#this crossover appeals to me exclusively and that’s because i’m one of probably like. 3 people who have played both of these games

[pixevs]

(click for better quality) i just think chants of sennaar and sky are similar in that the end goal of both is to reach the top of a very large manmade object. also there’s a desert and sickass architecture

[maskedbeliever]

Writing Game

@kitepiper tagged me for a lil questionnaire :)

how many works do you have on Ao3?

I have six presently on my Ao3, but I have written many more across time that were posted to various sites under various names and many more that I never shared. Some were written by hand in notebooks when I was still a kid!

what’s your total Ao3 word count?

45772. This fluctuates because even when I'm not adding new stuff, I like to edit and tinker with stuff I've uploaded before.

what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. Bunk Bed Politics (Star Wars, Explicit, Boba Fett/Din Djarin/reader) 2. You're Not Really a Lady Yet, Are you? (Abarat, Explicit, Christopher Carrion/Candy Quackenbush) 3. Untitled Slerra Story (Teen Titans, Explicit, Slade/Terra, unfinished) 4. Something In Common (His Dark Materials, Explicit, Gerard Bonneville/Original Character) 5. The Nature of All Authority (His Dark Materials, Explicit; Original Character/Original Character, unfinished)

If you click any of these make sure you read the warnings and tags and summary before proceeding so you know what you're getting into!

do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Yes, whenever possible! I love to talk to people about what I write and want to have conversations.

what’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Scooch (Abarat, Teen, Malingo & Candy) is a short happy one about friends acknowledging they really care about each other.

do you write crossovers?

I have considered it.

have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not on Ao3.

do you write smut? if so, what kind?

I almost exclusively write smut. I usually write hetero smut darkfic but occasionally write nice smut between women, non-binary people, or a combo of those genders. I had some messed up stuff happen when I was younger and around that time my brain latched onto a lot of really dark kinks, but only applied them to hetero pairings. IRL I am NB and while I'm bi, I tend to prefer women and NB people but am not very kinky IRL. My dark kinks persist through fics as a great way for me to blow off steam.

have you ever had a fic stolen? / have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope!

have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, many times. I did this for years with an ex of mine where we would share google documents. We developed a notation system to tell each other which things we had added when.

what’s your all-time favourite ship?

Probably Slade and Terra from Teen Titans.

Slade in the cartoon has a role as kind of a terrifying mix of boogeyman and father figure. Terra is a miserable girl who wishes she had some point of control in life and Slade takes control of her himself.

It appealed deeply to me as a youngster because I related to Terra. I was miserable and absolutely out of control in my life. I had a sexual awakening during a scene where Slade woos Terra to join him.

what’s a wip that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

A Starship Troopers AU where humans are anarcho-communists when they first encounter the aliens. Through patience and care and a few misunderstandings, the humans establish a friendship with the aliens.

what are your writing strengths?

I think that what I write is extremely hot

what are your writing weaknesses?

I don't like anal.

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

It only bothers me when I read it and know that it's wrong. Double check your translations!

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

When I was a little kid I wrote a lot of Star Wars stuff.

what’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

I think that You're Not Really a Lady Yet, Are you? (Abarat, Explicit, Christopher Carrion/Candy Quackenbush) is one of the hottest things I've ever written, but I can't really pick a favorite!

(I have a terrible memory for usernames so anyone who follows me, pretend I tagged you, I like you all!)

[jeremys-blogs]

My 10 Comfort Films

Movies have been a big part of my life for as far back as I can remember. And like any movie-lover, there are some I'll be more inclined to watch than others. Not my absolute favourites or the ones I think of as "the best movies ever" necessarily, but ones I'll always come back to when I have a free afternoon to watch them. And those are the ones I want to list out here. Films that might not be the objective best of their respective fields and franchises, but ones that I just always enjoy watching whenever they're on my screen.

The Isle of Dogs (2018) - Now, I realise that the visual style championed by Wes Anderson (lots of symmetrical shots, characters looking directly into the camera, and so on) can be a bit of an acquired taste, but it definitely works for an animated outing like this one. A story of a bunch of dogs living and trying to survive on an island covered in trash doesn't admittedly sound like the most appealing of movies, but let it never be said that Wes can't make film look good. Voice talent like Brian Cranston and Bill Murray help provide a deadpan style of humour that, while certainly not to everyone's liking, had me hooked from moment one. And of course, as someone who grew up with stop-motion animation, it's always nice to see someone try to keep that style alive, and yes kudos also has to be given to Laika for that. Anderson has only done one other animated work, Fantastic Mr Fox, and between them this is definitely my favourite. I have no idea if he'll ever return to animation, but I have a good feeling it'll be great when he does, because as unpolished as this might sometimes appear, it's nevertheless a great watch.

Porco Rosso (1992) - I may have watched a good number of other anime films in my day, but few have ever managed to match the enjoyment given to me by the movies of Studio Ghibli, and especially not against those of Hayao Miyazaki himself. In fact, I'll even go on record now and say that he might be my all-time favourite filmmaker, since he's never made a movie I didn't like, which I've never been able to say about anyone else. Porco Rosso might not have the kind of deep characters and story of Princess Mononoke, and it might not be anywhere near the sheer visual brilliance of Spirited Away, but it nevertheless engages me deeply whenever I watch it. Of all Miyazaki's films, this might have the fewest fantastical elements to it, with the only real bit of other-worldliness being that the main character is under a curse that turns him into a pig, but never let that lead you to think this doesn't have Miyazaki's signature whimsy all over it. Porco is often an overlooked and under-appreciated movie when compared to Miyazaki's other films, but as far as I'm concerned it deserves to stand alongside even the best of them.

Hercules (1997) - The Disney Renaissance is often lauded for its critically and commercially successful films, and rightfully so. From classics like Little Mermaid to Aladdin, this ten-year stretch of Disney's history has a lot to be pleased about. So it might seem odd that my personal pick from this era is the film often regarded as one of its lesser entries. And I'll grant you, compared to revolutionary films like Little Mermaid, this might not seem particularly special. But it still has a lot to enjoy, especially by me. Yes, the mythology buff in me does indeed wince whenever I see some inaccuracy, but the sheer joy I feel at watching Hercules always negates that. And of course, who could forget one of the most enjoyable villains ever to grace a Disney production, courtesy of the great James Woods. But don't think the movie is carried by him alone, as plenty of the other cast, including Susan Egan and Danny DeVito in particular, do great and making this a fun ride. Between the animation, the voice work, the often-catchy musical numbers and the simple pleasure this film offers, Disney's Hercules proves that it is indeed a hero, and not a zero.

Toy Story 4 (2019) - Toy Story was a groundbreaking movie that kicked down the door for the success of all future computer-animated films. Toy Story 2 was a more-than-worthy addition to the ultra-exclusive club of sequels that were better than the original. Toy Story 3 was a poignant and heartfelt goodbye to a franchise and cast of characters that we had come to know and love over the years. Let's not mince words here, people. Being tasked with creating another sequel in a franchise that had been capped off almost a decade earlier in a way that led many to calling it one of the greatest trilogies of all time must have been an exceptionally daunting prospect. But let it never be said that Pixar can't rise to the challenge when one is presented to them, as Toy Story 4 is a hugely engaging and entertaining flick. Is it as good as those that came before? Well, it's certainly not pushing any boundaries like they did, with the exception of the clear advances in animation that have been made, but even wit that taken into account, it's just a nice film to watch. The farewell given to us here might not have brought a tear to my eye the way the third movie did, but I'd still be happy to have this be the final word on the Toy Story theatrical releases.

The Avengers (2012) - Like everyone, I had been watching and enjoying many of the MCU movies that had been coming up in the years leading up to this big crossover, and like those other people I too had been learning about the eventual team-up through all the various end-credits scenes Marvel had become so famous for. But whether the eventual film would be good was still up in the air. I certainly hoped it'd be entertaining, but I also didn't want to get too hopeful, just in case. Thankfully, Marvel met my expectations and smashed through them, delivering what is, quite possibly, my all-time favourite superhero film. The idea of comic book continuity and crossovers working in a live-action movie had been thought of as almost a laughable notion, but Marvel proved those naysayers wrong in the biggest way possible, showing that not only were these movies capable of being good when all these disparate characters got together, but that they thrived while doing so. Avengers was the first of these big team-ups, and in my eyes it has remained the gold standard. Other entries like Age of Ultron or Infinity War all had their value, but to me nothing will ever quite measure up to this first meeting of such iconic and wonderful characters.

Star Trek Beyond (2016) - I'll be upfront, I wasn't a big fan of the 2009 reboot of the Star Trek franchise, nor was I particularly fond of its 2013 sequel, Into Darkness. For me the movies were just trying too hard to be serious and heavy, and while I fully acknowledge that the Trek fandom has a lot of people who enjoy the more gritty directions the franchise has gone in, I cannot count myself among them. Beyond, by contrast, actually seems like it wants to just be a fun ride, which is something I appreciate a great deal. This is not, in any way, a deep or complicated movie. In fact, when you get right down to it, what we have here is just an episode of the original Trek show just blown up to feature length with some modern-day visuals and cast. But you know, that's okay by me, as the end result was hugely enjoyable. Pine and the rest of the cast, in terms of their acting, seem far more comfortable here than they were with the other films of the trilogy, and special mention has to go to Zachary Quinto as Spock, who was able to perfectly balance not only the character's famous stoicism, but also the moments of drama and humour the role called for. This is not the greatest Star Trek movie ever made, but it's one I enjoy more than anything else in the franchise.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) - A common trend with me as far as Star Wars trilogies are concerned is that the first movie in that grouping will always be the one I enjoy watching most, and it seems that pattern continued with the release of Disney's foray into the franchise. Force Awakens is often maligned as being too similar to the original 1977 film, and while I can certainly see those similarities, that isn't anywhere near enough of a reason for me to dislike it. New characters like Rey, Finn and BB-8 were instantly endearing to me and I always enjoyed seeing the three of them together and working off one another. Harrison Ford's return was welcome and he definitely gave it his all, though Carrie Fisher was no slouch either. There's nothing especially revolutionary about this movie, and really the only thing that gets it on this list is just pure likeability. But as far as I'm concerned, that's all a movie needs. Abrams has a noted talent when it comes to recreating the look of sci-fi movies of past decades, and that talent is on full display here, as the movie looks right at home with every other Star Wars story out there. Disney's other films in this trilogy might not have brought me as much joy, but I'll always have this one to pick me up again.

Shin Godzilla (2016) - Okay, given that this is a list of movies I like to just watch while chilling, Shin Godzilla probably seems like an odd pick. I've talked about it before and mentioned repeatedly how it's probably the most serious and unhappy Godzilla film to date. So why go for this instead of something more exciting like King of the Monsters? Well, it's hard to put into words, but there's just something about this movie that draws me to it. It's one I respect certainly, owing largely to its goal of recreating everything that made the original Gojira movie great but putting it in a modern setting, but besides that there's just a quality that I can't put my finger on. Maybe it's the fact that, despite my previously-mentioned dislike of movies trying to be serious, this is one of the rare examples of that seriousness actually fitting the kind of film I'm watching. It's a movie of Godzilla at his most dangerous, horrific and nightmarish, and whose great terror is thwarted only by the collective efforts of a group of political, scientific and military misfits, yet I'm on the edge of my seat unable to look away throughout the whole thing. No idea if that rumoured sequel will ever come to pass, but I can only hope it's as engrossing as this one was.

Legend (1985) - By far the oldest movie you'll find on this list, this gem of a story by famed director Ridley Scott is a fairy tale of a young woodland boy hoping to rescue his fair love from a wicked demon. Now that sounds about as generic a fantasy story as you can make, and in truth the movie is more interested in creating as unique visual portrayal of that classic setup than it is in revolutionizing or pushing it in any way. But what a visual spectacle it is. It's really hard to put into words just what it's like to watch this movie, and most of the time it feel like you're watching some feature-length dream sequence. That certainly makes it an oddity among other fantasy flicks of its era, but "classic fairy tale executed perfectly" is a pretty good reason to love it. Thankfully, it also has some great performances to help bring that whole thing to life, with the star-making turn of course being that of the great Tim Curry as the movie's central antagonist. If there's a list of great movie fantasy villains out there, Curry's character absolutely deserves to be on it, and chances are he'll be the thing you end up remembering most if you ever decide to watch this yourselves.

Demolition Man (1993) - I'm admittedly not a big watcher of the big, muscly action flicks that dominated the 80s and 90s, but this one actually caught my interest a few years back. A film that, while certainly showing off some pretty intense fight scenes, also had a lot of smart things to say. Ideas that you didn't normally see in beefcake action titles, like the importance of the balance between personal freedom and the collective good. A society where murder has been eradicated, but at the cost of many of the things we know and love today. It might not be the best at that particular discussion, but it's certainly something to note given that I don't normally consider this particular genre to be the place to think about it. But of course the big draw is the two leads, Stallone and Snipes, and yeah they are definitely having fun in their roles. Stallone is a far better actor than most people give him credit for, and this is definitely a role I enjoyed watching him in, especially since they actually allow him to be occasionally funny. Any action movie that remembers that you need to tell a joke every once in a while has my respect, and it's just one more thing about this fine move to like.

So yeah, those are my regular comfort movies. Some odd choices maybe, but hey, I like what I like 🥰

[docexe-mx]

While several of my prior wish list picks didn’t happen, I’m very satisfied with both the base roster of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as well as with the DLC characters that have been announced/released so far.

That being said, l can’t deny that the announcement of more DLC coming has prompted me to prepare another wish list. As with the prior ones, I won’t be particularly sad or angered if any of my picks don’t happen, but I definitely will be elated. (Heck, as things stand, I will probably accept anyone/anything they add to the game provided it at least has an interesting move-set).

Some base assumptions made before going into the list:

Until stated otherwise by the development team, I’m assuming that, besides the fifth character of the Fighter Pass still pending reveal, we will get at the very least a Second Season/Fighter Pass that will contain the same exact amount of content as the first Fighter Pass: Five new characters, each with their own stage, music tracks and Spirit battles.

I’m assuming that, as with prior DLC on the Fighter Pass, all the new characters will be Third Party rather than Nintendo owned. I don’t expect more Microsoft or Sony owned characters, however (yes, Banjo and Kazooie are finally in the game, but they honestly feel more like an especial exception, rather than any indication of things going forward).

I’m also assuming that characters already in the game as Spirits, Assist Trophies or Mii Costumes won’t be part of the upcoming DLC (so, sadly, no Geno, no Rayman, no Shantae and no X ;_;).

Without further ado and in no particular order:

KOS-MOS from Xenosaga. A somewhat unlikely pick, but then again, Bandai Namco is one of the few Third Party publishers already present in Smash Bros. that don’t have multiple playable characters in the game (conspicuously even, given they are helping to develop it). Given that KOS-MOS seems to be one of their characters that most often shows in crossover games, her inclusion seems plausible. Now, if I have to be honest, I particularly want her because I think the Xeno series (and by extension, Monolith Soft, the studio responsible for all its iterations and which has been a great asset for Nintendo in recent years) deserves more representation in Smash Bros. However, with Elma, Rex and Pyra/Mithra out of the competition by virtue of being Spirits, KOS-MOS is the best bet to get another Xeno character in the game (mind you, I do like her design and think her move-set could potentially be interesting).

Nightmare from Soul Calibur (with Sigfried as an alternate costume). A very unlikely pick. While Terry Bogard being announced as the next DLC character makes me think we will see at least another fighting game character as DLC, it’s way more likely that we will see a Tekken character than one from Soul Calibur, by virtue of the former being more popular than the later. However, as I have mentioned before, I don’t really play Tekken, and Soul Calibur is my favorite 3D Fighter franchise, so pardon me again for the blatant favoritism.  

Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden. This one seems like a no-brainer by this point. Ninja Gaiden is one of the few iconic franchises originating from the NES era that hasn’t appeared in Smash Bros. yet, and Koei Tecmo has maintained a close relationship with Nintendo in recent years (even helping with the development of Fire Emblem: Three Houses). Furthermore, Hayabusa is probably their most iconic character, not only being the protagonist of Ninja Gaiden (both the original NES series, as well as the modern reboot series), but also a mainstay in the Dead or Alive franchise, and even having cameos and guest appearances in the Warriors franchise.

Crash Bandicoot. Somewhat unlikely but not impossible. His major disadvantage is that he comes from a Western franchise, and Masahiro Sakurai and Nintendo tend to prioritize Japanese franchises when it comes to deciding on newcomers for Smash. That being said, the fact that the games on the original PlayStation were very popular in Japan and that the franchise is currently having a renaissance of sorts help his chances. If I have to be honest, while I have developed a soft spot for Crash after playing the N. Sane Trilogy recently, I mostly want him in Smash Bros. for a) The inherent appeal of having him battling Mario and Sonic as the big videogame mascot characters from the 90’s, b) the sheer irony of Nintendo getting three (3!) Third Party PSX icons (Crash, Snake and Cloud) in their exclusive fighting crossover when Sony didn’t even manage to do that for theirs.

Ezio Auditore da Firenze from Assassin’s Creed. Another unlikely but not necessarily impossible pick. The major issue against him is that he comes from another Western franchise, his major advantage is that it’s Ubisoft’s most popular and best-selling franchise worldwide, and Ubisoft remains as one of Nintendo’s major Third Party supporters. Now, if this franchise do comes to Smash Bros., I think they could pick any protagonist to represent it (possibly even go the Hero route and have several protagonists as alternate costumes with the same move-set), but Ezio seems to be the most iconic of them, hence why I have chosen him as my pick (and before somebody asks or protests: Yes, he has actually made an appearance on a game for a Nintendo console: Assassin’s Creed Discovery for the Nintendo DS).

A character from Capcom. This one is admittedly cheating on my part. Capcom has so many iconic characters and franchises (several of which have historical ties with Nintendo consoles or finally arrived to them thanks to the Switch) that you could fill an entire Fighter Pass solely with them. However, it seems that Nintendo is trying to spread their collaborations among several companies, rather than privileging a single one in particular, so at most I would only expect one or two characters from Capcom as part of Ultimate’s DLC. But rather than engage in the monumental task of boiling down the selection to only one or two characters, I will simply list here all the Capcom characters that I think would be neat to see in Ultimate: Phoenix Wright from Ace Attorney, Rad Spencer from Bionic Commando, Morrigan Aensland from Darkstalkers, Frank West from Dead Rising, Dante from Devil May Cry, Mike Haggar from Final Fight, Firebrand from Gargoyle’s Quest/Demon’s Crest, Sir Arthur from Ghost n’ Goblins, Amaterasu from Okami, Leon S. Kennedy and/or Claire Redfield and/or Chris Redfield and/or Jill Valentine and/or Albert Wesker from Resident Evil (yeah, I couldn’t boil down this franchise to one specific pick, it just has too many iconic characters without a single one being more representative than the rest), Strider Hiryu from Strider, Joe from Viewtiful Joe.

Finally, a bonus pick: A character that I honestly believe is so incredibly unlikely to ever get into Smash Bros. that I’m not really considering him seriously, but I would laugh out loud if it actually happens:

The Doom Guy/Doom Marine/Doom Slayer from (duh!) Doom: It seems like this character has gotten a lot of clamor among certain circles of the Smash Bros. community in recent times. I can only assume that he started as what you could call “an ironic meme pick”: Most of the people who originally talked about him and proposed him for Smash Bros. didn’t actually want him in the game, but it was fun to bring him up given the incongruity of such an ultra-violent character appearing in an E10+ rated game …Then characters like Bayonetta and Joker were actually added to Smash Bros., and people started to consider him as a serious candidate. In his favor: The Doom series actually has historical appearances on Nintendo consoles (the SNES got a version of the original Doom running with the Super FX chip that powered Star Fox; Doom 64 was an acclaimed game that was exclusive to the N64 until very recently), the entire series is going to be playable on the Switch after Doom Eternal releases, and if you can tone down Bayonetta enough for her to appear in an E10+ rated game, you can certainly do the same with the Doom Slayer. Against him: He comes from another Western franchise, but unlike Ubisoft or Activision Blizzard (which have been long time Third Party publishers on Nintendo consoles), Bethesda only started to support Nintendo on the Switch era; most importantly however: the First Person Shooter genre is exceptionally unpopular in Japan (and Doom as well by extension), it’s pretty much a niche genre there in the same way that RPG’s used to be in the West. So, for those reasons, I’m not really expecting to see the Doom Slayer in Ultimate’s DLC, even if, strictly speaking, is not out of the realm of possibility for that to happen.

[cartoonus-maximus]

I decided to fill out that one Monster High doll collector questionnaire for funsies.

Anyone who wants to see what my opinions are, click the ‘read more.’

Questionnaire by @cryptoriascollectiblog.

1) Introduce yourself and tell us how long you’ve been collecting Monster High dolls!

I’m Max (female), and I’ve been marginally interested in the MH line of dolls ever since they came out, but I’ve only been buying them for about 5 years now.

2) How many MH dolls do you have?

I own 23 dolls (if you count Sandy de Nile as a doll).

3) Is Monster High your favorite doll line? Why or why not?

To me, MH is on equal footing with Barbie. I like the MH characters, but I’m not a super big fan of their original fashions, and I’m just more pleased by Barbie’s clothes and hair styles. But, on that note, while Barbie is appealing and comfortable to me, I really appreciate how quirky and wacky the MH characters can look.

4) Who’s your favorite MH ghoul?

Frankie Stein, no doubt about it. I really like her visual aesthetics, and her face has always been super cute, and her color schemes go so well together, and agh, she’s so precious! Three of my dolls are Frankie and I love them.

5) Favorite Manster?

Definitely Jackson Jekyll. And I like him for a lot of the same reasons I like Frankie: colors, face, aesthetics, etc.

6) Do you own any dolls of your favorite ghoul and/or manster? How many?

Again, I own three Frankies, and I also own one Jackson. When I saw the Frankie/Jackson graveyard picnic 2-pack, I had to get it. I also have the ‘I <3 Fashion’ Frankie and the comic-themed reboot Frankie.

7) Do you own any playsets? If so which one(s)? If not, is there a reason?

No, I don’t. Playsets as a concept don’t really appeal to me these days.

8) Of the original main ghouls (including Ghoulia, Spectra and Abbey) which is your favorite? Got any dolls of them?

Ahem, Frankie. Aside from the obvious, I’m also a fan of Cleo, Draculaura, and Spectra. I have a Cleo doll (reboot family set) and I’m pretty happy with her.

9) Favorite character with only one doll release?

I wanna say Kjersti as my top fave (I’m a sucker for the little nordic gamer), but second tier would probably go to either Porter or Neighthan (I like their dolls, but not their characters).

10) Character with too many dolls (in your opinion?)

Depending on whether you see the baby siblings as actual dolls or not, I’m gonna have to say Sandy de Nile, who has had 2 releases, which was 1 too many in my opinion. It’s not like the two versions look drastically different or anything - only the torso got painted a little differently. That’s all. What’s the point?

I don’t know about the conventional dolls.

11) Any character you would’ve liked to see in a doll line that didn’t make it? (i.e. Lagoona in Sweet Screams or Draculaura in Power Ghouls, etc)

Lol, ‘Geek Shriek’ Holt would have absolutely killed me.

‘Dead Tired’ Howleen & Twyla 2-pack.

‘Sweet Screams’ Rochelle as macaroon and wafer cookies and hot cocoa.

12) Any ideas you would’ve liked to see in a doll line?

I would have rather they just expanded on some of the lines they started but only did like 3 dolls in.

But I would have liked to have seen a line that was just centered around gaming, where each character has a different game theme. Like, Cleo has a tabletop RPG theme, Ghoulia has competitive chess or something, and Jinafire or someone has a Candy Crush-like app game theme. I think that would have been a cool line.

13) Is there a “grail” MH doll for you? If so do you own it?

‘Little Dead Riding Wolf,’ and no, I do not currently own her. (I am such a sucker for Little Red Riding Hood, leave me alone.)

14) Thoughts on the cancelled Ever After High crossover?

I’m honestly glad they didn’t go through with it, because by the time they got around to seriously talking about it, I was so sure it was going to turn out really badly.

Besides, their choice of not doing it has given the fans the freedom to tell a crossover story in whatever way they choose.

15) Thoughts on the 2016 reboot faces?

I think they’re cute! I really like them! :-D

16) Thoughts on the 2016 “Monster Family” line?

It’s an adorable idea! And I’ve wanted other siblings for so many of the characters (especially the Wolfs and the de Niles) for such a long time now.

17) How bout the SDCC exclusives? What was your favorite? Do you own any?

I don’t own any. And honestly, I never paid that much attention to what doll was a San Diego exclusive and what wasn’t.

I think my favorites are super-fan Ghoulia, and the Whisp/Valentine 2-pack.

18) How about Amazon exclusives?

The special Skelita is very pretty. The family got her for my collector sister as a gift. She’s a very lovely figure.

19) Favorite Frankie Stein doll?

... I can’t choose. I love so many.

Of the three I own, I think the one from the graveyard picnic 2-pack is my favorite.

20) Favorite Draculaura doll?

I’m gonna have to say the ‘Dance the Fright Away’ reboot doll is my favorite Lala, with a close second of her ‘Classrooms’ doll. ‘Snow Bite’ and ‘Sweet 1600′ and ‘Sweet Screams’ are also really great.

21) Favorite Clawdeen Wolf doll?

‘Frights Camera Action’ Clawdeen.

22) Favorite Cleo de Nile doll?

The one from that 2-pack with Ghoulia that almost made it to Comic-Con but didn’t? Where Cleo is dressed in all her royal burial trappings? Love it.

23) Favorite Lagoona Blue doll?

‘Ghoul’s Night Out’ Lagoona.

24) Favorite Ghoulia Yelps doll?

Either the one from the ‘Mad Science’ 2-pack with Cleo, or the one from the ‘Scaris: city of frights’ line.

25) Favorite Spectra Vondergeist doll?

‘Picture Day’ Spectra, who’s both pretty and super spooky! A good combo!

26) Favorite Abbey Bominable doll?

Either ‘Coffin Bean’ or ‘Music Festival.’

27) Favorite Venus McFlytrapp doll?

‘Gloom and Bloom’ Venus.

28) Favorite Rochelle Goyle doll?

‘Freak du Chic’ Rochelle is super cute!

29) Favorite Operetta doll?

Either ‘Picture Day’ or ‘Monster Scaritage.’

30) Favorite Toralei Stripe doll?

I’m not really drawn to any of the Toralei dolls, honestly. But I do own one - the one from the ‘Fierce Rockers’ 2-pack with Catty, whose face I like but whose outfit I dislike.

31) Favorite Jinafire Long doll?

‘New Scaremester’ Jin.

32) Favorite Skelita Calaveras doll?

‘Monster Scaritage’ Skelita.

33) Favorite Howleen Wolf doll?

Her original doll, from the 2-pack with Clawdeen.

34) Favorite Twyla Bogeyman doll?

Either original or ‘Coffin Bean.’

35) What do you do with your dolls? (Display them, take photos of them, etc)

I usually just arrange them on a shelf in my room. I’ve also enjoyed designing and sewing outfits for them in the past, but I haven’t done that in awhile.

36) Is Monster High the only doll line you collect? Why or why not?

I co-own a Barbie collection with my sister, but MH is the most recent collection I’ve bought for.

37) Do you still collect Monster High dolls? (i.e. scour the internet and/or secondhand stores?)

I mean, if I happen to see one I like that I can afford, I might get it. But it’s not something I tend to go out of my way to look for.

38) There’s a lot of new Monster doll/toy lines out now: thoughts if any?

... Are there a lot? I honestly don’t keep track of toy lines that closely these days.

39) And finally, what’s your favorite thing about Monster High? Can be past or present!

I came for the puns and I stayed for the quirky aesthetics and outlandish character designs. And I’m still having fun with those things, even if Mattel and most of the fandom have all moved on (as evidenced by my fanarts).

[thesinglesjukebox]

BTS - MIC DROP (STEVE AOKI REMIX) [5.30] "The guy who did the guest verse should be in the video" is in general a good rule of thumb.

Maxwell Cavaseno: First off, let's get one thing clear: they should've put Desiigner in the video. But it's fine, because I've got the inexplicable world where a foreign pop group has an EDM/Rap tune in the American charts and it isn't some irritating viral scheme or trend but the reality that BTS' crossover is going to be a thing I can sit back and watch with optimism. Aoki's production tweaks are generic but serviceable, and it's genuinely refreshing to hear J-Hope and Suga play with old Wayne cadences in the era of Migos-Triplet-Overkill (RM here is dull but inoffensive). Meanwhile, the bridge is so gaudy and self-celebrating, it'd come off moronic from anyone who was pulling off less than BTS manage to do these days, so in a way there's justification to their sense of gloating I can't even discredit. We'd be lucky to have them be such constant figures, but we can certainly do better and hopefully that'll be the case going on. [6]

Katie Gill: Though I'd personally prefer it if one of the female-fronted K-Pop bands were the ones to make it big in the States, I wouldn't mind it if a miracle happened and BTS stuck around for a while. They're talented, have good music, and can fill the boy band shaped hole that's currently hanging out in American popular music. That being said? This remix isn't gonna be the one to do it. "Mic Drop" is just a decent song to begin with, but the remix adds on all this noise, practically drowning the group in sound and backing. There's little restraint and it shows. It makes the song sound downright stale at certain points and downright confusing at others--to the best of my knowledge, the slightly awkward English of the chorus and the second verse is remix exclusive. As unbearably hipster as it sounds, they probably should have kept to the original. [5]

Alfred Soto: Because it's BTS, it has more sonic ooomph than another act essaying electronic drops, which means a melodic middle eight goosed by subtle guitar. But it remains a slightly dull accommodation. [6]

Leonel Manzanares: The original's charm is its immediacy, its straightforwardness-as-virtue, and the way it echoes back to the earliest BTS singles. Aoki's flip is competent, but it takes a bit too much of its bite. And just to be clear -- It's Aoki who's clinging off the cultural relevance of BTS, not the other way around. [5]

Ryo Miyauchi: If the original was a feature interview post-Billboard Awards victory, the remix is the tweet-sized recap. Details behind the big moment go out for the sake of mass appeal; an unfortunate cut is Suga's cocky sneer. The huge change is now rather than the individual personalities each justifying the group's place in the game, "Mic Drop" depends entirely on the story to make its strength valid. While the beat got improved thanks to Steve Aoki removing its bagginess, the edit to the content suffers slightly. [6]

Austin Brown: I'm tickled by the way the trap brass eventually evolves into a "Portland"-esque trap flute, shortcutting the evolution of contemporary Atlanta hip-hop in 4 minutes. Otherwise though, Desiigner continues to do his spastic thing, BTS stunt on the mic with much less subtlety than they're capable of, and Aoki blows out the original's bass, thus stripping the track of the few distinguishing features it DID have. Their biggest American chart hit to date. [5]

Alex Clifton: I tend to be on the fence about remixes--perhaps the lone exception is the JXL version of "A Little Less Conversation"--and sadly I'm still on the fence with this one. In some ways, it feels weird that BTS finally cracked the US charts with a remix, as they're a relative rarity within their discography. Aoki's version of "Mic Drop" expands the sonic soundscape quite well, creating something more epic and spacious (with that genius ear-wormy piper noise), but it also clunky and cluttered--there's so much going on that it's hard to focus on just one melodic aspect. Desiigner's verse is fine, but cuts out J-Hope's/Suga's raps with the iconic "mic mic bungee" line; the shortened rap line verse gives no sense of their individual strengths or their power overall. Lines like "it's hella trophies and it's hella thick" still feel awkward when the original Korean phrase was metrically better. And much like the original mix, the Autotune obscures and slurs some of the raps, which cuts down on how incisive they can be--especially an issue when the English lines are meant to broaden BTS's appeal. I don't know how listeners with no concept of BTS as a group are supposed to listen to this and get any sense of the boys amidst all this. The buildup still gets me pumped and I lose my shit every time I hear it played in public, but having so many other fingerprints on the song takes the focus away from BTS themselves. [5]

Alex Ostroff: Aoki's remix lets the same basic squiggle morph into different spaces and interesting shapes without losing the simple melody that makes it such an earworm, but part of me misses the weight and obviousness of the original beat. [6]

Stephen Eisermann: Noisy, arrogant, and a little too in your face for my liking, I'm not sure how I feel about the track. The beat definitely slaps, but the super aggressive style of singing feels so forced and it makes me way too uncomfortable to be able to fully enjoy. This song is the musical equivalent of watching a nerdy kid stand up to his bully - your initial reaction is to root for the kid, but when the bully squashes him all you can do is cringe and walk away. [3]

Will Rivitz: A rule of thumb regarding The Triplet Flow: if the song you're penning a verse for doesn't use it, please follow suit. Desiigner's clunker isn't the most flagrant example of a triplet flow throwing off the metered regularity of a song (for my money, that honor goes to Offset's frankly awful verse on Aminé's otherwise excellent "Wedding Crashers"), but it certainly juts out at an odd angle. Bless RM for salvaging this song with a beautifully Auto-Tuned second verse, but we deserve better cross-Atlantic collaborations. [6]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]

[howyoustudythestars]

Don’t call me a heathen, but I don’t like “All My Friends”...

(Yes, I made a Twenty One Pilots reference in a post about Owl City, shoot me!)

I’ve never been disappointed this much with a new Owl City song until now.

Now, before you fill my inbox with hate like “You just want Adam to go back to Ocean Eyes days” or “You don’t like his new stuff” or even “Your no longer a fan”, read these posts of mine.  Furthermore, as a musician myself, I understand change is inevitable.  To ask him to keep writing 500 versions of the same album would be counterintuitive at best and nearly impossible at worst.  You’re essentially asking someone to return to the days when he only had a vague idea of what the world was like and spent times daydreaming at dead-end jobs, returning home at night, and turning them into what he remembered as songs and continued when he couldn’t fall asleep.  Now he has seen the world, he has a better grip on life, and he has new knowledge in his craft.  While I may miss that style from time to time, I understand his music will be different as he continues to grow as a musician and artist.

And I’ll always be a fan of Adam Young.  Nothing will likely change that.  But the thing is (and it’s something I’ve noticed with the HootOwl fandom from time to time) is that you can be critical of an artist and still be a fan of them.  That is not mutually exclusive.  Music is subjective by nature.  What someone got out of one song will be different from what someone else got out of it, and that’s regardless of whether or not they agree or disagree on whether the song is good or bad.  One of my favorite music critics, Jon from ARTV, has called himself an Owl City fan in the past.  He didn’t like The Midsummer Station, but it grew on him.  He still holds Mobile Orchestra as a bad album for various reasons, the main one being that the tracklist felt like a checklist of demographics his label wanted the album to appeal to.  (The college graduation song, the 90s nostalgic song, the old school Owl City-sounding song to please fans, the Christian song, the country-pop crossover song, etc.)  There’s nothing wrong with being critical of an artist you love, and up until now, I have enjoyed most songs that Adam has put out, including The Scores project that I initially had reservations about.  So what went wrong here?

Warning: Long post ahead!

When I heard Adam was going to be writing songs based on his personal stories and experiences, I wasn’t put off by it in the slightest.  He’s done it before numerous times: “Lonely Lullaby” was about his painful breakup with Annmarie.  “I Hope You Think Of Me” is believed to be about Taylor Swift, and his favorite song to have ever written, “This Isn’t the End”, was about his mother as a young child having to deal with his mother committing suicide.  I’ll even include the Christmas song “Humbug” in this list, as it’s about his experiences going Christmas shopping every year, and how the best gift he can give is the love in his heart.  None of those songs I had a problem with.  In fact, one of the artists I wish Adam would collaborate with is Matthew West, a Contemporary Christian artist who is well known for his storytelling style, including using his fan’s stories as inspiration for songs.  I think their styles would work well together.  If anything, I was more worried that a more personal style would give more ammunition to fans that he has changed too much and no longer is writing music true to himself.  I firmly believe this isn’t the case to this day, but I still feel let down by the new music we’ve gotten so far.

And the other day, I was super stoked to hear the Cinematic announcement.  After all, this will be his first project completed completely without the help of a label since Maybe I’m Dreaming.  The instrumental in the announcement video was gold, and part of my disappointment with All My Friends is that the instrumental is probably part of a different song.  It may not even be on any of the 3 reels for all I know.  But that will be a song that I will be looking forward to, together with the Twitter Q&A video’s instrumental from earlier this year.

One thing I’ve missed since Mobile Orchestra (barring the Scores project) is that music is his electronic melodies and synth lines.  Sure, we got that in Thunderstruck and his Waving Through a Window cover.  And based on the tracklisting now also including “Not All Heroes Wear Capes”, I certainly hope it isn’t in this more guitar-driven direction.  To be honest, the lines between Sky Sailing and Owl City is becoming a lot less blurred in terms of instrumentation.  And that’s not necessarily a good or bad thing, but I’m wondering why Adam keeps saying Sky Sailing isn’t dead if it feels like some of these acoustic-driven songs are now part of the Owl City canon more and more often.  Heck, I even consider “Paper Tigers” to be a Sky Sailing demo and not an Owl City demo for that very reason.

And, speaking of Not All Heroes Wear Capes, as I mentioned in the tags of a post around the time of that song’s announcement, I can’t relate to the song at all.  My dad was never in my life.  He left my mom before I could even remember, supposedly to go be with another woman.  I can’t say for sure because I was too young to remember and I don’t want to say that was the reason when I haven’t talked to him about it.  I’m now wondering if the lack of a father figure in my life has contributed in any way to my anxieties or my depression in any way, so it’s safe to say that my dad is no hero to me.  In some ways, minus the suicide and the gender being swapped, This Isn’t the End is more or less a better representative of my non-existent relationship with my dad.  I still wound up buying the song, but it more or less feels like a list of things Adam likes about his dad.  There is some emotion behind it, and like I said, I can’t really relate to it personally, so I can’t speak to it other than the lack of electronic elements.

But what turned me off of “All My Friends”?  If it was just the lack of electronic elements, I wouldn’t feel this way.  And to be fair, I don’t have a problem with Adam rapping or producing a spoken word track or anything of that sort, either.  To me, the lyrics can sometimes make or break a song, and I feel that was the case with this song, but it ultimately fell flat.  Honestly, it feels like a country rendition of “Good Time”, Part 2 (much like how “Can’t Live Without You” and “Embers” were part 2′s of “Tidal Wave” and “Shooting Star”, respectively), with the theme of staying true to yourself and to what you stand for, but it can’t even hold that message for long when it seems boastful in this repeated part:

And they'll be awestruck, sayin', "Aww shucks" They either got real good or they got real good luck

I mean, not to be too conspiratorial or pull a Summertime’s End, but that isn’t really biblical thinking.  And to top it all off, it’s the first Owl City song that I feel is so bland it no longer resembles Adam Young.  It feels like anyone could sing that song and it would work.  Furthermore, where are the parts that are “personal”?  Apart from talking about a dance, which I can only think of being a school dance or something of that sort, it’s not something that sounds like it’s personal to Adam, and if it is, I at least can’t relate to it.

A song that I feel would be better suited and even in a similar vein is the Outasight song “If I Fall Down”.  It has a similar theme and the story in the second verse sounds a lot like Adam’s story of making it in the music industry:

Welcome to my story Before the songs before the glory There was a boy in a town that’s boring Who let go of the fear he's holding Walked out of all his classes Followed his so-called passion Everyone said he was crazy And they were right but that was back then

Sounds more Adam like, right?  There’s a reason for that: According to ayoungmusic.com, the song was written and produced by Adam Young!

Now, I will still buy Cinematic.  I’m super excited for it.  The tracklisting has some promising titles like “Firebird”, “Lucid Dream”, and even the title track “Cinematic”, among many others.  I’m just a little nervous in the direction it will go.

The only thing I can say in Adam’s defense is that the first song/lead single that's released is not usually representative of the whole album. "Fireflies" does not capture the whole of Ocean Eyes. "Alligator Sky" does not capture the whole of All Things Bright and Beautiful. "Good Time" does not capture the whole of The Midsummer Station. And "Verge" does not capture the whole of Mobile Orchestra. Here's to hoping that "All My Friends" does not capture the whole of Cinematic.

Finally, in my opinion, what made Humbug work as a personal song is that it has a tongue-in-cheek quality that is very Owl City-ish in nature.  Even though it doesn’t really have synths, it still sounds like an Owl City song.  I can’t say the same for this song.  It sounds too bland and not at all like an Owl City song.  I am still an Owl City fan and remain excited for Cinematic, but I can’t stand behind the song “All My Friends”.  I’m just hoping the album goes in a slightly different direction!

[pghfya]

Cassi's Most Recommended Audiobooks

So, I love audiobooks. I listen to a few a month. Sometimes one a week. I listen at work, on the bus to work, while doing chores around the house, out for long walks on the beach. It doesn’t matter when or where I am, I will probably be listening to an audiobook.

And because I love audiobooks so much that every time someone is like “I need an audiobook I’m all…”

So what I’m saying is that I’m super excited to be sharing some of my favorite audiobooks with you all. I talk about audiobooks a lot of my blog so if you want more recommendations, check it out (My Thoughts Literally) But in the mean time, here are some of my favorite audiobooks and the ones I have recommended the most.

1.) The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

All of Maggie’s books are amazing and their audiobooks are fantastic. You seriously can’t go wrong with a Maggie book on audio. Her writing is so atmospheric that it works really well with the audio format. Scorpio Races is the best though. The island of Thisby comes alive in this audio. You will love it. Trust me. Plus it is narrated by Steve West and Fiona Hardingham. They are among my favorite narrators. Anything they narrate is great. Steve West, in particular, makes me feel things I shouldn’t feel in public. But seriously, these narrators are so good. This spring I listened to almost exclusively books narrated by them and I had to force myself to stop because it was ruining other narrators for me. 

2.) The Reckoners Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson

I love Brandon Sanderson and this series is the one that started it for me. It’s a seriously amazing and action-packed read that is great on audio. The narrator, MacLeod Andrews is another one of my favorite narrators. He really gets the characters. And in this series, there is a huge and diverse cast of characters. There are all kinds of different accents and personalities in the series but they are all so perfect in MacLeod’s expert hands (mouth?). But the best part is that this series is so funny. It’s really hilarious. You will laugh out loud. It’s amazing.

3.) Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

This is technically not YA, but it has so much crossover appeal that I have to list it. Plus it really is among my most recommended audiobooks. Plus the movie is coming out soon and if you want to read the book before the movie comes out you need to know that the audio is so good. Because it really is amazing. It’s a really thrilling and descriptive read that comes alive in the audio format. Plus it’s narrated by Wil Wheaton which is such perfect casting. It’s nerdy 80’s and computer references are perfect with Wil as the narrator.

4.) The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

I love this series. I read the first three books in like two weeks and immediately became obsessed. They’re so fun and the characters are amazing. This is another audio with a great world and tons of action that work so well in the audio format. Plus it is narrated by Elizabeth Soler who again is one of my favorite narrators. I listened to the first three books as a reread before Winter came out that I couldn’t actually read Winter. I had to listen to the audiobook because her voice became the characters’ voice. (P.S. This also happened with Throne of Glass because Elizabeth Evans does the most perfect Celaena Sardothian. Throne of Glass isn’t in this series it could be).

5.) Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

I’m a huge fan of Libba Bray’s books. I’ve read basically all of them and I’ve loved every single one of them. I listened to the audio for Beauty Queens and I am really glad that I did because it was amazing. The author narrates it herself which is one of my favorite things in audiobooks. I feel like when the author narrates you get the tone of them. And the tone of this book is hilarity. Seriously I thought this was so fun and silly in the best possible way. I even asked Libba Bray on twitter after I listened to this if she would narrate my life because she did such a great job. She agreed and I am still waiting for that.

6.) Illuminae Files by Jay Kristoff and Aime Kaufman

So, I know what you are thinking. This series is written in an epistolary format and there are pictures and cool stuff, why would I listen to the audio. But trust me, the audio is amazing. For one thing, it has a full cast, something I always love, but it also has sound effects. The book really does come alive in the audio. It’s a truly immersive experience if you scroll through the book and look at the images while you listen to the audio. Plus they have some great narrators. Olivia Taylor Dudley and Lincoln Hoppe in Illumnae are great. Gemina has MacLeod Andrews, Steve West, and Carla Corvo all of whom I love. Plus whoever does Ella is perfection. These audio are perfection.

7.) Jackaby series by William Ritter

This is maybe one of the most underrated series out there. I am obsessed with it. It’s like Sherlock Holmes meets Doctor Who. A historical fantasy set in a small New England town with all kinds supernatural happenings. But luckily for us, there is Detective R.F Jackaby there to investigate things with his trusty assistant Abigail Rook, his ghost landlady Jenny Cavanaugh, Douglas a duck who used to be his assistant, and a frog you should not stare at. It’s hilarious and mysterious. Plus Nicola Barber is a great narrator.

8.) His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman

I’m a huge fan of this series. I read it years ago and then reread it recently on audio. The audio was seriously amazing. I did not expect it to be as good as it was. But this is another series that has a full cast and it worked so well. The narrator for Lyra was so perfect and so was the narrator for Iorek Byrnison, who is my favorite character in the series. It’s told like a radio play and I loved it.

9.) Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Another one that isn’t young adult but has a ton of crossover appeal. If you see a trend here then you are very perspective. Yes, I like audiobooks that have a lot of action and a lot of humor. That is absolutely what this book has. There are two versions, one that has one narrator (Stephen Fry for the first book and then Martin Freeman), and a radio play with a full cast. Both are great.

10.) Honorable Mentions 

Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

These are all honorable mentions and therefore the tenth on this list because I couldn’t decide which one to decide because they are all so amazing. Also, I listened to recently so I’m not sure I have every really recommended them to anyone. But I’m recommending them to you because they are amazing.

Okay, that’s all I will list here. I can seriously go on forever with recommendations. Seriously, check out my blog for more. I’ve done plenty of posts with my favorites and even a ton of reviews of audiobooks. I listen to like 40 audiobooks a year so I have a lot of feelings. Anyway, I have to go. Probably find new audiobooks to listen to. Maybe I’ll see if any other clubs have recommendations.

#fya audiobooks #submission #yasummershowdown 2017 #2017 yasummershowdown #pghfya #2017 artifact hunt #artifact hunt 2017

[iwantasecretgarden]

Taggetytagtag

DoBrought up by the freaking awesome and strong @nachodiablo

Rules: Answer all questions, add one question of your own and tag as many people as there are questions.

1. Coke or Pepsi: Diet Coke in a glass of ice or a can or a bottle or a fountain or anywhere, always. “Is Pepsi okay?” is probably the worst sentence in all of human history.

2. Disney or Dreamworks: Disney Renaissance (90s kid)

3. Coffee or tea: Coffee. I want to like tea, but it’s leaf water. And drinking it tastes like hot leaves. I try and I try and yet still...clogged pool filter in a cup.

4. Books or movies: Books. Books, I’ve never seen so many books in all my life. Best weapons in the world. But seriously in 2016 I read 42 books - didn’t quite get to my 52 I had hoped for as my upper goal, but far surpassed the 25 I had planned.

5. Windows or mac: Mac since birth. Born with my dad getting me a tiny apple jumper as he used the old timey rainbows apple with the startup OS face.

6. DC or Marvel: Marvel characters are deeper and more interesting, especially because I WANT to like Wonder Woman but every single writer just changes her backstory and nothing is consistent and I hate that. X-Men are my favorite because it’s embracing difference in an exclusive, bigoted world.

7. X-box or Playstation: I wasn’t allowed to play video games because my parents thought they would make me violent so now I’m WOEFULLY AWFUL at them. But does Wii Lego games count? Because I really like Wii Lego Harry Potter. I know. I know. But it’s actually adorable. I also play Wii Lego LOTR and Batman and Star Wars (but SW one sucks).

8. Dragon age or Mass effect: Er...what. 

9. Night owl or early riser: I do better working at night because I like to have an hour or so to wake up. So if I leave at 9 I get up at 6:30 so I can drink coffee and blink awake and watch a tv show before doing chores and getting ready.

10. Cards or chess: Cards - more for the memories that accompany them and because I’m hellishly impatient for Chess.

11. Chocolate or vanilla: Vanilla not because I’m vanilla but because chocolate can either be overwhelming or when in ice cream doesn’t taste like chocolate? Like why? It tastes like mystery brown flavor and I’m not into that.

12. Vans or converse: Converse for life. Black. With doodles on the white parts. Quotes and drawings. Being a cool kid way past the age I could pull it off (since I never could). I also have a blue pair that I drew the TARDIS on during the DW fanvolution but now don’t wear because they don’t match.

13. Lavellan, Trevelyan, Cadash, or Adaar: I feel dumb. I don’t know what these are. 

14. Fluff or angst: Angsty fluff. Like when the angst drenches your soul and in the darkest moment someone says the right thing that no one in real life has ever said to you and it’s like a sweet sweet salve. 

15. Beach or forest: Forest. I hate sand. I’m stupid annakin. And deep in my heart of hearts I’m still the wolf girl I was at 13 where I wore braces and boys jeans and tie dyed wolf t-shirts and braids in my hair with a bunch of friendship bracelets and wanted to be a psychic dragon rider or be raised by sentient wolves. So in the end...it’d be untrue to my nature (and to my secret shame wolf patronus) to not say forest where I used to dream of running away and finding my true pack.

16. Dogs or cats: I have two greyhounds (Fred & George), and a cat - Gandalf. That way I can introduce the bunch as Gandalf (and) the Greyhounds. Yeah. I’m serious. PM me for picture proof or check out insta @greyhoundgeorge

17. Clear skies or rain: Rain when I have nowhere to BE. If I can stay home and eat hot popcorn and drink cold water and snuggle on a couch under the blankets and put on an old movie or quiet film scores and pick up a book I want to read all in one go. That’s a little corner of heaven right there. But clear skies if I am going out to do something - if I’m doing something stressful and knowing I can go outside after to let the sun drench into the skin of my face and smile and take a breath and get a cold diet coke and congratulate myself on being brave and finishing out.

18. Cooking or eating out: Depends. Depends on how lazy I am and how broke I am and how hungry I am. I like cooking when I’m really hungry because then I can personalize everything to my own tastes and having leftovers I know will be yummy later. When I eat out/order take out I’m eating it all. Don’t be foolish.

19. Spicy food or mild food: Spicy food. Make my nose rain. I once drank a bowl of salsa in a Mexican restaurant. Like in Beauty & the Beast. Bowl to my mouth. Drank it down. My sisters hissed at me to stop. It was so good. So I drank theirs too.

20. Halloween/samhain or solstice/yule/christmas: Solstice, Yule, ***Christmas*** I am so into Christmas. I’m the dumbass that starts listening to carols too early in November. I’m wearing sweaters and sweating. I’m getting my peppermint hot chocolate. I’m the one viciously stalking that Christmas feeling that seems to get farther and farther away the older you get. Because I want it to last forever. I want to make sure my little sisters never lose it.

21. Would you rather forever be a little too cold or a little too hot: Too cold. I’m already hot all the time. It’s hell. And I sweat through my clothes and that’s embarrassing and uncomfortable. At least when I’m cold people feel pity for you. When you’re hot all the time everyone looks at you like a freak.

22. If you could have a superpower, what would it be: Hallucination/Projection. I’d be called “Storyteller” or “Story” and if I wanted you to think you were on a beach in Aruba, you would really see and feel it. I would be able to travel for free, protect myself through a veneer, and never have to harm anyone. And I could taste all food however I wanted even if it was just celery. I could look how I want to look, dress how I want to dress, make my world the reality I want.

23. Animation or live action: Live action. I think the nuances of character actors and their expressions bring something to a film that evokes a sympathetic response in the brain that cannot (currently) be copied in animation.

24. Paragon or renegade: Again. I’m a silly person who has no idea what this is.

25. Baths or showers: SHOWERS. Hot showers. Baths - like tea - are just stewing in dirt. In your own dirt. In a tub where you get to look at your knees and rest your wet head against the hard tile. Ew.

26. Team cap or team ironman: Captain America forever. Stucky and Steggy forever.

27. Fantasy or sci-fi: Fantasy at my heart of hearts. It appeals to my wolfgirl nature. But I’m an equal opportunist and love Sci Fi. Just watch out for those weird 1950s fantasy/sci fi crossovers about colonizing planets cuz those get WEIRD.

28. Do you have three or four favourite quotes, if so what are they:

"Do small things with great love.” - Mother Teresa

“Courage, dearheart.” - C.S. Lewis

“Don’t worry. Don’t worry.  Look up at the ceiling and breathe with those curiously fragile lungs and remind yourself don’t worry. All as it was meant to be. It was meant to be lonely, and terrifying, and unfair, and fleeting. Don’t worry.” - Welcome to Nightvale

29. Youtube or netflix: Netflix or Amazon Video yo

30. Harry Potter or Percy Jackson: Yeahhhh see I was too old when PJ came out. My youngest sister was reading it and even she thought it was under her age level. So HARRY POTTER FOREVER FOOLS. I mean, I cannot stress how much our family loves HP. We had a year when my youngest sister turned 11 she had a welcome to Hogwarts party in March, my family surprised me with a Horcrux Hunt 17th birthday Coming of Age in April, and my other sister turned 14 and got a Triwizard Cup party in May. My Mom listens to HP on Audible every night before bed. She can literally quote the first book word for word. We went to HP Wizarding World in FL before it opened on special passes when I was 19. If my mother wouldn’t murder us, our entire family would have matching HP tattoos. I write Marauders book fanfiction for my entire family to read and critique. We have sorted ourselves and own everything in our respective houses (a split R/G family). It’s our dream to go to Leaky Con together. We all have complete uniforms. Not just the robes. All of it. We know all the spells, have played all the dumb computer 2001 games and Wii games and Pottermore before it was lame and basically omg. HP FOR LIFE. (or LOTR). 

31. When you feel accomplished: When someone acknowledges I saw the problem and solution immediately but everyone else tried a bunch of things first and eventually realized I was right. #INTJ

32. Star Wars or Star Trek: I am very into both, and both my sisters have hard core taken a position on each camp. But if I had to choose, I would say Star Trek because of the massive cultural shift it caused, especially in featuring multi-racial characters and women in positions of science and power.

33. Paperback books or hardback books: Paperback if I’m reading it the first time and Idk if i’ll like it but then I want hardback (leatherbound tbh) of everything I’ve ever loved and read for my library I want to own like in B&B. 

34. Horror or rom-com: Ughhhhhhhh both suck. But I only like cerebral horror (like Sixth Sense) or intellectual horror (like Hannibal) because physical horror (torture), gross horror (teeth losing and pus), jump horror (basic) really aren’t interesting to me so I GUESS I’ll say rom-com.

35. TV shows or movies: TV shows streaming so I can binge them. Yep.

36. Favorite animal: Tigers! I’m so into tigers and know so much about them. The ONLY tiger fact I’ll bore you with right now is that lion roars are much shallower due to being lighter weight with less lung capacity so for the Lion King whenever the lions roar, it’s actually tiger roars to sound more macho.

37. Favorite genre of music: Alt rock or indie - coldplay, mumford, snow patrol, frank turner, damien rice, the wonder years, etc. 

38. Least favorite book: I know people are really into it now, but when I read it A Separate Peace sucked balls and everyone agreed. Also I once read this terribly written horror book Neverwhere. Actually I’ve read several such poorly written books that it honestly gives me hope that I can be an author if these dingbats can.

39. Favourite season: Winter before Christmas

40. Song that’s currently stuck in your head:  Help by the Beatles

41. What kind of pyjama’s do you wear: Old t shirt (usually huge) and pj pants or shorts

42. How many existential crisis do you have on an average day: Lol so many. Depends on the day. More like “my life is confusing and I have no idea what’s happening and everything is a chain reaction that hasn’t begun and I’m holding my breath praying for a fallout that’s marginally okay.”

43. If you can only choose one song to be played at your funeral, what would it be: “Penny Lane,” by the Beatles

44. Favourite theme song to a TV show: Buffy the Vampire Slayer or (honestly) Magic School Bus or Jimmy Neutron

45. Harry Potter movies or books: Books, where the inaccuracies aren’t too many to count

46. Favorite traditional food from your family: Tamales

47. Favorite decade from 1900-now: 1990s. But only 90s kids remember the 90s.

48. Worst habit? Thinking I can do it all.

49. Teach an old person to use the internet or stay for a week with a kid stuck in the “why” phase?: Kids. I love kids. Why phases are great. Sometimes I never outgrew mine, and adults always brush them off without actually taking time to explain why satisfactorily.  50. Who’s your favorite painter?: Claude Monet. 

51. Favourite flower?: Roses (trite) or bluebonnets. 

52. Boots or sneakers?: Sneakers now - boots in fall.

53. Abroad or at home?: Home if I could magically go back in time when “home” was everything I wanted and not a place to visit my mom in my old room with no clothes or friends.

54. Planning or spontaneity? Planning! But occasional spontaneity. 

55. Boxers or briefs? Boxers so that I can wear them as pajama shorts.

56. Hogwarts house? Better be...Gryffindor! 

I’m not tagging 56 people, so if you’d like to do this, tag me so I can read them! If you don’t want to, then just enjoy learning more about me. If it’s more than you wanted to know (and it probably is) feel free to ignore.

[cosmicmordecai]

Nightwing (Rebirth) Review

Hey! It’s been a while since I’ve ever actually talked about a comic book. Mostly due to the toxic enviroment of the Dick Grayson and DC Fandom in general. But now I’m back to give my thoughts on Nightwing. We’re currently on #11 for those who don’t know.

And I have to say: this is the only series I follow so far and one I look forward to for a variety of reason. If this isn’t on your pull list, fix that. I’ll tell you why too with this review of mine.

(Disclaimer: Anything said here is only my opinion. Please, If you don’t like this series, that’s okay. We don’t need snide dismissals.)

The Review

So far in this series, we’ve gone through 2 story arcs independent from this book and a crossover! Currently, the book is right in the middle of it’s third independent arc. As a fan of Grayson, I went into this book with optimism and hopes. And suffice to say, I’m rather satisfied.

Direction

Probably one of the largest factors in my love for this series is the mythos and world-bulding aspect the series is attempting to build. Previous Nightwing series struggled with finding a definite direction for Dick Grayson for a myriad of reasons. Chuck Dixon and Kyle Higgins are the only writers to have really attempt this in Nightwing’s solo. However, both suffered some kind of issue when trying.

When Chuck Dixon was around, he had written a very solid Nightwing.The direction of the book attempted to establish Dick Grayson as his own independent entity while being stationed in a city reputed even worse than Gotham. However, future writers failed to really capitalize on that world building and take it further. Mostly because the writer that came after him screwed part of the characterization and because of the confusion from the fact Nightwing was going to die in Infinite Crisis, Nightwing has since struggled to find a direction.

Kyle Higgins was the next writer who tried tackling the very same problem. He wanted to establish Nightwing in a way you can define him without Batman. However, New 52 initially took so many traits away that made him unique. Rampant crossovers also took over the book and forced at least 2 to three different directions. His podcasts capitalized on the issues he faced while doing Nightwing, and it included a lot of editorial interference too.

However, luck is on our side. The current writer, Tim Seeley, signed a two year exclusive. This is good news in the fact that a writer will be able to have the time and dedication into writing this book without risk of it changing abruptly. And usually, a writer having an exclusive usually comes with freedom and respect to that writer. What I’m getting at is that Tim Seeley is free to explore and expand Nightwing however he see’s fit with far less editorial meddling. And after seeing Grayson, I have hopes he could revamp and set up the foundations Dick Grayson as a character should have.

And boy, does Seeley seem to be good at digging in the head of Nightwing fans like myself. While the story arcs all have a different direction, theme, etc, The book for the majority attempts to re-establish the Nightwing mantle as well as update and revamp old things in Dick Grayson’s history. The idea itself is nothing new, but the execution and approach is definitely exceeding in my opinion.

Story

In the first arc of the series (Better than Batman), Dick Grayson returns to being Nightwing and works as a Talon for the /PARLIMENT/ of Owls. This stems from an earlier crossover “Robin: War”, which wasn’t all that good in my opinion but leagues ahead of Batman and Robin Eternal. When he’s not being a bad enough of a guy for the Parliment, they send him a new partner, Raptor, in hopes of slowly converting him to their viewpoints. With goals to establish their own nation, it’s Nightwing and Raptor who put a stop to it. However, we learn at the end, Raptor was paid off as a double agent by none other than the Kobra Cult. They showed up as a adversary for the Parliment throughout small portions of the story.

During this time, Nightwing adjusts going from super-spy to superhero. However, in doing so, his difference between his heroics and Batman’s herorics is one again centerfold. Only this time, being against said organization, he has to make a friend with their own agenda. Despite understanding the risk, he gives Raptor a chance when he finds that their goals do align…to a degree.

This puts him at odds with Batman and Batgirl, who do not trust Raptor. Dick himself, however, places faith within Raptor. This will later play into the next arc, but we’re going to focus on Better than Batman.

This was a SOLID story to me. However, I have my own gripes. Number one I want to address is this “trusting a criminal” issue. Batgirl goes off on a tangent on Nightwing in issue #3 about this. And goes as far as to accuse Nightwing of liking infiltration dangerous organizations. I want to express that I’m already on the fence on her characterization in general and with Dick Grayson at that time frame.

But the fact is that DC elected to have Jason Todd be a prominent member of the Bat-Family. This makes her character come off hypocritical and even Batman later chatises Dick for partly the same reason. The story alone makes sense but in the lens of the crossovers previously done, it makes no sense for anyone to chastise Dick for placing trust in people who have less-then-stellar occupations. They make good points but cannot speak as If they themselves don’t do so. This issue mostly stems from DC’s direction with other characters. I don’t like Dick’s flaws being a highlight when said characterization has been bent over back to allow Jason Todd to co-exist without the story automatically having any Bat-Family members or the superhero community in general throw down with him.  

I also have issues with pitting Nightwing and Batgirl against one another all the time. New 52 wasn’t kind to them and even books that briefly went back to New Earth saw Oracle forget that her fiance was Batman and she didn’t need to lie to him. I recall a user in a comic book forum explaining what he thought of how they did the Batgirl relationship.

To paraphrase, Batgirl is the one who holds the advantage in their relationship. Whether romantic or not. This has been the case since Chuck Dixon. And many writers followed suit. This is not a bad thing but one of my criticism of this relationship is the over-emphansis of Barbara calling out Dick Grayson on whatever aspect of his life happens to be the attention. Writer tend to forget that both of them are considered equals and grown adults. Unless you’re going for an immature portrayal, it’s tiresome finding Barbara being the one who is suppose to be “right” and Dick the equivolent to a “love-sick puppy”.

In this story, Dick does his best to explain why he goes with the risk. But Batgirl is not having it. That’s okay still. However, the issue resides in the fact that Dick never really defends himself. He just goes about feeling bad about something cause Batgirl said it.

Back to my viewpoint, I just about agree with this assessment. There’s not many examples of Dick actually arguing and holding his own. Even If he’s in the wrong, I’d like to see him a bit stubborn and more sure of his decisions. Issue 3 actually has Raptor wrap up the fact that it’s okay for him to trust his instincts. It’s just who he is. He’s simply more trusting. But I wish Dick himself would just know that himself. He’s been at this long enough to not have the need for someone to tell him that and should be more defensive.

Batgirl does end up being right, so I cannot say that she is in the all wrong. However, I get frustrated finding them at odds without the balancing of them simply enjoying each other’s company. Not to mention that Nightwing doesn’t emphasize he’s not Batman. His methods are going to be different. I rather she had tried appealing to Nightwing based on logic rather than “Batman showed you this and that”.

While she was right about Raptor, Dick previously put trust in both Helena and Tiger and it paid off, despite the fact that he actually (contrary to popular belief) did not initially trust them. This issue and complaint wouldn’t really exist If Jason Todd wasn’t a prominent member. It’s from this and the combined fact that more portrayals of Nightwing and Batgirl’s dynamic is negative that made me dislike this part of the Better than Batman story.

Some of the plot detail in addition are equally confusing. I honestly cannot tell you part of the story that details how exactly they took down the Parliment of Owls that included a book and coins in which somehow through a process reveals the first name of current and previous Parliment of Owls’s affiliates. There’s also the fact that we really don’t get to know much about the Parliment. Perhaps that’s good for those who get tired of Dick fighting huge organizations but it would of been a nice to have a expansive Rogues Gallery at least.

Also, no William Cobb. What’s the point of giving Dick an evil great-grandaddy If we can’t even try to give it some stories. Thank god a future issue will actually bring this up again.

There was a Monster Men crossover but I honestly skipped over it. I’m tired of large crossovers. It takes up space. I’m not interested in Batman and what the Bat-Family was doing then. They oughta just make it separate books.

So, going over to Rise of Raptor. In the last storyline, they teased Raptor having a connection to Dick’s mother. So now, it’s coming to play here. Well, after exposing the Parliment globally to law enforcements all over the world, they’re in a panic as not only them but Spyral and Nightwing closes in. But many of their members end up killed by Kobra. Nightwing easily puts two and two and confronts Raptor. He learns that he’s been watching Nightwing all his life and knocks him out. He kidnaps Bruce Wayne, having garnered hatred for the man because he believes he took Dick and molded him into the very thing he’s the opposite of. Dick later awakens and goes to confront him. Here we learn that Raptor use to be his mother, Mary Lloyd’s best friend. Both of them use to be thieves that stole from the rich and gave to the poor. Their bond came from the fact that Mary went out of her way to cure him from a rare but extremely curable disease that was denied to him because the rich around him (he was raised in a circus) simply gave no shits. To Raptor, Bruce Wayne stands for everything he thinks Mary Lloyd would be against and hates how he took Dick in and trained him, essentially erasing who he was. Dick appears and fights him, taking the upperhand and takes down Raptor once and for all while learning his agenda in which I expressed from above.

I didn’t talk much about Bruce and Dick’s relationship up until this point. In Better than Batman, Dick and Bruce were at odds. Not only because of Raptor but Bruce wanted Dick to do his superheroing without his constant input, even at the risk of making mistakes, in order for him to learn from it. Dick just felt like he was pushing him back once more and was frustrated. It was Rise of Raptor they made up. In which I’m glad because Dick and Bruce having an issue again was stupid. Even If you hate Grayson, Batman acted as a close confident to him and in turn, Batman trusted him with a very dangerous assignment. Writers having this back and forth thing really need to stop. And wait a few years before giving them issues. 

Now lets get into the Raptor character. Don’t get me wrong. He’s a solid villains and one of the better ones I’ve seen in Nightwing’s solo altogether. It added more depth to Mary Grayson and gave a personal villain that didn’t die at the end of the story. That’s good enough for me!

However, I will still express I was really wanting a mentor character for Dick. Someone to give Dick some perspective beside Batman’s way. Raptor could of easily been this had Seeley stuck to the way he was hyped. I think it be refreshing to see a character have hope for Dick. For all the hype Dick gets, hardly any characters show it to him from the get-go. I’m holding on Tiger and Helena staying that way.

Another villain knowing Dick’s identity still annoys me to hell. What’s the point of secret identities If he can’t even seem to keep up with it. The Parliment knows and Raptor, despite not having any formal training, was able to spy on Dick for the slew of the adult life he had up until now? At least Grayson had people who SPECIALIZED in it. And gadgetry to help out. And Dick’s stint as a super-spy should of help him with that. It’s tiring finding this happening over and over again. They might as well Black Widow it up and just have people know him by name and alias. Grayson showed it can work for the character and no writer can’t seem to ever go a few storylines without it popping it up. How about we just stop it or go Black Widow?  

Another issue I had was that he was a bit over-powered. While the disease Raptor faced killed off his nerves and he can’t feel pain, he still help the upperhand to Nightwing and even had better gadgetry. I will discuss more of the gadgetry in-depth but Nightwing having trouble with another new character for no reason has plagued his book since even in Chuck Dixon’s time. If Nightwing is going to have trouble fighting character, they need to have CREDIBLE backgrounds to justify it. No, Dick being “distracted” doesn’t cut it. Throughout even Better than Batman and Rise of Raptor, Dick was punked multiple times.

Improvements to be made

I’m not going to speak of the current arc until it’s over. All I will say though is that it seems to be an improvement from the previous story line.

But I’m going to criticize Seeley’s characterization of Dick in general. I think in a casual scenario and Dick’s alignment and way of thinking, Seeley nails it. He, however, stills fails to portray Dick in the intelligence department appropriately. I don’t know If it’s because Tim Drake HAS to be the smartest Robin there is but let me say this: DICK GRAYSON HAS BEEN BATMAN. And I mean THE BATMAN. HE IS INTELLIGENT.

He doesn’t have to be smarter than Red Robin. But I’m really tired of still reading a Dick Grayson who underwhelming. It’s not like pure incompetence but he doesn’t ever notice things that Batman and Batgirl points out. He never finds out Raptor’s name. Why? How is Raptor better funded then Nightwing himself? Where’s the technological savy edge to Nightwing? And for that matter, where’s that espionage experience going to help out? In all the current arcs, it has yet to actually help him out. I’m sorry but even his New 52 suit, the one people hated, at least had all kinds of stuff within it to help explain how he survives his dangerous situations. As far as I’ve seen from THIS series, he runs around in a literal suit with minimal gadgetry (nothing offensive), a domino mask with minimal features, and boring ass Escrima Sticks (what happened to the ones with electricity seen in the Arkham series and early Nightwing series?).

Part of what makes Bat-Family members competent is their tools and maintenance of it. Every actual Bat-Family character has a nice array of gadgets but HIM. If Seeley is going to say Dick is an A-List hero, he needs to have the tools for it. He literally moves around via rooftops and the occasional motorcycle. Or otherwise, he’s taking rides from someone else who has less capabilities but somehow better anyway.

And funding seems to be an inconsistent issue. This is brought up in the current arc but there should be no reason for this. This makes plenty sense in his previous series but now, he as Batman, Spyral, the Titans, God’s Garden, etc. It’s okay to give him limitations but don’t be doing it when it makes no sense. What was the point of adding those things then? World-Building is useless when you’re not using it. And plays hand-in-hand in making a Dick Grayson that just will come off as incompetent or just not as good of a hero. Going more into it, he comes off being in a passive narrative. This was criticized from Grayson naysayers but in that context, he was undercover so it made  sense. And he very much wasn’t later. But the first two story arcs did this to establish Raptor as a manipulator. Nightwing wasn’t insistent on finding his identity and finding that suspicious. At first, he wasn’t trusting of Raptor but he then gains his trust only to betray him. Even Dick knew nothing of him. Not even his real name. But he trusted him profoundly too. 

In all, I am actually rather critical about Seeley’s portrayal of Dick Grayson on several fronts regarding his intellect and how he operates as hero. Seeing him constantly misjudge someone (when he has the capability of being manipulative just like Batman and others can. This was the meat and bones of him in B&RE despite it’s travesty and a part of Grayson. He can also read people’s faces.) despite the skills he has is irritating to read.

Like I said, I don’t want a perfect Dick Grayson but I do want a consistent one. Dick can’t be written to be too trusting in his solo series only for other books to establish that he’s still a hardass.

Final Verdict

As I’ve said before, I find this book a solid run. I am entertained by it, appreciate it’s attempt to world-build Nightwing’s mythos independently from Batman, and it’s overall focus on Dick Grayson as a character. It is my favorite series to follow.

However, much of my criticism and concerns lie in the intellectual side of Grayson’s current characterization. While his aspects of his personality seem right on in various aspects, others aren’t. I don’t think it really compares to Higgins, Tomasi, or Dixon’s characterization. But it’s far better than most other writers that have attempt Nightwing. Especially recently. I highly recommend this book thus far to anyone. Even If people want to pretend Tim Seeley is Devin Grayson at her worse incarnate.

I am aware of how Tim Seeley as a writer tends to divide Nightwing fans. However, I encourage those wanting to seek a new book or on the edge about it to look for yourself. While much of the criticisms against Seeley’s characterization holds merit of varying degrees even IF I don’t agree, the animosity against him is a combination of assumptions made against him due to a previous issue Grayson experience, fandom tendency to demonize writers based on introducing new elements, and the toxicity of the comic book fandom as of late relating to social justice. While the focus and intentions are not terrible, the execution and sometimes the cause of such issues to come about ranges all over the place.

Check it out nevertheless!