and a mohawk and is he just the combination of team CRDL or what?

‘Coco couldn’t take her eyes off the fit, dark-skinned woman.’

I presume they mean fit as in physically fit but my BritBrain is like ‘hell yeah shes fit’ and now I’m envisioning Coco as, like, maybe a scouser. Can you imagine her with a beehive? Anyway, moving SWIFTLY on.

‘--chain mail crop top--’

I’ve never seen a worse combination of words, which is impressive when I wrote Velvet as wearing bright yellow boardshorts with a neon-blue tank top that one time. And by one time, I mean, every time,

I’ve seen this outfit in pictures ‘cause of Amity Arena but god it sounds even worse in words like. Nobody is hot enough to pull off this absolute jumble of clothes. Nobody is.

I do enjoy big lesbian Coco though, so there’s that.

People have already mentioned the ‘could you picture me in a uniform’ line w/ Thirsty Coco so I won’t give it more screentime but it is a mood, and now we know coco has a uniform kink,

“We’re doing this for school credit,”

fox: i do not want money i want an a+

Velvet POPPIN OFF for Mysterious Reasons... is this gonna be like Qrow’s bad luck Semblance only someone has the Semblance of ‘Will Piss Everyone Off In Vicnity’? I think we call those anons,

CHAPTER TWO

I think I’ll stop after this chapter since this chapter’s a little bigger, and this liveblog is already too dang long. It’s a flashback!

‘Vale has been [Coco’s] home all her life.’

I’m quietly ignoring this line in favour of Atlesian Coco. You cannot stop me. But Coco does have a younger brother, so that’s neat! Kinda! IDK what to do with this information but it sure is there existing!

‘And to top it off, [Glynda] was also hot--’

This is the only bit of canon I will accept, because it’s true and Coco should say it.

‘[Velvet and Coco had] both come from Pharos Combat School--’

Another tidbit ignored because I favour Menagerie-born-and-bred Velvet, but I do like hearing the names of other combat schools outside of Signal. Looooooore.

OH there’s a GOOD PARAGRAPH HERE that I don’t really wanna type out, but Velvet is mentioning how she doesn’t like bunny jokes or puns (’hop to it’, she classifies as ‘harmless-but-hurtful’) and THANK YOU, oh my GOD. I’ve written about this before but if I see one more person have Coco make a bunny joke in a fic I will fight Them Myself,

Oh, Fox’s Scroll has an ‘Accessibility Dialogue Assistant’ (ADA)! That’s quite cool, actually. I’ve been wondering how tech might have functioned for Fox, so we have some confirmation about a Scroll’s use for accessibility stuff! That’s neat! I like that! Also, his telepathy also lets him sense people -- pinpointing them exactly the better he knows them -- so that’s a cool little side-effect, too. Although, I swear these Semblances are getting more poorly named by the minute.

Coco’s weapon is called Gianduja, which is... a type of chocolate! Unsurprisingly.

‘Besides, Coco wasn’t looking for a girlfriend--’

yet.

Coco and Fox have a fun dynamic, and I enjoy it immensely. They’re bros...

Also, how does Velvet procure this very expensive Dust for her weapon, anyway? I wonder if we’ll find out later.

“You’re from Mistral,” she said. Yatsuhashi blinked. “So?” “Your people don’t tend to like my people.”

That’s an interesting tidbit that Mistral as a whole has a reputation. I suppose they mean the Kingdom and not the continent (of Anima), but still.

“Don’t worry,” Velvet smirked. “I’ll protect you.”

ah, that is, how the kids say, hott,

“So it’s a Death Stalker den. Only an idiot would go in there.”

Jaune found dead from a sneezing fit.

Awh, I like Coco describing the temple bit. Already she’s looking out for her Best Boye. Also, playing cards are a cool thing, and they’re the King of Hearts! That’s ‘cause they’re gonna win a lot, too,

Okay, I now understand Coco’s Hype Semblance. It’s interesting! I’m curious how else it can be used, aka how versatile it is, but it’s a neat concept.

Velvet dabbled in fortune-telling when she was younger and I am enamoured with this idea. Also, picking the Queen of Hearts ‘cause it’s the only one w/ good vibes? Love it.

Okay, end of chapter! RIP Velvet who constantly looks like a squishy baby, and even though that still Irks Me As a Person And A Gay, at least it’s. Maybe gonna be a plot point or smthng idk. Anyway, I’m stopping here for now because this is slow going when I’m adding commentary, so I’ll probably reblog this and add onto it later. Less RWDE than expected, but it’s still early chapters yet.

[byjillianmaria]

Seeking Binge Readers for The Songbird’s Refrain!

Hello! If you’re following you probably already know about The Songbird’s Refrain. Maybe you’ve even read it! But right now I’m looking for some readers to read over the draft in a short amount of time. I’ll be accepting both people who have beta read and people who haven’t read the draft in full!

Quick Info

Genre: Young Adult Paranormal Suspense Word Count: Approx 78k Trigger Warnings: Body horror, child abuse, character death. Some squicky things re: bodily autonomy and consent (that aren’t sexual in nature, but the comparison can pretty easily be drawn). Deadline to finish reading: December 14, 2018

Short Explanation — I’m looking for people willing to help me identify any weak points in this manuscript before I hire a professional editor. I’m especially looking for things like continuity errors. Read a lengthier description under the cut.

What is the Songbird’s Refrain?

The Songbird’s Refrain is my soon-to-be debut novel. Here’s the synopsis (in progress):

You aren’t important.

This is 17-year-old Elizabeth Brighton’s mantra, a reminder not to take her worries too seriously. But when a bright blue eye on a flier makes her feel seen in a way nothing else has, she decides that following where it leads might end these worries once and for all. She’s told that the show it advertises is hard to explain, designed by a woman known only as the Mistress. She’s not told that the Mistress is a sadistic witch with a voice that’s impossible to disobey—a witch who has chosen Elizabeth as the latest in a very long line of kidnapped, cursed and killed women.

Now locked in a bird cage, growing feathers that suck the life from her and forced to sing in front of an audience every night, Elizabeth seems doomed to follow in the footsteps of all the girls who came before her. The show’s fortune teller hints that finding out why the Mistress is holding her captive is the key to defeating her. But the only clues Elizabeth has are strange thoughts that seem to come from somewhere else and dreams that either put Elizabeth in the room of an unfamiliar girl or in the mind of a woman in love with the beautiful, ethereal Alice. How can Elizabeth figure out what it all means—and more importantly, how can a normal girl like her use that knowledge against someone with as much power as the Mistress?

You can read the first two chapters of The Songbird’s Refrain here! And I encourage you to do so.

What is a binge reader?

A binge reader is someone who reads through a manuscript in a short amount of time, to help the writer catch any continuity mistakes or similar things. They are not the same as beta readers or critique partners, as they are not expected to fill out forms, interviews, or make inline comments!

What will I need to do?

If you binge read The Songbird’s Refrain, I will ask you to do two things:

Keep notes as you read (I don’t much care where. A word or google doc would work fine. When I’ve binge read for friends in the past, I’ve kept mine in the notes app on my phone, and then pasted them into an email).

Write your thoughts on the novel when you’re finished, kind of like a review you might put on Amazon or Goodreads (a few paragraphs at least, telling me what you liked and/or didn’t like).

In your reading notes, here are the things I absolutely need from you:

Continuity errors. (”In chapter 6, you mention Jane Doe having a sister, but in chapter 4 she said she was an only child!”)

Anything that confused you. (”In chapter 8, Jane talks about this character. I don’t know who that is!”)

Characters being OOC. (”I can’t believe that Jane would shoplift! She’s talked about obeying the law since page 1.”)

Scenes that didn’t work for you. (”Jane’s fight with John was really boring.”)

Here are some things that you can include in your notes, but aren’t required to:

Emotional reactions. (”I cried when Jane lost her grandmother’s locket!”)

“Liveblog”-esque comments. (”NO JANE, DON’T GO INTO THAT HOUSE, IT’S OBVIOUSLY HAUNTED.”)

Things that stuck out to you for whatever reason. (”Your description of Jane’s house made me feel like I could walk right inside!”)

Things you should not include in your notes:

Line edits (this hasn’t gone to a professional editor yet! there are probably typos!)

If you’re interested in binge reading, please sign up using this form. I will be making final selections and sending off manuscripts by November 13.

[thebibliomancer]

Song of the Dark Crystal liveblog pt 21

Song of the Dark Crystal by J.M. Lee because after that big shocking reveal last time I don’t really need another because!

Last times on book: Kylan, Naia, Amri, and Tavra are finally on their way to Ha’rar after the disappointment of finding that the firca of Gyr the Song Teller was broken. When Kylan went ahead to ask Tavra if they could take a break, he discovered she wasn’t Tavra and was colluding with the Skeksis against them! He knows but she doesn’t knows he knows! How tense!

Chapter 21

Kylan is a sweet little blue berry

When Fake-Tavra and Kylan get back to the clearing, Naia immediately insists that no matter what Tavra thinks, they need to rest.

Fake-Tavra actually draws her sword although she stops short of being actually threatening with it. Still, GEEZ FAKE TAVRA!

Its only thanks to the improbability of an imposter situation that you’ve been getting away with impostering because you are terrible at pretending to be a reasonable individual!

Kylan, who has reason to worry about whether Fake-Tavra would actually use the sword knowing that her Skeksis master is getting impatient with her, steps in.

He’s stepped between Fake Tavra and Naia so many times that he’s basically an expert at this point.

“Tavra. Listen. Amri needs shoes, or soon we’ll have to carry him, which will surely slow us down further than if we stop for just a little while.”

“It’s not my fault he decided to come. If he needs shoes so badly, he can have mine.”

Tavra reached down and tore the sandals from her feet, tossing them at the Grottan boy, who flinched at the gesture.

“That’s really not necessary,” Amri began. “Naia cut some hide from her jerkin, so...”

Geez, poor Amri. He didn’t ask to be in the middle of this drama.

Kylan deflects again because he can sense that this is argument is gonna escalate and then Fake Tavra’s gonna kick their asses.

“I got a note from Rian. It came by swoothu, early this evening. His boat was damaged by a rock in the river, and he was waylaid. He’s close by and he said he’ll wait for us if we’re near. I already told him we would meet him tomorrow evening.”

Tavra snatches the note from Kylan, looks at it, and then dunks it into the fire.

Naia looks at Kylan skeptically but he hits her with the full force of puppy dog ‘please play along’ eyes.

“Oh,” she said in a normal tone, as if she had just remembered. “So that’s what you were doing out in the wood earlier. Why didn’t you tell us right away?”

Ain’t friends who’ll back up your random lies the best?

Kylan builds up on his lie by claiming that he didn’t mention it earlier because he was worried it was secretly a secret Skeksis scheme trap.

Fake Tavra confidently says its not a trap (because she is the trap and the Skeksis wouldn’t double book).

Kylan suggests that they wait until morning and then go meet him.

Tavra stared into the fire, free hand cupping her chin in thought. He hoped she was thinking what he wanted her to think - that this opportunity was too sweet to miss. Her master wanted Rian, and this was a way she could regain favor.

He was rewarded when she sheathed her sword.

“Yes. Fit those sandals to the Shadowling. We leave first thing in the dawn.”

And then Fake Tavra sits against a tree and falls asleep. Or pretends to fall asleep?

... Huh. Y’know. With all the emphasis on the Skeksis wanting to drink Naia and Gurjin, I forgot that the inciting incident of all this was them trying to catch Rian.

With that settled, Amri turns his attention to the sandals that Tavra threw at him because he doesn’t have context for all of this and his number one priority is his aching feet.

The sandals are pretty close to his own foot size but Fake Tavra broke the cords when she ripped them off.

Kylan tells Amri he’ll fix them but first fishes the fire-resistant parchment out of the fire and hands it to Amri.

Naia comes over to talk to Kylan while he fixes the sandals, which he’s really good at because it was one of the tasks Maudra Mera taught him when he was a child.

When Kylan whispers back, he whispers loud enough for Fake Tavra to overhear. Oh, Kylan, what scheme are you up to?

“I don’t trust Tavra.” He watched the Silverling when he spoke. She did not stir. “Something about her has been all wrong since we ran into her. You remember... with the blue mouth?”

Naia frowned. “Of course I remember the blue mouth.”

Kylan chose his words as carefully as if he were telling a song. This was the most important part of all.

“Good,” he said. “Because if you remember, then you’ll understand why I want to meet with Rian in private. Tonight. I don’t want Tavra to get her hands on him... I think she’s working for the Skeksis. So, tonight, when it’s quiet, I’m going to sneak out and meet him and tell him. I’m going to tell him to go on to Ha’rar without us, and tell the All-Maudra that her daughter is a traitor.”

Kylan watches from a reaction from Fake Tavra but all he notices is that earring of hers twinkling in the fire light and he thinks it moves on its own.

HMMMMMMMM.

Naia protests Kylan having to go alone but Kylan can’t explain it without giving the game away and dreamfasting would draw Fake Tavra’s attention. Especially since she’d mentioned to her Skeksis master that she could sense it. So he has to trust Naia to trust him and figure out what his plan is. THROUGH FRIENDSHIP and shared experiences.

“Remember the blue mouth?” Kylan asked. “It was good we weren’t alone then.”

Amri had been quiet, since he likely had no idea what the blue mouth was or what it had done. In the meantime, he had uncrumpled the scrap of paper Kylan had handed him, smoothing it on his lap. Kylan focused on mending the last of the broken cord, waiting for Amri’s reaction. It came shortly: a glance of confusion, then the flicker of understanding.

Hmmm.

I have to say, I love Amri just being completely baffled at these references and deciding ‘I guess I’ll read garbage.’

I’m not sure what would be on the note that would give the game away but that also wouldn’t clue Fake Tavra in... unless Fake Tavra can’t read?

It’s been mentioned a couple times that she’s shown no interest in all the writing everywhere.

Also, I forgot what the blue mouth was supposed to be and only just vaguely remembered that its the plant that tried to eat them. I don’t think they ever call it a blue mouth? I’ve flipped back and while it had a mouth it wasn’t described as blue. But the fruit are blue. And that makes me think I know what the reference means and what Naia is supposed to take from it.

Kylan takes first watch and waits and waits and waits until he can’t waits any more.

Kylan watched the fire die in quiet, holding his hands in his lap to keep from fidgeting. Though the night was the same as any other, knowing what would soon come made it seem as if he existed inside a dome of his own thoughts. His mind felt like Aughra’s observatory: constantly moving, full of things.

Stay focused, he told himself. Tell the song. It will work... it has to.

He takes off into the dark wood (not the Dark Wood although it reminds him of the night he spent then and how scared he was compared to how brave he is now and hopes if someone tells his story they remember his character development. You’re such a Song Teller, Kylan).

Since he’s listening carefully, he hears footsteps following behind him at a distance.

The follower (I mean, its Fake Tavra, there’s no ambiguity there) isn’t bothering too hard to hide.

It proved to him that she had meant it when she had called him weak, and for the first time, he smiled about it to himself.

Kylan leads Fake Tavra stalking him towards a perfect ambush zone. Just a great place with ledges and boulders and all kinds of lunging places.

And then Tavra ambushes him.

Kylan turned toward Tavra’s voice just as she shoved him against the cliffside with her forearm, pinning him with her body. In her other hand she held a short knife, but more wicked was the grin on her ghostly face. She did not look like Tavra. She did not look like a Gelfling at all.

She’s being a spooky.

She demands Kylan tell her where Rian is and when he stammers that Rian isn’t here yet, Fake Tavra declares that when Rian does arrive, he’ll find a dead Kylan.

That’s the worst welcoming gift!

ALSO yeah that little earring thing thats repeatedly had attention drawn to it in the text? Its moving? And it has eight legs?

SPIDER-TAVRA. I KNEW IT.

Oh but the real ambush is the ambush that ambushes the ambush.

Kylan ducks out of the way as a bunch of finger-vines are dumped all over Tavra. They leave Kylan alone but snare Tavra in an unbreakable grip.

Amri and Naia climb down from the ledge on the finger-vines. Ah ha! Naia’s ability to talk to plants!

“How dare you!” [Tavra] cried, but the vines near her face slithered across her mouth and silenced her. It seemed the plant did not like her, either.

Hah.

“You make quite a good little blue mouth berry,” Naia said.

Kylan chuckled.

“Sweet and small. We make the best bait.”

HAH.

Okay so the blue mouth plant with its tempting little blue fruits. And Kylan was the tempting little blue fruit in this context because he’s small and sweet. And also the one that Spider-Tavra perceived as weak and no threat.

It all comes together! Good way to draw the plot threads together, Kylan!

And good way to make that weird tree that tried to eat them woven into the narrative and not just a weird random encounter.

Much respect, J.M. Lee. You wordsmith.

The three Gelfling look on the trapped traitor.

“Now, tell us who you are and what you’ve done with Tavra,” said Naia.

YEAH.

I mean, I have a decent idea but I wouldn’t mind some exposition to fill in the gaps. We’re seventy some pages to the end and I don’t know where the rest of the plot is going! Somehow I feel that we’re not going to go to Ha’rar after all.

[lycanhood]

DCTV Crossover: Crisis on Earth -X Part 1 & 2

Hi, I’m going to be watching the whole crossover today and tomorrow, but I’ll only do two liveblogs (one for each night, instead of four for each show)

Supergirl 3x08

James vs Ollie, interesting considering Ollie stole Jimmy’s girl in Smallville

Whoa, okay, not cool with this Nazi killing a black guy on my screen

Sara looks amazing in this Robin Hood getup, but then again she always looks amazing

Ugh, Mon-El is here

“Of course, she is. She’s Supergirl!” thank you, Alex

YAY sisters night!!

Um, Kara can’t put on break-up weight haha

I’m just not sure a wedding is the best way to get over the breakup blues, guys

Um, Iris, maybe the fact that Mon-El isn’t here should have been a clue that you shouldn’t bring him up

Keratin ha

Barry seeing Oliver in a suit and saying “Damn” is mood

What’s with the Darth Vader voice? Stop it

So Stein is totally gonna die. I can tell because he’s super excited about the future

Who is Alex hugging? She doesn’t know anyone on this Earth

“Her” Haha Sara’s face! Agent Canary looks like a very real possibility

Spider juice, yuck

“You can stick to things!” hahaha Good Ol Stein

Nice, Joe, reminding everyone of the awkward sibling thing WA has going on

ITS HAPPENING!!!!! Alex and Sara are making out!! Holy shit, I hoped I really did, but I somehow thought that was a pipe dream, but its really HAPPENING!!!!

Olicity is so bad at this. WTF are they doing? Wow that was embarrassing

Oh wow what did I do to deserve this Agent Canary content?

Wait...wtf did Mick sleep with Stein’s daughter? Surely not

“Out doing what?” Sara. She was doing Sara

“Do you know what I did?” “No, not the specifics, no.” Oh I am LIVING for this!!! The Danvers sisters are my life

Who is this waitress? She looks very familiar to me, and she’s acting weird. Is she a super fan of the flash? Is she from the future?

Aw this song :)

OMG! The minister!

#IhateNazis

Why are they not more alarmed that a guy was just vaporized!?!

Haha really enjoying the new and improved KillerFrost/Catlin. Caitlin rolled her eyes like damn I didn’t want to invite that bitch

Nooo not the heat vision stand off! That’s DUMB!

Have Oliver and Cisco done this breaching move before? They must have practiced right?

I’m not sure what I like more Sara and Alex fighting together or Sara and Alex sleeping together. Lucky for me this crossover has both.

I wonder if Nazi Supergirl and Nazi Oliver are like...a thing

So like are you married now or...oh I guess not

Aren’t you not suppose to let concussed people sleep?

Joe has to leave but Iris gets to stay?

Oooo the Trump dragging is back, nice

Let Alex at him, we all remember Exodus am I right?

Are you not also Kryptonian, Nazi Supergirl?

Wait shouldn’t Nazi Reverse Flash be Eobard Thawne?

Arrow 6x08

Oh shit they’re hitting Ollie right in the feels, bringing Tommy into this

Those did not look like 1945 outfits, guys

Just want to point out that there should probably be more than 52 earths, there should be like an infinite number of alternate universes

“...And Rory.” aw thats mean Barry

Um, Ollie, that’s not how Dopplgangers work

There we go making promises we can’t keep

Oh, Nazi Tommy is evil. I for one am #shocked

So he could have killed himself before, but instead he waited to make his terrifying speech

These three seem to work really well together

Haha “10% less brooding” a valid request

Yeah, anti-Kara/Ollie are definitely a thing. Weird

Yeach, fuck dopplegangers

Alot has changed since Ivy Town, Ollie

That was two years ago!

Please respect her on this, damn.

Is Cisco okay? Boy still sleepin?

“It’s not about you.” haha That’s what I’m always thinking about Wells. Get him the fuck out

Jazx, don’t make him feel bad for wanting to be with his famil

Awkward!Alex. It’s totally gonna be a thing

Aw :( That’s a real bummer on the Agent Canary front. We miss Maggie too, Alex

I love Maggie and I love Sanvers and I’m super sad they broke up. But even if they had stayed together forever and gotten married, I think that would have also been a bit problematic on a few levels. Because Alex just came out and it seems strange to me that she would fall madly in love with and live happily ever after with the first woman she dates. Like I love them, but that’s not very realistic to me. If maybe a season or two down the road they could bring Maggie back and they could somehow work through the whole “kids” issue that would be great. Maybe Alex could even have a smaller scale love interest in the meantime (not necessarily Sara and) not like right now, but maybe next season

Iris looks so good in this...sweater? Sweatshirt? Idk but she looks great

Hahaha poor Ollie on his motorcycle

Well, at least Barry isn’t a Nazi

So that is Eobard Thawne. Got it

Kara is so pissed about Nazi Supergirl

“Ew, gross! No offense.”

Uh oh, Ollie has some explaining to do

Now both the Karas are pissed!

Villians are always knocking things over to distract heroes, fucking cowards

Alex being a brilliant scientist!!! GIVE ME MORE!!!

Interesting how anti-Kara is the levelheaded sort of emotionless one and anti-Oliver is the overly sentimental one. I wonder if meeting anti-Kara is going to finally turn Kara off this whole “I’m not human, I shouldn’t feel these things” phase

Is Cisco still asleep? Is anyone checking on him?

Alex, Felicity, and Catlin looking good while they work

Hahah Mick wanting to bring KillerFrost out to play

What do you mean you can’t believe he’s back? He was just fucking with the Legends a few months ago, this shouldn’t be that shocking. People rarely seem to stay dead with you guys

Aaaand now I have that High School Musical song stuck in my head, thanks alot

Alex suiting up with the rest of the heroes!!!!

“Wall to wall Nazis” is never a sentence I wanted to hear

Alex forgot to bring her alien gun? Bummer

Where is our Supergirl? Is our Supergirl going to fight their Arrow? Sounds unfair, but okay

He didn’t check the fridge for mustard? The fuck?

I thought anti-Ollie was about to kill Wells and I wasn’t unhappy about it :/

Ok, but like anti-Supergirl hitting Ollie probably should have killed him

Mick is KillerFrost’s #1 fan

Uh! KillerFrost just freeze him! BE BETTER!

Aw Barry caught Alex

Well, fuck

What the fuck is wrong with anti-Kara? Foreboding

Protective!Alex!!!

Wait her sister? Did anti-Kara have an anti-Alex or is she talking about some Kryptonian sorta sister?