#tbf he does look really good in some shots but still my problem lies with the look in general

[bingqiuhateabortion]

Wanted to make a separate post dunking on donghua HC design. Aside from it being kinda inconsistent...

Girl that's you...

And that's me...

But really why did they make him so... ?? Awkward? I don't hate it though i think it's alright. He just doesn't give off that always perfect makeup vibe. Or dressing extra rich vibe. Or...

[moonaft]

Ashes of Honor - Reread

Rosemary and Rue

A Local Habitation

An Artificial Night

Late Eclipses

One Salt Sea

Aka “Let’s get the foreshadowing ball rolling” 

As usual, spoilers up to The Brightest Fell and August 2018 for the Patreon stories. No spoilers for Night and Silence, because my copy from the library is still not in. 

We start with Toby tracking down goblin fruit dealers and proceed right into her getting shot multiple times. Good thing she has an accelerated healing factor now - that probably would have killed her in Rosemary and Rue, even if the bullets weren’t iron. 

I am surprised that not one alchemist has developed a cure or semi-cure for goblin fruit, aside from Toby’s blood candies. Maybe Arden can get Walther on that in the future. 

Hello Officer Thornton, your life is about to get very interesting in a very bad way.  

So Tybalt had to go get Toby because May was in a staring contest with Etienne the entire time? Could he have not been left alone in the house? Or maybe May wanted Tybalt to get Toby because she ships them. 

I don’t think Tybalt knows about Quentin’s parents, his comments notwithstanding. 

Toby, you didn’t make him an accessory to a jailbreak, he did that all on his own. Although it did encourage his parents to have you as his knight, no doubt. 

Props to Bridget and Chelsea for keeping Chelsea’s fae nature under wraps for years. 

Why is literally no one able to hold a straight conversation in this universe? So many problems could have been avoided if people just talked to each other. 

Do changelings who have two changeling/pureblood parents have to take the Choice? I guess not, since Stacy’s kids always knew about Faerie. 

Gillian is older than Chelsea, that has to be screwy for Toby. 

Etienne has cedar and limes - it must have twisted enough to be sycamore for Chelsea. If she had been raised with Etienne, would it have just been cedar? 

I wonder if dawn hits Toby harder than other fae. Why would you stay in the mortal world for years if you stop breathing every morning?

Again, what was Sylvester doing when he was a hero? It’s not like he was off killing Firstborn. 

So the Firstborn working together can create worlds. Are there not enough Firstborn left anymore? Or can they not create homelands out of the Summerlands? 

Oh, this is the book when we learn the Luidaeg’s apartment is actually spotless. I’d forgotten when exactly that was. 

Oooo - if Amandine had to close the holes August’s changeling Tuatha created, she was extremely close to bringing her home. And we never found out the boy’s name either. 

OK, the timeline doesn’t make sense. The Luidaeg didn’t know where August ended up, or she would have told Simon when he came begging for her help. So she didn’t know that August found the changeling in Blind Michael’s land and went to Annwn, even though August came for the candle just before the changeling starting tearing holes in reality. Maybe no one noticed that August was gone yet? What’s a couple weeks for a pureblood? 

OK, TBF says the Luidaeg knew that August went for the changeling, but she couldn’t have known where in Faerie or the mortal world she went. 

That poor kid. He died as a result of all that, whether from the fae or from the teleporting, and August was left stranded in Annwn. 

“Aunt Titania” - I really want to know what the Three + all the Firstborn were like thousands of years ago. It couldn’t have just been Eira and the Luidaeg going at it. 

The “Heart of Faerie” - that hasn’t come up again. Yet. 

So the Tuatha had two Firstborn - Amorica and Elton. Here’s the main question I keep coming back to - who helped father/mother the descendant races? 

There is nothing to suggest that the Firstborn reproduce asexually or by themselves. The Luidaeg more-or-less confirmed in TBF that August would have been part Daoine Sidhe - part of Titania’s line - if Amandine and August herself hadn’t pulled that part from her blood. So it’s not like being a child of a Firstborn automatically makes you a pureblood of that race. So August is - as far as blood is concerned - not actually of Simon’s line because they don’t share a bloodline. Apparently that doesn’t affect genetics or magic since she still has his magic scent and the Torquill coloring. 

But Amadine is only Firstborn who can shift the blood without a hope chest. What about everyone else? 

Blind Michael and Acacia had several children - Luna and Ceres being Blodynbryd - as well as the Dryads. Apparently Blodynbryd are technically a type of Dryad. The kids must have chosen Acacia who is Titania’s daughter. But what if some of the kids had chosen Michael, who is Maeve’s? Could you have members of the same descendant race who are either Maeve’s or Titania’s? 

And what of Oberon’s lines? Did he choose Amorica and Elton, or did they choose him over their mother? Was their mother someone completely different, like Amandine’s mother or the Merrow Firstborn’s sire? 

If the Three created Faerie, then they predate those lands. Who were they before they were fae? What about these other fae-like beings? Who are they? Where did they go?

How did the Luidaeg give birth to the Roane and Eira to the Daoine Sidhe? How many children did everyone have? Theoritically, we could trace Daoine Sidhe like racing horse lines. Are Sylvester and Aethlin’s parents siblings? Cousins? Who knows!

I would love to see Bridget smack one of the asshole fae with the cast iron pan. Maybe in the finale? 

I love that Quentin loves Great Big Sea. I wonder if he likes Stan Rogers too? Could the “song about boats” be The Mary Ellen Carter?

Oh God, Tybalt. The series could have ended right there, at Toby and Quentin’s death via vehicle collision. 

The Court of Cats really has no luck. Poor Raj.

Don’t worry Quentin, you’ll get your not-boyfriend back. I definitely shipped them before I read Full of Briers. 

Sylvester seems at least competent at illusions, even if he’s got nothing on Simon’s blood magic. 

“A man and his boat” sounds more like Man With Blue Dolphin. Or Old Polina? A Boat Like Gideon Brown? 

Hi Li Qin! This is the first indication that you actually exist. 

So she doesn’t get a title by virtue of marrying January? That would explain why Amandine isn’t actually a Countess. 

Li Qin: Abusing fae hospitality for fun and profit. 

Stop cradle robbing, Treasa. 

Technically, Toby is the daughter of a noble. Does she get to inherit Simon’s status eventually?

Toby, why are you not the least bit curious about who Riordan is talking to about you? 

I appreciate Riordan’s ability to set traps for everyone. She really came off the winner in this book, even if it did strand her in Annwn. 

I need to reread Patrick’s side stories - I think Riordan’s coat of arms changed in the last 100 years. 

It is so useful to have allies that can bend space and time.

And we have a new Firstborn: Arawn of the White Stag. Sounds Welsh. Possibly the Firstborn of the Tylwyth Teg?

Hi Raj!

Don’t worry Toby, Quentin will get to see Annwn soon enough. 

We know nothing about Shade, do we? And what do you mean, Kings and Queens don’t live together? Tybalt and Colleen did back in London. Everything you know about the Court of Cats is wrong, Toby. 

Poor Anne. Poor Tybalt, his lovers always die. 

You’re blaming your unborn daughter for the death of your wife, Tybalt? Low blow. 

Can human mothers carry a litter of Cait Sidhe to term? I assume Cait Sidhe as cats can birth a litter but what if they shapeshifted back to human? Do the babies also shift? 

Hi Chelsea!

Raj, you are a horrible assassin. But hey, Toby gets another ally to help search for Chelsea. And this time he’s not trapped in a deeper realm.

Quentin continues to be a good squire. 

Whoops, wrong target, May.

How do skinshifters who aren’t Selkies manage? Does each Raven-person get their own cloak of feathers?

Poor Jazz, this isn’t the last time she’ll be attacked by strange men in her own house. 

Not like May could pass for Quentin’s mother either, Toby. Though it’s not like Officer Thornton knows what May looks like. 

And more of Tybalt’s past!  

Yes Toby, I’m actually sure the High King and Queen are proud their son is a cat burglar. It’s a good skill to have.

Why didn’t Riordan kill Toby when she had the chance? It’s not like Toby’s useful to her. 

And Toby scents August, who must have used one of Chelsea’s portals to escape back to the mortal world. 

Can Tuatha seriously not teleport if they can’t see where they’re going? It seems mighty inconvenient.

Have Tybalt and Etienne ever worked together in such proximity? I don’t think so. 

Hi Officer Thornton. Hi Samson. You are still somewhat less of an asshole than Dugan but not by much. 

How exactly can Riordan use a blood charm to grant Samson access to the Shadow Roads? 

Oh God, I think Toby’s acting like Simon. Beaming and walking in circles around Riordan. This is almost like how he got Dianda and Patrick together. 

Quentin, you really need to learn combat magic. 

Chelsea’s teleportation magic is apparently enough to get Samson into the Shadow Roads. 

“and there’s nothing I can do to make her less stupid” Oh Jin. 

Toby’s near-death count this book is three, I think. 

Hi Sylvester! 

HI Bridget! You get the best of both worlds. Toby, Quentin nearly did the same for Katie, you don’t need to act so surprised. I guess it’s one of those things people don’t talk about. 

Did Samson actually die in Annwn or is he just stranded there? He was still breathing after Etienne hit him with iron. 

Happy ending, minus all the disembowelment and dying. 

Next up: Chimes at Midnight. Is that the one with Arden? I don’t remember the false Queen in The Winter Long but I can’t remember if we meet Arden before or after that. 

[raptorreels]

The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959)

like a lot of Hammer, this is a remake, speicifically of the 1945 The Man in Half Moon Street. Becase i'm a disorganized gremlin, i'm watching that tomorrow

our setting is Paris in 1890

I assume there were things happening between the intro credits, but the set is so badly lit that they could have just painted actor names on the inside of the fucking lens cap. Look, I like Actual Dark in horror movies, but Actual Dark is not an establishing shot, aight?

A guy gets pushed into a shrub, but he looks like a banker so I don't care

where's my movie about the Great Paris Shrub Pusher?

I look up Rue. It apparently means “street” in French. Huh.

you know they're in France because everyone says George funny

that's the only fucking thing they bother with trying an accent on though.

“he has such wonderful taste” “he does....[looks around the room] when it comes to models” hammer horror, for all your sick interior decorating burns

wow, pretty

Today in Fashion or Gangly Actor: christopher lee arrives and is the tallest bean in the shot, and is apparently wearing his nephew's coat.

“i think their money gives them an overblown sense of their own importance”

the wardrobe colors in this are just great

so the fate worse than death this guy is protecting himself from by drinking some green dry ice is.....turning yellow, baggy eyes and, somehow, caustic skin????

he fucking grabs her by the face and BURNS A HANDPRINT there. Like. What the fuck part of the aging process is that? And can I put in for it early, that would be useful.

“You're a doctor! You must have met other doctors!” - this especially funny in retrospect because we find out our beloved Ludwig is, himself, a Doctor who, presumably, also knows Doctors. Maybe this is what happens when two introverts have to outsource dodgy frankenstein science. I don’t want to have to talk to anybody! You talk to somebody for your own evil experiment! The real fate worse than death is having to meet new people, I knew it all along. 

Chris looks llike he's on set with hobbits

watching people do mental math. Much spook, very chilled.

~glands~

revitalized is a funny word

i really do love Ludwig, he’s such a great character and the characting acting is amazing. you can really feel the long friendship between these guys

“I couldn't get access to any more cadavers” because dead bodies are that hard to find in Paris???

“what is death that it should be so feared” ludwig laying shit down

we find out that the timeline would make our villain....over sixty GASP

Dramatic Lighting or Seasickness?

“the man's abnormal” victorian understatement will never fail to crack me the fuck up. Like ya don't say chris.

Drinking green dry ice can apparently have “an unpredictable effect on the mental balance” n o s h I t

that. is a very large man. 

i will not create an elaborate au in which they fuck, Solve Crime and own approximately a thousand dogs

...okay i lied they seem more like cat people

why does age always catch up with these kinds of characters immediately, like they always go ark of the covenant. There's never “well i'm mortal now.....so.....who wants a bagel while I deal with things like my first cold and thirty years later some muscle pain and arthritis”

someone shouts it's an offense against nature & god, drink

drink again

our female protagonist may be a little dense about her bf being a tortured serial killer, but goddamn she keeps serving up Looks every time she shows up; 

our main dude drops his Tortured act real fast when he has to blackmail a motherfucker

when your reaction to this room is “aww” and not SHIT RUN, i can only assume your survival instinct has been surgically removed along with the main villain’s ability to act

wait, what? I thought face burn girl was dead?? but she's in a basement full of hay and statues and has apparently been driven insane by the confinement? Like, what was the plan there? He clearly doesn't have a problem stabbing the shit out of his models. And why go and get a prostitute to murder for her ~glands~ when you have one sitting there? I Do Not Understand

it’s a doggo

a brief interlude for some m/m victorian porn

chris has been lied to by the serial killer GASP

it's a good thing our protags don't get married, they would have such dumb kids

and now, the exact moment our female protag goes the fuuuuck

AW YEAH chris faked him out with the surgery, I take it back. Their kids would only be half dumb, you've still got the redhead and her glaring obliviousness to serial killer dude

shit dude she’ll put up with all the serial killing you want, but the minute your skin starts flaking off in large chunks she is out

tbf i’d have similar standards

apparently aging means falling face-first into some clay

YOU GET YOURS, GIRL. Burn-face girl lights a motherfucker up. 

I choose to believe she survives the fire and goes on to be a Parisian vigilante, fucking people up and setting assholes on fire. 

So that was a good movie! Tightly plotted, for the most part moved very well. There were a few The Fucks plotwise, but it mostly holds up, and most importantly stays fun. Per usual with Hammer, you come for the characters and the set design, which were gorgeous.