#we built a portal!! hooray!

[wastefulreverie]

we did it everyone! :D

[breadnabreadd]

✦ Oh boy! Here we go.

I created a LMK Au just for funsies. A furutistic, high technologic world with cyberpunk vibes! (Because I absolutely love this type of aesthetic)

✦ the picture above is just a quick drawing I did of Macaque in this AU. I will get into details about the AU while showing a few infos of a few LMKs characters alongside with their designs. (Just a reminder I'm still creating the AU and it's my first time making one. It might be a little messy, so I apologize if it gets too messy--)

Oh! And by the way, the characters on this AU follow the same basic formula as the original characters. So it doesnt have much changes, other than the world they live in, their clothes and a few events.

✦ MK, The Monkie Kid

• Its the same thing as our little MK from the animated series, he works at Pigsy's Noodles as a delivery boy, is the Monkey king's biggest fan and is his successor and pretty much the basic stuff.

• He learned about the Monkey king with Mister Tang. He is a huge fan.

• Tho he isn't a great expert, he knows how to how to fix computer cases, machines and vehicles and build stuff by using old pieces (he learned with Pigsy and Sandy, just in case his delivery vehicle breaks in the middle of the road or a something start malfunctioning in the noodle store). As we can see, he works more in the hardware part.

• He likes to collect the old pieces of old devices that people throw away in the city's old graveyard. It's like a type of recycling. (That's also how he find the Monkey king's staff but that is a thing I will tell in details in another day--)

• He loves to draw!!! Hooray!!! He also likes to play games. Is always playing video games with his best friend, Mei, on the arcade or online.

✦ Mei, The White Horse Dragon Girl

• She's a programmer/developer of softwares (Yes I know that in I drawing I said she's a "hacker but a bit clumsy" but actually i wanted to say shes a programmer. I was sleepy, it was 2 am, and my brain wasn't braining 😰😰😰---) with a few knowledge about hardwares. She created her technological helmet system with MK's help. (Her helmet it's similiar to Iron man's helmet from inside.)

• She built her own motorcycle, again with MK's help. She participates a lot motorcycles race just for funsies.

• Loves to play games. I guess I could say she is quite of a professional gamer? She play to win. But when she is playing with MK or with other friends, she doesnt care losing or winning, she only cares about enjoying some quality time with them.

✦ Liu'er Mihou, The Six Eared Macaque.

• Pretty much same as the original Macaque. (Lost his eye in the past with a fight against Sun Wukong. Omg betrayal. Yknow the deal-)

• Here he is a Hacker/Cracker.

"But what is a cracker?" You may ask. Now it's time for my nerd/TI studant side take over. A cracker it's a mean hacker. The cracker breaks/attacks the systems and webs for their own benefit, which it's for illegal purposes. Now a Hacker it's actually a job, which their purpose its to find the security breaches and ways to how break it, so then they can make the security stronger and prevent invasions/attacks at the system.

With that being said, Macaque is a hacker/cracker. So he makes defense systems to himself and breaks into other systems for illegal purposes.

• He got these gloves that helps him hack things better, he created it himself. He create floating holograms like it's a tablet screen and can hold on these holograms using these gloves. With a simple touch he can steal database from a device and hack it's system. (He can hack machines, computers, tech weapons and even the light system.)

• He got his shadow magic too, same as the original one. Shadow clones, shadow portals... but he kinda makes a fusion between his magic and the technology he invented to himself. (Before anyone say it. YES! I got heavily inspired by Sombra from Overwatch. 😔)

✦ The Monkey King, Sun Wukong

• Yeah, the Monkey king. The great sage equal to heaven. The silly who made a havoc on heaven---

• HE GOT THAT HUGE MECHA WE SAW IN THE ANIMATED SERIES BECAUSE HE DOESNT LIKE USING HIS KAIJU FORM !!!

But he doesnt use the mecha much. It has been CENTURIES since he last use it. Now MK is the one who uses it because he is Sun Wukong's successor.

• That's not his "Monkey King" royal clothes. It just some casual/comfy clothes to use in everyday life.

• He already knew who MK was. MK is a stone Monkey just like himself. Wukong have been watching the kid grow up from far. He grow a bit attached to the boy.

Sun Wukong surely wasn't expecting to MK being able to lift his golden staff, so he think in the opportunity to make him his sucessor and teach him how to use his new powers. (Yes, I was lisiting to "the horse and the infant" song. How did you kn--)

Oh God. That explanation was long.

✦ Welp, that's all for today!

I will post more stuff about the AU in the future. And I still need to think a name for it...

It is clear I got heavily inspired by Cyberpunk, techwear, overwatch, New Gods: Nezha reborn, Arcane and other stuff. I'm sorry, BUT I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THAT AESTHETIC AND VIBES!! HHHHHHH-

✦ I'm a huge nerd. 🤓

[weiila]

So. Most delightfully stupid game plot I’ve ever experienced was in this gem puzzle/card battle app store game I played some years back. Now, these aren’t exactly built for engaging stories, they’re built to be addictive and look flashy and pretty.

This game had pretty recruitable characters whose card stats were meh but worked outside of pvp. Every area had a little mini storyline that ended with you recruiting a new character. Mostly they were oneoff and only involved in their story, but sometimes they did interact and got involved in other area’s/characters’ questline.

The plot was barely there but ik one case it went absolutely bonkers.

It starta with your PC having strange dreams, so they ask one of the recruited characters for advice. You can’t chose which one, and the PC decides on their own that the best candidate is this former death cult dude who gave himself amnesia because he couldn’t bear the atrocities he’d committed. He did the amnesia thing by looking straight at not!Chtulu, so now he mumbles a lot and talks to rocks. Of course he’s the best qualified to deal with weird dreams.

So old cray-cray says we should go talk to Baba Yaga about my dreams. Like you do.

Upon meeting up with her she makes some prophecy shit. Then old cray-cray pokes my shoulder and goes ”hey uhm sorry but not!Chtulu is coming out of a portal in the cabbage field outside to kill me.”

So we have to give big squid a stern talking to, but his influence start corrupting the land so now we have undead polar bears to deal with. The king polar bear shows up and is rightfully like ”uh WTF did you do to my people??”

So we kick his ass after diplomacy fails and he retreats. Then Baba Yaga says she can fix this but she needs the king’s crown. So we go to meet with him and he’s understandably not in a trusting mood. So we kick his ass again to break out of his castle.

Then the kleptomaniac elf girl in the party reveals that she stole the crown and the entire treasury on the way out, so now the king is coming after us with his army. So we have to beat him up AGAIN, killing him this time.

And THEN Baba Yaga fixes the corruption and reveals she manipulated the whole thing because the king was totally corrupt and needed to be taken out. Then she joins our team.

Hooray…?

[thatonceandfutureprat]

UNLESS of course you meant “THE CAGÈD WHALE KNOWS NOTHING OF THE MIGHTY DEEPS”, which yes it’s absolutely a reference:

Now a black-robed figure scurried through the midnight streets, ducking from doorway to doorway, and reached a grim and forbidding portal. No mere doorway got that grim without effort, one felt. It looked as though the architect had been called in and given specific instructions. We want something eldritch in dark oak, he'd been told. So put an unpleasant gargoyle thing over the archway, give it a slam like the footfall of a giant and make it clear to everyone, in fact, that this isn't the kind of door that goes 'ding-dong' when you press the bell.

The figure rapped a complex code on the dark woodwork. A tiny barred hatch opened and one suspicious eye peered out. “'The significant owl hoots in the night,'” said the visitor, trying to wring the rainwater out of its robe. “'Yet many grey lords go sadly to the masterless men,'” intoned a voice on the other side of the grille. “'Hooray, hooray for the spinster's sister's daughter,'” countered the dripping figure. “'To the axeman, all supplicants are the same height.'” “'Yet verily, the rose is within the thorn.'” “'The good mother makes bean soup for the errant boy,'” said the voice behind the door. 

There was a pause, broken only by the sound of the rain. Then the visitor said, “What?” “'The good mother makes bean soup for the errant boy.'” There was another, longer pause. Then the damp figure said, “Are you sure the ill-built tower doesn't tremble mightily at a butterfly's passage?” “Nope. Bean soup it is. I'm sorry.” The rain hissed down relentlessly in the embarrassed silence. “What about the caged whale?” said the soaking visitor, trying to squeeze into what little shelter the dread portal offered. “What about it?” “It should know nothing of the mighty deeps, if you must know.” “Oh, the caged whale. You want the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night. Three doors down.” “Who're you, then?” “We're the Illuminated and Ancient Brethren of Ee.” "I thought you met over in Treacle Street,'' said the damp man, after a while. “Yeah, well. You know how it is. The fretwork club have the room Tuesdays. There was a bit of a mix-up.” “Oh? Well, thanks anyway.” “My pleasure.” The little door slammed shut.The robed figure glared at it for a moment, and then splashed further down the street. There was indeed another portal there. The builder hadn't bothered to change the design much.

He knocked. The little barred hatch shot back. “Yes?” “Look, 'The significant owl hoots in the night', all right?” “'Yet many grey lords go sadly to the masterless men.'” “'Hooray, hooray for the spinster's sister's daughter', okay?' ” “ 'To the axeman, all supplicants are the same height.' ” “ 'Yet verily, the rose is within the thorn.' It's pissing down out here. You do know that, don't you?” “Yes,” said the voice, in the tones of one who indeed does know it, and is not the one standing in it. The visitor sighed. “'The caged whale knows nothing of the mighty deeps,'” he said. “If it makes you any happier.” “'The ill-built tower trembles mightily at a butterfly's passage.'” The supplicant grabbed the bars of the window, pulled himself up to it, and hissed: “Now let us in, I'm soaked.” There was another damp pause. “These deeps ... did you say mighty or nightly?” “Mighty, I said. Mighty deeps. On account of being, you know, deep. It's me, Brother Fingers.” “It sounded like nightly to me,” said the invisible doorkeeper cautiously. “Look, do you want the bloody book or not? I don't have to do this. I could be at home in bed.” “You sure it was mighty?” “Listen, I know how deep the bloody deeps are all right,” said Brother Fingers urgently. “I knew how mighty they were when you were a perishing neophyte. Now will you open this door?” “Well . . . all right.” There was the sound of bolts sliding back. Then the voice said, “Would you mind giving it a push? The Door of Knowledge Through Which the Untutored May Not Pass sticks something wicked in the damp.” Brother Fingers put his shoulder to it, forced his way through, gave Brother Doorkeeper a dirty look, and hurried within. — Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

hi, I was wondering if your blog title is a reference to something?

Hello anon!

It does, and it's this:

(ID: A gif from BBC's Merlin, where Merlin calls Arthur Pendragon a royal prat.)

[howtohero]

Running Your Own Unsanctioned Prison

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. You fight a villain, beat them, they get arrested by the cops, sent to jail and then 3-8 days later you’re doing the same exact thing all over again. Same villain and everything. The only thing different is that now they’re wearing an “I went to prison and all I got was this dumb shirt” shirt! Unbelievable. But what if I told you that there was a better way? What if I told you that you could make it so that beaten villains stay beaten. What if I told you that you could create a world where supervillains weren’t breaking out of prison every single week. Well I am telling you all these things! And the way to do it is to make your own prison!

Making your own prison is easy. All you need to do is find a large unused building built with reinforced walls that is far removed from the rest of society and that no cops would ever be caught dead going anywhere near. If your neighborhood is anything like mine you already have four or five spaces like that in mind. But what’s to stop you from falling into the same pitfalls that make legal supervillain prisons so eminently escapable? Well this guide obviously. Other prison wardens don’t have that. They probably can’t even read.

Power To The People No Siree Bob! If you recall from a few months ago, we spoke about the concept of “evil powers”, powers that seem inherently predisposed to committing crimes. Many supervillains are only villains because they believe that their powers leave them with no other choice. Do you think folks like Jhonny McBarnBurner or Negatic would be a supervillain if their pyrokinetic powers didn’t only work on barns or their touch didn’t steal souls respectively? Who’s to say! They’ve never had the opportunity to explore those possibilities. That’s why your prison needs to be chock full of power suppressors. Maybe without their pesky powers bringing them down these guys will be able to truly turn over a new leaf. And if not, well they don’t have any powers, they’re going to have a much harder time escaping. Sure you’re not letting them be their truest fullest selves, but their truest fullest selves are mass criminals, so that’s the way it needs to go!

Larks and Recreation Supervillains need to be stimulated. If they’re allowed to remain idle they’re going to start to plot. And we can’t be having that. You should spend some time crafting a full schedule for these guys with round-the-clock recreation and rehabilitation. They should be given plenty of look outdoors time. They can’t actually go outside, outside is where prying eyes are. And your prison needs to remain a secret. But they should be allowed to look out the window as much as they want. You should also have frequent activities. Movie nights showcasing movies about bad guys turning their life around. Charades where you lose points for pantomiming crimes (thus making these people consider other aspects of life for a change). Karaoke nights, talent shows, wacky hat days! In your prison the fun should never stop! (Unless one of the villains acts out then they should be punished by revoking their right to choose their own karaoke songs. They’ll have to sing whatever embarrassing songs the other villains come up with. Hilarious!) 

Isolation Station When you’re not around to supervise things, villains should be kept alone in their own individual cells. When villains get together they get very competitive and we don’t want any supervillain oneupmanship in your prison. The only time villains should be allowed to hang out with one another is when they’re engaged in rehabilitating activities. Because then they’ll be in competition to see who can become the most reformed. And that’s the best kind of supervillain competition there is. Be sure to always compliment the villains who have shown the most progress by saying things like “Wow Stabbin’ Jack, you’ve really been doing a great job not stabbing anybody during the past seventeen minutes I’m proud of you.” This will encourage other stabbing-themed villains in your prison to hold themselves back from stabbing people for at least eighteen minutes, which will push Stabbin’ Jack to go to nineteen minutes and so on and so forth until these guys can go years without stabbing anybody fueled solely by spite.  

Ghosting the Cops No doubt the police are going to start to notice that a lot of supervillains that you fight don’t end up in the regular justice system. Here are a few ways to sidestep the awkward conversations you’re going to need to have:

Laugh, but for a long time. This will make them think you’re being attacked by some laughing powered supervillain and they’ll leave you alone so you can handle that situation. 

Blame portals. Portals open up around the world and spit things out and suck things in all the time. Whose to say your enemies don’t keep falling into portals to parts unknown. 

Throw them in your secret prison too. The more the merrier!

Play dead. They can’t question you if you’re dead. This is a foolproof plan.

Repeat “I hear you and your feelings are valid,” until they stop asking you invasive questions. 

With the cops off your back you’ll be able to keep these bad guys underground and behind bars forever!!! Hooray!!!

The Robots are Stealing Our Jobs! Presumably you’ve got other stuff going on and you’re not going to be able to devote all your time to running a prison and looking after dozens of superhuman prisoners. So you’re going to need to hire, build, or steal a contingent of robots to automate everything. You can’t hire human guards, because what you’re doing is a crime and any human who is willing to participate in this crime is a criminal and we can’t have criminals watching criminals. That would be insane. Luckily, if you’ve got a prison, that means you’ve beaten some supervillains. And if you’ve beaten some supervillains that means you’ve requisitioned some cool stuff. Odds are good that amongst all that cool stuff is an entire army of androids. Supervillains love their armies of androids. It stems from their trust issues. So just reprogram some of those guys into prison guards and you’re good to go!

No Place Like Atomspace If you are unable to find a place for your prison. Or you’ve found a suitable building but it’s right in the center of town and already filled with criminals, why not just shrink it down to microscopic size. Atomspace, owing to the teeny-tiny size of everything in it, has plenty of space. Sure, placing these people in another dimension (and stealing a prison) might not be the most ethical of moves but hey, if it means you can go a week without having to fight the Literal Devil (the villain who takes things literally not the demon) it will all have been worth it. Just make sure your prison is totally secure before you move it to Atomspace. The last thing you want is for them to get out and then for you to have a bunch of microscopic enemies that are invisible to the naked eye running amok. 

Dress for Success The goal of any good secret prison is to reform the secret inmates (so jot that down) and the best way to do that is to dress your inmates for success. “Dress for the job you want for your secret prisoners not the one your secret prisoners have” the old saying goes, so get rid of those orange jumpsuits or prison pin-stripes. Instead, you should make your secret prisoners wear superhero costumes in lieu of traditional prison uniforms. This will nudge them in the right direction and if anybody happens to catch a glance of what you’re doing you can just pass it off as you forming your own new superhero team. Heh.

If you follow all of these tips to the letter you’ll have your own thriving underground incarceration center in no time. It’s time to end the trend of frequent supervillain jailbreaks. Be the change you want to see in the world. Start your own unsanctioned prison.

[bookwyrminspiration]

You are so right about so much of this!! thank you for taking the time to respond because you articulated it so well.

I won't comment on everything you said 'cause there's a lot, but a few things you said stood out and I wanna agree with you!!!

For one, as a fellow ace, the whole focus on sex is just...hmm. There's nothing wrong with having sex in a story, but there were so many scenes in the book that felt like...why are you doing this right now? it'd be one, maybe two pages of really quick fucking and it's like okay hooray for you I guess. The focus on sex in the relationships and how it being the ultimate acceptance of this bond (the "consummation") that they have feels like it cheapens what they could have. The importance they could have to each other and how it transcends their bodies. I guess I'm just not convinced that they're in love because they're wildly horny as soon as they look at each other. ALso it just didn't seem like good smut in my opinion; everything was so faced paced and like...wow you finished fast and apparently it's the best of your life. "i love you" and they're undone.

same with the ruhn and lidia thing!! Maybe it's because I'm aro but the moment they kissed I was like Oh. Oh I've really misread the situation. And then they fucked and I was like how did I miss this where did this happen. They just...talked to each other mind to mind for a while and suddenly are intensely into each other. it felt so fast, I think is what I'm trying to say. "you remind me that there's good in the world" and all that like...do we have enough scenes of them to really go that far?

And the abs?? You are so right like what tf is up with that. I don't think I've ever actually seen a guy in real life with abs, then again I'm not usually looking at them. but the emphasis on them again and again in the books is so old and at this point I'm just ignoring it. What was that about Ithan being built? About Tharion being sculpted? Hunt's abs being enough you can count them and compare them to a statue? Nope, sorry. I simply refuse. And then the way feminine bodies are described!!! There was this one line that was like "a female with tan skin and ample hips" and I had to stop reading for a moment to just...process. Please. Please Sarah stop talking about how attractive people are and instead give them character and defining traits. I don't need to know how ample her hips are or how luxurious the swell of her breast or the tightness of her ass. Please.

your comment about the crossover was really insightful too!! About how Bryce and her world deserved it's own story and it's own solution and end and not the involvement of another to solve it. For me I don't have a problem with all the worlds being connected and hinted at, but like...straight up interaction with each other? I think I would've preferred it had it stuck to things like Aelin falling through the sky as a star and the book titles. Little ties between everything but each story given it's own space. I guess the crossover feels almost cheap, like it's the kind of thing you'd find in a wattpad fanfic. The kind of thing you never expect to see in a published book, so I think that's also throwing me off.

as I was reading it it was like disbelief like not even good or bad just "wait what? what the fuck? you're actually doing this? this is where you want your story to go?" Because as an author it is not at all where I would've taken it. Not my story though. But her going to Hel seemed like a lot better place to take the story and where it wanted to go and then boom sudden left turn. The princes of Hel were repeated mentioned and Hel's army being at her call and learning Hel fought against the Asteri and won and the portal having opened to that planet before in the past like. It made so much more sense plot wise for her to go to Hel. But going to Velaris and involving a whole other series and friend group feels more like appealing to the audience at the cost of the story.

I don't know, maybe cc3 will be published and my opinion on this crossover will completely change and I'll appreciate it, but I just don't right now. A lot of the people I've seen who like it right now are making comments about how the girls will get to be badasses together and teach each other things and how fun it will be to see them together, but all of their excitement it over how it will be cool and satisfying and girlboss of them and not anything about how good it'll be for the story or the plot value. I think the plot has taken a heavy hit for this brief appeal to a very select portion of the audience.

I don't know where I'm going with this but essentially yes! I agree! thank you for sharing your thoughts and I am going to be mentally going "what the fuck" for the next week as I try and process how much the two stories were just altered and not necessarily in a good way

hello just casually stopping by to say that what. what on earth was going on at the end of hosab. in response to your tags: I'm very curious to know what your rants were about if you'd like to share. no pressure though! I am going to attempt to do homework while processing that crossover like huh. why. what.

THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING HELLO. LIKE WHAT. the rest of this post contains hella spoilers for crescent city/throne of glass/acotar btw anyone else.

so!! my rants about hosab were a lot about sarah j maas in general (this is a sarah j maas intensely dislike blog btw! I hate-read hosab 😔) and the problems with her books. I have a few categories: Characters, Relationships, and of course there's the twist at the end of hosab that I intensely dislike.

That's what the ask was about so I'll start with that. The main twist at the end of hosab was, of course, that Bryce went to the acotar universe instead of Hel when she moved worlds. Firstly, it's pretty fucking lucky that she ended up like right in front of Azriel (and not even in front of cass and nesta fucking or whatever the hell their relationship is about 😔, or in the middle of nowhere or the human world) but that's not even my main problem. The problem is that this plotline was plain ol' weak writing. Sjm realized that the majority of her fans' favorite series was acotar, and instead of having another cameo of Rhys and Feyre like she did at the end of throne of glass, she had them become characters in crescent city. To me, this is a chance at grabbing her audience after the mind-numbing repetition of hosab so far. And DAMN HER it worked. I wasn't planning on reading book three but not I HAVE TO, dammit. Bryce and Hunt should have had their own arc with their own solutions just like Aelin and Rowan and Feyre and Rhys did. The crossover shouldn't have been necessary, it was a lazy grab for nostalgia (for lack of a better word) and means that reading crescent city is better if you read acotar (money grab potentially) and I stand by that.

MOVING ON. CHARACTERS.

I have huge huge problems with SJM and her characters, mostly because I intensely dislike the majority of them. And I'm almost positive this has something to do with being ace because all of her characters are on their intros described by their sex appeal and how fucking gorgeous they are and how many abs they have which is so weird?? And unnatural??? I own Crescent City and a few throne of glass books but I do not feel like checking them so we're going off of screenshots I currently have saved and my prior knowledge (which i believe is Good Enough).

All the women are interchangable, especially her three protagonists. Bryce, Feyre, and Aelin. Aelin's description is: Blue eyes with a rim of gold, golden hair, pale skin, skinny with (somehow) generous curves, muscled but it didn't show (???). Feyre is: brown hair, blue-grey eyes, skinny (originally she was flat but I'm almost certain she gained curves by the end), pale skin. Bryce: redhead with freckles, pointed ears, extremely curvy (I'll talk more about this later), pale. Ignoring that all these women are white and there is a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead (you know, depending on the taste of her audience) these women are so... impersonal? Feyre's hobby is painting, Aelin loves music (particularly the piano), Bryce loves dancing. Checking off the artistic qualities, there. They all are selfless to the point of self sacrifice (not necessarily a bad quality, but by the time you get to Bryce jesus christ) and ridiculously overpowered (something that works for Aelin, aka my favorite of the ladies in my favorite of the series, but not necessarily for the others).

The main men? also interchangeable. Sarah J Maas does this thing where she has an introduced love interest (or several) and then either she kills them off (see: Connor), villainizes them (see: Tamlin, Chaol), or sets them up to be a "right person wrong time"/better off as friends thing (see: Dorian). I'm gonna talk about this later. Anyway, Throne of Glass men (originally) worked because they were more realistic men than the eventual love interests: Rowan, Hunt, Rhys. Their descriptions (from what I remember, and also from fanart) are... Rowan: silver hair, green eyes, tan skin, tattoos on his back and sorta on his cheek, muscles on muscles on muscles (this man is an impossibility), handsome and like... weathered stone. wasn't that used as a descriptor? Rhys: tan skin, dark hair, dark purplish eyes, HELLA BUILT, beautiful, gorgeous, etc. Hunt: darker skin I believe (?), d...dark eyes, (I dont remember what he looks like this is sad), the most I remember about him is that he is piled with muscle like he has a 15 pack or some shit. it's crazy. I can't even TALK about sarah j maas's apparent wing kink (like what is up with that hello?) right now but yeah. hunt always has wings, rhys sometimes has wings, rowan can be a bird.

I'm just. convinced that you can switch out any of these people and the exact same things would be possible. Sure, they have different powers (aelin's powers, feyre's... everything apparently, bryce's light, rhys's shadows, rowan's... wind, hunt's lightning) but like seriously. ALSO you could probably switch out cassian or azriel (cass post acosf), or even Connor or Tharion (4 more guys with the exact same bodytype) with these guys. You could not switch dorian or chaol because they actually have personalities (major L for sjm, because she started out with cool characters that had, you know, separate characters and then it dissolves into a bunch of 8-packs and gleaming tan skin (?)).

All of these characters are skinny and the majority are white. The fatphobia (and even vague misogyny) in these books is insane. It's messed up. I'm not even fat but I'm mid-sized and I cannot relate to any of these ultra thin (with... curves...) women. I cannot find a single woman with a realistic body besides fucking Lehabah who gets little pagetime, is ridiculed and teased the entire damn time, explicitly rejected/said to be undesirable, and then killed off in book one of crescent city. She's "plump." Bryce gave me hope, because she is described to have been rejected from a dancing company for having the wrong body type, and being curvy... but there are so many descriptions of her body and none of them mention a tummy. She has a fat ass and boobs and... where's the rest? It's like Sarah Maas is scared of giving her women realistic features because she's making them end up with these unrealistic men. It's heartbreaking.

FINALLY. RELATIONSHIPS.

first off, as an asexual, specifically acotar and cc relationships severely bother me, but this also applies to tog. At least in tog and cc they arent compelled to have sex as soon as they accept their mates? And they are physically incapable or resisting it? I have issues with the "mate" shit at all (hello what the fuck is up with that? There is one person you are meant to have babies with and are chained to them for the rest of your immortal lives??) but there's just. significant problems with how much every single relationship in sjm's books is focused on sex, and people being horny.

Starting with the fact that all the ending love interests of the main characters are over 100 years older than the protagonists, the women. I believe Aelin is 18, Feyre is 19, and Bryce is 23 when they meet Rowan, Feyre, and Bryce, and they end up together within a year of knowing each other. Ignoring the "mates" bit of this (fate or whatever the fuck led them to fall in love) this is SO un-okay that I am just so... I don't like it. Age gaps are okay in real life but I'm uncomfortable with them when the younger person is under 30 anyway, let alone under 20 years old. Aelin had been with three people before Rowan and only slept with one, Feyre had been with two other people before Rhys (one of them was a fwb situation, the other was abusive?), and Bryce is the least problematic. At least she was over 20.

Anyway, all the relationship are copypasted. Crescent City especially. in Crescent City, guy and girl meet (there are NO gay relationships for some reason. only sapphic and too few of those as well) and immediately are horny (??) and then it's a slowburn. And then they fuck. I guess there's meaningful shit in between but damn if I remember. I'm almost positive that hunt and bryce were just horny all the fucking time and then they didn't even do anything about it (for absolutely no reason. their deal in hosab was just to drag out the slowburn) until halfway through book 2 when it was very clear they both wanted to. I was very excited for Ruhn and... what's her face. Lydia. I liked their relationship a LOT and then I hated it as soon as they fucked because it took away ALL the meaning. They fell in love too fast, sacrificed themselves too quickly for each other, and I have nooo idea how Ruhn managed to get that horny when he couldn't even see her and she was being sexually fucking harassed daily by literally the worst person ever to have existed. What was a turn on in that situation? NOTHING. OH MY GOD. i hate it a great deal.

The thing I mentioned earlier, the stack of love interests. Throne of glass is my favorite of her series for a few reasons, but one of them is how that love triangle was handled: aka she didn't end up with either Chaol or Dorian, and neither of them were villainized (at first) or killed off which I appreciated. Chaol was later villainized and then redeemed, and while I don't like him (never really did tbh) I do like what ended up happening to him and I also enjoy Dorian's arc. I have my issues with Rowan and Aelin but I'm cool with where they ended up and I appreciate that they didn't have sex CONSTANTLY. only sometimes. better. I liked Sam. That was good for Aelin's arc.

Larger problem is Feyre and Tamlin. Obviously, Tamlin sucks genuine ass, but the reason this was such a shock was because he was a perfectly fine person in the first book? I can understand that he locked Feyre in the house, I can understand that he was inactive/unavailable and that's why she went with Rhys and that's fine! whatever! but... he was villainized and then unvillainized and I just. don't get it. I'm so tired of this. Rhys is a bad fucking person and I don't like him oh my god why did the mate thing happen. Cassian and Nesta are even worse and I WILL make a separate post about how her character was put into a meat grinder if someone wants me to.

I was planning on eleborating more but this post is SO LONG and I am sooo tired. congrats for reading this far if u did 😭😭

TLDR: sjm's characters are unreasonably horny all the time and copypasted into each other's stories, throne of glass was the best because it was original, (also the plots are all the same), and the twist at the end of hosab was fan service. thank u. i'm out.

[antirrhinum-magus]

13 July 1862

Dear Mum and Dad,

We have finally made it to Tulla.  Hooray!  It took longer than it was supposed to because the University can Move Around!  I guess that makes sense for a Magickal city, but I don’t know why you would want it to.  Or maybe I do...

The Wizards are very Officious and Snooty.  We talked to a Bureaumancer named Jorian who kept telling us we weren’t good enough to be there and weren’t worth anybody’s time.  He is Not Very Nice.  But he is going to try to get us in to see the Headmaster Simeon Tor, whom he insists is the only person who can untangle the Soul Jewel and restore everybody’s vital essences - if he can be Bothered to do it.  I do not understand this attitude at all, but Alexander is doing his best to Engage Their Interest, as he calls it, so maybe they will help us and all the poor Bengelli too.

This just seems to be what the Wizards are like.  They move their city around so you can’t find it, they don’t have any doors so you can’t get in, and they pretend they’re Too Important to talk to you once you do get in.  It is a Bit Disappointing.  But it’s also all Very Impressive.  The whole city is formed out of Sandstone in one big piece, so it’s like it just grew straight out of the desert.  I want to do that!  It took us a long long time to find our way in, but Dr. Claw eventually noticed two sets of Statues that formed gateways or portals.  We, uh, we might have accidentally broken one of them.  Sky got excited and damaged some of the Runes that make the portal work.  But the other side still worked.  You just have to be Magickal and intend to come in, and it teleports you to the inside.  Very clever!  Alexander was worried it would hurt him, but he came through okay, which is Good, because it is much nicer inside than outside.  

Walter is making friends with all the Students.  I think he will stay here for a while - he is getting very sick of Franklin Payne, and Annabelle deserves a rest.  Oh, it turns out Walter is Walterra after all.  I don’t know how that happened, but Mistress Johannssen says that the Demon God Baby thing is a Fixed Point and happens in every possible timeline.  So that’s....weird...

We have met one Nice Person: Cassandra Johannssen the Divination Mistress.  Well, I mean, she shouted at us as we walked by that we had Doomed the World, but Jorian said she says that to everyone.  He didn’t seem very concerned, which again I don’t understand at all!  If I Doom the World I want to know about it!  So we went and talked to her while we were waiting for Simeon Tor to Stop Being Busy (we are still waiting for that) and she was very Nice and Helpful.  And she believed everything we had to say and she took us seriously and she genuinely wanted to help us make things better.  I like her very very much, and I want to stay and learn everything she knows, but we need to hurry up and undoom the world so I can’t.  And she wears beautiful white dresses even though she can’t see them because of how she’s blind and she also wears a beautiful white blindfold and all her books are written with little bumps so she can read them without her eyes, which is so cool.  I should learn to read and write like that in case I go blind again or for when it’s really dark.

The Bad News is that we accidentally Doomed the World.  Mistress Johannssen told us that K’alru is going to organize all the Demons so that when the Gods become Bound they can all break through and fight against Drakon together.  Which is good that they’re fighting Drakon, but it’s bad because they’re going do it here - that is, the World - and wreck and enslave everything.  So that is Very Bad and I’m really really really sorry.  But she says there are still paths to stop that from happening, so that’s what we’re going to have to do.  Obviously we can’t return to the Future if it’s been all wrecked, so maybe we’ll be able to stop that Doom before it ever happens in the first place.  And this is why Knowing About Things is Important!  

Time Travel is hard...

But now we are in Tulla and some of our Questions are being Answered, which is good.  They have a Library with All The Prophecies so maybe we can look up what the False King was quoting about the Eternal Flame and the Ancients Who Are Bound.  Based on what Jorian told us, the Vessel for Halcyon is probably a wizard named Pelojian, who built the University ages ago and is the Greatest Wizard of All Time.  He made us go look at a tapestry that shows Pelojian calling forth Tulla out of the Earth, which was Very Cool, and it had the symbol from my book on it, as well as the other branches of Magick.  Oh.  I, um...took the Elementalism textbook with me... I didn’t think anyone else was using it...I hope you guys won’t be mad... the trouble is nobody seems to know where Pelojian’s body is.  Mistress Johannssen said it was “here,” and Lucky’s people-finding ability seemed to indicate that the whole city was just suffused with his essence??  I don’t know.  Maybe Simeon Tor will know, or there will be records in the Library.

It is nice to be in Civilization again, but I am very worried about all the Doom.  I’m sorry for wrecking the Future, and I hope we can put it Right before you get this.

Love, 

Flora

[edivupage]

Vivi Empowers Personalized Learning, Classroom Productivity with U.S. Launch

By freeing teachers to roam the classroom and empowering learners to instantly share their screens, Vivi inspires a personalized learning environment

(MELBOURNE, Australia) September 18, 2018 — Vivi, the wireless screen mirroring solution designed exclusively for the classroom, today announced its entry into the U.S. edtech market. Vivi has been successfully supporting personalized learning environments and schoolwide communication in Australia for years, and now brings American teachers the technology to foster collaborative, student-centered learning.

Designed with the collaboration of educators, Vivi’s classroom management solution system sets teachers free to roam the classroom and interact with students, allowing for immediate teacher and peer feedback. In addition to its core functionality of screen mirroring and video streaming, Vivi brings a slew of additional educational features under the control of a single, easy-to-use app and institutional management through an admin portal.

“We created Vivi to offer educators a seamless, affordable solution for collaborative classroom presentations,” said Dr. Lior Rauchberger, the founder of Vivi. “Education is evolving at a breakneck pace, and Vivi is the foundation that allows teachers to implement personalized learning without worrying how they’ll make it work.”

Vivi is compatible with all devices and operating systems. Its ease of use improves productivity and reduces teacher time spent on managing technology and giving students control of the screen by up to 12 percent and helpdesk claims by up to 4 percent because educators can walk into any Vivi-enabled classroom and instantly connect.

The intuitive Vivi app gives teachers total control when students are allowed to share their screens, and enables students to capture what’s being presented on the screen, and annotate using built-in tools then save for future reference. Teachers can also play high-quality videos straight from the Vivi Receiver so that the video streams directly from the hard-wired internet rather than slowing down a WiFi network or disrupting learning due to buffering. Vivi’s analytics and reporting dashboard deliver information on teacher and student participation and engagement across the school.

The system also powers school-wide communication with digital signage and emergency broadcasting. In a dangerous situation, teachers are able to instantly communicate the need for a lockdown, evacuation, or other safety measures across all screens and devices with active Vivi connections.

“We have just put Vivi in all 100 classrooms and presentation spaces and have been super happy,” said Gary Hastings, director of ICT at Oakhill College. “Teachers love them to the point that we’ve taken back all HDMI cables and dongles (hooray) and haven’t needed to re-issue one yet.”

To request a demo, visit Vivi.io.

About Vivi Vivi is a global technology company, headquartered in Melbourne with satellite offices in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. It was founded with the aim of creating the simplest, most intuitive screen mirroring solution in the world. The Vivi product is delivered as a hardware-enabled cloud solution, specifically developed for use in schools and universities. It comes with additional features that broaden the use of Vivi beyond screen mirroring, and customer feedback is used to inform ongoing feature and product development. For more information, please visit Vivi.io.

Press Contact

Kristen Plemon PR with Panache! kristen@prwithpanache.com 616-994-2869

Jim Staples Vivi jim@vivi.io (770) 314-3505

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