#like even if she doesn't find out what if a publisher actually picks it up?????

[asterdeer]

siri what do you do if you're almost 30 but not out of the closet and your mom asks if you can read the paranormal mystery romance that you wrote about a nonbinary monster hunter.

[lovebvni]

intuitive messages pac !!

THIS IS FROM 2023!! BE FOREWARNED

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│ᵒᵖᵉⁿⁱⁿᵍ ᵐᵉˢˢᵃᵍᵉ...

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[ 🖊 ] created ⋮ 7.31.23

[  ] published ⋮  7.31.23

˚₊·͟͟͟͟͟͟͞͞͞͞͞͞➳❥ ꒰ ⌨ ✰ Arsyn   ⋆  ⁱˢ ᵗʸᵖⁱⁿᵍ··· ꒱ | ೃ࿔₊•

┊       ⋆     welcome to my blog !

┊     °

hello earthlings, its been a while since i've done a pac, mainly because of MANY personal issues - but thats not important. i thought for a while and went back to my old pac's and i found an older one i made and i remembered, my intuition is just as powerful as ever - so why do i need tarot cards now?

today i'm just going to have 10 messages/sentences the universe wants you to hear. they can be specific or general.  remember, take everything can be taken with a grain of salt, and your future can be changed. you are in control.

now please, find your inner peace, connect to your soul.

understand these messages were meant to find you, and see what is left for you.

inhale, exhale, and pick a pile

Pile 1 - Watching

confirmation :

procrastinating, pushing things off, turning the other cheek, tumblr, the colour purple (show or the actual colour), spacing out, spirits, double meaning, two faced, gemini, hidden meanings/words, red eyes (tired, puffy), burnt out, music, 'good night, sleep tight, don't let the demons fight.', the letter s, sharks, 'the grass is greener'.

side note : the month of august (summer in general) be significant for your shifting/spiritual journey.

Your messages

1. Why would you wait when you could just grab at it? It's right there. Don't let it rot.

2. "Hello? Are you there, listening? Listen to me. I'm here to help. I promise." (this could be an inner voice or a spirit guide)

3. Be your own boss. Keep going.

4. Pass on to the next step (Death to life)

5. You know what's there, talk to it. "I wont hurt you."

6. Listen, don't speak.

7. Let it go. Be like Elsa, don't let it bother you anymore.

8. Mind, Body and Soul. You're in harmony. Use it to your advantage.

9. Advise and criticize. And use the same techniques on yourself.

10. Peace and love. You deserve it. You know you do. And you will find it, soon.

Pile 2 - Renew

conformation :

saiki k, giving up, letting go, leaving things behind, mental overload, 'Jesus fucking Christ', jealous, letting go of that person, shadow work, yellow, outlook, aries, the moon, big lips, 333, the number 3.

Your messages

1. Bite down. Let it flow into your veins, your soul, your spirit. Its part of you now.

2. Is it a real worry, or just something from your past you don't want to let go of?

3. Jail. Time to rest. Now.

4. Eat and care for your physical body. You can't idolize shifting. You're not getting anywhere doing that.

5. Look in the mirror - no. Not at the past. At who you are now. Who you've become.

6. You have the balls. Go fucking do it.

7. Don't accept the truth from other people, find and make your own. That's what they see, not what you know.

8. Her claws. Her teeth. She's manipulating you. Let her go. Rip away from her. She's wasting your time, energy and draining your soul.

9. "I  DO love you. That doesn't mean I'll let you hurt yourself."

10. I am watching. Always. In your good times and bad. I'm here for you. Just ask for help.

Pile 3 - Love

confirmation :

wrist and elbow, jumpscares/ being scared, saturn, planets, fnaf, cycles, broken cycles, love watch, soulmate reuniting, mha (lmao bro idek at this point), drawing, heartache, feeling lonely, barbie, hip dips, trios.

1. Wake up from that dream and make it a reality, you know what you have to do, so go do it.

2. "Beg for my mercy." - This had a VERY sexual undertone... Obviously from a dominant partner or something

3. 'Hello again, my friend! What do you have to tell me now?"

4. You know that thing you asked for? Yeah. It's coming. Keep your eyes pealed (for some I heard it's even coming tomorrow!)

5. Sit in silence, you know what it is. You hear the voices.

6. Pack your bags and go.

7. Grab on, I'll lead you to where you need to be.

8. Don't chase what you're attracting, that will only lead to disaster. (A manifestation you wanted is coming, this is basically saying don't overwork and beat yourself up over it. It's coming and nothing will stop it.)

9. Nature is your friend. Go out and ground yourself. Lay in the grass, smell the rain.

10. If you want to learn, you need the knowledge. Search for what you want to find. You can see it. Ask around. You'll find it. Look, look, look, search, look look, search, find.

I hope this pac resonated for everyone! remember, this will find you when you need it, take what relates, leave what doesnt. remember you are in charge of your future.

i love you. new things are coming.

dont give up.

1111

[tossawary]

I started watching a few extremely long reviews of garbage books (and some reviews of better books, but that's not what I'm focusing on here) because 1) I need stuff playing in the background while I work and there's a LOT of time to fill, and 2) I don't have to pay it my full attention (can't give it). I'm not going to be tested on this later. I don't even have to look at the screen.

While I understand "everyone stop talking about garbage books, you're just giving them free advertising, you're being PROVOKED into giving this terrible book free advertising", it is still... fun... to listen to someone pull apart the pieces of a badly written story just to dunk on them. And if the reviewer actually knows what they're talking about in regards to writing and better stories, then you can actually learn a lot. I think that when learning, it helps to study good art and how it works, but it can also help to look at "bad art" and study why it doesn't work. I think that the strings of what a creator is trying to accomplish are often more visible here.

I also picked up some specific tips to keep in mind when providing descriptions! Example: It generally pays to design your world (characters, locations) with more specifics to draw people in. What KIND of sword? What KIND of tree? Also, when people write descriptions, they leave often leave out the sense of smell, which is not always necessary to include, but can be a helpful tool when setting a scene. Like, I already knew this stuff, but it's good to keep specific thoughts / critiques freshly in mind if there's something specific that I want to work on in my own writing.

I'm also super nosy sometimes and I want to know what people are talking about without having to read it for myself. And I know some people find it depressing that writing THIS bad gets published at all and becomes super popular, and I feel that sometimes, but I also find it kind of heartening while reflecting on my own writing and knowing I'm definitely better than that. And I actually like being reminded that I'm not alone in my frustration at various creative industries, and being reminded how much of success comes down to connections and good luck.

Most of all, sometimes I just really need some random book nerd to take me gently by the hand and say, "You're not crazy. It's not just you. This New York Times bestseller, that went viral on TikTok, by a multi-millionaire author, is complete dogshit."

(I haven't read anything super bad recently, actually, but years ago, I read a single Danielle Steel book (from a library, can't remember the title) because I saw her name around a lot and I was vaguely curious if she was honestly any good. That book made me feel nuts with how bad it was. Airport bookshops lied to me about her skill as an author. :( )

[thebluemallet]

Predictions for Bridgerton Season 3, Part 2!

I did a few predictions mostly focused in part 1. While some were spot on, a few others could still happen in part 2. I'll be discussing points I got right, points I could still get right, and other things I think could happen now that I've seen the first four episodes. Possible spoilers below the cut!

1- Francesca Will Feel Some Pressure From the Queen (Right ✅ )

I did say this wasn't that much of a guess and it's been what Queen Charlotte has done every season so far. Francesca didn't want to be singled out as the Queen's Favorite but hers and Eloise's efforts weren't enough in comparison to Lady Danbury's. She is feeling some pressure to marry the man that the Queen has chosen for her because it's the "easiest path" despite Violet telling her she can marry whoever she chooses. But Francesca is feeling that pressure less now that she has met the Earl of Kilmartin and he has made his intentions known (in as few words as possible).

2- Violet: Captain of the Polin Ship (Right ✅ )

Colin, you were not subtle in episode 3. Violet picked up on what you were really asking so fast! And she's the real MVP of episode 4. When Colin didn't want to go to the ball, Violet saved that ship when she told Colin about Debling's planned proposal. It's too bad she didn't anticipate the chaos Colin would cause to prevent the proposal.

3- Colin Still Doesn't Know (Right ✅ )

I knew the show could go one of two ways: Colin would find out that Penelope was Lady Whistledown in the part 1 finale OR they would hold off until part 2 for added drama.

As of the end of part 1...Colin still doesn't know that Penelope is Lady Whistledown!

4- Colin Will Find Out In Episode 5 or 6

I don't think they're going to put off revealing Penelope's secret identity for too many episodes. Episode 5 is titled "Tick Tock," and if you've seen the teaser for part 2, you know that Eloise is putting a deadline for Penelope to come clean to Colin about Lady Whistledown or she'll do it. I think that will also be the episode that the Queen offers a reward for Lady Whistledown's reveal. And as we heard from Lady Cowper in part 1, Lord Cowper has been tightening the purse strings since Cressida still isn't married. We also saw (I think in the teaser, maybe somewhere else?) Penelope writing and the small glimpse we got of the writing was calling Cressida out for being a liar and a fraud.

Here's what I think could happen:

I think it's very likely that Lord Cowper might tighten the purse strings even more in episode 5. He's already been threatening to marry Cressida off to a random older gentleman. Cressida, feeling desperate, takes the credit for being Lady Whistledown so she can collect the reward. Financial independence might help her secure a husband of her choosing. But like in the books, Penelope can't stand the idea of Cressida taking credit for her hard work, so she writes a rebuttal in her latest Whistledown column and sets off to get it printed. Colin will either a) follow Penelope and discover she's Whistledown or b) track down Whistledown only to discover it's Penelope.

Also like the book, Colin will double down on marrying Penelope because he believes he can offer her some form of protection in case people do discover she's Whistledown.

There's another shot of Colin looking like he's fuming in the teaser. I think this will also be like the book where Penelope publishes the column refuting Cressida's claim, anyway. But the column accidentally comes out earlier than intended and it blindsides Colin before Penelope can say anything about it to him.

5- Peneloise Won't Reconcile Until the Final Episode

I think this is still the most likely outcome. Eloise, thankfully, did not enter her bitchy mean girl era by hanging out with Cressida so much. She tries to apologize when Cressida rips her dress, chases after her when she realizes that she's at fault for the gossip spreading throughout the ball about Penelope and Colin, and then actually shows up at Featherington House to apologize to Penelope for it later. The ice seems to beginning to thaw.

But it will quickly freeze over again when Colin announces his engagement to Penelope. Any progress they might have made toward reconciliation will be out the window. Ultimately, I think it will be actions taken by Cressida in the second half of the season that will let Eloise make up with Penelope once and for all.

6- Cressida Finds Out Who Whistledown Is...Because of Penelope

Previously, I said that Cressida would find out about Whistledown through Eloise. That Eloise would make enough snide comments that Cressida would figure it out. It could still play out that way. Cressida is very observant and more clever than she's given credit for. When Eloise confronts her for spreading the gossip about Penelope and Colin, Cressida says that she spotted another girl whispering about it nearby and that Eloise was "not very discreet" when she shared the gossip with Cressida.

However, if the events of part 2 play out a little closer to the book, then it will be Penelope's Whistledown article condemning Cressida that allows her to put two and two together and blackmail Penelope.

7- Lady Whistledown Stays Secret(?)

I think as much as the Queen gets vexed by Lady Whistledown, she sort of realized at the end of last season when Whistledown had a hiatus how much enjoyment she got from the column. And what fun is an anonymous gossip column if the writer is no longer anonymous? Maybe we'll get an "I'm Spartacus!" moment (or, for a more recent example, an "It's my vagina!" moment) where people start claiming left and right to be Whistledown when Cressida tries to expose Penelope in the final episode. It would take away Cressida's power over Penelope once and for all, and it could allow Penelope to keep on writing.

Honestly, I think this is not a likely scenario, but it's a possibility and I'm putting it out there.

[transmutationisms]

i am the world's biggest wikipedia defender (especially against people who say that it's unreliable) because, while i know it's not infallible (is anything, though?), it is peer-reviewed. once, my friend edited the othello page to include a joke we had made and she got her account banned. how do you reckon with wikipedia as a source of knowledge? my understanding of it is that it can serve as a good base for things, but learning never stops and one should read as many sources as possible to gain a fuller understanding of whatever they want to know about. this is a very long-winded way of asking your opinions on wikipedia. my apologies, and i hope today is alright for you :~)

wikipedia obviously gets a lot of flak for the fact that anyone can edit it, which means that people certainly can and do check each other's work, but also that anybody with an axe to grind or just a poor understanding of a subject can potentially really distort the presentation of that topic. there have been some high-profile cases of bad and even dangerous editorialising, like the woman who basically single-handedly is trying to correct a whole bunch of pages for former nazis that really whitewashed their legacies and cited various antisemitic and white supremacist sources to do so. i think it would be foolish to claim that crowdsourced knowledge is inherently accurate, fair, nuanced, &c. wikipedia replicates the biases people put into it, and just having more people edit it doesn't instantly 'average them out' because yknow, we're often talking about widely held positions or prejudices that have also caused distortions in many of the cited sources. also, wikipedia has many more gaps than most people realise, partly because an encyclopedia is necessarily a massive undertaking and also because, by design, it excludes eg oral traditions, non-literate people, &c.

however i do find a lot of wikipedia criticism annoying because it will usually involve trying to counterpose wikipedia to approved academic channels of knowledge production, specifically in a way that sets academic institutions and publishing as an intellectual gold standard that crowd knowledge simply can't compete with. academia is not some kind of magical solution to problems of distortion and bias; academics have their own ways of perpetuating and rationalising prejudices, and reinforcing rather than challenging each other's epistemological authority and laziest, most harmful assumptions. not to mention that many shitty wikipedia articles do actually cite approved academic sources published by university presses! because these characteristics do not actually guarantee that a source is good, only that it passed quality control at a reactionary institution lol.

ultimately i approach wikipedia basically the same way i approach any academic text, which is to say i have to read both with attention to how the arguments are being developed, what evidence they rely on, what ideological assumptions are being made or defended, and so forth. i can't really think of a source or genre of source that i would endorse just reading and uncritically believing; in that sense i certainly agree with people who point out the major potential for inaccuracy in wikipedia articles, only i think this line of criticism is totally useless and blatantly elitist if it simply exempts 'respectable' academic sources or presumes institutional channels of knowledge to be epistemologically infallible.

anyway i use wikipedia to check dates of major events and it's sometimes useful or intriguing simply to see what about a topic interested people enough to write an entry about it. but i don't automatically trust any arguments or analyses in wikipedia articles, any more than i would the thesis of any nonfiction book i pick up.

[roseaesynstylae]

Star Wars: Republic Commando: Triple Zero, Chapter 6

I had a nice vacation.

I visited family. I soaked up the sun. I created an AO3 account and have been collecting bookmarks and posting short fic, so when I feel confident enough to link it, there'll be something substantial. I began reading my way through the High Republic. I started refining OCs that I might post fic about in a year.

And now I'm coming back to this.

(Hand to God, instant burst of rage when I opened the book.)

"In five millennia, the Mandalorians fought with and against a thousand armies on a thousand worlds. They learned to speak as many languages and absorbed weapons technology and tactics from every war. And yet, despite the overwhelming influence of alien cultures, and the absence of a true homeworld and even species, their own language not only survived but changed little, their way of life and their philosophy remained untouched, and their ideals and sense of family, of identity, of nation, were only strengthened. Armor does not make a Mandalorian. The armor is merely a manifestation of an impenetrable, unassailable heart.

-- Mandalorians: Identity and Language, published by the Galactic Institute of Anthropology"

That right there is complete bullshit.

No culture exists that long and interacts with others without being influenced in some way. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, they would pick up something. I know Star Wars doesn't necessarily involve itself with the nitty-gritty of worldbuilding, but...

Part of this feels like I'm overreacting to something small, but over the course of my vacation, I have lost what little willingness I had to be nice to Karen Traviss, her Mando Sues, and all the bullshit in this series. I'm sorry, but I'm going to be a bitch going forward.

Anyway.

There's something about this excerpt that really makes me feel like it's lording its (unrealistic and impossible) linguistic "purity" over everyone else. This is a case of "If this were a different author/book/series, I wouldn't be bothered."

Mando-Shilling: 2

I haven't even gotten to the actual content of the chapter yet and I'm metaphorically throttling this book. This is a bad sign.

"'General,' he said. He paused to nod formally at Etain, which -- given Skirata's general contempt for anyone not in armor -- seemed quite an encouraging start, Fi decided."

We are not pleased.

"'In here, ma'am.' He could make ma'am sound like girl somehow; he could do the same with General. But as a Jedi she had no right to feel affronted by the lack of deference. She realized that she simply wished he would like her. 'Just a little chat and you can find General Jusik and catch up on events.'

Yes, Skirata gave the orders."

Okay!

This isn't lack of deference; this is just being an asshole.

Oh, he can make ma'am sound like girl? Well, I can make Kal Skirata sound like eat shit and die.

"'In urban operations, a woman is always useful, Jedi or not. Another aid to invisibility -- old di'kute like me and females like you.'"

I hate you so fucking much.

It's a Man's World: 2

Like I said above, I have lost all patience for this series' bullshit. I'm going to go look at some pro-Jedi/Bad Batch content (my version of touching grass) and possibly assemble romantic prompts.

My last comment on this chapter?

Jedi-Bashing: 9

Mando-Shilling: 2

It's a Man's World: 2

Shut the Fuck Up, Kal: 1

Deltas, Move Out: 4

Mird, My Beloved: 3

Is This The Bad Batch?: 2

Main Post

[aruanimess]

hi myrtle!! hope you find your book soon! ♡

what do you think would be the Ambassadors' favourite books, and why? 👀

Heyyy, Cris!

My books arrived shortly after my call for help! Much like the bus arriving just after you light a cigarette (or maybe that's just a Greek superstition). But thank you for your wonderful question! So let's see!

*rubs hands together*

Reiner: For some reason he strikes me as an extremely pretentious reader. He doesn't read a lot because he always picks the heaviest, most high-brow and depressing books. He likes a lot of what I call Sad Man Literature™. Think of Crime and Punishment, Franz Kafka's entire bibliography, loads of Camus. Don't get me wrong, great stuff, but definitely not something you would call light-hearted. The misery gives him a sense of catharsis though, so he genuinely enjoys them.

Jean: This boy wishes he had Reiner's taste in books sooooo much. And he tries! He really tries! He wants to flex about his book collection SO bad, but... he can't. He finds them boring and depressing. Can't help it. What he really likes is romance novels. Give him a spunky, righteous heroine and a broody man and he'll give you his soul! He doesn't want to admit it though, so he only reads them at night under the covers. Everyone thinks he's reading erotica for this reason alone.

Annie: As I've established in my fic too, I think she's into detective stories; the gorier and more sensational, the better! But really any mystery will do it. She likes following the clues along with the main character and making valiant attempts at discovering the killer. She loves the feeling of her heart pounding with suspense as the action picks up and always cheers when the detective figures things out. Whodunits are her bread and butter!

Armin: Not gonna lie, I think my boy likes non-fiction. Oh, he will read a novel here and there to unwind, but what really gets him babbling excitedly to a half-listening Annie is essays and history books, scientific journals and encyclopedia entries, field guides and travelogues, even goddamn academic textbooks. He's very curious about the world and he wants to learn it all. When it comes to fiction, he prefers sci-fi and speculative fiction, because he enjoys pondering on world-building.

Connie: My man does not have the attention span for novels, and that's okay. More often than not you will find him lying upside down on a couch flicking the pages of a comic book. He particularly enjoys the funny ones. Once in a while, he will pick up a magazine that he knows prints stories to his liking and he will read a short story, or maybe even a novel if it's published in a serialized format, but only if it's either thrilling or makes him laugh. He actually gets recommendations on what to read from Annie. He doesn't trust the others.

Pieck: This lady will read absolutely everything she can get her hands on! Not necessarily because she enjoys the variety, mostly she wants to have an opinion on every single thing. This leads her to reading many of the novel-of-the-month type of books, the kind of stuff that people talk about at parties. From the whole group, she reads the most contemporary novels. Which is a bit of a double-edged sword: she might get to discover a great author quicker than the rest, but she might also end up reading a lot of garbage... Still, she wants to know, and she does enjoy a good literary innovation!

[doctorstrangereview]

0123: Defenders #15

Cover Date: September 1974 On-Sale Date: June 18, 1974

Woo Hoo! Nighthawk gets a nifty new outfit this issue, after his last one got blown off his body by an exploding melty laser. Fortunately, the beak is a huge improvement and the colors are much easier on the eyes. Our rag-tag non-team gets to fight Magneto and his merry band of evil mutants. Doc and Magneto are even duking it out on the cover!

Doc is giving new member Nighthawk a tour of the Sanctum Sanctorum. After dropping a few jokes that Doc doesn't get and hints about his snazzy new duds, Valkyrie picks up the cue and compliments him.

Val's identity crisis resumes and she is determined to leave the Defenders and find out who Barbara Norris, the body she's wearing, was. This is actually remarkable for this era. Barbara would most likely have been ignored. She was insane and just an extra body lying around for Valkyrie to posses. Life goes on.

Nighthawk wants to help. He can't figure out who Val is, but he can help her with the rather conspicuous winged horse. He calls a lackey and orders them to buy a riding academy with lots of privacy.

Val thanks him and they turn around to see Doc speaking to the empty air. Doc realizes he's the only who can see their mysterious guest so he uses his All-Purpose Amulet to shine some light on the situation. Oh look! It's Charles Xavier, founder of the X-Men!

Charley's usual lackeys are tied up so he needs the Defenders to sub in for him. Doc, of course, accepts on behalf of everyone present and then needs to recruit some muscle. In the form of the Hulk, naturally. The Hulk is confused by Doc's floating astral head, but obliges Doc by following him to the others. Fortunately all the present members can fly and manage to fly to New Mexico and not a very long time.

The gang meets with up with Charley just as the Hulk arrives. At this point, the readers don't know what this mission is and we're not sure if Charley has informed Doc off panel. As they prepare to enter the cavern in front of them, an giant orange cyclops (no the X-Man variety) emerges. Hulk requests he go away in typical Hulk manner.

The Defenders attack the beast. The beast wipes the floor with them, until Charley asks them to stop and reveals the monster is an illusion. Fancy that!

Charley is really looking like his physical inspiration, Yul Brynner, in that middle panel! The next attack is real and flattens the group as Magneto and his evil bunch come out of the shadows.

Magneto imprisons our heroes in a magnetic field. It's a little on the nose, but what else can you expect from the master of magnetism. Doc asks what's going on and why he's doing this. Magneto blathers something about a sleeper inside a giant bell jar behind him and then leads into a multi-page recap of an Avengers tale not long before the Avengers/Defenders war.

To make a long story somewhat shorter, in his encounter with the Avengers, Magneto was clobbered by the Vision and then Thor trapped him in a force bubble which was sent to the center of the Earth. Comet Kohoutek's passing made some tiny change to the force bubble allowing Magneto to break free and find his way back to the a cavern. Naturally, this cavern contains the remnants of some loss civilization, because we don't have a story if it didn't. It even has a library with books that are bound just like modern publishers do. He's even managed to decipher the ancient language with absolutely no frame of reference. Well, Mags is a genius after all!

He reunites his brotherhood of naughty mutants and then reveals what he's up to: making a home grown mutant.

Charley communicates with his substitute heroes telepathically and next we get a full page panel of them escaping. Yay!

Magneto calls his band of naughties together to protect him and we get a large panel of the stand-off.

The Defenders don't fare wall initially, but the tide starts to turn when Hulk realizes that Blob is rooted to the ground, so he removes the ground. Doc then counters Masterminds illusions with his own illusions and we get an old classic, lots of Docs!

Charley manages to set off Nighthawk's jet pack who then crashes into Lorelei taking her out. Unus grabs Val who realizes that he has lowered his forcefield and Unus becomes touchable. She tosses him to the Hulk who is happy to have something else to punch. It may all be in vain as Mags has turned on his homegrown mutant.

The premise was more promising that what was delivered. Perhaps part two will be better. The promise of the cover didn't deliver. It showcases Doc and Mags facing off, but we don't get that. I am intrigued by these two battling. They are incredibly powerful, but can magnetism and magic counter each other? How would one defeat the other. At least Len realizes the Hulk is smarter than most people give him credit. He may not perform brain surgery or solve the unified field theory, but he is capable of deducting and reasoning.

The story is a level above ho-hum. It's entertaining, but not great. I'm hoping for more from the conclusion.

[n0nesence]

I'm honestly so confused about that Tiktok Timothy made about the r@p3 allegations. In November of 2017, Timothy tweeted "what if I have my own story of ab*se but I'm scared to ruin the persons life and I still love them in a f*ck*d up way and the public really loves them and most probably wouldn't believe me" (talking about Melanie) And on December 4, 2017, Timothy publicly accused Melanie of s*xual assault on Twitter. She alleged two nights during which she "repeatedly said no" to advances from Melanie, claiming she kept secret for years and describing how Melanie had performed s*xual activities on her without her consent. Melanie replied to the accusation shortly after claiming Timothy's allegation was false, and stating "she never said no to what we chose to do together". Melanie further affirmed: "I understand how hard it could be to see my side of the story, considering no one with a heart would want to invalidate anyone speaking up about this topic I would never be intimate with someone without their absolute consent" and then In an interview with Newsweek, Timothy claimed that Melanie tried to contact both her and her boyfriend around 20 minutes after publishing the accusations through text and phone calls. No evidence to back this up was ever shared. In the aforementioned interview, Timothy went on to say that Melanie's dismissal of her account "says it all": "First of all, I did say 'no,' multiple times, but even if I hadn't, that doesn't mean I wanted it. She dug her own grave saying, 'she didn't say no'. That's not consent." I'm so confused, because Timothy said this and then she had changed the story multiple times in that year ect. and now she's talking about it again after so many years, why didn't she go to the police ect. I don't know, her Tiktok is confusing. Like, why would you make a Tiktok instead of going to the police? (Also, I'm not picking sides or anything I'm just saying because this is really confusing) anyways, I hope the truth is revealed, idk.

(Just wanted to share my thoughts about it and the information I had because I've been a fan of Melanie since 2012 and I have seen the 2017 tweets Timothy had said and I have them screenshoted after years and everything)

Exactly, the story is getting changed left right and centre. There's no clear story

Also, Timothy's friend has actually revealed that in 2017 when Melanie actually tried to call her to understand what was happening with the accusations, Timothy just laughed at her and said nothing before hanging up (you can find it here)

Timothy also isn't that good of a person anyway, she's been caught saying the N word, lying about being trans for money from a rapper, and getting a person in junior high to create the banner for her Only Fans 😬 (she's also been seen only letting her minor-aged fans access to her private Instagram...)

I feel like there's much more to this case than what either are speaking about (not that Melanie is speaking at all)

I guess we'll just have to wait it out just like in 2017 (just like the saying: history will always find a way to repeat itself)

Also please either send or post those screenshots! I've never actually been able to read them fully, just been able to read the ones that aren't fully true yk?

[shatcey]

The Black Butler Effect

I finally finished watching Black Butler and noticed a few similarities with IkeVil and I wanna share that. Wiki says that the first part of the manga was published in the magazine in September 2006. And the first episode of the anime aired in October 2008. And that was a long time ago. NOTE I'm NOT trying to say that the developers actually STOLE something from another project. But Black butler undoubtedly influenced them. I haven't read the original manga, just watched the anime. So you can correct me if I'm wrong about something.

Sebastian

Many have noticed how similar the design of Sebastian and Alfons is. I also wrote about it, but from the perspective of how they differ.

But in some scenes where Sebastian seduces women (just for work, of course), he used the very familiar line "why not forget about all your problems" (am I being a little sly? Maybe so. The meaning is the same).

I got goosebumps. But the fact remains. Alfons only looks like Sebas. He's completely different inside.

Now that I think about it… Ally has also a lot in common with Lau. He is constantly surrounded by a bunch of women and can earn money from literally anything…

Ciel

I see a lot of this character in Elbert. Sometimes Elbie feels like a child who needs to be fed, or to take away from him another thing that he has his eye on... Stop picking up garbage, really! Just like a child.

And he's not smiling. This is what everyone pointed to then talk about Ciel as well.

But sometimes he behaves too much like an adult and is not afraid to make very harsh decisions.

Yes, Ciel is more active and calculating, but… I didn't say they were the same.

Sebastian and Ciel

The relationship between these two characters sometimes reminds me of the relationship between Ally and Elbie. Elbie just lets himself be taken care of most of the time. And most of the time he looks like a child who really can't survive without Ally.

And mutual interest… they both got something out of their relationship. I see it like this: Elbie has found the kind of shield and family he never had. Ally has gained stability and a steady income. There are more, but… it doesn't matter at the moment.

And the contract that binds Sebas and Ciel carries the same vibes. Ciel has a defender who is always by his side. And even he never admits that, he's actually too attached to him. And Sebas got his delicious food, which was being prepared right before his eyes… Damn it, this demon has a hell of the patience. And also about patience… I think Ally has a lot of patience as well.

Undertaker and Grell

There are two characters with very long hair in this anime (I won't mention my beloved doggy Pluto, I still hope they will somehow revive him in the next season), and they are both very… crazy. And I love it.

Grell is constantly flirting with Sebas and… with all the guys who he finds attractive. Undertaker likes to joke and laugh. He's very loud, and his laughter is simply unforgettable. And his eyes were hidden for a very long time (for a reason) so we could imagine any jewel color. It was a good one.

So I see that our beloved Victor somehow combines these two characters. He flirts with Harrison and sometimes with other guys and he has a very loud voice and laughs a lot. Maybe I'm just imagining.

Watchdog of the Queen

Ciel was called the Queen's watchdog. He literally did everything she asked of him. And it didn't seem to bother him at all. For some reason, he feels obligated to do this. It sounds very familiar, doesn't it?

Victor's devolution to the queen is well known. And she was always at the top of his list of priorities. I get very jealous when he starts talking about this woman. Despite the fact that she is considered quite an elderly lady and their relationship cannot be romantic, it still pains me to think how big a place she occupies in his heart.

Queen of the night

They used this flower in the last season of anime.

This flower is a symbol of the game itself. And it plays a huge role at one of the events (Villain's night). It's not that much, but a symbol is a symbol. And the fact that it appears in both projects is very difficult to ignore.

There are small connections with other characters, but this is just my personal impression, without any specifics, so I won't even mention it.

That's all I noticed. If you notice anything else, let me know, I like to think about it more.

This anime (or manga) has undoubtedly greatly influenced the development of Villains. And I am a little scared that Vivi's secret might be hidden in there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

🔝 𝕊𝕋𝔸ℝ𝕋 ℙ𝔸𝔾𝔼 🔝

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[stellarspecter]

First fic tag game 📖

Pick a fandom and post an excerpt of the first thing you ever wrote in that fandom. Could be a scene, part of a scene, a couple of lines, whatever your first foray into writing for that fandom was. Feel free to include a link to the story it comes from if it’s been published (excerpts from WIPs count too).

thanks for tagging me @carolperkinsexgirlfriend!! this is so fun

the first thing i ever wrote for stranger things was actually years ago in 2019 when i was still into it 2017 and mike & richie cousins aus were all the rage. but the first thing i wrote after getting back into st post-s4 in 2023 was a snippet of what would eventually become genderqueer steve fic I've Been Trying To Figure You Out.

originally, the fic was going to be a lot more stobin-oriented (i know it already is but like even more) and go into the nuances of being a lesbian and being sometimes attracted to your genderfluid friend when they're feminine and codependency and platonic kissing, which is not really where it ended up and i still need to write that fic one day lol. the first snippet i wrote for it was very codependent stobin-based, so it didn't get used in the final fic, but here it is! from july 12, 2023 (technically i actually created the document on june 30 2023 but all i did was write "trans your gendah" so i'm not gonna count that sldfjsdlks)

After the string of on-again-off-again girlfriends, dates that fizzled out after a few kisses, and [something else], Steve's done with casual. He can't to waste his time and energy on putting his all into someone who's not even putting half of their effort into him. Not anymore. No, he needs someone to be obsessed with him. Steve's decided that he needs devotion, he needs possession, he needs full leeway to be as obsessive and clingy as he naturally is and not have to tamp it down as long as he knows that the other person will be just as possessive back. He's always had a lot to give, always had to stop himself from being too clingy or overbearing or too much, but now he thinks he doesn't see the point in stopping himself. All he needs to do is find someone with the same neuroses as him, and he'll be set for life. Thank God he met Robin. She's everything he could ever hope for. She's wild and frantic and anxious and perfect. She shares his brain. She's seen his nightmares. She's the other half of his soul. And maybe it's just because they're trauma bonded, but Steve doesn't really think it matters. He loves her, can't live a day without her, spends all day at work with her and then follows her back home and sleeps in the same bed, and he still finds himself missing her in the rare moments when she's not around. He knows other people would say they spend too much time together. He's gotten his share of Looks from Joyce and raised eyebrows from Nancy. The kids think they're dating, and nothing they say will stop them, because even if they're not, they really do act like it. Sometimes Steve thinks they act more like they're in a relationship than he did with his exes, which probably says something about their levels of codependency. It's too much. Steve knows it's too much. He just doesn't care. Finally, after wishing his whole life for someone who understood him, who wouldn't abandon him, who cared, he's found the person he's going to spend the rest of his life with. He's a bit too busy loving her to give a fuck about codependency or the line between healthy and unhealthy relationships.

no pressure tagging: @devondespresso @tinytalkingtina @vthx and anyone else who wants to do it!

[bookwyrminspiration]

KOTLC Graphic Novel: B&N Virtual Event Summary

There are no spoilers

Shannon Messenger was accompanied by Stuart Gibbs, author of Spy School and other series, who asked the questions

Enjoy!

Event's theme was Iggy Celebration--Shannon chose to wear dark blue, as it's secretly her favorite Iggy

It's officially called Dark Blue Iggy in the books, but the actual color nomination from fans was "tardis blue". She couldn't use that for potential legal issues, but she knows it's actually Tardis blue, making it her favorite

Shannon can't take credit for Iggy's changing color

She'd made him pink in book 2, and so a fan at an event asked her what color he'd be in the next book

Shannon asked her what color she wanted him to be. This fan, dressed in head to toe purple, leaned in and very seriously said "Orange." So Iggy was orange

Opened it to fans after that--but sadly never got the name of that one fan to thank her properly ("Whoever you are girl in purple, thank you!")

Book 10 doesn't have an official release date because Shannon's still writing it (as fast as she can!)

Iggy's color options for Book 10 are still undecided as well

Shannon thanks everyone immensely for their patience; "it's my focus! I want to get to them as fast as possible," but she also wants the book to be good and worth the wait

"Naive Shannon thought the later I got into the series the easier the books would be to write. WRONG!"

she has so many planted seeds to keep track of and constantly feels the pressure to one up her previous books

"I kinda wish I'd set the bar a little lower from the beginning"

She can't make a perfect book; there's always going to be someone who doesn't like something

She's reached the point of realizing her plans, and it's a delicate balance. You don't want reveals to feel like they came completely out of left field, but also don't want them to be like "I guessed that six books ago"

Finding the balance between feeling earned and still surprising is a daunting task ahead of her; it's more labor intensive than she thought it'd be

Stuart Gibbs points out that even if it takes a while, Shannon gives us a lot of book per book, so it's worth it

Shannon never intended to write such long books; she used to say every time that the next one she'd get the hang of being concise and it would be shorter, but everyone stopped believing her by book four

Was a graphic novel adaptation ever part of her plans? Secretly yes--she started as an art major and loves seeing illustrated versions of her characters. The highlight of her year is the cover art, and graphic novels are entire books!

It was on her author bucket-list, but she wasn't sure it'd would be possible; some books just don't work as graphic novels and they're expensive for publishers

When she found out she got the adaptation she "did a happy dance I was very grateful no one could see"

How involved were you in this process? Very involved, since her publishers know she has an art background

They let her pick from writers who auditioned--she wasn't sure that was a great idea because she didn't know if she could be objective; "no, I wrote it this way because it needs to be this way!"

Celina "knocked it out of the park" with her audition

For Gabriella, the artist, she was exactly what Shannon was looking for; she wanted a new style--Jason Chan (the cover artist) is incredible, but she wanted the GN to be distinct and more illustrated

She describes the GN as "like Disney meets manga," cartoonish but not

Shannon gave notes on rough drafts, inked pages, and colored versions--she's sure they got sick of her notes by the end of it

She remembers thinking "certain Keefe jokes MUST make it in," but then seeing them in the visual format they realized "huh, this joke isn't funny anymore"

Anything that surprised you about the process? Definitely some of those Keefe jokes not working, but also the fact they had to split it. At first she thought they could work it all into one, but emotion takes longer to convey visually, and they were "robbing the heart out of the book" by trying to fit it in one

Shannon jokes everything she writes ends up longer than they expect

Do you have any idea about part two? It's in the works, but it's a herculean task for the artists, so it all depends on them; "do not blame them at all! this is a daunting, daunting, massive work load"

Shannon owes Gabriella "all the cookies ever"

it's a very tight timeline, so they'll share the release date when they have it, but for now just let the artist do their thing

Was it weird to spend so much time with book 1 again? Forget anything? Want to change anything? There were some sentences she wanted to rewrite--"a book is never done, it's just due"

Thought about adding Gisela in book one, since she wishes she'd introduced her then; she always knew she'd play a huge role, but thought it'd be more clever to not introduce her until she was ready to bring her into play.

Now she disagrees with that decision and wishes she'd been there from book one, but decided that "it's not bad the way she did it, but it would've been more elegant" so she didn't change it

Does Gibbs have anything he would change about his book? He says you don't always know which characters will catch on, some some that become important he wishes he spent more time with in the beginning--"if I'd done this in book one, I couldn't done this in book 7!"

Any movie news? Hollywood is so much hurry up and wait, a ladder with thousands of rungs; they got caught at the script stage when the writer's strike happened, and even though the strike ended that doesn't mean the gears start turning again immediately.

the script is the most important thing, especially since KOTLC would be a very expensive movie, so the more solid the foundation the better the chance they have of getting greenlit

Her fingers are crossed; she wants a movie/show, but she wants it to be a good movie/show

Fans often don't realize how much work it is and how out of the author's hands it is

Reader questions! (name spellings are to the best of my ability)

Celiana: what advice do you have for young authors? Focus on writing and enjoying that part of the process before publishing! Publishing is stressful and complicated

Shannon throws the question to Gibbs. He says a lot of the times fans tell them they don't like their writing, it's their first draft. "Well that would be the problem."

Very few people hit it out of the park on their first try. Editing is a super important part of the process!

Shannon writers her books weird (editing intensely as she goes because she's always behind on deadlines, and hopes to go back to normal one day), but before that she'd have 2 or 3 drafts each. Book 1 was draft 20, Exile was draft 3, Everblaze was 2.

Gibbs does about 10 drafts each (though admits his outlines process isn't nearly as rigorous as Shannon's)

Shannon reached a point where she said "I don't think I'm smart enough to do this alone anymore!" Her books are like houses of cards, and she simply doesn't have time for the drafts to fall apart

She and her team frequently painstakingly plan things out--and even then sometimes have to scrap things. Remember that scene we rigorously went through last week? "it's not working! Now what?"

Mary Claire: Was it hard for you to find a publisher? Yes. First she got an agent, as that's important when traditionally publishing. She got her at draft 13--said that while she loved the book and its idea, you could tell this was Shannon's first book.

They went through a few edits and thought draft 15 was the one, but she got LOTS of rejections

her confidence was shaken, and draft 16 turned into a mess

At draft 18 it was sold, and then they went through 2 more versions with an actual editor; "so so much rewriting..."

Gibbs tried to get published as a kid, but was rejected throughout all of his schooling, so "to heck with this! I'm going to Hollywood to write movies"...which was actually pretty similar

he came back to writing 15.5 years ago during the last writers strike--"hey maybe I should try this book thing again"

They don't share their experiences to scare you; it's worth it, but you have to love writing to be an author given how much work and rejection it is

That's why Shannon says to enjoy the writing stage as long as you can; you need to fall in love with writing and with your story and truly believe in it

Were you always reading as a kid? Writing stories? When did you decide to write a book? Shannon was very focused on art as a kid and wanted to be a Disney animator, but her art doesn't work for that; she can't draw what's in her head, she can only copy, which "makes me about as useful as a camera"

She thought she could learn the skill, but couldn't in art classes; she realized she was always going to be frustrated if she kept at it

She'd started college at 16 and now her life plan was falling to pieces, so her mom advised her to take a class for fun

it was a film class, since she thought she'd be able to watch TV for school

she was, but her teacher also encouraged her to go to film school since she could finally bring things out properly on the page how they were in her head

"You have a lot to learn, but I see something in you." "Cool, I'm a film major now. Answered!"

Turns out film is too collaborative for her and she wanted more control; "there's those book things, I guess I could try those."

She doesn't regret the journey

Addie: How do you et the ideas to write? Shannon wishes she had a tree that sprouted money and great ideas, but really ideas are everywhere and it's a matter of paying attention.

You don't need your whole idea all at once--can be small like "I wonder if that hat...wasn't a hat at all!"

She knew she wanted to work with elves, and she knew she wanted to strip the magic from the story in favor of sci-fi/superhero logistics. The rest came bit by bit

Some days she couldn't write fast enough, others it was "oo, what if they wore capes?"

Elizabeth: what do you do when you have writers' block? Shannon doesn't like to call it that because that makes it seem scarier than it is; to her it's just being stuck, and she plays the "what if?" game

What if I got rid of the previous scene? What if they went here instead? What if, what if, what if? Open yourself to new possibilities

Gibbs is a big going for a walk person for when you're stuck. We all get stuck, not just young writers. he also likes hiking--walking but not coming back for a while.

At this point a poll was sent to the audience asking them to choose between 5 pairs. Bolded won with percentage included afterwards

Teleporting or light leaping? (63%). Eternalia or Mysterium? (63%). Bathe a T-Rex or Pet a Verminion? (55%). Telepath or Empath? (62%). Cape or No Cape? (60%)

Shannon's surprised the Keefe fans didn't pull through with the Empath vote

No matter what Shannon writes, someone's going to be unhappy, so she started pulling back on appealing to fans and prioritizes what fits the story

Marissa: Will Iggy ever go back to grey? That's up to the readers! Shannon leaves it completely in our hands, so if we ever nominate and vote for grey, she'll write it.

Shannon thanks everyone for reading and being patient, as she's writing as fast as she can

When a book is released she usually celebrates with a dessert; she ordered a bunch of fall flavor donuts from Krispy Kreme today, so she's not sure if she'll save one for tomorrow or get something new

It's dangerous that she can just push a button and donuts will show up at her house (doordash)

Gibbs and Shannon hope everyone love the graphic novel as much as they do--and stay tuned for part 2!

[peoplesrazor]

Lily judges media without actually interacting with it, part two.

Above is a character from the game Nier Automata. Lily used a similar image to "discuss" the type of person who she feels would play such a game. She took one look at the character design, and thought only three things: Japanese, anime, and fetish.

I'm not going to deny that we live in a world where some gamers complain anytime they feel a female character isn't "boobing around the screen boobly" enough. Not sure who I picked that up from, but that's an apt description of the chuds who scream whenever they find a character not sexy enough. That's certainly something that happens way too often.

What I'm saying is you can't just lump a game into that category and make judgements on the type of person who plays it based solely on an image from the game. Trying do so with this game, is extra stupid. Anyone who has played it can tell you that. Which should not be me, btw.

This is the part where I confess I also have never played this game. How do I know Lily is wrong? I listened to smarter people, got curious, and then I did a little reading on it. Tim Hickson, who has published three books just on writing and worldbuilding and runs the Hello Future Me youtube channel, has a video on Nebula talking about it. You can find it on Nebula here if you have a subscription.

Tim's video is actually about how some stories effect you, but the gameplay of Nier Automata is part of the opening of the video. He covers what Lily's dismissal doesn't. Lily described a story about a sexy android in a French maid's outfit. Tim describes a story that changed him as a person and stuck with him.

Below, some very light spoilers. I say "very light," as, again, I have not played this and do not want to give out misinformation. I'm only including what I could gather from Tim's video.

However, reading the following could actually mute the experience for some first time players. Continue with that in mind.

Ready?

So, in the beginning you start out in a pretty standard action rpg. You play as the human/android B9 and you hack and slash your way through mobs of machine enemies. There are hubs. You get quests. The style is fast. The terrain is nothing more than scenery and never an obstacle.

And then there is a fade and, suddenly, most of those things are not true anymore.

Now you are playing as the enemy, a nameless mob, one of the machines... and your brother isn't moving. You decide oil may fix him and decide to go get some. Only now, your movement is slow, laborious, leaden. Now the terrain, never a concern before, is an obstacle, another enemy to hinder your path. It's frustratingly difficult and apparently the only path forward.

And in the end, it doesn't even matter. Your efforts are futile.

What does this mean? How does this effect the story? How does it make the player feel?

I don't know. Again, you have to ask people who have played the game. Unlike Lily, I am not speaking from a place of supposed authority. I'm not the media critic with a youtube platform here.

But I listened to people who have played the game and did a little looking into the franchise and this game. I've interacted with other similar media. Played other games with similar switches in them. I can make some assumptions here, but I can't really know what the experience is like, because I haven't had that experience. I can't even say every player has this experience, since it's an rpg with different paths in it.

And that's my point. You shouldn't take my word as the only viewpoint. It's not even mine. It's from watching Tim's gameplay as he talked about storytelling. Nor should you take Tim's experience as the only possible way to view this. He is very purposely talking about his personal feelings about this game. That's part of the video's theme.

And we certainly shouldn't be taking the word of someone who based their theory on what this game was based on a single image.

[starryeyedjanai]

✨ first line tag game ✨

tagged by @aringofsalt, @kkpwnall, @fastcardotmp3, @fragilecapric0rnn, @penny00dreadful,

@thefreakandthehair, and @pearynice🩷🩷🩷 mwah i am kissing you all

Rules: Share the first line of your last ten published works or as many as you are able and see if there are any patterns!

these are the last ten fics (minus the microfics) i've posted!

It’s been a long day—a long week, actually. 911 / my arms belong around you

Indianapolis is frigid this time of year. Stranger Things / your needs, my needs

The first time Eddie stumbles across the monster in Lover’s Lake is right after he fails senior year for the second time. Stranger Things / counting the days till i'm coming home

Buck wakes up to his limbs being moved, to the mattress shifting with the weight change of Tommy getting out of bed. 911 / no place to be but right here

“I want to go on a road trip to Max and Lucas’ wedding,” Eddie says as soon as Steve picks up the phone. Stranger Things / where i most want to be

Buck doesn’t mean to almost jump Tommy’s bones in the hospital lobby. 911 / order up, i'm hot to go

It’s not like Buck was planning on sending Tommy a shirtless picture of himself, but even after he realizes his mistake, he thinks it’s probably better that it went to him after all. 911 / all the vices i can't give up

Chrissy doesn't know what she’s doing. Stranger Things / you see better when you’re looking

The day Eddie finds out that Steve has been learning how to play the drums isn't even the first day that he looks at him and knows he feels something other than friendship about him. Stranger Things / if devotion is a river, then i’m floating away

Steve doesn't think much of it when Tommy begs him to drive him and Carol to Skull Rock at first. Stranger Things / it takes two, not three (but i’m here anyway)

conclusion: sometimes i start in media res, and other times i kind of ease into the fic with some good ol exposition to explain where we are and why. i don't typically start with dialogue and where i most want to be might be the only fic where i do (other than some of my drabbles)

no pressure tags (i have no idea who's already done this or not): @sidekick-hero @steddieas-shegoes @spicysix @stevethehairington @carbonbased000

[chrysalis-the-butterfly]

My Thoughts on the Roger Rabbit Novels

Who Censored Roger Rabbit?

The Plot: It's the 1980s, and human beings and comic strip characters ("toons") live side-by-side, albeit not on an equal social standing. Roger Rabbit approaches private detective Eddie Valiant and asks him to investigate a dispute he has with Rocco and Dominick DeGreasy, the brothers who own his comic strip. Roger claims his life is in danger, but Eddie, who's somewhat racist towards toons, doesn't take him seriously - which comes back to bite him when he finds Roger's dead body. Now Eddie has to work out who killed Roger, as well as who killed Rocco DeGreasy on the same night.

What I Liked: This is a very well-paced story. It sets up the mystery straightaway, it cracks along at a good speed, and you don't have the full truth of whodunnit until the very end. The chapters are short and punchy, and even the time spent on plot points that turned out to be red herrings never felt wasted. I was always eager to pick the book up again and read just one more chapter!

Also, in any other novel, the twist regarding Roger's killer would be a massive "What the heck?" moment, but here, it's set up far enough in advance that it doesn't feel unnatural when it comes.

And as a fun minor detail, Eddie casually mentions being one of four children, and then the next novel, Who P-P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit?, gives him two brothers and a sister! It was probably a coincidence, but I was glad to spot it!

What I Disliked: I really wasn't a fan of the way Jessica Rabbit was portrayed. Who Framed Roger Rabbit subverts her femme fatale image, but Who Censored Roger Rabbit? plays it straight, which didn't appeal to me as much. I prefer the "looks like she could kill you, is actually a cinnamon roll" trope over the "looks like she could kill you, could actually kill you" trope.

At one point in the story, Jessica claims she was forced to pose for a racy comic, but when Eddie speaks to the owner of said comic, the man claims Jessica posed for those pictures willingly and was actually eager to make more. At the time the story was published (1981), one might just about have got away with such a portrayal, but in a post-#MeToo world, it's discomforting that Jessica's allegations of coercion and sexual abuse aren't taken seriously. (Also, the man who owns the racy comic is a creepy crossdresser, which ... what? Why was that in there? That didn't need to be in there.)

As a consequence of Jessica's portrayal, her relationship with Roger is nowhere near as sweet as in the film. Their entire marriage is basically a sham. No, thank you. Give me "honey bunny" and "love cup" instead, please.

Verdict: I saw the film first, and I prefer it to the novel. Who Framed Roger Rabbit will always be my favourite piece of Roger Rabbit media. But I can appreciate Who Censored Roger Rabbit? as its own thing - a product of its time, to be sure, but also a well-structured and fast-paced read.

Who P-P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit?

The Plot: It's 1947 (more or less), sometime after the events of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Roger Rabbit, Baby Herman, and Kirk Enigma are three toons in line for the lead role in David Selznick's upcoming adaptation of Gone With the Wind. A box belonging to Selznick, a box of great importance, has gone missing, and Eddie Valiant has been hired to find it.

What I Liked: Who P-P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit? has my favourite portrayal of Roger (after the film and the comics). We spend a bit more time with him than in the previous book, so we get to hear more about his worldviews and his backstory. We also get to see what a sweetie pie he is. He's an emotional bunny who loves his wife, just like in the film, and I frequently wanted to hug him.

A key highlight for me was the moment when Roger was singing like a Disney Princess and summoning a chorus of birds to wake Eddie one morning, which Eddie did not appreciate. Can someone animate that? I'd love to see it!

The second half of this novel also introduces Jessica's twin sister Joellyn (the six-inch-tall woman on Eddie's shoulder on the cover), and I enjoyed getting to know her. And, without giving away too many spoilers, I greatly preferred this rendition of Jessica over the one in Who Censored Roger Rabbit?

What I Disliked: Unlike the first novel, this one was pretty slow to get going. Eddie isn't actually hired by Selznick until Chapter 7, and most of the time before then is spent establishing Eddie as a down-on-his-luck private eye, using people and locations that show up once and then are barely used again. Some of that fat could have been trimmed, I feel. It made reaching the end of the book a bit more of a slog.

Something else that bothered me was the high volume of old-timey slang, brand names and Americanisms that I, as a twentysomething Brit, did not recognise. I could read an entire paragraph and think, "Well, he's either drinking alcohol, smoking cigar or eating a foodstuff, but I'll be darned if I can tell you which is the right interpretation." I think the noir detective vernacular was slightly overdone, to the point of incomprehension.

Verdict: I thought this would be my favourite of the novels because it seemed the most similar in tone to the film, so I was disappointed by my lukewarm reception to it. Maybe I was disappointed because I'd hyped it up too much in my mind? That's not to say I didn't enjoy it - I greatly preferred the second half to the first, once Eddie found out what was actually in this mysterious box - but I think it could have done with a few more edits before publication.

Who Wacked Roger Rabbit?

The Plot: It's the 1940s or 1950s, sometime after the events of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and director Barney Sands is shooting a movie set in Toontown starring Gary Cooper and Roger Rabbit. He's been receiving threatening letters warning him to stay away from Toontown and stop making this film, but he can't afford to let down his investors. So he hires Eddie Valiant to be Cooper's bodyguard while filming takes place. But Eddie soon finds himself wrapped up in another mystery, involving a porcine crime lord called Willy Prosciutto and the corpse of Clabber Clown.

What I Liked: The majority of this novel takes place in Toontown, so we get some really cool worldbuilding details. We find out how the school system works, which churches are based in Toontown, and how crooked toons launder their money. I was particularly intrigued by the calm and serious toons in the Sanatorium - apparently, if you're not loud and goofy and bouncing off the walls, you're considered insane, which is the opposite of how humans think about mental health.

The blonde humanoid toon on the cover is Caitlyn "Honey" Graham, Willy's girlfriend. I really like Honey. In fact, she might be my favourite of the novel-exclusive characters. Throughout the book, you're trying to work out if she's a good bad girl or a bad good girl, or if she's really just a bad bad girl. If Who Framed Roger Rabbit ever gets a sequel or prequel or spin-off cartoon series, I'd love to see Honey on screen.

What I Disliked: The Roger we meet in this novel is a bit too stupid for my liking. In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Roger made seemingly nonsensical choices, but he had his own (cartoon) logic to explain his actions, and he was even proved right in his assumptions a few times. So I much prefer to think of Roger as the kind of toon where you're never quite sure if he's truly dumb or merely playing dumb for the sake of a gag. Here, he's just straight-up dumb, and that's not as fun to read about.

Verdict: This was the book I knew the least about before I read it, so I was more cautious going in - but it ended up being my second favourite of the Roger Rabbit novels. I enjoyed learning more about Toontown and its residents. My favourite parts of the film had been the toony parts - Roger, and Jessica, and Roger and Jessica together - so I guess it makes sense that I'd enjoy the novel that takes place almost entirely in Toontown.

Jessica Rabbit: XERIOUS Business

The Plot: It's the 2020s, sometime post-pandemic, and Jessica Krupnik is a human in a toon-less world. She's working a dead-end job in a crime-ridden part of town, her stepmother bosses her around and belittles her, her stepsisters treat her like a servant, and her stepbrothers sexually harass her. She's basically a modern-day Cinderella. But instead of a fairy godmother, Jessica is rescued from her life of drudgery by an opportunity to apply for a role at XERIOUS, a crime-fighting organisation of secret agents. She gets the job, and is later put on a mission with Robbe, one of XERIOUS's most experienced agents, to catch a criminal mastermind called the Klown.

(And this is somehow a prequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Despite being set decades after that film. And starring a human Jessica instead of a toon Jessica. Cartoon timelines be weird, y'all.)

What I Liked: This was the most fun novel to read! I think that's because it was a spy novel spoof, rather than a gritty noir detective story. The other three novels could be quite dour in tone - yes, cases would get solved, but people would get hurt in the process, and relationships would be irrevocably altered, so there was always this undercurrent of sadness in the seemingly happy endings. After three novels in a row of that, a story spoofing spy novels was always going to feel like a breath of fresh air. Gary K. Wolf has stated that he wrote this book in lockdown and had a lot of fun doing so, and I feel that coming across in his writing.

Robbe was another great novel-exclusive character. I can't say too much about him, because that would massively spoil things, but I can say that I enjoyed witnessing his development over the course of the novel. To give the most spoiler-free explanation I can, Robbe starts out as a suave and competent spy, but also a misogynist - until something happens to him in the line of duty that shakes his confidence. Watching him grow and try to be a better person, especially towards Jessica, while also dealing with the aftermath of his accident, was truly engaging. It even got me thinking about the portrayal of disability in fiction, which I did not expect a Roger Rabbit novel to do.

What I Disliked: For a novel called Jessica Rabbit: XERIOUS Business, Jessica herself was disappointingly under-developed. The first three chapters follow her miserable life and her desire for adventure, for respect, for something more. And then there's a two-year time skip and whoop, she's suddenly a confident and glamorous secret agent! And she's ditched her glasses and dyed her hair, so she's beautiful now! And she achieved her impossible hourglass figure with nothing but diet and exercise, despite being a human and not a toon! Sigh.

There was a real missed opportunity here. Robbe already has a plot where he starts off skilled and arrogant, but then has his worldview challenged and needs to learn to embrace vulnerability. So we could have had Jessica experiencing her own story of growth alongside him, but in reverse! We could have watched as, over the course of the novel, she transforms from the beaten-down self-conscious little girl into the sensational woman she was always meant to be. Robbe would start on top and fall down; Jessica would start at the bottom and claw her way up. The parallels could have been awesome!

Gary K. Wolf has admitted that, as a man, he would struggle to write a novel about women, and it shows. The sexism Jessica experiences doesn't have any nuance; the story just says, "Harassment is bad" over and over again. There's one moment where the Klown is sharing his nefarious plan to change the world, and Jessica responds, "I like the current world." And ... huh? You like the sexual harassment you receive on an almost daily basis? You like the system that trapped you in a dead-end job? You like all the poverty and crime and misery the world has right now? The story could have really benefitted from a feminist and/or intersectional analysis.

Also, in an effort to make Jessica seem smart, the men around her are extremely stupid, unable to see through the Klown's flimsy disguises. That is ... not the best way to make your female characters appear intelligent.

Verdict: My favourite of the Roger Rabbit novels! It's not perfect, but my criticisms are born out of love and a desire to see this concept reach its full potential. But even as it is, I still found this book a lot of fun to read, and I can excuse a few flaws if I'm having fun.

Final Ranking (Compared to Other Roger Rabbit Media)

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Roger Rabbit and Roger Rabbit's Toontown comics

The three shorts

Jessica Rabbit: XERIOUS Business

Who Wacked Roger Rabbit?

Who Censored Roger Rabbit?

Who P-P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit?

[lemonhemlock]

ASOIAF fandom is so hilarious to observe on a sociological level because why are there countless stans who have an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the entire history of Westeros but cannot pick up the most obvious themes and foreshadowing. There are users who can tell me what the Red Keep chimney sweep overheard Maegor saying to one of his 977578 wives on a random Tuesday in 109 A.C. word for word, but does not believe that there is any foreshadowing for Dark Dany, Dany won't burn KL, and even if she does burn KL Martin won't frame it as a bad thing because things like mass casualties happen in war all the time.

I'm sorry but this is insane dfndfndfndfns like it's crazy? It's the most 'cannot see the forest for the trees' fandom I have ever experienced and it's honestly just baffling to witness.

This is a very interesting observation and I think part of the reasoning is certainly rose-coloured glasses & bias for one's favourite character(s). But, IMO, this environment has also festered in the last 12+ years since the publishing of ADWD because people are going nuts with such a large gap between books.

The quandary is that, despite the staunch and sometimes aggressive discourse on the matter, the series has been left in such a spot that really lends itself to various, sometimes contradictory, interpretations (if one is willing to give grace to others and not automatically assume everyone else is shortsighted or peace spoilers). No one likes hearing this because they all have put so much stock into being right by now,* but the truth is that, if you want to mount an argument for Saviour Dany, you can cherry pick some elements from the text, such as Dany's empathy for enslaved people, her emotional thought process, her striving to be kind and just etc - all of which are true enough, because Daenaerys is, thankfully, a well-crafted character and not a two-dimensional white girl pastiche. Likewise, if you're a Dark!Dany belieber (sic) like myself, you're going to be drawn to other recurring motifs in her story, such as her entitlement to a throne that doesn't "belong" to her, her unwillingness to examine her family's problematic past and history with violence, her eagerness to employ that violence in her quest for queenship, her equating social liberation with her simultaneously being at the top of the pyramid, her disinterest in what the people of Westeros actually want, her belief that her decisions are always correct and morally righteous etc.

So, to expand on this example further, could someone really craft a further two books where Daenerys turns into this benevolent queen who comes to be loved by the people of Westeros for selflessly saving them from the ice monsters? Of course someone could, anyone can do anything. Would it be a good story? LOL. Would it be in line with the themes already developed? Double LOL. ASOIAF could also turn out to be a bad story, you know! There's always that possibility. IMO the seeds for her downfall are already there, but the truth is that they're not exceptionally overt for a lot of readers and so they find them hard to accept. If evil why friend-shaped etc.

If everything had gone to plan, these insane debates would not have had time to get so out of hand, because we would have had TWOW published 5-6 years ago and things would have become clearer by now. It's just that GRRM left us off in murky waters, with a text that's ambiguous enough in some places and a fandom that likes to one up each other and is bored enough to seek entertainment in trench wars & endless arguing. And Dany is just one point of contention, you have people out there fighting for their lives about Sansa, about whether Young Gryff is Rhaegar's son or not, about Stannis being the proper ruler for Westeros etc. Something that irks me is how a lot of these fans become so belligerent and can't just accept that sometimes the text we have so far is just vague! Because the story is unfinished! Sometimes it's really not just because everyone else is stupid or racist or misogynist, the text really IS lacking, with two full books missing.

*We also live in rather peculiar times, socially-wise, with the advent of content creators that have literally gone on to make an entire livelihood out of commenting on ASOIAF and presenting theories. Since people are so bored and desperate for some kind of content, they flock to these BNFs and that contributes to the popular interpretations being recycled. When you quit your day job to do this full-time, you kind of become dependent on your audience and feel the need to tell them what they want to hear because otherwise your paycheck is affected. And no one is really eager to forgo paying next month's rent because of something silly like criticising Dany online. This, in turn, influences new fans coming in and searching for information on their favourite characters, so when they encounter the popular talking points for years, of course they're going to take it at face value, because so many people can't be wrong, right?