#like I dislike these books for a variety of reasons but it's takes like this that make me HATE them

[voluptuarian]

[itsmistyeyedbi]

There's so much I want to write and so much I want to read, but I can't fully engage with much of anything right now and it's killing me😭

[wilwheaton]

One very simple question :)

(Tv/comics)

Marvel. Or DC?

I have liked them both and disliked them both, at different points in my life, for a variety of reasons. At the moment, I'm not paying attention to them at all.

When I was a kid, I was all about Xmen and Fantastic Four from Marvel and, Batman and Justice League (Marv Wolfman's run in the late 80s) from DC. Never really cared for Superman. The 1967 Spider-Man was awesome as a cartoon, but I rarely read the comic book.

In the 70s, I was only allowed one comic per week, usually picked out from whatever was left on that spinning rack at the drugstore. So more often than not, I ended up with something like House of Secrets or House of Mystery or one of those horror anthologies that didn't need me to read the issues before or after, like the serialized superhero comics did. I got a lot of replay value from those books.

In the 80s, I had my own money and the ability to drive myself to comic conventions, and that's when I fell in love with Sandman, Watchmen, pretty much the entire Prestige Format that became Vertigo. I recall feeling like Marvel was for kids, then, and DC was serious. I was only 16, so take that for what it's worth.

But speaking of being 16, I'm gonna focus on Batman for a sec. I loved Batman 89, and I think all the efforts to make a Batman movie ever since have fallen short in ways I couldn't predict back then. It's gotten better with age and by comparison, for me. Michael Keaton is my favorite Batman, the way Christian Bale is my favorite modern Bruce Wayne (they both pale next to Pure. West. if anyone asks me).

The OG Batman series is maybe my favorite series of all time not called Star Trek or The Prisoner, and the 1966 movie is my favorite of all the Batman movies. Of course I love the animated series, and I get to be Blue Beetle in Brave and the Bold, so that's pretty awesome and its whole own thing.

Turning to the current moment, with rare exception, all the MCU and DCU movies do nothing for me. I thought I must have been missing something, so tried really hard to give them a chance to knock me out. I watched as many of the MCU movies as I could stand, and I just felt exhausted and bored by all of it, by the time I got to ... I can't even remember. Something with maybe Thanos and Ant-Man? I felt like it was a big, complicated mess of fan service and meetings that could have been e-mails, resulting in in a stew full of interesting ingredients that have all blended together into a flavorless paste. I do enjoy all the James Gunn movies, though, even if Chris Pratt is the worst Chris, because James always centers the characters and their conflicts, then uses the action and stunts to support the story.

I feel like a lot of this sounds harsh, but even Star Wars, my favorite movie when I was a kid, has grown into something I don't recognize or care about. I'm old. I know what I like and what I don't like. I'm not patient like I once was, and it's clear I'm not the person those studios want in the theatre, anyway. I could make that joke about how it's the children who are wrong, but I accept that I am not in the demo, and I am genuinely happy for everyone who loves the spectacle and the experience of seeing those films with an enthusiastic audience. I just won't be there with you, but you can find me in the parking lot, yelling at a cloud.

...wow that's a very big answer to a very simple question.

[cherrytimemachine]

Can I have a breakdown of Prima? :3

Finally, I have an excuse to talk about the Thirteen. Thank you, anon. >:)

How I feel about this character: Strict and unyielding, Prima was the ever vigilant leader of the Thirteen. Raised from a young age to be the guiding force behind her team (yes my Prima is a girl, though she does use she/they), she developed a rigid standard for rules and was quite stubborn in the face of criticism against her. She was committed to fulfilling her destiny as given to her by Primus, who she considers a father to her, and she would do anything to make him proud. After the downfall of the Guiding Hand, she became colder and distrustful of others. She took over as the leader of Crystal City (Cybertron's original capital until it was changed to Iacon by Nova Prime) and claimed it as her territory. She'd always been more independent from the others, but her judgements of them could at times be quite harsh, especially towards Megatronus, who she deemed a reckless liability. She wouldn't realize how much of a role she played in the Schism (the downfall of the Thirteen) until it was too late.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: I don't think she'd touch romance with a 10 foot pole. She preferred being alone more than anything, as she felt security in being able to have total control over her own decisions. She'd be pretty difficult to have a relationship with anyway. She's a control freak and refuses to do anything that isn't by her standards. You might as well try migrating to a new planet, because Prima ain't budging.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Despite the popular belief among the Thirteen, Prima does in fact care about them, in her own way. Her criticism is justified in her mind, because she thinks she's trying to show them the right way. Really, only Vector, Alpha Trion, and the Thirteenth understand her point of view. She doesn't explain her thought process unless it's about strategy or debating, so her personal motives are a mystery to most people.

She gets along most with Vector and Alpha Trion. They take their positions seriously and don't engage in much tomfoolery, so they're a more mature and favorable company in her book.

Out of all of them, she's the most protective of Thirteen. Thirteen is shy and hates it when their friends argue, and Prima's impression of them is a naive optimist. They're more knowledgeable and aware than Prima gives them credit for. The two still have a nice relationship though. Prima is a guiding force for Thirteen, and Thirteen has been known to convince Prima to soften her position on more than one occasion.

The last person she's really affiliated with is Onyx. They both share an appreciation for spiritually and the nature of treating sparks, both born and dead, with utmost care. Their tribes made an alliance a long time ago, and the mutual respect persists to the present day among their descendants.

My unpopular opinion about this character: The Thirteen needs to be in more stuff. Not just in books or in flashbacks or vague murals, I want them in a story with actual interactions. I want to see them battle Unicron, that would be lit. I want to see her flaws showcased to a wider audience. Megatronus gets the most negative attention out of all of them, followed closely by Liege Maximo, and Megatronus hadn't done anything to initially give Prima a reason to dislike him. She considered him the most like Unicron, and it shows how judgemental she is and how her biases affect the way she treats her team.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: If she was even present in canon aside from being a legend. I wouldn't bank on it, but since there seems to be more focus on Quintus with the Earthspark series, it's possible that we will be able to see all of the Thirteen in all their demi god glory one day.

Also: let there be more gender variety in the Thirteen, for the love of god. I love Solus, don't get me wrong, but I feel like they did her dirty by making her the only girl for the sake of the angsty love triangle thing with Megatronus, Liege, and also Nexus for some reason. You cannot tell me that wasn't the reason for her being female. Just- let there be more women. Gender expression and its fluidity is a vital part of the Transformers species, and it should show in the early creation period.

I have many thoughts on the Thirteen and the Guiding Hand, so please feel free to ask about them!

[tallysgreatestfan]

Specials in the book vs the movie

Now, from the way they are described in the book, I am not sure if you could even possibly translate that into a movie, especially not with this budget, but: It is really frustrating what the movie did with the Specials.

In the movie they come across as your garden variety super soldier, but in the book they are honestly one of the coolest cyborg designs I ever saw in scifi (and scifi is my main reading and watching genre).

For starters, yes, they are much stronger and faster than the humans in the setting, but most of all, they are surged to look intimidating. They use plastic surgery to make the Pretties look beautiful, but for them the Cities huge medical advancement is used to design their faces and body type in a way that is not even necessarily visibly non-human on first glance, but the type of facial features one instinctively is afraid of. Which is such a interesting concept.

They also, and I can totally understand that this would have been incredibly hard to get right, maybe impossible, move in a way that is just slightly off. Too fast and too angular. The book describes it as elegant but almost insect-like, like cockroaches slithering across a plate. You see them for longer than a second and instinctively know that that aren't humans anymore. It's taking the uncanny valley and using it for warfare.

It is a bit visible in the way Laverne Cox plays Dr. Cable, even she plays her much more human than in the book. She does emote and she does have body language - but much lesser than most people do, and she uses the majority of it to manipulate people. She also doesn't do all these small, unconscious movements like cleaning your fingernails, bobbing your foot or scratching your face.

Third: They are disturbingly fast. The scene where they invade the Smoke is described in the book as the Specials just casually walking into the complete chaos, and it doesn't looks as if they are doing anything - except that they herd Smokies in front of them and everybody they walk past is tied up on the floor. Which is such a cool visual, but again, not sure if its possible to film that.

Its also, and this is yet another reason why I dislike the changed Peris plotline, much more complicated and disturbing than them just being mindless killing machines. To be fair, it only is explained in the later books, but it is more like an artificially induced personality disorder, carefully tweaked so that they have a sense of superiority towards Uglies and Pretties, but also notice the beauty of the natural world much more intensely than them and are ready to protect them, anger and impulse control issues, and loyalty to the City.

What makes that even more disturbing, and this is not directly canon, but it would make sense from certain events in the later books, they seem to specifically pick already neurodivergent people to mold them into that. Yes, the series has light, but there, neurodivergence themes later on. This aspect is handled surprisingly well and empowering (unlike the eating disorder and self-harm rep, but that is another topic).

There seem to be two ways to end up in Special Circumstances, and its way to easy for Peris to have this happen:

Be with the wardens (they are actually different to Special Circumstances), the firefighters or the doctors, aka the only professions in the City which don't have the lesions, and stand out in some useful way. Likely how Dr. Cable ended up with Special Circumstances.

Be self-destructive and mentally ill in a way that seems useful to be manipulated. Happens with [redacted] and [redacted]

And they actively screen the Uglies for who might a good candidate for Special Circumstances in five to ten years. The Uglies dorms are so easy to trick not by oversight, but to watch who is able to tweak the rules and who not.

They also have fangs in the books. Which would have looked so cool, but also acting with fake fangs is a pain in the ass (ask the Star Trek Discovery season 1 Klingon cast), so I can understand that they left that out.

Another thing the movie sadly dumbs down is just how invasive not just the Pretty surgery is, but the Special surgery even more. Tw for surgical gore for the rest of this.

They skin the person and replace the skin with new, more flawless skin for both operations. They also take out all teeth and replace them with ceramic teeth in both operations. What is unique to the Special operation is that they replace most muscles with cybernetic muscles, and that they replace the entire skeleton with the same much more sturdy ceramic they did the teeth with. No, I do not want to know how this logistically happens.

Also just so many other cybernetic implants. A chip in the fingertips that makes them able to put their fingers on glass and translate the vibrations into the sound happening in the room behind. Various tweaks to the eyes, or maybe they completely replace the eyes, it is unclear, but Specials can see infrared radiation. Software to calculate the time and direction just from seeing the stars.

I do like how Laverne Cox interpreted Dr. Cable, but for the other Specials I would have really liked to see more

[wondereads]

Weekly Reading Update (11/17/24)

I'm back! And hopefully I'll keep up with this once again.

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik (★★★★★, reread)

Ostensibly, I was reading this for my thesis, and I was keeping a close eye out for any way that Novik uses language and magic to signify power. Things like the incantation track being the most popular and certain languages being more valued. However, nothing can keep me distracted from El and Orion for long. I absolutely adore their romance, and they're such fun characters on their own too. Reading for my thesis allowed me to really get into the nitty-gritty of the worldbuilding, my second favorite part of this book, and even while annotating and taking notes I burned through this in only a few hours overall. As always, I highly recommend it!

More under the cut

Fairest by Gail Carson Levine (★★★★☆, reread)

I only vaguely remembered this book from my childhood, but it remains a cute story about beauty under the surface. I think that thematically it's a bit more heavy-handed than Levine's other works, but it's still sweet. Aza is a character that is both kind and selfish, and her desire for beauty is one many young girls can relate to. The whole concept of a singing kingdom is lovely, though it does contradict Char's account from Ella Enchanted where he claims they are largely silent outside their sings. I liked the romance for the first part, but Ijori turns on Aza too quickly for my taste, and I know it's a children's book but Ivy getting off scot-free when she nearly caused a rebellion and attempted murder doesn't sit right.

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (★★★★★, reread)

I mean, do I really need to say more about this book? This reread was as an audiobook, as I had a friend hostage in the car for a road trip and seized on the chance to make her listen. I had as much fun as I ever do, and the audiobook is fun. It's narrated by an older English woman, and her attempts at a Welsh accent for Howl are...not great, but her voice for Calcifer was spot-on and humorous.

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine (★★★★★, reread)

Another audiobook I held my friend hostage for, I stand by my assertions that this is the best Cinderella retelling out there. Ella's obedience is supernatural, but her abusive family, tough social situation, and refusal to bow her head are all things that occur perfectly naturally. Her romance with Char develops naturally and is just absolutely adorable, probably one of my earliest romances personally. I will say that for some reason they had a prepubescent narrator, even though Ella is 15/16 for the majority of the book, which, while I got used to it, was quite annoying.

The Squire's Tale by Gerald Morris (★★★★☆, reread)

Yes, another reread. This one I've been working on for a while, and the influx of work I've been doing with Arthurian legend spurred me on. This book may seem a bit quick-paced and disjointed, but Morris does a great job of mimicking the style of Arthurian legend itself and the work of fantasy authors such as T. H. White. Despite being written by a man in the 90s with an almost entirely male cast, the story does its best to respect women and include a variety of characters that, even if exaggerated, rarely fall into stereotypes.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (CR: 29%)

I am being forced to take another go at this book by my thesis. I wouldn't say I dislike it, but I'm not enjoying it either. There are hints of things going on, but I need more than hints, and the main character is resolutely not picking up on any of them. The House itself is incredibly interesting, but I need more than statue descriptions to keep me engaged. I should be finished with this by the middle of the week, so wish me luck.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik (CR: 4%)

This is a bit of a last-minute read for my book club. Despite the fact that I've barely read anything, I'm enjoying it so far. Miryem is already my favorite character; I love a ruthless woman. I also love that this is an explicitly stated Jewish fantasy, though I can't tell yet if it's set in our world or a world adjacent to ours. I'm excited to keep reading!

[aardvaark]

Leverage character asks: 1,3,17,45 (your choice on character)

thank you for the ask & for fueling my leverage obsession lol <3

1. Canon I outright reject

honestly i love the character development on leverage, even when it means the character has some negative traits or weaknesses or something. hmm… i think one thing i disliked was hardison being a super bad tipper (some ep in s5). he doesn’t care about workers? particularly after five years of leverage? idk.

i also wish eliot didn’t seem to like cops so much, but thats more of a gripe with the show’s/showrunners’ attitudes towards police.

3. Obscure headcanon

sophie: that she’s trans! love that hc. shout out to @transsophiedevereaux. also that sophie had a drunken one night stand with maggie, which is actually (word of god) canon rather than a head canon, but seems to be rarely mentioned.

nate: nate x sophie x sterling… it’s happened at least once.

parker: so many!! but the one i’ll share is that. uh. she’s probably killed someone. pre-leverage, she’s known to be dangerous for a reason, and she’s been in a lot of awful situations unfortunately. she would probably have done so out of necessity, it might even have been self defense, but yk. it’s still killing someone. and no, i don’t mean the pilot flashback - according to word of god (ie john rogers) she probably didn’t kill her foster parents when exploding their house. anyway, i’ve seen some cool fics about this idea and discussed this topic w @laser-tripwires and i think it’s really interesting for a variety of reasons, but i won’t list them here bc this is already getting so long lol.

hardison: that he still secretly adds to nana’s income somehow (he canonically paid off her medical bills), that he plays D&D, that he likes [insert media beloved by geeks that i don’t really know much about, but i love that people hc him as enjoying the things they enjoy so much].

eliot: my own silly hc that many of his scars are actually from kitchen accidents rather than fights lol

17. Quotes, songs, poems, etc. that I associate with them

gonna answer this one for sophie only, cause i have quite a few answers just for her!

1) i saw a gif set of sophie once with the lyrics of "thief" by imagine dragons, and it was a really gorgeous gif set and the lyrics fit very well.

2) yk the fable "the scorpion and the frog"? at the end of s1, she seems to excuse her actions (conning the team) like the scorpion - that it’s just in her nature, lying is who she is, she’s a thief and this is what thieves do, etc. additionally, it’s what sterling says about her, that her behaviour was predictable because it’s "who she is".

3) the gambler by kenny rogers. bc the chorus is canonically her life philosophy lmao (according to the last dam job).

45. Their favorite celebrity

sophie: canonically, db cooper. she idolises him in the db cooper job lol. poster above her bed as a teenager etc etc.

nate: man, his would be oddly specific im sure. like he reads war strategy books, maybe sun tzu. or perhaps a chess grandmaster, like bobby fischer. i don’t know much about war strategists nor chess players, so if anyone does, then maybe you can suggest a more specific person.

hardison: i know he loves star trek, doctor who, star wars - im simply not pop culture savvy enough to know who his fave actors from those shows might be. BUT. i think it would be funny if his fave celebrity was wil wheaton (who was in star trek, and who, of course, played cha0s in leverage). also, wil wheaton is famously into D&D, video games, comics, and other "geek" stuff that hardison proudly enjoys too. hardison does not see the resemblance btwn wheaton and his nemesis, no idea what you’re taking about.

eliot: i think he would have people he looks up to or thinks are incredible, who are celebrities but only in a very specific field. like a renowned chef, but not a "celebrity chef" as in one who’s on tv. i mean like a chef who is famous among chefs, for being one of the most talented in the world.

parker: i feel her definition of celebrity would be somewhat different to most people’s. plus, her knowledge of the world is deep but narrow - she knows everything possible about thievery and anything even tangentially related (probably a decent amount of physics, for example), but pop culture? not so much. she later gets into stuff like dr who via hardison though, so perhaps the actor of the current doctor, ncuti gatwa. now, there’s also famous thieves, BUT they’re generally only famous because they eventually got caught. parker does not get caught. she would not idolise someone who ended up caught. maybe the thief of an unsolved heist. honestly, parker is famous in the leverage crime world. so. herself? not that she enjoys being a celebrity lol.

[overlord-of-chaos]

Thoughts on the end of Good Omens 2, as an aroace

So, I'm going to preface this with a few things, since I would very much like anyone who does choose to read this to do in good faith, and I would like to establish my own. Firstly, this is absolutely not a criticism of anybody's headcanons. Crowley and Aziraphale, of all characters, have incredible potential for headcanoning, and I love seeing the fandom's wide and varying interpretations. Secondly, what you see here is not a complete and entire reflection of my opinions of the characters mentioned or the show. It is very specifically me airing my grievances and concerns and venting because I cannot cope with not saying anything at all. I love Good Omens, but I am not going to add caveats to my every sentence to make sure that you, the reader, are certain I'm not just bashing one of the most fantastically queer shows I know. Thirdly, if you vehemently disagree with everything I'm saying here, you're free to ignore it. This is not for you. You're also free to ignore it if you do agree, but at this point I'm going on the assumption that that'll be a smaller portion of whatever audience this reaches anyway. Fourthly, if you are in a similar position to me and sort of spiralling at the prospect of your comfort QPR not being a QPR anymore, then maybe you should read the bullet points at the end. I've sort of got my shit together by then.

So, that said, I would like to take this post as an opportunity to say that I worry about where Good Omens is going. Not in a plot-related sort of way as such, we all know it'll all be alright in the end, more in terms of representation - specifically, whether, by the end of the show, I'll be able to see myself in the characters anymore.

Now, why is this? Well, as you may have guessed from the title, I'm aroace. And when I first saw the Good Omens show, I hadn't really been involved in the fandom at all. This is due to a variety of reasons, including that I wasn't on any of the platforms that enable me to engage in fandom now, and because I'd only read the book a couple of months prior. I didn't know, as I do more now, that one of the main interpretations of the relationship between Crowley and Aziraphale before the show came out was romantic, and I wasn't expecting to see that in the show. I don't tend to expect romance in most circumstances. I more end up picking up on the common tropes used to develop romantic relationships in fiction and observe with little enthusiasm as a character dynamic 'blossoms' into something I cannot comprehend. (This is not to say I dislike romance in everything. I simply dislike it being the one and only significant dynamic in pretty much everything all the time.)

I was well aware that the relationship between Crowley and Aziraphale in the show had been expanded and developed along the lines of a romantic relationship, and I really liked the way it was handled. But at no point did I think this meant that their relationship had to be read as romantic. I thought I could see something of myself in them, and see a relationship that was something other than romantic. At the risk of sounding insulting, I did not feel like their relationship could be anything as simple as a romance. I saw two beings who very deeply loved each other in a nonromantic way, and thought hey, maybe this is a dynamic I could see myself in at last. Maybe this isn't the same old kind of love story.

I thought, perhaps naively, that no matter the hinting from the cast and the way that season 1 was set up, there would always be the room to interpret Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship as platonic (or queerplatonic, specifically, as I read it). And then...well, I imagine you all know what happened then.

From a more objective (probably not quite the right word, but can't think of a better one) analytical perspective, the kiss was one of the hardest-hitting moments in any story I've ever watched, or read. The setup was amazing, the acting was impeccable, and I could not imagine anything else having the same impact. As Neil Gaiman himself has said, no one could deny that it happened. I think it was categorically the right narrative choice. That's not what I'm debating here.

What hurts, what really fucking hurts, is that a lot of the time, I don't feel like there's space for my aroace/queerplatonic reading of their relationship anymore. Some of that's on me, because headcanon is headcanon and there's no reason why I should assume my reading of the relationship is wrong, or canonically impossible. (I mean, Ineffable Bureaucracy is canon. Anything is possible in this fandom.) However, it does mean that I do not quite have the same ability to bury my head in the sand and say that Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship is not set up to be read specifically as a romance.

What worries me is that I am very well aware that I am in a disappointed minority when thinking that their relationship will continue to unfold by hitting key romantic plot points until the door for an aroace interpretation isn't even left ajar. I am in a minority that the writers of Good Omens will likely never hear, and even if they do, I certainly wouldn't expect them to change the coming plot for me.

Most people take the kiss as explicit confirmation that the love between Crowley and Aziraphale is romantic. There's the occasional 'it's okay, they can still be ace!' post dotted around, but no one seems to be talking about the possibility of them being aromantic anymore. They weren't doing that much previously, admittedly, but all I seem to see, from other aro people included, is discussion around how they're feeling about the romance between them being made canon, while I'm sitting here thinking is that the only thing that kiss is allowed to mean? It means that I find myself wondering whether I should give up on seeing the relationship as nonromantic, if only so that I am not as disappointed when season 3 rolls around. (There had better fucking be a season 3. Amazon better fucking pay the writers, pay the actors and renew shit instead of just cancelling it.)

I think one of the main things that makes me uncomfortable is the assumption that the next logical step in Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship is sexual. Because that's how these things normally go, right? You have an ostensibly platonic relationship with romantic undertones, then it becomes explicitly romantic, and then the next 'natural' progression is sexual. It's the same thing every single time. I think it's been vaguely mentioned that they're asexual by virtue of not being human (almost all ace rep being in nonhuman characters is a whole other essay and not something I'm going to get into here), by Neil a few times and in the book, but since I wasn't expecting there to be so little space to read their relationship as nonromantic, I don't know that I can continue to expect it to seem nonsexual too.

And even if that's not the route they take, I don't know that I can trust them not to play up a romantic dynamic, particularly when I think a lot of people would be disappointed if the relationship is 'just' platonic, or platonic-leaning. And I get that, I do. We've been queerbaited enough, but that doesn't mean that something not being romantically queer means it isn't queer at all. I have no idea how one would manage to frame a relationship as explicitly and specifically queerplatonic; there isn't really a template for it (though my god would I love for Good Omens to be the show that makes one). I imagine it would be much more realistic to perhaps hope for something that isn't exclusively and explicitly romantic.

One of my concerns, of course, with a queerplatonic route is that it would be upsetting to people who do see them as a romantic couple to have that door be closed to them (I really don't wish an experience like that on anyone), and that it would leave more space for queerphobic assholes to claim that they're 'just friends'. But I've spent my life hoping for a story that doesn't push platonic love to the wayside when there's the potential for romance, especially when the relationship starts out as something brilliantly compelling and nonromantic. I've spent my life trying not to internalise the idea that the way I love, the only way I can love, isn't enough, even when it seems to be the message that's being shouted with almost every story I ever encounter. A lot of the time, it doesn't bother me anymore. I'm used to it by now. But most of the stories I know haven't meant as much to me as Good Omens. I didn't see the same space to read a relationship in a nonromantic way as I did in Good Omens.

Anyway. I figure either I post this, two people read it and then it disappears into the aether, or I wake up tomorrow morning and find I have made enemies of over half the GO fandom. It doesn't really matter. I think I have accomplished what I wanted to do when I started writing, which was to lay everything out logically for myself so that the mounting evidence not in my favour did not seem quite so insurmountable. And honestly? It doesn't anymore. My brain is very often my own worst enemy, and articulating my emotions somewhere means that I can look at all of this and conclude the following:

Most of the reason why I do not think I can view Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship as nonromantic anymore is because everyone else thinks the ending confirms their hopes of it definitely being romantic. If nothing else, I'm genuinely delighted that it's bringing so many people that joy. We all deserve that kind of joy, and all the canonically queer relationships media has to offer. If nothing else, there is so much joy to take in other people's wholehearted adoration of what season 2 meant to them.

Most of my concerns about how season 3 will go are largely unfounded and entirely hypothetical. Most of it hasn't even been written yet, and can't be until the WGA strike is over anyway, so no one can even hint at how it'll go because it is not, in fact, going.

People will read what they will into Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship dynamic, and so can I! Such are the joys of varying interpretation and headcanon and all that jazz.

One kiss does not close any queerplatonic (or aroace) doors. Nor would a hundred. One of the many joys of queerplatonic relationships is that they can be whatever the fuck you want them to be, including a dynamic that would typically be read as romantic, but isn't.

A romantic relationship is not inherently superior to a platonic one. A romantic relationship is not inherently superior to a platonic one. A romantic relationship is not inherently superior to a platonic one, and nothing in the canon of Good Omens has ever stated this not to be true.

No one who is involved in Good Omens has ever at any point, to my knowledge, said that Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship has to be romantic, or even implied that one must see it that way, or that seeing it otherwise means seeing it as lesser. I am reading this into things because I expect it of the world. I should probably stop.

Short of some truly spectacular feats that may or may not be illegal, there is absolutely nothing I can do to influence the people creating the show, so what I get is what I get. If I can't change it, I might as well enjoy it. There's so much to enjoy, after all. No point stressing over maybes.

If you got this far, I am impressed, I'm not sure I'd have read this much. I hope that this post perhaps gives you a little to think about, preferably a positive something. I also hope that you bear in mind that this is a rather venty braindump and should not be taken as a damning indictment of anything or anyone. I'll probably delete this sometime soon, but I was seized by an urge to say something, and so say something I have, even if I probably forgot at least half my original points.

[bitter-limelight]

Hello. So uh. I recently read The Vampire Armand, I've read a bunch of books after that, but there's this one thing in it I haven't been able to get out of my head and need to talk to someone about.

There's this one scene, before Armand becomes a vamp and he's with Marius. And Marius wants him to study or whatever, and Armand doesn't want that, and Marius like wips him. And it's described in great detail and Armand both dislikes it but also seems to enjoy it on some level.

And oh my god, it's obviously (BD)SM, right? And I don't think I've ever before read actual kink in an actual book. It was soo good.

And I felt so strongly that like this is written knowing that this is BDSM. It's written as someone intimately familiar with how impact play feels. And it made me feel seen.

And I also want to know if others also felt so strongly about this scene. If people thought about it like this when the book came out.

Anyway, thanks for being a target of my rant.

Hello!

You're in good company; many of us have a similair reaction to this scene and for good reason. Anne Rice wrote...a lot of kink. I haven't read her Sleeping Beauty books myself, or her Witching Hour books, but I know enough about what's in them, plus having read almost all of TVC, to know it's obvious that Anne is a kinky mofo at least on the page. And that's a good thing! Because books and art are a safe way to explore even the most taboo aspects of kink and sexuality.

Imo, Marius and Armand go through the dance of a recognizable romance novel BDSM or D/s dynamic. What I mean by this is a power exchange relationship run through the filter of a fantasy love story. People who was well versed in real life BDSM know all about consent, safe words, SSC, all that, but when it comes to fiction, we have a space where we can bend and play with those rules.

Marius is master, this is certain. He purchased Amadeo, he literally bought him. IRL we know this isn't an aspect of real BDSM but it plays well to represent the power imbalance on the page, same as Harlequin romance novels with Fabio on the cover as the pillaging Viking bringing back an unwilling war bride. This variety of forced marriage/relationship is a very old and common trope.

And we see that Amadeo takes to it well. He loves Marius. He welcomes the love Marius gives him. He loves him even as he's being disciplined. And that includes being whipped and punished. Punishment is a common aspect of a PE relationship, and this mirrors that concept in, again, the fantasy romance unfolding on the page. Antis like to point out that Amadeo isn't consenting to this and he's a victim, but once again that's why I'm reiterating that this is a *fantasy romance*, a historical one at that, and our real world ideas of what proper consent looks like don't apply here. This book is written for adults as an escapist fantasy, a rescue fantasy, just like people have been reading for decades.

As somebody who is in a type of PE relationship, who has always desired such a dynamic and who has been reading about practice and the community for 15+ years, I'm with you. M/A speaks to me, and it's kinky elements are a feature, not a bug.

INb4 someone tells me I'm promoting abuse, throws around the P word, insinuates I'm toxic and don't know what I'm talking about.

[letyukisayfuck]

hey!! i really like your blog and all of your thoughts about haruhi the franchise are so interesting but what I'm curious about is how do you feel about koizumi in general? you speak about him very rarely but he's my fav character and you're my fav tumblr account so far so i wanna hear it if you have something to say about him ahah

aaaaaa thank you! i'm glad people like my particular brand of nonsense and screaming loudly into what i initially thought was a void. gotta say, being called someone's favorite tumblr is an honor i never thought i would receive from anyone

so yeah, i mostly talk about koizumi on here to give him shit, but honestly that's partially because i find it funny that after mikuru gets promoted from being nothing more than the universe's punching bag he basically takes her place in terms of 'character that suffers for comedy' (see: random numbers and seven wonders in particular), and partially because the text gives us very little of him seemingly being genuine without some level of bullshit attached to it.

like i said yesterday, i don't dislike any of the brigade; koizumi would probably be classed as my least favorite, but it's not so much because i dislike him and more because he never gets the narrative focus that would bring him up to the same level as mikuru

we never really get something that eqates to love at first sight or the melancholy of mikuru asahina for koizumi, and certainly nothing on the level of disappearance or intrigues (which i would argue are the yuki and mikuru spotlight novels, respectively)

(melancholy and surprise i would class as haruhi spotlights, one before and one after her character development; and sigh i would class as 'establishing material that is necessary but not exactly fun to sift through for the most part')

i like to think if we ever get another long-form book it'll be koizumi-centric, mostly because i'd like to see him actually get to be a major player! it's getting a little sad to watch kyon hear him go "maybe i wanted to time travel" and just go "i mean what could koizumi possibly want from me"

but really, the only koizumi spotlight we have is the tempo loss bishop exchange--which, notably, while i take it as canon (as it was authorized) was not by tanigawa; if i remember right, it was instead written by sou sagara

i read a fan translation, as there's never been an official release and my relationship with the official haruhi translations is reasonably antagonistic on a good day, and i think it's worth noting that for the first page and a half i didn't think there would be a plot. i thought it was just koizumi's philosophical bullshit, novelized.

that said, it was really fun to read something from his perspective (kind of like how editor in chief gives us insight into yuki and mikuru via their writing styles; but more direct)

so, before i get into my own thoughts (which i believe i've touched on before), it's worth noting that while the entire cast of haruhi can be easily read a variety of ways, koizumi is arguably the easiest to do this with because we get so little to work with in terms of "things we know to be true"

things we know for sure are true about koizumi: north high student (presumably a teenager), esper, works for a mysterious organization, considered attractive/popular (unless i'm misremembering something), has explicitly stated that he's always putting on an act but has never clarified how much and in exactly what way, earnestly offers advice but often contradicts himself, claims to be able to read haruhi's mood/emotions/something along those lines, and (in the later books) has made a hobby out of trying to convince kyon to deal with his very obvious romantic feelings for haruhi

my own reading of koizumi is biased by my readings of other characters and their relationships/dynamics; and it's also specifically the one i think is the funniest option: koizumi has a thing for both kyon and haruhi, is aware that neither of them views him the same way (with haruhi viewing him solely as a subordinate and only really paying attention when he's saying things she wants to hear, and kyon seemingly regarding him as a friend as well as a source of useful information, but hardly even willing to acknowledge that fact most of the time)

and, since he has accepted that neither of them like him that way but they do very obviously like each other, he's decided that they should get over themselves and get together. unfortunately, kyon's strategy when he hears things he doesn't want to is pretend no one's said anything at all, and so koizumi's words go ignored

[bi-harrymort]

Hi!

A few words about me and this blog.

[but before we go any further... even though this is a blog dedicated to Voldemort and Harrymort, I don't support Rowling or her views; hate and bigotry of any kind will not be tolerated here.]

I've been a fan of the Harry Potter series since I was a kid, but I've never interacted with the fandom actively - I never created any fanart, posts, fanfics etc., I only consumed and shared them. So, this is my first attempt at sharing my own theories and any other weird little thoughts I may have on the subject.

Even though I am open to different interpretations and opinions, I know that many may not share this view and may not want to follow me because of it (righfully so), so I'm going to write some of my hot (or maybe not so hot) takes that are my primary headcanons and/or interpratations of the text.

I'm not a fan of the movies. I think the changes made in them distort the characters, the plot and the overall story.

I don't believe Voldemort is insane and/or badly written. I may write a charcter analysis based on the books one day when I'll have the time and energy... and if anyone will be interested in reading it, of course.

At the same time I don't think that HP and its characters (including Voldemort) are great and with no faults. I love the concept of the series and the world created, but I will also be the first to critique it and point out its faults.

Lord Voldemort is Lord Voldemort. Confusing, I know. What I mean by that is that I don't like differentiating between Voldemort (the insane bad one) and Tom Riddle (the brilliant good one). Recently, I started to become disconnected from the trend in the fandom of treating Tom Riddle and Voldemort as separate entities. At the same time, I'm not gonna go around telling people to stop characterizing them, or thinking about them, in whatever way they like! It's just something that I became sensitive to and don't subscribe to anymore. 

Harrymort is the only pairing I am single-minded about. Any other ship (that doesn't involve Harry or Voldemort) I'm very neutral about.

I am a fan of female Harry, but only because of one particular fic - the Historical Importance of Runic War Warding in the British Isles by samvelg. It's my all-time favourite fanfic, and I have as much, if not more, headcanons and thoughts about this particular HP AU rather than the original HP. (At the same time, I am aware why genderbending is disliked by fandoms, and I do agree that many genderbent stories are not great. Many of them erase the lgbt+ represantation, which is what I am not at all about.)

I don't have a set gender identity headcanon for Harrymort (trans, cis, female, male, nonbinary... they are all very much appreciated).

However, my preferred sexuality headcanon for both Harry and Voldemort is either bisexual, pansexual or asexual.

I am firmly a bi-racial/having Indian ancestry Harry headcanon fan.

Recently I started falling in love with Arabic and Korean, and a headcanon of bi-racial/having some sort of other ancestry Voldemort has began to cristalize in my mind (kind of an another mirror with bi-racial Indian Harry headcanon). I've had this thought after reading this one post about how Harry is changed in fics but Voldemort stays always the same when it comes to ethnicity/race.

I have plenty of different AU ideas about this pairing (many modelled more as an AU of the Historical Importance AU) and would like to realise them at some point, but I'd like for my first posted work to be an original idea.

The reason I'm creating this account now is because Tomarrymort stories are some of the best I've ever read. No matter how much time passes, I always come back to them. I am a slow-burn hoe (slow burns and long fics are like… 90% of my fanfic consumption), and I appreciate the vast variety of themes and motifs that these stories are capable of getting into.

On a final note, I'd like to make a disclosure.

Any opinions I have are simply that - opinions. I don't think that they are the best or the most accurate or that they should be imposed on other people. Everyone has a right to like whatever they want to like, and to think whatever they want to think, as long as that does not evolve into attacking actual human beings.

It's fiction. It's fun. I appreciate people with different opinions so long as we stay mature and respectful to each other about exchanging them.

[aegor-bamfsteel]

How do you think ACOK/AGOT Theon Greyjoy would have gotten along politically and personally with his uncle Rodrik “the Reader”, as well as cousin Ser Harras Harlaw? For me, Theon’s relationship with his mothers family is one of the more notable missed opportunities for interesting personal dynamics (also, if the Theon Latecomer theory comes to pass, R’hllor help us all if poor Alannys never gets to hold her baby boy one more time)

I agree with you in that I’m very interested in the Harlaws, as despite their limited page time they’ve proven to be varied characters, from bookish Rodrik to stern knight Harras to ambitious Hotho to proud and stubborn Gwynesse and tragic Alannys. Usually characters in these minor houses get one trait for all, especially the ironborn; it’s the bigger houses that get this sort of variety and nuance. Plus they breed a shaggy pony that I’m guessing (due to the resemblance between the Iron Islands and Scottish isles) is analogous to the Shetland pony.

Harras and Theon probably did have a personal relationship before the latter had to leave Pyke, and I don’t think it was a positive one; “As a boy Harlaw had been fast friends with Balon's eldest son, Rodrik” (AFFC The Reaver) but Theon “remembered Rodrik's drunken cuffs” and told Patrek that he was horrible enough he doesn’t care Jason killed him (ACOK Theon I). Anyone who was fast friends with Rodrik is likely not going to be someone Theon has warm thoughts of. What little we know of Harras has him a great warrior, loyal, has an ancient Valyrian steel sword, serious, merciful enough (Euron had all the Hewetts killed while Harras just imprisoned the Grimms)…most of which would bore Theon, some of which would remind him of Ned Stark whom he feared due to their history (and he and Harras must’ve had some history too). Basically I don’t think they’d be personally friends. However, if Theon became his liege, I think Harras would support him (certainly over the Greyjoy uncles) and would reave where he was ordered.

Rodrik Harlaw, I think Theon would feel similarly to how Asha does in early AFFC, resentful of his cautioning him about fighting a war the ironborn can’t win, but unlike Asha probably thinks less of him for constantly reading books (Luwin at least admits to never liking him); and he thinks Victarion is an old man who’d just take his orders, so he’d likely think even less of Rodrik and his advice. However, Rodrik would still support him out of necessity and try to advise him, though wouldn’t personally reave.

Don’t worry, Theon is going back to those islands and meeting Alannys. It’s all part of his subverted Hero’s Journey, in which he returns to his home a greatly changed person due to the trials in the unknown world, now with the ability to grant boons to his deeply damaged community, aka Alannys (who’s the only person happy to see him for non-political reasons). I say this with hope, because even though GRRM has expressed dislike for the Hero’s Journey Monomyth, even he can’t resist the idea of his main characters going back to the place they’re born (the possible confirmation of seeing Casterly, show!Daenerys on Dragonstone, of course all Starks will be at Winterfell)

[malicedafirenze]

I just finished re-reading Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco and I'm going to make it everyone's problem because this book is so good and so underrated

I wrote a more conventional review of this book after my first readthrough this April, so if you want more concrete info and slightly less incoherent gushing, head over here please.

What to love about it

SO many of the fantasy romance books I read end up being unsatisfying to me because they either have a main romance that feels cheap because it moves too fast, prose or writing style that grates on me, or because plot and action just take a total back seat because the MCs need to get their rocks off.

Not this one. I mainly gush about the romance (because hello it's a bisexual MMF throuple and the dynamic especially between MMC and the male love interest is deliciously hostile for much of the book) but a core reason for why the romance in this book works so fucking well for me is because there's so much quality going on all around it.

The plot is about a strange new species of vampiric creature that's attacking people and villages. In examining what's going on, main character Remy gets involved with two powerful vampire nobles and finds out disturbing things about himself and his family. (keeping that very vague for spoiler reasons)

The MC is a vampire hunter who's excellent at what he does but looked down upon by everyone for a variety of political and gossipy reasons, he's also traumatized by a shitty af father and the dangerous expectations/situations that shitty father has laid upon him.

Relationship dynamics

Remy meets the two love interests very quickly in the story, and realizes to his dismay that the two of them are engaged. He initially dislikes Malekh, king of the third court of vampires, but is infatuated with Xiaodan, his fiancee and heir to a vampire court herself. In travelling with them, his emotions grow more complicated.

Between Remy and Malekh, you have these enemies-to-lovers vibes, though they're mostly on the same side but pissed about it. There's an exchange between them later in the book that goes “It’s just that you’re always so hard to read, I never know if you want to fight me or fuck me” - “it’s both, Pendergast. It’s always been both.” and man if that's not a fucking mood, I love it.

The book isn't the spiciest thing I've ever read, but it has a handful of incredibly hot and detailed scenes, that includes some cruel teasing, some very desperate mutual blood drinking, some angry flirting while sparring and more. All in all you know what the three of them are getting up to but also I may need to write fanfic for a few 'missing' scenes.

Reach and readership

Silver Under Nightfall has a bit over 3000 ratings on goodreads. The only other bi poly vampire book I also know and love (A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson) has over 40'000.

Some of the popular queer fantasy books of recent years like The Unbroken and The Jasmine Throne have 9k and 22k respectively. I am not sure why Silver Under Nightfall has not gotten anywhere near as much love or attention as these books - it'll be a complex combo of marketing reasons and mainstream appeal I assume - but I cannot help but want to shout from the rooftops that SUN deserves so much more love and attention than it's getting.

For me, SUN sits perfectly in that sweet spot where it is more "fantasy with a romance subplot" rather than "romance" but also doesn't skimp out on the sexy bits. And I personally absolutely fucking love it for that, but

So there you go: READ THIS BOOK IT IS SO GOOD PLEASE. Is it perfect? No probably not. On my reread I noticed a few stylistic hiccups and I find the pacing works much better in the first two thirds of the book, with everything happening a bit fast in the last third or so.

Is it for everyone? No probably also not. But if well written queer poly sexy vampire romance with a mostly serious tone but dry humor appeals to you as a concept, you absolutely should read this one.

Also if there's anything like it - as mentioned, A Dowry of Blood is the only thing I know of that comes remotely close imo in terms of being a queer poly sexy dark vampire story - then please do tell me about it.

If you've read this book and want to talk about it, my DMs are always open <3

[nalyra-dreaming]

Oh Nalyra, I really want to emphasize with show Lestat, I really really do, but I can't help but strongly dislike him. Or maybe I just don't understand him. Especially after reading the last update of Laden (not that your writing made me dislike Lestat, you captured the complexity of situation wonderfully). Your writing is impeccable by the way. I am really enjoying Laden. But I digress. Even after reading numerous analyses from several blogs regarding the Antoinette relationship, I just don't understand why Lestat stays and puts himself and Louis through heartbreak repeatedly. Honestly, Louis is an absolute pain in the butt and I'm sure it is difficult to have a partner that is always the martyr, neglectful of your needs, critical of you, and a pessimist except when willing to overlook his daughter's bad deeds. Lestat is not perfect, but I can empathize for him seeking out an affair or even deciding to end the relationship with Louis. But if you need to rely on someone outside of the relationship that badly, why did Lestat stay? I think I'd respect him more for leaving with all the reasons of needing adoration, companionship, fun, or even variety. But was it not peak selfishness to stay knowing you are causing irreparable damage to your partner you love? Especially when he knows at this point Antoinette is no longer a game to Louis and she is causing some real problems like his disassociation and further depression? If Lestat needs her that badly, why not just be with her even if he doesn't love her? I don't understand him not letting go of Louis and choosing pain of the entire family. Even after Louis takes him back, he still argues to keep her. I don't think Antoinette is the true problem, she just makes me realize how selfish Lestat really is. And as a person that self admittedly was Lestat's biggest excuser the first time around, i'm admittedly struggling upon my rewatch to understand why he stays. He knows Louis won't leave him and he takes advantage of that fact as well with continuing to see her. Why wouldn't he just be the bigger person and go. Then when he is gone in episode 6, why not stay gone? When he does come back, why not change? I'm not understanding that part. Sorry for the incoherent rant!

No, it's okay, I do get it.:)

It's... difficult.

They are both fatally in love.

Fatally.

Such a heavy word for something that should be joyous? But it isn't for them, for long periods of time, because they cannot escape this feeling though they both try (in the books, too, and it takes a long while for them to get "there")

But they cannot. They simply cannot leave each other. Louis cannot leave even though Lestat isn't there. Lestat cannot leave though he is not welcome in his own house. (For example)

Antoinette is not the problem, not really, Antoinette is the symptom. She is a piece on the board of their games. (How apt, the chess games...) She is who Lestat wants Louis to kill, and who Louis refuses to kill. She is what Louis cannot be and what Lestat does not really want to have. She is what Louis would never want, and Lestat should want.

The Antoinette situation is not just about infidelity, it is about feeding, and killing, and jealousy, and possession. It's about being petty and stubborn, and bratty, and withholding, defiant and depressed.

It's a mess.

It's a mess they both cannot escape. And ... they don't really want to either.

Because, as you said - if they really wanted to leave the other - they just could have. They both could have.

PS: I am going to address that in the next chapters, too, so... maybe that will make more sense then there!! (I hope so! :))) Glad you like!!

[pleuvoire]

basically, i think that, like... it's fine and reasonable to think that a lot of fanfiction is poorly written because its authors don't read a lot of original fiction*, and that reading a variety of original fiction is vital to really improving your craft as a writer if indeed really improving your craft as a writer is your aim, and even that there are a lot of annoying people who don't read original fiction but want to have an opinion on it anyway, usually by asserting that fanfic is blanketly better and more progressive or what have you, which is tedious and annoying. this is all, like, fine and i agree with it. what i don't understand, and actively dislike, is making the leap from "if you don't read original fiction your improvement as a writer will be limited" to "if you don't read Books this is a moral flaw that we can laugh at and belittle in a way that is deserved because you are doing something wrong by not reading books, especially if you want to engage in amateur writing for fun while not reading books, which makes you brainrotted and stupid and evil basically. you have a duty to Read Books to better yourself as a person and if you shirk this duty we will laugh at you." this fundamentally stems from a societally pervasive and deeply reactionary view of academic intelligence as defining a person's worth, and of Stupidity as a moral flaw, and you can't convince me otherwise

*or "books" in the words of the people typically expressing this opinion, though i take issue with this framing because it invokes the subtext that traditional publishing formats automatically grant legitimacy and intellectual heft, using "books" as a shorthand for "worthy and interesting and intellectually good writing" in a way that i reject

[oceanoecielo]

▸ @troublewithvampires​ ⟶ ❛ canary (i already know abt the boys but i request more images) + cherry + mauve + ruby! ❜ ╱ ( colorful interview , accepting . )

[ canary ]  do you have pets? if yes, how many and what?

idiot bitch and rude bastard, respectively

[ cherry ]  what is one thing you love about yourself?

i love… that i’m a cunt, HA! silly answer, perhaps, but it is true. my life got much better when i stopped taking shit and started being rude. nice guys really do finish last. better to be someone others would rather not fuck with.

[ mauve ]  give one random headcanon about your muse / one of your muses.

simon is a chaotic individual who teeters on the line between follower and leader, listening to people whenever it suits him. he won't let himself be pushed around, but he has the potential to be shockingly cooperative when he wants to be. he doesn't have any real problem with jonah or jon being the kings of the apocalypse in season 5, for example, and is happy to respect their authority.

he will let you boss him around a little bit. however, the second he gets bored or decides he dislikes you for any reason, he is out the door again.

[ ruby ]  give one random fun fact about yourself.

you already know this, but other people might not, so fuck it - i'm currently revisiting a lot of classic literature to see if i like it any better than i did when i was in school and also picking up some ones i haven't read yet. this is in my quest to Consume A Variety Of Content to improve my writing (i'm also reading more modern books on the side), and so far, it's been going pretty well. i just finished to kill a mockingbird and started the great gatsby this afternoon.