bolin is such a funny character. he dated the avatar for like 12 hours, he's been kidnapped multiple times, he almost lost his bending, he's the world's first movie star, he's a pro athlete, he's a cop, he's no longer a cop, he pulled a princess, he was directly involved in two civil wars, he keeps ending up in jail, he possesses a type of bending we only see in one other character in the entire franchise, his bending skill genuinely rivals some of the best benders in the world and it's just kinda taken as a given, his best friend is a rat, he is 16 years old.
I can’t believe I missed the 3 year anniversary of this moment at the beginning of this month, but let it never be forgotten:
[ID: tweet from Matthew Mercer dated March 2, 2018. It reads: “Tweeting from inside the Urgent Care facility bathroom while Marisha gets her ribs checked after last night’s “death sneeze”. I’ve been somehow locked in for 10 minutes, and they may have to just brick me in and leave no evidence. Let this message be my cry for vengeance.”]
Here's the video version of my discussion of the leaked emails that prove the Hugo Awards removed finalists (me, RF Kuang, Paul Weimer, Neil Gaiman & Ep 6 of Sandman) for political reasons, despite us having the required votes. Because too many of you are making assumptions without bothering to read the full exposé.
There's a lot of nuance in this case that I hope people can acknowledge. No, it is not "sinophobic" to criticize the Chinese government's severe censorship policies when anyone who's spent more than ten minutes on the Chinese internet knows how bad it is, and there IS evidence of pressure in this case. There's nothing to accomplish by pretending like it's not a thing. You're not furthering the world proletarian revolution by speaking over the lived experiences of Chinese comrades and denying factually shitty aspects of your favorite AES.
Yes, the Western and presumably white members of the Hugo admin team DID circle back to racism by trying so hard to appease the Chinese government that they preemptively censored Chinese diaspora ~ to be safe ~ on extremely flimsy reasons without even reading our books. And of course, confusing Nepal for Tibet.
He's selfish, annoying and a bastard and he's so amazing to read as! He's completely flawed, grumpy and unable to move past his well... past, but it makes him so enjoyable to follow. Not every character needs to be this perfect hero and getting to spend time in the shoes of Niclays is so much fun. And seeing where the story takes him, the journey he goes on physically and mentally? So well written 👏
Okay, I know so many Priory of the Orange Tree fans hate Niclays, but I actually love him. I love the trope of crotechty old people with backstories, and his relationship with that Lasian woman (I forgot her name, sorry) was so sweet. The man was going through it- his lover died and then so did Truyde, who was practically the old good thing left in his life. I understand why he went a bit crazy