#i think i wanna get the last arc 4 book and then just pick up the mangas

[veeples]

book recommendations

@lavampira AND @narrativefoiltrope beloveds tagged me! thank you for the tag dani and i'm still soooo thrilled you loved goth western so much <3

tagging: @nerdferatum and @winesharksea and anyone else! tbh if you're a mutual of mine and you're on storygraph hmu, i love following other people and seeing what they're reading.

1. the last book I read:

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty — I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't expecting to tear up from a memoir detailing her year working for a crematory, but it ended up being a very touching experience in understanding how Caitlin went from college graduate to eventual Ask a Mortician (one of my fave youtubers I miss her so much). It is a book that deals with death, both the traumatic and the relatively peaceful, so maybe not the LIGHTEST of reads, but one I actually wanna re-visit soon!

2. a book I recommend:

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin — I got recommended this series by @queerbrujas, and wow! I think if you're someone whose interested for a sort of, soft start into sci-fi, the elements are there and add value, but the emotional arcs and world building that unfolds is just so masterfully done. Once I really got into the first book, I tore through the next two in the series with relative ease.

3. a book that I couldn’t put down:

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo — This is just a super fun fantasy read!! It makes me wanna read more like, fast paced heist sort of novels. Each character in the ensemble has a strong personality so they all stand out from each other, but they complement each other well and offer interesting relationships with each other! I was so enamored by the book I had to run out to a store to buy the sequel the night I finished it.

4. a book I’ve read twice (or more):

The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir — Funny thing is, I almost never re-read books because I feel like, good God I already have so many on my to be read list that I keep adding onto, I don't have time to re-read books. But this series has a ton of re-readability value, and it's almost necessary to take a second or third or fourth pass (depending on how insane you are) to pick up on the subtleties and the continuous narrative of themes that Muir puts down once you get past the memes and lesbians. I'm putting the whole series here because I've read Gideon the Ninth, Harrow the Ninth, and Nona the Ninth 2-3 times now and will probably re-read again before Alecto the Ninth comes out (impatient grumbling).

5. a book on my TBR:

Sterling House by Alix E. Harrow — Can I be completely honest, I actually don't know that much about this book. A librarian gave me a little book magazine when I was picking up some books one day and this book was on the cover. And the cover was just very pretty. I'm a very shallow person, you see. Also a bit like a bird because I see something pretty and I want it. But I also really wanna read Dungeon Meshi, so there's that too.

6. a book I’ve put down:

The Telling Room: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge, and the World's Greatest Piece of Cheese by Michael Paterniti — This book was honestly such a drag to read. Slow paced and at 80% in, I still hadn't gotten to the confrontation between the original cheesemaker and his best friend who sold his family's cheese and business for money, which is so hyped up. There's a point to it taking so fucking long, and the point is, that's apparently just how the people the author visited told stories. Long winding tales with bunches of offshoots. Probably great as an orally told story. Bit miserable as written word.

7. a book on my wishlist:

The Unclaimed: Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels by Stefan Timmermans, Pamela Prickett — This one I saw in an e-mail for new books that came out in March, I think, and I have an interest in funeral practices and issues in modern day death management, thanks to being such a big fan of Caitlin Doughty. This book deals with the growing phenomenon of the unclaimed dead, which got touched upon in one of Caitlin's books, but not expanded upon. I try not to buy books if I can avoid it, but this one being so new and probably a little too niche for my library, I'll have to purchase it if I wanna read it!

8. a favorite book from my childhood:

??? — I don't think I have one to speak of that I can remember. I remember really being enchanted with some book about a girl finding a secret garden, so maybe it was Literally just The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgsen Burnett. Or like, I really liked the kid's book about the old lady who swallows a fly. Does that count???

9. a book you would give to a friend:

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson — This book was recommended to me by a friend, specifically the audiobook version. And wow, yeah! I kind of judge audiobook, and really narrator quality, by this one! The narrator put so much love and emotion into narrating the book, which really highlighted the emotional high points and made them punchier. This book may have made cry a little because I am always a sucker about characters who feel they don't fit in anywhere, who feel odd, who feel different, but find support and community and love with other people who feel the same way. So, like, I would definitely give this book to someone if they wanted an introduction to how good audiobooks can be.

10. a book of poetry or lyrics you own:

The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems by Pablo Neruda — I bought the bilingual version of this book last year so I could see how Spanish is used in poetry, and then found out that he has a complex way of using Spanish so maybe it's not that useful. <3 And then I didn't read it at all, it's still on my bookshelf. Judging me. u_u I'll get to it one day.

11. a nonfiction book you own:

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado — Don't remember how this book got on my radar, but I went out and bought it and was so pleasantly surprised by how the style Machado uses in it to detail her memoir of an abusive relationship. So it's not a light read whatsoever, but just by style alone made it very evocative, it almost reads like literary fiction. I never thought about approaching memoirs or non-fiction in what I figure is a kind of non-standard way, so it stands out from the other non-fiction books I've read.

12. what are you currently reading:

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver — So this is apparently a sort of, like, modern retailing of Charles Dickens' David Copperfield, which I would have got, except like, I'm not that big of a literary nerd. So I had to look that up. Really, it caught my attention because I'm currently re-listening to a fave podcast, Old Gods of Appalachia, and this book is set in like, 80s-90s Appalachia so it's adjacent enough to my interest. So far it is masterfully written and has such a strong voice for the narrator and protagonist. It's also a thick ass book, well over 500 pages which is a bit out of my usual range, but it's been nice to sit down with a longer story that feels like I'm sitting down to listen to the guy tell me his life's story.

13. what are you planning on reading next:

??? — Bruv who knows? I don't plan these things until I'm done with whatever I'm reading now u.u. I have a little gay romance I bought during indie bookstore day and I also promised @sysba to read some other Chinese manhua with some other sad tragic gay boys. It'll probably be that one.

[st-elle-ar]

once again @welcometololaland has tagged me in a thing and because i would do anything for her, here is that thing

2023 characters wrapped

this took way too long because i can barely remember what i did last week, let alone what i’ve watched/read through the whole year. also i gave up after seven cause honestly my memory is so shit this was hard lol

(in no particular order)

1. jamie tartt (ted lasso) i watched this for the first time like 5 months ago after getting excited about soccer watching the tillies and fell in love, there’s so many good characters but jamie’s the one that’s stuck for some reason

2. eric effiong (sex education) i have nothing more to say than i love him

3. abigail armstrong (dance academy) been rewatching this after getting back into dance for the first time in ages, and i actually kind of love abigail even though she’s the ‘villain’ in the first season, maybe it’s just a product of getting older but i just wanna protect her and tell her she’s gonna be okay

4. alex claremont-diaz (rwrb) again nothing to say other than love

5. marjan marwani (911 ls) i love marjan, and she had some of the best moments/episode in season 4, what a wonderful character

6. connor walsh (how to get away with murder) i loved connor when i was watching this show as it aired, but i finally watched the whole series through this year and i just still love him (even though the later seasons are kinda fucked but yay me for picking one of the few that survived to be my favourite all those years ago lol)

7. jenn mcdaniels (edge of nowhere series, elizabeth george) a real wild card, i read the first book in this series like literally 10+yrs ago and bought but never read the rest of the series. but while i was traveling earlier this year i started the series again cause it was on my kindle and jenn gets so much more interesting the more you learn about her in the later books and idk she also just kinda stuck in my brain (i think there’s a pattern here, i just love learning about the ‘mean’ characters and a good redemption arc lol)

[raviposting]

Decided to do a reading roundup, inspired by @batmanisagatewaydrug​ ‘s own one here! Posted uhhhh like two and a half weeks after January but hey, it’s my blog and my roundup. 

January Stats  Books Read: 30-31, depending on how I rank one book Average Rating: 3.49 Top Genre: Mystery  My storygraph if you wanna follow me and see my reviews (though I’ll link them for each book in the ratings) :) 

This month I read a ton of books but none of them really hit for me - not to say these books were bad (well. Some were LMAO), just probably not the proper time for me to read them lmao. All the books will be listed under the cut (some with comments) but here were the ones that really stood out! 

Standouts: 

As Good as Dead by Holly Jackson: 4.75/5 This was the end of the Good Girl’s Guide to Murder trilogy and GOD what a great series! I’m not going to sit here and pretend this is high art but there’s this special something in this series that makes me love it SO much. Is it Ravi Singh? It might be Ravi Singh. It’s probably Ravi Singh. 

The Wonder State by Sara Flannery Murphy: 4.5/5 I don’t wanna spoil this one because it’s an ARC but I was so pleasantly surrpised by this book. I just think it fucks.

The First to Die at the End by Adam Silvera: 4.5/5 The first book made me sob like a baby and this one did make me cry I admit it. :’) While the first book is probably always going to have the biggest place in my heart, this was a fantastic read, and I LOVE that he went back to show us the very first Death Day and how it impacted the first person who was ever called for it. I definitely have more questions on the actual process so if he wants to pull back even further to the creation of the concept I’d gladly take it lmaooo

The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams: 4/5 So this is why I’m at 30-31 books - I read The Ultimate Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy that has all five books in the same book; since I finished the first book in January I’ll go add it here and it was just *chef’s kiss*. Zany, funny, I finally get that damn “the answer to life is 42″ joke. For some reason I’d die for Arthur Dent. Etcetera. 

All Other Books: 

Non-Fiction:  I didn’t have a number scale for two of them; I felt a little bit weird rating both of them, so I’ve just linked my reviews instead!

The Rose That Grew From Concrete by Tupac Shakur: Review

Spare by Prince Harry: 3.25/5 Sometimes he has points but good lord the privilege was ;aklfj;lafka;;flakj bro can we stop defending the monarchy lol

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou: 4/5 I don’t know why but I thouhgt these were fiction until I actually went to go check out the book lmaoo

Naturally Tan by Tan France: 3.75/5

If You Tell: a True Story of Murder, Family, Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood by Gregg Olsen: Review

Fiction: 

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett: 3.25/5 I know, I know, I’m sorry. Just wasn’t really for me. 

This Spell Can’t Last by Isabel Sterling: 3/5 It’s a short prequel book for a series I really had fun with called These Witches Won’t Burn! The prequel was fine. I wouldn’t suggest you pick it up without knowing the series but yeah

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley: 3/5 I’m kinda surprised I rated it that high in hindsight lmao

Gaslight by J.E. Rowney: 2.5/5

Paper Planes by Jennie Wood with Dozerdraws: 2.75/5 (the art was lovely though)

The Aosawa Murders by Riku Onda with Alison Watts (translator): 3.6-3.75/5

Burn the Negative by Josh Winning: 3.5/5

I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman: 3/5 (again, sorry lmao)

Not By Blood by Chris Narozny: 3/5 

Miss Muriel and Other Stories by Ann Petry: 3.5/5 I think I need to stop reading short stories because they’re always at around a 3 and it’s just not always a fair rating. Some stories I absolutely LOVE. Others? Ehhhh not so much. 

Why Are You Like This? by Meg Adams: 4/5 

It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover: 3.75/5 tbh, I think the more I think about the book the lower I’m going to rate it, but for now I’ll keep this original rating

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion: 3.75/5

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen: 4.75/5 Beautiful art as well <3

The Private Apartments by Idman Nur Omar: 3.5/5

I Know What You Did by Cayce Osborne: 2.75/5

Through the Woods by Emily Carroll: 3.75/5

Trouble in Mudbug by Jana DeLeon: 3/5

The Last Man by Vince Flynn: 2/5

All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover: 3.5/5 This couple needed hardcore therapy and most importantly a divorce 

The Devil’s Music by Nathan Page: 3.75/5

Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder: 3/5

[vsnotresponding]

wip playlist tag

Rules: list at least 4 songs from your current WIP playlist or a writing playlist you’ve been using lately, and the lyrics that speak to you the most! Then tag 4 people (or as many songs as you listed).

i already thanked you, but i'm thanking you again because i love this type of writblr tag game @my-cursed-prince. i'll also leave this as an open tag, but i'd like to hear about @mjjune and @e-klair

i said i'd use the option that won this poll and that i'd shuffle the playlist to do this tag, and so i will deliver

the winner of the poll was the púlsar playlist, but with a twist! i'll use the one that has songs i associate with post canon stuff. there's no guarantee they'll get picked but there is a chance. i'll do 10 i think

(hi this is v after shuffling the songs i swear there are more artists besides Sleeping at Last in the playlist)

also, uh, spoilers for what happens after púlsar. not anything super big, but i'll talk a little about bean <3

also also here you can find the canon playlist for púlsar

Rush - The Score

this is one of the first songs i associated with púlsar because, well, it's all about how the púlsar feels. pretty self explanatory

insane 'cause i love the way when my pulse races double time / fast lane, never could contain got my heart beating overdrive / today, yeah, the shackle breaks it's time to change the rules now

Neptune - Sleeping at Last

a sher song <3 (THE sher song) and so close to chapter 17 going up omg. honestly the whole song it's just,,, him

you let me set sail with cheap wood / so i patched up every leak that i could stitch by stitch, i tear apart / if brokenness is a form of art / i must be a poster child prodigy i'm only honest when it rains / if i time it right, the thunder breaks / when i open my mouth / i wanna tell you, but i don't know how / i'm only honest when it rains /an open book, with a torn out page / and my inks run out / i wanna love you, but i don't know how

Mercury - Sleeping at Last

another Sher song, what are the chances. while neptune is mainly about sher, karma and their mom, this one i also think about when writing about his relationship with sahare

I talk in circles / i watch for signals / for a clue / how to feel different / how to feel new / like science fiction / bending truth no one can unring this bell / unsound this alarm, unbreak my heart new / god knows, i am dissonance

Daughter - Sleeping at Last

look at it, a song from after canon and i'm already tearing up because,,,, my kids. a parent's song to their daughter, sher with sadaf and ira with bean

this is your kingdom / this is your crown / this is your story

about ira telling bean of her story… i am unwell

Anger - Sleeping at Last

karma assertive arc song ??? more likely than you think (and also ira towards the ending of part 2)

reckless but honest words leave out my mouth

Sight - Sleeping at Last

Áine song Áine song Áine song. super in time for what's going on in canon rn too. Áine's main conflict is all about faith and how she can't feel connected to her heritage, and how, despite everything, ira can

i see god in irony / in fragile herilooms within children's reach you see god in ways i wish i could / without assurance, without insurance you believe / without condition or the promise of heaven / you see the holy ghost in broad daylight / and i see the reflection in your eyes

Son - Sleeping at Last

more songs for after canon <3 sher and his son ádil and how he's so alike him but also karma

i'll run the risk of being intimate with brokenness

Born For This - The Score

Zero - Imagine Dragons

in the spirit of transparency these songs did come up but i'll skip them here in favor of more after canon songs <3

Earth - Sleeping at Last

it's the book's main song your honor

fault lines tremble underneath my glass house / but i put it out of my mind / long enough to call it courage

Touch - Sleeping at Last

post púlsar karma song and i'm tearing up, because he gets very very unwell before he gets better

all i want is to flip a switch / before something breaks that cannot be fixed invisible machinery / these moving parts inside of me / well, they've been shutting down for quite some time / leaving only rust behind but god, i wanna feel again

Heart - Sleeping at Last

>:) the furthest song away from canon in the future in here, and again, im very emotional about it. im so proud of karma, guys

go ahead and laugh / even if it hurts / go ahead and pull pin

[thosch3i]

Hi hi! So the lost tombs and chronology all super confuse me. So tlt2 ended on a cliffhanger that was not resolved by tlt3 which is ultimate note, but now there is another tlt3 that I am guessing is made by the same studio as tlt2 (but not UN) that actually follows tlt2? And it has the same WPZ as tlt2 (but sadly different WX, ZQL though I’m sure these guys are great). You seem to know what you’re talking about so I’m hoping you can help!

UN also ended on a cliff hanger so I’m wondering if they’ll get a sequel from their studio that comes before tomb of the sea.

ahhh hello anon! yes ahaha the dmbj dramas are certainly very confusing--because they keep switching the screenwriters/entire production team between dramas. huanrui did tlt1 (2015), tlt2 (2019), and the sequel to tlt2 (2021). they're also technically the production company for un (2020), but linghe did like all the directing/casting/writing so its significantly different in tone and quality from the other dramas huanrui produced. npss (dmbj author) did sha hai (2018) and tltr (2020), with sha hai being in collab with linghe, so you can see lots of parallels with un and shared cast. (gonna add that i dont know much about the m9 because that’s not what im personally interested in, so i’m only going by stories with wu xie & the iron triangle.)

unfortunately, the dramas pretty have no continuity as a result of all the weird shit and multiple studios doing different dramas and messy stuff going on behind the scenes. the author's production company currently has all the rights back for filming future dramas, which is......imo, a good thing for book fans who love the author but a 😬 thing for book fans who like the original story more than what the author is now doing with it. I'll uh avoid saying too much opinion stuff though so no more on that 😅

that aside! yes 云顶天宫 “explore with the note” part 2......is the direct sequel to tlt2 and done by the same studio. unfortunately the writers are different and im not sure how much of the production team is the same either. idk how much you know about the novels so brief summary here--for the chinese version, the main story has 9 parts split among 8 books (though the official eng tls have each part being a different book) with some important content being as follows:

official eng title “cavern of blood zombies” (first time wx goes into a tomb, first t3j meeting)

official eng title “angry sea, hidden sands” (xisha seabed tomb, introduce a-ning)

official eng title “bronze tree of death” (bronze tree in qinling, wx & lao yang solo adventure)

official eng title “palace of doom” (heavenly palace on the clouds, introduce bronze gate)

official eng title “deadly desert winds” (golmud, introduce hei xiazi, desert, rainforest, tamutuo)

official eng title “graveyard of a queen” (the rest of that arc, wu sanxing & xie lianhuan reveal, jade meteorite, amnesiac xiaoge and escape, sanshu vanishes for good--also i think the official eng tl covers a couple chapters of the beginning of the next part too)

阴山古楼 (searching for xiaoge’s memories in banai, miluotuo cave, i think introduction of wu erbai)

邛笼石影 (auction/hotel iron triangle fight, introduce xiao hua & xiuxiu, wx & xh on the mountains alone while pz & xg go with granny huo)

finale (rescue from zhang family mansion, changbai mountain goodbye, 10 years promise)

after the main story are the main sequels:

zang hai hua (tibetan sea flower; unfinished & abandoned) covers wu xie a few years after xiaoge has entered the gate, searching to understand xiaoge’s past

sha hai (tomb of the sea; unfinished & abandoned) covers wu xie’s plan to wipe out the wang family, after zhh

chongqi (reunion: the sound of the providence) covers wu xie’s lung disease and how he recovers from that, set after they pick up xiaoge again from the bronze gate. thunder city and everything.

灯海寻尸&万山极夜 (still updating on wechat) don’t worry about this one since it’s still a WIP lol

btw between sha hai and chongqi there’s also ten years later (a short story) that covers how wu xie and pangzi pick up xiaoge from the bronze gate and take him home

the dramas Do Not Connect To Each Other At All, which the exception of tlt2 & tlt2 pt2 somewhat, but they go in this order:

盗墓笔记 / the lost tomb 1 (2015): covers part 1 but with major OCs and filler, and includes the auction scene from part 8 for some reason, so introduces xiao hua early.

怒海潜沙&秦岭神树 / the lost tomb 2 (2019) technically “explore with the note”: covers parts 2 & 3 but with major OCs and filler, introduces xiao hua & xiuxiu (and hei xiazi briefly) early. last couple episodes also cover the beginning of part 4. not a direct sequel to tlt1 despite being done by the same studio.

云顶天宫 / heavenly palace on the clouds (2021) technically also “explore with the note”: covers part 4 with major OCs and filler (and the same changes carrying over from tlt2). some episodes are identical to the last couple episodes of tlt2. works as a direct sequel only if you ignore the last couple episodes of tlt2 that take place in the snowy mountains. (those episodes of tlt2 were filmed after this drama was filmed, and im still not sure why they dragged the wu xie and xiaoge from tlt2 back to changbai mountain to film those episodes.)

终极笔记 / ultimate note (2020): covers parts 5-8 with minor OCs and minimal filler, also introduces xiao hua & xiuxiu early. the only adaptation that resembles its source material most of the time.

沙海 / tomb of the sea (2018): covers the second sequel with major OCs and filler. includes some bits from zhh and the short story “three days of silence”.

重启之极海听雷 / the lost tomb reboot (2020): covers third sequel with major OCs and filler.

in addition there is the prequel series mystic nine (2016) and side movies for the dramas that the author produced. there is also a single standalone movie--time raiders (2016) that is....well it’s. very strange. it’s fully subbed on youtube if you’re interested?

the best way to watch the dramas is to assume each one is its own self-contained AU set along different points of the dmbj timeline because even the dramas the author himself worked on don’t have continuity LOL (and with the exception of ultimate note & sha hai most of the time, also assume most characters are pretty OOC from the novels).

i uh regret to inform you though, that ultimate note will not be getting a sequel unless the author magically decides to not care about making money anymore and sells the rights to film the finale to linghe or something ^^;;;; it’s....unfortunate bc un is the most highly-rated dmbj adaptation on douban by A Lot, but it’s an adaptation that the author had literally nothing to do with whatsoever.

more information on some of the side movies/stage plays/manhua/donghua here.

summaries of the main novel stories (currently through zhh) here.

edited mtl (some of which has apparently been looked over by native cn speakers) of the novels following where official eng tls end here. (there are many scattered extras as well.)

you can get the official eng tl books/ebooks on amazon or elsewhere(?), but if you have problems purchasing them or like you just dont wanna support amazon or something, dm me off anon. (also i dont want to be mean but frankly the official tls are kinda bad too ^^;;;)

a rough timeline (spoilers galore) for the dmbj novels here. (fair warning im not 100% sure how accurate all of this is--they put three days of silence as 1991 but looking at the info in zhh, it seems like it should have been before the 1950s...but it’s more than fine as a general overview.)

anyway i hope that was helpful in some way? dmbj is a Very Confusing thing to get into ahahaha, one of my twitter mutuals has made a few carrds if you think they might be helpful: book, dramas (slightly out of date bc it says heavenly palace hasn’t aired yet), ultimate note (got its own carrd by virtue of being the only adaptation aside from sha hai sometimes that most og book fans acknowledge lol ^^;;;)

also anon if anything wasn’t clear or if you had more questions feel free to ask again sorry ahahaha im kinda tired rn @.@ 

[starlit-dreaming]

[8] in the back of my mind

Fandom: WMMAP Rating: G Ship: Eventual Lucathy, Felily, Calena, and more Note: the Twin Sibling AU that i tried so hard not to write, but i DID, so naturally i have to call myself out for writing it. will be cross-posted on ao3 and wattpad under the same title

note: I’M FINALLY AT THE END OF ARC ONE AND WILL BE SMACKING INTO THE 2 YEAR TIME SKIP ARC NEXT CHAPTER!!!!!! I’M SO EXCITED I LOOK FORWARD TO EVENTUALLY DIVERGING FROM THE CANON STORYLINE

also, idk how many chapters will be in arc 2. due to firmly sticking to my 2-3k word limit per chapter, a lot of chapters in my outline have been shuffled for later down the line, since i was only expecting arc 1 to end at ch7 and for verena to be introduced in ch9, but if you read my note in the previous chapter, that aint gonna happen. im really happy with how this chapter turned out, actually

Arc 1: Beginning of the End 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | [8]

Arc 2: Of Princes and Villainesses 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16

Summary:

He was pretty sure he transmigrated into a fanfic of [The Lovely Princess] — after all, he would’ve remembered if Princess Athanasia had a younger twin who died.

// A retelling of WMMAP with a vital difference — Athanasia has a younger twin brother.

——————————

8. this is the morning after

——————————

‘How annoying,’ Athanase thought as he weaved flowers into a flower crown. He glances up at Athy, who picked two big pink roses and kept her gaze down. ‘They’re still looking at you, Athy,’ he tells her, noticing her eyebrow twitching at the statement.

‘I know, Athan!’ Athy had thought to him with a cry. ‘What do I do?’

‘Well, it’s not like we can just tell them we don’t want to see our mom. They’ll think that we’re lying and trying to suppress our feelings at such a young age,’ Athan huffed, picking up a white daisy and adding it to his flower crown. ‘Well, we could always ask Claude, but in Toska, this was what caused him to stop calling for us as often as he does. I don’t think he hates her, but there’s definitely some baggage going on there, and that was the reason why he hated the twins in Toska.’

‘Then he can’t find out we want to see Diana,’ Athy thought with the utmost determination, picking up another pink rose.

‘Wouldn’t it be better to get ignored by him, though? I thought you wanted minimal contact with him,’ Athan frowned.

‘I know, but… there’s a lot of pros to this plan as long as we act like Jennette,’ Athy pouted.

‘If you say so…’

——————————

‘I’ve had enough of trying to leave like I don’t have a clue,’ Athy inwardly groaned. ‘This is so uncomfortable.’

‘I think you’ve been handling it pretty well,’ Athan hummed, flicking through his book on Siodonna, looking at photography of various sceneries. ‘Especially since Diana would’ve been the best mom if she survived during childbirth.’

‘Ugh, don’t be like that,’ Athy shot him a flat look. ‘She’s not even our real mom, anyway.’

‘I vastly prefer her more than my previous life’s mom, that’s for sure,’ he snorts. Pausing when he hears quiet footsteps leaving the room. ‘Ah. They left.’

‘I’m going to follow them,’ Athy hummed, getting off the sofa and trotting over to the door. ‘Wanna come with?’

‘No,’ he flatly thinks back. ‘Something bad always happens after you ask me that, and I want no part in it.’

‘Not true.’

‘Meeting Claude and ruining the original plan of getting ignored.’

‘That… was kind of inevitable, wasn’t it?’

‘December of last year. You wanted to sneak into the kitchen for chocolate, but since we were too short to reach the doors, you dragged me along to help. But then, since you got so scared because there was a rat that hadn’t been caught yet, you ended up screaming and accidentally whacked the table and got flour spilled all over me and further freaked out because I looked like a ghost and—’

‘You are so fucking mean to me. I’m telling Lily that you’re absolutely evil.’

‘Good luck with that. She thinks I’m an angel.’

‘Ugh, I hate you.’

‘Love you, too.’

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‘Athan, I fucked up!’ Athy had soon cried, throwing herself onto the sofa and onto Athan’s lap. ‘What do I do? I made everything worse!’ she mentally screeched, hugging his midsection.

‘I’m so glad I didn’t tag along,’ Athan thought to himself, patting his sister’s head. ‘There, there. Tell me everything that happened.’

.

.

.

Well, something bad happened, but thankfully, it’s not Athanase’s problem.

——————————

The day following after Athy’s spectacular outburst against Felix regarding their birth mother, Athan was the only one able to sleep peacefully. Everyone had pale faces, a hint of exhaustion being the only indication of how they felt overall.

Well, for starters, Athanase remembers the way Lily had gently declared that Diana was always at their side. It was possible that she stayed there until the sun began to rise, and Athanasia herself did confirm in her mind that she couldn’t sleep.

Thus, it stood to reason that Felix also didn’t sleep much at all last night.

‘You all look like shit,’ Athan commented, rubbing his eyes as he yawned as always. He still wasn’t a morning (and he didn’t care what Athy said — 11 AM is still in the morning) person, but at least he got enough sleep.

‘And you’re looking like a gremlin as always, I see,’ Athy dryly thought back.

“We should be heading out now,” Felix stated, hesitating as he glanced at Athanasia.

‘Was I being a bit too much yesterday…?’ Athy thought.

‘Probably. They both think that you’re suppressing your feelings regarding the whole “I wanna see Diana” thing,’ he huffed as Athy tugged on Felix’s cloak, asking him to pick her up. ‘Thankfully, since we’re still little kids, they won’t think too much about it if you act like you never had a fight.’

‘I guess that’s just one of the few perks of being a small kid,’ Athy hummed as Felix picked her up in a piggyback ride. ‘Look at them, acting like newly-weds. They don’t have feelings for each other, do they?’

‘Then what does that make you who’s between them, their child?’ Athan raised a brow as he walked beside Felix with his grip on the knight’s cloak.

‘You can’t have Lily!’ Athy adamantly thought with puffed up cheeks as she stared at the back of Felix’s head.

There she was — ignoring him.

.

(Again.)

——————————

‘As always, Claude has crappy manners,’ Athy huffed.

‘He’s still a good Emperor,’ Athan hummed, observing the imperial family’s emblem on the banners. ‘Terrifying or not, he actually gets the work done, enough that he’s able to make time for us in his busy schedule.’

‘If he’s going to make us wait, the least he could do is let us wait in a room or something,’ Athy pouted at him.

‘True, but you don’t have room to complain,’ he raised a brow at her. ‘Considering that you’re using Felix instead of standing.’

‘That sounds like a you problem.’

‘Did you just… did you just meme at me?’

‘What’s a meme?’

‘Oh my god, my sister’s an uncultured swine.’

‘Shut up, I was broke in my previous life. I didn’t get to grow up with almost all of your internet terminology — not that it’d matter since you grew up in America and I lived in Korea,’ she glared at him. ‘And I was talking about the fact that you could have Felix pick you up, too, but you always insist on walking.’

‘I’m building up strength for when I eventually start my sword training,’ Athan rolled his eyes. ‘I don’t remember why I know this, but if I start any physically strenuous exercise now, I could possibly stunt my growth and cause my body more harm. Plus, I was only 5'2" in my last life, and Athanasios is taller than 5'4"! Every inch counts.’

‘Seriously?’ He didn’t need to look at his older sister’s face to see her incredulous expression.

‘Well… I just know he’s taller than Athanasia when the twins are 16 years old.’

Before Athy could have a chance to respond back, the doors to the throne room opened. A man with white hair and golden eyes emerged — clearly a noble, judging from the expensive materials his suit was made with. Wasn’t this Ijekiel’s father?

‘The same ducal family that raised Jennette until she was 14 years old?!’ Athy stares with wide eyes.

‘If I transmigrated as a 30-year-old dude, I’d definitely tap that,’ Athan thought, peering up at the older man.

‘Gross.’

‘Nobody asked for your opinion, Athy.’

‘Then keep a better hold on your thoughts, Athan.’

That was laughable — compared to Athy, Athan was much better at keeping his thoughts to himself, with only an occasional slip up here and there.

‘He’s your love interest’s dad, for goodness’ sake!’

‘Same goes to you!’ he shot her a look. ‘Athanasia also fell in love with him in Toska, along with Jennette, Athanasios, and even Verena, that minor villainess, fell in love with this dude!!’

“My, pardon my manners, I didn’t notice,” Duke Alpheus said upon noticing Athanasia peeking over from Felix’s back. His gaze falls, finally taking notice of Athanase at Felix’s side as well. “Roger Alpheus, at your service. Prosperity be upon the Obelian Empire.”

‘Ah… I guess he’s comparing you with Jennette,’ Athan thinks as he notices the Duke’s gaze lingering on his sister. ‘I take back what I thought. His staring’s getting kinda creepy.’

‘Me, a 5-year-old?’ Athy thought angrily as she smiled cheerfully.

Athanase looked at her.

“Hello, Mister White!” Athy brightly greeted. ‘Sup, how’s Jennette?’

‘And you always tell me off for playing jokes like this,’ Athan thought as he simply looked away.

‘It’s his fault for comparing little kids,’ Athy hummed.

——————————

Athanase gave the Duke a little wave as they walked past him and enters the throne room at Felix’s side. After Athy’s little joke on Duke Alpheus, it seemed to more or less give the Duke some rather mixed feelings. He could understand that — the twins had never been openly acknowledged until recently, and the only thing known about them is that they were the only survivors of the Ruby Palace Massacre.

Claude didn’t really come across as a doting father, and Athy’s interaction with Duke Alpheus didn’t really confirm or deny much of anything regarding the twin’s relationship with the man who sired them. After all, if Emperor Claude was a surprisingly doting father, then surely that would mean Jennette would be left in Claude’s care without too much of a worry.

‘Then again, that’s all speculation,’ Athan thought, smiling at Claude. ‘The only reason why Claude becomes fond of Jennette is because of how persistent and kind-hearted she was. Kind of like a clingy puppy.’

“You’re here?” Claude had asked in a bored tone of voice, and Athanase could tell that the question somewhat irritated Athy in the fact of how inconsiderate their father was in summoning them.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Felix answered. “We bumped into Sir Roger outside.”

“Mister White!” Athy cheerfully piped up.

“White?”

“He looks like a white doggy!”

Claude had slowly looked away, his mouth twitching as his hand seemed to shift just to cover enough of his mouth.

‘Huh? He smiled!’ Athy thought.

‘Do you think he’s trying not to laugh?’ Athan wondered, staring at their father with interest.

‘No way — that cold-hearted emperor?’ she responded, and he could practically imagine her frown deep down inside. He could imagine she was thinking back to the original Athanasia begging for her father’s love, the way his stare was described had given him shivers.

What a waste of a good novel — beautiful writing with gorgeous descriptions and writing that just spoke personality — only to end up being absolute shit. There was next to no world building, the characters felt flat, and while clichés were nice, it just didn’t make sense. Alright, prince charming Ijekiel Alpheus was a kind young man with dashing good looks, and he was caring towards Jennette and always gentle with her in their interactions, but what about Ijekiel as a character? He’s literally used as a prop to make Jennette look better.

Duke Alpheus seemed to be a bit of a scheming annoyance, but in Toska, it didn’t seem like that would be an issue for the twins. Rather, the Duke only focused on trying to make Jennette look better and didn’t even bother sparing the twins a second thought.

“A fitting nickname for a constant barker.”

‘My, my, that’s no way to talk about a future in-law.’

‘Ijekiel’s the son-in-law, though, so the Duke wouldn’t be the one with actual ties to the imperial family, although the nobles will probably see it that way,’ Athan hummed. ‘Then again, maybe it’s different in this world and Duke Alpheus would end up being considered as a brother-in-law, even though that wouldn’t have made sense in our previous lives.’

‘Ugh, that’s going to be a headache trying to figure out all the differences.’

“You’ve become quite the babysitter,” Claude comments with a… smile? as Athy gets off of Felix’s back.

Athy takes a hold of his hand, about to rush off to their father on the throne.

‘You’re still holding your candy,’ Athanase notes, causing her to blink and glance down at her other hand holding the lollipop.

“Ah,” his sister nods before handing the lollipop to Felix before dragging him over to their father.

“That reminds me,” Felix spoke as Athy noticed the throne crafted in gold. “I’ve heard that Sir Roger has a son the same age as the prince and princess. Wouldn’t he be a good friend for them?”

Athan wrinkled his nose, distinctly remembering Athy’s tease over the original Athanasios’ crush on the boy in question. Her teasing would become absolutely unbearable.

But… it would be a good idea for them to become friends. The sooner, the better, perhaps?

“Athy will have a friend?” his sister cheerfully asks.

Claude stared at his sister before finally stating, “It’s already unpleasant to have two kids running around the palace,” he comments, more so to Felix than to either Athanase and his sister. “Just thinking of three children running around the palace is a headache. I hate noise. And to think of a boy who looks like Roger Alpheus,” he seemed to scowl.

‘Too bad,’ Athy thoughtfully noted. ‘I was a bit curious about Ijekiel. He was two or three years older than Jennette…’

‘It would probably be fine to ask if we could play at his house, then,’ he raised a brow.

‘I value my life, thank you very much — huh?’

“You really are heavy,” Claude commented, picking up both of the twins. Athanase blinked as he found himself staring at the ground. He could feel his sister panicking at the strange and sudden behaviour coming from their father — after all, normally he would never even come near the twins for no more than a table’s distance.

All of his thoughts immediately halt the moment he’s placed down into a small alcove of a resting spot hidden behind the throne.

It was beautiful.

The mattress was comfortable — it was the equivalent of a thousand dollar memory foam mattress that his best friend owned in his previous life — covered with a bedsheet made of the finest and softest fabric Athanase had ever had the pleasure of sitting on. It seemed like the kind of material that he would gladly rest his cheek on and sleep, even if it’ll leave an imprint later, he would certainly have no regrets, none whatsoever!

Athan picks up a pillow with a pale green pillowcase, looking down at it with wide and starry eyes as he hugs it — the material was the same as Mr Mittens. He wasn’t allowed to bring Mr Mittens with him when they came to see their father, but he’ll gladly accept this pillow as a substitute.

‘This pillow is mine, now,’ Athanase solemnly thought to himself as he giddily flopped onto his side, hugging the pillow as he rests his head against the other pillows.

“Hearing so much barking this early in the day has made me tired,” Claude said, moving to lay down.

This man truly was his father — how could Athanase dare think otherwise, when the evidence had now been so blatantly clear? Athanase wholeheartedly agreed with his father; mornings shouldn’t be so troublesome, and if Athan had his way, he would never have to wake up at all in the mornings and could always wake in the afternoon. 

Whatever budding camaraderie Athanase felt towards Claude was abruptly crushed when he requested for Athy to sing “The Lullaby Song”.

Did his sister even have a decent enough singing voice? He only remembers how useful it was when it got him and Athy out of a potentially life-threatening situation when they woke their father up. Athanase was confident in his capabilities of being a heavy sleeper, but he wasn’t sure if the same applied for when he was on the verge of falling asleep…

Well, fuck it! It’s a challenge he’ll just have to take for the sake of a nap.

‘Help me, Athan!’ Athy had screeched at him.

‘Athan whomst? I only know sleep.’

‘You asshole!’

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.

.

.

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In the end, he couldn’t fall asleep. He was in that awkward place of being sleepy-tired and wanting to sleep, but incapable of resting. His eyes were burning from exhaustion, and he shifts from where he laid, seeing Athanasia tugging on their father’s hair.

“Is His Majesty asleep?” Felix had asked, and Athan’s gaze sleepily shifts to the entrance of the alcove where the voice had come from.

He doesn’t really register the conversation, much, when Felix starts apologizing to Athanasia. It’s a personal conversation for the two of them.

But then…

“Do you have a wish, Princess Athanasia?”

“A wish?”

So, Athanase closes his eyes, realizing for the first time, a fact that’s always been there nestled in the back of his mind: Athanasia wanted to live past eighteen, she wanted to be close with Claude so much that he wouldn’t want to kill her after Jennette enters their lives.

But Athanase… he didn’t share the same ambitions and goals as she did. He’s not afraid of death, rather, he loathes the idea of painfully dying. And so, he wants to do as he pleased, to pursue his interests without financial worries.

They were very different — he already knew they were, given their personalities.

So Felix asks, and Athanasia says she isn’t lonely.

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(But nobody ever asked Athanasios how he felt, did they?)

——————————

End of Arc 1: Beginning of the End

[elemental-daddy-neos]

For the Yu-Gi-Oh character ask you have pinned, how about Sora Shiun'in?

Oh hell yeah, free excuse to talk about my son

(Note: There will be Arc-V spoilers in this post)

Why I like them/why I don’t

I liked Sora from the very beginning because I thought it was really cute how much he seemed to immediately like Yuya, like he was just following around his crush all the time and wanted him to teach him about Pendulum summons really badly. He’s just... adorable? I love him? Look at this face, how could anyone not love him?

Past the initial “oh my god he’s so cute, I wanna hug him” phase, once I learned about his past? I just felt sympathetic for him. This baby right here was essentially raised from a young age to be a child soldier. He went to war with XYZ at the age of 11. He’s never had a friend prior to meeting Yuya and the others, and man... I know that he did some fucked up things, but I can’t hold it against him when he never had a chance to be a normal kid. Academia fucked this child up really badly, and seeing just how far he was willing to go to prove himself in a fight against his enemy (Shun) just made me want to get him some much needed therapy.

What I like about their appearance

Everything. There isn’t a single thing I don’t like about his appearance. I think Sora’s got a really nice color palette, his outfit is very practical and actually makes sense (which can be rare in Yugioh sometimes), and altogether he’s just cute. Also a big fan of blue hair, so that earns him extra points in my book.

Do I prefer their dub names or original names?

Between Sora Perse and Sora Shiunin, I like Shiunin better, but I do appreciate the effort the dub put in by giving him a last name that has a similar meaning to his actual name.

OTP

Y’all already know what I’m about to pick

Candyshipping is literally the only Sora ship I have, but it’s one of my absolute favorites to come out of Arc-V. It’s really endearing how much Sora just loves Yuya right away, and they make it so blatant in a lot of their interactions throughout the show. It was nice watching them develop from Sora being the one with the most interest in Yuya to Yuya and Sora actually having a pretty solid relationship where both of them clearly care for each other. 10/10.

NOTP

Preyshipping, without a doubt. Sora’s only 13, and Shun is 17 years old. Almost a legal adult in most countries. A 4 year age gap wouldn’t be a big deal if both parties were of legal age, but when it’s like that? It’s gross and uncomfortable to pair someone that young with someone who’s almost 18. Preyshippers do not interact.

OT3

Don’t have anything to put here tbh. The only person I ship him with is Yuya.

Favorite card they use

This one 

I just think it’s neat tbh. A little creature with some stuff and things. Personally some type of vibe.

Favorite moment they were in

I really love this whole scene from episode 83, where Sora has to confront Moon Shadow and face the man whose brother he sealed into a card. He's genuinely remorseful for what he's done, and feels like he deserves whatever punishment Moon Shadow deems fit. He's willing to face it, knowing an apology could never be enough, and only wants to continue on long enough to fulfill a promise to Yuya in keeping Yuzu safe. A few screenshots don't do the full scene justice, but it really is one of the best character arcs he has in the show.

Least favorite moment they were in

Hm... I guess I would have to pick the duel between Yuya and Sora after Sora's come back to Standard during the Arc League Championship. I think it was great for his character development and all, it's just one of those things that I wouldn't exactly want to watch for fun, you know? There are a lot more scenes with him that I'd rather watch to feel good.

Would I fuck, marry, or kill them

He's baby and I care for him, so none of these really work for me. If he were older, I'd pick marry.

[evajellion]

2020 vidya ranking: #1 Bug Fables The Everlasting Sapling

You already knew that I was going to tell you that this was the best game I had played last year.

Imo, this should have been indie GOTY back in 2019, but whatever, I guess I should explain why I ranked this one at the top.

Back in 2004, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door was released. I had sadly missed out on getting the original game on the Nintendo 64, but I was nonetheless very excited for the sequel. I got the game, still have my copy even years later… aaaand I got confused in Rogueport Sewers because I was a dumb eight year old, but I swear I picked up the game a second time. Got through all of the chapters, and had fallen in love with the game.

I loved the characters, the battle system, the story, the chapter progression, the cooking system, even the hidden lore and the amount of side quest scattered throughout the game. I even cried. It was the first time I had cried over a video game.

I wanted more, but then, Nintendo didn’t do it again. Sure, Super Paper Mario had a fantastic story, and a lot of people treasure that game the way I do TTYD-- I wouldn’t even mind if the series stayed in that direction. After that though?

Well, Sticker Star happened and stripped away all of the things I loved. Two similar games and one spin-off followed after that. Needless to say, me and several other fans of 64, TTYD, and Super weren’t happy about it. Seemed like I would never get another game like the one that was so dear to me ever again.

Cue me finding Arlo’s video about a cute little game called Bug Fables, just around the summer time. It had come out in 2019 and had been in development for some time by an indie studio. I was skeptic, but at this point I wanted anything-- besides, I actually love insects.

And after the first two chapters, which were a bit bland, I found it. I found the game I had been looking for. I was so afraid that this would be another Mighty No. 9 or Yooka-Laylee, but Bug Fables was anything but. Sure, it took inspiration from Paper Mario with its gameplay structure, but saying that this game is “just Paper Mario” doesn’t do it justice, because game can stand tall on its own.

I loved just about everything here in the same way I loved TTYD. Characters (except for two), the battle system, the story, the chapter progression, the cooking system, the hidden lore and the amount of side quest-- and there was even more than that.

“Gee what did Bug Fables have that Paper Mario didn’t?”

More than one super boss

A card game

Three party members in battle at a time

An entire side quest chapter that you can miss

An in-game randomizer

Higher difficulty settings

FREE DLC

Actual quality of life improvements

And finally, a villain who doesn’t just get a mere slap on the wrist as punishment for their actions. It’s one of the things Super did far better than TTYD because Beldam being let off scott free in the ending always pissed me off as a kid. The final boss is less ham-fisted in general too.

You have three characters at all times-- they’re your only party members and the only ones you need because they’re all perfectly balanced: Kabbu, Vi, and Leif. The third of which you won’t even meet until a bit into the first chapter. You don’t have to worry about wasting turns by switching your members out in this game.

The story starts off simple with the team of three collecting artifacts for Queen Elizant II, who seeks the Everlasting Sapling for an unspecified reason. About half way through the game and into the fourth chapter, the tone of the situation begins to shift, as the wicked wasps from the Wasp Kingdom also seek these artifacts for their lord.

This game doesn’t skimp out on being accurate to bug details either, there are little nods to how things work in real life, which is something I always appreciate. There isn’t really a dull moment in the story or a second where you feel stuck, because with the amount of Medals you get, there are plenty of strategies you can play around with.

Bug Fables is also… surprisingly dark, which perhaps isn’t unfitting of a game inspired by Paper Mario, given the direction TTYD and Super would get into. I can’t really spoil anything in regards to that, because much like with Three Houses, I would rather someone experience that themselves.

In terms of the flaws in this game, I can only think of two. One is regarding a terrible Flappy Bird game that’s required for 100%. It just shouldn’t be there, or at least be easier on the eyes.

The other is that this game suffers from having too many characters, when only four of them get actual character arcs: The main trio and the queen. You have some characters that get more fleshed out in side quests such as fellow team members or NPCs, but I feel like other “major players” suffer in the process.

Neolith is a big one. Cute nerdy moth who just exists as exposition for the artifacts and is a part of Kabbu’s backstory, but he never really does anything besides that, which is disappointing because he’s very cute. I would have loved more lore to him and Kabbu’s past, maybe a future DLC quest can solve that!

Your “rival team” also suffers a bit in this department. The team leader, Mothiva, is a snooty diva who never properly gets her comeuppance or realization that she needs to stop making everything about herself. I guess that’s the point, to give that vibe similar to old Pokémon rivals. But we’re supposed to believe she’s an official couple with her partner; Zasp, who just seems to simp for her in a one-sided way. Perhaps this could also be fixed with another DLC quest.

The worst of the bunch is Kina, Maki’s overly protective and possessive sister to the point of it being creepy. Unlike Mothiva, who is your rival, Kina is supposed to be a supporting cast member, yet she has even less likable traits. She stalks her brother and constantly wants to be with him, gets upset at the idea of him needing space, threatens a small caterpillar character-- you could remove her from the story and it changes nothing. There’s not even a backstory reason for her to be the way she is.

Mind you-- these are very minor nitpicks that don’t really bog down the game. Some may say the main villain of the game suffers from this as well since he shows up halfway into the game, I personally think he was handled perfectly, because you can piece together his motivations and backstory through lore.

Speaking of lore, I hope with so much in this game, that we end up getting a sequel. There are so many questions left unanswered, so much more I wanna know about! 

Other than that thought? The trio of Kabbu, Vi, and Leif and their story is just about perfect. I can’t thank Arlo enough for introducing me to it, and I think this game will catch on more in the future since Chuggaconroy said he was playing it on Twitter, and Fatguy just completed his LP of the game.

I think… we’re entering an age where we should start expecting this level of quality from indie developers more often. This game didn’t feel like an indie game, it felt like a grade a RPG. Which is funny, because that’s what Paper Mario used to be.

God speed, Paper Bug devs. Keep up the good work in the future, thank you for bringing back a feeling I thought I’d never experience with a video game again. I know it sounds cheesy and stupid, but that’s.. just how much Paper Mario effected me back then. Even now, it inspires the books I wanna write, and it’s safe to say Bug Fables did the same.

By the way, can I talk about how delicious some of the food items look in this game? This is insect cuisine, and even I would eat these.

For recap on what the other games I had played this year were, just so you know how Bug Fables topped ‘em:

2. Fire Emblem: Three Houses

3. Animal Crossing: New Horizons

4. Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town

5. Super Mario All-Stars

6. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and The Blade of Light

7. Final Fantasy VII

8. F-Zero

9. Star Fox

10. Puyo Puyo Champions

[snaill-dragon]

Othermind Pyrrhia and 3 moons for the wof asks!

Do I even need to Say it? Arc 3, at least up until the dangerous gift(which kind of passes). Those characters were so Interesting but the plot. Wasn’t well done. They deserved better.

Also maybe book 4 because, and people will come for my soul on this one, I found it a bit hard to stay interested in the plot in some bits of it. Mostly it was good though

Unanswered questions is a bit harder. Besides my want to know about mudwings *everything*, I wanna know more about about like. The science biology of dragons? Will we get it? No. But also I can’t help but wonder about like, the evolution of these tribes, did they all have a conman ancestor once? If so what caused the pantalan ones to move to a whole new continent… just shifting plates/lands?

The last one is hard to answer because it’s so vague. Like, am I basing this one the tribes that live there? The terrain? The other flora/fauna? I think pantala wins in cooler other flora/fauna. But otherwise I can’t really pick cuz idk what I’m judging this on, and also I like them both a lot.

[clansayeed]

Hey Jack! I wanted to know what your thoughts are on Rheya. Was she really a villain to you? Were her motives justifiable? Was she a good villain? Did you think she deserved to have a redemption arc in chapter 16? What could have been written to make her have a better character story? Any thoughts at all about Rheya!

FOREWARNING: Anon... I accidentally wrote you a 2500 word essay. I shit you not this thing is 2,528 words long. So... I don’t know whether to say you’re welcome or I’m sorry. Just letting you know in advance.

ADD-ON POST-POSTING: I’m fully aware this is an app game. A three book series written with sexying vampires in mind. Where the medium is limited both size and content-wise, where you can’t go into much detail because they can only have so many panels in a chapter, etc. Still thinking what I think though. And if you get paid to create content professionally the least you can do for your own paycheck is go back and double-check your work.

Actually this ask came at a good time since I have to work on some character motivations for her for my series... and I always break down the in-canon versions before working on my own. So anon, let’s talk... are you a mind reader?

Kidding! mostly

So. Rheya.

I actually just finished my first replay of book 2 and at the moment I’ve only ever played book 3 the once. I played it as it was releasing so there were some memory gaps in some places and needed-refreshers in others. But on a whole I have similar thoughts about Rheya as I do Xenocrates, and you can find those thoughts here.

Overall she was a solid setup, good design and potential, and PB pretty much wasted her execution.

I wanna start with a genuine question to the fandom since I’ve never actually been able to ask this... but y’all like... totally saw the Bloodkeeper being related to her coming, right? Like I was so convinced of it that when it was revealed in some big dramatic point at the end I was like “yeah... they told us this...?” and it turns out they fuckin didn’t??? Like I could not understand the people who were like super into her sprite like yes she looks good but here I was thinking she was our ancestor from the get-go so I was... confused to say the least.

Not gonna lie when they started pushing in snippets of Rheya’s past trauma in book 2 (things like her yelling “you know what they did to me/took from me” which is paraphrased but you know what I mean) I really hoped they weren’t gonna do what they did. So of course they did it.

But I wish they’d like... just given her the kid. Just give her Iola and leave the weird suddenly random husband out of it. At this point we know Gaius has an unhealthy idolatry for her, we know Xenocrates adored her in his own way in his youth... but we know fuckall about Demetrius up to and including his existence until literally book 3. Sloppy, IMO. They took something not being mentioned and used it to put in a plot device when the omission should have been strategical.

TBH I thought the whole “you know what they did to me” was gonna get hella dark RE: Rheya and King Kaelisus’ obsession with her. That’s as far as I’ll go there.

But you have a Priestess, a known Priestess, who was definitely faithful enough not to stray even when she thought she was walking to her own death. It’s pretty easy to assume (as I did ngl) that she would be completely devoted to Phampira, including romantically/sexually. It would have been a good setup to explain why she never gave Gaius the goods if anything.

And there’s nothing wrong with having said Priestess have her own family while still being devoted. I just wish PB would have used some fucking forethought and hinted at that earlier on than they did. Because they didn’t hint. They dropped this random fisherman-something husband on us and told us she cared enough about his opinion to make him part of her advisory board but not... to like... mention him in any of her conversations in any of the flashbacks... including those in which he would have been alive.

On that note the whole timeline there is really messy, they obviously threw him and Iola in later on after some things were established/couldn’t be taken back. I’ve studied this shit extensively and it’s really muddled exactly how long Rheya ruled, when shit went down with her family, how much time had passed when Xenocrates staked her, etc.

I would have loved for Iola’s father not to have been there. Give me a strong woman, a strong single mother, who would burn the world for the loss of her daughter. Doesn’t matter who did the deed, Iola was hers and the Sons/Order took that from her and the world would have to pay the price.

If I had been given that I would end all of my complaints right here. I would, genuinely. Because then her descent into madness, her paranoia, her megalomania would all have been explained. And they still technically are but -- maybe it’s just me -- there’s something about her having to factor in Demetrius that just... takes me out of it. IDK.

I didn’t mind the guy... though him being a talking tree of doom was a little much for me... though by that point I had accepted the plot was off the goddamn rails and just kept nodding and going with it. But his presence made the story okay when his absence could have made the story impactful and powerful and emotional. That’s just my thoughts. Which you asked for. You did this.

No takesies-backsies.

Was she a villain? Hells to the yes.

It’s a classic case of obtaining ultimate power and abusing it; of crossing the line between justice and vengeance. Not that she wasn’t justified in her freak-out over the death of her family. But everything after up to and including her fatal feeding schedule was totally unnecessary. For a villain, yes necessary. 

For a vampire goddess who could have easily used Gaius’ influence over the vampires of the modern world to form a cult following around herself with an open dialogue about her big ass appetite and probably would have ended up with swaths of willing adorers ready to lend their blood to her cause thus eliminating the need for secrecy and subsequent feeling of betrayal...

You tell me.

I feel like she was definitely more than a little hyped up though. Not even going into my whole-ass issue with the entire Unchained plot and thus the first like 4-5 chapters of book 3, she was hyped up in myth and kind of a let down in person. She could FLY. Walk in the SUN. Heal the DYING. She’s vampire JESUS.

*ADDED IN LATER: She took out THE ENTIRE ORDER OF THE DAWN, WHO HAVE RAVAGED THE VAMPIRE POPULATION FOR LITERALLY 3000 YEARS since they were around in her time after all IN LIKE A THREE-MOVE COMBO BREAK. ALL THIS SHIT THEY HYPED WITH THE ORDER and their entire ERADICATION isn’t even an ON-SCREEN THING. Unless you pay.

Dude if they had kept Xenocrates and the Order and used the two of them against each other; the Order’s long-standing influence on the modern world versus the new world Rheya wanted to create with the human populations not knowing the history behind their hatred, where like the first half of the book is Rheya and MC and gang taking out the Order and Xenocrates only to find out in the middle point that she’s been doing it for selfish reasons and they were on the wrong team the whole time and THEN Rheya becomes the big bad... I would have enjoyed the shit out of that.

Anyway. “She’s vampire JESUS...” and her big evil plan is to... suck face on national television? IDK. It didn’t play the mood right for me. I can see from a writer’s perspective how they kind of played out all of their options and went with a quick and easy solution... but it didn’t work for me. That’s a no from me dawg.

Do I think she deserved a redemption arc? I don’t think anybody deserved a god damn redemption arc, unless they are done with extreme care and attention to detail before/during/after said arc they go horribly, and overall tend to be the plot device pick of lazy writers.

And I take nothing back. No like I think I might have gone into how much I fucking hated Gaius’ “reDEmPtiON aRc” before or at least I have somewhere and to someone. Probably Sofia... no most definitely Sofia. But anyway. They spend TWO GOD DAMN BOOKS hyping Gaius as this ultimately irredeemable bad guy. 

OMG I was literally playing the book 2 finale and got a quote hold on... HERE. Adrian literally says about Gaius in 2.16 “It’s like there’s no humanity left.” And that’s just one actual example of the tons of times they make him out to be devoted to Rheya of his own volition, the ultimate example of the line between believing in something and being blinded to everything by it, etc. Like a huge chunk of Kamilah’s and Adrian’s arcs RE: Gaius are about how he was definitely a monster, he turns the people around him into monsters, and while they have worked their asses off to be good and right their wrongs he has not, will not, and would not ever do such a thing.

Then suddenly he’s brainwashed, tried to turn Rheya down and was made into a loony toon because of it, and everything he made MC’s loved ones do that they blamed themselves for but needed to blame him for is suddenly Rheya’s fault and now we should blame her for.

Mmmmmkay sweetie. I’m good, thanks.

But really -- that was the last straw for me when it came to both Gaius and Rheya. There’s a difference between giving the villain something they see as a just cause (ex. Rheya avenging her family) and giving the villain a cop-out that absolves them of guilt (ex. Gaius and... everything about him). Like yes I know MC didn’t have to forgive him, I know Kamilah didn’t really forgive him, but it’s pretty fuckin obvious from how it was put out into the world story that the writers were trying to lean you towards blaming Rheya and letting Gaius off the hook.

I mean... making him save Lula for real when Rheya saved her for fake earlier on in the book, using Lula as a stand-in metaphor for her own child daughter that she finds out she was the cause of her death for, etc? That symbolism is so transparent I could put it in the asset database.

And I’ll only briefly touch on this since I could write a whole other essay on the matter RE: PB and their fucking constant repetition of this, but “let’s give both bad guys similar moral quandaries but suddenly reveal it was a consent issue and the woman is wholly to blame and now gets the man’s crimes piled on with her own” is super common in fiction and hella. fucking. sexist.

But that isn’t to say all of this is necessarily bad.

When done right, everything I’ve complained about above can be a part of a really good story. What “done right” means is different for everyone, everyone has a different example and different thoughts on it. These are mine. I think the better term would be done well. It was not done WELL.

But given things like PB’s weird obsession with redeeming the attractive (apparently) bad guy, PB’s history with narrowing a woman down to one trait or part of her (ex. Rheya’s power corruption centered around her role as a wife and mother and not... a super all powerful vampire goddess...), their obvious lack of attention to detail and overall lack of vision when it comes to the big picture* and more, I personally don’t think they knew what the fuck they wanted by book 3 and were already well into transitioning into whatever adultery-obsessed lingerie shenanery they’re fixated on now; so much so that it’s almost a disservice to the writing done in earlier book 1 and a decent chunk of book 2 when calling it a whole series.

*I keep bringing this up only because it means I can back up stuff like this with real examples of theirs: these guys did not write the plot of this series as a cohesive story. I get that, as a writer writing a big series myself I get the fuck out of that. But you have to solidify some things early on in the development process in order to avoid writing yourself into a hole or, like with this, having to result in trope-y plot devices that work in theory but on paper don’t give the story the full-circle fulfillment it deserves. 

Their timelines are out of whack, they contradict themselves in quite a few places, constantly wishy-washy their own lore, and definitely didn’t go back and double check if they’d said something already... and that’s not including where they focused on the details of one unimportant thing and left another more important thing to just be “and this is the way it is moving on.”

I literally have no way/idea how to summarize any of this bullshittery going on in this ask. Did I like Rheya? The character personality, design, and overall idea as this big ass badass power/hungry goddess demanding fealty was pretty cool. Did I like Rheya when they narrowed her story down to her grief over her family (which, again, is valid, but just seemed really disjointed and rushed when compared to everything else they had given about her/shown of her by the beginning of book 3)? Not... as much.

I think they wanted her to seem like she could be redeemed. I mean FFS in the “big battle” she literally just stands there and lets you do the thing. 3000 years imprisoned and however many centuries before that spent taking the power that she was denied all because some bad dudes in masks killed the mortal husband and daughter you would have eventually lost to old age anyway...? And she just stands there??? 

Even knowing she was really behind Iola’s death they could have stuck with the “madness consumed” plotline and had her be like well... what’s done is done back to taking over now thank you.

But sometimes a bad guy just has to be a bad guy. Rourke from ES, mister capitalism -- can’t remember them trying to redeem him. If they had I don’t think I would have liked it so much. Who else... UGH. Thomas in NB. Crazy zombie man wants all monsters dead because one killed his family (can we stop using dead families for grief porn please and thanks...) another example of a useless villain. Hence why I removed him from my NB rewrite don’t even get me going...

What’s his face in TCATF! Luther! You join up with him and he still tries to kill you in the end! Now that was fucking classic. Hex, who suddenly is forgiven for the literal enslavement of a race of people and the thoughtless murder of a civilization that didn’t agree with her.. and all because she was ‘like a mother’ to the kid genius? Not so much.

I could go on and on and go search out tons of examples but in the end the one thing you can say PB does well is that they stay consistent in their ideas of redemption, of who deserves it and who isn’t, and just how far they’re willing to stretch the fucking story to forgive a character if 1. the sprite is hot or 2. the sprite had a little sprite family somewhere in there.

legit just talk to me about bb/nb

[rosenmarille]

First of all: that One Day bit is quality content. Second of all I read "3.5 for Holly" and am Highly Interested

HI yes! i will explain, however i first have to correct myself. its actually a part 2.5, not 3.5. like i mentioned in the other post, the part is called “heart unbound”, this is about 25 years after battle tendency, when holly is in her early 20s!!

the rest of this im gonna put under the cut

so the setting. joseph (43), suzie, and holly (21) live in new york, smokey is in georgia, lisa lisa (75) is Somewhere in the states, erina and speedwagon have passed away (sad). its 1963! the speedwagon foundation has continued expanding, with joseph and lisa lisa closely involved after speedwagons death. they’ve mostly moved their attention into new territory, but still have all their old research kept. stands aren't a thing yeeet, but its been long enough that the pillarmen have faded into unpleasant memory.

until one night the power at the swf hq goes out for just a moment too long, and santana manages to escape.

joseph and lisa lisa are contacted asap, and they decide to travel down to texas and find him (preferably take him out for good this time). holly, who has grown up hearing about jojo’s wild escapades, really wants to come along. she knows some hamon! she can defend herself! come on!! (yes i said it, holly learned hamon, do you think having lisa lisa for a grandmother would result in anything less?) anyway, joseph and lisa lisa Really don't want her to come since it could be really dangerous and they'd rather not put her in harm’s way.

so holly (rich, unsupervised) books a plane and goes after them.

we skip to texas!! joseph and lisa lisa investigate at hq and the surrounding area and find practically no trace of santana or where he might have gone. when holly arrives, she decides that since she can't look into hq without getting caught, she’ll ask around with locals, and manages to hear rumours about a new sort of cryptid (only appears at night, weird anatomy etc), both cattle and people have been disappearing, but on a very small scale. she looks into similar stories and realizes that santana must be moving south, though what he's planning, she doesn't know. but she will follow!! (and leave breadcrumbs for her family to pick up on this pattern too, she guesses. not so helpless now, huh?)

so this goes for a while, taking her down into mexico, until she is pretty sure that she can triangulate the missing people reports accurately enough to actually Find him. holly isnt stupid, she doesnt think she can win in a battle against a pillarman. what she’s hoping to do is prove herself to joseph and lisa lisa by prepping and helping out enough for them to then take care of the problem. she's an adult now and she doesnt appreciate being treated like a child. (you may say this contradicts how she behaved towards joseph in part 3, but to that i counter: she's in her 40s in that one, and her being an adult is established enough that she knows she can act a lil silli without that being put in question)

but hey!! she does find him!! she decides to stalk him for a bit, see what he does. so she happens to be there when santana attacks a young woman (midnight snack), who pulls a KNIFE instead of running away, so Holly rushes in and deflects an attack with a quick hamon swipe. santana has learned from his previous hamon encounter and instead of sticking around, he decides it isn't worth it and absconds instead (smart). (at this point you might notice this is the first fight of the part. yeah it be like that in this one. call it battle untendency) 

holly and the woman (who later introduces herself as Maria (no last name yet; but named after Maria Maria by Santana (lol)) also get out of dodge and hide out in an alley, where maria decides that she needs to know what the fuck that Thing was, yesterday. magic?? sparkling?? hello??? and hollys like uhh hah yes so. that's an ancient semi immortal vampire creature? and this is sunlight breathing magic, which he's allergic to. yea. and maria is like ................yeah okay i buy it. teach me sunlight breathing magic, i wanna come.

maria side paragraph! she's our oc and we love her. remember that awful scene from the santana arc with all those prisoners and the one kid who doesn't get sacrificed? that's her older brother. he was “let go” but “let go” basically did just mean “free to wander the desert and find civilisation maybe”, so when he did eventually find his way back home, he'd been severely traumatized, plus on death's door. other prisoners had been turned into vampires to test on the pillarman discovery, so the word “vampire” is something he'd have heard and conveyed to his family, who didn’t. really believe him. he also hasn't really recovered from that experience :( then the war happened and maria's dad served in it, and afterwards decided that his other child needed to know how to defend herself, and maria learned how to handle a knife, as well as how to physically fight. their family managed to avoid post war financial problems for the most part, and maria was able to finish her studies! she's a pilot :)  she is, however, harbouring very deep anger and resentment for what happened to her brother, and has not really had a face to direct that anger towards, so it's been on a relatively low burner for the most part, but now there’s talk of vampires and a person she can blame for her family’s trauma.

they exchange notes and she realizes that yeahh, that is pretty much exactly what her brother had told them, so it was true. hah :) yes actually, i would like to learn vampire killing magic please holly. and holly, who didn't really want to bring someone with her, but kind of does believe in accidents not being a thing, decides that yeah, she probably should bring maria along. and sure!! if they have to deal with sanata again, why not teach her hamon!! they share stories and continue to follow the trail while they train together, and become really close friends! jobro time.

we've now reached the first third of the story.

we travel further south!! soon, holly begins to realize......... ohh..... the temple they found santana in.. that's south of here, isn't it? oh huh. what could he want there?? the masks have been destroyed as far as she knows?? she doesn't know enough first hand to know what significance there could be, but the girls prepare for anything. maybe a big weapon the researchers had not been able to identify?? MOre pillarmen, secretly living underneath the temple??? 

(there are gonna be some scenes that involve lisa lisa and joseph figuring out where they need to go, and maybe also realizing who set that trail, maybe they have smth else going on, who knows) 

holly and maria follow santana and eventually do find the temple, and prepare to stake it out, hopefully hopefully not alerting him to their presence, because that would be.........bad. (tho tbh marias kinda itching to try out vampire begone magic. wouldn't You want to if you suddenly learned how?) neither of them have ever been here so they're honestly pretty floored by the temple interior, the tunnel that leads into the main chamber dark and uninviting, with who knows what hidden dangers are lurking about. 

and then they see him. santana is investigating the place where the pillar had been cut out of the structure, the stone masks crushed and broken, strewn around the floor, running his hands over the broken stone. Then he walks to one of the murals carved into the wall, a large one, similar to the one speedwagon had been investigating, with the 4 faces representing the pillarmen, and he lingers there. dips his head, then walks back to the empty space of the pillar and sits down where it was, crosslegged, and closes his eyes. and then he stays still. what does That mean?? 

the girls decide this is enough, they should fall back and formulate a proper plan, maybe wait for joseph and lisa lisa to catch up. buuuut we can't have that be the end of it, and so something happens, maybe one of them trips? steps on rubble that falls loose? they make a noise. and get noticed. 

change of plans! fight now! except there isn't an attack? they stay still but “i know you're there.” damn it. battle formation, stances ready, they make their way into the chamber, where santana hasn't moved at all. he's still sitting there, but he's looking at them now. holly asks what he's doing here, he asks the same back. she says not to play dumb, hes been killing people this whole time, he has to answer for that! and to that, santana honestly looks a bit confused because. has he? in his defense, he's not human, his prey is humans. pillarboy has to eat.

marias like “well? aren't you going to attack us?” and he's like “not unless you bother me.” and closes his eyes again. the girls aren't sure what to make of this.

santana side paragraph: first of all, this is a santana stan account. name one (1) thing he's done wrong, canonically. woke up in a strange place. captured?? got his bearings, tried to Leave and was accosted! shot some nazis (go king), and finally only snapped when joseph got mad he didn't laugh at his clownery. anyone would get murderous as a result. tried to escape further, ultimately was stopped and detained Again! morally, he's above joseph. 

so they're just standing now. since their earlier encounter where holly used hamon, santana refuses to talk more at first, but holly has the bright idea to get his trust by having maria restrain her and then stand back with her weapon -- a show of putting herself in a helpless position and promise she wont attack. that’s enough for santana to agree to come closer and have a proper conversation.

holly asks again why he's here exactly? what's here? and he tells her that if she Must know, he's waiting. waiting for what, she asks. and maria looks back at the carvings and realizes “oh. there should be 4 of them.” now santana looks mildly uncomfortable, and holly rememebers that “oh fuck, dad killed all of them.” and then “wait they were evil tho??” and then again “wait fuuck, didn't the leader guy say they left this one behind in mexico on purpose? oh man does he Know?” holly finds herself in the position of “not only do i have to tell this guy his friends aren't coming because they're Dead, they also kinda abandoned him.” yikes.

meanwhile maria is kinda pissed that her one chance at revenge might have just been taken from her. she still blames santana for what happened to her brother, and she refuses to let that go. she’s too stubborn and proud for that. and now, especally since holly seems to be focused on creating a bond, it feels like a slap in the face. so she kinda… snaps, ruining their chance at resolving this peacefully and causing santana to run off again. she and holly have a fight. it sucks.

soon after that joseph does find holly and he Does send her home. maria, after explaining her intentions, stays with them. holly is heartbroken :( after shes gone, joseph and lisa lisa make a plan to trap santana, aimed to go off in a few days prep, and during this, maria is starting to realize that that... really isnt the right thing to do... shes now had some time to sit alone with her guilt and regret about how she handled the situation, ssso she gets an idea on how to make up for it...

meanwhile holly is sitting at home and is sad, until suzie drives her somewhere in guise of going to a fancy lunch with smokey (whos in town), but really she drives her to the joestars airpad where her friend marua(!!) is already waiting in front of joseph’s plane, which, turns out, she hijacked in the south and flew all the way up here, and suzie tosses holly a bag with clothes and stuff and tells her to hurry up and get going :3

and hollys all "but what about lunch with mr smokey? :o" and suzie winks at her and says "don't worry, he's waiting for me to tell him everything went well at the restaurant ;)" and then holly gives her a big hug, runs to her friend and hugs Her, and they are off to fly back south to save some lives. on the way, maria apologizes and explains -- how she had harboured this resentment for so long that the sudden target for her blame put in front of her, plus the immediate removal of it were so jarring that she acted impulsively... she knows santana isnt at fault for what happened with her brother... and now she just hopes they make it in time.

as luck would have it, they catch up with joseph and lisa lisa just in time to jump between them and santana (maria accidentally cuts off joseph’s prosthetic hand in the process and freaks the fuck out before realizing it’s fine) and try to talk it out. it’s a tense few minutes, but holly is determined and stubborn, and she manages to get her dad and grandma to see her side of things and santana is saved! they find something for him to eat, giving him the energy to heal his wounds. pillarmen absorbing shit never gets old.

And from there it’s mostly just everything getting settled down and smoothed out. they get back in touch with the swf and tell them the problem is handled. santana turns out to be a relatively peaceful dude when his life isn’t being threatened, and he becomes a good friend with all four of them, but especially holly and maria. they help teach him about the modern world and he decides that he’s going to do some travelling and learn about the history of his culture and other ancient mesoamerican cultures he interacted with in his youth, and he shares the things he learns with the swf so they can get the info about where theyre needed etc.  maria gets hooked up with one of the many therapists we decided work at the swf that has experience with the supernatural things she and her brother have gone through. holly, maria, and santana stay in touch and go on regular trips together. holly receives many post cards.

it’s all really good and happy :) thats heart unbound baybee!! <33

[repo-net]

 And we’re back with another one of these posts. Today, I’ll be talking about one of my favorite trios in the series, Kotoko-Monaca-Nagisa. Legit, these three’s dynamic is super well-written and all of them deserve the love they get from the fandom.

Today’s Nagisa topic of the day: His trio with Kotoko and Monaca, and his relationships with them.

We’ll start with the core of this trio’s dynamic: Two loved Monaca, Monaca loved neither. One fights back against Monaca, one succumbs to her manipulation.

Really, a lot of this dynamic is centered around Monaca, and how the other two’s relationship with her just clashes well with each other and it makes for an amazing trio of angst overall.

We’ll start by talking about Nagisa’s relationship with Kotoko. Kotoko is imo probably the second least developed relationship with Nagisa, only really ahead of Masaru.

They don’t share much screentime together, and when they do, most of the time they’re just Nagisa talking all mature and stuff about their paradise and his plans while Kotoko in the background just goes “KYAAAAAAA” while he does it. Or he’s being an absolute mess around Monaca and she’s teasing him about it, take your pick.

Their one significant moment together was at the end of Chapter 3 and beginning of Chapter 4 where Nagisa bails Kotoko out of any more trouble, and requests Komaru and Toko to leave the town. One of my favorite Nagisa lines is one where he directs to Kotoko: “You don’t want Monaca to hate you, do you?”

Kotoko is very worried about what Monaca would feel if she found out Nagisa helped two of their “demons” escape the game. He’s aware of it, but in his eyes, it’s necessary because the two have really been putting a stop to their plans of a paradise, and he believes that if he just explains his viewpoint to Monaca, she’ll understand.

But even with everything he said, he still ends up telling Kotoko to now follow him because even he knows it’s not guaranteed Monaca won’t hate him, even if he tried to explain it. And the way his VA just voiced it where he just sounds so... God, I don’t know what the word is but it’s a damn good word, that’s for sure.

Despite a lot of the teasing Kotoko does and says she thinks he’s way too stuckup, Kotoko does have some admiration for Nagisa because he is a good leader, and Nagisa cares about Kotoko too, as he wanted to shield her from Monaca’s wrath. Him telling her to not follow him was able to give Kotoko a redemption arc to take down Monaca along with Komaru & Toko.

#NagisaMakesOtherCharactersBetterJustByExisting2020

Unfortunately, that would be the last we ever see Kotoko and Nagisa interact, and becasue of this their relationship I feel is a little on the underdeveloped side.

My reasoning on why I think Jataro has a more fleshed out relationship with Nagisa despite his much, much lower amount of screentime is because the two get a lot of subtle stuff inside (the paintings where the only WoH he drawed himself with is Nagisa, him clinging onto Nagisa during the post-UDG image of the kids) and outside the game (the relationship charts between the two in the official art books) just gives the two much more material. With Kotoko however, she didn’t really get any of these other than teasing Nagisa about his crush, complaining that he’s a bossy smartass, and again, end of Chapter 3 + start of Chapter 4. All the two really get are one-off jokes, moreso at Nagisa’s expense, but I’ll talk about some of the things I like about the two once I get past Monaca.

Speaking of satan herself, one of the parts of my Nagisa writeup is literally just dedicated to him and Monaca’s relationship, so I’m gonna pull some stuff from there to make my job easier. I could legit talk about these two for atleast an hour or so, tbh

The painful story of the boy who was loved by none and loved one, and a girl who was loved by everyone and loved none. Well, Junko exists so I guess Monaca does have someone she loves, but you get what I’m saying.

Monaca and Nagisa’s relationship goes as far back as elementary school because of how much backstory it’s given by the game and even outside it too. 

The amount of times she’s subtly manipulating him by giving him compliments, saying she expects a lot from him, all of them don’t look so cute when you replay the game and just hurt when you see how he’s so wrapped around her when you, the player, know that she’s just using him for her personal gain, and hell, she even fucking expected him to die for her when Nagisa fought Komaru and Toko, she knew that he was gonna fall to the duo and fully expected him to die in the process. Good lord, Nagisa. You really gotta find a new crush, this ain’t so totally adorbs.

Nagisa has so many cases of being a... can I say it? Simp for Monaca. Like damn bro, breaking into a factory and trying to get rid of a bunch of schoolgirls just because she promised you favors? Lmao simp

Okay, back to the more serious side of things, Nagisa showcases a lot of tendencies to do anything to please Monaca, even before the infamous you-know-what scene. “Monaca is our princess, I will never allow that!”

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who was on board the Nagisa x Monaca ship before the horrible era of Chapter 4, like it seemed to be one of the more wholesome things to come out of UDG, before they made their relationship into one of the darkest and most twisted ones in the entire series.

Nagisa truly did love Monaca, and he felt like nobody cared for him the same way he thought Monaca cared for him. And Monaca knew this, and using this to her advantage, she probably had the easiest time manipulating him.

If you wanna hear a more extended version of an analysis of Monaca and Nagisa, then I recommend you read the fic known as: Paradise by DarkShockBro on AO3. It’s an extended view of the infamous kiss scene between the two, and it’s one of my favorite Nagisa centered fics as a whole. Seriously, give it a read, it’s chilling, and makes Monaca look like a slightly better person. Slightly.

A lot of the appeal for me that comes from the Kotoko-Monaca-Nagisa trio stems from the fact that Monaca used both of their love her against them, with one of them succumbing to her manipulation and falling into despair, and the other rising up and fights to put an end to Monaca’s twisted game. That’s not to say Nagisa didn’t mature from it and grow past it,because DR3 does exist, I’m just talking about what we got from UDG. And what we got from UDG was great and could not have asked for more between the trio.

Really, the only even slightly negative thing I can say about this is that Nagisa and Kotoko didn’t get developed as a pair of friends more.

I enjoy fics that have a focus on Kotoko/Nagisa because I think the two definitely could’ve been fleshed out more in terms of just the two as a whole together, considering that they both got a lot of screentime in UDG yet to be so together so little is just a tad bit asking for more, and honestly because there’s a lot of similarities the two have that make both their presences enjoyable when in the same room. I might end up just making a fluffy story that takes place post-UDG between the two of them because I feel like these two have a lot of untapped potential together.

Anyways, that’s really all I have to say for now. Let me know what you guys think, this is probably the last one of these topic talks for a while because these take pretty long to write, lol

Thanks for reading!

[incorrectquotes-randomthoughts]

(This is so long I’m sorry but I had to rant cause honestly I’m scared )

I literally made a post the other day about how we have to welcome in new fans and treat them equally but truth be told? I’M. NOT. FUCKING. READY

Bitch bitch bitch I mean I’mma have to stand this kids hardcore shipping Luke x Annabeth ???? Or Luke x Thalia ???? SIS they’re SIBLINGS wth Annabeth realized it later on it changed there was an arc.

Like this fandom closed the discussion on Luke’s redemption arc and the way he is and his motives we agree we have opinions but we’re FINE. Are you telling me ma boy is gonna be played by some hot teen (he is older) and 12 y/o’s are gonna be biased and I’m gonna have to yell at them across a screen cause they’re gonna act like Luke is a saint !!!!??

THE SHIPS. FUCKFUCKFUCK. BoTL Percy spent worried about Nico and if it’s done properly we’re gonna have all that worry face first and no one’s gonna be able to ignore it like the AMOUNT OF PEOPLE who are gonna say that’s OTP. I mean SHIT.

I haven’t even been in the [internet] fandom for that long like how I’m I supposed to go against this people who were here before me I mean they LEFT but what arguments do I have !?!?

The amount of people who only read pjo and went BYE like I can’t bring HOO up in discussions wdym????? How I’m I supposed to talk development and change and character arcs and what would they do in certain situations if you’ve never heard of them ????

I’M NOT READY

Y’all wanna know something terrifying? The maze runner fandom. Because there’s so little creators out there who actually love it the way I do and so much of it is obsessed with Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Newt I haven’t been there since I finished the books I couldn’t stand it. And I can’t stand the fact that our Percy actor is gonna be good-looking and I’m TERRIFIED of the amount of people who are gonna be here for what the actors look like you can’t understand this.

I MEAN all them debates are coming back up I can’t do this. This is such a fantastic fandom (and I’m in many, trust me) like we’re all at peace there’s no arguments you can literally come by and just vibe.

OH FUCK ANOTHER THOUGHT. So since we’re getting official characters and stuff I swear if ONE IDIOT hates on viria’s or Livibis’ or Markiehh’s art (they’re the one’s at the top of my head) because it’s “inaccurate” or “far off” from what they look on screen they better watch the fuck out because they have no idea the fandom they’re messing with.

OH AND SHIT I know this has been brought up but the way we treat Nico??? All baby and soft and all that and how our fanon Nico is just so different from the actual canon kick-ass Nico, ya know? But we kinda understand how powerful Nico is but we still love him cause poor kid was 10 and then all of it happened and he was 13/14 (?) during tlo and the PTSD so we’re chill with that BUT. There’s the fact that our son is gay and god the amount of people who are gonna come in (cause there’s obviously gonna be foreshadowing) and be like “ooh gay baby look at him” that’s badly explained but I know you guys understand. And specially if we get to HoO and the horrors getting to ToA would be. Like we already have our fanon Nico but if someone DARES to even IMPLY that Nico can’t kill you with a thought the entire fandom know better and will prove them wrong. But the new fans what would they know.

You know what’s going to be fucking horrible ???? PARENTS. I mean UGHHHHHH. My parents only know I’m reading what I tell them I’m reading (“a book about Greek mythology”). Like I’m terrified of my mom picking up The Burning Maze sitting on my desk or any Cassandra Clare book cause the homophobia in this household is astronomical. (Don’t know how many of you will understand but the PANIC I went through reading the red scrolls of magic? God knows she would check every book I get form the library from the on) Back to the point sorry. But y’all pjo is mostly safe but Rick already talks about how parents complain about adding a Genderfluid character to a Norse mythology book (I mean Ma’am go educate yourself) and how his books “would be more successful without [gay] characters” ???? What if we get Kane Chronicles some asshole is gonna come up about Sadie being polyamorous, Alex and Magnus are gonna be a problem, Will and Nico, House of Hades is gonna make Karens riot because of one scene.

You can see how Disney treats Seblos (hsmtmts) compared to the other couples on the show. You can see how not even half of Andi Mack is actually on Disney+ (after getting brutally canceled) you can see how Diary of a Future President hasn’t been renewed when it’s reviews are 100% for both critics and public. How the Love, Simon series was removed (now on Hulu) because it wasn’t a good mix with “the family-friendly content on Disney+” (underage drinking + s*x are brought up in discussions but the show isn’t out yet and we have no idea). So pardon me for being scared of how this is going to be treated.

Back to the new fans. I’m gonna say the topic that’s the most brought up that causes discussions is Leo (?) Tbh I’m still lost on the Leo x Echo thing that everyone else seems to understand. Plus the hate on Caleo is probably the biggest issue in this fandom. (Which is like saying the biggest problem in a perfectly written essay are some barely noticeable erase-marks, but still). Anyways a fair amount of people dislike Leo for reasons I kinda comprehend. I know a kid and he’s the exact definition of Leo, (I’ll probably talk about this in an individual post) and people don’t like him, I know most of you would avoid him. I know he’s great but people just don’t seem to like him.

(wOw i’M sO gOOd aT sTaYInG oN tOpiC)

I don’t think I’m gonna be able to survive hate on characters that probably WILL come.

Solangelo is called rushed a lot and I would want to see this two fall for each other and Nico let down his walls and talk about his PTSD from Tartarus (which friendly reminder Percy saw for a few minutes the way Nico saw it the whole time and it was the worst part of his entire experience there). But I mean there WERE six months between BoO and ToA, I am pretty sad we didn’t get to see them.

oH JESUS follow-up on Nico earlier; the fetishization, or Apollo, or Will.

Ok... ha, this is fun....

OH WAIT NEW THOUGHT SJDJDJD On the topic of Luke’s redemption arc... BIANCA,, they better do my girl properly who thought she had stayed months at the Lotus Hotel babysitting her lil’ brother and then was put into a school where they were outcasts and she probably knows as much as Nico about mythomagic from his rants and she thought he was gonna be safe and she wanted freedom and be her own person so she joined the hunters. And as a fandom we’ve talked this out but what about the new fans, they better not try to act like she did anything wrong cause that’s just not-

OH AND no one better hate on Clarisse cause yeah she’s the minor antagonist but she’s a very well-written character who doesn’t change the way she is but is kinda less of an ass towards Percy. And she and Silena are good friends and she and Chris are dating and she is a human being with valid feelings. She was terrified for Chris in BoTL and cared for him and nurse him back to sanity and stayed with him. She throws Percy and Annabeth into the lake which so it’s prove she and Percy are more in the friendly banter I-won’t-admit-how-much-I-care-for-you-if-it-meant-my-life relationship. Then this doesn’t happpen until the last two books (seasons?) so we can’t actually go around saying it? In SoM we learn about how Ares treats her which is SO important so I guess S1 comes out and we sit here telling new fans “You’ll know next season” cause we can’t directly spoil it and then we’re like “You gotta wait for seasons 4 and 5” ugghhhhh this is too much.

Ok I’m done for now I’ll reblog this with any new terrifying thoughts when if they come.

[peachymess]

He chose friendship

After finally having visited the final exhibition in Tokyo myself, I’m left with a lot of thoughts. First of all: the exhibition was amazing! All the coverage of it does not do it justice! The videos made for this event, were stunning! And they have several important artifacts from the story on display in 1:1 scale that just gave me all the feels. Armin’s book, pages open, was lying less than two meters away from me, for instance! I wasn’t even aware they had his book until a few days beforehand, when I saw an image of it by pure chance! I went 4 times, and I could go again. A+!

Anyways, I’ll gush about my trip later. Right now, I want to tell you guys about something I picked up on that I really want to share. You see, I didn’t expect a lot of answers going in; the coverage had already show and told us what the exhibition was all about. And no, I still have no clue what that ending sound is… But I – quite surprisingly  – think I found the answer to the question posed on Armin’s wall. I’m sure you’ve seen it. Red background, seashell in hand. The nerve wrecking words: “is it truth or friendship that he has chosen to believe in?” like the truth is now in opposition with his personal relationships…

Well, I’m here to tell you I know the answer. Let’s just skip right to it: Armin chose friendship.

Here’s why:  

Truth is fleeting. It changes from person to person, based on the deciphering key we use to read the world around us. Truth is a construct. It is what we decide it is. Take Armin’s speech to Annie about good and bad people; it’s the same thing: one person’s action is in truth, both a good thing and a bad thing – depending on who’s looking. If Annie had chosen not to help Armin, she would – in truth – have made a non-beneficial choice. To Armin. However, that same choice, was a beneficial one – to Annie. Her choice is both beneficial, and not – but not both. Just either or, equally, depending on point of view. Two realities, both true. Truth is truly fleeting.

…That’s one way of seeing it anyways. I’m not here to start a philosophical discussion with you. I do, personally, largely subscribe to the abovementioned way of seeing it. However, whether you do or not, is irrelevant here. Because, the exhibition (and the story of SNK) very clearly, tells its visitors that this is how truth works in SNK. The notion of truth being fleeting, is explicitly confirmed as (ironically enough) true, for the SNK universe. As a matter of fact, the entire exhibition seems to have as objective to make you understand just how amputated your understanding of life is, if you lead your life with “one truth” as your compass. The exhibition fronts the duality of reality seen from “growing up inside the walls” vs “growing up outside the walls” almost to an awkwardly spoon-feeding degree. “Truth” is the weakest card, we get it.

As you enter the “paths room”, this is literally the writing on the wall:

By now you know,

that the “truth” is not the only one

in this world.

 But one thing that is for sure

Is that you were born here

 So, you can continue

to choose your own reality.

So, you can carry on progressing

until you burn out the life

you’ve been born with.

What I’m trying to say here, is that after setting Armin’s dilemma up in a way that’s supposed to sound difficult, the exhibition gives the answer away by thoroughly deconstructing “truth” to the degree that it’s barely tangible enough to “choose”.  

Listen, when you read the question, you wondered, didn't you? What the answer would be? Or if you didn’t, didn’t you at least entertain the idea that both “truth” and “friendship” are strong contenders for Armin’s core? Because they are. Almost; Armin is soft for his friends and for general kindness. He has a very human, very gentle side to him. The same side that dreams of far away places where lights dance in the sky and where you can walk on miles and miles of sand and ice – and much, much more. But he also has a cynical side to him, one that says the end justifies the means and that he should throw anything way (including love and kindness) on a personal level if that’s what’s required for the greater good. This side shoots women in the face without hesitation when, in the grand scheme of things, it is beneficial. The same side sees the benefit in having his friend eaten if he poses a threat to all mankind (sidenote: just because he can see such a benefit does not mean he wishes for it; I can see the benefit in going to the gym but it doesn’t mean I want to go). Basically, there is a duality in Armin: he is both full of love for life and people, and simultaneously ready to throw it away and turn cynical in order to pursue what’s “right”. So when those two sides are set up against each other, which side comes out on top?

That’s basically what the question at the exhibition is trying to make you think; that the current events of the story is making it impossible to hold on to both – that the “truth” is that he has to oppose Eren in order to achieve a positive outcome – or that the only way to hold on to Eren is by directly acting against his better judgment.

However, it’s easy to poke holes in this supposed problem: for starters, “truth” is not a strong representative for Armin’s cynical side at all. If there’s one character who’s explicitly opposed a fixed truth, it’s Armin (read: his speech to Annie). His strong desire to communicate with others also tell us that he’s open to the idea that things may look different from others’ point of view. Armin isn’t pursuing truth, because he doesn’t believe it’s fixed. Actually, it’s almost the opposite: he already knows his own truth, so he keeps trying to seek out others’ in order to expand/change his own. Basically, Armin already know the lesson that the final exhibition is trying to teach us: that “the truth” is a weak concept. So between “truth” and “friendship”, Armin will have no problem picking actual human relations with high chances of a positive outcome (based on context), over… something that can’t even really be pinpointed; truth. Hell, it even changes from person to person, so what truth would he be choosing?

 “Ok, so maybe they phrased that badly. The point is he has to choose mankind or Eren, right? That’s still the issue.” Nope. They worded it exactly right. Because the “truth” is, Armin doesn’t know where Eren stands. He can’t choose to go against Eren for the greater good, before he knows that the two are even opposites to begin with. Armin’s theme for this arc has been that he doesn’t feel like he understand Eren any more. We see him struggle to try to figure out precisely if Eren IS opposing the greater good or not. As of chapter 120, he has yet to know the answer to that. In other words, the “truth” option is NOT “I have to go against Eren”; it’s “I still don’t know exactly where he stands and thus what is the best action to take for the greater god. I will have to keep digging until I know enough to make a choice on what to do”. It’s still possible that his search would lead him to the fact that Eren needs to be opposed, eventually, but at this point in time, he doesn’t know that, and thus – since he has already “chosen to believe in” either – it cannot mean “opposing Eren”, as neither “friendship” nor specifically “truth” contains “Eren is bad”. Thus, the only one of the two option that opens up for decisive action, is “friendship”; ultimately, “truth” vs “friendship” looks like this: either Armin chooses to trust and back Eren, or he chooses to keep wondering where Eren stands. If not for any other reason than good story telling, it’s time Isayama put Armin on a decisive path, to push the narrative along.  

As a digression, I’d like to say that I’m aware that the last two or three chapters seem to lean so heavily towards Armin trusting Eren that I’d almost say we’ve been shown the answer already – but I see a lot of you are still worried, and that’s why I’m adding in my two cents on the matter. I already beforehand wanted to believe he chose friendship, but it was only once I experienced the exhibition myself that I saw just how obvious it was.

Anyways, back on track: that’s why I say they worded it exactly right; Armin’s dilemma is not “opposing Eren fore the greater good” vs “discarding his better judgment to prioritize his personal relationship with Eren”. Armin’s two core personalities are not being put up against each other, so they can’t say they are. They (and by “they” I mean Isa/editors/those that worked on the exhibition) are simply playing off the theme of the arc: the fear that Armin has had – and that many EMA fans have had – which is that the truth about Eren will turn out to be that he’s gone off the deep end and needs to be opposed by the two people who love him the most. For a while, it also was made to look like it was likely the case (all to scare us, mind you). “The truth” sounds scary on its own – but even more so when they’ve built up a contextually contained denotation that it means something bad. By saying “truth”, they are using the decoy of fear to distract us from the fact that it’s an empty threat – for all the reasons listed above.

Another digression to make the dilemma sound even less scary: every major character whom had a wall dedicated to them, got an equally ominous rhetorical question written next to them. Look at it like the splash text at the end of each chapter; it’s just there to quicken your pulse, remind you of the stakes and make you want to keep reading to find the answer. Also, the color red is used to identify the Eldian side throughout the exhibition and is used to singnal “belonging to Eldia” - it’s not there to ask you scary questions you don’t wanna answer (while I’m sure it IS there to make you feel nervous about the fate and righteousness of their side vs Marley - again, to blow the “right and wrong” out of the water). 

Anyways, if Armin’s two cores were set up against each other, it’d be an interesting match for sure… but that’s not what’s happening here. Truth has got nothing on friendship in this context. Armin chose friendship. Because friendship… is magic.

[littlemisssquiggles]

Dragonic Musings: So…I have officially finished The Dragon Prince Book 3…

…And, I have no words. Like I’m incapable of forming coherent sentences right now. So, if you all would pardon me, I’m just going to share some screenshots from scenes that stood out most to me and screech my opinion of them in the most bluntest of fashions:

Ahem:

First and foremost, to all the people who urged me to watch this season til the end for more Rayllum:

WELL HOT DAMN! YOU GUYS...YOU GUYS WEREN’T JOKING! THIS MOMENT. THIS MOMENT RIGHT HERE. I THINK....THIS HAS GOT TO BE ONE OF THE BEST LOVE CONFESSION MOMENTS I’VE SEEN IN ANIMATED SERIES. YES I KNOW I SAID THIS ABOUT THE RAYLLUM FIRST OFFICIAL KISSY-KISS MOMENT FROM CH5 BUT...NAH! I THINK THIS MOMENT STOLE IT.

DON’T GET ME WRONG, ADMITTEDLY I WILL SAY THAT I LOVED THE RAYLLUM MOMENT FROM CH5 ALOT BETTER. BUT STILL...THIS WAS...THIS WAS JUST....

....I DON’T EVEN KNOW. IT’S BEAUTIFUL GUYS! NOTHING ELSE BUT THAT.

CALLUM STRAIGHT UP SPROUTED WANGS AND TURNED INTO A BIRD MAN FUELED BY HIS LOVE FOR RAYLA....AS CHEESY AS THAT SOUNDS, I’M EATING IT UP! AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT’S EVEN MORE INSANE?

THIS JUST MADE ME THINK BACK TO WHERE RAYLA AND CALLUM STARTED? REMEMBER WHEN RAYLA TRIED TO KILL CALLUM BACK IN BOOK 1?

REMEMBER WHEN CALLUM TOLD RAYLA THAT HE AND HER WEREN’T QUOTE, UNQUOTE, “THERE YET” BACK IN BOOK 2.

NOW LOOK AT THEM!

SERIOUSLY LOOK AT THEM!

STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM AND NOW WE HERE...UP ON CLOUD NINE!

WHEN WE RAYLLUMS STANS SAY THAT THIS SHIP SOARED, PEOPLE ARE GOING TO THINK WE’RE JOKING UNTIL WE SHOW THEM THE IMAGES!

RAYLLUM DIDN’T JUST SAILED, THEY FREAKING SOARED!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH THESE TWO!

MY RAYLLUM SHIPPING HEART! I CAN’T BELIEVE WONDERSTORM DID IT. I CAN’T BELIEVE AARON EHAZ AND JUSTIN RICHMOND DID IT ALONGWITH THEIR WRITING TEAM.

THEY WROTE A LOVE STORY THAT TOOK PLACE OVER THE SPAN OF THREE WHOLE SEASONS---9 EPISODES A POP TOTALLY IN 27 EPISODES. THEY WROTE A ROMANCE BETWEEN TWO CHARACTERS WHO’VE ONLY KNOW EACH OTHER FOR 27 EPISODES AND MANAGED TO MAKE THE PROGRESSION OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP AND EVENTUAL LOVE FEEL...NATURAL AND NOT...FORCED AT ALL. FREAKING AMAZING MAN! 

AND IT’S NOT JUST THEM. IT’S NOT JUST RAYLLUM

SOOOOO AMAYA AND THE SUN KNIGHT ELF....

THEY ARE A COUPLE RIGHT? OR AM I TRIPPING BALLS NOW? CAUSE...I SHIP IT. WHY NOT? I THOUGHT THEIR INTERACTIONS WERE SO CUTE >U< NOT TO MENTION THAT I LOVE STRAWBERRY GREN’S LIL SMILE OF APPROVAL AT AMAYA AND HER NEW ELF GIRLFRIEND. IT’S SO WHOLESOME.

GOSH I LOVE THIS SHOW.

NEXT UP....

ZYM WAS SOOOOO GOOD IN THESE LAST FEW EPISODES.

IT ACTUALLY LOVE HOW THEY TREATED ZYM MEETING HIS MOM FOR THE FIRST TIME. CALL ME WEIRD HERE BUT THERE WAS SOMETHING ALMOST HUMAN TO HOW IT WAS APPROACHED.

IT REMINDED OF THOSE SCENARIOS WHERE ADOPTED CHILDREN WHO HAVE TO MEET THEIR REAL PARENTS FOR THE FIRST TIME ARE HANDLED AND I LIKE HOW THE DRAGON WRITERS CHOSE THIS APPROACH FOR ZYM. IT FELT...REAL AND I LIKED IT ALOT. PLUS...

NOT TO MEME THIS MOMENT HERE BUT I’M GONNA TELL MY KIDS THAT ZYM’S MOM IS MUH QUEEN!

ZYM’S MOM IS SO PRETTY AND I LOVE HER VOICE. SPEAKING OFF...DOES THIS MEAN THAT AT SOME POINT ZYM IS GOING TO LEARN HOW TO TALK? 

CAUSE I’VE NOTICED THAT SINCE THE START OF THIS SEASON, THE DRAGONS---AT LEAST THE ONES WHO HAVE BEEN MONARCHS CAN TALK. SO WHAT IS THAT? IS IT THAT ALL DRAGONS CAN TALK IF THEY CHOOSE TOO OR...IS IT ONLY THE MONARCH ONES? I’M ASSUMING IT’S THE MONARCH ONES. EITHER WAY, I’M INTERESTED TO SEE WHAT ZYM IS GOING TO SOUND LIKE WHEN HE GROWS OLDER. WHILE I’LL MISS HIS LITTLE PUPPY DOG SOUNDS, IT’D BE SWEET TO SEE ZYM ACTUALLY TALK. MAYBE EZRAN CAN TEACH HIM TO TALK 8D THAT’D BE SWEET

OVERALL, THIS FINALE WAS REALLY REALLY GOOD. THIS SEASON WAS REALLY, REALLY GOOD. IT MAKES ME FEEL LIKE REWATCHED THE WHOLE SERIES FROM THE FIRST BOOK. I’LL PROBABLY DO THAT FOR THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS. BUT FOR NOW, I THINK I’M JUST GONNA GO BACK AND REWATCH THE RAYLLUM MOMENT FROM CH5 INSTEAD CAUSE...I’M SORRY I REALLLLLLLLY LOVED THAT SCENE.

BUT BEFORE I DO. I GOT TWO MORE THINGS I WANNA SCREECH ABOUT.

Not to be a Darth Vader or anything but....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! CLAUDIA WHYYYYYYYYYYY!

WHY! I WAS ROOTING FOR YOU! I MEAN...IN A WEIRD WAY, I GET IT. AND IN AN EVEN WEIRDER WAY I....KIND OF LIKE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CLAUDIA AND VIREN. IT REMINDED ME OF OZAI AND AZULA FROM AVATAR BUT...ALOT MORE....SYMPATHETIC, FOR LACK OF A BETTER TERM.

I GET THAT VIREN IS A VILLAIN BUT WHAT I LOVE ABOUT HOW THE DRAGON PRINCE HAS PORTRAYED HIM IS THAT...VIREN DOESN’T FEEL LIKE AN ENTIRELY EVIL PERSON. HE HAS SOME GOOD IN HIM AND IT COMES IN THE FORM OF HIS LOVE FOR CLAUDIA. YOU CAN TELL THAT CLAUDS IS VIREN’S PRIDE AND JOY. I WISH HE HAS SAVED SOME OF THAT LOVE SOREN BUT....THIS WAS THE CONFLICT.

VIREN IS A VILLAIN BUT...HIS CHARACTER IS WRITTEN SO WELL AND SO GREY THAT YOU AS THE AUDIENCE FEEL CONFLICTED. EVEN NOW AFTER HE’S DONE A SHIT TON OF EVIL STUFF, I STILL FEEL SYMPATHETIC FOR HIM BECAUSE OF HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS CLAUDIA.

I FEEL SO BAD FOR SOREN AND CLAUDIA. THEY WERE THE KIDS MAN AND IT SUCKED SO BAD THAT THEY HAD TO BE BROKEN APART ESPECIALLY AFTER SEASON TWO’S REVELATION ABOUT THEM.

BUT AT THE SAME TIME, I AM SO SOOOOOOOOO PROUD OF SOREN! SOREN WAS THE FREAKING MVP OF THIS SEASON.

I KNOW I GUSHED MOSTLY ABOUT RAYLLUM BUT SOREN AND ALSO EZRAN AS WELL WERE THE CHARACTERS WHOSE DEVELOPMENT STOOD OUT MOST TO ME. DON’T GET ME WRONG. EVERY CHARACTER SHINED THIS SEASON AND IT WAS HARD TO REALLY PICK FAVOURITES. BUT IF I HAD TO, EZ AND SOREN. ESPECIALLY SOREN. 

SO PROUD OF HIM.

THAT BEING SAID. I AM AT THE END OF BOOK 3 FOR TDP. FUNNY, WITH THE WAY HOW THIS SEASON ENDED, I WAS STARTING TO THINK THAT THIS WAS IT. I FIGURED THIS WAS THE END OF THE DRAGON PRINCE. UNTIL...

...DRAGON PRINCE BOOK 4....WHEN?

CLEARLY THIS IS A TEASER FOR WHAT’S NEXT TO COME FOR THE SERIES. EVEN THOUGH A SEASON FOUR HASN’T OFFICIALLY BEEN ANNOUNCED. OVERALL, I’M READY. THE STORY NEEDS TO CONTINUE AND WHAT I’M CURIOUS ABOUT IS WHAT ELSE IS THERE FOR TDP TO UNFOLD.

I MEAN, WE STILL HAVE MORE OF XADIA TO EXPLORE. WE STILL HAVE MORE ELF SPECIES TO ENCOUNTER. WE STILL HAVE TO GET RUNAAN BACK FROM VIREN AND REUNITE HIM WITH HIS HUSBANDO.

MORE IMPORTANTLY...AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO FEELS AS IF VIREN ALSO HAS RAYLA’S PARENTS TOO?

I KNOW RAYLA SAID THEY WERE BANISHED BUT...I CAN’T REMEMBER IF THEY WERE CONFIRMED TO STILL BE ALIVE?

I KNOW RAYLA SAID THAT RUNAAN AND TINKER (HIS REAL NAME ESCAPES ME RIGHT NOW, SORRY) RAISED HER AFTER WHAT HAPPENED TO HER PARENTS. BUT...ARE RAYLA’S PARENTS ALIVE? DID VIREN CAPTURE THEM LIKE RUNAAN?

Overall---okay I’m done screeching now----but OVERALL, this was another great season. I might even go as far to say that Season 3 is TDP’s BEST SEASON yet. I REALLY REALLY LOVED this season and I’m looking forward to rewatching it again in my recap of the whole series.

I feel as if this is the end of an Arc. Zym has been returned to his mother but the threat of Aaravos still looms on the horizon. So I think it’s safe to say that the Ozymondias Arc of the Dragon Prince story is complete and what’s next will probably be the Aaravos Arc. Another three seasons perhaps?

Either way, I’m excited to see what’s next for TDP. Words cannot describe how much I LOVE this series with its amazing story and AMAZINGLY WELL-WRITTEN CHARACTERS. I can’t wait to see what comes for the next arc. Looking forward to it when it comes out. In the meantime, that’s all I gotta say.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)