#kinda similar to ed. very survival focused

[waitineedaname]

regarding tags on your last rb: i feel like ling burns water when he tries to cook but can also make a not half bad basic meal. i feel like these concepts coexist in him

I COULD SEE THAT TBH. during the camping trip from hell, he absolutely ruins several soups and is permanently removed from cooking duty, but then they end up having access to a real kitchen and he somehow pulls together a halfway decent stir fry and everyone is stunned

[zumazozuma]

Hey. FMA Fandom. I freaking did it ok.

Lan Fan's *FULL* automail design from the manga? Yeah. It now finally exists.

Please accept this humble offering as fanon:

NOW EVERYONE DRAW HER!!!

ARAKAWA I HOPE YOU'RE PROUD!!!!!!!

Edit: I thought I'd leave some manga panels to point out a few things I don't have the skills to successfully translate in this ref sheet!

Explanations under the cut!

The armor plates on the shoulder are bigger than what I drew (I tried to put them at an angle but they just look smaller lol) I recommend just enlarging the top plate from the middle! It's supposed to hide most of the upper arm.

If you draw her in full uniform, she of course has bandages and that cool spiky leather strand around her wrist. The spiky knuckles appear to be a separate accessory as well.

The automail isn't all open right on top of the forearm, but on its side, as you'll see in the manga panels. I should've drawn the hand seen from the side but I wanted to show the screw on top of it beheheh.

The thought process behind Lan Fan's automail appears to focus on being as light as possible so that she can keep fighting with speed. Compared to Ed's very solid and armored automail to be as enduring as possible, Lan Fan's trades durability for lightness!

The mechanism for the hidden blade is basically just rings inside the fingers, to which are attached wires that are tethered close to a tiny hook. My thought process behind this is that we most likely want to avoid accidentally unsheathing the blade, so LF has to literally reach for it! It's a safety measure, but I also like that it makes her do a hand move kinda similar to Scar's whenever he's about to use his alchemy/alkahestry destruction for an attack!

For the port, have fun with it! I tried my best to give it an interesting look but I struggled with giving it a 3D metal feel. I focused more instead on where the support would be since the port can't be drilled on most of the chest. Drilled on the back it is!

Finally, if you notice the tiny lock I inserted in the simplified design, no it's not made to render the arm immovable; rather it's just there to secure the automail in the port. You know, during the process to connect the nerves. You attach the little wires, screw the bolts, and lock it all in neatly!

With this, I hope everyone will have fun drawing Lan Fan's full automail! It may not be canon, but it's at least better than nothing! So many art pieces just hide her automail because of that lack of reference, so I hope I helped change that!

(Note: the scars I gave LF on her right shoulder and left side aren't canon either. I saw an art piece way back when and somehow convinced myself that I just had never noticed in the show lol. But you can't tell me the bodyguard to a prince that canonically survived a bunch of assassination attempts wouldn't have a scar or two!!)

NOW DRAW YOUR HEARTS AWAY!!!

[books-are-my-life-stuff]

I cleared another Champion Stadium! This week was pretty rough, but at least I managed to finish it!

Allow me to ramble under read more as this week was pretty interesting.

Marshal: First off, thank you to @crystalelemental for recommending me the team that I used against Marshal: Roxanne as the main tank, Liza as the secondary support, and Giovanni as DPS! 

The fight ended in a blink of an eye! No investment at all on Liza and I did put some of my 3* tickets to Roxanne in anticipation to this. Despite the type disadvantages, Roxanne was very resilient. She tanked extremely well! I’m glad that Giovanni didn’t need to rely on Sycamore and/or Sabrina anymore, because I need both Sycamore and Sabrina for the following fights.

Grimsley: When the Alola Scout tickets and the rest of Pokewars mission presents were distributed, I was lucky enough to get Lusamine. I was actually going to use my stall team (BP Erika Toxic/Infestation shenanigans with Allister) to cheese this, but I unexpectedly got Lusamine. I also gave my 5* move candy to her that I got a while back, for Blizzard accuracy.

That being said, I used her primarily as Bug-type dps here. I thought Giovanni was super frail, but Lusamine certainly made Giovanni looked like a tank (then again maybe because Lusamine wasn’t 5/5 EX unlike Giovanni, so yeah). 

I was very worried on how to keep her alive. In the end, I used Hop and Anni N to buff her defenses and debuff opponents’ attacks respectively. MPR proc on Hop’s attack and defense buff, so thankfully she got +6 Attack and +6 Defense. Thanks to the buff+debuff combo, she actually survived three sync moves, not just got OHKO-ed. I used her trainer move, but only once because she needed to focus on attacking while Hop healed and sometimes attacked when Freevenge proc-ed. N focused on boosting move gauge, and debuffing. 

Lusamine did go down eventually, but Grimsley only had very little health left that Anni N could finish it. I still needed to figure out how to keep her alive somehow, but I guess the whole debuff shenanigans kinda worked.

Shauntal: You saw that I used Winona there instead of Swimsuit Misty who had access to Full Heal and Potions, you could tell I was being desperate. Even with Geomancy, Shauntal just kept on spamming Heat Wave that hit like a truck. I wish I had May, but didn’t get her.

I failed 4 times in this fight. Even relying on special attack debuff parameter and Geomancy wasn’t good enough, it was so hard. Probably the hardest among all the fights. When Shauntal set up a Sunny Day I just went “OH NO YOU DON’T” and used Rain Dance. 

That and Geomancy helped the entire team to survive. Despite the difficulty, nobody went down, but I’m certain nobody could take another Heat Wave and/or sync move. It was very difficult and very intense.

On a somewhat related note, the difficulty of this fight made me realize how epic Shauntal’s Unova Elite Four remix theme is, and very fitting for my desperation.

Caitlin: Now, this team was so experimental, so don’t judge me. I just got Morty a few days ago, and I got him to 2/5 from the free Johto scout tickets. I have tried using him, and he seemed to be rather difficult to use, but I wanted to try anyway. Knight Diantha and Rachel were the other sync pairs that helped against Caitlin in my first Champion Stadium clear, so I used them again.

The result was…interesting. Phantom Force was difficult to use since it took another turn to launch an attack, but it could two-shots one of Caitlin’s companion. Knight Diantha helped with her usual Defense/Sp.Def/Speed leech shenanigans, and Rachel debuffed while healing, albeit only one use, and sadly the MPR on her heal didn’t proc, unlike last time.

Morty went down, but not without dealing a massive damage to Caitlin’s Musharna with Explosion, softening Musharna enough for Knight Diantha to finish it with a Secret Sword. It was similar like the Grimsley fight, but now I knew Morty was very tricky to use. Yet, somehow it worked. 

I should have used Allister, but I dunno why I didn’t. 

Iris: As a disclaimer, I only had BP Zinnia as my reliable Dragon-type dps, Seeing Iris’ team, I assumed it would be a very physical-oriented team, so I brought Sabrina. I used Halloween Caitlin as a tank because she was such a fun tank with amazing utilities.

The battle went very smoothly. It wasn’t as quick as Marshal’s fight obviously, since I wanted Caitlin to sync for the physical+special barrier, so Zinnia had to wait to launch a sync move. But even then, I know I can count on Zinnia. She had Terrify to debuff attack on entry, and never disappointed with her Dragon Rush two-shotting Iris’ companions, and could flinch too. I dunno, I just found Zinnia to be so fun to use, and she’s also supported with amazing teammates, so the battle went very well.

Getting Halloween Caitlin was the best decision, and I was lucky to get her in one multi-scout 12 hours before the banner ended, so I thank @crystalelemental again for the recommendation!

I’m done rambling, thanks for reading my stupid rambles! Hopefully I can clear next week’s Champion Stadium, and hopefully I can get better at this game!

[soleilsuhh]

Could you also do the moot fanfic thing !! You have lovely moots 😊

hii of course !! they definitely are lovely yess 🥺

@himitsu-luna // @thechoppersan

wholesome domestic fluff — her and taeil waking up together and making breakfast or just doing their own thing and just enjoying each other’s presence in the same space. them cuddling together on the sofa while watching movies. very wholesome and cozy energy.

@sarahbkwl

historical fantasy romance au — sarah’s a mermaid, ten’s a dangerous (but secretly good-hearted) huntsman hired by the king to capture the mermaid for whatever reason and they fall in love in the process, but it gets complicated.

@rr0zu

vacation romance au — kind of inspired by the movie “before sunrise.” sam and jaehyun have a chance-meeting in a beautiful city while they’re both on vacation. they immediately click but they’re both returning home the next day so they decide to spend the twenty-four hours they have together, exploring the city and having the best talks.

@kaepopsicle

soulmate au with a love triangle — the main characters are kae, hendery, and johnny. johnny is her best-friend whom she has been in love for a long time. then enters hendery who’s her soulmate. only when hendery and she becomes closer, johnny is like “shit i do love her”

@istgimamess

bestfriends-to-lovers au — with haechan of course. partners-in-crime that end up falling in love with each other. the definition of chaotic duo and they’re so fun and crackheaded together that others become boring or just not as fun. “couples that make trouble together, stay together.”

@mairah-shaikh

spy au — mai and yuta are both spies and are paired together for a mission. they have to pose as a married couple but they find themselves falling into a genuine romance.

@thatkpopmeme

best-friend’s brother au — with a dash of ‘opposites attract.’ johhny is older brother of varsha’s best-friend and she secretly have been crushing on him for the longest time and on a sleepover one night, they end up having a really good talk as neither of them cant sleep that night and they become closer from there.

@hanadolphieron

hogwarts au — eleanor with slytherin!jeongyeon omg. maybe a bit of frenemies-to-lovers like they don’t get along at first but have genuine respect for each other and as they grow older, they develop feelings for each other. they deny it but everyone else can see they’re whipped for each other.

@floweringtheflowers

demigod/camp-half-blood au — starring mark lee and galileo as main characters. kind of the same relationship dynamic as percy jackson and annabeth - just hundred times more chaotic.

@cozychristopher

holiday fluff with neighbors au — it’s christmas !! the first snow of the season falls and she gets excited so goes out in just a jacket and jeans. chan, her new neighbor, sees this and he can see she’s shivering despite her excitement so he offers her a cozy coat and gloves.

@yongsprout

anne of green gables au — basically very similar plot to the show ‘anne with an e’ - lots of aesthetic rural life with female empowerment themes.

@gods-dont-negotiate

idol life au with secret dating — ty is an idol and she is in a secret relationship with another idol, i.m from monsta x. the relationship gets discovered by the dispatch and cue lots of angst angst. but they pull a “hyuna and dawn” and leave the company together and build a whole company together.

@peachyhan

trainee x idol au — nali is a popular trainee at jyp and ends up getting chosen to appear in a music video of stray kids where she meets han jisung and becomes closer with him. cue romance. cue angst.

@hangsxng

vampire au but make it more crackheaded and less brooding — yangyang is a vampire. you go to night school together. the chemistry is there. attraction is there. everything is going so well until you’re like “hey it’s summer vacation; let’s take a beach vacation together.”

@pistoletrose

stranded on an island au — but also enemies-to-lovers. ha and haechan don’t get along and practically cannot stand each other but they get stranded together and now they must put aside their differences to survive together. they fall in love in the process.

@wjnterchild

halloween au — camila and winwin are in the same friend group and they’re playing truth or dare on halloween night and their friends dare camila to go into a notoriously haunted house in town and she agrees but winwin was like “i’ll go with her it sounds fun” but really he’s just worried.

@purplepsycho03

boarding school au — it’s a co-ed boarding school. main characters are steph and jungkook. they’re in the same study group and that’s how their story starts.

@kpopsnowball

coffee shop au — barista!taemin and snowball <333 he finds the name adorable and he always draws the little snow flake next to her name.

@ex0tic-vgh

medieval arranged marriage au — gabi is a princess and jaehyun is the prince of another land. they have been betrothed since they were born although they have never met each other. one day gabi gets in a physical fight with a boy in the forest (for whatever reason) and next day she finds out it’s her fiancé oops

@btsastro

shared apartment au — with taehyung. bonding over a mutual hate for that jerk neighbor. he comes home very drunk one night and mistakes your room as his and ends up sleeping on your bed. you’re just like ?? but omg he looks so cute and kinda hot when drunk.

@infnteen

tutor au — in which haechan is smarter than he lets on and he understands everything in class very well - he finds you cute and so he pretends to not understand anything and requests the teacher/lecturer to assign you as his tutor. (do i see plot holes here? kinda, but it’s cute okay 😭)

@heartyyjeno

high-school au — more focused on friendship with the dreamies but there’s a cute crush thing going with jeno hehe <33 lots of memories made because y’all squad goals. cue the song “graduation by benny blanco ft. juice wrld” on the graduation day. cue tears.

@liudejuns

forbidden romance au — like romeo and juliet (more like xiaojun and mimi) but modern version and with a happy ending. nobody dies.

— ;; please let me know if i missed any one <333

[piracytheorist]

Unpopular opinions about Killian Jones

Liam was a fuck-up long before the writers decided to make him a mass murderer out of nowhere. He was lawful af, Killian was chaotic af, and combined with his big brother complex it's a miracle their relationship even survived this long and you could argue that it was only because of their conditions that they were so close. There was nothing he could have offered Killian if they had a reunion pre-5x15, aside from maybe showing him that he'd moved on so Killian could feel at peace.

Long before 5x14 I wanted Killian to see Milah again though and have a proper goodbye, never did I ever see a fic about that before 5b though oops

When he met Baelfire in Neverland he was at the worst of his grief for Milah and he would've been a horrible influence for him. He wasn't ready to move on and he would've seen him as an emotional replacement plus the amount of lying from his part or the anger from Bae's part upon finding the truth would have made for a poor ground for any kind of relationship. After they met again in Storybrooke, yeah. In Neverland? Nope.

The main reason Wish Hook was a good father to Alice was practically all instinct to help that poor baby survive. After that it was him dealing with himself and his own issues that made him a good father.

On that note, physically he was over the top brave. Throw anything at him, any physical challenge or pain and he'd be like "Is that all you've got?" Emotionally he was a fucking coward. Instead of actually facing the pain of his losses he hid himself behind façades and bravado because it was simply easier. Not shading the dude, of course, but it carried on post s3 - he lied to Emma because he didn't want to face her judgement and whatever negative feelings that could've caused him, he focused always on the tasks at hand after Emma became the Dark One because dealing with his emotions was just too much for him to handle, heck you'll tell me about him letting her go in 5x20 and I'll tell you "Bruh he didn't say goodbye to David and Henry or even Regina and Robin even though he knew the risks they'd taken trying to save him."

(Again it's not an effort to shade him. I fucking love him. But he was super unwilling to ever deal with emotions if he had any way to avoid them, either that being evading or simply focusing on something else)

He wasn't the least bit afraid of being killed by Rumpelstiltskin - he was afraid of being killed before he got his revenge.

On that note, I think it's kind of unpopular to think he had a death wish?? And like I'm not saying this in an uwu, woobiefying, trying-to-justify-his-actions-in-s2 fashion, I'm saying this in a "He was fucking destroyed and didn't care for the consequences of his actions because he only thought of his revenge and didn't think he'd survive long enough after getting it to be burdened by guilt" fashion. Like in 3x17 he hates himself for betraying Ariel from the very first moment - it's because he had tasted his revenge, realized it wasn't worth anything he had gone through and had done himself but by that point he didn't see many options other than returning to his evil ways but surprise bitch this time you wanna live and now you have to deal with the consequences of your actions.

Despite being respectful towards women he didn't know shit about them until Milah taught him what's what and like honestly homeboy lost his mother as a child and grew up among macho men who mistreated him where exactly do you expect knowledge about women to come from

And like yes I'm talking about periods and pregnancy and fuck you if you dare think I'm fragile kinda stuff

After that he's a fucking expert though to the point where Emma is shooketh when he knows exactly how to help her the first time she's on her period while they're dating

Similarly Wish Hook would have had a lot of talk about that stuff with Alice and he'd have zero shame teaching her sex ed and stuff

He loves sea shanties and I’m putting this here because I’ve nearly never seen it mentioned by any other fan even though we weren’t given one (1) single reason to think otherwise so yeah. His world has its own shanties (since many, many of our shanties mention places in our world) but the style is similar. And because when singing the cockiness comes out he always sings the main melody.

[the-ronan-cycle]

Diverse Book Recs

I recently typed up a list of books for a friend who said she’d stopped reading because she couldn’t find diverse/queer books. This list is predominately focused on queer diversity but there’s also lot’s of super awesome ladies and poc here too. The list is also in two parts, the first are all books that I’ve read myself and include me trying to give a summary, content warnings (If I can remember, I can’t guarantee they’re all exhaustive.) and a rating. The second part has books on my to read list that, to my knowledge, have queer characters. All of the titles are linked to their goodreads page.

I Was Born For This - Alice Oseman

A Hijabi ace fangirl goes to London on a week long trip to meet her internet friend and go to the concert of her favourite band. Jimmy, the trans, gay, mixed race, mentally ill singer for said band is figuring out how growing up famous has changed himself and his friends. They cross paths and stuff happens. A really interesting look into fan culture, both the good and the bad. Really fun characters and relationships. Written by the same person who does the Heartbreaker webcomic. CW: alcoholic behavior, brief mention of unintentional trans outing 4.5/5

The Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater

Welsh mythology meets small town Virginia. Gorgeous, poetic writing by Stiefvater tells the surreal story of a group of teenagers on the search for a lost welsh king and wish foretold if one wakes him. Along the way they discover the power of ley lines, dreams, and ~friendship~. One of the main characters (my favourite character) is canon queer (he’s into a girl and guy but like, the word bi isn’t explicitly said) and one of the other main characters is canon gay. It’s a difficult story to describe but it’s such a fascinating read. CW: child abuse, alcohol and drug abuse, there’s a scene in the second book that I think the author confirmed was sexual assault 5/5

Shades of Magic Series - V.E. Schwab

Avatar the last airbender meets pirates and royalty and multiverses. In this world there are 4 earths that intersect at London. Kell is one of the only two people who can travel between Londons. Grey London is our world, Red London is Kell’s, full of magic. White London is a wasteland barren of magic and ruled by bloodthirsty twins. Black London is dead. The main cast of Kell, Lila Bard, a pirate thief who gets caught up in the adventure, Rhy, the (gay? Bi? I forget lol) prince of Red London, and Alucard, (also gay? Or bi?) actual pirate have to save the multiverse! Lots of great subplots, written by a queer woman and impossible to put down. If you saw me with my kindle in class after winter last year, it was because I literally couldn’t stop reading. CW: frankly it’s been too long since I read it im sorry 5/5

Leah on the Offbeat/Simon vs the Homosapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli

Simon Vs is the book Love Simon is based on. Simon (gay) has a mystery pen pal, Blue. All he knows is that Blue also goes to Creekwood High and is gay. But Simon leaves the emails open on a school computer because he’s a dumbass and then also an ass but the bad kind, Martin finds them and blackmails Simon. It’s similar to the movie but I prefer the book! There are some scenes and plot points that didn’t make it in. Also his friends don’t suck as much when he’s outed. Leah on the OffBeat is the sequel about Simon’s friend, Leah. She’s bi! Simon thought all his friends were straight but jkjkjk gays flock together. Cute wlw high school story. CW: character is outed against their will, underage drinking  SVTHA 5/5 LOTO 4/5

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue - Mackenzi Lee

Main character is a total slut and we support him. Bi and ready to party. But wait it’s the 1800s and that’s not super chill. In a final hurrah before he has to become master of his family estate, Henry Montague takes his best friend (gay and also ready to party) and, reluctantly, his little sister  (ace and ready to be a doctor) on a tour of the continent. Along the way they discover a plot and their trip turns upside down. There’s pirates! Period accurate medicine! Characters unlearning their prejudices! CW: Child abuse, period typical homophobia, sexism and racism 4/5

Captive Prince Trilogy - C.S. Pacat

hEAR ME OUT. This is probably my favourite series I’ve ever read. You’ve heard of enemies to lovers? Get ready for enemies to friends to lovers to enemies to allies to lovers! Crown Prince Damianos of Akielos is caught up in a coup lead by his half brother and sent to the enemy nation of Vere to be a pleasure slave for their crown prince, Laurent. Now here you think it’s gonna be some kinky sex romp but it actually becomes the best political intrigue with a thoughtful, loving, very vanilla romance. “If you gave me your heart, I would treat it tenderly”. Dw they only have sex after the whole slave thing is over. Also, they abolish slavery so there’s that. If you don’t like the first book,  I get it but just try the second book, the tone changes with the change of setting. The author does some really interesting stuff with her setting. Typically writers will just make society reflect our by default but Pacat threw that out, homophobia? Never heard of her. In Vere it’s actually taboo for men and women to have sex before marriage because of the threat of bastards. So everyone just is gay instead. You want a matriarchal warrior women country? Pacat has got your back. The series does lack in well written women. There are a few women but not enough, Pacat has talked about this and is basically like, u right, I’ll do better in my next series. Written by a queer WOC (kinda? Woc is the wrong word but just read these tweets where she describe it better than i ever could)  and I love it, the end. CW: child abuse, child sexual abuse, incest, rape, sex slavery, prostitution, graphic violence, non consensual drug consumption, child death, suicide, torture, animal death (also it should be obvious but none of these things are glorified, the abuser is the worst and he sucks and everyone hates him) 6/5

Carry On - Rainbow Rowell

Based on the Harry Potter parody series from Rowell’s book Fangirl. Simon Snow (doesn’t ever figure out his sexuality but had a girlfriend and boyfriend) is the chosen one, orphaned and brought to a magical boarding school, must save magical britain from evil. His best friend, book smart Penelope and his (possibly evil and a vampire? Also gay) roommate Baz must work together to defeat the humbug. This book has a really fantastic closed magic system and gives the character very clear limits. CW: rat death? 5/5

Queer There and Everywhere - Sarah Prager

A nonfiction book about 23 people throughout history that were both queer and very cool. From Frida Kahlo and Abraham Lincoln to the actual Danish Girl and Kristina Vasa, Prager dives into the lives of many historical figures who were also queer. A really wide gamut of women, men and nb, cis and trans, white and poc. Could have had more historical figures from the east. A fun, easy read. Made me cry, i want lesbian moms. 4/5

Huntress - Malinda Lo

It’s been a few years since I read this so bear with me. Cool magic girl main character and less magic but also cool other girl as well as a misfit group including the prince and a badass lady named shae (hell yeah) have to go into the fae world to right the magical imbalance of their world. Wlw, written by a queer woc CW: I don’t remember sorry 4/5

Outrun the Wind - Elizabeth Tammi

(I’m actually only half way through this) (Also it’s written by a mutual of mine on tumblr so that’s tight) A queer retelling of the greek myth of Atalanta. Atalanta (bi) is taken by the hunters of Artemis and has to help them defeat Apollo who’s being shitty. Wlw, written by a bi lady CW: animal death

Iron Breakers trilogy - Zaya Feli

Bastard Prince (queer), Ren, is happy to be out of the line of succession and just party it up but suddenly is framed for the murder of his brother and on the run along with a prisoner who escaped with him. Ren is faced with realities of y’know, not being a prince and decides to help save his country. Political intrigue with some twists I didn’t guess. MLM CW: slavery, graphic violence 4.5/5

All for the Game trilogy - Nora Sakavic

Think dark, queer, sports anime but with a co-ed team. Neil Josten (demi sexual- “which way do you swing? “I don’t?”) is on the run from his mob boss, murderer father and finds himself on the collegiate exy team of the palmetto foxes. Exy, a violent cross between lacrosse and soccer is Neil’s favourite thing but the team is made up of misfits. Neil has to survive both his father and the Raven’s (another exy team) owner, another mob boss, coming for him and his team. Super fast paced, very intense, after the first book I couldn’t put it down. The characters are all super interesting as are the relationships. Multiple mlm relationships, one briefly mentioned wlw couple CW: (o boy here we go) suicide, graphic violence, graphic torture, non consensual drug consumption, alcohol and drug abuse, prescription drug abuse, non consensual kissing, rape, child sexual abuse, sex work, mention of gay conversion therapy, discussion of self harm and self harm scars, child abuse 4.5/5

The Posterchildren - Kitty Burroughs

It’s been years since I read this so I really don’t remember much. It’s about a school for superheroes. Definitely wlw I don’t remember any else 4/5

Six of Crows Duology - Leigh Bardugo

A misfit group of criminals is hired to travel north to break into an impregnable prison. The cast of characters is lovable and the plot is fast paced. It’s set in the same universe as Bardugo’s first series but you don’t need to read them. (I did and they were ok but six of crows is better). Two of the main characters are mlm. CW: gore, graphic violence, child abuse 4.5/5

The Percy Jackson Series and Magnus Chase Series

I don’t need to describe these lol. PJO has two canon gay characters, the most recent series has lesbian and ace huntresses of artemis, and a bi main character. Magnus Chase has a non binary main character starting in the second book.

On My To-Read List:

Orlando - Virginia Woolf

I love her writing, it’s poetic without hurting my brain to read. This is a classic queer novel. It’s been said that Woolf wrote it as a “love letter” to Vita, her lover. The main character changes gender throughout the novel.

Stars in Her Eyes - Clare C. Marshall

I bought a copy of the first book in this series from the author at a convention last summer. It’s about a school for people with powers. I asked and apparently there’s a queer character but you don’t find out til the second book.

Ash - Malinda Lo

A wlw retelling of cinderella by the same author as Huntress.

The Academy Journals - Garrett Robinson

Apparently there’s trans, lesbian, gay, poly, ace, bi, pan! It’s about a magical school. It has really good reviews on goodreads so that’s promising

The Abyss Surrounds Us - Emily Skrutskie

There’s gay lady space pirates. Actually maybe not space? Idk i got space vibes

Vicious/Vengeful - V.E. Schwab

A story about moral greyness and supervillains. Kinda reminds me of Nimona tbh. I heard the main character is ace?

Our Bloody Pearl - D.N. Brynn

There’s mermaids, and pirates, and it’s gay apparently. The main character uses they them pronouns I think.

Breaking Legacies - Zoe Reed

Fantasy wlw by a trans dude (i think? They went through some sort of gender transition but i can’t find their pronouns)

The Dark Wife - S.E. Diemer

A wlw retelling of Hades and Persephone

The High Court Series - Megan Derr

Fantasy political intrigue mlm and I was told the main character is trans

Btw my rating system was basically:

4/5=i enjoyed reading it and would recommend it but probably wouldn’t read it again

4.5/5=I really liked it and would probably reread it

5/5= i love it, i either have or plan to reread it

[theabominableblogger]

My Reaction to “Gotham” S2E12

Non-chronological order reaction post?  Yep.  Probably should be working on the other ones instead?  I’m gonna say yep.

I just wanna see how they do Mr. Freeze here.  If they wreck him, then I might be a little mad.  I’m still mad at Ed- I never liked Ed.

AN:  I managed to record my reactions to this episode and hopefully I can transcribe what I said into this post. 

Oohhh, flashback!

Oooh, drumroll!

They use a drumroll for the background music all the time when it comes to the GCPD.

“[Jim] You then pursued Cobblepot and his men, correct?”  “Yes, but I was unable to locate them.“  *jaw drops in shock*  Oh my God...

*claps with each word*  Jim, you are lying under oath!

“At which point, you [JIm] decided to flee the city before law enforcement could question you?”  “Yes, for that, I have no excuse other than to say I was concerned for the safety of my fiancée [Lee].“  *gasps*  SHE SAID YES!!

Yeah, this is basically just a recap of what happened in the winter finale.

“Were you [Jim] present at the time of his murder?”  “No, I was not.”  Oh my God!

“Do you [Jim] have any information regarding the case that you have not shared with us?”  “No, I do not.“  OH MY GOD, JIM!

“Were you [Jim] involved in Theo Galavan's murder?“  OH MY GOD, JIM!

“No, I was not.”  OH MY GOD, JIM!  OH MY GOD, YOU LIED! 

*on verge of losing voice*  JIM!

Lee!

Jim, you ass!

“Then what's wrong [Jim]?”  “Nothing.  Long day.“  LIES!  YOU LIED UNDER OATH!

THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING!

“I [Barnes] believe your [Havey Dent’s] investigation has found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.”  “Careful. You're starting to sound like a lawyer.“  Hoo hooo...

Oswald C. Cobblepot?  What’s Oswald’s middle name?  Chester?

AN:  It’s Chesterfield.

There’s that [Jerome cult] graffiti again!

Oh my God... he [Oswald] looks so mangy... and gross

Oh my God, they put a screwdriver in Butch’s stump?!?  That’s... kinda awesome.

I like Tabitha’s look in this scene.  Like A+

“I [Butch] bet that was your [Tabitha] plan all along, huh? You're just that fond of me.”  “Strangely enough, I [Tabitha] am kind of fond of you [Butch].“  This is gonna come back and bite us in the butt in the S4 finale AAAHHH

“We [Tabitha and Butch] have history.“  *grimaces*

*Tabitha kisses Butch*  Ohhhh!  Ohhhh!!

Selina, what are you doing?!?

*Victor freezes a cop*  Whoaa!!

What?!?  Wait wait wait, Mr. Freeze has his tech before he becomes Mr. Freeze?!?  What is this?

Oh my God, this is just the opening.  Hoooly crap.

Yep.

Oh they didn’t play the theme at all!

Ha, Jim just strolls in like “Ah yes, a regular day!” and everyone’s like “...Jim?!?”

“That's it? No hug? No kiss? No "welcome back"?”  “You don't deserve these lips.“  Heeheeheehee!

Jim’s like “...OK... I can roll with this...”

*Ed dips a rose in liquid nitrogen*  Oooh, yay!  Flashback to eighth grade science class!

“Which means your suspect wasn't using liquid nitrogen. He was using supercooled liquid helium.“  What? 

Liquid helium?

Ed... control thy anger!

“I [Ed] found Mr. Cobblepot wounded and dying in the woods.  I nursed him back to health.  He owed me his life, which is why I trusted him when he said he had changed his ways.  It was an innocent mistake.“  ...Really?

*Barnes brings Oswald in in handcuffs*  Whoa!

Take a shot every time they use the word “skell” in this show.

How did they catch him [Oswald]?

Freakin’... Oswald...

“You [Oswald] confess to murder?”  “Yes, I do. Proud of it. I'm not a criminal, you know? I'm just insane.“  Hooo...

Aaahhhhhhh....

“Jim, I'm trusting you.  Don't make a fool out of me [Barnes].“  HOOOAAHHHH...

Y’know, so far, for an episode called “Mr. Freeze,” we’ve only seen Mr. Freeze once.

Oh wait, there he is!  Speak of the devil!

[Victor’s]  Just gonna leave this dead, frozen corpse in the back of his truck!  I mean...

Nora!

God, the actress who plays Nora [Kristen Hager] looks like a mix between Michelle Williams and Brie Larson

“I [Victor] need to find the correct ratio of liquid helium to glycerol cryoprotectant.”  “Now tell me [Nora] what that means in English, honey.“  *chuckles*

“I [Victor] can bring your temperature down to 200 degrees below zero, and I can stop this disease from killing you [Nora].“  What’s the disease though?

What’s the disease though?  Like what is this tragic disease that Nora always has?  They never explain what she has!  I think “Batman and Robin” was the only one that actually tries to put a name to it.

Like it’s not really that contagious because he [Victor] just kissed her [Nora] on the forehead!  What is it?!?

“Good news.  Nygma did some digging, found one company in all of Gotham that makes liquid helium:  Wayne Enterprises.”  Oh but of course!

OK, so he’s [Victor] working with cryogenics... is it similar to what whatever Hugo Strange is doing at Indian Hill?  It’s gotta be, right?

Oh, that [Victor’s basement lab] doesn’t look shady at all!

Frickin’ Ed!

“[Oswald] You doing okay?  You look kind of funky.“  Hahaheehee!

Vitrification?  That’s a word?

AN:  It’s the process of turning a substance into glass, like in ceramics.  Which is also used for cyro-preservation

*Victor turns on the basement lights*  Whoaaa!

Oh my gosh, he [the corpse] is actually blue!

I don’t think the body can survive below -100 degrees.  There’s no way!

AN:  You can survive extremely cold temperatures for a moment, especially if concentrated on a very small patch of skin. The larger the surface and longer the exposure, the less likely that you’ll survive.

Oh my gosh, can we get more of this?  Jim, Lucius, and Harvey going out for lunch?  Can we have more of this?

Can we have more of the Crime Trio here?

It’s Proto-Team Batman!

I wanna know what that restaurant is...

Meanwhile at Arkham Asylum...

Please don’t tell me that is who I think that is...

Nope, OK.

Oh no, why am I thinking that?  Jerome’s deaadd! 

For now.

I want Oswald to have like this dramatic speech and then just prat-fall off the table.

*The Arkham inmates start to riot*  Well that clearly didn’t work, now did it?!?!?

“Solution A14.  I [Victor] knew it would work!  I knew it!  Ha!  Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!“  But the guy’s dead!  He’s totally dead!

Why did the body melt?!?  Why did it melt?  It should not have melted.  Whaa...

*Nora starts hacking up blood*  Uhhh... call 911?!?  Should we call 911 maybe?  Can we please call 911 for Nora?  Please?

“If you [Nora] have another attack and you don't have this medication, you could die.“  Yeah, what does she have?

I actually do like that we get time to get to know their [Victor and Nora’s] relationship.  I do like that because half the time they’re like “Oh yeah, she’s already in ice!”

We get to see his motivation but we never get to see her as a character and how she interacts with Victor.

Goddd, who the crap is this?

Oh my gosh, this dude at the counter at the pharmacy is a diiiiiiccckkk!  Oh my God!

Oswald just looks miserable!

OH MY GOD, THAT IS HUGO STRANGE!

Why is he at Arkham?!?!?

Oh my God, B.D. Wong is such a perfect choice for Hugo.

“Chief of Psychiatry?”  Oh my God, NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

*Victor freezes the pharmacist*  Whoa...

*Jim and Harvey accidentally run over one of the frozen victims*  OOHHHHHHHH!

Oswald, for some reason, reminds me of one of those really snooty popular girls.

AN:  Think Megan Fox from “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen”

Oswald’s like “I’m gonna pour myself some tea.  Why not?”

Or scotch, whatever that is.

I really like the focusing shots on Hugo’s eyes.  Makes a really nice shout-out to the comics.

“And don't worry; here at Arkham we have a number of intensive treatment programs.“  Uhhhh....

Yeah, I’m with you, Oswald.  I would not trust Strange with an inch of my life!

So does Nora know that he’s [Victor] dragging dead, frozen bodies downstairs to experiment on?

“Victor?  Honey?”  God, she’s gonna go downstairs and see it!  Noooo!!!

Noooo, she’s gonna see it!  Nooooo!!!

No, I don’t like this, I don’t like this, I doooooonn’t like thiiiss!  Not at all!

She is gonna see all of this!

“Frice?” 

‘I’m really good with names,’ are you, Harvey?!?

*continues to contemplate the correct pronunciation of VIctor’s last name for the rest of the episode*

Where’s the freeze guuuunnnn?

Noooooo my God, is he [Victor] gonna target Jim and Harvey?

WHOA!

“See no evil, do no evil.”  *jaw drops open in shock*

WWWWWHAAAAAAT?!?

“My husband did terrible things.  But he did those terrible things for my sake.  I'm dying.  He wants to save me [Nora].”  What are you dying of?!?

What are you dying of?  Just tell them!

Whoa...

*Victor walks into the precinct*  Ohhhhhh snap!

What?

Wait, why are there other people claiming Victor’s work as their own?

*gasps when the frozen body on the lab table is gone*

Ummm... exCUSE mee?!?

*gasps and covers mouth in shock when the victim is revealed to be thawed out and alive*

“I'm [Victor] coming for you, Nora.  I'm coming to save you.“  She’s not gonna be there!

Strange, what the hell are you doing?

God, that’s so hard because I know two Dr. Stranges:  one’s a good guy and ones a bad guy. 

*yells in frustration*

Holy crap, I forgot Indian Hill’s under Arkham, isn’t it?

“Treatments will include immersive aversion therapy and radical psychotropics.“  Ummm, I didn’t know what half of that meant, but it isn’t good.

WAIT, PSYCHOTROPICS CHANGE BEHAVIOR!  WHA-

“Our young lady arsonist refuses to cooperate with our experiments...”  *gasps*  Firefly!

Oh my God, noooo...

“Hello, Mr. Freeze.”  *cue small high-pitched yell*

*jams out to ending theme*

[blairaptor]

Jurassic Portal Cast Notes

Here’s a condensed version of my ideas about the characters' roles in the Jurassic Portal AU! I took out a few details/spoilers in case I do write this whole thing out, but otherwise this is everything! I think casting the characters was fun and fairly easy - it’s just making the details of the story work that’s a little harder. But I like a challenge. If any of you folks have ideas for how to improve this, feel free to let me know~

[Chell]

Chell is a paleontological consultant brought in to assess the park. Like (book) Sarah Harding, she’s an action hero type trying to observe the dinosaurs but also keep everyone alive. She’s great with guns, especially rifles and rockets, similar to her handling of the Portal device in the game. Her having a partner, like how Grant and Ellie worked together, would be fun. But I’d also like to keep Mel as an Olympian, not a paleontologist. Rick could be a paleontologist, but I can’t see him and Chell working together. If anything, they could be arch academic foes, like a modern Bone Wars, or maybe they believe very different theories about certain dinosaur behavior.

[Cave Johnson]

Obviously, Cave is comparable to Hammond. In fact, Cave and (book) Hammond have similar personalities, both being short-tempered, impatient, and focused on business. (Book) Hammond didn’t listen to Wu’s warnings about how fast the dinosaurs were, etc. and Cave doesn’t listen to his staff because “safe science” isn’t worth his time. Cave creates the park to make money and push the limits of his cloning technology. He ends up making Glados and other modified dinosaurs just to see what can be done. He might even release all the dinosaurs to intermingle on the island because why not?

[Glados]

Glados is a modified dinosaur made from a mix of different species. She was created to push the limits of the technology. The idea was also that if anything went wrong with the animals, Cave would have a bigger fish - but the implants in her brain designed to control her failed/ she destroyed them. She’s been loose, queen of the park, ever since.

[Caroline]

So far in my casting, the role of head geneticist/Wu was missing. I feel like this is a good role for Caroline. She creates the dinosaurs but Cave has her do some things against her better judgement. The Gladosaur is created to be the perfect dinosaur, and it’s named after her - I’m thinking her name is Caroline Gladly or something like that, and Gladosaurus rex is the king of her creations. Caroline was also originally given control of Glados.

[Doug]

Doug is the game warden/ Robert Muldoon character in this AU. He worked for the company but he’s been cleverly outsmarting the dinosaurs, especially Glados, for months. Possibly he leaves notes and scrawlings around for the others and at first they don’t know if he’s alive or dead, but eventually they discover him surviving in some building somewhere on the island. Before this he hangs out in the control room with Virgil.

[Wheatley]

Wheatley is a park guide who’s worked several odd jobs for the park. He guides Chell and others through the destroyed park, since he knows the maps and jeep trails so well. When they first encounter Glados and are attacked, Wheatley tries to run for it but Glados grabs him in her mouth and throws him into the jungle. Thus he’s injured, like in the game and similar to Malcolm in the book. He is found and makes a recovery, but he then takes control of the park and betrays the other character, leaving them for dead with the dinosaurs. So he’s also comparable to Nedry in that he gets into the system and messes things up for everyone else.

[Fact Core]

Fact has a role similar to Malcolm’s in the books. He was brought in to assess the park. He spouts a lot of scientific facts and is arrogant about it, but he’s right. His facts about chaos and paleontology are correct and helpful at times, even if they’re annoying.

[Space Core]

Space is a kid visiting the park. In JP, Tim and Lex are Hammond’s grandkids, but I can’t imagine Cave Johnson having grandkids, so I’ll have to find another way to tie them into the story. I figure the main idea is that kids are a big part of the target audience for the park. In this AU, Space is likely obsessed with dinosaurs instead of space. I’d like for him to have a sibling, since there were two Murphy kids in JP. I’m thinking Curiosity could be his younger sister. Or maybe they’re twins and they’re both pretty young.

[Rick]

Rick is a tricky one to place. The obvious thing for him would be a role comparable to Robert Muldoon. However I’d like there to be more than one paleontologist at the park, so having Rick as an outdoorsy paleontologist could be fun too. I guess the issue is that Rick is thought of as being kinda lacking on brains and he’d have to be smarter to be a paleontologist.

[Atlas and P-Body]

Two intelligent dinosaurs. Possibly they’re large raptors, but they might be two different species. They always travel together and are friendly enough with humans. Maybe Doug trained them the way Owen trained the raptors in JW. I imagine they wear cameras or something like that, something that makes them useful to the humans in figuring out where Glados is and trying to survive.

[Mel]

I would like Mel to still be an Olympian in this AU. Her amazing running might make for a fun scene where she outruns a dinosaur, similar to Ellie escaping the raptors in the book. Not sure how to tie her into the whole paleontology thing. Maybe she’s friends with Virgil, who works at the park, and was coming to visit him when things got crazy. She and Chell are friends/ become friends, but Mel isn’t as good with weaponry as Chell.

[Virgil]

His role is comparable to Arnold’s. He spends most his time in the control room, overseeing the park system and deciding what to do about problems, like downed fences. Later, he’s the one directing the others (mostly Mel) in how to restart the proper power. Virgil and Mel are also old friends - whether from some kind of private schooling or something else in their past I’m not sure.

Missing roles from Jurassic Park:

[Harding, the veterinarian]

Someone has to patch Wheatley up. Harding was also important in the book because he transported character around the island. Otherwise his role is pretty small.

[Ed Regis / Donald Gennaro]

These characters were combined in the film. In the book, Regis is a PR guy for the park, and Gennaro is a lawyer checking out the park due to legal concerns. I figure since Wheatley is a park guide, he could kind cover the Regis role. In fact, Regis isn’t needed that much in the story. (book) Gennaro also doesn’t do much until he kinda becomes a hero at the end of the story, helping to stop the raptors. Both of these characters/roles could honestly probably be cut.