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my-sherlock221b · 3 years ago

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Supernatural Rewatch Ramblings: Bloodlust

2020-21 has been a huge transformative time for many of us. Whether we wanted it or not, we have been forced to stop, switch gears, rethink, reflect, let go, make new priorities, discover who we really are and who we want to be in the face of adversity.

One of those transformations for me has been giving up on control and finding a way to surrender to the power of the universe. Another has been to not let perfection be the enemy of good.

You may well wonder---What does all this have to do with the Bloodlust rewatch and review??!

Probably nothing LOL except for the fact that I still have to write up my review on Bloody Mary and have been unable to write for various reasons. And then because the Bloody Mary review was still incomplete I could not write about the next one etc etc etc.

So when we watched Bloodlust two days ago in the continuing re-watch, I decided that I am going to re-start the review, and from exactly where I am right now!

If time and life permits I might fill in the gaps later. If not, well, life is unpredictable and weird and we keep calm as it carries on….Thank you for coming to my Philosophy talk….:)

Read below for the Boodlust review, Season 2 episode 3 and look out for the post from @soulmates-for-real on this rewatch too!!

The opening scene is the perfect switch and bait because we as an audience have been trained to latch on to types and identities and representations.

Woman in white night gown screaming and running--victim

Person who brutally beheads her—villain.

A few minutes into the episode we realize that we were wrong.

A good few minutes later we realize that we were wrong about being wrong.]

Haha.

We are idjits, swept away on the eddies and currents of this masterfully written and directed episode. Thank you Sera Gamble and Robert Singer!

The acting and the mesmerizing beauty of the two leads is worthy of an entire essay of its own but in order to have a life and finish this review I shall only say this—Oh my goodness HOW gorgeous is Jensen Ackles?!!

It is sometimes impossible to look at him in this episode because my eyes didn’t know where to land! That perfect face? The lips? Those eyes?? The quirk of the eyebrows? Those micro expressions that are constantly weaving across his face? The smile? The way his lips move when he talks?? His hair? The Samulet?

And then the shot pans out and includes his hand and the ring and honestly it’s a miracle I could follow the plot at all.

So the images I am going to include in this review, much as I love Sam Winchester and Jared Padalecki, are all of Dean Winchester. It’s a criminal waste to not do so when the man is just an ode to perfection.

Sheila O’Malley’s review of this episode is in itself a work of art and a thing of beauty so I will direct you most enthusiastically towards it and only add here my little pennyworth bits. Do click on this link but be prepared to sink into a one hour read which will make you feel like you were dropped into the episode itself.

https://www.sheilaomalley.com/?p=87187

Here is a quote from her review which is so insightful.

These are the details that a director like Robert Singer never misses, and at this point his relationship with Ackles and Padalecki would be almost telepathic (it’s probably 100% telepathic now). He has said before that he and Kripke were such a good team because Kripke’s primary concern is Plot/Gore/Horror and Singer’s primary concern is Character/Relationship. And they both end up in the same place. It’s a good mix. If Singer were also Plot/Gore/Horror focused, we wouldn’t have the depth of relationship which is the real point of the show, its real hook.

For a much briefer and far less technically adept and analytical review, read on here!

The opening of this episode shows us the Impala from every possible angle. Gleaming, gorgeous, road -worthy. This is mirrored by Dean. He is also gleaming, gorgeous and roadworthy. He is in a happy mood that not even Sam’s little brother snitty comments can deflate.

Here is the soundtrack of this episode for those who are interested.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0835248/soundtrack

Here is some random but fun trivia:

Dean tells Sam in one scene "If it's Supernatural, we kill it." One of the rare times the title of the show is actually spoken in the dialogue.

This is the first episode where Sam began parting his hair down the middle, the hairstyle he'd keep the rest of the series.

( I didn’t like his hair too much in this episode honestly but then again I could barely see anyone beyond Dean :D)

During the filming of this episode Jared injured his hand when he fell badly during a stunt. He thought it was merely sprained and went straight into filming the next episode without having it checked. But it got more and more painful and finally he went to the doctor and discovered that his hand was, in fact, broken. Because he had already begun filming, he couldn't bandage the hand until filming for that episode was finished. The writers ended up writing in an accident for Sam and his line "I think she broke my hand" to explain the fact that for the following few episodes he would be wearing a cast.

When Dean kills a vampire, blood is sprayed on his face, mostly on his right cheek. In the next shot the pattern is different, and notably the right cheek is almost clean. Furthermore, his mouth was agape when he made the kill, risking the blood getting into his mouth and turning him into a vampire. While the brothers didn't yet know how a vampire is made at that point, Gordon did and should have been alarmed that Dean might have gotten some of the blood in his mouth.

A random behind the scene shot from the episode:

Guess who she is? Apparently this is Jensen’s sister in a super brief role in Bloodlust!

On to the review, or rather some of my thoughts during the re-watch.

The first scene with the Sheriff they are interrogating him about the cattle mutilations is hilarious. The way they bluff their way into the morgue is hilarious. Dean always leading and Sam following.

Random trivia: When Dean enters the morgue with Sam and sees the name tag of "J Manners", it has been thought the name was to honor Jeffrey Dean Morgan and series producer Kim Manners. Dean guesses "John" - Jeffrey's character name - and the intern corrects with "Jeff"

It a testament to the way Supernatural has trained its audience that we barely blink when they pull out a decapitated head in the morgue, squabble over who is more chicken, dig into the mouth and eventually discover vampire fangs.

Yes, of course they do.

Next scene: Two hot guys walk into a bar…..

…….where the adorable Benny, who is not Benny in this episode but a random dude ( spoilers—later we find out the dude is a vampire), gives them directions/ mis- directions to a possible vampire nest.

We see the first glimpse of Gordon Walker, amazingly played by Sterling K. Brown, and making us worry about and dislike him almost right away. The way he is shown with the light and shade bars on his face from the window blinds is so menacing.

The next few scenes continue to build that sense of unease where the Winchester brothers, apparently telepathically, decide to double back and catch him following them, then he shows them his car and his weapons, where he references their dad and then refuses their offer for help.

The scene where he shows them his car is like a painting. (The car by the way is just as inconspicuous as the Impala –which is to say NOT AT ALL!! How do these people stay below the radar of the regular law enforcement is a mystery….).

The dust highlighting the rays of light, the two brothers on one side of the car and Gordon at the other, it’s all so consciously set up for a few seconds worth of screen time. Impressive!

Next comes a truly brutal kill, at Dean’s hands, which we don’t even see except as a spray of blood on his face. Poetic! But it is Dean’s expression that makes my stomach clench. His eyes are dead and he is somewhere deep that even Sam can’t reach, as we can see from the distress on Sam’s face.

Gordon of course is all chipper and full of bonhomie and offers to buy them drinks.

That following scene is the one which gives Wincest brother-wives vibes like 100%.

Sam plays the role of the disgruntled ‘wife’ to perfection. No one but hubby is allowed to use the nickname. He hates the male bonding going on with Gordon and the more Gordon seems to slip into Dean’s inner circle, the more uncomfortable Sam gets, until he finally decides that he just cannot physically be there any more.

Dean’s smug expression when Sam tells Gordon off for calling him Sammy, his instant worry at Sam going back alone, his hand raised in exasperation to convey to Gordon—look what I have to put up with-- the tossing of the keys to his car----it is all a symphony of Dean playing his part in the brother-wives orchestra.

The last line?! ‘Remind me to beat the buzzkill out of you later.’ And Sam’s expression at that? That’s exactly the way a bullying /abusive husband would react to a nagging wife who doesn’t like his toxic friends and wonders how he can be so blind as to not see them for the bad influence they clearly are.

( Bad Dean!!!)

Sam goes back to the motel and does his due diligence by checking with Ellen, gets kidnapped by vampires, released and on his return is disgusted to find Gordon inside their motel room.

The next scene is where Dean erupts, having clearly had enough of the shifting power dynamics between them over the evening. Sam has been silently judging him since the kill and Gordon has managed to ‘other’ Sam and make Dean feel validated in his own bloodlust as a hunter.

Dean clocks Sam one.

Wow. I did not see that coming. And what shocked me at this re- watch is that Sam just takes it.

Like an abused wife, he just takes it. Not only that, sometime later in the episode he tells Dean to hit him again if it is going to make him feel better.

NO Sam! NO!!! This is NOT healthy and this is NOT the way to deal….ugh. Sigh.

Then the second half of the episode swings in and the moral dilemma they face becomes clear when the victim and villain switch roles and Dean is shook enough to question his dad’s judgement!

Dean is still kind of trying to give Gordon the benefit of the doubt even though he sees him literally torturing the vampire. But of course all bets are off the instant he touches Sam. Dean pulls his gun on him. I was surprised that he didn’t shoot him just on principle later simply because he hurt Sam even if it was a small cut.

That is Dean’s definition of monsters-- Anything that hurts Sam. 😊

We don’t know it at this time, and spoilers ahead, but maybe Dean has been so annoyed and violent with Sam at the idea that he is standing up for MONSTERS is because he might also be one….and the way he looks at the end when he realizes that his whole life’s philosophy has been upended.

There are the details about the vampires who drink cattle blood so they don’t harm humans and therefore want to be treated as the good guys. Of course it is all about the inherent struggle between who you are and what you do—something that shows up hugely magnified in the later seasons when Sam is struggling with his own demon blood addiction and the knowledge of the demon blood inside him.

He needs desperately to believe in this as the utmost foundation stone of his life and its purpose—what you DO is more important than what you ARE!

So even if you are a monster, if you don’t behave like one—that is your redemption.

But it’s not just anybody whose faith he wants in his struggle to prove to himself that he is not a monster. He needs it from Dean.

Remember the dialogue from the panic room “Don’t you say that to me. Don’t YOU say that to me.”

And the fake voicemail set up by Zachariah exploits this at the time of the breaking of the last seal.

Of course he doesn’t know any of this yet, but that’s Sam fucking Winchester for you –always purer and better than his circumstances allow. Always struggling to do better, be better.😍

It is fascinating how the visuals and the roles these two play are of rugged handsome men, badass heroes-- Dean of course super macho role playing all the time. But there are so many layers upon layers and honestly if it wasn’t for Jared and Jensen’s fine nuanced and impeccable acting adding depth to the characters, the show would not have held our interest for this long.

We are shown Sam as the brains with his lore and research, but then in the very next episode (Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things), we see Dean connect dots faster than Sherlock Holmes.

Dean is shown as the instinctively violent one with the gun under his pillow, trigger happy, and in this episode even that brutal kill of the vampire on the docks. But then please remember the way Sam kills Gordon finally. Or the insane way he bites himself to get blood for drawing sigils. Or the way he just simply shoots the crossroads demon point blank!

We see Sam as the soft hearted one and he does rescue kids once in a while, but he is never shown to bond with them even a fraction of the way Dean does—so effortlessly. Also the ladies of course, all of whom have a soft spot for Dean. The exceptions being Sarah and Madison, both of whom completely ignored Dean. Oh and that doctor from Sex and Violence.

Dean has had his share of bad dates of course with Cassie, the woman who gave birth to his magical superfast growing daughter ( who was killed by Sam), and the whole Lisa arc, but somehow we are shown Sam as the one who is invested in relationships. Hello?! Sam was planning to marry Jessica without having told her a thing about his life while Dean told Cassie the secret as soon as he thought he was in love and wanted a relationship.

So anyway, just to say that a rewatch is so brilliant because we know more about them at this point than they do and the character arc is such a thing of beauty to see unfolding!

That last scene where Dean is in a thoughtful frame of mind, the sun is rising overhead ( as a metaphor for him seeing the light, maybe?)--that insanely gorgeous shot of Dean with the ring of fire and light and his absolutely perfect face in a close up…sigh.

Then he thanks Sam for pushing him to see this grey area and for the first time in that episode Sam finally smiles.

His big brother is back with him.

And then he commits to Dean too. Ah…how it warms my heart to hear this dialogue!

DEAN I wish we never took this job. It's jacked everything up.

SAM What do you mean?

DEAN Think about all the hunts we went on, Sammy, our whole lives.

SAM Okay.

DEAN What if we killed things that didn't deserve killing? You know? I mean, the way Dad raised us...

SAM Dean, after what happened to Mom, Dad did the best he could.

DEAN I know he did. But the man wasn't perfect. And the way he raised us, to hate those things; and man, I hate 'em. I do. When I killed that vampire at the mill I didn't even think about it; hell, I even enjoyed it.

SAM You didn't kill Lenore.

DEAN No, but every instinct told me to. I was gonna kill her. I was gonna kill 'em all.

SAM Yeah, Dean, but you didn't. And that's what matters.

DEAN Yeah. Well, 'cause you're a pain in my ass.

SAM Guess I might have to stick around to be a pain in the ass, then.

DEAN Thanks.

SAM Don't mention it.

Transcript here http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/index.php?title=2.03_Bloodlust_%28transcript%29

Guess Sam does stick around for the next 15 years to be a pain in the ass 😊

Some quotes from the writers about this episode:

· "The episode was really about what Dean would become if he didn't watch out: that Gordon was Dean in ten years if Sam didn't ask the difficult questions and keep him from getting too militant." - Executive story editor Sera Gamble

· "We set out to create a monster episode where you weren't entirely sure whether these monsters should be killed." - Eric Kripke

· "For me, the show is at its best when the supernatural story reveals something new about the brothers, or forces them to change in some way. Sam and Dean's realization that they've basically been raised as 'monster racists' was really meaty stuff. Exploring these characters' flaws is just as important as showcasing their heroism - these are the things that make them human, that make us invest in them." - Raelle Tucker

Check out this site for more amazing trivia and stuff

http://www.jonescave.com/supernatural/Episode/Episode.php?s=2&e=3#PopCulture

I have already finished watching the next episode ‘Children’s Shouldn’t play with Dead Things’….so let’s hope I get around to writing a review sometime soon !

#spn #spn review #spn meta #sam and dean #bloodlust #the epic love story of sam and dean #wincest #brother wives

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wintaejk · 5 years ago

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Jungkook’s FIC REC | series

Because I spend a lot of time here on tumblr reading fanfictions, I wanted to create my own fic recs. Like that, I can recommend fictions that deserve more recognition and at the same time, if I want to reread one of them, I just have to come here.

Everything on this list is about Jungkook. And of course, all those works have been written by the authors I tagged next to the name of the fictions, they do not belong to me (and if the authors want me to remove their work from my rec, I will).

I also want to thank the authors. I really appreciate all your works and efforts to create all those beautiful stories. I send you all of my love.

I decided to try writing a commentary for each of the stories. I always try to use the right pronouns when talking about the authors, but if I used the wrong ones for you, don’t hesitate to tell me. I will change it in a minute.

(f) = fluff

(a) = angst

(m) = mature

The following fictions are all about completed and finished series. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I did.

Complete

— wanted (F) (M) | One ; Two ; Three ; Four ; Five ; Six — by @jincherie

You were a deserter, a renegade, a wanted “criminal”. It was never in your plans to crash land on that planet, and it most certainly wasn’t in your plans to fall in love with it’s handsome ruler.

space au | alien au | royalty au | soulmate au | +56k

Commentary - To be honest, I don’t even know where to start and what to start with. But I think I’m simply gonna start with my first thoughts of this story. Because this fiction, I saw it multiple times on many fic recs. And to be completely honest, every single time I saw it, I found the summary attractive and intriguing but something was holding me. Probably the universe. The fear of being unsatisfied and disappointed. Because the difficulty with that kind of fiction is to immerse the reader in a universe they don’t know. You then have to describe it enough so that the reader can represent it in their head, but not too much to the point of becoming heavy. And this balance between the ‘enough’ and the ‘not too much’, you find it perfectly in ‘wanted’. I was not only imagining the scenery, I was totally living it. I was seeing everything, I was completely immerged, as if I had been living in that world my whole life. Also, the other risk with diving into a fantastic universe is the possibility of writing (or reading) something that has already been done. Yes, I already read stories where the characters are traveling from planet to planet. Yes, I already read love stories between an alien and a human. And yes, I read stories with kings before. However, this story is totally coming from the author’s imagination, or at least that’s the feeling I have. I don’t feel like I’m reading another story with aliens or in the future or a love story between a king and a non-royal reader that eveybody already knows by heart. No, I am reading Rha’s own story, her scenery, her plots, her descriptions... It was coming from her and it was her interpretation of an ‘alien world’ in the future. And I was even more stunned that I was not expecting that at all. It was in definitive a fucking good surprise. If you ask my opinion, I could even imagine it being the next best-seller book and then someone adapting this fiction in the next record-breaker movie. Now, let’s talk about the love story. Shit, fuck, damn. I’ve been craving a good love story these past few days and she gave it to me. A slow burn with a good amount of actions between the two characters, a flirty and sensual back and forth, a little bit of soulmate au, characters who have a personnality and feel truthful emotions, a last chapter with full on smut... It was for me a delight! And can we talk about that smut? Spoiler alert: Rha will make you wait until the very last minute, the very last chapter. And after waiting five long chapters, I personally only had two words for that smut... The. Fuck. I was so scared when I read the warnings and I saw tentacles and triple penetration. I was wondering where the author were bringing us. BUT BUT BUT!!! Holy fuck! I think we need all to respect a minute of silence in memory of the old me who just died. BECAUSE HOLY CRAP I FEEL LIKE A NEW WOMAN. No, but honestly, I am starting a new day tomorrow as a new person. This smut was something else. Never thought tentacles could be that exc.... Okay, I’m stopping now before making a whole essay on that perfect-amount-of-kink smut :))) I am going to conclude this lil (lol lmao lmfao) comment by emphasizing the work the author put in that fiction. For me, Rha’s story deserve so much recognition. Because this is clearly one of those fics where you can feel everything has been thought. Everything has an explanation, everything arrives at the perfect moment, everything is followed by a logical event, without being predictable. The plot, the secondary plots, the characters, the details... This author truly has nothing to envy to those ‘famous authors’ like J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jane Austen... This was not the first fiction she wrote that I read (she actually is the second account writing about bts I followed) and it is not a surprise that I loved so much this story. I am even certain, even if I just finished reading it, that this fiction will be one of those that you remember of, even years and years after you first read them. So Rha, if you happen to read this, let me tell you that you have a real talent, and you should keep embracing it! Love you lots, sweetheart, and I’m looking forward your next pieces of art.

— Falling Skies (F) (A) (M) | Prologue ; One ; Two ; Three ; Four ; Five ; Six — by @fortunexkookie

Jeon Jiyeon was your childhood best friend; her brother, Jungkook, was something else entirely. Once upon a time, she had called you her sun and him her moon; it was fitting, given the constant push-and-pull between you two. You used to consider him a friend, but then he had gone from endearingly frustrating dumb boy to card-carrying fuckboy so fast it had given you whiplash.

You often wondered how Jiyeon wasn’t bothered by his behavior. In fact, she often seemed to encourage it. What you failed to see was that she was just trying to show you how he reflected your light. Jiyeon had realized he was in love with you even before he did, but of course she knew. It was a twin thing.

So despite the fighting and teasing, you always found yourself drawn back to him. You knew he was one of two constants in your life: the Jeon twins were - and had always been - your one indisputable truth. You were the sun, Jungkook was the moon, and Jiyeon was the sky holding you both up When she died, it ripped a black hole right through you.

friends to enemies | enemies to friends | friends to lovers | +50k

Commentary - I think I will never have the words to express how much I love this story. This fiction has its own place in my heart, and I have the need to come back from time to time to read again and again and again this beautiful piece of work. I’m gonna be honest with you. If you don’t like angst, if you don’t want to suffer even a little bit, this fiction is not for you. However, you would miss something. And a big something. Yes, your heart will sink, you might even cry but dammit, it is so worth it. Plus you will find some comfort in Jungkook and reader’s love story. Who doesn’t love a good ‘enemies to lovers’ at the same time of a ‘friends to lovers’. Did I mention smut? No, I did not yet. SMUT, ladies and gentleman. Good smut. In a few words to summarize that all, this is an amazing, wonderful, brilliant masterpiece. Just... go read it.

— Roommates (M) | One ; Two ; Three — by @tayegi

When you accepted to let Jungkook, your best friend’s younger brother, to live with you, you did not take into account how much he grew up… and became that handsome young man.

roommate au | best friend’s brother | college au | +25k

Commentary - I’m pretty sure I couldn’t count how many times I read that fiction on only one hand. This story is the definition of slow-burn itself. As well as a collation of a roommate au, a best friend’s brother au, a friends to lovers au and an older reader. Let me tell you that when Jungkook and reader finally decides to act on that tension, it doesn’t end up in fire, but rathen in a volcanic eruption. And let’s be honest, that is exactly what we are here for.

— Animal (F) (A) (M) | One ; Two ; Three ; Four ; Five ; Six ; Seven ; Eight ; Nine — by @cutaepatootie

“I don’t want to die without telling someone about her,” he says, his voice softening when he says ‘her’. “I don’t want to disappear without the world knowing about her and what she did for me.”

“About her?” the girl frowns.

Maybe his daughter? His sister?

The man turns his head and faces the girl, a soft, distant smile plastered on his lips. The gesture is nostalgic, sad, almost loving.

“Y/N,” he murmurs, the name rolling off his lips softly, just as softly as the waves of the sea roll over the sand. “Her name was Y/N.”

boxer au | flashback au | +115k

Commentary - I’m not gonna lie, this story, I haven’t read it much. Simply because every single time I read it, I left some parts of my heart behind me. You can’t and I promise you that you won’t come out of this fanfiction in one piece. My heart broke the first time I read it. And the second time. And the third time. And this is probably the most I read it. Not that I didn’t like it, on the contrary: it is one of my favorite fictions in here. But there are some stories that you can’t read too many times, because they bring you such a combination of pain and joy, suffering and contentment, sorrow and euphoria that it is hard to handle, that you need some time to heal before reading it again. Putting words on what I felt while reading it is hard. I loved the characters, I loved the plot, the different stages of their relationship... And the end! I don’t think I would find someone who wouldn’t want for the end to be different. The last part let me in pain. Literally. I had a knot in my stomach and tears in my eyes. I had to stop two or three times to breathe in before continuing. In conclusion, if you love stories full of emotions, just go for that one. I read a lot, like a freaking whole lot. And fuck, this fiction is beautiful. Destructive also, but it is really worth it.

— Bunny Boy (M) | One ; Two ; Three ; Four ; Five — by @parkmuse

Catching feelings for your sisters friend wasn’t part of your plan.

sister’s best friend | older!reader | virgin!reader | +17k

Commentary - If you have the same taste as me in terms of fictions, you will like this fiction. There’s no complicated plot behind this story, but this is exactly what I loved about it. Sometimes, you just need a simple story between the reader and her sister’s best friend. A simple story between two young people pining for each other. A simple story maybe, but with a lot of charm. I particurly appreciate this story because of its simplicity. Love is not always complicated and impossible, and it is refreshing to read a story that remins you of that.

— Cream & Sugar (F) (M) | One ; Two ; Three ; Four ; Five ; Six — by @taehyungforreal

Stepping into this coffee shop was either the best or the worst idea of your life. You know that barista, you know he’s great in bed. You also know he’s the biggest asshole you’ve ever met.

escort au | barista au | enemies to lovers | +36k

Commentary - Cream & Sugar is another gem you can find on tumblr. Every time I read this serie, I fall in love once again with the characters of this stories. They are realistic, genuine and fierce. And this is what I love the most about Ashley’s fictions: the realism she puts in every single one of her work. The stories are thought, the psychology of the characters have been analyzed, the plot is consistent. This is not a coincidence I love everything that she writes; she has talent, and you should go read her fictions. And if you love slow-burn, sexual tension, and a good enemies to lovers universe, I warmly recommend you to start with this beautiful serie that I read multiple times and that I will continue to read again and again.

— Everything in you (F) (M) | One ; Two — by @jjungkookislife

Y/n wants a baby, Jungkook is wiiling to help.

best friends to lovers | roommate au | pregnant!reader | +24k

Commentary - If you are looking for a cute and soft Jungkook’s story, I hardly recommend you to not click on this one. And for the others who are ready to give it a go, make sure to prepare your eyes and soul beforehand. This fiction is made of 90% of smut. This is kinky Jungkook asf, this is filth, this is all we like to read. Plus if we add the friends to lovers theme on top of everything else, this fiction can be considered as the holy grail for sinners like me. (But if you consider yourself pure and innocent, I promise the damnation is worth it.)

— the jeon twins (F) (A) ; kookie ending ; jk ending — by @krreader

jk thought he was doing this for his twin’s good. falling in love with you while pretending to be kookie was never something he planned on doing and he hated himself for it.

twins!jeon | college au | badboy!jk | nerd!kookie

Commentary - I loved the concet of this fiction. A double ending, so everyone is happy at the end. Plus we have the duality of Jungkook in one fiction: the nerdy part of him vs the iNtErNaTiOnAl PlAyBoY one. And I have to admit that I’m a sucker for both of them. So having them reunited in one fiction is a delight.

— fear is forever (F) (A) | One: fear in your eyes ; Two: forever and a night — by @gukyi

there’s a werewolf in that forest behind your house, they told you, and he’ll eat you before you can even beg for mercy.

werewolf au | strangers to lovers | +8k

Commentary - For some reasons, this story hit me hard. I love reading werewolf au, or should I say that I just love everything that is supernatural and magical. But this one was different. No crazy smut, no mate au, no pack. At some point, I even thought about Red Riding Hood, but not because the stories are similar. Far from it. I didn’t realize it directly, but after a few days, I was still thinking about it, and I could imagine telling that story to my future children. And then I realized why I was associating it to Red Riding Hood. This story feels like a fairytale. The famous ones. The ones that you tell your children before they go to sleep. The ones with magic, as much in the story itself as in the way it is written. The ones that make you still think about them days after you first read it. This story is literally a fairytale.

— Cafuné (F) (A) (M) | One ; Two — by @daffodilon

cafuné - (brazilian portuguese)

“the act of running your fingers through your lover’s hair; among the few words that cannot be directly translated into english”

roommates au | friends to lovers | +19k

Commentary - This fiction is the personification of the friends to lovers au itself. You want soft? You will have soft. You want soft smut? You will have soft smut. You want soft smut with Jungkook? Seriously, I don’t know why you still are here reading my bullshit when you could be reading that beautiful baby instead.

— vaunt (M) | One ; Two — by @yminie

Every weekend Beta Tau throws a ‘little’ party to help students relax and let loose, and the frat resident Jungkook has a big mouth that talks a lot of big game. You finally get sick of the lack of relaxation on your end and set out to see if he’s all talk.

college au | fratboy!jungkook | enemies to lovers | +18k

Commentary - I only have three words to describe that fiction: big dick Jungkook. You want reasons to go read this story? A lot of smut. A good amount of crack. A little bit of fluff to end the story. And also, fuckboy!jungkook; fratboy!jungkook; and Big. Dick. Jungkook. You want a little bit more of filth and sin in your life? You are in the right place, that’s all I have to say.

— bad for you (A) (M) | drabble 1 ; drabble 2 ; Epilogue: undressed — by @yoonia

His whole presence emits sin and danger, and you are not supposed to be attracted to him on the first glance.

stripper au | bachelorette au | +31k

Commentary - Another fiction that I love reading again from time to time. And yes, cheating is wrong. Don’t do it at home kids. But no, I am not ashamed to love that fiction so much. I’m a sucker for Jungkook. But I’m a hoe for stripper!Jungkook. Plus the alchemy between reader and Jk is too good to not count that fiction in the top of my list of fictions. You add smut, fluff and the right amount of angst and BAM! You end up with a five stars fiction that you will devour until the very end.

#fic rec #jeon jungkook fic rec #jeon jungkook #bts fic rec #series fic rec

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bigskydreaming · 5 years ago

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@princeescaluswords tagged me in a fanfic ask meme, and I’m loling at how few of the questions I can actually answer, because I swear I’ve literally forgotten more fandoms than most people will ever have. And I’ve probably written a good couple million words of fanfic all in total....

I know with just my first fandom alone, Roswell, I was in that one writing regularly for about three years and wrote and published probably a million words between the six or so ‘big fics’ I wrote......21 Down topped out at just over 200K, my Paradise Lost trilogy was probably a little longer as I think Genesis and Exodus were both around 80K and Revelations was probably closer to 100K. Riders of the Storm was around 120K.....Passage to Dawn I never actually finished because I scrapped it halfway through and started over.....and my revised version left off at around 50K I think, but the previous version before that had gotten up to 100K......and then I honestly can’t remember the names of my other two big fics at the moment, lmfao, I just know I had one more that was an amnesia trope fic and one that was....oh! Never mind, just remembered. The Long Dark Night of the Soul was one of my shorter ones, probably somewhere between 60-80K.

But yeah, that was just my first fandom alone......but fandom was a little different then, like in the sense that nobody was really writing posts about meta or episode or character analysis......Roswell fandom existed almost entirely on various messageboards and linked sites created by the community. It was years before Ao3 of course, and while ff.net was around, Roswell was one of those fandoms that just never congregated around it......people posting Roswell fics on ff.net were the outliers, the majority of fandom was centered around sites like roswellfanatics.net, crashdown.com and my personal site/board of choice to hang out and post at, polarattraction.com. I’m pretty sure all of those sites have been defunct for years, and I wish I’d done a better job of saving some of my own fics at least, lol. But point is, the fandom was geared just towards the writing and consumption of fanfic more than anything else......so if you were writing something, it was either a fic itself, or a comment on somebody else’s fic, lol.

Anyway, was just reviewing my various past fandoms, the ones I could remember, and thought of Dark Angel fandom, which I haven’t thought of in forever. Which is kinda funny to me, actually, considering my focus in DA fandom was pretty much exactly my focus in Batfandom - the found family feels.

LOL. Like, I was never one of the better known writers in DA fandom given that my focus was not really the same as most of fandom’s. DA fandom was largely split into two camps locked in eternal ship war - Logan/Max and Alec/Max. I had by this time ‘evolved’ to the point of looking at this and just snobbishly intoning “I do not care for the Straightness of this all and thus I choose to Abstain from the conflict” so there was that at least.....but yeah, thing was, personally, I was in Dark Angel fandom for the found family feels. Max’s eternal search for her siblings she’d been raised with but lost track of when they escaped from Manticore as children.....like that was the good stuff, that was what drew me in and kept me under lock and key until I’d banged out a good couple years’ worth of constant fic writing about her and her siblings before I moved on.

But while Max’s search for her siblings was the catalyst and central plot of the first season of Dark Angel, fandom pretty much only ever took off with the introduction of Alec in the second season, when it became an either/or choice between Alec and Logan. And with most of the second season moving away from Max’s search for her family to focus more on the larger big-picture plots, combined with the fact that most of Max’s siblings never actually made an appearance onscreen.....understandably, they didn’t end up occupying too much of a role in most of fandoms’ fics or interests.

Anyway, like I said, I churned out a shit ton of DA fanfic in a pretty short period of time....my single most popular fic was probably one about transgenics racing to find a cure when they realize they’d been genetically engineered to all ‘expire’ by a certain age, since their creators had no use for genetically engineered super-soldiers past the prime of their lives.

But my personal fave bits of writing, and the series I reeeeeeally regret not saving and wish I could find again, like, there was this one series of one-shots (ranging from a couple thousand words long to some that were about 20-30K long) written about each of Max’s siblings.....all fifteen of them, lol. Jondy’s was the first one I wrote, and one of the first things I wrote in that fandom, and then I just added new stories to that particular series up until Jack’s, the very last one a couple years later....which I THINK was the last thing I ever wrote/posted in that fandom.

And since we only ever met about half of these characters on the show, and most of them only for an episode each, for the most part they were blank slates and the equivalent of writing OCs......and so I’ll always have a soft spot for my time in DA fandom solely because of how many people told me my version of Max’s various siblings was like, the definitive version for them and what they based their own fics or takes on her siblings on. Swoon. Like, that’s my favorite kind of compliment, especially in fanfic writing.

So that series was my Big Thing even if it wasn’t my most popular or well-known fic, and the various stories in it were weird and whimsical and largely experimental. Because part of the point of fic writing for me instead of writing original fic is its like....fanfic is often the place where I just get weird with my writing and try new things even just stylistically. See what works and what doesn’t, etc.

Anyway, kinda curious if there’s anyone out there who was in Dark Angel fandom at all to any degree, or if any of these sound familiar or if anyone remembers reading them.

Like, so Jondy was Max’s sister who we never met in canon but Max talked about often as being her favorite sibling, and her story in this series was called “Little Lightning Girl.” In it she was a stripper slash vigilante, who used her job to take note of predatory guys who then she preemptively scared away from her coworkers or ran totally out of town. I forget how it went exactly, but that one was written as though it was all her stream of consciousness, and she had to my mind a kind of chaotic, whimsical sort of nature, so there was something in there like:

“Call me little lightning girl, for I’ve lightning in my veins. My hair is always frizzy, my steps all flicker-shimmy-shake. But when I strike, boom, clap, I’m thunder in reverse - by the time you hear the rumble, its already too late. That was you hitting the ground. Don’t hurry getting up. I can wait.”

And then Zane’s story was called “Zen and the Art of Not Breaking Your Customer’s Fucking Face (remember, its bad for business).”

Brin’s was “I Wasn’t Born Yesterday (but yesterday, I remember being very small).”

Zack’s was “Rules For When The Sky Is Falling (and this time it isn’t your fault).”

Syl’s was “The Kind of Girl You Bring Home to Meet Your Parents (when you’ve got the kind of parents that need killing).”

Ben’s was “They keep telling me I’m crazy (I say its the world that’s gone mad).”

Tinga’s was “A Storybook Kind of Princess (with a Grimm kind of happily ever after)” and Krit’s was “The Good Die Young, So Boy, You Better Be Bad.”

Kavi’s was “I Never Learned How To Play Ball (striking out comes naturally).”

Vada’s was “Chase Me To The Desert and Watch Me Live, I Bet I’ll Thrive (you better believe I was born to survive).”

And then Seth’s was “All Her Brothers’ Keeper (you keep your secrets and I’ll keep the watch).”

And though technically not escapees with the rest of them, I am anal and a completionist, so of course I had to write ones for Eva, Jack and Jace too.

Eva’s was “Big Sisters Know Best (so when I say I’ll die for you, just say thank you and live).”

Jace’s was “Leopards Never Change Their Spots (but why worry about my 5% leopard when I’m 10% shark).

And Jack’s was “Shelter The Innocent (but don’t look at the boy without shelter and say that boy, he’s no good).”

Anyway, been randomly thinking about those today now. Well, not randomly since I can follow the train of thought that led me to thinking about them, but you know what I mean. Its just kinda funny to me that I do remember those particular stories so well when there’s entire other fandoms I can barely remember writing in at all. And DA fandom wasn’t even one I was in all that long, ever knew too many other people in, or like....idk. I definitely, definitely have written much more well read and frequently commented upon stories than that fairly random little series of almost-OCs, but for some reason it stuck around in my head a lot longer and a lot more clearly than a ton of other stuff.

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rakefired · 6 years ago

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rakefire’s fic recs | July 2019

I haven’t produced anything lately, so I thought maybe I can rec some stuff I ‘discovered’ and enjoyed last month. I don’t know if fic review is still a thing, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The ratings are either T or E, idk.

✨✨✨

Chef’s (Uns)Table by TheAlchemistsDaughter | Rated: T

A Solo Guide To Wooing Girls by Ayearandaday | Rated: T

and all i need is to be struck by your electric love by radioactivesaltghoul | Rated: T

keep me in your clouded mind by hi_raeth | Rated: T

i swear i hate you when you leave (but i like it anyway) by hi_raeth | Rated: T

Coveted by OptimisticBeth | Rated: E

Cupcake Wars by crossingwinter | Rated: E

Wanting by Minkel23 | Rated: E

Full review:

(I said review, but this is actually a series of ‘i love this fic so much’ in different words.)

Chef’s (Uns)Table by TheAlchemistsDaughter | Rated: T

Kylo Ren is a high-powered chef with an explosive temper. Nevertheless, Rey likes him. To get him to come out of the kitchen, she and her friends try to wind him up. When someone asks for ketchup, it works a little too well.

I’m such a sucker for a hotheaded chef because of a Korean drama I watched a long time ago. And this fic is just *chef’s kiss*. I giggled the whole time. My favorite part is every time Kylo losing his shit. And he loses his shit a lot.

A Solo Guide To Wooing Girls by Ayearandaday | Rated: T

the Solo family and their weird ways to show affection.

Ben flirts and does all the wrong thing.

This fic is so adorable. Basically, Ben Solo’s flirting technique stops in when he was fourth grade and Rey just can’t be bothered (or is she really bothered by him? Hm?). Poe is Ben’s brother in this, and he fits in the Solo household so nicely.

and all i need is to be struck by your electric love by radioactivesaltghoul | Rated: T

Rey’s supposed to fake-break-up with her fake-boyfriend, but Ben’s been pissing her off more and more lately. What better way to irritate him by showering him in a public proposal that he has to say no to?

*inhales* L I S T E N

This fic has everything: Fake relationship. Dumbassery. Emotional constipation. Slow burn but not really (seriously, though. Even though this is a fairly short fic, the angst is everything). It’s got a happy and cliff-hanger ending which is totally worth it. So so funny.

keep me in your clouded mind by hi_raeth | Rated: T

Flu season has claimed its latest victim: Rey’s roommate, Ben Solo. But it’s fine. She’ll get him dressed, bring him to the hospital, and everything will be okay. Things are totally under control.

Except for the part where Ben has completely lost his verbal filter and keeps babbling about his feelings for her.

Okay. I'm very late to this fic. All I can say is, my face hurts from smiling while reading it. And I couldn’t stop thinking about the part where Ben says, “You should be my baby. And I’ll be yours.”

Eye—

i swear i hate you when you leave (but i like it anyway) by hi_raeth | Rated: T

Rey’s all about putting herself in other people’s shoes and empathy and being understanding, but Kylo Ren is The Actual Worst and no amount of empathy will ever change that. Seriously, fuck that guy. Also: literally, fuck that guy.

Or: five times Rey and Kylo have hate sex, and one time they do something... more.

Catching feelings? Rey and Ben? Pfft —

But seriously. I loved the intimacy displayed in this fic.

There’s nothing wrong with explicit fics (I wrote one or two myself), but there’s something incredibly heart-warming when it’s being told this way. Anyway, I can’t wait to go through hi_raeth’s works.

Coveted by OptimisticBeth | Rated: E

Rey has never wanted nor needed a mate. So when it gets out that her new Pack Leader, Ben, is determined to claim her, she’s horrified to find that not only does she have to fend him off but all the strange alphas who come sniffing around.

This is probably the first werewolf fic I’ve ever read? And I’m usually not into it (there’s nothing wrong with it). But I almost finished Soul Searching and I adore OptimisticBeth’s writing and characterization, so I just dived right in.

What I love about this fic is how delicate it is. I think that is expected since that’s also what I love about Soul Searching.

If you find A/B/O relationship kinda off-putting due to power imbalance, etc., this fic might give you a different perspective, I think? Alpha Ben is so respectful of Omega Rey’s space, although in some situations he still makes his intention clear. And Rey is the one who has the upper hand in how their relationship progresses. I just love their dynamics.

Cupcake Wars by crossingwinter | Rated: E

Entirely by accident, Rey ends up fucking someone who works for Snoke's Cupcakery. She's just blowing off steam. It doesn't mean anything at all. It certainly won't come back to bite her in the ass.

I think crossingwinter is one of my early reylo fic writers (back when I didn’t have an ao3 account), and probably contributed in my introduction to A/B/O lol. (i want to wail (to the moon like a cat in heat) is still one of my faves.)

This fic is hilarious... and poignant, sorta? I love how real it feels. Yeah, I know, you might think, ‘well, of course it feels real! That’s the whole thing about fiction!’

But hey, look. This is what gets me attached to this fic: it feels like a story of ordinary people. And that *inhales* is *exhales* everything. The characters, their pain, their worries, their pettiness are so human.

Also, it doesn’t hurt that I can imagine Donald G and Joonas being Ben’s childhood besties, okay?

Wanting by Minkel23 | Rated: E

In one moment of weakness she gave him everything, and he’s been more than happy to take her meagre offering.

But him...

He’s always holding something back.

She tries not to let it bother her.

He said it himself, after all. They only have one night together. One night to fuck each other out of their systems. One night to quench this infernal wanting.

She’d be foolish to expect anything more.

Angst? Angst. Angst. Angst. Angst. Angst. Angst. Angst. Angst. Angst. Angst. Angst.

And it’s beautifully written. And yeah, angst.

I wish I could say something else, but angst is really the core of this fic. And Minkel23, as always, is one of the best writers in that department.

In this story, Ben and Rey are tiptoeing around their own feelings toward each others. They end up hurting each other a lot. Like I said, angst.

Also, ruthless Leia is ruthless.

✨✨✨

I didn’t read a lot last month and I might miss some titles for this list, but I’m trying to get more fics this time and be more organized. 💕

#reylo #reylo fic recs #reylo fics #hi_raeth #thealchemistsdaughter #ayearandaday #radioactivesaltghoul #optimisticbeth #crossingwinter #minkel23

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katewillaert · 6 years ago

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My Secret Origin (Part 1): How To Fail At Comics

[Above: Art from 20 years ago, when I was in High School.]

What do you want to be when you grow up?

When I was four I said “mad scientist.” It was 1987 and I was a big fan of The Real Ghostbusters and Doc Brown. My mom insisted “mad scientist” wasn’t a profession. And weren’t those characters are inventors? What did I want to invent?

Clearly I hadn’t thought this through.

My mom also informed me that all those cartoons I watch were made by people. Those were drawings, and there are people whose job it was to draw those.

This blew my mind. From that point on I decided I was going to be an animator.

Discovering Art

I don’t remember when I first started drawing. It seems like something I always did growing up. As far as my memory is concerned, I came out of the womb holding a pencil and began drawing before I said my first words.

In reality, I probably started in preschool when I was four, just before I discovered what an animator was. I remember my favorite subject to draw was the Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters. I must’ve drawn it something like 10 or 20 times.

My mom kept almost all of my childhood art, so in theory I could figure out when I started drawing from that...except the earliest drawings were ruined when the basement flooded.

After the flooding, my mom was condensing what was left, and I saw something surprising: a box filled with Ecto-1 drawings. I hadn’t drawn it 10 or 20 times, I’d drawn it 100 or 200 times. Repetitively, over and over, without consciously thinking about what I was doing.

It was practice without realizing I was practicing. I guess that’s how my art “leveled up” so quickly?

Later I discovered other details about my early development. There was a time around age 2 where I stopped talking. There were times when I liked to line up toys. My obsession before art was Legos, building complex shapes and stairs.

Today these might be recognized as possible indicators of autism, but this was the ‘80s.

Because I was shy and lacking in social skills, a teacher suggested to my parents that I might benefit from being held back a grade. I had a summer birthday, so holding me back would make me one of the oldest rather than the youngest.

Thankfully my parents didn’t take that advice. I would’ve been miserable. Despite being the youngest in my class, I surpassed everyone in terms of scores. A CAT test says I scored “higher than 99% of all 3rd grade student in the nation in total language.” 91% in reading. 90% in math. My reading comprehension was 98% in the nation, but was brought down by my reading vocabulary which was only 72%.

Yet this new information called into question a things about myself I’d never considered. Maybe certain things suddenly made more sense? In particular, the way I don’t have interests so much as obsessions. Any time I take an interest in a topic, it leads to an obsessive amount of research.

Discovering Comics

I think the first comic I ever saw was a Chick Tract some kid showed me in Sunday School. He was surprised I’d never seen one. It must’ve hadan impact on me, because I attempted to draw a tract-style comic starring C.O.P.S. (“Fighting Crime In A Future Time”).

I didn’t discover REAL comic books until a few years later. In 1991, Terminator 2: Judgement Day marketing was in full force and I thought it looked so cool. But it was Rated R, and I was only seven. My mom spotted a couple issues of a Marvel comic adaptation (drawn by Klaus Janson), and I guess that was the compromise until it was out on video.

I attempted to illustrate a comic imitating Janson’s cram-packed panel-per-page ratio. It was an epic crossover where Michael Keaton Batman encounters a Delorean driven by a T-1000, then the Ninja Turtles show up, and maybe the Ghostbusters? I knew how to introduce characters but not how to finish a story.

At this point I was still imagining becoming an animator, even though I barely knew anything about what it involved beyond some flip books I’d done. But all that changed when I discovered the X-Men.

X-Men and Batman: The Animated Series both debuted on FOX during the fall of 1992. I was a huge fan of the Tim Burton Batman movies and I’d seen every episode of the ‘60s show when it was revived in reruns, but I didn’t know the comics existed? I didn’t even know where to find comics.

My brother and I were both really into this new X-Men thing, and my brother was given a set of X-Men comics for his birthday. I borrowed them of course, and wanted to see how the story continued. My mom showed us a book store in the mall that had comics, and then we discovered the local comic store. That started my monthly addiction.

Now age 10, I decided I no longer wanted to be an animator. Comics were my true calling. And my dream was to break in at age 16.

Learning Comics

Age 11: I went from reading just Uncanny X-Men to buying the entire X-line, thanks to and event called Age Of Apocalypse.

Age 12: I started buying Wizard magazine. The first two issues I bought included life-changing information, like that you get hired by building a portfolio and showing it to editors. There was industry news, and art tutorials by Greg Capullo. I added the magazine to my monthly buy list. An X-Men 30th anniversary special gave me the entire history of the characters, and a run-down of the key artists and writers with examples of their work. It was like a Rosetta Stone before Wikipedia.

Age 13: I started buying most of Marvel’s output thanks to an event called Heroes Reborn. I never got into the Batbooks, I guess because the art didn’t look as cool? Comics contained ads for the Joe Kubert School, which became my backup plan if I didn’t break into comics on my own. I also discovered the internet around this time.

Age 14: My first year of high school. I spent every lunch hour in the library browsing the internet, since we didn’t have a computer at home yet. I discovered several comic art forums where pros and amateurs traded tips. During the summer I attended a week long art session taught at a local college by a professor who grew up on ‘60s Marvel. There I learned I’d been using paper that was much too thin to ink on, and I learned about the importance of Jack Kirby.

Age 15: I started buying Comic Book Artist magazine. I thought it’d be about drawing tips, but instead it was filled with fascinating comics history, which became an obsession of its own.

Age 16: A year of disappointment. I knew I wasn’t at the level I needed to be to get pro work, but wasn’t sure how to get to the next level. Nowadays there are all sorts of resources I could’ve used, but back then there was no Youtube, no social media, and few books about the craft of comics.

I was now certain the Joe Kubert School was the way to go.

Changing Plans

My family took a trip to Dover, NJ to visit the Joe Kubert School campus, and it was pretty disappointing. The town didn’t feel super friendly, and the school wasn’t accredited, which raised issues in regards to getting student aid. Plus the idea of spending so much money on a non-degree.

The guy showing me around tried to sell me by pointing out that comic companies don’t care about whether you went to college, they just want to see the portfolio.

I took this to heart and decided not to go to college. I was pretty crushed at first, because I’d had this dream plan for so long, and now I was plan-less. But eventually a new plan began to form.

It was time to start doing conventions.

A startup called CrossGen had a sample script and were taking submissions at SDCC 2000, so I went there. I still felt like my work wasn’t quite ready for prime time, but i was worth a shot.

And nothing came of it, other than a cool Crossgen rejection letter in a box somewhere. None of the other publishers could be bothered to even send that.

In hindsight, I was trying to enter at maybe the worst possible time in comics history. When I first started reading comics, they were at their peak during a boom period. When the bubble burst, the industry experienced year-over-year plummeting sales with no bottom in sight. No one was hiring.

But I kept at it, hoping for a lucky break. Top Cow was impressed that I did backgrounds (lol), and suggested I send in “background samples,” but I didn’t want to go down that route. But maybe that’s what a lucky break looks like? (On the other hand, many aspiring pencillers who start as inkers or colorists get stuck there.)

The next summer I went to Chicago with a Marvel sample script. I’d just graduated from high school, so I was really hoping. This time I got a critique from an editor who had actual advice to offer, and I learned a few things. But still no one was hiring.

I thought if I just stayed home and worked on art for a year, I’d eventually come up with pages so impressive that they’d HAVE to hire me. And if it didn’t work out after a year, I’d start looking for a college.

But now I was struggling with a new problem. I suddenly hated my art. I’d heard about a few professional artists who didn’t like looking at their own art, but I was certain this was different. After all, they’re actually good.

The year passed and I accomplished nothing. Based on things I’d heard, I was nervous that college might actually price me out of comics entirely. But I didn’t know that for sure, and I was super inexperienced when it came to money, since I’d never lived on my own before.

But I kept hearing how so many people have gone to college and they all turned out okay (this was before social media and before student debt became a crisis). I was clearly having trouble moving forward on my own, and Youtube still didn’t exist, so what choice did I have?

Choosing Schools

There were only a few colleges with comic art programs back then (maybe three total?), but one of them just happened to be over here in Minnesota. Art school appealed to me because all the classes were art-focused, so I wouldn’t have to waste my time with math and other BS.

And as I humble-bragged earlier, I’m good at math. But I hated it. At one point some kids from Math League asked if I’d join the team. “‘MATH LEAGUE?’ You mean you do math for FUN??”

I hated math so much, I took harder, accelerated math courses via a local college, just so I could finish math early and spend my last years of high school wonderfully mathless. If there’d been a similar way to graduate from high school earlier, I would’ve taken it. When I realized we were all graduating regardless of how much work we put in, I stopped caring so much about grades and let an occasional B+ slip in.

When I would see classmates busy studying for their SATs or ACTs, I was so glad I didn’t have to bother with that.

But the joke was on me. Because this art school didn’t just require a portfolio review (which I was more than ready for). It also wanted ACT test results.

I remember wondering if I should study before I take it, since everyone took it so seriously in high school. But I didn’t even know how to study. It’s not a skill I’d learned, because I never needed to. So I decided to wing it.

You’ll hate me, but without studying I scored in the top 96% for English, the top 94% for Reading, the top 96% for Science...but only top 87% for Math, because I hadn’t taken a math class in three years. That brought my total down 90%..

(Later, I had to learn to study in order to pass some horrifically-taught art history classes. That teacher made me hate art history, which is ironic given how much of my own writing is focused on history.)

So I got into the school, only to discover that even structured teaching wasn’t going to solve my new art problem. During my first year I told my mom that I don’t enjoy art anymore, and she thought it might be depression. I mean, that’s plausible, losing interest in your passions?

In hindsight, I now have enough experience with real depression that I can definitively say it wasn’t that. I mean, I was occasionally depressed back then, but hating my art was unrelated. It took me years to figure out the actual problem.

Dunning Kruger

The Dunning-Kruger Effect is named after a study which found that:

1) People who aren’t knowledgeable about a skill tend to think they’re better at it than they are, because they don’t know enough to know what they don’t know.

2) Conversely, people who ARE knowledgeable about a skill tend to think they’re worse at it than they are.

My problem went one level deeper. I’d learned a shit ton about every skill related to comic art, but I hadn’t put in as much time actually practicing. And now practicing was tough, because I was hyper-aware of how bad every line was as I laid it down.

In other words, the exact reverse of when I was four and drew repetitively on auto-pilot. Back then I was oblivious that I was practicing anything at all. Now I had the benefit and detriment of a critical mind.

But this realization came later. At the time I was just miserable and didn’t know what was wrong with me.

Halfway through art school, I realized I’d likely already priced myself out of comics, and I needed a real degree that would function back-up plan. So I switched majors. Instead of a Comics major filling my electives with design classes, I became a Design major filling my electives with comics classes.

In order to change my major, I had to explain it to the head of the school. This was awkward because it partly involved explaining how the comics industry worked, and he didn’t want to believe it. He told me I was being cynical.

I tried doing comic samples one last time after college, for a convention in 2006, but couldn’t even finish a page. Then sometime around 2008, I gave up drawing entirely.

How I got started again is another story.

You can also find me on:

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/katewillaert/?hl=en

Twitter - https://twitter.com/katewillaert

Art Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/katewillaert

History Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/acriticalhit

#comics #comic art #x-men #marvel comics

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the-resurrection-3d · 6 years ago

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hey so I (@aelinbitch) am currently answering the ask you just sent me for this but i decided to write A Whole Essay so in the mean time: would love to hear you go off on something about the acotar series - something you have an issue with or love or literally anything. i stopped reading midway through acowar not because i disliked it that much or anything but just because i like….. lost steam i guess? so anyway i don’t engage with acotar content that much and i’d love to hear your hot takes

Lol this will probably also require an essay.

EDIT: it did require an essay. I cut out some stuff (like the way the fae world is wlwphobic and the fandom’s reaction to it) just because this post was getting too long and that whole mess could make for its own. The TL;DR is I am both a contrarian and yet don’t have anything new to say because we all know SJM didn’t think it though that deeply.

Now, keep in mind that I haven’t reread any of the books, nor have I finished ACOFAS - I gave up about halfway through because it just wasn’t grabbing me. ACOWAR was slaughtered on the alter of unnecessary spin-offs, and ACOFAS did little to mend my opinion. I actually had a review of it written way back when for my wordpress blog, but my beta thought it was too dark because it ended on a few quotes from Yahtzee Croshaw’s Duke Nukem Forever review. Specifically these lines:

So,this is how the anticipation ends, people. First show of the long-awaitedcomeback tour and the singer’s hanged himself on the microphone cord. But he’strying to sing anyway! Forcing on a smile and choking out lyrics in-betweengrotesque spasms. Andyou’re wondering whether it’s kinder to cut him down or swing on his legs tohelp him on his way.

Yeah, he thought it was a tad too dark, lol.

Looking back over my ACOFAS review (which was really a rambling list of complaints that I openly struggled to continue), I suppose I really have only a few things that are still worth mentioning. My personal favorite that I haven’t really seen echoed:

Honestly,since it’s very clear every Archeron sister is going to be mated off, what I’dlove to happen is for each sister to be used to explore a different way themate bond can resolve itself. Feysand is obviously meant to be the OTP, butElucien can become best friends (possibly with benefits) as Elain comes out ofher shell, while Nessian eventually realizes that however much they understandeach other, they’re too toxic to function in a romantic relationship.

Thatwas supposed to be the original definition of mates, wasn’t it? Someone whounderstands you better than anyone else on earth? It’s a very versatiledefinition, and one I’d like to see explored further – I’m honestly tired ofboth media and fandoms treating soul mates as an exclusively romantic phenomenon,to the point I’ve been about turned off the trope entirely.

And then I shit-talked a TomTord artist who also draws Big Hero 6 incest porn, lol. Like I said, I was openly struggling to write about ACOFAS. Sure, Rhysand’s parents hated each other, but we don’t actually see them “on-screen.” Not that any of this really matters since the definition of the mating bond has gotten increasingly mangled. Can I just say I’ve never really liked Nessian / Elucien or gotten the hype about them?

And then ACOFAS vagued me personally with Rhys/Cass/Az’s constant reminders of what great totally fraternal brotherly no homo brothers they are. I’ve seen plenty of anti TOGs complain about SJM burying any ship she doesn’t like, but I didn’t believe it until that book, lol.

On a more positive note though, ACOWAR had a lot of moments I really loved! Part one ( “The Princess of Carrion,” right?) was just SJM’s fairy!Degrassi AU and it was fantastic, because it captured perfectly the best moments of that horrible, horrible show – namely, watching a character you hate get shit on by everyone else around them.

Also, Amren’s comment that Feyre was treating her sisters the way Tamlin treated her? I was shook to my fucking soul. And honestly I hope I hear about SJM capitalizing on that more in the Nessian book, because ACOFAS had plenty to support that. Sure, I don’t like Nesta, I would be fed-up with her behavior in ACOFAS too, but Feyre needs to understand that she can’t mend their relationship if Nesta herself isn’t interested, and it really felt like Feyre only bankrolled Nesta as an excuse to keep herself tied to her sister. (Which is all very ironic, considering one thing I loved about ACOTAR is Feyre eventually realized her family ain’t shit – I’ve been so hungry for stories that acknowledge that family =/= undying love/loyalty. Oh well. “Requiem” from DEH still exists I guess, lol).

Oh god this is getting long. Sorry I went off like that! I don’t really have many opportunities to talk about this series. :PPPPPP

#long post #I can post my thoughts on the lgbt stuff but I only have like one (1) new thing to say and it's more about a different book entirely lol #rumors1977

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earthtooz · 2 years ago

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HELLOOO MY FAV AUTHOR EARTHTOOZ !!

The chaos Is REAL I can never catch a break in my entire life it’s a wholeee damn rollercoaster 🔥🔥LIKEEE I’ll give you the silly story behind it !! my brother thought it would be a good idea to push me while we were walking and….the phone slipped out of my hands! And there it was, in the drain. rip iPhone 7 se you were bout to die anyways !!! My bank account is…fine 😁😁… I made my brother pay for it !!! it’s what he deserves🙏

AND OFC!!! I actually want to draw you and rin 🤭🤭 I CAN PROMISE YOU THAT IM NOT FORCING MYSELF TO BUT I ACTUALLY WANT TO🔥🔥🔥

SCREAMING CRYING SOBBING ROLLING OFF MY BED JUMPING JACKS AND EVERYTHING ATP!!!!! OHMYGHOFFFF!!!! IM DELIGHITED TO BE YOUR FAV !!!! TEARS OF HAPPINESS ROLLING DOWN MY CHEEKS !!!!!TGANK YOU FOR THE SNIPPETT OAHAKJAAHAKAKHDKDMX ZHAK!!1’qbkqhsk!!!!! THANK YOU FOR THE MEALLL!!!! ITS NOT EVEN THE WHOLE THING YET ITS ALREADY SO GOOD !!! CANT WAITTT!!!! CRYING SOBING WAILING REOOO !!!!! :((((( REOOOOOO :(((( my heart is actually breaking and it’s a proof that this fic is gonna be good !!! yk the angst good when it makes your heart break 😋😋 !!

IM NOT TOO KIND !! I THINK YOU GENUINELY DESERVE THOSE COMPLIMENTS!!! ITS NICE TO SEE YOU THAT YOURE TYPING AWAY, DETERMINED TO FINISH !BUT YOUR BACKK 💔YOUR POSTURE !!! 💔💔 REMEMBER TO TAKE BREAKS MY BELOVED AUTHOR !!!

—🫶

unfortunate series of events for the phone smh… AT LEAST U FINESSED UR BROTHER HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA #win

when i say i’m so excited to see what you draw, I AM SO EXCITED TO SEE WHAT YOU DRAW. you don’t need to stick to me fighting rin LOL i truly don’t mind - you could send me a drawing of rin and i’d drop to the floor yelling mercy. (also i have hahaha black hair with uh hahahahah blonde streaks now hahahahahaha- WHO SAID THAT 😮)

ANYWAYS

glad u enjoyed my snippet MWAHHAHA i am relatively happy with the final result - fake love pt 2 might be posted tonight if i’m lucky MWAHAHHA

THANK U FOR UR COMPLIMENTS ugh my ultimate hype person right here 💪💪💪🫵🫵🫵

also MY BACK 💔 but it’s okay as long as i get fics out that ppl love it’s worth it !! push thru that pain !!

UNTIL NEXT TIME 🫶 ANON !!

#*ੈ✩‧₊˚ constellation: 🫶 anon #earf’s favourites (real!)

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anodyne-sunflower · 7 years ago

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Love me like you do (Part 23)-Balem series

A/N: Here we are. Part 23, geesh. This is the longest fic I’ve ever written lol I really hope you guys have been enjoying this ride, it’s definitely a pleasure to write. No, this isn’t the last chapter lol Anyway, Few notes: Famulus is Titus’ assistant in the movie, she’s a deer splice. Midian is a planet owned by Abrasax industries. I’m not entirely sure what color the moon on his gold collar is, but it looks red orange to me….I’m also not sure if it is a moon or something else, but fuck it. Ummmm other than that. Enjoy.

MOOD MUSIC: Paint it, Black by Ciara

***

The ticking of the grand clock on the ceiling resounded off the walls of his chamber, slowly lulling the Primary into a scene of emptiness. He could gaze all around this lavish room, with its aureate light across the walls, and find nothing short of silence. It had been this way for a long while, devoid of all life but that of his own when he took residence in it. He cherished his time alone, away from those who would seek his power or leech off it. But, for a time now, he found little solace in this empty chamber. Where that pendulum grated on his nerves and did little else but spin him into a frenzy of anger. His fingers curled into the papers on his desk, crumbling them into a mess as he seethed silently. His eyes darted towards the clock on the far wall, glaring deeply at it, as if the very object mocked his self loathing.

He could blame you, every illogical section of his mind wanting so badly to do so. To say that a single woman caused him to break into this pathetic pining individual he was now, but that would be unfair to you. Perhaps you had done what no other could in all his long life, but for that he should and truly was, grateful. He adored you beyond anything else in his world, he would not lie to himself anymore. You were the center of his universe, and he knew that no matter what became of you both, you always would be. It would be fair to say that was precisely what vexed him. The fact that a simple earthling girl, meant to become the very essence of his business, could so easily gain his love. You were beautiful, intelligent, but in the grand scheme of things there wasn’t anything particularly special about you. He had met and bedded many gorgeous women in his lifetime, none as fair as you, but equally capable in a sense to find themselves the holder of his heart. He could pretend that was the case, but deep down he knew exactly why you were the one to make him feel so alive. And the simplest way to explain that, was that you loved him without ever expecting more from him. He wasn’t a man who could change easily, and even though he could see you wished for him to do so on occasion, you never once begged or asked for it. You loved him for everything he was, it was raw and it was real.

Balem looked back again at the doors, conflicted on whether or not to give chase. He had a choice before him, and unlike his usual self, he had no clue as to what to do.

“Forgive me, my lord-”

Mr. Night came rushing into the Primary’s chambers, arms restlessly moving at his sides as he tried to catch his breath. He looked flustered, as if some grand thing had just occurred and he was all too eager to relay the information. Balem, however, was in no mood to entertain the splice this afternoon.

“Mr. Night-” he warned, slouching down into his throne with a sound of discontent. “I am in no mood.”

“Yes, my apologies, Lord Balem. But, I have urgent news.”

Balem rubbed tenderly at his temple, propping his elbow up onto the arm of his throne before waving his free hand for the advisor to continue.

“As commanded, my lord, your fleets have taken residence near Titus’ territories. Most of his ships have been eradicated.”

The Primary glanced up at the information, eyes wide for a minute. He had forgotten in his anger he had made such a request, and it brought little comfort to his distressed heart.

“Titus?”

“Alive, my lord. He’s currently en route to Midian.”

He nodded in response, not surprised Titus had somehow managed to escape the attack. In truth, he wished his younger brother had perished. At long last this rivalry would come to an end. Kalique was manageable, Titus was the wild card. And he was well aware that he would stop at nothing to gain his title.

“How disappointing.” Balem spoke apathetically, laying his hands in his lap and lacing his fingers together. It was an entirely reckless plan on his part, but in the aftermath he may as well find some degree of happiness in it. The less Titus had at his disposal, the better. “Pull back our forces, have Greeghan personally see to the storm gates, and if Titus wishes to speak to me…I want to hear of it.”

The advisor bowed, swiftly turning away and rushing out the door to give the orders. Balem was left to contemplate his next move, thinking just how desperate Titus must be feeling right now. So alone, with nothing but that hideous clipper of his to keep him sane. It brought him joy for a minute, knowing he dealt his message to the scheming little brat of a brother. But, he was aware that his own future was as bleak as Titus’ now. He had likely descended the family into war, and even though victory would surely be his, he would still be left just the same at the end. Empty of all in life, but the riches at his disposal and the power at his hands. He had always been cognizant of this fact, it was hard to ignore when all you lived by was the same values of the entitled code. People like him didn’t get happiness, they only grew rich and old, and in their time they learned one thing: fight for more time. All to get even richer and powerful, until you were the god of everyone and everything and no one could stand in your way. That was his aim, until he met you. He didn’t think it possible to want anything more than the power available to him, to constantly fight tooth and nail for it. Now it all seemed a fruitless endeavor, when at the end he’d find himself still hungry for more. Time was still worth fighting for, but it all meant nothing in the conditional sense. He could forever strive for wealth and power, but he was positive he’d never find anyone like you again.

The Primary gazed back to the exit, heart straining terribly in his chest. He wasn’t sure he’d ever grow accustomed to the feeling, but at the sting of tears in his eyes he rose from his throne. He would not shed a tear, but it was the first time he ever truly felt the pending loss of someone dear to him.

He strode towards the exit of his room, stopping just at the doors and coming to a conclusion. He would not lose you, not ever. You were his, and he would make sure of that. He left his chambers in a rush, walking down the halls and ignoring his staff and soldiers on his way to the servant quarters, where he was sure you’d be. Upon his arrival, the corridor appeared empty, save for one man who was busy cleaning.

“Where is she?”

The servant jumped at the gruff tone, pushing back into the wall when he found the head of the alcazar glaring at him. He had never spoke to Balem before, let alone made eye contact with the intimidating lord. “I-”

“Get out.” The Primary ordered in frustration, already knowing the servant was going to be useless to him. It didn’t take long for the man to listen, and he bowed quickly as he ran out of the area. “Fool…”

Balem looked around the corridor, noting every room and passing them by one by one. He didn’t recognize anything, all of the belongings in them unknown to him. He tried finding you, but it all appeared to be in vain. Until he heard soft humming coming from the showers, a sweet little tune that he had heard once before in the night. When you thought he was asleep, tracing random patterns upon his back and humming out that same song.

He brought his gaze to the shower area, slowly moving towards it and stopping just at the entrance. The servants showers were built into the marbled black walls, each individual area sectioned off by long draping gold curtains for privacy. As soon as he entered, the steam hit him, enveloping him in a warmth and scent that was all too familiar to his senses. It enslaved him, beckoning him forward to the shower it came from. His boots stalked along the water seeping along the floor, the ends of his cape now soaked as he found his way to you. Yet, he couldn’t possibly trouble himself with such a thing, for his mind was hooked on one person.

Balem paused at the end of the showers, standing before the curtain, and reveling in the enchanting silhouette within his line of vision. He was so fond of that bewitching form, every part of him yearning to have it back in his arms where it belonged. The longing had him propelling forward into the shower, hand coming up to shift the curtain aside. His eyes immediately were drawn to you, bathing under the heavy flow of water that came from a long spout above. Your hands worked the soap over your curves, your back turned to him as you ended your humming to extend your face into the stream.

His breath left him in awe, eyes scanning every inch of your bare body. He had never felt desire like this, his heart aching to be with you and body begging to have you. It was a passion that wouldn’t easily fade.

Your hands ran over your thighs, wet hair clinging to your skin as you washed and scrubbed at your body. The shower proved helpful enough, washing away the dirt and grime of the day’s work, yet ridding your heart of the turmoil it felt. If only for a few minutes. You were certain those feelings would return with a vengeance once you finished up. In fact, you were positive they’d haunt you for the rest of your days here. Balem managed to work his way under your skin, nearly controlling every logical part of you. There was so many things to detest about a man like him, and yet you adored him for all he was. That would never change, and you would just make peace with that.

You sighed into the water, closing your eyes as you tilted your head back and appreciated the heat spilling over you. It reminded you of him, his warmth, his caresses, the way he’d lean down and whisper intimate words into your ear. Bathing with him was a heavenly gift, one that you happily shared in numerous times. But, those musings only heightened your sorrow, knowing he didn’t want you anymore. You fancied yourself a strong person, but even heartbreak could tear the strongest people apart.

Balem advanced over the water, unmoved by the droplets seeping into his attire. His focus was primarily on you standing before him, so unaware of your effect on his being. He was so close now, one slip of his hand, and he’d be reaching out to touch you.

You angled your neck to the side, massaging at your shoulder that felt just a tad sore. The heat of the water loosened your muscles, making you moan in comfort at the feeling. As your nails glided along your flushed skin, a soft touch made you freeze. The feeling of fingertips moving up your mid back, and over your shoulder blade causing you to shiver. You knew that touch, but in the back of your mind you warned yourself not to believe it was him. You didn’t dare look back, heart already hammering away within your chest as those fingers walked over your shoulder and affectionately covered your hand. From the corner of your eye, you could see the glint of gold rings, his thumb sweeping over your knuckles in an enamoring way. It captivated your attention, tongue coming out to lick across your lips as you finally brought yourself to turn to him.

His other hand came to rest on your left arm, traversing up your now prickling skin as he pulled you back into his hold. You felt the black gems adorning his shirt prod into your back, his breath ghosting along your cheek as he leaned down.

“Turn around.” He pleaded, nose pressed into your cheek as he inhaled your scent. How he missed this closeness, just feeling you encased in his arms. He was a fool to have let it go before.

You did as he asked, tentatively turning in his grasp until you found yourself gazing into his handsome face. Most would break under the stare of him, finding that distinct barbarity in his gaze too difficult to comprehend or endure. You had felt that once, months ago when he held you to a wall and let that inviting voice of his seduce you. It was the beginning of the end for you then, little did you know his cold, calculating eyes would become such a pleasure for you to look into. All fear aside now, you simply allowed yourself to enjoy them, even as they bore down into you.

“What are you doing?…” It was a weak whisper, conveying the excitement and confusion in your heart. Balem offered no explanation, and without further question he lifted his hand towards you. The water above slid down his palm, cascading over his fingertips as they swept over your cheek. He touched you with such devotion, so unlike his typical callous nature that it made you pause in your thoughts. You couldn’t make sense of his change, but if those green eyes told you anything it was the deep sadness pooling within them. Something he so desperately wished to be unburdened from.

He trailed his thumb down, bringing it to your perfect lips and tracing over them. He relished the warmth of your breath against his fingertip when your mouth parted, a shaky breath leaving you at his attention.

“You have no idea what you’ve done to me.” It was said in despair, his words proving that he was finally at the end of his rope. He could no longer deny what he needed in his world, not when it was standing right in front of him.

You made to speak, eyes welling with tears when he leaned forward to press your foreheads together. There was many things you wanted to say, even some that would convey the struggle he had put you through, but all that was lost when he pushed you both back into the wall.

The water fell upon him, drenching his clothing, and completely flattening his usually slicked back hair. But, Balem only kept his attention upon you, his lips taking your own into a fervid kiss that left you positively breathless. You clung to his shirt, gripping tightly onto his sleeves as he cupped your cheeks. His lips moved slowly over yours, savoring every touch, every noise of pleasure until you begged for air. He would pull away momentarily, letting you recover before fulfilling his desires again. He wasn’t sure he’d ever get enough of you, but he’d resign himself to a fate of trying if it meant having you near.

“Balem…” You gasped into his mouth, simultaneously wanting to bring him closer and push him away. Your heart could only take so much of this, and you only wanted for him to know that. “I can’t…” You moved your face away, his lips brushing over your cheek from the sudden movement. The urge to cry was building, every single heartbreak he caused threatening to spill out. But, you forced yourself to keep those emotions at bay, unwilling to allow him the pleasure of your pain. Not that he ached for it, he would never wish to bring any harm to you.

“Little bird,” Balem kept his lips on your cheek, kissing it softly before moving away. He respected your anger towards him, but he wasn’t willing to part from you yet.

“Don’t.” You begged, an audible whine escaping you at the sound of his pet name. It always caused a mix of emotions to build, making it harder to ignore your desire to be with him. “Please…”

“Y/N…”

His sudden switch made you turn, brows knitting together in shock at the way he said your name. It was a rare sound to witness, and you could count the number of times he actually used it. Only this time it was sincere, as if he was trying to keep you calm in his hold. You glanced up at him, tears rolling down your cheeks when he tilted your chin up. His habitual icy glare replaced by a genuine look of adoration. He didn’t need to smile, he didn’t need to say much else, because you felt it then. An overwhelming tenderness that was displayed in the way he caressed your cheek, brushing off the tears. He ran his fingers through your wet hair, gently tugging you forward and into his arms. Your chin came to rest on his shoulder, eyes wide as you felt him embrace you, your breasts pushing into his chest as he held your head and waist in his hands.

You could’ve broke down then, allowing all your pent up emotions to rush out in a heap of sobs. But, you merely bit down on your lip, letting it quiver between your teeth as he hugged you to him.

Balem didn’t say anything else, he allowed you a moment, waiting until he felt your body still in its silent cries before unhooking his cape from the buckles on his shoulders. He gracefully pulled it around himself, bringing it over your bare body and wrapping you as best he could. He craned one arm around your back and hooked the other under your knees, lifting you protectively into his arms.

The cold cloth made you shake, but you didn’t care too much, your focus trained on the powerful man gazing down at you in his arms. He turned the water off, keeping you snug against him as he took you both to his chambers.

Neither of you cared when you passed others in the hallways, your eyes remained fixed on each other. Trying to disclose the extent of your feelings that had long gone unsaid. It wasn’t until you came upon his chamber doors that he looked away, taking you over the threshold into his room. It was so long ago when you came in here with the intent of fulfilling passions, an action you didn’t believe you’d be partaking in again. But, as he carried you across his chambers towards the large bed, you remembered how much you treasured those intimate meetings.

Balem set you down gently, your feet touching the ground delicately before he began removing his cape from around you. His eyes fixated on your face, one hand coming to tilt your chin up, the other sliding the cape effortlessly off your nude body. It fell in a damp heap on the floor, leaving you to tremble gently in the air of the room. He carefully walked you back, the heels of your feet hitting the edge of his bed, making you look behind to ensure you wouldn’t just fall. But, he held you close, his body heat already rolling off in waves around you. If only you could get him out of his wet clothes, you’d be even more welcoming to his touch.

“Here.” You trailed your hands up his chest, admiring the well made attire of his shirt. You couldn’t even imagine what all that gold and gems cost, but it worked well for the Primary. “Let me.” You traced the intricate patterns of his gold collar, running your fingertip over the bright glow of the red orange half moon. You never realized how detailed the contraption was, but it suited him for some reason. You unlatched the lock on it, opening it up and removing it from his neck. In some odd way, it felt deeply personal, as if he was allowing you the privilege of being this close. It was unlikely that anyone had ever touched, or cared for him in such a way. But, when you pulled that collar off and dropped it casually onto the cape, it was like a new appreciation for one another had developed.

Balem never faltered in his gaze, his expressive eyes now mapping the beauty before him. He pulled his shirt off, your hands quickly coming to explore his body without breaking eye contact. He cherished the lightness of your caress, muscles contracting beneath his smooth skin as you inched your fingers lower. His skin was cold to the touch, the water having clung to his clothing and chilled him to the bone. It increased the sensitivity of his body, a fact he wasn’t complaining over. Not when he had you splaying your hands over his chest and lower abdomen, your arousal clear in his eyes when you bit your lip.

There was an excitement in your actions, both of you journeying your hands and fingers along the other’s body with renewed vigor. It was like exploring something new all over again, the emotions behind your teasing touches and affectionate glances multiplied by the confessions in each of your minds.

“Kiss me.” You couldn’t take the lack of contact much longer, not with him towering over you in all his arousing splendor. As much as you would enjoy the foreplay of undressing the rest of him, your body was eager to be entwined with his.

Balem’s lips curled into a smirk, the love in his eyes now mixing with pure lust at your demand. You had rarely asked anything of him in bed, and when you did it was said in those moments of your rapture, when all else failed you and a simple ‘Don’t stop’ could be heard. How he enjoyed those loose lips of yours, often giving him what he wanted to hear even when you tried to fight it. So your demand would go answered, because he could not deny himself the pleasure of that pretty pout.

He cupped your face, thumb sweeping over your cheekbone as he tilted your head and leaned down. His nose pushed into yours, lovingly bumping together before he gave you what you asked for. His lips barely covered yours, allowing your breaths to mingle together, creating a wave of ecstasy for you both. You wanted to close the distance, but the part of you that enjoyed the sweet torment allowed him the slow dance of his kiss. So you worked at his pants, undoing the clasp that hung just below that V of his abdominal muscles. It only furthered your temptation, heart racing now as you lowered his pants and freed his swollen need for you.

He groaned into your mouth when the tip of his manhood brushed your stomach, leaving a slight trail of precum along your skin. It made you both breakaway from the kiss, cheeks now flushed with desire as you stared at each other. He made quick work of his boots, shoving off his pants the rest of the way before coming back up to admire you. The want was so palpable in the air of the room, and he wasted no more time in lifting you into his arms. He hugged you to him, just enough to get you onto the bed where he gently laid you down beneath him.

It was the chill of his lips that made you sigh out, lower back arching from the bed. Your fingers already tangled into the silk sheets, head tilting to the side in a passionate state.

“Balem…” you whispered sweetly, eyes shutting as he dragged his mouth over your breasts and kissed each one. He paid particular attention to your nipples, delighting in the way they hardened under his administrations.

“I’ve missed you.” He groaned in his pleasure, nuzzling your ribs and smiling when he heard that melodic giggle of yours. “You make me weak, little bird…” he said with such desired acceptance, closing his eyes as he nipped just below your breast. The ticklish sensation made you giggle and moan, body thriving on the attention he offered. His words weren’t lost on you, and though some may have found trouble in them, you just found love. For a man of his stature in the world, knowing you were the only thing he considered a weakness…it made your heart flutter.

“How?” You questioned, fingers running through his hair as he continued his path down your body. You could feel his fiery gaze upon you, knowing he was delivering a warning not to push him too far into this new territory. It only made you smile, a sigh moving passed your lips as he catered to your need.

Balem’s tongue lazily drew a pattern over your navel, licking over the now heated skin and coming to stop at your spread legs. He eyed you from his position, an amused smile on his face when he heard you question his statement. He could explain a number of reasons why you tormented his every thought, but he wasn’t well acquainted with the complexities of love. Some secrets were meant to stay that way, and he could tell how badly you wished to gain them from him.

“Nothing you need be made privy to…” he teased, kissing over your thigh and watching as you writhed around.

You would’ve argued his point, wanting to know why someone like him came to find his weakness in you. Call it arrogance on your part, but what woman wouldn’t like to know every detail about the man she adored. But, your argument fell into a string of moans, his tongue now lapping languidly at your folds and paying particular attention to your clit. He had ached for you, his needs having gone ignored for far too long now. He often dreamt of you being in his arms again, enticing screams of passion falling upon his ears and making him wake up impossibly aroused and angry. Having you here again, moving happily around on his bed and whimpering his name, there wasn’t anything like it.

“Balem!” You pushed at his head, the pleasure rising too high and nearly causing tears to form in your eyes. His tongue and lips had you thrashing around, the only thing keeping you grounded was his hand on your breast, the other holding one thigh away so you wouldn’t completely trap his face between your lovely legs. He heeded your silent request to stop, pulling away with a soft smack of his lips, a string of your cum sticking to them. It was a heavenly sight, especially when he smirked and kissed just above your pubic bone, making you shift in his hold and beg him to come back up.

“No more,” but, your words trailed off into incoherent purrs of bliss. His breath and lips tickling over your stomach and up your chest until he stopped them above your own. He knew what you wanted, what he wanted, and as much as he lived on the foreplay of sex, he couldn’t deny you both any longer.

“Whatever you desire, my beauty.” He cooed, burying his face in the juncture of your neck and shoulder. He meant every word, his entire being now devoted to the endless comforts and affections he could spoil you with. You were his, and he would do anything in his power to keep it that way. He could not afford to lose you again, because life seemed too painful now without you.

He settled himself at your entrance, groaning when his tip pushed into your warmth. Every primal element of his personality begged to take you hard, but he wanted to savor these moments. Just witnessing and perceiving every fine detail until he could map every inch of your body into his mind. From what made that sensual voice of yours moan, to the touches that caused your body to contort in ecstasy within his embrace.

“Ahh…” You held one hand back against the headboard of his bed, bracing yourself as he slowly buried his length within you. Your walls stretched and gave way to him, contracting around his cock and craving for more movement. “Balem, oh god…”

He was fighting his own pleasure, one arm wrapped around you and the other forcefully tangling into the pillow near your head. His breathing had grown ragged, teeth grinding down so he could control the needs he felt. With you moaning away beneath him, nails clawing at his back, he wasn’t sure it was possible to continue this slow ascent into your passions.

“You drive me mad, my little dove.” He chuckled, kissing your neck and moving you to look at him now. Both your eyes were glazed over in lust, each of you wanting to cave into the more wild nature of your relations. But, he took it slow, rolling his hips down and growling out his pleasure.

You held onto him, gliding your palm up his back and lacing your fingers through his hair. He kept his leisurely pace, sliding in and out of you, only heightening the response of your bodies to the thrill of your coupling.

“Faster,” you moaned pleadingly, throwing your head back into the black and gold pillows. He kept brushing over that sensitive spot within you, the slow rhythm of his thrusts only denying you the peak of your bliss. It was frustrating and perfect, his movements only making that pleasure build until you couldn’t fathom the idea of taking anymore. “Don’t stop…”

Balem kissed you eagerly, a grin on his lips when he heard those two pleading words that he was so very fond of. You uttered them against his kiss swollen lips, crying out between his kisses as he increased his speed. He was rocking into you at this point, your body giving into the sinful pleasures of the Primary. Your inner walls clenched down around his length, feeling the pulse of his own arousal with each needy thrust. The both of you drowned in the heat of your passions, your own orgasm approaching at a frenzied beat. The tightening in your abdomen gave way, back snapping off the bed and pressing you flush against Balem. He was groaning heavily into your kiss, trying to keep his climax steady until you were completely satisfied beneath him.

He slowly came down from his high, hips still bucking gently forward to ride out his orgasm. You were writhing weakly under him, body exhausted from his lovemaking. You moaned softly when he pulled out, missing the feeling of his proximity already. But, you took joy in his embrace, wiggling around as he began to pepper kisses across your collarbones, neck, and cheeks. Each one more tender than the last.

“I love you…” you confessed to him, already knowing he had an inkling of your emotions. But, you spoke them anyway, wanting him to be fully aware of just how much he meant to you. It was a dangerous thing, most would say, but you felt it so fiercely in this moment the words could no longer be contained. “I love you.”

Balem paused his trail of kisses, lips barely caressing the skin of your neck when he took in your heartfelt sentiment. He felt your body tense when he said nothing, your fingers restlessly tapping along his back, trying to control your nerves. He wasn’t at a loss for words, he knew exactly what he felt, but your confession was the only thing he wished to focus on, if only for a minute. He had stopped you the very first time you tried, an action he now felt foolish for. Because, nothing in life would ever bring him this sliver of happiness like hearing you give yourself completely to him.

He closed the distance between him and your neck, kissing your pulse gently as he nuzzled just below your jawline. If there was ever a reason to want more time at his disposal, it was to share it with you by his side.

“I am yours.” He whispered so sincerely, moving up to gaze down into your beautiful eyes. He brushed the fallen strands of hair from your face, admiring your features before repeating himself. “I am yours.”

***Midian***

“Lord Titus…?” Famulus cautiously stepped towards him, her ears twitching in vigilance as she awaited his command. Titus merely stared out the windows of his clipper, eyes filled with a fiery resolve to tear Balem apart. His entire fleet, meager as it was, destroyed right in front of his eyes, metal scraps floating in the abyss of space. The shine of the explosions glinted across his pupils, lip twitching at the corner as he attempted to quell the rage building within him. He could have heeded Kalique’s warning, perhaps even let this rivalry between brothers go. Now he could not fathom leaving Balem to rule over everything while he only fell further into nothing.

“Lord Titus, are you-”

“My army, how many left?” He clasped his hands tightly behind his back, gritting away at the anger boiling inside. He could stand and watch his livelihood be taken from him, or he could fight back, and what better way to greet Lord Balem First Primary, than with an army of his own.

“I’m afraid there isn’t much left, my lord. You have two ships left, each well equipped with soldiers and sims, but I’m afraid it wouldn’t do much against-”

“And Kalique? What of hers?”

“I’m not sure she wishes to be involved, Lord Titus. Our communications have gone ignored…” Famulus bowed her head in apology, lifting her eyes only to survey the amount of frustration Titus felt.

Titus sighed, never taking his sights off the ship currently being attacked. He should’ve guessed Kalique would shy away from full on war, it wasn’t her style to get involved in the overall politics of it. Such a shame really, she could’ve proven a great help to him. But, if she wished to abandon him now, then he could forget their original deal.

“Very well. I want you to contact Cygnus-”

“My lord…” His assistant looked down in worry, moving away to hold her arm out towards a container, currently being held in the arms of a soldier. “Cygnus is no longer able to help…your brother…”

The Third Primary glared towards the container, seeing stains of dried blood clinging to the edges. It was no doubt the grisly work of Balem, always wanting to send a message in the most heinous of ways. He didn’t need to peek inside to know the head, quite literally, of Balem’s council was in there.

“I see. Well,” he smiled at Famulus, trying to regain his calm demeanor. “No matter. We will do this without him. He sent me some interesting feedback on this last meeting. Perhaps Balem would like to speak about it. If it is war he wants, then I will give it to him.”

***

A/N: Hope y'all liked! Please give feedback if possible ❤️ I can’t say how many parts are left, but I’m getting towards the end-ish lol. Based off my outline :) so, we shall see! I’m super stoked!

#balem abrasax x reader #balem abrasax #balem #balem x reader #balem x you #balem abrasax x you #jupiter ascending #eddie redmayne #lmlyd

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vrenaewrites · 5 years ago

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CRAVE by Tracy Wolff thoughts: Ch 49 - end

Full video here.

Ch 49: eventually the world breaks everyone

Oranges and deep water again.

She says he can tell her anything “my words aren’t sexy or slick but they are sincere” and I said “aw” out loud

Jaxon killed Hudson!

She says she didn’t believe he meant to and he’s like intentions don’t matter when you can do this and then starts destroying the room

Jaxon is now the soon to be vampire king after killing Hudson

“No one is as powerful as me”

Hudson wanted to get mo money mo power

He literally paraphrases Jurassic park here: he got so wrapped up in the could that he didn’t think about if hen should

Hudson wanted to put the shifters in their place - and then anyone who wasn’t a born vampire - and jaxon considered that genocide

Hudson’s power was mind control

His pain makes her ache more than she even ached for her dead parents who just died last month wtf?!

So people wanna hurt grace because “you’re mine” as jaxon puts it

“We’re balancing on a razor thin tightrope, and every minute is a balancing act.” READ IT OUT LOUD GODDAMN IT

“You wear indifference like a mask, you wield coldness like a weapon.” No one in the history of the world talks like this, especially not someone who was just saying “af and fml” 10 chapters ago

Ch 50: people who live in stone towers should never throw dragons

They have a real sexy kiss

Jaxon believes flint is trying to kill her!!!! Which yeah now knowing that jaxon killed flints brother or was the reason he died rather, makes sense! Except flint seems to like her too??

Jaxon pushed flint out of the tree under grace

Then they kissing AGAIN SHE IN HIS LAP!!!!!

Her uncle shows up and she tried to fix herself in the mirror but there isn’t one lol

She asks how he can see himself and he says “selfie anyone?” And I throw up

She just referenced baby yoda. G2g

“Thanks for rushing to let me in” “grace had to get her clothes back on” asshole but also lmao

Ch 51: trial by dragon fire

We’re reading hamlet again…

She confronts flint and flint calls jaxon a tick lmaooooo

“Aren’t you the one who’s been trying to kill me?” “It’s not for the reasons you think, if you would just trust me” - SIR THAT IS NOT A VALID ARGUMENT

We love Mickey so much

Flint doesn’t wanna talk to grace in front of a vampire

Ch 52: if you can’t live without me, why aren’t you dead yet?

She’s in the tunnel with Mickey and she realizes how much safer she feels with him than flint

She’s realized that her intuition is heightened here you mean that thing you were ignoring this entire book??

Mickey reiterates that Grace is a target because Jaxon cares about her which makes what he was saying about a target on her back make a lot more sense

Mickey pretty much confirms what Jackson said about Hudson so we get to hear it all over again

Leah shows up and her and Mickey don’t like each other

Leah says I’d say bite me but I don’t know where you’ve been and Mickey replies I would catch rabies if I bit you LOL

She hugs Mickey and Mickey pats her head like a dog lmaooooooo

Leah says making plans is not Jackson’s modus operandi instead of just saying his MO like a normal person

She texts him “I like it when you bite” and he replies “good because I like the way you taste” and I threw up in my mouth

Not to mention the fact that she immediately texted Jackson that she would go to his room tonight when she seconds before that agreed to hang out with Leah who is clearly grieving and needs a friend...which is not grace

Ch 53: if this kiss is gonna start a war it may as well be worth it

Grace is getting ready to go to Jackson’s room for their date and I have a lot of thoughts and feelings on the extremely lax rules regarding girls and boys and every other gender being allowed in each others room it doesn’t make sense why is everyone not pregnant

She puts on one of Macy’s dresses and Macy tugs it down to get it over her “ridiculous curves“ She described her own curves as ridiculous and I am all for being body positive but saying you have a banging ass is a little much

Macy says that grace “lusts after Jackson’s sexy sexy body”

I will say that I am 100% here for the sex positivity rather than the tortured virgin shit we dealt with for all of the twilight series

Ch 54: what could possibly be more interesting than kissing me?

It’s the northern lights!!!!!!

“Wrapping his arms around me so that I am snuggled up in the blanket and his arms“ once again for the love of God read it out loud and realize that using the same word that close in one sentence is clunky and distracting please

She says they kiss “until the colors behind my eyes are brighter than the aurora borealis, until it feels like I’m flying“

He takes her like 100 feet above the castle so that they feel like they’re within the northern lights

And they stay up there for a long time and again I just want to know why he wasn’t just a witch I don’t understand

She says Jackson drops kisses on her eyes that’s not how that works

He gives her a necklace with an Aurora borealis stone how cute!

She says “it’s beautiful” and he says “then you’re well matched” which is so cute and then she says “oh my god you’re sappy” and he says “well you’re ridiculously beautiful”

and again we were so close and then we tripped at the finish line

He makes her tea to warm her up (Leah’s tea aw they’re making amends)

He sex bites her again, she begs for it

And then loses his shit?!?

Ch 55: no use crying over spilled tea

So he bit her and drank a lot of her blood because she’s super woozy and she’s like I got to get out of here not so I can live but because if he kills me he will feel really bad about it self-preservation has left the chat

She runs into Leah and Leah smacks the shit out of her and then tells her to sit down...what?!

I thought Leah poisoned the tea earlier in the book I am calling it now that she put something in the tea to make Jackson lose his shit

Leah pulls out a gun and shoots Jackson…

Ch 56: vampire girl gone wild

Leah shoots her with the gun

Ch 57: double double toil and a whole lotta trouble

I’m just gonna say that the moment Leah mentioned that she and Jackson were supposed to carry on an ancient vampire alliance by being together that Grace should have known not to fuck with Leah on any level

Grace wakes up tied to some kind of slab

“For the first time I understand why an animal caught in a trap would be willing to chew its own foot off” but then she continues it with more long winded explanation of what that means when that would’ve been a very powerful line to just leave on its own conveying her desperation

She gets a hand free, then the other, the one ankle, then she hears Leah scream

She’s super woozy and trying to escape but she hears Leah screaming and fighting with someone and she decides to go see if it’s Jackson if he needs her help... how in the fuck are you going to help anybody, Grace

The candles all light at once

Ch 58: never do a trust fall with someone who can fly

There’s a dragon after her!

So for some reason the author decided to take any sort of tension/ horror/ fear out of this section and just ramble on and on about “I’m really tired of getting dragged around by supernatural creatures and San Diego never seemed so far away” just focus on the terror this could be really really scary being flown around in a dragons talons while a vampire chases after you

They fall and she hurts her shoulder

“And here I thought Alaska would be boring” you know what is boring? this entire chapter because instead of letting me the reader sit in the terror and tension of a dragon vampire battle you keep making fucking little quips and remarks like...she’s a human being she should be afraid not like irritated by the situation

Leah punches a hole through flints wing ouch

“The tunnel that will take me back to the school’s main building, the tunnel that will take me back to Katmere“ that’s the same sentence twice John Mulaney voice

Flint stops her from leaving: Leah killed her parents to get her here, for some kind of end the world ritual, that jaxon is involved

Flint starts choking her “you have to die before she can finish this”

Ch 59: carpe killem

No!

Jaxon gets flint off grace via tk

“He just stares down a freaking dragon like it’s a gecko”

Leah catches up with her

Ch 60: some call it paranoia but I call it an evil bitch trying to use you as a sacrifice

….that’s a paragraph

“Which dazes my already not functioning so great brain” i’m not gonna say it again read your writing out loud

Leah is dragging her by her hair and she’s like if I survive this I hope I’m not bald afterward...that’s what you’re worried about??

As she’s being walked down this Secret hallway by Leah she’s getting more and more mad thinking about how Leah killed her parents and is playing God with her life now and I’m just wondering why does she just believe Flint out of nowhere?

She says FML and Leah’s too

She smashes Leah’s head on the altar and goes for the book on the altar, and burns the spell

Ch 61: sticks and stones may break your bones, but vampires will kill you

Leah wants to bring Hudson back by killing grace, who she says is not human

Jaxon gets in

We use the word sickening 4 times during one fight scene, casual

Ch 62: where there’s smoke, there’s a dead vampire

She breathes in the black Hudson smoke but jaxon stops her

Jaxon creates like a vortex to absorb it instead

He throws it at Leah and she turns to dust?!

She gives him her blood because he’s practically dead

Ch 63: a bite to remember

Gooooo fuck yaself

She’s been asleep in the infirmary for 2 days

He’s feeling all angsty about drinking so much of her blood

His mom left the scar on his face not Hudson

They say they love each other but he says he doesn’t think this can work because there’s still gonna be people who want to hurt her because of him

But she’s able to kind of convince him to let himself be loved

Ch 64: all’s well that ends with marshmallows

Civil twilight AGAIN

they go into the forest and drink hot cocoa

So the school only serves animal blood, which allows the vampires to go out during the day, but if they drink human blood, they can only come out at night

And he explains it like an insulin spike, except a spike in a hormone that makes it impossible for him to be in the sun

They’re out there to build a snowman

“Openly checking out his very fine ass” EW jimmy fallon voice

Ch 65: why can’t a girl just have an ordinary HEA these days?

“Hey you didn’t tell me the punchline of the pirate joke”

Suddenly Hudson is there with a sword, and she turns jaxon so she’s between him and the sword and this happens in like 3 sentences

Ch 66: zero - she persisted - Jaxon

Grace has turned into…?

A gargoyle!?!?!?!?

Because she’s trying to trap Hudson or keep him at bay?

And jaxon vows to save her

We used all of the fucks allowed in this one chapter, for sure

What the fuuuuuuuck

#reading #book review #cringe books #booktube #crave #tracy wolff #jaxon vega #negative review

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minimoll7 · 8 years ago

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Aaaayyyy so I found a post where someone shared their top 20 favorites and I decided I wanted to make my own to xD I made this template myself and I have a blank one (tho without text at all, I can input the “Top 20 Favorite Shows” if anyone wants me to). If you wanna do your own with my template, just shoot me an ask or PM!

Hit the read more if you really want to know my opinions on each. I suck at summarizing so it is a bit of a read, sorry about that heh

20) American Dragon: Jake Long - I thought this was the coolest show when I was a kid and I would always try to watch it whenever possible. Tho, while its not as cool now to me as it was back then, I still love this show and its characters

19) Milo Murphy’s Law - As soon as I saw the first ep, I just knew I was going to love this show. I’m a bit behind as of now but I cannot wait for new episodes! This show has a lot of charm and great characters, not to mention catchy songs!

18) Code Lyoko - I absolutely adored this show as a kid and it still holds up as a big fav now. The whole idea of going into a virtual world really fascinated me as a kid. I mean yeah sure Digimon had that to, but I was never really lucky in catching it on TV. Plus, the idea of the virtual world being animated in 3D while the real world was in 2D? Sign me up!

17) Xiaolin Showdown - Another show that I adored as kid and still do now. The characters and animations really made this show for me. I love how they all react with each other and some of the expressions it had to offer are top notch. And let me tell ya, this show has probably one of the funniest villains out there, Jack Spicer. He cracked me as a kid and no matter how times I rewatch the series, he still cracks me up

16) SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron - I never grew up with this show but I had just recently finished watching it for the first time. The animation for this show, especially at the time, feels amazing and it really does have this nice 90s feel to it. The show itself is really fun to watch and I am a suckers for cats and cool aircrafts. The SWAT Kats’s Turbokat is almost just as cool as an Arwing! I find the characters to be really likable and while I do question some of the designs for the female characters, I overall just really enjoyed them all

15) The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius - Jimmy himself was a huge part of my childhood and it still saddens me that his show doesn’t air on TV anymore. The characters are incredibly memorable to me, especially Sheen. The humor in this show never fails to get me to laugh and I always loved the interactions between a good chunk of the characters

14) Wander Over Yonder - I fell in love with this show after just watching a few episodes. The characters are well-written and the art is jaw-dropping, well, to me at least heh. The show itself is generally very sweet and the humor is great as well! I also adore the fact that Wander himself is always willing to help and its always kind to others. He’s a protagonist that we all need in our lives. Hopefully, we’ll get a season 3 someday

13) Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja - Love puns? Love action? Love ninjas? Well, this show is definitely for you (maybe). This show has a lot of cheesy jokes and puns, which is something I can appreciate. Puns are always an easy win for me haha The characters themselves to I find to be really likable, especially the main protagonists, Randy and Howard. The villains to are really entertaining as well. The animation for the show can be pretty awesome at times and its a shame that nobody talks about it

12) Fullmetal Alchemist (Brotherhood) - Despite my distaste for blood and guts kind of violence, I couldn’t help myself from watching this anime. The story was amazing in every sense of the word. I’ve never watched anything before that has played with every single emotion I have (and I’m emotional to so that’s saying a lot I suppose haha). The characters and their development was well done as well. I highly recommend this show to anyone who hasn’t seen it (and can stomach the violence)

11) Avatar: The Last Airbender (and by extension, Legend of Korra) - I’m a complete sucker for elemental stuff, which is probably my favorite aspect of this show. Watching the characters fight each other with an element is pure entertainment for me. And speaking of entertainment, the humor. My goodness, this show wasn’t just action-packed, but also hilarious. The character development to is astounding and I’m sure we know just how well-written Zuko’s arc was (like damn son, it felt like a real experience almost). Another show I highly recommend to anyone, along with its sequel series

10) My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - I remember just how shocked I was when I watched the first episode and found myself loving it. I was never expecting a girly show like this to be as good as it is (and don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with a cartoon being girly, I just expected to be aimed for little little kids). I adore the animation, the characters, the story (when its present) and the lessons that each episode teaches. This show will never stop being entertaining to me, no matter what anyone else has to say

9) Animaniacs - I would’ve rated this show higher but I had to consider every segment the show has, not just personal favorites. Despite that, tho, I absolutely adore this cartoon. I didn’t grow up with it, but I first found it about 5 years ago and have loved it since then. While there are some segments that I strongly dislike, the ones I do love are completely worth it. Buttons & Mindy, Rita & Runt, Slappy Squirrel and the Warners made this show for me and I love them all (especially the brothers ha). The humor is some of the best I’ve seen in cartoons to

8) Over the Garden Wall - This miniseries captured my heart almost instantly. The animation, the story, the characters, I just can’t really hate anything from this show. I love how scary and unsettling the characters can be but yet there’s always a simple reason behind them (well, not always lol). And Greg, like come on, how can you hate this kid. True, he was annoying every now and then, but his innocence and his “words of wisdom” just makes him really likable, to me at least. I can rewatch this show over and over and I can never be tired of it

7) Ed, Edd ‘n Eddy - Whenever I think of cartoons, this one is usually the first to come to mind. This was one of my big favorites as a kid and its still one now. The humor in this show is great and its a gift whenever Ed speaks. And there’s just something special about how the entire show was animated and I can never truly put it into words on just how much I love it. Ed, Edd ‘n Eddy is just one of those where I can’t really explain why I enjoy it so much, but trust me, if you haven’t seen it, its well worth your time (and it also has a really catchy theme song)

6) Pokemon - And by Pokemon, I mean the entire series, not just a specific arc or two. Before I was even into the games or just the Pokemon themselves, I enjoyed watching the anime even as a little kid. The anime is really the only reason why I got into the games in the first place. I know the series can be repetitive, some arcs more than others, but I just can’t stay away. I love Ash, Brock, Misty, Dawn, Serena, Clement, Team Rocket and etc. The slapstick humor in the original season is probably the best of this show’s humor but as the years went on, the battles have become better and better and I just love that. I just love Pokemon and no matter what people say about the anime, I still enjoy it to this day!

5) Watership Down - I would have never imagined liking this show as much I do. I mean true, I’m a sucker for rabbits, but I wasn’t sure if this show was truly great or not, but hey its at number 5, its obviously great! Yeah, the animation and some of the voice acting is quite lacking and the design and voice change in season 3 was hard to adjust to, but the story and characters are well worth it. Its definitely one those gems that don’t get a lot of attention, I highly recommend this show!

4) Generator Rex - Similar to Watership Down, I went in not expecting to love it as much as I do now. I knew the show was going to be great, but boy do I love it or what. Like dudes, this show is incredibly underrated. The whole concept with the nanites and E.V.O.s are just insanely cool. It also had a crossover episode with Ben 10 which was an awesome episode to say the least (also Ben merged with Rex in his Upgrade form and it was freaking sick). Like seriously, if I were to try to explain why I love this show so much, we’d be here for a while. Just please, watch this show if it interests you

3) The Amazing World of Gumball - I fell in love with this show upon seeing the first episode and by that I mean I became obsessed. I love everything about this show. The characters, animation, humor, the references, designs, just everything! And seriously, if there’s any kind of animation I had favored the most from a cartoon, its this one. I adore this show so much and I literally cannot wait for the next episode. It sucks that more story related shows, like Steven Universe and Star vs the Forces of Evil (both of which are still great, don’t get me wrong), takes all the attention away from this one. Its sort of underrated in that sense but seriously trust me, everything about this show is completely worth it. I highly, HIGHLY, recommend this one

2) Teen Titans - Aaahh Teen Titans, was obsessed with it as a kid and I still am now (to bad its hard to find stuff to reblog bleh). This is just one of those shows were I can’t explain why I love it as much as I do. I mean, I know I’ve repeatedly said this (because I’m actually bad explaining why I like things and tend to reuse the same sentences over and over oops) but like, I simply adore the characters and the stories. While Starfire lacked some good character development, the rest of the characters really grows and it never gets boring watching their arcs over and over. Like, I don’t know why I can never bored of this show, but I can’t. I just love it to much (and it also has one of the best theme songs ever)

1) Fairly OddParents - No no no, not the newer seasons. The older seasons! This show was my jam back as a kid and surprise surprise, its still my jam now. Excluding shows meant for toddlers, this was the first cartoon I ever got into (probably, it could’ve been SpongeBob or Looney Tunes but I kind of doubt it). This show means more to me than I could ever say. This show sparked an interest for animation and helped really get me into drawing. I was always interesting in drawing, but this show was what pushed me to keep going. It was also the first show I ever drew fan art for. I remember drawing Timmy and Cosmo almost nonstop for a year there, back when I was 2nd grade and finally taught myself how to draw them. I remember making comics with these characters, sharing and reenacting jokes with friends, never shutting up about it aahhh and come on, well all remember the Jimmy Timmy Power Hours, that crossover was legit the coolest one for me. This show is incredibly important to me and despite the direction the show has gone now, it’ll forever remain as my favorite show <3

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prozach27 · 8 years ago

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Resident Evil 7 Rant

OKAY Y'ALL, I just finished two playthroughs of resident evil 7 that included reading all documents and getting both endings, so now I'm ready to sit back and talk about it. That being said, I have a lot I gotta say. First of all, THE PROS: *Dude that theme song is BOMB. I wanna download it. I L-O-V-E the music of RE7, and I never say that about games outside Zelda *Returning to its horror roots was done very well, in my opinion. RE5 & 6 were honestly terrible, and amounted to nothing more than forgettable action games. RE7 turns the charm of survival horror that it captured in its first games to a modern, FPS gamestyle, and it does it wonderfully. I was hella impressed, and even on playthrough 2, got freaked when jack jumped out at me or was right behind me when I didn't expect it. *Immortality -- I have to say, I love it. It's great having these main enemies that nothing works on, especially when it means you have to hide (and on higher difficulties when it's a death sentence if they find you, all the better). It's great knowing that your weapons don't work, and how much damage they do makes it so much more thrilling. My first playthrough I was genuinely petrified while I ran to hide under floorboards and the like. *Eveline is a GREAT ADDITION TO RESIDENT EVIL. I L-O-V-E the way they could 'scientifically' pull off her supernatural tendencies, I love the aesthetic of the twisted ten year old girl luring in victims because she wants a family, and I love the reveal at the end that she was the grandmother all along. *THE ENDING. Okay, not the cutscenes because they were boring; but when you stab the toxin into Eveline's neck and it cuts to it being the grandma and she starts crying "Why does everyone hate me?" My heart melted just like her body did. On playthrough 2 it still made me SO DAMN SAD TO HURT THAT POOR OLD WOMAN. SHE JUST WANTED A FAMILY TO LOVE HER. Now, what I WISH they'd done: *They REALLY could have made the Eveline storyline hit harder and they dropped the ball, I think. I get that she's a bioweapon, but the way she acts towards the end (and apparently at the beginning when she told Mia to kill you) seems out of character. She wanted a Dad, and she wanted YOU to be the dad. She invited you there. Why would she suddenly want to kill you when you try to escape with Mia? I understand that the "plot" argues it's because she thinks you're both trying to abandon her, but they could have fleshed this out better. Mia could have said something like "please stay, don't you want to be a part of the family?" And when Ethan says no, Eveline could have gone rampant. *Furthermore, they totally could have had a plot point be trying to find ways to protect the girl from the family, too - since Mia was babysitting her, it would have been easy to sell that the girl was trapped there also. It would have made the game WAY more compelling as you find notes suggesting the girl isn't right, and the reveal at the end would have been all the wilder. Especially if instead of being psychotic and losing sympathy, if Eveline played on the fatherly instincts (why are you trying to hurt me? Etc). It would be way more compelling as a BOW too. *My critique of missed plot aside... SO MUCH OF THIS STORY DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. *Why did Ethan not use serum on himself to cure the infection? Why does he only use it on Zoe or Mia? *Why does literally NO ONE address that Ethan is infected and just whisk him away in a helicopter at the end? THIS GUY IS INFECTED. You could argue that killing Eveline somehow kills all the infection (which as far as I remember was never once stated in any document?) but that still doesn't explain why he got on a damn boat and tried to sail away from his problems and everyone was just fine with it. *Why didn't Eveline calcify him???? We see that she could literally kill anyone under her control at any time when she kills Zoe out of nowhere. If she sees Ethan has the toxin and is coming for her, why isn't she instantly killing him? Maybe it's because his infection isn't far enough, but then why isn't that addressed? She just sits back and lets it happen (literally lol). *Why was Ethan so down for his wife to just go out to other regions entirely to babysit? That's not a normal thing. They're married. If she has a job that involves nursing bio-organic weapons, how does she just casually hide that? *What tf is going on with Lucas *No like really what were they trying to do here with him. He's totally unhinged (and they set it up that he was before the infection), but like?? I get that he got free of her mind control with the help of the unnamed organization, but why is he delighting in killing everyone so often? Where is the transition there? What the hell? *Where does he go??? He literally is like "I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU" and you see his traps all through the next stage so I expected to fight him but nah. He's not in the game ever again. What? *What is going on with Zoe??? *She's apparently been infected for three years so it can't just be "willpower" keeping her from being psychotic, and as far as we're told, Lucas isn't sharing his drugs with her that keep her from being under Eveline's control. The game would have made TONS more sense if Zoe was the one working with the organization, but no -- it's the deranged brother, and she just somehow is fine and herself and the family is alright with her constantly trying to help intruders kill them. *The enemies and some of the bosses are literally SO. STUPID LOOKING. *No like really, the mold things don't look scary, they just look dumb. Jack and Eveline's final forms look like something that wouldn't pass on the Nintendo 64 without a laugh. It's 2017, tentacles and sixteen weirdly-shaped eyes aren't scary anymore, they're just dumb. FINAL THOUGHTS: Re7 is a mixed bag. Truthfully, I do love the game and it is officially one of my all-time favorite installments in the series. I think it built off of a lot of the survival horror that made older games great while imbuing it with modern gameplay. You get a really great experience that keeps you terrified and engaged as long as you don't over-analyze what they're showing you. However, the storyline - while novel and an excellent addition to the series - needs a lot more clarification for it to even start to make sense. I'm fine with ambiguity (who knows what organization made eveline!) but ambiguity around key parts such as why Zoe still has her wits about her detracts from an engaging plot. Furthermore, enemies are boring and lack anything horrific -- especially two of the bosses. The baker family and Mia as a whole are terrifying and make the game great, but the additional enemies are repetitive and uninteresting. That being said, the game is DEFINITELY worth a play through and is one of the best survival horror games I've played in years. I strongly recommend it to anyone wanting a good scare 😱

#I just have a lot of feelings about resident evil 7 and needed to vent them all at once now that I've spent a lot of time with it #resident evil #resident evil 7 #video game reviews

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magicomiclaughter · 8 years ago

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top 5 favorite books?

Shoot man, I ask you to send in some stuff and you go on ahead and send me one of the hardest questions to answer? Wow. Okay, let’s see here… considering that we’re referring to books instead of manga…

1. The Amulet of Samarkand [The Bartimaeus Trilogy]–The first book in a series in which the main character switches between a snarky djinn named Bartimaeus and a budding magician named Nathanial who summons him to get vengeance on another magician who humiliated him. It ends up getting them entangled in a plot that threatens to destroy the entirety of London and potentially the world. I think that one of my favorite traits of the book series are the footnotes that are supplied on Bartimaeus’ segments–I found myself flipping past chapters often just so I could see when Bartimaeus’ next part would be. The footnotes provide great insight into the particularities of the world that the summoned entities come from and occasionally either include a curt history lesson, a magnanimous feat that Bartimaeus had achieved, or a snarky comment or two. I just love it.2. The Book Thief–Death details the story of Liesel Meminger, a girl who is made to live with foster parents during World War II in Communist Germany. It’s a powerful piece that will make you cry, and the depiction of Death is incredibly mesmerizing in its own right. @nik-knight showed me the book years ago. The movie doesn’t come close to doing it justice.3. 1984–An interesting tale of a dystopian society in which Winston Something lives in (I’ve only read it once, lol). The entire nation of Great Britain is under the control of a figure that may or may not exist known as Big Brother, and his eyes are constantly watching over the streets. I read it for school but I’d say that it is worth an attempt to read.4. The Prisoner of Azkaban [The Harry Potter Trilogy]–I just. I really like Sirius, okay? And Buckbeak. And plus Hermione punches Draco in his fucking smarmy-ass face.5. The Name of the Wind–Now, here is where ir gets interesting. The Name of the Wind… I first started reading it when I was in Middle School, and I never actually ended up finishing it. I got halfway through before I had to turn it back into the library. The majority of the book is a flashback as a writer details the story of the main character, from his time of youth to his time that he spent in school and even beyond that. The Name of the Wind was a story I thought I would be incredibly bored with at first, especially because it’s such a long story (about 500-600 pages, thereabout), but when I was reading it, it was a fantastic adventure. I want to finish reading it at some point, but I forgot where exactly I was in it. :S

I’m pretty sure that there are a lot more books that I’ve read in the past, but as of now, these are the books that come to mind whenever someone says ‘books’. I really need to start reading more books these days, if I have to be honest with myself.

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hockeychik13 · 8 years ago

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Honest Reviews: The Die Hard Franchise

I would like to start a series with this blog called Honest Reviews. In it, I will honestly review some of my favorite pieces of entertainment. Believe me, I am truly passionate about the things I enjoy, but I'm also not completely blind to their flaws or the things about them that may alienate certain audiences. Plus, I just genuinely love talking about movies and TV shows. To kick things off, today I want to talk about the Die Hard franchise.

I will preface this review by saying I enjoy some of the movies much more than others, but I do not hate any of the films in the series.

Die Hard

This is by far one of my favorite films of all time. It is witty, entertaining and is a perfect example of an every-man turned hero. It also introduced us to the late, great Alan Rickman and I think we owe this film a sincere amount of gratitude for that piece alone. It is also the first time we got to see Bruce Willis as a badass.

Believe it or not, the studio didn't want to cast him in the role because of his fame for the TV show Moonlighting. Which had a similar feel to Castle as being a funny, witty crime sitcom type show. That's not really the image you get when you think of Bruce Willis now, is it? Me either. However, at one time, that's what he was typecast as and we almost didn't get the ass-kicking Bruce Willis we know and love today.

Anyway, the film itself is entertaining. There are sort of bloopers and perceived plot holes (I, for one, never questioned how McClane knew Bill Clay was really Hans Gruber), but from start to finish it keeps you interested. There's enough personal backstory to make you care about the characters emotionally. And Rickman managed to create a new kind of villain in Gruber that almost had you rooting for him out of sheer respect. Die Hard gave us a lot of things that cinema had been missing up to that point and countless films have tried to re-create that magic to no avail. I will also point out that it is a Christmas film. So, if you're anything like me and have a distaste for traditional Christmas films, this makes an excellent replacement.

Now, comes the criticism: It didn't exactly age well. Now, it is pretty much a timeless classic and those of us who experienced life before high speed internet and smart phones seem to have a better appreciation for films that have outdated technology, however to a newer audience I think all of this films charm would be lost. There are far too many things in the movie that could easily have been solved by the institution of modern technology that for audiences who have never lived life without these modern conveniences would just not make any sense. Also, there have been so many copies and homages of this original film at this point that it wouldn't be new even for a first time viewer. The fashions are very dated and someone laughable at this point, which is something newer viewers would be quick to point out. Unfortunately, at this point in our lives this movie requires a lot of explanation to new audiences to express its true significance. And people really don't like things that they need explained to them.

Die Hard 2

I will start off by saying that despite the many, MANY times I have seen this movie, it is truly forgettable. Despite bringing back familiar characters and introducing a new and fairly impressive villain, the plot is really quite weak and it seems like a rehashing of the original without the heart, wit or simplicity. The plot is overly complicated and the happenstance by which John McClane gets involved seems really kind of forced. There's a terrorist plot at an airport where his wife is supposed to be landing that makes her plane unable to land and then there's a war criminal that the terrorists are trying to release who is supposed to be flying into said airport. Also, there's a snowstorm.

So, John McClane is back, doing what we love him doing. Fighting bad guys, saving the day, doing the impossible because if not him, then who? The movie's setting is really what will ruin it for modern audiences. Anyone who has traveled in the last 10 years can tell you that if you even mention certain words in the airport you're rush tackled and smuggled away for questions and a cavity search. In this movie we have people firing guns in airports, baggage claim attendants being murdered and no one noticing, terrorists dictating flight patterns and whatnot. And yet, the airport seems to be pretty business as usual. Today, it would be a media frenzy and the entire airport would be shut down before anyone could blink. For anyone watching the movie today, the airport and security response would be unfathomable. And the need for McClane's involvement would be completely laughable. Also, the bit about his wife being trapped on a circling plane running out of fuel (with the dickish reporter from the first movie no-less that she punched in the face) just feels tacked on to add a human element to a film that seems to have dropped any semblance of character development in favor of a confusing plot and lack-luster action sequences. It's a good watch for a lazy day of silly entertainment, but it is easly forgotten and that isn't a bad thing.

Die Hard: With a Vengance

This movie makes a triumphant return to the franchise's roots with a clever plot and engaging characters. They went simple and moved the action to John McClane's home turf of New York. They introduced Samuel L. Jackson as a new every-man hero to play off of McClane's tired and too-often tested anti-hero at this point. I call him an anti-hero because when we first see him he is a rough-looking, hungover shell of the man that we came to know and love. We learn that things never did work out between he and Holly and he has been living with the consequences of the previous two movies in the time we have not seen him. We don't usually get a glimpse into the reality of the weight being a hero can put on a man and it's refreshing to see a movie deal with that head on. There are also touches on the issues of racism that are dealt with in a far more realistic sense than I've seen previously. The lines aren't black and white between bigotry and acceptance and that is depicted beautifully in this film.

The plot itself is simple. A so-called terrorist is sending John and his reluctant partner Zeus on a series of scavenger hunts and having them solve riddles to find and diffuse bombs around the city. It all turns out to be a cover up for a heist, which is wonderfully reminiscent of the original film. It manages to pay homage to its origins without copying what has already been done. The villain is engaging and interesting, much like Hans Gruber was and Jeremy Irons manages to create a villain that keeps us guessing and wanting more. The pairing of Willis and Jackson was also a fantastic choice as they play well off of each other with banter but they are also equally intelligent. They work as an equal team, not hero and sidekick.

This film has actually aged a little better than it's predecessors. Although the use of pay phones wouldn't make any sense to modern audiences (what's a pay phone? lol) there is little else that wouldn't make sense overall. The police responses make sense with current times and the cast is more recognizable to newer viewers. Given that it came out in 1995, the fashions were less dated the locations in New York were more recognizable. The film also has a more updated look instead of the grittier look of the older films. It is smooth and higher definition which is a medium that modern audiences are much more accustomed to.

My only criticism of this film would be the somewhat tacked on personal relationship stories. Despite Bonnie Bedelia's (Holly McClane) absence from this installation completely, there is still the underlying theme of John calling his wife to try to reconcile. Given the fact that the first two films take place two years apart, it is conceivable that after the events of the first film they would be able to reconcile and still be in a good place by the second film. However, there are 5 years between the second film and this one, making it probable that the issues the two had at the onset of the first film would have become issues once again (they were never actually solved by the events in the first movie. She was just really happy because he saved her from terrorists and stuff). It's evident from the first film that they have very different expectations for their relationship and their love for each other really wasn't enough to overcome any of that. There's also the random relationship between Jeremy Irons' Simon and his right hand henchwoman Katya. Although it's completely conceivable that they grew close and forged a relationship while working together for their shared cause, it seemed tacked on and served little purpose other than to add a sex scene somewhere in a movie where it doesn't really fit.

This movie is worth watching multiple times. It's a great Saturday afternoon bit of entertainment and the nice thing is it can be watched completely independent of the other films. Although they are still dealing with McClane's failed relationship, you don't need to know their rocky background to assume that the cop who started the movie as a drunk would have an estranged wife. Even if you're not a fan of the original, give this one a look. You might find your interest in this franchise piqued.

Live Free or Die Hard

This installment came out 12 years after the previous film in 2007. It gives us a John McClane whose life has gone pretty much in the direction we could have assumed from the last film. However, this movie chooses to address his relationship with one of his children. Lucy McClane was present in the first film and her brother John was only mentioned given that he was the baby of the family. She makes her adult debut in this film as a central character with closer ties to the plot, giving John that personal element to his heroism that was slightly lacking in Die Hard with a Vengance (although this isn't a bad thing in this film).

The movie itself deals with more technological themes which makes it much more complicated. However, the addition of Justin Long as his sidekick in this film helps to diffuse some of the tech jargon with wit and bits of comedy. Although the joke is that McClane doesn't understand modern technology, few of us actually understand the technology (besides cell phones) being referenced in the film. McClane is us and that's part of the joke. However, Justin Long's Matt is also us. He isn't a fighter or a physical hero like McClane. He needs McClane to protect him and I'm fairly certain we would need that too. This movie allows us to be more involved in the story because we can see ourselves more clearly in it. Yes, there are unbelievable moments and things that aren't physically possible in the real world, but that doesn't diminish the movie's entertainment factor.

Also, part of the fun of the film is that they chose not to use CGI and instead rigged up incredible special effects to get what we see on screen. So, yes, they did actually throw a real car at a real helicopter. The movie is worth a watch just for the special effects knowing that they didn't use computers to create them. They also actually demolished pieces of freeway (a piece that was scheduled to be demolished anyway and the film was able to use for their special effects) as well which makes for both a more realistic feel to the effects and fantastically interesting behind the scenes footage of how things were created.

Unfortunately, the technology is actually a detriment to this film. Although it was attempting to move the franchise into the modern era with its inclusion as a main plot point (not a bad idea given our reliance on technology), it actually serves to date the movie even more than the use of pay phones. Technology is growing and changing at an alarming rate in modern times, which means that even when a piece of it is brand new, it is quickly outdated in a matter of weeks now. Which means that the technology used in a movie now 10 years old seems ridiculously antiquated and silly by today's standards. Which is sad because this is actually a very enjoyable film. But, modern audiences are fickle. And I'm not sure that Justin Long's charm, Bruce Willis' reluctant hero shtick, Timothy Olyphant's sociopathic villain and a guest appearance by Kevin Smith are enough to entice new viewers to look away from their cell phones long enough to appreciate anything this movie has to offer.

Once again, it's an enjoyable film. Fun on a day when you have time to watch special features along with this film to see how things were done. Although it doesn't work as well as a stand alone film. Without knowing the backstory of the McClane family and why Lucy may be angry with her father, this movie feels more like a rip-off of Taken with some tech thrown in than it does a Die Hard movie. So, it's really something that should be watched in context, not out of it.

A Good Day to Die Hard

This movie was released six years after the previous film in 2013. Since the last movie dealt with the relationship between McClane and his daughter Lucy, this one deals with his relationship with his son John. This seems like a great idea on paper, but in practice it lacked a lot. Overall, the movie felt out of place in the Die Hard franchise. Instead of being the every-man hero, McClane is shown as the antiquated dad with good intentions who is really just in the way. It is obvious from the start that the sole purpose of this film was to kick start a revitalization of the franchise following John Jr (or Jack as they like to call him so we don't get confused) as the new hero.

There are two huge issues with this movie that made revitalizing the franchise virtually impossible:

The first is the plot. For the first time in the Die Hard franchise we leave the country. A big part of McClane's appeal was his quiet patriotism. Doing what's right for his country and the people he protects despite great personal sacrifice. This film has him in Russia trying to bail his son out of a Russian prison. Then it turns out his son is really special ops. And is an angry child even though he's a grown man. He has no respect for his father or the lengths to which his father has gone previously to do the right thing (which plays into the cliched "daddy didn't love me enough" theme so common in action films). The plot is way overly complicated and involves double crosses and sub plots and a climax in Prypyat (which is the city now laying abandoned after the meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor) that never really seem to come together to form a coherent plot. Although the plot didn't seem to be what was important. At the center of it all seemed to be the desire to introduce Jack as the new hero who will step up so his father can retire.

Which brings us the the second issue with this movie. The casting choice of Jai Courtney as John Jr/Jack just didn't work. He isn't horrible. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate him and he is a good action star. However, to take the place of John McClane both on the big screen and in our hearts there needs to be a certain spark that he just doesn't have. He's not an every-man. He's insanely muscular, which is impressive but really just makes him another Schwarzenegger-like invincible hero. Which has been done to DEATH. Looking at him, he's the hero we expect. But he isn't he hero that we know. He's not the beat cop who would show up to a routine 911 call and save the day. He's not the guy on the street who would help someone because it's the right thing to do. He's the guy in the movie who saves the world and looks good doing it. Fitness aside, he doesn't have the personality for the role. Yes, he's good as an action hero, but he's not a McClane. He doesn't have witty one-liners and when he tries they don't work. And the way his character was written in the film, I found myself rooting against him and pitying his father. Which made the whole "saving the world" plot fall into the background and seem sort of useless.

I'll be perfectly honest, despite having seen this film multiple times, I don't actually even remember what the main plot really was. I know that the relationship between father and son felt forced, but not in the way they were hoping. The previous film addressed the tensions between McClane and his children but allowed that tension to have layers that made sense given the history we know about John. This movie just goes right to the cliches and never lets up. Jack is angry at his father, rebelling in every way (despite being way old enough to have established his own life and moved on from the anger at his father) and seeming to consist of nothing but a distaste for his father. He is the embodiment of an angry teenager dealing with his parents divorce inside the body of a grown man. Even though they end up working together for the greater good, just like there was no true resolution of the issues between John and his wife, there isn't between John and Jack either.

Jack also isn't likeable. I can't imagine following him on similar adventures like we've seen John, but only because I can't see Jack being humble enough to take on the role of a true hero without his pride getting in the way. If I were to suggest a better casting decision for Jack it would have been Channing Tatum. I know, I know, but hear me out. He's good looking, much like Bruce Willis was when the series started (he's still good looking but not exactly heartthrob status anymore) and he's in good physical shape so his ability to fight bad guys wouldn't be questioned. However, unlike Courtney, Tatum has an endearing quality about his features and has proven to be quite adept at both comedy and wit. Although the movie wasn't fantastic, White House Down had a feel of Die Hard in the White House because of his ability to be a believable every-man hero and give the audience the wit and humor needed to break up the tension and violence of an action film. He's also proven more than once that he has the ability to carry a feature film on his own or work beautifully with ensemble casts. Courtney has also struggled in these areas with his other films making it next to impossible for him to be able to carry the franchise beyond this film. Tatum's humor would have also played well with Willis' and as a duo they would have been more believable as father and son with a rocky relationship. Tatum also has more similar features to Willis like a trademark smirk and softer eyes, whereas Courtney never seems to be able to break serious face.

Although I'm not saying that this film isn't worth a watch, if you haven't seen it, you're really not missing much. It was a disappointing installment in an otherwise impressive franchise. If you're a fan of the franchise already, give it a watch, but if you're new to it I wouldn't bother. It wouldn't encourage new audiences to give the rest of the franchise a shot and is really quite forgettable as a stand alone movie.

Overall

I know this has been a long-winded post, but if you have made it this far with me, I thank you! This franchise holds a very dear place in my heart. I know I got a bit harsh with the last installment, but that's mostly because my expectations have been set so high by the rest of the series. I'm proud to own all of the movies. I'm happy to introduce new people to the series and I'm always thrilled to discuss it with other people. It's a great set of action movies and Bruce Willis is a great hero to root for. Now excuse me while I settle in for a Die Hard movie marathon.

Yippee-Ki-Yay!

#diehard #bruce willis #hans gruber #honest review #movies #reviews

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