#but something about those do actually read as an extension of the main series in a way that the short stories do not to me

[samantha-and-nellie]

^@missyling's tags

afjkasfhkbl ngl this was like. 83% a bit that i did not expect follow up on, but i can pull together some thoughts!

the short stories were published after the main six book series had been written

events of the short stories do not alter the pre-existing canon of the main series

but the events of the short stories also are basically not referenced in the main series (due to the the aforementioned fact that they were published after)

the short stories often focus on character and relationship development, rather than being plot-driven

also, the length and content of the short stories is quite similar to a one-shot

thus, the short stories (with this relationship to the main series and this purpose) often end up playing a role very similar to fanfiction

... not to mention the fact that valerie tripp wrote an absurd amount of the short stories, which truly feels like a fanfic author going on a spree with their favorite characters

the historicals’ short stories exist as ag’s own published fanfiction change my mind

[66sharkteeth]

Weekly thoughts!

Hooboy, the big episode! First off, I think everyone knows by now that you probably shouldn't read these if you haven't read the latest episode, but I ESPECIALLY mean that this week! Talking about some way bigger than usual spoilers.

Phew, this was a big one, both from a writing and drawing perspective. I actually spent a full day on that last panel alone, but writing it took way longer than usual too. Going back and forth between Bell's speech and Jericho's backstory played perfectly like a movie in my head, but it was really hard to portray it as a comic and it was one of the few times I was struggling with the limitations of the format. I think I pulled it off though, since everyone seemed to follow along fine! So while it was probably just a neat scene to everyone else, I'm rather proud of that haha.

As for the actual contents of the episode, I'm also glad everything hit w/ the majority of the audience for the most part. I know a handful were confused about if that was Bell or Jericho who did that, but to those people, I remind you it's been loooong established Jericho can control his extensions (Bell, Charlie, and Claude. Remember, they all took injections of Jericho's blank space?). Also on that note, Bell does not have her own scion... Only Rex and Jericho do. Bell, Charlie and Claude all took injections of Jericho's blank space, thus get to borrow some of his power. I recommend re-reading ep 80 if you need a refresher.

I do consider this ep kind of a big reveal of Jericho's true colors. I mean, you guys have known he's the main villain for ages now, but this is the ep that reveals his "better world for blanks" act is kind of a façade and what he's really seeking is a worse world for humans. The fall of humans benefitting blanks is just kind of a bonus. I'm glad a few people caught onto this with the fact that one of the worst horrors he experienced was having his autonomy taken away from him, then he proceeds to do just that to Bell.

And speaking of Jericho's horrors- Before this season launched, I dropped a bunch of hints about upcoming things. One of them was that the most disturbing scene (in my opinion) was coming up. I was actually referring to what happened to Kallie. I'm not sure if it was as disturbing to everyone else (I totally get like if Claude's leg thing fucked people up more), but being evaporated into nothingness but not dying was an existential dread that really fucks me up haha. If it fucked even a couple of other people up, then I did my job.

I don't have too much else to say about the contents of the episode. It was so hard to bite my tongue for weeks as everyone predicted pretty much every character but Desmond was gonna get it. I'm sorry I don't have too much else to say about him right now given what happened, but I definitely will in the upcoming weeks.

I guess the only other note I have is I might as well address something that bugs me slightly- It's definitely a minority but there's a handful of people who seem done with the series because "too many things go wrong." To which... I'm not sure what to tell ya. I'm fine with critique and criticism to be clear, but honestly, this is one thing I'm actually really confident I'm good at balancing. I'm not sure where people are coming from with "nothing good ever happens in this series" when this season alone has had probably the cutest and fluffiest scenes. Rex has a canon girlfriend, he had his first kiss with her, Desmond was reunited with his sister and learned to accept himself, Lyss learned to move past her trauma and accept blanks, Rex was reunited with Shnee, Rex's scion turns out to be a puppy dog w/ a crush. I'm aware a lot of these got kind of crushed with this latest ep...but that's.. kind of. the. point??? That's how you write tragedy and impactful scenes??

I dunno, maybe this is personal to me because it's ALWAYS bugged me when someone tells me they think a show is bad because it's "too dark." Like no... It's not *bad* because it's too dark, you just don't like dark themes, and that's okay. I TOTALLY get if CoB has gotten too dark for some people- it's definitely hit some hard themes and subjects, but I don't like to accept that as a critique. It just means it's not for you and that's okay. There's a ton of other great comics that are more light-hearted! I think the TLDR of this is it will always annoy me when people say something is bad just because it's not their taste.

Now. That said... everyone is completely valid in their hate of Jericho. I, however, still love him.

[rebellion-star]

Translation of Yukimura Makoto's interview in Yatta! (part 1)

Disclaimer : My first language is French so there might be some inacurracies when translating from French/Japanese to English. I will try my best to stay as faithful as possible to what was being said. If you see any mistakes please let me know.

Click here for the full interview (in French, Yukimura Makoto's voice is dubbed by a French speaker). The interview was conducted on January 28th 2025.

I will only be translating the questions and the answers. I will provide a quick summary for the intro.

(00:00 - 2:22) Intro : The anchor introduces the guests and thanks Yukimura for coming today.

(2:23 - 2:45) Quick sumary of Vinland Saga

(2:46 - 3:02) Your drawings showcase stunning landscapes and beautifully crafted backgrounds. The fight scenes are incredibly detailed. Do you create them with animation in mind, envisioning how they would move on screen?

Merci beaucoup (laughs). Well, I always strive to draw as precisely as possible. However, when I started Vinland Saga, I wasn't thinking about a potential anime adaptation. I drew freely, depicting violence without constraints. So when I found out it would be adapted into an anime, I was very surprised.

(3:38 - 3:46) Richard Fleischer's movie The Vikings was a major inspiration for you. Were there any other works that marked a turning point in the creation of Vinland Saga ?

The movie Erik the Viking starring Tim Robbins left a stong impression on me. It tells the story of a viking who begins to question his way of life, as he constantly steals to fund his next expedition, only to get trapped in an endless cycle of violence. A young woman calls him out on his actions and he gradually comes to a realization. This film left a strong impression on me.

(4:29 - 4:44) I learnt in one of your interview that you hate violence. Yet, Vinland Saga is filled with violence - both psychological and physical. Many fans are drawn to your work because of this. Do you portray violence so extensively as a way to condem it?

Si (note : French word for yes). Absolutely. My main character - Thorfinn - comes to reject all forms of violence as he grows. In order to understand why he rejects violence, I needed to clearly illustrate the reasons behind it. That's why it was a challenging process for me. However, I aimed to depict violence as precisely and directly as possible.

(5:29 - 5:38) In that sense, would you say Thorfinn’s journey of redemption is a message from the older Makoto Yukimura to his younger self?

Yes, in a way, it might be a message to myself. Today I am 48 and it's true that this series has been a way to reflect on my accomplishments. At the beginning of my carrer, I was impulsive and self-absorbed - perhaps not always considerate of those around me. I may have acted rashly and hurt people along the way. Like Thorfinn, I hope I can find forgiveness.

(6:20 - 6:33) You are extremely active on social media. Why is it important for you ? If Thorfinn had Twitter/X, what would he post?

Social media allows me to receive direct feedback from my readers—something unimaginable at the start of my career. That’s why I try to respond as much as possible to those who reach out to me.

As for what Thorfinn would say on Twitter, it’s hard to picture. I imagine young Thorfinn would ignore everyone completely. But as he matures and settles in Vinland, he would probaby be saying, “Thank you” and “Thank you so much” to his followers.

(7:37 - 7:49) People often call you the "GOAT" and at first, you thought they were referring to the animal. Do compliments like these give you confidence in your writing and art?

Actually, the first time someone called me the "GOAT" and sent me a picture of a goat, I thought I was being harassed (laughs). But once I understood what it meant, it made me really happy. When you work on a series a long as mine, it's like reading the same sentence over and over. After so many years, it's hard to assess the quality of your own work. So when I receive compliments on social media, it feels like a comforting pat on the shoulder.

(8:48 - 8:59) In a past interview, you mentioned wanting to leave the past behind and focus on writing a story set in the future. Do you already have an idea for your next project?

Yes, I have a rough idea of what I want to write next. But to be honest, after spending over 20 years working on Vinland Saga, I’m completely exhausted. I’m not sure if I’ll dive into a new series right away. It will be a battle between my desire to start something new and my own laziness.

(9:19 - 9:30) One scene that left a lasting impression on all of us is when Thorfinn allows himself to be (badly) beaten. Is not fighting back the secret to finding peace ?

It's a very profound question that invites serious reflexion. I've been exploring the theme of violence for over 20 years, and one question I've often wrestled with is how to break the never-ending cycle of violence. It's extremely difficult to answer simply. When you look at the police for example, they are armed and sometimes respond to violence with more violence. It's hard to stop violence through passivity or a pacifist stance. At the same time, I do believe that violence begets violence. So, if we want to end the cycle, someone has to take it upon themselves and make the sacrifice of not striking back.

(10:42 - 10:54) When Thorfinn gave up on his revenge, your editor (tantousha) said it would end the series. How did you convince them to trust you ?

I didn’t have to work hard to convince my editor. In fact, it was the support of the readers that allowed me to continue this series. When I told my editor that my character would become a slave and stop fighting, they thought the series would be over. However, the sales didn’t drop, and people kept reading, which motivated me to continue. I was prepared for the series to be discontinued, but that didn’t happen. I want to thank all my readers for sticking with me.

(11:45 - 11:52) So did your editor tell you "you were right" or did you say nothing (ie not tell him "I was right") and be the bigger person/stayed humble ?

It's true that my editor did not express any remorse about their doubts (laughs). To be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure that my readers would continue to support me the way they did. Once again, I’m incredibly grateful to my readers, as their support gives me confidence—not only in my work but also in my ability to write freely and let the story unfold as I want.

That's it for the first part of the interview! I hope you enjoyed reading it. I will try to translate the second part tomorrow.

edit : part 2 is available here.

[adarkrainbow]

I am currently re-reading "The Black Company" by Glen Cook, the first trilogy which I love immensely (I haven't looked at the later trilogies and series).

If you do not know what "The Black Company" is, it is a series of novels started in the 80s that formed, alongside older works like "The Elric Saga", the foundations of the genre we know today as "dark fantasy". And "The Black Company" is one of the specific highlights of the dark fantasy sub-genre that later inspired authors to create what we call the "grimdark fantasy" (though I personally put The Black Company in "dark fantasy" rather than the "grimdark" genre, even though it was a big inspiration for the grimdark).

I love The Black Company. But, I hear you ask, why am I speaking of this onto my fairytale blog? Well... you guessed it: The Black Company is actually a fairytale fantasy. It is not something that is talked about often, nor something that was very much highlighted outside of some trivias, but despite The Black Company seeming like a dark deconstruction of the early Tolkienesque fantasy (which it is), it is also... a deconstruction of fairytales.

Here is a list of points showing the fairytale influence over Glen Cook's work, from the broadest and vaguest to the most specific. WARNING there are BIG SPOILERS ahead for the original trilogy.

From the get-go, names are rare in "The Black Company". As in, personal names. This is one of the most famous features of this series: almost all of the main characters go by nicknames or aliases, and the rest are left anonymous. From the members of the Black Company who abandon their life behind, to the sorcerers who keep their true name secrets, we are following the adventures of "Croaker", "Captain", "Raven", "The Lady", "The Hanged Man", "One-Eye", "Darling", and others. Add to this the sparse and succint physical descriptions, and the fact the past of most of the characters stays mysterious, foggy and untold - the narrative focusing mainly on their actions and their words - and you have a form of archetypal storytelling making the characters seem like they came out straight of a folktale (which is ironic as the story is precisely about introducing gritty realism to an universe of fantasy).

By extensive, the very narrative style of the books (mainly the parts written by Croaker for the Annals) is reminiscent of the way fairytales a la brothers Grimm were told. A very focused, quasi-oral narrative flow filled with ellipses and allusions, mixing direct descriptions with narrator thoughts, spending a lot of time over some trivial things while telling in two sentences huge events, slowly revealing things or explaining elements in a disjointed and broken way...

Still on the same vibe, the magic system (or rather the lack-of) was clearly meant to recreate the effet of magic in fairytales, and legends and myths in general. Unlike other fantasy works where magic is explained or has given rules and conditions, magic here stays a mysterious art only truly understood by its wielders. We are given some rules and elements, we know the power levels of some characters, but magic stays a mysterious force whose effects, while obvious, grandiose and visible, are unclear in their scope, limit and effect, leaving a true "everything is possible" effect that do make the wizards and warlocks of this series "legendary".

The first book opens and hammers down, through Croaker's narrative, the idea that "good versus evil" doesn't exist, that "good" and "evil" are mostly human illusions and excuses, that in the end everybody is just morally gray and the "good side" is decided by the winners of battles and those that write down history. This is of course a subversion of the epic fantasy genre a la Tolkien, but it also serves as a subversion of the very fairytale logic of "good versus evil". And then, a de-subversion as Croaker and the Black Company come to realize, as they get involved deeper and deeper into the wars of the Lady and the return of the Dominator, that while human "goodness" and "evilness" are illusions, there is still an actual "evil" that is too inhuman and dangerous for the world and deserves to be fought by true "heroes". So, the trilogy does end up falling back into the fairytale dichotomy... But to do so, it needs to go beyond the human scope and scale of things, to enter the world of ancient myths and eldritch magic.

Among the Ten who Were Taken, several evoke "classical" fairytale monsters. All of them are evil witches and wicked sorcerers, but some clearly evoke the werewolfs of legends and the Big Bad Wolf (The Howler, Moonbitter) while others clearly take after the giants, trolls and ogres of old (Shapeshifter, Bonegnasher). [Plus Toadkiller Dog has strong "Big Bad Wolf" vibes too] Also, they use extensively flying carpets to fly around, directly as a nod to the One Thousand and One Nights. There are also several sorcerers who evoke the dwarfs of legend, from the evious Limper described as a "small man", to the duo of One-Eye and the aptly name Goblin, who are basically the trickster imps and mischievious dwarfs of old legends.

The story span over the three first books is actually a retelling of Snow-White. Literaly. It is about the fight and struggle by a powerful and beautiful witch-queen (the Lady) with powerful magic to her side (her Eye is the equivalent of the Magic Mirror) to destroy a pure little girl fated to destroy her (Darling, reincarnation of the "White Rose", quite a nod to "Snow White"), only for the little girl to be saved and protected by servants of the Lady who betray their former employer (The Black Company). The little girl events gets, in a Disney fashion, to become "friend" and gain control and protection from animals and plants of nature... with the twist being her "Disney princess" powers make her befriend the alien fauna and insane flora of the Lovecraftian Plain of Fear.

In "The White Rose", the memoirs of Bomanz note how strange it is that everybody was fascinated by the Domination and the Taken, despite them being pure evil, and how little interested is paid to the remains of the White Rose, despite her being the hero that saved them all. This can be taken as a reflection on fictional villains in general, but it does strike a chord with fairytales: fairytale villains are often more iconic, more well-known, more fascinating than the heroes, and the stories often end with the villains - not caring about what happens to the heroes or the "good guys" once the threat is done with. Everybody knows at least half of the names of the Taken, but nobody knows where the White Rose's grave is. (Aka, the "Disney villain phenomenon")

The Taken (plus Lady and Dominator) sleeping forever in their barrows, guarded by a DRAGON, and "woken up" by various intrepid adventurers passing by a deadly barrier has very strong "Sleeping Beauty" vibes - which becomes ironic when later the Lady reveals that her mother was actually the twisted source of the Sleeping Beauty story in this universe.

[polysucks]

re: your post about "pathologizing" the fandom what the fuck do you mean there will be an end to the books grrm will finish the series.

You mean this post? damn bro how far did you dig on my profile that post is literally 32 days old who are you.

You also seem to think I'm implying the gewlrghe will never finish the series. I don't care if he does, or doesn't. Who am I to insist an artist ever finish any of their work? Who are any of us to pressure an artist into moulding their work into something we want when we want it? The nature of art is to be made and to exist, not to please others or provide a platform--those are just cool by products. My whole point is that if we don't get a tangible or traditional "ending" to the series, I would feel perfectly satisfied with that, because the series doesn't end. but honestly, yeah, I'd be more than happy to elaborate. (threat)

Your Fave Will Never Win: ASOIAF is a lesson in futility

Because history doesn’t stop just because you want it to

Word count: 967 Time to read: 5 - 9 mins No major CWs except for my opinions, which are classified by the SCP Foundation as optic hazards

The allure of the Gieroge’s worldbuilding lies in how vast it is. it's a story woven into the fabric of a world that stretches across millennia, encompassing the rise and fall of entire civilizations. But what sets this series apart from more conventional fantasy narratives is not simply the extent of its history or the intricacies of its politics (you can find politics and drama in any series—HBO’s Succession would look right at home in ASOIAF world. if someone writes that au @ me i want that so bad please please please). It is the fact that the story doesn’t promise resolution in the traditional sense.

And really, it never actually ends.

To explore this, we first understand the foundational concept that Westeros—and by extension, the world beyond its borders—exists as a continuum. The history of the lands, the stories embedded within its past, present, and future, are a reflection of the cycles of human ambition, triumph, and failure. These cycles began long before the events of the [main series] and will continue long after. They echo the inescapable truth of the series: life goes on. It is an unbroken thread, indifferent to the victories or defeats of its characters.

Consider the framing of the narrative.

We are presented with a snapshot—a single, albeit momentous, chapter (for lack of a better term) in the history of this world. The War of the Five Kings and the struggle for the Iron Throne may seem central to the story being told when it comes to what the viewers are able to see on the pages before them, but they are just one strand in a sprawling tapestry that is the entirety of the story of the land. Westeros (a name I’m using generalized for the entirety of the encompassing world) endured the Long Night and the Age of Heroes; it withstood the doom of Valyria and the conquest of Aegon I. The tale that the geotgre chooses to tell is not about finality, but about the ongoing churn of history, the weight of the past pressing against the present, and the inevitability of future change.

This is why it’s a mistake to approach ASOIAF as though it has an "endgame" in the conventional sense. The idea of closure, of a definitive conclusion where all threads are tied and the world settles into a stable equipoise, is antithetical to the world the Geroeighe has built. Were the series about achieving that kind of resolution, it could have ended with Joffrey inheriting Robert’s throne. After all, one king succeeded another. “Order” was restored—however cruel and imperfect. But the series shows us, time and again, that crowns change hands, dynasties fall, and the wheel of power turns endlessly. There is no single victory or defeat that halts this wheel.

The obsession with infighting and being an endgame enthusiast within the fandom arises, in part, from a desire to impose structure and resolution onto a story that inherently resists both. (just like we see about real life history in discussions like why we don't teach CRT in schools. Like this is a serious point to make while having this discussion, but I digress.) Fans often debate who "deserves" to rule or which character’s arc leads most naturally to a victorious conclusion (and I am guilty of this as well, you can have both--that's allowed u know). But such debates miss the point: ASOIAF isn’t about "winning." It’s about the cost of pursuing power, the corruption it more often than not results in, the ephemeral nature of dominance, and the ways in which individual struggles are subsumed by the inexorable march of time.

One might argue that the true thematic heart of the series lies in the seasons—the cycles of summer and winter that govern not only the physical world but the lives and legacies of those who inhabit it. Summer will end. Winter will come. And after winter, there will be another summer. It’s fundamentally cyclical. Humanity’s victories and defeats, its loves and betrayals, its wars and peaces, are all bound by this rhythm. The Long Night—perhaps the ultimate existential threat in the series—is not an end, but a reminder of humanity’s fragility and resilience within these cycles. The struggle against the Others is no less significant for its place in the timeline, but it is still a chapter, not the final word.

This cyclical nature calls into question the very notion of finality. The Targaryens may have lost the Iron Throne, but their legacy lingers in the ashes of their dragons and the bloodlines of their descendants. The Baratheons rose to power (if you can call it that...), only to fracture and crumble under the weight of their own shortcomings. The Starks, Lannisters, Greyjoys, Tyrells—all are players in a game that predates them and will outlast them. The Iron Throne itself is merely a symbol of transient authority, a prize for those willing to bleed for it, yet ultimately irrelevant to the tides of history.

So why does the story endure? Why does it resonate so deeply with us as the audience? maybe it's because the jorge's world mirrors our own in its refusal to offer pretty little endings or simple truths. The conflicts of Westeros feel real because they are ongoing. They resist resolution because resolution—true, lasting resolution—is a myth. The world goes on. New summers dawn, new winters threaten, and the cycle continues.

In this context, the “endgame” of ASOIAF is not about who sits on the Iron Throne or who triumphs over the Others. It is about the recognition that there is no such thing as an endgame. The story’s power lies in its refusal to conclude, its insistence that life, with all its complexity and contradiction, marches forward. It is this refusal—this infinite sprawl—that makes this shit show of a series a masterpiece. It reminds us that the stories we tell and the worlds we build are bigger than any one conflict, any one moment, or any one ending. They endure, as they always have, and as they always will.

[nerdieforpedro]

🦴

🍓

🥤

Please!

🦴 = a piece of media that inspires my writing?

Not really one set piece. More like music in general does. I often listen to lofi beats when writing or my writing playlist to set the mood of what I’m trying to write. Or it could be music I’m listening to in the car or waiting somewhere could lead to some bullet points that become a fic. 😆

🍓= what led me to write fanfic in the first place?

Going deep here aren’t you Em? 👀 lol I’ve enjoyed writing since I was little as an extension of my love of reading. First with poems and the anime fanfiction when I actually watch more anime. Now I read more manga and don’t write fanfiction about it. If one squints on A03 - I may have dabbled in Marvel characters and actors for a short time. 🫢 The took a long pause as life happened. Sometime last year as my mental health improved so did my love of writing and I hyper focused on Pedro Pascal so here we are. 🤣 I write more the better my mood is. Maybe a bit too much background 😵

🥤= recommend and author or fic you love

Ugh just one? Dammit. 😒 I shall not! I’ll do eight because there are no favorites! Only peeps we support! And I can’t really call any of them number one I enjoy them all too much. 🥰

1. @morallyinept Pretty much anything you read of Jett’s will be beautiful, sensual, take you to a far away place or have needing to remove clothing - possibly from reading the same fic. 😆 She covers a wide variety of Pedro characters and is a wealth of knowledge on them. She also is just really talented and sweet.

2. @maggiemayhemnj Sure Ms. Payday doesn’t have a long Masterlist but every fic on there is worth reading for her turns of phases, vivid descriptions and her love of both Joel and Ezra. 💕

3. @megamindsecretlair One of my fellow black writers who keeps readers thirsty and eager for more with her Sam, Bucky and Loki series (all of which I need to catch up on or finish 👀) and is a hilarious person as she is kind.

4. @soft-girl-musings Another fellow black writer who’s “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps” 1920’s or 40’s (I’m not great with telling time obviously 🙄 ) has me wondering what’s going to happen next, what is going on in that club and where else am I going to see curly haired Marcello is going to pop up at. 🤣

5. @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin The Mistress of Agnst. Her masterlist is for those who aren’t afraid to explore the darker side and stories that may not have happy endings but you’ll still feel satisfied that to finished it. To feel another type of satisfaction, you’ll need to read her smut and seek your other completion there. ☺️ You’ll be thankful for both rides.

6. @pedroshotwifey A newer moot to me who has equal parts smut, agnst and dabs of darkness in there. What can I say? I like dark fics if they’re just right. Like I like my crime dramas and cop procederals. 🤣 She and I have a good time supporting each other and exchanging thots. Her “To The Flame” series has set the reader up for what may be a spectacular fall or maybe she’ll find her way out? Only she knows.

7. @magpiepills Ezra’s second wife (because @morallyinept is his first wife and I think @maggiemayhemnj is the paramour - because it sounds fancy) The amount of filthy things she’s had him do both with one arm and two is something everyone should read twice. I also especially enjoyed her fic “Aquarius” which a whore version of Javier Peña that spoke strongly to me. Or maybe parts of me, let’s not split hairs. 🤭

8. @angelofsmalldeath-codeine She’ll say she’s not a writer. BUT as all writers know, we don’t do very well if someone isn’t reading stuff we toss out into the ether. Hemmy is as supportive as they come, reblogging and offering many a thot as both the High Chancellor of the Horny Delegation and as a friend. ❤️ Plus she supports my very soft bois Dieter and Javi G. 😆 She I think was one of the main reasons I wrote more of “Weddings 101 with Dieter.” She asked me something along the lines of, “is there more to this? This is a very cool or unique premise.” As she well knows, just tell me I did something well and I’m happy as a pearl in a clam. 🤣

Fanfic author ask game

Thanks for the ask Em! Just know I pretty much write paragraphs because I gotta explain. 🤭 I’m Nerdie and I’m wordy. 😚 I had to make one bad joke. You have to be able to tell it’s me.

[iwonderwh0]

Hiii :) I've been wanting to get into more android or artificial intelligence related media lately, got any suggestions or faves? Movies, shows, books, anything really!

Heyy, sorry for late response, I was trying to think of maybe a bigger list, but huh, here we go

I'll start with the classic that although obvious is still among my most favourites

(Upd.) A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) – I'm updating this list to put this movie at the top.

Ghost in the Shell (1995) – among the absolute best of the genre. Doesn't place technology as something opposing humanity, but explores how it can become part of it.

Do androids dream of electric sheep (Philip K. Dick) – I recently reread the novel and yeah, I still love it. Also both blade runner movies (all three are completely different stories. First movie is nothing like a book (not worse or better, just completely different), second movie is nothing like the first. All three worth checking out (tho my favourite if Blade Runner 1984)

The Murderbot diaries (Martha Wells) – a series of books with probably the best example of how can a non-human character be written in a way that doesn't turn it into a story about "becoming human" or some other cliche. Network Effect is my favourite, I was literally screaming here in my posts as I was reading it because FINALLY it is a book where author properly utilises the fact that the main character is partially a computer. It processes multiple visual inputs at once, uses drones as the extension of himself and pings and hacks everything that moves.

Her (2013) – while I hear people talking about how some other movies/novels are the most realistic portrayal of our nearest future I get annoyed because in my opinion THIS is the closest one (among those I've seen anyway). It's practically reality. Even the job the main character has – I was thinking the other day that it seems like something that would be done by AI, but then I gave it another thought and now I actually consider it to be quite valid – a human protagonist doing a job supplying the demand for human sincerity while writing letters for people he doesn't actually know, but somehow it doesn't even matter as long as it's good work of fiction that just *feels* real, even if everyone on the receiving end knows it's not. Melancholic portrayal of this digital loneliness that doesn't read as a condescending story about some big scary AI that will destroy all humanity. No, scratch that. This movie is actually telling a story and doing it amazingly.

After Yang (2017) – it's a movie that should be watched alone, as it's not really good for collective watch. There's little action and some will probably call it boring, but oh man, I really really loved it. A family with adopted daughter has an android "sibling" whose role was to "connect" the little girl to her heritage (she's Chinese while her adoptive parents aren't). One day he shuts down. The rest I won't spoil. I must admit, after playing D:BH it weirds me out how some sci-fi has conscious AI that has no autonomy and somehow it coexists without conflict. One thing that I really liked about this movie that I NEVER saw mentioned anywhere else is how an android character struggles with identity not in a sense of whether he really is human, but whether he is really Chinese. Loved that.

Animatrix (2003) – it's animated take on Matrix that shows more context around the whole humans/machines resisters timeline that at the beginning is really similar to how it went in dbh. It consists of short parts, each animated in different style. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I didn't even know this movie existed and find it interesting enough to recommend.

Electric Dreams (1984) - I LOVE THIS MOVIE, it's one of my absolute favourites that I can't recommend enough. This is actually a romcom, not "serious" sci-fi, but to be honest I feel like even silly and goofy as it is this movie is far superior as a sci-fi than a whole bunch of "serious" ones that are just using AI for the sake of a blockbuster or some cliche story about humanity. Seriously, it was filmed in 80's and has so much fun with the concept, it ironically feels really ahead of time in how it portrays it. It was surprisingly accurate too, like there's a scene on how this computer learns to imitate sounds and it really does look like a process of how neural networks learn to imitate the input they receive. It's actually ridiculous how a romcom got more accurate depiction of artificial intelligence than most sci-fi movies.

EX Machina – I don't actually like this movie and find it incredibly boring and cliche for the 90% of its length, but the ending 10% makes it worth watching.

Android (1982) – I like it more than EX Machina but once again I mostly like it for the plot twist at the end than as a whole.

I probably haven't yet seen and read a lot of great movies in the genre so anyone can feel free to add to this list your favourites.

Actually, I'll add one more

Frankenstein (Mary Shelley) – although it's not technically about an android character, I feel like this book is like the mother of the whole genre. Definitely worth checking out, even if only because of how significant it is in the pop culture and how often people reference it with some absolute horseshit takes that hints at how they've never actually read it. There's a great audio version on YouTube too.

[iravaid]

(in reference to your reblog)

I would absolutely love an exhaustive breakdown of all of your decisions regarding ‘Simon Riley in Situations’

That series consumes me. Much like in the way that Simon was consumed by the desert. I have been fundamentally altered by it.

Oh my god, genuinely thank you so much for asking

This became a very long set of rambles that I have two split in two, possessed by the talk too much demons... sad! Here is the first part, the second part I'll tack on in a later reblog.

More below, I get a little bit Pepe Silvia in this, but oh well lmao

An Introduction

I’m going to preface this with stating that the comics are bad. On an artistic and writer’s standpoint, their net value is negative. I have read those six wretched issues at least seven times through and feel confident in that assertion. I have no idea why people think they’re actually good, in the face of muddy rendering and an overall displeasing art style, Americanised writing with poor panelling and pacing and dialogue, among other torture-porn related things.

That being said, there are moments of competency that shine through, past the early 2000s edge and casual sexism + racist stereotypes, which in turn irritates me because it does show there could have been a better story here. And Yet. But the comics have been a well of spiteful inspiration, first with Except You, and second with In The Desert (and perhaps more to come), and I do want to talk about that. (and I do know that the comics aren’t necessarily canon for the reboot Ghost, but like. C’mon. Work with what we’ve currently got. Even if my money is on Makarov in the reboot having something to do with Ghost’s past, considering the knowing look he and Price share upon seeing the photo.)

Simon is a character that has been doomed by the narrative since day one, and while it would not be a surprise if he survives MW3 on account of the company wanting to make money off his multiplayer counterpart, there is a certain compelling grief in knowing his fate was always going to be how it was in the original trilogy. Simon suffers: Simon dies; Ghost suffers: Ghost dies. There is no other way this story ends. And there is something about the cyclical nature of his life, and patterns to be found in a such a story, which I think are extremely fun to try and enforce, as well as emphasise. It’s this, among other things, that makes him a compelling character to me. Well – that and him being tall, built like a brick-shithouse, gravelly voice, wears a skull mask, has a strong sense of loyalty and compassion for fellow soldiers… (but that’s beside the point!!!!).

The things he went through in the comics had occasionally been so over the top that I need a moment to stand back and go ‘… really? Like. Really? After all that, you put him through more?’ after every reread. It’s not enough that his entire family was murdered but also his psychiatrist and superior officer, and so on and so on. But unfortunately, I have to reiterate that the comics have been a source of inspiration. ‘Simon Riley In Situations’ is an extension of this spiteful motivation to retell/improve upon what the comics were trying to do, as well as occasionally extrapolating on them, or even warping canon to better accommodate my own headcanons/the rebooted universe.

I love stories were a main/side character goes through an incredible change, to the point where they’re noticeably and irreparably different to how they were at the beginning of the story, for better or for worse. Examples that come to mind, currently, are Jinx from Arcane, Zuko from ATLA, Ahsoka in Clone Wars, Steve from Stranger Things. To me, the transformation of Simon into Ghost is something very compelling. The Simon Riley that’s about to fly to the states with Major Vernon is a man very, very different to the Simon Riley freshly recruited into the 141 by Shepherd. But fundamentally they’re still the same person, and that can be an important facet for a big change in a character imo.

I like using a lot of poems and songs and the occasional bible reference in my works. I know it’s fanfiction and maybe for some people that’s overdoing it, but I love it. I love how art informs and inspires itself, and I love using the inherent emotional and cultural connections attached to a specific work in order to enhance that of my own writing. I think it’s good practice, and maybe it doesn’t matter that it’s expressed in the form of fanfiction. I’m a better writer because of it, and that’s something of significance to me: I never studied English lit/creative writing at a higher level of education, so this is where it will be expressed.

Skulls, Death, and the Ghost

Skulls haunt Simon throughout the comics; in turn, Simon has been haunted by the Ghost he’s doomed to become for a very long time. Roba wears skull face-paint when torturing and attempting to brainwash Simon, Simon’s father used to wear skull face-paint when performing, Simon smeared toothpaste on his face when in recovery from Roba’s captivity and it resembled a skull, Tommy wore a skull mask to emulate his father, and Simon hallucinates skeletons/skulls at different points in the comics. Finally, when his family are killed and Simon goes on his revenge mission, he wears the same face paint as he did during Día de Los Muertos when Roba captured him. He claims that the brainwashing didn’t ‘work’ (as the comics put it), but here Simon is, wearing the same mask as his tormentors. I wanted to stretch that recurring imagery by adding the vocalist wearing the skull face-paint in chapter one of Except You. Something there about returning to form, or perhaps finally looking back to see what exactly is that thing who’s been lurking in the back of your mind. I describe the skull reoccurring as “morbidly familiar” in that this has always been Simon’s fate, and it doesn’t matter what he does to try and escape, because he will always return to it.

It can also be stretched to symbolise his close relationship with Death. Simon has ‘died’ a lot of times in the story. At first he believes he’s dead on a subconscious level (nightmares with Roba’ saying he killed him), but then issues 3+4 happen, and that belief escalates into a conscious conviction that he died on the concrete floor in Roba’s captivity; he died out there in the desert; he died surrounded by his family’s corpses on Christmas; he died the moment he killed Roba; he died for good at the end of MW2. Roba killed Simon, and Ghost put whatever ‘Simon Riley’ once was to rest in the funeral pyre of his childhood home. Ghost has always had to everything on his own up until this point: even give himself a proper sendoff. A part of me wonders if Ghost believes himself, on some level, to be the keeper of Simon’s memory and identity. That is what a ghost is, right? The thing that lingers after a tragedy.

It's something incredibly interesting to consider present-era Ghost. Does he still think he’s dead? Is he waiting for the rot to set in? Has he been so dissociated from himself for so long that he doesn’t know how else to function, and on some level is terrified of what might happen, should he in turn look back to face whatever is left of ‘Simon Riley’? Maybe Ghost can be interpreted as the one that came back ‘wrong’, and he’s waiting for other people to notice that there’s nothing left but a corpse. He has gotten very little help by way of therapy/counselling, and probably doesn’t have the tools nor language at his disposal to neither work through these things, nor know how to voice them in the first place. That’s one of the reasons I wrote Simon as not fully aware of the definition of ‘child abuse’ and how it related to him. He knows Nigel (his father) was a cunt and a wifebeater, but he doesn’t know those necessary psych terms to properly begin processing what happened to him both as a child and adult, because who could have taught him? He never got the chance to go to DBT or CBT, and that hazy moment of time with Dr Halloway probably wasn’t conducive to learning about things like CPTSD and trauma and abusive households. I tried to extrapolate this, with Simon’s internalised ableism also being a block to fully accepting or even processing those terms. He’s in a lot of pain, and he very, very desperately wants to move on, to return to how he used to be before all of ‘this’. Will talk later on about how the military factors in to keeping the status quo of ‘the Ghost’.

In tarot (love you tarot love symbolisms in it love when it’s used in media mwah mwah), the death card symbolises major change, rebirth, and endings and beginnings.

If anything, Simon Riley is defined by his deaths and rebirths, how he keeps forcing himself to change in order to survive a brutal narrative set for him. And Ghost, who bears a skull-face not dissimilar to the grim-reaper, perhaps wears this taboo symbol to ward off ‘evil’, or to use that fear in order to keep people at arm’s length, in response to these injustices done to him by fate and the machinations of people far crueller than Simon. He has been through a lot, and still he keeps moving, keeps completing missions and being a ‘good soldier’, because that’s all Simon knows. He’s like a shark in that way, or a well-trained dog: he was never taught, nor given the chance to learn, how to not be a soldier. This is something me and @narramin, affectionately refer to as hound-coding, which, god, really suits Simon. Will talk about it further on.

Roba Himself

Manuel Roba is certainly there. It’s honestly incredibly disappointing to see how this specific character was handled, how heavily the writers leaned into stereotypes to depict Roba – there’s a panel of him holding a burrito for fuck’s sake. This caricature of a villain is both lazily written, but also serves to reduce the impact he has on Simon. This man is supposed to be the primary antagonist, above Simon’s abusive father. He is the reason that Ghost exists, the reason the Riley family are dead, and can be considered the primary catalyst for most of the comics’ plot. And yet this man, and all that he represents in Simon’s suffering, is reduced to the fat ‘El Gordo’ with dialogue lines that are ultimately meaningless, a personal motivation that is only said in his dying breath without further exploration, and ultimately is a villain without any teeth. I think Roba has the potential to be a terrifying figure, one this kind of dark story needs in order to ensure that Simon’s suffering isn’t made a joke when compared to the one at the source of it all.

There are moments of competency and personality that shine through here and there. The pink deck chair in the sensory overload room, the ‘plant flowers over [the grave]’ line, as well as Roba choosing to make himself appear as the grim reaper himself as a way to express ultimate power over his captives’ lives (and, in turn, Simon killing Roba and choosing to don the skull-face could be seen as him taking that control back).

There is a set of panels, one from issue 5 and another from issue 6, that piques my attention when placed together (seen below). Simon has tried so hard to convince himself and others that he is fine, that Roba’s brainwashing failed, that he is not deeply affected by the seven months of torture and humiliation and dehumanisation. But then he comes back from the dead wearing the same face-paint as Roba. He refers to himself as death, as does Roba. That man has his claws deep in Simon, and Roba knew this, and he died with a smile on his face because of it. As quoted by his final words: in the end Roba is just one man. Killing him won’t bring back the Rileys and it won’t stop the pain Ghost is in (but by god is it Ghost’s right to put that man down for what he did to him.).

The following paragraphs will discuss the torture Simon was subjected to in Roba’s captivity and features discussion of the sexual assault he experienced, as well as being him drugged + detailed acts of dehumanisation. The section itself will be bracketed with a ‘-’, feel free to skip to the final paragraph marked of this section if you’d prefer.

-

In my writing I want to show a competent, terrifying Roba. He should be purposeful in how he goes about breaking these men down in order to build them up into the dutiful hounds Roba so obviously wanted. That’s part of why I think, and wrote, Roba having never touched Simon, he made sure it was his men assaulting Simon while he watched (for one reason or another). And when they were finished Roba would try to manipulate the situation into one being Simon’s fault and that Roba, and only Roba, could fix for him. Simon needed to see Roba as the one with the power to control all these awful things happening to him, and that his own obstinance is the reason he’s suffering. Roba would make an offer – if you listen to me, follow what I say, I can make this stop. I can stop them from touching you ever again. It’s purposefully and insidiously phrased, he’s trying to make all this seem like Simon’s fault for not ‘giving in’. In turn, the prolonged torture and dehumanisation would best be served as well-thought-out tactics.

I’m not a fan of how every other captive was noted as too ‘weak’ or whatever to hold out against all that Roba was doing to them, only for Vernon to say that his methods were ‘genius’ – not with a near 100% mortality rate it fucking isn’t. It would be interesting to explore a fic where Roba was actually competent enough for those aforementioned super soldiers to be a real thing (and we’ll make death proud of us touches on this very well I recommend this fic). But, regardless, I find exploring the ways Simon could have been dehumanised/tortured without succumbing to infection or shock or a sudden heart attack from the sheer amount of stress and trauma to be morbidly interesting. I’m a morbid person, so this tracks lmao (it’s regardless a matter of balance, though, because we’re trying not to fall into that Edge the comics loved so much). I also want to note that Roba rarely, if ever, called Simon by his real name. It’s always ‘English’ or ‘Mr. Death’. A name is a powerful thing to control, stripping a person of their name is a common dehumanisation tactic, one that even the military has been known to use in order to get all these individuals into acting as one mass. It’s also a sign of non-acknowledgement, in my eyes. Simon was not a person to Roba, not really, just a dog that needed moulding. In a way, Ghost referring to himself as ‘Ghost’ may also be a tactic to distance himself from Simon in order to cope with the Everything that’s happened to him.

The next point is just as important as the prior ones: what kind of effect would all this have on Simon in different stages of the comics? And what kind of inner monologue and mindset would he have in order to endure these awful, awful things? And how would he heal from it, considering how the events of the comics went down? He has no control over the situation as a whole, but I imagine that Simon is the kind of person to try and grasp for anything to have control over regardless – he’s exhausted but he still might try to lay in a way that keeps him protected or stills his roiling gut, he’ll occasionally still try to lash out against the narcos, he’ll try and joke with Sparks and Washington in order to help them cling to their humanity (as well as preserve his own identity as a protector, which I want to get into later). He especially utilises dissociation as a ‘tool’ developed from living under the same roof as Nigel Fucking Riley. It provided a very necessary reprieve, and Simon probably believes he’d been ‘broken’ by his father long before Roba ever got his hands on him. Simon at this point probably (maladaptively, in the long run) perceives his ability to dissociate from the body to be a way to control what he truly feels. He can get some kind of control over experiencing multiple instances of sexual assault, over MONTHS, by creating a clear delineation between the body and the person. I wonder if this laid the groundworks for the self-perceived split between Simon Riley and Ghost.

He’s out of that place, Roba is dead and whatever was left of the Zaragoza cartel is hopefully long gone. But where does that leave Simon, whose primary coping mechanisms are either feeling horrific, yawning numbness, or forcing all that pain and fear and humiliation into over-powering anger? All these things kept him alive then… but now what? He has been subjected to a horrific slew of experiences in seven months, over two-hundred days. How do you approach that kind of deal and unpackaging and addressing of that trauma? It’s something in and of itself would be a compelling story to tell, especially with his childhood trauma informing how he processes those experiences. Simon has been physically and psychologically changed by Roba, even if he tried to ‘resist’ – even though interrogation resistance training only lasts for so long.

Sometimes I wonder at what point did Simon realise they weren’t torturing him for information, but to make him into something that wasn’t human. At what point did he realise that there was a reason they made him crawl down the hallways on his hands and knees with a collar around his neck, or that they fed him dog food off the ground, or that he might have been kept in retrofitted dog kennels, in a long-abandoned dog fighting pit.

I wonder if there were times he wished he’d just let go and listen to Roba, and kill the people the latter wanted him to kill; just so that the pain would stop, and he could be more than this thing surviving on the concrete floor. Very interesting to consider, what with the comics implying that Sparks and potentially Washington were also drugged in order to force a dependence on them, as a way to further exert control over them. I’m not sure why Simon didn’t also experience this. Yet another Comics Cringe Moment.

-

Ultimately, when I see Roba I think of a Judge Holden-esque figure: an intelligent man who has taken a step back, looked at the violence of the world, and ultimately came to the conclusion that, 1.) It is in man’s nature to wage war and be violent, and 2.) It is Roba’s right to control that flow of violence. He had Simon, Sparks, and Washington, and others who came before them, tortured, brutalised, dehumanised, starved, assaulted, and vivisected with intents to brainwash them into his own personal soldiers/bodyguards. He wanted to perverse nature and control something that was never his to control, and I think a character like that should ooze calculated cruelty and a disdain for the optimistic/what he perceives as weak. It’s a dog-eat-dog world, in Roba’s eyes, and he wants to be the one holding the leash.

Dogs and Hounds

Speaking of dogs, let’s get into hound-coding. Dog/hound/wolf metaphors are used for characters in a plethora of ways: dogs and other canines are embedded deeply in a lot of cultures and that can be seen in how disparate a dog can be used in symbolism. The rabid dog that requires put down, versus the loyal-to-a-fault dog whose diligence will be its downfall. The dog that hunts you down relentlessly against the dog that protects and nurtures. Vicious and borderline obsessed, pursuing a singular goal with tunnel-vision; dangerous predator stalking you from the shadows; wholly dedicated to a sole purpose in life; kicked to the point where anger lines their teeth and they meet the world with a bite, because they’ll never let anyone hurt them again; a caregiver and teacher, sometimes even a leader that will look out for who they see as family.

With Simon Riley, I feel he is a hound, the kind that’s been kicked enough times to know to bite first and ask questions later – but can someone please be gentle? Please, can’t someone let him rest? Then the narrative slaps his muzzle and tells him the story isn’t done yet. Simon, off the coattails of escaping his childhood home as a teenager, finds purpose in the military and clings to it. So much of Simon’s identity can be tied to him being a protector, as well as a soldier; he’s proud of his achievements within the SAS, cocky, even. He is well trained in violence and well experienced, too; he’s risen above to make a reputation for himself as a tough sonofabitch within the SAS, which is pretty famously full of that type of person.

The dog can be moulded into a lot of different things in fiction, just as it has in real life. So can Simon, so can Ghost: he’s a character that has been subjected to extreme kinds of change, with some very clear distinctions between Pre-Roba Simon, During-Roba, Post-Roba, Post-Family Massacre, and Post-Jungle Raid. That’s one of the reasons why I think the dog metaphor, and its imagery, can provide very impactful parallels for Simon. What is a dog, if not loyal and loving? Didn’t we make it that way? And what is a dog, if not defined by the job it can fulfil. We made it that way. What use is Simon to the military, if he won’t do what he was trained to do. I wonder if he worries about that in between missions: losing his purpose and identity one way or another.

Ghost is a good leader; he knows how to direct a team and how to keep Soap calm during the chaos in Las Almas. I imagine he found sanctuary in the camaraderie that can be found in a military environment, compared to his chaotic homelife. He doesn’t necessarily have to be open about it, or all that externally happy. But it’s regardless a community that has provided Ghost with some form of support (ironic, again, considering it’s the military, but that is how it works). Like a pack animal, one might say.

His potential relationship with Soap, if people take it that way (I do and will be talking about it more later #peaceandlove), reminds me of the poem ‘bait dog’ among others, here's an excerpt from the end of it: “And she still flinches / When I reach to pet her / but she smiles / once I get behind the ears / you will not heal from everything / that does not mean / you will stop being loved.”, and I feel that’s a very lovely image when applied to Soapghost, y’know? Simon has been through a lot, and Soap is emotionally mature enough to recognise that and give him space, while still putting in that necessary work to bridge certain gaps. Kind of like the slow burn of getting a rescue dog to trust you, except it’s your human superior officer with CPTSD and an edgy comic book backstory. They will doubtless have issues and bumps in the road, but they’ll also have shitty jokes and a lot of patience to keep things buoyed. Love wins or WHATEVER.

Roba tried to make Simon into an attack dog, too. Treated him like one, and I imagine there was a point where Simon was starting to believe it. Then he gets buried alive and has to dig his way out. He has to drag himself through the desert (more to come on that) and survive months of recovery until he has a chance to return to the state he physically was. I imagine this time of injury was awful for Simon: he felt incompetent on top of the other churning emotions one would have after surviving so many months of All That. Simon, I imagine, has always defined himself by his ability to provide, protection or otherwise, as well as his own physical prowess. It’s what kept him and his family safe all this time. It also led to him being picked for that fateful mission. I think Simon is a man shown to be capable of that single-minded focus of a hound that’s caught the scent, especially when he spent months tracking down Roba in the jungle.

Simon is a dog constantly having to remember its teeth. There is a lot to be said about dogs that learn to bite back.

I have reached a character limit here but still have a lot to talk about, please hold (and tysm, again, for the ask)

[sheepfics]

Kings of the Wyld (Nicholas Eames): 🫵 RUSH FAN SPOTTED.

4.5⭐

Hey. You. Yeah, You. 

Do you like Fantasy? Have you even vaguely heard about the concept of famous classic rock bands? Do you want a fun, fast read?

Do you like

DILFS?

Is the idea of Just Some Guy, an Emotionally Broken Father, a Gay Wizard, a Rogue-Turned-King-Turned-Alcoholic, and A Rejected Fate Series Berserker all adventuring in one group really funny? I got the book for you!

Kings of the Wyld is an easy-reader fantasy adventure romp that, despite clocking in at around 415 pages, is fast, fun, and funny.

From the get go, this book has the makings of a good time. Adventuring groups being treated like rock bands? An incredible idea. Old men who used to be one of the best adventuring group-rock-bands getting together for a farewell tour? An even better one. If you find this premise enjoyable in the slightest, this book has the quality to deliver on it. It rides the knife's edge of humor, action, and genuine emotion. 

What’s this book about? The cover blurb was actually quite accurate for this book. After some 20 years retired, Saga, one of the most famous bands in the modern time, is rallied back together to save their frontman Golden Gabe’s daughter from a nigh-unbreakable siege. Like, that's what happens. That's the book. Sure, they gotta deal with their old booker, some ex-wives, a very much alive wife who's trying to kill one of them, and also a super evil dude with bunny ears, but that’s the jist of it, really. However, this blurb would have you believe that the famous Golden Gabe is our narrator. That is not true. We view this story through the eyes of someone much more interesting: Clay Cooper.

Clay Cooper was made in a lab for me to be a fan of him, I love grimy little dudes who are Just Some Guy. His signature weapon is a giant shield and his nickname from his youth is Slowhand because he kept getting his ass beat during fights. He’s our narrator, our entrypoint into the world, and also the keystone of the band itself. He’s funny, just observational enough you can pickup whats going on, but also just lame enough to ignore things that aren’t his business. He’s great. No notes. 

Something to note about this book before you pick it up: I gave it a 4.5⭐ instead of a 5 because it definitely raises some plot themes/threads/beats before dropping them, however, I would state that those plot threads aren’t super important to the main focus of this story, which is 5 old dudes grappling with getting old and growing apart and the emotions around that. Additionally, there are some instances of mildly tasteless/outdated/not PC humor. I’m used to that so I can handwave it, but others may not be able to. 

I was likely not this book’s exact target audience, being a young adult woman who has no nostalgia for the great rock bands of our times, but I was familiar enough with things. Through my casual knowledge (and a couple live Iron Maiden shows) I was able to pick up on just enough easter eggs to be proud of myself.Some of the jokes and references are probably enhanced by more extensive knowledge, but most of the comedy is good enough to stand on its own. Having knowledge of music history is not required at all to enjoy this story. If you are any kind of fantasy enjoyer who's sick of reading about plucky young teens doing coming-of-age nonsense, you'll probably like this book. If you have any more knowledge of rock music than I, you'll probably like it more. 

I am debating picking up the sequel, the main perspective not being Rose is a bit strange to me, and I will agree with many reviewers that Clay Cooper was absolutely integral to the way this book is delivered to you as a reader. Maybe I'll revisit reading the sequel after I've checked a few more things off my list, but for now, this is solid to me as a stand-alone novel. 

There are no spoiler-packed contents for this book I wish to emphasize heavily, but if you have questions about anything, please free to DM me.

[roleplayfinder]

💚 Things have really slowed down with my roleplays (not replacing anyone, though!!!), so trying something totally different this time – I offer up the grungy, kind-hearted and sensitive musician Trent Lane from the 90s MTV cartoon series ’’Daria’’ for muses from any of the following:

- any and all ‘Daria’ characters, including well-written OCs

- Beavis, Butt-head and Mr. Van Driessen

- Rick & Morty and any of the rest of the Sanchez family

- the main cast of Gravity Falls

- men and minors please don’t interact!

-Please be at least 21.

-only third person, detailed long- form and long term, enthusiastic female writers, please!

-knowledge of ‘Daria’ would be appreciated but not required (I have the fandom wiki, an extensive gif blog and three hour video essay link to give a deep dive summary if you need it)

I have no plot in mind, this would be more character and introspection driven, as Trent has left Lawndale without saying a word, heavily down in the dumps and depressed over his secret, not-to-be-realized feelings for Daria Morgendorffer; feel free to get him involved in whatever is going on with your muse, though! A small heads up: Trent is in love with Daria and therefore very unlikely to have romantic or sexy time interest in anyone else.

I wrote a 500+ word character introduction / plot setup, so if you don’t know Trent, please read more about him here.

Dark mental health topics would be included! 🕊 No doubling!

Disclaimer: I have never really watched Beavis and Butt-head due to the gross factor, BUT I have watched clips, read the wiki, several fanfics and checked out video essays due to their connection to Daria, so I think I have a pretty good idea of things. It would be great if someone could flesh out those two blockheads (and the lovely Mr. Van Driessen!)

It’s also been ages since I watched Gravity Falls and Rick & Morty, but I’m willing to do a rewatch if you want me to! Please someone just let me write Trent! 😭

This is a long-term request, please don’t drop me in a few months, and please be actually ready to write. Hiatuses are fine, but ooc chatter is definitely nice even then! My pacing is anywhere from leisurely to once or twice a day; if we mesh together well, I’ll let you know of any frequency changes if they happen on my end. Replies often exceed discord character limit, 3rd person POV, all from a very wordy chick in her 30s. Since my other partners are on hiatus, I am looking for someone who’d be able to start writing in the next few days, after we’ve laid out our initial thoughts and ideas. Only contact me if this is the case!

[zaiban2989]

Hi...if you don't mind, can I ask something from BNHA? What do you think are Bakugou and Midoriya’s greatest personality strengths and weaknesses? Why? What do you love about their dynamic (as a romantic or platonic, is up to you)?

Hey there! Oh that's such a great question, thanks for asking me!

I'm going to break this down into a few different things here, it might be a bit long, I apologise lol

First of, let's talk without the bkdk-glasses about their dynamics. So I'll be talking about it while trying to stay objective and looking at it from a platonic POV.

When you start to read/watch BNHA, you see Izuku as this little middle school boy who dreams every moment of the day to become a hero while being bullied by his childhood friend, right? This already sets the tone for the rest of the series because you can already tell that both of them are going to be important protagonists in the storyline: Izuku obviously because he is the main character, but Katsuki could have been a side character or even a one-off - once Izuku enters UA - as "the boy who bullied the MC and gave him hardship about being quirkless but now MC is following is dream and overcoming all of this", yet Hori decided to put them both to the front there, with All Might, the sludge villain accident, the fact that Katsuki runs to Deku afterwards to "talk" to him, etc.

You only need like 2-3 chapters/episodes to know that those two and their weird/broken relationship are going to be present throughout the rest of the show. Hell, you actually need the first 30 seconds of the show to understand that Katsuki will become an important pivot to Izuku's story, really: the whole childhood flashback of Izuku protecting one of his friends against "Kacchan"? Hori didn't start with that for no reason. It doesn't just show the fact that Izuku has been bullied about being quirkless since he was 4yo, it shows that the bullying has been done by "Kacchan", which we then see again when they're in middle school. If Hori wanted it to be about the quirkless factor alone, he would have picked either a different 4yo kid to do the bullying, or he would have left Izuku's "Kacchan" to the background and use a different idiot to bully him in middle school.

Therefore, it's already established that Izuku & Katsuki's personal storylines are closely interlinked with one another from the get-go. Whether people want to see it as enemies, rivals, rivals to friends, or lovers, the fact remains that these two are going to share the show until the end lol (and the fact that Hori himself keeps on pushing them to the fro any chance he gets with not so subtle bkdk moments is just the icing on the cake for me tbh)

The dynamic they have is so powerful it actually drives the entire plot and by extension the other characters around them, which is probably what I love the most to be honest. Plot-wise, like I said, it's driven from the beginning with the childhood friends' flashback, then the middle school period with the bullying and Kacchan being an absolute dick telling Izuku to take a swine dive if he wants to be a hero, and then the very same Izuku SAVING him because he looked like he was asking for help? Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps lol In that sense, Katsuki is both the catalyst to Izuku feeling absolutely useless (Deku), forcing him on an everyday basis to face the fact that he can never become a hero because he is quirkless, and being the trigger to the same Deku to turn into an actual hero by saving his sorry suffocated ass to the sludge villain. The fact that we see Kat's POV of the tree bridge and the river scene with small Izuku trying to help him just increases the focus on how that's a personality trait of Izuku that Katsuki hates (at first) and cannot comprehend for a very long long time.

Yep, with that I'm jumping into Izu's characterisation! I think that this is his biggest strength (though extremely dangerous): he has the spirit of a natural hero, he wants to save anyone who needs help without a fault (especially Kacchan) and that's what makes him so endearing. We know he is quirkless, he literally cannot do anything than most other people can, i.e. use a quirk to help someone; yet he still fucking runs in flames, crying, to try and save his childhood friend. That's hard to not like when starting BNHA. But this also brings up his self-sacrificing tendencies to the front and that's why this also easily turns into his biggest weakness. It's like a double-edged sword, really. This trait of his gives him the potential of becoming a great hero but Izuku needs to learn restraints when it comes to trying to save people because he ends up most of the time injured and then incapable to save everyone (see Kacchan's kidnapping arc for instance, he saves Kouta and then is unable to save Katsuki. It's the perfect example).

On the other side, you have Katsuki. He is brash, aggressive, basically the whole bad-boy "Imma blast you to the ninth level of hell" kind of attitude from the start, the huge ego thinking he is better than anyone else (because he's basically been fed this since he's a kid). He's got a powerful quirk and knows it, he knows how to use it and has this perfect physical strength which makes him shine during the UA exam. He's born to "win". And I think it's this very "win (to save)" attitude that's his personality strength. Even when he is facing hurdles (being humiliated by Deku saving his ass during the sludge accident, Deku beating him during their first fight at UA, being kidnapped, etc.), he takes it all upon himself to overcome them. (Like a lot of people, I strongly believe he doesn't just overcome them in a few days like it's shown in the anime/manga, it's hard to fucking let go of those fucked up situations like being kidnapped so easily, regardless of how strong-willed you are, but well that's another topic entirely) The fact remains that Katsuki is depicted to be this badass person - yes, with a shitty personality - but he is smart, knows his own physical strength, never sits on his ass thinking he cannot become better, he just keeps on trying to improve and be the best, and like Izuku does, we can only admire him for this.

Now for his weakness, I think it's pretty obvious? He lacks what Izuku have naturally: the empathy to help and save people, which is detrimental to being the best hero. And he has to face this on a daily basis as soon as he enters UA. It's been nagging him from childhood with Izu being a sore eye to him because subconsciously he can feel what he is lacking in himself, and having to confront that in the form of a quirless kid who adores him and keeps following him around despite Katsuki pushing him away every chance he gets is absolutely enraging. Whether you're a 4yo or a 14yo kid, it's still something very difficult to comprehend on your own, IMO. So when you actually see Katsuki facing this head-on in UA, first with anger and frustration but slowly with quiet comprehension and then understanding, it's just amazing really. His character development in the series is by far my favourite. That boy has grown so much and worked upon improving himself physically but mostly mentally over the span of a year, it's absolutely incredible (or like Izuku would say, "Kacchan sugoi!")

So all in all, those two idiots have their very own individual traits (the good and the bad ones) which make them who they are, and I think any real bnha fans (regardless of whether they are bkdk stans or not) can admit that these two are important to each other and for the story itself to move ahead.

One last thing I'm going to add regarding the dynamics is the fact that despite the huge drift that has happened between them once Katsuki had his quirk and Izuku was labelled as quirkless, despite the distance between the two and the bullying and horrible relationship they had in middle school, as soon as they're in UA, you have them work seamlessly with one another (however reluctantly, at first) whenever they have to fight a common enemy (example which comes to mind: class 1-A having to fight All Might as a villain in the first ova and Katsuki understanding what needs to be done without being told what Deku's plan was to defeat the baddy, that's just gold).

Aaaand I think this post is already super long, so I will make another post and tag you (if you want) to talk more about this from my rotten-to-infinity bkdk POV 💚🧡

I could honestly go all day about these two boys, I hope this answer didn't disappoint you. If it's too messy, well, sorry 😅 and if you have other questions please send them!

Thanks anyone who read till the end, the honour is mine, truly.

[jamiesfootball]

7, 18, and/or 28 for whatever fic you want!

This got super long so I'm putting it under a cut

7. How did you decide what character(s) would narrate the fic?

Fic chosen: the one that makes you sick

This one came to me in pieces. Usually when I'm figuring out who's going to narrate, the choice is driven by how the plot presents itself when the story is first taking shape. In this case, Keeley's pov is the one that came to me first as the one watching things unravel in Brazil with Jamie. Shortly after I began writing that, Roy's pov closed in as the person who Knows what happened to Jamie in Amsterdam. Jamie texting him from Brazil wasn't in the original game plan, but it filled itself in as Roy grew to have more reason to believe that something had gone wrong. From there, Jamie's pov extended itself naturally as the person experiencing everything. Once I had that, the flashbacks to how we got to that point layered in, and the story in its entirety snapped into shape.

Looking over my fics, I actually don't use multiple narrators that often within one story. If I do, they're usually broken into chapters or parts. So this was an interesting exercise for me

18. Talk about your editing and revision process

Fic chosen: Oh God You're Gonna Get It (You Have Not Been Given Love)

I've mentioned before that the editing process for this one is extensive, but this one is really just a souped up version of my usual editing process.

Rereading

I am a very non-linear writer, so the first thing I try to do is reread everything and make sure I didn't completely forget to write a section. When I'm blocked on a transition, I will usually leave myself a note in [brackets] so that I can easily find that section later and fill it out. I'll also bold sections that I don't think are particularly well-written so that I can come back and fix those too. Fixing those are my main obstacle, so to help resolve things:

Highlighting

I have two highlighting methods, one for narration and one for dialogue. For narration, the goal is to switch to a different color highlighter every time there's a big idea change. This helps me find what I call 'floating ideas', which are either an idea that's gotten separated from its topic paragraph and needs to be moved, or a new idea that I've introduced without setup or resolution - essentially, fluff that doesn't serve a purpose and can be cut.

For dialogue, the goal is literally to only highlight the dialogue itself. None of the dialogue tags, movements, details, etc. Only the words. This helps me focus on how the words flow as a conversation. This is also useful for visually identifying if I've gotten too verbose between dialogue beats.

Audio

When in doubt, I use one of those voice robot things to read everything back to me. This is good for picking out the overall flow and rhythm of the words. It's also useful for finding typos after I've reread something a hundred times.

The next chapter of OGYGGI(YHNBGL) is currently on the audio phase for the first 4 scenes, and on the highlighter phase for the final scene, which is a beast.

28. Write a new summary for the fic, but badly

this one was hard so I did a couple

The Dick String Incident - Local team would rather tie strings around their dicks than even consider asking their boss to repeat himself

Oh God You're Gonna Get It (You Have Not Been Given Love) - how much therapy can one man cram into summer break

You're Gonna Go Far, Kid - what if life isn't a finite story you can win but instead an infinite series of decisions that gently shape your future when you're not looking? and also you made bad decisions with yorkshire pudding?

Muzzled - two traumas for the price of one muzzle while the author attempts to reverse engineer a ransom/hostage situation

Loosely Tangled - how many people can I have touch Jamie's hair in one story (answer: about 9)

[findroleplay]

💚 Things have really slowed down with my roleplays (not replacing anyone, though!!!), so trying something totally different this time – I offer up the grungy, kind-hearted and sensitive musician Trent Lane from the 90s MTV cartoon series ’’Daria’’ for muses from any of the following:

- any and all ‘Daria’ characters, including well-written OCs

- Beavis, Butt-head and Mr. Van Driessen

- Rick & Morty and any of the rest of the Sanchez family

- the main cast of Gravity Falls

- men and minors please don’t interact!

-Please be at least 21.

-only third person, detailed long- form and long term, enthusiastic female writers, please!

-knowledge of ‘Daria’ would be appreciated but not required (I have the fandom wiki, an extensive gif blog and three hour video essay link to give a deep dive summary if you need it)

I have no plot in mind, this would be more character and introspection driven, as Trent has left Lawndale without saying a word, heavily down in the dumps and depressed over his secret, not-to-be-realized feelings for Daria Morgendorffer; feel free to get him involved in whatever is going on with your muse, though! A small heads up: Trent is in love with Daria and therefore very unlikely to have romantic or sexy time interest in anyone else.

I wrote a 500+ word character introduction / plot setup, so if you don’t know Trent, please read more about him here.

Dark mental health topics would be included! 🕊 No doubling!

Disclaimer: I have never really watched Beavis and Butt-head due to the gross factor, BUT I have watched clips, read the wiki, several fanfics and checked out video essays due to their connection to Daria, so I think I have a pretty good idea of things. It would be great if someone could flesh out those two blockheads (and the lovely Mr. Van Driessen!)

It’s also been ages since I watched Gravity Falls and Rick & Morty, but I’m willing to do a rewatch if you want me to! Please someone just let me write Trent! 😭

This is a long-term request, please don’t drop me in a few months, and please be actually ready to write. Hiatuses are fine, but ooc chatter is definitely nice even then! My pacing is anywhere from leisurely to once or twice a day; if we mesh together well, I’ll let you know of any frequency changes if they happen on my end. Replies often exceed discord character limit, 3rd person POV, all from a very wordy chick in her 30s. Since my other partners are on hiatus, I am looking for someone who’d be able to start writing in the next few days, after we’ve laid out our initial thoughts and ideas. Only contact me if this is the case!

-

[meancaroline]

Alien Protector’s Mate: Fated Mates of the Winged Barbarians Book 1, by Melissa Emerald

Ratings:

GoodReads Rating: 3.87 ⭐️

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice: 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Purchasing:

On Kindle Unlimited?: Yes

Kindle E-book: $4.99

Paperback: $12.99

Review:

When Serena wakes up in an alien spaceship, she doesn't expect things to get even more difficult. But after she and a group of women are bought, and subsequently stranded and separated on another alien world, that's exactly what happens. Lost and alone in the jungles of this strange new world, she nearly meets her end. Until she is saved by Rynn, the High Spear of his tribe of Trixikka, a species of winged, tailed humanoid aliens. To further complicate matters, Rynn's heart-stars alight shortly after meeting Serena: she is his Goddesses given mate.

Will Serena be able to find the other missing women on this dangerous planet? Will she be able to come to terms with Rynn's devotion to her, and her own rising attraction to him? Or will she reject their Goddess-given bond for the chance to return to the world she was taken from?

While there are many stories that explore the meeting/ mating of humans and aliens, Alien Protector's Mate offers something I haven't seen in this type of story before: a mystery. Throughout the book Emerald drops little clues to try and answer the question, "What happened to the female Trixikka?" Serena is the first female Rynn has seen, the first female any Trixikka has seen in generations, their own females sequestered away in their tribe's temple, never stepping foot outside. And while I have my own theory about the actual goings on with the temple and its females, this is not a central part of the story. The book instead focuses on the feelings surrounding Serena and Rynn, the finding of the other missing women, and whether-or-not any other Trixikka males heart-stars will alight, signifying their mate-having status.

And I do not mind that the mystery of the Trixikka females takes a back seat to the main plot. Serena doesn't seem like the type to dig in to this sort of thing, and Rynn, having grown up with those facts, wouldn't think to question them. Additionally, this is the first book of the series, hopefully there are more clues and explanations in the book(s) to follow.

Another thing this book tackles well: virginity. Every single male in this book is two things: an alien, and a virgin.

Emerald is quick to point this out about Rynn and the Trixikka, but is even quicker to avoid the tropes that most writers bring to the topic. Emerald, and by extension, her characters, are nothing but respectful towards the virginity of the Trixikka. There are moments where the "innocence" of the characters is brought about for laughs, but the laughter is not cruel. The jokes are not at the expense of the characters inexperience, but instead about the misunderstanding of words familiar to us, the reader, and Serena. These scenes, by the way, are excellent. This book contains some of funniest sex writing I have ever read! No one is shamed or blamed, and everyone walks/flys away satisfied.

Alien Protector's Mate: Fated Mates of the Winged Barbarians is a fun, deceptively complicated read. If you are looking for a romance that is all at once respectful, otherworldly, and unabashedly sincere, this one is for you! If you do read it, feel free to leave your thoughts about where the backburner mystery will take us!

Originally posted on Lemon8 11/05/2023

[andromachism]

why my favorite books are my favorite books

the master and margarita, bulgakov.

This was the first book I read when the pandemic started. I picked it up because of the person I liked at the time. I don't like that person anymore, but I love the book. It's a political satire with religious and supernatural fantasy elements. It’s a love story. It’s a love letter to literature. It’s the author's testimony and cry for help due to the censorship he faced. This book is everything. It brought back my pleasure for reading after doing it solely out of obligation for 3 years and for that alone it will always hold a special place in my heart. Also, the demonic black cat is really cool!

death with interruptions, saramago.

Saramago is my all-time favorite writer, and this is not my favorite book of his (that's Cain), but it is the first one I read, and I think it was the perfect introduction. It’s such a funny, beautiful, and sensitive story—unexpectedly romantic without losing Saramago’s usual sarcastic political criticism. It also incorporates some supernatural fantasy elements, as it is about Death taking a vacation. I like to read it when I want something with his style but lighter and quicker than his usual pace. I called it a perfect introduction to Saramago, but honestly, I think it’s just perfect.

(By the way, it’s quite interesting that when Saramago writes about everyone going blind or everyone stopping voting, something extremely tragic and almost dystopian happens, but when people stop dying, he decides to write a romance.)

posthumous memoirs of bras cubas, machado de assis.

Machado is everything to me. I was reading his books before I could properly understand his Portuguese, and much less what he was talking about. But as I grew up and fully understood him, this particular one got me in a chokehold. It's another story about death, but in this case, the deceased main character decides to write his memoir. It's satirical and obviously with supernatural elements. I love how Machado ridicules the elite society of his time while masking it with a likable protagonist who is actually an awful person and a completely mediocre human. So many parts of this story were crucial in my development as an adult, like when the protagonist memorizes quotes from famous authors to appear intellectual (something to be said about those annoyingly pretentious people writing essays about how bad everything popular is and quoting the same authors left and right). (Besides all of that, there is a chapter where a black butterfly flies into Bras' bedroom and lands on his father's portrait. A few chapters later, his father dies. A day before my grandfather died, a black butterfly flew into my room, and then his requiem mass happened on the day of Saint Blaise of Sebaste, who is called ‘Brás’ in Portuguese. This coincidence shook me to a point that will always make this book extremely personal to me.)

frankenstein, mary shelley.

As brilliant as Shelley is, this one is one of my favorites because it shaped me as a human being. When I first read it, I was 16 years old, struggling with my gender identity, sexuality, and body. Because of that, my relationship with my father fluctuated between non-existent and hateful. I was different, that was clear to everyone, and he hated it. So, reading about that creature was an enlightening experience about myself. I, too, felt like a creature—hateful and constructed with someone else’s parts, with none of it ever feeling truly mine. Frankenstein was to me what Paradise Lost was to the creature. I feel like a creation, wretched, helpless, and alone.

a storm of swords, grrm.

I list 'Death with Interruptions' as one of my favorites because of the author, and this one because of the genre. I love fantasy in all its forms, from small elements of it used as plot devices to high fantasy with extensive world-building and fictional beasts. A Song of Ice and Fire is my all-time favorite fantasy series, and A Storm of Swords is my favorite book in it, so it makes sense that this is the high fantasy representative on my list. Robb’s struggles and ultimate downfall will always be ingrained in my mind. The absolute dreadful feeling I got when I read, 'No one sang the words, but Catelyn knew “The Rains of Castamere” when she heard it,' cannot be replicated by any other work of fiction, I believe.

[cuckoo-among-beasts]

This is an rp blog for Nie Huaisang from Mo Dao Zu Shi aka Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. RP-sideblogs: Lan Qiren || Xianxia MuMu

Mun has watched the donghua and read the novels. Currently trying to watch the live action/web series adaption, The Untamed/CQL (on ep 26).

I'm Niko/Ezra (he/they), 30+, with 20 years of rp experience. Not a native English speaker. I'm autistic and also have adhd and mental illness as well as chronic anaemia, all this will, of course, affect my ability to write. My speed will vary.

I'm not Chinese. I have done (and will continue to) extensive research and do my best to write anything related to Chinese culture and history as accurate as possible, however, if I write something offensive, please let me know.

Please read rules (under the cut) and bio.

Headcanon, Brief Timeline, About Qinghe & Huaisang's Revenge

Huaisang's Aviary

Reoccurring NPCs

Open Starters.

Memes

Wishlist

Thread Tracker

Ancient Chinese Time & Measurements

Rules

General rp etiquette applies. Including not reblogging rps you're not a part of.

I'm mutuals only (and can be slow to check out new followers, sorry).

I don't rp smut and I'm not here just for shipping.

Due to personal preferences, I will absolutely not do any romantic shipping with Nie Mingjue, Lan Xichen, Jin Guangyao or any minors.

The Muse does some questionable things, but that doesn't mean the Mun agrees with those actions.

I welcome AUs and crossovers.

Your muse should preferably have an about section (for ocs this is a must) and I also prefer if you have rules that I can read.

I have the right to decline an rp, but that is not something I do often.

Any headcanons I write that includes another canon character are based on my view of that character (or Huaisang's view) and if you rp that muse it's up to you if you agree with I wrote and want to integrate that into our rp/history. I'll never force my hc about another muse onto someone else.

Things that will usually lead to soft blocking: untagged nakked images, call-out posts, repeated ooc drama posts (not talking daily life venting, but actually tumblr drama shit), breaking my rules.

Things that will lead to being blocked: I see you posting anything hate-fueled ooc, such as aphobia/acephobia, transphobia, Romaphobia/antiziganism etc. This includes posts about hating ALL men (yes cis men included), if I find out that you've sent hate or threat to others.

These rules might change or get added to. I will make a post about it if that happens.

Verse Tags

This is just to explain where in canon/what age Huaisang is in my different threads. This is just for the main verses, not my alt. verses.

v: childhood - self explanatory, it's up to when he's 15 and we first meet him in Gusu.

v: youth - from 15 until he becomes sect leader.

v: headshaker - from he becomes sect leader until Guanyin Temple

v: sect leader - post Guanyin Temple/novels.