#this is fantastic for the season—i always love seeing characters doing mundane things like this that are relevant to the time of year

[solalunar-eclipse]

¡Espero que está bien que he trasladado esta historia! // I hope it’s alright that I’ve translated this story!

Sonic, panel 4: Too cute!

Sonic, panels 5 & 6: Shads! Sorry I made you wait so long.

Shadow, panel 7: Don’t exaggerate. I didn’t wait that much…

Shadow, panel 8: Just…let’s go home.

(The story’s probably pretty easy to understand even if you don’t speak Spanish, but I thought that it’d be nice to give more people a chance to read it!) // (¡La historia probablemente es muy fácil de entender aunque no hablas español, pero pensé que puede ser amable dar a más personas la oportunidad a leerlo!)

Short story Sonadow ❄️

Aprovechando el mes de diciembre, quería hacerlos un poco más juntos y mostrar la interacción imaginaria que tengo de ellos 💗

Espero y les guste este ¡short story!

Espero luego subir más de estás pequeñas historias ⭐

De paso también para explicar un poco mi ausencia. En estas dos últimas semanas, me han tenido muy ocupado que no he podido darme un espacio para dibujar.

¡Pero espero aprovechar esto para empezar de nuevo a subir!

Ah ser vdd creo que Shadow es alguien que puede llegar a enfermarse en diciembre fácilmente jsjsj me lo imagino, y se me derrite el corazón 🫠❤️

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Caught up on MONSTERS AT WORK...

*spoilers ahead*

This is an interesting show in that it's a Disney TV Animation production, and Pixar had a *lot* of involvement in it. Rumor had it, years ago, that Pixar halted the show for a brief bit and took a look at it... Hence it missing its projected 2020 release date and ending up debuting a year later, in July 2021. Other Pixar shows made for Disney+ were in-house Pixar productions, like CARS ON THE ROAD and DUG DAYS. MONSTERS AT WORK is the unique exception, much like BUZZ LIGHTYEAR OF STAR COMMAND.

With Pixar seemingly drifting from Disney+, now that streaming isn't this be-all end-all thing that the movie giants aggressively bet on, I wonder if future shows based on their beloved movies will be made still... And by whom? They themselves? Or Disney TV Animation? It was already something of a surprise when MONSTERS AT WORK was announced in late 2017 as a DTVA production, considering how much John Lasseter supposedly despised BLoSC and how in-house Pixar tends to keep things. Also curiously, this show's second season aired on the Disney Channel first and then dropped on Disney+. Once again showing where the tides are going...

(Also, Disney... Pixar... Where the heck is WIN OR LOSE?)

Season one of MONSTERS AT WORK is this sort-of in-between-quel thing, in that it takes place between Waternoose's arrest and the epilogue of everyone on the Laugh Floor in the original MONSTERS, INC. And ends there, with at least one scene recreated verbatim. I must say, that ICON studio really did a fantastic job making a show that looks like the original movie and doesn't look noticeable cheaper. Amazing to think that the original movie released in 2001 cost $115m and was *top of the line* in technical terms, and today this Disney+ show looks almost as movie quality...

This new season follows up directly on MONSTERS, INC.'s ending.

And because we're past the first movie now - which is going to be 23 this year, it was pretty cool to see the sort-of mundane stuff going on in the company and around Monstropolis. Softball games and old abandoned hallways and fun stuff like that, I also like how it integrated all the stuff established in MONSTERS UNIVERSITY. Worthington returning alongside Chet, Claire and a few others, plus Fear Co. finally being shown. Good stuff!

Season two kinda does this thing where it's still trying to be the OFFICE-style workplace comedy that the first season was, but also functioning as a big sequel to MONSTERS, INC. Pixar bypassed doing a sequel to MONSTERS, INC. by giving us a prequel instead, so it was definitely kinda weird seeing this show function - in its second season - as a sequel of sorts. A big conspiracy with Fear Co., Randall Boggs returning, some pretty high stakes too. A near-finale fallout for the two main characters as well. It feels like it's trying to aim for those great beats in both movies, reprising them in that Pixar sequel style, a trick that's quite noticeable from a mile away. Right down to Tylor scaring a kid in the same way Sulley accidentally did to Boo. Still, it was cool to see some worldbuilding there, and the characters just simply existing. Day by day in Monstropolis. I'd love to see more shows like that w/ big animated movie characters, honestly. Even if I wasn't entirely onboard some aspects of this show, it was still cool to spend time in that world again without it having to be a big sequel.

As a kid, watching MONSTERS, INC. on DVD multiple times and burying myself in the second disc's special features, I always wanted to see more of the Monster World. Outside of Monstropolis, outside of MU, etc. What other cities and towns are out there? Or other kinds of monsters for that matter? What's the wilderness like?

I feel like that's a world you can really, really explore. A lot of the early concept art for that movie suggested something even weirder and gnarlier. Like, where are all the monsters like these?

You kinda get that with "The Shrieker", the legendary monster that roams the archaic underbellies of the factory. I'd like to see more of that kinda stuff, Monster World history and lore, ya know? It's literally a goldmine of stuff to dig into.

But I suppose you can weave a ton of things out of unmade versions of Pixar movies, for sure.

I was always very curious about that one treatment done up in the late '90s where Boo - called by her real name, Mary - was a little bit older and Sulley was still named Johnson, where the premise is him hiding this kid for the whole runtime and then her getting lost in the city at one point. That had a somewhat eerie, more ominous mood, almost a completely different movie from the workplace comedy we ended up getting.

But it was the stuff like that on the DVD bonus features that stoked my imagination circa late 2002, and... Well... Nothing Monsters came about - in terms of screen media, not theme park stuff - until MONSTERS UNIVERSITY, 11 years and one cancelled Disney Circle 7 sequel later. The Circle 7 sequel that was being developed around 2004-05 had some potential, I think, but I don't know ideas from it can legally be integrated into a future Monster World project. You can kinda sense - as others have pointed out - that young Mike and Sulley getting lost in the human world in MONSTERS UNIVERSITY's 3rd act seems to echo the plot of Circle 7 MONSTERS, INC. 2.

I still wonder if Pixar will greenlight an actual sequel (which would easily make a massive billion, probably completely blow MU's great $730m+ take out of the water), and if it'll treat MONSTERS AT WORK as canon or not. But this second season certainly went big, bringing back characters from both movies and attempting all these big payoffs. I found it to be amusing at best, sometimes good even. I felt the first season locked together better, but this one - despite how I felt about some of the character dynamics - tried all the stuff, so that's cool. And it got me thinking of the Pixar monster movies again, so that's also neat.

[spaceorphan18]

I saw someone in the Glee tag say that Glee fans don't like S4 because all the characters are separated (ship-wise & location-wise), the storylines are ridiculous, and the music selections aren't good or memorable. They also said they don't like S4 because Dantana was an insult to Brittana fans and the ship doesn't even make sense. This person also mentioned that they believe S3 is one of the most stable seasons with less annoying drama than the others. I only bring this up because I know you have asked about why fans like S3 and dislike later seasons, so I thought this might give you an insight into how some fans view it. Personally, I don't agree with any of that, but I often see things very differently than the majority of fandom.

So, out of curiosity, I went into the glee tag and, you guys, like, it's been kicked around that I'm well known and stuff but -- there are posts in that tag with hundreds to thousands of notes on them. I sometimes get maybe five. I appreciate those of you who are here, but I have never had a post go viral and probably never will.

Also, 95% of it was Brittana related. Ah, times have changed.

Anyway... not the point, Nonny this is such interesting feedback! Thank you for sharing and, is it wrong that I'm kind of laughing?

Glee fans don't like S4 because all the characters are separated (ship-wise & location-wise), the storylines are ridiculous, and the music selections aren't good or memorable.

'story lines are ridiculous' -- um...did they not watch the first three seasons? What about faking a pregnancy wasn't ridiculous? Terri was so over the top just... huh? Glee was always bonkers, it's one reason I liked it. Also there are some damn good musical selections in Seasons 4 and 5 (though I do agree that musically Season 6 is weak). But the story of Season 6 is just fantastic. (And bonkers. I love absurdity though)

This person also mentioned that they believe S3 is one of the most stable seasons with less annoying drama than the others.

I'd argue that S3 had some of the most annoying drama, but ymmv.

But... I think this speaks to a point I made a while ago. Season 3 does have the most structured-ness of any of the seasons. It's a three act story with an outcome that gives you exactly what you were expecting. And I do think people find comfort in that conformity.

Season 4 does change things... a lot... And something I've never really considered until now -- that Season 4 becomes even more jarring after how mundane Season 3 is. One of my issues with Season 3 is that they play it safe and standard every step of the way, which makes it kind of boring, tbh. But going from that kind of stableness to the bonkers Season 4, especially in the beginning, makes it feel like even more like an abrupt change, and people bulk at change a lot of the time. (Like I've said - even I had a hard time with it at the time.)

They also said they don't like S4 because Dantana was an insult to Brittana fans and the ship doesn't even make sense.

This is the part that had me laughing, though. Dani made perfect sense, so I don't even know what that means. Also Dani didn't come in until Season 5, yeah, whatever on that point. And it's not an insult to Brittana fans, omg. Klaine had fucking Blainofsky to deal with, I just can't, I'm laughing.

Also, the writers never owed any of us anything. Maybe it's because I am creator, Idk, but I've always taken issue with how entitled fans get sometimes. And this isn't just a Brittana thing - this is all fandoms everywhere.

I will say - I can understand Brittana fans having a different perspective on things re: Season 4 and 5 especially since Brittana wasn't really a part of it? And that's fine? Be honest about that. That I can get on board with.

Also, Nonny, what even is majority these days? Things always keep changing, who knows.

Thanks for dropping a line - this has been fun! <3

[hamatoclan76]

Lets talk about ¨Fast Forward¨ and ¨Back To The Sewers¨

So, yeah. I was finally able to finish watching the TMNT 2003 series. I know i could write an entire review about the series but i decided to focus on the two last seasons ¨Fast Forward¨ and ¨Back To The Sewers¨ since they are quite controversial seasons in the fandom due to their writing.

I’m going to explain what i think these seasons did right and then what went wrong with the writing that made them not get so well-received in comparison to previous seasons. I´m going to start with Fast Forward and then move to Back to the Sewers.

Time Travel to the future

(Fast Forward Intro)

(Fast Forward) Season 6 starts with the turtles accidentally time traveling to the future, year 2105 to be precise. That’s 100 years from the current timeline. It´s a risky idea but not bad, right?

But here is the problem: There were already unexplored main plotlines that needed to be developed: Karai´s possibe redemption, the foot clan, Hun, etc. Instead of finishing those arcs that were already established in the series the writers/producers decided to jump to a completely new setting that had almost nothing to do with things that were previously explored.

So that´s one of the biggest problems with this season. If this was a spin off, this wouldn´t be an issue at all. That´s because the audience would know that the spin off exists as its own thing and it isn´t part of the main series. Watching ¨Fast Forward¨ was weird to me. It was like i was watching other series but with the same characters.

Before talking more about the problems i have with this season. Let´s talk about what i enjoyed:

I really liked the arc about Cody learning to be his own person and realizing how his uncle was manipulating him (if not abusing him). His relationship with the turtles and Splinter is really sweet. It was nice to see how they took care of him and he let them live with them while he was reparing the time machine.

Bishop episodes are really good. I wished we could seen more of him. The idea of him getting redeemed and forming an alien alliance is very interesting.I always saw Bishop as well intentioned extremist, In the sense he believed he was helping people with his horrible methods. I like how he recognizes he did terrible things in the past and he is trying to make up for his crimes.

I enjoyed some  of the slice of life moments.It helped developing the characters in a way that allowed me to see what they do when they are fighting aliens or the foot clan. For example: One of my favourite episodes is Raph and Leo going to wrestling match and chaos ensues. That episode explores Raph´s passion for wrestling, something i think the series didn´t before.

I like the concept of the ¨Dark Turtles¨. Yeah, i know it is a bit ridiculous but i would have been great had the series given them a proper redemption arc since it was implied they weren´t really that bad. ( DNA is thicker than water in one of my favourite episodes of Fast Foward).

Now that i have talked about the things i liked i´m going to move to my problems with season 6.

I think that one of the reasons i feel conflicted about Fast Foward is due to the lack of actual plot or stakes. It feels like things are happening but at the same time they aren´t. Many episodes have more mundane premises. The villains are less intimidanting and they don´t add too much to the story. There are some good episodes like ¨The Journal¨ and the one about Mikey training but overall it is like the writing itself is dull and boring.

It would have been better had the writers focus on developing the characters better (like Raph having problems with adjusting to the future). There are concepts that are great. The thing is that they later get dropped or forgotten (Dark turtles subplot). There could have been an entire arc about Bishop helping the turtles with getting back to their time as a way to make up for his actions.

Speaking of the time portal, that thing is brought up in only the first episodes and then its barely mentioned again in the season. Like.. wasn´t the main plot about them getting back to their respective timeline? It´s like the main characters were so comfortable living in the future that they forgot about their main goal. There episodes that are just about them hanging out instead of finding a solution. It´s okay to have slice of life moments while they are waiting for the machine to get repaired but it could have been at least hinted that is Cody is working on it.

Fast Forward would have worked better had the crew of show put more effort into writing the story, thinking what they wanted to do with the characters and explored concepts that were interesting. And before you ask: No, i don´t think this season being more lighthearted is an issue, the real problems is that writing itself is sloppy and isn´t as good as previous seasons.

Back To The Sewers

(Back to the Sewers Intro)

Season 7´s main plot is about the turtles trying to find all the ¨bytes¨ that made Splinter after he was disintegrated in Cyberspace. Many episodes are about them enterting in Cyberspace and looking for these bytes to make Splinter whole again. The team also has to deal with a new type of Shredder that is a fusion of viral and Ultrom Shredder´s memories. (More of that later)

Things i like from ¨Back To The Sewers¨

Donatello´s character arc: It was very refreshing to see another side of Donnie. At the started of the season he blamed himself for losing Splinter (something he had not control of). His arc is kinda similar to Leo´s arc in Season 4 except he was able to let go his guilt more easily than Leonardo. Unlike Leo, Donnie wasn´t so afraid of failure as he was obsessed with fixing the problem to the point he isolated himself.

I really like how the Cyberspace and the real world are connected with one another in this season. Some episodes have premises that are downright terrifying such as getting stuck in a false parallel reality or people hacking and rewriting your memories. I think this season had very interesting concepts that much like Fast Foward they didn´t reach its fullest potential.

Casey and April´s relationship was fantastic. It was sweet to watch Casey proposing marriage to April. Their wedding was great conclusion for their relationship too. I like how Casey struggles with asking April and how Raph helps him. It´s definitely one of the highlights of Back to the Sewers.

What went wrong with Season 7?

First of all, i think that one of the biggest issues was how short the season was. It has only 13 episodes to develop the main plot and characters. For that reason good concept don´t get enough time to be explored. They are introduced and dropped in one episode. I would have love to watch a three part story arc of the turtles getting brainwashed to make them believe that they work for the Foot Clan. I mean, that was creepy when i watched it.

If season 7 had 20 episodes-for example- then there would have been more time for the main plot to be better paced. What happened in reality is that with 13 episodes it made arcs feel rushed. Some things were left unanswered, dropped or forgotten.

Another issue i have is the lack of Karai content in this season. Season 5 ended with her falling in love and she was never seen again. I know she gets redeemed in the film but it is really weird how she goes to April and Casey´s wedding in the finale and she is never mentioned by the Foot Clan in Back to the Sewers. They could written an episode about how she left the Foot Clan and how she wants to settle down.. just something to learn what happened to her.

Speaking of the Foot Clan... Why they had to bring up Shredder again for this Season? Why just not make Viral the main antagonist? She was fine as a villain, Why in the world they needed to bring him back? There are so many other characters that could have antagonists for this story. 

Virtual Shredder brings up tons of questions as well. When did Ch´rell deciced to upload his memory on the Cyberspace. Why not on a spaceship or computer? Why on the web? It´s so weird.

My last point would that Back to the Sewers had potential to be a darker season because of its themes and story yet is very lighthearted despite how twisted some concepts were. I wished they could been taken more seriously with having actual consequences for jumping into Cyberspace, how risky it is and what would happen if someone got trapped in there.

So there you have it. Note that i don´t think the last two seasons are horrible, in fact i have fun watching them. I just don´t understand what went wrong with the production that made the show suffer such a downgrade in quality. Maybe the producers thought the series was getting ¨too dark¨ and decided to write a more lighthearted show. Maybe there were new writers in last seasons, that may explain why the writing became more dull. I wished the Tmnt 2003 would have gotten better treatment that the one it got.

[jakesuit0]

Memories of Boom Boom Mountain Review

And we arrive at one of those rare season 1 episodes that introduces some new, vital lore. But as we are still in the season one era, its not a super dramatic episode.

The Marauders are a good group of characters introduced here. They never do much with these characters and they are pretty one note, but that’s okay. Their obsession with wrestling is funny. These are great characters for our rambunctious protagonist to bounce off of. I love how unlike most characters like the Marauders, they are empathetic. They don’t make fun of Finn’s boom boom trauma or his desire to help people. They hear out and try Finn’s ideas. The Marauders genuinely respect Finn! 

Spider-Man vowed to always use his powers to help people after using his powers selfishly ended up resulting in the death of Uncle Ben. Batman seeing his parents get killed by thugs inspired him to take out his anger getting vengeance on other criminals to keep Gotham safe. Iron Man reinvented his company to manufacture suits of armor to save people, after seeing the damage his war profiteering caused. Steven Universe wants to live up to his mother, a courageous rebel who gave up her physical form to create him, leaving behind a broken family. Finn Mertens became a hero...because people were grossed out that he shit himself. 

I kid, Finn’s backstory, while simple, is a bit more sophisticated than that. Finn was abandoned as a baby and saw heartless strangers unwilling to help a defenseless child. That experience traumatized him. He then saw a good example of how people can make the world a better place. His parents took pity on him when nobody else would and adopted him. This inspired Finn’s ethical code and heroism, although the problems Finn tackles here are very mundane.

Other than informing Finn’s character, this backstory confirms a key detail. Finn and Jake are in fact adoptive brothers, giving us a better understanding of their relationship. We are also introduced to Finn and Jake’s parents, Joshua and Margaret. With the fantastic 1940s accent, J and M are hilarious and charming characters. While we later learn more about them, their personalities here are perfectly in line with everything else we see of them throughout the series. These scenes also beg a question, what happened to Finn’s human parents? (...as well as how does Finn even have memories from being an infant?)

Now on to the main conflict, the crying, talking mountain. Ok, its not just me who sees this, the mountain is totally just trying to repress same sex attraction, right?? He is bizarrely bothered by these topless men wrestling. He calls their behavior “raunchy” and says the Marauders have “fantastic bodies”. The mountain is funny enough, if a bit unlikable for trying to police the behavior of others. But this deeper possible layer to his character at least makes him more interesting. Was it intentional? Maybe? Its hard to not see it and the writers do play around with sexuality in subtext a lot. 

Jake thinks the mountain is just crazy and isn’t interested in putting up with his antics, just like he acts again towards Susan Strong later in “Beautopia”. Due to Finn’s principle to try to help everyone in need, he tries to fix the mountain’s problem. The solutions Finn comes up with are funny, even though the first one is pretty abusive to animals. Based mountain calling Finn out on his animal abuse. 

As Finn thinks he finally found a solution, he discovers that solution just pisses other people off. Early Adventure Time loves its random humor, and showing a bunch of wacky characters dealing with bizarre problems is a great excuse to showcase that brand of comedy. In the commentary for this episode, Pen says that was an analogy for how he felt producing early Adventure Time. Many different cooks in the kitchen wanted Adventure Time to be completely opposite things. It reminds me of a politician trying to please and not piss off all their constituents. Its an impossibly tight rope to balance. You can’t please everyone.

However, the moral of the episode goes in an opposite and unrealistic direction. If you have enough will like Finn, you can please everyone! I suppose the message of never giving up to make everyone happy does have some merit. We get a hilarious sequence of a convoluted system that fixes everyone’s problems. On the one hand, this moral is harmful. On the other hand, the solution is really funny. Realistically, there is no way that this system is going to hold forever, soon it will all fall apart, and people will be unhappy once again. I think a good compromise would have been to, at the end of the episode after Finn and Jake had gone home, quickly show the system breaking down to show that you can’t please everyone. 

Finn would later have to learn that you can’t help everyone in episodes like “City of Thieves”. The Simon and Betty arc also strongly pushes that message.

We end on a really funny “lol so random xd” moment of Finn and Jake riding a dolphin.

Grade: B+

[okayto]

Mini-Review: Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions!

I’m so glad @littlestartopaz​ recommended this to me, because it was SO GOOD.

Yuta wants to start high school afresh: new school far from home, new classmates who don’t know he spent middle school acting out the fantasy of being the mysterious and magic “Dark Flame Master,” new him. But one of his classmates has delusions of her own, and after she accidentally discovers his embarrassing past, Yuta is unwillingly drawn into her life and a growing circle of friends with their own quirks.

The “chunibyo” of the title basically means “8th grade syndrome;” a phase in middle school where some kids inhabit and act out their own fantasy stories, positing themselves as dark magicians, magical girls, and other wielders of magical powers.

I had avoided this for a while, until it was specifically recommended to me, because honestly, it sounds embarrassing, right? It sounds like it’s gonna be an embarrassing manic pixie dream girl scenario. But what it actually contains is the story of how a mixed bag of students--some actively chunibyo, others not--become friends and develop very endearing close relationships, while arguing and frustrating each other because that’s what friends do.

Now, the idea of being the star of what’s essentially your own fantasy-action anime is embarrassing, but what’s notable is that the show doesn’t really hold the chunibyo characters up for mockery. Sure we might laugh at them, but hey--it’s funny to watch friends be silly together. And most viewers, just like some of the characters who have moved on from their chunibyo phases, probably easily understand the mix of soul-wrenching embarrassment and (mild?) fond sentiment that comes with remembering our middle school selves.

But let’s be real: the reactions the two former chunibyo students, Yuta and Shinka have to being reminded of middle school, are #RELATABLE

Rikka, our title chunibyo, in particular uses her fantasy in part to cope with grief, coming from an extended family that (without getting spoilery) didn’t help a young girl to deal with a very hard and life-changing time. Now that she’s in high school, her older sister blackmails Yuta (using an a voice recording of one of his chunibyo speeches) into helping deal with Rikka and things (like the cat she wants to adopt) that pop up.

One thing the show is very good at, though, is not making a single thing the reason behind a character’s chunibyo. One may have started their fantasy inspired by another person, or prompted by an event, but it’s also (while active) part of their personal narrative that influences how they spent their free time, how they see the world and keep blogs or diaries, etc.

But at the same time, they’re still teenagers, and their inner view of themselves...doesn’t always translate skills.

I said the show is primarily about friendship. A lot of that friendship is between Yuta and Rikka, but they accumulate a little group, mainly through Rikka’s attempt to start a magic club. Recruit 1: Kumin, a polite, quiet senpai with no chunibyo history or aspirations.

Kumin starts off seeming like a background character, but by the second season it’s clear she’s not just there for jokes about how she’ll take a nap anywhere. She’s perceptive, and genuinely enjoys watching the others act out their scenarios.

Compared to the other characters who are boisterous in their chunibyo activities (Rikka, Deko, Satone), or vociferously trying not to get drawn in to chunibyo activities (Yuta, Shinka), Kumin is happy to watch and offer encouragement, but she’s also willing to participate if a chunibyo scenario calls for a group.

Incidentally, the show does a really interesting thing where occasionally, we’ll be drawn “inside” the chunibyo world, seeing what Rikka/Deko/whoever see: a fantasy land, big magical weapons, anime-grade magical attacks. Occasionally we’ll also see what this “really” looks like--a couple people running around waving umbrellas at each other--but often we only get the fantasy version. It’s clear that Rikka and co. are legitimately on some level engaging in a shared imagination, and the times when a reluctant character (particularly Yuta or Shinka) willing steps in to the shared illusion are genuinely sweet.

Speaking of, Shinka (aka Morisummer) became one of my favorite characters. Like Yuta, she was chunibyo (”Morisummer the magician”); like Yuta, she chose a high school where she didn’t know anyone expressly so she could reinvent herself as a normal teen. And like Yuta, she’s getting dragged kicking and screaming into chunibyo again.

It would’ve been so easy to make her a bad character. She’s pretty, puts a lot of effort into being popular and likable at school, trying to keep up a good teen girl image, despite being fairly sarcastic at her core. And as loathe as she is to admit it, she likes her friends (even if she won’t admit they’re friends, even if half of them are actively chunibyo, even if she says she’s only hanging around so she can make sure all traces of chunibyo-Morisummer are erased from the internet).

Shinka gets drawn in to the group through Rikka’s apparently only pre-existing friend: Deko, a fellow chunibyo who follows Rikka (or “Eye of the Wicked Lord Shingan”) as her master, and is extremely devoted to the great magician Morisummer. So devoted, in fact, that she has several physical copies of Morisummer’s book containing all her wisdom...aka Shinka-Morisummer’s blog, which Shinka has tried to erase all trace of.

Needless to say, the two don’t seem to get along great.

Deko’s dedication to chunibyo and Morisummer irks Shinka; Shinka’s claim to be Morisummer irks Deko, who refuses to believe the great magician could ever be this sarcastic, mundane girl. Deko’s refusal irks Shinka, bringing out the sarcasm and bluntness Shinka tries to hide from the school at large.

Obviously, they actually become close friends, but heaven help you if you actually say so.

The entire series is an exploration of relationships, and Yuta’s developing closeness with Rikka (hey, we knew it was going to happen) is also sweet. He’s a genuinely likable boy, embarrassed by the vestiges of his former self he sees in Rikka, but often willing to meet her on her level, and both of them also learn/reaffirm the importance of doing things their way, and keeping both of them comfortable, rather than acting a certain way or performing specific acts just because their classmates think their relationship status mandates it.

Speaking of classmates--and I know this is getting long but I CAN’T HELP IT, I LIKED SO MANY ASPECTS OF THIS SERIES--the characters aren’t ridiculed at school. Sure, some people think they’re weird, but there’s no shunning, no arc involving teasing or bullies. Rikka’s often content as a loner, but when she attempts to join in a social circle, she’s welcomed. Shinka’s obsessed with reinventing herself and appearing normal and seems to think that otherwise she’ll be cast out, but multiple characters mention that others at the school notice how she behaves (oddly, on occasion) and there are no social repercussions. Truly nice for a show that has characters spending quite a lot of time in school.

Verdict

English dub? Yes, and it’s got strong performances. Rikka’s voice actor in particular does a fantastic job capturing the difference between chunibyo!Rikka’s confidence and command, and regular!Rikka’s, well, normal awkward teenageness. (Plus, I also found her lower-than animegirl-average voice enjoyable.) (Double plus, I honestly think her English voice is better than her original Japanese voice at showing the difference between her emotions and chunibyo/reality.) Deko’s VA is fantastic showing the enthusiasm of the 9th grader (and what enthusiasm, Deko is like the Energizer Bunny), and Shinka’s VA manages to show her alternating annoyance, cheerfully sweet ideal self, and organizized leader voices.

Visuals: Fine, and I really liked the chunibyo designs for each character’s chunibyo phase. The contrast between chunibyo-vision (giant magic weapons; mysterious lights, fantasy landscapes) and reality (an umbrella or soup ladle; a strip of lights taped to the floor; a local park) was really well done.

Worth watching? Yessss. It’s very manageable--two 12-episode seasons--and while each season contains its own arc (you could stop after the first one, but why), together they make an excellent story. Heck, I think the second season is equal to, if not better than, the first, because the friend group is well-established and even more fun to watch.

Where to watch (USA, as of October 2020): Netflix (dub, sub); Crunchyroll (sub), HIDIVE (sub & dub, plus OVAs and film)

Click my “reviews” tag below or search “mini review” on my blog to find more!

[keyofjetwolf]

Bonus Question Answers! (anime heat 2)

I asked a silly question! You gave me incredible answers. SO VERY MANY INCREDIBLE ANSWERS. Now, I present my favourites! And really, they were ALL favourites. Mmm, headcanony goodness.

Oh, special shoutout to this unattributed one, which I suspect fell prey to someone submitting early, but as phrased, made me snort laugh: “one of my longest held headcanons is that ami“

SAME, FRIEND

Anyway, If your answer is listed below, you’ve earned an entry in a random draw to win a GIFTENING liveblog OF YOUR CHOICE

—

Q: Senshi headcanon time! Intrigue me, humour me, crush me, FEED ME.

* Michiru actually did have a guardian cat, once. It was silvery grey with dark blue eyes. It did not speak, but it was always there to provide support and comfort in a life which had little of either. The first time Michiru had a strong vision, which left her cold and senseless on the floor of her room, it was the small warmth from her cat that brought her back to the world of color and light and solidity. The cat was a friend and confidante in those early days, when Michiru was unsure if this experience was real or the beginnings of schizophrenia. The fact that her mother could see the cat, and regularly make comments about the uncleanliness of such creatures, was proof of Michiru's new reality. So when the cat entered the fray to distract a youma, saving Michiru, but being killed in the process, it became one more thing that the Moon had given her, only to steal away. Michiru promised herself to never rely on another again, or to allow the Moon to have her heart again. And she had done fairly well at this. Haruka, for all her charms, was a plaything, and not something to sacrifice herself for. But pausing outside the Marine Cathedral, Michiru found herself looking into dark blue eyes, so different, but so similar, and knew that she would do anything and everything in her power to keep from having to watch them close, again. -- @incorrecttact  [YOU ARE ALSO KILLING THESE QUESTIONS. This hit me right in the kokoro, and I welcomed its sweet sweet pain.]

~~

*  Mako teaches Hotaru, Chibiusa, and the Amazon Quartet to cook and bake as a bonding activity. Hotaru LOVES making cakes and decorating them. Chibiusa likes cooking with noodles and even making her own; it doesn’t sound special, but the food she makes is DELICIOUS. Ves, the red one, finds cooking easy, but doesn’t like it and so never does outside of being coaxed into it. Jun, the green one, finds baking easy, but also doesn’t like sweet things, which limits her repertoire. Cere, the pink one, has no natural talent, but she very much WANTS to be good at it, so she turns out to be the best cook of her Senshi group. Palla takes to neither, but she is very enthusiastic about eating their experiments.  --  Jules  [I am an absolute slut for Mako and moments with the kids, and including the Quartet was a brilliant stroke.]

~~

*  A Serenity is not supposed to be reborn. They are born, they live, they die, and they are done. They are not like the Senshi, whose souls reincarnate, carefully bound to Serenity blood. They are not supposed to be reborn, so when Queen Serenity sees everything fail and decides to send their souls to the future, the Senshi are easy. Serenity is not. In desperation, Serenity does something she would have never considered in any other circumstance: she ties Serenity's soul to the Senshi. What was once a one way tie, has now become an equal bond, and so everything changes.  -- @madegeeky  [Ooo, this is some lovely twists on my own reincarnation headcanons, while still keeping the “this is a mistake” flavour. IT TASTES GOOD.]

~~

*  How about more Rei whistle antics? You headcanon Usagi would use the whistle for every mundane thing and Rei would come. Usagi would do this at 2 AM in the morning too and Rei would still be woken up and still come even in pajamas if she need be because Usagi had a spooky nightmare or "Rei-chan I fell off my bed and now my face hurts". Knowing Rei whistle antics can be funny for us and maybe aggravating for Rei at times because "Usagi you blew the whistle because you fell off the bed?" what if we can make it a pinch sad? Like what if Rei can tell what sort of peril Usagi is in by the way she blows the whistle in tone? Like when it's a sad somewhat weaker whistle, even if it's just a tiny subtle tone, Rei can IMMEDIATELLY tell "USAGI IS SAD AND NEEDS ME" and she will RUSH over in 5 seconds like in her Rei way, she might even have the mind to bring snacks, cocoa and plush to hug for the comfort.  --  Mrs. Duckling  [HOW ABOUT INDEED. I hadn’t thought about the different ways the whistle can be blown and what it might say, what a wonderful addition. THANK YOU FOR CATERING DIRECTLY TO ME AND MY NEEDS]

~~

*  PGSM!Sailor Mars - [REDACTED] Oh. Right. You're not there yet. Awkward... Anime!Minako is a huge fan of romance manga, but for all the wrong reasons. She tried drawing doujinshi of crack ships before realizing that A) she's not really a writer and B) she's REALLY not an artist. She plans on using some of her rich idol singer money to commission really bizarre romance stories. The sort that make you go WTF?! Of course, step one is "become a rich and famous idol"... Meanwhile, Rei also buys the romance manga that Minako gets into, (partially so she'll shut up about it) but mainly just analyzes them for mood and the characters, and gets frustrated when they inevitably devolve into nothing but sappy kissing and mooning over each other. She's trying to see why Minako gets so obsessed, but doesn't want to flat out admit that she doesn't get it and have to ask. -- Peter "Pigeons!" Svensson  [I had nothing but fun with this, fantastic. ps: THANK YOU FOR THE PIGEONS NOMINATION]

~~

* If these four* Senshi were to meet you, I think they'd each also be meeting some of their best qualities: Usagi is love, and that love is infectious as HELL. Much like a certain blogger who has amassed an international following on the strength of her love for her favourite media, wouldn't you say? Ami is very impressed by your office set-up! But when she sees you re-enter the room with a sprightly little black cat riding on your shoulder, she knows she has discovered a kindred spirit. Where can Rei-chan possibly begin? From your passionately informed and encyclopedic knowledge of their interactions ("She has RECEIPTS, Usagi!"), to your, let's call it tenacity ("She stirred that sugar for TWO HOURS, Usagi!!"), Rei finds so much to admire. And while no one could ever possibly love Rei as much as she loves herself, she magnanimously allows that you are a close second. As for Haruka, well! World Shaking? More like Toilet Breaking! You wrecked that shit and unleashed the sea. She can certainly relate *eyebrows, eyebrows* *would that i had time to write out blurbs for the others! but we're heading back into lockdown today, and i need to get to the post office to mail you a package. PRIORITIES! xo  -- @rasiqra-revulva​  [Okay look when I said “crush me” I didn’t mean WITH NICENESS. Also thank you for the huge laughs. *eyebrows, eyebrows*]

~~

*  Minako manages to write a tell-all book (anonymously, of course, and with names changed to protect the relevant,) about their first few years as Senshi in the lull between Stars and Shit Escalating Again. Even more astoundingly, she manages to get it optioned as a film and play Sailor Mars without blowing her cover! Rei seethes. Minako’s annoyed because she tried out for Usagi. Usagi’s just happy Minako’s successful. The film manages to pick up nominations come award season, and Michiru even arranges for the rest of the Senshi to attend. Minako loses to some film from a really overrated director that manages to out-award bait her reenactment of D-Point. She’s silently fuming through his acceptance speech when he’s Burning Mandala’d mid-sentence. And that’s how the Senshi discovered that Jadeite survived getting run over with planes, joined the entertainment industry after Beryl’s defeat, and had been using it to drain energy ever since! Sailor Mars’s speech about how he disgraces the passion of filmmakers everywhere and her comrade’s hard work goes viral. -- Regalli  [LOVED THE TWIST ENDING, also Rei basically stealing the awards show stage, as we all know she would]

~~

*  Not Senshi, but cats! One day, when Usagi is queen, she's going to decide to knight the cats. Luna thinks it's silly and figures Usagi is just acting on a whim, but Artemis has his chest puffed out and is glowing with pride. They're given tiny medals made by Endymion. -- RibbonFinale  [Oh I DID want this. I wanted this very much, THANK YOU.]

~~

*  Makoto can't culture bonsai trees. It's not a matter of ability, or scale — she can work with tiny tools with equal facility as large ones — but she can't bring herself to push the things down, to cut and twist and bind them to grow the way _she_ wants, not the way it wants to grow.   The tiny pine she bought to try it out, years ago, is in a pot in the corner of her apartment; it's just now grown taller than she is. -- Taperwolf  [I didn’t expect this one to hit me as hard as it did when I started reading. Love it, love it, love it.]

~~

*  You know those 'meetings Usagi doesn't know about'? the ones where the girls dive into the nitty gritty about being senshi, the ones where they decide who will take up being the Disguise Pen Decoy if Minako is killed? Usagi knows about them. it was one of those 'character A eavesdrops and hears character B talking about them' setups, but instead of hearing Ami call Usagi a ditz, she hears Ami saying 'I'm the weakest fighter, if Minako is assassinated and we need someone to be decoy it'd be easier to explain away my absence than Rei's or Mako's' In these meetings they speak very coldly about themselves, Ami is always first to call herself the weak one, Minako calls into attention her showboating, Mako will openly remind people she doesn't think things through on the battlefield, and Rei derides herself on her inability to keep her cool (heh) and they all come up with contingencies to cover for eachother to the minutest detail. Usagi only ever evesdrops on one of these meetings, but now she knows they happen. and she can't un-know.  -- Vega  [OOOOOOOOOOOOOO.]

~~

Manga Sailor Pluto has picked her nose 2,013,417 times. -- too ashamed to say  [WHY THE SHAME THIS IS CORRECT  AND NOW RIGHTFULLY CANON]

---

I’ll be drawing for the bonus liveblog around the start of THE GIFTENING 2020 (currently looking to be Monday, 11 January 2021). Each bonus question is another chance to earn an entry! I CAN ABSOLUTELY AND SHAMELESSLY BE BOUGHT.

[thespnproject]

What do you think about the finale and the last few episodes ?

Spoilers ahead! Hello! I have many mixed feelings, I understand the COVID situation, oc I do, but I feel like they could manage to do some things different even in this context, like I dunno, a text message to Eileen, a phone call with Jody, or Claire, or Donna? Maybe at the end, a look to the Roadhouse with noises of people inside, so we understand everyone is in there, without having to show them... but then, I´m not a writer, so I don't know maybe it's just my need to know about them one last time. I cried, like, a lot. To see characters grow old always gets me, and I know it’s a nice thing for Sam to get to grow old, but anyways it makes me sad if that makes sense. I love Sammy so much so it hurted.  And I don’t mind the way Dean dies, even tho I cried like a baby. They were the protagonists of God story, now this is the other side of freedom, he dies like a “normal” person. To get into a fight with machetes is dangerous for people, and they are people now, so I don’t mind it’s not an “epic” death. Also, and this is my opinion oc, SPN always has been pretty mundane, and that’s what I love about the show, we have this absolutely down to earth and human reactions and characters and situations in a world were epic and celestial beings exists. Like, we have an angel, this abstract concept, about to teletransport Dean and he just goes like no man the last time I didn’t poop for a week. I love that mix of fantastic things happening to very human characters. This doesn’t mean I wanted Dean to die, I’m just not mad about the way he died. I’m absolutely destroyed about his death, they show us he wanted to live, and then just killed him off like that, it just broke my heart and I’ll probably be sad forever abt it. I’d also like to see Cas in the finale, if Misha wasn’t there, maybe they could have used his voice? If they didn’t want us to see Dean answer to Cas, maybe they could just make Dean or Sam say something about him? But again, I’m not a writer, I’m just a fan, so maybe I’m mistaken. This is getting too long, I’m sorry, I could rant about it forever. But yeah, there’s things I didn't like (what's up with so many filler episodes in the season finale??) but I still love the show and the people I met thanks to it. 

[therealkatekane]

My Journey

At the tender age of thirty-five, I have discovered anime. Don’t get me wrong, I first watched Princess Mononoke at sixteen. It was my first exposure to Eastern thought, and it blew my tiny adolescent western mind, and I loved it. But outside of Ghibli movies and Voltron (which I don’t count), I’ve never sought it out on my own.

As a previous post might indicate, I am obsessed with Godzilla, so it isn’t as if I’m closed off from Japanese media. Most of the video games I play are Japanese. (Fire Emblem, Harvest Moon, Rune Factory, pretty much anything Nintendo.) One of my partners is even a Pacific Islander of Japanese descent, who lived in Japan, who speaks Japanese. And we’ve been together seven years. But all of the sudden, now I’m on this quest to make up for lost time and consume all the anime I can.

(Note: If you have suggestions, I would love them. But I would prefer if they were queer. I want women in love with other women. It doesn’t have to be overt, but I don’t want any heterosexual romances, and would prefer as few male characters as possible. I’ve seen enough male-driven storylines, thanks.)

But today, I am here to word-vomit all about the queer extravaganza that is Senki Zesshou Symphogear. Because I am addicted. I’ll start with this picture.

And so begins our journey...

The show starts out the gate being super gay. Tsubasa (Blue) and Kanade (Red) are each a half of the singing duo Zwei Wing. They refer to one another as partners and there is a lot of “We can do anything as long as we’re together” and “I’m going to sing with you forever” type stuff.

Then there is Hibiki and Miku:

Friends since childhood, they are the core couple of the show. Hibiki is the main character who typically discovers she’s not just a normal girl and has the ability to wield a Gear, which allows her to become this adorable badass superhero. Miku is her anchor in the mundane world. She is frequently the one person or thing that can reach/inspire/motivate Hibiki. She is what drives Hibiki.

Hibiki calls Miku her sunflower, the place where she is warmest, where she will always return to. 

Which brings me to the point that they share a bed. Despite having bunk beds, they always sleep together. Except when they’re fighting, then they go to their respective bunks. It’s just so cute.

The characters are delightfully complex. Hibiki is as pure as the driven snow but she isn’t naive. Usually, pure characters are oblivious or ignorant to the danger or evil around them, but Hibiki isn’t. She knows fighting is dangerous. She knows people can be evil, but those things never deter her. It makes her incredibly brave, even when confronted with someone she knows is malicious, she extends her hand in friendship because she chooses to believe the best in others. It is nice to see a character who is sweet and pure without being an utter dumbass. 

We’ve all seen it. The sweet, precious hero is surprised that the bad guy who has been trying to kill them for an entire season won’t be their friend. Hibiki is NOT like that. She always gives people the opportunity for kindness without expectation, with the full awareness that it might be rejected.

Miku is the sweet, somewhat demure, nurturing one. She is the caretaker character. You might initially think she’s the standard timid and meek best friend stock character. But nope. She does not suffer fools. She is not an enabler. She is not afraid to call anybody out on their bullshit, regardless of who they are. She does what she thinks is right which also makes her very brave. She wants to protect Hibiki as much as Hibiki protects her.

Their dynamic is just lovely. Hibiki can kind of be a mess sometimes. She’s absent-minded, never on time, doesn’t prioritize school work. Miku is always there to pull her back down to earth, to center her. If she feels Hibiki is losing focus or deviating from who she is, Miku will always be the one to ground her. She truly is Hibiki’s anchor, her safe place. And I love it.

Oh and there is my dear Yukine Chris. I won’t go super in detail, but I will leave you with this:

It is exactly what it looks like. A queer D/s relationship. Unfortunately, it’s toxic and unhealthy. A whole lot of “I’m the only one that can love you” and “You have to obey me or I won’t love you anymore” and “I’m angry so you have to let me take it out on you” and so on. It’s all taken directly from the Abusive Relationship Handbook.

But worry not, we are not subjected to the toxicity for terribly long, and Chris gets the kindness and love she deserves from her new friends and senpai. I’d go more in depth, but y’know... spoilers.

Now, let us march forward to season two where our Roster of Queerness is completed by three additional characters. Two of which are so cute I cannot even fucking stand it. 

I call them my Precious Gay Babies.

Kirika and Shirabe are two little baby gays that grew up in an orphanage with only one another and Maria, who is like a big sister to them. But oh my fucking god they are so precious I can’t even handle it.

Kirika is the more animated of the two. The sweet, cheerful ray of sunshine. And Shirabe is the quieter, more solemn of the two. They literally have a fight where they are shouting back and forth at each other how much they love one another. If this show was only about them, I would watch it. They are just way too cute.

Shirabe can be a little possessive of Kirika, and Kirika knows who she belongs to. If another girl touches her, she knows Shirabe will put the stomp down on it. I usually find behavior like that kind of squicky and toxic, but in this instance it isn’t too gross because I think it’s rooted in their background. They’ve only ever had one another so they’re extremely protective of each other.

I mean, just look.

Look at my Precious Gay Babies!

LOOK AT THEM!! 

They are so cute and precious and I love them.

Let me wrap this up with Maria.

I won’t go too in depth with Maria because I don’t want to be spoiler-y. But 1) She’s fantastic. 2) No, I don’t know what’s up with her hair. 3) She is totally queer for Tsubasa, and I’m sailing on that ship. 

I am midway through the fourth season. So, I haven’t caught up to the most current season (5) but holy hell. I am invested.

It’s just a bunch of girls (oh! And there is even a genderless, sexless character who is precious and I love) being in love with other girls and fighting monster things.

I fucking love this show. Right now, it’s kind of vying for top spot with Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid. Which may only be my number one because it’s a little more overt in its women sleeping with other women thing. It’s equal parts “fuck yes!” combined with “am I high right now?” That’ll be my next post, I digress.

If you are in the mood for some light but surprisingly good entertainment featuring a strong line of female characters who all fall in love with one another, then I cannot recommend Senki Zesshou Symphogear enough. It is fan-fucking-tastic. It doesn’t require too much thought, but it makes up for it by giving you a ton of warm, fuzzy feels.

And if you can recommend me anything similar. Or anything that heavily features queer women, I would be forever in your debt.

Oh, and PS there is a mobile game, which is how I found the show in the first place. Downloaded the game, played it, then got all fucked up on the anime. Worth it.

[lux-i-fer]

Kind of the same principle as that wing and power ask but if the characters of Lucifer had synesthesia what do you think it would look like for each character?

Okay so the reason this ask took so long is that I don’t know a lot about synesthesia!! I know the basics but I didn’t realize there were so many kinds and how intricate the process was! I have to admit some of these aren’t as creative as the wing ask and I stuck mainly with pre-established forms of synesthesia (but not always!) just due to the sheer complexity of the condition.

Lucifer:

Chromesthesia- Also known as sound-to-color synesthesia. I felt like this was an obvious choice for Lucifer. He’s obviously very musically inclined, but I’ve always felt there’s more to it than simple enjoyment. Music is an art form and I can see Lucifer taking that to the next level. He plays a wide range of music and I see him using it to achieve a similar creative mindset that he had when he created the stars. I think he would see a C natural as a golden tone and a D flat as a discordant gray mess. Music is an emotional outlet for Lucifer and if he also visualized music as colors I could see how it would be an even greater catharsis for him.

Chloe:

Personalities -> Colors- Also known as the “aura” type. While you may have thought I would have chose this for Ella I think it actually suits Chloe better. Think about it: Chloe’s work deals a lot with determining people’s morality and understanding their personalities. We know that Chloe is good at what she does and that she seems to understand her suspects well. She’s also made some offhand comments like “I can see that you’re good” (not an exact quote btw) or something like that in the past. It would make sense that Chloe has the ability to see “auras.” Chloe herself has said she always trusts her gut. If her gut tells her that Lucifer is a soft, calming purple it’s no wander she trusted him by 1x04. It would also explain why she was so weary of Malcolm--whom I can see emitting a rotten, reddish brown aura.

Dan:

Grapheme-Color Synesthesia- Also known as seeing numbers/letters as colors. I chose this for Dan because of its technical yet uniquely creative tone. Dan himself is, on the surface, a pretty bland straightforward character. He is an every-man. He’s literally just a normal guy. However, the more we learn about him the more we realize just how odd he truly is. Not only has he shown an inclination to the supernatural (Azrael’s blade) he also seems to attract the supernatural as well (Mom, Lucifer, Amenadiel, possibly Chloe). I feel as though Grapheme-Color Synesthesia functions similarly. It takes something very mundane on the surface and turns them into something whimsical. He’s known to be organized, I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that he sees the letter ‘v’ in a strong, verdant green or that the number 6 always seems to be orange.

Ella:

Mirror-Touch Synesthesia- Also known as emotion-to-touch synesthesia. This one is fairly straight forward. When someone with this condition observes another person, say, touch a hot pan they also feel the burning sensation. This also happens if another person touches their nose. A mirror-touch synesthesist would also feel like they are touching their own nose. It’s like some twisted version of phantom limb syndrome. I chose this for Ella because I thought it related strongly with her pre-existing emphatic nature. The way she made that memorial for the roadkill squirrel in season 3 because she related to it, really suggests that Ella feels deeply about pretty much everything. 

Linda:

Vision -> Touch- Linda is a medical professional and on a day to day basis she deals with a lot of people. I thought this was a good fit for her because I could see it help her categorize her patients. For example, Lucifer comes across similar to the texture of ruffled feathers--soft but deceivingly powerful. Being able to categorize patients by how they ‘feel.’ Some may feel like those filly edges on a spiral bound notebook sheet and others might appear like a block of marble. Either way, I can see this tactile representation of a person really helping Linda get through to her patients..

Maze:

Emotion -> Taste- I don’t think anyone would be surprised to hear me say that Maze as a lot of emotions. Throughout the show we see Maze disarm several of her opponents using her tongue or her lips. I like to this is because she can taste their emotions, almost like how a snake smells with their tongue. I imagine conflict or tension must taste the sweetest, like honey or syrup, considering how much Maze loves combat and discord. This, in turn, would explain her aversion to emotions like love or romantic affection. If conflict tastes the best, would love not be a bitter pill?

Trixie:

Ordinal Linguistic Personification- Also known as the personification of letters, numbers, or words. Trixie is a bright and creative child. It’s already established that she has a grand imagination and is willing to lean into the more fantastical side of life. I think her linguistic personification would just be an extension of said imagination. She could make up elaborate stories about what the mysterious letter Q and the timid S get up to in their spare time. She could spin tales of the maniacal 11 and his quest to get out of the shadow of that goody-two-shoes 10. Just think of what stories she could weave. I think she’d enjoy the activity.

Amenadiel: 

Spatial Sequence Synesthesia- Also known as when letters, numbers, months, and dates all occupy points in space. I think being able to visualize time in such a way to where it becomes a physical object for you to manipulate would be very beneficial for Amenadiel and his ability to slow time. I wonder if this is ultimately what keeps him on top of things while he freezes time, because if you’re not careful you could freeze/unfreeze time in a way that fundamentally alters the timeline. I think visualizing increments of time would help keep everything running smoothly.

[kolbisneat]

MONTHLY MEDIA: February 2020

Okay two months into the year! Here’s all the stuff I read/watched/heard/played/and generally experienced in February!

……….FILM……….

The Favourite (2018) We were in the exact right mood for this and it was as weird and dramatic and well-acted as I’d hoped. It does a great job of shifting tone and the movie probably took an extra half hour to watch as we paused and looked up the accuracy of everything about Queen Anne and Sarah Marlborough. Everything about this movie (and the history it’s based on) was just bonkers.

Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (2020) Super fun! It was silly and heartfelt and shockingly violent (they did a great job of having like...a baseline of violence that was pretty lowkey and then really hitting you with one or two super gruesome moments). I haven’t seen Suicide Squad but this worked for me on its own. Also the fight choreography was incredible! There’s just so much to love here. Oh I would’ve liked to see a little more costuming from the other cast members, but understand why that didn’t quite fit into this. Anyway, good time at the movies.

Down a Dark Hall (2018) Very very okay. It’s a slow burn and has a gothic vibe. None of the characters get a lot of depth but they’re well-acted. It’s just like...a solid 6.5/7ish out of 10, you know? Like not GREAT, but also good enough that it was fine.

……….TELEVISION……….

What We Do in the Shadows (Episode 1.01 to 1.07) So so good and I’m surprised I haven’t heard more people talking about this. It has enough of what I loved about the movie (charming characters and cast, fun play with what it means to be vampires, and a lot of comedy pulled from the contrast of the fantastical and the mundane) and there’s lots of new stuff as well (married vampires, american location, etc.) Really worth checking out and it makes so much sense to transition this to tv. The effects are fantastic and they don’t seem to be pulling their punches with the gore either. Very excited for more.

The Bachelor (Episode 24.05 to 24.09) I think the produces are wringing every drop of drama out of the interpersonal relationship between the women because Peter is such a dud. It’s a shame. If they took a risk and tried someone who broke the mould, then we’d get tv that breaks the mould. The only thing that’ll save this season for me is if Hannah B. comes back at the very end.

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Episode 3.04 to 3.08) A fun season, though I never really love magic plots where a the main hurdle is no magic. This is not why I watch a magic show. The eldritch horrors and spooky carnivals and insane spells are what I love. The writing feels like it’s veering into Riverdale territory, but I can’t decide if it’s always been that way. 

The Good Place (Episode 4.10 to 4.13) Oof. What a great ending. And credit to everyone involved that they created a series that set out to tell a specific story, explore specific themes, and did so with laser focus. Well-planned, excellent writing, and equal parts funny and emotional. Excellent stuff.

……….READING……….

The Time Traveler’s Almanac edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer (Page 357/959) Such a great collection of short stories. I usually come back to this collection of time-travel stories when I’m in between books and it never disappoints. It’s also a great way to find new sci-fi or fantasy writers and to get a sense of their writing style without commiting to an entire book. Worth checking out if you like science fiction or, even better, time travel.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (Complete) Having only a casual understanding of the story, I was surprised by how relevant it felt. The story of a “good” man who indulges in dark deeds, swears it’s not him, asks for pity from the reader, and yet continues to do this stuff feels veeeeeery topical. Maybe Jekyll was sympathetic when the book was written?

Silver Surfer: Black by Donny Cates, Tradd Moore, and Dave Stewart (Complete) I really think Silver Surfer is becoming one of my favourite marvel characters because this book is exactly why I love comics. The writing is melodramatic yet sincere, the art is wildly inventive but coherent, and the story itself is a little sci-fi with fantasy elements. Absolutely worth checking out if you like Silver Surfer or crazy good art or bonkers stuff that doesn’t feel bonkers until you explain it out loud. It’s just a lot of fun.

Marvels by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross (Complete) Art was/is/and will forever be stellar. I just can’t imagine how much time and love went into each panel. The writing is also wonderful and the overall story (life from the perspective of a civilians living in a world full of super-heroes) felt fully realized here. It’s fun seeing big comic book events from the point-of-view of a street-level photographer. With that said, I didn’t like the ending. I think it’s a good ending, but I didn’t like it. My gut tells me that it ended on a note that is contrary to the message being presented for 75% of the book. It’s one I have to think on a little more.

……….AUDIO……….

Judy con Disfraz by Los Sirex (1965) So this is just one song, but I’ve been listening to a lot of foreign language covers of english songs and this one is probably my favourite right now.

……….GAMING……….

Neverland: Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) I got to play two different games of this over the month! My ongoing campaign is exploring the island a little more and are getting into lots of trouble. The one shot I did with the Mof1 Podcast should be out in March and it was great introducing a few people to both the island AND D&D in general! So great.

Curse of Strahd (Wizards of the Coast) The party finally escaped Death House! We’re starting to explore more of Barovia and I think the party is starting to realize just how deep in the forest they’ve gone.

And that’s it! As always, I’m keen to hear good things to check out so don’t hesitate to share a recommendation.

Happy Saturday!

[princessanneftw]

The Crown's Erin Doherty on playing Princess Anne – the voice, the hair and the style

By Caroline Leaper, Senior Fashion Editor for Stella Magazine.

As she joins acting royalty for the new series of the hit TV show, the actress discusses her transformation into a princess and just how long it takes to create THAT ’do

Erin Doherty is explaining how much fun it is to pretend to be very, very posh when you’re not. In the lead-up to playing Princess Anne in the new season of the hit Netflix drama The Crown, she says that she spent days practising her best royal voice in mundane scenarios, and offers to order a smoothie at the café we’ve met in ‘as Anne’, by way of demonstration.

‘Anne’s accent, and the whole family’s accent, is so weird,’ she laughs, snapping back into her own south London dialect. ‘It’s alien to me, I’ve never heard anyone else talk like that. My natural voice is the opposite. I watched YouTube videos and would practise when ordering a coffee, or speaking to people I didn’t know. The reactions were brilliant; I’m looking casual with this crazy posh voice coming out of me.’ Indeed, today she looks quite unroyal in her Breton top, khaki trousers and Birkenstocks.

Playing the Princess Royal is Erin’s first major television role. The 27-year-old from Crawley had a small part in the BBC adaptation of Les Misérables this year, and appeared in an episode of Call the Midwife back in 2017, but has otherwise stuck to the stage, graduating from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School to The Young Vic and The Old Vic, after being hailed a rising star of her generation. She is palpably excited about being in The Crown, and refreshingly honest about how she’s ‘winging it’ on one of the most anticipated TV shows of the year. She does, I should say now, deliver an incredibly convincing Anne. When casting director Nina Gold told her she had got the part, she celebrated by having a curry.

The Crown season three will span more than a decade, from 1964 to 1977, warranting an all-new cast to play the ageing royals. 
Olivia Colman picks up from Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth, Tobias Menzies follows Matt Smith’s Duke of Edinburgh and Helena Bonham Carter takes over from Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret. We’ve reached the years when the Queen’s children are coming of age; Erin’s Anne is in her late teens when we meet her, and is full of fantastically feisty opinions about being ‘launched’ as an adult in the Royal family.

We all know the plot, or so we think, as The Crown is based on real events. But the brilliance of the show is that we don’t know which bits of history creator Peter Morgan will zoom in on. Season three might cover the time when, in 1974, Ian Ball attempted to abduct Anne and hold her to ransom for £3 million. (‘Not bloody likely,’ she famously said to her kidnapper, and her father Prince Philip quipped, ‘She would have given him a hell of a time in captivity...’). We might get to see Erin in bridal attire, as Anne’s first wedding to Captain Mark Phillips took place in 1973.

Erin is tight-lipped about which events do and do not make the cut. ‘You know what happens to Anne,’ she says. ‘It’s not hard to guess. But Peter makes these people so fascinating because of the way he focuses on stories which might not have been the headlines everyone remembers.’

Anne’s story, Erin says, was largely unknown to her before she began researching ahead of her audition. ‘Princess Anne, honestly, didn’t mean anything to me,’ she explains. ‘Like a lot of people who grow up in Britain, I think, [the Royal family was] always just there. My family watched the Queen’s speech at Christmas, but other than that, you feel a bit removed from it. I had to research her and then I realised, wow, this woman is awesome. I fell in love with her.’

Anne’s reputation as the reluctant, truculent royal, who was more interested in riding horses than wearing ballgowns and playing the part, has come good of late. Where once the tabloid press dubbed her ‘rude’, ‘dowdy’ and ‘austere’, her dependability, cracking wit and commitment to public duty now see her celebrated as the most hard-working royal each year (she completed 180 days of engagements in 2018, 20 more than Prince Charles). And her never-wavering signature style suddenly chimes with the fashion industry’s new drive for more sustainable shopping. ‘At 69, Princess Anne’s country-chic look and penchant for rewearing couldn’t be more on trend,’ a fellow fashion editor of this newspaper wrote back in August.

Erin discovered pretty quickly that her new ‘family’ is full of eccentric, fun and 
complex characters. In one of her first scenes, she is sitting around a television with the Queen and Princess Margaret for tea, cigarettes and whisky, to watch Royal Family, the famously ill-fated 1969 BBC documentary (the reception to it was so bad that it was banished after airing, with the press suggesting director Richard Cawston’s fly-on-the-wall approach had ‘cheapened’ the monarchy). In real life, of course, that meant cosying up with her new co-stars, a cast of national treasures and Oscar-winners.

‘Scenes like that were surreal, but everyone was so normal on set,’ Erin says. ‘Seeing someone like Helena be so calm and cool has been a gift. What makes it weird is that I then go home to my houseshare and my housemates are like, “Your job is insane, did you see Olivia Colman today?” I obviously can’t tell her that they love her in Fleabag every day, that would be weird. And ultimately I’m trying to be like her daughter and build this relationship up with her, so the main goal for me is to forget about the fact that she is Olivia Colman. My dad is the worst for it, he took a flight and texted me, “I’ve just seen Olivia Colman doing the BA safety advert – tell her she’s great in it.”’

As well as the voice, the other thing to get right when becoming Anne was the hair. Today, Erin’s hair is soft, straight and centre-parted. She says it takes a lot of work to mould it into the Princess Royal’s trademark style each day.

‘The hair takes a solid hour and a half,’ she laughs. ‘Most of that time is spent backcombing and setting it with hairspray. Sometimes if it’s not poofy enough, we have to use a sponge doughnut underneath to hold it up more. I’m no wiser as to how she actually does hers. It must be pretty solid, as she doesn’t change it much.’

In Anne’s youth, Erin points out, the Princess typically only set half of her head, leaving some hair down and smooth at the back. For season four, though, which started filming this month, Erin is expecting to double her time in the hair chair, as Anne switches to her mainstay full halo. ‘It takes even more time if she’s wearing any sort of a hat,’ she groans. ‘I brace myself if it’s a hat day.’

Costume was crucial to Anne’s character. This season of The Crown will revisit the Princess’s fashion heyday in the ’60s and ’70s, when she wore sharp checked suiting and chic flares, and was photographed by Norman Parkinson in the era’s Pucci-esque saturated floral prints. Costume designer Amy Roberts recreates some of Anne’s most memorable outfits – many of which would still look relevant and stylish today.

‘She was so on-trend in the 1960s and ’70s. She figured out her style at that age and she has stuck with it ever since,’ says Erin. ‘I created a Pinterest board of her outfits and I saw this amazing thing of Anne throughout the years, reusing her gowns, sometimes rocking it again 20 years later. I love that about her. She must not get rid of anything.

‘My favourite outfit, though,’ she continues, ‘is the one in the first scene you’ll see from me. The idea is that her parents have just pulled her away from riding and she’s 
angry and stressy, so I’m wearing riding boots and stomping around.’

Erin understood that, of all the looks, this would likely be the one that the Princess Royal herself would favour too. ‘So often she’s in these amazing ballgowns, but you can tell that this would be her preference,’ she says. ‘It just feels more like her. Because of her sporting side, I don’t think she gets enough credit as a style icon. You meet some people who remember that she was fashionable, but a lot are like, nope, she’s just horses.’

Ah, the horses. For Olympic athlete and European eventing champion Anne, riding has been a passion since childhood. For Erin, it was a case of all the equestrian gear and no idea.

‘I’d never been horse riding before filming this, it was the first time I’d ever put on jodhpurs,’ she admits. ‘After my initial meeting with the casting team, my agent rang and was like, “Are you OK with horses?” The part was still in the balance, so I said, “Yeah, of course I am.” As soon as I put the phone down I thought 
I can’t believe I’ve just said that. It’s notorious that actors will say they can do something and learn how later, isn’t it? I was petrified. Luckily I had 
a bit of time, so it’s sorted now and I can ride.’

Horses may not have been on the agenda for Erin growing up, but football was. ‘I was pretty good – I was scouted to play for Chelsea,’ she says. ‘I really hated school, so I lived for the weekends; I’d play football on a Sunday morning, and then in the afternoon I would go to stage school. When I was about 14, the schedule was getting so intense that my dad said I needed to choose one. I still do my keepy-uppies in the garden. I’d love it if someone remade Bend It Like Beckham – I’d be totally prepared for that part.’

Erin is one of three children (she has an older sister and a younger brother), and her mother, a retired medical practice administrator, and father, who works in airline operations, split up when she was four and now, respectively, live in Guildford and Folkestone. She’s living in south-east London in a houseshare with strangers who have become friends, and who work in entirely different fields. She grew up, she says, happily hanging around in Croydon wearing a tracksuit. ‘That was our best town to go to with your friends.’

When The Crown was first released, the original cast found themselves famous around the world. Appetite for the show is especially high in the US where, as Erin points out, ‘they flip for the royals.

‘It exploded for the last cast didn’t it?’ she considers. ‘They’re all pretty high-profile now. It’s mental what could happen, but I’m really not prepared for it and I also don’t think it’s healthy to expect it. Imagine thinking your world is going to change then nothing happens, that would be heartbreaking. I don’t think people would really recognise me in the street anyway, I look quite different when I’m not made-up with the hair.’

Claire Foy and Vanessa Kirby, particularly, benefited from the magazine covers and fashion status that came with the territory, as designers from Erdem to 
Gucci vied to dress them on the red carpet.

‘I’ve never really done a red-carpet event,’ Erin says. ‘I was speaking to my publicist and I think we’re going to get a stylist to help. Honestly, these conversations are so alien to me. It’s actually more intimidating to do these things where you have to be yourself. I can get very anxious and I’m more of an introvert if I’m not acting, so the simpler these things are and the less I have to think about what I look like, the better.’

Her photo shoot with Stella is the first that she’s done, an experience that she enjoyed, she says, because she was able to treat it like playing a role.

In her own life, comfort takes priority. ‘My style is pretty androgynous,’ she says, ‘I’m all about not abiding by gender norms, not because I have any particular view of myself that way, but I like messing things around and trying different things. I’ve always been sporty and I’m drawn to clothes that are baggy. What I hope is that you’ll still be able to see me [even when I’m dressed up on the red carpet] and I’ll look back and think this whole experience was amazing and fun, not a surreal period of my life that I didn’t really live in.’

It will be surreal, probably. But Erin seems to have put in the work to ensure that her portrayal isn’t a caricature, and she has got under the skin of one of the nation’s famously-hardy senior royals. She did weeks of research, listened to the historians on set, nailed that voice and even investigated Anne’s Chinese zodiac sign, just in case it gave a crumb of insight to work with. ‘Anne’s a metal tiger,’ she confirms.

Talented, funny, hard-working and, crucially, not at all starstruck by the royals. It is, likely, exactly what the Princess Royal herself would want from the person deemed tough enough to play her.

[majesticbakugirl]

Game of Thrones S8 E3

Okay so I've had some time to think about the episode and I think I finally have my thought together.....

1. I honestly thought that a lot more of the characters were going to die. That being said I'm not upset that people are still alive.

2. Lyanna Mormont was probably the most jarring death for me. I wasn't expecting it at all and it broke my heart. I'm so proud of her and all she did. Bella Ramsay was a great actress and I loved every scene she had. Anytime the 12 year old gets to shame the men is a good moment.

3. I really thought The Hound was gonna die just because we know he doesn't do well with fire. He did come around and help save Arya which was fantastic.

4. Discussing Arya. I'm glad they showed us a scene where she was terrified. We've never scene her in large fight scenes and I was excited to see how her demeanor changed when the odds were very much against her. The scene in the library had me on the edge of my seat. When her and The Red Woman and The Hound were together, I love the parallels to season one.

5. I was honestly surprised that everyone's assumptions about the dead coming to life in the crypts actually happened. I honestly thought a lot more people would die when that all went down.

6. Brienne and Jaime and Pod survived and I'm so happy but also shocked. I had them as a group and figured at least one of them would die. I really thought it would be Pod since he sang the song last ep.

7. Brienne and Jaime need to discuss some feelings next week. I used to be conflicted between a BriennexTormund pairing and a BriennexJaime pairing. Most of that came from a lack of direct interaction between B and T prior to S8. That being said, it is now very clear that B doesn't like T and should end up with Jaime somehow.

8. Jon fucking Snow!!! Okay so I've been a fan of my mans for a whiiiiillllleeeee. Always loved him like everyone else. Even when he started kind of siding with Dany, I still liked him. But dear lord I feel like he did nothing this episode. Like I'm not sure how long he sat on the wall on his dragon........but I feel like he should have just done laps burning the undead. Also lol he really thought he would just run up and get the drop on the NK. I love him I just think he wasn't very helpful overall. Maybe they didn't want it to be like the Jon show. We have had a lot of previous Jon versus Army of Dead encounters in previous season so I'm not super disappointed that this wasn't very Jon centered. I just think he could have done more.

9. Daenerys Targaryen: First of all I'm probably gonna get shit from the Dany-stans for this, but honestly I don't think she was very helpful. I guess it's not a crazy thing to think that dragon fire would kill the night king, but I also feel like she should have r ees realized that he wouldn't put himself in that situation if it would kill him that easily. I think people are correct when they say she held her own, but like Jon I don't think was very helpful on the large scale. Also the fact that the dragon couldn't fly away from the undead when she was on it but could easily fly away when she fell off doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I'm very on the fence with Dany right now. I feel like there are a lot of flaws in her character that don't make her fit to leader the entire country. Also Jorah died and he was a lot of her restrain. She would change her mind if he suggested things that she ignored when other advisors mentioned them.

10. My boy Theon. I figured he was gonna die because he was with Bran. I was okay with that because out of all of the major characters, I feel like he had come full circle. He went out just like the Stark/Greyjoy he was and I'm so proud of him.

11. Greyworm: It really looked like he was going to sacrifice himself to light the trench on fire. I was so scared. Missandei talked about going back to Naath and now goddamnit I need them to get there.

12. Gendry: now that I think about it, in glad that Gendry didn't get much screentime. It would have made it seem like he had a higher risk of dying. I'm excited for more Gendrya next week.

13. Arya killing the NK: I liked the fact that Arya did this because of the parallels to other scenes. I also agree with some people that it should have been someone else. But at the same time, I feel like there was no way for it to be Jon or Dany because a. They showed that they both tried and failed and b. It would be too stereotypical. I like that Arya killed him because I feel like everyone sort of cast her to the side as "just a smol assassin girl" and she has proven that she can truly hold her own in a variety of situations.

14. The NK dying this ep. I know a lot of people don't like that the undead army met demise in the 3rd ep, but I think it fits the overarching theme of GOT so well. The show has never been "here is our supernatural world with our supernatural forces that the good guys have to beat". Instead it HAS been a "here is a supernatural world with this supernatural problem but jokes on you the mundane political shit causes much bigger issues". That's what made the show better than other high fantasy world in my opinion. Yes there was magic and weird ahit happening, but that isn't the only point. And honestly most of the plotlines of other characters haven't involved the army of undead until recently. Before Tyrion, Sansa, Jaime, Brienne, Dany, and Arya (just to name a few) knew about that problem, they all had completely different motivations. Long story short, don't get mad that the NK died this ep because he has caused far fewer deaths than several other characters. He's never really been the main villain. You just thought he was.

Okay I think I'm done now. Have a great day.

[mustlovemustypages]

Yuletide 2019 Letter

Dear potential writer,

I’m so incredibly excited that it’s Yuletide season again and I hope you are as well. Thank you for reading my letter and also thank you in advance for anything you decide to write for me!

Below are my desired fandoms and pairings along with story ideas that I would love to see written. Please don’t feel stifled by my prompts; I’ve also listed my general likes and dislikes at the very bottom of this letter if you decide to go a different route.

Peanuts:

Characters: Charlie Brown and Lucy van Pelt

This is my most unusual request, so I figured it best to put it out there first. I grew up both reading the Peanuts comics and watching the various Charlie Brown movies/television specials, so this is fueled by pure nostalgia upon seeing the nomination in the tag set.

Even as a kid before knowing what shipping was, I wanted desperately to see Charlie Brown and Lucy get together. Their back-and-forth banter with Lucy’s sharp remarks and Charlie Brown’s wry sense of humor is perfection. I don’t often request things too far from canon, but I would love to see a story with them as adults and how even though they didn't see eye-to-eye as children, over the years they have become just what the other needs.

Story ideas:

It's their high school class reunion, and it's been years since the Peanuts gang have all been in one place. Charlie Brown and Lucy are either already together, surprising the other characters by how well they get along and know each other, or everyone at the reunion sees how perfect they would be together except for them.

Lucy becomes a psychiatrist (although she charges way more than 5 cents for advice now) and Charlie Brown a child social worker. They run into each other by coincidence while they're both dealing with difficult cases and help each other cope.

Charlie Brown has recently broken up with the Little Redhead Girl and Lucy with Schroeder right before the holidays. Both disillusioned, they run into each other in the big city and decide that what they need is a road trip back home. Amazing banter ensues.

Similar to the last prompt, both Charlie Brown and Lucy have recently broken up with their respective partners. Not wanting to go back home for the holidays single, they decide to give the ridiculous, we'll-never-fall-for-each-other fake relationship thing a go.

The Boys (TV 2019):

Characters: Starlight|Annie January and Hughie Campbell

Just when I thought nothing new could be brought to the superhero genre, Amazon comes out with this smashing success. It reminds me of X-Men in a way due to the social commentary made by several of the plotlines. I especially appreciate how the show comments on celebrity status and social media.

Aside from that, far and away one of the best things about the show is the relationship between Annie and Hughie. Even in the midst of so much corruption, these two characters somehow remain so earnest and pure. The fact that they formed a connection on that bench before even knowing the other's name speaks volumes about their respective characters and chemistry.

Story ideas:

Despite being integral to the plot, it was crushing to see the moment Annie realized Hughie had been using her to enact revenge. Canon divergence where Hughie tells her the truth almost right from the get-go and Annie immediately is onboard to help would be really fun to read!

Another fun twist would be if Butcher approached Annie instead of Hughie for help, and she agreed to act as a double agent. The scene at the bench still goes down as does the one where Hughie realizes Annie is Starlight (although he's a real photographer). Perhaps Annie sneaks off to do some double agenting and Hughie follows. Annie almost gets caught and pretends to be dating Hughie as a cover.

After the explosive conversation with her mother and finding out she wasn't born with her powers like she thought, Annie tracks down Hughie to rant.

Season 2 can't come soon enough. I would be interested in speculation of what could happen next as long as it includes Hughie/Annie!

Impulse (TV 2018):

Characters: Henrietta “Henry” Coles, Lucas Boone, Jenna Hope, Townes Linderman

This show became a surprise favorite of mine in 2018, mostly because it’s on YouTube Red and I haven’t given most of their original shows much thought. Also because it tackles rape and recovery in such a raw and interesting way, especially in the context of a sci-fi show.

I just need more Henry Coles. If you want to do a romantic relationship, I’d prefer seeing something explored with Lucas Boone or her canon love interest Josh (who was only in 2 episodes but really seemed to “get” Henry). Otherwise, gen stories between Henry and any/all of the tag set characters would be great. Season 2 is just now coming out as I write this, so feel free to ignore or include it as desired. I tried to keep the prompts general enough that they can apply to either season.

Story Ideas:

Henry will never be fully “recovered” in the sense that one can never truly recover from rape. It will always have an impact on her life. The other characters get that and try to help her in any way they can.

While Lucas is aware of what his brother did to Henry, he has no idea of the real impact. I’d love a story where he learns more about her seizures and the way her anxiety/fears manifest themselves as teleportation.

Hurt/comfort in all forms because Henry has been hurt enough for a lifetime, but she could do with a whole lot more comfort. Either within the confines of season 1 or imagined opportunities for comfort in season 2.

We get the story from mostly Henry’s perspective, but I’m sure a lot is going on in the minds of Lucas, Jenna, Townes, and Anna as the events of season 1 play out.

The Folk of the Air

Characters: Cardan Greenbriar and Jude Duarte

Holly Black is an evil genius and I bow down to her greatness. Starting off the first book in this series, I never would have imagined that by the end I’d be rooting for Jude and Cardan to be together, but here we are.

They are the ultimate enemies-to-lovers and I can’t wait to see what happens to them in the third book coming in November.

Story ideas:

Maybe I'm unrealistically optimistic, but despite Jude’s betrayal at the end of the first book and Cardan's at the end of the second, I think these two can work it out. Perhaps Jude helps Cardan cope with the stresses of being king and he is able to move past what she did. Or maybe they each realize how impossible their respective situations were and come to accept the questionable decisions the other made.

Madoc is a horrible father. Jude basically knows this from the beginning. Still, she was genuinely upset in discovering what he had done. I’d love to see her finally release all of that pent up anger - either her using Cardan as a sounding board for her rants or even having her completely breakdown under all of the stress and him comforting her.

We get the perspective of Jude throughout the entire book, but I would really enjoy seeing some of the scenes from Cardan’s point of view as his feelings for Jude change.

There is no way that Jude’s sister, Vivienne, wouldn’t be alarmed when finding out that Jude and Cardan kissed. Jude having to explain her changed feelings for Cardan and Vivienne, realizing that Jude is in love would be hilarious and heartwarming.

With the third book coming out soon, feel free to either include or not include elements from it. As long as there is Jude/Cardan, I will be happy.

Nancy Drew (TV 2019):

Characters: Nancy Drew and Ned "Nick" Nickerson

Only one episode in and I was impressed by this show. Up until now, I hadn't seen or read an iteration of Nancy Drew that I didn't enjoy, but I'll admit I was scared as sometimes the CW makes questionable choices with their adaptations. They have done a fantastic job with casting, though, and updating things just enough for the modern era without taking away the charm of the original.

When it boils down to it, Nancy Drew appeals to me because she is unabashedly herself, not ever pretending to be something that she's not to get others to like her. And although it's just getting started, so far the interactions she has with Nick and her father, Carson, are my favorite.

Nancy is a guest on a true-crime podcast featuring amateur detectives. Nick tags along and watches from outside the recording studio in amusement, or perhaps the hosts bring up Nick's criminal past on-air and Nancy gets defensive.

Maybe Nick and Nancy start a true-crime podcast of their own and it's an unexpected hit.

Carson Drew is not 100% onboard with Nancy and Nick's not-so-secret relationship. When Nancy suddenly stops shutting down Carson's attempts to connect with her and Carson finds out it was due to Nick's influence, he changes his tune about his daughter's boyfriend.

The gang goes to an escape room for fun. Nick is amused by how seriously Nancy takes it.

We haven't gotten very far into the season yet, but any speculation fics about where the mystery goes would be interesting as well!

Out-of-left field request: If you're not a fan of Nancy/Nick in the new show, I'd be open to a story where the Hardy Boys arrive in River Heights (I'm not so secretly hoping the CW makes this a TV show if Nancy Drew succeeds). Although I love Nick and Nancy together, I have always loved Nancy/Frank stories as well.

Things I don't like:

Alternate Universes – For the specific fandoms that I picked, I really like the universes as they are. I’m definitely okay with deviations from canon, but please don’t make Peanuts into a supernatural werewolf story or have the fantasy/sci-fi canons take place in a mundane coffee shop setting. (I don’t mind Soulmate AUs or something similar because those can be incorporated into canon with little change to worldbuilding).

Non-Con/Rape/BDSM/Sexual Violence/Graphic Sex – I like my characters to be happy and everything within ships to be 100% consensual, no question about it (mentions of non-con if it occurred in canon is fine). I also prefer plot over porn, especially with one-shots.

OT3s – Two people per romantic relationship, please. Any more than that makes me uncomfortable.

Character Bashing - Unless a character is a bad guy in canon, I don’t want to read hundreds of words about how awful they are, especially if they are one of the characters that I requested. Don’t take it out on the characters. If you hate my pairings, just write gen.

Things I love:

Hurt/Comfort – There is nothing I love more than one character comforting another. The hurt can be physical, psychological, or both.  

Happy Endings – I’m all for the realistic endings… but if they could be plausible AND happy-ish, that would be amazing.

Expanded Scenes/Contorting Canon – Feel free to expand scenes and change up the canon to your heart’s content as long as it makes logical sense.

Humor/Banter/Snark – I thrive on this stuff.

Bonding/Building Relationships – Whether it be a friendship or a romantic relationship, I adore reading about two people growing closer together. When characters know each other so well that they can have conversations with just their eyes or anticipate the person’s next move (especially if it’s to the surprise/confusion of everyone around them), my shipper heart is thrilled.

Dark to Light – Seeing a character come out of a bad mindset or situation and get better is so satisfying.

Thanks again and happy writing!

- Maddy @mustlovemustypages (on Tumblr, Ao3, and FF.net)

[dukeofriven]

[Note: this post originally appeared in this thread. Owning to Tumblr’s inability to update reblogs with edits because it is a hellsite programmed by a secretive cell of former Stasi operatives to avenge the fall of East Germany, it has thus been re-edited and reformatted here for your reading pleasure.] JK Rowling’s wizards are the most useless, lazy, incapable dumbfucks in the history of fiction. The average Muggle? You take away their technology and they would be able to complete the basic tasks of feeding and clothing themselves without shitting on the floor. If a wizard ever lost their magic in Harry Potter, though, they would die. They’d be dead in three days. They’re garbage and I hate that I’ve come to hate Harry Potter - a series I once loved - because an author inexplicably hailed for her world-building is daily revealed to be appallingly bad at it. I realize this is a really dumb thing to be this angry about but I’ve been told for years what a great world-builder J.K. Rowling is, and that was not even true when the books were coming out. The Time Turner ruined all of Harry Potter forever, not because it offers easy time travel you can hold in your hand (although it does), not because you ask ‘why don’t they just use the time turner’ with every subsequent scenario forever (although you do), but because it was an enormous, flashing red light warning everyone that the series was going to attempt to make the transition from Fairy Tale Logic to Serious Fiction logic and fail. Badly. Really, really badly. I still think Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone is an almost perfect book: a distillation of decades of boarding school genre fiction combined with magic, friendship, and wonder. It is a book that owes as much to Enid Blyton and L.M. Boston as it does to C.S. Lewis or T.H. White and other authors with two first initials. Its sense of place is magisterial, from the frumpy, soul-crushing suburban sadness of Privet Drive to the ephemeral curio-shop wonderland of Diagon Alley to Hogwarts itself, a bastion of astonishment, homeliness, and delight. What it isn’t is the sort of framework on which you can support the horror that is the torture and murder of Charity Burbage in front of her colleague Severus Snape, who could not rescue her because he could not break his deep cover as a spy against Wizard Hitler 2. Long-running series can experience changes of tone and complexity. This is neither something laudable nor worth reviling; it’s a neutral phenomenon. Sometimes series do it well: Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising and Terry Pratchett’s Discworld are both series that by-and-large end with books focused on far more complex issues than their earlier entries. TV series do this too: contrast the early episodes of Steven Universe or Adventure Time with episodes from later seasons. With Adventure Time, for example, trying jumping from the pilot to Remember You and see how hard you get tonal whiplash) Lois McMaster Bujold sublime space opera The Vorkosigan Saga doesn’t just change tones but also genre: space adventure, murder mystery, political thriller, goofy regency romance, comedy of errors, heist movie, schizoid identity crisis - on and on. The latest entry in the series has almost no plot to speak of, but is instead a musing on age, gender roles, grieving the loss of a lover, and the hope of new life. Some series, however, manage the transition poorly, largely because the initial tone cannot be harmonized with the later tone (Mass Effect jumps immediately to mind). But Harry Potter has more than just a problem of its tone getting darker: its trying to have darker events fit in the same world in which people can walk around with names like ‘Mundungus,’ the Hogwarts school song can be a nonsense poem, and the Philosopher’s Stone was defended with a series of video game puzzles. In a world in which the villain openly tortures somebody to death, the Philosopher’s Stone shouldn’t have any whimisical bullshit about its magical defences: it should have trip mines in the floor and an enchanted statue with a gun, because Voldermort isn’t a guy you confound with drinking potions and flying keys. You should just kill him. The charming fairy world of wonder of HP & The Philosopher’s Stone has room for a love potion. The later books, in which it is revealed that Voldemort was essentially born from rape, is not place where Ron Weasley can hand-out a book to Harry called Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches without seeming like a predator in the making. The cradle that is The Philosopher’s Stone cannot hold a beastly baby like Deathly Hallows any more than Grindlewald pontificating about the superiority of wizards can sit comfortably in a universe in which wizards took until the 18th century to accept the outhouse! Not that fascist ravings are inherently logical; but even non-fascists in Harry Potter never act like wizards are anything other than 100% better than muggles at all times. They can’t, because if the series were ever to do that it would have to acknowledge that the two worlds are different: neither better, just different. Instead - well, as Ron once bitched, magic makes coffee perfect every time, so it’s not clear how muggles stand being alive and don’t just roll-over and die from the hellacious half-life that is living with imperfect coffee. This has nothing to do with irony, a suggestion that ‘oh Grindewald talks a big game about wizardly superiority but wizards didn’t use toilets and cal themselves goofy names like Flumpus MacFludgeon: Rowling is using dramatic ironic to lampshade how wizard supremacy lacks self-awareness. No: this is about a world that is silly being asked to host a genocidal dictator and his crimes. It’s like those tedious ‘grimdark’ AUs that always show up in bad fanfiction by authors attempting to be serious: what if the Sesame Street gang had to deal with ICE, what if Po started haemoraging while hanging-out with Laa-Laa, what if Peppa Pig learned that she was adopted and her real parents were brutally murdered as part of gang war because they were heroin dealers and so on. (The best skewering of this edgelord comedy is still probably either Andrew Hussie’s Muppet Babies/Saw comic or any encounters the Shortpacked staff ever had with the Transformers: Buckets of Blood guy.) In Harry Potter, Rowling built a wonderful little fantasy world that ran happily on the logic of fairy tales and fairy stories, and then decided she was never going to be taken seriously as an author unless she introduced Hitler to the equation. And it never works for her. It’s not like it couldn’t have worked. The Lord of the Rings is famously a very different book from The Hobbit. It did, in fact, introduce Hitler into a little fantasy world but Tolkien made it work by abandoning huge portions of the Hobbit’s tone, style, and structure: he wrote a completely different book.  Frodo isn’t scarfing-down Bertie Bott’s Every Flavoured Beans on the slopes of  Mount Doom. The moment, say, Cedric Diggory lay dead in Harry’s arms, we needed to never meet Mundungus Fletcher ever again, or Weasley’s Gooftacular Prank Nonsense, or Ron getting Harry a book about love spells. All the very least that needed to go away, at least until the very end, because Rowling is not an author with the skill to keep the silly and the sublime on the same page. That’s fine in and of itself: all artistic people have strengths and weakness, nobody is skilled at every element of creation. J.M. Barrie was very good at writing a book about an eternal child, but a bit crap at writing a biography about his mother. Arthur Sullivan spent his life quietly seething no one wanted to listen to Ivanhoe instead of The Mikado. There’s a reason Jerry Lewis never released The Day the Clown Cried.  Virginia Wolfe is a great writer, but that doesn’t mean she would have written a great run on She-Hulk. [Although now that I’ve said it I can’t think of anything I want to read more.] There’s a great bit in the Lord of Rings after the Shire has been scoured of Saruman where the Hobbits essentially open-up their larders and allow people to have fun again; there’s also a nice bit slightly earlier where Great King Aragorn puts on his old Strider clothes just so he can be his D&D character again: when series change tone, unless you’re really good at walking on a knife’s edge, the quieter, gentler, lighter world isn’t gone forever, but it does have to go away for a while: which means its time to tamp-down on the people with silly names and personalities - like Slughorn, who slips into book six like the second-coming of the vain and silly Lockhart, even though that’s the book where Dumbledore dies.

Rowling keeps trying to makes her old tone fit with her new world without having to pull a Tolkien and actually write differently, which produces moment after moment of tonal whiplash in which the latest Potter-related movie literally involves referencing the holocaust but she also drops some fun trivia about wizards shitting on the floor like animals. (You could describe the entirety of the first Fantastic Beasts film as Tonal Whiplash: The Motion Picture. I’d say that’s an essay for another day but I do not want to have to watch that movie again.)

It needs to be said that a primary reason these tone shifts ‘don’t work’ for Harry Potter is that the logic of a fairy tale is different than the logic of a mundane story. The logic of a fairy tale tends to be self contained: it doesn’t have a smart ass running around asking questions like ‘why’ because there is no why; a thing is the way it is because it is the way it is. Fairies steal babies on the third Sunday of every month, and nobody in the story asks ‘well what about in countries that use different calendars, and what about the shift from Julian to the Gregorian calendar that skipped eleven days?’ because such a pedantic question has no substance in a fairy-tale world. The Clever Child might question what the fairies need with babies, but she’s not about to break-down the week-to-week investment metrics on the Fairyland Infant Exchange. It’s not that one cannot critique or bring critical thinking to fairy stories; it’s that in a fairy story you don’t ask how the sewer system works because it’s not pertinent to what the story is trying to convey. It’s being the guy at the book club who is mad nobody wants to discuss his theories on the music of Rush: its not that the theories are bad, it’s that in this time and place they are of limited relevance. Harry Potter, however, does not belong to to the world of fairy stories, but to the legacy of Tolkienesque fantasy - the world of

  In The Hobbit nobody would ever ask if Hobbiton had sewers - it’s not important, and if you ask those kind of questions expecting there to be a serious answer of grave import you’re being a twit. Lord of the Rings, though? Not only is it a valid question, but Tolkien probably wrote a paper explaining the etymology of the Westron word for ‘sewer’ and how sewers were first invented by Shítlívær the Noldor as a way of helping the Blessed Isles cope with all the crap that tumbled out of Fëanor’s mouth.

The world of The Hobbit is one you could enter and expect to quickly find yourself on an adventure. The world of The Lord of The Rings is one you could enter, walk-about, and study without anyone ever exepecting you to solve some sort of regionally-disturbing social problem: in short, it wants you to be invested in the existence of its world in a different way than The Hobbit. Even then, although The Lord of the Rings is more grounded than The Hobbit, it is not so grounded that it doesn’t leave room for mystery, and questions that refute Wittgenstein’s assertion that all questions must be answerable. Tolkien loved to create complex worlds, but there was stuff he knew wasn’t worth elaborating on. It’s really his fans and authorial heirs who developed the somewhat worrying belief that a good worldbuilder has to have an answer to literally every question or else didn’t think their world through. (This has killed more potentially good books than bad cover art ever has.)

The Lord of the Rings leaves room for The Undiscovered Country. Harry Potter wants too… but can’t. Firstly, Rowling obviously understands the need for what we might call poetic mystery - like the gateway in the somewhat unsubtly name Department of Mysteries - but she also wants you to know how wizards pooped three hundred years ago. You get the feeling she knows exactly how and why that gate works, and what it is, but she withheld the knowledge because she likes mystery’s aesthetic more than she ascribes to any idea that an author might have lacunæ in the knowledge of their own work. That is, she would never put something into her work that she didn’t have an answer for - for her there is no undiscovered country that exists beyond the knowledge of even the author; she is an omniscient deity. Not for her is C.S. Lewis’ insistence that for her characters: All their life in this world and all their adventures had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before. Rowling knows exactly what happens to every one of them from the moment they were born to the moment the rot in the ground and the day-to-day schedules of their lives in heaven. Secondly - and far more of an issue - is that Harry Potter becomes a world that invites you to pick up each part of its structure and think about it, because the author has - with loving care - built that entire world for you to interact with. A place for everything, and everything its place. Except JK Rowling is a lazy thinker who never, ever considers the consequences of anything she says. Nagini is actually an Asian woman cursed to live as a snake, wizards used to magically disappear their shit from wherever they just stood and shat it out, Hermione Granger can have a time travel device to attended a bunch of classes but Harry can’t grab one off a nearby shelf and go back fifteen minutes and save his godfather, and nor a few years later can the Minister for Magic’s protection detail keep them on hand to go back half an hour and tell their past selves ‘Hey Voldemort is about to walk in here and kill y’all thought you ought to know.’ No author can work-out every aspect of every element in their works - that’s impossible, and why ARGs are solved by the internet hivemind in half a day even though they took a far smaller group of minds months to devise. But Rowling is intellectually lazy - she adds the holocaust to her Magic Fun Land without sparing a single moment to think that idea through. She then gets defensive when confronted by the suggestion that her worldbuilding might have been shallow. Hey your American wizard houses seem a bit racist also America doesn’t really use the house system in its schools - and her response was to lash out and not listen.  Rowling tried to move Potter from a fairy logic world with its own rules into our world with our rules and our history but she doesn’t know our history very well, or even our rules, so she tells us wizards shat on the floor until the 18th century while the rest of us sit around going ‘but humans have never done that as social groups - even in horrible slums and facility-free prison cells humans create a designated place for taking a shit even if it’s just ‘that corner over there.’ We don’t just drop pants and go whenever!” This is because, as a worldbuilder, J.K. Rowling is actually kind of rubbish.

[hope-for-olicity]

Fabulous Olicity Fanfic Friday - November 2nd, 2018

Happy Friday! So this is my attempt to both thank awesome fanfic writers for their amazing work and offer my recommendations to anyone who is interested. Here are the fantastic fanfic stories I read this week! They are posted in the order I read them. I’m slowly catching up on my reading and feel so very lucky to be in this fandom with so many AMAZING writers! Hugs! 

Re-Airrow: Episode 2x07 by @lostolicityscenes - Another sort of longish one. I wrote Scene 1 because I wanted to see more of the fallout of last episode’s talk and also further my subplot of why Isabel hates Felicity it takes place before the episode. Scene 2 includes a character that I introduced in 1x08. Did I do that so that I could feature him here and Felicity’s offhand comment in the episode would refer to him? Yes I did! Scene 3 is mostly set up for later and adds to Isabel and Felicity’s increasing hostility. Lastly, scene 4 takes place after the events of the episode. I remember the first time I watched it I was struck by Oliver’s expression and thought, this is the moment he knows he loves her. https://lostolicityscenes.tumblr.com/post/179220041276/re-airrow-episode-2x07

Charmed I'm Sure! multi-chapter WIP by @christinabeggs - What happens when three witchy sisters take on the evil in the world? https://archiveofourown.org/works/15852249/chapters/36922482

seemingly impossible (but not untrue) multi-chapter WIP by @alexiablackbriar13 - Young genius historian Dr Felicity Smoak unknowingly and accidentally calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript within the Oxford Bodleian Libraries - a book that has been lost for centuries. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Felicity wants nothing to do with magic, despite her unruly and powerful abilities. But her discovery of Ashmole 782 sets the world of creatures stirring; with a mystery afoot and new, dangerous magical abilities manifesting for her to navigate, she is approached by the enigmatic vampire biochemist Professor Oliver Queen, who seems to have a deep interest in both the manuscript… and her. Based on A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. https://archiveofourown.org/works/16224353/chapters/37923743  

Love and Little Cupcakes multi-chapter WIP by @christinabeggs - Felicity loved sweets so much that she paid no attention to her lovelife. Until Thea Queen came into her store wanting fabulous cupcakes for her sixteenth birthday. SO ADORABLE! http://archiveofourown.org/works/12400539/chapters/28216053

Oliver the Cardinal by @someonesaidcake - “Forgive me Father, for I have sinned.” Her words taunted him, a man of the cloth, sworn to an oath that had been forced upon him. But his heart sat elsewhere... with her. https://archiveofourown.org/works/16334099

Oliver the (Divorce) Lawyer multi-chapter WIP @someonesaidcake - Black tie, white shirt, grey suit... when Oliver put them on that chilly December morning, he hadn't planned on meeting her. 'Her' being Felicity Smoak, the sassy dark haired college student and daughter of his (only) client. This should be fun... https://archiveofourown.org/works/14823708/chapters/34304472

Whiskey and Romance multi-chapter WIP by @mindramblingsfics - Felicity Smoak gets the opportunity of a lifetime to compete for the hand of Prince Tommy Merlyn. She is taken from her normal mundane Vegas life and is soon swept up into a lifestyle full of nobles, drama, obligations and chaos. All the while trying to stay afloat, someone else begins to win her heart, Tommy’s best friend, Oliver Queen. https://archiveofourown.org/works/14441952/chapters/33357156

The Phoenix Rises multi-chapter WIP by @supersillyanddorky06 - For two years, Felicity has lived as a woman happily married to Oliver Queen. They have had their differences, like they always do, but nothing they could not come back from. Until now. Things crumble to the ground as an evil from the past descends upon their married life and tragedy reigns, they face something they never have before. But Felicity knows together, they can brave through. Oliver has no intention of letting go. Neither does she. Mature content. Mild swearing. A lot of sexual tension. You will probably want to bash their heads together at times. http://archiveofourown.org/works/4413614/chapters/10024649

Rebels Connected multi-chapter WIP by @mindramblingsfics - Felicity Smoak is an escaped mutant on the run. Oliver Queen, leader of an underground safe house for mutants to call home comes to her rescue. Everything changes once he brings her into the organization and his life. https://archiveofourown.org/works/16014089/chapters/37369784

The Reason multi-chapter WIP by flipflops - Oliver is an Alpha and Felicity is an Omega....circumstances lead Oliver to find this out and a very bad time or maybe very good time... https://archiveofourown.org/works/15012431

Undisclosed Desires multi-chapter WIP by @green-arrows-of-karamel - People seldom show their true face to the world. Nobody knows this better than Felicity Smoak. She worked hard to get where she is and nothing, not even a nuisance like having a stalker, can stop her. When the threat proves to be more serious than she thought, Felicity is forced to hire Green Arrow Security. Her reluctance to have a bodyguard, shadowing her all day long, transforms itself into a —irrational, some would say— dislike for the man in charge of her safety. No other client had ever driven Oliver so crazy as Felicity Smoak does. That has nothing to do with her mesmerizing beauty or her astonishing intelligence but everything to do with her exasperating stubbornness. Honestly, he doesn't know what’s her problem is with him. If it wasn't because, Thea, his little sister, made him promise that he’d personally protect the woman, he would have quit months ago. It takes very little to ignite the fire between them. A single innocent comment can turn into an epic battle of vicious words, with the only purpose of irking each other. Everyone around them watches all happening from the front row. They ask themselves what will befall first… Felicity and Oliver killing each other, or realizing that they’re in love. https://archiveofourown.org/works/15808077/chapters/36794202

Beyond the Spotlight multi-chapter WIP by @arrow-through-my-writers-block - Bodyguard/Popstar AU. Felicity Smoak is music's hottest star. But when her fame and deeply hidden secrets breed threats to her life that cannot be ignored, she hires Oliver Queen. As her new head of security/pet bodyguard, their personalities clash. Can he protect her from the many unknown enemies from her past that hunt her, or will her intriguing complexities and his own developing feelings be a detriment to them both? http://archiveofourown.org/works/11067006/chapters/24679221

Fictober18 #22 - “I know how you love to play games.” by @tdgal1 - A continuation of the vampire series. The sisters try to help out! https://tdgal1.tumblr.com/post/179313475755/fictober18-22-i-know-how-you-love-to-play

Fictober18 #23 - “This is not new, it only feels like it.” by @tdgal1 - A continuation of the vampire series. Dinner with the sisters continues. https://tdgal1.tumblr.com/post/179357810215/fictober18-23-this-is-not-new-it-only-feels

Just Beneath the Surface multi-chapter WIP by @smoaking-greenarrow - When an S.O.S signal is sent to the FBI from a woman named Felicity Smoak, Director Oliver Queen knows that she is in grave danger. He can’t help but notice the haunting similarities between what’s happening to her and what happened nine years ago; in thirteen unsolved cold cases that drove ex-agent John Diggle out of the bureau. With a race against the clock, Oliver enlists the help of his old mentor to reopen the investigation, and hopefully save Felicity’s life. https://archiveofourown.org/works/16239002/chapters/37963052

The Predator multi-chapter WIP by @supersillyanddorky06 - Oliver Queen is the one anomaly in the Chicago Outfit. He is the only non-blooded member to be a part of the high circle in thefamily. His reputation precedes him and he is their best hunter. Felicity Smoak, daughter of theStarling boss, infiltrates his house, intent on killing him. But a startling encounter tips the scales. He goes on the prowl and she escapes. Hate, heat, and friction. Sparks. But something bigger is happening in their world. And despite their disagreements, only they can fight it down. Mob AU. Not Bratva. Enemies-lovers. http://archiveofourown.org/works/5077885/chapters/21891689

H(a)unted by @smoaking-greenarrow - Prompt: I had a prompt idea :) One where Oliver is (finally) out of prison but very aware of his surroundings, especially when he goes out with Felicity and William. He doesn’t want to let them out of his sight because he’s, kinda paranoid for the lack of a better term, about something happening to them and their safety. Set in season 7ish but canon noncompliant :) http://smoaking-greenarrow.tumblr.com/post/179438084324/haunted

Kiss and Plate by @crazycrystal10 - Prompt - "Why didn't he come and talk to me himself?" Pregnant, hormonal Felicity Smoak × Loving hubby, Oliver Queen. https://archiveofourown.org/works/16415555

Angel multi-chapter WIP by @it-was-a-red-heeler - Oliver encounters a stripper by the name of Angel and is blown away. https://archiveofourown.org/works/15961898/chapters/37227686#workskin

Fictober18 #24 - “You know this, you know this to be true.” by @tdgal1 -  A continuation of the vampire series. Felicity continues to try to get Oliver to see reason. https://tdgal1.tumblr.com/post/179459661835/fictober18-24-you-know-this-you-know-this-to

Fear Wakes You Up multi-chapter WIP by @smoakmonster - In a world divided into factions, being Divergent means certain death. For years, Oliver has hidden his terrible secrets–masking his own Divergence within the chaos of Dauntless, covering up the sins of his father’s past that mark his body beneath tattoos, and pushing himself to overcome his nightmares through endless simulations. He’s biding his time until he can somehow save his sister back in Abnegation. But everything changes the day a new batch of transfers arrive. The day he meets her. https://archiveofourown.org/works/16058117/chapters/37490819

Home To You multi-chapter WIP by @the-shy-and-anxious-fangirl - Oliver Queen has never done what his family expected of him. He took a gap year after high school instead of going to college right away. He quit his fraternity sophomore year to join the student newspaper, switching his major from business to journalism. He became a photojournalist for a wire service instead of taking a place at Queen Consolidated. He went missing after six months instead of coming home for his sister’s twenty-first birthday. He survived five years of captivity in a war zone when everyone thought he was dead. He came home. But home didn’t have a place for him in it anymore. His parents were both dead, casualties of their own mistakes and a city they had turned against them. His sister was all grown up, the CEO of Queen Consolidated with a fiancé and a dog and a life of her own. Oliver didn’t belong in his old life, but there was nowhere else for him to go. He was a man without a home, without any way of finding one, until he stopped by the IT department of his sister’s company to get files off an old, battered memory card, and found a woman with curly blonde hair and bright, intelligent eyes chewing on a bright red pen and swearing at a computer screen. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12613188/chapters/28734552

The Queen's Mage multi-chapter WIP by @the-shy-and-anxious-fangirl - Words have power, and mages, those with the aptitude to draw on that power, are few in number. Thus, their services are highly sought after by anyone who has exhausted all mundane means of solving whatever problem is plaguing them. Felicity is reminded of this fact the hard way when she is hired by Moira Queen, the Lady Starling, to find and return to her son Oliver, who fled his family home five years ago following the death of his father. With a threat hanging over her should she return without Robert Queen's heir, Felicity begins her search. When she finds Oliver, and ends up joining his vigilante crusade while she waits for him to decide whether to return home, the last thing she expects to do is fall in love with him. https://archiveofourown.org/works/14617068/chapters/33781269

Elizabeth Grace Smoak multi-chapter WIP by @lynn8828 - What if Felicity and Oliver briefly had met before he got on the Gambit? Despite her best efforts, Felicity was unable to get in contact with the famous Oliver Queen after having a one night stand with him and getting pregnant with his child. After raising their child for five years after finding out that Oliver died on the Gambit, she finds out he is alive and knows that she needs to tell him about their daughter. But will he believe her? AMAZING STORY!! http://archiveofourown.org/works/13639371/chapters/31322715

From Somewhere Within multi-chapter WIP by @smoaking-greenarrow - Their connection has always felt natural to them, safe and secure. But others tend to fear what they don’t understand, and as far as their enemies are concerned, the world isn’t ready to accept two people who can know each other the way that Oliver and Felicity do. https://archiveofourown.org/works/16009244/chapters/37356257

And So The Adventure Begins multi-chapter WIP by @mindramblingsfics - Felicity spent her first year of college focused solely on her studies. In year two, with the convincing of her best friends Iris and Sara, she lets her hair down a bit. Oliver spent his first year partying with his wingman Tommy and living up to the status that came with his last name. He realizes he should buckle down focus on the most important part: actual school. Oliver and Felicity meet, and even though they are on different ends of the spectrum, they don't realize that they can each bring out hidden parts of one another. https://archiveofourown.org/works/15800025/chapters/36771018

Pieces of Always multi-chapter WIP by @so-caffeinated and @dust2dust34 - Life continues after Forever is Composed of Nows. Ongoing non-linear collection of family moments for the Queens. http://archiveofourown.org/works/8220479/chapters/18840356

// @emmaamelia95 // @mel-loves-all // @oliverfel4 // @green-arrows-of-karamel // @coal000 // @miriam1779 // @memcjo// @captainolicitysbedroom // @tdgal1 // @spaztronautwriter // @lalawo1// @quiveringbunny // @wrongshipper // @thebookjumper // @vaelisamaza // @myhauntedblacksoul // @lovelycssefan // @laurabelle2930 //