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kynimdraws · 1 month

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INFO POST

Name: Kylee (they/them). 30+

A totally normal Korean American mostly known for my drawings, specifically my Pokemon nuzlocke comics. But I will talk about other things on occasion because I do have periods of being fixated on certain topics. I also am a doctor!

Interests: Pokemon, League of Legends (everything except the game lmao), Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, Animal Crossing, Mother series, Korean history/culture, character design

General FYIs:

General inquiries/commission work/etc should be sent thru kynimdraws [at] gmail [dot] com! Tumblr messaging/asks/etc is not 100% reliable

I will not follow NSFW accounts but I am fine talking/interacting with them. There may be suggestive shitposting but I like keeping my content on the SFW side

I am VERY picky about who I follow/interact with online. Fandom content in particular is a minefield for me aka I have many things I dislike and don’t want to see, even if it might be a popular thing in media that I otherwise enjoy. Therefore, I will unfollow/block/mute liberally. There are times I accidentally block a blog bc I mistake them for bots. So if you got hit with that, just send me an ask or email me

I am very open about what I like and dislike, and none of those things are a direct attack on your sensibilities. I have never gone out of my way to directly send hate or whatever have you if I end up seeing shit I don’t like. My complaints in my little online space ain't a personal attack on you.

My ask/submission box/DMs are open for criticisms if you have any issues you want to resolve in private. No one is perfect and I may have done ignorant shit that needs to be pointed out. I have deleted or edited posts in the past if people tell me what I did wrong. PS I get that some of my stuff may upset you, but try to act civil when pointing shit out please.

I try to tag all my things whenever I can. Again, send me a message if anything bothers you. I am all for good debate but if you send me excessive hate or threats bc I have different opinions about matters that are trivial, I will block/delete them.

If you wish to use any of my hcs, please credit me. And if you are comfortable with it, send me the works so I can check them out! Or @ me if that is easier.

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FIRE EMBLEM FYI: Specifically for 3Houses/3Hopes because I need a separate one for this franchise specificially given how many crazy things I got due to being involved in this fanbase via my fanworks:

DO NOT try to convince me to like or tolerate Byleth/student ships, ESPECIALLY the ones with the lords (aka CIaude, Dimitri, EdeIgard). I already summarized why I don’t like FE3H Byleth ships with student chars here. While the spinoff game FEW3H has now removed that teacher/student problematic situation, the fandom keeps putting the FE3H elements into the FEW3H fanworks (i.e. remembering Byleth from “another life” trope)...so no thanks!! DO NOT SHOW ME IT!!!

As for the Byleth ships with faculty members, my response is here so don’t try to bait me about that topic either thanks.

I do not care whom you ingame S-support. 3Houses limits the dating-sim part of the game to that character, so I cannot care less about how you play the game. The main issue I have is when people treat Byleth the “character” as a legit ship material when I personally think they are a cool character ruined by fans who are too obsessed with badly executed self insert otome tropes bc they self-project super hard onto them. Just to be clear, any FE3H or FEW3H OC/Canon >>>>>>Byleth ships personally. Even Byleth-sonas that remove the teacher/student aspects are better than canon FE3H!Byleth

Please don't drag FE VA statements as some sort of “gotcha” on my opinions like this post here. IDC what other people prefer with ship shit, that’s their problem and not mine. I am not gonna bother them about it. So don’t bother ME about it.

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Links to check out:

Myths of Unova + Episode Grey (Pkmn White/White2 Comic)

Tales of Sinnoh (Pkmn Diamond Comic)

Art Site (Portfolio)

Twitter

Instagram

#psa post #pinned info post lol #updating this for myself and also to use the “do not reblog” feature from the get-go this way

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fangirlmedstudentblog · 1 year

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Ann's 2022 Wrapped Pt. 2(B)

Ok, so continuing on from my last post here, Part 2(A)

My list is in no way even close to an exhaustive fic rec list for the pairing. It has some gems to get you started if you're new to the ship, or some fics to re-read, if you've already read these. If there is a podfic of the fic, I'll include that too! Podfics deserve more love and are a boon, allowing us to listen to our favourite stories while doing other work or playing games! They're one of the top reasons I've not fallen asleep while completing exploration in Genshin Impact lol.

In the m/m fics, i don't write the ship name with the top/bottom fixed in mind as i always headcanon them as versatile. (I know some people like to read fixed dynamics for certain ships, so this is just a fyi for them.)

Do check the tags of the fics before reading and check the author's pages for further fics to read!

All fics are complete unless mentioned otherwise.

Fandoms in this part

8. Frank Hardy/Nancy Drew from Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Mystery series

9. Prapai/Sky from Love In The Air

10. Tim Drake centric, Batman, Red Robin comics

11. Miscellaneous fandoms

Let's go!!!!

Pairing: Frank Hardy/Nancy Drew aka Francy from The Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys Mystery Series

This, I think, was my first crossover ship EVER, all the way back in 7th grade. I remember reading my first super mystery, Club Dread and boy was i surprised to see hints of Frank being attracted to Nancy and being the romantic that i am my mind latched onto that idea and i recently got my hands on a copy of a Crime for Christmas with the ICONIC KISS SCENE and boy did all the feels come rushing back.

1. Baby I Hope (That It's You) by questionablemotive

She didn't mean for this to happen, plain and simple. Frank was never supposed to be an intricate piece of her puzzle, and she was never supposed to fall in love with someone who wasn't Ned. But, well, here we are.

Nancy's journey of falling in love with Frank Hardy, denying it like crazy, before finally accepting it and doing something about it.

As it says in the summary. It's a character driven piece, and takes place via the universe of the Nancy drew games, so contains spoilers for them.

2. To Protect and Serve by rosa lunae

Special Agent Nancy Drew of the FBI has been given her first op as a lead agent in the Witness Protection program. She's shocked to find that the men she's vowed to protect from the deadly Russian mob are none other than Frank and Joe Hardy.

Since it's such an old fandom, one has to go to ffnet as well to search for fics and boy was i rewarded with this fic. It had suspense, action and romance that keeps one at the edge of their seats.

3. The Ampersand Series by kennac

From Exploring Fraud and Friendship (1st fic in series): Nancy heads to New York to consult with Hardy Investigators on the ins and outs of claims investigation to help her boss in Chicago prepare to bid on a new contract. This simple information-gathering assignment quickly turns deadly, and Nancy learns fraud and friendship can both be fraught with unseen land mines that can test even a seasoned detective’s resolve to remain impartial.

It's the longest series in the Francy ao3 tag that contains an awesome series with suspense, mystery and romance in spades. It keeps you engrossed in the mystery and the story and will be treat to those who enjoy reading the series.

4. Bringing Down The Barriers by DesertVixen

Nancy Drew and Frank Hardy find themselves on a family vacation together, with a few less barriers than before.

The first fic of another great Nancy Drew Hardy Boys crossover mystery series with the 1st fic having Francy have feels and get together, and the last fic deals with a mystery regarding Nancy's mother.

5. if the fates allow by veterization

A special machine delivered by P.G. Krolmeister sends Nancy into a future where she can witness firsthand the repercussions of her rejecting Frank Hardy.

A sweet Francy fic a based on the movie Just In Time For Christmas!

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Pairing: Prapai/Sky from บรรยากาศรัก เดอะซีรีส์ | Love in the Air

I discovered this show mid-November and caved to finally watch it in December and gods I've fallen into the prapaisky brainrot so bad. Rainpayu is a close second, but something about the way prapai just cares about sky just does it for me personally. All fics have trigger warnings for mentions of sky's past. I legit have such a crush on the main cast of bossnoeul and fortpeat, especially fortpeat it's kinda embarassing 🥴 Oh to have prapai of my own 😭

1. Chasing Sky by kibosama Rated M

A prapaisky getting together fic, which was written before the prapaisky episodes were aired in the show. It picks and chooses parts of canon that the author likes and pretends the rest doesn't exist. The prapaisky dynamic in this is so self indulgent and yet so good.

kibosama has written some of the most beautiful canon adjacent fics in several fandoms that i highly recommend you read and can be read even if you've not seen the show yet. Their works have single-handedly pushed up certain shows up my to watch list and let me tell you that isn't easy, at all.

2. The Good Kind of Red by tennisuhs Rated M

“I do not owe you shit.”

Sky’s hand is slightly trembling as they clutch on the other boy’s collar.

“You don’t.” The racer scoffs. “But my friend will.”

“Let’s get you out of here, cutie.”

What if Sky and Prapai never fucked on the first meeting? What if, still, they haunted each other's memory from that they on?

Canon divergence from prapaisky's first meeting and it is OH SO GOOD!!! Sky is precious and just 🤌🏻

3. Pheromones on the Wind by loveleighalissa Rated M

Having been burned badly before by love, Sky plans to focus on school and pretending that men, mainly alpha's, don't exist. To bad for him there is a strong wind trying to blow down the walls he's built around his heart.

A omegaverse re-write of the prapaisky arc of Love in the Air. Part 1 is PayuRain and is still a WIP, read it here

4. Never Say by kibosama Rated M

Prapai is an auction house for the sole purpose of getting someone to sign a contract. He doesn't have any interest in owning a blood slave--until he lays eyes on Sky. That, he must have.

Sky's there for reasons of his own, mostly desperate reasons, and he's braced himself for a year of hell. Which doesn't seem to be forthcoming.

Someone needs to explain to this vampire that he's supposed to use Sky, not spoil him. Prapai doesn't seem to get it.

A vampire!Prapai fic that actually seems much softer than one might expect from a vampire fic. Also sassy sky is everything. Fun fact, this is the fic that actually convinced me to finally watch Love in the Air before another show that had caught my interest (Not Me the series).

5. Possessive Boyfriends Support Group series by kibosama Rated T

A crossover series between Love in the Air and The Eclipse where Ayan is Rain's childhood friend and him, Rain and Sky get upto various shenanigans and their poor boyfriends are pulled along for the ride (ehe 👀).

Made me watch The Eclipse after LITA lol. The power of an awesome fanfic author 😍😍

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Fandom: Batman comics, Red Robin comics

Wayne Family Adventures introduced me to Tim Drake, aka Red Robin and I just fell in love with him so bad, it made me go back and read up on the history of Batman and his various Robins and i fell further in love with the various Robins over the years, though my favourites are Tim Drake and Jason Todd.

1. Code Bat Series by Listentothelittlebird

Within Gotham, the Bats are a tight-knit group - family - that runs like clockwork.

Outside of Gotham, none of their teammates know they’re related.

This series explores the shenanigans that the Bats get up to, as well as how this distinction would affect canon.

(This is an AU where the Bats are secretly affiliated, but nobody knows that.)

One of my favourite Robin centric series with occasional appearances by Teen Titans, the Justice League and the Outlaws. I love the bonds between all the Gotham vigilantes and how dedicated they are helping each other despite the occasional complicated bonds between them.

2. Liminal Space by Calamityjim

Bruce's habit of collecting strays is not limited by dimension.

When Young Justice Batman comes across an angsty, seemingly abandoned by his Batman Tim Drake, he decides to step up to the plate and parent the crap out of him.

I love this genre of fix-it fics because let's face it,in canon these boys do not have it easy at all. Especially Tim Drake. And Bruce isn't much of a parent in comic canon as much I would like. So I look to fanfics for my emotional needs.

Also has a Podfic and is part of a awesome as fuck series that i suggest you read here (features Tim/Kon in the later parts of the series)

3. Doctor!Tim by wintersnight (Tim Drake/Dick Grayson/Jason Todd) Rated E

It's really just the usual day. Home after a grueling seventy-two hours on the ER rotation. Make a pot of coffee. Find a bleeding vigilante on your fire escape. All pretty standard for Gotham.

Civilian doctor Tim AU who's a bamf ER surgeon (just being an ER surgeon is bad-ass enough, but being one in Gotham automatically deserves bamf status, because I could NEVER).

It actually is somewhat medically accurate (as a doctor, myself, i can verify that) and is ALL TOO ACCURATE as to how busy the life of a surgeon can get. And Steph as the nurse is genius and makes me miss all the nurses I worked and made friends with. And the trio of Tim/Dick/Jason have sizzling chemistry with each other.

4. Jason Todd: The Not-So-Outlaw by GoAwayOlivia Rated M

Jason Todd isn't what Batman made him, he isn't what the Joker made him, he isn't what the League of Assassins made him, and he isn't what the Lazarus Pit made him. He's his own person and he's taking himself back, one home renovation at a time. Also he might just make friends with the people who are supposed to be his brothers while he's at it.

One of my favourite Jason centric fics!!!!!

5. Latchkey by goldkirk

or, How Tim Drake Found A Family, Became A Photojournalist, Learned To Love Coffee, and Grew Up, not necessarily in that order.

Tim Drake is thirteen, runs the famous BatWatch blog that has spiraled hilariously out of control, has absentee parents that suit his purposes just fine, is training himself to run the streets at night, and is doing absolutely peachy, thank you.

Alfred and Jason disagree, and get Dick and Bruce involved in figuring out their weird nextdoor neighbor kid’s life. Everything goes uphill from there.

Part of the Shutterbug series . It's one of the Tim joins the batfamily early fics that I love. Please, give Tim more love, especially kid!Tim. That kid made me want to give him ALL the hugs with his backstory. Plus it has mother hen Jason with lots of bat brother bonding, all of which i LOVE.

6. One Eternal Round by Boogalee99

His name is Aizawa Shouta.

No, it’s Bruce Wayne.

No close family. No children.

No, he has an …Alfred? And children, lots of children. Too many to count.

Current Residence: Musutafu, Japan.

No, it’s Gotham. Gotham, USA.

Current Occupation: Hero and School Teacher.

No, he’s a CEO, and… wait, hero? He’s just a vigilante – he’s technically a glorified criminal with a day job.

Aizawa, Midoriya, Bakugou, Kirishima, and Todoroki get caught in the emergence of a new quirk and find themselves remembering a past life, a life spent in heroics, a life without superpowers. Chaos ensues as they navigate old new skills, relationships, and goals.

A Boku no Hero Academia X Batman series crossover series that really made me realise the similarities between Shouto, Katsuki and Izuku and Damian, Jason and Tim. It's a definitely a good read!

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Miscellaneous Fandom fic recs

Gokusen : Sawada Shin/Yamaguchi Kumiko

Gokusen: The Novel by Jane Elliot

A novelization of the Gokusen manga, including extended and missing scenes.

As much as I love the live action versions of ShinKumi (one of my first jdrama crushes), the manga will always win for more Shin scenes and actually making ShinKumi canon.

The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Luo Binghe/Shen Qinqiu|Shen Yuan aka Bingqiu

I Wish You Were My Husband by Feynite Rated E

AU based on The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir (familiarity with that story's not required).

Wherein Shen Yuan transmigrates into a harem intrigues romance novel (gay edition), Yue Qingyuan really fucks up, Liu Qingge is not suitable for his job, and no one even remotely sees Luo Binghe coming.

Also has a Podfic by the prolific lunchee that i highly recommend listening to!

The Umbrella Academy

Keep Trying by pprfaith Rated T

At thirteen, a drunk Klaus goes wandering the mansion instead of locking himself into his room.

Seventeen years down the line, he saves the world.

In between, they're all just trying not to drown.

(Klaus and Vanya against the world.)

Part 1 of the on some days,in some ways series that is so dear to my heart. Klaus and Vanya were my favourite characters of The Umbrella Academy series and this fic all the right spots. Do check the tags for this as it does deal with some heavy topics, though they're at the level of canon.

OC centric fics:

The Medic-Nin's Guide to Casual Revolution by spideywhiteys

Aikawa Toshiro is born anew on the heels of the third shinobi war. He's clanless, average in strength, and is alive on luck alone. But he's here. And he's about to make it everyone else's problem. Life beget change, and if Konoha is so frequently likened to a tree, shouldn't it be expected to grow?

Original Female Character/Hatake Kakashi. A WIP that i still have no clue how i came across (because i usually avoid OC/SI fics) but it is SO SO GOOD and i have no regrets. A OC/Self Insert fic that is just awesome as hell.

It is work of love and passion and it SHOWS in the fic. Medically, i would say it's kind of like House MD levels of accuracy, which it's more than ok, especially since I'm pretty sure konoha doesn't even have the concept of germ theory known, since they deal with chakra for healing.

Sanitize by sage_thrasher

Basic medicine and sanitation are simple. During the Warring Clans era, they become revolutionary.

Another self-insert fic with a medical professional who gets isekai-ed to the Naruto universe during the warring clans era and decides to become a healer. WIP

The Yondaime's Assistant by dianamoth (lunaemoth)

When I reincarnated in the world of Naruto, I was lucky enough to live in Konoha but not lucky enough to get all the superpowers you could hope for. I failed my jounin-sensei test and ended up in the Genin Corps.

Bye-bye jounin rank! However, considering it also meant avoiding the battlefield, that was fine with me. Now I just had to get a position allowing me to change History…

Hatake Kakashi/Original Female Character/Shiranui Genma. OFC gets isekai-ed into the Naruto universe and decides to change some things and lead to a fix-it. The OC is a bad-ass, very observant and believes in proper communication as well!! Also a proper explanation for the isekaification is also given!

Akatsuki no Yona: Son Hak/Yona

Unaccounted Factors by Fai_Gensou

Su-won’s disregard of Yona in his planning for his coup was ultimately his downfall.

“I can’t believe this.” Yun said, shaking his head as Yona fired off rapid questions that the now hapless king couldn’t answer.

“You came after Yona not to kill her, or keep her quiet, or to take over the Dragon Warriors, but so she could balance your books and get the castle running smoothly again. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.”

“Cry.” Ju-do advised. “We couldn’t even track you down ourselves; we had to bribe the maids to tell us, since the couriers flat-out refused to say a word.”

An underrated WIP that deserves more recognition for it's sheer uniqueness and yet rightness of concept (if that makes sense) of the fic and whose updates I'll wait years for.

Genshin Impact: Zhongli/Tartaglia|Childe

Entirely Out of Spite by bgtea

"Welcome to a new user experience! You have triggered this interface with the keywords, ‘Stupid game! Stupid devs! I want my f*****g money back!’ You are now bound to the character Tartaglia, the Eleventh Harbinger of the Fatui, codename: Childe! We hope you have an enjoyable user experience and we welcome you once again to Genshin Impact 2.0!”

Those are some of the first words Ajax, starving college student extraordinaire, has the misfortune of hearing upon waking up in a brave new world from what he's fairly sure is a very, very fatal accident involving water and a shit ton of electricity.

Okay, so he's not dead. That's good. But what's this about him being stuck playing the character Tartaglia? Tartaglia, as in the shitty, one-dimensional, cartoonish villain who met his untimely, gruesome death in the first act of the original game?

Fuck that noise. Like hell Ajax is going to share that fate.

And so begins one man's journey to unfuck himself.

A Zhongchi fic based on Scum Villian that in my admittedly biased opinion, one of the best Zhongchi fics. A WIP clocking in at almost 300k that updates regularly with long long updates that'll keep you engrossed!

Game of Thrones

A Wolf Amongst Lions by Kallypso

Tywin Lannister discovers the true identity of his cup bearer at Harrenhal. Now, with another bargaining chip in his possession, he has a chance to turn the war. Arya Stark, despite her best efforts, falls back into the Game of Thrones. To survive in a lion's den, a wolf has no choice but to adapt.

This is a beautiful, lovely fic that kept me engrossed till i finished the fic's last sentence. The evolving relationship and bond between Arya and Tywin depicted in this fic is fascinating to read. As is her evolving relationship with the rest of the Lannisters, and how it all affects the rest of Game of Thrones canon.

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This ends my 2022 fandom recap!! Hope anyone who has read upto this point has enjoyed my ramblings and also gotten some new fandom, fanfic or media recommendations!!

I'll see you 💜

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iamabeautifulcreature · 4 years

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Just finished reading all of Justice League Odyssey and I have thoughts...

(This is more for me to get thoughts out of my head, but if you do have a read of the below I’ll warn you it’s not very coherent.)

So at the premise I was really hopeful, I liked the core four of Cyborg, Jessica Cruz, Starfire, and Azrael, and I liked this story would encompass very little of the A-list heroes, because I thought that would mean these guys get some genuine character development and a new classic story for us to dissect. Overall, it wasn’t a complete flop, but I certainly did not see all of the core 4 getting the same opportunity for growth. In fact both Azrael and Starfire kinda got shat on most of the time....

General Plot:

The basic plot is that Darkseid is trying grab power blah blah blah, and is manipulating Cyborg, Azrael, and Starfire into getting the objects of power he needs from within the ghost sector....

The first 10 issues of plot I liked (on the whole), there was tension and looming fear of what Darkseid was up to... I enjoyed meeting species who worshipped the others as gods, and the hijinks they got up to getting used to one another. However by issue 12 (SPOILERS) Azrael, Starfire, and Cyborg are turned into Darkseids new (new) gods, then the plot takes a whole new turn (and yes it is a new volume but hear me out...)

Basically jess gets killed by Darkseid, only for her corpse to be transported to a ship on the edge of the universe along with Queen Blackfire, and a black cube (it’s an Eskaton, a creature that’s aim is to kill Darkseid FYI). Basically from this point forward it becomes a time travel story and we see nothing of Azrael and Starfire for multiple issues, and only see Cyborg like once an issue... only to prop up jess.

We then see Jess lead a new team of Her, Blackfire, Dex Starr, Orion, Hax, Gamma Knife, and Epoch. Now, I actually like this group together, they grate on each other, but all pull together, they have interesting interactions and honestly were fun to read.

Long story short Epoch was basically building a time machine to try and stop Darkseid from ending the universe. He recruits the others to help finish it while holding Darkseid off. But it turns out this is too much for Epoch, as he has not thought of every possible thing that might go wrong with his changes, and Jess calls him out. He gets annoyed, sends Jess back in time, then dies at Darkseids hand anyway (Don’t worry, Jess comes back within an issue lol).

I can’t be arsed to go into every detail but the team use some time travel to bring back the core 4 from the past prior to their turning into new gods, and they fight Darkseid who retreats... (I’m positive this is to set up his use in a next major multi-issue release). Jess goes to see the Green Lanterns, Orion and Azrael takes the newbies to Darkseid, and Cyborg and Starfire go to warn the justice league on Earth.

So this summary leaves absolutely loads out, but I don’t want to make this longer than it already is. A lot of plot happens in very few issues. But overall, the last 3rd compacted loads in a very short amount of time. They obviously had loads of ends to tie but not enough issues to do it justice as they had been cancelled.

For example, we never go back to those planets to see them freed from the beginning. Never see how Tamaran fares (what’s up with Kory no longer being bothered by #25 about going to Tamaran lol. That was her whole reason for going to the ghost sector in the first place).

But to be honest, I can live with this, they had a limited time to tell a story and they did their best. The biggest gripe for me was the characters...

Jess:

Basically this story became about her. Justice League Odyssey became Jessica Cruz Odyssey. I do like her a lot, and I liked seeing the progression of her character, but it saddens me they writers obviously favoured her at the expense of the other 3. Why can’t we lift her and the others up. A lot of the comic became “I’m right because the protagonist to progress the plot” and often was right over other characters. Also the whole omega power thing was funny and weird. “The ring was crushed into my hand and absorbed the omega blast from Darkseid so now I absorbed the residual energy which brought me back to life...”

Cyborg:

He got the 2nd best development in the story. Like he does fall for Darkseids plan, but somehow because he is able to have this internal struggle with himself when changed he can communicate with Jess and switch sides. Him and Jess apparently connect a lot, which is nice I guess, but also a bit weird. Like we only saw you working together for a 3rd of the issues so their bond sort of feels unearned to me (Yes they had that mind message for a bit but Jess couldn’t have been 100% sure that was really him and not her own thought, she can’t use that to get close to him). In my opinion that bond should have been shown with Kory more (they do this at the beginning, then it falls off teh radar.)

But yet again we barely see him after his transformation, I would have liked to have seen more of him (and maybe we would have if it weren’t for the cancellation). There is very little character arc apart from him fighting through his godly body.

Starfire:

Oh my sweet summer child. WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU. Okay, advantages are that she wasn’t sexualised (I can’t believe I had to note that down as a positive). She had some of her characteristic emotional beliefs and that she can be hot headed. That was great! However, they also kept referring to her as a mess. Like towards the end of act 1 I can see that because she was succumbing to the power. But they say she’s been a mess since the beginning and it didn’t feel seen through her actions.

She gets supposedly healed in I think #3, but that was Darkseid, so she wasn’t healed at all, just negative symptoms subsided. They never revisit this dodgy old man who evidently doesn’t take the power away from her... Like lets have a convo on that.

I don’t know, they just make her out to be completely non-functional for most of this, even before she succumbs to her new powers, and I didn’t like it. Especially because she yet again had exactly 0 arc to get over this supposed negative and become a better person from the experience. Also... her and Blackfire trying to kill each other, then the other being horrified when they both do it was just badly written. They’ve been at this tug of war for a long time now guys... They should have spats but not keep trying to kill each other.

Also, where was her struggle against the control of Darkseid? Why is she not strong enough? Nope instead we saw New God Starfire for one issue, ad Blackfire killed her immediately.

Tldr: WHERE WAS THE CHARATER DEVELOPMENT? She was just a plot device...

Azrael:

Basically similar stuff to Starfire. He was an interesting character that was reduced to a plot device that got killed off for most of the latter part of the series. He did not get a decent character progression (the more he was under control by Darkseid the nicer of a guy he became lol).

He nearly had this good b-plot of him and Rapture (somebody who kinda got underused), but then after act 1 that was thrown out for Jess and the time travellers lol.

He also in my mind got no character development and really didn’t need to be there.

Basically Starfire and Azrael could have been replaced by 2 other heroes, and it would have very little impact on the plot. Which is really my biggest grievance. I can handle dodgy plots if the characters go through an experience that makes them better heroes. But we saw none of that. Overall it was a shame. There was some great potential, but the core characters were plot devices to prop Jess up (and I do like Jess), which sucked. I’m hoping wherever the characters go next they underused ones get some proper time to shine.

#justice league odyssey #starfire #Cyborg #Jessica Cruz #Azrael #Yes I am a Starfire stan and you can fight me #She has barely had a good story in a decade now #I'M TIRED

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bladekindeyewear · 4 years

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HS^2 bloggin’ upd8 2020-01-17

Alright, morningblogging yesterday’s 2020-01-17 upd8 to Homestuck^2 let’s go! Spoiler-free again. I kinda don’t want even the next chapter names image-spoiled above the cut anymore so I’m going to have to figure out WHAT to put above the cut in these liveblog posts for visual reinforcement... a unique silly icon? Going back once I’m done with the upd8 and posting something non-spoilery but weird-looking out of context?

Eh, can’t be assed. Just know that after this I’m going to pony up for the Patreon commentary and skim it for anything plot-useful to y’all (in a separate post). Let’s get started.

Okay, what’s next: Any bonuses? Oh, none! Phew. Unless those are coming faster too and just staggered differently, which would mean I gotta overcome my irrational pre-Homestuck-reading anxiety even MORE often. :T

No Homestuck you don’t GET to ask how my-- ah, right. :P

(FYI, HS^2 has been good to my emotions so far, quite a balm for the epilogues, so once I START reading I’m usually fine; but after being hurt so badly how could I possibly convince my lizard brain to trust it until it’s right in front of me? Seriously, just hearing that the upd8 has landed messes me up a bit until I come fix it by reading w/ y’all here.)

Okay, so whose feelings? As much as I’ve been waiting for Jade, I hope this isn’t about Jade.

> ==>

Ah fuck, we’re finally with the Pursuit Crew. Bracing myself. That means we get to see probably sleeping Jade ( :C ), full-swing DaveKat (approving nod), the first canon onscreen look at masculine-mode Roxy (<3), a probably pretty pissed off Kanaya (possibly either the feelings target, the one Saying How Are Your Feelings, or both), and uh... did they drag Callie along? Or leave her back there with her meta freakout? Probably left her back there, but... hm.

Let me turn up the brightness on this screen to sear these next pages into my retinas. (Also, it feels odd to still be using a four-person “==>” for these, although if Jade is still asleep the numbers might fit on both ends... :c )

> ==>

I don’t think Dad is in the spacefaring business, so this is probably one of Jake’s shittier spaceship designs.

> ==>

...well that’s a touch disturbing. Is that a Jade-occupied bed or are those just pillows?

Oh what the fresh fanfic’y heck is this command.

> i enter.

Okay that’s great. I got a kick out of that.

JADE [in calliope red]: the prince’s power grows.

--but that’s not. That explains the narrative command text, it’s alt!callie talking through a still conked-out Jade. Please let her wake up between speak-throughs, please tell me you’ve learned that trick?? I already know you’re gonna pull an “oh she was asleep pretty much all of those THREE YEARS OF TRAVEL” thing on me and that’s hard fucking enough to deal with.

KARKAT: JESUS CHRIST!

He’s actually using the full curse correctly, huh?

...These commands. Guess part of the puzzle is how much alt!Callie is being typically morbid and how much she might actually be wising up enough to get a kick out of this.

> the knight of blood falls.

DAVE: dude can you chill for like even a single fucking second DAVE: also are you ok

Has CallieJade chilled for even a single second this entire trip?? Is he asking just if Karkat’s okay or Jade too???

--yeah I’m overblowing things out of nervousness. Just wait and see a bit, boots.

Alt!Callie has at least learned to be more of a smartass:

> karkat is characteristically appreciative of the alarm call.

Shirt trade Karkat, nice. And uh, Jade’s dress sure is a... dress. Hm.

(Did alt!Callie alchemize adjustments to did she just luck out to have a red-symbol’d Bec belt and accent leggings? I’d prefer the former, because as much as it would be acceptable within Homestuck proper, using the transition between the epilogues and this new-author’d work to just HAPPEN to give her a fitting outfit without an excuse via providence is kind of lazy.)

KARKAT: OH, PARDON THE FUCK OUT OF ME FOR OVERREACTING A LITTLE WHEN MY GOOD FRIEND "POSSESSED JADE" BUSTS INTO MY RESPITEBLOCK AT 5 AM! KARKAT: NEXT TIME I’LL JUST PULL THE COVERS BACK AND LET HER CLIMB IN! JADE: i am uninterested in that scenario. KARKAT: GREAT! POSSESSED JADE ISN’T EVEN HORNY! HOW FUCKED UP IS THAT?

...please let that mean he’s not used to her being possessed all the time and she wakes up sometimes. PLEASE.

DAVE: but im pretty sure i locked that door JADE: i unlocked it with my mind. DAVE: fuck KARKAT: FANTASTIC. JADE: the prince’s powers are growing, but so are mine.

Dave, I’m pretty sure regular-ass no-Green-Sun Space powers can flip a few lock tumblers too. (--though, I guess from context this was a Jakeship technolock. Confirmation on the ship’s bad taste in design. --I think I’m foggily remembering it said in the Epilogues that they took one of Jake’s ships just like Dirk did, too... man, being depressed so much by the Epilogues sure took a lot out of my ability to recall them decently.)

KARKAT: LIKE YOU DON’T FLOAT AROUND LIKE A CREEPY PIECE OF SHIT ALL DAY AS IT IS?

God DAMN IT she’s been asleep and possessed the whole fucking time.

> sleep is abandoned, coffee sought.

More obligatory DaveKat being cute, somehow only emphasized by the embarrassing glowing-with-power observer who doesn’t really get any of it.

Ah, here we go:

> the rogue is also awake.

Oh huh. Cool!

Hero outfit, understated... her his choice of heart-shades color-coded to stand out from Dave more to avoid further mistaken identity cases. Works well! (Holy shit I only JUST remembered at the end to go back and correctly gender Roxy as him, that was close. I blame the epilogues for a lack of visual reinforcement; I shouldn’t have as much trouble soon enough. Seriously, I don’t remember ANYTHING without visual reinforcement, I think that’s why I remember so much of Homestuck proper so clearly.)

KARKAT: OH SHIT, THERE SHE IS! I DIDN’T EVEN HEAR HER FOLLOW US! ROXY: sometimes a girls just got to get her drift on i guess ROXY: it be like that

ilu roxy.

I missed Roxy so much, you guys. I need more of him remarking on all this crazy shit if I’m gonna stay sane though all this. (And I need more of him and AWAKE JADE kicking ass independently or together if I’m going to continue to believe there’s justice in the world.)

> ==>

We rarely saw Rose drinking anything but the rare coffee in canon, but I think Kanaya would have gotten her plenty into tea, yes. Or at the very least, wanting the aesthetic of drinking tea with Kanaya would have gotten Rose into tea even if it never crossed Kanaya’s mind to try the stuff.

ROXY: well i mean who knows what she drinks now ROXY: dirk probs tossed the coffee machine out the space window right away ROXY: dude doesnt "believe" in "substances" > the prince is contemplated for a moment in silence.

FUCK, Dirk can see the narrative all the way out here??? No wonder alt!Callie’s forced to have possession turned on 24/7. That’s fucking disappointing. How the hell are we going to get any proper Jade time with THAT hanging over our heads? She’d only be able to do anything when Dirk’s knocked out, and maybe not even THEN!

I was virtually promised more of actual non-asleep Jade getting shit done in HS^2. Now there’s an even longer wait on it than I expected. This sucks.

(EDIT: BOY did I misread that link line. Thinking “is contemplated” meant is sitting contemplating, when it meant "is being contemplated by everyone here". That was dumb of me.)

*clicks that next link*

Oh my goodness, Roxy joined the Bird Hair Crew. It makes him look like a fucking asshole but I kind of love it.

KARKAT: IS THERE MILK?

I can’t believe Karkat is okay with drinking milk. --yes, culturally Trolls are more comfortable with animal excretions than we are, but you would’ve thought years of railing against Equius would have purged any tolerance the idea of milk from his psyche.

I guess Dave introduced him to cereal, and it was all over from there.

DAVE: this is more like a castle DAVE: a castle of idk DAVE: twenty something ennui

Sounds like a relatable mood. Especially considering Dirk probably decided to conquer reality out of almost nothing but twenty-something ennui.

Alright. You aren’t going to turn Kanaya into an alcoholic or anything on us are you?

> the knight of time seeks a sylph...

--this is the shittiest shipboard starship aesthetic.

> ...and finds her, momentarily.

WOW that looks fucking depressed. :(

> ==>

...okay you know what? Never mind. That outfit has wrapped straight back around into Trying Too Hard and is now hilarious.

DAVE: you ever feel like our whole lives are eventually gonna end up like this DAVE: just blasting through space on a sweeps long journey to ""somewhere"" chasing after or running from some vague enemy thats sometimes a god modded pet dog and sometimes your dad DAVE: without the faintest fucking idea of whats going to happen when we get there DAVE: thats a little specific but you know what i mean

Why do you think the epilogues upset us so much? We thought we’d won free of that bullshit.

> ==>

Oh jesus christ that’s the most depressingly sad I’ve ever seen Kanaya drawn. :C

--Karkat got you to watch Serendipity? That’s amazing, Dave.

KANAYA: You Arent Reminding Me Of Her As I Rarely Think Of Anything Else KANAYA: I Close My Eyes And I See Her KANAYA: I Keep Them Open And I See Her

Fuck.

Y’know how little showing these two in love and actually HAPPY together we’ve seen in this entire comic and its subworks? Despite them having spent at least a few happy years together we only saw in tiny screenclips? And how Candy alluded super hard that they most likely couldn’t get that in this real timeline where shit’s going down?

Seriously, FUCK. You could at least pretend to give us some hope, here.

Oh no, don’t ask for the nursery story, Dave. Unless it turns out to be a funny one or a Rose twist on an old story or something. Which it probably is, I should stop worrying.

> ==>

KANAYA: Oh Its A Wriggler Story About A Young Prince And The Beloved Flower He Loved And Lost DAVE: flower DAVE: like a plant KANAYA: Its A Fairytale Dave DAVE: right KANAYA: A Singular Wild Rose He Failed To Cherish When He Had Her KANAYA: And His Journey Of Discovering What She Meant To Him All Along KANAYA: Culminating In A New Quest To Find Her And Win Her Back

Dirk you PIECE OF SHIT did you rewrite the narrative of the fucking STORIES SHE TOLD CHILDREN?!?? Does the fact that alt!Callie is only in the present mean he can rewrite ANY past event we didn’t literally SEE??? FUCK you. Seriously fuck all of this.

Please tell me she was kidding just then, or realizes there’s fucking something wrong with what she’s saying and getting angry or.

(EDIT: shoutyourporpoise replied: "Hey, idk If you picked up on this, but the 'nursery story' Rose told to the wigglers is just The Little Prince, which is maybe a BIT early for them to read, but I don't think that's a case of Dirk changing the narrative; its just Rose being Too Adult as usual." Oh, damn, I didn't even CATCH that it was that story. That makes all of this a lot more forgivable, even if pretty unforgivably leaning into the fiction that Dirk used to brainwash and kidnap her. Maybe that's exactly why it worked -- fiction, a story so blazed into the public consciousness? Hm. Thanks, shoutyourporpoise.)

KANAYA: But In A Way I Feel As If It Is the Greater Universe Trying To Tell Me Something

Mother fuck I’m even going to have to see our protagonists warped by Dirk when they’re ostensibly FULLY SHIELDED aren’t I. There’s only so much of that I would be able to take, you know.

KANAYA: It May Simply Stem From My Longing To See Her Again And How Much Is Indicative Of Something More Sinister KANAYA: She Is A Goddess Of Light And The Only Of Her Kind We Know Is Alive After All KANAYA: Maybe Shes Wrested Dominion Of The Entire Concept In All Its Appearances Within This Frame Of Reference

Hm. Well, it being a product of Rose’s ascension instead of Dirk’s is possibly a more charitable take, with Ultimate Rose projecting the delusion enforced on her backward, visible to past Rose’s Sight when she isn’t paying attention and thus paving the way for Dirk to paradoxically exploit that “ideal” as something Lighty and Important and “Perfect”. I still don’t fucking like it though.

> ==>

DAVE: sorry i know you say you got your badass monster powers but kanaya you look tired as hell DAVE: not that im tryna psyche you or whatever but youre waxing poetic in the dark which i guess is maybe on brand but still

Yyyep.

DAVE: unless terezi is lurking in the vents somewhere and now that i bring that up its actually not out of the question so im kind of gonna be thinking about that one for a while

Pffff.

DAVE: youre the only person i know whos still basically the same as when i met you

--Which is kind of going to have to change, right? She’s got some other cosmic purpose ready to change her a little more than she changed pre-human-troll-meetup, you’d think.

> ==>

Cute as hell.

> ==>

KANAYA: How Are Your Feelings

There’s the title drop. I’d think Dave’s doing pretty well, considering? Still fucked over by Dirk betraying and tricking Rose away who he’s been close with all his life, but.

> ==>

DAVE: except sometimes your best friend disappears and your other best friend goes into a ghost coma and your third best friend fucks off to space with your dad DAVE: the dude youve spent the last 7 years convincing yourself isnt an egomaniacal anime villain DAVE: and who isnt actually lying in wait to completely decimate your life and your emotions and shit

Ah... yeah. A little worse than my casual list, huh? Forgot that Jade vanishing into a possession-coma for THREE FUCKING YEARS is going to be hard on people inside the comic too, fuck.

DAVE: maybe it was naive to think that a bunch of twenty something trauma victims could run a society

I was honestly surprised they TRIED to run society at all. Jasp even just highlighted a big reason why not in the bonuses.

DAVE: cool how earth c existed for centuries then we show up and manage to ruin society in seven fucking years

Well, the trolls got THEIR lesson on why they didn’t deserve to rule over their new universe like gods; I guess some of y’all needed that lesson too?

DAVE: every serious conversation i have inevitably falls apart into riffing on a casual acquaintances ass

True.

Dammit, Dave didn’t feel like he could just be Some Guy even on Earth C. :(

> ==>

...don’t think I’ve forgotten that nursery story, though. I don’t want to think that it was something that ACTUALLY past happened, especially not without manipulation. Like maybe past Rose was foreseeing the false purpose that Dirk wrote for her or the like, a cooperative misunderstanding between the two instead of Dirk or Rose literally reaching back in time.

> meanwhile...

KARKAT: WAIT, WHY THE FUCK AM I EVEN ASKING? HE’S OBVIOUSLY NOT FINE. KARKAT: ARE ANY OF US? ARE YOU? ROXY: not rly KARKAT: EXACTLY.

--Oh right. I remember that Callie and Roxy were going reasonably steady in Meat even though it was only alluded to, she didn’t freak out and stay awol or what have you. That’s good to remember. But it means Roxy deliberately left her behind to go on this dangerous quest, for years. :C

KARKAT: KANAYA BARELY EVEN TALKS, CALLIOPE WON’T LEAVE THEIR CABIN, JADE JUST FLOATS AROUND LIKE A CREEPY BALLOON THAT’S MOSTLY MADE OF HAIR.

Oh, SHIT. I should have read one line further. They DID bring her. Alt!Callie being here too must really FUCK with her. ...maybe she can actually learn to accept that alternate way her life might’ve played out, though?

KARKAT: THE REALLY FUCKED UP THING IS I MIGHT BE THE MOST OKAY OUT OF ALL OF US, WHICH IS HOW YOU KNOW SHIT HAS REALLY GONE GLOBES UP.

Quite true.

ROXY: ur kinda an intense dude anybody ever tell u that KARKAT: NO.

Pff.

> ==>

KARKAT: AGAINST PRETTY MUCH ALL ODDS, AND DESPITE ME NOT DESERVING ANY OF IT, I ENDED UP GETTING PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING I WANTED. KARKAT: OVER AND OVER AGAIN. KARKAT: SOMETIMES IT ALMOST FEELS LIKE WHATEVER SLATHERING MONSTROSITY OF A COSMIC HELLBEAST THAT PUT ALL THIS SHIT INTO MOTION...ACTUALLY LIKES ME?

Well, if you want to blame Lord English for instance... we never saw Caliborn and Karkat interact much, but the parallels between the two were drawn so severely that Caliborn was basically the idealized, multiverse-threatening Ultimate Kismesis that he’d always dreamed of. And operated against him without him even ever quite realizing it.

If a level of “respect” went from Caliborn to Karkat, too, from his Lord-Englishy vision nigh-omnipresent, then this outcome isn’t very surprising at all.

> ==>

(I don’t quite feel I get why Roxy shifted to this exasperated-Dave expression, but I get logically that he’d been waiting for Karkat to make a breakfast choice... Homestuck proper rarely pulled a “last line said corresponds to next-panel’s expression” without either leaving the conversation blank or having the NEXT lines of the conversation reinforce it, to prevent this inelegant misunderstanding. Andrew was really damned talented in getting his point across visually, in that regard. Just like, that careful visual intent delivery.)

Alright, I guess that’s it for this short upd8! Meeting the pursuit crew was both more and less difficult than I expected. Hopefully I get desensitized a bit as the characters continue to feel semi-almost-sorta-fine.

I have NO idea how this group is gonna work as a proper crew when we get to whatever weird other-players’ session this shit is going down in, though.

#Homestuck #hs2 #Homestuck Liveblog #upd8 #bladekindeyewear #blastyoboots #spoiler #spoilers #shoutyourporpoise

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hootpoop12 · 5 years

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Theory time

Alright, so we all know through the context of this being written in a fanfiction/a03 format that this is all a play about canon VS fanon. What is a little hard to decipher is what are the things that are plays off fanon and which qualities are the true aspects of the characters(canon)? ANYWAY here are just a few of the things I am ASSUMING are plays off fanon based on my years in the fandom and sheer obsession of consuming this shit (trigger warning for everything taken place in the epilogue FYI):

-Dave: I think some of the main aspects of fanon influencing his epilogue version is intertwined with “woobifying”, “Slow burn”, and even possibly even “sexuality”.

-Woobifying is a fandom concept of reducing a character to “a cinnamon roll too pure for this world” someone you wanna baby (often applied to trans guy characters whether canon or headcanoned). This one is a bit of reach I’ll admit because it DOES makes sense that after years of living with Karkat the dude would soften up but there were times in the epilogue even Dave admits he’s gotten softer and the dude just plain out was very passive. In my time I’ve seen tons of depictions of Dave as a lot more emotional than shown in the comic or a lot more woobified in fics (like in meteor fics where he often has very dramatic emotional outbursts) By the way this is NOT me shitting on you if you like viewing Dave in that way because a lot people with trauma relate to him and use him for “cathartic release”(me fucking too lol). It’s more a guess/observation of maybe why he’s developed in this way due to the comic now being a strange sponge absorbing all fanon, good and bad, into it weird ass grasp.

-Slow burn is likely the trope that plays into why the hell it took so fucking long for him AND Karkat to admit their feelings. If you have literally ever consumed Davekat content I’m sorry but 99% of it is slow burn lmao every meteor fic is pining, every coffee shop AU is the budding of a lifelong partnership, and every Harry potter furry inflation pwp crossover WHATEVER fic is 10k words building of sexual tension like......To bring their other relationships in canon into this we can see that Dave was able to flirt with Jade and Terezi and entered a relationship with them at a pretty normal rate WHICH can totally be attributed to the fact he views them as girls and himself as heterosexual so was much more comfortable making a move- sure. Looking at Karkat, however, and you see the dude is a little shy about romance sure but he was still able to flirt with Terezi and make awkward moves on John so like......I can’t help but to feel like something outside (us?) was influencing them?

-Sexuality is another sort of reach but I think it’s something to consider. In terms of the comic....when exactly DID canon end? You could argue at the end of act 7.......or the moment John used his retcon powers to create a new timeline. Fandom Dave (on the tumblr side at least) was usually consider queer and a lot people shipped Dave with another dude. Perhaps John going back and rewriting canon helped bring our influence over Dave’s sexuality into the comic? I remember finding out Davekat was canon and confirming my “Dave is bisexual” headcanon and just thinking in wonder how it felt like Hussie was plucking my desires straight from my head and incorporating them. Which made me HAPPY by the way. If this is anywhere even near truth it’s not like he didn’t do a fantastical and natural job of incorporating it into the comic which shows how “incorporated fanon” is not a totally horrendous thing. The comics always done it with fandom memes and such.

-Rose Lalonde. Not too sure what fanon influenes were brought onto her to be honest? In candy she was almost like a creepy stepford wife which is. Bizarre to me. Rose is the most contrary and rebellious character so seeing her settle down like that (OR FUCKING DOING SOME GUYS LAUNDRY) is a little strange. In meat she insists that she is an individual despite being married but that could have EASILY been Dirk’s influence? Also her biggest fandom stereotypes off the top of my head is Know-it-all smug meddler, alcoholic, and elegant. Really none of that was applied so still need to consider her more. The most damning thing however is where is all the piss?? If you look at the amount of piss kink rose fanfiction one has to wonder......and I can’t even continue this joke.

-Jade Harley: Gonna keep it real with ya’ll. I feel like this epilogue gave Jade Harley way more character. She wasn’t given much in canon except for lonely silly girl so it makes sense to me why she’d grow up desperate for physical bonds and inserting herself into relationships. I liked her telling John that she wasn’t some princess in a tower anymore cause it shows she KNOWS how everyone has always viewed her and that’s a little sad. As for tropes around her character.....yep people pleaser, silly girl, hippie, shoved aside for literally any other character......Need to think about her more, too.

-Jake fucking English. What even is there to say? He more than anyone was influenced by fanon and it doesn’t take too much thought to see how. In a lot of fandom jokes and in fanfiction he is basically treated as a stupid piece of meat. I genuinely don’t read much fanfiction about him except from a trust few fans who I know care about him and will write him in a full rounded way. In any case we see a single moment in which Jake has this oppressive narrative taken away from him and it was when he was talking to Dave and Karkat during their election conversation. If that wasn’t already hard enough to read we can look back at the implied rape that took place with him in the beginning of Jane’s relationship with him or over the course of it. John, the one person supposedly not influenced by fanon as he’s still tied to the comic via retcon powers, is even the one to tell people that Jake is basically being raped. So yeah. Good times. I’ll get to Dirk in terms of Jake in a moment L M A O. Imagine that being the saddest lmao you ever just read.

-Jane Crocker: Welp hope you weren't a Jane fan lmao. What can I say except it FEELS like all the subliminal messaging really got to her and she’s like......warped by the condesce? I think if in the comic they showed more of her political takes then maybe this wouldn’t have come as such a shock. Like, I flat out am disgusted by her character now? She’s a facist, abusive, rapist(that was hint, unfortunately)? WOW good take homestuck writting staff?? I mean I know one of you used to write like incest pedo rape porn but aight??????????? Anyways in fanon Jane is treated as the girl who gets in the way of dirkjake so kinda that early 2000s bitchy yaoi girl brand, boring person in the background, or the hottie. They obviously kept saying she was “easy on the eyes” so there’s the hottie trope but that’s about it.

-Roxy Lalonde: Out of ALL the Alphas they fucking escaped with their goddamn dignity PFFT. So in terms of tropes: trans Roxy, alcoholic, and flirty “boy obsessed”.

-So with trans Roxy this is like Dave’s sexuality thing I discussed where a widely celebrated headcanon influenced canon and that not necessarily a BAD thing. Like I said, this theory is that canon is just absorbing fanon for better and for worse. I saw people were bummed they weren’t a trans girl but I am actually down with this for two reasons. 1) being all those memes “what’s your gender?” “the void” and 2) a part being friends with someone who’s trans is.....not being used to seeing them as the gender they actually are but taking the time to learn these new unfamiliar pronouns- and get the fuck over it. It’s their choice and you just gotta accept it despite your feelings.

-alcoholic Roxy was not at all incorporated which is the biggest fanon about her (not as much in recent years thankfully) so honestly? Kinda diminishes my argument. It’s not like the writers were worried that tossing out their progress as person was bad writing lol look at Dirk.

-Flirty Rox. In candy they were SUPER fast moving in their relationship with John and despite towards the end they said that Dirk dying made them wanna do something with their life I just....don’t buy it? Mainly because john who is uninfluenced by the fanon tropes even noticed how fast they were moving and how stepford agreeable wife she’d become.

-Dirk Strider. Aight. So. Here we go. fandom tropes are controlling puppet master, abusive, and cold/uncaring.

-Dirk is a naturally controlling man, yes. Every version of himself struggles with this, yes. Even if we work on issues does not mean old flaws will never leak out, yes. However, after in the comic itself we see conversations with some of his closest companions and the effort he was making and ready to continue making was completely obliterated. Dirk is someone who takes his projects a little too seriously so why would he toss out this one- the most important one in his life? ANYWAY........Dirk in canon is shown that he’s also not great at multi-tasking or really anything that he really makes himself out to be AMAZING at. Don’t get me wrong I actually view Dirk as a complement dude cause he did get all the alphas into the session in a smoothish fashion (yes hal is him so it still counts) but, like, even when Dirk sounds like an AWESOME engineer to Jake he even admits that he basically had the future’s technology to help and it wasn’t that impressive. So now he’s claiming he’s the BEST? Wack.

-Abusive Dirk......The sheer amount of people in the fandom who still misconstrue his character as heartless and the sheer amount of fanfiction of sociopathic Dirk might’ve done something. If he is truly becoming his “ultimate self” and he is heart aspect.....all these fanfiction splinters are getting applied to him as well, ya’ll. INCLUDING one of the epilogues writers who literally used to write fanfiction depicting Dirk as a brutally abusive and manipulative version of himself. With the similarities between their big fic and the homestuck epilogue I can’t help but to wonder if they’re subtly trying to incorporate that? After all Alt Calliope goes into detail about how the writer/narrator is IMPORTANT and when one is someone who enjoys viewing dirk as such....well who’s to say pfft Everything about how Dirk treated Jake was some of the most shocking to me. How did you get the guy taking most of the blame for a relationship gone wrong to a man who in a very rapey way makes someone obsessed with him, stupid, and unable to ever receive respect? Horrifying stuff to read, lads. It makes much more sense to me if you look at this fandom’s perceptions on DirkJake. My god there are some bad takes and there’s a whole section of the fandom who was hellbent on making the ship out to be the most problematic ship to ever occur. So whereas in the comic you have Dave pointing out that both sides had issues and everyone was willing to talk things out you had half the fandom insist that it was all Dirk’s fault and he just COMPLETLY forced himself on an unwanting Jake. Yep, sound familiar?

-cold uncaring. yep tons of depictions of Dirk being cruel to his friends and family and sorry but go reread Homestuck I don’t even know what to tell you if you actually believe that. There’s literally nothing here I could write to help you. As if the whole thing about his character isn’t about how the people around him helped prevent him becoming like that and he hasn’t said in a dozen different ways how much he loves them and wants to treat them better. Get out of here with that shit lmao

I guess all can be said about Dirk at this point is either 1) the absorption of the vast amount of terrible Dirk depictions from ascending to his ult self has warped him 2) he’s playing a villain just because Homestuck being over means not existing which TERRIFIES him and existing is a higher priority than treating the people around him right or 3) caliborn influence

1) For the ascending I’m pretty sure this is the theory that’s gonna be right

2) playing the villain is probably not what it is because on twitter all of the writers are saying the transphobia is literally just him and they’re boosting a lot of theories say “this is a story about friends you love disappointing you and you moving on” So. Yeah. Take that depressing nugget of information. (I literally will be fucking dead inside if that really is where this story is taken. No joke I will probably quit this fandom lol don’t know if any of you really know how big that is for me to say

3) Caliborn? eh maybe who the fuck knows after typing that last bullet point out I’m too bummed to continue this hah

#Homestuck #Homestuck epilogue #upd8 #dirk strider #personal #fyi I love people who tell me when they disagree so if this seems like utter bullshit do not hold back

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serceleste · 6 years

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baby’s first convention

So last Sunday I went to my first convention! It was super last minute, I’d thought about going but then got overwhelmed with RL and mostly forgot about it. But then the work friends who were going were working with me Saturday and were all, we wish you were going too, and I was all, I wish I was too, so before you know it I’d bought a ticket lol. It was at Navy Pier and the weather was great, cool but sunny, so all the walking around was nice.

I looked into who the guests were Saturday night so I could be prepared, I brought some of my comics to get signed. \o/ I knew I wanted to meet Tim Seeley, whose Nightwing was the first Nightwing I met, and Ashley Witter, whose Doctor Aphra cover art I adore. Sadly my absoulte fave Aphra cover is the Aphra/Hera one that was still sitting on my desk at work, lol, so I “settled” for this amazing Aphra/Sana one.

I was super nervous because I’m an awkward shy dork, we were standing huddled in front of Tim Seeley’s booth for long enough for one of my friends to be like, ‘I’ll ask him for you!’ But then I worked up the nerve to approach him, and he apologized and was like, ‘I thought you guys were trying to see Chris Evans’, lol, because the photo/autograph area was set up behind the booths. I was like, no, I’m just shy and awkward, so he shook my hand and said ‘hi, I’m Tim’, and he was super nice, and I think he was genuinely flattered when I told him he was my intro to Nightwing.

It was only 5 bucks so I bought a trade for Tim Seeley to sign too. He and Ashley Witter were both doing sketches but sadly I was too broke for anything as cool as that. (Though now I know for the future I need to calm myself down and spend less on comics so I can buy some art; this time I just bought art for my friend who couldn’t come. And it was printed on a bottle opener so useful! LOL.)

And I bought some other stuff, my friend and I picked out good Winter Soldier ones and then decided between us who got what, lol, as you can see I made out with my ship, and then I found a Poe variant I didn’t have! I bought another 5 buck trade as well, I didn’t take a pic, and then the Rebellion and Empire pins from this really amazing cosplay booth, they had lightsabers and Cap’s shield and so much awesome stuff. (Later I saw a girl who’d had Chris Evans sign her high quality Cap shield and I died of jealousy.)

There was so much amazing cosplay and I was a little bummed I hadn’t pulled out my Black Widow costume to wear, but it’s also hard to go to the bathroom in, ha. I just wore my semi-cosplay Scarlet Witch jacket. We took pics with the 501st Legion and I got to hold a blaster, and I took one pretending to open the TARDIS door too. :D

The day we went there was a panel with Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen so we got to see that! We got to move up into the empty VIP area so our seats were pretty good. They were so lovely, really invested in their characters and just fun to listen to, I took some video and some pics, I posted a couple of them on Sunday. Highlights included Elizabeth having the revelation that Loki wasn’t just a comic, and Tom getting asked by a small child whether Loki was really dead, and Elizabeth (and Tom, a bit) talking about anxiety, which really meant a lot to me. Also Tom’s butt is fiiine in person, fyi. I wish I’d gotten a better angle but this will have to do, haha.

We got lost on our way to Navy Pier and had to call a Lyft and then we accidentally ended up in a scary tunnel on our walk back to the train station in the evening, lol, and I coveted so many things I couldn’t buy, and didn’t get a glimpse of Chris Evans or anyone else, and was too poor for photo ops, but all in all it was an amazing time, I had so much fun, I loved being surrounded by comics and nerddom, and now I have a better idea of how these things go so I won’t be quite so oblivious when Star Wars Celebration rolls around! (None of the three of us had been to a con before so we were periodically sad our con veteran friend couldn’t come and help us navigate!) Would con again. <3

#me #convention #tom hiddleston #elizabeth olsen #tim seeley #ashley witter #comics

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pkmnjesus · 7 years

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My experience/review watching Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! in theaters (NO SPOILERS)

The day has finally come...I WAS LOOKING FOWARD TO THIS ALL WEEK! After it was first announced in December 2016 that the 20th Pokémon movie would be paying homage to Ash’s origins, I GOT SUPER EXCITED! I was always updated with the news surrounding this film, and got excited every time new information came out (despite some negative reaction by some fans). You can tell by searching through my blog archive...so I pre-ordered the tickets by September, and got the earliest showing with the best seats in the house!

When the day finally came (which was yesterday lol), I got my good ol’ high school buddy to go with me, who was a fan of Pokémon and the anime. Of course, it was a special premiere day, and had to dress for the occasion by wearing my Ash Kalos hat, and the original Team Rocket shirt.

Now for my thoughts on the movie...is it my favorite out of all Pokémon movies? Nope, but it’s definitely up there! First off let me just say, that THERE ARE SOOOO MANY EASTER EGGS (a.k.a. past anime/movie references) IN THIS MOVIE! When I get the Blu-ray copy for this (hopefully there is one?), I will be going back to multiple scenes pausing so many shots!

Anyway, the movie overall was really awesome and a fun adventure to watch! It was (as advertised) a retelling of Ash’s journey starting out as a Pokémon trainer, and his road to becoming a Pokémon Master. The ultimate goal in this movie was to see Ho-Oh after it left its Rainbow Wing for Ash to pick up. To be honest, I’m not really sure if majority of the movie even takes place in the Kanto region o_O A couple nostalgic scenes were re-done beautifully, and teary :’( Some of those scenes really took me back to my childhood watching the old episodes in my VHS player. It wasn't exactly as portrayed in the canon anime, which makes this alternative universe really interesting to think about Ash’s journey. The most notable thing I would have to say about this movie is Charmander’s development. It’s really surprising how different it is from the disobedient one we knew when it evolved as a Charmeleon. At one point of the movie (I won’t say much), Ash really did something UNCHARACTERISTIC of him that really caught me off guard with his Pokémon and friends. Then again this is an AU, so I shouldn't be surprised if his attitude is not exactly like the character I grew up with. Definitely keep your eyes on it when watching!

One of my favorite parts was definitely towards the climax when Ash was is in this BIZARRE but familiar environment that really didn’t seem to fit when you usually watch Pokémon (you’ll have to see it to find out). Again SO MANY REFERENCES caught my eye during that scene, and it doesn't just apply to Pokémon. But I’m pretty sure what EVERYONE in the theater was shocked about, EVEN ME, was what happened between Ash and Pikachu at the very end of the film...very touching and very cute is all I can say. One final thing I would like to say is THE ENDING + CREDITS SCENE WAS A BLESSING. I WILL NEED TO GIF THOSE WHEN THE DVD COMES OUT (ᗒᗨᗕ)

As for the characters, the main supporting stars take spotlight! Verity and Sorrel...LOVE THEM! A lot of people might say how rushed their characters were rushed, but it was a 90+ minute movie and they could only do so much. Ash is the main star, and most of the story should revolve around him, so I honestly think both they had enough time to show off who they are, and what their purpose is in the film. Besides both of them being from Sinnoh, Sinnoh Confirmed their backstories...OH MY GOD BRO! I may got spoiled beforehand why Verity was traveling alone with her Piplup (this Piplup really gave me a lot of vibes similar to Dawn’s Piplup), but I DID NOT anticipate one of Sorrel’s flashback scenes which pretty much broke everyone’s heart in the cinema including mine (it’s still sad thinking about it ಥ_ಥ). Both have solid goals, although Verity’s seems to be more of a personal issue she wants to avoid. Also you definitely have to pay attention to Verity’s scenes since her personal issue with a certain someone wasn't directly given to the audience nor even Ash and Sorrel...just pay attention to detail 👀 Oh yeah, and if you’re a shipping type of person (multishippers to be exact), there’s definitely some cute scenes that Verity has with her companions ;) It just makes me wish that Verity and Sorrel can be future canon traveling partners because all three have great chemistry in the movie together as friends, even though if it was just for a short period. Their Ho-Oh adventure/journey is what really made them close.

Although Team Rocket’s involvement was very minimal in the movie, and was really there for comic relief background, it made me happy that they didn’t really interfere with the main storyline of Ash’s quest to find Ho-Oh. Ash and Pikachu developed well without their involvement, and writers probably didn’t want to put too much time giving a battle scene with them. Sure, I wish they could be used better, but better have them there than not at all right? They were still lovable as always with their goofy antics shown throughout the movie.

Cross, who served to be the big bad rival in the movie, really proved himself to be a real jerk. He is a bit like Paul, only thing is that Cross is more aggressive with his claims. He’s the type of trainer who is a self-centered brat and believes everything should go his way or else he does things by force. He does share a similarity with Ash though, but I’m not saying what it is since it is a spoiler. He served as the Alolan flavor of this movie since he was the only one carrying Gen. VII Pokémon. On the other hand we have the cute but mysterious new Pokémon, Marshadow that actually plays a bigger role in the movie than what you initially thought of. You’d think it’s just there all the time in the background, but you know something is going on as it lurks everywhere throughout the film.

Now there really isn’t that much to say about Bonjī since he only appears at the later part of the movie. I just wish that the old man had more of a backstory and a reason why he was chasing Ho-Oh all his life. Speaking of which, I was happy that the all of the Legendary Beasts get their big screen spotlight along with Ho-Oh. The other thing I wish was that we get to see what really happened with Ho-Oh in the end since the epic final battle of the movie was a bit questionable.

At the end of the day, me and my friend had such a blast! We even got the promotional TCG card of Ash’s Pikachu (FYI this is a really useful card in competitive play if you play the TCG) We both have A LOT of disagreements when it comes to the Pokémon anime, but both of us really loved and enjoyed the movie. Funny story, there were these 4 girls probably around my age (fangirls to be exact) beside me who were absolutely having a blast watching the movie. They screamed out of joy, shouted when Cross was being an ass, squealed in cute moments, cried in the sad moments, and basically were really into the scenes and characters like singing the Pokémon theme song at the beginning of the movie. Annoying? Yes, but I can’t really blame if they had a good time, and I think that’s the most important thing when you watch things you love with friends to share the moments with (though they probably could have toned it down a bit...I’m sure they were self-aware they were loud). My friend couldn't stand them, but I just tried to distract him with my noise since I didn’t want to ruin the girls’ fun time beside me. Plus I was a bit talkative too in several scenes of the film. Honestly I wanted to shout at the beginning of the movie because I WAS THAT HYPED, but didn’t want to embarrass my friend :p *Shoutout to the girl with the Charmander plush beside me at the AMC Fullerton theater if you’re reading this xD Hope you didn’t get too much tears on your plush from some emotional scenes in the movie (⋟﹏⋞)

The ultimate question is, should you go see this movie?

ABSOLUTELY! If you’re just a casual fan who doesn’t really keep up with the anime or movies after the original, you probably wouldn’t enjoy this movie that much. But I would say still watch it if you really love Pokémon! I count each movie as its own thing because none of them are really canon with the main series storyline. Movie 20 really stands out on its own because of how different it is from the rest, notably Ash’s journey getting a brand new fresh reboot, and the fact that there really isn’t an antagonist here who is trying to “rule the world” by getting an enormous power or whatever. This movie was a celebration of what the series has accomplished over the past 20 years.

However, this is just my opinion, and everyone has different tastes. All I’m saying is that you’ll only know how you truly feel when you see it! If you ask me, the best review of this movie is YOUR REVIEW. And from what I’m seeing, it really makes me happy to hear most of you guys are seeing it in theaters, and saying how much you enjoyed it. Let's support a great movie with a great dub! If you can’t, you can always wait for the DVD release and support them that way! If you want to watch the original Japanese version with English subtitles, be sure to buy the DVD too! Just support any way you can to show your appreciation and love for the Pokémon franchise.

As for my thoughts on spoilers, I will keep that to myself for the time being probably until a couple of weeks after the DVD release...will probably be making some GIFs or reblogging posts about it since I’m always late to the GIF making game LOL! However if you want to chat about it, feel free to message me OR join my Discord server and chat about it with other people who have seen the movie under the spoiler channel: https://discord.gg/mVSgxbp

Welp that was a long post! I’m pretty sure I have some text/grammar errors here, but whatever I’m tired and I want to get this posted already ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ My next long post will probably be my 2017 PokéAni highlights...’til then, PEACE

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ssaalexblake · 7 years

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major MAJOR SPOILERS for wonde rwoman ahead like proceed at ur own risk i basically just liveblogged the movie from memory SPOILERS

okay like i did not expect my first thought of this movie to be ‘wow i love bruce wayne’ and yet...

the thoughtful bat bastard

also i had no idea robin wright was in this movie and after 2 days of seeing house of cards gifsets of claire underwood being shady af it was jarring.

tho also like... THANK YOU for having a good age range on the amazonians??? like, normally a movie involving an paradise like island only populated by women will have nobody over the age of what, 23?? they didn’t even photoshop out any signs of age!!!! Age diversity isn’t something we talk about a lot, but it’s important too.

oh and i don’t know /much/ about armour but it came across to me as functional, true to the comics but not sexualised either so A+

smug diana’s face when she was told she wouldn’t wield the god killer lol

also, i liked the way they filmed the fight sequences? It was clear what was going on, but where it included the slowmo and almost snapshots of the scene it had a real comic book feel to it.

kinda confused as to where the big boats went tbh but?? okay. I like Steve.

also his entire reaction to the whole laso thing was priceless poor dude

also i know this wasn’t a direct inversion or anything, but /thank you/ for none of this ‘born sexy yesterday’ nonesense!!!! Steve! is the one undressed in front of her (and she doesn’t give a fuck,and that, unlike the women, was sexualised) b/c she’s... Not naive! She’s naive about humanity in general and those with bad intentions, but they didn’t fall into the sexually naive trope trap. Sure, she’d never seen a dude before, much less a naked one, but like... she’s read all 12 volumes on pleasure and while men are required for reproduction... they’re not necessary for the pleasure part.

side bar: i’m feeling very gay today and thanks for the implication there.

i also appreciated the nods to the traditional hero story in this, because this movie follows the formula of all the others, but it is inherently feminine instead. But Diana is just as equal as the men, and she has the journey, too.

small note, when they ride to the boats to go to London i sniggered so loud at Steve getting the white horse. She got the black horse, he got the white horse. No damsel in distress on a beautiful white stallion here.

‘it’s just rude to /assume/ i can sleep with you!’ ‘you want me to sleep with you??? ok i will’ gfhrthtrgteger that was such a nice sequence again, actively /because/ she was not naive!!! she was just not knowledgeable of western societal expectations!!! 2 different things.

diana’s reaction to seeing the baby!!!! such a cute tiny moment

also looollll at the fashion scene like, i feel u, u can’t fight in those skirts

also, when she met Etta i was struck that we’d had a whole first part of the movie with only ladies!!! b/c like, normally that’d be all you’d get, just diana and etta barely talking but no!!! they related to each other and got on and were not the only women!

also, the perspective of the movie from a female standpoint, i was far less bothered by the portrayals of the sexism. Sometimes, when you’re watching a dude centric thing, and it’s set in the 40′s or 50′s and it’s super sexist, it can feel like the focus is more on getting to portray a woman’s hurt at being subjected to sexism is the point, rather than showing how fucked up it is, like, you can practically feel them enjoying the power trip, but being in Diana’s shoes, this movie being female directed, made it about her fury and shock at being excluded. Perspective matters, apparently.

her yelling at the generals in respect of claire underwood i love her (idr her character name sorry)

and fhgfiigjfjgfj her immediate reaction to her comrades l o l ‘at least he can punch’ ‘no not him’

'his people’ possibly the best line in the movie, i will reblog the posts about it when they get here

diana’s utter heartbreak the whole way through at it not being simple, that she can’t stop and save and help everyone, her in the trenches was rough.

and then she decides that actually, nah, i am gonna save people. at least these ones.

the SHOT THE SHOT /the/ superhero shot. Her taking her hair down, her turning and being full gear, her climbing up into no man’s land, just... this was a major cry part

aaaand the sniper! Look, Steve looking at the situation, nobody judging mr scotsman for not being able to take the shot, and Steve thinking back to how he saw diana and her people fight, and engineering a situation that he knows she will do well in!! he A) paid close attention to the first fight and B) is without ego catering the situation to aid her to finish the job

i too would stand and applaud and shake her hand lol

tho i /did/ find it weird they were shaking her hand, i thought the double cheek kiss thing would have been more like, accurate.

side note: i kicked myself, literally, in the cinema for shipping steve and diana so much because i knew how it had to end and yet, there i was, shipping the fuck outta them. That was /before/ he went back into the room with her, when i thought ‘hey maaaaybe they’ll be nice’ but NOPE then that happened and i was ‘they’re doomed.’.

definitely not /necessary/ but like... occasionally they can be useful.

also her slowly learning more about her companions as people and finding their value and heart was??? they were traumatised and messes and she found the heart and i love her so much

anyways the scenes in the gala hurt me, tho like, her DRESS, even aside from it being beautiful, it was not sexualised but still made her the person who stood out the most in the whole room, somebody tell male movie makers that colour can achieve what excess cleavage does 5x easier and more effectively than the latter.

she’s just... she’s really naive about humanity in general, and the narrative doesn’t demonise her for it and she learns and it obviously hurts steve b/c he wants it to be true. he so clearly longs for her way of thinking, but he knows it’s not true, and he knows she’s going to find out and that was a warning to the audience but it still hurt.

the village :(

i think i’m gonna be perpetually hurt by her reaction when she realised her killing the dude did nothing. Always gonna sting.

and THE WATCH, the watch ‘he lets order him around’ just a watch. He gives her the watch, of everything, the watch. And she goes on to do what he does, what he believes, she goes on to love like he does, she does what the watch tells her, kinda. that one kicked me in the feelings. the fucking pocket watch gdi.

me, the whole way through the movie: don’t kill Chief don’t kill Chief and thank youfor not being awful for once

‘i can save these people but you can save the world, it has to be me’ i’m sobbing friends she can save the fucking world

(side note: steve was treated well and respected for his role in this move but when u swap it, where the man is the hero and the woman is the backup, women rarely get that courtesy, and every man complaining about steve being a sidekick love interest can be /told/ we rarely ever get the amount of respect story wise he was shown.)

she a fucking demi-god babes and she is totally okay with Fratricide so watch the fuck out ~my girl

btw the photo killed me the whole way through just fyi

and i /had/ forgotten till she touched his face on the billboard.

and then my love for bruce way back when at the beginning of the movie hit even higher b/c i now understood exactly HOW much that photo meant to her, and that idiot melodramatic bat dude spent the time tracking down the original photo just to send it to her.

no other motivation, it was, as she said, a choice to be loving. This movie has made me emotional about Bruce and Clark in BVS lol.

i’m just really choked up about this one i gotta cry a little more nvm

#rrhrhrth #ryhrth #fgerrgteh #wdfgegrerg #rffgtrhetg #gethetg #danni retroactively liveblogs wonder woman #this is A MESS but i needed to rant #spoilers #wonder woman spoilers #wonderwoman spoilers

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the-cryptographer · 7 years

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My tiny yugioh shrine - before and after pics. The Jounouchi figure still up top, holding a chain and ready to shank you with a scapegoat~ But I thought I’d zoom in so we could see my BEAUTIFUL NEW ISHTAR SIBS CLEARFILE INSTEAD~

I thought my shrine was getting a little too shippy. And especially a little too shippy in the absence of Mai. WHERE IS ALL THE KUJAKU MAI MERCHANDISE?! i need it pls, thx. But, anyhow~ I bought the Ishtar clearfile off of auction. And I thought it might be an old one, but on the back is actually a logo for the 20th anniversary of ygo, last year in 2016. And they weren’t even really in the movie, so now I’m wondering maybe there is also the chance of some recent Mai merchandise out there, hmm, so she will properly be represented in my collection >3>

But yeah, this is just by the exit to my room so i can stop by before i leave for the day and, offer coins or pieces of fruit or whatever and pray at my card game based alter, and maybe then Jounouchi’s good luck will rub off on me a little~

...

And there’s also a gore version of the shrine, but I usually keep that picture in the back so visitors don’t think i’m a creep. i guess i’ll put this picture in the front if i ever decide to host ritualistic demon summonings in my room or smthn~

(Both prints are from toxicosis by the way.)

Doujinshi are in another location. And I was only going to talk about my stupid ygo bookshelf shrine thing today, but then my doujin shipment came in and I decided FUCK IT i will brag about my crippling lack of impulse control cool swag all at once if i want to... Under the cut-

@battymarionette

If you remember this one~

tdah~ Basically it seems like a Kaiba Corp has put out a game, some kind of ridiculous fantasy RPG where Atem is some kind of Ron the Death Eater villain and Jou may or may not be the princess or smthn. And Mokuba invites Jounouchi over to play it or playtest it or something of that nature. Which seems like as good a premise as any for this kind of thing. And it’s got all the cute platonic Joukuba vibes which is a plus~

But yeah, Jounouchi goes over to Mokuba’s place, has some kind of fight with Seto, and some kind of conversation with Atem, and Mokuba’s kind of confused or upset about something, and then Jou gets all cute and announces that he and Kaiba are dating~ which i’m pretty sure Seto didn’t want Mokuba knowing about or whatever~

But, see, now I’m making this doujin sound sweet when, to be really blunt, i didn’t like it. At some point Seto slaps Jounouchi across the face for something.

I guess I shouldn’t pass judgement when I can’t even read the moon runes that explain why this has happened, but- no. (I’m trying to articulate. It’s not that I think Jou and Seto are incapable of being violent with one another (jfc how hypocritical would it be of me) but there’s something about the whys and the hows~? in my mind, Seto doesn’t gets hands on with that kind of thing unless it’s landing a measured martial arts blow in self defense, or lashing out from a place of extreme vulnerability - the kind that involves him being five seconds away from curling up in a ball of self-protection. So... Seto being collected and composed and instigating violence on Jounouchi’s triggers all my ‘no’ responses. And I also doubt Jounouchi would take that kind of thing without complaint, unless he was actually raving or spiraling and it was, like, a calm-the-fuck-down slap. I think he would definitely retaliate with shouting and intimidation, if not a physical blow. With Jounouchi it’s a little harder for me to define what would prompt physical violence, partly because i think his idea of what violence is is narrower than mine, and doesn’t include things like grabbing somebody’s jacket collar and shaking them around. But, hmm, I think by the time he’s through canon he doesn’t exactly break out the fistcuffs lightly.)

The point was that this doujin made it to the top of my shit list very fast. And I was concerned because, see, I had been avoiding buying KaiJou (in that order) doujins because most of them kind of do this thing to me and completely miss the glass cannon type of volatile fragility I see as being kind of central to Kaiba’s character. But then I caved and ordered a whole bunch. But, actually, I was pleasantly surprised by the other couple of ones I bought, so maybe the curse has finally lifted~ I liked this one in particular-

But, tbh, it also knew the way into my heart~

The way into my heart is Wheeler siblings :x

@rainstormcolors

First of all, I got POLARIS and it was good!

I don’t know what to share about it other than that because it was mostly porn. But I felt like it was kind of sweet and sentimental and Kaiba and Atem going on silly dates at the beginning with gorgeous background details. Also they sit on the throne together at the end and look very in love teehee~

But, yes, thank you for reccing~ I enjoyed a lot~!

BUT- !!! More importantly this finally came in the mail!

To answer your question, it’s a normal rivalshipping anthology. 112 pages, comics and fic~ Exciting things happen like Yuugi and Kaiba playing twister~

And in another story they’re out travelling and having punishment games of some sort and Yuugi gets a beard painted on his face~

AND HIS MOM OMG!! I love when odd characters cameo in my doujins. I think you can tell~

But, no, I lied- I addition to the anthology I got all this other stuff too~

I don’t know. There’s a set of tiny playing cards you have to disentangle. Some have exciting images.

Notably Jounouchi and Atem are the jokers, heh~

I still haven’t checked out the CD. This is a very rushed post where I don’t attempt to read things carefully or any of that~ But it comes with a manual with a bunch of character avatars - lots of expressions for Yuugi and Kaiba, as well as one avatar each for Jou, Anzu, baby Seto, Kisara, and BEWD. So I think it may be a visual novel of sorts. Undetermined~

So now you’ll know what you’re getting if you decide to order, in theory at least. I’m not sure because I bought this off the author’s BOOTH, so idk if the extra merchandise is limited in any manner or if toranoana only sends part of it(?)

ugh, let’s see.

I also got another anthology- a Yuugi-centric one.

It’s mostly rivalshipping, which I’d expect. rivalshipping is really popular in the jp fandom. but, tbh, i enjoyed the more odd ships more-

Like Juudai/Manjoume/Yuugi... Kaiba walks in on the Kohais basically crushing yuugi with love after this it’s so cute~

And Otogi/Yuugi. Ah~ I love the DDM chapters in the manga and how softly Otogi warms up to Yuugi~

A Duel Monsters themed art book I spent too much on~ I’m ashamed to say I don’t recognise a whole lot of the cards

but you’ll recognise Yubel, perhaps~

or the lady that Y!Bakura crossdresses as ;)

and there were quite a few dark magician girls and blue eyeses.

from another illustration book~

and i found a couple of apprenticeshipping doujins on BOOTH, but none of them wow-ed me really~

although I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how Mana inherited the Ring in manga canon. I feel like there are things to consider here. This picture struck me as a result.

Alright~ And now for my favourites~

OMG! A WHOLE DOUJIN ABOUT MALIK AND HIS SIBLINGS!!! I think this one was a predictable fave. I loved it so, sooo much. I was absolutely filled with quality Malik and Rishid moments.

EVERYONE IS SO CUTE!!

Malik and Rishid go biking and run into Mai which is very !!!

There are vacation photographs~

It looks like Malik tries to feed Ra a revival slime and gets eaten himself. I don’t know. But it was good. I’m so happy~ Ishtar family doujins. My life is complete. not really. i can’t die until i finish my fics.

Okay, but my other fave I didn’t see coming at all.

I don’t ship this! I shouted into the void. But nobody really believed her, not even herself. It’s too late for me. I’m just multiship trash. I will ship anything you put in front of me...

Okay, but the real reason I decided to get this was because of this preview panel. Of course I knew it was puzzlleship. But actually I love Mana and vaseshipping for reals. And this was so cute and the art was so pretty I thought- We might as well check the rest of it out~ (the idea of top!Yuugi didn’t hurt either...)

And then jackels happened~ And this kind of ethereal magic stuff~

There was some confusion I think with the cultural imagery in the doujin. Some of it looked vaguely Indic to my untrained eye but- I don’t know what to say, the art was so gorgeous and detailed.

And the smut was all facials and frot so obviously the doujin artist has my gd number, smh.

And Jou appeared near the end, looking amazing, and Jou is automatically about +50 points for any doujin.

I don’t know what to say. Very nice. Would recommend.

Also- just fyi- I do buy doujins for things that aren’t ygo. pls forgive my focus on my ygo obsession tho.

I’m really glad I stumbled across this in the hetalia tag~

And there’s a picture of Tifa being so bad at games at the golden saucer that Nanaki, who doesn’t even have opposable thumbs, can defeat her in PvP. Beautiful~

#doujinshi #Malik Ishtar #Mana #JouKai #prideship #rivalship #kuribohship #offership #nurseship #puzzleship #ygo gx #save me from this card game hell #cw: gore

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thisdaynews · 5 years

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The Strange, Nostalgic World of Obama-Biden Fan Fiction

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The Strange, Nostalgic World of Obama-Biden Fan Fiction

Those who choose to live in clinical denial, ahoy! This is a no-judgment zone, in which you will be urged to forget the current American president’s name—and instead enjoy escapist fan fiction about Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Yes, there is such a thing. Past presidential fanfic masterworks—like “Kim Jong Elmo vs Dick Cheney and George Bush featuring Lapis Lazuli”—might have been relegated to online speakeasies, but so great is thenostalgie d’Obamathat new books about Barry and Joe are bringing fanfic’s nerdy tropes into the light of day in print.

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Parodist Andrew Shaffer has just added a new entry to his enjoyably ludicrous Obama-Biden series, which launched last year withHope Never Diesand features the duo solving mysteries together. The second entry, published in July, is called, you guessed it,Hope Rides Again.Indie director Adam Reid’s gonzo graphic confection,The Adventures of Barry & Joe, which styles Obama and Biden as time-traveling superheroes, was released this past spring. It is here to, if not to save the day, then at least demonstrate the life-changing magic of putting our heads under the covers and pretending it’s 2015.

I respect you if you refuse to look back and entertain fantasies that Obama and Biden might return to deliver the Republic from evil. Biden on the 2020 stump might wield Obama’s name like a talisman to protect himself from criticism, but all sane voters know the Joe-Barack heyday is never coming back.

Still, tucking into the fantasies of Reid, a filmmaker whose 2010 filmHello Lonesomewas a festival darling, and Shaffer, a novelist who teaches writing in Kentucky, I decided to tolerate and maybe even open my heart to the authors’ poignant nostalgia for libmerica. It’s a powerful thing to mark the difference between today’s gruesome nonfan-nonfic—in which the Chosen One aims to delete China while annexing Israel and Greenland—and escape back to the relative paradise known as 2008 to 2016.

Now, to Uncle Joe.Hope Never Dies(Quirk Books), the first of the Shaffer mysteries—Hardy Boys-style with a YA version of the Dashiell Hammett narrative voice, but goofy—was released before Biden had announced his presidential bid; the second,Hope Rides Again,came out not long afterward. Like many an Obaman, Shaffer’s Biden opens the first novel frozen in time, just after the 2016 election, gorging on Ben & Jerry’s. This bothers Jill, Joe’s wife. In both Shaffer novels, Joe and Jill (and Barack and Michelle) are comparable to lovable, forgettable CBS sitcom duos of a decade ago:Everybody Loves Raymond, King of Queens.The dude is a charming galoot; the wife has his number.

But the real One True Pairing here—let’s not kid ourselves—is gonna involve Barack, whose communiqués Joe initially awaits like a schoolgirl scorned. “After Jill was sound asleep, I scrolled through old text messages Barack and I had exchanged a lifetime ago,” Shaffer writes. “It was an exercise in futility. If I kept picking at the wound, it was never going to heal.”

Biden mirrors the sulky American people. Is Barack Obama ghosting us?

Probably. But inHope Never Dies,he‘s not ghosting Biden, and after Encyclopedia Joe stumbles on the mystery of the murdered Amtrak conductor inHope Never Dies, the Dem Duo reunite to criss-cross Delaware in a farrago that leads them to find the mastermind of the opioid epidemic because why not. (It is not the Sacklers, FYI; fanfic is fic.)

On the cover ofHope Rides Again,the sequel, Obama wears tan as, in an Ethan Hunt moment, he dashingly mounts a rope ladder to a helicopter, giving a hand to trusty Joe. This choice, of course, expresses Shaffer’s fondness for no-drama Obama by reminding us that right-wing pundits had nothing to make hay about in summer 2014 but the president’s beige suit. In this novel, Joeisabout to announce his presidential bid, when Barack loses track of his BlackBerry—warning, the nostalgia goes deep; Obama even smokes again—and the device’s thief has been murdered. Off they go!

Joe encounters thugs, a grenade, near-disaster on an airplane. And he and Barack do, it’s true, end up, “huddled together, arms twisted like a couple of pretzels”—but they’re in a hole the size of a washing machine in the hull of a ship. By the time the police helicopter arrives for them, unfurling its rope ladder, they’ve finished off the bad guys and are ready to fly away, like Obama leaving the White House on January 20, 2017.Sniff.

If this is all high corn, there’s some actual sweetness, too: Shaffer clearly admires and somehow truly gets Joe’s geriatric efforts to be cool and, especially cringily,downwith the 44th president, with fist bumps and (yikes) even pseudo-Ebonics. It’s good someone finds that side of Joe charming.

Reid’sAdventures of Barry & Joe(Dey Street Books), the product of a Kickstarter campaign,is considerably skeevier than the wholesome Shaffer books. To clarify: None of this is slash. That’s a blessing. Shaffer and Reiddo not, I repeat donot, reprise (entirely) the Kirk/Spock erotics from the earliest days of pre-internet fan fiction. In case you somehow dodged the ’70s zines, in which fanfic was first codified, “slash” were the sexy fairy tales, mostly by women, in which the fellowship expressed on the USS Enterprise tilted into loving tendresse and then—sweetly, slowly—into … make-out jams.

Presumably Reid wants a bigger audience for his graphic novel than he’d get with straight slash.Adventuresis ultimately something called “ampersand” fanfic, meaning friendship, not romance, defines the Barry & Joe relationship. (That’s “ship” in fanfic-speak—you D.C. squares got a lot to learn.)

But, unaccountably, Reid still wants to see the former president and VP nekkid, so by panel No. 7 of the chapter called “True Bromance,” they’re drawn in a locker room, preparing to participate in a time-travel experiment by stripping down to their briefs. By No. 9, we’re to full-posterior nudity. Joe, so you know, has the dusty-rose busting-at-the-seams body of geezer strongman Jack LaLanne. Barry, while also shredded, is only somewhat slimmer. Glutes have been diligently attended to by the artists in that section, Joe St. Pierre (of Marvel), Anwar Hananu (Image Comics) and freelance illustrator Dezi Sienty. (The Adventures, which includes a grab bag of stories, aphorisms and short plays alongside the graphic components, is very much a group effort.)

Before Joe and Barack disappear into a time-travel vessel that looks like KitchenAid made it, Biden says, “Barack, I want you to know … I wanna hug even though we’re naked. Is that wrong?” Barry: “Let’s not.” Joe: “I’ll see you on the other side.”

Much of Reid’s scrapbook concerns madcap travel in the “multiverse,” in what could be a tribute to the lateMadmagazine.The taste level isMad,also. In one of Reid’s short stories, Joe returns to the 1970s, looks uncannily hot, and gets a chance to talk to his son, Beau, then 9. More than the nudity, this fictional resurrection of Biden’s son—the real Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015—seems far too intrusive to be even campily enjoyable.

I winced. Until that point, I’d been reading with the simmering notion that liberal democracy, now globally stifled, might come back to life with a new leader in 2020. But Beau Biden will not come back to life. Suddenly the whole project of these wish-fulfillment Obama fantasias seemed like nothing more than fodder for Trump ralliers to, as the T-shirt says, oil their guns with liberal tears. And how in the world could I write about it? One false move—one mentionin fictionthat Obama and Biden (in fiction) are (fictional) witnesses to an (imaginary) gangland shooting (in a work of fiction)—and you might end up quoted with a straight face in some daft anti-Biden propaganda that ricochets all over the internet. While I could suspend solemnity for a few hours, in this current breath-holdingly paranoid climate, there’s not enough oxygen for this much playfulness.

If the Library of Congress shelving system were remade for our time, these fanfic works might be classified as “WAFF,” because they’re meant to generate—you got it—warm and fuzzy feelings. Those are the feelings most Americans still vaguely remember from four years ago. But we’re forgetting. And before we introduce delusions about what might have been, we have an urgent challenge in the present—Trumpism, which can be stopped only with something other than naked cartoons. Thus, the Biden-Obama counterfactuals,especiallybecause they’re meant to be fun, leave me with CAPs—cold and pricklies. Nowthat’s a phrase from the 1970s that should be brought back.

#Fiction #Foreign #Obama-Biden #Politics

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