#also yes this ties into the way i think you can read her character arc as a trans narrative. of course it does.

[tytoalbatross]

Ranking BG3 Companions Based On Whether I Think They Give Good Advice

1. Halsin

in all honesty, i would put halsin and jaheira tied for first place because it really depends on the way you like advice being given to you. halsin will first drag you outside on a nice hiking trail for The Talk, and depending on whether or not you like the outdoors will greatly impact his placement (at least compared to the other first-place). but his advice is extremely good ! he'll walk you through whatever you're going through (as well as the not-so-well-beaten path in the Woods) and give you ideas for how to approach it based on your personal experience. even if you didn't want to go on the walk and was upset about being dragged on a walk, you'll be even more angry after the walk that it actually kinda worked. 10/10

2. Jaheira

on the other hand, if you want (very good) advice being given to you closer to home, jaheira is undoubtedly your best bet. both she and halsin have the age and the life experience to help you, and she will especially be incredible at being both considerate of your side of things while also giving you brutal honesty whenever necessary. the only downside i can think of is that the whole thing will feel like you're being sat down and being given "a chat" by your usually very cool aunt. another 10/10 though

3. Wyll

what wyll ravenguard doesn't have in years he has in his wide range of experiences and whatever the faerûn equivalent is of binge reading sappy reddit stories. he's Very easy to talk to and even if he doesn't know exactly what to say to you after, he'll definitely sound like he knows what he's talking about. gives pretty general, safe advice and knows the ins and outs of a healthy relationship! however, wyll's advice will lack some credibility because he just. does not follow his own advice. especially regarding family problems

4. Gale

i'd like to mention that i'm rating these characters PURELY on advice. i'm not factoring comfort into the rankings whatsoever. however, if you're looking for comfort AND advice, gale might be decidedly awkward about the former depending on your relationship. which is understandable, considering he barely had any human interactions for a whole a year. no, tara does not count. for advice, gale will listen very intently to your entire problem, and you can see the gears turning in his head. "what" you ask. "well, i can't help but think--" and he just goes ahead and posits an entire gameplan to you. a very pragmatic and thorough plan, yes, but it may not actually be viable for you (pretty hit or miss)

5. Minsc

do i mean minsc or minsc and boo? i couldnt decide on a reliable ranking with boo involved, so this is assuming you caught minsc on the rare occasion that he's without boo. maybe he's taking a nap. minsc almost always suggests you go punch a wall about it. or punch the cause of your problems. it's not the best advice, but you might actually feel better after punching a wall. or punching the cause of your problems. and if he does give you specific advice based on your problem, it can either be surprisingly wise or a good blueprint of what not to do. win-win

6. Shadowheart

all of you people who immediately place shadowheart as the "mom friend" or caretaker of the group simply because she is a cleric and a woman; i am hitting you very hard on the head with a steel bat. shadowheart is unfortunately not socialized beyond her interactions with other sharrans (not an accurate representation of the average group of people), and depending on when in her character arc you ask her for advice, she may not even care to help you. even if she could. however, assuming she is trying to give you advice, she would do her very best to at least talk through the issue with you and suggest some. possibly questionable things. at the end of the conversation it just kinda feels like the blind leading the blind

7. Karlach

karlach is only so low on the list because i think she just wouldn't try to give you advice, at least not in any definitive way. she'd first and foremost trust whatever decision you'll make for yourself (even pre-emptively), and her first priority would be comfort. she'll do her damnedest to give you a hug (which depends on the status of her heart), and she will also suggest punching things. and she will join you ! you solved nothing but you do feel much better at least

8. Astarion

whether astarion even makes an attempt at giving you advice depends entirely on how much he cares about you. if he barely registers your existence, he'll actually try to tell you to do something, but it's godawful advice. closer to a shitty one-liner. if he does care about you though, his "advice" is actually more outlandish and ridiculous. regardless of whether there's another person involved, "have you considered just killing the guy?" and you stare at him like he just grew another head. but hey, you're not upset anymore! he might even be trying to get you to laugh and gape at him because "hey no normal fucking person does that" "but it would work?" etc. and you're even surprised into laughing because what the fuck. astarion will not give you good advice but, like karlach, you will feel at least a little better than you did before the conversation

9. Lae'zel

it even baffles lae'zel that you'd go to her for advice. you trot up to her tent at camp, with everyone else above fully ready and available, asking her for advice. "bold choice." then she proceeds to give you the most brutal, does-not-apply-to-non-gith advice you've ever heard in your life. is she trying? probably. is she used to giving advice beyond simply speaking her mind? not at all. if you're looking for her specific brand of "advice" or you're in the market for combat pointers, you might get something out of the conversation, but otherwise the whole thing just leaves you concerned about how gith society works.

#i could be persuaded to a higher lae'zel ranking if i see a funnier idea than what i had #honestly ? if i see a funnier idea for any of them PERIOD i will probably just take that as fact #i wasnt entirely serious about this besides what i said about shadowheart. you know who you are. #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #halsin #jaheira #wyll ravenguard #gale dekarios #minsc #shadowheart #karlach #astarion #lae'zel #oh shit right . i didnt include minthara bc i havent had her in any of my saves yet so i couldnt think of anything #tyto speaks

[coquelicoq]

hmmm for the shipping meme! matonato and hankim or yoohankim?

[ID: A graph with the x-axis labeled "makes sense" on the left and "doesn't make sense" on the right and the y-axis labeled "compels me" at the top and "doesn't compel me" at the bottom. points labeled MN for matonato, HK for hankim, and YHK for yoohankim have been situated on the grid: MN in the top left (makes sense, compels me), HK at the top and to the right of MN (makes some sense, compels me), and two points labeled YHK, one slightly above and to the left of the center (makes some sense, compels me some) and one in the bottom right (doesn't make sense, doesn't compel me). /end ID]

wow this threw me off because for some reason i assumed that makes sense would be on the right instead of the left! so hopefully i made all the necessary corrections to what i originally wrote lol.

matonato: makes sense, compels me. probably obnoxiously obvious to everyone at this point. do they get a happy ending? i mean it's very fun to think about and i love me a good actually-together-matonato concept, but probably the most compelling thing about them is the star-crossed aspect. it's not will they won't they, it's why they why not they. why do they want this and why can they never have it? it's, how can i make this about natori's self-hatred? it's, who is matoba if he quits the exorcist business? (EXTREMELY JUICY AND COMPELLING QUESTION 2 B ASKING.) it's, what changes in their individual priorities and self-conception would be necessary before they could get together? asking myself these questions and understanding why they in their current forms can't be in a relationship helps me to better articulate who exactly they are and what motivates them and gives me avenues for thinking about possible character development. but like i said i do really love thinking about matonato endgame, and even though i know it's never going to be canon (which it doesn't need to be, obviously! we are in our sandbox making our own dreams come true), i'm reading the homura arc like girl why did you do that. where are you going with this??? fellas is it gay to stalk your homoerotic rival's enemies and the answer is a resounding YES. they are a good ship because thinking about each of them in the context of the other expands my understanding and appreciation of their individual characters, but also because it would be sexy for them to mash their mouths together. both are very important elements of shipping 2 me.

hankim: i want to say this is one of the most compelling relationships in orv but they are all compelling, it's actually insane. however hankim is definitely tied for first (with twenty other relationships). her love for him is the beating heart of the story. like the entire plot hinges around her loving him so much she would [redacted], but also the central themes are exemplified by how she feels about him and what she does about it. and he trusts her in a way he can't really trust anyone else, because she knows enough about the world that he can be open with her about things he can't tell others, and because he trusts her to be competent and able to achieve his objectives. mostly to me though their relationship Is About her love for him because of how badly he needs it and how little he can understand it, and how central it is to his entire character that he needs but cannot understand receiving that kind of love. i have not yet succeeded in imagining any kind of compelling sexual relationship for them, except the somewhat indirect one where he gives her permission to make a kim-dokja-looking avatar with which to fuck yoo joonghyuk while kim dokja is elsewhere minding his own business, but that's fine, they don't need to be having sex to have a compelling relationship, obviously. so yeah it's compelling af and it does make sense, but i'm taking some sense points off because the kdj-to-hsy direction is pretty standard shipping material while the opposite direction is like the entire point of the book. it's a lil unbalanced.

yoohankim: this ship fascinates me because i definitely never would have come up with it myself. hankim? see above. yookim? see below. but yoohan - DESPITE THE WHOLE DEAL AROUND WHO YOO JOONGHYUK IS AND HOW HE GOT THAT WAY - are just like. Only Here For Kim Dokja. any relationship they have with each other is a proxy for a relationship with kim dokja, mediated by their feelings for kim dokja, and put through the sieve of who the other person is to kim dokja. i think they have a very psychosexual thing going on where they're having a lot of sex with each other but mostly in order to feel close to kim dokja, who is not involved lol. which is its own kind of compelling, certainly. i guess you could say yoohankim is the ONLY way that yoohan makes any sort of sense to me whatsoever, so in that regard yoohankim is squarely in the northwest quadrant. but at the same time i feel like if kim dokja is actually present, their relationship with each other is more like in-laws than anything else. it's indirect. they don't have divorced energy…they don't even have metamour energy. i don't know. they're like this is my sister's mailman and i have no idea what he's doing at my nephew's piano recital, which is insane to me because they should have (nonsexual) parent-child energy if nothing else. so i also have to put yoohankim in the southeast quadrant. so far this is where most yoohankim fic i have read falls, but probably i just haven't yet found the one that would unlock it for me.

to close the loop i gotta talk about yookim (joongdok). the most enjoyable thing about it to me personally is that yoo joonghyuk so clearly wants kim dokja to hold him down and it's very fun to see kim dokja have to shift his entire paradigm to make that make sense. i mean, i think all of kimcom wants to hold kim dokja down (most of them nonsexually imo), but yoo joonghyuk is the one guy who's like "if you would just stop trying to kill yourself for two seconds then i could let you out of these handcuffs so you could have your way with me. you bastard." they make me crazy because they work together SO well and trust each other SO implicitly while also being like, wow this idiot has terrible priorities and so i have to manipulate him into furthering my agenda (keeping him safe) instead of his agenda (keeping me safe). they're also that evergreen combo of guy with low self-worth who's oblivious to other people's love for him/guy who loves so hard but never uses his words about it that makes me wanna read about them getting together 100 different times. in a slightly different sense than with matonato, thinking about them as a twosome better elucidates aspects of their own individual personalities and worldviews, which makes for a compelling shipping experience.

#it's funny after i wrote the matonato part i was like wait. am i actually saying matonato DOESN'T make sense to me? #and i decided that no it does. it makes sense to me that their current iterations can never be together. but in a way where i'm #still shipping them #it makes sense that they don't make sense. and 'here's how [ship] can still win' is a backbone of the shipping economy #natsume's book of friends #orv #natsume yuujinchou #horrible exorcists #natsuyuu meta #shipping #asks #not anon #thank youuuu for asking <3333 v fun to think about!

[chibivesicle]

The woes of running a secret organization; Steven’s burden and complex partnership with K.K.

It is time for some manga meta for Kekkai Sensen!  Yes, we will be delving into manga only content through Back 2 Back and the Calamity Auction arc.  Anyone who has been reading my meta since Golden Kamuy means I have a love of certain types of characters and Steven and K.K. really fall into that type.

I’m really interested to delve into Steven first and then K. K. (in a later post) but she’ll be in this one for sure because K. K. is intimately tied to Steven all the time in the manga (and I don’t mean in a sexual sort of way).

My previous Steven meta was only based on the anime for the most part and up through episode 7 of season 2.  Which really is more stuff from what should have happened before events of season 1.  Yet, I digress.  I’ve already put out there that Steven has an immense sadness about him in part with how he’s alone and has been making life choices to keep himself alone.

One should always be concerned if this is how you encounter him in the dead of night.

Steven is the ice cold pragmatist to Klaus’ fire filled idealism.  Certainly, one always needs to look for that single flicker of light but Klaus can state this openly since someone else is in the dark corners trying to make sure it happens.  That being Steven.

Kekkai Sensen characterization and moral conflict scenes

Early on when Steven and K. K. take on the first named Blood Breed in the 23rd Street Station, K. K. gives him absolute shit for being with such a black hearted man.  This implies that K. K. is knowledgeable or bold enough to verbally acknowledge that Steven doesn’t always do things above the board.  Which likely means that Klaus has to know this as well on some level.  Klaus isn’t naive, he’s more compassionate than most but will still crush you if you are inhumane. 

Early on, Steven is set up as the deadpan snarker, with a quick quip or sarcastic comment.  He loves his coffee and can get seriously hangry (where is my subway sandwich?) and does a lot of boring paperwork that no one else does. 

We learn that in ‘Day In Day Out’ about his swanky condo, sophisticated, educated circle of human friends.  Who aren’t really good friends.

It says a lot that he’s got Mrs. Veded as his Beyondian housekeeper with whom he is relaxed and chill with.  He even appreciates her roast beef enough to smile softly commenting on it. 

We also get to see how his relaxed clothing is a white dress shirt, dark pants and slippers.  Not only is he in his own home, but Steven is always on guard when out and about.  It took me a few reads of this to notice that the manga showing his slippers indicates that he is safe with her.  He’s not wearing his special Esmeralda Blood Freeze shoes.

I am always a sucker for domestic scenes and love the one with him chopping and cooking with Mrs. Veded for his party.  The first person to arrive is Ellen with her new boyfriend/male fling/something.

Steven is blushing hardcore as he smiles at first.  I think it is pretty clear that they were involved romantically at some point in time previously.  This is backed up by the next page.  They hug while the other guy is just standing there and Ellen even tells Veded that her tentacles look great which is like your hair looks great.  I think.  She then finally introduces her date.

That is totally a sort of, yeah here was my past fling current date vibe there.  The other guests then start to arrive.  Everyone seems to know that Steven is overworked and they joke about helping him to party more.

What is most telling though is when he approaches Veded.  We can see that his shoes are his work shoes.  If he felt okay with the guests, than he’d perhaps wear non-vampire hunting shoes, but he’s got them on.

He thanks Veded for her help and makes it very very clear that she’s done for the night.  Only after she leaves does he get a severe expression and tells himself to get things started.

There are almost two pages of all the guests at the dinner party talking to each other in groups while Steven is - completely absent.  We only see him when he volunteers to get beer for a few people who are out from the kitchen.  When his back is turned to them, they all draw their bioweapons on him and it becomes awkward as they request that he come with them or else.  They lay down their job to capture him as a key member of Libra and he at first tries to jest with them.

His snark is on full force when he thanks them for not killing him violently and destroying his place.  But even more so that if they wasted that precious Veded roast beef.  If Steven cares about you - he really takes anything related to you seriously.  Was that roast beef made with care and attention?  Yes, thus, the roast beef is to be protected!

The entire group is frozen by his Needles of Absolute Zero attack and then he proceeds to tell them how they blew it.  The manga takes it even further with more examples of his observations of various people.  His comment about Ellen’s perfume continues the idea that they had been involved when he tells her, that she was previously worried about it being too strong.  You’d have to be up close and personal for someone to worry enough about if your perfume is too strong for them. 

They of course think that Steven has Libra do his dirty work but that is not the case, he reveals to them that he’s got his own squad to deal with threats like this - ones that can impact key members of Libra, like himself and eliminate them before they get to the rest of the team.  Their job is to maintain balance and Steven will maintain that balance.

Steven is also bold enough to reveal that Klaus wouldn’t condone what is about to happen to them with his personal crew but that being interrogated is not going to be good.

He leaves his subordinate to clean things up while he goes out for fresh air with a look of utter defeat and sadness.  The man can’t even have a dinner party without people wanting to kidnap/torture/kill him.  Fun times.  The fact that he goes out alone and then thinks back to the friends he froze and sent off for intel purposes.  That has got to suck on so many levels, but what would you do? Let them kill you? Use you to hurt your friends and colleagues and disrupt that balance?

His entire lambasting of himself for having too much fun and being normal is sad and pathetic in the worst way possible.  He can’t have any happiness or friends with his job.

Which is why when Veded stops by to check in on him with the party already being over it is so heart warming. He gets to thank her properly.  Technically, his party was a complete failure but she was great.  He also is polite and friendly with her kids.  How many times do humans in Kekkai Sensen act totally normal with Beyondians besides Leo that we see?

This entire interaction between Steven and Veded’s family and the cat shows that he’s someone who cares about all of the residents of HL and wants to protect all of them.  He also gives thanks and means it, not some sort of lip service.  Other than Leo, the only other character who has totally normal actions with Beyondians on a regular basis is Klaus, but Klaus is the ultimate example of this.  This is also before Zed joined their team so the current Libra line up lacked a full non-human.

Another aspect of Steven that is established very early on in volume 1 is how he will act when someone acts against Libra.  In this case, it is when Leo was kidnapped. 

He is organizing the entire team to rescue Leo to make it clear that whatever you do, Libra will comeback with way more force to make you suffer.  And the rest of the team doesn’t have an issue with this policy, they all follow it and operate with full force to stop the other party.  AKA, You hurt someone on my team, I will make you suffer tenfold more. 

We also get another example of Steven using any means necessary to acquire information in volume 6 about criminal activity in the city.  Including seducing a police officer and stealing a USB drive from her.  He clearly left her hot and bothered and is strolling along alone before spotting Klaus.  Whatever they were up to, he took of his jacket and tie and unbuttoned his dress shirt and things were getting heated.  Until he isn’t and he quickly makes himself presentable for the general public (which in his case is tie and jacket).

He’s cold as he shows him the drive.  Klaus didn’t even ask him to tell him about it, and Steven isn’t cocky either.

However, this is really it for the first ten volumes.  We know he has his personal squad for dirty but necessary deeds, has definitely used his sex appeal to his advantage and is very protective of those he cares about.

The story continues on with Kekkai Sensen Back 2 Back for another ten volumes.

Kekkai Sensen Back 2 Back increases the stakes for Steven’s actions

We get the return of Steven’s personal clean up squad, who also get some more fleshed out information than just being giant thugs.

The background is made clear, for two weeks, Klaus is traveling around the world for Libra business with Gilbert and K. K.  That’s right, Steven’s most frequent partner is out of the country.

We learn that Zapp and Zed are in the hospital after being seriously injured by a foe they barely escaped.  This indirectly tells us that someone is out there targeting Libra while Klaus, K.K. and Gilbert are away.  This means that Steven is in charge.

Patrick really hammers this home for the reading making it obvious that this was not normal and we get this guy named Garrett introduced.  He decides to purchase something crazy dangerous and Patrick is concerned about giving him something so powerful.

But in the end, he heads out (notice the number of deadbolts on that door!).

Of course this random guy named Garrett is immediately drawn in such a way that we are suspicious of him.  He looks like he’s just walking calmly away but then we see his face shaded in darkness.  He’s got an agenda for sure.

Obvious suspicious character warning 101 right here.  He proceeds to go into a diner.  A lithe individual with a baseball cap and glasses sits down next to him and does something super fast to connect to the man’s phone.  The mysterious team gain critical information and decide it is time to contact “Frost”.  I’m sorry Steven, but pick a better code name  9_9 . 

They speak simply in fear of someone else overhearing them and we can only think who will be woken up.  As in these individuals aren’t free to do their own things and have a specific job.

Garrett drives to an abandoned alleyway and arrives at his meeting place.  Only to find Steven alone.  He at first seems concerned and when he realizes it is Steven his eyes fly open in shock.

We see a very closed off and cold Steven.  He’s still slouching but subdued and not looking up either.  He is incredibly calm as he addresses Garrett making it clear that the jig is up and Garrett should give up.

Of course, those who he was working with appear.  It is the woman from before directly addressing him for figuring out that they’d infiltrated Libra.  Thus, Steven is also using himself as bait to draw out the nefarious party.  However, he makes it clear that Steven’s behavior is one where he lacks trust in them.

I would think that it is less about Steven not trusting them, but more that it is his job to protect them from having to deal with this.  Or that he feels that it is his job to protect the rest of the team from this dirty work.  Additionally, Steven wants to punish those who hurt his teammates. Way back in chapter 4, Steven made it clear if someone fucks with Libra they will respond in kind.  Of course he hasn’t changed how he feels about these sorts of things since he first appeared in volume 1.  She seriously injured Zed and Zapp and Steven is not going to let her forget about that.

His squad is able to pin down the tricky tentacle monster and he asks if they are going to kill her or not.  Yet, it seems that she might be in trouble having tussled with them even if they try to get information out of her.  Steven maintains a straight face at Garrett looks concerned.

The expression from Steven where he looks dumbfounded that Garrett is assuming that he’s a cold-blooded man seeing all beings as disposable which is harsh.  However, he does add that what will happen to her isn’t going to be pleasant.  Intelligence seems sexy when you think of James Bond movies and Spy x Family, but so much of it represents an incredibly dark side of human nature.  Think more along the lines of Tinker Tailor Solider Spy.�� Focusing on the lack of humanity demonstrated by the agents and the KGB and what snippets we get today from US intelligence etc etc etc.

What is most interesting is that Steven takes the time to explain why he’s doing what he’s doing.  Which honestly, I don’t think Garrett needs or deserves this since the context would imply that Garrett was a voluntary defector trying to take down Libra.  The fact that he was eavesdropping on Leo’s conversation with Patrick and Neyka implies that Garrett was confirming that she hurt them and likely helped her to cross paths with them.

Steven is completely business about this.  He is managing a crisis, where he has a rat who has compromised the nature of Libra.  Yes, he’s going to find out what Garrett knows methodically.

In the face of such a terrifying thought, Garrett of course asks if this is the real Steven and throws out the obvious comparison to Klaus, upright to a fault.  This was the absolutely worst thing that he could say to Steven.  His eyes narrow and his expression becomes so awful that Garrett is shocked.

The bottom panel shows a man who is beyond upset.  He’s sad, disappointed, angry, resigned, foul, and worn out.  Steven doesn’t want to do this.  It isn’t like he gets up in the morning wondering if he’ll get to interrogate a traitor, who already injured several of his colleagues and was going to injure more.

The action then shifts to the morning as they had limited time to act at night to capture Garrett and get to work.  Steven is outside talking with his assistant as they discuss Garrett’s words about what Klaus would think about the situation.  The assistant notes that even though Klaus would ultimately reach the same conclusion, he would have tried to take on the pain of someone like Garrett until his actions resulted in the inevitable self-destruction by his actions, likely at the hands of Libra.

The nameless aid is trying his best to make Steven feel better.  He believes that one who is the direct aide to a leader is to keep that leader on their path by dealing with things that would distract them and prevent them from being overburdened with more responsibilities.  And here, I 100% think that Steven’s aide believes this and is how he does his job as the coordinator for Steven’s squad.

Steven ask him to confirm the statement and he makes it clear that it is the truth.  However,  the blank expression on Steven’s face tells us that he doesn’t have that sort of faith in his actions.  First, hesitant to speak and then only to say “That would be nice, but” and he never completes the statement.

The rest of the team wants him to return since they are having a post-mission office party.  I mean, gotta keep up team morale for preventing more damage to Libra.  In the end, Steven approves a drink for the strange baby genius and we never get to learn what Steven is thinking but it is clear that he does feel guilty and doesn’t want this to be a part of his job. 

This entire chapter shows that Steven is willing to do that it takes to protect the balance, in the city, within Libra and his friends and colleagues. 

But this chapter is a teaser preview for the next time that Steven wonders what is right and necessary in a crisis. Again, when he is in charge since Klaus was arrested and he ordered Steven to take the rest of the team and escape.

The evil human eating pot broke open releasing a monstrous creature that Leo rescued and took to the hospital.  Using the All Seeing Eyes of the Gods, he determines that the horrible creature is what remains of some of the victims of the pot and the auction house wants it returned to them to put back in the pot.

What is also important to note is that most of the team are present, K. K., Zapp, Zed, Leo and Steven.  Leo reveals to the group that the ‘thing’ is human and Steven hunches over it asking if it is alive.

The group needs to determine what to do next.  He then looks to the medical professionals for an opinion, where they aren’t sure what to do other than note, it is seriously messed up.  Steven knows that it will likely draw trouble to them or cause more so he keeps his back to them when he tells them to leave.  The flushed expression on his face and inability to see his eyes tells us that he’s thinking of how to put it out of its misery.

He’s officially the one in charge and he’s thinking about what is the least risky thing to do.  Leo argues back that the children that were fed to it are still alive and this wasn’t their choice.  But the one who agrees with Steven is Zapp who manifests his blade and tells Leo to think rationally.  The easiest way is to prevent it from returning to the jar and completing the curse.

Zapp is thinking that these already non-humans have to be sacrificed to prevent the worse option from happening.

However, Zed then jumps in to fight Zapp, agreeing with Leo that it isn’t their place to kill it.  What is really great about the entire scene is that no morality is black or white and the Libra team are all using slightly different ways to look at the exact same situation.  As Zed and Zapp come to blows, Luciana stops them and makes it clear that no one is fighting or killing anything in the hospital. 

Steven then asks if they can remove it from the hospital to destroy it elsewhere.  The facial expression that he has is just so - ugh - why are you trying to hold this entire burden yourself Steven?

Yes, you are going to use the letter of the law to defeat the spirit of the law.  He looks absolutely terrible trying to think about what to do to protect everyone else.  Unlike the previous chapter with his interrogation squad and their hyper rational mindset that a second in command must do what ever it takes to support their leader, K. K. finally speaks having sat quietly in the background.  She does not mince her words, instead she acts like the brakes on his runaway train of thought.  Asking if he’s sure about it and using his full name for emphasis.  And then asking the question again implying he’d drop to the level he’s thinking about going.

And as she asks him, she furthermore tells him that she thought he was on the same page as Klaus and his beliefs.  This causes him to snap back into the situation.  We can see that his eyes are back to being both focused and more open in shock at her direct words to him.  K. K. isn’t screaming at him or being passionate, she delivered her words calmly and directly.  And it works.  The grim unfocused expression then becomes aware and  we can see his facial expression has shifted to tense and upset.  He was literally trying to disassociate himself from the situation until K. K. drags him back from the abyss.

Now, that pause is good as it stops Steven from snowballing himself to his own personal mental hell and more guilt.  It is also bad as it has given the brutal Tycoon brothers time to arrive to steal it back.  As their vampire gate manifests above him we see the look of absolute fear on Steven’s face as he’s seriously fucked.

With the situation spiraling out of control, it speaks to the level of trust between Steven and K. K.  The two of them immediately spring into action to give the rest of the team time to escape.  Steven’s kick is blocked and he gets tossed over K. K. who dodges him and manages to get close range shots at them.

K. K. may have questioned Steven’s potential action but she’s still going to defend her partner.  With Steven down for a short time, K. K. orders Leo, Zapp and Zed to leave.  Zapp tries to get in on the action -

Only for Steven to tell him to retreat.  K. K. and Steven are better equipped to fight them and they need someone to protect Leo and the escaped merged human monster from the pot.  The way that K. K. and Steven naturally stand up and next to each other shows that they know what the need to do.  Additionally, neither of them actually exchanged words.  Both of them gave orders to the rest of the group and not to each other.  This is different than our earlier K. K. and Steven scenes where Steven tries to keep them focused and K. K. complains about being teamed up with him.  They’ve fully accepted and understand how they work as a team. 

To convince Zapp to retreat, Steven still has to tell Zapp that he needs to do so and that he trusts him enough to figure out how to make things work.  Steven is an excellent manager of people and it shows when Zapp stands down.

Of course the situation becomes dire as Steven and K. K. get seriously wounded trying to take on the brothers.  Only Leo is able to step in to mess with their vision thus allowing for both groups to retreat.

Is the fact that Steven got seriously wounded sort of karmic for thinking about destroying it?  Likely not, as K. K. also suffered the same fate.

When Leo is on the run with the child monster of the pot, it is Steven who sneaks out of the hospital with K. K. of course.  I find it adorable that he apologizes to her as though his actions are inconveniencing her and she only smiles in reply knowing that he would not be able to sit back and recover while Leo was in danger.

K. K. knows him too well and she only can tease him that he’d have to become involved.  The humor then shifts when Steven gets to some sort of stash he has in a parking garage.  K. K. then gets to bitch at him for having a hidden change of clothing (since it is clearly a personal stash for him).  But the second panel is adorable.  We see his hand already wearing his blue shirt hold out a spare pair of pants.  And he apologizes asking if they would be okay.  Both Steven and K. K. are blushing as she accepts it.  You can see the blush under Steven’s right eye and K. K. under her left.  But that’s not all, being the gentleman that he is, he continues to change in the garage with his back to her as she puts on the pants in the car.

He unlocks his phone and gets on the Libra network while tightening his tie.  All Libra members are to find and protect Leo.  Right after sending it, he gets a backlog of Klaus’ texts to him after he broke out of jail.  That look of absolute shock as Steven has returned to his full strict mom mode.

That look of annoyance as he can’t get a hold of Klaus!  As the Calamity Auction arc comes to an end, the group are able to reconnect with Klaus and Leo at the shifting dimensional auction house.  As the hardworking teammates return to his aid, Klaus gives them a simple “Thank you.”

He’s looking a little rough around the edges but had committed to protecting Leo and the inhuman-human pot victim.  The expression on Steven’s face as Klaus continues to say that he’s been waiting for them.  Interestingly, this time, when we only see Steven’s mouth and nose, we don’t need to worry about if his eyes look unfocused and burdened.  The serious expression, softens to a grin and we know that Steven is glad to have Klaus back. 

They are best when they are all functioning as a team.  I look at it this way, Libra is the extra-governmental organization that maintains the balance of the worlds.  And within Libra itself each team member maintains balance within the organization to give the world balance.  The entire team rushed there to help Klaus so he didn’t hold the burden alone with Leo.  They are stronger as a team than as individuals.

Another great scene is in the chaotic final a battle, K. K. and Steven work together to hamper part of Curious’ personal team.  K. K. spots the monitoring spy eye.  She shoots it out preventing a remote response.

And right after K. K. does her job, Steven steps in to finish it off after K. K.’s electrified bullets do their action.  Again, no verbal communication between these two.  They really work well together.

Seriously, the level of understanding between them is great.

What I really liked about the whole season of Back 2 Back was how it took a lot of the moral grey area questions and pulled them front and center.  It continues to force the cast to ask themselves hard questions to which there are no correct answers to.  Instead, those questions are answered on each person’s individual morality and limits.  What actions can these people take and still sleep well at night.  What is something they cannot do.

Steven is a complex character - and therefore, likely why many readers really like him.  He isn’t someone who does questionable things because they are the most logical or rational way to act in the situation.  He’s doing them out of his role in Libra, to protect others and to maintain the balance in the big picture.  He tries to carry the burden of his actions and finds himself not convinced by the words of his own personal problem solving squad.  Which tells us that he likely wants to be able to be more like Klaus or Leo than like them. 

Steven understands worry -  I think back to the first volume where Steven sees how worried Klaus is - trying to look calm when Leo was kidnapped and then reminding himself that Klaus is tying himself in knots.  It is clear that any member of the cast can slide down that slippery slope of ‘but it was required for the cause.’  I feel like there is more to the interaction in the hospital as Zapp does not hesitate to second what Steven is thinking.  Zapp doesn’t want to do something terrible but he also thinks of the bigger picture.  Zed falls on the other side making them a two versus two.  Until K. K. steps in and calls Steven out.  It goes to show how much Steven respects K. K. and likely does not see her as someone to give orders to like Zapp, Leo or Zed and instead sees her as a peer.

Steven was clearly betrayed in the past - What I really want are Steven and K. K.’s backstories.  I think that it would really inform us of how they came to be and why both of them are so strong and stubborn at times.  I can’t help but think that Steven’s scar came from a situation where his trust was betrayed or someone in charge seriously fucked up.  He will not let that shit happen again, not with his team the only people he cares about besides his housekeeper.  And the general public at large.

K. K. is Steven’s other half - The two of them are an amazing pair.  They don’t need to speak and when they do, they are either apologizing or annoying the other one.  Yet, they totally respect each other.  Steve keeps K. K. serious and focused at times while she prevents him from digging himself into a deeper moral black hole. 

Steven is overly involved in making sure that things work and it clearly is something that he feels like he has to do or need to do.  When there might be other options.

Daniel Law leaves us off with his own personal motto, “It is my general rule to not trust anyone.” 

Sooooo really, Steven has more faith in people than our police detective. 

In the future, Steven, please get a therapist.  Take some time off for a spa day, shopping for new [same] yellow ties, trying to get his messy hair styled, reading multiple print newspapers and drink high quality small batch roasted coffee.  Or buy more artwork for your swanky condo and most importantly, please sleep.

#kekkai sensen #kekkai sensen meta #kekkai sensen manga #steven a starphase #k.k. #kekkai sensen back 2 back #calamity auction #Yasuhiro Nightow #kkss

[meimi-haneoka]

Oh my!!!! Just read your post and the summary of the chapter and lmao, I am perfectly willing to wait for the volume to come out. First of all, congratulations to all of us YunaAki fandom that we actually got our favourite hobo to confess his feelings. Lmao, stuff his mouth with chocomint ice cream, Akiho! It feels a bit embarrassingly cute to finally have them being canon (officially that is!). Second, are we getting hints of a potential future arc that ties up with TRC/xxxHolic, especially since xxxHolic Rei is supposedly going to be revived? That description of Momo's scene makes me think that a book that is capable of rewriting the world would without a doubt be involved in TRC/xxxHolic shenanigans. I don't want to keep my hopes up too high given that CLAMP are ageing and have been working tirelessly for so long but maybe secondary author written light novels with illustrations from Mokona-sensei may be the way to go in the future, at least as far as CCS continuation goes? Given that Light Novels are at their all time popularity high right now and they have done it for CLAMP Academy before, fingers crossed! Although I believe we might take a few years before we get anything concrete on that side. Sigh! At least we have CCS CC anime Season 2 to look forward to now. Third, OMG!!!!! Tomoyo!!! I am now 100 percent certain that Sakura is going to be wearing a "King of Kwa" Qun Kwa, fully designed, hand embroidered and stitched by Tomoyo. There will definitely be two weddings - one at Japan (which will be whatever the couple chooses but I would love it to be a traditional Shinto one at the Tsukimine shrine) and a traditional Cantonese-Chinese one at Hong Kong (ain't no way the Heir of the Clan and his Japanese bride getting away without a "proper" and traditional Chinese wedding). Given that it takes at least a year for even an traditionally experienced embroiderer to create a King of Kwa, maybe Tomoyo mentioning this as they are entering 9th grade means that SS will really get married right out of high school. Like even her brain says whoops, I better begin the wedding planning and bridal dress designing already. Yes! Give us I-am-a-wealthy-Victoria-Peak boy Syaoran and his enormously large family being in sync over Sakura wearing a real gold and silver embroidered on finest silk from Guangdong with it weighing around 10-15 kg and that being the bare minimum because it brings the most fortune and fertility with its Nine Dragons and Nine Phoenixes. Buhahaha. And Sakura just going along with it because she does not really get to dip her feet into her husband's culture much and she is enjoying all the big family time because everyone, legit everyone in the family, is enamoured with her and how cute and absolutely precious she is. Ahahahaha. Sheesh, I am blushing so much. I had headcanons for so many years but these are all of them coming true!!! *shakes my head and arms vigorously in my fangirling heaven*

OMG Aubretiaaaaaaa!! YES!! We finally made it!! WEEE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, MY FRIEEEENNNDDDD 😂😂 Ok excuse my silly little moment but yes, can you believe that I would've NEVER imagined they would make him say THAT in canon? I've always thought that they would go "the subtle way", for several reasons (and it also makes sense, character-wise) and leave it at the true name reveal, but nope, they had to SHOCK ME even in the final, definitive special chapter!! 😂 It isn't a shock that Kaito is feeling romantic love for Akiho, not at all: the shock comes from seeing it spelled out "clearly" on paper! 😂 I even imagined that this could happen a couple of years later along the way, but it's perfectly fine like this. We talked about this before, right? The attraction he feels comes from a chemistry between souls, and there isn't anything shady going on. So everything else will still come at the right time (and it's not like CLAMP will portray any of it, so each one of us can imagine it however we like). I'm gonna write another post later about the chocomint ice cream because I realized I forgot to point some things out in my commentary! 😁

About the Holic tie-in, in this specific chapter it doesn't look like there's any hint (the "appropriate price" Momo paid is a concept that exists in CCS too), but it can still totally happen, even in Holic itself. Like a cameo from Kaito and Akiho (since it would be kinda weird to feature Sakura herself, and she would steal the spotlight wherever she goes). I don't know, I won't hope too much for it, but things in Clear Card definitely were left open enough for them to reconnect to it in the future!

And yes, I also am totally convinced that SyaoSaku will have a double wedding! 😁 Tomoyo can still totally create a western-style dress for the celebration in Japan, since usually after the traditional Shinto ceremony, there's the party and that's where the bride changes outfit and can wear the western-style dress! But yeah, I also cannot see them going without a ceremony in Hong Kong too, and I really appreciated the description of the King of Qwa traditional wedding dress, especially cause I looked for it and...YES, I CAN TOTALLY SEE HOW THIS "BEAST" REQUIRES AT LEAST A YEAR OF EMBROIDERY!! If Tomoyo is going to undertake this challenge, SHE REALLY NEEDS TO START NOW 😂 I mean, look at this....pink blossom, it's perfect!

It is so beautiful!! I can totally see Sakura wearing this! And YES, I agree, I think SyaoSaku will marry right out of high school 🥰 This special chapter really gave us "fuel" for so many future headcanons, right?? I really can't thank CLAMP enough for this!

#reply #thank you Aubretia!! #let's celebrate our two couples!🥰

[mettywiththenotes]

I know I talk about Hatsume etc as an example for the Anybody Can Be A Hero theme, but I also realised Jirou absolutely fits into this too

It's the same thing, really. She's a background character, and at first she's convinced her music is just a hobby, just a little thing that won't mean anything to anyone except herself. Eventually tho, with encouragement, she agrees to put on a concert and play with class 1a for the school

As she's playing, she remembers telling her family that she wanted to be a Hero but loved to play music too, and felt sad that her parents efforts to teach her music would go to waste. But her parents reassure her that it's okay, that she should do what she wants, and her mother specifically says

"The longer we (herself and her husband) pursued music, the more we realized that the music we made could actually do something for others. In that sense, music and heroism aren't so different."

I hadn't noticed the matching theme at the time, but now that the whole "How WE became the greatest Heroes" thing has been said outright, it makes sense that this arc is an early example of that theme

The Cultural Festival arc is not just about having fun, it's also about relieving stress for the school

In a way, this arc, too, is about saving. Even when we put Izuku and Gentle Criminal aside, it is still an arc about saving, but in a different way. In Jirou's way. Music, to her, is one of the greatest things she can do to be a hero

She, as a background character, can still do what she can to save people. It's not battling on the front lines and there's no blood being spilled, but she can still contribute to making people happy and relieving their troubled hearts

(It really is a "Your music saved me!" situation lol)

If that isn't enough to convince you, there's the two students who looked down on Class 1A, who went to the concert to criticize them and ended up joining in. You could say they were troubled with the stress of the past year too, expecting the worst of a class who keep putting them all in danger, who refused to open their hearts to these other kids who were doing their best to make it up to everyone. And only when they hear the music and see the show do they open up their hearts and realise they were wrong to look down on them so harshly

And if that isn't enough, there is Eri, who is quite literally saved from her troubled state left over from Chisaki, who listens to the music and smiles for the first time in ages. Who talks excitedly about the concert afterwards and you can just tell that left such an impression on her

This, too, is saving

While I think the potential for contribution can be in every character (yes, even background, even side-characters), there is just something nice in this example about reading the comparison between heroism - which in this story often means getting injured and hurt and bleeding or putting your life on the line for others - and something as simple as music being tied together

Like, when hearing about these two subjects, they don't sound connected at all

And yet there is the effort that goes into it, the potential of making at least just one person in that crowd happy and able to forget about their troubles as they listen and watch

Music is one of the greatest things Jirou can do to be a hero who saves people (as well as being a Hero on the battlefield) and that totally adds into the whole Anybody Can Be A Hero and "How WE all became the greatest Heroes" thing

#rambling rambling always rambling #thinking thinking always thinking #bnha #jirou kyoka #mettys posts #metty posts #bnha manga spoilers #<- for the mention of the 'we all became the greatest heroes' quote #anyway its 4am and i was rewatching cultural festival

[ollieoliver910]

I want to first start off with that I’m not here to argue your opinion, but to just give some clarification/insight on the show.

You are entitled to your own opinion and I’m not trying to change it. I just want you to give the show another chance.

I’ve broken talking points down to sections so it’s easier to read :)

The main issue I saw that you had is that the cruise arc added nothing to the story and it was just a waste of time. However it gave a lot of insight on Yor’s character, which is something the audience had very little of up until this point. The cruise arc allowed us to see her emotional growth, since the start of the series she truly cares about the Forger Family and her role within it. The lady she was protecting (I forgot her name) allowed Yor to reflect and see what she has. It at blank told the audience that the family is no longer “just a cover” and I really appreciated seeing this side of Yor and getting to know more of her character. Is the arc long? Yes for sure, but it allows for the show not to be rushed. Then also with Twilight, you see that he cannot physically relax even for a moment and how much he is trying to make it a good vacation for Anya it tells you where he is at as a character. Then you know, love the Anya hijinks as usual but it also allows the audience to see how exactly she uses her powers to help people (in this case keeping her family together), but also where her priorities lie (she doesn’t want her family to get split apart, she cares about her family’s safety, she kinda feels bad/thinks it funny that Twilight can’t have fun). TLDR: The cruise arc allows us to see the emotional journey of the characters. Character growth if just as important as story progression.

Along the note with you not liking the ending episode of the season, someone else worded it better than I am now but it ties up the theme of role of the family. I would elaborate but I can’t word things for shit.

With all the hinting, it will come up in later episodes. I am caught up on the manga and it does address the things you wanted to know, more about. You should definitely read the manga if you want the story to go at a quicker pace, it’s not done yet however the most recent arcs have my heart and I think you’ll really like them.

I know it seems like the show is not moving fast enough, but that’s kind of the point. Operation Strix, is a long term mission so the story will be a slow burn. The show allows for messages and themes to be woven within the episodes. And as stated before emotional growth of the characters is so important to a show like SpyXFamily. But I implore you to look deeper into the show than just surface level, reading the analysis on this app made me love the show even more. I would recommend you some good accounts for analysis, but I don’t know them off the top of my head. But if you ask later, I can definitely send some.

I will not be defending the Becky episode, I was also extremely uncomfortable watching and reading it.

And again you are entitled to your own opinion, I’m not shaming you for your opinion. SpyXFamily isn’t for everyone, but I wanted to at least give you another angle.

From your criticisms, it sounds like you would like shows with a quicker pace and for that I recommend “Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood”

Also you can watch SpyXFamily on regular Hulu if you don’t want to pay for Crunchyroll premium

Hope you found this insightful and not insulting :)

Hello!

Your right in pretty much everything but let me clarify one thing. I thought I said in my post that Yors arc was the best thing about season two where there is character development. If I explained it wrong, I apologize, but the cruise arc was amazing!

Im slowly learning why Spy x Family is paced the way it is and that's because I was unaware about the Manga that is (I think?) Three seasons ahead. I just finger that since there are probably no easy way to get them in English that it would not be worth investing in at the moment (I don't know if it has been translated I'm not sure.)

So yeah, a lot of this information is new to me. I'm still invested in the story and I DO want to watch it long term...but I think waiting another year for only 12 episodes is not worth the wait if I'm being honest. And I know how that feels. I waited 9 months for Jojo part 6 (part 2) and yeah, that sucked honestly. I just think waiting a year is not worth the episode output, which is why I'm worried there going to drag this show out for much longer then they need it to be.

Full metal alchemist is on my radar, trust me. I just haven't gotten to it yet and I heard great things about it! It's just I wanted more Spy x Family because I love the concept a whole lot...but I feel like I got barely anything from the show this year and that's why it kind of stings in a sense.

I hope this made more sense.

#spy x family

[baixueagain]

Hiiii do you have personal opinions on why goro would have a hannya tattoo? I find this to be a super interesting choice of his since a hannya is a demon but its like, a jealous woman, so not really what a macho guy would pick imo even tho it is scary looking. most analysis of his tattoo kinda glosses over what a hannya is and just describes it as a gender non specific tormented demon but its undeniably a jealousy demon and supposed to be a woman

Okay I'm going to try (TRY) to keep this from getting overly long or anything. I'd also like to give a disclaimer that while I've read a good amount of material on Japanese culture, mythology, and history in my life, I'm far from an expert on it, so I may get a few things wrong here, especially since I'm not familiar with Noh, which is where the Hannya mask/archetype really took shape.

So the Hannya is most prominently known in Noh plays as the malevolent ghost/demon of a jealous woman. However, the important thing to remember about symbolism here is that symbols are rarely in a 1:1 correlation with their bearer; rather, symbols evoke clusters of meanings that tie into what we know about the context of where it's being used and what we associate with the symbol itself. In this case, the Hannya's symbolic context is Majima: his life, his past, and his personality.

Meanwhile, the emotions associated with the Hannya include jealousy, but also rage, sorrow, pain, and frenzy. It's a very passionate and vengeful figure as well. All these things are certainly present in Majima, but they are also things he also inflicts on others (sometimes on purpose, sometimes not). One of the more important tricks to a Hannya mask is that when it is facing you straight on, it's snarling, but when downturned it appears to be sobbing. This, too, can be seen in Majima's Mad Dog persona that he's carefully built to conceal a great deal of inner suffering. It is, much like Majima himself, a dualistic figure that is both threatening and tragic: we empathise with her pain even as we fear what she is capable of doing to others in her destructive passions.

Personally I think it's fitting that Majima is associated with a highly feminine oni, because I would argue that he's not actually a very macho character at all. He's highly dangerous, yes, and in his Mad Dog persona he's full of braggadocio, but again, he's an incredibly dualistic figure compared to more "traditional" masculinity of other Yakuza characters like Kiryu, Saejima, Ryuji, and so on.

Majima is consistently associated with femininity throughout the series, with his arcs in many of the games being closely tied to female characters as well as his background of being intimately involved with traditionally feminine occupations (ones that are, for that matter, highly sexually charged). He also openly plays with gender himself on multiple occasions, dressing in full drag as Goromi and doing a pole dance for Kiryu. Hell, I'd even argue that his final boss fight in Kiwami even reflects his ties to women's sex work, as it takes place in quite literally the biggest, fanciest brothel in town. And yet (outside perhaps of one occasion) there's no sense that he's a man exploiting these women from the outside: rather, his involvement in women's sex work only seems to have given him a sense of commonality with them and a deep, extremely personal understanding of the intricacies and complications of being a sex worker.

I'm not saying Majima is meant to be read as trans or non-binary (though if that's your headcanon, go for it!), but he is most definitely gender non-conforming in a lot of ways (especially for a yakuza!) and that changeability in his nature ties pretty well into the Hannya and its changeable, dualistic nature.

Anyway this isn't as thorough as I'd like as I'm pretty tired today, but I hope this was a satisfactory answer!

#goro majima #yakuza #ryu ga gotoku #like a dragon #hannya

[sanctamater]

when you get this, post theme songs for your muse! then tag 5 or more people!

standard theme: do you never laugh, miss eyre? by dario marianelli. i always tend to associate amelia with strings - there's something so profoundly sorrowful and emotional about string music; heavy without being too heavy, light without being too vapid. there is a weight to this short piece of music, there is sorrow, yes; always sorrow. amelia is, at her core, a woman who is marked for it across many, many lives and timelines. but there is also beauty and warmth in this piece - and despite this sorrow, despite the pain the character suffers, amelia endeavours to stay soft and kind despite it - and i can hear that pain and that softness in this music. the brief bit of intensity in the crescendo, the quiet end, the quiet beginning - it's perfect.

battle theme: we all complete by rachel portman. it's very difficult to give her a battle theme when she isn't really a character for battle and is not a fighter by any means (even her boss battle she very rarely approaches booker except to scream at him which. real.) and i do want to reflect that in this - amelia's version of battling is very much using her words. it's all she has: her truth, her words, her voice. this is a very thematic piece with more strings that starts off strong and powerful; petering out into quiet contemplation which i feel suits her choices and thought process as she prepares for what may come and how she wishes to maneuver.

boss battle theme: lacrimosa by mozart. i don't care that this is canon and i am being lazy. it is quite literally her elden ring boss battle theme. she sings it. i've talked about dies irae with meg on this blog before - it's not so much about the backing as it is the lyrics in lacrimosa that she warps. amelia sings an abridged version of lacrimosa that strongly implies even as an undead lazarus figure she is weeping for the sins of her daughter and husband; and argues to god that elizabeth, at least, is worth forgiving. in addition, she also entreats elizabeth in these stanzas to spare her husband from god's wrath. it's a very interesting thing to examine especially within the narrative context of amelia representing caritas as a whole.

emotion theme: i think of you all the time by rachel portman. there is a stillness in this, a sadness too. it's a slow build up to an aching crescendo that seems to speak of heartbreak and understanding, of sorrow. narratively i think it's a perfect music accompaniment that ties in with amelia's story, status, and all that she is and represents. it's pensive, it's that perfect period drama piece for the heroine in a tragic story - and the way the music swells with hope before dropping entirely into something so pensive, foreboding, continuing to crescendo and build that tension up and up until it seems unbearable - it's perfect for her arc within the narrative of the game - it's a song and piece that i associate with her a lot as she goes through the motion and emotions within infinite.

tagged by: @femtaile thank u <3 tagging: @afraidofchange / @idolbound, @covrroucer, @astrancva, @lambvoid, @spakona, @wrench-jackie, @unprocione and u if ur reading this

#🕊️❝ sanctify them by truth: your word is truth ( headcanons. ) #sobbing listening to my period drama soundtracks

[justmybookthots]

Love, Theoretically

4.25/5 stars

Technically, this is a reread. I was feeling low because of another book yesterday, and I really wanted a good pick-me-up before I spiralled into a slump. And given how much I freaking loved this book the first time (I read it a week or so after it first got published?), I was hoping it would do the trick. 

It did. I just finished rereading the entire thing a few hours ago. Oh my gosh. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that this is by the same woman who wrote my romcom archnemesis: Love Hypothesis. How do you go from writing… Adam Driver (Carlton? Ca… Something) to fucking Jack? (And yes, Ali needs to consider giving her male leads less basic white boy names. That said, Levi’s name wasn’t so basic. His personality though…)

Jack is my favourite Hazelwood hero by FAR. Of course, Hazelwood technically only has two distinguishable heroes, since Adam and Levi are just differently named versions of each other. My point is, Jack is… wonderful. He’s blonde—I’m partial to fair-haired male characters, okay? He’s calm. Humorous. Communicative. Understanding. Emotionally intelligent. Like, look at this: 

And to sum it up:

He wasn’t perfect, obviously, but I… My brain was short-circuiting at so many of his scenes, his actions, his easy banter, his sense of humour. There’s one scene where Elsie thinks they’re about to have sex, but she’s clearly too tired for it, and he just plays along:

I loved their banter, omg. Some parts, not so much, but most of it was hilarious. It isn’t only with Elsie; Jack’s exchanges with his grandmother were gold, too. Millicent Smith made me crack up in that singular scene when they had tea—I think she’s a phenomenal character.  It’s amusing and admirable how Jack could respond to and handle her eccentricities without batting an eyelid. 

I really wanted to give this a five stars. I really did. I still do. I mean, the first half of the book before Jack and Elsie got together is fantastic, and is possibly the highlight of the entire story. Hazelwood nailed the tension between both leads. Furthermore, I love the throughline of the story: Elsie suffers from chronic People Pleaser Disorder where she constantly plays different versions of herself to—you guessed it—please different people. She does this incessantly, not just when she fake-dates but in many aspects of her life. As someone who dislikes the fake dating trope, it’s nice to see that this trope is being tied to an ongoing character development arc. (It also helps that she isn’t fake-dating Jack. I’m so, so tired of fake-dating between two romantic leads.) Jack is privy to all this through observation, and he encourages her constantly to be nothing more than herself. 

This theme has, to be honest, been giving me some food for thought. I’m about to derail, but I do think women are societally expected (more so than their male counterparts) to be many different things. I don’t want to go too far in depth about it because this isn’t the place, but I remember (this is still going to be a bit out of left field, but this is my reading journal, so I’ll say what I want) reading somewhere that women are likelier to be better at masking autism than men. Simply put, I believe it’s because men can be themselves, whatever that may entail, and not have to apologise for it. It’s why I’m annoyed by male characters like Adam, or just the male “grump” archetype, because men rarely need to be polite. There’s almost no flak for them if they behave in a way that lacks any kind of grace.  

But if a woman behaves the same way, she’s simply put: a bitch.

Anyway. I digress. All I’ll say on this subject is that I really enjoyed the overarching theme regarding Elsie’s character growth. 

However, this is not a perfect book. There are some points that I don’t love:

The smut. This is the biggest issue. Jack is very giving, which is great, and he is BIG on consent, which is also great. I can’t put a finger on why I don’t love how the smut is written though. Whatever it is, it’s a me problem. Ali’s writing style for smut isn’t to my taste. It doesn’t feel very… sexy? The whole scene where Jack and Elsie made out and did something sexual for the first time was really awkward. I am a firm believer that consent CAN be written in an attractive way, but this was not it. 

Twilight is not it. I’m sorry, Elsie.

I do not understand why Jack is so muscular. Big, I get because that's genetic or whatever, but why muscular??? How is a nerd who spends his days in a lab getting that muscle tone? That allusion to him playing basketball in a gym on certain weekends is NOT enough.

The PDA between Jack and Elsie at George’s house near the end of the story made me cringe. Please stop. 

Adam’s cameo. Gag. I read this book to get away from Adam, not return to his presence.

Now. Going back to more things I did love, that I haven’t mentioned yet:

Jack and the article. No, not the one he wrote when he was seventeen. The fucking article he wrote at the end as penance was AMAZING

Elsie running back to him and falling apart and saying that he probably thought they’d broken up forever because of how she’d ignored him after their fight. To which he, very calmly, goes: Nope. Who said we broke up? I was giving you space, just as you asked me for. 

GEORGINA/GEORGE. Zero girl-on-girl hate in this book. I have to give Ali credit where it’s due; there is none of this in any of her books, if I’m not wrong. Instead of having Georgina, who “stole” Elsie’s job, be the stereotypical catty bitch, she turns out to be an amazing character who saves Elsie’s career. I love how the literary landscape of female characters has changed in recent years.

“Manuscript I’d love to finish” being called MILF is something I am claiming for myself. 

Never thought I’d say this two months ago, but I absolutely loved this book. Now my biggest question is: will this be an outlier in Hazelwood’s repertoire, or will she be ever-evolving into something new and better with future books? (Bad Boy of chess, though? Really?)

FINE. I’ll stick around to find out. 

- 16 Aug 2023

#book blog #book review #romance books #love theoretically #ali hazelwood

[catboy-sinister]

What is your fav Mister Sinister arc and/or also your favorite depiction/characterization of him?

Omg thank you for blessing my inbox my power is still out and I'm sitting in the dark 😭

So I actually have three favorite Sinisters, I just can't get enough I guess lmao. In no particular order:

1. Futher Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix is like a perfect character study for pre-Sinister Nathaniel Essex. To keep it short and not an essay, I view Essex similarly to Kieron Gillen; the remnants of British imperialism + the side of science that goes too far. The part of science that goes too far is a pretty obvious one imo but it ties in soo nicely to the imperialism when we discover Essex has been experimenting on the 'lower' parts of society (and I use those quotes HEAVILY, this is in reference to prisoners and the poor so more about class than race). It's genuinely horrifying, at least to me, when he says that they're subhuman and he really believes it. Tbh I haven't reread it in a second so I don't know if he says it explicitly in the comic but I do know he says it in Fav #2 but we'll get to that. Point is, he truly believes he's doing good at this point by experimenting on these people because "oh well they commited crimes anyways so they're the worst we have so I'm doing everyone a favor". He's very, I guess, historical in his love for his wife too. He loves her but I don't think he sees her as his equal. We unfortunately only saw the terrible ending of their love but if we pick it out I'd say they were deeply in love. Yes I know their marriage was arranged but hey maybe it's Wattpad. Oh god I turned this into a rant- To draw it to a close I'll just say that this is a comic I read if I want to think about him in a dark horror way instead of a fun way.

2. Gillen's Sinister!! I love a sassy son of a biscuit. He can be super fun but also horrific depending on how you want to look at him. I love how it's hard to distinguish where the line is that seperates his persona vs his true nature. He's got all sorts of philisophic questions about him, like how far is too far, the ship of Theseus, and more. Even when you read from his perspective, you never know how much he knows. He's not as smart as he thinks he is but he might be smarter than we think he is, if that makes since. Plus he's just a bitch. He's fun if you want him to be, and he's awful if you want him to be.

3. Animated Series Sinister was my first introduction to him. And he'll always have a spot in my heart. I lovelovelove his voice, it's so unique. I remember watching the first part of when he shows up and thinking, "Ugh this guy is annoying" and then having a fanfic moment of "Oh. Oh." Kidnap me instead of Scott and Jean lmao. And then his part in the big Apocalypse storyline (spoilers?) where Magneto goes "Apocalypse betrayed us!" and Sinister goes "Uhm he betrayed you, I knew 💅" like damn bitch. And then Phalanx Covenant (spoilers??) he throws a Phalanx infected Moira off the plan and says in the bitchiest voice to Beast "You want her to infect the whole plane?! 😒" God he's funny. The Hasbro Pulse Sinister is probably my favorite purchase ever.

Well that was um long, I'm so sorry 💀

I didn't even really get to arcs besides Further Adventures

Don't worry everyone, the autism testing is coming in 2023 lol

#sinister posting #asks

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Confession time. My favorite Beatles song would actually be don’t make me choose between In My Life or And Your Bird Can Sing. Before we dive in, I want to note some things. 1057-1058. The Rakugo performance that feels a little off, the absurd saga of Cross Guild’s formation, Sabo & Cobra...these chapters are swimming in dodgy stories that don’t reflect events as they occurred and we now have a second newspaper. Terra firma, right? Break next week puts 1059 on the weekend of the Chrysanthemum Festival. 

Also...the Sunny is now equipped with a timeout cage. I’m just saying, it’s this goofy cartoonish gag yes but it jives with a new Quartermaster on board. I swear to god Oda if I see you thread the needle of keeping Kiku’s oblivous innocence up alongside a fascination with bondage...

Why this panel though? Beyond the cage. Let’s talk art design for a sec. This is a normal-sized panel on the page but it’s jam packed! Seven Straw Hats goofing around as a much needed blowoff to a big arc. The focus of this panel though, where is it? It’s weird, the center is the space between Franky & Jinbei. You have these nice lines in the groups all drawing the eye into the center, even the rigging helps. But it’s weird, what is that sticking up from the barrel Usopp is hiding behind? Enhance!

Rorsarch time! Remember you’re looking at an extremely blown up small section of a manga panel here. The detail we do have is incredible, but it’s better to judge at its intended size. Now the only other answer I’ve gotten is something like Usopp holding a gun behind the barrel? That doesn’t jive. It’s further in the back and as big around as Jinbei’s arm. So I don’t think Usopp’s rocking a massive revolver now. Especially not in conjunction with the classic Ketchup Star. Seems about right for a tall, thin woman in profile though. Facing the other side of the ship than we’ll turn to with Robin. Can sorta see a leg coming out of a skirt/puffy shorts. A right arm capped with a short sleeve. Thing at the top as a hair accessory and long hair down obscuring a face. Or a 3/4ths of someone looking over the boat with bangs, an obi tied behind her back, and no left arm. Hair’s too light for Kiku though, right?

No reason for Nami to suddenly go dark last chapter. But one of those old ideas I’ve always had (never really had a good time to mention) was the notion that coming on with a story like this, particularly with the actress vibe and heavy content around reputation, it wouldn’t be crazy to have a design change accompany it. Nothing major, but a blonde dyejob was my legit first thought. Differentiate from Robin more, cute homage to Kin’s delinquent days, and it’d make her a throwback to a popular trans manga icon from Oda’s childhood.

Stop!! Hibari-Kun was a contemporary of Dr. Slump in Shonen Jump that ran around the time he’d have been like, 5-8ish. At the time, it would have been the offering from a proven veteran competing with Toriyama the young hotshot. Romcom about a boy and another of these otherwise perfect transfems. Cute, absurdly positive for early 80s manga, quite popular in it’s time, and if you read it you will see some gags that crop up later in One Piece. Like...I can see the influence just from comedic style alone.

So I guess what I mean is yeah...on top of everything else I can buy 1057′s sihouette being a last look at Wano Kiku and in the time since departure she’s had a little costume change, now ready for a beautifully timed debut. It’d be an echo of Kin & Momo’s journey here. They always felt jarring until we got to Wano, where in their element the characters blossomed. Kiku’s perfectly primed to be the opposite. A bigger personality than her station in Wano allowed, ready to break out. Actually, Denjiro spelled out the concept well in 932:

”The water at her roots,” yeah that’s a good way to put it. On second look that chapter is dunked in some core themes for us here, this moment sandwiched between Robin’s difficulties at this type of infiltration and later Orochi being another villain to go hard on the “many faces” theme. Overall hunch is in death or glory mode from here, but with these potential teasers happening twice after all the weirdness we’ve already had, I’ll go on and do 1057-1058 proper. Because there really is a mountain of relevant thematic territory. One last hurrah either way, right?

#one piece #okiku #chapter 1058

[acacia-may]

What are your top 5 Fairy Tail ships? And your top 5 Fairy Tail Brotps/Families?

Aww what a wholesome ask, Anon! Thank you so much!! 🥰 I've decided to split your ask (I hope that's okay?) because just talking about the romantic ships has turned into a fairly long post, and I am still struggling to narrow my favorite Brotp/Found Families down to just 5. 😅 There are just so, so many good ones in that category because platonic relationships was something Fairy Tail did best (in my opinion). I'm working on it though and will hopefully have that list posted within the next couple of days. (Spoilers: The Raijinshuu are Number #1...the rest are TBD 😂). For now, here are my Top 5 Romantic Ships in Fairy Tail. Narrowing it down was relatively easy, but I did struggle with the actual ranking of these so the order might be a little fuzzy... I like/enjoy other ships too, but these are definitely my top favorites!

Top 5 Fairy Tail Romantic Ships

Gajeel Redfox x Levy McGarden (Gajevy)

Jellal Fernandes x Erza Scarlet (Jerza) and Edo!Jellal/Mystogan x Edo!Erza Knightwalker (Mystwalker)

Elfman Strauss x Evergreen (Elfever)

Alzack Connell x Bisca Mulan (Connell) (AlBis)

TIE: Erik/Cobra x Kinana (Kinabra) and Wally Buchanan x Millianna (Do they have a ship name?)

I've also included a little bit of discussion under the cut for kicks & giggles! Thank you so much again for the ask! 🥰

(Warning: Some Spoilers for Fairy Tail & a few for 100yq even though I haven’t read that one yet 😅)

(1) Gajeel Redfox x Levy McGarden (Gajevy)-- I talked about these two at length here so I'll try not to ramble too, but their relationship was just such an incredible journey. I think it can be really easy to rush an enemies-to-lovers relationship, but what Gajeel and Levy had was really enemies-to-friends-to-lovers and this kind of slow burn in which Gajeel feels genuine remorse for the actions he took in the beginning, seeks Levy's forgiveness and tries to make it up to her for no other reason than that he knows he messed up and knows he owes her an apology and atonement. There is something so genuine in the way that he slowly earns Levy's trust, then they build this really beautiful friendship with each other based on that trust and mutual respect over the course of the series. I think it is really out of that friendship that their romantic love for each other grows and develops, and it is that love that really inspires both of them to become the best versions of themselves. It is an incredibly compelling storyline for them (especially for Gajeel who grew and changed so much over the series) and it was one of my favorite plotlines in the entirety of Fairy Tail. Also, that great banter they had was just *chef's kiss,* and don't even get me started about that confession sequence! It was everything!! I love them so much!!

(2) Jellal Fernandes x Erza Scarlet (Jerza) and Edo!Jellal/Mystogan x Edo!Erza Knightwalker (Mystwalker) -- I've discussed Jerza in the past (here), and while I generally see Edo!Jerza as kind of its own kind of thing, it's definitely tied with Earthland Jerza as one of my absolute favorite ships in Fairy Tail and so I went ahead put them together on this list for clarity. Like Gajevy, Jerza just such a journey, and I love that it was given the chance to actually be a slow burn and that the characters were given the chance to actually grow, change, and develop as individuals before pursuing that relationship with each other so that Jellal's redemption arc isn't cheapened by the romance. Erza is inspiring him to be better, yes, but it's so clear that he is taking these steps to better himself because he wants to not because he wants something from her (i.e. her love or a relationship). Jellal truly wants to be the best version of himself, the man that Erza believes he can be, regardless of whether or not he ever gets to be with her, and that's very selfless and beautiful, I think. On Erza's side, she freely chooses to love Jellal for who he is, not an idealized, fantasy version of him. She knows, possibly better than anyone, that Jellal is a broken and flawed man, but she also chooses to see the good in him and chooses to love him for who he really is. It's really like she's saying to him: "I know you've made mistakes, but you are not the sum of your mistakes, so I choose to love you anyway."

Mystwalker is just fun! We don't know a lot about them, obviously (besides the fact that they're canon of course. Gotta love the little princess!!) I really loved Mystogan as a character in general so I was definitely always hoping for good things for him, and I really loved imagining how his relationship with Erza Knightwalker ended up developing since we didn't really get to see much about how they ultimately got together.

(3) Elfman Strauss x Evergreen (Elfever)-- I have an upcoming bingo ask about them so I don't want to ramble too much, but as I talked about a little bit here already, these two are just that perfect balance between hilarious and adorable. On a certain level they both have such big personalities that are so wildly different from each other that it's almost goofy to think of them actually working out in relationship, but they complement each other so perfectly and have such a strong foundation of trust and mutual respect which I honestly wasn't expecting at first but was wonderful and delightful. I think the story does such a good job of showing us that they protect each other, sacrifice for each other, and want the best for each other, and ultimately they care about each other deeply, even if they don't always show it.

(4) Alzack Connell x Bisca Mulan (Connell) (AlBis) -- Gosh I shipped this one from back in the beginning from Battle of Fairy Tail onward and was rooting for them so much! I quite literally cheered when it was revealed they had gotten married during the time skip, and I was taking screenshots of Asuka and texting them to my sister like a proud grandma! 😂 They're best friends who have true love, a wedding, and a baby! I'm not sure what more there is to say about them than that. It's the ship of dreams, friends! I mean just look at them...

(5) TIE: Erik/Cobra x Kinana (Kinabra) AND Wally Buchanan x Milianna (Do they have a ship name? I don't know, but they should)

I just couldn't decide between them, I'm sorry. I love both of these pairings so much (though they are a little more obscure and out of the box 😅). I swear Erik and Kinana are the most likely couple in Fairy Tail to settle down on a farm and raise a whole hoard of kiddos together, and their entire storyline was just so sweet. I loved to see how Erik's love for Kinana brought out the best in him and my heart just ached when he sacrificed himself/turned himself into the authorities in order to protect her! 🥺💕

And Millianna and Wally are just such a delightful couple who lights up the screen every time they're together. I loved how supportive and encouraging they were of each other (even of each other's quirks), their strong foundation of friendship, and their absolutely wonderful (and extremely entertaining) banter. That scene where they're having that playful "fight" over whether Natsu is actually a cat or not was honestly one of my favorite moments in the series. We didn't get a lot of them (and I really wish there was so much more of them and their relationship), but they have true love, okay? 😽💖

#gajevy #jerza #elfever #albis #kinabra #wally buchanan x millianna #fairy tail ships #fairy tail ship opinions #answered anons #thank you so much for the ask #anon-friend 🥰 #fairy tail spoilers

[bluesadansey]

andrew nico and blue classic

Hi sorry I got to the asks for this so late this one took a long time, I actually realized I had the opportunity to post it on your birthday but I didn’t quite manage but anyway consider this a belated birthday present if my rambling tangents qualify as such to you <33

Blue Sargent

three facts about them from my personal headcanons: 1) her favorite musical is Wicked and she identified with Elphaba 2) I think she has some sensory issues which is why she’s so particular about certain textures of clothing, food etc. and I definitely like to read her as neurodivergent 3) I hc her as non-white in Maura’s side I especially like picturing her as desi which you could say is projection and you’d be right, but generally I think of her as a brown girl.

a reason they suck: her judgmental streak is real, and she’s very proud and yes these things together can influence her towards being a bit of a hypocrite.

a reason they are great: Idk how to pick just one thing I am infamously Not normal about this girl she remains my favorite ya book girl to this day.. But I really love how passionate Blue is and also how kind of self-possessed she is about her own feelings, she’s very in tune with her own individuality and what she desires out of life: seeing the world, exploring, finding ways to help make the world better, having her own path that she determines not a set destiny, wanting lasting meaningful relationships and friendships that are maybe more intense than is technically healthy etc. she searches for something more and doesn’t entirely know how to get there/what that path is but she’s intent on carving out that path for herself and finding that knowledge, and then the area she’s least in tune with herself about is like, romance and particularly the way to feel about Gansey in the first few books which I really like as a dichotomy ((and it’s part of why Bluesey reads like a lesbian narrative cough)), that passionate nature is also what allows her to be extremely loving and brave and creative and I generally love that about her. Also this is an unpopular opinion but the way she thinks and her personality does feel like a very real teenage girl, I think Maggie did a good job writing her voice in that department and that wasn’t ever a problem with how she wrote Blue the problem with how she wrote her was, as I say later, the fact that Maggie wasn’t interested in the follow-through of her arc/how Blue’s personality which was very fleshed out, would change/develop outside of happening to develop certain relationships. Oh I also love how curious she is I love character who constantly want to know what is up with everything which will continue to be a theme in the other asks … I’ll quit while I’m ahead here I love her but also really am due for a reread which is why this is coming out so incoherently.

a reason I relate to them: I relate a lot to her mindset of loving whimsical things but striving to be practical in my pursuit of whimsy, I also just relate to a lot of her personality (besides how brave/risk-taking she can be which is not me at all lmao) and thought processes she’s one of the chars I most identify with in fiction generally… and a lot of it can be tied to the fact we’re both 4w5’s tbh. I also was raised mainly by multiple maternal figures I strive to emulate and grew up not thinking well of male authority figures <3

(what I consider to be) the top tier otp/ot3 for that character: for otp it’s Bluesey obviously my parents who raised me… I really really love Blue x Noah too but it’s more elite tier. Imfor ot3 there are actually 3 options which I find really appealing I think Gansey/Blue/Noah Blue/Gansey/Henry and Blue/Gansey/Adam all have excellent ot3 potential but I’m going to go with the latter because it’s the messiest option and I like to have fun. Three incredibly fucked up bisexuals who were obsessed w each other in thematically fascinating ways.

five things that never happened to that character that I believe should have happened: 1. I loved the parts of Bllb that focused on Blue learning about her powers with Gwenllian and that dynamic as a vehicle for her becoming in tune with being a mirror/witch should have continued as a storyline in TRK the way Adam and Ronan’s abilities continued to be relevant to the story, the conclusion to the arc could’ve still been Blue learning about the Artemis-tree situation but i wanted more reflection from her on what these powers are going to mean for her going forward and not just “oh yeah I guess it makes sense I’m part tree” 2. Her arc towards becoming less judgmental shouldn’t have just been “I guess I need to not be so mean to rich white boys” I wish she had actually gotten to grapple with her mindsets about class and gender more, and obviously I adore her dynamics with the boys and the 300 Fox way ladies but I wanted her . 3) I love Maura but I kind of wish Blue had been allowed to be mad at her about disappearing at the end of TDT for longer after she had come back (her moments of anger before Maura gets back are incredible I love her interactions with Calla when they both are missing her too), especially since Bllb is when Persephone and Jesse die and the anticipation of Gansey’s loss are really building and getting to Blue so I think it would be really natural for her to double down on transferring those emotions to her mother who is safe for her to be mad at. 4) I do kind of like that Artemis himself wasn’t that relevant to Blue when he showed up lol, but I still think Blue should have gotten to actually know him and deal with some of her feelings about being abandoned by him that were definitely There in earlier books. She could get to let out her feelings and get to know him a little and then still feel unimpressed by him / that he’s not a real guardian figure to her the way Maura Calla and Jimmi are and Persephone was. That would work for me <3 5) Generally TRK failed to resolve what Blue was going to do with her future aside from the Bluesey/Sarchengsey of it all (both of which I love but come on) I haven’t read Greywaren yet but I am glad there was some lip service to that and it made decent sense for her char. (Also should be said that my last reread of the first two books was in 2019 so while I like to think of myself as a Blue expert still my memory of some things might not be that sharp.)

five people that character never fell in love with and why

1)Adam —- I actually do like Blue/Adam it’s

the type of pairing where hindsight made me appreciate it more and find it more interesting as it exists in the story. Blue not falling for Adam had multiple factors so it’s hard to pinpoint just one, part of it was definitely that for Blue liking Adam better than Gansey went hand in hand with the idea of her as someone who wasn’t bound to a specific fate, and that wasn’t fair to him (Adam also had reasons to fixate on Blue that weren’t fair to her but this isn’t about his side of things, even though that also added to creating a distance within their relationship which is part of why), so part of it is based on the circumstances around their relationship, also I don’t think necessarily that they’re incompatible romantically personality wise but they definitely both honed in on certain similarities between them and assumed that would mean perfect compatibility when that wasn’t the case. In a different storyline maybe they could’ve gotten there, within the timeline and structure of the story not really.

2)Noah —- Literally Noah said it himself it’s because he’s not alive… yet at the same time from what we know of Noah pre-death he didn’t sound like someone Blue would like much at all, so that makes the whole “I’d ask you out if I was alive.” “I’d say yes.” thing even more tragic, although Blue very much does mean it for the Noah that is right now if He could live.

3)Ronan — this is just on here because I needed more people lol I actually wasn’t sure who to put after Adam. But Blue could never be attracted to Ronan because she likes a particular flavor of fruity pathetic boys like she likes fruity nerdy and pathetic not fruity Ronan is fruity but isn’t the right kind of pathetic for her at all he’s too harsh and fiery, and similar to Blue herself but not in a way that attracts her at all.

4)Kavinsky — She hated him and would never interact with him willingly there’s really not much depth I can add here. Also the way he spoke to her in their one scene in tdt was disgusting the fact for a long time there were parts of the fandom that cared way more about him and the dream pack than Blue and the 300 fox way women Grrr

5)Helen — This is my crack pairing that I felt passionately about in the year 2013 she didn’t fall in love with Helen simply because she didn’t get the chance to. But I think she could’ve if they met like 5 years post series and Blue hadn’t met Gansey yet so.

Andrew Minyard

three facts about them from my personal headcanons: 1. He’s a fan of horror media specifically slasher films (also old movies in general but that’s canon from some of the things he’s referenced in dialogue) 2. Only half a headcanon/generally this is very based on the texts but I do think Nora is right about him being bipolar (something she says in the E.C. But it was a while ago so she used out dated terminology) and based on meta I’ve read from people more well-versed in the subject than myself and far more than Nora, I agree that he’s Bipolar II and has C-PTSD, and is also probably on the autism spectrum. 3. He says his favorite color is black but it is actually blue (like Neil’s eyes lol)

a reason they suck: I mean if I met him in real life I would definitely be bothered by how inflexible his judgements of the world and other people are and by his inclination for violence, but narratively I’m more than fine with all those things tbh.

a reason they are great: am going to refrain from writing an essay here and just mention a few qualities I really like about him: extreme loyalty and protectiveness towards his ‘people’, incredibly intelligent and perceptive in how he reads people and situations, always driven to seek knowledge as a means of controlling circumstances for those he cares about and himself but also just because he’s a nosy bitch, and then I have a hard time explaining some other things especially since you haven’t finished the series but I just think the way he works as a character is fascinating I’m obsessed with his brain. Thinking about him a lot also makes me miserable sometimes in a good way. I also think he’s one of the funniest characters ever. I’ll stop talking now he really contains multitudes to Me.

a reason I relate to them: honestly abandonment issues and emotional repression..Also like the way he always want to know everyone’s business but doesn’t actually like to talk to people (non-medicated) is a mood.

(what I consider to be) the top tier otp/ot3 for that character: Andreil and Kandrew I honestly can’t choose because Andreil is THEE ship and Kandrew is My ship obsession and I consider those two separate categories in a sense, my approach with Pynch and Adansey is similar tbh. And for ot3 Kandreil <33 very non-controversial.

five things that never happened to that character that I believe should have happened: 1) getting on proper meds suited to his actual diagnosis would be nice 2) I want him and Nicky to figure out new approaches in their relationship and generally work to have a better one 3) I think it would be cool if like Neil he later switched his major to something he actually was interested, especially like the idea of him as a film major or a psych major

five people that character never fell in love with and why

1)Roland — So this is a dynamic/character where I have one reaction based on information from the books + extra content (which is basically @ Roland get a job stay away from him!) , and Andrew’s pov of the dynamic is a bit different from mine so I’m focusing on this question from Andrew’s pov. I think Andrew liked Roland because he’s charming and easy to like and treated him like a peer not a kid (which is part of the problem) but it was a shallow kind of liking which was why Andrew saw Roland as a “safe” outlet to explore his sexuality, because there was no risk of him getting too attached which was safer to him emotionally and meant that when Roland tried to overstep his boundaries Andrew didn’t have an emotional weakness for it and could shut it down, and not a massive amount of trust existed but more trust than potentially he would have with other people. Also I kind of think that part of why he was drawn to (/vulnerable to) Roland specifically had something to do with Roland as someone so tied to Nicky, and while Nicky and Aaron were in getting closer and Andrew was placing himself in the protector-not-family role and also everything that happened with the court/meds Andrew would feel flattered / get a type of validation from being able to attract Roland and be chosen over Nicky in a sense, and get a kind of satisfaction successfully keeping it a secret. Honestly I think Roland is for Andrew what Wren is for Spencer in a way (which makes Nicky the Melissa technically), so that kind of itself explains why Andrew doesn’t love him.

2)Matt — I think that Andrew Does find Matt attractive (and is annoyed about it) esp in moments where Matt loses his cool more ex. when he’s picking a fight, is really protective etc. but he would never develop deeper feelings both because of the way they interact based on the structure of the team, the role Andrew played pre series in Matt going to rehab (I don’t remember if this is explained in book 1 or 2 so idk if you read about that yet) etc. and aside from all that Matt just has too conventional a view on morality and is just too close to normal for Andrew to ever be interested enough. However in different storylines pre and during the series or if they met when they were younger I could see them having a fling even if canon-wise it would be out of the question for both.

3)Jeremy — Other than the obvious that they haven’t had nearly enough contact, Andrew would just never be into someone that bubbly and nice they’d never be compatible, and unlike Matt I don’t even think Andrew sees or would under any circumstances see any sort of edge to Jeremy that could make him a bit compelling. And I think it’s vice versa too they don’t dislike each other (Jeremy doesn’t seem to dislike anyone) but they’re not for each other at all. There’s one place where this pairing could happen at all and it’s in the sex dreams yk Kevin has had about it Lolz.

4)Jean — again the thing about contact and then I think across the board in canon and any version of post canon timeline for Kevin and Neil centric reasons Andrew would always hate him. I’m unsure how I think they’d interact if they met outside the parameters of the series, in a Raven Andrew Au I do think Andrew and Jean would have been close while Andrew and Kevin would decidedly Not be close, I don’t really think Andrew would ever view Jean romantically in those circumstances though.

5)Seth — like with Kavinsky this is low hanging fruit Andrew hated him and would never interact with him willingly.

Nico Di Angelo

three facts about them from my personal headcanons: 1. Rick is incorrect about Nico and Reyna not spending time together post boo he’s just insane for that. Nico is constantly spending time at Camp Jupiter to hang out with his sister and his pseudo sister and his brother in law who he likes to scare half to death for fun imo 2. I think he’d really enjoy things like MBTI and astrology he likes sorting and categorizing things and being a nerd see: Mythomagic 3. In addition to his Aquarius sun he’s a Scorpio moon, not decided on his rising yet

a reason they suck: I was completely drawing a blank because I can’t think of anything I dislike about him but then I remembered the tsats excerpts so I guess just being cringe in those is his biggest crime to date. Like I could say the holding grudges thing but honestly I’m a Taurus I get it

a reason they are great: He’s so smart and knowledgable and resourceful and resilient and I love that he’s so powerful while constantly underestimated, he’s also just. He has a complicated moral compass which makes him interesting and I really like that, but fundamentally he’s very loving.

a reason I relate to them: tbh you can copy paste what I said for Andrew p much + additionally when rereading last year I did connect with the way his grief is constantly present in his character post end of ttc, a lot actually :/.

(what I consider to be) the top tier otp/ot3 for that character: I resent this a little but Jason/Nico is definitely the most appealing one to me based on canon content. And for ot3 I Was having fun last year with reimagining part of hoo as a Leo-Jason-Nico love triangle, and Valdangelo has so much untapped potential so definitely the three of them.

five things that never happened to that character that I believe should have happened: 1) for the fact that chb is prejudiced against him to be acknowledged and not dismissed, I’m okay with there being some grey area in terms of him isolating himself because of trauma and that also being a factor, but not him being blamed for the alienation he experiences which is territory canon gets into at times 2) his final scene with Percy in BOO should have been more impactful and less of a joke and we should have gotten a sense of how they’ll mend their friendship 3) what I said before about Reyna and Hazel being largely involved with him getting to feel at home at camp and him clearly visiting them a lot 4) I want it acknowledged that Hades and the Furies and maybe Persephone must have tutored him because he dropped out of school in 5th grade I want to get insight on that experience. Which I fully believe happened but not 100% sure Rick does so counting it 5) I really like the Dionysus therapy thing but Chiron should be made to feel ashamed for his passivity and letting Nico be homeless in pjo

five people that character never fell in love with and why

1)Leo — Rick was simply too much of a coward to let them interact and have the arc of figuring out how compatible they would be.

2)Jason — I think Nico would be resistant to the idea of letting himself *go there* emotionally with another “hero” archetype in the timeline of canon bcs of the Percy thing. I do believe he had some latent attraction to Jason (him comparing Will’s and Jason’s looks in BOO is… telling lmao) and ofc definitely cared for him but it would have taken a while for love-level feelings to develop, though i definitely think they could have since Nico is the opposite of Andrew in that sense that he likes nice heroic boys only lol, and they definitely have points of connection so plenty of potential there. In the timeline of canon there’s way more evidence of Jason having strong romantic feelings/actually being smitten re: Nico which like I said I think was ultimately a good thing that made the dynamic a stand out compared to the status quo of both chars other dynamics, and also just a lot more palatable to me personally since my relationship with Jason as a char is … complicated lol, and I definitely would have Strongly resented a dynamic where the reverse was true in introduction.

3)Frank — he’s dating Hazel and age probably other things too .

4)Apollo — Okay so he definitely had a crush on him in TTC I don’t want that to be true but it is… BOO restated it too in a way…anyway though he would never fall in love with Apollo he hates his actual cocky personality (he’s fond of Lester/Apollo too but it’s the way you’d be fond of a really smelly and badly behaved dog tbh).

5)Octavian — because Octavian’s a little bitch Nico doesn’t have a lot of standards (bcs of the abandonment issues) but he does have Some standards.

#asks #s speaks #Trc #Aftg #riordanverse #blue Sargent #andrew minyard #nico di angelo #my meta

[longtimespentinagalaxyfaraway]

And so the first casualty to the Legends declaration has been finished... </3

Finished reading Dawn of the Jedi: Force War issues #1 - 5, and kriff, I wish we had gotten more.

This was my favorite of the three arcs, and I feel like it had actually started to find its legs (or balance, ironically) with this one. Alas, this was the last arc due to the shift from Dark Horse to Marvel after Disney's purchase of Star Wars in 2012 ending the series. The creators did their best to wrap things up in a mostly satisfying way, but we close out this first era of the Legends timeline confirming what I had expected going in: It had a lot of potential, and ultimately just not enough time to spread its wings.

(Couldn't believe no one has made this meme before, at least that I can find so I made a crappy one on my own lol)

I will be turning to AO3 as soon as I finishing typing out my thoughts. If you have any recs, please do let me know :P

Issue #1 of Force War takes place a full year after the end of Prisoner of Bogan, which places it in 25,792 BBY. The series was published in 2013 and ended in March 2014, a month before the Legends Declaration. (Which I just now realized happened 10 years ago yesterday. What is time. Help.)

Gonna put the rest of my thoughts beneath a read more because there shall be spoilers.

Alas, no OT4. Not even a platonic OT4. That's probably my biggest disappointment of the series, honestly. Sek'nos gives into the dark side and carries Trill's body? corpse? off into force knows where mid battle, Tasha turns into the moon

that's rough buddy

...Tasha dies surrendering her body to the Force to protect Tython. And we don't get to see whether Shae or Tau give a kriff about either. :|

Like I said in some of my previous posts, I was mostly joking re hoping for an OT4 in a shippy way. But I wanted more platonically between who were supposedly the four main characters, or the four that were at least presented as such at the beginning of the series.

Tasha kind of got sidelined a bit, and I found I wasn't really sad at her death because we never really got the chance to know her as a character. She was super cool, and very powerful, and we knew there was tension between her family ties and her Je'daii ties... and then that storyline kind of just fizzled out.

Likewise with any sort of relationship between Tasha and any of the other characters, and any sort of relationship between Sek'nos and Shae.

I feel like this arc finally hit its stride in that the characters clearly knew each other more, but I really missed getting any sort of build up or development. What happened to the force bond that Sek'nos and Tasha had with Xesh/Tau? I really wanted to see more between everyone who had the force bond, but all we really got in the end was Shae and Tau.

Which, to be clear, I did very much enjoy. I really liked both of them as characters and felt they had a lot of potential. I liked seeing Shae use her anger but refuse to be consumed by it in the end. I thought that was really interesting to see in a Star Wars story.

Likewise, I enjoyed the relative nuance to Xesh/Tau's story. I like the balance it struck where yes, he had done terrible things, and he isn't innocent. But he was also forced into it, not given a choice, but ultimately it is his choice to sever the ties that bound him that gives him the choice to heal and grow. I would have liked to see that story progress.

Also. This line? So damn good.

All in all, Dawn of the Jedi was an interesting story that was ultimately just not given the time it needed to truly explore its era, which is a shame, because it had such potential.

And thus ends the era I labeled "Before the Old Republic" on my timeline. Next up, a 500 year jump into the Old Republic era which I will be in for much longer, lol. I think this was the shortest era on the timeline by far.

#star wars #star wars eu #star wars legends #star wars challenge #dawn of the jedi #expanded universe #star wars expanded universe #a long time spent in a galaxy far far away #star wars comics #shae koda #sek'nos rath #tasha ryo #xesh #tau #star wars dawn of the jedi