#that's very important for you to know and also conceptually hilarious

[scrumpbumpist]

I realize that a lot of people who read/write DPxDC have never seen Danny Phantom (and sometimes never seen/read DC stuff) and are just basing their fics off of what they've read in other fics, but because of that I feel like there are a bunch of things that you could be taking advantage of that you aren't, because you're limiting your scope to the Bat-fam and Gotham.

LIke, you know who else is in the DC Universe? The Mystery Gang. So maybe Danny joins up with 4 teenagers and a talking dog to look into a potential haunting while also hiding that he's way spookier than whatever they're investigating.

It's not like they're defenseless or even unused to Gotham insanity.

[punch-love]

Hello!! I’m in your inbox because I want to ask of what advice you may give in writing a heated argument that sounds realistic and genuine instead of cheesy/ shallow?

I think your fic love-punch has some really amazing lines of dialogue where the two character are able to fit both a genuine hostility for each other as well as hilarious banter, and the combination of the two is just so potent and rich with character dynamics?? (Also acquired taste with the back and forth of deadpools intimidation and Peter trying to maintain his composure with deflection and jokes)

Just wanted to pick your brain on how you come up with those kind of lines since I’m always struggling with imagining good dialogue for characters

Sorry if this was confusing to read I wrote it pretty late into the night

I've been thinking on this and I think my biggest advice is make it personal. I think what makes a combative conversation sound shallow or cheesy is when the dialogue is so nondescript that you could swap out any number of characters without the audience noticing. If you think back to a fight you enjoyed on-screen, can you remember what the characters were saying? Why?

If you can, it's probably because what they were saying was personal enough to give you something of a reaction. Think of a couple fighting in public, there's a pretty typical script that couples go off of ("you're always late! you never pay attention to me! you never compliment me!") that we kind of treat as background noise, but when it gets personal (re: interesting) that's when our nosy nature catches attention. He did WHAT? She said WHAT?

When it gets personal, when it gets outrageous, when it gets genuinely fucked - that's when we lock in. Your dialogue should reflect that. When you read something, you're essentially a fly on a conceptual wall. Your job as a writer is to keep the fly in place, enraptured by the view. What would make someone stay to listen to your fictional argument?

It's also important to consider the characters and how they deal with high-stress, high-risk situations. Are they funny? Are they defensive? Do they try to psyche their opponent out? Do they get more or less talkative depending on whether they're winning/losing? Then, profile the person they're fighting and figure out where they're similar and (this is the most important part) where they're different. I like to approach dialogue as a sparring match. The opponents aren't always evenly matched, but they usually have very different approaches to the fight and when they play dirty, things get more interesting.

Also, to be transparent, I think a good sense of humor and wit helps a lot. It's important to understand tone, delivery, and most importantly - the audience. If you're not someone who tries to make people laugh , then observe people who do. If there's someone in your life you find really funny, take a second to figure out why. Is it the emphasis? The way they're able to turn anything into a joke? Humor is an intellectual practice, it takes some degree of smarts to be actually funny. If you are someone who likes to make people laugh, then consider your process and figure out how you can translate that into writing.

I think to sum up: think about what grabs your attention and capitalize on it, make the fight personal enough that you couldn't swap the dialogue out and have it be between two entirely different characters with little to no difference. Understand what makes you funny (or the funniest person you know funny) and figure out the patterns. Understand the characters approach to conflict and how it's similar and how it clashes, and capitalize on the clash.

Ultimately, when it comes to writing dialogue, I don't actually don't think too hard about it when I'm doing the actual writing. I think about it a lot during the editing process, though. If it doesn't make laugh or drive my attention, I will re-work it until it does. Don't be afraid to work at something until it clicks.

[kushanna]

i'm hurting too, who's gonna take responsibility for my wounds... sooo sad, sooo messed up... also the "i love maria, i have my own way of loving her"... sooo sad, sooo messed up... rosa number #2 in the ranking of umi characters who make me very sad

overthinking™ moment: i do believe she's tired and fed up and hurt but, first of all, why are you trying to hide the fact that you're tired, want a vacation and have a boyfriend? are you afraid of being mocked? i could think of seven healthy solutions for this issue on the spot (...a nanny perhaps?), but the most blatant thing to me is that it's stuff like this that puts into perspective how much the ushiromiyas, individually, yes, but collective, as a group, suck. there's no support system at all in place here (it feels hilarious just saying this, i'm laughing), not using rosa's status as a single mother as munition against her really is the barest of the barest minimum, the bar IS on the ground and it never raises an inch cause it's so scary and sad how rosa is a very, very single, hurt, violent and neglectful mother making the worst decisions of her and her daughter's life and no one bats an eye, god bless... again, are you afraid of being mocked? very much a "it really didn't have to be like this" type of situation, as is every time we dig into any of the ushiromiya's private lives

hm on a good note and completely changing the subject (i am now speaking of witches and magic and game boards) i do think i have a bigger understanding of all of this now, not in the sense that i have any answers but in that, for example, i used to be very caught up in the idea that i had to figure out what was "real" and what was "not real" in order to comprehend and solve "the mystery (which one?? it's a different one every time!)" but now i don't even conceptualize things like this anymore, it doesn't even make sense to do so at this point. i do have a bigger comprehension i think of how i'm supposed to tackle and work with the information that's given to me... the voices of the internet were right and the path does gets clearer as it progresses... AND it's been fun, which i think is the most important thing, and it's more fun now than it was two episodes ago when i didn't know what i was doing

[hostilemuppet]

Dear Muppet "ill never give up on this miracle!" Hostile,

I hope this ask finds you in amicable circumstances. I am sending it to inquire as to your thoughts on the Snack Pack, most particularly in the terms of canon. What did you think of them in the first movie versus the subsequent installments? Do you have a favorite Snack Pack member?

Yours Truly, 🦶👃💦

😭😭😭😭 i like the snack pack! theyre fun

biggies really cute and i hate how people act like hes sooooooo annoying just bc hes fat. hes just a sweetie who loves his pet worm! and you all treat him like SHIT

guy diamonds fun! i think its hilarious that they had no personality to work with from the first movie for the cartoon so they just made him a massive (pg rated) whore, and then when he became a dad in world tour, for trollstopia he apparently is basically nothing like how he was in the tbgo. fatherhood fixed him

smidge is REALLY fun i like how shes so intense all the time. i wish people would stop calling her a child just bc shes short. have you not heard her voice? the fuck kinda 6 year old sounds like that. she is a full grown woman who wants milton moss carnally

I LOOOOOVE THE TWINS SO MUCHHHHHH theyre so awesome and they SERVE. i REALLY hope the twins are the important snack pack members in trolls 4, i would love 100% canon undeniable personality for them thats not just in the cartoon. id even be happy if theyre nothing like they are in the cartoon! but i still LOVE them in the cartoon, theyre so bitchy and cunty. AND LOOK AT THEM!

dj suki, her design is REALLY good im not really that gripped with her personality in the cartoon. sucks she can never be important to the movies bc of her va but what can you do

related, legsly. she seems very divisive! people either hate her because she "replaced dj suki" (she did not replace dj suki. dj suki wouldnt ever be used in the movies again regardless of whether or not legsly was made) or love her but in a way that seems mostly out of spite to the people who hate her. me, personally? i just dont care one way or the other. she doesnt particularly grip me as a character and her design is okay. shes just kinda there

fuzzbert i think is really funny conceptually but in the cartoon i dont like how fuzzbert is apparently, like, his own little clan. i think only fuzzbert should be fuzzbert, ykwim? it should be unique to him

edit: I FORGOT COOPER IM SO SORRY COOPER. he is really cute in the movies hes just a silly guy! but hes so fucking annoying in the tbgo. its like they thought he had one personality trait that is "loud" and cranked it up to a kajillion. he deserves better! i hope they dial it back in trollstopia, but i also know hes barely used in trollstopia so

[lemonhemlock]

BG3 anon here. Glad to see you've finally dealt with Ethel! The trick with the Protection Against Evil and Good is really neat, when I first played the game I had no idea it could work like that! I remember putting one of the masks on my Tav and she got possessed by it so I ended up fighting her minions and knocked all of them out except one. I'll definitely use that trick in my second playthrough though, I already reached level 4 and will have to deal with her soon enough. By the way, to successfully knock out a character you can't use ranged attacks and spells on them, that might be why you got all her servants killed. Or, if you use such attacks make sure the last, dealing blow isn't one of those, but a melee one (so swords, axes, maces, thing like that). Also, try not to use poison on your weapons or inflict other lasting conditions (like bleeding) on your targets as that can fuck the whole thing up in case the character you want to knock out is one of those who can show up later in the game. You should be safe though if the game says they are knocked out and they don't die when you exit the combat.

I wouldn't worry at all about missing some any important items from Ethel. She had a nice staff you could buy (you'll find better ones soon enough anyway) and some potions of Hill Giant Strength which are great, but it's not like you can't go on without them. Plus, you will meet other merchants selling those.

Yes, the dialogue with Gandrel is different depending on whether or not you found out the truth about Astarion being a vampire. It's also a bit different if you meet him without Astarion in your party! Honestly, I don't know if knocking out Gandrel works. Some characters will appear later on if you don't kill them and choose to knock them out instead (like Minthara will) but for story reasons I assume, some others won't. It is possible the game will consider him dead regardless, despite him not being technically dead. The only thing I want to point out is that it makes absolute sense from a role-playing perspective for Tav to deal with him considering he's looking after one of your companions and let's be honest, it's not like a monster hunter will spare a vampire once he's done with it. After all, vampires are considered irredeemably evil monsters in their world. I do agree that him trying to get help from a hag is quite stupid, he should know better being a monster hunter, shouldn't he?

As for Mayrina, I don't think you can grab Connor without her knowing so I would ignore her cries...she's better off without his stinky zombie ass anyway.

you're very welcome about the Protection Against Evil spell!

i think that's where i failed with the masks, because i used ranged attacks and spells on them. it would have been way easier to incapacitate them first and then just fight ethel with 3 people. if you succeed in doing that, make sure that, when you loot their knocked-out bodies, you don't take their masks off. otherwise they die. just take their other stuff

i dunno if gandrel will appear again in this act at least but if he pesters me i will deal with him at the time :)) aside from seeking help from ethel of all people, i'm not sure i can blame him for hunting a vampire (conceptually-speaking). ofc, astarion insisted that he must have been hired by cazador, but i clicked the option of asking why would the gur work with another vampire?

he told me they might not be aware who they're working for. but you know. :)) i'm already aware astarion did do some shitty things to the gurs :))

i'll see if i can make it up to the gurs later on

yeah, you know, i feel like after all this work i'd have earned at least a persuasion check on mayrina! i did leave her her necklace and all. this was hilarious bc she started talking to the nearest person, which just so happened to be astarion, and i made him say very sympathising things that i'm sure he very much did not mean :)) and, after all this bashing, i do have to say i thought it relatively cute how, when you enter turn-based combat with him against ethel, he tells you smth like "if you want to save the girl, you have to do it NOW". i was expecting him to advise me to ditch her and save our necks or start blaming me lol. it's the bare minimum in this camp!

[freebooter4ever]

Ok art history and current events (ai) rant underneath

So I know nothing about the history of Soviet Union art, and I feel like this was very intentionally done. The general impression I got while studying art at one of the best Art World conceptual art colleges in the US, was that while the 'western art world' considers Pop Art to be 'True Art', the soviet propaganda machine is ignored and belittled as art done for a purpose rather than any kind of conceptual integrity. This shit gets so annoyingly complicated so fast because even to this day not everyone considers Pop Art to be Art, and the only reason carnegie mellon was basically forced into adding this to their world view was because andy warhol was a very hilarious very petty very bitter man who donated a fuck ton of money to the school just so he could laugh at the assholes who treated him like shit when he was a student being made to worship the ground he now walks on.

Anyway my probably very unclear point here is that the saying art isn't Art until someone (the right people) say it's so...is very very true. And in my college soviet art was not Art and was not discussed like at all.

The idea behind ignoring that entire era of russian art history was mostly based on the fact that it was 'propaganda', meaning commissioned and designed by the state for some communal purpose.

Versus Pop Art which was seen as a reaction to the commercialism of the 50's/60's - which was itself a reaction to the threat of communism. The tomato soup can graphic was originally created to sell soup cans. Andy warhol took that graphic and used it conceptually to critique the commodification of art and culture and blah blah blah (dont kill me i actually dont like andy's work i think its interesting as a concept but i also just think its ugly)(i actually really hate the conceit of Pop Art as a whole because i think it demeans the working class artists and designers who contributed to the original iconography of commercials/ads)(you may think im adding capital letters as a form of respect but no im mocking it for it's own inflated self importance)(the fact that an image or object has to be in a museum to be considered valuable by the higher classes who have the money to patronize these gallery artists...but it's identical to an image or object that already exists??? Hmm.)(ANYWAY lol)

So what I'm saying is that kind of like hobey baker, the Art World (caps to mock them for their self importance again) believes that Art is done for the love of art, rather than financial compensation or to survive. Propaganda is seen as the horrifying opposite of this. Propaganda is controlled art. It's art coming from a very isolated culture and dictated by government ideas rather than any kind of self expression. We see this with china too - my college did an entire unit on the tradition of calligraphy and ancient chinese painting. But the minute you start to talk about chinese propaganda art, the Art World doesn't really care. From the perspective of the Western Art World it's like we are supposed to see the communist eras of places like russia and china as being so utterly suppressed that it was devoid of art. I can't name a single painter from that time period from those countries. But we learned a heck of a lot about painters from western countries, south american countries, even when some of those places were going through some interesting political upheaval.

That was a very very long winded way of saying I don't have any basis of comparison within soviet art for this statue. My personal favorite eras of sculpture were the native pacific northwest (for obvious reason), indian art, and mayan and aztec art. I actually find italian sculpture really boring (please dont kill me for this either i blame my great grandpa who supposedly hated the home country, it must be passed down in my genes). So that's where im coming from.

This 'home front' sculpture is fascinating. From a technical standpoint there are a lot of things i dont like - things that i would look at in a sculpture and immediately be like no that needs to have more intention. There's a lot of folds that don't make much sense both in terms of form and the lines they create on the surface of the statue. The strange stylization of the blocky knee that isn't consistent with the rest of the statue is interesting. There are some parts of the stylization i do like - i like how the guy on the left feels like he is stepping out of a huge obelisk. Like he is the obelisk, a pillar of strength and immovable. The stark line of his cape/robe thing works amazingly well. And the way it cups around the statue's body is so good. That one section is done so well that it's part of why the other folds dont make any sense, lol.

But the singular part that really really stands out to me and the part that I would probably be interested in sketching in person? Those hands! Those gestures are gorgeous. The getsure is soft, but with that squared off stylization that the rest of the statue tries to hit. They are lifelike and beautiful in a larger than life way. You can kinda tell that whoever designed this probably had a thing for studying hands - the rest of the sculpture feels a little phoned in but those hands are spectacular. That one hand gripping the hilt of the sword? Omg I can feel that! There's a good chance that this was all intentionally done. After all, the strength of a worker, especially in an era of specialized industry such as WWII, is usually portrayed as being in the worker's hands. Or maybe, as I mentioned, the artist just really loved hands, and absolutely hated faces. Because wow, that's like bare minimum effort on a face sculpt. You know the old joke about like the medieval western european artists whose drawings of lions looked like they'd never seen a lion...because they had never seen a lion? Well i can't say i'm convinced that this sculpture artist has ever seen a real human face. But the hands are great!

So what does all of this have to do with ai?

Well, remember the whole reason for the disdain of propaganda type art was because it's seen as coming from the collective brain of a ruling government's philosophy. But now - and please don't get too mad at me for this either, this is just a half formed thought - ai has put that kind of power into the hands of whoever has an ai image generator trained on the world's art.

Historically governmental bodies and artists tend to clash - right? Like wouldn't it be great for a goverment to be able to erase the pesky need for an artist altogether? Just plug in some words, a 'concept', and watch the image magically unfold in perfect form. This fits with what propaganda believes is the true value of art - the idea behind it. The art itself is just this object, this image. The idea - and the powerful wealthy person behind it ordering this idea- is what is valuable.

Which is hilariously very close to the central values of Western Art World 'conceptual art' but we'll ignore that. (talk to me some time about the exploited labor of assistants to 'big name' artists like that shitty diamond skull dude who shall not be named or even beloved artists like chihuly)

Anyway, we are watching this happen in real time - the people in power in corporations appear to be actively trying to devalue the work of creating art. Corporations are saying essentially that the important part of this process, the part worth paying for, is the 'idea' and not the product of that. This is nothing new, but this form of so called 'artificial intelligence' aka machine learning, makes it much much easier to try to turn artists into middle men that need to be gotten rid of.

Blah blah blah, I'm talking a lot, I know. But I've also been seeing a lot of posts going around tumblr claiming that the root cause of all of this ai is 'Capitalism'. Which, like. Valid in a lot of ways - the inherrent greed of unchecked capitalism causes a wealth inequality that grows until the stratification of classes is as bad as it was under monarchies. But I feel like people being so focused on that being a buzzword for the newest Big Evil to rally against means people are mindlessly not bothering to deconstruct what is actually happening and finding similarities in history when we've seen - not this exact technology and circumstances - but a similar shift in values and thought. We as human beings are so great at labeling things - this is the Good Thing, this is the Bad Thing, that I think we ignore the fact that the actually bad stuff happening - consolidated power and wealth in the hands of a tiny group hivemind dictating cultural creative output for example - is actually really similar throughout history no matter what label gets slapped onto it.

Yeah, i think too much.

Happy Friday! I will return to regular mindless blogging after this I promise. And I swear I'll be up at 7am to watch some russian hockey which historically has been it's own form of fascinating artistry. Yay! \o/ if anyone wants to chat about this stuff feel free to message me though i have been bad about responding to people lately (sorry guys there is one of me and thousands of you :( but also depression)

here is a fun poll for anyone crazy enough to read this whole stupid essay:

if anyone votes for my favorite i will be sad.

Ok let's talk about art and history, and some of the weird stuff I see it morphing into lately cause I have way too much time to think right now and am anxiously awaiting news that I don't want to think about so instead I am putting on my 'i-was-the-one-person-who-sat-up-front-and-stayed-awake-for-my-entire-traditional-college-art-history-course-and-laughed-at-all-the-professor's-jokes-that-insinuated-he-hated-his-job-and-the-curriculum-he-was-teaching' hat.

Actually scratch that. I'm going to post this and THEN reblog it with my rant so i dont have to fucking censor everything i talk about fuck u tumblr and ur stupid autotag bullshit.

[betweentheracks]

Hello and yay for this blog!!! I have a question :D. If a certain Chinese star were to wear jeans that say "my cock is gluten free" and "pull me down and fuck me," do you think his stylist would have chosen this knowingly, or do you think it's possible they just were like "hmm english words looks good" and didn't bother to look up the meaning? If they did know the meaning, would they have likely informed the star? Very desperate for the thought process behind this Choice hehehe. Thank you!

Ah, I was wondering hoping if I would get asked about those infamous jeans and here you are!

First and foremost; the following is all speculation from my experiences in the business and is wholly subjective. 

It isn’t impossible that they weren’t aware of what was written on the jeans, but it also isn’t all that likely either. When you pull up these jeans on the Dsquared2 site there’s a listing of what is doodled and written on the jeans and it’s not something that would be overlooked by neither stylist nor client. 

That said, Yibo does know some English and while he may not have known these words exactly, there’s more than enough ways of discerning their meaning. I would also bet half a year of my salary that his stylist would have known what was written here, or any number of personnel that works with them for that matter. I would also take into consideration that even if the jeans had slipped by all these people that may or may not have had the ability to see what was all over them, some of Yibo’s fellow idols should have (looking at you specifically, Seungyoun).

Setting this aside for a moment, I’ll go into who I think is responsible for the jeans being worn to begin with - Wang Yibo himself is the likely culprit. 

Why do I think this? There’s many reasons but most are inconsequential while two points frame the scene as I see it. 

This is markedly not a choice a stylist would make. Stylists, at the end of it all, are employees and therefore it shouldn’t be too surprising to know we have rules in place we must abide no matter if we are working outside the purview of the company we are housed under. Even when we work exclusively with a client, we are still taking the name of our company as well as our own with us and are operating as an extension of the brand the company promotes and promises. I don’t know of any company here (and I live in rather free faring place which welcomes eccentricities, mind) that would allow these jeans to be submitted as part of a pitch to either buy or borrow unless they were very specifically in line with a client’s public image and style. Technically these jeans would classify as offensive and profane which means they would invite trouble and cause a stir. While stylists are not associated much with the PR side of things we are still essentially a team playing for the same client - this selection, if gone badly, would be like asking for lightning to strike twice in one place at the same time. If a scandal amounted from them PR would have to handle it and that means the stylist would come under fire for making such a bold and risky choice, most especially with a younger client that thus far didn’t have the sort of image one would think to associate with jeans such as these. 

The second reason is that, from what I can tell, this is in line with Yibo’s personality. He’s very serious about style and engages with it as he does most things; by overtaking it completely and rebranding it to suit him to the point that it makes one wonder if the style wasn’t designed with him in mind. He makes full use of what fashion is all about at it’s core; expression. These jeans in particular would have suited the Yibo of the time he wore them (2018, if I remember right?) as he was trying to break away from the image he held as a pretty boy with demure and soft looks which held the shock value of being in such contrast with his dancing and rapping. He’s mentioned before that he doesn’t really like being “cute/sy” and having to do things in the way of that since it’s not true to who he feels he is. Which, honestly, a lot of idols and stars go through this experience where they no longer wish to be constrained by the persona they play for the public and one of the most impactful means of going about it is to address the styling since it is the focal point of public image. 

The Dsquared2 jeans don’t only say “my cock is gluten free,” there’s actually quite a lot to them and I think it would help if more were aware of it so here’s the description of them on the website: 

D Squared Limited Edition Jeans. Sexy Twist Printed Low Rise. Fun, Evil Boy, Love Sucks, Pull Me Down, Open Me, Unzip, Buttons, Wine Is My Water, Tic Tac Toe, Dean & Dan, Sex, Gluten Free Cock, Hot Patches

The jeans actually say “pull me down and fuck me” right there on the ass, but naturally they can’t list the expletives in the marketing. Not strictly important to this post, but still worth mentioning given the hushed treatment of what the placement of such words could easily imply and the effect that could have had. 

Anyway, the bit that is very telling in my opinion is that “evil boy” tag. I’m not terribly certain due to having never been fortunate enough to work with these jeans myself and the internet only has so many pictures from so many angles, but “evil boy” is either written somewhere (which I think is the case since there’s devil horns present as well) or they’re being promoted as such for aesthetic value. Regardless, I am fairly certain this would be the feature which caught Yibo’s eye. It’s on brand for someone seeking to shatter the conceptual ideal of being naive, innocent, youthful, or soft.

The jeans as a whole fit with Yibo’s sense of humor, as I’ve seen it at least. He lost his mind and fell into full laughter and hysterics over a dick joke, not even minding that he was being filmed or anything. He was still laughing about it even after the other hosts had moved beyond it, making them circle back around to it and in turn making it all the more hilarious for him to enjoy. You can see it clearly in the bts footage from the CQL set that he enjoys being mischievous and stirring things up and having a good time. 

This is who he is, I believe, and it makes a lot of sense for him to have made this stylistic choice and then either convince his stylist to let him run with it or change out at the last second. Both of these are possible, though one of them is less probable than the other given how tricky it actually would be to sneak a wardrobe alteration past the many people that make up the staffing roster for any events, and then to be able to change in the limited time frame available between exiting the dressing room to being in the public sphere would be one in a thousand. Much simpler to goad your stylist into being lenient enough to give you free reign over your own styling - we can only hold out and say no when the grounds for it are met, which this wouldn’t have done in all likelihood - and most of the time we build up a good enough relationship and rapport with clients that we end up doting on them a bit and heed their requests when we can.

That’s all from me on this token moment in Yibo’s very stacked fashion history. Thanks for asking!

Furthermore, there’s the third possibility that this wasn’t a styling choice whatsoever. Or at least not one that involved the stylist in any real regard. It is very plausible that this was just Yibo in his own clothes, having dressed down after the main events wound down. I’ve never actually watched to see what that night looked like overall, but from the videos I have seen it looked to me like the actual do had passed and they were all just goofing around and having their own dance competitions and such when he was wearing them. I can’t say for sure that he did or did not have them on for the whole thing or if they were his own self packed casual wear. In which case it would fall back to his studio to tend to since stylists generally don’t hold authority over personal clothing choices and only ever have a hand in it when it is expressly stated in contracts or temporary clauses, and it just isn’t too common anymore. 

Worth a quick mention for means of distinction, here in the US this choice wouldn't have raised many eyebrows no matter if it was chosen by an artist or a stylist. The only reason I feel it necessary to say this is simply because this is not so in China and that alone lends context to the controversy of these jeans. In the scope of conservatism these jeans are outrageous and I think that a stylist would steer clear of utilizing them at all if they value their job. This is why I don't consider it likely at all that Yibo and his stylist collaborated to make use of these jeans as a way to shake away the remnants of his pretty boy aesthetic.

[icyxmischief]

Loki Ep 1 Pt 2

Blow by blow review, take 2: 

--The “sign this to verify that this is everything you’ve ever said” thing is genuinely hilarious.  I find it a little unlikely that he wouldn’t have ultra-suspiciously, with great characteristic paranoia, looked through every single page, and grilled the guy with the cat for info on where he was.  Little bit ooc for humor there, which is a major pet peeve of mine. 

--”Do a lot of people not know if they’re robots?” Okay this part was great bc it showcased Loki’s natural propensity to get into trouble because he’s such a curious cat and intellect, lol. 

--His scorn with “take a ticket” when only two variants are in the room is also very IC because Loki despises order without logical reason.  Order for its own sake is dangerous and oppressive and heyyyyy a lot like Thanos’s idea of a universe, ain’t it. 

--The All-Knowing Time-Keepers ended a timeline war, huh? H M m m m m M m m . They destroyed the capacity for nexus event and a multi-verse to exist huhhhhh? H M M M M M M M M .  Do I smell the potential for many Lokis from many Marvel canon verses, among other things? 

--

BITCH ME TOO, THE FUCK. 

--Okay I know everyone hates the logo but I kind of love how it is as fluid as Loki himself? A shape shifter? A master of magic and illusion? I’m sorry to all the graphic designers out there but I’m digging it for Conceptual Art reasons lol. 

--I’m sensing that if the French kid in 1549 thinks a horned devil caused a massacre in a church, this is evidence of Loki escaping the TVA to jump into the 1500s in France to cause mayhem. A bit predictable and I am hoping otherwise, but he IS Loki, “between damnation and redemption” at all hours.

--Owen Wilson’s character is strongly established as a good guy from the start.  

--”Madam, a god doesn’t plea.” Biiiiiiiiiitch yasssss.

--OHO he figured out the Avengers were time-traveling already, sharp. The reason why, he’s so far off that one must cringe for his fall from pride to come. 

--His laugh, that’s all. 

--”Hang on, everyone quiet, don’t rush me,” lol <3  Not a fan that once again he’s not allowed to use his full powers except within a contained system, but I’ll take it.  For now. 

--”You ridiculous bureaucrats will not dictate how my story ends.”   Wahoo if this series and character have a thesis statement, there it is.  Loki, God of Stories, forger of his own fate even when all tides run against it. 

--Loki doubting the reality of the TVA is an interesting hint into how much illusion was used to torture him as well as his own hyper reliance on illusion to protect himself. 

--Loki assuming Agent Mobius wants to kill him when Mobius is just showing him kindness is soooooooo revelatory of where Loki is psychologically right now.

--He still has his trademark swagger :D 

--”For the record this really does feel like a killing me kind of a room,” LOL, I love it, they’ve somehow kept his sense of humor spot-on! 

--”Trust is for children,” ahhhh kono kokoro. 

--”I live within whatever path I choose.” Ah, Loki, I wish you could, but is it so simple? 

--The fact that he tries to kill Mobius immediately and Mobius stops him while being fair and level-headed? I’m really liking Mobius. He’s the dare I say friend Loki has needed for a long time. 

--[Cooperation is] not my forte.” “Really, even when you’re wooing someone powerful you intend to betray?” Oho, okay Mobius, how long have you been serving as the metonymic stand-in for Loki’s fandom “army” and watching him grow and change  and self-sacrifice in the intended timeline? How well do you know him? You seem to know a lot, and that may be a good thing. You could be his advocate.

--”KING OF WHAT EXACTLY?” OH DAMN YES, MOBIUS, KEEP GOING.

--”WHY DOES SOMEONE WITH SO MUCH RANGE JUST WANNA RULE?” TFW A MARVEL CHARACTER HAS READ MY BLOG??????? YES?????? VINDICATION???????

--HE IS LITERALLY UNRAVELING THE TOXIC IDEOLOGY FORCED INTO LOKI UNDER THANOS???? ABOUT THE “LIE OF FREEDOM”?????? THIS IS AMAZING????

--”I don’t have to play this game. I’m a god.” Oh honey. Put the hackles down now, it’s okay.  You have far more heart than that, and far more accountability.

----Allowing Loki to see his entire “correct” (gulp) timeline (and God help us all if the end of this series involves him choosing to die in order to “fix the timeline,” I will RIOT if we get one more cheap “you’re only redeemed if you die horribly” growth arc for a morally ambiguous character) was the most important thing for me as a Loki fan of 10 years.  Allowing him to weep openly, to come to terms with the loss of his mother and the (too little too late, but at least extant) apology of his father, and, most of all, the potential to regain camaraderie with his brother, this was all that I wanted. A Loki allowed to flex his own muscles in his own limelight, no longer defined by what he lacks, but by what he can uniquely offer (even if in the “service” of an ethically dubious authority).  A Loki who KNOWS how much his brother has suffered and grieved but who still has his own freedom.I am admittedly optimistic.  The tone of the show is excellent.  My only fear at this point is a sacrificial death ending. Hopefully Loki will machinate a way to survive without breaking the universe with his divergent timelines, lol. Perhaps that’s the whole purpose of the plot going forward.

[thespoonisvictory]

hello! just wanted to offer an opinion concerning the c!crimeboys fic discussion. (definitely don’t feel pressured to respond to this at all—i’m sure you’re flooded with asks at the moment!) i just wanted to offer my perspective and get a little feedback, if you’re up to continue bouncing thoughts around on the subject. i honestly could really use someone else’s perspective on this, as it’s something difficult to conceptualize for me as a result of my experiences. i’m asexual and have never been in a relationship before, personally, so i’m not very well-versed on romantic gestures or that sort of thing. as a result, it’s quite easy for the lines between what’s platonic or what’s flirty to blur for me. (this is definitely evident when i refer to my real-life experiences—there have been multiple instances where guys have flirted / shown interest in me and it just goes wooosh! over my little pea brain. it’s hilarious, honestly, but simultaneously makes me feel horrible for the dudes i accidentally swerved in the most unbothered way possible.)

i digress! regarding the particular fic that’s been going around that the anon was referring to earlier, i have to say i do feel a bit uncomfortable with the way the characters’ relationship is portrayed. however, the way i personally interpreted this discomfort was that it was intentional on the author’s part. i think a lot of the fic is written to highlight [the older character’s] unhealthy possessiveness, and that it will specifically be a plot-point further into the story—not that the author approves of or romanticizes his behavior. i’m inclined to believe this since a majority of the characters in the story do point out said possessiveness, and also express discomfort towards it. (i do want to say that it’s totally valid to not share this perspective, though! and it’s very much okay to be uncomfortable with the extent of it, and to not like / enjoy the fic as a result. this was just my opinion from a narrative point of view—as you said in a previous post, i think it’s important to wait and see which direction it’s taken. while i don’t know the author on a personal level, i’m under the impression that they’re aware of how it’s being negatively portrayed. they seem very open and understanding regarding discussion of their story, though, so i encourage the anon to reach out to them if they’d like clarification! /gen)

the only point i do sort of disagree with the crimeboys fic anon on is the discomfort towards the characters’ display of physical affection with one another. i definitely respect their point of view, and can understand why they’d feel strange about it—especially if they don’t have siblings themself. however, as someone with a sibling who’s love language is physical affection, it definitely is unfortunate to see others write it off as inappropriate. for reference, i’m 17, and my sister is 11 years older than me—about the same age difference between crimeboys, give or take a few years—and the notion that us cuddling or calling each other cute / adorable is romantic makes me deeply uncomfortable. (btw: not referring to you at all here, spoon! i genuinely agree with a lot of your points on the subject, and think you’re exceptionally well-spoken!)

i sincerely apologize that this ask is so long—i really put my all into attempting to form coherent thoughts that clearly conveyed what i was trying to say. i tend to be bad with conveying tone over text, as well—so just wanted to clarify that everything should be read as /nm! hope you’re having a great day / night, and thank you for reading if you did!

^^^ this expresses my thoughts on it very well, I feel like the author is quite self aware and that makes me not uncomfortable to read it (although it's totally fine if some people are). they've had whole conversations abt how wilbur is more possessive than need be and tommy is very willing to be possessed (for lack of better phrasing), it's shown by more 'rational' characters that this dynamic is unhealthy to a degree, and that this is repetitive behavior for both of them

[literaphobe]

i dont watch mcyt atm (your blog is steadily convincing me to start though) but anyw my sister found out i think george is cute n she keeps fucking showing me pictures of him out of nowhere and im just like oKAY THANKS and anyway yeah i think im gonna start watching his channel lol so i guess thank you because i first saw george on your channel lmao

god does ur sister watch mcyt? anyway im glad u’ve been poisoned :) welcome to the club pretty men r a drug i love 2 smoke n the absolute irony of georgenotfound becoming a minecraft youtuber n achieving most of his success WITHOUT his face is hilarious to me. the whole “all george does is sit there and look pretty” insult is hilarious because he is a computer science university graduate who coded minecraft videos with dream which gave them their initial clout. only a small handful of his videos include face cam 

anyway here’s a video link guide to getting started to george’s channel :) (aka what videos i think u should see first LMAO) 

minecraft, but i’m not colorblind anymore

very endearing video where george tries on colorblind glasses for the first time to.... see colors in minecraft. dream is in this video to help w the color stuff. he also tears up a little because he was really happy to help george see colors properly. really eye opening too re what protan color blindness is like n also their friendship is just very good :) 

minecraft, but my friend is a dog 

minecraft, but my friend is a parrot 

minecraft, but my friend is a horse

a very important series where george has to beat the game while protecting dream, who they have coded to be a [insert minecraft pet/animal]. george is allowed to respawn multiple times, but if dream dies, they lose. it’s fun and almost ironic because expert world record speedrunner dream just has so much fun being a littol animal while george has to be the one sweating it out which is a fun inverse of their usual dynamic i guess?

minecraft, but if you laugh you lose

minecraft, but if you laugh you lose rematch

a new series w dream, sapnap, and karl. george has to beat minecraft before his friends make him laugh 3 times. if he laughs 3 times, he loses the challenge. the second one includes coded plug-ins that dream did himself that take the challenge to new incredibly immature n silly heights. i want to note that quackity is not in these videos n i think its because george knows the video would end in 5 minutes if quackity was trying to make him laugh. its the same way how quackity isn’t in manhunt because dream fears him 

minecraft, but i put a t-shirt on every minute

minecraft, but we can’t touch the floor

these videos r conceptually really different, but i’m explaining them in the same paragraph because both r dream team videos :) dream team is dream, george, n sapnap! the t-shirt video is self explanatory. george has to beat the game. every time a minute passes, he has to put a t-shirt on. the touch the floor video is a coded challenge where they can only step on blocks they place down themselves or they get killed instantly. ok yeah that’s it those are the videos i’d watch first on george’s channel to get started :) 

[tomfowlery]

sam i am for the ask thing? :3c

favorite thing about them: he’s just...so complex. they could’ve easily made him into some sort of spongebob clone with little substance and make him unlikable, or make him like the og cartoon’s sam where he’s persistent and doesn’t care to listen to guy’s pleads to leave him alone. instead he’s surprisingly reserved, yet still peppy and excitable, more than ready to share his adventure with guy. he sees the good in just about everyone and offers them hope when they once felt lost without it. i think it’s both sad and beautiful that guy was the person that truly stuck around for sam when everyone else got tired of him, or couldn’t trust him anymore, or didn’t like him for who he really was. the fact that guy is the only person to have ever found out about sam’s past kinda wrecks me apart lol. i also like how sam’s a giddy adult and has a cheerful outlook, hoping for a connection to click despite how many times it hadn’t worked in the past, but he also has his rare, down moments where he questions “what the yip am i doing” and u can really see him struggle coming to terms to the fact that his actions have consequences, unlike all the other times before where things ended off lukewarm between the person and sam (while still holding a feeling of loneliness and the constant need to change for approval that’s altered him entirely). he doesn’t do bad things because he wants to, he does it becus it’s the only viable option he’s got. he’s always on the move, desperate for attention yet all the while avoiding it. it fucks me up

least favorite thing about them: like before, he only did his schemes out of necessity, and i doubt he expected things to go the way they did with him and guy (and the girls, especially), so i don’t think he ever meant real harm--yet i feel his forgiveness (or lack there of) is returned too quickly, and he got off too scotfree. perhaps they didn’t know how to add in the idea of sam doing community service (which is conceptually fucking hilarious but i understand it feeling out of left field). still, i wish they worked in the probability of sam apologizing and trying to prove his past acts were hurtful and wrong, etc. also his dumb “gatekeeper” nonsense is lame i hate it, but ig it adds onto his lowkey skeevy nature that involves his tendency to steal guy’s money idk idk

favorite line: “it’s always just been me...i mean...until i met you” + “this is very soothing :D”

brOTP: his bond with eb is Good and underappreciated. i really adore his bond with her that had both of them see a different outlook on things (sam telling eb that michellee does care for her, and eb changes sam’s mind into doing the right thing for mr jenkins). she’s important to his change of perception as well, i feel; while guy was the person sam realizes he yipped up badly, eb is the person he knows he can’t let down--but he does anyway, and that moment where she hears sam call her dumb and silly for ever trusting and she later cries in solitude..(which were lies he had to tell snerz but she doesn’t know that...:( ) i also kinda wish they had a moment to talk and apologize but again that ending was just a tiny bit flimsy with their eagerness to have sam be forgiven

OTP: samguy (raves)

nOTP: sorry but i just cannot see sam with another woman. or any woman. he doesn’t show any interest in female characters within the show, and like, does he even know any other woman that isn’t michellee (into guy) or eb (literal minor)? so ya i can’t see him making any moves on women unlike the numerous times he’s done it onto guy. is he just lonely and looking for a new family around the corner? yes but i also decree he found a connection with guy thru out the show and it seems very plausible that sam would have a thing for him, whether or not it’s romantic.

random headcanon: i say it all the time but sam being a year older than guy is funny as all hell to me, and while i dont think they’ll roll with it (they seem ambiguous with the ages in the show besides eb’s “ya know i’m 10, right” statement, but other than that sam n guy are Adults), it would be a nice change from the usual formula of the “childish adult being younger than anyone else”. also the idea of sam participating in arts and crafts becus of his “forced-onto-independency”, and his need to keep himself interested in smth so he doesn’t fall into this daily routine of eerie loneliness and nothing to do, is really neat to imagine..

unpopular opinion: sam isn’t a jealous type, he isn’t a twink, he isn’t madly in love with guy that it’s creepy, he isn’t a downright malicious monster that secretly wanted to hurt the ppl he cared about, and he’s more than capable of taking care of himself becus the 2019 cartoon shows us he lives on his own and can escape with ease. i don’t personally enjoy some people’s perceptions of sam becus they think he’s childish or small minded or someone that needs to be protected, and as an adult with probable adhd and is disabled, that perception....makes me wildly uncomfortable lol

song i associate with them: no culture by mother mother and animal by miike snow

favorite picture of them: listen i love this lil weirdo so much i can’t just pick one. here’s a few i think about constantly instead

[palukoo]

this is really super niche but the "amy is dcos and josh is the lobbyist role reversal" au

ooh see this is right up my alley, but also very hard for me specifically bc i do think their paths make a lot of sense for each character and that juxtaposition works really well for them but! i like the idea!!

amy's floating from job to job, as she does, when jed's really starting to think about running and starting to campaign, and she maybe offhandedly comes up in conversation about hiring since she's an old friend of the bartlets' or at least abbey. abbey reaches out to her, and amy's hesitant to take on a campaign, to work for one man instead of with a bunch of women, but it's jed, and she agrees to do some consulting, and then falls in love with the campaign and the work they're doing, and accidentally just... stays (there’s probably some grand speech from jed that convinces her and it’s a really beautiful scene)

amy and leo are not two people i think about interacting with each other a lot so this is fun but! i think they’re both a little iffy on each other at first. like, leo gets that amy’s an old bartlet family friend and really good at politics and legislative stuff and debate prep and whatever, but i don’t really think he gets her... humor, i guess? and he does sort of recognize that she’s a little volatile, and doesn’t have that insane loyalty, and that makes him really hesitant about her. and amy can sort of feel that distrust, and also probably gets into a big argument about something political with him early on (and like, with jed too, and jed takes leo’s side-- jed taking amy’s side at some point would also make a really good scene) but like. she ends up being really right about something, or makes a sort of sacrifice for the campaign, or does something really... idealistic, or pushes jed to, and leo is kind of like, oh, i get it, we do need her. and starts being better about like listening to her, and pushing her ideas with jed and that sort of thing. it’s probably more stilted than josh and leo in a lot of ways, but also i really like this conceptually now. i have a lot of thoughts

josh is working for hoynes and super disillusioned by it, and instead of getting approached by leo to work for the campaign, some old friend with a lobbying firm or some like. sort of activism group offers him a job. he doesn’t want to take it at first but ends up listening to their points on some bill, bringing it up with hoynes and being shut down, and leaving. (he argues with hoynes over social security in canon which is like. important obviously in real world politics but doesn’t quite have the pathos i’m looking for. im not sure what i want him to be doing. gay rights would be really self indulgent but hey! i could also see some type of economic reform stuff or like reforms to the political process, which would be fun.) he’s glad that hoynes doesn’t win the primaries, really, and he’s even more glad that bartlet wins the general, but he’s not super involved

honestly inserting amy into any early josh plot rotates between hilarious, interesting in what changes, and super sad! like amy arguing with the religious right in the pilot? iconic. amy getting shot? painful. also just generally amy being there with the rest of them makes me very happy bc y’all know i love amy&cj and amy&toby and amy&jed (she will absolutely keep poking him with a stick in this!!). but also why change any of the romance subplots? let amy and mandy be exes! (i’m mostly joking because i think they would get along better, usually, than josh gets along with either of them and would make really good friends, but they would argue about politics and publicity sometimes. amy would probably be much kinder to her than anyone else about the memo). let her be absolutely terrible at hitting on joey lucas! (again, joking-- amy is still a mess abut relationships and feelings but she can actually flirt). i also really like the dynamics you’d see with amy in the ms plot, because i think she’d also be more upset with abbey than most of the rest of them are

how you get josh into the plot depends a lot on what issue i’m having him on, but instead of amy reaching out to abbey, josh probably reaches out to his old family friend leo, and leo sends amy to talk to him, and there you go! idk, with who they are and the structure this lends itself to, i kind of feel like amy may be more of josh’s side of whatever than josh was with her. the other thing is, i don’t see the reversed plot playing out where amy makes josh lose his job (less because i think she wouldn’t for a good reason, more because i don’t see him taking the same risks she does) but idk, whatever, eventually you have amy do something volatile and yk sorta fuck some things up, and leo brings josh in for legislative affairs (kind of like with angela blake but i promise somehow she would be here in this au, too, and also probably much less successfully since josh is also a mess), which naturally freaks amy the fuck out. amy’s had at least 20 “i’m going to be fired” crises before this, but like this is one of them! she kind of hates josh for it and argues with him (and leo) a lot, but they do end up making some progress

[wondereads]

Personal Recommendation (2/14/20)

The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley

I’m doing something new this week! I’ll be reviewing every book in The Sisters Grimm series. Each will get a small paragraph and get a rating out of ten, and then I’ll rate the series overall. Hope you guys enjoy it! Please keep in mind this will contain spoilers for the later books, so don’t read ahead if you don’t want some major spoilers!

#1: The Fairy-Tale Detectives     9/10

The very beginning! Sabrina and Daphne Grimm, after a year in foster care with some dubious caretakers, are being sent to live with their grandmother, who, until a few days ago, they didn’t know existed. Granny Relda lives in Ferryport Landing, a typical small town in almost all aspects except for the significant population of fairytale characters or Everafters. The first book serves as a good introduction to Buckley’s world. The sisters have been shielded from fairytales their entire lives, so it’s easy to insert explanations for the inexperienced reader. It also very quickly sets up Sabrina and Daphne’s characters by using their reaction to Granny Relda and her fairytale reveal. Daphne, being a younger, more sheltered child, accepts it wholeheartedly and is excited to get involved in solving magical mysteries. Sabrina, after protecting her sister from nutcases for a year, has a much more cynical outlook, and it takes an actual giant scooping Relda up for her to believe. There’s also some memorable introductions for other important characters such as Mr. Canis, Puck, Mirror, and Mayor Charming. In terms of the plot, Buckley consistently creates mysteries that have twists but aren’t too difficult to follow for late elementary students.

#2: The Unusual Suspects     7/10

Things are starting to get a little more intense. Sabrina and Daphne are required to go to school after being preoccupied with chasing giants around the countryside. Unfortunately, especially for Sabrina, who wants to regain some semblance of normalcy, something is killing the teachers at school. I forgot how gruesome the murders were. I also forgot that Sabrina is in sixth grade. This particular book always got on my nerves. Sabrina is clearly having some issues; her parents are missing, she’s trapped in a town with fairytale characters, she can’t see to escape humiliation either at the hands of Puck or her classmates, and now people are being killed left and right. And yet, her family refuses to see that she needs help and decides to reprimand her constantly instead. The villain for this book is particularly disturbing. I must warn readers-child manipulation and abuse is a common theme in these books. If you couldn’t already catch on in the first book, it becomes obvious here that Sabrina has some grudges against the magical community.

#3: The Problem Child     7/10

This book has a sort of in-between feeling to me. Sabrina comes upon a maniacal little girl dressed in red who is holding her currently enchanted parents captive. The little girl, obsessed with recreating her family, is convinced they are her own parents and controls a jabberwocky, her ‘kitty’. All she needs is a granny and a doggy-Granny Relda and Mr. Canis. Everything in this book pours into the next ones, while, unlike the other books, there isn’t much of a self-contained plot. Red comes more into play in Tales from the Hood and The Everafter War, the election sets up Magic and Other Misdemeanors, and the vorpal blade and Puck’s injury lead into Once Upon a Crime. This book, however, introduces Uncle Jake, one of the most interesting characters in terms of development, and it also begins the problem of Sabrina’s magic addiction. The events of this book contribute to Sabrina’s distrust of magic after she has some run-ins with her addiction. It is also when you maybe start to develop some affection for Charming, despite his over-inflated ego.

#4: Once Upon a Crime     10/10

This one is my personal favorite. After Puck’s run-in with the jabberwocky, the Grimms take an emergency trip to New York, Sabrina and Daphne’s old home. There they plead the king of Faerie, Oberon, to heal Puck. Unfortunately, Oberon is poisoned within hours of their arrival, and Relda, of course, takes the case. This book is so much fun because in Ferryport Landing they just sprinkle the whole town in forgetful dust. In New York, Everafters need real jobs and a way to cover their tracks as beings who don’t age. The Wizard of Oz works at Macy’s, Ebenezer Scrooge makes a living as a medium, and pirates such as Long John Silver feed off of Wall Street. It also addresses the downsides of that. Everafters don’t age; some of them don’t even look human. It comes as a shock to Sabrina, but her mother, Veronica Grimm, was secretly working with the New York Everafters to fix their problems. I feel that Sabrina finding a connection to her mother through the Everafter community is the first step she takes toward accepting her role as a Grimm.

#5: Magic and Other Misdemeanors     8/10

The conflict between humans and Everafters starts to take center stage. Someone in Ferryport Landing is stealing powerful magical artifacts, causing rips in time, but the Grimms have to split their attention with Mayor Heart’s new tyrannical rule. This is where the series begins to take a darker turn. The new mayor, the Queen of Hearts, and Sheriff Nottingham are set on running every human in Ferryport Landing out of town, and the divides between human and Everafter are becoming more pronounced by the day. The rips in time are particularly interesting, especially Sabrina and Daphne’s trip to the future, which really raises the stakes going forward. Also, the idea of a past Grimm arriving in town, giving Heart and Nottingham a chance to end the entire family, is very nervewracking. Also, the concept of Everafter-human relationships and how that would work presents some interesting conflicts.

#6: Tales from the Hood     10/10

There’s nothing I love more than a fractured fairytale. Intent on getting rid of the Grimms’ staunch protector, Heart and Nottingham put Mr. Canis, or the Big Bad Wolf, on trial. Some investigation in order to clear his name reveals that the story of Little Red Riding Hood might not be all true. Technically, the entire series is based on fairytales, but this is the first book where those stories are actually challenged. The actual story of Little Red Riding Hood is amazing, and it also ties into all the other stories the Wolf is present in. Also, I love Red, the sane Red, and I always get so happy when she’s cured. Once again, Sabrina clashes strongly with her family in this one, for understandable reasons. I’m less inclined to side with her on this one, but she definitely learns her lesson.

#7: The Everafter War     8/10

The Grimms are finally united! Henry and Veronica Grimm are woken up from their magical sleep, but Henry, having too many bad memories, wants to leave town immediately. Unfortunately, the Scarlet Hand has taken over all of Ferryport Landing and only a small resistance stands in their way. There’s a lot of family drama in this one. The dynamics of Sabrina, Daphne, and their parents are all out of whack after spending over a year apart. On one hand, they now have parental support again. On the other, Henry can’t seem to conceptualize that Daphne is, in fact, not five anymore. If that isn’t enough drama for you, Puck finds out he and Sabrina are married in the future, and Snow and Charming are caught up in a soap opera of their own. Also, not to mention the plethora of betrayals in this book. The plot is really picking up here.

#8: The Inside Story     8/10

This one took quite some imagination. After the reveal of the Master’s identity as their own beloved Mirror, Sabrina, Daphne, and Puck pursue him and Pinocchio through the Book of Everafter, a living book filled with fairytales that could actually change history. I find it absolutely hilarious that the kids absolutely refuse to follow the story no matter what. Also, this is where Sabrina starts coming into her own. She’s going through a rough patch in this book. As would anyone whose best friend turned out to be the leader of a magical terrorist organization. By the way, if you are connected to these characters in any way, Mirror’s betrayal will hit you like a punch to the gut. She’s having trouble trusting her judgement, which will have her come back stronger than ever. Also, it’s nice to see her and Puck get through a couple sentences without a barrage of insults. Finally, Relda was such a badass in this book. If you didn’t love her before, you definitely love her now.

#9: The Council of Mirrors     9/10

It’s time for a happily ever after. With Mirror running loose in Ferryport Landing and the rebellion in tatters, things are looking bleak. Especially when the twenty-four remaining magic mirrors issue a prophecy putting everyone’s fate in the hands of Sabrina and Daphne Grimm. Sabrina starts out pretty broken in this book. She’s been betrayed, her grandmother is possessed by an evil mirror, and now everyone is expecting her to lead an army. I absolutely love that when she gets the push she needs from the mirrors it plays to her strengths. She’s a master of planning and subterfuge, and it’s so nice to see it come out. On a less chipper note, I hate Atticus with everything in me, and I was so happy he ended the way he did. In terms of Mirror, I found it poetic, but also so typical of a kid’s book, that he was defeated by the one thing he never had: love. Finally, the reason this book doesn’t get a 10/10 is because I felt the epilogues were kind of rushed and unrealistic. However, they don’t have much impact on the book overall, and I still loved most of it!

Overall 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

The Sisters Grimm is one of my favorite series from childhood. The characters are realistic, relatable, and get great development. Kids books are great because there’s no worries about the idea being too juvenile. This book could never be an adult book, the ideas in it are too silly. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t amazing, and I find the crazy ideas and cheesy lessons absolutely charming. It gives some unexpected sides to some well-known characters, and the amount of thought that went into incorporating classic and even more obscure characters into the modern world was crazy and very amusing at times. I also suspect that this series is the root of my fondness for fractured fairytales. I would recommend this book to people who like modern fantasy, sibling relationships, and fairytale characters in a decidedly un-mystical setting.

The Author

Michael Buckley: American, 51 years old, also wrote N.E.R.D.S. and Undertow

The Reviewer

My name is Wonderose; I try to post a review every two weeks, and I take recommendations. Check out my about me post for more!

[carbootsoul]

erika+ephriam+lyon for ask game 👀? and a witch hat character of your choosing if you like as well :3v

omg clint you're spoiling me :) also this is mostly unrelated but i was listening to kat flint today and a) her music is so good thank u for introducing it to me years ago and b) VERY witch hat atelier vibes which was fun. im putting my answers under a cut bc i am sooo verbose about characters

eirika: a song that reminds me of them: this is just the first that came to mind but oh what a world by rufus wainwright! oh what a world my parents gave me / always traveling but not in love. the rly interesting mix of idealism and pragmatism that she embodies- both being in awe of and in love with the world and the people in it but also not hesitating to accept that they are in a war and the tragedies that come with it what they smell like: i think for most of the game she smells like sweat and dirt an otp: eirika and l'arachel is actually the best ship in the whole entire world they're sooo funny. they keep meeting and every time eirika is like ???? and l'arachel is just falling head over heels in love a notp: eirika and lyon romance honestly very textually relevant in the game and adds to the story and whatever but they're both so absolutely homosexual that i can't conceptualize it favorite platonic/familial relationships: eirika and ephraim 🥺🥺 but also eirika and seth he's such a good big brother figure!! but also eirika and colm and eirika and tana and eirika and lyon. it's like.. rag tag army as family.. a headcanon that is popular in the fandom but that i disagree with: there are like two posts about her on tumblr dot com but her fire emblem heroes characterization makes me insane shut up about your brother shut up about your brother the position they sleep in: on her side one leg curled to her chest

ephraim a song that reminds me of them: omg lies by marina abt his relationship with lyon. you're too proud to say that you made a mistake / you're a coward till the end i really wish we had been able to see more of ephraims reaction to the true story of what happened with lyon, since he obviously forgives him but also seems to be angry about it and that's such a good dynamic. also oc can't let you go / i just want it to be perfect / to believe it's all been worth the fight. they make me... ugh what they smell like: he has also been living in tents for months so he probably also smells like horses and sweat an otp: ephraim and lyon do get to me... 🥺 also he and innes as a like teenage fling is hilarious to me they're so funny to each other i can't believe they don't have supports a notp: if i ever see another incest joke i'm killing someone favorite platonic/familial relationships: he and his sister are so good!! they're so siblings! a headcanon that is popular in the fandom but that i disagree with: again i have never rly interacted with the fe fandom but something from canon i disagree with is the assignment of the sun to him and the moon to his sister he is so obviously the lunar twin im furious abt this the position they sleep in: absolutely sprawled out. he takes up as much space as is given to him

lyon a song that reminds me of them: ache with me by against me just happened to be playing rn but it's very him. do you share the same sense of defeat / have you realized all the things you'll never be / ideals turn to resentment, open minds close up with cynicism / i've got no judgement for you / come on and ache with me. what they smell like: roses but in a fucked up revolutionary girl utena way like the roses symbolize something sinister an otp: lyon and ephraim.. admittedly lyon is kind of carrying why this ship is compelling with his tragic backstory but ephraim is such a boy so he's important too a notp: see eirika :/ favorite platonic/familial relationships: he and eirika and ephraim as a unit are so important to me they are so [unintelligible] a headcanon that is popular in the fandom but that i disagree with: i haven't rly seen this much but i guess any tendency to soft-boy him bc of his character design like this guy sucks a lot and he has a lot of flaws that almost ended the world :/ the position they sleep in: hugging a pillow

and for the wha character.. agott bc she's so girl :) a song that reminds me of them: pretty little things by the crane wives! but trust is now something i make people earn / so i'm not inclined to just give it away / to a pair of blue eyes with some nice things to say what they smell like: grass in the best way possible! an otp: she and coco are SO !! im in love with them. sasunaru dynamic but better in every way. all the panels of coco hugging or complimenting agott and agott blushing furiously are the new wonders of the world. shipping kids in media always feels a little weird but i think they're a rly cute like first crush dynamic a notp: i dont think she's been shipped with anyone else lol favorite platonic/familial relationships: agott and olruggio are rly interesting to me! i've probably just drawn lines between them because they're both grumpy but i could definitely see agott becoming for coco what olruggio is for qifrey and i love when children are friends with their adult narrative foil it's about helping the younger generation overcome the things that they couldn't! it's also about olruggio being able to connect with agott because they're both grumpy :) a headcanon that is popular in the fandom but that i disagree with: not a headcanon bc again the fandom is tiny but so much of her tag is ppl being mean to her about what she did in the second (?) volume like yeah that was mean but she's like 12! 12 year olds do fucked up stuff all the time they're still learning what interpersonal relationships are the position they sleep in: on her stomach clutching her pillow a crossover au i’d love to see them in: anything that would allow her to say swear words my favorite outfit they’ve ever worn: the like single panel where tetia is getting mad at her about not liking wearing costumes and it shows her dressed as a prince! she looks so good

djskflj i feel like i wrote a novel about each of them and tbh i do not know if u will make any sense out of it but thank u for sending this it was super fun to think about them for a while!!!

[noperopesaredope]

Favorite Scenes from Each Episode of Loki (Spoilers Ep. 1-4)

Episode 1: Loki watches his memories

After Loki escapes and comes back to his cell, he privately watches the rest of his memories, from his mother and father’s deaths, to his reconciliation with his brother, and then finally, his own death. This scene was absolutely beautiful, and Hiddleston’s acting was amazing. You can see everything he’s feeling in a series of subtle facial expressions, and seeing him start to cry as he watched his parents die, along with that music, did something to me. Then he started smiling sadly when he realized that he would he reconciled with Thor, and I just really liked that. Loki was watching his redemption arc, and realizing that he could become a good person. He isn’t just some pure evil monster.

But then, his joy slowly morphs into dread as he watches Thanos choke him, and the little gasp and look of shock, terror, and horror as we hear his neck getting snapped gave me chills. Then there’s just a shot showing the tape has ended (which was just a visually appealing shot to me btw), and it really solidifies the fact that that was it. He just watched himself die. It really hit me like a truck, and I just *chef’s kiss* perfect.

Episode 2: “He’s hiding in apocalypses”

Such a simple scene, but I really like it. The buildup to the moment he realizes the answer is really well done, and his salad metaphor was hilarious! I just found it so clever, and watching the gears turn in his head was great. As he explained, everything just began to dawn on me, and I couldn’t help but laugh when I understood it because it’s just “oh my god that’s smart!”

Episode 3: What is love/Loki sings

This was just absolutely beautiful. I was really impressed by his voice, and the raw emotion in this scene at points. Like in the first episode, it really dives into his mind and psychology, and I love it. At the end of the day, Loki’s just a really lonely person, and this scene helped me realize that. Also, yeah I mainly just liked his singing voice cause it’s really pretty.

Episode 4: Frick it, let’s just talk about the whole episode (Heavy Spoilers)

I loved this episode so much. I couldn’t decide on a scene. I think my #1 favorite was the memory prison where Loki just let everything out to Sif. It was kind of the thesis of the show, and conceptually it’s really interesting. It wasn’t his worst or most painful or sensitive memory, it was something he barely thought about. 

Or was it? Because what Sif said was actually a lot, and is probably one of the most hurtful things you could say to Loki at the end of the day. And it’s hidden in a small, meaningless memory, but it’s so important. It might not have hurt him at the time. Hell, it might not have hurt him before this. But (and this applies to anyone) if you replay that kind of memory over and over again on repeat, you’ll start to internalize it and think deeper about it. What starts out as something meaningless quickly grows into something deeper, and that’s what happened in this scene.

I liked this scene and concept so much, I made my own little version for a new OC of mine, and it plays out very differently, but it carries the same idea; insignificant memory hits harder when replayed.

Then there’s also what Loki said. He finally grew tired of it and just admitted what he was feeling, and it was amazing. I think I even clapped. It was great. I could analysis it here, but I’d need to rewatch the scene and I can’t right now. But what I vividly remember is Sif’s response. He just told her all about his feelings of loneliness and isolation and his fear of abandonment, and what does she do? She looks him dead in the eye and word for word repeats what she’s said dosens of times: “You’re alone, and you always will be.”

This time it’s more venomous, and she just coldly walks away. Damn. The previous times, she kneed him in the face after punching him, but for this, she doesn’t even need to, because that was a far more effective knee to the face than any of the others ever were and ever could be.

My second favorite scene that episode was when Sylvie confirmed for Agent B-20 (I think that’s her name?) that her memories were faked. I really felt for her in that scene, and even though I didn’t like her before, I legitimately felt really bad for her. The fact that is was raining really hard also gave off a good effect for when she started to (probably) cry. Then she just says “I looked so happy” and it just. I’m suffering.

I also loved when Agent Whatishisface says that if he could go anywhere at any time, he would go back to where he came from. I just found it beautiful, and it solidified he and Loki’s friendship. AND THEN HE DIES. I did find it interesting that judge lady looked away because even though she made the order and she found it necessary, he was still her friend. But anyways, that hurt. Especially after Loki’s reaction. He barely fought back because one of his only friends just die in front of him trying to help him. He looked legitimately hurt in a very human way. It’s one of those moments that shows that, while he’s not a good person, Loki really doesn’t like seeing other people die outside the heat of battle. It just reminded me of the moment in episode 3 when he said “they’re just gonna leave these people to die.” He found it unfair and unjust that they would let innocent people die like that.

I don’t know why I keep on thinking about this. I think it’s just because it’s the most normal reaction I’ve seen from him. He expresses his grief in a normal way that is just like how anyone else would react in that situation.

Another moment I liked is right after that, Sylvie finally asks why she was taken, and judge lady just says “I don’t remember.” Oof. Just a slap to the face. Something that ruined Sylvie’s life was so insignificant to the lady, she doesn’t even remember why it happened. And then Sylvie’s reaction is just pure pain.

And finally, the part where Loki McFucking dies. That shock me, and they might as well have just stabbed me cause that’s what it felt like. They better bring him (and the detective) back next episode. Or at least eventually.

[clumsyclifford]

bella I would love a directors cut on literally any of the rilex you’ve written, but specifically it’s always her, and you, and me, or for these days you’ve been stuck in my brain 💙

OHHHHHH those are some CHOICESSSSSS lucy. fuck yeah. let’s get into it. ill link them both here but we’ll take em one at a time

it’s always her, and me, you

these days you’ve been stuck in my brain

here’s a cut for convenience cos i KNOW i’m gonna go long here.

okay! let’s start with the rilisex fic.

it’s always her, and me, and you

so like it says in the ao3 notes, this fic came from realizing just how frequently rian and alex kiss each other like, all the time? just? casually? for funsies? this was another one of those situations like i mentioned where the hook aka first line (“Rian's no expert, but he doesn't think normal friends kiss this much.”) just appeared in my head and i was like heyyy that’s a GOOD first line. i have to build from that line. that’s the hook, that’s the summary, that’s the core. 

something i discovered upon searching through the editing history of the doc: i had originally sort of intended to go a direction with this where in some other circumstance, rian would see alex giving jack a super casual friendly kiss and he’d get all sad/jealous and be like sure why SHOULDNT alex kiss jack after all its just a thing he does with his FRIENDS. but the fic ended up going a different way and honestly? im glad. i like this way better.

the role of singin in the rain in this fic actually has a HILARIOUS backstory because the night i originally wrote that conversation in the tour bus kitchen, i went into the club and said the following

and then. the next day. rian streamed with ricky, and i asked if he’d ever seen singin in the rain, and he ANSWERED ME and said he hadn’t. so first of all i had already written the scene and i then had to rewrite it to make it so rian wouldn’t have seen it but also!!! i literally asked rian fucking dawson if he’d seen a movie for the sole reason of using that information for fanfiction!!!! and he provided me with the information i needed!!!! whole thing is just fucking hysterical to me. ANYWAY.

ANYWAY, the other reason why sitr has such a big role in the fic is because megs and i watched the movie together while i was in the middle of working on the fic, so it was extremely fresh in my mind. in fact i can probably show you this: i had this comment left for myself when i was kind of trying to figure out if i could make a real metaphor of sorts with the sitr ot3 and the Big Three of this fic. some of this ended up in rian’s wild musings in the hotel scene but i did conclude that it wouldn’t really have worked and that was definitely true but anyway. fuck it, director’s cut, here’s the kind of shit i leave for myself to refer to

so that’s part of the reason why it became such a puzzle piece of this fic, but real talk, it’s also just because i love singin in the rain it’s one of my favorite movies lmao

briefly gonna also touch on lisa and why she’s in this fic because i realize that rian/alex/lisa is an interesting approach to rilex! first of all, i love lisa. i love alex and lisa. and it occurred to me that there was really no reason to split lisex up just to make rilex happen. plus there’s this tweet that really just pushed me over the edge of being like yeah, rilisex is extremely plausible. so that’s that on that.

as for the scene in the hotel room while they’re watching sitr, there is a small piece of that scene - from when alex starts kissing rian’s shoulders etc to “it would defy the laws of nature not to” - that i actually wrote before anything else in that scene. that small piece got stretched out and edited quite a bit from how it started but it did function as a sort of foundation around which i built the rest of the scene, because that small section sort of ~came to me~ absolutely out of nowhere, and i really liked the Vibe it had and i wanted to include it. i THINK that was the only piece of this fic that i wrote Out Of Order - for the most part this was written chronologically.

ALSO!!! omg this is exciting, this fic actually has a deleted scene!!!!!! i hate cutting scenes but i also hate having scenes that are less than 1k and this one didn’t really contribute much to the fic. i can probably share it here right? sure why not ! hopefully you can read this. it originally took place after the scene where alex and rian call lisa for the first time. the question of “what gets left into interview videos and what gets cut” is also just interesting to me as a (fic) concept in general so...eyes emoji, but here’s my mini-exploration that i cut from the original fic. enjoy lol it’s silly <3

oh! also one more thing!! the very final scene was included for two reasons. the first reason being that when i write getting-together fics, i really prefer to add on a scene After they Get Together because i love to write domestic established relationship stuff and i think that’s a satisfying reward for a reader who’s just slogged through all the mutual pining and bullshit to get the characters together. but the OTHER reason is that i got an anon (here it is!) and i read that ask and was immediately like well shit. now i have to fucking include this. for the anon and for myself. so you can thank that anon for that last scene. (also i wanted to include merrikat especially since i had to cut their little moment in the interview scene above.)

so....................whew. i think i’ve bled that fic dry. holy shit that’s a lot of Stuff. OKAY! let’s move on.

~

these days you’ve been stuck in my brain

so!!! THIS fic was the breakthrough after (what felt like) a long bout of writer’s block. long for me was maybe two weeks, but i am the kind of person who is always writing, and two weeks was a long time to go with little to no inspiration/motivation to write anything. i had also been in a weird narrative headspace because i’d been binge-watching disney shows (jessie > austin and ally > girl meets world) and i don’t know how well i can explain this but the way those shows are written is a lot snappier and cares way less for realistic and consistent character development or plots or relationships, and so i was stuck between caring a lot about including those things in my fics but also being unable to conceptualize them in writing because my brain was in Disney Writing Mode. does that make sense? this is rhetorical so let’s go with yes. so anyway. i was in a slump

actually what i ended up doing was basically googling something like “au prompts tumblr” or something and just scrolling through posts. i saw something about soulmate telepathy and i actually tried to write something totally different before i wrote this one, but the first attempt was a different concept and then the direction i took it was like......it wasn’t quite right and i realized that i was kind of writing dark disney style? there is really no way for me to explain what i mean by that because it seems really obvious to me but that’s just because i’m inside my own head so just take my word. 

anyway. attempt #1 of soulmate telepathy rilex went poorly, and this fic was attempt #2. i kinda took the soulmate telepathy thing and changed it as i saw fit and i also went back to skim helen’s telepathy fic because obviously she’s the pro and then i tried not to steal her ideas. and as i was writing it i kinda realized i was doing the whole quirky funny best friend character with jack and also doing the whole “somehow this not-very-dramatic situation with teenagers is treated as The Most Dramatic Thing Ever and that’s totally normal and nobody finds it strange” disney trope with rian and alex being soulmates and i was like (deep sigh) i have to accept that no matter how much i try to fight this, this fic is going to be tainted with disney. and that’s life

on top of that i will add that the real-life rilex were extremely inspiring during the two-day period during which i wrote this fic, because that was when the once in a lifetime video came out and in the brief pre-video livestream rilex were Beyond Married and that definitely helped in the writing of fic rilex!

hmmmm what can i tell you about this fic itself.................honestly, i don’t think there’s much to tell! rian is a band kid because in real life rian was a band kid and he’s staff manager at rita’s just like he was in real life. there is truthfully not a lot to unpack here that i can think of!

oh here’s something i guess: rian and alex go on a date in this fic! that is because watching So Much Disney made me realize that i often forget the fact that people just. go on dates. sometimes. look i clearly do not have an active romantic life but i also really liked the idea of alex and rian going on a date despite not knowing if they’d be soulmates or not and liking each other organically just by getting to know each other, rather than being victim to the whole soulmate thing. like i wanted them to build a connection so that they would want to be soulmates. and then the audience would want that for them too. stakes!! very important.

i can tell you i had a mild crisis over the title of the fic because i am not a fan of the word brain and i didnt wanna use that sticky lyric for the title when it had a word i hated but it was objectively a much better title option than the other one i had, which was “sticky just like the song in my head” but i obviously decided on the former and it has not upset me nearly as much as i expected it to so that was the right decision imo

so! i think that’s all on that! sorry (?) that it got so long although then again i don’t know what’s to be expected in a director’s cut for two long fics but thank you for asking me about these, i love them both so very much rilex is so supremely underrated but so very important