#its not that the books are bad per se but they're just not my thing. i like sci-fi and those are mostly like. romantic history dramas

[automatonknight]

i’m not a big fan of classic polish literature i’m made to read in school but i feel like some of the men in the books would make good babygirls tbh

#especially those written during positivism #i only really liked lalka out of the. books i had to get familiar with over the course of 2 years and a bit but #andrzej kmicic is frequently a) sopping wet b) soaked in his blood and dying in the potop film #oh and some of his outfits r slutty #its not that the books are bad per se but they're just not my thing. i like sci-fi and those are mostly like. romantic history dramas #sorry i've been pretty much only listening to a potop audiobook for the past 2 days my brain is mush this sucks

[meadowmusing]

my thoughts before the PJO finale

overall? A good fun show but with some definite stumbling. Faithful in a "remake" sense, but as much as a "port" would be. Still a genuinely good time with a likeable cast, gorgeous visuals, and an engaging (mostly) interesting plot.

Beware spoilers for ep1-7!

My biggest gripes

Pacing. the first episode was horribly paced. Somehow both rushed, not well condensed, and yet also failed to effectively deliver tension in important scenes it was needed in. Scenes like the minotaur felt dragged out and lacked the urgency it deserved, and the fight/victory fell kind of flat. Pacing got better in later episodes thankfully.

Sally Jackson. Yeah I know, not a hot take. She's a more realistic depiction of a mother in that kind of situation but I didn't find her likeable outside of her first scene talking about the name Perseus. She's not necessarily a "Bad Character" per se, but she is not the Sally Jackson from the books. Frankly, I didn't find book Sally all that important, but seeing this version has definitely wised me up to importance of her kindness and patience. Sure she might have seemed like a "doormat" at the beginning, but the more u learnt about her, the more her inner strength and self sacrificial love for Percy was apparent. TV Sally just doesn't have that, it doesn't feel like she has that much affection for Percy, she seems more distant and less loving. TV Sally has far too many scenes of her raising her voice at Percy and being frustrated with him, it makes it seem more like she was randomly stuck with this child and while she loves him, she knows deep down she would have been happier without him. Again, understandable but not book Sally. I feel they've sort of played up Percy's fierce love for his mum (or maybe it just feels more so because its more present in his spoken lines), but it doesn't feel as justified. If anything, id believe a more messy wrought relationship between the two. Its not a bad thing she's not the exact same as her book counterpart, but I do think it was a bad decision when they went so hard on Percy being ride or die for her, when most of her longer scenes are her being just frustrated with Percy being a child.

Gabe. ok more of a hot take I guess but I seriously disagree with his re-characterization. I don't mean to downplay anyone's experiences with toxic or abusive partners, but Gabe is far too bland and inoffensive. At worst, he's kind of annoying and maybe lazy. But he is nothing like the human sht stain that was book Gabe. Book Gabe deserved petrification and a lot worse, TV Gabe does not. The guy deserves a break up, not murder. Me and my friend actually laughed at him, because he didn't give "beats his wife and emotionally abuses her and her child", he gave "dead beat crypto boyfriend". Maybe it was the casting as well, the actor was funny and just seemed more goofy than actively horrid. "what makes u think he hasn't hit sally?" have u met TV Sally?? are u kidding me? she would have that man arrested.

Hades. I don't actually dislike making Hades friendly and more sassy. Sure its not book accurate, but you could argue its a little more mythologically accurate (maybe). My real problem is that he lacks PRESCENCE. Yes he can be nicer ect in this, but he is still the GOD OF THE UNDERWORLD. He should still be able to command a room! His words, even if they're not malicious or intimidating, should hold a certain kind of weight. I don't blame the actor here, I think he does well with what he's given but pretty much everyone else dropped the ball here. If they had supported him, we could have had a friendly Hades that was still a fitting lord of the underworld. Writers, directors, lighting, sound, ect let him down.

Persassy. Percy was great in the beginning but I felt like he started to lose that as the show went on, to give more of his lines/sassy moments to the other members of the trio. Which wasn't a terrible idea, I just think they did it too much, especially with the Ares scenes. Percy is meant to have an epic beef with Ares so much it transcends magic amnesia, but I could not believe that with the current lack of sass. Even the upcoming battle doesn't feel as weighty or deserved as it should. Again, don't hate the idea of sharing the sass around, just don't think it should come at the cost of Percy being toned down so much.

Getting into the underworld / mattress scene WHAT WAS THAT. I can accept that Percy knows more about Greek mythology because of his mom and i feel generally from just current cultural zeitgeist, but WHY THE HELL WOULD HE KNOW WHO CRUSTY IS?? and why was it so quick? there was no quick desperate clever thinking, it was like bro had read the scene from the book and then SPEED RAN IT. Also the Charon scene was far more interesting imo and I don't like that they cut it in favour for Crusty, without even doing that scene well. God that was so poorly executed.

Anyway thanks for reading my rant. Its long so it may seem like I didn't like the series but im being truthful when I say I did. I pretty much liked the rest of it, even some of the changes. I thinks a good show and adaption with some flaws, thats all. Im excited to finish up the season and im so pumped for season 2 and hopefully the rest of the series :D

#just musing #pjo #percy jackson #pjo tv series #percy jackson and the olympians #percy jackson series #pjo series #pjo tv show #pjo spoilers #pjo tv show spoilers #spoilers #percy jackson spoilers

[hamliet]

Rereading A Game of Thrones

In light of my recent Fire & Blood reread, I decided to reread the whole ASOIAF series because, well, why not. Below are some general observations/musings on the themes, character arcs, alchemy, and foreshadowing of book 1. I'll do this for the others as well. It's not really a meta so much as observations and thoughts.

Themes

Good Intentions Pave the Way to Tragedy

The most basic storytelling in existence tells us that protagonists have plans work out for them, just because they're good people with good intentions. Martin's whole schtick with A Game of Thrones is turning this on its head.

So many POV character's arc ends with their best intentions blowing up in their faces.

Ned tries to do the right thing and appoint the rightful heir. Robert's will was given to him, after all. He then even confesses to treason to save his daughter. He's still executed.

Catelyn leaves Winterfell as a mother to get justice for her child who was almost murdered. As a result of lies, she ends up unjustly arresting Tyrion and unwittingly helps set in motion a chain of events that results in the loss of her husband, risks to her daughters, and the potential loss of her eldest son, who crowns himself king in the north.

Daenerys saves Mirri Maz Duur and Eroeh and uses MMD to save Drogo. It just results in more death; the khalasar consumes itself, she loses Drogo and her child, and learns how little a life is worth when everything else is gone. Eroeh even faces a worser fate.

Sansa only wanted a happy ending like in the romantic songs she listens to; she accidentally gives Cersei the warning she needs to arrest her father. She then pleads for mercy and is rewarded with her father's head. Sansa had no bad intentions, but she lost her family and her freedom for this.

Arya intends to be a strong warrior and hates when others are bullied. She kills a boy at the end out of fear. She just wants to save herself. She didn't do anything wrong per se, but it will haunt her and influence her negatively down the line.

Good intentions, even righteous actions, guarantee nothing. But that doesn't mean they are pointless, either. Why? Because, Daenerys's arc shows us what you can do when only the dead and stone remain, when she arises from the ashes like a phoenix. Jon's arc shows us that others can pull us back, make loss bearable.

Duty vs Love

Duty vs. love is one of the main elements of a Romantic story, and Martin's identified himself as a Romantic. Guinevere and Lancelot, anyone? The love that cannot be, the love that is doomed because of duty--there's conflict. Courtly love is a key piece of this, and it's literally defined as:

a highly conventionalized medieval tradition of love between a knight and a married noblewoman, first developed by the troubadours of southern France and extensively employed in European literature of the time. The love of the knight for his lady was regarded as an ennobling passion and the relationship was typically unconsummated.

(Also yes the Romantics drew heavily on medieval tradition.)

It ties into the motif of the human heart against itself. Ned, the most honorable man, in the end chooses love over duty (Sansa's life over his honor). Arguably, he chose both, because his duty as a father is to protect his child first and foremost.

Yet those who eschew duty for love completely aren't framed positively either: see, Cersei and Jaime, Robert over Lyanna, etc. Neither, of course, is eschewing love for duty. Stannis, we know from the show, will in the end choose duty over love (burning Shireen), and it will be for nothing.

Instead of "duty or love," what Martin seems to be trying to do is explore the nuances of individual situations and choices, and to suggest that duty to others' wellbeing can't so easily be separated from love.

Jon, after all, ends up trying to choose between duty (the Night's Watch) and love (helping Robb become King of the North). In the end, though, it's the love of his friends on the Night's Watch that brings him back. It's not just because he said some words. It's their love, and it's the reality of the Others' threats--since the Others threaten them all, including every person Jon loves.

Justice and Mercy

It's a tale as old as time (or at least as old as the Bible): justice vs. mercy. Can true justice exist without mercy? Or is that just abuse itself? Is mercy really the exclusion of justice?

Stannis, for example, is said to be the full embodiment of justice. And notably? That's not a good thing:

Lord Stannis in particular. His claim is the true one, he is known for his prowess as a battle commander, and he is utterly without mercy. There is no creature on earth half so terrifying as a truly just man.

Just as we in the real world struggle with this question of when mercy becomes injustice, and when justice becomes injustice without mercy, so the characters struggle. Even Ned's honorable justice--executing Garen at the start of the book--turns out to have been wrong, and he's executed in a similar fashion at the end of the book. But it's not ironic justice; it's just sad.

Ned is caught precisely because of both, just like love and duty: justice, in that he refused to act in time to get Joffrey under his wing, but would have saved his life if he had. But it wasn't just to put Joffrey on the throne, so he doesn't.

He also tries to show mercy to Cersei by encouraging her to leave with her kids. He just misunderstands Cersei and assumes that, as a mother, she will prioritize her kids' lives first and foremost. Except, the tragedy is that Cersei has never had her father prioritize her life as anything more than a pawn to be used, and so Cersei calls Ned's bluff: "what of my wrath, Lord Stark?" It'd be easy to say Ned underestimated Cersei because he saw her as a role and not as a person, but I don't think that's quite true either. The reality is... Ned had good intentions. It just didn't work out, because injustice is the opposite of justice and of mercy, and injustice isn't a force of mindless orcs from a foreign land to be brought down. It's among us and it's within each of us.

The Outsiders

The real heroes of the story, the ones I'll call the Big Six, are Jon, Daenerys, Tyrion, Arya, Bran, and Sansa. Interestingly, all of them are outsiders--except Sansa. Jon is a bastard. Daenerys is an exile. Tyrion is a dwarf. Bran is crippled. Arya is a girl who doesn't like society's rules--and Jon directly compares her situation to his: "Arya never seemed to fit, no more than he had."

But just in case we were tempted to brush off Arya and especially Sansa as being not truly outsiders, we have Daenerys' chapter where she eats the horse heart which tells us exactly why Sansa is also an outsider to a degree:

If she choked on the blood or retched up the flesh, the omens were less favorable; the child might be stillborn, or come forth weak, deformed, or female.

Yep, female is seen as weak and a poor omen.

If I Look Back, I Am Lost

This is the line Dany repeats to herself after Drogo's death. She can't bring herself to look back at what she could have done differently. In the moment she says this, it makes sense: she can't bring Drogo back, and she can't undo what she's done already. She can only look forward. However... she's going to have to look back at some point, probably in TWOW, and that should provide a wake-up.

The most notable other character doing this at this point (don't worry, everyone will end up here by book 5!) is Tyrion. His proposal to Shae--that she act like his lover with romance--is essentially him reenacting his trauma with Tysha. A whore pretended to be your wife, so now you're asking Shae to pretend to love you. It should be clear from the start that this isn't going to end anywhere good.

Alchemy

Dismemberment of a "good man" is usually a symbol in alchemy for what needs to happen in order for the process to go. The man's parts are scattered. and he is killed, but from that scattering, everything will be purified and then brought back together. Pretty clearly the Starks (and also Tyrion and Daenerys, whom Ned tried to save).

The Process

When Jon says his vows in the godswood, it's clear that the weirwood trees are designed after the three stages of the alchemical process: "The forest floor was carpeted with fallen leaves, bloodred on top, black rot beneath. The wide smooth trunks were bone pale, and nine faces stared inward." The black stage is associated with death and decay, the white with skeletons (rinsing away of impurities). Red is the final stage.

The city of King's Landing also emphasizes these three colors: the Sept on Visenya's hill is white and crystal; the Dragonpit on Rhaenys' hill is black, and the Red Keep on Aegon's is, of course, red.

When Sansa finally gives up on her delusions of Joffrey, she "g[ives] herself to the darkness," which could be read as giving herself over to the black stage, to being transformed.

Green is the color of the prima materia, or the substances that will be made into the philosopher's stone. Tyrion fights at the Greek Fork. Bran is referred to as a "only a green boy with the smell of summer still on you." When Daenerys sets out on the Dothraki see, she has the following conversation:

"It's so green," she said.

"Here and now," Ser Jorah agreed. "You ought to see it when it blooms, all dark red flowers from horizon to horizon, like a sea of blood.

To me, this seems to indicate where Daenerys's arc will go: red completion.

The Wind

Again as @argentvive has pointed out, Dany being born in the middle of a terrible storm is likely a reference to the line from the Emerald Tablet about the Philosopher's Stone being "carried by wind". But there are actually a lot of references to wind in AGOT, like this Bran conversation:

Bran listened. "It's only the wind," he said after a moment, uncertain. "The leaves are rustling."

"Who do you think sends the wind, if not the gods?" 

Maybe Bran will be an alchemist for Daenerys? Because her association with wind is strong in this story. When Khal Drogo gives her the silver horse, she says "Tell Khal Drogo that he has given me the wind."  Indeed, he's given Dany what she needs to start her journey, and he will give her even more. When she tries to convince her husband to go to Westeros, she tells him ships are "Wooden horses with a hundred legs, that fly across the sea on wings full of wind." Drogo never takes Dany to Westeros, but this is how sailing works. Dany will arrive in Westeros carried by wind.

Also of note: the sea in alchemy can be representative of the mercurial waters, the substance that the stone is dissolved in before being coagulated. The Dothraki fear the sea, but Dany needs it.

Markings

The philosopher's stone, and most romantic couples, in alchemical stories, are made of characters with opposite "markings." These alchemical opposites are:

Male: Sun, sulphur, fire and air, hot and dry, red, gold, heart. Female: Moon, mercury, earth and water, cool and moist, white, silver, mind.

Arya is heavily marked as water and earth. Syrio Forel tells her she must become a "water dancer," and that's precisely what she does.

Pretty much all of the Starks of import are white. Sansa wears white silk. Bran wears silver pins. Jon is also water (snow). However:

Bran often dreams of wings and flying, which might indicate a future air marking for him. Daenerys has a similar dream about wings and flying. Yes, crows vs dragons, whatever. I genuinely wonder if Bran might switch markings at some point like Dany does.

"A dragon was air and fire."<--actual quote.

Daenerys's Rebirth

So as mentioned above, Dany undergoes a switch in her markings. This is also something argentvive has covered extensively. Drogo rides a red horse; Dany silver. Drogo is the "sun and stars," while Dany is the "moon of [his] life." But, as the story tells us through this myth, a moon can become a sun:

Once there were two moons in the sky, but one wandered too close to the sun and cracked from the heat. A thousand thousand dragons poured forth, and drank the fire of the sun. That is why dragons breathe flame. One day the other moon will kiss the sun too, and then it will crack and the dragons will return.

Towards the end of the story, Dany becomes red, sulfur, the sun, fire, and air; she even becomes heart via literally eating a heart. During the Mirri Maz Duur scene, it's noted that Drogo is forced to soak in a tub, and:

Her handmaids filled the tub with tepid water that stank of sulfur, 

After this, Drogo's red horse is killed, because he will no longer be red; Dany will. The entire tent becomes bathed in red, and just in case we weren't aware this was a rebirth scene, Daenerys literally gives birth.

The blood had gone everywhere. Even the sandsilk walls were spotted with red, and the rugs underfoot were black and wet.

But her birth is not finished. No, it's dissolved, but not coagulated. Hence, the fire.

She climbed the pyre herself to place the eggs around her sun-and-stars. The black beside his heart, under his arm. The green beside his head, his braid coiled around it. The cream-and-gold down between his legs.

The eggs are interestingly placed by the three principles of alchemy: heart, mind (head), and body (since body characters can be, um, lusty). When Dany is reborn through the fire, she is naked like a baby, both child and mother (she's noted to be lactating, which she will use to feed her dragons).

Ser Jorah Mormont found her amidst the ashes, surrounded by blackened logs and bits of glowing ember and the burnt bones of man and woman and stallion. She was naked, covered with soot, her clothes turned to ash, her beautiful hair all crisped away . . . yet she was unhurt.

The Show That Shall Not Be Named (Mixing references here I know)

In regards to that dreadful show citing Viserys' death as an example of Dany being "cold" to her enemies... whew. So not true. When Viserys is executed, Daenerys does exactly what Ned Stark says anyone who executes another should: look him in the eye. She's asked to turn away, and she refuses. In other words, there's zero framing that we should be disturbed by her reaction--in fact, we should see her as honorable for it. It's also noted that Dany's handmaidens note that Daenerys's grief is real: "You have not laughed since your brother the Khal Rhaggat was crowned by Drogo," said Irri. "It is good to see, Khaleesi."

Rather than Dany's reaction being a sign of her nonexistent coldness, I think it's more another example of the main theme mentioned above: Dany kept trying to protect her brother by not telling him the truth about how the khals viewed him ("Khal Rhaggat"), even though 1) if she had, he'd have hurt her, and 2) he really should have been able to open his eyes and see the truth, but he willingly blinded himself not unlike Robert Baratheon. She had good intentions. It just didn't mean that there weren't extremely negative consequences. That also doesn't mean she should have told him, either.

Insofar as Bran ending up as some kind of king, Tyrion's line in the show was something about how Bran had the best story. A joke in the show, but possibly something like this will be said in the books (and, y'know, make sense). Bran is told by Old Nan: "My stories? No, my little lord, not mine. The stories are, before me and after me, before you too." Stories matter.

Foreshadowing:

It's hard to know what is accurate foreshadowing. There are some elements of George's original plans in this book that have clearly been scrapped. It's a retcon, but also not, because the retconning is less about changing the endgame and more about changing the steps along the journey. For example, the line about Jaime looking "like a king" at Winterfell, Jaime being appointed Warden of the East, etc, all seem to line up with Martin's original plan to make Jaime a villain to take the throne.

That said, for stuff that does pay off:

Jon wondering about his mother is followed up within three short paragraphs with a switch to the line "They said it was Donal Noye who'd forged King Robert's warhammer, the one that crushed the life from Rhaegar Targaryen on the Trident." He's your daddy, Jon.

Varys is associated with the scent of lilacs from his very first scene. Lilacs are only else used to describe... the color of Dany and Viserys's eyes. He had Targaryen (or Blackfyre) connections from the start.

Jon and Dany have an interesting parallel that may or may not be alchemical: both are associated with bears. Jon is mentored by Jeor Mormont, and Dany inspires Jorah Mormont.

#agot #a game of thrones #agot meta #asoiaf meta #kinda #a song of ice and fire #daenerys targeryan #jon snow #tyrion lannister #sansa stark #cersei lannister #arya stark #bran stark #varys

[asexualastarion]

1, 6, 8, 12, and 17 my hater in arms 💕

The character everyone gets wrong

OKAY this is niche and OUTTA LEFT FIELD but my favorite book of ALL TIME is we have always lived in the castle by shirley jackson and the HATE i see for its protagonist is ALL WRONG. It's in the same vein as like Chara undertale hate (another of my fave characters of all time) where peoples see a CHILD that clearly has a lot going on and are like. this person is irredeemably evil. no they're traumatized

6. Which ship fans are the most annoying?

bloodweave sorry bloodweave like. for why. why is it so popular why is it everywhere. like yeah every origin ship is valid and can be canon but like they both have much more interesting dynamics with other charactes. where is the gale/lae'zel art. hwere is the aslach (ass lack) or the aswylllach (ass will lack) art. why is bloodweave the most popular origin ship

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

okay this doesn't exactly fit bc i dont think it's super popular per se but it's on my mind today. i hate seeing fanart of kakashi and gojo together. people always twinkify them and alwasy draw them like they're about to fuck. 1) kakashi is not hot (dont get me wrong i want to fuck him but not cause he's like. physically attractive.) 2) they are not the same person 3) gojo will never be kakashi gojo wishes he was kakashi 4) kakashi would kill that man

OH OH ALSO THAT REMINDS ME I'LL THROW THIS IN HERE TOO. i don't like kakashi/iruka i think it's unfounded. they hardly ever talk. yeah they both love naruto but like can just be his mentor figures separately they don't have to be married. kakashi is married to guy like they are MARRIED. i feel like kakashi/guy would be way more popular if guy was a prettyboy twink (like iruka)

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

i wanna say wyll but like that shit actually makes me fucking angry and not in a silly haha way so i am going to instead say sera dragonage. now. i know there are a lot of sera dragonage haters out there and there are some things about her that i do not like. however i overall love her and i think she is a tragic case of bad writing and wasted potential. why did they have a straight white guy write a lesbian whose character arc revolves around internalized racism. why does the game literally talk shit about her during her romance arc. literally one of her romance quests is "you love sera and wanna get her something to show her how much you care. go ask your friends for gift advice" and EVERY SINGLE COMPANION OR ADVISOR IS JUST LIKE. I HATE SERA SHES SO ANNOYING WHY ARE YOU DATING HER. UGH. ALSO. the game makes you be so mean to her!! so many times the only dialogue options with her are like "stop talking weird i dont understand you'". also the fact that YOU CAN LITERALLY KICK HER OUT AT ANY TIME??? LIKE NO MATTER WHAT THERE IS ALWAYS A DIALOGUE BUTTON TO KICK HER OUT?? here are reasons why you should like sera:

she is fun trickster! solas fucking wishes he was her.

her subclass is just super fun!! throw jars of bees and fire and shit at your enemies!

she is so genuine and cares so much about what she believes in. i wish that was explored more but as i have said the game literally hates her so.

she loves you so much!!!! she marries you!!!!!!!!!

i actualy really like her voice and the way she talks. shes just fun!

she's autistic <3

17. there should be more types of this fic/art

more people should be drawing gale and halsin and karlach fat, for one. also everyone else in the party but like especially those three. larian the fact that you have zero fat people in your game sucks supremely and you should feel bad about it.

actually draw more characters as fat anyway.

#thank you mina i love to hate with you #kirnet

[textualviolence]

Fanfiction ultimately is a fundamentally different creative effort than something like novel writing because fanfiction works with different material, i.e. a preexisting I.P. that has cultivated a fanbase and thus also a preexisting emotional investment and metareading of the original text.

Fanfiction is meta by nature in a way original fiction is not and that meta status changes the nature of the creative exercise inherent to writing a story. Its not an inferior creative exercise, that kind of value judgement is a bit nonsensical in that context, (even though its true that someone who exclusively writes fanfiction is not necessarily ready to write an original novel off the bat, some skills transfer and some do not. its a bit like saying illustration is lesser to comic book creation because an illustrator whos never done a comic book would probably do a poor job jumping from one to the other. Its nonsensical and the transfer works in both directions. Controversial take but i think novelist wouldn't necessarily make good fanfiction right off the bat.) The reason theres such a large number of bad fanfiction out there is not due to an inherent flaw in the medium but rather to the fact that fanfic publication is incredibly democratized, anyone can not only write & publish but also will probably find readership because fanfiction is also in part meeting an existing demand, people want fanfic, and they want it to scratch an itch be it for fluff or pornography, in a way that is much less visible in mainstream published original fiction. Its very like comic books in the early days in my mind (of course with the internet fanfiction is even more democratized) but yeah before the comics code chances were, if you could draw a little bit and your story contained the required amount of sex&violence (again, public demand for a functional product, "cheap thrills" rather than "art for art's sake") you'd be almost guaranteed to find a publisher, because the strategy was quantity over quality. None of this is in my mind a bad thing, or a stain on the value of the medium. Lots of terrible comic books were made, and also a decent number of absolute gems, not through transcending their genre but specifically by utilizing its strengths, and that includes the obsession with sex and violence and shocking material. I think there is incredible value in the standardisation of sexual material in fanfiction. Its not an obligation per se, but its hard to deny that fanfics that contain zero sexual material don't do as well as the ones who do, sometimes they'll even be straight up ignored for that fact alone, but that culture of "sex as a required topic" has also in my mind created a space in which sex-related stories can be liberated from the narrow boxing in that they're subjected to in mainstream creative fiction. If sex is in every story you can write anything about sex, and stretch the boundaries of what sex is and means and how it functions, not just in a theoretical sense but also in a real one, and produce actual insight- harrow the ninth is published fiction but its fanfiction roots are obvious to anyone who's even vaguely familiar with the tropes and it does a fantastic job of linking together sex, power relations, imperialism, the patriarchy and liberation from those power structures. In TLT, sex can do so much because it is not incidental but fundamental to the narrative itself in a way that i find characteristic of fanfic writing.

[mcclainwilla]

Writing Fight Scenes, Part 1

As someone who enjoys both writing and martial arts, I feel somewhat qualified to speak on the combination of both. Hopefully, this will help y'all writers to better understand how to structure and execute fight scenes!

I'll start with just the basics of a fight/the writing itself. In later posts, I'll detail the different styles of martial arts, common movements, etc.

TW// light discussion of injury

Do:

- Use short sentences.

They shouldn't necessarily be choppy, per se, but they should be shorter. Here are two excerpts of the same scene in my WIP Medic and Machine (Book 0 of my series). One is from my first draft, one is from my third.

"The two of them circle one another for a few minutes, thinking.  Ximena makes the first move again, throwing a low kick towards Rio’s ankles with her metal leg.  He dodges, but it costs him precious moments that Ximena uses to move in with a metal punch that catches him in the jaw.  His head jerks to the side, but he recovers quickly enough to throw a metal elbow upwards into her chin.  I wince.  Those had to hurt."

"Rio and Ximena circle each other for a few moments, thinking.  Then, Ximena throws a low kick with her metal leg.  Rio dodges the kick, but not the metal fist to his jaw.  But even as his head snaps back, he smashes a metal elbow into her chin.  I wince at the sound of mechanics on flesh."

Notice how the second excerpt is shorter, and yet, I describe the same actions! This is good because fights, for the most part, happen fast. By using shorter sentences, you can recreate that effect.

- Keep in mind the skill level of your fighter(s)

In my personal experience, I find it far easier to write fight scenes where both participants are trained ass-kickers. Someone who has been fighting for a long time will:

Know their range (they can tell, by visual inspection, whether or not they are close enough to land a strike/kick, because they know how long their own limbs are)

Ignore/block out weak hits. After a while, you begin to recognize which hits aren't going to land/aren't going to hurt, and you stop flinching from them/feeling the slight pain

Someone who hasn't been fighting for as long, however, will:

Not know their range (especially in children, they'll either rush straight towards their opponent and get hit, or they'll throw punches/kicks from wayyy too far away)

Flinch dramatically at any and all movements of their opponent. When you've never fought, the idea of getting smacked is scary!

- Keep in mind the body type of your fighter(s)

This concept will almost definitely get a post of its own, it's so important to me! There are three main things to keep in mind:

Short people will have less range, but they're generally faster and more balanced

Stocky people might (but not always!) move slower, but their hits tend to be more powerful

Flexible people = no flaws. (I mean maybe not but I can't think of any cons to being flexible. Greater range of motion is pretty much always a good thing)

Also, people with (proportionally) long limbs are at an advantage. They can strike from farther away, without having to move into their opponent's striking range.

Don't:

- Do not. I repeat, do not. Make your character do a backflip while fighting

I love you but I will hit you with a brick

Not really. But! Backflips/any other kind of tricks are very bad ideas during a fight, for a couple of reasons:

It requires you to take your eyes off of your opponent, which is a generally bad idea

It is a MYTH that flips/other trickery increase striking power. They do not. Your striking power comes from the ground - the more connected to the floor you are, the better (I will elaborate on this in a later post)

When you are in the air, you cannot control where your body goes. If your opponent decides to throw a hit, you Cannot dodge it

- Have your characters talk

Unless they're hot 'n sexy. Not kidding. The reader in me is a slut for some good fight scene banter, but the writer in me knows they're just unrealistic. For one, you're probably breathing too heavily to really talk. For another, you need to focus. And lastly, if your opponent decks you mid-sentence, you'll bite off your tongue or break your jaw. Unideal!

That's all for this one! I think my next couple of posts will be an overview of some different styles of martial arts, their effectiveness (in my individual opinion) and the types of moves they contain.

Feel free to reblog, just credit me and stuff :)

#writing #writing advice #wip stuff #wip #martial arts #fighting #fight scene #combat sports #willa mcclain #tw injury

[traegorn]

I posted 1,398 times in 2022

509 posts created (36%)

889 posts reblogged (64%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@traegorn

@gingerblivet

@hockpock

@libraford

@rose-in-a-fisted-glove

I tagged 234 of my posts in 2022

#witch - 99 posts

#witchblr - 98 posts

#witchcraft - 91 posts

#witchtok - 59 posts

#wicca - 14 posts

#nonbinary - 10 posts

#genderqueer - 10 posts

#the bs-free witchcraft podcast - 10 posts

#youtube - 8 posts

#crystals - 7 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#accidentally stabbing myself with a pencil while putting my hand in my pocket while running a training for 20 new contractors at my old job

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Ah yes, @llycaons has become today's volunteer.

One, Tumblr runs off of ad revenue. You have two choices on this site to support it -- be okay with seeing ads or pay for ad-free. Harassing advertisers actually helps no one, because it discourages folks from running ads.

Which means tumblr makes less money, and as the site is already losing money that could lead to its eventual shut down. You don't have to like the ads, but you literally signed up for this.

Two, according to your account you are an adult. You are capable of blocking blogs you don't like seeing, blocking tags you don't like, or even installing an ad blocker and circumventing the system that pays for the site you're actively using. Curate your own experiences my dude, and stop trying to force other people to do it for you.

Three, I like a lot of the stuff I've seen blazed to my dash -- so nah, you're just objectively wrong. Get a bigger sample size next time.

Now fuckle on off, Fuckalong Cassidy.

983 notes - Posted November 27, 2022

#4

The uselessness of Witchcraft Author "Blacklists"

Every once and a while I see a "Witchcraft Author Blacklist" either in the tags or getting passed around here on Tumblr, and never in my life have I thought it was a remotely useful thing.

Because every single time, they lack and semblance of nuance. Like yesterday I ran across one that literally equated Scott Cunningham with Stephen Flowers. Yes, Cunningham, a person who wrote some things that need to be read critically is, apparently, as bad as a literal fucking Nazi whose books help fund the AFA.

Like are there Cunningham books I wouldn't recommend? Absolutely. Should most of his works be read with a critical eye and take into account the state of the community and available information when he was writing them? Yes. But... like... there's a huge fucking difference between these two things.

Also, this list claimed because Cunningham wrote about Wicca his works were somehow homophobic. Have there been homophobic Wiccans? Of course - but Cunningham, an openly gay man, was not one of them.

Additionally, there are people who get included on these lists where I wouldn't recommend anyone read their books to learn witchcraft per se, but their works have important historical significance.

Like Gerald Gardner - should anyone learn from Gardner? Fuck no. His works are full of misinformation and outright bullshit. But it literally is where the modern witchcraft movement was birthed, so there is value in understanding where we came from.

Aleister Crowley falls into this category too - harder even. Crowley was gross as heck, but how can you understand what in the modern community is still descended from his works or propagating his gross ideas... if you're unfamiliar with his works?

Also, he's super dead, so it's not like he's benefiting from someone reading his stuff.

It's just so deeply frustrating that people make these lists to start with. Like, I have written or talked about how certain authors should be avoided -- but I always do my best to include context, reasons, and explanations why. I will specifically explain why I don't think they're valuable to read. Making a laundry list where you make unsourced or unexplained claims about a huge list of people doesn't help someone understand what might be wrong with them.

Also, my recommendations are usually about how a new witch shouldn't read their work, because it's about not having the experience to see what is and isn't bullshit in what they read yet. They don't have that baseline yet. That doesn't mean that some of these books might not be significant or worth reading at some point in their journey. Just not at the start of it.

It's just... a complete lack of nuance. Like I don't recommend Silver Ravenwolf because her books are, frankly, poorly researched and bad. I don't recommend Stephen Flowers because he's a fuckin' overt WHITE SUPREMACIST whose publications have been used to fund the AFA. These are not the same. When we pretend that they are, we are doing a massive disservice to all of us.

It... it honestly feels like Christian purity culture repackaged. If you can't handle nuance, I don't think you can really handle that much witchcraft to start with. The world isn't black and white -- there are overt evils out there, but most everything else is a shade of gray and pretending otherwise is poisonous.

1,264 notes - Posted August 29, 2022

#3

So there's a thing that a lot of tumblr users don't know about -- older ones because it didn't used to be like this, and newer ones because... they're new?

Anyways -- one of the biggest pains of Tumblr is that finding old posts can be hard. The search is terrible, and is overall useless. The easiest solution to this has always been that you can go through your "archive" -- for example here's mine: https://traegorn.tumblr.com/archive

Notice how that URL starts with my username. Longtime users will be like "Of course it does. That's your Tumblr URL." But here's the thing -- a lot of new accounts don't have that. Like, if you type it in (minus the /archive part) it kinda works still -- but it redirects you from username.tumblr.com to tumblr.com/username. And from there, the archive function does not work.

You see, to make your "Tumblr Blog" an actual, well, blog you have to turn it on manually now.

To do that, on the web, go to your blog settings and find this one:

Turning on "custom theme" will enable your blog to function and give you all the features.

Now there are reasons some folks might not want to do this. First off, that does mean sites like Google will be able to spider your blog and things can end up on public searches. If you don't want your Tumblr activity public do not turn it on. That's a choice I leave up to you. But, like, also... I've seen Tumblr accounts ostensibly set up to promote people's works but not have this turned on making the audience they're trying to reach less likely to find them.

But this is a thing that used to always be on. I found out one of my old sideblogs had it turned off that I never wanted it to be set that way. The choice is yours, do what you want.

I'm not your mom.

4,288 notes - Posted November 14, 2022

#2

People who get mad at seeing any post blazed are so funny to me.

This site works because either someone pays for ads, or you pay to not see ads. That's what pays Tumblr's bills.

4,533 notes - Posted November 1, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I'm here.

I'm queer.

I'd like to go back to bed now.

11,183 notes - Posted July 18, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

[mcalhenwrites]

I went from being on anon and not sharing that I was posting Seasons to being openly proud that I wrote it. Before I posted the first chapter back in October, I had finally gotten to a point where I was confident in my writing abilities. It took far too long to get here. I'd convinced myself that I deserved nothing but criticism and ought to be embarrassed by everything I wrote. Plenty of people validated that feeling, so I took that as confirmation. Surprisingly, my being anon had nothing to do with that. After making my writing private or deleting it entirely, I had a chance to really think about my relationship to sharing. (Which still needs work, as I'm about to go into.) It's a vulnerable process, but ultimately, I still want to do it. I love writing, but it's hard to find an audience, and did I actually deserve one? It was nice to write without thinking about the perfectionism. That's likely what struck me: I always enjoy creating stories, but I get caught up in cycles of editing (still do) where I nitpick out of fear that nothing I create is good enough. I looked at my writing and realized, no, I've been so hard on myself. This is good. These are interesting stories to me, and surely other people will find them interesting as well! I slowly took a few stories out of the private collection months later. But then there was Seasons. :') I was afraid that I'd be condemned for the content in Seasons. Every single story I create is self-indulgent in different ways. Some show an obvious love of steampunk, others show I like dragons, some are kinky af, others are introspective to the moon and back. They're not for everyone. They're for me. But I want them to be for other people, too, and that's okay! Still, Seasons is indulgent in its vulnerablity and rawness. I have a bad relationship with my own trauma and how I have to live with it in the world being what it is, for one. I didn't know if many other people would read it. I knew it was the kind of thing that likely wouldn't get published. It doesn't work for traditional publishing, and self-publishing can be specific about what's allowed. (Especially given the popularity of book banning in my country.) That's why it's up on AO3. I'd like it to remain there, free to read for those that might need the catharsis. Anyway, people did read it. A lot of them have. I got asks about it on another tumblr account I created just to stay anon, and while those have since died down, and I do think the story has some weaker parts that might be the reason I've scared off a handful of writers, it does seem to get a lot of hits each time I update. People who don't usually comment sometimes pop in suddenly to say they've been reading a while or still are reading. It's really touching. I don't need to to validate my relationship with my writing, but it does validate my relationship with sharing. Perhaps that is what made it easier to feel comfortable with coming off anon in baby steps. I'm anxious to finish Seasons and start sharing more of my other works! (And getting back to writing a few of them.) I'm proud of those novels too! :D Oh, and an odd side effect, but my pride in Seaons has made me love my other works like Rascal and The Dragons' Cosmos even more. It's not Seasons, per se, just a general... feeling that the more I love one story, the good I see in others, and it keeps going. Honestly, I know it's hard to believe people when they say it's worth being confident and saying positive things, that you should accept compliments, et cetera. Especially if you've ever been in any writing groups or fandoms where your work is the centerpiece for anyone's jokes. It gets reallllly fucking hard to overcome that. So I'm not going to say, "Oh hey, here's advice!" I know from experience no one is going to take it. But I will say this: when I was active on twitter, I saw a lot of fairly well-known authors talking about imposter syndrome and a lack of confidence, as well as the humiliation they've gone through before and while in the industry.

To conclude: all that advice was right, is what I'm saying! XD

(please just let me post my lazy conclusion, tumblr, I beg of you)

#hey tumblr is messing up when I make big posts #so I'll try to edit this soon to wrap it up RIP

[kiefbowl]

Im reading the first book of the asoiaf series now and one of the things that strikes me the most is that Dany sentences her brother to walk behind the khalasar and apparently thats completely emasculating. I get that a lot of readers might see this as merciful considering the other suggestions are cut off an ear or kill him, but it seems to me that the Dothraki are kind of a masculinity cult. (At least in the show they rape and kill with impunity and murder the wives of dead khals) Im wondering if Dany's punishment isnt actually worse. Then after the whole khalasar thinks her brother is a joke and the brother doesnt even *know* he's being mocked she asks that he be allowed to ride at the front of the column. It just seems like an affront to the whole khalasar and Im shocked at her capriciousness. Not that I have no sympathy for her. Shes a traumatized pregnant 14 year old but I think the book questions her ability to rule from quite early on. Its just hard to identify because the code of ethics in the Dothraki is very different from our own.

I'm not sure I completely follow. You're correct the Dothraki are a very patriarchal group, and their culture is built and around war and violence and rape.

"but I think the book questions her ability to rule from quite early on" this strikes me, are you eluding to the show's conclusion? I think book readers weren't necessarily surprised by Dany's "turn" in the show per se, but more it was 1. poorly set up and 2. is likely not what's going to happen in the books. If you're just reading the books now, I don't want to spoil too much for you, but the books continue to show Dany's struggle with ruling, but not so much because she is wrong or bad, but rather it's a hard position to be in. The books are pretty unambiguous in my opinion about her role as "Breaker of Chains" as being a very good thing. But GRRM is interested in character complexity, and is not interested in concluding the story by saying "Yes, magical dragon blood makes you the best ruler and monarchies are the best system." So, though Dany freeing slaves is good, she is not entirely ready to face the consequences of the political and economic fallout this causes, which is why she does what she thinks is best and tries to teach herself how to rule by facing the consequences in Meereen. It's an interesting conflict I enjoyed though some book fans were annoyed by it.

The other thing I don't want to spoil too much is that the show cut out a character completely that you will meet in book five. He is extremely important, and is probably going to be the reason Dany's got a lot of image problems when she lands in Westeros. Let's just say, if and when Dany storms King's Landing, I highly doubt it will be Cersei on the throne like in the show.

GRRM is very interested in exploring the pitfalls of monarchy as a system, and of course one of them is the idea that image and symbols are determiners of power. A King isn't just someone who has the lineage, he has to look like a King. The Gods have to reveal signs and blessings that he is the true ruler. Sigils have to show strong animals and concepts, which is why the Lannisters have lions and talk as if they're actual lions, because it becomes a sort of circular logic that the image is self evident of their truth to power. This is all to say, someone is in the story that the people might be willing to accept as their King that challenges how the people perceive Dany when she flies in on her fire breathing weapon of war.

#asoiaf

[emaster875]

Sherlock's Diary.

This is teenlock and told from Mycroft's POV

He hadn't been snooping per se more of looking for an insight into his little brother's life, his method of doing so is going through his shit stuff.

He looked through all the cleché hiding spots and found nothing (not that he had expected to, Sherlock is smarter than that). 

He looked under the mattress and found nothing, he looked in old shoe boxes and found nothing, then he decided to check Sherlock's impressive bookcase (which wasn't as big as his but still large).

He pulled out books and looked behind and between them and still found nothing until by chance he knocked over a few books and one of them flew open to reveal it had been hollowed out and inside was a brown leather journal.

Jackpot! He opened it and read the first page.

If you are reading this and you are not me then stop right now and mind your own bloody business. If your name is Mycroft and you're reading this fuck off.

He flipped to the next page.

I'm serious. Mind your own business.

His brother could be so dramatic. He flipped over the warnings which went on several pages and started to read the first entry which had the date at the top of the page. It was dated Sherlock's first day of high school.

I guess I'm starting a diary now. Never mind that sounds incredibly stupid, I'm deleting that. I'm starting a journal. That sounds less stupid. Today was my first day of high school and it was total shit. I hate everyone there. They're all even more stupid than I imagined. Except maybe this one boy named John. After some dumb ass holes pushed me over (probably trying to impress their equally dumb friends) John helped me up and introduced himself. I think he's one of the jocks but he was at least not an outright ass hole. Anyway, I definitely don't want to go back to school tomorrow but if I skip Mycroft will probably find out and make me go back.

He went on to complain about him and something he had done that day.

It was interesting reading his diary. He wondered how much trust Sherlock had actually put into the book and was curious to find out more about whatever Sherlock had to say.

He flipped through the next few pages. Most of them were Sherlock complaining about him being an annoying older brother or school. The only slightly positive thing that seemed to come up relatively often was the boy John.

Sherlock always wrote down his interaction with the boy. Even wrote down things he saw John do and how he didn't like any of his girlfriends which John seemed to go through quite fast. It sounded almost stalker-like the way he wrote about him.

He read a much more recent entry that was titled, John Watson.

I think I have a crush on John Watson. I thought romantic feelings and the like were below me but apparently not. I love everything about him. He's kind and gorgeous and he's the kind of boy that stops on the sidewalk to help worms get across (I've seen him do it before), he holds the door open for the teachers and he stands up for people. I saw him help a baby bird that fell out of its nest get back to it's siblings and mother (the bird is fine now). He is the only one in that hell hole of a school that doesn't call me a freak. Mycroft says caring is not an advantage but I can't help caring about John. It's stupid, my feelings that is.

He suddenly felt bad for what he had said to Sherlock about caring. He still stood by what he had said but it was obvious that he was smitten with this Watson boy. He'd have to find some background on him. He didn't want his little brother to get hurt.

Just then Sherlock opened the door. With a quick scan of the room, Sherlock saw what he had been doing and then saw the book in his hands.

"MYCROFT!" Sherlock yelled.

"Wait, I can explain." He said although he couldn't.

"Get out of my room! Don't touch my shit again!" He said snatching the book away from him.

He walked himself out but turned at the doorway to face his fuming brother "How's John doing?" He asked smirking.

He was answered by Sherlock slamming the door in his face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I wanted to write a little fic where Sherlock had a crush on John. I had the idea this morning when I was helping a worm off the sidewalk and into some dirt.

#sherlock bbc #sherlock fandom #johnlock #sherlock #sherlock x john #john watson #sherlock holmes #writing #johnlock fanfic #mycroft holmes #mycroft bbc #sherlock and mycroft #teenlock

[auxiliarydetective]

Fic Author Interview

Thanks for the tag @benevolenterrancy !

1 How many works do you have on AO3?

55, for now. There will be a lot more...

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

516,744 - which I don't know how to feel about. It seems like too little but also like... Woah. I guess it's because I'm so used to read a comma as the symbol that separates full numbers from decimals, so it doesn't really register as over 500 thousand in my brain. Because as soon as it gets into my brain that it's actually hundreds of thousands of words... We're definitely in the woah territory.

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

First is Favourite Pastime with 63 - and I'm honestly really surprised by this. A Ghostbusters fic?! But I'm also really glad because... I dare say... Favourite Pastime is one of my better fics. It's pretty good.

Second place goes to The Rule of Three with 57, my Star Wars fic. It barely has any chapters, but it's still so popular and I kinda love it. Glad my fic of anger issues and sibling bickering resonated so well lol

Third is My Heart, My Liege, Mi Capitán with 53, which means we're now in song lyric title and OPLA territory and YES. I kinda love Cora's fic, I put a lot of heart into it, so I'm really glad that people like it.

Fourth place is, unfortunately, a Harry Potter fic. I mean, it makes sense. It's one of my biggest fandoms and one of my oldest fics, so it would naturally gather a lot of Kudos but... it's bad! Not this one in particular, this one is still pretty alright, but I have so many better fics that deserve this spot! I have a love-hate relationship with my Harry Potter fics...

Fifth place - and here's the big news - is Golden Spiders - my newest fic! The one I'm currently still working on! This one took off and I couldn't be happier! So thanks to everyone who made this possible <3

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Absolutely, yeah! I love hearing what people think about my fics and I love interacting with my readers. It's really, really great, and one of the things that keeps me going and motivated.

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

On AO3 or on Tumblr? On AO3, it would be Die Drei ?? - Squid Game AU. On Tumblr, it's this one. Both Squid Game related, who would've thought?

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

The happiest?! Oh boy, I don't know. I do love a happy ending! But I also love some angst on the way, so... Take your pick! Which of my characters had it best? I think it might be Till Death Do Us Part, for as angsty as it can be? But I dunno, you tell me.

7. Do you write crossovers?

Yes! I've written some crossovers before and I definitely will again. They're always fun!

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I don't know, I don't remember. Probably not but I've received some non-constructive criticism.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yeah, by now I do write smut. But I write it using what I like to call the "Felix Krull Method" (named after a book I had to read for my finals that wrote its sex scenes in such a way), so using lots of euphemisms, metaphors and avoiding full-on explicit language because I just don't feel comfortable writing it like that and because it just wouldn't fit in with my writing style. My style is very heavy on metaphors, comparisons, allusions, so it wouldn't make sense for me to completely switch registers into your typical smut language. To be clear, I don't dislike that sort of register per se, it just doesn't work for me. This may sound like a bit of a weird way to write smut, but I've been told it works perfectly and I think it's fun, so I will keep doing it this way :)

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not a fic but a character. And that's my Harry Potter OC, Asteria Malfoy. I was very salty about it and I still am because I didn't have the guts to put my foot down back then and tell them that they weren't allowed to use the concept and name even if they claimed it was a "reference" to my fic. They should've at least asked permission!

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, not yet. But I plan to translate my Auxiliary AU fics when I reboot them!

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not really, but I've helped work on fleshing out characters and such.

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

My all-time favourite? You can't possibly make me pick! I love all of my OC ships a totally healthy amount and am occasionally overcome by a heavy sense of yearning for them, so... Yeah. Currently very in love with Mihawk/Aurelia and Sanji/Cora though

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Oh girl... Maybe The Rule of Three? Or my Vocalization series? Unless the hyperfixation hits, those are stuck.

15. What are your writing strengths?

Descriptions. Visualization. I love that shit. Also, I'd be willing to claim that I'm good at characterization. You can also trust me to throw in little references for the reader to find :)

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Probably my indecisiveness. I also need to hold myself by a leash not to rush my relationships. This is especially bad with my OC Cora because, for trauma-related reasons, she reacts badly to being touched and will need some time to ease into it. So, I have to bonk myself on the head every time I want to have her hug and cuddle people because she would not do that yet. Also, I had to stop myself from having her kiss Sanji multiple times because it's just too early for that.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I think it's great! Adds a bit of realism. I just always get very nervous doing it if it's a language I don't speak because I don't want to make mistakes.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

The first one ever or on AO3? On AO3, it's Die Drei ???, a popular book series in Germany.

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

My currently unintroduced OCs ^^" Currently, I really wanna write a Lux/Zoro fic because I love their dynamic

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I can't answer that because I love so many of my fics! But the longer ones are usually pretty good.

#tag game #fic author interview

[semper-legens]

136. Man vs Beast, by Robert Muchamore

Owned: No, library Page count: 295 My summary: Help Earth is back, and trying to save the world again. This time, it's animal lives which are the focus. There's an extremist group planning something big, and time is ticking before their plans come to fruition. Enter James and Lauren, undercover spies working to smoke them out. But with no clue what their plans are, can the kids save the day in time? My rating: 3.5/5 My commentary:

Back to CHERUB for some environmental extremism! This one seems topical, almost, given the climate disaster we're currently enjoying - granted, the extremists in this book are more about saving animals than saving the planet per se. Once again, James and Lauren are posing as siblings (easy for them, given that they're real siblings) along with Kyle. They're out with senior mission controller Zara, who's shown up a few times before, and a member of this vegan group who has turned police informant to try and weed out the violent members of the group. So…ready for a mid-2000s view on militant veggies?

As ever with CHERUB, most of the veggie group doesn't actually come across too badly in this. There's a clear distinction drawn between the non-violent protestors, who do things like picketing labs that experiment on animals or rescuing animals from captivity. They're also explicitly stated to be mostly middle class white old dears, the kind of people who've retired and don't really have much else to do but stand around holding placards about saving the bunnies. The real extremists, the militants, are younger and angrier…but once again, I have to take issue with how black and white the morality is. The extremist group attacks and nearly blinds a woman who seems to just work in admin for some lab and doesn't have much to do with animal abuse. The climax revolves around them kidnapping a TV chef who also sells cleaning products. Their objection to him is that he tested them on animals to see if they were toxic…but also a kid drank it and the chef's people are trying to cover it up which, while obviously bad, seems out of the animal people's remit? Almost like it's a device so the audience isn't too sorry when he gets forced to drink the same cleaning products. But it just seems like Muchamore was going out of his way to make a clear good guy/bad guy dichotomy, without much thought into the complicated issues and morality around the idea of animal abuse. Especially since James and Kyle, 2/3 of the author's mouthpieces, don't rate the veggie lifestyle at all.

Actually, let's talk characters now. I have to side-eye Lauren being the one who really gets on board with the veggie thing, as opposed to James and Kyle who just laugh it all off and don't seem to listen to a word anyone's saying. That's Lauren's primary role in this book, because she doesn't really contribute to the mission much, it's mostly the boys. And I can't help but think she gets that role because she's the Token Girl. It's not badly portrayed or anything, it's a nice little arc for her, but it does feel a little stereotypical. Meanwhile, James continues to be a pain - he's so obviously written to be a stand-in for the Typical Teenage Boy, and that's to the detriment of his character sometimes. In this book, his h0m0phobia rears its head again, as he finds Kyle's boyfriend's sock on his bed and flips because that's gross. Kyle points out that James hasn't had problem with people making out on James' bed back on campus, and that James just has a problem because he's gay. And James comes round, but it's such a bizarre little cul-de-sac. I guess the function is to tell young readers that being gay isn't a bad thing, which is fine in and of itself, but it's not particularly well-handled. Give me a solo Lauren series! I'd be way more into that.

Next up, back to webcomics, for a young fawn getting stranded in a mysterious land.

#Man vs Beast #Robert Muchamore #bookblr #book blog #book blogger #3.5

[randomclam24]

8/29 night Taking the article with the title claiming that complex infrastructure won't survive the competency crisis into account, which calls into consideration that high-precision white people are generally what keeps the most complex machinery online in the first place, which is a very high-maintenance thing - How do I say this? Japan even has narratives like Midna at the end of the game saying, if there were a lot more people like you, the world wouldn't have these problems - something to that overall effect - but that doesn't make Japan a non-racist country. It takes high maintenance. And I'm one to believe in the potential of artificial intelligence taking over for that purpose. It still takes a minority at the very least of incredibly high-maintenance to keep these machines in peak condition.

For this first time, I've seen a reply saying that the belief in A.I. taking over every responsibility will ultimately just absolve currency of its inherent value, meaning that the elite can just reassign the values required for basic things like bread as they will it. But, that's the first time I've ever heard of that. It is what it is.

Update So yeah, persecutest thou as much as thou will the article that complex infrastructure won't survive the competency crisis, there's a cheeky opportunity for a reference to the Statue of Liberty's poem right now, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Update I wish we had something better to talk about. Is that too racist? Heh heh heh heh heh

Frankly, a lot of anons are already banking on the collapse of the economy.

Update Yeah, my younger cousin's in the tech field, but the best I've personally seen of him is a weird Python game program, so I'm not particularly impressed, yet

I don't know what I want to pursue out of my own life

Update A lot of this gameplay is goofy bullshit - if anyone takes the quip about Cuphead seriously, they're a dumbass - unless of course you catch my drift - then that's different

I'm feeling like this is bullshit within bullshit

Update It's not like I can't go at this kind of thing, per se. It's just that I figured virtually 100% of people can't do this kind of thing, so that would make doing so "antisocial".

Update I wish I could get *half* mean enough for Cuphead in all seriousness

I beat all the bosses of Kirby, minus some of the boss rushes - I'm not even able to lick the bootstraps of some of these Cuphead bosses

Update Okay, so I don't have much purpose in my life.

Update I'm giving up on getting drunk in the way that normal people experience. By the time I'm even approaching that, I feel like either just craving actual food or just throwing the stuff up. Basically, it's impossible without it getting to the point of being like food poisoning with me.

8/29 After writing out the parts I was searching for for the purpose of understanding better his core philosophy, I don't think The Portable Nietzsche is actually definitive at all. But for an introduction at a glance, it wasn't bad. We're going to have to find these texts online.

Update Okay, so in reviewing the two actual full texts at a glance, we're going to do A Genealogy of Morals. in Beyond Good and Evil is a focus on the utter falling-throughs of his times and reflects that pessimism that I've been told about him. It focuses on what *not* to do, which I suppose is less of what his core beliefs actually are.

Update Okay. It's been a lot of going back and forth, but here we have Essay 3:

"11 Only now, after having gained sight of the ascetic priest, we attack seriously our problem: what does the ascetic ideal mean?--Only now matters are growing "earnest.""

Good so we're getting somewhere

This is page 159 in-book

8/30 I wrote out the rest of that essay, which led me to another split between The Joyful Science and The Will to Power. We're not there yet, but that was a solid introduction.

Don't stop

Update Well, after short review, I've concluded that the new dawn seen by Nietzsche over the "death of God" as it might concern what he has called the ascetic priest is altogether a misconception. First of all, as I've already noted, there's no historical account of miracles like in the post-Gospels New Testament that is regarded seriously in the modern day, which is what that kind of lifestyle was largely contingent upon, leaving the only moral foundation viable left the exact described castrated mindfulness of the herd.

But let's be realistic as to the actual social forces at play in the modern day: either way, you're getting at some form of globohomo in and of itself, because the Christian lifestyle of sharing resources clearly amounts to Communism, and the death of God is clearly a nu-atheist sentiment exclusively.

What he calls the ascetic priest as an attempt to cast his own narrative about it going away finally could just as quickly be dismissed with the obvious of repeating that one article about how the deep state implicated by Trump is alive and well and how it's just a - something really stinky about it being relatable and how we need to give credence to it, but not like that, because it intended for something very stinky and - jewish

Update There's still nothing to do even though it's morning by now

Oh well, life is just a hopeless meaningless void, let's go kill ourselves

Update after sleeping Just like "ironic shitposting is still shitposting", even if its conveyed through irony in memes, being of the ascetic ideal is being of the ascetic ideal. I'm pretty sure no one knows what that means. But I don't think there's a person on this earth who isn't of the ascetic ideal. That's how I know there's no hope. There's no future.

At the end of the day, people taking it in the ass in life is just icing on the shit cake. That's why trannies for example will always and perpetually be "coming correct" in fact, when they say the right wing is "obsessed" with them: the ascetic ideal which is what is truly represented in the propaganda supporting them at the highest echelons of all of our societies parasitically is undisputed, to the degree of sheer absurdity. You're not even *looking* (something something liberal exasperation - I don't care.)

So correction: the ascetic ideal of "the Nothing" is all we culminate to as *mankind.* *Thus* is our continued pining that the deep state is to be cast out unnatural as obsession

This is the reason even 4channers trying to shitpost ironically with doge memes and the like can't even break out of the mindset that, to fix the world as it is, you would have to end up with absolutely no one left on the planet, because unconsciously, we have it absolutely established even without knowing it that there is truly "no separation between jew and Gentile" but merely more members of the ascetic ideal which culminates in the anal worship of "the Nothing". So, in that are we expected to give the "little guy" who's just trying to get by following orders from his higher-ups a little bit more of *respect* in that their ideology of herd-collectivism is, for better or for worse, the predominantly prevailing social order of human consciousness in itself. Even so, that comes off like "kiss the ring".

Update I can't deal. So, to the effect expressed by the cuckold who said it, "don't talk to me or my wife's son ever again"

Update I've been reclusive for several months because all these retards taking it collectively in the ass have long concluded based on my example that anyone who wants to fight the government is a (something I don't know or care about it) retard, making any further assertion of this mess a pure act of chutzpah that subsides as soon as it's passed. (That's not true and you take it up the ass every day - every single one of these people calling me a retard as in I'm fucking up the game has been the obvious retard the entire time, and nothing has stepped forward to even give an exception to that)

I have to go so far out of my way to even detect what wavelength you're even on making statements and memetics like that, it's like having to drive out into the middle of bumfuck nowhere every single fucking time. I want to die.

Update When my detractors that I used to frequent reach the point that they feel like they've convinced themselves so that there's nothing left to be said, what am I supposed to do when it gets beyond the extremity that I can't impose on that consensus anymore without it being such an extreme that they feel the need to impose the government on me? Because all the kinds of detraction that I take personally also happen to get along swimmingly with the new-world government. I'm then just supposed to go in there and set off all their alarms that I'm their enemy in a mortalistic sense.

So with all that out of my system, I can say I'm generally more easygoing than all them. But I know from hard experience that it's never a good thing to walk on eggshells with them, because things like that get set off.

Update I beat Rage on the highest difficulty today. My review overall is that both aesthetically and thematically, it feels like an introduction to the new Doom and Doom Eternal. Good gameplay, but frankly the ending, once you figure out the damage required to beat the new enemies introduced at the last second, all they're doing is spamming more of them, and there's no real final boss at all, and they kind of pamper you with new ammo leading in to that final mission.

Also, of course, there's some personal level to my liking this game rather than wanting to play Doom Eternal first. From renting - actually renting Doom 2016 from a video store before it closed shop - the way the new demons set the tone for the new games, it just seemed unrelatable the way everyone's jumping around like a complete retard. Rage actually seemed to have a premise (at least looming off in the distance - which resolves with the conclusion of the game itself with no further actual story) - and then the new Doom story-wise seems like what it looks like - chaos for its own sake - but I haven't played it yet

I haven't even heard the good things about Doom Eternal per se - I've heard people say they've heard good things about Doom Eternal. Actually, that summarizes the kind of review that I see of modern games anymore.

Update The gripes I thought were minor actually constitute an unironic rant: Halo gameplay, especially past Normal difficulty, where it stands out

In Project Brutality, they have ammo that starts to feel like Halo and kind of reminds me of it: it is called low-caliber rounds. What a thing to limit oneself to against your greatest enemy, the Covenant.

Also, there was a Mythbusters special where someone militarily-involved actually demonstrated that the concept of running at the same speed with like eight different weapons as in Doom 3 was actually realistic. Then what is Halo doing - you get two weapons. Right, and not only that, this is according to someone who already has to wear unrealistically-heavy power armor everywhere he goes, Master Chief. So you saying there's no weight to spare -

Update (Paraphrasing out my ass) "You know how much this gear costs, son?" "Tell that to the Covenant" Yeah

Update And, just making some attempt to mediate with that argument before the one about Doom and Halo - first of all, if it takes that long to figure out what wavelength you're on, figuratively speaking, to even know what you're trying to say, that inherently means it's not self-evident. So then on the other hand, I might not have the best valuation of the lowest common denominator in mind regardless, having my own idealism in mind with my endeavors.

So then after that comes the crux of it from their side: the lowest common denominator are (obviously) the more common! So am I obligated to be directed toward that?

Update So because of that split between focus on idealism and the lowest common denominator among the right-wing, I may react to you thinking your gay point is self-evident with a cutoff of "no"

Update Doom ammo v. Halo ammo: Literally self-cameo of the director of Pulp Fiction: "Bonnie goes out shopping, she buys *shit*"

I'm considering whether to keep that. It's stinky.

Update First and foremost, I'm going to have to atone for my sins orated against boomers The people who systemically said, I'm enjoying my wine and dinner; I don't care what happens to the untold generations after I'm dead

Realistically, a boomer forms a hot take: I'm bracing for impact. Compromise isn't about to happen there. They are ignorant. They are ignorant.

Update In grade school, we literally had a story - I don't think the racial element was intended to be a consciously-acknowledged part of the storytelling - but the narrative was about a black family in bad conditions where the man of the house thought they would start a small organization with other individuals and improve the quality of life in some way, and the ending consists of the others up and running off with the money. You expect us to be like early Christians with black people? Especially if they're inner-city blacks, just don't trust them.

Update So if it was deracialized, what does it mean? It would be that message even in rap, "trust no one", intended even for all white people. In this environment? I can't say otherwise.

Update If I catch sight of my youthful ambition again while drunk, in that moment, it's like nothing wouldn't be worth grasping it again, even in a dark sense - and that is despite the fact that most people wouldn't have taken it for what it is seriously in the first place, the same from then until now - a question of if it's the right day and age for it or not?

In a sense, frankly, I hate the artistic direction itself of "minimalism", but I had a lot of the inspiration of "cubism" as a basic structuring. Cubism even in a simple game engine could still include the rugged texture, provided the modern day's upscaling, of Doom's marble surfaces.

"God forever geometrizes" - does minimalism appeal to that or not?

I'm positive there's a realistic middle ground workable between the perspective of, we should have room to be more pretentious, and the - frankly overstated, you're "fucking up the game game game"

Because at core, I *know* there's an inspiration in my ambition where it has hit me like a ton of bricks undeniably in the past

Consider the episode of some cartoon which became a meme where a woman is saying, paraphrasing, "edgy" is where a set of corporate executives make calculated moves to appeal to their set audience - if you're "minimalistic" in the most commonly-recognized use of the phrase, it's probably more like that than what would be in taste.

My boomer dad - my boomer dad plays (all the damned time) Watch Dogs 2 on PS4, which starts with a mission with that very style of music, and, thinking about it, what does that amount to My dad still spends a lot of his time re-exploring that game to the exact same effect, just taking pictures of semi-realistic monuments

Update Okay, okay - it feels like breaking the fourth wall, but, in the time Denzel Curry made "The Game", I also made the quip that I have one job in that instance: don't come off as a narcissist. So is that distinct from screaming "that you game game game" or not?

For quick-reference, *definitely* don't want to be a narcissist. There's no value in that.

Like, I would love to be regarded as a pioneer when it comes to ideas - there's that

I referenced Death Grips - Niggas on the Moon, and there's probably justification behind the fact that Death Grips hasn't released anything in the past few years. Hey

Update I've heard recently that the age when individual men would have duels to sort out conflicts was a more unsure age, because of the lethality of the things. Honestly - if duels were non-lethal

There are things that I would love disputing that I would *never* lie my life down on the line for - at best, today's conflicts would be considered "proxy battles" - and guess why that is? Because people generally are ignorant - no getting around that

Update Drunken rants for those which I deem to be so stupid I consider us on a level playing field regardless of the fact: Halo's energy weapons: I wish your shooting devices wouldn't give out after every four seconds of initially using them, as would think anyone in their remotest right mind. "Halo: MyFirst FPS": Encyclopedia Dramatica

Update Nietzschean philosophy: boy, I wish globohomo jews would direct their will toward themselves, as opposed to through and superceding the will of the lesser-willed Gentiles against themselves Realiity: "No good" *timeline severed*

Update Fighting these "Hunters" in Halo on PC is ridiculously easier than on console

Let me tell you how much I love bureaucrats, and those supportive of that mindset, as of 2023

"niggers"

Update for sure Halo, with its bureaucratically-delegated rations of low-capacity ammo, so that artificial difficulty would rule the day on its respective platform for who knows what reason ever - you could say, how does that then compete with Siren? Well...I guess no one ever went there.

Update So then, dare I ask, what is "charm" as we call it held between Siren the series even outside of American release and Halo as an American "you can Ghillie-Suit your way through anything you want if you ambition hard enough" type of mentality?

Update If it's all forfeit for what it was anyway, /pol/ is replaced with whatever races - who knows why - where the rest went off to Telegram or wherever else, despite none of those sites constituting remotely the social media web site that the original board was. I guess I commonly represent Encyclopedia Dramatica's vision - so if I add my own narrative - to make up for every pre-prejudice of society even in spite of social justice, since, in the first place, social justice is just yet another product of what has been coined as Nietzsche's ascetic idealism.

Update So as for those medical pamphlets that were documented online, saying that, our - I even forgot the word - - see, I can't even remember the word! Meritocracy. Those pamphlets were claiming that that word being used as an appeal was some kind of last stand of white identity, or something along those racist lines - but, at the same time, before I ever heard of that, I always considered that that would always serve as a last potential middle ground between these issues. Since nobody will listen to anything else. So then I guess if that's really past, although it may have just been forced, what would be grounds beyond that? I don't think anything else would constitute a fair contest. (Of course that just highlights the inherent lack of legitimate comparison in our Western cultural divide)

I wish I could ever enter "Zen state" as it's been applied to people playing video games seriously sometimes, mainly back when they were talking about arcade games, which were much harder

Update Because there is enough rallying toward the idea of feeding the entire world and ending world hunger, wasn't there already the debacle of Bill Gates testing his own system for Africa to turn even faeces into drinkable healthy water? Why hasn't everything been solved even remotely? Why couldn't that excess money to Ukraine etc. have been donated to Africa, especially for one-time investments such as these to make the effect permanent? I don't know, and neither do - *how* close to 100% of the government's lackeys?

And in times when Common Filth re-quotes things like Shakespeare's "all the world's a stage", I wish he could manage to speak with a bit more authority. That's no insult. But there are people acting like I need to take my meds even though I already explained it was primarily just for anxiety and literally nothing else.

We don't have a good system.

Update So, to be very open about these things, they're coming out with such things as the rejection of meritocracy not very openly, but with their feelers, per se, to see if it's okay or not so that they can get away with it.

Update "A Revaluation of the Adage "Nigga" - by Friedrich Nietzsche"

I don't think he would have ever addressed black people in depth, because he was already spending his time critiquing everything wrong with European people, holding from the standpoint of all their highest philosophers and artists. Truly Hitler's philosopher.

Update If I could ramble without it getting on most people's nerves - that would be convenient for me In Five Nights at Fuckboy's, there's a line if you view a bottle of some kind of booze on the floor in the main lobby by Freddy Fazbear - "get crunk" - but actually thinking of that as the lore for Chuck E' Cheese's animatronic mascots

(and other such one-liners)

Update Rappers Nietzsche, since I read as close to his core philosophy as I could manage just recently, said personally he wishes still to see the positive aspects of the English philosophers of his time, even despite knowing in advance they all gravitate unnaturally toward the same exact ideas unoriginally. So with rappers, in a sense you already know what they mean in the "cultural sense" is that basest thing from the back of your unconscious about the thing. We (clearly) don't live in a perfect world.

What is ontology? Obviously we don't know minorities in the same sense as deep=state jews

And no one is tested in real life in any way like we've come to know, over this generation, the nature of tests of skill implicitly given in videogames

I might still have to agree with the now-non-active meme, "extra mild [sauce] for white people"

Update If I'm going to be "pretentious", I'm going to make a bigger playlist than I did on imgur

I download these on ytmp3hub.com now to get them at whatever compressed quality you can get at its highest proclaimed quality of 320kbps

4.Warbled (Level - Slipgate Complex) - YouTube

Update Select from Yuque's OST - underrated *Many* such cases

Update To preserve the ambience, we'll wait a little longer before posting for such a playlist

Update "Pretentiousness" honestly I don't even think would describe how I value my own youthful ambition - and what, I'm going to expect people to see me as not a narcissist despite that? Always a contradiction. Why I don't be productive - I'm too self-conscious.

As in, "causes my jaws to *call*: "yuh" Y'all niggas ain't doin' shit

Update There's a contradiction - even in saying, what would Nietzsche himself have had as an impression - if I'm too drunk, just plainly, on principle, I shouldn't post it because it's risky

Take it as you will, the minute thing isn't so important - Yume 2kki, back in 2014 when the (secret) Library with the musical segment (taken from Ib) was still fresh and new for what it was in the context of its present era - that was obviously more than the minute interpretation one would have like right now, long after that era - I saw it when I was first alone in college with a roommate even at the time I tried my best not to remember in the first place

Update Thinking "correct"ly, you can't hurt the corporate algorithmic oligarchs enough, even physically by your human means

They hold more power, beyond all justifiable reason, than you know

What was a lifetime? What was a lifetime? What is the total profit? Compare that to the corporate oligarchs.

A million years - guess what? - their rates are in the first place far faster - do you expect to win by a war of attrition? They win presently, by doing nothing.

I want to invent a word harsher than the n-word, because certain of these shills are so horrible. They definitely deserve it. There's no doubt about that much

And these are the run-of-the-mill, where I have to witness it online

I feel like, in a sense, I'm actually *obligated* to espouse kino

Just because of this position, and scenario

But then call to mind, boomers were legally allowed ecstacy, the drug, and felt that induced sense of unity, and went on to think that the rest of us descendants can all die for all they care - so what is that in itself

Between the prospect of being drunk at all or not - not being drunk at all has life feeling too long altogether - being drunk makes time fly by, to an extent it feels unnatural What am I trying to say? History is too slow - - [redacted]

Update Nietzsche's coining of the "spirit of gravity" - how is that related to my own sense of history (or rather the "end of history" as we're taught (*that it is*) in the modern day) and the inherent boredom that comes with it?

And I assure you - no matter how much shills will reinforce to you that you not doing anything violent against jews specifically at the present moment in and of itself means you have no capacity in you to do anything ever at any point in time - I do not apreciate jews or their ascetic priesthood, or the ascetic idealism of the - boomer, or any of such adherents, or any such people

Update Honestly, the space - not even necessarily in the sense of the word the "right", but literally just the "space" to be "pretentious"

Time takes too many days, with no responses, at least from males - in fact I get more responses from females online than males

Tired of the autism diagnosis, which people give for lack of a better understanding frankly

I don't really have a better term than Rick and Morty's "true level" for the basic concept of what I would want over the day-to-day (I never saw that segment - I just heard about)

[nebulaleaf]

hiii!! i love seeing your collection, do you have any recommendations of websites etc for hunting down p5 merch? im outside the usa so things like mercari arent an option for me unfortunately T_T

Hi! I have many but some might be more or less effective depending on Where outside of the US you are. As I am Canadian, my options are a lot more feasible than say... someone from Europe yk. (god shipping fees are insane)

I will say, a huge chunk of my collection was bought off of Mercari or American Ebay, or American stores like BigBadToyStore and I just wanna make that clear. Two of these sites ship to places outside of the US still, but it's so much cheaper to get it sent to American friend and then over to me.

This got longer than I thought whoops under the cut it goes.

Anyway onto the actual recs. As always I have to shill Myfigurecollection.net. You can sort by the exact figure you're looking for, local currency, free or paid shipping and it's really handy. On top of that you can interact with the sites database or forum features! Make a wishlist or a list of a fave character's merch you want. Track what you've ordered already and when it's expected to arrive or be released from preorder. Find forum posts from your region about people discussing good places to buy from and so much more. It's such a huge and amazing tool for someone into collecting so long as you can get over the UI. Personally I've never found issues with it but I'm used to how older websites work anyway.

(Here is me sorting by European currency. There are so many euro sellers im jealous.)

Pros of mfc:

• Figures are usually in good condition and can even be mint in box. (you can even sort by condition, wow!)

• users are polite and can be negotiated with for a better deal oftentimes

Cons of mfc:

• This is not a site that focuses solely on selling like ebay, it's more like an ad section in the newspaper

• You have to trust who you are buying from as there's no 'insurance' so to speak. If you get scammed, there's no refunds and mods won't help you aside from banning the user, unlike actual buy and sell sites which have policies or insurance.

Next up is Zenmarket. This is a proxy site that allows me to buy straight from japan! What's handy about it is that you can browse multiple japanese sites straight within zenmarket's site. I can pick up items from Amazon.jp, JP Mercari, and Yahoo Auctions and have 'em all in one cart! You can also paste links into a special search bar if you've found a specific item you'd like to buy from a JP site. I personally browse JP Mercari and Rakuma the most. I like second-hand figures and both these places have good deals since they're flea-market esque sites. Yahoo!Auctions I've only bought one thing from, and I haven't had a *bad* experience per se, I just don't like auctions and buyout prices lol. Always so pricey... but I'm sure there's good deals to be had if you're willing to do a bidding battle. Pro tip! Search with japanese terms to get better results.

(Browsing a listing and the main mercari page, unsorted)

Zenmarket hasn't let me down before. They're speedy, and all my stuff has been well packed.

Pros:

• Can get the best base prices buying straight from japan

• Super simple layout and bundling orders is really easy

•Items can be held in their warehouse for 45 days if something happens/you wanna wait before bundling it into a package. You can also pay to extend this time.

•Quick shipping from the warehouse

•probably more lol

Cons

•If you're not american, shipping is gonna be like $30 CAD lol. At least you can fit multiple items in one box...? I got 2 books and several t-shirts without going over the small packet limit. i haven't used zennarket express, but if your shit is very small i think its about 10 dollars cheaper.

• ¥300 yen fee per item batch. So if I get a figure and book from Mercari I'll have to pay a ¥300 fee. If I then add something from Amazon or a different site other than Mercari to my cart, I'll have to pay another ¥300 fee. I don't mind this as its like what. 3 dollars? but if you're buying a lot from all over it can potentially rack up shit. also ppl just dont like fees so it's a con.

I also of course use ebay. I feel like I don't need to get into how ebay works so onto BRAND NEW MERCH CONDITION sitessss

I used to use Aitai Kuji but their selection of stuff is kinda mid these days so I stray from it. I've had good experiences with Ukiyo Kumo but it has a similar problem with Aitai Kuji.

Another site for brand-new merch is Meccha Japan, but holy fuck I hate their shipping and prices. If something becomes low in stock they jack up the price and label it as 'rare' or ultra rare or whatever and I find that irritating. They also use fedex and dhl for shipping which means fun fees woohoo yipee!!! i had to spend over 100 dollars to get my package wrangled from their graaaaaasp!!!!

So yeah, sorry for lame New Merch recs, I don't really buy brand-new figures since P5 hasn't released anything lately. I bought the Hello!Goodsmile mona and joker from BigBadToystore and I think shipping was only 15 usd? I like BBTS but if you're not american they're kinda slow in the shipping department.

I probably have more reccs but I can't think of any so. enjoy this. Anon if you wanna talk more thoroughly about this feel free to dm me! Talking about this stuff makes me so happy it's my lifeblood ♪♪

#thieves den #merch guide

[solarishashernoseinabook]

Solaris reviews The Book Eaters, by Sunyi Dean (2022)

Oh hey, my first topical book review!

Summary: Devon is a book eater: a being human in appearance but monstrous beneath the skin. She and her race live off of books, and by eating them they absorb their knowledge and stories. Her son Cai, in contrast, is a mind eater: he feeds off people, absorbing their knowledge, memories, personalities and lived experiences. There's a drug that can save him, suppress his disastrous appetite and allow him to live a relatively normal book eater life, but the people who make it are gone, apparently disappeared into the English countryside. Devon is determined to find them for her son's sake.

Content: This book was dark, but imaginative. We get musings on the nature of love, morality, and how to move on when life seems bleak. It's heavily character-driven to contrast a very straight-forward plot, but it never feels either stretched to fill up space or rushed to get things over with. The book jumps back and forth in time quite a bit, covering Devon in the current day in her quest to save Cai, and her early life and young adulthood. Through the present-day narrative, we get action, suspense, and interesting character interaction; through the flashbacks, we get worldbuilding, insight into book eater lives, and an understanding of how Devon came to be who she is when the book begins.

Who I think would like it: I think this would appeal to anyone who really likes character-driven stories, because as I said, that's the main focus of the book. You won't get any fake-sounding science about the biology of book eaters (thank fucking goodness, as that can all too easily backfire), so people who aren't normally sci-fi fans don't have to worry about being put off by technical descriptions or scientific jargon.

Things it does well: I really like Cai and Devon as characters and their interactions with each other. Cai especially would have taken a lot of work for the author to write, and I think she did it well. I also liked the flashback chapters, because it was nice seeing Devon's character development.

Things that could be improved: Honestly, not much. There's one little hiccup in the timeline, but that's little more than a typo. This isn't something that should be improved, per se, because it's a stylistic choice, but Dean's writing style uses a lot of sentence fragments, and while they're not exactly to my taste, they do fit the tone of the novel fairly well.

My review: My elderly neighbour heard about this book first and was excited to read it, and she told me about it. I picked it up not long ago and I'm glad I did. The plot itself is very simple and direct, but with enough character development and world-building that this never feels like a bad thing - actually, having too much of a complicated plot would have caused the story to get lost in itself. The grim tone makes it a nice October read (I say, in September), and taking place in a modern-day setting with some mild sci-fi elements give it a broad range of appeal.

Does this book have…: ✅= yes ❓= not sure ⭕= possibly/mixed ❌= no

Romance? ✅ Not a huge amount, as the relationship Devon forms is very much in its infancy by the end of the book (and we're not even sure if it'll be a relationship after the story ends, as it comes very late in the story). Just enough romance for me to say it's there, but it's not a main focus of the book.

Sex? ⭕ No on-page sex, but sex does happen, and it's more something Devon endures than enthusiastically consents to. It's given little-enough mention that I don't think it'll be triggering to people who have issues around sexual violence, but do be aware that Devon doesn't enjoy sex.

Racism? ❌ Nothing that I could detect. Some unsympathetic characters are mentioned to be ethnically Mediterranean, but so are sympathetic characters, and Cai is ethnically mixed. Note that I am white. A person of colour reading this book might have a different opinion on this than I, so do not take this as authoritative. Dean herself is of Asian descent and was raised in Hong Kong, and her experiences with race and racism may well have been represented in the novel in a way that went over my head.

Sexism? ✅ Book eater society is heavily sexist, which is something Devon has had to struggle against. Be prepared for sexist comments made by male book eater characters, and be prepared for poor treatment of women by them.

LGBTQIA-phobia? ❌ One comment from a character in an early chapter saying that girls don't marry girls, but this character is heavily sheltered. There's a semi-prominant asexual character and some characters who experience same-sex attraction, all of which is portrayed positively.

Ableism? ❌

Swearing? ✅ Like, so much swearing. Lots of swearing.

Drug/Alcohol references? ✅ Devon is an alcoholic, though once the main thrust of the story starts she doesn't have much time to touch alcohol much. Nevertheless, early chapters contain plenty of references to alcohol, and so do the flashback chapters. There's technically drug use as well if you count the medical drug Cai needs.

References to or actual violence or suicide? ✅ A lot of violence, and in some places it can get rather gory.

References to or actual animal death or cruelty? ❌

Recommended: Yes

#solaris reviews books sometimes #the book eaters by sunyi dean #book reviews #book recommendations

[thehomothings]

Obligatory hxh Kite headcanon dump because the brainrot is strong part 1 of ??

About half a year of obsessing over him and I have culminated so many hyperspecific and useless hcs for Kaito that I can't fit them all into a 500 page fic about him so now y'all have to deal with it. And please bully me off this hellsite so I can go and finish it.

I'm just writing these off the top of my head so they're in no particular order but this post is gonna be mostly about his childhood so it's gonna be a bit sad! Buckle up!

(Also I'm listening to Bullets by Archive which just. goddammit it makes me think of him and it's breaking me. Definitely give it a listen and you'll see what I mean.)

He isn't sure of his exact date of birth, but guesses he's about 26/27

Although nobody would take him as being that young. Everyone assumes he's in his mid-thirties and he doesn't tend to correct people about that.

It's not that he looks old, per se, more so that he has a certain type of weariness that seems beyond his age. Killua still calls him old man though.

On his ID, his birthday is listed as the first of January, which was automatically assigned to him. He does not celebrate his birthday.

(fanon) Hisoka swears Kite's an Aquarius and has attempted to reverse engineer his birthday through his zodiac chart.

Again, has no idea where he was born, but used to think he was born somewhere in East Yorbia since he had spent most of his childhood there (I imagine it to be the hxh universe equivalent eastern Europe.)

Kite is not his birthname. He had none- that he was aware of, at least- and he chose it himself around the age of 7/8. (From actual Kites. More specifically, easter Kites that are flown in some regions in honor of Christ's resurrection. He liked how free they seemed, how if untethered, one could fly worlds away and never touch the ground.)

Before that, he was given different names by caretakers in orphanages, all of which he cast aside as not my name. They didn't belong.

It may have stemmed from a comment made very early in his life by a particularly cruel caretaker who said: Your mother didn't even bother to name you. Leaving you by the dumpster was the best choice she made and you should have stayed there. It may not have been true at all, but it stuck with him.

Was a very restless and semi-feral child. Used to run away from orphanages for no reason other than the fact that he could.

Never got adopted (Well, at least through legal channels)

His first newsboy cap was given to him by his adoptive parent and became a staple of his wardrobe. Years later, he still keeps that original blue hat.

In another life, he would have either been a veterinarian, a park ranger or an astronomer.

Has never had formal education, but is very well-read. Not to mention trained by (allegedly) one of the smartest men alive.

During their travels with Ging, he would get as many second-hand books that could fit in his bag, read them all and pawn them off at the next town, repeating the cycle.

Still, his knowledge has weird gaps. Can and will go on hours long tangents on how industrial waste disposals are contributing to irreparable damage to the ecosystem in painstaking detail, yet when Gon asks for his help with his physics homework he has smoke coming out of his ears.

"Hey Kaito, how do I calculate initial velocity here?" *windows error sound*

Isn't a polyglot like Ging, but has great linguistic knowledge. Can get the hang of languages in a few days and speak enough of it to find his way around nearly anywhere.

(So everyone in the hxh universe seems to speak one universal language, but we've seen that accents do exist) The best way to describe his accent would be 'generic'. He never picked up the East Yorbian accent as a kid, and as an adult his accent became even more indistinct. Although he'll translate phrases and idioms from other languages and drop them in daily conversations, confusing everyone.

His nose has broken at least once, and thus is crooked. (And very boopable.)

So are two fingers on his left hand. Let's say he doesn't have fond memories of getting caught pickpocketing.

He's quite vain about his hair and takes great pride in it.

Doesn't remember his hair being shorter than shoulder length.

After becoming Ging's student and gaining access to means to take care of his hair, he was surprised to find out his hair was slightly wavy. Although the longer it gets, it loses its texture and becomes straighter.

Ging never stopped pestering him about getting a haircut. He sees long hair as 'impractical', but if Kite's one thing, it's stubborn.

Has never let a hairstylist near his hair. Remember that Greed Island NPC in Ai Ai that complimented Bisky's hair? He punched that NPC because he HATES people touching his hair.

In fact, as much as he likes getting compliments on his hair, he dreads it because it's normally accompanied by strangers touching his hair without permission (ahaha I'm not projecting onto him at all ahaha /s)

In fact, if he lets someone do his hair it means he really likes them (Looking at you, Wing)

And that's about it for today! If you liked this mess of a post, good news! I have more! If you did not, lmao too bad because I'm going to post more. Do you agree with my hcs? disagree? Lets talk about it!

A baby Kaito to brighten your day because I always make myself sad by thinking about his childhood.

#Kite hxh #hxh Kite #Kaito hxh #hunter x hunter #kite hunter x hunter #hxh #ging freecss #gon freecss #killua zoldyck #wing hxh #hisoka hxh #wingkite #if you squint #headcanon dump #god I talk too much don't I #My brain is Mush I have spent too long thinking about this man #Kitkat #Icarus waffles #fic rambles