#phoenix forgotten (2017)

[celinamarniss]

Year in Review

In 2023 I posted 4 fics at 58,153 words.

Previous years:

2022: 4 fics at 45,096 words.

2021: 3 fics posted, 55,788 words.

2020: 7 or 10 fics posted, 125,738 words.

2019: 7 fics posted, 72,149 words.

2018: 7 fics posted, 87,752 words

2016: 9 fics posted, 51,643 words

2017: 9 fics posted, 115,336 words

2016: 9 fics posted, 51,653 words

In total, 49 fics posted to Ao3.

We Can't Keep Meeting Like This

34,355 words, gen, Din/Luke/Mara

The Din/Luke/Mara fic I told myself I wasn't going to write! As these things tend to do, it expanded into a much longer fic than I expected. The "five things (plus one)" structure helped to keep it from spiraling even further, but those individual chapters ended up being much longer than I expected and took much longer to write. At first, I serialized the first couple of chapters in smaller excerpts for WIP Weds on tumblr. It was fun to get a little feedback and the weekly deadline compelled me to write those chapters quickly. But when engagement dropped to basically nothing I stopped posting updates and waited to post each chapter to ao3 when it was done. My progress slowed down considerably, but the chapters got longer. I had fun, most of the time.

The Girl Who Traveled the Ways Between the Walls

4,938 words, gen, Animalis verse

Written for the 5k AU fic challenge. Luminous Creatures begins with Mara and Luke's daemons settling, and I regretted never writing a story with an unsettled daemon character. I wanted to write a fic with a fairy-tale vibe and I wanted to explore the weirdness of the Imperial Palace. The Palace becomes a fairy tale wood, and Mara sets off on a quest in which she encounters strange people who aid her or demand aid. Does she learn the right lesson in the end? Perhaps not.

Echo, Revenant, Targeter, Phoenix

15,431 words, gen, Winter Retrac character study

I wrote this one for the Star Wars Big Bang, an experience that ended up being so stressful that I dropped out. I still finished the fic on time and posted it. The fic attracted a modest number of readers (unsurprising given Winter has been basically forgotten these days), but their enthusiasm was very gratifying. I've always liked Winter and I wanted to give her a chance to shine.

However, while I love the worldbuilding and individual scenes and images in this fic, as a whole I don't think it's very gracefully written and I've never been very happy with it.

Cascade

3,429 words, mature, Luke/Mara

I wanted to include A Non-Zero-Sum Game in Vol II of my printed fic collection, but the series felt unfinished without the fourth and final story that I planned to write after Tether. So five years later, I finally wrote it. It was interesting to go back to those old fics and try to write a story that fit the series. I wanted to post it before the new year broke so that I could count it in the 2023 list, and I rushed to get it out. It could probably still use some work.

As the year went on, I failed to meet a lot of the arbitrary deadlines I set myself, and that made writing frustrating and unfulfilling. I don't want it to be like that! I want fic to be fun.

However, I have a lot of non-fandom projects coming up in 2024, and I'm going to have to shift my focus away from fic, at least a little bit.

GOALS FOR 2024

(almost exactly the same as the goals for 2023)

Triumvirate Finale! (explicit, very) The big finale of the Triumvirate series, in which the trio returns to Coruscant to face the Emperor. Doesn’t have a proper title yet. Progress so far: three chapters drafted, 15,410 words.

A Smuggler’s Guide to Joining the Rebellion (gen) The sequel to The Things You Find on Tatooine. Progress: the first chapter finished, 2,241 words.

Lando Calrissian and the Jewel of Andara (gen) The Lando and Mara heist romcom I’ve been promising forever. Progress: three chapters drafted, but in need of heavy revision, 6757 words.

Other fics on the backburner:

Courtship remix

Experiments

Daughter of the Rain and Snow

More daemon fic! 

[spawn-universe]

Comic book creator Todd McFarlane talks Spawn reboot, working with Ozzy and competing with the giants

Credit Calgary herald

Todd McFarlane has not forgotten the vow he made to Calgary back in 2017.

At the time, the comic book artist, producer and toy entrepreneur was a guest at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo and was asked about the long-gestating reboot of Spawn, which had spent years in developmental purgatory. He told the audience at the Stampede Corral that the film would hold its premiere in Calgary if he gets it “off the ground.

Fast-forward six years later McFarlane says the film is back on track. A-list writers Scott Silver, who co-wrote the 2019 hit Joker, and Malcolm Spellman, who created the Disney+ superhero series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, are currently working on the screenplay. Jamie Foxx has long been attached to play the lead role, a superhero/antihero that McFarlane first created at the age of 16 in his parents’ basement near Crowchild and 24th Avenue N.W.

The 1992 comic book debut, which came out on McFarlane’s Image Comics, sold more than 1.7 million copies and the Spawn series holds the Guinness World Record for the longest-running, creator-owned, superhero comic book title. There was a 1997 live-action film with Michael Jae White, which grossed more than $100 million, and an Emmy-winning animated series that ran on HBO from 1997 to 1999. The reboot has been in the works in one form or another for years.

“On the movie front, hopefully – fingers crossed – by the middle of this year we should be making a big announcement that we found our studio, we made our deal and potentially, as part of that deal, they’ve given us our production start date,” says McFarlane. “Really, all fans care about is ‘When can I go see it?’ But at least I’ve got to be able to say ‘This year. We’ve got the money, we’ve got the backing and we’ve even got a start date.'

When it does come out, McFarlane still wants to hold one of the premieres in his hometown.

“Let me tell you right now, if I possibly can, I’m putting it into the contract,” McFarlane says. “It might be the dealbreaker. And I get two premiere spots. I live in Phoenix, I think the Phoenix people will come out in droves because they did the first time we did Spawn. I think they will come out in droves and have a good time in Calgary. That’s it. There it is: If you don’t give me that, then I pull this entire deal. I’m going to see if I can negotiate that.”

McFarlane was back in Calgary this week visiting family. On Sunday, hundreds of fans showed up at Video Game Trader in Lake Bonavista for an autograph session. In 1981, the William Aberhart High School grad left Calgary at the age of 18 on a baseball scholarship to Eastern Washington University, where he studied art and design. Within a few weeks of graduation, he got his first comic book job for Marvel. He would go on to illustrate for both Marvel and DC, drawing for Batman: Year 2, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk and co-creating the Spider-Man villain/anti-hero Venom.

But he is arguably still best known for creating Spawn and for co-founding Image Comics in 1992, which also became home to Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore’s Walking Dead comic-book series. In 1994, he revolutionized the toy industry with the realistic action figures he created for McFarlane Toys. In 1999, he won an Emmy for the animated Spawn series and earned a Grammy nod for directing Pearl Jam’s animated video for Do The Evolution. The following year, he won a Grammy for directing the video for Korn’s Freak on a Leash.

Late last year, he returned to the medium to direct the video for Ozzy Osbourne’s Patient Number Nine, which resulted in a lengthy feature in Rolling Stone magazine about McFarlane’s work in music videos.

“The request came from (Ozzy’s wife) Sharon Osbourne,” McFarlane says. “I knew her from the past. We had done some stuff with toys and comic books with her and had always done well. In the pre-preparation for shooting, I was dealing mostly with the record label and Sharon. I’m sure she showed everything to Ozzy to get the sign-off. The day of the shoot, that dude was a pro. It’s one thing I’ve always been super impressed with for all the music videos I’ve been involved with. When you say ‘Action,’ all of them are performers. They know what to do when they are on stage. This switch goes on and they just do it. At that point when we shot it, I think it was about a week before his back surgery. He just had pretty extensive back surgery and was living in severe pain. You could see he was in pain and his mobility was limited and all that. So he paced himself, which is what a smart person would do. But when I said ‘Action,’ he turned into the 25, 30-year-old Ozzy.”

On top of the promising developments in the Spawn reboot, McFarlane has continued to find success in both the comic book and toy worlds. He credits the relatively small group of people he works with for the company’s David-versus-Goliath success.

“I’ve got a good core of people,” he says. “We’re scrappy. We’re the Bad News Bears of our industry.”

In 2021, Spawn beat out behemoths DC Comics and Marvel to become the No. 1 selling comic book. That same year, his Spawn spinoff titles – Scorched, Gunslinger Spawn and King Spawn – broke sales records. Last year, the crossover Batman Spawn title became a bestseller.

McFarlane Toys’ beat out Fortune 500 companies such as Hasbro and Mattel with the bestselling action-figure line of 2021. The company is currently licensed to create figures for Black Adam, Shazam, The Flash and Batman movies for the DC Multiverse, James Cameron’s Avatar, Dune and even Ted Lasso.

“Their size is their blessing and their curse,” says McFarlane about the giant corporations he competes with. “I could say the same thing about my smallness: it’s my blessing and my curse. Here’s the blessing: I can move quick, I can move fast. Here’s their curse: They are so big and bloated, they can’t move fast. If I see an opening, I can see that opening way faster than they can get into it. I’m not trying to compete, let’s say on the toy front, directly with what the giants are doing. I’m not trying to slay the giants, that’s not the victory. The victory is saying: Where have they left the gap?”

[nymphagoria]

Figured I'd start doing these again, so here's tonight's watch:

Phoenix Forgotten (2017) — Found footage sci-fi horror.

The film tells the story in a mockumentary format of the disappearance of three teenagers who set out to find the source of the 1997 UFO phenomenon known as the "Phoenix Lights"

[tiny-design]

Top Games of 2022 (Part 1 of 2)

Happy new year all! It’s been a good 2022 for me for many reasons (started a new job, moved to a new apartment, and hit the 6k threshold for this silly blog, among other things), but in particular I was able to sit down and really enjoy a wide variety of new games.

I’m not always able to keep up with the latest releases, but this year I was able to trim down much of my back catalog and get excited to check out the latest from many studios, both old and new. So, in celebration of the new year, here’s a Part 1 of 2 of the games I’ve played this year.

(And don’t worry... normal Tiny Designs will continue as usual next week!)

10. Ikenfell (2020)

Developed by Happy Ray Games

09. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials & Tribulations (2004)

Developed by Capcom

08. Owlboy (2016)

Developed by D-Pad Studios

07. Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth (2015)

Developed by Media.Vision

06. Detention (2017)

Developed by Red Candle Games

05. AI: The Somnium Files (2019)

Developed by Spike Chunsoft

04. Sonic Frontiers (2022)

Developed by Sonic Team

03. A Year of Springs (2021)

Developed by npckc

02. Kirby and the Forgotten Land (2022)

Developed by HAL Laboratory

01. The House in Fata Morgana (2012)

Developed by Novectacle

[malditoportal]

FRIKIANA ADICCIÓN: FIESTAS PATRIAS - ABDUCCIONES

THE BODY STEALERS (1969), INVASION FROM THE INNER EARTH (1974), THE RETURN (1980), INTRUDERS (1992), PANDORUM (2009), 6 GIORNI SULLA TERRA (2011), ALIEN ABDUCTION (2014), PHOENIX FORGOTTEN (2017)

[aquariusxiv]

Thinking about GW1 blorbos.

Currently got five characters, three originating from Prophecies (but only one moving on to other campaigns), one from Factions, one from Nightfall. The other two Prophecies chars return for Eye of the North, and stick as a group through Beyond content. As this was a group of characters I made when getting back into the game circa 2017 I trawled GW2 a bit to inspire their names and made one creative modification to an NPC family tree. Erik Sandford: Born sometime in Phoenix, 1050 AE, the much younger brother of Nicholas Sandford, and grew up hearing tales of the teenage Traveler's trips across and beyond Ascalon. When Erik was very young, Nicholas would play with him a childhood hide-and-seek game inspiring a brotherly nickname of 'Wumpus' that Erik would use even into their adult years.

In 1070, Erik responded to the call for military service against the Charr threat. Blessed by Balthazar with a broad frame, natural strength, and enough fire in him to see him through pitched fights, he joined his friend Sir Tydus to be trained at the Ascalon Academy, taking part in skirmishes against grawl, royalists, and a fateful mission to track down and eliminate a charr scout who had gotten past the Great Northern Wall.

[[Plot of Guild Wars goes here]]

By 1080, Erik was well-travelled and accomplished - on the battlefield he was said to be a 'god walking amongst mere mortals' for how he burned with Balthazar's battle-fire. But as he fought against Reiko and her Ministry of Purity, something seemed to have snuffed his flame. He returned to Kryta, where he refused royal title and an offer to join the Seraph with Bartholos. He was convinced to keep his trusted tall shield as a family heirloom, and his blade and armour were sealed away in the Eye of the North. He accepted a royal pension to ensure his family was supported as he learned the teachings of a tradesman. He appeared to openly worship the new goddess Kormir.

In the years following the destruction of Ascalon in 1090, his health began to rapidly decline. He gave his blessing to his first son Rurik, who sought to join the Shining Blade and fight for Kryta. He received a dream-vision from an old friend, the spirit Razah, who felt responsible for Erik's unexpected illness: the spiritual agonies, afflictions, torment, anguish, and woe he had endured in his many battles against otherworldly evil have all taken their toll. Erik passes into the Mists before the end of the decade.

This was going to be a short description of my main characters' origins and final fates but this one kind of got away from me, I guess understandably so, so I'll write up another post on the others later. My main GW2 character, Elizabeth Sandford, is drawing a lot on Erik's heroic spirit even without specifically knowing his heroic legacy, being as so much got forgotten over the years. His first name is cheekily taken by an Ascalonian ghost NPC who as part of an event recites one of the lines originally spoken by your character in a cutscene in GW1 - the first line your character speaks in a cutscene, actually, and the moment I fell in love with the game back in 2006.

[vvitchsings]

⮡  horror movies i've seen before halloween 01/∞                                                       Phoenix Forgotten (2017)

[facesofcinema]

Phoenix Forgotten (2017)

[haveyouseenthishorrormovie]

Stats from Movies 901-1000

Top 10 Movies - Highest Number of Votes

Scooby-Doo On Zombie Island (1998) had the most votes with 906 votes. The Privilege (2022) had the least votes with 312 votes.

The 10 Most Watched Films by Percentage

Scooby-Doo On Zombie Island (1998) was the most watched film with 67.3% of voters out of 906 saying they had seen it. The Key (2023) with 0.2% of voters out of 457, and Martin's Close (2019) with 0.2% of voters out of 415, had the least "Yes" votes.

The 10 Least Watched Films by Percentage

The Masque of the Red Death (1964) was the least watched film with 50.3% of voters out of 485 saying they hadn’t seen it. The Tractate Middoth (2013) had the least "No" votes with 5.3% of voters out of 433.

The 10 Most Known Films by Percentage

Frankenweenie (2012) was the best known film, 2.4% of voters out of 622 saying they’d never heard of it.

The 10 Least Known Films by Percentage

Madayen (2016) was the least known film, 93.8% of voters out of 388 saying they’d never heard of it.

The movies part of the statistic count and their polls below the cut.

The Devil Rides Out (1968) In the Dark Half (2012) The Isle (2018) Lord of Tears (2013) The Hole in the Ground (2019) The Hallow (2015) Hollow (2011) The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) The Masque of the Red Death (1964) The Haunted Palace (1963) The Den (2013) The Wolf House (2018) When Black Birds Fly (2015) I Saw the Devil (2010) Speak No Evil (2022) Fall (2022) Paradise Hills (2019) Spoonful of Sugar (2022) Coherence (2013) I See You (2019)

Eden Lake (2008) Magic (1978) Twice-Told Tales (1963) Vile (2011) Velvet Buzzsaw (2019) The Privilege (2022) The Loved Ones (2009) Fender Bender (2016) Cherry Falls (1999) Scooby-Doo On Zombie Island (1998)

Bedevil (1993) The Rezort (2015) Aquaslash (2019) X-Cross (2007) Impetigore (2019) Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018) The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) Jeruzalem (2015) The Key (2023) A House in Jerusalem (2023)

Frankenweenie (2012) The Milpitas Monster (1976) Blood Diner (1987) The Sickhouse (2008) Opera (1987) Vampires (1998) Vampires: Los Muertos (2002) Antichrist (2009) Cure (1997) It's Alive (1974)

It's Alive (2009) Donnie Darko (2001) The Second Coming (2014) Delicatessen (1991) Vamp (1986) 13 Beloved (2006) 13 Sins (2014) Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter (2001) Frontier(s) (2007) The Third Saturday in October Part V (2022)

The Third Saturday in October (2022) Tomie (1998) Coven of Sisters (2020) Alucarda (1977) Blood Monkey (2007) The Skin I Live In (2011) Maniac Cop (1988) Phoenix Forgotten (2017) Area 51 (2015) Livid (2011)

976-EVIL (1988) Header (2006) Dachra (2018) Djinn (2013) Leviathan (1989) Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) Madayen (2016) Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight (1995) The Night (2020) Achoura (2018)

It Lives Again (1978) Beau Is Afraid (2023) It's Alive III: Island of the Alive (1987) Dark Dungeons (2014) Teen Lust (2014) Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) The Wraith (1986) The Mutilator (1984) Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000) Mermaid in a Manhole (1988)

Slashers (2001) Martin's Close (2019) The Tractate Middoth (2013) Julia's Eyes (2010) 30 Days of Night (2007) Otesánek (2000) A Dark Song (2016) The Blackcoat's Daughter (2015) Mr. Jones (2013) I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016)

[sesiondemadrugada]

Phoenix Forgotten (Justin Barber, 2017).

[ubatros]

phoenix forgotten (justin barber, 2017)

[zinad]

[its-what-lurks-on-channel-x]

Films in 2017 || #032 Phoenix Forgotten (2017)

[thetypedwriter]

All the Young Dudes Fanfiction Review

All the Young Dudes Fanfiction Review by MsKingBean89

So. 

This is a first. 

If you’ve been following this blog for some time, then you know I generally read young adult books and write far too lengthy reviews on them with the occasional outlier of adult fiction, mystery, sci-fi, etc. 

At any given time, I usually have both a physical book that I’ve bought from somewhere that I’m working on (right now it’s Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley) as well as a fanfiction that I reserve until before I go to bed (my treat for a day well lived). 

Fanfiction is something that I’ve mentioned copious amounts of times on this blog in varying degrees, but this is the first time I’ll be writing an actual review for one of them on this platform. 

The reason for this is myriad. 

One, this fanfiction called All the Young Dudes is a far-cry from your normal standardized fanfiction of 5-50,000 words-something I can easily consume in a few minutes to a few hours. 

Nope, this behemoth ends on a staggering 526,969 words and 188 chapters, not including bonus chapters and extra in-universe canonical content the author has also written and published. Roughly speaking, if this was actually published onto paper it would be well over 2,000 pages. 

2,000 pages. 

Yeah. And I enjoyed every single moment of it. 

Two, while I read a lot of fanfiction I generally don’t put any of it on this blog because while I’ve dedicated it to published novels, I also usually have very simple feelings about fanfiction. My thoughts run the gambit of: It was good, it was fluffy, it was a train-wreck, so on and so forth. 

Normally my reviews are so long and wordy because I have too many thoughts about the published books that I read and I need an outlet to let them loose. 

Whether because of its longevity or because of its content, All the Young Dudes is a story I find myself having a profusion of thoughts for. Hence, the birth of this review. 

If fanfiction isn’t your thing, feel free to skip this particular review of mine (although fanfiction is a gift to this world and you should really rethink your stance on it if you don’t like it, just saying). 

Third, All the Young Dudes is well written and rivals any actual published content. 

Fourth, because of how extensive this fanfiction is, it took me over a month to read it-time I generally would have been reading something else. Instead of leaving you all hanging for a few more weeks until I finish Firekeeper's Daughter (don’t hold your breath-the book is sort of a slog for me personally right now), I decided to just take the jump and write my first-ever typedwriter review for a fanfiction. 

Fanfiction has been a part of my life for the better part of almost two decades now. It was truly something I found by accident and in retrospect, it’s insane to me that it’s still something that brings me continuous joy and happiness. 

I discovered fanfiction when I was 11-years-old and deeply obsessed with the Harry Potter fandom. 

Now, as an overall disclaimer I completely disagree with J.K. Rowling’s stances of gender and biology and differ wholeheartedly with her views of trans and non-binary individuals. With that said, I still love Harry Potter as a story and while I no longer buy anything that profits J.K. Rowling directly, I still love the fandom and the people in it, including fanworks like All the Young Dudes. 

When I was 11, the seventh Harry Potter book had yet to come out and like many other people in this time period of agony while waiting for 2007 to roll around so that I could find out what happened, I discovered fanfiction as a way to fill in that ache I was so keenly feeling. 

I found myself suddenly immersed in this world of online fiction-both good and bad-but completely entrancing all the same. 

I never left. 

That is to say, I did eventually move onto other fandoms with their own fanfiction cultures, but Harry Potter was still my first in terms of fanfiction and introducing me to the concept as a whole. 

Specifically and maybe oddly, I never found myself curious for actual fanfiction about Harry or Hermione or Ron. In my mind, I already knew what had happened to them and reading about them in fanfiction was redundant. 

In addition, the first fanfiction I just happened to come across was a Lily/James marauder era fanfiction on mugglenet.com

This idea immediately intrigued me as fans as a whole knew next to nothing about the infamous Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs and while I knew everything I needed to about Harry Potter it was intoxicating to think that I could learn about a time before the series had existed and about characters who were important, but off screen. 

I was hooked and devoured as much as I could for most of middle school about the marauders and Lily and James’ romance in particular (I even wrote and published some of my own that will go unmentioned as they are truly really terrible). 

That being said, I haven’t read a Harry Potter fanfiction in years. I grew up and out of the fandom eventually thanks to Twilight and from there I’ve bounced from fandom to fandom as I’ve aged and consumed different things and fallen in love with different characters and different worlds. 

That isn’t to say I’ve forgotten though. 

I still remember my favorite marauder stories, my favorite Sirius Black/OFC (original female character), and my favorite baby Harry drabbles. They made such a huge impression on me and even though it’s been sixteen years, I still recall those stories with fond nostalgia and jubilation. 

Which is why it’s almost ironic that I would return to this particular time period of the marauders with All the Young Dudes. 

In a fashion that’s almost scarily full circle, I happened to be on Youtube one day and saw a recommendation video about this girl reviewing a fanfiction called All the Young Dudes. Now, youtube book reviews aren’t uncommon, but a thirty minute video for a fanfiction? Not your typical sighting. 

So out of pure curiosity, I searched All the Young Dudes fanfiction on Google and low and behold the overwhelming and top results were all for a marauder-era fanfiction by MsKingBean89. Piqued, I clicked on the link in ao3 and thought why not? 

While I’ve mainly been reading in other fandoms recently (BTS, some anime and manga, All for the Game) I had been in a little bit of a slump for finding a really good, really alluring story for some time and really didn’t think I had anything to lose by reading All the Young Dudes, especially as the more research I did, the more I found how popular it was-a plethora of videos on youtube, tiktok compilations, and dozens of fanart posts. 

Plus, it had been so long since I had read anything from my progenitor fandom and the thought of going back was strangely comforting.

Hence the journey of reading All the Young Dudes began and oh what a journey it was. 

Now, that this review is already five pages in, I should probably tell you what on earth All the Young Dudes is actually about. 

The whole story is a marauder-era fanfiction told from Remus Lupin’s POV from the summer of 1971 when Remus is 11-years-old to the summer of 1995 when he is 35-five-years-old. It is an in-depth portrayal of Remus’ time at Hogwarts from year one to year seven and then going all the way up to the start of the second wizarding world, ending around the time Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix begins. 

While already the scope makes this a massive undertaking, the author also includes all canonical content from the original series involving Remus, the Marauders, and the time period and incorporates it into her fanfiction-making it canon compliant from start to finish. 

While a very large portion of this story is not romantic, there is eventual WolfStar (Remus Lupin/Sirius Black) and if you have read the original Harry Potter series...well. You know things don't end up super dandy for these two characters in particular so you know how the story will end before it begins. 

This fanfiction left me speechless for so many reasons. 

The scope and length is frankly unbelievable. This fanfiction was published on March 2, 2017 and it was completed on November 12, 2018.

….how?

How did she manage that? I frankly have no idea, but I am in complete and utter awe at her ability to write content with such a magnitude and actually complete it. She gets an award just for that honestly. 

Not only that, but the fanfiction is actually superbly well-written. I won’t lie and say it’s the most poignant and beautiful piece of literature I’ve ever consumed, but it was consistent in its pacing, characterization, themes, motifs, and structure, which, for 2,000 pages, is an incredible achievement when you think about it. 

Speaking of characterization, everyone was So. Well. Done. 

Remus was such an interesting POV to read from and while he was compliant in every sense of the word-werewolf, prefect, bookish-MsKingBean89 added so much more to his character and fleshed him out so incredibly that it’s truly tragic that he’s not a real person. 

And to that extent, she does this with all of the characters. You see James’ optimism and leadership, Sirius’ arrogance and loyalty, Peter’s jealousy and chess skills. 

Every character was so well-rounded and real. She did an incredible job of taking the bits and pieces from the canon series and using that to build up her own flesh and blood people with motivations, likes, dislikes, dreams, and desires. 

That being said, she also had 2,000 pages to do it sooooooo it would be bad if the characters weren’t fleshed out by the end honestly. 

In addition, I really appreciated that she didn’t just focus on Remus, Sirius, James and Peter. Lily Evans played a critical role in Remus’ school life and after and so did the other Gryffindor girls like Marlene and Mary. 

Too often, the focus is on the boys and their close friendship and while that was a huge focus, we also get to see Remus develop friendships with the girls in his own right and other friends as well that were often OC’s of the author’s. 

Now. OC’s are generally something I dislike. I’m reading fanfiction to read about particular characters that I’ve sought after, not to read about some imaginary cast. However, just like any of the canon characters, all of the OC characters were well-developed and played crucial roles in Remus’ development-while either at Hogwarts or after-and I found myself not minding them in the least. In a few cases (Grant) I actually really loved them. 

The biggest draw for this fanfiction for me was Remus’ time at Hogwarts. It was so well-written and incredibly descriptive and I found myself thrust back into the world of magic so suddenly and seamlessly that it was like I never left. 

MsKingBean89 includes so many intricate details and builds up the world so beautifully that I’d recommend any Harry Potter fan to consume it, just to get some good Hogwarts material out of it. 

Another thing I greatly appreciate about this fanfiction was the slow burn. I’ve read slow burn before (All for the Game trilogy anybody?), but this truly took the cake. Sirius and Remus don’t properly get together until the end of year six going into year seven. That’s over 100 chapters in. 

100 chapters out of 188. 

Meaning that over half of this beast doesn’t have the main pairing even together. For some people, this could be a drawback. You might think to yourself: It takes how long for them to confess their feelings and stop being prats?

A very, very long time. 

However...it didn’t bug me. I like slow burn to begin with, but being along for the ride as Remus goes from being a child to an adolescent with unrequited feelings to being in a relationship with someone he loves is so rewarding and fulfilling that the 100 previous chapters are completely and utterly worth it. 

MsKingBean89 develops them so well and so carefully that the payoff is so sweet and satisfactory that it's enough to bring the tears right then and there. 

The last huge feat of this fanfiction for me was the author’s dedication to canon not just confined to Hogwarts and the Harry Potter books, but also to the time period. Either she lived through the 70’s and 80’s herself or she had done her due diligence when it comes to research because anything from London anti-gay laws to British slang was commonplace in her fic. 

I found it completely amazing how she was able to tie in real-time historical and cultural moments like famous singers and movies playing at the time alongside convoluted muggle politics warring with the wizarding ones. 

I was so blown away by the accuracy and genuine love behind this fic that it often brought me out of my own mind to simply ponder once again how much work this was and how well she was delivering it. 

Even unpleasant things, like homophobia and bigotry, are dealt with in a very carefully constructed way that is aligned with the time period in which the story takes place. 

Unfortunately, everything beautiful is not without flaws and All the Young Dudes is not the exception, although it’s flaws are nary compared to its achievements. 

The few complaints I have with this fic are honestly quite negligible. 

First, there are a few grammatical and punctuation errors. Very few, but I did notice some. 

Next, and again, this complaint is really just me whining, but...the end of the fic was really fucking sad. The end of this whole story took me so much time to complete simply because I didn’t want to read it. 

I know what happened during the first wizarding war and I also know what ended it (James and Lily Potter dying, Harry being shipped off to the Dursley’s, Sirius imprisoned for a murder he didn’t commit, Peter presumed dead) and in one fell swoop Remus lost everything and everyone he ever loved. 

After spending over 1,500 pages of Remus growing to love these people it is absolutely devastating and heart-breaking to see him lose it all. 

The last handful of chapters are just really, really sad and it makes me wonder why MsKingBean89 decided to write it in the first place. Frankly, I don't know why she didn't write about Remus’ time at Hogwarts and stop after graduation because we all know what happens after that and none of it is good. 

Looking back, I wish I could time travel and tell myself to stop at chapter 150. I truly didn’t need to read about the tragedies that happened after that and the hell that all of the characters go through. 

And while it does end on a….sort of kind of maybe positive (?) note with Sirius and Remus reuniting briefly once the events of Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban take place, it was really tainted and bittersweet for me knowing that in a year Sirius would die and Remus would marry his fucking cousin and have a child. 

Urgh. 

I just can’t. 

That being said, I understand it’s not the author’s fault and I’m not saying it is. She wrote a canon compliant fic to the end and it was my choice to continue reading. That being said, she said she ended it before the events of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix because Sirius and Remus are happy and back together and she didn’t want to write what was coming next if she continued. 

I truly, truly get that. 

But in the same vein, why even write the events of the first wizarding world to begin with then? I’m confused with that response as it doesn’t make much sense to me. I felt like ending it right then and there was not a happy ending. They’re together, yes, but at this point they are both shells of who they used to be. Both have severe trauma and PTSD and frankly I don’t even know if I agree with them being together just because they’ve put each other through so much. 

It’s just an interesting choice at the end of the day in terms of the author. 

Once again, however, I truly understand that she can do whatever she wants and that she doesn’t owe anyone anything, especially as she’s writing this for free and just because. So please keep in mind that although I’m complaining, I truly understand how fortunate we are to even have this fic in the first place. 

Okay. 

Secondly, my only other huge complaint is that MsKingBean89 made Remus gay. Not bi, not pan. Gay. 

You could argue that Remus just calls himself gay in the fanficiton as he didn’t know about other kinds of sexuality. You could argue that Remus’ sexuality changes and develops as he ages and experiences trials and tribulations. You could argue that it was a sign of times like so much else in this fic. 

I frankly just found it to be a frustrating choice as the fic is canon compliant and even though it ends before the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows we know that Remus eventually marries Tonks and has a baby son named Teddy Lupin. 

How does that make sense?

I tried very, very hard to come up with some sort of feasible explanation for how a gay man would have ended up with the love of his life’s female cousin and truly could not think of one that was not fucked up to some degree. 

Again. I know I’m being nit-picky, but it irked me that she made this choice regarding Remus’ sexuality and essentially ended her fic with Remus stuck in a corner regarding how the series actually ends. 

At the end of the day, all of the negatives are truly, truly not important. I’m just whinging to whine and to express my thoughts, but I do once again understand that MsKingBean89 isn’t profiting from this fic and that she can do what she wants as is her prerogative. 

I hope I was able to express that while I understand that, I can still be frustrated with some of the choices she made. 

To wrap this all up, All the Young Dudes is a masterpiece and is a must-read for anyone who loves Harry Potter, the Marauders, or Wolfstar. I was blown away by the sheer magnitude, the love and care she put into her craft, the slow and deliberate development of all the characters, the beautifully constructed love between Sirius and Remus, and the intricate world-both muggle and magic-that surrounded the story like a cocoon. 

I am so happy I found this fic and I truthfully am floundering at what to do with myself next. If you have any more current Marauder era fics that I’ve missed out in the past eleven years, please don’t hesitate to let me know. 

Recommendation: Go read All the Young Dudes. For weeks, you will cry, you will laugh, you will despair, and you will smile. This fanfiction will make you wish this was canon and in my mind, it now is. 

Score: 8/10

Links:

1. All the Young Dudes on ao3 

2. The Youtube Video about All the Young Dudes that made me aware of its existence 

[yugiohcardsdaily]

Posted Cards Master Post - 12

December 2017

Hexatellarknight

Ignition Phoenix

Iron Core Specimen Lab

Jurassic World

Karakuri Showdown Castle

Kyoutou Waterfront

Laser Qlip

Lemuria, the Forgotten City

Light Barrier

Luminous Spark

Madolche Chateau

Magical Citadel of Endymion

Magical Mid-Breaker Field

Magnetic Field

Majesty's Pegasus

Malefic World

Mausoleum of the Emperor

Mausoleum of White

Meklord Fortress

Metamorformation

Molten Destruction

Morphtronic Map

Mound of the Bound Creator

Mount Sylvania

Mountain

Mystic Plasma Zone

Naturia Forest

Necrovalley

Neo Space

Noble Knights of the Round Table

Ojama Country

Onomatopia

Oracle of Zefra

Orca Mega-Fortress of Darkness

Otherworld - the "A" Zone

Pandemonium

Performapal Dramatic Theater

Phantom Beast Rock-Lizard

Santa Claws

Pseudo Space

PSY-Frame Circuit

Realm of Light

Revolving Switchyard

Rising Air Current

Ritual Sanctuary

Saber Vault

Sargasso the D.D. Battlefield

Savage Colosseum

Scrap Factory

Mozarta the Melodious Maestra

Aria the Melodious Diva

Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir

Bloom Prima the Melodious Choir

Canon the Melodious Diva

Elegy the Melodious Diva

Opera the Melodious Diva

Schuberta the Melodious Maestra