#it has my favorite characterization of Sun and Moon that i have ever seen

[seventh-district]

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[crookedfivefingers]

Ahhhhhhhh hello fellow tenmartha shipper!! I was wondering if you had any fic suggestions? I'm slowly making my way through the tag on AO3 and it's pretty hit or miss...

Also if you haven't checked her out yet, Haleine Delial over on FF.net is the top tier tenmartha writer and I wish she would transfer her stuff over to AO3 where it would get the attention it deserves 😭

https://m.fanfiction.net/u/1248996/?a=s&s=0&cid=0&p=1

Also also, I found a gold mine of fic on live journal over 10 years ago when I was desperately searching for content. This is a permanently open tab on my phone and hopefully you enjoy it if you haven't seen it already!

https://persiflage-1.livejournal.com/306664.html

Hiii! I've been enjoying your journey through my posts! 💜 And thank you so, so, so much for the recs—FFnet is pretty much the only place I haven't bled dry for TenMartha content, so I will definitely be looking into those!

As for my recs...

Oh god, okay, so full disclosure: I tend to only read/write smut-containing fics (unless written by a friend or specifically recommended to me), as I am an animal—so my choices are severely limited in that sense… I also don’t read “established relationship” fics, so that’s another limit. But YES. I absolutely have some recs, I apologize if you’ve already read them all!

(This is by no means a complete list)

First just want to highlight my two faves:

wandererinthefourthdimension—In my opinion, the absolute tippy-top of the best of the best TenMartha writers. (I think I've possibly love-bombed her a bit too hard in my obsession with her works, but) she is exquisite. From dynamite characterizations to possibly the hottest smut I have ever read, she is OUTSTANDING. Here are a few:

Bliss

Informed Consent (has an amazing WIP sequel)

Alive (WIP—but for god's sake, read it)

HDUC—Pretty much anything by this magical smut goddess. Good god, this person needs to be on Ao3 as well, but can only be found on FF. It's quite tragic. Here are just a few of my favorites:

Craving

Contrition

Formalities

Brilliant

Diminished

Some more excellent content:

⭐️ = Added after original post

⭐️Moon Landing by TheGoldenAge

⭐️ Five Times the Doctor Wanted to Kiss Martha Jones in 1969 [And the One Time He Did] by radiantbaby (all ages)

⭐️The Art of Surviving by Nekare

⭐️Break Us Apart, Bring Us Together by Nekare (teen)

Our Lack of Social Skills by zauberer_sirin

Time Enough for Love by nonelvis

Lust in the Dust by Pax in Paradoxo

As Hot as a Wandering Sun by lastnightagain

In Half Light by rose_quartz_cave

Of Great Consequence (self-rec; WIP)—co-written with @pax-in-paradoxo The Purpose of Repose (WIP)(If you’re not too bothered by a fic that involves Ten & Rose as well)

A Shadow in the Human Heart by augustrain (DARK as hell—heed the warnings—and not nearly as smutty as anything else I've posted here, but still so so so good; brilliantly written. It's abandoned as well, but ends at a perfectly fine place for it to end)

I hope there's at least a couple here that you've never read and can enjoy! 💜

[halfmoth-halfman]

it's a new year, so i wanna try something new (a month late lol) where i make a little post for all of the fics i enjoyed each month!

this is gonna specifically be for fics that were also written that month, but if you wanna see more of my fic recs and favs, i have em all organized on my recs blog, here!

if you have any fic recs of your own, feel free to send em my way here or on my sideblog- i love finding new fics and writers!

Alex Keller

sun and stars - @halcyone-of-the-sea

✧ sunshine!alex is something i never knew i needed until i read this fic. and sunshine!alex with grumpy!gf is such a perfect combination! this entire fic is so beautifully written, so cute and so tender. this is definitely going to be a new comfort fic for me!

Joel Miller

yours and mine - @uselsshuman

✧ i'm already weak for soft!joel, but this just knocked it out of the park for me. the interactions between sarah and reader, and reader's determination to prove stepmothers can be good too is just uugghh. i always come back to this fic whenever the show gets too sad, it's the perfect pick-me-up.

John Price

to the flame || pt. 7 | pt. 8 - @lunarvicar

✧ a series i found forever ago, then lost track of! i had no idea there were more chapters, but when i tell you i was over the moon to find out there was more. this series has everything: angst, fluff, just enough smut, an oc named moth, and an amazing characterization of price!

kiss time! - @newcomernewcums

✧ price covered lipstick marks??? sign me tf up. two separate scenarios and both are absolutely perfect. and the added detail of price letting reader reapply their lipstick so they can cover him in even more marks?? i'm feral.

small, dark, and kind of shady - @mvtthewmurdvck

✧ there really are no words for how perfect i think this fic is. undercover missions are already a weakness of mine and coupled with one of the best characterizations of price i've seen, i'm completely smitten.

John "Soap" Mactavish

his wistful yearning - @halcyone-of-the-sea

✧ friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes and this is one of the best portrayals i've read. the teasing, the flirting, soap being so completely obvious and in love, and the reaction from the rest of the 141 is all written absolutely beautifully.

soap and squid || adjusting. | hands and stars | softest kisses - @mvtthewmurdvck

✧ nothing but pure softness, i am melting. soap and squid are one of my favorite fic couples to read, and these valentine's fic have only just cemented my love for them.

Kyle "Gaz" Garrick

speak now - @sprout-fics

✧ i'm already feral over this because it's a gaz fic, but oh. my. god. this fic absolutely killed me, it hurt so so good and the ending just killed me. wonderfully written and only got more and more perfect with every reread.

Multi Characters

mask on, mask off - @m4ctavish

✧ very cute, and honestly got me kinda obsessed with the idea of a masked reader?? love the way both characters and both scenarios are handled, and the idea of ghost trading masks???? 👀

Original Works

unnamed - @uselsshuman

✧ we stan original works and stories on this blog. we got fantasy, assassins, shadow people, and i'm already excited to see where this goes!!

Simon "Ghost" Riley

earl gray tea | come stay awhile | stay here with me - @a-sibyl

✧ a mini-series that has found a special place in heart, i can't count the amount of times i've reread this. such a wholesome set of fic showing a softer side to ghost outside the 141.

ghost panics when he realizes he likes you just a little too much - @euovennia

✧ such a good look at how ghost would process catching feelings for someone, especially a friend. the internal struggle, the constant worry, the sharknado series, this fic has it all!

ghost and helen || just the softest touch | fluffy headcanons re: his super king bed | pt. 2 - @mvtthewmurdvck

✧ i have no words for the entire ghost x helen!reader series, it's literal perfection. probably one of the best portrayals of ghost i've ever seen and every fic is so beautifully written and has me thinking about them for days i've read them. idk how jo manages to knock it out of the park every single time, but i am in awe of her talent.

sometimes, i dream - @mvtthewmurdvck

✧ another ghost and helen fic (and one of my favorites), but it gets it own section for this line alone: “Would you still love me if I was a rock, Simon?”

happiness series || imagine it | twice a question, once an answer | will never be enough | almost | bigger than the whole sky - @lethalchiralium

✧ this series is so cute and fun. i am such a sucker for family man simon riley and this scratches that itch in all right ways. even the sad chapters. and seeing the 141 loving and supporting the riley family just makes my heart swell.

the captain - @as-is-above-so-below

✧ my crops are watered, my livestock fed, my bills paid. ghost has a badass sniper wife and she's pregananante and i love it. ghost going feral on price and then shamelessly flirting with his wife had me rolling, but i love the interactions here between ghost and the team!

[xixovart]

oc info dump??!!!

(props to my friend @kindred-spirit-93 for helping create the sillies!!! madr them a good two hours ago and im already obsessed)

for starters, i dont feel like going into a 20-minute explanation of the worldbuilding or story or whatever, this is just gonna be a compilation of some slight details and facts about them, but you should have some context!!

eris [the archer] and mercury/lethe [the elf eared one] are twins. the hidden and forgotten deities of their world choose a person to bless with a superhuman ability, though this only occurs once a millennium to avoid recognition. see, the point of these deities is to secretly oversee the progression of human life, but humans arent supposed to know of their existence. a hundred years ago, an ancient and noble ancestor of the twins was blessed with the power to heal wounds in ways professional medics can only dream of. everh child of the family inherited this gift, including the twins. though strangely, mercury seems to not harness the power to heal. this is a great disappointment to their father, but secret is, mercury has another gift. beyond their family's imagination.

now, as for (head)canons!!

in the distant future, long after their deaths, mercury and eris will be remembered as nothing but a joined set. never one without the other. intertwined. some legends and paintings portray them as joint twins, quite literally joined at the hip. others see them as the sun and moon, circling each other in an eternal dance. but most see them as the personification of light and dark (yin and yang if you will), one cannot exist without the other, when one is near the other is never far

the mark eris has on her shoulder is a tattoo meant to symbolize one who was perfected the art of healing. its a respected symbol in their family, and will soon be widely known among the residents of their little town. akin to aang's arrows in atla

mercury's mark, however, is no tattoo. its a birthmark. though it looks similar to the mark of the healer, its strikingly different. look at it for too long and youll get lost in it. mercury thinks it to be a curse. no one knows its origins or what it represents (but i do. because im just awesome like that)

mercury is a visual artist. they draw sketches of things they love or find inspiring. including but not limited to:

their sister the great outdoors bodies of water deer the simplicity of town solar eclipses (which are quite common here)

eris is the child prodigy and the favorite child, yes, but shes also the token troublemaker. thiugh no one ever believes shes the creator of chaos, and mercury is quick to stand up for their sister (also because mercury is the executioner of their crimes, since eris is surprisingly clumsy for an archer)

mercury is almost always climbing trees

eris has a profound hatres of vegetables

the twins are never seen without each other (which will lead to their characterization as an divinely inseperable pair in the future). when one goes to the market alone, theyre always asked "where's the other one?"

they were mostly raised by caring locals

their mother died giving birth

eris is always bright-eyed in a way that makes you expect both trouble and wit

they go swimming so often their fingers constantly have signs of the little wrinkles

their friend miles taught them sworfighting

i think thats all i can think up right now without spoiling too much, i might add on when i have more written, but enjoy these for now. this post probably will get little to no attention, but i dont care, i love my twins.

[aroace-poly-show]

This is the fic i was reading: defining love by tinkonka. have i finished it? no. apologies if it takes a weird turn. however, i present two pieces of YEHFDKSKJKLFJSDLKFS: 1. implied arospec rui and 2. the most BASED emurui takes ive seen in my whole entire life.

and for completionist's sake, here's a few more fics i have bookmarked, in no particular order!!

poor communication kills by HakaiEve: THE og aroace wxs fic. also recommend their other wxs works too because they get them. (also i think they have a tumblr with some aroace wxs art, if you haven't seen it yet!)

ikanaide by Gummysaur: maybe im just a sucker for sick fics and poetic language but. they all just care about their idiot troupe leader so much.... there's another one by them with the reverse plot of tsukasa taking care of emuruinene too that i remember relating to quite a bit!

the study of the sky, the sun, the star, and the moon by JadeMeraki: MY FAVORITE SERIES OF ALL TIME THE LANGUAGE THE HEADCANONS THE ABSOLUTELY UNFILTERED RAW TAKES i love this characterization and have accepted every word into my personal canon. i love this.

and by the same author, with hope: rui writing letters to his future self. im genuinely not ok reading this fic. the crossed out lines. the language. the despair and the hope that defines rui's core. this fic inspired me to write my own journal.

polysho nails by nonchalantatall: to be perfectly honest i do not remember this fic but 1. miracle paint reference 2. acey's favorite band reference (ajr) and 3. i must have saved it for a reason so now you will figure that out

How to Be Free by SkylerHyrule: VBS FANTASY AU (featuring the one and only tenma tsukasa and co). looooooove the way this is written and also this author understands vbs so well. really fun akian interactions too, a rarity in the field. If you like vbs i would also recommend their Misadventures of VBS's Clothes!

Infinity Spectrum by kjcoded: mizuki focused fic! the way this author describes gender stares directly into your soul and gives feelings you didn't even know you had a voice. i think about some of the lines in this daily.

Disparate Threads by MiyoatThePineapple: a little tsukasa-focused poem on creation and loving your friends a whole great deal :) (i am a sucker for poetic language)

if you're ever tired of being known for who you know (you know, you'll always know me) by dizzi_dizzy: like it says on the tin, tsukasa through ichika's eyes. it has been a while since i read it but again. bookmarked it for a reason. i think it had some great language on the passage of time?

july 27th, 2015 by anonymous: i left a comment here about dragonfly symbolism and characterization. i think that's all i need to say about it actually. yeah. loved it.

that was... a lot more than i thought i had. lol. anyways. book club!

ourgh saving all of these to my marked later thank you so much acey i will have so much to read. if i remember some bookmarked fics in particular that i really liked i will recommend them to you as well. book club!!!!!!! :3

[monstersummongenre]

Pokemon XY is kind of a mess actually: A longer than I wanted to write analysis of my impression of Pokemon XY so far

Okay, so this week our 20 in Review for Pokemon XY comes out and next week is our favorites list. So I decided I wanted to talk a bit about XY and the reasons I think it's not sparking joy for me. The reasons I've been able to pinpoint are the tone, the pacing, and the group dynamic.

The tone of XY from the first episode onward is fairly melodramatic. Dictionary.com defines Melodrama as "a dramatic form that does not observe the laws of cause and effect and that exaggerates emotion and emphasizes plot or action at the expense of characterization." And for me that encapsulates the style of XY as a series, at least so far. So many situations feel exaggerated in their seriousness in such a way that it's off-putting or laughable. I believe it was episode 3 in which Ash, Bonnie, and Clemont chase down Fletchling for stealing a berry meant for Dedenne. We learn more about Froakie and Ash catches a new Pokemon, but for all the fuss they made about the initial problem, they completely forgot about Dedenne. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but is off-putting when the show made it feel like a serious slight instead of the minor annoyance it was.

The tone also makes the jokes fall flat most of the time. This season has a pretty downbeat tone, so Pokemon's usual sense of humor, which is often over the top and exaggerated, feels out of place. The other major humor of the Pokemon series comes from the dialogue. And that often falls flat here too, probably because the humor of it is usually the characters reacting to a ridiculous situation. And because of XY's tone it's hard to be so silly. Honestly, they might have been better off going for a different type of humor altogether for XY.

The second issue in XY is an issue of pacing and, I'm going to be honest, wasting my time. The pacing of XY is just not very effective. For example, Serena and Rhyhorn racing. We're introduced to her being agitated with the sport her mother is trying to push on her. Then until she joins the party, we see her start up her journey. She finds Ash, as was her goal, and joins the party. The very next episode she comes to terms with the idea that she just misunderstood her mother and the Rhyhorn all of this time. Just like that without her having really faced any challenges, the issue is seemingly resolved. The same thing happens with Clemont and his gym.

And to be clear the issue isn't the way these issues were handled, but the complete lack of build up before just resolving them. These are both episodes we could have seen further down the line as a way of showing how our heroes have grown since the beginning of the show. So both fell flat in their execution because neither of the problems existed long enough to impact the characters's behavior. Well, I suppose Clemont's did, but that was more of a failure of exploration than anything.

And brings me to my final point, group dynamic and the characters in the group. To be completely transparent about my media preferences, for me, media is all about the characters. I care about their journeys, their relationships to each other, and how their actions affect the world around them. And this group just doesn't do any of that for me. In fact if I've gotten any details wrong in this post it's likely because I was bored to tears watching this show. The thing is I really want to like XY, I really want to like the characters, but I find it hard to be invested in them at all. And it took me a while to wrap my brain around the reason for that. I didn't quite know how to describe the blandness and lack of grit the characters have in a meaningful way.

First I wondered "are they too nice"? But that didn't make much sense. See I've been watching lots of Pokemon recently (the Original Series, Best Wishes, XY, Sun and Moon, and Journeys) and I can say that playful banter aside the series after the original aren't particularly mean, especially Sun and Moon, which has some of the nicest, good spirited kids to ever exist. If niceness was the problem then I'd feel a similar detachment.

So what was the problem?

The problem of XY lies in the group dynamic. I saw someone say recently that Ash as a character was written relatively the same from DP to XY with just minor adjustments. I found this thought a little jarring because I enjoy Ash in BW, but his vibe in XY is not nearly as entertaining. But if I look at him I do see that he's still the exact same person, he still mostly does Ash things except for the way he interacts with his companions. In the words of my younger sister who only watches Pokemon when we put it on while she's in the room "Ash doesn't seem like he even wants to be there. There's no reason he and I should feel the same way."

That is to say, far from the way he usually bounces off the energy of his companions, Ash barely interacts with the XY gang in meaningful ways at all. There are moments that happen in XY where you expect Ash to say something, anything, in response to his companions or their current situation and it's crickets. One example that really sticks in my brain is the episode where Meowth comes to the group for help. Clemont, Serena, and Bonnie all have things to say about the situation, but Ash… silence. Not even Pikachu expresses any opinion on the matter. Odd. When they have to get their faces scratched to stop themselves from being mind controlled and Serena's like "I don't want my face scratched up!" Silence. He doesn't try to encourage her, he doesn't get annoyed with her. He simply does not respond. 

Ash Ketchum in any other season would have had some sort of reaction here. I could hear him going "Seriously?!" or insisting "It's not that bad" or even just having a facial expression of some sort.

And it isn't just him. The characters don't interact like a group of friends in general. They don't bounce off each other and react in ways that feel natural. There's no clash of personality traits. There's just flat comedy gags and conversations that just sort of move forward.

And I'd say that while the tone, pacing, and group dynamic brew a perfect mess, that the group dynamic is the part that really fails the series. A good set of characters that actually click is so important for a series like Pokemon. Pokemon spends a good chunk of screen time with the characters just wandering around and interacting with one off strangers on the way to their goals. The cast of characters has to be interesting enough to make that work. And maybe XY will pick up at some point and be more interesting, but having to wait more than twenty episodes for that is torture. I really do want to like XY, but for now it is my least favorite rendition of Pokemon.

[wistfulrat]

a 4-part rec list of my fave drarry fics - the thrillers, dramas, soft bois, and wankbanks getting me through 2020′s shitstorm

[the soft boi list is here and truly i’m not surprised this rec is going to be the longest bc if there’s one thing a bitch is going to do, it’s yearn.

as always! if you love a fic, follow the authors, leave kudos & comments, send them nice msgs bc free art is still labor xoxo]

part 3: soft bois

mood: for when I need respite, a balm to the all-consuming shittiness of life

includes: fluff, comfort, low-stakes, slow-burn fics. a wistful look, a rainy morning, an unexpected grace, a stupidly disarming joke. i could live inside these fics. the smallness of human lives removed from the site of that which hurts & irreparably changes. the story-equivalent of a deep breath after a long day. pregnant silences & pensive mundanity & shy smiles. banter with bite but without the cruelty. the color lavender. weirdly whimsical. soft fics are not necessarily conflict-averse (no drarry fic rly can be, considering the context) but, they offer the reader a generous distance from the initial harm. they’re the quiet cleaning up after a storm. sometimes healing is an exacting surgical knife and other times it’s a slow scabbing. you read these fics to be reassured that the way forward is not always ruthless. and honestly?? they deserve a semblance of peace godDAMmit.

The Way Down by @letteredlettered - 65k - T “and I thought that if someone talked to you as though you were a human being you might—maybe you could act like one” --the way i think about this line daily. the characterization of draco in this fic is one my favorites bc he’s earnest and neurotic and tired of harry’s shit. which is to say, he cares so so much. and harry doesn’t know what to do with that bc he’s got a monster in his chest and lives as a recluse. but they both humanize each other in ways no one else can. “you’re just a person” has to be some kind of drarry ethics of belonging and it makes me CRY. -

Little Deaths and How to Avoid Them by @greaseonmymouth and dustmouth - 96k - T “Maybe it’s not about deserving it? Maybe you just get to have it anyway. . .I’m allowing myself to want something and to let myself have it and to fight for it.” --harry runs a daycare and also works at a library. draco spends a lot of time in said library. they bond over sci-fi books and therapy anecdotes and quiet philosophical conversations held over cafeteria soup. and harry’s struggling to understand his asexuality. draco’s learning how to live with anxiety and depression. they both want to be deserving of love. incredible fic with beautiful art by dustmouth. - 

Open for Repairs by @drarrytrash - 35k - T “A few leaves rustle in the gutter and the muggle world pays no mind to them, to two lost boys holding on for dear life.” --all of their fics feel exactly like this. like you’ve been allowed to look at something private, tender, unexpected. draco, known abba fan, is a repairman in the muggle world & harry can’t stop breaking thrifted things in order to see him? say less, i'm thERE. also “I think I have a crush on you” goddddd  - other faves by them: Counting Down By Ten - 2k - T: draco’s stepped outside of the party for a smoke. harry follows him bc of course he does. i could read this 100 times and not get tired of it. - Clouds That Veil the Midnight Moon - 36k - E: FUCKING HILARIOUS I CACKLED THROUGH THE WHOLE THING. draco’s wolfy problem and harry helping him and harry being flustered by how much he likes draco and draco’s hot heroic moment. shutup it’s perfect. “He almost asks if Draco ever gets tired of being a miserable complaining shit all the time, but he knows that he, personally, never ever gets tired of being a miserable complaining shit.” and “It’s the traumas,” Harry says gravely” --lines that live rent free in my head -

Harry Potter and the Future He Doesn't Really Want, Thanks by seefin - 70k - E “That was the only logical thing to do here, wasn’t it? It was the next step, it was the end of hurting each other and the beginning of the exact opposite.” --harry lives with luna and neville and also he dreams about the future sometimes? and he keeps running into draco. draco thinks this is sus as hell, until he doesn’t. feat. taxi rides, museums, cinemas, rooftop conversations beneath a lunar eclipse, mid-sex innocuous banter, draco and harry discussing nicki minaj. this fic charmed my ass off. seefin writes the most effortlessly hilarious dialogues. i smiled at my phone like an idiot at least 7 times. -  other faves by them: Wild - 93k - E: “he liked feeling needed, for the things that he was needed for back at the house in Ireland. For cooking and gardening and driving. Easy things.” --this shit makes me cry it’s so good. harry lives in Ireland with these three brilliant, hilarious, wandless witches and draco’s a potions student who's come to study under one of the housemates and the boys have so much shit to work through but their love becomes so tender and honest. draco yells at harry a lot and harry lets him and they both keep each other grounded in something real and fuCK.  - Divination for Dickheads - 7k - G: “I’m terrible at having crushes. I’ve never played anything cool a day in my life.” -- oh harry, we knOW. a bus ride, a fortune teller, an aquarium birthday party. god i love this fic. -

Modern Love by @tackytigerfic​ - 61k - E “But we’ve worked so hard at this, haven’t we? Yeah, I know it’s a horror to have to talk about it, but fuck it. We’re friends now, but it took so long to get here. Have you ever had to work so hard at something before?" --the steady blossoming of their friendship in this fic is so goddamn beautiful i want to yell. it’s draco and harry learning to trust each other and the whole thing unfolds so slowly, in this whimsical mix of london streets, wizarding politics, church halls feat. a Hot vicar, and a magical antique shop owner who’s married to literal poseidon?? goD the environment of this fic. immaculate. [also there’s a tender shower scene that makes me cry every single fucking time so if you read this fic pls dm me so we can be embarrassing about it together tbh] -

Nice Things by aideomai - 22k - M “He kept waiting for the weird shock of touch to not knock him clean out of his head, leave him quiet and warm and happy.” --8th year. harry forms an unlikely friendship with draco that begins with smoking weed on a windowsill. harry is touch-starved and draco touches him like he touches all his close friends - like it’s easy. the quiet affection in this fic, the way harry burrows himself into touch bc he’s been without it for his entire life. reading this is like being held. -

Running On Air by @tinyhistory​ - 74k - T “do you remember when we were eleven?” --alexa play coldplay’s the scientist it’s sad girl hours and we’re about to fucking yearn. you’ve seen this fic rec on every drarry list under the sun and i'm here to be redundant. the hype is so goddamn real. this story is a lyrical masterpiece held together by lines that act as refrains that will rattle around your brain until you die, probably. draco’s been missing for 3yrs. harry goes to find him. it’s their odyssey of homecoming. -

Title of Their Sex Tape by @cibeewastaken - 12k - T “But Draco, Draco was everything but boring. Draco made sitting in the rain watching an empty house fun.” --auror partners pining and draco being eccentric and harry being very earnestly gay about draco’s eccentricities!! god this fic is so genuinely fun skskd feat. undercover missions, murderous faeries, a book heist, a stunning navy dress, harry’s eyelashes. -

How We Throw Our Shadows Down by @thistle-verse - 14k - T “Draco is about to say something else— to thank Potter for what he’d done, however poorly— but Harry is smiling at him again, and it’s so soft and perfect that Draco holds in any inadequate words, lest he spoil it.” --draco collects tea cozies and of course harry has the one he wants. the sad and tender gays are at it again feat. conversations in the rain at a train station, melancholy Blaise, muggle photos, wizarding e-bay, the Dursleys.  -

Helix by Saras_Girl - 92k - E “Draco sighs in his sleep and Harry clings on to consciousness, needing to hold on, to give this tiny, insignificant moment the attention it deserves” --I think maybe you can describe every soft Saras_Girl story as giving tiny, insignificant moments the attention they deserve. like, this is an 8th year fic about snails and it’s full of whimsy, grief, compassion, and easy humor. an absolute must-read author in this genre if you want languorous, episodic fics full of distinct OCs and affectionate creatures. - other faves by them: Light up the Night Sky - 98k - M “Draco, sometimes you make my head feel like soup” --the one where harry is a fireworks artist and has a pet chameleon named ken. draco is on the wizarding arts council. they both pine like hell. - Headlights in the Snow - 71k - M “they stare at each other in silence, Harry’s heart beating so loud in his chest that he thinks the biddies must be able to hear it over the sound of their card game.” --the one where draco drives the knight bus and carts around the biddy club, a group of rambunctious old ladies who knit and drink tea and gossip. harry can’t help but fall in love with the everything about this. -

Follow the Water by @xanthippe74 - 38k - T “Harry’s heavy thoughts lift at the sight, like dark clouds blown away from the sun by the wind. The tent doesn’t feel so cramped and stifling now. It feels cozy. And safe. It’s the same feeling that Harry gets when he’s at the Burrow for Sunday roasts, when a group of people who care for each other deeply are crammed into too-small a space.” --harry wanders to the lovegood house on a sunday afternoon. he’s baffled to see that luna’s taken pansy, greg, and draco under her wing. what follows is a summer of forest walks, scavenger hunts, gardening, water fights, odd cakes, faerie rings, and picnics. so many picnics. i love the pace of this fic, the innocent return to childhood things, the way luna brings out the best in all her friends. reluctantly soft slytherins are just *chefs kiss*!! -

Going Postal (A 125pg comic) by dustmouth - T what. a. beautiful. ass. comic. the wizarding fashion, the textures, the character design!! harry travels a lot for his job as a resourcer. draco works in the regulations dept. they pine like a bunch of lovesick idiots via field report notes. god i love dustmouth’s art. -

All the Earnest Young Men by @tepre​ - 29k - E “Draco is twenty-seven layers of personality wrapped up in drama and humour, and a wit so sharp it still stings when he doesn’t see it coming. But there is something below that, too. Something that makes Harry ache just looking at him.” --the way i would lay down my little life for tepre’s characterization of draco, whom invented the word earnest. he’s a magical art theory expert and portraits are disappearing all over London and harry’s the auror assigned to this case. and well. they’re both so very avoidant about how gay they are for each other and it’s like!! shutup and kiss!! which they do in fact, shutup and kiss.  -

Trenches by sara_holmes - 3k - M “Somewhere in the distant part of his mind that hasn't frozen solid, he thinks that maybe he and Draco are about to become more than auror partners, smoking buddies, wine-mates and co-inhabitants of a snow filled trench somewhere in western Scotland.” --the plot line here is literally “it’s cold and i need a fucking cigarette” but let me tell you how I never tire of the shared loaded-silences of two emotionally repressed gays. -

The Years Before Love by lomonaaeren - 13k - M “That’s one of the meanings of peace, he thinks, as Hermione hugs him...That he can do things slowly, softly, without worrying that they won’t be there tomorrow.” --andromeda taking harry under her wing and harry finding solace in teddy. narcissa and draco showing up and the tentative relationships that slowly develop in the quiet calm of andromeda’s house. found families and kisses in the snow and special xmas gifts ugh what’s not to love -

The Moon Looks Lovely Tonight by Omi_Ohmy - 35k - M “I want this to be a house where people are welcome, where they don’t have to be any one way or another” --in which harry collects lost things--owls, best friends, inept bakers, potions experimenters--and turns the mausoleum that is grimmauld place into a home. feat. your fave drarry tropes like shared-beds and reluctant waltzing partners. -

[part 1: thrillers | part 2: dramas | part 3: soft bois | part 4: wankbanks]

[carbootsoul]

erika+ephriam+lyon for ask game 👀? and a witch hat character of your choosing if you like as well :3v

omg clint you're spoiling me :) also this is mostly unrelated but i was listening to kat flint today and a) her music is so good thank u for introducing it to me years ago and b) VERY witch hat atelier vibes which was fun. im putting my answers under a cut bc i am sooo verbose about characters

eirika: a song that reminds me of them: this is just the first that came to mind but oh what a world by rufus wainwright! oh what a world my parents gave me / always traveling but not in love. the rly interesting mix of idealism and pragmatism that she embodies- both being in awe of and in love with the world and the people in it but also not hesitating to accept that they are in a war and the tragedies that come with it what they smell like: i think for most of the game she smells like sweat and dirt an otp: eirika and l'arachel is actually the best ship in the whole entire world they're sooo funny. they keep meeting and every time eirika is like ???? and l'arachel is just falling head over heels in love a notp: eirika and lyon romance honestly very textually relevant in the game and adds to the story and whatever but they're both so absolutely homosexual that i can't conceptualize it favorite platonic/familial relationships: eirika and ephraim 🥺🥺 but also eirika and seth he's such a good big brother figure!! but also eirika and colm and eirika and tana and eirika and lyon. it's like.. rag tag army as family.. a headcanon that is popular in the fandom but that i disagree with: there are like two posts about her on tumblr dot com but her fire emblem heroes characterization makes me insane shut up about your brother shut up about your brother the position they sleep in: on her side one leg curled to her chest

ephraim a song that reminds me of them: omg lies by marina abt his relationship with lyon. you're too proud to say that you made a mistake / you're a coward till the end i really wish we had been able to see more of ephraims reaction to the true story of what happened with lyon, since he obviously forgives him but also seems to be angry about it and that's such a good dynamic. also oc can't let you go / i just want it to be perfect / to believe it's all been worth the fight. they make me... ugh what they smell like: he has also been living in tents for months so he probably also smells like horses and sweat an otp: ephraim and lyon do get to me... 🥺 also he and innes as a like teenage fling is hilarious to me they're so funny to each other i can't believe they don't have supports a notp: if i ever see another incest joke i'm killing someone favorite platonic/familial relationships: he and his sister are so good!! they're so siblings! a headcanon that is popular in the fandom but that i disagree with: again i have never rly interacted with the fe fandom but something from canon i disagree with is the assignment of the sun to him and the moon to his sister he is so obviously the lunar twin im furious abt this the position they sleep in: absolutely sprawled out. he takes up as much space as is given to him

lyon a song that reminds me of them: ache with me by against me just happened to be playing rn but it's very him. do you share the same sense of defeat / have you realized all the things you'll never be / ideals turn to resentment, open minds close up with cynicism / i've got no judgement for you / come on and ache with me. what they smell like: roses but in a fucked up revolutionary girl utena way like the roses symbolize something sinister an otp: lyon and ephraim.. admittedly lyon is kind of carrying why this ship is compelling with his tragic backstory but ephraim is such a boy so he's important too a notp: see eirika :/ favorite platonic/familial relationships: he and eirika and ephraim as a unit are so important to me they are so [unintelligible] a headcanon that is popular in the fandom but that i disagree with: i haven't rly seen this much but i guess any tendency to soft-boy him bc of his character design like this guy sucks a lot and he has a lot of flaws that almost ended the world :/ the position they sleep in: hugging a pillow

and for the wha character.. agott bc she's so girl :) a song that reminds me of them: pretty little things by the crane wives! but trust is now something i make people earn / so i'm not inclined to just give it away / to a pair of blue eyes with some nice things to say what they smell like: grass in the best way possible! an otp: she and coco are SO !! im in love with them. sasunaru dynamic but better in every way. all the panels of coco hugging or complimenting agott and agott blushing furiously are the new wonders of the world. shipping kids in media always feels a little weird but i think they're a rly cute like first crush dynamic a notp: i dont think she's been shipped with anyone else lol favorite platonic/familial relationships: agott and olruggio are rly interesting to me! i've probably just drawn lines between them because they're both grumpy but i could definitely see agott becoming for coco what olruggio is for qifrey and i love when children are friends with their adult narrative foil it's about helping the younger generation overcome the things that they couldn't! it's also about olruggio being able to connect with agott because they're both grumpy :) a headcanon that is popular in the fandom but that i disagree with: not a headcanon bc again the fandom is tiny but so much of her tag is ppl being mean to her about what she did in the second (?) volume like yeah that was mean but she's like 12! 12 year olds do fucked up stuff all the time they're still learning what interpersonal relationships are the position they sleep in: on her stomach clutching her pillow a crossover au i’d love to see them in: anything that would allow her to say swear words my favorite outfit they’ve ever worn: the like single panel where tetia is getting mad at her about not liking wearing costumes and it shows her dressed as a prince! she looks so good

djskflj i feel like i wrote a novel about each of them and tbh i do not know if u will make any sense out of it but thank u for sending this it was super fun to think about them for a while!!!

[thetypedwriter]

A Man Called Ove Book Review

A Man Called Ove Book Review by Fredrik Backman 

As every avid book reader knows, there is something people loveeeeeeee to do once they know you like reading. 

They love to recommend books to you. 

Now, sometimes this is good. Sometimes the books they recommend have genuine merit and you berate yourself for not knowing about them earlier. 

Even more rarely, someone may recommend a book to you that becomes one of your favorite reads and you celebrate the instance of reading something outside of your normal circle that you found to your immense surprise that you loved. You tell yourself to read different things more often. This is a once in a blue moon occurrence. 

99% of the time, it’s just really really annoying. 

People tend to think that just because you like reading, you must like every book ever written. 

This is so inaccurate it hurts. 

Just like with anything else, people have specific tastes and preferences within something that they like. Just because you like watching movies, that does not mean that you enjoy every movie ever made. The same goes with music. Or TV shows. Or clothes. Or food. 

People have nuanced opinions. People can like something particular within a larger subset. I do love reading, that is true. 

But what I like reading is very specific. 

In general, as you’ve seen from my other reviews, I almost exclusively read young adult fiction. There are some outliers of course, a book here or there that will pop up that doesn’t fit that category and I welcome it wholly when that happens. 

But. When I tell people that I really enjoy YA and stick almost entirely to it and then they still Insist on having me read a non-fiction biography that changed their life- 

Well. Like I said: really really annoying. 

I know I must sound ungrateful, but I do find this to happen to me quite a lot. People even give me their books even after I’ve told them that I have my own pile and that no, I don’t really read biographies or non-fiction or horror. 

They give it to me anyway. I even have a separate pile of books in my apartment for the ones people give me that I have no interest in reading. 

Sometimes I donate them to the library. Sometimes I just put it on my shelf and call it a day without having cracked it open. And sometimes I actually read them and then one of the three options listed above occurs. 

A Man Called Ove was one of these occasions. 

As my boyfriend’s favorite author and one of his favorite books and having bought me a copy I felt like I owed it to him to try it. 

Is it YA? No. Is it something I would have picked up for myself? Again, no. 

Did I enjoy it? 

Well. That’s what the rest of this review is about. 

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman is, you guessed it, about a grumpy curmudgeon called Ove. He lives in a cul-de-sac filled with pesky neighbors that just can’t seem to leave him alone in peace. 

At first, Ove is trying very hard  to accomplish something that is just out of your understanding as a reader. 

As the book progresses, you learn more about Ove, why he is the way he is, his past, his relationships and what he is trying to accomplish. 

What is this lofty goal you may ask? 

Well, to kill himself, unfortunately. 

As a reader you learn quickly that Ove is currently in the process of grieving the loss of his wife, a woman that lit up his world like the sun, someone who gave his whole life meaning and purpose. 

Their relationship is told in memories, anecdotes, and the conversations Ove has about her with others. It becomes apparent to Ove (and to the reader) that life is not worth living without her. 

So he attempts to join her once again in the afterlife only to find his attempts thwarted each time by a vexatious neighbor or someone knocking on his door or running over his mailbox. 

Instead of driving these people away, Ove is forced and commandeered into helping the others with a variety of tasks: fixing a radiator, teaching someone to drive, repairing a bike, giving rides to the hospital and so on it goes. 

Even though he yells and grumps and harrumphs, nobody seems to care. Instead they all seem to immediately be able to see his-not-so-subtle soft squishy insides instead of his prickly exterior. 

By the end of the novel, Ove has found other things to live for. He lives for the cat he never wanted, the house that needs constant repairs, the woman next door and her children that call him granddad. He lives for the teenager that needs refuge, an old friend he’s forgiven, and the little boy next door he’s watched grow up. 

So Ove lives. He lives and finds other purposes to keep on living for until he can see his beloved wife once again. 

Quite honestly, the comparison didn’t hit me until afterwards, but this book is literally an adaptation of Disney’s Up. 

Old Scrooge-like character? Check. 

A deceased beloved wife that was said main character’s whole world and reason to live? Check. 

Nettlesome neighbors that he eventually comes to love? Check.

Government officials being assholes? Check.

An adorable animal companion? Check and check.

The similarities are uncanny. As A Man Called Ove was published in 2013 and Up was released in 2009, I'm willing to give most of the credit here to Disney.

The book is by no means bad. It’s a very simple, very cute read. It’s wholesome to the core and the language is fluid and uncomplicated. 

The plot is easy to follow and while the ending was predictable, it was still warm and fuzzy. 

Nothing about this book is bad. 

Nothing about this book is particularly great either. 

The premise is undeniably basic, all of the characters are so exaggerated with their characterizations that they become archetypes of characters instead of fleshed out representations of people, many moments throughout the novel were laughably predictable, and while yes, the book does have some good lessons, it’s nothing I haven’t seen before done better somewhere else. 

*cough cough like Up cough cough* 

If you want an easy read for the holidays that will fill your heart with joy and satisfy your need for cheesy, fluffy moments then this book could very well be exactly what you’re looking for. 

Or, you know, you could save yourself time and money and just watch Up and get the same thing out of the movie that you would get from this novel. 

Recommendation: Watch Up. And then watch the other Pixar creations because damn are most of them still really good. 

Score: 5/10

[ngame989]

Starco Fic Recs

Disclaimer: This list is largely curated to my own personal preferences (minimal feelings angst, minimal AUs, character development >>> plot) and has a fairly high bar for quality in characterization, etc. There will likely be many popular/beloved fics that I really don’t think highly of at all and therefore don’t make the cut. Feel free to DM me things you think I should consider adding, but I make no promises.

And of course I’d be flattered if you gave my own works a chance - stop by my About Me section for links! Thus far I’m particularly proud of the post-canon series I just started in collaboration with an awesome team, The Greatest Gift.

(Updated 9/26 - I decided to redo the list since people might appreciate seeing it in the tags again. To anyone whose own work is featured here that I haven��t personally responded to - I’m a tough critic with a lot of strong personal preferences so PLEASE do not take my gripes as condemnations of your skills - if they make the list at all, I think they’re worth a read!)

See below for the very thorough list!

Bolded titles indicate must-read.

Italicized titles indicate work is incomplete (in the case of continuous stories).

Asterisks indicate new additions from last update (3 for brand new, 1 for status update).

I’ve VERY loosely organized the categories by personal priority order this time around, but read the descriptions and decide for yourself!

Must-Reads

Forevermore - A Starco wedding story (with a bit of Jantom as well). Simply one of the best fics I’ve read in the fandom. I have no meaningful criticism to give it, and that���s the highest praise I can possibly give something.

Monarchs of Mewni (+ Traditionally Lovingly Yours) - A series of chronologically disconnected oneshots set years after the show. The backstory is very dated given how long ago it started (Jarco was kinda serious for a few years, Tomstar v2 never happened, etc) but overall it’s lovely. Has a bit of plot, a bit of Jantom, a lot of other character interactions, and a boatload of Starco - plus a Starco kid who is a decently developed character but also doesn’t just take over and crowd out Star and Marco themselves! That alone deserves merit.

Ruined - Aftermath of a hypothetical return of Monster Arm. Angst with a happy ending (and one of the few angsty fics that gets my seal of approval), so read this extra early if that’s more your schtick than mine.

study buddies - Y’know what, fuck it, I’m putting this here. It’s a short ball of Starco fluff but it’s one of the sweetest and fluffiest fluffballs I’ve seen in a long time and it’s very emotionally immersive and y’all needa read it.

*When Two Worlds Collide - One of my favorite postcanon series thus far. I admit I’m really not big on “magic returns!” plots in postcanon (which this has), and the sections that focus on that are hit or miss for me, but overall it has some of the funnest and cutest characterization and gags I’ve seen in any SVTFOE fic, ever. Absolutely worth following (and it has a fair amount of art to go along with it!)

***Star Chef - Oneshot (two chapters, so twoshot technically?) set in the same universe as Starlight Justiciar (see below) and is just a day in the life of Star and Marco. Goes absolutely above and beyond at emotional immersion and little nuances and details to bring the world and characters to life, which elevates it to something special to me.

Light of the Sun and Stars - (Promoted to Must-Read!) One of the few heavily divergent AU fics I care for. Marco is an orphan raised by monsters, and meets Star after running away. Just finished its “first season” and I've loved the recent chapters, am very excited to see where it goes.

*Don’t You Let Me Go - Wonderfully fluffy post-Cleaved Starco, one of my favorite oneshot “epilogues”.

i want to tell you (but i don’t know how) - Post season 3 fic detailing the growth of Star and Marco’s relationship. It’s spectacular writing and shows off a lot of the true depth of Starco beyond just being cute.

Adult - NSFW warning, non-explicit (aged-up characters). It’s a story about the journey towards Star and Marco’s first step into adulthood together -  it’s not graphic and way more focused on the emotions involved, but it still is definitely more explicit than your average FFnet rated-T fic. If sexual themes ain’t your thing, I totally respect that, but this is a charming and funny piece of writing.

Lawchan’s various oneshots - There isn’t a great compilation for them right now so the best I can do is give you her tag for it and you can comb through it yourself. I like some more than others here, but they’re all very well-written - my only gripes with some of them are my own tastes in subject matter, so have fun perusing this on your own.

I Will Always Be There For You - A really pure and wholesome Starco oneshot. Very well-written.

Post-Canon Series to Follow

I figured with the show being over, and so many people starting their own series, I should include a lot of them here even if I’m personally not the biggest fan just to help gather them up so people can decide for themselves. Little bit looser on judgment here.

*Life on Earthni A to Z - Non-chronological postcanon slice of life oneshots, Starco and some Globclipsa and Jantom. Overall really good so far, one of my favorites in terms of direction.

*When Dimensions Cleave (sequel - Unforgettable Getaway) - Another postcanon series hellbent on bringing back magic queen lore, but it has some solid Starco fluff still. Credit where it’s due, the “Star constantly freaking out over what a horrible person she was” bit that I called preachy in the prior rec post gets somewhat less preachy and does end up actually going somewhere as part of character development, but I’m left scratching my head at how they all act sometimes. The good parts are certainly good, though, and in terms of quantity of lovey dovey Starco, it really can’t be beat (especially the sequel) and that’s worth something by itself. 

We’re a Miracle - Extra adorkable postcanon fluff. Lighter on the “but ACKSHUALLY MAGIC IS BACK” stuff compared to the others, but it’s there, like almost every postcanon fic in existence.

Star vs the Sands of Time - Heavy politic/lore postcanon fic, not my fav but if that’s more your thing then great. Has some casual Starco too.

Goodbye Isn’t Forever - More POV dives into Cleaved.

Fake Proposal - Some decent jokey but cute fluff

The Stars Above - Some exploration of Earthni

New World - A bit over-the-top meta, but fun fluff

The Starlight Justiciar - Four years after canon, some social change plot stuff and some decent Starco. Not the biggest fan of some of the plot stuff but check it out for yourself!

Starco vs the Forces of Evil - Another collab fic/art thing. Fair warning, I really am not personally a huge fan of a lot of the characterization and plot decisions here (see my notes on Sign of the Moon waaaay down below) but decide for yourself, don’t let my pickiness dictate your own preferences!

Ready For The Future - Technically a oneshot (with some Starco) but sets up some Mina plot, if you’re interested in more give it a follow/review.

Worlds Together - Some Starco and exploration of Earthni.

Epilogue -  Some Starco and exploration of Earthni.

***A Dark Horse - Has a few really nice lovey dovey Starco bits but also lots of superdrama with politics stuff. There’s a lot of fics here that I honestly just windowshop the scene I like for a quick fix of dopamine every now and then and skim at most otherwise, and this is one.

Revolution - end of canon AU where Moon is as anti-monster as Mina, dark as fuck. Only putting it here cuz some of y’all angstlords might like it.

Shorter Works/Oneshot Collections

I’ll Carry Your World - Big ole’ ball of wonderful Starco fluff with an important moment between them (written before end of show so a bit divergent).

***LoveIsTheStrongestKindOfMagic - Very short and basic fluff.

Starco Week 5 (Hugs Included) - Some of it is postcanon Earthni oneshots and others are from the Light of the Sun and Stars AU (see above). Great author, fun as hell writing style.

Fragile - Star worries about keeping her boyfriend Marco safe.

Complete - An older Star reflects on her past and present. Short and sweet.

Knighthood - Simple fluff piece on if Star and Marco got together after Storm the Castle.

Too Hot to Move - Star and Marco try to survive a heat wave on Earthni. Also funny fluff.

Marco Make-out Mayhem - Star really likes kissing Marco. Funny fluff.

Cleaved Together - NSFW warning, non-explicit (aged up) - Star and Marco’s first time. Very very overly focused on the whole purity/sacredness of first time thing, but still pretty cute.

Like Us - Really nice, sweet casual reflection on her life with Marco from a future Star’s POV.Toothpaste Kisses - Short fluff about its title.

A Friend’s Memento - Starco fluff with some reflection on the results of destroying magic

Plum Pie - Some goofy antics and hurt/comfort.

Not Losing You - A little dive into Marco’s POV at the end of Cleaved. Also adds a kiss.

We Belong Together - More speculative slightly angsty comfort/fluff.

Enough - A nice study of the emotions and thoughts during the last scenes of Cleaved, adds some depth to it.

Heartless - A bit of angst over magic going away with some sweet Starco comfort.

Together - Post-Cleaved Starco megafluff.

My Prince - Starco fluff set in a world where they were together before Cornonation.

Dancing with a Star - Starco fluff from alt S4.

Love in the Time of Pancakes - Written hours after my last update of the list, another little ditty based on the pancake promo.

Pancakes - Fluffy S4-promo-based little oneshot.

Hers - Hurt/comfort/confession-y fic, has some really nice moments and shows off a lot of how much they care about each other. Nice to see after such a drought.

Someone to Stay - Another hurt/comfort fic, nice and simple.

A Viola, a Violin, and a Butterfly’s Sword - some nonlinear oneshots about Starco. Some kinda weird directions gone in with the “plot” but it’s pretty good overall.

Falling - One of many, many fics from throughout the fandom’s history about Star and Marco getting together. Short and sweet.

forget about white horses & once upon a time - Drabble collection of various moments scattered throughout Star and Marco’s lives. Cute fluff.

The One Where I Thought I Lost You - Post-BFM fic where Marco realizes his feelings for Star earlier. Very wholesome.

christmases when you were mine - Established relationship fluff.

lightning in your veins, thunder in your heart - Post-season 3 established relationship fluff (slightly divergent, written before 3B).

once upon a december - Established relationship fluff.

Flags - Alternate rendition of the episode “Flags” with Starco.

Spells and Hot Chocolate - Wintry fluff.

5 Ways to Say ���I Love You’ - Post BFM with some events in Star and Marco’s lives.

You’re My Wish Come True - This is just indulgent Starco trash. I won’t even argue for the characterization/writing quality, this is just a straight-up guilty pleasure.

Wands and Nachos - ^

The Princess and the Safe Kid - ^

A Day in the Life of Starco - ^

A very Starco Xmas - ^

Could It Be -^

All the times Star wore Marco’s hoodie - ^

Protect Me, Squire - ^

Crushed - Star and Marco both get turned down by their respective crushes and find comfort in each other.

Stay - Cuddly fluff. There’s another Stay out there which I frankly can’t stand with will-they-won’t-they melodrama out the wazoo, so don’t get confused.

Longer Series

*The Inescapable Us - Really tropey miscommunication will-they-won’t-they type of thing. Not my fav, especially now that the show is over and finished that leg of Star and Marco’s story once and for all (I’m personally WAY less interested in things that redo something canon already did). However, where it’s at now has some really good Starco moments. Fully admitted that I hella skimmed most of it until the parts I enjoyed, but And if you’re more fine with that type of thing then you’ll probably really like it, it’s well-written otherwise.

Together We Fall - Throwback S2 AU fic where Star and Marco go to the dance together instead and Toffee makes moves earlier. Gets kinda dark but has a lot of nice Starco along the way.

Safer, Sorrier - A recent rewrite of an older fic, Better Safe Than Sorry, where Star has to leave early to become queen and Marco is alone for a few months before they reunite. A very dated premise (post season 1 ish) but quite good.

Sugar and Spice - NSFW warning, non-explicit (NOT aged-up characters). In this fic, Star and Marco have gotten together after BFM, and a spell gone wrong leads to Mewberty relapses with obvious consequences. This fic has adorable Starco moments, but what I love this for above all is the other character interactions (especially Glossaryck and Star’s parents). This is probably a controversial add-on to the list, but I stick by my decision - if the subject matter isn’t your thing, then by all means avoid it.

Beyond Dimensions - Plotfic + established Starco where some ancient sorceress has to trap Star to escape and try to take over Mewni. Maybe y'all are more into plot stuff than me but the Starco that’s there is quite good regardless.

Starfall - NSFW warning, explicit (aged-up characters). Probably the most popular one to make the cut. Star and Marco are forced apart and have to find their way back together. Very old fic, lot of dated stuff here, and the narration and plot itself can get kinda questionable sometimes, but it has a lot of good Starco and some interesting plot elements that make it, in my opinion, worth a read despite a lot of flaws. A few epilogue chapters contain rather explicit sexual content, so be wary of that (and the epilogue itself after Ep 6 kinda transitions into a nextgenverse, so maybe just skip that entirely).

The Star Butterfly Effect - The sole fic on the list that is purely plot-based, with very little actual Starco development whatsoever. I can’t even really explain it, just give it a shot and see what you think; I was rather engrossed by the plot, and that’s rare for me.

The Princess and her Knight, Return of the Empire The former fic in this series is way more character-based, while the latter is very heavy plot stuff. Pretty decent character writing with some fluff. There’s a third that I honestly can’t recommend because I completely dropped it because it was just a nonstop war story.

Experimental - REALLY heavy, dark AU where Star and Marco are tortured and corrupted. It’s pretty decent.

Blood Moon Blitz - Alt BFM fic of Marco going to fight Toffee with Star. unfortunately dropped without completing, but what’s there is pretty solid.

Read at Your Own Risk…

The Sign of the Moon, The Dance of the Stars - Starts post-3A, involves the growth of Star and Marco’s relationship as they take on foes in and out of the castle and learn more about the Blood Moon. This series is rather… melodramatic, and there were some chapters and character interactions I flat out did not enjoy reading. But some people aren’t as strict on character interpretations as I am and would love such a long plot-based Starco fic, so overall I still will at least list it and let you decide for yourself. There might be a third entry in this series now, but I dropped it before then.

Photos - I hesitate to include this one here because the “Tom is a perfect angel who must sacrifice his love for Star” thing pisses me off. But just skip all that (and ignore the random “a part of me will always love Tom” line) and it’s a really nice post-s3 confession fic.

[argentarchivist]

Let’s go with 1, 5, and 9 for the fanfic asks!

Hello! :D Oh boy, these questions are fun, well let's see if this can help me find my people 😂 (also, sorry for the lengthy replies lmao)

1: are there any fics that you wanted to leave multiple kudos for, and were disappointed when you could only leave one?

Oh man, all the time! I'm one of those awful people that doesn't like to read in-progress fics unless the author has updated recently and/or someone recommends it to me (I'm always open for fic recs!), But when I do and the fic REALLY grabs me, I always wanna leave a kudos every chapter! I think it's important to let authors know that you're continuing to read and enjoy their WIP fic, and the fact that you can't leave chapter-specific kudos kinda sucks! Also when I go back to a fic to reread it, I always wanna leave a second kudos but I can't :( (If we're talking specific SSSS fics tho, I ADORE A Couple Weeks Later and One Time, they're probably my favorite characterizations I've seen so far for Emil and Lalli!)

5: what category of fics do you read the most? (angst, fluff, etc)

I gotta be completely honest. It's smut. I hang out in the smut tags so much more frequently than anywhere else, I won't hide it lol I do love fluff and a smidge of angst, and long drawn out fics with good plot and some character development, but if you add some smut scenes in with that, THAT'S THE GOOD SHIT 😩💖💖 That being said, pls expect some smut fics from me if I can ever get around to finishing them lol (When is kinktober getting here, ugh)

9: what are your favourite ships to read fics for?

If we're talking SSSS, then obvs Emilalli lol They're absolutely precious together and I adore them, even if I have to stick to fluff lol Beyond that, I'm not usually much of a multishipper, but I can totally get behind just about any combination of ships in this fandom, they're just all such good characters! There's some really good casual Emil/Sigrun smut and??? That's some good content holy shit?????

Beyond SSSS, I just kinda sorta left the BNHA fandom, where I specifically hung out in the Erasermic tag cause we Stan that Sun/Moon ship dynamic 😌🙏 I still enjoy reading it though! I have fic author friends there that I'll still read their fics when they post, I can definitely post some links if y'all are interested!

[simkjrs]

For the writer ask thing - pulitzer and characterization?

PULITZER: tell about/link a piece where you felt your writing was the best.

if it takes all night or a thousand years (explicit) because i really liked the writing the narrative voice in this one. i.e. 

Jonghyuk has dreamed of this for -- for how long? Only months, a drop in the ocean compared to the things he’s seen and the lives he’s lived. But has he ever dreamed so intensely, longing so deeply that every brush of Kim Dokja’s skin on his would light his nerves on fire; so deeply it ached down to his bones, that if he could, he would give just about anything to have a single night of love, to have the privilege of lying next to him and entwine their fingers together and know he is by his side?

It’s so close to him now, he could reach out and touch that vision, he could see it -- and the words are waiting, unbidden, on his tongue. I love you, Kim Dokja, he wants to say, and it burns in his mouth, it aches in his chest like a grief he has not allowed himself in three lives. I love you. I want to care for you. Gods above, he thought he could be satisfied if he could know what it was like, just once, to hold Kim Dokja in his arms, but he knows now it’s not enough. It’ll never be enough until he can say this to him: I love you. I am yours for ever and ever, until the sun burns out and the moon meets the sea. I am yours in every life, in any way you will have me.

A strange expression crosses Kim Dokja’s face, and Jonghyuk meets his gaze, because he wants Kim Dokja to think about it. To realize it. He wants Kim Dokja to stop thinking about his plans, about the future, just stop thinking, stop making all these plans that end up with him bearing all the consequences, and just focus on the here and now. Kim Dokja, won't you let yourself enjoy things for once? Won't you let yourself be loved? It tears at Jonghyuk, how he seems so incapable of understanding or receiving love, blind to the possibility that he is loved and valued by others for reasons other than his future sight. Can’t he see what it does to everyone, to pour so much love into him only for him to not recognize it for what it is?

i pretty much went feral over the narration on this one and then i made all my friends read it so they would be feral about it too. then i posted it and then i made a post about it on the same day because i forgot id posted it that day and not when i first started making my friends read it

i’m also very fond of some of the spooky descriptions in know what i’ve made by the marks on my hands, especially in chapter 4 and 5!

CHARACTERIZATION: describe your favorite character(s) you’ve written.

my favorite characters i’ve written is probably directly tied to how much i enjoy their narrative voice so, i’m going to have to go with msa izuku and yoo jonghyuk on this one for the reasons named above. 

generally speaking my favorite povs to write tend to be “a genuinely nice but pretty repressed protagonist-type” or “overpowered, possibly manic, morally neutral at best individual who is having an existential depression” or a combination of the two. it’s just juicy being able to describe their emotions during high-tension moments and getting to delve into their thoughts and character arcs

[ghostfiish]

media consumption update

today i watched the truman show  since i’d never seen it. its refreshing to see jim carrey in a relatively chill role compared to his other wacky shenanigans. 

yesterday i watched re:mind on netflix which is an interesting little japanese horror/thriller series that i enjoyed. kyoko is my favorite character. 

the other day i finally caught up through season 2 of the good place which continues to have some of the most fantastic writing and characters ive ever seen in any tv show ever

ive been playing pokemon lets go eevee and its darling im having a great time with that. check out my recent twitter post (username same as here) for some highlights up through me beating the elite four/champion with little more than a perfect IV starmie. i ended up with it while trying and failing to find a shiny staryu which i might go back to get after i finish the pokedex

i watched bohemian rhapsody with some friends on saturday and almost cried like 8 different times (i very rarely cry at movies and when i do its usually by myself) anyway it is a fantastic movie please go see it multiple times like i plan on doing

lost song (bad netflix anime, which is a genre i enjoy watching from time to time) looks really generic, has this awful color palette with bad pillowshading and overexposure, and the blandest characterization/designs ever. but the concept (song-based magic) is neat and theres a character that drums on herself/nearby objects when she’s excited and i like her a lot and wish deeply that she could have been in an anime with more competence.

last hope (a much worse bad anime on netflix) has no redeeming qualities other than an interesting premise (technology integrating with nature) which they somehow managed to make extremely boring to both look at and think about. this is something that project a.i.c.o. ALSO did but at least it was the kind of bad anime i enjoy watching at least enough to get through a couple of episodes let alone the first 12 minutes, which was about when i stopped watching last hope

side note did anime just stop being even remotely good altogether or what happened here

ive been rereading pokemon special which is adorable and yellow is still my favorite. im up to the part where everyone is flipping their shits about suicune but i think the last time i read it i got to the beginning of the diamond/pearl/platinum arc so i have a way to go. especially if i wanna catch back up, because the story has gotten to sun/moon since then

ive also been rereading homestuck, for the first time all the way through since the dang thing finished and now im kinda hankering for some of the old fanfics i read back when the webcomic was still updating. i wonder if i can find them again...

in the move back to my parents place i got out my old ds and tried playing pokemon black (the only gen ive never actually played) but the ds wont read my game cartridge and my 3ds seems kinda nonfunctional as well for that matter. so i might end up getting myself a 2ds at some point. orrrrrrrrr an emulator for now, at least to play black lol

[tagfer]

you should analyze it! i'm curious

urff okay so. I’ll do it. Here’s some overanalysis on how Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon’s story caused almost all of its major characters to become nothing but jokes compared to their original Sun and Moon characterizations.

With full disclaimers, I actually enjoyed playing Ultra Sun. As far as enjoyment goes, it was probably more fun than Sun and Moon. Story? So much worse.

[Massive USUM spoilers! Of all sorts!]

Also a secondary note: I may have missed a thing or two, so if I have incorrect info, please let me know.

Looker & Anabel (and in a way, Nanu) get their postgame removed. Altogether. None of it happens. Looker shows up early to foreshadow Episode RR, but that’s it. Then postgame, there’s a like, ten line cutscene where Anabel introduces herself as a member of interpol and says she’s going to the Battle Tree, and Looker remarks that she’s not that strong. Yeah, let’s put the dude without any pokemon on guard duty for his boss who also used to run a huge battle facility in another universe.

Compare and contrast to SuMo, where the three of them got an entire story. A very horrifying story, but well written, where it’s explained the consequences of falling through a wormhole turns you into a magnet for extraterrestrial beings who will likely kill you, but not out of malice, and that despite her higher rank than Nanu or Looker, that she’s only being used as bait for those creatures. And it explains Looker and Nanu’s past, showing that Looker was a member of interpol years before the quirky guy we meet in Platinum. And that they had a friend/colleague actually die in front of them, and how they both hold immense guilt for that. Oh and that Anabel is likely from a different universe.

But these characters didn’t have destroyed characterization as much as they don’t get any whatsoever because Looker and Anabel get a mass of maybe 20 lines total, only one of which has anything to do with Episode RR.

I included these first because I’ve previously written plenty about Anabel and Looker, and I absolutely loved their plot, so seeing it absolutely absent is the biggest disappointment of USUM for me.

Lillie loses so much that it’s sad. Let’s be honest, Sun and Moon’s plot is really the story of Lillie. How she can grow from a timid girl afraid of the world to realizing that she has her own strength and can determine her own future.

When you first meet her, she’s afraid of birds. By time the climax happens, she’s traveled to another universe to deliver a Why You Suck speech to her abusive mother (and gets one of the best intense musical numbers in the game!). Early in the game, she idolizes your strength, but over the course of it learns she has her own strength and that just because she isn’t the strongest out there doesn’t mean she can’t overcome her own trials and obstacles. She even has some of the best symbolism in the Pokemon games, ever; discarding her old clothes that signify her mother’s control over her and using ones she picked, saying that she’s now going to take control of her life. And she does.

By the end, it’s emotionally impacting when she takes charge to leave Alola on her own journey.

In USUM, the story has shifted. She’s no longer the main character, you are. Which is classic for a Pokemon game, but compared to the games released a year ago it makes everything hollow. It goes from a story where you’re helping your friend who has family issues that spiral deeply out of control to you being the Chosen One who has to defeat Evil Teams and Lillie is just kind of a companion much like previous “friends”.

Her character arc and foreshadowing plays out perfectly in SuMo where as in USUM it falls flat. In Sun and Moon, the entire reason you visit the Ultra Deep Sea is to finish Lillie’s character arc. During their first confrontation, Lillie (symbolically wearing her first outfit) was not strong enough / did not believe in herself enough to confront Lusamine for everything, but she decides that that’s what she needs to do, and that’s what forces her development and drives the plot. In USUM, she never gets to confront her mother at all. And the plot is driven forward partly by Lillie/Gladion’s want to save Lusamine, but mostly because the Ultra Recon Squad needs more help defeating Necrozma.

This makes all her personal growth so much more shallow. Her motivation is to help you instead of you helping her.

Her becoming a Pokemon trainer in Episode RR isn’t foreshadowed at all either (as far as I know) and rather just comes a surprise when you’re forced into a double battle.

Gladion and Type: Null lose a bunch too. In Sun and Moon, he’s a soft kid who tries to hide his gentleness under a facade of badass edgelord. His escape from Aether Paradise, while obviously inspired by his mistreatment, included saving a Type: Null, because he knew it was in pain. He slowly grows and learns the power of friendship. He even names his Type: Full friend.

After the game, he takes over Aether Paradise in order to make sure everything goes right. Which could be seen as unsatisfying but it’s clear he has grown to the point to accept responsibility.

It looks like it was going to be this way in USUM, but it turns out he just gets a Silver complex. He just wants to be the strongest there is. He implies he kidnapped Type: Null not because he wanted to save it, but because he wanted to train it as the Beast Killer it was meant to be, to the point he even points out its concept as a Beast Killer and attempts to follow Lusamine into Ultra Megalopolis.

Even his leaving Alola is just merely a lust for power instead of Lillie’s search for independence. Wicke even comments that Gladion wants to beat trainers like you and Hau. And he does come back for championship title defense matches (a month after you complete the story). That’s it. He didn’t go on a journey, he went on a training mission. His personal growth has really been traded for a Silver complex, of hollow growth but unending lust of power.

Lusamine is a disaster and arguably gets a worse redemption than she did in Sun and Moon despite having a full redemption in USUM.

SuMo Lusamine is by far one of my favorite villains - both in Pokemon and in general. This is cause despite the fact it clearly isn’t, she totally believed what she did was completely justified. She didn’t see herself as a villain at all. And that’s what makes a good villain. She wasn’t just “oh I’m evil, I want to control the world/etc.” Which Pokemon has a lot of.

Her obsession with beauty (and mistreatment of Lillie and Gladion) was the culmination of years of sanity slippage caused by Nihilego and the loss of Mohn. She even more or less forgets the reason she was looking into Nihilego and instead focuses on Nihilego’s beauty. So while it doesn’t justify what she did, we’re at very least given an explanation as to why she is the person she is.

…

In USUM, so much of this changed it’s… unbelievable. Other than the appearance of Nihilego at Aether Paradise, Nihilego plays no role as far as we know. She suffers little sanity slippage other than delusions of grandeur of helping/defeating Necrozma on her own. She also hopes on seeing Mohn.

She’s still obsessed with beauty. She still treats her kids as ornaments. She still uses Guzma. She still experiments on living creatures, freezes living creatures, and creates chimeras. (And Type: Null gets a special note here because her focus was now Necrozma and not Ultra Beasts - but she was still okay with creating a Beast Killer.)

She also gets no real redemption. Despite all that she did, she suffers no consequence. Lillie never gets to really call her out. Nor does Gladion. She seems to repair her relationship with her children near immediately. Nobody comments that she’s got a giant office full of cryogenicly frozen pokemon, and how she openly announces that her goal was to save Alola from Necrozma to keep that collection. She doesn’t get anything. In fact, you, her, Lillie, and Guzma share a laugh at Faba’s expense right in front of one of her pods, with others also plainly visible.

Post Episode RR, talking to her reveals that you made her rethink her views on beauty. Or something. Honestly, it sounds like the kind of lie you’d feed a kid, but it’s more likely bad and forced character development.

In Sun and Moon, she even remarks to Lillie, who had just stood up to her and then saved her despite Lusamine lunging to kill her, “When did you start becoming beautiful?” Which is a perfect line for her character and Lillie, acknowledging Lillie has grown (and completing Lillie’s arc and foreshadowing). Afterwards, Lillie’s speech to you implies she’s got a chance of redemption - while she doesn’t understand what she did wrong, Lillie is attempting to explain to her, and even though you were a constant disruption to her problems she attempted to visit your championship party. With her trip to Bill to hopefully help her problem of (most likely long-term) neurotoxin poisoning and Lillie’s patience, she could eventually come around and realize what she did was wrong and try to make amends for what she’s done.

Instead, in USUM, she seems to be instantly forgiven for everything. Lusamine deserved better than that.

I will always understand why people hate her. I get it. And trust me, I have strong feelings about what she did too. But she’s still my favorite villain and I will be personally suing Game Freak for what they did to her.

Hau gets a BW Cheren complex where one or two lines of dialog from a character make him rethink everything an in the process lose the major part of his personality that made him noteworthy. Cheren lost his goals, and Hau lost his carefreeness. He’s still a sweet kid and everything, and I’m proud that he actually achieved some more goals in USUM than in SuMo, but his (and Hala’s) changes seem so forced, like they were shoehorned in.

At least for Cheren, he got a game two years later showing how he had developed. We’re probably not gonna get that for Hau.

Guzma is one of the only ones that get a bump. But that’s only because his involvement in the story was hardly affected - he was still Lusamine’s faithful servant, even though she had massively changed.

But because change in the story was minimized for him, his inclusion in Episode RR actually helped his character. And afterwards, he says he’s still looking after his crew. So while the growth was minimal, it was there.

Colress is the only other one I can think of who got better, too, but that’s only because he only had like seven lines in Sun and Moon. This time, it’s shown that… well, he hasn’t changed at all, still being but a selfish, hedonistic scientist who will double cross anyone who asks for his help.

And this is more than proven true when he confronts Ghetsis. Although he didn’t try to hide it in B2W2, he full on says he hates Ghetsis. He was only using him for funding and science.

This is not a real shock.

Like I love Colress’ passion but y’know. Everyone who’s asked for his help got it but also got double-crossed. Oh, and now his technology is reaching scary advanced levels.

[MASSIVE SPOILERS BELOW.]

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Mohn. If you were hoping for a happy ending for the Aether family, I’m here to tell you you’ll be sorely, viscerally unsatisfied. While in SuMo he got nothing, somehow, they made it worse for USUM.

Because they finally meet him.

And they choose to let him live his life not knowing he has a wife, children, and friends who have all been looking for him for like, a decade.

Despite the plots of both SuMo and USUM being set into action by his disappearance, he gets no resolution. 

He fucking comments on how nice Aether Paradise is! And they decide to not be like “oh hey yeah you kinda were a major part of it.”

[lunarmoonflowyr]

Moon’s Top Five Games of 2017

I like video games and I like rambling about my thoughts, so why not ramble about my thoughts on my favorite five games that I played this year? 

Number Five: Oxygen Not Included

This game is really, really fucking cool. It’s like if you took Don’t Starve, Rimworld, Minecraft, and they incubated a baby inside The Sims, with Dwarf Fortress as its great-grandpa. You control a colony of Duplicants (also known as “Dupes”, “Dudes”, “Stuplicants”, or “tiny little fuckasses with no survival instinct to speak of”) who wake up underground presumably on an asteroid somewhere in space, and you have to provide for them.

You build them a base and you have to set up food production, plumbing, power, even oxygen generation. As the title states, not even the oxygen is included.

Your Dupes will get sick, they will suffocate, they will starve, they will trap themselves in a chamber of carbon dioxide and you won’t even realize it until it’s too late.

One way or another, you’re gonna restart over and over and over again until you finally get that one run of good luck with all the right resources and you build your base just right, and you feel so confident that you’re on the road to infinite self-sustenance….and then one of your Dupes will construct a block right where another Dupes head happens to be, causing them to suffocate to death.

Oh well.

Number Four: The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+

Is this one cheating? I feel like this one is cheating. It’s a DLC for a game that came out in 2014, which was basically a redo/remaster of a game that came out way back in 2011.

But I have almost 400 hours clocked into this stupid thing and that’s just the online hours that Steam recorded, so dammit I’m taking the excuse to talk about it.

I love The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. It’s one of my favorite time sinks of a video game, and it’s one of my go-to premier examples of the Roguelike genre. It’s skillful, it’s varied, the gameplay is solid and the creativity in design is staggering.

It’s also got some solid humor (even if some of it is really gross when you think about it.) and some really, really hilarious interactions between items. It won’t happen often, but every once in a while you’ll stumble upon a combination that will just straight up break the game and make you completely overpowered.

Or you’ll just literally break the game and cause it to crash.

Afterbirth+ added official modding capabilities, a new final floor with a pretty tough big boss, several new items, bosses, and an entirely new character. And with the dev team continuously adding official “booster packs” of content, The Binding of Isaac continues to be my favorite roguelike that just keeps on giving me new reasons to sit down and spend an hour shooting tears at poop.

Number Three: Pokemon Ultra Moon

I love the Pokemon franchise as anyone who knows me is aware of, and the seventh generation of Pokemon is one of my favorites.

While I doubt any core Pokemon game will ever eclipse Pokemon Platinum, the game which I hold as the highest point of Pokemon overall, Pokemon Sun and Moon came far, FAR closer than its predecessor generation of X and Y.

Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon aren’t quite remakes, not quite sequels, they’re just...there, as alternate versions of Sun and Moon. But I think they exceed Sun and Moon in terms of quality, even if they’re overall just the same games with the nipples tweaked a bit.

The surprisingly large amount of random new features and quality-of-life changes, to say nothing of the major story differences, in USUM make them not only worth the price of admission, in my opinion, but I’d even recommend playing them instead of Sun and Moon if you haven’t played those already.

Number Two: Dead Cells

“Gosh Alice, you sure do like Roguelikes!” you might be saying as you notice a third roguelike in my top five.

And yes! Yes I do enjoy Roguelikes, but you know what I love more than Roguelikes? Dark Souls. So what do you get when you mix Soulsborne-esque combat and roguelike elements? A damn good game, that’s what.

Dead Cells pits you against some seriously bullshit odds a lot of the time, because no matter how many points I sink into health I swear to god the late-game enemies always two or three-shot me, but you also have so many opportunities to unlock a bonkers-busted combo with the sheer amount of equipment variety and synergies present in the game.

The combat is tight most of the time, although if you aren’t relying on grenades to clear your way through you’ll find the controls a bit sticky when juggling more than two enemies at once, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done a ground-pound into spikes that were off screen at the time, but it is immensely satisfying to get a feeling of flow going as you decimate enemy after enemy leaving a trail of pixelated gore in your wake.

But of course this is a Souls-inspired game we’re talking about, and that means that for every adrenaline-pumping triumph there are several dozen cruel punches to the dick that send you right back to Square One.

Still a fun game though.

Number One: Hollow Knight

And speaking of Dark Souls inspirations, my number one game of 2017 is Hollow Knight.

I have a huge pet peeve in gaming, and that pet peeve is people saying “Oh, X is just like Dark Souls!”. Because 9 out of 10 times, they’re using the wrong metric to measure a game against Dark Souls.

Most of the time, people use Dark Souls as a metric for game difficulty, which is completely ridiculous and leads to comparisons that make absolutely no sense except for a few very broad strokes. Like, I’ve seen people comparing Dark Souls to Cuphead for christs sake. Cuphead. Not every difficult game is “just like Dark Souls” just because it expects you to have two brain cells to rub together!

So with that in mind, when I tell you that Hollow Knight is extremely reminiscent of Dark Souls, I’m using that comparison properly.

Hollow Knight is depressing, dark, filled with grimy visuals and aesthetics and is about as open with its story as a safe in Fort Knox.

Hollow Knight is part of the genre of game coined as “Metroidvania”, characterized by lots of open-ended exploration and combat propelled by varying movement abilities that you unlock over time to progressively and organically open up more and more of the game world. And, in my personal opinion, Hollow Knight is the greatest Metroidvania game of all time.

Does it do anything new or unique or innovative with the gameplay? Does it have a unique selling point to make it stand out from the sea of other Metroidvania games populating the Steam library lately?

No. Not really. And that’s where its strength truly lies.

Team Cherry forgos innovation for innovation's sake and instead takes the tried-and-true elements of the Metroidvania genre and polishes them to a mirror sheen. The combat is slick and controls well, even with the lack of any sort of dodge or block mechanic. The movement feels finely tuned and the platforming puzzles are challenging without feeling too punishing or unfair. And the exploration is just as twisty, winding, and backtracky as you’d expect, but it never gets boring or uninteresting. This is very much helped by the soundtrack, which is one of my favorites of all time, ranking up there with Bastion and Halo in terms of quality and memorability.

It’s hard to get bored walking through the introductory areas over and over again when the visuals are so stunning and the music attributed with them is so masterful and absorbing, as well as the fact that moving around gets pretty fun once you’ve unlocked a larger number of movement abilities.

By focusing on polishing what has already been proven, Hollow Knight is free to doll itself up in other areas, namely the setting. The absolutely gorgeous hand-drawn art style suits the world of Hollow Knight quite well as you explore the ruined and dilapidated bug kingdom of Hallownest, slaying its infected habitants and trying to piece together the story of this once-bustling city.

The setting and aesthetic of Hollow Knight is what truly sets it apart from the other games of this year, as it marries perfectly polished Metroidvania combat and exploration with an aesthetic that manages to be both dirty and depressing but also serene and calming at the same time.

Hollow Knight is easily my Game of the Year for 2017 and has firmly placed itself in my personal Hall of Fame as one of my favorite games of all time, sitting comfortably alongside Pokemon Platinum, The World Ends With You, Borderlands 2, and Life is Strange.

[theragingthespian]

fic recs

alrighty, i know i was only asked about supercorp fics but this quickly turned into my end all be all list of recs. this got long and i’m not even sorry. disclaimer that i am Soft and don’t like Angst or smut

kicking it off with my fave writers, go ahead and read all their stuff, it’s the best

@nationalcitykara : yall wanna talk about some first loves, try being 15 and thinking i want to write like that after reading all of aren’s fics. i’m still trying while they keep putting out the softest and loveliest fics. always a good time for the danvers sisers (made memories we knew would never fade this one is probably my fave) or superlane (the key to all heaven is mine won’t disappoint)

@forlornlyoptimistic : i legit went through their whole tag of fics the other day and i’m still reeling. favorite is my favorite ha. oh gosh and fall oh and- you know what, do your self a favor and go read all of them. always a wonderful, loving combination of supercorp and superfamily. that alex and lena brotp tho, i live

@proudlyunicorn​ : you always gotta place a hand over your chest after reading their fics and ask your heart if it’s doing alright, because gosh, that’s some tender writing. i live and breathe by all these supercorp oneshots. okay, i’m trying to pick my faves here, this is hard. We’ll Always Be Chasing the Sun and the feel of you

@lynnearlington​ : did yall know there’s another update for my youth is yours and i haven’t read it yet. the word count and frequency is amazing and then you put it on top of the best characterization i’ve ever seen? what’s a better word for amazing? i dunno, bet they do. and it’s all so very real. love some soft supercorp fics, but they depict everything: the fights, the tough conversations, all of it. I Just Want to Love You in My Own Language love, love it.

@wtfoctagon​ : is the champ at some chaptered fics. created the series (be)longing and the state of being lost which really, really fleshes out several characters. Supergirl in Training is probably the only fic that has got me to like a character i’ve never encountered so rapidly. catch me crying over lori danvers yall

@tomas-abe ​: how many days has it been since i’ve reread heard them singing for peace (in my confusion I still believe) because i’m not over it. what is a kryptonian without light? lost. you know what, my heart’s lost too. been mia, doa gone. really delving into kara’s character. that’s their only fic rn, but great stuff is coming i’m sure and catch me crying and cheering from the sidelines. EDIT: see i knew it. now they’re writing my favorite chaptered work to the star walker amongst us, we send our love (thank you for your service)

@banrions​ : is out there doing the lords work. giving us not one but two season two fics. there’s supercorp and danvers sisters and superfamily and oh gosh, i love it. just so wonderful. that’s how the light gets in and listen closely and the stars will sing

@unicyclehippo​ : just had a convo with a pal trying to describe this writing style and they said organic. and that’s totally it. writing is so, so present and you can see it. heroism is a full time job (supercorp) and possibly one of my favorite superlane fics here

so i know i said no angst but breaking that rule for one sec, because @onefootone​‘s Glitter in the Dark series is so fantastically written. oh gosh, first time i read it, i had to lean back and just wow. sanvers, danvers sisters, just a bunch of superfamily feels that hurt in the best way

@red-streaks you are my sun, my moon, and all my stars gives you all the danvers sisters feels you ever need. set mostly before the series. it’s so wonderful yall… they also wrote some siobhan and kara fics that are great, ngl. 

@karalovesallthegirls i’ve just seen a face (i can’t forget the time or place where we just met) is my favorite drunk!kara fic. i laugh. every single. time. it’s cute and funny and oh gosh, give it a read 

sam_sammo’s wrap a tape measure around her sorry little Kryptonian heart while you’re at it is very, very cute supercorp oneshot. love it

@c--and--b we are what we pretend to be is awesome, just so awesome. i read it a lot. nice long, supercorp one shot

zefrumiousbandersnatch’s somewhere i have never travelled is lovely. i’m trying to describe it, there’s just something in the fic that makes you quiet and you have to pay attention to every detail. i love it. on point characterization with lena and kara and you’re just smiling at their love. and i’m now seeing that they have a new fic catch me tabbing that for later.

@ifyouresure ’s and I’m waiting for the sun is just wow. it’s deep yall and still gives me feels everytime i read it. character study galore. it’s fantastic

acoolusername’s One And The Same is super cute. another great, long supercorp one shot

sorry this is so long but not really, because there’s so many great writers and i just?? love