#the eyes do bother me (I mean I like the eyes in the OG art but....they aren't BRONZE that's like her biggest feature besides her topknot!) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

colorseeingchick · 3 years ago

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Hello, colorseeingchick, I hope you’re having a nice day, and congrats on reaching 200 followers! I wanted to say I really like your Kuroko no Basket posts. I was recently looking for some small fanfics of Kuroko no Basket and I am glad I’ve found yours. I am also looking forward to reading your “Oh! Baby Series” of Tsukishima.

For the 200 Follower event, I would like to request a Kuroko no Basket matchup. I’d prefer to be matched with a male and my pronouns are she/her. I am currently 16 years old, I have brown skin and dark brown eyes. My hair is a dark brown color(almost black), very curly, and it reaches toward my mid-back. I’m 5’2” in height and I am an Aquarius(For Midorima).

I usually like to watch anime and read in my free time. I really love chocolate and exercising. I dislike people that lie a lot, peanuts, peanut butter, pecans, almonds, avocados, and onions. My hobbies are writing, drawing, reading, watching tv, singing, and playing the Piano. I think I’m particularly talented at writing since everyone seems to like my writing very much and right now I’m practicing my creative writing skills.

Personality: When I first meet someone, I tend to be quiet and just observe everyone. If anyone comes up to me, I usually just introduce myself, and depending on who the person is I may strike up a conversation. If I don’t then the person that’s talking to me will usually make conversation and I will quietly listen. I would usually just nod or say things like (yea, right, mhm) to show that I am listening. If I begin to feel comfortable I will give my opinion on the subject or try to strike up my own topic. But once I get really comfortable with that person I can become very goofy. I’ll start randomly dancing in the hallways and make weird sounds when I’m with that person. And depending on the person this can either increase or decrease in weirdness. I’m very good at listening to people especially when it comes to a person talking about their passions. My friends and family tend to laugh at a few things I say. They’re never really jokes there just situations I’ve been in and Apparently, they’re funny. I don’t tend to touch people, the most I really do regularly is either is put my hand/elbow on the person’s shoulder(Doesn’t matter if they’re tall or short) or begin poking them in odd places.

Negative Things: If someone is sad or insecure about something, I don’t know how to react, I usually just stare at them while they cry to themselves. I would not suggest that any of my friends come to me for emotional support. Unless they just want someone to listen to them. I don’t know how to take compliments. Once someone compliments me I usually just stare at the person or say thank you very slowly.

Additional: Since me and my friends were in chorus, we would usually just begin singing our chorus songs very loudly. It didn’t matter where we were, we would just begin singing. There was a time where my friend called me super sweet because I was checking up on them during the pandemic. My friends also said I give the best presents and truthfully I struggle trying to find presents. I want to give my friends something they can use or they really like. For example, I gave my friend a drawing notebook and some art supplies since they like to do art. I’ve been told that I have a mean resting face and that I act more mature for my age. I also asked my friends to describe me and they said, “Beautifully, Creative, Loving, Silly, Writer, Fashionable, Pretty, Innocent, and Nice Hairstyles.”

I swear I don’t where they’re getting these nice compliments. Hopefully, this is not too long.

Hello noodleman!!!! This was perfect do not worry. They compliment you because you're amazing haha. I always see you in my notifications and it makes me so happy :) I’m very excited to do both your matchups! For KNB, I’ve matched you with…

Akashi Seijuro!

We all know Akashi is a powerful man who’s been through a lot. As a girlfriend, you would be the one to both compliment his power and balance out his emotional state, even if you don’t intend to. And that would be the source of the beauty of your relationship with him.

You were a student at Rakuzan who would mind her own business. Akashi was in your class (ranking at the top) for the new school year, and you two sat next to each other. Akashi (this is the OG Akashi- the nice one) would introduce himself to you, and you would do the same. You observed Akashi quietly. The way he was so put together. His calm demeanor. His pretty eyes and how they were keenly watching everything. You didn’t realize he was observing you as well. While you both were just normal acquaintances at that point, things were about to change.

One day, you heard Akashi talking about basketball next to you. You could hear how passionate he was about it from the way he talked. The person he was talking to walked away, but you couldn’t help but ask him about basketball. Watching him talk that way was so enticing.

He looked at you for a second before smiling kindly and asking, “would you like to learn about basketball?” From there, you two would have a very engaged conversation with Akashi fanboying in a way that was as classy as fanboying could get, while you were listening attentively. You had to leave for the end of the day, but you left with a smiling Akashi out the door of the classroom.

The next major interaction between you two happened a few days later. You were doodling in your notebook when you heard him speak. “You’re very talented at drawing.”

You smiled awkwardly at the compliment, unsure of how to respond, so you just looked at him. He didn’t mind though. He just smiled back. “If you draw again, I’d like to see.” He then left soon after.

While you didn’t doodle again, you decided that maybe you were comfortable around Akashi, more than you thought you were.

A major shift in your dynamic happened one day when you were writing down intensely into a journal, stopping only when your hand hurt, taking time to think about your next words when you felt a light tap on your arm.

“Excuse me, if you don’t mind me asking, what are you writing?” He genuinely looked interested, which caught you by surprise.

And so you explained the short story you were writing. Akashi asked questions about the characters, the plot, where you got the idea from- all sorts of things. You both didn’t realize everyone else had already emptied out. “If you would like to share your story with me sometime, I would love to read it. And if you’d like to come by and watch my basketball team play, let me know.”

He was surprisingly easy to talk to. And that was the point where you both got closer. As you got closer, talking and learning more about each other, you both started to fall bit by bit. You both had a long list of hobbies and talents, much of which overlapped. Akashi was mesmerized by your singing, though he knew you wouldn’t like to hear the compliment if he gave it to you. Instead, he just asked you to always sing and gave you his full attention when you did. It went without say he loved your writing. He was a talented musician himself, and you found his game pretty entertaining- the way he dominated on the court.

He asked you out after Rakuzan had taken a big victory before the winter cup. You’d come to watch the game.

“Will you celebrate with me?” He asked you.

“With your team?”

“No, actually.” He’d smile at you and step closer, but had not invaded your personal space. “I’d like to actually get some time with you, on a date.”

He was pleased you said yes. The date went well. He’d learned you were mature, which is what he was looking for in a partner. He already knew you were talented and a good listener. It wasn’t long before he asked you to be his girlfriend officially.

Your dynamic with Akashi was well tailored. Being the captain of Rakuzan, he had an image to maintain- one of power. And having a girlfriend who he knew to be intimidating as well (your resting face was intense) was a fitting situation. He knew you observed and listened well, which is why he could trust that you would be thoughtful- something that was also very important to him. You also cared for efficiency and purpose. But what he didn’t realize he needed so badly was your goofiness. After you two had gotten as close as you were, he learned how funny your stories were and saw you in your most comfortable states. He loved your fun goofy side. It helped him live a little, too. He enjoyed elbowing you back when you did it to him (it was the most innocent playful thing he’d done). It didn’t bother Akashi all that much that you didn’t know how to deal with other people being emotional. He wasn’t one to show negative emotions all that much and didn’t project that expectation onto you, which made it a bit easier. He knew that if he needed to talk it out and have someone listen, he could always go to you.

Overall you and Akashi managed to balance out on a lot of your ideologies, world views, hobbies, and life practices. While some were the same, others were different- but in a complimentary way. It’s quite a beautiful dynamic, really.

~~~

Ahhh I really hope you like it! Lemme know what you think hehe. I'm excited to do your MHA one too!

#knb #knb matchup #csc hits 200 #colorseeingchick milestone

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zombiesbecrazy · 5 years ago

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look after their own

Summary: Five times Robin was pinned down.

AO3

Jason hit the ground hard, feeling the skin of his knees skid in a way that he knew was going to leave a trail of blood behind. Stupid Robin shorts. Who thought those were a good idea? Bruce said that Dick designed his own costume but why the hell would he and Alfred let him go out like this? It was just dumb, increased mobility be damned. He couldn’t wait for winter so he could break out the insulated pants that he knew were in the cave.

The more he thought about it, the more irritated he was. Why on earth was he using a second hand costume? Sure, Dick had given him this one which made it special, but Bruce was a kagillionaire. He could afford a suit with pants if he could afford to make all those batarangs.

He tried to get up, eager to get back into the thick of the fight, only then aware that there is a larger body pinning him down. He twisted around, ready to sock the would be attacker right in the kisser when he recognized the masked face above him and teal markings of another ridiculous costume.

Speak of the devil, the OG booty shorts Robin himself.

“What the heck?” Jason didn’t punch him, but slapped Dick’s arms a few times, not trying to hurt him, just maybe annoy him to the point of letting go.

“Stay down, Little Wing,” said Dick, tone serious. Not like it was when he fought with Bruce screaming at top volume, more like Bruce himself when he was teaching a new skill, when Jason needed to pay attention. Low, patient, but unyielding. “Wait for it.”

“Don’t call me that,” Jason automatically replied. That was the third time Dick had called him that, dangerously close to it becoming a thing and he absolutely didn’t want it to catch on. “Wait for what?”

��Three… two… one…” Nightwing pointed his finger like he was ticking off a checkbox and as if on cue a barrage of bullets shot out over their heads, just where Jason had been standing before Nightwing had swung around, tackling him to the ground. Jason flinched at the sound, both of the gun firing and the bullets hitting the wall behind them.

Jason would have been like Swiss Cheese his Dick hadn't shown up.

“How did you know that was going to happen?”

“It’s Penguin. It’s what he does.” Dick shrugged and rolled off Jason, sitting on the ground beside him instead “Did you see that little twirly thing he did with his umbrella? He always does that before going trigger happy. Always dive when you see him do that because you have about eight seconds. It’s not a lot of time, but it's enough.” Jason nodded. Bruce hadn’t said anything about that when they had been learning about Copplepot in training, but if Dick was telling him about it and based on what had just happened, it would have to be true.

“Now what?”

“He’s gotta reload before he does it again.” Dick peeked over the fence they were behind, taking a look at what they were up against. “So I think that now is the perfect time for Robin and Nightwing to swoop in and save the day before he gets a chance to do that.”

Jason spat on his knee, attempting to wipe up some of the blood and grinned when he saw Dick scrunch up his nose at that. “What about Batman?” he asked. He had been patrolling solo, but had called in the Penguin sighting before shit had hit the fan, so B should be close by now.

Dick shrugged a shoulder, not overly bothered about where Batman was or wasn’t at that particular moment. “Well sure he can help, I guess, if he shows up, but between the two of us we don’t need no stinking Batman.” They could hear Penguin calling out, taunting them, calling them out to face him and it just made Dick smile. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve always wondered what a penguin would look like hanging upside down from a lamp post. What do you say? Waddle try?” he asked before jumping to his feet and running, apparently starting whatever plan he had up his dumb looking sleeves.

Jason groaned and scrambled after Dick to chase him down. That was a terrible joke and he just couldn’t let that fly.

He opened the door and the strange ticking noise that he had been following got a lot louder, which he really knew wasn’t a good thing. His gut had been telling him that he was doing something stupid and he should probably call Batman in, but his curiosity got the better of him and he had kept following the lead on his own.

Big mistake. Big, big, big mistake.

Tim’s eyes grew wide when he saw the glowing red numbers, counting down in what he logically knew was by the second but they seemed to be going impossibly faster than that. Relays, switches, a mess of wires; there just wasn’t enough time to defuse it no matter how good he was. The warehouse was going to blow in eighteen seconds.

Batman wouldn’t be able to handle it if he got himself exploded. He had to run and hope that he got far enough away from the blast so that it didn’t kill him. He couldn’t do that to Bruce. He needed Tim. Especially now.

He was tackled around the waist and pressed hard into the ground just as the building behind him exploded. There was a rush of warmth as the flames engulfed the area, but he was just far enough away that the fire didn’t reach him, if only by a few feet. There was debris landing around him, he was safe and secure, somehow covered by the a larger body who had pushed him just far enough out of the way to not toasted.

The figure above him groaned and pushed himself off, crawling to his knees and Tim could hear him panting loudly through his helmet. His red helmet with the voice modulator.

Red Hood. Robin. Jason Todd.

Jason Todd had recently beaten Tim to a bloody pulp in Titans Tower. Recently enough that Tim still had bruised ribs from the attack.

Jason pulled his helmet off, red domino mask on, gasping in deep breaths, hands shaking and he completely ignored Tim beside him, instead staring off at the burning rubble of the warehouse instead, watching the flames flicker and slowly destroy the remains.

“Hood?” Tim sat up, hand to his head, running his hand through his hair that was quickly filling with ash. “Why…” his voice was choked and his words stumbled over themselves. “Thanks for…” Tim coughed, lungs trying to catch up to what had just happened. He didn’t know what to say to his strange rescuer, the man that had just saved his life, and finally settled on. “Jason, why?”

Jason pulled his knees towards him, trying to curl his large frame up into a very small ball, and stared off into the fire. “No one,” Jason finally said, voice hoarse with smoke and fire and maybe something else. Tim could see the fire flickering in the reflection of Jason’s mask lenses. “No one should go out like that.”

They both stared at the building for a few minutes, side by side, but by themselves. “I thought you wanted me dead,” whispered Tim

“Yeah, well. No one gets to kill you but me.” There had been a moment, a moment there between them where they understood each other. It was fleeting, and now it was gone, but it had been there. Jason had saved him. His Robin had saved him.

“Run along back to your big bad Bat, little Robin,” Jason said, still watching the fire with intensity, showing no sign of leaving any time soon.

And Tim ran, knowing the whole way that he wouldn’t mention a word of it to Bruce.

It was their little secret.

“So I should probably sweep the leg, like in the Karate Kid?” asked Stephanie as she circled him on the mat, trying to figure out what his stance was giving away to her. They had been working by themselves for a while, Steph determined to become stronger in her fighting skills and Tim looking to still somehow help even though he was no longer help. He could say to his dad that he was helping a friend with her homework and not technically be lying.

Except in the way that he totally was. He had only lasted three days before he was back in the Cave after school just like he always had, even just for a little while before he had to leave so his dad didn’t find out. Today though, today Ives was lying for him if his dad asked. Today he could even stay for dinner and the pre-patrol debrief before he had to hurry back home.

He missed being Robin so much and it had only been a week.

“Sure. Just no Crane kicks. Those are illegal.”

Stephanie burst out laughing, losing any sort seriousness that she had barely been clinging to through the session. “We dress up like vigilantes, fight crime in the shadows and have villains who can control plants, but sure, let’s not use illegal martial arts moves, Tim.”

“Look, I know that Johnny was a jerk, but Daniel should have been disqualified.”

“You are very hung up on this.” She stopped in front of him, smiling at his outrage. He knew that he had ranted about this to her before but it was something that bothered him a lot about the movie.

“There are rules and he didn’t follow them. Especially in an organized sporting event like tha...”

Stephanie kissed him, and Tim’s body froze, but his brain started running at top speed, mildly panicking. Did this mean she wanted to get back together? Should he kiss her back? He liked kissing her, and she tasted like strawberry lip balm which was his favourite but he wasn’t sure what this meant. It would be polite to kiss her back but they might be better off friends. He was about to pull away but before he could figure out what he was going to do, he was flat on his back, Steph pinning him down, counting loudly and smacking the mat with each second.

“I win!” She raised her arms up in the air and threw her head back, cackling loudly and then rolled off Tim, and laid down on the mat beside him, breathing hard as she laughed.

He rolled his head to look at her, pretending scowl and look put out for falling for her move. “You fight dirty.” They were sparring, not making out. There were rules . Why was he even a little surprised that she didn’t follow them?

He sort of liked that she didn’t.

“Hey, whatever works.” She chewed on her lip and had the sense to look a little nervous. “I’m sorry. That probably crossed a line.”

“Yeah, but it was nice.” Tim could feel his ears growing pink, embarrassed even though he didn’t really know why. It was far from the first time that they had kissed, even since they had broken up. “Sometimes I miss kissing you.”

“Yeah?” she asked softly, looking at his lips. “Only sometimes?”

“Maybe more than sometimes.” He could feel himself being drawn closer to her, like a magnet or gravitational pull. They probably should stop or walk away or go back to sparring. This was probably a bad idea.

Steph closed her eyes and leaned forward, whispering, “Me too.”

This definitely didn’t fall into helping a friend with her homework in any possible way and Tim was more than okay with that.

Sometimes bad ideas weren’t so bad. As long as they heard Bruce coming down the stairs in time.

“Robin!” Stephanie pinned him down, legs straddled over his waist but he was struggling against him and was just so damn squirmy. “Damn it, listen to me, you little brat.”

Damian’s eyes were panicked and he was doing everything that he could think of to throw her off, and while he was a better fighter than she was, he was down to three good limbs to her four and it was enough for her to have the advantage in this position. It didn’t stop him from arguing with her though. “We have to get to him, we have to help him, we have to get to Batman.”

He had been arguing with her for a while, and she had begun to realise that he was bordering on having a panic attack. He knew that she was there, and who she was, but nothing that she was saying was registering and he wasn’t even realizing how badly that he had been hurt. She had to stop him from moving, from making a severely bad break into something closer to a permanent injury.

This wasn’t him fighting because he needed to; it was fighting because he was scared and not thinking straight.

Stephanie ran out of options and slapped him in the face. Not hard, but enough to get his attention and derail his rambling for a second, hopefully long enough that she could get through to him. Damian eyes were wide but he stopped thrashing and he locked his gaze on Steph. She tried what she had been trying to tell him before again. Maybe the fourth time would be the charm. “Batman is fine. Oracle called in backup for him and Red Robin is there.” Damian was breathing hard through his nose, chest heaving with effort, but he was listening. He nodded at her, which was better than the other times had gone so Steph kept her voice calm and continued. “You on the other hand, are completely not fine, unless you normally have a bone sticking out of your boot?” Damian’s breath hitched at that, but he shook his head. “Didn’t think so. Compound fibula fracture, kiddo. You aren’t running off anywhere.”

“But…” he turned his head in the direction of the battle below, where Batman had redirected the fight after Robin went down, trying to draw the goons away. Stephanie gently pulled his chin back towards her. It wouldn’t help for him to think that he was needed elsewhere when he wouldn’t even be able to stand.

“Nope.” She climbed off of him and helped him sit up, careful with the injured leg, but he still hissed as he moved and saw the bone poking out. Steph took her cape off and covered Damian in it like a blanket so that he wouldn’t be tempted to keep looking at the leg. “Chill out with your favourite Batgirl for a while until the fights over and someone can pick us up.”

“You should leave and go help the others.”

“Nah. They’ve got it.” Steph could hear the fight going on through the comms and it honestly sounded sort of boring. If anything Damian would be mad later that his injury wasn’t caused by something more exciting instead of just a poorly placed kick and tumble. “I’d rather hang out with you. Can I make you a splint? I’ve been practicing.”

“I don’t want your third rate splint.”

“Excuse you, my splints are now second rate, because I’ve been practicing.” Damian glared at her with his stone cold expression. “Fine. No splint. Wait for B and he’ll do it if you want a perfect splint, your highness. Want to watch cat videos instead?”

“You brought your phone on patrol? Why?”

“To watch cat videos, obviously.” Damian said nothing so she pulled up YouTube and shoved the phone into his hands “Here. I found this great compilation of them pushing glasses off tables earlier. You’ll love it.”

Fifteen minutes later, Batman appeared on the roof only to find them sitting side by side, watching a baby elephant playing with a ball in the water, and for the first time in what felt like forever, he didn’t comment on her bringing her phone on patrol, instead setting to work on splinting Damian’s leg and with what she thought might possibly be a grunt of approval.

It was hard to breathe and it was the pressure on his chest was the thing that he thought had woken him up but he couldn’t be sure. Dick sluggishly blinked a few times and saw the familiar looking cave ceiling, fluorescent lights strung across. Medbay.

His foggy brain couldn’t remember how he had ended up there. Well, not specifically, anyway. He had been on patrol, he had been called in for back up for… something and that was about it. He must have been dragged back to the cave in the batmobile, but everything else was a blur of blackness and screaming and pain until there was nothing.

He tried to shift to get a little more comfortable but his entire body protested, partly due to bandages, whatever painkillers that Alfred must him pumped him with and the small dark haired body curled up beside him, head resting on Dick’s chest.

At least that explained the weight that had woken him up.

Dick slowly raised his hand and ran his hand through Damian’s hair, feeling his brother relax deeper into the touch, making Dick grin. If anyone outside the family ever knew that the small, angry Robin was such a big cuddler, he’d go on a rampage about it.

“He refused to leave your side,” said Bruce quietly, from his typical spot on the right hand side of the bed. He had his reading glasses on, the ones that he wore when he was exhausted but determined to stay awake, sketchpad in hand. Dick was just able to make out the lines of what looked like it might be him and Damian sleeping on the cot before Bruce flipped the book closed. Bruce always kept his 'doodles' private.

There was a cooled cup of coffee and abandoned tablet on the table next to the bed, as well as an empty plate, more signs of Bruce keeping watch. “Looks like he wasn’t the only one.”

Bruce hummed, and watched Dick adjust again who winced slightly as one of Damian’s elbows jabbed him in the stomach, probably over a bruise by the feel of it. Bruce frowned at the action, eyebrows pulling together. “Do you want me to take him upstairs?” He didn’t move though, probably guessing the answer. It was a fairly common tradition that only got passed over when the injuries were too severe for Damian to sleep with Dick when he was injured. He claimed that he was guarding him, but everyone knew better.

“Nah. We’re good.” Dick dropped his hand lower and rubbed circles on Damian’s back, who snored once and then snuggled in tighter. “Was I ever this small?” Dick asked quietly before he registered the words that came out of his mouth, and then huffed out a laugh, because yes, he knew objectively that he had been that small at some point, he had been a child after all, but he couldn’t quite fathom being this size at the manor.

“Smaller.” Bruce seemed to understand what he meant, taking off his glasses and tucking them into the neck of his shirt and watched his oldest and his youngest in silence as he thought about it more. “You were tiny. You would crawl into my bed after having a nightmare and I was afraid that I’d roll over in my sleep and crush you.”

Dick did remember doing that. Bruce’s size was part of the appeal of doing that; he could protect Dick from any monsters, dreams or memories that haunted him in the night. “Yeah, well, you are a behemoth who sleeps like the dead. It was probably a valid concern.” Bruce chuckled and then got up to check Dick’s vitals, both of them knowing that it was more out of something to do rather than necessity at this point.

“Do you want me to stay?”

“We always want you to stay, B.” smiled Dick, looking down at his brother. "But I don't think you need to. Robin's look after their own."

#whumptober2019 #no.16 #dick grayson #Jason Todd #Tim Drake #Stephanie Brown #damian wayne #bruce wayne #robin pile #minor tim/steph

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familiaanteomnia · 4 years ago

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~Nathan~ -Nathan’s interest in photography/theater stems from his mother aside from his general interest- what he photographs reflects his state of mind in a sense/his decline. When younger used to just take photos of everything. In better moments, with somebody he likes being around might take photos of them. (ie: him getting sidetracked with samantha posing for him when he was taking photos and then him bringing her ice cream out of guilt) -As Hayden put it, he really can be Fun Loving/Funny when in an good high/certain company. Like if you catch him after an small vortex after hours in somebody’s room on the way back to his. It’s so obvious how mellowed out he is, likely dishelved and happy (better yet if you get to see him in those circumstances he’ll be cracking jokes, likely end up with Hayden in his side,etc) -Likewise boy goes to bed early usually, out cold to whale song in an normal sweatshirt with some pj pants after making sure his many many door locks are locked (has an established do not disturb with victoria) but he does have sleep issues naturally which will lead to occasional nighttime wandering,etc -If you get to see Nathan in an regular tshirt, jeans or literally anything that isn’t his usual attire either highly trusted/lucky or it’s circumstances where he is not in the best of headspace and or he will snap about it (likewise his first actions in the morning are usually tame his hair and get dressed- even if he’s going for an shower) real lucky people might get morning selfies with his messy curly bed hair and an middle finger -Really loves to hide from the camera, jokingly with people he cares for if they pull out the phone camera he’ll cover his face with middle fingers or make an face,etc also only lets those super close take photos/trusts them to not like post anything too ridicolus -Has an large amount of pillows,etc on his bed or not that he doesn’t use/usually is just extra for if his brother decides to crash the night on his dorm floor ------ ~Xav~ -In an way of supporting his brother growing up, learned about photography,etc in his plentiful free time then would ask questions to cheer him up and help him with his homework on bad days etc even though isn’t into photography much or drama -Use to constantly use the video camera to record his siblings/or swipe an camera to take pictures of his twin (has an horde of childhood videos (both og unedited and edited caused deadname etc for depending on his headspace), pictures/pictures of times he’s been able to spend with his twin -Poetry, Reading (secretly works in the school library), Song Writing/making. (doesnt do/or actually record often) Can play all types of guitar. Will joke about ‘god no tried to get me to do piano but i slammed the cover on my hands to make an point’ taught himself anyways cause ~free time~ never enough hobbies or things to learn -Art style is chaotic, feral like him... Really likes graffeti, colorful/multi color outline simple stuff. But also just whatever comes to mind. Does an lot of like chalk pastels onto buildings before it rains,or for an photo then done. Ditto his fire art. Plus really like drawing people. Little differences in their types of smiles or the light off their eyes. Faceless couples being intimate,etc. -Issues asking for attention,etc especially from Nathan due to his issues, their combined issues,etc so sometimes just steals one of his jackets because asking for an hug would be “bothering” likewise sometimes resorts to old habit of sleeping on nate’s floor when super upset or naps on his dorm bed (goes for people in general he wants an hug from you? he’ll steal an jacket or something instead/he just steals friends,etc jackets- but an stray jacket in general if in his path might end up in his collection regardless of possible owner) -Chaotic/Feral will text or post things like ‘okay but i want to replace my blood with citric acid powder’ like normal memes nah dude hits you up ‘you remind me of an baseball bat stuck in a metal slide which is an good thing’ -Flowers have meaning, color right? He is well aware/has his own meanings for colors like an kind of code,etc Which he really likes flowers, buys himself them from time to time cause has nobody to do it and well “people are stupid about guys and flowers etc” Also loves stuffed animals, has an massive always growing collection (especially mishappen ones thrown aside unloved in a store/thrift store plushies)

#headcanons #long post cw #♥ drabbles 》 xavior carver #♥ drabbles 》 nathan prescott #(tried to go for the somft cause i got soft feelings for these dumbasses and nobody to babble to)#(mightve mentioned some of this before here idk my memory sucks so who knows where ive babbled before or what ones lmao)

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analyzingadventure · 4 years ago

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Oh boy have I not watched Psi for a long time, oh man have I missed out on Some Stuff (I’ve only heard the names of like three Digimon mentioned but oh man did those names alone come with Some Package)

Let’s watch episodes 25-31 then and catch up!

So just to recap, last time Agumon evolved to Mugendramon, fucked some shit up because Taichi totally 100% legit died, temporary evolved to WarGreymon I think (I can’t remember man lmao) and beat the shit outta DoneDevimon

25! Dive to the Next Ocean!

Uhhh who the fuck yeeted ElDoradimon into the sky

This is so bad

They should die so hard

OHHH CLOUD CONTINENT IS IN THE SKYYY YESSS I LOVE THAT

Have I mentioned how much I love seeing the kids interact with their non-partner Digimon (and vice versa)? Because I do, I love this a lot (even if it ain’t much)

Ohhh Mugendramon was so sexy... I wanna rewatch episode 24 but I really need to catch up on this first

ElDoradimon’s gonna die from that fall, right? His joints are gonna get pulverized

Zurumon! :D I love these lemon jelly goops

HIKARI!!!!!! Baby!!

I wish Taichi and co would be like, trying to even think about how they’re gonna survive the fall- like I know Leomon saved them but they couldn’t like plan to just Get Saved, IDK it’s kinda off-putting how they’re so calm

Leomon to the rescue tho! Finally!

Patamon is so chumby, v good

Holy shit Leomon punches HARD, a single punch just straightened out ElDoradimon in one go, holy fuck

Finally they’re worried about dying from the fall

What happened to the Agu and Gabu being too exhausted to fight (I’m sorry this is just a massive pet peeve for me, ‘esp cause there’s like no reprecussions for the Digimon for pushing themselves here)

(Like it’d be one thing if they managed to evolve out of desperation but this ended up being like bad for them and force them to take longer rests later or IDK kill them, but when you’re just like “I’m too tired to fight- oh wait my friend is slightly in more danger now than before, I guess I can fight again”)

(This is an issue with most MotW shows and even some shounen series (I’m looking at you Bleach) so it’s not unique to Psi, p sure Adventure had this issue to some degree too, but still man, it’s a massive pet peeve and bothers me so much)

26! Break through the sea monster barricade!

God I love that the Cloud Continent is actually in the sky

Quality content (slightly cursed maybe)

Seadramon! Honestly I really love Seadramon?? Like it’s such a simple, minimalistic design but... IDK man I love Seadramon, it’s such a cool Digimon

OH SHIT IT EVOLVED! :O

I’m sorry I am just so not interested in the real world crisis (in the show), it’s... I’m sorry it’s so Mundane and I’m here for the Fantastical

WARUSEADRAMON! THE SLIGHTLY MORE GOTH SEADRAMON!! YEAAHHHHH

God I wish Psi just had perma-evolution, so many of my issues would be solved with perma-evolution

Aweeee yeah, MegaSeadramon’s here too, now we got both of them, yeeeeee

I love how Hikari is just quietly judging the other kids

Y’all okay with talking about Taichi being in a different world right in front of Hikari? I mean She Knows Things and they all just got taken to back to that world but still like, should you try to be more inconspicuous maybe

Oh my god how many times have they used that clip of Falcomon throwing bombs in this episode- four? That’s a lot yo

Taichi’s gonna get vored again, press F for him

The water is so deep how is Zudomon standing- oh I need to stop asking these things

HIKARIIIIII SHE’S HEEEREEE YEEEEEE

27! To the New Continent!

"Hikari, who called you?” “I don’t know :)” Honey that is so ominous I love you

AGUMON COMFORTING HIKARI AAAAAA I LOVE THAAAT

YESSSSS I LOVE THIS

This image has heavy Digimon Kaiser energy in it

I love how Psi!Jyou is like a try-hard in trying to help (while OG!Jyou was always struggling with figuring out what the right thing to do was etc)

Is... is the enemy a Tortamon? Oh yeah it’s Tortamons

OH WOW THERE’S A LOT OF THEM

OH SHIT IT’S AN GROUNDDRAMON! OH GOD THIS IS GRUESOME

Ikkakumon’s gonna get vored, F

You know I never thought Grounddramon would be so chomby based on the Bandai art but I guess Groundramon’s a real chomper

“Everyone, give Angewomon your power!”

GIGA DESTROYER AAAAAAAAAA

OH IT’S THE BASTARD!! DARK KNIGHTMON!!! THE SEXY BASTARD!! The one I’ve heard an interesting theory about... But I ain’t saying anything fornow

PATAMON EVOLVES??? (On command which is kinda bs)

ANGEMOOOOOON YEAAAAAHHHHHH

NEW ENDING TOO, YAY

Ohhh this ending has such nice, soft but jolly energy c: Also yay Tailmon

28! The Children’s Fight for Survival!

BTW Patamon with angel wings was a lowkey hilarious visual, 10/10 would laugh again

Still don’t like how we just got Angemon on demand like that

Oh yeah, out-of-context I heard a theory that DarkKnightmon is Tailmon and hearing Dark Knightmon’s voice, yeah I can see that (not to mention their facination with Hikari)

Oh man those are some Big Wings

Whu happen, did the kids get yeeted back to the Human World?? Oh no they’re still here

I bet Angemon’s dead again lmao

LMFAO JYOU FINALLY GETS TO CATCH A BREAK--

NANIMON NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Oh Patamon’s okay- REALLY TIRED (thank you Psi) but okay

I NEVER DISLIKED NANIMON UNTIL THIS VERY MOMENT

I AM SO UNCOMFORTABLE

PLEASE GO AT LEAST 500 METERS FURTHER AWAY FROM JYOU, PLEASE

Hikari being worried for MetalGreymon ;__;

Aweee yeah HIkari’s special Evolution Powers are still here! GET ‘IM WARGREYMON!!

Whoop Hikari got spirited away, F (she’ll be fine, SkullKnightmon ain’t gonna do shit to her, I’m sure)

Hikari volunteered to go... ;_;

29! Escape the Burning Jungle!

THERE’S MORE OF THEM

I mean at least they’re all just chillin’ and enjoying the bath instead of just staring at Jyou. I’ll considder that an improvement

YEAHHHH MEGADRAMONS!!

Ooooo a single lil Lopmon, I wonder if this will be an important character later

I like Woodmon, Woodmon are cool and chill

YEAH, DEFEND THE SMALL AND INNOCENT!

WOODMON NOOOOOOO ;A;

NOOOOOO A BUDMON DIED!!! NOT THE BABIES!!!

What do you mean MetalGreymon hurt when the tiny Allomon bit him ON HIS METAL ARM

I- I need to stay quiet or else I’m gonna end up with too many questions. I mean I already have too many but the less I question it the better

Woodmon, Budmon, I love your energy, please aim for Tankdramon’s eye, you could blind that fucker with ease

PARROTMON?!

30! WARGREYMON AAAAAAA

Man I have been quiet through this entire episode so far lmao

ANYWAY CROSSMON! HELL YEAH have we seen Crossmon animated before?

GIGA DESTROYER AAAAAAAAAAA anyways I think this is the first tme we’re seeing Crossmon animated (unless my memory is garbage, which it might just be)

Aaaand Taichi is dead

OH, HIS CREST IS THERE

WHAT’S THIS

Agumon....... I love you..........

Man this animator is making Crossmon look vaguely too humanoid for my taste.... And MetalGreymon’s super fucking jacked yo

NEW SONG YEEEAAAAAAAAAAAHHH

OH THAT’S SOME SEXY SEXY ANIMATION

OH WARGREYMON’S HUUUGE BRO

HOLY FUCK GAIA FORCE ANNIHILATED ALL OF THEM (but didn’t cause any environmental damage? Handy!)

Lopmon’s totally like Cherubimon or something, right? Reborn Cherubimon, right?

31. MILLENNIUMON

HERE IT IS, THE HEAVY PACKAGE I MENTIONED, THE EPISODE TITLE THAT MADE PEOPLE LOSE THEIR MINDS WHEN IT GOT ANNOUNCED

WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING PSIIIII where the fuck are you going yoooooo

God WarGreymon’s so fucking big holy shit

OH YEAH LOPMON’S TOTALLY LIKE CHERUBIMON OR SOMETHING (I mean it’s not a plottwist by anymeans lmao)

LMAO Skull Knightmon looked away when Hikari noticed them looking at her lmao tsundere ass fucker

Wait the temple was also on Cloud Continent??? Like that whole area was still a part of Cloud Continent?????????? The geography of this world confuses me yo

BAKEMON!!! THERE’S BAKEMON!!! I LOVE BAKEMON SO MUCH!!! GIMME THE GHOSTIES!!!

NOOO MILLE WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO MY BAKEMON BABIES!! FUCK YOU LEAVE MY GHOST BUDDIES ALONE

YESSSS CHERUBIMON

OH IT WAS MILLE WHO STARTED THIS ENTIRE FUCKING MESS IN THE FIRST PLACE, HUH

WAIT FUCK MILLE IS BEHIND THE ENTIRE BS IN PSI

...AGUMON CAN EVOLVE TO MUGENDRAMON, WHO IS LIKE, KEY COMPONENT #1 TO MILLE

OH GOD WHAT DOES THAT MEAN

AGUMON EVOLVING TO MUGENDRAMON WASN’T JUST A CUTE REFERENCE TO THE DARK MASTERS, IS THERE GONNA BE THING WHERE AGUMON IS USED TO RECREATE MILLENIUMON??? (And they have to get Agumon Out Of There like they had to extract Tailmon (and Meicoomon until they gave up) out of Ordinemon in tri.???)

ANGEWOMON!!! THERE SHE IS!!

PSI SAYS OFANIMON RIGHTS

Oooo we’re on Eternal/Mugen Continent... Oooo :oc

I like how Sora is the Dedicated Character who will be there when we get like Backstory lmao

METALFANTOMON?! :O YEEAAAHHHH (Ngl when I saw the pink scythe for a moment I was hoping for Jokermon.......)

Oh wow that’s a lot of MetalFantomons

Man Kabuterimon sure is flying quietly (I mean adding the flying sound effect probbaly wouldn’t add much here but... It’s so quiet)

OH SHIT WE’RE GOING TO ULTIMATE ALREADY

I am gonna say, because Psi is constantly moving, like there’s constantly an oncoming threat and the characters never get to take a fucking break (that’s longer than 5 minutes), it just... Because there’s no contrast between danger and peace, it makes the non-stop danger feel far less dangerous imo

DOGGO DIGIMON!!

KOMONDOMON!!

OH SKULL KNIGHTMON HAS MILLE

OH FUCK DUDE

There is one more episode out but sadly I can’t watch it yet because region lock. I do know there’s an interesting, familiar face in there tho and I’m excited for that!

I... I... I can’t believe he actually said that...

“They’re cool pants!” KOUSHIROU LMAO

Anyways, episode preview!

Aaaand nothing of value was seen there. I mean I do know what Patamon probably evolves into because I do follow the Digimon Twitter so like, I saw the relevant art they shared but ye

Anyways a lot of these episodes were dull as usual, I didn’t feel like I missed out on much tbh aside from the sexy animation and the lore

This really drives it home to me how not having a villian of somekind just constantly present and active really makes a story so much more flat for me... Like I ain’t gonna argue Devimon or MetalSeadramon were interesting villians, but even just seeing them planning their next moves outloud and talking to their minions drove home what kind of people they were, and they weren’t even the most Packed-With-Personality villians in Adventure. And while SkullKnightmon is there... they’re just kinda standing around. I don’t know much about them really and it makes me sad

(Look I’m sorry I’m a filthy villian-stan and not having interesting villians to stan makes me sad)

Anyways, as always, I am definitely looking forward to whatever the fuck Psi is planning on doing because 1. Holy Shit It’s Milleniummon and 2. Holy fuck we got WarGreymon and it’s only episode 31, what the fuck are they planning on doing with the rest of the series and indeed 3. Patamon evolves into what

#Psi reaction

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kpoptimeout · 4 years ago

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Top 10 Most Underrated K-pop Songs of 2020 (Idol Edition)

2020 was shit. But oh boy, at least the music was good.

And it took us a good while to decide on these lists.

Continuing with the K-Pop Timeout Tradition (see 2019 Ver) of listing the Top 10 Most Underrated K-Pop Songs because all the other sites are just bothered with the Top 10 that pretty much everyone will have heard of/have fan wars over, below are our top 10 picks of songs that did not rank high but deserves your attention!

Like last year we have a separate post for Top 10 underrated non-idol tracks in 2020 and a list for the Top 10 K-Dramas in 2020 in our opinion, which will drop in the coming days.

Some of the artists have escaped the list in recent years to stardom (like N.FLYING, SF9 and OH MY GIRL), so hopefully, it happens again!

This is in alphabetic order NOT in the order of awesomeness because all of them are awesome. Also, all MVs are linked in the song titles because Tumblr won’t let me share that many videos in one post.

APRIL “LALALILALA”

APRIL is a very well-rounded girl group but their talents have been squandered by DSP’s mismanagement in recent years. With DSP seeming to try again and with member Naeun’s meteoric rise thanks to acting in webdrama hit “A-TEEN” and the internationally loved K-Drama “Extraordinary You”, “LALALILALA” seemed like the song to finally give APRIL the awards they deserve. Except it did not, which is an absolute shame because “LALALILALA” is easily one of the strongest girl group tracks this year. The futuristic synths and snappy drum instrumental made for a delightful pop track and reminded us of DSP’s heydays of churning out similarly pristine and impactful tracks for KARA and Rainbow. If you were a fan of past DSP girl group bops like KARA’s “Pandora” and "STEP”, this is the song for you!

Cherry Bullet “Hands Up”

Whoever thought of putting “Beethoven” and “girl crush concept” together should get a raise at FNC Entertainment because it worked. Sampling Beethoven’s famous piece “Für Elise” in different parts of the instrumental using different instruments ranging from synths to different keyboards, the producer was able to provide rookie girl group Cherry Bullet with a hip-hop heavy girl crush banger that is catchy and fun. Also, it is clear the girls of Cherry Bullet really enjoy this song, exuding confidence and charm in the choreography and overall performance. After a few listens, you would be nodding to this addictive song and body rolling to the chorus. If you are a fan of girl crush songs, you have to listen to “Hands Up!”

Cignature “ASSA”

Honestly, we are annoyed with C9 Entertainment scrapping the highly talented girl group Good Day after merely one song and their relatively strong run on KBS’ “The UNIT” and re-debuting only some of the girls in Cignature under their sub-label J9. However, we cannot deny that “ASSA” is a powerful track. It is many things at the same time - it covered the quirky girl group demographic with the cute and somewhat bratty sounding introduction where the girls seem to be talking and singing at the same time, then a somewhat mature buildup came out of nowhere with a more raspy and charismatic delivery on the vocals front before an aggressively girl crush drop begins the chorus carried by the members feeling themselves (specifically their hair) with attitude. If you love the quirky sound of fromis_9 and Oh My Girl but also want some OG girl crush energy like 4MINUTE, “ASSA” is your song!

CSVC “No Mercy”

Okay, CSVC is not really an “idol” group in the traditional sense. A project group made up of 4 indie artists (CHEEZE's Dalchong, Stella Jang, Lovey and Park Moonchi), CSVC tries to recreate the 90s girl group sound of legends like S.E.S, Fink.L and Baby VOX and we are here for it. Not only do all four members have the pipes to carry the early K-Pop sound that has heavy RnB influences, they went all out in the song production with the retro reverbs littered throughout the track and new jack-swing inspired intro. The MV was also a love letter to 90s K-Pop girl groups with the intense use of flares, extreme use of lighting, the “futuristic” sets seemingly made of tin-foil and the members all donning all black or all white outfits. If you are a huge fan of 90s K-Pop, CSVC’s “No Mercy” is the song for you!

ELRIS “JACKPOT”

Honestly, we have no idea what the hell HUNUS Entertainment is doing with ELRIS but even with the mismanagement, they continuously give ELRIS great songs and “JACKPOT” is easily one of the best girl group songs of the year. It builds up from silky vocals to strong rap, which is followed by wonderful harmonisation before we dive into a two-part chorus which made use of the members’ strong vocals as well as gave us catchy moments to sing along to. The music video is also a delight, with the girls dancing on a stage built to look like a roulette. The addition of the 2 members also made ELRIS’ already powerful stages even more impactful. We have been hearing rumours of disbandment but we hope it is not true. If you want to listen to the definition of a well-rounded and fun K-pop girl group track, ELRIS’ “JACKPOT” is THAT SONG!

IMFACT “Lie”

IMFACT is truly a strong boy band with great vocals and strong song production skills of their own yet they CONTINUE to be SLEPT on. I mean being managed by Star Empire Entertainment does not help but it is ridiculous how little domestic and international support they have. They have a distinct sound which they continue in “Lie” - electropop infused with K-Pop song structures and a generous use of unique drums patterns. If you love electropop and K-Pop, it is time to stan IMFACT and check out this amazing song!

NATURE “Girls”

Maybe n.CH Entertainment go a boost in Mnet money after taking on the job to manage TOO after Mnet’s ��To Be World Klass” show because their budget really went up and it shows in NATURE’s “Girls”. This song is truly a masterpiece. The chorus is like what you would expect of a club banger EDM track but the verses are made up of clean vocals exhibiting anguish and longing over a relatively simple beat and the bridge was orchestral instrumentals mixed with the drumming of a marching band and the loud chants of the girls. The music video is also simple yet haunting. If you like the darker tracks of 9MUSES and RAINBOW like “Sleepless Night” and “Black Swan” but also the electronic sound of Berry Good in “Don’t Believe” days, this is the song for you for you!

ONEWE “End of Spring”

We need more bands making it in mainstream K-Pop and ONEWE’s “End of Spring” gives us another reason why we think so. “End of Spring” is a breath of fresh air in this year of mainly 80s retro dance tracks and hip-hop heavy pop songs in the K-Pop world, as it instead went for a pop rock sound more reminiscent of American pop rock acts like Train in “50 Ways to Say Goodbye” and One Republic in “Counting Stars” but with a dose of the energy in a teen summer party. If you enjoy a fun pop rock song, ONEWE’s “End of Spring” is the song for you!

OnlyOneOf “dOra maar”

OnlyOneOf is a rookie group with a lot of potential given their heavily alternative RnB and overall escape room-esque sound. They had many great songs in 2020 with wonderful music videos but our favourite here at K-Pop Timeout has to be the MV-less “dOra maar”. This laid back and smooth song showcases each member’s unique vocals and sounds more like a top Korean RnB artist experimental collaboration than a K-Pop boy band song. Also, it is always fun to see K-Pop artists take inspiration from art and culture of different countries (the titular Dora Maar is a French photographer and the lover of Pablo Picasso). If you are mostly a Korean RnB fan, OnlyOneOf’s “dORa maar” might be your gateway drug into the idol scene!

Weki Meki “COOL”

Fantagio seems to be a bit unsure about which sound to give Weki Meki, as the group swings between aggressive and catchy girl crush songs to more generic cute summer songs like a pendulum. They should really consider keeping Weki Meki with the sound they found in “COOL” because the girls really carried this supermodel runway power walk song with poise and confidence. While we have seen boy bands dabble in the runway model sound such as IN2IT in “Snapshot”, SF9 in “Now or Never” and KNK in “Sunset”, we have actually rarely seen girl groups going for this expensive sound. Additionally, the music video for this song is powerful, with the scene of the girls facing each other and vogueing in a long dark room being highly memorable. If you love power girl crushes or any of these boy band songs we have mentioned above, you would really like this song!

Special Mentions of Underrated Debuts:

There were many strong debuts this year and I would like to mention 2 underrated rookie groups to look out for in 2021!

Male - E’LAST “Tears of Chaos”

While more and more male groups are debuting with either badass or cute images, E’LAST decided to enter the K-Pop world with a highly orchestral sound. And the boys have the talent and visuals to carry such a dramatic and theatrical concept. Their label E Entertainment, also seems to have every intent to do the most for these boys, as seen in the production quality of their MVs. With these boys already dropping new material right now, you all should keep an eye on them!

FEMALE - woo!ah! “Bad Girl”

With many strong female group debuts this year, you may have missed woo!ah!, from the small label of NV Entertainment. This small company in fact is led by SM China’s former CEO and this person certainly has an eye for talent because woo!ah! is a very balanced 5 member girl group that has a lot of potential to make it big. In fact, the group is beginning to develop an international following, with “Bad Girl” reaching #1 in the Vietnam's biggest music platform, edging out both aespa’s “Black Mamba” and BLACKPINK’s “Lovesick Girls”. They have already followed up with B-Side track promotions so check out these underrated rookies!

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carriagelamp · 5 years ago

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February 2020 Book Review

The Last Wish / Sword Of Destiny

Let’s start with the books that currently have me in a stranglehold. I apologize to everyone that actually follows me and watched me descend into fandom pits but whatcha gonna do. So, I was aware of the video game when it came out, but not being a prolific gamer I was intrigued but never bothered getting into it. Then the Netflix series came out, and I was again intrigued... but I suck at sitting down and watching shows. So what the heck I decided, it’s probably mediocre hypermasculine high fantasy but let’s try a book to see what the fuss is all about.

Good god. Guys. It’s real good. And so fucking different from the show. Geralt is actually a really emotional, well-meaning guy who’s starved for positive social interactions and is just trying to do his best. And the books’ consistent themes of colonialism, environmental destruction, forced extinction, and changing eras is... chilling and fascinating and honestly a little too relatable at times. These books have made me laugh and shout and frankly sob. Still a little sexist, cause 90s fantasy, but Geralt is so not the gruff, heartless, manly man character I thought he would be. I am so deeply into these and have just cracked the spine of the next book in the series. If you like high fantasy, I can’t recommend these enough.

The Silver Eyes

I just learnt that there were Five Nights At Freddy’s books, and honestly picked this up from the library as a joke for my brother. We’d played the games back when they first came out, and were into the lore, but lbr they’re more of a meme at this point. Anyway, we ended up reading this out loud to each other, a chapter a night, and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. Probably wouldn’t have liked it as much on my own, but the main character was complicated and messy, and the book’s way or portraying trauma was neat. It was nominally horror, and did have the occasional chilling moment, or times it was fun to speculate, it over all it was pretty run of the mill middle grade fiction.

FRNK

Probably the best graphic novel I’ve read this month.

I was howling with laughter while I read it. Good quality Belgium comics, always a treat. This story is about a modern day boy, Frank, who is accidentally thrown back into prehistoric times, where he’s stuck with a bunch of cavemen who haven’t invented the concept of vowels yet. Admittedly my French isn’t great, so it made trying to decipher words with half the letters missing a challenge to say the least, but plenty worth it. I really want to get my hands on book two. I believe there’s an English translation, and I’d recommend giving it a try.

Best Friends

A neat little graphic novel that addresses common growing up issues, about what it means to be friends, stay friends, how to cope with people changing and when it’s time to walk away. Anxiety, being yourself, fitting in, all that sort of stuff. It’s a quick read, very pleasant, and has nice art.

Karen’s Witch

Another cute graphic novel with charming art. I read this at the store while I was waiting for a prescription to be filled. It’s about this five year old (or thereabouts) who is absolutely determined that her neighbour is a witch and by god she is going to prove it or at least scare herself and her friend silly in the process. A fun little read!

Endling: The First

The second book in the Endling series, and all my praise for the first book apply here as well. A super unique high fantasy that gives extinct and threatened species a voice. The book explore themes of war, environmental destruction, sacrifice and loss. You really get to see how much Byx has grown and how much she needs to continue to grow. This book has me so excited for the third, I haven’t read such an emotionally rewarding quest novel in a long time.

Bleach

I found out my library has a billion books of this series and decided to jump into it again for the first time in over a decade. Honestly it’s even better than I remembered? The art is absolutely stunning, Ichigo is such a power fantasy hero, and it’s one of those series with a lot of really loveable characters and a lot of heart. Ichigo is a good guy who you actually feel good liking, which can’t be said for all shonen protags by any means. This is just such a classic and it holds up man. And if you like manga and have never read it? Jump in and enjoy a normal human getting supernatural powers and kicking absolutely enormous monsters’ asses.

Dinotopia: Sabertooth Mountain

This was my favourite Dinotopia book as a kid, and it was still fun to reread. The world of Dinotopia is one separate from the rest of the world, where humanity lives in perfect harmony with many prehistoric creatures that have managed to survive and evolve on the island of Dinotopia. This story is about a crisis brewing, as the sabertooths are cut off from their food supply and are in danger of not only starving but of bringing death to the rest of the mountain as well. While surveying the situation with his older sister, the main character finds himself falling from the airship in the middle of a storm, directly into the valley of starving sabertooths.

I read a bunch of this author’s graphic novels, and they are such feel-good queer lit. This was probably my favourite of the lot, but I also read Tea Dragon Society, Aquicorn Cove, and Princess Princess Ever After. Taking place in a picturesque mountain community, it’s about a girl meeting a guardian dragon who accidentally fell asleep in the mountains a century ago rather than watch over the village like intended. It’s about coming to terms with and loving yourself (and also about super cute little tea dragons).

Just Jaime

Another story that focuses on the complications of middle school, and how friends can grow and change, and when sometimes friendships become toxic and cruel. These are novel/graphic novel hybrids that are very visually appealing, and really do manage to tell very heartfelt stories. This one takes a side character from the earlier two books, and turns her from a very one dimensional, somewhat annoying character, into a fully realized person with her own issues and her own need for growth.

The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up / The Life-Changing Manga Of Tidying Up

Given that I’m not really a non-fiction person and DEFINITELY not a self-help book person, I really enjoyed these (though I didn’t read Spark Joy). I read the manga first, out of curiosity, but enough of it struck true that I decided to try the book as well. Have I cleaned anything up yet? No. But honestly, I can genuinely say that despite being repetitive at points I do truly feel like I got a lot of good out of it, and I feel much more excited and prepared when I do decide to do a big clean next. It really does reframe the relationship you have with your belongings and with yourself. I genuinely love the concept of “sparking joy”.

Bigfoot Boy: The Sound Of Thunder

Technically the last book of the series, whoops. Though honestly having read it I didn’t feel like I missed that much. It’s a Canadian graphic novel and I had... mixed feelings about it. Interesting and exciting in some ways, but the pacing was odd, and honestly I don’t think indigenous voices went into making it (I could be wrong but...) and it reads as kinda... eugh. Problematic. Having a none indigenous author write about a white boy being the guardian of a first nation totem and turning into a bigfoot isn’t a super cool optic.

Bloodchild

I was told “hey this is a really fucked up short story” so I read it, and guess what? It was a really fucked up short story. Would recommend if you want weird alien sex slavery bullshit-- it was a wild ride. And the overall themes obviously went a lot deeper than that, but honestly, it’s like a few dozen pages long if you wanna dig into all the philosophical shit, just give it a read! Uh, heavy content warning, tw tw tw, but a really bizarre, unsettling look at gender and power dynamics and oppression through a scifi lens.

Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIHM

I hadn’t read this book since elementary school so I reread it on a whim. It really is such a charming story. As far as animal stories go, this feels almost like the platonic ideal. Mother mouse is worried about her sick son and winds up compelled to seek out the mysterious rats who live in the rosebush for help, and is not only thrust into her own adventure but learns about the strange past her late husband shared with the rats of NIMH. It’s such a relaxing read, while still managing to be exciting and compelling.

Exploring According to Og the Frog

And one last animal story to round us off. I’d read one of the Humphrey books last month, and check out a couple more from the library for fun. I didn’t enjoy Mysteries According to Humphrey that much, but this one was charming, showing the world through Humphrey’s frog friend Og instead. The same charming type of adventure, but being a frog, Og has a very different attitude and view of the world, which was fun. Very cute elementary kid lit.

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rememberingthesugden-dingles · 6 years ago

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sivis2016 replied to your post “yall need to be real careful when you’re calling a scene between two...”

My 'criticism' comes from the fact that Skam is about teenagers and it's so refreshing to see a show not sexualise the characters. The fact that the Isak&Even cuddle scene did 'shock' a lot of people because it showed two boys being affectionate without it being sexual, says a lot about today's society imo. And it's why the innocence in that whole scene was so important and beautiful. It made a huge impact on a lot of people, me included.

And imo it has nothing to do with culture or France being more 'free' sexually. If anything, then it's even more important to show young people that it's normal to be sexually inexperienced and that being in love is so much more than a sexual connection. If Skamfr was about people in their twenties I wouldn't bat an eye, but it's a fact that Lucas and Eliott does not look like teenage boys (16 and 18?) and it takes away a lot of the authenticity. Imo.

That being said, the cuddle scene in Skamfr is beautiful, but it is sadly more sexualised than the others. And my point is that Skam don't need to sexualise teenagers, because it's what the society do already. This is my personal opinion of course.

Trust me the reason that scene shocked people in the og isn’t because it wasn’t sexual, it’s because it was two boys being affectionate, period. And I personally think it’s just as important to show two boys being affectionate in a sexual context too? like I don’t get why we should automatically dissociate those two things, they’re very much compatible.

And, about that morning after the first kiss scene, how is it “sexualised”? Frankly i’m getting really bored of people throwing that word around to the point where it’s lost all meaning. You have two young boys who are being intimate for the first time, intimate not sexual, they’re discovering each other’s bodies, kissing each other’s bodies, holding hands, tangled legs and all, stroking each other’s faces, resting on each other etc... like how is that “sexualised”? why are you turning this into a bad thing? because they’re topless? come on now.

I mean this is a show where we follow these teenagers’ lives and struggles through their eyes, and this was Lucas’ journey. We got to feel his emotions and empathise. We feel it when he’s sad, when he’s hopeful, when he’s crushed, angry or lonely. And we also feel his attraction towards Eliott, his desire, because that’s part of what he’s feeling. And no, teenagers (and people of any age tbh) absolutely do not have to have sex or to want sex but some do and Lucas did and it’s okay.

The idea that these teenagers are no longer “innocent” because they’re having sex or because they’re more “sexual” (passionate really) that in other remakes bothers me so much?? Lucas and Eliott very much are soft, tender, caring and cuddly. They very much are friends, they make each other laugh, they love each other’s personalities, they admire each other, they have fun together and they’re affectionate af. To reduce them to their sexual aspect sounds more like a you problem than a show problem to be quite honest. They can be all of that at once and they should be allowed to be. (As a lil sidenote I find it interesting that no one has issues with Emma or Manon’s sex lives but when it comes to Lucas, suddenly it’s super problematic.. hm).

I do think it might be a cultural thing to some extent because as much as I get what you’re trying to say, I really don’t share your perception of things here.

I feel like sometimes yall will say “sexualised” when what you mean is, well, “they were having sex”. It’s also down to the fact that Skam France’s style is intentionally more cinematic (which I love!) so they’re gonna make every big scene an art piece basically and it’s not about “sexualising” it’s about making it beautiful and accentuating the character’s emotions. And - I could go on and on about this but i’ll try and hold myself back - I love how loud and cinematic skam france s3 is because I feel like queer people and queer kids deserve to have art made out of their love, they deserve to have cinematic, dramatic love stories about them for once! And it doesn’t anything away from the realism of the struggles that they face and the situations they’re going through, which is obvious when you look at the number of people who related to Lucas and/or Eliott and felt seen, felt represented, in season 3. (The fact that it was written by a gay man also plays into it, there was definitely an intention of not shying away from showing that aspect of their relationship as it is still something that shocks, something a lot of people want to be spared of having to see).

Like the richness of having so many versions of the ~same~ love story is that it gets to be told in different styles and offer different vibes, different dynamics. If Skam France isn’t for you, if it bothers you so much, you are absolutely free to not like it but to act like it’s inherently bad or wrong... yeah no.

#sivis2016 #oops that got really long #skam france #skam #druck #skam italia #also the age thing i personally didn't have a problem with it bc when i started watching skamfr i genuinely thought they were 17/18 irl too #like they looked like some of the boys i went to high school with tbh that really didn't feel unrealistic to me

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lightsandlostbells · 6 years ago

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Skam France season 3, episode 8 reaction

Not gonna lie, I kept thinking “they must taste like ham” during the love-making scene

Episode 8

Clip 1 - Morning after

Lucas wakes up, still with splotches of paint on his body. I guess he washed off some of the paint, but not that well? I have so many questions about how they got home, like did they manage to get into the locker room to take a shower before leaving the school, or did they just go home covered in paint?

Anyway, Lucas is alone and checks his phone. His father says their mom wants to go to mass with them next week, so there’s your O Helga Natt clip. I’m trying to think about the religious references in this season. They’ve definitely been carrying through with Lucas’ mom being religious; I’m not sure there has been more in the way of religious symbolism? Luke is a Biblical figure but I’m not sure there’s any connecting with Lucas’ character the way Isak was connected to Biblical Isaac through the 21:21 reference. Not that it means O Helga Natt shouldn’t happen at a church, just that I think you could potentially set the scene somewhere else that’s more in line with what symbolism there is in this season (light and dark).

WAIT A FUCKING MINUTE. Was he on the couch???? In the living room??? Wh- why? So they went back to Lucas’ placed and crashed, covered in paint and seemingly naked (since Lucas is shown putting on his boxers), on the sofa in his living room? At the apartment where he has three other roommates coming and going? The FUCK.

Doesn’t Eliott live by himself? I thought someone involved with the show said that. Why did they not go to his place where they can be alone, rather than going to Lucas’ where they have to crash on the fucking couch? Even if Eliott does live with his parents or whoever, presumably he has a bedroom with, you know, a door.

I guess after you fuck in public at your school when there are people around, cuddling naked together in your living room where your roommates might see is no big deal at all. Get over it, prudes.

This is one of those times when I think Skam France still sticks to the original script too much, like obviously this part is here because Isak woke up alone after Even spent the night and heard Even in the kitchen. Lucas’ living situation (aka living on his goddamn couch) doesn’t really accommodate for that without some weirdness. So they could have revised this scene a bit - either send them to Eliott’s place rather than Lucas’, or have Lucas actually get his bedroom back by now (why is he still on the couch anyway????) or just have them clothed. Or you could have something where Eliott didn’t sleep over, and Lucas wakes up on the couch smiling about the previous day, except then he hears Eliott’s voice in the kitchen. Surprise! Eliott came over early to surprise Lucas with breakfast, and Manon let him in. And it could be shown as a sign of his mania, maybe, like it’s cute but Eliott came over way too early with way too many ingredients and it’s just a little too intense, it feels off.

Anyway, Lucas hears giggling from the kitchen, and of course Eliott is cooking and talking to the roommates. He’s making a fennel and cinnamon omelette. He kisses Lucas and Mika and Manon exchange a proud look. No more interventions are necessary.

Eliott also wants to make blueberry bacon muffins and Manon is all WTF about it, because she is lucky enough to live in a country where people apparently weren’t putting bacon in every single food product for a few years.

Mika and Manon pretend they didn’t hear anything from Eliott and Lucas when they came in, but Lisa enters and is like, yes, I did hear you fucking. So they were for real fucking on the couch? I’m just imagining like, Manon wanting a glass of water last night but being unable to leave her bedroom, just waiting for the moans to stop.

Lisa tells Manon to give her room to Lucas since he has a sex life and Manon doesn’t. Cold, but accurate, and also, Manon should give her room back since it’s not hers in the first place and Lucas was clearly distraught over it in the last episode. C’mon. At least take turns.

When the roommates are gone, Lucas says he thought Eliott left this morning (or like … one minute ago), like he did with Lucille. We get this conversation with a big gap between them as Lucas talks about Eliott making out with Lucille at Chloé’s party. Eliott closes the gap and takes Lucas’ face in his hands when he says that Lucille knows him well and made him believe they had to get back together, and Lucas wasn’t ready. Eliott was afraid Lucas wouldn’t want anything serious, Lucas says he does, and Eliott says good, because he’s not going anywhere right now. They kiss.

Eliott comes across as rather self-assured here. Even seemed very vulnerable when Isak called him on the situation with Sonja, and his attitude got very weird and harsh. He wasn’t even looking Isak in the eye as he complained about her; he only looked back when he was asking Isak to understand what he meant. Part of the scene felt very, very fragile for both of them. By contrast, while Lucas here seems uncertain, Eliott seems pretty confident. Although he’s telling Lucas about something that made him uncertain at the time, in the moment he seems to have gotten over it. Either that or he’s completely burying his fears, because I don’t see a hint of doubt or defensiveness.

Also, in the original scene, there were hints that Even was manic. I guessed it from my first viewing, watching the scene in unsubtitled Norwegian, just based off Even’s energy and emotional shifts, and then with the subs we could see how he got distracted, his mind was racing a bit. I didn’t really feel like they were signaling Eliott was manic yet, other than the lines about him going to the fridge and wanting to bake everything. Eliott just seems comfortable in what’s happening. (I’m not blaming Maxence for this, I think his acting is pretty solid, honestly.)

They obviously did not do their version of the Gabrielle lip-syncing, and while I don’t mind if they choose not to, for time constraints or not wanting to copy OG or just not feeling it for the characters, I can’t help but feel a bit bereft that I did not see more of Eliott’s awkward EDM dancing.

Clip 2 - Ass = art

I am honest to God laughing that they hyped up that previous mural as the ugliest shit ever, and then Lucas and Eliott literally threw some paint over it and it’s suddenly acceptable. Oh my God. Different strokes for different folks and all, but you can still see the original goddamn mural!!! It’s not even totally covered up!!!

Plot twist: whoever originally painted that mural in like the ‘90s or whatever also did it while having sex against the wall. And the plucky artists who will paint over Lucas and Eliott’s mural in like 2034 will be doing it as part of an orgy. Why even bother having a mattress when you have a paint-splattered wall to hump against?

I think it’d be a pretty display if it it were not half-assed. It’s not even covering all of the existing mural. They should’ve whole-assed it. Much like they whole-assed everything else on Friday.

Lucas is like, sorry we didn’t go with what was planned. Was there a plan? Because it absolutely came across like the boys just showed up to paint whatever image popped into their heads.

OH MY GOD THERE WAS AN ACTUAL ASS PRINT ON THE WALL

AND THEY DON’T EVEN MAKE UP A LIE ABOUT IT

Eliott’s like, Sorry about that! And he and Lucas kiss. Oh my God, this is ridiculous. I’m happy for your love and all but I legit cringed at that part, it’s too much. I guess if I think about it like how Even said it was good the boys left when Even showed up at Isak’s house, it’s the same thing? Except that’s a lot vaguer than like, yep, we left ass prints on the wall, our butt cheeks were used as sponges. I suppose it’s odd that everyone’s just like ... completely un-weirded out by this admission. (🐭🐭🐭)

Daphne is happy because the common room was decorated by a gay couple, so that made it cool, and objectively that’s not a great thing to say but I confess it make me laugh, because what a Daphne thought. Imane is like, why do we let it slide when Daphne says stuff like that? Good question. I guess because Daphne’s enthusiasm is pretty charming if you just tune out her words themselves.

Eliott is like, we gave it body and soul … you sure did give it your body, as Daphne observes.

Imane says she’s happy for Eliott and Daphne asks if Imane and Eliott know each other. They smile at each other. Precious. So we’re getting that storyline in S4, let’s hope they do a decent job with it. It could be improved.

Lucas gets a text from his dad about going to mass. Dad guilts him, telling him to think of his mother. Lucas texts back that he’ll go to mass with his boyfriend. We don’t get an answer immediately from the dad, like with Isak; Lucas just tells him and looks over to his boyfriend smiling and laughing with the girls, like he doesn’t care what his dad says in that moment, he’s just going to enjoy being happy with Eliott. He gives Eliott a back hug, it’s very sweet.

Clip 3 - Boy squad = cheerleaders

Basile is talking about sending a song to a girl, presumably Daphne, because this is hell. She didn’t reply. Dude. Take the fucking hint.

I know I keep complaining about this a million times per post, but I keep being annoyed at Skam France for adding yet another no-means-yes romance where a girl’s stated disinterest is continually ignored by a guy. We already had Noorhelm/Marles. And Vilde/Magnus, whatever you think of them, didn’t have this crap tainting their courtship.

The boys run into Eliott who looks happy. Lucas proudly introduces Eliott as his boyfriend, without any insecurity, and the boys erupt in cheers like this is one of those videos where everyone’s watching as a kid is opening his email and learning he got accepted to Harvard (🐭🐭🐭). I mean, it is cute that the boys react so positively! I don’t want to discourage straight boys cheering on their gay friend getting a boyfriend. Go wild, throw some confetti, bake a cake.

Basile says Lucas made the boys bolt on Friday and is upset he didn’t get to paint. I feel like Basile’s “misunderstood genius” left uninterrupted would definitely have resulted in several big-tittied anime girls on that wall. The boys invite Eliott to the park on Wednesday. Eliott agrees to go even though Lucas points out he has class then. I guess maybe that’s a sign of Eliott being manic? Maybe? Like he doesn’t care about school and is being reckless?

Basile makes an incest joke. Not his first in the season.

The boys really do seem cute running away, I love Arthur’s moves! But again, I am never letting that “it’s not Disneyland” comment go, because everything is so shiny-happy. It’s not just positive in a realistic way, it’s that song that from The Lego Movie. With Isak, he was still shy after he came out to his friends because you know, he was a human being and turning off internalized homophobia wasn’t like flicking a light switch. He got more comfortable over time. And the boys were very excited to meet Even but in a chill, non-OTT way (even Magnus).

With content like this, I do think it is valuable to show exceedingly positive social support for a gay teenager coming out and getting a boyfriend, like I do feel a little bad having any nitpicks about this. Likewise, I hate to have any reservations about Lucas getting so totally open and affectionate with Eliott so fast, because this is the end goal, obviously, we want to see Lucas happy and thriving and out and proud. You could make the argument that now he knows his friends accept him, he can let go of his insecurities in full (I don’t know how I feel about that because I don’t think Lucas’ problem was solely about whether his friends would accept him, for instance the Pride scene was more about internalized homophobia). And I do think they wanted to make Lucas as happy as possible this week before bringing him down at the end of the episode, for the impact. But combined with stuff like treating his outing as no big deal, and cleaning house last week and putting the Chloé and Imane clips in that episode so we got those conflicts and plot threads out of the way, and then how Lucas is so 100% okay with announcing Eliott as his boyfriend and joking about their sex life and kissing him and embracing him in public, all of this right off the bat ... to me it almost feels like they wanted to skip over the inner conflict, any hesitation or lingering insecurities, and just get straight to the cuddly ship content. And I mean, I approve of cuddly ship content! It just seems a little pat? You can make something idealistic and realistic. I guess Skam resolved some conflicts easily, too, but I felt like Isak’s character development was gradual and earned, whereas Lucas’ lacks some nuance here.

Lucas gets a phone call and it’s from Lucille. I find it kinda weird we didn’t even hear her voice because that would be Lucas’ POV in this important moment. Eliott talks to Lucille and it doesn’t really seem like… alarming like it did with Even, that rapid change in mood. He just sounds annoyed that she’s calling Lucas and he told her not to.

Lucas asks why Lucille called, Eliott is like IDK, to bullshit you. Which honestly, seems like a reasonable enough response? I don’t get why Lucas looks at Eliott like Eliott is the one bullshitting him. It’s not nice but Eliott’s ex calling Lucas just to harass him or tell him to stay away is not a thing that’s all that unusual, it happens. Even was a lot harsher in attitude and weirder in what he said (”she doesn’t like people who live free and genuine”). Anyway, then Eliott says Lucille can’t control him (Eliott) anymore and is trying to go through Lucas. Eliott kisses Lucas, plays with his hair (which seems to be their Thing, which is adorable), kisses him again, leaves, comes back for another kiss. He pulls an Even and walks off backwards. Lucas blows him a kiss after he’s gone. Well, that’s the cutest thing I’ve seen from Lucas so far, and very endearing.

Clip 4 - Het drama? In my S3? It’s more likely than you think

Everyone, both boy and girl squads are having a picnic. There’s a cool effect where someone wipes away the time card as they walk through the frame, I don’t remember seeing anything like that before on Skam France or any other remake. Stuff like that is just a fun way to play with the format.

Is that the same lake as the one in the first clip of the season? Would be nice to call back, since Lucas was feeling detached back then, and now he’s surrounded by friends and literally lying in his man’s arms. Speaking of, Lucas and Eliott are a little ways off from everyone else, and like I said, Lucas is being cozy in Eliott’s arms. They talk about doing something this weekend; Eliott mentions that Lisa blacklisted him from the flatshare and I DO NOT BLAME HER after what happened on that couch. Although I guess you could say the other flatmates deserve it after relegating Lucas to the sofa.

Eliott mentions his parents will be there that weekend. Wait, so I thought he lived alone? Didn’t someone involved with the show say that? Guess I was wrong. Or are his parents just coming to visit? Anyway, obviously this is setup for them getting a hotel room or whatever their version is.

Okay: absolutely fucking ridiculous that this 4-minute clip features less than a minute actually focused on Lucas’ POV, in Lucas’ season. At the end of the season? Sure, absolutely, we’re wrapping up the season’s storylines and giving everyone some closure and/or setup for the next season. Switching POVs is perfectly fine then. But in the middle of the season??? What’s more - in the middle of episode 8??????? The end of episode 8 is a hugely important turn of the story. It twists everything we know about the Even character on its head, it’s an intense scene, even frightening. It should have us looking back, noticing the signs we didn’t know were there on first viewing. This is one of the worst times they could cut for an interlude about everyone else - let alone for crappy het romance drama.

They could’ve used these three minutes to hint at Eliott’s mania! Or put in some content about Lucas’ parents, especially with Lucas’ mom since he’s going to come out to her soon! You can even keep the picnic with everyone else, just have Eliott doing or saying something that in retrospect is a big-ass pile of foreshadowing. Considering this week has been very light on those hints so far, this would have been a perfect opportunity. At the very least, if you need that mandatory girl squad content, we could have seen all this het romance through Lucas’ eyes, like he’s not even in the scene with these people, really? It’s not like he’s watching or listening to them, he and Eliott are in their own little bubble. So just stay in the bubble with them, or let others into their bubble, or don’t have them in the bubble - they can be cuddling closer to everyone else and interacting with them.

Keep in mind that there was no French “5 fine frøkner” either, lmao. They cut that out and we got this scene instead. And like I said, I’m totally fine with the kitchen sing-along not being there, but if what we get instead is shit that has nothing to do with Lucas and isn’t even from his POV, to focus on a bunch of (terrible) m/f pairings ... then I’m going to get exasperated.

Basile worms in between Emma and Daphne, like legit shoves Emma to the side. Daphne is reading a book. Basile tries to make small talk, Daphne ignores him (as she well should) and talks to Emma over him. Basile asks her out for coffee, Daphne is like, I’m studying. With a respectful human being, the conversation would end here. It’s appalling to me that even these little moments are chock full of Basile’s entitlement! Daphne says she’s reading, so either a) she is genuinely trying to enjoy her book or get some homework done or b) she just really doesn’t want to talk to Basile or c) both but IN ANY CASE he needs to get the fucking picture, she is not interested in continuing this conversation. I had to vent after I saw this scene because I’m just astonished by how thoroughly awful this relationship has been depicted, like they are hitting ALL the typical entitled dude moments.

Anyway, welcome to hell. Arthur gives Basile the signal to keep going (and Arthur’s on my shit list, too, for enabling this behavior - like lol, here’s toxic masculinity for you). Basile asks if she heard the song he sent her. Daphne is like … the song with the deeply inappropriate lyrics? So not only is he continuing to bother her when she wants to be left alone, but the song he sent he was overly sexual? GEE WHY WOULD ANYONE THINK THIS IS HARASSMENT.

Arthur and Yann chide Basile for sending such a forward song, Yann told him to be less upfront so Daphne would want him. Yann is on my shit list, too! Stop encouraging this creepy behavior! This is like a textbook study of how guys enforce toxic masculinity, for real, because Arthur and Yann know full well that Daphne has said no a million times, she said no again 10 seconds ago while the boys were right there, and yet that’s not enough for them, either. They’re not telling Basile to back off.

Basile is like, what’s the point, no one wants me, and gets up and walks away. Lol, so this shit is about Basile’s poor feelings. Not Daphne’s, not how she felt when Basile was trying to hump her on the dance floor or never the shutting the fuck up about how he wants her. Basile being sad because he did a creepy thing and it wasn’t well-received. Of course. (I seriously think you could write that moment of him saying no one wants him in a way that’s poignant and sympathetic, but you have to build it up in a way where we can feel sorry for him without caveats. If you wanted me to feel sorry for him, don’t write him as persistently going after a girl who has said she’s not interested!)

Yann and Arthur talk to Daphne and are like, he probably didn’t even read the lyrics! Er, not Daphne’s fucking fault that Basile was lazy. The song was titled “May she love me.” The boys are like, how cute! OF FUCKING COURSE Daphne smiles a little after that as she looks at Basile walking off. The boys encourage Daphne to give him a chance. OF FUCKING COURSE men are telling a woman to give a poor guy a chance after she’s already said no over and over again.

Did anyone realize this is some Nice Guy nonsense, too? That Basile, he’s really a decent guy! He’s so sweet and nice with his well-intentioned song choice! So why doesn’t Daphne give him a chance, hmm? I mean Basile is such a Nice Guy and yet no one will love him.

I’m sorry I cannot stop talking about this but it is astonishing how much crap they have packed into every goddamn scene of this nonsense. This is a man’s fantasy, this is a woman’s nightmare. Actually, no, - it’s women’s reality, because it happens often enough that men don’t give a shit about our boundaries and our rejections (however firm or polite) that this is a whole subset of feminist discourse, that we have terms like Nice Guy because these attitudes are so prevalent they merit a common phrase, that almost every woman has stories about some dude who wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Manon’s hat

That’s the comment, Manon’s fucking hat

The other girls are messing with Romain about period blood, heh. Manon goes after Emma when Emma walks off. (We get treated to yet more dialogue from Yann and Arthur trying to persuade Daphne to give Basile a chance, siiiiiiigh. Let the girl read her book!) Emma is bummed because Raptor Alex didn’t respond to Emma’s invitation and he’s seeing another girl tonight. Emma also slept with another guy, Manon is impressed by how she can do that. But Emma said it sucked with that other guy and that with Alex the sex was good, it was just that when he opened his mouth that she was turned off. Lmao, Emma, some things just aren’t meant to be that serious? He’s good in bed but he’s not that interesting of a person. It’s fine. Either keep your FWB thing going or find someone you can bang while also having stimulating conversations or whatever.

Emma says Manon and Alex have more to talk about than she and Alex, and that she saw them the other day. Talking about Charles, obviously. Emma lets on that she knows something is wrong with Manon, and she’s waiting for Manon to talk about it. This scene’s a lot like the talk between Yann and Lucas in episode 5, except somehow I don’t think Emma is going to walk away once Manon opens up.

Manon says it’s complicated with Charles and she doesn’t know if he’s coming back. Emma says she’ll wait for Manon to open up. Manon gets teary. Apart from the fact that this is not in Lucas’ POV, and that this is about crappy straight pairings, on its own this is a really nice interaction between the two of them.

But can we talk about how absolutely awful the het pairings on this show are? We have Manon/Charles with their ramped-up alpha male crap in S2 and then what he did to Manon in London, which was despicable. We have Emma/Alex, who are functional as fuckbuddies but have no real intellectual or emotional connection (fine for what it is, but don’t tell me this is supposed to be a real romance). We have Alex/Romain, the bi girl with the boyfriend who’s fetishizing her and asking her for a threesome the minute after she comes out to him, basically. She seems done with him already, like she’s just dating him out of habit now. And we have Basile/Daphne, at the very bottom of the trash heap. I want Imane to have a love interest who’s genuinely great and who deserves her, but seriously, the bar is so low that French Yousef could basically lie on the ground and roll over it.

Clip 5 - Boat bangin’

Eliott leads Lucas to his surprise at the docks. There’s some cute banter with them; they do have nice chemistry when they’re directed well and allowed to be free with each other (when it’s been off I chalk that up to scenes being rushed more than the actors, but it hasn’t been often). Missed opportunity to do something interesting with POV, though? The boat and the dock are shown immediately, but since Eliott is covering Lucas’ eyes, they could replicate the sense of surprise by not showing the boat right away, just have a closeup on Lucas and Eliott until Eliott tells him to look, so we see the reveal when he does.

Eliott shows Lucas that they’re on a boat and Lucas is stunned and happy. He asks how Eliott paid for the boat and Eliott just blows off that question and swoops in for a kiss, and I mean, when a face that pretty is that happy, are you going to question it? Maxence does seem to be doing a nice job with the manic signs here; he’s just a little elevated and giddy, and it could certainly just be excitement to be alone with his new boyfriend, but it also registers as slightly higher than Eliott’s usual range to me.

Eliott yells about his hot boyfriend to the water and he and Lucas goof around, it’s very cute. Lucas says no one has ever done anything like this for him. Awwww. But also, you understand why he’s letting the question of how Eliott paid for the boat slide. He’s just thrilled to be with him and touched by the grand gesture.

Inside the boat, Eliott pours champagne for him and Lucas. It’s not real champagne, as it turns out. I do like how this scene is shot, I don’t like a lot of Skam France’s directing but this is working for me. The scene on the deck was beautiful like a romantic movie scene, like it’s supposed to feel for Lucas, a combination of light and dark. But now the darkness inside the boat feels a little more stifling, in my opinion. I like that we see them from the side, considering each other.

Eliott tells Lucas to try to eat some Italian ham, and I do like how Lucas is playacting like they’re living it up and being fancy. It’s a good thing because there is no fucking way on this planet that eating that ham is a sexy move. It is the opposite of sexy. Eliott snatches ham from Lucas. Even the literal male model cannot make eating ham look sexy. Lucas describes the ham in sensual detail. Lucas says that it’s so good, you’d have thought Eliott cooked it. Eliott laughs and there’s a long look, which gets kind of intense? There’s something lingering in the air. I guess I was wrong, because these two seem immensely aroused by eating ham. Okay. No judgment. Glad you two found each other.

Eliott lights a cigarette, and like smoking kills and all, but objectively way sexier than eating ham. He shotguns with Lucas like Lucas did with Chloé in episode 1, except Eliott is way more skilled at it and obviously this is way sexier/more fulfilling to Lucas. Lucas is ready to fuuuuuuuuck.

They smile at each other, very fond of each other, in love, and then we cut to the sex scene. To Skam France’s credit: they’re not shy or coy about showing the gay intimacy. The actors seem to be pretty naked. Stuff happens.

I personally don’t find this kind of sex scene terribly sexy, because the mechanics of bodies are less interesting to me than the characters’ emotions during the scene, usually (unless there’s something really unusual or notable going on, lol). The Evak hotel clip happened to be the exact kind of TV/movie sex scene I like: more suggestive than explicit, more focused on their faces and their expressions. With Lucas and Eliott, I give massive props to the actors for going this far with each other, and they’re not shy or uncomfortable, but I also wish we saw more of their expressions so this scene felt like them and not any two bodies going at it? But anyway, again, not a flaw of the scene, just a personal preference.

Anyway, in the afterglow, Lucas looks totally fucked into contentment and says he wants to live his life on the barge. Eliott says he does too and starts talking about renting it for the wedding and getting lots of ham and crisps, ONLY ham and crisps for their wedding. Lucas thinks that sounds like a disappointing wedding menu. Eliott starts eagerly rambling about how their wedding will be so great that everyone will only want ham and crisps at their weddings and caterers will go out of business and somehow Trump is involved because ham isn’t enough of a boner killer, we gotta have Trump mentioned, too. Lucas is kinda amused, with a trace of “huh.”

He talks more about the Ham Cold War and going off on a barge and the sound effect from the Skam hotel clip happens, or at least there’s this low rumbling like it might almost be the motor or mechanics of the boat? Whatever it is, it’s ominous, it signifies this conversation getting less goofy and idealistic, more like reality crashing on Lucas as he realizes something’s off about Eliott.

I like how they shot Eliott in this scene. He’s facing that camera and we’re very close to him, so it adds to the intensity of what he’s saying. The editing is also slightly choppy, some cuts between what Eliott is saying, it’s fractured and disjointed like the thoughts in his head, harder to follow.

Eliott just keeps going with this story, like he’s writing a novel in his head involving Trump and making friends with a drug lord and having to deliver weed via boat globally. Like, the kind of thing that could be just messing around, inventing a funny story, except for intense Eliott is about it. It’s making him crack up, he can’t stop laughing. And he doesn’t notice (or care) that Lucas isn’t really following or participating in this story, Eliott is off on his own adventure.

Lucas is just like … wow. Now confused. Either Eliott is drunk as fuck or there’s something really strange happening.

Eliott lies beside Lucas and asks about the Eliotts and Lucases in parallel universes. Then he says they should die tonight. RECORD SCRATCH. Lucas is taken aback to say the least. Why would Eliott say that? Eliott kisses Lucas on the forehead and says he’s kidding. He snuggles up to Lucas and Lucas is bothered. I mean, yeah, who wouldn’t be after your boyfriend casually suggests a double suicide? This ain’t Romeo + Juliet. (Although honestly, I feel like this might be more in line with Even’s characterization, since he’s the one who thinks “the only way to have something forever is by losing it” which would go along with the idea of dying at one’s peak, and he’s also the one making references to death or suicide throughout S3. Eliott doesn’t really talk about death or suicide, as far as I can remember?)

Clip 6 - Ship sinking

It’s later, Lucas is sleeping. He wakes up and Eliott is sitting by the side of the bed watching him. If you didn’t know the twist, you might think Eliott lured Lucas out to this boat to murder him. And here I thought Lucas was the one with the serial killer vibe. Lucas asks if he ever sleeps. Er, have we gotten a ton of hints that Eliott doesn’t sleep? I mean thinking about it, there was no reason for Eliott to be asleep in the cuddle scene in episode 5, because their make-out was in the middle of the day. Not unusual for him to stay awake. Did he say something in the kitchen scene that implied he hadn’t slept? We also didn’t get any middle of the night texts, as with Even. But Eliott says he can’t sleep with someone this hot in the bed. He sounds deadly somber when he says it, though. Lucas smiles and goes back to sleep.

Cut to later. Somewhat blurry lens because Lucas is drowsy and it represents his hazy state of mind. Eliott is naked and lacing up his sneakers. He says he’s going for a swim. Bare ass. Lucas is about to fall back asleep when he’s like … wait a second. He gets dressed, runs around the boat looking for Eliott and calling his name.

Was there a splash? I didn’t hear one. Better if there wasn’t a splash, but then you have no idea where Eliott is. And for Lucas, hearing that whole thing about “let’s die tonight” is going to make him panic even more.

Lucas is yelling and in tears, he calls Lucille. Axel does a nice job here. There’s the sound of police/ambulance/whatever those sirens are in the background, so did they find Eliott? Or are they just thematic at the moment? (The sirens were in the original Skam scene, too.) Lucas asks Lucille to come. Lucas screams and freaks out, he’s shaking.

Lucille shows up on the boat and Lucas tells her what happened. He;s more angry and upset and spitting than Isak, which makes sense with Lucas’ temper. But he’s also unraveling and in tears. Lucas describes how Eliott said he was going for a swim, and he doesn’t think Eliott jumped, but he was naked.

Lucille says they have to hope the cops find him. When Lucas says he doesn’t understand, Lucille screams at him that Eliott is bipolar and broke into the barge. Lucas is like … he said he rented it. Lucille is like, for fuck’s sake, how do you think he paid for it? I dont know, is it totally out of the question Eliott has rich parents who give him a sizable allowance? I assumed Even just charged way too fucking much for that hotel suite or that he wiped out his savings or something, and Eliott could’ve done something similar. Though granted, I don’t know how much a weekend in a French barge costs. Anyway, I guess the point is that Lucas was so wrapped up in the fantasy that he didn’t bother to ask for further details, which is true.

Lucille asks if they smoked, pissed a hell. Lucas says just a little. Lucille says it makes Eliott sick and is bad for him. I mean, as I said about the Skam scene -that’s not Lucas’/Isak’s fault, that’s on Eliott/Even to know what he can and can’t do.

The way they lit and framed Lucille in this scene makes her seem kinda villainous, tbh. Or at least more dominant - it appears like she’s literally looking down at Lucas. I mean, she is very tall, heh.

Lucille gets a call, they’ve found Eliott. Lucas questions if they should call his parents, Lucille is like YES they should, obviously, he was naked in the street after he broke into a barge and he was smoking weed. I cannot disagree with Lucille on this.

Lucas wants to go with Lucille, but Lucille says no, Lucas needs to stay away, Eliott doesn’t love him, he can’t love him, it’s just something inside his head. She says Lucas is nothing to Eliott, he’s just a passing craze. What Lucille doesn’t know is that Lucas ain’t no passing phase, Hakuna Matata. Lucas sits down and cries after she leaves. Deeply dramatic piano music plays as he sobs. It gets a little too soap opera-ish here at the end, although I get that it’s a very intense scene; I just think the impact would’ve been just as great if they dialed it to a 10 instead of an 11. But you know, it’s Skam France.

Yeah, they made Lucille way more of an OTT villain here. I have to assume they’ll give her chance to speak for herself and humanize her like with Sonja, but it felt they escalated her less from someone who was just frustrated and concerned to someone who was operating out of spite, especially with the way they structured the scene. Like Sonja had the “he doesn’t love you” part earlier and she wasn’t like spitting at him. Isak was in disbelief, and she just left him like she was fed up. But they saved that “he doesn’t love you” part here for the final insult, the last knife to the ribs, and they made it more intense, too, like YOU’RE NOTHING TO HIM. Okay, Lucille, we get the picture, you can go back to punishing those kids for eating your gingerbread house.

I was pretty worried that this scene was going to be overly dramatic verging on exploitative, considering Skam France’s tendency to go over-the-top. But actually I think this set of clips was fine, other than the very end which was too much for my taste. The acting was strong and there were some solid directing choices. My biggest criticism is that they could have hinted at Eliott’s mania more before this clip, and that there wasn’t so much foreshadowing for this scene, in my opinion. And with Skam it wasn’t just about the clues that Even was bipolar, either, but the buildup of tension that something was off. Things like Eliott’s texts in the middle of the night about random memes managed to feel ominous, because we knew Even wasn’t sleeping. There are some moments that arguably were supposed to be hints about Eliott being manic, but I didn’t feel like they were so different from the rest of the acting/writing/directing/pacing that they really registered. So overall: buildup weak, payoff good on its own.

Social Media/General Comments

Lucas is shown hacking into the sink from the omelette that Eliott made, but I’m not convinced it wasn’t the paint. He posts a picture of the eggs like “If I get food poisoning, you’ll know why” YES BECAUSE YOUR MOUTHS WERE GUZZLING ART SUPPLIES OFF EACH OTHER LAST NIGHT.

Lucas did like all the meaningful posts on Eliott’s secret IG, like sketches of the rain and piano.

Eliott sleeps and Lucas cuddles him while singing a cover of “Call Your Girlfriend.” Sick Skam reference! (Actually I think Skam France's OG homages are really sweet.)

Lots of Eliott and Lucas couple selfies, with cuddly captions like “Him” or comments like “raccoon <3 hedgehog” emojis. Eliott draws another sketch of their fursonas together in all parallel universes.

Skam France also did something where they posted the sketch with pictures of the three Evaks out at the time, (from Norway, Italia, and France) which was seriously very cute and respectful of them.

Basile is wearing a Game of Thrones T-shirt (”Hodor Hodor Hodor”) in an IG pic and not to judge because I watch Game of Thrones myself, I’m literally wearing socks with the House Targaryen sigil on them right now, but yeah, that sounds about right for his character.

There’s also a dick print on the mural, it seems? For fuck’s sake, how could Eliott and Lucas possibly have any satisfying sex with paint slathered over their junk? Or did they wait until they were finished and just wiped off the paint by plastering their bodies against the mural? Maybe that’s how they cleaned themselves up. But how could you possibly get that good of a penis shape without just like ... dipping your dick into the bucket of paint itself? How could you position your dick and balls against the wall that way to get the imprint? Anyway, Alex and Emma have a bet over whose dick it is. I don’t think it’s anyone’s actual dick, Eliott and/or Lucas just thought it would be funny to paint something that looked like one.

Lucas brings up the Lucille call in a text to Eliott, saying that maybe Lucille had something to tell him, and that Eliott told her to fuck off. Eliott brings up that it’s something they had in common: Eliott told Lucille to fuck off so he could be with Lucas, Lucas told his friends to fuck off so he could be with Eliott (on Friday in the foyer). Well. Not totally the same, Eliott, but I feel like this is almost a diversion from what Lucas wants to know. Eliott says sometimes you have to tell people to fuck off to live your life. Lucas seems appeased by this answer for now, because he doesn’t push the topic, just says he’s happy Eliott is going with them tomorrow to the park.

I am not French so please feel free to correct me on translation or cultural notes.

If you got this far, thank you for reading!

#skamfr reactions #skam france reactions

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thehyperkraken · 6 years ago

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EDIT: yall idk why the actual fic isnt showing up in the tags but this shit is, bc thats literally the opposite of what i wanted, but for the love of god read the fic first and/or instead, that’s the thing i spent more than 20 minutes on: [link]

Hey random idea dump for that one fic i done did yeehaw... it’s almost longer than the fic itself but jesus christ i need to get these ideas out of my head and throw them into the internet ether, seriously don’t read this its a goddamn mess

So ghjkdf the actual plotty part of that fic came from that one b99 bit... the Bone one.....u kno

Arthur: Come on, Dutch. The O'Driscolls thing isn't the problem. You're in a bad mood because you've been so busy planning this heist that it's keeping you and Hosea apart. You two just need to bone. John: Oh no... Dutch: ...What did you say? John: Don't say it again! Arthur: I said you two need to bone. John: Oh my god... Dutch: (with barely contained fury) Hhhhhow Dare you Arthur Morgan, I am thIS GANG'S LEADER!!! You have NO RIGHT to comment on my sex life— (5 minutes later) Dutch, standing on top of a table screaming: BONE?!?!?! (10 minutes later) Dutch: What happens in my bedroom, son, is NONE of your business— (20 minutes later) Dutch, jumping up and down on the table: BOOOOOOONE!!!!!!!!! (40 minutes later) Dutch: And don't EVER speak to me like that AGAIN! (storms off) John, sunken down in his chair in horror: Why the hell did you do that? Arthur: (shrugs) They need to bone. John: Gross, Arthur! That's our dads!

And then like a day later gfdhkg

John: Oh hey Dutch! I know you don't want to talk about Hosea, BUT, I had an idea— Dutch: No need, John, it's all good. John: So... your fight with Hosea is over? Dutch: Yep. John: Because you finally figured out a plan for the heist...? Dutch: Nope! Arthur, excitedly: Because you guys—? Dutch: Yyyyep! Arthur, looking smug: Knew it. John: Ugh... Arthur: (leans down close to him) See, what happened is, our dads had sex— John: UGH, SHUT UP!

Another inspiration I had was John Mulaney’s bit about zoning out for John with adhd,,,,, the part where he’s like “the doctor was reading me the results of a blood test, it was IMPORTANT that I LISTENED, but NO, I zoned out, I was like, I’m just gonna stare at the wall and think m’thoughts” that’s why I wrote the part where John was like “ehhh attention deficient something something disease” bc it made me laugh gjhggdjh

Dutch: so the doctor says you have ADHD John: (thinking about minecraft) what?

Also unrelated but blease consider Arthur teaching John to drive like

Arthur: are you watching the road? John: ........I am looking through the windshield Arthur: John: .......and I’m not gonna hit anyone...... Arthur: John: ....but no. I’m thinkin’ about minecraft

(Also I don’t know anything about ssb I’ve played it once and hated it, minecraft is my og video game love, but Abigail beating John at ssb is funnier, I’m a fake gamer boy :^( rip)

ONE MORE INSPIRATION THAT ONE VINE ITS MY FAVORITE VINE

Arthur: are you drinking coke for breakfast? John: yeah, what did you have for breakfast? Arthur: ........nothing John: (sipping his drink) I’m doing better than you, then

Anyway onto ACTUAL IDEA STUFF HOORAY

So when Dutch and Hosea decided to adopt, they agreed they wanted to take in kids who needed good homes the most, so they were specifically looking for older kids who would probably age out of the system and wind up on the streets

They met Arthur who was a clearly depressed and gender non conforming thirteen year old who hated everyone and everything and wasn’t getting the Love he Deserved, and Dutch was like “I want THAT ONE, with the SAD EYES”

Arthur tried to push them away at first, cuz he absolutely didn’t trust anyone, and some part of him believed they’d just give him right back up for adoption if he disappointed them in any way. But he eventually learned that they were good guys who really just wanted to help him, and they weren’t gonna abandon him if he wasn’t the perfect kid they always wanted

(he probably told them about this fear eventually and Hosea just snorted and was like “if we wanted a perfect kid we woulda got a cabbage patch doll. something that wouldn’t scream or make a mess” and Dutch was like “yeah! or like a 27 year old with a job and their own house and kids of their own. pre-made grandkids” and Hosea was like “or a cat” and Arthur was like “...okay”)

Anyway it took a loooong time but Arthur eventually trusted them enough to come out to them as trans, without really knowing the proper words for everything, just knowing that He Is A Boy And That’s That. As much as Hosea is the one the lads go to to talk about stuff and get comfort and Wise Dad Advice, he probably told Dutch first bc he was more uncertain how he’d respond and he wanted to get it over with in the worst way possible.... like, if they were gonna react badly, heap all the bullshit on in one fell swoop

I imagine he did it off the cuff too, in response to something Dutch said, like Dutch was like “u get back here right now young lady” and Arthur was like “first of all I’m not a lady, I’m a BOY, and second of all FUCK you, I do what I WANT” and Dutch was like “groovy. you’re grounded.” Arthur was like (offended) “don’t say groovy... don’t try to be hip” and Dutch was like “no it’s totally tubular that ur a boy. It’s absolutely funky. You’re fucking grounded though”

Then he went and told Hosea like “congrats! it’s a boy” and they helped him transition and they didn’t tolerate a single person misgendering him the whole time. Like before he’s even begun transitioning, they’re literally at the doctors office to discuss it w/ their doc for the first time, and a nurse is like “ms. morgan?” And Dutch is like “INCORRECT” and the doctor is like “what seems to be the problem (deadname)?” and Dutch is like “FOOL! THIS CHILD WAS LABELED INACCURATELY, WE REQUIRE A GENDER RETRACTION” and Hosea’s like “please stop yelling”

Anyway probably about a year later they got John when he was ten and Arthur was fifteen. Arthur was a little bit jealous like, wow, am I not enough kid for u, but Dutch and Hosea always planned on getting at least two bc they wanted them to have siblings, and they know John came from a pretty abusive situation, so Arthur can’t be too mad at him. At least until he met John and realized what a fucking brat he is

Since John was younger and way more desperate for affection, he immediately loved Dutch and Hosea just bc they were nice to him, he was ready to call them his dads within the month but he was nervous that it was too soon and they’d be weirded out. But I imagine he got triggered by something and had a meltdown and they got to see just a glimpse of what he’d been through, and Dutch and Hosea were falling over themselves trying to comfort him and tell him they love him and now I’m making myself cry :’^(

Anyway... from that point on John was like “these are the only dads I’ve ever had and I would kill a man for them.” He gets in trouble quite a bit bc he’s Naughty, but Dutch and Hosea always make sure to punish him fairly and never yell or be physically intimidating with him or permanently take away his stuff, like they make him do chores to earn back the right to use the xbox or something. And they always explain to him exactly what he did wrong and why he’s being punished and talk to him about how he can make it better or what he can do next time, or if there’s a root problem, like he’s acting out bc he’s overwhelmed with school work or smthn, how they can help him. Especially after he gets diagnosed with ADHD

And of course they do all this with Arthur too, but they make a special concerted effort with John bc he’s The Baby :^) and Dutch somehow maintains an attitude of “idk what ur talking about, John has never done anything wrong ever in his life” every time he gets in trouble meanwhile Hosea is like “what do you MEAN, he’s a GREMLIN” fjfjfhhf

Arthur was probably diagnosed with depression and anxiety at some point... it was probably a long process to get him to even admit he had a problem bc he didnt wanna bother anyone... Arthur also probably came from an abusive situation from the way canon Arthur talks about his dad, but Arthur is much more the type to be like “i’m gonna keep all my feelings inside, and then one day, i’ll die” whereas John is like “i will SCREAM if i get a papercut”

[EDIT: i woke up in a cold sweat at 4 AM with this in my head so now i’m putting it here

Charles: So, Arthur... Do you wanna talk about your feelings? Arthur: No. John: I do! :) Charles: ...I know, John. John: I’m sad! :) Charles: I know, John.

i’m sure it’s been done before but it’s so good. ok now back to our regularly scheduled programming]

In regards to Arthur being trans, John doesn’t really Get It, Arthur tried to explain it to him once and John couldn’t care less, all he knows is Arthur used to be a girl or something, there’s tea involved probably, and John is thinking about minecraft again... he has 2 am thoughts about it sometimes and comes to Arthur like “what IS gender” and Arthur’s just like “hm. big mood”

Dutch is “Dad” and Hosea is “Papa” or “Pa” or “Pops” or “Dad, No Not You, The Other One” or “Other Dad.” Hosea really doesn’t mind at all, he wouldn’t care if the kids called him Hosea or mom or anything else, it truly isnt important to him. But Dutch Loves being Dad. Every time they call Dutch Dad he grows three times stronger and 10 years are added to his lifespan. Dutch is an Alpha Parent, he 100% goes to every parent teacher conference and bake sale, he’d go to every game and concert too if either of his kids had a single athletic or musical bone in their dumb little bodies. I guess the school probably hosts art galleries sometimes to display art the kids make, Arthur always has a drawing in one of those, and Dutch will absolutely go just to brag about his cool son.

Dutch is the Fun Energetic Dad who embarrasses the boys in front of their friends but can always be talked into taking them out to get ice cream. Hosea is the more quietly anxious dad, he makes sure they do their homework and keep their rooms clean and shit, and he's the one the kids always go to talk to when they’re having problems... like Arthur will rant for an hour and a half about high school drama and Hosea will patiently listen to all of it and when he's done he’ll offer to kick the other kids’ asses for him, and Arthur’s like lmao but Hosea Means It.

Hosea is also the one the kids go to for help on their homework because Hosea and Dutch have five brain cells between them, and four of them belong to Hosea. Dutch is like “suddenly I don’t remember basic math, time to make shit up” and Hosea is like “I must become an expert on 1820s Chinese history in two days for my beautiful sons”

I have NO idea what either of their jobs are, I wanna say Hosea is a lawyer or smthn but idk, Dutch is probably like......................a used car salesman LMAO...... they clearly make a lot of money (or maybe STOLE SOME) bc I gave them a huge house w/ a pool gjhkdhg

Anyway more about THE KIDS

They go to a school that is a combination middle school and high school, bc that’s what my school was like

Mrs. Grimshaw is the strict and irritable principal with a secret soft spot for kids, Mr. Pearson is the cafeteria cook, Strauss works in the office, I wanna say Rev. Swanson is a weird but friendly janitor or something lmao. Uncle is Dutch & Hosea’s annoying forever-drunk neighbor who everyone barely tolerates fjfjhfh

Micah is The School Bully but like bc this is a cutesy high school au and I can do what I want, he’s not actually like a violent racist or anything he’s just a bad mad sad kid who is a huge dick

Bill is Micah’s Bully Henchman, he’s generally not as much of a dick as Micah is, but he punches whoever Micah asks him to bc they are the closest thing to friends that either of them have

Trelawny is a new student who just moved from another school and he’s that fucking Weird Magician Kid who can’t hold a conversation longer than five seconds without saying “wanna see a magic trick,” tried to do some unimpressive card tricks for the school talent show, unironically wears a cape, etc.... Arthur stood up for him when he was getting pushed around by Micah and Bill so now Arthur has +1 more weird friend

Karen is the Popular Girl who somehow knows everyone, is probably a cheerleader, everyone is either extremely intimidated by her or thinks she’s gonna be a stuck up bitch, but she’s actually just super fucking chill and nice, WILL stab a man for her friends, she won’t hesitate bitch

Tilly is Karen’s bff who was getting bullied by *shakes fist* those dang foreman brothers.... Karen stood up for her and Tilly was like “no don’t u will get hurt!!” and Karen was like “ha... fool... cheerleaders cannot die” and whooped ass with her gymnastics skills and somehow got the foreman brothers expelled. So now Tilly is like “I owe u one (1) Life Debt” but Karen is like “nah it’s chill just come to target w/ me & we’ll call it even.” Tilly is just tryna get shit done and do her damn homework but everybody else is going on adventures and being nuisances so of course Tilly has to go too bc come on....... who do you take her for, some kinda two-bit GEEK? NO WAY

Mary Beth is a quiet nerdy girl who’s always reading or writing and never talks in class or anything. Karen and Tilly became her friends thru sheer brute force, Karen just sat by her one day n was like “sup” and Mary Beth was too shy to ask her to leave. They were surprised to discover Mary Beth is actually pretty nice and funny when you get to know her and also the Biggest Lesbian Alive

Sadie is a BAD BITCH... NOBODY fucks with Sadie, not even Micah, Sadie is the girl who when some dipshit boy spreads a rumor that he had sex with her, she agrees and tells everyone she pegged him and he cried after, she hasn’t given a fuck since 2007. she climbs on the roof to get lost frisbees. one time she got the gym coach to agree to give her an automatic A in the class if she did 100 push ups in 5 minutes. Then she Did That. She might have pulled several muscles in both of her arms but She Did That. Karen, Tilly, and Mary Beth (but mostly Karen) approached her like “damn that was sick” and Sadie was like “yea i know” and then they were friends

I literally don’t know anything about Sean I’m sorry...... maybe he’s a transfer student who becomes friends with John, they play Minecraft together and Sean boobytraps the houses John builds. Sean is the only living human being who understands how redstone works and he uses his powers for evil

Molly is going to a nearby community college and is working at the high school part time as a TA and she is like 19-20 or smthn so the kids all think she’s The Hottest Shit,,,, like they think she’s just the coolest hippest person alive, but also she is Very Attractive so fuckin everybody has a crush on her, most specifically Javier and Mary Beth. She ineptly tries to flirt with Dutch every time he comes to a parent teacher conference bc she’s dummy thicc and thinks it’s friendship goals that Dutch lives with and has adopted children with his Best Bud Hosea

The teacher Molly is TA for is Charles Chatenay, an all-grades art teacher who takes his job WAY too seriously, like dude chill they’re high schoolers. His class is where Arthur met Albert, bc Arthur loves drawing and obviously Albert loves photography. They were both like “wow he’s cute” but were too shy to talk to each other for more than basic pleasantries, until one day Albert’s Big Project was ruined a day or two before he was gonna turn it in, and Arthur helped him fix it.

They’re so sweet on each other it’s unbearable, they’re both Soft Boys so they fuckin blush if they make eye contact...... the most bold either of them get is when Arthur is feeling insecure about his body and Albert gladly tells him how perfect and handsome he is in every way, and he wishes he was half as gorgeous as Arthur is, and Arthur is like (offended) um, excuse me, how dare u insult my beautiful boyfriend in this way?? They both wanna grow beards so while they’re still going thru Changes they excitedly bond over their facial hair......... they run up to each other at school like LOOK AT MY NEW CHIN HAIR and the other one is like WOW!!! GOOD JOB

Javier has a big lovely family who spoil him rotten and tbh love to spoil his friends when they come over too, his parents are in a constant and devastating game of dish-gifting with Dutch & Hosea, Arthur and John have eaten more of Mr. & Mrs. Escuella’s tamales than any other food, neither Dutch nor Hosea are very good cooks but luckily Javier has plenty of aunts and uncles and cousins who are happy to occasionally take one of their unimpressive lasagnas or cakes from a box mix

Lenny’s cool dad in canon is the high school au dad of Charles and Lenny, he and Charles’s mom amicably divorced and he got remarried to Lenny’s mom, who is a Cool Stepmom to Charles. Charles and Lenny go stay with Charles’s mom all the time, in fact she was around so much when they were younger that she practically helped raise them both. maybe she gets a gf and Charles and Lenny have so many moms and are so loved & cherished like they fuCKIN DESERVE

Kieran is the weird horse girl at school, he’s Lenny’s age, they become friends when they’re forced to sit next to each other and they’re both too awkward and shy to say anything until they’re paired up on a project together bc everyone else in the class already paired up and they were the only ones left gjkhfd.... John wants to dislike Kieran bc Lenny is HIS friend now, but Kieran is a sweet lad with a mean dad.... His dad is Colm O’Driscoll, Dutch & Hosea’s other neighbor and Dutch’s sworn enemy

Dutch expects Kieran to be as shitty as his dad, but he is a SWEET BOY, and as soon as they realize his situation, they tell Kieran he can come over whenever he wants and spend the night any time, he doesn’t have to ask or anything, but Kieran is super respectful and always asks permission and always tries to come over when John or Arthur are there so he can go under the pretense of hanging out with them, bc he doesn’t wanna intrude...

Once he came over when Hosea was the only one home and he was like “hi Mr. Matthews are John and Arthur home” and Hosea was like “no sorry they’re out” and Kieran was like “oh... ok sorry I’ll just go then” and Hosea was like “absolutely not” and brought Kieran in and made him snacks and wrapped him in many blankets and watched a kids movie with him until he fell asleep on the couch... when Dutch came home he was like “??? new son ???” and Hosea was like “yea I guess. oops”

When Kieran gets older they help him become an emancipated minor and get a job and his own place (even tho he knows they’d let him stay with them if he wanted) and he changes his last name to his mom’s maiden name Duffy... Colm and Dutch glare at each other over their fences and Colm is like “enjoying stealing my son?” and Dutch is like “my son now” but Colm really doesn’t care bc he’s an asshole... and even tho they don’t legally adopt him, Kieran’s like “I’m more of a Van der Linde than an O’Driscoll” and oops i’m making myself cry again :’)

And yes Abigail does eventually teach John how to play stupid super smash bros. She’s Pro Gamer level of competent at nearly all video games and John has the biggest heart eyes for her, the end thank u for listening

#the suffering of john marston. 13 #filler tag 1 #filler tag 2 #morgason #trans arthur morgan #vandermatthews #rdr2

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barytyrannus · 6 years ago

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Art Analysis: Gorillaz, and How an Art Style can Lose its Edge.

Ah, Jamie Hewlett. My hero, and ultimate inspiration. I hear y’all praising Damon all the time, but I never would have gotten into Gorillaz if it weren’t for Jamie’s artstyle....at least, it was amazing. What happened though? How does Gorillaz in 2018 compare to Gorillaz in 2001? Well, lets take a look back through the history of Gorillaz.

Welcome to the first Art Analysis. I’ve wanted to do this for a while because, frankly, I haven’t seen many other people do it. Today, I’ll be talking about the art style of Gorillaz, not actually Jamie Hewlett specifically (bummer, right?) We’re going to analyze what made it great, and why, I feel, it has lost its magic. Remember, this is all my opinion. Even though your wrong, feel free to tell me your thoughts as well.

Phase 1:

(Early Gorillaz Concept Art)

The Gorillaz was born when Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett expressed dissatisfaction with the modern state of mTV. The idea of having cartoon characters replace real musicians lent itself to be a vessel for great social commentary, but in order for this to work, the characters had to be distinctive. Gorillaz in phase 1 feel very at home in the early 2000s. Powerpuff Girls, Dexter’s Laboratory, and Johny Bravo all rocked the specific, thick-lined, angular, flat shaded style, and the Gorillaz followed suit. Many have pointed out how this style feels like a throwback to 50s UPA animation, and the Gorillaz use similar animation methods as well.

Let me just say that this is, in my view, the BEST cartoon style. Phase 1 Gorillaz art and animation felt more lively and slick. They had an over-emphasized cartoonyness that not only carried their message well but also contrasted beautifully with the dark nature of the characters. Jamie Hewlett’s work in Gorillaz phase 1 was his best work to date, outside of maybe Get the Freebies.

The Gorillaz in phase 1 also remind me a lot of urban vinyls, like those of KidRobot. This may be due to the smooth, flat colors and shading. It suits the more urban feel of their first album quite well. The Gorillaz fan artist Irina Bolshakova has mastered this style and deserves a mention because I think she is the greatest Gorillaz fan artist of all time. I often reference her work more than Jamie even!

Phase 2:

The most significant change in direction in terms of the Gorillaz artstyle, atleast until recently, was with the beginning of phase 2. Demon Days, as an album, have significantly different themes than the band’s previous outing. It was a post-911 world now, and gone were the innocent, chill vibes of Self Titled. The world just got a whole lot drearier and more paranoid. The cartoon network inspired style wouldn’t work for this, and changes needed to be made.

For starters, the characters became more gritty and detailed. They often looked worn out and ghoulish, like zombies, which was especially fitting. The thick lines, unfortunately, were diminished significantly, replaced with what almost resembles pencil lines, and shading began to use a gradient. It was often darker as well, making the eyes of the characters look sunken in and vampiric. Limbs showed more of a natural curve, and were less geometric, and muscles were more toned. The characters often felt stiff and spidery in phase 1, legs jutting out at exaggerated angles. They were often posed more naturally in phase 2. The colors in this art are often muddled and dull as well. To me, I describe the style of phase 2 as akin to walking into an old, dusty antique store.

While this style works very well for Demon Days, I feel like it was overall a downgrade. The characters feel less distinctive and eye catching. That may be why they are often seen wearing outlandish costumes in this phase, but I digress. The gothic feel of the album should be right up my ally, and, well, it is. I love this album so much, as well as D Sides. And I love the artstyle, don’t get me wrong. I just feel it changed too much and lost what made Gorillaz art so appealing to me in the first place.

Much like Irina is the best phase 1 Gorillaz fanartist, Lora Zombie gets the award for the best phase 2 Gorillaz fanartist.

Phase 3:

Phase 3 marks the beginning of a downward trend in the artstyle’s evolution. Plastic Beach is a bit of an odd-ball album from them, and a hit or miss for many people. The style of the album was dramatically different then previous outings, transitioning from demons and self destruction to a “Gorillaz at Sea” carnival attraction. At least that’s how I would describe it.

With only 1 2D animated music video for this album, and considerably less promotional imagery than past outings, there isn’t as much to go off of. The first thing I noticed was that the pencil lines in Demon Days are significantly more pronounced, making much of the art look unfinished at points(ironic, considering Rhinestone Eyes). This clashes with the more dynamic shading , leading to a bit of a strange look. Perhaps this would look good with darker colors, but since this album is much more pop-y and upbeat, the colors are actually much brighter than past incarnations. It is also here that Jamie appears to loose a sense of consistence with his character designs. Most notably is Murdoc, who appears to have gotten some sort of jaw reduction surgery (something we’ll see more of in phase 4), and at some points looks like a racoon, as the dark circles around his eyes are often extremely exaggerated. Murdoc particularly looks distinctly different at different parts of the album. 2D’s issue in phase 3 has to do with magically reducing his age. In some art, he has very visible wrinkles and a receding hairline, but other times, he looks just as old as he was in phase 1.

Phase 3 is a dramatic drop in quality, and it feels fitting that this album led to a falling out between Jamie and Damon due to his art feeling underutilized.

Phase 4:

7 years after Plastic Beach, the Gorillaz make an admittedly lack-luster comeback. Not only was the music of Humanz pretty dull, but the phase 4 artwork in general was Jamie Hewlett at his worst. The first change was the abandonment of any sort of consistent outlining on the characters. I hate when cartoons do this; thick outlines are amazing! Why tf would you get rid of them? The characters in this album are designed to look very human like, with very human proportions and less exaggerated features.

The style is unrecognizable. Eyes are smaller and less circular. Limbs are lankier and hands grosser. The classic “ape nose” seen in the past three phases and an iconic part of their design was shrunken and narrowed. Shading is more 3 dimensional, adding to the comparably realistic character designs. 2D and Noodle also joined Murdoc in getting jaw reduction surgery. 2D also grew back one of his front teeth apparently. And with this album, any consistency in character design is gone completely. I wouldn’t believe you if you told me that this:

and this:

Were the same character. What the hell? Phase 5 was a dark time for Gorillaz, and it shows, as not only the music itself, but the art also felt jumbled and inconsistent.

I feel like I should add, though, that while this is my least favorite Gorillaz artstyle, it is by no means a bad artstyle in general.

Phase 5:

It was with phase 5 that the Gorillaz started to look more like the Gorillaz again. It was also with phase 5 that Russel finally joined the jaw reduction club, but that’s besides the point. The Now Now was one of the best albums to come out of the Gorillaz, and that says a lot. It’s somber vibes were the score to my summer vacation, and were a breath of fresh air after the hot mess that was Humanz. The new art with this album took a different turn, feeling yet again like a throwback, not to UPA unfortunately, but to old fashioned comicbooks.

This style is marked by harsh shadows and flat, two-toned shading. Yes! Its about time you brought that back. Just like the album itself, the art gives a 70s vibe, particularly with the choice of color and tacky clothing. But a few things in this style don’t work.The body proportions of the characters are identical to real humans, and the hands and ears are considerably more realistic. This really bothers me, but at this point I’ve excepted that the Gorillaz aren’t just cartoon characters anymore. For the most part, this art is more consistent and stylish, and is a welcome change to the previous incarnation.

Having a damn good style for the Now Now is great and all, but I certainly miss what we had back in 2001. The Gorillaz are less underground now, and feel more consumerized, especially seeing as Noodle has an instagram, and I feel that the art has gone a similar route. I hope to see a bit more of that classic Gorillaz in the future, and I sure hope that the television show takes pointers from the OG Gorillaz. Until then, here are the artstyles of each phase ranked:

5. Phase 4

4. Phase 3

3. Phase 5

2. Phase 2

1. Phase 1

I hope to do more of these Art Analysis. This was really fun to put together.

#Gorillaz #gorillaz art #review

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rwdestuffs · 6 years ago

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Done dirty: Team STRQ

I’m having way too much fun with these screenshot openers.

Team STRQ is one of the most interesting things about the show, and at the same time, the most boring things about the show.

Each character listed above has been done dirty in some way, either by the writers, the narrative, other characters, the audience, or other such circumstances.

One of the things is that we don’t know whose partner is whose. It would be interesting to find out who ended up partnering with whom, but that’s another story all together.

Let’s start with the dead bitch. You know her. She’s super-mom: Slayer of monsters, baker of cookies (At least, according to Yang). So, obviously, she has a lot of time dedicated to her, and how big of an influence she was on Yang and Ruby, right?

NOPE! But, if there’s literally anything I could give this show over Soul Eater, it would be that at least we know what Ruby’s mom looks like, and her name. We don’t get that for Maka’s mom. But then again, Soul Eater also didn’t make a big deal about Mama Albarn. Off-Topic tangent aside, Yang says that Summer never came back from a mission. Implying that she died.

Now, this wouldn’t be much of a problem if we didn’t see a grimm being beaten by a corgi.

(Look forward to a done dirty on the grimm in the near future).

So, unless it was a member of Salem’s faction (which it might be, as it was Hazel who mentioned that they had ‘taken care of’ Silver-eyed warriors in the past), it feels really unlikely that Summer died on a hunt.

And speaking of Silver Eyes, that causes another problem due to how they work.

If they’re supposed to be destined for the life of a warrior, then you’d think that Summer wouldn’t have gone down so easily. Summer got done dirty because despite how important she is to other characters, she is hardly a character herself. In fact, by the sounds of the commentary, she seems to just be a copy/paste of Ruby’s character.

Also, isn’t it nice that Yang no longer considers “Super-Mom” to be her mom, and then refers to her as “Ruby’s mom”?

Seriously. Summer’s influence needs to have a bigger impact on the characters. Sure, her ‘leaving’ made an impact on Yang, but Ruby rarely talks about her, and only really visits her gravestone twice in the same volume. Yang, on the other hand, has mentioned Summer different times in different volumes. Which seems to indicate that Summer’s supposed death had a bigger impact on Yang than it did Ruby, but the fact that she seems to be more willing to call the woman who abandoned her ‘mom’ it just seems like… Yang’s being ungrateful, or that she’s having feelings of inadequacy.

And with Ruby rarely mentioning Summer at all, it just shows that the creators had Summer leave their lives too early. Maybe Ruby had no real choice in the matter of becoming a huntress, and it was the way of the Silver Eyed Warrior that compelled her to do so, but it says a lot when Summer isn’t important enough to Ruby for her to mention her often.

And again, Summer sounding like a copy/paste of Ruby feels like one is being robbed of a fleshed-out character that left an impact on others.

At least we know how Tai reacted- Speaking of which…

Next up is the insensitive bitch, Taiyang. Now, I’m sure that if anyone knows me, they know my… thoughts and opinions on Taiyang “Imma call the manifestation of my daughter’s soul a temper tantrum” Xiao Long isn’t really positive saying the least.

It’s no secret that I don’t like this guy, so please excuse any comments that make me seem like I’m making him out to be the devil incarnate. I have a hard time with this, and I also project my mother’s shitty attitude onto him, so I have issues. Regardless, I am going to try to be as civil as possible when discussing Taiyang. Though, as a warning: It may not last. Scroll past to the deadbeat bitch if you want to skip me being overly critical of Tai, and how he was portrayed and received by the audience.

I don’t care what the writers do, this line is never going to fly if they also want to say that Tai was a “Super caring and supportive father.” Tai being too depressed to take care of his kids is an explanation for this behavior. Not an excuse.

I don’t know what the writers are trying to pull here, but trying to say that Tai is a good dad while also having these lines of dialogue exist isn’t going to fly. It’s like trying to have Batman tell someone off for teaching an orphan martial arts and having them beat up dangerous criminals- It’s just going to come off as something really empty.

Tai’s comments about wanting to go out and look for Ruby also come off as empty as well. The next time we see him, he’s gardening. If him staying behind was so important, you’d think that the writers would have him teaching at Signal, or helping out in the Vale effort. But no. Tai is just gardening. Because that was more important that going out and looking for Ruby.

Tai fails here, because the narrative (and the writers) refuse to acknowledge the fact that he fucked up. Tai had one job as a parent, and do you know what that job was?

But no. Tai up and decides to fuck. up.

If the writers wanted me to believe that Tai didn’t end up giving the job of parenting to Yang?- Then they shouldn’t have had Yang explicitly say that she was alone in picking up the pieces and in keeping things together

For God’s sake, if the narrative and writers were trying to make me think that he wasn’t an asshole, I have only one grade to give them:

And the absolute worst part is that his fucking stans keep touting him as “father of the year.” as if Ghira didn’t exist or something.

No. Tai isn’t a perfect dad, nor is he a horrible one. But the mere fact that he didn’t even get a sitter for Yang and Ruby is very telling. And I still need to reiterate:

Despite wanting to go out and look for Ruby (and inadvertently blaming Yang for his inability to do so), once Yang is ‘armed and ready,’ he opts to…

Garden.

He’s not protecting Vale, he’s not teaching the next generation… the writers thought that showing him gardening would be an important scene.

Let’s move on to the deadbeat. The bitch who couldn’t be bothered to raise her own kid.

Admittedly, Raven was a real big enigma back in volumes two and three. She was a big deal.

She was shrouded in mystery, and there were a lot of theories going around. She was working for the bad guys, she was working for Salem, I remember maybe one where she was using Sienna Khan as an alias. Raven was a big deal. And her uncaring nature came into question when we got the Raven stinger in Volume 2.

And when we found out that Raven was the leader of a tribe of bandits, there was some more intrigue. She was now, all of a sudden, a powerful force to be reckoned with. She could intimidate opponents far out of the protagonist teams’ reach. She was in charge of a group of people who could decimate an entire village in a matter of minutes.

She took Weiss hostage, and she was a woman with a plan.

And then…

youtube

Raven’s bandits are taken down really easily. By her daughter. Who was in physical therapy for a few months. And only recently got back into fighting.

You see where the problem is?

Raven isn’t intimidating in this scene. And her conversation with Yang and Weiss leaves us with no reason to distrust Ozpin. Raven had one job in that scene. That job was to give Yang and Weiss (and by extension, the audience), a reason to believe that Ozpin is not to be trusted.

But instead, she turns into a bird, and then turns back.

Because for some reason, that is supposed to convey to the audience that Ozpin is not to be trusted.

Raven doesn’t really do much after sending Yang and Weiss to Qrow, so let’s move on to her plan of double-crossing Cinder.

Which, is arguably, the best thing she has done as a character. She sets everything up, and we also get a fairly decent fight scene with Cinder too.

But, we run into a few issues here.

Like how Raven killed the Spring Maiden and took her power. Which is an underwhelming way to display the character being cunning.

Had Raven been given the powers by OG Spring as a means of spite, Raven wouldn’t be an idiot for taking the powers when she wants to stay out of the Ozpin vs. Salem war.

Not to mention that she seems to want to play the sympathy card for killing OG Spring.

Raven doesn’t really earn any sympathy points. She does earn some idiot points for thinking that taking the relic would keep Salem and Ozpin off her back, though.

Overall, Raven, despite being the most human character of her team, fails at being an interesting or compelling character due to the sheer idiocy of her actions, and the lack of being able to accomplish the one job she had of instilling distrust in Oz to the audience.

Finally at the end, and now we deal with the drunk.

See, Qrow fails at a lot of things. Most notably, not being a condescending piece of shit towards guys like Ironwood. Qrow blames Ironwood for not keeping in contact with him… when Qrow is the scout, and he should be the one to report in. This is like a doctor being mad at their patient when the patient doesn’t take their medication, when the doctor never prescribed it.

Qrow also wants to be such an edgelord too.

Here, we see Qrow bemoaning that his semblance, stating that it is “Always there” whether he likes it or not.

Then the writers said this:

Now, whether they needed to clarify what they meant or if this was a retcon, the choice of words made it pretty clear that Qrow’s semblance was out of control, and the line of “It’s always there” implied that it was constantly running.

There is a difference between “out of control” and “always there.” The writers should know the importance of word choice, and should have simply said “out of control.” Then again, they would run into the same problem if they had then clarified that he can amplify it in a fight, implying that he can control it, but they would also have to clarify that it’s to a certain degree.

But they didn’t. Not only does this imply a retcon, but it also makes Qrow out to be a melodramatic edgelord. He bemoans his semblance, but it’s not as bad as it seems since it’s actually not “always there, whether he likes it or not” so his sob story gets ruined.

Not to mention that he falls into the designated hero trope pretty often. He starts the fight with Winter, and for some reason, he is not punished for it outside of a talking to by Oz. His plans of getting Haven’s relic involves kidnapping the Spring Maiden from Raven’s camp, and forcing her to help them. He also berates his niece for daring to question Ozpin, and sees no issue with Oz drafting a fourteen-year old into a war.

Overall, Qrow’s questionable actions have yet to be called out. He is constantly defended, and the one time he isn’t defended is a time in which Jaune calls him out for giving Pyrrha that ultimatum. And even then, Ruby (Y’know, the girl who was rooting for her uncle when he started that fight with Winter) doesn’t even jump to his defense.

It’s very telling that the only character to call Qrow out on his actions is the creator’s pet, and not……… literally anyone else.

Not to mention that he’s just Ozpin’s yes-man. Because how dare Yang question him. How dare Raven not trust Ozpin. How dare anyone believe that the guy who is possessing a fourteen-year-old kid be questioned in any way.

At this rate, Ozpin could literally kill a baby, and Qrow would just say “Well, it’s probably because that baby was an agent of Salem. So Oz did us all a favor by killing it preemptively.”

To which Ozpin would reply “Yes. That. It had absolutely nothing to do with that baby spilling my coffee.”

Overall, the biggest theme with Team STRQ seems to be a pretty common one:

A lack of sympathy.

These characters are hard to sympathize for. Even Summer. Summer was a huntress, and despite knowing that she had two young daughters, she decided to go on a dangerous mission anyways. These characters end up lacking anything that would make them sympathetic, and the one that would be the most sympathetic is dead.

And if Summer isn’t dead, then why doesn’t she try to go back to her kids?- Unless she’s captured or has amnesia, Summer is in no position to not be trying her damnedest to try to return home if she’s still alive.

Tai fails at being a sympathetic dad due to Yang explicitly saying that she was alone in keeping things together. Raven fails at being sympathetic due to her idiotic and contradictory tactics. And Qrow fails at being sympathetic because of how his semblance got explained, and his own actions.

#rwde #summer crit #taiyang crit #raven crit #qrow crit #done dirty

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secretsofthemasquerade · 6 years ago

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V5 Corebook, no gloves review P.1

Y’all know me, it had to be coming. Sorry it took me so long. Part 1 is about the physical aspect of the PDF (I don’t have the physical book at hand yet), Part 2 is going to be about mechanics and “content”, since I’m still testing that out.

So first and foremost, the small Mature Content Warning that was added last minute to the PDF. It has been published online on its own so I have no issues posting it here:

Mature Content Warning For the past several decades, Vampire: The Masquerade has addressed the darkness in the real world through horror stories: it has talked about AIDS, capitalist exploitation, sexual predation, the resurgence of far-right political extremism, religious fanaticism, state and private surveillance, and many other issues. This version of the game does not shy away from any of the above, and we believe exploration of subjects like these is as valid in roleplaying games as it is in other media. Including a problematic subject in a Storytelling game is not the same as glorifying it, and if you take the chance to explore it critically, it can be the exact opposite. If we understand the problems facing us, we are better armed to fight them. V5 includes in-world references and expressions of the following: sexual violence, political extremism, physical violence and gore, mind control, torture, abuse, imprisonment and kidnapping, racism, sexism, and homophobia, to name a few. It’s a game about monsters. “Why are you telling me this?” you might be saying. Someone at your table is not familiar with this game. Someone at your table has dealt with some of these issues in real life. Someone at your table wants to know that you read this warning and know you will be considerate to them as players, while putting their character through the wringer. In the Appendix, you will find concrete techniques on how to handle difficult subjects in your game in a manner that is respectful to your players and their experiences. Calibrate beforehand which techniques your group wants to use. People have different needs and not every method works for every person. This is a game about monsters. But it is only a game. Don’t use it as an excuse to be a monster yourself.

This is something I consider good (that last sentence is more necessary than I’d like to know), considering the rest of the contents of the game, but I wish they had taken a far more respectful approach to the mature themes instead of name-dropping horrors without meaning.

Now, the PDF itself has MAJOR issues in terms of book-making. The bookmarks are terrible, they integrate stuff from the side boxes that just make no sense, there’s little to no proper hierarchy, some are even missing, the internal links don’t work very well, it’s just poor, poor design.

Seriously look at this:

How can I navigate this? Like seriously ? I know there’s a table of contents, but it should be in the navigation bar as well, that’s how PDFs work.

(The Nossies are missing, it makes me laugh because it’s the Nossies, but they’re there, that’s why Malks seem to have two sections about Disciplines and Banes)

Now, the layout itself isn’t the worst I’ve ever seen, and some parts of what I’m going to be saying may fall upon “personal taste”, but I’ve been editing PhD thesis for long enough to recognize bad layout when I see one :p

Like, this is fine, I really like the new Tremere Clan Symbol (all the clan symbols are pretty neat tbh, and the Disciplines symbols are the VTES ones so that makes me extra happy), and they’ve used beautiful fonts, even if we disregard that they couldn’t be bothered to spell HERMETIC correctly...

However there are two major issues with the book layout as it stands, as you flip through the pages. First, the text isn’t justified (aka aligned left and right), and second, the text is sometimes in two columns, sometimes in three. Quite often, the titles are at the end of a column (see here “The Anarchs”) and some paragraphs have poor lonely lines in the precedent page or column and it just looks bad. I screenshot some pages with low res: the text itself does not matter so it’s ok if you can’t read it ;) But notice how “Relationship” is hyphened because of the three columns there...

Then, you have plenty of pages which have either black background or colorful background. That would be fine if some of the pages weren’t the kind of pages you’d want to print out to give as handouts to players...

My poor eyes.

These four pages would be far more useful with black on white, even if plenty of us like reading white on black because it’s easier on the eyes on a tabler, but this isn’t printer friendly when you sell a pdf... This should have been in the Appendix with a printer friendly version.

Sometimes the placement of elements is just weird or off putting in certain pages:

This image touches the bottom of the page, but there’s three meters of white space above. There are examples of the exact opposite (the image touching the top of the image with extra space at the bottom).

This chart should be centered, I think.

Something’s wrong here, isn’t there something missing above the first page? And that block alone on the second column, it’s very common across the book.

Now, on a tablet or phone, it’s easy to double tap and match the column length, and the fact that the text isn’t justified isn’t much of an issue when reading plain text, but I find that the text not being justified in any of the pages is just Bad Design.

I did like the separations, the small lines between the columns and all, they looked great, the change of fonts in between “boxes”, “quotations”, “examples” and so on was also well made.

Now, the Art.

Some of the art is old WWP art, some of it is WoD MMO art, some of the art is newly commissioned illustrations, and some of the art is photography with (or without) filters.

Old WWP Art is clearly to link back. The old Helena art is there. Theo Bell got new art (I think it’s new?), but Helena didn’t.

They also reused MET By Night Studios photography for Jeanette and Therese, and cropped the photo, taking away the key composition of the original. Did Bradstreet give the rights to alter his work with such cropping?

Note that I personally dislike this picture, cropped or not, a lot, simply because being a Bloodlines fan I don’t think it represents either Therese or Jeanette properly. Jeanette wouldn’t be caught with a power stance and serious face like that, Therese wouldn’t be caught with such a non imposing, reserved pose, and coming from Bradstreet, I am VERY disappointed, because he has done official art for Jeanette for the video game before and it was far better representative of her; the model from the OG picture looks far closer to the Jeanette we meet in the game, but this is truly a matter of personal taste and opinion so I won’t scream again about it.

The MMO art is overall great quality, and sometimes it’s even used in a very smart, beautiful way:

(I’d have put this image on the Embrace and not on Predators, tbh...)

They also used the fashion spreads looks for the MMO in the corebook, some of it is plain silly, and I’m very much afraid they’re used literally as how PCs look like. Here’s the Gangrel Fashion splat:

I consider the art to be good, and to be great concept art for a MMO, and great fashion shots, but.. in VtM? this is not Masquerade Friendly. Also these types of art (as well as the Investigator image you can see on the first few pages I pasted above) are all 20 something model-like people, and yes that involves the Nosferatu, because they’re fashion drawings. Fashion drawings have stupid proportions and no realism, since they’re meant to show the clothes, not the model. And for a book about characters, well, why? This was suitable for the MMO because MMOs have transmogs and such and such.

I just find them to have completely missed the “Punk and Gothic Aesthetic of the World” and just stacked as much weird clothing as they could to look “hype and modern”. Hipster Instagram Fashion that’s unwearable.

Yes, vampires are marginal by nature, but please, their goal is to blend in, not be noticed, and considering how long they’re effectively inactive, and how age affects your will to stay on trend... Eh.

The New commissioned illustrations are hit and miss, and some of this criticism does fall on “personal taste”, but here I ranted about one of those art pieces (which was the page for the Vault, but it’s in the book). They’re all a little bit like this, some having a far better composition even if they all seem to be this saturated. They’re all overall good and I like most of them.

This one is “look at my butt” kind of situation. I’d have rather have this picture just without this foreground couple, it would have been a perfect street look example, and the two jumping above the roofs guys would have had the attention they deserved. I love the fog, the graffity, the textures are nice, i just hate the butt.

And finally, the big chunk, the Photography Art.

I understand how they made it so that most people would be able to “make their own art” (photography being now more accessible to the masses than illustration), and that is something I nod to, appreciate and completely understand. HOWEVER, Photography IS art and not everyone can be a Photographer with a snap of their fingers (or a click of the camera :p).

What’s good with photography art is that they picked diverse looking models of all sorts, and they put them in interesting and somewhat telling situations. What’s bad is that “suddenly” all “positions of power” are held by middle-aged (so plain old 60yo) looking vampires and all Anarchs Rebels looks like they’re in their twenties.

This goes against VtM. Older vampires tend to look younger because being a King or Queen at age 14 wasn’t uncommon until the 1800s. Embracing people right at the end of their teenage years, at their prime, at their best, as they’re “perfect” is the best a vampire could do (remember Dark Ages have rules against embracing the young, the elderly, the crippled, the insane...).

It’s only after WWII that embracing people over 40 wasn’t uncommon.

I’d have LOVED to see a 60yo looking Punk, and have the Dominating Prince on Their Throne look like, 15. And own the place.

Now there are plenty of issues with some of the photography art, and here’s one (page 232) that I’ve screamed at for like, two weeks now.

This picture had one of the best compositions, the diagonal works great, the leaning away, the androgyny of the chalice (despite them still having a personality and free will...). How he filled the glass with the blood from the chalice through this.. pinky finger condom thing, okay, sure, weird af but why not. Does’t explain why the chalice has two marks on their forearm but okay. Sure. Also, FINALLY a photography in VtM of a dude wearing a suit that’s actually his size? Great. And it doesn’t come out of a Goth Store (tm). Great! Amazing!

But there are in this picture TWO things I just cannot forgive.

First, the guy has his jacket buttoned. When you Suit 101, when you sit, you unbutton. You button up when you stand up. Now this is supposed to be The Ventrue (tm), this is just wrong.

Second, his fucking zipper is down. YES HIS FLY IS DOWN. How the hell did this not get photoshopped in like two seconds? Because of the jacket, I know this is an accident; the model just isn’t used to suit etiquette. You could explain this away by saying he’s a pervert or something, but in that case you’d have needed to add slightly more eroticism to the guy (jacket and maybe shirt open, no glass, slight smile, leaning towards the chalice and not away from them?).

Some of the photography-manipulated art is just beautiful, let’s be honest, this is the splat before Disciplines:

I’m not a fan of the orange (simply because I’m not a fan of orange in general), but this works just so well, the composition, the lines of sight, the shadows, the mirroring, just, top notch choice here, who did this??

But then you have post apo band :p

I mean I like this group shot, it’s very classical, it looks like a fine coterie with a specific turf.. But is this Mad Max? I know Gehenna happened, and I do know some people actually dress like that, but if you’re being tracked down and hunted into oblivion by the Second Inquisition, you.. just don’t do this.

Most of the photography is like this; marginal overdressed looks. Now this is personal taste again, I just wish we had more.. normal looking people. People who are exceptional, but not through their looks or clothing style. The back of the book claims “A Storytelling game of personal and political horror.” and I see little of it in the pictures and illustrations.

Anyway, want more Art Rants? click here

Stay tuned for part 2!

#secrets rants about art #art rant #v5 #vampire the masquerade #world of darkness #v5 review

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booksaremyoxygenn · 7 years ago

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Ready Player One: Book Review & Discussion

“We’d been born into an ugly world, and the OASIS was our one happy refuge.”

If you love video games and the 80s, you MUST read this book. USA Today’s comparison of Ready Player One to Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory couldn't have been more spot on, but instead of the inheritance of a man who owns a chocolate factory he is playing for the inheritance of a video game creator.

Overall Rating: 4.5 / 5 Stars

My biggest argument is that because there was so much info and teaching about the 80s and video game references it felt choppy and it was hard to get lost in the book. However I absolutely loved learning all of those fascinating pieces of information. There were surprisingly many great life lessons in this book and I feel like I am walking away more knowledgeable.

Age Recommendation: Well.... it depends on the child. It does curse a few times (but let’s be honest the kids already know the words, the aim isn’t for them not to learn it but to know not to use it.) However there is a bit of a lengthy section on things I would not even want my 13 year old sister reading on 193-194 so I recommend you take their book, rip that page out and then they are all ready to go. They will never even miss it. I think there are great life lessons in this book though for a young teen age group like the importance of logging off and living offline and not getting wrapped up in trying to constantly escape the real world. It talks about how people should be judged by their personality not their appearance. If we could simply choose out skin color, gender, and appearance like an avatar, life would be easier but life doesn’t work that way so accept people the way they are. You may surprise yourself with who your closest friends up being.

Spoiler- Free Review:

Wade just really doesn’t like his lot in life, whether that be in the real world when he’d rather be in a video game or that he is in the 2040s when he’d rather be born in the the 80s, or at the least before the Global Energy Crisis. Though he doesn’t mind living in OASIS soaking up the endless knowledge. The vast source of all books, movies, art, history, videogames, and, most importantly, information on James Halliday. OASIS is like the internet but with VR glasses only 10x more detailed, advanced, and infinite. Wade doesn’t even go to a real school he goes through the virtual reality of OASIS. “In OASIS, you could become whomever and whatever you wanted to be, without ever revealing your true identity, because your anonymity was guaranteed.” (pg 57) When James Halliday, inventor of OASIS, dies and leaves his fortune (240 billion dollars) to the first player to find the three keys hidden within his own video game, the world goes crazy in pursuit. Though after numerous years no one had found a single key, until Wade. That’s how the story begins.

I loved that Cline’s writing encourages readers who know nothing about the 80s or video games to read this book. That has been a massive concern for people before they pick up this book, that they won’t understand the references. To be honest, there were many hidden “eggs” in the text that I saw that I knew were references that I just didn’t understand. (Which was still cool and I enjoyed looking them up and learning more.) However, all of the big, important references he explains in the book and he doesn’t make you feel stupid for not knowing but explains it clearly for those of us who aren’t experts. I genuinely feel more intelligent by reading this book and now know a lot more about pop culture in the 80s. Who knows this all may come in handy on Trivia Night? I highly recommend this book for a fun, nostalgic read.

SPOILER Review / Book Discussion:

Isn’t it scary how possible this all could be? With virtual reality continually advancing (in real life) how much longer will it take until people go to school in virtual reality like Wade or before the internet takes on this new form?

Though obviously in Wade’s world as technology has advanced his real world has been given up on. The stacks, while a great concept and super cool looking on the front cover, are atrocious living conditions. Though I must give Wade kutos on his battery powered heater and computer but really just his van in general. It makes me want to make my own Bat Cave inside a van. This was when I knew what his advantage would be in this game, he was a self-teacher, self-motivator, and dedicated his whole life to the hunt.

One of my favorite parts about Cline’s writing was how it was constantly breaking stereotypes and speaking about important topics. I really appreciated the backstory that he gave Halliday. Especially how even though he wasn’t good at school he became a multi-billionaire. I am so tired of the assumption that being good at school has a direct correlation with future success. So many people who have changed the world never went to college, dropped out, or did poorly in high school. Another thing that I loved was the fact that this whole story wouldn’t have happened if Ogden Marrow (Og) wouldn’t have walked over to Halliday when he was sitting alone and invited him to play Dungeons and Dragons. It reminds me how much can change by a simple act of kindness and stepping out of your comfort zone to talk to new people. This whole story wouldn’t have happened, their world may have been drastically different if it wasn’t for Og’s invite. My favorite part though was how he had Asperger’s autism because my older brother has it as well and I could see the connections. Halliday’s lack of desire to express social skills, inability to step into other people’s shoes, and his few unhealthy obsessions were the most common traits. However I wish he wouldn’t have made the connections between Halliday’s crazy side and his Aspergers because that gives a bad name to this type of autism. (I mean you can’t win every battle right?)

One thing that really bothered my is how indifferent Wade was to risking everyone’s lives in the Stacks during his meeting with IOI. Once he realized he wasn’t actually gambling his own life because he wasn’t at home then it didn’t bother him anymore. He was willing to risk that. I understand that his aunt was cruel to him and that there were thieves and rapists roaming around the stacks but that’s not a good enough excuse as to why his conscious was clear about all those people he played a part in murdering. He said that there were no survivors. I understand that his other option was be enslaved to IOI but he is very smart, he could have figured out an alternative where hundreds of uninvolved people don’t die. (pg 146)

I personally love when authors put deep meaning into characters, places, animals and other things’ names. I loved that Art3mis was the greek god of the hunt and that Wade was Parzival. “On the day the Hunt began, the day I’d decided to become a gunter, I’d renamed my avatar Parzival, after the knight of Arthurian legend who had found the Holy Grail.” (pg 28) I love when author’s twist different stories together like that and give character’s deeply meaningful names. Like Alaska in John Green’s Looking for Alaska, or Katniss from The Hunger Games whose name is from a plant that is latin for archer. I prefer a bit more meaning than when Rainbow Rowell named the twins in Fangirl Cath and Wren because the mother didn’t know she was going to have twins so she split up the name Catherine. Though I do apprecaite it more than when authors just randomly name thier characters. (Also, Darth Vader’s name is literally Dark Father in Dutch so his name is a spoiler in itself.) I applaud Cline for his good choice in names.

The first task was where players went into the Tomb of Horrors from Dungeons & Dragons to play Joust against Acereak. It was amusing to me but as someone who doesn’t know the first thing about Dungeons and Dragons the references were lost on me. However this line really stuck me as funny..... “It suddenly occurred to me just how absurd this scene was: a guy wearing a suit of armor, standing next to an undead king, both hunched over controls of a classic arcade game.” (pg 82) The whole time after he met Acererak I just imagined him going from his scary, glowing eyes to his best friend playing a video game and them fist bumping each other. Like I genuinely wanted them to become friends. Haha.

The first gate was where players played Dungeons of Daggorath to open the gate where they had to say and act all the lines of the character David Lightman in the film WarGames. This was my favorite task / gate he had to do and I wish I had my own version for The Hunger Games where I could be Katniss. Anyone else agree? They called them “Fliksyncs” (112) and I genuinely think if they make something like it in real life, it could be my favorite invention of all time. You would get to walk, talk, and live the life of your favorite character, your heroes, or be 1/2 of your favorite OTPs. ( I would gladly be Clary to play besides Jace from The Mortal Instruments... just putting it out there.)

A really important message that spread throughout the span of the book was that the internet (OASIS in RPO’s case) can take over our lives. ”It had become a self-imposed prison for humanity,” he wrote, “A pleasant place for the world to hide from its problems while human civilization slowly collapses, primarily due to neglect.” (pg 120) How much truer does that get?? Than once Wade won the egg even Halliday admitted that that was one of his biggest regrets, not logging off and living life the way it was meant to be, truly using your senses and awakening your body instead of constantly trying to mute it and hide yourself. “I created the OASIS because I never felt at home in the real world. I didn’t know how to connect with the people there. I was afraid, for all all of my life. Right up until I knew it was ending. That was when I realized, as terrifying and painful as reality can be. it is also the only place where you can find true happiness. Because reality is real. Do you understand?” (pg 364) I think that is something people across the globe can relate to. We could all use a lesson in learning when to turn off our screens and fully engage in the world around us.

Another really important message was during that OH MY GOSH! AECH REVEAL!.... which at first I felt like it changed everything but that’s the whole point, it didn’t change anything. She was still the same person she had always been. We see what we want to see in a person when we make assumptions about them from what they look like. It’s just a genuine reminder of how the lines between gender are so fluid and it doesn’t matter what you are born but how you act. I’m not even referencing transgender specifically but just boys being free to like pink and girls feeling free to be obsessed with Star Wars and video games. Though there was another lesson in this which was how she chose to be a white, male avatar, because her mother told her it would help her get treated better, even in the virtual world. “In Marie’s opinion, the OASIS was the best thing that had ever happened to both women and people of color. From the very start, Marie has used a white male avatar to conduct all of her online business, because of the marked difference it made in how she was treated and the opportunities she was given.” (pg 320) Why is this so painfully true?? I really loved what Wade said after he found out, “We’d connected on a purely mental level. I understood her, trusted her, and loved her as a friend. None of that had changed, or could be changed by anything as inconsequential as her gender, or skin color, or sexual orientation.” (pg 321) Though I will admit I am glad that Cline made Ache a lesbian because I was worried she was going to confess her love to him and then Wade would have to choose.... and there just wasn’t enough pages left in the book for all that drama. Plus I really love when books allow guys and girls to just be friends without every liking each other romantically.

The final thing, that I wouldn’t dream of ending this review/discussion without talking about is... Art3mis. Can we talk about how she started out such a strong character who was a fighter, independent blogger and full time badass who knows exactly how she plans on saving the world with the prize money from the egg. But then as time goes on she transforms more into a love interest than a fierce competitor. I think she sees this as well which is why she leaves him to focus on the competition. Though at the very end when she finally meets Wade in person she does that thing that Reese Witherspoon talks about in her Woman of the Year speech. Where Art3mis, the female, turns to Wade, the male, and pretty much says, what do we do now? This is a phrase Reese says she hates reading the most and is usually written by scripts with no female involved in the writing. She says “Now you do you know any woman in any crisis situation.. who has absolutely no idea what to do?” Reese made a good point in saying that it’s top woman stop playing the damsel in distress because we so rarely are. Art3mis went from this total badass who could carry her own to a self conscious, love interest. However, I am so glad that Art3mis gave up Wade for the hunt in some ways because if she would have given up her passions and her life long goal for a boy, I would have been more insulted. Personally, I just really like strong, female leads and am getting tired of women being accessories to males. I’m also tired of the never ending line of self conscious characters (both female and male) who find their self worth and beauty once their romantic interests informs them that it exists. So thank you to characters like Celaena Sardothien, Alaska Young, and Margo Roth Spiegelman for showing the world that it’s cool to love yourself and know you are amazing. Though I was still rooting for Art3metis because of her strong will and good intentions for the prize.

In the end everything seemed to fall perfectly in place which made me so happy. No loose threads and a beautiful, sappy, happy ever after. The character development for Wade was so great and I felt happy walking away from this book knowing that things were going well for him.

Favorite Quotes:

1.) How the protagonist, Wade, feels about video games is how I feel about books...

"Playing old video games never failed to clear my mind and set me at ease. If I was feeling depressed or frustrated about my lot in life, all I had to do was tap the Player One button, and my worries would instantly slip away as my mind focused itself on the relentless pixelated onslaught on the screen in front of me. There, inside the game's two-dimensional universe, life was simple" (pg 14)

2.) Me when I get into a good book series....

“I was obsessed. I wouldn’t quit. My grades suffered. I didn’t care.” (pg 63)

3.) “Spending time with her was intoxicating. We seemed to have everything in common. We shared the same interests. We were driven by the same goal. She got all my jokes. She made me laugh. She made me think. She changed the way I saw the world. I’d never had such a powerful, immediate connection with another human being before. Not even with Aech.” (pg 174)

4.) “I was watching a collection of vintage ‘80′s commercials when I paused to wonder why cereal manufacturers no longer included toy prizes inside every box. It was a tragedy, in my opinion. Another sign that civilization was going straight down the tubes.” (pg 176)

5.) “And then one night, like a complete idiot, I told her how I felt.” (pg 179)

6.) “No one in the world ever gets what they want and that’s beautiful.” (pg 199)

7.) “I stood outside her palace gates for two solid hours, with a boombox over my head, blasting “In Your Eyes” by Peter gabriel at full volume.” (pg 203)

8.) “Art3mis had led me to believe that she was somehow hideous but now I saw that nothing could have been further from the truth. To my eyes, the birthmark did absolutely nothing to diminish her beauty. If anything, the face I saw in the photo seemed even more beautiful to me than that of her avatar, because I knew it was this one was real.” (pg 292)

9.) “In Marie’s opinion, the OASIS was the best thing that had ever happened to both women and people of color. From the very start, Marie has used a white male avatar to conduct all of her online business, because of the marked difference it made in how she was treated and the opportunities she was given.” (pg 320)

10.) “We’d connected on a purely mental level. I understood her, trusted her, and loved her as a friend. None of that had changed, or could be changed by anything as inconsequential as her gender, or skin color, or sexual orientation. (pg 321)

Discussion Questions:

1.) Would you apply for the virtual OASIS education like Wade?

When Wade talks about his classes and how he is able to travel through a human heart, visit the Louvre, Jupiter’s moons and more it makes me think that our education system could be so much better with this technology. For one, he discusses how discipline isn’t a problem, how Wade can mute out bullies, and how even the teachers liked the system so much more. It gives students the ability to do things like Wade did and go to chat rooms with his friends in his free time and hang out with people he likes and avoid / mute the ones he doesn’t. I think there are major problems like affordability and the fact that you miss out on real human interaction that scientists have proven is needed for a healthy mind, body, and soul.

2.) If you were a gunter, would you join a clan or stay solo?

In the end I think that part of the lesson Holliday was trying to teach is that you need other people to succeed. You need help and can’t do everything on your own. Why else would he have made the door only open with three keys?

3.) If you were Wade would you sell out to sponsors, movie and book people, and the Suxors? or would you risk it all on the chance of being the first to find the egg?

4.) What movie would you want to enter into like Wade did for the first gate for a “Syncflik”? Could you complete the dialogue for a whole movie?

5.) Did they fake drink at the bar at Og’s party because they hadn’t ever been able to eat or drink inside the OASIS before?

6.) Has social media become obsolete in their world or is the avatar practically their form of social media? Or instead of trying to impress people with how they went to the beach or the expensive Louis Vuittons they just bought, do they put their energy into impressing through their OASIS accounts?

7.) Doesn’t IOI trying to capitalize on OASIS sound a lot like the government trying to end net neutrality? I think this whole story is a lot more realistic than most of us would like to admit to ourselves. (pg 33)

Movie Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSp1dM2Vj48

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Scj3wiIcSu0&t=115s

I really hope they keep the Rocky Horror Show scene (pg 179) in the movie because I want to see them have fun and be laid back together. Plus it would be really funny. It was super entertaining in Perks of Being A Wallflower when Charlie has to be in the show. Also, I saw the zero gravity dance floor and the revamped Delorean in the movie trailer and can’t wait to see more of that. (pg 182)

The only thing that would make me immediately hate this movie is if they don’t give Art3mis her birthmark and so far in the trailer I noticed that they have only distinctly shown one side of her face but in the clip where she is sitting in a chair across from Wade you can see most of her face and I didn’t see any scar. What a missed opportunity? Unless they are having her cover it in the first half of the movie with makeup or something. The greatest parts of this book were the lessons learned and I think him meaning that he would love her no matter what she looked like in person because he loved who she was is a crucial part of the story and the birthmark plays a large role in that. It was an opportunity to give people who had similar situations like birthmarks have someone that looked like them in a movie to relate to. I think it really could have been something special.

The other thing that is a bit of a turn off is the body form they gave Ache in the movie because it means that she won’t be able to have that moment talking about how she chose a white, male avatar because of how she felt at a disadvantage as a African American woman and wanted her avatar to be able to escape that. Also the actress they cast is thin so it is another missed opportunity.

Also the choice of the song from Willy Wonka “Pure Imagination” was genius for the trailer. It was beyond perfect!

Side Note:

Also, if you would like to watch part 2 of this book... it’s called WALL-E. There are different characters but it is definitely what Wade’s planet earth is going to look like very soon. They were all absorbed in the internet and forgot about real life and how to make connections, just like this book. I mean Wade even notices his weight gain from being overly absorbed into the game. (pg 196)

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