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geshertzarmeod · 3 years

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Favorite Books of 2020

I wanted to put together a list! I read 74 new books this year, and I keep track of that on Goodreads - feel free to add or follow me if you want to see everything! I’m going to focus on the highlights, and the books that stuck with me personally in one way or another, in approximate order. Also, all but two of them (#5 and #7 on the honorable mention list) are queer/trans in some way. Links are to Goodreads, but if you’re looking to get the books, I suggest your library, the Libby app using your library, your local bookstore, or Bookshop.

The Faggots & Their Friends Between Revolutions by Larry Mitchell, illus. by Ned Asta (originally published 1977). I had a hard beginning of the year and was in a work environment where my queerness was just not welcomed or wanted. I read this in the middle of all of that, and it helped me so much. I took this book with me everywhere. I read it on planes. I read it on the bus, and on trains, and at shul. I showed it to friends... sometimes at shul, or professional development conferences. It healed my soul. Now I can’t find it and might get a new copy. When I reviewed it, in February, I wrote: “I think we all need this book right now, but I really needed this book right now. Wow. This book is magic, and brings back a sense of magic and beauty to my relationship with the world.” Also I bought my copy last July, in a gay bookstore on Castro St. in SF, and that in itself is just beautiful to me. (Here’s a post I made with some excerpts)

Once & Future duology, especially the sequel, Sword in the Stars, by A.R. Capetta and Cory McCarthy. Cis pansexual female King Arthur Ari Helix (she's the 42nd reincarnation and the first female one) in futuristic space with Arab ancestry (but like, from a planet where people from that area of earth migrated to because, futuristic space) works to end Future Evil Amazon.com Space Empire with her found family with a token straight cis man and token white person. Merlin is backwards-aging so he's a gay teenager with a crush and thousands of years of baggage. The book’s entire basis is found family, and it's got King Arthur in space. And the sequel hijacks the original myth and says “fuck you pop culture, it was whitewashed and straightwashed, there were queer and trans people of color and strong women there the whole time.” Which is like, my favorite thing to find in media, and a big part of why I love Xena so much. It’s like revisionist history to make it better except it’s actually probably true in ways. Anyway please read these books but also be prepared for an absolutely absurd and wild ride. Full disclosure though, I didn’t love the first book so much, it’s worth it for the sequel!

The Wicker King by K. Ancrum. This book hurt. It still hurts. But it was so good. It took me on a whole journey, and brought me to my destination just like it intended the whole time. The author’s note at the end made me cry! The sheer NEED from this book, the way the main relationship develops and shifts, and how you PERCEIVE the main relationship develops and shifts. I’m in awe of Ancrum’s writing. If you like your ships feral and needy and desperate and wanting and D/S vibes and lowkey super unhealthy but with the potential, with work, to become healthy and beautiful and right, read this book. This might be another one to check trigger warnings for though.

The Entirety of The Daevabad Trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty. I hadn’t heard of this series until this year, when a good friend recommended it to me. It filled the black hole in me left by Harry Potter. The political and mystical/fantasy world building is just *chef’s kiss* - the complexity! The morally grey, everyone’s-done-awful-things-but-some-people-are-still-trying-to-do-good tapestry! The ROMANCE oh my GOD the romance. If I’m absolutely fully invested in a heterosexual romance you know a book is good, but also this book had background (and then later less background) queer characters! And the DRAMA!!! The third book went in a direction that felt a little out of nowhere but honestly I loved the ride. I stayed up until 6am multiple times reading this series and I’d do it again.

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon. I loved this book so much that it’s the only book I reviewed on my basically abandoned attempt at a book blog. This book is haunting, horrifying, disturbing, dark, but so, so good. The character's voices were so specific and clear, the relationships so clearly affected by circumstance and yet loving in the ways they could be. This is my favorite portrayal of gender maybe ever, it’s just... I don’t even have the words but I saw a post @audible-smiles made about it that’s been rattling in my head since. And, “you gender-malcontent. You otherling,” as tender pillow talk??? Be still my heart. Be ready, though, this book has all the triggers.. it’s a .

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender. This book called me out on my perspective on love. Also, it made me cry a lot. And it has two different interesting well-written romance storylines. And a realistic coming-into-identity narrative about a Black trans demiboy. And a nuanced discussion of college plans and what one might do after college. And some big beautiful romcom moments. I wish I had it in high school. I’m so glad I have it now! (trigger warning for transphobia & outing, but the people responsible are held accountable by the end, always treated as not okay by the narrative, and the MC’s friends, and like... this is ownvoices and it’s GOOD.)

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. My Goodreads review says, “I have no idea what happened, and I loved it.” That’s not wrong, but to delve deeper, this book has an ethereal feeling that you get wrapped up in while reading. Nothing makes sense but that’s just as it should be. You’re hooked. It is so atmospheric, so meta, so fascinating. I’ve seen so many people say they interpreted this character or that part or the ending in all different ways and it all makes sense. And it’s all of this with a gay main character and romance and the central theme, the central pillar being a love of and devotion to stories. Of course I was going to love it.

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl’s Confabulous Memoir by Kai Cheng Thom. “Because maybe what really matters isn’t whether something is true, or false. Maybe what matters is the story itself; what kinds of doors it opens, what kinds of dreams it brings.” This book was so good and paradigm shifting. It reminded me of #1 on this list in the way it turns real life experience and hard, tragic ones at that (in this case, of being a trans girl of color who leaves home and tries to make a life for herself in the city, with its violence), into a beautiful, haunting fable. Once upon a time.

I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver. I need to reread this book, as I read it during my most tranceful time of 2020 and didn’t write a review, so I forgot a lot. What I do remember is beautiful and important nonbinary representation, a really cute romance, an interesting parental and familial/sibling dynamic that was both heartbreaking and hopeful, and an on-page therapy storyline. Also Mason Deaver just left twitter but was an absolutely hilarious troll on it before leaving and I appreciate that (and they just published a Christmas novella that I have but haven’t read yet!)

The Truth Is by NoNieqa Ramos. It took a long time to trust this book but I’m so glad I did. It’s raw and real and full of grief and trauma (trigger warnings, that I remember, for grief, death (before beginning of book), and gun violence). The protagonist is flawed and gets to grow over the course of the book, and find her own place, and learn from the people around her, while they also learn to understand her and where she’s coming from. It’s got a gritty, harsh, and important portrayal of found family, messy queerness, and some breathtaking quotes. When I was 82% through this book I posted this update: “This book has addressed almost all of my initial hesitations, and managed to complicate itself beautifully.”

Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro. I wasn’t actually in the best mental health place to read this book when I did (didn’t quite understand what it was) but it definitely reminded me of what there is to fight against and to fight for, and broke my heart, and nudged me a bit closer to hope. The naturally diverse cast of characters was one of the best parts of this book. The romance is so sweet and tender and then so painful. This book is important and well-written but read it with caution and trigger warnings - it’s about grief and trauma and racism and police brutality, but also about love and community.

The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden. This is a sci-fi/fantasy/specfic mashup that takes place in near-future South Africa and has world-building myths with gods and demigoddesses and a trip to the world of the dead but also a genetically altered hallucinogenic drug that turns people into giant animals and a robot uprising and a political campaign and a transgender pop star and a m/m couple and all of them are connected. It’s bonkers. Like, so, so absolutely mind-breaking weird. And I loved it.

Crier’s War and Iron Heart by Nina Varela. I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVED the amount of folktales they told each other with queer romances as integral to those stories, especially in Iron Heart. A conversation between the two leads where Crier says she wants to read Ayla like a book, and Ayla says she’s not a book, and Crier explains all the different ways she wants to know Ayla, like a person, and wants to deserve to know her like a person, made me weak. It lives in my head rent-free.

Queen’s Shadow by E.K. Johnston @ekjohnston . I listened to this book on Libby and then immediately listened to it at least one more time, maybe twice, before my borrow time ran out. I love Padmé, and just always wish that female Star Wars characters got more focus and attention and this book gave me that!! And queer handmaidens! And the implication that Sabé is in love with Padmé and that’s just something that will always be true and she will always be devoted and also will make her own life anyway. And the Star Wars audiobooks being recorded the way they are with background sounds and music means it feels like watching a really long detailed beautiful Star Wars movie just about Padmé and her handmaidens.

Sissy: A Coming of Gender Story by Jacob Tobia. I needed to read this. The way Tobia talks about their experience of gender within the contexts of college, college leadership, and career, hit home. I kept trying to highlight several pages in a row on my kindle so I could go back and read them after it got returned to the library (sadly it didn’t work - it cuts off highlights after a certain number of characters). The way they talk about TOKENISM they way they talk about the responsibilities of the interviewer when an interviewee holds marginalized identities especially when no one else in the room does!!! Ahhhh!!!

Bonds of Brass by Emily Skrutskie. Disclaimer for this one that the author was rightfully criticized for writing a Black main character as a white author (and how the story ended up playing into some fucked up stuff that I can’t really unpack without spoiling). But also, the author has been working to move forward knowing she can’t change the past, has donated her proceeds, and this book is really good? It has all the fanfic tropes, so much delicious tension, a totally unexpected plot twist that had me immediately rereading the book. This book was super fun and also kind of just really really good Star Wars fanfiction.

How To Be a Normal Person by T.J. Klune. This book was so sweet, and cute, and hopeful, and both ridiculous and so real. I had some trouble getting used to Gus’ voice and internal monologue, but I got into it and then loved every bit after. The ace rep is something I’ve never seen like this before (and have barely read any ace books but still this was so fleshed out and well rounded and not just like, ‘they’re obsessed with swords not sex’ - looking at you, Once & Future - and leaving it there.) This all felt like a slice of life and I feel like I learned about people while reading it. Some of the moments are so, so funny, some are vaguely devastating. I have been personally victimized by TJ Klune for how he ends this book (a joke, you will know once you read it) but it also reminds me of the end of the “You Are There” episode of Xena and we all know what the answer to that question was.... and I choose to believe the answer here was similar.

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson. I wish I had this book when I was in high school. I honestly have complicated feelings about prom and haven’t really been seeking out contemporary YA so I was hesitant to read this but it was so good and so well-written, and had a lot of depth to it. The movie (and Broadway show) “The Prom” wants what this book has.

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth. I never read horror books, so this was a new thing for me. I loved the feeling of this book, the way I felt fully immersed. I loved how entirely queer it was. I was interested in the characters and the relationships, even though we didn’t have a full chance to go super deep into any one person but rather saw the connections between everyone and the way the stories matched up with each other. I just wanted a bit of a more satisfying ending.

Honorable Mention: reread in 2020 but read for the first time pre-2020

Red White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. I couldn’t make this post without mentioning this book. It got me through this year. I love this book so much; I think of this book all the time. This book made me want to find love for myself. You’ve all heard about it enough but if you haven’t read this book what are you DOING.

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan @sarahreesbrennan . I reread this one over and over too, both as text and as an audiobook. I went for walks when I had lost my earbuds and had Elliott screaming about an elf brothel loudly playing and got weird looks from someone walking their dog. I love this book so much. It’s just so fun, and so healing to read a book reminiscent of all the fantasies I read as a kid, but with a bi main character and a deconstruction of patriarchy and making fun of the genre a bit. Also, idiots to lovers is a great trope and it’s definitely in this book.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. This book is forever so important to me. I am always drawn in by how tenderly Sáenz portrays his characters. These boys. These boys and their parents. I love them. I love them so much. This is another one where I don’t even know what to say. I have more than 30 pages in my tag for this book. I have “arda” set as a keyboard shortcut on my phone and laptop to turn into the full title. This book saved my life.

Last Night I Sang to the Monster by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. This book hurts to read - it’s a story about trauma, about working through that trauma, healing enough to be ready to hold the worst memories, healing enough to move through the pain and start to make a life. It’s about found family and love and pain and I love it. It’s cathartic. And it’s a little bit quietly queer in a beautiful way, but that’s not the focus. Look up trigger warnings (they kind of are spoilery so I won’t say them here but if you have the potential to be triggered please look them up or ask me before reading)

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. When asked what my all time favorite book is, it’s usually this one. Gail Carson Levine has been doing live readings at 11am since the beginning of the pandemic shut down in the US, and the first book she read was Ella Enchanted. I’ve been slowly reading it to @mssarahpearl and am just so glad still that it has the ability to draw me in and calm me down and feels like home after all this time. This book is about agency. I love it.

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman @chronicintrovert . I’ve had this on my all-time-faves list since I read it a few years ago and ended up rereading it this year before sending a gift copy to a friend, so I could write little notes in it. It felt a little different reading it this time - as I get further away from being a teenager myself, the character voice this book is written in takes a little longer to get used to, but it’s so authentic and earnest and I love it. I absolutely adore this book about platonic love and found family and fandom and mental illness and abuse and ace identity and queerness and self-determination, especially around college and career choices. Ahhh. Thank you Alice Oseman!!!

Leia: Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray @claudiagray . I have this one on audible and reread it several times this year. I love the fleshing out of Leia’s story before the original trilogy, I love her having had a relationship before Han, and the way it would have affected her perspective. I also am intrigued by the way it analyses the choices the early rebellion had to make... I just, I love all the female focused new Star Wars content and the complexity being brought to the rebellion.

#red white and royal blue #aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe #osemanverse #star wars #queer books #lgbtq books #books #alice oseman #miri personal #wow this took so long but was so worth it!#long post #book recs #PS: if you've read any of these or have questions about any of these books #this is your formal invitation to talk to me about them!!!! even if i don't know you at all!#even if i don't follow you and even if you don't follow me!#my ask box is open anon is on!#original content

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fortescq · 4 years

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* ╰ SYDNEY PARK ; 21 ; SHE / HER —— wow, ALICE FORTESCUE sure has grown ! it’s almost hard to believe they actually passed recruitment … i still remember them being so SELF-RELIANT & AMBITIOUS, now they just seem CYNICAL & SELF-RIGHTEOUS. guess they’re special if they made it this far. word in the halls is they’re training to be an AUROR but i don’t think they’ll make it out alive. after all, they’ve shown signs of being AGAINST BLOOD PURITY IN THE WAR.

PINTEREST !

alice eve fortescue lived a very different childhood than she could have. she was born alice eve selwyn, the only child of leopold selwyn & estelle selwyn ( née fortescue ). leopold was high up in the department of magical law enforcement. estelle came from a rich lineage of kneazle breeding. they were well known and respected in wizarding society.

when alice was two years old, leopold and estelle were killed by a werewolf while on an evening out. the werewolf was never caught.

this drew a lot of media attention. some say the attack was a major trigger in the shift of the public’s attitude towards lycanthropy. and, unfortunately, heavily influenced alice’s attitude towards lycanthropy as well.

and what to do with young alice ? though forgotten by most, estelle had a brother, younger, shabbier. florean. opting out of the family kneazle-breeding business, he instead ran a small ice cream shop in diagon alley with his partner, silas. the ice cream shop didn’t make them much money, but they welcomed young alice with open arms.

this is where alice spent her childhood: the sun-baked streets of diagon alley, the ebb and flow of wizarding london, a cramped but cozy flat above the ice cream shop, air thick with steam and spices, mismatched chairs and loveseats spilling from the living room into the kitchen. this is how alice spent her childhood: trips into muggle london with uncle flo and silas, bare feet on the cobblestone, the clatter and clang of counting sickles and knuts after a long day’s work.

thursday nights were potlucks with the other diagon alley shopkeepers and some other of her uncles’ friends, crammed knee to knee on their living room couches, mismatched chairs cluttering the room haphazardly, the room full of laughter and conversation about politics and current events alice didn’t quite understand.

growing up, alice spent much more time around adults than children her own age. she loved spending time with her uncles and their friends, and if you asked her, she wouldn’t say she missed out on anything by not having friends her own age. but it did result in a child far more serious and mature than her age would suggest.

sometimes on weekends her uncles would take her into muggle london on the tube, visiting places like the british museum, and hyde park, and the cinema. and memorably, london’s first pride march when alice was thirteen.

silas was a muggleborn, and he wanted alice to experience the culture he grew up with. alice enjoyed their trips, but she never really understood their importance until she started at hogwarts. ( where, by the way, she was very nearly a hatstall as the hat debated between hufflepuff and slytherin, but ultimately chose hufflepuff. )

that’s when she realized for the first time how different her parents had been than her loving uncle flo. they had been part of an elite pureblood society, who looked down their noses at muggles and muggleborns, who were for everything uncle flo was against, and against everything uncle flo was for. alice didn’t know what to think. she had always imagined her parents to be kind, wonderful people.

strangers looked at her with pity ( poor little orphaned alice fortescue, living with her disgraced uncle with barely enough to get by ) and oh boy, it made alice’s blood boil. she’s faced a lot of judgement and prejudice in her life — against her, against her uncles, about their living situation — can you blame her for that chip on her shoulder ?

she was proud, and she was stubborn, and she was determined to prove them wrong. so she threw herself into classes, and extracurriculars, and spoke loudly about her belief systems. she excelled in hogwarts, and made head girl for her year ( the year above the marauders ). when the opportunity presented itself to be recruited to edin, alice knew this was where she belonged. if she was accepted to edin, she would’ve proven herself beyond any argument.

she made a mistake in the potion identification portion of the testing period. alice was not accepted to edin.

she received her rejection. she had all sensitive information wiped from her mind. she was humbled. but like a true hufflepuff, she didn’t give up, even though she knew ‘ receiving a second invitation is RARE ’.

alice is the rare exception.

after her potion slip-up, she devoted herself to fixing her mistake. she checked out books on potions from the wizarding library. she argued her way into a potioneer apprenticeship. she eat, slept, and breathed potions.

and she received a second invitation. this time, she passed.

you’d think being one of only a very select few to be re-invited to edin would finally satisfy alice’s need to prove herself, but you would be wrong. alice only saw her initial failure, instead of her eventual triumph. if she was competitive before, she’s even worse now.

she doesn’t only hold herself to high standards — she holds the people around her to high standards as well. she does her best to practice the values her uncles taught her, kindness and honesty and loyalty, but she also expects very little from people.

she’s fiercely independent and insists on doing everything herself, since she thinks other people will disappoint her. but just because she expects disappointment doesn’t mean she’ll forgive it — this girl is self-righteous and holds grudges. always honest, sometimes to a fault.

can take herself seriously sometimes if you couldn’t already tell. not very good at taking constructive criticism.

some other things:

BIG aquarius sun & capricorn moon:

in addition, you are inventive and fearless about expressing your beliefs and views. you believe the individual is completely accountable for himself and the flaws of others can consequently make you impatient. nevertheless, you do have deep humanitarian persuasions. you are not mean or heartless. because you are so independent and secure it is hard for you to comprehend individuals who have psychological problems. tolerance is something you must learn. more compassion is needed toward those who do not share your gifts. ( x )

bit of a muggle nerd thanks to silas

has a bad habit of biting her nails, so she chews gum to stop herself from biting her nails

a good cook

probably wrote for the hogwarts newspaper. also does slam poetry but very lowkey, ONLY for her uncles & the thursday night potlucks. takes inspiration from the beat generation

on the shorter side – all of five foot four inches

someone help her calm down :/

#edinintro

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ifbrd · 5 years

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Episode Commentary for Wordgirl “Showdown at the Secret Spaceship Hideout”

As requested by an anon, I’m going to do an Episode Commentary (that’s what I’m gonna call them, they need a name so I know what to title the post and have people know what the heck it is) of the WordGirl episode “Showdown at the Secret Spaceship Hideout”

I’m going to apologize in advance for the number of times I say “also” “can we just take a moment to appreciate” “I love that...” and “Me”

Look at Two Brains Drawings! <3

Me as a villain

This is something I love about this show; they have realistic conversations. This is absolutely a slip-up someone would make if they were having an off day. I make stupid mistakes like this all day every day XD This honestly isn’t my favorite example of this, but it’s a good one none-the-less.

Let’s just take a moment to appreciate this very important image of Huggy doing what he does best and rarely gets to do anymore since coming to Earth.

Hey! Wait a minute!

Well Dr. Two Brains, clearly it works on doubled brained citizens too!

Huggy approves of this crash-land

I have nothing to say about this, it’s just a good bit of dialogue and it must have its moment to shine.

…I have got to start setting reminders for myself like this. Also, I love that she looks at her boots and nods like “yes, yes they are” as if she wasn’t the person who said that in the first place.

And thus, begins an entire episode of Huggy being annoyed and disapproving.

Okay, I’m pretty sure the line was “Change it back” but thanks for trying, I guess. Anyway, I lowkey love this brief tantrum she throws. It reminds us she’s still a kid. She’s a kid taking on adult responsibilities, and moments like this remind us that she’s not perfect, sometimes she just wants to do something for herself and she will still get upset when things go wrong.

I took this screenshot for no other reason than to prove that the line was “Change it back!”

Nothing gets past these two

Do I detect saltiness in that cheese? That was me trying to be clever. (OMG I have Word set to read stuff out loud so I can catch mistakes easier, and idk why but when it said this sentence I LOST IT) Also “often uninvited”—implying that there were a few instances where he did invite her.

LOLLYGAGGERS!!

It’s funny because it’s not the weirdest threat I’ve heard on this show.

You don’t know Wordgirl...at all...

Huggy’s annoyed, but at least he has snacks.

Me doing my homework

We all know Pretty Princess is supposed to represent WordGirl in this episode but let’s acknowledge that the horse is clearly supposed to be Huggy—disapproving of the plan, giving her annoyed looks the entire time, but ultimately doing nothing to stop her from procrastinating.

lol poor Huggy

Amazing, done-before-but-I’ll-never-get-tired-of-hearing-it joke aside, I”m convinced that Huggy already knew what procrastinate means, he just wanted her to define it so she’d realize she’s doing it.

Plan failed.

When I said Pretty Princess was me doing my homework, I meant it.

WordGirl was me watching the Gravity Falls finale. Huggy was my brother watching me watch the Gravity Falls finale.

TBH I just wanted a good shot of this room, but can we appreciate the light coming from the window? Like I feel that there’s no reason to put that much detail into the lighting and they did it anyway. Also, I want to see this window on the outside of the ship.

HE LOOKS AT THE AUDIENCE

I CANT XD

What’s the butterfly room like? Why is there a butterfly room? Why have we never seen this butterfly room because I really want to see the butterfly room!

Me when someone in my family brings home Oreos

Who wants to play spot the episodic easter egg!

This is it. this is my favorite Two Brains line.

Huggy’s been annoyed with her the entire episode because he knew this very thing could happen. He could say “I told you!” he could leap into action, but instead he’s like “I’ve got one last pretzel, just let me finish it…”

Sorry, I didn’t mean to have all this hoo-ha in the screenshot. I thought about retaking it…but you can see the things I want to point out alright so maybe later. I lowkey want to do a separate post on this. Anyway, this is clearly Huggy’s stuff, and the two things I want to point out are the framed picture of Huggy and an unknown superhero on the left, and various pictures and documents on a bulletin board to the right. I wish we had clearer pictures, I’d love to examine them more, but the framed one does certainly imply that Huggy has worked with or at least met other superheroes aside from WordGirl. I’d also really love to know what those documents are.

Villains traipsing through his ship warrants almost no reaction, but you touch his stuff and suddenly you’re messing with the devil!

I love that he’s still willing to take over her hideout just because the henchmen love it, despite the fact that they “haven’t been too helpful”

I’ve got a couple of things to say here: 1. In the second picture: Strike a pose Two Brains! 2. I gotta rant because this is honestly scary to me. He doesn’t remember writing a book. It takes him a second to realize he wrote it, and it probably was seeing his old name that triggered it. He doesn’t recognize the title. Who forgets they wrote a book?? Writing a book is a lloooooooonng process that takes months to years, it takes up a good chunk of your life, there’s no way you’d just forget it. The mouse brain has more control than we’ve realized, it's controlling his memories. That’s literally the only explanation for just blanking out on writing an entire damn book. It took me months to write a children’s book and he basically wrote an entire textbook! That’s not something you’re gonna bust out in a weekend and forget about!

Another rant! She got most of her superhero knowledge from Steven’s book. Not from Huggy like I’d always assumed. I still stand by the idea that Huggy gave her a solid foundation of training to start with, and she learned more on her own through books like these and personal wisdom and experience. But she got most of her knowledge and tactics not from her own superhero based culture, but from a book by a guy who never was (that we know of) and isn’t a superhero himself. She got more wisdom from some guy observing superheroes than her own heritage. This pretty much confirms that Steven was extremely popular in the superhero community, for him to be able to observe and probably interview for reference that many heroes to get that much knowledge.

They made a movie on his book! I wanna see this movie! It’d be like the Krusty Krab training video episode of Spongebob!

And apparently, it was better than the book..

If you listen closely, you can hear the screaming of every Steven Boxleitner fan

Okay sound started to get a little off from the captions at the end here but bear with me.

First of all, have some fabulous concentrating-Dr.-Two-Brains images! Secondly, he’s in WordGirl’s hideout, he should be on high alert, and hearing WordGirl scream “NOW HUGGY!” causes no reaction. He doesn’t even flinch.

It took several tries to get this image, but it was totally worth it!!!

Huggy is validated by The Narrator. I love when The Narrator steps in XD

And Two Brains just glaring at everyone XD

Yet again, Huggy doesn’t approve, yet doesn’t do anything about it and participates in the activity. And boy oh boy would I love to see our disembodied narrator try to play Ping-Pong!

That’s all for this episode! The next one I’m doing is Robot Monkey Showdown! I have no idea when that will be up…but I’m hoping very soon, but I gotta crop all the pictures, (or maybe I won’t? would that be a crime? It would significantly cut down on time...) then type out my comments, then put it all into tumblr.

#wordgirl #dr. two brains #captain huggyface #captain huggy face #showdown at the secret spaceship hideout #episode commentary

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bufanzi · 6 years

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QIN COMPLIATION

( left to right: bu fan, yue yue, xiao yu, ling chao, mu ziyang, bowen)

Yue yue

his real name is yue minghui 岳明辉 !! (92-liner)

nicknames include 老岳 (lao yue; old yue) & 岳叔 (yue shu; uncle yue) & 中年岳 (middle-aged yue) . PLS LET YUE YUE LIVE.

used the name 岳岳 as a stage name bc of the way it sounds & its easier for people to remember ; PINKRAY

he went by the name joey yue while studying overseas lmao

有背景有文化的团长（ A leader with sophiscated background and culture )

Cold city boy from beijing

Engineering student!!! from Nanjing University of Aeronautics & did masters in glasgow uni!!!!!! V v v smart!!!

Great english, British accent sorta ( listen to him speak x x )

HAS A CUTE FANG TOOTH

Will trade fatty meat for lean meat if u ask

TATTOOS (I THINK THERE’S A WOLF ONE, THE ONE W AN ANCHOR+OCTOPUS not sure though :c not enough HD pics to verify ;;)

Basketballlll

Wants to collab w eminem one day

Looks up to eminem, dr dre & ice cube

STEALS MU ZIYANG’S CLOTHES VERY OFTEN (there was this vid once when yue yue was choosing btwn 5 outfits and mu ziyang was like “can u at least put one of ur own outfits in the 5”)

Voted as naggy lmao (was asked by mu ziyang whether 1 ton of iron or 1 ton of cotton is heavier, and he talked to ziyang about it for 2 hrs about the question isn’t logical cause the experiment must be held in the same conditions, the air etc etc)

His hair is a birds nest & cannot be maintained + he uses the company’s hair dryer (which actually belongs to ling chao) to do his hair

Likes to eat everything, not picky with food :”)

THE ONE THAT ALWAYS STEALS FOOD FROM OTHERS.

DRAMA QUEEN

became bufan’s “woman” in IP aft the gang initiation LOL

yue likes to have clothes with holes in weird places, so i think that’s why he always wears ziyangs’s clothes

his underwear is still outside the window ledge/roof on their old qin dorm c:

can drive!!! has a car!!!! drives a honda w a super cool license plate number ahah

lmao wanted to set up an emergency fund for the himself and the boys because they are always getting their salary deducted HAHAH (+ it was said that ling chao has the most money bc he listens the best and is always on time)

plays the guitar!!!

has a tentacle fetish lmao

initially his dad wasn’t supportive of him becoming a trainee so he secretly went to idol producer without his dad’s knowledge (his dad didn’t even know what he was doing at qin ent) but rn his dad rlly supports him!!

yue yue’s fans call themselves 岳妻 (yue yue’s wife)

Mu ziyang

PROFESSIONAL MODEL

His real name is li zhenyang 李振洋 (94-liner)

his stage name 木子洋 is cause his surname 李 is formed from 木子 then they added the 洋 ; KWIN

Fans call him 小懂事 ( which means something like a sensible kid )

Walked in milan fashion week!!!!!! WALKED FOR MANY BRANDS!!!! THIS KING

FANS CALL HIM QIN’S CLOSET/SPONSOR :”)

Also said he managed to walk for the show that he most wanted to!!!!

WENT TO THE SAME SCHOOL AS BUFAN (Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology) (and was schoolmates with dong yanlei)

Scared of ghosts cause his mum used to tell him that ghosts will snatch him away if he misbehaves

says he isn’t of haunted houses, but then asks ling chao to hug him tightly when walking though it lmao

SCARED OF CRABS BC HE THINKS THEY ARE UGLY (this idiot lmao)

he’s scared of everything :)

PAID BUFAN 50 YUAN TO FEED HIM CRABS

LIKES TO DO “BUSINESS” ie trade stuff with ling chao so that ling chao will do his bidding

Rlly sad but mu ziyang got srsly sick during ip first evals and had to do iv drips until his hands were all bruised cause of the needle marks :c

Lmao this idiot thinks 3/6 > 3/5

wants to work with Leonardo DiCaprio

he can’t stand people sitting on his bed

“It’s not that the pyjamas are expensive, I’m expensive”

Sang 越战越勇 on before!!

lowkey was upset he didn’t get balloons on his birthday while yue yue got a wall of happy birthday + star balloons HAHAHA

roommates with yue in the qin dorm

threw yue’s underwear out the window bc yue forced it over his head :”) & its stuck right outside the roof at their old dorm

bought a tank for loaches/mudfish & only realised that it wasn’t meant for fishes after putting the decorations and water in it...

apparently has a driving license

once while driving a motorcycle, the battery died & he used a strangers phone to call yue yue. then yue yue had to come pick him up with his car. since he had the motorcycle, ziyang sat on the motorcycle and held on to the car handle & they drove back like that lmao

can play the piano!!!

THE ONE THAT DISSES LING CHAO

THERE WAS THIS ONCE POST ON DOUBAN where mu ziyang bought ALL the buns from the convenience store & zhu xingjie came a while later and wast stuck at the store cause he had to wait until the next batch was ready lmao

Had a huge knee surgery during his trainee period :c (the boys also visited him in the hospital) + also sad bc qin3 went for a huge seafood feast at home when mu ziyang was stuck eating hospital food

before leaving the dorms he went with ling chao to the convenience store to buy food bc he says ling chao is kinda picky with his food so he doesn’t eat much & he isnt’t able to take care of him anymore now that he’s eliminated so he used up all his remaining money to buy food for him

after being eliminated, he and yue yue went to play HAHAHA

Bu fan

his real name is bu fanfan 卜凡凡 (96-liner)

the boys call him 凡子 (fan zi), where 凡 is from his name and 子 is a term of endearment :”)

used bu fan as a stage name because he thinks bu fanfan is too cute lol; KATTO (PRONOUNCED AS KA-TOO)

192cm 对 cant play basketball though

LOVES DOGS, HUSKY

ACTUALLY DIDNT GRAD FRM SCHOOL YET :c he said his parents are pushing him to continue to study but nonetheless support him as an idol

HAS AN OLDER BROTHER (10 YEARS AGE GAP)

CLINGY

LOVES TO CRY ( crise a lot when doing stretching)

Voted most scared of pain

Once got caught eating a melon & got punished :c (+ he always steals melon from the fridge & doesn’t even close the refrigerator door afterwards...)

Always late for work apparently until there’s no more salary to be detected

HIS ACTUAL MINK JACKET IS ACTUALLY JUST A BATHROBE

apparently owes ziyang money & gave him a rap perf for money lol

Once helped an old auntie neighbour buy a new phone bc hers was old and was about to spoil

When asked if he likes girls with short hair or long hair, this boy said he doesn’t like any & likes computers instead lmao

He can’t stand low qualiy movies, it has to be in HD

when he becomes rich and successful, he’s going to help the manager xiao yu do some intense stretching lmao

“ everytime bufan goes to the subway, the authorities will always check his ID ” - yueyue

Has a wall of demoralising quotes back at the qin dorm ( iconic quotes include: “being ugly is a disease” & “the reason why you drink chicken soup is because other people have already ate the meat” & “all roads lead to rome, but some people are born in rome” )

“ 家爆脸 ”- zhou yanchen

HIGHKEY LOVES YUEYUE A LOT this sweet child tried his best to protect yue’s cake from being eaten cause he wanted yue to take a photo with it first ( in qin ent, it was said that the only way they get food is to snatch from others, so that cake was NOT safe with mu ziyang and ling chao around )

MORE INSTANCES OF HIS LOVE FOR YUEYUE, HE WILL BITE YOUR HEAD OFF IF U DISS HIS YUE :”) just look at bufan getting triggered when zhou rui mentioned about yue’s eye wrinkles

Also, he called yue yue disgusting cause yue yue didn’t come back at night & went to sleep in another trainees room ( he’s jealous )

Leader of a gang (current known members include ( xiao gui, fan chengcheng, yue yue & xu shengen)

got tricked to eat a sichuan chilli by yue yue poor thing

KING OF SEAFOOD

once a deliveryman misread his name as 小凡凡 (xiao fanfan) instead of 卜凡凡 (bu fanfan), then got dissed by the mu ziyang saying “omg why do u call yourself that”

I think bufan has a habit of saying the word 对 (dui) after a sentence, its pretty cute :”)

according to ziyang, bu fan thinks he’s the smartest in the group

has a habit of calling people 宝宝 (baobao) & 宝贝 (baobei) which means baby/babe

outed yue yue as the only one that wears mu ziyang’s clothes (when asked if mzy was really qin’s closet, he said that our group has 4 people, ling chao and I never wear mzy’s clothes)

Ling chao

His real name is li yingchao 李英超 (01-liner)

his stage name came about bc if u say his real name really fast ‘李英 (li ying) will sound like 灵 (ling) ; DIDI (lmao when he’s old he’s still going to be called didi)

call him 弟弟 (di di; little brother) or 小王子 (little prince)

Loves his candies & would probably fight u for it

Hides candies in so many diff places/compartments lmao

got a toothache bc of said candy

sings really well!!!!

SAYS HIS FAV CELEBRITY IS 黄晓明 (& angelababy)

HAS A YOUNGER SISTER BUT THINKS HE’S STILL THE PRETTIEST IN THE FAMILY

Receives the most love from the other boys :”) ( they have a rule where the plate with the most meat goes to him )

roommates with bu fanfan

Always seen with mu ziyang ( the true otp )

Doesnt like meat with fats

CAN DO SPLITS!!!!!!! & ALSO SPLITS WHILE DOING A HEADSTAND

HAS THE NICEST LOOKING EYES

is an idiot. he went to a korean restaurant & told ziyang that the “spicy cabbage” wasn’t tasty and he preferred kimchi instead. BUT THEY ARE THE SAME THING.

he likes white roses

likes cats!!

likes to scare chickens (& got scolded for it)

during break time, he has to memorise Chinese vocabulary ( and is taught by the company’s ceo!!!!!!)

i think he sticks with ziyang the most! ;; (obvs they are the superior ship)

BROUGHT ZIYANG TO SEE THE TALKING TRASH BIN JUST TO MAKE ZIYANG SCARED.

shittiest luck HAHAHA (bufan+lingchao team and yueyue+ziyang team had to draw lots to see who gets to sleep in the room and who sleeps outside in the living room, and ling chao always loses)

GETS DISSED FOR HAVING NARROW SHOULDERS

printed his own picture on a pillow then said it was “given by fans”

had a writer/blogger/reviewer kind of site where he wrote stuff

looks up to xukun and zhangjing the most in ip!

“ if your 3 qin brothers become a girl, who would be your older sister, younger sister and girlfriend? ” LING CHAO: NONE BECAUSE ALL OF THEM ARE UGLY

GETS HIT BY ZIYANG A LOT LMAO

ling chao’s fans are called 糖精 (tang jing; candy spirit) because of his love for candy

小于 (xiao yu)

BC221’s manager!!!!!!!!! (Also helps then stretch)

very sassy & playful

older than all of the qin boys ; had to work for 4 years before attending university

he’s almost always the camera man for bc221′s trainee life videos!!!! (its either him or bowen)

Came off as a little mean in the video where the boys were stretching :c but honestly he just rlly wants the best for them

Stays with the boys in their qin dorm!!!!!!

Went to the same university with mu ziyang!!! (& says mu ziyang stole his snacks, face masks, shoes, clothes, socks etc); they probably graduated the same time cause they were classmates!

Sometimes ppl call him 小鱼 (yu) ( word play; means little fish ) & mu ziyang called him 热带鱼 (tropical fish)

When yue yue got in trouble for playing computer games, he called xiao yu handsome and he laughed & immediately stop scolding yue yue LOL

yueyue likes to diss him lmao

Gives ling chao sweets!!! (doesn’t give bufan and yueyue bc they apparently dont listen to him lmao)

said to bufan : “IS BEING TALL EVERYTHING??? HUH???”

“we always get scolded by our manager, the first day would pass by normally but then on the 2nd day we would get scolded” - yueyue & bufan

“excuse you? what was that about your manager scolding you everyday? its called a heart to heart talk”

a fan sent pig feed to the company & he said he was going to save it to give to the boys as a birthday present

WROTE MU ZIYANG IS THE UGLIEST AND LEFT IT FOR ZIYANG TO FIND

yue yue calls him 小于帅 a lot.

followed yue yue to his home to visit lao yue’s mum :”) helped yue yue carried the luggage up the stairs

went Thailand with yue yue and mu ziyang after eliminations!

got dragged by bu fan into the toilet (bu fan said it was xiao yu that pushed him inside but there’s video evidence HAHAHA)

Sadly no longer part of QIN’s entertainment anymore

博文 (Bowen)

lives with the boys apparently

Shorter than the qin4 and xiao yu ahaha if you see the video angle being lower compared to others, then its bowen filming (fans call it the girlfriend angle lmao)

I think he’s qin’s video editor/photographer!

currently now part of qin’s one man subbing team rip bowen

passive aggressively posting on weibo whenever xiao yu posts updates on their Thailand adventure bc they didn’t bring him along hahahah

he has a cat called 棉裤 (cotton pants), mu ziyang hates this cat because 棉裤 always climbs on his bed

#idol producer shitpost #idol producer #ling chao #lingchao #yue yue #bufan #bu fan #mu ziyang #mine #i'm always updating this whenever i see smthg interesting omg #qin #bc221 #xiao yu #bowen

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