#it's not perfect but it definitely captures what's canon to my amy and how she's changed over the years

[jubilantrose-blog]

in-depth timeline ;

(  TIMELINE FROM PREGAMES TO HER CURRENT CANON / AGE 18 )

while my previous post was more of an outline? this is a fully in-depth look into her timelines. this can and might change with any new information canon gives or if things come up in roleplays  ( i will not be going into full depth of the plots of these games -- just the basic jist of them. also some games will not include a summary as i don’t feel there’s a need for one. ALSO I WON’T INCLUDE GAMES AMY ISN’T A PART OF. those games happened, of course, but i’m just doing amy’s game timeline. );

PRE-GAMES ;

( entirely headcanon based ! ) 

Amy was originally an orphan / street hog. Her original parents weren’t prepared to raise a child and left her in the hands of what they hoped was a ‘suitable’ location. Though the people she was left with weren’t ideal and Amy ran away at a very young age. Surviving on the street for a good while by herself. She became known by people for being a ‘rascal’. And, given she didn’t talk much so people couldn’t know her name, her nickname became ‘Rosie’ which is where the moniker ‘Rosie the Rascal’ comes from.

Luckily, by age 6, she was taken in by a family of travelling fortune tellers. They taught her all about tarot cards and always believed she had a true gift or ability in the art of it. She considered them the closest thing to a family she ever had. And they helped her realize there are good people in the world. They saw the good in her, a mere street hog that often swiped and stole food and acted brash, and made her realize the world isn’t as cruel and lonely as she had thought.

During their travels and home life Amy was able to see the good they brought others. Learning about true love, seeing the best in people, and that ‘even those who are bad might have some good in them somewhere’. She decided to keep her name as Amy and adopt the ‘Rose’ to the end of it. No longer going by ‘Rosie’ anymore.

With Amy as part of their family? The travelling stopped. Them wanting to give her a normal life in a town compared to dragging her place to place.

By the age of 7, Amy had learned a lot about a certain blue hedgehog. Admiring him via newspapers, stories, and tales told by others on their journeys. Hearing about Sonic passing through towns and forest to stop the ‘bad guys’. Her crush and admiration is what inspired her to announce to her family ( after doing a tarot card reading ) that she’d meet him. Her family was supportive but grew concerned about letting her be so young and heading out there. Nevertheless this willful ( and stubborn ) little lady was gone in a flash.

AGE 8 - 11 ;

SONIC CD / MANIA ( the shorts / comic series ) ;

Amy truly had no idea what she was getting into. She was starstruck meeting her idol, her crush, and she went in without thinking. Only to soon be caught by Metal Sonic. Being kidnapped when meeting her idol was terrifying to her. Sure, her life beforehand wasn’t ideal. She got chased back on the streets, dealt with some angry individuals who she stole food from before meeting her family, but nothing like this. Nothing deadly or that serious.

Luckily, she was rescued.

And that made her crush on him grow even more.

Wanting to keep up with him, plus possibly defend herself from being kidnapped, she begins working hard using her piko-piko hammer. Continuing to chase after Sonic and join him along the way. Allowing herself to meet Tails and Knuckles in the process as they all go after Eggman.

AGE 11 - 12 ;

PRE SONIC ADVENTURE ( headcanon based ! ) ;

As the years had passed Amy found herself losing track of Sonic and the others for about a year. She decides to return home to visit her parents. She had been keeping in contact with them and visiting them on most holidays. Telling them stories about her adventures with Sonic. But when she arrived she had found the house abandoned and couldn’t get into any contact with them. A neighbor, spotting her confused, tells her that they decided to return to their traveling ways. Believing that, since Amy was so independent and had been proving herself as such, she didn’t need them as much.

Having spent the last few years chasing after Sonic, plus off on adventures, it dawns on her that...she doesn’t have a home ! So she heads off and, after looking at brochures and other things, decides that Station Square is the perfect place to find an apartment ! Plenty of shopping districts, work opportunities, and more !

She ends up getting an apartment there and happens to find work rather easily. Working at a small diner where she helped an elderly couple that ran the place. It didn’t pay much but it allowed her to keep food on the table and gave her something to do to pass the time.

AGE 12 ;

SONIC ADVENTURE ;

However, while work was ‘something’ to do ? She found herself bored sitting around in the same place.  Every day she did the same thing. Wake up, get dressed, go to work, go shopping til she dropped, go home, go to bed. It was mundane compared to those years of being rescued by Sonic and following after him. With him gone, with her having nothing to do, she was bored !

That would soon change.

Little did she know her reminiscing and longing for some excitement would, quite literally, fall from the sky in the form of a Flicky. With a desire to protect it, plus a robot now chasing after her, she soon finds herself running into her hero himself ! Sonic would help her ! He would know what to do to keep this birdie safe ! He would--

Except.... he runs away.

She does manage to catch up to him, though ! And, though admittedly a little scatterbrained, she gets distracted by Twinkle Park. This leads to her being captured and taken aboard Eggmans ship in hopes Sonic would come and rescue her. But it’s not Sonic that frees her from the cell. Instead, she befriends a robot that seems to be different from the others. She would end up standing up to Sonic to protect the robot from being destroyed.

Now this is where my version sort of veers off though not by much ;

Unlike the Sonic Adventure game ? Amy witnesses Gamma’s death and the events happen similar as the show Sonic X. With Amy witnessing their final battle and seeing, to her horror, the destruction caused. While it helped reunite the family it also meant having to see a robot she befriended sacrifice itself. She was able to say her goodbyes and thank the robot. Knowing, in the end, the sacrifice had to be made to reunite the family even if it was painful.

She’s happy to see them together and walks out onto the deck with them. Only to witness the same robot from earlier ( the one that had kidnapped her ) shoot down the small Flicky much to her horror. Angered, plus not wanting Gammas sacrifice to go in vain, she challenged the robot. Vowing herself that this time she would be the one  laying down her life if need be to keep the Flicky and its family safe.

She takes the robot on with all her might. And manages to win ! Though she doesn’t celebrate much as she worries and frets over if the Flicky was safe. Fearful that it was dead. However, much to her happiness, it’s okay !  She wishes them all well and is happy to see them all together.

Amy realizes, at that moment, she did something on her own. She saved herself, she helped the Flicky, she made a friend of the robot. She vows from that moment on she would do things by herself ! No more waiting for Sonic, no more being the damsel, no more running away ! She was determined to make Sonic realize she could handle herself !

( She also ends up befriending Big & Froggy during this time ).

SONIC SHUFFLE & SONIC ADVANCE TAKE PLACE.

AGE 13 ;

SONIC ADVENTURE 2 TAKES PLACE ;

Amy is stunned to find out Sonic has been captured. She decides, at this moment, she had to free him ! For once she would be the one to save him and not the other way around ! However, it seems no matter what she’s done she’s left behind. She felt as if nobody had faith in her. Everyone kept running away, leaving her behind, acting as if she’s incapable. And she began, in some ways, to feel the same. When she’s held captive by Eggman and watches in horror as Sonic seemingly dies. She blames herself for it. She’s supposed to be strong. And, once again, Sonic saved her ! But this time he’s....dead ! He’s dead ! And it’s HER fault ! She couldn’t even help Tails fight Eggman out of her own grief ! Yet she soon realizes Sonic is alive. Thank goodness.

Amy, along with the others, listens in to the diary that’s being played. Finding out about ‘Maria’ dying, the grief of the man there, and realizing he’s signed a death wish for the Earth. As everyone goes off to help she fnds herself. again, alone. She contemplates this to herself until she sees him -- Shadow, and realizes that while everyone is fighting she’s doing nothing but standing there. She had to help out, do her best, even if it might be futille !

While the events of the game are canon, with Amy going to help out and sticking around, the only thing that differs is her interactions with Shadow.

While in the game the interaction was brief in her helping Shadow remember ? I personally prefer Amy having sort of a similar role to how they did in Sonic X. With an actual back and forth between them that’s tension filled as it shouldn’t have been so easy to trigger Shadows memory after so long.

She ends up mourning Shadows passing yet is glad he was able to fulfill Maria’s final wish. 

SONIC ADVANCE 2 TAKES PLACE ;

Amy meets Cream, Cheese, and Vanilla and begins to form a close-friendship / bond with them all.

AGE 14 ;

SONIC HEROES TAKES PLACE.

SONIC BATTLE TAKES PLACE.

I’m not gonna say much about these two games. Nothing against them but I don’t feel like anything I add will be important. I do, however, dislike how Amy is portrayed in both. And I tend to view this as a time period when Amy thought if she was more ‘aggressive’ and ‘assertive’ that she’d be seen as strong. As she felt that she was seen as weak and dainty beforehand.

Luckily, she grew out of this phase.

( However, she was extremely relieved to find out Shadow was ‘alive’ and was very happy to see him again. )

AGE 15 ;

SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG TAKES PLACE.

SONIC ADVANCE 3 TAKES PLACE.

AGE 16 ;

SONIC RIDERS TAKES PLACE.

SONIC RIVALS TAKES PLACE.

AGE 17;

SONIC UNLEASHED TAKES PLACE.

SONIC LOST WORLD TAKES PLACE.

SONIC GENERATIONS TAKES PLACE.

AGE 18 ;

SONIC FORCES / THE IDW COMIC SERIES TAKES PLACE ;

Amy is stunned to find out that Sonic was defeated in battle. But she believes, like always, he will show up eventually. But as time ticks by, months passing and the world under siege, she’s left with this grim realization: he’s not coming back. She ends up joining Knuckles in his Resistance along with a bunch of others. Being forced to grow up more and realize all those ‘fun adventures’ were no longer fun. With it being months after Sonics’ ‘death’ she still longed for him to be alive yet, each time she felt hope, it was dashed by the realistic explanations by the others. It was also hard as, during this time, she had to keep Cream and her mother safe and also help take care of a Tails that was visibly grieving and not in a proper state of mind.

So, upon finding out he’s alive, she’s relieved. Though, upon being able to see him, she does hug him but mostly keeps the warm welcomes for Tails who needs Sonics’ hugs and support more.

She’s a bit surprised to find out, as time passes and they defeat Eggman ( plus begin rebuilding and trying to get the world back to normal ), that her once ‘love’ for Sonic was...diminished. She still loved him. Yet she’s more quiet about it. Just enjoying the fact she has her friend back and wanting to work alongside him to help rebuild and bring happiness to others again. She recognizes that romance isn't a priority in her life anymore and realizes that, perhaps, the world should come first as it’s a place Sonic loves and a place so many people love as well.

She buries herself in work in the resistance and bettering herself physically and mentally. She may still love that hedgehog, in many ways, but she knows that she’s able to enjoy his friendship and decides that she will no longer be chasing after him and focus on herself / her work instead.

[ellasadventuresinfandoms]

Okay, back in May @isolatedphenomenon asked me if I had an les mis fic recs and I went "oh boy do I !" and then promptly fucked off and disappeared from tumblr for like 6 months...

Anyway on the off chance people are interested, here is my vastly too long list of  my favourite les mis fanfic (that I'm almost 100% sure I'll have accidentally missed some of my favourites off of...)

The vast majority of these are main pairing Enjolras/Grantaire, so I've put those first, divided into multi-chaptered and then one-shots. Below that will be other pairings!

Multi-chaptered

• Witch Boy Series : magic AU, starting with Grantaire solving Enjolras' curse - this is just Incredible world building which gets better as it goes on - my favourite is the Babet interlude

• World Ain't Ready : you know how fandoms tend to have a fic that is just associated with it ? in my experience, for les mis this is it - and well deserved ! High school, fake dating AU with some of the most engaging writing

• BE : Enjolras is dragged back into theatre production, helping Eponine put on a production of Hamlet - really love the characterisation in this, and this is really one of those modern AUs that actually feels like real life - really good writing

• After the End : the definitive apocalypse AU in my eyes - les amis are an underground resistance to the dystopian government - really wonderful characterisation of Grantaire and the amis

• You never have to wonder; you never have to ask. : I tend to find fic by scrolling through bookmarks of a pairing, which means I often see repeats; this is a fic that if I see I just re-read cause I know I'll enjoy it - the amis sparked a failed rebellion, and now 18 months later Grantaire ends up staying at Enjolras' after returning to Paris for Marius and Cosette's wedding

• Your Heart on Your Skin : Soulmate AU with flower tattoos marking important emotions and events - wonderful concept and world building 

• Impatient to Be Free : Daughters of Bilitis AU - if that doesn't make you excited I don't know what else to say to convince you (aside from saying the author is a simply wonderful writer)

• You Dance Dreams : Okay. Not to be over dramatic, but this fic did genuinely qualitatively change my life, in that it was the first thing that got me looking up contemporary ballet and now that's like one of my favourite things and big hobby So. Also its really great writing; music/creative arts school les amis with Grantaire choreohraphing the ballet for Combeferre's opera, with a heavy emphasis on Grantaire realising he really never actually got over Enjolras

• philia : this one is an absolute classic to me, but not given nearly enough recognition - one of the more realistic college AUs ever written, and the writing of Grantaire is so good because it hits the perfect balance of sympathy and annoyance about his behaviour (that's a genuine compliment) 

• Coffee Hooligans : fucking tragedy this never got properly finished, Enjolras leads the amis as social justice vigilantes and tries to hide the criminal bits of his life from R

• Fighting the Hurricane : Pacific Rim AU that's less an AU and more just placing the les mis characters in the Pacific Rim universe. Really good and riveting read, also super interesting depiction of Grantaire

• Weaving Olden Dances : Fairy AU - Grantaire "claims" Enjolras to prevent his execution - really good writing, love Grantaires characterisation 

• Paris Burning : canon era (sort of) where cities have a physical being - Grantaire is Paris and becomes entangled in Enjolras' revolution - oh the world building is truly *chefs kiss*

• Euphoria is You For Me : Enjolras and Grantaire keep meet cuting in a wonderfully written Brooklyn - feels like a love letter to Brooklyn at times, and I really like the characterisation of Grantaire 

• so please just fall in love with me this christmas : Enjolras works for the environmental company Grantaire volunteers at, and keeps getting secret gifts at Christmas - I sound a little like a broken record but the Grantaire characterisation is very good

• You Are the Moon : Wild West esque Space AU - Grantaire has to call on the amis to help rescue Valjean and Cosette, despite Grantaire leaving the amis 6 months before. On re-reading the Enjolras characterisation feels a little rushed, but overall fantastic story telling and the Grantaire arc is a Delight 

• Pandemos : Enjolras is aphrodite, and seeks peace from all his suitors in R/Hephestus' cave

• Pining for You : Hallmark christmas romance - Grantaire returns home to work on his father's tree farm, and Enjolras is the lawyer helping prevent the farm being sold - cute as shit imo

• Once We're Kings : Fantasy AU - a country hosts a ball to marry Prince Enjolras and the rival country sends Grantaire as a fuck you - one of the best ways of doing Enjolras as a prince in a fantasy and just really nicely written

• Never Bitter and All Delicious : Fairy Godmother AU - yes really, yes its genuinely a very good read

• On One Condition : Fantasy AU - Enjolras is a bored knight who finally goes to check out the local dragon, which turns out to be Grantaire - I really like how they capture Enjolras' stubborn nature and it's such a well written soft growth of love between them

• That's How Easy Love Can Be : Les Amis work at a primary school; and its secret santa time! very fun portrayal of Enjolras

• The Lark and Her Lieutenants : re write of canon where Cosette is the leader of the revolution - just *chefs kiss*

• If You Tickle Us, Do We Not Laugh : Grantaire is Enjolras' secret android - really good at writing a relationship that's incredibly loving but just keeps being antagonistic and coming off wrong 

One Shots

• True Colours : AU where you leave colours on the people important to you - Enjolras and Grantaire falling for each other is so soft and gently written its lovely, this is genuinely one of my favourites

• Keep It Kind, Keep It Good, Keep It Right : this one is so good to me, because it builds off my pet hatred of everyone assuming Enjolras doesn't care about (or at least actively show he cares about) his friends

• blooming : very soft post-dystopian utopia that has just a really wonderful sense of hope and light to me

• and the wall leaned away (or: The Pros and Cons of Tilling) : perfectly realised characterizations of the amis, Grantaire needs a date to her final year art exhibition - deals with anxiety over protest in a way that actually hits for me

• not just one of the crowd : R helps run a leftist bakery and bike repair shop - very cute characterisation, and I think more les mis fanfic should link to anarchist essays

• Lovesickness : Enjolras is an idiot and thinks he's sick rather than having a crush - the writing of Joly and Combeferre in this is some of my favourite depictions of these two

• If there's a rocket, tie me to it : absolutely heartbreaking sci-fi AU about the amis as doomed mecha pilots

• Where I Fall is Where I Land : Enjolras is a Roman commander as Rome's power is leaving England, and then meets the pict Grantaire (+ fun soulmark stuff !)

• You Started Foreign to Me : Enjolras moves to america and R is the overnight grocery clerk who helps her learn Spanish - cute fluffy lesbians with a wonderfully written driven Enjolras

• Love Is Touching Souls : very cute soulmate AU - and one I really love for really truly considering the implications of soul marks and creating historical lore around it

• Ten Years : R is a musician, and it non-linearly charts his relationship to Enj from high school to 10 years later

• put up with me then I'll make you see : Grantaire lives above Enjolras, and its christmas - I find it to have a very fun interpretation of pining Enjolras

• A Cat Called Trash Can : this was one of the first les mis fics I ever read (yes I know it says it was published in 2020, but I think it has to be a re-upload or something?) and it does still have a special place in my heart - Grantaire rescues a cat, but Enjolras is the only one with an apartment free to look after it 

• Still I'm Begging to Be Free : inception AU where les amis have to rescue a sleeping R from his own brain

•I'm in it for You : cw: illness, cancer - R has cancer and is being a martyr about telling his friends so Enjolras drives him back from chemo

• walls come tumbling down : sky high au - a very good high school AU with the perfect level of campy superhero powers

• This brave new world's not like yesterday : Enjolras needs a job, so ends up working in a bowling alley with Grantaire and bonding

Enjolras/Grantaire/Combeferre

• In Defiance of All Geometry : les amis are a student co-op house, Enjolras and Combeferre are pining friends and Grantaire is the newbie

• Still the Same : this is very good writing and very compelling - if you can get over the (imo) plot hole of Enjolras working for the FBI. R was an art thief Enj put away and is briefly helping the FBI out, and Combeferre is Enjolras' husband

• To Kingdom Come : cw: war and PTSD from that, Enjolras and Combeferre are part of a group of refugees that have crossed into a more fantasy land, and Grantaire is a lone traveller from that land that attempts to help - that was a shit summary of this very emotional, wonderfully written fic about war and love in all forms

• Gonna need (a spark to ignite) : I always love a twist on a classic trope, and this is a very fun take on the soulmate AU - Enjolras loses feeling in his soul mark as a child, falls in love with Grantaire and then his soulmate, Combeferre, turns up

Eponine/Cosette

• Pretty Girls Don't Know the Things That I Know : simply stunning writing - perfect example of soft writing about a harsh world

• she knows her way around : Eponine and Cosette bond, ostensibly so Eponine can find out about her for Marius, and their interactions are so playful and realistic, its wonderful

• always find me floating on oceans : Cosette stows away on Eponine's pirate ship - I do always have a soft spot for eposette fics (not just cause I ship it) because they truly characterise Cosette in a really considered and interesting way

• There's No Making Love : I'm putting this under eposette even though there is some significant enjolras/grantaire content, because the Cosette characterisation is so fun and cute

• round and round again : this fic really beautifully translates Cosette's bad childhood and then isolated teenage years, and the impact that would have on her as an adult into a modern AU

• Underwater Thunderheards : this is based off the book The Scorpio Races, and is just a really nice short fic  about longing

• How To Change The World Without Taking Power : Marius has a crush on Cosette and she's tried being polite and subtle in turning him down, so just ends up fake dating Eponine instead

• blood red fruit and poison's kiss : Snow White AU - Cosette as Snow White

• The Winters Cannot Fade Her : Snow White Au 2.0 - Eponine as Snow White - this was written as a pair to the one above which is just so cute to me

• marriage à la mode : Cosette and Eponine run a bridal shop together and it's very cute !

• Temporary Hold : I personally find this a really fun and very unique take on Cosette - with exams coming up she decides she needs to get laid on the reg and so hits up Eponine to act as if they're already long term girlfriends

Combeferre/Courfeyrac

• better than you had it : fake dating but kick it up an emotional notch - Courf and Ferre pretend to still be together after breaking up for a family event

• take flight, come near : nice and cute low fantasy, where Combeferre runs a dragon sanctuary and Courf finds an injured dragon

Rare Pairs

• The Future's Owned by You and Me : cute Enjolras/Feuilly with actual radical politics and real life organising difficulties and wins

• First Dates and Other Dangers : Combeferre and Grantaire agree to go on a blind date and it's awkward until it isn't - just cute !

• after midnight : Combeferre has insomnia and meets Grantaire in various all night fast food chains

• as you are : Bahorel and Jehan getting ready together

• Almost Romantic : Jehan works at a museum, and takes Combeferre on a little tour

• Understudy : Jehan/Combeferre, with Combeferre's insecurities regarding being seen as second best to Enjolras

• Here There Be Dragons : Courf/Enj/Ferre - Courf and Enj are superheroes and Ferre is the doctor that patches them up

• To Let it Occur (Laisser Faire la Nature) : Feuilly has a stupidly long stopover in Paris and meets Enjolras

• rule of three : Courf/Enj/Ferre as spies and loving boyfriends

• Good Rhetoric : snapshots of cute cuddly courf/enj/ferre

• subluxate, dislocate, replace : found family and chronic illness with Joly/Bossuet/Musichetta

• Strike stone, strike home (like lightning) : so this fic took one minor piece of lore about Tolkien's dwarves and made a beautiful j/b/m fic from it

• Almost Inevitable : Bahorel/Feuilly friends-with-benefits

• god only knows (what I'd be without you) : Bahorel/Feuilly with a closeted Feuilly and a beautiful Feuilly and Eponine friendship

[poemsforpersephone]

Over the course of the past year I’ve read over 70 books. Some haven’t quite lived up to expectations but the 10 below stuck in my mind for long enough to make it onto this list. I’ve written a few details about each to explain why they stuck with me and why I think you should give them a shot. 

The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley

Rating: 4.5/5

Brief Synopsis: In 1859, ex-East India Company smuggler Merrick Tremayne is trapped at home in Cornwall after sustaining an injury that almost cost him his leg and something is wrong; a statue moves, his grandfather’s pines explode, and his brother accuses him of madness. When the India Office recruits Merrick for an expedition to fetch quinine—essential for the treatment of malaria—from deep within Peru, he knows it’s a terrible idea. Nearly every able-bodied expeditionary who’s made the attempt has died, and he can barely walk. But Merrick is desperate to escape everything at home, so he sets off, against his better judgment, for a tiny mission colony on the edge of the Amazon where a salt line on the ground separates town from forest.

Favourite Quote: “There are things you wouldn’t do, if you had a motherless child waiting at home. Or with you. Places where you would turn back.”

Why This Book: I’m not usually a fan of historical books, but I absolutely loved this one. The way the world is written, the characters, the unfolding of the plot. Everything just worked together so well. Not sure if it’s canon queer or not but there is strong m/m relationship vibes from two of the characters, like in my eyes they romantically loved each other, im just not sure if it was intended that way by the author or not.

The Wicked King and The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black

Rating: 5

Brief Synopsis: (of the first book in the series, for context) Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

Favourite Quote: ““If he thought I was bad, I would be worse. If he thought I was cruel, I would be horrifying.”

Why These Books: The entire series is just pure gold. The audibooks are fantastic, but more than anything it’s the story, and the voice of the main character, and of her family and enemies. I love books which work along fey story lines and worlds, so this was perfect for me. f/f secondary character relationship.

The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed

Rating: 5

Brief Synopsis: Three misfits come together to avenge the rape of a fellow classmate and in the process trigger a change in the misogynist culture at their high school transforming the lives of everyone around them in this searing and timely story.

Favourite Quote: “One small kindness in a sea of cruelty, one word of truth among lies, these are the seeds that can change the world.”

Why This Book: Jesus christ this BOOK. Girls protecting girls is literally my most favourite thing in the entire world. Coming together, standing together, fighting together. And diversity too! If you add girls protecting girls and queer girls into the same book you officially have my heart. I have goosebumps covering my arms and my heart is aching just thinking about this book.

The Last Sun and The Hanged Man by K.D. Edwards

Rating: 5 (who am I kidding, it’s a clear cut 10/5. I can’t put into words how much i love this series).

Brief Synopsis: Rune Saint John, last child of the fallen Sun Court, is hired to search for Lady Judgment's missing son, Addam, on New Atlantis, the island city where the Atlanteans moved after ordinary humans destroyed their original home.

Favourite Quote: uhhh can i like, list the entire contents of two whole books here? no? huh. alright. ““Didn’t you know what his father was like—what kind of ability Rune has inherited? Those aren’t just shoes to fill, it’s the whole fucking shoe factory. Don’t you ever doubt whether he can do what he says.”

Why These Books: They hit every single trope I love, the writing is fantastic and witty, and characters jump from the page and the plot keeps you ensnared and engrossed. The world is alive, and to top it off, the author is super nice and interacts with the fandom, which is always nice to see. m/m.

Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Rating: 5

Brief Synopsis: What happens when America's First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales?

Favourite Quote: “That's the choice. I love him, with all that, because of all that. On purpose. I love him on purpose.”

Why This Book: Where do I even start? How do I sum up everything I feel for this book in one single paragraph? I cannot write down the noises of joy I made throughout reading it. I can't draw either of the two times i actually hugged it. This book. God. This book. Just go read it, okay? m/m.

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Rating: 5

Brief Synopsis: A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens.

Favourite Quote: “All the world is a cage in a young girl's eyes.”

Why This Book: It’s massive, an actual tomb that could damage someone if you hit them with it, and from start to finish it ensnared me with its rich world and realistic characters and AND!!! The diversity!!!! The women in this book!!! I wanna marry them all!!!!!!!! I’ll be their loving wife as long as they’ll have me!!!!!!!! like legit the definition of "i would let that woman step on me" im so gay for them ALL. f/f.

Salt Magic Skin Magic by Lee Welch

Rating: 4

Brief Synopsis: Lord Thornby has been trapped on his father’s isolated Yorkshire estate for a year. There are no bars or chains; he simply can’t leave. His sanity is starting to fray. When industrial magician John Blake arrives to investigate a case of witchcraft, he finds the peculiar, arrogant Thornby as alarming as he is attractive. John soon finds himself caught up in a dark fairytale, where all the rules of magic—and love—are changed.

Why This Book: I absolutely devoured this book. I listened to the audio book version on 1.5 speed most of the way through and even popped into 1.75 and 2 speed because I needed to know what happened so badly. I had my suspicions and they were proved correct and it was so beautiful and lovely. m/m and absolutely wonderful.

The Deathless Girls by Kiran Millwood Hargave

Rating: 4/5

Brief Synopsis: On the eve of her divining, the day she'll discover her fate, seventeen-year-old Lil and her twin sister Kizzy are captured and enslaved by the cruel Boyar Valcar, taken far away from their beloved traveller community.

Favourite Quote: “I could see the roots of the trees below me seeking water, and the leaves above me seeking sun.”

Why This Book: Beautifully crafted, effortlessly enthralling and dark like vampire stories should be. I’m torn about the ending but the lead up? The characters? The plot? All so well put together. The bond between the two sisters was strong, well written and beautiful. It’s f/f also, which is awesome.

[mobius-prime]

213. Sonic the Hedgehog #145

Shadows of Hope

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Ron Lim Colors: Jason Jensen

I've pointed out misleading cover pages before, but it's been a while since we've seen one. This issue's cover page makes it seem like Shadow is gonna beat up Sonic or something, but in reality they never even come face to face within this issue, so I don't know what the cover artist was thinking. Shadow isn't interested in antagonizing Sonic as of yet - instead, he's been coming to Knothole for several weeks in a row, watching Hope Kintobor from the bushes near where she likes to hang out. That's not creepy at all! A mysterious robed figure, in turn, has been spying on Shadow all this time, referring to him as "it" and wondering what "its" purpose here is. Of course, we know why he's been watching Hope - because she looks very much like Maria. Shadow is surprised by a sudden flash of light behind him, and turns to find the mysterious stranger looking down at him.

…dude, what the hell? I'm sorry, but did you really think that your plan of lassoing the literal ultimate life form with a $2 roll of twine you got from Home Depot would be a good idea? Shadow is similarly baffled by the sheer audacity of this figure, and leaps forward to attack, but suddenly finds himself being teleported away by another flash of light, and Hope finds herself also being caught in the light. The three end up in a hidden facility somewhere, where the figure kicks Shadow off him and slams a glass door shut, locking him in a pod. Shadow has a few quick flashbacks, first to the nutrient pod he first awoke in when he was created by Gerald, and then the healing pod the Bem put him in after his tangle with the Biolizard. The figure removes their hood to reveal themselves to be none other than Locke, who has captured Shadow for the purpose of using him to find his missing family, the other members of the Brotherhood. He's really just kind of a piece of garbage in this issue, even more so than usual - asking if Shadow knows what it's like to lose everything, and when Shadow angrily replies that he's never had anything in the first place, replying with a callous "That's not surprising." Seriously, dude? Apparently, the reason he isn't surprised is because according to his scans, Shadow is neither "biological, mineral, nor vegetable," which makes absolutely no sense. Like… he's not a robot, dude, he's a biological creature like any other, just with some unusual origins. I chalk this up entirely to Penders just not knowing anything about Shadow's history or circumstances, because as I've mentioned before, he's almost bizarrely proud of how he's never played a single Sonic game while writing these comics.

Anyway, it's not even clearly explained why Locke seems to think that Shadow of all people can help him locate the missing members of the Brotherhood, nor why he thinks kidnapping him is an acceptable thing to do toward that end.  Hope steps forward at this point, scolding Locke for enacting this terrible, terrible plan, and when Locke turns around to pull a "you're just too young to understand my wise adult ways" on her (keep in mind she's like at least fourteen by this point), Shadow's PTSD kicks into high gear.

Shadow starts beating the everloving crap out of Locke, who at first tries to fight back with some Chaos powers of his own but is ultimately overwhelmed by Shadow's sheer strength in his frenzy. Shadow is on the verge of actually killing Locke when Hope yells for him to stop, saying she thought he was better than that and that he's scaring her. This appears to snap Shadow out of his flashback, and he recognizes once more where he is.

So this is the beginning of a series of really weird issues in the comic, led primarily by Penders. I'm not sure exactly what his angle was here, but after everything that came before, it seems he's decided to take a break from focusing on his favorite echidna in favor of a few other characters - namely, Shadow, Locke, and Evil Sonic. Evil Sonic and Locke are his own creations, so I guess I can't really fault him for whatever he decides to write about them, but I'm not really a fan of the way he writes Shadow. Shadow is easily my favorite character in the entire Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, across all canons (though his iteration in the games is my favorite), and I'm very particular about how he's portrayed. He can be a bit of an anti-hero at times, a bit brooding and sometimes violent, but in the end he's much more hero than anything else. He's not some vicious killer edgelord, he's a confused and traumatized individual just trying to figure out where he fits in the larger scheme of things. This is something that becomes abundantly clear if you play through Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, and Shadow the Hedgehog in order, as those three games contain the bulk of his character development. Interestingly enough, while Shadow's amnesia is a big part of the story of the latter two games and has a huge impact on how his story goes, Shadow doesn't appear to have amnesia at all in the comics. Instead, his main motivation is finding out exactly why Gerald created him in the first place. It's a bit of a bizarre turn from the games and anime, as while the motive is similar, it makes a lot more sense in the games and anime due to his amnesia, which makes him far more suggestible to those trying to manipulate him. I don't know, I can't even point to one specific thing about the way he's portrayed in the comics that bothers me - all I know is that it's different from the games in a way that just rubs me wrong, and makes me feel like Penders kind of missed the point of Shadow's character development in the first place.

As for Locke, suddenly making him out to be this callous bad guy who forcefully kidnaps others to study their biology for his own purposes is really jarring considering his deathbed redemption speech not two issues ago. Like, I know that all takes place in the future so he hasn't gotten that redemption yet, but if anything that just goes to show how weird and out of order everything in the comics lately feels. I really feel like Penders actually should have stuck to focusing on Knuckles, since at this point he's made him into such an author's pet that he seems to be horribly rusty at writing literally anyone else in the comic. On the other hand, I suppose it's valid to argue that the quality of Penders' work has been declining for quite some time now, first with the entirely-too-long Green Knuckles Saga and followed up immediately by Mobius 25 Years Later. Honestly, most of my defenses of his work have fallen flat ever since the cancellation of the KtE spinoff a while back, which if you ask me was the main point in time where his writing abilities actually got a chance to shine. In these last couple eras, he's gotten his head so far stuck up his own ass that he's lost sight of what things readers actually find interesting in these comics. I suppose it's fitting, then, that in the next fifteen issues we'll be witnessing the final death throes of Kenders' writing in the Archie preboot, in an era of flux where no one really knows what kind of story they're going for anymore.

Training Day

Writer: Karl Bollers Pencils: Al Bigley Colors: Jason Jensen

Oh, speaking of a story that doesn't really go anywhere, we've got one here! I'm not being facetious here either - the "plot" of this story is just that Eggman has some data files on why he hates the Freedom Fighters, and does a little presentation for his army of mindless swatbots informing them of the dangers of several key players in particular. Of course, he covers Sonic first as his most hated enemy, then talks about how Tails is dangerous due to his precociousness and expertise with machinery. Knuckles is up next despite not being a member of the Freedom Fighters proper, and finally we end with Amy of all people. Not to insult Amy of course, as she's quite a bruiser in her own right, but I mean… why not cover someone like Bunnie, who has power enough to wreck an entire battleship loaded with nuclear missiles?

I only include this picture to sort of show that at least, as I've mentioned before, the comics actually do Amy proper justice as a character - she's the definition of a kickass girly-girl, a perfect demonstration of the idea that being feminine doesn't make you weak. The tarot card thing is a new one for the comics, but that's actually established backstory for her in the games, for those who don't know - the whole reason she met Sonic in the first place in Sonic CD was because she did a tarot reading for herself and the cards told her to go meet the love of her life in a specific location, which just so happened to be where Sonic was on his latest adventure. Ultimately, this story doesn't really tell us anything we didn't already know apart from that, so we can safely move on, as it distinctly smacks of filler.

Harbinger

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Dawn Best Colors: Jason Jensen

Knothole is experiencing a moment of calm, and thus Tails lounges in his room engrossed in a book about the history of technology on Mobius. No one is aware that some distance from the village a huge explosion has just gone off, because why would they be aware? It happened several hundred miles away! Sonic and his friends (minus Tails) are spending their free time playing idle games, with Sonic and Ash becoming overly competitive over their game of darts while the girls in the room giggle knowingly at their bristling and strutting. Tails becomes intrigued by something-or-other that he read in his book and decides to go ask Rotor about it, only to find him already preoccupied with something else.

Tails suggests the three of them pile into the Tornado and check it out, but Rotor says they should at least take along Sonic and Bunnie for some muscle just in case. Tails gets weirdly offended by this, prompting Rotor to give us an explanation of the roles each Freedom Fighter plays in the group for whatever reason, including listing off himself and Tails as the tactical support and Sally as their leader. I mean, it's accurate at least? Tails heads out to find Sonic as Ash stomps out of the hut in a huff, with Mina trailing him and complaining that he's only upset because he and Sonic were deliberately antagonizing each other. He finds the others still hanging out in the game room, and is initially offended that they didn't invite him until Sonic mentions offhandedly that he knocked at Tails' door several times to no answer since Tails was so caught up in his reading. Tails explains the situation to everybody, and soon everyone, including Tommy, is ready to head out in the FFS and check out the disturbance, while Sally comes over to see them off.

I mean, Sonic's got a point, Sally - he's been on a million missions before with little more than a few scratches here and there, what makes this one any different? Oh, severe trauma, right. The story concludes with a final page showing a familiar pair of air shoes stepping into a ruined facility, their owner pleased at finding the location of some kind of prototype that he learned of in Gerald's old encrypted data files…

[safflowerseason]

What I like about BMTL is how well you’ve captured their characters, particularly Dan, in marriage. It’s a very credible take at how they would likely be with a kid and a life together. I like that you don’t make them sweet or romantic, that Dan openly cares a lot about how their life makes HIM look, that they don’t say I love you. Do you find it hard to keep them from straying into uncharacteristic traits? Do you ever want to write them saying/doing something, then realised it wasn’t right?

This is a really great question that was surprisingly hard to answer! The question of what’s “in” or “out” of character is difficult when writing fanfiction, since by default, you are operating outside the established canon world of the show. 

For BMTL, the very premise of the fic is that Amy and Dan are trapped in an intensely emotional situation where they are both, as characters, extremely uncomfortable expressing their feelings (at least feelings that aren’t related to work, and aren’t anger, disgust, disappointment, stress, etc.). It just wouldn't work if I wanted to write a version of Dan and Amy who constantly communicate their emotions to one another and say I love you all the time. Where would the conflict be? So, its fundamental narrative structure means that I can’t write Dan and Amy as super healthy emotional communicators, which would probably feel out of character. 

Like, Dan is enough of a human to have a knee-jerk “oh my god I’m so sorry your dad died let me hold you” reaction. But he’s not emotionally mature enough deal with how Amy’s father’s death might disrupt his perfect life. Conversely, Amy is comfortable enough to turn into Dan in the immediate aftermath of her father’s death, but she is not comfortable enough to admit that she’s struggling with ongoing feelings of guilt and inadequacy. And not necessarily because she doesn’t trust Dan (although she obviously has lingering trust issues with him), but because she is immensely hard on herself as person.

To offer a more specific example: not to spoil anything, but the next two chapters of the story touch on the question of Dan’s fidelity to Amy. As much as I would have loved to write this fic without exploring that issue (and in original drafts, I don’t think it figured), it did not seem genuine to be able to skip over that, considering the emotional stakes of the story and the realistic portrait of marriage I’m trying to write. 

I tend to be a hyper-realist with my fanfiction, which affects the kind of plots I come up with. To me, they wouldn’t feel like Dan and Amy if they were super fluffy and always saying how much they loved each other and reflecting on how lucky they are, etc etc. So I’ve never wanted to write a story where that happens. Also, for what it’s worth…that’s not how humans actually communicate their feelings. Writing something “in-character” also means writing in a way that’s authentic to the human experience as it is rendered through the canonical versions of the characters. 

Across Veep fic, including mine, there’s a tendency to make Dan and Amy more emotionally intelligent than they come off in the show, which manifests itself in a variety of ways. This is partly the natural consequence of writing stories where Dan and Amy are the main characters, not supporting members of an ensemble…you have to dig deeper into their emotional mentalities in order to write a compelling narrative. Still, I try to counteract that by layering lots of emotional dysfunction on top of their connection, to make it seem more true to Veep and to real life.

And Dan and Amy hate talking about feelings. They’re not comfortable putting what they mean to each other into words, and they both prefer to not think or talk about the reality of what it means to be bonded to another person…which means that it’s a lot easier for both of them to freak out when something disrupts their relationship. (Um, this is not exactly a healthy thing…but let’s be real, nobody ships Dan and Amy because they’re an ideal relationship model.) 

While writing, I definitely go back and make lines sharper, in an attempt to make it sound more like Dan and Amy on the show. Usually if I think something isn’t “right”, it’s for a plot reason, not so much because I think Dan and Amy wouldn’t be in that situation in the first place. With fanfiction, nothing is off-limits, it’s more like..how you do it. Like, Dan basically proposes to Amy in Chapter Seven…but he does so in a way where neither of them actually have to talk about their feelings and he frames giving her the ring in a way that’s transactional for the two of them (“if the realtor thinks we’re engaged, we have a better chance of getting this very nice house!”) (Again…not super healthy, but here we are.) 

[proofthatihaveaheart]

June Fic Recs

Posting this a day late because I didn’t have time to proofread yesterday, but hey, it’s been 6 months and I’ve done a rec list for each month so at least I’ve accomplished something. 

[1 Borderlands, 9 Brooklyn Nine-Nine, 1 Marvel]

Borderlands

Tell Me, Did You See The News Last Night? by snufflyphoenix (Lilith/Roland, 996): It's all Lilith's fault. Set after Lilith and Roland return from Helios, Lilith does some introspection. [This is such a lovely hurt/comfort piece, examining Lilith’s mind after the events on Elpis. We get to see her vulnerabilities as well as Roland’s strength and determination. And I always love me some Lilith/Roland cuddling.] 

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

all the way home i’ll be warm by dogworldchampion (Jake/Amy, 7k): Jake Peralta has never enjoyed the outdoors. Sure, that one Cub Scouts camping trip in first grade was pretty fun, but adult Jake Peralta prefers snow plows, massage chairs, modern insulation, and easy-access delivery food. Which makes the fact that he agreed to spend Christmas in a cabin in the middle of nowhere in upstate New York with his new wife’s family a remarkable testament to just how much he loves said new wife. [I want to drown myself in this fic, in all the love and joy that fills every nook and cranny of it. There are so many small, delightful details woven throughout the fic and you really get the sense of how much the Santiagos all love each other. This fic has a lot of heart and it made me feel so warm and everyone should read it.]

and all my world is losing light by Clones_and_gallifrey (Jake/Amy, 20k): "Day one is listening to Captain Holt telling them not to give up hope, but then overhearing him calling Karen, and telling her in a quiet voice that her son has been sentenced to 15 years, telling her not to cry. Day one is spent filled with fear, and tears, and she punches a wall in their bedroom (because it is still theirs) so hard that the skin on her knuckles splits open. Day one is a cold side of the bed and a thick silence filling up the space where Jake used to be. Day one is overwhelming, plain and simple." There are over five-thousand days in fifteen years. It takes Amy ten of them to figure it out. [AHHH THIS FIC!!!! Amy finds out she’s pregnant while Jake’s in prison and it’s every bit as painful - but every bit as joyful - as you might expect. Bonus points for buckets of moments with the rest of the squad. It’s all very good.]

it was always me and you by echoes_of_realities (Jake/Amy, 17k): When he was young, Jake thought that love was inevitable. And then Amy Santiago crashes into his life and he realizes he doesn’t have a clue what love is, but somehow it’s okay. But their partnership and friendship doesn’t happen right away, God no. In the beginning he can’t stand her, and he’s pretty sure that she thinks he’s the worst thing to ever happen to her. Or: Part one of a three-part series of firsts between Jake and Amy from pre-canon to just before season 1. [I love fics that explore Jake and Amy’s pre-canon relationship and this one gives us that in spades. It does a really wonderful job growing the friendship between them, as they learn about each other and grow closer. Full of their characteristic banter as well as plenty of sincere moments.]

lay your dreams in a flower bed (let that sun shine in your hair) by Clones_and_gallifrey (Jake/Amy, 8k): "Sometimes, when he wakes up, he forgets he’s a dad of two (two!) for twenty seconds or so, and it feels like there’s something missing, something seriously and catastrophically wrong. And then he remembers the look in Leo’s eyes the first time they took him to the planetarium, and the shaky way Mia learned to take her first steps." It’s a Sunday in Spring, and Jake’s juggling fatherhood with the knowledge that the greatest chapter of his life to date is coming to a close. [ALL THE FAMILY FEELS! This is a sequel to and all my world is losing light, so you should read that one first and then you should read this one. It will melt your heart.]

there on a balcony in summer air by philthestone (Jake/Amy, 2k): Jake’s pretty sure that that movie doesn’t actually exist, but the concept of it is kind of terrifying, because what if he is Random Wrong Fiance No. 23? Except instead of Matthew McConaughey ruining things, the ceiling falls in, or Amy gets abducted by aliens. Or worst, Charles gets abducted by aliens. Or even worst, Gina’s baby gets abducted by aliens.That would definitely be the worst of all, Jake thinks, because Gina would never let any of them forget that her progeny was probably the youngest person ever to do space travel. [Jake and Amy get married and it is so very soft and gentle and lovely and them.]

we watched the sun set over the castle on the hill by elsaclack (Jake/Amy, 5k): “I don’t think I’m allowed to be happy.” [Em is a master at making me feel things with her writing and she does it again here. I cried. I cried hard. Part of that was because I read the fic while emotionally vulnerable because Depression™ but the other part was because she just digs into Jake’s vulnerabilities - and Amy’s feelings on the matter - so well. And my boy gets to be happy. He does. And it’s beautiful. And I cry yet again for how happy I am for them.] 

What if we ruin it all, and love like fools by EveningRose (Jake/Amy, 9k):  Amy Santiago, World's most Amazing Detective slash Genius, a title so elite that only a handful of people know about it (and which she happens to share with two other people) is on a mission. Her goal is to complete cooking classes and successfully bake good cupcakes, and she's determined to succeed. Only problem is, Amy's not really great at baking. Which gives Gina and Rosa the perfect in to torment Amy-pleasing Jake, who'll eat whatever she makes. Except sometimes, situations turn out way better than you could possibly imagine. [THIS IS THE CUTEST FIC!!!! It’s honestly as sweet as cupcakes and just as enjoyable - if not more so. It also has some funny moments that made me laugh just like the show does.]

you can tell me when it’s over if the high was the worth the pain by elsaclack (Jake/Amy, 35k): Once upon a time, there was a knight in shining pantsuit armor who rescued a fair prince from an evil hawk's detention center... Or, Amy has never been one to lie down at the face of injustice; this is especially true when the one facing injustice happens to be the love of her life. Post s4 finale fic, in 4 movements. [WHAT A FANTASTIC, INCREDIBLE FIC! It’s certainly in my top 5 of B99 fics and everyone should absolutely read it. You’ll feel so many emotions and it’ll be a wild rollercoaster and the ending will be so satisfying and good. Plus there’s this life-changing speech that honestly just made me pause while reading to stare off into the void and think. SO GOOD!]

you’re a sky full of stars by oceanvirus (Jake/Amy, 2k): Jake's always known of Amy's love for astronomy, but it's a whole other experience to see her in such a state of complete awe. The look in her eyes as she studies the skies carefully is nothing short of wonder, and it causes a comforting sense of warmth and something else – something unidentifiable, yet still pleasant – to settle in his stomach. (Later on, when she turns that same gaze towards him, that something will solidify into uninhibited affection.) Jake discovers Amy's secret stargazing spot, but he can't seem to focus on constellations as much as he can focus on the one excitedly pointing them out. [Adorable, like so incredibly adorable, I love it. Also bonus points for astronomy!!!]

Marvel

Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold; by summerdayghost (Gwen/MJ, 3k): "'In life, love gnawed my skin // To this white bone; // What love did then, love does now: // Gnaws me through.'" - Dialouge Between Ghost and Priest by Sylvia Plath. Or in which Mary Jane can't find her mascara. [I love Gwen/MJ with all my heart and I love this fic a lot. It has this lovely haunting quality while also capturing the light-hearted moments beautifully. It hurts and it’s very good]

[sightofsea]

this is rly dumb and there is the HUGE chance im going to regret this but ok

basically when i was 15 i wrote an approx. 200k OC doctor who fanfiction featuring a kind of half self insert/half attempt to subvert mary sue comapnion stereotypes named jenna quigley. and ive been thinking about it more lately like the general storyline bc like. idk. n i figured i should write it out.

i should mention this is all 11th doctor era bc i was a huge fan at that time, and it takes place between that time he leaves amy n rory to when he does his farewell tour bc i wanted to try n add some canonical irony that ill get to later

so basically its all narrated from jenna pov as kind of stories she’s telling to the tardis database via recording. why, we don’t know yet. she;s. ok so in the plot she was from our universe n was an AVID fan of the show which like tacky i know but whatever. she starts out 15 and in basically my house and neighborhood (this fic started from a constant daydream i would have of going on adventures w the doctor bc i was a nerdy 15 yo so like. sue me) and there have been a disturbing amount of disappearances in the surrounding area that local police are stuck on. so everyones kinda afraid to go out into their own homes and at one point, jenna is doing something out in her backyard and actually witnesses one of the abductions, but is surprised to see the kidnapper looks like the silence, aka the television show shes been watching. she thinks shes going bonkers. her family leave her alone for the day to go to a thing for one of her siblings and she’s just kind of ruminating on this event when--lo and behold, an officer arrives at her door.

and jenna, she’s very skeptical about this guy. like, given recent events she doesnt trust her own eyes. and the guy is...off. like his badge n credentials, if she concentrates, looks like something else for a flash of a second, and for some reason the figure of him is kind of hazy whenever jenna tries to look directly at him. he is shown to have a quirky, friendly demeanor n jenna figures well, i gotta tell someone about what ive seen, so she invites him in. they have a brief chat n its obvious to the reader that this guy is someone VERY familiar (mostly due to my bad writing at the time) and jenna begins to explain what she saw and how its like this one show she watches, and this guy suddenly becomes very very interested in this before realizing he’s got it all pieced together and asks for jenna’s help in navigating the area to find what is, ultimately, a silence space ship.

jenna agrees and over time realizes this guy is most definitely connected to something in the whoniverse and originally believes he might be a time agent bc that seems more likely given their number as they travel to the ship. its also revealed that the officer has brought jenna along bc the key thing about what she saw is that she actually remembers the silence and can see past perception filters due to the qualities of alternate universe, slightly alternate brain chemistry and so on. its not exactly perfect--she can’t get through perception filters rly, especially good ones--but its enough to know something is wrong n remember certain things others from the dw universe might not be able to like the actual silence aliens themselves.

anyway they make their way to the ship, which has come through a massive tear in reality that the officer came through. in the fic lore i guess tears are seen as usually benign things meant to leak ideas of universes into other universes as a kind of waste disposal system, and as a side effect create inspiration in those who are close to them. this tear, though, became too big, kind of like a leaky pipe, and actual material was able to get through by keeping a frequency from both ends of the tear as a kind of safety rope. and to maintain their energy as a stranded ship the silence have been using humans as batteries. i put a lot of thought into this, i know.

SO once theyre in the ship the “”officer”” (we know who he is by now lets just face it) and jenna are captured n separated. jenna is held hostage and it is revealed she is a part of a second half of the “silence will fall when the question is asked” prophecy which goes “the unexpected shall follow the guided task” (i loved rhymes) which is further revealed to the be the following: change the timeline and destroy the doctor. and jenna, being jenna, is like “listen u guys i dont even know the guy so uh failed step one i guess”. she’s saved by the “”officer”” in the nick of time through work of faulty electrical work (like? i know its for style but the silence have all those lights on the floor n it is VERY dangerous) so the whole ship is blacked out n she hears the differently pitched speech patterns (”why do u sound all different” “they took my equipment nevermind lets go”) and after doing some work to reverse the frequency and basically make the ship implode back into its original universe they run back to jenna’s home in the dark, seeing as she was out for quite a bit. her family is conveniently not home yet n decided to hang out with some friends. and when she gets back n is finally in the light SURPRISE!!! turns out the officer was the doctor all along in disguise from the silence using a perception filter. 15 year old me was a literary genius.

n u might think hannah this is rly long is it done now and of course it isnt!! that was just the intro!! after the initial shock jenna kind of parses what era the doctor is from, which is pre-silencio but after finding out about it n in that 200 yr stretch that was never rly shown. and jenna’s like, a whole season ahead of him basically and knows all this stuff and is trying to engage with this guy she’s a huge fan of without like accidentally spilling the beans on his future. she sits him down to explain the whole tv show thing n lets him watch an episode while she goes to her room to pack like clothes n her laptop because its not every day the doctor just flies in and she’s 15 so shes like hellz yeah im gonna be a COMPANION not even THINKING of the consequences in terms of the multiverse, the prophecy and her family (she does leave a note but its self centered n kinda lame tbh just like be back whenever). afterwards she walks the doctor back to the tardis and is like so where we gonna go n the doctor looks at her like jenna you are a literal child im not taking you anywhere and jenna though some MASTERY of writing that was basically hey look over there! and doing it anyway sneaks into the tardis when the doctor isnt looking n becomes his stowaway.

for the next few weeks she just kind of chills in the tardis with this fear that the doctor will immediately bring her back home so might as well have fun and kinda sneaks around him and keeps couch hopping from room to room. the tardis does not like her one bit due to the whole different universe funky energies thing (and this was pre-clara and i really wanted to see a companion the tardis didnt like so) and has multiple conversations with it via the interface hologram which meant i could write cameos for classic companions and write the tardis as a character bc i was a nerd.

SO after weeks of casually avoiding the doctor eventually she gets caught by him and hes not happy about it so shes like well ok then send me home n then she gets the real kicker which is the tears all mended up. after the material was put back in place it went back to being benign n too small for anything to travel between. so jenna basically stuck in this foreign universe with a very slim chance of returning back to her old life and her family and friends and she mistakes the doctors anger at the situation for anger at her so shes like basically im all alone here oh god n has a crisis n has a dramatic run off into the bowels of the tardis hallways

eventually the doctor finds her and they bond over being kind of the last of their kind in a way and he takes a kind of fatherly role and is like well youre already here and im miserable on my own so why dont we two birds one stone it n just go on adventures for the time being and takes a kind of fatherly platonic role with jenna bc i was sick of seeing companions hook up with the doctor and was confused as to why they wanted to hook up with him (spoiler alert: huge lesbian)

so they set off on their adventures. the first one was about the doctor and jenna accidentally boarding a ship of genetically engineered soldiers called evos being shipped off to a galactic war and finding out some of them had rebelled and had been camping out in the ships underbelly. they had no mouths but were able to communicate via sign language n empath touch powers of transferable memories. the captain was a bitch who didnt see the evos as living things n eventually in a stand off either offered them a chance for the other, still podded evos to live and for them all to live a horrible life or have the podded evos be ejected into space in return for them to have a chance to fight for their freedom. the choice ended up coming down to jenna, somehow, i think, and she chose freedom and cost the lives of like 200 evos but were able to get the ones they were able to save (about, like, 100 i think) to safety and create their own civilization away from harm on a distant planet and their success and triumph to live their own lives i guess canceled out the fact that jenna played a part in the deaths of 200 beings. it was. i dont even know 

the next “episode” after a brief interlude of less impactful adventures and discussing mortality was a sherlock crossover episode that im too embarrassed to go into detail about but did reveal jenna’s newly formed abandonment issues due to her stranded in a strange universe situation and the fact she had a self harm problem that, surprise, mirrored mine. her n the doctor went on some more adventures over the next few months that were mentioned in passing. it should be noted that this first “act” i guess takes place over a solid year

the next episode featured river song bc i was gay for her without knowing it and i had just learned about easter island in history class and i decided to expand on one of the adventures said in passing during the series to kind of root my fic in canon bc i was a smarmy bitch. it involved being perceived as gods and the silence and using the flesh as a means of luring villagers to be used as human batteries and also putting a percetion filter on the ship so what was actually a crater was perceived to be a mountain. through this episode we saw the doctor again facing his own mortality, river sitting jenna down after a series of events pieced together her abandonment issues n harm problem n being like you cant rely on the doctor for this alone trust me i know its fun but when it starts ending it wont be. jenna gets kidnapped again by the silence n is reproduced as flesh to try and steer the doctor n river away from saving the day but overcomes that impulse and eventually pulls herself out of it and helps save things.

this episode also imports an important plot device of misplacement, which i shouldve put in earlier if im honest. the basic idea of it, within the fic lore, was that the universe, multiverse, whatever had to compensate for temporal displacement all the time when choices were made, but when big things that would alter history happened--like a giant supposed mountain blowing up 200 years after it had already blew up--it had a fail safe to transport the object causing the harm to the exact place but in a different time where the event would have less of a temporal impact. theres also an important note here where the doctor doesnt recall jenna being with him on their first adventure together. both are setting up the larger plot.

after the deal with the kidnapping and the flesh and all their adventures the doctor becomes kind of protective of jenna because i mean the dude also has abandonment issues like lets be real. so he kind of tones down the danger in fear of jenna dying or getting hurt. i mean, its been a year and theyve kind of become these friends who snark at each other like a family would and its nice that jenna has this person she can trust because she watched the show and like, knows him and knows his tells and calls him out on his bullshit before he can even get started and feels a kind of responsibility for due to the prophecy she was given and the doctor has someone to talk to and someone he also doesnt have to hide from really because she already knows almost everything. theyve been equally protective of each other--jenna keeping the doctor in the dark about the prophecy about her and keeping mum on the fact that she knows he isnt going to die, and the doctor worrying about jenna’s safety and trying not to screw her up like he has past companions to kind of try to atone for his past mistakes and make it up to this girl whose life he kind of unintentionally ruined. ok honestly idk why im getting in depth but i spent. years on this fic you dont understand

so. after a while jenna just kind of calls the doctor out like come on lets at least go somewhere fun and end up spending christmas eve in new york in the forties and befriend this newly single mother and jenna fakes a REALLY BAD accent to get across that her n the doctor are related n poor to gain sympathy. they do all the things she wants like times square and macy’s, where surprise! she sees amy n rory n their son and just kind of like. guides them away from the doctor like guys. this aint ur guy. and it would fuck EVERYTHING up also hi i know your guys’s entire life story, cute kid, etc. they give jenna some advice dealing w the doctor and she tells them that she’ll try her best to make sure he doesnt like, go self hating n all that bullshit n they part ways. her n the doctor meet up again and throughout this whole first part jenna’s been noticing people following her? with like, these weird orange-y eyes. and she thinks like fuck ok this’ll ruin the adventure, maybe theyll leave but they end up starting to go after her and reveal themselves to be a species called the visicheck

after escaping and dumpster diving because the visicheck hunt based on scent, jenna and the doctor start heading towards the single mother’s place for refuge (she had seen their situation n offered a place to spend christmas eve) and on the cab ride over the doctor explains that the visicheck r these ancestors of the family of blood, and basically are lifeless specks that latch onto living things and possess them until they burn them out and move onto the next one. they consume what is the basic energy a thing needs to exist and be alive, and for different species there’s different levels. lets say a dw universe human is ur basic ten on the scale. because of different circumstances in different universes, jenna is basically a 120 on the scale. like, these things could possess her body and use it for centuries to wreck havoc with the kind of energy she holds. and jenna, thinking about the prophecy of changing the timeline and also not wanting to basically be the living dead is like yeah ok fuck this is bad. 

they find some brief refuge in the single mothers apartment for a time and enjoy a lovely christmas eve dinner but eventually the visicheck catch up to them. the doctor escorts the single mother n her kid into a cab to get as far away as possible while jenna is just supposed to keep holed up in the apartment, but things arent so easy and they end up breaking in. she’s able to hit them over the head with a pan n kind of stave them off for a bit and heads for the roof, but is eventually backed into a circle. knowing the visichek can’t possess something that is dead and not wanting to potentially endanger the universe just to keep her life jenna jumps off the building in a dramatic fashion that i wrote to play with the carol of the bells because i thought it was cool, and you know what? it was. it really was.

and so jenna dies

at least for a bit

she wakes up in the tardis, rly confused because like, she died. like she knows she did. and the doctors not speaking n acting all broody and she finally gets the story out of him that after she died (posted as an anonymous person in the newspaper, i should note, and put in an unnamed grave to keep the whole “written in stone” thing in line) he kind of. went off on his own for a bit before rly hating himself for letting jenna die right in front of him and went back to catch and save her before she landed, therefore altering the events as it happened. and jenna is...not happy about this. like, one bit. because, in a twist of fate, because she is both living and dead the universe must compensate by going to misplacement, but jenna can’t fully complete the misplacement “”process”” i guess until she is in the exact location she is misplaced from, only different time and all, and in this case she’s in the tardis which almost always has its shields up, so she can’t even complete that bit. so, as explained, the universe will start the process over whenever the tardis decides to fly off again, and send jenna to a different time within the tardis’s general vicinity.

basically, she’s gonna be stuck hopping around the doctor’s timeline. like, all of it, until she finally meets up with the right doctor who knows her n has been past this point. which could take years for her. and, mind you, the task she was “assigned” in the prophecy was to change the timeline, and as a result destroy the doctor. so this is basically jenna’s worst nightmare, and she finally spills the beans about the prophecy in a fit of anger before trying to say goodbye and being whisked off

and this is where the angst stuff happens

basically, for the next year or so (when i rewrite in my head its two years, makes more sense) jenna is thrown around one end of the universe to the other, trying to stay out of the way of the doctor’s events while also trying to, you know, survive and eat and drink and sleep. she’s basically a homeless vagabond for most of it, and her abandonment issues and self harming kind of escalate. she begins leading a really lonely life, and grows this kind of love/hate relationship with the doctor where she really hopes to see him again but also grows bitter against him for putting him in this situation. she visits companions before their time with the doctor, like donna, by accident and stumbles through meeting them and trying to just keep going. in her loneliness she starts talking to a version of the doctor in her head, which starts taking more and more of a form to her before its a fully grown kind of hallucination she’s created out of loneliness (which was kind of based off of me being a lonely kid and having pretend conversations with characters to simulate human connection which is. sad. i know. really sad. its a lot). 

for a time jenna is stuck with the doctor and martha during the months leading up to human nature/the family of blood, and inadvertently meets martha and gets a job at the school as a fellow maid through helping martha drag the doctor to the place. she figures its the only stability she’ll have for a while and since she was never shown in the show it isnt rly affecting the most important bits of the timeline, and resolves to stay as far away from john smith as she can and just live out her life until the events of the episodes start happening and she’ll vamoose. she adopts an accent to blend in and when she has free time finds the stashed away tardis, which initially does not recognize jenna as a companion until finding archived recordings from the future bc duh its a time machine, which brings the whole pov thing full circle, and interacts with the interface to get answers about her growing questions about the silence and her situation and learns about a device called the cage, which has been alluded to in previous “episodes” only by name, as a great machine created by the silence that is meant to basically make it so that anything inside of it would be erased for existence, past present and future, using energy form the cracks in the universe. this was still at a point in the actual series where we knew nothing so i just kind of went buckwild.

anyways

jenna ends up having to interact with the tenth doctor as john smith once, and kind of aims all of her bitterness towards her future self at him and realizes that isnt fair, apologizes, and has a cathartic moment of finally moving past a grudge with the wrong version of the doctor. eventually the events of the episodes start happening and she vamooses before getting sent off to god knows where again, yippee

eventually through the next year jenna kind of begins to rly lose hope. like, it’s been a year already, she doesn’t know if she can keep living like this. so she makes a deal with herself to wait out until the end of this second year of time travelling vagabonding before she decides to off herself to save herself and the universe the trouble. 

she keeps going through the motions and actually stumbles upon a future, post-silencio doctor, with rory and amy in tow, and in a fit of like oh my god relief she kind of runs up to him and is like i found you, finally, holy shit n the doctor looks at her like im sorry but i dont...know you? like i genuinely dont know who you are. you might have ur timelines all switched up. and jenna knows this isnt true and freaks out and kind of just is like, theres like fifteen days until the deadline, all hope is lost, gonna just completely self destruct n cuts her hair and stops eating, but on the day of the actual deadline she keeps stalling as she zaps from place to place before finally deciding to end how it should end by jumping off a building n she has this heartfelt convo with this imaginary figure thats kept her company all this time

so she makes the journey up this apartment building in this basically abandoned future...chicago, i think? yeah. and you know, is about to do when whaddaya know, a familiar voice is calling out for her. she thinks its just the hallucination but eventually realizes that its actually the doctor, one that knows her, and they have this really heartfelt hug before she punches him square in the face

after the fact is a lot of secret keeping on jenna’s side. she doesnt want to be a burden and just kind of wants things to eventually get back to normal after a period of just resting finally and lies about her time being thrown around the doctors timeline, telling him it was only a few months instead of two years, and hiding the evidence of her self harm and other forms of self destruction to try and get things back to the way they were. the doctor can see through jenna’s bullshit though and over a month of just kind of chilling in the tardis and getting better she eventually tells him and after being pulled into an adventure with alien bees and a prison break and characters very much based off of the captor brothers from homestuck they kind of find their original rhythm

the next adventure was the one where i stopped writing mostly bc the plot absolutely sucked. it was a beach adventure episode, involving aliens and aliens who were mermaids and being stranded on a remote island. also, at the time i was going through a sexuality crisis and decided jenna was gonna go through it too and made her realize she was gay for one of the alien mermaids and totally made out with her. you can see how the plot was failing a bit, and the only thing i dont regret is the whole mermaid makeout thing really. 

the rest of the series from that point on was supposed to go something like this: jenna has to go back to her old high school, except in the dw universe, and finds out she actually doesn’t exist in this universe??? which is weird. the doctor plays teacher and they live in the prop attic of the school investigating a counselor that literally feeds off of emotions until the students are a husk and die. there was going to be a filler where the doctor and jenna start the doctors farewell tour (it is revealed when they finally find each other at the end of the timeline jumping debacle that the doctor has like two years left until silencio happens, with like a hundred years passing between new york n finding jenna) and the doctors mortality is discussed and jenna begins to wonder what happens to her since she isnt at the event or anything going forward, and begins to worry about the prophecy again.

the finale of jenna’s adventures was supposed to go like this: they end up tackling the silence again, only with the help of the cage, after jenna notices the doctor beginning to forget more and more things about her. they get captured and the silence plan to place the doctor in the cage and eradicate him from existence so that the question to be asked never existed to begin with. i hadnt figured out how yet, but basically jenna would finally click everything together and realize it was her destiny to do this, and even had a better chance since it eradicated her from this universe, and she still had a life in another one and could maybe start over and appreciate her family and friends a bit more, and would pull a switcheroo so that she would be put in the cage and slowly eradicated from existence. from that point the silence ship would kind of go haywire from the power being used by the cage and jenna would drag the incapicitated doctor back to the tardis and saying she has to go record something real quick, and then we dont hear from her again.

last scene would be of the doctor, years and years into the future, during one of his alone periods, sifting through the tardis database and happening upon the archived recording files and listening to them, not remembering exactly but living through these events with a person that was there but also never there to begin with, and the last recording being an actual face recording of jenna saying you know, she doesnt regret a minute of it, go out there and have a nice life and dont feel bad for her before saying goodbye and zapping out of existence.

last “scene” i guess would be a fifteen year old jenna, rather than the 18-19 year old we’ve come to know, waking up the day it all started and realizing she accidentally napped through the whole day when her parents wake her up. it seems apparent she doesn’t remember a thing, but her parents say something offhand that wouldve been a prolific line and she has a sense of deja vu and hints towards her someday maybe remembering but also having a chance to live a life without the trauma of her life lead in the other universe

+

so uh yeah. idk why i decided to write all of this. actually i do i have an essay i have to write but. idk this fic was a huge part of my life for like. a good amount of time and despite its tackiness im actually very proud of it and just wanted to share its story without having anyone ever have the link to it and read it because despite my careful planning i did narrate like a superwholock for most of it and it was REALLY annoyin. but this fic and the character of jenna actually helped me work through a lot of my own bullshit and im still kind of in love with it. and in the years to come actually m*ffat fucking used these plot points like the tardis hating the companion n the doctor forgetting about a companion like years after i wrote this shit but i think i wrapped up the cracks in the universe n silence thing pretty fucking well so uh. petition for fifteen year old me to rewrite the last half of season 6 i guess. anyway its 2 in the morning and i just wrote honest to god a full 5,000 words about my doctor who oc fanfiction so uh. yeah. fuck.

[mytrumarareviews]

Nostalgia Glasses: Sailor Moon (Part 3): Season 1, Episodes 23 - 33

So, a reminder about how this series works.

I will be looking at these episodes without wearing rose tinted glasses and openly criticize what I do and don’t like about each episode. I will be skipping past any filler episodes, this means that I will be skipping past any episodes that don’t directly relate to the plot of develop more aspects of each character than we have already established. Without further ado, let’s get started.

Episode 23 - Naru’s First Love

This episode was the turning point for Nephrite’s character. He starts off by taking advantage of Naru’s love for him but by the end he starts to realize that human love isn’t something that can be taken or controlled. Naru ends up protecting him from Usagi’s tiara, even if it would mean her own life would be at risk. He, in turn, protects her from a youma that’s attempting to kill her. It’s a good example of a sympathetic villain who starts off very abusive.

Now the biggest criticism I have here is that Nephrite’s entire character arc happens over two episodes instead of happening over the filler that’s really easily skipped without missing anything.

This episode also brings up themes of infatuation and abusive relationships. Naru doesn’t realize that Nephrite is using her to get the crystal and Usagi is attempting to tell her that he’s not a good guy. In fact it isn’t until she protects him from death that he becomes sympathetic towards her and actually seems to care about her.

They even treat the themes of infatuation really well in this episode. It’s stated in this episode that Naru only really loves Nephrite because he’s really attractive and has shown her, and her alone, false kindess at various points.

Episode 24 - Nephrite Dies for Love

So going into this episode I want to bring one very important thing up about Japanese culture, and something we could learn from it here in the west. Now before I get into this I want to say that I know that Japan is not a perfect country and there are many flaws with the way it runs, much like any other country. Though they do have a few censorship laws that I like.

So, this episode shows a 14 year old girl in the complete nude. It shows her entire body but what it doesn’t do is sexualize it. This is the biggest difference between western culture and Japanese culture, the West has this cultural taboo against nudity, I’m not going to get into everything, but even non-sexualized nudity will bring a show’s rating up to 14+ (or 14a in America). In Japan however, the censorship laws don’t make this a taboo in their fiction and this show can still be a family series.

Now getting on to the actual episode...

Some people could criticize this episode for having a damsel in distress plot halfway through but on the other hand it’s actually having a male character sacrifice his life to save the girl he loves. It’s not until this episode that he really starts to have feelings for her and understand what love is, but at the same time it is his redemption episode, he dies so that somebody else might live on. Turning a damsel in distress plot into a very well written tragic romance.

I always remembered Nephrite the most out of any villain I’d seen in fiction up to this point because he was the first sympathetic villain I’d seen since I started really taking fiction seriously. Up until this point I’d been watching really bad kids shows because they were on, but along with getting easy access to the internet I also came across anime for the first time in 7 years.

The dramatic timing in this episode is perfect though. When Nephrite enters to save Naru he looks intimidating, he fights near flawlessly and ends up rescuing her from the three Youma that have captured her. The pacing in the next few scenes in spot on as Naru brings him into a little park to wrap his wounds in some of the fabric from her pajamas. They have a conversation about starting a legitimate relationship and just as things start to seem like they’ll go right for them and he might actually become a better person for her, he takes an attack meant for her.

This leads to him telling her to run so that he can die without her having to see hit happen but she refuses and starts to pull the weapon from his chest. The Youma tells her it’s impossible but using all the strength she can muster while simultaneously being electrocuted she nearly pulls the weapon out. This is of course before they’re attacked again. Nephrite shields her this time and takes the entirety of the attack, again. He insists that she runs but before the Youma can kill them the Senshi arrive and save them. But it’s too late for Nephrite and we get a heartfelt goodbye of him apologizing for all the times he’s lied to and manipulated Naru, showing that his true character was honest and compassionate and that in another world they could have been a healthy couple. With those thoughts in your mind the episode ends and this song starts to play:

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLqJBXggDvc)

I love this episode so much.

Episode 25: The Brawny Girl in Love

So, this episode introduces both Sailor Jupiter and the moon scepter 

I still like Jupiter’s character a lot. It’s obvious from her first episode that she feels very self conscious about her height. Though she seems to go for the same type of guy who would say things like “massive girls like her aren’t my type” instead of giving her a chance. This leads to her being a hopeless romantic. By the way she reacts to the way he turned her down we can safely assume that she lost it when she was turned down the first time and attacked the guy. Getting herself expelled form her past school and moved to this one, where she would practice more restraint. She’s a lot more aggressive with complete strangers than any of the other main characters as shown by the way she reacts when Usagi is spying on her, this being in her nature makes it so that she doesn’t understand why people see her as unapproachable. She also shows that when somebody she either idolizes or loves is in danger that she’s willing to fight to protect them, and that she’s physically strong enough to lift between 100 and 200 pounds of weight over her head.

In other words, she’s tall, strong, and aggressive yet compassionate.

She’s very deep from her first episode and this episode was really meant to both introduce her and develop her character.

Episode 26: The Power of Friendship

So, I may start using the western title on few of these because they’re generally better and don’t just give out the episode’s plot in them starting this episode.

So this episode revolves around Usagi attempting to cheer up Naru after a couple weeks had passed since Nephrite died. Now I want to bring up that well this was airing in Japan, this happened over a couple of weeks in real time, it’s pretty awesome how they made the series match up with real time as it aired.

This episode also gives us a bit more exposition about the Great Youma and serves to develop Mamoru’s character a bit more. When it comes to the villain of the week, well, I wish we could have seen this priest throughout the rest of the series. I mean we see him in the RPG, which I may cover later. It would have been nice to see Naru try to turn to something like the church to try and cope with Nephrite’s death, which for this episode she does. But it would have given her a bit more character in the end.

This episode is also a good example of how Usagi is always in a constant state of “holy shit” whenever she’s fighting an enemy. She’s inexperienced and it she definitely shows it when she fights, though she can follow orders when they’re given to her. I also think she’s bipolar, but that’s neither here nor there.

Episode 27-32: More filler

Now having plot relevant happenings being filler isn’t new for this series. They did it with Ami’s introduction after all. 

In these episodes, we see that Ami is capable of being more than just a bookworm, but instead of physical attractiveness, intelligence is what somebody would have to use to attract her. The character in question Urawa, only does well on tests because he can see the future and therefore know what the answers to tests are. He also doesn’t canonically show up again and only really makes an appearance in the RPG after this. Another one has Usagi and Mamoru being forced to model together for an artist. Another one has Usagi and Makoto realizing that the guy they have a crush on has a girlfriend. Then we get Umino dressing as Tuxedo Mask to try and woo Naru, saving her life in the process. The last one does reveal that Luna is from the moon (though she’s actually an ambassador from another solar system in the manga, alongside Artemis). It’s a whole lot of filler that doesn’t really push the plot forward. But then we get to...

Episode 33: Sailor V Makes the Scene

Minako is probably the most developed character in the series, save Usagi and Mamoru. She has the most episodes centering around her out of any non-Usagi senshi throughout the entire series and to be honest it’s for good reason. She’s an amazingly deep character who was actually the first Sailor Moon character to be created, she starred in her own manga serial when Sailor Moon was only in it’s infancy and honestly, it’s a really good serial that allows her character to develop even further. Why do I bring this up, well if the title of the episode didn’t give you a hint, this is her introduction episode.

So the episode revolves around Zoisite cross-dressing to masquerade as Sailor Moon in an attempt to draw Tuxedo Mask out.

This episode was probably the reason Zoisite is female in the dub, because even if the actions are portrayed as villainous, the catholic parents will get pissed off about it and that’s not something we’d want now is it. I never really got this way of thinking, if you think something is bad and a villain is portrayed doing it and these guys are obviously the bad guys, why are you mad about it. Do you have such little faith in you children that you think they’ll idolize the bad guys? Mind you they have a homosexual couple portrayed as normal in the third season, which takes the hetero-normative attitude out of this show for pretty much the rest of the series. It’s also one of the reasons that the third season is my favorite.

But what I do like about Zoisite’s disguise is that it’s made of blues and purples. In Japan, blue often represents hidden evil or a character who at first seems nice but ends up being evil by the end. And purple represents death. Both are bad things, so even by looking at the design, you could tell that they were evil. Say if Zoisite hadn’t outright stated his plan beforehand. Another thing, Zoisite has really, really nice legs.

There is, however, one animation mistake that actually made me break out in laughter. For an entire second (about 20 frames in the 90′s) they had started the animation to open her mouth and just left it until they were at the right part for her transformation sequence.

So Zoisite successfully tricks everybody and Mamoru “saves” him. Zoisite then proceeds to stab Mamoru in the shoulder, causing him to fall in pain.

So this shows the first aspect of Minako’s character that I love. Aside from being an attractive character, though I don’t want to sound like a pedophile with that statement. She’s only 14 (even though every female character in this is drawn with adult proportions) in this arc. Actually, the characters in this show are all written with the personality quirks of a 16 to 18-year-old girls rather than 14-year-old girls. Mamoru’s also only around 16, being only a couple years older than the rest of the main cast. If anything that’s something I can heavily criticize about the writing in this series. Especially when it comes down to things like Naru’s infatuation with Nephrite. I also don’t want to seem perverted or pedophilic at all by saying this, but they all have rather larger breasts for 14-year-old girls and their legs are way too long.

If you want a good example of a 14-year-old character, take a look at shows like Pretty Cure. At this stage in their lives, 14-year-old girls don’t necessarily have a bust the size of any of the characters in this show. The design works with characters like Uranus and Neptune due to them having gotten through puberty. Hell, by the time the fifth season rolls around they’re 18-years-old, which is now the age of majority in japan.

Sorry about that, I do have a few gripes with this show and the fact that the main cast have adult figures kind of peeves me.

Anyway, getting back on track, she’s very confident when she’s transformed into Sailor Venus. Nobody knows who she is and she doesn’t nervous like she does when she’s not in costume. She’s also willing to break fingers to save her allies. She shoots straight through both Zoisite’s and Kunzite’s hands to stop them from harming others, this means that she’s not afraid to get violent if the need arises. Yet she’s vastly different when we see her in her everyday life.

It’s also nice to see how Usagi reacts to meeting her idol.

Overall this was a good episode, even if it does bring up a few of the things that really peeve me about this show.

[proofthatihaveaheart]

February Fic Recs

I didn’t read as much fic this month, partially because I started working my second job and partially because I was reading books instead. Also writing! I finished 2 fics this month!! Here’s to doubling that number next month! Anyway, alphabetical order as always.

[5 Brooklyn Nine-Nine, 1 In the Flesh]

Brooklyn Nine Nine

How to Propose to Amy Santiago by jormaperalta (Jake/Amy, 6k): "Jake Peralta’s no-fail how-to guide on how to propose to the love of your life in 13 easy steps." [Very cute, I spent the entire time clutching at my heart and internally squealing. Plus the entire squad plays a part in this fic and it’s great.] 

Influence by VivaRocksteady (gen with some Kevin/Holt, 5k): "Raymond and Kevin adopted Jake as a baby. Now Jake is 12 and just made friends with a little hooligan named Doug Judy, and Raymond is concerned. Actually, he's outraged." [Great fic with lots of really good family moments between the trio, it's sweet and captures the differences in Holt and Kevin through their parenting styles and Jake beings friends with Doug Judy is always fun]

i’ve been sleepwalking too close to the fire by elsaclack (Jake/Amy, 87k): Amy goes undercover immediately following the events of Johnny and Dora. Jake and the others try to deal. [I LOVE THIS FIC. It's honestly one of my favorite B99 fics. The writing is stellar. elsaclack nailed the characters and dynamics, both in terms of Peraltiago, their love and trust, as well as the squad as a family. Plus this fic hits all the right emotional beats, providing a very visceral reading experience. It’ll make you cry and laugh and smile. It’s so good.]

the only proof that i need is you by elsaclack (Jake/Amy, 21k): "in which Amy makes a habit of ranting to the bartender (about her terrible day, her last awful date, the patriarchy), and Jake takes it upon himself to try to make her smile." [Fantastic AU featuring a gradual development of their love, the rest of the squad being a family, and lots of really cute moments. Made my heart feel full and plastered a ridiculous smile on my face. Please read this] 

What Dreams Are Made Of by hoperise (gen, focuses on Jake&Gina with some established Jake/Amy, 2k): What happens the third Sunday in June? Bucket Day, of course. On the first Fathers' Day after Jake cuts ties with Roger, Jake and Gina work on their bucket lists and absolutely, definitely don't talk about their daddy issues. [Excellent Jake&Gina friendship and characterization as they goof around. It’s perfect and it made me laugh a lot and basically I accept Bucket Day as a canon tradition]

In the Flesh

FOXTROT WALKER BLUE by anistar_e (Amy&Kieren Pacific Rim AU, 95k): Three years after extremists interrupt Dr Geiszler's famous speech, Amy Dyer meets Kieren Walker in the middle of the Bering Sea. [Let’s just start by saying I don’t go here. I’ve never seen a single episode and I don’t know anything about the show, but I love anistar_e’s writing so much that I will read basically anything and everything she’s written. Including fic for shows I don’t watch. To be fair, this is an AU, which makes it easier to jump into. Ok, preamble done, let’s talk about the fic. I LOVE this fic. I love that it’s this giant sprawling creature, I love how it handles magnificent world-building to flesh out a society post-kaiju, I love how it develops characters and gives them motivations and dreams including the minor characters, I love the beautiful writing, I love the platonic relationship between the two main characters and every single moment when they drift, I love that ultimately it’s about family and the ties that bind people together and coming together to be something greater. This is an epic, beautiful fic and I highly urge everyone to read it even if they haven’t watched any ITF.]