#but it's a lot different from my very cute and wholesome comic style

[heyitsrink]

Fool's Fate but make it Death Metal

Inspired by yet another unhinged RotE discord convo from a while back.

[smilesatdawnmain]

Hello ! I adore your LMK AU‘s and your writing style. The stories are so captivating and make me excited for the next chapter.

I wanted to ask what your favorite AUs are :) I know you have great taste and I would be grateful if you could share some LMK au/comic/fanfic recommendations with us :))))

Hello! Oh my gosh thank you so so much! That makes me so happy to hear ;-; Thank you!

I got a lot of favorites out there, let me tell you :3 Alright alright~

AU'S:

The King and his Cub By: @theweepingegg : This au is so cute and I love little MK with his Papa~ It's adorable and the humor just has me rolling! Plus the wholesome Father and Son moments + an uncle Macaque?? It's amazing! Literally just melts my heart with every new update.

Cursed Au By: @winterpower98: This Au consumed my life and continues to do so. The drama, the redemption, the growing bond between Wukong Macaque and MK?? I love it alll~ The whole universal set up of this growing Au is so full and wonderful.

Literally, ANY AU that is made by @journey-to-the-au ! This artist just- STEALS all of my attention. They got a lot of different Au's, and so many amazing ideas. There is action and romance and betrayal and platonic love that is so wholesome and sweet and AHHHHH. Taking a long tour through their entire tumblr page is 100% WORTH IT

Very similarly, anything by @rebeltigera! They also have so many different au's that are all AMAZING. Something about their style also- ahhhhh <3 It's so good. I definitely suggest taking a dive into their tumblr too. Their Macaque is honestly probably my favorite version of Macaque!

Forged Faith by @swagginmun Gosh the anxiety but also the pure adoration I have for this particular Au?? Definitely follows a more canon storyline but has one HECK OF A TWIST. The expressions that are done are amazing and I really really can't wait for this one to continue as its current chapter just ended on something INTENSE.

Fan Comics!

Eclipsed Apprentice by @journeytomonkiekid : I've been following this one for a while. I LOVE IT. There are so many talented people in the LMK community and this comic takes an interesting turn to the canon of LMK. Has some great Oc's and the storyline has me hooked! Lots of drama, and redemption, and so far the character growth is *Chef kiss*

Even Rainfall Has Shadows By @linklefr : Another fancomic that takes it's own path and turn from the LMK canon. Oc's are so cute and I just wanna squeeze them! It's really growing to be its own thing! It's got a lot of talk about self-worth and toxic habits and overall overcoming those that the characters need to grow from, and I can't wait to see where it goes!

FANFICS: (I have way too many. My gosh. And honestly if folks have more recommendations, please put them in the comments! Or if you have a story you wrote yourself I would love to read it!) I would mark their Tumblr creators if I knew them, but I don't know all of them ;-; So I'll put the link to the fanfic instead

SunBreak : First LMK fanfic I ever read. It is the rabbit hole that dropped me into loving Macaque and parent Macaque to be more precise~ Goes way off canon and I'm LOVING IT

There May be no such thing as eternity: Possed Wukong- I cannot explain how much possessed Wukong still reaching out to the Macaque and the gang just makes my brain flip~

A Garden Across Our Collar Bone: THIS. Ahhhh- Just bury me with this fanfic in my hand. MK X Red Son and ahhh- Also, ANYTHING this author (PittiedPeaches) writes is GOLD.

Of Blood and Bones: A big inspiration to me and their story is SO GOOD. The angst but also fluff that is slipped in? It's an amazingly sad but wonderful read. And I really love the world-building

Peach Blossoms: I'm a sucker for any Hanahaki disease kind of story and this is everything I wanted and more. This was soooo good and it flowed really well.

Love Team: Ooooh boy this story took me on a roller coaster ride. MY GOSH I never knew what to expect and it always had me on the edge of my seat~

Is this A Monkey-Thing or Dad-Thing?: Any Dad wukong focused fic will just catch my feet and trip me into the pit of the story. Every time. This one is so cute~

Kiss Your Knuckles: This oneshot is soo sooo good! And also horribly tragic. Gosh it just destroyed me! I definitely suggest it!

-Okay this thing is getting long and I'm not even close to saying all the fanfics and such I have read XD There are so many good fanfics out there my gosh. If you have more than you think are amazing please put them in the comments!

[nightrae13]

"I love sunrise, the promise of a new day. Anything is possible."

"Roof was their sanctuary, a place where they could stop pretending and just dive into their thoughts after missions or when they couldn’t sleep. Even though they didn’t talk a lot during that time, every encounter made them feel like they were one step closer and it was a good feeling. Both of them felt as if they had found their soulmate, a person that understood your struggles without words and explanations" - things feel different, in a good way by nanping

Hi to whoever reads this! This fan art is not entirely based off that very wholesome one-shot by nanping, but it's very much inspired by it. It was such a cute fic that helped me unwind when I got stressed , so I just had to draw my OTP! Still, I added my own twist that instead of having it RobRae, I made it adult NightRae with Raven's design based off one of her comic looks from Tom Taylor's Titans. Even if I prefer drawing Rae in long hair with her white cloak, I still find her so cool in this style; I kinda also like that she appeared in the Nite-Mite story with Nightwing and her design is similar to this, so yeah, it's an inspo too lol. In addition, I wanted to pay homage to "The End Part 1" with canon RobRae on the rooftop at sunrise (tho it looks like sunset in mine lol), and decided it'd be cute if they had a moment like this again as adults! Like, RobRae/NightRae/DickRae rooftop scenes are just: ✨✨

[mislamicpearl]

Thoughts on Danny Phantom: A Glitch in Time

If you want the tl;dr of my thoughts on this graphic novel, it's simple: I LOVED IT! And I want moooore!

SPOILERS GALORE BELOW

I'm soooooo happy with all the dialogue and characterization, it is just spot on! I could perfectly hear the original voices of the characters saying these lines, this comic could literally be a new episode of the show and it would fit seamlessly! No 2020's slang or memes, no wokeness that wasn't there before, just pure Danny Phantom. The only few indications of the comic having been written in 2023 is the use of words like "selfie" and "goat", and those are already old enough now that they don't feel that blatant.

Needless to say I'm sooooo glad this story's main premise is on Dark Danny, the fact that that storyline never came back in the show was always a sore spot for me. And not only Dark Danny but Vlad AND Clockwork come back for major parts to play? This is like the most wish fulfilling fanfic ever, except it's CANON!

But yeah, love that Vlad got to come back, it's always funny when he has to work together with Danny, AND the fact that he gets a redemption of sorts at the end fixes one of the many things I disliked about the show's finale - it had always felt like this was a villain character that could have and should have gotten a second chance to do some good.

Ahahaha I had completely forgotten that Tucker was made mayor of Amity Park in Phantom Planet, and ngl it was a great move on the comic's part scrapping that idea immediately, that had always been pretty silly.

I wish we could've seen just a little bit more of Danny interacting with his parents now that they know his identity as a half ghost, but considering they weren't major characters in this plot (and considering how things end up) it kinda makes sense.

The important thing is that we still got lots of cute wholesome hugs between Danny and his friends. :')

Aaaaaah Dark Danny is so cool! The art style was really cute but the author also managed to make Phantom look just as dark and menacing as he was in the show.

The best and most disturbing joke was Danny seeing that Vlad still had a clone of him in stasis, ahahaha! And this actually comes back to play an important part in the plot later!

I'm glad Valerie got some moments to shine in this too, I never liked how her and Danny's whole thing was just kind of rushed and brushed aside in the show's finale. Now we can see, she still doesn't completely trust him!

If there's just one thing I fault this comic with, it's the whole glitching through different timelines thing to make filler action scenes. I felt like they ate up page time for nothing.

"I put you two in the ground before, I can do it again" HOLY FRICK THAT'S DARK, DANNY!

I really love the lore surrounding the ghosts that was added. Given that Butch Hartman has said the ghosts aren't actually deceased spirits of real people, the explanation given here actually makes the fact that we have ghosts like Poindexter, who was a living boy once, make sense without negating what he said. It also very simply explains why we have weird formless or creature-like ghosts, something I'd never even thought to wonder about.

I did think it was a little too easy for Danny to get his powers back after that explanation (and dang, as if he hasn't been compared to Spider-man enough XD), but I love what it did for Vlad's character arc.

I don't know how I'd never thought before about Dark Danny and Vlad interacting but WOW I needed to see that! God what a deliciously complicated relationship - Vlad literally adopted this version of Danny and made him who he was! And again, what a great way to develop Vlad's character making Dark Danny show him exactly what would result from him getting what he'd always wanted in making Danny his protegee!

Clockwork Dark Danny looked so cool~

"Why was I the one who lost everything?" God this part punched me in the gut. 

Clockwork returning Danny and his friends back to the status quo of the show would usually annoy me, but I totally see that this is the author's way of undoing the results of Phantom Planet and leaving the story open to doing the ending over again - and I'm all for that! You know, if in fact we do get more comics after this.

Which it seems like we will because we kinda left Valerie on a cliffhanger there?

And Dark Danny is now a kid again and back with Vlad, heck yeah! Again, I need mooooore! Bring back Dani next!!

5 stars man, this is a continuation done right in every way!

[kiki-kit]

yo I'm sure you're annoyed to death with all the gf questions but like??? how did you manage to draw them SO wholesomely well??? Like 20x better than what I'd expect from an officially licensed IDW comic artist???

Obviously it's an animation pipeline so shortcuts have to be made in regard s to the official product for the sake of the workers but like??? I love the little extra details like highlights, the little eye dots, the slanted mouths, etc.

Your original art looks a bit different than what I've seen in your PMV comics, but I'm a sucker for cute fantasy animals so I'm very down with this new webcomic thingy 😭

dkjfgsndg thank you

and yea my original stuff is a bit far off from gf lmao but i had just gotten out of the pnf style so jumping into gf style was a breeze getting back into my style from there took a bit figuring out haha

i really hope people like my story a lot once i,,, figure it out ;v; but i appreciate the interest in it! even if its relatively small at the moment, but i love my babies so imma keep doin it uvu

[desmondkane-of-ao3-fame]

What made you start shipping skarlow?

A good question honestly, and one I had to think back to a bit, cause it feels so long ago by now…

My first moment of shipping what is factually the best ship in all of TOH (science proves it, I swear) is in “The Wrong Blight,” my first real long fic. (Spoilers for it throughout, recommend reading it yourself first in the attached link).

In all honesty, the story has little if anything REALLY to do with Skarlow; it’s a rather angsty (to a potentially silly degree) story about Luz having a crush on Em and asking Amity and her friends to help, only for her feelings to ACTUALLY be about Amity the whole time. I’m quite proud of the piece, even if some (er, a lot) is overly dramatic and the chapters were all written to be waaaaaaaay too long. I’d recommend it for nothing else then the way I write Edric, who was a personal favorite character to play with throughout. And, of course, my first Skarlow.

The idea to push Skarlow came from wanting to incorporate some way to put music into the story; Luz wanted to have a big rocking moment for her confession to Em, and I felt like Skara, a fan favorite at the time, would fit in super well with that idea. However, that led to the question of ‘Why would Skara want to help a group of people she’s helped bully?’ And then, in the middle of the night, it hit like a freight train. The answer that would change my life forever;

“Because she has a crush on Willow!”

I played with the idea of Skara having a crush on Willow throughout the story, going so far as to have her leave Boscha’s group entirely to try and redeem herself. However, it’s never a hugely explicit thing; because the story is told entirely through Amity and Luz’s POV’s, and Willow is herself something of a bit role, most of the crush elements are subtle and comic relief, with a big moment of reconciliation happening almost entirely off screen. I’ve considered revisiting the Wrong Blight-verse to create both Skarlow and Vinera one shots, but I don’t think I will. At this point, my writing style is very different and my headspace much less focused on the sort of over-the-top angst TWB represents. The point being, Skarlow was at first a bit role I came up with to help explain Skara’s actions. But it *very* quickly changed…

Back then I was in a group of online friends who spent much of our free time writing TOH fan fictions. This was also during the hiatus between Season 1 and 2, which was when the biggest ship aside from Lumity was Boschalow, and it was one of only a small handful of ships. So to go against the grain like that raised eyebrows. Everyone was interested in why I chose to make Skarlow a part of the story and make her like Willow. I joked, “Well, Skara is best girl, and Willow deserves the best, soooooo.” Most people chuckled, but two of my friends weren’t laughing. Instead, they hatched an idea.

For about a month, my friends Quartz and JuliaCorvina (who you should ALSO check out on AO3) told us all they were working on a secret project, and they refused to elaborate further. During this time the Skarlow talk died down, but I thought about the ship more and more. There was something to it I realized. It had a similar charm as Boschalow, with its redemptive nature and cute young sapphic potential, but in a much, MUCH less toxic package. Skara’s a more wholesome character the Boscha, and much less happy to literally try and kill people. While dating your ex-bullies is probably a bad idea, Willow dating Skara became something I appreciated a lot. But at the time, almost nothing Skarlow existed outside of my little server. I supposed I wouldn’t get to expand too much on the ship.

Enter “Guitar Strings and Flower Petals.”

The secret project my friends had been working on was the first chapter in a slow burn Skarlow fic. The whole sever was stunned, but I was particularly happy. It was, as Quartz would say, glorious.

Sadly, Julia dropped herself from the project for a variety of reasons. But after a month or so, Quartz asked me to continue it with him, saying they always planned to ask me anyway to help, and that I may as well begin now. I obliged, and after helping with the revisions to chapter 3, became Q’s co-writer in the project. Eventually I decided to also use some spare cash I had for a Skarlow themed commission. And soon Skarlow art was literally the most important thing I’d buy (aside from food sometimes) which I’d like to think has helped tempt more then a few to jump aboard our ship.

Now, it appears Skarlow is, if not a major force, a small bit mighty ship that’s withstood the tests it’s been made to face. Even with Huntlow, people seem to enjoy the ship a great deal of Skarlow, which makes me happy. Who would have thought, a small little plot point in a silly little angst fic, would have helped to create a prolific and enjoyable Community?

Thank you for reading my ramblings on the subject. I hope you check out TWB, as well as the works of me, Quartz, and juliacorvina, on AO3. I hope you all enjoy!

[freunwol]

Any wholesome Freunwol headcanons?

hi yes hello yes hi hello yes well

- ive mentioned hair before but like. that just really seems like an important form of intimacy for them i think!!! braiding it, brushing it, freud snuggling into euns hair when he sleeps or vice versa..... the lil things yknow?

- i do wanna touch on the falling asleep in his hair thing bc like. i think that would absolutely make euns heart melt. kind of hard to move tho

- on a similar topic, i do remember seeing a comic of freud giving eun an actual haircut as opposed to a wild boy never-had-positive-interactions-in-his-life mess and it was SO fucking cute so to me its canon that freud gave eun his haircuts & styled it and to eun that was like the second coming of jesus christmas (i bookmarked the comic but the tweet was deleted. Q-Q)

- in the maple m dialogue eun says freud gets quiet when hes angry, which i think only applies to like genuine fury, but also. no talk me angy

- i think the fact that one of euns moves is him transforming into a biggol spirit to slash at stuff is HIGHLY underutilized in fandom sphere... freud sees it for the first time and loses his fuckin mind

- i think they kind of represent different things to each other? like ive prolly mentioned i think freud is a source of stability for eun (not the least of which is cuz house), but i do think eun is a kind of freedom for freud. hes rather one-track minded- judging from his introspection in the journal event, he tended to miss the forest for the trees, getting too caught up in doing and forgetting why hes doing it. i can see fighting bm becoming an all-consuming thing in his life, and struggling to imagine a life outside of it, cuz hes already come this far. being w eun- considering how eun is- would prove as a reminder that he'll have a life after the battle, and no matter what he chooses to do, there will be people who back him up on the decision

- and on a similar topic freud is... probably repressed to the point of not understanding what romantic feelings feel like. he knows the signs of it on other ppl but hes like "hm i feel strangely anxious and warm and my heart is beating very fast... am i having heat stroke" (half joke, he would know, but still too repressed to say anything, i think. he just offers to house eun and stay with him through the good and bad times)

- hes a warm person, and its genuine, but i think often it may be kind of impersonal- more of a politeness thing. so being able to connect with eun and the other heroes is something very special to him, and hes very special to them!!!

- theres a lot of parallels that need to be explored. the moon and mr left a hole open in the roof so he could stare at the moon. the ocean and the wind. the dragon and the... fox? deer? guy? i want so desperately to make a color comparison but their main colors are red and either black or purple so its. not the best of comparisons.

- THE FUCKING ROOF THING I DIDNT EVEN THINK OF THAT DID YOU KNOW. DID YOU KNOW EUNWOL MEANS HIDDEN MOON probably you did, i thought it was silver moon for the longest time BUT. freud made space in his life for eun & emphasized it wasnt a burden because it wasnt and allowed himself to be vulnerable around him and eun came out of his shell bit by bit and was rewarded with love and appreciation from the people who mattered most and mAN. MAN,

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael in the Mainstream: WandaVision

I love Wanda Maximoff, AKA Scarlet Witch. I’m not sure how apparent that is, but just in general I love comic book characters who use magic, and Wanda is probably my favorite (or at least tied with DC’s Zatanna). Sadly, I never really felt like the MCU did her any justice. She debuted in the worst Avengers movie, her brother was killed before they could showcase a meaningful relationship, and then her next appearances had her speedrunning a relationship with Vision. She definitely got some great moments in Infinity War and Endgame, but she felt woefully underutilized. The same could be said of her boyfriend Vision, who had it even worse than her, because he gets killed in Infinity War and is basically forgotten about after that, with nary a mention in Endgame. These are two fantastic characters, and the MCU just didn’t handle them well at all, and they felt like a complete waste that it was really hard to care about.

Thank god for WandaVision.

This show really did something incredible. It made me care so much about two characters I wished I could have cared about before, and become incredibly invested in their relationship. Wanda and Vision get much-needed spotlight and character development and end up becoming two of the best and most fleshed-out characters in the whole franchise, and it’s amazing they waited so long to do this. Wouldn’t it have been better if we cared so much about them before?

The show has three core elements that help make it great: its characters, its themes, and its presentation. The characters are the big one; Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany really get their time to shine, and both of them manage to do great things with their characters, characters who until now felt more like background characters than actual Avengers. Their relationship is so cute, so wholesome, but with an undercurrent of something a bit sadder that ties in with the show’s themes, and then when they have children things become even more sweet with that dark undercurrent still running strong. Aside from them, the standout of the cast would have to be nosy neighbor Agnes played by Kathryn Hahn… or I should say, the show’s villain, Agatha Harkness, a magic-siphoning witch who’s exploiting Wanda’s fragile emotional state to gain the ultimate power. She’s an actual well-executed twist villain, which is quite a feat for modern Disney, and she’s just as fun and campy as you’d hope an evil witch would be, complete with her very own ridiculous villain song that has her winking at the camera and proudly gloating about killing puppies. It’s delightfully cartoonish. Other standouts include Evan Peters as ‘Pietro,’ in a hilarious and clever bit of meta casting that leads to a dick joke (which might be one of the funniest twists in the MCU) and the return of the greatest Ant-Man supporting character Jimmy Woo. Even Darcy, the absolute worst part of the first two Thor films, manages to return and be tolerable.

The presentation is a big selling point, and what helps the story feel so fresh and unique. Each episode is an affectionate take on a different decade’s sitcoms, starting really oldschool and eventually working all the way up to more modern fare. Interspersed throughout these episodes are some rather entertaining fake commercials which harken to elements of Wanda’s life, and a couple of later ones even act as some heavy foreshadowing for future revelations. The different camera techniques, colors, and whatnot really help sell this fantastical sitcom world Wanda created, though I have to say it is a bit of a shame they couldn’t integrate this style more into the climax, even if there are story reasons for it. It was just such a cool and fun concept, it’s a shame it had to be resolved before the climactic finale.

The themes, though, are what really make this show shine. This show is essentially about a woman dealing with grief. Wanda has lost the man she loves, she has lost her brother, and she’s struggling to find her way in the world. As a coping mechanism, she creates a fantasy world and refuses to face reality, burying her emotions and refusing to move on, instead clinging to the happy concepts that might have been. It really is fantastic as a character study of Wanda, giving her a remarkable amount of depth. I found myself relating to a lot of the themes on display; as someone with depression who has had my fair share of painful experiences, I could empathize with Wanda to a degree. Sure, the person I loved was never murdered by Thanos, but I’ve experienced with grief before. It’s really great stuff they’re working with here.

Unfortunately, as good as all these things are, the show isn’t 100% perfect. The biggest issue is when the show switches focus from the interesting stuff inside of Wanda’s sitcom world to more standard MCU stuff outside. Sure, it’s fun to hang out with Jimmy Woo, the greatest character ever, but a lot of the stuff out there just isn’t engaging and some things just aren’t really elaborated on too much. It’s certainly not awful, but between some really confusing twists with Monica Rambeau (who is a good character otherwise and one I want to see more of) and the extremely boring, 2/10 on Psycho Analysis villain Hayward, there’s really not much here that can even hope to compare to the events unfolding in Wanda’s life. The best things from the outside are flashbacks, such as when Monica returned from being snapped or when we get to see Wanda visiting Vision’s corpse in government lockup, which is one of the most tearjerking moments in the show.

There’s also how the swerve into the standard “Big Marvel action” isn’t exactly graceful. After a great episode where Agatha goes back through Wanda’s life, giving even more insight to Wanda as a character and showing us a lot of fascinating moments, we get into the grand finale which feels like what you’d see in a movie theater, for better or for worse. Now I’m a real slut for crazy witch duels between hot women, and this certainly delivers on that front, but there’s so much other crap going on and it really is weird to think how this show about a superhero woman learning to handle her grief somehow became a big, epic showdown that wouldn’t look out of place in a Harry Potter film. I don’t hate this finale as much as some people do, but it definitely feels like the weakest episode overall (which isn’t too bad, since it’s still good, just not really what I would have liked to see).

WandaVision is the sort of thing I want to see more from the MCU going forward. It’s fresh, it’s interesting, it doesn’t take a standard route for the most part, and it utilizes characters who never got a fair shake in interesting and creative ways. Most importantly, it’s very weird and very comic booky, which is something the MCU was lacking for much of its first ten years (save for the films Gunn and Waititi made). I’m sure not everyone is going to find this to be their cup of tea, and it’s easy to grow bored of the cuts away from Wanda to the more cliché affairs outside of her sitcom bubble, but this is definitely a rich and rewarding show that engages with some heavier topics in an easy-to-digest and enjoyable way. Hopefully we’ll see more creativity like this going forward.

[venusluvrr]

True Beauty (Webtoon): Why I Ship Seojun x Jugyeong

True Beauty (Webtoon): Why I Ship Seojun x Jugyeong

The whole Team Suho vs. Team Seojun war all began even when I started reading the “True Beauty” Webtoon by Yaongyi during its early weekly updates on the platform in English. I was only on Team Suho for a hot second before switching to ship Seojun and Jugyeong (I can’t remember exactly which chapter, but it was early on.) 

My brother on the other hand is a hardcore Suho x Jugyeong shipper -- which I have no problem with -- but whenever I ask him why, his answers are always pretty vague and in summary it’s just because he likes Suho better and that's that. 

In all honesty, I haven’t read many comments on those that ship Suho with Jugyeong in amount to the ones I’ve read about Seojun -- which is one reason I’m not exactly fit right now to be writing this blog yet -- but I mainly just wanted to share why I’ve been on Team Seojun all the way to Chapter 125 where I have currently left off. 

1. I personally like Seojun’s character more than I do Suho’s. 

Don’t get me wrong, the two of them are generally well-rounded characters with stunning looks and wholesome personalities, and I don't ever base ships off of how much I like one character (like my brother) but to me Suho has that typical K-drama male lead vibe, attitude and dressing, while Seojun is just a bit more attractive to me. He has sort of a model, street style with the slightest e-boy aesthetic, with a strong attitude when he wants to -- he has swag. In the beginning of the series I never knew he would become my favourite character next to Aiden, but I from the moment Suho left for Japan (and I feel kinda bad for saying this) I was rooting for Seojun to shoot his shot and get with Jugyeong while he had the chance... 

I’m the kind of person that tends likes to extra unnecessary drama if it makes the plot more interesting, so when Seojun finally kissed Jugyeong -- I was thrilled. 

2. Seojun and Jugyeong’s friendship bond was more playful than her and Suho’s. 

Maybe my point of view has changed from when I first started reading the webcomic, but with my thoughts all recollected, I recalled moments when Jugyeong and Seojun would tease and hit each other, etc. which I admired because I believe that only decently close friends can get to that point. On the other hand, I recalled the scene where Jugyeong and Suho reached for the same comic book, the fact that they’re both little nerds on the inside who both share a few similar hobbies. Their interactions were casual, yes, but it was a bit too cliche and expecting for me, especially after Suho saw and accepted her bare face. 

Mostly, I prefer to read fast-paced stories with serious plots and characters with a variety of definitive, unique personalities and looks. But “True Beauty” still got me hooked somehow -- maybe its the cliffhangers or the hanging questions that I’m waiting to be answered -- but my point is, I assumed that Suho and Jugyeong together would be plain, while her and Seojun’s relationship outcome would be something I would keep coming back to read about, and I know that I could be very wrong about that. I could imagine Suho and Jugyeong going on cute dates where they would watch horror movies together or go shopping for comic books or something like that, just having a blast (they can do that stuff while being best friends too.)

If I were the one writing the book I would have probably had Seojun and Jugyeong’s dates be more interesting than going to get food or meeting at the park every once in a while, but that's not how it is and its one area where I would ship her and Suho over her and Seojun to be honest. 

 3. Seojun and Jugyeong seem to love each other a lot. 

Near the beginning of their relationship I began to have my doubts about the ship -- does Seojun care more about looks than the person themselves? Is Seojun selfish and puts himself before Jugyeong? Does Seojun not trust Jugeyeong at all? Is Jugyeong just with Seojun to get over Suho?

But I feel like every time they reassure their love for each other or apologize or think about ways they can improve their relationship, all of my questions have been answered already. From where I’ve read up to, I’m strongly convinced that the two of them are in love -- okay maybe not Jugyeong this girl be swaying left and right about her feelings -- but Seojun for sure is trying his best to make their relationship work and everything they’ve done for each other is just adorable and I don’t want to see them broken apart. 

But of course something’s gonna happen cause Suho’s male lead material and Seojun is probably the second lead and us K-drama lovers all know that the second lead doesn’t end up with the girl in the end. 

Anyways, one thing I’d let to add to wrap up is that I do feel bad for Suho. This isn’t a Suho hate post, I love him and know that he deserves love just as much as Seojun. It wasn’t his fault he had to go on a trip and leave everything behind him. If he stayed, things probably would’ve been different, but that’s just how the story went. 

I really hope this blog doesn't age badly lmfao. 

[break-slash]

Puzzleship JP & KR Fancomic Recommendation List

UPDATE (19-12-2020): Added two more artists and two more titles on the Japanese lists!

I don’t consider myself as someone very tidy and organized, but I just like making lists of the things I love, somehow. Hence this post. I haven’t been in the fandom for long but I thought I’d share some of my favorites primarily from two sites: pixiv and postype. Most of the postype ones are behind paywall, and I will mark them differently.

Some of my favorites come from the same artists, so I’ll also link their pixiv profile on top of my favorite work of them.

(I actually bookmarked a lot and picking them isn’t an easy task, so I will update this step by step. If you see only a link of an artist, that’s the reason, but I can guarantee you will love their works! Feel free to recommend me yours through reblogs or DM as well!)

Japanese

Artist: CYHGM

She is a Chinese and is more active on Weibo (she posted tons of puzzleship there, but my Mandarin is beyond rusty so I could only cry in despair lmao), but she has two fancomics that I absolutely adore of. Those two mentioned fancomics are:

The Past and The Future. You can check my translation for this one here. It tells about Atem who gets transported to 3000 years later before his coronation, and that’s where he met post-canon!Yugi. Just... everything about this comic is so wonderful. I teared up at the last page, not gonna lie ;_;

The Pharaoh and The Fairy: An Ancient Egypt-slash-fantasy AU featuring the S0/TOEI casts. The fairy Yugi was saved by Atem, and it’s an obligatory for fairies to grant their savior’s wishes. However, Atem doesn’t exactly have something he wants of, and this confuses Yugi on how he should repay him back. Pure undiluted sugar, and fairy!Yugi is just so cute.

Artist: Fushitas

Arguably one of the most popular Puzzleship fanartists in the JP fandom (look at their number of followers on Twitter, man), but maybe it’s also due to the fact they were in AoT fandom too. They’re mostly active on Twitter, and if you also watch Zexal, they draw tons of Yuma-centric pairings too. They have released lots of books, and their prices on the reseller sites are... well, let’s just say, unbelievable. Just to show how famous they are. 

From everlasting to everlasting: Set after DSOD. A mysterious figure appears in front of Atem, claiming to be his queen. Everyone in the after life somehow acknowledges this person, which makes him even more confused because he’s the only one unaware of this. On the living realm, Yugi who is on the way to his home got hit by a truck (isekai much??) and when he woke up, he suddenly plays the role of Atem’s queen. I’ve always adored Fushitas’ drawing, and this is no exception. The story is pretty simple, but is still good! The ending of this comic is everything I’ve always wanted from the canon lol. 

The King’s Guest: Ancient Egypt AU. The councils are starting to get worried because Atem shows no interest in marrying someone, so Shimon opens up a “chance” sort of for civilians to become “someone for the Pharaoh to talk with”. The civilian Yugi takes this chance right off the bat, and stuff happens? This one is just so sweet and the misunderstanding later in the story kinda cracks me up. I really love the way they build the two’s chemistry in here.

Artist: usi 

They only draw two puzzleship fancomics, but both are so good and explores the themes I’ve loved from the pairing.

The Lotus’ Devil: Set post-canon with a flashback. It tells about Yugi’s regret in the past where he wanted to show Atem a small pool supposed to be full of lotus flower only to arrive seeing them not blooming. Fast forward to the post-canon, he found out that there’s actually a monster residing on that pool. I really, really loved the ending scene of this one.

Who’s The Detestable, Fortunate Guy Here: I think this is set sometime in the canon story, although the exact timing is unclear. It’s a short comic of Yugi asking Atem to pretend to be his date and go on a “dating practice”. A very pleasant hurt-and-comfort kind of story, and who doesn’t love a story of them dating anyways? :”D

Artist: Houzuki Anzu

She doesn’t draw much YGO, but she has some Arc-V and 5D’s fanarts too if you watch the series! 

Hourglass: Sets after the Memory World arc. Yugi keeps hearing a strange sound inside his mind, and he finds out there’s a huge hourglass standing there, guarded by the will of Millenium Puzzle. Apparently, the hourglass is linked to Atem’s remaining time in the living realm? Anyways, the ending of this comic might look like a cliffhanger, but I personally think it isn’t. I love the theme this comic picks to explore and the way it is presented.

Present: Same setting with Hourglass, but this one focuses more on Atem sorting out his feelings about the Ceremonial Duel and what he has learned from Yugi in general. It’s a very nice extra detail that the canon slightly lacks of, and I just love... bittersweet stuff in general haha.

Artist: Chiriko

Are you the type who wants puzzleship to be full of happiness and fluff and nothing else? Well, she has a number of comics to fill that need! I actually love all of her works, but if I have to pick, these two are my favorite:

...Don’t Ever Leave Me Again: A short story about Yugi having a nightmare of where he was stuck in the fire accident at Otogi’s store. Well... this isn’t a fluff sort of, but it’s... a happy ending still? /shot

[Untitled]: A dialogue-less comic, but this is the sort of post-canon what-if that I really, really like. Atem stroking Yugi’s face while sleeping is just... so soft man....

Artist: Komori Nea

Their art style was one of those that’s very noticeable and has a certain charm on it. They are pretty active on Twitter, and even draws puzzle comics once in a while that haven’t been uploaded to pixiv (which is why I recommend you to check their twitter gallery too haha)

The Soul Stays Awake: Post!DSOD. Atem comes back from afterlife in hoping that Yugi would be as happy as he is, but months after, Atem’s existence still hasn’t been registered on Yugi’s life just yet. Another post!DSOD take that I like which involves the fear of another farewell and uncertainty, but this is a good hurt-and-comfort. I swear, it’ll hurt you just... for a while. :”)

The Attack’s Aim: Set during the canon series. A short comic mostly portraying Yugi’s hidden strength but also the tenacity of duelist that is not only targeted toward the opponent, but also to Atem, without the person actually noticing it. The last page of this one is so... soft and gentle I had to put it into this list.

Artist: caf

Often draw with S0/TOEI style, characters and characterization in mind. Their coloring in illustrations is so soft, plus artists who specialize in S0/TOEI style can’t be found so easily. Their comic style is not a manga-like one and they write the dialogues with handwriting, but if you can read hiragana and write and understand how kanji works (so you can write it on translation machine), their comics are easy to understand!

magenta: S0/TOEI AU where Yugi and Atem are two separate person. A short comic of Yugi lying under the rain as Atem searches for his whereabouts. I really love the way they portray the rain and the atmosphere surrounding the scene. Or maybe I’m just biased with rains in general, ahahaha.

Yuugi and Mao’s Stay Home: Same AU as above. Our two boys has to face the same shit we do IRL in this comic, which is quarantine. Atem offers to cook something for Yugi since he can’t eat outside. You love seeing Yugi eating stuff? This is a perfect comic for y’all. 

Artist: Kkyut

Artist: Kayu(i)

Others:

Gemini: As Atem comes back to the living world, Yugi faces the dilemma of having being separated by “his other self” physically and mentally. A short comic, but the lines the artist used are so... beautiful. Like, the way they describe Yugi’s loneliness?? Just hits the park so much. 

Until The Hourglass Runs Out: Set after the Memory World Arc. As their farewell day goes closer, Yugi decides to give Atem a full control of his body at school so he could spend his time with Jounouchi and the gang more. However, things don’t go as smooth as Yugi had expected. If you like that little teeny weeny pain before the Ceremonial Duel, this comic perfectly suits the taste. 

see you sometime: Post-canon. Mahaad offers Atem a chance to meet Yugi in the living realm one more time, but with several conditions. Firstly, he could only stay for a day at maximum. Secondly, Yugi won’t be able to remember who he spent his time with after Atem hangs out with him. Thirdly, Yugi will not be able to “recognize” this Atem; he will only be registered in Yugi’s mind as a new classmate. A bittersweet comic in whole, but seeing the two having fun like a normal teenager would just makes me grin.

After The Rain: A dialogue-less comic, so everyone would be able to read this right away. A short comic of the two, but still very cute and wholesome!

The Tropics of Horus: Post!DSOD, Atem has to chase Kisara who lingers around Kaiba’s soul and he needs Yugi’s help to bring Kisara back to afterlife, but he has his own ulterior motive. This manga is so dialogue-heavy and might be hard to dissect especially if you don’t understand JP grammar and context, but the time spent trying to understand the meaning behind every words will be worth it. That much I guarantee. Just... everything about this comic, and how Atem’s “ulterior motive” connects to our boys’ adventure in canon series are so well planned. You can also purchase the R18 version in a form of the book here (toranoana)

Christmas Day: S0/TOEI puzzleship hint (dark puzzle???). There’s something in store for Yugi in Christmas, but this one might surprise Yugi a lot. It’s not that the prompt of “Atem gets separated from Yugi temporarily” is uncommon, but it is still a sweet one and makes you smile throughout the pages. 

Korean

All titles mentioned here are not free unless mentioned otherwise. Also I don’t understand Korean except being able to read Yugi and Atem’s name, so my story interpretation might be wrong. If you understand Korean, I’d really love for you input! ;_; 

You can check out on how to buy comics from postype here

Yugi’s 2020 Birthday Anthology: Rain and After End

This is an anthology consisting of four titles, but they share the same (or similar) setting where Atem is reincarnated, but he doesn’t remember his past (or has not yet, depending on how the story portrays it). Some are age-gap (adult!Yugi and high school student!Atem), so you might want to consider that if it’s not your cup of tea.

To Like Someone is to...: Age-gap setting. Mostly tells about how Yugi deals with his feeling as the reincarnated Atem in front of him turns out to have a feeling on him. I like how the story’s conclusion is that Yugi will sort it out slowly while also teasing Atem how he’s “too early” to date Yugi w.

In A Circle: A story about how the two met through an online chess game. Iirc Yugi works in a game company and Atem is sort of a famous e-sports player in this setting. There’s a lot of dialogue in this one and the app sometimes can’t process them very well, but I liked what I can understand from it! not very convincing is it haha i’m sorry i shouldn’t have done this

Familiarity: Age-gap setting, where Yugi becomes Atem’s caretaker. The comic mostly focuses on how Atem notices how kind (or too kind) Yugi is sometimes, but there are times where he feels distant. The plot where Atem gets into a fight with the other kid in his school because the kid mocks Yugi, and how Yugi just... accepts it even when Atem doesn’t want to say his reason of punching the kid is just.... god... I love this kind of age-gap setting like this I guess ;_;

Touchdown: Age-gap setting, but Atem is older in here (university student). The two goes to Atem’s university festival and they think about their own feeling when they got separated. On their way to drop Atem off, he confesses to Yugi, but Yugi is still unsure on his overlapping feeling between the reincarnated Atem and the Atem he knows. Make sure you play Motohiro Hata’s Rain and Aimer’s After Rain during the car scene to make the “rain” mood works even better :”)

Others:

Try For Point: A continuation of Touchdown, where Atem (like, the one from the past) visits Yugi in his dream and helps Yugi in sorting out is his feeling toward his reincarnated self. Atem’s advice is so sweet and there’s one certain line from this comic that I remember very deeply - there’s a part where he says, “If you don’t pull out the card, you won’t know what card it is, right?” to help Yugi clearing out his hesitancy ;w; at this point, I curse myself for not being able to understand Korean

[peepspersonalperspective]

MY PICKS: Top 10 K-Dramas

Disclaimer: These are totally subjective choices and I've justified them as per my preferences. Consider them friendly recommendations and let me know if you disagree. Also, I've discovered the wonderful world of K-Dramas over the last couple of years and they've really evolved not just in storytelling but also production value so I personally prefer the more recent ones. So for example I haven't put a very popular pick like My Love from the Star simply because I've seen better stuff since (don't shoot me). Anyway, 가자!

MEMORIES OF ALAHAMBRA

This is my first recommendation for anyone who's just starting out watching Korean television content simply because it's so different from what new viewers expect it to be. It's so gripping and thrilling. I would expect nothing less from Song Jae Jung's writing.

So it's a sci-fi show, set in Spain, about an augmented reality game, that seems to have physical implications in the real world, sending the lead, Hyun Bin on a rollercoaster ride to find answers. Exo's Chanyeol has a recurring role as the game developer, so that's exciting too. I learnt that he was cast because of his love for PubG. Lol.

Every episode will leave you wanting more, and you'll find yourself as desperate to search for answers as Yoo Jin Woo (Hyun Bin).

Granted, mid season, it gets a little complicated, especially with newer nuances of the game unfolding, but fret not because the characters are discovering the secrets of the game with you. So they're as confused as you would be, and that's why this show is so good! More so because the graphics are excellent! You can tell they really spent money on ensuring high quality work. You will really feel like you're part of the game with Yoo Jin Woo.

Anyway, if you are an EXO-L, or you like gaming, sci-fi, thriller and Hyun Bin, this show is great!

2. W - Two Worlds

Another piece of awesome from Song Jae Jung. I would still rank this show a little below Alahambra, because I think the makers made improvements from this sci-fi drama in Alahambra, in the sense of storytelling. Still, W is just as intriguing.

Oh Yeon Joo (Han Hyo Joo) gets sucked into a comic book where she falls in love with the lead character of the comic book, Kang Chul (Lee Jeong Suk). Sounds like a typical romance drama right? Don't be fooled because there are many many twists and turns along the way.

I feel like there is metaphor in there somewhere about existentialism, the creation and destiny. But maybe that's just me reading into things.

Lee Jeong Suk is extremely desirable as Kang Chul, unsuspectingly charming and endearing, and Oh Yeon Joo is an absolutely relatable character, and how she deals as an ordinary girl thrown into extraordinary circumstances is genuine.

I would say this drama is wholesome, with sci-fi, suspense, thriller, action, romance, filial relationships, and more. And while it's usually difficult to jam pack all this into one show without screwing it up, W emerges exceptional.

3. Extraordinary You

This show is so cute! If you want just a light hearted, quirky show, this is the one for you.

It's about characters in a cartoon becoming aware of their existence in a cartoon. But don't worry this is NOTHING like W.

The best part about the show is that it's not about the main characters of the said cartoon. It's the story about the extras finding their way in that world, hence the pun intended in the title. The main characters (of the cartoon) are actually the most dull, because they are bound by the laws of stereotypical high school romance. But the real stuff is happening on the sidelines, with Kim Hye Yoon as Dan Oh and Rowoon as Haru.

Dan Oh is a hilarious character and Kim Hye Yoon does a fantastic job of switching emotions when she's in and out of a scene in the cartoon. One minute she goes into character mode, next minute she's bitching at the sorry fate of her character when she wakes up, to the astonishment of the characters surrounding her (who aren't aware of their reality yet).

Rowoon has a quiet charm about him that perfectly complements Hye Yoon. Check it out for a chuckle and a taste of something different.

4. Crash Landing on You

This show is hard not to like. Apart from the poorly picturized tornado carrying our leading lady over the border to North Korea, this show is a wonderful Netflix and Chill kind of show, I think.

The cultural disparity between the South and North is interesting to watch and also entertaining. Like when they mention buying mobile games at an App store (a literal application store in a Pyongyang market).

Ri Jung Hyuk (Hyun Bin again) and Yoon Seri (Son Yejin) are such a delight in comedic, romantic, and dramatic scenes. But the scene stealer for me was Yang Kyun Won as Pyo Chi Soo, and his unshakeable nationalism that he is ready to set aside for some shampoo and conditioner.

The interesting thing is going into the show, you have an idea of the longevity, so ofcourse, Seri's journey back to the South ain't going to be easy, also her relationship with Ri Jung Hyuk is doomed, and yet you find yourself rooting for them at each step, crying with them during their failures and crying with them even in their triumph. But the most tears were shed for the least expected character, who simply left us all heart broken.

5. Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo

In a world where women are expected to behave and look a certain way to be considered attractive by someone they're vying for, here's a food hogging, tomboy, weightlifting champ, with her first crush.

The premise may rope you into the show, but midway you realise that the heart of the show is in its characters, and without realising you become so invested in them that you feel their fears, insecurities, and cherish their victories with them.

This coming of age show really relishes on the quirks of each character, friendship, love and aspirations. It's not a very dramatic story which is probably why it didn't rate very high during its broadcast, but that's part of its charm, and that's why it's been able to gather a significant cult following since.

Lee Sung Kyung and Nam Joo Hyuk portray the most sincere friends and eventual couple. Their relationship blossoms in the most organic manner and it's so heartwarming. They're not cheesy or unrealistic; they even beat each other up! I don't think I've seen that level of comfort portrayed on screen so well before.

Watch out for guest appearances by Ji Soo and Lee Jeong Suk.

6. Strong Girl Do Bong Soon

I'll be honest, this recommendation is mainly for Park Hyung Sik. He's amazing in the show. And there could be no better supernaturally strong petite girl than Park Bo Young, either.

So there are actually a lot of things happening in the show, story wise, but I promise it all comes together in the end. There is quite a build up and I'm happy that it pays off adequately.

This is like a superhero show with all the spices and flavours of a Marvel movie, but K-Drama style. There's an invincible villain, some idiot gangsters for comedic value, romance (a love triangle infact), functional training, a point of lost hope for Bong Soon, and then her resurrection as a superhero.

It's all there, and more.

But Park Hyung Sik.....

7. Itaewon Class

This recommendation is simply for the refreshing change of representation on TV. I know a lot has already been spoken about it already, but I have to admit that that's what sets this revenge drama apart. That, and the music. Dayum, Start by Gaho is so catchy! And let's not forget V's Sweet Night.

This show starts off slow but give it 3 episodes before it gets to the real shit.

Park Saeroyi is almost too good to be true, and in that lies his shortcoming. His character is so strong that while watching him I forgot that Park Seo Joon was acting. And despite some unnerving moments I found myself rooting for him. He has some strong motivational lines too, like about his choice for a better life. His determination is almost unreal, as he goes on to take down his mortal enemy.

Some of the best scenes, though, are of Jo Yi Seo (Kim Dami), a sociopathic enterprising genius. She was the one who actually kept me hooked to the series. She added some much needed flair to the show, and as it appears to Park Saeroyi's establishment.

Actually, every character was strong, every character had a strong backstory and motivation for the action, and most importantly they never broke character.

Watch out for Park Bo Gum's special appearance.

8. Love In The Moonlight

Speaking of Park Bo Gum...

This show is all kinds of weird in the best way! A girl pretends to be a palace eunuch and falls in love with the crown Prince. That is so messed up!

But that's the fun part! And Park Bo Gum and Kim You Jung make it a wonderful ride. Full of quirky romance, political conflicts and hidden identity issues, this show is addictive af!

And even though this wasn't in the show and was just a promo, be sure to watch Park Bo Gum's Bombastic dance. It's adorable!

9. The Third Charm

I'm sure this is my least popular recommendation. But something about watching this show was so cathartic. I highly recommend it for those who may have gone through heartbreak ever in their lives.

This is probably one of those rare times when I was lost in the story instead of Seo Kang Jun's eyes. Hehe. This story is about an on again off again couple and their journey through life together and apart.

This was meant to be a healing drama, and it really does take you through the emotional evolution that comes with growing up. I think it's the perfect medicine for a healing heart.

10. It's Okay Not To Be Okay

This show! This is my current obsession. Kim Soo Hyun's comeback couldn't have been more perfect. Seo Yeji couldn't have been a more perfect casting. And the two leads couldn't have had a better chemistry.

This show is all kinds of whimsical and I love it. Also a healing drama, this show deals with.... Baggage....to put it simply. Some baggage may be bigger than other baggage, some even irrevocable. But seeing all the characters overcome this baggage is so fulfilling.

But the charm of this show is in Ko Moon Young's (Seo Yeji) craziness and the Tim Burton-esque setup, that really makes one perceive fairytales in a whole new way. I mean I always knew that fairytales were sanitized German folklore, but I never thought to find a very different messaging from the material. The parables are ingenious, and it really is a pleasure to watch each and every person on this show.

Special mentions: Goblin, Reply 1988, 30 but 17/ Still 17, My ID is Gangnam Beauty, Hotel Del Luna

[river-bottom-nightmare]

Would you happens to know any good kon fics?

I’m not sure if ris went on anon and asked the same question twice, or if this is two different people. Either way, ask and ye shall receive.

There isn’t enough Kon content out there, in my opinion. He’s such an underappreciated character, both by DC and by the fandom. Most of the works out there that feature Kon only have him as a background character, and then most of those are centered around Tim. But I’ll try to find the ones that focus mainly on Kon. 

1. The Mystery of the Superboy Shirts by Aviatricks Tim/Kon. 4,000 words. You can’t have a Kon fic rec without including this one. There’s a very high chance that you’ve already read it, but I’m going to add it anyway because it’s one of my favourite DC fics of all time. It’s from Tim’s point of view, but it’s centered around Kon, and honestly, just one of the most hilarious things ever. Read this if you want a short, feel-good, happy fic that will make you laugh.

2. On My Chest, On My Heart by dnawhite76 Tim/Kon. 20,000 words. Now this! This is an absolutely wonderful Timkon fic that’s actually centered around Kon and is from Kon’s point of view. Amazing. It’s a Love Simon High School AU of sorts, featuring lots of superfam and Kon being a gay disaster, and an incredible coming out sequence. Kon feels a little lost, a little out of place, and not at all happy (at the beginning), but the way the author wrote his family and friends’ support and his character development was the BEST. It’s a little lengthy, but so worth it.

3. Boys of Summer by MarbleAide Tim/Kon. 5,500 words. A summer camp AU that follows Tim and Kon through the years. Again, from Tim’s point of view, but he’s so in love with Kon, it’s so cute. It’s a cute fic with a healthy dose of pining. The prose is a little simple, and the pacing’s just a bit too fast, but the overall universe this fic (along with the rest of the antics of the core four) is adorable. 

4. Close to Home by iesika Multiple pairings. 65,000 words. Ooooooh boy this is a LONG one. AU in the form of canon divergence. There’s a murder in Smallville High, and Kon and Tim attempt to solve the mystery together, while Kon goes through normal high school stuff (and some abnormal hero stuff.) It’s very very plotty, with a mystery that drives the whole thing. It’s got some pretty cool OCs, though I’m not usually a fan of that stuff, and it’s sort of kind of Timkon? It’s got an ambiguous ending, both of which I tend to shy away from. Overall, not my cup of tea but still a pretty great fic, and if you’re looking for Kon centered fics, this is the one to check out.

5. Gonna Be A Better One (A Thousand Miles To Your Door) by @traincat​ Tim/Kon. 18,500 words. I haven’t read this one in a while, but I do remember really really loving it. It’s classic take on the problems that come with being two teenagers dating while simultaneously being two teenage vigilantes. A little bit of cute core four stuff, the few instances where Steph shows up, she’s pretty well characterized. The two of them are hopelessly besotted, but also dealing with a lot of issues and they’re trying to figure out if their love is worth it. I loved this one, definitely worth a read. (Also unrelated but traincat is the spideytorch queen and spideytorch is like one of my top ships of all time so even if you’re not into marvel comics you should go read them anyway because I love them.)

6. Boys in Leather Jackets by @merelymine​ Tim/Kon. <3,000 words. I. Um. Yeah this is just PWP. I am completely unashamed. It’s cute at first, and then it’s hot as hell, and I will not apologize for reccing it. 

7. Curse of the Red-Heads by @pupeez4eva (sorry if this is the wrong link, their tumblr wasn’t linked on the fic so I did a little digging) Multiple Pairings. 5,000 words. I’m a little hesitant to rec this because it is mainly about Tim and Kon, but it’s told from Damian’s point of view and it’s got a fair bit of him as well. Regardless, Kon is actually hilarious whenever he shows up, and I loved him, so I’m reccing it anyway. Damian doesn’t understand how relationships work, and meddles in people’s love lives. It’s absolutely hilarious, if you’re up for a laugh, give it a read.

8. Three Little Words by timkons Tim/Kon. 10,000 words. Once again, centered around Tim, but features Kon being an incredible, loving husband so I’m not complaining. It’s a little angsty, and dives Tim’s emotional vulnerability. Tim and Kon fight, Tim is Emotional and Hates It, and it takes you on a ride of feels. But it ends happily, so that’s nice. (Sort of) Domestic and older Timkon, I really enjoyed this fic. 

9. Through Another Lens by animegoil Tim/Kon. 7,000 words. Mind the tags on this one, it’s a little bit triggering, and has a tad bit of non/con. This one isn’t one I really love, but it’s not bad overall. It’s a bit too wordy, and a tad anti-climatic? In a sense? But it’s from Kon’s pov and it shows his thought process pretty well. There’s a little bit of angst, followed up by Talking About Feelings and a hint of hurt/comfort. Overall, a decent read. 

10. Class Differences by wisia Tim/Kon. 13,500 words. Ooooooh man this was a good one. I was expecting silliness and fluff. Instead I got a ride of feels and some really really well written words. This fic centers around Kon dealing with the publicity that comes with being “Timothy Drake”’s boyfriend. And man is it rough. I just loved it though, absolutely incredible. I might reread it sometime and make a moodboard idk.

11. Matters of the Heart by @nyerus Tim/Kon. 13,500 words. This one is a case fic, with Kon realizing he’s in love with Tim and having to deal with that. Very plotty, but the action was done super well, so it added to the overall vibe of the fic. Kon is so in love with Tim, he’s hopeless, it’s great. Also, the author got Kon’s point of view down, like damn it’s incredible. Definitely worth a read!

12. What’s in a name? by dancingsweetheart129 Tim/Kon. 21,000 words. This one is more of a character introspection, as Kon learns to let his old name go as he grows up. I wasn’t really a fan of the writing style, it was too fast in some places and too wordy in others, and the prose got a little messy at times. But it is a really good character study, so if you’re looking for Kon centered fics, this is worth a shot.

13. We’re Not Dating by @dianaraven (once again, i’m not entirely sure this is the right url bc it wasn’t linked in the fic and I had to do some digging. sorry!) Tim/Kon. 5,500 words. Exactly what it says on the box. An old trope but a good one, fluff, pining, and people not realizing they’re in love with each other. Just a good, wholesome read.

14. Reveries by @nyerus Tim/Kon. 5,500 words. Another fic by nyerus, but this one’s short and sweet. Again, focused mainly on Tim, but it features the two of them being super in love and adorable and I love it. Read it if you want Cute Boyfriends being Cute Boyfriends (and tim getting some sleep for once in his life).

Alright, here are 14 fics to get you started. I also recommend you check out the individual authors fic recs, I really only put one of each on there (except for nyerus, they get two bc they’re great), but all of them have some really good DC fics. Once again, if you want more fics, or ones with a different ship/fandom, don’t hesitate to pop in my inbox. Happy reading!

(Also, I’m going to link my Kon-El aesthetic that I made bc it never hurts to get into the mood before you start diving into fics.)

[airitree]

help... i watched g1 as a kid (and many times since) and ive only just discovered the wider fanbase but i dont know where to start catching up- does anyone have a masterpost of tf media ? doesnt have to be chronological, i just need to know the scope

Welcome :-00! I feel like I’ve seen a master post somewhere but I can’t seem to find it again. I’ll be happy to just type sum out. [This is a pretty long post] 

COMICS: 

1. The IDW (2009) continuity is so far one of the post popular g1 sects of the fan base (on tumblr/twitter at least)- I recommend the series More Than Meets The Eye/Lost Light! 

There are other IDW tf comics that are worth a look at as well. Heres a link for a masterpost about these: HERE and HERE

2. IDW (2019??? I think) continuity is the reboot of the original. It is pretty new rn. 

(There is also dreamwave but they went bankrupt and is kinda obscure now)

TV SHOWS: Here’s a list of shows (excluding g1) that are primarily watched..

1. Transformers Prime: Tfp is one of the better shows that hasbro had made for tf, and it’s very popular for pretty good reasons i’d say lmao. Maybe. But overall i think its worth the watch and aimed for older audiences. It’s pretty beginner friendly, especially for people who aren't familiar with as many characters and came from the michael bay movies. 

             1a. The Aligned Continuity: This consists of the war for cybertron games and Transformers Prime. There are the more liddle children aspect shows like Fuckinn uhhh rescue bots and robots in disguise. I’m probably forgetting sum

2. Transformers Animated: Tfa was my favorite childhood show and I still keep it in high ratings. It’s one of the better 2D animated shows that aired, and i also recommend it cuz it’s just fun. Tho it is very different in concept/style, and a lot of g1 kids weren't used to it. 

3. Cyberverse: This ones the more recent editions and as far as I watched, it traced back to g1 stuff, mixed with idw, movie, tfa inspiration. Its overall a fun kids show and pretty cute

4. War For Cybertron (Netflix): I’m super unfamiliar with this. All I know is that its very g1, but I also gotten mixed reviews and sighs of disappointment. U can check if u wanna.

MOVIES: Here’s a list of movies that has been made (excluding the g1)

1. Michael Bay Movies: The bayverse movies. I’m sure ur already familiar with it since its literally been the dude bro posterboy of this entire franchise for the past few years. 

2. Bumblebee Movie (Travis Knight Movie): If you havent watched this yet, I highly recommend! This live action movies not connected to bayverse and is very g1 inspired. The designed are very familar and overall a very wholesome film. 

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These are obviously not all of what makes up tf media but these are the most prominent and important to know about. If ur confused, u can check out the tfwiki for more info 

[gendergraveyard]

LGBT+ Graphic Novel/Comic recommendations

Bloom//Kevin Panetta: This is beautiful love story about Ari, a bakers son and Hector, a guy who loves to bake. Ari experiences conflict with his family and job. The book normalizes the thought of being gay so it’s subtle and there’s no conflict around that. The art is very simple with its shades of blue and I absolutely love it. It’s not heavily romantic?

The Prince and the Dressmaker//Jen Wang: Gender fluid representation! Sebastian is a prince who loves style. Frances is a seamstress who loves twisting up her designs. As Frances is fired, she gets recognized for her talent and takes a job to become Sebastians seamstress. This novel discusses gender identity and acceptance. The art a colorful and every page fills you with excitement. Conclusion: cute af.

Heartstopper//Alice Oseman: I personally have only read the webcomics because I’m closeted and I feel like the cover is visually homosexual and I didn’t want any questions from my family lmao. I usually like to get the physically copies though so maybe you do to. To be honest this is one of my favorite things to read. I love it. Charlie is openly gay, and Nick is a kindhearted jock. The themes are a little touchy so if you are triggered by some of these it might not be for you: abusive relationships, labeling and figuring out sexuality, eating disorders, lgbt+, and a lot of romance. I don’t believe it shows anything graphic but it definitely mentions them. For me a bisexual, I kin with Nick. It’s a wonderful story and Alice Oseman is still coming out with new chapters and books. It discussed very common problems and is filled with so much love. It’s wholesome and the art is simply amazing.

Cosmo Knights//Hannah Templer: So far there is only one comic is the series. If you like action, power, and love, you’ll want to read Cosmo Knights. Pan had a simple life, until now. She goes on an adventure with two Cosmo Knights in hope to make a difference. These woman are powerful. There’s a lot of interracial relationship, as a black girl I like seeing this type of representation in books. The art is fantastic, colorful, detailed, exciting! I find myself crushing on maybe too many of these characters. I aspire to draw like this one day. I’ve only read this one and I’m begging for more.

Heavy Vinyl//Carly Usdin: Chris has a job working at a vinyl shop. Her coworkers are all woman and have a strong passion for music. As a band member who was supposed to play goes missing, Chris discovers her coworkers secrets and decides to join in. The art is so beautiful, colorful, detailed, and everyone is gorgeous! They all have different styles and personalities. Chris likes one of her coworkers and I haven’t read the next comic but I’m excited to see how their relationship progresses. Again these woman are strong and break stereotype.

[carriagelamp]

November Book Review - Freedom at last!

In a lot of ways I had more time to read this past month -- or at least more time to read without feeling guilty -- so I had a lot of fun with the various books I read this month. In particular, I really enjoyed the Canadian lit I was able to dig up; I never really gave enough attention to the writing my own country was producing and honestly we’re rocking this!

A Royal Guide To Monster Slaying

The novel I just finished, and the first Canadian novel I’ll mention here. This was an adorable take on fantasy monster slaying! This is a world were the various tribes of the land historically united under the leadership of a single clan, Clan Dacre, who were famous monster slayers. In exchange for leadership of the kingdom, Clan Dacre guaranteed that they would always have trained monster slayers available to protect to people, lead by the second born child of the royal family. The problem for Rowan though is that she is the eldest twin and destined to be queen while her brother becomes the royal slayer... despite the fact that they’re both better suited for the other role.

What really sets this book apart for me, was the compassionate approach the “slayers” had towards the monsters -- they were much more like monster conservationists who focused on learning about monsters, and trying to relocate or rehabilitate them so that the monsters could return to their rightful home rather than terrorize villages and have to be put down. They use a very scientific lens to view this high fantasy setting and it’s delightfully refreshing!

Of Fire And Stars

Also a fantasy medieval setting, though not Canadian this time. Instead, very queer! Princess Dennaleia has known since she was a child that while her older sister ruled their own kingdom, she was to be betrothed to the crown prince of the neighbouring kingdom. She has prepared for this her entire life. However now that she’s there, things keep going wrong - everything from her dangerous and illegal magic that she must keep hidden, to a sudden murder, to the complicated relationship she’s developing with the prince’s unruly and wild sister. While this book isn’t necessarily bringing anything particularly new to the table, it’s fun to see familiar beats and tropes done with a sapphic twist.

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me

An absolutely stunning graphic novel about the tumultuous relationship between two girls, Freddy and Laura, as well as the complications that relationship brings to the other relationships in Freddy’s life. This isn’t necessarily a “feel-good” story, but it is an incredibly cathartic one. The message, symbolism, and art is all stunning and I would definitely recommend it.

Underground To Canada

Swinging back towards some of the Can Lit I’ve read this month! This is a classic Canadian children’s novel, I remember being completely blown away by it when I read it as a class study in elementary school. It’s about two young slave girls forced to work on a Southern cotton plantation, and their eventual escape and desperate flee via The Underground Railroad towards Canada and the promise of freedom. I know that there’s definitely controversy surrounding this book, especially in the depiction of the underground railroad and the glorification of it -- as a white person in Canada I’m not really best suited to have an opinion on this, though I read some articles along side the book itself. In my experience, reading it as a child was an eye-opening introduction to the topic itself, though obviously as a children’s novel, much like previous books I reviewed (like Fatty Legs), it never goes into all the dark depths it could.

A Bear In War (and its sequel Bear on the Homefront)

A Canadian picture book I read for Remembrance Day, depicting the true story of one girl’s experience of her family living through WWI in Canada, and her father needing to go to the Europe to fight. The story is, charmingly, told through the point of view of her teddy bear, and it was heartbreaking enough to make some second graders cry.

Poppy & Sam books

Swinging back to the lighter side of Can Lit are these two absolutely adorable graphic novel / picture book hybrids. They’re simple, beautifully illustrated little adventures of the titular Poppy and Sam as they wander around their garden home and help their friends. So worth the read, whether it’s with a young early reader who would appreciate the simple speech bubbles and clear pictures, or if you’re older like me and just want something wholesome.

Jak and the Magic Nano-Beans

No longer Canadian, but still a great little graphic novel for emergent readers. Seriously this book was buckwild. Jak, a cyberpunk badass, and her robot COW12 have a wild adventure based off the classic Jack and the Beanstalk. I really don’t know where to begin or end about this, it was bizarre but the art style was very cool.

Dream Jumpers: Nightmare Escape

With all the cool, innovative, beautiful graphic novels out there, it makes you wonder how this happened. Absolute garbage. Miserable protagonist, shitty misogyny, an incredibly basic plot premise, and ugly ugly art. 0/10.

Yakari Chez Les Castors

Belgian comics can just be so damn gorgeous, and this is clearly not the exception. These Yakari comics seem to be simple stories, but the art is wonderful (I love this style) and it’s all quite charming. Again... cannot comment on the potential racism inherent in it because as carefully as I try to judge, I am white and not educated well enough in these issues. For the most part it seems harmless to me, besides for some probable pan-indianism at play, but I’m mildly distrustful of any story told about First Nations people that isn’t also written by them until I hear otherwise.

Ghosthunters and the Totally Moldy Baroness

I love Cornelia Funke as an author. This wasn’t one of her best works, but it was also for a younger audience than most of the novels I’ve read by her. For a chapter book, it was as quirky and fun as I would normally expect!

Jem and the Holograms: Infinite

Look, I know next to nothing about Jem and the Holograms, besides the little bit I picked up when the failed move reboot came out. But even then, this was just a fun romp. The art was pretty, the ladies were badasses who all had very distinct personalities, and it had lesbians. What more can I ask for in my graphic novels?

The Adventures of Reddy Fox

Last book I’ll mention, because for a while it was also the last book I saw before falling asleep. I started this back in October when things were still pretty stressful, and it was a very zen book to use as a bedtime story for myself. I remember my mom reading it to me and my brother when we were little. They very much fable-style animal tales, these ones all focusing around the rather cocky and foolish Reddy Fox, though there were tales about many of the different characters that lived in these woods. Simple, cute, classic. A lovely story to wind down with.

[cherry-valentine]

Spring 2020 Anime:

Kami no Tou is one of my favorites this season. It’s unique in that it’s based on a Korean web comic rather than a Japanese manga or light novel. This gives it a different feel than most anime. The series centers on a massive tower that, when climbed, will grant a wish. Only the strongest warriors can hope to climb the tower, and even attempting it requires passing several grueling tests. The protagonist, Bam, initially enters the tower to find his friend Rachel, but ends up joining a team of three to climb the tower together. For the majority of the first episode’s runtime, I wasn’t really into this series and was pretty sure I wouldn’t watch anymore. It had a pretty vague opening that left me underwhelmed. But just before the episode ends, we get a really awesome sequence that sets the tone for the rest of the series, and I was hooked. The tests to climb the tower are surprisingly brutal, with frequent deaths until the cast is whittled down to the main players. The core group of characters is made up of a refreshing variety, with plenty of badass ladies. The main team of three are all likable. I honestly thought I wouldn’t like the lizard-like Rak very much, but he grew on me very quickly. The art is great, rarely going off model. The animation quality is pretty good and the design work is fantastic. The opening and ending themes are among my favorites this season. Probably my favorite new series of the season.

Kakushigoto covers several types of series all in one. It’s a comedy at its core, with a focus on quick skits and gags. It’s also adorable and heartwarming, following a single father named Goto raising his young daughter, Hime. The hook of the series, and the source of most of the comedy, is that Goto is a manga artist who draws “ecchi” manga (when I first read the description, I had something else in mind, but it turns out he just makes silly, slightly perverted gag manga) and he’s desperate to hide this fact from his daughter, so he pretends he’s a regular “salary man”. His interactions with Hime are so sweet and wholesome, it really makes you just sigh and say, “Awww!” However, the series also covers another type of anime: the tearjerker. The scenes talking about Goto’s dead wife are almost hard to watch, as it’s very clear that losing her was incredibly painful for him, but he had to move on quickly for his daughter’s sake. There are little things, like the fact that the wife apparently prepared boxes for Hime to open at every age containing things she thought Hime might need or want at each age (and it looks like she prepared boxes for Goto as well!), that make it hard to stay dry-eyed while watching. There are also scenes taking place several years later, involving a teenage Hime, that imply some extremely heartbreaking things I’d rather not think about. Basically, any given episode will have you gushing over the cuteness, then laughing hysterically, then crying and batting away some dark and depressing thoughts. The art has a very unique style. To be honest I’m not entirely sure if I like it or not. The colors and backgrounds are lovely, but some of the character designs are a little... odd. In particular, Hime is probably the least cute “young daughter” type character I’ve seen in anime. Something about the way her face is drawn is just... off. Oh well, might be good for warding off the gross perverts who might be watching the show for all the wrong reasons (it’s anime, so I suspect the worst). The music is perfect, with the best ending theme of the season (seriously go watch it, right now! It’s a true visual delight with an amazing song to go with it). Highly recommended unless you have no soul.

Kaguya-sama Love is War Season 2 was something I was looking forward to very much. I enjoyed season one way more than I expected to, and so far season two is just as good. The series follows two highly intelligent but extremely awkward students at a fancy private school who are in love with each other but each is trying to force the other to confess their feelings first. It’s a genuinely funny comedy that also captures the feeling of being in love with someone but being too shy (or too prideful) to tell them. Season two introduces a couple of new characters who, in my opinion, aren’t super interesting but thankfully aren’t around enough to wear out their welcome. This is one of those shows where no actual progress can ever be made, because if these two characters actually get together, the entire premise of the show falls apart and there’s no reason for it to keep going. Despite that, the show continues to be funny and entertaining, and it’s consistently well done, from the art to the writing to the music.

My Life as a Villainess is one of the quirkier “isekai” series out there. It follows a modern teenage girl who suddenly dies and is reborn in the world of her favorite otome game. The catch is that, instead of being born as the lovely heroine that all the guys fall in love with, she’s born as the villain, Catarina, who makes life hell for the heroine and, in every route in the game, ends up either dead or exiled. Upon realizing this, Catarina decides to do everything in her power to avoid these potential fates. This mostly amounts to her being nice to everyone (especially the game’s heroine, whom she meets in this world’s equivalent of high school) and trying to improve both her magic power and her fighting skills so she can defend herself, as well as learning to grow food in a garden so she can feed herself after being exiled. The show’s true (and obvious) twist is that everyone (regardless of gender) ends up falling in love with Catarina. It’s actually a pretty nice message, that people won’t automatically love you, but if you work on improving yourself and be genuinely kind to others, people will gravitate to you. The series is actually really funny and overall light-hearted. It’s particularly amusing if you’ve ever played an otome game and are familiar with the tropes. The art is nice, if a little generic, and the music is fine. Not my favorite this season but certainly worth a watch, especially since the season grew a bit dry a few weeks in.

Major 2nd Season 2 is a baseball anime sequel to the series Major, which I really want to watch (but is clearly not required for enjoying this one). In the second season, protagonist Daigo (the son of the previous series’ protagonist) is now a second year in middle school, and is the captain of the team after most of the third years quit. Almost all of his team mates from the first season have split up and gone to other schools, but Sakura, one of the few girl players, is still on his team. It’s interesting to me that the majority of Daigo’s team is made up of girls, to the point that other teams have a tendency to underestimate them. I didn’t even realize that in middle school, teams could be mixed like this. It’s actually refreshing, as the girls are very skilled (Daigo points out very early on that the girls follow the exact same training regimen as the boys). In fact, the girls in general are much more talented than the boys (Daigo himself even gives up his position as catcher to a first year girl who proves she has more skill than he does). It’s just really nice that these are good players, not “good for a girl”. Another fun aspect of the series is the fact that previous teammates from season one are popping up as opponents in season two. The animation is fine and the music is good. If you like baseball at all, this is the show for you. If you like sports anime in general, give it a shot. It doesn’t really have that “lots of hot guys who are super close with each other” vibe that most sports anime has, so keep that in mind. 

There were a few others I was watching that had to be put on hiatus due to the pandemic. Since I only watched three or four episodes of them, I’ll wait and do write-ups for them once they resume.

EDIT: Added Major 2nd Season 2 because it resumed airing.

Carry Over Shows From Previous Seasons: Black Clover (now on hiatus) Ahiru no Sora

Best of Season: Best New Show: Kami no Tou Best Opening Theme: Kami no Tou Best Ending Theme: Kakushigoto Best New Male Character: Goto (Kakushigoto) Best New Female Character: Catarina (My Life as a Villainess)