#fire and ice graphic novel spoilers

[blimbo-buddy]

prines.

[the-owl-tree]

graphic novel spoilers

not sure if it was a writer's decision or a harpercollins one but you can really feel the strain with them trying to quickly include fire and ice on top of into the wild. they've cut out a lot of key moments like setting up fireheart's relationships with morningflower, gorsepaw, and onewhisker which helped later emotional beats hit harder. it's a choice i can understand but not one i can really get behind. cutting out the battle i guess is something....but once again we're missing a key introduction to one of arc 1's antagonists: leopardstar. you don't need the vendetta to make it work, but it adds a lot to it.

[thegayhimbo]

Stranger Things Erica The Great Review

Warning: The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS from this graphic novel, as well as from Season 4 of Stranger Things!

If you haven't yet, be sure to check out my other Stranger Things reviews, and let me know what your thoughts/theories are about the show or the upcoming season! :)

Stranger Things Six

Stranger Things Halloween Special

Stranger Things The Other Side

Stranger Things Zombie Boys

Stranger Things The Bully

Stranger Things Winter Special

Stranger Things Tomb of Ybwen

Stranger Things Into The Fire

Stranger Things Science Camp

Stranger Things "The Game Master" and "Erica's Quest"

Stranger Things and Dungeons and Dragons

Stranger Things Kamchatka

Synopsis: Following the events of season 3, Erica has embraced her love for Dungeons & Dragons and begins organizing campaigns centered around her new D&D character: Erica The Great. At the suggestion of her mom, she enlists her friends to play the game with her. However, Erica's attempts to control D&D cause her friends to turn on her with disastrous results. Now it's up to Erica to fix things before everyone ends up in trouble.

Observations:

This is the third graphic novel since Zombie Boys and The Bully, and it's once again penned by Greg Pak, this time alongside Danny Lore. Released on January 26, 2022 (four months before season 4 premiered), it serves as an interquel between when Erica was first given the D&D books by Dustin and Lucas at the end of season 3, and when she substitutes for Lucas at Hellfire Club in the season 4 premiere. The graphic novel chronicles one of her D&D campaigns with her friends (Kelly, Tanya, and April). Compared to comics/graphic novels like Kamchatka or Into the Fire which were dark and intense, this one is light-hearted, which is welcoming. This story focuses on Erica's personal development, both in how she plays D&D, and as a person.

When it comes to discussing character development in the series, most of the fan discourse usually centers around Steve's growth and how he's evolved since the show began. While I 100% agree that he has, and that it's one of the best aspects of the show, there are times fans tend to overlook other characters who have changed as well. Two examples that come to mind are Lucas and Erica. I will cover Lucas's development when I review Lucas on the Line, but for this discussion, I'm focusing exclusively on Erica.

Erica's growth has been interesting, and as she's evolved as a character, so has my perception of her. When she was introduced in season 2, I didn't care much for her. IMO, she came off as little more than a bratty younger sister who made disdainful remarks about Lucas and his friends, and at one point (unintentionally) acted as a hindrance when Dustin was trying to get in contact with Lucas. I know there are fans who loved her snark, but I found it mean-spirited and off-putting. I get she was 9-10 years old at the time, and I know some kids tend to act like this at that age, but it doesn't make it any more pleasant to deal with. It also doesn't help she didn't have much to do with the main plot, so I didn't see a reason at the time to get invested in her.

Season 3 was different. I know fan opinions about Erica were mixed at the time, but in spite of that, I liked her better in season 3 for two reasons: 1.) From a narrative perspective, she actually had a point for being there, namely in helping Steve, Robin, and Dustin infiltrate the Russian base underneath Starcourt Mall, and later aiding Dustin in rescuing a drugged Robin and Steve. 2.) This was the season Erica's character development started to kick in. Her reasons for getting involved were initially about "Free Ice Cream for Life," but once things go horribly wrong and she's informed about what's really going on, she finally realizes the danger everyone is in and starts taking the situation a lot more seriously. On top of that, after her talk with Dustin about how she's secretly a nerd, she begins embracing that aspect of herself rather than snidely putting it down like she's done in the past.

Season 4 is where I liked Erica the most. The sequence of her helping to win Eddie's D&D campaign was fun, and it's noteworthy she didn't have to be bribed by Mike and Dustin either. She aided them because she loves the game and she see herself as Dustin's friend. As she tells Jason later when he's asking about Dustin: "Know him? I've bled with him." She still retains her snark, but it's more directed towards people who actually deserve it: Like when Eddie acts condescending towards her initially when she shows up at Hellfire Club, or even some of the barbs she throws Jason's way. This exchange especially is golden:

I love how a.) Erica clearly likes Max and approves of her relationship with Lucas, and b.) Even if she is being snarky here, she's not disapproving of the idea of Lucas going out with guys, but thinks Lucas could do so much better than Jason. 😂

Jokes aside though, I also appreciate how, in an entire room full of adults who were silent and complicit during Jason's speech at the town hall, she is the only one who wasn't afraid to stand up to Jason and call bullshit at his attempts to paint the Hellfire Club as a Satanic cult responsible for every bad thing happening in Hawkins. She knew this was going to turn into a lynch mob that would target her brother and his friends, and she was having none of it.

Initially, she does throw shade at Lucas and Dustin when they're caught by the police and lie about what they're doing, but when she's informed about what's actually going on, she willingly drops everything to help them escape (and judging by her unsurprised look at Lucas's explanation, she probably already figured out the recent deaths, combined with Lucas and Dustin's suspicious behavior, had something to do with the Upside Down). She later does everything she can to stop Vecna along with the rest of the group, and helped save Max's life (following El restarting her heart) by getting emergency respondents there to stabilize Max's condition before it got worse.

Adding on to this, I love how season 4 subtly shows Erica caring about Lucas without the constant snide jabs. Like Erica coming to all of Lucas's basketball games on her own accord (minus the one she missed for Hellfire Club). Or staying in the hospital with Lucas while Max recovers. Or even rushing to Lucas's aid after overpowering Andy. Lucas on the Line also expands on her protective side towards Lucas, such as getting angry when Lucas gets called a racist slur by someone on the basketball team, or even being worried for Lucas when he's made the target of a bomb threat at school.

In Stranger Things tradition, Erica is someone who appears one way on the surface, but has a lot more hidden depths to her character.

This brings me to the interquel Erica The Great: Much like the short story "Erica's Quest," Erica is still developing her skills as a D&D player at this time, and is looking for people to play with her. The story kicks off when her mom suggests inviting her friends to do a campaign despite their unfamiliarity with D&D.

Her friends eventually agree, but problems arise when they have a hard time understanding how the game is played. Erica doesn't help by being impatient and dismissive when they question things. There's also the fact Erica is more interested initially in getting the glory and credit for herself rather than genuinely wanting to work with her friends, resulting in them feeling inconvenienced.

Naturally, this pisses Tanya off, and she leaves to get her mom's bird (a parakeet) to show off to April and Kelly as a way of one-upping Erica. A fight breaks out between them over this, resulting in the parakeet getting loose and flying next door to the house of Erica's neighbor, Miss Dorothy.

Because she knows Tanya will get in trouble with her mother for losing the bird, Erica agrees to get it back for her, all the while dealing with Miss Dorothy's dog and a bunch of other obstacles.

If you've followed along to this point, you can already guess what kind of story this is, and how it plays out: Main character starts out selfish and self-centered. Catastrophe occurs, forcing them to work with others to solve the problem. Through trial and error, they eventually learn the value of teamwork, acknowledge their faults, and grow as a person.

While the plot itself is formulaic, it works here for Erica in bridging parts of her character development. Not only is she learning to be a better player and Dungeon Master, but she's also learning to be a better friend to those around her. She was already beginning to show signs of this towards the end of season 3, and season 4 acts as the culmination of that. This graphic novel shows the big leap forward for her. She's starting to shed her "It's All About Me" attitude while also taking responsibility and learning that it's okay to rely on others for assistance instead of doing everything on your own.

On top of that, regardless of whether or not this was intentional from the writers, I like how the graphic novel serves as a nice deconstruction of the "Mary Sue/Author's Self-Insert" archetypes and how obnoxious they are. The character Erica creates and uses in D&D initially resembles that: She's presented as perfect in the game with no meaningful flaws she has to work through. She's naturally great at everything she does, and both the game's narration and her "companions" are just there to prop her up. Rather than making her look awesome, it just makes her character an uninteresting scene-stealer. This contrasts hard with Erica outside of the game where she's called out for her flaws, works through them, strengthens her friendship with the other girls as a result, and likely takes what she's learned and applies it to the game to make "Erica The Great" a better written and more compelling character. By the end, she's even giving her friends the chance to add their own spin to their D&D campaign because she recognizes it's important for them to try out their fun ideas.

And I get that through all of this, Erica's still a kid who's around 10-11 years old at this time, and that certain levels of being self-centered are expected. I even get creating fantasy worlds at that age where you're the main character of your story, who does everything perfectly and is constantly hailed for your amazing accomplishments. I did the same thing myself when I was growing up, so I recognize I'm not in a position to judge others on that account. However, in the context of this story, it's still nice seeing that growth from Erica.

Something else that's fun is how the quest to get the parakeet back is viewed through Erica's imagination as a D&D adventure. From Erica's perspective, the parakeet is a fiery Phoenix, Miss Dorothy is a mysterious witch, and her dog is a Cerberus. You can tell the artists had a lot of fun with these scenes:

I also love the small detail of Erica starting her D&D Campaign at "Starcourt Tavern," which is fittingly symbolic for the place where her story and first encounter with elements from the Upside Down began:

One tiny question I have though: Where is Tina in all of this? She's been repeatedly name-dropped by Erica and Lucas in seasons 3 and 4, and yet she hasn't made any appearance on the show or in this graphic novel. We get Kelly, Tanya, and April, but we don't get Tina.

Oh well! 🤷

On a final note, in regards to where they take Erica's story in season 5, I'm wondering if she and Lucas will spend most of their time together for the last season as they deal with Vecna's impending invasion. The ominous ending for season 4 certainly suggests that:

Since Erica's also in the hospital with Max at this time, I wonder if she might even have a role in resuscitating Max from her current coma.

Additionally, I also believe that since the comics and season 4 placed a heavy emphasis on Erica's skills and knowledge as a D&D player, she may end up employing them in a way that brings Vecna's downfall in the final season. There's even an argument to be had that the scene of Erica in "The Hellfire Club" rolling a 20 for the team and defeating the D&D version of Vecna is foreshadowing that she'll have an important role to play in the Party's fight against Vecna.

Overall, a fun graphic novel that does a great job enhancing Erica's continuing character development. Check it out when (and if) you get the chance!

[cayteecat]

the warrior cats graphic novel is a very good adaptation but I can tell you its biggest problem without spoilers right now. It is an adaptation of into the wild AND fire and ice. the book is divided into 3 parts the first two dedicated to the former the last to the latter.

the into the wild half feels fully complete and very faithful while the fire and iiice half cuts out some imo IMPORTANT events while rushing through the events it did manage to fit in there. the book ends before the events of fire and ice end too which i assume means theyll just be in the next one but i really hope that doesnt lead to those two books getting compressed bad as well. OVERALL like it but maannn

[kellyvela]

The ones who know the ASOIAF ending

I’m not talking about D&D

ANNE GROELL George R.R. Martin Editor

Question: We know that the producers of the TV show Game of Thrones know in broad strokes the ending of the main character arcs of A Song of Ice and Fire. Without giving anything away, do you know the ending, too?

Anne Groell: No. George is a very secretive fellow, and guards his secrets well. I do know a few things from AWOW, but mainly because we had to shorten a few elements in the book as it was already getting too long, and he had to reveal a few secrets so I could help him redirect parts of the plot a bit. I do know the endpoint of Bran’s story line—and Daniel Abraham, who has been adapting the graphic novel of AGOT for me, knows where Tyrion ends up. (I am jealous of that!) But much in the way all of you have been keeping secrets from show watchers who have not yet read the books (and I continue to be impressed by how secret you all kept the Red Wedding), I also will never tell what I know. George has somehow managed to swear us all to this amazing conspiracy of silence, which I admire and appreciate and fully participate in! I had a very amusing lunch with Daniel in which we very pointedly did not tell each other what the other one knew. In short, like you, I Keep George’s Secrets.

—Q & A with George R.R. Martin Editor, Anne Groell - May 2014

***

DANIEL ABRAHAM  'A Game of Thrones' Graphic Novel Adaptor

Geek: What were some of the other challenges of bringing this work to the comic page?

DA: Prying spoilers out of George. There are times when I need to compress some bit of action or reduce the number of characters in a scene just so that the page isn’t confusing to look at, but in order for that to happen, I need to know what’s critical plot and what’s not. As a result, I know a few things about how the series ends and what some of the prophecies in the text mean that I would be shot for telling.

Geek: Who are some of the characters you’ve gravitated towards during the writing of the book?

DA: Hard call. I liked all the characters as a reader years before I started the adaptation. Who doesn’t like Jon or Dany or Tyrion? The thing that adapting the books has made me appreciate more is the smaller characters. Old Nan, for instance, is actually a fascinating and eerie character, but she’s a part of a huge tapestry. It’s easy to overlook her and folks like her.

—INTERVIEW: DANIEL ABRAHAM ON BRINGING 'GAME OF THRONES' TO COMICS - 08/01/2011

***

Question: Have you collaborated at all with George R.R. Martin in the process of adapting the novel to comics? If so, what's the creative process there?


Daniel Abraham: I've spoken to George a lot in the process.  The biggest issues we have are continuity questions.  There are things about this story that only he knows, and they aren't all obvious.  There was one scene I had to rework because there's a particular line of dialog -- and you wouldn't know it to look at -- that's important in the last scene of "A Dream of Spring." For that kind of issue, there's no substitute for just talking to the man himself. 

That said, it's very clear that George isn't writing the comic book. He's put a great deal of faith and trust in me on the actually working out of the scripts.  And God forbid I get in the way of his writing "The Winds of Winter."  If I get a reputation for holding that project up, I'd be hung from the trees.

—ABRAHAM PLAYS "A GAME OF THRONES" - September 2011

***

I know some details about A Dream of Spring because of the conversations we had about A Game of Thrones. I mean, there were things he was setting up in early chapters in A Game of Thrones that are references to the end of the series. He had a very clear view of what of those were negotiable and what weren't and he had something he was aiming for at the end.

—Episode 31- Daniel Abraham AGOT Interview - Ranking Thrones By James Kelly - September 2019

***

(...)

There are certainly long-running comic book series that have succeeded brilliantly without a strict continuity or foreshadowing that began years ahead. I’m thinking of ongoing serial (even soap-operatic) titles such as Batman or Spider-Man. But A Song of Ice and Fire isn’t open-ended. It does have a conclusion it moves toward, and in fact, the last sentence of the last book is already decided.

(...) 

Charting our best course depends on what A Game of Thrones in particular and A Song of Ice and Fire in the larger scheme is.

And we don’t know that yet.

For me, the single most important fact about A Song of Ice and Fire is that it will end. Daenerys Targaryen will have a last scene and a last word. Because of my participation in this project, I know the fate of several major characters, and have a good idea of the final plot arc. Even so, the details of where the many, many characters end—where, in fact, Westeros itself ends—aren’t all available to me. They may not even be available to George.

My experience writing my own novels suggests that even at this late stage in the project, the best writers are in an ongoing process of discovery. Even with the last scenes firmly in mind, the process of reaching that place is full of surprises. Some of the ideas and intentions for The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring will change in the telling of the tale, because that is the inevitable process of creation. Especially as we near the end, the events at the beginning will take on new significance. Prophecies will unfold in ways that may be as surprising to the author as they are to the reader. Things that are foreshadowed will come to be, or else they won’t. Until the ending comes, recreating Westeros—adding new characters, remaking old ones, taking action from perspectives different from those already in the books—isn’t an act of translation or adaptation. It’s just making things up.

—SAME SONG IN A DIFFERENT KEY - Adapting A Game of Thrones as a Graphic Novel - 
Daniel Abraham [In 'Beyond the Wall: Exploring George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, From A Game of Thrones to A Dance with Dragons' - James Lowder  (Editor) - June 2012]

***

So, it seems that everything is hidden in the pages of “A Game of Thrones” and as I said before: “the person who knows everything in ASOIAF” is Old Nan...

[dominik528]

What I read in 2020, from worst to best

1. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng - ★☆☆☆☆ (review)

2. Rules of Civility by Amor Towles - ★☆☆☆☆ (review)

3. Love Traveling by Hitomi- ★☆☆☆☆

4. The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory - ★★☆☆☆ (review)

5. The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo - ★★☆☆☆

6. Trinkets by Kirsten Smith - ★★☆☆☆

7. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros -★★☆☆☆

8. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson - ★★☆☆☆

9.The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick - ★★☆☆☆

10. Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple - ★★☆☆☆

11.Avenue of Mysteries by John Irvings - ★★☆☆☆

12. The Expatriates by Janice Y.K. Lee - ★★★☆☆ (review)

13. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo - ★★★☆☆ (review)

14. The Complete Peanuts, Vol. 10 (1969 - 1970) by Charles Schulz - ★★★☆☆ (review)

15. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden - ★★★☆☆ (review)

16. Kill the Boy Band by Goldy Moldavsky - ★★★☆☆ (review)

17. Alphabet of Dreams by Susan Fletcher - ★★★☆☆ (review)

18. Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman - ★★★☆☆ (review)

19. Archenemy by Frank Beddor - ★★★☆☆

20. Finally & 13 Gifts by Wendy Mass - ★★★☆☆

21. No One to Trust by Melody Carlson - ★★★☆☆

21. Girl in the Train by Paula Hawkins - ★★★☆☆

22. Empress of the World by Sara Ryan - ★★★☆☆

23. On the Come Up by Angie Thomas - ★★★☆☆

24. 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson - ★★★☆☆

25. Clueless: Senior Year by Amber Benson - ★★★☆☆

26. This Book is Not Yet Rated by Peter Bognanni - ★★★☆☆

27. The Summer of Jordi Perez by Amy Spalding - ★★★☆☆

28. Blue is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh - ★★★☆☆

29. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote- ★★★☆☆

30. Bone Gap by Laura Ruby - ★★★☆☆

31. Lilac Girls by Martha Kelly - ★★★☆☆

32. The DUFF by Kody Keplinger - ★★★☆☆

33. Eggs by Jerry Spinelli - ★★★☆☆

34. Dumplin' & Puddin' by Julie Murphy - ★★★☆☆

35. The Body by Stephen King - ★★★☆☆

36. L: Change the World by M - ★★★☆☆

37. Sadie by Courtney Summers- ★★★☆☆

38. The Graveyard Shift by Neil Gaiman- ★★★☆☆

39. Save the Date by Morgan Matson - ★★★☆☆

40. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick - ★★★☆☆

41. Neil Gaiman's How to Talk to Girls at Parties by Fábio Moon - ★★★☆☆

42. Jughead, Vol. 3 by Ryan North - ★★★☆☆

43. Archie, Vol. 5 by Mark Waid - ★★★☆☆

44. Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 2 by Young Kim, Stephanie Meyer - ★★★☆☆

45. Sôdôk by Sheri Holman - ★★★☆☆

46. Staying Strong: 365 Days a Year by Demi Lovato - ★★★☆☆

47. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah- ★★★★☆ (spoiler review)

48. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd - ★★★★☆ (spoiler review)

49. Marlene by C.W. Gortner - ★★★★☆ (review)

50. Thomas Jefferson Dreams of Sally Hemings by Stephen O'Connor - ★★★★☆ (review)

51. The Siren by Kiera Cass - ★★★★☆ (review)

52. Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick - ★★★★☆ (review)

53. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates - ★★★★☆ (review)

54. The Beguiled by Thomas Cullinan - ★★★★☆ (review)

55. The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware - ★★★★☆ (review)

56. Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews - ★★★★☆ (review)

57. Rutta & Kodama, Volumes 1 - 3 by Youko Fujitani - ★★★★☆ (review)

58. Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 1 by Young Kim, Stephanie Meyer - ★★★★☆ (review)

59. The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara- ★★★★☆ (review)

60. Harry Potter 1 - 3 by J.K. Rowling - ★★★★☆

61. Esperanza Rising & Becoming Naomi León by Pam Muñoz Ryan - ★★★★☆

62. Sweetest Spell by Suzanne Selfors - ★★★★☆

63. Teen Titans: Raven by Kami Garcia- ★★★★☆

64. Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan - ★★★★☆

65. Blended by Sharon Draper - ★★★★☆

66. Shanghai Girls & Dreams of Joy by Lisa See - ★★★★☆

67. The Complete Peanuts, Vol. 25 (1999 - 2000) by Charles Schulz - ★★★★☆

68. The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street by Susan Jane Gilman - ★★★★☆

69. Jahanara by Kathryn Lasky- ★★★★☆

70. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn - ★★★★☆

71. Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates - ★★★★☆

72. Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera - ★★★★☆

73. So Far From Home by Barry Denenberg - ★★★★☆

74. Soundless by Richelle Mead - ★★★★☆

75. Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine - ★★★★☆

76. This One Summer by Mariko & Jillian Tamaki - ★★★★☆

77. Archie, Vol. 6 by Mark Waid - ★★★★☆

78. Cut by Patricia McCormick- ★★★★☆

79. Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow- ★★★★☆

80. Jughead, Vol. 2 by Chip Zdarsky- ★★★★☆

81. Reggie & Me by Tom DeFalco - ★★★★☆

82. Radio Silence by Alice Oseman- ★★★★☆

83. Number the Stars & The Giver by Lois Lowry - ★★★★☆

84. Attack on Titan, Vol. 2, 3, 6 & 7 by Hajime Isayama - ★★★★☆

85. Call, Silent Night & Ice Dolls by Hitomi - ★★★★☆

86. Princess Ai, vol. 3 by Courtney Love & DJ Milky - ★★★★☆

87. Attack on Titan, Vol. 1, 4 & 5 by Hajime Isayama- ★★★★★ ( review , review )

88. Princess Ai, Vol. 1 & 2 by Courtney Love & DJ Milky - ★★★★★ (review)

89. Flower by Hitomi - ★★★★★ (review)

[feral-crow]

reading your feral running away story was like reading a y/a novel lmao, do you have any other stories you want to share???

i hope that’s a good thing lmao, thank you!! and i do have a couple more but none of them quite as dramatic?? most of my other dumb stories were mostly were when i was a kid or are very small but here’s another one that happened very recently;

(tw for burning, but not anything graphic.)

Alright, this one’s a little less funny, a lot more dear-God-who-let-you-into-this-world but I’m going to share it because I think it’s funny, and it absolutely counts in the “dumb” category. I’ll try not to make it super graphic.

So, exposition;

First off, I have some auditory processing problems. Nothing officially diagnosed, but loud noises translate into shrill static in my head (like fire alarms, I guess?), and sometimes my brain will auto-translate normal sentences into weird gibberish and I have to ask if the person talking to me did say “marble bottoms” or if I’m completely losing it. Plus, I have some disassociation issues, so telling me anything important just goes in one ear and out the other. 

Second; I’m in a culinary class at my high school.

I think you can see where this is going.

Now, normally I’m very careful in this class. It’s an actual super-fancy class with restaurant level equipment including working stoves, ovens, and knives, and we have a very strict set of rules, have to acquire a food handling licence, and we have food safety inspectors come in. So I do take the class very seriously, and so far it’s one of my favorite classes! (I have recipes I can throw onto my blog from that class if anyone’s interested) (and weird tip; if you want super light and fluffy chocolate-chip cookies, add a teaspoon of cornstarch to your batter.)

Every once in a while, we’ll have periodical cleaning days. Rewash all the dishes, mop the floors, make sure there’s no crumbs hiding in small areas, rearrange the pantry, make sure all the laundry is done, ect. 

So one morning, the teacher announces that we need to wash the stove grates. You know, the ones that hold up the pots and pans above the flame? Yeah, those, but industrial-sized. So huge and super heavy. She mentions that she had turned off the lighter (since our stoves are gas, we have a small flame that’s on even when the stoves are off)

“Cool!” I think. “I don’t think they were hot!”

Spoiler warning; they were very hot. I realized this fact only after I had picked one up with my left hand, which occurred just as the teacher shouted, “By the way, the stoves are hot!” Which, she probably didn’t think about clarifying, because of course the stoves were hot.

I gently maneuvered the very hot stove grate so that it was sitting on the stove again (as my classmates stared at me) and went up to tell the teacher that I had burned my hand. Very badly. She stared at my hand, said “oh yeah that’s pretty bad” and sent me to the nurse.

I spent the rest of the period loitering by the sink running cold water over my hand, running to the nurse for ice, and being comforted by my friend (who was. Very Concerned!) 

The ride home was absolute hell.

I also spent most of the time at home standing by the kitchen sink, running water over my hand, or shoving my hand into bowls of ice water in an attempt to make the pain go away. By 7 pm or so, my mom finally had enough and took me to urgent care, where I learned that I had acquired a second degree burn on the first joint of my pinkie finger, and depending on how it healed, I might need plastic surgery.

By the next day, most/all of the pain had gone away, and walking into school with a gauze bandage over my hand and having everyone ask if I had actually burned my hand on the culinary stove was pretty funny.

It ended up healing nicely, but I can’t feel anything on that one specific part of my hand and there is a slightly visible scar.

I can, in fact, provide pictures if asked.

[yadigbooks]

Avatar, The Last Airbender: The Kyoshi Novels (The Rise of Kyoshi & The Shadow of Kyoshi)

I'm a big fan of the Avatar: The Last Airbender series, including the Legend of Korra show and the continuing graphic novels of both series, so ever since I heard about the novels of their predecessor Kyoshi, I knew I had to get my hands on them. 

I read the first novel a few months ago and finally just did read the second, but I'll do my best to give an overview of mostly the first and without too many spoilers :D

To give some background on who and what the Avatar is, it's basically a reincarnation cycle. So while everyone in the Avatar world has element bending powers, only the spirit of the Avatar can bend all four. Every reincarnation goes through a cycle of each bending element, aka which nation they're born into, so while their gender is random, their native element is a prescribed cycle. 

The order of the Avatars that have been fleshed out goes as follows: Avatar Yangchen (air), Avatar Kurak (water), Avatar Kyoshi (earth), Avatar Roku (fire), Avatar Aang (air), Avatar Korra (water).

Kyoshi's story begins with her being an orphan, she's taken in by an airbender named Kelsang, and works in a Manor that serves the Avatar--or so everyone thinks he is. The earth kingdom sages had an awful time figuring out who the avatar was, and ended up just going with a boy named Yun who was an exemplary earthbender and very sharp. That's not to say they don't really think he's the Avatar, because Kurak's companions--who took charge of all things Avatar--believe he is, and have covered up him not yet being able to bend the other elements from earth kingdom dignitaries. 

Despite ~possibly~ not being the real avatar, Yun is very good at his job, especially diplomatic negotiations. So when team avatar recruits him for handling a situation with ice pirates, he brings along his dear friends Kyoshi and a spirited firebender guard named Rangi.

On the mission, crap eventually hits the fan (hah, fan), causing Kyoshi to react with an extraordinary feat of earthbending. And when the situation calms down, Yun's position comes into question, as Kelsang feels Kyoshi has as much potential as he.

All in all, I really love these books! Kyoshi is probably my favorite avatar, she has the mellowness and overthinker-ness of Aang, and the fierceness of Korra. (And the gayness of Korra) Which is another aspect of these books I really like, there's a romance between Kyoshi and Rangi, and it's one of the best representations of a wlw couple I've seen in media. They're very chill and there's no drama that's not relevant to the plot \(^o^)/. There's a lot of action and emotional depth to these books, as well as a deeper look into the avatar world. Not to mention a whole lot of seriously badass characters.

I give my dear Kyoshi 5 out of 5 digs! And I really hope to see these books become a show or movies, as the creators have just launched Avatar Studios and have plans for making a lot more content!

[blimbo-buddy]

Little hiatus break thoughts on the graphic novel. Spoilers below cut:

I'm bummed out we have no Smudge/FirePaw interaction from when he runs into him again, but honestly I'm happy it went to Princess

You can really feel the constraint in the book to sort of speed-run through Fire and Ice but my guess is that's on Harper Collins for wanting to condense it

I didn't understand the decision to cut out the battle they had with Riverclan when Fire and Grey were returning with Windclan

Not an original take but the art is very nice I like it

There ain't no way that Barley and Smudge are related please please come on they look like father and son

Good DarkStripe moments I was scouting out for her like a hawk

I said this before but I like DarkStripe's eyelash markings. She needs her estrogen now

I like OneWhisker's design. That's all I gotta say about him because his appearances are very sparse

Fuck your stupid young gay boy firegrey yaoi, we're here for old gay woman blueyellow yuri

I kind of like how weirdly human-shaped some of the character's faces are like with RavenPaw or DustPelt

Uh overall some cuts I don't understand but also I sort of understand from a corporate crunch perspective (Not blaming the writers)

Praying that the near identical similarities between TigerClaw and DarkStripe are there because they're gonna confirm they're cousins please please please

[chirrutbaze]

The Postmodern Jedi

As of January 7, 2018. Written after two viewings of The Last Jedi.

(word count: 2700 words)

PART I. What Does "Postmodern” Even Mean?

Simply put, post-modernism is a formal way of saying “edginess”. This Reddit post does a fair job of explaining the movement, but it’s pretty long. To summarize, post-modern authors and artists maintain that morality is entirely relative and grey, and that post-modernism is about defying expectations and tropes and playing beyond the standard ball court.

For example, A Song of Ice And Fire (Game of Thrones), with its extreme violence, squiggly morality, and unhappy endings, is post-modern fantasy when compared to The Lord of the Rings, which represents traditional fantasy with its happy endings and clearly defined morality.

Or: That guy over there in the fedora, scrolling through Reddit in front of his shelf of Alan Moore comics, fancy bongs, and vinyl discs? He probably thinks he’s better than you because he’s been enlightened by post-modernism.

But post-modernism can also be fun, tongue-in-cheek stuff -- like Shrek, which mocks its genre and defies expectations at every turn. So it’s not all dark, gritty, angsty dudebro-fodder.

PART II. Rian Johnson Killed Star Wars and Lucasfilm is Rewarding Him For It

(Continued below the cut.)

“Where does Star Wars fit into all of this?” is a great question, but I’d first like to give a couple more examples of post-modernism.

Remember when Batman got a makeover and the critics and audience went gaga for it?

And then we got a major influx of this...

...until the final, crown jewel,

(No offense, BvS. You were a fun movie. :))

Alan Moore (and Dave Gibbons) had started it with Watchmen, a graphic novel that presents superheroes as flawed, broken people with overblown egos. The comic takes the medium’s traditional bright colors and warps them into extreme violence and disturbing imagery. The ending (spoiler alert) is not a happy one, leaving the reader with a moral dilemma and a headache. It is all VERY postmodern.

Unfortunately, a lot of the above nuances disappear in “gritty reboots” and become more like White Murder Boy Is Now Sympathetic or How Many People To Dress In Black Until Edgy?? These movies are watered down versions of postmodernism.

Still, it had all eventually become too exhausting for the casual movie-goer, and now the film subgenre of “gritty reboot” is mocked to no end. (Ex: “WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME??”) People would rather play it safe with Marvel’s recycled storyline and Wonder Woman’s bright colors and cheerful message.

But back to Star Wars.

Star Wars has always fallen in The Lord of the Rings’ nook as traditional fantasy. Luke Skywalker, the Good Guy, needs to save the galaxy from Darth Vader, the Bad Guy. There's no blurred lines. Luke may be tempted by the Dark, and Darth Vader may be brought to the Light, but in the end there's only a Good-Evil binary.

The prequels -- though “grittier” in the sense that the protagonist, Anakin, turns evil -- are restricted to the same binary. Obi Wan is Good, Palpatine is Bad, and Anakin goes from Good to Bad. Anakin’s motive may have started as well-meant (wanting to save his loved ones), but even that gets twisted into, “From my point of view, the Jedi are evil!” He isn’t afforded any greyspace. As soon as he chooses Bad, he commits atrocities (killing the younglings and murdering the Separatist leaders) and loses trust in Padmé and Obi Wan, his concrete links to the Light side. The audience can no longer afford him any sympathy.

Star Wars has always maintained that there can only be Good or Bad, and that there is no in between. The Force Awakens continued this trend: the First Order has very clear fascist parallels, and Han Solo and the Resistance are seen as heroic forces.

Rian Johnson wanted to break free of this constrained morality. He gives the heroes obvious flaws to the point that they have disastrous consequences. He acts sympathetically toward the villains. He shatters the audience’s rose-tinted glasses.

But he did it without the gritty, grey filter or gore or ‘moral dilemma’ that characterize films like Snow White and the Huntsman and Batman v Superman. There’s a sense of edginess without any of the background recycled gloominess. Johnson even ends his story on a high, hopeful note -- “That’s how we’re gonna win. Not fighting what we hate, but saving what we love.”

So, in the end, Lucasfilm and Disney got an edgy, “refreshing” blockbuster that’s guaranteed to bring in box office sales and excellent critic reception, because all good critics love an edgy story. It’s a win-win situation for them.

PART III. What Exactly Did Rian Johnson Do?

Listicle time!

1. Johnson made a Marvel movie disguised as a Star Wars episode.

This isn’t really evident of postmodernism, but it’s something that adds to TLJ’s “sell-able” nature. The quips left and right, the over the top action scenes, the bright colors, the quick pace, a villain that’s essentially just the evil version of the protagonist -- welcome to the MCU. And The Last Jedi.

The jokes were fun at first, but Star Wars has never been one for throwaway humor. Yet the movie is chock-full of jokes that more take the audience out of the “zone” than add to the film. Weird moments like Shirtless Kylo Ren and Luke’s Green Milk have become memes, Luke and Rey’s serious exchange was severely reduced by the Jakku joke, and Luke tickles Rey with the grass when she’s supposed to be training. Compared to the previous films, none of it feels organic.

The action scenes, too, have changed. The original series with Luke and Vader was very limited by the effects of its times, and then the prequels overcompensated. The sequel trilogy promised to be better than its predecessors, with an amazing fight scene between Rey and Kylo Ren on Starkiller Base that looked like it could’ve been choreographed by Donnie Yen himself. But The Last Jedi’s fight between Luke and Kylo Ren regresses back to something out of the prequel trilogy. Was the slow-motion really necessary, Rian Johnson? And Kylo Ren and Rey’s fight in the throne room is over the top and busy, simply showing off how many “cool moves” Lucasfilm could think of to stuff in one scene.

The cluttered action clashes with movie's bright colors and quick pacing. Still, the latter characteristics are not so much of a problem with Johnson’s Star Wars as they are characteristics of most blockbusters these days. It’s forgivable.

But Johnson does have a problem in that he simply reduces his villain to the evil version of his protagonist. He kills off Snoke and establishes “Supreme Leader Ren” as the new big antagonist. Kylo Ren, however, is just what Rey would be if she goes dark. This is evidenced when Luke comments, “I’ve seen this raw strength only once before. It didn’t scare me enough then, but it does now.” He’s talking about Kylo Ren (Ben Solo). 

Kylo Ren rejects the idea of family while Rey craves it. Kylo Ren is tempted by the Dark side and is absorbed into it while Rey is tempted and rejects it. Kylo Ren wants to destroy his past while Rey chases after hers. They’re explicit inverses, seen especially when Rey calls his lightsaber to her in Snoke’s throne room and then the two fight back to back. Even on the movie poster, they're in ying-yang positions.

Of course, this Marvel-esque approach is great for Disney. It works for the MCU, after all. All of their films have been box office successes, and the hype for Infinity War is massive.

2. Johnson gave his heroes flaws and his villains reasons.

This is the postmodern (“edgy”, “gritty reboot”) aspect of TLJ: Johnson introduces grey morality into the Star Wars universe not by proposing a moral dilemma (hello, Joker from The Dark Knight) but by giving his characters crippling flaws.

→ Finn’s flaws were explored in the first movie -- he prefers running away from his problems instead of facing them, and his compassion for his friends (Rey, Poe) outweighs his loyalty to a cause (prioritizing saving Rey over a real plan to take down Starkiller). This is not a bad thing. And it’s only been a couple of days (or hours?) since the fall of Starkiller Base; Finn can’t be expected to overcome his previous motivations in that time. Johnson was not out of line for continuing Finn’s moral arc (trying to leave the Resistance to look for Rey at the start of TLJ).

However, he also adds a strange element of aggression to Finn’s character. Suddenly, he’s done with trying to run away and throws himself into sudden action when he tries to take out the First Order’s battering cannon. It’s never really explained (with all the Canto Bight sequences mostly focusing on Rose’s reactions) but it’s the only true action with impact on the narrative that Finn takes.

→ Rey’s TFA flaws are also taken into TLJ. She’s very trusting -- too trusting. Rey waits for her parents to return to Jakku, even though they likely never will; she immediately takes to Finn when he fibs that he’s in the Resistance; and she immediately warms up to Han Solo, a known smuggler. (Admittedly, it’s a strange characteristic for a scavenger living on the unforgiving Jakku, but that’s another argument entirely.) Her naivety has no consequences in TFA, but it does in TLJ.

By trusting too easily and going to Kylo Ren, she's played into exactly what he wants. He uses her to defeat Snoke and the Praetorian Guards so that he can instate himself as the new Supreme Leader. Her going to Kylo Ren does more bad than good.

→ Poe is a small character in TFA, but he’s given more personality in TLJ. We now see him as a brash pilot who, although intelligent and capable, is too quick to take action.

Ultimately, his unwillingness to step in line with his superiors -- who are also at fault for withholding vital information -- leads to the crumbling of the Resistance.

→ Luke Skywalker’s flaws were the most difficult for the fanbase to accept. It’s not like he’s ever been perfect -- his entire journey in the original series is his bildungsroman, or his coming of age. He matures from an impatient farmboy to a competent Jedi knight, though he still maintains his compassion and will to do good from the start. But Johnson introduces a new Achilles heel: Luke is like Finn in that he wants to avoid rather than confront.

Luke’s absence allows the First Order to rise to power more easily. Instead of trying to make amends with Kylo Ren, he retreats to a remote island planet. Luke recognizes the problem -- his own hubris, another main fault of his -- but he doesn't try to make reparations. He's chosen the easy route instead of the right one.

→ Kylo Ren was the character who got the most attention this film. While he’s a pretty flat character in TFA -- his main actions include killing people and looking scary -- he also appears to be torn between the Light side and the Dark side. Until he commits patricide, that is.

Johnson takes this dark, helmeted figure and gives him a 'tragic backstory’. We know that Snoke has been messing with him since a young age in TFA, but now we see Snoke use abusive, humiliating language against him in TLJ. (This ultimately turns Kylo Ren against Snoke instead of keeping him under his heel.) However, it seems that Luke briefly considering killing Ben Solo was the cataclysm for Kylo Ren’s existence. All of this works to explain Kylo Ren’s actions -- and it allows the audience some sympathy.

3. Johnson created DJ the Codebreaker. Oh, yeah, and Canto Bight.

Remember Benicio del Toro's character? His name's DJ. Do you know what DJ stands for?

Don't Join.

Rian Johnson couldn't be more obvious if he put up a billboard with neon lights and a stereo blaring “The Imperial March”. He wants the audience to get his “edgy” message -- that maybe the good guys and bad guys are both the problem.

DJ works for neither the Resistance nor the First Order. He’s found on Canto Bight, a place that fuels the intergalactic war (Star Wars) by continuously selling weapons to both sides. Furthermore, DJ first promises to help the Resistance (Rose and Finn) before betraying them to the First Order to save himself. He plays both sides of the field and therefore neither.

Johnson also hints at his “grey” view of the Star Wars universe through Luke, who declares that “the Jedi must come to an end”. Luke acknowledges the arrogance of the Jedi Council (which is better explored in Dave Filoni’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars series than in the prequel trilogy) and of himself, lamenting how it'd blinded him and his forefathers.

Frankly put, Johnson had a goal -- to show that Star Wars’ heroes are no longer infallible, and that their universe (and the Force) isn't black and white.

PART IV. Why Fandom Refuses to Accept TLJ

I’ll be brief: Rian Johnson is not a good writer.

For example, let's go back to Kylo Ren. He's not really supposed to be a Sympathetic White Murder Boy. By the end of the film, it’s explicit that he's more unstable and irredeemable than ever. And yet there's still this prevalent delusion that he's going to pull a Darth Vader and/or end up with Rey, returning to “Ben Solo”. His terrible actions towards Rey are completely ignored. If you take a look at that linked post, all of the bullet points listed should have been concretely evident in the film, but weren’t. It took an analytical post on the Internet to get there.

Was that weird enough? Nope. Let’s go weirder.

There were, strangely enough, two articles released about how terrible of a character Poe was by Buzzfeed and Vanity Fair because he was a “mansplainer” who refused to listen to a woman in command. For this, TLJ was praised as a “feminist” film.

However, the woman in command should be held at fault. Vice Admiral Holdo purposely withholds critical information from the other Resistance fighters, expecting blind faith in her desperate gamble of a plan. Kaydel Ko Connix (portrayed by Billie Lourd) is seen to be working on the bridge with Holdo, yet she joins Poe’s mutiny because even she, working right there with Holdo, has no idea of what’s to come.

So why is only Poe being held accountable for the fall of the Resistance? Because he never gets a redemptive moment. Sure, he calls his fighters back on Crait, but it’s so small and almost seems to carry a sense of regret. Finn and Rose’s moment, only seconds later, easily outweighs it. On the other hand, Holdo lightspeeds straight through Snoke’s flagship in some of the best special effects to grace the big screen.

Let’s talk about Rose Tico, too. A lot of fans were really excited about her character, especially Kelly Marie Tran, the actress herself. But her role in Canto Bight was originally supposed to be that of Poe Dameron’s. It would’ve been more in line with what we’ve seen so far of Poe Dameron. Even though he had a small role in TFA, his character is much more fleshed out in the comics. This small excerpt already proves him to not be the hot-headed pilot Rian Johnson has made him out to be. Having Poe expose Finn to Canto Bight would’ve been a great way to rectify Poe’s character, in a sense.

Rose herself comes off as flat. The film claims that she has a deep bond with her sister, but they never interact and it’s not concretely shown, just assumed. Rose has no development over the course of the film. She just exists to better Finn (as evidenced by the comicbook article) -- and while Finn is a fantastic character who was severely undervalued in TLJ, that’s still a dangerous position for a female character to be allocated to.

This is all evidence of not-that-great writing. There’s a reason why the audience’s Rotten Tomatoes score is at 50% and the critics’ score is at 90%. I doubt the bots were the only reason why the audience score is pulled so low.

In addition, grey morality within the Star Wars universe has been explored before in their television shows (Dave Filoni’s The Clone Wars and Rebels) and in Rogue One (“We’ve all done terrible things on behalf of the Rebellion”), so it’s actually… not revolutionary. 

And these works have still stayed true to Star Wars in a way that The Last Jedi falls short of.

[lyinar]

Lyinar’s Book Recommendations: Volume I!

Had an idea to do something on a weekly basis here.  I’m going to talk about books I like, and why I like them.

The first entry in this series is going to be the only book series that both @thestoryofaslut and I are fully caught up on, The Dresden Files.

Harry Dresden is the only Wizard listed in the Chicago phonebook, and while most of the time he’s a Standard-Issue Down-On-His-Luck Private Investigator who uses his magical abilities to find missing items or people, or consulting with the Chicago Police Department, every once in a while, he gets involved in some serious, horrible mess that requires far more of him.  The books are written with the conceit that they are his case files, sent to one Jim Butcher to clean them up and publish them, and they chronicle those serious, horrible messes he deals with.

Dresden, despite being an extremely capable magical tracker and frighteningly good at combat magic, is very much a geeky nerd, though mostly for books, comic books, and movies, along with science and the underlying rules of magic, due to the fact that advanced technology tends to explode in his presence thanks to the modern paradigm of what once caused milk to spoil around magic-users.  At one point in one of the later books, he ends up describing the outfit his Faerie Godmother (yes, he has one, and NO, it’s not a good deal) puts him in as “The Games Workshop version of a Jedi Knight”.  He also tends to respond to things that can outright destroy them with massive amounts of snark and has a massive problem with anyone, human or not, hurting innocent people.

Almost unique to this series out of Butcher’s various efforts, it’s written in first-person perspective, and Dresden is damn near the Trope Codifier for First-Person Smartass (a trope that Butcher brought out again for the time he got to write a fething SPIDER MAN novel).

Currently the series sits at 15 novels out of a planned 20+, to be capped off with an “apocalyptic trilogy” whose titles will all be in-universe cussing, along with quite a few short stories, graphic novels, a tabletop RPG written as an in-universe document with annotations from Dresden and his friends, and a somewhat-botched Sci-Fi Channel Original Series adaptation.  As per the author, “Stars and Stones”, “Hell’s Bells”, and “Empty Night” are curses FOR A REASON.

Butcher tends to favor Crazy Awesome in his protagonists, and despite stiff competition from the main character of the next series I’ll be getting into, the Codex Alera, Dresden is still in the lead by virtue of (slight spoilers, but it HAS to be said) riding into battle in one of the books on a zombie Tyrannosaurus Rex.  Not just any T. Rex, either, but the Chicago Field Museum’s crowning exhibit, Sue, the most intact T. Rex fossil in the world.

Also, fair warning, Dresden almost always goes through some serious pain in the process of saving the day, and while even the darkest book out of the series so far, Changes, is still far less grimdark than A Song of Ice and Fire, there’s a really good reason why the person who reads the audio-books (James “Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer” Marsters!) reads some specific lines like he’s about to bloody cry.

I like the books largely because of Jim Butcher’s writing style and the aforementioned amounts of Crazy Awesome, the compelling characters, the fact almost everyone in the books has redeeming qualities along with their darker sides (even the Fae of the Winter Court, and Chicago’s version of Wilson Fisk, ‘Gentleman’ Johnny Marcone), and the fact that even at the darkest, it never really veers into the “shitdark” (so grimdark that you stop caring about the characters) territory than George R. R. Martin has dipped into somewhat with A Song of Ice and Fire and its TV adaptation.

[sebeth]

Blackest Night

The Blackest Night

Warning, Spoilers Ahead…

 So, I finished the Blackest Night.  I had been reading Green Lantern and the Green Lantern Corps titles regularly until Blackest Night.  I was burnt out by the various color corps and I’m not a fan of big crossover events. The only three big events I’d rate as excellent were the original Crisis on Infinite Earths, Invasion, and 52. Comixology recently had a massive graphic novel sale and I snatched up Blackest Night and the Brightest Day volumes. I’d rate Blackest Night as average. I enjoyed the character interactions and small background moments more than the actual big event.  Mera, Atom, Larfleez, and Sinestro were the stand-out characters of Blackest Night.

 What I Liked:            

1)      Superman’s death date as a memorial day for heroes and the victims of “super-crime”.

2)      The hidden graveyard of the Rogues.

3)      The remnants of the Justice League International visiting Ted Kord’s grave – Booster, Fire, and Ice were obvious choices.  Guy Gardner and Ted had a “love to hate” relationship but Guy’s appearances in Jaime’s Blue Beetle series demonstrated the respect he had for Ted.  Black Canary was only briefly a member but she and Ted had a mutual love of Russian literature.

4)      Damage’s guilt over surviving the massacre of the Freedom Fighters.

5)      Arthur’s land burial.  It makes sense that Arthur preferred to be buried next to his loving father as opposed to a cold tomb in a land of ungrateful people.

6)      The Justice League headquarters containing the remains of their deceased foes.  Logically, you wouldn’t want any criminal/mad scientist experimenting on the corpses. I do wonder if the foes’ families are consulted – Hal mentioned that the remains of heroes aren’t there because they “didn’t want to rob the families of paying their respects”.  Are the relatives of villains not allowed the same courtesy?

7)      “I’ll find it.” – I’m assuming Barry wants to find the Rogues’ hidden cemetery to pay his respects.  It would fit the Flash/Rogues relationship.

8)      “Who else died while I was gone?” – Barry’s shock and grief over Ralph and Sue was heart-breaking, I do find it weird that Barry was only now finding out – wasn’t Barry the least bit curious that he’s reunited with numerous heroes but Ralph – Barry’s best friend – was never there? Wally, Barry’s nephew and someone else who was very close to Ralph, never sat Barry down and said “there’s something you need to know about Ralph and Sue…”

9)      “Who else died while I was gone?”, part 2:  Barry’s a good man but shouldn’t his actual reaction have been “I don’t know who most of these people are?”  Numerous heroes and there were only around 15 Barry would have actually met.

10)   Don Hall’s utter refusal to participate in the Blackest Night.  Smart man.

11)   The focus on Mera and Ray Palmer.  I’m a fan of lesser characters receiving the spotlight as opposed to the same “A-listers” over and over again.

12)   Scarecrow’s complete non-reaction to an undead Azrael. Total boredom is not the typical reaction to a zombie attack.

13)   Luthor’s realization that he’s about to reap what he sowed.

14)   Jay-Barry-Wally-Bart! Diana-Donna-Cassandra! Clark-Conner!  One of my favorite aspects of pre-New 52 DC – family and legacy.

15)   Dove as the ultimate zombie killer.

16)   “Donna said if she was going down, she was going down fighting.”

17)   Sinestro’s utter glee in attacking the Guardians: “You have no idea how much I’ve been looking forward to this.”

18)   Larfleeze!

19)   Scarecrow as a Yellow Lantern – a natural choice and who knew he had a “big damn hero” moment in him?

20)   “You don’t want to get into a shouting match with Kilowog.”

21)   Luthor’s humiliation congo – he loses control to the orange ring, “The truth…what I really want…is to be Superman”, defeated by Larfleeze.  

22)   Sinestro’s undying devotion to Abin Sur: “You let my friend die with everyone, with me, thinking him mad.  You destroyed Abin Sur to protect your lies!”

23)   Guy’s laser focus on Maxwell Lord.  Guy may be abrasive but he’s loyal to a fault – you can bet he remembers who murdered Ted.

24)   Barry’s disappointment at Ralph and Sue’s failure to resurrect.

 What I Didn’t Like:

1)      I am never going to care about Nekron or Black Hand.  Zombies, especially the hero-kind, were played out by this point.

2)      The “Who else died while I was gone”, the JLA HQ serving as their enemies’ tombs, the numerous deaths throughout the series, the heroes turning into Black Lanterns, the ending scene – all served to underscore how utterly pointless death and resurrection has become in comics.  Depending on how old you are, you remember reading – and feeling the impact of – Jean Grey’s suicide on the moon, Gwen Stacy’s neck snapping, the Joker murdering Jason Todd. I am a huge comic geek and I struggled to remember the numerous deaths – and how they occurred – that were referenced in Blackest Night.  Mostly because they were one-panel shock moments that contributed nothing to the overall story – they were forgotten as soon as they occurred.  

3)      The long-running angst of Carter and Kendra’s relationship.  Ever since the resurrection of Carter it’s been more of an “obsessive stalker” rather than a love affair of the ages.  I don’t even like Kendra (I resented losing the awesome Shayera) but Shiera’s return was rather insulting to the character.  It felt like the writers couldn’t be bothered to resolve – or grew bored – with the Carter and Kendra’s situation so they went with the easy out of resurrecting Shiera.

4)      Carter’s lack of sympathy for Ray.  What an obnoxious ass!

5)      You gain control of the Spectre and do nothing with it?  What was the point?

6)      The meaningless deaths of Garth, Damage, etc.  Yes, I’m repeating my second point – it bears repeating – useless deaths that add nothing to the story.

7)      Gen’s death – The fridge is filled beyond capacity – did you really need to stuff another woman in it?

8)      I feel an opportunity was missed with Jason Todd’s absence – he could have been either a Black Lantern or Red Lantern. Jason wasn’t featured in the Batman tie-in either.  Honestly, it would have been better than the “bat-shit crazy” Jason we received from Grant Morrison.

9)      The Anti-Monitor’s appearance.  He’s supposed to be the ultimate threat to the universe not a third-rate villain’s bitch.

10)   Ted, Sue, and Ralph weren’t among the resurrected heroes!  Boo, hiss!

[velociraptoraddict]

What's so gd of fire about and should i read it ?

Ok, I'm going to assume you're talking about Wings of Fire (since it's been ALL over my dash recently)I've been listening to the audiobooks but I've thumbed through the physical copies at my local book store (which I recommend cause it has awesome drawings of the different dragon tribes) but when it comes down to it, you should also give the audio a try cause the girl who reads them is the Best and she gives each character their own voice so you always know who's talking and she's so into it and it's so engaging and I LOVE itOk, sorry, tangent, you probably want to know what it's actually about and not just how you should read/listen to itTL;DR Dragons!!! Each book is from the point of view of a different character (all dragons) and the main plot is to stop the 20 year war between the 7 tribes. LONGER (and spoiler free) VERSION: there are seven tribes, each with their own abilities and unique cultures. Mudwings can breathe fire but only when they're warm, they can hold their breath for up to an hour, and they tend to be bigger and stronger than the others (first book is from Clay's perspective). Seawings can't breathe fire, but they can breathe under water, see in the dark, and have tails powerful enough to cause waves. They also have bioluminescent scales that they can flash at will. (Second book is from Tsunami's perspective)Rainwings can change the color of their scales, they have no known weapons *hint hint* so there isn't much I can say without spoilers (third book is from Glory's perspective)Nightwings are mysterious black dragons with speckles of silver on their under wings which look like the night sky. It is said they can read minds and predict the future, they can also breathe fire (Starflight is the main of the 4th book)Sandwings are a light tan yellow with scorpion barbs at the end of their tails and obsidian black eyes, they can also breathe fire (Sunny is in charge in the 5th book)Skywings have the larges wings of all dragons and breathe fire (they are featured heavily in the first book then I believe the main character is a skywing in book 7 or 8, I'd have to look that up, oh yea, I'm doing all this from memory lol)Icewing are white dragons with deadly frost breath and awesome serrated claws for gripping the ice...or slicing dragon throatsNow the war is happening because the Sandwing queen (yes all tribes are ruled by a queen) is killed by a Scavenger (basically humans who are thought of as no smarter than a cow by the dragons) and her three daughters are left to fight for the throne, and instead of keeping the fight quick and just between them, two of them flee to different dragon tribes to recruit allies and a war begins. As best I remember it it's Skywings and Mudwings vs Seawings and Sandwings vs Icewings and Sandwings (which also fled with that sister to show support for her, I could be wrong about these alliances cause again, doing this from memory)As it stands, the Rainwings and Nightwings are not part of the war (for different reasons. Then one day, a Nightwing delivers a prophecy basically saying 5 eggs from different tribes need to be gathered and hatch when all three moons are full, then once they're old enough they will help end the war. In the prolog of the book we see that one of the eggs (Skywing) is destroyed and replaced with a Rainwing egg (which causes a bit of conflict through the story but in my opinion I think it worked out for the best) thus the first book begins with the 5 dragonets of Destiny in a cave under a mountain. Now without spoilers I'd like to add: this book is marketed for kids but there is A LOT of morally grey villains (like I'm still not sure if this one dragon was actually that evil or not) and explicit death scenes (like dragons die and it mentions blood and throat ripping and neck braking) there's also a bit of an existential identity crisis Several times where a character learns something and it just turns their world view to a new direction. ALL the characters are 3 demential and flushed out and SO well written! (Except Webs lol) like you totally understand why the "villains" do what they do and even if you don't agree the fact you know /why/ just makes you understand and love them as characters. You will never confuse someone for anotherAnd the author is so good! She has a different perspective and personality for each book, all of it flows perfectly from the previous yet none of it feels like rehashing because they're their own dragon!I think I covered as much as I could without going too far into the plot or characters as to cause spoilers. Please feel free to add more and if this fanrant made you pick up the book/audio and you love it just as much then please let me know!Oh! P.S. THIS IS COVERING ONLY THE FIRST FIVE BOOKS as I understand it there 11(?) so far with a graphic novel to be released soon and possibly more books with new tribes based on a different continent (?? Heard this second hand but sounds pretty cool so I'm still excited)

[reactingtosomething]

Reacting to Atomic Blonde

Suck It, Daredevil

The Setup: Charlize Theron was the best action star of 2015, and two years later she may have just reclaimed her crown, in the solo directing debut of former stunt coordinator David Leitch (half of the duo who directed John Wick and some second unit stuff on Captain America: Civil War, doing their part to save Hollywood action scenes from subpar ALL THE SHAKY CAM AND ALL THE CUTS Paul Greengrass imitation). 

Heralded by possibly the coolest trailer of the year -- at the very least, the coolest that didn’t have a House of Mouse effects budget -- and backed by a uniformly stellar supporting cast including Sofia Boutella and John Goodman, Theron’s also making a decent run at James Bond’s status as Most Dashing Lothario Assassin, because why not. (And not just for straight dudes.)

In short, this has too many of RtS’s favorite things not to be an obvious choice for a Reaction. SPOILERS for Atomic Blonde after the jump.

KRIS: I guess I’ll open with a Caroline Framke tweet

MIRI: Please do

KRIS: https://twitter.com/carolineframke/status/891158770117685248

MIRI: I was really hoping it would be that one

KRIS: (The RT:like ratio, as of now, is 146 to 1200)

MIRI: Omg

I may be one of those likes

MARCHAE: LOL

KRIS: RtS is definitely one of those likes

MIRI: Can't remember if I RTd

Update: I did RT

very proud of my lack of shame

KRIS: Although I guess stabbing is really the least of what she does to some of those guys

MIRI: Carry on

Right

But there Is definitely some stabbing

KRIS: So this wasn’t, like, EVERYthing I wanted/expected it to be, but the “long take” fight alone is worth the price of admission twice over

MARCHAE: Yeah she is incredibly hard core (and trust that was not in the source material so i was happy they def. gave her some swag)

did either of you get a chance to read the text it was based on

KRIS: I loved that it was basically telling both Daredevil and Birdman to go fuck themselves

No

MIRI: Hahahahahahha 

No I didn't

I'm not nearly the fight choreography conosieur that Kris is, but I was so fucking into this

(Wow spelled that so wrong autocorrect was stumped)

KRIS: I mean I did not have any reservations about any of the other fights, it was everything around the fights that was kind of uneven

MARCHAE: go on

KRIS: Not BAD, but uneven

MIRI: Say more

KRIS: Pacing felt weird sometimes?

This felt longer than its runtime

MARCHAE: (yes that is truth..>YES IT DID)

MIRI: Yeah, I can agree with that

KRIS: Maybe a little twistier, plot-wise, than was really justified, especially since it end-loaded the twists

MIRI: Yeah, the last few minutes were a bit of a mind fuck and not in a totally earned way

KRIS: The sound mixing was VERY interesting, but I wasn’t always sure it needed to be so showy

MIRI: This movie is showy down to its bones

and some ways that works better than others

KRIS: Although it did add to the disorientation

MARCHAE: (re the twists the text was similar in that way…)

KRIS: The sound mix I mean

Like going back and forth between having music in a scene be diegetic and not

I did like the way they used it in the bar where Lorraine meets Delphine though

MIRI: I feel like it was better directed, acted, and choreographed than it was written. Does that make sense?

KRIS: When you assume the REALLY LOUD CLUB MUSIC is diegetic but it cuts out really suddenly when the guy (was it Bremovych there?) offers a light

Yes

MIRI: Yeah, that moment was very nice

KRIS: But I feel like pacing often comes down to direction

MIRI: Fair

KRIS: All the performances are definitely great

MIRI: Seriously, all of them

MARCHAE: hmmm that’s interesting - I think that comes back to the writing - if the story has pacing problems - then that’s ultimately a structural problem with the story, no?

MIRI: I especially loved Lorraine’s German contact

KRIS: I think editing can have a lot to do with pacing too

MIRI: And obviously Theron, McAvoy, and Boutella

I think it can be any of the three, or a combo

MARCHAE: yeah… i thought about that as well @kris

MIRI: They all need to be good for it to work

KRIS: Did you feel like it at least played fair with the audience for most if not all of the twists?

MIRI: Yeah, I would say so. Things felt justified to me

KRIS: I felt like I got lost two or three or five times but at least some of those seemed to be deliberate and then I had “ohhhh” moments in act 3

MIRI: Hahahah which ones?

MARCHAE: Yeah, I think it is supposed to be a bit of a mystery  which is kind of nice

KRIS: God I don’t even know, there’s was a lot happening

But the one I’m still confused about is that I don’t remember what happened to the guy who killed Gascoin

MIRI: I was secretly hoping you’d name them all so I could refer to your superior memory

Ice pick to the brain, right?

KRIS: Oh, my mistake, it is Gasciogne

I’ll take your word for it

But there were several Angry Bearded Men

MIRI: I think that was the same angry bearded man

He had the list and was going to sell it

to the watchmaker man

MARCHAE: Oh yeah

MIRI: and Percival ice picked him because Gasciogne was his friend

KRIS: Oh man I totally thought Marton Csokas was playing Bakhtin but IMDB tells me I was wrong, I guess it was just two Angry Bearded Men

MARCHAE: HA!

MIRI: Shit, who was Bakhtin? Is that ice pick head?

KRIS: Yes

MIRI: I need to open the imdb page

Ok, Bremovych was the one who beat the guy in the warehouse, right? And smashed the boombox?

KRIS: Oh wow Gasciogne was [played by] the stunt coordinator [Sam Hargrave, who also doubled for Chris Evans in Captain America: Civil War]. Did not recognize him with his (not-angry) bread in the post-show interview

not-angry beard, not bread

And yes

MIRI: WHAAAAATTT???

KRIS: Bremovych was the boss

MIRI: He looks SO different with long hair and a beard

KRIS: He was EXTREMELY Angry

MIRI: Holy heck

Also, he grew that beard so fast!!!

KRIS: That scene could have ended sooner

MIRI: Yeah, wasn’t my favorite

KRIS: Not even for the brutality, which was partly offscreen, it was just one of the pacing things where I was like why is this happening

MIRI: Yeah, it dragged a little

And it wasn’t at all shiny

Like, even when things are grungy and bloody in the rest of it, it’s shiny

MARCHAE: so this is my last time brining up the text … it was very similar to me in that way

so similar that indeed some the dialogue came straight from it

MIRI: (not literally, like stylized)

Guys, go to Til Schweiger’s imdb page immediately

Not only is he a fox

KRIS: Like awkwardly long, you mean, Marchae?

MARCHAE: I wasn’t surprised to  see that it did have pacing issues - i honestly think that they thought they would make up for that with the action scenes.

MIRI: Apparently he’s Germany's best-known actor and also the country's most successful director

(He’s the watchmaker guy)

MARCHAE: @miri - WOW!

@kris what do you mean the text

KRIS: That scene in particular

MARCHAE: so here’s the thing… she doesn’t fight AT ALL in the text

in fact i think she fires a gun once

MIRI: WHAT

WHAAAATTTTTTTTT

That is a significant change

MARCHAE: and as far as other acts of violence it was literally like a few gun shots if i remember correctly

KRIS: Like is Bremovych’s introduction just panels and panels and panels of kicking noises and pained reaction shots?

MARCHAE: not even…

MIRI: And makes the fact that they stayed so close to the text in other ways fascinating

MARCHAE: it is incredibly slow and much of the action, similar to in the film would be in the last couple of dozen pages

MIRI: What?

MARCHAE: legitimately i believe they slayed her out made her tough because otherwise it would have been a historical drama

and that would have been an entirely different film

MIRI: Also because the director is a stunt guy, probably.

MARCHAE: it was not an excited graphic novel (GN)

exciting*

that’s why i thought it would be interesting to read and see the movie i was like wow this will be an awesome comic

and it is if you are interested in historical GN about russians ( I am not generally)

but I was expecting LOADS of fighting

nope

so to see that on the screen made the film 1000000 times more enjoyable

MIRI: Nice

I really really loved that the fight choreography wasn’t Sexy lady Fight Choreography

MARCHAE: but they definitely compensated for the other shortcomings which i thought was this weird desire to stay close to the source in terms of story but create a film that would be able to kind of catch some of the wind that was left behind by the other female centric films of the summer season

ok that’s all

YES

MIRI: They were deliberate about the fact that she was smaller than most of the guys, yes, but she fucking fought

She took hits

MARCHAE: i also love that she’s not young

or incredibly frail

MIRI: She was brutal and they were too and it was amazing

KRIS: Lorraine getting the shit kicked out of her was definitely the distinctive thing

MARCHAE: that made the back of my knee caps hurt

but she held her own and prevails

MIRI: I do have the tiniest quibble with the fact that they kept her unmarked from fights that totally would have bruised/scraped her up in the beginning because they needed her in sexy club outfits

But past that point they did a nice job of letting her be marked by the fights without being afraid to make her less pretty or whatever

KRIS: It gets you invested in the character AND gives Lorraine the character development/revelation of having the stronger will, as the stunt guy put it

I guess I assumed she was using makeup to cover stuff up early on?

MIRI: Eh, I don’t 100% buy that but it also doesn’t super bother me

MARCHAE: i don’t know that it registers with me much… i think because she’s so battered at the end …

doesn’t she soak in a tub of something at one point?

KRIS: I think the ice bath is just at the beginning, which is advanced in the timeline of the story

MIRI: Yes, in the beginning bookend she’s in her AMAZING giant ass tub filled with ice cubes

And she does something similar in Berlin

All of the tubs in this movie were giant and I want them

The Berlin time was where you got the cool underwater shot of her face in the neon light

KRIS: Oh right

MARCHAE: i just never quite figured out what it was that she was able to look mostly okay…

i thought it was medicinal but i guess it was just ice

MIRI: Well she did do a bunch of makeup after that

MARCHAE: also it was an incredible shot

MIRI: And it couldn’t hide everything

Which? Neon Berlin bath or opening London bath?

Both were cool but I’m assuming you meant the London one

MARCHAE: the blue one?

MIRI: The one they used in the trailers, where she then adds some of the ice to her drink?

MARCHAE: YES

MIRI: Yes! That was very cool!

With the perspective flip and all

M: And the bathtub is SO BIG

MARCHAE: it was so good

so i know you all mentioned earlier that it wasn’t shiny

KRIS: There was a lot of playing with perspective in the cinematography

MIRI: Only that warehouse scene

(re: not shiny)

MARCHAE: gotcha

MIRI: The rest totally was

which I mostly loved

And to Kris’s point--yes! Most of it very cool

MARCHAE: sorry i was just going to add that i thought it was a sexy looking film

which i suppose also goes to kris’ point about cinematography

MIRI: The one I think about most is the sexy one, actually--the cut from them making out in the club to the sex scene

(which again, they used in the trailers a lot)

(well, the red band ones anyway)

MARCHAE: i did like that

KRIS: I feel like there were also a lot of reflections

Like when she’s leaving Delphine’s apartment near the end

MIRI: Yes! God that one broke my heart

MARCHAE: (side note…there is no Delphine in the text)

KRIS: And for awhile it’s just two Lorraines and I was like “hmm this is unnecessary” and then you see Delphine

MIRI: well, Theron did say that she’d need a Bond girl if she ever played Bond

KRIS: I think having a female love interest was actually the writer’s idea

MARCHAE: OhHHHHH

MIRI: That makes me so happy

MARCHAE: yeah it had to be because it didn’t exist… it takes the place of another relationship or is ore of a composite

I liked it and I thought it made the character much more interesting and gave her more than we generally get

MIRI: As does the way Theron has addressed Lorraine’s bisexuality in interviews

I was really afraid that it would be a surface level portrayal of bisexuality

KRIS: “I remember sitting in a room one day thinking about how do you make this different from other spy movies,” Theron says. “It’s really hard. Who is going to be the love interest? Kurt, who’s a punk rock writer, suggested she falls in love with a woman.”

http://ew.com/movies/2017/04/26/charlize-theron-breaks-down-her-steamy-love-affair-in-atomic-blonde/

MARCHAE: Nice!

MIRI: I was afraid she would have an emotional connection to the dude and a purely sexual, over-sexualized connection with the girl

But it was not that at all

MARCHAE: no - i mad that delphine died and i think bugged by how she died as well

KRIS: But I also liked that the emotional connection wasn’t really just “whirlwind romance” but also ended up being about Lorraine mourning what being in “the game” does to people

MIRI: I am angry that Delphine had her damn headphones on when she knew someone might come and kill her

that was dumb

MARCHAE: **snaps fingers @miri and @kris**

MIRI: Kris, that’s a really good point and I agree

MARCHAE: i wished she’d been able to fight more i think. 

AND YES MIRI DUMMMBBBBBBBBB

KRIS: It at least didn’t feel like a fridging, though, in that Lorraine’s motivations weren’t really changed and she never had like a breakdown scene or anything

I think on some level there’s an expectation of a Sofia Boutella character Kicking All of the Ass 

but at least to me it was important to the story that she be green

MIRI: (btw that’s not to say there aren’t bi people who are bisexual and hetero or homoromantic or to cast shade on them! It’s just a very often a very stereotyped portrayal in media)

KRIS: She’s on her first assignment and “only been here for a year” vs. Percival, a station chief, having “gone native”

MIRI: Yeah, it did mostly work for the character

and I liked that she was green and in over her head

It made her a very nice foil to both Lorraine and Percival

KRIS: Especially with Lorraine being allll the way on the other end of the spectrum as a triple agent

MIRI: How old is McAvoy?

KRIS: 38

MARCHAE: born 1979

MIRI: Oh, he’s a bit older than I thought--he’s only 4 years younger than Theron

I thought he was more in the middle of her age and Boutella’s

KRIS: Boutella is also older than she looks

35

MIRI: Holy crap she is

born in 82

Wow, I would have said mid twenties

I’m so bad at ages

MARCHAE: I didn’t realize she was as old as she is!

KRIS: I do think mid 20s is what she’s playing here

MIRI: Yeah, seems like

Can we discuss the outfits? Because they are amazing

MARCHAE: OH MY GAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

I turned to my friend and said i need to start dressing like all of these women! it was its own character and kind of a love letter to the era

MIRI: Lorraine’s commitment to GIANT sweaters/tops with no pants is AMAZING

MARCHAE: YESSS

YESSS

KRIS: (To go back for just a second, my objection to “whirlwind romance” definitely applies to couples of all configurations -- it’s the one thing that doesn’t totally land for me in Casino Royale)

MIRI: It says SO much about her

KRIS: I did like that as a consistent choice

MIRI: She’ll dress however she has to for work

But whenever she can be, she’s COMFY AS HELL

MARCHAE: and i appreciated it and she fights in a hoodie i think at one point

MIRI: I mean she still looks amazing, but no pants, giant shirt

Yes!

MARCHAE: although i didn’t love that she was perpetually in heels!

NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE

my feet hurt for her but that’s an aside

MIRI: Yeah, I feel like some flat ankle boots would have been better

MARCHAE: although am glad she can work it that way

MIRI: But I do believe that she would do it

KRIS: Yeah

MARCHAE: kudos to the women who can fight in heels

oh yeah all the marvel women seem to do it

KRIS: I also thought Theron was taller than me, but she’s the same height

MARCHAE: how tall is that?

so our readers have a frame of reference :)

KRIS: I think we’re not actually supposed to notice most of the Marvel heels though

I’m either 5-9 or 5-10

MIRI: Kris wants to remain mysterious, Marchae

or not

KRIS: IMDB lists her at 5-9 1/2

MARCHAE: LOLOLOLOL

miri i thought the same

(we aren’t?)

MIRI: Not sure. We might be supposed to just accept that that’s how superhero women look

Like Barbies, with their feet always arched

MARCHAE: interesting

KRIS: (I feel like they’re mostly to make Johansson and Smulders tall enough to make framing shots easier? I don’t know though)

MIRI: I think that’s definitely part of it, if not all

I’m just being snarky

KRIS: Gamora being the (infuriating) exception

MIRI: I like to play to my strengths 

Ughhhhhhhh readers, please refer to our Guardians Volume 2 reaction for more!

Percival’s sense of dress is batshit and amazing

He wears sweater vests as shirts

And his giant coat!

MARCHAE: LOLOL

KRIS: Hard to go wrong with a good giant coat

MARCHAE: (ok another book spoiler… Percival is an older man who’s always in a trench coat- ALWAYS)

MIRI: Whaaaaaat

Is he all wily and gone-native?

Does he drink Jack and hide things in his fake cast?

KRIS: I loved the fake cast

MIRI: It was brilliant

MARCHAE: well yes and no.. he has no cast at all he’s completely in tact because there was not a ton of violence and he is a bit what’s the word not aways nice

the fake cast was great!

MIRI: Does “a bit what’s the word not aways nice” mean he was a dick in Marchae-speak?

MARCHAE: LOLOLOLOLOLOL

KRIS: I know this wasn’t McAvoy’s first Fun Role but it was the first one I’ve seen him in

MARCHAE: yeah he kind of was

MIRI: He’s fun in First Class!

KRIS: I guess First Class-era Charles Xavier has a little fun but he pretty quickly has to do the Mentor thing

MIRI: Fair

KRIS: He’s fun until he gets his doctorate, basically

MARCHAE: I DID NOT REALIZE THAT WAS HIM IN ELENOR RIGBY

KRIS: Yep

MARCHAE: get the heck out

I liked him in Split

he’s kind of a good actor

KRIS: He rarely gets to do his own accent (Scottish)

MIRI: I LOVE his accent

MARCHAE: (HE WAS ALSO GNOMEO!!!)

KRIS: Oh he’s great, I’ve been a fan since pre-Chronicles of Narnia

MARCHAE: oh my word i am learning of all these movies i’ve loved him in and didn’t realize it was him

wow then i guess i Love him too

thanks gang

how cool!

MIRI: He’s amazing in Atonement

KRIS: I wonder if I should’ve seen Victor Frankenstein

Probably not, but still

MARCHAE: lol

KRIS: Does someone want to talk about the music?

MARCHAE: it was it’s own character and definitely a love letter to the 80s i appreciated it as a detail that was paid particular attention to in the film

MIRI: I like 99 Luftballoons

MARCHAE: and i sometimes watch people when i go to the movies which i know is weird, but you saw a lot of people dancing in their seats and lip singing to it

KRIS: Is “love letter” enough of a reason to do something though?

MIRI: Just in general

MARCHAE: it was cool

KRIS: I liked the use of covers

But maybe post-Baby Driver I’m a little oversaturated on the whole “music as a character” thing

MIRI: I mean, this whole movie is kind of a love letter to its aesthetics

KRIS: Also partly because the composer for this is the composer on the Guardians movies

Which do the same thing -- heavy, showy music supervision, totally forgettable original score

MARCHAE: I don’t know Kris - I think maybe it is sometimes because you interact with people on a different level

MIRI: Yeah, I couldn’t tell you a single thing about any of the original score

KRIS: Say more MM

MARCHAE: I think because i was very young during the time in which the film is set, but the music triggers memories of what was happening, so now in my mind i am going back saying -yes the Berlin wall - and not from something I learned in class - but instead at home as a kid - but it’s because the music triggered that more than the image necessarily… also because of the kind of tv i was watching as a kid so like the cartoons

KRIS: I will say that the near-oppressiveness of the soundtrack in most of the movie made the music-less long-take fight that much better for the contrast

MARCHAE: but then you ALSO now get to engage those people who maybe weren’t sold on the movie at least now excited about how it sounds and what will be next

KRIS: I guess that makes sense, but what does it have to do with how I interact with people?

MARCHAE: I think as a writer/director you are interacting with all of my senses (save smell but I’ll even argue that)

so i hear how it, what it makes me think of after the fact and why

am i dancing in my seat and saying thats my jam

or i loved it

i think that kind of thing

KRIS: Oh, so when you said “you interact with people on a different level” that was the general You, not You-Kris

?

MARCHAE: yeah general you

not you KM

sorry i should have been more clear

MIRI: The English language is imperfect

KRIS: I’m curious to see more movies from both David Leitch (this) and Chad Stahelski (the other John Wick director, who directed JW 2 solo)

Because I want to know if Stahelski is a better solo director or if there’s something else behind the pacing differences in this and JW2

I mean besides the obvious genre difference

MARCHAE: (aside number 554 from marchae - i need to watch JW and JW2 )

MIRI: I need to watch JW2

KRIS: I keep forgetting MM hasn’t seen the first one, especially ever since we realized she loves action movies

MIRI: I keep forgetting that amazing fact

❤️ 

KRIS: (WATCH HAYWIRE)

MIRI: (WE WILL AT SOME POINT I PROMISE)

KRIS: I feel like somehow we haven’t said enough about Charlize Theron

KRIS: (WE DON’T HAVE TO REACT TO IT I’m just saying)

MIRI: (ALSO I MIGHT FINALLY BE READY TO WATCH BLAICK SAILS)

MARCHAE: (I WILL)

MIRI: Let’s talk about Theron

Because she is AMAZING in this movie

KRIS: She definitely holds the whole thing together

If the performance had been a few notches less confident I would’ve gotten bored

I think

MARCHAE: she is brilliant

to go back to the text she gives that character so much LIFE

KRIS: I mean even just the button on the first interrogation sequence -- the pause before and the delivery of “Fuck”

MIRI: People laughed out loud at that moment

MARCHAE: oh yea

she has this kind of wit about her that i love and she’s coy which is awesome

and she freaking in her 40s

KRIS: That was one of the more successful uses of a dragged-out moment

50 is the new 40, not to be a cliche

MIRI: Are people saying that?

KRIS: Even more than John Wick this made me think of Banshee, which also has a 40-something female action lead (though she’s not THE lead)

MIRI: I mean I endorse it wholeheartedly

KRIS: I mean just in general with regard to __ is the new __

MARCHAE: LOL

MIRI: Between this and Proud Mary, I’m all in for movies about women old enough to be my aunties killing people with great skill

KRIS: I’m always going to prefer hand-to-hand to gunfights (and gunfights to car chases)

MARCHAE: And doing so unapologetically it’s about time we get to see women use their bodies in ways that are indicative of strength

i do love a good car chase that ends with a fiery crash

MIRI: @Marchae YESSSSSS YES YES

MARCHAE: those are cool

MIRI: @Kris, how did you feel about the Atomic Blonde car chase?

KRIS: It was fine, and it wasn’t really about the cars was it?

Unless I’m forgetting a car chase

Which I would believe

MIRI: Ah, so you mean you’re not into Baby Driver car chases (as much as gun fights, at least)

KRIS: Right

MIRI: No, it was more cars as blunt weapons and gun shields, not a drag race or anything

KRIS: BUT there is a fun little Charlize Theron car anecdote in the Anne Helen Petersen profile I posted earlier

MIRI: About her in the Woody Allen movie?

Oh, I’m mixing up movies from that profile

KRIS: ...I think I am forgetting a car chase

MARCHAE: HA!

MIRI: From Atomic Blonde?

MARCHAE: she also learned a lot of her own stunts

MIRI: Or something else?

KRIS: Yeah

MARCHAE: There were two

KRIS: When you said it I was just thinking of Percival chasing the car Lorraine had gotten into when she landed

Jesus Christ Kris

MARCHAE: YUP

MIRI: Ohhhh, I forgot about that one

MARCHAE: i was just typing that

with the shoe

MIRI: I was talking about the other one

K: I guess I blanked on it since it’s part of the oner and especially because we never leave the inside of Lorraine’s car 

KRIS: Start looking for the name 87 Eleven a lot more, I think

MIRI: I did like the shoe thing

KRIS: They’re the stunt/action design people

MIRI: They did damn good work

MARCHAE: they were really good!

KRIS: This and the John Wicks

Also a “Special Thanks” on Power Rangers?

MARCHAE: ok i get it… I’ll watch JW 😊

MIRI: Huh

Maybe they consulted

KRIS: Stephanie Beatriz started training there recently, not for a part but to get in shape for potentially being an action hero

MIRI: WHAT

KRIS: She’s posted a couple of “I’m dying” videos to her Instagram story

MIRI: she'd be good, too. She has dance training 

I need to watch more Instagram videos

KRIS: I feel like we’re running out of steam but we have to go back to the long fight

MIRI: Pause for a sec, grabbing my laundry

KRIS: I felt like a lot of the apartment fight was in the trailers so I was a smudge concerned the same would happen in the stairwell

While we wait, here’s Jessica Chastain punching the air:

https://twitter.com/jes_chastain/status/891493560993947648

MARCHAE: LOL

yes

they were both brilliant fight scenes!

KRIS: I absolutely will not accept The Huntsman as the only time Jessica Chastain gets to be an action hero

MARCHAE: she’d make an amazing superhero!!

KRIS: Especially because that was such a stunt-double-heavy character

She’s in talks to be in the next X-Men as a Space Empress

But I don’t think she’d get to do much fighting

MARCHAE: dang! i’d love to see her kick some doors down

MIRI: Ok I’m back!

And I fully support Chasten as action hero!

*Chastain

KRIS: So a bit of this fight is the very first thing most of the world saw of Atomic Blonde

Which obviously turned out to be the smartest possible trailer move

(Maybe “most” is an exaggeration)

MIRI: Right, but the sheer length of it is not something you understand from the trailer, which is nice

KRIS: Yeah, basically the trailer part ends before Spyglass gets his little comic beat

“Two more”

MIRI: Because it means you don’t lose the impact in the moment by showing it in the trailer

KRIS: And I was like “Aw, only two more?”

MIRI: Loved the Spyglass beats

KRIS: But then everyone just... kept... getting... back... up

MIRI: that one, and him doing the tape in the apartment

MARCHAE: RIGHT

MIRI: Yeah, she has the most will, but they all has a LOT

KRIS: So hang on, have either of you watched Daredevil?

MIRI: especially bleach blond guy with the neo nazi haircut

Key-face

KRIS: Or at least that fight? You know the one even if you haven’t seen it

MIRI: I have only watched part of the first season

Not that one, not

*no

MARCHAE: I starting watching part of the first season

MIRI: I’ve heard of the fight you mean

MARCHAE: ( I actually liked it and am not sure why I didn’t keep going)

KRIS: It’s the end of the second episode

MIRI: Same!

Oh, then maybe I did and I’m just blanking

huh

KRIS: We don’t need to watch it right now but the salient points are that it’s maybe still the best fight scene TV has ever had

And does a similar thing with exhaustion

MIRI: Oh, interesting

KRIS: But they tried to one-up themselves in season 2 with a longer, flashier oner

(Which incidentally also involved a staircase)

But without the exhaustion bit

MARCHAE: Nice!

MIRI: Staircases are good. They give new height differences

KRIS: And it’s Cool and all, but feels much emptier as an exercise than the first one, which is confined to one hallway

MARCHAE: I liked seeing them on the stairs there is also a new element of danger and stakes … like if i fall or get thrown over…

KRIS: Which is why this fight in Atomic Blonde felt almost like a direct response

MARCHAE: ohhhhhhh

KRIS: And specifically a Suck It, Daredevil

I mean I don’t know if it actually was

But I enjoyed thinking it

In that Daredevil s2 fight Matt just absolutely owns everyone who comes at him

Which can be cool

MARCHAE: now i really want to watch

KRIS: But the back-and-forth and the exhaustion justified the technical showiness in AB

MIRI: I liked that Lorraine was really good, but wasn’t Impossibly Better Than Everyone

KRIS: Also really liked the commitment to improvised weapons

MIRI: Key-face is super good too, she’s just got more will in the end

I love that

MARCHAE: Yeah that was brutal

MIRI: The hot plate!!!

KRIS: And the shot revealing the corkscrew, and the audience reaction to seeing the corkscrew

MIRI: WHY IS IT ALWAYS CORKSCREWS????

MARCHAE: I’m cringing thinking of it….

KRIS: I guess because you can hold them for punching?

MIRI: In the last calendar year, I have seen three movies where a woman stabs someone with a corkscrew

THREE

KRIS: What were the other two?

MARCHAE: they are small and compact

MIRI: The Girl on the Train

MARCHAE: OHHHHH yes

*cringing again*

MIRI: and Clinical, which is a Netflix movie the company I used to intern for produced

KRIS: Oh I haven’t seen but I guess there would have actually been wine in proximity

I read Clinical

MIRI: Yeah, the fight between her and the girl in the kitchen

Spoilers for both of those, I guess

KRIS: Yeah to go back to something Miri said it was a cool choice that the fighting in this wasn’t as stylized as in something like John Wick

Which made the choreography in a larger sense more creative

Because of the improvised weapons, the use of the locations, etc

MIRI: I really like how most of the movie is so stylized, but the fights were so gritty

KRIS: Whereas the locations in so many action movies are basically irrelevant

MIRI: I mean, obviously super choreographed because they’re not insane

MARCHAE: they felt authentic

i could not every fight in that way, but you looked at that and thought yup a person could actually do this… it was believable!

MIRI: Honestly, the lack of stunt doubles made this so much better

KRIS: OH

MIRI: Because it can feel that real

What?

KRIS: I really loved that Lorraine covers her face in the end of the apartment fight, when she’s outside before the last two cops arrive

And that I thought this was going to be a moment for a cut to a double

But then they hold the shot until she lowers her collar again

MIRI: Why did you love that?

KRIS: Just to have my expectation of a double subverted

MIRI: Ah, gotcha

KRIS: It felt VERY oh, here’s a good excuse to cut around her

And then it wasn’t, it really was just Lorraine protecting her identity

MIRI: I just didn’t know why she did it--she lowers it immediately after, so it doesn’t seem effective to keep her identity secret!

I guess from those two cops

Or anyone who might have been coming, but then no one did

MARCHAE: that’s what i thought, it also looked really cool, she’s a spy and has to just keep cover, she’s always on alert

KRIS: And of course the other thing about the realism of the fighting in this is the gender thing -- Natasha Romanoff is always kicking and spinning

MIRI: Which is a cool and valid fighting form

But it shouldn’t be ALL THE TIME

KRIS: And Charlize Theron’s legs are like a mile long so not just from gender but from Charlize Theron you would expect something similar

MIRI: I loved that Lorraine was a brawler

KRIS: And obviously men can kick and spin and that’s the point of like, Tae Kwon Do, but outside of Asian productions you don’t see it a lot in movies

MARCHAE: i am thinking and you really don’t, KM

KRIS: There’s so much throwing people into other things in this too, which is great

Just like, use every object and surface that’s harder than a fist

Because hand bones can break relatively easily

MIRI: I loved when they went through the film screen

MARCHAE: that’s what made it so gritty and brutal  - it’s like what you’d hope you’d do if an intruder were coming into your house

YES

KRIS: The movie they were watching there, Stalker, is one of Andy S’s favorites

I wonder if there was any significance to that choice

other than the year

MIRI: Of course it’s one of Flash’s faves

Flash/Andy was our screenwriting professor most committed to Art

I really loved the umbrella thing

KRIS: Yeah, I find Convenient Crowd Things hit or miss but this one worked for me

MARCHAE: it looked great too

KRIS: I guess because they’d established Merkel well in advance

MIRI: perhaps because it was an Engineered Crowd Thing

KRIS: Right, but even those

MIRI: I really did love Merkel

KRIS: Just a poor choice of words on my part

MIRI: Oh, gotcha

KRIS: I guess I mean that I bought Merkel having that level of influence

And usually I’m like, really? This would have taken a lot of logistics

MIRI: Yeah, I’m with you

KRIS: Also, it matters that it didn’t ultimately succeed

Because BETRAYAL

MIRI: Multi-layered betrayal!

MARCHAE: HA

it really was (please promise you’ll read the texxxttttt it’s just so awesome to see what was changed and what was kept the same)

MIRI: Now, why exactly was Percival trying to kill Lorraine? (Was he? She says so, but Spyglass makes more sense)

KRIS: I think Spyglass was definitely the main target but she’d have been a loose end, right?

MIRI: That makes sense

I got a little lost in the twists at the end

KRIS: Seriously

MIRI: And he knew she was Satchel

But not that she was a triple agent, of course

MARCHAE: all of these things i agree with

KRIS: Yeah, the Satchel thing is something I’d want to try to pay more attention to on a rewatch

Just a lot of moving parts and sibilants to keep track of

MIRI: Definitely

MARCHAE: and gathered from it… but i do want to rewatch because it was a lot

MIRI: Sibilants?

KRIS: S sounds? Did I use it wrong?

MIRI: No, that’s right! Just didn’t follow and thought it had a different meaning I didn’t know

But you meant names with s sounds, etc. Which there are a lot of

KRIS: And which there’s no good reason for

MIRI: True

MARCHAE: LOL

KRIS: Any other thoughts?

MIRI: I loved it

MARCHAE: READ THE BOOK!

KRIS: I had a brief thought about how nudity was shot

MIRI: Share it

KRIS: Which was just that there’s nudity when it makes sense but even in and around the sex scene the camera didn’t seem to be leering

Like there’s not active avoidance of nipples or anything but also no lingering on them

MIRI: Agreed, though the buzzfeed review I saw earlier mentions the camera leering on her legs a bit, but no more than it leers at punches or neon or anything

KRIS: I mean “showy, aestheticized sex” is also accurate (I do like Alison Willmore a lot as a critic)

MIRI:Your bench of critics is so deep and I love it

KRIS: And now I’m just watching this gif she included of people being thrown down that stairwell

MARCHAE: he does have a good variety

KRIS: I wonder how many actual cuts there were in that oner

MIRI: I’m thinking about how similar Lorraine and Percival actually are

in that they have such long-term false personas and they’re SO GOOD at maintaining them, but also not perfect

KRIS: (Now I want a crossover with The Americans)

MIRI: Also we have not discussed her scene with the Russians at the end

And we should because it was baller

The shot of the gun in the ice was great

KRIS: Yeah

MIRI: Like, we saw a decent amount of it in the trailer

MARCHAE: ohhhhh yessssss

MIRI: and yet is was still so effective

And that wig and the outfit were amazing

MARCHAE: she was also barefoot

KRIS: Right, the story context automatically makes it way more interesting

MARCHAE: ( i mean she was probably just over it after wearing heels the entire movie)

KRIS: I had more or less forgotten there was one more action scene left

MIRI: There’s so much in this movie

KRIS: And it’s the most stylized fight but still had that, I guess, un-rushed quality to it?

MARCHAE: there is a lot - i repeat again, they knew they had to to make this an action film! those scenes let you forgive so much

MIRI: Yeah, there never felt like much danger to her in that one, whereas there was in the others

KRIS: Lorraine wasn’t like a John Wick-level gun wizard

K: I might be wrong about this, actually, GUESS I’LL JUST HAVE TO REWATCH ALL THESE MOVIES

Yeah! I guess that’s it too, that she felt totally in control of it

MIRI: She knew exactly how it would play out

And that she’d get to go home soon

Also, can I just say how much I loved the “cocksucker” moment, and the end callback to it?

KRIS: YES

Surprisingly hilarious take on the “What?” “What?” conversation trope

MIRI: You can play the tape back

They did a good job letting there be comedic moments without shoehorning them in

KRIS: (This is minor and SUPER action-nerdy but I also appreciated Theron/Lorraine’s pistol handling when she wasn’t shooting -- how she folds her arms in to keep the barrel at the right height and orientation for having to quickly aim and shoot)

(You can tell if an action star did their homework by how often they keep their arms totally extended when holding a handgun)

K: Actually I think worse is the thing where they hold it by their face while pointing the barrel straight up

MIRI: I did not at all notice it, but that’s a cool detail!

(I’m now sitting on my bed holding out a finger gun in various positions to see what feels right)

KRIS: I don’t think we can do a better, more fitting ending line than the movie’s own

You want the honors?

MIRI: I’m honestly blanking on what it was! I’m so embarrassed!!!

KRIS: I’m glad it was convincing

Follow us on Twitter for steady retweets of even more critics Kris likes to namecheck, along with screenwriters and general entertainment reporting. Also for links to future Reactions, of course.

Next up: X-Men cartoons with a Guest Reactor. Unless Liz and Marchae get around to watching The Bold Type soon enough. (WATCH THE BOLD TYPE, LIZ AND MARCHAE.) 

[fightwing23]

Unpopular Opinions Book Tag

Since I’m too shy af to do this tag on camera, I thought I’ll write it out as a neat little blog post.

[ORIGINAL TAG VIDEO]

1. A Popular Book or series that you didn't like.

For this one, I’ll pick 2 novels, 1 series and 1 graphic novel.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell 

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare

The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller

First, I read Fangirl and I thought it was a hot mess. the MC was dumb as fuck; SHE SUBMITTED FANFIC FOR HER CREATIVE WRITING CLASS!! And her reasoning behind why she writes fanfic made me roll my eyes so hard! The supporting characters were bland and uninteresting, and the situations that panned out was unrealistic. Next I read Eleanor & Park and somehow it was EVEN WORSE than Fangirl! The MCs were even dumber and the supporting cast was once again bland and uninteresting. This book was one massive eyeroll. I was really excited to read The Mortal Instruments, because the prequel trilogy, The Infernal Devices was so great, but this series was so bland af. The first 3 books are a bit of a bore, I had a hard time imagining the locations and the story & characters weren’t all that engaging. The 4th book was surprisingly better than the first 3, and what’s weird to me is that everyone considers it “the least-favorite” of the series and I’m like WTF? Book 5 was practically trash, the MCs couldn’t finish a conversation without making out and dry humping each other! and the 6th book was a ginormous improvement compared to the other books that reading the series made it worthwhile because the 6th book was everything that the series should’ve been all along; better writing, better written characters and better plot. The Dark Knight Returns was a massive letdown for me. And one of the reasons why it was a massive letdown was because I let myself get too hyped up for it.

2. A Popular Book or series that every one else seems to hate but you love. 

Brian Azzarelo’s run on Wonder Woman was great (But I still haven’t finished it tho), and I don’t care what the dumb haters say! Also, I feel like people are making dumb complaints about The Lunar Chronicles.

3. A Love Triangle where the main character ended up with the person you did NOT want them to end up with (warn ppl for spoilers) OR an OTP that you don't like.

Harry & Hermione should’ve gotten together (especially in the movies)

4. A popular book Genre that you hardly reach for. 

In no particular order:

Horror

Suspense/Thriller/Detective

Romance

Erotica

Poetry

Classic Literary Fiction

Modern Literary Fiction

Manga

YA Contemporary

Adult Contemporary

Really young children’s fiction (e.g. baby books)

Self-Help

Adult Fantasy

Adult Sci-fi

5. A popular or beloved character that you do not like.

My Top 5 Least-Favorite Fictional Characters

5. Eleanor (Eleanor & Park)

4. Levi Stuart (Fangirl)

3. Thomas (The Maze Runner series)

2. Harry August (The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August)

1. Jace Herondale & Clary Fray (The Mortal Instruments series) [TIE]

6. A popular author that you can't seem to get into.

Rainbow Rowell, because her books are trash to me. Brandon Sanderson because it’s been nearly 2 years and I still haven’t finished Mistborn: The Final Empire!!

7. A popular book trope that you're tired of seeing. (examples "lost princess", corrupt ruler, love triangles, etc.)

Bad Boy with a heart of gold, 

Love triangles

A story with a female lead who has to fall in love with a guy every time!

MCs who don’t know WTF they’re doing and are overconfident because they’re usually “The Chosen One”

Every book having a straight white lead

8. A popular series that you have no interest in reading.

Top 5 Book Series I Have No Interest in Reading

5. The 5th Wave series by Rick Yancey

4. The Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer (Read the 3rd book, almost read the others, but decided to watch the movies instead)

3. The Selection series by Kiera Cass

2. The Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard

1. The Divergent series by Veronica Roth (Read the 1st book, thought it was average, never read the other books, lost interest and read spoilers instead)

9. The saying goes "The book is always better than the movie", but what movie or T.V. show adaptation do you prefer more than the book?

Probably Game of Thrones, because I’m still waiting for A Song of Ice and Fire to be finished. Also, Captain America: Civil War was a 100 times better than the Civil War comic, and the Dark Knight Returns animated movie adaptation was 10 times better than the original comic.

[fridge-reviews]

Game of Thrones

Developer: Cyanide Studios Publisher: Focus Home Interactive Rrp: £10.99 (Steam) Released: June 7th 2012 Available on: Steam Played Using: An Xbox 360 Control Pad A Song of Ice and Fire, otherwise known as Game of Thrones, has become something of a hit, in case you somehow couldn't tell. It's everywhere, TV, books, graphic novels, mugs, necklaces all sorts of things and now it has not just one, but TWO video games. Just so you know this isn't a review of the TellTale game of Game of Thrones but the game that came before. Game of Thones is an RPG in which you play as two characters, Mors and Alester. Mors is a Ranger in the Nights Watch and a hardened warrior. Alester is a priest of the god R'hllor and while he is able to hold his own in combat is more of a diplomat. The story revolves around these two and the character you control  changes depending on which chapter you're on.

Being very much an RPG in the traditional sense you get to assign points to attributes, choose a class, pick skills to acquire and quite a bit more. The skills that are available to you are dependent upon the class that you choose when on the character creation screen. Of course its not character creation like in an Elder Scrolls game, you don't get to choose the name or look of the character, that's already been set. In this case its more deciding on the fighting style, and skills.

Interestingly this game does something many games don't in the character creation, and that's allow you to give your characters positive and negative traits. These traits add or take away small parts of the stats and have to be balance before you can leave the character creation screen. The entire thing is entirely optional because if you don't choose any traits then there's nothing to balance out.

Dialogue is the heart and soul of any good RPG, and with a IP like Game of Thrones you can expect some of the best... Sadly that isn't quite what you get. At times the dialogue feels quite stunted, almost as if the actors weren't sure of how to deliver the lines they had in front of them. There were lines that felt like they should have been said with a more harsh edge (especially when given the type of show it is) that instead have a muted and hushed tone that didn't fit. Also speaking as a Brit, some of the imitations of British accents are almost painful to hear. I really hope no one actually thinks we actually sound like these characters. Griping about accents aside, conversations are handled via a wheel at the bottom of the screen similar to that of the Mass Effect or Dragon Age. Actually a couple of mechanics seem to be borrowed from various Bioware games throughout this title, not that I'm complaining, they've been proven to do the job and fit well with the game.

As I mentioned previously there are a few mechanics that have been borrowed from Bioware, one such system is the combat. When you enter combat instead of you having direct control you instead line up attacks and abilities (to a maximum of three at a time). I have only seen a system like this before in the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games.

With exception of the basic attack and the recovery move, all skills and abilities that are used in combat deplete your energy.  The recovery move can only be used every so often as it has quite a long cool down. You sometimes get other characters who join your party and you can switch between them. This is especially useful in combat where you can have one party member stun a enemy and another perform a heavy attack.

There are quite a lot of invisible walls, some in places that really needn't have them at all. It's one of many things that indicate that this game is what I would call a 'middle market' title. Meaning that corners are cut but there is still something of a solid game in there. Yet another indicator of this game being a middle market title are the character models and animations. Even for 2012 the models are very blocky looking with the hands on the characters looking almost comically large. The animations sadly fair no better as they are looped far too frequently and look rough. Had this game had sequels I'm sure this would be something that would have been smoothed out like it was in the Mass Effect series, which itself started as a middle market game.

In a way its the very setting of the game that's one of the hindering factors, at least when it comes to the plot. It was released on PC while the first season of Game of Thrones was being aired and as such couldn't go too far ahead for fear of spoilers. At the same time it can't go too far back because of the TV series and books continuity. This limited what the creators could do, throw in that they can't have the major characters of the series/books doing anything that contradict the show or books (like dying) and you have a game where its hard to feel any suspense. This means that they could only write from the point of view of somebody who could be considered inconsequential to the overall universe. In some ways that can be quite freeing but I feel that the creators of this game didn't manage to take advantage of that opportunity. It's strange that more money wasn't put into this game, especially considering the license this developer had to work with. Perhaps it was because at the time of its release the TV series hadn't become the titan of television that is has now become and it was considered too much of a gamble to really sink money into. Which is a real shame because the actual plot of the game is actually quite good, its just everything else that surrounds it that feels... average. And that's exactly it, this game is average, its not great but its not terrible either. I'd say this is one for the more die hard fan than a more casual watcher. If this appeals to you perhaps try; The Mass Effect Series Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic The Witcher Series