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spectralsleuth · 1 year ago

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Now that we're entering into 2024, I'm asking some artists and writers that I follow:

1) What is the one piece you're most proud of from this past year?

2) What are some pieces that you would have liked more people to see? If you can include links, I'd love to go check them out!

3) What were your top three favorite pieces (art, comics, fics, etc) that someone else has made this past year?

(As always, no pressure to respond! Feel free to just ignore, or let me know if you'd rather I not send you these kinds of asks in the future.)

This is such a sweet and fun ask!! Thanks so much! I enjoyed seeing other authors answering this it’s so hype to get it myself.

1. This is hard to answer, because this year I tried to do something different with every fic I posted. When I got a concept I very pointedly didn’t shy away from it because it seemed difficult, or I thought I might be bad at it, so there’s something that makes me proud with each one. IF I HAD TO CHOOSE THOUGH I’m going to cheat and pick two.

What it Will Be I’m proud of this because it fell out of me SO EASY. I felt like the process of writing it was a testament to how hard I’ve been working at improving all year, and it came together very quickly and very well. I’m also proud because I incorporated @heckitall ‘s comic page to base it off of, and I’d never tried writing fic for a visual media like that. It was super fun!

On the OTHER end of the spectrum is Case of the Hidden City vs Lou Jitsu because it is VERY technically and narratively complicated and is by far the most ambitious thing I’ve ever written. It’s very hard, but I am VERY proud because I haven’t QUIT it. It’s not complete yet, but it is a good amount of the way there and I’m excited to finish it. Probably once I’ve recovered from surgery lol.

2. This sounds insincere maybe, but I really am happy with the engagement I get on my fic. I really do write my fic for me, and while I love to make sure as many people who want to read it can find it, at the end of the day I don’t like assigning people homework! I went through my whole works list and scratched my head and really tried to think of there was anything I wanted to plug, and I don’t think there is!

I guess I’ll post my lowest viewed, my Swanatello fic! @tangledinink ‘s AU I’m sure everyone’s familiar with lol. I knew that one would be lower when I posted it, if only because it has prior required reading (Swanatello). But I wrote it mainly because the AU was starting to reach a critical point and I REALLY wanted to write fanfiction of how I fantasized an ending might be, so I could go back and read it for comfort. I love Odette and the lore Kayson made for his AU, so I’ll plug this only because I think some people may have missed it!

3. Three works!! JUST THREE?? AUGH.

little kid with a big death wish

By @remedyturtles ! This made me leak tears the whole way through, so huge CW’s obviously. Not only was it one of the best fics I’ve ever read, but I got the privilege of seeing how talented Rem is behind the scenes a little and saw how they write and work and I really want to emulate them going forward. One of many all timer fics for me, for sure, I’d love to read any original fiction they put out.

The Whispering Forest and Other Tales

By @sroloc--elbisivni and @kithnkin ! I love love LOVE the feudal Japan fusion, the research, and the perfect blend of Usagi Yojimbo’s universe with what the Riseverse would have been like in this era. Even the little segues into what they’re wearing and eating is endlessly fascinating to me. Every single character is written to be the best and most interesting version of that character I could imagine. Theres Leosagi, there’s a PB&J murder mystery, there’s spookiness- AND Raphael Hamato gets wifed up!! WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT? I love people that write a fully fleshed story that could be a standalone universe, without losing ANY of the flavor or humor or narrative of the original source material.

And last is I’m Sorry, Teenage Mutant What Now

@tangledinink has such a good grasp of family and writing, and realistic portrayals of what would HONESTLY HAPPEN if you discovered literally any aspect of the ROTTMNT narrative. Not even taking into ACCOUNT the turtle nonsense, how do you unpack a family that’s been devoted to destroying a magic monster and sacrificing themselves, or a Dad that fought in a death match battle royale for over a decade, or a RIVAL CLAN OF NINJA? All the characters are written SO WELL, and Kayson does a fantastic job of never letting the characters or story fall into cliche tropes. Their characters are always super detailed, to the point where I really feel it if they’re hungry or hurt or itchy. Which is a weird thing to point out but they make sure you really FEEL the situation. Also like, turtles in highschool? Body dysphoria? My CO-CEO of Hamato Yoshi???

What a great year!! I had so much fun in fandom this year and made a lot of friends.

#rottmnt #tmnt #ask #friendlyneighborhoodterrapin #there’s so many others i want to mention #fic #fic rec #my fic

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skuntank · 7 months ago

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mobile link for my art clicky click : )

link for headcanons tag

hi i am billy i like to draw. i am 30+ and i dont care to update that number every year so thats as good as youre gonna get. i am a nonbinary transmasc dyke and accept any pronouns (with a preference for they and he)

Official legally authorized super duper non negotiable for realsies #1 biggest fan ever of Cheryl Pokemon, Gardenia Pokemon, and Diantha Pokemon ✨

WHAT THIS BLOG IS:

a sideblog (I follow from @hotshotshitshow !) for me to indulge in fandom-based hyperfixations, post my art, and ramble on about headcanons! especially that last point!

a place that focuses on and celebrates primarily female (and nonbinary) characters! i make a point of not giving much time or energy to male characters or m/m ships. i may discuss a few here and there in passing, but they are not and never will be the focus of this blog.

trans safe and terf exclusive! i will always have more love in my heart for and more in common with trans women than i ever will with a terf. terfs are welcome to block me.

a space for me to be as openly creative as i please! i delight in ripping apart side characters that dont have much canon development and frankensteining them back together. if you are of the belief that "at that point you may as well just make an oc," then you are welcome to block me.

very happy to swap and discuss headcanons! jamming with others about headcanons often is the highlight of my day. pokemon is the fandom i am the most comfortable doing this with by far and i am likely to not have much to say about other fandoms, unfortunately.

very happy to accept unsolicited drawing prompts ONLY for my favorite characters and ships! and if you asked something directly to one of said favorite characters, I may even draw the response in character! : )

mature in nature of the content that i post! i am a fully grown adult and expect you to be one as well if you follow me. i block minors with no exception. i do post somewhat regularly about sexual topics, which i tag with "the nasties" if that is something you need to blacklist.

SLOW to respond!!! I love getting messages and I try to answer everything I get but I am easily distracted, forgetful, have low social energy at any given time, and generally like to take a while to think about things (on top of working full time.) Please be patient with me!!

WHAT THIS BLOG IS NOT:

a pokemon news blog! im just some schmuck that loves climbing aboard the pokemon hype train as much as anyone else. if you found me from my gamefreak teraleak posts, you are still welcome to follow, but do not come here with the expectation that i consistently post about pokemon news.

Interested in getting involved in proship/anti discourse! People on both sides need to go outside. Don't drag me into anything and we can mutually move on with our lives if we come across something we don't like.

I would appreciate you liking this post of you have read all of it!

fandom preference stuff under the cut:

pokemon is and always has been the absolute love of my life and my faves from it are:

+ gardenia, cheryl, diantha, cynthia, rika, geeta, hunter j, cyllene, cogita

+ gaiashipping (gardenia/cheryl), phaesporiashipping (cynthia/diantha), geeta/rika, gothicrockshipping (roxie/marley)

other things of great importance:

+ karlach, karlach/shadowheart, any of the other bg3 ladies

+ sadie adler, sadie/molly, just about anything red dead related

+ noi, noikaido (dorohedoro)

+ midna/zelda (legend of zelda)

this of course is not an exhaustive list, but rather a list of what you are the most likely to see here.

I also enjoy monster collection games in general, such as neopets and palworld

You will undoubtedly see me bitching from time to time about popular male characters and m/m ships as well as misogyny in fandom. This is not the blog for you if you are a big fan of the more popular male characters and ships in most fandoms I have stated above, or if you're one of those bozos who gets upset when a lesbian vocally doesn't like men.

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pikapeppa · 8 months ago

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hi!! i've been rereading your fics in all of the veilguard hype and i just wanted to say your writing is just so good, i love your dialogue and characterization, especially how perfectly you write solas! like it really feels so true to how he speaks and carries himself!! so yeah haha just wanted to say happy veilguard summer and ty for sharing your awesome fics with the world!! 🥰 have a nice weekend!

Awww thank you so much!! I love how Dragon Age readers/friends have been poking their heads out of the woodwork and we're all getting in touch with each other again in the hype, IT'S THE CALLING 🤣🤣🤣

I'm so happy that you enjoy the characterizations, especially re: Solas -- he's such a tricky biscuit, so this is the most wonderful praise!! 🥰 Actually, I hope it's okay if I use this ask as an opportunity to plug some of my fics...

Pikapeppa's reading list for refreshing your Dragon Age memory: fic self-recs for those who don't have time to replay Inquisition

(see below the cut for more!)

Lovers In A Dangerous Time: in a nutshell, Fenris is the Inquisitor with Hawke as his wingwoman. This fic is literally a novelization of DA:I with the mindset of "what would Fenris do?" It covers all of Inquisition and touches on every sidequest, and also covers all the DLCs: JOH, Descent, and Trespasser. So if you don't have time to replay Inquisition, you can basically read it here LOL. There is also some theorizing sprinkled throughout about various Big Unanswered Questions™ in Thedas!

The Love That Grows From Violence: this is a Felassan/f!Lavellan romance fic set post-Trespasser. For those who don't know, Felassan is a character in the novel The Masked Empire who was an agent of Fen'Harel, and whom Solas killed at the end of the novel. This fic addresses the questions: 1) what if Felassan was made Tranquil instead of being killed by Solas in the Fade? 2) What if Felassan and a bitter Solasmanced Lavellan fell in love? and 3) what if Felassan actually told us everything that Solas refused to share? This fic is my attempt to pull together the existing lore and meta (with references back to all the original sources) to try to answer as many Big Unanswered Questions™ as I could.

A meta post about the qunari that I put together after reading Tevinter Nights, with my own theories about how Sten might play into things. I also wrote a Sten/f!Mahariel fic that's set immediately post-Origins; it's a romantic tragedy, but it does contain some discusssions about the Qun that may be interesting to refresh our memories about the Qun/the qunari for when Veilguard drops.

A oneshot about Varric and Solas that I wrote after the very first Dreadwolf trailer dropped back in 2020. It seems relevant again now... LOL

Solavellan fic: pure smut and romance. In case you wanted to refresh your memory of how he captivated us in DAI -- or, alternately, if you didn't romance him and want to know why the Solavellans are the way we are LMAO, you can read my take on the romance. 🤣 I have two Solavellan series on AO3: one for my own Elia Lavellan, which has a sad ending, and for Elbenherz's Nare Lavellan, which is "unfinished" in the canon universe, but includes a modern AU with a happy ending.

Beyond that, I have written romance fic for a ton of pairings in Dragon Age if you're just looking for some smut and romance! You can check out all my DA works on AO3, but I've written (M/F) pairings for the following LIs: Fenris, Solas, Abelas, Felassan, Blackwall, Cullen, Samson, Cole, and Sten, and most recently, a little oneshot of Teia and Viago from Tevinter Nights.

Again, Nonny, THANK YOU for your lovely words, and I hope it wasn't weird to hijack this ask for some self-promotion LOL!! Sending you all the love and a happy Veilguard summer!

A QUICK CAUTIONARY NOTE: if anyone does want to chat with me or send me an ask about Veilguard, please do not mention any spoilers from the Game Informer article. I want to go into the game with as few spoilers as possible when it's released, and I'm unhappy that I've already seen spoilers without meaning to. Thanks in advance! 🥰🙏

-- all the love from your friendly neighbourhood Pika! xoxo

#dragon age #da:i #da: inquisition #dragon age: the veilguard #dragon age the veilguard #da:v #da:tv #da: the veilguard #pikapeppa writes #fanfic writer's life

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sojournerstales · 2 months ago

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Belle Plays Games 2024

Last year I put this on Cohost, this year I drag myself back with my suitcase full of Hot Takes and a boombox blasting all our favourite music. Please take me back.

This year was a weird one for me, there was a lot of hype for a lot of games I had 0 interest in and so it ended up feeling all rather dry. Astrobot won Game of the Year which, like, okay. I guess. It's very good, probably. Absolutely there is skill and talent and art poured into perhaps the most corporate product to release this year. As Fun as it looks, it just strikes me as a shame that it is our winner. Then you look at the competition and it makes a lot more sense.

Black Myth Wukong? I guess.

An expansion pack for last years' nominee? Lmao. They already had their shot.

Metaphor actually looks pretty good, but it's not going to be a winner, you know? Persona style RPG just won't have that appeal.

I did pick up Balatro though. That's pretty good. They should've gave it to Balatro, that would've been fun. Balatro is the only one I played out of the nominees. So take my takes with a grain of salt.

So what did I play this year?

Games I Played In No Particular Order

I picked up Armored Core 6 this year, that was a weird one. I liked it a lot! Very fun, I do love a good Handler - Attack Hound relationship. Couple that with a soft spoken disembodied voice forming some kind of intimate relationship with the player character and an absolutely banging soundtrack - it was always going to be a good time.

It's very Dark Souls though, innit? I remember the hype before release we had a lot of veterans telling us all 'It's not Dark Souls! Don't expect a Souls-like!' and then I finally play the game and I dunno what to tell you guys. It's Dark Souls.

The Souls-like experience has become very saturated. Maybe I would have been more interested in Elden Ring's DLC if I didn't bounce off every other Souls-like that released in the last 2 years.

Maybe that's why I ended up liking Wanted: Dead so much. Didn't come out this year, but I did play it this year, and honestly it was pretty great playing a weird, janky, frenetic hack-and-slash-with-guns that wasn't just copying FromSoft's homework and changing some proper nouns in the tooltip.

My love affair with Forza Horizon 5 continues. It's install size is way too big and there is a shocking lack of variety in race-tracks and the highlighted community tracks that are put into every season are okay at best... But the game is pretty. And I like cars. You just have to pick one big racer to install for a few months at a time and just cruise, you know?

Dragon's Dogma 2! That one actually came out this year. What an absolutely wild choice to put 70% of the game's plot after some fake-out end credits. Terrible performance, intensely boring main quest (until after the credits), extremely fiddly controls, the most dull side-quests imaginable. I was on my way to the true ending of the game when a dragon really fucked me up and I was set back half an hour and that was enough for me to call it quits.

Which is a shame! I did actually enjoy it for what it was, but in the end it just became a chore to play.

I replayed the entirety of the Yakuza/Like A Dragon series immediately after finishing it just to stream for a friend. I am still in love with Kiryu and Ichiban and Majima. Absolutely fascinating series, though I'm really glad we're getting some other stuff from RGG in the coming years. I prefer the brawlers over the RPG entries still, but we'll see if they continue to improve the balance as things go on.

Also shout out to Webfishing, Lethal Company, Content Warning, those are some fun games! Webfishing especially, it's such a vibe, but I find these games are always exactly as fun as the friends you have to play with them.

Oh, Helldivers 2 also came out this year didn't it? That was a weird one. It had a very strong launch, was immediately fumbled by terrible PR, and I just don't think it ever found its footing since. For me personally, I fell out of love rather quickly. It felt like the development team were terrified of players finding any effective strategy or gear and so as soon as anything became popular it was nerfed back into obscurity, resulting in a wide arsenal of gear that all feels... Just okay.

Okay, but I really want to talk about

Monster Hunter: World

I actually finished it! I don't just mean rolling credits on the base game or the expansion pack, because that's basically the end of the tutorial for each. I mean I actually completed every quest, hunted every monster, and finally put Fatalis down solo.

I am completely in love with this series, it has been with me since I was a kid on my PSP and at all stages of my life I've returned to it and found it an absolute blast.

Since Monster Hunter: Wilds has been announced (loved playing the open beta, by the way) I was determined to actually finish World and finally put my hunter to rest. The grind for gearing up to defeat Alatreon was such a pain, but I honestly enjoyed every stage of it. The fight itself has its controversies, but I kind of love the sort of pinnacle of hunting it represents. No room for error, no room for passive play. You need the best gear and the best strategy.

It also opens Fatalis up to be less of a gimmick fight. Just bring your hardest hitting gear and make sure you don't fuck it up. It took a lot of attempts but I first completed it with my mainstay hunting partner (Elf, playing Wilds is going to be so fun, thank you so much for playing this game with me) and then completed it solo for my victory lap.

It feels weird to be finished with World. There's nothing left, aside from crown hunting and that sort of thing - but I've never been into that. I still haven't uninstalled it, feels weird.

Warframe

Legitimately my favourite game of all time. I have to talk about it every year because every year they absolutely knock it out of the park. The best on-going game in existence, the most fair free to play model, the most free to play game. Every time an update comes out I'm just thinking to myself, 'And this is free? They just give this to us?'

1999 dropped this holiday season and what an absolutely wild update that was. The team took a massive swing - time travel to 90s nostalgia bait, committing to human warframes, a dating sim minigame - and every single beat landed hard. I am so excited for what might come next.

My 2024 Video Games Of The Year

Okay I am actually going to start with the most devastating double-feature I could think of:

Indika

You play as a nun given a very important task to deliver a letter. Things go very wrong. I fell in love with Indika so quickly, it presents itself as such an odd little thing and in some ways is quite genuinely funny and then in most others it is strange and absolutely devastating.

After the credits rolled I just sort of lay on the floor and said, "Damn."

I then picked a friend to stream it to so they could experience it too.

The way it entwines its very simple gameplay systems to the plot and the character of the piece is so well done, though it does ask the player to buy into it just a little bit. Just bear with it, trust it's taking you somewhere.

Mouthwashing

It just hurts so good.

Mouthwashing and Indika are unrelated projects, but they focus on the same Terrible Thing from completely opposite angles. They've become inseparable in my head because of it.

Between its haunting soundtrack and Aesthetic art style, I just really dig how Mouthwashing presents itself. There is such an extreme level of confidence on display in its strength of writing, and restraint. It's a game that wants you to engage with it critically and wants you to figure it out.

Similar to Indika after the credits rolled I just lost the entire rest of my day thinking about it. I still think about it! It's stuck in my teeth.

It also has a very iconic mascot, so you can imagine the kind of fandom it has attracted.

Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth

After finishing Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth I immediately restarted the game so I could play Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth for a second time. There is just something so charming about the world, the characters, the way it presents itself. I hear the term 'virtual tourism' said a lot in regards to this series and never has that been more obvious in this entry.

The game wants you to feel like you are on holiday.

Besides, why shouldn't the epilogue to a 7-game-long story arc be an extended beach episode?

And there is just so much Video Game here. Two distinct turn-based battle systems. A whole Animal Crossing-esque micro-game. Their own spin on Pokémon Snap. A dating profile minigame. Karaoke. Crazy Taxi... I'm sure I'm missing one.

This is just fun to play at every stage.

Warframe 1999

Look, man, I just really love this game. It's so good. I got too excited earlier and just had to gush about it, but this is where it really belongs. I'm only giving the one under it more credit as my Game of the Year because it's an actual game and not just an expansion and also actually released this year. Warframe is like 10 years old. But I can't go back in time and put it on that list, so I'm putting the expansion here.

Indiana Jones And The Great Circle

This was a huge surprise for me. When they first announced this game I think we all sort of wrote it off. It just didn't look good. I was prepared to skip it, except it came out on Game Pass so I gave it a try and what the fuck? It's the best game to release all year?

Everything about this game is just spot-on. Troy Baker's performance as Indie is perfect, the writing understands on a deep level the appeal and tone of an Indiana Jones story, the gameplay systems are novel and so expertly married to the story it is telling, and it is just plain fun.

It knows what it an Indiana Jones movie is and it knows how a game should be. Each new level is more exciting than the last with big dramatic setpieces, fun slapstick action, challenging puzzles, and an absolutely gorgeous world that I just wanted to spend so much more time in.

What could have easily been a cash-grab franchise entry turned into one of the best gaming products you could pick up this year, one of the few AAA releases that felt like what AAA should be. A high quality, well crafted experience. I want more.

See you next year!

#gaming #indiana jones and the great circle #warframe #mouthwashing #indika #like a dragon: infinite wealth #2024 list #goty

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writeblrbattleroyale · 2 years ago

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You don’t remember how you got here. You were only going by the plot you were set to go, and now you were in a place of whiteness with people watching your every move. Your head is pounding, but you wake up standing up. Only thing in front of you being the weapon that is like your second arm, the one you usually use during battle, unless you normally use magic.

The speaker on the box above you starts to speak. You look towards it, but it seems empty. You still get a feeling, like a vision that a young man is standing in there, even tough you couldn’t describe anything about how he looked like. “Welcome to the battle my dear audience. Welcome to the bloodshed. I am M, your humble game master. In front of me are our contenders. Their weapons are in front of them. The enemy on their opposite. Their only way out is either killing their opponent or dying. These two are very interesting duo. I just can’t wait for the show.”

You look opposite of you. There is a person right on the opposite side of the arena. You have a sinking feeling in your stomach. You are in a life-or-death situation. You can either fight or die.

Welcome to watch writeblr battle royale, a light harted collabirative effort where ocs of different writeblr fight each other to see who can come on top. This is the best place to find new ocs to obsess over and cheer for them to reach till the end. Tell us your favorite to win, or favorite battle to come.

The writeblrs participating have a deadline till Sunday 13.00 est to write a battle between the two opposing characters, before the winners are matched with a new opponent.

People in the fighting ring in this round of the first writeblr battle royale are:

Chess from @concealeddarkness13 Brooke Ferguson from @astellarium

Anuli from @anulithots vs Lyra from @forthesanityofsome

Ophelia Day from @the-arigen vs Julyan from @mysticstarlightduck

Alex from @doublegoblin vs Elyren from @mysticstarlightduck

daiko from @saltysupercomputer vs jen from @rainisawriter

Casper from @garthcelyn vs kashi from @forthesanityofsome

Herchel from @quisyop vs Jackson from @rainisawriter

Io from @quisyop vs blair from @gummybugg

mary from @myancientmars vs ametrine from @moonluringfrost

cooper from @garthcelyn vs erin from @the-arigen

Tuan Tangyuan from @another-white-void vs teddo from @anulithots

Right now my tumblr is glitching so my inbox and messenges aren’t working so, hopefully it gets worked soon. For now, hype up the ocs rn and wait for great interactions.

#writeblr battle royale #writeblr #events #writing

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synthetic-ultramarine · 1 year ago

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Ten Book Reviews

To celebrate the new year I thought I'd do some short book reviews! This is by no means a comprehensive list of everything I read in 2023; I decided to focus on fiction rather than non-fiction for this post, and I slowly trimmed down my list of books to focus on the ones that gave me the most to talk about.

Books I Liked:

Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer There's so much to be said about these books, they really deserve their own post. This series is so characterful, so atmospheric, and so masterful in its use of suspense, dread, and tragedy. Lives up to the hype 100%.

Devil House by John Darnielle John Darnielle reads his own audiobooks, and he's good at it. This book follows a true crime writer as he confronts the consequences of framing people's lives as narratives. It's about haunted places. It's about the often-forgotten potential for cruelty in the storytelling impulse. But most of all it's about the thesis that it's self-defense for a squatter to kill a landlord with a sword. If you like this, Universal Harvester is also good.

The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton I think someone should do an adaptation of this that takes place on tumblr.

Til We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis In this book, C. S. Lewis writes about a woman's struggle against god- no, wait, where are you going, come back! It's a take on the Cupid and Psyche myth from the perspective of the jealous sister, here reimagined as a genuinely concerned sister. Vivid imagery, beautiful prose, and a meditation on the relationship between the human and the divine that I still found interesting as a homosexual apostate. There's some fascinating stuff about the androgyny of God in here. Yes, for real. From Clive Staples Lewis.

Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente This book is overstuffed with concept. It's set in an alternate 20th century where the empires of earth have settled the nine planets, and it's about the film industry, which is based on the moon because the united states never colonized california. The story is a collection of ephemera - interviews, ship manifests, tabloid columns, clips of damaged film - relating to the disappearance of a renowned filmmaker who vanished while working on an infamous lost documentary. Also, space whaling. It's about that as well. Every time I try to describe how I feel about Valente's writing style it comes out sounding like one of those weird perfume reviews. I'll just say I found the prose overwrought at times, but ultimately I'm glad kept reading. The book is packed with mythological references, and while some are quite effective, there are also some that don't really do anything. There's a lot of genre-hopping; the noir sequences chafe against the style of the prose a bit, but the cosmic horror scenes are chilling. What is really good about this book is how thoroughly everything in the alternate-history setting is thought through. It talks about how the long day-night cycle of Venus affects the work of a film lighting technician. It talks about French colonies on Neptune losing radio contact with Paris as the earth passes behind the sun. It confronts the idea of Venus and Mars and Pluto as terra nullius, even though that's a concept some people seem to prefer not to critique. I'm going to be thinking about this book for a long time. If you like Nope, Dark City, or Mystery Flesh Pit National Park, you should read this.

Finna by Nino Cipri Weird, fun novella about two exes who still love each other, wandering through a maze of alternate universes for minimum wage. Portal-esque corporate satire, snappy pacing, and a compelling central relationship. So good.

The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon A beautifully written story about body horror, giant robots, gay sex, religion, mortality, and tenderness. The worldbuilding is intricate, sprawling, and sometimes ambiguous. The relationship between the main character and the love interest is far from the Standard Romance Subplot Structure, it's fresh and very compelling. The in-universe sacred poetry that shows up throughout the book is also very good. I have it on hold at the library for a reread. This book is tragically underrated because they're marketing it to the wrong audience. It's more cronenberg than canva cover. Tor should be selling this to the Annihilation weirdos, not the Red White & Royal Blue crowd. People go into it with the wrong set of genre expectations and then don't know how to react. I'm here to set the record straight: The Archive Undying rules and you should read it. I especially recommend this book to Friends at the Table listeners, since the author is One Of Us and the show is a notable influence.

Books I Didn't Like:

Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty The setup to this book is very compelling: 6 people lived a happy life together, isolated on a spacecraft for decades, until they were all violently killed. New copies of their younger selves wake up in the ship's cloning facility with no memory of last 60 years. One of their future-past selves was a murderer, and the killer's clone inherits their legal culpability. While the high-concept murder mystery is a great idea, the future politics are profoundly unimpressive, and sadly by the end of the book the latter has entirely subsumed the former. There keep being these flashback scenes about cloning politics back on earth - not only are these very politically shallow, they also kill the claustrophobic ship-in-a-bottle atmosphere of a good fucked up space scenario. As an example of the shallow politics: "all major religions" are stated to be intolerant towards clones. Apparently all the sects and denominations of All The Religions are just doing the same thing, as if they are interchangeable with each other. And then there are The Riots, which are portrayed as a political misstep, too disruptive, too loud. And then of course we have the NYC real estate billionaire villain. Florals? For spring? It's beyond me why a locked-room murder mystery would even need a villain who wasn't in the room. There's also a hacking scene I found so absurd that it nearly made me return the book unfinished. Disappointing.

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman Yeah, that's right, I'm gonna talk shit about Neil Gaiman on tumblr. You think you can scare me. old man?! I can't be silenced! Anyway, remember the Sexy Lamp Test? This is the worst failure of the Sexy Lamp Test I've ever seen. The girlfriend that the guy in this book is fighting with his brother over could be replaced by a nice car the brother took for a joyride, and the plot wouldn't change. At least with a car there wouldn't be consent issues.

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey In the real-life 20th century, there was a proposal by the U.S. government to introduce the hippopotamus to North America as a meat animal. Thankfully, it was scrapped. This alt-history western asks: what would the world look like if they went through with it? It's an intriguingly bizarre premise. Unfortunately, when I made that "your story should have scenes that aren't bioware cutscenes or tvtropes pages" post, this book was one of the reasons why. The dialogue and characters are nothing to write home about, and the plot is just rote. Here we are in a bar fight. Now we are planning the heist. Now we are remembering the tragic backstory. Now the antagonist has double crossed us. The hippos are involved in the plot, but they don't drive the plot in any way that depends on their being hippos. They only really differ from horses aesthetically. The thing that really bothers me about this book, though, is that this story clearly wants to be a modern, progressive take on the western genre, with a queer cast and all, but it doesn't give a single thought to the existence of native americans. There are no native main characters or side characters. Despite being a story about the radically destructive transformation of the north american ecosystem by the settler state, there is not even a single throwaway "the Choctaw are not pleased with the feral hippopotamus situation" line. Radiance gives more thought to the status of native american society in its alternate history than River of Teeth, and Radiance takes place entirely in outer space. Come on now.

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fullmetalfisting · 2 years ago

Text

Here’s my August 2023 wrap up! Reviews under the cut. Also, I truly don’t understand how I wound up reading so many vampire-themed books this month! I don’t find vampires particularly interesting, this was just how my holds on books from the library shook out.

From Blood and Ash by Jennifer M. Armentrout | Fantasy, New Adult, Romance

⭐⭐

Summary: Poppy is the Maiden, a high-ranking position of power meant to usher in a new era of prosperity after she completes the mysterious “Ascension.” But as the Ascension grows nearer, her doubts begin to multiply. Her own misgivings paired with civil unrest cause her to question everything she knows. Also, one of her bodyguards is dreamy.

Thoughts: The worldbuilding was subpar to bad and the characters were all unlikable. The big twist was interesting, but not worth the slog it was to get there. Maybe I’m being too harsh, but I don’t understand why there are so freaking many New Adult Fantasy Romance books out these days. Of course, I would love to stumble upon a new Six of Crows or The Cruel Prince. But the fact is, not every author is skilled enough to write the new Grishaverse. I know a lot of people loved this book, but it just wasn’t it for me.

The Trap by Catherine Ryan Howard | Thriller, Mystery, Crime, Suspense

⭐⭐⭐ and 1/2

Summary: Lucy’s sister, Nicki, has been missing ever since she walked out of a Dublin bar late one night without a word to her friends. Angela is the Irish equivalent of a police dispatcher for the Missing Persons Unit who longs to be a detective herself. An unnamed man drives through the Irish countryside as he enumerates his crimes to the woman in his backseat, his latest victim. When Angela makes an alarming discovery, she sets a series of events into motion that changes the hunt for the serial killer plaguing Ireland and might just crack the case.

Thoughts: This was exceptionally entertaining, though the beginning was a bit slow. The commentary of what it’s like to be a woman in a precarious situation was spot-on, though it didn’t add anything new to the conversation. What I really enjoyed about this book was that it didn’t feel ghoulish, as crime novels often do since True Crime became so popular.

Salt & Storm by Kendall Kulper | Young Adult, Witches, Historical Fiction, Mother and Daughter Relationships, Fantasy, Romance

⭐⭐⭐

Summary: Avery Roe is descended from a long line of witches, all of whom resided on Prince Island, Massachusetts, giving up something unimaginable in order to obtain their magic, which they then use to protect the whalers at sea. But Avery’s mother saw the price that had to be paid in order to become the island’s witch and chose, instead, to attempt to make a life in Victorian society. Avery struggles against her mother’s rules, longing to go to her grandmother and learn the spells she needs to become the next island’s witch. But when Avery has a prophetic dream that shows her she will be murdered, suddenly Avery’s struggles become urgent.

Thoughts: This book had extraordinary prose and fantastic descriptions. Kulper masterfully depicted a tense relationship between mother and daughter. However, the price that is so built up that must be paid in order to obtain one’s magic was anticlimactic. I was, “That’s all?”

Naramauke by Lily Sparks | Young Adult, Companion Novella, Horror, Romance, Contemporary

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Summary: Erik’s version of events from the novel Teen Killers Club by Lily Sparks.

Thoughts: This novella gave readers of the Teen Killers Club series (final installment out in October) a glimpse into the motivations of characters that we didn’t get to see from Signal’s perspective. Definitely hyped me up for Teen Killers at Large.

Dark Water Daughter by H.M. Long | Fantasy, Pirates, Romance, Magic

⭐⭐⭐

Summary: A swashbuckling fantasy set among pirates, tree spirits, and mages alike. Mary Firth is a Stormsinger: someone who can control the winds and weather with a song. She has kept her ability a secret all her life for her own safety, but when she is mistaken as a highwayman and brought to the noose, she has no choice but to sing herself out of the situation. Now, pirates and privateers are after her for her unique ability to sail ships wherever they need to go. But that’s not all they’re after.

Thoughts: While well-written and entertaining at times, I found myself at sea (pun not intended) for a lot of this. I think this type of story just wasn’t for me, and it isn’t going to be something I remember reading six months from now.

How to Bite Your Neighbor and Win a Wager by D.N. Bryn | M M Romance, Vampires, Contemporary, New Adult

⭐

Summary: Wes is a recent college graduate mourning the sudden disappearance of his beloved mother. Vincent is a starving, houseless vampire whose support system was yanked away from him when he was turned by accident during his freshman year of college. Together, they explore a milquetoast attraction to one another as Vincent experiences a veritable barrage of hate crimes while Wes stands insipidly by. Also, there are entire passages lifted from The Song of Achilles and reworded so it’s not technically plagiarism.

Thoughts: This was hot, wet garbage. It reads like fanfiction written by the cringiest theater kid you ever had the displeasure of meeting in high school. The dialogue reminds one of how young teenagers speak, not how adults interact with one another. Case in point: a side character asks Wes if Vincent makes him, “tingly in [his] pingly.” He proceeds to refer to his penis as his “pingly” for the rest of the novel. I can’t make this shit up. And while the plot was clearly too ambitious of a concept for the skill level of the author, I am still disappointed with the result of this whole pharmaceutical conspiracy.

Mister Magic by Kiersten White | Horror, Mystery, Supernatural, Contemporary

⭐⭐⭐

Summary: Everyone remembers their favorite childhood television show, Mister Magic. What no one can agree on is what Mister Magic looked like. Unlike most shows from the early 90s, it’s impossible to find recordings of the episodes, even in the furthest reaches of the internet. But in an era where nostalgia is extremely profitable, someone gets the idea to have a reunion of the cast of the show in the form of a podcast. Val is 38 and lives on a ranch in Idaho. She has no memories of her time before she and her father arrived at the ranch covered in fresh burn scars at the age of eight. But when three men show up to her father’s funeral, she feels like she’s met them before. And when they tell her that her mother is alive and they all share a past, she has no choice but to return to the place where Mister Magic was filmed in search of answers.

Thoughts: The opening of this book is stunning. It draws the reader in, playing on that weird Mandela Effect we all have about media from our own childhoods. However, as the story progresses, things become more and more surreal, to the point where I wasn’t sure I was following what exactly was going on. It was so abstract that I found myself getting frustrated and bored.

Rent to Be by Sonia Hartl | Romance, Contemporary, New Adult

⭐⭐⭐

NOTE: I read an ARC.

Summary: Isla Jane is an elder zoomer (not a millennial, as the book blurbs will have to believe) who was, like many of us post-college twentysomethings, one unforeseen expense away from financial disaster. That expense, for her, came in the form of a broken transmission, which caused her to miss rent payments, which caused her to get kicked out by her roommates. Thus kicks off Isla’s month-long struggle to keep her head above water while she sleeps under her desk at work, housesits, and crashes on her brother’s couch, all while her brother’s handsome best friend stands by, sometimes teasing her but most of the time supporting her.

Thoughts: Hartl discusses the economic woes all new adults face with startling accuracy (although I’m not sure why Isla didn’t go to a food rescue if she was so food-insecure). However, Isla’s introduction in the story is frankly a lot, and for a few chapters, I was siding with her roommates. I’ve had roommates of my own neglect to pay their share of rent and neglect to discuss it with me, and believe me, I was not happy when the landlord showed up wondering where his $500-odd dollars were. Despite the initial bad taste in my mouth, I did grow to like Isla and sympathize with her interpersonal problems with her parents: Boundaries matter. And I think Cade acted as a great foil in that regard. Just because someone had it worse than Isla, that doesn’t mean Isla isn’t allowed to be hurt by her parent’s thoughtlessness. Overall, a good portrayal of young millennial/elder zoomer financial struggles with a cute romance.

In Nightfall by Suzanne Young | Urban Fantasy, Horror, Contemporary, Young Adult, Vampires, Reimagining, Supernatural

⭐⭐

Summary: In this reimagining of the 1987 film The Lost Boys, a pair of siblings visit their father’s hometown in the wake of their parent’s divorce. While Marco immediately falls in love with the stunning and stunningly cool Minnow, our heroine, Theo, isn’t so enamored. Things get stranger and stranger as their visit progresses, until it’s clear that there’s something wrong with this town--and it’s gotten its claws into Marco.

Thoughts: This was maybe ten to fifteen chapters too long. The paperback is nearly 400 pages and if I’m being honest, a YA vampire thriller with no symbolism/philosophy to speak of has no business being so tedious and long. I had to force myself through certain parts. It had the potential to be really fun and creepy if an editor had gone through it with some hedge clippers. Instead, it was boring. Amazing cover though.

Tilly in Technicolor by Mazey Eddings | Romance, Young Adult, Contemporary, Mental Health, Travel, Humor

⭐⭐⭐

NOTE: I read an ARC.

Summary: Tilly just graduated high school by the skin of her teeth thanks to her ADHD making it impossible to focus in a traditional classroom setting. Oliver, also neurodivergent, runs a successful Instagram page utilizing Pantone’s colors to relate to the world around him and start a dialogue about color theory. Both have spots as summer interns for a startup nail polish company, where they traverse falling in love in a world that wasn’t made for your brain chemistry.

Thoughts: Despite its serious subject matter, I found Tilly in Technicolor to be both heartfelt and wildly funny. The dialogue was age-appropriate for a YA book without feeling like an adult was poorly imitating how kids talk, and the characters were all flawed from the jump without seeming unlikeable. I did, however, find myself rolling my eyes at the inevitable Final Act Breakup, though that was resolved in pretty short order.

The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan | Horror, LGBT, Mystery, Young Adult

⭐

Summary: Sloan and Cherry are the only two girls who survived a horrific mass-murder. Now, as Sloan is trying to recover her memories, she grows more and more certain that Cherry is gaslighting her about what really happened that night.

Thoughts: I was expecting a fun slasher book. What I got was two dysfunctional lesbians screaming at each for 75% of the book. I was like, Just break up already! You two are so toxic to one another! I was annoyed at how misleading the cover and blurbs on this book were.

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas | Historical Fiction, Horror, Vampires, Vaqueros, Gothic, Romance

⭐⭐⭐

Summary: After a gruesome mauling by a gray, eyeless, humanoid monster, Néstor believes his childhood sweetheart, Nena, to be dead. In the wake of the attack, he flees the ranch he was raised on and spends the next nine years breaking horses by day and chasing Nena’s ghost away with copious amounts of alcohol and meaningless sex by night. But when he is called back to the ranch after the Texans declare war on Mexico, he discovers that Nena survived the attack, and she is furious that he left her without so much as a word. An accomplished healer, Nena accompanies her father’s battalion to war, where she and Néstor are separated from everyone else. Soon, she and Néstor learn that there is more to be scared of than just the Yanquís trying to take their land.

Thoughts: At first, I found this to be an excellent, immersive read that had me feeling Néstor’s grief and Nena’s anger. It transported me to mid-1800s Northern Mexico. As the story wore on, I found the interpersonal conflict to be deeply annoying. In his inner monologue, Néstor insists he loves Nena. Yet when the two fight, he hits below the belt, casting aspersions on her due to imagined slights and even blaming her for being complicit to the exploitation of the working class. Like, Dude. She’s an unmarried woman during the Victorian era and there are vampires attacking you. I’m all for bringing down capitalism but maybe some of your ire is a little misplaced. They both whine an exceeding amount throughout the story about their relationship.

Ashes in the Snow by Oriana Ramuno | Historical Fiction, World War II, Crime, Holocaust, Nazi Germany, Murder Mystery

⭐⭐⭐

Note: I read an ARC

Summary: The year is 1943 and Detective Hugo Fischer, accomplished criminologist, is sent to Auschwitz to investigate the mysterious death of a high-ranking SS officer. A young twin and current favorite of the infamous Josef Mengele, eight-year-old Gioele is the one who discovered the body. The boy strikes a deal with the detective: he will provide information if Hugo locates his parents.

Thoughts: This novel opens up with a punch to the face: Detective Hugo Fischer is standing on the train platform in front of Auschwitz, waiting to be escorted to the crime scene. From there, he watches as an SS officer rips a baby from her mother’s arms and stomps her to death. After witnessing such a thing, one would think that Hugo might not be shocked at the horror that awaits him inside the camp. Yet it seems as though every injustice shocks him anew. I’m like, Hugo, you just saw a man murder a baby in front of her mother and you’re shocked that the Nazis are performing human experimentation? Come on. But Hugo has, since the Nazi party seized power, kept his head down in order to survive, which is why he wears the swastika on his jacket and pretends his bad leg was the result of polio and not a degenerative disease. And while the book seemed to be leaning quite hard on Hannah Arendt’s idea of the banality of evil, there is no denying that what went on at Auschwitz was anything but banal. While it was an engrossing read, I found myself disliking all of the characters except Gioele, because I don’t believe the line of reasoning that plenty of Nazis were doing their jobs because execution was the only other option. We even learn that Hugo had job offers all over the world but chose to stay in Berlin. It was difficult sympathizing with a character who, when we meet him, witnessed the brutal murder of a baby girl without uttering so much as a word.

Eventide by Sarah Goodman | Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Fantasy, Horror, Magic

⭐⭐

Summary: When Verity and Lilah’s father is committed to an asylum after the death of their mother, the two sisters find themselves on an orphan train heading from New York City to the small town of Wheeler, Arkansas. When adorable, 11-year-old Lilah is adopted immediately and there are no offers made on taciturn, 17-year-old Verity, Verity must take on an indenture to stay close to her beloved sister. But Wheeler is an odd town with strange magic in its bones and not everyone is as they seem, especially the mild-mannered schoolteacher who adopted Lilah.

Thoughts: I really do not like the sort of story where something is obviously happening and everyone around the protagonist doesn’t believe them. At least Verity’s friends and the one social worker believed her. I suppose I found myself frustrated that Verity showed up to a town and had to pay for the sins of her parents. What a parent does shouldn’t be the child’s burden to bear and the ending wasn’t fair.

The Lady Rogue by Jenn Bennet | Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Adventure

⭐⭐⭐

Summary: Theodora Fox lives on the sidelines of her father’s Indiana Jones-esque treasure hunting career, staying behind at hotels with governesses and tutors as he and Huck Gallager--her ex-boyfriend and father’s apprentice of sorts--go on adventures. After Theo’s tutor absconds with all of her money, leaving Theo in a foreign city with no resources, the last person she wants to see is Huck Gallagher, who left in the middle of the night over a year ago without so much as a word. But when he tells her he believes her father to be in trouble, she has no choice but to set her feelings aside and team up with her former love to come to his rescue.

Thoughts: I really, really enjoyed the adventure side of this book. It was a fun romp through the Carpathian Mountains. The personal conflict between Huck and Theo, however, felt half-baked. It needed to be fleshed out a little more. And while the two seemed to agree that Fox (Theo’s father) was the root cause of their problems, that was never explored in any satisfying way. It felt like the author was rushing the ending rather than giving these characters catharsis after they’d been badly hurt by someone they both considered a parental figure.

With a Kiss We Die by L. R. Dorn | Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Contemporary

⭐⭐⭐

Summary: Ryanna Raines is an investigative journalist and host of the hit true-crime podcast known as, “The Raines Report.” Before landing on a subject for her sixth season, she receives an intriguing message on her tip line from a 22-year-old theater student from USCB whose parents were found murdered in their San Diego home. He knows that the police are days away from charging both him and his 18-year-old girlfriend with murder and he wants Raines to fly to California and give the young students a chance to tell their side of the story and proclaim their innocence.

Thoughts: At first, I found this read to be deeply absorbing. I liked the podcast-y format (though I haven’t listened to a podcast in years, I can still appreciate the unique approach to storytelling). But as the story wore on, it became clear that there would be no big twists or interesting discoveries. It was anticlimactic and perhaps that was the point as the book was a fictional lens with which to look at the true crime genre. Still, I found myself unsatisfied with the lack of mystery in this alleged mystery novel.

Cackle by Rachel Harrison | Horror, Fantasy, Witches, Contemporary

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Summary: Annie Crane, suffering from a devastating breakup, has no choice but to move out of her expensive NYC apartment she shared with her now-ex and take a job teaching upstate. In the small, picturesque village of Rowan, Annie meets Sophie and begins a life-altering transformation.

Thoughts: This was honestly a really funny read. I’ve read another book by this author that was equally as funny, so I expected that. However, I thought the plot could stand to be a little more developed and I would have liked it to be a little darker.

Jackal by Erin E. Adams | Horror, Race, Contemporary, Thriller, Black Horror, Supernatural

⭐⭐⭐

Summary: Liz Rocher grew up in the Rust Belt town of Johnstown, PA. A black girl in an affluent, predominantly white community, she struggled to fit in with her classmates throughout her childhood, and when she left the small town for New York City, it was for good. When her best friend announces she’s getting married, though, Liz sucks it up and returns to her hometown in order to be a bridesmaid and to visit her best friend’s nine-year-old daughter (her goddaughter), Caroline, who herself is half black. At the wedding, though, Caroline goes missing. This starts Liz down a path of discovery: black girls go missing every June in this little, idyllic town.

Thoughts: While this was an engrossing read, I can’t help but feel like it would have been more effective as a screenplay/movie. And while the novel subverted plenty of tropes, it was still in the tired genre of “woman with a substance abuse problem returns to hometown and stumbles upon a murderer.”

My Roommate is a Vampire by Jenna Levine | Contemporary, Romance, Comedy, Vampires

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Summary: Chicago-based artist Cassie Greenberg is shocked to see a Craigslist apartment listed for only $200 a month. Financially desperate, she decides to meet her potential roommate, fully expecting to encounter a complete weirdo or worse. Well, her roommate is a weirdo: he’s wildly handsome, only comes out at night, never seems to cook or eat, and has a tenuous understanding of technology at best. When Cassie finds blood bags in the fridge, the pieces come together in her mind: her roommate is a vampire.

Thoughts: This was a super funny read. While I’d prefer the plot to be a little more developed, it was fun and campy and I laughed out loud more than once. Definitely didn’t take itself too seriously and I’d recommend it as a palate cleanser.

Together We Rot by Skyla Arndt | Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Mystery, Horror, Cults

⭐⭐

Summary: Wil and Elwood were best friends until her mom went missing last year. Then Wil finds herself being gaslighted by the local police and begins noticing all the deeply strange rituals of the local church. Worse, she’s sure she has seen members of the church wearing her mother’s jewelry. Elwood’s father is the preacher and leader of the strange church, and when Wil confronts Elwood, he chooses believing his family over believing her. That is, until he overhears his father speaking about human sacrifice to the local sheriff and realizes he must run for his life.

Thoughts: I thought the prose was overly-flowery and Elwood’s abrupt shift from steadfastly believing his family of being innocent to immediately believing them to be murderers was strange to say the least. He doesn’t even take the time to question what he overheard. He just runs away.

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greenb0i · 2 years ago

Text

July 2023

It was my britday month and I watched a lot of flims like always. Also yes, barbie is the reason this month is so late. I have a lot of thought that i dont really know how to express.

Flims

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) Dir. Joaquim Dos Santos, Justin K. Thompson, Kemp Powers

Yes I watched it agine. It still amazing, and i feel like seeing on the big screen adds to the whole thing much more. This is literally the only movie I've seen twice in cinama, and it's so worth it. It weirdly felt quicker to watch, but i think because I knew what i was expecting. But it's still so good. Especially, the ending crdits. I love how they look and how they symobolise every event in the movie. 10/10

Nimona (2023) Dir. Troy Quane, Nick Bruno

I watched this movie hungover and by god it was fucking great. It one of those movie that haven't stop thinking about (at the time of writing this) I just love thinking about the charaters and what they mean to each other, and the theme, and how the movie can explore so much and mean so many different things to different people. I also love the character design as well, and how imo, impove the desgins from the comic. Idk, it just one of those things that make me want to create my own stories 9/10

Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop (2021) Dir. Kyohei Ishiguro

I remember i started this movie when it came out, got like 20 minents into it and i just wasn't into it. Anyway, I restarted it and ended up sobbing like a baby. Frist things first, i adore the colours, that what drew me to the movie in the first place aswell as how the movie animated. Idk, I'm not an expert, but the way the characters move just looked so nice and smooth . I don't know what extaly affected me, i think it has to with the exploration frist love?? idk. Like i said, im still not compltye sure. 8/10

The Report (2019) Dir. Scott Z. Burns

death2American. But ya i just felt so annoyed watching this movie. The movie itself was good, i like a lot of the acting and felt like they are a very cohersive story, dispit it taking place over a good few years and have a lot of movie parts. But ya, I feel annyed and angry that so about what some of the people did and never face any repercussions to what happened. But overall, heavy but interesting movie (7/10)

In the Heights (2021) Dir. Jon M. Chu

I really like this movie. I remember when it came out, i was so hyped, i just kept watching the first song over and over again. And i still think it is such a good movie, i love most of the song, esaliy abula song. Everything about that whole song was amazing and started crying during it. It just one of those movies that i forget about, but I love rewatching. (8/10)

Barbie (2023) Dir. Greta Gerwig

I really loved this movie. I saw it twice. It just a movie that i found so fun. Like everyone, i love the costume and the sets and just everything thing about the movie. I love the massage behind it, but at the same time, i feel like there is so much more it could say. It's a movie that i feel like i make me want to read more into feminism movement to see why some poeple dislike the movie (not for the stupit reasons, but the valid ones) with what it has to say about gender. Overall, I would say I really like it, and it probably gonna be a movie. I come back to watch over and over again, and my opinion will probably change the move I watch it (7/10)

Books

Biography Of X by Catherine Lacey

I ughh I really like this book. It was just so interesting to read about this fictionalised artist and this alternative version of history. It felt like it could be something that was real, and I think that due to how the well the auther blend and changed history in small or massive ways. It just so good, I love all the character who apper, the obsession of it, the explore of love and unhealthy relationships. God damnit I could write so much about this book, but then ill be spoiling it 4/5

Songs I love

Bug like an angle-Mitski

Rush- Troye Sivan

Malmo-Mook

Pulp-Lime Garden

Wishing Well-Screaming Females

#greens monthly reveiws #movie review #book review #across the spiderverse #spiderverse #nimona #words bubble up like soda pop #in the hights #barbie movie #barbie #books #biography of x #Mitski #music recs

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astralbooks · 2 years ago

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Project Nought - Chelsey Furedi

Read: 18/02/2023

Rating: 4/5

Rep: brown gay main character, achillean main character, m/m relationship, East Asian non-binary side character, sapphic side character, Māori disabled side character who uses a wheelchair, brown side character, various other queer and non-white side characters including the villains

CW: medical experimentation, confinement, character death (both on page and in backstory), grief, misgendering (brief, not malicious, quickly corrected)

Review:

Ren, a teenager from the year 1997, wakes up in the year 2122 and is told he’s been pulled forward in time as part of a yearly project at New Zealand university. He’s hesitant to fully engage in life in the future at first, and just as he’s starting to relax into everything he and his new friends discover that not all is as it seems and that the giant corporation that has its fingers in every aspect of life might not be as benevolent as it first appears.

I liked the core four characters! Jia is probably my favourite, closely followed by Phoebe. The two of them together make up a textbook grumpy x sunshine couple, though I found the direction their relationship takes to be super interesting! They’re into each other, and they both know it, but they also both know that Jia’s in no position to be in a relationship right now, so they’re not together, they’re friends, and it’s genuinely fine. This approach is a pretty rare one and I found it really refreshing to read!

Mars, the secondary main character, is a total sweetheart. His enthusiasm for the mere concept of time travel is completely understandable, honestly I’d probably be just as hyped if I were in his position. He’s somewhat naive and initially has complete faith and belief in Chronotech, which does cause some trouble for the group, but he’s not incapable of admitting when he’s wrong and when the truth of the situation becomes clear he’s all in.

All things considered, I think Ren reacted to suddenly waking up over 100 years into his future very well. He has a life back home, and at the exact moment he was taken from he’d just made a discovery and a decision that had the potential to change his life massively, so it’s hardly surprising that he doesn’t quite manage to hit the ground running. He gets the hang of it all, though, and he handled every situation thrown his way over the course of the story about as well as could be expected. He’s a solid main character and I enjoyed reading from his perspective!

I would’ve liked a little more build up to the relationship between Ren and Mars. I liked the way it went after the point that they established that they liked each other, I just would’ve preferred a teensy little bit more build up and tension before their initial kiss. This is purely a personal preference, though, and I’d hardly call this a case of instalove. I just like my burns to be a bit slower than this one was.

The overall message of the story serves as a cautionary tale against allowing one company to monopolise all areas of life. Chronotech effectively controls all tech, has strong links in the police, and is even inherently intertwined with the university that Mars goes to, and with this level of influence in society comes a lack of oversight and an ability to exploit and hurt whoever they want without any fear of repercussions. The comparisons between this and the big corporations of today are unavoidable.

I figured out what was going on way before any of the characters did. Being able to predict where a story is going isn’t something that bothers me, I care way more about whether a story is well constructed than I care about its ability to surprise me, but it’s worth noting in case it might bother you. Something that does actually bother me is when part of a mystery is sustained solely through a character refusing to answer questions without a good in-universe reason for doing so, and that unfortunately did come into play a little here. They got it out of her in the end, but they were already allies so there was little reason for the delay other than to drip feed the reader some more. In the grand scheme of things this is a minor complaint, but it’s a pet peeve of mine and so it’s noticeable to me when it happens.

Overall, this was a fun read! The characters were likeable, there was a good balance of funny to serious moments, and the overall message is one that’s sorely needed in the present. If you’re looking for a quick sci-fi read then I’d highly recommend picking this one up!

Thank you to Clarion Books and HarperCollins for providing me with an arc in return for an honest review

#review #book review #project nought #chelsey furedi #books #booklr

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catgirl-catboy · 2 years ago

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choose violence 3 6 7 8 9 10 16 22 and 25 for total drama (and i’ve just realized that’s a lot a lot so obvi if u don’t wanna answer all of them that’s all good)

No worries! I'm happy to scream about Total Drama! Worst case scenario, I get tired and simply finish the rest later.

3.) screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

Shipping Raj x Wayne is somehow homophobic because Raj is in a canon gay relationship. Polyamory is a thing, and somehow I don't think homophobes would enjoy the idea of a fanon m/m ship somehow.

Honestly, any time people expect canon queer couples to be given special treatment in fandom it annoys the shit out of me. Someone will dislike the vibes of the ship. Its inevitable. Honestly, I'm surprised that someone wasn't me this time, since happy relationships like Rajbow aren't usually my jam.

6.) which ship fans are the most annoying?

Can I bash the shippers for my favorite TD ship (of Duncney) for a second?

Shut up about the love triangle. Shut up about Courtney's character derailment. Literally every ship was wronged by canon, we aren't fucking special. A vast majority of the ship tag shouldn't be bitching about canon.

7.) what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

...honestly, thats a hard one. I feel like hate is a strong word, but I don't understand the hype for Noah. (and any Noah ship that isn't Nowen or Noah x Emma.)

Like, sure. He's sarcastic. So what. That makes him a 5/10 at best. He never does anything but be sarcastic and then be mindlessly in love.

I don't hate him though.

8.) common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

lean in. come closer, I don't want anyone else hearing this.

Dramarama is good. and funny. and I like it. Why is it despised?

9.) worst part of canon

The fart jokes are low hanging fruit, so I won't pick them.

I hate how everyone in gen 1 had to be coupled up. What relevance Izzy/Owen have on the season as a whole? Or Geoff/Bridgette? (I like them but point still stands.)

If you introduce a canon couple and get me invested in the romance, it has to actually go somewhere. Lyler was a plot device to get you to hate Heather. Duncney went through an entire arc. Gwent was amazing.

Why do no other ships bring that energy?

I love Samkota, but Sam was just a trophy husband for Dakota after her mutation. He's a passive participant in his own romance arc.

Gens 3 and 4 improve on this I think, but it still annoys me.

10.) worst part of fanon

this is incredibly petty and personal, but WHY IS CODY EVERYWHERE? He squicks me. So much. (honestly, the fact that he reminds me of a past experience when most creep characters don't proves that he feels like a real person. but no.) Why is half the fandom Cody. Can it not be?

16.) you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

I answered this before and I said Lesbian Emma. Now, I'm going to go with Gwortney. These two could barely sell and interesting friendship, and somehow you expect them to carry an entire romance plotline? Its the most bland of bland ships. If you want a Sapphic way to resolve the despised love triangle, Gweather is right there. They actually have chemistry.

It feels like they took all of Duncan's hard work of getting Courtney to relax and enjoy life, and made Gwen have the same effect on her when it doesn't make sense with the characterization. If anything, Courtney making Gwen be more serious makes sense.

(that being said, I'm glad you are having fun, and will reblog cute art.)

22.) your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

The episode recaps. I want Chris to recap my day. I love them.

25.) common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

Other than the love triangle?

Heather's plot armor.

Owen had just as much, if not more plot armor. He makes the group sleep in the woods? Fuck it, Katie and Sadie get lost.

Single-handedly blows the cooking challenge? Uh... (Total Drama writers thinking up Bullshit) Beth and the Statue pisses everyone off more, somehow!

He betrays the guys alliance? This has no concequences for him.

At least Heather's plot armor didn't cause her to win a season.

#ask tag #ask game #total drama

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notmoreflippingelves · 2 months ago

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11, 14, 15, 16, 23 and 24 for the fandom year review, please! ;D

Biggest squee moments of the year (For ye youths who no longer use such awesome terminology, that means the fandom moments that made your heart cry out in overwhelming joy. Can y’all believe that “squee” didn’t quite stand the test of time??)

I am currently reading through Post-Crisis Superman comics in roughly chronological order. And pretty much every time, Clark and Lois have a cute moment, I just sit there with my face in my hands grinning like a schoolgirl. I was particularly giddy when they got engaged. I am not sure that this entirely counts as a squee moment of the year--considering that it literally happened a few years before I was even born. But it was arguably the squee moment for me this year discovering it years later.

In terms of moments that actually did happen this year, Sir Pentious ending up in Heaven in Hazbin Hotel. And the long-awaited Wicked movie being as good as I hoped it would. (Also it was cute, because there were a bunch of people in my theater that dressed up for it. I sort of did too--since I wore a Wizard of Oz shirt and my ruby slipper socks. It just made my heart so full to see people excited about movies again).

Favorite m/f ship of the year

Yeah, it's still Elena/Esteban. Even though Esteban had some actual real competition as my current blorbo this year, they are still the het ship for me even if they are on my mind less. That being said, Clark Kent/Lois Lane are giving them a bit of a run for their money, and I can't wait to be obsessed with them when the new movie comes out next Summer.

Favorite f/f ship of the year

Regrettably, I've never really had nearly as many femmslash ships as I do het and/or slash ones--and amongst the few that I do have, I tend to be less passionate about them overall.

It doesn't help that on the rare ocassions that I get into a fandom with a sizeable femmslash community...I tend to be indifferent to--if not outright dislike-- the most popular pairing (tbf this is also usually the case with het and slash dominant fandoms) and the possible f/f ships that do ping my radar are even rarer than usual by my rare-pair obsessed standards. And so it's hard to get more excited about a ship that I'm at best casually interested in when no one else seems to be.

In terms of canon ships, Charlie/Vaggie from Hazbin Hotel is kind of cute. And in terms of more mainstream and "popular" ships (lol see what I did there), I was really feeling the Elphaba/Glinda vibes from the Wicked movie, even though I never really had been into them in the past. I also have seen a rise in Kay Faraday/Franziska von Karma shipping due to the AAI collection release--which makes me really happy as I've always liked that ship. (especially when compared to their fanom default options of franmaya and kayema.)

In terms of ships that I personally have thought most about in my mind even if nobody else seems to/haven't done much about, Chloe/Maliga from Elena of Avalor.

Favorite m/m ship of the year

Much as I want to say that it's still krisnix or even estevictor (and I still do love them and think about them a lot), I really can't give this spot to any ship except Jason Todd/Dick Grayson from Batman/the DCU in general. I am vibrating them in my mind and thinking about them so much.

The most missed of your old fandoms

While I am still involved in the Ace Attorney fandom, I wish I was still as intensely focused and passionate about it as I used to be (and was for awhile). It's currently a really great time to be an AA fan given that there is a lot of enthusiasm due to the recent AJ collection and AAI collection ports. So many people are discovering the ships, characters, and games that are some of my very favorites and I wish I was "all in" with them--as we need the spark.

While I am again still in the fandom and it never exactly reached true "hyperfixation" levels for me, I also wish I was more hyped/involved with the BBC Father Brown Cinematic Universe fandom. It's definitely one of the nicest fandoms I'd been involved with and honestly, we get so much attention/fanservice from the writers that it's seriously unreal. It really is a "happy place" for me, which is why I wish I could be insane about it for longer than a month or so each year (after the next season drops).

Fandom resolutions for next year

Finish (and post) a dang fanfiction. I had a little goal with myself last year to post one of the very many Elena of Avalor fics that I started by Christmas. That did not happen and even after an entire year went by, I still didn't finish any of my many works-in-progress. (I did however start a few new ones to add to the already massive pile).

Find more femmslash ships that I can be just as obsessed/unhinged about as my het-and slash faves. It's already an underappreciated side of the fandom and I feel like I should do my part toward spreading lady love. I know I can do it, because it took me forever to find slash ships that I shipped more than casually. (It turns out I just disliked pretty much of all the popular ships and it was a matter of finding the right rare pairs.)

Catch up on some of the fandoms that I enjoy but haven't been following as closely (particularly the last season of What We do in the Shadows and multiple seasons of Doctor Who. (I watched and enjoyed most (all?) of Thirteen's first season but haven't watched anything since even if I have heard very mixed things about both the rest of the Chibnall run and the second RTD run).)

Gif more things. (Particularly for Ace Attorney, Elena of Avalor, and Father Brown). I haven't giffed anything in *months* and even though it's a lot of work, I do enjoy it and think I've gotten okay. (Nowhere near good enough for a "big" fandom but just good enough/one of the few people who does for my small-midsized fandoms.)

#sorry this took so long #i had a lot to say and got distracted #ask memes #saemi-the-dreamer #thanks for the asks tho

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m1ckeyb3rry · 3 months ago

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Tsumikis plot going down the drain actually one of the beginnings to my villain arc I remember being so hyped for it watching season 1 only for it to ??????? Whatever but anyways you fr have prophet abilities or something im actually convinced (manifest us episode Karasu/ Karasu light novel please)

CHIGIRIS FACE JN THE LATEST ONE HAD ME CRYING LIKE BRO WAS WEIRDED OUT it’s giving “mom come pick me up im scared” but YEAHH chigiri getting to let loose and be like a raging teen boy with nagi and Barou and zantetsu and do the “let’s go” pose and accompanied man roar (ykwim) sigh but HEAVY ON THAT yeah the whole girlboss counterpart idea is er interesting to say that least but on brand for fanon activities…..

AMERICASONA I SCREAMEEED THATS too funny but EXACTLY MY VISION like Bachira would be like “make her paper heart” or something and otoya would be like damn ok and when it actually works otoyas like bro you’re the rizz master mentor me Bachira LMAO banned from mcs building real for that

wait I lowk forgot about that game I had it downloaded for awhile but didn’t do anything with it oops but YEAH from what I’ve seen I bet there’s some nice interaction content there that the series desperately needed ugh

LMAOAOA THATS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS THINKING like imagine y/n being nagi and having to interact with reo and the soccer team and reo is fr like wtf happened to you (the possessed line is genius though omg)

LMAOO TRUE also wait YUKITULLI TIME?? also yeahhhh it was insane because the wording was so distinct too…I’m pretty certain a couple writers were like “yeah I saw this copy paste floating around so I’m

Not gonna write it!!” And good for them honestly also with your wc I don’t think you could ever be accused of plagiarism LMAOOOOOOO when the characters get unpacked instead of reverse haremed >>>>

SJHSSJ no because it’s technically still functioning and doing the basic things I bought it for so I can’t justify upgrading it yet….theres also a lot of backup prep work id need to get done before I get rid of that and I’m afraid now is most definitely not the time for that (speaking of now it’s my tablet that’s crashing out (literally) and I’m losing my mind everytime I try to open an app it CRASHES like LOAD PLEASE I BEG I literally came SO. CLOSE like the loading progress bar made it so far and then nope. SIGH)

LAMOAOA REAL NGL I watched it because my friend wanted me to and it was a good like no brain light hearted watch but the art style is not my type between the flat hair and face shape and eyes SORRY yeah no I’ll stick to my crow man…but yeah it’s interesting because hq is like the opposite extreme of the sports spectrum where it’s friendship is magic not I’ll climb your corpse and become number one

TIME FOR YOU TO START DRAFTIMG EPIKARASU that’s crazy fr though the chick still has me laughing it’s also like prime pfp material

Every time we circle back to this I have to take a deep breath because seriously get a life was it ever that serious…like people beefing it out fighting between two ships involving one character and I’m like……please….touch some grass….or even look at some pictures of grass….remind yourself of the existence of the outside…..

Nah fr shipped logic is honestly so hypocritical most of the time that I can’t even get myself to read their arguments because it makes me like rage quit equivalent of reading like you just contradicted yourself get out…..

Also isagi pedestalling nagi will never be not funny to me he’s fr like “he’s a monster/genius/god” and I’m like chill bro we get it

BAROUUUUU can’t wait to see him on the field also wait I think it’s really funny that the recent promo has basically spoiled the three subs because they include them in official art specifically for the u20 match team and I’m like imagine getting spoiled by the official accounts themselves LOL

LMAAOA literally me I will not be stepping out of the closet with this one guess this is my sign pay more attention to notes now you’ve got me intrigued LMFAOO STAY IN SCHOOL

IM CRYING TRUE for me I don’t think any experience will beat being sick it’s actually the worst like why am I being put out of commission for like a week and a half but anyways yes manifesting bacteria be gone…

LMAOAOA in classic Mira fashion indeed this is actually really funny but I’m sure it’s actually cooking so hard based off of the previews you showed honestly the MLP fan in me almost wants to expand this into a separate bllk universe and give every character their own Pegasus just imagine but anyways the angel take in the Kaiser fic too was a really refreshing fantasy au take too your brain is so big

Ok time to pull out the big brain mode and ponder the themes again lowk….but SHSHSH I would say NOOO but also so real for that I’ve definitely felt that with other platforms too like but OK we’re safe then although I’m ngl I don’t even use all that many things anymore and actually don’t use discord oops (I have trauma from that one friend telling me i have off discord user vibes like WHAT GOODBYE tbf it was also a friend who’s also into like anime and whatever so wasn’t closeted but still I did NOT ENJOY THAT EXPERIENCE) but should the time ever come we’ll figure something out I’m sure LOL

Ok first off from a purely pokemon standpoint Charizard and hiori is a crazy matchup even though I know that’s not what the event is doing LMAO this is truly a unique experience there’s another thing I didn’t think id hear bringing yuki into this is crazy work wait I’m crying yuki is fr just getting the short end of the stick in every miraverse au getting one sided beef from Karasu being the villain in hollyhock this is too funny justice will never come to him LMFAOOOO also I’m crying the “KENYU MF YUKIMIYA IS INTO ME” is SOOOO FUNNY LMFOAOAOAAOAAOAOA ok but now that they mention bm dorm i kinda get it although bm Yukimiya is NOT my favorite but anyways

HE WHAT??????? DAMN I lowk thought you just meant yeah i like him now so im adding

Him to the bottom of my list of characters I like but REPLACING REO I was not expecting that but considering what you wrote for sae i can see if seabird has me on the edge of swerving too wait ok i know that’s a sae tiktok but Isagis ghost white face in the beginning made me laugh oh wait that edit kinda goes hard especially with the music….oh…LMFAOO SAE THEME imagine sae theme before Karasu theme that’d be wild anyways maybe the carnivorous pegasi will make me swerve who knows

Your memes are actually way too funny i lost my mind at the Oliver one fr i need that framed on my wall the otoya yuki one is also hilarious sorry yuki but i find the blind jokes really funny THE YOU JUST TALK TO THEM IS TOO OFOYA CODED actually hilarious peak comedy right here STOP THE KAISER ONE IS SO FUNNY TOO ITS LOTERALLY THEM???

Ok the panel of nagis ego disappearing after he shoots the five shot revolver volley thing is actually so majestic one of my fav panels of him fr

CHEISTMAS NAGI wait the way they edited the Santa hat onto him is some crazy work talk about editing skills

I’ll never get over Nanamis goofy ass color palette and his goggles like wtf and the tie pattern is atrocious but I’m dying I read your comment about needing it to make its way into a Karasu edit and my fingers automatically saved the tiktok to my bllk folder LMAOOO BUT REAL PMG THE AUDIO wait it’s so Karasu someone edit this RIGHT NOW ugh I miss Karasu wtf

NAGI MOMENT so real honestly he gets the best quality scenes too like they’re pulling all the stops for him

LAMAOA IM CRYING THE WAY YOU ACTUALLY TJOIGHT OF NESS BUT YES I SEE THE VISION!!! I never willingly think of ness though ngl you just work overtime on the opps too but the audio does makes sense with him I’ll admit LMAO

RAGHHHHH KARASU SHIDOU BESTIES unironically love the spiky hair duo

CHIGIRI COMING IN CLUTCH FR!! I actually love that scene omg but also Isagi has NO survival instinct bro wasn’t going to duck or dodge or anything like hello

KM CRYINF IVE SEEN THIS OTOYA KARASU ONE LMFOAOOOO AIKU IN THE BACK LMFOAOOOOO REAL

IVE SEEN THIS ONE TOO AND SO REAL

When I tell you I almost passed out when they showed us that scene of Karasu doing pre match analysis like HE LOOKS SO FINE IOSKNDKDJSJS and the second to last scene in that tiktok GOODBYE I NEED MY MAN BACK NOWWAS

- Karasu anon

no literally like she was set up to be so cool and honestly even the yorozu thing wasn’t. HORRIBLE. per se. but it was just executed in a weird way and it just felt like another case of gege lowkey being unable/unwilling to write female characters and so just shelving them and giving them shitty conclusions instead of proper story arcs and development the way their male counterparts got…LMAOOO PLEASE i fr can just predict the future #praying for a karasu and otoya light novel release soon SDFHK the third person can be kiyora (provided he’s staying in the manga) ngl they might wait until nel is over so as to not spoil who’s staying since a lot of characters (kiyora, nanase, etc) are hanging in the balance and might not pass this arc so they might just not want to release until we know for sure they’ll be continuing onwards?? because a karasu - kiyora - otoya release would make a lot of sense given epinagi and their backstories all coming out at relatively the same time

CHIGIRI WAS SUFFERING BROOOO he was just trying to be nice and show concern for reo but he was NOT prepared for THAT…i know for a fact bro went straight to bachira and isagi to let them know what was going on because that was a DIABOLICAL interaction 😭 and agreed we really get to see a diff side of chigiri in epinagi which is really fun…he’s so silly with nagi barou and zantetsu (that one panel of him jumping on nagi’s shoulders while nagi’s like :x is SO FUNNY and it’s so cuteee too plus the one of him and zantetsu flexing at one another) it feels like epinagi also treats him like a guy more?? idk if that makes sense it makes sense to me 😓 but yeah pretty much just fandom doing its thing there with regards to that relationship SDKHF they’re honestly not even shown interacting THAT much if you think about it i think people just have their headcanons and run with them or smth because we see chigiri and like bachira interacting way more but i hardly ever see people talking about THEIR friendship

I LOVEE COMING UP WITH AMERICASONAS LMAOAOAO like yukimiya’s is bradley, chigiri is jesse, uhhh who else, i think isagi would be kyle?? KARASU’S IS TYLER SDKFH anyways imagine otoya is just indulging bachira because he and bachira are the only ones doing anything on their team so he’s like “ok sure i’ll make her a card and tell her she has a beautiful smile” and then it works and otoya’s like hold on bro…you cooked…and bachira’s just like 😄 LMAOAOA imagine lavinho gets involved too but his advice is HORRIBLE so it’s like otoya alternating between doing sweet stuff like drawing us holding hands in crayon and then like a day later he pulls up and is like “hey girl 😉 you remind me of my little toe 🙂‍↕️ because i’m probably going to bang you on the coffee table later when i’m drunk 😘” HAHAHA omg wait a new wingman has entered the villa…aiku shidou and now bachira…miraverse blue lock wingmen agenda is too strong

PLEASE omg wait i have a nagi request that’s just “can you write for nagi” dare i say freaky friday nagi version may be incoming…the only thing is like how would they end up switching bodies 🧐 because with y/n and karasu it was that they were beefing and then karasu yelled at the witch so she switched their bodies but i a) don’t see nagi beefing with anyone and b) don’t see nagi yelling at a witch LMAOO something to ponder when i’m at that point ig 😭 omg wait speaking of freaky friday somebody reblogged it a while back saying it was a “peak fic but should’ve been yaoiful” i was like what 😭 very confusing comment i’m still not sure how to take it

yukitullia would be insane…but tullirin…ngl i think it’s just going to come down to what plot idea i have first and whether nagi or karasu fits it better LMAOO and then tullia can be with yukimiya or rin based on that actually wait ykw would be another hilarious pairing is tullisae i feel like they would be very seabird sae and reader coded ☝🏻 but if she’s with sae who would reader be with…hmm…sae is even more friendless than rin and he also doesn’t have the benefit of having any really interesting pairings that i would want to look at (like rin with nagi) sooo actually wait i wouldn’t write it but imagine tullisae and then reader with AIKU SKDJHFSDLK

yeah i def respect them for saying no!! i don’t think i’ve ever said no to a request i just let them rot in my inbox for ages 😭 actually wait someone requested a sequel to seabird for my 1k event and i was like okay i don’t want to waste an event spot for something that everyone and their mother has been asking for so i’m going to veto that idea because if i do write a sequel to it it’ll just be because everyone wants one?? although ngl idt i will just because i think part of the fun and magic of seabird is the fact that we don’t really know what happens next (except we kinda do because rin mentions in the cherry tree sequel that sae and seabird reader are getting married) tbh i don’t think i’d be able to do their relationship justice if i did a sequel 🧐 so that will probably remain sequel-less ANYWAYS back to the original discussion HAHA yess i think tropes like reverse harem/love triangles only work if they are being used to reveal something about the character like if it’s just “i want a hot guy to like the mc” it feels shallow but if the love triangle is being used as an exploration of the characters or furthering the themes i think they can be really cool to include

HELPPP you need to like do an exorcism for your electronics or smth omg why are they all tweaking at the same time 😭

two of my best friends and i watched the first couple of episodes of hq together in my basement and halfway through i went upstairs for like fifteen minutes and threw up and then i came back downstairs and we continued watching and the next day i tested positive for covid LMAOOO so that’s my hq experience in a nutshell 😭 it’s like a meme for us now…we’ll bring it up like “remember when we were watching hq and you got covid???” yeah the artstyle really does not do it for me i could not imagine myself finding any of them attractive

EPIKARASU TIME FR omg i love the chick though it would be such a funny pfp actually

i miss when people used to ship literally anyone and everyone i think there’s so much discourse about it now that it’s like. CRAZY. not that there weren’t ship wars back in the day but i feel like the vibes were different…anyways i accidentally ended up reading a fem karasu x fem kaiser fic last night so that’s where MY opinions are re:shipping (it was kinda hilarious actually i was like how am i here…but then i was like wtvr for karasu ig i’ll do it…)

ISAGI GLAZES NAGI SM IT CRACKS ME UP like damn bro we get it you think he’s cool (ngl me too) in second selection especially it’s SO funny because he cannot stop like nagi will literally breathe on the field and isagi will be like holy shit…he’s unreal…the god of breathing…LMAOAOA honestly most unrealistic thing about blue lock is that isagi didn’t choose nagi’s team in third selection like i know for plot reasons he had to choose rin or else he wouldn’t even have made the bllk11 but like who in their right mind wouldn’t choose “guaranteed chemical reactions” when you have ONE game to prove yourself 😭 also let’s be real i think nagi would’ve been way more willing to pass to isagi and let him shine and whatnot than rin was…obviously that’s against the mentality of bllk and shit but still

wait i didn’t even think about that tbh i forget that there are anime onlies for bllk because the manga is sm better that if anything people are mostly manga onlies if anything ☝🏻 but YESSS AHHH I AM SO HYPE FOR BAROU just gotta get through an itoshi fest before we can see him shine

HELPP i really do think it’s a product of how small the fandom is so like the groups are very overt/in your face which makes it easier to identify them 😭 it’s like a game for me honestly like it’s very unserious

ANGEL KAISER WAS SO FUN okay your inner mlp fan will be pleased to hear that there will be quite a few characters featuring with pegasi of their own!! well not their OWN because they’re just jockeys but ykwim…off the top of my head sae, kaiser, leonardo luna, bachira, maybe isagi, noel noa, ego, hiori so far all have a named pegasus they are or will be mentioned riding 😛 they’re not all as relevant (some are literally just there to fill out the races so it’s not just two pegasi that we know of racing LMAO) but they all have names and colors…i won’t spoil them yet EXCEPT leonardo luna’s just because it is cracking me UP i think i’m going to name his pegasus “lunar eclipse” because is that not the funniest shit ever 😭😭😭 anyways yeah this is another one that’s going to end up being LONG i think however a surprising amt of people seem excited for it?? one of the sae reqs actually got changed to kaiser with dark/ghost (supernatural au/reincarnation) because the person said they thought my fantasy au ideas were so cool and they thought i could really cook with a more unique prompt (as opposed to normal/rock with sae which iirc is just fluff/modern au)

LMAOOO HELP I FORGOT YOU ENDURED THAT 😭 i’m the opposite people are always shocked that i watch anime and use discord and whatnot (IF they even find out) so i literally use it in public FJDJS my mindset is that my face card lets me get away w being weird…is that realistic NO but whatever i am #cringebutfree anyways if anything we can always just be tik tok mutuals or something…or we can exchange emails and email each other when new bllk episodes drop LMAOAAO IMAGINE 😭😭😭 jokes aside yes trust it will all work out and besides i don’t plan on deactivating atm so it’s a concern for later

PLSSS JUSTICE FOR YUKIMIYA 😭 at least he bagged yayoi in bfb??? but otherwise yeah bro is struggling omg and agreed everything about it is kind of blowing my mind but i think it will be fun!! ngl both love triangle requests i’ve gotten have been kinda random like kunigami and karasu is no less random tbh the difference is that i actually would pick karasu over kuni 😩 agreed though bm yuki is fr a diff character or smth tbh…bring back third selection u20 rough and tumble yuki 🙏🏻 wait ngl going back to earlier parts of the convo imagine ROUGH AND TUMBLE yukimiya with tullia (or even reader) that would actually be soooo fun orrr speaking of character backstory adjusting aus i was talking to jeirin abt what blue lock would be like if (somehow) nagi was discovered by aiku and became the u20 team’s ace instead of being discovered by reo and that would also be really fun to write at some point i think…people would hate me because i would make it so blue lock is dissolved but let’s be real blue lock 11 without nagi ever being in bllk is cooked — isagi and probably barou would never awaken, reo would also never really awaken or even be involved, and nagi also scored their first goal?? but him + sae is a lethal combo i fear they would in fact win (also i’m a nagi glazer plus it would be cool to write that i think) tbh that’s actually one where i would write it as just a character study on nagi instead of a reader insert story but idk i’m scared of opps and i’ve never written something from the pov of a canon character (except aiku ig) so it would be a little out of my comfort zone…hm…many thoughts atm

LMAAOAO RIP REO i feel like i haven’t cared much abt reo in a while he’s kind of in the chigiri bucket where his fanon version is so annoying i stopped liking him except with reo his additional times are also kinda giving his fanon self so i’m like oh…now FIRST SELECTION reo?? UNBEATABLE but him ever since then has been slightly meh i fear 😭 ngl sae is one who i do like but specifically and only my version of him FJDJSJ like seabird sae/carnivorous pegasi racer sae my BELOVEDS but i could never read him written by anyone else because i only like a very exact characterization of him and most people don’t really do that LMAOAO so he’s like a conditional top five for me 🧐 ngl of my top favs i can only occasionally read about karasu because everyone else is constantly mischaracterized to the point that i’m just like eugh this isn’t even my glorious bf this is just some white haired mf who hates women 😢

THE SAE EDIT IS SOOO HEAT ISN’T IT like the combo with the music and the scenes they used are soooo good 😭 shocked isagi is so funny though agreed he is FLABBERGASTED

LMAOOO I’M GLAD YOU LIKED THE MEMES I HAD SM FUN MAKING THEM 😭😭😭 they are sooo silly bro i need more yuki and otoya interactions ik for a fact that yuki thinks he’s dumb asf wait lowkey it would be hilarious if otoya thinks he and yuki are chill and yukimiya is just rude to him in the way karasu is but then he sees yuki w nagi and he’s like wait am i the problem…yukimiya can’t escape one sided beef HAHA at least this time he’s the one hating not being hated

THE PANEL OF NAGI’S EGO DISAPPEARING AND THE ONE OF HIM CELEBRATING HIS GOAL ARE SOOOO COLD call me isagi the way i’m abt to glaze him so horrendously 🤤

christmas nagi is so precious princess pookie like imagine him drinking hot chocolate wearing a santa hat 🥹 actually ngl shidou would jump him because he hates santa but it would be so cute

NANAMI IS SOOO GOOFY i fear i will always hate…the fanon shidou friend was obsessed with nanami also so extra reason to find him an opp 😭 but RIGHT it’s SOSOSO karasu coded like him in the third selection especially ughhh #needthat

been saying from the start nagi is the fav and it’s not a close contest 🤩 even in third selection w the worst animation yet he still looked cute

LMAOOO THE INNER EDITOR IN ME COMES OUT REGARDLESS i too usually forget abt ness but i heard the audio and i was like holy SHIT it’s perfect i just need someone who actually likes him to get on it (although he doesn’t have the panels/moments for it yet…most of his scenes are him crying and being emo over kaiser he needs to have his glow up to be edited like that)

KARASU AND SHIDOU BESTIES FOR THE RESTIES (karasu does NOT approve of this message) I LOVE THEM SM TBH PEAK DUO

THE WAY ISAGI JUST STANDS THERE LIKE 🧍 IS SO FUNNY bro was fr just going to let shidou rock his shit 😭 god bless chigiri fr (or not…that would’ve been one less opp to think abt 😒 maybe we should be manifesting shidou absolutely taking out isagi next chapter)

AIKU IN THE BACK AND THE WAY HE ZOOMS INTO THE FRAME CRACK ME UP it’s sooooo oaeu coded like this is actually what happens in the otoya chapter when otoya reforms himself and aiku gives reader “rizz advice”

HFSKSJ i love every single video that uses one of those genre of audios…like the “naw 😨 that’s CRAZY” or the “jit TRIPPING” audios idek where they’re from but they’re all hilarious and so out of pocket it makes me laugh every time

KARASU IN THAT EP WAS SOOOOO GLORIOUS OMFG that episode doing the MOST for us karasu fans and then the episode right after being nagi’s goal genuinely healed smth in me LMAOOO now we wait because next ep will probably be rin’s goal + aryu’s block but then. BUT THEN. BAROUUUUUUUUUU (i mean technically shidou first but shidou is in this weird spot where he’s not an opp but also not a fav…admittedly his goals are really really hype though so it’ll be fun to see them playing out)

#answered asks

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