#one of the first scenes is bullying a child into a heart attack

[karmaphone]

oh great I got to Fatphobia: The Episode 😞😒

[biggestqiblifan]

Ruins of Gorlan scene

Anyone going to talk about how Halt dead-ass jumped off Abelard to go comfort Will? This scene needs to be talked about more often.

Alright, here I go with another ranting/tangent.

When we had the boar scene, Will proved the reason why he was a ranger's apprentice. Even though he was going to flipping die, he still fought, he accepted it and went to protect the one guy that had made his life in the Ward a miserable existence, bullied him all ward his life. It sucks that that isn't mentioned more, but anyways, when the first boar came out, Halt neutralized it and basically did nothing.

But then, the second boar came on out, Halt not only killed it, but went to comfort Will. Not giving a fig about what others thought, especially about his tough-guy appearance. He let Will cry into him.

Now, I don't think people get how important physical connection is to a child. Growing up will strangers and adults who don't understand you like your parents would've, if they had been alive, the only touch and hugs that I think the ward kids would've gotten was from each-other. But it's not the same as having an adult hug and support you.

Imagine how comforting it must've been for Will to get that. And Halt too. This scene shows how close Halt already felt to Will, he doesn't connect or comfort anyone like he does with Will. This helped further their father/son relationship. Awesome. But, what did Halt get out of it?

For Halt to rush over like that, imagine how scared he must've felt. Also, not only was it the raw fear of Will dying, but I like to think that Halt was terrified that he'd fail Will's parents.

Also, Halt has been living on his own for several years. And, Ferris had been the favorite, so Halt must've been ignored at sometimes. So this connection was good for both of them.

I mean, when Will went off, Halt felt like he had no purpose. He was just mopin' around, missing his son.

So, this is where we first see Dad Halt. I don't think that the other Battleschool peps comforted Horace the same way Halt did. Halt just dropped everything and ran to protect his boy.

Gotta love that.

Halt would do anything to keep Will from harm. As proven over and over.

How proud do y'all think Halt was of Will after he got over the attack of nearly losing Will. I swear he had a heart-attack.

[asexual-disaster]

‼️FHJY EP 2 SPOILERS ‼️

all my thoughts about episode two of junior year !! it’s a long one :)

The little scenes when they describe their attacks and moves where the minis are acting it out is so cute

‘A mega version of Riz’s mage hand’

They all look so good. But especially Ally and Murph omg

Adaine’s first turn was actually pretty sick

And Gorgugs wtf

AND KRISTENS TO MAKE IT BLOODED PLS

‘Do you have mass healing word? Would you be interested in doing that?’

‘Brennan you’re literally bullying us’

‘You can try, oh it does hit’

ARMOUR OF AYDA crying

These beans are DUE

Murph starting to roll like shit again

Fabian flirting with efac again

‘I punch the mirror’ ‘I punch Kristen twice’

Lou Nat one again to get out the van ‘I’m going to throw up’

In two turns Lou only needs a 2 to not get crushed by the van, and twice he rolls a nat one

‘For you to half or third or whatever you do since it has multiple attacks’

Adaine death fail instead of taking a Dex save wtf

‘You don’t have it written down! I thought you read the book’

ECAF NOOOO

‘Look somewhere else’

I need a full story of Balthazar and Duggan, THEY WERE LOVERS

Murphs sleeves being short enough to show off his tattoos, I might disintegrate

What is with these kids and crashing vehicles

Ally throwing their dice

‘With my wizarding powers and my absolutely fucked van’

‘Just don’t roll a one and this is over.’ ‘NAT 20’

Gorgug IS the greatest wizard of our time

DUGGAN NO. At least he’s with Balthazar now :(

Moggy the doggy crit <3

‘Can I get under that hood a lil bit’

‘Give me a tinkerers room check’ ‘I don’t have that’

‘It’s limp silk’

‘Fabian, photosynthesis is back!!’

It just ain’t the same

‘I don’t even cutting words. I just take it’

‘I’m feeling a little unhinged’

‘Love is love’

Gorgug double crit, my boy <3

The enemy rolling two Nat ones and shooting himself in the eye

Murph dying of laughter of these guys showing up late

‘Nat 20’ ‘are you serious?’ Balthazar is everywhere

Adaine would’ve got a job, Fabian would’ve gone to dance camp, Gorgug would’ve worked on his van ; THEYRE JUST KIDS

But Riz is just happy they got to spend the summer together STOP MY SON

‘I do a half hearted prayer of healing just because I don’t trust you’

‘This was supposed to be an in and out deal but I got involved and I regret it’

‘Hey girlie,,, heyyy girlieee’

HALLARIEL ART, UGH SHES SO HOT

Gilear x Hallerial wedding WHEN

There’s something so sad about Fabian, who’s been coddled his whole life, being abandoned and left to fend for himself in a massive house

SKLONDA MY FIRST AND ONLY LOVE

Sklonda talking to Riz about college and how she doesn’t know if she can afford it for him

Riz just wants to go to college with everyone stop :(( him and adaine are fine there grades are good, but he needs to make sure he finds a place that suits the others please!!!!

WILMA AND DIGBY I LOVE U !! THEYRE SO CUTE

WAIT DID GORGUG AND ZELDA BREAK UP?? THEY ARE NOT THE COUPLE THAT WAS MEANT TO SPLIT !! Although calling it rn they’re getting back together

‘The elven oracle, the Saint of mystery and doubt, and the archdevil of rebellion’ THATS MY GIRLS!!!

RAGH AND LYDIA ART I MIGHT SOB

Kristen never told anyone she changed gods (I guess twice now?), Fig still hasn’t been to a bard class. They’re so funny

WE GOT AYDA ART!!!!

Ayda leaving Fig fossils to say she loves her her!!

Aelwyn putting protective wards on adaines bedroom to keep adaine safe :((

Cassandra my love,, but also it should not be up to a literal child who has just came out a religious cult to keep you alive and all that.

[phoenixfire-thewizardgoddess]

REMINDER: it's okay to rewatch a show you liked or a book you love as a young person and realise that, hey, nostalgia and the exact person you were when you first engaged also played a part

sometimes, they're just weird shitty shows or badly done books, but to you at the time you fell in love with them, they were perfect

and that's okay

accept that there's a thick layer of nostalgia on your memories, read/watch it again if you want to or not, it's alright to admit it's sily or awkward or just a strange plot now you think anbout it

you don't have to get defensive, or die on the hill for something you don't really love all that much now but you did once, etc

sometimes you have a story that hits you at the right time, no matter how weirdly scripted or awkward, or is now not like... great when you have the context that you missed as a kid...

and that's normal.

part of you can still love it, remember it fondly for what it was in that time, in that place, at that moment when you were a fan. but you don't have to defend it until you're a defeated husk of a human being hating everyone around you for questioning things you like(d) a dozen years ago. it's not an attack on your childhood or who you were to grow aup and realise things had subtxt, or were not the way you first read/saw them.

for example, we all liked the flinstones right?

you rewatch that recently? wilma and betty have to ask their husbands' permission to do a LOT of stuff, very religious onsense wrapped in caveman attire with the 1950s attitide.

does that mean the idea of dinosaurs also helping with everyday stuff wasn't fun? of ourse not. but you can see why it is uncomfortable to watch now, with the new lens / viewpoint of adulthood and current societal norms, right?

or land before time. Loved that shit so much, wanted to eat a treestar so bad because thy drew them delicious and the mother death scene hit a lot of kids right in the heart... was it the most fantastically scripted movie? OR the movies since? Nah. Especially the ones that seem to insist that singing and being friends will overturn racism and bullying, but you know what? That's baby's first step at these concepts.

You have a child who is sad about the triceratops being a cunt to the others and using a racial term (in the movie) you can use that as your go-to metaphor for explaining injustice, because it's a concept the kid gets and also is age appropriate.

would you spend 23hrs a day online defending Land before Time to people you don't know or those who are like "Wow man it sucks" or harassing the people making newer sequels of it because the 'uality is worse'

No, because it's a kids show. For kids. And while you loved it in your heart at one point, seething with anger over what is a singysongy fun dinosaur movie with increasingly limited plot... makes it weird. Fighting people online because it was a childhood memory is also weird.

And let's be real, there's a few fandoms that could stand to calm down in this way too.

No, Twilight was not the most fantastically written story ever made; but it hit a number of teenagers around the world in their Urban Fantasy horny hearts at the right time.

Was the Hunger Games quadrilogy (ovies) perfect in showing oppression and the plight of the children slaughtered while the world watches? No, I'd say they actually sailed right over it because the movies actually created a lens of the situation from the Capitol's perspective. Are some people still Fucking Furious about this? Yeah.

Why though? Will it help you do the dishes? To have a good sleep?

The Potter fans. I loved those books too, guys, but it is true a lot of things with context in place from an adult perspective come across as less 'yeah that's magic' or 'yeah bad lady gets taken away for punishment!' and more How Did I Miss That?

It would be a long essay on the things that are actually really upsetting when you think about it, but I am not typing that tonight. The blatant stereotypes, the racism, the weird Vamps are cool but WEres are code for AIDS thing, the wizard cops ending, gender nonsense, that no one seems to do maths but also can manage making potions, the slave race that loves it, and the centaur SA that was So Funny. Is there wizard child safety? I think there needs to be one. So Bad. Not the amreican system though.

There's a lot that slid over your head as a kid... (I thought they were going to ride off really fast and maybe chase her through the forest on threat of trampling if she's caught, not THAT). And also, if there's OSHA for wizards, someone needs to be looking into the lake full of homicidal mermaids and moving stairs, what if you fall, is there a safety spell or something?

I have thoughts about that series, about how the worldbuilding didn't need to go in any of those directions, it didn't really add anything. There were routes around them.

But to this day people will lose their minds if this is questioned, and sometimes I think they don't really want to. Not to that extent. IT's something they loved and is a part of their childhood they clung to for whatever reason (it's different for every person) and now they feel obligated to fight for it. To accept it without criticism.

Som really good examples of this are the Star Wars and Star Trek and Transformers franchises.

Have you watched th original star wars? They're FUN, they're DUMB, they're KOOKY and SCI-FI, and half the extras don't even get the action right but you got the intent. People were fucking foaming at the mouth because the fourth alien in the background's bandana was tilted the opposite way to the originals and then they put a GIRL in as lead?!?!?!? Chill.

REal criticism is saying 'yeah those last three were FUCKED, because all the growth in #1 of the new triology as imediately flipped around and written over in #2, and then again in #3, the narrative is a confusing slop of different writers and directors not working together.

Star Trek? Love the series. Do I cringe so hard my spine feels like it will eject like on of those weird multi-lead/eraser pencils we had in primary school back in the day? Sure. Do I like all iterations of the show? No, especially the one right after Voyager that decided Vulcans can fuck whenever and aliens are blue etc. Very confusing. But then on voyager the captain and pilot became lizards and fucked to make a new species on a planet in the delta quadrant and we never talked about it again. So like...

Do people still go fucking insane over any new iterations deviating from the last and defending it online? Yeah.

Transformers... fun kids show, fascinating use of special efects and CGI in the first one. Plot wise its a shitshow and if they span the camera any more times to make it an action sequence I think we would all vomit. But certain fans would rather chug petrol than accept it's not perfect because they had the toys. I had a knockoff one that was half-voltron somehow from an op shop as a kid. Loved it.

Won't go to war for it, unless I'm in a certain mood and need to just Word my way around a bendy issue because work or whatevs didn't stimulate that braining for the day.

Stargate? Love it. Not the best writing, cringy, but fun.

Steven Universe? It's a good show, there's fun and bright stuff and it dipped toes into deep topics in a way that made it easier to talk to kids about hard things. That's good. Was it perfect? Not at all. Songs were pretty good overall.

My Little Pony? This is a little napalm on the argument, but like... it wasn't a bad show. Cringey and blindingly bright, the plot seen from the opening credits but it was fine. Fun even. For young children or uni students whose brain is sizzling and wants shiny singing things to entertain them for two minutes after the assessments are finally uploaded and they are free. No thoughts required.

The important part there is that they were for kids. They continue toi BE for kids. You can like them. Any kids show that doesn't immediately make a parent want to vomit from their saccharine nonsense (you know the ones) is fine, same way there are occasional double entende in kids movies, so the adults can somewhat engage too.

Still to this day people are fighting WARS on the internet about how Great vs how SHIT the show was. (Any of the above really) and it's like...why? Which part of you feels so attacked when things like this, that you like, are riticised, that you go to Fight?

Which loosely circles back to my original point of.... its okay to like something, and recognise flaws. Its okay to still like something important to you in a nostalgia/retro/that haracter is half my teen personality way.

But you can let also choose to accept it does not match your memories of it, and let it go.

Just, think about it, okay?

You can pull a Marie Kondo with your nostalgia if you feel ready, or just move certan things to your mental attic until later.

No one needs to be sitting up all night emrbroiled in seething hatred and diatribe of an argument about a show you loved / may still be attached to, and feeling despair if you can't best the other person. Neither of you win if you didn't sleep, if you spent all that time fighting, if you leave angry even if you win, or you get nasty and namecall or dox.

These things can be very central and important to you but, think about what it is costing you to hold that level of love. IS it obsession? It is welded into who you are? Is it a past echo of who you were that you feel you need to defend? Did you just want to fuck the villain and people are like 'bruh???' Does one of the Not-Okay-Now things the characters or writer believe meld with your own beliefs and you feel attacked?

Find your why and think on how it makes you feel. Especially if it's a why that hurts yourself or others.

How can you move through that without finding yourself attacked or triggered or distressed and angry?

At the end of the day, it's your life.

You get just the one.

It's okay to admit that something you were obsessed with no longer meets with your level of enjoyment or love, or even with your ideals and beliefs. You can let them go.

A gentle burial under a mental seedling that grows into a new love for something similar but meets your interests now. Or a solmn viking boat down the mental river, alight in the twilight night with flames as you farewell it once and for all. Or perhaps you put it somewhere in the back of your mind to revisit another time, when you are ready, and can make a clear decision.

There isn't a wrong answer.

Almost all of life is about learning, growing and reflecting on yourself, your environment, the things you believe and take in, the things you reject, and the world itself.

I forgot where I was going, please assume something poignant was at the end about grief and loss for parasocial and fictional relationships (with a character or whole series or move / story itself) and how they can hurt like real ones. Depending on who you were at the time they meant so much to you, and how those characters likely wouldn't want you to build yourself into a narrow cage of anger and despair on their behalf, etc.

[sirellas]

Left Hand of Destiny (1&2) stream of consciousness review

Overall thoughts: I really liked this book! Or technically 2 books but the second is just the continuation of the first so in my head it was just one long book (~500 pages all in all). This is only the second trek book I've read and also the second written by the actor who played the character in ds9 (shoutout to ASIT, though this one has a non-actor co-writer as well), but even beyond the star trekking of TLHOD, this was a really good read in terms of writing style, pace, emotion. It was very action and character focused which I enjoyed, and especially the characterization of Martok was so great and obviously JG Hertzler had a lot of thoughts about the character he played that translated really well on page.

The memory alpha article on TLHOD says this but I didn't really start to see it until the last half of book 2, but this is very much a King Arthur story (btw don't look at that memory alpha page unless you don't care about major spoilers lol). Down to a lady in the lake handing out mythical swords. That instance was a little heavy handed in my opinion, but I did like all of the prophetic dreams and talk of glorious purpose.

That's something to note though: if you don't like dream sequences, this is not the book for you. There are A LOT of dreams. In fact the opening scene is a dream, but it's now my new favorite opening line in a book because it jumps right in by telling you who this guy is and what his deal is:

I personally am a big fan of overt symbolism like this (even a well done cliché or two), myths and repeating cycles of heroism etc etc. And I think this book melded Arthurian drama with Klingon drama well. The Klingon-ness of this book was great. What better way to get to the heart of Klingon culture in a story but by focusing on the guy chosen to lead his people and getting it ripped out from beneath his feet and having to decide that he actually wants to be chancellor. In a lot of ways this is a story of outcasts finding their way back to where they belong, which isn't always what they expect or want in the beginning. Which leads me to...

The supporting characters really made this book. Without Pharh the Ferengi who got bullied for being as ugly as a Klingon as a child and now runs a landfill on Qo'noS, there would be no book. He's my favorite (little buddy coded to the extreme) but most of the major side characters are really well explored in terms of motivation and actions. Worf, Sirella, Ezri, Darok, Kahless, Alexander, to name a few. Alexander and Kahless were two of my other surprise standouts. And because no one who hasn't read this book knows about my new favorite guy Pharh, I will now include a couple passages I highlighted to spread the word about how great he is:

Wide array of well developed side characters aside, this book is awful for women. Yes the main antagonist is Martok's insane ex, but her character is kind of too outlandish to really have much depth. Ezri shows up at the end of book 1 and plays a big part in book 2 but honestly I'm not sure why she was even there (apart from loyalty etc, but I mean story-wise she didn't add all that much to keep the action moving ((anyone else could have been subbed in for her 9 out of 10 times and it would've made more sense tbh)) except to be another explainer of Klingon things to the reader). Sirella has a few great scenes, but not nearly enough and she wasn't allowed to do much either in terms of agency and impact on plot. Martok's two daughters are barely afterthoughts.

The main plot is that a usurper attacks Qo'noS (and specifically goes after Martok), swaying the Klingon people to their side through a combo of bioengineered charisma and the people's growing resentment toward progressive ideas that Martok (and Worf) represents. That's really only the problem in book 1, while book 2 deals more with Martok accepting the hand fate has dealt and deciding to win so they can save the decaying Klingon heart and so on. But even with the kind of cheesy setup, it rarely felt overwrought or unearned with the emotional beats. The antagonist lady is, yeah, she's a bit over the top. And before 2016 I would've said the quick flip to xenophobia and Make Klingons Great Again (I'm pretty sure they use that phrase almost exactly) in the general public was unrealistic but hey, cycles of destiny and evil constantly shifting and repeating, am I right??

There were... quite a few deaths. I guess I should've expected that, being a Klingon setting and all, but some of them hit me hard. And a few I don't think really needed to happen and kind of weakened the narrative.... maybe I'll put a spoiler section below a cut at the bottom of this to discuss those 🤪

This paragraph will haunt me for a while I think... 😀 sorry for inflicting it on others now but hey that's show business

Even with some hiccups (see spoiler section below), I loved the book pretty much. Shocker: tumblr user girlmartok loves the Martok book, but it was better than I had hoped even. The Martok focus was so good and the side characters just made it even better. Much more of a heroic fantasy than most star trek settings, which fit really well and also was refreshing. It's long! But I would recommend it if you have any interest in Klingons and/or fun little guys who go on adventures and think a lot about death.

SPOILERS ⬇️

Okay ripping the bandaid off. The way Sirella died was not chill. I mean even having her die was not something I would have included, because the story really didn't dive all that deep into her and Martok's relationship. But ramming an enemy ship so Martok could flee near the beginning of book 2... and she doesn't even kill any major bad guys doing it?? It just served no point narratively (the bad guys still outnumbered them, still caught up to them not long after) and it didn't even really affect Martok all that much beyond like one paragraph where he wants to turn around and go on a murder spree in her name... He doesn't even get to go on a murder spree in her name!!!

Bandaid rip #2: PHARH MY LITTLE BABY BOY DIES???? I was glad I had forewarning about this one because I would've been mad otherwise. I am not exaggerating saying he was my second favorite character in this book after Martok. The humor he added, yes, but also just his role as an outsider who's seen as weak by both Ferengi and Klingon, and he befriends the chancellor of the Klingon Empire, HOLDS ONTO THE CHANCELLOR'S RING FOR MOST OF THE BOOK AND BECOMES HIS SQUIRE BASICALLY 🫠💔 I don't know how anyone wouldn't fall in love with him. At least his death was done well, even though I don't think it should have happened. He at least got a murderous rampage in his name 😤 and Martok basically adopted him so he could get into Sto'vo'kor 🥺

Those were my main two criticisms of the book, and really ties into why this wasn't as great a story as ASIT, for example. A lot of things happen to Martok, but some things don't get the resolution they would need to influence him on this character journey he's going on. One of Martok's defining characteristics in ds9 is that he's a wife guy and his wife doesn't take bullshit. But then his wife dies suddenly and he's upset but he's not Upset upset, if you know what I mean. It didn't feel earned and it didn't feel necessary. Literally the first and only time it did feel like a reasonable plot device was at the very end when Worf tells him that people love a tragic victor even more than a victory. The problem is just that Martok doesn't ever explore what that tragedy really means to him.

Justice for Shen and Lazhna, Martok's daughters, who in addition to dying off screen are only brought up to highlight how shitty of a dad Martok has been. He just thinks of them (and his son Drex too but he gets more characterization solely by virtue of appearing in the narrative) in terms of himself and his love for them is more on the side of pity rather than real emotional attachment. Sirella should've been way meaner to him about that tbh.

Non character death related but a big focus of the first book was Martok losing public opinion pretty much immediately. Old friends turn against him and that really shakes him. But then in the second book... that's not really brought up again? The whole second book takes place away from Qo'noS, and yeah they mention that people will probably become less affected by the dumb bioengineered charisma after time, but I cannot stress enough how much the entire planet hated him. So he won the big battle against his foes etc etc, came back to Qo'noS and... just told everyone all that?? That goes along with the lack of fully exploring the consequences of some of these bad things that happen to Martok. It felt like a little too much piled on him and not enough resolution.

[nyhti]

Headcanons about my versions of Nightmare and Jonathan.

Jonathan is still teaching at Gotham University, when he takes a trip back to his hometown on summer vacation one year. Now I should probably note that my verse is build upon pre-crisis and since Jonathan's family was never talked about then, I think it's fair game to headcanon whatever and I headcanon that they were okay, actually. He grew up in a rural town not far from Gotham. He's the middle child of a big family where money was tight.

On his visit he decides to go for a walk in the forests where he used to hide from his bullies. Suddenly he hears children. He's already about to turn back, until he hears something else. A gun shot. A gun shot and the cry of a bird. Jonathan takes no interest in birds, but he can recognize the cry of a raven. He knows they live in the vast forrests of his hometown and that the townsfolk hate them. The general opinion is that they are pests and should all be killed. Jonathan had no opinion on the matter, not until now. A child screams in pain, asking his sister for help. Jonathan moves towards the sound. He hears the flapping of wings and desperate cries and then... nothing. Finally he sees the children, but they can't see him. There is a dead raven at their feet, another one a little further away, next to a big tree. The very tree Jonathan would climb to get away from his bullies. Both children are covered in bad cuts from sharp talons and a powerful beak. The raven by the tree must have been shot first, which led the other to attack. It's life had ended from a blown from a heavy rock, which lay besides it's body. One of the children starts to climb the tree, says something about finishing the job. She climbs back down with a nest under her arm and takes it to her brother, who's already waiting with a rock in hand. Jonathan is frozen to the spot. The scene has taken him back to when it was him being hunted in this forest. The girl places the nest down, three ravens huddle together terrified. The boy holds the rock over the nest, about to drop it. Jonathan is frozen no more. He jumps out of the bushes scaring the children. The rock falls, but a little to the side of where it was intented. As the children disappear into the forrest, Jonathan turns to look at the carnage. For a moment these birds he never cared about, these birds he would've scared just for fun, shared his pain. He considers burying them, to soothe his guilty conscience for not acting sooner. Not realizing these birds were as bullied as he was and that he played a part in that bullying by doing nothing. Then suddenly one of the chicks moves. The rock had missed it. Jonathan's heart skips a beat. He wraps the bird in a napkin and picks it up. He can bury the dead later, what's important right now is that Nightmare lives.

He takes Nightmare back to Gotham with him. He reads everything he can find about ravens and how to take care of one, takes him to the vet, does everything he can. I think it would be quite new and strange for Jonathan to be taking care of someone. The fact that someone, even if it was ”just a bird” relied on him just to survive to the next day was a responsibility he'd never had before and it scared him. There was this tiny fragile new life sound asleep in his lap who trusted him blindly. Trusted his life to someone as untrustworthy as Jonathan. He wondered if he could really do this. He would think of all the animals he had experimented on, sentient beings, beings capable of feeling pain, beings that did not deserve that. He was scared he wasn't good enough for this, that he might hurt Nightmare somehow. But there was no need to fear such things, as even if Jonathan wasn't perfect, even if he did make mistakes, he always did his best and that was good enough. Nightmare was growing bigger and stronger everyday.

Once Jonathan's summer vacation was over and Nightmare had learned to fly, he would follow Jonathan to the university. What a field day it was for Jonathan's bullies, who were always looking for new things to make fun of him for, to see him talking to raven. But it didn't matter, because the joy Nightmare brought to Jonathan's life far out weighted the odd looks his collegues and students gave him.

Yet despite how much Jonathan loved Nightmare, despite everything he did for Nightmare, he never actually intented for Nightmare to become his pet. After his peers all the way from kindergarden to university had drilled it into his head that he was utterly unlikable, it was hard to believe that anyone, not even an animal, would willingly choose to be around him. But Jonathan had no idea how to care for an animal without turning it into a pet. He was giving Nightmare little kissies on the head from day one. And so when the day came when NIghtmare was fully grown and Jonathan, holding back tears, opened the window for him, letting him go, Nightmare didn't understand. To him this was no different from any other time Jonathan opened the window for him to go stretch his wings. He looked outside, saw that it was raining and kind of cold and flew back on the nice warm couch. At that moment it became clear Nightmare was here to stay.

And Nightmare became his first friend, his lifeline. For even in his darkest moments after losing his job, after losing everything, it was Nightmare that kept him going. Nightmare and the unquenchable thirst for revenge that kept him alive despite all.

Something that's different in my verse is that Jonathan doesn't use Nightmare as a minion like in canon. He cares for Nightmare's safety and doesn't put him in dangerous situations. I think he let him tag along for his first few crimes as Scarecrow, but would quickly notice it's unsafe. Nightmare attacked everyone who tried to hurt Jonathan and in turn put himself in danger. That's where Jonathan said no. Nightmare is his son, not a weapon. He started leaving Nightmare home when he went out as Scarecrow and if he would not return, Nightmare knew to head to Arkham.

He stays at Arkham with Jonathan. On the grounds, of course, since no animals are allowed in. Nightmare is the only reason Jonathan even goes outside at Arkham, as it is the only place they can meet (though Jonathan does sometimes try to sneak him in, but Jeremiah tends to catch him in the act). Nightmare has also learned Jonathan's daily schedule and all the windows at Arkham. He knows which window he can see Jonathan through at any time of the day. He also gets anxious if schedules are swiched around and he can't find Jonathan. Sometimes Nightmare will also fly back to Jonathan's hideout and bring little gifts like hay to him.

Nightmare, like all ravens, is very clever. Jonathan likes to tell people that Nightmare is trained to peck people's eyes out, just so they'd leave him and Nightmare alone, but that's a lie. As previously stated, Nightmare does attack if he sees Jonathan being hurt, but is not trained to do so. He is, however, taught much more important things like giving little kisses with his beak or doing a little pirouette. Since ravens are really good at mimicing, he knows a few words like ”hello” and his own name, which he likes to repeat a lot. That's not all of course, because Nightmare won't stop at mimicing just human language, he will also mimic any kind of noise. After spending a weekend at Jervis' place, he learned to mimic dial-up internet noises (my verse takes place in the 90s.) People always jump a little when they hear Nightmare speak for the first time (which amuses Jonathan to no end), but get used to it after a while. They will hear the most ungodly noises in the dead of night and go: ”Ah, Nightmare is feeling silly again ^_^.”

Nightmare is about seven years old now and his favorite hobbies include playing with a bouncy ball and getting kisses from Jonathan. Since ravens are so smart, Jonathan wonders if Nightmare remembers what happened to his family, but whether he does or not, it doesn't seem to weigh him down. He's very happy and content with his life with Jonathan.

[gnomey22]

Fish Tank

I haven't done anything on here except textpost memes and reblogs for a while, and I was just thinking about the scene where Chat shoots Shrimp out of a cannon after hearing her Love Song, and now I have the sudden urge to write about why it's one of the best scenes in the entire season. The title is just a team name I made up for these two, those are obligatory when Chat shoots someone.

Firstly, I think this scene is the single best showcase of Chat's real intentions when shooting someone from their cannon, unless they have pre-existing beef with the person they shoot - they're trying to show their appreciation/love by team-attacking with them, and this is their only way of doing so. It might even be an attempt at a compliment, means that the person is strong enough for the collision to do enough damage to the targeted enemy! One of my favourite things about Chat as a character is how they have zero normal methods of showing their love for someone, and the methods they choose make it very easy for them to come across as forceful or annoying. This is prominent in all of their character relationships, but just before they shoot Shrimp from their cannon, Daniel Failboat establishes the lore that Chat's insane amount of eyes are a terrible combination with Bo's inability to make eye contact, and that seems like a perfect example for my point, because despite that giant setback, Bo is arguably their most positive relationship in the series. Back in the Realm of the Fey, their constant insanity (and lack of Failboat to balance it out) forced Bo to take some responsibility, even though that's the last thing she wanted to do, and that was the first step in lifting both her confidence levels, and her personal connection to the team, which are integral to her character arc. Chat's love language is as unconventional as they get, but even towards someone who is logically completely unprepared to handle them, it can actually work. They're a nonsensical being, and they have very little idea of what could actually harm someone (they are still a child, who don't really know how to use their literal artillery), but as long as their intentions shine brighter than their methods, you can see the heart behind the insane things they do.

Secondly, since I've talked for so long on how this builds Chat's character, I'll talk for even longer about how it builds on Shrimp's. Specifically, how carefully she reacts to the situation at hand, considering her newly budding friendship with Chat. She's aware that they can do this, and she's been rooming with them for a decent while, so she has a closer understanding of their personality than ever, and she's already prepared for the possibility of being shot. However, she is caught completely off-guard when they ask her to get in the cannon, though - not because she's surprised that they'd ask that, but because they preface it with declaring their love for her (Strictly platonic, obviously, as the Love Song ability suggests). Shrimp hasn't made a lot of friends in her own age range, considering the bullies she faced back in the ocean, and most of The Incident being adults, so she has to make a lot of guesswork on whether Chat's actions of friendship with her are okay or not. She's more experienced with live chats than anyone, so they really get along on a surface level, but more complicated situations like this are hardly her expertise, she literally ran away from home when confronted with one- but Chat is the furthest thing from those bullies, they fully believe in her talents, and they're actively trying to push her into the limelight! The attack actually saves someone's face, too! Shrimp is physically hurt by the proceedings, though, and everyone has made it clear to her that her pain does indeed matter. These contradictions mess with Shrimp's head, so for a brief time, she tries to ignore them. She also ignores Chat by extension, choosing to hype up Bill for the rest of the venture, and only confronts them when they get back to the Inn, during which she does the only thing she can think of - set some boundaries. Nearly impossible to do with Chat, but she can't completely rely on Bill to moderate her actual live chat, she needs to take responsibility as well, and it works! Chat's belief in her extends to her somewhat-light-hearted threats, and even though they move to Failboat's room shortly afterwards, their friendship with Shrimp has obviously benefitted from this. They even picked up some of her singing skills, and Shrimp's made her first steps in navigating a friendship with someone who isn't an authority figure for her. Chat never meant to hurt her, and since this is the first time, she doesn't hold any hard feelings towards them. That's a waste of her emotions.

Thirdly, and most obviously, the scene is fucking hilarious, and makes perfect use of Miitopia's mechanics. Daniel Failboat's own laughter is infectious, and the immediate juxtaposition of the character's attacks, only to increase their bonds in the end, is only possible through a vessel as absurd as the Miitopia video game! I can't imagine a world where anyone could sit down and intentionally write that scene, it has to happen of its own free will, and Failtopia in general makes perfect use of that idea.

[pearthery]

will there be more chapters for your potpurri au? no pressure, just curious!

hopefully one day!!! i did have a ginzura-themed draft set in the potpourri au (it's still there ahaha i just haven't added to it in a long while) which was titled something like actually the strawberry flavour in your strawberry milk is really just sugar and red dye. i only got so far as ginzura bullying haggard old man hasegawa-san before i lost the plot of it but i aim one day to finish it!!! actually here is a snippet ahaha

After a long day at work ferrying customers back and forth through the endless streams of urban traffic, Taizou slams shut the driver's door to his cab, rolls his shoulders back and his head up, and then nearly bursts into tears. 

"Please stop sitting there," he begs to the demon perched on the wall outside his house. "Please. It gives me a heart attack." 

Yoshida-san's devil child, the one that the man dotes on incessantly, the one that likes to wheedle snacks from Taizou's sweet, innocent wife, the one that has tormented Taizou relentlessly without him even lifting a finger at least three times a week ever since their paths had tragically crossed, stares down dolefully. 

"Hatsu doesn't mind," says Gintoki. "Besides. What's it my fault if pathetic old men die early? An old man who dies from something as lame as a heart attack is like a piece of dog crap stinking things up on the boot of society. An old man who dies from a heart attack is probably dying from something else already anyway, like crappy convenience store cigarettes or the weight of their own failures or their sunglasses leeching out all of their braincells like a cursed object."

"That's Hatsu-san to you," says Taizou, for lack of anything else. 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, old men like that are already like zombies anyway. Even if they die, they'll still get up and go back home and leech off Hatsu." Gintoki pinches around the outsides of his nostrils thoughtfully, probably in search of stray boogers.

Taizou drags his hands down his face. He heaves a large sigh. His blood pressure has been climbing upwards for years at this point. "Aren't you too old to be doing things like this? Don't you have to get home? Don't you have anything better to do? Don't you have too much homework to be bullying poor, working men just trying to get by? God help me." 

"Pft," says Gintoki, twelve years old and mean as hell. "As if God would listen to dog crap like you." 

ooo

The first thing to ask, obviously, is why Gintoki is here.

"It's because he's run away from home again," explains Katsura-kun, politely letting himself into the kitchen through the back door. He gestures over at Gintoki (rifling through Taizou's refridgerator shelves for sweet treats) and beams at Hatsu (heading out to the garden) when she pats him on the head, even though the kid's almost as tall as she is now. 

"Yeah," says Gintoki. He settles down at the table with a cup of chocolate mousse. 

Taizou gazes wearily at the scene. 

"Don't just come into my house like that. Who even invited you? And you. I was going to eat that. I was going to have that for dessert tonight." 

Gintoki's eyes go wide and he makes a noise of surprise. "Hm? Oh, this l'il thing? Sorry. It just looked so lonely in the back of your fridge. I thought I'd keep it company. Anyway, I'm a growing boy, so I need all the sugar I can get." 

"I put it up at the front so I could take it out for dessert. I was really looking forward to that."

"It's probably better that you don't eat too much sugar anyway, old man," Gintoki adds. "I heard too much sweet stuff is bad for geezers."

"You know what. Fine. Go ahead," says Taizou.

"If you're hungry or peckish," says Katsura-kun, "then I'm not sure Hasegawa-san's pantry is the best place. It would really have been better for you to stay home and let Yoshida-san stuff you with, what's that he's been baking a lot recently? I think they were lemon rosemary cookies." He pauses and looks to his left, where Gintoki nods absently into his chocolate mousse. 

"Yes, that's right. Lemon rosemary shortbread cookies. They were quite good actually. Yoshida-san gave me a container to take home. I stopped by their house after school, that's why," he says to Taizou, whose expression must be showing the confusion bouncing around his brain. "He even sat me down to discuss the symbolism of the ingredients he used. He said: half a cup of sugar for the sweetness of existence, half a teaspoon of vanilla extract, a quarter of a teaspoon of salt for the tears shed in existence, a cup of butter, smooth and slippery, like all the things that slip out of your grasp—"

"Hey, what do you mean my pantry's not the best place?," says Taizou after a moment of realisation. "I work hard to feed myself and my wife, you know that, you brats? This whole day I was driving around rude, shithead city people who smoke in my cab and spill disgusting sticky soft drinks on my seats, and this is what I come home to?" 

"You're the shithead who smokes in your cab," says Gintoki. "If your car smells like smoke, then that's because you're stinking it up in the first place, so it's your own fault."

"Are you really a little kid?" says Taizou. "Why do you have such a crude mouth for a kid? Why is everything you say so mean?"

"Hey, you're the one who said 'shithead' in the first place. I'm just repeating what you said. I'm an impressionable young boy, so you should be watching your mouth, actually. You should be a good role model." 

"Don't your neighbours smoke? I see Tatsugoro-san with his pipe around all the time, are you this mean to him? Are you this mean to Ayano-san? You aren't, are you? You're only this mean to me. I'm the only one you call a pathetic old man, aren't I? I'm the only one you unleash all of your insults on, aren't I? You only call me dog crap on the boot of society." 

"—two cups of all-purpose flour, soft and bright, for all the things that are so delicate that they can be blown away in a single breath, rosemary for fidelity and remembrance, oh Gintoki, what have I done that I don't deserve your fidelity, oh Gintoki, remember me, won't you Gintoki, wherever you have gone to, away from me, preserve the memory of me in your soul, even when you so evidently can no longer stand to look at my face—"

"Shoyo has a dumb face," says Gintoki to Katsura-kun. "And I'm just going to stay at your house for a week or two. I go to your house all the time."

"Well, you forget that Yoshida-san is possessed by a thousand spirits of melodrama," says Katsura-kun. "Also, lastly, lemon for bitterness. That said, I have a container for you as well, Gintoki."

Gintoki wrinkles his nose. "I don't want it, thanks." 

"I'll take it," says Taizou, having been demolished by a middle schooler. "I need a pick-me-up." The container is swiftly slid across to him. "Thanks."

He opens the lid to find resting on top of the pile of warm biscuits a small square note embossed with spiky leaves around the edge. It's covered with pen drawings of hearts and sad faces and reads: FOR MY STINKY LITTLE SWEETPEA WHO IS ALWAYS WELCOME TO COME BACK HOME AT ANYTIME HE DECIDES TO RETURN HOME MOST HOPEFULLY SOON. <3.

"I wonder what Hatsu's doing outside," says Taizou. If he arches his neck, he can glimpse through the window. She's tending to the flowerbeds, it looks like. She pulls out a couple of weeds. Katsura-kun looks as if he knows exactly what is contained in Gintoki's care package (kid probably watched the note be written) and is politely ignoring it. Gintoki's face is very bland.

"Looks like there's some paper in here. With some writing on it. And some little pictures." He takes a bite out of what really is a good biscuit, sweet and buttery and still warm. Yoshida-san seriously is a good baker. "So these are kind of like fortune cookies, yeah?"

"Huh, says Katsura-kun. "I didn't get anything in mine."

"Huh," says Taizou, with maximum discretion. "Weird. Maybe something happened at the fortune cookie factory and they had a mix-up. Welp, since I'm an old geezer and I've had enough of both sorts 'a fortune, good or bad, in my lifetime, I guess you kids can have mine."

Silently, he folds up the note. Gintoki's hand is already open and outreached, though he refuses to look at it. Underneath that note is another one, which is a mournfully calligraphed poem about the temporary nature of happiness and domestic bliss that has additionally been annotated. He passes that one over as well.

"Anyway, Katsura-kun," he continues, "what was that recipe? Can you say it again, or maybe write it down? Hatsu might like it. She's mentioned wanting to try her hand at baking these days." 

[addic-tea-d]

Draco Fic Idea 👀

okay but what if there's a fic about Draco that follows him throughout the books to highlight the little things that show he's really not all that bad and, like Harry, is also a creation of his environment and the people around him. Mrs. Weasley "He's just a boy" vs Narcissa "He's just a boy"

I am basing this on the movies cause I never read the books. also, please excuse my writing, this was all word vomit. I also love a good Drarry fanfic

This is a lot to read, and slight suicidal thoughts/intentions in Year 6?

Year 1/Philosopher's Stone: Draco's so excited to meet the famous Harry Potter and was really excited to be friends but how?? dare Harry?? not take his hand??? So first year is just Draco being jealous and petty and that's where the bullying starts from. Stealing Neville's Rebembrall is just him wanting Harry's attention: if they can't be friends, might as well be enemies. And despite all his trying to act tough, he's truly a scary cat at heart: pure terror on his face when there was a troll in the dungeon, meeting Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest and quickly running away. And honestly, he looked like he was going to cry when Slytherin lost the House Cup.

Year 2/Chamber of Secrets: Daddy Lucius is starting to act weird. Why? Dark forces are at work and he's getting nervous. Draco is always out to make his father proud because that was how he was raised: always looking for praise. He's obviously a curious child: looking around the shop that Harry flooed into but can't really look because "don't touch anything, draco" (Was that a deleted scene? idr). Gotta live up to the Malfoy name. Always spewing Purebloods are better because that's all he knows. "I didn't know you could read" and then looking impressed cause he learned something new from a 'friend' (they don't share much because they're more like followers than friends so he's always open to learn more about them). Still gotta keep up bullying Harry (and his friends) because who knows what Crabbe and Goyle will report back to their parents and then trickle to his father. Also doesn't help that Lucious keeps muttering things about Harry at home. And him injuring his arm at the quidditch game? Refusing to leave the infirmary? He's hoping Lucius will show up and check on him like Harry's friends did. Let's face it, he was obviously spoiled growing up, but his definition of family love is vastly different from the norm.

Year 3/Prisoner of Azkaban: "Potter, is it true you fainted? I mean, you actually fainted?" Definitely hiding his concern for Harry under the guise of making fun of him. And him looking impressed on learning how to open the monster book of monster by petting the spine? Adorable. And that look over Harry, 100% he's checking him out but then had to hide it by saying dementor. Because what if his father hears about that??? Checking out a man?? And he's such a curious student, and not just for potions. Yea, he's a little mean about it, pushing towards the front to watch, but that's the mask he's created over the past few years and it's definitely not easy to lose. Him charging up to Buckbeak? Definitely wanted to one up Harry. I mean, Buckbeak was looking very calm when Harry got off, maybe he thought Buckbeak was calm enough to approach? Or he was just being a teenage boy. But once, again, he's little scardey cat. Got scratched a little and nearly fainted lmao. And I fully believe he didn't need a cast, he just wanted to be fawned over like Harry usually is. And soft-hearted Draco when he pushed Neville aside to get in line for the Riddikulus charm: he looked shocked at how hard he pushed Neville. And he absolutely did not need to put in the effort to fold his note to Harry into a crane. OmG Dracon was absolutely terrified when he and his goons were attacked by Harry at Hogsmeade. OH OH my favorite part is when Hermione has her wand pointed at Draco and you can see his mask completely vanish to show the scared boy underneath it. Everything Draco is and does is a mask.

Year 4/Goblet of Fire: Draco boasting about him and Lucius getting good seats was him trying to get onto Lucius's nice side but that quickly backfired. Lucius has definitely gotten more stern over the years, much harder on Draco, like he actually hit Draco with his cane?? Bruh?? Draco will definitely work harder to try and get on his father's good side this year, doing whatever it takes. Still wants to be connected to Harry in any way but can't get too close because his father is getting weirder about him, so he takes his bullying to a new level. You can't look at me and say Draco climbing into a tree and taunt Harry wasn't because he wanted Harry's attention. That's so much effort not to be anything. And him lowkey telling Harry he thinks more highly of him than his father? Lasting ten minutes instead of five? I'm telling you, he's hiding how much he actually cares about Harry under all the bullying, you gotta read in between the lines. And if Draco was so terribly "oh, I don't want to mingle with halfbloods and muggle borns", he would not have had so much fun at the Yule Ball, he could have just sat out on the side, but NO! He was slow dancing and had a great time with the band. And you can't tell me Draco didn't look sad when Dumbledor was giving his speech about Cedric. Sure, Draco and his friends/goons have been bullying other students, but to hear another student dying? That's completely different.

Year 5/Order of the Phoenix: All thoughts about Draco being just Draco is out the door, he can only be Malfoy. I'm sure Lucius told Draco and Narcissa what actually happened that night with Voldemort's return. Lucius is definitely changing more and much faster, he needs his honor back and to be in Voldemort's good graces again. And upon learning Lucius is a Death Eater, Draco knows there will never, ever, be a chance of him and Harry becoming anything more than enemies. Draco is still a wimpy boy, flinching away when Harry charged at him on the platform despite being 'bold' enough to taunt him. But his curiosity ensues as he takes Divination with Professor Trelawney, an elective class. If this website is correct, that means Draco not only chose Divination as an elective for Year 3, but stuck with it for 2 years and didn't drop it. That, or he wanted to be closer to Harry. I'll take both. And Draco definitely uses 'Harry up to no good' as an excuse to stalk follow him in the open, fueling his Harry obsession. Draco's face when Umbridge slapped Harry? If he truly did hate Harry like he pretends he does, he would look happy at the action but instead he looked oh so bamboozled.

Year 6/Half-Blood Prince: Things had definitely shifted at home. Lucius was thrown into Azkaban, his mother was probably all over the place, there were probably people Death Eaters entering and leaving his house quite a lot. He's terribly on edge, you can tell on the train when the 'smoke bomb' went off: he's the only one standing up and looking around. The comment about Draco throwing himself off the Astronomy Tower if he had to continue at Hogwarts for another two years? He knew something bad was going to happen at school and he didn't want any part in it (with him having to find the vanishing cabinet. He was reluctant to follow after his mother into the shop with the first cabinet, showing he wasn't comfortable with the idea). This book definitely shows the conflicts Draco goes through, wanting to make his parents proud, but also being forced to do things that would kill him if he didn't comply. A little excessive to break Harry's nose, but he did do it because Harry put his father into Azkaban, and he did still look up to Lucius. I can't really say I approve. He was acting completely unlike his usual self during school. Before, he would at least be more animate, perhaps bully other people, but instead, he looked down and kept to himself. When he found the second Vanishing Cabinet, it looked as if he couldn't believe his eyes, as if he had hoped he wouldn't have found it. He didn't want to be a part of Voldemort's plans, but since having found it, he knew he had no choice. "I was chosen for this. Out of all others, me. I won't fail him." Yeah, well, he didn't sound all that proud when he said that to Snape. And even Snape could tell Draco was afraid. Who wouldn't be? And the symbolism between Draco and the feather he was holding?? A feather from a bird who can fly away with their own freedom yet Draco cannot???? I can't *cries*. Let's admit Draco did a shoddy job of trying to assassinate Dumbledore. A cursed necklace? Poisoned Mead? He wasn't even trying, it was like he was looking to get caught.

omg the bathroom deserves its own little paragraph. Obviously Draco is stressed and nearly going crazy due to everything happening in his life. He was nearly having a panic attack, clothes felt too constricting so he took off his sweater vest and starts heaving and crying. Sure, Draco cast the first spell and started the fight, but who's to say he didn't do it out of fear? Thinking perhaps Harry was there to curse him so he attacked first. And who's to say Draco didn't hope he actually died after being hit by the Sectumsempra spell?? Then he would no longer have to continue working on the cabinet or assassinate Dumbledore. And who's to say, after being saved by Snape, he didn't ask "why did you save me, why not just leave me to die?"

The scene of Draco and Dumbledore is pretty self-explanatory. The Malfoy mask is gone and it's just Draco. Draco who was not only dragged into a war, but into evil. He who showed Dumbledore his dark mark but held no pride for it. "I don't want your help. Don't you understand? I have to do this. I have to kill you... or he's going to kill me." This entire scene, just pain. Nothing else. The pain on his face when Bellatrix? blew apart the Great Hall, a place that held memories of his past six years. And the painful realization Harry was there when Snape killed Dumbledore, which means he saw Draco there (who knows how long he was there).

Year 7/Deathly Hallows: would Draco not be depressed here? Lucius is home, but Voldemort and Death Eaters had taken over his home. Voldemort is always talking about Lucius' failures, and Lucius is not taking that very well. Any happy memory Draco had in his own home would be quickly covered with dark new ones, who was murdered where (like the lady in the dining room), and probably also screams from the cells. omg imagine being terrified in your own home where one wrong move could end your life. Always pressured by Lucius to do better so they would be forgiven by Voldemort. Ugh imagine the pressure but he still tried to do good by not revealing Harry. And he didn't try very hard to hold onto the keys to the cells when Harry grabbed them. And when Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle face Harry, Goyle tells Draco "go on Draco, don't be a prat" when Draco doesn't move. Draco doesn't really want to hurt Harry, he just wants his wand back (I think that's what's happening here? idr). We all know how special a wand is to a wizard. Poor Goyle dies in his own fire, even if they weren't all the closest, Goyle was still one of the closest people Draco knew and he never really had time to grieve. Lucky to survive the fire, Draco is definitely going to have a fear of fire after that. And his hesitation to walk over to his parents after Voldemort comes to Hogwarts carrying Harry's body?? He really didn't want to go. He only moved after his mother called for him (haha fu Lucius) and went to his mother's side (FU AGAIN Lucius!). He definitely did not enjoy Voldemort's hug. And my FAVORITE SCENE but is a deleted scene ahhh is when Draco calls out to Harry and throws him his wand. Despite everything, despite knowing he could very well die by doing so, Draco still wants to do the right thing and help take down Voldemort.

He was just a boy who needs lots of love and hugs and much therapy and goddammit now I need to write this.

[redhatmeg]

And now the fight between Sanji and Luffy.

First of all, Sanji probably doesn't believe he can be saved and that's because his family seems to be too powerful and there are too many things at stake - not just Sanji's hands and Zeff's head, but probably even Straw Hats' lives too - for him to see any way out of this situation. He also can't tell Luffy anything about this, because he's riding with his monstrous brothers and father.

So he decides to play along and say some terrible things to his captain. And he knows Luffy very well; he knows what words will make him angry and what kind of men Luffy despises. And so Sanji plays a spoiled noble, he talks about social standing and about being able to use servants and soldiers as he likes.

Look at his face in that scene. Look at his eyes and arrogant smile. He really wants to come off as evil and smug, and heartless as most of the villains Straw Hats encountered. He wants Luffy to see him as a liar and piece of shit; as a false friend not worth saving.

But Luffy went through a similar "We are not friends anymore" bullshit with Nami and Robin, and he didn't give up on them either, so he quickly see through his cook's performance and calls him out.

Yonji proposes to fight with Luffy, but Sanji tells him he will "send them off" himself. And I have two ideas as why he does that:

Because he doesn't want Luffy to face his brothers. As I said earlier, he doesn't believe right now that there is a way out of this situation. I think that recently he reverted to this scared, bullied child who is helpless against his abusers, so he doesn't believe Luffy can take Vansmokes, especially on his own. Given that Vansmokes earlier threatened him repeatedly about attacking Baratie ("There will be blood on East Blue." and all that crap), so even if Luffy used all his fighting techniques and beat up each and every Vansmoke, Baratie could suffer every moment.

Because he's playing both before Luffy and his family a cold-hearted man who betrayed his captain for wealth and comfort.

When Sanji attacks with one of his more powerful moves, he expects Luffy to fight back, to defend himself with haki if necessery... but Luffy doesn't want to fight. He wants to talk. He wants to know what's going on. As I said earlier, he went through this with Nami and Robin, and he's not going to just give up on a member of his crew.

Their fight is very one-sided (even if Luffy calls it a duel) - Sanji attacks and Luffy takes it. Finally Sanji - knowing that his captain won't give up on him and won't fight him either - uses a very powerful move that knocks Luffy out. Nami slaps him for this, but it's safe to assume that Sanji used enough power to make Luffy unconscious, but not enough to kill him. And even if the Vansmokes won't believe that Luffy is dead, they will believe that Sanji cut his ties with him.

Anyway, Luffy gets up pretty quickly and says it how it is:

"I know you were just saying things that you didn't want to! Stop lying! Did you think you could send me away that easily?! Screw that! No matter how many times you kick me, you're the one that gets hurt."

Nami is skeptical of Sanji, but Luffy shuts her down and vows to stay in one place and starve until Sanji comes back. It's important to remember that before he does it, he has a flashback of Sanji telling him about All-Blue. He even says: "Our journey isn't done yet." Sanji may say that he's happy now, but Luffy knows his deepest dream and Straw Hat wants Sanji to achieve it.

"You're the cook of my ship! I won't eat anything other than what you cook! Even if I get hungry or the spears rain on me, I'll stay right here and wait for you! Be sure to come back, Sanji! Without you, I... I can't become the Pirate King!"

This vow is especially poignient because ever since his two years in Okama hell, Sanji started to be more vocal about wanting Luffy to become a Pirate King and his own motivation for staying in Queendom was to make his camrades stronger.

Sanji knows it, Nami knows it, we know it - Luffy is a glutton and needs meat. So for him saying he won't eat anything, unless Sanji comes back, is a big deal.

[newsies1992daydreams]

Problematic Aspects of Newsies (1992)

I love Newsies. That’s an understatement. I LOVE Newsies. The music, the characters, the turn of the century time period, the history, the underdog story that ends with children victorious over adults. I adore this story with my whole heart and soul.

That said, I think it is really important to discuss the aspects of Newsies that I love ... less. Weak writing, character assassination, questionable things that creep me out and make me want to ask the creative team behind this musical “WTF were you thinking?” I’ll be honest, I personally think the Broadway stage show has a lot more problematic elements in it’s writing that I’m itching to discuss. I still love it -- but yeah, there are several writing and character choices that make me cringe. This is NOT an attack on the production nor anyone’s love of the stage show. No drama here. Just a conversation I haven’t seen anyone have yet. But in good faith, I’ll discuss the weaknesses of Newsies (1992) film first.

Let me emphasize, I love this movie so much. I spent my fist summer with it watching it daily. Years later, I still love it, but can acknowledge the problematic elements of it.

I think the majority of problematic aspects in this film come from the lack of meaningful female characters. Newsies doesn’t pass the Bechtel test nor is it a feminist film. There are three named female characters, all of which have minuscule screen time. David’s mother Ester Jacobs appears once. Sarah Jacobs is David’s older sister and Jack’s love interest. She has one private conversation with Jack and then follows the newsies around as they organize the Children Crusade outside of the World Building, but has little to no personality outside of her relationship status to David and Jack (as a sister and love interest). Medda appears in two scenes and has the least loved songs in the film. 

The lack of these three characters is such a disservice to both the story of Newises and the characters themselves. I know this because I read Newsies original script (when it was still a drama, not a musical) Hard Promises and all three women had more scenes and meaningful interactions with Jack and David. Sarah was vocal about her Socialist political stance and supported the strike. She called Jack out on his decision to scab when no one else would. Ester impulsively slapped David out of fear and anger when he announced the strike to his family. Her reaction raised the stakes and told the audience the newsies may be children, but the strike was more serious than a child’s play and affected more than just the kids. Meda was one of the few adults supporting the strike and the newsies with respect.

Watering these characters down weakens the story. How are David and Jack supposed to react and be influenced by those around them when the people (i.e. women) around them barely say or do anything?

There are also no female newsies in the ensamble cast either. Historically most of the newsies were boys. But girls were newsies too. Girl newsies even had their own Lodging House, so they did exist, but the film fails to represent them in any way. Luckily, the Broadway stage show was able to include them, so at least that was remedied.

Another problematic aspect of Newsies is the Delancy’s sexual harassment of Sarah when they attack the Jacobs siblings. The way they touch Sarah (grabbing her waist and dragging her into an alley) and talk to her (calling her sweetheart and tootsie)/about her “we’ve got the best part of your family right here.”) carries a super rapey undertone. It’s uncomfortable and completely unnecessary. 

Compare the Delancy’s attack on Sarah to their attack on Les in the same scene. Neither are their true target, who happens to be David. Les gets pushed into a mud puddle, then thrown into a pile of empty metal jugs. The Delancy brothers are capable of bullying without bullying through sexual harassment. On a narrative level, we already know the Delancys are bad guys. This scene isn’t to establish how bad they or or that they are worse than the viewer thought. So they don’t get any more bad guy points for sexually harassing Sarah. The Delancy’s could have treated Sarah more like Les. Knock her basket out of her hands, push her down -- you know, be bullies -- but ultimately let go of her and keep their hands off her.

Sarah doesn’t have many scenes or dialog in the film, so to still include her being sexually harassed in one of her few scenes is incredibly insulting to her character. Violence against women is too socially and culturally accepted, especially in film. Nothing in the scene demands their attack against her be sexualized. So why was it?

If the story wanted to Jack to come to the rescue and decide his friendship with the Jacobs siblings is more important than turning scab, it could have been done another way. Again, I know this for a fact because Hard Promises, the original screenplay, DID it. In Hard Promises Les was was injured accidentally while striking and Jack rushed to his rescue because Les’s safety was more important than any deal with Pulitzer. So a scene including anyone being attacked and sexually harassed was completely unnecessary.

Newsies is a wonderful, joyful story based on some really interesting historical events. It’s well loved for a reason, but that doesn’t automatically make it perfect or exempt from criticism. I really wish the 1992 film gave these female characters more screen time and agency because imagine how much better Newsies could be! As fans we have the power to “correct” these problematic elements in our headcanons and fanfic and our conversations within the fandom. Instead of saying how boring Sarah is and pretending she doesn’t exist, we can instead re-frame the conversation as damn, the movie really did Sarah (and all of the other female characters) dirty. Because it sure did.

[110789angle]

Before Winnie of Pooh Blood and Honey, The Mean One, Bambi Reckoning, and Peter Pan. NOW new Disney horror.

I always have a version of this.

There also are other horror version ideas.

Grimm Fairy Tales #2

Cindy Monroe grew up as an awkward teenager but desired the same things as other teenage girls want – a degree of acceptance and attention. When she finished high school, she moved on to college where she hoped to put her past behind her by joining a sorority. After feeling hurt and running away from the sorority girls. Stop by the Fairy Tales book clubs in studio auditory. 

In this version Cinderella makes a deal with the fairy godmother in exchange for her soul. This version of Cinderella also wishes that her stepmother and stepsisters be killed, a fate to which they succumb (violently.) As this was the period when Sela was being influenced by Belinda’s trickery, Cindy takes the wrong message out of this and seeks revenge. In the end she finally finds the prince charming.

Detention (2019)

Cinderhella was in the movie, but not a supporting character. A group of teens went to see this movie called “Cinderhella 2: Beauty Screams″. In the scene, the victim girl was caught in the middle with Cinderhella on medical torture chair like SAW and asked to put on the slippery and cut inside the stomach. The victim girl tried to apology to her about sex as a joke. My theory was story was she probability Cinderhella was genuinely nice, helpful, easy going, and normal girl. Maybe leave of religion parent or another stepfamily could be strict. When Hella started hanging out with a group of teens. Some are teased but not much being bullied. The teens trick her and make her to have sex without saving herself before marriage. She ran away feeling a sinner and become suicided by burning her body. Then never saw Hella again in high school years. Now she is out getting revenge on the teens who did it to her.

Grimm TV show-Happily Ever Aftermath

Lucinda Jarvis was nine-years old when her mother died, and two years later the father remarried. Lucinda and her stepfamily did not get along well. The godfather, Spencer Harrison, gave her everything that she wanted to make sure she didn’t lose control. She stayed distance from her family. Spencer was able to sneak her uninvited into a black-tie party, where Lucinda wins the heart of Arthur Jarvis (Prince Charming), who had been occupied with her stepsisters' minutes before, further fueling jealousy.  Arthur and Lucinda finally got married. Years passed Lucinda’s father killed himself because the financial problems. Arthur and Spencer went Lucinda’s stepmother Mavis Kerfield who's ran the business after husband death to asked for money. Mavis turns them down, however, because they have stayed away from the family for so long.

First Lucinda killed her stepmother and one of stepsister but one alive. Later, that night Arthur got attacked by Lucinda, and realized that she never loved him. She has no conscience and will kill the last remaining for inherit her father's $52 million fortune. 

He was caught and cornered in the basement when she heard a terrible noise that made her head and ears in agony pain. She escaped.

Her godfather, Spencer caught up to her.

She begged him to help her. He agreed but he cannot let her escape again.

He had killed her with his screeching noise to ease her pain and suffering all those years.

Spencer apologized but he regrets nothing as it was for her own good.

But in the end, she doesn’t wish to be abandoned by anyone ever again. She shifted to her fang and killed him.

They both died in the ending.

Is it a happy ending?

Or a sad ending?

You decide.

Criminal Minds: If The Shoes Fit

Claire Dunbar was born in 1990 raised by the single father Edward when the mother in prison. Claire’s father became pedophile to her and others. As a child, she would be read bedtime stories by her father when he wasn't abusing her, which caused her to become heavily fond of books. Her favorite story was the Cinderella fairy-tale. When she was five, she was abandoned at a shopping mall by Edward after he lost his job and was struggling financially, with only a note of apology attached to her blouse. Claire’s father finally got arrested for assaulted two girls and dead in jail of heart attacks. Claire was in a foster family mother and three daughters.

During adulthood, Claire worked at the dry cleaners but had a poor work ethic and tendency to steal some of the dresses that were dropped off. She loves to read other adult romance novels that are part of fairy tales. Claire targeted handsome male Caucasian college students in their 20s that look alike Prince Charming in the fairy tales in the stories, all of whom would approach her first after being captivated by her beauty.  After going out on only one date with them, she would talk with them about finding the right person to love, and when their responses or behaviors were unsatisfactory, she would attack them in fits of rage.

Finally, when the FBI caught up to her, that is when Reed decided to finish the story. The story that she had never found out what happened in the ending of Cinderella.

He said that he was searching for the maiden whom he danced in a ball. He searches high and wide to find the mysterious maiden that can fit this glass slipper. 

Claire was happy. She believes that she had found her prince charming in the fairy tale.

Reed kneeled and put on her glass slipper (Evidence at the crime scene) and he escorted her to the police car.

[supersecretnerd]

Post Wendell & Wild Screening Thoughts; Going to Contain a lot of Spoilers, of Course. So uh- if you want to see the film spoiler free do not look at this.

I absolutely adored Kat's character in the film. She's a traumatized kid who had to become strong in order to survive the circumstances she was put in after her parents death (such as being put into an exploitive foster system, being physically bullied by her peers, and being beaten while in the juve system). Along with that, she also blames herself for her parents death and developed a deep hatred for herself. Due to all this unprocessed trauma, she pushes people away and refuses to let others take care of her (due to both thinking they'd only want to help her for their own selfish reasons and not because they care about her and that anyone who gets too close to her will suffer from it). But under her tough exterior, she's still just a scared kid who wants to just be with her parents again.

I also think it's interesting that once she gets her parents back, she doesn't rely on them to keep her safe. Instead, she forces them to stay put in their old run-down home and takes care of matters by herself. It makes sense though; she just got her parents back and she doesn't want to risk losing them again. Also oh my God it hurt me so much when Kat's mom mentioned how she seemed so much tougher than before-

I loved how Kat has to face off with the shadow representation of her trauma and personal demons, she isn't able to defeat it by attacking it like she initially does but instead by comforting it with a hug and accepting it as a part of her. I also loved how it looked like a massive monstrous creature at first, but after being torn apart by it starts to look like a small, sad, and scared child.

Wendell and Wild were absolutely hilarious and fun characters in the film, but that's to be expected with who their voice actors are. I loved their dynamic with each other and with other characters in the film.

Wendell and Wild are both excitable, naive demons with big dreams. Wendell is more of the straight man of the duo that often has to bring Wild back to reality. Wild is the more childish and dumber one of the two. The two are sorta morally grey; like their dreams of their own fair in of itself is a morally good goal that would help end the suffering of the souls of the danged, but they are willing to do questionable actions to get the funding for their goals (such as threatening to kill Father Bests again after he informs them he cannot pay them for bringing him back and willing rigging a vote for the Klaxxons in promise of being paid for it). Writing this out, I realize the two are paralleled with Father Bests in terms of character motivates (only difference is that Bests is doing this to fund his school).

Also I think they were really cute when they were Wild counting down when the hair cream high would hit them and Wendell was excitedly moving his body to the countdown. I hope someone makes that into a gif.

I will say, at the beginning of the film when they are stuck working for their father, Buffalo Belzer, there is tension between the two characters. The reason their dad found out about their dream fair is because Wild had told the wrong demons about it (which implies there are more demons in this realm that we don't get to see; maybe even a demon society?) and Wendell still is angry at Wild for this. It broke my heart when I saw the sad look on Wild's face when Wendell said that he (Wild) hadn't begone to get what he deserved. However, even with this tension, the two still clearly care for each other. Plus, when they find out that Hellmaidens are real and that theirs will summon them, the previous tension evaporates.

Speaking of Buffalo Belzer, the reviews were not wrong about there being gross-out humor- In the initial scene of the Scream Fair, Belzer swallows some souls and we see them out through his digestion and out of his anus. Yes, you read that right, you get to see Blezer's butthole and his cheeks. The boys also use his boogers to create a booger substitute of themselves so he won't notice they're gone; these substitutes get on his hand and he realizes it isn't them when he checks on them, smearing his boogers all over his hand.

Other gross out humor not involving Blezer includes: Father Bests immediately puking out all the water in his body after Wendell and Wild bring him back, Wendell and Wild excitedly spinning each other around while being directly water-voimted on (they shake the water off like puppies), the bird demon creature that pops a gacha ball thing out of it's lower body (basically giving birth) filled with pink goop that Bearzebub uses to communicate to with the brothers, the goop Bearzebub popping after it's done talking to the two (getting pink goop all over Wendell's and Wild's faces), Wild sneezing on his booger substitute (which actually helps it look more like Wild), and bugs coming out of a corpse (said corpse is more skeleton like than meaty like).

Personality wise, Buffalo Belzer is interesting. Initially, he is shown as a sadistic demon who enjoys torturing his souls and having them scream his name. He is also quite verbally mean to his sons, constantly forces them to work on his scalp, and doesn't let them ever leave his body they live on (all of this as punishment for wanting to change his Scream Fair). However, there is a twist at the end that he had other children before the two that went off to be on their own and never came back (which is revealed that the reason they never came back was because they were all caught by Manberg). He gets all his children back (though in the film we never see them out of their jars) and he becomes much nicer and, after destroying his Scream Fair trying to get to his sons, finally accepts his sons plans for their Dream Fair. Also he seems to be very sensitive, as Raul's artwork of a mother protecting her infant child instantly broke his anger at his sons and made him think about his own children and how he failed to protect them.

Speaking of Manberg, him and is relationship with Sister Helley is interesting. Turns out that when Sister Helley was 12 and found out she was a Hellmaiden, Manberg began to use her powers to summon demons and capture them into jars. Manberg believed it to be justice, but Helley thought of it as cruel and she broke ties with him, refusing to help him out anymore (a conflict that seems to parallel the films criticisms of the American prison-industry). Sister Helley also steals Bearzebub from Manberg so that he won't be able to find any more Hellmaidens to help him (which then Kat steals to bring back her parents) and puts a pin inside of the bear so it won't be able to communicate.

However, even with their hatred towards each other, Sister Helley still goes to Manberg to help Kat when her hand won't stop glowing and forcing her to do whatever Wendell & Wild tetll her to do. This cause out of everyone, Manberg has the most knowledge and expertise when it comes to demons and Hellmaidens.

Also the reason Manberg gave Blezer's his children back was because 1: he used it as a trade to get Kat, Helley, and Kat's parents and 2: because he doesn't believe in tearing apart families, even if the family are all demons.

Also the film never tells us what happens to Siobhan when her parents get arrested and I want to know- like does she go into the same foster system that failed Kat, does she live with other relatives, or does she get to live at Rust Bank Catholic school like Kat (even if know she has no one to pay her tuition). And if she lives at the school, could she and Kat become bunk buddies?

Also I just want to say- I think it's very cool that Siobhan turned on her parents when she found out how cruel private prisons are. Especially with the fact that during the golfing scene, her mom had said that Siobhan had told her everything about Kat. Like, it seems like before hand Siobhan had a pretty great relationship with her parents. To be able to break away from their love after learning about how horrible they are is honestly pretty badass, especially for a 13 year old.

Oh and speaking of Siobhan, Raúl used to be a part of her friend group before his transition. However, it doesn't seem like the friendship ended because of his transition. Instead, it ended because Siobhan has a habit of making her friends just like her and not wanting to hang out with someone that doesn't fit in (most likely a trait that she learned from her parents). With this in mind, it makes me curious about her friendship with Sweetie and Sloane, and how it could change after Siobhan broke away from her parents influence.

I will say I wished they had worked more on transitioning from one scene to another. They mainly used a fade to black or a blur effect to transition and honestly it was really jarring and made the film slightly less enjoyable. Still loved the film though, just this aspect could've been handled waaay better.

Definitely will be looking forward to that book for Wendell & Wild (if it ever gets published that is). I feel like a novel would help put all of the pieces the film was trying to put together much better- Plus, we could get more lore from a book 👀

[amaribelt]

MARA MARA MARA-

ladies and gentlemen... her

Name- Mara (マラ）LaFae（ラフェー）no cool kanji meaning but her name does have some cool meanings, Mara means bitter and LaFae means fairy or of the fairies (I found it looking though name databases one of the first records of it is the Victorian era)

CV- Yoko hikasa

Age-16

Birthday- August 26th(virgo)

Height- 184 cm

Dominant hand- Ambidextrous

Homeland- if only she knew

Club- home ec

Best Subject- magic analysis

Hobbies- music composition

Pet Peeves- Staring

Favorite Food- Avocado toast

Least Favorite Food- white chocolate

Talent- fencing

lore?? bullet points?? something

°presumably an orphaned child°even when she was eventually adopted never quite fit in and always felt out of place and isolated from her peers. kids being kids were mean to say the least

°in middle school their classmates found out about the concepts of changeling and boy did shit hit the fan. concepts of children being stolen and replaced with fairy and demons certainly fit the bill of a odd lonely child.

°but hey who needs friends and good relationships when you have music and camping!! Mara doesn't need friends their just filled with disappoint.

°but you have to break a geode before you can see what glitters inside.

°children + dangerous chemicals + a target of bullying = bad ending. FEAR NOT! a hero emerges with bleach blonde hair and a knack for yelling the antagonists flee the scene!!

°and dear god was our new protagonist persistent, yui would visit every day even if they wouldn't end up doing anything at all

°halfway though middle school they joined a fencing club not even a month later yui quit preferring to watch Mara excel from the sidelines

°maras main connection to the outside world is yui, even if as stupid them doing karaoke with the people at her fencing club it truly does help break Mara out of her shell

design notes and facts~~~~~~

°Mara along with more ocs to be revealed are all based off of fairytales folklore and mythology... mara spesifically being a changeling, "symptoms" of a changeling being "odd" "talking to themselves" and the most scandalous.. "musical talent"

°then the fire nation attacked being moondrop Cassandra from tangled the series. but em in a blender and we get my beloved Mara

°her "university of your mom" sweater was a gift from yui after the incident and yui made another one for her birthday

°she does Sabre and epee fencing and can play multiple instruments

°her color pallet is a combination of moondrop Cassandra the blue from kidas crystal and a random dark blue a friend and I came up with while trying to find something that could fit with diasomias atrocious lime green. looking back on it her skin tone Is also similar to kidas but that was accidental as I referenced a picture of Cass in darker lighting then lightened the purple tones in it.

°she had to learn to write with her right hand so she wouldn't fall behind on work while recovering from the burns

°tangled the series has a whole thing with funky hair and glowing rocks so naturally I had to include it so a new discovery for her is that her hair will "glow" when she's embarrassed or flustered

end~~~~~~

THEM THEM THEM omg they are so cute together and I really like their whole dynamic. it's kinda hard to put it into words without spoiling things ig?? I don't know if I will do this as actual writing or more of comics and ask blog style but these characters do hold a special place in my heart so I'm glad I could share this with yall<33333

it's 6 am I need to sleep I've chugged a coffee and green tea I need a nap

[undeadorion-archive]

Random reminder that when it comes to someone inadvertently reminding you of past trauma is not their fault nor is it their responsibility. I mean situations in which someone is in their own space, talking about something not typically traumatic, but because of your personal association with it you take personal offense to it. Yes, your emotions are valid and in no way trivial, but that does not give you a right to attack, blame, or otherwise harass the person who you view as having caused it.

Part of engaging with the fractured public spaces like social media, where everyone has their own little corner, is managing yourself. It is not the responsibility of others.

I was randomly reminded recently of two incidents where I encountered this sort of behavior.

The first was in a discord server with other artists. I was at the store and spotted two abominations on the shelf: dessert hummus. Brownie and cookie dough, specifically. I wanted to share the horror with my art friends, and one of them just lost their shit at me.

Their reason: They were a non-white person and as a child they were bullied over having non-traditional lunches and in general over food preferences. This translated into getting mad at people who judge "ethnic" foods without having tried them before.

The problem: I actually love hummus. I never said anything against real hummus. The products I posted were an American corruption. But the person would not accept this and caused such a scene I was eventually left the server.

The second time was on a site called Plurk. Like a weird cross between twitter and discord where each post is its own little chat thread. I'd been trying to watch YouTubers that people were always pushing on me to figure out if there was something I was missing. Usually they were just the "loud means funny" sort. One was Markiplier. Who I discovered I really don't like. In one of the videos I selected at random, there was some weird sort of animal abuse talk and I was frankly horrified. And a random person took serious offense to my disliking of him.

Their reason: Markiplier reminded them of their brother who died. So somehow my not liking him was an offense to the memory of their brother? I still don't understand it.

The problem: The worst thing I said was questioning how people could insist he was the most wholesome YouTuber, and general confusion. I kept telling the person they needed to back off and that they were too close to this to be rational. But they just kept pushing and yelling at me. And other people were jumping in and getting involved. It was chaos. It was one of my last straws and I left the whole scene not long after that.

And these are minor compared to the offense people take at others online. So before you go attacking someone else, deal with your own shit. Just because someone doesn't like something that you hold close to your heart has nothing to do with you unless they're saying you shouldn't like it. Directly. Because, shocker of all shockers, a random person online not liking something has absolutely fuck all to do with you.

And if you do attack people over things they had no way of knowing? Sit down and shut the fuck up.

[kamreadsandrecs]

By Catherine Hong

Published Nov. 4, 2022 Updated Nov. 5, 2022

If I’ve been acting a little “extra” these days, chalk it up to recent quality time with “Anne of Green Gables,” the classic 1908 novel by L.M. Montgomery about a spirited red-haired orphan with a flair for melodrama. “I cannot tie myself down to anything so unromantic as dishwashing at this thrilling moment,” I declared one evening after forcing my family to admire a particularly pretty sunset. Another day, as I skimmed the class notes in my alumni magazine, I told my husband, “My life is a perfect graveyard of buried hopes.” And after my neighbor kindly offered to check my mail while I was away, I nearly blurted, “You are a bosom friend.”

Like millions of readers — the original book has sold more than 50 million copies and remained continuously in print — I was captivated as a child by “Anne of Green Gables” and its sequels. The plight and possibilities of orphanhood, the hearty meals and daunting chores of farm life, the catastrophic debacles with things like green hair dye all made a lively impression on me, a Korean American girl growing up on 1980s Long Island. Later, my fandom was solidified by the CBC’s popular mini-series, memorable for the breathtaking beauty of Prince Edward Island and for Marilla Cuthbert’s merciless hair bun.

Anne’s story has never really left us. There have been picture book and board book adaptations, an anime version and the Netflix series “Anne With an E,” which explored the darker intimations of Montgomery’s novel: post-traumatic stress, bullying, male privilege. This year, children’s publishers are offering three new books reimagining “Anne.” They include two middle grade graphic novels (one set in West Philadelphia and one in a suburban apartment building called the Avon-Lea) and a Y.A. version where the protagonist is a queer Japanese American who loves disco. On the horizon, we can expect a fantasy remix and a graphic novel following a teenager named Dan who lives with his grandparents in Tennessee. (Yes, it’s titled “Dan of Green Gables.”)

Even in a publishing landscape flush with remakes, that’s a lot of Anne. The swell of appreciation for the book cannot be owed simply to the current vogue for homemade cakes, backyard chicken coops and frilly dresses. Anne is a classic underdog who makes waves in her conventional community, eventually winning everybody’s hearts. Spunky and outspoken, she’s a proto-feminist who wonders aloud why women can’t be ministers, expresses zero interest in marriage and seems to be the only one of her chums immune to the “roguish hazel eyes” of Gilbert Blythe. It’s easy to imagine yourself as Anne. She doesn’t have to be white, straight, Protestant or even a girl. And all of the episodes central to the Anne liturgy — mouthing off to the busybody Rachel Lynde, finding a bosom friend in Diana Barry, breaking a slate over Gilbert’s head, nearly drowning in a pond while re-enacting a Tennyson poem — can be readily updated for modern life.

Or can they?

The first adaptation I read was ANNE OF WEST PHILLY (Little, Brown, 256 pp., paperback, $12.99, ages 8 to 12), written by Ivy Noelle Weir and illustrated by Myisha Haynes, in which Anne is a brown-skinned eighth grader who finds a home with the siblings Matthew and Marilla in an ethnically diverse neighborhood. I appreciated the nod to the White Way of Delight (the flowery canopy of “snowy fragrant bloom” that captivates Anne in Avonlea), reimagined here as an unexpectedly beautiful graffiti-embellished alleyway. I was less impressed by the way Anne aids Diana’s little sister by icing her mildly sprained ankle — in the original, Anne heroically nurses Minnie through a near-fatal attack of croup — and by the treatment of the slate-breaking scene, now a single anticlimactic slap. Still, despite references to Instagram and quinoa, and robotics competitions instead of poetry recitations, “Anne of West Philly” is a dutiful tribute. It reminded me of a gluten-free, nondairy, keto version of an old-fashioned recipe. I didn’t miss white Anne, but I did miss wacky Anne.

I was prepared for more of the same with Kathleen Gros’s graphic novel ANNE: An Adaptation of “Anne of Green Gables” (Sort Of) (Quill Tree, 304 pp., paperback, $13.99, ages 8 to 12). Like Weir, Gros incorporates the classic moments: Anne confronts Rachel, falls into a river, breaks a board over Gilbert’s head. But it’s a looser interpretation, focused less on plot than self-discovery. The book’s emotional core rests on two big realizations: Anne is an artist (as she learns by joining the school’s zine club), and she likes girls.

Gird your loins, traditionalists, because the queerification of Anne is in full flower. Much has been written about repressed desire in the series at least since 2000, when Laura Robinson’s paper “Bosom Friends: Lesbian Desire in L.M. Montgomery’s Anne Books” sparked a mini-furor at an academic conference. It’s no stretch: Even casual fans have to raise an eyebrow at Anne’s flamboyant passion for Diana and her scornful attitude toward marriage. “I love Diana so, Marilla,” Anne declares. “I cannot ever live without her. But I know very well when we grow up that Diana will get married and go away and leave me. And oh, what shall I do? I hate her husband — I just hate him furiously.”

In “Anne of West Philly,” Weir tiptoes so lightly around this theme, young readers could well miss it. Gros, by contrast, puts the gay stuff front and center: Anne gets a butch haircut, holds hands with Diana at a concert and asks her diary, “What does it mean when your best friend (who you kind of think you have a crush on) says she turned down the boy who asked her to the dance???” The story culminates with the girls kissing.

If Gros’s is among the gayer adaptations out there, so is the Y.A. novel ANNE OF GREENVILLE (Melissa de la Cruz Studio, 294 pp., $18.99, ages 14 to 18), by Mariko Tamaki — more a playful riff than a retelling — in which Anne is the half-Japanese, disco-loving, “deliriously queer” adopted daughter of two moms. After the family moves to the conservative small town of Greenville, Anne encounters a scary nativist clique and a thorny love triangle involving two girls, Berry (as in Diana Barry) and Gilly. Tamaki’s nods to the original have a postmodern flair. When Gilly calls Anne “Carrots” (an unforgivable insult in Montgomery’s version), Anne responds: “Carrots? … That’s what you got?”

Still, “Anne of Greenville” was missing something for me that became clear only after I’d read Heather Fawcett’s novel THE GRACE OF WILD THINGS (Balzer + Bray, 361 pp., $17.99, ages 8 to 12), coming in February.

The least obvious Anne reboot of all, this middle-grade fantasy is about a hotheaded young sorceress named Grace who persuades a terrifying child-eating witch to take her in as an apprentice. The touchstone scenes are all here. But the truest homage it pays is in conveying a child’s intense connection to home. Montgomery’s florid descriptions of seemingly every shrub, rosebud and piece of furniture at Green Gables (which used to make my eyes glaze over) communicate this deep attachment. “I love this little room so dearly,” Anne says of her gabled room, with its “white-painted bookcase filled with books, a cushioned wicker rocker, a toilet table befrilled with white muslin.” Similarly, Grace, when she first encounters the witch’s home, is enraptured by its scent of raisin bread and date pudding, its “beautiful wallpaper, patterned with dark green leaves.”

Perhaps it’s because I’m middle-aged with a mortgage and an addiction to decorating blogs that I respond most to Anne’s very real fear that her home will be lost (a fear echoed in “The Grace of Wild Things”). And perhaps this is why, reading “Anne” this time around, I found myself less mad about the ending.

As readers will recall, at the novel’s close Anne forfeits her hard-won college scholarship to stay home and keep Green Gables from being sold — a sacrifice that even most Avonlea residents consider “foolish.” As a young person I remember thinking her decision was unfathomable and retrograde. She had studied so hard! But now it doesn’t seem quite so crazy after all. Anne’s truest, deepest love is for her home, which has given her everything. “Nothing could be worse than giving up Green Gables,” she declares.

I could say the same about the novel itself.