#if you do then cool I'll post more reviews here lol

[drbatsponge]

Batgirls #14 review...

Disclaimer: this is basically a review I did on dead app (Amino) for Batgirls #14 because yes I have an audience there surprisingly, but I'm copy and pasting it here to see if people like my reviews idk.

...

Hey hey everyone, so as you know it's Cassandra's birthday, and what better to do than review a rather recent comic that came out that's all about her?

I will start this by preferencing that I haven't gotten through all of my Batgirls reviews on here yet, you all know I've really only given you my reviews of the first two issues.

It's safe to say that the book has had its fair share of controversy from time to time, as you all know from my previous blog on my problems with the series:

Though I will say that the recent issues of it have been pretty decent all around.

Not that I hated the first few issues (aside from 7 and 8, but that's a whole other can of worms to open), but I have a feeling that the book has finally found its footing as of late and is actually doing more of what I had expected from it.

And issue #14 has to be a pretty exceptional issue in my personal opinion, this issue is definitely the best one in the series so far and is probably one of the best Cass stories I have ever read. (Or seen? Idk, it's a silent issue for the most part, lol.)

And that's certainly saying something.

Now this is a silent issue, so it has no dialogue (at least not until the end but you'll see what that's all about...), meaning that the visuals are what make the issue, and well it's safe to say they got that right.

The main artist they got for this particular issue is Jonathan Case and his art is just really spectacular.

A problem with Batgirls is it does have a hard time tying down an artist, at least ever since Jorge Corona left the series, but I've never had a problem with the other artists on the series, though they had slight imperfections that would bug me even if nitpicky.

Like Neil Googe draws Cass and Steph a little bit younger than they're supposed to be and Robbi Rodriguez's movements for the characters are often too stiff for my liking.

But Case gets everything right.

Cass is drawn looking her age and the actions she takes are conveyed perfectly.

I mean what can I say the art is just gorgeous throughout the entire issue, I really hope Jonathan Case comes back to do another issue of Batgirls after this because they're just great.

Now the plot of the issue is pretty easy to explain, Cassandra is basically looking for Steph who had been kidnapped by her father in the prior issues of the series.

(This entire issue reminded me a LOT of Cassandra's stories that happened during the War Games saga, I actually plan on writing another review today on a particular comic that came out during that time.)

Cass at a point opens the letter that Steph leaves her to either see if it has a clue, or because at that point she thinks it's too late, but the letter contains a rather shocking confession

You are reading that right, Stephanie Brown quite literally admitted she has feelings for Cass.

And seeing how Cass reacted, it's possible she might return those feelings back.

Now I'm not sure if this confirms StephCass, we'll have to wait and see what happens in the upcoming issues, but yeah I hope this means what I think it means.

Now, of course I can't close out this review without mentioning the special appearance from Cassandra's dear mommy.

Yeah you had to see the full sequence because it's just 😍.

(Tumblr's image limit unfortunately prevented me from actually showing the full thing. 😭)

But yeah, all in all this is a REALLY good issue of Batgirls and I definitely recommend people pick it up even if you've had problems with the series.

It's just a passionate love letter to the character of Cassandra imo, and tbh I think this story will be remembered as one of her best for quite some time.

So, an obvious 10/10 from me. :)

Well, I hope you all enjoyed this review of Batgirls #14 from me!

As always stay tuned! Same bat-time, same bat-channel!

You can find the Amino version of this review here:

[reilemon]

⋆𐙚₊˚⊹♡ 2024 fics in review ⋆𐙚₊˚⊹♡

♡ thank you @rose-tinted-kalopsia for tagging me - you can view her post here ♡ i'm tagging @acciotaitlynn @nanamiscocksleeve @hesperisms @poisonf0rest + any writer who wants to join. and no pressure ofc 💕

Total number of fics: 16 Total word count: just under 82k

Chronological Breakdown:

April - ❄Cool Off * ✩Under The Stars May - ଳLove Don't Be Shy * ✩Xavier, Xavier, Xavier * ଳIridescent Scales June - ✩Passion Star Martini July - ✩My Everything August - ♪Ambrosia October - ❄Tight Spot * ଳBeneath The Abyss * ✩Velvet Night * ♪Possession * ❄Beneath The Collar * ❄ଳAmore Immortale♪✩ December - ♪Surrender❄ * ♪Return To You

Overall Thoughts:

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d predicted?

I didn't expect to write at all! I wrote some fics back in 2020 and 2021. After deleting them, I thought my writing days were over. But, Love and Deepspace resuscitated my love for writing.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January? 

Obviously, didn't expect to get attached to Love and Deepspace so much!

What’s your own favorite story of the year?

Beneath The Collar 

Did you take any writing risks this year?

Writing Amore Immortale has my braincells working overtime, since it's supposed to be a slow burn that leads to polyamory.

Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the new year? 

To finish, or at least to be close to finishing Amore Immortale.

From my past year of writing, what was…

My best story of this year:

Beneath The Collar

My most popular story of this year: 

Cool Off (2.8k notes) - i still don't understand why 😅 it's my very first fic for this fandom, and also the first fic after not writing smut for like three years. Ofc I'm grateful that people like it, but I cringe every time I remember the setting lol.

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:

Beneath The Collar. Honestly, I expected it to be the most popular or at least second most popular during Kinktober. But the people who did like it were very invested in the story, so that makes me happy. And @gattapotatta made this beautiful artwork inspired by it.

Most fun story to write:

Amore Immortale. That one is the balm for my soul.

Story with the single sexiest moment:

I have no idea omfg

Most “holy crap, that’s wrong, even for you” story:

I think that everything I wrote was pretty tame. But I guess personal sacrilege in Beneath The Collar can be considered wrong lol. And some people were apparently taken aback by the dvp moment in Surrender.

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:

None.

Hardest story to write:

Possession. I'm currently working on the sequel, and it continues to be the bane of my existence.

Biggest disappointment:

Xavier, Xavier, Xavier. For me, it's so bland, I almost didn't post it. Also, Tight Spot - Zayne is a little ooc there.

Biggest surprise:

Not to copy Roxie, but I'm so surprised by the love everyone has shown my fics! Without your support I'd probably just stop writing again.

Most unintentionally telling story:

There's the reoccurring theme in my fics where the Reader has run away to start a new life. 🤨

Highlights + Wrap-up:

I don't have that many fics to have 5 favorite opening, and closing lines. Or 5 favorite lines from anywhere. So I'll just write some randomly -

"Poor little bunny." - opening line in Amore Immortale, ch. 1.

He’s just a man now—just Zayne. - line from Beneath The Collar

Fic-writing goals for 2025: 

Write more fluffy smut and more unhinged smut.

[poetrysmackdown]

THE FINAL SMACKDOWN.

Big congratulations to "The Two-Headed Calf" for a solid win over "How to Be a Dog" (and to our Third Place competitor, "Wild Geese")!

Thank you to all who participated. I had a lot of fun with this and I hope you guys did as well! I've said it before but I had no idea this would get as big as it did, and it's been truly heartening to see this many people engaging with poetry and getting excited about it. I'm personally grateful to all the folks I got the chance to discuss poems with, and everyone who challenged me to see these poems in a new light. Whether you were introduced to new poems or reunited with old ones, whether you voted with the majority or against it, I hope you got something out of this as well.

As promised, here is the grand stats spreadsheet. The smackdown with the highest turnout was the semifinal matchup "The Two-Headed Calf" by Laura Gilpin vs. "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver with 17,449 votes! In second place, Round 1: "Poem" by Langston Hughes vs. "A Meeting" by Wendell Berry with 16,690 votes.

Unfortunately my real-life responsibilities have hit me like a truck and I don't have time to do a whole post dedicated to reviewing more of it, but I hope y'all might share any insights you have below! I also included the word count stats on the "summary" page, as suggested in this ask by @puddinginthemix. Nevertheless, they don't seem to demonstrate a concrete trend in one direction or the other—the mean word count difference technically gives a slight edge to longer poems in competition, but with such an insane standard deviation as to render the whole thing silly.

On the topic of a sequel.

After some deliberation, I've decided I would love to do another one of these focusing on poems that are lesser-known on Tumblr! In a perfect world I would just jump right in again, but it's quickly becoming clear to me that I will not have time to sort through/pair submissions and then run the thing while balancing work and school in the upcoming semester. With that in mind, my plan is to run it over the winter holidays so I'm able to give it more of my attention. That said, I've already made the submission form, and I'm tempted to release that ASAP so that I can use any downtime in the fall to read, review, and structure things thoughtfully. I also just figure it'll get a higher volume of submissions if I release it now. I know it's probably not ideal, but would people be cool with me opening submissions earlier, even if it means there'll be a significant time gap between submission and competition? If so, I'll get that out no later than Tuesday, and likely keep it open for a few weeks (unless it gets, like, seriously swamped lol).

Lastly, I've still got some asks I need to get through.....they're still on my mind. I'll do my best to respond to everyone within the next week!

Thank you again to everyone who participated, it's been such a joy!

[genericpuff]

This is stupid, but you know those new LO hoodies the Webtoon shop has? I know the font they're using. It's Eckmannpsych which is an Adobe font.

That's not the stupid part though. The dumb part is the capital H and G in the Eckmannpsych font do not match what is on the hoodies, which would obviously be on the hoodies that have Hera or Goddess on them. So, Rachel looks to have taken the time to hand draw her own H and G to match the font style for those hoodies but did not take any time to make new, better art for the merch, but instead reused ugly panels from the comic. Talk about a strange look into her priorities. She doesn't like how the G and H look on a font? She will remake those to fit what she wants. Rachel when the assignment gives her the chance to make specialized, better designs for those same merch? She can't be bothered to even try. WTF!

for the love of god-

I'm assuming and hoping they had the commercial rights to that font LMAOO But it did kind of make me go 🤨 because while I didn't know the font EXACTLY off the top of my head it still felt... weirdly out of place for something like LO? Why are these hoodies being stylized like they're from Austin Powers LOL

On another note tho, the LO merch is just like... disappointing in how bad it is for what's supposed to be WT's #1 series, which is, btw, a series with so much unique stylization that it shouldn't even be this hard to make merch for it! it just feels very "first attempt at redbubble merch", but unlike genuine first attempts at making merch (which is obviously a learning curve that I wouldn't judge anyone for being new to) this is a company that's sunk shitloads of money into LO so I don't know why they can't get better merch made?? so much of it is just the default drawings taken and slapped onto a tote bag or t-shirt, which like, yeah cool fine you're using art that's recognizable and considering the art is already made, it stands to reason that they should use it for more than just the comic. It's just disappointing to see how lazy it often is and how little effort is put into translating it onto a t-shirt/tote bag/etc. like we can't even have ONE exclusive t-shirt with a unique design that isn't just poorly copy pasted from the comic?

Case in point, those t-shirts that Rachel was advertising a while ago that were actually straight up falsely advertised. I can't find the post about it on my Tumblr (I'm pretty sure I talked about it here) so here's the IG story rundown I did on it ages ago:

Again I'd really like to have benefit of the doubt here that Rachel isn't the one making these designs, usually that's not how the merchandising process goes in these types of deals, so I'm not gonna point the finger at her. But it's just so odd to me that it happened in the first place. And this goes for a lot of LO's merch, so much of it feels cheaply made and rushed off a conveyor belt for the point of making money without much expense. Which yeah, that's a business model for sure, the goal is to profit, but like this?

You can't even argue that it's like people criticizing LO the comic because like, as much as I'll justify what I spend my time doing here in my free time, it's true that at the end of the day I don't have to pay for LO, so really the only thing I'm doing is inflicting psychic damage to myself, it's not like my actual money is on the line LMAO That's why I stopped paying for LO ages ago and only do it when I have a specific episode I need to review (such as the midseason hiatus review series I did). At the very least, if I really want to keep reading LO but don't want to pay for it, I can just avoid FastPassing it and read it for free so I can save the coins for other series I'd rather read. The Webtoons' FP system is very fair that way.

But this is merch explicitly made to generate revenue. It is a product, front to back. You can vote with your money by not buying the thing you don't like, absolutely, but the fact that it's this poorly to begin with is just so indicative of Webtoons' business practices and so shitty for the people who genuinely enjoy this comic and are being advertised and sold shoddy merchandise that doesn't even come looking the same way it's advertised. It's really not a good look for Webtoons, Rachel, or LO that this is what they're selling to people.

Especially for what they're charging, good lord-

Like, okay, they're hoodies and they're gonna be expensive to print and ship so the higher overhead cost makes sense, but jesus christ, with the kind of merch Webtoons has already given the stamp of approval on, would it even show up in decent condition? How bright are those colors gonna be? Are they gonna strip off as soon as I throw it in the wash? I'm half-tempted to buy a hoodie for myself just to do a review on it but I can't justify dropping $75 CAD on a hoodie that only has art on the back. Maybe it's just me living in the hellish lands of Canada where we play with toy money that's the problem, but it's just not a gamble I wanna take LOL If I bought one it would probably be the Hecate or Hermes ones because they're the only ones that are at least somewhat legible and have decent character art that isn't a character looking like they need to poop LMAO

(these are literally the two worst drawings they could have chosen of these two i stg lol the only thing that would have made this worse/funnier is if it was Handsome Hades and Persephone Kidnapping a Baby LMAO)

It has me worried about what the LO figures are gonna look like when they release. Are they gonna have some creative liberty with making them chibi-fied (like a Nendoroid?) or are they gonna try and replicate the art style exactly and wind up making literal blow-up sex doll Persephone? 😭

NGL, if the figures are done well enough and don't cost an arm and a leg, I might consider buying one just for the shelf collection, but again, it depends. If Webtoons released a tarot deck with really good panels from LO (like the Tower 4 scene or Persephone sitting on the rooftop with her comb or Eros flying down into the Mortal Realm) I would buy the shit out of that. I would even just take the Major Arcana if 78 cards was too much to ask :'0 I'm not against Webtoons/Rachel trying to profit off LO merch at all, I just wish it was BETTER- (╥﹏╥)

[thatonepikminperson]

Head cannons that I may or may not have (Pikmin 4 Ones)

Dumbest ideas ever here we go (Long post btw, using the read more so it's not too long for people just scroll tags)

Just to get the relationship head cannons out of the way, Dingo is homies with Bernard, Yonny and Russ are evil besties, and Shepherd and Collin are friends, anyway time for some unhinged head cannons

Collin drinks coffee right as it's done, even if it's boiling hot just because he doesn't have the time to wait for it to cool down. His taste buds hate him for this

Russ has set off the fire alarm on the S.S. Shepherd at least 8 times during the Rescue Corps Mission on PNF-404, mostly on accident

Bernard sucks balls at cooking and is banned from the small kitchen on the S.S. Shepherd. Idk why I feel this one, but man's has 100% burnt the water

Oatchi has ate money before, how much? Up to you to decide

Dingo doesn't understand the concept of knocking 80% of the time

Yonny reads smut in public without batting an eye. I'm not elaborating more on this one, he just does

Bernard has a playlist of over 600 songs just for when he's driving, which ranges from hard rock to vocaloid

Shepherd was an adventurous child, and climbed out of her window to get out of the house when she was grounded for fun

Bernard may or may not have accidentally gotten Dingo into vocaloid, and Dingo can never live this down

Sometimes, Collin just makes rice and an egg and calls it a "good meal."

Shepherd forces Collin to eat sometimes

Shepherd often goes to dog shelters and has to physically restraint herself from adopting every single dog there

Oatchi has tried to eat Shepherd's hand on several occasions, and has failed every single time

Dingo is really good at most sports, except for dodge ball because of that one rule where if the person catches the ball your out. Dingo hates that rule with a burning passion

Bernard says "oopsie doopsie" and "lol" out loud, unironically, all the time

Yonny has once tried to add a robot leg to Oatchi. Shepherd did not find this as fascinating as he did, unfortunately

Russ is Yonny's second victim when it comes to consuming his concoctions, but he's way more willing to do than Dingo and will sometimes give the concoction a review like he's at a five star restaurant.

Russ has electrocuted himself at least 18 times before, and he's also electrocuted Yonny twice

Collin has had to drag Yonny away from Dingo to stop the doctor from experimenting on the poor ranger

And finally (For now, If I think of more, I'll add more), despite everyone's differences, everyone on the crew is very protective of each other. You mess with one person, you mess with all six of them. (Technically all seven of them if you count Oatchi)

[wondercourse]

Not that my "syscourse is a flat circle" theory was ever incorrect. It's completely cyclical and is constantly the same shit in different flavors as new people rehash arguments that everyone else thought were already over.

But also the fact that we've circled back to "Was This Type Of Trauma Enough"course in particular is really fucking annoying. "Well actually emotional neglect alone can't cause enough trauma for DID" "Well actually bullying alone can't cause enough trauma for DID" shut the fuck up?? Shut the fuck up. Fuck's sake.

If you want researched facts that have been peer reviewed by people actually in the field and aren't based on a random Tumblr user's opinion, check SAS's recent posts on this because the folks there are way better at gathering research than I am. I'll just give a logical approach instead. Follow me here.

Not all trauma will cause (C-)PTSD. Yes, this even includes "real" trauma that "actual" survivors experience (i.e., sexual and physical abuse; air quotes because all trauma is real trauma and all survivors are actual survivors, don't even start with me because my patience is extremely thin right now). This is a pretty well-known fact. Already shows that the impact is relative. Shocker. Let's keep following the line, though.

By extension, not all "real" trauma that "actual" trauma survivors (again, air quotes because all trauma is real trauma and all survivors are actual survivors) experience will cause DID, yes, even if it's chronic. Still with me? Cool.

On the flip side, things that seem relatively minor can be extremely traumatic for someone and therefore cause (C-)PTSD. Emotional abuse, emotional neglect, physical neglect, bullying, medical trauma, etc. (even implying for the sake of argument that these are "lesser" kinds of trauma genuinely makes me ill, I hate y'all for this) can, as it turns out, fuck you up! Like, a lot worse than some of y'all think!!

So far, the pattern has been a metaphorical "circle-triangle-circle..." situation. So the logical next step is triangle. Wait. Except triangle says...

Therefore, "lesser" (EXTREMELY HEAVY AIR QUOTES) traumas can also cause DID! Wow!

Now, again, this is just me following a logic line and going "This is just what makes sense, and while this can be wrong and take a sharp left, that's not what the research says". Under most circumstances I'm down for being wrong, and hell, if the research somehow makes a drastic change while I'm still doing syscourse (which god. let me out), then I'll say "Yeah okay fair enough". But right now, the research aligns with this line of logic. So. Lol.

Like where is this mythical "Your trauma had to fall into the Bad Enough" box of specific trauma types. Show me. Point it out to me somewhere where it hasn't already been debunked. I will sit here and I will fucking wait, because my therapist never informed me of this and she's a hell of a lot more knowledgeable than most of you.

Piss off with your fakeclaiming bullshit. Let this die. It's giving "Actually PTSD can only be experienced by soldiers" which I thought we moved past by accepting that it can be induced in anyone. But I guess it's okay when you start treating trauma disorders like an exclusive fucking club that you can only get into if you suffered "enough". Fuck that.

Trauma is relative. How fucking hard is this concept? "Well, I suffered more than them so why do they have the same thing as me?" Because two people can experience the exact same thing and have two completely different results. This isn't even just like a PTSD thing this is literally what fucking LIFE is. Don't be a dick.

Finally, fellow systems who formed primarily or exclusively through any type apparently "lesser" chronically traumatic events—abuse or otherwise—take a break. Don't be like me tbh; don't even engage with this kind of "discourse". Work through your shit. Your trauma is not "less" because it wasn't primarily physical or sexual in nature because trauma is the IMPACT, not the EVENT. I see you.

[deltastra]

Tower of God Season 2 (New Trailer with OP Theme) Thoughts

Hello everyone! I haven't done a pre-written post in a while (Did I ever?), so let me yap about the new Tower of God trailer! I wanna tell you guys my honest thoughts and initial reaction to certain scenes.

I waited so long for them to show literally anything else other than the same 12(?) scenes and even a sneak peak to the OP theme performed by NiziU. FINALLY! I will be yapping a lot so SPOILER ALERT FOR ANIME ONLIES

(Also if you guys like posts like this from me, I'll try my best to do this more often as opposed to pre-written reviews!)

Ok so first off I want to say, I was overwhelmed with emotions. I read this arc back in 2016...to see it finally animated, man. Not to mention, it has been like 4 YEARS since season 1. Time flies and a lot happened in my life in between that. I remember how I felt when the OP of the first season played and it hit me that the very first WEBTOON I have ever read, finally got an anime adaptation, which was something that felt impossible back then.

I AM HOPING THIS SCENE WITH ANDROSSI MEANS THAT THE NEW STUDIO WILL FOLLOW THE WEBTOON PROPERLY. Don't get me wrong, besides its flaws, I did love Season 1. However, I was upset with the needless changes they made and important scenes they removed. So I hope the new studio follows the webtoon. They should definitely re-establish how much Bam meant to Androssi.

Seeing Khun in season 2 artstyle is nice. Regarding the artstyle, this may sound weird but I liked season 1's a bit more. Season 1's artsyle felt more "unique" along with its vibrant colours. But, I'll admit, season 2's artsyle is definately more suitable for the long-run when considering how serious the story gets later down the road.

Okay, I'll admit. This scene felt a bit...stiff?? But that's not a big deal.

I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THEM AND THEIR FRIENDSHIP GROW ALL OVER AGAIN AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

AND THE OP THEME FINALLY PLAYS! Now here's the thing. I listened to a few songs by NiziU and I won't lie, as nice as the songs were, I was unsure whether they fit the Tower of God tone. But I kept an open mind as I knew nothing about STRAY KIDS back in season 1 and now I listen to TOP and SLUMP so often and associate it with Tower of God due to the lyrics.

As for the sneak peak of RISE UP by NiziU, I like the song. I'm not obsessed over it, maybe I need more of it to form a solid opinion. However, I think it's fine overall! (Hopefully the song isn't wasted in the OP by the use of black screens and credits lol)

I LOVE THIS SHOT SO MUCH. THE DETAIL ON THE SHINSU IS SO GOOD. The lighting as well!

I like how they drew Viole's eyes here. He looks tired which honestly fits well given what he faced during his time with FUG. I don't remember if he looked like that in the WEBTOON whenever his eyes were shown but if it's an anime-original detail, I love it!

(I hope we see his bright eyes during the scene with Wagnan and Viole on the rooftop! Can't wait to see that animated!)

OH I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE THIS FIGHT ANIMATED OMGGGG

Okay, this shot was kinda cool sorry guys I just wanted to say that.

AAAAND THATS ABOUT IT.

First of all, WAY BETTER TRAILER THAN WHATEVER THEY WERE SHOWING US BEFORE! Second, I feel a little more confident about season 2 now. It's alright. I feel like nowadays everyone expects MAPPA or UFOTABLE quality for every anime but this is fine. While I'll miss the season 1 artsyle that I grew to love, I look forward to see what the new studio has to offer.

ALSO KEVIN PENKIN RETURNING LETS GOOOOOO

I want to end things off by saying that when I first read this arc. I ADORED TEAM SWEET AND SOUR. I believe it was because they reminded me of Quinx Squad from Tokyo Ghoul :re...

I just love this team's dynamic and how well they play off eachother. It felt more like a found family. I understand people liked season 1's cast more but I have always been more partial to this team <3

I look forward to seeing them again in the anime cause I miss their early days so much. NOTHING BAD HAPPENS TO ANY OF THEM OKAY? HELL TRAIN ISN'T REAL </3 (SIU please bring back the active members please I beg of you. SHOW ME THEIR SEASON 3 LOOKS)

[unicorn-academy-brainrot]

Do you have any thoughts on the UCA toys? And maybe what you’d want to see with the toys paired with the upcoming S2 stuff?

Yes!! I have many many thoughts. Too many, even, so prepare yourself for a giant infodump lol. I was gonna wait until I had all my dolls before posting about them but whatever haha, right now I have the Sophia and Ava fashion dolls and I'm waiting on the Isabel fashion doll and the mini Sophia/Wildstar duo to arrive.

When I saw THEEEE very first promo picture of the Sophia fashion doll my reaction was a very lowkey "eww....."... Like I thought it was very cool that they had made a doll but I wasn't super impressed by how it looked, and that it didn't really resemble the Netflix version of her super well. But honestly seeing the dolls in person changed my opinion of them quite a bit. I think they are really cute and actually quite well made in person, photos don't seem to do them justice!! They have a micro glitter to their skin which makes a really lovely sheen, and their hair is really soft?? I wouldn't go as far as to say it's soft like human hair but it's somewhere in the ballpark of very very soft synthetic hair, it has a really lovely quality to it that I could see a young girl really drawn to, especially with the little carebrushes included. Really satisfying to brush and the curls hold their shape quite well. Sophia's jacket is also quite a bit more holographic in person than in pictures. I think the face and body molds are really cute and well done!

I'm no doll reviewer by any means, but I think my biggest gripe with the fashion dolls is that the clothing in some areas feels cheap. I don't like that it looks printed and that the edges in some parts feel unfinished or unhemmed. For example, the neckline of Sophia's tank top is hemmed but the bottom edge is raw?? I was comparing the dolls to some of my early 2000s strawberry shortcake dolls and the SS dolls had better finished clothing! Which is soooo wild to me. I'm not sure exactly how to compare because the dolls are $20ish (in Canada anyways), and really nice fashion dolls like Monster High can be easily twice that amount. But I think if the clothing had an extra level of quality it would go really far because I actually quite like the other aspects of the dolls.

My other nitpick would be that Sophia's eyes in the show are a bit purple, but on her doll, she has brown eyes. Ava's eyes are also a strange mix that doesn't really look like her green eyes on the show. And for some inexplicable reason, Sophia's skin is very slightly darker than Ava's??? Sophia's printed image on the box is several times lighter than her doll. I guess Sophia got some great tans from all her time with Wildstar lmao???

It's also worth noting that EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. of my boxes were absolutely fucking SMOOSHED in the mail. (Okay, not that terrible, but I was really disappointed to see strong visible creasing and some tearing on the upper portion of each package.) The packaging is super cute but unfortunately not sturdy enough when shipped in a soft package as mine unfortunately were. I actually had to return and reorder replacements for Sophia and Ava because the packaging was in bad condition, only for the replacements to be smushed in the same areas. I would advise people to pick them up in person if they can, seems like they are prone to damage during shipment.

I'll have to wait until Isabel gets here to give my final thoughts on the fashion dolls but tentatively they're a 7.5/10 for me, a very acceptable first wave of UCA toys that I'm pleasantly surprised by, but still have room to improve. I'm also really disappointed that Rory, Layla, and Valentina don't have fashion dolls but I'm really hoping that they are on their way eventually. I'm glad they have mini dolls of Layla and Valentina but where the fuck is Rory and Storm?! I have yet to receive my mini dolls so I'll update when those arrive. Not sure I'll get many more (maybe Valentina?) but I'll see. I'm not sure if I'll get any of the larger horse toys either as they're a bit pricey (AND I HATE THE HOLLOW INNER LEGS) but who knows!! I do think it would be cool to have the riders with their unicorns.

For season 2 I'm really excited to see if the blind box toys match with foals we meet in the show! And I hope Sophia isn't the only one we get a masquerade doll of! It would be cool to get some baby unicorns that aren't blind boxes too. Honestly I'd love a flutterbunny plush too hehe <3 (AND CAN U IMAGINE A SUPER CUNTY RAVENZELLA DOLL......... LIVES WOULD BE CHANGED)

Oh and just for funsies I got the Unicorn Academy blanket... Yeah, save your money lol it's super super thin. I wear it like a shawl around the house

[manonamora-if]

May Check-In

This is a bit late, because I've been debugging the past two days.

So I bought Tropico 6 during the last Steam sale. If you haven't seen me posting for a while, blame by wish to be a benevolent dictator of a fake Caribbean island.

Onto the usual index:

Recap of last month’s progress

IF Events in the Next Month (I won't do this anymore)

Plan for the next month

Still long post under the break. If you want a mini version, head on over to itch.io as usual!

April Progress

From last month, what did we do:

Play more games: ✅

I started so good, finishing reviewing the SeedComp! entries, as well as the Revival Jam and had started on the Spring Thing... then I got distracted by the TALJ and Tropico... I also need to update @manonamora-if-reviews at some point... It's at least 100 reviews behind.

Finish the Code of Ch5✅ of Harcourt and edit the Ending Chapter ✅

YES! IT IS DONE! I have finally fixed those godamn doors in the maze that were giving me so much trouble. Also MelS has gotten my edits on all the Chapters/files (and was given extra comments because I also fixed some code in previous chapters). He is hard at work dying editing the missing text.

The only thing left for me is to: - add the maze visuals (map, book/letter formatting) - settle on a design for the final maze puzzle (need to so some research) - include the missing chapter/text (waiting for MelS)

Finish fixing The Roads Not Taken. Or An Eggcellent Preparation. Maybe the other parser too (it just needs a smidge of polish).

LOL... This is the shameful failure that is following me around, ringing that darn bell.

Should i give up on it? Maybe one day...

Complete the TALJ entry. ✅

I have been battling this one the whole morning trying to fix so many bugs. But I'm pretty happy about it. For one: it was actually tested by someone (not like last year). For two: it's actually an easy parser (like you can't lose!).

And the idea had been ringing in my head for so long, I had the prompt submitted to last SeedComp!.

But yeah, this had been happening for a while already. And even though it doesn't have the level of polish I had hopped (future me problem with updates), it is probably one of the better one I've made.

Anyway, play Lysidice and the Minotaur (I'll have an official post tomorrow). (and you can vote for it if you want...)

What else happened this month????

Well, the SeedComp! ended, so I had to deal with all the admin, and making the cool stickers for the different entries. That took quite a bit of time... but worth it! Some really cool entries this year, yet again!

Well, this is more of it's been done last month but released this month: Les lettres du Docteur Jeangille has been translated into English, for the Spring Thing (in the Main Garden, if you feel like voting for games). You can find the post there!

I've been also drafting some post-mortems, one for Jeangille and one for Lysidice. They should come out during the month, at some point.

:/ I have to update my website again now...

I wanted to do an entry in the Dialogue Jam, but my idea didn't pan out on time (too buggy for release). Or eer... cough cough... I had enough will power not to do it? Anyway, also I made the Really Bad IF Jam, which starts today!

What’s happening in May?

As mentioned at the start, I'm dropping this section from my check-in. First, it's buried deep in a wall of text, so no visibility (it should have been a separate post, oh well). If people actually check the events out, I'm sure it would be a miracle.

But mainly... a zine has popped up recently, specifically about IF called What's New in IF? (@if-whats-new), releasing weekly. Since it includes events, like the jams/comps/conferences I used to mention here (and it looks more sleek than a Tumblr post), I'll just leave them do all that hard work instead 😅

So yea... as long as the zine is happening, I'm out 😅 Well, I'll drop them links to my jams and stuff I see, because they seem to be looking for help in finding stuff.

The PLANtm for May

I'm playing Tropico, so I'm getting and will probably going to get less stuff done. Which is not a bad think. Breaks are important. Will I go on a break this month?

Probably should...

But if I don't, where's what I hope to do:

Play more games: On my juicy list I have: the Spring Thing, the newly released Dialogue Jam and TALJ, the Locus Jam and Really BAD IF is happening this month too (so more gameses!), and a few non-comp releases I've had my eye on.

Code Chapter 6/Endings: I need to wait for MelS for this, since he's editing my comments. I'll prob look for visuals for the puzzle in the meantime.

Fixing an older games. Instead of new, do something old.

Write the next Chapter/Scene of a WIP, because it would be good to actually do that. And make some actual progress at seeing stuff being done. (I want to write some Razac snippets....)

Let's have a boring month!

~

The 2024 To-Do List:

LOL, I've only done the website! :D

The hopefully maybe easy to handle To-Do:

fix the bugs in EDOC + overall the French version to match (waiting for Adventuron to get the French language)

fix the bugs of TRNT + find a way to add the missing pieces (giving up on the translation)

fixing the interface of LPM and the popups + check animal interactions

figure out the One-Button JavaScrip/jQuery issue...

edit the loading screens of the completed tiny games to include the program/format logo at least.

The 'Need a Bunch of Content to update but it's planned!' To-Do:

Update my website (bunch new title - also I don't think the logo clicky thing work...) + redo my itch page

Finish TTATEH (MelS dependent)

Finish Exquisite Cadaver (half-way mark by this summer - manif)

Finish P-Rix - Space Trucker (main path at least)

Update CRWL (it's been almost two years... I'm ashamed)

The Unlikely But it Would be Dope To-Do

Finish The Dinner as it was planned (and translate)

Finish In the Blink of an Eye as it was planned (and retranslate)

Finish The Rye in the Dark City

Fixing TTTT (at least fixing, maybe try adding some storylets)

And finally The 'It's impossible, but one can wish' TO-DO:

Remaster SPS IH (if I managed to start this after completing the rest... I'm going to eat a whole sheet cake).

Start the IFComp project (2025? Might end up being a ST?)

[roccinan]

How do you feel when you watch the spin off? What do you think of it? And do you like it? For me, I sort of like eps 1-4, the rest are just meh, I couldn't bring myself to care for the other characters, I tried. And I was very confused, what year the spin off?. It started off good and... Idk. All I can say is that Andres truly belong in the asylum. That man creeps me out. If I were Camille, I ran away the second I saw that creep. Lol.

Hello anon! I couldn't answer you earlier because I didn't get to watch it. But now I've finished it and, hum, I certainly have a lot of thoughts that I'll probably post later LOL.

For now, here are the most fresh on my mind. I agree with you- eps 1-4 were surprisingly good, last one was pretty cool too, ralicia supremacy. I was mostly just surprised I didn't dislike it. Can't say I loved it, or that it's my ideal berlin spinoff, but for all the "factors" against it that Pina chose of his own free will asdfasdf, it turned out surprisingly OK.

Spinoff takes place around 2013, according to Pina. Which messes with the canon timeline so much we'll just have to see it as a parallel universe where time doesn't matter.

I now call spinoff!Andres my wife. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. So unfortunately, I cannot slander my bride like that.

But I liked that he was still a freak. The show didn't try to make him a better person thankfully, but I think a lot of the reviews were complaining about him being an asshole or complaining that he was ruined for not being enough of an asshole, missed the mark a bit. The main problem, if we have to pick one, about him, is that the context around him is too shallow to take seriously. His speeches about love have no substance (and they actually did in lcdp) because the circumstances have no substance. He's putting romance above the heist because well, why shouldn't he lmao? There's no personal stake here, and it's not like he'll get capital punishment for getting caught.

And that "problem" extends to everyone else. Their motives and actions are just very shallow and There for the sake of being there. Like Roi and Cameron could have had a moving romance, but instead Cameron made me cringe very badly with how much she felt like Alex Pina's idea of "hawt gurl with sad past!!" And said "sad" past was actually really fucked up but the story didn't seem to think so!? It wasn't a tragic romance--it was a 20-something musician sleeping with a 15yo fangirl, abducting her, and then traumatizing her so badly she entered the asylum and ended up hanging out with berlin. Like????

I'll say I misunderstood Keila though. Liked her a lot better in the show than the trailers. But everytime I went "oh, I like her uwu" she'd do something that makes me GAG like inhaling Bruce's sweat or licking his spoon asdfasdf Also the part where she confessed her love for him after the snake bite gave me secondhand embarrassment. None of the love stories felt lasting, believable, or touching to me. Probably because there were too many of them and it was even more convenient than lcdp proper!

Bruce was different than I expected. He's insensitive, but not "dumb" like the character descriptions made him out to be. Same as Keila. Everytime I thought "I like him uwu" he'd do something like talk about pubic hair or cover himself in oil/water, instantly making me die.

Damian is Sergio 2.0 and also Martin 2.0, but straight and old. No strong feelings for him either way. But it was funny that Andres got so mad about sharing a bed with him, when he was willingly hopping into bed with Martin LMAO. Also ngl, it stung my little berlermo heart to see Damian and Andres sing karaoke and go on a lover's bike ride together.

Roi was my favorite new member. He felt like a real original character, and his relationships with Cameron and Andres were nicely fleshed out even if they both confused me. Cameron because the romance was shallow to me. Andres because Roi never told us how they met or why Andres took him in. Andres giving Roi advice on temper control is also hilarious. We'll just have to assume that Andres is willing to raise everyone's kid except his own. He even took that one boy to the bathroom asdfasdf

But overall, I agree anon. I just didn't care for the new characters the same way I did the old gang or the cormorants. Maybe because the stakes were too low or because they were always beautiful and perfect (except Damian lol) no matter the situation. I personally think the producers were trying very hard to create new stars with this show, so they aggressively showed off Pina's flashy new blorbos (cameron, keila, bruce, and roi) but you can't force popularity. This is also my conspiracy theory for the lack of Sergio- they knew having the profesor here would take too much attention from the flashy new blorbos.

Not much to say about Camille. Was hoping she'd be cooler/smarter than this, but what kind of smart woman would not see the red flags in Andres LMAO. Wasn't surprised when Polignac turned out to be an asshole either- man just has the face of a jerk. Was disappointed that they didn't have a threesome with Andres. And the smartest person was Camille's friend.

Lastly, SAME ANON LOL Andres was an insane stalker, off the wall crazy and so annoying about it too. I wish Camille would have slapped him in the end, but oh well- at least their storyline didn't end as stupidly as it could have. She got her money at least XD Hopefully she's not dumb enough to reunite with him (and if she's wife no. 4 we know it didn't work out already).

Does the show deserve a season 2? No. Will I watch season 2? Yes LOL

Main takeaways:

Romance 1/10 Heist 7.5/10 Pedro's face 11/10 New characters 2/10 (not sharing all of their backstories or why/how they ended up in berlin's gang was a major weak point imo) Story 5/10

A solid 7/10 if we don't compare it to lcdp.

[tipsygnostalgy]

On Grandpa/Jake Harley

you know shits about to be long as fuck when i add the keep reading line like four lines in lol

anyway anon all this is 4 u!! feel free to talk ab this by just tagging instead of rb i dont want 2k words to be posted over n over again

Grandpa Harley being some kind of pseudo-omnipotent deity figure who somehow figures out/guesses (my money's on guesses) extremely intricate details about the game and does everything he can to make things go right is something that we don't talk about enough. It's one of the only plans in Homestuck made that are orchestrated entirely by one person then ends up going right. It's that pattern of hoping that the cards fall into place in the right way (unless we're taking the Grandpa is practically God perspective, which is interesting in its own right)—but notably, he makes a lot of preparations beforehand. He's so... active. It fascinates me. I'll have to talk about this on the Jake English as Jesus Christ trope post (it's coming, I swear, brainrot's a bitch) but the sheer amount of things he does is astounding. But, lo and behold, he wasn't always like this. Cue: the Skaianet Systems Incorporated texts.

Quick note about all that. A very large portion of the things Hussie wrote for SSI is 1) dubiously canon, and 2) a bunch of anti-semitic bullshit that he probably never should have fucking released to the public, at least not like that. Like, holy shit, keep that and your weird comments about sexual slavery in your Notes app dude, we don't need to hear it. For this reason I suggest reading the actual material with extreme caution. Cool? Cool. On with it. Here's a lil' review of Jake Harley before the session.

Funny enough, Jake had always been kind of pathetic in the Beta session as well.

So Skaianet was actually established by HIC as a front for laundering technology from Alternia and Sburbian ruins. The key of SN was not to actually develop tech, but make it look like it so that people will believe you when your company just re-defined gravity for the hundredth time. Jake has to play the "famous genius shtick," but he doesn't do so well. When he fully inherits SN at 21 he runs it hands-on, and "believes" his success is due to hard work and diligence. He also "believes SN is now a considerably more distinct entity from Crocker Corp, and his leadership of the company is a result of his hard work and competence. Neither is true." He's manipulated by his at-the-time boyfriend (Charlie Chaplin, somehow) into letting a rebel force into the Crocker manor, though the effort is ultimately thwarted by HIC.

He also has a disastrous love life. His relationship at sixteen with Chaplin consists of Chaplin finding him "obnoxious and thoughtless" though he "can't seem to quit him," and Jake ultimately "[toys] with his heart, and [abandons] him." This later (much later, think decades) manifests into something way worse when Chaplin appears in an outing Jake has with one of his families (he's had many, though not at once) and tries to kill Jake for not just his involvement with SN/HIC, but for breaking his heart as well. Notably, in this scene, upon having a gun aimed at him Jake reflexively hides behind his wife, who ends up being shot in his stead. He's out-strifed so badly that he'd have died in the jungle (oh yeah he takes his wife and 5yo son to a jungle btw) if Chaplin didn't have a divine intervention moment afterwards.

At 32 he also abandons his post at SN for fucking around Europe. "[H]e's out exploring and adventuring, completely oblivious to whatever's going on in Europe. He hops from site to site, looking for Sburbian ruins to plunder." One, the "whatever's going on" is WW2, again, somehow. Two, he has a daughter there that he "takes custody of, apprentices as an adventurer, and takes all over the place on his adventures." When he takes her to Hawaii she ditches him because she's sick of her "douchebag dad." And there's that Jude family too, obviously.

Oh, and all the Beta guardians are also meteor babies. It's how Jake ends up finding Dirk and Roxy to begin with—he sets them up with trust funds in Texas and New York so that they can be of use to SN later, though whether he knew their importance in the larger context of SBURB is unclear.

All caught up? Great.

The exact details of how every event goes down aren't as important as the lessons you can draw from it, namely: Jake Harley is an absolute fucking mess of a human being. He continuously creates families—notice how he keeps having children with his wive—then is bereaved of them. A few times he abandons them, a few times they abandon him, and sometimes they get killed by your ex-boyfriend. It's a neat little insight into just how neck-deep these commitment issues lie, but it's also fun to consider that he seeks it so desperately. This man has on record has had:

one wife be shot dead in front of him

a son who was technically kidnapped from him by the man who almost beat him to death (his ex-boyfriend)

a daughter ditch him in the middle of hawaii for being a shitty dad

a daughter (joey claire) be teleported by portal to alternia, who hated jake so much she took her dead mom's last name

said dead mom/wife whom upon her death leaves her children "Semi Orphans" because he just straight up ditches his kids to go work on hellmurder island

probably more

And he still considers himself a grandfather to Jade. TBF, I guess the easier way of explaining it is that it's simply the natural explanation—they are sort of related after all. But considering that he once sired an illegitimate daughter and not only took her into custody but tried to raise her as his liege, I still find it the fact that he tries over and over again to the point of rending the family meaningless interesting. I think it's viable that Jake wanted a family—not one where he and Jane were raised by HIC and poorly—but a real one. His attempt to raise that first daughter to mirror his habits reflects the way HIC raised Beta Jane to mirror her. Yet after relationship after relationship goes horribly wrong, this desire fades into a kind of apathetic unsureness to the point where this is what he says about his last "full" family, the Harley-Claires:

He's been making good headway on his quest for the mysterious island in the pacific. Once everything is taken care of here, he'll leave this family behind and set up shop on that island permanently. That's when the real work begins. The discoveries on that island will finally unite him with the destiny he's been in search of his whole life.

Two things of note. One, his first recorded instance of permanently setting up jackshit anywhere is at first with SkaiaNet then at Hellmurder island. Both locations share that theme of "destiny" in common—notice how he considers SN divorced from Crockercorp because of his efforts and tries to make the place overall less HIC-controlled, but ultimately fails. And sure, he later achieves this kind of destiny by having his Sburb plan go "right" but before this not a single "plan" he established went correctly. Jake in either timeline isn't a guy who regularly makes plans for multiple efforts—they zero in on one goal that appears as part of their calling and makes it happen, damn it. To him, that's a success. Whether he "actually does" is up for interpretation.

See, HIC actually wanted the Beta kids to play the game. She'd been using the Beta session as a "testing" timeline, knowing which events and people to avoid and keep in mind so that she can play everything out exactly the way she wants it to. Part of the reason why Crockertier Jane was so firmly for marrying Jake and having children was because that had been HIC's idea of what Beta Jake's purpose was once he landed on a Meteor (after B!Jane). So he saw the "big picture" in a bigger way than quite literally anyone else, but it still isn't enough, at least not in the way he thought it might be at first.

Prior to his discoveries on the island, Jake has no idea this will result in some kids using the software he's unearthing, which will destroy all life on Earth. Nor does he have any idea that those kids will be using this same software to reboot the universe with different starting conditions, thus ending this "trial run" timeline for HIC, and giving her a fresh start. Exactly as she planned.

This implies there is some moment that Grandpa Harley realized that everything he was doing would end up playing into the HIC's hands anyway. This also implies that he carried out those actions regardless, Hoping that Jade would someday win the game in the process. Are you seeing the parallel for my interpretation of Ult. Jake yet? Fuck.

What was the moment he realized? Did he power through anyway, hoping there was a bright light for Jade at the end of this all?

He's also a hoarder. He keeps items and objects instead of people. He hangs onto the past to the point where he's seemingly unable to let go of it—trophies, guns, artifacts—but throughout the entire Harley Manor there is not a single picture of his families. And that's where his dolls come in—dolls are just human enough but not too human, you can control them however you'd like yet delude yourself they are company. I'm not saying all doll-enjoyers are this way, but the specifics in which Grandpa (and Bro to an extent, for that matter) interacts with his dolls makes me believe he's turning them into pseudo-human entities because at the end of the day he again craves company. But, unlike Jake, Grandpa Harley's had a lifetime of experience reinforcing over and over again that this will never happen with a real person. And fuck, don't even get me started on the taxidermy—it's the very act of taking something, bereaving it of life and subjectivity, then keeping it for yourself. You can see how this has even affected Jade in the sense that she thinks about her taxidermied dead Grandpa (who she taxidermied himself, by the way) like a living, breathing person. And Jadebot? A robotic, perfect replica of his granddaughter, designed to monitor her at all times instead of him? And the parallels that has to Brobot. Ughghgh.

Also, quick digression. You know how Beta Dad & Mom were on the Battlefield? And how Grandpa landed just to recover Jade's dead dream body, then left Dad and Mom behind. Sorry, I'm just not normal about that at all. How did we collectively miss the sheer tragedy of that situation, God, I wonder what Roxy was thinking. Digression over.

All in all, what these files tell me is that the way Jake was written was no way accidental. Yeah he got fucked over in the Alpha session, yeah he's tragic, but he's tragic for a reason that I ultimately appreciate even as I clutch my heart and dramatically fall over from pain. He knows just enough about the meta-reality to cause feelings of absurdity but powers through it; he's supposed to be put in seemingly insurmountable situations and emerge, through one way or the other, victorious. He's supposed to have the strangest relationship known to man regarding other people and, as a result, try to find compromise between the two halves of "complete fuck-all isolation" and "the company of any developed adult human ever." He's goal-oriented only when it presents a clear-cut destiny to him, when he can see the significance of it, and otherwise floats around doing fuck-all in this world. This goal is, most of the time, people: Dirk for LE Jake, and Jade for Harley. It's also fun insight into where Jake could potentially end up going—as this post by Cooper already pointed out, Ult. Dirk's actions mirror Bro's need to micromanage and control everything in his life to the point where he, much alike Bro, secludes himself in an apartment while running his inner machinations unknown to most others. I wouldn't be surprised if Jake ends up in a similar way to Grandpa, giving his all to a dreary situation and maintaining Hope through it with the desire that it'll eventually succeed.

It would also be fun if his Hopes only came true after his death.

Alright, analysis over, everyone clock out. Good work, people. [Vaguely gestures to the reader.]

[maniacwatchestheworld]

A quick guide to recent Harvey Dent media for new fans (aka Misha stans)

So you've recently become interested in the character of Harvey Dent. Who can say why. Maybe you're interested in getting into comics and he happens to be the one character that's caught your fancy. Maybe you're here because you've been watching this recent TV show and are curious to know more about this one adult guy in the main cast. He seems like a cool guy! Though let's be honest. You're probably a Misha stan who got into Gotham Knights because your boi is in it. Regardless of why you're here, maybe you're looking at this character and wondering what's come out with him lately and if you should check it out! So here! For your viewing/reading pleasure, a quick run-down on Harvey's most recent appearances and where you can expect to see him!

This post is very long, so strap in kiddos!

Gotham Knights

You're likely here because you've been watching this one, so I'll keep this brief. In this latest TV show, Batman has died and was revealed to be Bruce Wayne. A bunch of kids are the top suspects and are being accused by Gotham District Attorney, Harvey Dent. The kids now need to work together to prove their innocence and find the real killer.

I don't plan on watching this show, but Harvey Dent is being played by Misha Collins of Supernatural fame in this one, and it promises to really dive into Harvey's backstory. As of writing this, only the first episode is out, but what we have so far looks entertaining and has been well received by the Misha stans at least. Reviews more generally do seem pretty lukewarm on it though. I can't speak to its quality, but hopefully it's a promising start to what will hopefully be a good portrayal of the character! Who knows what'll happen!?

The Harley Quinn Show

This show is currently in between seasons, and I don't know when it's coming back. It's a show that focuses on Harley Quinn as she tries to become a top villain in Gotham. The first season is her trying to gain respect from the Legion of Doom after breaking up with the Joker. The second season is based off of the "No Man's Land" event that happened in the Batman and related comics in the 90's or something in which the American government decided to give up on Gotham after a disaster, and so Gotham's top kingpins took over the city. Season 2 focuses on Harley's efforts to kill off each of the 5 villains (The Penguin, The Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Two-Face, and Bane) that have risen to power in Gotham. Season 3 sees Harley not really wanting to pursue villainy anymore as she starts being in a relationship with Poison Ivy.

It's a fun show. Pretty funny, incredibly violent, and very gay! If you want to see a sympathetic Two-Face, this is NOT the place to find it! In this series, Two-Face sticks pretty true to his name and is a lying, backstabbing asshole through and through! But hey! The fact that he isn't dead yet when they've had every opportunity to kill him off could mean that they might have something fun planned for him in the future! Hard to say though. In any case, here's his latest appearance in the show as of the writing of this:

The Joker's wife almost takes a tire iron to his face and I love that for her lol. Two-Face a supreme asshole in this show. But he definitely does have lots of chances to be pretty funny. I think that he still has potential for development and storylines, but thus far he's been pretty one-note. It feels like a DAMN SHAME to not use Two-Face more given the direction that this show is taking, so I have hopes that they'll do something interesting with him soon. (Harley became Bruce's therapist and so the show may take a turn for more interpersonal character drama with psychology thrown in over superhero junk. Feels like a wasted opportunity to not capitalize on Harvey's storied mental health issues for that!) But for now, he's a great antagonist to Harley (and everyone, really), fun to watch for how much of an asshole he is, but isn't much more than that.

Task Force Z

So you've heard of the Suicide Squad before, right? Basically a lot of supervillains join a government taskforce to go on missions that no one else would take. They do the kind of dirty work that superheroes could do, but for whatever reason don't. And the villains that participate in this program get lessened sentences in exchange for their service on these missions. Yeah. So take that... But now it's with zombies. Undead Suicide Squad!

So in this comic, Two-Face recruits Jason Todd (who was formerly one of Batman's Robins but who now has the superhero identity of the Red Hood) to be the field leader of this special undead Suicide Squad taskforce. They have a way of bringing people back from the dead, so instead of getting lessened prison time, the supervillains participating in this program get another chance at life.

I've only read the first issue of this series so far, but I do honestly like what I've read so far. The series is over now, and it's recently been collected into 2 volumes, so it should be pretty easy to find to buy if you so wish! (I've also found both volumes at my local library too!) When it comes to Harvey in this series, honestly, the relationship between him and Jason seems to be a big highlight! Which honestly makes sense. They're both men who have made a lot of mistakes and want to be better. Both have violent pasts, have killed people, and struggle with being on the side of the angels, but are doing what they can to do what's right. If they work together, maybe they can finally be the good guys! Also Jason Todd is probably Harvey's favorite Robin since he's Robin #2, let's be honest. Too bad they're terrible at their jobs! The impression that I get is that their team is constantly dying because Harvey and Jason are both dumbasses and bad at their jobs. Thankfully they can bring their team back to life pretty easily, but they keep sucking at their jobs! The vibe I get from Harvey and Jason's relationship in this series is basically...

Harvey: Are you winning, son!? :D Jason: I fucking hate you, Dent! Harvey: ... I guess that's an improvement over, 'asshole' ... Little steps...

But hey. They're trying their best lol.

Here's the first thing with Harvey in it that I saw in the Task Force Z tag:

[Source]

(You see in the next panel that Harvey got Jason orange juice. Isn't Harvey such a dad!?) And honestly, if that doesn't make you smile just a little, this series probably isn't for you.

Honestly, this series just seems to be having fun with it and a good time. It doesn't seem to take itself very seriously, and that's perfectly good with me! If that's good with you, maybe check it out!

Batman: the Audio Adventures

So this is a podcast. It's currently on a break as of the writing of this. Season 2 came out, and at the end of season 2, it said that it would be returning in part 2 so like... On the one hand, it ended on a cliffhanger. On the other AHHHHHHHHHHH! So I hear that a part 2 is coming out but WHEN!? If you decide to pick this one up, just know that more is supposed to be coming, we just don't know when.

So the story for this... It's Batman but a podcast. What more needs to be said? But it is a very quality podcast! I've listened to a decent number of podcasts in my time, and this may just be the best podcast I've had the pleasure of listening to! It's funny, it's dramatic, it's well-acted, it has spectacular music, it's moody, the characters are well-written... It's just a delight all around! It's on the same level of quality as audio dramas that I've actually had to pay money to listen to, but for free on Spotify or YouTube or other places you get podcasts! And this may contain my favorite iteration of Two-Face and Harvey Dent.

The Audio Adventures somehow manages to make Harvey a character that you're simultaneously afraid of and afraid for! Harvey and his Associate are horrifically violent, and yet you can't help but to feel bad for Harvey. To my knowledge, they really capture the OCD experience well. You can really feel how much their compulsions control Harvey and how much he wishes he didn't have to be like this. His life is fully out of his control and he well and truly can't help himself. And his Associate just isn't helping. This is an iteration of Two-Face in which he has Dissociative Identity Disorder, has him be a villain, and yet somehow manages to not inherently demonize DID. Harvey's Associate is a welcome addition to the cast, and for once isn't someone that they're trying to get rid of! Harvey is simply tragic in this podcast, but is also immensely intelligent, and the way he bounces off of his Associate is just captivating to listen to.

If you like BruHarvey, or just want to see a piece of media that really zooms in on the tragedy of his character, this is a great one to go with! In terms of BruHarvey, there are some moments in season 2 that are choice. Just. Chef's kiss!

Here's a monologue that Harvey and his Associate have together about shoulder angels and devils. It doesn't have much of anything to do with what Harvey's going through in this season, but it does capture their characters well.

They are absolutely unhinged, and I gotta say that I love that about them <3

The Doom that Came to Gotham

This animated film came out like... Within this last month. I haven't gotten the chance to watch it yet and I don't know that I will because it contains a LOT of upsetting things! It's Batman, but with eldritch horror! This is an Elseworld's story. This film is basically an H.P. Lovecraft-style AU for Batman. So it takes place sometime in the 1920's, and Harvey Dent is running for Mayor of Gotham. And then lots of terrible things happen and before you know it, demons from another dimension are going through a flesh portal to Gotham to kill everyone. This is NOT a happy story from what I've heard!

If you want to see Harvey just... Suffering SO much, then this is the film for you! Congrats! Apparently it also has a handful of good BruHarvey moments in it though, so at least have that.

For a preview... Here! Just have Harvey crying! I feel like that's a pretty appropriate preview!

Batman (comic series)

So... In the current Batman comic book arc, Bruce Wayne has apparently gotten himself sent to an alternate universe where Batman was never really a thing (Bruce died young or something). And so now Gotham is controlled by a cabal of villains, led by Red Mask, Catwoman, and others including a drugged up and YOLKED Judge-esque Harvey Dent! Sounds like Gotham has become a pretty crappy police state that uses the Scarecrow's Fear Toxin and a police force drugged up on Bane Venom to keep people in line and send dissenters to the sewer. Bruce meets up with the local resistance and becomes Batman for them... Also Commissioner Gordon is a talking skeleton for some reason... >.>

I don't read the Batman comic series, so I can't personally speak to the quality of this current arc, but I've heard that it's been good! From multiple sources! Just not in regards to Harvey lol! Honestly, this Harvey looks a bit... Boring. Interesting idea, but the execution is looking kinda... Ehhhhh. Speaking of execution, in this, Harvey really isn't Two-Face. He seems to be taking after an idea that Batman: the Animated Series introduced of a Judge vigilante that murders people that he deems as guilty of crimes! :D I like the Judge and want to see them do more interesting things with him! Too bad that this might not be it... >.< But hey! If you want a 'roided up Harvey... For some reason... Here you go!

[Source]

An image of Bruce choking Harvey out because this is what their friendship is all about. u.u (Also Bruce calling Harvey a big boy just tickles me!)

Also Harvey does seem to recognize Bruce in this universe and is quite bothered by how a man has seemingly come back from the dead to kick his ass! So there is some implication here that Harvey and Bruce were still friends of some kind in this universe.

I'm not reading this one, but hey! If this AU idea sounds interesting to you, go ahead and check it out!

Detective Comics

So last but certainly not least, you have the comic series for which the company is named. Now this I actually have been reading! And let me just say, it's quality! Great stuff going on here! Basically they decided to make an Opera-esque Batman story. This current arc is titled, "Gotham Nocturne" and to put the story in as simple of a manner as I can... So the Arkhams (who built Arkham Asylum) descended from the Orgham family which are very powerful foreign dignitaries of some sort. The Orghams have come to Gotham City to gentrify the place to their liking so that they can rule over it unopposed. They are doing this through mind control brain demons, sentient songs, and are just generally trying to burn Gotham City to the ground right now, especially the poorer neighborhoods. Also Bruce is feeling old and has a bat demon from another dimension living in his brain right now. Also Harvey's been GREAT in this story so far!

So when you get a comic book, there will sometimes be a second, shorter story packed in with the main story that you bought the comic for towards the back of the book hence the term "Back-Up Features". Often these stories are unrelated to the main one, but in this case, the stories they've been telling in these back-up features relates to the events of the main one. And so Harvey and Two-Face got their own little story in the back-up features... And that story was excellent! Basically, Harvey has been forced into serving the Orghams against his will and is not very happy about it at all. He has no choice. If he tries to resist the Orghams, the brain demon that they gave him would melt his brain. But Two-Face is not effected by this brain demon and can do whatever he wants... Now if only Harvey would let him have control of the body... This story does a great job of unpacking Harvey and Two-Face's tense history together, and really gets at the heart of their conflict which ultimately culminates in them deciding to try and work together instead of against each other. And honestly, it's simply a wonderful story that addresses their plurality and shows that Harvey and Two-Face are important to each other and in fact need one another! In this story, their plurality isn't an issue that needs to be cured. It's a blessing in disguise and allows them to do things that no one else could! It's a deeply plural story that simply could not be told with a singlet and is everything that I want out of a Two-Face story! You can tell that this story cares deeply for plural people and wants to do them justice! It's a story that rejects the idea that Harvey should strive to live his life as close to a singlet as he can and embraces his plurality, saying that Two-Face isn't someone who deserves to be eradicated, but rather is a person that deserves to be understood and loved as much as any other human being!

[Source]

This story has so much LOVE for plural people and the individuals that they share their system with. And I genuinely hope that they feel it. It's wonderful and a Two-Face story like none other that has been created thus far for him... And that's a damn shame. It's a shame that there aren't more stories like this. And therefore it's a story that you should read! And this is just the back-up story! There's more good stuff in the main story! Two-Face killed a goddamn werewolf in the main story! :D

[Source] (That guy he shoots is a werewolf, trust me.)

And we're still in only the FIRST act of this Batman opera! We have a LONG way to go until the end of this story, and it promises to be incredible if the quality keeps up!

Sadly, Harvey may have departed from the story for now. After Two-Face saved Batman in the images above, and got Bruce fixed up a bit, Two-Face basically threatened Batman, telling him to leave them alone and that if he tries curing Harvey ever again, that he'll torture and kill everyone Bruce loves and then himself, and then he exited stage left. But hopefully he'll turn up again in the story! I hope he does at least! If he doesn't I'll be real sad and upset!

-

And so there you have it! Some of Harvey Dent's most recent appearances and where you can find some of the most recent stories he's in! Even if you don't end up checking any of these out, hey! At least now you know where you can look into the character a little more and know a little of what's going on in the Batman universe right now!

[fluffalpenguin]

@arcvmonth day 24: the manga

oh man oh MAN it's vj day!!!!!

it's pretty funny how all my gifs are mostly yuri-centered huh

Under the cut:

revisiting my review of the manga from last year

Headcanons and fic/comic ideas

rambling about an old WIP

small playlist! (with write-ups!)

First of all, here's the 3,000 words analysis/blog thing I wrote last year when I first finished it.

One and a half years later, I still largely agree with it! There's some headcanons I wrote in there that I completely forgot about, lol, so I'm glad past me posted it somewhere for current me to relieve it again! (The rants were also kind of funny to re-read too)

***

Next, headcanons!

Lately, I found myself wondering about Yuto and Yuri's outfits; specifically-

...Why are they walking around Maiami with dramatic red/black capes?

After some time in the kitchen, I decided that when Yuya was younger, he was really into good versus evil roles when rehearsing his dueltainment lines. And who else better to serve as his practice opponents than his two brothers who aren't off busy making rounds at the stadium on a D-Wheel?

Tying his own fluffy, white towel around his shoulders, Yuya throws a nearby black blanket to Yuto. The oldest is initially a little embarrassed about the notion, but no one can ever say no to the baby of the Sakaki family, can they? (He'll just have to live the shame down from the twins later on... They barely even respect him as they are right now, anyway) In the middle of the duel, Yuri walks in onto the two of them after having finished his homework (or tweaking his deck). He raises an eyebrow at Yuto's appearance, but gets the gist of the situation when he sees their duel disks activated and Yuya standing on top of the sofa in a similar attire. As Yuto steals Yuya's schtick and becomes a tomato, Yuri pouts about being left out and quickly leaves to hunt for something that will allow him to join the fun. When the duel ends, Yuto passes the baton to Yuri. As he watches the two rattle off silly, goofy lines like, I will destroy the planet, the universe, all the worlds! and, Never! I'll stop you, fiend!, Yuto sighs in relief. At least Yuya now has Yuri to LARP with. Maybe Yugo would volunteer too, once he returned from driving practice and hears about it. Though, he'd likely ask to play the part of the hero himself. Anyway, Yuto's already almost in middle school; he's getting a little too old to play with costumes now. Then afterwards, at dinner, with an angelic smile Yuya says, "Yuuto, can we play like that again sometime? You look so cool with a cape!"

Yuri on the other hand, always had a tendency for the melodramatic, his own personal spin of the theatrics he's seen from his dad! Deep down he really loves playing the villain.

(This was meant to be a short description but I couldn't help putting some fic-like sentences in there tehe also yes that's a reference to the conversation between Yuya and G.O.D./Eve)

***

(warning: angst ahead)

Another headcanon I have that I want to write/draw something for is that in the postcanon where Reiji, Yuya, Isaac and Ren travel through space and time together, Yuya has moments where he falters to his grief.

He's used to his brothers commenting and nagging him on almost anything and everything (A midnight snack? Think about your complexion, Yuya!) and his world is suddenly a lot more quiet. In his hurt, he starts to avoid Ren, not wanting to be reminded of what he's lost (He doesn't feel good about it).

Eventually Reiji intervenes and Yuya opens up a little. He's been unable to properly let himself grief for his brothers. All he wants to say is that he misses them.

But he doesn't feel like he has the right to do so, having being the one to seal their fates by personally destroying the one method of bringing them back to life. He doesn't regret his decision of course, but he's unable to stop himself from feeling this way too.

It has a happy ending; Reiji convinces Yuya to talk to Ren. Yuya shares stories about Yugo at Ren's request, making the both of them laugh. Yuya realises that there are other methods of bringing back people to life, too, even if only momentarily.

But it is enough.

***

Misc hcs:

Yuya's charisma and attitude is a combination of his three brothers fawning over his cuteness from birth and Yuya being so star-struck with Yusho's performances he attempted to replicate the movements ever since he could walk.

Being the oldest, Yuto feels a sense of responsibility for his brothers and pledged to take care of them in place of his always-missing parents. However, he oft times finds himself not having to do much because Yugo and Yuri are so determined to win over Yuya's heart (and be proclaimed 'favourite brother') that they also make sure to set a good example for the youngest when possible. This causes Yuto a little bit of an identity crisis (/j it's just for fun) until he settles into his role as the househusband cook.

"All of us... are connected by... the arc of destiny!"

Reiji and Yuya are supposed to be silhouetted by their fathers, so Yuzu is meant to seem like she's looking at Yuya, but is in fact looking at Yusho. I also think VJ Yuto should be allowed to smile more!

This drawing is meant to be my love letter to the manga as a whole, and ESPECIALLY the last duel between Reiji and Yuya. I talked about it a whole ton in the review linked above already, so go check that out if you haven't!!

I was really happy with the composition when I first made this, especially with Sora/Ren/Isaac Versus the Yus mirroring their duels! (Well, okay, I know Isaac didn't duel Yuto but.... just give this to me)

Anyway I really wanted a fun and positive energy for it! Every month I think about returning to this but I get slightly demotivated when I realise I have *zero* colour references for both Ren and Isaac... Please send in your headcanons...

***

Last but not least, last month I got brain worms for another animatic/hand-drawn MV for Eve's Fight Song! I'll never ever have to time to go back to it, but I wanted to take the chance to talk about other songs that make me ill when I think about them with the manga.

1. Myth & Roid - TRAGEDY:ETERNITY

Don’t give me an eternity Even if that’s all I can believe Press pause on the flow of time In the shadow of the blink of an eye I don’t wanna fall into a sleep ‘Cause now you are my remedy Now knocking on, knocking on, knocking on my brain Even for the temptation of a nightmare Fate demands a costly reparation for its fare

Translated lyrics mostly from lyrical-nonsense, but I made some changes for better rhyming and flow yahoo!! This song is what I imagine the OP would be in my dreams when it received an anime adaptation, I've always dreamed of making my own animatic to it!!

Not just the chorus, but the ENTIRE SONG (pleeeease go take a look at the lyrics) feels like it's made for the manga please please go take a look

2. MYTH & ROID - -to the future days

I cast my wishes to the future days If we can meet on the other side of eternity… I cast my wishes to the future days What should we talk about first? Sadness and even joy will, eventually Will sleep together That's the way life is If such a world could be granted Would nobody feel hurt anymore?

Yeah I like M&R quite a bit, how'd you know

If T:E was the hypothetical OP, this is my pick for the ED theme, like AAAAAAAA for me it encompasses the yu's story so so so so so so so well, though

And:

Both despair and also life come to end eventually Take this future into your hands and let it run its course Spin it ’round…… The hands on the clock spin around Like flowers, petals falling and fluttering Once we blossom, we dissipate in the moment THE BRIDGE THE BRIDGE THE LYRICS ARGHHHHHHHH This is definitely for me, the moment when the three yus start to fade during Yuya's battle with Eve, their last conversation they have with yuya..... *lies onto the ground in a pile of misery*

Rest of the lyrics HERE shoves it into your face

3. MAISONdes - Tokyo Shandy Rendezvous

It's no joke, no it's not! Tokyo Shandy Rendezvous Even when the time comes nothing will come of it Vague truths only become melancholy Come on and snatch me away now, take on me!

This is a fun one, when I watched the PV and in the chorus Lum was spinning I instantly went wow what if that was Phantom.. and then the lyrics bared their claws and sunk them into my brain and hasn't really let go since

Unlike the above two songs, not all of the lyrics are a perfect match, of course, but I adore how in general the whimsical yet lonely nature of the song feels like it fits Phantom so well!

4. Eve - Fight Song

As the night still refuses to end, let’s dream

Last but not least the song I posted the above storyboard for! CSM fans (as well as Eve fans, lol) are probably already familiar with the song, and full lyrics here, though like the song above, only parts of the song (particularly the chorus) really resonated with the vj brainworms in my head lol Even for me, y’know Let’s make a break for the future Towards the verge of death like we pray for A boy that gave his word Today, just like back then As if there’s no more future ahead

Sigh.... Yuto, Yugo, Yuri................ Just let out your voice Let’s take it easy We don’t even know common sense, so we know the world through wise eyes These overflowing feelings, behold Greet me with an applause

I love the first half a lot, I can easily imagine Yuya saying it to the other three... and of course, the latter, from him to the world! (or perhaps even G.O.D...)

As always thanks for reading GOODBYE I GOTTA GO DRAW SOME ARC-V OCS

[jimmyandthegiraffes]

Fic Writing Review 2023 🌈

Thank you sm @itwoodbeprefect for the tag!!!

I hardly published anything this year so if u wanna skip to 'projects for 2024' that's gonna be the most interesting bit >.<

Words and Fics (on ao3) 📚

words posted: 714 💀 but many more words were written, just not posted lol fics posted: 1 first fic/last fic 😅: King of the Eyesores - Doctor Who (1963)

Ships and Fandoms ⚓

Doctor Who - no ships really but KotE is Mike Yates-centric.

Top 5 Fics by Kudos 🏆

It's KotE again lol which is at 6 kudos. Of all time, tho:

After the Hour(glass) - Night at the Museum (Jedtavius)

Less Than Ideal Circumstances - The Man from UNCLE (TV) (Napollya)

When They Sleep - The Man from UNCLE (TV)

Dismiss Your Fears - Back to the Future

After All, I'm Only Sleeping - Doctor Who (1963)

Top 5 Favorite Fics 💖

KotE......... I do actually rly enjoy KotE I think it has potential in terms of where it's going. But since I only posted one fic in 2023, I'll do my top 5 of fics I've ever posted. Apart from the first one this is in no particular order

tickertape - The A-Team (TV) it's my baby it's all I thought about for months of my life, it's like an iceberg (i.e. most of it is in my WIP doc, and only a tiny fraction is published so far), it got me thru a difficult time, it's an exploration of mental illness and complicated messy relationships expressed in epic format (i.e. it's probably gonna be novel length when it's done)

Bullet Number Six - Starsky & Hutch (TV) it received criticism for being obscure and hard to follow bc it switches pov briefly halfway thru but idc i love it anyway

I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues - The A-Team (TV) it was my first A-Team fic and I still think for a beginner it nailed some p realistic in-character dialogue and addressed an undertone I wished I'd seen addressed in the ep it's a coda to.

When They Sleep - The Man from UNCLE (TV) it's kind of riddled with certain mannerisms of my slightly older writing which I personally find a bit annoying and have worked to iron out for the sake of elegance over the years. but I still think it's a cool little exploration of all my sleep headcanons for the pair of them in one place

King of the Eyesores - Doctor Who (1963) see it made it to the list after all! I kinda like it more for its potential than for what it is right now butttttt who cares.

special mention to Unbereft (Starsky & Hutch) which I really really like but I wrote it in one frenzied sitting and only remembered after I'd posted it that it was very like someone else's fic I'd read several years previously. I don't think it's too much like to be taken down and I've since mentioned the writer of the other fic (it was dawnwind, hello!) in the notes. that's the only reason unbereft isn't in my top 5 because I'm otherwise really proud of how well it's written. Not to tootle on my own trumpet.

Fandom fic events

none RIP but maybe this year!!

Projects for 2024

Okay here we goooooooooooo

priority 1 is to finish the unfinished works that I've already half posted: King of the Eyesores, Every Line A Comedy, OUTATIME, The Windhover, tickertape, The Hanoi Bank Job and Other Misadventures, 38 Hours. Bolded are my top priorities.

other works that I'm writing but which haven't seen the light of day at all yet:

Dear Mike - an epistolary between Jo Grant and Mike Yates following her marriage to Cliff Jones.

The Lark/Behind That Locked Door (working titles) - a 30-chapter 2/Jamie fic about season 6B in which Jamie suffers permanent memory problems after the War Games. It explores grief, social ostracism, feeling abandoned, undirected anger, guilt, and acceptance that healing sometimes is a process that is never complete. I've been working on it since about 2016 lol but I'm lazy I just need to press on.

hell valley au - as yet untitled lol. In which the Hell Valley!Marty (who is never seen in BTTF2 as he is in Switzerland) and Hell Valley!Doc (who has been institutionalized) break out of their respective situations and go on the run together. But there's a problem - they had to leave Einstein behind, and when they get information that Einie is to be used for a dogfight, they make the risky decision to go back to Hill Valley to rescue him. However, going back to the place they just escaped by the skin of their teeth also brings them face to face with the last person they expect to meet.

a changed man (working title) - a Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) fic from Jeannie's pov. mostly it's about their picnic excursions but it's also about Jeannie wishing Marty wasn't such an elephant in the room

mfu/rahd xover (untitled) - the first chapter of this is almost ready to go tbh. it's what it says on the tin lol, Napoleon and Illya go to London and get help from a rather eccentric private detective who has uncanny powers of solving impossible cases but also they think is probably clinically insane

to see him happy - VERY weird rahd fic. it's smut but its also about grief. might never post it because several of my family members have access to my tumblr and therefore my ao3 lol they dont need to see that

the winter of '62 - a study of jeff and marty's life when they lived together in a grotty bedsit and couldnt afford to put the heating on

star wars (untitled) - set during ROTJ, han pov. han's lost a lot of time and now everyone is one step ahead of him which isn't a sensation he's used to

skyrissian - what it says on the tin lol

the older gen (untitled) - jeeves fic about bertie's aunts and uncles and parents as they were as they variously grew up, got married, had children, died (or didn't), fell prey to alcoholism or insanity or petty crime, went to war, prospered (or didn't)... This is pretty unlikely to be finished this year tbh as it's very detailed but I can dream

a couple of long form fics about starsky & hutch and mfu respectively (the s&h one is set post sweet revenge, the mfu one takes place at various moments throughout the show)

x-files series - canon compliant until paperclip and then gradually diverges into how i think the show should have gone lol. another biggie

and a handful of tintin fics that im protective of and might never post but we'll see - one where tintin and chang go on holiday in london after picaros, one where the gang encounters rajaijah one last time (featuring a letter from didi, chang making a very daring crossing at the songolese border, and tintin taking about ten years to chop up a clove of garlic), and one where tintin gets shitfaced at an embassy ball and accidentally starts an Incident. haddock looks on, appalled.

i knoooooooooooooooowww this is a lot but i'm not realistically hoping to finish it all this year but it's nice to have lots of things to play around with lol.

unfortunately i have the eternal problem of not ever knowing which of my mutuals write fic and which of those havent already been tagged but imma tag @theteaisaddictive and genuinely if u see this and u write fic ur tagged i want to knowwwwwwwwwwwww <333

[bookaddict24-7]

REVIEWS OF THE WEEK!

EVERY WEEK I WILL POST VARIOUS REVIEWS I’VE WRITTEN SO FAR IN 2024. YOU CAN CHECK OUT MY GOODREADS FOR MORE UP-TO-DATE REVIEWS HERE.

___

42. Identity by Nora Roberts--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

One of the best things I did for myself with this book was going into the story without reading the synopsis. I legitimately knew absolutely nothing about this book and man, when that first twist happened I was HOOKED.

The familial relationships in this book were everything and I loved that there weren't any of the usual tropes in this one when it came to the romance. It was a thriller first and a romance/familial story second. I did love how all of the characters communicated and worked together, even if their dialogue was sometimes a little awkward--especially when discussing intimate things. I know all families are different, but I wouldn't confess to my mom and grandma that I just came back from a night of pure sex LOL. But hey, to each their own.

The love interest was interesting. I really liked him and his blunt delivery, but sometimes he DID push that line of like "Alright, I guess we're just going with this." It was funny watching these two come together and I'll be honest, when he was a certain way (which I know is just his personality), I thought "wow, our standards are flat against the floor." While the relationship sometimes felt stilted, it didn't detract too much from the story for me.

Now the villain was something else. He was creepy and horrendous. I actually pictured his face changing from when he first meets the MC to when he sees her sick friend. It's horrendous and he was so well written--especially when we get to see his steady decline into even more madness.

Overall, this was FUN and had some very disturbing moments. Roberts is a little too good at writing someone who thinks so horrendously and does some horrible things to his victims. I recommend this for the sweetness of the family and a character who loves her job, but also for the creepy POV of the serial killer.

___

43. The Unknown by Katherine Applegate--⭐️⭐️

It's been a few weeks since I've read an Animorphs book because the library holds time is sometimes brutal. Why am I mentioning this? Because this was one of the rare books in this series that I didn't feel any urgency to read. I'll be super honest: This one felt like a weird dream. Half the time I was confused about how the characters got to certain points in the story.

I'll still be reading the rest of the series, of course, but this one was just okay. I do love these adventures, but this felt almost like a filler book?

Anyway, onto the next one!

___

44. The Titan's Bride Vol. 1 by ITKZ--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I will admit that while this storyline was actually sweet and pretty intriguing, this book is...nearly all porn. Had me blushing through the whole thing. I'm intrigued by where the story is going and I'm kicking myself for not having ordered the rest of the books yet, but yeah, this was basically porn with a sprinkling of a sweet and fantastical storyline.

I will say that the artwork is stunning!

Sigh. LOL.

___

45. Once There Was by Kiyash Monsef--⭐️⭐️⭐️

ONCE THERE WAS would have been better as an adult fantasy book. Why? Because so many things in this book felt like an adult fantasy book--there weren't any adult themes, but a lot of the circumstances were a bit of a stretch. I think I, as a reader, wouldn't have had to suspend my disbelief so much if this had simply been an adult.

I mean, a fifteen year-old inherits her dad's Vet practice and and lives alone?

By the end of the book, I had forgotten this was YA.

Moving on from that, this book had a really cool concept. I loved the idea that there's a vet out there destined to take care of mythological monsters. I also loved that it was such a diverse set of characters too, including the MC. We get to see more about her culture and her father and what happens when Western society stamps out that aspect of an identity. For example: food, language barriers, and culture.

While the book felt a little all over the place, I really liked seeing the MC in action when it came to these magical beings. I also really liked how Monsef explored the concept of grief and how important it can be to just feel the emotions.

Overall, this book was OKAY. There were points where I was a little bored and a little confused as to why this was YA, but I can also see why so many people might love it. This was like Dr. Doolittle for mythological creatures.

___

46. Raiders of the Lost Heart by Jo Segura-- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I didn't know what to expect from RAIDERS OF THE LOST HEART, but I had a pretty good time with what Segura gave us. From the badass FMC to the stuttering and himbo of a MMC.

I think with books like this one, I need to not take the storylines too seriously so I can fully enjoy it (which I did). The romance, tension, and spice were great. The adventuring was fun (even though I would have loved to see a bit more). I think reading the author's note also helped in realizing how much leeway was given to the characters' adventuring, since it isn't really like this in real life.

This really felt like I was watching a movie. It was a quick and addicting read and had me hooked from the very beginning.

There is one character, however, who is clearly Pansexual and I do wish they had said that instead of having the FMC confused as to how one person could like more than one gender. I do like that this character explains it, but I do wish Segura had gone the extra step of saying the term.

Anyway, I enjoyed this for what it was and I'm glad I didn't pay attention to the rating!

___

47. Olive Harvest in Palestine by Wafa Shami & Shaima Farouki (Illustrator)--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I don't normally rate or talk a lot about the storybooks I come across. But I came across OLIVE HARVEST IN PALESTINE while scrolling Instagram and I knew I immediately wanted it on my shelves. It's beautifully illustrated and the story it tells of an event that was a yearly tradition of harvesting and pressing olives in such a beautiful place like Palestine was both eye-opening and heartbreaking.

It breaks my heart to know that all of that beauty is now only on pages of storybooks, memories, photographs, and videos taken in passing. My heart ached while reading this important book. My heart cries for those olive trees that were hundreds of years old.

If there is a storybook you pick up this year, let it be this one.

___

48. Block Shot by Kennedy Ryan--⭐️⭐️

When I read the first book in this series, I was hooked. I thought it was powerful, heartbreaking, and incredibly addicting.

And I don't know if it's because I spent yesterday sick in bed, but BLOCK SHOT was the last thing I wanted to finish (even though I only had like 4 hours left in the audiobook). I finally finished it earlier today but because I knew I wanted to finish it so I could get to the third book. Normally, I tell friends to DNF books but sue me, I wanted to give this book a shot.

All of that being said, I WAS intrigued at the beginning. I loved how these two knew each other from way back when and how, even years later, they still couldn't fight the chemistry between them. Call me wild, but I personally don't know how I would have reacted if I the FMC and the events of the first part of the book happened. On one hand, I get it because being a fat girl has always been my identity. Being the butt of fat girl jokes? Been there, done that. But on the other hand, I found that this FMC had a massive chip on her shoulder that she carried for the majority of the book, which she then moulded into a slightly unhealthy thing.

I'll admit, I found the portrayal of her body and how even the MMC referred to it (like being fat is a horrendous thing) really icky. I know that this was written a few years ago, but it made me so uncomfortable that the fat girl's humiliation was one of the big motivations for the FMC to "better" herself, as if her intelligence and already existent beauty wasn't enough. Don't get me wrong: wanting to feel a certain way and looking a certain way isn't a bad thing, I think the phrasing of it was just not it.

Which leads me to saying that...the FMC was one of those characters who supposedly had a powerful presence and was touted as this saint, but LOL, let's be real. She wasn't. Sure, she could put her business face on, but man, she was someone who was so easily manipulated. There were so many instances where I wanted to shake some sense into her. Like, we KNOW the MMC was an asshole, but at least he admits it? He was honest about who he was, while she was the one play acting.

I won't even touch on the fact that there's cheating in this and it's not like in the first book, where it felt like a glimmer of hope and fear. Here it was all pure selfishness. And I don't think we should always like the main characters in books, but like...at least make them consistent. I don't know, the FMC annoyed me and again, while I didn't like the MMC, at least he was honest.

Also, that twist. I saw it coming, but it added a whole other level of ick to everything and the FMC.

I'm disappointed with this book, but I'll still be picking up book 3.

___

49. My Love Mix-Up! Vol. 1 by Wataru Hinekure (writer), Aruko(illustrator), & Jan Cash (Translator)--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I loved MY LOVE MIX-UP! and how much fun it was. The storyline was entertaining and while I think things happened a little too quickly in this first volume, I did love the antics and honesty the MC had for his situation. I can never tire of these kinds of stories where kids are just casually living their lives and falling in love with the unexpected person.

This reminded me a lot of BLUE FLAG, which was one of my favourite reads a couple of years ago. I loved the friendship aspect and how, even though things have the potential to be messy, that friendship perseveres.

I also laughed quite a bit at that twist at the end. Will definitely be aiming to get this entire series!

___

50. Happy Place by Emily Henry--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I think I always kind of know what to expect from an Emily Henry novel, so while I went into HAPPY PLACE with a bit of nerves, I also knew I would probably enjoy it. I didn't read the synopsis, as per usual, and I was (unsurprisingly) hooked from the beginning. This book was a shot of melancholy, heartbreak, and that magic feeling that summer sometimes brings out in us that anything is possible.

At first, I was put off by the going back and forth with the past and present. Mainly, I've always found these kinds of stories feel a little abrupt when they have a flashback chapter every so often and I become impatient for the present day story. But as the story progressed, I realized it was impatience mingling with anxiety. I was afraid to see what broke these two up; what had the power to come in between these proclamations of forever I-love-you's and soulmate-y kind of love stories. I was worried and while I had to force myself to face it, I'm glad I did. I obviously won't say what it was, but I will say that it felt like a very real reason, even though these two would heavily benefit from couple's therapy.

I also appreciated the friendships and how this book isn't just about the romance that broke, but the relationship between friends. There are different kinds of happy places in this book and many of them include these amazing friends who are guilty of a huge crime: growing up. I find that I related a lot to the one friend who spent her time chasing that high of youth caught in a summer breeze. I remember summers long past full of memories that will never be replicated, but growing up means knowing that those memories exist, even if life and time changes everything.

Much like many other Henry books, this delves into deeper topics as well, like familial trauma, grief, mental health, and abandonment issues. Those were palpable on the pages as the characters faced these very real parts of themselves.

I'm not giving this a full five stars because of the flashbacks and how messy the MC and her love interest were. Communication is a golden rule I wish more romances adopted, but I also can understand that in order to have diverse characters, we need to be mindful of the ones who genuinely have a hard time communicating--usually because of mental health and traumatic responses. All of that being said, I still stand by this couple being chaotic--even if they were probably my second or third favourite couple in the Henryverse.

ALSO, DID EVERYONE PEEP THE BEACH READ EASTER EGG?? Hell yeah.

___

Have you read any of these books? What were your thoughts?

___

Happy reading!

[riseofthecommonwoodpile]

how do you find so much music to listen to? i don't have any friends who like music as much as i do, so i end up getting all my recs from tumblr, but i feel like i'm perpetually lagging behind all my cool mutuals. also, i feel like it takes me a long time to listen to an album and form a conclusive opinion on it, but you seem like you can knock that shit out super fast (remembering that music rating project u did). any tips for broadening my library? thank u and have a great day

This has been in here forever but i never took the time to answer it, i'm sorry! Hopefully belated is better than not at all

Long story short, it's one of those things where the more music you listen to, the more you find to listen to, so once you get to a certain point it's a bit of a self-perpetuating thing. That said, i do have some tips, and a lot of them will be really basic but i'm writing this more as a general thing for people who want to listen to more / different music but don't know where to start:

something that really helps (and especially helped when i was first getting suuuuuper into music listening and criticism as a main hobby of mine (i used to write actual full length reviews instead of the tiny capsules i do on twitter lol)) is just lists! As bullshit as stuff like Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" or the p4k decade lists are, they're undoubtably great overviews of things from the perspective of each outlet that puts them out, and i definitely only got into certain bands or albums because they were canonized in some way or another. plus, if one outlet's lists seem to vibe with you consistently well (for example, Tiny Mix Tapes' decade and year end lists are so very much my shit that i'd listen to almost everything on them) you can follow that site and see what they're reviewing and liking now (RIP TMT for many reasons but losing this especially from them was a bummer for me)

in addition, more narrow lists are great for if you want to get into something specific but don't know where to start. a lot of times, if i want to check out a specific genre but don't know anything about it, i'll check out the RYM "top 5" of whatever that genre is (RYM has its own clear biases and limitations, but especially for smaller microgenres i find it a super helpful starting point) or i'll literally just google "best reggaton albums of all time" or something similar and check out the albums everyone is recommending. canonization is problematic, but by looking into what the majority of people have come to call the best of a certain style or genre or period of time can give you an idea of what the tropes and characteristics of something are, and you can branch out from there if you see yourself digging at least parts of it.

from there, once i have a good starting point, i will both look up smaller / more personal lists (individual people's "best of" lists are always way more interesting than ones multiple people voted on because there's nearly always a curveball or two) and dive deep on both "suggested" similar bands as well as looking into the label or people they made music with, other projects by the same creators, etc., and that can get you quickly off the mainstream road and into fun little sidestreets.

then, last but not least, i will literally just search bandcamp or a music torrent site (by which of course i mean a place where you completely legally buy music and never pirate it) for a specific tag or genre or year and download the ones with covers i like lol. this is way more likely to lead you to mediocre or bad music, but like, that fairy pop album by diana starshine i loved last year i found exactly by searching for i think "hyperpop" on bandcamp. i saw the cover, liked it, checked out a few tracks, and voila. it's shallow and doesn't pay off all the time, but honestly it's been surprisingly successful for me in the past (except when it comes to post 00's j-pop, for some reason many of the best j-pop album covers contain some of its blandest music).

idk if any of that helps but yeah