#but i have all the rr series and i love his suit. well. not the cowl

[greyfeu]

THE CORE FOUR

#ill be honest i dont know much abt cassie yet #but i have all the rr series and i love his suit. well. not the cowl #also i know he has superhealing but fr give bart some armor #no comment on the kon crop top #erm #dc #tim drake #red robin #cassie sandsmark #wonder girl #bart allen #impulse #kon el #superboy #my art #young justice

[risingsouls]

[Ah yes. New chapter is out today. So I'll put my ramblins under the cut. I'm thinking it's not going to be eventful just by the first page and title, but hey. I do tend to find some dusty, scratched gems in here.]

[For starters, and why this will likely be uneventful for this arc, it has definitely just gone into the events of Super Hero. Which. Is expected but kind of lame. It's just really boring to rehash the movies, either going from movie to anime/manga (not sure which came first with BoG and Res:F) or, in this case, movie to manga. Maybe they'll change some shit, add a little more detail, but I'm going to guess it won't be anything significant.

Also, where's the Broly movie adapted to the manga? I'm still bothered by this because he DOES appear in the movie. So, if they adapt those scenes to the manga, how do they explain his appearance? It's really just super inconsistent, which, for this series, is a feature more than it is a bug.

HOWEVER. As I said when I watched Super Hero:

I love Pan's teacher. She's really cute. And I love how there's zero concern for the green man picking up Pan. Great teachering. 10/10.

But then immediately this--

I think we all know my disdain for the "Piccolo is a better dad to Gohan" narrative, so are we going to start getting the same with "Piccolo is a better parent to Pan than Videl and Gohan?" Like I get his frustration but considering he literally kidnaps Gohan at age 4 (and yes, I know things get better and he does change and treat Gohan well as time goes on), I have trouble holding Piccolo up as the gold standard of parenting. And secondly, if it's the same as the movie, I GUESS i can kinda get frustration with Gohan not taking a few minutes to just...go pick up his kid, but Videl was at work. He could have just said no and Gohan would have HAD to go. Either way, I don't feel like Gohan and Videl working makes them a bad parent. This is pretty normal shit when both parents work.

Also not gonna lie, this reeks a little of Toriyama's sexism OR at the VERY LEAST his old fashioned and traditional ideas about how families should work (and I feel Super really pushes the traditional family over what it felt like DB/Z were pushing in the importance of friends/found families as well). As in, one of them should always be available to take care of Pan, which, usually translates to the woman. And I'm GLAD they worked Videl away from just being another housewife because it doesn't suit her, but ugh. I can see the GOHAN BAD DAD LIKE HIS DAD jokes already.

Idk how Krillin knows all this but whatever. I still hate Vomi as her name, but I'm more disappointed that we couldn't get at least faces for Hedo's parents. But I guess we know Gero and Vomi had two sons, apparently. I'm naming him Puka (I fucking hate it and this is a joke and in no way canon or at least i hope it's not god).

So they're involving the police more in this? Maybe. Might be an interesting sidebar? Who knows. I imagine it won't actually be worth much later, but I like that Krillin is getting some screen time as he would have obvious stake in not wanting the RR to resurface, considering.

Piccolo. Fucking. I get she has two grandpas, but I find it really hard to believe he just forgot Goku existed for a minute. also, where is Pan hearing this? Who's talking shit on her daddy? 🤣🤣 But seriously. Are they just trying to run this "everyone hates Goku now" route or what?

I love this nerd. Let him be. 😭😭

Okay, that is pretty shitty of Gohan tbh. I personally think it's out of character for him to be that thoughtless, though. I could see him ASKING as Videl does, but I don't see him ASSUMING Piccolo would always be there and willing to help out. I don't know what it is about demonizing the Son family, but Super seems to have a huge hard on for it.

klajsdf I'm sure I ranted about this with the movie but I fucking HATE this shit. Like we've literally been through this TWICE with Gohan in Z, and even to some extent in Super with Frieza returning, the expo tournament, and the ToP. Gohan would ABSOLUTELY by EXPERIENCE know that Goku and Vegeta aren't always going to be around to save their asses. It's why I don't agree with the idea that he just gives up training entirely. He has too much of a hero complex in the first place, and he knows that he's the next strongest behind them (because I can at least see him being reluctant to define himself as stronger than them, even if he has the potential to be because modest boi), so keeping up with his training to some degree is a no brainer, even if he doesn't WANT to. He knows he has that responsibility, so once more playing up this "lol Gohan stopped training!!!" bit, especially at this point, is so damn old. They don't even try to make it halfway nuanced in any way, so it's literally just rehashing nonsense for a shit narrative.

And in this instance for this specific case, I agree with Piccolo being pissed. That's a stupid ass mindset for him to have.

Anyway. I still love Gamma 2.

But yeah. That chapter was pretty much a rehash of the beginning of the movie with a few, but unnoteworthy additions. But that was to be expected. Part of me wants to just say screw it with reading the rest of this arc, but I guess it gives me something to look at for a little while. I'm not holding my breath, but since they have the space, maybe they'll do something a little extra or interesting with it after all.]

#.:ooc:. #dbs spoilers #dragonball super spoilers #i mean sort of #i feel most people have seen the movie so this isn't really anything shocking or different #just me rambling about stupid shit lmao

[writtenfan]

Welcome to the Party! Why Don't We Ditch it and Go to The Underworld!?

DisneyHades x FemReader

Going to the most poppin’ God & Demi-God Party of the month! With your dad the lord of the sea...turns sizzlin’ as your relentlessly chat up by the Lord of the Underworld...Oh, What.. Will... Happen? (~rrrrrowrrr...)

 (A/N) “I've been watching so much Hercules the Animated Series and I’m in love with this guy's personality I mean really, James Woods takes the cake. Kinda couldn’t help but write this! I mean Disney Villians are loved too am I right?”

You walk in alongside your father and hear a voice call out through the crowd causing eyes to turn to you both as you walked through the door. 

“Arriving, the Lord of The Sea! The go-with-the-flow god, as chill as cool water, as weighty as a wave, Poseidon! Oh? Also his plus one! His beautiful shining sea star, the glistening pearl of the sea (y/n!)”

Your face grows warm at this corny introduction as you enter the beautifully decorated hall, your eyes glance at the golden ribbons wrapping the marble columns and the warm red wool tapestry strung across the walls. Oh, the lighting was perfect!

Three figures briskly walk up to you as your father wraps his arm around yours proudly. “Oh, darling (y/n!)” 

“Uncle Zeus, Aunt Hera!” the two beam at you brightly but your eyes catch the face between them. At the man who was godly (ha) ripped!  his hair as red as his fathers. “Hello cousin,” he says with a smile opening his arms wide “bring it here!” You laugh and jump into his arms as he held you against his chest and lifted you off the ground moving you around. “Herc that’s too tight!” you choke as you pull back and he releases you gently onto your feet. “Heh sorry (y/n). It's just nice to see you!”  “It’s great to see ya too Herc, I've been hearing such great things! It’s been a while.” He rubs the back of his head and smiles “Ah gee (y/n)..” 

Zeus laughs and slams his hand on Hercules back which makes his pop forwards and a small wince appeared on his face.

 “Aw, I told ya that your favorite cousin would be here didn’t I son?!” Hercules's face grew red and he playfully pushed his father’s arm away “Dad…stop…I- I didn’t say such a thing…” You smirk and pop your fist against his shoulder. 

Felt like pure rock.

“Aww shucks ditto Herc.”

Zeus smiled and continued rubbing his sons back. “Its good to see you too brother.” He says placing a hand on his brother's shoulder with a smile. 

“Anyways we got to go talk a bit to Demeter about something…I have to ask her about some troublesome things going on with Gaia you know, global warming and all…” Zeus groans.

“See you later (y/n), catch you on the seaside later bro” he laughs as he begins to guide his family away, but Hercules gives you a quick wave before following suit.

Your father smiles at you and releases his hand from your shoulder. “Go on now…I tend to hover a bit much…” 

“Go introduce yourself to your Demi-cousins and whatnot…I’m sure they’re around…oh and make sure you give your Aunt Aphrodite a hello, she’s been asking for you way too much. Won’t tell me why.”

...

You smile nervously before making your way into the crowd, smiling, small talking for a while before glancing at a tremendous food display against a wall in the back of the room.

You walk over to the hors d’oeuvres table and get yourself a cup of fruity demi-god alcoholic nectar and you sip it as you look around you God and Demi-god watching in peace....

“So…you got tired of the whole bla-bla-bla thing too huh?” 

The voice was so raspy yet smooth and traveled in the air like a weird song. A chill followed by a flash of warmth shivered across your half-mortal body.

You turn to the wall on your left as you down the last of the drink and set the cup on the table. You see the tall blue flamed black-robed, sharp-toothed figure of...Hades the Lord of the Underworld.... “how ya doin’?”, with his arms crossed and a wide smirk plastered on his face. He coughed smoke into his hand and ran that same hand through his flaming blue hair and continued to smile, now with more teeth.

“H-Hades, It’s been a bit...” you stutter.

“Hasn’t it? My little under-the-sea Demi (god)~” Under the sea, he then begins to sing as he dances his finger in the air, finishing the cup he had in his hand and making it poof away in an instant.

“Yes, last time I saw you was briefly at that meeting between you and my father…which ended with you being drenched out of the palace if I remember.”

Hades shrugged and waved his hand in the air, “Yeah yeah...po-po didn’t quite like my porpoise-ition ha-ha...” he chuckles deeply but his laugh had no hint of humor in it.

 He moved off the wall levitating over to you, the black smoke at his feet curling up around your legs once he got close enough, tickling your calves. You watched as the smoke began to travel up your legs wrapping up and up like a snake....you shake them and he coughs trying to gain back your attention on him.

“Or the kind remarks I gave you once I caught you peeping at us ever so cutely through the doorway…told me not to even look at you…sheesh talk about protective huh?”

You feel calm despite him placing an arm behind you resting his hand on the table next to you as he smiled.

“Oh? Kind remarks?” you ask giving him a grin 

“Give me what you got, I’m curious.”

“Haha! Loving it. Well, I only said the obvious.” he looks you up and down which makes your face warm. 

“Which still applies I may add. Absolutely stunning!” He gestures to your face with a wink. “Fiery eyes…luscioussss lips~” 

He places his other hand on your shoulder with a toothy grin that made your shiver. You raise your eyebrow and he automatically backs off and glides in front of you his fingers trailing off your arm to your hand holding it up near his face kissing the back of your hand quickly causing a chill to run down it before letting it go.

“…and the. PERSONALITY?! I mean wow, come on!~” he puts his thumbs up and makes a clicking noise while he checks you out some more.

Your cross your arms and laugh, “Psh, Hades you don’t even know me that well.” You fix your (color) dress and give him a smile that faked how weird you felt, from him being so close to you. The weird part was that it wasn’t exactly bad.

“Come on. Babe! We always get together at these parties, don’t we?” he quickly turns his head and covers the side his mouth 

“Not in the way I would like”.

 You lean back and give him a look as he turns to you with an honest looking grin as if he was an absolute saint and you didn’t hear what he said, but he distracted you by gesturing his hands towards your face in appreciation.

“We gabble. We talk…I try and convince you to come with me to the Underworld for a...” he pinches the air while closing one eye, his flames a flickering blue.

“Quiiiiick little visit…but not too quick heh…”

He pops the collar of his tunic and smirks before sliding to your side closest to the table and picks up some kind of pastry, popping it in his mouth his hand once again wrapping around you while he chewed and made exaggerated noises responding to how good the pastry was.

“I jus-ch wanna hang out (y/n), sweetheart. Lets chat, lets prattle baby! Lets gosssssss-” He gently presses his clawed thumb on the side of your mouth as if wiping away something as he swallowed. He then retracts his hand and cranes your chin up at his face.

“-ssssip babe.”  You noticed that his face was now closer to yours than before. His breath was as smoky as a fire with a hint of…mint? and his hair was as bright and warm as a furnace as you watched it rouse up and travel down his shoulders.

“Wow really trying to sell it aren’t we?” you chuckle, amused by his courtship while also slightly disgusted. 

These emotions kept bouncing back and forth incomprehensibly.

His eyes widen with a smile and he looks around the room occasionally gesturing to himself and you as he talked,

“If it means me, and if you mean me, trying to sell myself to you… as a potential partnerrr~…” his eyes look mischievously at the ceiling then back to you with an enamored look.

“Then yes baby! Snap a price tag on me, honey, put on a little bow and check me out Duh-ING!~ because I’m yourrrrs!...”

 His rr’s rumbling in the back of his throat, his lips moving to your ear. 

“You can even get a discount and a lifetime guarantee for this products..” he gestures to himself. “..heheh… functionality.” His face is now in yours, well not literally, the point of his nose is almost against yours as leans closer to your lips still mocking a lusty beasty cat growl. 

His arm trying its best to fix you in place to the point where you have to push against his chest to prevent his lips from getting any closer. However, as soon as you placed a hand on his chest and felt the smooth fabric of his black toga your focus shifted to your hand, oh but not just that, woah his chest was quite…firm. 

He pulls back and stands at his full height noticing the hesitation in your eyes as he looked down at you staring at his chest. It was just a second too long and his smooth smile turned into a lusty wide-toothed grin and a growling lip bite. His blue flames bursting from the back of his shoulders flickering playfully before lowering. 

He snapped his hand to yours pressing against his chest, his strength quite intimidating, the way he rubbed his thumb against the back of your fingers even more so but in a different way. He wiggled his eyebrows as you craned back, and he leaned forward.

“Like the merchandise hmm? Feel free to unwrap babe.”

“Ha-ha-Haaaadesss my man….”

 A blue glow whipped around you both like a whirlwind startling him, his hand released and you swiftly stepped back and fixed yourself. Trying to keep your own eyes on where the voice came from...and wouldn’t you know...

“Ah COME ON!!!” his hair flared a bright orange,  fists clenching at his side. 

He squints his eyes and pinches his fingers together shaking them,

“Can’t you see I’m Bu-uh-say? YOU WINGED WOP!?”

“Ooo creative with the insults ash for brains…” The god hovered between you both clutching his winged golden staff propping his feet up on an invisible surface smiling slyly at Hades.

“Buuuuut I don’t think Po-sei-don will enjoy you-” he swoops behind you and places a hand on your shoulder pointing to Hades who looks at him through heated eyes.

“Being so close and personal with his “pearl of the sea..””  he air-quotes.

“His little sea star!” he pinches your cheek “His widdle baby-” You elbow Hermes in the chest and he jolts back with a pained look holding his hand against it.

“Ha-ha I get it. Sorry love…” he pats your back reassuringly, his blue glow causing you to squint. He glances back at Hades with a smug look.

“Besides I’m sure as heh- well Hades.” He looks towards you with a grin elbowing your side with a laugh as he dives between you and Hades 

“-that she sure doesn’t want to be hanging out with you!” He twirls his finger around while pointing to Hades who’s flames were now blazing red from his eyebrows to his shoulders. 

“NOw….WAIT a Moment...You LITTle FLUttERY!!-“

“WOAH, WOAH, WOAH, cool it!” You slide ahead of Hermes and hold your hands to both gods with a complexly exhausted look on your face. 

“You.” 

You point to Hades whose hair automatically flickers off completely before igniting with the regular blue flame on his head.

“Simmer down before you have yourself a fun time getting forcibly escorted out of this “Soiree~” Hades pats down on his shoulder checking for flames with a playful sorry look on his face shooting you two-finger guns. “My bad.” escapes his mouth.

You turn to Hermes with a tired look, “It’s alright Hermes, thanks for the swoop check…but I was just chatting with “uncle” Hades.”

You instantly shiver as you recounted the whole related not genetically thing, and you hear Hades do the same but more verbally.

“Ok. Ok. Just so you know my little Demi-Dame…” Hades moves to your side resting his arm on your shoulder.

 “Genetics zip. Not reaaaaly your uncle. That’s a human concept. Gods? Not so much.” Hermes swoops to your other side nodding along in agreement.

“It’s best not to bring that sort of thing up, I mean. Have you heard what Zeus did in his youth?” he starts laughing nervously. 

“Talk about Hera’s wrath, I mean I still ponder how they stuck it out-“ Your eyes widen in anticipation. But he just chuckles nervously as Hades tugs at his own collar uncomfortably, yet still fuming. 

“ -I mean, don’t tell the big man I brought that up, but even your father had some questionable-”

You hold your hand up, step forward and turn towards them getting away from the Gods who just loved touching you, waaaay too much.

“Ah-ah alright I get it, dropping all that. I don’t feel like exploring that anyway. Gods…” You rub your temple “Being a Demi-god is weird sheesh.”

“Alright good now that’s outta the way…” Hades cuts in pulling you towards his chest, back first, you bump into him. 

“Book it wings. Flutter out of this conversation, will you? Like she said. His hands tighten around your shoulder and his thumb caresses the back of your arm out of Hermes sight. He looks down at you with the most fake pure intentioned filled eyes you've seen making you choke back a laugh. 

“Were just talkin’ having a lovely chat. She likes my company unlike you uncultured swine, you unkind and uncaring offering gobblers! Isn’t that right babe?”  

You open your mouth but are once again cut short by the booming shout of a familiar father figure. 

“Ah crap”. The footsteps come closer.

“Po-Po! Gosh, I was just talking with your lovely daughter here…she’s quite swell!” Hades smiles crookedly as he takes his hand from your shoulder and gives your back a few pats.

“Looks just like her mother…uh who was she again?” he laughs passive-aggressively

“None of your business Hades…” The man holds his triton by his side clutching it angrily.

“What have I told you about hanging around my daughter. Especially after I caught you two all buddy buddy near the fountain last festival.

You remember carelessly talking to Hades that one time and laughing at the wildest stories he told along, cringing at his detailed description of decapitation and evisceration at his mercy and intrigued with his absolute ego that shined as he talked about how his own festival would look like, and then your mind remembered once again as he tried to get you down to the Underworld to show you “the many lakes down there, you’ll like that right? I mean the water doesn’t run far from the stream, right? Like father like daughter, aqua-connoisseurs?” you remembered Hades saying.

“Poseidon…my man…she came to me a’ight? You can't stop her from talking to people, she's a grown wo-man!” he dances his shoulder his shoulders eyes wiggle at you and you blush uncontrollably causing you to cover your mouth to prevent a confused smile. He picks up on this and for some reason his sharp-toothed smile quivers and is replaced with a brief dumbfounded and happily astonished look.

Your father looks intently at your face and he growls deeply stepping closer to his brother, moving him away from your side and poking his chest with his finger, his glow increasing in intensity as Hades put his hands up defensively not tearing his eyes from yours.

“I won’t let this happen, despite what Aphrodite just told me! I’ll drown his blossom before it gets a chance to bloom! Your little infatuation with my daughter will end here Hades!”

He looks back at his brother with a pleading face. “In-?” He lowers his hands and places them on his brother's shoulder “In- heh- Infatuation?! Come on ! It’s not like that…” his eyes trail to yours but your father grabs him by the robe with one hand and forces his eyes back to him. You blush again and look in angry confusion at the ground trying to figure out all these torrenting feelings sloshing around inside you.

By this time, practically everyone in the room was staring at this little encounter. You saw Zeus on the other side of the room fuming and heading your way.

“I- heh- I mean bro, that’s absolutely not on the menu, I mean look.” He pats Poseidon’s chest before moving away from his piercing gaze.

“Whatever Aphrodite said, psh. Just because she’s the god of L-oooove” he mocks sticking out his tongue.

“Doesn’t mean she’s some kind of prophet capisce? She senses nothing, the only feelings I have towards your daughter…”

Poseidon’s face grows in a wave of crazed anger.

 “Is nothing! I got nothing. See? Just chatting with the gal, I mean, can’t we have a little friendly gab?

Your father lets out a huff, “You know that’s not the case Hades, I-“

“Brothers! What’s going on?!” “You two are ruining the party vibe!” Zeus voice cracks in the air, quite literally...electrifying really, as he stops before you four, head held high with his arms firmly on his waist.

Hades and Poseidon turn towards Zeus, Poseidon still holding tightly onto Hades robes.

You watch Aphrodite and Hera walk up besides Zeus and catch eyes with Aphrodite who gives you a weird smile making you raise an eyebrow.

“You tell Hades to keep away from my daughter Zeus!” he growls looking over to you with a split second of calmness before turning towards Hades and pulling him closer to him.

“Ack- agh, please! I had this robe specially imported from Agrabah!” He takes your father’s hand and picks it up between two fingers forcing it off him then brushing off himself.

“Besides, your just acting irrational a little hot-headed may I say which is surprising because…” he points to his own head. “That’s kinda my schtick get it?” he laughs darkly.

...

Annnnd That’s the exact moment you realize that you had the “hots” for the Lord of the Underworld..

..and as if on cue you lock eyes with Aphrodite and with a calm smile on her face she walks to your side catching the eyes of everyone in the room as she…as you guessed… places a hand on your shoulder… (why does everyone keep doing that?) Snapping her fingers In the air for the attention she already had. 

“Now come on boys stop this testosterone-fueled…” she scrunches up her face laying her hands flat down in the air, bringing them down

 “hate-fest and just cool it yeah? This is no time for talking through such personal matters out for every god and Demi-god to see isn’t that right Poseidon? Hades?”  

Hades scowls at his brothers especially Poseidon which seldomly never happens, usually, Zeus gets all the scowls for himself.

“Yeah yeah, what she said. Let’s talk mano-y mano” Hades gestures to Poseidon and himself. “But, once we do. I also want (y/n) to join in after we make a few things clear! I think her position….” He glances over to you his eyes as dark and soul-stirring as the Underworld.

 “Would be a great addition to the decision. Right DEAR?”

“Why I oughta…” you hear your father growl as he raises his fist towards his brother.

Zeus clears his throat and gathers back the attention of Poseidon, but Hades just holds his hand up to his face.

“Ok. You’re not apart of this Zeus-y, alright? This is between me and Po-Po.”

Zeus struts to Hades making him back off unwillingly.

 “Like Hades I’m not! I’m the King of the Gods! Any feud between them, I have to be a part of!” he growls walking up to his brothers in this personal little conversation triangle of anger which makes you awkwardly shuffle your feet and refuse to look at anyone in the crowd. 

“Now come on…people need to stop using my name like that!”

 You hear as your attention is guided away as Aphrodite pats your shoulder and you turn towards her, her smile is easy to follow as she leads you away from the confrontation that was growing between the three brothers.

She leads you into the crowd and past it near the stage and into a door next to it full typical band equipment and costumes. This room was dimly lighted by candles, and a circle of red mini couches faced each other towards the middle. You both locked eyes with the band members as awkwardly held their music silently staring you both before Aphrodite gestured for them to get out which they did quickly.

She walks in as the others walk out and turns towards you gesturing to a chair “Sit honey, we’ve got to talk…” her voice so smooth and alluring you felt like you were in a trance.

You sit down on the chair and play around with your hair, feeling quite intimidated by her looks.

She surprisingly comes and sits on the arm of the chair your sitting on and stops your hand from fidgeting fixing the hair you just messed with.

“…. It seems you’ve got yourself...the most surprising crush in the universe huh?”

#disney villains #disney villan imagine #disney hades #disney hades imagine #disney villan x reader #hades x reader #disney villains imagine #disney villains imagine #disney hades x reader

[we-want-mini-mini]

I’m currently listening to like, old FNAF songs because nostalgia and they’re fuckin’ bops y’all don’t @ me.

Anyways, because of this, I new prompt/oneshot came to mind. The Batfam somehow end up being kidnapped and they enter a version (of the version) of the first (or whichever game) FNAF game.

Like, say that the creator of the game was a Robotics engineer who had hopes of creating a game. So, they create this horror game, and get hella into it, so much so they wrote books, created a sort of real life version of it (miniature tho) and etc etc. Then the Dev presents the game to another branch of the company they work at and it gets shut down. They get laughed at and everything being told that the game would never succeed and etc etc. And adding onto the Developer’s tragic backstory is that they got back stabbed and got their designs stolen by a coworker and got fired for whatever reason.

Anyways, the Developer not only got humiliated, got their work stolen but they even got fired from their dream job. Resentment breeds and then they cronstructe a real life version of the game(s) they created. They went so far as to stay as close to their games lore (in FNAF the animatronics were possessed by kids, same thing applies here). So, this Creator got jilted, back stabbed and humiliated and went a bit crazy and killed a couple kids who “possessed” the animatronics (the kids could actually possess the animatronics or not, up to y’all, but let’s say in this prompt/oneshot, that they did).

Anyways, let’s say Red Hood heard about five kids from Crime Alley that went missing in the exact same location at different dates. This catches his eye and he researches it some more. The more he researches the more he finds out. For one, more then ten kids went missing at this one location (which is this kids pizzeria party hall). Jason, whose known to protect kids, especially if they’re from Crime Alley or are street kids. But, he finds these series of suspected kidnappings/disappearance of these kids really particular. Something is off and he wants to investigate it.

Switch to Red Robin’s POV were he’s out on patrol and finds crates full of various mechanical/robotic parts. He’s, rightfully so, confused as all hell and tries to investigate were the fuck these robotic parts are being shipped and who shipped them. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find anything of substance as whoever ordered these hid their tracks very well. He takes a couple of the parts to analyze back at the Batcave/the Nest. He opens a couple more crates but finds other shit, like painting equipment, marble titles, plaster and other shit that is usually used when someone is renovating a place. They all have the same markings and the like and RR is confused but starts to suspect that one of the Rogues might be up to something. He also has a theory that this might be the work of a new, and upcoming Rogue as the stuff he found doesn’t fit any of their current Rogues MO but he doesn’t ignore the possibility this might be one of their other Rogues work.

Then we switch to Batman’s POV where he was working a different case but then notices something. He notices that someone is skimming money (a fuck load of money) off of this one companies branch and no ones noticed as its covered up pretty well (but Batman caught some minor, but significant inconsistencies). He tried to track the money transcations as he’s worried one of the Rogues might be planning something or something akin to that. The more he digs, the less he can find because everything leads back to shell companies and to stuff that doesn’t exist. The trail is covered up pretty well but this is Batman, he’s the worlds greatest Detective so he manages to find out that the money is being used to buy... paint, titles, chairs, and various other household renovating items? He’s a bit confused but then thinks that this might be Mad Hatter but when he looks into all the stuff that’s being bought, it doesn’t fit Mad Hatters Wonderland Aesthetic/MO. Still, he keeps on eye on the transactions.

Cut to Nightwing & Robin out in Blüdhaven. They’re out on biweekly patrol together. It’s a rather slow night but Robin and Nightwing are having fun (and bonding ofc!). Then, at one point, when the duo stop a mugging, the lady that they saved made an offhand comment about some kids going missing. Robin’s instinct goes off and he asks the woman whats she’s talking about. The woman explains that some street kids she knew from her job at a youth center just stopped coming. She chalks it’s up to her paranoia but she thinks they might have been nabbed. Nightwing cuts in and offers to walk the woman home which they do. Robin is thinking back on the woman’s comment about a few “missing” street kids. He tries to rationalize it as these kids probably just leaving or ending up in a Dention Center but he can’t help but think about it. He remembers something RH said about street kids going missing at this one specific place. He can’t stop thinking about throughout the rest of his and Nightwings patrol. Nightwing notices that Robin isn’t very focused so he asks what wrong. Robin dances around the topic but eventually does tell Nightwing what’s on his mind.

“That woman we saved earlier said something that stuck with me.”

Nightwing raises his eyebrow. “What did she say that stuck with you?” Nightwing knew that trusting ones gut instinct is important. There’s a reason why something’s that might send alarms off. He just hoped Damian could trust those instincts.

“She offhandedly remarked about missing kids. She told us that some kids she knew from the youth center she worked at haven’t showed up in three months. I remembered, earlier something that Red Hood said about streets kids going missing from a specific location, all at varying times.”

Nightwing is a bit surprised, but he’s heard Jason talk about the case. He makes a note to investigate the missing kids in here and compare notes with Jason afterwards. He has a feeling that the missing kids in ‘Haven might be related to the one in Gotham (considering street kids are the ones going missing. That stuck out to him). He reassures Robin that he’ll investigate it, and Robin replies that he wants in. Dick sighs but let’s him (it’s be a great bonding experience! No matter how morbid in retrospect...).

Batgirl (Stephanie!) is out on patrol with Red Robin when they talk about any recent activity they’ve seen. Red Robin makes an offhand comment about how he found crates filled with house renovating shit but he couldn’t trace them back to anyone. Batgirl stops, as she remembered when two weeks back she was at the Harbor and found crates filled with tech and... house renovating stuff. Batgirl then asks Red Robin for the serial number that the crates had, he’s but confused but tells her. Batgirl then realizes, those weird ass crates she found and she couldn’t trace back were the same one Red Robin were investigating. She tells him this, and tells him that she found were one of the crates were being hauled off to. They both decide to cut patrol short (it was almost finished either way, but tonight was uncharacteristically quiet). They both head off to Red Robin’s Nest. They both exchange info about the weird ass crates and theories. Batgirl thinks that this might be the work of a new up and coming Rogue as everything she found in the crates doesn’t suit any of their current Rogues MO. Tim agrees with her, but can’t find anyone that could be their new Rogue.

Now with everyone having different cases, which are all interlocked together let’s get into...

Five Nights At Genni’s

Ft. The Batfam, the Developer, FNAF Case Fic AU, fuck canon because everyone is on pretty good terms, Lots of Dead Kids (👀), And Scary Ass Probably Possessed Animatronics!

COMING SOON!

because I’m to lazy to continue on with the prompt/oneshot but I’ll finish it don’t worry lol

Now, if anyone wants to write a whole ass AU case fix stemming from this prompt/oneshot, go ahead! I’d honestly love to read the Batfam try and piece together the FNAF lore, while within the game itself, while trying to figure who tf is doing all this shit. It’s perfect for like, writing a great case fic, an exploration of the Batfam’s relationship and the Batfam themselves. But, it doesn’t have to be serious! Like, if y’all don’t want to write the part about several dead kids and want to write a semi crack fic centered around the Batfam being within the FNAF games then go for it!

Anyone who sees this, tag your fav Batfam writer! Because I haven’t found when fics where the Batfam ever interact with the FNAF games (whether them as actual games or something like what I wrote above). I’d love to see their takes on this prompt!

#batman #batman and robin #fanfic prompt #gotham #robin #fnaf #case fic #fnaf au #batfam #batgirl #nightwing #red robin #tim drake #stephenie brown #bruce wayne #dick grayson #damian wayne #red hood #jason todd #dead kids #ghost #robots #sorta crack

[lilmissscastle]

Your Personal Sun {Kuro x MC}

Happy 1st Anniversary, Ayakashi RR! To celebrate, I’ll be cooking up some fics featuring all our lovely men (mayhaps a surprise character? 👀). It’s also my first time writing for the game so I’m double excited!

Summary:  An already agitated MC is stuck with French -- again. Can Kuro help her out?

──── ✧《✩》✧ ──── ──── ✧《✩》✧ ──── ──── ✧《✩》✧ ──── 

"I can't take this anymore!"

You crumple up another piece of paper and chucked it into a corner of your room, pointedly ignoring the veritable mountain growing there. The school year was about to close and that meant another round of tests. And they say finishing school was easy, you huffed in irritation. It's not like all we do is boil tea.

Languages were not your strongest suit. A book of French prose was propped up across you, seeming to mock you with how long it's been taking to finish a translation assignment. But it's not your fault! Like you were to blame that the class was too boring and the motivation almost zero! You've been trying so hard for months, some effort must count in the end right?

Excuses don't give you results, MC... you can almost hear Koga's admonishing voice as you angrily set out another piece of stationary. What time is it anyway? And where the hell is Nachi?

Nerves and hunger caused you to bounce your leg up and down, the involuntary movement causing your shaky hand to mar the page with a giant ugly brushstroke.

"ARGH!" Furious, you swept all the contents of your table away. The next thing you knew the paper was ripped in frustration and your forehead hit the wood with a resounding thunk. The deadline is so close, too close to your liking, and you know well enough that you can't crank out quality work expected of you. So what were your options now? Koga was out of town and you loath asking Toichiro for help lest the kitsune ask another favor of you when you were already stretched so thin.

Turning your head to the side you wiped away the angry little tears creeping into your eyes. You loved your father's job, you loved seeing a happy customer's smile, but damn if you didn't think talking in another language was your least favorite. Father would let you deal with only locals if you asked but that won't always work. You were going to continue his business someday, and you won't be able to do that if you don't pull your big hakama pants up.

"MC?"

Just imagining that brought all sorts of unimaginable fears to you - what if you failed the subject, are you doomed to repeating the same horror over again? Around and around it circled your thoughts like vultures stalking their prey. Feeling another round of tears coming you buried your face back into the table determined to turn off your brain by sheer force.

"MC...?"

For the briefest moment you wished a Wraith would appear. Dealing with that would be easier than your sad attempts at French.

"Hey!"

Warm hands wrapped around your elbows, pulling you into an even warmer chest. Ochre eyes met your own and slowly, slowly, you felt yourself releasing a breath you didn't know you were holding in.

"Hi," you greeted quietly. "Uh... how long have you been here?"

Kuro chanced a look at the pile of paper balls. "Not long. I dropped by because practice got cut short!" Arms tightened around you. "Are you... is everything alright?"

You looked for the strength to open your mouth.

"Please, MC. Tell me what's wrong... let me help you."

Your mind finally snapped back into terrible reality. How can you answer him? Kuro... will he turn away and sneer at your apparent ineptitude? Will he think the time spent helping you despite not being good at French himself was wasted on the likes of you?

"I—" I'm fine. You wanted to say out loud. The silence stretched and it seemed like hours before you can find your voice. You wanted to tell Kuro everything, your frustration, your fear, how impossible the task in front of you seemed. That your teacher was the worst at doing their job. That you didn't know how to even begin with translating.

You wanted to shout at him, pick his brain, and demand to know how he can manage learning foreign languages. You were angry, tired, frustrated, and desperate for an outlet. Every single ugly thought vied to be spoken out loud. Instead, you took a shaky breath and sat up straighter in his arms.

"I... I could just use a hug."

Kuro did not waste a single second – how does he manage to convey so much warmth in his hugs? Unable to help it you let yourself cry into his shoulder. Everything's okay now, you chanted. Everything's okay now. 

As if reading your mind Kuro began stroking your hair. No one spoke. Little by little the dark clouds plaguing your mind dissipated, welcoming in the warmth of your own personal sun. It occurred to you that, on top of the stress caused by school, you haven't seen Kuro in a long time. Circus duties and all that. He could've gone home as soon as practice ended but here he was.

How did you get this lucky. Really now.

After a bit you felt comfortable enough to raise your head. Kuro's mouth was set in a gentle line.

"I'm stuck translating French again," a sad smile gracing your features when you saw him beginning to understand. "And... well, I missed you."

Kuro chuckled. "It's been so long since I hugged you, too." You continued, wanting to hear his laugh again. "I've almost forgotten what it felt like."

"Seriously now..." It was your turn to laugh. "If you say so MC, then I'll hug you so tight you won't ever forget. Ah," he paused. "Finally a real smile."

And it was true. Granted, there was still a heavy weight on your shoulders but it didn't seem so bad now. Your heart soared, reminding you that he wouldn't think bad of you for trying your hardest, of course not! Squealing you attacked Kuro, giving him a proper welcome hug.

"O-oi! MC!"

"Sorry. It's just... you have no idea how having you here made me feel a lot better."

Kuro was positively blushing now but to his credit he didn't shy away. "And you have no idea how warm that made me feel." He kissed your temple. "Now, hup hup! Let's see if we can work on your French together."

You gave yourself a few more seconds before you faced your table again. Looking at your mess still felt a little daunting but the warmth that never left your shoulders managed to keep your fears at bay.

***

Series will also be posted on my aO3

#ayakashi rr #ayakashi koi meguri #ayakashi kuro #ayakashi rr fanfiction #baby #baby boy #precious baby boy kuro #kuro hugs are the best hugs #kuro x reader #fanfic #my writing

[thattimdrakeguy]

RR is good in theory because as much as I love Robin Tim where hes new to this superhero world I like where he gets to finally grow up a little. RR just went about it the wrong way and Tim never fully recovered, nor did the fanbase either because some fanboys think a lot of those ooc moments are what Tim actually is.

I never really like the idea Tim had to have his own Nightwing persona, it just feels like it went against who Tim was as a character. He fought to become Robin, and did his best to remain Robin. He strictly stated he didn’t wanna be his own hero, because he was happy being Robin. He loved Robin. All he wanted to be was Robin. Trying to force him into his own thing just comes off like ignoring him for a superficial purpose.

Beyond that Red Robin is like– I’m not sure, it’s very complicated. Speaking of the series in general that is.

It’s well-written, but it doesn’t always feel like it’s a Tim comic. There’s stuff in there that’s very in-character, some of the darker stuff slightly even for that first arc anyways, but then there’s just a lot of stuff where you can tell it’s very forced.

They made him too talented, Tim even in his Robin book of that era in the OYL suit still made mistakes, because he was just a typical boy. Red Robin Tim takes on all these assassins, and he’s so brainy, and Dick talks about how great he is, so smart and all of that.

But it’s never really developed, they just sort of do it, to try and make Tim this cool stand-alone hero, but it continues to just go against who Tim is, and what makes sense for him.

Yet now there’s this idea even in comics sometimes where he could just take over the world, and it mostly just suddenly appeared. Don’t get me wrong, Batman talked about one day he’d be better, but that’s one day, as in the far future. Not suddenly within a year of him saying that if even that long.

It was just so rushed and forced that the more I actually read it, the less I like it.

[darrowsrising]

Astrea rants - Red Rising and The Attack of the Carbon Copy YA Reviews

I dislike it when people who usually read YA delve into Red Rising, because usually, the come with a tone of baggage built in by the YA fandoms (I've been in a YA fandoms, believe me, I know what I'm talking about). Red Rising was misplaced as such because of the reviews on the cover - 'Katniss, Ender and now Darrow' being chief among them.

The Red Rising series is New Adult. You can always pinpoint exactly what type of fandom - YA or NA - someone comes from when you read RR bad reviews.

The YA fans have these huge lists that need checking and if a book doesn't have x or y thing it's a shit book. And the hypocrisy is huge. Most of NA fans are interested in good stories before anything else, but they are still critical of it, and depending on its problems, they decide to either read it all or stop and refuse to support it. These type of reviews are nice to read, because they contain criticism, but also praise and it's easy to decide for yourself whether you give it a shot or not. They are as unbiased as possible, but they also use disclaimersn when they think they can't be 100% unbiased ('to me it seemed like...', 'i found x to be...')

On the other hand, if something isn't great from the YA pov, it's instantly trash and the author is trash and the fans are trash and if you read it you're trash and so on.

Of course, doesn't happen all the time, but the reviewers that do this are usually YA readers (see the tbr lists or their other reviews, it's easy to catch the pattern).

And it's becoming pathetic and tiring really quickly. No wonder most YA authors start writing NA at some point. There were some authors that commented on the toxicity of the fandom in YA (perpetuated by the industry), I'd like find it to read ot again someday, but it really put things in perspective for me.

I mean, it'll be so much easier to take most RR bad reviews seriously if 1. They would add some good things about it in more than three to five sentences, and 2. They would stop hating on Darrow because of their shitty experiences with skilled individuals who don't act meek.

I can't really believe you when you go off about how awful the series is in an entire essay, but when it comes to the good parts you say things like 'world-building, lore and plot' and add a sentence to each and that's all. Talk about the plot, why is it you like it, how is it built, what makes it special. Talk about the world-building, tell us more than a few google-searched adjectives. Say why was it excellent, interesting, well-thought. What did the author build exactly, what did you love the most. Do I really need to spell it out for you? It's a review, not a cramming of adjectives or a rant. A review is subjective, but it should aim to be impartial. If your ratio of praise to critique is 1:100000, then you're just biased and untrustworthy.

The hatred Darrow gets in bad reviews is sometimes funny, other times really irritating. First of all, no, Darrow isn't arrogant. Just like Cassius isn't vain.

Arrogant means you think and you act likeyou're better than the rest at something, when in reality you aren't. Darrow has never done that. He really is better than most at various things, that makes him aware of himself (he worked his arse off for those things, read the books) not artogant. And when he isn't he acknowledges it with no envy or resentment: Sevro, Ragnar, Mustang, Thraxa, Apollonius, Adrius, Aja etc. He always acknowledged their superior skills compared to his as a matter of fact, not in petulance or resentment. Where is the arrogance, I don't see it. Is it because he doesn't listen to his elders? Well, taht's bullshite, the elders fuck up too, they aren't some divine beings, if he can do better than them, he should damn well go and do it. That doesn't make him arrogant, it makes them arrogant, acting like they are all knowing.

Vain means that you are overly in love with youself and your appearance to the point where you are prideful (Vanity/Pride, biggest deathly sin). Cassius knows he looks good. Is that a crime? He isn't lying. He takes more pride in his skills and qualities than he takes in his looks anyway. Doesn't make him vainn neither arrogant.

They are basically projecting their bias on Darrow because people they dislike the fact that he doesn't act meek, he always stands out and gets it his way. He is so confident that to them it seems like arrogance. And it's bullshite.

I also find it hypocritical af when YA is full of arrogant, emotionally closed, handsome beyond messure fae princes, vampire kings and dark wizards. Apparently, they can be as skilled, as arrogant and as sassy as they want. They can be a cliché even. And they're the most beloved. But not Darrow, Darrow is too complex to suit the fantasy.

Too much sci-fi, not princely enough. Got it!

Doesn't matter that he breaks the stereotypes of every toxic masculine fantasy. In every way. Even his relationships are a breath of fresh air - his friendships are complex and different and special in their own way - his love life is nowhere near that obssession with possessiveness and truly a beautiful thing without erasing them as individuals.

But it's not Darrow the problem here, or the writing or whatever. I think the problem is simply the lack of reading comprehension skills. And this biased af list of pre-built beliefs that a book should have all these elements (absolutely all of them) otherwise it sucks, the author sucks, the fans suck, everyone involved ever with said book should die.

I feel that these kind of people fancy themselves reviewers, but have no idea how that's eating. Even if you make it on youtube, there are some principles to it. They require you to be as unbiased as possible and they require you to understand what you are reading.

Nowadays everyone is a reviewer and the quality of them has lessened because of it.

I just wanted to get this off my chest. Haven't done a good quality rant in a while, hopefully I still have my mojo.

That being said...please review? 😂😂😂

No, for real, what are your opinions on this?

#red rising trilogy #iron gold trilogy #reviews #reviewers

[summerspn]

Batwoman

2019 series > Ep 1-3

*sigh*

Okay here goes...I’m going to break it down for you:

The trailers & ads:

I was skeptical about watching this show as all the trailers for it were terrible.

As a woman I can honestly say each and every trailer made me cringe & go ���stop!’. They were SO bad.

But, that’s not the actors’ fault. They’re given lines they have to deliver on & Ruby Rose seemed to deliver on those decently enough I suppose.

In the trailers, my biggest issue was the terrible dialogue & poor makeup/wardrobe.

The campy style Batwoman costume & the sloppy bat tattoos...ugh! Why would anyone think that would be appealing?!

Now, onto the show...

There is one & ONLY one reason I watched this show...my mom! I figured I had to give it a shot. But it was not because my mom like it. She in fact, hated it!

My mom, who loves everything from medical & criminal dramas, to shows about witchcraft & medieval times. She somehow even loves campy movies like Dark Shadows. She’s a huge fan of Wonder Woman (comics, tv show & recent movie). She loved the Captain Marvel movie. She is a comic fan and loved Batman & Batwoman growing up.

Yet, she hates this show!

After seeing videos & online posts ALL saying it’s because non fans hate the show because they’re bigots, that’s not true.

The show is awful - so I suppose the trailers were accurate.

My mother could care less what people do for their own pleasure- and like she taught us, “as long as no one’s being hurt & it’s consensual, who cares?”

So right now, just to paint you a picture, neither her nor I care about the lesbian storyline in Batwoman. I don’t care if she’s gay straight, bi, attracted to pumpkins etc. Have at it.

The reason I chose to watch this show is because my mother loves fun well written entertainment & sometimes just silly fluff to get her mind off reality. And as my best friend we have that in common. Our viewing tastes are very similar. So when my mom says something was terrible, it piques my interest (much more than those awful trailers).

The actors:

Most of the actors aren’t bad. Since Dougray Scott is in this I take it as a comparison amongst the others. If you don’t know who he is ...he was in Ever After, Desperate Housewives, Fear the Walking Dead, Hemlock Grove and a thousand other projects. He’s a good actor. However, in Batwoman he has a few mistakes with his accent & delivery of a few lines (much fewer mistakes than the rest of the cast).

But all the actors have mis-steps with their lines & delivery of the lines. Whose job is it to stop them & try again until it’s good? The director

Some actors aren’t as strong as others but after watching the show, I think the strongest actors are: Dougray Scott, Nicole Kang, & Rachel Skarsten. They seem to work with what they’ve got. Trying their best. But the dialogue!

There was a line about Kate Kane having mixed feelings for her sister & didn’t want her hurt because “Duh, feelings”. .... 🙄...she’s a medical student?? The writers gave the actor THAT to work with? Okay...um, they couldn’t have done a second draft and tweaked it? You didn’t find it needed a little more work? Like wrote this instead “it’s only natural to be conflicted...” which makes her sound intelligent. Instead, “Duh, feelings”?!

Unfortunately we come down to Ruby Rose. She’s not a good actress. She seemed to be more talented in the trailers than the actual show but that was because she showed something I like to call emotion.

What happened? Every single line RR delivers has zero affect. Even when she’s literally smiling there is no emotion in her eyes....what only makes her look psychotic. And she moves her eyebrows up & down sooooo much. It’s distracting.

However, she (like the other actors) does seem to be trying. With that said, if you can’t be pulled into the character or the actors’ take on them then it suspends disbelief.

I have nothing against Ruby Rose but knowing she was a model gives context. They work with their eyebrows a lot & any acting they do is for about 20 seconds of a commercial. It’s clear that RR is tackling the tv show like she would a modeling job. Only now she has a s****y wardrobe.

However, she can’t act. She is monotonous & sounds robotic.

I do think though that’s made worse by the director probably not pushing to do enough takes. Sometimes directors instruct actors to act a certain way which makes them sound worse.

Ie) Hayden Christensen acted beautifully in an old tv show where he played a victim of molestation. In Star Wars a Phantom Menace he was apparently told to act more annoyed then angry so voila he came across as a brat...

So I do wonder what influence the director had here.

The wardrobe/makeup:

Papa Kane, Leaders of the Crows, my man Dougray...yes he still looks good in his suits but he’s always shown wearing the same suit. Wardrobe actually helps tell a story especially in a show like this. But it’s like the budget is too small or the director forgot about anyone other than Kate & Beth.

Morning scenes, have him with a little extra stubble, some make up to look like he has dark circles under his eyes. Ruffle his hair. Have him sitting in a hideous vintage t-shirt while they have breakfast. Kate could see how awful he looks and ask “did you get any sleep?” Then they could talk about how worried he is for the city, Kate, or even thinking about Beth! Kate could see the shirt & go “didn’t I get you that?” And he says “yeah for my birthday” and she says “that was ten years ago”.Boom! Shows he loves his daughter & a tiny bonding moment. ...but this never happened.

Luke Fox. Somehow they took an attractive actor and made him look about 20 years older just by wearing glasses that belong to Angela from Who’s the Boss!

Give Luke some 2019 glasses that sit properly on his nose! And the same for the rest of his clothes. They don’t fit right. The show is trying to nerd him up but you can make people awkward, nerdy , or quirky without downplaying their looks. Have Fox wear jeans with his vests, or a fun t-shirt with a suit jacket etc.

Kate Kane. She has the worst wardrobe in the show! Though Batwoman’s suit looks tacky & campy...

Give Kate nicer clothes! They do not need to be expensive but they do need to give her a personality.

1) Plaid...why? Lesbians wearing plaid is a stereotype so WHY would this show advertising itself as modern & breaking the barriers have their main character wearing something so cliche? Makes zero sense. However, since plaid (aka tartan) is making a comeback in fashion they could have used it (if they really had to) in another piece of clothing. A scarf, gloves, shoes? (I actually have a pair of red plaid boots which are durable and adorable). Throwing on a plaid shirt is just lazy.

2) Her hair. Okay so if they’re going for the short-during-military-training look I get it but Ruby Rose has the same hairstyle in everything. I wish she’d just either grow it out or chop it all off. They could have had a scene where she’s fiddling with it in the mirror like she’s self conscious about the new do...showing human insecurities.

3) The leather jacket. Sigh... okay this is my personal opinion but I think the black leather jacket in shows is used too much. It immediately signals strength & a tough exterior right? Well literally everyone knows this. It’s not subtle. I mean I love how it was used on Supernatural where the coat had a history but it was tied into a backstory and eventually was used less and less. But the leather coat was used more in early seasons (which was as far as 15 yrs ago). Other shows always have the ‘bad boy’ wear the jacket. It’s so boring. I’d rather if Kate strolled you wearing a fun typographic shirt or a basic t-shirt and have an expensive belt because she has a thing for belts (subtly nodding to one Batwoman has to use).

There were many choices other than a basic plaid top and black leather jacket. Wardrobe decisions that could give the character/actor subtle layers or tools to work with. But that too was done lazily.

Set design:

Dark & gloomy? ✅

Isolated & abandoned feeling? ✅

Appropriate to the corresponding event... 🙈 not so much.

Ie) the bridge where the family’s car fell off. Whether it’s done with cgi or finding the right location, the bridge in question was generic. Now if the bridge was higher up and/or there were super super wild & crazy rapids maybe, just maybe we’d believe Batman thought Beth was a goner. But it was actual fairly tame so it made Batman look like he just saw the car hanging and go “hey my shift ended an hour ago” and walk off.

And,

The “secret” entrance to the bat cave is in Wayne enterprises? Wouldn’t that be hard to get to? I can picture Bruce hanging around in the garage waiting to go in...he starts over to the door, someone comes, he stops...ya know because everyone knows him...

It’s just weird. There were so many other options.

Special effects:

Some have been pretty bad so far. This is a CW trait. I don’t know if they separate the budget for the directors or not. Is it all one lump number or are they told ‘this is for the production & this is for the special effects?’. I wonder because other CW shows seem to have tiny budgets allocated to the effects. In any case, a show about super villains & heroes needs bigger budgets so it looks more believeable.

The writing:

The writing is just bad. Writing lines like “duh sisters” for a character who is supposed to be educated & intelligent seems ridiculous.

Question - if Bruce Wayne has family why didn’t he stay with them when his parents died? Or they with him? Is this a plot hole from the comics or just this show?

Unrealistic. Yes it’s a superhero story but we care less if the person has all their skills & abilities immediately.

My bff and I love superhero shows but we both had the same problems here as with Supergirl. She just had her powers & didn’t really struggle with them. I watched 2 episodes & was bored already.

Batwoman was so boring but I wanted to see if it got better. It hasn’t.

This show needed to spend episode 1 where she’s discovering how bad Gotham was without Batman & where he went. Is he doing a really long pub crawl? Saving people in another country/city? Dead? Kate shows zero concern for her missing cousin & for some reason, hates him.

Kate immediately knowing how to use the bat equipment with zero practices...how at the beginning she’s swimming in ice water for no reason and doesn’t get hypothermia?? That’s all very unbelievable.

Kate is written as Mary Sue. She knows all & has the most skills in the world! Why??? Okay so she was in the military so yeah give her a backstory of taking taekwondo classes or something but for her to know how to do Luke Fox’s job better than he does? Or where the cameras are at Wayne Enterprises...more than the security team?? And to know what the computer password is, okay... basically she has to be great at everything & the other characters have to be written dumb in order for Kate to be appealing. Why?

Bashing Batman...in a show based in the bat-universe. Terrible move. Kate doing this repeatedly makes us think she’s a villain. Not a hero.

Bashing everyone with male genitalia...makes Kate look like a pr*ck. You can hate certain men you’ve known but to constantly reference women as being superior to men...

1) negates equal rights. You can’t be equals if you act/think/say you’re superior.

2) any boys watching this show is going to feel like something is wrong with them.

3) it’s sexist.

Just like many of us women grew up hearing repeatedly that men were better at this & that...

4) male bashing IS spreading hate. STOP.

That is actually why (more than anything) I didn’t want to watch in the first place because of how the trailers made it sound like they were bashing a whole gender.

Too much too soon. Revealing Alice is Beth in the first episode? Why? Drag it out an episode or 2. Each episode is both boring and yet they try to cram everything into a single episode it’s bizarre.

Ridiculous scenarios. Like Batman would leave a child to drown. And why didn’t Beth/Alice just go home or contact the police...or anyone...when she got out of the water all those years ago? Why does Kate keep letting her sister go when the woman is a multi-murderer?!

Yes, Kate is still hung up on her ex but it was years ago & she was the one dumped. And Sophie is married so Kate is coming off like a stalker 👀

All of it makes Kate look unsympathetic & unlikeable. The show isn’t funny except when we hear bad dialogue. It’s trying to be overly dramatic like a soap opera but it still doesn’t work. I think that’s due to the writing & the directing.

Now don’t get me wrong, even with RR’s lack of acting skills there are ways of making it work...that weren’t done.

Keanu’s Reeves isn’t the most skillful actor but he tries. He’s good at certain things & sticks to it. He knows where his skills are. Yes he’s improved but he’ll never be able to pull off an intense dramatic role. So he sticks to what he’s good at. He’s also a good person & tries to talk openly & intelligently about things so he has people’s respect IRL.

Ruby Rose has been touchy & volatile about people criticizing Batwoman. That made me lose what little respect I had for her.

Awhile back I had tried watching this design show (yes I like those too) Love it Or List It Vancouver. The show was fine but the designer Jillian was being critiqued left right & Center on social media after the pilot episode for sounding like a child. She used phrases such as; “totally”,”for sure” , and used the word ‘like’ a thousand times... she really did sound like a valley girl. However, about 5 episodes later that was gone. She was speaking more eloquently and more grown up - which in turn made people like her more. She & the show worked to help improve her speech patterns so it wouldn’t be distracting. And the show has been around for years now.

My point? RR could have taken the criticism & worked with it. I get she’s probably upset as she worked hard but we all go through it. We all have a project of some kind at work that falls flat. We take the criticism & try to improve. RR could take acting lessons or at the very least, practice in the mirror.

Most of the other issues I’ve mentioned are a result of the awful writing, poor direction & likely some interference from the network.

What this show should never have done was act superior. That’s being a douche. Anytime I see or hear someone being arrogant like that I just roll my eyes and walk away (or in this case, turn the channel).

If anyone working for the CW and/or Batwoman reads this I hope you’ll take some pointers.

I like myself too much though to subject myself to anymore episodes though. I’m done. ✌️

#batwoman #tv serials #tv #tv shows #cw #ruby rose #dougray scott #elizabeth anweis #rachel skarsten #nicole kang #camrus johnson #gabriel mann #giles panton #meaghan tandy #kate kane #batman #batman bashing #woke #woman

[kittykatknits]

What are some positive commonalities b/w Sansa and Ned? (I am kind of sick of seeing only negative traits of Sansa in character parallels meta/gifsets) Thanks!

Hmm…dunno that I’ve ever seen gifsets comparing the two now that I think about it. Went looking but couldn’t find them. My tumblr skills are awful so this isn’t a surprise tho…

I wrote this post about the two of them in GoT which helps set up why their similarities are so often missed. The two have the same story and make many of the same decisions, but Sansa is introduced into the narrative in a much more negative way. I mean, Ned is set up as the One True Hero in the first book. The result is that Sansa kinda ends up being Ned’s “fall guy” for lack of a better term. Sometimes, I think this conditions the reader to not notice their similarities. 

I’d also add that some of what is perceived as “negative” by the fandom, isn’t. At least not always, it depends on context and framing. 

So, here is a partial, but by no means exhaustive or complete list of similarities between the two of them.

They both share the same philosophy about lying:

A lie is not so bad if it is kindly meant.  

-Sansa I, aFfC.

That’s Sansa thinking of what LF is feeding her but she later employs this same thought with SR. They share the same belief that a lie is OK if it brings comfort to others. It’s something they both do and it comes from their shared empathy for other people. It’s why Ned tells his sister that Robert would be a good man and true. He’s trying to comfort her. He does the same with Robert at the end, he gives a lie of omission about his “children” and then gives another variant of a lie:

For a moment he was at a loss. He could not bring himself to lie. Then he remembered the bastards: little Barra at her mother’s breast, Mya in the Vale, Gendry at his forge, and all the others. “I shall … guard your children as if they were my own,” he said slowly

-Edward XIII, GoT

Both are trying to comfort and help someone else. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. 

They employ the same coping mechanisms when it comes to trauma. Both of them avoid dealing with it and the accompanying painful memories. They will both also rewrite their memories. Most famously, we have the unkiss, followed by Sansa’s transfer of responsibility for the Trident onto Arya/Mycah. However, this is one of those characteristics that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. 

First, it’s very clear that Ned is still dealing with a lot of pain and is still heavily traumatized by RR and surrounding events. He lost his brother, father, and sister in a short period of time with Benjen going off to the wall. He saw the bodies of dead children placed by the throne, had his life threatened, and would have seen the aftermath of the sack of KL. It’s very clear all of it still haunts him, even so many years later. The way Lyanna creeps into his thoughts is very similar to the way Sansa’s family does in hers. It’s there but it is so painful, Ned actively tries not to think on it. 

It’s a coping mechanism and it’s one Sansa desperately needs at several points in the story. Her chapters, especially in aCoK and SoS, have a very “in the moment” feel to them. She’s very centered in the present and devotes large amounts of mental energy to planning what to say, how to respond, anticipating the words/actions of others, and so on. It means she doesn’t let her thoughts linger on anything too painful. 

They both rewrote the Trident incident as well. Ned transferred all of the responsibility for it it on to Cersei, even though it was Robert that ultimately gave the order for Lady to be killed. 

The thing is, Sansa’s ability to do this is what helped her to survive. Long term, she will need to confront much of what she saw/witnessed. While a captive, not necessarily so and not always and not right away. The context on when she employs it matters. Ned never confronted any of this while Sansa still has the opportunity to do so. She did it with Joffrey but we are still waiting on LF.

Sansa’s courtesy armor is really only a different flavor of Ned’s lords face. The lords face is the persona Ned wears in his professional capacity. It’s the public version of Ned but inside his head we see the real him. He’s a very kind and emphatic man who feels deeply. Outside, he can come off as cold and reserved. Sansa explicitly tells us courtesy is a lady’s armor. She hides behind it and uses this armor in public, to protect herself and navigate the world around her. We get in her head and, like Ned, it’s very different than what she shows everyone else.

Their wants and desires are the same. Ned is a LP and Sansa is expecting she will be a queen. However, Ned was the second son and never expected to have any of it. Sansa’s desire to be queen isn’t about power, it’s about family and a husband who loves her. Ned really leaves us with the sense he would be perfectly content to spend the rest of his life inside the walls of WF, with his children around him, and Cat in his arms every night. That’s Sansa’s dream too. Compare that to Bran who wants to be a knight and a member of the KG or Arya.

Both are deeply emphatic. Let’s look at Sansa’s behavior and understanding of the Hound. After he tells her about his burns, she responds that his brother was no true knight. He’s pretty awful to her at multiple points but she continuously looks for the best in him and understands what drives much of his actions. Compare her relationship to Sandor with Arya’s, for example. It’s the same with Ned and Cersei. Ned isn’t angry with her, rather he puts himself in her place and tries to understand. 

Both are internal and can refuse to act until absolutely needed. Compare Ned after Robert’s death. LF and Renly both came to him and said to act but he waited until Cersei summoned him. Sansa tends to do the same thing. 

They are both idealistic and look for the good in people. Sometimes, I see them called naive which is kinda an incomplete way of looking at things. Yes, Sansa starts out as naive in the first book, but considering her life experiences at that point, it is to be expected. Ned does place his trust in the wrong people (LF and Cersei) but he also makes a point to know his people and looks for the good in them. It’s part of what inspires the loyalty in people back north. Also, remember Davos’ visit to the Sisters? I love this story:

That was when Stark said, ‘In this world only winter is certain. We may lose our heads, it’s true … but what if we prevail?’ My father sent him on his way with his head still on his shoulders. 'If you lose,’ he told Lord Eddard, 'you were never here.’ “

- Davos I, aDwD.

Here, Ned put his trust in Lord Godric’s father and chose to see the best. It payed off for him. Sansa does the same, she sees the best in people, she sees the world as it should be (to borrow from Cinderella). So, in Westeros, with years of war and the ice apocalypse coming, it seems to me that a person who sees the best and who sees what is possible is ideally suited to be in a leadership position afterwards. Sansa is not only the type of person who can rebuild, she can make it better.

Lastly, we have one of Sansa’s best lines in the entire series:

"I will remember, Your Grace,” said Sansa, though she had always heard that love was a surer route to the people’s loyalty than fear. If I am ever a queen, I’ll make them love me.

- Sansa IV, aCoK

Where do we think that came from? That’s Ned and his approach to ruling right there. Ned, who inspired love and loyalty from his people because he gave it back. He invited someone different to sit with him at supper every night. He took the time to visit the mountain clans. He dispensed his own justice. He made his people fight for “The Ned’s little girl.” Sansa adopts that same approach during the Blackwater with the ladies she tries to comfort. It’s the same approach to ruling we see her starting to use in the Vale. Look at the servants in the Eyrie. 

And here is one thing that really stands out with this style of governance. Robb and Jon both think on Ned’s teaching and try to adopt them. Sansa never does, it’s all unconscious.

Hopefully this answered your question some anon!! Thank you for the ask!!!

#Sansa Stark #sansa stark meta #Ned Stark #ned stark meta #asoiaf meta #asoiaf #asoiaf character analysis #my meta #anon asks #feel free to ask #feel free to ignore

[csbooth12-blog]

Ups and downs

Self confidence is a complex concept. It comes, it goes, it gets damaged and it returns in the space of only a few races or training sessions. The issue here is that self confidence is arguably the most significant contributer to the decisions made during a bike race. When confident, I ride hard and aggressively, I attack, I follow moves, I believe in my ability, my power and I get better results. When my confidence is low, I am less self assured, I ride conservatively, I question my instinct and I regret those decisions later. This season has had so many ups and downs (and it's only May) that I have no idea how to sustain high levels of confidence.

The season started better than expected with a first (from a field of 9 riders) at a very cold winter series crit at Hillingdon. This was followed by a double puncture on the very wet Redbridge circuit the following weekend... I guess that's just the nature of the sport. A month later, another puncture at a Nat B in Ipswich. I chased back on and finished 21st in the bunch and was glad to get some bad luck out the way early in the year. Salt ayr crits started up soon after and a few top 10s and a 2nd from a break lifted my confidence. I knew that I was going well and physically in good shape going into my early season target race - the Sloan trophy in the NE. It is a course that suits me, quite attritional and I was well up for it and had great legs. I made the decisive break of 10ish riders and was going really well when BANG! Maybe I had too much pressure in the tyres at 120PSI??? Maybe I was to blame or was it more bad luck? I prefer to attribute failure to my own decisions as it's easier to rationalise them than to blame some unknown lady luck. I blame my tyre pressure, lesson learned. I take out my anger on 5 Strava segments when I get back to Lancashire. 4 KOMs achieved. Frustratingly, I knew I could of had a good result that day.

I carried my form into the Bickerstaffe RR where I made the break of 4 and took 3rd. My confidence was partially restored but my legs took a turn for the worse. A poor showing at salt ayr on Tuesday and getting dropped at Stamfordham GP. I felt awful, low in confidence, self belief in tatters and legs ruined. I had overtrained. I took a week off.

A bunch finish at West Penine RR a week later and a strong ride at salt ayr set me up well for a win at UCLAN on the Thursday. I made a break with two strong Crimson lads and we gave it a good go but ultimately were reeled back in. I launched a last gasp effort with two to go. Feeling very strong, Istayed away to the finish. My belief in my ability had returned and my confidence restored - I had a high expectation for the weekends RR by East Lancs.

Feeling super and for the first time on a power meter I get the legs turning on the rollers. Wow the legs were tingling and ready to perform.... or is it the beta allanine? I'm not sure? The race sets off and some strong lads from Crimson start drilling it on the front on a very attritional course. Riders were getting spat everywhere, I relish my poor positioning to try out the legs and bounce up to the lead group with relative ease. I felt outstanding. I wanted to win this. I was very confident all of a sudden but this did not last long. About 30 mins in, I see the rider in front lose control of his bike and hit the deck. I had no where to go so brace myself for impact and hit the fallen bike/rider at 28.6mph. A front flip followed and I leave alot of skin on the tarmac as my body and helmet drag along the road surface.

With no broken bones, people told me I was lucky. Am I? I guess they are right, it could be worse, I'm sore, feel like I've been hit by a car but I hope to be back on the bike this week. Despite this, I'm not feeling all that lucky. Every time I get a bit of momentum or a good result something else goes wrong.

I love the unpredictability of cycling, there are so many factors that influence the outcome of a bike race. This is also a highly frustrating part of the sport. I am struggling to attribute my failure to anything other than bad luck. I just hope it changes. I have big goals for the season and I am still motivated to achieve them. I just hope my confidence hasn't taken too much of a beating for me to achieve them.

[izartn]

Dunno I’ve been thinking and the last book I remember liking by RR was The Son of Neptune bc outsider pov on percy??? I’m always a sucker for those. Also the Leo and Jason parts of the first of HoO; Piper was meh, Jason a little less meh and Leo surprisingly good. But I just lost any major interest in the series with Mark of Athena; it was entertaining but it didn’t thrill me anymore. Maybe I had grown too old? But mostly I think it was so many charas saturating the plot. 

But really, The Last Olympian is such a good finale? Of course I wanted to read more of Percy and Annabeth but I was so happy when I finished it... And of course the undervalued Kane Chronicles, whose mythology and fantasy I liked even moren although the charas weren’t superior; that trilogy deserved so much more. 

The nome system, the different specializations and rituals and the way the protags are living gods at different points of the story??? the whole walt-anubis-sadie situation? and zia, omg? The romance is also wonkers in this trilogy, it’s so subtly creepy-wrong and the supernatural vibes... But like, when treated more seriously. Hello Sadie is 13 by book 2 and I completely forgot that bcs she was being romanced by a god and a 15-16 years old, and doing dangerous things and being Isis avatar, and like no way she is that age. Also, Anubis as a 5.000 years old teen is like... no, riordan. It’s still being a bit weird. I wasn’t expecting the kiss >_< You could’ve made it an interesting exploration of the mutable qualities of the egyptian gods and the lack of like, modern standards of behavior, and then go ahead with the Walt-Anubis plotline. And after PJO and seeing the results of god-human unions... Play with what it means, but for the love of god, Sadie’s age >.>

But I loved her being obsessed with Adele bcs by then I was too. XD

TW INCEST. Here I go off the rails speculating for a parragraph on ancient egypt royalty and the kanes, if you don’t want to read it, close the tab or scroll past it, it’s nothing too dark, nor it’s explicit in any case. More like the result of reading too much weird fic. 

And really that no one (no god ever) ever mentioned the practice of marrying family in egyptian dynasties to horrorize or joke a little to carter and sadie? (i know my mind is perturbed but these two see each other when? once, twice a year a bit more in the lucky ones? honestly if this was and adult or even ya and the author another it’d been an interesting conflict treated seriously. keeping canon ending pairs et all!!)  Although carter knows for sure and just hasn’t clocked in what it means they’re the blood of pharaohs. Yup your ancestors x-generation removed were into incest for purity reasons. And know you’re the incarnation of the horus-pharaoh in earth too. Enjoy! (this is like in yu-gi-oh!! fandom where we pretend the concept didn’t exist bcs too serious and creepy to be treated seriously. and like atem died at 15? 16?)

END TW

 I guess they did the whole explaining the gods have the same relationship their vessels have with each other by feels-possesion double track influence, so that one is resolved, bcs if not it’d be beyond weird that isis is both their mother and the spouse of their osiris-julius and also sadie sometimes. Like, Kane Chronicles mythology is much much older than in other RR series and it tracks with the undercurrents of the trilogy (crap under the radar i think?) and how the gods acts i think.

But you see the above clusterfuck??? If RR had aged a bit the charas, bc is not as if Sadie is a real 12-13 years old, more like a 15-16 one at minimum with how she acts and the narrative treats her, and made Carter like 18-19? Thinking about what he wants out of life and uni, etc because for him it clocks with his arc. Or even older; I think that would be have been better but then it’d be another kind of book. Make Sadie the one starting uni and Carter the one finishing his master in egyptology bcs that’s all he’s known all his life, and he’s interested in it truly, and their father is still the one who wants to reunite the three for Sadie’s birthday going with Carter in plane from whatever university he’s in (could be one in egypt Julius has ties to) and it’s then when all goes to shit.

 The conflict, the stakes... You could treat the family conflict and well, the racial aspect of the books in more profundity. Maybe make them biracial but their father is afroamerican and the mother is british but descendant from egyptian immigrants, so yup. You have that connection with the original land of the myths, and Carter and Sadie perspectives on being poc shoe the contrast btwn the sister raised by her mother parents, and the brother by the father. But that’s need much more sensitivity than RR is able of. I wouldn’t dare to write that book alone, that’s for sure. 

 As I understand it there are more than some problematic elements to RR tendency to diversify his cast without doing profound analysis and research and using sensivity readers so. I’m south european white, I don’t have a real idea of all the messes he made with Kane Chronicles so I don’t have anything more say anything more about this. But yeah, it’d been another demography completely different from the original, and would have needed another author which I think would have suited the mood I get from this trilogy even now. 

We all know the errors RR makes like doubling down on romance forever saving the day and female characterization or his well. Well-intentioned if misguided discourse? (that cursed word) I’m all for social justice, but Magnus Chase read like a pamphlet at various points instead of being organically integrated in the story (KC and HoH have sometimes that problem but in MC is really blatant) who am I going to lie, although Magnus has fascinating potential as a protag.

 And Alex chara too, plus Hearth and Blitzen. I think he made a full on queer protag quartet without realising it (which is why Blitz and Hearth are those two guys instead of confirming any status. like just besties, or qrp or budding romance, which one? we can’t have full on queer quartet) plus Samira and his poor we’ll call it that, handle of her muslim lifestyle from what I’ve seen from muslim fans reviews. (so, my idea of sadie above wouldn’t been plausible) If she’s gonna marry make her at least older than 20? After finishing uni, which I think is something you usa (noarospec) people do regularly without religion or anything? But really marriages just make me go yikes anyway so. Do away with that plot point you don’t have to follow so exactly the myths. 

And so their charas aren’t explored with profundity. Although they could have been really interesting.

 And the ending was... meh. The point was the anticlimax, but Loki was well build enough in the two first books and the third was a deception honestly. 

But again, I think I also simply aged of his books + started noticing his fails. See above my KC tangent. Curiously I think the PJO books (not HoO) are good as they are... No urge to make charas older or anything. The dysfunction is different in both stories I feel.

 I KNOW! It’s because in KC we see the magician society and it’s full of adults and seriousness so it would have fit having two older teens-young adults be the protags, exploring it properly and so Carter and Sadie being the chiefs of the Brooklyn nome and the initiators of the gods path in contemporary times wouldn’t struck me as so weird. The nome politics ;_; We were robbed. 

Compare that to the ways PJO with its ephemeral demigod lives and constant death and youth as the one who bring the necessary change for the gods (plus the absence of older demigods coming back to help in TLO, be it bcs they’re done with greek gods or they’re dead, functions really well following Percy since he’s 12 to his 16 birthday and beyond if he had managed to do the roman fussion correctly. Make it so PJO ends with Percy and Annabeth at 16 and HoO alt series, starts 4-6 years later. Because the roman camp and its senate and norms and village are more serious and imply a heavy adult-political presence, with legacies etc; because the gods are starting to forget their promises; bring up the parallels with Luke and mentions of how live has been treating both Anna and Percy. Enrich the world and make the sequel interesting to your original audience who is much older than when they started reading the PJO books. 

Well. This is a fantasy...We know RR would never ;_; Although he’s done much for young fantasy. And know I’m searching the impossible fic.

#percy jackson #kane chronicles #magnus chase #tw: incest #meta #rick riordan #PJO

[anythingstephenking]

The Dark Tower: Wizard of Oz Edition

Another three months passed without reading. What are you to do when the new Game of Thrones season is starting? Watch the entire series twice through obviously, while avoiding all other obligations.

After trudging through King’s “women endure awful things” years, the prospect of the next Dark Tower really kept me moving. This series is quickly becoming my most beloved in the King-o-verse, with Mid-World beginning to surpass even Derry, Maine in my favorite fictional places. Who cares about killer clowns when you have magic and Roland Deschain?

Here’s the thing though - Wizard and Glass was not my favorite installment. It’s ok - I have four more left to read and according to the afterword from King, at least two of these will be set in Mid-World (with one in our world (which is mucho intriguing to me)). I didn’t dislike the story per-se; I just wanted the ka-tet story of Roland, Eddie, Jake, Susannah and Oy. Instead we get the ka-tet story of Roland, Cuthbert & Alain from the time before the world “moved on” and Roland wasn’t a super cynical nutbag yet. This dude-wolfpack is fine and their adventures worthy of the almost 700 pages of material, but I sure missed my main gang.

Back up a bit - Wizard and Glass picks back up where The Waste Lands left us - stuck on a talking train that likes riddles and also likes killing humans. Basically Thomas the Train of your nightmares. While we’re right back where we left off, we’re 7 years later in the publishing world. That’s some George RR Martin shit right there; I’d be so bummed to wait 7 years for this. King published 9 more novels between, most of them about women getting beaten the fuck down. We’ve got a little bit of women getting the short end of the stick here too, unfortunately. More on that later.

After he finished producing his Fuck-You-Stanley-Kubrick miniseries version of The Shining, King was driving home from California (like can’t you afford a private jet, yo?) and decided it was time to kick around the next chapter of The Dark Tower. King says he took so long because this installment is a love story, which he claims is not his strong suit. I mean, Annie Wilkes, like, really loved Paul Sheldon, so ::shrug emoji::

So, we do begin with our pals from The Waste Lands. They’re all aboard the bizarro-thomas train, shooting riddles instead of bullets, trying not to die. If my life ever depends on my ability to tell riddles, I’d definitely be dead. This time Eddie, rather than Roland, saves the day and they depart off the train relatively unscathed and back marching towards the tower.

One of the most fascinating pieces of The Dark Tower universe is what is does with time and place. As Roland says, “there are other worlds than these.” This comes into focus a bit more as the gang gets off the train and appear to be in post-The Stand Kansas. We get references to Captain Tripps, Abigail, Randall Flagg (what a dick!) and others. Leave Mid-World, land in post-apocalyptic America! Hows that for a vacation? Precarious portals referred to as “thinnies” connect parallel worlds and apparently are really dangerous. Beware the thinnies y’all. The connective tissue between worlds is confusing and exciting and interesting and weird all rolled up into one. This connectivity gave us the opportunity to join Eddie, Jake, Susannah, Roland and Oy together, and for that I am thankful.

The rest of the story plays out mostly in flashback form. While this storytelling through the youth of Roland is certainly interesting, it did very little to move the core story forward. We get the lengthy tale of Roland’s original ka-tet, traveling as a means to keep an eye on a potential upheaval of power in Mid-World. We get a handful of new bad guys, most of whom are easily defeated. A mysterious general of rebellion John Farson is discussed but little seen - but I’d guess it’s not the last we’ve heard from him.

Roland (at the ripe age of 16) meets and falls in love with a local beauty, Susan Delgado, that has been promised to another. Pretty standard romance novel shit. Their love lives at the core conflict of the story, while Roland and Susan are sneaking around, boning each other brains out as horny 16 year olds will do, everything falls apart around them. It’s ok (spoiler alert) because everyone in Roland’s ka-tet makes it out, except for Susan who gets thrown into a bonfire, because, well she’s the woman and who needs her anyway?

We’ve also got some magic witch stuff, and a crystal ball that shows Roland his future, including Susan’s death. We learn that Roland already knows the fate of his current gang. It was shown to him by the wizard’s ball ages ago, but what he knows he’s not telling. Y’all, my friends are going to die at some point and I’ll be real sad.

We end circling back up with a Wizard of Oz confrontation with Randall Flagg (dick!) himself. Like for real Wizard of Oz - there’s a man behind a curtain and everything. At the end, our gang is back on the road where they started, following the path of the beam. 

They’re off to see The Tower.

While we get a lot of backstory here - what started the conflict in Mid-World, why Roland is so grouchy all the time - we don’t get any forward progress to The Tower. I know, it’s the journey, not the destination. But I’ve got 6 more books to get through before The Wolves of Calla.

It was a beautiful love story and nice to see Roland as a young human with emotions - he’s one of my favorites but the more I read, the less I can picture him as Idris Elba. He carries the weight of knowing the future and reliving his past, I suppose I’d be a curmudgeon if I was him too.

Best part was when Jake referred to their situation as “ka” (fancy word for “fate) and Roland replies: “kaka”. The Roland that makes a poop joke is my favorite Roland.

8/10

First Line: “ASK ME A RIDDLE” Blaine invited.

Last Line: With Oy in the lead, they once more set out for The Dark Tower, walking along the Path of the Beam.

I finished this while on vacation in the caribbean (HOT DOG LEGS); without my reference bibliography, I read my next two books out of order. So we’ll be doing The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon next, then Bag of Bones. Tata for now.

#book reivew #dark tower #stephen king #wizard and glass

[obsidianarchives]

Game of Thrones Recap: S8E1 - "Winterfell"

We’re back! After 12 years of waiting (okay, a year and a half, but who’s counting) Game of Thrones has returned. Mirroring the reunion of long-separated characters in-show, this episode at once feels like an old friend that never left, and yet has grown and matured in undeniable, but almost imperceptible ways. Compared to previous seasons, the episode maintained the improved (if breakneck) pacing of post-book content but has characters being written more consistently with their established arcs and motivations. They even trotted out a new intro this season. While in past years, the focus was just on how expansive this story truly was, ranging across countries on two continents, the focus is now much narrower and honed in on the remaining threats.

King’s Landing

In the capital, we see Cersei overseeing The Golden Company’s arrival in Westeros without much fanfare, and to the Queen’s deep disappointment, sans elephants. With precious little time left in the series, it seems unlikely the famed Essos mercenary troop will feature as much political intrigue as suggested in the books (with much of that being shifted into Jon and Daenerys’s storyline), they do at the very least come through suited and booted under the command of Captain-General Harry Strickland. The comparatively ragtag Second Suns these are not! Sidelined sidepiece Daario Naharis can eat his heart out while we see exactly what this portends for Cersei’s grand plans.

Speaking of royal jumpoffs, Euron again asks for a downpayment on his reward for aiding the Crown and asks to bed the Queen. She reads from the Book of Olivia Pope and demands Euron earn her, and then immediately lets him into her bed anyway. While most people are, to put it mildly, bemused by Euron’s continued prominence I’m (against my better judgement) at least willing to see where the writers are taking us with his character. It seems like there’s at least one twist left in his arc, at the very least as an obstacle in the Cersei/Jaime relationship. The story would have been better served setting it up during the meandering season 5 as the series stalled for George RR Martin to finish his books, but what’s done is done. If nothing else highlighted how truly alone Queen Cersei has become, it was her resignation in letting a Greyjoy into her bed, even if it was simply to keep him around and as a tool for her alleged pregnancy.

Meanwhile, after interrupting one of Bronn’s dalliances, Hand of the Queen Qyburn relays Cersei’s offer of gold to the sellsword if he will kill her “traitorous brothers” Jaime and Tyrion. And because she has no chill, she wants him to use Joffrey’s crossbow that Tyrion used to kill Tywin to do it. I think most of us would be surprised if he took her up on the offer and betrayed his friends, especially since he got paid up front, but this furthers the idea that one of her brothers will turn the tables and be the one to kill the Queen.

Finally we were reminded that King of the Iron Islands, Euron, whose ships ferried the Golden Company, still had Yara as a hostage in his ship. This is immediately paid off as Theon leads a successful rescue while crazy uncle “Crow’s Eye” is occupied plying his wares trying to send Cersei her queenly quivers. It’s still eff Theon forever around these parts, and while I remain unmoved by his inevitable redemption arc, he did come through for once. Despite her time as a captive Yara almost immediately has a plan and decides to retake the Iron Islands while Euron is abroad to provide a fallout shelter to survive the Winter should the Northern Alliance fail. Theon however feels honor bound to return to Winterfell and help his Stark kindred. While that’s cool and all, I’d be more worried about the other Northerners if they see him first. The last thing they remember is him allegedly burning the youngest Stark heirs alive and setting Winterfell to the torch among an infestation of Ironborn captors in the North.

Sidenote: Everyone is real cool about seeing Bran alive and wheeling around. Sansa knew Theon didn’t actually burn them because he slipped up, but everyone else should be a little more shocked he’s still alive.

Last Hearth

In Winterfell, we learned when the Wall fell, Sansa called all her banners to Winterfell to prepare for the long night. Ned Umber, underaged son of the traitorous Smalljon (who died in the Battle of the Bastards) and current lord of the Last Hearth, remains a straggler and was given more horses and wagons to transport his crew. You knew from jump nothing good was going to come from that late breaking news.

Cutting to the Umber’s house seat, we find out Tormund and the plot imperative remainder of the Brotherhood without Banners survived the collapse of the Wall and have made their way to the Northernmost castle in Westeros. It’s abandoned however, with obvious signs of a recent White Walker attack. In an eerie dark, they run into Lord Commander Dolorous Edd and what’s left of the Night’s Watch also making their way south. Momentarily fooled by Tormund’s gorgeous baby blue eyes, the two parties join up to find Ned Umber’s dead body bolted to the wall with the arms of several other corpses arrayed in a now all too familiar spiral pattern of the dead. Many viewers have noted the vague similarity between this and the Targaryen sigil. It’s possible “Fire and Blood” may have a deeper meaning than we originally thought, but before we can ponder that, surprise! Little homie ain’t dead!

Well, he is dead, but not dead-dead, which is still bad news for our group as he zombies back into the fight as Tormund’s back is turned. Luckily Beric Dondarrion and his flaming sword are there to burn him, but now they know the army of the dead is between them and their retreat to Winterfell.

Winterfell

WHERE. IS. GHOST?!?!?!?! Ahem...

We start in the home of the Starks, and quite expertly mirrored the start of the series with seemingly all of the North gathered to witness the procession coming to Winterfell and the arrival of the King and Queen. They even featured a young boy as Bran 2.0 climbing around and Arya hiding in plain sight betraying her noble bearing. Not to be forgotten is the Permit Patty looks of the Northerners as they see Missandei and Grey Worm rolling through the gates, and you can tell they have clearly not seen Black people in the North before.

Jon Snow returns to Winterfell after his quest for allies (and dragonglass), and he finally gets his reunion with Bran, who he hasn’t seen since episode 2 when he was hanging on for dear life after being pushed out of the Astronomy Tower by Jaime Lannister. Any hope that Bran may have gotten some chill in the offseason and settled into being a less creepy Three-Eyed Raven was immediately blown as he remains as cold and detached as ever. He rudely interrupts the formalities between a less than impressed Sansa and meeting the family Daenerys to remind them they “don’t have time for all of that” with the Night King on the march. He does have time for an old friend, but we’ll get back to that later.

We soon find out that Sansa isn’t the only one a bit chafed at Daenerys’s presence and what that means for the political reality of the North. The trillest player in the game, and Lady Olenna reincarnated, Lady Lyanna Mormont takes time out of her busy day of giving people stank faces to read Jon for filth. We all know Jon is only concerned about the Great War against the dead, and while you’d THINK knowing their only protection from the White Walkers which had stood for 8,000 years was gone would focus them, petty is gonna petty. Meanwhile Sansa asks the QTNA such as how are we supposed to feed these extra 100,000 people you just showed up to dinner with? Did you bring food for those two fully-grown dragons with you, or did you burn all that grain from Highgarden and spend the money on winter fits Dany?

The homecomings continue as former (and technically still, depending on your interpretation) husband and wife Sansa and Tyrion get to catch up for the first time since the Purple Wedding. We get to see how much Sansa has grown, and for all the earlier haters calling her naive and dumb, she’s the one pointing out the obvious holes in believing in Lannister promises. But the real meeting we’ve all been waiting for finally happened; Jon and Arya are together again! They both downplayed what they’ve been through, but we see just how much their experiences have changed them. Jon has spent seven seasons doing everything he can to be the shield that guards the realms of men. Arya in turn did everything she could, and killed anyone she had to in order to make her way back home to her family. It’s a subtle difference in perspective that Arya invited Jon to realize before his big picture thinking misses the forest for the trees.

And then there was Gendrya!!! Sorry, got a bit excited there for a second. We see Gendry already hard at work fashioning dragonglass weapons in the Winterfell forge. Arya comes in to ask for a custom made weapon, and also to flirt, and their obvious chemistry has not changed a bit. But before that, the Hound gets to be a proud papa bear and see his baby for the first time since she left him to die (and robbed him) at the end of season 4. It went about as gruff and awkwardly as you’d expect but there was obvious love there.

While Ser Davos, former hand of the former King in the North Jon Snow, talks to Tyrion about the seemingly inevitable marriage proposal to seal their alliance, Daenerys and her boo are looking for any excuse to get out of his folk’s place and get it on. She takes him out for a date, and apparently Jon has been putting it down so good she’s letting him borrow her car with the AKA plates. She invites him to get on Rhaegal and we finally get Jon, the not-so-secret Targaryen, riding a dragon!!!!!! The dragon named after his father no less, and while we all know — and the dragons clearly know — Dany and Jon are still in the dark about his true parentage. They fly off to a cave underneath a waterfall and Dany remarks they could stay there for a thousand years in obvious echoes of the dialogue between Jon and Ygritte north of the Wall.

After getting her back broken, Dany goes with her little buddy Jorah to thank Maester school dropout Sam for curing his greyscale. Upon realizing he’s a Tarly however, she also has to not-so-delicately break the news that she flambéed his father and brother for not bending the knee. Already crestfallen, Sam is pushed by Bran to reveal Jon’s true parentage as he’s paying his respects in the Winterfell crypts.

Always on time for heartbreak, we realize this is the first time Jon has “seen” his father since they parted ways on the Kingsroad in S1E2 when Ned promised to explain about his mother the next time they saw each other. What should have been another joyous meeting between best friends is soiled as Jon is less struck by the “you’ve been playing hide Longclaw with your Auntie” news than the whole “you’re the one true King” part, and is in full denial of a man who’s been given yet another promotion he never asked for. In the space of a single conversation, he now has to grapple with the feeling that his father Ned lied to him about who he was his entire life, whether this news cripples his alliance to save Westeros and defeat the dead, the realization that the love of his life is not only now a political rival but blood family, and the weight of another crown after he just refused the first.

In our final scene we see a hooded Jaime Lannister make his way into Winterfell after finally abandoning his sister’s evil to try and fight for the living out of honor. Unfortunately, the very FIRST person he sees is Bran, who’s been sitting in the same exact spot all night, waiting for his “old friend.” See, he didn’t have time for Jon to meet the family, but he did make time for Jaime’s ass after he pushed him out of the window.

With all the callbacks, this episode did a wonderful job of subtly (and not-so-subtly) reminding us of where we started so we can appreciate just how far we’ve come. While some were expecting a bang after so long off the air, the first episode of the final season focused on setting the final pieces on the chess board, and giving us a deep breath before the final descent into madness.

#Game of Thrones #Season 8 #Winterfell #Winter Is Coming

[novellapuckett-blog]

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